The Sun.
London, England, 1844-03-04 00:00:00

OUR MESS.

Under the apt title of" Our Mess" Mr. Lever here
continues his story of " Tom Burke of Our's," which
has already reached its fifteenth Part, and is there-
fore, we presume, drawing to a close. The scene of
the present Part is chiefly in Paris, whither Burke
has gone immediately after the decisive battle of
Austerlitz. We hope he will soon be engaged in
more stirring scenes, for Mr. Lever no where
exhibits his talents to such advantage as in
describing battles and sieges, and all the imposing
paraphernalia of war. Doubtless he has the memo-
rable Prussian campaign in his eye, and will send his
hero Burke to Jena or Auerstadt, where we shall re-
joice to find him hard at work. Mr. Lever depicts
the bivouacs—the flying skirmishes—the pitched
battles—the forced marches—and the hurried retreats

_....._ _
—of armies, whether • French or English—for he
seems equally at home among both—with as much
truth and force, as Boz depicts the low flash life of
the metropolis.

LONDON POLYTECHNIC MAGAZINE.
We find some curious particulars in this month's
Number of the Polytechnic Magazine respecting the
" Arts and Manufactures of the Esquimaux," who, it
would appear, by Dr. King's account, are not quite
sa devoid of ingenuity as has been generally sup-
posed, but build their tents with singular skill, and
show equal tact in their boat-building, and in their
manufacture of the implements of chase. Among
the other articles 'before us, there is a sensible, matter-
of-fact one on the subject of the " Carriage-ways of
England."

CORN AND CURRENCY.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.
SlR,—After the many conflicting opinions which have
occupied the minds of the public on the subject of the
corn-laws, I beg to ask whether it would not be an act
of justice to the farmers, renting their farms on long
leases, at war prices, to commute the payment of their
rents, from a payment in money, to a payment in corn,
i. e., that a farmer who took his farm at a rent of 2501.
per annum when corn realised 755. per quarter, should
now, that the price has fallen to 455., have the option,
by authority of Parliament, of commuting the payment
of his rent, from a money payment to' one of corn,
which, at the rate of 455., would make his rent amount
to 150/. ?
I beg leave further to ask, whether it would not be a
public benefit to alter the present duty on corn from a
sliding scale into that of a fixed duty of Bs. per quarter;
to put it out of the power of cornfactors, possessing large
capital, to form combinations to raise the price of corn
to a height that would permit of their importing corn
into this country, at a very low duty, or free of duty,
and thereby glut the market, and deprive the farmer of
the fair remunerating price, which he would otherwise
get for his corn? And I submit the fairness of continu-
ing this fixed duty only so long as the countries export-
ing foreign corn to us should refuse to admit British
manufactures into their respective countries on a fair
principle of reciprocity ; and that, as soon as this should
be done, their corn would be admitted into British
ports free of duty. This would remove the impression,
so prevalent on the Continent, of our being only actuated
by selfish motives in our commercial dealings, and evince
our readiness to form commercial arrangements with
them, on a footing of perfect equality.
Having said this much on the subject of corn, I will
now beg to offer a few remarks on the present state of
our currency.
Locke has said on this subject, that " It is necessary
your gold should be coined, and have the King's stamp
upon it, to secure men in receiving it, that thre is so
much gold in each piece—but it is not necessary that it
should have a fixed value set upon it."
In opposition to this authority, our Government have
thought fit to make gold the standard coin of the realm,
at a fixed value, altogether overlooking that it is, in
itself, an article of commerce of a fluctuating value, and
also the great depreciation it undergoes by being but
for a short time in circulation, which is augmented to a
great amount by the abrasion, filing, plugging, and other
practices, resorted to by certain classes of the community,
who obtain their livelihood by deteriorating our gold coin,
to which must be added the expense of recoinage at the
Mints, altogether causing a loss to the public of upwards
of a million sterling per annum. But this bears no
comparison to the loss and ruin a contracted gold cur-
rency has brought upon our merchants, manufacturers
artisans, and the whole country, from its total inade-
quacy to answer the demands of the public as a circu-
lating medium. This, combined with the high price of
corn, and the States forming the German League
having refused to admit our manufactures into their
ports, have obliged many of our manufacturers, first to
reduce the number of hands in their factories, and after-
wards (although the manufacturers submitted to a dimi-
nution of wages, and to work for a greater number of
hours), they found themselves compelled to close their
factories altogether to prevent total ruin to themselves ;
thus obliging the unfortunate people employed by them
to apply to their parishes for relief, and to become a
heavy burden to the rest of the community, instead of
being productive labourers, aiding the national prosperity.
This is the present condition of a large proportion of
our manufacturers and artisans. Under this state of
things the Whig Ministry contrived to manage, with a
deficient revenue after many years of peace, without
affiarding to the productive classes any relief, and the
Tory Government, who have succeeded them, have been
obliged to impose odious war-taxes upon the country,
after twenty-nine years of peace, to enable them to meet
the public expenditure.
Such a state of things cannot last; a remedy must be
applied to avert still more fatal consequences ; and this
remedy, it is my firm conviction, is within our reach.
The cause of all our difficulties is our metallic cur-
rency being totally insufficient for the public wants; and,
from this circumstance, checking industry, obliging our
manufacturers to discharge their workmen, and para-
lysing all the attempts of our merchants to employ our
shipping with their ancient spirit of enterprise.
To correct this it will be necessary to discontinue the
employing of gold as our circulating medium imme-
diately on the expiration of the charter of the Bank of
England. We must, instead of it, establish a paper cur-
rency, sufficient in amount to answer all the wants of the
country. This can be done with perfect security to the
State, on a basis that will secure its standard value
without the smallest fluctuation, by issuing, instead of
our present circulation of sovereigns, a paper currency
of one-pound notes, on the faith and security of Govern-
ment, payable on demand, in gold, at the Bank, not at a
fixed value, but according to the price of gold in the
market, which should be regularly published in the
London Gazette.
To enable the Bank to meet the demands made upon
it for payment of our notes in gold, it will be necessary
to have all our gold recoined in coins equal in weight
and purity to five of our present sovereigns, " having the
Queen's stamp upon it, to secure men that there is so
much gold in each piece," and these coins should always
be kept in deposit at the Bank for that purpose.
It will be evident from the above, which gives to gold
its fluctuating value, that it cannot be considered as the
standard of value in our currency ; but that the paper
currency of one pound, bearing a Government stamp,