The Sun.
London, England, 1857-12-09 00:00:00

To whom shall we henceforth respectfully ascribe
honours where honours are due ? Who can now be
a Whig, and have within him the advocacy of pro-
gress ? Are not Whigs now the obstacle to all
progress ? It matters not in whatever shape any
measure be brought before the house, that inter-
fet es with their line of policy, negation confronts
it all, and progress is by them regarded as the
hydra-headed monAer whic't Hercules could
not slay so long as it touched the earth,
simply because it prevented his entrance
into the garden of bliss. Now their
Elysian field, therefore, are stagnant waters, and
barren, unproductive lands, symbolic of selfish
aspirations and narrow-minded, sordid loves:
We have but to read the speeches upon the cur-
rency and on the Bill of Indemnity, and we shall
soon discover who are the opponents to the pro-
gress which this day demands. Ino longer wish
to have such friends. Save me from my friends.
I no longer venture to assert my denomina-
tion of any one order of society, for I can
no longer distinguish between Toryism and
Whigism, except that of the two. I believe
we may expect more from the former than
the latter. liaving carefully perused the speeches
of both on all occasions, as on the present crisis,
I can prove that it is a csmpliment to the Whigs
to say they are all six of one and half-a-dozen of
the other.
I am well aware that the party out of office can
make calls for action on Government, which they
themselves, when in office, were not energetic
enough to accomplish, or circumstances might not
have rendered practical at the time. But in Lord
Derby's speech there is an earnest effort to grapple
with the difficulty of the day. After entering
upon the detail of the distress'of the operatives,
he was the only man in the House of Peers that
seemed to have a right fellow-feeling and estima-
tion of their real position. lie said that "if the
operatives had the good sense and judgment to ab
stain from that which could do their no gaol, and
would produce nothing but evil—if they maintained
a peaceable, respectful, orderly demeanour under
these circumstair.ces of such pressure—all honour
to the good sense and loyalty of the oporativeo"
Moreover, he furnished us wi•h some now s
tics, and asserted that "while our exports had ben n
308 millions, the imports had been 468 millions,
leaving a balance of 160 millions of imports over
exports. How had those imports been paid for ?
The country had had to export 84 millions to bullion
iu consequence of the disparity between its imports
and exports."
Lord Derby might have gone on to show that if
we had altogether, in gold and goods, exported
76 millions less than we imported, that amount of
76 millions, at least of value, remained in the
country, which was enough in itself to justify an
extended circulation.
Inc, ease of value of property justifies an increase
of issue ,• but if it be said that these imports were
not paid for, and the country remained in a state
of indebtedness, the cause of the panic might be
discovered to rave had its origin in part to these
excessive purchases and consignments, together
with the decline of the Australian trade. But the
goods were here, and could be offered as securities ;
therefore, with a sufficient issue, no panic need
have arisen from any such cause, but with an in-
sufficient issue danger must ever attend an excess
of imports over exports to the extent of seventy-
six millions.
Now this would, apparently, exculpate the Bank
of England from any charge of having induced this
state of things, but for the known fact that their
emissaries, in the shape of bankers and money-
lenders, are everywhere urging new undertakings,
themselves making large advances upon the same,
whe7her speculative or not. It is well known that
the largo fast man is encouraged, even without
capital, while the small, hardworking, plodding
man requiring the slightest assistance never gets i.
Now for our friends. Lord 0 verstone backs the
soundness of hj.s 1844 crotchet against the prero-
gative of the Crown. He says, " The quantity of
money in the country was determined by sound
principles, with which the prerogative of the
Crown had 'nothing to do. The Act of 1844 was
founded on two
_simple principles-Ist that gold

. .
was the money of England, 2d ihat the quantity of
money in the country should not b 3 under the
control of Government."
In the first place I do not look upon the Crown as
an individualpreroptive, but as a national prezega-
tive, personated by one individual ; " sound prin-
ciplts are also best arrived at by the combined
intelligence of the nation, with which the prero-
gative of the Crown has all to do. Again, that
the quantity of money should not' be under the
control of Government." This is an assumption of the
touchy old lady of Thre:idneedle-street that
indicates dotage and incapacity to a serious extent.
At the time when Walpole spent 1,300,0001. upon
the civil list, when the William.; and the Georg-s
had nolimit to their squandwingsand extravag:nc?,
when money was spent with such recklessness as
to bub4idize our enemies. Such language as Lord
- -

Overstoue's might then have been-used, but not
when the most frugal of Sovereigns reigns in the

hearts of her people, leaving her Government to
'make laws, to which she subscribe deferentially to
the wisdom of her,watesmen.
In this day—in the year of 1857, the money of
the country should, of all things, be under the con=
trol cf the Govern me nt,*for Lord 0 verstone ha s made
himself transparent, and has also made himself
identical with the Bank of England. He could
not help feeling chagrined on Friday when he threw
off the mask unguardedly, saying, " What would
be said if the Government were to go to those who
were suffering from the short supply of provisions,
and say we will undertake to get a larger supply of
provisions and sell them to you at the present
price."
That was what had been done at the present
time by the issue of the Government letter. Herein
is the solution of the Overstone crochet ;' he would
have no extension of issuF., knowing well, that the
less the issue the higher the rate of interest can be
charged for all discounts, just as goods limited in
supply till they become scarce, become dear—just
as_ the salmon fisheries throw overboard a lot of

salmon iu order to keep the market barely supplied
so as to keep up the price. Neither Lord Over-
stone nor the Bank of England wish an extension
of issue, because it will interfere with their high
rates arising out of scarcity and their system of
plucking the world.

- " Free trade' in money" becomes a farce with
Sir R. Peel's bill in force of 1844. The contradic-

tion in Lord Overstone's remarks in the house, are
characteristic of the confusion which his p,,licy
must give rise to. In one part of his speech he said,
" the provisions of the bill of 1844 were essential

to the proper control of the monetary system of the
exchanges, and could not be relaxed without dan-
ger." Soon after he said "if they had maintained
the monetary system (1844) for 24 hours longer,
the whole system would have been upset, the irre-
trievable ruin of all those wha bad built on it (in-
cluding himself of course).''
Altogether ho bandied his subject so badly, or he
felt bis weak points so forcibly, that to elide to
him further would really be a compliment to Wm
be does not deserve.
The Lord Chancellor's remarks upon "the circu-
lation of 38,000,0001., and the only portion co-
vered by bullion was that in the J3ank of Eng-
land, in addition to that issued on security," may
be well noticed ; but bullion is not the only in-
trinsic commodity that should furnish converti Lill ty
to issue. Taxes and duties are as certain to exist
in England as ever gold is—are as internal, real,
and fixed in the nature of things as ever metal can
be. We can no more get over paying taxes and
duties than we can paying in gold as long as notes
are convertible. Exchequer-notes, then, would have
70 or 80 millions of that which is analogous to bul-
lion to cover an issue of, say 20 millions of Exch4
quer-notes, were the reality of taxation converti
bility adopted instead of bullion conversion.
Allow, then, the Bank of England to be regulated
by the bill of 1844, for the purposes of all foreign
and mercantile operations, in order that no disar-
rangement might arise from the exchanges ; but
frame a bill that shall legalise a domestic issue,
that, from its very nature of fixity, can only be
applicable to home purposes, such as Exchequer-
notes must necessarily be.

Let any statesman who might fancy any danger
that could arise out of this issue on tax converttbi-
lity put dawn in figures the enormous amount of
the wealth of Great Britain, he will then Fee how
small a prqportion twenty millions is to that
MIGHTY sum, which would render Exchequer-notes
safer than gold, backed as it must be by the whole
nation's worth.