The Sun.
London, England, 1860-02-16 00:00:00

THE AUSTRALIAN COINAGE.

A considgrable amount of discussion is going on
just now in commercial circles as to the advisability
of making the gold coinage of the Sydney Mint a
legal tender in England ; and A ustraliau colonists
generally are, no doubt, favourable to such a mea-
sure. Now as in our opinion some, and perhaps
much inconvenience would result from the autho-
rised influx, under existing circumstances, of sove-
reigns and half-sovereigns from the antipodean
M int, we hasten to suggest certain considerations
to the Ministry of the day before they commit
themselves to any such conclusion as that in ques-
tion.

There are two points of similarity—and im-
portant ones it must be conceded they are—be-
tween the Sydney coins and those of this country ;
they are identical in weight and standard of fine-
ness, and therefore in intrinsic value. There, how-
ever, the resemblance ends ; the devises which or-
nament them are of entirely a different character,
and this simple fact is a fatal one to the legalisa-
tion of the Australian pieces at home. There are
already in Great Britain too many varieties of sil-
ver and copper coins in circulation, and it would
but add to tha general confusion were the same
evil to be extended to those of gold. It would raise
doubts and difficulties where none exist at present,
and be the fruitful source of perpetual annoyance.
The primary mistake with regard to the Sydney
Mint was the compulsory imposition upon it of
distinctive dies. It was established as, and is con-
sidered at this moment to be, a branch of the Im-
perial Mint; why then should not the dies used,
and consequently the coins issued by both be iden-
tical in design as in other respects ? This, we say,
was a primary and great mistake; fortunately,
however, it is not without a remedy. From the
smallness of the Sydney Mint it has necessarily not
been very productive coins. It comprises only two
stamping presses, we believe, and the entire issue
of gold from its establishment in 1853 to the date
of the last returns, some three months back, cer-
tainly does not exceed three and a half millions
sterling. The production of this amount, accord-
ing to blue-book authority would employ the Tower-
hill mint about two months, and what would be
easier, therefore, than to recall and recast the entire
eeinage of the colonial mint, issuing it again
stamped with the imperial dies ?
In our opinion the whole matter hinges upon this
point, and to this point the Government would do
well to direct their attention. We have heard, and
have no reason to doubt the fact, that the whoi.e of
the dies used at Sydney are supplied by the imperial
coining works. Those, therefore, who are anxious
to have the legal barrier to the introduction of
colonial coins removed, may consider whether they
had not better first petition for an assimilation to
be made between those and British coins by the
forwarding to Sydney of imperial dies. There seems
to us no valid reason why the branch should not
yield fruit of precisely the same stamp as the
parent stem.
ertyhepreosbtaabbliilsihty-
that Si
nAclee too,lbou there appears
rnewillbef favoured
rbeed ebsy-
ment of a local mint, another argument thence
arises in favour of the uniformity for which we
contend.-111echanics' Magazine.

THE AMERICAN PUGILIST.—Mr. Heenan, the
pugilist, better known in the professional world
American
Bonie B Boy, has
Cityh a
of establishedsaiittry
w himselfhere b
he
t seas
training for the forth •
as thearnihaedizeinceisnsgary
coming contest
Elizabeth
un-
dergoingliaitAzer
anrbatEyhme Sayers
uTf
ro
wrTatonh e,
MURDER
grae nd p2i3o
,n
as
Ah f
Ps
Cho wlf loi ll' Da England.(unmarried,ri Monday
was
cc
hh
ial rdg, ead
baoty Do
fuadbl eo yu
twf iotuhr
yearsat teniopft iangge.tolminuradrrieredhweromowann,
named Psbhcebe
eheatC.doktbe, deposed
eehil Wed-
nesdayert3hinatg,at,,apboount,tntohoene,lamstothsr.,,
Upon looking into the prisoner's house through the window
she saw the boy hanging by a cord, fastened round his neck
to a nail near the chimney-piece. She called to theprisoner,
who was standing with her back to the child, but received
no reply. The door was forced by several neighbeurs,
when prisoner took the child down and unfastened the cord
from his neck. The child was then black in the face. Sarah
Jones stated that in the evening of the same day she heard
screaming in the same house, and en going in found the
prisoner hanging by a cord round her neck to the same nail,
near the chimney-piece. " She appeared to be like a person
who was nearly strangled, and I cut her down. Her mother
chastised her for what she had been doing, when she took a
knife and attempted to cut her mother's throat, but I pre-
vented her. The prisoner then ran upstairs, and attempted
to run a fork into her little boy. She threw the fork at him
and it entered his head. I took the child into my own house,
but gave it up to her again in about half an hour. After
that I heard the child, when in his mother's house, cry out,
Don't stick the fork in me, mother,' and heard the mother
reply, ' It'll only be for half a minute, Jack.' The prisoner
had been drinking." The prisoner, on being asked if shi,
had anything to say in her defence, said to the magistratm,
" I was overcome by liquor, and if I did such a thing it
was unknowing to me ; I love the child as I love my lit.,"
She was then committed for trial at the assizes.

T E SUN.
LONDON, THURSDAY, FEB. 16, 1860.

Why should the serious errors of the Budget
and Treaty be made the subject of a party fight ?
Such, we know, is the custom, but it seems an un-
reasonable one. In 1852 it would have been quite
as reasonable that Mr. DISRAELI should have given
way in regard to his impracticable house-tax, and
his partial and useless modification of the malt
duties, as quit office. The same may be said now.
If points be attacked in the Budget which would
compel an entire change in the policy of a Cabinet,
of course it ought to resign ; but if the country
only prefers a more equitable and easy mode of
raising the money wanted, we can see in this no
ground for a haughty giving up of office. We
write, therefore, in no spirit of faction, when we
call for serious alterations in the Budget arid the
Treaty ; we merely perform the part of honest and
entirely independent critics. We have acknow-
ledged the good of the scheme—cordially and
frankly acknowledged it— but that is no reason
why we should not show that, unless it be consi-
derably altered, the country should hesitate to ac-
cept it.

The more we reflect on it, the more we feel that
the tenpenny income-tax is a price we ought not to
be called on to pay for the proposed alterations of
our tariff, in which Manchester so cordially re-
joices. Even in that city, and in other manufac-
turing towns which expect to benefit most by the
scheme, the tenpenny tax makes many angry
grumblers—and many doubtful, too, whether they
will not have "to pay too dear for their whistle."
But looking to the whole country the imposition
seems unbearable. Many more will be severely
mulcted by this heavy tax, with no possible ad-
vantage
in return than those who will in
IlnProved trade receive their quid pro quo. The
latter have nothitag to complain of but the
detestable inquisition into that personal secret
of every genuine Englishman his in-
come. Talk of the un-English character of the
Ballot—why it is English itself compared with
the inquiry, "Now much are you worth per
~ T
annum . 9 rue, these very gentlemen who term
secret voting un-English, profess to keep your vote
on your income a secret ! They can proffer secrecy
to get money from you. But we appeal to almost
every
Income-tax payer in the kingdom
does not
all that is English in you resent the revelation you
have to make, annually, of your income, whi!e
many of you are compelled to pay on more than
you earn, because you dare not tell the truth ? At
the same time you know that others will not scruple I
to give a false answer the other way to a hateful
question. But, besides all this, what will the vast
aglicultural interest receive in repayment for this
increased and odious tax ? Increased competition
with foreigners in beer, butter, cheese, &c. What
thousands of persons, also, in the receipt of salaries,

and persons of different professions, will not gain
one penny by the reform of the tariff? To them
the tenpenny tax is simply a fine for the benefit of
a few manufacturers.

Mr. GLADSTONE was bound, if he wanted money,
to supply the place of the £4,000,000 remitted, and
to make good the naval and military expenditure
to which our Costly Ally has put us, to seek it
elsewhere—to seek it, not by enhancing injustice,
but by substituting equity. We repeat that Equal
Legacy and Probate Duties for all classes should
have been his first resource. Those duties now
set class against class." They favour outrage-
ously the aristocracy at the expense of the many.
He has no moral right to go on augmenting an
unjust tax, while he refuses to equalise
the burdensomeness of another. Mr. GLAD-
STONE was also bound, if he wanted
yet more, to change the income tax to a property
tax. There is but little possible secrecy in regard
to the value of a man's realised property. A
moderate assessment on the realised property of
the nation would have met all wants, would have
made those pay only, who have something to pay,
and would have made our House of Commons gen-
tlemen more careful in voting away money when
they would have their fair share of it to pay.
Then the question of coals. Our readers may
remember that, some time back, we took the view
that they ought to be treated as among the "muni-
tions of war." We think so still. It is not for us
to enable French ships of war to steam across the
Channel. If they do so, let them get this essential
of modern naval warfare where they can—we ought
not to forward it. There is another reason of a
manufacturing kind. In the treaty the "CERBERUS.,
across the Channel has cuiningly arranged to get
the raw material of manufactures from us, while he
taxes heavily our manufactures ! Coal is a
part of the raw material requisite, in these days, to
every manufacture—why should wehelp Frenchmen
both by submitting to 30 per cent. duties on our
manufactures, and in aiding them to also manufac-
ture against us ?
The unfairness of the treaty does not end here.
Two things we note especially. First. The 30 psr
cent. duty on our goods will be augmented to 40
per cent. perhaps by the French navigation laws.
We admit them to equal terms with ourselves on
our waters--they impose almost prohibitory dues
on our ships. Not only is this unjust to our ship-
owners, but it will enhance the price of English
manufactures in France, as there the people will
have to pay protected freights for them. Again,
we are told the EMPEROR will levy an export duty
on wines. If so, he will take the revenue which
we ought to have from increased cheapness. We
do hope that the ''louse of Commons will not sanc-
tion n, treaty wh. Ai does not allow us to prohibit
the exportation of coals, or to lay an export duty
on them, and one which does not place English and
French shipping on equal terms in each other's
ports. It would be also a mad policy to enable the
French to train sailors at our cost; protective
navigation laws are intended to man the French
navy. On this ground we demand their abolition,
or countervailing duties on French ships in English
ports. We implore the House to sanction the
treaty on no other terms.

A trumpet note has been again sounded for the
rallying of the Rifle Volunteers. It is this time
the clarion voice of the Hero of Aliwal. Addressing
himself in cheery accents to an old rifle comrade
at Glasgow, Sir HARRY SMITH has given us, in a
few striking sentences, the sentiments with which
he, as a veteran soldier of the QUEEN, regards this
great popular defensive movement. His simple
, watchword tells all. It is the cry—" Arm the
People ! " At the same time, while observing the
multiplication of corps upon corps from John
o'Groats to Land's End, he by no means deems
the development of this novel species of National
Guard as all-sufficient. He deprecates alike the
infatuation of those who conceive the country may
be secured from the perils of invasion, and of
those who, like Lord AIELVILLE, consider the
whole movement to be futile and in point
of fact very little short of being merely ridi-
diculous. In effect, Sir HARRY speaks out thus
plainly. He says :—" Some of our gallant and ex-
perienced comrades who write upon the subject of
the defence of England take as extreme and one-
sided a view as some of our leading journals do on
the other—the one declaring the inutility of volun-
teers, the other that they are omnipotent." Now,
says the Hero of Aliwal, " I ask either of these
extremities—lf you saw a large French army in
battle array, which must occupy a large tract of
country, with artillery, cavalry, and their sharp-
shooters, how do you purpose to check their ad-
vance ?" Whereupon, he remarks," I cannot con-
jecture the reply of either." Adding, " but this I
will assert and maintain, with my last breath—lt
is alone to be done by a combination of regular
troops, as a barrier and a reserve, with swarms
of riflemen everywhere, as powerful—must power-
ful auxiliaries." And he then puts the case more
distinctly before us all—bringing the dread possi-
bility " home [according to Lord BACON'S phrase]
to men's businesse and bosomes"— thus : "We
must bear in mind," he writes, "that the distance
from our coast to London is barely three days'
match, hence the object of the enemy is to advance
by a coup (le main, to seize London." Now, he
asks, " Could I say loose troops would stop them ?
No. But a combination would insure their de-
feat, and then let loose the sons of Britain, with
this command—Forward and shoot ; you shall all
be supported at the requisite points ! Should any
enemy have the audacity to attempt our shores,
could he avoid our ever invincible Navy, I, as a
General of some experience in war, would be proud
to command a combined force as I have described,
and Let Deeds show.'" Now, all this is plain
speaking enough, and without ono particle of brag-
gadocio about it. Sir HARRY SMITH has earned
the right to talk thus, earned it at the point of his
good sword—and we needs must listen to him,
when he addresses himself, through his old Glas-
gow rifle comrade, to the rapidly-increasing masses
of our new rifle volunteers !
The Lieutenant-General writes upon the sub-
ject of this great popular movement all the
more plainly and earnestly because his soldierly
heart revolts from the perpetually recurring cries
of our craven Alarmists. "It has been to me," he
says," a subject of melancholy to see a succession of
dastardly panics assail our nation as they have
done, interrupting our trade everywhere, agitating
all classes, when the present movement of Volun-
teers, if previously resorted to, to arm the people,
would have restored the confidence again esta-
blished, and which ought never to be inter-
rupted." And Sir HARRY SMITH adds, in
words that would have befitted the lips of
Sir JOHN PAIiINGTON, the Reorganiser of the
Royal Navy—" England ought to be in a position
always to treat with contempt the hostile demon •
strations of her neighbours, whether made in
reality, or by way of interrupting our tranquillity-,
our pierce, or with the invidious supposition
that they can or
could affect the honour of the
nation." How the
mother country can be placed
effectually in this state of preparedness we all
know—even our rulers have awakened latterly to

It should be observed that the revenue and expenditure for
1859 aro given as stated roughly by the Chancellor of the
Exchequer on Friday evening, also that the expenditure
for 1847 included £2,000,000 of Exchequer-bonds redeemed,
and £1,125,206 for the redemption of the Sound dues. We
next give a quinquennial review of the various sources of
revenue:—

1845,

1855.

1860.

Customs , 20,196,856 20,442,170 20,615,338 22,700,000
Excise .. ..1 13,585,585 24,315,084 10,389,486 19,170,000
Stamps ! 7,710,683 6,558,332 6,805,605 8,000,000
Taxes .. 4,223,842 4,360,179 2,945,780 3,250,000
1 - tax .. 5,026,570 5,38:3,037 13,718,185 2,400,000
Post-office .. 753,000 820,000 1,137,220 3,400,000
Crown Lands : 120,000 160,000 280,516 280,000
MiscelLtueous ..1 1,413,820 770,878 1,100,057 1,500,000

It should be stated that the figures given in the last column
are taken from Mr. Gladstone's estimate, based on. the
system at present in existence ; but the changes proposed
by the right hon. gentleman will vary the various totals,
increasing the income-tax, for example, to £8,472,000. The
figures aro nevertheless interesting, as they show that the
resources of the country have steadily increased, a great
amount of taxation having been remitted. As regards the
expenditure a quinquennial review stands thus :

I_ 18-16.

1855.

I £ A x
Interest on debt 28,253,872 28,091,500 27,617,899 26,200,000
„ 8,951,296 8,955,061 29,377,3-19 15,800,000
6 800 873 6 437 881 19 014 -0 ' 13 000 000
(7iv;i charges ..1 5,321,6,- 6,747,140 1 8,465,832 9,300,000
-- --
Zrg :..
... , ,
~ , , ,_ . ,
~ 6
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It should be observed that the expense of the revenue de-
patine:lts are not included in the comparison.

We are informed that Lord Elgin will under-
take a second mission as Plenipotentiary to China,
in the hope of being able, by the influence obtained
in his former visit, to secure the ratification of the
Treaty of Tien-tsin, and obtain an entire cessation
of hostilities.

NEW THEATRE ROYAL, ADELPIII.—Her Majesty,
the Princess Loiningen, Lady Desart, the Hon. Lucy Kerr,
Lord Camoys, Lord Charles Fitzroy, and Captain Do Ros,
honoured the performances last evening with their presence.
TIIE PRINCE OF ORANGE AND THE PRINCESS
ALICE.—We hear fi oin authority on which we place great
reliance, that there is no truth in the report of the pro-
jected marriage between the Princess Alice and the Prince
of Orange.—Record,