The Sun.
London, England, 1857-06-01 00:00:00

LONDON, MONDAY, JUNE 1, 1857.

The flagrant grievance is at length likely to
work its own cure. The social evil par excellence of
the industrious classes is even at the eleventh
hour provoking resistance. A meeting is to be
held on Wednesday next, at the London Tavern,
for the purpose of devising the best means for
impressing on the public mind " the inconsisten-
cies, the injustice, and the anomalies of our mone-
tary system." This, at least, is a step in the
right direction. If duly followed up it will pre-
vent the renewal of the Bank monopoly for a term
of ten years without change or. modification of
any kind. As we have repeatedly stated, the
public only want authentic information as to tke
full effect of this, the mostunwise and impolitic law
that ever received the legislative sanction, to
strike off the unaccountable apathy that has so
long tolerated its continuance. If the immea-
iurable importance of the subject were even par-
tially understood—if those who earn their daily
bread by their daily labour and all engaged in trade
and commerce, could conceive the effect of the
Bank Charter Act on their comforts, their happiness,
and their prosperity, we should witness demon-
strations in every part of the kingdom, that would
speedily place matters on a sound foundation, and
ensure the repeal of the obnoxious law. It is their
ignorance alone that has produced indifference,
and the manner in which they have been mysti-
fied by interested parties. The bullionists have
treated the question as an abstract science—have
involved it in a mass of jargon unintelligible
to the of 70XX01, and thus contrived to render it
one of the most disagreeable subjects that could
be ventilated for general discussion. Even men
aspiring to seats in Parliament profess not to have
bestowed much attention on the point, and suffer
themselves to be hoodwinked by a few men, who
seek their own aggrandisement rather than the
good of the nation.

We recently pointed out the inevitable conse-
quences of the drain of the precious metals, which
must continue so long as the Banks of France, of
Vienna, and of other nations find it worth their
while to attract bullion to their own shores by
the payment of a small premium. It has been
well remarked that " capital has no country." It
will invariably find its way to the place where
there is the greatest demand, and where the best
price can be obtained. Gold is of all others the
description of capital which follows most closely
the natural law ; and so long as the Bank of
France pays 6f. premium per mills, or 6,0001. on
i million sterling, we must, under the existing
!WS, be forestalled in our own markets, and
i.ubmit to all the evils arising from a dearth of
currency of the only recognised measure and re-
, presentative of value. We must see production
suspended, mills and factories closed, or working
but half time, the real creators of national wealth
enduring the most serious privations, and wit-
nessing the lion's share of the profits transferred
to the pockets of greedy money-lenders and un-
icrupulous usurers. Why, as we have already ex-
plained, for 120,0001. a national bankruptcy, or,
At all events, a crisis of far greater intensity than
that of October, 1847, might be produced, and
every description of property, public and private
securities, and even the land itself deteriorated in
value to an extent far exceeding our pecuniary
losses by the late Russian war. And yet by this
inequitable and impolitic law our hands are tied,
and we are prevented from fairly opposing our
competitors with their own weapons.
The great necessity of the age is that the proper
distinction between a purely domestic currency
and one suited for foreign trade should be recog-
nised. Why should the industry of the country
be paralysed because a few wealthy capitalists
choose to enter into contracts for a foreign
loan or, e.g., for the construction of a
line of Russian Raiiways. Why must the work-
ing man be kept idle because A. B. and C. seek to
increase their overgrown wealth at the expense of
the multitude ? Away with the ridiculous fallacies
of over production, and over population ! There
cannot be over production of food, or of clothing,
so long as there are any hungry or naked persons
amongst us. As a consistent and indefatigable
monetary reformer, Mr. JONATHAN DUNCAN, has
truly remarked, " hunger invades the dwellings
of the poor, while granaries are filled with corn,
and millions are insufficiently clothed, while the
warehouses of manufacturers are stocked with rai-
ment
to repletion; if the natural law had free
play, both the granaries and warehouses would be
emptied. The case is clearly one not of over pro-
duction or over population, but of obstructed
distribution."

An apparent over-production of the necessaries
of life are confounded with a real under produc-
tion of the medium of exchange, the evil is occa-
sioned by the narrowness of the conduit pipe,
through which the transfers must flow. We hear
of " stagnant trade," because remunerative
prices cannot be obt tined. Wages naturally fall,
the working classes are discontented, their
employers can not continue to make both
ends meet, and all the mischief arises
from a deficiency of a circulating medium adequate
to the wants and exigencies of the nation. There
is, as has been welt remarked, a battle between
" the profits of traders and the irofit3 of the
usurer," and, with the existing laws, the latter is
sure to come off the conqueror.
The concession of really national notes of
small and convenient demonstrations, say
11., 2/., and to 31., issued by a realty National
Bank, and receivable in payment of taxes
and duties of every description, is the
only adequate remedy. Other matters may alle-
viate the distress for a time, but that alone can
afford permanent and lasting relief, and to that
should the attention of monetary reformers be
especially directed. In France it is intended to
confer the privilege on the Bank of France of
issuin notes for 50f., or 21. each. That will
g
considerableafford very considerable
and there is no

Love laughs at locksmiths, and Law laughs at
conscience ; it regards, indeed, crotchet and con-
science as synonyoious words. How in the world
of all people on earth, and of all bishops in the
House of Lords, could SAMUEL OXFORD forget
this ? His Lordship hardly escaped falling into
a trap where, had the Quakers and the Noncon-
formists seen him, they would have surely en
joyed a hearty laugh at' his expense. Indeed, we
suppose they will still maintain that he did fall
into the trap head foremost, and that but for Lord
CAMPBELL, the Lord Chancellor, and a wiser
bishop or two, he would have been there yet.
Conscience, which makes cowards of us all,
makes a High Church Hero of the son of WILLIAM
WILBERFORCE, the half Dissenter. The bait
was, sustaining the immutability of Church Law;
the trap was, establishing the principle that law
ought not to compel subjects to do what they
conscientiously object to. SAMUEL OXFORD had
nearly done this service for the Anti-State Church
folk—he would have done it if he could.

The New Divorce Bill proposes to permit, as
special divorce bills always do,. the remarriage of
the separated parties. Very proper as it seems
to many impartial interpreters of the New Testa-
ment ; and even to sensible persons, who doubt
the meaning of Scripture on the point, it yet
seems proper that civil law should not enforce all
that may be taught as Christian duty in the
New Testament, much less disputed points of
Scriptural morality. Indeed, on this latter ques-
tion their lordships generally seem to have con-
fused notions. The Bishop of ST. DAVID'S, alone
in a previous debate, spoke intelligently on it.
We hold it as a maxim that human law cannot,
and ought not to attempt to enforce the
high spiritual attainments to which our Di-
vine Master points us. He intended them
to be left to individual conscience, and religious
regard for his authority. Many things are im-
perative on us as Christians, which no law can
require of us, and hence to prove that our LORD
taught that divorced persons ought not to re-
marry, would not be to prove that civil law
should refuse them a remarriage. CHRIST taught
that in giving alms we should not " let our left
hand know what our right hand doeth," but we
presume civil law ought not to affix a penalty to
the publishing of charitable subscriptioa lists.
For the purposes of society it may be advan-
tageous that even the guilty parties should be
allowed to remarry. That is, law might grant
them a bond of union which would give them, and
any offspring they might have, the legal rights re-
sulting from marriage. It is not for the law to
take cognizance of the religion of their conduct,
but of its bearing on their property, their future
obligations to each other and their innocent
descendants.

Finding, however, that the Lords, in their
ecclesiastical wisdom, choose to leave remarriage
to the conscience of the separated parties, and un-
able to embody his popish canons in the Bill, the
eager bishop made an attempt to brand his trac-
tarianiana on our legislation, by pleading the con-
sciences of his clergy ! We had inherited from
Popery the canon law which declares marriage
indissoluble ; the present clergy hare all entered
the Church under this law ; therefore he of Ox-
ford proposed an amendment relieving clergymen
from the duty of marrying divorced persons, be-
cause it would be a violation of their clerical and
canon law. He pressed to the last his view that
" marriage, by the law of the Church, is indis-
soluble." A majority of fifty-two pronounced
that if indissoluble by church law, they would
not only treat it as dissoluble by State law, but
would also require the clerical servants of the
State to remarry either of the parties, between
whom the marriage had been dissolved, if the
latter wished it

Poor Bishop! some even of his brother bishops
deserted him, and owned that Churchmen could
obey the canons only so far as they were not in
conflict with the law of the land. The Law
Lords naturally were almost on fire at the
thought that any clergyman's conscience should be
set up against an Act of Parliament, even against
an embryo Act. They held, with the author of
the text-book on moral philosophy still used at
our Universities, that a clergyman cannot afford
to keep a conscience. But the fun of the thing
was, that this staunch son of the Church
was reminded that if clergymen's consciences
might be pleaded in bar of legal obligations, Die
seaters could never be required by law to pay
tithes and church-rates ! The bishop was uncon-
sciously digging up the very corner stone
of establishments. Set conscience above law
and woe to institutions whose coherence and
funds depend entirely on the superiority of law to
conscience ! Tractarians must take ()are, or they
will have to follow the Free Church of Scotland.
Law, not conscience, must be the ultimo, roll* of
all establishments.

The Duke and Dachau of Beaufort left town on Satur-
day, to join their youthful family at Llangattoch, Gig-
morganehire.

The Marquis and Marchioness Bandisri have arrived
at Claridge's Hotel from the Continent.

DUBLIN, SATURDAY.—THE NEW CHIEF SECRETARY.
The address of Mr. Henry Arthur Herbert, soliciting a
renewal of the confidence of bin constituents, appears in
the Kerry papers of yesterday.
It is now stated that the steamer Indus, from South-
ampton on the 4th of June, will t'alce out about
800,0001. in bar silver, 5f.-pieces, and dollars, and pro-
bably about 150,000/. from Harseilles.

ROYAL FRES HOSPITAL, GRAT'S-INII-ROID,—The num.
ber of patients relieved at this hospital during the week
ending May 30, 1857, is 2,181, of which 715 were new
cases.

THE DISCOTERER OF THR COLLODION PHOTOGRAPHIC
PROCESS.—Her Majesty the (been having been in-
formed that Mr. F. Scott Archee, the discoverer of the
application of collodion to photography (a process which
bee superseded all others) had died leaving a young
family unprovided for, has been pleased, to head a sub-
scription by a gift of twenty guineas. The Photographic
Society of London have followed with a grant of 501.,
and from the estimation in which Mr. Archer's discovery
is held, a very handsome testimonial is expected to be
raised. The committee-room is at 226 Regent-street,
and Sir William Newton, 8,A., has kindly undertaken
the office of treasurer.
COMMUNICATION BETWEEN HOLYHEAD AND KINGS-
TOWN.—Au arrangement has been made for an improved
day communication between England and Ireland, viz
Holyhead. On the Ist of June an additional special ex-
press steamer will leave Holyhead at half-past 9 a.m., re-
turning from Kingstown at half past 4 p.m., so that the
sea passage both ways may be made in daylight, enabling
passengers to avail themselves of the option of breaking
the journey, and continuing it on the following morning,
after a night's rest at Holyhead. This arrangement will
be carried out until further notice, except Sunday and
Monday. The special boat will arrive at Kingstown
two hours before the departure of the afternoon trains,
enabling travellers to reach places in the interior of Ire-
land the same evening. There are four through trains
each way daily, Sunday excepted, by which passengers
can travel between Euston station (London) and Holy-
head without change of carriage. In anticipation of this
arrangement the Telegraph steamer left Holyhead on a
trial trip at nine o'clock yesterday morning, and reached
Kingstown in somewhat under four hours. A number of
the directors and officers of the railway companies were
on boad. —Freeman's Journal of Saftrday.