The Sun.
London, England, 1848-08-10 00:00:00

is a very serious thing to a mercantile house; and there
is another evil in it; supposing the amount of bullion
held in the issue department to be in the exact propor-
tions allowed by the Act, with one-fifth silver, and sup-
posing that 400,0001. notes go in, taking the same
amount of sovereigns out, that immediately alters the
proportions, and the issue department must necessarily
sell silver bullion to keep the proportions right, and thus
reduce the circulation another 100,0001. to keep up the
proportion."

. The Committee concur in these opinions, and recom-
mend a change, but to what extent does not appear from
the report. _ .

Several of the witnesses examined attributed the pres-
sure felt in 1847, and the panic which succeeded, to the
publication of the accounts in the manner prescribed by
the Act of 1844; and the Governor proposed that the
rule should in future be relaxed, so far as related to the
Bank reserve. To this exception the Committee, and
with reason, thus argumentatively express their dis-
sent:—

The suggestion made by the Governor of the Bank,
of publishing the whole accounts with the exception of
the reserve, appecrs wholly inadmissible. Such accounts
must necessarily furnish the elements or data from
which the amount of reserve may, with a greater or less
degree of accuracy, be deduced or inferred. If the
amount of reserve could thus be accurately calculated,
the proposed remedy would be no corrective of the sys-
tem complained of. If the amount of reserve were to be
inferred inaccurately, such a proceeding would be an
aggravation of the inconvenience rather than a safe or
effi-ctual remedy. It would appear more in accordance
with legislative wisdom to reconsider the rule itself,
against which there can hardly be stronger presumptive
evidence than the suggested necessity of concealing the
consequences to which it leads."
We now come to the most important clause in the
Report, and on which we must pronounce the most un-
qualified condemnation. It runs thus:—
" The Committee feel, in common with every witness
examined, the duty and obligation of maintaining at all
times the practicable convertibility of the bank-note.
This they consider to be the first and most essential
object, which, in all discussions like the present, must
be constantly kept in view, both by the Legislature and
by those who direct the banking operations of this
commercial community. Upon the practical enforcement
of this principle, not only does the public and the private.
credit depend, but-the whole industry of the productive
classes and the wages of labour."'
Tho bank-note is either money, or it is not money.
If it is money, what use is there in converting equivalents
into equivalent;? If it is not money, discard its use
wholly, for why allow a fraudulent instrument, an ad-
mitted imposture, to obtain any currency whatever?
Their Lordships have here lost sight of that "legislative
wisdom" to which they appealed, when refusing to
exempt the Bank reserve from publication. If con-
vertibility is to be the law, how do their Lordships
reconcile it to their consciences to permit the Bank of
Negland to issue 14 millions of notes, on the sandy foun-
dation of a debt due by the country to that establishment,
not-one of which notes is convertible? or still stronger,
why do they allow the country bankers to issue eight it
millions of inconvertible paper, which do not even re-
pose on the colourable rottenness of a debt? The truth
is that while Sir Robert Peel in his speech of 1844 com-
menced by defining a " pound" to be 123 grains of gold,
and insisted that the obligation to pay a " pound' ad-
mitted of no other construction than the tender of 123
grains of gold, by which he understood convertibility, he
completely falsified his own principles and his own defi-
nition when he allowed the Bank of England, the coun-
try banks, the Irish and Scotch banks, collectively, to
put into circulation 31 millions of paper promises to pay,
without taking the security of a grain of bullion to that
amount. It is only over and above that amount that
these establishments are bound to retain gold in their
coffers, so that the pretext of convertibility is a juggle
and a fraud.
Moreover, their Lordships are deluded by the ambi-
guity of- the word they have used. If they mean that
the note should be convertible into merchandise, at the
market price of merchandise, the word "convertibility"
is used in a proper sense; but if they mean, as they ob-
viously do, that the note shall always be convertible into
a definite weight of gold at a fixed price, whether gold be
abundant or scarce, cheap or dear, then have they fallen
into a most lamentable blunder. We may take 123
grains of gold, stamp it, decorate it with the effigies of
Queen Victoria, or of Britannia, or of St. George and
the Dragon, put it into a circular form, and mill the
edges, hut we have not changed its intrinsic value or the
character imposed on it by nature; it is still a bit of
bullion, an article of merchandise, a commodity fluctu-
ating in price under the law of supply and demand
equally with every other commodity. Is it not then
grossly repugnant to common sense to affirm that the

-price of au ounce of gold must be the same whether the
Bank holds one hundred ounces or ten thousand ounces?
yet this monstrous error lies at the very root of the doc-
trine of convertibility as taught by the bullionists.
Is it desired to preserve the invariability of the pound
by this blundering in a fog? Why, the Lords them-
selves have given it as their opinion that no such invari-
ability exists when they condemn the Bill of 1844 on
account of the fluctuation in the rate of interest which
we have quoted. If at one time I can get the loan of
1001. for twelve months on paying 3/., or fifteen dwts. of
gold, and a few months. afterwards I must pay 61, or
thirty dwts. of gold for the same accommodation, what
becomes of the invariability of the gold pound? On the
average of the six weeks ending 17th June, 1847, wheat
was 9.3-.;. 9d. per quarter; at the same dates for 1848,
wheat was 465. 101 per quarter; so that this year a gold
pound in purchasing power is equal to two gold pounds
of last year. The doctrine of invariability is, therefore,
a transparent humbug; so also is the convertibility, of
gold into wheat or any other merchandise at a fixed and
unfluctuating price.
We have extended our limits; perhaps the importance
of the subject may be pleaded as an exeeuse. It is dif-
ficult to be silent when we see hereditary legislators, and
ckctive ones too, attempting to change the laws of
the only excuse that can be offered for their folly
is their blindness. They know not what they do. They
are destroying trade and fostering rebellion. They
starve the poor, and swell the poor rates. They fly for
support to soldiers and police. They play the game of
the usurers and strangle industry. We .warn their
Lordships of the precipice on which they stand; if they
ere despoiled of their estates, they will only have them-
selves to blame. The working classes are now studying
the money laws more intently than may be suspected;
when they are enlightened, the hour of retribution will
not be distant.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.
SIR,—If I dare intrude on your valuable time, I would wish
to call the attention of the immediate inhabitants, and those
interested in the suppression of such nuisances, to a very
great one existing in Newcastle-street, at the corner of
Wych-street, Strand. On the spot to which I allude there
are three street gratings, opening into the sewers, constantly
emitting such an effluvia that any one passing that way, as I
am in the habit of doing, must be painfully aware of, and u
if to make the nuisance the greater; there bas lately been in-
serted another outlet in the centre of the-street; in addition
to this, there is no sewer for some distance up Drury lane;
the water thus flowing such a distance, collects a quantity of
filth on its way to the- spot, chokes the drain, and the water
thus flows down the street instea,l of passing into thesewer. If I
might urge anything as to the baneful effect of such a vile
nuisance, I would mention the significant fact, that while at
one corner of the street flourishes a gin-shop, at the other a
baker's vainly endeavours to raise its drooping head with an
apology for intruding thus much.
I remain, your obliged servant,
H. HARDING.

1, New Inn-buildings, Aug. 10.

THE WEATHER.—The weather since our last has
continued of a very unpleasant and unseasonable cha-
racter. The temperature has been low, the maximum
having been on Saturday 65 deg., on Sunday 63 deg.,
and on Monday 63 deg ; and rain has descended during
a great part of the time, both heavily and continuously,
no less than 1-71.5 inches of rain having fallen on
Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. Saturday
was throughout gloomy, and some long and heavy
showers fell during the day and the following night. The
early part of Sunday was gloomy, and in the suc-
ceeding part of the day it rained nearly continu-
ously. The morning of Monday was showery ; the
afternoon and evening were, however, fine and
clear. The early part of yesterday was gloomy and some
rain fell; the evening, however, was fine. The returns
from various places, by eledric telegraph, show that at
seven o'clock yesterday morning, there was a preponder-
ance of fine weather at the different places tbrought the
country; thia preponderance was even more decided on
Monday morning, so that it would appear that the
unfavourable state of. the weather in Manchester
has been but local :—Glasgow, N.E. very hazy ; Edin-
burgh, S.W. very hazy ; Newcastle, W.N.W. slight
rain ; York, S.E. very fine ; Hull, S.W. by W. fine ;
Nortnauton, S.W. very fine ; Leeds, S.W. by S. very
cloudy ; Rotherham, S.W. fine ; Manchester, W.
fine ; Liverpool, S. very hazy ; Lincoln, N.E. very
fine ; Norwich, S.W. fine ; Brandon, S.W. fine ;
Lowestoffe, W.N.W. fine ; Nottingham, S.W. fine;
Derby, W. by S. fog ; Birmingham, N.N.E. very fine ;
Rugby, N. fine; London; S.E. fine; Chelmsford. S.W.
very fine; Colchester, S.W. fine; Gosport, S.W. cloudy;
Southampton, N.E. fine; Weymouth, W. fine.—Man-
cheater Guardian of yesterday.
LONDON JOINT-STOCK. BANK.—A special general
meeting of the proprietors was held to-day, at the Banking
Offices of the company, in Prince's-street, Bank, to supply
a vacancy in the direction, when Mr. W. Blunt was unani-
mously elected.

BIRTES.
On the sth inst., at Leo-villa, Kentish -tows, the wife of E.
Huggins, Esq., of a daughter.
On the sth inst., at Clapham-road-terrace, Bennington,
the lady of J. Samuel, Esq., of a daughter.
On the sth inst., at Portsmouth, the wife of the Rev. E.
W. Milner, of a son.
On the sth inst., at St. Catherine's, Dumfries, the lady of
J. Lindsay Scott, of a daughter.
On the 6th inst., at Duffrvn, Aberdare, Glamorganshire,
Mrs. H. A. Bruce, of a daughter.

DIED.
Of apoplexy, on the 28th (of May, at KatagherrY,
Southern India, Theodora Amelia Mary, wife of Maley
Frere, Esq , Madras Civil Service, and eldest daughter of the
Lord Vialtop of Madras.
On the 2d inst., at Wydale, Emma, wife of E. S. Caylei,
Esq., M.P.
On the 3d inst.; aged SO, Fir Nicholas Harris Nicola,
G. C. M. G. and K. H.

On the 4th inst., at Wellow Vicarage, near Bath, Franc'S
Kegan, wife of the Rev. Charles I'aul, vicar of Wellow.
On the 7th inst., at Parson's-green, Sybella G. Hammett
eldest daughter of the late J. A. tiammet, aged 18.
On the 7th inst., at Hastings, aged two years and four
months, Emily, daughter of D. Anderson, Esq.
On the 7th inst., at Portland-place, Emma, relict of the
late E. Raenscroft, Esq., aged 82.

London: Printed and Published by MURDO YOUNG, ax
.No. 112, Strand, Printer, at The Sun Offiee, No. 1*
strand, in the Precinct of the Saior, in the egiluiir
Middlesex, Thursday, August 10, 184 e.