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    392 The Leader and Saturday Analyst. [Ap...

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    AMENDMENT OF THE BANK ACT, m HE quarrel ...

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    France And The Ftlllne. Rphe State Of Eu...

    argument would be destroyed if the small fry of petty princes had a good prospect of entangling us in their wretched cause . It is clear that France wants the Rhine , and highly probable that if the French Emperor takes to negotiating , some half-dozen of the little princes who are jealous of Prussia , and whose patriotism is entirely swallowed up in selfishness , would be the first allies he would win over to his cause . A rational British minister , if invited to assist in protecting Germany ao-ainst France , would , if he promised aid under any eircuinsfances , make it a condition precedent that Germany should emancipate herself from Austria , and that all the rest of her sovereigns save one should resign their little thrones , and retire to private ' life in Leicester Square / or any other locality they might P refer . ¦ _ ¦ __ , . .-.- T _ . , ^ ideas who wish to

    Among those admirers of Napoleonic quarrel with and humiliate England , the propensity of our Court towards dynastic interests in preference to popular rights , is relied upon as an inevitable source of our weakness , and as offering hopes to our enemies they could not otherwise entertain . If it were known that , although England would energetically protest against a French invasion of the Rhine , she would regard a small loss of territory as a less evil for Germany than the perpetuation of her internal divisions , the Germans would be stimulated to take care of their river and of themselves ; and the Emperor would see that if a quarrel with this country were brought about by his crafty and ambitions policy , we should have all the strength that must result from a determination to maintain liberal ideas , and abjure all alliances that would lead us , to become the champions of despots against the victims of their

    misrule . It is in vain to deny that the conduct of the French Government is alarming , and ' M . Tilotjven el ' s note to the Swiss is one of the rudest and most arrogant documents ever seen . In that despatch Switzerland is bullied and insulted , because she sought the good offices of other powers instead , of implicitly relying upon the intentions of France . For this , she is told to reap what she has sown , threatened with coolness , and accused of seeking her own aggrandisement . This document , together with the circumstances we have briefly sketched , affords charming preliminaries to the Conference of Paris , which , we are told , is to assemble , and we cannot help suspecting is intended to pave the way for a further practical exposition of Napoleonic ideas .

    We hope our Government will have nothing to do with this Conference without being previously satisfied as . to-what is to take place . If it is to discuss various questions , we ought to know upon whom we can rely ; and if it is merely to receive an announcement of the Imperial will , it may be questioned whether we are called upon to give prestige to so autocratic a display . Already the projected Conference is represented in France as a which be

    diplomatic abandonment of the Treaties of 1815 , are tp offered up by trembling Europe at the shrine of Imperial power and pride . We care nothing aboutthe Treaties of 1815 , and are quite ready that our Government should formally admit their invalidity , so far as they stand in the way of any popular rights ; but without any feeling of jealousy towards France , we do not wish to be parties to any act that tends to strengthen military and aggressive ideas .

    In addition to opportunities for armed interference that ^ may occur in Europe , it is tolerably certain that the East is drifting towards fresh complications ; and the death of Milosch , which is not likely to be far distant , may give rise to changes in Servia , and an excitement among the Christian population of Turkey , that wtfl revive Russian hopes and schemes . Let ' , avoid anything like toach / wfj the Empire , which would be certain to meet with contempt ; but let tis bewaro how we suffer the small German Prince interest , or any other mischievous

    influence , to force France into an approximation with Russia and Austria : that would bo highly dangerous , and inconvenient . A few days ago it was , reported that Austria intended to revive the Hungarian constitution , and place herself in n position less antagonistic tp those principles which England must sustain ; but the rumour turns out to be a delusion . Fkancjs Joseph has chosen a military officer , Geneval Bknedek , a man Of illiberal ideas , and hateful to the Hungnvians , to rule thorn with a more centralized administration than lias hitherto been

    constructed ; and there is , as yet , no symptoms that the Court of "Vienna will take one single rational or honest step . , The designs of France in Italy are growing plainer , La-MoniciEiiB and a swarm of French officers are to assist the Pore in obstructing the union between southern and northern Italy j Vjotou Emmanuel is advised not to cnll ljimself King of Italy j and Count Oavouh ' S reputation has been damaged by tho way in whioh ho was forced to be an accomplice in the Imperial aohemo of seizing Nice . A Conference at this crisis must be an important affair , and tho

    readiness with which Russia and Austria have accepted Paris as its seat , shows a willingness on the part of those Powers to conciliate France . This may be Only prudent , and may cover no ulterior designs ; but there is a party in Russia , in Austria , and in Fi-ance that would be delighted to get up a coalition against England upon terms of mutual advantage in dealing with the East . We are not inclined to attach too much importance to these designs ; but we believe our honour and safety demand a prudent abstention from all dynastic entanglements ; such as most members of the Whig party , the whole of the Tories , and perhaps the Court also , would be likely to encourage . So sooii

    as England adopts the principle of nations , not dynasties , we shall have taken away from aggressive despots the chief source of their strength . At his age Lord Palme"RSTON is scarcel y likely to accept such an idea , and he is believed to have liis mind in a curious jumble between a predilection for Napoleon III . and a belief in the necessity of making Austria , as in 1815 , a counterpoise to'France . Lord John Russell , far more liberal than the Lansdoivns , ' ¦ Clarendons , Gueys , and other ulh-aaristocratio members of his party , brings a small though honest

    mind to the tnsk ; while that miscellaneous conglomeration of fatuity , the ^ 'Liberal party , " does not bring forward a single independent statesman able to take a comprehensive and philosophical view of either home or foreign affairs . Our Cabinet and our Parliament have no ambition beyond a temporary ' . adjustment of interests . Iu large things we drift—let us hope not towards another four hundred millions of national debt squandered upon battle-fields for questionable resiilts . The time may come when all pur money and energy will be needed in a cause of whose justice there can be no doubt .

    392 The Leader And Saturday Analyst. [Ap...

    392 The Leader and Saturday Analyst . [ April 28 / 1860 .

    Amendment Of The Bank Act, M He Quarrel ...

    AMENDMENT OF THE BANK ACT , m HE quarrel between the discount brokers anil ¦ ¦ ' . the Bank of _ L England is , forced on by the Act of 1844 .. Ever since it was passed , practical and theoretical men of the highest character have condemned it . Now , in the midst of political quiet mid sound trade , it has brought on another crisis , and threatens continual alarm and disturbance . By it trade is always exposed to difficulties and danger . What should be done with it may be doubtful , but the present session can scarcely come to an end without the . law being amended . Parliament cannot afford to wait for another commercial convulsion to compel it to redress the wrongs it commits . Tt cannot repeat tho obstinate folly of neglecting to repeal a bad law , such as the corn law , without sinking to the level of the despotic . Governments of the Continent , which are never roused into seasonable action but by a rrvoliitiom We shall make it our business to point out the course

    required by the principles of free trade , winch -arc ; still continually " forgotten or trampled on by legislators and public writers . Money , as every one knows , is necessary to social existence . Like clothing , it is brought into use for the sake of convenience , ease , and comfort . It has no nobler origin , and the convenience of which it is born governs all the phases of its entire existence . Let us here remind the reader that modern thought , lwsod on ever-extending observation , adopts the conclusion that causation is uniform , and constant in all time and space , whether wo refer to the motion of the heavenly bodies , or the production of life on the earth . Man , it has been admitted since the time of Lord Bacon , can only bring- matter in conjunction or remove it apart—Nature does all the rest . He ' must , therefore , submit to the consequences of his bringing together or separating matter which are brought about by as inexorable a logic as the largest and the meanest part of creation .

    On this principle , whatever increases convenience , or ease and comfort , is as appropriate to money as to garments , and by the public convenience , and nothing -else , must every question concorning money be tested . For this only is tho prerogative of coinage claimed , or tho power of regulating money by law assumed , ami whenever tho exercise of either lessens the convenience of tho publio by interfering with money , it is indefensible . tho written

    Bank or goldsmiths' notes were , in thoir origin , promises of a private person to pay a stipulated sum of the current money of the community , and having been found , in many cases , more convenient than coin , they caino very ^ Rncrally into use in every civilized society . It was afterwards found that , besides beinf ? a * groat convonionce , they caused a , groat public saving . Coin is a cumbrous and costly , though . indispensable ,, instrument , like hand-looms or sailing ships , or common roads , which , in tho progress of society , is improved or supp lemented , or superseded by superior inventions , Bnt , ns in constructing them the weaving- of cloth or the enrryinp ; of goods is never lost sight of , so in all " improvement of money , tho exchange of commodities for whioh , it is tho convenient instrument is always kept in view .

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), April 28, 1860, page 4, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_28041860/page/4/