The Sun.
London, England, 1858-10-08 00:00:00

former line, for postal purposes, must therefore, by
inevitable necessity, be "a complete delusion."
We look for better things from it. We cannot be-
lieve that" the communication by Suez is deliberately
to be kept slow that it may not outrun its Panama
competitor." Anything so flagrantly al-surd and sui-
cidalwouldbe inconceivable even under a Whig Ad-
ministration. It is " a complete delusion" nowadays,
we believe—now, when so many of the old bonds
of red-tape have been snipped asunder, and when
the demon of Circumlocution has to a consider-
able extent been exorcised.

The Bank of England still retains its minimum
rate of discount at 3 per cent., and the Times is
consequently intensely irate at the refusal of the
directors to lend themselves to the operations of
the peculiar favourites of Printing-house-square,
whom it has been pleased to designate as " hard
calculators." As we have at all times explained
money may be made too cheap as well as too dear,
and discount at 1 per cent. is scarcely less objec-
tionable than at 10, and for this simple reason,
that it inevitably leads to over-speculation, and
eventually to a monetary crisis, in which all
the savings accumulated during the favourable
period are absorbed, and even prudent parties
either absolutely ruined, or involved in debts and
difficulties, which cannot be altogether got rid of
before the occurrence of another emergency. It is
a common proverb that " extremes often meet," and
where money is at one time a drug in the market,
freely offered on the cheapest terms to any
one who can exhibit a plausible pretext
for its use, it will speedily become com-
paratively scarce and.; rare, when the " hard
calculators" think that the time has arrived for
playing out their trump cards and producing
general confusion and distress.
The Times speaks of the refusal to lend money
at less than 3 per cent. as " an attempt to put com-
merce under restraints," hinting that it " can only
end by increasing the evil it is intended to
avert ;" by— which we infer that it supposes
that the directors must eventually succumb,
and offer money at any price that may
be offered. This is certainly very different
from its former opinions. We can recollect articles
in the " Thunderer," ascribing a great portion of
the evils that occurred in 1847 and 1857 to the con-
duct of the very same parties in following " the
movements of the market," and reducing the rate
of discount to 2 or 21 per cent., thereby exciting
the temporary mania, which was sure to terminate
in panic.

The Times urges the most powerful argument
against the Act of 1844, when it points out the
necessity of " inflation" of the currency as one of
its inevitable consequences. It says—" The effect
of delay, therefore, is merely like that of a dam,
and the tide will be more intractable in proportion.
If inflation is dreaded this week, when there has
been a large addition of gold, what will be the
chances seven days hence when the dividends will
be in course of payment, and the Persia will have
brought a further large sum from New York, and
we also shall have received a new quantity from
Russia, and perhaps from Australia?" When gold
is cheap, it finds its way to England, for there,
under such circumstances, the best prices can be
obtained. The Bank is allowed no option.
It must take all that is offered at a flied price of
£3 17s. 9d per ounce, and when there is a heavy
drain it must disburse that very same gold at
£3 17s. 101 d. the half-pence being all that
is allowed for the fluctuations of the market,
in an article which the Times declares to be
subject to the same laws as " grain, cotton, or
anything else."
That is the verypoint which we, in common with
every true currency reformer, have constantly
insisted on. We have declared that gold and silver
should be treated as grain or cotton, that there
should be a perfect free trade in money, whether it
be made of the precious metals, or of paper.
There should be a circulating medium which
would be universally acceptable, and which would
answer every domestic purpose. This would b.
obtained by making it receivable in payment of
rates and taxes, and rendering it a " legal tender"
in discharge of every debt.

This, as the Times admitted nearly two
years since, would be quite sufficient for
carrying on the internal trade of the
country without the deposit of a single
ounce of gold or [ silver ! Why, then,
do we not get it ? Why is this great
boon denied to the horny-handed labourers who
are able and willing to give " a fair day's labour
for a fair day's work," and who know no greater
evil than compulsory inaction, and being obliged
to " bury their talent," and to become useless
consumers, in place of being the creators and
producers of national wealth, simply that the
" hard calculators" may profit by the confusion
that attends a monetary crisis ; that they may be
enabled to obtain goods at less than the cost of pro-
duction. The industrial community are ruined.
Households, once happy, are reduced to the greatest
distress and destitution, in order that usurers:may be
enabled to swell their plethoric money-bags, and
fatten on the ruin of the people.

It is the artificial restrictions on the issue of
Bank-notes that have greatly enhanced, if they
have not entirely created the evil. For 140 years
the rate of interest never varied more
than 1 per cent. Trade was then properly
conducted, and industry, probity, and skill
invariably received their just rewards. It
was not then a mere gambling speculation. Steady
progress was more thought of than a triumphant coup
—that might possibly give the " gold chain," but was
more likely to end in the " wooden leg." Men didnot
expect to get rich in a moment. " Slow and sure"
was the motto, and they thrived accordingly. But
now a feverish effort is necessary—the system that;
gave prosperity to Old England, and loppiness to
its inhabitants, has vanished, in obedience to the
dictates of the monetary quacks.

His Royal Highness the Duke of Cambridge
leaves town to-morrow, for Manchester, on a visit of in-
spection. During his stay his royal highness will be the
guest of General Sir Harry Smith, commanding the
northern district.

Lady Katherine Hamilton, third daughter of the
Marquis and Marchioness of Abercorn, is to be married on
the 26th inst. to Viscount Valletort, eldest son of the Earl
of Mount-Edgcumbe.
King Louis of Bavaria on the 2nd assembled all
the Royal family at a grand dinner, prior to the departure
of King Otho for Greece, which was to take place on the
following day. This latter monarch is not to return to
Greece via Vienna, as was at first intended, but will proceed
to Trieste by Salzburg. and Bruck.

HAYMARKET.—On Monday next, Mr. Charles
Mathews will make his first appearance since his return
from America. Mrs. Charles Mathews will also make her
debut in this country.

OLYMPIC.—A new drama, of which great expec-
tations are entertained, by Mr. Wilkie Collins, is announced
for production at this house on Monday next. It would,
however, seem doubtful whether it will not be postponed
for a few days.

THE OUTWARD PENINSULAR MAIL.--The steam
ship Alhambra, Captain Steward, left Southampton yester-
day, with the above mail, 37 pa.ssengers, and a full cargo.
Among the passengers were Major Barstow and Lieutenant
Lambert.

The South Western Company now telegraph the
arrival of the Channel Island mail packets in England to
Jersey and Guernsey. This affords great satisfaction to
the friends and numerous .passengers who travel by those
packets. The telegrams sent by Channel Island submarine
cable are increasing in number every week. Last week a
message was despatched from Lothbury to Guernsey, at 10
minutes past ten, and was delivered in the latter place at
16 wilias pad ten,