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

tied out without the Inoneyocracy 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, w ithout
being subjected to one shilling expenditure either
for principal or interest ? The very enunciathon of
this startling interrogatory almost takes away our
breath. It is true that within the last few veers 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superseded by the establishment of an iron net-work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 ;sway,
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 extrav agent
fable, qualifying the narrator for a place i n 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 am inged
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, leavisig 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 Hue
SEIM'S magic carpet and Prince Ala'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 thin, 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 BANcKs—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 3,0001. 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 receaed by the cor-
poration for all demands they may have upon the
public for rates, rents, dues, Sm., 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
oscome of the town, or the prosperity of its indus-
trious masses.

THE 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 hadi taken place in virtue of the. Electoral
Law of 31st of May, which was contrary to the Con-
stitution ; he was replied to by M. BAROC'UE, and on
a division the admission of General LAHITTE was car-
ried by a majority of 460 to 173.
ALLAIS, the police agent who gave information to
M. YON of the Bonapartist plot to assassinate M.
Dui.lN and General CHANGARNIER, is in th elHospital
of the Hotel Dieu, confined to his bed ; hs 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-
LIEn. and the police of the Assembly.
NEFFIZER, 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, 23%—
Namur and Liege, 774—Northern of France, 1442—Rouen
and Havre,

._~~

GER MAIN Y.

It is said that Marshal RADETSBY is daily expected
at Berlin as the bearer of conciliatory propositions
from Austria. Thp Marsha., all along, has opposed
in the molt energetic mannler the warlike policy
and the warlike measures of Prince Scuwa.a.T.
ZENDERG, who seems to have been guided
by the Ban JELLACHICH unvtil the arrival of
RA-
DETSKY ; the latter has offers)d to go to Holstein and
endeavour himself to negotiates a peace.
A letter from Bamberg (Bavaria) of the 13th
announces that the march of the troops has been
stopped for the present.

- -
THE EXPLOSION ON BOA RD TIIE VALMY.---A Brest
paper, L' Ocean, gives the following additional details rela-
tive to the explosion which recently occurred on board the
Valmy, one of the vessels of the French squadron which
lately visited our shores. On Friday, the Bth instant, at a
quarter-past five in the morning, the Valmy was abreast of
Ouessant, at a distance of fifteen leagues. Suddenly a fright-
ful explosion shook the vessel. The planking of the spare
deck was torn away for a space of .from nine to ten metres,
and but for the solid construction of the vessel her sides
would certainly have been injured, such was the terrible
violence of the explosion. When the first effects of the
panic occasioned by the incident subsided, the following
facts were ascertained:—The master gunner, who had had
to make signals several times dining the night, had retired
to his room, taking with him a number of rockets. In this
room was a case of gunpowder. Ey some undiscovered
means, whether by accident or through imprudence, the
rockets or the gunpowder caught fire. The gunner was the
first victim of his imprudence. even men were killed with
him on the instant - the store-keeper and the master-car-
penter, who were in their rooms, three second mates, and two
sailors. Of two second mates, badly wounded, one has since
died. Twelve sailorswere scorched or wounded by splinters.
A cabin-boy. asleep in his hammock, was driven forcibly
against the deck above, and killed on the spot. This disaster,
it is hoped, will serve as a lesson for the future, and combus-
tible materials of whatever kind will not be allowed to be
kept elsewhere than in the powder magazines.

A sullen wise man is as bad as a good-natured fool.
Knowledge, softened by complacency and good breeding, will
make a man equally beloved and respected ; but when joined
with a severe, distant. and unsociable temper, it creates
rather fear than love.—Eliza Cook's Journal.

ATROCIOUS ATTEMPT TO BLOW UP A SHIP OF
Wln —Advices received by the West India mail acquaint
us with the fact that on the 24th of August, 1850, in lat. 28
William Muir, gunner's mate of her Ma-
jesty's being Teprimand,d for neglect of duty,
ise
nlt2t6o;h23itp;
galleyhleVS;lf' t
fire, lit a slow match, and was disco-
vered by the corporal of Marines in the act of entering the
magazine, with the intention of blowing up the ship ! Muir
was kept ia irons till his arrival at Valparaiso, wl-Aen he con-
trived to make his escape—how is not stated.