The Sun.
London, England, 1856-12-05 00:00:00

from 7 per Cent., at which it -was fixed on the
13th ultimo, to per Ceut. TI its change applies

not merely to discounts, but to a. ivances on securi-
ties respecting which the screw ha s perceptibly been
relaxed. The bullionist writers. are in raptures

at the prudence and moderati LOU of this step—
simply because it has greatly di IN Ippointed public
expectation, and although in the right direction
has not gone by any means sa far as had been
confidently anticipated, or as --the exigencies of
the [commercial and manufactv ring interests re•
quired. The Bank has dune little more
than retrace the step taken on the 13th

ultimo, going back to the rate of 61
per cent., which is now unifc rm, in place of a
higher charge being made on bills having more
than 60 days to run. As, howl aver, it is optional
with the Directors whether tt ey will discount

such paper, the relief is not 13: y any means of an
important character.
The Times, which recently i o clearly pointed
out the incalculable evils of a 11:4 ;la rate of interest,
which it truly declared to be. a great " national
disaster," justifies the adoption. by the Directors
of a more gradual process tba a might otherwise
have been anticipated. It pt,i nts out that the
Bank might, by further rests: lotions, have been
enabled to exact nine or even en per cent. ; and
the inevitable inference folio- n s, that we should
feel grateful for the moderatiA m that contented
itself with merely 6i, whex L half that rate
cannot be obtained for invest ments in Consols.
This, however, is merely a repa tition of the argu-
ment of the fox to the stork in he fable. Reynard
might have bitten off the la .ead unguardedly
placed in perilous proximity -to his throat, and
therefore the animal engaged in rendering him
important service should be thankful for his
moderation ! We have no (11, oubt that the Di-
rectors would gladly screw up the rate of discount
to the highest pitch if they co I Ild only do so with
safety to themselves. But thci re are two all-suffi-
cient reasons for their seeming m, oderation. It would
not quite do to "kill the goose. that laid the golden
eggs." A further great contacaction of the cur-
rency would impose such difficulties in the
way of commercial men that m s ,ny stoppages would
inevitably take place, by which, notwithstanding
the stringent precautions adopted, considerable
losses might be sustained that should be set off
against the increase of interesa. Many unques-
tionable bills should also be rejected in order to
produce the necessary panic= and confusion, so
that on the whole the apparently liberal policy
may prove the most beneficial for the pecuniary
interests of the Old Lady herself.
But there is another and even more pressing
argument. The charter has virtually expired.
The entire monetary code must be discussed early
next session, and it is more than doubtful
whether the Bank will be allowed to continue to
regulate the currency, and to exercise almost
despotic sway over the rate of interest exacted
from the industrial classes. So grave a breach of
trust, so gross a dereliction of duty would unques-
tionably turn the balance against them, and they
would speedilybe reduced to the private position for
which they are best qualified, and to which they
should speedily be restored. As it is, they will
find it difficult enough to vindicate their conduct
in increasing the rate of interest at a time when,
as we have recently proved from their own re-
turns, the tide had perceptibly turned, and the
bullion was gradually but steadily flowing in, the
reserve of notes increasing, while the active cir-
culation was being subjected to enormous reduc-
tions. We shall therefore decline to give them
any credit for not pressing the power which
should never have been confided to their charge
to the highest point, considering the serious con-
sequences that must have followed such an at-
;enipt.

But even as it is, we find that the English
rate of interest, usually the lowest of any, is now
much higher than that of any of the loading
money markets of the Continent. It is more than
per cent. higher than at Paris, and from 1 to
11 per cent. above the current charge at Ham-
burg, Vienna, Berlin, Frankfort, and Amsterdam !
Now, one of the chief advantages possessed by
the manufacturers of England over those of the
Continent has been the facilities for obtaining
money at reasonable rates. It has more than
counterbalanced the higher rates of wages which
the enormous indirect taxation renders indispens-
able ; and if money is to be rendered scarce and
dear it requires no extraordinary degree of
prescience to foresee the decadence of English
industry, and the transfer of some of our
chief products to other districts, where the
moneyocracy are more reasonable in their
charges. As we stated in our impression of
Monday—" The usurer who ventures little and
produces nothing, should be contented to see the
creators of the national wealth retain for their
own use a portion of the profits realised by their
indefatigable exertions."

The Duke of CAMBRIDGE is again justifying his
appointment as Commander-in-Chief. His Royal
Highness already begins to evince a willingness
to fulfil, without any unnecessary delay, those
fair promises of military reform shadowed forth,
but a very few weeks since, in that manly speech
of his at the Mansion House—that speech which
seemed on the instant to be little less than a
doom formally and authoritatively pronounced, as
far at least as concerned the general organisation
of the Horse Guards, upon the evil system Boz
has lately designated so happily the system of
Circumlocution. Henceforth to a considerable
extent, thanks to H.R.H., there really appears
to be a prospect, in the military depart-
ment of our administration, of an end being
at length Put to the brain-wearying,
heart-breaking work of mere—" form-filling, cor-
responding, minuting, memorandum-making,
signing, countersigning, referring backwards and
forwards, and referring sideways, crosswise, and
zigzag I" For the sole purpose, it would actually
appear (as Mr. DICKENS has lately intimated with
a wise and caustic irony), that some Noble or
Right Honourable BARNACLE may exult from his
place in the House of Commons, from the height
of the particular post to which he happens at that
precise moment to be sticking, " that within
the short
this compass of the last financial half-year,
much-maligned department has written and
received fifteen thousand letters, twenty-five
thousand minutes, and thirty-two thousand five
hundred and nineteen memoranda r Actually—
there does really appear to be the foreshadowing at
last of an end to all such monstrous folly at the Horse
Guards, now that the last Martial BARNACLE has
been knocked off that post, to make way for one
who can " dare " to be above all family interests
and party prejudices, and beyond the influence of
every personal and political predilection. His.
Royal Highness the Duke of CAMBRIDGE has
proved more than once, by this time, his sense of
what is really expected from him by the nation at
large, in his new, and very difficult, and most
tan one
re-
sponsible position as the General Commanding-in-
Chief.a He has demonstratedmore h
this clearly
enough already, upon
occa-
sion, and by so doing has shown, beyond the
possibility of misapprehension, his resolution
not wilfully to squander one of his many