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THE EXAMINER.

RE LT relation to it. As the currency now ranges, we all per- fectly understand the nature of our engegements to each other; and there is as much simplicity in our transac- tions as if the whole were carried on insterling money. Where is the skilful financier who can take upon him the responsibility of assuring to us the same pleasant state of things after a supposed restoration? and would it be wise or prudent to entangle ourselves in the com- plex regulations and minute arrangemen’s|which it would be necessary to make, to give it a just and equal opera- tion, when the principal end we ought to keep in view (the establishment of a sound and comparatively un- varying medium of exchange) may be obtained with equal advantage without it.

I am aware that many persons entertain a sort of bigoted preference to the Halifax standard of the currency, and appear to think that if that rate could be restored, every- thing would become easy and flourishing ; but it is not easy to discover by what influence this idea is so pre- valent. Persons who have given much consideration to commercial affairs, hold it to be of great importance that the medium of exchange should be so regulated that the calculations incident to commercial transactions should be as simple and easily settled as possible, by which much time and trouble is saved to all parties. In this respect our present rate is certainly referable to that of Halifax. If our dealings were entirely confined to Nova Scotia, there might be some reason for regulat- ing our currency by it; but as those dealings are now sufficiently various, and are likely to become more sg0, our attention should rather be directed to our relations with a sterling currency than to any subsidiary one, es-

‘amounting to about £40,000, which I think may be

Lord Grey seems to think thata restriction at - commencement of this operation—limiting the demands for specie in exchange for Notes at the office of sorte rency, to sums not 7 in amount = £50, might be of some service in facilitating its success.

The subjoined extract of a Despatch addressed to = Governor of New Zealand is, no doubt, intended to af- ford additional information, and to supply hints for the construction of a scheme suitable to the wants and cir-| cumstances of this Island. The whole requires careful consideration, for it is of the utmost importance that the question should be dealt with very discreetly, that no unnecessary haste or too sudden an enlargement of the issues should mar and impede the success of a project which, if carried out, is likely to have a most favourable influence upon all our future undertakings. There is every reason to be thankful for this evidence of the at- tention of the Colonial Office to our Island affairs, and the very best return we can make is to cultivate the sug- gestions contained in these Despatches, and endeavour to bring them into useful operation.

There is one point which itis very necessary we should be able to come to a right conclusion upon, at as early a period as possible, and that is the amount of paper circulation which it may be safe to experiment upon at the outset. His Lordship’s Despatch seems to propose the combined amount of Notes and Warrants now in issue. By the Report of the Special Committee upon the Public Accounts, on the 20th January, 1847, we have the following as the amount of Treasury War- rants and Notes in circulation or afloat:

Treasury Warrants, £29,317 11 8% Do. Notes, 11,500 0 0 Total, £40,817 11 8%

Upon the completion of the operation we should, therefore, have a circulation of Notes payable on demand

deemed to be more than an ample provision for the pre- sent demands of the community ; and if so, requires the

pecially as it may be hoped that we are about to prepare the way tor the adoption of a system infinitely superior toany that is at present existing in any of these Colonies

Again, could we in the progress of restoration repair ‘the losses inflicted by the depreciation to the real suf- ferers thereby, there would be some motive for encoun- tering the abstruse enquiries which must necessarily accompany such a movement (if it is to be accomplish- ed ina just and equitable spirit); but such a separation is manifestly impossible.

It is also very certain that in every change of value

the great sufferers are those who are least able to sustain| it, The Merchant and Sterckeeper quickly accommo-)the bloody drama so long ‘a preparation for the cantons, -date their dealings and prices so as to correspoad with

the varying phases ofthe currency, whilst the resident in the distant districts of the country but slowly acquires the information necessary to the protection of his in- terests, and often suffers materially thereby. The un- wary and the ignorant become the prey of the cunning and crafty at every change, and thus the elevation of the currency after any considerable period of depreciation i3 {00 often only acquiring a new direction to injustice.

It may also be observed, that the currencies of the neighbouring Colonies are not in exact unison, but have frequent variations in their relative value, which is a sufficient indication that they are not in so sound a state that we should seek to regulate our currency upon the same principles and by the same standard. It was not to be expected that his Lordship, in a Despatch, would enter into all the particulars here adverted to; but I trust that those who may have hereafter to deal with the sub- ject, will give them that considerate attention which so grave a matter Ceserver,

His Lordship then assumes that the course likely to be adopted, is the fixing the standard of the currency at its present point of depreciation; and afterwards enters upon the measures by which the intended change is to be safely introduced. There are stated to be the pass- ing ofa law authorizing the proper officer to call in all outstanding Warrants, and to discharge the holders of them by paying tothem a like amount in Treasury Notes—these notes being declared to be a legal tender, and also made exchangeable for coin at theoffice of the

‘strictest investigation and enquiry before it is adopted. I am, Sir, your humble Servant,

| CAMBIATORE.

THE NEWS FROM EUROPE.

The English Mail, brought by the “ Hibernia,” reach- ed Charlottetown on Wednesday last—bringing intel- ligence of a painfully important character, the principal part of which may be ranged under three heads, viz: the continuance of the commercial panic in different parts of Europe--the prevalence of destitution and crime in ili-fated and misgoverned Ire!and—and the enactment of

of the Sonderbond in Switzeriand. Forty-three houses in various parts of the continent, have yielded to com- ‘mercial embarrassments, since the last English Mail,— making a fearful addition to the long list of calamities which an unsound system has brought upon the whole Commerce of the Old World, fraught with incalculable distress and decrepitude—-blasting the fondest hopes— thwarting the most earnest struggles of the high as well as the low.

The imperial Parliament entered on the business of the Session on the 23d November, and loud and long has been the discussion of the new as well as the old legislators, as to the best means of relieving the com- mercial embarrassments, and imparting once again an impulse to the spirit of Trade—of subduing crime and insubordination in Ireland, and feeding the starving millions of that unhappy country. For the one, enqui- ries were to be made into the causes of the panic, and how far :t has been affected by the laws regulating the issue of bank notes payable on demand; for the other, a Coercion Bill was to be brought under the consideration of Parliament. Speculation and enquiry were the only results of the several days’ debates; so that the precise nature of the measures which might be ultimately adopted by Parliament, could not be known when the Mail left England. On the discussion which occurred in the House of Commons relatively to commercial af. fairs, a London contemporary remarks:

But Ireland is not the only topic on which the debates have turned. The commercial distress, though excluded

manager of the currency account (w!ich account is to be kept entirely distinct from the ‘T'reasury account), upon’ the application of the holder—or in other words, making, them payable on demand.

To enable the officer of the currency to ineet the de- | mands that may possibly be made for coin by those who. have payments to make abroad, or who may require it for their ordinary purposes, his Lordship suggests that a sum of money may be raised by loan, or otherwise to be placed in the hands of the currency officer for that pur-

pose.

of Lord Stanley; and Lord George Bentinck, being

tionist policy means anything, it means that in a time of

from the first debate in the House of Commons, has had its full swing in the House of Lords, under the auspices

primed for the occasion, and having lost his opportunity in the debate on the Address, gave full vent to his Statesmanship the next evening. Both these noble lords wandered over a huge field of politics, and laboured hard to find some tangible ground of opposition. It was allin vain! Nothing can be more puerile, empty, and jejune than the statements they paraded before the coun- try. They would have us believe that the commercial distress has been owing to free trade! and if a Protec-

famine corn should be kept out of the country in order

that gold may be kept in, and the money market pro- tected from its unpleasant fluctuations. There is not much danger of men with this capacity of intellect shak- ing the stability of any,Minister,or of accomplishing any- thing higher than a little temporary obstruction. On the Bank Charter Act the Protectionists seem rather at a loss, their great leader, Lord Stanley, having been a party to its enactment in 1844! Another leading ques- tion also divides them. ‘The Post gravely announces that the party have resolved to treat Jewish emancipation as their forefathers—Liverpoo! and Castlereagh—treated Catholic emancipation, that is, leave it an open question.

The character of the civil war in Switzerland calls

forth the fullowing observations :

Out of doors, our attention is naturally turned to the affairs of Switzerland. At present very little is known with any exactness of detail. We announced last week the taking and capitulation of Friburg; but what has followed the surrender is, as usual, a matter of grave dispute. The garrison has altogether disappeared ; having, according to one account, cut its way to Lucerne, and according to another, dispersed and taken refuge in Neufchatel. The conduct of the Federal troops in Fri- burg appears, beyond a doubt, to have been infamous, The ferocious Radical soldiers have treated the stipula- tions made by their Conservative officers with the utmost, contempt, and given the town up to pillage; plundering houses, profaning churches, ransacking the colle and treating the surrounding villages even worse than the city itself. These facts are denied by the Radical papers, and no doubt would be denied by Mr. Grote, if he were to write a history of this civil war; but, unfor- tunately, they are put beyond a doubt by the ‘ Order of the Day’ of the Federal Colonel, Rilliet, who declares that ‘the Diet’s orders and those of the General have ‘been unfortunately forgotten,’ and denounces ‘ those who in order to gratify their passions would compromise the army by making it the instrument of their personal rancour. He adds, that ‘the time of indulgence has passed, and ali such belonging to the army as forgot their duty shall be rigorously chastised according to law.’ The posture of things in and about Lucerne is quite uncertain; but the Queen’s Speech establishes the fact that the five Powers are to use their efforts by a sriendly mediation to tranquilize Switzerland. We need hardly doubt that the Jesuits both in Lucerne and Friburg will be made the first victims of this ‘ friendly’ measure. We trust in God the soldiers of the Sonder- bund may have had an occasion to chastise their Jawless and brutal invaders before the polluting ‘ mediation’ touches them.

MECHANICS’ INSTITUTE.

“A Mechanic” writes us a very long and very angry letter on the subject of certain proceedings at a late Meeting of the Mechanics’ Institute. Inthe main points urged by “a Mechanic” we fully and unreservedly con- cur, but we fear that his indignation has sad)y triumphed over his judgment, and urged him into the commission: of one or two palpabie errors which, in calmer moments, he cannot fail to perceive. We are sorry that we are compelled to endorse nearly his first observation—that an attempt is evident to wrest the Mechanics’ Institute from the hands of those for whose benefit it was esta- blished, and to place it under the controul of a few indi- viduals—principally young men, who are unfortunately more remarkable for their vanity and presumption than they are for the splendour of their talents, or the extent of their erudition, But this is not the theme on which our correspondent lavishes his indignant, and, indeed, eloquent denunciations. It is—the manifestations of party and political rancour in the management of the general business ofan Institution which professes no re- gard or consideration for the political feelings and opi- nions of all classes in the community. “ A Mechanic” avers that on the last night of meeting, in the selection of Office-bearers, the disreputable scheme of excluding from every petty office, persons who are known to advo- cate liberal views in politics, was successfully earried into operation,—and the averment he has supported by. arguments and proofs which appear to us wholly incon- trovertible ; and were it not for the freedom witli which our correspondent uses the names of several individuals, we might be inclined to submit, at least, this part of his letter to public consideration. As it is, we do not think that any great advantage would be likelyto arise from its publication. Ifthe real objects of the Institute are thus to be lost sight of, for the sake of nursing the egre- gious vanity of some young men, who have little or no sympathies in Common with Mechanics, the ‘atter are themselves to blame—for had they displayed hitherto a little more zeal in furthering the objects of the hastitute, the persons of whom “a Mechanic” complains would have been obliged to keep their proper level. Tle po- litical animus which is alleged to have characteijzed the proceedings of the last Meeting, is certainly the strongest ground of complaint that can be prefernd against the officers of the Institute. However ardenty a few individuals may struggle to impress the public mind with a notion of their vast importance, as literary and scientific men, they only render themselves contemp- tible and shake general confidence in the utility of the Institute, by allowing their political feelings and antipae thies to colour their actions within the walls of an Insti- tution established for the dissemination of scientific knowledge and the encouragement of literary pursuits,

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