The Sun.
London, England, 1850-09-30 00:00:00

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LONDON, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 1850.

The law appointments in Ireland 'nave been filled
up in a manner highly creditable to the Irish Go-
vernment, and which will give the greatest satisfac-
tion to the profession and the public generally in
that country. As we had anticipated, Mr. MONAHAN
will be the new Chief Justice. The Right Hon.
Gentleman has accepted the office, subject to any re •
duction in the salary and income which Parliament
may make in accordance with the report of the Com-
mittee of the House of Commons upon official, diplo-
matic, and judicial salaries. It will be in the recol-
lection of our readers that Sir JOHN JERVIS recently
accepted the similar office in this country—Chief
Justice of the Common Pleas—on a similar condition,
and it is, therefore, clear that no vested interest
can now be created in either country that could by
any possibility interfere with the pecuniary arrange-
ments that might be sanctioned by the Legislature. •
Mr. MONAHAN has well deserved the distinguished
position he has at length attained. As Crown prose-
cutor on the Connaught circuit, as law adviser, as the
Castle Solicitor-General and Attorney-General, his
zeal, efficiency, and untiring industry pointedhim out as
a fitting candidate for promotion. From the very
commencement of his career he gave evidences of his
ability—from the hour when he terminated his col-
lege course by obtaining the science gold medal, the
highest university honour that could be bestowed on
a person professing the Roman Catholic religion,
until he finally obtained the object of his highest am-
bition, the Chief- Justiceship of the Common Pleas—
he has never faltered in his onward course, or de-
feated the sanguine anticipations that had been enter-
tained as to his progress.
The promotion of Mr. He:refuel, to the Attorney •
Generalship was so much a matter of course as to
demand no particular notice. His appointment will
create a vacancy in the representation of Windsor,
for which—as the new Solicitor-General has not a
seat in Parliament—he will again become a candi-
date, and most probably be elected without a contest.
Mr. HATCHELL had long been distinguished as a nisi
prius advocate on the Leiaster Circuit and in the
Irish metropolis. He is also an admirable criminal
lawyer, and remarkable for the stringency
and ability of his cross-examination of a
doubtful witness. It would indeed require
no ordinary effrontery and self-possession on
the part of a witness to persist in an unfounded
statement when subjected to this trying ordeal. Mr.
TIA.TCHELL is also a man of large private fortune,
and, we believe, an excellent landlord, although he
has suffered materially from the favourite pastime of
Crop-lifting," which has become so fashionable
among the peasantry of the south and west of Ireland.
Mr. HENRY GeonGe HUGHES, the new Solicitor-
General, has long attained a high reputation as an
equity practitioner. Unlike the generality of barris-
ters in the sister kingdom, he restricted himself to
the Courts of Chancery and the Equity Ex-
chequer, totally giving up the common •law
courts. It was in the Rolls' Court that his
business chiefly lay. He was almost invariably to
be found from the sitting to the rising of the Court
in the left-hand corner, just behind the inner place ;
a place which, at length, by general assent, was
looked upon as "}lnciaEs's seat," which it would be
want of courtesy to trespass on. He soon became
an oracle " on everything relating to the practice of
the court, and a particular favourite with Sir MICHAEL
O'LoonLEN, who fully appreciated the learning,
tact, and intelligence of the young barrister,
who had selected his court as the scene
of his professional labours. After the lamented
death of that great man, and the promotion of Mr.
BLACKBURN (now Chief Justice of the Queen's
Bench) to the Mastership of the Rolls, Mr.
HUGHES fully maintained the position he had gained
before Sir M. O'LOGHLEN, and also attracted the at-
tention of Sir EDWARD SUGDEN, who was much
struck by the ability and intelligence which he dis-
played on every occasion. A small situation having
fallen vacant about this time, was tendered by Sir
EDWARD SUGDEN to Mr. HUGHES, who, al-
though a Roman Catholic, had never taken
any part in politics ; elthough at that time
the Peel Ministry were firm in their position, and
there appeared no prospect of any change of Govern-
ment, Mr. HUGHES exhibited a degree of indepen-
dence that reflected the highest honour on his charac-
ter. Before accepting the office, he wrote to the L. rd
Chancellor, apprising hies that his feelings and opi-
nions were altogether in favour of the opposition, and
that, however flattered by the offer, he could not
accept any political favour from those to whom
he was opposed on prineiple. The Lord Chancellor,
however, having in
.a highly complimentary
letter informed him that the offer was made as a re-
cognition of his professional merits, and not on any
political ground whatsoever, Mr. llnemes accepted
the situation, having gained fur himself the respect
and approbation of his professional brethren by his
conduct on the occasion.

Since that period he has steadily progressed. He

Eppedily obtained a silk gown, when not more than
eight years' standing, and his present promotion has
been aoknowledged by men of all classes, creeds, and

parties to have been fully merited. A more unex-
ceptionable selection could not have been made, one
which is alike honourable to the Irish Government
and to the fortunate object of their choice.

We rejoice to find that the all important subject
of monetary reform is beginning to receive the atten-
tion it so eminently deserves. The different classes
of the community are, at length, oven at the eleventh
hour, shaking off the apathy and awakening from the
slumbers in which they had so long been enveloped.
They are gradually, but steadily, discovering how
deeply their best interests, and the welfare and pros-
perity of their families, are involved in the result of
the agitation of this truly monentous questit.n, and
there is manifested a desire to attain information

—to investigate the real circumstances of the
case in all its bearings that must ultimately
lead to the true solution of the great problem.
There are , competent instructors, too, who
spare no exertions to enlighten the popular
mind, azd to dispel the clouds of ignorance and
prejudice that have hitherto prevented the matter
from being regarded in its true light. The National
Currency Reform Association has selected the metro-
polis as the scene of its labours. Its admirable tracts,
circulating throughout the length and breadth of the
land, will excite a spirit of inquiry among a people,
who when once aroused will not be contented with
a mere smattering of the rudiments, but seek a
sounder knowledge, that will enable them to combat
and detect the specious fallacies of the bullionists.
Local associations, too, have been formed, and
are in course of formation, from which
efficient aid may be anticipated during the
approaching contest. The Liverpool Currency Re-
form Association still maintains the prominent
position it assumed when it led the onward move-
ment, and,throughitsindefatigable and able secretary,
Mr. JAMES liAnvnir, continues to enlighten the com-
mercial community of the modern Tyre. The
lectures of Mr. JONATHAN DUNCAN, to which we
recently directed the public attention, have stimulated
the inhabitants of the manufacturing metropolis, and
we trust that we shall ere long be enabled to announce
that the men of Manchester have assumed a position
worthy of their former fame—of the vanguard in the
glorious campaign against the odious bread-tax. Even
among the agriculturists currency opinions are
steadily advancing. The Retford Currency Society
now numbers many members, and its valuable publi-
cations circulate extensively among the farmers in the
midland counties.

The great success which has attended the efforts of
this association is mainly to be attributed to one of
its members, the Rev. JOHN TWELLS, the respected
vicar of Eaton, to whose unceasing exertions in the
good cause we have repeatedly alluded. The Rev.
Gentleman endeavoured to teach his parishioners and
neighbours the true nature of the currency question,
being well convinced that it was by means thereby
alone that the condition of the British nation, and in-
deed of the entire world, could be ameliorated. This
attempt was denounced as Quixotic by many who had
not sufficient energy to travel out of the beate❑ track;
hut, notwithstanding the sneers of the scoffers, Mr.
TWELLS has succeeded beyond even his most sanguine
anticipations. The anxiety for instruction is not
limited to the parish cf which be is the incumbent.
The entire district, of which it is the centre, has par-
ticipated in the movement, and many meetings have
been held in order to afford the people opportunities
of hearing the lucid and satisfactory explanations of
the Rev. Gentleman.

Last week a meeting was held at Laxton, near
Tuxford, which was numerously and respectably at-
tended. The agriculturists mustered in force, to
learn that which, if judiciously carried into operation,
would indeed afford " protection to British industry"
in the most efficient:and, at the same time, the most
unobjectionable manner—which would not benefit
one class alone, at the expense of the rest of the
community, but would promote the welfare
of the industrious population of the country
without any exception. Mr. TWELLS did
not fail to improve the opportunity, and
to rivet the attention once directed to the subject.
He clearly and distinctly pointed out the mistake
they committed, the one-sided view they have taken
of their interests, in looking only " to the laws re-
specting what they have to sell—corn; and disre-
garding the laws about what they have to buy.
money." The reasons SN by the farmers should endea-
vour to understand the currency question are so
very satisfactory and so universal in their application
—for they relate to merchants, traders, and manu-
facturers, as well as to farmers, and to
the working classes, whose only capital h
their labour, even more than to any others
—that we cannot refrain from quoting them :
"But why," said the Rev. Gentleman, " do I say that
farmers ought to understand the currency question ?
Becausci a great part of their labour, skill, and produce.
must be resolved into money. Money is one-half of every
bargain made between man and man, whether he is an
agriculturist or a manufacturer. A farmer may be called
a manufacturer of corn and cattle. In the earliest ages
he would barter what he did not require for his own use
for clothing and the necessaries and comforts of life.
He would pay not only tithes, but taxes and debts in
hind, but now he cannot do this. By the law of the land
he must pay his debts, his reot, his taxes, his wages, in
money. Now in order to do this he must barter away
his produce to obtain money. He goes to market and
he buys money with his produce—and that is the reason
why anything which affects the value of money is a
farmer's question. If you exchange or swop one thing for
another; one horse, for instance, for another horse, you
look not only at what you give but at what you receive.
And here the agriculturists have, as I think, taken a
one-sided view of their interests. They have been very
anxious with regard to the laws made about what they
had to Bel!, viz., corn, and have disregarded the law,
made about what they hal to buy, v.a., money. They
ought to have attendei to both, for both affect their in-
terests. You are told that price depends on supply and
demand, which is quite true. Bat it depends on the
supply and demand of two things, the commodity to be
sold and the money to be bought. It the supply of
money is decreased, prices fsli—if the supply of money
is increased, prices rise. But you are told also that if
money be decreased and the price of your produce f ill,
you sell cheap, but you also buy cheap. But see how
this affects the farmer, and, in a similar manner,
every producer. The profit of a farmer depends on what
he realises by prig above the cost of production. Now
suppose a farmer's profit to arise by what he can realise
above, say 40s a quarter for his wheat. When he sells for
50s. he gets 200/. a year profit—that is, by the difference
between 40e., the cost of production, and 504, the price,
he clears ROL If, therefore, prices in general decline
one-tenth, and he sells for only 455. a quarter, his pruti:
is reduced one-half—he has 1001. a year instead of 200/
But he buys for one. tenth less, that is, he can now bay
with 180/. as much as LeFore cost him 2001. What then
is the result? Why that he gains 20/. by buying cheap,
and loses 100/. by selling cheap. The consumer goes a
small advantage, the producer sustains a heavy loss.
And this must be the effect to every producer in a heavily
taxed country, by the forced cheapness caused by a con-
traction of the currency."

It is impossible to resist this plain and straightfor-
ward appeal to the common sense of the people.
Those who were so fortunate as to hear the eloquent
address of Mr. TWELLS will see that there is some-
thing of even greater importance to their interests
than any addition to the price of their produce that
could be caused by protective imposts. They will
also look to that tchearttaoinf leedh
sum
mey
of
fn
mtuornneybewcoilml
ebepurer--
I chse
quired to liquidate the rents, rates, and texas, and other
charges to which every farmer is liable, and the pro-
fits of the manufacturer of corn, cattle, &c., must
necessarily be materially diminished by any appre-
ciation in the value of money which will require
givenlarger amount to be in
satisfaction of these
demands.
But we are not trusting to theory merely on this
subject. During the late war agriculture flourished,
and those engaged in the pursuits—indeed all the
industrious classes enjoyed the utmost pros-
perity, notwithstanding the enormous weight
of taxation under which they suffered.
NAPOLEON was termed " the farmer's friend 1"
because remunerative prices were obtained during
his reign. how was this ? Is war, then, so desira-
ble in itself, and does it necessarily lea 1 to such re •
sults ? No ; but there was a sound system of paper
currency —a circulating medium adequate to the
wants and exigencies of the country, and that bless-
ing more than ccunterbalanced the evils of war. We
trust" that the Rev. Gentleman will continue his
valuable exertions ; and to others similarly circum
stanced we would say, take an example from the
energy and enthusiasm exhibited by Mr. TWELLS ;
look to the effect of his effortr, and.do ye also en-
deavour to advance the cause, which has" truth for its
basis and justice for its end."

MONUMENT TO WORDSWORTII.—It is satisfactory
to us to be enabled to announce that upwards of 9001. have
already been subscribed towards a befitting monument to this
distinguished poet.—Art-Journal'

THE SUN,