The Sun.
London, England, 1832-09-07 00:00:00

XPIRIT OF TM PUBLIC JOURNALS

When we drew the attention of the public
last week to the Lord Chancellor's reforms in
the Court of Chancery, we were prevented, by
want of space, from pointing out the distinction
between his Lordship's abolition of the sinecure
offices in the gift of the Great Seal, and his
disinterested relinquishment of those placed at
his disposal by the death of Mr. Scott. The
loss of patronage to the Great Seal in the first
instance is very considerable, and the increase
of 1,000/. to the pension of retiring Chancellors
is perhaps but an inadequate provision for it, but
in the latter instance there is no compensation at
all. The increased pension is an equivalent to
the Great Seal generally for the abolition of
the sinecures, and it will go to every Lord
Chancellor in succession, in lieu of his chance
of having one or more of the sinecures fall in
whilst he is in office. It is, in legal phraseology,
a pecuniary consideration for his chance,
and no more. Now the present Lord Chan.
cellor is peculiarly situated. His interest
in Mr. Scott's sinecures was not contin-
gent, but vested ; the chance had become
certainty ; the sinecures had fallen in, and
were as much his property as any portion of his
other emoluments. The increased pension could
only affect his chance of the sinecures subse-
quently becoming vacant. It is the very essence
of its calculation that none of the sinecures were
vacant. An instance will make this clearer. If
instead of paying Bishops by fines on renewal,
as at present, an Act was passed to give them a
fixed yearly salary,--suppose before the Act
took effect, and, indeed, whilst it was only co►►-
templated, a life dropped in, and any given
Bishop received 30,0001. or 40,0004,—it
would doubtless be thought very hard, if, in-
stead of letting him keep that sum and make
the arrangement prospective, he was compelled
to refund it, a►►d to receive so much a_ year in
lieu of that and all his other fines. Yet this
would in some degree be parallel to what has
happened to the Chancellor. Nay, in fact,
the case of the latter is a great deal stronger
than this, for the Bishop profits immediately,
whilst the Chancellor only profits after his
retirement. Some Bishops, whom we could
name, have expressed themselves in favour
of this commutation of their revenues, quite
as strongly as the Chancellor did of his
plan before the Finance Committee, and we
trust that his noble example will not be lost upon
them. Be that as it may, they may rely that it
will not be lost upon the public. A precedent
has now been established for the interference of
Parliament with vested pecuniary interests, and
it was treated by Sir Robert Peel, Sir Edward
Sugden, and their friends, as a matter of course,
as a case in which the party concerned had no
alternative, and could claim no merit for his sa-
crifice. This line of argument was intended to
depreciate the Chancellor, hut its tendency is to
advance all those objects of Reform which he
has at heart. The trumpet, therefore, has been
sounded in the quarter where we least expected
to hear it, and if there be such a thing as con-
sistency in statesmen, we are not hereafter to
be told that any abuse is to be protected merely
because a person has a vested interest in it.—
Times.

Having at last obtained a copy of the Bank
Report ourselves, we are no longer dependent
for a supply of extracts on other sources, and
have in consequence availed ourselves so freely
of the contents of the volume as to have left
ourselves little room for our own remarks. We
regret that circumstance the less, as without
time to classify such an immense mass ofevidence
under proper heads, our observations upon it
could only be vague and general. The table of
discounts in each quarter of the year, from the
year 1815 to 1831, is extremely curious, as
showing how little the Bank of England assists
the trade of the country, and how great a pro-
portion of its funds are employed in transactions
with the Government. The Bank of France,
with its comparatively very limited means, is
often of greater assistance to commerce than the
Bank of England. Some interesting information on
the exchanges will be found in Mr. Rothschild's
evidence, besides opinions on the policy of one
bank or several banks of issue in the metropolis,
and publicity of bank accounts. To these two
latter topics we shall afterwards have occasion to
advert. As we have stated generally, that for
several years the principle of the Bank has been
to secure their establishment against panics, by
having a treasure in their cellars equivalent to
one-third of their issues, we think it may be use-
ful to extract the following portion of Mr. W.
Norman's (a Bank Director) evidence in ex•
planation of this point. The new system is much
better than the old haphazard practice.

Are you aware of the principles upon which the Bank
of England regulate their issues?—l am aware of the
principles upon which they regulate their issues at present.
" Will you state what those principles are?—l con-
ceive that the principle for the regulation of the Bank
issues under ordinary circumstances is, at the time when
the currency is full, to invest, of the whole amount re-
ceived for the circulation and deposits, in the proportio❑ of
about one-third in bullion and coin, and about two-thirds
iu securities bearing interest.
" Do the Bank of England, in regulating the amount of
their paper in circulation, have reference to the state of
foreign exchanges ?—The Bank, for several years, have
always looked very narrowly at the state of the foreign
exchanges. Since tie principle which I have just
mentioned has been adopted, the plan has been, under
ordinary circumstances, to let the public act upon the
Bank, rather than the Bank upon the public. Having
tired the amount of securities and treasure at about two-
thirds and one-third, the drain is allowed to go on un-
checked, unless some special occasion for interference
should arise. The diminution of treasure is then accom-
panied by an equivalent diminution of circulation and de-
posits.

" In case of the foreign exchanges bring against this
country, would the Bank take any step to counteract that
issue ?—I should say, under ordinary circumstances, not;
there might possibly be extraordinary circumstances, in
which a forcible and more rapid contraction of liabilities
would be requisite.
" When the bullion is being drawn from the Bank, do
the Bank take any measures to restrict the accommodation

they give to the mercantile world ?—No, they usually
have contrived in that case to dispose of a portio❑ of their
Exchequer tills or other securities, and thus increased the
fund disposable for discounts ; the object is to keep the
securities upon the whole at the same amount, or s one-
what near the same amount ; it is impossible to obtain
perfect accuracy.
" Do the Bank, then, look at the amount of securities
bearing interest in their bands, more thin they do to the
positive amount of bullion ?—Yes ; the principle is, at the
commencement of a drain—that is to say, when in all
probability the circulatio❑ and the treasure are about at
the highest—that we should have the proportion of two-
thirds and one-third ; then if the securities are kept about
at the same level, the reduction of the treasure must show
itself in the circulation and the deposits."
Though a considerable part of the Bank evi-
dence hits already been laid before the publ►c,
and though at successive periods in 1810, in
1819, and in 1826, long discussions took place
on the state of the currency, we have been sur-

prised to find how little some of the Tory organs
of public opinion yet understand of the matter.
Because we find fault with the present manage-
ment of the Bank of England—because we ob-
ject to a combination in the same Directors of
the incongruous characters and functions of a

finance administrator, who ought toa consult
(ally the public interest, having made himself
acquainted with banking business for that sole
purpose—of a superintendent of a great corpo,
rate banking establishment, whose interest is
often opposed, or seems opposed, to measures
of public security—and of a Government banker
paying dividends, buying Exchequer-bills) and
advancing money on loans to a certain extent
under the control of the Minister of the day, and
too apt to consult the convenience or sub-
mit to the views of Chancellors of the Exche-
quer for the time being,—because, we say, we
have objected to this system, always vacillating
and hazardous, and frequently productive of im-
mense calamities, we are accused of being op-
posed to all paper credit whatever, or of having
personal objects in pointing out its existing de-
fects. To say that the present Bank institution has
failed in answeiing all the objects of a dispenser
of currency, furnishes no ground for supposing
that an improved one would be objectionable.
But why even under the present establishment
do such persons consider the repeal of Peel's
bill as indispensable to the national safety, and
desire to return to the state of 1819 ? Do they
mean to contend that the issue of paper should
be unlimited) under the late system of Bank
management ; and, if it is not to be unlimited,
what is to act as a check upon it but its conver-
tibility into one or other of the precious metals ?
There is, at present, no restraint on the issue of
paper, in notes at or above 51., except the obli-
gation to pay them in gold if demanded. Would
it be proper to abolish this liability, and to allow
the Bank of England, and every one of the 600
or 700 country banks, to inundate the country
with as much currency as they chose ? The 11.
note is indeed prohibited, and prohibited for the
very reason that we require another one-pound
standard to measure the value of other notes.
Were it permitted to supply the whole circula-
tion with paper, and to use notes of the same
amount as sovereigns, the latter would disap-
pear, as they have disappeared in Scotland, and
as they disappeared in the counties of England
%%hen the country bankers were permitted to
issue small paper. It is necessary, therefore, if
we desire to guard ourselves against unlimited
depreciation, and protect the nation from as-
signats or double prices, to moor the bank-note
to gold as our anchor, and never to allow their

connecting cable to be cut. Mr. Attwood,
who opposes this indispensable principle of a
sound currency, but who is far above the class
of persons to whom we have alluded, has ad-
dressed to us a letter, which we willingly insert,
in answer to some strictures of ours on his cur-
rency speech at Birmingham last week, noticed
in our`paper of Monday. We really, however,
do not see how his communication has altered
the position of the question, or given any new
support to his opinions. In applying the word
" robbery" to any projected change in our system
of currency, brought about with the previously
avowed design of reducing its present value, by
increasing artificially its quantity, or by re-
lieving it from the legal check of a metallic stan-
dard, we spoke advisedly, though of course we
meant no imputation on the personal integrity or
patriotic views of Mr. Attwood. His proposed
repeal of Peel's Bill, and the restoration of a
small-note circulation, will either raise prices and
depress the value of money, or it will not. If
it will not, then no change can be demanded,
and the question is at an end. If it will, then
it must alter all existing money contracts—it
must affect the relation of all debtors and cre-

ditors—and it must enable the nation, as a great
debtor to the fundholder, to discharge his divi-
dend at a lower rate than before the change. This
being dune with design, and with knowledge afore-
thought, is, to all intents and purposes, a law of
confiscation to the full amount of the effect which
it produces. It is a forcible alteration in the distri-
bution of property, resulting from Government
interference, without any compensation to the
party injured. It is, in truth, to " rob" the
national creditor, or, in other words, to deprive
him of a portion of his revenue without an al-
legation of an offence. In pointing out the
years 1823, 1824 and the beginning of 1825 as
prosperous times, produced by a happy state of
the currency, Mr. Attwood must have forgotten
the blessings of the panic in the end of the latter
year. But that, he will say, was produced by
a departure from his system in contracting the
circulation in order to draw back the exported
gold. Be it so ; but then we must have al-
lowed the depreciation to go on by over-issues,
in order to obtain still higher prosperity, till all
our gold had fled and taken refuge in other
countries, where it was not repudiated as here.
phis must have led immediately to a restriction
act ; and in a short time, under a continuance
of that system, a Bank-note, like a paper ruble
of Russia, must have fallen to a third or a
fourth of its nominal value measured by the old
standard. Then certainly creditors would have
been " robbed" in the worst sense of the word.
But it would appear that we are threatened first
with an " avalanche," and then with a " re-
volution," if we adhere to our present monetary
standard and our present currency laws. On this
subject we continue to differ as much from
Mr. Attwood, as when we made the re-
marks to which he replies, though we have
neither time nor room to re-state the grounds of
our opinion. Revolutions or political convul-
sions are sometimes brought about by mis-
chievous experiments on the circulation of a
country, or by a derangement of its monetary
system through depreciation, but never by a firm
adherence to a solid value and a universal
standard. Paper is of no use in a general con-
vulsion—and the calamities of this nation, in
case of civil disturbances, would be aggravated a
thousand degrees beyond those of any other
people in similar circumstances, not because we
have so much gold, but because we have so
much paper in our currency. Had France pos-
sessed only a paper currency during her two in-
vasions in 1814 arid 1815, she would not so
soon have recovered from her distresses. Let
Mr. Attwood only contrast her situation, after
being overrun by half the armies of Europe,
and paying such enormous sums in contribu-
tions to her conquerors, with the condition of
the United States, after the single British expe-
dition to New Orleans. The comparative order
and perfect security of money transactions in
the one case, and the extraordinary derange-
ment in the ether, though the people were
placed in more favourable circumstances, speak
volumes-against an exclusive paper system.— Times.

It is somewhat ludicrous to observe the elabo-
rate efforts of the submissive scribes of the

powers that be" to make the public believe
that Europe presents nothing but peaceful ap-
pearances, while the three great despotic Go-
vernments, that now openly strike at the exis-
tence of all free institutions and of all free opi-
nion, have, for the enforcement of their atro-
cious decrees, a million and a half of men in

arms ! If this be peace it is a peace sleeping
upon gunpowder ! It is a peace in which there

is neither security nor confidence. But it is
not in the number of their legions only and in
their equipment that the despotic Sovereigns are
formidable to all nations and people that value
independence. They have taken up positions
silently, while keeping our Statesmen engaged in
the puerile frivolities of the Belgic bubble, which
positions give them the means of making the
most powerful use of their arms, if the strug-
gle of freedom and despotism, of civilization
and barbarism, should take place. And most
assuredly events are tending to produce such a
struggle eventually, unless the people of France,
of Belgium, of Switzerland, of Italy, of the
German States, and, finally, of England itself,
should tamely and basely submit to the yoke
of the Holy Alliance through the mere terror of
armies, which will, in that case, have conquered
without the necessity of firing a shot. By sub-
mitting after such a fashion to the commands
of the Despots, peace may indeed be preserved ;
but it will be a peace which will have nothing
else worth preserving. Human nature, how-
ever, is not yet so far sunk in political debase-
ment as to present, in the nineteenth century,
that unvarying submission throughout Europe
to military dictation and brute force, which would
reduce the most intellectual, vigorous, and civi-
lised quarter of the globe, to the deplorable
servitude and degradation of uneducated, demo-
ralised, and enervated Asia. Yet, if the Holy
Alliance be permitted to carry on their schemes
of aggrandisement, and to enforce their decrees for
the subversion of free institutions and the total
subjugation of the human mind, as they now do
in the Germanic States, and as Russia has clone
in Poland, the condition of "enlightened"
Europe will, at last, be assimilated in passive
servitude and mental darkness to that of the
oriental world ; and the suppliant scribes of
power will call this peace ! It will, indeed, be
the perfect realization of what the Despots mean
by their favourite terms, " order and tranquil-
lity"—the " order" of political extinction—the
" tranquillity" of moral death. The miserable ex-
pedition of Casimir Perier to Ancona—" too few
for an army, too many for an embassage"—is iso-
lated amid the inundation of Austrian troops that
possess that fine country, and secure all its im-
portant passes. The presence of the French
just suffices to iiritate the Absolutists, but not
to inspire them with fear. Meanwhile Austria,
who has the complete military command of Italy,
occupies the frontiers of Switzerland with a

imposing force, and, by the combined agency of
circumvention and terror, may be said to hold
that republic in her grasp, whereby she may, at
any time, unbolt the gates of France in that
quarter. Still more formidable is the vast force
which Prussia has concentrated on the Rhine,
so well equipped as to be ready to commence
active operations at any moment ; while in the
rear of these collected hosts other large armies
are in readiness to march ; and Russia, having
beaten down the ramparts of western Europe
against her barbarous ambition, fortifies the
whole frontier towards the west, evidently as a
basis of operations. These things look as much
Ike a prolongation of peace as collecting masses
of thunder-clouds betoken fine weather. They
may certainly be followed by fine weather, but
not without a storm. We do not say that such
a peace as Europe at present possesses will be
broken while the allied Despots can have all
they demand—dishonourable submission from
France, the slavery of Helots from the German
people, and gold and coward courtesies from
England, without actually letting loose the
" furies of war." But who does not see that in
such a state of things Europe, apparently at
peace, is strown with combustible materials,
and no one can say whence, or how soon, the
spark may come that shall set it in a flame.—
Morning Herald.
Among the arguments used by the Marquis
of Palmella and the Conde de Funchal, in the
hope of inducing the British Cabinet to adopt
a more liberal policy towards the Constitution-
alists of Portugal, none deserved greater atten-
tion than the offer, on the part of Don Pedro,
of entering into such an alliance with this country
as would materially promote the interests of British
commerce. For many years past there has been
on the part of France great jealousy of the pecu-
liar privileges enjoyed by our merchants in their
trade with Portugal ; but the French Cabinet
having been induced, by the loud and almost
unanimous expression of public feeling in France,
to promise a concurrence in any measures to
which our Government might resort for the
overthrow of Dun Miguel, and in order to avoid
all ground for distrust, to leave the management
of the affair entirely in our hands, the French
nation, so far from exhibiting any jealousy at
commercial advantages being thrown i❑ our way
by Don Pedro, as the condition of our sup-
porting his daughter's claims, would cheer-
fully make any sacrifice to obtain through
Great Britain a result which their own
Cabinet desired, but which, on account
of the arrangement with Lord Palmer-
ston, it is unable to take an active part
in effecting. This, therefore, is the moment for
decision on the part of the British Government,
and we hope that Earl Grey and his colleagues
will pursue the course which they are bound to
follow by interest as well as honour. They
have done enough to make Miguel the eternal
enemy of this country, without having, by any
overt act, rendered assistance to his opponent,
who is now, and, in the event of success, would

be still more, a friend to British commerce.

Should Miguel maintain his usurped throne, he
will naturally look for continued support from
those Powers who do not even now hesitate to

avow their sympathy for him, and whatever ad-
vantages he may be able to withdraw from Great
Britain, he will throw into the hands of the
North Americans and the Russians. Russia,
instead of drawing from France the low wines,
of which he consumes so large a quantity, will
take them from Portugal ; and Portugal, instead
of admitting our produce into her ports,
with the facilities promised by Don Pedro,
will cultivate relations with the United
States, and with those manufacturing por-
tions of the Continent of Europe in which
she may find the articles which she has hitherto
received from us. But it is not as regards the
imports alone that Miguel would show his
hatred of Great Britain. Regardless as such a
man must ever be, wherever his passions are
concerned, of the interests of his subjects, he
would increase the export duties on articles of
Portuguese produce, for which there is a de-
mand here, to such an extent as would ma-
terially affect our market, and a very short time
would show how much we had lost by that un-
generous policy, which is one of noninterven-
tion only when the rights and liberties of men
are at stake. Portugal, under a settled Con-
stitutional Government, would be a valuable

market for British produce, and equally va-
luable to us as to the facilities of obtaining the
produce of that country, at a reduced rate. Don
Pedro has already given earnest of what he

would do, if successful, through our means ; and
his agents here have made such representations
as no Government, with a common regard to
interest, to say nothing of the broad question of
right, ought to disregard.—Morning Herald.
It is really sickening to be compelled, day
after day, to notice the malignant ribaldry of the
Times upon the Bank question, which, however,
we do because some persons may be weak
enough to take for granted what is stated in that
Journal, in attributing to the mismanagement of
the Directors the distress of the people. The
Times asserts that the paper issues of the Bank
in 1822 had been reduced to the lowest point
they had attained since the peace. In answer to
this we have only to state that the circulation of
51. notes was the same in 1822 as it was inlBl9,
and the one-pound notes were paid off in 1821,
and therefore that circulation was, as a matter of
course, reduced under Mr. Peel's Bill. We now
recommend a general and attentive perusal of
the evidence itself, which will be an effectual
antidote to the poison so malignantly circulated
by the Journal we have named. We confess
and lament the danger that a certain class of
persons, not in the habit of investigating such
matters for themselves, may have been influenced
to receive unfavourable and injurious impressions
respecting the Bank. But with the great and
intelligent body of the mercantile classes we are
happy to know, what indeed we never doubted,
that the hardy ignorance displayed in the attempt
to shake public credit through that of the Bank
is as thoroughly contemned as the motive which
led to it is abhorred.—Morning Post.

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.

MANSION-HO USE.

Yesterday Mr. Barker, a pawnbroker of the city,
was summoned before the LORD MAYOR for having il-
legally received in pledge three unfinished silver watch-
cases from a person employed by Mr. Isaac a watch-
manufacturer. The man who had pawned the cases
was in extreme poverty, and had hut very lately re-
ceived parish relief, and the object of Mr. Isaacs was
to punish the pawnbroker for having given encou-
ragement to depredators by lending money upon
work in a course of manufacture.

The watch-cases were produced, and Mr. Isaacs
pointed out the proof of want of finish in the manu-
facture. The articles had neither springs nor linings,
and he thought it quite impossible that the defects
could have escaped the notice of a pawnbroker, who
received such strong cautions from the Acts of Par-
liament inflicting heavy penalties for violation.
Mr. Stevens, for Mr. Barker, submitted that all
means were constantly resorted to for the purpose
of deceiving the pawnbroker, and that, in this
instance, the person who pawned had long been
supposed to be a master. It was well known that
masters often had occasion to raise money to answer
pre-sing emergencies.
The LORD MAYOR observed, that if dishonest
men found a readiness of disposing of goods fraudu-
lently, the respectability of the man who lent money
on such goods was an unanswerable proof of the ne-
cessity of putting in force the Act of Parliament.
No one could for a moment think that the man
who had pledged was the owner of the articles.
His Lordship then intimated that he must fine Mr.
Barker.

Mr. Nobler said that Mr. Barker had shown the
most marked disposition to stop any article which
he suspected had been stolen.

The LORD MAYott—lf that be the case, I shall
remit the penalty; but if such a representation had
not been made, I certainly would have levied the
fine. The watch-cases, however, must be given up
to Mr. Isaacs.