The Sun.
London, England, 1858-11-18 00:00:00

lcsi or inoperative of good, seeing that it first 1
proved the practicability of the enterprise by
thrilling under the depths of the great sca words
of earnest homage to Divinity. So th‘t, hence-
forth, the motto of the sub-Atlantic Telegraph
might literally be the cry of the Ro al Psalmist,
" De profundis claniavi ad te, Dwane !"

We have already pointed out the urgent neces-
sity of monetary reform, a duty that will press
heavily on the time and trouble of the Chancellor
of the Exchequer. He will also necessarily have
to take the leading part in the Reform Bill that
will unquestionably be introduced by the Govern-
ment. The budget will devolve exclusively on his
shoulders, so that, in truth, he will have many
arduous duties to
.accomplish. The financial and
fiscal measures will, however, be peculiarly his
own ; and should he succeed in giving as much
gratification, not only to the community at large,
but even to his political opponents, as he did by
the statement of last session, he will indeed accom-
plish a triumph such as has seldom been achieved
by any of his predecessors in office.
But the task is one of no ordinary magnitude.
He has been bequeathed a very unpleasant legacy
by his predecessors. During the present year a
balance of a higher income-tax remained to be col-
lected, and consequently Mr. DISRAELI was enabled
to keep faith (on behalf of his political opponents)
with Parliament and the country, and to permit
the unpopular impost to be reduced in accordance
with the terms of the Act of 1858—the first time,

by the way, that any attention had been paid to its
provisions. The greatest pressure, however, will fall
on the resources of the next financial year. In 1860
certain annuities wiil terminate, which will place
a large sum at the disposal of the Minister. Every
allowance must therefore be made for the difficulty
which will, we have no doubt, be fully and com-
pletely surmounted by the best financier since the
days of WILLIAM PITT.
There are many existing grievances that should
be redressed whenever a favourable opportunity
should arise. We have alluded to many imposts
requiring attention—such as the tax on prudence
in the shape of duty on fire insurances, and to the
hop duty, which seems to be a species of partial
confiscation of one description of property, and
which has really no greater foundation in justice
than there would be for a charge on:rich and highly-
cultivated land capable of producing a large quan-
tity of wheat or any other profitable crop.
The deputation which on Tuesday attended at the
Treasury, and which was kindly and courteously
received by Mr. G. A. HAMILTON, pointzd out the
wrongs to which the hop growers are subjected,
which causes parties to dread a good harvest as a
calamity greatly to be deprecated. The demand is
necessarily limited by the consumption of beer, and
perhaps even more so by the deleterious adultera-
tions too often used, in consequence of the high
price of hops occasioned by the exorbitant duty.
If it were only for sanitary considerations, the
repeal of the hop duties should be forthwith
granted. It would alike save the constitutions and
the pockets of the people, preserve them from
slow poisoning, and give them a far superior
article at less cost. This must be borne in mindf
as proof of the last assertion, that the adulterator
must charge as if the article were of the purest de-
scription. Were it otherwise his villany would be
revealed to the world. The high prices of the raw
materials are, in truth, the real causes of the atro-
cious practices which are so often brought to light,
and which disgust and horrify the community.
But for the sugar duties we might not find " daft'
extensively used in the manufacture of lozenges,
and the public would have been spared the whole-
sale poisonings at Bradford, and those of incal.
culably greater amount which have not as yet been
brought to light. It has also been proved beyond
possibility that what ought to be a legitimate and
straightforward business has, by reason of the duty,
degenerated into a gambling speculation, so that
the most successful growers have been sufferers
merely on account of the general good harvest.
This is really too bad. The matter will, we are
convinced, obtain the attentive consideration Which
Mr. HAMILTON promised that it should receive.
We have no doubt that the Chancellor of
the Exchequer will do all within his power
to satisfy the applicants ; but we would also remind
them of the old adage—that it is not wise to press
a willing horse. It is more than probable that in
the year after next they will obtain fair play ; at
all events, should they not receive it at the hands
of the present Government, we are quite satisfied
that they will have no better prospect under Sir G.
C. LEWIS or any other possible Chancellor of the

Exchequer.
There are many other financial and fiscal amelio-
rations to be accomplished. But due time must be
given, and every allowance made, for the actualldif-
ficulties to be overcome by the Financial Minister
of the day, whoever he may be.

" Cheapness of money, like every other condi.

tion that happens naturally, is a great bless ing
but, according to the pedantries of the solemn
gentlemen who get great repute for discretion; but
who are always the first to lose their senses when-
ever any real exigency occurs, it is an affliction
against which every conceivable preventive or
remedy should be put in force. Such persons
would deny us light and warmth, because there are
incautious people who occasionally burn their
houses down. To protect the simpletons who
periodically suffer themselves to be betrayed into
inflation, ancricikeep them -from-the uthauttqw
being allowed to buy. wisdom by experience, our
producers and importers are to be forced to pay
an artificial price for one of the chief elements
upon which their power of working at a profit,
and of meeting the competition of foreign rivals,
depends. When trade is prostrate, on accoupt of low
prices, they are to be prevented from having the
means by which they could profitably meet these
low prices, and give employment to all who de-
pend on them !"
This is perhaps one of the most powerful and
conclusive arguments that could be advanced against
the unjust and impolitic Bank Charter Act of 1844.
Every sentence inflicts a heavy blow thereon. But,
strange td say, it was not penned by any opponent
of the Peel-Overstone theory. It did not proceed
from a consistent and energetic monetary reformer,
but, risum teneatis amid, from the Times itself,
the organ of the " hard calculators," the un-
flinching advocate of currency restriction
—the journal that would insist on the policy
of abstention by all financial Ministers,

albeit the mininium rate of discount should rise

even to 20 per 'tent. in Threadneedle-street, and
the Old Lady herself should be obliged to suspend
payment, in common with the great majority of
the commercial and manufacturing and banking
community. It was one of those errors into which
the Leviathan occasionally suffers itself to fall, and
which is far more damaging to the cause it desired
to support than anything that could proceed from
its opponents.

It was in one of the fierce onslaughts against the
Directors of the Bank of England for refusing to
reduce the rate of discount below three per cent.
that the above remarkable passage occurred. " The