The Sun.
London, England, 1857-05-11 00:00:00

aIGEt WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE.

TdIB DAY—Morn. 7 min. aft. 3—Evening 22 min. aft, 3
I'o-kionßovr—Morn. 39 min. aft. 3—Evening 55 mid. aft. 3

THE WEATHER—SUN °MOE, MAY 10.
THERMOMETER, IN THE SHADE.
61 -highest since noon yesterday.
46 lowest this morning and during the night.
53 -this day at noon.

BAROMETER, 29.75.
WIND, Easterly to S.E.; rather fresh, with dull wea-
ther, and partial rain at times.
MAT 11.
56 highest since noon yesterday.
it -lowest this morning and during the night.
66 this day at noon.
Besosirrint, down to 29 68—now
WIND, S.E.—Light, with fine summer weather. It
rained smartly early this morning.

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--- - -.__,.:.--- .....--4, 4 ~.

LONDON, MONDAY, MAY 11, 1357.

This evening the Chancellor of the Exchequer
willl move for a Select Committee to inquire into
the operation of the Bank Act of 1844, and of the
Bank Acts for Ireland and Scotland of 1845.
The Right Honourable Gentleman has lost no
time in introducing the all-important question ;
we trust, however, that he will be prepared to
modify materially the opinions which ke enun-
ciated on the 6th of February, or that he will at
least consent to the appointment of a fair and
impartial committee, whose report cannot be re-
garded as "a foregone conclusion." Even within
the last three months additional light has been
cast on the subject ! We have seen the rate of
interest again raised to a minimum, of 7 per cent.
to the immediate customers of the Bank of Eng-
land, which may be regarded as 10 or 12 per cent.
to those who are not so fortunate as to possess
equal facilities for obtaining pecuniary accommo-
dation. It is certain that the trading and manu-
facturing interests are greatly injured by this
exorbitant and usurious price. Orders are re-
fused, simply because the cost of obtaining the
means of executing them is so great, that the
entire profits would be transferred from the
pockets of the producers to those of the non-
producers. There are unquestionably plenty of
loan societies and money-lenders, whose demands
increase in proportion to the necessities of their
victims, until there is every prospect that they
will eventually swallow up not merely the pro-
fits, but the whole of the capital of the borrowers.
Industry is paralysed, and, as wo have repeatedly
stated, those who, under a better system, might
be the creators of national wealth, become un-
profitable consumers. In :'act, the bees in the
national hive are ruthlessly sacrificed for the be-
nefit of the drones. This deplorable state of
affairs has become the normal condition of the
country. Even the Times itself confesses that
"a return to cheap money icannot be expected for
several years !" There raay be sanguine persons
who hope even against hope for a return of better
times. But sooner or later this must end. It
is vain to expect that it can continue. The inevi-
table end will be certain ruin, and even the

moneyocracy will at length discover the
grave mistake of which they have been
guilty, in " killing the goose that laid the
golden eggs !" But it will then be "too late !"
The mischief will be perpetrated, and no liberality
or change can restore matters to the condition in

which they were placed before the monetary revo-
lution that must occur, and which will not only
occasion fearful sufferings to the working classes,
but eventually to all but leviathan capitalists !

Nor is the enhanced rate of discount all that is
to be complained of. There are new restrictions
imposed, which press severely even on capitalists
themselves. Advances can no longer be obtained
on Consols. It was bad enough for those who
had lent money to the State at 3 per cent, to be
obliged to pay 7 per cent. for any temporary
loans which they might require on the same
security. But now they cannot be obtained at
any price from the quasi national establishment.
The certainty of obtaining money at any time on
Consols was one of the things that kept up
quotations in the market ; that feature being
removed, the value of the investment will
be seriously diminished, and prices must
necessarily fall. Should another Loan be re-
quired, it must be effected on much higher
terms ; and every fundholder will witness a seri-
ous depreciation in the nominal value of his in-
vestment ! Even leviathan capitalists may not
like to have it supposed that the value of their
accumulated wealth is less than it had previously
been.

But the premiums paid for gold by the Bank
of France completely disposes of the question !
For the comparatively small sum of 6,0001., they
can take 1,000,0001. from the Bank of England
For 60,0001. they can produce a commercial
crisis in England of greater intensity than that of
1847 I The expenditure of half a million would
occasion far greater calamities, so far as pecuniary
matters are concerned, than the Russian war that
cost us 30,000,0001.

Surely, then, some precautions should be taken
while die present grievance is so palpable, the
future danger so imminent ! If the Bank Charter
Act be renewed, without change, for a further
term of ten years, the Nation will be unable to
extricate itself on any terms from the involvement.
It is at all events worth while to test the feeling
of the new Parliament. Mr. DISRAELI thought it
was useless to divide the House on the appoint-
ment of the Committee " unless he should receive
greater encouragement than he anticipated." He
cannot now put forward a similar excuse ; unless
he chooses to try, he cannot tell what will be the
feeling of the House ! " A straw thrown up"
will indicate the pointfrom which the wind blows.
A single division on the name of a member,
will give valuable information. Nothing, at all
events, can be effected by apathy or
indifference. Anything worth having is worth
struggling for. It was not by patient submis-
sion that the Anti-Corn Law League destroyed
the giant monopoly of the landowners. And if
monetary reformers desire the removal of even a
more formidable grievance they must bestir them-
selves while there is yet time. Palma non sine
pulvere is a sound policy. They must display zeal,
energy, and perseverance before they can hope
for the abatement of the sociel nuisance.

There is a story that a wealthy citizen, of
Antwerp, if we remember rightly, or of some
other Flemish town, had a large stone by his
door, over whieh his neighbours often fell at
night, and were lucky if they went away with
nothing worse than bruised shins. At length
the complaints became so general that the burgher
had to appear before the magistrates to answer
them. Either the law was not very clearly against
him, or rather difficult to enforce against a long
purse, and it was not easy to compel him to re-
move the obstruction ; in his philanthropy, how-
ever, he offered, though nobody should force him
to take away the stone, to hang a lantern over it
after dark.

The course of our legislators in regard to election
matters, is the parallel to that of the wayward
burgher. At every election, thousands of electors
are stumbling over an obstacle which the law puts
in their way. The law compels them, if they
vote, not merely to give their vote, but to give it
so that any one on whom they are dependent can
use " undue influence." This is loudly complained
of after every contest. Bribery and intimidation
in their countless forms, are openly charged upon
the winning party, and the losing party too. No
one doubts the truth of these complaints. In
every constituency, those who dare speak, can tell
of others who would have voted otherwise, but for
" undue influence." " Such a one would have
voted differently, but his lawyer, his banker, his
creditor, his customers, were strongly on the other
side, and he dared not disoblige them"—and
almost as frequently—" So-and-so did not vote at
all—he had customers on both sides."
Well—the Legislature is appealed to. This
stumbling block—your poll-book--is bruising our
shins, or doing us worse mischief at every elec-
tion ; for goodness sake do remove the nuisance
Be content with having our votes, without forcing
us to disclose them. We had reater not have
votes at all than make our conraciences sore for
weeks together by stumbling over your polling-
book. Never does an election occur but we do
violence, either to our interests or to our honest
judgments. Now, Messieurs the Legislators
know full well the truth of the complaints, many
of them, in fact, are Legislators because they
true. Yet the ugly stone is a precious hei:rloom
to them. They and their predecessors, perhaps,
for several generations, have used it to mount the
public, and to ride it, booted and spurred, as the
Upper ten thousand wish. "They won't remove
the stone, that they won't, for all the electors in
the kingdom ; the law does not compel them, and
no one shall."
They do not wish, however, to seem too un-
gracious, though they like to shew their obsti-
nacy ; so they offer to compromise the matter.
The poll shall still be open, but they will hang
up a warning Act of Parliament in the polling..
booth—it shall be a misdemeanour in law for any
one to use undue influence during an election ;
and the penalty shall be 501. in each case. If a
clergyman, for instance, comes and threatens to
deprive a baker of his own custom, and of baking
the charity bread also, unless he votes as the
priest bids him ; if a landlord intimates through
his sfeward that his tenant must vote with him
or quit; if others in unlawful authority over us
do like things, why then they must smart for

by Act of Parliament. With such a legislative ligh

on the freedom of tl►e polling-booth, why need
any one fear to walk in and vote at ease ? lin-

luckily the Legislative lanteru is not of half so
much use as was that of the Flemish burgher.

i
That showed only the old man's perversity n pre-
ferring the nightly trouble of lighting and main-
taining his lamp, t 3 the trouble once and over of

removing the stone. Our luminous Act, although
constructed, seemingly, with infinite carp, leaves
the poor voter, in thousands of cases, wronged in
mind or in estate.

i We had a specimen of its working last Tuesday,
in the case of the QUEEN versus BARNWELL ; the
latter being a clergyman, against whom a rule
had been granted to show cause why a criminal
information should not be filed against him for
threatening to deprive Mr. TREiIEARN, a baker,
of his own custom, and also to take from him
ultimately the sufplying of a, charity with sixty

loaves weekly if he did not vote for Mr. MAIN-
WARING. The rule was discharged, because the
defendant, in a somewhat roundabout way, denied
the charge. Probably, no one, however, doubted
that it was substantially a true one, and that
TREHRARbT, though not driven to violate his judg-
ment, did suffer the loss of the Rev. E. BARN
WELL'S custom, and may yet suffer more, for vot-
ing honestly.

The act referred to is expressed in the most
stringent terms, and all the judges agreed that to
threaten to take away custom is a misdemeanour
punishable under the act, Lord CAMPBELL stat-
ing that after the election a person could
employ any tradesman he pleased, but
could not during the election threaten di-
rectly or indirectly to deprive him of custom in
order to influence his vote. Mr. Justice EnLE
also observed that " the object of the statute was
that the voter should be allowed to exercise his
calm judgment, without being disturbed by selfish
motives, and to protect him from threats affecting
his private interests." If this be its object, and we
grant that it is the avowed object of the
act, we may well ask what better description can
be given of the reason for which the Ballot has
been adopted wherever it is in use ; and whether
the act, really needed, is any other than a ♦ery
simple one, providing that no elector shall hence-
forth b• required to put his vote on record for the
uss of his threateners.

Who will deny, for instance, that under the
Victoria Election Act, which we have recently
published, threatening and bribery must be
reduced to minimum, indaed annihilated. It
is all very well for an act of Parliament to
threaten Mr. BARNWELL with a penalty if ho
threatens Mr. TREREARN with one, but former
acts have given Mr. BARNWELL the means of
carrying out his threats—let the Legislature re-
peal those acts, and substitute one which should
withdraw Mr. TREUEARN'S vote from the cognis-
ance of every mortal, leaving him really "to ex-
ercise his calm judgment," and Mr. TREREARN
will need to fear no threats, nor Mr. BARNWELL
to fear prosecutions for them. The law has
created the nuisance of bribery and intimidation
by requiring open voting, and makes law after
law to prevent people being injured by it ; in the
name of common sense let it remove the open
voting and the nuisance will vanish with the law.
Put the voters beyond the threatener's reach
rather than tempt him to threaten and punish them
when he has done it. The elector owes his vote
to no one, why then keep an account against hina
as if he were debtor to his clergyman, or to his
landlord, or to any one else 7 Give the man his
vote in fee simple—give him the BALLOT.

The speech of Lord Nanert, at the annual din-
ner of the St. George's Society of New York, a
report whereof appeared in our impression of
Saturday, is worthy of attentive perusal, at both
sides of the Atlantic. It is not merely because it
was couched in polished phraseology, or contained
well-rounded periods. It is not because it was
far beyond the ordinary class of post prandial
oratory ! Had it not possessed a far higher claim,
it should have remained unnoticed in our leading
columns. But there was a thorough and cordial
kindliness of feeling perceptible in every sentence,
that proved, beyond the possibility of doubt, that
the speaker was satisfied alike with himself and
with those whom he was brought into contact.
He inculcated the grand principle of mutual for-
bearance and indulgence----that the Representa-
tives of the two great nations of the Anglo-Saxon
race should not strive to obtain petty advan-
tage% over eaeh other, but rather strive to co-
operate in the great cause of universal bene-
volence and philanthropy.
It is not by formal written engagements, by be-
ing mutually bound over in heavy recogoisances to
keep the peace towards each other, that the inte-
rests of either nation can be advanced. One
spark of good feeling and fair straightforward in-
tegrity, is worth a hundred stipulations, albeit of
the most stringent character. We do not want
" entangling alliances," save, as the Noble Lord
justly remarked that of " the submarine cable"
between the two nations, that will convey instan-
taneous intelligence from one to the ether. In
all other respects the communications should be of
the most candid and open character, perfectly ex-
empted from diplomatic slang or hair splitting,
and quibbling interpretation of existing treaties.
All existing jealousies, on either side, should so
far as practicable be suppressed. We are of the
same. blood, speaking the same language, and pro-
fe,asing the same religion. Let us then be brothers
in reality, as well as in name. United, We may
defy the world, or, to use the parlancr4 of our con-
sins, " whop the universe." As Lord NAPIER de-
clared, " the peaceful and lee-Amato expansion of
.
the United States forms a matter of satis-
rJvery reasonable English-
faction and pride for
man ; " it forms '• the best resort and
relief for our superabundant population ; the best
market for 'Air increasing industry. It is the
triumph 'A our labour and our arts, of our lan-
guagr.,, our religion, and our blood." But it
tnast be a "peaceful and legitimate" expansion.
We cannot tolerate in our friends what we would
ourselves be ashamed to do. We desire the
honour of the Anglo-Saxon name, and cannot
sanction anything that tends to its depreciation.
We wish to t3acli a great moral lesson to despots,
and must feel intense pain when they can point
to anything injurious to free institutions. But
we only wish to advise, not to legislate—to in-
fluence by persuasion rather than by force—and
we shall willingly receive similar instructions
from the New World. There are opportunities
for mutual improvement that should, not be dis
regarded.

Lord NAPIER enters on the important duties
(we participate in the hope that they may not be
very arduous) which have been entrusted t:)
his hands, in an excellent spirit. We ear-
nestly hope that nothing may arise to change
or embitter these healthy feelings. "By
an easy exercise of frankness, of mutual for-
bearance and indulgence, no question can arise
which will not admit of an easy and an amicable
settlement." We hope and believe that this may
be the feeling on both sides. Distrust begets dis.
trust. An overreaching disposition on one
side is sure to occasion a similar one
on the other. Our diplomatic intercourse
should be like that of private gentlemen, where
oue would be ashamed to ask anything, that the
other would not be bound to grant. Reciprocity
and co-operation will ensure the welfare and hap-
piness of both nations ; and the originators of
any demand,{ likely to disturb that auspicious state
of affairs, will have much to answer for. The
good sense of the People should put an immediate
stop to diplomatic quarrels, whenever there is tilt I
slightest appearance of a cloud in the
horizon,