The Sun.
London, England, 1856-11-17 00:00:00

We have had canards in abundance of.,late to there can be no necessity for making imple provi-
teach us caution, and nowhere do the adepts in sion for future contingencies by hoarding or keep-
the manufacture of this article flourish in greater ing locked up in his strong box the money which
luxuriance than in the United States. Consider- ;in the hands of the different banks would be avail-
ing the time that must necessarily elapse before
the results of the polling in the various States
could be totalised, and the result conveyed to this
country, the announcement seems somewhat pre-
mature, and there remains reasonable ground of
hope that a denouement, which all Englishmen
worthy of the name have long deprecated, has
not come off, but that a choice worthier of our
transatlantic cousins has been made.
Should the election have actually fallen on Mr.
BUCHANAN, it is not we, but they, who will have
reason to be ashamed, while both countries will
have cause to look with apprehension to the future.
By the election of Colonel FREMONT a pledge
would have been given for the moral resurrection
and the unbroken prosperity of the United States.
By the election of Mr. BUCHANAN the future is
enveloped in gloom ; and whether his career will
be marked by internal retrogression and external
piracy and conflict, must for many months be
matter of doubt. We may be pardoned under all
the circumstances if, in a casein which so momentous
an issue is at stake, and in which so many sacri-
fices have been made, we are reluctant to believe
the worst. The election of Mr. BUAHANAN were
so painful, so discreditable a result of the great
American struggle, that doubt on our part as to
its truth is but homage in disguise to the might
of enlightened opinion and political virtue across
the Atlantic. It becomes us, however, to look at
such an event as a probable evil, and while con-
templating its dimensions, and the mode in which
it is likely to affect us, sound the note of prepara-
tion, so that, "come whatc ome may," this c..untry
shall be found in an attitude at the very
least to command respect. Whoever is elected
Great Britain has duties towards herself and her
allies to discharge, and it behoves her to make
special provision where the discharge of those
duties seems likely to be attended with risk. It
is by affronting danger, and not by cowering
before it, that the continuance of peace is in such

able for general use, and, judiciously circulated
throughout the country, would completely remove
any commercial panic, the teterrima causa mall.

We see that this effect has been equally pro-
duced before, as well as since, the resumption of
cash payments under the Act of 1819, and even
more decidedly so since the fatal measure of 1844.
An increased issue of paper brought back to the

Bank the bullion, that had been withdraten under

more stringent regulations. The efficacy of a prin-
ciple diametrically opposed to that of the Bank
Charter Act is thus clearly established, and yet,

with a perverse obstinacy that would be Ina-

crous but for the fearful amount of suffering and

privation thereby occasioned, our rulers cling to
the enactments that have produced such wide•

spreak misery and destitution, and the people,

Insensible to the (muses that have brought so many
families to poverty, remain indifferent and apa•
thetic with respect to the all-important question.

We shall adduce a few cases which, as we
conceive, fully establish the accuracy of the above
assertion—viz., that every former commercial
crisis has been arrested or alleviated by an en-
larged issue of bank notes. Exactly what the

existing monetary code expressly prohibits, giving

in lieu thereof a most unwise and ruinous con-
traction of the circulating medium, at the critical
moment when a totally opposite course is impera-
tively required, and we shall in each case adduce
authorities which cannot be controverted or im-

peached by the most enthusiastic builionist.
The first epoch to which we think it useful to
refer is that of 1793, on the breaking out of the
war with France, and we learn from the report

cases to be insured.
Should the election of Mr. BucnANAN prove
a fact, the slaveholding power has achieved a great
victory, which there can be little doubt it will
push to the utmost. The struggle has justly
been regarded by it as one of life or death, and
its worst passions and most unscrupulous prac-
tices have been brought into exercise. Much
allowance must, doubtless, be made for the heat
of conflict—the fact* however, remains—the
struggle was to the Southern.ers of vital
importance, involving no less than the fate of
slavery ; and if they have succeeded, it is only
by the most desperate exertions. To look, there-
fore, for any generous forbearance on their part
would be simply idiotic. They cannot afford it.
Nothing but the danger of carrying their victory
too far for their own purposes is likely to deter
them from requiring more than is compatible with
any pretence of Northern freedom. The fate of
Kansas is already sealld, and the retention of
Cuba has become matter of immediate concern
to the Court of Spain. Those who may be disposed
to look for any decided steps being taken by the.
North to ignore the election of BUCHANAN will be
disappointed. Possibly the majority in his favour
may not turn out so great as the law requires,
and another candidate may ultimately be elected.
We do not count much on this chance—if elected
—we imagine the majority in is favour will be
found sufficient. The prospect, however, is by
no means entirely gloomy. Mr. "RUCH &NAN is
neither a fool nor a political fanatic, and has a
reputation to win. Hitherto he has shown him-
self possessed of a certain amount of sagacity, it
not of scrupulosity. It is by no means improb-
able that what he won by exceptionable
arts, he may wear with some degree of credit.
Nothing could be more full of promise than the
advent of PIERCE ; nothing more full of falsifica-
tions than his career. The reverse of this may
with so much warrant be predicated of BUCHANAN.
The lion may -go out a lamb. History is not
without such precedents. Be this as it may, in
BUCHANAN himself is the best reliance in America
for thefuture. He is toopractised and too expedient
a politician to go the whole hog with the
Southerners, if by doing so the danger of
a rising in the North would be imminent ; and
we cannot think that they who have declaimed
so loudly before his election will be mute and
motionless, do what he may afterwards. After
all, the slaveholders may be doomed to consider-
able disappointment.

were :

As we write, the announcement of Mr. BUCHA-
NAN'S election has been confirmed. We do not
the less believe the first was a guess—as it turns
out, a lucky one. We have therefore to deal
with a certain, instead of a probable event in con-
templating what may be that gentleman's foreign
policy. With respect to it, our hope is in the
attitude of this country. It is well known
Mr. BUCHANAN was the chief spirit at the Ostend
Conference, where doctrines at utter variance with
international right were agreed to. It is also
believed that Lord CLARENDON'S endeavours to
promote a good understanding between this coun-
, try and the United States, on more than one im-
portant occasion, were baffled by the same agency.
It is hardly likely that one who sets. his sail so
readily to the wind will hesitate long to push on,
or leave untouched, the acquisition of Cuba, as
either course may be deemed likely to be
attended with popularity, and the presump-
tion is the temptation will be towards the for-
mer. In that case, as in others of a like
aggressive character, a conflict may be anticipated
with more than one European Power, and espe-
cially with us. If, however, we are prepared and
show a bold front, JONATHAN will think twice
about it, and may be found lowering his tone,
and foregoing the coveted possession at last.
The United States have got a slippery President,
" that's a fact "—consequently it is not very pro-
fitable speculating further. We must make the
best of it, and we can only do so by making such
naval preparation as the honour and dignity of
this country seem to call for.

distress have
There is not a single instance within the me-
mory
of man in which commercial difficulty and
Notes, at the time when not been greatly alleviated, if not
altogether removed,
wbhye
na ntheenlsaprgeecide issueboafenßank
Notes, at the time when the specie had bsn Un-
duly reduced,
either from the effects of large
foreign importations,
loans to, or investments in,
other countries,
or any considerable outlay ex-
,
ceedinz the national income. 'Many cases in point
eve
re Fain on Yecorl, and it, eery ry one the remedy
which reason an
d common
sense indicated proved
effeatual, Thc michief had invariably been oc-
casioned by the restrictive measures adopted by
the Back of England, and. was as certainly re-
moved by the adoption of a more liberal and en-
lightened policy by its directors. Experi_
duce- teaches us beyond the possibility of
di4pu te that all that is required is to
satisfy the people that any man of unquestionable
solvency- can obtain, on sufficient security, the
amount of paper currency which he requires fir
the tramaction of his ordinary business, and that

Directors, by affording a more plentiful circulation,

removed the cause, and with it the grievance.
There was then the transient prosperity Of 1817-

18, which was, however, brought to a speedy

termination by the Act of 1819—the operation
whereof soon renewed the calamities of 1816, and
brought the people of this country to a state
almost of insurrection.
We have thus traced the causes of the various
commercial crises that happened previous to the
abolition' of inconvertible bank paper. We must
defer to another opportunity a similar investiga-
tion of the various emergencies that have arisen
since the introduction of that unwise and impo-
litic measure. They will all be found, on
cairn investigation, to have proceeded from
similar causes, and to have been cured by
the like means. No matter what might have
have been the state of our trade and commerce,
whether there was undue speculation or not, dis-
tress was occasioned by the undue contraction,
and removed by the judicious expansion of the
Bank circulation, and yet that wise and politic
course was prohibited by the Act of 1814, which
completely took away the discretion, previously
examined by the Directors, and rendered the
remedy the same, no matter what might be the
cause of the mischief. " The self-acting regula-
tor of the currency," as it has been termed by
its admirers, has proved a decided and unequi-
vocal failure. It has been weighed in the balance,
and found wanting. And now that money has
advanced to the famine price of 7 per cent. at the
Bank itself—or 10 or 12 per cent. to those who
have not discount accounts with the Bank, it is
time that the People should be awakened to the
magnitude of the emergency, and bring the pres-
sure from without to bear on Parliament, which
can alone produce an adequate remedy.
We cannot conclude without inviting attention
to a communication, signed C. W. S., "an Eng-
lish merchant, likely to be ruined by the scarcity
of gold." It will be found well worthy of perusal,
and if we would avoid the consequences which he
so graphically describes, we must, while there is
yet time, endeavour to help ourselves. We pro-
mise our correspondent that we shall not relax
our exertions. We only hope that they may
excite corresponding efforts on the part of the
People, who are so greatly interested in the
satisfactory solution of the all-important problem.

of the celebrated Bullion Committee of 1810
that "In the year 1793 distress was occa-
sioned by the failure of confidence in the country
circulation, and a consequent pressure on that of
London. The Bank of England did not think it
advisable to enlarge their issues to meet this in-
creased demand, and their notes, previously
issued, circulating less freely in consequence of
the alarm that prevailed, proved inefficient for
the necessary payment. In this crisis Parliament
applied a remedy, very similar in its effect to an
enlargement in the advances and issues of the
B ink. A loan of Exchequer Bills was authorised
to be made to as many mercantile persons, giving
good security, as should apply for them ; and
the confidence which this measure diffused, as
well as the increased means which it afforded of
obtaining Bank notes, through the sale of Ex-
chequer Bills, speedily relieved the distress, both in
London and the country ! "
Here, then, we find that which the Com-
mittee considered " very similar in its effect to
in enlargement in the issues and advances of the
sank," followed by instant relief, and the emer-
4ency overcome, by a j udicious supply of that
which was alone required by the trading popula-
tion—viz., an adequate supply of the recognised
measure and representative of value.
Again, in 1797, we learn, on the same autho-
rity, that " an alarm of invasion, a run upon the
eountry banks for gold, the failure of some of
them, and a run upon the Bank of England, pro-
produced a crisis like that of 1793, for which,
oerhaps, an, effectual remedy might have been pro-
vided, if the Bank of England had had the courage
to 04end, instead of restricting, its accommodations
and issues of notes. -Few persons, it appears
from the Reports of the. Secret Committee of the
Lords, were of this opinion at the time, and the
late Governor and Deputy-Governor of the bank
stated to your Coratnittee that they and many of
the Directors are now satisfied, from the experi-
ence of the year 1797, that the diminution of
their notes in that emergency increased the public
distress, an opinion in the correctness of whir h your
Committee entirely concur." Here was the cause
of the evil graphically explained! But how was
it removed ? Simply by the order in Cm neil
which superseded cash payments, or, in other word s,
rendered the Bank paper inconvertible. One
pound notes were issued in abundance, which
answered all domestic purposes. The consequences
were immediately apparent. Credit was restored,
industry reanimated, and the nation was enabled
to meet all the expenses of the war, which, ac-
cording to the evidence of Lord ASH BURTON, be-
fore the Committee on Agriculture in 1836, must
otherwise have been brought to a premature con-
clusion. The ipsii slam verba of hi 9 Lordship
." But in truth the war must have come
to an end ; you would have been forced to peace
in 1797 but for that measure."
Next came the crisis of 1810, which led to the
Cormation of Mr. HORNER'S Committee. This was
occasion ed by the great demand for the precious
metals, produced by the subsidies we were paying
to German friends, and the vast expenses of our
own armaments. But we weathered the storm
by the judicious liberality of the Bank of Eng-
land, which inc reased its discounts, to the pre-
viously unprecedented sum of twenty millions—an
addition of four and a half millions to the accom-
modation afforded during the preceding year—
end by a simultaneously increased issue of Bank
notes, which, for the Bank itself, reached twenty..
one millions—An amount more than doubled, when
the provincial circulation was taken into account.
That paper currency reached the enormous amount
of forty-eight millions sterling ; and by that
means, and that alone, we were enabled to carry
on the war and bring it to a triumphant termina-
tion, and to raise sums, between loans and taxa-
tion, to which the heaviest expenditure during
the late contest was a mere bagatelle. Notwith-
standing all that enormous outlay the nation was
prosperous. There was ample employment, at
remunerative rates, for every man able and will-
ing to work, and the industrious population of
the country were certain of that great desideratum
—" a fair day's wages for a fair da y's work."
Such were the events during the war, when the
burdens of the nation far exceeded anything before
or since exacted from the pockets of the people.
The Income and Property Tax was no less than 10
per cent., and extended to all incomes of GO/.
and upwards, and many imposts were then in
operation which have aince been either completely
abolished or greatly -mitigated. And yet the
people bore all pati'ant'Ly, and enjoyed comforts
almost unknown to their children, and simply
because there was a, circulating medium adequate
to the wants and exigencies of the country, and
the industrial population " had a sufficient sup.
ply of straw for the bricks they were compelled to
produce."
But
thethe eAs ation of hostilities, in place of add-
gto 'rational prosperity, produced another
monetary Taxation was reduced, but still
the deepest, commercial and agricultural distress
was occasrioned. Working men were thrown out
of employment—the national industry was para-
lysed— -reasonable wages could no longer be ob-
taineik—the very means of subsistence were want-
ing, and many families that had previously en-
joyed comparative comfort were enduring an
artificial famine in the midst of plenty. And
why ? Because the Bank contracted its
janues with a view to the early resumption of sash
Pinner-Its, and the evil was not arrested until the

The Russian war has been of untold and un-
utterable value to England. Not the conferences,
not the peace, but the war. We do not mean
that it has compelled army reform or navy reform;
that it has obliged obstinate old fogies to adopt

reasonable clothing and Minie rifles, screws, and
gun• boats ; the war has saved the nation from
sinking into the arms of commerce, and aroused it
to deeds of suffering and daring. It gave the

country other and nobler work than cottenspin-
fling and sharebroking, and interested it in the
rights of nations more than in 3 per Cents, at
par. Not that we despise or decry the loom, the
forge, or the plough, HEITEN forbid ! They are
noble implements rightly used, and one day, not
for us to witness, they are to supplant the sword

and the spear. But the manufacturer, and the
artisan, and the agriculturist, confined in thought
to their own pursuits, become mere sons of toil,

and on .f the soil. Whatever awakens generous
and expansive interest in things beyond our little

circle, so far ennobles and elevates our minds.

In this sense the war has raised our country.

Allowing that mere malice against innocent Rus-
sians, and pleasure in their destruction, wer• in-
deed unworthy—we should say that fact showed
it was also ou-13nglish. Througliuut all the War the
people generally heard with sorrow of the death
of thousands of the CZIR'S helpless sheep,
while they rejoiced in the diminution of the
CZAR'S instruments of aggression. The sends of
Hango (who have never yet received their due)
could but be execrated, yet all justice was done
to a MOURATIEPF and a TODTLEBEN. The whole
nation burned with a noble indignation against
itself for having sold Hungary and Italy to Mr.
COBDEN and Lord J. RUSSELL in 1848. In every
workshop, every farm, and in most country houses
in the kingdom, the feeling was that we had
borne too long. Poland, Hungary, Italy, had
all been crushed by foreign intervention, mad the
agents of our Court bad only said " the English
I people do not like it."

I',

But the insatiate Moloch of the Russians had
at length gone too far. Even Courts were uneasy
when Constantinople was likely to become the
capital of all the Russias, and to convert its de-
pendent provinces into a fourth or fifth Russia. The
very Ceburgs were annoyed at the thought of Aui-
tria beingso surroundedby her Great Northern Pa-
tron; England saw her opportunity; she determined
that the Ministers should no longer say "England
does not like, it," but "England will not have it."
Looking back upon the general sentiments when-
ever and however expressed—Death to despot
oppression was the universal feeling. The whole
nation, we believe, would gladly have spent an-
other hundred millions to complete its work. The
rights of Poland were nowhere asserted without
eliciting enthusiastic cheers. The Circassians, and
the Fins, and the Swedes, too, all had a deep
share in the general sympathy. Anything to
free them all ; a bold stroke and a rectification of
the map of Europe, Russia-wards at least, was
what all desired. And these were ennobling sen-
timents. They made the farmer something more
than a farmer, the weaver something more than
a weaver. They enrolled those who held them
with those who bled at Thermopylae and Chago-
nea ; with the WALLACE; and HA.MPDENS, and
CROMWELLS of Britain. They all knew that war
took something, took much, from their fireside
comforts, or from their incomes ; but they would
have spared double to see the CZAR, brought to
his knees, Prussia reduced to Russia, the down.
trodden raised up, the bound freemen emancipated,
and the thrones of all despots shaken.
True, these noble feelings have been unworthily
disappointed ; but they have been aroused, and
they are still as strong as ever. The ABERDEEN
Cabinet sold the grandest opportunity ever offered
to a Government of preventing a war by threaten-
ing the aggressor 'with the wrath of the English
People—of at once maintaining pease, and raising
their nation in the eyes of all Europe. Had that
timid Ministry but appealed early to the country,
such a
response would have been given as would
have made the heart of a NIOROLAS quail ; for
the nation had lain almost crouching fur a spring
at the CZAR ever since the brutalities of 1833 and
1849. Again, when the soul of tho country was
in the great obj?ct, the people once more saw
in the Foreign-office themselves sacrificed to that odious hypocrite
Austria ; gold
have been when he might
G.oeffirmeeanayt, ;,uacrlisp,erghaaipnsedßuassrieapnrieve
for the enemy of Europe, just
Convention of Cintra, while our armies and fleets
held Russia at our mercy, even this has not
prostrated for a century. This second
changed the sentiments of Englishmen, or de-
prived them of hope.
The addresses of KOSSUTH at Manchester,
and Mr.: 'ROEBUCK at Sheffield, are • a proof
of this% Every representation of the duty
L and,right of England to lay its injunction on the
) restlessness of despotism, and to prohibit its in-