The Sun.
London, England, 1844-04-01 00:00:00

titningui

LONDON, MONDAY, APRIL 1 ,1844.

The first act of the Spanish tragedy is accomplished.
The Constitution is destroyed, and Queen CHRISTINA
now reigns at Madrid. During the eventful and
distressing scenes of the last three years, we know
not whether to impute greater blame to the authors of
• the movements, or to the mercenary, treacherous and
degraded individuals who performed the offices of
spies, and renegades. The concocter and ring-
leader of a plot for wicked purposes is, no doubt, a
greater criminal than the dupes or even the willing
agents who tarry his designs into execution ; but the
vile work performed by the latter, the want of prin-
ciple, and the cold-blooded deeds of cruelty to which
they lend themselves render them more odious in
. the eyes of mankind. This character attaches and
will ever attach to those Spaniards who have
made themselves a by-word in Europe, who have
sold the liberties of their country, and shed the
blood of their countrymen like water. One thing is
certain—the late revolution had its origin in France;

but whether it was planned by GUIZOT or SoULT, or

by the Cabinet, or by the Chateau," we will not
take upon ourselves to decide. Queen CHRISTINA,
about the year 1841, in the character of Regent,
issued an ordonnance at Barcelona, against the muni-
_ cipal rights of the towns in Spain, which ex-
cited almost universal indignation, and compelled her

to take refuge in France. Her intention was to re-
tire to her native city, but, whether for the purpose of
carrying on intrigues against her adopted country, or
living in retirement, with her paramour, at Naples,
walleye no means of judging. That intention, how-
ever, was disapproved of at head-quarters ; she was
induced to come to Paris, and her little Court from
that time to her departure, formed a sort of refuge for
the discontented and unprincipled men of Spain. The
enemies of ESPARTERO looked to her and the Court
of France as their last hope, and they were soon gra-
tified. M. SALVANDT contrived to pick a quarrel
with the REGENT, because the REGENT would not
ilutter the emissaries of CDRISTIN.4. to sow the seeds
erdisseusion and rebellion in the Court of the young
Quasi. SALVANDT was recalled, political relations
between the two countries were broken off, and then
followed the moot barefaced, wicked, and successful at-

' tempts to destroy a system of rational government, for
which Spaniards had waded through seas of blood.
The matter at Pampeluna miserably failed, because the
leader found no sympathy among the people or the
army; but those who undertook the work were men
of strong nerves, of deep design, of great perseverance,
and not to be deterred by one coup manque. It is need-
less to recite in detail the schemes that ensued, further
than to say that the affair o f Barcelona, the revolutionary
apesches in the Cortes, the venality of the army, and
the expufsion of EVPAUTERO completed the work.
. T. editor of a disreputable journal was made Prime
Minister; NAILVAIIZ, known only for his joint ser-
vices_ with EISPAUTERO in putting down absolutism,
became Dictator ; and this duumvirate speedily abo-
lished the Cortes, disarmed the National Guard, and
established a military despotism. What man of com-
mon sense can have the slightest moral doubt as to the
ssaiu-spring of this revolution ; and in what light are
• we to view a people, possessing the finest country in
the World, who can thus suffer themselves to be
bribed and betrayed ? Not satisfied with selling
themselves to an enemy, the traitors ar&daily imbru-

ing their hands in the blood of their fellow-citizens,
and the cries of the victims and the lamentations of
their. friends are mingled with the shouts of rejoicing
which welcome the principal actors in this bloody scene.
Though 'thousands. raised their voices against the
mild and constitutional government of EBPARTERO,
: country almost unanimously acquiesces in the
tyrinniCal deeds Or NAUVAEZ Thoy see the Con-
atituticul destroyed without a murmur. From the
• Prince to the peasant there is no class that evinces
any feelings of honour, or love of country. The
Quaint and her Prime Minister, in the Assembled
States of the nation, give each other the lie, men
- of-the-same political principles betray their friends,
witliPlA remorse, and the very peasants hunt to
death the few leaders that would awaken the country
to its degradation. Never was a people so fallen.
They, acknowledge only two states of society—
rebellion -and slavery. They prefer the latter, and
let them enjoy it. The horrible crimes of Spaniards
in the New World, are visited upon the present race,
end the Divine denunciation against a profligate
nation, is fulfilled—" I will give children to be their
prime, and babes shall rule over them."

As the Easter recess will intervene before the
question of the Bank of England Charter renewal can
be brought on for discussion in Parliament, we
trust that Peers and Members who propose lo take
part in the proceedings which may be submitted for
the sanction of the Legislature, on a question of such

vital importance to the best interests of the empire, I
will devote some portion of the interval to its most
careful consideration. Those Wto may not have
hitherto addressed themselves to the study of our mo-
netary system with. that degree of attention which
they would devote to any other subject involving a
necessity for some degree of statistical research, we
would entreat to render themselves acquainted with
the more prominent facts and principles that are in-
dispensable to found a correct judgment on theimeriti
of the controversy now sustained between the advo-
cates and the opponents of our present scheme of
currency, governed as that is by Sir ROBERT PsE•'S
Act of 1819. Those who had not only studied the
bearings and details of that system in all their ex-
tent, at the time that Act was passed ; but who took a
part, more or less active, in the debate and arguments
that attended its agitation, we would respectfully re-
quest to re-consider the same subject under its
new and actual aspects in 1844, irrespectively of the
weight and authority of the great names which, in
times past have sanctioned the most adverse proposi-
tions. Let all bear in mind the fact, that not a
step can safely, honestly, or logically be taken, in
the renewal of the Bank Charter, without raising the
question of continuing or abrogating our present
monetary system.
To re-invest the Bank with their charter, unshorn
of the tremendous powers which it confers on this
corporation, of contracting or expanding the currency
at pleasure, would be, first, to continue that unen-
durable depreciation of the wages of industrial labour,

the existence of which is the real barrier to a com-
promise on the factories' labour question between the
advocates of Twelve and Ten Hours' Bills, and the
opponents of all legislative interference whatever with
the details of factory employment. Secondly, such a
re-investment will assure the " certain return at un-
certain periods"—as we have shown in former articles—
of the hideous commercial panics of 1825 and of two
subsequent periods. In both these cases we as-
sume that the gold standard of 1819 would be ad-
hered to. See how it would continue to operate, as

it has ever since operated. You leave the Bank with
its liability to pay any uncertain quantity of its issued
notes upon demand, on gold of a standard fineness, at
a standard price fixed by your statute. This price is
very often cheaper than that given in thebullion mar-
ket. Sometimes the latter rises very considerably ;
and the inevitable operation of such a rise being to
make holders of notes send them in to be changed for
gold, which is thereupon forced into the bullion
market in exchange for silver, bills, &c., or
paid for foreign commodities, until the market
price subsides to the Mint price of the metal—the
Directors of the Bank (wisely for its own purposes,
but it may be fatally to the activity of commerce and
to commercial confidence) reduces, as much and as
fast as possible, the issues of that paper to which its
bullion on deposit can never bear more than a very
inferior proportion. That its own notes are by law
convertible into gold at a given price per ounce—no
matter what may be the uncertain and higher price
in the market, and the consequent loss and difficulty

to be incurred in obtaining it—is sufficient reason to
induce the Bank to limit its liability to pay in gold
by withholding the usual issue of its paper in propor-
tion to the demands of increasing trade, &c. Those
who rely on the maintenance of their issues to an
adequate extent, according to the custom of the Bank
when circumstances are not unfavourable to its ob-
servance of that custom, for the discount of the com-
mercial bills they hold, or advances on their own
bills and securities, whether to complete investments
for export, or to pay for investments imported by
them, suddenly discover themselves unable to obtain
money in any proportion to their requirements, al-
though they may have securities in their strong-box,
or goods in their warehouses, to a hundred times the
amount—in value. If this be the operation of a gold
standard of value, as it is called, on the market of
money, and thereby on the general market of trade
at home, its operation is still more disastrous on the
wages of industrial labour, and has the deplorable
_ _ _

effect of placing the reciprocal interests of the manu-
facturer and the labourer, however fairly the former
may desire to deal with the latter, in those false re-

lations which constitute, as we have seen, the main
difficulty of the factory question. So long as the

taxation of this country continues at its pre-
sent enormous height, and: commodities of sub-
sistence contribute, in the shape of Customs and
Excise, so largely to that revenue, it is evident that
the wages of the manufacturing artisan, for example,
cannot be adequate ones, if they do not represent—be-
sides the value of his labour—that proportionate
amount of taxation which, although he actually pays
it in the progress of his labour, it was the undoubted
meaning of the Legislature should be paid by the
wealthy consumer. Now the manufacturer, owing
to the competition of foreign rivals, and to the pre-
ference that-the foreign customer, or importer, shows
for the gold into which he can convert the Bank notes
he is paid in (for his raw material, his corn, or his
fabrics), over returns in our manufactured goods—
really cannot obtain more than the natural or gold
prices of his goods. It is impossible for him, then, to
pay wages to the factory labourer which shall repre-
sent, as they ought to do, the taxation in addition to
the natural value of his labour. The factory labourer
is thus reduced to the alternative of maintaining even
his present pittance of compensation, by an added
term of his already• protracted daily labour ; and the
manufacturer to that of retaining his services on these
hard terms, or of discharging him.
Such, then, being the resulting effect of a defi-
ciency inherent in our "gold standard" currency, we
would press it upon every Member of the Legislature,
as a sacred duty, to re-consider some great principles
which were singularly lost sight of in the delibera-
tions that preceded the settlement of that standard in
1819. We would beg them to observe that the pur-
port of the Bill of 1819 was a great anomaly. It
was, in effect, to make gold cheap, under any and
every condition of circumstances, in which it should
naturally, as a commodity, be dear ; and this cheap-
ness was to be obtained at the expense, and to the
loss, of every other commodity.
The same Act consecrated by legislative authority
the most fatal of all erroneous principles in the policy
of a State—viz., the giving the highest degree of
intrinsic value to money, which should be always, tO
the greatest convenient or practicable extent, the
representative, not the actual merchandise, of value.
And if the working of the system has since been as
disparaging as we have described it, to every interest
in the country but one—the men of realised money
capital—if the wages of industrial labour, manu-
facturing and agricultural, have so declined under it,
that starvation, pauperism, and discontent are:mani-
festing themselves at all times, in some district or
other of the country, with more or less of organisa-
tion—we put it to those who are to determine on the
renewal of the Bank Charter, whether it will not be
true wisdom to arrest the great evils of such a system
and such a statute, before their pressure shall have
precipitated numbers into a war against capital? Let
not those to whom the discussion of such a question
in Parliament may fall be frightened from considering
the expediency of repealing PEEL% Bill of 1819, by
vague declamations about the danger of re-opening
questions, unsettling contracts, &c. The perils, the
derangements,
the frauds, and hardships of the past—
the inevitably-recurring panics and crises of the
future—are and will be the fruits of retaining this
Act upon the statute-book. The abolition of the
standard, the relief of the Bank from the necessity to
pay in gold, except at its market value, will go far
to the completion of that simple and safe process
which only is needful for the accomplishment of our
return to a better monetary system. To further
other enactments which it may be expedient to pass,
more especially in reference to the future relations be-
tween the Bank and the Government, we will advert
hereafter.

The Madrid Journals of the 24th ult.. are almost
entirely occupied with an account of the rejoicings
which took place on the entry of the QUEEN
DOWAGER on the previous day. The procession
was met at the Atocha gate by the munici-
pality and the civil and military authorities, about
half-past one. Three Aides-de-Camp of NAIt,
VAEZ attended, one carrying a crown, and the others
splendid bouquets for the two QUEENS and the IN-
FANTA. At a quarter-past three a salvo of artillery
announced the approach of their MAJESTIES. After
having witnessed the dancing of girls, received the
felicitations of the municipality at the Atocha gate,
and heard a courtly harangue from the political -chief,
their MAJESTIES entered the Church of Atocha
where they passed some time in prayer. On leaving

the church another salute of artillery was fired, and
NARVAEZ and the Minister of War took their places
at the sides of the royal carriage. The procession then
moved on, accompanied by great crowds of persons
bearing palm branches. The reception in the city
was rather enthusiastic, and in the evening a general
illumination took place. Next flay the QUEEN
DOWAGER, with her daughters, was present at a
Te Deum performed in: the church of San Isidro, and
were to go to the theatre in the evening. In another
part of the paper will be found a telegraphic dispatch
received on • Saturday, which brings intelligence to
the 27th. _ _

- The Gazette publishes a Royal decree for the re-
.
organisation of the infantry of the army, and another
for the payment of a month's salary to the employes
of the Government.

The 23d was observed as a holiday, and the Bourse
was closed.

On Saturday, the French Government• received the
following intelligence from Spain :
TELEGRAPHIC DISPATCH.
"MADRID, MARCH 27.
" Carthagena surrendered at discretion on the 25th.
" Yesterday there was a very numerous and brilliant
draiving-room at Court. The two Queens and the Infanta
enjoy good health.
, 6 The most perfect tranquillity prevails in all parts of
Spain."
So that we may expect by the next dispatch an ac-
count of more butcheries in that devoted country.
The Paris papers are chiefly occupied with the dis-
turbances in Italy, the plan of M. GAIEIE/A PAGES
for the conversion of the Five per Cent. French Stock,
and the English Factory Bill. According to accounts
in some of these journals the French Government has
resolved to occupy Ancona and the Lega-
f o.is, as the Sovereign Pontiff, with all
his civil and ecclesiastical power, is totally
unable to preserve peace in his dominions. The
Journal des Debate views the question in a dif-
ferent light, and asserts that the disturbances have
been greatly exaggerated, and attempts at insurrec-
tion suppressed. " These events," it states, " cannot
be viewed without great pain. They are perfectly
insensate, for they were manifestly without hope of
success. Those who seek to revolutionise Italy do
not unquestionably rely on their own strength. But
it would be cruel and impolitic to encourage in them,
even by silence, weak illusions and baseless hopes.
Europe is calm, and whatever may tend to disturb
this general repose will not find sympathy in a single
Government. We, therefore, repeat our conviction
that these disturbances can have no serious effect.
They are rather the expiring than the reviving strug-
gles of faction—an impotent demonstration. They
have, in our eyes, been greatly exaggerated as to
their gravity, and this exaggeration has not been
greatest either at Rome or Naples. The ease with
which the attempts have been repressed proves two

things—first, that revolutions have no longer any chance
in Italy ; and, secondly, that the Italian Governments
—the Neapolitan Government above all—are suffici-
ently strong to triumph over them without foreign aid."
The latter portion of this statement is not entitled to
any credit. It is well known that the Papal Govern-
ment is totally helpless; and that without foreign as-
sistance a revolution cannot be avoided, and the
Government of Naples is nearly in the same con-
dition. Even the French Government seems to view

the state of Italy in that light, and are taking active
measures on the subject. On Thursday the Neapoli-
tan Ambassador passed nearly two hours with M.
GUIZOT at the Foreign-office, and from thence pro-
ceeded to the Tuileries. At half-past eleven M.
GUIZOT was sent for to the Palace, where Marshal
SOULT and the Minister of Marine were already
assembled. At one o'clock two couriers were dis-
patched from the Foreign-office. During the whole
day the communication between the Ministers' hotels,
the Embassies, and the Palace, were incessant, to such
a degree, that it was found necessary to double the
orderlies at the hotels of the Minister of the Interior
and the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

In adverting to the votes of the House of Commons,
the Journal des Debats makes the following remarks :
" Rarely have we seen this great country ,take fire in a
manner so sudden and so extraordinary. In general this
great popular resource, which the English call agitation, is,
neither spontaneous, sudden, nor unexpected. It is seen to
approach, the first sparks are observed, the flame then in-
creases, it progresses with a slow step, enlarging its circle,
until it fires the entire surface of the soil ; but it always dis-
plays itself in the mid-day sun, and seems to warn of its ap-
proach the men who watch over the destinies of the empire.
On this occasion no lightning preceded the storm, no previous
sign gave notice to the great political calculators. Public
feeling has burst forth, and this explosion has filled all
classes of the nation with anxiety, as well as the ranks of all
parties. Taken thus unawares, the Legislature went further,
perhaps, than it intended. Being alarmed at the solemn
warning given by the men whom it is accustomed to follow, it
hesitates, returns on its steps, and endeavours to feel its way
through the darkness. The strongest minds feel difficulty in
recoverinr, their self-possession, and look with uneasiness at
the depth of the problem which has been introduced."
The article extends to four columns, and, on the
whole, displays much ability and impartiality. It is
evidently the opinion of the writer that this commo-
tion has given a serious shock to the PEEL Ministry.
After adverting to the opposition made to the Mi-