The herald., 1893-09-04

career, that he is fully aware of the old
adage that, "the case being altered. that
alters the case" The interests of Eng
land are supreme with him. His noble
attitude towards the Irish is undoubted-
ly due to his belief that justice to Ire
land is the best possible course that
could be pursued for the welfare of Eng
land. AS to the rest OF the world, he
sh.inks into the selfish spirit of what
the great Napoleon called nation OF
shop keepers.
According to the Gladstonian pro-
gramme, OF compulsory settlement OF
all accounts in gold. the silver paying
countries will be forced into bankruptcy.
What is the course of nations that are
bankrupt?
On this question the history OF the
past is very instructive. The United
States settled their revolutionary debt
at two and half cents on the dollar.
payable in silver. The great French
nation settled its revolutionary debt.
which had taken the form OF
prodigious issue of assign
ats, at one cent on the dollar. Did this
aljuetmeut of the American and French
national debts disturb the financial
standing of those nations? Not par
ticle. Their credit today is the best Of
any countries in the world.
1t does not need very much prescience
to see that il Great Britain, under the
lead OF Mr.. Gladstone. or any other
man, pursues its mad quest after the
earth-cursing gold apostrophized by the
poet Gray, she will finally strike set
tlement OF that kind. Her debtors will
fall back upon the simple but potent
axiom of the Chinaman, mo have, no
can." That there are Englishmen that
appreciate this fact the speech recently
delivered by the Right Hon. A. ]. Bal
four, very .abundantly proves. 1t was
delivered in the city of London at a
meeting presided over by the lord
mayor, and before highly distinguished
audience. In the course OF his Grafton
he stated that the assumption that the
people OF Germany and Austria desired
the single gold standard was absolutely
without warrant, and that it was the
governments and not the peoples oi
those countries that had caused the
compulsory change to monometsllism
In his splendid speech, delivered be-
fore the moneyed men in London, Mr..
Balfour, in our opinion, gave expression
to many statesmanlike views. As long
as the leader of the Conservative party
in the house OF commons is in favor OF
bi-metallism, and advocates it with such
resonant eloquence, what an absurdity
it is to assume that even England is in
favor OF monometallism? There mutt I
be at least half OF her people who think
that, in reaching out for that l7,700,-
100000 to which the debt due her has
been unjustly swollen, she may lose the
ten thousand millions of dollars that are
really her due. There is one aspect of
the question that Mr.. Balfour presents
with admirable force and grace, and we
cannot forbear quoting it:
We have claimed. and we have surely
rightly claimed, that we were the great
commercial community of the world,
trading with all countries, covering the
seas with our fleets, taking toll OF all
nations, having commercial intercourse
with all nations; and we now find that,
l fear partly through our own fault, the
world ia divided into gold using coun-
tries and silver using countries, that the
whole mechanism of exchange between
the gold using and silver using countries
is upset, and that with that mechanism
of exchange, every merchant who deals
in South America, India, Mexico or
China, is hampered in every transac-
ton, and finds doubt hanging over
every element which should determine
his course of conduct. (Hear, hear.
We have hitherto boasted ourselves az
| the upholders of the doctrine OF free
trade, and we now find ourselves
through the system of currency in
which we, fear, do more than &C
quiesce, the unconscious but neverthe
less the responsible authors of system
OF bounties which only differs from
other systems of bounties in that the
gain goes to those who are not OF US bnt
who compete with us. Laughter and
cheere.l We have claimed for ourselves
that we lead the van of commerce, be
cause we are the great upholders OF thu
single gold standard. and yet there arr
men, and men l venture to say in the
city of London at the present moment
who would look with horror and with
apprehension at every other nation tol
lowing 80 good an example.
1t is really astonisbing-the pereever
ing manner in which it is sought tc
befog the true issue of the battle of tht
standards. And yet, on reflection, ther'
is nothing go remarkable about it afte
ell. In the absence of argument itera
ton and begging the question are th'
inevitable recourses. 1twould take onl.
the initiative of the United States t.
make England bi-metallic nation ant
the other single standard countries o
Europe would follow suit within sixt.
days,
YESTERDAY was one of the warmes