The Sun.
London, England, 1844-03-09 00:00:00

FROM TEE MORNING PAPERS •F TRW DAT.

TIMES.—The plan for reducing the interest of the Three.
and•a.Half per Cents., announced last night by the Chancellor
of the Exchequer, was received with an unanimous approval
which really appears almost incomprehensible. The public and
the public's creditor—stock-holder and taxpayer—appear equally
well pleased with the terms of their bargain. Such, at least, we
I.may presume to be the case, when in the House of Commons—a
' body in which all may safely be supposed contributors to the na.
tional revenue, and most receivers of some amount of dividends—
not a single voice was raised in depreciation, however modified, of
Mr. Goulburn's measure. We do not, indeed, quite apprehend
the force of Mr. Baring's sentiment, that this reduction " would
be to other States a useful lesson that good faith to the public cre-
ditor is not only an honourable but even an economical policy."
This reduction of interest may be perfectly honest, but
it seems difficult to claim for it the high merit of
honourable generosity which Mr. Baring finds there, and
still more impracticable to establish between its eco-
nomy and its good faith that particular relation of cause
and effect which he seems to discover. The only faint whisper of dis.
content arose from Mr. Blewitt, who surmised that " the dissen.
tients might be found more numerous than the Chancellor of the
Exchequer seemed to expect." Perhaps our City Intelligence of
yesterday may serve to relieve his apprehensions. After the Go-
vernment's intention to reduce had been publicly announced, and
the particular terms which were to be proposed not uncertainly
conjectured in the City, the Three.and.a.Half per Cents. conti-
nued, and we may now fairly expect they will continue, to corn.
mond the price of about 10214. It will be indeed remarkable if
many stockholders are found of minds so peculiarly constituted as
to demand from Mr. Goulburn 1001. for what they might sell in
the market fur 1021. 10s. Meantime, the public has to congra.
tulate itself on an immediate saving of 625,0001., and an ultimate
one of a million and a quarter per annum. "It is an ill wind
that blows nobody good ;" and so this gain may be taken in part
compensation of the stagnation and lack of commercial enterprise
which has made the coming reduction practicable.
ADVERTISER.—It wilt be seen from our Parliamentary .Te.
port, that the Chancellor of the Exchequer last night explained the
mode in which he intends to effect the the reduction of the rate of
interest on the Three-and a.Half per Cents., which he announced
on Wednesday. The reduction is to three and a quarter, with a
guarantee that no further reduction will be made for ten years to
come. After the lapse of that period a further reduction of an-
other quarter will take place, with a guarantee that no further re.
duction will be made until the year 1874. This is, perhaps, the
best mode in which the operation could have been performed.
Though the saving to the public will be about 1,250,0f00/. per an-
num, the reduction is so slight and so gradual, that the annuitants
will not sensibly feel it. There is a general impression, which, we
trust, the event will confirm, that the saving effected by the con-
version of the Thrce-and-a_Halfs will not only enable, but dispose
Sir Robert Peel to dispense with the income.tax, when the three
years have expired.

HER A LD.—The inveteracy of the Opposition to Ministers and
their measures, in which some of our Contemporaries indulge, leads
them into laughable blunders. Thus the Chronicle yesterday ob.
jected to the proposed reduction of the Three.and.a.Half per
Cents. ; " not that the Ministers take advantage of the [Money]
Market, but that they have made the market in :order to take ad.
vantage of it." This great discovery—this ascription of a miracu.
lous power over the Money Market to Mr. Goulburn, will rather
astonish Lombard-street and the discount brokers. But how does
the reader think that the Chancellor of the Exchequer " has
made the market ?" By " secret and mysterious operations," we
are told in one sentence ; and by " restrictive laws," it is further
explained in the next. How " restrictive laws " can be "secret
and mysterious operations" we are not instructed; but we let
the neutralising inconsistency pass, to inquire what " restrictive
laws" Sir Robert Peel has procured the enactment of ? Every
economical law he has proposed to Parliament has been for the
relaxation of restrictions ; and so far from the effect of his legis.
lation being, as is alleged, to "cripple manufactures," it has had
the very opposite result. The Annual Trade and Navigation
accounts were presented the other day to Parliament, and
they exhibit a very remarkable increase during the
last year, in the exportation of our " crippled "

manufactures. The declared value of British produce
and manufactures exported in 1842 was 40,785,3501. ; in 1843 it

. .
rose to 44,720,5631.; and the greater part of this increase is in
" crippled" cotton and woollen goods. In 1843 we exported
16,248,7591. worth of cottons against 13,907,884/.ln 1842, and in
1843 again we exported 6,784,4321. worth of woollens against

5,185,0451. in the year I84:1. In all the leading articles of import
there was also an increase of consumption last year; in coffee,

sugar, tea, tobacco, wine, and tallow, the augmentation was consi
_ .

derable, and the tonnage of our shipping employed in foreign trade
likewise increased. If, then, Ministers have been "mysteriously

and secretly" preparing for a reduction of the Three.and.a.Half
per Cents., it hasbeenbyextending and not by " crippling" our

manufactures. Mr. Goulburn simply takes advantage of that
which, as a wise financier, he is bound to take advantage of—the
permanent low rate of interest caused by circumstances over which

he has no more control than the Chronicle. Had he undertaken

the reduction last year, he might have been accused of seizingon
a temporary depreciation in the value of money; he has waited
until a time when further postponement would be a neglect of pub-
lic interests, and that which really gravels our Contemporary is
the certainty that he will be successful, and the knowledge that
h:s success will still further increase the surplus revenue Sir Robert
Peel promised, and has given to the country. But the public will
find in our Parliamentary reports Mr. Goulburn's own full and con-

elusive explanation, the terms of the reduction, and a comprehen.
sive view of the whole subject.