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

which they were placed before the monetary revc-

lution that must occur, and which will not only
ecca:.,ii(Na 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
themselve3.. 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 ! 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 30,000,000/. !

Surely, then, some precautions should be taken
while the present grievanco is so palpable, the
future danger so imminent ! If the Bank Charter
Act be renewed, Ttithout 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 social 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, b hang a lantern over it
, after dark.

We had a specimen of its working last Tuesday,
in the case of the QUEEN versus BARNWELL ; the

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 ono 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 lcsing 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,
creditor, his customers, were strongly on the other
side, and he dared not disoblige them"—and
almost as frequently—" So-and-so did not vete 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 rather not have
votes at all than make our consciences 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 are
true. Yet the ugly stone is a precious heirloom
to them. They and their predecessors, perhaps,
for several generations, have used it to mount the
public, and t) ride if, booted and spurred, as the
Upper ten thousand wish. "They won't remove
the stone, that t'sey won't, for all the electors iu
the kingdom ; the law does not compel them, and
no one shall."

They do rot wish, however, to seem too un-
gracious, though they like to spew 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 50.1. 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 steward 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 it
by Act of Parliament. With such a legislative light
on the freedom of the polling•booth, why need
any one fear to walk in and vote at ease ?
Un-
luckily the Legislative lantern is not of half so
much use as was that of the Flemish burgher.
That showed only the old man's perversity in pre-
ferring the nightly trouble of lighting and main-
taining his lamp, t) the trouble once and over of
removing the stone. Our luminous Act, although
constructed, seemingly, with infinite care, leaves
the poor voter, in thousands of cases, wronged in
mind or in estate.

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. TREaEIRN, a baker,
of his own custom, and also to take from him
of a charity with sixty
ultimately the supplying