The Sun.
London, England, 1834-11-14 00:00:00

tribt

LONDON,
FRIDAY EVENING, NOVEMBER 14, 1834.

The Moniteur has at last broken silence, and con-
firmed the announcement which appeared first in order
in our paper of yesterday, of the re-appointment of
the French Cabinet. The Parisian journals received
this morning are grave, witty, ironical, displeased, re-
joiced, and angry on the subject,--according to the poli-
tical opinions and systems advocated by their editors.
Among them all there runs one general expression of
surprise at the order of the new appointments ; and
the prevailing opinion is, that the new Cabinet will not
hold together a month. Never was there an attempt
at such an amalgamation of heterogeneous principles.
The mingling of oil and water would be effected
with half the labour which would be necessary to keep
such a body in unison. There is but one thing in
which there is said to be a community of feeling among
them. They are all tractable ; and such is the royal
confidence in their docility, that Louis PIIILIPPE in-
tends leashing the whole nine to his belt, and slipping
them—not in couples, or to run singly—but the entire
pack at a time, with the old Secretary of NAPOLEON
at their head, as the Ringwood of the hunt. The
National speaks of the new Ministry as a sort of " nine
days' wonder," and says that bets have been taken on
'Change, that this Cabinet will fall to pieces in less
than a month. This, we think, will mainly depend on
its obedience to the supreme will. Louis PHI-
LIPPE more and more manifests his determina
tion to be his own Cabinet. The appointment of a
Ministry is with him the compliance with a mere form
of Government, of which he would willingly rid him-
self, were he confident that he might do so with im-
punity. His Majesty is still the Schoolmaster, and
regards France as a great school, where he is annoyed
and perplexed by positive old fathers and foolishly-
fond mothers, with whose whims he must sometimes
comply with apparent pleasure, while, internally, he is
ready to burst with the bitterness of splenetic vexation.
The people must be humoured with their playthings.
A Cabinet is constitutional and according to the
Charter, and so he appoints a Cabinet ; but only such
as shall either do nothing, or do whatever be is pleased
to command.

HUGUES BERNARD MORET, the Duke of BAs-
SANO, is a name celebrated in the history of the
first Revolution. He was first a Jacobin, but
quitted the Society in 1791, and subsequently be-
came one of the founders of the I'euillans. He
was afterwards a Commissioner under the Re-
public, and on the advancement of NAPOLEON to
the supreme power, was appointed by the EMPEROR
Secretary of State. He never quitted the service of
the EMPEROR, over whose great mind he possessed
much influence. It is reported that the repudiation of
JOSEPHINE was mainly his act, and that the EM-
PEROR'S adoption of his advice was generally fol-
lowed by some disastrous result. Still this led to no
alienation of attachment on the one side, nor con-
fidence on the other. After the second restora-
tion he was ,banished, but was subsequently per-
mitted to return to France, where he has since
lived in great privacy. He entered into some

THE SUN, LONDON, FRI

speculations which proved disastrous, and is at pre-
sent almost in a state of penury. Throughout his
whole life his private conduct was irreproachable, and
his abilities, whatever they were, always employed in
obeying implicitly the mandates of NAPOLEON. Such
is the man whom LOUIS PHILIPPE has chosen Pre-
sident of the Council of France, and certainly the
choice shows much sagacity. BASsANo is seventy-
one years of age, and consequently there is no reason
to suppose that his habits are likely to change. It is
reported of him that his principles are liberal, but who
cares for the principles of a drill-sergeant ?—of the ex-
secretary of a despot, knowing no virtue but entire and
passive obedience to the will of the Sovereign ?

The character of the other Ministers is better
known. M. BRESSON is a hack as regularly trained
as any attorney's clerk in the purlieus adjoining the ,
Temple, or the Inns of Court. General BERNARD
is an engineer, and we believe the first who suggested
to LOUIS PHILIPPE the construction of the new
forts round Paris, of which he subsequently was ap-
pointed to superintend the erection. M. TESTE, the
Minister of Commerce, is a lawyer, was a Bona-
partist, and so far qualified for his present office as
to know nothing about it—if the reports about him
be correct—which, after all, may be so much the better,
as he cannot work with any old crochets. "What is to
become of the " Commercial Council's" proceedings,
under such a Minister, must remain for some time ase-
cret. The M'essager, from which extracts are given, states
that the proceedings of the Council are to be suspended
to allow the successor of M. Duc HA TEL sufficient time,
to prepare and adopt the measures which he may think
proper to propose to the various commercial Chambers.
We took notice of the pretensions of M. C. DuPIN
yesterday, and M. PERSIL is sufficiently notorious by
his prosecutions of the press. But, by the way, how
does this very consistent Gentleman propose voting
on the Amnesty question, which must shortly again
be argued across the Council board ? Will he give
the lie to his former attestation, with the hungry eyes
of his late colleagues fixed on him ? This will be the
very perfection of ratting. Something else may turn
up before to-morrow, which may upset " the nine
days' wonder."

The Dutch Papers by the Batavier steam vessel,
which arrived this morning, are not of so late a date
as those by the mail, which arrived yesterday, and
contain nothing worth extracting.

We publish in another column the manifesto of
General MINA to the inhabitants of Navarre on his
taking command of the Royal army on the 4th
instant. He seems resolved to act vigorously, and
we trust will be more successful than his prede-
cessors in command of the troops. The effect of
the Manifesto will be soon known ; the Carlists
have not evinced any symptoms of discouragement, and
on the evening of the 6th made an attack on the for-
tress of Elisondo. We have not learned the result.

We have adverted to some recent Legislative pro-
visions, touching our money system, which for the
reasons, and in the way we have stated, will probably
tend to bring about sounder modes of thinking and
acting upon this subject than have hitherto prevailed.
We have also pointed.out some errors of the Bank
Directors so palpable, that even they can hardly fail to
become sensible of their mistakes, and thenceforth
avoid them. We shall now apply ourselves to some
legislative provisions of an opposite tendency, but
which, in their operation and results, may also conduce
to work out beneficial consequences. We mean the
provision that bank-notes shall be a legal tender for
sums above 51., that the Bank shall not be obliged to
give gold at any of its branches in exchange for any
notes issued by it in London, nor shall any branch be
obliged to give gold in exchange for any notes, but
those issued by itself.

In enacting that bank-notes shall be a legal tender,
the Legislature must have conceived that bank-notes
would always be of the same exchangeable value with
gold. But had not bank-notes been notoriouslydepreciated
in time past? Then how, in the name of common sense,
could the conception be entertained that they would
not be depreciated in time to come ? Are they of the
same exchangeable value with gold, when foreign ex-
changes are adverse ? Can they be of the same ex-
changeable value with gold, when, upon all the pur-
chases of gold made by the Governor, he depreciates
Bank-notes upwards of 6/. per cent. ? If these ques-
tions cannot be answered in the affirmative, the Legis-
lature has enacted positive injustice. It has also offended
against the first principle of currency. A
piece of
gold in coin is of no more exchangeable value than a
piece of gold in bullion of the same weight and fine-
ness, but in coin, gold is much more convenient for the
purposes of currency. So the same exchangeable value
must be given for a Bank-note that is required for the
amount which it represents in gold, but the Bank-
note is preferred, because more convenient for the pur-
poses of currency ; and so long as Bank-notes are
of the same exchangeable value with gold, no one
does, or ever would, demand gold for them, except
for the purpose of making small payments, for which
purpose gold must always hie had. If, therefore, Bank
notes be, as they ought always to be, of the same ex-
changeable value with gold, the enactment is useless.
If they be, as they very often are, of less exchangeable
value than gold, the enactment is downright injustice.
It has the further vice of consulting the interest and
convenience of the Bank, which issues notes for profit,
at the expense of those who receive then-i without
profit, and with loss, if their exchangeable value be less
than that of gold. This vice is also inherent in the
provision that Bank notes shall not be convertible into
gold at any bank branch, and that each branch only
shall be liable to pay in gold the notes issued by it.
By the very obstacle and delay interposed by this pro-
vision to such convertibility, the exchangeable value of
Bank notes is lowered. The notes issued by the Bank
at any of its branches should be its notes transmitted
from London to• each branch. The very difference
created between notes issued at the branches, and notes
issued at the head establishment, serves to depreciate
both. These things must bring the Bank into collision
with the country banks. If report speaks truth, it has
already brought the Bank into collision with Joint
Stock Banking Companies. Some inconvenience may
thus be suffered, but good will spring from the collision.
With much mistaken prepossession in favour of the
Bank, it will remove many unfounded prejudices
which prevail against Country Banks. It has been
supposed that their issues cannot be safe, unless secu-
rity be given for them ; but how can any fixed security
be given without diminishing their means of carrying
on their business ? And how can any security be
given for issues, without. climinishing the security as it

DAY, NOVEMBER 14, 1834.

now exists for deposits, which are perhaps ten times
the amount of issues ?

In the case of Joint-stock Banking Companies, can
any security be so good as the liability of from 100
to 1,000 persons, who, by becoming shareholders,
make themselves and their fortunes universally answer-
able for the engagements of the concern ? With one
or two exceptions, arising from the union of private
Banks previously existing, none of the Joint-stock
Companies that have been established since 1826
consist of less than 100, and some of them com-
prise upwards of 1,000 shareholders, who are all
known, or may be known, for their names are re-
turned once a year to the Stamp Office. If private
Banks do not afford the same security, it is not for
the Bank of England, or the Legislature, to raise the
objection, for they were the cause of it.. Prior to
1826, no Banking Company could consist of more than
six persons. Banking in the country of England thus
was not and could not be instituted as a substantive trade :
but as one aiding and assisting to some other branch
of industry, in which the parties were engaged to which
the business of Banking was made subsidiary. Many
Banking Companies, however, improved after their in-
stitution in this respect, and since the institution of.
Joint Stock Banking Companies they must have still
further improved, and must continue to improve, other-
wise they will be superseded by Joint Stock Companies.
The country circulation is thus getting sound, and in
process of time will impart a portion of its soundness to
the Metropolitan circulation. The struggle between the
Bank and Joint Stock Banking Companies will evince
the strength and stability of the latter, in the course of
which they will rise, and the Bank will fall, in public
estimation. Attention will be directed to the manner
In which the country circulation undergoes so little
variation, while the metropolitan varies so much. It
will, then, appear that the country banks put forth,
and can put forth, their notes, only as instruments of
exchange, whereas the Bank puts forth its notes chiefly
as capital. The operation of its exclusive privilege,
when it extended all over England, compelled manu-
facturers in Lancashire, and other parts of Eng-
land, to contrive a circulation for themselves by
means of bills of exchange. If the Bank shall
continue to abuse its exclusive privilege in London,
to which and sixty-five miles beyond it, the exercise
of it is now confined, mercantile men in the metropolis
will, in like manner, contrive a circulation for them-
selves, which may supersede Bank notes. The Bank,
however, can hardly fail to see the mistake it
has committed in making use of its notes as capital, in
place of confining them to their proper use as instru-
ments of exchange. More gold will thus come into
circulation, and less of it will remain in the coffers
of the Bank, where it is as useless for the purposes of
currency or commerce as if it remained in the bowels
of the earth. But the metropolitan currency never can
be completely sound until the exclusive privilege of
the Bank shall be repealed, as we shall by and by show.

THE FUNDS.--(THIS DAY.)

CITY, TWELVE O'CLOCK.

We learn from Madrid that the Ministers have become
alarmed by the unfavourable information they received
from the north of Spain, and that the Government Council
had an extraordinary sitting on the 3d instant, to discuss
on the best means of advising the Queen in the present
alarming crisis. It is certain that an armed intervention
was proposed as the only sure remedy for averting the
pending dangerof the State ; and the Ministers were on the
following day to proceed in a body to the Government
Council, to lay before them the state of affairs, and to ad-
vise with them what measures were to be taken.

It appears that another Carlist conspiracy has been dis-
covered at Cuenza, and 50 persons have been arrested.
We are informed, by accounts received from Madrid this
morning, that Arguelles will not oppose the Spanish Mi-
nistry, but the moment the financial affairs are terminated,
it is arranged that he is to become one of the Ministers.