The Sun.
London, England, 1869-02-01 00:00:00

ITALY.

The Mena.brea Cabinet was rudely shaken by the recent
debate in the Chamber of Deputies. The assailants of the
Ministry held that the grist tax had been levied without
any proper preliminary arrangements ; that there was no
agreement with the millers, and no means of estimating
the amount of meal upon which the tax should be laid.
The popular disturbances were largely owing to this
want of- method. The Ministers had no effective
reply to this charge. It was impossible wholly
to exculpate them from blame ; and a proposition by
Ricasoli, that the Chamber should pass to the order of
the day, unexpectedly saved them. Their majority. was
50 ; on the last occasion of a party fight it was 77, and at
a more remote date 100.

The excesses committed by the infuriated peasantry
were far more serious than the Government reports
admitted. At Toligno the people nailed np the miller
on the door of his mill like an owl or bat, and at Ceuto
they seized two soldiers and put them fairly into the mill
and ground them ! The of killed aml wounded was
larger than the Government choose to admit.
The Ilrce:ly Rilisfer announe,s that several conversions
have ten made in -Nome amongst the English, German,
and American ministerr, in conserinence, of the serm:m
delivered in both languages in the octave of the Epiphany.

(5 EN: RI; 77, 1: 1.! 0 N 771 TL. 1.71 ^ .1V C

(From the ,Inglo-Anzerican Times.)

the Legal-Tender Act which saved the country ; and
what peti.ion, BUTLER asks, has ever come to
the House from the people, for relief from its
grievances? Not one; but only resolutions of
Boards of Trade and bankers, who now howl
at the doors of the Capitol for payment
of their bonds in gold, or, what is equivalent, a re-
turn to specie payments ; the very men who forced
the bonds down to a discount of 60 per cent. by
hoarding gold when the country nee led it, make
this impolitic demand, unmindful of the destruc-
tion of values, the starving of the labourer, and
the ruin and desolation they may cause. "There-
fore," sr.i I BUTLER, " I stand here for incon-
vertible paper money—the greenba-A—which has
fought our battles and saved our country ; which
has been held by us as a itst equivalent for the
blood of our soldiers, the lives of our sons, the
wilott hood of our daughters, and the orphanage
of tit. it chllren. I stnn,i here for a currency I.y
which the hi:sine:7s transactions of forty million
people are safely and successfully done--which,
fel-titled on the faith, the wealth, and property of
the nation, is at once the exemplar and engine of
its industry an I power—that money which saved
the min: ry w-,r, and his given it prosperity and
happiness in peace. To it 4,000,000 men owe
their emancipation from Slavery ; to it labour is
indebted for elevation from that thrall of degrada-
tion in which it has been enveloped for ages. I
stand for that,money, therefore, which is by far the
better agent and instrument of exchange of an en-
lightened and free people than gold and silver, the
money alike of the barbarian and the despot." This
remarkable speech bad cost the indef ttigable
BUTLER weeks to prepare, and it is one which can-
not fail to add to his reputation, however erroneous
may be the view it advocates, and however well and
fiercely his reasons may be controverted. There is a
dignity in the tone, force and originality in the
argument of Oda speech. History is not unfairly
quoted, and there is no vituperation when dealing
with the reasonings of others. We believe BEN-
JAMIN BUTLER to he altogether wrong, that he is
merely in pursuit of a chimera which has led away
many a man as clever as he is. Indeed, it is the
clever ful!ows who get ent in ;led in these fallacies,

cessitios of national progress and by the inexorable logic of
events, to Federal authority, and they will bo kept there.
A return to the system, or want ef system, in which banks
were organized under the charters of 30 odd States,
without any provision for mutual redemption, or for main-
taining a common standard, would hardly suit the nation
which waled secession cut of South Carolina, and is to
finish the Pacific railroad next summer. If enough of the
national banks should accept State charters to make them
worth noticing, the general Government would lax their
circulation out of existence in six months, if it took one
per cent. a month to do it. Therefore we cannot but re-
gard with regret this ill-timed and irritating bluster at
somo of the momentary centres about the proposed action
of Congress. We should earnestly deprecate the destruc-
tion of the national banking system, believing that nothing
so good would be substituted, and therefore we deprecate
anything in the attitude of the banks which invites attack
and gives opportunity to artful and po..verful demagogues.
Only by accepting the situation in good faith and good
feeling, and making their contribution to the public
necessities readily and cheerfully, can they avert the evils
which threaten them. Gold I:as stiffened somewhat during
the week, and there are indicat'ons of an upward move-
ment. A good deal is bein:;•qui.-tly laid by, whether in reli-
ance upon the natural cours,., of the premium, or with a
view to procluc7ug a corner, has not yet been developed.
Governments have in general continind their upward
tnovement, though seriously checked on Tuesday by a
rumour of new issues, which proved, in the special form
in which it appeared, to be wilrolt foundation ; but wltich
still hangs over t'ao market like a threat, and serves ap-
preciably to restrict the rise in prices. The specific rumour
was that the Secretary had agreed to deliver to a well-
known house, through which the secret sales have been
conducted, five millions of six per cents. under the Act of
March, 1865; and the report seemed to receive some con-
firmation from the fact that certain operators, who have
been thought to know as much about such sales as any-
body, have bens selling bonds heavily, in the face of
causes evidently tending to an advance. The Me of
money, the improving credit of the nation, and the
manifest impossibility of another "lock-up," would
seem to leave no other chance for the "bears" than
some such action on the part of the Government.
The rp cifie report, however, Mr. Van Dyck has de-
nied, stating that the only issue contemplated is
that of some remnants of previous issues, to the
amount of $500,000 or $600,000, in order to make the
numbers consecutive ; and oven this Las not been re-
solved upon. So much for tho explanation of the Govern-
ment; but the very fact that the market needed such an
assurance is a strong argument for putting it out of the
power of the Secretary to di anything so foolish and mis-
chievous. It would be a very pretty thing, indeed, to
have our bonds numbered without a break; exceedingly
gratifying to Treasury cleiks and officials ; but that is
rather a matter of taste, and the national credit is of more
importanceat present. The. power of the Secretary to
make any farther issues of gold six per cents is a standing
threat to tlee market, and is being used I.y speculators for
injurious purposes. The la-tatter should be promptly taken
up and settled by Congress. This country has no more
occasion to borrow money at six per cent. when its five
per c.•nts. are above par and advancing. The hull move-
ment in the stock market continues in full force, and a
great body of stocks is being pushed up by a combination,
which carries, as yet, everything before it. Milwaukee
and St. Paul is now at 754 for the common, against 711 a -
week ago, and 961 for preferred, against 901; Toledo
and Wabash common 631 against Gt 4 ; Cleveland and
Toledo 1041 against 1011 ; Rock Island 1281 against
1181 ; North-western common 831 against 821, preferred
871 against 85 ; Fort Wagner 122 against 1181 ; and the
end is not yet.—Cleveland and Pittsburg stock is 3 per
cent. lowtr, having suffered to that extant already from
the reduction in its direction which was effected last

week in the triumph of the Lane faction, by means of pur-
chased proxies. Mr. Lane is a first-class operator, of the
Daniel Drew school, and was hardly warm in his seat be-
fore inaugurating some very wholesale operations, which
suspiciously resemble those which have made the Erie
Road a hopeless wreck. Three of the directors have pub-
lished a card, exposing what they regard as the fraudulent
action of the board. They give the following as the sub-
stance of the resolutions adopted at the meeting immedi-
ately following the election, by which the Lane party
Came into power: To increase the capital stock $900,000,
to declare a scrip dividend of 15 per cent., and a cash divi-
dend of 2 per cent. upon the scrip dividend, to issue bonds
of the denomination of $1,000,000 each, secured by mort-
gage, convertible into stuck, and be disposed of at not less
than 80 cents on the dollar. To abrogate all existing
byelaws of the company, to appoint an executive commit-
- •"

• Nee:ea....ewe...v.. s. --- 1-
complex derangements in which the public finances are in..
volved, and that ccnsequently a further period of inquiry
and discussionmust be endured before any really practi-
cable measures can be reached. For this reason, the intro-
dilution of financial measures into Congress is regarded
with little interest other than as indicating the progress
towards a goal which is felt to be as yet far distant. Sena-
tor Morton's speech upon the resumption of specie pay-
ments, while indicating how rapidly our legislato.is may
improve their theoretical knowledge, yet shows how
much the most advanced of them have to learn up n
• practical finance ; for, while he estimates the stock of coin
• in the country at from $100,000,000 to 500,000,400, it is
impossible to trace the existence of over $200,000,000 Ito
• 225,000,000, the Neil.: States included. The Senate has
also furnished another very satisfactory indication of pro-
gress, iu taking the position, by an almost unanimous re-
solution, that there can be no consolidation of the debt at
a lower interest., until the Government has redeemed its
heneur upon its demand obligations; but, coupllug this
conclusion with the unpractical character of the steps
taken towards resumption, there is little ground for ex-
pecting that the present ceulition of the debt will he ends
change t. There a;pears to be considerable probability
that Congress may adopt a measure authoris'ng the' eu-
forcernent of contracts for the payment of coin. Such a
law, however just in principle and eenveeieut to imeor:ant
commercial imerests, might yet have consequence 3 not
generally a. prehended. In important sections of the South
U.S. notes are not liked and national bank currency is dis-
trusted. To such en extentdoes this feeling prevail that many
of the planters have demanded gold in payment La- their
c Mon, so that several mlllions of coin have been s not
South within the last three months, while the coin in the
Sub-Treasuries at New Orleans and Mobile has been s ell
to meet this d erraud. In •he event of gold contracts being
protected by law, this disposition among the planters, en-
couraged as it might be by the press and the local bankers,
would quite probably result in establishing the trade
of the South . upon a gold basis. This, it is tree,
would bring about specie payments in the South( ra
States; but it would be at the expense of such a
drain of gold from the North as would inflate the gold
premium and seriously embarrass any effort toward gene-
ral resumption. The gold premium is perhaps more closely
connected with the Southern preference for gold than is
generally supposed. The preference is not to be regarded
as the mere expression of a temporary political prejudice,
bat as the revival of that predilection for hard money
which has always characterized the South, and which its-
recent experience of a depreciated paper currency
has only helped to confirm. Tho peculiar indepen-
dence which the South derives from the cotton crop
enables it to demand payment in whatever form it
prefers ; and should gold receive preference among plv-
ters, even though in comparatively limited sections, the
result must inevitably be the permanent withdraval of a
large amount of coin from the market. This is but one of
several considerations at present influencing gull in favour
of a higher premium. The protracted depression in the
European money markets, wlrlch has induced a ;e imek-
ably active demand for our securities and enabled us to
settle large -fore;za- trade balances by remittances of
bonds, is now giving place to a healthier activity. Europe
has begun to place more confidence in tho pacific assur-
ances of Louis Napoleon, and trade is consequently re -
vivin; with a rapidity which, during the present year,
is likely to induce higher rates of interest. The Bank of
England is expected every week to further advance its
rate of discount—and t: o Bank of France has lost since
the close of September, 160,000,000 fr. of bullion. Under
a further development of this tendency, it is not to be ex-
pected that foreigners will take our bonds to the same ex-
tent as heretofore, except in the event of the gold pr emiuio
advancing to such an extent as to make them appear rela-
tively cheap. Evidently, therefore, we must be pre-
pared to send out more gold and fewer bonds, or to
reduce our importations. The latter alternative vi°
are not adopting, the importations for the spring trade
having, thus far, exceeeded those of last year. What then
is our position for meeting any considerable foreign de-
mand for gold? Our receipts from the Pacific are light ;
the total arrivals of California gold for the last quarter, Of
1803 being only $2,800,000, against $6,100,000 in 1868,
and $11,000,000 in 1867. The gold movement at this port
during the past year has resulted in a loss of $29,600,000;
that is to say, the exports have exceeded the combined
foreign imports and the arrivals from California by that
amount. The advance in United States Bonds, foreshe-
dewed in cur last advices, has been realized, and at the
moment the market for that class of securities shows a
steady tone. In some quarters there is a sanguine feeling
in favour of still higher prices, but it may be doubted
whether any further rise would not bring out an important
supply of stock. The demand for the reinvestment of in-
terest has already been, to a considerable extent, satisfied ;
and, although speculative movements may produce a tem-
porary rise, we are disposed to regard current prices a
affording a fair opportunity for intending sellers.