tHE RfiAL CAUSE 
 
 OF THE 
 
 mm mnce 
 
 OF 
 
 GOLD BULLION. 
 
 The Q-uestion to be decided upon the REPORT of 
 Uie Committees of the two Houses of Parliament, 
 seems of the greatest Importance to the Empire that 
 was ever agitated upon la financial subject. 
 
 The imposing upon the Bank a Restriction in 1797, 
 suspending Cash Payments, was not an act of delibera- 
 tion and choice, but of irresistible necessity. The 
 measurts now to be taken are to be the result, not 
 of necessity, but of mature deliberation ; to be founded 
 on the principles, not of temporary expediency, but 
 of permanent policy. 
 
 It seems, that whatever shape the discussion may- 
 take, whatever faces it may present, whatever schemes 
 it may open, the decision must be ultimately formed 
 on one of the two following principles. 
 
 1. — Either that the amount of our circulation is to 
 be measured by its adequacy to all the wants, demands, 
 and interests of the Kingdom, arising froni the whole 
 of its income taken in the most extended sense, and 
 that a system is to be ever acted upon for keeping iii 
 amount fully adequate to all these purposes ; — or, 
 
 2. — That a system of contracting our Currency is , 
 to be acted upon for the sole purpose of bringing gold 
 
 B to
 
 ( 6 ) 
 
 to mint price, and for keeping it invariahly at tlmt 
 price by alternate contractions and augmentations of 
 the issue of Bank Notes, according to the variatioiw' 
 in the market price of gold, without reference to the 
 wants, interests, or income of the country. 
 
 There could not possibly be any hesitation which 
 of these two principles should be the foundation of 
 our national policy, did not some violent and predomi- 
 nant ciixun^stance interfere. 
 
 And I conceive this circumstance is the following; 
 tliat as we have a Paper Currency, unless we combine 
 and unite it, with a fixed standard of intrinsic value, 
 it may from excess be depreciated to any possible 
 extent. And that the preservation of this union in 
 value is so essential, that all conveniences, all utilities 
 attending a full and redundiant currency, are to be 
 sacrificed to it. — 
 
 Having thus opened my veiw of the chief principles 
 on which the national decision upon the question 
 of our Currency, will turn, I proceed to the object 
 of this Paper, which is to remove some important 
 errors and misconceptions which seem to have made 
 an impression, a false impression on the public mind. — 
 
 The two great points upon which the discussions on 
 the restriction of our currency have turned, are the na- 
 ture of our money standard, and the cause of the Rise in 
 the price of gold. 
 
 With respect to the first point, on one part it has been 
 contended, that our standard was some ideal pound ster- 
 ling, of an abstract theoretical nature, which formed our 
 money unit. On the other part it is contended, that 
 our money standard is the mere Qiiatitity of gold of a 
 certain /)Mn7y, which quantity and purity are ascertained 
 by law, and form the Mint standard. 
 
 The first of these explanations. of the money standard
 
 js too speculative for any practical purpose, supposing it 
 not to l>e completely visionary ; the second is defective, 
 from being an incomplete enumeration of the ingredients 
 by which our money standard is fixed. 
 
 Blacksloiie lays down truly, that with respect to coin- 
 age, three things are to be considered, — the Maleriahf 
 the Impression, the Denomination. Now it is Denomina- 
 tion, or the Rate of Value J or which Coin is to pass current, 
 by which the money standard is ultimately formed. 
 'J'he weight, and the purity of the metal of which coin 
 is to be composed, being fixed, the value for which it is to 
 pass current must then be added ; and when these are 
 all decided by legal authority, a Mint Indenture is framed 
 accordingly, and a Royal Proclamation issues thereupon, 
 describing the Coins which are to be circulated, and fix- 
 ing the rates at which they are to pass current. — 
 
 The Mint Indentures therefore, and the Proclamations 
 thereupon, fix our money standard. 
 
 According to these Indentures and Proclamations, the 
 Gold Standard of Value is 3/. 17^. lOld. the ounce Troy 
 at 22 carats fine. 
 
 And a Sovereign is valued at 20 shillings, being equi- 
 valent to 5 divts. ^-{^^^^grs. of Standard Gold, at the 
 Mint Price of 3/. 17^. 10^(7. an ounce. This Sovereign is 
 our "Gold Pound Sterling, and the Bank Pound Note re- 
 presents this Pound Sterling, the Gold of which is valued 
 at 3/. 17^- \0\d. an ounce. 
 
 The Pound Sterling, thus formed under the law, and 
 ascertained by Mint Indenture and Proclamation, is our 
 Money Unit, the foundation of all our money of account, 
 and the basis of all our money transactions. 
 
 It is the representation of the gold Sovereign, coined 
 of sterling standard gold, of the price of 3/. 17^ lOld. 
 an ounce Troy. 
 
 It does not represent gold of 3/. au ounce, or 31, 15f 
 B 2 .
 
 ( s ) 
 
 an ounce, or 4l. an ounce, or 5/. an ounce, — but gold of 
 3/. 17^. lO^d. an ounce only. 
 
 Thus is the character of our Gold Standard fixed, and 
 it is of course invariable, until the Sovereign and the Law 
 which formed it, shall alter it. 
 
 The Government and the Law may alter the Standard 
 of Gold, as it has recently done the Standard of Silver: 
 b«it so long as our present Standard remains, the One 
 Pound Sterling is equivalent to 5 dwts. S^JaM^s .C'*-^^- ^^ Gold, 
 at the price of3l.l7s.lOld. an ounce, and of this standard 
 the One Pound Bank Note is the counterpart, and passes 
 current in the market at the same value. 
 
 Having thus explained the nature of our Money Unit, 
 or Pound Sterlings and shewn it to be fixed on a triple 
 basis of invariable quality, as to Weight, Fineness, and 
 Denomination; and having shewn that our Bank Note is 
 its counterpart, I beg leave to refer the reader, if he 
 bas any doubts on the subject, to the Statutes, to the 
 Mint Indentures, and Proclamations upon them. 
 
 And if the character of the Standard I have thus givers 
 be adhered to in all our considerations, the confusion 
 and perplexity which attends the discussions on our 
 Currency, will be greatly alfeviated. These have very 
 tnuch arisen from considering our Standard as merely 
 relating to the quantity and purity of the Gold contained 
 in our Coin, and from not including its Denomination, 
 ■which alone ascertains its legal rate of value in currency; 
 and renders its value fixed, in contradistinction to Bullion, 
 the value of which is variable with the market. 
 
 Having explained the nature of our Money Standard, 
 I proceed to shew the misconceptions which have 
 arisen with respect to the cause of the rise in the 
 market price of gold. — 
 
 The Bullion Report of the House of Commons of 
 1810, was pleased to state at its very outset, that 
 
 the.
 
 ( ) 
 
 tlie prices of all commodities had risen, and gold appeared 
 to have risen in price onltj in common with them. If 
 this effect is to he attributed to one and the same cause, 
 that cause can onlij be found in the state of the Currency 
 of this country. And it afterwards (p. I?.) reasons in 
 the following manner; and that in the event of prices 
 being raised in one country by an augmentation of its 
 circulating medium, ivhilst no similar augmentation in 
 the currency of a neighbouring country has led to a similar 
 r>'se of prices, the currencies of those two countries will 
 no longer continue to bea-r the same relative value to 
 each other as before. And then the Reporters having 
 formed all their reasonings upon these two assumptions, 
 conclude, that the whole rise of the price of gold, 
 and the fall of exchanges, were solely ascribable to 
 an eoQcess in the Issue of Bank Notes. 
 
 Here then we see the rise of prices accounted for 
 per saltum at once. An excessive Issue of Notes 
 is stated not only to be the cause, but the sole came—^ 
 and of course the Leaders of that Committee having 
 presume*! this point, their sole business was to prove 
 it, if they could. They of course naturally avoided any 
 thing like a fair inquiry into any other event or cir- 
 cumstance which njight influence the question, and 
 clash with their prejudice; but it was not to have 
 been ex|)ectedj that they should not have investigated 
 even the very fact they asserted; viz. the existence 
 of an Excess of Issue, but preferred taking it for 
 granted, without any proof at all. 
 
 Now it seems to me— that when an excessive Issue 
 of Notes was proclaimed as the sole cause of the ex- 
 traordinary rise in the price of gold, the Committee 
 were bound to prove that lixcess. 
 
 They -were bound to have shewn the quantity of 
 Coin and Bank Notes which were in circulation before 
 
 the
 
 ( 10 ) 
 
 the Restriction Acts. — They were bound to prove w liat 
 W.1S the population of Great Britain at the conimence- 
 inent of the War, and what in 1810. — They were 
 bound to shew what was the amount of taxes at the 
 commencement of the War, and what in 1810, — They 
 were bound to shew what was the amount of sums 
 levied before the War, and what in ISIO. — They were 
 bound to shew what was the state of Imports ajid 
 Exports, and Commerce, and Navigation in general 
 at the commencement of the War, and vv hat in 1810. 
 
 And before they should have resolved, that Excess 
 of Issues were the sole cause of the rise of the price of 
 gold, they should have stated the different results of 
 the inquiries in the above mentioned points, — and giveri 
 leave to every impartial man to make his judgement 
 accordingly. 
 
 What particular reasons prevented the Committee 
 from taking this impartial line of inquiry, and induced 
 them to limit their views to one sole object, when 
 so many important objects naturally obtruded them- 
 selves for consideration, is not for me to canvas. It 
 is trusted however that the present Committees will 
 not adhere to a line so culpable, but emancipating 
 themselves from the trammels of prejudice, will enter 
 into every view of the question, and face every difliculty 
 which may present itself. 
 
 Let us advert, for instance, to the subject of our 
 population as it stood in 1790, and as it stands at 
 present. — In 1790, the population of Great Britain was 
 10,242,000; in 1811, it was 12,358,000; and if it 
 has increased to this day in the same ratio with its 
 increase from ISO I to 1811 — the total population of 
 Great Britain at the present day exceeds the population 
 of 1790 by about 3,000,000. 
 
 Let us advert also to the annual an»oiint of income 
 
 which
 
 ( 11 ) 
 
 ■uhlch the present population annually expends. Sup- 
 posing the income of Great Britain was equal in IT^Q 
 to 10/. per annum per head, the income of Great Britain 
 computed in a population of 10,^42,000, was lO'f, 420000/. 
 but as prices were doubled in ISIO, the income must 
 have nominally doubled also; and the annual income 
 of Great Britain in 1810 as well as at present (as the 
 prices have not since increased) must be 201,840,000/. ; to 
 which must be added, an income at 20/. per head, for 
 our increased population of 3,000,000, so that our present 
 annual income should be, upon these data, 2;)4,840,0007. 
 
 Let us advert again to the state of our taxes. The 
 produce of these in 1790, before the war, amounted an- 
 nually to about 17,000,000/.; in 1810, they amounted to 
 64,000,000/. Is it possible that such an immense increase 
 could have been possibly raised without an increase of 
 income, increase of prices, iand increase of circulating 
 medium.? 
 
 Let us further recollect, that the whole sura levied in 
 1790, amounted to a little more than 19,000,000/. ; 
 whereas the whole amount raised in 1810, exceeded 
 97,000,000/. — How was it possible that such a sum could 
 have been levied oft such a national income as 102,000,000/. 
 the computed amoimt in 1790 ? It mii<5t have been ab- 
 solutely impossible to have raised any thing like such a 
 sum on so narrow a basis. 
 
 Nor do I think that we can refuse to reflect, that if 
 in the course of 21 years, from 1794 to 1815, the incre- 
 dible sum of 1,084,740,000/. -was raised on the nation, it 
 must have necessarily demanded a very abundant circu- 
 lation to have afforded a possibility for such enormous 
 levies. 
 
 It will also he brought forward into view, that our 
 Exports and Imports amounted, in 1797, as follows: 
 
 IMF0RT8
 
 ( 1^ ) > 
 
 Imports. exports.- 
 
 £. £. 
 
 •23,435,000 - - - - 17,688,000 
 
 In 1819, 
 01,150,000 - - - ^ 40,157,000 
 In the next place, I find from the hite Lord Liverpool's' 
 Treatise upon Coins, that his Lordship estimates the 
 value of the gold coin circulating in his MajestN-'s domi^ 
 nions, at 30 millions; and if we allot 5 millions to L'e-' 
 landj the gold coin circulating in Great Britain before 
 the Restriction Act, w^s 25 million.?, and about 10 mil- 
 lions of Bank Notes, which I believe exceeds the amount 
 of Bank Notes and Coin now in circulation or in the Bank. 
 I have no precise data for knowing or conjecturing what 
 ■was the amount of private bank notes in circulation be- 
 fore the Bank Restriction ; but it is said to amount to 
 upwards of 25 millions at present; — so that whatever 
 increase there is in our circulating medium^ it must 
 arise, according to this statement, from the increased 
 circulation of the private banks, and not from the in- 
 creased issues of the Bank of En£;land. The Committee 
 of 1810 adverted indeed to the stale and to the issues of 
 the private banks, which appeared to have increased to the 
 amount of 3,000,000/. within a short period antecedent. 
 But they give us not any estimate of their amount at the 
 time nor of their amount before the Restriction Act. 
 But surely when they decided in limine that the rise of 
 Gold and the fall of Exchanges were solely attributable 
 to excessive Issues of Bank Paper, they should have en- 
 tered into the subject more minutely — they should have 
 compared the whole circulation before that act, with tb« 
 whole circulation in 1810; and then, after computing 
 the increased income of the kingdom, and the augmented 
 demand for currency from increased taxes, supplies and 
 commerce, it should have drawn a regular comparison 
 
 betweea
 
 ( 13 ) 
 between the state of things at the commencement of the 
 war, and the state of things in 1810; and have shewn 
 what was the amount of excess of currency in the latter 
 period, making a just allowance for the difference of the 
 necessary demand for currency in the two periods. This 
 was, however, omitted to be done: notliing of the kind 
 was attempted ; and excess of issue, the stalking-horse 
 of the day, was assumed, but never proved. We feel con- 
 fident however, that our satisfaction upon this point will 
 not be long delayed, when we contemplate the abilities 
 and impartiality of those who are employed in the present 
 investigation. 
 
 It is certainly to be acknowledged, as a general posi- 
 tion, that dandis dutis money prices will be in an inverse 
 ratio to the quantity of circulating medium : but if the 
 quantity of value to be circulated increases, and the 
 quantity of circulating medium only increases propor- 
 tionably, prices will not be aff'ected at all. 
 
 It is now then satisfactorily demonstrated, that the 
 circulation in 1810, so far from being excessive, was to 
 an almost incredible degree less in proportion to the 
 taxes to be paid and the income circulated, than in 1790, 
 before the war. For — 
 
 In 1790, the taxes were about 17 millions, the currency 
 in which they were paid, 23 millions in Gold, and 10 
 millions in Bank Notes. — In 1810, the taxes amounted 
 to above 64 millions, and the currency by which the/ 
 were payable consisted of -23 millions of Notes, and about 
 7 millions of Gold. — Thus in 1790, taxes were to cur- 
 rency as 17 to 35 ; when in ISIO, taxes were to circulation 
 as 64 to 32. 
 
 If we take in the private Bank Note circulation, and 
 extend our comparison to the whole income of Great 
 Britain, — suppose 10 millions the amount of private 
 Notes in 1790, and 25 millions the amount of private 
 
 C Notes
 
 ( 14 ) 
 
 Notes in LSIO ; and suppose the whole income in ITPO'r 
 100 millions, and in IS 10 about 250 nnillions; the wholf 
 circulation in proportion to the whole incon>e in 17^)0, 
 was 4.5 millions to 100 millions; in 1810, 52 millions to 
 250 millions. 
 
 Now if the Committee of 1810 had gone into these 
 views and comparisons, the result of t!)e facts would have 
 appeared so glaringly contradictory to their assumed 
 j)rinciple — that the high price of Gold was created t>y 
 the excessive issue of paper — that they could not have, 
 faced the puhlic, in venturing such an assertion. 
 
 I am induced therefore most firmly to believe, that 
 the increase of prices generally, and of Bullion in particu- 
 lar, is owing, by no means solely to an excess of Paper 
 Circulation, which in fact has never taken' place, but to 
 the great increase of taxation, which every man feels and 
 laments. 
 
 Taxes increase prices always, — and, as every person on 
 whom a tax falls, endeavours to shift the burthen of it 
 from himself on others, and to live as well after paying 
 the tax as he did before, taxes increase prices in a double 
 ratio to the amount of the taxes. If then we pay a 
 revenue- of above 56 millions a year, including the ex- 
 penses of collection, instead of 19 millions, and if these 
 56 millions act upon prices in a double ratio, will not 
 this circumstance as fully account for the increase of 
 prices alone, as the exce«s of issues alone, had it been 
 proved ? And yet the Reporters of 1810 were satisfied 
 to treat the point of taxation with entire indifference, as 
 if it was totally foreign and irrelevant to the subject of 
 their inquiry, and had no connexion at all whatever with 
 the rise of prices. 
 
 The omission of in\5estigating the effect of taxation 
 upon prices, was injurious to the character of the 
 Report of 1810. But it would be much more to be 
 
 lamented
 
 ( 15 ) 
 
 lamented, if a similar omission were to charp.clerise 
 the present inciuiries, when our sitiiatio.i is to be 
 consi(lere<l in reference to the state of the Continent 
 now resuming the ordinary operations and returning 
 in their dealings to the ordinary level of peace. 
 
 When before the war our net taxes amounted, to 
 about 17,000,000/. we were nearly upon a level in 
 that respect with the states of the Continent, which 
 were taxed nearly in the same ratio ; the general state 
 of prices was nearly the same, and the price of gold 
 about par. But from our immense exertions during 
 the war, our taxes have been raised to such a height, 
 that, excluding our Poors' Rates, we are taxed more 
 than in the proportion of four to one. — The population of 
 France is estimated at near 28 millions, and the amount 
 of its taxes is nearly the same. — The population of Great 
 Britain is about 13 millions, and the taxation above 50.' 
 millions, expenses of collection included, which makjes 
 a proportion of 4/. per head ; whereas the proportion in 
 France is only 1/. per head — and I believe the same 
 or greater difference against us, exists in the other 
 European States. Now, it is submitted, whether thi* 
 circumstance alone will not naturally account for the 
 price of Bullion being higher here than on the Continents- 
 even when exchanges and remittances are balanced,— 
 Will it not also account for the price of all other 
 articles being dearer? — Under the circumstance of this 
 superior weight of taxation, and the increased prices 
 resiilting from it, will not gold command a greater 
 quantity of commodities in France and on the Continent 
 than in England? I may venture to ask, whether 
 31. ns. lO^rf. will not go further in the purchase of 
 all articles in France than 4/. in England? — Will not 
 bullion, the article which commands all others, na- 
 turally be sent where it can command the greatest 
 
 c 2 value
 
 ( 16 ) 
 
 value in return? Will not this circumstance to a 
 considerable degree, counteract even favourable ex- 
 changes ? In short, can those two Countries be really 
 upon a level as to money and bullion transactions, 
 whereof the one is taxed at 4L per hcsid, and the other 
 only 1/. per head ? 
 
 There is another consideration, which effects the 
 Mints of the two Countries.' It is an understood fact, 
 that a very large proportion of the Sover€ig7is which 
 were issued from the Mint here in 1815, passed into 
 France, and were coined into Louis' at the Paris Mint; 
 a fact so notorious, as to have called for a Legislative 
 Act to meet the evil. As the French take a seignorage 
 in their Coin, of above 7 per cent, they will not be 
 at a loss for similar operations, if we should be absurd 
 enough to bind down hereafter the current rate of our 
 Coin or the price of bullion to the Mint price. 
 
 I now then beg leave to return to my quotation 
 from the Bullion Report of 1810. I beg leave to 
 substitute Increase of Taxes to Excess of Currency, as 
 the cause of the rise of prices — and then I argue with 
 the Report, that in the event of prices beinot greatly 
 avgmented in one Country hy a great increase of taxes, 
 tphi/st no similar increase has led to a similar rise of 
 prices in a neighbouring Coitntryy the price of gold will 
 710 longer continue to bear the same relative value in 
 the two Countries as before. 
 
 If the Committees of Parliament have directed their 
 inquiries to the points I have above suggested, and 
 no longer impute, without proof, the state of the price 
 of gold or the cause of exchange to excess of currency, 
 we shall hope that the real truth will at length be 
 admitted and fairly acted upon. 
 
 The measure hitherto suggested for curing the al- 
 ledged evil, viz. the high price of gold, is to diminish 
 
 our
 
 ( 17 ) 
 
 our circxtlating mediitm, so as to effect the reduction 
 of the price of gold conjolvt/if with other articles: but 
 it* our prices, as is possible, are really produced by 
 the etlect of our taxes, a diiiiinution of the quantity 
 of currency by which liiey are paid would greatly 
 increase their pressure. Such a measure would be 
 an attempt to lighten a btirthen by diminishin<T the 
 means to bear it; if it tended to diminish the price of 
 bullion, it would increase the effects of our taxes : and 
 if it also led to diminish productive industry, by nar- 
 rowing the power of exciting it, it would be difficult 
 to calculate to what extent such an evil might spread, 
 and I am at a loss to conceive how it would be com- 
 pensated. 
 
 If it be admitted that prices may be reduced,tand fa- 
 cilities for export increased, by a contraction ofrour cir- 
 culating medium ; it must be admitted, under this pro- 
 viso, that there shall not be any counteracting circum- 
 stances, — and are there none of this description ? And 
 is not the great amount of our taxation the strongest 
 principle of counteraction which can be imagined? 
 
 Our taxes, including the expenses of collection, are 
 about bb millions ; our circulating medium, including 
 Country Bank Paper, is above 50 millions also; so that 
 whatever be the amount of our income, the taxes on one 
 hand, and the currency on the other, bear nearly the 
 same proportion to it. Now it will be allowed, without 
 dispute, that in the exact proportion as the amount of 
 our currency is diminished, the weight of our taxes will 
 be increased. If our currency is diminished ten per 
 cent, the means of paying our taxes will be diminished 
 ten per cent. And os the object of reducing our cur- 
 rency is to diminish prices, so the tendency of increas- 
 ing the pressure of our taxes, will be to raise prices. 
 And as our taxes and currency arc equal in amount to 
 
 one
 
 ( 18 ) 
 
 pne another, and of course their proportion to our income 
 respectively the same ; and as their tendencies are dia- 
 metrically opposite, and counteractive to each other, it 
 necessarily follows, that whatever effect is produced by 
 a change in one, that change will work a contrary effect 
 in the other. Add to this, that from the nature of man, 
 lie will reluctantly submit to any cause which should 
 oblige him to lower prices; whilst he will most eagerly 
 embrace every possible means to counteract the pres- 
 sure of taxation. So that whatever is adopted to lower 
 prices by diminution of the quantity of currency, ^pro» 
 duces, in the nature of things, a direct spirit of counter* 
 action, because the lowering of prices augments the 
 pressure of taxation. And in addition to the abstract 
 nature of things, we have also to combat all the passions 
 and interests of mankind, as far as they relate to their 
 ease and profit. Few are ignorant of the law respecting 
 equal and opposite forces ax:ting upon each other in con- 
 trary directions, and I trust they will apply it upon this 
 occasion. 
 
 If therefore measures are to be resolved upon for forc- 
 ing a diminution of prices, by a contraction of our cur-r 
 rency, I trust the foregoing considerations will at least 
 be adverted to. 
 
 Bullion being forced by taxation to a higher level 
 here, than in those countries were taxation le§s prevails, 
 to suppose that bullion must be upon a par in both 
 (except by the casual and temporary reciprocation 
 of exchanges) when its relation to all commodities 
 is so different, is to s-uppose that equals and unequJils 
 produce the same effects. If 4/. can only command 
 a relative quantity of value in Great Britain, whilst 
 3K 17s. l()|r/, can command the same quantity of 
 value upon the Continent, the enacting that bullion 
 shall pass always in Great Britain at the same price 
 
 as
 
 ( If) ) 
 
 as upon the Continent, would be a sicnilar absurdity 
 as enacting, that the same substance shall have the 
 same properties in tiie atmosphere and in vacuo. 
 Matter acts difierently in ditteient mediums : the weight 
 of the air is ditierent in ditlerent altitudes, and the 
 value of money is different in different markets, ac- 
 cording to their circumstances, and of course any 
 quantity of bullion will conunand, ceteris paribus, a 
 greater quantity of valuable commodities in untaxed, 
 or lightly taxed Countries, than in Countries highly 
 taxed. 
 
 I see however, that Mr. Ricardo and others, are form- 
 ing schemes for enabling, or for obliging the Bank to pay 
 their Notes in bullion instead of coin, at mint price, \vhat- 
 ever be the market price; as if there were any difference 
 itj fact and reality between paying in coin and in bullion, 
 which is weight for weight of the same value as coin. 
 I wonder the futility of all such schemes should not 
 be apparent to every man of common experience and 
 sagacity. Suppose, for instance, the Bank obliged to 
 buy bullion at the market price of 41. and to issue 
 it at 3/. 17^. 10|rf. an ounce in exchange for Notes, 
 what is this but to establish a vicious circle to the ruin 
 of the Bank ? The bullion merchants hold up their 
 Gold at 4/. an ounce, at which the Bank is obliged to 
 buy. They then send in large quantities of Notes to 
 the Bank, and receive bullion for them at 3/. l?^. 10|r/. 
 and they then obliije the Bank to re-purchase the same 
 bullion at 4/. an ounce. What system could long bear 
 up against the course of such operations? With the 
 disposition to agiotage in our market, the Bank would 
 be an early victim to such a scheme, or to any scheme 
 founded upon a similar false princ iple, 
 
 I understand, however, Mr. Ricardo conceives that 
 his plan is to be acted upou, but that the Bank is not 
 
 to
 
 ( 20 ) 
 
 to pay, at the opening of his system, at Mint price, but 
 at the rate of 4/. Is* an ounre; and that tliis rate is to 
 be reduced gradually to 3l. I7s. lO^rf. If Mr. Ricardo 
 states the truth, a few questions are to be asked before 
 any possible judgment can be made on his scheme. — 
 
 And the main question before which all others sink 
 and vanish in importance, is this. — Is the circulation of 
 t1ie country to be left free ; is the quantity of it to be 
 accommodated to the full wants and demands of the 
 community upon mere reference to those demands? 
 Or is it to be gradually diminished, in order with less 
 open and apparent violence to force the price of Gold 
 down to the Mint price of coin and Bank Notes ? 
 
 Till it can be known whether force and compulsion, 
 as has been threatened^ are actually to be used in the 
 working of Mr. Ricardo's plan, all discussion of it is use- 
 less ; and if it is to depend for its success, not upon its 
 intrinsic merit, but upon the accessory folcrum of legis- 
 lative violence, I fear his plan will be as ultimately 
 ruinous as the assumption of excess of our currency is 
 demonstratively false, and the excess of our taxes is 
 lamentably true. 
 
 In stating this, I by no means intend to express any 
 disapprobation of any scheme for supporting the value 
 of our paper circulation, by the Bank making its pay- 
 ments in bullion ; provided such a scheme will admit 
 a full and almost redundant circulation, which is es- 
 sential to the progress of our prosperity. But in a 
 reduced, stinted, and crippled circulation, I can look for 
 nothing but decreased power of production, diminished 
 exertion, abridged employment, increased pressure of 
 taxes, and augmented beggary. 
 
 I have stated, and repeat the statement, that the 
 present quantity of Bank Notes in circulation, compared 
 with taxes, is not in the proportion of 1 to 2 : whereas 
 
 the
 
 ( 21 ) 
 the proponion of Bank Notes and gold in circulation 
 compared with taxes in 171)0, were as 2 tol.-lhere 
 was of couTse a much greater facility of paymg taxes 
 in 1700. proportionately to their amount, than at 
 present. In proportion as the amount of taxation 
 has increased, the pressure ought to have been lightened 
 by the facility of paying them; whereas from the di- 
 minution of the comparative circulation in which they 
 are paid, and bv the comparative deficiency of medium, 
 their real pressure is considerably augmented. And 
 what is the course we are now to take? Although 
 the currency by which we pay our taxes is evidently 
 deficient in comparison with former times, it is to 
 be assumed without proof, that it is evidently excessiv6 : 
 and this alledged excess, but real deficiency, is to be 
 liiade the basis for increasing the deficiency and adding 
 to our distress and burthens. 
 
 Now if it appears that tiiere is no excess of currency 
 to which the high price of Gold is attributable, and if 
 it also appears that this high price may arise from our 
 taxation,— does not this consequence directly follow, 
 that as soon as exchanges naturally come round in our 
 favour, by the cessation of loans abroad and the superior 
 balances of our trade, that Gold will flow in as ufeual, 
 a-nd remain here as before the war, unless some other 
 contravening cause prevents it .^ 
 
 And if this consequence should not follow, will it not 
 be demonstrated that there is some other contravening 
 cause ; and that most probably, this contravening cause 
 
 is taxation ? 
 
 I cannot devise any other possible cause to account 
 for Gold not returning to us, in the natural course of 
 things, but one, viz.— that as we have banished it from 
 circulation there is no real market for it, in proportion' 
 to the markets on the Continent ; for if there Is a large 
 
 D market
 
 ( 22 ) 
 
 v,i, uui II me market is verv sm-ill nr..i 
 It will not Mffror.f o . -^ '^"'^' contracted, 
 
 before tl,e war wh^r, rvM ' "» "«^ «'« case 
 
 .■atio of 2o ,0 T; n H '" ;"™'»"»" »»^ ." the 
 
 to purchase all Gold at al ,1^ . " "^''S*"^ 
 
 for the operat,o„ o ou t I Z !' T'"''" "''"'' """"^ 
 
 preserved in deoot in ths Ro . , °''' ''''• 
 
 lation instead of'pape" ''""' " ''■'''^'■^'='* ■» ->--■ 
 
 pricet^VtflttlTZr^ easdy exhausted; and ,1' 
 r ii_y ciuectea. JtSut a very ar^e fund r.f r^^u 
 
 wh,ch can defy all speculation aL a^ftelpora v" I ■ 
 ■ s.tudes of exchange, and all casual don.estfc paL t 
 m proportion to its mass a fund of security ^ ' 
 
 When I see 9 millions, as Lord CastUreagh states 
 vamslung from circulation at mint price, in the cTurse 
 of the year,-the idea of establishing a BuUio B nk ! 
 n>m pnce immediately, is an ohviou's folly. Es't'l s ! 
 
 7arre^\o\Tt;r:r:::^'r.Lt^'^''^^'"^"'=^"^ 
 
 circulation K.,r ;, ^ ' ''°"' ""y "Contraction of 
 circulation, but wth an encouragement to the banks to 
 
 ZTyy, ,'""""' " "-^ •"""« -""ket in discount 
 
 ^^ciprj'lf'"' "" "^^"^^"^^ '° '- P"'='i^ ">at th 
 principle will ,„ no case be departed from: it miirht 
 
 lead to a result, which would enable us to foife Lon^l 
 
 judgtnejyt
 
 ( 23 ) 
 
 ^'udgmeiit as to the system to be permanently followed- 
 But if this scheme is to be accompanied with measures 
 of force and compulsion ; if having never since the Bank 
 Restriction Act had a circulation nearly so great in pro- 
 portion to our taxes and income as before the war ; 
 and if having already produced great distress by the Re- 
 striction already impoliticly made, we persevere against 
 fact and common sense, to reduce our currency still 
 more, not that mint price may return by the natural 
 course of aifairs, but that it may be affected by further 
 violence, by further distress, and a continuation of ar- 
 bitrary measures ; then, and in this case, we exclude 
 .ourselves from ever knowing the real state of things, 
 and ttje real operation of events; and our judgments 
 must be formed upon a forced and fictitious state of 
 affairs, not created by the natural course of events, or 
 the ordinary vicissitudes of the market, but by mere 
 legislative violence, in defiance of their legitimate in- 
 fluence. 
 
 When I state, that from the effect of our taxes, re- 
 duction of the amount of currency will not lower prices, 
 I mean to argu-e upon the general result naturally flow- 
 ing from such a state of circumstances; — of course I 
 mean to exclude from my argument that rapid depre- 
 ciation in the price of goods already in the market, 
 already contracted for, already in the warehouse, the 
 magazine, and the barn, on which a sudden reduction 
 of currency most disasterously operates. Because tlie 
 investments of capital, b}' which those goods were pro- 
 duced or manufactured, were made when circulation 
 was not reduced, and when the continuance of fts 
 amount and the accommodation resulting from that 
 amount, was faii^ and justly presumed. 
 
 I had suggested in an annexed paper, which T pr^ 
 Fately circulated, that the Bank should pay their Notes 
 
 » 2 at
 
 ( 24 ) 
 
 at the market price ; and a leading and additional reason, 
 which induces me to think that obligir,;: the Bank to 
 pay their Notes at market price, will be ua best means 
 we can adopt — is this, that such a measure will coincide 
 with the existing course of things ; every thing will 
 proceed as at present, without any alteration. The 
 Bank Note will, as I have said, retain its value; and 
 the Pound Sterling will represent Gold at Si. \7s. lO^r/. 
 per ounce as at present, and be payable at that rate, at 
 the option of the holder: accordingly, our foreign ex- 
 changes will not be affected in the slightest degree; and 
 all contracts will be paid according to the market 
 prices. If such an arrangement be once made, it may 
 last for ever: no circumstance will necessarily change 
 it ; contracts will follow as they ought to follow — the 
 natural variations in the market price of Gold, and not 
 the forced variations which might otherwise take place, to 
 suit partial views, or temporary emergencies, or licen- 
 tious ingenuity. If we should be in a different situation 
 from the rest of Europe, in consequence of the higher 
 price of Gold in the home market, the natural result of 
 superior taxation, we should not be rnaking absurd and 
 fruitless attempts to equalise that price to the price 
 existing in other countries not similarly circumstanced; 
 but should be employed in taking the only sensible 
 meai)s of producing a level, viz. in increasing our capi- 
 tal, ext«5ndiug qur credit, lovrering pur interest, lower- 
 ing our profits on mercantile transactipns, perfecting 
 Qur machinery, and improving our manufactures ; al- 
 ways attentive to the great object of increasing pur 
 exports beyond our imports, diminishing our remittances 
 abroad, and turning the balance of exchange in our 
 favour. These are the only sensible and legitimate way^ 
 of controlling ari.d lowering the price of Gold : npt the 
 cov^tracting our etirreucy, distressing our merchants, in- 
 creasing
 
 ( 2;> ) 
 
 creasing our taxes, and withdrawing those means of 
 credit and accommodation by which we have gained our 
 power and superiority in the commercial world. 
 
 No one can he more aware than the writer of the 
 evils which spring from over trading, which often 
 results fiom too great facility in acquiring credit and 
 currency: but it is an evil which has a tendency to 
 cure itself. The circumstances of the late war, which 
 broke up all the established channels of commerce, 
 and turned legitimate trade into universal contraband, 
 naturally gave rise to this evil : and the late opening 
 of the East India charter, by which the great trading 
 towns are at liberty to carry on commerce beyond the 
 Cape of Good Hope, the increasing population, cul- 
 tivation and wt:aith of the United States, and the in- 
 vitations to new speculations which present themselves 
 from the Spanish Provinces in commerce, now open 
 to adventure, cannot fail, for some years to come, 
 both to continue and encourage irregular trade. But 
 I believe it will be found on consideration, a very false 
 policy to limit our currency in order to stop adventures, 
 which would only have the ellect of transferring this 
 new commerce into the hands of foreigners, and sending 
 our capitals abroad in order to carry on a trade which 
 ■was discourat^ed at home. Utere velis, totos pande sinus^ 
 This is the Motto, to the policy which our situation 
 exacts us to pursue, not a mere cautious and prudential 
 and pernicious system, which might square with the 
 concerns of a petty state, where a single bankruj)tcy 
 inight spread a general ruin. 
 
 Before I conclude, 1 will discuss an argument which 
 has recently niade some impression. 
 
 This argument is to prove an Excess of Bank Notes 
 in the market at present, and has been drawn from 
 a parallel of the present st^ite of things with the state 
 
 of
 
 ( 2G ) 
 
 jof things in 1810. At that period, it is said, that oiip 
 taxation had arrived at its greatest lieight ; that prices 
 in general were higher than at present; that the sums 
 levied within the year approached 100. iDillions ; that 
 our taxes are now much diminished; and the general 
 amount of the sums levied for the services of the year 
 diminished much more; that the amount of Bank 
 Notes outstanding was at that period only varying front 
 22 millions to 94 millions; and that even this sum was 
 considered as excessive and as the cause of the price of 
 Bullion, wliicli was from 4/. 12.9. to 4/. los. and alsq 
 of the fall of Exchanges which were 15 per cent, under 
 par. Whence it is warmly argued, that the 'subsequent 
 addition of 3 or-4 millions to that sum of currency, 
 is not only an unnecess;iry, but a pernicious excess. 
 
 This appears a very fair and strong statement, and 
 certainly the facts of the statement are true. Whether 
 the inferences are equally true, is another case, and 
 it requires attention. 
 
 It was argued in ISIO, that the high prices of all 
 articles then existing, the high price of Gold, and the low 
 price of exchanges, were attributable to one only cause, 
 the excess of our paper curreucy. If that be true, then it 
 follows, that the increase of excess in paper currency 
 would have increased the prices of commodities, ad- 
 vanced the price of Gold, and low,ered the exchanges 
 still more; this consequence ought necessarily to have 
 followed if the argument were valid : but the consequence 
 which really has followed, is diametrically the reverse, 
 for in the year 181G and the beginning of 1817, Avhen 
 the Paper Currency amounted to 27 millions, an amount 
 of nearly 4 millions above the medium amount of cur- 
 rency of 1810, — the prices o,f commodities were much 
 lowered, the price of Gold fell at one time so low as 
 3/. 185. 6d. per ounce, instead of 4/. 15*. which it rose to 
 
 in
 
 ( 27 ) 
 in ISlOi aiij the exclKu,-fS, instead of bein» 13 per 
 cent, under pnr, were in our favour. Now ,t i, abso- 
 lute y .mpossiWe that the same cause in pari „,ateria 
 couhl produce opposite etlects. If the price of Gold 
 had been raised by excess of issue, to an inordinate 
 height It could not have been lowered abnost to mint 
 pnce by a great additional excess of issue. If tlie course 
 tif our exchanges had been depressed by a superabun. 
 dant quantity ol paper, it could never have turned in 
 
 TJZZ '"'" ""■'' P'^' ''y ' <!"'""i'y of ^-ilar 
 paper st,il more superabundant. Here then is a com- 
 plete irrefragable demonstration, that neither the prices 
 
 of Exchanges, have been produced by excess of paper 
 currency. And ,f the expediency or necessity of tb 
 increased quantity of currency in the market is still 
 q.iest,o„ed. and if reasonable grounds can he shewn for 
 1 at increase, ,t can no longer be consonant to truth to 
 Slate It as an unnecessary excess of issue at all 
 
 I will therefore beg leave to state the amount of Bank 
 Paper .11 c„-cuIat,on in the live years to 1810 inclusive! 
 and in the live years subsequent . and also the amoun 
 of the levie. ,„ the live year, previous to ISIO, and in 
 the five years subsequent. 
 
 Totti
 
 { 28 ) 
 
 Total Sums Average Ataount 
 
 levied ^^ ^ank >otes 
 
 each Year. ^^^ half Year. 
 
 iftoa - . - * 84,8123,071 - - - - 10,C)41,000 
 
 1S0(> - - ' ' 16,641,000 
 
 84.226,947 - - - - l(^,794,00O 
 
 16,687,000 
 
 88,895,824 - ^ - - ^^^ 
 
 ,,09 ^4,747,704 - - - - 1S,.U,000 
 
 07,^03,508 - - - - 20,894,000 
 
 __—! 24,188,000 
 
 449,^97,094 
 
 1807 - - - 
 
 1808 - * - 
 
 1810 - - - 
 
 1811 - - - 
 
 1512 - - * 
 
 1513 - - - 
 
 99,109,777 - - - - -^'^^^'^nn 
 
 23,094j000 
 
 105,718.482 - - - - 23,V23,000 
 ' 23.351,000 
 
 11.3,303.529 - - - - 23,939,000 
 
 24,107,000 
 
 ,„, . 1':iin^i'ri73 - - - - 25,511,000 
 
 1S14 - - - " I34,034,u73 28,291.000 
 
 1815 .... 131.2(18.720 
 583,435,381 
 
 27,155,000 
 26,618,000 
 
 From this statement there appears a natural, if not a 
 necessary progress in the increase of currency, m pro- 
 portion ^s the sum raised upon the country augmented. 
 From 1806 to the end of 1810 inclusive, during which 
 period 449,897,000Z. were raised, the issue of Notes 
 rose from 16,941,000 to 24,188,000; being a nse of 7 
 millions in five years. From 1810 to the end of 1818, 
 during which period 583,435,000/. were raised, the issues 
 rose to about 27,000.000, being a rise in five years ot 
 SmiHions. ^^^^
 
 ( 29 ) 
 
 When one reflects upon these ioimense and incredible 
 levies; when one considers that ij» 1790, before the war, 
 the whole sums raised in the year were nearly 19 
 millions, and that at this period there was a circulation 
 of 25 millions of Gold coin, and 10 millions in Bank 
 Paper ; can it be deemed an excess of currency, if 
 Bank Xotes were raised to 24 millions in 1810, and in 
 consequence of further enornjous levies, to 27,000,000 
 at the end of 1814? And is it not matter of astonish- 
 ment that such stupendous payments should have been 
 made with a circulation apparently so inadequate ? 
 hi 1790 and before the war, our circulation in Gold 
 alone exceeded the whole of the sums levied in the 
 year by a fourth ? In 1814, the issue of Bank Notes 
 was not one fourth of the sums levied. Yet in the 
 former case, there was no complaint of excessive cur- 
 rency ; whilst in the latter, every inconvenience which 
 is felt by the rise of prices, is attributable to excessive 
 issues alone. 
 
 The result of this argument is, that neither in 1810 nor 
 at present, were or are the issues of Bank Notes excessive; 
 that their advance has originated in the great additional 
 taxation and enormous levies since the commencement 
 of the war; that this immense expenditure has produced 
 great additional capital, great additional investments in 
 agriculture, mining, manufacturing, trade, &c. &c. which 
 make a large permanent circulation essential to the 
 maintenance of our prosperity. It must always be con- 
 sidered, that the levy of a great additional amount, or 
 a sudden great increase of expenditure, does not at once 
 effect an increase of capital. The new additional per- 
 manent capital which is made on these levies and ex- 
 penditure, follows gradually till the ultimate profit upon 
 them becomes a fixed solid increase of capital. — Let 
 Government spend 50 additional millions in a year: 
 
 E these
 
 ( 30 ) 
 
 these 50 millions are taken from the existing capital, 
 and the advance of such a sum will also re(]nire addi- 
 tional currency ; but the profit made by the individuals 
 concerned in advancing and spending these 50 millions, 
 does not come into activity till one, two, or three years' 
 ihterval. It seems then to follow, that the circulation 
 now in the market not only ought not to be lessened, 
 but to be increased aiid extended to the full demands 
 of the whole increased capital of the country. 
 
 As tire objection I have been answering had no re- 
 Spfefct to the circulation of the Private Banks, but 
 merely to the circulation of the Bank of England, the 
 A^ot^'s df which are or ought to be, ihe criterion of th3 
 i6SQ6S of Private JBanks, I have not adverted in my dis- 
 cussion to ihe state of their paper. Whether their 
 pSpier has increased since 1810, when it was at its high- 
 est, I have no means of knowing, and can therefore 
 make no founded remarks respecting them. It appears 
 however, by the Report of the Committee of 1810, that 
 th^ir amount had augmented 3 millions in a short pe- 
 riod anterior j and it is said they afterwards sunk con- 
 siderably in amount. 
 
 It Will be still insisted, that if taxes and levies have 
 deci^feased, currency ought to decrease proportionably ; — 
 and if taxes and levies were the sole criteria for the 
 jit^t artioiint df our currency, the conclusion cannot be 
 resisted: but the true criterion of the amount of a cur- 
 rency is not the mere amount of levies and taxes, but 
 llie amount of the whole income of a country, and its 
 wfeole' fe^Changeable value in labour, produce, and 
 iifanufacture. — The Question then is, has the national 
 income increased or decreased since the diminution of 
 taices and levies ? Is it the tendency of levies and taxes 
 to increase or decrease national income ? or do governT 
 meht levies and taxes merely divert the existing income 
 
 of
 
 { 31 ) 
 
 of t!ie kingdom from its natural channels into forced chan- 
 nels ? and will not national income, ceteris paribus, be 
 increased by being eniployed in its natural channels, 
 rather then in forced channels ? 
 
 If this reasoning is plainly unanswerable, when we 
 are thinking of a niea-^ure or rule, for the amount of a 
 currency, we must turn our thoughts to the income of 
 a country in its most extended sense, — and as we must 
 admit that currency ought to be augmented propor- 
 tionably with income, whatever be the amount of debts 
 and taxes and levies, we must also admit that a greater 
 currency is necessary now than in 1809 or 1810, or in 
 any other year, if our income on the whole is greater. 
 A tax, or a levy is not an addition of income, but a 
 diversion of it from its natural employment. Extension 
 of capital , and credit and profits thereupon make and 
 increase income, «nd income will increase more ra- 
 pidly in proportion as the resources of industry are not 
 diverted from their natural employment by state ne- 
 cessities. — When I first heard the argument for the 
 diminution of our currency, founded on the diminution 
 of levies and taxes, which has taken place since 1810, 
 I was puzzled from not having reflected on the subject. 
 But upon a short consideration, the fallacy became 
 evident; by reflecting that the amount of income is the 
 criterion for the amount of a currency, and that taxes and 
 levies discourage the increase of income, and that in 
 proportion as they cease, income will probably augment, 
 and the want of currency augment also, all obscurity 
 vanished. Income is naturally promoted by increase 
 of currency, and increase of taxes is made more easy 
 by it; whilst a decrease of taxes generally advances 
 income, and by increasing income, augments the de- 
 amnd for currency. 
 
 It is said that the apparently small present amount of 
 £ 2 circulation.
 
 ( as ) 
 
 circulation, compared with the amount existing in 17P0, 
 reference being made to the respective incon)es of the 
 two periods, has been compensated by many oeconomical 
 practices, and new modes of currency. And whence 
 do these practices and shifts arise? Is it not from our 
 currency being too scanty for the demands of the 
 market, which forces trade to compensate the deliciency 
 of that currency by ingenious substitutes ? 
 
 It would be very entertaining in any other case, but 
 it is lamentable in the present, to lind many very 
 sensible and intelligent men in other respects, puzzling 
 themselves and their readers about the necessity of an 
 invariable Standard and the steadiness of prices, which 
 Would arise were the value of Bank Notes, Coin and 
 Bullion identified : and attributing all our embarrass- 
 ments to the fluctuation of prices arising from the 
 excess of Paper Issue. 
 
 If we ask, supposing this object obtained, may not 
 the demand for Gold vary ? they v^'ill say, that if the 
 demand varies, the price will be kept the same by con- 
 tracting or expanding the issues of paper. — But I reply, 
 will not the quantity of the paper still vary in the 
 market, and will not prices be aft'ected by the contrac- 
 tion or increase of that quantity ? will not there still be 
 a fluctuation of currency and price as before ? and 
 which is most agreeable to the nature of things, which 
 most conducive to productive employment and pros- 
 perity, to adapt a currency to the demands of the whole 
 exchangeable value of a country, or to the variations of 
 price in a single commodity ?— And to this reply I 
 never have seen any answer. — After all the whole turns 
 upon this question — which is best for the country ? — a 
 variable price in Gold Bullion according to the demand 
 of the Market, — or a fixt price of Gold Bullion pur- 
 chased by alternate restrictions and augmentations of 
 
 currency }
 
 ( 33 ) 
 
 currency? And it seems that the former alternative is 
 not only preferable in itself, but as it admits at all 
 times a full circulation, it is on that account infinitely 
 preferable. 
 
 It is said, if you limit the quantity, you raise the 
 quality or value of a currency. What then becomes of 
 the theory fvv diminishing prices by reducing its quan- 
 tity? If you make nine Pound Notes, by scarcity equal 
 in value to ten, how is price altered by that artificial scar- 
 city ? 
 
 But it may be said, by reducing our circulating me- 
 dium 5 per cent, in amount, all one Pound Notes will 
 be equal in value to Guineas. — I ask then what must 
 be the consequence? At present there are 50 millons of 
 Pound Notes to pay 50 millions of pounds sterling in 
 taxes. We shall by this scheme have indeed 47,500,000 
 Guineas, but must be obliged to pay with them, not 
 47,500,000 Guineas as taxes, but 50 millions of Gui- 
 neas. — Let us ask then how the nation is to be benefited 
 by adding 2,500,000 to our taxes, in order to lower the 
 price of Gold ? 
 
 I hope that no person will suspect that from what 
 is stated, the Author makes no distinction between 
 a Metallic and a Paper Currency, a currency of uni- 
 versal and intrinsic value, and a currency limited to 
 the home market and founded upon confidence: he 
 is fvjlly sensible of the folly of confounding things in 
 their nature totally separate and distinct, whilst he 
 is anxious that the existing circulation should not be 
 impeached upon unfounded statements and false rea- 
 sonings, and that destructive remedies should not be ap- 
 plied to evils which do not exist. 
 
 He is equally sensible of the folly of those arguers, 
 who conceive that the Mint price and market price 
 pf gold must always be the same; because gold in 
 
 coin
 
 { 34 ) 
 
 coin ami gold in bullion are of the same value and 
 the same quality, and gold of any given alloy is always 
 equal to the same quantity of gold of the same alloy. 
 
 Surely it might strike these arguers that such rea- 
 sonings upon the sameness of the value of gold are 
 mere identical propositions: the same is Ihe same : 
 equals are equals: a quantity of gold of any given 
 purity is equal to the same quantity of the same purity. 
 All these are identical propositions wherein the predicate 
 and the subject is the same. But what have these 
 assertions to do with price ? which is the result not 
 of comparing a thing with itself or its equal, but the 
 comparison of any given article, whether bullion or coin 
 or corn or cloth, Mith other articles. 
 
 The purchase of a lump of gold with an equal lump 
 of gold, or of a guinea with a guinea, is a mere nullity: 
 it is no purchase at all. Gold, or any other metal 
 when raised from the mine and purified, converted 
 into Coin, Dollars or Doubloons, is purchased with 
 other articles deemed by the proprietor equivalent, 
 and though one piece of gold of any given purity must 
 be always equal to another piece of gold of the same 
 purity and weight, it does not follow that they will 
 be of the same value when measured by other, articles: 
 when in the same day and the same place bullion will 
 be .often dearer in the morning than in the evening, 
 like three per cents, and will follow the demand 
 of the market. We have suffered enough already 
 by the misconceptions on this head — even Mr. Locke 
 was deceived by it; and by carrying this reasoning 
 too far, a large silver coinage was issued, which in 
 a few years disappeared with a loss to the Nation 
 of I think 2,700,000/. — The late Lord Liverpool made 
 an attempt on a similar principle in regard to a copper 
 coinage. As soon as it was issued, copper rose in value 
 
 17 per
 
 ( 35 ) 
 
 17 per cent, and his coinage disappeared. We made 
 something of a similar atlempt in 1810', and 4 millions 
 and half in valne of Sovereigns and half Sovereigns 
 were thrown into circulation, which in a few months 
 disappeared likewise, great part of which at present 
 circulates in France recoined under the name of Louis. 
 If we adhere to this absurrlity, of adopting identical 
 propositions as logical deductions, and acting upon 
 them in our measures for restoring a metallic currency, 
 we shall merely rep.eat the same blunders and incur 
 similar losses. And if any man supposes that he can 
 fix the value of gold, by saying gold is equal to gold, 
 let him nierely try his reasoning powers upon any 
 o*her commodity, and then his prejudices about gold 
 being no longer in his way, the absurdity of his prin- 
 ciples will flash him in the face. 
 
 I do not think it a more absurd problem for solution, 
 utrum chimera Bombycinans in vacuo possit comedere 
 secundas intentiones, than the problem — Whether the 
 price of gold ought to be regulated by the laws of 
 identical propositions. 
 
 It-is understood that silver of ^'^ aiioy, forms the de- 
 posit of the Bank of Hamburgh ; and Bank silver is al- 
 ways Bank silver, and it has a fixed denomination of 
 value in banco money. But though that denominatiort 
 of value remains fixed, and the price of banco money, 
 remains nominally fixed, yet the silver when taken from 
 the bard<, sells not at banco price, but at market price. 
 Whilst the silver remains in the Bank, itfl price is fixed ; 
 when taken from the Bank, its price varies in the mar- 
 ket according to demand, and commands a greater or 
 less qiiantity of the coin for which it is sold. The Bank 
 itself takes in silver at one price, and issues it again to 
 the owners at a higher price, and the owner of course 
 nerer takes his silver out of the Bank but when the 
 
 course
 
 ( 36 ) 
 
 course of tlw? market enables him to make a profit. Tlie 
 Bank charges for lodgement and assaying, from 2 to 2^ 
 per cent. 
 
 The price of Coin may be fixed by a Mint Indenture, 
 and confined to home circulation, as the price of tine 
 silver may be fixed by the Hamburgh Bank, so long as 
 it remains in the Bank. But when coin by melting be- 
 comes bullion, or wlien bank silver is taken from the 
 Bank of Hamburgh, and gets into the market, they be- 
 come subject equally to the variations of the market, 
 and follow the course of demand, and rise and fall in 
 price accordingly. 
 
 I have thus tried to sugg&st the errors which have ap- 
 peared with regard to the nature of our money unit or 
 standard — the supposed excess of the issues of Bank 
 Notes — the argument which has been induced from 
 the excess of currency, at present over its amount in 
 1810 — and from imagining identical propositions to be 
 logical distinctions. 
 
 I ha've also suggested, that the real cause of increased 
 prices of bullion, as well as of other articles, is attri- 
 butable, not to the excess of currency, but to the excess 
 of taxation. 
 
 I have suggested, that the remedies hitlierto proposed 
 to bring back our currency to a metallic state, are inef- 
 fectual or pernicious — and I have submitted, that the 
 best line to take under existing circumstances, is to fol- 
 low the course of the market, and the current order of 
 things, without attempting either absurdities or impos- 
 sibilities. 
 
 If a system for contracting our currency, for the sole 
 purpose of forcing the price of Gold to Mint price, is to 
 be inflicted upon the nation, upon the principle that the 
 present currency is excessive in amount, at least let the 
 fact be proved. If upon examination it is actually su- 
 
 perabiind ant.
 
 { 37 ) 
 
 perabunilant, retrench it; but if it is actually deficient 
 near a luilt" in comparison vvilli the proportion of otiier 
 times, let us not add to the evil and pressure of the 
 existing deficiency, and act as if we resented the detec- 
 tion of false views and bad logic. 
 
 Above all, I deprecate a starving system, which has 
 already produced great distress, lowered our funds, aug- 
 laents the necessary amount of the loan, increases its 
 interest, and which has thrown a gloom over our afFairs^ 
 and spread an universal terror in the market. 
 
 Having drawn my observations to a close, I beg leave 
 to suggest that possibly it is not necessary to make a 
 decided choice between the two alteraatives which I 
 stated in the outset, but to act in unison with them both. 
 To regulate on the one hand the amounts of the circu- 
 lation, by the wants of the income of the country taken 
 in its most extended sense; and to support its value, by 
 controlling it by the market price of Gold, properly 
 regulated. 
 
 We must recollect, that controlling our currency by 
 the mint price, or by the market price, must equally 
 produce fluctuations in amount and fluctuations of price. 
 Steadiness is merely nominal : standards will vary as 
 the articles vary to which they are standards, though 
 nominally they may appear invariable. The shore seems 
 to recede whilst the vessel sails away: but whether the 
 shore or the vessel be fixed, the variation in distance will 
 be the same. 
 
 Let us also recollect, that if we were to regulate the 
 amount of our currency in Coin and Bank Notes, by the 
 proportion of currency to taxes and income, which ex- 
 isted in 17.00, our currency now, if measured by taxes, 
 ought to exceed 100 millions, and if measured by income, 
 90 millions. So much for the excess of our present cur- 
 rency. 
 
 F Let
 
 ( 38 ) 
 
 Let us further consider, that if our taxes were now 
 all to be paid into the Exchequer at once, and on the 
 same day, there would not on that day be left a single 
 shilling in circulation for the wants and transactions 
 of the country: whereas if a similar regulation had 
 been in force in 1790, though all the taxes had then 
 been paid in on the same day, there would have re^ 
 mained a greater sum in circulation than tlie whole 
 amount of Bank Notes at present outstanding, and 
 which has been so absurdly stated as a grievance and 
 an excess. 
 
 Let us also reflect, that in 1790 our taxes were in 
 proportion to our income as 1 to 5 ; whereas at present 
 they are only in proportion to our income as 1 to about 
 5§ ; and if taxes seem to press upon the kingdom so much 
 more heavily at present than in 1790, may it not arise 
 from the facility of paying them being diminished by 
 the comparative deficiency of our curreiicy? — If our 
 currency were extended to the same proportion with 
 our income and taxes, as we enjoyed in 1790, and 
 if a more judicious repartition of our taxes were made, 
 might not the Nation hope to enjoy as much ease 
 in every respect as before the wfir? — I knew not why 
 the country is to be sacrificed to a pernicious and 
 chilling system, founded on the assumption ol an ex- 
 cess in the issue of Bank Paper, which is demon-* 
 slrated to be unfounded, and a system too which is 
 utterly incompetent to produce its object? When 
 I advert to the comparative burthens and abilities of 
 the country before the war and at present, according 
 to the views I have taken, I cannot but indulge a 
 gratifying hope of increasing prosperity and diminished 
 incumbrances, provided the government will continue 
 uniformly an encouraging and protecting policy, and 
 pot suffer to be introduced a principle of impoverishment 
 
 undef
 
 ( 39 ) 
 
 under the false idea of increasing security. When the 
 Nation is made to understand the question, and to feel 
 that diminution of currency will not tend to bring back 
 our gold, but will most certainly augment the pressure 
 of our taxes, and diminish the powers of production t 
 it will not be so dead to its interests as not to deprecate 
 a remedy, which can only aggravate the inconveniences 
 it pretends to cure. 
 
 THE AUTHOR. 
 
 r 2 APPENDIX
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 THE DANGER OF FORCING A RETUR>r TO 
 
 CASH PAYMENTS, 
 
 BY 
 
 ^fje 33anfe : 
 
 AND 
 
 THE EXPEDIENCY OF SOME NEW ARRANGEMENT 
 
 or 
 
 The real criterion of the necessary quantity of a cir- 
 culating medium for a great community, is its adequacy 
 to circulate the whole exchangeable, annual value 
 of all its labour, ingenuity, productions and imports, 
 and to support the payment of all its taxes and of all 
 its expenditures in war. And the relaxation or increase 
 of demand for such medium, is the measure of its 
 deficiency or excess. 
 
 Our Circulation was originally purely Metallic. Bui 
 when it was found impossible to procure any longer 
 a sufficiency of the precious metals, for answering 
 all the demands of a great community, increasing ra- 
 pidly in wealth and produce, and in requisition of 
 supplies for a war expenditure, — a second system wa» 
 introduced; and a Bank Paper Currency was engrafted 
 oo the basis of Coin, which fojmerly constituting the 
 whole, was now only to I'orni a t^ird of the currency. 
 But to give this currency the appearance of perfect 
 solidity and intrinsic value, the Bank Paper was made 
 convertible into Coin, at the option of the holder; and 
 as it was hoped the public would prefer the Paper to 
 Coin, it was conceived, that two thirds of tlie cur- 
 rency
 
 ( 42 ) 
 
 rency might be always kept in the market, and the 
 amount of the circulation be doubled. 
 
 Whilst, however, this system acted with a double 
 power to one purely metallic, and entirely of intrinsic 
 value, it was controuled in its amount, not by the real 
 icants and demands of the community, ivhich is the only 
 true controul, but by the proportion necessary to be 
 kept between Bank Notes and Coin — a principle ne- 
 cessary indeed to the system, but totally irrelevant 
 to the general theory of a currency. Whenever, there- 
 fore, the kingdom might be alarmed and terrified from 
 failures within or dangers without, by which an unusual 
 demand for Coin, the Valuable part of the mediuniy 
 should be created, it would become necessary, for the 
 support of the system, to withdraw Bank Notes from 
 the circulation in a double ratio to the Coin withdrawn : 
 and hence it was evident, whenever a pressure continued 
 for any length of time, and the demand for Coin in- 
 creasedi with the pressure, the Coin would be exhausted, 
 and the system stop. Thus the controuling principle of 
 the system, being formed in direct opposition to the 
 theory of the currency, became its destruction. This 
 peculiar and essential characteristic proved to be not 
 its perfection, but its vice ; in prosperity it had no 
 operation at all ; in adversity its activity was fatal. 
 
 The stoppage of this mixed system of currency took 
 place in 1797, when another system of Paper Currency 
 was resorted to, not convertible, at pleasure, into cash, 
 but founded on the ultimate solvency of the Bank, by 
 its own funds, for the issues made to individuals, and 
 by the funds of the nation for the issues made to go- 
 vernment : and this system has carried us through the 
 ■war successfully, and exists at present. 
 
 The two systems, the late and the present one, are 
 both founded in mere confidence, their common parent. 
 
 The
 
 ( 43 ) 
 
 Tlie first presumes, tlmt the Bank Note will be alwayg 
 ttonvertible into Coin, at the option of the holder, 
 though it is evident that only one half of the circulating 
 medium is actually represented by gold. The last 
 presumes, that the Paper Currency, as long as it cir- 
 culates, will keep that value in the market it was 
 originally issued to represent, though not actually con- 
 vertible, at pleasure, into its archetype; and that, 
 should the Currency, by any fatality, cease, all the 
 outstanding Notes will be ultimately paid, in real value, 
 by the property and funds of the Bank, and the funds 
 of Government, which are pledged for their amount. 
 
 The dauijer, which was supposed to attend the former 
 system, was from the disproportion which might arise 
 between its component parts, by which the advantages 
 held out from its power of aiigmenting the amount of 
 currejicy, was compromised and lost, — whilst the ad- 
 vantage of the present system is, that being unattack- 
 able by distress within or danger without, it can be 
 adjusted to all the ordinary demands of peace, and all 
 the exttraordinary demands of war; and the only danger 
 attributable to it, is depreciation by excess of issues. 
 
 We examined the controul on the former system, 
 and found it vicious; let us examine the controul on 
 the present system, and see whether it be eitheV vicious 
 or inadequate. 
 
 1. The Bank, which issues the currency, cannot, 
 by any possibility, /orre any of its Paper upon the 
 market. 
 
 Q. It never makes an issue but tjpon a previous 
 demand : and the Directors have the eyes of the Nation 
 and Parliament upon them, always watching their con- 
 duct, as well as their own interests to guard them from 
 indiscretion. 
 
 3. It charges an advance of 5 per cent, upon all 
 
 issues
 
 ( 44 ) 
 
 Issues to individuals, and never makes advances to 
 GoveriUDent but upon parliamentary securities. 
 
 4. Its advances to individuals is by discount on bills 
 of short dates, which there is just reason to believe 
 represent actual value and real commodities. 
 
 5. Its Notes being in themselves of no intrinsic value, 
 and only of value in the act of parting with them, when 
 not wanted for the purpose of circulation, are of course 
 immediately withdrawn from it. 
 
 6. The Bank has test? to shew whether the quantity 
 of circulating medium is too defective or too abundant. 
 
 For a numerous demand for the discount of good 
 bills, is a test that money is scarce, and the market 
 wants a fresh supply — whilst the paucity of demand, 
 is a test that there is plenty of money in the market, 
 and that discounte Can be more easily and cheaply 
 procured elsewhere than at the Bank: so also the 
 cessation of demand from Government for advances 
 upon parliamentary securities, is another proof that 
 money is plentiful, and that Government can easily 
 dispose of their securities in the market. 
 
 7. Whenever the return of Notes upon the Bank 
 is greater than the demand for new issues. 
 
 8. The Bank has every possible inducement to pre- 
 vent every excess of issue, for excess of issue, as it 
 ■would depreciate their Paper, would also depreciate 
 their profits proportionably, and would, ultimately, 
 lead to the discredit, and by the discredit, to the ex- 
 tinction of the system. 
 
 Such are the guards by which the present system 
 of currency is ensured from excess, which are formed 
 ©n three principles — the private interest of the pur- 
 chaser of the Notes not to call far any advance he is 
 not obliged to demand — the private interest of the Bank 
 not to compromise their institution, by an excess of 
 
 issue.
 
 ( 45 ]f 
 
 issue, wliicii catiriot profit and may be deSti'uctii'e ; 
 find certain infallible tests, by which the proportion 
 bf the supply of currency to the wants of the market^ 
 tnay be knottn, adjusted, and balanced. 
 
 This sydteth of circulation has been how in operation 
 for 22 years, and has enabled us to meet, and overcome^ 
 every embarrassment and difficulty which continually 
 endafigered the community, with the moSt complicated 
 aggravation of pressure within and without, nearly; 
 tnroaghout the whole period; and the system has fed 
 faitHfully discharged its office, that the Pound Bank 
 Note, which was at first issued as equivalent to the 
 Gold Soveriegn^ preserved its relative value so strictly» 
 that the Pound Baftk Note, the Gold Sovereign, and 
 Gold Bullion bf equal weight to it, were almost at 
 the same price in the inarket in 1815 and 1816, as when 
 the System begun, — which affords a complete demon* 
 Stration, that the variations in the price of Gold Bullion 
 during the -^'ar, did not originate in any depreciation! 
 of the Bank Note ; for if that had been the case, and 
 depreciation had originated from the quantity of Bank 
 Notes in the market, the depreciation would have 
 increased as the quantity of Bank Notes increased, afnd 
 •^heh the tjuantlty was the greatest, the depreciation 
 ^►oufd have been also the greatest, ^hich is the revera*^ 
 bf the fact. 
 
 It is still, however, conceived by some, that tbfl 
 ^fe^erit system is vicious, by excluding Coin from 
 Common curreficy, and by the Bank Note not bein^j 
 iitltnediately convertible into Coin, and by the excesi 
 of issues which it is siid has taken place, Jtnd tht coni 
 Sequent depreciation of Paper, ndtwithstartdiiig demons 
 stration to the contrary. 
 
 Let ud th^ti examine the proceis which is to be taken 
 for rfevtWng our former convertible sy*tem# 
 
 G It
 
 { 4() ) 
 
 It has hap}>eiied, since th.e commenGement of the 
 present system, that Gold Bullion has risen in price 
 abo\^e the Mint standard, which standard price the 
 Bank Note represents ;- and till it can be permanently 
 secured thi^t itshall not exceed Mint price, Coin cannot 
 be brought into circulation. How then are the a<h'Or.i 
 cates of tlhe old system to- proceed ? — vivi 
 
 Jn as much as our Coin arvd _Bu,llion ;ire of the &%^\^ 
 purity, and as the Coi-ii is limited,iin eirculatiqii-i^y 
 a maximum of price, and Bullion is not Hmitedi — landj 
 as Coin, when Bullion exceeds the maximum, vvi,l,K 
 ever be melted, in order to become Bullion, it follo.jvs/r 
 tliat a principle must be adopted and enforced,; f(),f: 
 keeping down the price of BuUioii |*^jjthe m^jcimi^j 
 set upon Coin. ; > "!•> '• hloD 
 
 : Now a circulation- formed upon, this principle, ^\f, 
 
 an evident absurdity. .•,-;e.ii« (iv;fi '•--=. w^-^jd rur'^RV' ^uii 
 , The criterion for the amount of the Currencjr, is what 
 has been above stated, viz. the quantity necessary to 
 answer all the demands, and circulate all the income 
 of a community ; and the deficiency or excess of quan- 
 tity, is measured by the increase X)_r relaxation of 
 
 demand. •'WJi-'nifn "^tf) ? 
 
 Whereas the, criterion assumed under ttie system 
 which is to be established, is the quantity of Currency 
 which will keep the Market price and Mint price of 
 
 Goldatpa,!". . baviauiio .is-nwori ,111-"^ ,■: 
 
 :-. Our present Currency being founded upon a ti*ue 
 theory af supplying the wants of a community, admits 
 the regulations wlwch have been stated, for controuling 
 its excess without prejudice to the system; because 
 they are all wisely adjusted to jLh^ip^ature of the subject 
 they are intended to controul. .-;i;-'; 
 
 But the arbitrary fixation of a maximum on Coin, 
 and regulating the q,uantity of a circulating medium.
 
 { 47 ) 
 so as to keep the Market price of Bullion, which is 
 ever fluctuating, within that maximum, is totally ir- 
 reconcileable to the true principles of a currency, and 
 is the application of a rule which has no natural con- 
 nexion -Nvhatever with the subject it lias to govern. 
 
 Let it be asked of any common logician, whether 
 there is any connexion between the necessity of sup- 
 plying a circulating medium proportioned to the whole 
 income and transactions of a wealthy community, and 
 the identit}' of price between Coin of a fixt value and 
 Bullion of a variable value. It is evident that any 
 attempt to prove such a connexion must be preposterous. 
 
 An argument has, however, been made m this man- 
 ner. Coin and Bullion are of the same purity; equal 
 quantities of each must be therefore equally valuab^e: 
 but if Coin is limited to a certain standard-price, and 
 Bullion is not, in as much as Coin cannot follow the 
 price of Bullion, Bullion must be made to submit to 
 the price of Coin; otherwise, two pieces of Gold, which 
 in weight and purity are the same, would not be equal 
 in value to one another; which is absurd. >7ow the 
 necessity to reduce Bullion to the price of Coin, arises 
 from the circumstance, that, as Paper represents Coin, 
 it will not also represent Bullion, unless Bullion be 
 kept at the exact price of Coin: for if Bullion is 
 allowed to be dearer than Coin, Coin will be melted to 
 obtain the qualities and price of Bullion : and then Coin 
 being driven from circulation by the superior value of 
 Bullion, Paper will be no longer convertible into Coin ; 
 which would be ruinous. As, however, reducing the 
 quantity of circulating medium will raise its price, and 
 consequently the value of Coin, a i)ro|jortiouate re- 
 duction of that medium will equalize the prices of Coin 
 and Bullion, a E. D. 
 
 Such is the pretended demonstration which has been 
 G 2 made.
 
 ( 48 ) 
 
 piade, by introducing a system offeree, contrary to th^ 
 nAture of things. — But what has it to do with the ne- 
 cessity of furnishing a circulating medium adequate to 
 the demands qf the \yhole amount of the income and 
 transactions qf a great community ? What connexion i? 
 there between the two propositipus above stated ? How 
 does this demonstration refute the absurdity of measur- 
 ing the quality of a circulating medium necegsary for 
 the richest and most active community jn the universe, 
 by the necessity of reducing the Market price of Bul- 
 lion to the Mint price of Coin. What rejation is theriB 
 in nature between the two propositions? 
 
 What tl||tii, it is asked, is to be dpne ?-rIt i? sub- 
 mitted, that the best way tq obtain truth is first to dis» 
 card what is evidently false. Quit an arbitrary and 
 inapplicable measure, and eml race a system dictated 
 by existing circumstances and natural reason. 
 
 It is plain, that to form our whple circulation ex- 
 clusively of the precious metals, is impossible, an4 
 that some system, not of mere intrinsic value, but of 
 confidence, is to be resorted to. 
 
 It is plain, that to circumscribe a circulation by thjs 
 identity of ])rice between Bullion, Coin, and Bank 
 Notes, is absurd; since there can be no connexion be^ 
 tween things limited and things unlimited in value. 
 The principle has no analogy to a currency. The very 
 apprehension of its adoption haji produced great em- 
 barrassment, and the enacting it might involve us in 
 distress. 
 
 As many persons, however, express alarm at having 
 110 basis to our currency of intrinsic value, but the 
 funds of t\\e Bank, (which are not all convertible intq 
 cash on demand) and Government securities, (which 
 are in the same situation) though both ultimately ade- 
 quate to all outstaiiding issues qf ^ank Notes, som^
 
 ( 49 ) 
 
 nevr arrangement might be rnade, which would present 
 .a metallic basis of intrinsic value, payable on demand, 
 but at the same time would leave the currency go- 
 verned, as to its quantity, by the real wants of the 
 community, and not by the forced par of Jthe Mint and 
 Market price of Gold. 
 
 Two plans sugeest themselves. The first is, to m9,ke 
 Gold Coin circulate at the market price of Bullion,-:-. 
 the prices to be fixed frpm period to period at the 
 Royal Exchange— the duration of each period to be 
 limited, as may be found adviseable, and the pricey to 
 remain fixed during .each period, 
 
 The second is, to enable the Bank to pay in Bullion 
 all demands for exchange of their Paper if above the 
 ^um {for instance) of £.25^ at the market price of 
 Gold. 
 
 Bank Notes should circulate as at present, represent- 
 ing Gold Coin, at the standard of 3l. lis. lO^t/. per 
 ounce, which is the legal standard, and which they 
 were issued to represent, and do represent. 
 
 By either of these plans, the Bank conld always 
 afford to supply themselves and the public with any 
 quantity of Coin or BuUipn, because they ,could not 
 l.ose in the purcha^ie. 
 
 And the necessary quantity of circulating medium 
 could be always measured by the criteria above stated, 
 and whicii are now acted upon ; and would not be re- 
 stricted by the absurd necessity of contracting or in- 
 creasing the issues of Bank Notes, by the variations of 
 price in one single commodity. 
 
 The first plan would be most agreeable to those who 
 wish to re-introduce Gold Coin into circulation. 
 
 The second, to those who prefer a Bank Note cir- 
 culation founded upon a basis of intrinsic value, payable 
 on demand. 
 
 If
 
 ( 50 ) 
 
 If neither of the above plans appear eligible, it is at 
 least hoped that no Plan will be adopted for unnaturally 
 forcing the Market price of Bullion to the Mint price. 
 If the Market price ever descends naturally, by the 
 ordinary course of events, to the Mint price, and there 
 continues, the plans suggested admit the due operation 
 of such a state of the market as of every other. But 
 any forced ?ystem will soon break. Let the circulation 
 be limited by real demand, not by legislative violence. 
 A forced restriction of currency is as much against the 
 natural order of things as a forced issue. The latter 
 leads to depreciation and discredit: the fornaer to stagv 
 nation and non-production. 
 
 If there is still a strong predilection for our former 
 system, let us at least give sufficient time for the ex- 
 periment to be tried, whether the ordinary process of 
 events will bring things round in such a manner as that 
 the system will, as it were, resume itself. But making 
 use of parliamentary force to bring about any system, 
 against the natural tendency of affairs, savors too much 
 of the obstinacy of prejudice: and when it is considered 
 that all our manufacturing and commercial investments, 
 speculations and transactions, have been formed upon 
 the presumption of the continuance of an extensive 
 circulation, and of grcnt pecuniary accommodations, 
 might it not be deemed something like a gratuitous 
 breach of faith, if all the valuable concerns of a most 
 important class of individuals were sacrificed to the 
 support of a sophism, and the best interests of the 
 nation endangered, in order to conjure a commodity 
 into a Coin, and to transform a perpetual fluctuation 
 into an invariable standard. 
 
 Perhaps from tlie variety of opinions and prejudices 
 public and recorded, and from the supposed difficulties 
 on the .subject of currencies, by which the ablest men 
 
 have
 
 ( 51 ) 
 
 have been sometimes puzzled and perplexed, it may 
 not be easy to obtain any early decision, as to what 
 shall be the fingil .system, in which the country is to 
 repose. • - 
 
 It is hoped, however, that the public mind be satis- 
 fied upon one point, that the Parliament does not mean 
 to act by arbitrary force ; that it will not cramp cir- 
 culation, merely to lower the market price of Gold: but, 
 let the Bank be desired to act with the same unfettered 
 discretion, as hitherto, so that the merchant may not 
 be driven to bankruptcy by a false theory. Let the 
 public mind be set at rest. Let it feel' assured, that 
 the protecting and fostering hand of Parliaitienl\'will aid 
 a^d encourage the genuine speculations of comrnercial 
 and manufacturing ingenuity,, and that the':)5a.me ac- 
 commodations will be continued to uphold, as.,^e,re 
 supplied to induce the investment of capital. Till such, 
 an assurance be made, all efforts must be cGntractedv 
 ajl exertions paralysed, confidence mus^^hrink, and 
 general prosperity languish. 
 
 *^:=: ■: ^ ^.w .^;=••.^ foT'«o) smrmA a > 
 
 * ._, .... -,. ;^ ,iv;tJiK\ W.03^^ 
 
 Aiitil oi o-^nTisloT nt ,9uIj:V a)i — gc it ^silvy — Y3>'0M .3 
 -JiHTi^'^i X3. ..•DtJOiimoO no exK'iJfiV73g«]<.> f!)iw .:»A ,fe6Jo>? 
 
 .;/TA.T ?dJ v^ .bnehn.l to /jn-M-i'^ ?»ll no 8noitc.'io?<jO .V> 
 
 ,0 .%e yynH .aeeofl to 
 
 THB END. 
 
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