THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF ILLINOIS 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 35Z

 
 ' '' „\ "* v -.'^ ^ '' 
 
 v/ *
 
 PAPERS A 
 
 PICKED UP AT SEA, 
 
 EEr.ATlKG TO 
 
 THE QUESTION 
 
 OF 
 
 Currcttci) an& Baukiitjj, 
 
 CALAIS : 
 
 PuiMED BY D. LK ROY. >(). i<j(> . Rrr. dks EoiciiiRips. 
 1801. 
 
 i
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 In making the passage from Dover to Calais during 
 Ihc month of December last, something was observed 
 floating on the waters, which, at first, had the appear- 
 ance of a porpoise. As it neared the vessel, however, 
 it was found to be a light package, and the boat beiing 
 hauled down, it was brought on deck, and presented to 
 the captain. It appears to have floated from a ship 
 which had been wrecked on the Goodwin, the prece- 
 ding evening. On opening it all eyes were directed to 
 the prize, and the reader may judge of the disappoint- 
 ment of the crew when they discovered that it contained 
 nothing but manuscript writings relating to a branch of 
 political economy. The captain, in a great passion, ga- 
 thered up the papers, and was about to consign them 
 to the element from whence they came, when I arrested 
 his arm, and begged permission to keep them. 
 • To arrange them, and put them in a fit state for the 
 public, has been my only amusement during a month's 
 residence in France; and if their publication should 
 now amuse or inform others, I shall consider myself 
 
 amply rewarded for my pains. 
 
 Tlit^y consist of a conversation (beginning with a 
 
 fable,) on iho Banking and Currency Question, be-
 
 IV PftEFACft. 
 
 iween delegates of the people and the king's ministers. 
 It opent with the history of the Bank restriction and 
 its fatal consequences to us all. The delegates make 
 known to the ministers that they are all very much 
 embarrassed, and that low prices, with high rents and 
 heavy taxes, cannot much longer he borne. A ques- 
 tion is then raised whether it would be expedient, with 
 a view of raising prices, to dose the public with a fresh 
 issue of assignats ; that being disposed of, the ministers 
 are then asked to bring about an equitable adjustment, 
 in which the fund-holders are particularly compre- 
 hended. At the end of this discussion, a guinea falling 
 from Lord Bexley's pocket becomes suddenly endowed 
 with the faculty of speech, joins in the conversation, 
 differs from the delegates as to the remedy for their 
 distress, warmly defends Mr. Peel's bill of 1819, and 
 suggests various alterations in our monetary system : — 
 1st, That Government should break up and shiver to 
 pieces the monopoly of the Bank, and take the cur- 
 rency and the management of the public debt into its 
 own hands ; adly, that, with a view of preventing pa- 
 nics, we should change the present system of compen- 
 sating th3 London bankers; and, 3dly, that we should 
 let loose again, under certain regulations, the impri- 
 soned one-pound notes.— Such are the contents of these 
 shipwrecked papers. 
 
 Upon questions of such great importance, and where 
 large interests are at stake, differences of opinion will, 
 necessarily, arise. The only favor I have to ask of the 
 public in return for the labor of lbs present under- 
 taking is, that they will determine aacb of these ques-
 
 PREFACE. V 
 
 lions without reference to the powerful Individuals who 
 may be affected by them, but in reference only to the 
 statements and reasonings by which their public expe- 
 diency is here attempted to be made manifest. 
 
 I must apologize for dropping the fable at the end of 
 the i5th page, and resorting to real names and dates. 
 The truth is, that the labour would have been endless 
 if I had adopted here the fabulous name of each minis- 
 ter and delegate. I have, therefore, brought them to- 
 gether in conversation as a body, since it was useless to 
 continue the mystery. An island passionately fond of 
 war, and washed by the German Ocean, can only mean 
 ounelves ; horse-chesnuts used instead of gold and sil- 
 ver, can only mean Bank of England paper under re- 
 striction ; and the minister who was suddenly struck 
 with their appetency for a circulating medium, during 
 one fatal cold frosty morning, can bo no other than 
 Mr. Pitt. With these prefatory observations, I now 
 proceed to lay the papers of the unfortunate deceased 
 before the public*
 
 PAPERS 
 
 PICKED rP AT SEA* 
 
 Once upon a time there flourished a na- 
 tion inhabiting an island washed on one 
 side by the German ocean. Its inhabitants 
 were brave, intelligent, and industrious ; 
 leaving all others far behind in the general 
 prevalence of education, and in the wisdom 
 of its civil institutions. Blessed with a fine 
 climate, and a soil producing abundantly, 
 it comprehended within itself every ele- 
 ment of national prosperity. But the peo- 
 ple were prone to war; they had a ravenous 
 lust to interfere in the quarrels of other na- 
 tions; and hence, when their neighbours 
 disagreed, out flew their swords from their 
 scabbards, and they took up what they 
 called an imposing attitude. It happened, 
 from the multitude of wars in which they 
 had been engaged, that their finances sud- 
 denly ran very short. They had spent all 
 their gold and silver, and what to do puz-
 
 8 
 
 zled them exceedingly. In these straits, 
 the prime minister happening to walk one 
 morning into the capital city, observed in. 
 the garden or court-yard of a company of 
 bankers a long grove of horse-chesnut- 
 trees, bearing throughout the whole year 
 a boundless quantity of fruit of a very pe- 
 culiar kind. Apostrophizing to himself he 
 said, « TV hat Is money, but a conventional 
 symbol of value, and since we have spent all 
 ours, and want more, suppose I make these 
 horse-chesnuts a symbol or measure of value?" 
 He hastened to the chiefs of the bank, and 
 telling them what had been passing in his 
 mind, they embraced him, and shed tears 
 of joy. In a few days afterwards, a law was 
 passed to restrain these banking chiefs from 
 paying their debts in the coin of the realm ; 
 they were allowed henceforth to discharge 
 them in horse-chesnuts, and these became, 
 dejure and de facto, equivalent to the cur-^ 
 rent money of the state. 
 
 Thus supplied with fresh means, the na- 
 tion acquired fresh appetite for war. It 
 again unsheathed its sword in pursuit of 
 what it called glory : the minister never 
 lacked means. Did he contemplate an at- 
 tack on Copenhagen? lie sent his compli- 
 ments to these bankers, who ringing a bell 
 desired Mr. Triquet to go into the garden, 
 and shake down a million of horse-ches-
 
 9 
 nuts. Did he desire to send an expeditiore 
 to Walcheren? The chiefs were again ap- 
 plied to ; the hell was again rung, and Mr. 
 Hogsflesh* was desired to hie into the 
 court, and hriiig in two millions of the cir- 
 culating medium. In this way matters 
 went on for several years : as the new mo- 
 ney was doled out, the products of the 
 earth were seen to rise in yalue ; and the 
 great productive interests of the country 
 found themselves suddenly enriched. All 
 went on merrily as at a marriage-feast, for 
 along with a rise of prices all these classes 
 of society changed their hahits of living. 
 They hecame expensive and aristocratical. 
 The farmers, in particular, became sud- 
 denly a new race of men. Instead of rising 
 with the lark, and breakfasting off bacon, 
 or at best, a toad in the hole, they did not 
 rise until the dew had disappeared from 
 the ground, and for breakfast they ate 
 raaintenon cutlets, using a silver fork of 
 the fiddle pattern. They rode line blood- 
 horses, and it appears from old legends 
 that they wore spurs of such a prodigious 
 length, that they were obliged to walk 
 down stairs backwards. Their children, in- 
 
 * Mr. Triquf't aud Mr. Hogsflesh were two of the 
 clerks who signed the Bank-notes.
 
 10 
 
 stead of making dumplings, were taught 
 pneumatics, hydrostatics, mathematics, 
 vegetable physiology, and spherical trigo- 
 nometry; and history relates, in proof of 
 their elfeminacy, that they travelled regu- 
 larly twice a year to the capital, to have 
 their teeth cleaned by one Gartwright, a 
 celebrated dentist, in short, the whole 
 face of society underwent a total change. 
 
 *' Is there nothing unsound," exclaimed 
 the philosophers, ** in these high prices, 
 and in this sudden prosperity? Is it not 
 the effect of a fictitious circulation which 
 has debased the standard, and is it not our 
 duty to inform the people, and to warn 
 them of the consequences, in respect of 
 their dealings with one another, which will 
 follow the withdrawal of this unreal mea- 
 sure of value, and the restoration of the 
 precious metals ?" * 
 
 " No;" said the elders of the nation, 
 *' the public need no warning at all. The 
 prosperity of which you complain is whole- 
 some and permanent, (i) and not the con- 
 sequence of a vicious currency. Neither 
 is it true that we have falsified the stan- 
 dard, and of this we will soon convince 
 
 * Edinburgh lie views, i8og. ii, la, i3. 
 
 (i) George Rose, Lord Londonderry, Mr. Perceval.
 
 1] 
 
 you." The elders then assembled in coun- 
 cil, and having said their prayers, declared, 
 by acclamation, that a horse-chesnut and 
 a shilling were equal in value to a gui- 
 nea, (i) 
 
 The war rolled on, and millions of mo- 
 ney were lavished. At last, peace came; 
 and the state, faithful to its pledge of with- 
 drawing the chesnuts, gave orders to that 
 effect. The trees were cut down, and the 
 people were once more put in possession 
 of their ancient, righteous, and intelligible 
 measure of value. (9) 
 
 But coincident with the felling of the 
 trees, in other words, with the restoration 
 of the precious metals, there came a ge- 
 neral fail of prices accompanied, as is al- 
 ways the case, by a pressure upon the com- 
 mercial and agricultural classes. 
 
 ** Whence all this distress amongst us," 
 exclaimed the people ; ** is it not the con- 
 sequence of a change in the currency?" — 
 *' No," said the elders; *' your distress 
 and the fall of prices have very little con- 
 nexion with the currency- A change of 3 
 or 4 per cent, in prices is the whole of the 
 alteration that can fairly be laid at the 
 
 PM^^^^-^^^— ■■ ■- ■ ■ ■' ■!■■■■ ■ ■ ■■■ l..»l I I I ■ 
 
 (1) Mr. VansIUart's celebrated Resolution, 1811. 
 
 (2) Peel's Bill, 1819.
 
 12 
 
 door of tbat measure. It has its rise in 
 other causes which will sooq disappear ; a 
 mere passing cloud;* be a little patient, 
 and the sun of your prosperity will re- 
 appear with redoubled brightness." 
 
 Still prices contiued to fall ; the cloud 
 instead of passing away gathered, till at 
 last this interesting nation presented, in 
 all its leading interests, one scene of ge- 
 neral embarrassment. 
 
 The people again approached the minis- 
 ter to endeavour to open his eyes to the 
 real cause of their sufferings. They re- 
 minded him of the horse-chesnut tricks; 
 they told him that the emission of this un- 
 real measure of value had artificially rais- 
 ed the price of the products of the earth; 
 in other words it had altered and debased 
 the standard of value; that in this debased 
 standard all their leases, annuities, taxes, 
 and monied obligations were contracted ; 
 that suddenly a bill was passed to do away 
 with the horse-chesnut, or paper standard, 
 and to substitute in its stead the ancient 
 measure of value, thus wronging all those 
 who had contracted obligations to the whole 
 extent of the diflerence between the value 
 of the currency in which they were con- 
 
 * Mr. Canning, Lord Liverpool, etc. etc.
 
 i3 
 
 tracted, and that in which they were after- 
 wards to be settled; that in consequence 
 of this measure of confiscation their backs 
 had been broken. And they prayed him 
 to do one of these two things : either to 
 establish such a just and equitable cur- 
 rency as would lift up the means of the 
 country to a level with its burthens, or else 
 to reduce the burthens of the people to the 
 level of their means.* — [The fable is here 
 dropped for reasons mentioned in the pre- 
 face.] 
 
 Minister. — By lifting up the means of 
 the people to a level with their burthens 
 you mean, of course, the establishment of a 
 currency which will secure remunerating 
 prices; and by the other alteration you 
 mean a large reduction of taxes. 
 
 People.-— We do. 
 
 Minister. — Before I enter into the first 
 question, I must observe that persons of 
 your way of thinking take it for granted 
 that the depreciation of your property is 
 entirely owing to the alteration in the cur- 
 rency. I differ from you as to the degree. 
 I think you have entirely overlooked the 
 influence of machinery on prices. I think 
 also you have overlooked the fact of our 
 
 * Birmingham Potitlou.
 
 '4 
 
 having ceased to enjoy the monopoly of 
 supplying a great portion of Europe with 
 our commodities, and of the necessity of 
 our assimilating our prices, if we mean to 
 sell at all, to the prices of rival powers, 
 who have, since the peace, made very con- 
 siderable progress in manufactures. 
 
 People.— Taking gold as the standard 
 of value, which is the standard you have 
 yourself chosen. We arrive at the fact of an 
 alteration in money to the extent of 20 per 
 cent. But taking corn as a standard, or, 
 what is perhaps a still truer barometer, 
 taking a general range of prices, we see a 
 depreciation of 45 per cent, since the pass- 
 ing of Peel's Bill. We therefore propose 
 to make you a present of 2 5 per cent, on 
 account of machinery and the other cir- 
 cumstance you have alluded to, and the 
 balance 20 per cent, is the sum which we 
 complain that we have been wronged of by 
 the contraction of the currency. 
 
 MmiSTER. — The degree in which you have 
 been wronged must, at best, be a matter 
 of conjecture; but we will frankly admit 
 that, when we passed the bill of 1^19, we 
 did not anticipate the consequences which 
 have since happened. We relied implicitly 
 on the opinion of Mr. Ricardo, who said 
 that a fall of 3 or 4 per cent, in prices was
 
 )5 
 
 all that was to be expected from that mea- 
 sure, and had his valuable life been spared 
 he would have been the foremost to ac- 
 knowledge his mistake. Admitting, how- 
 ever, as we do without reserve, that Par- 
 liament then mistook its ground, we are 
 not, as a necessary consequence, bound to 
 accede to the proposition of again disturb- 
 ing the currency. Suppose that we were 
 to grant your prayer, and to aid and abet 
 the Bank of England to increase its issues, 
 with a view of raising prices and ** lifting 
 up your means to your burthens,'^ the mo- 
 ment that prices rose beyond the coiitinen- 
 tal level there would come a demand for 
 gold ; for gold has a very quick nose, and 
 looks solely to its exchangeable value with- 
 out any reference to the proceedings of the 
 English Parliament ; wherever it can get in 
 exchange the greatest quantity of meat, 
 drink, washing, lodging, to that place it 
 will go. The Bank then being pressed for 
 gold, they would turn round upon us and 
 say that we had got them into this dilem- 
 ma, and either Ave must grant them a re- 
 striction bill, or the public must submit to 
 the alternative of a lar^e and sudden rc- 
 auction of the currency; Government is 
 too solemnly pledged ever again to have 
 recourse to an inconvertible paper circiiia-
 
 i6 
 
 tion; the Bank, then, in their own de- 
 fence, would contract their issues, prices 
 would fall to their former level, and after 
 trying your experiment, we should be left 
 in a state of greater lassitude and exhaus- 
 tion than ever.* 
 
 People. — But why not renew the Bank 
 Restriction Bill? During the time of its 
 existence this country rose to a pitch of 
 commercial prosperity unexampled in the 
 history of the world. 
 
 Minister. — The prosperity of which you 
 speak was hollow and fallacious. Of all the 
 curses (i) that can light upon a nation, 
 worse than any of the plagues of Egypt, 
 lice, locusts, or murrain amongt cattle, is 
 the curse of having no common intelligible 
 standard or measure of value : for a state 
 capriciously to alter the standard is the 
 next worse thing to having no standard at 
 all ; it is to derange and scatter to the 
 winds all security in the dealings between 
 man and man. ...... Let us now see the 
 
 position we should be placed in by consent- 
 ing to renew this bill. It would be to place 
 in the hands of the Bank the power, by 
 
 * Sir Robert Peel. 
 
 (i) Mr. Huskisson : in language to the full as strong, 
 though, perhaps, not so liGcntiou*.
 
 expanding or contracting their issues, to 
 raise or depress at their pleasure the Yalue 
 of the pound sterling. Lender such a stale 
 of things, no man's property can be said to 
 be secure, for Avho can say that an obliga- 
 tion to pay lOo/. in six months hence, may 
 not, by the operations of the Bank, be 
 converted into an engagement to pay laS/. 
 or vice versa? who, in short, to save his 
 life, could deline the meaning of the pound 
 sterling. A\hatever errors, then, the Par- 
 liament of 1819 have been guilty of; how- 
 ever true it may be that we were unduly 
 braced up to a metallic standard, we are 
 determined to outlive all the consequences 
 rather than renew the Restriction BilL and 
 again put up with the disease of deprecia- 
 tion. 
 
 People. — As you have now acknowledg- 
 ed that for twenty years, from 1797 to 
 1817, you have been guilty of a series of 
 tricks with the measure of value, perhaps 
 you Avill have the kindness to pass a law 
 to relieve us from our leases, taxes, and 
 all money obligations whatever to the whole 
 extent of the difference between the stan- 
 dard in which they were contracted, and 
 that in which (by the bill of 1819) they are 
 now lobe diseharsjed. * 
 
 * Jtoatt^fi ^^ M H Pet 
 
 ^./«^^
 
 i8 
 
 MmisTER.— We cannot consent to this^ 
 even if it were practicable : every man in 
 contracting obligations, in taking leases, 
 knew very well that the Bank restriction 
 was a measure of temporary necessity ; that 
 it was to cease six months after the ratifi- 
 cation of peace. He therefore took such 
 leases, and contracted such engagements, 
 with the knowledge of the consequences 
 that would follow the Avilhdrawal of the pa- 
 per, and the restoration of the old stan- 
 dard.* 
 
 People. — We never understood that such 
 consequences would follow. 
 
 MiMSTER. — Your ignorance is no excuse. 
 
 People. — To tell you the truth, many of 
 us had a suspicion that the issues of the 
 Bank were at the bottom of all the rise of 
 prices, and that they had caused the gold 
 to disappear. The currency question is, 
 at best, one of considerable intricacy, and 
 we looked for instruction to those whom the 
 Constitution has wisely entrusted with our 
 common interests and happiness. We also 
 looked with confidence to the opinions of 
 the Bank directors, believing that they, at 
 least, understood the question, and that 
 they would be the foremost to warn their 
 
 * Sir Robert Peel
 
 '9 
 
 fellow-citizens of their danger. To begin 
 Tvith our representatives, they always de- 
 nied tliat the Bank issues had any thing to 
 do wilh the depreciation of the currency;* 
 in fact they denied that there was any de- 
 preciation at all To deal in facts which 
 
 are now matters of history, the House of 
 Commons of 1811, being pressed by Mr. 
 Horner and others to acknowledge the va- 
 riation between the gold and paper stan- 
 dard, declared that they saw no variance 
 between them; they voted by acclamation 
 that a one-pound note and a shilling were 
 
 equal in value to a guinea. (1) It was 
 
 imposiiible for us, afterwards, to doubt the 
 fact ; but in consequence of hearing that 
 every body in the city was seen laughing 
 on the morning following this celebrated 
 resolution, many of us became filled with 
 saucy doubts and fears on the subje^^t : — 
 ** Let ns see," we exclaimed, ** what the 
 Bank-directors say." We referred to a 
 meeting of the Court of Proprietors held in 
 1810, close upon the heels of the report of 
 the Bullion Committee. It was a grand 
 field-day, being attended by the whole of 
 
 * Parliamentary Reports. Debates on the Report of 
 the Bullion Commlttee. 
 (i) Lord Boxley. 
 
 sa^F'W' ,1 ■ ■■■■
 
 20 
 
 the directors, and the most influential 
 merchants and bankers in London; it may 
 therefore be fairly considered as a procla- 
 mation of their opinions, as well as a mea- 
 sure of their argumentative strength. And 
 "what did they say? did they warn their 
 fellow-citizens of their danger? Not they, 
 indeed; but, alluding to the bullion re- 
 port, they declared it was a parcel of fic- 
 tions; they said that their issues had no- 
 thing to do with the rise of prices, and 
 with the state of the foreign exchanges; 
 they denied that the currency was depreciated ; 
 and they called upon the meeting to rally 
 round the institutions of the country (mean- 
 ing themselves); to trample upon the fac- 
 tious, and to " beat down Satan from under 
 our feet," But this is not all : the minister 
 who first introduced the horse-chesnut or 
 paper system, and whose fatal walk into 
 the city we are now lamenting, was lauded 
 to the skies as the most accomplished 
 statesman of the day; to hold opinions dif- 
 ferent from his was said to be evidence of 
 jacobinism if not of madness; he was call- 
 ed a heaven-born minister, and so great was 
 the adulation of the people towards this 
 man, that, at a public dinner given at the 
 Mansion-House, the wife of an eminent 
 citizen begged to be permitted to shake
 
 ai 
 
 hands with him, hoping that the infant with 
 whom she was then enceinte might, hy pos- 
 sibility, resemble him. To celebrate his 
 fame, the magnates of the land meet once 
 a-year; aud in Guildhall there stands his 
 monument, on which it is recorded, 
 amongst his other -virtues, that ** lie esta- 
 blished the public credit on a deep and sure 
 foundation ;"* — that is to say, on the foun- 
 dalion of an inconvertible, bastard, paper 
 money, which is now acknowledged on all 
 hands to have been a fraud, and which 
 you yourself denounce to be a greater curse 
 than lice, locusts, or the murrain amongst 
 cattle: so that not only have we been misled 
 by the House of Commons and by the Bank 
 itself, but the bankers and merchants 
 and even the corporation of London, have 
 spared no pains to keep us in ignorance. — 
 Seeing, then, that we have been most cru- 
 elly imposed upon, and that Parliament 
 has passed a law, the effect of which has 
 been largely to depreciate our properties, 
 and pledging its faith at the same time 
 that it would produce no such efiect, we 
 submit that it forms a sufficient s^round for 
 our demanding some relief from the pres- 
 sure of our engagements ; in plain words, 
 
 * Supposed to be written by Mr. Canning,
 
 22 
 
 we ask for an equitable adjustment, and 
 that we may no longer pay debts which we 
 never contracted to pay. 
 
 Minister. — In which equitable adjust- 
 ment you comprehend, of course, a slap at 
 the Funds. 
 
 People. — ^We do. 
 
 Minister. — It is all very pretty for you 
 to laugh at the Bank directors and at Mr. 
 Pitt, but it happens that the whole com- 
 mercial, manufacturing, and agricuhural 
 interests aided and abetted Mr. Pitt in all 
 the wars he engaged in; you all cheered 
 him forward in the very measure indispen- 
 sable to the prosecution of these wars, the 
 consequences of which you are now smart- 
 ing for. Mr. Fox anil other eminent men 
 warned you what would be the result of an 
 issue of assignats. You despised him; you 
 turned away from his advice as children 
 turn from an emetic. Therefore, it is un- 
 fair to pink the Bank, and Mr. Pitt, and 
 the Corporation of London with sarcasms, 
 since, without your support, this ruinous 
 step never would have been taken. But 
 what Mr. Pitt did — what the Bank did — 
 or what former Parliaments did, has no- 
 thing to do with the present genera tion» 
 We had a great question to settle. Shall 
 we allow a parcel of people to issue paper
 
 "Without any control, and lift up or depress 
 people's properly at their pleasure? We 
 decided that we would not. It is unfair to 
 charge the Government with acting preci- 
 pitately. The bullion report gave the pub- 
 lic pretty good v*arning in 1810, and it 
 was not till nine years afterwards that 
 their recommendation was carried into 
 effect. It appears extraordinary that those 
 who are now so loud in their denunciations 
 against the measure of 1819, never thought 
 of the question before; the first tamper- 
 ing began in 1797, the Bank paper being 
 then about 10 millions; it grackuilly in- 
 creased, and in 181 4 it was 28 millions. 
 As it was doled out, all persons engaged in 
 production found themselves sucldtiuly en- 
 riched ; the sufferers then were the stock- 
 holders and such as were living on fixed 
 incomes. Not a word was said about the 
 hardship of tliclr case ; occasionally a whis- 
 per went abroad that they had been 
 mulcted by the paper anticks of the Bank; 
 but it was soon smothered ; they were told 
 to rally round the throne, and to shut their 
 eyes and walk on. Now, however, the ta- 
 bles are turned. The suffering has chan- 
 ged hands, and the sufferers ask to be re- 
 lieved at the expense of other classes. 
 Suppose we were to accede to your prayer,
 
 24 
 
 beginning, first, to relieve farmers from 
 their covenants with their landlords. It is 
 clear that we caiinot interfere in any cove- 
 nant entered into since the year 1819, for 
 all such have reference to the present stan- 
 dard. We must then deal with contracts 
 entered into previous to that time, and re- 
 store to the lessees what they had been 
 wronged of by the change from one stan- 
 dard to another. Such leases cannot be 
 very numerous; but suppose, what is ex ■ 
 tremely improbable, that they compre- 
 hended one-tenth of the landed engage- 
 ments of llie country, Ave must, to be just, 
 carry our inquiries a little further back, 
 for if the landlords are to be compelled to 
 make restitution to their tenants for the 
 change in the value of money produced by 
 the bill of 1819, they ought also to be in- 
 demnified by their lessees for the injury 
 done to them in the first instance by the 
 falsifying of the standard in 1797. Jt is 
 very true that, at the expiration of their 
 leases, they (the landlords) rose their rents, 
 but it is as clear that, in the mean time, 
 while the leases were running they were 
 wronged, and their tenants were benefited 
 to the whole extent of the depreciation, 
 whatever that might be; and therefore, if 
 the work of restitution were possible, there
 
 3D 
 
 inust be a regular debtor and creditor ac« 
 count, and it might probably end in nei- 
 ther party being richer or poorer by the 
 operation. J he same observations apply 
 with still greater force to the fundholder, 
 against "whom it has lately become the 
 fashion to set up a loud scream. If we 
 consented to go inlo an inquiry such as 
 you propose, we must look at both sides of 
 the account. \\e must not only compel 
 certain fundholders to restore the diife- 
 reuce accruing from their dividends be- 
 tween the ricketty value of the pound ster- 
 ling when their stock was bought, and its 
 present heallhy and vigorous value, but 
 we must go back and restore to another 
 description of fundholders what they were 
 wronged of by the original fraud ot" 1797, 
 when the sickness of the pound sterling 
 may be said to have commenced. And go- 
 ing to work in this business-like man- 
 ner, taking from one and restoring to the 
 other, we shall find that the balance will 
 be against the public and in favor of the 
 stockholder.* It is almost useless to add, 
 after this, that even if the scheme were 
 advantageous as well as just, it is perfectly 
 impracticable, seeing that, since 1819, 
 
 See Mu^chel'si Table*. 
 
 J
 
 36 
 
 more than two-tbirds of the stockholders 
 have changed hands — almost all the pre- 
 sent proprietors having bought in since the 
 restoration of the old standard, and being 
 therefore quite guiltless of pocketing mo- 
 ney that does not belong to them. In an- 
 other point of view, your proposition sa- 
 vours of great injustice. You seem to tbink 
 that the [)roductive classes are toiling to 
 pay the fundholders, whereas they largely 
 contribute to p(/y themselves. They pay 
 taxes, indirectly, in every variety and 
 shape, it happens, also, that the largest 
 portion of this class, instead of wallowing 
 in wealth as they are represented, depend 
 as much upon their dividends for subsist- 
 ence as you gentlemen-farmers and trades- 
 men upon your corn and wine; and if we 
 were to wrong them to accommodate you, 
 we should indict a suffering quite equal to 
 that which we got rid of, to say nothing of 
 a breach of a solemn contract.* And in 
 what way the nation would be richer or 
 poorer by the operation of wronging one 
 man to put it in the pocket of another, and 
 what progress would be made towards 
 paying oif the national de])t — being money 
 spent thirty years ago — it is quite impossi- 
 
 * Catechism on the Corn Laws.
 
 27 
 
 hie for us to comprehend. To all this it 
 must be added, that however the House of 
 Commons of 1811, and the Bank direc- 
 tors, and the public at large, may have 
 misunderstood the currency question ; how- 
 ever drunk you all were, you cannot pre- 
 tend to be ignorant that all monies bor- 
 rowed by the state, all leases, annuities, 
 etc etc. were contracted upon the full un- 
 derstanding that they were to be settled in 
 the gold standard of 3/. 17s. lod. an ounce, 
 whenever the Bank Restriction Bill should 
 cease. Until you can " rail the seal from off 
 this bond" you have no right to ask for re- 
 lief at the expense of other classes of the 
 community; and we must therefore de- 
 cline recommending your proposition to 
 Parliament. 
 
 People. —Then you mean to tell us that 
 we must get out of our troubles as well as 
 we can. 
 
 Minister. — We can consent to neither of 
 the measures of relief you have suggested, 
 but if you can point out any relief we can 
 grant, without violating the national faith, 
 we should be extremely glad to assist you. 
 
 People— Abolish all sinecures; reduce 
 the army and navy ; cut down the salaries 
 of all public servants to the level of 1 797. 
 
 Minister. —The first we promise to do as 
 
 saa^mm
 
 a8 • 
 
 the present possessors die off, and also to 
 do away with all pensions that are not me- 
 rited by public services. AVe think it would 
 be unwise to reduce the naval and military 
 establishments in the present aspect of 
 European politics. They are already cut 
 down to the lowest point consistent with 
 the efficiency of the public service. If you 
 think otherwise, instruct your representa- 
 tives to speak out; and if it e^hould appear 
 that the public desire, as the present con- 
 juncture, that we should still further cur- 
 tail them, we will attend to their wishes, 
 or resign our places to those who will. 
 
 People. —Unfortunately, most of us have 
 no voice in the election of members of 
 Parliament, and we have no means of mak- 
 ing our wishes known. 
 
 Minister. — If you had found that out be- 
 fore, you would not now have had to la- 
 ment the profligacy of by-gone Parlia- 
 ments, of norse-chesnuts being used as a 
 circulating medium, and various other 
 funny things. But you must excuse us go- 
 ing into the question of Parliamentary re- 
 form : another time we shall be glad to see 
 you on the subject. We have been sud- 
 denly sent for by Sir Claudius Hunter on 
 business appertaining to the safety of the
 
 29 
 
 city, and we must now wish you a very 
 good morning. 
 
 [As the ministers were leaving, a faint 
 voice was heard as proceeding from a cor- 
 ner of the room : " Never mind Sir Clau- 
 dius , but stay a few minutes and listen to me.*' 
 On searching, it appeared to proceed from 
 a Guinea which had dropped from the 
 pocket of Lord Bexley (who had attended 
 the discussion from curiosity), and where 
 it appears to have lain a very considerahle 
 time. It was placed on a table, and the 
 ministers and the people assembling round 
 it, and silence being called, it spoke as fol- 
 lows] : — 
 
 Guinea. — I have listened with great at- 
 tention to the statements and arguments 
 on both sides, and as I feel greatly inte- 
 rested, allow me to take up a few minutes 
 of your time. First, let me observe that 
 for the last twenty years the English na- 
 tion has been talking and writing upon 
 this currency question; it is high lime to 
 set it at rest in good riglu earnest. It is 
 painful to be told of distress pervading all 
 classes of the people ; but I am in hopes 
 that the statement is a little coloured. One 
 of two things is recommended by way of 
 palliative : ist, either to have recourse to
 
 3o 
 
 ^ false paper-money with a view of raising 
 prices, or, 2clly, to bring about an equi- 
 table adjustment, the meaning of which is 
 that all leases, annuities, taxes, etc. etc., 
 including the interest due on the national 
 debt, are to be considered afresh, with a 
 yiew of accommodating them to the alter- 
 ed value of money consequent upon the 
 bill of 1819. Beginning wilh the first pro- 
 position : a fresh issue of paper, to lift you 
 up, as you call it; it must either end in a 
 restriction bill, the moment that gold be- 
 came in demand, or else there would be a 
 sudden and violent contraction of paper 
 on the part of the Bank, and, after being 
 lifted up, you would be let down lower 
 than ever, to say nothing of the ruin which 
 these sudden alternations in prices entail 
 upon particular classes. 
 
 If my opinions, then, were not already 
 formed as to the danger and extreme 
 wickedness of a nation adopting a false, 
 inconvertible paper-money, the conversa- 
 tion I have just been witness to would be 
 amply sufficient to justify me in such opi- 
 nion. I see around me distress without a 
 parallel in your history. You tell me (and 
 it cannot be denied) that it has, in a great 
 degree, been produced by tampering with 
 the circulation ; and yet now that the ques-
 
 5i 
 
 tion is set at rest, and no an licks that the 
 Bank or Government can play can alter the 
 standard, you heg the ministers to dose 
 you with a fresh ibsue of assignats, and to 
 reproduce the very mischiefs you are now 
 lamenting ; in olher words, according to 
 your own reasonings, you ask to benefit 
 yourselves and wrong other people. If the 
 llnglish Parliament ever consents to such 
 a measure, after the valuable experience 
 which a few late years have yielded to the 
 present generation, and after its solemn 
 and repealed declarations on the subject, 
 it will sink itself in estimation throughout 
 all Europe; it will become a bye word for 
 
 imbecility and dishonesty In some parts 
 
 of India that are washed by the sea, the 
 circulation is composed of cowries, or 
 shells, and it has a very great advantage 
 over a circulation such as we are now speak- 
 ing of, for as these shells are thrown up by 
 storms, which happen periodically in that 
 quarter of the Avorld, those who hold rice, 
 yams, etc., and such as enter into money 
 engagements, keep their eyes constantly 
 fixed on the period when these storms are 
 likely to occur; they are, besides, gene- 
 rally preceded by a pressure in the atmo- 
 sphere which is perceptible to men, wo- 
 men, and children, and not only is it ob- 
 
 K-
 
 tiDus to them, but beasts of the field, 
 birds of the air, the very flowers of the val- 
 ley can tell when the circulating medium 
 is about to be increased. In this country, 
 however, no such warnings were given : 
 sometimes rice, sugar, and pepper were 
 seen to rise suddenly. Whence did it hap- 
 pen ? INo man couhl exphdn it ; nor beasts 
 of the field, nor birds of the air, nor flow- 
 ers of the valley. On inquiry, it appeared 
 that Mr. [logs flesh was seen to supply some 
 speculators with a basket-load of horse- 
 chesnuts. In ibis way it was that prices 
 were artificially raised ; in this manner it 
 was that a large proportion of the prosperity 
 business in London was carried on by per- 
 sons who had no capital except what they 
 got from the garden of the Bank. The 
 consequences are before you. 1 will add 
 here, that in those parts ot the earth where 
 cowries are used they write no books; 
 tame elephants they have plenty of, but they 
 do not teach them to say their prayers, 
 and to swear that 2 and 1 are not four. — 
 From these few observations you may col- 
 lect my opinions as to the expediency of 
 lifting you up by an issue of paper. I grant 
 that you have all been wofully imposed 
 upon ; but, as the lesser evil of the two, do 
 any thing rather than alter the stan.dard ;
 
 55 
 remember the story, 
 
 « There was a man in Thessaly, and he was wond'rous 
 
 wise, 
 « He jumped into a quickset-hedge, and scratched out 
 
 Loth his eyes; 
 And when he saw his eyes were out, with bitter grief 
 
 and pain, 
 « He jumped into the quickset-hedge to scratch them 
 
 in again.)) 
 
 I will not trespass upon your time in 
 observing on the injustice of the second 
 proposition — forcibly altering your bar- 
 gains with one another, and docking the 
 fundholder of a part of his just and lawful 
 claim; whenever you can put doAvn the 
 reasonings of the minister on this subject, 
 it will, to use a vulgar expression, be all 
 holiday at Peckham. It is not in this way 
 that you can be relieved ; as far as regards 
 the ability of the nation to extricate itself 
 from its present difficulty, you might as 
 well pass a law to rob all persons who had 
 red hair, and to give it to those who had 
 light hair, as to rob A, a fundholder, and 
 give it to B, a machine-breaker. Sup- 
 pose, in an evil hour, that ministers were 
 to give way to this loud scream against the 
 fundholders, the nation would virtually de- 
 clare itself incapable of paving its engage- 
 ments. Rather than do this, it is belter 
 
 5
 
 54 
 
 thalr property of aU kinds should be made 
 largely to contribute towards the reduc- 
 tion of the debt, since it was to save this 
 Tery property that the debt was contracted. 
 And this is what you ought to have done 
 at the termination of the war, instead of 
 suffering it to hang round your necks, act- 
 ing as a pressure upon the springs of pro- 
 ductive industry..... But to return to the 
 subject of bauking and currency. In a 
 very short time the charter of the Bank 
 will expire, and you will be called upon to 
 renew it. I am myself a bitter enemy of 
 all monopolies : I tMnk that the trade in 
 money, in corn, in beer, in tea, sbould be 
 left open to all individuals wbo choose to 
 embark in them, and that it is unfair that 
 the State should grant exclusive privileges 
 to any set of men whatever ; they tend al- 
 ways to raise up a few at the expense of 
 the many, antl to repress individual enter- 
 prize, which is the true basis of national 
 prosperity. Accordingly, liere, where mo- 
 nopolies are in fasliion, jou see very great 
 inequalities of condition ; and as a neces- 
 sary consequence, whenever such inequa- 
 lities are produced by the interference of 
 the State, you perceive, also, great discon- 
 tent and disaffection. A government has 
 no right to favor any set of individuals at
 
 35 
 
 the expense of others ; it is a breach of the- 
 first great principle of the contract betweea 
 it and the people — to govern for the hap- 
 piness of all, and not for that of a few. 
 Applying these observations to the Bank, 
 whose monopoly, by the bye, was founded 
 in a job, we see, in a country boasting of 
 its laws and its civil institutions, a com- 
 pany of bankers (after having imprudently 
 lent the whole of their capital to Govern- 
 ment,*) coquetting with the minister, and 
 obtaining an act of Parliament to protect 
 them from the payment of their debts ; 
 they become invested with the extraordi- 
 nary privilege of issuing paper-money with- 
 out the responsibility of paying it. We 
 afterwards see this company distempering 
 the coin of the realm by their excessive 
 issues, and declaring to the public that 
 they had done no such thing, (i) We also 
 see the Government borrowing this false 
 money of the Bank, and paying interest 
 for it ! ! If you will take the trouble to 
 refer to D. Hardcastle on the Currency, 
 you will find that the interest, compound 
 
 * See " Thoughts on the Expediency of estabHshing 
 a new Chartered Bank," by the late J. Marryat, Esq. 
 M. P. i8iv:. 
 
 (i) Examination of Bank DirecJon before the Butlioii 
 ri<»inmittee.
 
 56 
 
 and simple, paid for loans to this corpo- 
 ration from 1797 to 1818 was 4o milioDs ; 
 and, as he justly observes, had you got 
 drunk with it, had you given it to hear Ga- 
 talani sing, or to see horses at Greenwich 
 Fair with their heads where their tails 
 should be, you would have had something, 
 at least, to console you for the loss of your 
 money; but as it is, it is literally thrown 
 in the kennel— into the pockets of people 
 
 who never earned it If all this is not 
 
 enough to make you pause in renewing the 
 charter, you must look at the manner in 
 which the Bank have exercised their trust. 
 It is not for an humble individual like me 
 to presume to tread upon the toes of this 
 great lion, whose mane is combed, by turns, 
 by every minister of the day, and whose 
 very den is guarded by a military force ; 
 but one of these things is true : either the 
 Bank have not understood their business ; 
 they have acted as children playing with a 
 barrel of gunpowder; or else Mr. Ricardo,* 
 Mr. Horner, Mr. Tierney, Mr. Huskisson, 
 Mr. Grenfell, Sir Henry Parnell, and the 
 present Lord Ghancellor, are so many po- 
 litical mountebanks. My strong impres- 
 
 * See his Political Economy; cap. Currency and 
 Banks.
 
 37 
 
 sion is that, instead of renewing the char- 
 ter, Government should take the circula- 
 tion and the management of the national 
 debt into its own hands. I need not point 
 out to you what a great saving it would be 
 to the public, as regards the commission 
 paid for managing the debt, interest on 
 exchequer bills, and various other sources 
 of income belonging to a well-conducted 
 national bank. It would be desirable in 
 thi^case that Government should take the 
 Chancery money into its hands, allowing 
 interest to the respective claimants. As it 
 is now managed, the whole of this money 
 is placed in stock, and it frequently hap- 
 pens, when the stock is sold, that the par- 
 ties lose one-fifth of their property, arising 
 from fluctuations in the Funds. This is a 
 great public wrong, and it is no answer to 
 it to say that wards in Chancery occasion- 
 ally gain by these fluctuations I am 
 
 aware that what is here suggested will meet 
 with considerable opposition ; that you will 
 be told, *' why have a national bank, since, 
 ** under the administration of the afi*airs 
 ** of the Bunk of England, we have pros- 
 " pered beyond all example — set steam- 
 ** engines a-going, altered the naval uni- 
 ** form, explored the North Pole, visited 
 Tombuctoo, learned to spell Dover with 
 
 <( 
 
 ■I VI*
 
 38 
 
 ** an o, and beat the French at Waterloo ?" 
 Something will also be said about the wis- 
 dom of your ancestors, but never mind what 
 your ancestors did. Three days in every 
 week for these last twenty years have been 
 taken up in repairing the mischiefs they 
 have bequeathed you : Sinking Fund, Ca- 
 tholic Disabilities, Test Acts, Navigation 
 Laws, Prohibitory Duties, decrepid old 
 watchmen : each of these in its turn, accor- 
 ding to old George Rose, et id g^ius otMne, 
 was the palladium of your national greatness, 
 which to presume to touch with the rask 
 hand of innovation was to bring down ruin 
 on your heads; it was to tear, to rend 
 asunder, to deracinate the foundation of 
 civil society. Well, these institutions of 
 your ancestors : first one palladium, and 
 then another, are swept away; they are 
 gone to the tomb of all the Gapulets ! And 
 what has happened ? is England ruined in 
 consequence ? Let such as are determined 
 to think so look for confirmation of their 
 opinions to Liverpool and at the River 
 Thames--both these places are painfully 
 full of ships. Mais, revenons a nos moutons, 
 only begging you to remember, from these 
 examples, that to innovate is not neces- 
 sarily synonymous with revolution, being 
 either good or bad as it promotes or de-
 
 39 
 ran-es the welfare of the people...... You 
 
 must deal with this question (the Bank 
 Charter), then, as it presents itselt in re- 
 ference to the interests of the present ge- 
 neration ; and the question is, whether the 
 circulation shall be exclusively entrusted 
 to an irresponsible body of men who nose 
 the State, and defy public opinion, or 
 whether it shall be placed in the hands ot 
 commissioners appointed by Government, 
 and responsible to the people through 
 their representatives for every act they 
 perform ? I don't pretend to say that there 
 are not difficulties to grapple with and 
 overcome ; all I ask you to do here is, not 
 to be led astray by people you m^y ^^f * 
 with in Threadneedle-street, who will tell 
 you to shut your eyes and walk on, but to 
 look the question fully in the face, and as 
 you value the opinions and respect the me- 
 mory of Mr. Ricardo, let ^^e remind you 
 that what is now recommended had his 
 cordial support, (i) There is another sub- 
 iect closely connected with the present 
 discussion to which I wish to draw your 
 
 * General Court of Proprietors to consider the Re- 
 port of the Bullion Committee, September ai, 1810.— 
 JSee Morning Chronicle, Sept. 22. 
 
 (1) Political Economy, cap. Currency and Ba«Ls.
 
 4o 
 
 altenlion. It relates to the present sys- 
 tem of compensating the London bankers, 
 which, as I will endeavour to show, is 
 fraught at times with very serious conse- 
 quences. It first suggested itself to me in 
 the panic of 1825. London was then within 
 twenty-four hours of a state of barter. 
 Whence could all this arise? had the ca- 
 pital of the country suddenly disappeared? 
 No such thing. Upon inquiry, 1 found 
 that, so far from money being scarce, the 
 bankers never had so much in their lives ; 
 and as this money belonged to the mer- 
 chants and traders, it may be said that the 
 merchants also had plenty. I can vouch 
 for the fact of three bankers in London 
 having in their strong room for several 
 nights one million live hundred thousand 
 pounds — but here is an explanation of it, 
 and it will show you at once the vice of 
 the system. Most persons are under obli- 
 gations to their bankers at one time or an- 
 other, and whenever any distress takes 
 place, they think it due to the banker to 
 strengthen him, by placing all the spare 
 cash they have in his hands ; many per- 
 sons do so from vanity. However urgently 
 their neighbours may desire this money, 
 they will not draw for it, as the banker's 
 hands at such times musi be strengthened.
 
 4i 
 
 The banker in his turn must play his 
 part; he must look to his own solvency, 
 and not part with that which may be drawn 
 for immediately. Hence it is that large 
 masses of money lie idle and unproduc- 
 tive, and thus it was, in the panic of 182 5, 
 thatAvith money in great abundance, many 
 a solvent man with the best security in his 
 hands was suffered to go to the wall, and 
 London itself, the centre of circulation and 
 credit, presented the appearance of hav- 
 ing been struck by a planet.. Now it can- 
 not signify to the banker whether he is paid 
 by a deposit in money, or by an annual 
 sum equal to the interest of such deposit ; 
 and if you were to adopt the latter mode 
 of remunerating him, you would find that 
 whenever these panics take place, they 
 would be quickly relieved by the free cir- 
 culation of money, instead of being aggra- 
 vated and prolonged by the whole of your^ 
 disposable capital being locked up in fast- 
 nesses in the manner 1 have described. 
 For, as it has been well said, money, like 
 manure, does no good unless it is spread ; 
 it is a conventional symbol, or instrument, 
 by which the various products of your in- 
 dustry are distributed, and if by a system 
 amongst yourselves you lock up these in- 
 struments at certain times, the effect, as 
 
 6
 
 4* 
 
 long as such imprisonment lasts, is pre- 
 cisely the same as if the money had been 
 thrown into the Thames, or as if it had 
 never existed. To put it in a stronger 
 point of yiew : suppose that there was no 
 gold and silver, or paper-money, and that 
 a bushel of corn was a measure of value, 
 and that this corn was deposited in bank- 
 ing-houses for safe custody, each party 
 consenting always to leave 5o quarters in 
 his banker's hands as a remuneration for 
 his risk and troul)le. Presently a scarcity : 
 a panic takes place amongst corn-dealers. 
 At such a time no man with a proper feel- 
 ing would consent to draw out his5o quar- 
 ters of corn ; on the contrary, for reasons 
 I have mentioned, he would strengthen 
 his banker's hands by adding fifty more 
 quarters. The granaries would thus be fill- 
 ed with corn, but a prudent banker look- 
 ing to his own solvency could not part Avith 
 it; and thus, with a large quantity of food 
 in its hands, a community might literally 
 be starved. It is no answer to this to say 
 that corn is not gold — that one is spelt with 
 a G and the other with a G. Gold and sil- 
 ver are, as we observed before, only signs 
 or instruments by which corn is passed 
 from one man's mouth to another ; and to 
 lock up the sign is nearly the same thing as
 
 43 
 
 to lock up the substance. Let me say here 
 parenthetically, that the foundation of this 
 unhappy panic (ihe consequences of which 
 you will feel for many years) was laid in 
 London ; the country bankers, upon whom, 
 all the blame was thrown, being the mere 
 victims ; they were assailed by every epi- 
 thet that could designate them as a pest to 
 society, while the real sinners, the Bank, 
 and the concoctors of the various bubbles 
 of that day, pearl and coral companies, 
 gin companies, milk companies, South- 
 American and Poyais loans, were sullered 
 to walk about unpunished and unrepro- 
 
 ved Another advantage belonging to 
 
 the proposed new system of banking is, 
 that it would enable many individuals to 
 have the conveniences of a banker who 
 are unable to avail themselves of them un- 
 der the present system of compensation. 
 In the east of London the wealth and po- 
 pulation have increased prodigiously with- 
 in these last twenty years; the numerous 
 tradesmen there cannot atford a banker on 
 the deposit system; but eslablsh a bank in 
 the neighbourhood, and they would gladly 
 pay 5/. lo/. 2o/or5o/. a-year for the con- 
 veniences it would afford them. In their 
 present situation, many of them receive 
 6/. a-day, which lies in drawers for a week
 
 44 
 
 together, exposed to the temptation of ap- 
 prentices and servants. If you will take 
 the trouble of referring to the Newgarte Ca- 
 lendars, you will find that frauds of ap- 
 prentices and servants have greatly in- 
 creased within these last few years; and 
 these frauds might be checked by estab- 
 lishing banking-houses on the principle 
 alluded to, wbich would take the temptation 
 out of their way Looking at it, there- 
 fore, in this point of view, the scheme is 
 not undeserving of attention; but the chief 
 object 1 had in presenting it to your notice 
 was with a view of warding off these pa- 
 nics, which, unless I have been guilty of 
 misrepresentation, seem to form a part 
 and parcel of the present system of bank- 
 ing. It cannot be said here that the system 
 has worked well — it has worked very ill ; 
 but I refrain from eroinsj into detail lest I 
 might give pain to individuals, many of 
 
 whom were deserving of a better fate 
 
 Returning to the currency : it will surprise 
 you, after the many heavy paving-stones I 
 have thrown at paper-money generally, 
 that I should now complain of the suppres- 
 sion of the country bankers' convertible 
 one-pound notes. It was done with the 
 best intentions, but it was done raslily, 
 without looking at the question in all its
 
 45 
 
 beariogs ; and the consequences have been 
 very serious. Amongst other reasons it was 
 stated that my exchangeable value was af- 
 fected by the issue of this species of cur- 
 rency ; but as long as paper of every deno- 
 mination is convertible into gold, it must 
 always be of the same value as the gold 
 itself. As far, therefore, as my family were 
 concerned, you need never have passed 
 this bill. It was in the teeth of the report 
 of the Bullion Committee, and it was op- 
 posed by many practical men of the present 
 day. The bullion report laid down this 
 excellent golden rule : '* Let us have a 
 fixed standard, and compel all persons to 
 
 abide by it; for the rest, lalssez faire." 
 
 Having then fixed upon a standard, the 
 legislature had no right afterwards to in- 
 terfere ; for if a man may part with his 
 labour for nothing, he has a right to part 
 with it for a one-pound note, or an old 
 hat, or an old shoe, it may frequently 
 happen that the pound note, or the old 
 hat, or the old shoe is not equivalent to 
 the value of the thing parted with : that is 
 the affair of the silly person who took them ; 
 it is no case for legislation, seeing that the 
 law had told him before that the pound 
 note and old shoes were not a legal discharge 
 of a debt. And let us hope that the '* school-
 
 46 
 
 master" who is now abroad dosing the 
 people with algebra, insect architecture, 
 and spherical trigonometry, will make them 
 sprightly enough not to part with the pro- 
 duce of their industry for these notes with- 
 out first inquiring into the solvency and 
 character of the party who issued them. 
 He might tell his pupils the story of Her- 
 cules and the waggoner; and, applying it 
 to this question, he might instruct them 
 that while the law always acts the part of 
 of a kind parent and protector, it never 
 acts the part of a nurse; that, treading 
 close upon the heels of Hercules, it scorns 
 to interpose its arm to relieve persons who 
 have the means of relieving themselves. 
 At the same time I do not shut my eyes to 
 the injury inflicted on the poor by their 
 wages being paid to them in bad one-pound 
 notes. This might well engage the atten- 
 tion of Parliament ; it does not seem diffi- 
 cult of remedy, but unfortunately in your 
 ravenous lust for legislation, instead of 
 putting down the evil and retaining the 
 good, you have confounded good and evil 
 together, and brought on a disease greater 
 than that which you have removed. In the 
 same spirit of reckless law-making, you 
 have abolished the tommy-shops, or truck 
 system : a man who happens to want mo-
 
 I 
 
 47 
 ney, but has got plenty of bacon, says to a 
 labourer: ** 1 wish you would dig in my 
 *« grounds to-day; 1 have no money, but 
 *' 1 have got some bacon." The labourer 
 agrees to the bargain, does the work, and 
 carries the bacon home to his starving fa- 
 mily. " No," says the House of Commons, 
 <* inasmuch as these poor fellows are paid 
 *' in bad bacon and rancid butter, Ave will 
 <* put down these tommy-shops." What is 
 the consequence ? The ownjr of the bit of 
 land having no money, his ground remains 
 undug, the bacon remains unsold, and the 
 man's family either starve or become a 
 burthen to the community. And this is 
 legislating for the good of the poor ! Bet- 
 ter than all this would have been the ap- 
 pointment of a local magistrate, or assay 
 master (if you will allow me to use the ex- 
 pression), to see that the bacon was good 
 and wholesome, and to give the magistrate 
 the power of severely fining the master, if 
 he attempted to impose upon the la- 
 bourer This truck system is a state 
 
 of barter that has arisen out of the first 
 erroneous piece of legislation — the sup- 
 pression of the small notes; and you will 
 find that the effect of your interference in 
 each of these cases will be the opposite of 
 what you expected : instead of ** filling the
 
 4» 
 
 hungry with good things," they will, by 
 checking the free circulation of credit, 
 embarrass and cripple the productive 
 classes, and bring about in consequence 
 extensive intermissions of labour...... In 
 
 Scotland there are no tommy-shops, be- 
 cause there small notes are not prohibited; 
 and it seems inconsistent enough that 
 Scotch bankers should be allowed to issue 
 them, after Parliament had come to the 
 determination to abolish them universally, 
 and after one of the ministers of the Grown 
 had flung at the heads of the poor English 
 country bankers the very odious charge of 
 usurping the king's prerogative^^ If it be 
 true, also, that you were scared from your 
 intention of putting down this Scotch cur- 
 rency by two warlike letters, threatening 
 to lay a claymore*' over your shoulders if 
 you attempted to legislate, it may present 
 another lesson as to the danger and inex- 
 pediency of incorporating bodies of men, 
 who, the moment they become fairly seat- 
 ed in power, presume to flout ^ the State, 
 
 tSee two letters on the Scolch Currency, 1826, 
 „.Q„?d •* Malachi-Malagrowther," and attributed to Sir 
 Walter Scott. 
 
 " OK ! Scotland, Scotland ! crurl are the times 
 
 When we aie traitor.'*, and do not know ourselves."
 
 49 
 
 and set their deliberations at defiance 
 
 Such are the reileclions that occur to me 
 upon the various subjects you have met to 
 consider. I fear I have drawn largely on 
 your palience, but before we part (^observ- 
 ing some wine on a sideboard^ allow me to 
 perform a pleasing act of gratitude. The 
 family to which I belong suffered, for many 
 years, great indignities at the hands of the 
 Ecijrlish, arisinoj out of the measure Avhich 
 has formed so large a share of our present 
 deliberations. h\ consequence, we were 
 reluctantly compelled to quit the place of 
 our baptism, and, but for the public vir- 
 tue and persevering zeal and ability of 
 thoso Avhom I am now about to name in a 
 body (for many of them are unfortunately 
 snatched from us), I never should have 
 revisited your hearths, nor have had the 
 happiness of meeting you here this day. 
 On the part, therefore, of myself and fa- 
 mily, in grateful remembrance of their 
 eminent services, 1 beg to propose a toast : 
 ** To the memory of the Bullion Committee.^' 
 [Some of the company refused to drink 
 it; high words ensued; at last the strife 
 was put an end to by the Lord Mayor of 
 L(»ndon running breathless into the room, 
 and declaring that Gog and Magog had 
 escaped from Guildhall and were dealing 
 
 7
 
 5o 
 
 death and desolation arotind ihetn.— -Thi^ 
 meeting immediately broke up; Ldrd 
 Bexley replaced the guinea in his pbcketj 
 and was seen to refuse the pressing request 
 of a gentleman, who offered in exchange 
 for it a one-pound note and a shiilin^! f^ 
 
 In the foregoing pages 1 have abated 
 nothing of the tone and manner of the dif- 
 ferent belligerents. At time^ there seems 
 an asperity of feeling against the Bank, but 
 as the battle turns upon events which took 
 place before the present Directors werte 
 known to the public, they cannot contplain 
 of being personally flouted. It is the sys- 
 tem, and not the men, that is here at- 
 tacked; and it may be consolatory to the 
 friends of the Bank to know that their 
 nerves were never j^^ shaken by pamphlets. 
 There is a banker in London, who, when- 
 ever this great lion is mentioned in public, 
 is seen to prostrate himself before him, to 
 comb his mane, wash his feet, and sprinkle 
 him with rose-water. I desire iio gi'eat^r 
 pleasure than that the lion should thtis
 
 5i 
 
 address him : — "I observe you very often 
 chaunting complimenlary ditties under 
 my chamber-window; I am about to a>k 
 the Parliament to renew the lease of my 
 den, and the time is now come when I re- 
 quire of my friends to do something ehe. 
 1 have been charged, by a reference to my 
 own acts and also to public documents, 
 with having misunderstood and largely 
 mismanaged the trust that has been re- 
 posed in me. 1 am told that I have been a 
 source of public injury and public wrong, 
 and that my very existence is a satire upon 
 the institutions of a free people. ISoav, as 
 you love me, leave off, I implore you, 
 these adulatory offerings to my power and 
 beauty, and apply yourself to show, ist, 
 that 1 have not misunderstood nor mis- 
 managed my trust; adly, that instead of a 
 public wrong, the nation has always found 
 in me a source of strength and prosperity ; 
 for on these conditions only will I consent 
 to hold my exclusive privileges." 
 
 February i, i83i.
 
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