The Sun.
London, England, 1857-02-06 00:00:00

/tit Log

1 ,
into the b.l;ys4 of select aoramittees, or to invite
a deluge of pamphlets and correspondence from
the pens of MERCATOR' and -his contemporaries ;
but I do trust that, acting upon the best judg-
ment they can form, they will, upon their own
responsibility as a Government, submit to
Parliament such a measure, whether in ad-
herence to, or in alteration of, the ex-
isting law, as they may deem expedient, and
that the question may be settled by Parliament
upon a plan deliberately submitted as the result
of the careful consideration of the Government of
the day !"

This would have been the manly, the straight-
forward course. Sir G. C. LEWIS has had ample
time to mature his plans. He was excused during
1855 on account of his recent appointment to
Office, and last year in the general saturnalia en-
joyed by the popular representatives on account
of the Peace. Not, indeed, that the People had
any cause for rejoicing at the lame and impotent
conclusion wht.t might have been an honourable
and beneficial, as it was unquestionably a just
and necessary, war ; but the pretext for idleness
was eagerly seized, and grudgingly allowed, and
the nation, for the second time, submitted to pro-1
craatination, and the continued uncertainty re-
specting a matter of vital importance to its future
welfare and prosperity. We urged, at the time,
that, if an inquiry was considered indis-
pensable, it might be held forthwith, so
that the Report might be obtained before the
prorogation, and in the hands of every member
for careful study during the recess. This salu-
tary course was, however, avoided, and the only
thing that could justify the apathy was the suppo-
sition that the Financial Minister had made up his
mind, and would be prepared to submit a specific
measure to the Legislature on his own responsibi-
lity ! There were unquestionably ample mate-
rials for legislation, and a man aspiring to fill
so important a situation as that of Chancellor of
the Exchequer ought to have taken the bull by
the horns, and to come forward boldly with an
independent measure, which he might have done,
with the assistance of so powerful an auxiliary as
Mr. .TAMES WILSON.

He has, however, shirked the manifest duty ;
and, if the House assent, intends to consign the
question to the hopeless limbo of a Select Commit
tee. There the session will be passed by a carefully
packed committee, whose decision on all important
points may be regarded as a foregone conclusion,
who will hear witnesses selected with equal care,
whose prejudices and interests will induce them
to take a very one-sided view of the subject.
Thus valuable time will be thrown away. The
Session will pass before the Committee have
agreed on any point, except that they cannot
agree, and under the most favourable circum-
[stances the Old Lady will enjoy her monopoly for
yet another year, and the nation must submit to
the incubus with the best possible grace. Mean-
while, another turn of the wheel may take place.
The monetary cycle will proceed. From starva-
tion we may bo restored to abundance, or rather
superabundance, for the golden mean seldom con-
tinues long. Discounts will be reduced to a
third of the present prices, and " money will be a
drug in the market." The deluded, people dazzled by
the fleeting prosperity, will fmget past sufferings, and
another Bank job may be perpetrated without
exciting the just indignation of the people, until
another crisis as formidable as that of 1847 may
again provoke remonstrances and curses, both
loud and deep, from the victims of Ministerial
thimblerigging.
If, however, there must be a fresh investigation
we trust that the committee may be fairly and
impartially- selected. The farce enacted in 1848
by Sir CHARLES WOOD was justly censured by
every right-minded man. It was a " solemn im-
posture," by which the nation was bambozzled.
Such a trick cannot be played for the second time
with impunity. We should hope that every true-
hearted Englishman, no matter of what shade or
variety of political opinion, would deprecate a
course so wholly opposed to every principle of
fair play and common justice. Every name on the
committee must be clos3ly scanned, and a division,
if necessary, taken. Lord G. BENTINCK made a
gallant fight in 1848. But, although unsuc-
oes,sful, he rendered valuable service by exposing
the stratagem and laying bare the paltry " dodge"
that was practised.
The terms resorted to in the Royal Speech in-
duces a very natural apprehension that Sir G. C.
LEWIS intends to renew the Bank Chartea with
all its iniquities. " Her MAJESTY commands us
to recommend to your consideration the expe-
diency of renewing for a further period the privi-
leges of the Bank of England." This certainly
seems to indicate a foregone conclusion. There is
nothing of revision—nothing to show that the
connection between the Bank and State may be
severed, or that a really national establishment
may be substituted in its place. If the Govern-
ment intended to leave it an open question, to be
decided by a fairly selected committee, they should
have used different language. If, on the other
hand, they had resolved on their course, they
should have acted promptly, without striving
to shelter themselves under the .lEgis of the
Committee. It is but justice to Mr. GLADSTONE
to say that he pointed out the impropriety of the
course clearly and unequivocally, while express-
ing a hope—a faint one we fear that we are
" beginning to emerge from the series of monetary
experiments, and are about to bring our monetary
system to a comprehensive, and permanent, and
established basis." We cordially concur in this
aspiration, although we fear that we may differ
very widely as to what that basis ought to be.
At all events, it is well to know that the proceed-
ings may not go off quite so smoothly as Sir G.
C. LEWIS anticipates, and that there are influen-
tial members of the Peelite party who think that
" the privileges of the Bank of England, properly
so called, require revision as much as renewal."
If monetary reformers only exert themselves as
the import ince of the subject requires all may
yet be well—if they yield to the sinister influences
by which they are surrounded, wo shudder at the
contemplation of the calamities yet in store for
the nation, calamities which cannot bo averted or
materially retarded.

The Secretary for the Colonies was hard at
work last evening in the House of Commons. He
obtained leave on that, the third, day of the ses-
sion, to prepare the way for three comprehensive
reformshis vta mat aria ly affecting the organisation of
and complicated department. He ex-
torted from the popular branch of the Legislature
permission to bring in that bill relating to Nor-
folk Island, which excited a laugh at the first
whisper of it in the House on Tuesday evening
—a bill intended to effect a very desirable altera-
tion in the existing provisions of the local system
of ecclesiastical government. He succeeded, in the
same way, in opening up the ground for another
measure, designed to enable her ALJESTICS sub-
jects in the lonian States to hold, under the
erown, whenever it might be deemed advisable,
military and naval commiinssriins motions. Abo fovearll,thhoe
proved equally successful
appointment of a Select Committeeetroitorie.
inquires into
the state of the Hudson's Bay Territories.

As to the proposed Bill in relation to th