The Sun.
London, England, 1850-11-26 00:00:00

ITALY.

The Giornale di Roma, of the 15th, has a leader on
the present agitation in England. It tells its readers
that the Government has not given ear to the " !talon,
tempest" raised by the papers against the Papal brief
which restores the Catholic hierarchy la England ; that
it has remained calm in the midst of meetings, circu-
lars, and addresses, and that it will not yield to peti
Lions and questions in Parliament. It asserts that the
law of the land has been respected, and denies the as-
sertion of the Bishop of London, that the brief is a
negation of the spiritual power of the Queen. " The
English Catholic subjects," it adds, " have never ac-
knowledged that power, and those who daily embrace
Catholicism deny it formally. And yet these sub-
jects, who are now depicted as rebels, are, on the con-
trary, excellent citizens in the eyes of the Govern-
ment itself. If it be so, and if the English Catholics
are to enjoy the same rights as their countrymen, it i:,
clear that the b:ief has not attacked the spiritual
authority of the chief of the state, since the Catholics
do not acknowledge it." It further contends that the
new territorial division, established by the brief, is
not contrary to the Emancipation Act, and that the
Catholics are protected by that Act, while Metho-
dists and other Dissenters are merely tolerated. 1:
concludes with a hope that Parliament will take ac
serious notke of the matter, and look upon it as at,
affair of et;quet.e.
The Risorgimento of Turin of the 20th, the chief
Ministerial organ, contains the following paragraph :
" For some time past the Turin jowl-141s have beet
talking of a Ministerial crisis, or at least of mime-
,- hanges in the Cabinet. We recommend our contern
poraries to be rather more cautious in crediting and
.presdiog rumours of this kind. As far as we are
informed, we can declare that there never was, nor i,
now, the least foundation for their suppositions, am
that there is not the slightest danger nor probability
of a Ministerial modification."
The Royal decree for the prorogation of the
Piedmontese Chamber was resd in the Cham
ber of Deputies on the 19th by Signor Galvagno,
the Minister of the Interior. The decree fixes the
opening of the new session for the 23d instant
The Piedmontese Gazette contains a paragraph in its
non-official part, stating that the persons entrustee.
by the Minister with the care of publishing the de-
cree immediately after the reading of it in the tw‘
Chambers had published it be fore the reading, in con-
sequence of which they had been severely repri-
manded. _ _

The Ferrara Gazette states that, a few incendiary
placards having been posted up at Voghers and Cop
paro, in the province of Ferrara, denouncing the nes•
law establishing a tax on trades and professions, th.
police has discovered the culprit, who is a mere child
that had been induced to commit the act by som
enemies of order, to whom a revere bastinado has beet
administered by order of the authorities.

GREECE.
The Greek Chambers were opened by the Qaeer
at Athens on the 12th. The country was tranquil.

GOLD AND SILVER.

A singular rise which has been going on for some
time in the price of silver has created much inquiry
Tne idea that it may be owing to the influx of Cult
fornian gold naturally occurs to every one, and give:
the subject its chief interest. In ordinary times tin
question might be easily settled, but, from the peculiar
state of the continent, together with the change re-
cently made in the Dutch currency, a definite con-
clusion at present is rendered impossible.
The three causes now in operation, namely, the
Californian influx, the requirements for the pay am:
maintenance of the German armies, and the subsitutior.
or silver for gold in Holland, have come into activ.
operation almost simultaneously. They all have tht
same tendency, and the task therefore simply is to
discover the proportionate influence of each. Fo,
this, however, the materials are wanting. We do not
know with certainty the total increase which ha.
taken place in the supply of gold, or, as regard::
silver, the quantity absorbed in Germany, or on the
continent generally, either by the armies or fron
hoarding, or other causes. and, even if this informatior
were before us, we should Mill be ignorant of tE.
total stock of bullion in the world, upon the amount
of which alone could any accurate calculations be
founded.

Although, however, we must thus wait until somt
of the perplexing elements of the question shall hay
been removed—for if the war mania were to termi-
nate, and the effect of the Dutch legislation hat.
passed away, we should then have no difficulty v
looking to California for its solution—there are man:,
considerations that may, even now, throw some ligh
upon the matter, and which may be usefully borne it
mind in watching the future.
We have remarked that all the influences now
existing operate in one way. The only direct mode it
which any effect from the Californian gold could first
he observed would be by looking at the relative price
of silver. We must measure the state of the
market for gold by the purchasing power of
that metal, and silver is the best commodity where-
with to test this purchasing power, as it is less
liable to fluctuation than any other. In proportion
therefore, as the supply of gold increases, silver wil
steadily become dearer—that is to say, a 51. note re
presenting a certain weight of gold will buy less
silver than previously. At the same time the pur-
chases of silver by Germany and Holland must of
course have a similar effect. They are made b 3
means either of gold coin transmitted to us direct, or
of gold due from us for credits allowed or shipments
received, our merchants, in the letter case, being in-
structed, instead of sending the gold that is owing, to
send as much silver as it will procure.
In the combined action thus going forward enough
is consequently presented to remove all surprise that
remarkable results should already have been observed.
There are, however, some minor circumstances to be
noticed which modify these general operations, al-
though, as it is impossible to estimate their aggregate
bearing, it cannot be ascertained whether on the
whole they have tended to mitigate or to increase the
change that has been in progress. Among these, on
the one hand, is the demand for silver in California,
and on the other, the alleged increase of production in
the silver mines of South America, the extensive issue
of small paper currency, by which silver has been dis.
placed in Austria, and finally, a gradual displacement
of silver by gold, which is observable in the United
States.
Supposing it to be a question, whether the effect of
the demand for silver in Germany has not been coun-
teracted to a very great extent by the issue of Aus-
trian paper, and also if the supplies of silver required
at San Francisco have not been met by the more
abundant yield of the e.outh American mines, we
should then be driven to attribute the late rise in this
country mainly to the Dutch operations or to Cell-
i tonna, or to both. The step adopted by Holland, of
calling in her 5 and 10 guilder pieces, took place on
tbhhyoewi2te2vhdea of June,
nbeenotmaobroeutt
bfour a b
omuitl
si oonos,osot 711. i ngi
s b.
and the amount of gold disengaged
have been replaced by silver, the remainder beleiAienvsgeydreetto:
presented by notes, which will continue in circula-
tion until the requisite amount of silver can be ob-
tained. Whether this or the possible feet that
(beinc- nearly double the total
(,d ;statue! yield of all the South American
e1,.0t,i0n0,000/. of gold
iao
thiues in 1840) has been suddeitly added to the stock
of bullion
ttbuiiii:xnetT The world, which some have conjectured
d 330,600,000/, in all, atd of which gold
constitutes by far the smallest propoition, may have
had the greatest force, is a point which must be left
for speculation.

But, whatever view may be adopted by each indi-
ihival as to the ildluence which has bean predomi-
;:ant ail v.re(!ucing the eftfCt that has (.ccurred, there
•:Lri be no qu,stien the: that effect been of u most
uccided and important character. At this period last
year the price uf silver v.-1:s 4s. 11,d. per ounc, and
it is now 57i. 113., the rise being within a fraction of
3 per cent.; a difference whicn (apart from other
considerations) is considerable, as affecting the seig-
norege on our own silver coinage. This coinage
based on the forming of 66 shillings out of every
pound weight of standard silver, leaving a gross
profit to the Government, when silver was at its
usual price of 4s. Iqd. per ounce, of nearly 11 per
and which profit is now reduced to about
74 per cent. In France the premium on gold
nas fallen wi hin th,•! same period from 13i per
mills to 3,1 per mile; so teat it is now re-

:luced to only about 4 per cent. Should any.
further important decline take place, the silver
coins of that country will then gradually be dis-
placed by gold; for they will intrinsically be worth
more than their nominal value. Again, in the United
States the same eiT,ct is observable. List year the
coinage was at par. It is now
quoted 21 premium. This will cause silver to bo
,aported, cod its place to he supplied by an increased
coinage of gold &liars, half-eeg;es, and eagles.
At the same time it is to be ramarked, that in pro-
?urtion as silver thus comes to be displaced by gold in
countries where it has hitherto been in extensive cir-
,lilation. its further relative rise will be checked, be-
cause its uses, and the consequent demand fur it, will
be diminished. A decrease in the intrinsic value of
-ach metal may then be looked for, although not in
-qual proportions; and the only way in which it will
be possible that this till can be traced thereafter will
be by ascertaining from time to time the general ex-
changeable relation between them and other cornmo-
aities, so as to compare the purchasing power of both
with what it was at former periods.

RADICAL ktEFoItIVI IN THE LAW.
LIGHT FROM THE WEST.
(From the Weekly News.)
While we have beep grumbling at law abuses, and
nibbling here and there at some of their more pro-
minent evils, our relatives over the water have gone
quietly and manfully to work, and out of the old
chaos of English common law and equity, they have
created for themselves a rational, simple, intelligible,
ind uniform judicial system, by means of which any
inan, who has a claim against another, may obtain
-uhstantial justice, quickly, cheaply, and securely.
This sounds like Utopia, but it may be found at
New York. The citizans of that state used to have
their law courts, with ail their paraphernalia of diver-
sity of actions, intricacy of special pleading, demurrer,
error, &c., &c., just like our own. They had inhe—
rited these things while English subjects, and they
aad long retained them. So, too, they had their
Courts of Chancery, like the English, totally distinct
from the common law tribunals, with their tedious and
costly procedures and unsatisfactory mode of taking
estimony on depositions composed in private and nut
from the lips of witnesses and in public. In New
' York, as in England, the people groaned under the
.:ostliness, the tardiness, and the uncertainty of
the law. But the New Yorkers went to
Nork more boldly and more wisely than we
.10. They did not wait for the lawyers to reform
he law—for the spiders to clear away the webs :
—they met in convention as their Constitution au-
horittei them to meet, and they ordered that their
'3W should be thoroughly reformed ; that their
Courts of Chancery should he ; aed thA
simple uniform mode for obtaining redress for civil
wrongs should be provided, throughout which sub-
tantial justice should be the paramount objact, and
hat all forms and technicalities which could stand in '
ea way should he exterminated. Three commia-
ioners were appointed to draw up a code in that
pirit ; and a code so pepared was ratified by the
rfouses of Legislature, and became the law of that
-rate early in 1848.
We consider this subject so important, and we fled
in that code so admirable a model tor our own guid-
ance, that we intend to lay the principal portions af
before our readers; we mean those portions by.
4hich the distinction between law and equity is
,bolished, which give a single form of action, which
abolish special pleading, and which provide fur the
trials of issues in fact and of issues of law. There
ere also very valuable provisions respecting costs, and
the right of examining the hostile parties in the case,
hich we shall else) extract in extenso.
We earnestly beg the attention of our readers to
~his code, because. it shows us exactly what we want.
There we have it, not in vague suggestions or crude
fancies, but in definite black and white, and in full
and careful detail. It comes also to us recommended
by the test of actual experience. It has now worked
for nearly two years in New York, and has worked
:o the thorough satisfaction of all parties there, ex•
wept some of the bench and bar, who there, as every•
where else, dislike all change, are incapable of all
ehilosophical comprehension, and cling like rust to
he old-fashioned institutions in which they were born
and bred.
We are convinced that nothing has occurred
:Or a very long time so sure to give an impetus to the
aiuse of law reform in this country, as the meeting
if the Law Amendment Society in Regent-street, on
tfonday last, at which Mr. Field, one of the com•
:iiissioners who prepared the New York Code, was
present, and answered the numerous inquiries respec-
leg its nature and its operation, which were put to
aid) by the numerous English lawyers who assembled
a, receive him. A report of it appears in another
dart of our columns. It was note little amusing to
-fitness the sparring between cur equity and our
eicamon law men, each claps being keenly appreciative
f the absurdities of the other's sy stein, and as com-
,lacently blind to those of its own. Thus, Mr.
Bethell wound up a long eulogy on equity, and a
long invective against common law, by saying that
be true merit of the New York Code was that, la\
"law was swallowed up in equity." To which
Nlr. Creasy retorted that it would work the still
;renter miracle of " transforming equity into justice."

,
THE INCOME TAX.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.
SlR,—The I•come-tax, so fsr as it arises from pro.
essions and trades, it is hoped will be repealed the Hex
IPssion of Parli!ithent. I was therefore much grieved a
,",,iing the following placard, posted about last Sunda)
morning :

" LEGACY TO LAMBETH.
" A gentleman, well known in the Commercial and
Belvidere-roads, and who is recognised by the cognomen
if Paul Pry,' from his pinking and prying propensities,
.as just been elcted a Commisioner of the Income tux
for the next year. This is understood to have been a le-
tuna au ex-M.P."
The Income-t.Ax is bad enough, in all conscience, with-
•ut selecting such men us cemaiis,im ers.
I aro, Sir, &c.,
AN INHAtiI VAINT of LAMBETH.
Hercules-buildings. Nov. 26, 1850.