The Sun.
London, England, 1844-04-22 00:00:00

BANK OF ENGLAND CHARTER.
The time is drawing near when Sir Robert Peel
must break his protracted silence respecting the mea-
sures to be proposed to Parliament, in connection
with the approaching expiration of the Charter of the
Bank of England.
If the rules which the Prime Minister prescribes
for others could for a moment be supposed applicable
to himself, we might wonder that the declaration of
his intentions on a subject of such magnitude should
be so long deferred. He has recently, in une-
quivocal language, stated to the House of Com-
mons what he thinks of those who delay the dis-
cussion of important measures till the concluding
months of the session of Parliament. If the repre-
sentatives of Ireland pray for a few days longer to
confer with their countrymen on a proposition which
is to convert their national representation into an
engine for registering the edicts of the Orange
landed proprietary, he gives a grumbling acqui-
escence, but under protest, and with an express
stipulation that no one shall hold him respon-
sible for whatever may be the consequence
of such blameable procrastination. But it would
seem that in his judgment delay is an evil only when
it is to be employed in deliberation ; when his
purposes have been made known, he deems it im-
possible that the nation should require any length
of time for the consideration of them. But he in-
variably reserves the declaration of those purposes
to the latest possible. moment. It is becoming
the practice of the Government to have only one of
its measures before the public at a time, withholding,
if possible, until that one is out of danger, or re-
jected, or withdrawn, all knowledge of those which
are to follow.
The Bank Charter question has not taken the
Government by surprise. Since the last renewal,
in 1833, it has been known to every one that this
year, if not'sooner, would be the time to legislate on
the subject. Having ample time to prepare, Minis-
ters accordingly gave early note of preparation.
The settlement of the Currency was among the
promises in the Queen's Speech; and,- certainly,
those promises were neither so many nor so brilliant
as to account for any tardiness in determining
how they were to be fulfilled. If the Ministers had
not made up their mind, during the recess, what
measure they should submit to Parliament on this
subject, they must be incapable of making it up, on
reasonable grounds, at all ; and if they had, what
prevented them from at once introducing their Bill,
that its principles and provisions might have been
canvassed, by competent persons, during the ten
weeks and upwards that have since elapsed, and the
minds of Parliument and the public prepared for an
adequate discussion, before the month of June, when,
as Sir Robert Peel tells us, it becomes a question
what portion of the Government measures the Go-
vernment intends to abandon ?
Instead of this, Ministers have maintained that perfect
silence which they seem to regard as characteristic
of statesmanship ; and we do not believe that there
is one, even of their Parliamentary supporters,
who can surmise, on just ground, what their pro-
position will be. The time, however, is past when
Sir Robert Peel's silence was supposed, even by
his own party, to conceal some great mystery of
State craft. He profited by this delusion while he
could; but, like most of the prestiges on which he
subsisted while out of place, it did not survive a year
after his accession to office. Most persons are now
convinced that when he says nothing, he has nothing
very valuable to say; that, as was formerly observed
of another political character, when he shakes his
head, there is nothing in it.
From the remarkable absence of interest, and
even of curiosity, which prevails in almost all quar-
ters concerning the promised measure—a state of
the public mind so unlike that which has so often
before been experienced on similar subjects—it
may be inferred that, in the opinion of the public,
Ministers are not likely to propose any material
alteration in what exists ; but will renew the Charter
of the Bank of England, on its present footing,
without extension, but also without curtailment, of
any of its exclusive privileges. This conjecture is
doubtless a very probable one. That a Minister will
do nothing at all, when not urged to action by some
powerful pressure, is generally a safe enough guess.
But still this is only a presumption, and sometimes
fails. What a Minister will never voluntarily do, is
to move in any direction that conflicts with the inte-
rests on which he relies for support. But where
none of these interests are implicated, the habitual
disposition of official men to leave things alone
alternates, especially since the Reform Bill, with
a rather strong occasional inclination to signalise
themselves by meddling. One of the principal
effects of that memorable measure, and of the general
break-up of old ideas and associations which accom-
panied it, was to diffuse a notion much more wideiy
than ever before, that the business of a Government
was not to sit still and receive the taxes, but to
look out in all directions for all means which could
be discovered of conferring benefit on the community.
The demand for improvement, and the spirit of it,
have been in far more active operation upon the minds
of rulers in the last eight or ten years than formerly.
But as the circumstances which stimulated the desire
for improved legislation could not all at once confer
the capacity of it upon men who had been occupied
all their lives with any kind of objects and ideas
rather than those which would have qualified them
for such a function, they are apt to come to, their new
task with minds rather ill prepared ; and the very
men who, when their purpose is to maintain things
unaltered, have at their fingers'-ends all the common-
places deprecatory of "speculative changes," are often
found, when they think the time is come for being
reformers, to be ready, dupes of the :crudest and
most superficial theories.
We confess that in the case which has led us into
this line of remark, our fears are chiefly of this
latter kind. The present system if it can be so called,
of the currency is, doubtless, far from perfect, as is
implied in the fact, that it is a medley of several sys-
sems, founded on conflicting principles. But we be-
lieve that the amount of practical evil fairly attri-
butable to its defects has been enormously exaggerated
by most writers on the subject ; while we con-
fidently affirm, that no theory which has been pro-
pounded for its improvement is sufficiently matured,
or has obtained that general sanction from the
opinion of those who are entitled to be considered
authorities, which would justify Parliament in
making any considerable changes on the faith of such
a theory. Yet we feel by no means certain that some
attempt of this nature will not, on the present occa-
sion, be made. If there is at present no strong direc-
tion of public sentiment in favour of such changes,
neither is there any strong disinclination to them ;
while, such is the diversity of individual opinion on
the subject, and so much that is plausible may be said
in favour of almost every view, that scarcely any plan
could be proposed of which, if brought forward by
Government, it could be affirmed beforehand to be im
possible that a considerable section of the mercantile
public might be induced to give it their support.—
Chronicle.

THE OJIBBEWAY INDIANS.—In consequence of the
British Swimming Society having promised to award a first-
class silver medal to the best swimmer of these celebrated
Indians, the swimming baths in High Holhom, kept by Mr.
Hedgman, were crowded with private visitors and that gen-
tleman's friends. At twelve o'clock the omnibus, with three
of the Indians outside, and the squaws, accompanied by Mr.
Anderson, arrived, as also Mr. Harold Kenworthy, the well-
known swimmer. In the rear of the omnibus, in full costume
and on horseback, were " We-nish-ka-wea-bee" (the Flying
Gull), and " Sah-ma" (Tobacco), with Mr. Green, their
medical adviser, who has attended them since they have
been in London, and who, on this occasion, suggested that
the temperature of the water should be raised to 85 degrees.
Flying Gull and Tobacco were selected as competitors, the
rest of the party being seated to witness the trial of, skill,
and the squaws being accommodated in an interior
room. While the two Indians were divesting themselves of
their costume, Mr. Kenworthy went through a series of
scientific feats, which excited the applause of the Indians
and spectators. At a signal the Indians jumped into the
bath, and, on a pistol being discharged, they struck out and
swan to the other end, a distance of 120 feet, in less than
half a minute. The Flying Gull was the victor by seven
feet They swam back again to the starting place, where
Flying Gull was a second time the victor. Their style of
swimming is totally un-European. They lash the water
violently with their arms, like the sails of a windmill, and
beat downwards with their feet, blowing with force, and
forming grotesque antics. They then dived from one end of
the bath to the other with the rapidity of an arrow, and
almost as straight a tension of limb. They afterwards entered
the lists with Mr. Kenworthy, who is accounted one of the
best swimmers in England, and who beat them with the
greatest ease. The Indians then remade their toilet, and the
whole party were shown round the extensive establishment,
at which they expressed great wonder. The medal will be
presented to Flying Gull in the course of the week. Mr.
Hedgman then conducted them to take refreshment in the
room with the :squaws, and after partaking of wine and
biscuits, they returned in the omnibus to the Egyptian Hall,
in time to resume the exhibition.
ST. PAUL'S.—Yesterday being the first Sunday in
Easter term, the judges attended divine service at St. Paul's
Cathedral. Shortly after 2 o'clock the Lord Chief Justice of
the Queen's Bench, the Lord Chief Justice of the Common
Pleas, Mr. Baron Gurney, Mr. Justice Patteson, Mr. Justice
Erskine, Mr. Justice Wi.htman, and Mr. Justice Cresswell,
assembled at the Judges Chambers, Sergeants' Inn, where
they were joined by several sergeants-at-law. A little before
3 o'clock the City Marshal arrived on horseback to announce
that the Right Hon. the Lord Mayor had left the Mansion
House for the purpose of meeting their Lordships at St.
Paul's. The judges then entered their carriages and_pro-
ceeded to the cathedral, where, having first joined the Lord
Mayor and the Bishop of London in the vestry, they subse-
quently proceeded into the choir in the following order :—The
City Mace and Sivordbearers, the Lord Mayor, Lord Denman,
and the other judges according to precedence. The Sheriffs
for London and Middlesex, Mr. Alderman Challis, and a large
body of Common Councilmen were also in attendance. The
sermon was preached by the Bishop of London. The ca-
thedral was very much crowded.
FOREIGN CunEsE.—lt appears by a Parliamentary
return, just issued, that the quantity of European cheese
imported into this country in the year ended Jan. 5, 1844,
was 136,998 cwt. ; from the United States of America, 42,312
cwt. ; from British possessions, 79 cwt. Total, in the year,
179.389 cwt.
On Friday last, Lord Morpeth presided at the
meeting of the Wharfdale Agricultural Society, at Otley,
which,-however, it only a show for cattle and horteL