The Sun.
London, England, 1850-10-03 00:00:00

Obionina ate

LONDON, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 3, 1850.

Availing themselves of the horror inspired by the
melancholy crime just perpetrated in the parsonage-
house at the village of Frimley, those who are in-
fatuated with the continental system of espionage and
surveillance are at this moment actually taking occa-
sion to suggest its adoption amongst ourselves. Now,
to our minds, there is something in the suggestion
so contrary to the very genius of our constitution,
something so diametrically opposed to the fun-
damental principles of our jurisprudence,
that, even in the first agonies of dismay
excited by the murder of this unfortunate
clergyman, we must protest against it with all ima-
ginable earnestness. At the same time we cannot
for an instant allow these publicists to arrogate to
themselves a reverence for human life, or a solicitude
for its conservation, in any way superior to our own.
Enamoured with the arbitrary code of police preva-
lent among foreigners, they are certainly, with a
vengeance, carrying out, to the fullest extent, the
alterations hinted at in that phrase of STERNE—
" They manage these things better in France." Our
ideas in regard to the liberties of every
Englishman, no matter what his position in the
ranks of the community, are nevertheless so pro-
foundly fixed and so wholly unfluctuating, that we
can never consent, without raising our voice in re-
monstrance, to see the dearest rights and privileges of
British subjects juggled away simply for the delight
of adjusting our criminal code with the tyrannical
police system more or less in operation throughout the
European continent. •
It is one amongst the most sacred and beneficent
principles of our Constitution, as we took an opportunity
to remind our readers only the other evening, that
until a man has been formally convicted of an imputed
crime by a jury of his countrymen he is presumed to
be innocent. Yet, in flagrant defiance of this principle,
it is now-a-days proposed that, simply upon suspicion
that such and such an one is burglariously
proceedings shall be forthwith taken against him by
the police authorities, as in the case of persons en-
gaged in defrauding the revenue by illicit
distillation, or of insuring the national cur-
rency by a fraudulent coinage. In obedience,
of course, a to such suggestions, no honest
man would be safe from the irksome surveillance
of an over-privileged police, prying into their do-
mestic retirement, and rendering their homes little
less transparent than the glass-hives introduced into
w -fan gled apiaries. Unquestionably the pre-
t ntic r of crime is an object deserving of all reason-
ablE precautions ; but in the endeavour to protect so-
ciety it seems rather preposterous to lay it open to
all kinds of despotic interposition. It is paying out
with the one hand, and hauling in tighter than ever
with the other. The notion would be simply ridicu-
lous for its extravagance, but that it is calculated to
be so signally pernicious in its operation.
Instead of acting in any manner so absurdly and
ineffectively, we would witness the increase, not of
powers to the police, for already they have ample in
all conscience, but of the inducements to successful
detection. We would gladly recognise, moreover, a
more energetic course of proceeding in the way of
bolding out rewards to such malefactors as might be
disposed to batten on the evil gains accruing to
Queen's evidence—adding to the crime of conspiracy,
it is true, the atrocity of treason, but at
the same time shielding the community by playing
false to their accomplices. At the thirteenth
hour, as it were, when the victim is actually sacri-
ficed, the Government comes forward with its prof-
fered recompense of 100/. for the discovery of the
murderers. Pity it is such an inducement to dis-
closures, when those disclosures might have proved
eff‹ctual in preventing instead of avenging an atro-
cious assassination, was not held out sooner by her
Ma a EST Y'S Government ! Supposing:such to have been
dons, the unhappy gentleman, whose life has just
been sacrifioed in his gallant attempt to
wrestle with three armed housebreakers, might
still have been spared to his afflicted family,
instead of being shot down like a dog in the very
bosom of his home, and dying a lingering death, after
two days of excruciating suffering. It were idle to
pretend that no sufficient reasons had been given for
the adoption of any such decisive course by the Ad-
ministrative authorities, when it is remembered that
for months past this particular quarter of England has
been in a state of perpetual dismay in consequence of
the daring exploits of an organized gang of burglars.
Incited by their previous and prolonged im-
munity from punishment to yet more atrocious
acts of audacity, some of the members of this
conspiracy have now covered themselves with the
additional and damning guilt of murder. Only
then doeti the Government come forward with
its temptation of 1001. blood money, when the
unfortunate Mr. HOLLEST is lying dead in his out-
raged home in Surrey. It would be unfair to con-
found together in character the impudent robbery
and attempted murder in the very heart
of the busiest part of the city of Lon-
don—the robbery and attempted•murder which very
nearly ended in the death of Mr. CURETON—and this
execrable crime perpetrated in the quiet residence of

a clergyman in a secluded village. No human fore-
sight could by possibility, as we conceive,
have prevented the former, unprecedented as it was
in its consummate coolness and temerity. Whereas,
in the latter instance, precautions were not only
possible but absolutely requisite, seeing that so many
warnings bad already been given of such bloody crimes
being in embryo thereabouts. From the extraordinary
excitement which cannot fail to arise in consequence
of this dastardly murder of the Rev. Mr. FIOLLEiT,
at Frimley, and from the peculiar horror inspired
by its harrowing circumstances, we are sanguine
that efforts " may at length be made to prevent,
if possible, the recurrence of any similar catastrophe.
Otherwise, in the absence of all reasonable precau-
tions, the country may yet again be horrified by atro-
cities as odious in the manner of their perpetration.

The best answer to those who speak of the
" worthlessness of an inconvertible paper currency,"
and the " inevitable depreciation that would take
place in a circulating medium, not redeemable on de-
mand by a fixed and definite quantity of the precious
metals," may be found in the manner in which the
notes of the Bank of France were received in that
country during the period between the 15th of
March, 1848, when the Provisional Government
issued the edict exempting the Bank from the pay-
ment of its notes in specie, and rendering those notes
a legal tender throughout the entire kingdom, and
the 6th of August, 1850, when the law for the re-
sumption of cash payments was sanctioned by the
National Assembly.
That paper currency was not so well ' secured as
the national note, to which we have illuded in several
recent articles, would be. It was receivable, but not
exclusively, as the national note would be, in liquida-
tion of taxes, and of every national liability, and was
also a legal tender in satisfaction of every.claim. But
in place of being based on the entire property of the
nation—of having every citizen_ responsible with all
his possessions, real or personal, fur its liquidation,
it bad only the assets of the Bank of France as a
guarantee. There could certainly be but little doubt
as to the unquestionable solvency of that establish-
ment, but still it could scarcely equal, certainly not
exceed, that of the nation ; more particularly at a
period of great excitement, when the securities held
by the concern might, and actually were, greatly de-
preciated in value.
The decree of the Provisional Government was,
however, received with the utmost satisfaction
throughout the entire country, and its effects
were almost as striking as those which followed
the virtual suspension of our own Bank Charter Act by
the Ministerial letter of the 25th of October, 1847.
There had previously been an enormous drain of bul-
lion, and pressing demands for discounts, that taxed
the resources of the Bank to the uttermost. The de-
ficient harvest of 1846, followed by the commercial
crisis of 1847, which was as severe in France as in
this country, had materially reduced the available
assets of the establishment, while the bills discounted
analogous to our " other securities " were much
heavier in amount than at ordinary periods. The
directors had beea gradually putting on " the screw,"
although not so tightly as it had been applied in this
country, and were slowly recovering their former
position. Such was the state of affairs when the
revolution of February occurred, which hurled the
Orleans dynasty from the throne of France. During
that trying period it was essential to the safety cf the
country that the directors of the National Bank
should pursue a liberal and unselfish policy. The
commercial interests required a generous support,
and it is but an act of simple justice to the Bank
authorities to declare that it was freely and unhesi-
tatingly accorded. From the report of the Governor
of the Bank, it appears that in 15 working days, from
the 26th February to the 15th March, " the Bank
had discounted at Paris the sum of 110 millions of
francs (4,400,0001. sterling). Of 125 millions of
francs which it held from the Treasury, it had re-
paid 77 millions, leaving 48 millions. The Bank had
also discounted 43 millions in 14 cities, where it had
branches, and it had also sustained commerce and in-
dustry at those places ;" and during that time the
treasure at Paris had diminished from 140 millions to
70 millions of francs (2,800,0001. sterling).
The difficulty of this position was materially in-
creased by the fact that the notes at that time issued
by the Bank were for 500 francs (201.) and 1,000
francs. Large payments could only be made by
means thereof, and they were practically useless for
the purposes of daily expenditure. The decree of the
Provisional Government, however, authorised the
issue of small notes for 100 francs each, the great
convenience of which were fully appreciated, and
their appearance anxiously looked for by the people.
Indeed it. was the want of notes of a convenient de-
nomination that caused the pap:dent of a temporary
Agio, or premium for bullion, which, however, never
exceeded 25 francs per thousand francs for silver, the
standard of the country, or two-and-a-half per
cent. Sucb, indeed, was the confidence entertained-
in the paper issue, that, notwithstanding
,the demand
created ,by the political excitement of the period, if
there had been notes in circulation for 100 francs, 50
francs, and 20 francs, which could have taken the
place of the gold coinage, we venture to assert that
there would have been no premium paid for silver. Tais
could not properly be termed a "depreciation" of the
paper currency, but rather an appreciation of the
" metallic," in consequence of its great scarcity, and
the extraordinary.demand, occasioned by the political
events of the day. Whatever might be the " cause,"
the " effect" speedily ceased, almost simultaneously
with the issue of the 100 franc notes, and from
that time forth, for more than two years and
four months, the notes maintained their full
nominal value with respect to silver, and were never
subsequently, even for a single:day, at kdiscount—
the notes answering every purpose that could be
desired, and enabling the successive Governments of
France to encounter the difficulties of their positions,
difficulties which could never have been surmounted
but for the much-despised " inconvertible paper
currency."
The Banker's Magazine for last month has an
admirable article on this subject, in which it considers
in a truly philosophical spirit the causes of what is
termed a " depreciation of paper," which may happen
in two different modes, viz., "by a decline in the
market value of the paper, gold remaining without
change; or, secondly, by a rise in the market value
of gold, the paper remaining without change." This
is the point which should be clearly understood by
the people of England, and which is carefully
eschewed by the bullionists. To all who desire to
arrive at a correct decision on this all-important
subject, we heartily commend the excellent article
to which we have just alluded, which will be found
eminently deserving of mature and attentive consi-
deration.

FIRE AT SODlEleti-TOWN.—About ten o'clock this
morning an extensive fire happened in the house of Mr.
Marsh, 26, Middlesex-street, Somer's-town. A lodger, it
appeared, had struck a light previous to his leaving the
house, and in a short time afterwards the fire was discovered.
The engines from Holborn and other brigade stations soon
arriNed, and water was abundantly obtained, but it was
some time before the fire was extinguished, and then not
until a considerable portion of Mr. Marsh's furniture had been
destroyed, and the building damaged. No portion of the
property is insured.

THH DUKE or NEWCASTLE.--The accounts re-
ceived from Clumber yesterday state that his Grace was a
little better on Monday, and appeared more cheerful. On
Teesday, however, he was not quite so well; and it was
not thought that any improvement had taken place.
The Rev. Mackenzie iWalcott, M. A., of Exeter
College, Oxtord, to be Evening Lecturer and Curate of St.
James, Piccadilly.

SCOTTISH HOSPlTAL.—Yesterday a quarterly court
of the governors of this hospital was held on the premises of
the corporation, Crane-court, Fleet-street; Dr. Webster in
the chair. It appeared from the statement read by the se-
cretary that the average number of applicants at the last
three monthly meetings was 250, and there were 180 pen-
sioners. The amount expended for relief was 4821. The
total amount received since St. Andrew's Day was 2,0441.
6s. 10d., which, with the balance brought forward, made the
credits amount to 2,4111. The expenditure had been
2,325/., leaving 851. in hand. The proceedings of the cum-
niittee were confirmed; and, on the motion of Mr. Donald-
son, the secretary was directeal to write to the authorities of
the parish respecting a•nuisance existing at the corner of the
building.

HOBART TOWN HIGH SCHOOL HEAD MASTER. -
George Brien, Esq., M.A., Trinity College, Cambridge, 1849,
and son of Dr. Brien, R.N., has lately been appointed the
head master of Hobart Town High School. Mr. Brien par-
ticularly distinguished himself at St. Paul's School, where he
obtained the Camden exhibition; and also at college, for his
great classical and mathematical attainments. He embarked
on the Ist inst., on board the Olinda, for the scene of his
future labours.

GENERAL POST-OFFICE, SEPT., 1850.--Killucant
county Westmeath, Ireland, having been constituted a post-
town, the office there will be opened for the issue and pay-
ment of money orders on and after the 6th of October next..