The Sun.
London, England, 1845-02-17 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, MONDAY EVENING, FEBRUARY 17 145.

terms on which the money is raised that these
illegitimate but exciting operations demand :

" The gambling speculation which is daily going on in
them portends a crisis, which, bright as the aspect seems now,
will be very severe when it does come. The settlements at
the Stock Exchange are enormously large in amount, and
money is borrowed for the purpose at rates greatly higher
than those current in other quarters—even six and seven per
cent. ; this can perhaps be affordedwhile prices are constantly
advancing, but when the reverse comes, and come it must, the evil
effects will unfortunately be felt much beyond the Stock
Exchange."
- - - -

We have no doubt of it. Let it be remembered
that the prices of the public funds as well as of rail-
way shares are at present enormously high, and thus
offer an inducement to the fundholders to sell out and
realise whatever good security is offered now for the
advance of money. The state of the revenue upon
the whole is decidedly prosperous ; and pub-
lic confidence is gratified by the fact of a resulting
surplus,—of large amount, however questionably
produced, —of its income over its expendi-
ture. These conditions are all favourable to the
wants of those who may stand in need of temporary
loans for the purposes of their dealings in the Share
Market. But we implore our readers to contemplate
for a moment the overwhelming ruin which will ac-
celerate the first momentum of that re-action which
all sober thinking people regard as inevitable at no
distant period. Calculate first the instantaneous de-
mand for gold which accompanies the panic of such
a re-action. Consider, in the next place, the coinci-
dent contraction which must take place in the circu-
lation of the Bank of England on that run for gold
manifesting itself. Sir ROBERT PEEL has thought
proper, by way of remedy, for the disasters of 1825
and 1836-37, consequent on the sudden contraction
of the Bank of England's paper, to make that esta-
blishment the centre, and almost exclusive, source of
paper money issues, such paper money being conver-
tible into gold on demand at his Mint standard
price, utterly irrespective of its value in the bul-
lion market, and therefore of the primary element
of abundance or deficiency, which, despite your Acts
of Parliament, strikes the true value of bullion and
regulates it. If we imagine the day of re-
action arrived, the delivery or transfer of shares en-
forced, the prices of former sale-contracts demanded
and insisted on and unsatisfied ; the shock given to
mercantile credit, the wish to " realise" in all quar-
ters, with all kinds of bills, notes, securities, and
stock; the decline of prices which the funds and the
share market will immediately exhibit, and all the
other consequences certain to follow on such a state
of things ; what will be the relative condition of the
commercial body of the metropolis in the first instance,
and that of the Bank of England in the second ? With
all the prosperous aspects that now would warrant the
most extensive issues which, under the Complement
Bill of last year, the Bank of England has Govern-
ment securities and bullion to represent ; the whole of
its Bank-note circulation on the Ist instant was
28,232,0001. only. Gold being at about par in the
market with its Mint price, the Bank had on that
day in its coffers but 12,548,000/. in gold bullion, and

1,684,0001. in silver. What will the mercantile in-
terest do for discounts, when the Bank shall have—
nautilus-like—struck its sails at the first indication of
the coming storm; shall have contracted its paper issues
to some few millions less, in order to square them to
its fast-declining bullion store ; and perhaps, to relieve
the pressure of its own liabilities, set loose upon
the market some portion of the 11,000,0001. of
Government securities which in Sir ROBERT PEEL'S
pet scheme for its issue and deposit department,
make up so large and so illusory a portion of its
available convertible assets ? How much of the gold
drawn out of this country on account of the
20,000,000/. of English capital absorbed in French
railways, will find its way back to lighten the pressure
of a demand for gold, at a period when a large pro-
portion of the 80,000,0001. of British railroad invested
capital will be simultaneouly called for, to an extent
at least half as great as that of the Bank's whole
bullion store of the Ist instant ? What will be the ex-
tent of the frightful paralysis and disorganisation which
the action of Sir R. PEEL'S principle of convertibility
into gold will produce on the evolutions of commerce
and the fluctuations of prices ? What will be the
limit of the hideous sacrifices of property struggling
to snatch, on any terms, at the arbitrary representa-
tive of value, existing throughout the whole length
and breadth of the land in the proportion of but a
mere per centage on the paper currency of all kinds
whose circulation will be thus impeded, and of a mere
fraction in relation to the demands of our trading
community, and of the incalculable capital of that
dormant property which cannot get into the market
at all from the bungling and obstructive machinery
of the system, as it is called, which supplies no ade-
quate amount of currency for its representation ?
We greatly fear that but a few months will suffice
for the development of such a condition of monetary
affairs, as will alarm even the self-complacency of Sir
ROBERT PEEL into a sense of the responsibilities his
indulgence in currency crotchets has challenged.

An exceedingly valuable contribution (in the shape
of a Parliamentary Paper, presented by her MA-
JESTY'S command to both Houses) to the fiscal and
commercial statistics of this country appears to offer
an excellent means for testing the merits of Sir Ro-
BERT PEEL'S Tariff. The paper we allude to is en-
titled an "Expository Statement of the Consump-
tion of Imported Commodities within the United
Kingdom, and of the operation of the Customs' Duties
on such commodities, in two years preceding and in
two years following the establishment of the New
Tariff under Act 5 and 6 VICT., cap. 47, anno 1842."
When we observe that this statement extends through
eight schedules, occupying, independently of the
index, 170 folio pages, entirely appropriated to the
details successively comprised in the plan of such a
document, it may be readily imagined that it is
almost as impracticable to convey an adequate idea of
the value and variety of its contents by any abstract,
as it would be for us to bring the whole statement,
through a reprint in our columns, under the eye of
our readers. Nevertheless, we will attempt a suc-
cinct and intelligible analysis of the most remarkable
points which may be collected from this voluminous
collection of quantities and figures—in a simplified
and popular form.

The two principal data which this statement sup-
plies, it may be well to repeat, are these :-1. The
Consumption of Imported Commodities into Great
Britain and Ireland, in the two years before and the
two years after the coming into operation of the
New, Tariff; 2. The operation of the Customs' Du-
ties on such consumption during each of such two
periods respectively.
1. These eight schedules are arranged under a
fivefold classification which we cannot do better than
follow here, to direct the reader's attention. He has
only to refer to the initial letter of the schedule, to
understand what is the class of commodities embraced
by that schedule; and he will always understand
that, of the two sums or amounts which follow each
initial letter, the first sum represents the " mean an-
nual produce of duties" on the commodities compre-
hended under the schedule indicated in the two years
preceding the establishment of the New Tariff; the
second sum represents the mean annual produce of the
duties on some class of commodities in the two years
following the establishment of the New Tariff.

Now the schedules are thus, in general terms, ar-
ranged ; viz. (A) articles in a raw state to be used
in manufactures ; (B) articles partially manufac-
tured ; (C) articles wholly manufactured; (D) arti-
cles of food ; (E) articles not properly belonging to
any of the foregoing heads. (Let it be premised of
class A " that it includes some articles, which,
though not strictly in a raw state, have undergone
only a slight degree of preparation ;" and of class D,
that " there have been thrown into it, not only those
articles which contribute immediately to human
subsistence ; but also some which are used
chiefly, or entirely, in the fool of cattle ;
and others, such as spirits, wine, and to•
bacco"—which properly belong to the class of
condiments or stimulants.) Each of these classes,
from A to E inclusive, is, moreover, subdivided in
reference to the eight schedules into enumerated
"articles, producing under the operation of the New
Tariff, less than 1001. each of Customs' duties per
annum ; from 1001. to 5001. each; from 5001. to
1,000/. each; from 1,000/. to 10,000/. each ; from
10,0001. to 50,000/. each ; from 50,000/. to 100,000/.
each; 100,000/. and upwards each ; and articles ex-
empted from duty, or prohibited under the New
Tariff." (These exempted or prohibited articles are
but twenty-two in number ; and in the two years
before the Tariff produced a mean annual total of

but 1961. The prohibited articles are " corn ; raw
malt and ground; except wheat-meal, wheat-flour,
and oatmeal ; tobacco stalks, tobacco flour ;—also,
arms, ammunition, and utensils of war, by way of
merchandise, except by licence from her MA-
JESTY, for furnishing her MAJESTY'S public
stores, only;—coin, viz., false money, or counterfeit
sterling or silver of the realm, or any money
purporting to be such, not being of the established
standard, in weight or fineness." The articles de-
clared to be " free, and no entry required," are
" bullion and foreign coin of gold or silver, or of
which the major part in value is gold or silver,—
diamonds ;—live creatures illustrative of natural his-
tory ;—plants, shrubs and trees, alive ;'—specimens
of minerals, fossils and ores unenumerated, not ex-
ceeding 141 b. each ;—specimens illustrative of na-
tural history.") The mean biennial product of duties
upon 447 articles in schedule 1., was in the two years
preceding the tariff, 19,037/. ; in the two years follow-
ing it, 8,0401.; upon 137 articles (schedule 2),
71,9721. and 34,4611.; upon 50 articles (schedule 3),
69,0321. and 36,2581.; upon 109 articles (schedule 4),
570,7181. and 317,4921. ; upon 25 articles (schedule
5), 706,9111. and 511,570/. ; upon five articles
(schedule 6), 389,006/. and 395,603/. ; upon 17 arti-
cles (schedule 7), 20,810,5421. and 21,417,4621. ; upon
22 articles (schedule 8), 1961. and nil. Total, upon
813 articles, 22,637,4941. and 22,720,886/., showing
a difference of aggregate product, in favour of the
New Tariff', of 83,3921.
This difference is but trifling. The most notable
features of the Abstract are, the total excess upon the
aggregate of schedules 1,2, 3,4, 5, and 8, of
530,1251. in the product of the two years preceding,
over that of the two years following the Tariff; and,
on the contrary, the excess in the aggregate product
of duties in the latter named over the former period,
on schedules 6 and 7, of 613,517/. in favour of the
Tariff. It is observable that the greatest product of
duties is on the articles of food—the respective pro-
duce for the two periods being 18,246,120/. and
19,614,1161. ; again, a remarkable increase, under the
Tariff, of no less than 1,367,996/. On referring, for
the explanation of this result, to schedule 7, under
class D, we find only twelve enumerated articles,
producing this vast revenue. The articles are butter
(from British possessions and foreign countries),
coffee (British and foreign), corn (viz., wheat, barley,
oats, rye, peas, beans, indian corn, buckwheat, bear
or bigg, wheatmeal or flour, and oatmeal), currants,
raisins (British possessions and foreign), sugar (Bri-
tish possessions, East and 'West Indies and Mauri-
tius, and other countries), molasses (British and
foreign), spirits (rum, &c.), brandy, Geneva, and
other spirits.

2. The operation of these Customs' duties on con-
sumption, during each of the two biennial periods em-
braced by tl:e schedules, must be tested, of course, by
the simple exponent of the quantities of such com-
modities consumed in each of those periods respec-
tively. But, unfortunately, a serious defect in the
schedules is, that there is no notation of the total of
quantities of the article in each " which have paid
duty," before and after the Tariff : so that, except by
going minutely through all the details of the 813
articles to which they relate, and extracting the pro-
portions of that aggregate on each separate article,
exhibited under each of such schedules, there is no
means of getting at the second part of the result
which the title-page of the Blue-book professes to
show ; namely, " the operation of the Customs' duties
on consumption in each." Probably on the Budget of
the Premier, this evening, we shall arrive at the
general statement of this operation of the duties, at
the two periods, on consumption. The returns com-
prised in this Blue-book will, doubtless, be much can-
vassed in the course of the debate.

Madrid journals of the 9th instant have been re-
ceived. On the Bth the Senate took into considera-
tion the Clergy Dotation Bill, which is likely to give
rise to important results. The Government, under
the influence of the QUEEN-MOTHER, who is under
the influence of the POPE, are evidently resolved to
take some daringstep with regard to Church property.
Before the discussion commenced, the Minister of
Finance, Senor Mox, said the Government had re-
commended to her Majesty to suspend the sales,
with the ultimate view of restoring the un-
sold portion of the Church lands as soon as cir-
cumstances would permit. That period had now
arrived, and he therefore gave notice that he
Rome,and has
especially caused
m greatong
would shortly bring in a Bill to that effect. This
announcement, together with the sudden return of
the
uneasiness Spanish
in Ethnevpouybi
ie fromm nd,
those who had become purchasers, for a belief pre-
vails that the Pore will not grant the demands of
Queen CHRISTINA, unless the whole property sold,
as well as unsold, is restored to the Church. The
Opposition journals are strongly opposed to the
scheme. " The declaration of the Finance Minister,"
says the Tiempo, " little surprised us, because it was
evident when Ministers ordered the suspension of the
sale of the clerical property, that they intended to
restore it to its original owners. On that account
withdrew
our support from the Cabinet the
e perceived the course it meant to
pursue. We were not deceived respecting its inten-
tions.we moment
I n w
exchange for the property of the clergy
the Government will offer us a concordat. It appears
to us
hua
los
ut thatthat
the a
cconcordat
might have been obtained
The Eco del Commercio is
y hostile,
said NARVAEZ on this point
equally
a ts
andriei t is
was opposed to the Court, but obliged to yield. The
Envoy still remained at Madrid, and it was believed
would not leave for Rome till he saw the result.

On the Bth the Three per Cents. closed at 32i, the
Five per Cents. at 23k, and the Debt without interest
at 7i at 60 days.

The Paris papers last week announced that a Mem-
ber of the Chamber of Peers, the Count DARIT, it
appears, had given notice of a motion for a Bill to
check the present rage for speculation in railway
schemes. On Saturday he brought the measure
under the consideration of the House, when the
Minister of Public Works said that he would support
the general principles of the Bill, but it was a subject
of such importance that the Government had resolved
to introduce a Bill of their own. This is a preferable
course, as the Minister of Public Works has access to
information which a private individual cannot
obtain. The main principles of Count DARCS
Bill met with the approbation of the Ministerial
journals, while they admit that it has some
very material defects. " IVhat is the object of the
Bill ?" says the Journal des Debats. "In the first
place, to prevent as much as possible the formation of
fictitious Companies, the object of which is jobbing,
and not the creation of useful roads; and, in the
second place, to prevent abuses of confidence which
may arise from persons who present but inadequate
security becoming the depositaries of considerable
sums, amounting, perhaps, to several millions, and
thus placing strong temptations in the way of weak
minds. This double object would be obtained if,
on one hand, as the proposition suggests, the fund
brought in by the founders amounted to one-fifth
of the proposed capital, and if, en the other hand,
the sums paid in by the subscribers were immedi-
ately transferred from the hands of the founders to the
Caisse des Depots et Consigaations. These two mea-
sures constitute parts of the proposition. But since
these two measures are sufficiently protective, of what
use is the clause for preventing the opening of sub-
scriptions before the promulgation of the law for
establishing the railroad ? The formation of a Com-
pany for any great undertaking, such for instance as
the North railroad, or that of Lyons, each of which
will require 150,000,000 francs, is not, in ordinarytimes, a matter so easily accomplished, as not to make
it prudent to commence long beforehand. This
clause would frequently obstruct legitimate specula-
tion, and by going beyond its object preventits being
attained."

The Globe is equally opposed to some of the
clauses—for the best reason—that, in many instances,
they would prevent the formation of important lines.
That journal thus points out its defects :
"Art. 1 prohibitsopening a subscription for the execution of
a railroad previously to the promulgation of the bill ordering
the putting up to adjudication, or the direct concession of
the works of the said line. This is to suppress the most
efficient cause of the determination of Government in
the presentation of railway bills. The Bordeaux line
would be still on paper, if several serious companies
had not determined the presentation of the bill. At pre-
sent, in particular, that the Government appears de-
cided to leave the execution of all the works to companies,
there can be no doubt that the previous formation of com-
panies calls forth the presentation of the bills. There will
be many lines, and particularly branches, the execution of
which the Government will adjourn, if co Or several

companies are not ready to undertake them. It is to take
away the initiative from private speculation, to stop the move-
ment of men's minds and capital towards railroads. And
why is all this? To prevent jobbing in promises. But you
do not prevent it, when the bill deciding the execution of the
line is promulgated. Is it less gambling after than before?
If jobbing in promises is culpable before the bill is pro-
mulgated, why should it not be so after? Before and after,
the company delivering the shares is ignorant if it shall
execute the line ; and the jobbers in promises, in the two
cases, play a game of chance. Art. 4 requires that the first
call of each subscription shall not be below the fifth of the
nominal value of the shares subscribed for. That, again, is
a prescription which does not attain its object, and which is
bad, because it doubles the inactive and unproductive capi-
tal. Undoubtedly M. Dam wished to keep away small capi-
talists, and speculators not possessing the nominal value of
the share, and who only subscribe to sell again immediately,
in order to profit by the premium on the promise ; but then,
and to be logical, it is the payment of the whole value of
the share which ought to be demanded. The payment of
two•tenths, in place of one-tenth, will not stop speculators,
for the difficulties of payment are scarcely felt until the
fourth or fifth tenth. The payment of a fifth, in place of a
tenth, will rot therefore prevent the interference of jobbers,
and, as we said just now, it will double the sum of the in-
active capital, which will go and sleep in the strong-box of
the bankers, or in the Caisse des Depots et Consignations.
To sum up, M. Daru's proposition does not appear to us a
happy one. It is a good intention, which would be more
fatal to railroads than a bad one."

The journals still continue their remarks on the
state of the Ministry, and the probable consequences
of the ballot on the Secret Service Money Bill, but
we find nothing new in their remarks.
We learn from Berlin that the opening of the
General Prussian Diet took place on the 9th instant.
The Cologne Gazette observes that the whole of the
Deputies were present, expecting to find in the speech
on the occasion some allusion to the rumoured inten-
tion of giving a Constitution to Prussia. No allu-
sion of the kind, however, was made.
Accounts from Hamburgh state, that in considera-
tion of the active and generous conduct of the Jews
of that city, and of the banker, SOLOMON HEINE, in
particular, on the occasion of the great fire in 1842,
the Government of the city and province has felt it to
be its duty to ameliorate the laws which weighed so
heavily on this class of its population. Hitherto the
Jews of Hamburgh have been restricted to commerce
and to the exercise of the medical profession, but the
Council of Ancients has proposed the opening to them
of all the professions and trades.
THE BOURSE--SATURDAY, FEB. 15.

First Highest Lowest Last

Price. Piles. Price.
french Five per Cents • • •• • • 122 75 .. 122 75 .. 122 GO • . 122 60
Four-and-a-Half.. • • 113 50 .. 113 50 .. 113 50 .. 113 50
Fours ..• •••• • • • • • • • 108 20 • . 108 20 .. 108 20 .. 108 20
Three per Cents.— .. 84 95 .. 84 95 • . 84 80 .. 84 95
Bank of France 3265 .. 3265 ..3265 ..3265
Gouin Bank, I,ooof. Shares 1085 ..1095 • • 1085 ..1095
Belgian Bank..• • •• • • 655 .. 657 50 .. 655 .. 657 50
Belgian Fives, 1840 .• ••• • • lO5 .. 105 .. 105 .. 105
1842 106% .. 106% .. 106% .. 106%
Four-and-a-Half . 103% • • 103% • • 103% • . 103%
Two-and-a-Half.. • • 61 50 •• 61 50 .. 61 50 • • 61 50
Dutch Two and-a-Half .. • 64 .. 64 .. 64 . 64
Spanish Threes.
Active •••••• • • • • • • 38% • . 38% .. 38% .. 38%
Portuguese Five per Cents.. 59% .. 59% .. 59% .. 59%
Boman •• • • •. ••••• •• .. 105 .. 105 .. 105 .. 105

-1075
.. 552 50
...381 25
..1080

BOW-STREET.-(THIS DAY.)
COMMITTAL OF A SOLDIER FOR FELONY.— William Smart,
a private in the 2d battalion of the Grenadier Guards, was
charged with picking the pocket of a young man, a grocer's
assistant, named Henry Pearson, under the following cir-
cumstances.

Henry Pearson represented himself to be a grocer,
residing in Tottenham-court-road, and that he was drinking
the previous night (Sunday) at the White Hart Public-
house, Tottenham-court-road, in company with the prisoner.
At that time he had money on him to the amount of 325.,
255. of which was in his left-hand breeches pocket, and the
remaining 7s. in his right; he had also a knife, penholder,
and a cigar-case. He get rather tipsy, and went home in
company, he believed, with the prisoner and the potboy.
Next morning he missed the money, which was in his left.
hand breeches pocket, as well as the cigar-case, penholder,
and knife. He learned then that the soldier had been seen
to put his hand into his pocket, and was in custody for it.
He was not aware of this before, from his having been so
tipsy at the time when the offence was committed.
Momas Bridges, potboy at the White Hart, deposed to
his going home with the prosecutor the previous even-
ing. The soldier, who had been drinking with the
latter, accompanied them. While on their way he
saw the prisoner put his hand, successively, into the
prosecutor's breast pocket, and two coat skirt pockets.
He noticed on one of these occasions that the prisoner ap-
peared to transfer something into his own coat skirt pocket.
On noticing this, witness put his hand outside over the
pocket, and found something square and hard. He then ac-
cused the prisoner with the intention of robbing the prose-
cutor, The latter at this moment fell, and on helping to
lift him up he (the witness) noticed a cigar-case at the feet
of the soldier. Witness then, to satisfy himself, placed his
hand. again over the outside of the prisoner's coat skirt
pocket, and found the hard substance gone. He was sure
the prisoner had dropped the case to escape detection. There
was another young man present who could speak further in
support of the charge.
A respectable-looking young man, whose name we did not
catch,:then stated that he was proceeding home in the evening,
when his attention was called to the prosecutor, in company
with the potboy and soldier. He went up close to them, and
watched them, observing that the prosecutor was drunk. He
saw the prisoner not only in regular succession feel all the
coat and waistcoat pockets of the prosecutor, but at last put
his hand into the left-hand breeches pocket, from which he
appeared to abstract something, and drop it into his own
pocket. He then looked out tbr a constable, and gave him
in charge.
The police-constable who took him into custody said he
found the parties at the corner of University-street. On his
going up to them, the potboy and the last witness charged
the prisoner with picking the pocket of the prosecutor in the
manner described. He (the constable) seeing something in
the street picked it up, and found it was a cigar case. The
prisoner on being taken to the station-house, was asked if he
had any money, in answer to which he replied, he might
have eight or fourteen shillings, but that he had no gold. He
was afterwards searched, and amongst 6Ad. of copper, a
sovereign was found; also a knife and pen-holder.
These articles, as well as the cigar case, were identified by

the prosecutor.
The prisoner, on being asked what he had to my re-
specting the charge, said he was called into the public-house
by the prosecutor, who treated him first with a glass of gin,
and aftewards with a bottle of sherry. Seeing that prose.

cutor was drunk, he went home with -him, and on tilt) war
the prosecutor pulled out a handful of copper and gave it
him. He put it in his pocket intending to preserve it for the
prosecutor, and did not know there was a sovereign amongst
it till he was taken to the station-house.

The sergeant of the prisoner's company, who was present
at the investigation, said the prisoner had been in the regi-
ment four years, and had always borne a good character.
Mr. HALL remarked, the case was so clear, that there was
nothing left him but to commit the prisoner for trial.
He was then removed.