The Sun.
London, England, 1851-09-02 00:00:00

3 r t UIL

LONDON, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 1851.

Some time since, when it was ascertained that the
accounts of the immense quantities of gold collected
in California were by no means apochryphal, and
even scarcely exaggerated, we commented upon the
probable results of the recent discovery, and the
effects of the immense importation of bullion that
would naturally follow upon our system of currency.
The case was not without a suitable precedent. We
had before us the experiences of the 15th and 16th
centuries, when the prcduce of the Peruvian and
Mexican mines brought a monetary revolution, not
only in England, but throughout the entire
of Europe and the civilized portion of the globe.
All were more or less affected by the change, but few
were aware of the causes by which that extraordinary
alteration was occasioned. The statute-book was en-
cumbered with a variety of useless, aye, far worse
than useless, laws against regrating, forestalling, &c.
&c., to which " the many" erroneously attributed the
steady advance in prices which had more than quad.
rupled the nominal cost of all the necessaries of life
within less than half a century. It is unnecessary to
say that these various laws proved utterly fruitless.
A similar result has followed, and must attend,
sooner or later, every protective enactment that ever
has been, or may be, framed, and which can never
prove more efficacious than the command of CANUTE
to the ocean to keep back, or the more modern at-
tempt of Mrs. PARTINGTON to sweep back the sea
with a broom. Natural, can never be controlled by
artificial laws, and it is unnecessary to say that all
efforts for that purpose must invariably fall short of
producing their intended effects.

It, however, took a considerable period, nearly fifty
years, before the new system came into operation, and
the revolution was fully accomplished. The first few
years were consumed in repairing the deficiency that
had previously existed. History tells us that there
was such a deficiency, and the reason was obvious.
The increase of the precious metals had not kept pace
with the increase of population. The circulating
medium was, therefore, becoming day by day more
inadequate to the wants and exigencies of the
country, and there would have been a mo-
netary convulsion but for the opportune
discovery of the rich treasures of Potosi. That,
however, prevented a crisis, and led to a totally dif-
ferent state of facts. The steady influx of bullion led
to an equally steady augmentation of prices. If we
could ever fancy that the worthy bucolics could be
satisfied, they might well have been contented during
that period when the quarter of corn, which was sold
in the latter end of the fifteenth century at 9s. 7d.,
commanded V. 7s. 9d. in the beginning of the second
portion of the sixteenth century. Rents became trifles
not worth thinking of. The landed proprietor was
a petty prince—the occupier of the soil
was almost as well off as the owner in fee, while the
mere labourer was sure of obtaining " a fair day's
wages for a fair day's work."
This happy state of affairs was-after the change was
accomplished ; for during a state of transition from
lower to higher prices " the many" always suffer
before their earnings are made to correspond with
the additional charges for the necessaries of life, and
those humble luxuries that should at all times be
within the reach of the working classes, if we
look for a happy and contented population.
At first, not only were the laws against
regrating, forestalling, &e., to which we have above
alluded, carried into effect, but it was considered ad-
visable to make a legislative provision for the desti-
tute inhabitants, and to render the first charge upon
the property of the country the support and mainte-
nance of its pauper population. Matters, however,
speedily adjusted themselves, and the "golden days of
Queen BESS" have passed into a proverb to represent an
almost unparalleled state of prosperity and happiness.
Now that California has not only confirmed but
exceeded the most sanguine expectations that
had been formed as to the results of the " diggings''
—that Australia is also found to possess an auriferous
soil—we may look forward to a similar improvement
in prices, as it is termed, which, however, will be
nothing but a depreciation of the gold currency,
arising from the greater quantity in general use, and
not the appreciation of the other commodities that
may be offered i❑ exchange. The same phe-
nomena will be perceptible—the like causes will
produce the like results. There may be
some difficulties to he encountered during
the progress of the change, but the industrious classes
will be enabled to overcome all impediments. The
chief, the only sufferers, will be the drones in the na-
tional hive—those who have hitherto showed no
pity for their victims, who have been the most
strenuous advocates of bullionist theories. They
may then become the most, clamorous advocates for
an extensive measure of monetary reform; they
will desire to carry out the spirit of the contract be-
tween the nation and its creditors, and the purchas-
ing power of the pound sterling will be re-
garded rather than the quantity of gold
contained i❑ the sovereign. But how can they hope
that those who have been so deeply victimised, whose
miseries have elicited so little sympathy, will con-
sent to a change when the balance inclines to their
side, as it must speedily do ? There may
yet be time to effect an amicable com-
promise, to give a portion of the benefits that
must arise ere many years have passed away. Let
them seize the golden opportunity ere gold itself be-
come comparatively worthless. An extensive, and at
the same time safe and judicious measure of currency
reform would bring those anticipated advantages into
immediate operation. The agriculturist, as well as
the manufacturer, could then live without being in a
constant state of embarrassment ; there would indeed
be " protection for British industry," but it would
be for every description of industry, and embrace
every inhabitant of the United Kingdom under its
fostering shelter. To realise these benefits without
delay we would give the national creditors the fair value
of that for which they had contracted—the value of
money at the time they made advances to the public
Exchequer. This might easily be effected, and
they may be well assured that "the worthless rags"
that have been so contemptuously sneered at by those
who wanted to enforce their respective pounds of
flesh will become more valuable, and command a
heavy premium, when no other money or currency
will be accepted in payment of the taxation to
which every man must contribute according to his
position and means. " A national taxation money"
is what the country requires, and it would be for the
advantage of all that it should be conceded on judicious
principles with the least possible delay.

It was with feelings of indignation, but not of sur-
prise, that we read the report of the proceedings
which took place on Saturday at the Police court in
Birmingham, in the case of the Austrian female spy,
who called herself the Baroness VON:BECK. This bad
woman, whose real name was RacinuLA, and who had
acted in her native country, Austria, as servant to a
spy of the lowest class, had, it appears, been engaged
by the Austrian Government to act as a spy in this
country ; and she accordingly, having obtained a
suitable outfit, assumed the title of Baroness VON
BECK, and introduced herself as a Hungarian refugee
lady of noble family to several English families,
more particularly in the provinces, where she was
not likely to be known, and then plied her base and
infamous calling, transmitting regularly any infor-
mation she might pick up, or any falsehoods she
might invent, to the Austrian Minister here, who,
no doubt, forwarded without delay to his perfidious
master the fruits of her deliberate treachery. It
was through the means of such miscreants as this
Baroness DE BECK, that the murderers of BAT
THYANY, the Red,Emperor and his Ministers, were ap-
prised of the fact that Madlle. ANNA ZER had, on the
solicitation of the
,stewards of the concert, given here
for the benefit of the starving Hungarian refugees,
consented to sing at that concert, for which consent
(for she was unable actually to appear) she was, im-

mediately on her return to Vienna, visited by the
authorities and prohibited from appearing on the
boards of the opera of Vienna for twelve months. We
are, however, not surprised at the revelations which
have taken place is the case of this woman. Austria,
in common with the other members of the Ab-
solutist and anti-Protestant conspiracy, has
long since had a regularly organized body
of spies, lay and clerical, acting in all parts of
the United Kingdom and in various disguises. Now

the spy appears as the professor of some foreign uni-
versity, attentively engaged in scientific researches,
anon he is a worthy friar engaged in ministrations of
charity, freely communicating with the Roman
Catholic dignitaries and clergy, and transmitting the
information he obtains by these means to the
Austrian Chancery, where it is compared
with the information transmitted by the clergy
themselves. to Rome. At times, as in this case
of the Baroness Vow BECK, the spy assumes
the character of a refugee noble, Hungarian or Ita-
lian, as the case may be; occasionally too, an Eng-

lishman is found base enough to accept this vile ser-
vice, and he very frequently appears in the character
of an ultra-Chartist or Socialist, a writer of outra-
geously abusive tracts and pamphlets against the
policy of the English Government ; and, occasionally,
also, he adopts the more insidions plan of
praising the policy, but attributing its adoption to
such motives as cannot but rouse the feelings of other
Powers against England. This spy system as it at
present exists was thus extensively organized as far
back as May, 1848, when the refugee reactionary
Princes and Ministers were in the habit of meeting in
secret conclave at Richmond, and there organized the
great scheme of reaction, which is not yet fully deve-
loped, and from that time it has been in full operation.
We have on some few occasions endeavoured to attract
public attention to this subject; but the whole sys-
tem seems to the mind of an Englishman so abhor-
rent, that unless he has lived for some time on the
Continent, and become from experience acquainted
with the existence and modus operandi of the haute
police, he may be well excused should he refuse at
first to give credence to the statements that were
made to him. The revelations which took place,
however, at the police-office at Birmingham in this
case of the Baroness DE BECK must be sufficient
to convince the most incredulous that the haute pclce
of Absolutism and Obscurantism has acquired in
these dominions a development which would fully
authorise a demand for a Parliamentary inquiry
into the subject ; and we trust that Lord DUDLEY
STUART will not suffer a week to elapse after the
meeting of Parliament without bringing forward a
motion for inquiry In the meantime, before
Parliament assembles, we call upon the Govern-
ment and the Commissioners of Police to dis-
avow at once, if they can, the very grave
imputations cast upon them by M. CHARLES DE
SODEN, in his letter to Madame PULSKY, which was
read in the course of the proceedings at Birmingham.
In this letter M. CHARLES DE SODEN says :
"In reply to the inquiry contained in your kind note,
I beg to inform you that the person styling herself
' Baroness de Beck' is the same who, accompanied by
Dr. Ilcinemau, offered personally her services as a spy
and informer to the recently established foreign branch
of the English police force. This I knuw from good
authority, and I know likewise that for a fortnight or
three weeks she has obtained for such services the sum
of 51. 16.2. Bd. per week. It is also no secret to mo that
the soi-di.ant baroness introduced herself to the Com-
missioners of Pollee by forwarding a letter written from
Dr. Heineman, and containing an enclosure which con-
sisted of some articles and regulations adopted by an
association of German Communists in London."

MARRIAGE IN HIGH LIFE.—The King of Mos-
quitia still retains his seat on the throne of the Woolwas,
Ramahs, Samboes, and Morquitians. His sister, the Prin-
cess Agnes Frederick Augusta, was married on the 6th of
July, at Blewfields, to Michael Hodgson, a Mo:quitian
negro The Prince Consort is now in this town making
fence for a friend of mine. Michael was not aware that the
pension allowed by the British Government to the Princess
ceased on her marriage until the marriage hour had arrived,
and when he learned it he refused to be married; and it was
by force almost he was led to the presence of the Moravian
clergyman who officiated.—New York Herald.

It is rumoured that Captain Houston Stewart will
leave the Admiralty and take up the vacant appointment of
Admiral Superintendent of Devonport Dockyard, and that
Rear-Admiral Sir James Stirling will go to the Admiralty;
also that Rear-Admiral Berkeley will leave the Admiralty,
and succeed Rear-Admiral Prescott in the superintendence
of this dockyard.—Plymouth Times.
THE AUSTRIAN SP!' CASE.—The inquest on the
body of the deceased Austrian spy, Racidula, alias the Ba-
roness von Beck, was held at Birmingham yesterday before
Dr. Birt Davies. The deceased, according to the medical
testimony, had long suffered from aneurism, and the verdict
of the jilry "Died by the visitation of God."

What ; is the meaning of the phrase " recently
established foreign branch of the English police
force ?" When was it organized, by whose orders,
and what are its duties ? We had hoped that an
ignorance of our language had caused M. CHARLES
DE SODEN to adopt an ambiguous expression, and
that what he had really meant to say was, a foreign
haute police acting in this country, but we are hurry

to find that his words admit of no such mea,lings for THE FRENCH REPUBLIC
we find him in a subsequent part of the letter
expressly stating that the soi-disant Bsr,lness
introduced herself to the Conznzissioners of Police by
forwarding a letter written by Dr. HEINEMAN. HO
Sir JAMES GRAHAM, the opener of the letters of
MAZZINI, still continued at the Home.office ; had cet
excellent ABERDEEN, the betrayer of the BANDEIRASI
still continued at the Foreign-office, we should not
have been at all surprised at hearing of this organization,
but with Sir G. GREY as Home Secretary, and Lord
PALMERSTON as Foreign Minister, we cannot even yet
give entire credit to the statement. M. DE SODEN must
be labouring under:some dreadful mistake, and for the
honour of our common country—for his own honour
—for the satisfaction of those who have ever given
him an honest and disinterested support, because they
believe him to be an honest, high-minded, and
honourable man to be as he has himself boasted--an
English Minister, we call upon Lord PALMERSTON to
at once furnish some explanation on this subject,
even if he cannot, but: we hope and believe he can,
give to the statement an explicit and indignant denial

We have received the Paris journals of yesterday.
The Comte DE CHAMBORD has sent a missive from
Froshdorff, in which he emphatically condemns the
policy of MM. BERRYER and DE FALLOUX, and re-
t:iseS to countenance the support they are giving to the
ctuse of the re-election of the PRESIDENT. The
poil;Cy of the intriguers and fusionists has received an
addit `oral check, in the positive refusal of the Prince
DE jo:tiVILLE to publish an authoritative statement
that he :esigns all pretensions to the Presidency
of the Repoblic, as he was requested to do by M.
GUIZOT.
letter has been addressed by the
The following
condemned prisone:
s of Lyons to all their counsel :
" Dear Citizens,-
10 our first call you hastened to
give us the fraternal su,T 'ort of your eloquent and re-
publican voice before the 02iceptional tribunal to which
we were delivered up. You .have made for us every
sacrifice compatible with your dignity, and you only
retired from the bar to obey an imperious duty of
conscience, of right, and of liberty. Up to that time,
and even in that act which an unanimous and
spontaneous decision on our part had anticipated,
we remained always completely united in senti-
ments, in principles, and in resolutions. May the same
accord always exist between you for the future ; the
Republic awaits its safety, its happiness, and its glory
from the sacred union of all her children. It is at the
moment when the court-martial is about to pronounce
sentence on us, that, seated on these benches, where the
remembrance of you encourages, protects, and defends
us, we have addressed to you this solemn homage
of our gratitude and of our unchangeable de-
votedness. Bo assured that whether within bolts
or at liberty, we are and shall remain your
most affectionate brethren and your most constant
friends. Your devotedness, your friendship, and the sym-
pathies of the people for whom we suffer, add infinite
joys to the triumph of those on whom irons are about to
fall, and reserve inexhaustible consolations for the tem-
porary tortures of those who will be exposed to them.
We embrace you with all our hearts.
THE PRISONERS OP THE CONSPIRACY.
" (Signed) Thouret, A. Gent, Chevarsus, Caril,
Borel, Alaimo, Grill, Caussanel, Merle, jun.,
Auriol, Berthoumieux, Petibon, J. Gent, Be-
lisier, If. Deleecluso, Dupont, Bouvier, Robert
Montegut, Nouis, Michel Beridot, Ode, Bar-
but, Daillains, Langomazino, Doin, Vacheresse,
Pinot, Jean Louis, Daumas, Charnord, A.
Maleval, P. Maleval, Jouvere, Sauve, and
Marcon."

It is generally considered that the whole of the
proceedings before the court-martial are illegal, and
that the Court of Cessation, acting on the precedent
established in a precisely similar case in 1832, will
declare them null and void.

The account of the potato crop is most gloomy.
The following is from the Siecle :
" The potato disease is becoming general. To the de-
partmonts already noticed as affected, we have to add
the Marne, the Cote d'Or, and Vuncluse. In Alsace, in
the neighbourhood of Colmar, it has made great ravages.
In the neighbourhood of Gray, Upper Saone, the tuber-
cle is seriously affected. In the Manche the decease is
increasing in violence: fields that eight days ago were
unaffected are now completely destroyed, so that not a
leaf is to be seen."

The Bourse was dull, and Government Securities con-
tinued to decline until towards the close of business,
when they rallied slightly. The Five per Cents. opened
at 93f. 60c., and closed at 93f. 75c. for the end of the
month; the Three per Cents. closed at 56f. 30c.; Or-
leans Railroad Shares, 875 f; Rouen, 595 f.; Havre, 231 f.
25c.; Great Northern, 461 f. 25c.; Avignon, 202 f.; 50c,;
Vierzon, 427 f. 50c.; Paris and Strasburg, 358 f. 75c.;
Amiens to Boulogne, 260 f.

BUSLNESS DONn, IN FOREIGN RAILWAYS AT THE
LONDON STOCK EXCHANGE, SEPT. 1.
Boulogne and Amiens, IVA—Dutch Rhenish, 3—Luxem-
bourg., 21/2—Namur and Liege, 6—Northern of France, 14%
—Orleans and Bordeaux, 4A/3—Paris and Rouen, 231/2 ex
div.—Sambre and Meuse, 3—Tours and Nantes, 6%.