The Sun.
London, England, 1856-09-18 00:00:00

LONDON, THIMSDAY, SEPTENIBER 18, 1858,

The Bank Charter Act is doing its work ; and,
unless some energetic measures be speedily
adopted to check its operation, we shall ere long
witness a monetary panic, the effects whereof may
be far more serious even than that of 1847, which
ware only averted by its temporary suspension in
the October of that year. The exportation of the
precious metals has at length excited serious alarm
in the money market. Bullion to an immense
amount has been imported ; but it has merely
passed through the country. It suits the purpose
of Continental speculators to pay a larger price
than can be given in this country under existing
regulations ; and there is no Dens ex nrachin4, no
recognised authority, ready and willing to avert
the fearful e nasequences that may arise by the
sacrifice of some hundreds of thousands of p3unds
sterling. The Bank of England cannot, in jos-
tice to its shareholders, adopt what th 9 bullionist
organ terms " the important contrivance of buy-
ing gold at a premium on one hand, which
the Bank is immediately obliged to part with at
its natural value on the other, to check the grow-
ing inconvenience." The 'absorption of specie
still continues, and, in consequence of our unfor-
tunate, and, we may add, iniquitous code, Great
Britain is rendered the milch cow to supply all
the rest of the world, although iu so doing we
are parting with the very life-blood of indus-
try, and reducing the working classes to a state
of distress and difficulty.
As we have stated, the importation of gold
during the past year has, thanks to the Austra-
lian discoveries, been enormous. We have also
received large quantities of silver from
Mexico and other parts of South America. '
But the stereotyped addition to the announcement
is, that the entire amount has been purchased for
exportation. Under the present law there is no
inducement to the Bank to purchase silver.
Notes cannot be issued against silver beyond a
4mall proportion, one-sixth, of the entire specie
ttored in the cellars at Threadneedle-street, and
yet silver is materially rising in value in every
part of the world ; and if matters continue in
their present state (and there is no reason to ex-
pect any important alteration) the trading classes
must be subjected to the most serious pressure
and inconvenience, which might be avoided by
timely attention to the all-important subject.
When the exports materially exceed the im-
ports of any commodity not a natural production
of the nation there must be an eventual smash.
If any private individual with an income of
4,0001. per annum chooses to spend 7,000/., he
must ultimately become insolvent. Now, it ap-
pears from the carefully-compiled statistics pub-
lished in the Liverpool Albion, that while our incom-
ings in the shape of silver have been little more than
4,100,0001. our outgoings have amounted to
~0 165 893/.,—and that merely shows the defi-
ciency so far as India .and. China are concerned,
without any reference to the heavy Continental
drain. Nay, more ; it does not even show the
full extent of the evil for which we have to pro-
vide. Even the Times itself calculates that "in
the 12 months from July, 1856, to July, 1857, a
total of 81000,0004 will Lave to be paid to India