The Sun.
London, England, 1866-02-05 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

I THE " LONDON REVIEW" ON THE RATE OF
INTEREST.—The Times City article of last Thursday
observes, with respect to the operation of the market
of Wednesday, that " although there were symp-
toms of discouragement yesterday, greater than at
any time since the commencement of the money
pressure in October last, the tendency almost to
panic was to-day still more observable." It attri-
butes this state of things to "an increase in the
general demand for money, and the disquietude
occasioned by the revelations in progress with re-
gard to the modern modes of financiering," and adds
the possibility of unpleasant events in connection
with the privateers now operating against Spain,
and the state of the Mexican question, as additional
reasons for the " prevailing gloom" and " uncer-
tainty." On the preceding day, the same news-
paper had observed, that "on every side the evi-
dence daily becomes more complete of the serious
condition the country would now have reached, if
the clamour for cheap money on behalf of unsound
firms and the promoters of deceptive companies had
been gratified at any time during the past three
months." We are far from undervaluing, or wish-
ing in any way to detract from the authority due
to the commercial and financial acumen of our con-
temporary ; but as Homer sometimes nodded, we
cannot but hope that we may, without offence, think
that the Times in this case, as evidenced by a series
of gloomy vaticinations of coming evils, takes a
partial and incomplete view of the existing situation.
Before speaking to the public of panic, we would
stare the existing situation very hard in the face,
and prefer, if we could, another solution. And,
first of all, we would observe that a great demand
for money and a high rate of interest, consols below
87, and Exchequer Bills at a discount, ought not to
frighten men engaged in legitimate trading—the
producers and distributors of wealth. These symp-
toms, indeed, precede, and in an aggravated form
accompany panic ; but they may, and often do, in-
dicate healthy enterprise, and a laudable effort to
meet the exigencies of sound business. Without
venturing on the line of prophecy we would observe
that for a long time past there have been such
sypmtoms of a permanent or average increase in
the rate of interest as would account for some por-
tion of the high rate now demanded. Eight per
Cent. now does not mean the same thing—is by no
means so significant as it would have been some
years back. The reason is that trade has increased
faster than the medium for settling balances. Money
is more valuable, that is, the rate of interest is
higher, because there is more demand for it. This
question is wholly apart from—quite beside the
symptoms or indicia of panic, the chief of which is
not the high rate of interest, but the impossibility of
getting money at any rate of interest. Of course
this impossibility is never absolute. A few houses
of immense resources, and in a position to command
the utmost convenience from the discounters, can
always obtain what they want by paying for it,
perhaps even less than it is worth ; but the less
highly favoured members of the commercial com-
munity are sacrificed to the fears of the Directors
of the Bank, who must first and foremost comply
with the law and put on the screw to save the coin
in their cellars, for the law says that they shall not
issue promises to pay on their credit, except to the
extent of some fourteen millions. This curious
empirical restriction is of course supported by the
great houses—the aristocracy of traders—because
it does not press upon them, but rather affords
them the opportunity, in difficult times, of trading
at a great advantage over the great mass of traders
who are not members of their coterie. Those who
are not so constituted as to see that it is always
right that the Bank should issue just fourteen
millions of notes, without gold in their cellars to
meet it, -are stigmatised, as speculators, who would
endeavour to control the natural operation
of the law of supply and demand, and reduce
the - rate of interest or the supply of money
on credit below its natural standard. They
are called clamourers for cheap money, and
their object is declared to be the bolstering up of
unsound undertakings. That there are such per-
sons to be found amongst those who think that in a
trading community credit is to be curtailed by Act
of Parliament is not unlikely to be true, but there
can be no doubt that the operation of the Bank
Charter Act has much to do with creating this very
class. For the extreme pressure of an enormous
rate of interest, and the application of that rate to
comparatively few houses, re-act and produce a
subsequent glut of money, which is the very atmo-
sphere which kindles the speculator in delusive
joint-stock schemes into life and activity. Such
persons so brought into existence will, of course, cry
out against the syste.n which produced them when
their turn comes to feel the pressure of the screw.
We confess to some enjoyment in seeing this class
discredited and unable to pursue their calling ; but
there is another class which suffers with them, who
have all our sympathies ; it is those who are engaged
in the production and distribution of the products
of every industry—the manufacturers and mer-
chants, who make and distribute the wealth of the
world. It is, we believe, a fact that this class of
men are in this country subject to greater vicissi-
tudes than elsewhere, and we know one vicissitude
always tends to produce the opposite one : the
greater the screw the greater the glut, and vice versa.
In the London market merchants are screwed up
tighter, and suffer more from gluts than elsewhere.
Just now they are suffering from the screw, but by
no means, in our belief, to the extent which would
be supposed from what we have extracted from the
Times. The rate of interest does not at this
moment present the characteristic of a panic, but is
due to the real.wants of commerce, which is being
carried on largely, and at a profit that meets the
high current rate of interest, which, we may also
hope, is not so high as to insure the speedy recur-
rence of a glut and the brood of the speculative
schemes a glut engenders.

THE "SATURDAY REVIEW " ON THE NEW HOUSE
OF COMMONS.—The members of the new House of
Commons have probably looked at one another with
some curiosity while they have been engaged in
electing the Speaker, or in going through the cere-
mony of swearing. The introduction of some fresh
elements, and the change of political temperature,
will have given the new Parliament a distinctive
character of its own. The death of Lord Palmer-
ston may be regarded either as the symbol or the
cause of reviving excitement and agitation. The
happy inaction which has lasted since the close of
the Crimean war would perhaps have terminated
even under a Minister who would have had suffi-
cient firmness and good sense to abstain from gra-
tuitous restlessness. Lord Palmerston, in his later
years, represented .the satisfaction with which a
prosperous community contemplates, from a peace-
ful shore, the stormy seas of foreign politics. With
the aid of opponents who perversely refused them-
selves the cheap pleasure and the profit of liberal
sympathies, Lord Palmerston contrived to secure
universal popularity Itith the smallest possible risk
or exertion. Politicaftealots accused him of trea-
son, because he allowed them to try their strength,
and then cheerfully acquiesced in their failure ; but
the House of Commons and the outer world were
more indulgent to a state of mind which was at the
time almost universal. A passively elastic policy
is perhaps no longer in season, and the principal
Ministers are exempt from the virtue or the vice of
a propensity to let things alone. The tranquillity
of Europe, and the modern disposition to abstain
from interference in Continental affairs, naturally
tend to concentrate attention on domestic business ;
and it may perhaps also appear that the American
war has, for the first time in many years, rendered
democratic agitation possible and formidable. No
other foreign contest has produced in England the
same antagonism of opinion and of feeling. The

vast material resources which were conspicuously
illustrated by the events of the war are associated
in the popular imagination with American institu-
tions. Even Irish rebels, who propounded half-a-
dozen years ago ridiculous schemes of crowning a
French Marshal, have conformed to the fashion of
the day by electing a mock President, supported by
a sham Senate and House of Representatives. In
England, if Mr. Bright and his followers are
scarcely numerous enough to constitute an Ameri-
can party, malcontents of all descriptions are pro-
vided with a republican ideal. No revolutionary
question is likely to be mooted, but the spread of
democratic sympathies may either modify the
general character of the Liberal party or promote a
temporary Conservative reaction. Mr. Gladstone,
though he has little love for the United States, has
occasionally shown strong democratic affinities. The
extreme party in the House of Commons is not
largely increased in numbers, but it is reinforced by
several able and active members, superseding as many
conventional Radicals. Those who have long
taunted the metropolitan boroughs with the obscu-
rity of their representatives are perhaps not alto-
gether satisfied with the deference which has' at last
been paid to hostile counsels. It was always known
that a member for a London borough would pledge
himself to the ballot, to household or universal suf-
frage, and to every other measure which happened
to be included in the programme of his party. At
the same time it was understood that, in practice,
the metropolitan reformer would support Lord Pal-
merston's Government, and that, if necessary, he
would aid in throwing out troublesome measures, on
the pretext, if no more plausible objection occurred,
that they were not sufficiently sweeping. It would
have- been possible to imagine a better and more
dignified representative system, but trimmers and
political sceptics tolerated the Lawrences and the
Coxes on the same sound principle which recom-
mends a gingerbread Lord Mayor in preference to a
municipal ruler of an unwieldy metropolis. If
the members for Finsbury and Lambeth were
not statesmen, they were better than demagogues,
especially as they furnished a conclusive argument
against any increase of their number, and a forcible
reason against the assimilation of other borough
constituencies to the London type. At last, it would
seem, the miscellaneous aggregate of petty shop-
keepers became ashamed of the carelessness which
had once placed a seventh part of the representative
power of the capital in the hands of two adventurers
who are now respectively expiating their misdeeds
in unhonoured exile and in penal servitude. The
artisans in some districts were anxious to make a
creditable use of their local power, and competent
candidates were forthcoming to profit by the sudden
repentance of the electors. Mr. Mill was brought
forward in Westminster to oppose the Grosvenor
family, by whose aid he subsequently defeated
a strong Conservative candidate, after having
forced his own intended colleague to retire
from the contest. The constituencies knew
little of Mr. Mill's special opinions, and pro-
bably nothing of his writings ; but they were
told that he had attained a high reputation by the
exercise of great intellectual powers, and they
rightly determined to rely upon his ability and
character. Sir John Shelley would perhaps on all
occasions have voted as Mr. Mill will vote, but a
consistent Liberal on whom Lord Palmerston could
safely depend has been replaced by a possible leader
of a party, or at least by a disturbing force, in the
House. Mr. Hughes, Mr. Torrens, and Mr. Faw-
cett, who is, however, not a metropolitan member,
belong to the same class of educated, zealous, and
—to use a common phrase—earnest Liberals. Some
of them may be tamed by the House of Commons,
and others will perhaps tire it ; but they cannot be
regarded with the good-humoured indifference
which attended the patriotism of Mr. Cox. Mr.
Chambers, the new member for Marylebone, though
he will probably be temperate and reasonable, will
scarcely be as manageable as Lord Fermoy.
In one respect alone the metropolitan boroughs have
consistently adhered to their uniform practice.
In the richest and most highly educated consti-
tuencies, or portions of constituencies, which exist
in the world, wealth and refinement are absolutely
disfranchised. Of the class which is vaguely but
intelligibly described as consisting of gentlemen,
not one in a hundred holds the opinions to which
every metropolitan member is committed as a con-
dition of his relection. The vertical divisions which
are promised by Reformers in the popular con-
stituencies of the future are unknown in London.
In a pyramidal structure, composed, in one sense,
of clay at the base and of gold at the summit,
horizontal cleavage necessarily gives the prepon-
derance to the larger mass below. Although the
great majority of the House is essentially moderate,
there are causes which may render many members
more impatient than in the golden days of Lord
Palmerston. The career of office at last appears to
open to unlimited competition. The old Whig
Government under Lord John Russell, and the
first Administration of Lord Palmerston, were
constructed on an extremely narrow basis.
At one time nearly every member of the
Cabinet was descended from a common
ancestress, who flourished only two genera-
tions ago. On one or two occasions a Minister pro-
moted from a less elevated class seemed to have been
selected merely that he might furnish an awkward
contrast to the refinement and official experience of
the ruling families. It naturally followed that, after
the fall of an excluSive Ministry, new alliances,
formed during a temporary absence from power,
rendered candidates more numerous than places.
Lord Aberdeen in 1853, and Lord Palmerston in

1859, were judiciously anxious to provide every in-
dependent Liberal with office. In the first coalition
the friends of Sir Robert Peel pushed a few even of
the purest Whigs aside ! and Lord John Russell,
Mr. Gladstone, and Mr. Milner Gibson had, on the
second occasion, fully satisfied Lord Palmerston that
opponents who had twiceinflicted on his Government
decisive defeats would be safer within his Cabinet than
outside. No member who had not previously held
office could be surprised to find that the claims of
recognised Parliamentary leaders were acknowledged
as paramount. Time and change have since thinned
the number of privileged statesmen, and during
Lord Palinerston's tranquil reign no politician had
the opportunity of acquiring a vested right to
Ministerial succession. When there are few political
officers on half-pay with a prior right to vacancies,
subalterns begin to hope for promotion, and civi-
lians for commissions. Their aspirations have been
encouraged by the admission of Mr. Forster to the
Government and of Mr. Goschen to the Cabinet ;
and Mr. Childers, who lately succeeded Mr. Peel at
the Treasury, is himself but lately advanced from
the ranks. It is easier for an ambitious member
to compare his pretensions with those of a recent
companion on the back benches than to inquire
into the causes which have inseparably asso-
ciated some familiar names with the thought of
office. The new Parliament contains many
young men, of more or less promise, who may be
excused for remembering that half the members of
of the Cabinet are over sixty, and that all but one
are over fifty. Personal ambition is one of the
legitimate springs of political activity, but it would
not be desirable that half th majority of the House
of Commons should desirE official employment.
Both counties and boroughs haveinvoluntarily con-
sulted the public interest by the selection of mem-
bers because they own a certain number of acres, or
in recognition of a long and successful prosecution
of trade. Lawyers are devoted to the harmless pur-
suit of seats on the bench ; and elderly manufac-
turers know themselves to be as unfit for office as
middle-aged sportsmen. There is some reason to
fear that the example of Mr. Goschen may prove
too attractive to his less fortunate contemporaries.
It is desirable that a competent number of mem-
bers should devote themselves to public business as
a profession, but candidates sometimes advertise
themselves by becoming unnecessarily active, or by
making themselves disagreeable. Australian As-
semblies, where every member expects to be in-
cluded in one of the semi-annual Cabinets, are only
an exaggeration of what a House .of Commons
might, under certain contingencies, become. It is
doubtful whether Mr. Gladstone could have ruled
even the docile Parliament which perished a little
before its congenial chief. The new House of
Commons will tax far more severely the skill, the
temper, and the firmness of the Ministerial leader.

WESTERN VIEWS OF A TARIFF.—On the subject
of protection for Home Manufactures, the Chicago
Republican says :—" It is vaguely reported that
certain Republican members of Congress from the
West have resolved to oppose any alteration in the
tariff calculated to secure domestic manufactures
against the effects of foreign competition. Their
idea is said to be that any alterations of this sort,
while they might be beneficial to Eastern capital-
ists, would be injurious to Western farmers. This
is an old notion ; indeed we may say that it is
obsolete. * * But here in the West manufac-
tures are rapidly springing up, and the farmers
are interested in their prosperity and development
almost as much as those who are directly concerned
in them. We apprehend, accordingly, that any
Western representative who votes against such
duties upon foreign wares as will save from de-
struction our own infant iron mills, wooden mills,
flax mills, cotton mills, and the like, will find him-
self condemned by his constituents." The Chicago
Tribune, on the other hand, strongly urges free
trade, and claims that a free-trade policy is the
only policy which will satisfy the immense agricul-
tural population of the Western States.

Free-Trade League in the North-Western

States.

The letter of Mr. John Bright, on the sub-
ject of Free Trade in the United States, has pro-
duced a great effect in Illinois and adjacent regions.
A Free-Trade League has been established, with
head-quarters at Chicago ; and branches are being
organised in connection with it in all the large
cities of the West. The following remarks by Mr.
Horace White were made at the inauguration of
the Free-Trade League in that city :
" Chicago is a commercial city—a city of trade. Freedom
of trade is its life. The North-west is an agricultural
community. The North-west asks no discriminating
duties for the protection of her great industry, and will
consent to no discriminating duties for the protection of
will
other industries at the expense of her own. She
welcome manufacturers, for they are a benefit to the State.
In all that is said concerning the blessings of a diversified
industry I agree, provided the arrangement is effected on
fair terms. The competition which is such a terror to
manufacturers of the narrow-minded sort, but which IS
really the life of human activity and enterprise, and at the
same time the protection of the public against the evils of
monopoly—the competition, I say, between the East and
the West is more to be feared (if competition is ever to be
feared) than any possible competition between the West
and European countries. But we can have no protective
tariff to shield Western manufacturers against Eastern
manufacturers. IThe cheapness of food and the cost of
transportation from the East to the West is sufficient pro-
tection to Western manufacturers, and at all events that
is all they can have. Hence the North-west has no inte-
rest in common with the Protectionists, but many inte-
rests at variance with them. It would be well for those
the
who complain of the absence of manufacturers at
West to reflect that the only reason why they have net
been established is that capital and labour could be oinre
profitably employed in other vocations. Certainly it has
not been for the want of protective tariffs, for we have
them in abundance. Among the more immediate wants
of the West, I may mention cheap iron. Cheap jr°ll
mean cheap railroads ; cheap railroads means ellethe
transportation. A Free-Trade League, organised for *
dissemination of truth on these questions, seems altogether
appropriate in our city, which is the natural centre of
shall
large a portion of the North-west. Quite likely we st'a.,
encounter opposition. No great truth has made its nra•Y
to popular acceptance in a moment. But surely no soil
can be more inviting than this for the cultivation of the.
principles of free trade, which is the natural handmaid of
free labour. I have said nothing about the revenue, brfi3;
causs we are not discussing that portion of the ta h
which is levied for revenue, but only that portion whic
is levied for protection. We are all agreed as to the ne
cessity of a revenue. -We are all agreed as to then the
sity of taxes and tariffs to meet the expenses of ,
Government and to maintain its credit. We differ Ora
on the question of taxes levied for the benefit, or the en-
couragement, if you please, of private individuals." -