The Sun.
London, England, 1844-02-15 00:00:00

DAYIDGE'S ROYAL SURREY THEATRE.

Enormous hit of .. Stella Rittersdorf"—More crowded than ever—
Increased attraction of the best Pantomime in London, overflow.

ing with fun.
THIS EVENING, FEBRUARY 15,
Will be repeated a New Drama, entitled STELLA BITTERS..
INIR F. Supported by Messrs. Saville, Hughes, Hicks, R. Homier,
117ffIlie, Vale, Smith, Johnson, Lewis, r eslop, Mrs. R. Honner, Mrs.
Daly. Mrs. Hughes, Miss Terrey, and Mrs. H. Vining.
After which, A CHRISTMAS CAROL, by " Boz," with
splendid Appointments.
To conclude with an entirely new Grand Comic Pantomime with
Aendid Scenery, Superb Dresses, Inimitable Properties and Tricks,
every thing new and of the most costly description, HARLEQUIN
GRAMMAR, or, Lindley Murray,and AE I 0 U. Harlequin, Mr.
W. H. Harvey ; Grotesque, Mr. Stilt ; Clown, Mr. Fuller • Panta-
loon, Mr. Hamm' ; Columbines (alternately) Miss M. R. Fair.
brother and Miss Sharpe.
Places and Pnvate Boxes to be had of Mr. Kerschner, at the Box-
froM Eleven to Four.

The letter of a Correspondent in our Paper on
Saturday has befittingly recalled our attention to the
important subject of the currency. Our previous
article had gone far to show the miserable folly of en-
deavouring to effect the transactions of a great com-
mercial country like this through a metallic medium,
and the terrible injury and injustice to which the
mercantile community have been subject through
the endeavours to use it. Here we have a practical
illustration of the robbery, for we can designate it by
no better name, to which the public are always liable
in the use of coin.
Without adverting to the peculiar character which
coin bears as being expressly the most palpable and
efficient instrument of despotism, an instrument which
irresponsible power has so often used, first in deluding
and then in oppressing the people, we have in the
fact stated by our Correspondent a definite and
tangible base on which to calculate the loss which the
country sustains, in these days of freedom, through
the agency of an illusory evil for which no one can be
made answerable. The advocates of a metallic
currency have invariably laid down its unalterable
and intrinsic value as the chief of its merits. But
how different the fact really is may be very briefly
shown. In all the decisions of moral adjudication
it is an invariable principle, that he who causes a
The Lords did not sit last evening. wrong should make recompense for the injury he oc-
In the Commons Mr. BRUGES took his seat for the casions. Yet, in the case of a metallic currency,
borough of Devizes. put into circulation by the Government, it is a
Mr. FERRAND made another exhibition last even- well-known contingency, apprehended and anti-
ing which surpasses all his former feats. He stated cipated before a sovereign is issued from the
that Lord DENMAN, in a case which came before Mint, that, in the course of years, it must
him relative to the separation of mother and child, be abraded and reduced in value, and that which
had delivered a judgment, which was he unanimous is sent forth to the world as of the full worth of 905.,
opinion of the Court, that there were some cases in is, in every third exemplar, taken back as entitled to
which it As necessary to break in upon an Act of be exchanged for only 19s. 6d. This may appear a
Parliament, and he quoted, in confirmation of his trifling loss; but there is a good old S&Ach adage, to
original statement, reports in four morning papers. the effect, that many small units form a large aggre-
Lord DENMAN, we are ready to admit, assumes very gate, and this aggregate will be seen to consist of no
high ground with regard to the jurisdiction of the small amount.
Court in which he presides; but, if he said this or any- Besides the loss from abrasion, the admirers of the
Airing like it—if he said that a Court of Justice could metallic system, who pin their faith on the supposition
treirk in upon the law of the land, he ought at once of the permanent and unvarying estimate of a gold
to be put into Bedlam, with Mr. FERRAND for his corn- price, will be surprised to learn, that since its original
panion. Sir J. GRAHAM, in answer to this strange issue in the time of JAMES 1., with little difference in
assertion, said he could assure the House, from the its intrinsic worth, our principal gold coin has been
highest authority, that Lord DENMAN not only did altered by authority no less than twelve times in its
not make use of such an expression, but exactly the monetary value, to say nothing of the perplexing and
converse of what had been imputed to him. Mr. injurious influence of those fluctuations which have
FNRRAND did not reply. been caused by political events. What these were
The Small Debts Bill and the Superior Courts Of during the war the greater part of those now living
Common Law Bill were read a second time. can very well remember.
Mr. STUART WORTLEY moved the second reading it is, however, of the silent and comparatively un-
of the Horse. racing Penalties Repeal Bill, which observed robbery perpetrated on the public, and too
might be more properly entitled the Betting Penal- often on that portion of the public who are least able
ties Repeal Bill. He showed the necessity for the to bear it, that we would now speak. The amount of
Bill, and related some anecdotes on betting which gold coin issued by the Bank of England from
%nay be interesting to gamblers. January, 1821, to the 15th February, 1833, is stated
.Xr. M. GIBSON opposed the motion. The law by Mr. HORSLEY PALMER to have been 38,500,0001.
which .had been said to be obsolete, or which had not Deducting from this 8,500,0001., supposed to have
been acted on for fifty years, had actually been car- been exported from the country, the export of which,
ried into effect against a person of the name of BoND, by-the-bye, cannot have been otherwise than a dead
and he had been ruined by a conviction. But he
it touched the higher classes then the cry was raised,wu just 30 000 000/. left in the hands of the
and a Bill was brought in to st
by
ethaetions, and loss, we have
public. We will say nothing of the 5,000,0001. at that
Episcopale
time in the vaults of the Bank, because it is reasonable
that Bill had been sanctionedop
Bench. No Bill a Indemnity hadyl)een brought to suppose that some portion, from the hoarding of in-
for BOND—no statute had been passed to prevent thein dividuals, or from its state of rest in the hands of
rich from setting a bad example to the poor. ne bankers and others, would remain free from that
concluded by moving for a Select Committee t degree of abrasion to which the other portion of the
metallic currency would be subject. Thirty millions
examine into the existing statutes against gambling° of.i hardr sovereigns, then, have been rubbing and
of every kind. Lord J. MANNERS and Colonel PEEL
inrgstteoagethfer in the hands of the public since
wemgeiveorthrfrohm the Mint.
, supported the Bill, Mr. VERNON SMITH and Mr. jingling together
uo
ROME opposed it ; and on a division there were for
toafdvtahn.tage to our opponents
in supposing that none
the second reading 112, and against it 25. The Bill
with any deficiency till three
=novas then ordered to be committed on Wednesday next.ears after
chargeable
eßr tree
last
piece has passed over the counteyr ofr thea
In answer to a question from Lord JOHN RUSSELL
we will ascertain what loss has been sufferedan by 3 but
et
Sir JAMES GRAHAM said it was the intention of the
public on this mass of bullion, and in doing so we
Government to give precedence to the adjourned de-
bate on the Irish question. Lord LEVESON then re-
quote from one who, whatever may be his judgment,
sumed the adjourned debate, and supported the motion
of Lord JOHN RUSSELL. I has at least proved himself a zealous partisan
Mr. B. COCHBAXE agreed with many of the re- for the use of metal in the transactions of life.

THE WEATHER.—SUN OFFICE, FEB. 15.
THERMOMETER, Lowest, 35; Highest, 38; Noon, 45.
BAROMETER, 30.—WIND, S.W.

WarE.—The number 32 on the Thermometer denotes the
freezing point, and 55 temperate. In Barometers fair is
usually placed opposite 30, and rain at 29.

HIGH WATER AT LONDON-BRIDGE THIS DAY.
Morning .. 39 minutes after 11 I Evening .. 0 minutes after 0.

SECOND EDITION.

;
The account, however, is official, and we, therefore,
use it with the less hesitation, notwithstanding
the source through which it has come.
The following is the amount of gold coin tendered
at the Bank of England, together with the amount
rejected as light, during the several years specified :
Amount tendered. Amount rejected.
1836 £6,427,749 £637,565
1837
1838
1839
1840
1841

1842
6,214,439
to June 25 I 2,067,091
We have here a total, tendered at the Bank,
during .six years and a half, of 59,880,9711., while,
during a period of more than twelve years, the
amount issued and circulating, in the hands of the
public, was only 30,000,0001., showing, even on
this presumption, that the coin issued between
January, 1821, and February, 1833, was all of full
weight, a presumption more favourable than any the
Bank or the Government are entitled to; that the
whole of the gold currency, or that which was equi-
valent to the whole, had been tendered to the Bank four
times over ; four times over had been deliberately exa-
mined by the authorities in Threadneedle-street, who,
gradually sifting from the amount 13,403,650/., or
about three-eighths of the whole amount, which had
been thrown back upon the public (who were
thereby being called upon to endure a further
loss on that amount), had received the remainder
from time to time, not as being of full weight,
but as not, at the different times of the receipt of the
different portions, being so light as to be unfit for
circulation ; or, in other words, as not being suffi-
ciently deprciated for them to derive the greatest
gain by its acceptance.

The proportion of light gold to the whole gold cur-
rency rises rapidly from 10 per cent in 1836 through
13i in 1837, 20 per cent. in 1838, 22 per cent. in
1839, 28 per cent. in 1840, 26 6-10 in 1841, to 33 3-10
at the end of June in 1842.

We impute no bad principle to the Bank—we be-
lieve the Bank Directors to be as honest and as
honourable men as any in the empire. But we do say
that these facts prove one of two things—either that
the Bank knowingly issued, from year to year, a large
amount of gold coin with the cognisance that it was
light, and uttered it at the rate of value in which
every sovereign was counted out to the public as of
the worth of 205., with the assurance that it would
be returned and received at a less worth, and they
would, thereby, make a gain of it, and a greater gain
according to the length of time at which its receipt
was deferred; or else a metallic currency is subject
to so rapid a depreciation, that an inevitable and
great loss must be annually sustained by the public.

We believe the latter to be the case. We believe
that the Bank, unwilling to inflict a loss, and unwilling
to bear it, kept the coinage afloat as long as it
could,' and ultimately received it at a loss to the com-
munity. At the end of June light gold was received
in Threadneedle-street at the minimum Mint rate of
31. 17s. 10id. per ounce, and by the end of 1843 the
amount so received was estimated at more than
10,000,0001., or one-third of the original issue. This
was the final loss, but how great a loss had been borne
by individuals previously, who can tell ?
We have, however, facts to guide us. By all the
laws of proportion in the estimate of fluctuating sub-
jects, we have a right to take the average ; and during
the whole of the period, from 1836 to the end of
1843, nearly one-fourth of the whole gold circulation
was of light weight; and, consequently, of depre-
ciated value. We find that during the actual trans-
actions of commercial life, the loss is about 2 per
cent. Now, without overburdening our readers
with a multitude of figures, we may allow the loss
not ascertained, but which must be incurred by
individuals whose grievance is never known, such as
that of the artisan, the labourer, and the little trader,
to go against the loss saved by the yearly amount of
gold abstracted from circulation, and replaced by
pieces of full weight. 'We have, then, an annual de-
ficiency of two-and-a-half per cent. upon 7,500,0001.,
or about 375,000/. ; and if we add to this the loss oc-
casioned by the admixture of spurious coin,
said to be about 600,0001. a-year, we have
an aggregate loss, through the use of a
metallic currency, between the beginning of
1836 and the end of 1843, of no less a sum than
7,600,0001. A loss wrung out of the very hearts
and sinews of the people—a loss which has, not once
only, but again and again, reduced the pittance of
the poor, and made the hearth which was almost de-
solate before, look bare indeed ! When will men
open their eyes, to see the sophistry of deluding
suppositions, and the injustice that may be
imposed by the following of groundless notions?
We hope our readers, at least, will not put
implicit credence in the representation that gold is
always safe. We have a few more facts to show that
if no loss could be sustained through its use, the
mere amount of a gold currency must always be so
inadequate for the purposes of trade, that whilst re-
tained as the main representative of value, though
the country may be rich, the people must of necessity
be poor.

From the last print of the "Poor-law Further
Amendment Bill," brought in by Sir JAMES GRA-
HAM and Mr. MANNERS SUTTON, and now before
the House of Commons, we observe that the principal
points of difference between its proposed enactments
and those of the law now in force, regard-1, the ex-
isting remedy in bastardy cases of the parish against
the putative father, and the remedy for the mother of
a bastard against the same father. 2. The regulations
of parish apprenticeship, and the future abolition
of compulsory apprenticeship. 3. The scale of voting
for elections of guardians. 4. Regulations as to
claims of owners, and as to proxy-votes at such elec-
tions. 5. Miscellaneous provisions. 6. Miscellaneous
powers of guardians. 7. Burial of paupers. 8.
District pauper schools, and asylums for occasional
poor in London and other large towns. 9. Parishes
under Local Acts.
We have, in a recent article, expressed our views
upon the general effect of the first set of these clauses,
and remain of opinion that their general effect (of
which we highly approve), will be in danger of being
neutralised by the proviso, that the application of the
mother for a warrant against the putative father
" shall be heard and determined within the space of
forty days from the service of the original warrant."
This is to allow the poor woman no sufficient time, in
many cases, to leave her room with safety, in order to
make her application before the justices. The limit
must be extended. The power which is given, by
clause 11 (as it is at present numbered in the Bill)
to the Poor-law Commissioners, by order, under their
hand and seal, to direct what trades or businesses
poor children may be apprenticed to, does not ap-
pear to us an unreasonable one. From the union,
or the parochial poor-house, in which they have
been brought up, it is to be supposed that the
parties be st qualified to speak to their capacity or
turn, win have, from time to time, reported their
observatiaus in a form sufficiently conclusive to
enable the Commissioners to form a correct judgment,
and one tl ierefore most advantageous to the children
so about :to be placed out. In the next place, the
scale of voting seems to be judiciously altered, both
as to rate- payers and as to owners. Instead of two
tables, as f( nmerly, the one for the latter, the other
for the for iner class, it is proposed henceforth to sub-
stitute one table applying to both. Thus, owners
and rate-payers, rated upon a rateable value of less
than 5(31. each, shall be each entitled to one vote ; of
50/., and less than 1001., to two votes ; of 100/., and
less than 1501., to three votes ; of 1501., and less than
2001., to four votes ; of 2001., and less than 250/. five
votes ;of 2501., and upwards, six votes. N o owner of
property- is to vote, either in person or by proxy, until
fourteen days after he shall have given to the overseers
that stat em. ant of the property in respect of which he so
claims to v( )te, which was required under the 4th and
sth Wretx km IV., c. 76 ; and no person (unless he
be a bailiff , steward, land agent, or collector of rents)
to vote as, proxy for more than four owners of pro-
perty in. any one parish ; no proxy to endure, or
remain n force, more than two years from the
making t hereof. Clause 25 is an important, and may
prove, wr 3 think, in working, a highly beneficial one.
It authc ,rises the guardians of any parish or union
constitt • tted by the Poor-law Commissioners to apply
all money raised or borrowed for the purpose of de-
fraying the expenses of emigration, subject to the
conditic .ns and restrictions of the Act of GEO. IV.,
c. 48. The 27th clause is calculated to meet the
comply nts, and assuage the feelings in which those

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