The Sun.
London, England, 1860-11-20 00:00:00

.RISE IN THE R4TE OF DISCOUNT.

ASSETS.

.n Issue Department:—
Gold Coin and Bullion
n Banking Department :
Gold and Silver Coin

73Gt'545

13,897,085
Deduct total assets from total liabilities, and the
account stands thus :
Uabiliqes
Ascots .. 13,597,085

£26,212,342
the balance which the Bak could not pay, on
November 7, in gold or silver. Since then the
bullion has been
ti reduced by, at least, one million.
This state of
h
the real solvency of lags militates nothing against
the Bank. They hold Govern-
ment Securities
ofto Iheamoun't of £9,490,273, and
first-rate billsexchange,prodooo ofrepresenkt.ing, iron,
cotton, and valiaable everyh tof the
amount of £19,968,649. They inthere ore,
ample means to liquidate all demanadvse., But what
this state of things does show is the ridiculous
absurdity of the Bank and the country pretending
that eiraer one or the other can ever pay its liabili-
ties ir, gold.
Yet it is for the sake of this financial fiction,
viz., the convertibility of the Bank Note and the
indebtedness of the nation into gold, that we con-
sent to constant fluctuations in the rate of discount,
a depreciation in the prices of all kinds of produce
and manufactures, a depression of the trade and
commerce of the country, the misery and wretched-
ness of millions of the working-classes, periodical
panics, and contemptible suspensions of Peel's
Barak Charter Act.
The Bullionist organ, the Times, with its usual
puerile impertinence of assertion, declares that
" we may look on the current events in the money
market with unconcern." Every trader and mer-
chant in the country knows what a fallacious and
mendacious assertion this is. Let a few more
millions of gold be drained out, the rate of discount
raised higher, the circulating medium unduly con-
tracted, and the reign of commercial terror will
begin. Ruin will seize on the merchant and the
manufacturer the pressure of taxation will become
intolerable, mills Ns ill be stopped, and workmen by
thousands thrown out of employ. The Hard Calcu-
lator and the Usurer will reap:their harvest, for the
more the country suffers and the greater the de-
pression of prices, the cheaper tkef will consume,
and the higher a'neunt of usurious interest they
will obtain for their money.
By and bye the farce of convertibility will be at
an end, the Bank reduced to the verge of Bank-
ruptcy will write to the Minister, the Minister will
suspend Peel's Bill, the Bank will issue " inconver-
tible" bits of paper, discounts will decline, money-
mongers will count up their gains and invest their
accumulations in depreciated Government securi-
ties, workshops will be empty and work-houses and
prisons full till money again becomes cheap, and
trade gradually revives.
All this may happen in 1860, but as certainly
as effect follows cause will these ruinous monetary
crises continue as loug as the impracticable and
inhuman money laws established by Peel and
Overstone remain in force.

SANITARY PROVISIONS IN THE NAVY.

It is not a little surprising that while so much
has been done to improve the build, height between
decks, and sailing and fighting qualities of our
men-of-war, and while innumerable projects have
been set on foot with the view to better the social
position of officers and men, no improvement worth
mentioning has been introduced in what are termed
the domestic arrangements. The disregard to health
and decency manifested on board ships of war half a
century or more ago is still extant. We have in
our last two numbers inserted letters on this subject
—one from " A Ward-room Officer" and a second
from " Captain, R.N.," and this week we print a
letter from " The Senior Paymaster," all bearing on
this question. To the naval section of our readers
we need not enter into details with this peculiar sub-
ject, since all must have their own unpleasant ex-
periences to remind them of the misery they have
had to endure, or may still be enduring. If there
were any inseparable obstacle in the way of a re-
medy we should be silent ; but so far from that be-
ing the casa we have no hesitation in affirming that
the Admiralty have it in their power to mitigate
greatly, if not altogether remove, the evil we allude
to. If the dockyard authorities are not sufficiently
enlightened to suggest a remedy for the disgusting
nuisance, the Admiralty have only to commission
any respectable London plumber, or the contractor
for the Peninsular and Oriental Company, or any
other large ship-owning firm, and to sacrifice a few
feet additional space, in order to remove one of the
most fruitful causes of disease and death, short of
shipwreck and battle, of any atteennding a
osailor's
life. To expatiate at any great length n this
question of domestic arrangements is unnecessary—
one word is as good as a thousand to those who are
sufficiently acute to take a hint. We say that the
discomforts which attended our forefathers afloat,
but which have long since been done away with
on shore in all civilised localities, are still, like rank
weeds, flourishing in the Royal navy. The men al*
equally exposed to the inclemency of the weather,
and public decency as much outraged in 1860 as in
1760. The mechanical improvements which are
nowas common as railroads on shore are barely know'
on board ship. The captain's comforts may. be
better headed, although they are far from being
perfect ; but the ward-room and gun-room officers
are no better off than they ever were, and the
Admiralty have only to consult some of the most
experienced naval surgeons in order to obtain abun-
dant proof that many men have greatly injured
their health, if not lost their lives, by endeavouring
to eade demands which could only be supplied at
the v p
expense ofd h
decency.— United Service
Gazette.
Las

SPORTING INTELLIGENCE.

TATTERSALLS'.—MONDIT.
DERBY.
11 to 2 nest Dundee (offered)
1000 to 60 agst Diophantus (taken)
16 to 1 agst Big Ben (taken)
20 to 1 agst Kettledrum (offered)
30 to 1 agst Nautilus (offered)
30 to 1 agst Matador (off)
50 to 1 apt Forester (taken)
50 to 1 agst Virgilius (offered)
50 to 1 agst Yorkminster (taken)
1000 to 15 agst Aurelian (taken)
1000 to 15 agst Seven Dials (taken)

CITY BETTING--YESTERDAT.
LEAMINGTON GRAND OPEN STEEPLECHASE.
sto 1 agst Jealousy (taken and offered) I
7to 1 agst Curate
Bto 1 agst Medora (taken)
Bto 1 agst Tattler (taken)
10 to 1 apt Bridegroom (offered)
10 to 1 agst Topsy (offered)
10 to 1 agst Franc Picard
10 to 1 agst Athlete
'WELTER CUP.
4to 1 apt Soothsayer (taken)
sto 1 agst The Greek (taken)
sto 1 apt Ipswich
6to 1 apt any other
HURDLE RACE.
5 to 1 on the Field (offered)

TUE FOREIGN OFFICE.—M any months ago it was
said the Foreign Office was to be rebuilt in a hurry. The old
office was pronounced useless (having been made so by the
reckless manner it had been knocked about and ander-
m:ned); and the Ministsrs, and even the Legislature, were
employed in discussing the architectural arrangements
of the new building. Lord Palmerston interfered at the
eleventh hour, in favour of Greek or Roman architecture;
but the result has been that, up to this moment, nothing
has been done at all. Within the last few days, however,
'here has been a fresh stir, and we believe that, before long,
the goods, chattels, and effects of the Foreign-office will be
removed to Pembroke House, and that the staff will be ac-
commodated there and at Malmesbury House, adjoining.
The demol Lion of the old office will immediately follow.—
Court Journal.
According to a letter from Berlin, dated the 14th
inst., a bill will be presented in the next session of the
Prussian Chambers for the will of a rtaisgyegficai
Stralsund to Berlin. -. This line be of grea
0. t
impvteace in convex:?. ti_th the coast defence