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    April 7, I860.] The Leader and Saturday ...

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    11TSE IX DISCOUNT. IN an article under t...

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    The Fate Of The Independent Member. ; Ri...

    vituperation -from their present allies -pii account of their former connexions . But Lev virulently our Liberal contemporaries attack Lord Grey , -who thinks lor himself , repudiates any . obligation to praise Liberal measures or denounce Tory ones , and whilst . ; professing his adherence to the preafc political principles of his life , refuses to take the propositions of a party as their authoritative gloss . Lord Grey can stand his own , and we have no desire to vindicate him . He has faults which provoke attack , and if

    be is unfairly judged it matters little to him . He bas fil ' . high office j he could probably > from his peculiar charactei-, never bold it again without colleagues more submissive than he can hope for in these days , but his present position is sufficiently commanding ; so he can afford to despise the imputations of ignorance or illiberality which are flung at him by men who have not a tithe of his political knowledge , or his appreciation of real liberty , and can take his revenge by telling- the truth in a place from which no popular caprice can eject him .

    Mr . Hoesman is just now the bete noire of most of our liberal contemporaries , ' and no pains are spared to annoy and blacken ^ him . He bas angered the mere ministerialists by his refusal to assist in solely party schemes , and by his pertinacious interference with the ease and comfort of Lord John Russell . He has offended the extreme radicals by his refusal to adopt their shibboleth , as well as by his opposition to one or two pet measures in which they have taken a special intei-est . The result is a desperate attempt to write him down . Ministerial organs devote two out of three leading articles to the attempt to prove him an ambitious malcontent , a disappointed place-hunter , a renegade from liberalism , a secret ally of Mr . Disraeli , bought by some glittering promises of office ; and assert , in a style which , if we did not know it to be assumed , would somewhat surprise us at the trouble they take about hiin , that he is an

    ignorant impracticable , a mere rhediocrity , to whom the House will ¦ siot listen , and whose speeches the country will not' read . Our radical friends , with whom the repeal of the paper duty is the alp / ia and omega of this session ' s , business , follow suit in attacks studded with similar phrases , a little intensified , as becomes plainspeaking teachers of the great masses ; and the electors of Stroud , aroused from their Iultewarmness by the taunts and appeals of these standardbearers of the Liberal forces , have avowed '¦ their indignation that their member should presume to act independently , and . will doubtless provide themselves next election with a ministerial puppet , in the shape of a foolish young lord , or of a roaring demagogue , who will fall headlong into the Delilah wiles of Cambridge House , and ¦ go back to Stroud with certificates of patriotism from almost every liberal organ . . ' ¦ ' ..

    Our . readers . Jrnovir well enough that we have not approved of the course which Mr . Horsman has thought fit to pursue either in this session or in the last . We have accepted Treaty and Budget with general approbation , and we have been unable to see the necessity for plunging into a European war to preserve Savoy to a dynasty ¦ which . does not care to keep it . But although we have differed from Mr . Hoksman , we have seen no reason to doubt , his honesty , and mufih to admjve bis ability , and esteem his feai'less independence . If his policy lias been erroneous , lie has abandoned no principle ; and the only apostasy of which he can be deemed guilty is a falling away from the orthodox doctrine of Mr . Brand's infallibility . Take 'tor instance his support of Lord Derby ' s Reform Bill last year ; his vote may have been unwise , and if so , he sinned

    in company with some of tho staunchest radicals in thjo country ; but it was no repudiation of his old principles . Mr . HoBSsrAW supported the Bill because he thought it offered a better chance pf obtaining- something in the way of Reform than any the Wlrigs -could hold out , and we must confess we begin to think that ho and . friends were not far wrong . Tho Bill might have been amended in committee , for tho Conservatives were ready to make any concession to retain power , rind it would have passed the Upper House . The Bill which Lord Johw Russell has . put before the Commons is a better bill , no doubt , than that of last year , but with a second reading fufced for the 23 rd of April , and ' tho certainty that some two score gentlemen intend to deliver their opinions upon the subject , -wo approhend it will not got * out of committee ' until tho dog divyp ,

    and thus allow the Lords to reject it , upon tho fair pica ot insumcient time for its consideration . Then tho Trenty and tho Budget , although good in tho main , arc by no means free from objections . Tho Treaty contains many provisions which , to say tho least , are carelessly drawn , if they do not betray a groat ignorance of tho real requirements of English industry . Nor can it surely bo very great treason tq avow that tho Budget is much too ambitious , and ¦ undertakes to do at Q » co what would have been dono better at several times . We nro well plenRod « t the abolition of tho paper duty , but wo enn admit tlmt it is a fair question for discussion whether such a stop was prudent just now , and wo mny remind those who vituperate so coarsely Mr . Hoksman for hta speech against

    this Bill , that bo carried with him into the opposition lobby some five-and-twonty liberals , whoso adherence to tho pnrty standard hnd never before boon doubted . Mr . Horb ' man liari boon troublesome * and perhaps impnidont ,. about Savoy , b \ it at least lie has boon rig-lit ; all that ho bas said has been repaid at lust , by Lord John IUtssell , And it is strange , assuredly , to hoar from liberals who have boon accustomed to tiso the most violent language ng'ftinsC tho Emperor of Franco , tho complaint that that worthy will bo offended by ineinuationfl tlint lie 1 ms not boon acting quite fairly in tins nnnoxntion business . If Mr . IIqrsman lias acted wrongly on thin point , so has Mr . Kikqiaktu , nnd the one may as woll be styled ronogwle na tho other ,

    Mr . Hobs-man has been a li . l eriil throughout his career , " and ,-as such , has dons some souvieo- It is ctirio ; is , however , to find that « oiiic pasKMgcs of' his early political Hib which obtained t ' ov him . groat radical'favour , are nc , \ v drrgta- 'l out by- , radicals as it . s gnivcst blemishes . It was the fashion of the time to . bait bishops , . ' H-ntl Mr . JIoksman was a great adept in the art . Neither ho nor his rival , Lord Llanpver , displayed givar-courtesy fir good taste in their sport , ana the XiiMESis winch rule * the world . fitly punishes him by bringing up his misdeeds for reprobation in . tin ? columns of . radical journals , which certainly show ten times as . much , ill taste iii their own

    treatment of Church questions ; . We trust < hat ii ' tlio electors ' of Stroud are foolish enough to reject Mr . Hoesman , be will find another . constituency ' . We want men who have the courage to be consistent and independent , who will brave the taunts of impraclicnbili ' ty and disappointed ambition , certain to be thrown out against them if they remain true to their principles , and . refuse to sacrifice . them to the selfish ends of a party . Such a man abandons the natural hope of a politician—power , and dooms himself to an awkward and cheerless , isolation ; . ' whilst the . ' unprincipled-adventurer , who can change principles and party without a scruple , may gain the highest oflice , and become a public favourite ,

    ¦ We-have done our duty in bestowing this . hearty kick upon the yelping curs who have set upon Mr , Hoesman ; and we trust that some of our" independent contemporaries will have the justice to follow our initiative .

    April 7, I860.] The Leader And Saturday ...

    April 7 , I 860 . ] The Leader and Saturday Analyst . 325

    11tse Ix Discount. In An Article Under T...

    11 TSE IX DISCOUNT . IN an article under the title of " Discount , " published on January 2 Sth , we adverted -to ¦ the general rate for a . considerable period : prior to that time- — to the rise which the Bank had . established in ( lie-rate in the previous week , and we set forth at some length our reasons for believing- that the rate would be raised still higher . In -the . week following our remarks the Bank-raised its mini mum rate- from 3 to 4 per cent .. and last Thursday it again raised the rate to 4 } per cent . We find no fault with the Bank for following a course which we distinctly foresaw would be necessary . Nor can any one find the least fault with the Bank for making as large profits as possible , under fair competition , of its own money . But the Bank has now made that alteration at a period of the quarter which exposes it to the' reproach Of making a profit of the public money , and halpa to place in a clear light the injury which , the institution , as modelled by law , inflicts on the nation .

    . One of its advocates tells us " that most of the banks , and other dealers in money * found-their' supply so far reduced that they wore glad to turn away customers by demanding a considerable advance on the Bank minimum . The majority of the bill brokers were eager applicants at the Bank for the advances- usual ¦ at the 2 > criodof the quarter . The entire market found itself dependent on that establishment to ii degree " unusual even at ( his season , when great power is-given to it through the absorption of the currency in revenue payments . " The sauie advocate says the Bunk was fully justified in raising its . rate by the figures of its account this week , viz ., an increase in the deposits , as compared to the : first-week in the month , of £ 2 , 702 , 328 , and an increase in the securities , of £ ' : M > O ( > , ( > OO ; . the

    formerbeing the measure of its increased-liabilities , and the latter of tho greatly-increased ' accommodation it had given to borrowers But of this increase of deposits the sum of £ 2 , 01 , 2 , 74 ~ y was the money of the State , and at this period of tho quarter , when the State necessarily absorbs vast sums of legal money in revenue payments , it seems ungracious , and is unusual for tho Bank in which it is deposited to raise the rate of discount . The Biink will undoubtedly , make all it can of its funds . We hold it 1 o bo ({ into right in ' every individual suid every private corporation to do this so far as is consistent with houosty ; but because wo know that the Bank will and is bound to do po , * we object to its being . .. invested by law with an ' extraordinary power to exercise inherent Bullishness at other people's expense .

    In our article ' of January , already referred to , wo pointed out that the issue of bank-note * had fallen from ; fc ; 32 , 6 o 5 ,: 315 ufthrf beginning of 1851 ) , to dB 29 ,-G 4 il } , 005 then . In the interval buuineHH hud dxpandod , and in proportion ns it had expanded and beconio active ; , tho issues qf tho Bank had decreased . ' Actually , " wo said , " the business of the country requires . £ 2 , 000 , 000 move Bunk of England notes now than at this time lust yoai ' . ttnd there is issued £ 2 , 200 , 000 lesa . ' Wo then said , also , " that enterprise wus lilcely to be much stimulated both . at home and abroad , * ' making tlio trade of itfOO litr supp « Ha ijmt of any previous year . " Now there in no doubt tlmt enterprise bus incrensod sin ' oo thon , nnd in comparatively uutive , both hero imdm other countries , All oomuieroinl authoriMes concur in this . IJio oflioial tnulo tables for February show nn inoreano in the value ol oxports in the month of £ 1 , 107 , « 07 nn uj ? nnwb I < ubmury , ' 1 MJ 9 . Except , therefore , that art «« d skill aro oontn . ualy toauhni ^ u » how to economise curronoy , moro i * now required lor the inei-ea « od buainofis of society than wrn required in Jmiunry last . 13 ut ho Unas the Bunk—tho body untlwrissod to supply it—is concerned , tho supply is loss . ; The notes issued and in circulation \ vcr . o—KutOH iHBUOll , Ofl'OUllltlOll , , e £ On Junuary 25 . , . 20 , 842 , 620 22 , 487 , 0 'iO on SSs . .. ae ; oos , Mo % i , wjun Lobs In March . 27 M / 80 610 , 283

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), April 7, 1860, page 9, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_07041860/page/9/