The Sun.
London, England, 1860-09-14 00:00:00

rHE SIIN, LONDON, FRIDAY VVENING, SEPTEMBER' 14, 1860.

" We seek no change, but least of all,
Such change as he would bring us I "

Until we can have a real decimal currency—let us
rest contented with our present currency, compli-
cated though it is, with pounds, half sovereigns,
crowns, half-crowns, florins, shillings, sixpences,
fourpenny bits, threepenny bits, pennies, half-

pennies, and farthings. Better continue as we are
than drop two or three of the old " familiars," for
the purpose of foisting upon the public, in lieu of
them, a sham decimal coinage that could only com-
plicate still further the complications already in-
separable in our accounts from the varied character
of the coins already in general circulation. Those
who would wish to thread with comparative ease the
labyrinthine involutions of the problem of a me-
tallic currency, decimal or otherwise—may find
the clue " to hand " in the 104th chapter of Mr.
GROSSMITH'S Cycloptedian treaties upon " Govern-
ment on First Principles." In this remarkable section
of a very remarkable work, the writer, after him-

self demonstrating the expensive character of a
Metallic Currency—after reminding his readers
that our coinage expenses in the reign of King
WILLIAM alone exceeded £3,000,000 sterling, an
amount that, at compound interest at 4 per cent.,
would have accumulated in a century to
£250,000,000, and at 5 per cent. within the same
interval to £400,000,000 !—Mr. GROSSMITH places
lneidly and succinctly before the public, under
twelve heads, the most memorable among the con-
clusions arrived at by Sir JOHN SINCLAIR in his

arguments in regard to " Circulation and Coin,"

and his inquiries as to the means of arresting the

progress of our public calamities—our calamities,
that is, nonetary and mercantile.

FLORAL BALL ROSES.

:51PROMPTIT ON VISITING THE FLORAL HALL, COVENT

GARDEN.

Here wonder is mute, as.one wander, around,
Where roses on roses abound and abound.

l'2l/ARKET TRE,37RE.

Last evening the petite comedy of " Naval En-
gagements" was performed at this theatre, for the
purpose of introducing Miss Florence Haydon, of
the Dublin stage, to a London audience, in the
part of Miss Mortimer. In personal appearance
the young debutante is fascinatingly prepossessing.
Her face is intelligent, her figure exceedingly
graceful, her voice sweet and musical, added to
which she is well lain stage business. Her debut
was highly succesnirl, and she will no doubt
become a favourite with the public.
The inimitable Charles Mathews takes his benefit
here to-morrow evening. A bumper at parting will
be the certain result of the bare announcement of
the fact.

Lady John Russell and family will, we hear, re-
main at Abergeldie after the departure of the noble lord to
attend her Majesty on her continental trip.
Mr. Bright, M.P., and Mrs. Bright have been
staying at Lochinver. Mr. Bright, though averse to the
use of the gun, was seen enjoying a few days with the rod
on the Inver. A desire was, we understand, entertained
to invite the hon. gentleman to address a meeting in Aber-
deen ; but he declines meanwhile—so he has written to an
English town—to give any public address.
Lord Stanley of Alderley has arrived in town
fr,,m Alderley Park, Cheshire.
The Countess (Doweger) Granville, Mr. and Lady
Georgiana Fullerton, and the lion. Frederick Loveson
Gower, are staying at Worthing.
We have to record the death of Captain J. F.
Stirling, 11. N., youngest son of the late Vice-Admiral
Stirling, who died on Tuesday last, at Bath.
We regret to learn that Lieutenant-General Sir
Harry Smith, G.C.8., has been suddenly attacked by
the complaint he recently suffered from, disease of the
heart, and we lament to say, it is feared that ho cannot
recover.

error." All which is certainly a delusion. It is
beginning at the wrong end, or rather beginning
at one of the ends, when the change ought by rights
to commence at the middle ! Take the decimal
coinage in France, for example, by way of illus-
tration. There the rational axiom is admitted
and acted upon, which avers that tokens or coins
ought to be not nominally, but actually in decimal
proportions to each other ! The standard, the basis,
• the unit of all their calculations being the inter-
I mediate coin—the juste millieu between the oppo-
r site extremes—the FRANC—above which all values
b are rendered as tens, or hundreds, or thousands of
: francs ; below which the values are rendered
! by the tenth or hundredth parts of francs.
So that, however large or however small the sum
to be expressed—whatever the sum to be expressed
—it may be indicated with the utmost facility, it
may be expressed instantaneously. The Napoleons
or Louis d'ors being, so to speak, merely ornamen-
tal coins or tokens, for all commercial purposes,
swallowed up in forgetfulness; so also the liards, so
also the sous, so also those little French six-
pences the half-francs; so, too, in fine, those übi-
quitous imperial crowns that seem to constitute the
bulk of the decimal coinage of France, the comely
five-franc pieces. Everything is summed up simply
in francs or in centimes, or in " francs" and "cen-
times." What we have to do in order to arrive at
a result as simple, and, therefore, as satisfactory, is
to commence de novo, to begin ab initio, that is,
" with the beginning"—not according to the clumsy
device of " A Decimal Fraction," by adOpting the
new copper coinage of diminished pence, ha'pence,
and farthings, retaining the florins and the sove-
reigns in " nominal" proportion to that coinage,
and calling in " at one fell swoop" three-
penny-bits and fourpenny-bits, crowns and
half-crowns—BUT simply by coining a new SHIL-
LING altogether, a shilling worth ten copper pence,
or twenty copper halfpence, each of the latter re-
presenting five "cents" or " centimes." Above this
new English " Franc," the ten-penny SHILLING—
might be the English " Five-franc-piece" or Crown
of fifty pence value—and above that, again, in due
sequence thepound or sovereign, equivalent to the old
louis d'or or to a napoleon. In other words, we would
•
say, of course, that—to have a decimal coinage at
all we must have it whole and entire. A compro-
mise of any kind would, we are perfectly satisfied,
be productive only of confusion worse confounded.
According to the plan suggested by " A Decimal
Fraction"—according to his own acknowledgment
—" The current coins would then be all of a uni-
form though not strictly decimal character, and
would stand as follows :—Farthings, of which four
would still represent one penny, and ten one de-
, time ; decime, of which ten would represent one
florin ; florins, of which ten would represent one
pound. The shilling would still represent half a
florin, and the sixpence the quarter florin. But
the sooner they could be altogether superseded by
pieces of a STRICTLY deci#nal character so much the
better, and these might be of the respective value
of two and five decimes, and would prove admirable
substitutes for both coins; the one being named the
half florin, the other the double decime." So
that the advocate of this bungling proposition
is the very one who is constrained to
admit, in making it, that it would be
merely a partial change for the better--a mere com-
promise for temporary employment ! One, more-
over, that he confesses it would be "so much the
better" the sooner these proposed fictitious repre•
sentatives of a decimal curreney could be "alto-
gether superseded by pieces of a STRICTLY decimal
character! " Admitting the perfect reasonableness
of which addendum to his suggestions—we cannot
but feel tempted to exclaim, in the words of ROLLA,
in Pizzaro—

LATEST' NEW S.

The following telegrarra have been received at
Mr. Reuter's office
PAI IS, FRIDAY MORNING.
The Noniteur pays presence of the facts
which have just been acckmplished in Italy, the
Emperor has resolved thai his Minister shall imnse•
diately quit Turin. A SeClretary will remain there
to conduct the business of the Legations.

The Moniteur also publishes the usual monthly
return of the Bank of France, which shows the fol-
lowing results as compared with the August re-
turn :

I magazines of Torre del Annunziata, but the general
who had been sent to examine the places for its re-
ception, told his Majesty that the old powder
magazine at Gaeta was in a ruinous state, and
that the new one was not yet in a proper con-
dition to be used, being too damp. The King
was in despair ; he found himself compelled at
the moment of quitting to leave an immense quan-
tity of powder in the possession of Garibaldi.
Time, however, pressed, and a Madonna, which a
priest had caused to weep over the departure of the
King, by means similar •to those used for the liqui-
fication of the blood of St. januarius, cotld not
have the virtue of retaining him. The departure
of the King made so little noise, and was accom-
plished with so much mystery that no one knows
precisely at what hour he vanished."

Speaking of the entry of Garibaldi, the same letter
says :

" You will be enabled to form some idea of the
crowd which collected on the passage of this extra-
ordinary man, when I tell you that his carriage
took more than two hours to proceed from the rail-
way station to the Royal Palace, a distance which,
in a general way, can be gone over in ten minutes.
Bouquets were thrown to him with such profusion
that the carriage, before its arrival at the Palace,
was half full. The cries were so vociferous that
the poor Dictator was obliged to ask for pity for
his head. On arriving at the main guard-house,
the sentinels all presented arms ; the soldiers were
drawn out in line, and the officers saluted with
their swords. The same took place when the
carriage of the general passed before the King's
Palace. It was something truly astonishing to see
all these armed men, who only a few hours before
had received orders to exterminate the man who
was now in their presence, bowing down before
him, and paying him homage; when their former
orders had not been revoked. This is a powerful
testimony of the superiority of idea over brute
force."

A letter from Milan dated 11th September

says: --

" The entrance of Garibaldi into Naples was
celebrated yesterday evening, at Milan, in the
most enthusiastic manner. The municipal autho-
rities took the lead in the manifestation. They
ordered the cathedral to be illuminated, and it is
impossible to describe the effect produced by that
magnificent pile, which is completely of white
marble, shining in the night. The whole city was
illuminated and decked with flags. Pram seven
o'clock till eleven at night the whole population
crowded the Corso, cheering and following bands
of music playing triumphal airs. Portraits of
Garibaldi at 25 centimes had a ready sale. It is
nearly impossible to describe the almost electric
enthusiasm which the very name of the Dictator
inspires. There is one feature in the mani-
festation worth special mention. A number
of illuminated drums fixed on long poles were
carried through the streets, amid immense
applause. On these drums were written the signi-
ficant inscriptions—' To Rome !" To Venice !'
' Rome the Capital!' The sentiment of unity is
growing with success.
" Most cities of Italy celebrated last night this
new annexation, which brings the kingdom of
Victor Emmanuel up to nearly 20,000,000 of souls,
but I doubt if any of them outdid Milan."