The Sun.
London, England, 1857-09-23 00:00:00

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s PT E A.B

THE RENEWA

EQUEB BILLS.
The suggestion in the recent report of the Select
Committee on the Exchequer, Pay, and Audit De-
partments for improvements in the system of issu-
ing Exchequer-bills, so as to get rid of the annual
inconvenience of their being sent in for renewal,
and to facilitate the interest payments by furnishing
them with coupons, has led to the question being
raised whether the issue of Exchequer-bills in any
shape is under present circumstances desirable. The
only recommendations that could ever have been
urged for them were, first that they enabled the
Government to raise any sum that might be requi-
4ite for temporary circumstances in a form to admit
of its being easily paid off when the requirement had
terminated ; secondly, that they supplied the finan-
cial public with a singularly eligible medium for
the employment of floating balances ; and thirdly,
'hat owing to this fact they would circulate at a
rate of interest considerably below that at which
loans could be raised by the creation of stock. All
' these advantages, however, have now disappeared,
and as the existence of a heavy unfunded debt has
at all times certain inherent objectionable features,
it is natural that doubts should be raised whether

;hese should be submitted to when there are no

longer any counteracting circumstances to render
them unimportant. The issue of Exchequer-bills
merely for casual purposes has long passed into
a more extensive arrangement, by which the total
has been swollen so as to represent nearly a fortieth
part of the entire national debt, about 17,000,0001.
or 18,000,0001. being at all times in the hands of
the public. The facilities which caused themto be
acceptable to financiers have been utterly eclipsed,
chiefly by the attractions offered by the banks and
discount houses in receiving deposits at call, and
partly by the higher terms payable on railway
debentures'; and, finally, so far from their
-now effecting an economy to the Government
by their rate of interest being below that
of the funds, they cannot oven be kepi,
from a discreditable discount by an interest of
31..166. 00. per cent., while any amount could be
raised in stock at about 3/. Os. or 3/. 7s. per cent.
Whether the new regulations recommended by the
Committee would in any important degree remedy
this disparity may be doubted. The fact is, the Go-
' verntnent themselves have for years past contrived
, as far as possible to damage this species of security
at the very time when other changes in the mone-
tary world were tending in the same direction.
The first blow was inflicted by abolishing the re-

gulation under which they were receivable for re-
venue payments at any period after three months
from their date of issue ; and subsequently Sir C.
Wood and Mr. Gladstone, by obstinately allowing
them to fall to a heavy discbunt, and to remain un-
saleable at times of severe pressure, thoroughly
completed the mischief. There is hardly a banker
or money-dealer who has not a s•re recollection of
losses and anxieties most unjustly thrown upon him
in this manner, and the prejudice created will last
for years to come. It is, therefore, full time to
consider whether the annual pecimiary loss entailed
by these securities, together with the discredit of
seeing the current obligations of the Government
daily quoted at a discount, should not be got rid
of by funding the whole, or, at all events, so large
a portion of them as would enable the remainder to
float and to command a respectable premium at a
reduced interest.—Times.

CANADIAN PATRIOTISM.

(From the Brockville Monitor of Sept. 5.)

We perceive from the recent tone of a debate in the
Imperial Parliament, that the home government are
favourably disposed with regard to raising a regi-
ment or two in Canada for service in India at
the present juncture. This disposition has already
found a proper response in this province, as the follow-
ing letter from the adjutant-general of the militia force
Baron De Rottenberg, to Major Smythe, of this town
will show : _ _

" Adjutant-General's Office, Toronto,
26th August, 1857.

"Sir,—l have the honour to acknowledge the re-
ceipt of your letter of the 24th inst., offering the services
of yourself, officers, and such number of men as may
be required for home or foreign service, and have been
directed to acquaint you, in reply, that his Excellency,
the administrator of the Government, received your ap-
plication with much satisfaction, and has transmitted it
to the proper authorities in England.
We entirely approve of the course pursued in this
matter by the parties to the foregoing correspondence,
and trust it will bear the desired fruits. A regiment or
two raised in Canada, to assist the mother country, and
officered by Canadian gentlemen, would be the bast tee-
monial of our loyalty to the empire, and would tend to
connect Great Britain and the most potent of all her
colonial dependencies sti.l more closely. The policy was
a false one which led the Home Government to reject.
the offer to raise troops in Canada for service in the
Crimea, and we are glad to see that the offer now will
be' entertained more favourably.
To those Canadians who seek military service, the
present is a mo-t oppOrtune time to further their views,
and those who desire to see the world in this way
now probably bo -able to do so under very favourable che
cumsfances. lodia is most decidedly the finest country
in the world for the soldier, no troops being treated as
well as those quartered there. The pay of both officers
aniimen is nearly double what it is anywhere else, and
living is exceedingly cheap. Good beef and mutton are
usually obtainable at prices ranging from one to two
cents per lb., and bread and all the other staple neces•
series of life are equally as cheap. The climate, it is
true, is warm, and in some districts unhealthy ; but eel
diem have little to do, and those who abstain from
drinking and are moderate in their food enjoy, in a ma-
jority of cases, very good health. In fact in India even
the common soldier is a gentleman. Servants cook his
food, shave him, and perform all the other menial offices
for him, and all ho has to do is to mount guard occa-
sionally, attend a parade in the mornings and a roll call
in the evenings. In war time, as a matter of course, the
duty must be more harassing, but the soldier must not,
expect a service of all sunshine.
But, putting the state of things in India out of con-
sideration, we feel satisfied a regiment or two might to
raised with advantage for service even in Canada, and
on the same principle somewhat AS the Canadian Rifles.
In a country where the labouring man can always earn
from two to four shillings a day sterling, and sometimes
even more, nobody will ,care tp soldier for one
shilling ; and we may always expect accordingly
to hear of desertions whenever an opportunity oc-
curs. In Kingston, whole squads have recently de-
serted, and in every garrison in ,the province regiments
(no matter how well officered and how well the men are
treated) must be oontinutidly losing men by desertion.
This state of things is highly discreditable to our mili-
tary service, and should be remedied ; and the only way
to remedy it is to form Canadian corps for service here
at increatel pay, or to double the pay of the line regi-
ments when they chance to be quartered in this part of
the empire Desertion from the Canadian Rifles is a
thing of the most rare occarrence. The men are per-
mitted, we believe, to earn what they can when off duty,
and this privilege, in addition to doubt) pay, keeps them
always true to their colours, while they still remain a
most efficient and trustworthy corps, and always ready
for any and every duty.
No line regiment should be quartered at Kingston or
at any point near the frontier, where desertion and es-
cape to the United States are of easy accomplishment.
Posts of this kind shoald,be occupied by troops whose
position would not be improved by desertion, and
whose interests, therefore, as well as their oaths and in-
clination, would keep them true to their colours.
Every practical military man must see at a glance the
correctness of our suggestions and the necessity of some
thorough change in the military polity of Cana'ia.
In conclusion, we would rec =mend Major Smythe
not to lose sight of the preterit chance for Indian ser-
vice. India is the real training ground of the Briffsh
army, and where the man of talent and prudence can
_most readily advance his fortunes. The present
Sepoy rebellion it ono of Abe best things that oould
happen for the consolidation of our Anglo-Indian
empire. Years may elapse before quiet will be restored,
much blood may be spilt, and much treasure spent in
the attainment of tbat desideration ; but still, the result
will more than compensate for all these sacrifices. In
place of supineness, false security, and red-tapism, a most
thorough and efficient civil and military organisation
will be established, and the British empire in the East
thus placed on a more secure basis than ever.
We have no fears for the result of this mutiny. The
British empire in India has surmounted much more
trying events. Hyder Ali, the Mahrattas, and even the
Sadie, were much more formidable antagonists than
mutinous Sepoys. British valour triumphed over these
antagonist., and will triumph still more easily in ttio
present crisis, no matter whether that crisis be long or
short. The British troops may even have to retire from
before Delhi, owing to the warm season being upon them;
still India will not be lost, and the month of October
will open with operations on such a scale as ultimately
to crush out the last vestige of mutiny.

SWEARING-IN OF THE NEW SHERIFFS OF LONDON
AND MIDDLESFX.—The corporation of London, having
been deprived of the sole conservancy of the river
Thames, under the Thames Conservancy Act of last
session, have determined on no longer patronising that
noble stream on civic state occasions. It has always
been the custom, on the occasion of swearing-in the new
Sheriffs of London and Middlesex, and also the Lord
Mayor, for the civic processions to take water at Lon-
don-bridge or Blackfriars, and proceed thence to West-
minster, but on the coming swearing-in of the Sheriffs
that time-honoured practice will be abandoned. The
swearing-in of the new Sheriffs (Messrs. Lawrence and
Allen) on Monday next, willisre4ent a new feature, and
be rendered memorable by the fact that it will be the
first time witt,in the recollection of the "oldest in-
habitant," of the sher.ffs of London and Middlesex pro-
, needing to Westminster on such an occasion by land
instead of water. Thi procession will be formed at
Guildhall, and from, thence procied, by St. Paul's,
Ludgate-hill, Fleet-street, ana the Strand to West-
minster-hall, arriving about two o'clock, when the usual
formula of counting hobnails, chopping faggots,
administering the oaths, &c., will be gone through. On
Lord Mayor's Day the same course will be observed,.
and the inhabitants of the West-end will be gratified
with a sight of this pageant at less cost and trouble to
themselves than formerly.