The Sun.
London, England, 1857-02-13 00:00:00

LIi,MON, FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 13, I 8 ;7

',., Well, the Committee nominated by the Chan-
cellor of the Exchequer has been duly nominated,
with two exceptions—the members for Walling-
ford and Perthshire—who had intimated their
inability to serve. Mr. MA.LINS was one of the
impartial and disinterested members in whom the
community would have felt perfect confidence.
His absence, then, will prove a very serious loss,
rendering the committee even more one-sided than

had been previously anticipated. A general
apathy Was perceptible in the House that showed
that the discreditable "dodge" resorted to by the
Financial Minister was clearly understood. But
parties 'held ' aloof applreutly with the view of
giving him rope enough, so that the by no means
unusual result might follow, and that there should
be no in terrupti )ti of thepolitical felo de se. Onegen-
f
tlemau alone(Mr• pEAconKz)had the manliness to
protest agaiiiA the Cinstitutim of the
committee.
He did not, however, propose any alteration, as
he declared that "he would not interfere with the
distribution of parts in this most solemn comedy.,,

We fear, however, that the farce or burlegre may I
have a really tragic termination. The outraged
and suffering people who see their families endur-
ing stringent privations—the small traders and
manufacturers who find all their anticipated profits
transferred into the pockets of extortionate usurers
—will scarcely enter into the humour of the jest,
or join in the opinion of " Mercator," that «a
high rate of interest is not necessarily injurious to
commerce." They feel and know that by its
means they sustainthe most serious losses, that they
are too frequently reduced to the verge of ruin, while
many thousands of their brethren are compelled to
become bankrupts or insolvents in consequence of
the intolerable pressure. They will then, to use
a vulgar but expressive phrase, "laugh at the
wrong side of their mouths " at the exceedingly
"good joke" that has just been played off at their
expense, by Mercator and his flunkeys, both in
and out of Parliament.

Mr. Duatem, who, on a similar quintion, in
_ _

1848, made a gallant stand, displayed a degree
of carelessness and indifference that proved that
he was completely blasee on the point. He was
" not disposed to divide the House on the ap-
pointment of a committee, unless he should re-
ceive more encouragement than he then antici-
pated." At what time was that " encourage-
ment" to be displayed, when could it be mani-
fested, if no leading member thought it worth
while to offer opposition to the partial selection I

From what occurred we cannot hope that the Right
Honourable Gentleman will display any energetic
exertions in the Committee. If he contemplated
any close divisions, where a vote more or less
would be of importance, he would have exhibited
greater solicitude about the nomination of its
members. It is by no means clear that the novel

alliance into which he has entered may not have

changed his views on the currency as on the
fiscal questions. It certainly seems as if his

chief object was to acquire political capital, and
to damage his opponents, rather than to benefit
the nation ! If the people were prosperous and
happy, there would be so good a chance of place
and promotion for himself. General discontent
and dissatisfaction afford the best prospects of
exchanging the dreary Opposition benches for
the comfortable repose of the Treasury side
of the House. Besides, the community at large
have not as yet evinced the excitement neces-
sary to produce legislative sympathy. They
have suffered dust to be flung in their eyes. They
have taken no active steps to dispel the mystery
in which their interested opponents have contrived
to invest the subject. They have sanctioned the
delusion that it is an abstract science of the most

abstruse and uninviting character. Anything
relating to bullion and currency was distasteful to
the great majority, who professed " not to under-
stand the question," and who became impatient
even of discussion on a point of paramount im-
portance to the welfare and prosperity of the com-
munity. Anything that directly touches their
pockets will produce intense excitement. The
application of the tax collector for a few pounds

is made the topic of universal argument. There
will be no lack of agitation on such a point. But
they coolly suffer themselves to be indirectly de-
frauded of tenfold the amount. What,
we ask, is the importance of a small
payment, more or less, in comparison to obtaining
the means by which that and many other pay-
ments of a similar character may be made with-
out pressure or inconvenience. The Israelites in
Egypt did not so greatly complain of the "tale of
bricks," apparently the favourite mode of taxation
in those days, as of the withholding the straw,
the material of which they were made. They
naturally felt that anything that could be pro-
duced by their own labour and their unassisted
efforts might fairly be demanded. But it was
tyranny and oppression of the worst description
to make them responsible for matters over which
they could exercise no possible control. Now, a
circulating medium adequate to the wants and
exigencies of the country, is to its taxation, in
exactly an analogous position, to what the supply
of straw was to the production of bricks, so far as
the Israelites were concerned. Without a suit-
able measure and representative of value, the
industrious classes are rendered perfectly help-
less.
Their " talent is buried in the earth."
Their capital lies dormant. In place of being the
creators and producers of national wealth, they
become unprofitable consumers ; in place of being
the respectable producers for happy families, they

are discontented paupers, suing for that which,
under a sounder and more equitable system, they
might easily earn for themselves. Those who .re
daily thronging to the Police-courts and Union
Workhouses would, if free trade in currency were
eAablislied, be certain of obtaining "a fair day's
wages for a fair day's work." All they require is
" a clear stage and no favour," but that they can
never obtain so long as the Act of 1844 is main-
tained with all its stringent restrictions, increased
and unmodified. Their chief efforts should be to
abate that social nuisance, to which all their
misery and privations may be directly attributed.
We trust that the House of Lords will
avail itself of the golden opportunity of dis-
playing its utility. The admirable report of its
committee still remains on record, and there is
no reason why that committee should not resume
its labours, and publish a supplement to that
invaluable document. Should they do so, they
may induce us to "thank GOD we have a House
of Lords." If not they will, by their own free
will and consent, abandon their position as a co-
ordinate branch of the Legislature, and sink into
well-merited contempt and disrepute.

However much Lord PALMERSTON himself may
indulge in " vapouring"—however much he may
endeavour to cover an " ignominious retreat"—
there is no question at all about the fact of his
having so acted, during these first few nights of
the session, as to have already (quite unintention-
ally, we doubt not,) done considerable good service
to the reputation of the Right Hon. Gentleman
the Leader of her MAJESTY'S Opposition. There
is no mistake at all about that— whatever the
Prime Minister may affect to the contrary with
such an exhilarating*air of mingled swagger, bom-
bast, and braggadocio. Neither will the country
fail to recognise this, in spite of all the " ribald
ridicule" indulged in by the First Lord of the
Treasury, immediately upon the reassembling of
Parliament—in spite of that discreditable display
by him, last evening, of what SHAKSPERE calls the
"Insolence of Office,"—in spite of the mean,
and paltry, and despicable dittoes to " My Lord,"
echoed and re-echoed this morning with such
" damnable iteration" and such perverse effron-
tery by the partisan-organs of the PALMERSTON
Government.

Ourselves, partisans neither of the Government
nor of the Opposition, we cannot possibly do
otherwise—with the simple facts of the case before
us—than recognise in the discussions which have
,taken place upon the subject of what has been
spoken of as the Secret Treaty, an unmistakeable
•t'arlianlentary triumph for Mr. DISRAELI, and a
noless unmistakeable political defeat for My Lord
PALMERSTON. What are the simple facts of the
case as they are now indelibly recorded upon th©

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