The Sun.
London, England, 1868-07-03 00:00:00

Guildhall and the mess-rooms, for the enterprisiog
officers sometimes carry their operations into the
streets and make the myrmidons of the law them-
selves the victims in default of others of her Ma-
esty's lieges. A case has just been heard in Dublin,
by which it appears that two young officers of the
Guards have been knocking policemen down and
banging them about, and not content with this
taking the law of them to). Nor are the precincts
of the great Landon Clubs secure. Oily this
week, at one of the greatest of these establish-
ments, twe visitors by accident tact in the hall,
flew at each other, and flattened noses and spilled
" claret" till forcibly separated. It is becoming,
as we observed, quite the fashion, and we presume
will be f3llowed by duelling, unless the law be
sternly enforced, for men begin by loosening re-
straint, whence arises slangwanging, and .proceed
to fisticuffs, and then to pistols. Society should
not permit its rules to be violated with impunity.
If peiple, as a body, do not visit with dis-
pleasure those who outrage the rules of decorum,
individuals are compelled to defend themselves, for
the law cannot reach all such cases, and the natural
end is the revival of the old system of self-defence.
The House of Commons leading in this laxity, its
example will be quickly followed, and one of the
accomplishments necessary to a- gentleman will be-
come the art of boxing.—Anglo-American Times.

MONEY—No. 3.

(From the Anglo-American, Times.)
We have fully shown that Senator Sherman's as-
sertion that the pound sterling had decreased in 30d
years 600 per cent. is really under the mark, and
the facts brought forward by the Hon. David A.
Wells would lead to the conclusion that at least
in the United States, labour, as measured in coin,
had within the last few years risen so prodigiously
as to show a very heavy fall in the value of money.
But though the labourer in the United States now
receives far more in wages thau he did before the
War, we doubt whether a dollar to him then was
not in its purchasing power worth more than two
now, and that therefore if his wages have but in-
creased GO per cent. he is in reality a loser. In this
we see the real cause of discontent illustrated by
trade unions and strikes, and the poor English agri-
culturist who trusted to the tender mercies of his
employer has found his earnings dwindle to a star-
vation scale owing to the medium of payment being
operated on by the simple law which reduces the
value of an article by increasing its quantity. The'
fall in the value of money is not so apparent in
England as elsewhere. Within the lifetime of the
present generation Parliament has introduced a
system of taxation and a tariff which has proved
in the highest degree beneficial to the country.
The effect of free trade has be !n to cheapen
materially the necessaries of life, and it has
been supplemented by the skill of the inventor
and the enterprise infused into commerce by un-
shackling industry. Steam has worked powerfully
in cheapening produce, and its aid has been more
called into play in England than in any other coun-
try. Putting the hundreds of minor ways in which
it is applied aside, and glancing at the single
method of weaving, we find every article we wear,
from the cradle to the grave, reduced in cost to an
extent that would be scarcely credible to our
fathers. But it is in its application to transport
that the benefits are best seen. Let any person try
to picture to himself what the result would be it
the locomotive was suddenly p iralyzed. Let him
imagine, if he can, a return to the days of sailing
vessels and stage coaches, and an idea would be
suggested how it happens that England has re-
mained comparatively stationary, while the cost of
living in other countries has so enormously in-
creased. The effect of a railroad is to equalize the
prices over the country, making a market for every-
thing saleable and checking all waste. A great
take of fish in Cornwall, in Wales, even in Ireland,
puts a cheap herring or mackerel on the table of a
Cockney, counteracting the state of things which
before prevailed, when an article at the same time
was unsaleable iu one locality and unobtainable in
another. The agriculturist, of course, benefits
more than the manufacturer as a rule, for his pro-
duce is mcre perishable, more bulky and heavy in
proportion to value, and the city therefore profits
to a greater degree than the country, the chief
gainers being the extremities of the king lore
and its heart. The tendencies of this huge
power being to equalize prices over the world,
and to render the greatest service to a centre of life
and commerce, introducing with speed, ease, and
security bulky and perishable produce, it follows
that England, which may be said to be the heart
of the world, will profit more than other lands.
And so it has proved, for the effect has been to
raise pt ices in distant places, and lessen prices in
London. The circumstances are then exceptional
which have kept under the cost of the necessaries
of life in Great Britain, and have deceived the Eng-
lish into the notion that money has not fallen as
predicted since the discovery of the Australian and
Californian gold mines. Really to see the effect
the English must go abroad, and we care not what
country they select, to a lesser or greater degree the
cost of living in it will be found to have increased.
It is so throughout France, and notably in Paris.
In Germany to a lesser degree, in Italy, and even
in Spain and Portugal. In Egypt the rise in prices
has been most marked ; in India it is a subject of
astonishment alike to native and European. A man
can only live at the trading stations iu China who
can expend what elsewhere is a competence. Aus-
tralia and New Zealand from being cheap countries
have become expensive, and in America even the
great increase in a labourer's wages leaves him a
loser. While invention and good legislation were
working conjointly for the advantage of England,
an exceptional circumstance materially aided in
preventing a great decline in the value of money.
The American War deranged the commerce of the
world, throwing the production of the staple next
in importance to that of corn into the hands of
Eastern nations, who would grow cotton only in
exchange for coin. The gold productions of Aus-
tralia were intercepted at Galle and absorbed in
India. Europe, more especially France, was swept
of its silver, and the influx of treasure went on for
months at the rate of a million sterling a week into
Hindoostan. The effect for the time was to neu-
tralize the production of California and Australia ;
and as the Hiudoo made bangles of, or buried, his
money, it was at least to a certain extent withdrawn
from circulation. Notwithstanding, the revolution
produced in India was considerable ; the price of
everything rising enormously, more especially
wages ; that is, the country became glutted with
the precious metals, and their value of course de-
clined. This shows that India is not such a sponge
as people believed, and being pretty well saturated
the influx has ceased, and an accumulation greater
than ever before seen is going on at the great
centres of London, Paris, and New York. Doubt.
less means will be found of dissipating the hoards;
first probably in profitable trade and industry, and
afterwards in wild and thriftless speculation. But
the effect must be felt soon in the rapid decline in
the value of money. Other disturbing causes may
arise, such as a great European war, which may
again retard the accumulation and consequent fall
in the purchasing power of gold and silver. But as
the metals are not lost though distributed, the
ultimate effect is to make the fall more speedy
when times of security return, and they are again
brought into operation. We believe that we are
now experiencing this reaction after the American
war, though slowly, owing to the fact that the
Hindoo and the Egyptian hold fast to the coin they
get, and it is thus removed from circulation. The
yield of the mines of the Pacific States will soon
come with great effect into play for two years hence.
Nevada will be enabled to send its silver by the loco-
motive to New York or to San Francisco, and the
mining districts from the base of the Rocky Moun-
tains to the base of the Sierra Nevada will be

penetrated by rail. Already steamers ply on the
Colorado, and the mines of New Mexico, Arizona,
Lower California, and Utah will have a cheap and
rapid means of transport. The effect will be pro-
digious, and will cause a great disturbance in values.
Those who have fixed incomes, and those who have
loaned money to be returned hereafter in the course
of years, will suffer, and perhaps to an equal extent