The Sun.
London, England, 1857-10-13 00:00:00

LONDON, TUESDAY, OCT. 13, 1857.

The Directors of the Bank of England have again
raised the rate of discount, and at a very unusual
time. On the present occasion, the increase has
been from 6 to 7 per cent., and that on a Monday,
in place of on Thursday, according to the usual
course. These facts alone sufficiently prove the
'Dense entertained by the Bank authorities respect-
ing the magnitude of the emergency. It fully
verifies the opinion which we put forward last
week, that "we had not by any means seen the
worst of the Crisis." Indeed, there is every rea-
sem to fear that, unless speedy steps be taken by
the Government t 3 avert the evil, it will prove
more disastrous even than that of October, 1847,
when credit was for a time virtually annihilated,
and houses of unquestionable solvency could not
obtain advances on first-class securities. In the
autumn of 1847, and up to the time of the Go-
vernment Letter suspending the operation of the
B.arik Charter Act, the foreign ex4htnges were
strongly in favour of this country. The harvest
was bountiful, as iu the present year, and
there were no extraneous influences in ope-
ration to produce monetary disturbance.
How, however, the state of affairs is aff-
erent. There is a heavy drain going o,', not
only to the Continent, but to India, China, and
America. Every mail carries out large remittances
in specie, and what arrives in this country is
forthwith purchased by specultters for ex porta-
tion, the premium which they are preparod to
offer prohibiting the Bank from
competing
them. The panic of 1847 was purely domestic.
Mr. G. C. GLYNN, the eminent banker, declared
that it "proceeded from an apprehension ea the
part of all mercantile men, that the want of con-
fidence was becoming so great, that at last the re-
serves of the Bank would be driven down so low,
that, in point in fact, persons who were possessed
of Property would not be able to convert that prc-
PertY into Bank of England notes." Similar ap-
prehensions are now entertained, and we have, in
addition, a foreign demand, which it will be dif-
Avult, if not impossible, to resist'.
Surely, then, it is the duty of the Government
to int_Tpose, as we recently stated, at the first
stage of ruin rather theta the last. Why should

firms not merely solvent, but able to pay 405., or
even 605., in the pound, be compelled to suspend
their operations, and possibly their payments, from
a scarcity of the circulating medium ? Why should
every species of property be deteriorated in value,
and the country driven to the verge of ruin, be-
cause Sir G. C. LEWIS wishes to let matters take
their course, and not to interfere until the Bank
itself is in danger ? Sir CHARLES WOOD was uni-
versally condemned for remaining so long apa-
thetic, and the country sustained losses which it
took long to recover. It was the Treasury letter
of the 25th October, 1547, that alone restored
confidence and prevented almost universal bank-
ruptcy. Why should not a similar experiment now
be tried, and Parliament called together at the
earliest possible moment, to sanction the important
proceeding. At present the notes so eagerly
sought after at the Bank are hoarded as a salutary
precaution, in order to be prepared for any emer-
gency that may arise, and the process will con-
tinue until the public mind is re-assured. In
1847 almost every witness—even those most
favourable to the Act of 1844—gratefully recog-
nised the salutary consequences of that important
step. "All apprehension appeared to have ceased, on
the issue of the letter," observed the then Governor
of the Bank, subsequently adding, "What restored
confidence was the letter of the Government,
allowing the Bank to make any advances without
reference to the act, at a given rate of interest.
We did not so much want the money, but we
wanted the certainty that if we did want it, we
should get it." The opinion of Mr. HORSLEY
PALAIER was equally decisive. He said, "In the
autumn of 1847 the demand for assistance was so
much increased as to place the Bank in imminent
danger by granting it, and which nothing could
have relieved short of the relaxation of the law,
which took place." Even Mr. GEORGE W. NOR-
marr—a strenuous advocate of the Act of 1844
admitted that "the issue of the letter to a considerable
degree relieved the money market, by holding out to
persons the certainty that they might get accom-
modation, whereas before that they feared they
should not.' It in f tct produced the same effect
as if the Bank of England had extended its issues
inasmuch as it brought out the hoards of notes
which speedily went into circulation, and thus at
once removed the cause of the panic.
The East India Company is now competing with
our merchants for the money essential to carry
on their business and to meet their engagements.
It has already obtained one million sterling, and
will speedily want much more. The receipt
of money from America is arrested, and in
place of supporting our stock of bullion, we
may anticipate a severe drain from that quarter.
Nothing, in fact, can save us but a relaxation of
the obnoxious law. That ought, if possible, to be
done by the authority of the Legislature, or if
that authority cannot be obtained in sufficient
time, it should be sought for at the earliest pos-
sible moment. We call, then, on Lord PALMER-
STON to attend to this matter without a moment's
delay, and to adopt the means by which a vas
amount of suffering may be averted, and the na
tion carried buoyantly through the crisis.

Colonel SYKES, a gentleman of great Indian ex-
perience, and recently the governor of the East-
India Company, has written a long letter to the
Times, in order to remove the misconceptions
which he supposes to exist respecting the eligi-
bility of high caste natives for military service in
Indian armies. It professes to show " what high
caste native soldiery will do when commanded by
judicious officers, and also what high caste sepoys
will not do, and what they cannot do, even fur
officers whom they may venerate." He quotes a
memorandum from an officer of 35 years uninter-
rupted active service in the Bengal Army, in cor-
roboration of his views, and triumphantly asks,
" What more could be desired or expected from
native soldiers I"

The object of the gallant Colonel is to show
that "a lengthened loyal devotion to the State
may characterise a reorganised Bengal army," and
he is manifestly, notwithstanding tho terrible
events of the last six months, still favourable to
the employment of Brahmins and Rajpoots in the
Indian army, when the last spark of the mutiny
has been trampled out, and retributive justice has
•vertaken the real perpetrators of the murders
and outrages, whether Sepoys, camp-followers,
felons from the gaol, or villagers. Now, as we
are reluctantly compelled to differ toto ccdo from
the gallant Colonel, and as we believe that he
himself supplies irresistible arguments against the
conclusion at which he arrives, it is necessary to
examine closely the facts on which he grounds his
opinions.

He draws a broad distinction between acts of
external and internal uncleanness, inasmuch as
ex ternal bodily defilement is removed by ablutions
and oblations, but a breach of certain alimentary
laws ipso facto consigns the offender to excommu-
nication and degradation, than which death is pre-
ferable ; for his parents,ihis brothers, and his
friends can neither eat nor smoke with him, nor
let him drink out of their water-vessels. He is
become an out-caste. He is condemned to con-
tempt in this world and his soul is damned in the
next." On the other hand, he may handle the
pickaxe and shovel as a labourer, build walls,
sink wells, and stand shoulder by shoulder in the
ranks, with the lowest caste men. Nay, more,
may even handle the dead bodies of the enemy.
These latter things he may do, but it is by
no means certain that he will do. If
petted and coaxed, and that he sees any
personal advantage to be derived therefrom,
he may condescend to obey orders, but he
may take a very opposite view of his duties,
and refuse to submit to even temporary degrada-
tion, and that at the time when the fate of the
army may be involved in the result. Nor would
it be fair to punish him for the refusal when we
engage his services—knowing his religions preju-
dices and opinions. The fact that these prejudices
are made a convenient cloak to carry out his own
wishes, that they can :be put on or off at plea-
sure, and that he will be prepared to violate the
ordinances of his religion for a pecuniary equiva-
lent, does not by any means enhance his value or
render him an eligible recruit, when others can be
obtained, whose consciences are of not quite ISO
tender and elastic a character.
But ware there nothing but the food question,
if the Brahmin or Ragpoot would, under any cir-
cumstances, be prepared to obey every order, as
to merely external matters, his objection to cer-
tain descriptions of food would be sufficient to di,-
qualify him for the service. He may be required to
go by sea from one part of the empire to another,
and there his privations and sufferings will of
a very s'Jrious character. "He cannot cook,
he cannot receive the ship's provisions, and his sup-
port is confined to parched brain and condimea's
that he has with him.him."anything of a He will thus, after
protracted
destination weakarn
tetd
aradeebilitvaotyeda:gea,ndaruritvteeralyt
uhni-s
able to face the enemy until he has recovered his
strength and courage. Again, he may be cooped
up in a beleaguered city, with a limited stock of
provisions, not of the description of which he ap-
proves. He must then either starve or
capitulate, for partaking of the accursed aliment