The Sun.
London, England, 1835-10-17 00:00:00

lus to free the Sultan from the mesh in which the
atvily Russian has encompassed him. It is an insult
to Turkey to talk of her independence, when the
treaty -which was wrung from her in her extremity,
plar;es her under the dictation of Russia, at whose
bi:dding she is bound to close the Dardanelles when-
ever the schemes of the Autocrat may require the
adoption of such procedure. It is of little conse-
quence that England and France are not y,arties to
this treaty, and have declared it to te merely a " bit
of waste paper ;"—their honour and interests, as
ivell as Turkish independence, can be secured only
by its total P:brogatiori. Russia forms a different esti-
mate of the advantage of this treaty to her, as ail;
-pears by the vaunt of the Frankfort organ, which
pronounces woe to any Power 'that would dare to
interfere with the key of the Emperor's house.
Our forbearance in this instance is -disgraceful in
the extreme. It is asserted by those who defend
a dastard policy, that though Russia may be de-
sirous of sending her fleets by the shortest passage
to the Alediterr,,nean, England can have no motive
for sending her men-of-war into the Euxine. such
a silly mode. of argument is contemptible in any man
having th.e least pi etensions to enter upon a discussion
of the question. It is contended that because Russia
has no right to enter the Bosphorus without the formal
invitation of the Sultan, England should content her-
self with preserving the statu cuo with regard to ships-
of-war, as the Sultan is not likely to give such invita-
tion under present einurnstances. But the shore-
sighted politicians who argue in this manner should
remember that Russia is not over-particular in waiting
a formal invitation when her interests suggest a dispen-.
sation of ceremony. The interests of England should
not be left dependent on the contingency of the Sul-
tan's invitation—and though we are perfectly aware
that Russia is not to be controuled by treßties when-
ewer her own interests prompt their violation, yet she
Should be left no pretext by which, at a future period,
she may attempt to justify agf:;ression.—Morning
Advertiser.

We find that the late att,lmpt of the Bank of Eng-
land to extinguish the ci:culation of the Joint-stock
Banks of the kingdom., and to monopolise the whole
circulation to itself, continues to be the object of very
considerable disiLaission, both in the manufacturing dis-
tricts and the metropolis. An inquiry, therefore, is
naturally suggested, as to its practicability, as well as
to the important effect which such a daring proceeding,
if successful, would have over the commercial, manu-
facturing, and agricultural interests of the entire kingdom.
Our commercial and moneyed readers will remember
that this is the second attempt to accomplish this nefa-
rious measure, that it is a part of a fixed and decided
plan on the part of the Bank Direction, long since
contemplated, and only withheld from execution by
the just and natural alarm created in the public mind
.at the bare idea of its awful consequences. The ac-
tual position of the Bank of England at the preset:A
moment is this :—The circulation of that establish:nent,
wltich we have reason to know has been redl7.'ded since
the last return one million, is now only seventeen mil-
lions ; during the war it was thirty millions ; and
yet, with this circulation, reduced and inadequate as
it is to the wants of the expanding trade of the country,
even this amount it finds the greatest difficulty in main-
taining, owing to that Corporation being compelled to
pay its notes in gold at the antiquated standard of
31. 17s. 10-4-d. per ounce ; yet, it has the folly and teme-
rity to attempt engrossing ',lle whole additional circula-
tion of the country—that is, ten millions beyond the
seventeen of their ow-n, this being the amount of the
return of the issues PA the country and Joint-stock Banks,
which would eitail ruin upon itself and the whole
kingdom. We cannot illusttate this 'attempt better
than by assuming that the Bank Direction is like a
man who, though he cannot carry a weight of seventeen
stone, conceitedly imagines, nevertheless, that he c.'d n
carry twenty-seven. The monstrous absurdity that is
exhibited in the one case is precisely the P.itme in the
other. But it is full time that another system should
be introduced for the management of this establish-
ment, and that the people of England should not have
their destiny depending on the ignorance or caprice of
any one man, or set of men, who may have been fortu-
nate enough to acquire the means of qualifying as
Directors of the Bank of England. From the spirit of
indignation which pervades the country at the very
aAtempt, we have reason to believe that meetings will
be held to petition the Legislature to abolish a charter,
the privileges of which are so shamefully abused. The
country can no more do without an expansion of its
circulation, in proportion to its increased capital, in-
dustry, and population, than a mill can be worked
without water ; and as every contraction of the circu-
lation not only feeds the grasping avidity of overgrown
capitalists and mijuey dealers, and thus enables them
to prey upon th:d middle and lower classes, but like-
wise endangers the welfare of the whole community,
the question, demands the imperative attention of the
Government and the Legislature.—Morning Herald.
We give elsewhere, in an extract from the report of
the Post-office Commissioners, the sequel of the Duke
of Richmond's evidence. It relates chiefly to the re-
gistration of letters, which his Grace thinks impracti-
cable in this country. The point is not, after all, of
any material importance, and we dare say no injury
will be sustained by the public if the practice continue
as hitherto. In the same number of the Appendix,
of which we give a separate extract, we find the fol-
lowing questions put to and answers returned by the
Doke of Richmond, relative to the exchange of news-
papers between England and France-free of any charge
of postage :
" Your Grace is aware that an Act passed last year, esta-
blishing a reciprocity as regarded the circulation of news-
papers in France and England ; you are aware also that
no step has been taken by the French Government to
make the declaration required by that Act previous to
our coming to a similar determination in this country ;
was it your Grace's " expectation, that immediately on
the passing of that Act, such a communication would be
made from the French Post-office to • this country ?—I
proposed the measure myself to the Chancellor of the Ex-
chequer, previous to the Bill having gone through the House
of Commons ; I was in Pctris, and spoke to the Director-.
General of the French Posts upon the subject, and he pro-
mised me to communicate with the Minister of Finance.
Prior to my leaving Paris I saw the Director-General
again, who told me .hat the French Government would,
immediately upon war act being carried, permit the English
newspapers to go through France on my undertakin,, to
allow the French newspapers to go free through England.
I am therefore very much disappointed at hearing that the
French Goverament had not carried into execution that
pledge which, they made to me as Postmaster-General.
" That p:tedge was made distinctly, separately from any
pledge on your part to execute any other proposition of
theirs w'dich regarded the communication. between the two
offices ?.—Most decidedly ; I told the Director-General of
the P osts, after he had made the pledge to me, that if I
could do anything which would be of advantage to the
French, without being of detriment to this country, I
sronld be most happy to do so ; and that if there were any
points which I had deemed inadmissible before, if he would
give me stronger arguments than he had before, I she:d'id
have great pleasure in revising my former opinions ' and I
think the English Government ought to call on French
Government now to redeem that pledge %...rithout loss of
time."
It appears, then, by this: 13a)e of the Duke's evi-
dence, that the promise made ny the Director of the
French Post-office in reg-,
ad to the exchange of news-
papers free of postage, was both positive and specific,
and might have bees acted upon independently of any
of the other points which had remained unsettled. We
are sorry to sa'y, however, that although the English
Post-office 13'.:a has long since passed, ale English
French n.c?.:spapers exchanged between the t 7
tries coil'', .v 0 coun-
tries up to the present Hour tQ nay a postage
of twopence in England, e;nd ten sous (fivepence) in
Franc,t. By what the Piuke of Richmond says on the
subject, we ought t,o 'infer that the fault of this is
•
cliargeable on the T2rench authorities. We think we
can show, however, that our own Post-office authori-
ties are chiefly to blame. But in order to do this, it is
necessary to .0. 1-
,C 1 UaCk to the state of matters previous to
the passing of the Post-office Bill to which the Duke
of Rir;rlmond's evidence refers. It is, probably,
still "unknown to many of our readers, that until
the r.tutumn of 1834, an Act of Parliament was in
forrze, which conferred on certain clerks of the London
Post-office (called clerks of the foreign department),
the exclusive privilege of exporting newspapers from
England, and of importing foreign ones from abroad.
strange and inconceivable monopoly had firmly
withstood, for years, all the efforts which we? in corn-