The Sun.
London, England, 1850-04-08 00:00:00

shout for fiscal, or financial reform—for a different
mode of collecting the revenue and for a reduction of
the national expenditure, but they remain silent on
the still more important question of monetary reform,
which would enable every British subject to sustain
the heavy burdens imposed on him, and also to pro-
vide the necessaries of life, and even some of the com-
forts, for his family.
Let it not be supposed that we are by any means
disposed to undervalue the beneficial results that would
be achieved by the concession of the Parliamentary,
fiscal, or financial, reforms, so urgently required by
the country, and which the voice of public opinion
so loudly demands ; we have on many occa-
sions spoken out boldly and unhesitatingly on each
and every of these topics, and shown ourselves the
strenuous advocates of "progress." But we must
still emphatically declare the paramount necessity
of monetary reform, and our belief that the country
can never hope for permanent prosperity until the
iniquitous Act of 1819, and its still more objection-
able supplement of 1844, be repealed, and a just and
equitable currency law be substituted in their place.
" The many," who are so deeply interested on this
point, should, by every practicable method, be en-
lightened, so as to be made fully acquainted with the
subject, which is by no means so intricate or unin-
telligible as the bullionists assert. They should also
be stimulated to enter upon a course of peaceful and
constitutional agitation, to organize their forces, and
to bring the " pressure from without, " so essential to
the successful issue of every demand, to bear upon
their representatives within the walls of Parliament.
There is no mode by which this great object can
be achieved but by keeping the subject continually
before the public by a constant recapitulation of the
evils resulting from our present laws, showing
how the interests of the industrious classes
" have been sacrificed, are sacrificed, and will
be sacrificed," to suit the purposes of some bloated
capitalists, and to enhance their already enormous
wealth. The millionnaire may applaud the system that
enables him to procure an artificial rate of interest for
his money, to obtain the labour of those who have no
other capital at less than its fair value ; but such
will not be the feeling in the cottage of the working
man, or in the gloomy and unventilated lodging of
the artizan or operative. Whenever these classes
are thoroughly awakened to the true na-
ture of the question, and the wonderful

influence which it must necessarily exercise on
their welfare and social condition, an outcry will
be heard, that will reverberate throughout the
length and breadth of the land—from.the " Land's- end"
to " John O'Groat's,"—from " Cape Clear" to the
" Giant's Causeway ;"—that will arouse Ministers

from their lethargy, and convince them that the time
has at length arrived when, if they would retain
their places, they must abandon the laisser fairs
policy ; that will even startle Sir CHARLES WOOD
from his balmy slumbers, in Downing-street, and
teach him that something more is required from a
Chancellor of the Exchequer than the obstructing of
useful measures, and the offering of an obstinate and
stolid resistance to every amelioration of the existing
laws. The proceedings of the ",League" have shown

the mode by which such victories may be achieved,
and the people will not be :slow to profit by the
valuable and instructive lesson.

The National Currency. Reform Association, al-
though their means are more limited than we could
desire, and they have not as yet received the general
support to which they are so eminently entitled, are
proceeding steadily and energetically in the useful
path on which they have entered. They are in-
structing the public by means of a series of cheap
tracts, accessible to all and easily to be com-
prehended, on the fatal results of our pre-
sent system, and the nature of the alterations
that are required. The good seed is sown, which
will speedily spring up and,produce its fruit in due
season. Other labourers also are working in the vine-
yard, whose efforts should be cheered and encouraged.
Many admirable little works have been published at
almost nominal prices, but which will be found well
worthy of perusal by all who desire to arrive at a
sound and unprejudiced judgment on the question.
Among these—our esteemed and efficient collabora-
teurs —we would particularly allude to Mr. HAMER
STANSFELD, of Leeds, who, like Mr. S. A. GODDARD,
of Edgebaston, near Birmingham, and a host of
others, has long been known as a consistent
and enthusiastic reformer and free-trader—and who,
having succeeded in the abolition of the atrocious
corn-laws, now desires to extend the glorious principle
that then triumphed, by removing every species of
restriction that clogs the wheels of industry—who
demands a "free trade" in money as well as in other
commodities, and calls for relief from a protection as
unjust and mischievous, as that which has been de-
stroyed—" the protection derived by the moneyed interest
at the expense of all other classes, from the operation
of our currency laws."

Mr. STANSFELD has just published a very
able but brief exposition of the enormous
evils arising from the protective and restrictive cha-
racter of our currency laws, and suggested a remedy
which he believes adequate to the disease. It is in
the form of a letter to the Representative of the West
Riding of Yorkshire,* the man who cheered on the people
in their exertions against the bread tax, but who un-
fortunately is not disposed again to take the field
against the bullion monopoly. This excellent brochure
may be obtained for one penny, so that the very
poorest of our fellow-countrymen may procure it
without making any very large sacrifice. This is a
great point, for to be really useful such publications
must be low priced, in order that they may obtain an
extensive circu►ation.
Mr. STANSYELD asserts :

" Ist. Tbat a pressure is made on the money
market, in order to produce a fall in prices, whenever
gold leaves the country.
" 2d. That such pressure, when severe, leads to a
panic.

" 3d. That this panic inevitably leads either to a
general bankruptcy, or to a suspension of the law."
These propositions he sustains by clear and in-
controvertible arguments, showing that " the very
principle on which our system of currency is based,
and by which the currency is sought to be regulated
and maintained, involves the sacrifice of the commer-
cial and agricultural and all other classes to the mo-
neyed class ;" " that depression, not steadiness of price,
is the means resorted to for supporting our currency
system." Hear this, merchants and traders, be atten-
tive, farmers, and learn that the value of the commo
dities in which you deal, of the crops which you
produce, is depreciated to suit the purposes of the
select few, and say whether you are prepared still to
bow down before the "golden calf" that has been set
up; to see your reasonable expectations defeated,
and your prospects in life blasted for such a cause ?
Can it be asserted that these are necessary
evils—that adequate remedies are not attain-
able ? Experience shows the reverse. When
war prevailed we were enabled to meet
the enormous outlay then required
,to provide for
every demand on our resources, simply by what was
termed " the suspension of cash payments," or, in
other words, by making an inconvertible bank note a
legal tender for every purpose within the British
dominions, and it was sufficient. Without it we
could not have maintained our opposition to the
armies of NeroLuort. Why, then, should it not now be
resorted to ? Is it not the distress and destitution of
British citizens, the bitterness of poverty, an enemy
as formidable and as much to be dreaded as the power
Of the French EMPEROR ? Most undoubtedly it is
and the nation should not be contented until they
obtain
elauGireenvie:nntma eonftththe pateope
acknowledgesl. that fact, and
is prepared to act on that knowledge and to meet the
just

" A Letter to Richard Cobden, Esq., M.P., on our
Protective and Restrictive Currency Laws." By Hamer
Stintfuld, Esq. London: Effingham Wilson; Leeds:
Baiues and Co.; Manchester: Gadsby. 1850, Pr. 8.

A somewhat serious case of insubordination has
occurred on board one of the convict hulks in Portsmouth
harbour. A telegraphic dispatch from the Admiral Super-
intendent of the Dockyard at Portsmouth WAS received yes-
terday, soon after eleven o'clock, announcing that the con-
victs on board the Stirling Castle, moored near the entrance
of the harbour of Portsmouth, had been in a state of insubor-
dinationduring the whole of Friday night, which still con-
tinued. Sir George Grey immediately dispatched Mr.
Voules, superintendent of convicts, to Portsmouth to inves-
tigate the circumstances attending this proceeding, happily
so unfrequent. IVe believe that the convicts on board of
that hulk are amongst the most unruly of the able-bodied
ofportiownhoare placed
thosecondemned to various terms of transporta-
tion,there to undergo the pieparatory stage
of their disciplined labour before they are selected for tran-
mission across the seas. The complement on board the Stir-
ling Castle is from 400 to 500.