The Sun.
London, England, 1842-10-21 00:00:00

We all know that here the power of control

ling the currency has been assumed to be the
prerogative of the Crown. The persons who
took possession of the different countries of Eu-
rope also in time took possession of as much of
their money as they could seize, and they claimed
the privilege to issue it, to debase it, to alter it
as suited their purposes. We all know, too, that
they successively tampered with the currency,
first with the metallic currency, and afterwards
with the paper currency, so that not one country
of Europe has escaped successive monetary con-
vulsions, which have inflicted more injury on
society than famine and pestilence. These are
truths almost as familiar to us as our A B C; and
should not American statesmen—who have
amongst them no Crown with its privi-
leges derived from barbarous times—be anxious
to lay down rather than to take up a power which
has been used at all times, and being founded on
error can only be used, to the injury of the com-
monwealth?

Money of all kinds, like exchanges, grows from
commerce. It depends on two things—the esti-
mate or value which men in the course of nature
come to puton the precious metals, and the quan-
tity of them procured or procurable. Over these
two essential elements of a metallic currency,
Governments can exercise no control. They can-
not alter the value of gold or silver, and they can-
not augment or reduce the quantity of them in
the common market of the world. A paper cur-
rency, first and last, whatever shape it may take,
is only a promise to pay, or a security for pay-
ment of certain quantities of gold or silver—Of
these be determined by weight only, so much the
better, so much the easier and simpler)—and all
which a Government has to do or can have to do
-with paper money is to hold the party making
the promise to the fulfilment of his engagement.
Further than that a Government can exercise
no useful influence over a currency ; and we
regard the failure of the Whigs in America to
usurp a control over it, after the manner of
European Governments, as extremely creditable
to the good sense of the Americans.
What is plainly wrong in the several States
of the Union, is the charters and privileges
granted to a great variety of banks, the chief'
possessors of which, being at the same time the
most influential men in the State, have,
whenever it has pleased them, released those
banks from that obligation to pay, according to
promise, which it was the imperative duty of
the Government to enforce. The not enforcing
these obligations is the source of all the money
confusion in the United States. The separate
States have imitated, to their dishonour, the
crowned Kings of the old world, and have
brought more confusion on those otherwise
prosperous commonwealths than could have been
worked by an invasion. If Mr. WEBSTER had
studied the phenomena of his own country, and
the principles of society, instead of studying the
financial errors of Europe, we are of opinion that
_ _ _

he would have come to a similar conclusion, and
would have spared us the unpleasant task of ex_
posing the palpable errors of a man for whom,
in spite of such aberrations, we are disposed to
entertain great respect.

Every person must we think, rejoice to learn
from every quarter thatgreat exertions are mak-
ing to improve agriculture, and increase the sub-
sistence of the people. It is well observed, in a
clever pamphlet, by THOMAS SHARPE SMITH,
Esq., on the " Economy of Nations"—not that
the observation is new, but we
require to be re-
Ininde(l,of,it—that it is. " the desire or the want
,
of food which is the mainspring o as
_
of human
of all other animal economy.,, ,
What an indi-

vidual does for the exigencies he will con-1
tinue to do for the luxuries of life;"
but to have food, or the command over
food is the first and chief end and aim of all
human exertions. With plenty of food all other
desirable things, which are only the ornaments
of this solid foundation of a happy community,
will be sure to abound; and where food is not
abundant, no arts, whether they be called fine
or useful, mechanical or professional—no skill of
politicians, no teaching, no bright example even
of virtue in a clergy, will ever suffice to promote
the public welfare. Considering the supply of
food therefore, to be all-important, we hail with
great satisfaction the various efforts which are
rhow making to improve our agriculture.
Amongst such efforts, we must class a " Prize
3F,ssay of the Wetherby Agricultural Association
on the Application of Rape-Dust, &c., by JOHN
HANNA m," the object of which is to show the
great advantage of using such means of le.rtiliz-
itig the soil. Mr. HANNA:NI begins his valuable
pamphlet by referring to the chemical principles
of vegetation as far as they are known,
so that he may explain the rationale of the won-
derful effects which different manures have on
different soils. Indeed, they have been so won-
derful, and sometimes so contradictory, that a
Pleasing but fanciful creed has arisen which as-
tribes the virtue not to the manures, but to the
strong faith in the man who uses them, which
brings down on his industry, however directed,
the blessings of Heaven. Modern chemistry,
and our present knowledge of vegetation, by
pointing out the several kinds of nourishment
which plants require, and which the same ma-
nures will not supply in different soils, has done
something to destroy this creed, and to show in-
dustry and faith how they may be sure to succeed.
Into the merits of rape-dust we shall not enter,
being entirely incompetent to discuss them; we
only intend to direct public attention to one of the
principles set forth by Mr. HANNAH. Notwith-
standing the alarm which was generated by Mr.
MALTHus's theory of population, everybody felt
convinced that there was in nature some con-
trivance, by which, though we did not know
how, productiveness is made to keep pace with
population. The moral means are an increase of
skill and extended division of labour, both of
which are dependent on an increased population.
The physical means have been discovered, we
we think, by LIEBIG, and made plain by Mr.
HANNAINI.

It was long ago known that nitrogen, which
abounds in animal substances, is, as Mr. HAN-
NAM says, absolutely essential to the forma-
tion of perfect vegetable structure. Now,
LIEBIG has found ammonia, which is the
product of decaying animal matter, in rain-
water and snow, and gone far to demon-
strate that it is in this form that nitrogen finds
its way into plants. Another element of vege-
tation is carbon, and carbonic acid, which sup-
plies plants with carbon, is the result of respira-
tion. Now, both these elements of fruitfulness
in the soil, or rather of luxuriant vegetation,
increase as man and animals increase, and thus as
the human race is multiplied, the soil becomes
more fertile. The fact of great fertility existing
in conjunction with a crowded population is well-
known; but for the theory and explanation we
are indebted to LIEBIG and Mr. HANNAM.
They have made it clear that the essential ele-
ments of vegetable life are evolved in proportion
as animal life increases; in other words, nature
makes a provision to increase the means of feed-
ing the human race as they are multiplied.