that the standard of money, instead of being fixed, once for all, should be varied, from time to time, according to the price of wheat; so that if wheat, upon an average of ten or twenty years, should fall, the standard should be lowered, or, what is the same thing, the denomination of our money be raised, and, vice versa, if wheat should rise, that the standard should be raised. This appeared to me the hon. member's general doctrine, but perhaps I have mistaken the application of it: for although he certainly would suggest the lowering the standard when the price of wheat falls, I heard nothing about raising it when the price rises: and, certainly, to do the latter, however called for by reciprocity and justice, would militate against his other leading principle that the prosperity of a state depends on the gradual but constant depreciation of its currency. One thing, indeed, would rather confirm my suspicion that this reciprocity forms no part of his plan; for, during the twenty years which preceded 1819, we never heard from him, or any other practical gentleman, a proposal to revise the standard, by a comparison of the average price of wheat for ten or twenty years preceding: the result of which might have been, that every debtor, instead of discharging a debt of 80s. by the payment of 45s. would have had to pay nearly 80s. for every 45 of his debt, during 10 or 20 years to come, according as the one or the other of those terms might have been fixed upon for the periodical revision of the standard.

"Another of the principles laid down by the member for Essex is, that we ought to measure the

pressure of taxation by the price of corn. • In 6 1813,' says the hon. member, the price of wheat being 108s. 9d., and the taxes 74,674,7987-13,733,296 quarters of wheat were sufficient for the payment thereof: in the present year, the price of wheat being 45s. —very nearly double that amount of quarters are necessary to pay the taxes thereof.' I wonder, when he was making these comparisons, that he did not extend them to a few other years. If he had, he would have found, in 1812, for instance, that the taxes being 70,435,679. and wheat at the moderate price of 125s. 5d.11,224,809 quarters of wheat were sufficient for the payment thereof. In 1815, that the taxes being 79,948,670l., and the price of wheat only 64s. 4d.—24,854,508 quarters were requisite for the payment thereof. But, then, 1817 was again a prosperous year; for the taxes being reduced to 55,836,2591., and wheat having risen to 94s. 9d.-11,786,017 were sufficient for the payment thereof. Now, according to this statement, the years 1812 and 1817, must have been those of the lightest pressure, and 1815 and 1821, those in which that pressure was most severe. If distress bordering upon famine, if misery bursting forth in insurrection, and all the other symptoms of wretchedness, discontent, and difficulty, are to be taken as symptoms of pressure upon the people, then I should say, that 1812 and 1817, were two years of which no good man can ever wish to witness the like again; but if all the usual consequences of general ease in the great masses of our condensed population, and all the habitual concomitants of contented industry, are

indications of a better state of things, then I should say, that 1815 and 1821-periods of the severest pressure of taxation, according to this new measure of its pressure are among those years, in which, judging from their conduct, the labouring parts of the community have had least reason to complain of their situation.

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"The proposition now boldly made, is for a depreciation of the standard of the currency. How strange must be the condition of this country, if it can only prosper by a violation of national faith and a subversion of private property-if it can only be saved by a measure, reprobated by all statesmen and all historians the wretched but antiquated resource of barbarous ignorance and arbitrary power, and only known among civilized communities, as the last mark of a nation's weakness and degradation. Does not the hon. member see, that such a measure would be the death-blow to all public credit, and to all confidence in private dealings between man and man? Does he not see, that if you once lower your standard, it will become a precedent that will be resorted to on every future emergency or temporary pressure-resorted to the more readily, as credit and every other more valuable resource, on which this country has hitherto relied, will be at an end? Does he not see, that the expectation of such a recurrence will produce much of the mischief of its reality?-that when men find, that, in England, there is no security in pecuniary contracts, they will seek that security elsewhere?-If we once embark in this career-if once openly and deliberately we avow and recognise this principle, Eng

land, depend upon it, will rapidly descend, and not more rapidly in character than in wealth, to the level of those countries, in which, from ignorance and barbarism, such expedients are not yet exploded.

"But, Sir, whatever fallacious expectations of relief to the country the hon. gentleman may have conceived from a plan so pregnant with mischief and disaster, fortunately there is little danger of its being adopted. In the mysterious councils of despotism, such a project may be so matured as to burst by surprise upon the country. Here it must be discussed in parliament, and would be examined and understood by the public long before it could be ripe for execu tion. I will venture to say, that if this House were even to entertain such a proposition by a vote, the country would be in alarm and confusion from one end of the kingdom to the other. All pecuniary dealings would be at an end; all pending transactions would be thrown into disorder; all debtors would be called upon for immediate payment; all holders of paper circulation would insist upon its being converted into coin or bullion; and all the coin and bullion so withdrawn, whether gold or silver, would be hoarded. Neither the Bank, nor the London bankers, nor the country banks, could survive the shock. Every man would be struggling to call in credits, whether in public or private hands, and either by converting those credits into goods, or by sending them abroad, to place them beyond the reach of the hon. member's bill. What a scene of strife, insolvency, stagnation of business, individual misery, and general disorder would ensue !— All this would precede the passing

of the hon. gentleman's bill, whilst it was proceeding in its several stages in this, and the other House of parliament. It would be a waste of the time of the House, to follow the measure in its effects, when it should have become the law of the land, because such an event is happily impossible. Let the House give the hon. member his committee, after the speech in which he has proposed it to night, and I am perfectly sure, that this first step, in furtherance of his object, would, even to-morrow, create such a commencement of stir and alarm in this metropolis, and very soon in every part of the country, as would induce the hon. gentleman, himself, to be among the first to proclaim his abandonment of all such desperate expedients."

Mr. Huskisson then illustrated the subject by referring to what had taken place under king William, in 1696. The current money, though it passed at its nominal value, having lost one half of its standard weight, was in truth depreciated nearly 50 per cent. To remedy this evil, the clipped coin was called in; a re-coinage took place; and the circulation was again supplied with money of the full weight according to the antient standard. The consequence of this measure was general distress and embarrassment. Money rose in value; every commodity fell in price; all the operations of trade were cramped, and the collection of the public supplies was suspended. The distress was general; and the only remedy to which the people looked was-that the depreciated currency should be restored. In the midst of these embarrassments, king William quitting the theatre of war, came to England and met his parliament

on the 20th October, 1696. In his speech from the throne on that day, he earnestly called their attention to the state of the currency, and the difficulties in which the country was, in consequence, involved. At that period, this subject agitated the country from one end to the other. The secretary of the Treasury, Mr. Lowndes, had recommended the lowering the standard from 5s. 2d. to 6s. 3d. the ounce of silver-an operation equivalent to the lowering of the gold standard, in 1822, from 31. 178. 10d. to 4l. 14s. 6d. The popular feeling was all on the side of this advice; and that feeling had been manifested in petitions from several counties, and most of the great towns. But did parlis

ment adopt this advice? Far from it. With true wisdom, on the very first day of the meeting, immediately after voting an address in answer to the speech from the throne, on that same 20th of October, 1696, Mr. Montague, the then chancellor of the exchequer, proposed, and parliament adopted, the following resolution:-" That this House will not alter the standard of the gold and silver coins of this kingdom in fineness, weight, or denomination." The circumstance of coming to a resolution of this importance, on the very first day of the meeting, is the more remarkable, as in those times, the address, in answer to the speech, was sometimes not voted till some days after the opening; but the ministers of king William felt the great importance of removing all doubts, and of at once settling the public mind on this point. Wa know what followed. The ancient standard was maintained; the difficulties gradually subsided, and every thing finding its proper

level, all the transactions of the country were restored to their former facility. "The receiving (i. e. the calling in) the silver money," says a writer of that period, "could not but occasion much hardship and many complaints among the people; yet the greatest part attributed this to the necessity of affairs, and began to hope, both from the prospect of a peace, and wisdom of those at the helm, that they should enjoy more favourable times." Now, if, in 1696, this House, having then so recently restored the ancient landmarks of property, refused, under the strongest inducements, both from the state of war and from popular feeling at home, again to alter them, should we, after those same land-marks had now been replaced for three years, adopt a measure, which would be as fatal to our national character, as it would to the security of individual possession, to the maintenance of credit in private dealings, and to the very existence of the public credit of the state? Parliament, he thought, would not do its duty, if it contented itself with giving merely a negative to the motion of the honourable gentleman. Since they had replaced the coinage upon a true basis, they ought to act in such a manner as to leave no doubt in the minds of the people, concerning the course which would be hereafter pursued upon this subject. Feeling strongly the necessity of quieting the apprehensions of the people, and being desirous to prevent the mischiefs that must result from the adoption of the propositions of the honourable gentleman, Mr. H., conceived he could not do better than call upon the House to re-affirm the resolution of 1696; and VOL. LXIV.

he,

therefore, in the very words formerly used by Mr. Montague, moved, as an amendment, "That this House will not alter the standard of gold or silver in fineness, weight, or denomination."

On the second night of the debate, Mr. Ricardo maintained, that the inconveniencies naturally attending our return to a metallic standard, had been infinitely inIcreased by the folly of the Bank directors in making premature purchases of gold to a large extent. They ought, said he, to have borne in mind, that the bill of Mr. Peel, did not make it imperative upon them until the year 1823 to pay in specie.

Until the arrival of

that period the Bank was called upon to pay in bullion only, and it was quite impossible that their coffers should not, in 1819, have contained a supply amply sufficient to meet all demands, preparatory to the final operation of the measure. Mr. Peel's bill was, in truth, an experiment to try, whether a bank could not be carried on with advantage to the general interests of the country, upon the principle of not being called on to pay their notes in coin, but in bullion: and he had not the least doubt, that, if the Bank had gone on wisely in their preliminary arrangements, the years 1821 and 1822 would have passed off with the working of the bullion part of the plan, so well that it would have been continued for a number of years beyond the time originally stipulated for its operation. Such, he was convinced, would have been the course, had the Bank refrained from making those unnecessary purchases of gold which had led to many unpleasant consequences. But it was said, that the Bank had [1]

kept up their circulation on the same level as before, and that therefore their purchases could make no difference to the country. He denied the fact to be so; but allowing, for the sake of argument, that their issues were now as large as in 1819, he should still make it matter of charge against the Bank, that they had not increased their issues so as to cover the operation of the foreign exchanges, and prevent any injurious effect from the purchases of gold. With reference to the conduct of the Bank on that occasion, it had been said in the way of justification, that they were not left masters of their own proceeding that the circumstance of the nu merous executions for forgery throughout the country had made the public clamorous for a metallic circulation, so as in a measure to compel the Bank to precipitate the substitution of coin for their one and two pound notes; but the Bank lost the benefit of this argument by the manner in which, throughout all the debates of 1819, they had resisted any measure which had a tendency to compel them to reduce their issues.

Mr. Attwood's speech, was by much the ablest that was delivered in support of Mr. Western's motion; and exhibited, indeed, a reach of thought and power of eloquent argumentative expression not often equalled. It was his opinion, that the fall of prices was not confined to agricultural produce, and could not be ascribed to

over production. In the year 1818, said he, the average price of wheat appears to have been 84s. a quarter; and if the present price be taken at 478., that gives a reduction on wheat of 37s., which is equal to a fall of 451. in every

100l., or 45 per cent. The price of iron, in the year 1818, appears to have been 137.; that price has now fallen to 8l., which is equal to a reduction of about 40 per cent upon iron. The price of cotton, in 1818, was 1s., and it has now sunk to бd., and that is a fall of 50 per cent in cotton. Wool, in the year 1818, sold for 2s. 1d., which now sells for 1s. 1d., and there is, therefore, in wool a fall of nearly 50 per cent. The fall, therefore, that has taken place since 1818, in iron, in cotton, and in wool, is as great as the fall in wheat. It is 45 per cent on an average of the three; and that is precisely the fall in grain. These are our three great staple articles; and this fact of the fall in price they have sustained, I recommend to the consideration of those gentlemen who tell us of an excessive production of corn-of an excessive cultivation of land. If corn has been produced in excess-if the proof of that is to be found in its fall of price-doubtless there has been an equal excess likewise in the production of these three great staple articles. But I will refer to a paper containing further information upon this subject; and which, I am satisfied, will be received as exhibiting a correct estimate of the general fall in prices which has taken place on the whole of our productions and commodities. The paper, to which I refer for this purpose, will be found in the agricultural report of the last session. It was delivered to the committee by Mr. Tooke, and contains a list of the principal articles of commerce and manufacture, 30 in number, selected by that gentleman for the purpose of information respecting prices; and the prices of each commodity are