The Sun.
London, England, 1845-02-13 00:00:00

abundant state of the finances of the country, a
iednction upon the interest of Exchequer-ills
from lid. to lid. would be made. He would
venture to suggest that the Exchequer -
would suffer nothing by this reduction in the rate of
interest. -He threw out theie observations in the hope
that Government Would.adopt some measure for that
purpose, and he was fully of opinion, that in the pre--
sent state of the money market, that change might be
effected with perfect safety.
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said
that the same observations had More than once been
repeated, at different times, by the Hon. Member;,
but in the policy of those suggestions he (the Chan-
cellor of the Exchequer) could not by any means
coincide, for it must not be forgotten that there was a
vast difference between what Might be considered a-
permanent debt, and sums -lent out for short periods
at a small rate of interest. With reference to the
papers sought for by the Hon. Member' for Montrose
on the subject of Exchequer-bills, he (the Chancellor,
of the Exchequer) did not think there'would be any
objection to their pfoduCtion. •
Mr. T. BARING said there was an apparent diffe-
rence between the va`e tf this year and that of last,-
amounting to one million two hundred thousand and odd
pounds. He wished this to be explained, for he found
by the paper some of the parties were paid before they •
were actually due. lie wished' to ask whit benefit
had been derived from the reduction in the Three '
per Cents., which ought to have produced to•the re-
venue 400,0001. There was •another question which
lA.should be glad to have answered. - He would be
glad to know whether the whole of the China-com-
pensation money hid been paid ?
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER,
said he Was prepared to give the Hon. Member satis-
factory answers to, his inquiries. The Honourable
Member would- be -aware that when he proposed
to effect a reduction- in the -interest of the Three
per Cents., he availed himself of the oppor-
tunity of obtaining. powers to pay • the inte-
rest in the various stocks at uniform periods, and,
in _order to effect this, it became necessary to pay
some of the interest before it became due. For in-
stance, one stock paid interest half-yearly,
while others paid quarterly, - and thus to
make the time uniform the interest, in-
one or two instances, was 'paid in October, when
hitherto it was not paid till January. There was no
reduction in October, 1844,- but when they arrived at
January, 1845, the reduction would be made apparent.
These accounts vtould be rendered' up to the sth.
of April, 1845.• He hoped this answer 'would satisfy
the Hon. Gentleman so far as it concerned his first
question. With respect- to the Second (ideation, as to
what benefit would he derived from the reduction in,
the Three-and-a Half per Cents., the Right
Hon. Gentleman would' -be' aware that .the
Act directed the • reduction.
.shonid be. made
from October, 1844 ; and from the circum-
stances he had before' stated the- benefit' wotfld not
commence till January, 1845, but would not be
made apparent in the revenue returns of April
ensuing. With respect to the third question,
relating to the opium compensation- money, -he
Might say that the wholehad been paid.' There was,
however, a sum of 1,5001. in dispute, and as yet.
unpaid, and that was• the whole extent to which any
future payments would be Made -in respect of com-
pensatiOn.
The. sum' of 15,400,5001. was then voted to defray,
the expenses of Erchequer-bills. - •
The House then resumed, and the Chairman re-•
ported 'accordingly. • - •
Sir R. PEEL begged to be exempted from serving
on Election Committees, on account of his official
duties. • •
The applieation having been acceded to; the Howe
adjourned.
•

SPIRIT of th- PUBLIC. JOURNALS.
'west THE EVENING PAPERS or YESTERDAY.
GLOBE.— " We wage no war with' madmen of
the ?int." The former would not understand, 'and"
the latter would be deaf to expostulation. But, as-'
suming that Mr. O'Connell is neither insane nee'
venal—and giving those of his coadjutors who are
also memberi'd the 'Legislature credit for being pos.--
sessed, equallrwith himself, of sound selklisposmgt
minds, and Of pure patriOtism—we confess ourselves'''.
at a loss to-comprehend the motive by which they are
actuated in absenting themselves from their Parliamen-
btu d uties.Thei r speechea andthar acts are in perpetual -
antagonism. Their speeches at the weekly meetings'
11141 at the Conciliation Hall -are filled with attacks
.uppti the measures connected with Ireland which her
Majesty's Government intend to, introduce to Parlia-
ment during the course of the' present session ; and.
yet these. patriotic Irish Members of the House of
Commons declare their intention of -absenting them-
'selves from Parliament dUrink the discussions
upon those very measures ! Nothing in absurdity
equalk to this has been exhibited ; if we except the
limy in which a number -of Irish farmers at a
fair showed their antipathy to a bank, the proprie- •
ttors of which had rendered themselves obnoxi-*
,ous to the popular dislike. The farmers took the
pains to buy up all the 'notes of the odious bankers
they could get at, and burned them' in the presence and
amid the shouts of the'excited multitude. Sure, and
whit will they do now ? WOn't the bank be broke
now so many of their notes are burnt?" Similar folly '
is exhibited by the IriSh repeal Members of Parlia,
ment. " We'll stay in Dublin, finding fault with the
measures of Government ; we'll scold, in, our own
peculiar style of vituperation, every public man and
every public journal. whose views are contrary to, or
do not extend to the same lengths with, our own.
We'll fiercely denOUnce „the measires, and the men
with whom they originate. ;But we'll not exercise our
right to oppose these 'censures, where opposition would
be legitimate and, to a considerable extent, effectual.
We will keep where we are, magnanimously holding
ourselves aloof from our Parliamentary duties. 'We
will thus violate our duties to our Constituents and our
country ; both of which We lOve with an intense pa-
triotic affection I" Stich is, in effect, the language
of the Irish repeal Members: Who does not see—
always, of course, excepting, themielves—that they
are playing the game of the Ministers whom they
denounce as enemies to their country ? What does
Sir• Robert Peel-or any, of his colleagues—or
those who sUpport
.his measures in Parliament, care
for the vituperations of Jr. ,o'7;Onnell and his
coadjutors in the Conciliation Hall ? His and their
absence froth the House Of Cornmons-being relieved
from their presence) and, above all, from their speeches
—constitute the theme •of their congratulatiOn.'
Ministers, will carry their measures without the
obstruCtions which might be' interposed to their Pro-
res. were Mr. O'Connell and his friends present in
the House. They will thus get thiough the business
Of the session probably a Month sooner than they
would -do, 'were the eloqUenee
,of Mr. O'Connell
and his Repeal coadjutors to be employed in
the debates—a relief whiCh they would pur-
chase at a large price, if money could procure it.
But how does Mr. O'Connell reconcile his absence
from Parliament with the obligations which he under-
tcok when he 110!came,a member of the Legislature?
Can the self-constituted Repeal Association absolve
him from his engagement? Will the people of Ire-
lan,l—as distinguished frOM the mere mob—consider
that trashy speeches, delivered weekly at the Con-
ciliation Hall, will compensate for' regular attendance
in and laborious application to the varied duties of
Parliament ? The public business Or the country-
we are willing to admitcan ,be* conducted without
him, and those to whoni his example is a law. But
can Mr. O'Connell hope to maintain his position with-
out Parliament ? We trow not. ':
STANDARD.—The subjects which engaged the
attention of .the House of Commons last . night were
more important thin interesting; for however it hap;
pens to be interesting, a topic must have something of
novelty or something of the 'picturesque or senti-
mental ; and railroads, : Union workhouses, and
parochial . settlements present, little that is
either new, pictuiesque, or, sentimental. The;
topics are, ,nevertheless, grave and very im-
portant topics. As fat as We can ,under-.
stand Mr. , Wallace's very long speech, that
gentleman wishes
.for a kind of railroad saturnalia,
a. railroad license in the gross and the detail,
permitting. all persons to run railroads wherever
it may seem good to them, and then allowing
the public to make , use of them .ppon what
terms the moderation of railway travellera might
sward. This is a pleasant prospect enough.
Railways running side by side, crossing, jostling,
qui intersecting each other atevery angle of the
militant, for competition sake. But then starts up
another question—what chance of competition, when
travellerL are to be entitled to pay ad libitum, or,
for that
Wallace's r Troctrne
tarito use the railway, upon Mr.
of the universal " liberty of
locomotion," without
prebend that the Pa3'ing
anything ? We.
adoptionap-
prehend
°f
t very this
doctrine would put
an end to all railways 1:
simple process. Lord
Holvick takes a very diffearenet v' of the matter. If
Mr. Wallace would have a railroad
anarchy, Lord
Howick contends for a railroa autocracy in the Le-
gislature or the Executive, it is not
Railroads, says his Lordship, are intended
which.
public
convenience ; but the public being blind to own
convenience, authority must interpose to
mark out the most convenient line. The infeereitinc7is
just, were the antecedent correct ; but the antecedent
is is not correct : the public is not blind to its own
convenience, but much more clear-sighted in the
matter than any legislature or any executive, and'
has a much stronger motive than either can have to
exercise• its discernment.- Railroads are calculated
for gelieral convenience ; but this convenience
'is to be paid for, and the
.more persons
avail themselves of the convenience, the
greater the number of the persons who will
pay_ ; thus. the probable amount of payments
to be anticipated affords an exact measure of the
&mount of convenience to be afforded, and this is
the `very umc measure by, which. meg calculate
0-;02
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