The Sun.
London, England, 1845-11-11 00:00:00

SPIRIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS.
FROM THE MORNING PAPERS OP YESTERDAY.
TIMES.—We have more than once acknowledged and regretted
our Inability to lay before our readers a perspicuous and compre-
hensive narrative of the occurrences which are now taking place on
the theatre of war in the north of Africa. The want of good maps
and accurate topographical descriptions of the country, the ab-
sence of reads beyond the province of Algiers, the roving character
of thebet population, and the intricacy of the various relations exist-
ing and the French, are insurmountable obstacles to
the formation of correct opinions on the incidents and chances of
the war. For our accounts of the actual results of these opera-
tions we are wholly dependent for Information on the public in-
telligence furnished by one side only ; and great doubts must be
entertained whether the whole truth is ever to be obtained at such
a source. There are two vast inducements to falsification ;—first,
the military motives of the officers scattered over the country,
who doubtless extenuate their losses, and make the most •f
their successes in their reports to their own Government;
and secondly, the political motives of the French Govern-
ment Itself, which is not strong enough to resort to
the dangerous, though salutary eats:dim t, of disgusting
the country by a true account of the war. If the contest is to be
carried on, it must, of course, be a little dressed up for popularity
and speechification. When all the nakedness of its horrors trans-
pired iu the affair of the Dahra, France did not repress her severest
disapprobation. It is not, therefore, wonderful that we should be
in comparative ignorance of the real state of Afr'ea, when the
French themselves know so little of the task they have undertaken.
With a population probably not exceeding two millions and a halt,
of whom a considerable portion have accepted the French yoke,
Abd-el.Kadcr has compelled the French Government to keep an
army, which has reached the enormous amount of 100,000 men, in
continual activity. He has demonstrated to all the world, that the
position of the French in Africa is an occupation, tut not a con-
quest. He has wearied and would have exhausted every feeling in
favour of the contest, except the po'nt of honour, so deeply rooted
amongst the French ; and he has waged unrelenting war, with
one short interval, for fifteen years, without any of the
ordinary resources of states, except a lion of fana-
tical and brave adherents. The successive advances of
the French have been crowned with success, but a success
which has only enticed them into more complicated difficulties;
and a victory eventually proves more calamitous to them than a
defeat to the native power. Nor has Abd- el- Kader been wanting
in anything which could maintain his apparently hopeless cause.
After the Morocco war of last year he disappeared from public ob-
servation, and eluded the stipulation of the beats, of Tangiers;
but it now appears that his influence and his emissaries were ac-
tively employed in preparing the tribes throughout the provinces
of Oran and Algiers itself for the most general insurrection that
has yet been attempted. At the close of this summer the Etnir
took the field. Marshal Bugeaud was absent, but General Lamo-
riciere was fully equal to the emergency. The total destruction of
one French column, and the capture of another, soon showed that
the state of the country required a concentration of forces. The
lesser detachments were collected into bodies of 4,000
or 5,000 men, and were then strong enough to re-
pel any direct attack which could be made by tie Arabs ; but the
more concentrated these forces were, the less could they prevent
the sudden movements and operations of the enemy. The positions
of Tlemcen, Mascara, and Oran served as the base of their move.
ments; and, if the danger were confined to the west alone, they
might with safety have crossed the Tafna, and perhaps pursued the
Emir into the province of Reef; although such a movement at this
season of the year would have exposed the French army to excessive
difficulties, and would probably have led to no decisive result what-
ever. But meanwhile it became evident that the southern, and
even the eastern districts of the province of Oran, were in full in-
surrection. In fact, it wou'd seem that everything has been pre-
pared for a sudden march of Abd-el-Kader into the heart of the
French possessions. The road to the south of Mascara is open to
him, and the great tribes of that district are in arms, ready to Join
him ; so that, instead of pursuing a fugitive beyond the frontiers
of Morocco, the French forces must prepare to defend the line
of the Chelif. This Invasion wilt of course be a sweeping and
transient act of vengeance and destruction, for the Arabs,
whose only strength is in their cavalry, can neither capture forti.
fied positions nor hold them. These Numidian horsemen will
vanish as suddenly as they appear ; but, even if they be surrounded
and defeated, they will suffer comparatively little by a reverse, as
long as Abd-el-Kader retains his freedom. The highest tribute
which can be paid to the personal qualities of this remarkable man
is the opinion prevalent in France, that if Abd-el-Kader perished or
was taken prisoner, the country would be restored to peace. With-
out any disposition to depreciate his talents, or his military and re.
ligious influence, we nevertheless believe that even his death would
not terminate the war in Africa. On both sides the struggle has
now reached a pitch of exasperation, which tenders peace a bare
impossibility as long as the two races are pitted against one
another.
CHRONICLE--When the Bank Bill was under discussion in
the session of 1844, several important abstract principles were
brought under consideration, upon which we preferred to reserve
our opinions until experience should throw some light on their
practical operation. And this, we frankly acknowledge, we felt
more disposed to do, in consequence of the conflicting opinions of
those who may justly be considered the highest authorities on these
subjects. Opppsed to Sir Robert Peel we had Mr. Tooke, whose
astute and laborious investigations in his highly esteemed work on
high and low prices, and Mr. Mill, whose great attainments and
sower of clear and logical reasoning, entitle their opinions respec.
Lively to the highest regard on all subjects connected with econo.
mical science, and banking in particular. On the other hand, we
found the views of the Minister supported by Mr. Loyd, Mr. Nor-
man, and Colonel Torrens, whose distinguished acquire.
ments and experience entitled their opinions to no
less consideration. Such was the conflict of opinion
among the highest authorities, who were altogether disconnected
with the proceedings of the legislature, and to whom we were
more disposed to look for sound opinions on such a subject, than
we were to attach weight to a vote of Parliament. Our approval
of the course adopted by the Bank rather condemns than approves
the provision made by the Bank Bill, on which it was to rely for
the objects proposed. The Bank Bill, if followed out, would have
led to no such step as has been taken by the Bank Directors at this
time. The Batik Bill professed to furnish a self-regulating course
for the Bank, and to relieve the Directors from all responsibility
with regard to the currency. Had the Bank trusted' to
that rule, they would not, at this time, while yet the
circulation is more than five millions below the sum
permitted by that Act, under existing circumstances, have
taken any steps calculated to curtail the demand for
money. But the Bank Directors wisely repudiate a reliance on
this selfaregulating principle, and, warned by their experience in
former years, and especially in 1839, see the necessity of yielding
to the first indications of an increasing demand for money, and
raising the rate of interest. The Bank Bill supposes a power on
the part of the Bank to expand and contract the currency at
pleasure, and arbitrarily defines the precise time when such steps
should be taken. The Bank Directors, knowing that they have
no such power—having found by their experience during the
last three years that they had no power to increase the circulation
at will, and knowing also that as long as they hold deposits be.
longing to the public to tha extent of 10,000,0001., which could
be withdrawn at the mill of their customers, they cannot at p'ea-
sure even contract the circulation—act altogether independently
of the Bank Bill, and take the only true course which could
secure- their object, by making money dearer as it be-
comes more in demand. Had the Bank Directors been
willing to wait till the self-regulating principle of the
Bank Bill implied the necessity of contraction, the circu-
lation would have been altogether beyond their control. The
Bank is acting altogether independently of that Bill, and precisely
as it would have acted under the same circumstances, with the
improved knowledge and experience of the present Directors, had
no Bank Bill whatever been enacted. The only safe course which
the Bank can adopt—and it is ultimately the best for the publi
is not to rely on any arbitrary criterion for the rate of interest,
but to be guided entirely by the demand for money. In any at-
tempt to raise or reduce the rate of interest by may other prin-
ciple than supply and demand, the Bank would always find
itself baffled. But there are other important ways in which a
reliance on the principles implied by the Bank Bill would
have seriously misled the Bank Directors had they implicitly trusted
to it. The Bank Bill infers that the only indication for contract,ng
or expanding the currency is to be found in the state of the
foreign exchanges. Now, had the Bank followed this criterion, to
this hour they would not have taken one step to prevent a drain
upon their resources. The exchanges are still all high, and as yet
have shown no indication of falling. Nevertheless, there has been
a drain of bullion within three months amounting nearly to three li
millions, but not for transmission abroad. The state of the ex-
changes have rendered that operation impossible. The drain from
the Bank has been exclusively for increased internal circulation, for
Tet hnhenet payment mo eer
principleot ofi
nwages,tn which
ill.
of
that Bill contemplates a drain of bulli Sir Robert Peel has fallen in his and other purposes. But this fact suggests
only as co-existing with an adverse exchange, and, consequently,
for foreign remittance. And on this assumption it provides
that, in proportion as a drain of bullion increases,
the internal circulation of paper shall be contracted,
for the avowed object of making money dearer here, in ordei to
check its exportation. But experience would rather prove that in
every instance of a drain of bu,lion from the Bank, a large portion
is for the internal circulation of the country, required in conse-
quence of prices having risen—and in the present case it is ex-
clusively so. And the mode by which this drain of gold for' in.
ternal circulation is accomplished, exposes another weakness, if,
indeed, not entire failure, of another part of the Bank Bill. That
Bill places a strict and arbitrary limit on the amount of notes which
each country bank cats issue ; and many people flatter themselves
that that restrict on has materially tended to keep the recent spe-
culation within narrower limits than would otherwise have
been the case. We believe no greater error could prevail.
It is true that the issue of notes payable to bearer on demand has
been limited; but this has not prevented bankers in the country
giving any extent of accommodation which they wished to do; by
drawing tills upon their London correspondents. This is net a
mere theory. It is a fact, which has already attracted considerable
notice, that bills of exchange hare been thus substituted for
notes; and it shows how utterly impossible it is to enact any laws
to regulate matters of credit and commerce which cannot easily
and effectually be evaded when their tendency is against the inte.
rest of individuals. And It also shows that the substitute for the
practice attempted to be prohibited is invariably an aggravation of
the supposed evil.
POSL—We cannot too seriously or strenuously condemn the
deliberate and violent efforts which we see made in certain quarters
to excite great alarm about an approaching scarcity of food. Even
if there were good grounds for entertaining such alarm, the sub-
ject ought undoubtedly to be handled with cautious moderation by
those who have it in their power to influence the public mind.
This is so obvious a truth, that the very violence to which we
advert convinces us that those who resort to it are well aware
that there is no foundation in truth for the apprehensions with
which they endeavour in their rage to infect the public. The
writers who recklessly drive the public into a state of panic are,
we say, themselves aware of the wild exaggeration and frantic in-
justice which such a state of panic produces. They themselves tell
us that, when the public feel or fancy themselves endangered,
" their anger lights at once on any whom they have
been taught or are inclined to believe are their ene.
vales or ill doers. They make no compromise with
their excited passions,
no deductions from their extreme theories.
They hoard up a mass of sullen revenge, which deepens more and
more as each day brings its new want with it, until the measure of
their hate is full and their violence is accomplished." This is in-
deed but too true an account of the desperate injustice and miscon-
duct into which men are apt to rush under the impulse of excite-
ment and apprehension. Yet they who see this, and who describe
it so forcibly, are the very persons who are creating the excitement,
and spreading wide the apprehension I It is perfectly inexcusable
that for any purposes,
whether of a public nature or of a less ex-
panded character, such measures should be taken to alarm
the public. If there be danger—of which the public has
yet no evidence _men should be taught to meet it with
resolute calmness, and to take such precaution as the
circumstances render possible, and seem to demand. " This is
just what we want," some will exclaim—. we want the ports
opened for the reception of foreign corn free of duty." Yes, but
you have omitted to prove the case of necessity. Mere assertion,
however vehement, proves nothing. It may alarm the passions,
but it will not convince the reason. We do not dispute the
public effect of alarming
the passions, whether the reason be con.
vinced or not, but we exclaim against the injustice of asserting
that which may be false, and of which, at all events, there is
no proof, when the natural result of such assertions is most mis-
chievous alarm. Besides, what is the use—as regards present
circumstances---of opening the ports ? As well might a
mats open the shutters of his windows at midnight
because he Wards light. Our own supply Is better
than that of our neighbours, wherefore, then, should
we open the ports I'lf there be really a deficiency—and we re..
peat that of any serious deficiency the public have no authentic
evidence—then the proper course of
policy is to husband our own
resources—to practice in time the virtue of economy—to take up
less of our store now, in order that we may not be wholly without a
supply before another harvest comes round. But there is no evi-
dence that even that precaution is absolutely necessary. It is, in.
deed, asserted that the Ministers, " having the state of the nation
clearly and intelligibly described by reports both accurate and co.
prehensive, and the quality
• -'
of the harvest distinctly characterised,',