The Sun.
London, England, 1860-12-20 00:00:00

ENGLISH.

De Norman, Mr. Bruce's Attache ; Anderson,
chief of Lord Elgin's escort ; the correspondent of
the Times.

FRENCH.

Dubut, Intendant of the French Expedition, one
of his Aides-de-Camp, and a Colonel of Artillery.
These are the only names cited by General Tgna-
tieff, but the total number of victims is 19.

Mr. GLADSTONE enjoys the reputation of being—
as he unquestionably is—one of the very foremost
men of his age. He is regarded by many as not
only one of the greatest living Orators, but as also,
and according to those more ardent admirers of his,
one of the very greatest of living Financiers. For
ourselves we are scarcely disposed to look upon his
undoubtedly considerable financial capacities as in
any way equivalent to his oratorical gifts; As a
Parliamentary speaker the right hon. gentleman
can hardly enhance his fame by any new rhetorical
achievement. As an innovator in and a remodeller
of our finaneial system, however, we believe his
position—already no doubt in that capacity also
very remarkable—to be altogether different. He
has yet to make good his claim to be borne in
grateful remembrance by his fellow-countrymen
as one of the most memorable among all our Eng-
lish Chancellors of the ExcheqUer. That claim
we do honestly and firmly believe he may yet make
good if he please in spite of his many extraordinary
fiscal and financial antecedents. Towards effecting
this, he has one immense qualification—a qualifica-
tion that, to this end, is absolutely requisite. Mr.
GLADSTONE has Daring as a Financier—a Daring
that even DANTON might have admired. The clear
sweep he made (only as recently as last session) of
all the remaining " shreds and patches " of the Old
Protective System proves this very strikingly. It
is observable, however, throughout every phase of
his career as Chancellor of the Exchequer, and
it is the application of this audacity of his to
the remodelling of our whole monetary
system that we regard in our conscience
as—in reference to Mr. GLADSTONE'S future—the
one golden and enviable opportunity.
It is an opportunity, moreover, that is just
now pressed urgently by circumstances upon the
attention of the Chancellor of the Exchequer.
How urgently will be found clearly enough
explained in an article reproduced by us in
another column of The Sun of this evening
—an article that originally appeared in these
columns about a fortnight since (it was on the
Bth of this present month), and. which we are
induced to reprint thus in our impression of to-
day in consequence of the numerous applications
since then made for copies of the paper in which
it originally appeared. Within the narrow compass
of that article, and of a communication addressed

to us about the same time by Mr. HAMER STANS-
FELD, a very able letter that we also reproduce in
our journal this evening, one aspect of the really
momentous subject here referred to will be found
(in a manner) to have been exhausted.

Would that Mr. GLADSTONE would recog-
nize with a glance of his better judgment the
opportunity that is actually and directly before
him ! There is that new bronze coinage as a veri-
table case-in-point immediately before him and
before us all. There is the new penny—of the
value of a very little more than one farthing
that is now declared by the fiat- of
the SOVEREIGN in Council to be worth about four
times its intrinsic value to be worth not one
farthing, but to be worth four farthings !
What has been done in regard to the " half-
pence" may surely, in reason, be done quite as
well in regard to the silver and gold, in regard
to threepenny bits, fourpenny bits, sixpences,
shillings, florins, half-crowns, crown-pieces, half-
sovereigns, and sovereigns. Common sense tells
Us that not only may this be done, but that it
ought to be done. We have " tokens" in bronze
—let us have tokens in silver alloyed—let us have
tokens in gold
already have five
told of n g
England property
amount almost fabulous !
a Bank of
alloyed ! Let us have one pound
notes—let us have two pound notes—just as we
pound notes and ten pound notes,
and notes representi
of yet greater
and greater value—value
in some rare instances to
an
For there are tales
note for £lOO,OOO
having been, once upon a time, framed and glazed
and hung up in the drawing-reorolof a millionaire.
Now that the bronze coin has absolutely violated
the principle involved in the enactments 011819 and
1844, the rest should follow—the rest must sooner
or later follow by necessity. When the happy day
does dawn at last upon our revived and remodelled
be rid, at a single system of Finance—we may.

stroke of the pen as it were, of the neces-
sity for the continuation of the detested In-
come-tax, while the rivets will be broken and the
shackles thrown away that now oppress and weigh
down both the national Credit and the national
Currency, and, as a consequence, the national
Prosperity.

A new coinage is an event that always
excites considerable public attention, and calls forth
a great diversity of opinion as to its merits. The
new copper coinage is an exception to the rule.
All the details of its size, appearance, "image, and
superscription," have been minutely criticised. As
far as our own opinion goes, we think the head too
large, and the reverse excellent. It is altogether
a pretty coin, and for lightness, freedom from
unpleasant odour, richness of colour, infinitely
preferable to the old copper coinage.
But these are trifling advantages compared with
the recognition which this coinage affords of the
complete absurdity of the principle that .the in-
trinsic and nominal value of money should go

together.
Lord LIVERPOOL, the founder of the bullionist
currency school, laid it down as a principle that
all money is not only a medium for the exchange
of commodities, but " itself at the same time the
value or equivalent for which goods are exchanged."
Acting on the principle of Lord LIVERPOOL, the
Government, in 1798, employed Mr. BOULTON to
coin copper pennies, halfpence, and farthings
of intrinsic value. A pound of copper was coined
into 18 pence, 36 halfpence, or 72 • farthings. The
Soho Mint poured into circulation not less than
1,200 tons of copper. But this copper money being
of intrinsic value, it became worth the while of
dealers in copper to melt it down. This was ac-
cordingly done ; the expense of the coinage was
thrown away, and the country was again
subjected to the inconvenience of a deficiency
of copper money. In 1805 another issue of
copper money took place, and the principle of
intrinsic value was tampered with-24 pennies,
instead of 18, being then formed out of a pound
of copper. On the same relative scale of value 48
half-pence, or 96 farthings, were coined from a
pound of copper. These coins not being absolutely
of intrinsic value, were found to remain in circula-
tion ; they answered the purposes of money much
better than the coins of really intrinsic value had
done. They were neither melted nor exported.
As time passed on these coins, however, became
much worn and defaced. That did not prevent
them from discharging the functions of money;
they passed for the exchange of commodities. But
the bad condition of the coinage afforded facilities
for putting fictitious coins into circulation. In the
Session of 1859, therefore, Mr. GLADSTONE intro-
duced a bill for making anew copper coinage. This
coinage has just been issued. The metal is a kind
of bronze, containing topper, 95 parts ; tin, 4 ; zinc,
1. And whereas in 1798 a pound of copper was
coined into 18 pennies, and in 1805 into 24 pennies,
a pound of bronze is now coined into 48 pennies.
A penny of 1860 is half the weight of a penny of
1805, and three-eighths of the weight of one of
1798. The new bronze coinage is, to all intents
and purposes, a mere token. The intrinsic value
of a penny of this coinage is less than a halfpenny ;
i.e., with a halfpenny's worth of copper bearing
the Mint stamp, a penny's worth of debt can be
legally discharged, or a penny's worth of taxes
paid.

This money can be useful only for domestic cir-
culation ; to the foreigner one bronze penny is only
a piece of metal worth less than a halfpenny. But
what renders it comparatively ♦alueless as a com-
modity is its excellence as money. The bronze
penny will discharge perfectly its functions of
money, for it is not liable to be hoarded, melted,
or exported,

It is expected that a considerable sum of money
will be saved to the country by the issue of this
cheap and convenient copper coinage. The silver
coinage is at present also not of intrins::,, value.
But why should its nominal value approximate so
nearly as it does to its intrinsic value ? If you
have a little penny why not have a little shilling P
It may be said that the crime of coining would
increase. Experience has shown that if we have
a well executed coin, and the Mint does its duty
in discovering and punishing the coiners of base
money, the crime may be kept within the average
limits of delinquency.
But the most important consideration remains.
Why, if we have copper tokens for a penny, and
silver tokens for a shilling, should we not have gold
tokens for a pound ? Why should we not have
the cheapest and the most convenient token for a
pound—namely, a one-pound note ? The disad-
vantages of such paper money are entirely phan-
toms of the bullionist imagination. The advan-
tages are many and great. Were an amount,
demonstrated by long experience to be perfectly
safe—such as 20 millions—of bank notes issued,
under the sanction of Parliament, receivable for
taxes, these notes would maintain their value.

Government, which issued them for a pound each,
would receive them for a pound. They would, in
fact, be less liable to fluctuate in value than a gold
sovereign is. Foreign trade would be carried on,
as it has ever in reality been, by barter. A
foreign merchant who brought commodities to sell
in this country would receive bank notes and ex-
change them for the commodities which he wished
to carry back. If he wished to carry back gold
he would exchange the bank notes at a bullion
merchant's for gold at the market price of the
day. The advantages of bank notes, from £1 and
upwards, for domestic circulation would be
many and great. Unlike gold sovereigns
of intrinsic value, they would not be hoarded
or exported, but would remain in circula-
tion, discharging the functions of money. The
effect would be that the country would suffer no
more from the exportation of a ton of gold than it
does from a ton of iron. The pernicious system of
raising the rate of discount, and contracting the
currency, in order to force down the price of all
commodities, and bring back gold to the country,
would be at an end. Trade and commerce at pre-
sent exist in this country under the constant
dread of a monetary crisis and a panic. Such
would no longer be the case. A short time since
the exportation of a few millions of bullion to
France caused the rate of discount to be raised to
six per cent. If political events in the United
States cause a drain of gold from England, or
should the large corn importations cause a few
more sovereigns than usual to be temporarily with-

drawn from the Bank, a monetary pressure will
recur. Anything which causes a drain of gold
immediately disarranges our whole commercial

system.

This monster evil of modern times is owing
ertirely to the currency crotchets of the PEEL and
OYERSTONE school of philosophical quacks. An
end can be put to the evil any day by making the
gold sovereign as completely a token as the copper
coin now is, or as the silver coin, with a little alte-
ration, would become. We defy the whole race of
bullionists to prove that any serious evil conse-
quence:would follow.

We find comparatively little from which we need
express dissent in the latter part of the PRESIDENT'S
Message. It is occupied chiefly with the foreign