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

THE STN, LONDON, FRIDAY EVENING, FjEBRUARY 13, 1

We fear, however, that the farce or burlesque may
have a really tragic termination. The outraged
and suffering people who see their families endur-
ing strimzeut privations—the small traders and
manufacturers who find all their anticipated profits
transferred into the pockets of extortionate usurers
—will scarcely ent3r into the humour of the jig,
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 sustain the 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. DISRAELI, who, on a similar question, 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 t 3 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 7
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 iot) 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
(xchanging 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 t) 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 t 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,
tho material of which they were made. They
naturally felt that anything that could be pro-
duced by their own labour and their unassisted
effort; 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 t 3 its tixation, 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 capit a 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 are
daily thronging to the Police courts and Union
Workhouses would, if free trade in currency were
e,tablished, 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-
t tined 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 it self of the golden opportunity of dis-
playing Ai utility. The admirat,le 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 contampt and disrepute.

However much Lord PA.LIIRRSTON 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 Mini,ter 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 ti "My Lord,"
echoed and re-echoed this morning with such
"damnable iteration" and such perverse effron-
tery by the 131 r it.
san-organs of the PALUERSTON
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 tho discussions which have
taken place upon the subject of what has been
nen
of
as the Secret Treaty, an unmistakeable
Parliamentary 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 the

journals of the House of Commons ? Let them
be looked at for a few moments without partiality
and without prejudice ! What are they ? It will
be easy enough to enumerate them. Let us do so.
And while we do se, we do most earnestly adjure
the more watchful observer of events to note well
the startling and extraordinary disparity of the
statements put forward in the House of Commons
by the opposing leaders of the Government and
of the Opposition.
At the commencement of the present session
Mr. DISRAELI, it will be remembered, startled
the country by distinctly announcing from his
place in Parliament the existence of a secret
arrangement entered into between France and
Austria with the formal consent, if not at the
actual "instance" or " instigation" (it really
matters not which was the precise word), of her
Britannic MAJESTY'S Government. It will be
equally fresh in the memory of the community—
How it was precisely that Lord PALMERSTON met
this very grave charge, speaking authoritatively
for himself and his colleagues as the Chief of the
Administration. The Government had never
even " heard" of any such agreement ! It
was in the simplest meaning of the words
nothing less than a myth, a phantasy, a halluci-
nation 1 The Right Hon. Gentleman had been
gulled during his recent visit to Paris by very
innocently swallowing (what is called) a canard,
iu his newly-accepted capacity as (what is called)
a gobernouche ! There was no such Treaty ! There
never had been any such Treaty ! Ministers had
never heard of it ! From first to last it was the
flimsiest fiction, the idlest fabrication, the wildest
absurdity ! The Right Hon. Gentleman—[con-
fessedly a very old joke this, be it observed]—had
drawn upon his imagination for his facts, and
upon his memory for his arguments ! He had
already won for himself elsewhere a great
reputation as a novelist : he was now, in an
unexpected manner, in the House of
Commons, in his political capacity, justi-
fying his claim to that reputation I Briefly—
" I must say"—observed Lord PALMERSTON—
"that the greater part of the Right Honourable
Gentleman's speech upon our foreign policy is
a perfect and entire romance." All this was said
by the Prime Minister with the gayest air of
scorn and derision, and amidst frequent bursts
of laughter from the Ministerialists, on the first
night of the Session, Tuesday, February 3, 1857.
During a whole week after, the noble Viscount
was absent from the House, but immediately upon
his return to it, Mr. DISRAELI, naturally enough,
availed himself of the very earliest opportunity to
vindicate himself in the estimation of the popular
branch of the Legislature. It was then elicited
from the noble Lord (who had talked on Tuesday,
the 3d instant, of the whole statement as
" a perfect and entire romance") that
Well, yes ! he believed now the thing had been
mentioned—that there was some such understand-
ing as the one spoken of by the Right. Hon.
Gentleman ; but that the Convention embodying
this understanding between Frauee and Austria
(with the cognisance if not encouragement of
England) had never been signed by the represen-
tatives of the contracting Governments. So that,
according to Lord PALMERSTON'S own explanation
upon that the second night of the discussion—if
Mr. DISRAELI'S statement was still to be desig-
nated a romance, it ought in strict truth and jue-
tice to be termed a little more explicitly than on
the former occasion—at any rate a historical ro-
mance—in other words, a fiction founded upon
fact. However, in due course a third night's dis-
cussion of the matter was to arrive at lengtb,
when these explanations would have to be ex-
plained. And it did arrive accordingly. List
evening, Thursday, the 12th of February, was
the time. The House of Commons was again the
place. Lord PALMERSTON himself once more
the speaker. And now that for the third
time the Prime Minister has spoken upon this
matter—how do things actually stand according to
his own showing ? Recollect, first of all, the
whole thing was a romance—a canard—a fabri-
cation ! Ministers had never heard of such a
document as the one spoken of by Mr. DISRAELI !
Afterwards—on reflection, Ministers had heard
of it, there had been something of the sort,
but it never had been " signed 1" Lastly
—yesterday—after a 1 tale more reflection—well,
yes ! Ministers had not only " heard" of it, there
had not only been negotiated "something of the
sort" between the French and Austrian, with the
knowledge and consent of the English Government,
but, added Lord PALMERSTON, with regard to the
document itself (a document, remember, that first
of all never kad existed, and then never had been
signed) Well, Yes, said the Prime Minister.
"I think it due to the Right Hon. Gentleman to
state that I have since learned that in point of
fact it was signed ! " So much for the romance
So much for the canard 1 So much for the fabri-
cation ! So much for Mr. DISRAELI being, in his
political capacity, as Lord PALMERSTON pertly
called him, "a great master of the powers of
imagination !" The "fabrication" proves to be,
after all, a very hard fact. The canard—an
" ower true tale." The romance —a most
deplorable reality. There was such a writ-
ten document after all and that written
document was actually " signed" by the re-
presentatives of the contracting Governments ?
Yet, for simply insisting upon these doubtless
unwilling, but very explicit acknowledgments on
the part of the Noble Viscount, the First Lord of
the Jokery, as Boz profanely calls him—Mr.
DISRAELI was charged last night by L)rd PAL-
MERSTON with " attempting to cover an ignomi-
nious retreat" with " vapouring," and we don't
know what all ! More consummate effrontery
than this we cannot possibly at the present mo-
ment call to our recollection 1 The jocular
and flippant Droll of the House has lost
his temper at last smarting secretly, no
doubt, under a painful sense of his own
egregious misstatements. And so the matter ter-
minated yesterday with what we cannot but
regard as a most unseemly display of sardonic
irritability on the part of my Lord Viscount
PALMERSTON.
As to the effect of the whole of these transac-
tions in reference to Mr. DISRAELI himself—we
conceive that the result of the three discussions
cannot do otherwise, in his regard (either before
the House.or before the Country) than tend very
materially to elevate his political and Parliamen-
tary reputation.

Sir ROBERT PEEL last evening, in the House of
Commons, most successfully, and, ht us add,
most completely, vindicated his claim to the repute
of the gay, the sparkling, the light-in-hand, the
touch-and-go Young BARNACLE. His explanation
as to the speech delivered by him on the 7th of
January, 1857, at Saltby, near Birmingham, we
take at once t ) be really, after all, for the most
part perfectly satisfactory. Sir ROBERT pleasantly
ren finds the House, and through the House, the
Country, that when he spoke at Saltby, on the
7th ult., for one hour and a half, or perhaps
two hour's duration, "without notice," it was on
the. occasion of a " jollification " at the place of his
hon. friend the Member for Adderley—meaning
(he adds, in the midst of greit laughter), North

Staffordshire. As to his remarks there and then
about M. le Comte de MORNY, he simply said
that he was le plus grand speculateur de l'Europe!
As to what he remarked about the Grand Duke
CONSTANTINE, he had implied a great deal more
than he had actually uttered in the way of com-
pliment ! As to the Prince do LIGNE—Why,
truly, he observed last night, " I certainly did
use some such expression as this—l said he was
`r tiff and starch as the frill of Queen ELIZA-
BETH !" Adding—" Of the words I made use
of then (so far as the Prince DE LIGNE is
concerned) I accept the responsibility." As
to the rest, observed Sir ROBERT, last even-
ing, in the House of Commons—and evidently
to it 3 infinite amusement—" All I can say is, that
if in the attempt—the very innocent attempt—
to paint a few light airy sketches—_' to hold,' as
I think Goldsmith says, the mirror up to
nature,'

" 'And catch the manners living as they rise,'
—(laughter)—l erred in the appreciation of those
whose good opinion I value, and whose judg-
ment must have weight with me, I am ready to
offer the most ample expression of my re-
gret, and to make upon this occasion the
most fitting amende honorable which I can
offer." In other words—He 'll be a good boy
and not do so any more—even at a jollification.
At the close of all which, we don't wonder in the
least to find it reported parenthetically that
" (The Hon. Baronet who spoke in the airiest and
most off-hand manner possible, sat down amid
loud cheers.)" Of course—what could have been
done otherwise ? Sir ROBERT PEEL, at the worst,
had only been talking a little fun (poking a little
fun, we believe, is the correct phrase) at a Stafford-
shire jollification. As the son and heir of a great
statesman, and as himself one of the Lords of the
Circumlocution office to boot, he ought, according
to the practice of what Mr. THACKERAY calls
" the old fogyfied times" to have talked more
seriously, sedately, and didactically. Like the
Snip's son in the Old Farce, however, who had
a soul above buttons, Sir ROBERT PEEL disdained
to prose away for an hour or two in the old Par-
liamentary style at Mr. ADDERLEY'S jollification.
Et voila tout ! Instead of doing so, he tells us,
he preferred to hold the Glassy—up to Nature.
And so the House of Commons in all good humour
laughs and cheers (as it ought) at the Gay Young
BARNACLE'S explanation. And so that Gay Young
BARNACLE himself (as he ought) merrily takes
the Speech so often carped at, and, with a comic
glance out of the corner of his eye, carols it, as it
were, all over again to House of Commons to the
tune of Vive la Bagatelle !

PROVIDENT CLERKS' BENEVOLENT

FUND.

--
We beg to direct the—attention of our readers to
the excellent remarks made at the meeting of the
above fund by the Chairman, Thomson Hankey,
Esq., on Wednesday evening last. A report of
that gentleman's speech will be fourid in another
column. Mr. Hankey's experience, both as a
Director of the Bank of England and as an Income-
tax Commissioner, enable him to speak with autho-
rity on the subject, and he declares, as a fact
within his knowledge, that the salaries paid to
clerks have not kept pace with the increased and
increasing price of the necessaries of life. The
wages of mechanics and of domestic servants have,
as we all know, risen considerably during the last
few years. In house rent, especially in the
neighbourhood of the metropolis, a large in-
crease has taken place. To taxes we need
not advert further than to remark that of all classes
who suffer from the pressure of the income tax, the
clerks are probably the most to be pitied, from the
severity with which it falls upon a fixed and limited
income.

While this increase has been going on, however,
the salaries of this lary body have remained with
but little alteration ; and it was to this fact the hon.
gentleman alluded on Wednesday evening, as a
reason why the ranks of the Cleils' Benevolent
Fund are at present limited to some four or five
thousand members, instead of amounting, as they
should do, to ten times that number. We have
little doubt that Mr. Hankey has, in vulgar par-
lance, "hit the right nail on the head." An in-
come of 1001., or 150/. per annum, especially if
a family have to be supported out of it, leaves but
little margin for future provision, even with the
most pinching economy.
Lat us, however, bear in mind one important
fact. The excuse above quoted cannot be accepted
On behalf of another class, whose duty and interest
it is to fostar this institution. We allude to the
employers, to whom the well-being of their clerks
must be, as is well expressed in the report, "an
object of deep
importance."
There is room in the list of noble donations al-
ready received by the Provident Clerks' Benevolent
Fund for a long series of City firms and benevolent
individuals who have not yet contributed to its
funds, and we trust soon to see realised the wish
expressed by many of the speakers at the meeting,
viz.,be placed
onthtehlaitevery
list
orandne:irtavnintsglcvaituhdio,illat ethe maynecessity of
election. That which is done by many trades and
professions of limited extent can surely be accom-
plished by the exercise of good feeling and energetic
co-operation among such a body as the clerks of
Great Britain. Let them be but true to their ex-
cellent motto, "Tuti qui pro. vidi," and they will
ere long place their fund at the head of the "cha-
rities" (we use the word in its best sense) of this
metropolis.