The Sun.
London, England, 1850-11-20 00:00:00

tied out without the moneyocracy having a share—a
lion's share of the spoil. Where the parties requiring
funds were in good credit, and could offer ample and
unquestionable security, as the corporation of
Liverpool are enabled to do, loans would be effected,
debentures issued, bearing interest at four or five per
cent., and the debt so contracted would probably
remain a permanent charge upon the local
resources; or if, by extraordinary prudence, and
the judicious application of a sinking fund, the
liability should be removed, the claim liquidated in
some twenty or thirty years, the original outlay
would be far more than doubled, perhaps, we might
more truly say, quadrupled, by the payment of in-
terest. This is undoubtedly an evil of no ordinary
magnitude, and the question is whether it is really
inevitable ?—whether the corporation may not, by a
judicious use of their almost unbounded credit, dis-
pense altogether with this enormous item, and make
the waterworks pay their own expenses ? So that the
town would achieve a valuable property, without
being subjected to one shilling expenditure either
for principal or interest ? The very enunciation of
this startling interrogatory almost takes away our
breath. It is true that within the last few years we
have seen the old and tedious modes of locomotion
superseded by the establishment of an iron net-work
throughout the length and breadth of the land, and
the application of steam power as the means of
propulsion ; that messages can be communicated
and answers received from almost any distance within
a few minutes; nay, that a merchant may almost
hold a pen in his hand and affix his autograph to a
document hundreds, aye, thousands of miles away,
without the delay of a single second. The mere sug-
gestion of such things being possible would, half a
century since, have been treated as an extravagant
fable, qualifying the narrator for a place in the
nearest lunatic asylum. What would the man, whom
it took weeks to travel by the heavy waggon from
Liverpool to London, who made his will and arranged
his affairs before he entered upon the perilous journey,
think of the journey up and down being performed
with safety and economy in a single day, leaving his
own house in the morning and supping• with his
family in the evening, and having bad ample time to get
through his business in the interval ? What would
he say of receiving intelligence respecting an absent
friend, or transmitting an order and receiving back its
acceptance, completing his contract within a few
minutes, and that without leaving his counting-house ?
The wonders of the " Arabian Nights"—Prince Hus -
SEIM'S magic carpet and Prince Am's magic telescope
—are more than realized by the railway and the
electric telegraph, and now we have a simple and
practical project brought forward by which the
miraculous achievements of the " Genii of the lamp"
may be rivalled by the simple application of credit,
and this, be it remembered, is no crude expedient, no
untried experiment. It has already been tried with
extraordinary success in Guernsey, in Canada, and
in the United States. There are existing monuments
of its success. A single journey to the Channel
Islands, an inspection of the meat market at Guern-
sey, must convince the most sceptical of its feasibility,
and remove every objection to its adoption.
The gentleman by whom this proposition has been
brought forward—Mr. WILLIAM BAN CBS—has himself
witnessed the extraordinary and most auspicious re-
sults of " time currency" in Canada. He saw the
immense benefits conferred upon the population of
that young country by the adoption of the system ;
and he has, therefore, directed his attention to the
mode in which the plan can be made available in this
country ; and the " Pike scheme" affords a favourable
opportunity of bringing it into operation here. This
talented gentleman pertinently asks, if sufficient se
curity can be given for the loan required in the shape
of interest bearing bonds of 5001. or 1,0004 each, only
payable five years after date. Why not in one pound
notes, or even in notes of less amount, which
would pass current amongst the trademen of the
town, and be received in payment of all local
imposts ? He therefore proposes that the corporation
should issue notes of convenient amount (suppose 20s.
each), payable twelve months after date from the
period of issue, such notes to be paid to artizans and
labourers for wages, and to be received by the cor-
poration for all demands they may have upon the
public for rates, rents, dues, &c., thus making
the issue available to those who receive it for the pur-
chase of all they require from shopkeepers, who on
their part will take these notes for the payment of
their goods at exactly the same ratio as they would
gold. This is the main feature of the plan. Our
space this day will not allow us to enter into the
arguments by which it is sustained, but which, in
our opinion, establish its practicability, if it does not
come within the restrictive provisions of our iniquitous
monetary code. This, however, we will assert, that
it is eminently worthy of mature consideration, and
that if it can be carried out according to the inten-
tions of its propounder, it will speedily make Liver-
pool " a city of palaces, with well-ventilated streets,
splendid public buildings and docks," and this with-
out its citizens feeling the burden of an interest..
bearing bonded debt, or any drawback upon the local
iscome of the town, or the prosperity of its indus-
trious masses.

rHE FRENCH REPUBLIC.

We have received the Paris journals of yesterday.
The Committee of the Assembly reported that
General LAHITTE had been duly elected for
the Department of the North. The admis-
sion of the General, however, was opposed
by M. MICHEL (de Bourges), on the ground that his
election hadj taken place in virtue of the Electoral
Law of 31st of May, which was contrary to the Con-
caution ; he was replied to by M. BAROCHE, and on
a division the admission of General LAHITTE was car-
ried by a majority of 460 to 173.
ALLAIS, the poli,.e agent who gave information to
M YON of the Bonapartist plot to assassinate M.
DUPIN and General CHANGARNIER, is in thejElospital
of the Hotel Dieu, confined to his bed ; he still per-
sists in the truth of his story, and is protected by M.
DUPIN. There are two sets of police constantly,
watching him and each other, the police of M. CAR-.
LIES and the police of the Assembly.
M. NErrtzEß, the gerant of the Presse, has been
condemned to a year's imprisonment, and a fine of
2,000 francs, for publishing the celebrated " sham"
message of the PRESIDENT.

BUSINESS DONE IN FOREIGN RAILWAYS AT THE
LONDON STOCK EXCHANGE, Nov. 19.
Boulogne and Amiens, 7% Dutch Rhenish, 23A—
Namur and Liege, 7%—Northern of France, 14A—Rouen
and Havre, 9%.