The Sun.
London, England, 1844-06-10 00:00:00

incirtaim

LONDON, MONDAY, JUNI: 10, 1844.

In the course of a discussion which took place on
Friday in the House of Commons on the subject of the
Scotch Parishes Bill, Sir JAMES GRAHAM had the
hardihood to take the Hon. Member for Perth to task
for what he was pleased to call his inconsistency.
The.se who live in glass houses should never fling
stones, says the old adage, and, of all men in the world.
the'Home Secretary is the very last who should have
taunted any one with vacillating or inconsistent con-
duet ; for he is himself the most perfect speci-
:,
men that the present age can show of political
Jim Crowism—a peculiarity in his public cha-
racter to which Mr. Fox MATJLE thus point-
edly alluded :—" The Right Honourable Baronet
had accused him of inconsistency. Nov, he thought
he aught to have been the last person to make such a
charge. The man who wrote Corn and Currency,'
and who now sat as the supporter of the agricultural
interest, ought to be very cautious in charging an-
other with inconsistency." Mr. Fox MAULE
went
on to observe, by way of more effectually pointing
his 'sarcasm, " In a celebrated caricature publication
of the day, the Right Hon. Baronet was represented
as receiving a deputation from the distressed thimble-
riggers. One of these thimble-riggers was made to
ask-him if he had any objection to allow the game of
roind-about ; to which he replied, Oh, no ; for I
have patronised round-about all my life.' " This was
a heme-thrust, clear and dextrous as one of ANGELO'S
best lunges; and though Sir JAMES GRAHAM, like the
rest of the House, is represented as having laughed
heartily at it, yet his laugh, we suspect, was of that
bitter, vindictive character which has been called,
the-rut/4 sardonicus. But Mr. Fox MAuLE's pungent
sarcasm does not apply to the Netherbyßaronet alone.
It is far More comprehensive in its application. It is
a hit at the whole Conservative majority—to say no-
thing oftheir expediency-loving Premier who, like his il-
lustrious colleague, the Home Secretary, is notorious for
having. "patronised round-about all his life." What
were the recent decisions on the Factory Bill in the
Hod a .of. Conamons but a game of round-about,
Phred by a set of Conservative political thimble-
rigFerit •
• • What is the conduct pursued by Sir
!I" tom the
.monopolists and the free-
coquetting with the one, now with the
other party, and juggling both—but a game of round-
abo:44 at which, however, no one is allowed to win

but himself ? What is the system of policy pursued
towards Ireland—a policy that seems to have
neither beginning, middle, nor end; that is
bottomed on no broad, intelligible princi-
ples of action ; that neither retrogrades nor ad-
vances, but goes round and round the same dull,
hacknied course ;—what, we ask, is this system of
policy but a game of round-about, depending solely
on the doctrine of chances ? But, perhaps, we ought
not to allege it as a fault against Ministers,
that they are partial to the round-about scheme
of Government, for it is from this very vacil-
lation and inconsistency of their's that we derive
Our chief hopes of extorting from them, one
day or other, all that we could desire. Were they
sternly and irrevocably wedded to principle—were
they the incorrigible slaves of prejudice, as were some
of the Tory bigots of the old school—faint and dis-
tant, indeed, would be the hopes of the Liberal party
of ever obtaining anything like substantial reform ;
still fainter and more distant the hopes of the Leaguers
of ever procuring the total abolition of the corn-laws.
But, thanks to the inconsistency of Ministers—to
their love of temporising, and their inordinate fancy
for the game of political round-about, our chances
of obtaining, one by one, all our demands in the
way of reform and free-trade, are by no means
few or remote. If we can expect nothing
from the good, wise, and correct principles of
the PEEL Cabinet, we may expect everything from
its apprehensions, and its quick, keen sense of ex-
pediency. It is no reason, because it declares against
the corn-laws to-day, that it should persist in that
declaration to-morrow. On the contrary, the pro-
bability is—that is to say, if the reasoning derived
from experience is to have any weight—that the
instant Ministers perceive that the country is ge-
nerally resolved on an entire abolition of the bread-
tax, that very instant they will give way, and " go
the whole hog" as Corn-law Repealers.

The resolution of the Ayr Town Council, and the
"reasons" that operated with them in affirming that,
resolution, we have transferred, in another column
from the published copy, extracted from the records
of the Council of that burgh. The " reasons " are
valuable as a succinct summary of the mischievous
principles of Sir ROBERT PEEL'S measure for "ex-
tending or limiting the issue of Bank notes, in obe-
di nice to the action ofth e foreign exchanges." The second
reason proves the ultimate tendency of the measure to
call gold, as the instrument of exchanges, into much
greater use than heretofore; to thereby enhance the
value of money, and aggravate the burden of all
debts and engagements; and, by this conjoint effect,
to renew that fatal panic which, on three memorable

occasions, since the passing of the Act of 1819,
"have spread ruin and bankruptcy over the land:,
The third shows that the gradual appropriation
of the profits on the issue of Bank notes, obviously
contemplated by the Government, will prove an in-
strument of taxation, the effect of which must fall ul-

timately upon the public, not upon bankers. The
fourth reason cautions the people of Scotland against
being lulled into a fond belief, by the Minister's
present abstinence from any pledge with regard to
that country, that he will not, at the earliest conve-
niant opportunity—if supported by the sanction of
Parliament—apply the same legislative process as the
now pending measure comprises, in respect of Eng-
land, for suppressing or curtailing the currency of
Scotland. The fifth reason is an admirable exposure
of that almost unaccountable and certainly most un-
founded analogy which Sir ROBERT PEEL,
in defiance of fact and all fair inference, 1
endeavoured to deduce in his speech of the 6th of May
last, "that competition in the business of banking must
lead to excessive issues','—from the experience of what
had occurred in the United States of America. " We,
ourselves, should marvel at the Premier's having ven-
tured on such an analogy, hal we not read his still
(nom startling asseveration that these American banks
were powerful banks generally, with unlimited re-
wonsibility and wise regulations." As the Ayr
meeting observe, " this is a palpable and most
unaccountable error." With what purpose Sir Ito-
BERT can have given utterance to an " error" so no-
toriously wide of the notorious truth, is yet more un-
accountable. " They were almost without any ex-
ception, Chartered State Banks, with limited re-
gponsibility ; their paid-up capital—the only guaran-
xe for their liabilities—being in reality, almost
Illusory, and their notes were depreciated, not from
excess, but from general discredit and fraudulent
,sankruptcy!" This is the real history of their case, in
a few words, sketched by the Magistrates and Council
if. the town of Ayr. How came the Premier so to
pervert a plain tale, as he has done, in his speech of
the 6th ult. ?

It is time, surely, that Members of the Legislature
,hould shake off the fatal apathy with which they
have hitherto looked on at the progress of this blun-
lering but most fatal proposition, with which the
rash incompetency of the Premier--unwarned by his
more juvenile experiment of 1819, unabashed by the
commercial ruin and social disasters which in suc-
ceeding years have associatel his name with the de-
tested recollections of that statute of imbecile pre-
gumption and the wanton misery which it has in-
flicted—is now again, about to vex the monetary sys-
tem of this country. Five-and-twenty years might
have afforded him, one should have thought, leisure
:or a searching examination into the results of his
destructive blunder, if they could not bring him to a
profound sense of his fault, and becoming sorrow for
the evils it had inflicted on the empire.
Contrasting those evils, recurring serious and ac-
cumulative as they are, with the impassable and
complacent (goisme to which we so lately referred, as
distinguishing the whol2 deportment of Sir ROBERT
in reference to this question—we beg to refer him to
another letter from Common Sense, which will supply
him with a reflection of his own capacity and powers
for dealing with a subject so complex and multi-
_ _

plied and vital in all its relations as our monetary
system, far more just, simple, ant true, than the
stimata he has himself, so unhappily for the public,
formed of those properties. The letter we allude to
is headei " A :Nearly Incredible Fact."

We have much pleasure in referring to our adver-
tising columns of this day for the announcement of a
lecture by Mr. CApes, at the British Coffee House,
on Tuesday next, at one. The lecture is to consist
of an examination of Sir ROBERT PEEL'S plans, show-
ing their tendency and effects.
It may not be generally known that Mr. CAPPS is

the author of the well-known pamphlet, entitled
" The Nation in a Dilemma," and of another " The
Currency Question in a Nutshell." If the writer's
knowledge of the subject on which he treats is to be
estimated by his having foreseen the issue of princi-
p7es under discussion, then may the writer of these
publications, by the following passage taken from the
latter of his productions, fairly lay claim to deal with
the subject of the currency as one perfectly his own.
The passage is in answer to the inquiry put in 1838—
" What will be the result if the present gold standard
of value be obstinately persevered in, when it is evi-
dent that gold is so underrated, compared with other
articles ?"

" The effect will be, as has been stated already, that
gold will have a tendency to leave the country; or, if
it be compelled to remain, the prices of all goods must
be forced down until they are as low as gold, which in
many cases will be below prime cost. To reduce the
cost of goods, therefore, there will be an outcry
against the corn-laws, that we may have cheaper
bread, thus ruining ie agriculturist. The order of
Providence will also continue to be subverted by un-
naturally forcing women and young children into
factories, that the cost of labour may be as little as
possible, thus destroying the legitimate effect of ma-
chinery, which ought to be the diminution of human
labour, and not the increase of it. And finally, we ,
shall have the mortification of discoveringthat these I
expedients will be of no permanent avail ; for, after
all these sacrifices have been made, we shall find
the power
eaws
eortheefr
tnhaetiiroeneashaagevrheaindiurayll!wea74roaxili,mwiatthe ttoheusin
im-
mense debt that w
to compete with them, ~,ware us, be unable
pain-
fully perceive that tl)iii` *lebt could then,ed
y also,have
heeereduced while we possessed the superiority we now
enjoy • and thatt„when we had
the I
debarred ourselves from profiting power, we insanelyy it, by fettering
ourselves with.itlfalse system of currency enablingthe
ow' foreigner t -je-by to abstract from us that wealth which
ought to ilave been applied to the redemption of our
own debts." .
It oily necessary to add, that the year after'
this prediction was made the stock of bullion was so
Jeduced in this comgry that the Bank of England
was obliged to seek a loan from that of France. All
the other effects, too, have equally followed.

The Paris papers are filled with speculations on
the unfavourable aspect of affairs in Algiers. It has
been for some days known that the Emperor of

Moaocco had joined ABD.EI,KADER, and proclaimed
a kind of holy war against the French invaders; the
report is now confirmel officially. Marshal SOULT,
the President of the Council and Minister of War, in
the debate in the Chamber of Deputies on Wednes-
day, defended an item (10,000 f.) in the credits re-
quired to establish certain military posts in Algiers,
and in doing so made the following reference to the
state of affairs in that part of the world:—
"The measures ordered by Marshal Bugeaud have been
approved by me, because I consider them not only useful, but
indispensable; they were the more expedient because the
holy war' has been proclaimed in Morocco. A considerable
concentration of troops, amounting to between 12,000 and
15,000 men, has taken place opposite our forts at Ouchda.
Now, on one of the points of the extreme limits of the Tell,
which is opposite to Ouchda, and in advance of Tlemeen, for-
tifications have been commenced, and it is our anxious desire
that they be completed before the war breaks out. In that
situation, I ask the Chamber, in what point of view am I to
consider the reduction of 10,0001'. proposed by the committee?
When the army shall hear of this discussion—when those
who are now in presence of the forces of Morocco shall hear
of the proposed. retrenchment of those 10,000 f, what impres-
sion will it produce upon their minds? Will not that por-
tion of the army think that the devotion which it evinces by
confronting the dangers with which it is menaced, and that
the efforts it has made to cover itself by throwing up fortifi-
cations calculated to increase i:s strength, entitled it to better
feeling? I maintain that, in the province of Oran, as
well as at Tiaret, Saida, and Sebdon, our troops are in
presence of an enemy's army. The formation of that
army is easily accounted for. Driven from Algeria, Abd-el-
Kader sought rtfuge in that portion of the Desert which is
considered a neutral territory. Since then he has repaired.
to Morocco, rallied to his standard several tribes of the em-
pire ever ready to disobey their Sovereign when it suits their
convenience, and who, blinded by religious fanaticism, were
easily fascinated by the exhortations of Abd-el-Kader, and
insomuch that the Emperor was unable to resist the impulse
communicated to him by his subjects, and was obliged to
proclaim ' the *holy war.' This result might have been
expected, fur Abd-el-Kader, being left without any re-
sources, and suing the reluctance of the tribes of Algeria
to make common cause with him, directed his attention to-
wards Morocco, where either by threats or other means he
contrived to secure the acquiescence or co-operation of the
Emperor of Morocco. Thus this concentration of troops took
place at Ouchda, and the two armies are now in presence. I
hope, nevertheless, that no war will have ensued. I have
every reason to think that the sight of our troops, and the
measures taken by our Generals, will suffice to check the
warlike ardour of the hordes of Morocco. But I would not
wish, when our troops arc so devoted—when the Generals
in command of them display so much ardour and adopt such
wise dispositions, that a manifestation from the Chamber
should induce a belief that their conduct is not sufficiently
appreciated."

The accounts from private sources are beginning to
assume a disastrous complexion. Galignanis Jlfes•
senger of Thursday contains the following from a
Toulon letter of the 3d inst. :

" We have received most afflicting news from the province
of Constantina, dated the 26th ult. The Duke d'Aumale
had left at Biscara a very small garrison, composed only of
Lieutenant Pettigand, Commandant; Sub-Lieutenant
Cro-
chard, and Aide-Surgeon-Major Arcelin, with about 40 men,
from the battalion of the Conctantina Fusiliers. This small
corps was intended to form the nucleus of a new battalion,
to be raised from among the tribes in the environs of Biscara.
Of all these, only a sergeant-mAjor, named Pelisse, escaped.
The new recruits opened the gates of the Casbah during the
night to Mahommed Seghir, the Kalifat of Abd- el-Kader
and his followers, who surprised our men in their sleep, and
killed them all. Plunder became general, and 7,000 f., left
with the Commandant to pay his men, and all the cannon,
muskets, ammunition, and other stores, were carried off.
This unfortunate affair is said to have encouraged the sur-
rounding tribes to take up arms. The fatal news having
reached the Prince while in the mountains of the Ouled
Sultan, he instantly marched to Biscara with a column of
3,000 men. lie arrived on the 18th, but the Kalifat had left
on the preceding day. The third battalion of the African
Light Infantry marched from Constantina on the 24th, for
Biscara, to form its garrison."
The Journal des Debats has an account to the
same effect; and the Siccle is enabled to speak more
in detail as to the results of this affair :--
" On the 11th ult., at 2 o'clock A.M., a false attack was di-
rected against the shah, and immediately afterwards the
conspirators in the town rushed upon the remainder of the
garrison, composed of a few French and a number of natives,
and put every one of them to death. The number of victims
of that treason is estimated at 50, amongst whom were two
officers, a surgeon, several sub-officers, a few workmen at-
tached to the army, and a number of Turks who had refused
to take part in the plot. The Kalifat carried of 60,000 ball-
cartridges, 80,000 franca, 300 muskets, 300 uniforms, and two
pieces of artillery."

The Opposition journals, so ready to denounce the
policy of the Government on all other occasions
Strongly support it in its determination to maintain
its ground in Africa at any cost, either of blood or
treasure, and advocate even an extension of conquests
in the territory, where it is with the utmost difficulty
that the army can keep what has been gained ; the
warmth of their zeal seems, indeed, rather to increase
with every new disaster. The Government doei not
seem indisposed to take advantage of the popular
feeling; great preparations are going on for the trans-
mission of additional troops t) Africa.

The Presse announces as certain that " his Majesty
the KING of the FRENCH will pay a visit to the
QUEEN of ENGLAND at her residence in the Isle of
Wight."

The Three per Cents. closed at 84f. 45c. ; the Five
per Cents. at 121 f. 95c. In Spanish securities the
Passive alone was quoted at 51.

THE BOURSE-THURSDAY, JUNE 6.

First Highest Lowest Last
Price. Price. Price. Price.
French Five per Cents• • 122 10 • . 122 10 .. 121 70 .. 121 80
Three per Cents.— .• 84 45 84 45 84 30 84 35
Bank of France
Laflitte Bank, I,ooof. Sharesll3-5 . • 1135 • • 113.5 . • 113.5
5,000 f. Sharessl2o ..5120 ..5120 ..5120
Belgian 8ank........
Belgian Fives, 1831—
1840 •••••• •• 105 f .. 1051 .. 1051 •. 1051
1842 •• •••• •• 169 .. 109 .. 109 .• 109
Dutch Two-and-a-Half • • (32 • • G 2 • • G 2 .. 62
Spanish Passive
Portuguese Five per Cents.. 461 • • 46: • • 46 • • 46
Neap01itan.........• • • • • . 100 25 • • 100 45 .. 100 2:5 .. 100 45
........ .... 104: .. 1041 •• 104 k .. 1041
RAILWAY SHARES.
St. Germain • • • • •• 912 50 .. 912 50 .. 912 50 .. 912 50
Versailles, R. 8......• ••• • • . 400 .. 400 •• • 400 .. 400
L.R. ..
Rouen
Rouen to Havre• •• • •••• • • • • 773 75 .. 778 75 .• 776 25 .. 776 25
Orleans ........ ...... ..• • .1013 75 ..1013 75 —lOOB 7'

:5 ..1004 75
.. 253 75 .. 251 25 .. 251 25