The Sun.
London, England, 1858-09-25 00:00:00

Professor OWEN, later on, that "in the operations
of nature there is generally a succession of
processes co-ordinated for a given n sult"—
embellishing the thought with this graceful
illustration :—" A peach is not directly developed
as such from its elements ; the seed wolf d, a priori,
give no idea of the tree, nor the tree of the flower,
nor the fertilised germ of that flower of the pulpy
fruit in which the seed is buried." Yet this is the
oration impertinently announced to be " a very
prolix document," by the systematic depreciator
of the annual efforts towards the advancement of
science made by the members of the British As-
sociation. It is a prolixity to the infliction of which
we would often willingly be subjected.

Money is rapidly becoming, what is ordinarily
termed, " a drug in the market." The bullion is
rapidly increasing, £485,150 being added to the
former amount during the past week, and the
whole amounting to £19,134,065, of which
£18,406,305 is locked up in the vaults of the Bank,
and thus, for the time being, rendered of no greater
value than an equal weight of paving stones ; while
£727,760 is employed in the banking depart-
ment, being an ample supply for every probable
demand. The reserve of notes consequent on this
state of affairs has reached the enormous amount of
£12,865,000, the increase within the past week
being £585,380 ; that of the bullion being, as we
have already stated, £485,150, the balance being
made up by a diminution of notes in general cir-
culation, and also of " other securities."

As we have repeatedly explained, £4,000,000 is the
estimated " reserve of notes" required to be retained
in hand, for the general purposes of the banking de-
partment. When, then, nearly £13,000,000 are idle
and unemployed, or nearly £9,000,000 in excess of
the proper amount, it is manifest that the bank is
charging more than the ordinary rate of the money
market, and that there must be a still further reduc-
tion in the rate of discount if the directors desire
to meet their constituents, the proprietors of Bank
Stock—to whom their first allegiance is due—in
a satisfactory manner on the next occasion of declar-
ing a dividend. This is one of the great evils of the
Act of 1844, to which we have repeatedly directed
public attention. There is always " a feast or a
famine" in the money market. At one time any
plausible security will be accepted, and money ad-
vanced at 1 or 2 per cent.; at another, within the
very same year, ten times the amount will cheer-
fully be paid by men willing to relinquish all the
profits for which they had laboured, and to make
any sacrifice in order to maintain their credit.
What is 20 per cent. for three months
to a man engaged in a severe struggle ? If

his worst anticipations should be realised—if he
should be compelled to suspend payments and have
his affairs either " wound up under inspection,"
enter into a compromise, or pass through the
purifying atmosphere of Basinghall-street, a shil-
ling in the pound, more or less, will be of com-
paratively trivial importance. lie may therefore
as well " screw his courage to the sticking place,
and stand the hazard of the die ;" and when
almost every commercial transaction has
been reduced to a gambling speculation
by the violent and almost unprecedented perturba-
tions and fluctuations of the money markets,
where is the honcst man that can " cast the first
stone" against his erring brother, whose fate he
might himself have experienced if the " hard cal-
culators" had been permitted to have their own
way a little longer? We believe that many of the
commercial frauds that have, created such intense
excitement throughout the length and breadth of
the land have been produced by the opc-.
ration of the monetaty code, and the prospect of
a rapid and decisive change before the obligations
entered into became payable. Last November,

before the issue of the Government letter, the
minimum rate of discount at the Bank of England
was 10 per cent., and money could not be obtained
on unexceptionable securities at much less than
double that rate, or 20 per cent., in Lombard-street.
In this present September, notwithstanding the
temporary pressure occasioned by the stringent
enforcement of revenue payments, the rate in the
open market has not advanced, above 2:1,- per cent.,
This is not our statement, but that of the Times,
which may be accepted as an unexceptionable witness
on such a point, and which adds, " With the dis-
bursement of the dividends about a fortnight hence,
the supply must therefore become excessive even
atthese terms, and the Bank must decide upon a
reduction, or continue altogether without business."
It requires no very powerful arguments to con-
vince us of the course that will inevitably be
pursued. The Directors will try to turn the
humble shilling. Speculation of every kind will
be stimulated, and eventually another monetary
crisis will take place, by which the bard calculators
will add to their already enormous fortunes.
The Times, as the exponent of the policy of these
not very amiable gentlemen, strongly advocates the
propriety of these fluctuations, which, notwithstand-
ign the evils that must-result-therefrom, it manifestly
regards as the natural state' of affairs. It says, by
attempting to control the market, the Bank would but
accelerate the dreaded evil. Their unemployed
balances constitute the test of abundance or scarcity,
and in proportion as these assume an unparalleled
magnitude will the stimulus to speculation be im•
parted. It is better they should be allowed to
circulate while trade is yet sound. This 'is the
fallacy purposely put forward. While " trade is
sound"—force money on every one that will accept
it—induce him to enter on the wildest specula-
tions—the risks are his, not those of the benevo-
lent
capitalist who stand; in the background, and
who will sow his money broadcast at 1 or 2 per
cent. that he may obtain 10 or 20 on renewal, or
ruin his victim in default of payment. The pain
and suffering that must be endured -is nothing to
this lender. His-doctrine has been clearly expressed
by the Times in the following sentence—" Let dis-
count pursue its spontaneous course down to 1 per
cent., or up to 20, without the intervention of
Chancellors of the Exchequer, and, although a few
bitter lessons must meanwhile be encountered, our
people will, at last, become as rational on this as
on any other point." This is the principle boldly
put forward, and which may be fairly subjected to
tests by which its accuracy may be tried.

" The marriage of the Duke de Malakoff," says
the Pays ; " will be celebrated immediately after the return
of the Emperor from the camp of Chalons. The Empress
will arrive from Biarritz a few days before the ceremony.
The bride's trousseau is one of the great subjects of con-
versation in Paris at present ; and, in particular, a diadem
of brilliants is spoken of, in which is inserted a wondrous
pearl, presented to the Duke by the Sultan. It is said that
several of the marshal's old companions in arms in Sardinia
and England will be present at the ceremony." •
NEW SUBMARINE TELEGRAPH
gence was received yesterday afternoon that the Electric
and International Telegraph Company's new submarine
cable for connecting England with the Continent had been
successfully laid. It contains four wires, weighs upwards
of 1,260 tons, and was submerged at the rate of about 41
knots an hour. Messrs. Glass, Elliot, and Co., of Green-
wich, were the manufacturers, and the arrangements for
paying out the cable from the William Cory, screw steamer,
were under the direction of Mr. Canning, their assistant
engineer. The details of the expedition have not yet been
'
recAe.ipveodT,n c
an.lidlumetLteilLftbLrLiiiitecrefsotilowing are the
names of gentlemen who passed their examination in the
:—Thomas Charles
;RJoozapnhdJ,enGkoiginsna, Binassninega;
science
.and practiceon Th ur sodta
September eiue, an
23 :—Thomas
certificates
to practice,
bourn,
Langdondatabzuripdtgoens,hDireev;
gentlemen passed their first ex-
aminations. ; and two other
onEshvaine
.Aberystwith; Robert Luther Bayley, Bigu-brook, 'Here-
anainatious.