The Sun.
London, England, 1858-11-05 00:00:00

Commence at 7.

ROYAL STRAND THEATRE.
Lessee and Directress, Miss Swanborough.
THIS EVENING, WOOING IN JEST AND LOVING
IN EARNEST : Messrs. Selby, Parselle, and Miss Swan-
orough.
After which THE MAID AND THE MAGPIE.
Followed by THE BONNIE FISH WIFE.
And MT AUNT'S HUSBAND ; Mr. Swanborough, Mrs.
Selby, Miss Ternan.

Commence at 7 o'clock.

ASTLEY'S ROYAL AMPHITHEATRE,
Westminster-road.
Sole Lessee, Mr. William Cooke.
The New Tariff :
Dress Circle, 3s. ; Upper Boxes, 2s. ; Pit, ls. ; Galleries, 6d.
Great and Extraordinary Sensation produced by the new and
brilliant Deeorations—Splendid Act Drop—
Chandelier—Appropriate Chandelier—APPropriate Scenery.
Durinc„ the week the new and successful drama of
THE BATTLE OF BOTHWELL BRIG.
With THE SCENES IN THE CIRCLE, comprising the
evolutions and equitations of the first Professors in the world
and their unequalled Stud of Horses.
To conclude with a Farce cal
forle ookin d FAMILY JARS.
No fee bg.
Stage Manager, Mr. R. Phillips.

CANTERBURY HALL, Westminster-road.—
Proprietor—C. MORTON.
The public is most respectfully informed that the FINE
ARTS GALLERT, in connection with the above Hall, IS NOW
OPEN DAT AND NIGHT, from 11 o'clock a.m. until 12
o'clock p.m. The New Gallery contains an extensive Collec-
tion of Pictures, by Ancient and Modern Masters, and is also
devoted to Art productions generally. The Proprietor feels
he may confidently assert that, viewed altogether, the exist-
ing. Music Hall, the New Fine Arts Gallery, and the recently
added Ante-Hall, will present an attraction which, whether
as regards the architectural beauty of the structures them-
selves, or the varied and hitherto unattempted combinations
within, will be found to be wholly without parallel in the
Kingdom.
The 3ivercit ENTERTAINMENT commences as usual at
Seven o'clock.

THE WEATHER.-SUN OFFICE, Nov. 5.

THERMOMETER, IN THE SHADE.
63—highest since noon yesterday.
48—lowest this morning and during the night.
52—this day at noon.
BAROMETER--3O' iB.
Wniv, Northerly ; fresh, with dull hazy weather.

THE SUN.

FRIDAY. NOVEMBER 5, 1856.

Next session will, we hope and believe, call forth
all the energies of the Independent Liberals. They
will hold the reins of power in their own hands—
will be the judges to decide on the conflicting
claims of the several candidates for office. That a
Reform Bill will be brought forward by the
Government is certain. The intimations that have
already been given—the hints thrown out, prove,
beyond the possibility of doubt, that Lord DERBY
will appear in the field as a Reformer. But what
will be the extent and nature of the anticipated
measure? That is the great, the all-important
question. Will it be merely a plausible
excuse, to " keep the word of promise to
the ear, but break it to the hope?" or will
it fairly enter 'on the great questions on which
the voice of public opinion has already spoken
trumpet-tongued, and on which the popular mind
has been earnestly set ? Such a proposal would
establish the Government of Lord DERBY firmly in
office. But should there be any holding back—

any refusal to keep pace with the advanced intel-
ligence of the age—the prestige achieved during the
past session will be seriously deteriorated, if not
absolutely foifeited, and once more there will be
a scramble for place and power between those
whose chief desire will be to give as little as pos-
sible to the people.

Lord PALMERSTON,I too, will probably produCe
his long-promised bill, no inkling whereof was
suffered to ooze forth, probably for the very good
reason that the Noble Lord did not know his own
mind, and had not exactly decided on any of its
provisions. It is notorious that nothing was pre.
pared, that not a line was drawn out of what was
to have been the great measure of the session, and
" the Leading Journal" was throwing out many
hints as to the propriety of postponement, and the
impossibility of carrying a Reform Bill together
with our India bill, and other pending measures.
The ex-Premier had grown over-confident. He
fancied that his party was too powerful to allow of
the possibility of any serious defeat ; that because
he chose to call himself " liberal," albeit without
any real claim to the title, the independent party were ,
bound to yield unreasoning ;obedience, and to submit
to any amount of snubbing and contumely which he
might think proper to heap upon them. The mere
hint of resignation would, he supposed, be sufficient
at any moment to bring the waverers back to their
allegiance; or, even if he should go through what
de deemed to be the farce of resignation, that he
had only to stretch forth, his hand again and take
possession of office, whenever he liked to do so. In-
deed, it seemed to be rather a good joke than
otherwise ; for, as he imagined, it would speedily
bring the insubordinate members of the party to a
due sense of their situation, and induce them to
obey the Ministerial behests " with bated breath
and deep humility."
For once he reckoned without his host. The
odious " Conspiracy Bill" had alienated every true-
hearted Liberal, and the thorough pluck of Lord
DERBY and his colleagues commanded the respect
and admiration of the House and country, and gave
all that was required—viz' ~ a fair and impartial trial.
Great was the delight of the community at the
change. Impending aliaeulties were satisfactorily
and honourably adjusted. Important concessions
were made. Faith was kept Nnt • h
respect to the
Income-tax, and a budget introduced that was the
approbation of men of all classes in society, and of
every shade and variety of political opinion. The
small instalment of Reform granted by the aboli-
tion of the "property qualification" gave immense
popularity to the Ministers. It was shown that
they were not refusing a universally required ame-
lioration, in order to get credit for it as part of an
otherwise meagre measure. Auspicious auguries
were gathered from the fact, and sanguine hopes
were entertained that arse
h DER
first Reform Bill,
BY, who was one
of the Ministers who pd te
w it forward to its legiti-
ould be the man to carry

mate extent.
The settlement of the Jewish disabilities giving
to Baron ROTHSCHILD the seat for which he had
been kept twelve years waiting by the self-styled
Liberals, was another great feather in the Minis-
terial cap. It was said that it was forced upon
them, and that if they possibly could they would
ha7e refused the boon. But this, at least, is cer-
tain, that it vas by their means that the Jews re-
ceived
44111414°11 to the Legislature,_ Bpd that the

injustice and disabilities under which a body of
loyal men had so long been labouring, were re-

moved, and it is by RO means clear that the diffi-
culty would have been surmounted had Lord

PALMERSTON remained in office.

An admirable measure for the future government
of India was also carried successfully through Par-
liament, which transferred the Government of that
mighty empire from the East Company to
Queen VICTORIA. An admirable Council was
appointed to assist with their advice the
new Secretary of State. Some had been
elected by the directors of the moribund Com-
pany, and the choice met general approval. The
nominated members were equilly unexceptionable.
Indeed, it was universally admitted that in the
new Board the Ministers had been fortunate
enough to put the right men in the right places.
Mr. WYLD, then, was fully justified in declaring
that more had been accomplished by the present
Ministry, during the part of a session that they
were in power, than by their predecessors during
the many years that they were in office.

So much for the past. The country is now

looking anxiously onward, and speculating on
what will be the tenders from the rival
parties. There must be a great extension
of the franchise—that is inevitable. The constitu-
tional theory is, that there can be no taxation with-
out representation. Every man who contributes
to the national revenue, directly or indirectly, is
entitled to a voice in the framing of the laws, or
in controlling the public expenditure. Almost
every male adult would, according to this theory,
have an irresistible claim to a vote, but some re-
strictions have been imposed, and. although great
relaxation should take place, some security may

still be required to show the fitness of the party.
Every person paying any direct tax or rate should,
as a matter of course, obtain a vote ; and Mr
WYLD'S suggestion, that every person able "to
read and write" should also obtain the fran-
chise, is worthy of attentive consideration.
Nothing would give a greater stimulus to educa-
tion, or inspire the rising generation with a desire
to improve their minds, in order that they may
cease to be political ciphers, and have voices in:the
government of their country.
There must also be a more equitable distribution
of the electoral districts. It is too ridiculous to
say that 180,000 voters should return more than
half the members of the House of Commons, while
more than four times the number return only
a minority. Indeed Mr. BRIGHT has shown that
little more than twenty representatives have as
many constituents as the favoured 330, who can
carry anything they desire, and place or overthrow
an administration.
The Ballot is, however, the most important of al
the -demands that have been put forward. No
extension, no redistribution of the franchise can be
satisfactory unless full protection be accorded to
the voter in the discharge of the important trust
confided to his charge. The public mind is intently
set on that, and without its concession nothing will
be acceptable. Lord PALMERSTON and Lord JOHN
RUSSELL have proved themselves the inveterate
opponents of this just and salutary change, and it
now remains for Lord DERBY and his coadjutors to
show that they are more willing to meet the wishes
of the community.
We invite attention to the communication from
"An Old Soldier and Politician," which will be
found in another part of this day's impression.
He very properly insists on a limitation of the du-
ration of Parliament, in order that hon. gentlemen
may retain a more lively sense of the responsibility
they owe to their constituents. Perhaps the best
plan would be that one-fourth of the elected should
relinquish their seats every year, so that there
would be an entire change every four years. Our
correspondent's letter will well repay perusal.

We earnestly invite public attention to a letter
from an energetic, consistent, and indefatigable
monetary reformer on the all-important question
of currency reform. Mr. HAMER STANSFELD has
lost no opportunity of recording his deliberate
and well-considered opinions against the mon-
ster grievance that too frequently paralyses
the national industry, and leads to periodical
convulsions in the money market, and passes, by a
regular cycle, through all the phases, from mania to
panic, and back again from panic to mania. There
is no person whose contributions and arguments in
favour of a free trade in currency have been more
convincing than those of Mr. STANSFELD,
and we always rejoice to give insertion
to anything from a respected and valued
collaborateur, on a subject in which he is so com-
pletely at home.
Mr. STANSFELD'S letter is addressed to the
President of the Leeds Chamber of Commerce. It

shows that the wishes and intentions of that
important and influential body have been frus-
trated, and that the views which they desired to be
represented to the Committee on the Bank Char-
ter Act have been—no doubt unintentionally--

suppressed. The Leeds Chamber has, to its honour,
boldly entered on the question usually voted a bore,
and it' passed two resolutions that reflected great
credit on its members. Although its trade was in
the soundest and healthiest condition, the clear-
headed men engaged therein perceived that they
would be involved in the greatest difficulties but
for the suspension of the Act and the indispensable
violation of its stringent regulations. They ac-
cordingly passed the following resolutions, which
ought to have been printed in letters of gold, viz.:—

" let. That the clause in the act which limits the Direc-
tors of the Bank of England to an issue of £14,000,000,
excepting against gold, ought to be abolished, and that the
directors should have a discretionary rower to exceed that
limit as necessity may require.
" 2d. That the Bank directors should also be allowed to
issue £1 Bank of England notes, convertible into gold in
London, in times of pressure and difficulty."
These resolutions strike at the very root of the
act of 1844. Its very essence is to enhance the
issues whenever there is an abundance of bullion
in the Bank coffers, but to starve the currency
whenever there is a partial deficiency. It is, there-
fore, doubly mischievous, and produces the alterna-
tions between 1 and 20 per cent., so dear to the
hearts of the " hard calculators." When money is
cheap it adds to the abundance : the Bank is
bound to purchase from every vendor at £3 17s.
9d., and is compelled to force its paper on the
market at almost nominal rates. Great excitement
is thus produced, when everything would remain
quiet, if the directors were allowed to exercise their
discretion, and to follow the promptings of their
experience and
judgment.

Fourteen millions of money against paper may
at one time be too much, but it is far more likely
to be too little. The undue inflation of the currency
is mischievous, because it inevitably leads to a
' collapse, and produces the other extreme. The
directors, however, cannot help themselves, and
they are exposed to a series of almost daily
lectures from Printing House-square, because
they will not erst aside prudence and stimulate
the excitement to the highest pitch on this
' account, and the country are greatly indebted to
them for refusing to listen to the insidious eoun-
" hard calculator." •
se of the organ of
Since the period
of
£14,000,000 against Is
t securities was established, the
the
that the faxed issue

•
country has more than
that the internal trade
fdooruebiglend.comAmnderwcee obfelitl7.l.s,,e
was increased in a still, greater ratio. Thq repre-
sentative and measure of value which was at
one time amply sufficin ,nt for every demand is
therefore now altogetb er inadequate. The de-
mand has been more filo, n doubled, but the supply
remains stationary. Bice difficulty—hence
the distress, which ec iuld only be averted by a
copious issue of note s, many of them of such
convenient denominati .ons as would enable them to
take the place of sove- reigns.

In 1825 the accid dal discovery of a box of
£1 notes saved the Ba nk fr:,)m closing its doors,
and the nation
-fro;-the wildest con-
fusion and genero.,i distress. Lord ASHBUR-
TON explained the magical effect of
the discovery. Vie declared that " the credit of
the Bank for all idomestic purposes was perfect." So
it is still, anal so it has been during the times of
Kr•eatest distress and difficulty. Never was a bank-
)te objected to. All that was required was that
Mere should be a sufficient supply to meet the
IA ;ants of the people. The worthless rags were
lways acceptable. As we have repeatedly
at tatted, the issue of twenty millions of £1 notes
ould economise an equal amount of gold. Indeed
11 fr. JAmEs WILSON, late Secretary of the Treasury,
d eclared that it would produce an equal result to
t-1 he discovery of twenty millions of gold in the
entre of England.
We trust, then, that the Leeds Chamber of Com-
a terce will follow up its valuable resolutions, and
t'h at other bodies of a similar character may
t horoughly investigate and arrive at sound con-
asions respecting a question incomparably the
)st important that could be ventilated, and on
wt Lich the welfare, happiness, and prosperity of the
ins dustrious population of the United Kingdom
mainly depend.

Calamities, sometimes, by the very excess of
eirhorror, are productive of certain advantages.
They illustrate in an unmistakeable manner
the necessity of precaution and the feasibility
of measures for the prevention of their recurrence.
'There have been two or three catastrophes recently
both by sea and land, precisely of the same charac-
ter— catastrophes so frightful in their magnitude
that they startle society into a vivid recognition of
the fact that there really exists aperpetual liability
to their occurrence. But with the demonstration
of this truth comes the consolatory conviction that
by the adoption of certain rational precautions that
lamentable liability may be appreciably diminished.
There was very recently, for example, the de-
struction by fire far out at sea of the German emi-
grant ship the Austria—with the total loss of her
numerous passengers, and the all but total loss of
her crew. The horror of that calamity still lives
in our remembrance like a nightmare. It is still
vividly present to our imagination. Those hundreds
of our fellow - creatures huddled together in
a corner of the deck with the flames gra-
dually eating a way towards them—narrowing
the space in which they were crowded upon
each other—scorching them more and more fear-
fully—driving them one upon another, until, with
the intensity of the burning heat, and the pressure
of the throng, the wretched victims dropped one
by one, or in agonised clusters, into the fathom-
less ocean beneath. All this wholesale death
arising from the fact that the boats had been
stove in, capsized, or otherwise rendered
useless by the suicidal rush into them of the panic-
stricken men, women, and children, at the first
outburst of the conflagration. Supposing measures
of precaution to have been adopted betimes, with
a view to the pre4ention of this mad
rush to the boats—supposing the crew to
hale been well organised, each man going
to his appointed place at the period of emergency,
the passengers being methodically told off into the
various boats in succession, the vast majority,
if not the whole, of the unfortunate creatures
now gone might at this very time be
surviving. Precautionary measures of this kind
could, under the direction of a vigorous com-
mander, be readily taken by a few simple an-
ticipative - arrangements. It does not appear
to us at all impracticable to render the recurrence
of these destructive rushes to the boats almost im-
possible—and this without in any way impeding
the free and proper working of the ship. A light
but strong moveable framework might be contigu-
ous to every boat upon the ship—a framework
capable of being moved out at the first alarm, and
firmly locked into position, as a barrier against
undue pressure. One by one, at a wicket entrance,
the passengers might be admitted—one by one
they might be placed in order in the boats—one by
one the boats themselves might be lowered with a
regularity and precision like that of clockwork.
Together with these very possible and reasonable
arrangements there might be secured, besides
ample boat accommodation, an abundant store of
life-preservers. There is nothing in all this in any
way extravagant: the thing might readily be done
—it might be rendered compulsory in every passen-
ger-vessel leaving our shores—the men on
board a ship might be periodically drilled to
the working of the system as a portion of their
regular exercise. There is plenty of idle time out
at sea. That idle time might be as well occupied
—a portion of it—in this way as in any other.
The idea, at any rate, is well worth taking into
consideration. The recurrence in the case of the
Eastern City of a like casualty to that which
resulted in the total destruction of so many of
our hapless fellow-creatures on board the Austria,
has but very recently brought this dread peril
again before the public. There is no reason at all
why efforts in the way here suggested might not
be attempted with a view to the diminution of a
danger so truly awful in its character—one, more-
over, so constantly affecting our national interests
and home affections as a great maritime and mer-
cantile community.

COURT CIRCULAR.

WINDSOR, Nov. 4.

The Earl and Countess of Derby and Lady Emma Stan-
ley arrived yesterday afternoon on a visit, and dined with
her Majesty ; Col. the Hon. R. Bruce, Major-General the
Right Hon. J. Peel, and Major-General Sir Harry Jones
had the honour to be included.
The Queen and Prince Consort walked in the Home
Park this morning.
The Princesses Alice and Helena rode in tho Riding-
house.
The Hon. Lucy Kerr and the Hon. Mary Bulteel have
succeed the Hon. Beatrice Byng and the Hon. Emily
Cathcart as Maids of Honour in Waiting.
Major-General the Right Hon. J. Peel returned to Lon-
don in the forenoon, and Major-General Sir Harry Jones
left Windsor for Sandhurst.
A deputation from the Board of Guardians of the City of
London Union, consisting of Mr. Abbiss, Mr. Sibley, Mr.
Badger, Mr. Fisher, Mr, Wood, Mr. Hill, Mr. Saunders,
and the Rev. T. Wiltshire, together with Mr. Bowring,
Clerk of the Union, had an interview with the Right Hon.
T. Sotheron Estcourt yesterday at the office of the Poor
Law Board. _

The Right Hon. T. NV. Henley left London on Wednes-
day evening for Brighton.
Despatches were received at the Colonial-office, yester-
day, from the Governors of Ceylon, Mauritius, Hong Kong
and Malta.

A deputation of the Red Sea and Indian Telegraph Com.
pany waited on the First Lord of the Admiralty yester-
day, consisting of Mr. Marshman, the chairman of the
company ; Mr. W. H. Stephenson (official director) ; Mr.
W. Dent ; Capt. Hall, R.N., C.B. ; Mr. Eric C. Smith,
Mr. Lionel Gisborne (engineer to the company), and Mr.
C. L. Peel (secretary).

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