The Sun.
London, England, 1857-12-16 00:00:00

ILIE SUN, LONDOIN, 'IVEMNESDA EVEN 1:N G,

due course, and with the most felicitous results.
The real aspirations of the party were at last un-
derstood, and the necessity for energetic exer-
tion rendered apparent, even to the meanest
capacity. The People would no longer submit to
the sacerdotal yoke ; but bravely and resolutely
stood up in defence of constitutional freedom,
against spiritual denunciations and priestly des-
potism. This victory was accomplished without
riot or disturbance. The Belgian Electors proved
that they were worthy of the franchise they so
well know how to use. It was a high moral
triumph at which they aimed, and that they
obtained without anything that could occasion re-
gret or annoyance. It was the temperate, but
firm and indomitable, expression of the popular
will.

Every possible combination of the Ultramonta-
itist party had been tried before M. ROGIER was
intrusted with the duty of forming a new Admi-
nistration. In every instance it had signally
failed. No modification could be formed that
would be acceptable to the great body of the peo-
ple. It was only at the eleventh hour that the
recognised head of the Liberal party was sent
for, and his demand for an immediate dissolution
was at once admitted and duly acted on. We
have seen the glorious result. Throughout the
entire kingdom, in every district, the people ral-
lied round their legitimate leaders, and effected a
peaceful and bloodless revolution—a revolution
that consolidates the national liberty, and places
it on a firm and substantial basis.

The disappointment of the priestly party is
very great. The choice morsel has been taken
away almost at the very moment of enjoyment.

It is, indeed,

"a slip between the cup and lip."

They can no longer hope to abolish a free press,
the greatest possible safeguard and protection for
national freedom. They cannot get the rising
generation into their hands to be trained to,order,
with all the sentiments of bigotry and intolerance,
ready to execute the behests of the priesthood
with blind and unreasoning subservience, but
far worse " than this, than these, than
all," they cannot dip their fingers into the dying
sinner's purse, and exact his fortune as the price
of absolution for exaggerated sins. It is " a
heavy blow and great discouragement," one that
cannot easily or speedily be removed. Nor was
it altogether their own fault. They had exhibited
great craft and cunning in playing out their
games They had set up respectable non-entities,
men not avowedly under sac.:,rdotal influence,
but who could easily be led in any direction
indicated by the black-coated gentry. It was nut
until the majorities in the Chamber showed the
full extent to which they were prepared to go,
that the voice of public opinion was heard, and
that the national mind thoroughly understood the
nature of the contest which should be encountered.
From that time forth they have acted well and
nobly, and heartily we congratulate the People on
the peaceful but deeisive triumph they have
gained.

The Indemnity Seasion, then, is over. The
Bank and the Ministers have got all they wanted,
and Westminster lapses into its accustomed quiet.
We feel like the family after a short visit, when
we gaze from the windows at the carriages rolling
away, and all seems so dull again. We had been
contented enough before the arrivals, but the con-
trast between " the feast of reason and the flow
of soul" is felt in sinking back to ordinary family
life when our friends have departed. Had the
guests but remained longer, we might have whis-
pered to each other that their absence, perhaps,
would be a relief. We would not have our repre-
sentatives, therefore, flatter themselves too much
about it, if we complain of their quitting us so
soon—if we own that we should have enjoyed
their conversation a little longer, or at least have
been entertained by it. Indian details begin to
lose their racy freshness, and a passage at arms
between the opposed leaders in either house, with
the numerous battles between subordinate cham-
pions, and the struggles over an important mea-
sure or two, would now be tolerably pleasant
amusement. PALZY will have it that the enter-
tainment of so many persons all over the country
is no unimportant "utility" of our parliamentary
debates. So say we. Still, our Senators must
not forget that we generally get tired enough of
them and their talk by the time the dog-days ar-
rive. We wish them, therefore, a merry Christ-
mas and a happy New Year, and hope they will
come back, when field-sports are quite over,
determined to amuse us for four, five, or six
months, in first-rate style.
Of course, Ministers have had it all their own
way. If it came to a division they could boat
Mr. HEADLA3I, or Mr. Disitaxid, or any one else,
and by what may, perhaps, be called Palmer-
stonian majorities. Yet the Ministerial victories
were by no means fair tests of their power. Their
opponents put themselves in both cases, tactically
speaking, in a false position. Very many members,
not Ministerialists, were unprepared as yet for Mr.
r,
biILEADLAIt'S or for Mr. DISRAELI'S motions ; the
House was not in a position to apply the princi-
ples of free trade to money ; and it was especially
unwise iu a party leader, at least in reference to
precent effect, to propose a resolution far in ad-
vance of the knowledge of most of his own party.
The House certainly, and perhaps the country
too, is more disposed to " inquire" than to legis-
late. True, as is said of some in the lattar days,
our legislators, in regard to currency and banking,
seem to be " ever learning, but never able to
come to the knowledge of the truth ;" but if they
prefer to be for ever in stain pupillari, there is
help for it. The worst is, that the interminable
questions and answers of the blue-book are but
the skirmishes of a few, to whom the greater part
of the members and the country are content to
leave the contest ; the majority feel that they
know little of the subject, can never read up upon
it, and, waiting the issue of the struggle, keep
asking hopelessly, " Well, gentlemen, have you
settled the matter ? for we are prepared to enact
any law when you can but agree as to what the
law ought to be."

Two trips, however, Lord PALMERSTON has
made ; the last he has got out of better than the
first. Ho could yield a little with a good grace
on the question of continuing Sir HENRY HATE-
LOCK'S pension to his son. It was of course easy
to say th It it gave him great plessure to accede
to the wishes of Parliament. Yet smoothly as
this runs, we all feel that there is something awk-
ward for the aristocratic Premier in it. We can-
not forget that the whole Cabinet, with one ex
ception, belongs to what are called noble families,
and has little or no sympathy with the men of
real nobility, who, like General HAVELOCK have
fought their way up by sheer merit fr.nn the
ranks of the people. The indecent haste with
which the two peers who destroyed their reginout
at Balakla.va, who evinced the utmost waut of
skill—indeed, of everything but vulgar courage,
whom—one of a
t e couldit ehenic snore comfortably' in
his yacht while his troops werebi
nperishing a
tfiroonmofooi
nl
d
on dut
teh wh
("airy these almost worthless officers were pitchfork_ ed
into rewards and promotion, contrasts very da-
magingly with the paltry offer of 1,0001. a-year
to a veteran of sixty-five, while living, too, if he

be still alive, amidst the bullets of the enemy.
Had HAVELOCK been the nephew or cousin of a
lord, " take care of Dowb" would have been the
first thought, and a peerage and 3,0001. a-year at
least, would have been the reward of far greater
deeds than the taking of Ghuznee, to which that
reward was assigned. Here is a hero who has
outdone any military feat of any aristocrat since
1814, certainly outdone immeasurably all the
Crimean generals, and the impression must remain
that the patrons of the " Dowbs" just tried it on
to see with how little the people would be content
for one of themselves. All hpnour to Sir JOHN
PARINGTON and those who joined him in demand-
ing decent rewards for soldierly merit, although
the recipient was a man of the people, and an
honest Dissenter.

Then what an unlucky affair that of the two
prisoners at Naples—the Cives Romani, whom
all England looked to the " spirited foreign policy"
of Lord PALMERSTON t 3 rescue. It could surely
never be, that the Minister who blocked up the
little Piraeus with his frigates, to get a few
dollars for the exorbitantly appraised chairs and
tables, and pots and pans, of the worthless
PACIFICO, should allow two notoriously innocent
British subjects to be tortured to death by the
miseries of Neapolitan dungeons ? Of course not.
So we were told that the two victims were living
very comfortably, no doubt in the Governor of
the gaol's apartments, and had about all that
heart could wish, barring, indeed, that trifle, per-
sonal liberty—a trifle itself compared with Don
PACLOO's furniture—a trifle, at least, not worth
the services of Lord LYON'S frigates. Forthwith,
however, the Premier has to confess that the
worst is true I That the men were imprisoned in
filth, damp, and stench—that handcuffs had
lamed their wrists ; that these cruelties had
driven one to attempt suicide, and that they were
long denied access to their natural legal advisers
—that all this has gone on for five long months,
and that they have not yet been brought to trial.
The only apology is that " they do things thus
at Naples ;" and that we can only ask for them
a fair trial. We utterly deny* this. We
have a right to demand fair treatment
too. We can insist upon it. We need
not, indeed, mince matters with such an outlawed
brute among despots as the tyrant of Naples. We
might demand their liberation as a false imprison-
ment of men notoriously ••innocent—notoriously
subjected to compulsion—at the worst, notoriously
unarmed servants of those whose orders they must
obey. If Lord PALMERSTON does consent that
these men should undergo a trial before the venal
courts, the timid advocates and the perjured wit-
nesses of King BOMB A, at least, he ought to cer-
tify the Royal savage that he wouli take charge
of them till the time of trial on board one of Her
Majesty's frigates, and that a good line of broad-
sides would be ready for action all the time the
trial was proceeding. We are not writing mere
bravado. Mr. BUCAANAN would have had the
men by this time had they been Americans. The
great republican President who once ruled in
England and his Admirals would have blown
Naples into the water if the men had not
been forthcoming at a few hours' notice. Strange
that Lord PALMERSTON allows our Monarchy to
be degraded in the eyes of Europe by the sufferings
and disgrace of two of its subjects.
Well, the Bank is indemnified, and Parliament
has left us to " con over," as Lord PALAtErtsTorr
says, the topics of the Queen's Speech. Indian
and Representative It:lorm ought to find the
country occupation enough, and it is to be hoped
the country will not fail to speak out before
February, on the former subject especially. It
would be well, too, to speak out upon India.
Lord PALMERSTON is, we have reason to think,
rightly disposed on that topic, but other members
of the Cabinet are not disposed to turn out Mr.
VERNON SPITS, while no one, of course, could
tolerate the Hon. Gentleman as the responsible
Minister for India. Lord PALMERSTON must be
supported in kicking down the double Govern-
ment, and instructed on the Reform Question.
Up to the 4th of February, lessons may be given,
for up till that day will important concessions de-
pend on the demand for them by the con-
stituencies.

The Duke and Duchess of Sutherland will leave Staf-
ford House, to-morrow, for Trentham Hall, Staffordshire,
where they are about to entertain a large family circle.
The Duke and Duchess of Argyll will leave Argyll
Lodge, Campden-hill, on Friday, for Trentham Hall,
Staffordshire, on a visit to the Duke and Duchess of
Sutherland.

The Duke of Northumberland's 65th birthday was
yesterday celebrated by his Grace's principal tenants at
Alnwick and in Yorkshire and Cornwall. The noble
duke's tradespeople dined together last evening, at the
Freemasons' Tavern, to celebrate the event.
The Duchess of Grafton left town yesterday for
Wakefield Lodge, Stoney Stratford. The noble duke
remains in town.
The Earl of Carlisle will leave town to-morrow, for
Trentham Hall, Staffordshire. His lordship returns to
Dublin at the close of the month.
The Earl and Countess of Lichfield arrived in town
a few days since, from their seat in Staffordshire. His
lordship has taken a mansion in Grosvenor-square for a
few months (late the residence of Lori Canning).
The Dowager Lady Foley will return to town on
Monday next from Bath, where her ladyship has been
staying for some months past.
The Lady Howard de Walden has left Claridge's
Hotel, for Brussels.
The Hon. Spencer Cowper has very much improved
in health, and has been out one or two days for a few
hours.
Viscountess Palmerston has left town for Broeket
Hall, Harts, for a few days. The Premier remains in
town.

Viscountess Jocelyn and her youthful family have
left Cambridge House, on a visit to the Earl de Grey,
at Wrest Park, Bedfordshire.
The Earl of Coventry left town some days since, for
Paris. The Hon. Baldwin Courtenay left town this
morning, to join his lordship at the Hotel Bristol, Paris
They intend quitting that capital for Rome almost
immediately, where they purpose passing the winter.
The Earl of Meath has left Claridge's Hotel, for
Ireland.
Count Alexis de Villiers, who left the Clarendon last
week, on a visit to Count and Lady Cecil de la Feld, at
Torquay, has proceeded from thence to Plymouth, where
he will embark for Spain, to rejoin the embassy at
Madrid.
°LIFEBOATS 808 AIISTBALIA.—With the Australian
Mails, which left England on Saturday last, the Royal Na
tional Lifeboat Institution sent 15 working drawings of
the lifeboat adopted by it, to the five Australian Colo-
nial Governors. The packet contains also five sets of
four descriptions of carriages for transporting the life-
boat to the scene of wreck. The drawings are on the
scale of of an inch to the foot. Being working draw-
ings on which are clear and distinct printed instructions,
any competent boat- udder, who will strictly and faith-
fully follow the diawieg and instructions, cannot fail to
build a good lifeboat. The institution, however, recom-
mend that the first lifeboat should al Rays be built by its
experienced builders, MdSars. Forrestt, of Limehouse.
The lifeboat is on the design of Mr. James Peake, naval
architect in her Majesty's Dockyard, Woolwich. The
drawings are to be extensively circulated in all our
colonies and in foreign countries. Various explanatory
lifeboat papers, regarding the management of lifeboats,
are sent with the drawings. We, therefore, trust soon
to have the pleasure to record that the whole
of the Australian Coast has been supplied
with this excellent class of lifeboats, and that
hereafter it will be acknowledged that the great boon
will not be the least that the mother country has con-
ferred on one of her richest and most thriving colonies.
Ou our own coast the testimony from actual experience
in favour of this class of lifeboat is almost universal.
They aro constant), and successfully used in saving life
from wrecks. These lifeboats possess great stability,
24 men being required to bring their gunwale to the
water's edge, thus showing that it is almost impossible
to upset them ; but, in the event of such a casualty,
they possess the great quality of self-righting imme-
diately. They also self-eject any seas they may ship.
The Royal National Lifeboat Institution has between
thirty and forty of these boats on the coast of the United
Kingdom, and others are at present building by it for
Brighton, Ilastin,gs, Holyhead ; and Groomsport, Enss-
hiro, Ardmore, Courtmacsherry, and K lmore, in Ire-
land. The society earnestly appeals to the publie for
its
extensive support somewhat commensurate with
extensive operations, and with its heavy liabilities for
these lifeboats,

EXCHEQUER NOTES,

(FROM A CORRESPONDENT.)

So then, the inquiries that are to be made are of
that questionable character that they are to be sotto
voce, or, in parliamentary phraseology, a committee
is to be appointed, select, to inquire into the opera-
_ _ .

tions of the Bank Act of 1844, with instructions
from the Chancellor of the Exchequer "to inquire
into the causes of the recent commercial distress,
and to investigate how far it has been affected by
the laws for regulating the issue of bank-notes
payable on demand." Now, if the Chancellor of
the Exchequer had not wished to ignore the cause
of the distress, he would not have shut up the
mouths of the members of the house by his select
committee—a polite mode of excluding the vulgar
ear from all that closely concerns them, because
deeds of wrongs endured must yet be enacted in
perpetuity.
No good is intended, no good can come out of

these closed doors, their frequent adoption is an
insult to the house of representatives, whom we re-

turn, to make laws for all, not for the exclusive
benest of the money jobbers, at the expense of all
besides.

An inquiry ought at once to be entered into,
how far has the Bank of England (as the head and
leader of the banks of England) used or abused the
immunities they have enjoyed in their Bank
Charter! To what extent has their countenance
to hypothecation given rise to the present failures !
In short, to what extent has the Bank acted
sordidly and selfishly instead of universally and
nationally
This can best be arrived at by comparison, and
analogy ; first, by comparison. We will take the
English aristocracy—the original lords and land-
lords of Great Britain ; take the rent rolls of the
entire original landed proprietory within the last
century, and see what rate of interest the lands of
England pay t Unselfishly have the good old
lordly landlords acted in not raising their rents at

every rise of their tenants' produce, compared with
the eager and grasping covetousness of the bank-
ing money lender, not allowing a quarter per cent.
to escape him if a pretext (not an essential cause)

can be raked out of the embers of the monetary
consumption I Let only the honest man answer
this inquiry, will the monied lord bear any compari-

san to the old landlords of England ? The answer is,
lands pay from 1i to 2i per cent. while money pays
in the hands of bankers—the Bank of England es-

pecially-15 to:20 per cent. nett and upwards.
A great fact has again to be acknowledged, that
the bankers are for the greater part Whigs, while
the old landed aristocracy for the greater part are
Conservatives, and, the truth shall be spoken, they
(the landlords) do conserve their immunity integral
to their credit, and to the satisfaction of the nation,
compared with the money-exacting Shylock that
will have his pound of lash out of the Antonio of
the struggling commerce of 1857. Yes, " the law
allows it and the court awards it," augmented in-
terest, quarter upon quarter per cent., is added till
half upon half, and one upon one make
up the round sum of 10 per cent. minimum,
and by law is enforced ; so nicely does the Bank of
England dovetail its interest with the Palmerston-
ian policy. But where is the good Portia of our
day to successfully plead the cause of justice against
this money oppression in this select committee ?
Why do not the old lords of the land say, " We
must raise our rents in order to prevent any one
coming on to our estate that is a man of straw,"
thereby punishing all their tenantry for one ? As
well might they raise their 2} per cent. of rent
roll to 10 per cent. to all, making, as the banks of
England do, an addition of 7i par cent. to their
capital, equivalent to an augmentation of capital to
the extent of three thousand pounds for every ono
thousand, turning one into four. As well might
the physician double and quadruple his fees,
the parson his tithe; the manufacturer his
prices, the farmer his produce ; but the labourer, ,
who is the primary producer of all, who, instead
of doubling and quadrupling his salary, has abso-
lutely to receive less pay, has to work short time,
and oven live without employ, because of the sor-
didness of money makers, that do not blush to
make an inordinate profit at the expense of star-
vation for the artisan.
Will, thou, this lord of money admit of any
comparison with the lord of land Bo:ter might
we admit Dean Swif6's comparison of women and
the clonis.

Every day discovers to us some new feature of
bad practices induced by bankers themselves. The
case before Mr. Commissioner Goulburn—ln Re
Syers, Walker, and Syers—is an expose of the
facility given to the fast men, without any capital
at all, with one only of visionary figures : the
bankrupts came to the court with ls. 2d. in the
pound, throb pledging goods and hypothecation ;
they had liabilities to the extz,nt of a quarter of a
million sterling. In two years there was a sweep-
ing item of 34,744/, for general expenses—the
fail particulars of which will be found in the Times
" They had traded to
two years without any
the
eT
esndta yo,f 11,10e0100,1;1100iin. sitn.
capital," by pledging goods as soon as they came,
and getting bills discounted.
Now, these' men received a second-class certifi-
cate, and no further punishment for their con-
duct. But what shall be said of the Oriental and
other banks that wade the advances to within 15
or 20 per cent. of the value of the goods, and the
system was such that a man could thus go on for
millions ? This tells the tale that the bankers induce
the speculation, and even ,aid and abet the fraud,
knowing they can fall back upon high rates of
discount to pay for any losses that occasionally
occur. This is a strong iistance that high inte-
rest, while it inflicts a
,pinshtnent upon the inno-
cent and industrious, at the same time opens up a
field for the speculator and fraudulent trickster,
which low rates of interest would not encourage.
One of two alternatives are left for the Govern-
ment to act upon in order to remove the frequent
recurrence of these disgraceful disclosures. The
rates of interest must be kept uniformly low, either
by limiting the maximum to 5 per cent., or by
adoptingin a new
called Exchequer notes, pay-
able tasationistsouethe extent of 20 millions ; the
latter would, by increasing the circulating medium,
have the effect of rendering money more abundant,
and in due course would reduce the rates of dis-
count to a wholesome mediocracy.