The Sun.
London, England, 1856-11-26 00:00:00

J 34 IVIC DISC'JUNT.

The question now occupying attention is whe-
ther the Bank of England will immediately reduce
their rate of interest to 6 per cent. An impreSsion
is generally entertained that the step should he
adopted without delay. Since the publication of
the last Gazette return many persons have been dis-
posed to consider that the ad vauce to 7 per cent.
was not justified by the position of the Bank
accounts ;• and, although the majority of prudent
persons do not join in that opinion, since the heavy
appearance of the foreign exchanges, the absence
of recovery in Paris, the further rise in the price
of silver at Shanghai, and the doubts regarding
the overdue Australian vessels, afforded at that
time every stimulus to increased caution, there
is now a total change of prospect on each
point, except as regards tho Eastern exchanges,
for which we must wait the next mail from China.
In all parts of the continent the rate of discount is
from Ito 1 per cent. below that of the Bank of
England, and in this state of affairs our traders
are necessarily at the disadvantage of competing
with rivals who can work with cheaper capital.
The entire industry of the country is thus affected,
and hence "prompt action is indispensable. No
ono supposes that if the James Baines and the
Lightning had arrived a fortnight back, and
400,0001. of their gold had been taken to the Bank,
the movement to 7 per cent. would ever have been
resolved upon; and these supplies having now been
received matters should be restored to the point at
which they would then have been allowed to re-
main. It may be urged that if the Bank were to
defer a reduction it would not materially affect com-
mercial interests, since, if there was inherently a
downward tendency in the money market, the other
establishments would soon lower their rates, and
the result would be simply that the Bank would
have no custom. But this argument would be in-
correct. The amounts falling due at the Bank are
so heavy, and will be so much increased by the re-
venue payments towards the end of the quarter,
that they will virtually have the command of the
market in their own hands. They are therefore
bound to act upon a broad view of the legitimate
wants of the country ; and it is the more important
that there should be no hesitation in this respect,
since it is desirable for the public to rely that,
while under the Bank Charter Act there is no
escape from such wholesome and instantaneous
pressure as may be necessary for the general safety,
the relief is equally certain as soon as that pressure
has anawered its object.—Times City Article.

THE "MONITEUR" AND THE ENGLISH PRESS.

(From, the New York Herald.)

We publish an article from the Paris Moniteur, re-
flecting on the course lately pursued by the English
press in reference to France, and the reply of the Lon-
don Timms. It seems that the Emperor, who long since
' resorted to the defensive measure of excluding
the London journals from the French capital, finds
that this precaution will not suffice, and desires
to operate against them at home. It will be remembered
that he did so once before, shortly after the coup d'etat,
and so far succeeded as to excite a good deal of animosity
against the Times among the mercantile classes of Eng-
land. We apprehend that he will not be as fortunate this
time. Though the Morning Post has been directed to give
a semi-approval to the course of the Moniteur, it stands
alone in the press. The Times and the lower organs of
opinion not only express no contrition, but indulge in
reflections marked by unusual severity with regard to
the Emperor and his Cabinet. Two truths are made
piainly apparent by this business :—The one, that the
French Government has reached the point where
factitious progress ceases and reaction begins ; the
other, that railroads, telegraphs, and the other agents
of rapid communication are rendering a despotic
thraldom of speech and thought utterly impossible.
All that the best friends of the Emperor urge on his
behalf is, that he has improved Paris, stimulated trade
and expenditure, carried a great war to a successful close,
and maintained himself on the throne for a third of a
generation. What little credit the last-mentioned exploit
reflects is his due ; but it must be remembered that no
man of courage was ever overthrown by a revolution
in Paris. The victims of revolution have all been pol-
troons or imbeciles. For the rest, Napoleon 111. has
achieved all his other claims to glory by discounting the
future. He has constantly mortgaged years to come in
order to diminish and conceal the necessities of the
present time. His war, his expenditure at Paris, his
extensive payments to keep down the price of bread,
the magnificence of his Court, have all been paid for
on credit. When ordinary credit failed him he re•
sorted to extraordinary measures. He stimulated a
speculative fever ; he licensed a Credit Mobilier ;
he gambled himself and led others to gamble on
the Bourse. These means procured him what he
wanted—money, but it was at a cost which it is
frightful to contemplate. The day for the redemption
of these bills due on posterity is coming sooner than
was expected ; the bank threatens suspension ; money
is 5 per cent. a-month ; railroads, bankers, mer-
chants are breaking ; the whole edifice is menaced
with precipitate ruin. This is the turning point
in the financial fortunes of the Emperor. Like Nick
Biddle, he is rezorting to all kinds of desperate expe
dients to save himself, but like that notorious fiancier he
does so with very littik: faith indeed in their efficacy. It is
more gratifying to look at :he other view of the case—the
one in which it illustrates the .Lrupotency of despotism to
fetter thought. One would have supposed the French
Government able to despise jourk:als published in
a foreign country and in a foreign tongue, It seems not
it was found necessary to exclude not only the journals
of London, but not unfrequently ow• own as well. But
even this tyrannical measure does not appear to meet
the case. The Monitettr calls for more pro:;ection. These
English newspapers, published abroad, in a language
which not one Frenchmen out of a thellsbod can read,
and strictly prohibited from entering France alb still so
po-erful that the Emperor intimates his ': 0,,
vern his empire according to its best interests if tiakk,' --„" -
not silenced. This is the plain inference from the tk,.
guage of the Moniteur in reference to the alliance. Corilti
there be a more startling proof of the incompetency 1
of despotisms to crush truth ? We must, indeed,
expect some folly in France at this time. That por
tion of the French people of which we hear in the papers,
has never been remarkable for common sense. Just now
all the leading men of France are involved, more or less,
in these financial schemes which are on the eve of de-
struction. A little delirium on their part is only what
we might naturally expect.

The vacant Lord• Lieutenancy of Cornwall will, it is
said, be conferred upon either Lord Vivian or the Earl
of St. Germans.

It is confidently stated, in well-informed circles at
Cambridge, that Lord Palmerston's choice of the new
Bishop of Ripon lies between two Divinity Professors at
that University—Mr. Selwyn, Lady Margaret's Pro•
lessor, and Mr, E. 11. Browne, Norrisial. Professor.
The copper swelters have issued a notice announcing
that the prices of copper have been advanced as follows :
—Manufactured, 131. per lb. ; tough cake and tile,
1171. per ton ; best selected, 1201. per ton ; sheathing,
111 d. per lb.
The Transatlantic Company's steamer Turin arrived
at Genoa on the 19th, having made a most prosperous
voyage from Portsmouth in eight days and 20 hours.—
Corriere Mcrcantile, _ .

LETTERS FOR PORTUGAL AND BRAZIL.—The Postmas-
ter-General gave notice yesterday that ship mails would
be made up in the General P.,st-office on the 14th prox.
for Lisbon, Pernambuco, Bahia, and Rio de Janeiro, to
be forwarded from Southampton by the Teutonia, a
steamer of 2,500 tons burden.
MONEY ORDER OFFICES. - -On the let Dec. the follow-
ing alterations will be made :—England-1. Money
order offices will be opened at SL. Clements, Oxfordshire;
Fawley, Hants ; Hornsea, Yorkshire ; Market Laving-
ton, Wiltshire • Orford, Suffolk; Troetlyrhiew, Glamor-
ganshire ' • Walmer, Kent. Ireland-2'. A money order
office will be opened at Ballyclare, Antrim. Scotland-
3. A money order office will be openea at Strathaven,
Lanarkshire. 4. The money order office at Dundas-
vale, Glasgow, will be transferred to tho office at Cow-
caddens in that city.—By command of the Postmaster-
General, ROWLAND HILL, Secretary.— -General Post-
office, Nov. 21.
A RELIC OF BOTHWELL, —Among the books sold in
Edinburgh by Mr. Nisbet otk Thursday I, tat was a hand-
some folio which belonged to the celebrated Earl of
Bothwell, the husband of Mnry, Queen of Scots. It is
a copy of a mathematical work printed in. Paris in 153$
—" L'Arithm6tique et Geom&trie de Maistre Eatienne
de la Roche." The book is in time original binding, and
has the sides stamped with a we,'l-cut die, showing the
arms of Bothwell, with the motlo " Ziip Trest"—that
is, keep tryst, and the inscriptiot "Jacobus Hepburn
Comes Bothv. D. Hailles Gricthon E• et Liddes. et Map.
Admiral Scotia"—" James Hepbtt rn, Earl of Bothwell,
Lord Hailes, Crichton, and Liddes dale, High Admiral
of Scotland." It is supposed that ti te binding was exe-
cuted in France, as the workmanship is very superior
and the armorial bearings beautifully cut and designed.
We believe there is only another voles 'ne known to exist
of the famous earl's once magnificent library, and that
is in possession of the Faculty of Advok 'aces. There was
a spirited competition for this interestint -; relic. It was
ultimately knocked down to a Mr. GO, 'n-Craig far 13
guineas.—Scotsman,