The Sun.
London, England, 1844-06-04 00:00:00

bEDIVVIED, BY PERMISSION, TO LIER MAJESTY THE the sentence on Mr. O'CONNELL and the other pri-
QUEEN DOWAGER.

Jut rea..ly, in 2 vols. small Svo., with Portrait, 21s. totted,
MEMOIRS OF
A BABYLONIAN PRINCESS,
MARIA THERESA ASMAR,
DAUGHTER OF EMIR ABDALLAH ASMAR,
rrcm her Birth amid the Ruins of Nineveh In 1804, to her arrival in
England in 1842.
WRITTEN BY HERSELF, and Translated into English ;
'ontaining a narrative of the persecutions and destruction of her
T.:idly on account of their adherence to the Christian faith; of the
s. ...nes she 1w witnessed, and the trials she has experienced, during
1.1,r residence in 3lcsopotanaia, Jerusalem, Mount Lebanon, Kurdis-
tm, Ispahan, Teheran, and Schiraz ; together with an account of her
Sz-avels in Italy, France, and England.
Orders received by all Booksellers.
Henry Colburn, Publisher, 13, Great Marlborough-street.

seners be suspended till the writ of error should be
heard.
Some discussion took place about the future busi-
ness of the House, especially as regarded the Poor-
law Bill, the Bank Charter Bill, and the Irish Regis-
tration Bill, but Sir ROBERT PEEL, with his usual
tact, contrived to give answers which left Members
exactly in the same happy state of ignorance.
Mr. T. DUNCOMBE put a question about the cause
for sending troops to Guernsey, and also asked
whether Sir ROBERT PEEL would have any ob-
jection to furnish a copy of the judgment and com-
mitment in the case of " The QUEEN v. O'CONNELL
and Others." Sir ROBERT PEEL said the Hon.
Member had better give notice of motion on both
queations, which was accordingly done. We thus see
that the monster trial is only beginning. What
with the debates in the Commons, and the discussion
on the writ of error in the Lords, the whole battle
will be fought over again.
The House went into Committee on the Sugar
Duties Bill, when the CHANCELLOR of the EXCHE-,
QER moved certain resolutions of which he had given
notice, and which have appeared in The Sun.
Lord JOHN RUSSELL moved, as an amendment to
the propositions of the CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER,
a reduction of duty on all foreign sugar to 345.
per cwt.

HER MAJESTY'S THEATRE.
THIS EVENING JUNE 4,
Will be performed (first time this seasen),
LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR.
Lucia, Madame Persiani ; Edgardo, Sig. Mario; Bidebent, Sig.
T-titoni ; Llirico, Sig. f ornasari (his first appearance in that Cha-
)zt_ter).
ro conclude with the Grand Ballet entitled ALMA
_On Four
Sitileaux), in which Mdlles. Cerito and Frassi, and Mons. M.
I. Leon and Perrot will appear.
Applications tor Boxes, Stalls, and Tickets to be made at the Box
fi.!ice, Opera Celenr:ade. Doors open at Seven. The Opera will
or,..usence 4 Halt-past Seven.

Mr. GLADSTONE resisted the motion, and after a
lengthened discussion the House divided, when there
appeared for the resolutions 197, for the amendment
128—Majority for the resolutions 69. The House
then resumed, and the report was ordered to be
brought up on Wednesday.
The other Orders of the Day were then disposed of,
and the House adjourned at a Quarter to Twelve.

The imprisonment of Mr. O'CONNELL and the
other traversers has, as was to have been anticipated,
created an extraordinary ferment throughout the
length and breadth of Ireland. " The people be-
lieve," says the Irish correspondent of a Morning.
Contemporary, "that the Liberator has been un-
justly convicted; they look upon him as a martyr in
their cause, and in the prison to which he has been
consigned, he is much dearer to them than ever.
The Repeal movement, so far from being checked by
the sentence, has received a new and powerful
impetus. The humbler classes have become still
-fore enthusiastic ; many of the middle classes,
who had heretofore kept aloof, are now
eagerly joining. Government, in fact, have
made it a matter of pride and duty, on the
part of the people to swell the ranks of the Repealers.
We are now only at the commencement of this move-
ment, and yet the whole country is ringing with the
cry of indignation at the incarceration of Mr. O'CON-
NELL ?" This statement is confirmed by the greater
part of the Irish journals, which represent the people
as being everywhere deeply exasperated by the sen-
tence passed on their leader--an exasperation which is
only kept within due bounds by the earnest persua-
..

'ions and remonstrances of Mr. O'CoxNELL him-
self. Were it not for his indefatigable efforts
t,o preserve tranquillity in Ireland, not all the
horse, foot, and artillery, and marchings and counter-
rnarchings of the troops which Government, for the
last six or eight months, has been incessantly pouring
into the sister country, would prevent it from being
in a state of hazardous disturbance from one end to
the other—more especially throughout the south,
where the peasantry are Repealers almost to a man.
But though—thanks to Mr. O'CoNNELL's strenuous
exertions—there is no question that the peace of Ire-
land will be maintained, yet the tranquillity will at
best be but a sullen and reluctant tranquillity; and
the imprisonment of the Liberator will be the
means of engendering a bitterer feeling towards
Government than has ever yet existed in the hearts
of the Irish people. And this is about the sum total
of all that Ministers will have gaitied by their
late State prosecutions. Of course they imagined
that by convicting O'CopmELL they would effectually
draw the teeth and pare the claws of the great lion
whose roar has so often frightened them; but instead
of this, they have been the means of arming him with
additional power ; and they will find ere long—if
they have not begun to discover the fact already—
that O'CoragEra, within the four walls of a prison,
debarred from the sight of the thousands—millions of
his countrymen, who nightly offer up their fervent
?rayers for his welfare, is a more influential per-
sonage than O'CONNELL surrounded by hosts of enthu-
iiastic adherents in the Conciliation Hall, or addressing
myriads of the people at one of the monster-meet-
ings of Tara or Mullaghmast. As for the Repeal
:agitation being put a stop to by the fine and imprison-
ment of the " convicted conspirators," such an idn
is perfectly preposterous. It may not indeed be
carried on so openly as it was last year ; there may
oe less apparent stir and disquiet on the surface ; but
a deeo, bitter feeling will be at work underneath, and
,he spirit of determination will become more intense,
just in proportion to the necessity that exists for
keeping it concealed. The monster-meetings, greatly
as Government deprecated them, acted as a sort of
afety-valve to carry off much of the discontent and
disgust of the nation ; but this safety-valve
closed, we may reasonably anticipate that the
dissatisfaction of Ireland with England will

daily acquire fresh force. Government, had it
chosen to do so, might have allayed much of this
angry feeling by bringing forward remedial measures
in due season; but it has let opportunity after oppor-
tunity slip by, and is at this moment unprepared
with any one comprehensive project for the benefit of
the sister country. The Registration Bill—a noto-
rious blunder, by-the-bye—it seems to have tacitly
riven up; it declines having any thing to do with a
reform of the Irish Church Establishment; and
though it has issued a Landlord-and-Tenant Commis-
:ion of Inquiry, yet no one knows when the Commis-
loners will make their Report, and no one—at least,
in Ireland—seems to place any very implicit faith in
-heir impartiality.

We give, in another column, an abridged account
~f some proceedings at a meeting of noblemen, de-
puty-lieutenants, bankers, &c , of Scotland, con-
vened for the purpose of considering the resolutions
with respect to the renewal of the Charter of the
Bank of England, and the future negotiation of bank-
ing in general (brought forward by Sir ROBERT
PEEL on the 7th May), the Earl of EGLINTON in the
chair. As might be expected from a body of gentry
so intelligent, and of such practical experience as that
which composed this meeting, the subject was dis-
cussed with much good sense and temper. No sec-
tion of the community has been more benefited by
the system on which banking is at present car-
ried on than the Scottish public. The continued
circulation of small notes, and the facilities thereby
afforded to the local agencies of the Scotch banks for
accommodating the immediate wants of remote
districts, have led to an extension of agricultural im-
provement, and an aggregate of social and commercial
prosperity, such as Scotland has never before attained
to. These privileges, if so they are to be called, our
Sottish brethren have certainly enjoyed, whilst in
England we have been deprived of them during the
last sixteen or eighteen years. But they have availed
themselves of this advantage with so much credit to
themselves and advantage to the community—they
have shown so much capacity to use, and so little in-
clination to abuse it—that we heartily concur in
the anxiety manifested at the Ayr meeting for its
continuance.

Mr. BALLANTINE, Mr. JAMES OSWALD, and Mr.
RIGBY WesoN, severally observed, with great force,
on the incalculable benefits which Scotland
had derived from the accommodation that
the existing system, accompanied by the
continued and extensive circulation of small
notes, afforded to every branch of manufacturing
and agricultural industry and enterprise ; and Mr.
WAsox, with strict truth, insisted that no necessity
had arisen for any change in this condition of
things; and that throughout Scotland there had been
no demand for any such change. But the foolish
nonsense which the bullionist claquers of Sir ROBERT
PEEL'S unhappy currency exhibitions are so prone to
utter, touching the exigency for a metallic standard
of value, and a purely metallic currency, as the
legalised currency of the kingdom, is too apt to pass
with those who are too indolent to read, and think,
and judge for themselves on these vital questions of
our monetary policy, for the suggestion of a sound and
cautious policy. Why ? Because it is combined with a
specious
pretext of reason. Thus, it is argued, 1. That
the Bill of 1819 was required, and that its proposed
extension in 1844 is still essential, for the control of

that "injurious tendency"- which the foreign ex-
changes have to turn against us, for protracted terms,
at frequent periods. 2. That the circulation of a
paper currency of joint-stock and private banks,
undef any regulations whatmever, has a perpetual
operazion to generate ol cr-issues, or depreciated or
wJr.hless paper. 3. That consequent upon such over-
issue of paper money, a rapid and quickly in-
creasing depreciation of our commerce.

We have so often argued against these assumptions
at length, that we are content to cite, for efficient
answers to them, on the present occasion, a single
sentence from each of three speeches delivered at the
Ayr meeting in question.
I. As to the foreign exchanges, Mr. BALLANTINE
said—" He could not conceive how it should ever be
thought that the issues should be regulated by the
state of foreign exchanges ; and that the country
ought to control traffic, whether manufacturing,
agricultural, or commercial. Currency should be the
servant, not the master." And Mr. TAYLOR re-
marked, that " the exchanges arose from the imports
exceeding the exports, or vice versd , the balance of
payment being in gold. It was not in the power of
any Government to change the balance of payment,
.without producing paralysation of trade, and great
confusion amongst mercantile transactions throughout
the country."
2. As to the apprehended danger of over-issues,
Mr. BOSWELL, of Garallan, stated that—" From 1836
to 1841, although a considerable number of new
banks had been started, the circulation was scarcely
increased at r.ll .In fact, it was impossible, from
the very system in which banks were (in Scotland)
conducted, that an over-issue could take place."
3. The present depression of trade, Mr. TAYLOR
declared was "to be attributed solely and entirely to
any attempt at the diminution of present issues."

There have just been issued from the Parliament
Paper-office, prints of a "Bill to regulate the Issue of
Bank :Notes, and for giving to the Governor and
Company of the Bank of England certain privi-
leges for a limited period."—(Prepared and brought
in by Mr. GREENE, Sir ROBERT PEEL, and Mr.
CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER, and ordered by the
House of Commons to be printed on the 24th inst.)
This Bill, in its present form, consists of twenty-
seven clauses, with three schedules annexed, marked,
respectively, A, B, and C. Its enactments are in
perfect keeping with that spirit of reckless interference
with the investment and the rights of private capital
employed in the business of banking, and with that
proneness to tamper with the general currency of the
country, which are the besetting vices of the Pre-
mier's whole official career. The preamble, after de-
claring it to be expedient to " regulate the issue, in
England and Wales, of bills or notes payable on de-
mand;" and setting forth the 3d and 4th Wm. IV. c. 98,
an "Act for giving to the Corporation of the Governor
and Company of the Bank of England certain privileges
for a limited period, under certain conditions"—fur-
ther declares the expediency of " continuing the pri-
vileges of el,:alusive banking therein mentioned to the
said Governor and Company, with certain alterations
such as are herein contained." Clause 1 enacts that
from and after the 31st August, 1844, the Bank of
England shall establish a separate department for
issue, to be kept wholly distinct from its general
banking business. Clauses 2 and 3 are intended to
carry out the natab!e project of the Premier for the
future regulation of the extent and management of
these issues by the Bank. The Governor and Com-
pany are to set apart and appropriate to the issue de-
partment securities to the value of 14,000,0001.,
(whereof the debt due by' the public to that corpora-
tion shall be deemed to be part), and are also to trans-
fer to the said department so much of the gold coin,
and gold and silver bullion then held by the Bank,
shall not be required by the' banking department
thereof; and thereupon there shall be delivered out o
the sail issue department into said banking depart-
ment of the Bank of England, such an amount of
Bank of England notes as, togother with the Bank of
England notes then in circulation, shall be equal to
the aggregate amount of the securities, coin and bul-
lion, so transferred to the said issue department of the
Bank; and the a hole amount of Bank of England
notes then in circulation, including those" thus de•
livered out to said banking department, " shall be
deemed to be issued on the credit of such securities,
coin and bullion, so appropriated and set apart to said
issue department."
Thus far the meaning and intent of the clause are
obvious, though it is no where stated what criterion
shall be adopted—or by whom it shall be devised and
applied—for ascertaining the amount of gold coin,
billion, 6T., which shall be required by the banking
department. Now this is an important integer of
a system, the rash and presumptuous aim of which is
to assign certain definite LIMITS to the whole legal
currency of the country—incapable of any extension
beyond a given point, but subject to diminution and
fluctuation within it, according to the extent of the
excess of demand far gold. For how does this clause

EC as

run on ?
" And from thenceforth it shall not be lawful for
the said Governor and Company to increase the amount
of securities for the time being in the said issue de-
partment, save as hereinafter is mentioned ; but it shall
be lawful them to diminish the amount of such se-
curities—and again to increase the same to any sum
not exceeding in the whole 14,000,0001., and so, from
time to time, as they shall see occasion ; and from
and after such transfer, &c., it shall not be lawful for
thc said Governor and Company to issue Bank of
England notes, either into the banking department
of the Bank of England, or to any person or persons
whatever, save in exchange for other Bank of
England notes, or for gold coin, or for gold or silver
bu'iion received or purchased for the said issue
d3par:m !nt . . . . or in exchange for securities
ac juirel or taken in the said department under this
Act ; and 12,•)3n any dinsinxtiim of the aggregate amount
of coin, bullion, and secza in the said issue depart-
ment fur the time being, tie said Governor and Com-
pany shall call in and reduce the amount of Bank of
England notes in circulation to the same extent, and
s:) from time to time."

From these words, it is clear that a reduction of
th, gold reserve or store in the Bank vaults will be
a reduction pro (onto, of the "aggregate amount of
coin, bullion, and securities." What limit will any
man venture to fix on the enhanced value of money
which will ensue on the growing scarcity of gold,
and the proportionate contraction of the whole cur-
rency? What pint of depreciation will any man
venture to assign beforehand, as that beyond which a
coincident depreciation of price, and a still further
decline of wages, NI ill net pass? For the trade of
the capital in particular, of the country in general,
of the universal commerce of the empire, no more
signal or effecCve manacles could be forged than
those which are comprised in these enactments—thus
worded, per se, and without qualification. For Sir
ROBERT PEEL, or any other wealthy commoner pos-
sassed of an eAate, uuincumbered, and still thriving
under his shrewd and improving management, no
doubt, such a clause as this is calculated to produce
admirable results. They who &zee the money are
hard legislators for those who have yet to get
it. The successor to an enormous fortune realised
by the honourable industry of his immediate
progenitor, may find in his strong-box heavy mort-
gages for money rais.al at the depreciated paper cur-
rency that operated such wonders after the " fatal
measure" of 1797 for restricting the Bank from cash

payments. To him—especially if he be as angry with
that Act as the Premier avowed himself to be, on the
Ist of May last, on account of its disturbing " the

theories and notions of men with respect to the stand-

and of value"—it may be delightful pastime to exact
payment of such mo:tgages in the much enhanced

gold coin of the realm, or in the broad lands on which

,hey have been securely charged. If he be not merely

a thrifty exactor of hii legal rights, but somewhat of a

politico-economico pedant to boot, it must be an ex-
quisite revenge thus to insist " upon his bond" against

the reckless disturber of his bullion theories. But it

seems to us that this scheme is so palpably one con-

trived for the selfish and exclusive advantage of all
present capitalists against all competitors in the

markets of industry or the field of honourable corn-

petition and public distinction, that it can only be
requisite to demonstrate its bearings to secure its
present rejection, or compel its speedy withdrawal.
If the clauses we have quoted were left without
impartial qualifications in those which follow, this
Bill would have made that portion of our monetary
system with which it attempts to grapple, a second
bed of PROCRUSTES, upon which the commerceof these
kingdoms, despite its gigantic and growing propor-

THE SIM, LONDON, TUESDAY EVENING, JUNE 4, 1844.

tions, would have to be tied down, and lopped and
mutilated, more or less, according to the fluctuating
dimensions of that system. This was a result which
the concoctors of the Bill seem to have anticipated as
possible. So, in clause 5, power is given to her MA-
JESTY in Council, on application of said Governor
and Company of the Bank of England, in the event
of any now issuing banker discontinuing, after a cer-
tain date, to issue his own notes, to authorise the said
Governor and Company " to increase the amount of
securities in said issue department beyond the total
sum of 14,000,0001., and therefore to issue additional
Bank of England notes to an amount not exceeding
such increased amount of securities specified in such
Order in Council; such increase not to exceed two-
thirds of the amount of such discontinuing banker's
authorised issues."

Let us suppose the case of these concurrent con-
tingencies, viz., (I)—the sudden extension of an old
or opening up of a new market abroad for the sale
of our manufactures, at so advanced a period of the
shipping season for the distant regions, wherever the
markets are situated, as to admit of no delay in
making the required investments or exports ; (2)—
on a recent serious contraction of the Bank of Eng-
land's issues of paper, under the provisions of this
Act, and a consequent drain of gold which has found
its way to the Continent; (3)—the arrival of exten-
sive remittances of produce from their want of
money, from the insolvent American States, from
China, from the Australian Colonies. Since, to
warrant the increased issues whkh the Bank of Eng-
land may thus make to the amount of two-thirds of
the average circulation of the private bank declining
to continue its previous issues, application must be
made to, and an order be issued by the QUEEN in
Council, and such order be formally promulgated and
published in the London Gazette, what is to be done
in the interval for the additional money or currency
absolutely necessary to remove all transactions con-
nected with such investments outwards, and such
imports of produce, out of the destructive and bar-
barous operation " of that condition of barter, which is
the haunting spectre so assiduously excommunicated
by these bullionists themselves ?" Of the other pro-
visions affecting joint stock and private banks of
issue, we can only repeat our former opinion—that
they compose one of the most tyrannous and clumsy
pieces of legislation ever propounded to Parliament.
But we shall enter more largely into this part of the
subject next week, upon noticing the enlarged and
greatly improved edition which has just appeared of
the admirable "Letter to the Premier, by an En-
quirer after Truth." The case of unskilful and inex-
cusable tampering with this vital question, which it
alleges against Sir ROBERT PEEL, is the most con-
clusive that we have yet seen adduced.

We have received Madrid Journals of the 27th.
The Gazette contains official dispatches, announcing
the arrival of the two QUEENS and the Infanta at Va-
lencia, on the evening of the 23d. They were re-
ceived with great rejoicings. The Barcelona journals
bring news of a very different description. More
wholesale murders are thus announced in the Verdad:—
" Twelve Carlists were shot at Morella on the 19th,
among whom were two officers, a captain, and a lieu-
tenant, who had served under Cabrera. Since the 15th
of April 120 Carlists have been shot in Catalonia."

On Saturday the French Chamber of Deputies,
after a very desultory discussion, voted the supple-
mentary credits for the departments of Foreign
Affairs, the Interior, and Commerce, and Agricul-
ture. During the lengthened talk to which these
votes gave rise almost every topic connected with
foreign affairs had been touched by one speaker or
another; and it is gratifying to find that England
for once escaped without blame from any party. In
fact, the rage against this country is wesring itself
out, partly because there really is no ground of com-
plaint, but chiefly, we believe, because the writers
in English journals have generally treated the attacks
of the Legitimatist and the Republican party with
silent contempt. The Journal des Debats, in a hu-
morous article, makes a few comments on the ram-
bling discourses delivered by Messrs. THIERS, MAU-
GUIN, BILLAULT and Co. "In following the debate,',
it says, "We have travelled from north to south,
from east to west, with a facility of locomotion the
very thoughts of which brings on giddiness. From
Monte Video, whence we returned with M. CHE•
GARAY, M. DE LAGRANGE transported us to
China, and from that country M. DE VATRY
suddenly whirled us off to St. Domingo,
and without giving us time to breathe. M. MAU..
GUIN embarked us for Spain, and there treated us
with a lecture on history. This lecture, it would ap-
pear, was a very heavy affair, for no one considered it
worth the least notice. M. DE ST. MARC GERARDIN
put some questions relative to the Greek Constitution
and the disturbances
.in Albania. According to
the original treaty by which Greece was
erected into a kingdom, and to which Eng-
land, France, and Russia were parties, -it was
stipulated that the Crown, failing the direct line of
the present KING, should go to one of his brothers,
or their descendants. By the new Constitution that
clause is set aside, as the successors of OTHO must
profess the religion of the Greek Church, and as the
Royal Family of Bavaria is Catholic, they conse-
quently are excluded. M. GuizoT said the three
Powers did not think themselves justified in inter-
fering, and had merely stated their objections to the
Court of Munich. In reference to the disturbances
in Albania, he said the most pressing instructions had
been sent on the subject to the French Ambassador at
Constantinople, and that owing to his exertions, and
those of the British Ambassador, energetic measures
had been adopted by the Porte, and large forces were
now on their march to repress the Albanians and pro-
tect the Christians.
,Several of the journals advert to the visit of the
Emperor of RUSSIA to this country, and express some
alarm lest Queen VICTORIA should transfer her at-
tachnient from Louis PHILIPPE to NICHOLAS. The
Constilutionnel thus alludes to the imperial visit :
"The Emperor of Russia is now in London. At the very
moment that the Journal de la Hezye announced, with the
affirmative tone which characterises . semi-official prints,
that the journey to London of its Sovereign's brother-in-
law was postponed to next year, the Emperor Nicholas,
faithful to his taste for surprises, was arriving at Berlin
on the 26th, starting for Brunswick on the 27th, rapidly
crossing Germany, availing himself as much as possible of the
railroads, and arriving on the 30th, at 11 A.M., at the Hague,
where the Queen and Princes of the Royal Family were
receiving him at the palace of Noord-Eine. He was to start
again next day, for London. He has now been twenty-four
hours with Queen Victoria. Greater impressement could not
be displayed in responding to the advances made by Sir
R. I'eel to the Emperor, in a speech, inter pocula, which
everybody remembers. It will be recollected that the Prime
Minist& of Great Britain spoke with marked affection of the
cordial understanding which united his Government with that
of Russia. It is very probable that M. de Brunnow was no
stranger to that extempore speech. Be this as it may, the
Tories have just followed their old penchant, and summoned
to London the most powerful of the Sovereigns who style
themselves eminently legitimate. A Whig Cabinet, on friendly
terms with France, would certainly have been much less
anxious for this visit of the autocrat. The visit is, no daub

not a reason for living on bad terms with a Tory Government:
But what is now the serious meaning of our famous cordial
understanding? What becomes of the joys of the Chateau
t'Eu visit, and of the innocent triumphs of our Ministry ?
The pilgrimage to Belgrave-square had already much spoiled
matters; what will the journey of the Emperor of Russia
then do ?"