New-York tribune., 1874-02-10
A NEW SPECIES OF SLAVERY.

Wendell Phillips, among the rest, has his
plan of finance. If only it was certain to be
put in operation, who could paint the terror
of property owners, or the exaltation of bank
rupt spectators We are sorry for his sake
that Mr.. Phillips has not had the satisfaction
Of witnessing an upturniDg Of society in this
country We know of nothing slrer to bring
about such q revolution than to carry into
effect some of the schemes which he has re-
Gently favored. His currency project, which
We lay before our readers this morning, is OF
the revolutionary order, as might be expected.
1t may be briefly described a. o judicious
mixture Of the explosive elements OF
the Mississippi scheme and the as
si1nots Of the French Revolution. The
letter in which 1t is embodied is appropriately
addressed to the hero Of the powder boat and
the champion of the Salary Grab. We do not
think it necessary to enter into an extended
examination of this sulphurous scheme, but
! some of Mr.. Phillips's general propositions
about finance are so extraordinary that we
cannot let them go by without comment.
"A debtor nation" Mr.. Phillips says, lis
always the slave Of its creditor Our slavery
"to England is seen in the threat OF the
" Bank of England to swamp Mr.. Boutwelrs
Syndicate if he did not conform to the
wishes of the Bank. In consequence
"of this dependence q debtor nation
should separate entirely its national cur
"rency from its international currency, In order
"to save its home system from foreign inter-
" ference. propose, therefore, one system OF
currency for home use, and another entirely
distinct, for use between ourselves and foreign
nations If debtor nation is always the
slave of its creditor, by the same reasoning
an Individual debtor must always be the slave
of his creditor. We should like 10 have the
opinion of the creditors as to whether that is
really so in this country. 1t seems to us quite
as plausible to say that the creditor Is the
slave of the debtor, since both creditors and
debtors frequently suffer the worst cOnse-
duences from their imprudence. But, about
those debtor nations They have in England
what is known as the Council Of Foreign
Bondholders,' that is to say, of the holders
of foreign bonds. The principal business of
thia Council seems to be to rem0n-
strate, and that loudly and frequently. AT
one time they denounce the bad faith of the
Austrian Government in taxing its coupons.
At another time they scornfully reject an
offer of ten cents on the dollar from Vene-
zuela. One day they express their opinion of
tho wrctched expedients resorted to by Spain.
The next, the breaking up Of the Peruvian,
Turkish, and Egyptian Syndicates. followed bya
terrific breakdown in the prices or those
stocks, fills them with CONSERVATION. The
latest we have heard from them Is tele.
graphic protest, sent at great expense by
cable, against the "scaling down. Of the
debt Of Louisiana. On the whole. the slave
"nations" appear to enjoy life quite as much
as these brutal task-masters.
Our information in regard to the difficulty
between Mr. Boutwelrs Syndicate and the
Bank of England is so incomplete that we
are unable to appreciate the force of the
illustration which Mr.. Phillips has drawn
from it, Mr.. Boutwell,, we regret to say,
has left this matter in tho same.
impenetrabIe Obscurity which in his
official reports he threw around the Syndi-
cate itself in attempting to reconcile his op-
erations with it with the powers conferred on
him By the law. Obscurity, according to the
old writer's, is an element of the sublime. We
know of nothing more sublime than Mr..
Boutwelrs exposition of the laws from which
he derives authority to issue or withhold forty
four millions Of greenbacks, according as the
exigencies of political campaign, or the state
of business or the balance of trade may in
his Judgment require expansion or contrac-
ton.
Mr.. Phillps's desire to have one currency
for the homo trade and another for tho for
eign trade is fulfilled, it might be supposed,
by the existing paper system. For our part
or Wn do No
particular advantage In using cur
rency which no other nation will
touch OF in selling our goods to foreigners for
what is useless as money here. Nor do
we see how q moro complete separation
of the national and international cur
rencies il to be brought about without
resOrting to the primitive system of barter.
great many people are dying nowadays of
apopleIy and other untimely disorders caused
by the circulation of blood through the
vessels Of the brain. The resources of modern
surgery are admitted to be superior to
anything which has been possible on
this earth. either before OF since the deluge.
Why could not short aqueduct be con-
structed between the proper veins and arteries
80 as to turn the course of the blood, and
conduct it back to the heart without carrying
it into the head at all =? By this means the more
gifted of mankind might be forever relieved
of any danger from apople1y. Thus might
the number of projects and discoveries in
finance be indefinitely multiplied. There have
been original thinkers in medicine as well as
finance. The former have supposed that by
the observance of certain rules human life
might be prolonged forever, just as the latter
L.. -. ~ sha