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

BANK DISCOUNT.

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 be
adopted without delay. Since the publication of
the last Gazette return many persons have been dis-
posed to consider that the advance 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 the Eastern exchanges,
for which we must wait the next mail from China.
In all parts of the continent the rate of discount is
from I. to 14 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
one 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 he so much increased by the re-
ventte 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 urou 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 answered its object.—Times City Article.

THE "MONITBUR" AND THE ENGLISH PRESS,

(From, the New Fork 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 Times. It seems that the Emperor, who long since
resorted to the defensive meastad of excluding
the London juurnals 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
p'ainly 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 himseli.on the throne for a third of a
generation. What little credit the last-mentioned exploit
reflects is his due ; but it must he remembered that no
man of courage was ever overthrown by a revolution
ire 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 aro breaking ; the ' whole edifice is menaced
with precipitate ruin. This is the turning point
in the financial fortunes of the Emperor. Like Niek
Biddle, he is resorting to all kinds of desperate expe-
dients to save himself; but like that notorious fiancier he
does so with very little faith indeed in their efficacy. It is
more gratifying to look at the other view of the case—the
one iu which it illustrates the impotency of despotism to
fetter thought. One would have supposed the French
Government able to despise journals 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 our own as well. But
even this tyrannical measure does not appear to meet
the case. The Moniteur calls for more protection. These
English newspapers, published abroad, in a language
which not one Frenchmen out of a thousand can read,
and strictly prohibited from entering France are still so
powerful that the Emperor intimates his inability to go-
vern his empire according to its best interests if they are
not silenced. This is the plain inference from the lan-
guage of thellioniteur in reference to the alliance. Could
there be a more startlicg proof of the incompetency
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 fer 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.

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-
fessor, and Mr. E. H. Browne, Norrisian Professor.
The copper smelters have issued a notice announcing
that the prices of copper have been advanced as follows :
—Manufactured, 13d. per lb. ; tough cake and tile,
117/. per ton ; best selected, 1201. per ton ; sheathing,
111 d. per lb. •
The Transatlantic Company's steamer Turin arrived
at Genoa on the 10th, having made a most prosperous
voyage from Portsmouth in eight days and' 20 hours.—
Corriere Mercantile.
LETTERS FOR PORTUGAL AND BRAZIL.—The Postmas-
ter-General gave notice yesterday that ship mails would
be made up in the General Post-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 Ist Dec. the follow-
ing alterations will be made :—England-1. Money
order offices will be opened at St. Clements, Oxfordshire;
Fawley, Hants ; Hornsea, Yorkshire ; Market Laving-
ton, Wiltshire ; Orford, Suffolk ; Troedyrhiew, Glamor-
ganshire ; Weimer, Kent. Ireland-2. A money order
office will be opened at Ballyclare, Antrim. Scotland-
3. A money order office will be opened at Strathaven,
Lanarkshire. 4. The money order office at Dundas-
vale, Glasgow, will be transferred to the office at Cow-
caddens in that city.—By command of the Postmaster-
General, ROWLAND HILL, Secretary.—G-eneral PoSt-
office, Nov. 21.
MEDICAL REFORll.—Yesterday a deputation of the
Medical Reform Committee of the Mett opolitan Counties
Branch of the British Medical Association, consisting of
Sir C. Hastings (chairman), Dr. G. Webster, Dr. Lan-
kester, Mr. Nunneley (Leeds), Mr. Stedman (Guildford),
Dr. Wynter, and Dr. Henry, had an interview with the
Hon. the President of the Board of Health, on the sub-
ject of medical reform.
TUE ROYAL BRITISH BANK.—The petitioning credi-
tor under the bankruptcy of the Royal British Bank has
written a long letter against the remarks of a corre-
spondent signing himself "One of the Public," insetted
on Monday. It throws, however, no new light on the
case, and is characterised by the tone which seems to
animate all the parties in this deplorable controversy.
The main points on which the writer insists are, that
there is no "conflict of jurisdictions" calculated to affect
the legal reputation of the country ; that the collection
and distribution of the assets will involve far less ex-
pense in Bankruptcy than in Chancery ; and that what
have been termed the "meritorious" exertions of %Ir.
Harding, in collecting within a few weeks sufficient to
pay 20 per cent., have not really involved the exercise
either of labour or skill, since the amounts were almost
all ready to be handed to hint,—Times.