The Sun.
London, England, 1848-06-22 00:00:00

ST. JAMES'S THEATRE.

ROBERT HOUDIti cominuea to attract crowded and fashionable
audiences at the St. James's Theatre, to witness his extraordinary
and original SOIitEES FANTASTIQUES, which he will repeat
THIS EVENING, and every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday
Eveuings, commencin.; at Half-past Eight.
No performance on Saturday, June 21.
In consequence of the great demand for places, he will repeat his
MATINEES FANTASTIQUES on WEDNESDAY MORNING,
June 28. Doors open at Two o'clock.
Boxes and Stalls may be secured at Mr. Mitchell's Royal Library,
33, Old Bond-street.

ROYAL SURREY THEATRE.
Engagement or Mr. T. P. COOKE.
'l'llls EVENING,
Will be performed ITT ITRF. EVENTS.
After which; MY: POLL AND MY PARTNER JOE. Hat
}lanyard, Mr. T. P. Cooke.
To he followed by the I.A..NTUM SERENADERS' CONCERT.
To conclude with KENSING•TON CROSSE.

Manager and Treasurer, Mr. B. S. Fairbrother.

ASTLEI"B ROYAL A3I YIIITHEATItE.
Proprietor, Mr. W. Batty.
,fitzb a new gorgeous Chivalrous Spectacle pre-eminently success.
ful.—Sacond Nveek of the grand Whitsuntide Noveltles.—Unparal.
leled Equestrian Feats.

THIS EVENING,
Will be performed, the new, brilliant Spectacle, founded on Sir
Walter etcott's celebrated poetical Romance, and entitled MAR-
MION; or, The Riutle of Flodden Field.
To be followed by the inimitable EXERCISES OF TIIE EQUES-
TRIAN TROUPE.
To conclude with the favourite drama of CLARI.
Box-office open trout Eleven till Five.
Stage Manager, Mr. W. West.

ROYAL SURREY ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS.
Attraction unprecedented.
JULLIEN and his UNRIVALLED BAND.
New Quadrille, composed expressly for the Gardens.
Engagement of Miss HUDDART.
Continuation of the Engagement of Mdlle. LOVARNY.
The DAYLIGHT VIEW of ROME, by Danson.
Superb and Unique MENAGRRIE.
Grand DiFplay of FIREWORKS, by the Messrs. Sonthby,
No Extra Charge.
MONDAY, TUESDAY, WEDNESDAY, THURSDAY, and
FRIDAY.
View of home,—Prornenade Concerts, Vocal and instrumental
conducted by Mons. JULLIEN, -whose splendid Band of Solo Per-
,
formers includes Messrs. Baker, Barrett, Bauman, George and 'Viotti
Collins, CioOl, Collinet, Koenig, Lazaru S,.nnenberg,
/c.c.—Two 50103 each Esr,nhig. —Aldlle. L6cartly will sing two fa-
vuurite Songs, Miss Iluddart will sing a favou. ite Song, and with
3flollle. Lovarny will execute an adrairel Duet.—Also to be seen,
duria4 the day, the beautiful Menagerie—Shakspere's House—The
magic Bridge—and other noveltes will be exhibited, the whole
concluding with a most magnincent and not to be rivalled display
of Fireworks, by the blesses. Southby, representing the Girandola
during the Holy Week at Itome.
Gates Nine x Feeding open at N . Time Five —Jullien's Concert at
a Quarter past Six—Fireworks at Half-past Nine.
Adixission, as usual, One Shilling.

TO CORRESPON
No communication can be attended to unless authesti
caked by the name and address of the writer.
ejected communicatiorrs cumot be returned.

THE WEA HEIL—SUN OFFICE, JuNE
TamdomETEß, Lowest, 58 Highest, 69; Noon, 73.
BAROMETER, :30.06 —WIND N.%V.; fine.

HIGH WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE THIS D.Y.
;Kerning .. 30 min. after 5 j Evening 50 min. after

The Committee appointed to inquire into the
causes of the recent commercial distress, and how
far it has been affected by the laws for regulating
the issue of notes payable on demand, have made
their first report. They have concluded their inves-
tigation so far as relates to England, and have given
the result of their opinions on that branch of the
subject, to the country. The document is (if pos-
sible) more meagre and unsatisfactory than was an-
ticipated even by those who discerned the nature of
the ingenious device for shelving the question until a
period when the public mind might be less excited
on the subject, when Ministers Might announce with
safety their determination to abide by the stringent
provisions of the Bank Charter Act, and to refuse
the slightest modification thereof, notwithstanding
the numerous deputations and remonstrances that had
been forwarded from every part of the country.
No doubt could have been entertained by any person
at all cognizant with the avowed opinions of the
majority of those selected to form the Committee,
that they would arrive at the conclusion that DO
alteration should take place in our monetary code;
but it was expected that some plausible reasons would
have been put forward in its defence, and that those
who had laboured for months, and who had examined
divers witnesses, would at least have stated the
grounds on which they might have formed their
judgment. Nothing, however, of the kind has taken
place. The report simply states that " the Com-
mittee, after a careful review of all the evidence,
are of opinion that it is not expedient to make any
alteration in the Bank Charter Act of 1844." Such
is the magnificent result for which Parliament was
summoned at an unusual period, to the great incon-
venience of its Members, who were drawn from
their usual avocations, at a period when their pre•
sence at home was of unusual importance to them-
selvs and their tenantries.
It is, however, satisfactory to state that the Com-
mittee were by no means unanimous in their conclu-
sions; that the report was only carried by a
majority of four, while a resolution moved
by the Honourable Member for Montrose, to the
effect " that the laws for regulating the issue of
bank-notes payable on demand had aggravated the
commercial distress of England in the year 1847,"
was only defeated by the insignificant majority of
two, the numbers being eleven in support of the re-
solution, and thirteen against it, including the mem-
bers of the late and of the present Administrations who
were placed on the Committee. Such a defeat is
almost tantamount to a victory, and it will, we trust,
not be lost sight of by the community in general,
when the demand is made for a revision of the pro-
visions of our monetary code, and the adoption of a
currency not subject to those ruinous fluctuations
which have so injuriously affected all the
industrial pursuits of the country, involving
those who gave employment to the labouring classes
in the deepest distress, and compelling those wbo
under more propitious circumstances could obtain a
comfortable livelihood for their families, by their own
honest exertions, to take refuge in the union work
houses.

The Committee state " that there has been a
general concurrence of opinion among the witnesses
examined; that the primary cause of the distress was
the deficient harvest, especially of the potato crop, in
the year 1846, and the necessity of providing the
means of pvment in the year 1847, for the unprece-
dented importations of various descriptions of food
which took place in that year." They also state that,

" among other causes, the deficient supply
of cotton ; the diversion of capital from its ordinary
employment in commercial transactions to the con-
struction of railroads ; the undue extension of credit,

especially with our transactions with the East, and
exaggerated expectations of enlarged trade, have been
stated by some of the witnesses, as having contributed
to the same result ;" and add, " they see no reason to
doubt that these causes have, in different degrees, in
different parts of the country, produced the effect
thus ascribed to them."
This is simply a repetition of the speech of the
Chancellor of the Exchequer on the 30th November
last, when moving the appointment of the Committee.
In fact, the precious bantling bears undoubted evi
deuce of its paternity, and it is scarcely necessary
to inform any person who has attentively perused the
speech in question
eu lo
ethgaitz eosfutree document was
cwt as.
prepared by the Bank
The censure that was cast on the 30th November
on the Bank directors has been repeated in a modi-
fied form. They have, however, promised to be
better behaved for the future, so no immediate mea-
sures are to be taken, the Committee declaring
"that it is unnecessary to impose such duty
by law, as there can be but Title doubt that
the permanent interests of
the Bank arTeheiyde:ltsi-o
tied with those of the public at large."

state " that they feel confident that the change which
has taken place (in the mode of appointment of the
Governor and Deputy-Governor), and the greater
experience which has been acquired during the events

of the last two years, will ensure to the public in the
future management of the Bank of England greater

benefit from this national establishment than it has

hitherto been the means of conferring upon the

country,"
The above, with an allusion to the serious
consequences of the panic and the want of confidence
that existed, which, however, " was immediately re-
moved by the letter of the 25th October," and a
statement that the evidence as to the effects of the Act
of 1844 was contradictory, appear to be the only
grounds put forward for the positive decision they
have come to. 'We shall on early occasion return to
the consideration of this most important subject.

In the beginning of June, 1793, the National
Convention of France promulgated the Constitution
of the new Republic—a Constitution which had been
drawn up in eight days, and which ROBESPIERRE de-
scribed as" the most democratic institution that ever
existed." "We can now," he said, " offer to the
universe a constitutional code, infinitely superior to
any that has ever existed, which exhibits the sublime

•
to the commandments is incompatible with the mas-
tication of a red-herring, that public decency is vio-
lated, anketernal salq•ation endangered by the un-
timely put Chase of a rasher of ham, or the vending
of a surreptitious lobi.:tei...'"
To explain ourselves. There is now before the
House of Commons a Bill, prepared and introduced
by the Honourable Members for Salford and Ashton-
under-Lyne, providing that—
" No person shall, on Sunday, keep or hold, or assist
in keeping, any market, or sell, or cry, or offer or expose
for sale, or cause to be sold or cried for sale, any goods,
chattels, effects, matters, or things whatever. The
goods of hawkers so defying the law are to be confis-
cated for the benefit of the poor of the parish. The sale
of milk, fruit, pastry, and beverages before nine o'clock
A.M., and after one o'clock r. 31., of cooked meat, tea,
coffee, &c., within coffee-shops, cook-shops, or eating-
houses, before ten o'clock A.M. and after one o'clock P.M.,
the sale of meat or flesh bAore nine o'clock A.M. (from
the 31st of May to the Ist of October in each year).
and the vending of drugs aid medicines, will not be in-
terfered with by this Act. The Act is not to extend to
steam-boats or I:cenSed houses. The penalties for in-
fringement of the ative provisions are Jim s varying
from 5, to 40s. Persons resisting the i fficers employed
in enforcing the Act will be liable to a fine of 101. The
operation of the Act is limited to the boundaries of the
metropolitan police district, ind the city and liberties of
London. The Ist of October is fixed for the commtnce-
ment."

Considering that our old favourite, Sir ANDREW
AGNEW, is no longer a AI ember of the Imperial Parlia-
ment, we had hoped that such monstrous, indecent, and
most un-Christian propositions as this would never again
have been laid before the supreme Legislature. Talk
of liberty of conscience after this ! Talk of civil
freedom, forsooth, or religious toleration, or of
the annihilation of the old incubi of ignorance, feu-
dality, and despotism ! Sorry, indeed, mustbe
can
liberality of the English constitution if such abortions
of legalized morality and Parliamentary religion
be allowed to interrupt the business of a rational
Senate. Often and often have we written down the
humbug of those pretenders to orthodoxy who have
from time to time attempted to interfere with Sunday
travelling both - on the highways and upon
railroads. A number of pigheaded dogmatists
endeavoured to throw a moral barricade
across the line of the Glasgow Railway; but these
gentlemen failed, and so, with the help of common
sense, will the two gentlemen we have already men-
tioned as adorning the Chamber at Westminster. On
a future day
we shallyintoegtrhee.
cruelty and folly and utter
enter more
indindecency
fully
this
n cy o
gious measure. Meanwhile we leave the Bill to uni-
versal derision.

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