The Sun.
London, England, 1861-09-10 00:00:00

Commence at 8. Promenade, ls. ; Amphitheatre Stalls,
Is. 6d. ; Boxes, 2s. 6d. ; Private Boxes, £1 ls., and 10s. 6d.
Conductor, Mr. ALFRED MELLON.

Et\ Tit 12, it 0 'I At, 11A
Lessee, Lir. J. B. Backstmle.
THIS EVENING, the performances will oommense with
THE SUN AND THE WIND. Miss Fanny Wright, the
Leclereqs,
After which, a new Comedy, entitled THE SOFT SEX.
Mr. C. Mathews, Mr. Buckstone, Mr Campton, Mr. E.Villiers,
Mrs. Charles Mathews, Mrs. Wilkins,
To conclude with PAUL PRY. Mr. C. Mathews.
Commence a' 7

ROYAL LYCEUM THEATRE.
Manager—Mr. Edmund Falconer.
EVERY EVENING, at Eight o'clock, the new and suc-
cessful comedy, WOMAN; or, Love against the World.
Characters by Messrs. Walter Lacy, Addison, Herman Veen.
J. Robins, Mrs. Charles Young, Mrs. Weston, Miss Murray,
and Miss Lydia Thomson.
Preceded by, each eveni the new and original farce
entitled THE FETCHES; or, The Onconvanience of Single
Life. "In O'Reilly, Mr. Edmund Falconer; Mary O'Brady,
Miss Lydia Thompson.
Prices as usual. Doors open at half -past 6, to commence at
7 Box-office open daily from it till 5.

NEW THRATRE-ROYAL, ADELPHI.--
Sole Proprietor and Manager, Mr. B. Webster.
This Theatre will RE-OPEN on MONDAY, September
23, when Mr. and Mrs. Dion Boncicault will re-appear in
THE COLLEEN BAWN.

This Drama will be played for a limited number of nights
during the preparation of the new American Drama, by Mr.
D. Boncicault, entitled THE OCTOROON; or, LIFE IN
LOUISIANA.

Box-office open on Thursday, Sept. 19.

CANTERBURY HALL CONCERTS,
AND FINE ARTS GALLERY.
Mr. SAM COWELL every Evening at Nine and a quarter
to Eleven.—Also, Grand Selections from TROVATORE,
TRAVIATA, NORMA, MARTHA, &c., by Miss Russell,
Miss Ernst, Mr. Herbert, Signor Tivoli, Mr. Morley, and a
yowerful Chorus. The Comic department comprises Messrs.
Harvey and French, "The Nerves " Mr. Marshall—Mr.
Wood and his talented Son -and Miss Harriet Coveney.
Musical Director, Mr. Jonghmans.
Admission—Hall, 6d.; Stalls and Balcony, Is.
T H E

O XFORD,
6, OXFORD-STREET.
EVERY EVENING.
A Grand Selection from Verdi's new opera, " Simon Roc-
caneg,ra" (now produced for the first time in this country), by
Miss Russell, Messrs. C. Greville, Tivoli, Greene, Morley,
and Herbert ; also from Verdi's " Macbeth " by Madame
Enderssohn and the entire Company. Full band and chorus.
Conductor, Mr. F. Jonghmans. Varied Comic entertain-
ments by Messrs. M. P. Foster, Sam Collins, Harvey and
French (the Nerves), E. Marshall, snd W. Randall. Hall,
sixpence; Balcony and Stalls, one shilling. Private Boxes,
10s. 6d.

HIGH WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE.
TRU DAY.—Morning, sh. 20m.—Afternoon, sh. 43m.
o-itonßow.-Morning, 6h. sm.—Afternoon, 6h. 30m.

THE WEATHEIL-SUN OFFICE, SEPTEMBER 10, NT

THERMOMETER, IN THE SHADS.
67—highest mince noon yesterday.
51—lowest this morning and during the night.
63—this day at noon.

BAROMETER-29.98.
WIND—North-Westerly—light; with cloudy weather.

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THE SUN.

LONDON, TUESDAY, SEPT. 10, 1861.

We direct public attention to a letter from Mr.
HAMER STANSFELD on the Bank Act of 1844, on
his joining the Carrency Reform Committee for
the abolition of that most pernicious piece of legis-
lation. Had PEEL but lived a little longer he
would have abrogated that act, and conferred more
benefit on the nation than he did by the abolition
of the Corn Laws, great as was the bounty given
by that splendid measure. Though PEEL was firm
in what he considered right, yet he was no bigot.
Reason and reflection swayed his intellect, and when
be detected his error no prejudice could stand in his
way in confessing his mistake,nor make him hesitate
in doing all the justice in his power to remedy the
evil. Witness Catholic Emancipation and many
other concessions to the freedom of thought.
What the Corn Laws were to the Landlords so
is the Bank Act to the Bullionists. The one robbed
the people of their bread and the other of their
money. And the "wisdom" of Parliament sanc-
tioned the infamy! Posterity may not believe it, but
ifit does, it will blush at the conduct of its Progeni-
tors in the path of legislation. Human nature is as
liable to error as to accident, hut as knowledge ex-
pands the intellect, common honesty ought not to
be ashamed to confess and disavow the prejudice.
The Millennium will never come while self-interest
acts in antagonism to justice. People may profess,
but that is vain until practice confirm the deed.
Mr. STANSFELD very manfully confesses that he
was wrong in supposing at one time " that the issue
of £14,000,000 of Bank notes, all payable in gold
on demand, against a Government debt which is
practically not convertible into gold, is not a sound
or natural foundation for the national currency."
But he adds that further reflection led him to enter-
tain the very contrary; for says he—" When I
considered that the payment of the interest of the
debt was guaranteed by the entire property of the
nation (valued at £6,000,000,000) and that repudia-
tion was impossihie, I came to the following con-
elusion that the -(14,000,000 of notes were really
based on the property of the nation." Now this has
all along been our own opinion, for what safer
security can there be than that of the nation at
large on whieh to found a sound currency? The
nation will not run away from itself—and if its I
credit be good for £800,000,000 of a national debt,
surely it is more than good for a driblet like
fourteen mblioos : the wonder with all thinking
men has teen Low the Government has suffered so
paltry a sum to remain unpaid, seeing and feeling
that all its financial operations were hampered and
harassed by this Lht to a b ae3u:-ning the pre-
ne.ative of makirg money, and 'hereby robbing
the nation of its own proper reward. In the
Russian war we spent about one hundred millions
in two years, and yet we boggle about paying off
about a seventh of that amount ! There must
surely be some secret motive fer all this, else
Government would never submit to have its hands
tied by a set of jobbing bullionists for their private
advantage at the national expense. We had hoped
better of Mr. GLADSTONE, who, with all his crot-
chets, we yet believe to be sincere in his de-
sire to benefit his country. Let him seize the
'
mantle which fell, unhappily, too soon from
his prototype, and remove the shackles from cur-
rency as he has from commerce. He will meet
with strong op-.osition, no doubt, as all men
who endeavour to do good are sure to meet, from
hostile and selfish interests. But opposition to a
patriot mind, earnest for the good of his fellow-
men, will only serve to stimulate instead of re-
tarding Lis purpose. And the present Chancellor
of the Exchequer, if we mistake not, is just the
man to carry his convictions to a successful issue.
We have no wish to damage the proprietors of
Baele Stock, nor to infringe on the privileges of
the Directors ; but we cannot see any reasonable
objection on their parts to a reform of the cur

teller. They have managed matters " uneo well"
on their own acnunt, and \you'd no doubt prove
themselves exceHent auxiliaries to the Government,
for " a fair conaideration, " in working out a
National Currency by means of a National Bank
Note.

We have fiv3 pound notes in England, and one
pound notes in Scotland and in Ireland. Why not

ALFRED MELLON'S PROMENADE
CONCERTS.
THEATRE ROYAL,,COVENT-GARDEN.
GRAND ORCHESTRA.
Mcilie. FLORENCE LANCIA, Mme. LA' RA BAXTER,
and Herr FORMES, every Evening.
On Thursday next, the ITALIAN NIGHT, on which oc-
casion lidlle. VASCEIETTI (from La Scala, Milan, and other
Continental Theatres), will make her first appearance. On
Friday next, the WE 3ER NIG HT. On Saturday next, a
VOLUNTEER NIGHT, when will be performed BEET-
HOVEN'S BATTLE SYMPHONY.

Then as to the price of gold--let it find
its level by its value in the market—supply and
demand will test its virtue. If the foreigner had
to pay our price, not his, there would be less
runs for gold when wars were preparing to break
eut, and mankind might be saved the havoc and
the spoils of conquest.
Public credit is founded on public confidence ;
and as the circulation of a national Bank Note of all
denominations became generally diffused, a mutual
brotherhood of good feeling would pervade society
and render panics a matter of memory like the
wonders of other days. The people would improve,
the nation become richer, and, if danger threat-
ened, be all the stronger to meet and to repel it.
Besides, the nation instead of working for the
money-profit of others would pocket the profit
itself and so far lessen taxation.

The news just arrived from America by the
Canadian steamer Bohemian, confirms the report
of the defeat of Colonel TYLER in Western Vir-
ginia: This is the part of Virginia which first
elected fresh representatives and a governor, and
afterwards voted to form a separate State from the
eastern part. They will have to arm for the
liberty they demand. A letter from Gauley-
bridge, near Summerville, the place where the
battle took place, gives the number of the killed
and wounded, which seems to show that the battle
was a small one in regard to numbers. It may
have been a fierce one, however, or a repetition of
Bull's Run, for we are told that an entire Ohio
regiment were scattered during the fight.
From Missouri the tidings are not good for the
North, The Confederates, who had already gained
possession of the important station at Springfield,
were bringing up their baggage, and the Fede-
ralists advancing to meet them. Martial law has
at last been proclaimed in Missouri, and the slaves
of insurrectionists declared free ; the rest, we hope,
will soon follow. General M'CuLLocit, who soon
came to life again, is marching on St. Louis, but
the Unionists are said not to fear him.
On the Potomac there seems to be no impor-
tant change. The Unionists are said to be re-
tiring from Harper's Ferry, but it is probably
merely a strategical movement. A battle is be-
lieved to be imminent; but, notwithstanding the
bankers' deputation, it may be hoped M'CLELLAN
will not be induced to fight before lie is quite
ready. The mysterious naval expedition is said
to be destined for Cape Hatteras, in North Caro•
lina. What they are to do on the long strip of
Island we are not told.

When two such men as Sir WILLIAM ARM-
STRONG and Mr. FAIRBAIRN differ on a subject
with which both are so well and :practically
acquainted, as that of the Patent Laws, the pre-
sumption is that there is truth on both sides—that
is, that each of them looks at what is really a side
of the same subject, and that each generalizes from
those facts which have struck him most, forcibly.
There is involved in the subject the great question
of public advantage—should we have more useful
inventions completed with or without patent laws P
But there is also involved in it the question of
justice—shall we do right and justice in refusing to
secure to an individual the full advantage of his
own invention P
The sentiment of justice is we believe so strong
in this country, that even were it demonstrated
that the progress of invention suffers by making
its devices property, we should still hesitate to
benefit the country at the cost of wrong to the
inventor. But the truth must lie somewhere mid-
way between the two. For instance, there may be
invention-sharking as well land-sharking ; and
when a schemer only hits upon an idea like that of
the solid railway wheels mentioned by Sir WM.
ARMSTRONG, or the wire constructed cannon, an
idea sure to occur to fifty persons in the state of
the manufacturing process, it is quite unreasonable
that mere priority in a guess of which he makes no
kind of use should give him a monopoly of the process,
and, what is worse, of all the modifications and im-
provements which might arise out of it. What a
violation of all common sense was the grant of the I
gotta pereha patent—of a patent to use a raw article
of commerce in the way in which every one knew
it could be used, and in which it was actually used,
if we remember rightly, in the British p ssession
of Singapore. Yet in the existing state of the
patent laws the company bad as good a right as
any one else to be the first comer. It strikes us
that there must be room for improvement just here.
Mere priority of an idea, to the working out of
which some only apparently practical scheme can
be added ; or, of some idea which, like that of soft-
ening gotta percha by heat, is but an essential
quality of the material, the application of
which could hardly escape a child, cannot be a fit
subject of patent protection. As civilised Govern-
ments now protect the public against the unlimited
acquisition of land in their colonies, and require
that a suitable proportion of it should be
cul-
tivated; so it should protect the public
against the unlimited acquisition of mental terri-
tory, and limit the inventor to that portion of, what
we might term the public mental domain, which he
could turn to actual account.
In looking at the representations of both sides,
we certainly incline to the belief that repeal of the
patent laws would in all probability be no bar
whatever to the progress of invention. The ill-
ventor is essentially an inventor, and cannot
forego his nature. In numberless ways he
would bring out his schemes, and would
have the stimulus to bring them out, of know-
ing that unless he did a mere scheme could
bring him no profit. It would always be in his
power by private contract to protect himself

during his negotiations with some practical man,

in England ? What is good for two cannot be bad
for one. Bcotrand has been transformed from bar-
renness to a fruitful garden by means of her one
pound note currency, and so has Ireland. Why
deprive England of the boon which has' enriched
her neighbours ? Is it done to please or benefit the
Bullionists—those Mammonites
" Who, dead to glory, only burn for gold P"

If freedom of action be necessary for health, it is
doubly so for commerce and its life-blood currency.
Why not, then, liberate the labour of man by giv-
ing him free scope and facilitate his endeavours in
business and commerce both on land and sea, by a
generosity which shall redound to individual as to
national advantage ?
Mr. STANSFELD is of opinion that notes issued
with the liability and ability to pay them in gold
on demand would constitute a sound national cur-
rency, and that one third of bullion would give
ample security as the Bank has found by experience
for the issue of notes to the full amount. Now why
should we hesitate in having a national Bank for
universal circulation at heme founded upon the credit
of the nation and receivable for taxes ? This would
save the wear and tear of gold which is now a na-
tional loss. It would besides enable us to avoid
panics—that source of dismay to many and of ruin
to more. It would liberate commerce from the
shackles of the Bullionists who work double
tides with the rise and fall of discounts, and profit
by the general calamity. Fluctuation is their I
harvest.

present obscure and unsatisfactory system ; nor
can we think it would be difficult, if patent pro-
tection is to be retained, to place the decision of
what deserves it, and what does not, on a better
footing.

A deluge of American correspondence is not, un-
fortunately, a deluge of facts so much as of opinions,
and we have certainly been surprised to find how
much better we can frequently estimate the real
value of facts on this side the water, than our
friends who live in the midst of them. The truth
is, they all colour them by their wishes, and by
those of their party, while we in Europe have little
interest beyond the inquiry—how things really
stand? The rumours of the Southern advance on
Washington, for instance, we suspected to be but
rumours from the almost impossibility of their col-
lecting the means of safe transport across a river
more like an arm of the sea than a river, and across
which at least their present artillery could not
carry. And it now turns out that no trace of boats
or ships, any more than of batteries, which are more
easily concealed, could be found on the southern
shores of the Potomac. Some of the most interest-
ing correspondence, however, will give our readers
the views of an honest, clear-headed, and well in-
formed observer on the spot.
Mr. STANSFORD has just given us an excellent
map of the seat of war (one, indeed, which includes
the whole of Canada west of Montreal, which we
hope, notwithstanding the three regiments to go
there, will not become a part of the seat of
war). By the help of such a map our readers
might see at once that if the Secessionists
have not actually advanced they have so
posted their forces as to make it difficult
for the North to advance again. While each army
keeps to its own 'positions, though nothing is
gained, nothing is lost. It seems almost certain
that the works on the Virginia side of Washington
are so complete, that if attacked thb assailants
would be, perhaps, worse off than the assailants
at Bull's Run ; and Washington may be considered
quite safe. But if M'CLELLAN moves forward, he
again meets the old difficulties. If we look at
Mr. STANSFORD'S map, and notice the railways,
we shall see that three may be said to converge
at Alexandria, a few miles below Washington. One
runs westward, along the river to Leesburg—a strong
confederate force is stationed there, only a few
miles on the Washington side of Harper's Ferry.
This force could at once be brought down to
harass the rear of an army advancing direct
from Washington on the main position of the
Confederates. Then there is the railway direct
from Alexandria to Bull's Run, which runs further
on in all directions into Virginia, making sup-
plies available from every part. But closer to
Bull's Run there branches off, westward, the
the Manassas Railway, and at Strasburg, on this
line, lies a considerable rebel force, ready, at an
hour's warning, to come, as JOHNSTON'S men
did before, fresh into the midst of the battle.
Besides these at Winchester, which a short
line connects with Harper's Ferry, a strong
body is stationed which holds BANKS in
check at the Ferry, but which could easily march
to the Manassas Railway and join, if wanted, in
any battle, at or near the old soene of action.
The Confederate'. forces seem to be exceedingly
well disposed for combined action if requisite,
while they are divided enough to distract some-
what the attention of the Federalists. The latter
have no similar system of railways by which they
could bring up fresh troops from any distance,
and when, therefore, they advance, it must be in
sufficient strength, and with sufficient reserves
to provide against the possibility of successive
attacks from three distinct, yet closely co-operating,
bodies.
In Missouri the retreat of General SIEGEL,
after the death of Ganeral LYON, has rendered
the Confederates one essential service. It has
placed at their command some of the largest lead
mines in the world. It may be remembered by
our readers that, to prevent the enemy getting
possession of these, was the object of LYON'S
advance with a force very small for his object.
Had Mr. LINCOLN properly supported him, he
would have succeeded in his object; but deserted,
although victorious, his little army was compelled
to fall back after its leader's death. The conse-
quence is, that the Southerns will now have an
ample supply of what they were most in need of.
The Springfield mines would furnish bullets almost
for all the world. Col. FREMONT, chief in command in
Missouri, hopes soon to have a large army, recruited
from the Western States at his command, but it is
the old story of locking the stable door a little too
late.

Mr. LINCOLN is already experiencing the troubles
of dictatorship. As he violates all laws agains
suspected persons and newspapers which comment
too freely on his doings, so a whole section of Vir-
ginia has driven him to his wits' end by taking its
I own course on the northern side. At first Eastern
Virginia, the free labour part of it, met and elected
their own State members and Governor, and the
Government at Washing-ton acknowledged them as
the legal Virginia. But lately these Eastern Vir-
ginians thought they should act more wisely to cut
all connection with the "Western or slave half of
the State, and to set up as an independent State.
By so doing they will avoid all the responsi-
bilities which the war will leave on the old
slave State, and as they have long been

and the result would be tilmvidi joint mrs
would produce his invention in such a perfect form
that he would by priority in manufacture have
that advantage of which every tradesman knows
the value. The confidence of the trade always
goes with the first respectable house which starts
a new article, even if it be not, or cannot be
patented. People like to make sure. Hence the
value of trade marks. The trade mark of the first
house which brought out any invention, now
patented, would, we cannot doubt, be ample pro.
tection. All who want Armstrong guns would be
certain, patent or no patent, to get them from Sir
WILLIAM if they could. If others manufactured
them, he could still get all the orders he
could execute, and get a higher price too. If other
guns were really as good as his, every Government
in the world, every artillery officer certainly, would
rather pay a handsome percentage to secure his.
The subject is eminOntly one for discussion in all
its bearings. We do not profess to have considered
them all yet. We are glad the question has been
mooted, and hope it will not be carelessly dropped.
At present we confess to a strong impression that
the natural laws:of commerce would guarantee a full
and fair profit to everyman entitled to be considered
an inventor. It may not, however, be so, and if not
we should be the last to sanction robbing mental
labour of its rights. Some of the proposals of the
Association take a step in the right direction, since
the real difficulty is to decide whether the alleged
invention has a fair title to be considered private
property. If it undeniably has such a title, even
then if the inventor cannot within a very limited
period get some one to aid him in reducing it to a
commercial form, he ought to forfeit all right to ,
hinder others from rendering useful what was use-
less in his hands. The form of the proposed Court
is objected to; but it is surely preferable to the