CUKRENCY AND RAILWAYS. 
 
 The subject of the great Moveiient in Raiwats, whicli absorbs the 
 public attention, to the exclusion of almost all other topics, is so 
 closely connected wth the question of the “ Currency,” that it may 
 be useful at the present time to those engaged in their promotion and 
 to the public in general, to show the pernicious effect of the present 
 system of Restricted Currency in respect to the progress and ex¬ 
 ecution of these most desirable national undertakings. 
 
 It is to be presumed that no one tvill now dispute the utility of 
 railways, or the vast superiority, in aU respects, of this new mode of 
 conveyance, over the old, and especially in respect to the saving of 
 time and money. This is no longer, as it was some years ago, a 
 problem to be solved, but it is an axiom established. And more 
 than this — it is a truth forced on the conviction of the country 
 by experience, that the general establishment of railways, wherever 
 traffic has caused the promotion of a highway, is now become a 
 necessity. And it has become a necessity for this reason; that 
 those ^stricts whose farming, manufacturing, and commercial in¬ 
 terests are devoid of the facilities and economies which conveyance 
 by railway affords, find that they are not in a condition to compete 
 with other parts, where those facilities are in action ; and that it has 
 come to pass, that either they must contrive to procure the like ad¬ 
 vantage of this modern invention for themselves, or that they must 
 be content to remain in a position of comparative social stagnation, 
 with their property deteriorated, and their profits and incomes 
 lessened. 
 
 The strong conviction of this truth in the public mind has 
 occasioned therefore a general desire, and a consequent movement 
 in aU parts of the country, to establish' in their own localities the 
 same system of railway conveyance which has been proved to be 
 
2 CUKKENCY AJJD EAILWATS. 
 
 usefnl and profitable in others, and which has now become a necessity 
 in all; and this attempt may be viewed as a grand national struggle 
 to develope the resources of the country, and to call forth the powers 
 of.industi-y of the population, to the end of increasing individual 
 wealth and national prosperity. 
 
 Jfow all persons must allow, that to increase individual wealth 
 and national prosperity is a consummation most devoutly to be 
 wished: and when it is considered that such desirable results are 
 proposed to be accomplished by the most commendable means — not 
 by the agency of war, but by the arts of peace—by the application of 
 the unemployed powers of labour to the creation of the things 
 desired; it would seem that there could be no objection to allowing 
 full scope to the industry of the nation. And it is to be borne in 
 mind also, that the great tUtficulty of the present day is to find 
 employment for that which is called — but which, in our opinion, is 
 erroneously called — a “redundant” population. Kow here is, on 
 one side, a want which is universally felt—the want of railways 
 generally throughout the country; and on the other side, there are 
 ready thousands of brawny arms and willing minds ready and eager 
 to make them; — the demand for railways occasions a demand for 
 labourers; and without labourers the railways cannot be made; 
 while labourers are standing idle, or starving on insufficient wages, 
 because of their want of that employment which the formation 
 of railways might afford; — what, then, is the obstacle which prevents 
 railways from being made, the population from being employed, and 
 the wealth, which railways would produce, from being created? The 
 answer is, “The want of money.” 
 
 But why is there a want of money ? Is not money a mere symbol or 
 sign of value to be passed' from hand to hand in some convenient shape, 
 for the purpose of facilitating the exchange of one commodity for an¬ 
 other ; inasmuch as to exchange a haystack in one part of the country for 
 a house in another part, by the bodily removal of each, would be a very 
 inconvenient mode of proceeding; and as it is in the power of the com¬ 
 munity to have as many of these symbols as their industrial necessities 
 require, why should “ a want of money,” or, in other words, a want 
 of symbols, prevent useful objects from being effected, and the 
 wealth of the nation increased in accordance 'with its powers of 
 industry? 
 
 The answer to this is, that, by the present system of currency, it is 
 determined that the amount of the money of the country—that is to 
 say, of the symbols which are necessary for carrying on the indus¬ 
 trial operations of the country—shall be arbitrarily restricted to the 
 
CtlBRENCT AND RAILWAYS. 
 
 amount of gold and silver bullion which can be easily procured in 
 exchange for those symbols! 
 
 Thus, if by any accident, whether of foreign wars requiring the gold 
 bullion which at present remains in this country, or of the same gold 
 being wanted by other nations in payment for the corn wanted by 
 Great Britain, or for any other reason, this precious metal, as it is 
 called, should be withdrawn from the cellars of the Bank of England, 
 where it is at present deposited, the country is, therefoke, to sus¬ 
 pend the industrial operations which it was in the act of carrying on, 
 or which it had planned to carry on, in order that the amount of 
 national industry developed might not exceed the proportion of gold 
 bullion on wliich the “money” of the country is made arbitrarily to 
 depend! 
 
 Li other words, the present system of currency restricts the quan¬ 
 tity of industrial operations which shall be carried on to the amount 
 of a certain scarce metal which can be procured to form the “ money” 
 by which those operations are effected! 
 
 And although there are a great many notes of the Bank of Eng¬ 
 land and of other banks in circulation, and performing the office of 
 money,—practically proving that it is not necessary that money should 
 be a valuable commodity in itself, but that the symbol of a piece of 
 paper serves the purpose quite as well as a lump of gold,—the quan¬ 
 tity of these notes is restricted by law, from the fear, as the law says, 
 or implies, that there may be more notes in circulation than there 
 might be “ gold money” to exchange for them on demand. 
 
 So that, this being the law, the nation is not allowed to have the 
 convenience of a money which might represent the value of all sorts 
 of commodities; but their money is arbitrarily made the represent¬ 
 ative of one particular commodity, namely, gold ; and as this com¬ 
 modity is scarce, it necessarily follows that the money of a country 
 representing it must be scarce also. 
 
 And such is the fact; and such is the evil under which this country 
 at present labours; and the present want of money for developing the 
 industry of the country by means of the formation of Railways is a 
 practical illustration of the pernicious effect of the present system of 
 “ The Currency.” 
 
 Now let us see the amount of money wanted for the formation of 
 the railways at present in progress; we mean those for which acts 
 have been obtained. This amount is about thirty-eight millions; to 
 which is to be added about eight millions for foreign railways, which 
 are supported by speculators in this country: but we shall put those 
 A 2 
 
CUKRENCT 
 
 KAILWATS. 
 
 eight millions aside for the present, for the sake of simplifying the 
 argument, and speak only of the thirty-eight millions required for our 
 internal projects. The companies who will have to raise these tliirty- 
 eight millions have the power to raise on loan the further sum of 
 fourteen millions, making in all a sum to be procured of fifty-two 
 minions. 
 
 But besides the railway companies already incorporated by act of 
 parliament, there are many other railways projected, and which re¬ 
 quire a vast amoimt of money for their execution. It cannot be 
 taken for granted that everyone of these pi-ojected railways is a sound 
 and judicious enterprise; but we mil take the extreme, and set down 
 all these proposed undertakings as good, and we shall then find that 
 we have about 600 approvable lines projected, requiring four hundred 
 minions of money to complete them. 
 
 It is this thirty-eight miUions of money positively wanted to com¬ 
 plete the lines already in progress, and still more the prospect of the 
 four hundred millions of money for the railways projected, which 
 occasions the present alarm, and the embarrassing question of “ where 
 is the money to come from ? ” 
 
 And in truth, under the present system of currency, it may wen be 
 asked “ where is the money to come fromfor the law restricts and 
 forbids the creation of money beyond a certain amount, so that it is 
 impossible for the amount of money wanted to be forthcoming. As 
 wen might a thirsty population cry out for water in a counfry where 
 their rulers had ordained that no water should be brought from the 
 weU except in golden pitchers: there might be water enough in the 
 well, if those who had the power-of deafing it out would allow it to he 
 carried away in common vessels; but no; nothing but pitchers of 
 gold! the quantity of water to be distributed among the people must 
 be confined to the quantity of golden pitchers which the people could 
 procure to hold it! What would be the condition of that people? 
 With plenty of water at their command, they would die of tliirst! — 
 As water is to the people supposed, so is money to the population of 
 this country; our golden money is their golden pitcher. 
 
 But, it may be said, seeing the vast amount of money wanted for the 
 completion of all these railways,—this fifty-two millions positively and 
 immediately, and this four hundred millions prospectively, — is it 
 possible, by any means, to raise in time such enormous sums of money 
 for this or any other purpose ? 
 
 Let us see whether such an operation is possible; perhaps, if we 
 can show that such operations-have been effected before, it may be 
 allowed that they may be done again ; and more especially if we can 
 
CHERENCr a: 
 
 RAILWAYS. 
 
 show that sums equally large have been raised to be thrown into the 
 sea,—or that which is equivalent, in respect to our argument, to being 
 thrown into the sea,—it may be granted, that for purposes individually 
 profitable, and nationally advantageous, the like sums of money may 
 be raised again;—but certainly not under the present system of 
 currency. 
 
 Let us take a glance at what was done during the period between 
 the years 1797 and 1815, both inclusive, wliich for the most part was 
 a time of war; what was the amount of money wanted then? and how 
 was it provided? 
 
 We find by the parliamentai-y tables, which all may consult, that 
 the amount of money raised in those eighteen years was nearly 
 fifteen hundred millions! 
 
 Nearly fifteen hundred millions! These are startling figures; but they 
 are quite correct. The total revenue raised in these years was more 
 than 981 millions, and the total of the money borrowed was more 
 than 470 millions, making in all 1451 millions. There was really 
 more than 758 millions of money borrowed; but as more than 287 
 millions of debt was paid off during that time, it reduces the amount 
 to the sum which we have stated, namely 470 millions. And it is 
 worth while to note that in one of these years, namely, in 1813, the 
 sum of more than 150 millions was raised in revenue and loan, of 
 which nearly 82 millions was loan for the national use ; and this in a 
 single year! 
 
 Now, if 82 millions of money could be raised in one year for the 
 purpose of carrying on a war, sm'ely 52 millions may be raised in a 
 year for carrying on railways. 
 
 For the money so raised for carrying on a war was actually 
 sunk, wasted, lost, as if it had been thrown into the sea. It saved 
 the country from foreign domination, but that is another question; 
 we are talking of the power of this nation to raise money for the 
 purpose of being expended; and we are showing that the nation 
 could and did raise in one year, besides its more than 68 millions of 
 revenue, a further sum of more than 82 millions as loan. 
 
 And in respect to the objects for which the sum of 470 millions of 
 money was raised, and the way in which it was expended, we contend 
 that, as a mere money question, it might be more easily raised for 
 making railways than for making war, and that in the former way 
 it would be much more profitably employed. 
 
 Because, as we have said before, the 470 millions which were raised 
 lor carrying on the war was actually sunk and lost. There remained. 
 
6 CDBEESCV AKD KAILAVAYS. 
 
 indeed, the glory of our wai'like exploits, and our deliverance from 
 foreign domination; hut the money was sunk and gone. But in ex¬ 
 pending money on railways it is not sunk and gone; its visible and 
 substantial value remains in the shape of bricks and mortar, and 
 stones fashioned for their uses, and viaducts, and bridges, and in aU 
 the conveniences which attach to railways: it is not like gunpowder, 
 which has gone off in a roar or a puff; but it endm-es as solid stuff. 
 And more than this, such works do not stand, Hke the pyramids, as 
 monuments of useless labour; but they remain as creations of utility 
 and value, and jdelding an interest, or fruit for the money expended, 
 to the private individuals who expended it; and are a source of conveni¬ 
 ence, of economy, and of wealth to the nation which possesses them. 
 
 So that, seeing that it is a fact that the people of this country 
 were enabled in 1813 to raise and expend, in addition to the 68 mil¬ 
 lions of revenue, a further sum of 82 millions for the purpose of being 
 expended, and which was expended, in making war, it follows that the 
 same people, by the same means, might in 1845, in a time of peace, 
 raise a like sum for the purpose of executing useful undertakings 
 within their own control, and for their own profit, and which would 
 yield a large interest for the money so expended ; that is to say, pro¬ 
 vided the means remained the same, and that the country had not 
 become poorer in the interim. 
 
 Now with respect to the question of whether this country is richer 
 or poorer than it was in the years to which tve refer, we consult the 
 parliamentaiy papers which have been made public on that point, and 
 we find the following information : 
 
 In 1815, which was the last year of that war tax called the pro¬ 
 perty tax, the income from real property chargeable with that tax 
 was about fifty millions;—in 1843 it exceeded eighty millions. 
 The increase of this income, from fifty to eighty millions, shows that the 
 property from which that income was derived, was about 600 millions. 
 
 Added to the above, the increase of the legacy duty on personal 
 property, shows that the personal property of the people of this 
 country had increased between the years 1834 and 1843 to the 
 amount of 450 millions. 
 
 More figures to the like effect might be produced; but this statement 
 of the increase of the property of the country proves that the country is 
 not poorer than it was in the years when it was able to raise the sum 
 of 150 millions of money in a single year, more than 82 millions of 
 which it could afford to expend on a foreign war. 
 
 So far therefore as the question depends on the capability of 
 raising the money required for railways, it is clearly proved that the 
 
CUKB15NCY 
 
 KAILWAYS. 
 
 country is in a much better condition in respect to its wealth for the 
 raising of the money than it was thirty years ago. 
 
 But in respect to the means of raising it, that is, its financial ma¬ 
 chinery, that is another affair. It is here that our ^faculty appears. 
 
 Fifty years ago, and onwards for nearly twenty years, that is, from 
 1797 to 1815, the country was enabled to raise, and to expend and 
 sink, without showing any signs of impoverishment, but, on the con¬ 
 trary, the most manifest signs of prosperity, a sum of more than 470 
 millions; and now, at the end of thirty years from 1815, and after 
 a period of thirty year’s of peace, it is found that the country cannot 
 raise a similar sum for the formation of railways ; — nay, more than 
 this, there are the strongest fears that the attempt to raise even the 
 sum of fifty-two millions for the purposes of the profitable employment 
 of the population rviU cause the most fatal disasters to the community ! 
 The question then arises — why is this ? The answer can he only, 
 that seeing there is more property on -which to base the money ■rv.anted, 
 if the money wanted cannot he raised as it was raised when there was 
 less property, there must be some change in the financial machinery 
 of the country—some defect in the means of raising or creating 
 that symbolic representative of value called “money;”—and a little 
 inquiry shows that such is the fact. 
 
 Now the change consists in tliis: 
 
 During the period between 1797 and 1815, money was rightly used 
 as a mere symbol of value, and not as value in itself; hut now money 
 is made by law a commodity of value, namely, gold. 
 
 The consequence of this is, that as gold is a scarce metal, only a 
 certain limited quantity of it is to he procured at any time; and as it 
 is a very valuable metal, the quantity procured must he deai’ly paid 
 for. 
 
 And .one of the effects of limiting the quantity of money for the 
 uses of the community to the quantity of gold wliich can he procured 
 to represent it, is this; that when other countries want the gold which 
 this country may have got, and di-aw a certain amount more or less 
 from it, the community of this country is deprived of so much of its 
 circulating medium as that quantity of gold represents; and no matter, 
 according to the present law, whether the subtraction of that amount 
 of its circulating medium is inconvenient or not, or to what extent it 
 is mischievous, the community must do without it. 
 
 It is true that all the hank notes which are in circulatioii, and which 
 form so large a portion of the currency, are not representatives of so 
 much gold; because, of the twenty millions of Bank of England 
 
KAIWAYS. 
 
 notes now in circulation, not more than fom-teen millions conld be 
 exchanged for gold, that being the present amount in, the Bank cellars. 
 But all these twenty millions of hank notes, besides the eighteen mil¬ 
 lions, or thereabouts, of the notes of private hankers, are based, as it is 
 termed, on gold; that is to say, that the issuers of these thirty-eight 
 millions of notes are liable to he called on to give gold for them in 
 exchange; not silver, nor iron, nor copper, nor any other metals or 
 commodities, but only gold; and as gold, therefore, forms the base of 
 the circulation, and as the quantity of gold, and the value of it, are 
 continually fluctuating and shifting, it follows that the superstructure 
 of the currency must also be continually fluctuating and shifting, 
 which the mercantile community feel, to then- cost. 
 
 It appears, therefore, that under the existing law, which limits the 
 quantity of the money in the country to the amount of gold which 
 can be retained in the country to exchange for it, that the unlimited 
 quantity of money which was raised during the years between 1797 
 and 1815, cannot be raised now. And it is clear also, that under such a 
 law the industrial powers of the country, whether in respect to rail¬ 
 ways or other useful and profitable undertakings, cannot be fairly 
 developed; because, as more money is wanted to carry them on than 
 exists, and as more cannot be created, inasmuch as nature has limited 
 the quantity of gold on which the law forces it to be based, although 
 she has not limited either the resources of the country or the in¬ 
 dustrial capabilities of its inhabitants—the national creation of wealth 
 is thereby restricted to the amount of the particular sort of money by 
 which alone the legislature has decreed that its wealth shall be 
 measured. But in order to render this point more popularly in¬ 
 telligible, it is necessary to go into some few particulars, showing the 
 difference in the state of the currency in the years to which we have 
 referred, and, at intervals, to the year 1825, and the state of the cur¬ 
 rency as it is by law arbitrarily restricted now. 
 
 In 1797, it was enacted by Mr. Pitt, that it was not necessary that 
 the notes of the Bank of England should be payable in gold on 
 demand; and he took measures for their being issued on the national 
 credit by such means causing them to assume the quality of a sym¬ 
 bolic money. It was not a perfect symbolic money; nor are we ad¬ 
 vocates for the formation of such a money by such means; but it 
 approached the perfection of a symbolic money, and it proved the 
 advantages of such a currency over metallic money: and it proved 
 it in this way; it showed that such money—that is, paper or symbolic 
 money—was capable of expansion according to the necessities of the 
 community, which metallic money, is not; and it proved that the 
 
cnjuiENcy 
 
 KAILWAYS. 
 
 nation could carry on its business, and support a war besides, by 
 means of a paper currency alone. 
 
 The effect of Mr.'Pitt’s measure was instantaneous and striking. 
 The country instantly recovered, as if by magic, from the difficulties 
 under which it was labouring, and which, threatened to weigh it 
 down; and for eighteen years, while Mr. Pitt’s system was in force, 
 the nation advanced in a wonderful degree in riches and prosperity, 
 and laid the foundations of that increased wealth-creating power 
 which all the financial blunders since have been unable entfrely to 
 neutralise. 
 
 It may be useful in this place to take a brief retrospect of the finan¬ 
 cial state of the country, then and since. 
 
 In 1797, Mr. Pitt passed the celebrated Bank Restriction Act, which 
 increased the means of circulating the wealth of the country, and of 
 creating more, to an extraordinary extent: and the great embarrass¬ 
 ment and distress of that year were succeeded by a series of years of 
 the most brilliant prosperity, notwithstanding the enormous expenses 
 of war, which consumed during that period more than 470 millions of 
 money, and notwithstanding the severe taxation of the country to the 
 amount of more than 981 millions; sums which may be stated in 
 figures, but which almost surpass the powers of the imagination. 
 This state of prosperity continued till the year 1815. 
 
 Inl816,itwasprospectivelydeterminedbyParliamenttodepartfrom 
 Mr. Pitt’s system, and to return to a system of metallic money; and 
 the Bank of England, in consequence of the anticipated measures of 
 Parliament, began prospectively to reduce its issues; that is to say, to 
 lessen the amount of the circulating medium. 
 
 In 1816, general and severe distress prevailed throughout the 
 country. This, at the time, was attributed, by some, to the change from 
 a state of war to a state of peace; an opinion the most absurd, as it 
 attributed the distress of the country to the fact, of about 26 millions 
 a year—which was the average cost of the late war, in loans, and which 
 was so much of the labour and produce of the country actually sunk 
 and lost—being now saved to the country 1 The distress of 1816 is now 
 seen to have been caused by the diminution of the currency, which 
 restricted the industry of the country, and threw vast masses of peo¬ 
 ple out of employment. 
 
 This effect of the threatened return to what was called “ cash pay¬ 
 ments ” Was so far foreseen, however, and its effects were so far feared, 
 that even the government intimated its intention of effecting the 
 change by very gradual means; and the consequence was, that the 
 
10 
 
 CUERENCr 
 
 KAILWATS. 
 
 Bank, reassured by this intimation, increased its circulation, and in 
 1817 and 1818 the distress generally ceased. 
 
 In 1819, however, the government proceeded to carry its measures 
 into execution by the celebrated Currency Bill of that year; and by 
 which bill it was enacted that cash payments should be resumed in 
 1823. It became necessary for the Bank therefore again to diminish 
 its issues, in preparation for its bullion payments, and which diminution 
 it continued till 1822 ; and correspondingly with the reduction of the 
 circulation, the distress of the country returned in 1819, and became 
 extreme in the years 1820, 1821, and 1822. 
 
 In 1822, the government, appalled by the increasing distress, and by 
 the complaints and insurrectionary spirit of the people, suspended the 
 operation of the Currency Bill for three years. 
 
 Immediately'afterwards, that is, in the next year, 1823, the distress 
 of the country abated, and was rapidly changed to a state of pros¬ 
 perity, which continued as long as the increased issues of the Bank con¬ 
 tinued, namely, until 1825, which was the famous year of prosperity so 
 much vaunted by the ministers of the day. 
 
 But the year 1825 was the year fixed on for the return to a metallic 
 currency; and the Bank, being obliged to take its measures in time, 
 and to reduce its circulation, so as to correspond ivith the quantity of 
 gold bullion which it could conveniently procm'e, and which was 
 thenceforth to serve as the base of the currency, the grand crash 
 came; and that memorable epoch of ruin and convulsion occurred 
 which must still be in the memory of our readers. 
 
 And since that time, that is, since the Curreney Bill of 1819 has been 
 in operation, there has occurred a series of alternations of commer¬ 
 cial prosperity and adversity, according as the currency has’been en¬ 
 larged or restricted by the influx or efflux of gold to or from this 
 country. Among the mo.st memorable and most disastrous are those 
 of 1834 and 1839 ; and the question now is, not whether this or that 
 commereial enterprise might be beneficial to the nation, nor whether 
 the industrious capabilities of the country and of the increased popu¬ 
 lation might not be further developed, to the increase of individual 
 happiness, and to the augmentation of the national wealth; but whether 
 “ money” can be obtained to effect such desirable improvements;—or, 
 in other words, the country possesses, in its population, its powers of 
 machinery, and its application of industry, the means of creating al¬ 
 most unbounded wealth for all its inhabitants, but it arbitrarily refuses 
 to take advantage of its resources, because it is insisted that it shall 
 not produce more cirenlating wealth than can be represented by, gold! 
 
 For such is really the case. If it is necessary for the increased em- 
 
CUIUSENCY 
 
 KAiEWAYS. 
 
 ployments of industry that there should he more of that indispensa¬ 
 ble article money to carry on its operations, and the law says that there 
 shall he no more money than there can he in-ocured of the metal gold 
 to exchange for it, it necessarily follows that the operations of indus¬ 
 try must he restricted and kept down to the amount whieh can be 
 procured of that particular commodity — gold. 
 
 So that, to apply the operation of this principle to the subject of 
 the railways;—although all the materials of which the railways are to 
 be made, with very trifling exceptions, exist in this country, ready to 
 our hand— although there are thousands of labourers wanting employ¬ 
 ment, and able to make the railways — although railways are most 
 desirable things to be executed, and would amply repay, by their 
 profits, all the money laid out in their formation; —and although the 
 whole of the population of this country, it may be said, are at this 
 moment enthusiastically eager to aid in the accomplishment of an im¬ 
 provement, the advantages of which, in a national point of view, mo¬ 
 rally, commercially, and poUticaliy, would be of incalculable benefit to 
 the empire, — all these great advantages are to be abandoned, or the 
 enjoyment of them indefinitely suspended, because an arbitrary law 
 restricts the quantity of currency which is necessary for. their exe¬ 
 cution to the amount of gold which can be retained in the country! 
 
 Wliat is the use of this metal gold in forming railways ? No part 
 of a railway is made of gold. It is labour that makes railways, out of 
 materials of which gold forms no part. If it was necessary for the 
 rails of a railway to be made of gold, that would be another thing ; 
 but the rails are not made of gold, but of iron, a metal far more 
 valuable than gold, for the inhabitants of the earth could do without 
 gold—so far as their experience goes, at least—^but they could not do 
 without u-on. But it may be said, that railways cannot be made 
 without money, and that the only money which the present system of 
 currency recognises is gold money. But what law of natm-e is there 
 to force us to have no other money than gold money? What is 
 money wanted for ? It is a thing neither to be eaten nor drunk, nor 
 to build houses with, nor to plough nor to dig with. It is used only 
 to represent value, in order to facilitate the exchanges of commodities. 
 Why would not some other metal, or some other substance, do as well 
 as gold ? And why is it necessary that money, which is only required 
 as a token or symbol of commodities wanted to be exchanged, should 
 be a thing of value in itself? How does that facilitate exchanges ? the 
 facility being the thing aimed at—Does it not, on the contrary, cause 
 the exchanges of commodities — exchanges being the life and soul.of 
 industry — to be limited to its own small amount? And is not this 
 
12 
 
 CUKKENCr 
 
 UAILWAYS. 
 
 limitatioii misdueTons ?—and does it not have a most pernicious' and 
 paralysing efiect on the development of the industrial resources of 
 the country? Does not experience prove that the present system of 
 curreney works badly; and that in proportion as the community de¬ 
 parts from the use of a purely symbolic money, its commercial pursuits 
 are exposed to adverse fluctuations, and all its operations of industry 
 are cramped and confined ? 
 
 Now, if the nation had the advantage of a money that was merely 
 symbolic; that is to say, merely a representative of the value of 
 something else, of which value it was the token or representative, the 
 facility woidd exist of extending the amount of such money to the 
 wants of the community, whether for the purposes of peace or war. 
 It has been proved that it could effect the object desired in a time 
 of war; and, a fortiori, it can effect the same object in a time of 
 peace. The advocates for the adoption of some such system — not 
 that system — but some such system of symbolic money as the 
 country flourished under from 1797 to 1815, consider that a symbolic 
 paper money can efficiently serve all the purposes of metallic money; 
 because, from 1797 to 1815, and at intervals until 1825, it did effect 
 that object. And with respect to the objection to a sort of money 
 which is illimitable, and in the operation of which the example of the 
 French assignats and mandats is adduced to show its dangerous 
 character — it may be said, that; the example of the French assignats 
 and mandats is admirably adapted to show the difference of a paper 
 money not founded on real transferable property, nor created by the 
 legitimate wants of trade, but issued capriciously by an irresponsi¬ 
 ble government and a national paper currency issued by a respon¬ 
 sible government, similar to that which existed in England during 
 the eighteen years of its paper-currency prosperity, from 1797 to 
 1815. 
 
 The advocates for the adoption of a symbolic currency maintain 
 that the holding forth to the world the convertibility into gold at 
 pleasure of the quantity of paper money necessary for the vast trans¬ 
 actions of this great commercial country, is a delusion; that, on 
 the contrary, the fact is established, that when the proof of the con¬ 
 vertibility of the paper money of the country has been brought to 
 the test; it has totally failed; as witness the failures in 1816, in 1819, 
 in 1822, in 1825, in 1834, and in 1839; and that, in fact, the monthly 
 publication of the quantity of gold bullion held by the Bank, exhibits 
 in the plainest manner, that the supposed convertibility of its notes 
 into gold, on demand, is a continual delusion. 
 
 The advocates for a repeal of the Currency Bill of 1819, and its 
 
CDKRENCY 
 
 13 
 
 complemental bill of 1844, contend, that the present depressed and 
 discontented state of the population of this country, which has been 
 increasing for the last thirty years, and which has necessitated the 
 increased coercion of the labouring classes iii special prisons erected 
 for them under the name of Union Workhouses,—to say nothing of 
 the refinements of painful punishment which have been invented for 
 their correction in the penal jails of the kingdom,—has been caused 
 by the restrictive action on industry wliich the present system of 
 currency has exercised; and that the main evil of that system is the 
 attempt to cany on a paper currency adequate to the wants of the 
 country, and at the same time convertible by law into gold on demand 
 at a fixed price. This attempt, they say, is pernicious to the 
 country, by permanently contracting the circulating medium to the 
 amount, not of the wants of the country, but of the quantity of gold 
 procurable; thereby occasioning continual fluctuations in the amount 
 of the circulating medium,—not according to the greater or less re¬ 
 quirements of the community, but according to the greater or less 
 demand for gold as a marketable commodity, abroad or at home. 
 We shall say nothing here of the inadequacy of a commodity which is 
 thus continually changing in value, to serve as the representative of 
 the value of other commodities; because we are endeavouring to show 
 its deficiency in respect to amount, rather than its faultiness as a 
 representative of value; and its faultiness, as a representative of 
 value, is notlung, compared with its inefficiency as “currency,” 
 wliich, from the limited production of it by natui-e, or the limited 
 power of its being digged from the earth by art, must for ever 
 render it unfit to serve the purposes of the cuiTeney of such a nation 
 as Great Britain. 
 
 It is from this consideration, that it is the object of the advocates 
 of a paper currency not depending for its amount on gold, first, to enable 
 the country to regulate the amount of its money according to the 
 amount of its commercial and other transactions of exchange, and not 
 according to the quantity of gold procurable to represent them; and 
 secondly, to secure the community from the various fluctuations in the 
 amount of the national money, and from the sudden rises and falls in 
 prices consequent on such fluctuations; so that the industry of the 
 country may have full play, and the national resources be made avail¬ 
 able to their utmost extent, for the comfort and happiness of aU. That 
 such a state of the currency is not vague theory, or rash experiment, 
 is proved by what was effected by the paper currency, imperfect as it 
 was, which existed from 1797 to 1815, and at intervals to 1825. 
 
 The only money then circulating, apart from the small quantity of 
 
14 
 
 CURRENCY 
 
 RAILWAYS. 
 
 silver money in use for fractional parts of exchanges, was paper,— 
 approaching, as we have said, to the perfect state of a symbolic money. 
 But, by the agency of that paper currency,'which was neither of 
 intrinsic value in itself nor represented intrinsic value, and which re¬ 
 presented credit alone, the nation was enabled to carry on successfully 
 a most extensive foreign war, and to increase at the same time most 
 prodigiously in internal wealth. There was then general profitable 
 employment, general prosperity, and general content. No one felt 
 any necessiQ^ for the establishment of union workhouses, or for grind¬ 
 ing down the poor to a minimum quantity of food. No one ventured 
 to complain of over-population. According to certain political econo¬ 
 mists, all that was very wrong; they said that the nation ought not to 
 have prospered imder such a wicked system as a paper currency. 
 But the nation did prosper nevertheless, although some bullionists 
 grew alarmingly indignant at the continuance of a prosperity which 
 was so repugnant to their doctrine. 
 
 The people indeed were content to profit by the advantages wliich 
 they possessed, without inquiring imder what system of currency 
 they enjoyed them: the labourer ate his meat, and drank his beer — 
 instead of, as now-a-days, washing down his cold potatoes with water— 
 in blissful ignorance that his state of prosperity was contrai-y to the 
 theoretical doctrines of the bullionists. So long as he could exchange 
 his commodity, ivhich was labour, for the beef and beer wliich other 
 people had to sell, it did not matter to him whether he effected the 
 exchange by the means of a bit of paper or a lump of gold ; it was 
 neither the paper nor the gold that he wanted to eat, but the food and 
 the drink, which the convenience of the paper money enabled him to 
 exchange his labour for, and to purchase. 
 
 But it appeared that the country was in too thriving a condition : 
 it was like the ox that had got fat on a wrong system; and, although 
 fat he was, some bullionists insisted that it was better that he should 
 be lean, and starve, and die, on their system, than get fat on any other. 
 The country had arrived at a plethora of prosperity, which required 
 the interference of the pseudo-political economists: an ingenious 
 phrase was invented, and the currency was pronounced to be in an 
 “ unwholesome state; ” the Currency Bill of 1819 was concocted: then 
 came on convulsion and distress, which ended in the grand crash of 
 1825, and which partially reappeared in 1836 and 1839: and these 
 facts—these warnings, cannot be too often repeated; for the country is 
 in the same condition now as it was in 1834 and 1839; that is to say, 
 resting on a false security; trusting to the present comparative 
 abundance of the currency, and supposing that it is to continue; while 
 
CmilENCT AND RAKLAVATS. 15 
 
 at tlie same time it is subject at any moment, either by the withdrawal 
 of the gold in payment for foreign corn, or the apprehension of a 
 foreign war, or by a panic which would cause gold to be hoarded and 
 withdrawn from circulation, and from a thousand other causes, to be 
 arbitrarily and suddenly contracted; and then down go prices, away 
 go loans and discounts; money, by wliich the present inestimably 
 valuable railway projects are supported, vanishes; and general con¬ 
 fusion, distress, and rum ensue! And all because it is insisted that 
 railway and other undertakings and operations of industry shall be 
 carried on only by one sort of money — gold, or by a paper cur¬ 
 rency based upon and depending upon gold; instead of having a 
 money purely symbolic, representing value, but entirely independent 
 of the amount of gold in the country, and entirely free- from the 
 fluctuations in amount by wliich the present currency unhappily is 
 characterised, and which sets at defiance aU calculation as to how 
 much or how little there may be of it at any given time, and which 
 exposes to failure the best planned schemes, and prevents the ex¬ 
 ecution of national works which would immeasurably enrich the 
 nation. 
 
 A consideration of the facts and arguments above stated will pre¬ 
 pare the way for the following suggestion of a scheme by which 
 railway companies %n esse and in posse might be enabled to carry on 
 their oivn schemes of improvement with facility, by a system of co¬ 
 operation, which, while it wmuld benefit themselves, would be at the 
 same time infinitely beneficial to the community. 
 
 As the feasibility of transacting commercial and other industrial 
 operations by the means of a currency composed entirely of a symbolic 
 paper money, may now be considered as proved, because it was done 
 for a series of years, from 1797 to 1816, and, at intervals, to 1825, 
 the ground is cleared for shotving that Kailway Companies, and other 
 such associations, may carry their intentions into effect in a like 
 manner, by a general system of agreement and combination. 
 
 But it wiU be useful, in the development of the subject, to bear in 
 mind, that the plan ivhich we are about to suggest is in, fact in 
 operation in this country, in a manner which fuUy and completely de¬ 
 monstrates the facility of its application in the way to which we 
 refer. 
 
 We allude to the system of Exchequer Bills Issued by the Govern- . 
 ment. About thirty millions of these bills are issued by the govern¬ 
 ment every year; and it may be set down that about this amount is 
 constantly in a certain state of circulation. 
 
16 CTORENCT AND RAItWATS. 
 
 Now these Exchequer Bills, as every body knows, perfornj, though 
 inadequately, the functions of money. 
 
 The “ Grovemment,” in its corporate character, issues these bills 
 for the purpose of enabling it to pay salaries and the general expenses 
 of the government, and they purport, by the writing impressed on 
 them, that the government will pay them off at a certain specified 
 time. It is not said that the government will pay them off in money; 
 but that they are to be paid off in “money” is, of course, understood: 
 but what sort of money ? certainly not in gold money; there is not a 
 word said about that; but they are to be paid in some sort of money 
 not expressed, and which, in fact, is meant to be, and actually is, 
 symbolic paper money; for it is very clear that if the holders had the 
 right to demand gold money, and that the government were bound 
 to furnish it, that the government would be reduced to a state of 
 bankruptcy, inasmuch as the quantity of gold sufficient to discharge 
 the obligation does not exist in the country, or does not exist avail¬ 
 ably for such a purpose. 
 
 But, in point of fact, no one who takes an Exchequer Bill, either in 
 discharge of a debt, or in payment of the purchase of an estate, ever 
 thinks of its representing gold; — he receives it as a symbolic repre¬ 
 sentative of value, which he knows he can pay away in discharge of 
 his own debts, or in the purchase of another estate for himself, and, 
 as it is compeBably receivable by the government in payment of taxes, 
 it always maintains its symbolic value; and sometimes something 
 more; for as it is a sort of money that bears interest, it increases in 
 value every day in the holder’s hands, because it is compeUably 
 receivable again by the government for the amount which it bears 
 pins the accumulation of the interest which has accrued. 
 
 Now the distinctive character of these Exchequer Bills, it will be 
 observed, is this — that it is a sort of money in the shape of a receipt 
 for value received, which the issuer binds himself to receive again ; 
 and is based, not on gold, nor on any metal, but on credit. It is based 
 on the credit of the government to raise money by taxes; the pieces 
 of paper which form it, are of no more value than any other pieces of 
 spoiled paper of the same size; it is based not on gold, as we have 
 said, nor on any other metaL 
 
 But more than this, it is not based on any species of property 
 whatsoever; except the abstraction of the realisation of part of the 
 national property in the shape of taxes; it is based solely on credit. 
 And with respect to this credit, it must not be forgotten, that of all 
 credits, that which is called national credit is the least to be depended 
 on, as witness the sums of money which have been lent to the various 
 
CDBMNCr AND BAIWATS. 17 
 
 South American States, and, notably, to the United States of America, 
 hy ■which States the debts so contracted have been either declared too 
 large for their governments to discharge, or have been altogether re¬ 
 pudiated. 
 
 To pursue this part of the subject a little further: — 
 
 If the sums lent to the Am erican States had been lent on the 
 security of land, or of houses, or of property of any sorb the lenders 
 might have been able to obtain from their borrowers, if not the whole, 
 at least some part of their claim; but their money having been ad¬ 
 vanced on the “abstraction” of national credit, when they fall hack 
 on that national credit they iind only an abstraction — a nonentity, a 
 delusion, a thing aerial and imsubstantial. 
 
 But the national credit of Great Britain is of the same sort as all 
 other national credit; that is to say; it is an abstraction, and it is on 
 the faith of this abstraction alone that the Exchequer Bills issued by 
 the government are received and pass current as representatives of a 
 certain ideal value. These Exchequer Bills then may be considered 
 as examples of symbolic money. 
 
 It win doubtless occur to the reader, that this especial sort of 
 money—the Exchequer Bill—is not fitted to perform the offices of 
 money as common and popular currency, for it is issued only in large 
 amounts, and the wants of the people require a more convenient sort 
 -of money, consisting of pounds, shillings, and pence;—and such is the 
 fact. These Exchequer.Bills are not fitted for the office of the money 
 required in the ordinary transactions of buying and selling, and they, 
 do not perform that office. 
 
 But they perform the same sort of office in transactions requiring 
 the payment of thousands or hundreds of pounds, which pounds, shil¬ 
 lings, and pence do in the facilitating of small exchanges. And it is 
 not^ so much on their character as circulating money that we are at 
 present desirous of fixing attention, as on their symbolic character as 
 paper for large amoimts, which are created by the government out of 
 nothing, and are issued and received in a continual circle without the 
 intervention of any metal whatsoever. 
 
 _ We have said that these Exchequer Bills, which the government 
 passes away as money or as money’s worth, are created out of nothing ; 
 and we think, from the description which we have given of them, 
 that it is plain that they are so created, for national credit, it must be 
 granted, is not property. Now the plan which we suggest for the 
 carrying out of the railways projected, is by the creation of a certain, 
 sort of Exchequer Bills which shall be based on something; not on 
 credit, national or individual, but on bona fide property, substantial 
 
18 ■ CUKEEKCr' AND HAILWATS. 
 
 bricks and mortar, land, houses, and other things intrinsically va- 
 
 It has been shown already, that a government, to wit our own, 
 can issue its Exchequer Bills based on nothing but credit, receiving 
 them back in payment of the calls levied on the nation under the 
 name of “ taxes.” What is there to prevent an association of indi¬ 
 viduals from issuing their Exchequer Bids, receiving them back in 
 payment of the contributions which they have to levy on their 
 proprietors under the name of “ calls ?” 
 
 The government pays its current expenses, or part of its current 
 expenses, which is enough for our argumentj by means of its Ex¬ 
 chequer Bills, which are receivable again in payment of taxes: the 
 railway governments in the same way, may issue their Exchequer, 
 Bills in payment of their expenses, which are receivable again in 
 payment of “ calls.” Where is the difficulty in the one case more 
 than in the other.!' 
 
 In what consists the essence of the value of the government 
 Exchequer BiQ? In its being receivable by its issuers for the money 
 which its holder has to pay. 
 
 In like manner, the Railway Exchequer Bill would have its value 
 fixed, by being receivable by the railway government as money to 
 be paid for calls or other debts. 
 
 But the Railway Exchequer Bill would, in truth, he a bill of much 
 greater value than any mere government hiU could possibly he; for 
 the Railway Bill would represent property; hut the government 
 bin represents, and can represent, only credit. 
 
 If the lenders of the money to the American States had advanced 
 it in return for receipts representing so many divisional parts or shares 
 in an American railway, they would now be able to realise from such 
 property the money which they had lent; and such receipts of Ame¬ 
 rican railways, so representing honafide property, would have passed 
 fromhandto hand as representatives of actual value. And the argument 
 holds good with the national credit of one country as well as of 
 another. For although the faith and honour of this country stand 
 unimpeachable for the fidelity with which it has fulfilled its engage¬ 
 ments of money borrowed, yet the highest degi’ee of such faith and 
 honour in no way afiects the argument of the superiority of the 
 security of substantial property over the “fiction” credit. 
 
 The Railway. Exchequer Bills, therefore, to which we refer, would 
 be better money than the exchequer bills of a government, because 
 they would represent value which government bills do not. 
 
 And in the same way that the inferior government bill circulates 
 
CUKKENCT 
 
 19 
 
 AND RAILWAYS. 
 
 from the government to' the people, and from the people to the 
 government, so would the Railway' Bill circulate from their govern¬ 
 ments to the people and from the people to their governments; for no 
 one would refuse to take, as money, the paper which he knew was 
 based on and reajly represented, actual property, into which it could 
 he easily converted. 
 
 It is to he home in mind that the Railway Exchequer Bills here 
 contemplated, are not paid away for foreign produce, hut for pro¬ 
 perties existing within the coimtry, and, more than for anything else, 
 for labour; and even if it should he considered necessary to. have in 
 use some of the common money of the country, it does not damage 
 our argument in favour of the Railway Exchequer Bill, because it is 
 not necessary that aU the pecuniary transactions of 'the railway com¬ 
 panies should he conducted in this new sort of money. If the plan 
 here suggested should serve only in aid of the Railway enterprises^ it 
 would he a vast assistance to them; and it is no valid objection to 
 the plan to say that it cannot he adapted in toto, to the superseding of 
 aU of the present sort of money; if it cannot he adopted in toto it 
 can in partibus ; and that would he sufficient to enable a great many 
 railways to he formed, which without this expedient, could not he 
 formed for a great many years. 
 
 It is to he observed also, that such Railway Exchequer Bills would 
 he representatives not merely of a determinate value or share in the 
 property of lands, houses, &c., but that they would he the representa¬ 
 tive of a continually increasing value from the profits of the railway, 
 resembling in this the attractive character of the Government Ex¬ 
 chequer Bill wliich bears interest. The Railway Exchequer Bill may 
 he made, in the same way, to have the. property of a like cumulative 
 
 And with respect to the mode of carrying out this plan, although 
 it is not necessary to go into aU the details of a system the working of 
 which wiU he obvious to those accustomed to consider such matters, 
 it may briefly he suggested, that a railway company has it in its 
 power to divide the amount of its shares into as many receipts as it 
 may consider serviceable for its views;—that is to say, a share of one 
 hundred pounds may be divided into a hrmdred receipts, or into a 
 larger number, which possibly might be desirable. These receipts 
 by a system of mutual agreement between all the projected railway 
 companies, to which, those finished might, advantageously to them¬ 
 selves, be added, would be receivable—those of each company by all 
 the rest — to an amount to be fixed by common consent^ and ex¬ 
 changeable at a central Bank in London or elsewhere, which would 
 
 . B 2 
 
20 CUBEENCT AND KAIEWAYS. 
 
 exercise functions analogous to those in operation at the Bankers’ 
 clearing-house in Lombard Street. 
 
 Thus the railway companies would establish a currency for them¬ 
 selves, with which they could pay aU that they had to pay, and which 
 they would receive in payment of debts due to themselves, similar, 
 though far superior to the system of Exchequer Bills. Their receipts 
 might in truth be- emphatically called “Exchequer BiUsforthe mil¬ 
 lion;” and possess i n g this prodigious advantage over government 
 Exchequer Bills, that they would be based on real and substantial 
 property; whereas the government bills are based on a system of 
 credit, which a foreign war, or internal commotion, and a thousand 
 other acmdents, might either totally destroy or seriously damage the 
 value of. 
 
 TVe will stop here for a moment to consider an objection which, as 
 it has been made before, may be made again, with respect to the right 
 of individuals to create money in the way which is suggested; or, 
 supposing that they have the right, to the expediency of permitting 
 
 The consideration of this point in all its bearings would lead to a 
 longer discussion than the limits of such a pamphlet as the present 
 would allow ; but there is a brief argument which may be urged in 
 reply, and which by most persons may be considered satisfactory. 
 
 "What inherent right has a government, it may be said, to interfere 
 with the mode in which a nation may think fit to conduct its mer¬ 
 cantile and industrial pecuniary transactions ? Admitting, of course, 
 the ftdl right of the community to provide against fraud, and against 
 individual occupations being pursued to the public detriment, by 
 what right inherent or politic does a government claim the privilege 
 of preventing the community from fashioning for themselves a circu¬ 
 lating medium for the facilitating of their mutual exchanges ? Why 
 should the community submit to the arbitrary enactment of a govern¬ 
 ment which says that a railway proprietor shall not employ the 
 labourer who with his shovel over his shoulder is solicitous for em¬ 
 ployment, unl'jss the railway employer can procure gold or silver 
 money wherewith to pay the labourer his hire ? 
 
 What is money wanted for ? To represent a value interchanged. 
 The labourer changes his labour for part of the railway proprietor’s 
 property, the value of which is represented by the railway receipt. 
 Suppose his wage was paid by a bit of gold, what could the gold do 
 -more than buy a piece of beef, or any other thing that he wanted ? 
 
 'The gold is only wanted as a medium of exchange; if a piece of 
 paper will do as well, why stop industrial operations because gold can- 
 
eUERENCY AM) RAttWAYS. 
 
 21 
 
 not be obtained in a sufficient quantity for the carrying on of these 
 in addition to other industrial operations already in progress? 
 
 And in speaking of a piece of paper, it may be -well that the argu¬ 
 ment against paper should be, in limine, forestalled, in respect to a 
 piece of paper being “worthless:” so it is worthless, piece of 
 paper; but it is not worthless as the acknowledgement and representa¬ 
 tive of a value known, positive and substantial. A government piece 
 of paper is truly a worthless piece of paper as it does not represent 
 any sort of property; and yet such a piece of paper can serve the 
 purposes of money, although based on nothing — for credit, qua 
 credit, is nothing. 
 
 But if such credit-paper may be made to serve the purposes of 
 money, a fortiori property-paper may be made to serve the same pur¬ 
 pose ; for the proper object of money, as cirrrency, is to represent the 
 value of something else, of which it is the sign or the symbol; and if 
 that sign or symbol can be offered in the shape of a railway receipt 
 representing real property, it cannot be a worse “money” than a sign 
 or symbol representing credit only:—on the contrary, it would be a 
 much better sort of money; more intelligible; and, as such, would 
 readily pass from hand to hand, and would form a sound, safe, most 
 effective, and, pro tanto, national currency. 
 
 And with respect to its character, as compared with the paper mo¬ 
 ney of the Bank of England, this may be said of it; that it is a bet¬ 
 ter, more secure, and superior paper currency, as far as it goes, than 
 the paper of the Bank of England; and for this reason, that it would 
 be based really and truly on property, which the paper of the Bank 
 of England is not, or at least only in part: for of the paper of the 
 Bank of England, only a portion of it represents property; the rest 
 represents nothing — except credit. It maybe allowed that the 
 n,otes issued for the gold bullion which it holds in its cellars is repre,- 
 sentative of property;' for gold, as a commodity, is property; and it 
 may be conceded, that the notes which it issues in the discotmting of 
 bills for merchants and traders are also based on property, as it may 
 be presumed that the parties whose bills the Bank discounts, are worffi 
 property available for the payment of so much money as their bills 
 are drawn for. But what can be said of the eleven millions of debt, 
 in representation of which the Bank is allowed by law to issue an 
 equal quantity of notes? "What can these notes be said to be based 
 on ? A debt 1 An odd sort of property on which to base paper mo¬ 
 ney 1 "What can such notes be said to represent ? A debt: this is a 
 droll sort of value to be represented, and especially such a sort of 
 debt. 
 
^ COKraajCr AMP K^WATSi 
 
 The goremment owes eleven millions of money to the Bank; — 
 what is that body or thing called a government ? It cannot be said 
 to consist of particular individuals, because the individuals composing 
 the government change every day; it must mean the governing power, 
 
 ■ sometimes represented by these men, sometimes by those. And what 
 does the governing power mean ? It can mean nothing but the dele¬ 
 gated sovereignty of the nation. But what is the meaning of all this 
 as security for money lent? It is an abstraction; and every body 
 knows that if the Bank had to enforce payment of the debt due to it 
 firom the “ Government,” it would have to depend on an abstraction, 
 or nothing; for where is the “ property ” which is to be made avail¬ 
 able for the payment of the- debt ? It exists, to be sure, in the 
 pockets of the nation; but how is it to be got at — except by the ma¬ 
 chinery of taxation. But property so to be got at, is a very different 
 thing from the land, and bridges, &c., which form railway property. 
 In the latter case there is something visible, substantial, something to 
 be got at; but in the other case, it is a something which may or may 
 not be got at, according to circumstances. So far, therefore, and in 
 this particular instance at least, the railway security for eleven mil¬ 
 lions of notes would be much better than the security of a debt — 
 which is no more than an abstraction. 
 
 Now eleven milli ons of money is a large proportion of the twenty 
 milli ons of the circulation of the Bank of England; and yet the 
 public is content to receive these notes, based on nothing, as the re¬ 
 presentative of positive value: much more -willingly, therefore, would 
 the public receive eleven millions of notes based on the solid security 
 of railway property. 
 
 But again, it may be said, why not let the Bank supply the addi¬ 
 tional quantity of money — or of symbols — wanted for the additional 
 operations of industry now in course of development, or ready to be 
 developed ? 
 
 The reply to this is, that the Bank of England is restricted in its 
 issues; and in this way:—By the Currency Bill of 1819, comple¬ 
 mented in 1844, the Bank is bound by law to pay its notes in gold at 
 acertain price; that is to say, at the price of SI. 17s. IQid. per ounce ; 
 and although gold, as a commodity, may be worth more than 31. 17s. 
 10^ per ounce, the Bank is obliged to pay its notes at that rate. 
 But the evil of arbitrary rule of price, though most pernicious in its 
 operation, does not enter into our present plan of argument. 
 
 The Bank of England then, being so restricted, cannot issue more 
 than a certain quantity of notes, even if the law allowed it, because 
 it is obliged to adapt its issues to the amount of gold which it can 
 
CUBBENCT AND BAILWAYS. 23 
 
 readily obtain. So that, although the country may require more mo¬ 
 ney to carry on its industrial operations than is extant, as in the pre^ 
 sent flagrant case of railways, it cannot have it; because, as the 
 Bank of England alone, with the now unimportant exceptions of the 
 country banks, is allowed to supply the currency, the currency, or 
 current money of the country, can be no more than the quantity of 
 gold procurable can allow the Bank to base it on. 
 
 So that, although railways are admirable undertakings to en¬ 
 gage in, alike profitable to individuals and beneficial to the com¬ 
 munity at large, these industrial operations evolving value from 
 otherwise valueless labour, are obliged to be abandoned or indefinitely 
 postponed, because there is “no money” to carry them on! —“No 
 money” meaning, when interpreted, no gold to form .the “money” 
 which is wanted for facilitating the necessary exchanges during the 
 operation. Arid let it be observed, that the money wanted, is not wanted 
 to pay to foreign nations for their foreign productions; it is not 
 wanted for effecting exchanges betiveen nation and nation, but for 
 performing that office between individual and individual within the 
 same kingdom: but, by a strange law, it is enacted, that nothing but 
 gold shall be the medium of such exchanges I at least so far as the 
 great money-mint, the Bank of England, is concerned; and that by 
 a gold money alone shall railways, and aU other public or private un¬ 
 dertakings, be effected! 
 
 But as there is not, - and never can be, enough of gold money to 
 servo for the currency of this country, — seeing that the quantify of 
 the metal gold is restricted, and the powers of the production of the 
 country are unrestricted, —the only remedy is for the people to con¬ 
 trive a sort of money for themselves. 
 
 Now the proposed system of a railway currency, which would 
 quickly become a national currency, is suggested to meet the difficulty 
 stated. The government will not interfere to contrive money for the 
 people to make their railways -with; let the people make the money for 
 themselves. Nor let it be said that those persons especially interested 
 in the formation of national railways are a small or insignificant part 
 of the community: they are, on the contraryj a most numerous and 
 most influential part of the community, confining ourselves to those only 
 who are interested in railways as proprietors: but taking into account 
 the landowners, the manufacturers, the merchants and shopkeepers, 
 and the labouring classes, who are indirectly concerned in the ad¬ 
 vantages which carriage by railways affords, the whole nation 
 becomes comprehended among its promoters; and it is not on in- 
 
24 
 
 CURRENCY 
 
 RAILWAYS. 
 
 dividiials. but on the entire population of the country, that railway 
 enterprises rest for their support. 
 
 Such a comprehensive plan, therefore, as is here suggested, would en¬ 
 gage the hearty co-operation of all classes in Great Britain; who would 
 he eager to assist in its development, and interested in its success. 
 With respect to the machinery of its working, that could he easily 
 organised, as the materials for its supervisors and agents already 
 exist in companies projected, like a net-work, over the whole face of 
 the three kingdoms,—extending even to the colonies and dependencies 
 of Great Britain, whose affiliation and co-operation in the scheme 
 would he facile in execution, and might he made available in a most 
 important manner to the general establishment and success of the- 
 system;—hut the consideration of that branch of the subject is pur¬ 
 posely avoided, in order that the simplicity of the “working” may 
 not he encumbered by an extension which is not necessary for the 
 development of the primitive plan. 
 
 To conclude, the plan of a combined railway system of mutual 
 cm'rency by means of receipts, is based on the following consi¬ 
 derations :— 
 
 1st. On the wants of the community, which requii’es additional 
 currency of some sort to carry on its additional industrial operations. 
 
 2nd. On the benefits to be derived, individually and nationally, from 
 Eailways. 
 
 3rd. On the positive and real security of such receipts. 
 
 4th. On the feasibility of a currency of railway receipts, re¬ 
 ceivable for calls and other payments, as Government Exchequer 
 Bills are receivable for .taxes and other debts; the Eailway Ex¬ 
 chequer Bills being based on property, which is a valid security: 
 whereas the Government Bills are based on credit, which is a non¬ 
 entity and a fiction. 
 
 And, lastly, if such Government Bills are good, such Eailway Bills 
 would be better. 
 
 London: 
 
 Printed by A. Sfottiswoode, 
 New-Street-Square.