The Sun.
London, England, 1857-11-17 00:00:00

LONDON, TUESDAY, NOT. 17, 1857.

Enraged by the failure of the scheme to ruin
the industrial classes, for the exclusive benefit of
usurers and money lenders, the Times has flung
aside all disguise, and at last exhibited its true
colours. It has nailed the "black flag" to the
mast, and is manifestly determined to proclaim
war to the knife," rather than its patrons should
lose a single particle of the unfair advantages
they have obtained under false and fraudulent
pretences. We nse the terms advisedly.
For it now appears that the specious
pretexts put forward on behalf of the act of
1844, were merely colourable, and had no real
foundation. It was first declared that the act
would prevent fluctuations in the value of money
--which, as Mr. COBDEN declared in his evidence
before the Committee of the House of Commons
on banks of issue in 1840 had occasioned "greater
evils, pecuniary, social, and moral, than the direct
failure of all the banks of issue since they were
first established in the country !" In fact, Sir
R. PEEL, the putative parent of the OVERSTONE
Bill, described it as a measure to prevent the oc-
currence of those periods of monetary crisis and
commercial alarm and derangement, which the
previous measures regarding the currency had
failed to prevent ! We do not say that these
were the exact words, but they convey the pur-
port and effect of his chief argument, and that on
which the bill received the legislative sanetion, and
was permitted to become part and parcel of the
law of the land ?

Within three years, however, it was found that
the enactments had not only failed to produce the
batended effect, but that far greater perturbations
had occurred than at any former period, and
"a monetary crisis and commercial alarm
and derangement" utterly unparalleled up to
that time. The rate of discount, which, but for a
short period in 1839, when it was at 6 per cent.,
had during a century and a quarter never exceeded
5, or been less than 4 per cent., had vibrated from
2 to 8 per cent., exciting at one time the wildest
aPeculation, and at another the most disastrous
to.agnation. The position was shown to be
utterly untenable ; and the responsible author,
rather than confess the total failure of
his pet crotchet, was guilty of what used, 1
styled "a departure," or, in other words, a com-
plete shifting of his ground.
In 1847 he declared that "the main °hied of
the act was to secure the couver '
of SIOLI paper
mto gold." Not one word did ho utter on that
point in 1844. The convertibility of the Bank-
note was not questioned at that time, and the
subsequent statement was a palpable afterthought.
In fact he subjected himself to he tossed
Gin the horns of the dilemma, that there
*was a direct falsehood deliberately put
forward either in 1844 or 1847. Both•
speeches could not have been founded on fact.
Ile was equivocating at one time or the other.
"Mercator"—the "Mercator" of the Times—
last year adopted the latter view ; but it was
manifest that whenever it became convenient t)i

assign a ne•A ground, no scruples would prevent
the parties from putting forward a new version
of the, main object of the Act of 1844.

This suspicion has been converted into certainty
by tbn money article of the Times of this day.
Aceczding to the bullionist organ, it is virtually
and practically to annihilate " creclit," so that
although the convertibility of the note b 3 still
maintained, no relaxation should take place, that
"prudent " (read " over-reaching ") creditors
should be enabled to ruin their unfortunate
debtors, or, to use the very words of the bullionist
organ, " toforce one portion of the community, who
allow themselves to be drawn into -a panic, to pa; t
with their property, at a sacrifice-, to another and
more clear-headed portion, who find themselves
in a condition to buy it." Thf) cloven foot thus
peeps out in all its naked enormity. Hence-
forward there can be no mistake. The people
understand the true nature of the issue. It is
whether money, or its representative, is to be
rendered scarce and dear, and commerce
and manufactures annihilated, in order that
" prudent creditors"—(usurious bloodsuckers
might have been the term)—atiould, with
SHYnocK-like avidity, enforce the 'very "pound
of flesh " for which they had contracted
The Times confesses the extent to which the prin-
ciple might be carried. It says :—" No doubt,
if the Government letter had net appeared on
Thursday, money would have been worth 20 or
30 per cent., owing to the general panic that
would have been created." And it considers it
much better that such a convulsion should have
occurred than that the arbitrary limits for the
issues on securities should have been exceeded.
It is well to understand the true nature of the
question about to be submitted to the collective
wisdom of the nation. It may be impossible to
fix such Protean antagonists. but for very shame
sake they may be unwilling to go further.
Now, then, the Times itself in the prelimi-
nary part of the same article states that "in
England every contract is made in gold," that
"any man who comes under an engagement to pay
a certain sum on a certain day, pledges himself to
deliver so many sovereigns.",, Now, although
we totally dissent from this assertion, and are
prepared to prove its utter falsity, let us, for
the sake of argument, suppose it to be well
founded. Even if the certain sum were to be
paid in gold, why should the debtor be placed
under undue restrictions ? Why should a certain
portion be uselessly locked up in the cellars at
Threadneedle Street, in order to produce an arti-
ficial scarcity, and thus enhance the price of the
circulating medium in which the liability is to be
discharged ? If " gold was to be left to its natural
coarse," why should there be an obligation on the
bank to withdraw a large portion thereof from
general use ? There should be perfect freedom of
action. The argument of the Times, however
applicable it may be to the Act of 1819, is fatal
to that of 1844 and the regulations thereby
establish ed.

Here we might stop ; but as Parliament should
legislate for the great body of the people, we
assert that the Times has proved, beyond the
possibility of doubt, the total inadequacy of a
purely metallic currency. If it is to send up the
interest of money to 20 or 30 per cent. under
any circumstances, it is absolutely unsuited to
the nation, and a better system must be devised,
in which fair play will be given to debtors as
well as creditors, or, in other words, to the
industrious classes as well as to the money lenders.
Equity has repeatedly interposed to prevent un-
conscientious forfeitures, and mortgagees are not
permitted to enforce a foreclosure at a tenth part
of the real value, because the stipulated day of
payment had elapsed. A. fair and equitable
arrangement, in accordance with the spirit of the
contract, will be readily granted by monetary re-
formers. They require no undue advantage for
themselves, and they will strain all their energies
to prevent those who, if the doctrines of the Times
be correct, would be natural enemies, in place of
beneficial auxiliaries, from obtaining such at their
expense.

Although the disprof •rtion between Talking and
Acting, between Words and Deeds in reference
to the progress of Public Works in the Capital
still continues to be something deplorable—we are
nevertheless making steady but slow advance in
the multiplication of our Metropolitan Improve-
ments. The Drainage of London, and with it the
Purification of the Thames, still remaining a pro-
blem to all appearance as difficult of solution as a
riddle of the Sphinx—a nut hardly to be cracked
even by the portentous Jaw of a BAZALGETTE !
Tf, however, we set that question aside indefinitely
for:future consideration—doing this with as much
equanimity as we can possibly muster under the
circumstances—it will be admitted by the more
discerning, we opine, that really we are somehow
getting on pretty fairly altogether. The river,
it is true, is still without even the prospect of an
embankment. An opening from that Silent
Highway right up to the south front of St. Paul's
Cathedral has yet to be commenced. Something in
the shape of an advantage remains to this very day
to be taken of the void site of the vanished Fleet
Prison in Farringdon-street—a site in its way
about as unsightly as the gap where a front-tooth
has been suddenly knocked out in a skrimmage—
or rather where it has slowly decayed away some
curious grinder ! The Fountains (so called) still
squirt from their two burst bottles, the ginger-pop
overflowing the twin dumb-waiters in Trafalgar-
square. NELSON, yet, continues fo:-1)rnly mast-
headed on the top of his Pillar in the centre of
that Finest Site in Europe without the guardian-
ship of those Four granite Lions, which Britannia
has with niggardly and grudging parsimony failed
to eke out, though aided to that end by a douceur
of 5001. from the coffers of the late Russian Cz ir,
NICHOLAS. All this is, no doubt, quite true, and
a great deal more of the like kind : but—O we
are getting famously on with our MetropAltan
Improvements, nevertheless ! Ara we not? Why
just let us for a few moments enumerate.

There is the new palace at Westminster, for
instance, with iti last bran new glory—Big Ban !
To be sure, there. is Big Ben-the Monster Bell
that " bears off the belle" from all the other bells
—the grand, booming Bourdon of Parliament. A
bell that SCHILLER alone could adequately sing the
founding of—a giant labour worthy of the smithy
of the CYCLOPS, or of the metal-workers of Brob-
dignag. To begin with then ; there is Big Bm
—but no ! literally, in regard to this matter,
" the least said the soonest mended !" Big 113 n,
we all know by this time, but to-y well, is fit
merely to hang in the Bell-Tower of Bedlam ; or
to he used, let us say, as an appropziate signal
for the meeting (whenever they do meal) of the
Commissioners de Lunatico Inqiiirendo For—
Big Ben, unhappily, tarns out after all to be—
cracked ! Wherefore, we won't begin our list of
metropolitan triumphs with this one : it worw but
a questionable commencement. Setting Big Ben
aside, therefore, we will venture to obse.rve—
there is the New Bridge at Chelsea! a md :
there is, we repeat, the New Bridge at Chef, sea.
But—unfortunately here, again, We are son
le-
how at fault, for this grand new bridge, whe n
the very best has been said of it, is only, after

all, another Toll-bridge. Another petty "stric-
ture" of copper like that strangling the
traffic across the river at Battersea, at Hun-
gerford, at Vauxhall, at Southwark, arid at
Waterloo ! Another cluster of wretched little
toll-gates where the myrmidons of the CIIA.RON of
our Styx levy the miserable dole of a " brown "
upon the living—until one is fain to wish that
the Charons, whether of the Quick or of the Dead,
would cut their Styx henceforth altogether I Nei-
ther, then, will,we open our catalogue of recent suc-
cesses, in the shape of metropolitan improvements,
by boasting about the new Chelsea Bridge ; any
more than by bragging about Big Ben. At any
rate, we may surely refer, with some degree of
complacency, to the clear sweep made in one
direction by the inauguration of Victoria Street,
connecting Pimlico with Westminster and in
another by the opening of New Oxford Street,
running the old thoroughfare of that name
directly onwards into Holborn. A grander
improvement, howbeit, than any (such as these) of
a simply local and, therefore, restricted character,
is such an one as the benificent change for which,
if we are indebted to any one man among the
whole concourse of our practical philanthropists
more than another, we are most assuredly bound
in gratitude to Mr. GEORGE ALFRED WALKER.
Need we add, after the significant mention of his
name, that we allude, of course, to the virtual
close of the filthy and obnoxious system of intra-
mural interments, and the substitution for our old
London Graveyards of our new and picturesquely
beautiful suburban cemeteries ? Enough if we
content ourselves at this moment with a reference
to that one comprehensive innovation. If in
nothing else—in that, at any rate, we may find
encouragement.

STOPPAGE OF THE WOLTERITAMPTON
AND STAFFORDSHIRE BANK.

(BY ELECTRIC TELEGRAPEC.)

WOLVERHAMPTON, TUESDAY MORNING.

The Wolverhampton and St iffordshire Banking
Company has stopped. The definite course to be
stated on Monday. The town is panic-stricken.

THE MONETARY CRISIS IN SCOTLAND.

GLASGOW, MONDAY.

A private meeting of the shareholders of the
Western Bank was held here to-day. There was
a unanimous expression of feeling to go on with the
bank, and for this purpose upwards of 600,0001.
were subscribed by the more wealthy share-
holders, for which they were to receive 7 per
cent. the first year, and 5 per cent. afterwards.
The deficiency of the funds of the bank has not as
yet been ascertained, but it is thought that a
million sterling will suffice to meet the loss and
enable the business of the bank to be carried on
as usual. This sum, it is confidently expected,
will be made up iu a few days. Many of the de-
positors have expressed their confidence in the
new management, and will continue to transact
business with the Western. The public has every
confidence now in the notes of all the banks.

THE PRIVY COUNCIL.

WINDSOR, MONDAY.

Her Majesty held a Council at three o'clock this
afternocn. Present—His Royal Highnesa the Prince
Consort, Earl Granville, Viscount Palmerston, the Mar-
quis of Lansdowne, Sir G. Grey, Mr. Secretary Labou-
chere, Lord Panmure, the Chancellor of the Exchequer,
Sir C. Wood, the Right Hon. R. Vernon Smitb, Lord
Stanley of Alderley, the Duke of Argyll, the Right Hon.
M. T. Baines, Earl Spencer (Lord Steward), the Duke
of Wellington (Master of the Horse), and Lord Ernest
Bruce (Vice Chamberlain).
At the Council a proclamation was issued summoning
Parliament to meet for the despatch of public business
on Thursday, the 3d of December.

Their Serene Highnesses Prince Soltykoff and Prince
Galitzin have left the Clarendon for Paris.
His Exleffency the Ambassador of France came to
town yesterday from St. Leonard's-on-Sea. His Excel-
lency returned to the coast last evening.
The Duchess (Dowager) of Norfolk has left Worksop
Manor, where her grace has been staying for some time
past on a visit to Lord and Lady Foley, for Eaton Hall,
on a visit to the Marquis and Marchioness of West-

minster.
The Duchess of Athole has arrived at the St. George's
Hotel.

The Countess of Shaftesbury and Lady Victoria
Ashley arrived at their mansion in Grosvenor-square,
yesterday, from St. Giles House, Dorsetshire. His
lordship is expected in town to-day.
The Earl of Gifford has returned to town from Yester
House, Haddingtonshire.

The Earl and Countess of Shannon gave a select party
at Castle-Martyr, near Cork. Colonel the Right Hon.
William awl Lady Louisa Tighe have joined the party
from Woodstock.

The Earl of Enniskillen has arrived at his seat,
Florencecourt, in Ireland. The Hon. Col. Cole, M.P.,
has within the last few days also arrived at Florence-

court.

The Earl and Countess Somers have taken a residence
in Rome, in wh;ch city the noble earl and countess
propose to pass the winter.

Viscount and Viscountess Newport are passing the
season at Devonport House, Bridgnorth, Shropshire.
Viscount and Viscountess Lismore leave England the
beginning of the ensuing month for the Continent. The
noble lord and her ladyship are expected at their new
residence in Wilton-crescent, in a day or two, from
Ireland.

Lord and Lady Lyndhurst and the Hon. Miss Copley
have returned to town from St. Leonard's-on-Sea, where
they have been staying for some time past.
Lord George and Lady Adelin Manners have left
Cheveley Park on a visit to the Duke of Rutland at
Belvoir Castle, Leicestershire. The noble lord and her
ladyship are expected in town the latter end of the week.
Lord Dufferin has left Yester House, where he has
been staying on a visit to the Marquis of Tweeddale for
some time past, for ChiHingham Castle, on a visit to
Lord and Lady aivia Ossu!ston.
Lord and Lady Harry Vane arrived at their mansion,
in Grosvenor-place, on Saturday, from Chevening Park,
Kent, where they have been staying on a visit with the
Earl and Countess Stanhope.
Lord Huntingfield has arrived at the St. George's
Hotel.

Lady Charlotte Wolfe and the Ladies Hutchinson
have arrived at Claridge's Hotel, fr sm Dublin.
We regret to learn that Rear-Admiral Graham had
an ap)plectic se z ire on Sunday evening, and great fears
are entertained as to his recovery.
Mr. and Mrs. Sheppard have arrived at Farrance'e
Hotel, Belgravia, from their seat, Camseyashe, near
Woaibridge, SuffAk.

THE SIAMESE PRINCES, —The visit of the above princes
to Queen Victoria at Windsor Castle, which was put off
owieg to the death of the Duchess de Nemours, is now
fixed for Thursday next. Their Royal Highnesses are
expected to arrive at Windsor by a special train of the
Great Western Railway at one o'clock, and proceed di-
rect to the Castle, where a magnificent entertainment
will be prorided for theta in the Waterloo Ckamber.
The Seringapatam left Melbourne on the 15th Aug.
with 12,180 ounces of gold, and the Essex en the sth
of Sept. with 105,255 oz., together valued at 469,740/.
The Great Britain sailed from Sydney on the 3d of Sep-
tember with 5,7121.
The Robert Lowe steamer, with troops, had arrived
at the Cape of Good Hope on her way to India; also
the Beech worth, sailing transp,,rt. This news has come
via Ceylon. The mail from the Mauritius is stated to
be on board the same ves,el as the Australian mails.

At a meeticg of creditors of Messrs. Wilson, Hallett,
and Co., whose suspension was announced on the 2d
inst., held at Liverpool on Friday, it was resolved to
wind up the estate under inqiecticn.
The demand for discount at the Bank yesterday was
again extremely heavy, and it is presumed that the in-
fringement of the Act of 1844 must have made further
considerable prigress. At Hamburg the rate of discount
hae receded to 9 1 per cent. A further total of about
130,000 sovereigns was despatched to Ir4!and yesterday.

In consequence of the news just received from India
the authorities at the Thrse Guards have decided that
the r.hole of the offic:irs belonging to regiments in that
conntry who are now at home on leave shall proceed
forthwith t ,i)in the hearl-quarters of their respective

It is said that the arrangement for the Cunard eteatner
Africa, which left Liverpcfol for New York this morning,
to cal' at Cape Race, so that the news of the suspension
of the Bank Caarter Act might be telegraphed from
Newfoundland, has been defeated by the Admiralty
ag.et ia,t having attempted to send the requisite autho-
rity to her commander until two hour.e after the vessel
bad sailed. The Vanderbilt, however, which left South-
ampton yesterday, has been ordered to touch at that
point.
A letter (,aye the _Literary Gazette) bas just been
received from Madame Ida Pfeiffer, from Tanariva, in
Madagascar, in which she says that she is in good
health, and has been extremely well received in the
island. The day previously she had been invited t,)
court, to play on the pianoforte, and had given so much
satisfaction that she was immediately presented with a
quantity of fowls and eggs in recognition ,of her
musical powers.