The Sun.
London, England, 1857-11-04 00:00:00

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LONDON, WEDNESDAY, NOV. 4, 1857.

The commercial community in the United States
have unanimously acquiesced in the all but uni-
versal suspension of cash payments. Indeed, it
is more than hinted, that they had combined for
the purpose of forcing that salutary measure on
the different establishments, and liberating them-
selves from the difficulties in which they had pre-
viously been placed. The banks resisted to the
last, from apprehensions of losing their charters,
and of compulsory liquidations. The decision of
the Supreme Court has, however, virtually set
that question at rest ; and although the latest
accounts described the New York Money Market
as " being very unsettled, and decidedly more
stringent," that arose, as we recently pointed out,
from the unwise illiberality of the banks, in re-
fusing to afford adequate pecuniary accommodation
to firms of unquestionable solvency, which pos-
se.;sed legitimate claims to obtain the required
assistance.

The bank-note currency in New York is ono
adi.irably united for the purposes of internal
trade. Ample security is given for the due pay-
ment of the paper issues. A deposit of State
securities, or of mortgages on real estate,
must be made against every note issued,
and, in the event of non-payment, these
securities are disposed of for the exclusive benefit
of the noteholder. The depositors or other cre-
ditors have no claim whatever unt,l the notes in
circulation have been paid in full. There is but
(.no defect, and that is, that no:margin is allowed.
Consequently, in the event of failure, and the
throwing of a large amount of securities of a nar-
ticular class on the market, at an unfavourable
time, there may he some trifling loss. tinder
any circumstances, however, a handsome dividend
must be paid, and that will be given, whenever it
hve b
cana be shown that the bank by which the notes
been issued, is in a state of insolvency.
This applies to the weakest as well as to the
strongest establishment. There can therefore be
no hardship in making such notes a legal tender,
nor any objection on the part of the public t)
receive them, at their nominal value. The addi-
tion of a fair margin to the amount of the deposit,
'would meet every reasonable requirement. The
dep,aitors might have to look out for themselves,
but the noteholders would incur very trifling risk.
The case, however, is altogether different in
this country. Although the issue department
and banking department are separated by the Act
of 1844, and notes can only be put in circulation
against Government and other securities to the
amount of 14,475,0001., and bullion for the re-
sidue, there would be no distinction between the
different creditors in the event of a compulsory

liquidation. Depositors and note-holders would
come pari passu on the assets. The specie stored
in the vaults at Threadneedle-street, and for the
time being of no greater practical utility than an
equal weight of paving-stones, would be equally
divided amongst all claimants. The Bank might
be compelled to suspend payment while there
were some seven or eight millions of specie in its
coffers. What, then, would become of the
boasted convertibility of the bank note, or the
certainty of payment to the note-holders? It is
obvious that the OTERSTONE remedy is a com-
plete delusion, and that, under untoward cir-
cumstances, the entire machine might be brought
to a stand, through the ♦ery precautions adopted
for the alleged purpose of ensuring convertibility,
but which were really taken in order to make
money scarce and dear, and to enable the money-
ocracy to realise exorbitant profits at the expense
of the great body of the people, more especially
, of the commercial and manufacturing interests.

On the 23d of October, 1847, the total " re-
serve of notes," the only available fund for car-
rying on the business of the banking department,
had fallen to 1,547,0001., and on the 30th to
1,176,7401., of which no more than 568,4701.
was held in London, making, with the gold coin
in that department, 719,533/. At that time
the deposits amounted to 14,500,090/., the pri-
vate deposits being 8,580,0001., of which more
than 2,000,0001. was due to London bankers,
who would have drawn out to the last farthing
had the panic continued another week. The
Governor and Deputy-Governor admitted that ' if
anybody had called for anything beyond a million
and a half they must have stopped paymeit, and
that, although they had eight millions and a half
of treasure in their vaults." Could there possibly
be a stronger illustration of the absurdity of our
code, that might have produced such a catas-
trophe, when, with freedom of action, there could
be but little, if any, real risk ?

The Governor thought that the reserve might
have been strengthened by the sale of two million
of Three per Cent. Consols, then in their hands ;
but great doubts were entertaiaed as to whether
the sale would have been practicable, even at a
serious sacrifice, under the circumstances ; and
were it even possible, it would, by the great fall in
the quotations thereby occasioned, have led to a
considerable withdrawal of deposits by parties
anxious to obtain such bargains. In fact, as Mr.
WILLIAM BROWN, M.P. fur South Lancashire,
declared, " the remedy would have been worse
than the disease."

While the circulation of the Leviathan is in this
condition, that of the private and joint-stock banks
is far worse. There is, practically, not a single
shilling's worth of security for the issues of the
private banks. They may stop payment or sus-
pend operations, but the note-holders will be left
in the lurch—in the same position with the general
creditors. Surely this is not a satisfactory state of
the paper circulation. There ought to be " Free-
trade in currency." Let full security be given, with
an ample margin to cover every possible
contingency, abolish the exclusive privileges of
the Bank of England, and let every person will-
ing to comply with the conditions be authorised
to issue notes of any denominations, which in the
event of failure should be liquidated in full out of
the deposits. By this means we shall have a
sound currency for every domestic transaction in-
ferior only to really national notes, which being
receivable in payment of taxes, would always be
maiutained at par, and could not be depreciated
under any possible state of affairs.

We know that NANA SAHIB has given Lord
PALMBRSTON enough to think of, but we must
nevertheless express our astonishment that he has
given no thought, or no outward indications of it,
to the brutalities of his European compeer towards
two British subjects in Naples. It is now some
four months ago that this savage, living as he
does on Frenoh and English sufferance, seized on
the crew of the unfortunate Cagliari—seized them
while actually bound with ropes by the patriot
conspirators, with whom, of course, the tyrant
had as just a quarrel as tyrants always have with
armed patriots—seized the wen despite the ob-
vious proofs of their innocence, and hurried them
into a Neapolitan gaol. The scheme of Count
PISCINH proved to be as ill-calculated, as mad, if
that word pleases the prudent better, as it well
could be. However, in its noble design, it proved
to be as useless as our more magnificent attempts
to confer freedom on Spain, and to fix the Boos-
bons on the throne of France. The Count's
scheme was like :our folly, because it did not
attain its object ; but it was " madness," and a
"crime," because he was not strong enough to
save himself and his small band of followers from
destruction. But as to the crew of the CAgliari,
the steamer seized by the Count to carry out his
project, they were neither foolish, nor mad, nor
criminal ; they were simply Sardinian and British
sailors—two of them being British—and their
only crime wv.s that they were citizens of two free
countries, and were taken perforce, along with the
men who hoisted on the steamer the flag of—
Liberty for subjects—Death to Tyrants.
Supposing, however, that by some technical
plea the sailors of the vessel could be detained
and subjected to investigation—suppose that they
ought to be put on their trial—on what earthly
' pretext have they been detained the four long
weary months awaiting their trial ; detained in a
custody adapted to convicted felons only, fettered
till the iron galls their wrists, deprived of suffi-
cient foot, of wholesome air, and of dry lodging ;
treated, indeed, with such daily brutality, that
one of the two, it is feared, has by this time lost
his mental faeulties—has been " driven by despe-
ration t 3 madness I" Even the British Consul,
as well as their friends, is denied access to them,
nor are they allowed to correspond, or to rec3ive
letters from their friends.

But what is Lord CLARENDON', and what
is Lord CLARENDON'S Chief doing all this
time ? We hear of nothing but very bland,
and very ineffectual, indeed, utterly un-
heeded messages through our Consul. Indeed
Is this, then, the Premier to whom we gave his
majority of one hundred, on the strength of his
reputation for dealing with despots, from a Can-
ton Commissioner to a Czar of all the Russias ?
Right well assured are we that, had the two men
been Yankees, the Savage of Naples dare not
have touched a hair of their heads. It would
have been as much as Mr, BUCHANAN'S tenure of
the White House is worth, had he not demanded
their immediate liberation by messengers that could
have tumbled all Naples about the tyrant' sears, and
almost Mount Vesuvius with it. It is known that
they will use them rather than see an American
citizen insulted, and the consequence is that
American citizens swagger about the 0 d
World, and give themselves greater airs
than they do
question whetherevJeonnati
or any one but himself fihnoagatERDINA.N D
ohleo9ll
oflNd ewl
hiset
nOFi ng: r
We
even an American dog or cat. Everything Ame-
rican must be sacred from the hands of tyrants
and their tools on this side the Atlantic.
If, however, " Brother Jonathan"
occasionally
acts with more touchiness and brag than digni• • ty,
are we to let diplomatic dignity rivet for four

months the fetters of two Englishmen in Neapo-
litan
dungeons Are we to hold Gibraltar and
Malta, and to see our fellow-subjects starved and
tortured to death by the familiars of King BOMBA ?
Do we pay enormous sums annually for our navy,
and when our Jack Tars are incarcerated without
even the shadow of a cause, is that costly navy,
manned by their fellow-tars, to be as silent as if
laid up in ordinary ? We demand something to
shew for our millions annually spent in maintain-
ing, a thousand guns, it may be, afloat in the
Mediterranean ; and, if the demand that no inno-
cent Englishman shall be in a tyrant's dungeons,
within reach of our cannon, be not a reasonable
one, we know not what is. Lord PALMERSTON
thought the worthless PACIFICO, hardly to be called
an Englishman, and his very questionable bill of
damages' worth a whole fleet before the Piraeus ;
and yet two British subjects dying in a villain's
dungeon are not held worth the broadsides of a
few frigates !
Oh ! but as they are accused, they must be tried
in due form of law. Must they—we could demur
—but if they must, how is it that immediate trial
was not demanded ? No time was lost in trying
the patriot conspirators, whose ♦irtuous crime was
indubitable ; but as it was notorious that the
captives of the conspirators could not be impli-
cated in the guilt of levying war against
tyrants, they could only be confined at
all on false pretexts, and only be kept in
confinement by delaying the opportunity of vindi-
cation. Lord PALMEB.STON was bound to defeat
this villanous seheme of the brutal tyrant. He
was bound to have served him with a writ of
Habeas Corpus from the quarter-deck of a three-
decker. He was bound to take custody himself
of the British subjects in the British consulate, to
provide them with every comfort, to engage to
produce them for trial when required, and to in-
sist on their notorious innocence being acknow-
ledged in open court, and an ample indemnity
presented to the men for their detention.
This we hold to be the only course worthy of
England and of an English Minister at this
moment. Not a single day longer should be
allowed of triumph for villany, and torture for
innocence. We have sailors whose cheers
would almost drown the music of their guns, were
they employed on an errand like this—who would
rush to Naples as our soldiers did to Delhi. And
who is there to forbid us t Our illustrious ally ?
We should like to see how he would behave if two
Napoleonist sailors were in Bomna's gaols. Our
ally, indeed I—we would not suspect him of a
grumbling thought on the case. This, however, we
do know, that he or any other ally will be a tan
times better one if he knows that British men-of-
war are our ever ready ambassadors-extraordinary
when ordinary diplomacy cannot redress the
wrongs of British subjects.

It is quite refreshing to read a purely agricul-
tural speech, touching simply on bucolic subjects,
and stimulating the worthy farmers to the earnest
performance of the important duties which they
have undertaken. Sir BSNJAMIN HALL has
delivered such an oration at the meeting of the
Abergavenny Agricultural Association—a sound,
practical address, showing the important results
that might be achieved by steady and un-
flinching resolution. He had the good
sense to eschew politics for the time being.
Even the fertile theme of India could not induce
him to depart from his prudent taciturnity. He
felt that meetings for the promotion of agriculture
should be confined to appropriate topicz., and that
his pleasing anecdotes of the mode by which his
father procured the introduction of turnip crops
into the country, were far more suitable to the
auditors than a long disquisition on any vexed
political question.
In so doing he was the real "farmer's friend."
Far more so than those who would strive
to produce political disunion, or t• convince
the worthy cultivators of the soil that they were an
exceedingly ill-used body, and that they could do
more by grumbling than setting their own shoul-
ders to the wheel ; and bringing their holdings
into the highest state of fertility by improved
cultivation. In a peculiarly felicitous manner he
detailed the proofs given that " Welsh sheep
would eat turnips," and also, that the crop
mingled the pleasing with the useful, inasmuch
as it was as good for the sportsman, as it was
beneficial to the farmer.

To those present he gave a general invitation
to visit the improvements which he had effected,
tendering every possible information as to the
modus operand; by which he had converted into
" a smiling farm" what was once an unsightly
swamp. He said that " within the last six years
he had converted a desert waste into a fruitful
source of produce, and where briars and furze and
rank weeds grew they might recently have seen
corn growing in abundance, and might now see
the stacks of corn which did grow there ; and they
would see, too, as good fields of turnips as any that
had been entered for competition this year. Of
course this had been a matter of cost, thought,
and toil ; but during the time when it pleased GOD
to visit him with a great affliction—during the
time he was deprived of sight, and while he was
unable to take part in the healthful pursuits he
before enjoyed—to go across the country, or stalk a
stag, or knock over a grouse—farming became his
pursuit, and had ever since been his pleasure up
to the present time. And when he was relieved
from the more anxious duti:.'s which belonged to
his position, it was a pleasure to come down to Llan-
over ; and if, by means of the example he had set,
he had done any good in his sphere he was thank-
ful for it, and he hoped that that example, as far
it was good, might be followed by others and be
beneficial to them." This is as it should be. Sir
BENJAMIN HILL has occupiei an important
position in the Ministry, and he has at the same
time been the popular representative of an impor-
tant constituency. Whether at the Bard
of Health, or of Works., or at the
Woods and Forests, he has invariably
discharged his duties with ability and zeal,
with credit to himself and advantage to the public,
and he would indeed be a bold man that would
dare to oppose him on the hustings at Marylebone.
And yet while so occupied, he has found time
sufficient to be a model landlord and a model
farmer, and to set a bright example to others—
earning in private life equal popularity to that
which he has so deservedly obtained iu public
affairs. We commend his example to others, and
if fairly acted on, they, too, will command the
respect and esteem of their friends and neigh-
bours.

—-- -
At St. Petersburg Madanie Bosio has achieved a
great success in " Traviata."
THE NEW COURT OF PROBATE.—We understand that
Mr. Justice Cresewell will, in all probability, ha the
judge of the new probate court, created under I:,e bill of
last session. This appointment will make a vacancy OD
the bench of the Court of CJinnion Pleas, and West-
minster Hall is already full of rumours as to the mode in
which it is likely to be filled up. Thu names of Mr.
Sergeant Shee, Mr. Sergeant Byle., and `fr. Hugh
Hill, Q C., Ire amongst those most prominently put
forward ; it is also rumoured that Sir H. S. Seating,
i
the present Solicitor-General, may possibly put n a
claim for the vacant seat. It is perhaps sufficient to re-
mark, with regard to all these rumours, that at present
there is no absolute vacancy nor indeed any likelihood of
a ;bange, at all events, during the course of the present
term.