The Sun.
London, England, 1857-06-04 00:00:00

THE BANK CHARTER ACT.

"That the Bank Charter. Act of 1844 makes money dear
is not a fallacy but a reality, is not a fairly but a fact",

TO THE EDITOR OF THE ECONOMIST.
Sir,—Regarding you-as one of the highest autho-
rities on the subject of the curreney, and the first
in point of influence; from
.your political and offi-
cial position, and you being a mdinber of the com-
mittee appointed by the House of Commons to in-
quire into the operation of -the Act of 1844, I was
somewhat dismayed . on reading the article. in the
Economist of the 16th May (which being on the
Continent on account of health,„l • have only just
had the opportunity of doing), to find that you ab-
solve that Act from being in any degree instrumen-
tal in making money dearer. Such an opinion
would be "a heavy blow and great discourage-
ment" to those who consider that. Act to be a curse
to the country, were it as sound as your published
views on the currency usually are—so cbar that
those Who run may read—but, with all deference,
I would submit that on this point, you are it-As,-
taken, and trust you will allciw me to state a few
reasons for differing frog you—explidned more at
length in a pamphlet I sent you, entitled. "The
Bane 'and Antidote of our Monetary System." •
Is it ccrrect to attribute, as you.do, the rate of
discount entirely-to the supply of floating capital?
If Bank of England notes, constituting the bulk
Of our legal tender money, and the supply of
which in proportion to the demand-determines the
rate of discount, were issued solely against gold,
truly. representing capital, then such an asser-
tion would be correct. 13ut if -we examine
into the character of •Bank of. England notes, we
shall find that when the circulation is twenty
millions, about fourteen millions are issued against
Government securides andsii.millions against bul-
lion, - fourlen millions representing the credit
of the nation, the, capital - having been borrowed

RIWIEW 'IN PARTS.

The review of cavalry in hnnour of the King
of Bavatia came off oe Tueirday on the new race
F
course
splen
d in
iiiwtehtriti'leli_sit_od ettß6raiAlng
ea,e_eas_,. 1
inactvmerrlyive_iwthii
always do in Pens, a multitude of spectators ; but,
contrary to custom, these speutat rs consisted
almost exclusively of the higher and middle classes,
blouses being very rare indeed. The ground, which,
as is known,
.is of immense extent, was entirely
lined with pedestrians, whilst- behind them was a
huge alseinleage of vehicles of all kinds, from
the dashing equipage of the noble, down to the
humble back ctb Of the citizen, all fully oc-
cupied, chiefly by la•lies ; in some parts of the
ground, and for a considerable extent, too, the
vehicles were in lines, three or four deep. Amongst
the spectators was an extraordinarily large number
of En:/lish. The cavalry 'Consisted a two regiments
of carabiniers, two of aurasisiers, two of hussars—
also of the dragoons of: the Empress,. the lancers of
the guard,- and six batteries of horse artillery.
These regiments were in two divisions, under the
command of Generals d'Allonville and Morris, and
Marshal Magnan commanded :the whole. Just
Wore five o'clock the Ca.valry was drawn up in two
lines, extending the *hole length of the ground,
from the top, next. the cascade,
.down to the sunken.
wall, near the village of BoulOgne. At five t heEna--
peror and the King of Bavaria arrived on the ground
from St. Cloud ; their Majesties were preeeded by
a picket of the Cent Gardes ; after them came a
brilliant staff, consisting (f Marshal Pelissier and
several French generals and other officers, and some
Bavarian, English; and Prussian officers ' • the cor
tPga was closed by a squadron of the Cent. Gardes.
The Emperor wore the uniform of a French gene-
ral, with the Grand Cordon of the Legion of
Honour ; the King of Bavaria, who rode at his
Majesty's right hand, was in. a light blue uniform,
with a cocked hat surinountel by a iozg• plume of
white feathers ; the King also were a red cordon.
Both their Majesties were mounted on beaetiful
horses. The Empress followed the Imperial cortege
in an open carriage drawn by four horses ; she was
accompanied by the Grand Duchess Sr ephanie of Ba-
den, and escorted by a detachment of dragoons, and
followed by two carriages containing her suite. The
Emperor and the King, the latter occupying the
place of honour, proceeded, immediately on their
arrival, to descOnd the first line of troops, the Cent
Gardes escorting them • the Empress and her
escort followed ; the illustrious party then ascended
the second line. • The appearance of the troops
presented was magnificent in the extreme ; and
as their Majesties swept along their front they
presented arms, and shouted with enthusiasm
" Vive l'Empereur 1" whilst their bands played
national airs. •The King Of Bavaria saluted the
flag of every regiment. The Emperor, the
King, and the Empress, having conc!uded their
inspection, took up a station near the cemetery ;
the cavalry then fell back, and the artillery
proceeded to execute sundry manoeuvres. Tbis
done, the first line of cavalry made a charge,
and the second one afterwards did the same. The
regiments of lancers also charged separately. Then
th hoops were massed according to their different
arms, and all en masse came tearing along the
plain, stopping only a few yards from the King and
the Emperor, who had removed for convenience to
the centre of the ground. When the troopS stopped
they raised a shout of " Vivn l'Empereur !" The
precision with which these various movements were
executed was ArriTy; admiral,le, and the King of
Bavaria, if we may judge from his gestures, was
both as t onisht.cl and delighted with them. To the
civilian spectator the sight was full of emotion, whilst
the varied uniforms; the many coloured plume, and
the gleaming of sword and Cuirass, and he'met, en-
chanted the eye, the assemb!age of such a multitude of
men and horsbsifillad the mind with a sort of terror
at the tremendous force they represented ; the ex-
traordinary ease and exactitude , with which such
masses were moved—l'ke men on a chess-bo ird—
was too a suhjebt of profouud astonishment. The
movements having cOncluded, the Emperor, the
Empress, the King, and their staff, placed them-
selves near the stands of the racecourse, and the
whole body of cavalry filed off before than in the
usual way, repeating enthusiastically, as they did
so, the cry of "Vise l'Empereur I?' Oa the ter-
mination of the filing off, their Majesties returned
to St. Cloud in the order in which they arrive],
and the troops left for their respective qua•tere.
It was seven o'clock when the review concluded.

TilE CO

OF 1851.

. .
A work ft ord. the pen of. M. Granier de Cassag-
' lute, eLitit)ed " Itstoire de 14. Chute du Roi Louis
Philippe, de la Republique de 1848, et du R e6tab-
lissgment de l'Emp-re," is about to appear in
It gives sorneThde interest-concerning the cir—
cumstances which preceded the memorable coup
d'etat. The work gives an account of different pro-
jects which had Leen 'proposed to the President of
the Republic, but were rejected, as the prince
would not listen to any coup d'etat that should
not be followed by an immediate appeal to the peo-
ple. Many of the details at eof course more or less
known, but the following seem new :-"The com-
mander-in-chi-f of the army of Paris releival regu-
larly every Thursday, at his office at the Tuil-
leries, the gener.il officers of his army and of
his divisiion. He was of opinion that a de-
cisive an asure was - necessary. Without
being aware of the exact day, he knew that it must
ba soon, and he was resolutely devoted to its ao-
complishment. Ou Thursday, the 26th November,
Magnan had all the generals at his house ;
there were 21, including himself.- Full of his idea,
and secure of the character of his companions in
arms, he de3ided on himself a very serious resolu-
tion—that of entrusting to them a secret, which
I nevertheless was not entirely his own: This confi-
dence, which was essentially delicate, would have
been dangerous, if it had not' been placed in the
breasts of officers guided by feelings of duty and of
honour. The general-in-chief rapidly sketched out
to his comrades the situation of France, dwelt on the
imparions necessity which existed of saving society,
threatened by the demagogical party; the intention
which the elect of the people had. of making a fresh
appeal to the natio nalsovereignty; and the.confidence
which he placed in the army to protect the liberty 'of
voting against the attacks of factions. He made
known to them his firm resolution to engage his
full and entire responsibility in an enterprise emi-
nently national ; and he expressed a hope of being
imitated by the generals of the • army of Paris ;
but he added that -if there was any amongst them
who thought his conscience engaged- hint. not to
enter on the plan, he left him- absolute liberty to
say so, relying on the delicacy and probity of all
present as to the overture which he had 'just made
Ito them in his owu name. In reply to this frank

appeal, General Reibell advanced and spoke in the
name of his comrades. Re thanked the com-

mander-in-chief for having thought that the
twenty generals of the army of Paris would not
separate their cause—the cause of discipline, and
military honour—from that of Prince touis
Napoleon, which was the same as that of the
people and of civilisation. He declared that in
expressing himself in that manner, he was the
faithful interpreter of *the feelings of all the
other generals, and that at whatever time the
prince and the.general-in-chief should make an ap-
peal to their devotedness, there was not one who
would not consider himself bound in honour to re-
spond to it. The remarks of General Reibell were
received with warm acclamations ; all present shook
hands with hum, and all the generals embraced
each other, and from that moment it might be said
with certainty that France ws extricated from au
abyss. When the emotion caused by this scene had
subsided, and silence was restored, Gen. Magnan
spoke as follows : Let us all swear that not one
of us will mention to any person whatever what
has just taken place here.' All the twenty-one
generals present —Magnan, Cornemuse, Hubert,
Salleuave, Carrelet, Renault, Levasseur, De Cotte,
De Bourgon, Caurobert, Duke, Sahoul, Forcy,
Rippert, Herbillon, Marulaz, Da Courtigis, Kort,!,
Tarta,s, D'Allo avil I e, and Reibell—took the oath, and
it has been so well kept that we are the first, after
more than five years, to make known the fact, and
the results of this mernorab7e meeting."—The fol-

lowing passages, though not altogether new in their
general tenour, will still be read with interest :
" The most absolute silence was necessary, not for
the success of an appeal to the people, which would
have boon carried out under all circumstances with

the _ certain support of public opinion and of the
army, but for the prompt, calm, and regular trans-
formation of the political system. The considerations
due to public and private affairs rendered it a duty
to anticipate partial resistance, and to shorten any
struggle dictated by self-interest. Those devoted per-
sons who, in the ass3mbly, in the press, in the army,
and even in the household of the prince, had contri-
buted by different means to the common cause, were
aware of the aim and the means, but only those