The Sun.
London, England, 1856-05-08 00:00:00

Lo:' DON, TIIIIRSDAY, MAY 8, 1856.

A statement has recently been published, under
the hand of Lltd PANWCTRE, showing the amounts
of the original estimate and of the reduced esti-
mate, the sums already voted, and the sums re-
maining to be voted, on account of the Army
Estimates for the year ending the 31st March,
1857. Without entering into the particular items,
it is sufficient for our, present purpose to state that
the original estimati., amounted in the whole to
34,998,504/., anc't the reduced estimate to
20,747,574/., shcrwrinF.r, a saving in this single de-
partment of 14.,250,9301. sterling. Fourteen
millions and a quarter ! Much may be effected
with this enormous amount. And it is desirable
to consider in. what mode it may be applied most
conducive to the welfare and prosperity of the
entire community at large.
Fourteen millions and a quarter 1 The sum
is suggestive. It :recalls to our memories a very
important item iii the weekly accounts of the
Bank of England, It indicates the value of the
notes which " th.f.) Old Lady" is permitted to issue
against Governuneut Securities, and the payment
whereof is a con dition precedent to the abrogation
of the Bank Charter. If these fourteen millions
were satisfied there would be comparatively but
little difficulty in the final arrangement of the all-
important question. The providing means for
paying off the debt has been the chief obstacle to
a settlement. It has been a millstone about the
neck of successive Financial Ministers, and
the present Chancellor of the Exchequer has
scarcely the energy to grapple with the diffi-
culty. But here are the means at once pro-
vided, The saving on a single item of ex-
penditure gives a quarter of a million more than
is regruired to effect this great desideratum, and
to free the British Government from the shame
of being perpetually begging from a private cor-
poration for assistance but too frequently reluc-
tantly doled forth.
Of this sum 11,150,000/. is in the nature of a
permanent advance, bearing interest after the
rate of 3 per cent. per annum, but of which in-
terest naore than half (1.80,0001.) is relinquished
in consideration of the exclusive privileges en-
joyed by the Bank, that is to say of issniag notes
payable on demand in London, or within 65 milQs
thereof, and that its notes are made legal tenders,
except at the Bank itself and its branches, and
exemption from stamp duties upon its notes.
These are the avowed equivalents for the virtual
monopoly, but there are others of even greater
consequence, amongst which may be included
the prohibition of all notes for less than 51., and
of the extension of the issues of any old Banks,
or of any new Banks whatsoever, no matter how
unquestionable their solvency or ample the secu-
rity offered to the public for the redemption of
the notes on demand.

It is needless to expatiate on the vast import-
ance to the nation of obtaining a perfect " free
trade in money," and removing every restriction
on banking operations either in town or country.
It would be well worth not only the 180,0001.
paid, but even ten times the amount ; and we
believe that there is no person who has studied,
and thoroughly understands, the question, Who
would not consider its relinquishment a cheap
price for the independence of the country, and
even of the Bank itself—anl believe that they
would be mutually benefitted by the change. We
find other great Joint-Stock Banks realising
larger profits and offering better dividends
to their shareholders than the Leviathan,
and we have little doubt that with unrestricted
competition and better management, which would
speedily follow the alteration, the proprietors of
Bank Stock themselves would reap considerable
benefit from the separation of Bank and State.

But it is the in+erest of the community at
large that we are chiefly bound to look to, and
there cut be but little doubt how greatly that
would be promoted by attracting new capital into
banking operations. The establishment of a
really National Bank, issuing notes of 1/.,
21., and 31., secured oa all the property
and industry of the country, and receivable
in payment of taxes, would be of inestimable
advantage to the trade and commerce of the coun-
try. It would liberate at least 30,00030004 Of

gold now circulating from hand to hand, and dis-
charging functions which would be far better per-
formed by small notes. This would be just as
advantageous as if a gold mine were discovered
in the centre of England, and three hundred tons
of pure and unalloyed gold extracted without ex-
pense or delay. The wear and tear would be
saved, and the interest would go to the benefit of,
and realise a handsome profit for, the Exchequer
—a profit which would authorise either the abo-
lition or reduction of some of our most vexatious
and onerous imposts.
We are by no means advocates for paying off
old debts at a time when the taxpayers are ex-
hausted by the enormous burdens they have had
to sustain. In any other cause, we should offer
an earnest protest against a course which would
re-open the painful feelings occasioned by the
GLADSTONE abortion. It would unquestionably be
far better to create a new 3 per Cent. Stock for
the amount due to the Bank. This could not be
called an additional debt. It would be merely a
transfer from one party to many others, and
would be beneficial, as creating a greater diffusion
of wealth, and leaving to the Bank a much larger
amount available for its legitimate operations.
It would also be equivalent to the creation of
so much new banking capital for the use of
the industrious population of the country,
and of the mercantile and manufacturing in-
terests. The Bank would, however, most
probably invest a considerable portion of what it
waa to receive, in the new loan on the same terms
as the rest of the community.
We have, therefore, alluded to the fourteen
and a quarter millions saved on the army esti-
mates to prevent the Chancellor of the Exchequer
from resorting to an excuse of which he might
otherwise avail himself. If he shrinks from a loan
to pay off the Bank, there is the money ready to
his hand, and to what better use can it be applied
than that above indicated ? which would liberate
the Bank and the Exchequer from bonds mutually
injurious.

To one sentence in Mr. M. GIBSON'S Peace
Society Speech on Tuesday night we can heartily
subscribe. The hon. member observed, that
" the whole debate appeared to him to be of no
practical utility, because the treaty had been rati-
fied and could not be altered ;—and it appeared
to him that it would be sufficient to thank her
Majesty for having ordered it to be presented to
Parliament, and for having allowed it to appear
in the Gazette." The Three Nights' Debates of
the two Houses of Parliament unquestionably
resolved themselves into little more than an
orderly chat of a considerable number of educated
gentlemen over a document of which they could
not modify a syllable. More or less interesting
it might be to hear what some score of sensible
persons would say on the subject, but it had
been the subject of discussion with all sens-
ible persons all the kingdom over, perhaps
of many debating clubs also, and all these
persons had as much power in the business
as her MAJESTY'S faithful Lords and Commons.
All subjects of the Crown etood on a perfect level
with regard to the Treaty concluded for them by
the Crown ; for each and all, Lords and Commons
included, were alike powerless. The real favour
on the part of the Crown, therefore, was its con-
descending to tell us what we have no practical
business with whatever. The Treaty was the
work of the Crown, so far as England was con-
cerned, a work which it carried on iu concert with
other Crowns, and in which the grand object ap-
peared to be to save all Crowns, even the guilty
one, from humiliation, whether nations were
humiliated or not. There seemed, indeed, a show
of concern about Italian peoples ; but the das-
tardly innovation of a crusade against the Belgian
Press showed that all French Liberalism was di-
rected to conservation of Crowns. Yet what a
humiliation that the EMPEROR of the French
should tremble for himself and his infant before
the pen of a poor Belgian journalist.
It is interesting to think what would have been
the result had the Press and Parliament of Eng-
land been called on to share in the ratifi-
cation of the Treaty. If we admit that the pro-
gress of negotiations in the great cause of Crowns
and peoples should be bidden from the latter, yet
by what anomaly in a constitutional country is no
power over the ratifications reserved to its Houses
of Legislature. In America all treaties must be
ratified by the Senate ; why not in England ?
Why should not Lore CLARENDON have carried on
his part, knowing that, if he trimmed or erred in
any portion of it, it would be certain of rectifica-
tion before it could pass. It cannot be alleged
that none of the Despots would treat with us on
such acondition ; each one of them has treated
with the United States, who insist on it, and found
DO difficulty in doing so. It would probably have
prevented the greater part of the mischievous
omissions and concessions of the Treaty, and of
the Protocols. There are few things complained
of in either House of Parliament which Count
ORLOFF himself would not rather have yielded
than hazarded their becoming occasions of earnest
battle in the British Parliament. Had the final
terms of the Treaty depended upon its sanction
how totally different would have been the character
of the late debates. They have been actually
little better than mere comments—in the sup-
posed case they would have had what Mr.
GIBSON properly terms " practical utility ;" every
speaker would have had au object before him ;
and the despots of Europe would have also had
some chance of knowing the mettle of Englishmen.
It cannot be doubted that if the Treaty eould
be supposed to have left Paris in its present form
for the sanction of our Parliament, the whole
Press of England and the whole House of
Commons would have demanded the separation
of the English nation from the list of the insolent
threateners of the Belgian Press. It would have
left Austria, Prussia, and France alone in that
species of glory, and probably have required the
insertion of a clause asserting England's determi-
nation to vindicate for Belgium what she claims
for herself. But more especially, in matters
concerning Russia, she would have required that
the influence of the gun-boat flotilla and Crimean
army should have been greater than the starva-
tion of the garrison of Kars. Even assuming
the " Five Points" for the basis of treaty, Nico-
laieff, Bessarabia, and Circassia would have been
managed very differently. The neutralisation of
the Black Sea would not have been described by
Mr. GLADSToNE as a "series of pit-falls," and a
little more effort would have been used to bring
Russia in the s)„th of
Europe nearer to wha t
she was in the time of. PETRA the Great. How
to have said to
Li If you do not renounce the •
perfectly easy, for instance,
or any where
Russia,
ff,
right to
maintain an arsenal at Nicolaieff,
on any river flowing into the Black Sea, and do
not admit Consuls to every town—why, there we
are at Kinbourn and at Kertch, and there we
shall remain ; we shall hold the keys of your river
arsenals till the locks rust in your possession."

Iu Bessarabia, again, with the fear not only of
the Crown, but of the people before his eyes,
Count ORLOFF would have included the cession of
Chotym rather than hazarded the demand that
the Dniester should be the boundary of Turkey,

and would certainly not have dreamed of giving
less than even Austria had asked. Above all,
notwithstanding every excuse of the Government,
no one dare have presented to an English Parlia-
ment a Treaty which allowed Russia to rebuild the
Circassian forts, or which did not expressly stipu-
late for the independence of the Circassian terri-
tory. Lord DERBY would have remembered
to some purpose the insolence of Russia in
the affair of the Vixen, and absolute freedom
of trade with the brave Mountaineers would have
been secured by treaty. English electors would
never have endured that the noble struggles which
they had watched with such interest for years
should be unrequited when such an opportunity
offered. It would have been demanded that we
should be at liberty to sell muskets and amrauni-
tion to freemen resisting the great subjugator,
as well as to the CZAR and his serfs.

Mr. GIBSON and Mr. GLADSTONE ought, in con-
sistency, to raise two issues in Parliament—one,
that of secret diplomacy ; the other, that of the
Belgian Press. The Peace Party have, we believe,
long denounced secret diplomacy. It does not
suit the plain common sense of Manchester men
that the nation's servants should do its work
free from the supervision and control of
the nation. On this subject we have the pleasure
of agreeing with them. Narrow as their views
of foreign policy may be, even Lord JoaN himself
would learn useful lessons from them as to the
most advantageous mode of conducting actual
business. Mr. GLADSTONE exhibited so fully the
wantonness of the attack on the Belgian Press,
showed by quotations from the laws of that coun-
try that they were far more stringent than our
own, offering every facility for foreign potentates
to prosecute any obnoxious journal, that we trust
something will be done. The House of Commons,
at least, ought to be called on to pass a resolution
that, notwithstanding the Protocol to which Lord
CLARENDON'S name is attached, this country
would not submit to see Belgium coerced into the
enactment of laws affecting the liberty of the
Press. Or the same sentiment might take the
form of an Address to her MAJESTY.

Chemists teach us that for the due renovation
of the ever-wasting human frame a well-ordered
diet is essential ; that for the formation of bone,
muscle, &c., food containing each of the various ele-
ments of our corporal substance must be provided,
or serious mischief will ensue. It is on this prin-
ciple, in accordance with this established fact,
provident breeders of poultry supply the prolific
hen with cretaceous provender, and, we suppose,
Lord Mayors of London Cockney citizens with
veritable turtle-soup. Without the one, the
breeder would assuredly have eggs without shells,
to our discomfort and the deterioration of that
popular luxury, egg-broth ; and, without the
other, we would have what civic chemists will
probably be good enough to tell us—citizens, we
suppose, without a due modicum of fat—bare-
ribbed Cockneys, inclining to "lean and hungry
war," and likely to be dissatisfied with a patched-
up and inglorious peace. What favours this
supposition is the well-known tranquilising—we
may say sedative—properties of turtle. Taken
in civic fashion, that delightful medicament not
only qualifies the patient for aldermanic honours
—fits him to do his spiriting (that is not the
word, let it however pass)—but indisposes him
to self sacrifice and exertion, and shuts his ears
against those calls to which less favoured patriots
and philanthropists are but too apt to listen.
So potent are those properties, that neither port
nor sherry, hot and stimulating as they are, de-
prive it of its virtues ; and it is pleasingly compa-
tible with rivulets of claret and springs of champagne.
On the other hand—for the matter is not unat-
tended with difficulties—we have to account for
the entertainment last evening of her MAJESTY'S
Ministers at the Mansion-house. No good
citizen, it is well known, approves of taking his
turtle vicariously, or is disposed to encourage its
minute subdivision. Why were her MAJEST'YS
Ministers asked to share it ? They are allowed
by a generous nation the means to get turtle of
their own ; and ao earthly reason, at least of
which we are cognisant, exists to suppose they
are such anchorites as to refuse to avail them-
selves of them. They are portly in person, sus-
pected some of them of the gout, and
have just concluded an ignominious peace. What
claims had they to be invited to a civic feast ?
Nobody suspects them of over-sensitiveness to the
calls of justice, or of over-promptness to discharge
the exactions of high public honour. Their sto
lidity is unquestioned and unquestionable. It is
recognised at the Land's End ; it is not denied at
the house of John o'Groat.l Poland presumes
to mourn over it—Hungary to complain of it—
Italy to sneer at it—the Colonies to grumble over
it—Englishman to execrate it. They need no
turtle, they are sedatived enough for Lord
ELDON, and a good deal too much for the inde-
pendent press. Cretaceous provender would have
been a boon, more especially to the Lord Chancellor
and Sir G. GREY, whose Parliamentary eggs in-
capable of being cracked are successively squashed•
Why then turtle—for turtle and a civic dinner
are convertible terms ? It could not be appre-
hended—the supposition is monstrous—that Mini,
stern were dissatisfied with themselves—that they
never were, nor, by any possibility, can be. Was it
that there was dissatisfaction with the peace, and
the fireworks in the City, and the civic doctors
deeming it politic to administer turtle, thought it
but just that the Ministry, who occasioned the
necessity, should furnish the excuse for turtle as
well as assist at its administration ? We confess
ourselves puzzled ; but even if, as some say, the
turtle was meant as a bait for a baronetcy, we
shall be delighted to find the precious viand was
administered on principle.

THE SUN, LONDON, THURSDAY EVENING-, MAY 8, 1856,

LATEST NEWS.

TURIN, MAY 6.

Count Cavoui, in answer to interpellations ad-
dressed to him in the Chamber of Deputies,
declared that tie negotiations now pending, on
the subject of tie affairs of Italy, imposed upon
him a great reserve.
He explaiael the moral and material advan-
tages arising oat of the treaty of peace. The
Italian question has been brought before the Con-
gress, and Rance and England have frankly
adopted the v ews of Piedmont.

Austria wished to consider it as non avenue,
but this was rejected. The Italian question is
henceforth an European one.

The Minisler declared, in conclusion, that the
relations betveen Sardinia and Austria had not
improved. The Piedmontese Government placed
its whole reiance in the omnipotence of public
opinion.

BRUSSELS, WEDNESDAY.

In the Clambers this day, the Foreign Minis-
ter, in answering the interpellation on the recent
speech of Coint Walewski on the press of Belgium,
replied that that speech had not been officially
communicated. When that communication should
take place, the answer would be ready, and would
be communicated to all Governments, firmly
maintaining the rights of a constitutional and
independent country. It was further asked
whether any power had asked for any modifica-
tion of the laws relating to the press in Belgium.
The Minister said he would answer with one
word—" Never.' The sitting broke up amidst
immense cheering and enthusiasm.

HAMBURG, WEDNESDAY.

An official notice has been received of the im-
mediate arrival cf an American squadron at the
mouth of the Elbe. It is expected to cruise in
the waters of the Belt. The expiration of the
treaty between Denmark and the United States,
regulating the Sound dues, is said to be the mo-
tive for this expedition.

TURKEY.

CONSTANTINOPLE, APRIL 28.

The Journal de Constantinople, which had been
sentenced to two months' suspension, has been
pardoned.

AMERICA.

The troops at Adrianople having left that city,
some disturbances connected with the hatti-sherif
had taken place.

The Governor of Smyrna has left for Magnesia.
The Porte is busily occupied sending troops into
Syria to repress the disturbances there.

LIVERPOOL, WEDNESDAY.
The United States' mail steamer Arabia has ar-
rived with advices from New York to the 26th ult.
She has brought $300,268 specie on freight.
The Arago, from Southampton, arrived at New
York, on the 23d ult. ; the Arabia, hence, at Bos-
ton on the 25th ult. ; the French steamer Alma,
from Havre, arrived at New York on the 24th ult.
In the Senate the $3,000,000 Armament Bill had
been twice brought up, and its further considera-
tion was postponed.
On the 24th ult. a resolution was adopted, call-
ing on the Secretary of State for information rela-
tive to the extent to which the transportation of
labourers is now being carried on from the conti-
nent of Asia or any Asiatic islands to America,
with other particulars relative to the traffic.
On the following day a resolution was agreed to,
instructing the committee on judiciary matters to
inquire into the expediency of repealing the act of
June 3, amending the naturalisation laws of 1813.
In the House of Representatives nothing of im-
portance had transpired. It was generally believed
in Washington that there would be no alteration
of tariff during the present session of Congress.
A letter from Washington, dated April 21, states
that Mr. Dallas had written from England to a
friend in Pennsylvania, saying that he does not
think it advisable to allow the use of his name as
a candidate for the Presidency now that State has
expressed in an almost unanimous voice its prefer-
ence for Mr. Buchanan.

The Circassian Deputies, who attract great at-
tention, are daily visiting the great dignitaries of
State.

Mr. Buchanan had arrived at Philadelphia,
where be was welcomed by the firing of a salute,
and greeted with enthusiastic cheers from an im-
mense crowd that had assembled to receive him.
At Washington preparations were making for a
grand demonstration in his favour.
We learn from Toronto that the Hon. Mr. Ross
has resigned his seat in the Canadian Cabinet, on
the ground that the Ministry had lost the confi-
dence of the Liberals.

Steamers commenced running between Quebec
and Montreal.

We have later accounts from the West Indies.
At Bermuda, on the 15th of April, the crews of
her Majesty's ships Argts and Medea were reported
free from sickness.

French and Sardinian troops are daily passing
the Dardanelles, en route for Marseilles and Genoa.
Two regiments of English cavalry have em•
barked from Scutari on their way home.

The 12th Lancers are preparing to return to
India, and will take the horses of a regiment of
Hussars with them besides their own.

At Trinidad the weather continued very dry, and
sugar-making was proceeding very favourable; but
in many cases the canes were said not to be yield-
ing well. Governor Elliot was recovering from
the serious attack of bilious fever under which he
had been suffering, and, to promote convalescence,
was stayinc, at an island in the Gulf.
Savannah advices of the 18th ult. contain no
news of importance. Her Majesty's ship Powerful
was the only vessel of war in that port.
Advices from San Jinn of the 16th ult. confirm
the defeat of Colonel Schlessinger. He bad been
tried by court-martial on charges of treason and
cowardice. Another battle was reported'to have
taken place at Arcopaca between a small force of
Walker's and 200 Costa Ricans, in which the latter
were said to be defeated, with a loss of 30 killed.
It was also reported that Walker had 700 men
marching to meet the Costa Ricans.
A letter from Tampico states that 400 troops
would leave that city on the 11th of April for
Matamoras. A British brig of war left Tampico
on the 10th for Havanna.

The men of the Hussars are to come home.

It is rumoured that Saleh Puha and his
steward are acquitted of the murder of the Greek
girl at Varna, and a groom alone found guilty
and condemned to death.

TURKEY IN ASIA.
ERZEROIIM, APRIL 8.
The new civil governor, Vedgi Pacha, arrived
here on the 4th inst. He has the reputation of
being a good governor ; but it is understood that
he knows how to extort money—as is generally the
case with his colleagues.

Major Peel and Mr. Evans are at Olti, to acquaint
themselves with the position. They are expected
back in a week. Two English surveyors and two
corporals are at Devi Boynu, preparing a plan of
the strong position.

Accounts from Curaqoa to the 4th of April re-
port that a large portion of the Dutch West India
fleet had arrived from Venezuela. Mr. Bingham,
English Minister residing at Caraccas, was about
to attempt a settlement of the Ayes Islands diffi-
culty, existing between the Dutch and Venezue-
lan Governments.

The commercial advices from New York report
that an active demand for money prevailed, which
was readily met, with dealers at 7 to 9 per cent.
The stock-market firm during the week, and closed
buoyant, State stock and bonds being in good re-
quest for permanent investment. Sterling exchange
closed firm at 94 to 92 ; bills on Paris were quoted
at sf. 171 c. to sf. 161 c.
The demand for cotton continued active, but
prices remained without change.
The advices from the south were considered
favourable ; in flour a decline of 37 cents. had
been established, in consequence of the depressing
nature of the European advices ; wheat had also
declined 5c., with a limited demand. Prices for
provisions were steady. The market for Scotch
pig iron was unsettled, and lower prices had been
accepted. English sheet-iron was firmer. Freights
continued dull, and to Great Britain lower rates
had been accepted in some instances ; the offerings
in all directions were light, and the supply of ton-
nage increasing.
At New Orleans on the 24th ult. the Arabia's
news was received.
Middling cotton was quoted at 11. i cents, with a
firm market.
Freights t© Liverpool dull, at 9-32 d. for cot ton.

THE FRENCH ATTACK ON THE
BELGIAN PRESS.

The Pays contains a violent article against the
Belgian press, and, availing itself of Count Walew-
ski's artful summing of what he said on the subject,
in answer to his own carefully-prepared speech in
the Congress, dishonestly represents that the Con-
gress voted a resolution that measures should be
taken to put down the liberty (or, as the Pays
phrases it, the " excesses of liberty") of the Press-
in Belgium. The plausible pretext put forward
for foreign interference with the Belgian Press, is
that certain journals in Belgium preach " murder,
pillage, and robbery." This, everybody knows, is
but a pretext, The real grievance is that facts,
which the French Government suppresses by the
strong arm of authority at home, are published in
the French language across the frontier. Follow-
ing up the spirit of Count Walewski's oration, the
Pays, after taking credit for the great mode-
ration and " patience" of the French Government,
says, " But when the outrage assumes every day
more and more monstrous proportions, the dignity
of a government which is by its origin the emana-
tion and incarnation of the sovereignty of the peo-
ple, the dignity of the nation impersonated in the
chief of the state, might render a more energetic
attitude legitimate." After this salient sally, the
Pays, as if "scared at the sound itself had made,"
hastens to protest against too large an interpreta-
tion being given to its words, and vows lustily that
it only speaks its own personal sentiments. This
common form of reserve is too transparent to de.
ceive anybody. Every one knows that a French
Government journal in these days has no per-
sonal sentiment whatever beyond the desire to
act faithfully up to the instructions of the hour.
All this hectoring about independence is simply
ridiculous. The attack upon the Belgian press is
an essay to put down a free press allover the world.

Colonel Giles keeps close in his house, doing
nothing. Whether it be from pride or some other
cause, he has not returned the visits of any of the
respectable residents who have waited on him, and
has intercourse with very few persons here. This
exclusiveness makes us feel keenly the loss we have
sustained in General Williams.

An Aide-de-Camp of the Seraskier, who arrived
here three days ago from Constantinople, informs
us that the armistice is indefinitively prolonged,
and that he considers peace to be certain.
Feisullah Pacha, the Yeely of Sivas, at one time
attache of the Ottoman embassy in London, has
been barbarously murdered in his palace, by four
of his Georgian slaves. In consequence of ill-
usage experienced at the hands of their master,
they vowed vengeance, and, having put him to
death one night m his sleep, went straight to his
chiaga (secretary), confessed the deed, and surren-
dered themselves prisoners. The murdered pacha
had his peculiarities, but he was not a bad man at
bottom.
Our most recent advices from Persia are of the
month of March. They state that a portion of the
Persian cavalry had occupied Herat, and that the
Shah was marching troops and forwarding the
material of war in that direction, with a view to
invade Candahar. The country between Teheran
and Herat is suffering this year from dearth, and
it is feared the Persian army will undergo great
privations before it reaches its destination.
Mr. Murray, with the whole of the mission, left
Tabriz on the 11th of March, for Bagdad, via
Mosul. An impression prevails that an Anglo-
Indian squadron will soon appear at Bushir.