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

BARomETER-r-30-18.

Wt.).--n, Northerly; fresh, with dull hazy weather.

THE SUN.

FRIDAY. NOVEMBER 5, 1858.

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
elaiini,of the several candidates for office. That a
Reform Bill will..be brought forward by the
Offernment is certain. The intimations that have
slrea ly been given—the hints thrown out, prove,
beyend -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
Treasure? • That is the great, the all-important
question. Will it be merely a plausible
exense, to " keep the word of promise to
the ear, but • break it'• to the hope?". or -will
it fairly, enter on the great luestion3 on which
the- voice. or public opinion hits already spoken
trumpet-tongued, and on which the• popular mind
has been earnestly set? Such a proposal wou'd
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 agc-,—the prestige achieved during the
priA se:ision will be seriously deteriorated, if not
absolutely forfeited, and once more there will be
seramble Sot' place and power. between those
dire will be to give as little as pos-
sible to the people.

Lord r.l-I,3I.I{,SiME, too, will probably produce
1118 long-promised bill, no inkling whereof was
suffered to ooze- Prth, probably for the very good
reason that the Noble Lord did not know his own
Mind, gnd 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- Lead;ng Journal" was throwing out many
hints as to the prApriety of postponement, and the
iinpc:ssibility of carrying a Reform Bill together
with our India bill, and other pending measures.
The ex--I,)rTaiir hid grown over-c.mfident. lle
fanci.:l that his party. was to po..verful to allow of
the po.f4bility of any Ferious &int ; that because
he to " albeit -without
any real clam: c title, the independent party were
bound tlyielduAreascaing obedience, and to submit
to any amount ef-P;nubl:lng and contumely which he
might think proper to heap upon them. The mere
hint of resignation would, he supposed, be sufficient
atL7.ny.moment to bring .111.? v.-averers back to their
allegiance; br, even if he should go through what
de dc'enied to lie the Pree of regipation, that he
had only to stretch forth his hand again and take
pwessiOn of office, whenever he likLd to do so. '
'deed, it seemed to be rather a good joke than .
oilierwise; for, as he:imagined, it would speedily
bring the insubordinate memben of the party to a
-126- E6-:vd thtiir situation, and induce them tn-
- obey the Ministerial behests " with bated breath
and deep humility."
Tor once he reckoned without his.hoA. The
c'tV-311s "Con,i piracy Bill" had alienated every.true,
hearted Libiral, and the thorough pluck. of Lord
I)EnBY and.hcs coned ues comnraatled the respect
, • .
end tnltafl°ll of thellortieand country, and
• allthawaircquired—Yiz., a fair and impartial tria
.
'cr" the (111-gl,l- of the. community at the .
clrurg .4mPcnding cliiticn Mica were sati4actorily
an honeural;ly adjuqud. Importailt concessions
were made. - Faith was kept with 'respect to the
Inemne7tax, and a budget introduced that was the
approbatioli of men. of all clay es in society,. and of
every shade and variety of political Opinion. The
*Mall instalment of: Reform granted by the Aoli-
.gale imuiense
protierty, qualification"
tion,of
the 1-lirac,terF It
popularity to . v, 43 shown that
they r: re r..ot refusing al.3a, iverf,ally required
nrac-
lioration, iv or credit for it
der to get a. 9 part of an
o rwise Meat,rrre measure. Auspicious auguries
thc
gathered from the fact, and sanguine hopes
were 0
Nver entertainecl that Lord .DERBY, who was one
f the: Ministers • 'Passed the first Reform Bill,
it forward to ite legiti-
would he the man to carry

mate extent...
.The settlement of the Jewish disabilities giving
to. Baron ROTHSCHILD the seat for which he.had
be,e n kept twelve Years waiting by the self-styled
lAberak, .was another great feather in the
terial Cap. was_ said that it' Was forced Uppit
them, and that if, they possibly could they woUid
ham© refused the boon. tal_, at, L:ast, iS aer:
13 that it vELs6 by their -means that the A:its
- "FYIt admission to the Legislature, and that the

injustice and disabilities under which a body of

loyal men had so long been labottring; wcre're-
moved, and it is by no means clear that he cliff,

cult- would have been surmuunted. iad Lord

PALmERsToN-remained in office.

An admirable measure for the futur government
of India was also carried successfully through Par-

liament, which transferred the .Government of that
mighty empire from the East Inditi Company to
Queen VICTORIA. An admirable Council was
appointed to assist With . advice the
new Secretary • f State. Some had been
elected by the directors of the moribund Com-
pany, and the choice met general approval. The
nominated members were equally unexceptionable.
Indeed, it was universally admitted that in the
new Board the Minister& had been fortunate
enough to put the right men in the right places.
Mr. Wirt.n, 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 a'lult 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" Tel r.L.o cbtain 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. Yerhnps the best
plan would he 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. I-TAMER 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
collftborateur, 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

:;bows 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;-s-no doubt unintentionally--

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

" Ist. That the clause in the act which limits the Direc-
tors of the Bank of England. to an issue of- .£11,000,000,
excepting against gotd, ought to be'aboliahed,•stnd that the
d:rectors should have a discretionary power to exceed that
limit as, necessity may require. . • • ,

, . "Id. That the 'Bank direetOrs should also be. allowed 40
ipme Li Banl of England 'notes; convertible .into gold in
Lond;3n, in times of pressure and difficulty." ,
These resblutiens- strike at the 'very root of the
act of 1844. Its very essence ;14' to enhance the
issues whenever there is an abundance of bullion
in the Bank coffer:, *but to • starve the currency
whenever there is a partial deficiency. It is, there-
fore, doubly- mischievous, and produces the alterna-
tions betwaen 1 and 20 per. cent., so dear to the
hearts of the "hard calculators." I\7llen money is
cheap it
,adds to the abundance : the Bank is
bound to purchase from every. Vendor at £3l7s.
9d., :314 ,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.

FourteenMims of money against paper may
rkt 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
Mouse-square, because
lectures from Printing
they *ill not cast aside prudence and stimulate
the excitement to the highest pitch on this
account, and the country are
.greatly indebted 2tO
_:.•
them for refusing to listen .to the ill< idicrizi
oc th "hard cAeulator "
of the orgaP • •
Sit :period • that • -the 4.ed ot
e() the
£14,000,000 against eectai....ties was established,. the

foreign commerce (.4f the country has more than
doubled. And we .believe that the internal trade
was incr,:aged in a st7l greater ratio. The repre-
sett tative and measlare of value which was at
~‘
one time •amply", sufficient for every demand is
therefore now altogether inadequate. The de-
mand_ lifts been more than doubled, but the supply
remain i stationary. llence the difficulty—hence
the distress, which could only be averted by a
copiot s issue of notes, many of them of such
convey iient denominations as would enable them to
take xhe place of sovereigns.
In 1825 the accidental discovery of a box of
X 1 notes saved the Bank from closing its -doors,
and the nation . from the wildest con-
fusion and general distress. Lord ASHBUR-
TON explained. the magical effect of
the dircovery. He declared that " the credit of
the Bat tk for all domestic purposes was perfect." So
it is still, and, so it has been during the times of
greatest distress and difficulty. Never was a bank-
note objected to. All that was required was that
there should be a sufficient supply to meet the
wants of the people. The worthless rags were
always acceptable. As we have repeatedly
stated, the issue of twenty millions of £1 notes
would economise an equal amount of gold. Indeed
Mr. JAMES WILSON, late Secretary of the Treasury,
declared that it would produce an equal result to
the discovery of twenty millions of gold in the
centre of England.

We trust, then, that the Leeds Chamber of Com-
merce will follow up its.valuable resolutions, and
that other bodies of a snilar character may
thoroughly investigate and arrive at sound con-
clusions respecting a question incomparably the
most important that could be ventilated, and on
which the welfare, happiness, and prosperity of the
industrious population of the United Kingdom
mainly depend.

Calamities, sometimes, by the very excess of
theirhorror, 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' r 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 Collies the consolatory conviction that
by the adoptionof.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. .Thosehundreds
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 beat, 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
• frbm the fact that the boats had been
stove in, capsized; or otherwise rendered
Useless by the suicidal rush into thein- 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 prevention of this mad
rush- to the boats--.-supposing the . crew to
have 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, iworking 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
\‘'-a.v extravagant: the thing might readily be done
—it might be rendered compulsory in every passen-
gcr-vessel leaving our shores—the men en
bOard a ship might be 'periodically drilled to
the working of the- system as it. portion of their
rcgnlar.exercise.. There is plenty of iclle 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 tbe public. There is no reason at all
why efforts in the: way here sUggeked might not
be attempted with a view to the diminution of a
danger so trulyawful in its character—one, more-
over,• so constantly affecting our national" interests
and home affections as a great maritime and mer-
I cantile community.

MUM' CIRCULA.R.

WINDSOR, Nov; 4.

The Earl and Countess of Derby and Lady Emma Stan-
ley arrived yesterday afternoon on a visit, and dined with
het 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 the 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 lion. 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 otthe Poor
taw Board. .
The Right Hon. T. W. Henley left London on Wednes-
day evening for Brighton.
Despatches were received at the Colonial-Office, yester-
day, from tho Governors of Ceylon, ManritiuS, Hong Kong
and Malta.

A deputation of the Rod Sea and Indian Telograpji Com-
pany waited on the First Lord of the Admiralty yester-
a;le:n:eieslting(tecroeftary Mr.). Marshman, the eliairman of the
company ; Mr. 'W. H. Stephenon (of4ial director) ; Mr.
7.1... Dent ; Capt. Hall, R.N., C.B. ; Mr. Eric C. Smith,
!ki Lionel Gi.sborno (engineer to the ompo.ny), .and Mr.
. .... .
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