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 University of Illinois Library 
 
 JUL 15 
 
 L161— O-1096
 
 M 
 
 ,<' ^ ^^
 
 THE 
 
 SYSTEM OF COUNTRY-BANKING 
 
 DEFENDED; 
 
 WITH REFERENCE 
 To Corn, Currency, Panic, Population, Bankruptcy, Crime, Pauperism, and so forth. 
 
 A 
 
 LETTER 
 
 TO 
 
 LORD GODERICH, 
 
 FIRST LORD OP HIS MAJESTY'S TREASURY, 
 
 &C. &C. &C. 
 
 Also REMARKS, on two recent Letters in the Globe Newspaper, signed " A Scotch 
 Banker;" and on the Reply of Kirkman Finlay, Esq. of Glasgow, objecting to Sir 
 John Sinclair's proposal for ' raising the standard.price of gold to £5. the ounce;' 
 with the Author's Reasons for slightly differing from Sir John Sinclair, as to the 
 quantum of rise necessary. 
 
 (^ 
 
 By the Rev. R. CRUTTWELL, Rector of 
 Spexhall, Suffolk. 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 SOLD BY HATCHARD AND SON, AND BY ALL OTHER 
 BOOKSELLERS. 
 
 1828.
 
 TIPPELL, PRINTEK, HALESWOETH.
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 The following is an Extract, from a Speech of 
 Lord Goderich's (when Chancellor of the Exchequer) 
 in the House of Commons, on the Sth of March, 1827. 
 
 Mr. Robinson " thought the currencywas settled: thought 
 his right hon. friend had passed a bill in the year 1819, 
 restoring the currency to the state in which it was pre- 
 vious to the Suspension of Cash-Payments. The House, 
 too, last year passed another act hastening the period at 
 which the Resumption of Cash-Payments should be com- 
 pleted. He did not know, then, what this settlement of 
 the currency meant. He suspected that the real mean- 
 ing was an alteration of the standard. They had heard 
 much of the connection of these two questions of corn 
 and currency, and of what was called an equitable. ad- 
 justment. He knew not what this meant, if it was not a 
 change in the standard of value, and to that he never 
 would consent. As long as he continued in the govern- 
 ment, he hoped no such question would ever be enter- 
 tained." [Star,] 
 
 Afeio weeks ago I wrote to my Lord Goderich, send- 
 ing him a copy of the above extract ; requesting, at the 
 same time, the honor of being admitted to a personal 
 conference with his Lordship, in order to point out more 
 easily some of the many objections which I had, to the 
 whole tenor of his remarks : it being (to my mind J 
 perfectly clear, that neither his Lordship nor the august 
 Assembly in whose presence the speech was uttered — 
 vnth exception to Mr, Attwood, Mr, Western, Mr, H,
 
 IV 
 
 Gurney, and perhaps a few other hon. members^ had 
 any one clear and accurate idea relating to the subject 
 to which the speech refers. The noble Lord, with great 
 politeness acknowledged the receipt of my letter ; but, 
 as to my request to be admitted to an audience, not a 
 word loas said of it — pro or con. The letter which 
 follows was certainly intended to have been sent " pri- 
 vately" to his Lordship, in the original manuscript. 
 But being desirous of submitting its contents to other 
 distinguished persons whose judgments I hardly could 
 mistrust ; I found the labour of transcribing so infinitely 
 tedious and fatiguing, that I was obliged to relinquish 
 the attempt : besides which, I had already upon one oc- 
 casion, forumrded to his Lordship's official address 
 (when Chancellor of the Exchequer ) a letter, which had 
 cost me nearly equal labour in the writing of it — and let 
 no one suppose, that to icriteon such a subject is alight 
 undertaking ; to which letter, from that day to this, I 
 have never received a single word in reply. What the 
 fate of it was, I do not know ; and therefore it teas pos- 
 sible, that had the present letter been entrusted to the 
 same chance, its fate (as to myself) might have been 
 equally unsatisfactory. The subject, indeed, has nothing 
 belonging to it of a private character — moi-e, than 
 as I wished to act with great tenderness to the noble 
 Lord's oxen feelings. It is now printed, for the perusal 
 of the Public ; for whose benefit alone, itivere in either 
 case intended. That Public will at length determine, on 
 which side — Lord Godericlis or mine, the scale of Jus-* 
 tice and of Truth preponderates. 
 
 THE AUTHOR.
 
 ^ Should no reasonable " intimation" be given in the mean 
 while, of a wish to bring the subject under " fair discussion " 
 in the proper place, the writer purposes giving Lectures 
 (public and private) in London, to persons desirous oi sharing 
 that information which he has alone derived from years of 
 "intense study" given to its abstruse and mysterious prin- 
 ciples. In this case, he thinks he may safely undertake to 
 say, that in about six Lectures of only one or two hours 
 each, he might be able to convey his ideas so clearly to any 
 one's mind — not enslaved to prejudice — of tolerable capacity 
 — and giving due application at the same time, as to produce 
 perfect "conviction" of the great and important Truths 
 which he is so anxious to maintain. He however still holds 
 it to be a paramount duty, to devote one " month ' ' previously 
 to the service and convenience of Ministers. It will there- 
 fore be at their own option, either to accept or reject the 
 proffer thus respectfully made to them — now, the very last 
 which this same individual will ever think himself called-upon 
 and in duty hound to make. He has heard the present Chan- 
 cellor of the Exchequer spoken of, as a gentleman of unques- 
 tionable talent ; and he has reason to be pleased, with his 
 courteous and condescending demeanour. Fortunately, too, 
 he comes into office, fresh and untrammelled by past error 
 and prejudice. 
 
 *** I could wish to have it clearly understood, as a.Jun~ 
 damental position! — that I consider the " Resumption of 
 " Cash-Payments," with the present standard, in all respects 
 fatal to the happiness and prosperity of England — applied 
 either to Agriculture, Trade, Manufactures, or Commerce : 
 that it goes to the unjust " violation " of all public and pri- 
 vate Faith; the subject being intimately bound-up with the 
 present wretched situation of our "sister-kingdom:" and 
 that, in case of " Panic" which might ariy day occur, and 
 which of all things in the world it tends chiefly to promote ; it 
 were like putting knives and daggers into the hands of mad- 
 men, intent only upon their own and other mens' destruction. 
 A " Renewal," therefore, of the Bank-Restriction-Act, I 
 consider the first iiulispensable step towards a " Renewal " 
 of the Happiness and Prosperity of England. R. C.
 
 To 
 
 The Rt. Hon, LORD GODERlCH, First Lord 
 
 of His Majestifs Treasury, 
 
 Sfc. Sfc, 8fc, 
 
 My lord. 
 
 In again venturing to solicit the 
 honor of a personal interview with your Lordship, I have no 
 wish to obtrude myself impertinently on your privacy — if, 
 indeed, privacy can attach to the office of a Minister of State; 
 much less, to give you public offence. The subject, how- 
 ever, to which I still am most anxious to call your Lordship's 
 attention, is one of unquestionable difficulty ; very little un- 
 derstood in any quarter; cannot well be discussed in the 
 short compass of a single letter ; requires, in its mode of 
 treatment — firmness — patience — foi'bearance — delicacy, in 
 the highest possible degree ; as a question that vitally affects 
 our unemployed poor, will on no account admit of any fur- 
 ther deluy in the closest examination of all its numerous and 
 extensive ramifications : being, withal, of intense interest to 
 the welfare and happiness of all classes of persons ; and with- 
 out a due knowledge and understanding of which, it were 
 hardly possible for the most enlightened and upright set of 
 Judges that ever existed in the world, to dispense pure and 
 equal justice in one quarter of the many cases that daily 
 come before them. 
 
 My Lord, in respect of this great subject — looking to the 
 extract from your Lordship's speech in the House of Com- 
 mons on the 8th of last March (quoted in my former letter) I 
 Jear it must be admitted, that you have incautiously allowed 
 yourself to adopt many most pernicious and unfounded pre- 
 judices (as witnessed in the general *' papyraphobia " of 
 modern ignorance and fashion), which owe their chief rise 
 and popularity to the writings of William Cobbett : but of
 
 which unprincipled and wicked individual, I shall here aim 
 not to say more, than that by "favouring" his blundering 
 or malicious enmity to the use of a paper-circulation — almost 
 to the inexcusable excess of adopting his vulgar phraseology, 
 the whole country — as to its property, is at this very moment 
 in a state of actual " revolution ! " which, though unaccom- 
 panied with that anarchy and violence common to revolutions 
 in general, has yet impoverished thousands and tens of 
 thousands among the middling and higher classes : reducing, 
 in consequence, millions of the lower orders, to almost the 
 lowest degree of suifering — short of absolute starvation. And 
 to this shockingly dreadful result, tend the writings of this 
 vile incendiary-j ournalist, by sure and inevitable gradation — 
 as I here solemnly pledge myself ready to prove, before any 
 number of competent and dispassionate judges — with refer- 
 ence to his vaunted abuse of a "legalized" paper-currency ; 
 under the many peculiar circumstances of the coimtry, phy- 
 sical and moral, growing spontaneously out of events — splen- 
 didly and substantially henejicial, as connected with its his- 
 tory during the last thirty years : had we not, by this mie 
 most egregious oversight, blindly prevented those events from 
 pursuing their own due and ordinary course. 
 
 However, the extract referred to states, that your Lord- 
 ship " thought the currency was settled.^'' My Lord, I ear- 
 nestly entreat you so far to examine the facts of the case, as 
 to see — in what respect, a currency can be looked upon as 
 " settled " (placed on a. safe and unjiuctuating basis), which 
 rests on the uncertain issue of two most opposite and con- 
 flicting laws— the Corn Bill of 1815 and Mr, Peel's Bill of 
 1819, in principle constantly counteracting and defeating 
 each other. In respect of the corn bill of 15, we propose to 
 create an artificial amount of currency — ostensibly, and in- 
 deed truly necessary to meet all existing burthens, (to give a 
 fair " remunerating " price, as it is called) equal to eighty 
 shillings the quarter of English wheat, intrinsically worth not 
 more than forty shillings in the average gold-price abroad. 
 To suppose, however, that such price of eighty shillings (if 
 at all attainable) should consist of sterling gold or silver —
 
 for instance, of sovereigns or shillings at their present weight 
 and fineness ; or, indeed, of any other kind of money except 
 paper — chiefly, bills of exchange and country-bank-notes ; 
 were, in the highest degree, absurd. It would imply nothing 
 less — than that, in order to obtain " gold," we depended less 
 upon the exchangeable value of our exportable commodities in 
 the estimation of foreigners, than in the mere strength of a 
 *' corn-bill " — compelling them to purchase wheat, at a " gold- 
 price " more than double to their own. By this first law, 
 then — the corn-bill of 15, we do undoubtedly propose, by in- 
 direct means, to effect a " change " in the ancient standard.of 
 value, by the rate of 50 per cent, at one single blow: for 
 though the " circulation " of gold, at that time, was merely 
 nominal — yet, as paper so depreciated 50 per cent, (had the 
 corn-bill proved effective) was still held in general estimation, 
 ^ full equivalent for gold — in the old and virtually long-ex- 
 ploded standard of £3 : 17 : 10^ the ounce of sterling gold, 
 as compared with paper — paper being now, by the force of 
 Mr. Peel's bill, made compt/^ari/i/ payable as such : whatever 
 the effect of a corn-bill would be, in depreciating paper — by 
 doubling the price of corn ; it would evidently, in England, 
 under the circumstances here described, affect the intrinsic 
 value of gold and silver likewise, in an equal degree : though, 
 for certain reasons, it might not fully shew itself in the 
 market paper-price of gold. But as gold and silver, notwith- 
 standing, would still retain their intrinsic value in otiier coun- 
 tries — not subject to the operation of our corn-laws — and 
 having comparatively much fewer taxes than ourselves to 
 require them, it (gold) would constantly aim, as it were, to 
 fly off and seek its level of real value elsewhere. And this, 
 your Lordship will observe, not simply (upon the ignorant 
 notion of Cobbett), because a great proportion of our cur- 
 rency consists ofpaper,hdLnk-notes, &c. : but chiefly, because 
 our nominal burthens require that we should endeavour to 
 keep-up the "depreciation" of paper (nominal high prices) 
 by a corn-bill ; or otherwise, which would be tlie true way, 
 by declaratively "raising the value" of the precious metals 
 50 per cent.— honestly avowing the " depreciation " of paper.
 
 in that proportion : instead of blindly confounding sterling 
 gold with depreciated paper, under the effect of Mr. Peel's 
 bill — "legally" (though most unjustli/J doubling burthens 
 of every kind. 
 
 And here, my Lord, I think I shall fairly be allowed to 
 have established, upon undoubted proof — the great ;)re/minary 
 Truth, which 1 have always contended for ; first, that * in the 
 
 * year 1815, the Government did virtually recognize and 
 
 * practically adopt the sound and wholesome principle — that 
 
 * our currency, by reason of the weight of burthens resting 
 
 * upon all kinds of property, wa.s previous/i/ in a state of vir- 
 
 * tual depreciation by the rate of 50 per cent, from the effect 
 
 * of the late as well as other preceding * wars : ' and secondly, 
 that * it required, for the general safety and happiness of the 
 
 * people. Si further continuance of that same " depreciation " — 
 
 * to meet our then existing burthens, which it was the object 
 
 * of the corn-bill, and would have been its effect, to establish ' 
 (barring, for the present, many decided objections to which 
 it was, on other accounts, liable) ' could that law have been 
 
 * rendered permanently influential in raising from forty to 
 
 * eighty shillings — from a ruinously low to what might be 
 
 * termed 2ifair remuneratiug price of eighty shillings — remu- 
 
 * nerating as to burthens, the English selling-price of corn :' 
 amounting, in other words, to a clear demonstration — ad- 
 mitted by the legislature, so jyroposing taxes to be paid in a 
 " depreciated ' ' currency, that * the national-debt of England 
 
 * — the basis and ground- work of all other burthens, was, in 
 
 * fact, a gold debt to the amount of one half only of what it 
 
 * nominally stands for: ' and accordingly, that ' the interest of 
 
 * such debt, required and ought to be discharged (including 
 
 * all the other out-goings of government) at the rate of mo 
 
 * more than ten shillings sterling to the pound.' And this I 
 conceive, my Lord, furnishes a most complete answer to the 
 remark — that to " raise the standard " of our coin, by openly 
 '^depressing that of paper" — measuring burthens, would 
 amount to a "breach of faith " on the part of Government. 
 Moreover, assuming that I have before (in my Treatise on 
 
 * See Appendix, at the end of this letter.
 
 the Currency — 1824-5) equalh/ established the perfect equity 
 and reasonableness uf this same principle of a '* depreciated " 
 currency, as well in the past as in the future discharge of 
 burthens — tending to the benefit of all, and, comparatively, 
 without injury to any one : I next come to a close examina- 
 tion of your Lordship's concluding declaration — as to the 
 proposal ' for restoring the currency in 1827, to the same state 
 
 * of depreciation in which it was designed to place it in 1815 ; 
 
 * upon the recognized legal principle of the corn-bill passed 
 
 * that same year :' only, with this difference — that, instead of 
 attempting to depreciate all money clandestinely by a corn- 
 bill, forcing-up prices to meet our war-burthens — which Mr. 
 Peel's bill, aided by the uncontroulable influence of " Free 
 Trade,' ' would be sure to prevent ; it is now proposed, openly 
 and fairly to acknowledge the previous undeniable truth, of 
 the " depreciated " state of our currency from the war and 
 war-burthens — then acting upon prices, and thereupon to 
 raise the valve of our coins — reducing such burthens 50 per cent.; 
 at the same time, leaving our peace-prices (naturally) to find 
 their own level : thus, ensuring relief to Agriculture with- 
 out injury to Trade. In the extract referred to, your Lord- 
 ship declares most unequivocally — that to such proposal, for 
 raising the standard of our coins — equally depressing our bur- 
 tlwnSy " you wey^r would consent:" hoping, that " so long as 
 ** you continued in the Government no such question would 
 *' ever be entertained." 
 
 First, then, I would premise — in establishing the above 
 ** inconsistency " and shewing the mischief that flows from 
 it, that I have not the slightest wish in the world to impute 
 to your Lordship or to Ministers generally, the intention 
 of doing otherwise than right — promoting the best interests 
 of the country to the very utmost of your power. But all who 
 reflect must be aware, that the most pure and upright inten- 
 tions are not secure of being always founded on just and un- 
 erring principles. Neither would I willingly be understood 
 to say, that I conceive your Lordship's reluctance to meet 
 the question (as I apprehend it to be) upon its otdi/ safe and 
 legitimate footing, at all more mistaken^ than the prejudice (so
 
 universal) in favor of the old gold standard of £3 : 17 : lOJ 
 as the paper-price of gold ; nor more so, than those notions 
 which advocate the principles of" free-trade " — in opposition 
 to the corn-bill, Mnacco/wpa^wVf? with a correspondent " regula- 
 tion of the money-standard" — reducing all burthens half; 
 nor at all more so, than the opinions of those who still perti- 
 naciously adhere to the vain endeavour (vain, after twelve 
 year's experience proving its inefficiency) of upholding prices 
 artificially to a com-hill-standard — disregarding its pernicious 
 tendency in respect of our export-trade, and denying at the 
 same time (or otherwise overlooking) the fact, of the cur- 
 rency being thereby "depreciated," in whatever proportion 
 corn (in this country) exceeds the fair average gold-price 
 of other countries, so much less heavily taxed and burthened 
 than our own : I here say — heavily taxed and burthened, 
 because hy the present oversight our taxes are made liable 
 to become relatively "doubled." On the other hand, I con- 
 tend — that a "regulation of the money-standard," upon the 
 plan proposed, would ensure and combine all the anticipated 
 advantages of each system conjointly, without incurring any 
 of the several disadvantages to which all are now subject 
 without it. 
 
 As regards the theory of money, this very common though 
 most mistaken notion appears to me always to have gone forth 
 to the world : that because — from certain dishonest practices 
 of individuals, either clipping or filing or debasing the coin, 
 a certain degree of private mischief may have heretofore ac- 
 crued ; therefore, it has been supposed, to alter or " change " 
 the universal standard of a country, must needs be " unjust " 
 and " dishonourable " in the Government by whom such a 
 measure were adopted. My Lord, I think I shall easily prove 
 to your conviction, that this is a most egregious and pernicious 
 fallacy. Many circumstances, by no means of doubtful or 
 unfrequent occurrence, may be supposed to arise, which 
 would necessarily occasion the most extreme cruelty and in- 
 justice to numberless individuals, were government not to 
 adopt the very principle here so unreasonably condemned. 
 What IS money, but a conventional sign or measure of pro-
 
 perty ? its use, but the power and facility of transfer ? Tlie 
 n^erffifZ amount of currency, then, in every country (apply- 
 ing' the term currency to paper and the precious metals indif- 
 ferently), will always have reference to the following con- 
 siderations : the amount and intrinsic value of commodities 
 exchangeable and requiring to be exchanged ; the number 
 and capabilities of purchasers at home ; the proportionate 
 amount of burthens in one country as compared with that of 
 others ; the degree of commercial intercourse that one ob- 
 tains among the rest : to which we may further add (what, in 
 our own case, it is of the highest imaginable consequence to 
 observe correctly) any great accidaital change in the " rela- 
 tive" value of money (currency) compared with commodities 
 and in reference to " contracts " — immediate or remote, 
 either of sale or of debt. Take a small island, for example, 
 only half-cultivated and wholly without commerce. Let 
 there be a thousand inhabitants upon it, with some money 
 to trade with — saving the inconveniencies of barter. Sup- 
 pose them to have contracts — debts, money-obligations of 
 any sort. Let their chief town be attacked and plundered 
 by Pirates, carrying away one-haff of their money. What 
 becomes now, of prices and of pre-existing contracts ? 
 Every thing would become dirt-cheap, as we term it ; but all 
 contracts would soon fall into absolute confusion, unless the 
 principle here contended-for could by some means be adopted. 
 Money reduced half acquires a double value; consequently, 
 creditors could now purchase with the same nominal amount 
 the tchole produce of the island, of which before they could 
 only procure the half: and in this way, might one part of the 
 community (creditors) be glutted to excess — while the other 
 (debtors) would thence become exposed to want, misery, and 
 starvation. What should be done, in such a case ? pronounce 
 the latter a mdsance, voting paupers so created ^t subjects for 
 transportation ? or, to prevent " anarchy," simply revert to 
 first principles — re-graduate the money-standard ; and thus 
 effect — the only thing required, an "equitable adjustment" 
 of all pre-existing contracts ? But, shall a government so 
 circumstanced and so disposed to act, be thereupon branded
 
 8 
 
 with disgrace, by zfew ignorant — blunder-headed— mischief- 
 making' demagogues, ready to promote confusion, for the 
 mere purposes of plunder ? shall it be charged, with injus- 
 tice — with fraud — with breach of public faith — with violat- 
 ing contracts ; when, either by sub-dividing the coins which 
 remain, or reducing the nominal value of its paper — both as 
 to prices and burthens (supposing it so far civilized as to fiave 
 paper in lieu of coin, and the plunder to consist generally of 
 useful commodities — instead of gold or silver) , the smaller 
 sum of Ten Shillings would be so made to answer all needful 
 purposes to every one — equally well, as the larger one of 
 Twenty Shillings had been accustomed to do before ? Again ; 
 money remaining the same, let half the inhabitants be taken 
 off: would not the contrary effect follow ? Again ; let the 
 number of inhabitants be doubled — or, let inhabitants and 
 commodities be equally doubled : what would the effect be, 
 as applied to the precious metals, but a necessity/ for increas- 
 ing the number of pieces (raising their value) by reducing 
 the weight and the size of each ? or else, by finding an entire 
 or partial substitute — say, paper (whether nominally to re- 
 present 205.-pounds or lO^.-pounds, would make no differ- 
 ence as to commodities — supposing there are no burthens), to 
 pass in lieu of or as accessary thereto ? Once more, my 
 Lord, suppose a country, highly civilized and prospering — 
 pre-eminently distinguished for intellectual and moral im- 
 provement — cultivating the arts of humanity and happiness, 
 to the greatest comparative extent : suppose it, full of wealth 
 — money, in abundance for all useful purposes — luxuries and 
 comforts passing through all classes, reaching down to the 
 very lowest and every day increasing ; let commerce — trade 
 — agriculture, be most extensively improving ; burthens, 
 though nominally vast and enormous, yet light and trivial 
 compared with the total amount of means out of which they 
 were paid ; the great and complicated interests of society so 
 nicely and justly balanced, as to act in constant union — aid 
 — co-operation — and furtherance of each other: let its 
 population — one sure sign of wealth, be rapidly increasing ; 
 the practical uses of money placed on sound and advantageous
 
 9 
 
 principles — its theory, notwithstanding-, being very little un«. 
 derstood : let industry be every where cheerfully and 
 profitably rewarded, both to employers and to the employed : 
 but withal, let it abound with "contracts" "of all descrip- 
 tions — debts, rents, taxes, wages, &c. &c. all measured in a 
 currency or standard of certain re/a<i«e value ; having a nomi^ 
 tuU amount — not inconsistent, with its enlarged accumulated 
 wealth — trading, commercial, and agricultural ; not incon- 
 sistent, with its naval and military greatness ; not incon- 
 sistent, with its necessarily large civil establishment ; not 
 inconsistent, with its increased and increasing demand for 
 improved intellectual science, in every conceivable shape 
 and new direction ; not inconsistent, also, with its infinite 
 divisibility of tangible property or wealth, gradually ex- 
 tending itself as population increases ; getting daily into 
 smaller and smaller portions — as, by calling into action here- 
 tofore latent and unsuspected capabilities of improvement, 
 it passes by degrees into more and more hands. Let its cur- 
 rency be of a nature to acquire that improved kind of faculty 
 (scarcely known to exist in former ages) of free and sponta- 
 neous "dilatation" and "contraction" — constituting, in 
 my view, the very essence of a perfect currency, as to all 
 useful purposes, to which money can be applied : being a 
 sort of self-creating capability of meeting any new and un- 
 foreseen contingency, to which the civil affairs of life — more 
 especially in a country highly commercial, will ever be oc- 
 casionally subject; and yrom the icant of which "faculty " 
 heretofore, in many countries, the most dreadful political con^ 
 vulsions have sometimes occurred. Now, apply this rea- 
 soning to the case of England in particular, and I am de- 
 cidedly of opinion — that our paper-currency — recently, so 
 much the subject of blind indiscriminate abuse — was, towards 
 the close of the late war, and under what is called its worst 
 state of "depreciation" (being in the shape of a mixed-cur- 
 rency — the depreciation of paper, though denied to exist, 
 alighting almost equally upon gold — however paradoxical) , 
 as nearly as it well could be in a state of absolute per- 
 fection: conferring the tnost solid and substanli(d Imwfits, 
 
 c
 
 10 
 
 which it was possible for a people of the greatest freedom and 
 civilization in the world, to enjoy. And these advantages, 
 my Lord, it was next to impossible for the country to have 
 lost — had the very simple fact of the "depreciation" of 
 money from the war, by i*eason of taxes acting upon prices 
 and thereby caU'mg-for an increased amount of currency, 
 been openly recognized instead of being denied — or rather, in- 
 stead of being tacitly recognized by the corn-bill, and openly 
 denied by Mr. Peel's bill. The intrinsic value of money, 
 would thence have been duly ascertained and "regulated" 
 by Government accordingly, with reference as vpell both to 
 burthens as prices, at one and the same instant of time : 
 whereas now, in ten millions of instances (no fault attaching 
 notwithstanding to individuals, who commonly cannot give 
 relief, however justice may demand it) we see "burthens" 
 fixed upon the high nominal scale of our own depreciated 
 paper-standard ; and next (by the operation of Free-Trade 
 and Mr. Peel's bill together, reducing prices generally half) 
 made payable in a gold-standard — in some cases, of more 
 than double valve to that in which many such burthens had 
 originally been contracted, and in which all were justly made 
 payable, prior to the return of peace : the consequence of 
 such new standard being this — that, while it so yields dmble 
 rallies, in respect of property, to one — the credit-half of the 
 community ; it brings ruin, bankruptcy, and starvation to 
 the other — the debtor-half; without scarcely a chance of 
 escaping, under the very delusive system which the country 
 now pursues. 
 
 My Lord, in thus labouring as I have done to convince 
 your Lordship of the striking inconsistency of your declara- 
 tion — " never to consent " to a regulation of the money-stand- 
 ard (upon the proposed plan for reducing all prices and all 
 burthens equally 50 per cent, on their war-average, instead 
 of attempting artificially to force-up prices by a corn -bill to 
 meet the war-average of burthens) — or, in other words, that 
 you never will abandmi the principles of Mr. Peel's bill — 
 doubling the value and weight of burthens, as compared with 
 prices ; while, at the same time, I believe it may be said.
 
 11 
 
 you have iiever withheld your sanction and support from t\m 
 corn-bill, which can only be efficiently useful, even to the 
 landed-interest itself, in so far as it works in direct contra- 
 vention of Mr. Peel's bill : my Lord, in this undertaking, I 
 heg sincerely to assure you, that I have no unfriendly 
 feeling towards yourself, in the slightest degree. Your Lord- 
 ship's opinions, however mistaken, are by no means singular: 
 they are those of all your official predecessors, since the day 
 of Mr, Pitt; being also supported by the highest authority 
 as well in as out of parliament, or else palliated and excused 
 by other popular mistakes equally palpable and pernicious 
 with your own. At the end of this letter, I purpose offering 
 a few remarks on the recent opinions of a writer of the most 
 decided talent, deeply versed in the subject, and whose 
 views — in the main, I should be sorry to doubt, are in close 
 union with my own. This writer feels, as I have ever felt, 
 the exceeding injustice done to country-bankers and their 
 system of small-notes : without which, 1 pledge my existence 
 to the country, its "industry" never can go on / Yet even 
 this admirably enlightened individual does, notwithstanding, 
 appear to me to have fallen into several most extraordinary 
 mistakes, tending to defeat his own object, if I rightly un- 
 derstand it, in the completest manner possible. Utterly dis- 
 claiming, however, all pretension to sagacity and integrity 
 superior to my neighbours, I do, nevertheless, confidently 
 believe — that, by intense ^fwdy aided by great privacy and ex- 
 empted from interruptions common to men of business and of 
 the world, 1 have most completely succeeded in establishing 
 many great and heretofore eniire\y unperceived truths, relating 
 to the theory of currency, upon the most unquestionable 
 proofs — founded on the purest equity, and of the deepest 
 interest to millions of my now suffiiring and injured fellow- 
 creatures. With exception to one only profligate individual, 
 I question no man's intentions — I impeach no man's integrity: 
 the "remedy" for our existing evils lies far beyond the 
 reach of individual sacrifice — though, indeed, it requires no 
 real sarrifce from any one : being merely a " return " to our 
 state of currency existing before the peace, when the
 
 12 
 
 productiveness e-f property and the comfortable rewards 
 it afforded to industry, placed the country on its very 
 pinnacle of unexampled prosperity. Cobbett's vulgar igno- 
 rance, I have again and again exposed : not entirely, per- 
 haps, with that dispassionate coolness due to so grave and 
 difficult a subject ; yet not unsuitably, \ trust, to the malig- 
 nity of his cruel and savage disposition : the rights of cour- 
 teous chivalry, my Lord, belonging not to the dark and vil- 
 lainous assassin f Let no one forget the conduct of this mis- 
 creant, towards the great body of our Farmers, at the worst 
 moment of their trying and acute distress — when, with 
 savagely exulting triumph, he hailed the prospect of their re- 
 turn to " smock-frocks," and to the "marrying of their 
 ** daughters along with carters and ploughmen.^'' Neither let it 
 be forgotten — that, during the progress of this nation to its 
 highest prosperity, he proposed to undermine and destroy 
 her greatness — to ruin her happiness— to plunge her into 
 the very abyss of bankruptcy, disgrace, and confusion, by 
 sowing "forged bank-notes" throughout the streets of the 
 metropolis, as the means best calculated to accomplish his 
 AhommaMj Jiend-like purpose. Let it never he forgotten, with 
 what atrocious delight he gloated on the ruin of the Cornish 
 and Worcestershire banks, and on the local distress and 
 suffering consequent thereupon. Lastly, let it never he for- 
 gotten, that — with this knowledge before him^wi^h the bitter 
 cries of cruel anguish sounding full in his ears — nay, sub- 
 sequently, with these sufferings greatly aggravated and 
 spreading in all directions, by the dreadful influence of the 
 late "panic," did this monster repair to one of our large 
 manufacturing cities (Norwich), with no other ostensible 
 view, as his conduct there plainly denoted — than to throw 
 the whole district into like confusion and difficulty : as most 
 unquestionably he would have done, could his rancorous hatred 
 to the respectable banks of that trading city, been attended 
 with the consequences he vainly hoped to accomplish. My 
 Lord, let the whole nation determine — whether, in deciding 
 upon the merits of the question before me, it be consistent 
 with our character — as statesmen, as men, as Englishmen,
 
 13 
 
 as Christians, to be influenced one moment by any thing pro- 
 ceeding from the pen of this wicked, abandoned, savage- 
 hearted journalist ; further, than to avoid advice by which 
 he has laboured so unceasingly to inveigle us into the worst of 
 perils ? Surely, my Lord, it were a duty which any man wha 
 candoso owes religiously to his country, to prove clearly — 
 that the "boasted" success of his earlier "prophecies" — 
 as to the instability, mischief, and probable downfall of the 
 "paper-system," has so far been owing to popular prejudice 
 favoring his views of annihilating bank-notes, and calling for 
 a return to the actually long-exploded gold-standard of 
 £3 : 17 : 10^ to the silver-price of gold — misapplied (un- 
 luckily) by Mr. Peel's bill, to our nominal paper -burthens 
 occasioned by the late war. And as to any merit he might 
 otherwise claim from his " Long-Island ' ' prophecy, undoubt- 
 edly pointing to the dangerous impolicy of such a measure ; 
 that merit were infinitely more than cancelled, by his subsequent 
 invariable endeavour — to abuse — ridicule — condemn — thwart 
 and counteract the purer motives of those, who have laboured 
 to place the currency on its only safe and equitable footing, 
 which he ti>eZ/ A:/t^M; would have " saved" the country ; giving, 
 however, the complete "lie-direct" to all his former prog- 
 nostications and violent antipathies (baring the present over- 
 sight) to a safe, efficient, and /eg-a/izerf paper-currency. 
 
 My Lord, I have already both in my Petition to His Ma- 
 jesty published last spring, and also in my larger work 
 before referred to on the " State of the Currency in 1824-5," 
 so fully developed the ruinous and destructive principle of 
 what your Lordship here calls a ''^settled''' currency — a re- 
 verting to the metallic-standard of Mr. Peel's bill, that it 
 would be quite superfluous now to repeat arguments which 
 never have been, as I verily believe they never can be, refuted. 
 Upon the very lowest computation I can bring myself to ad- 
 mit, there is at this time constantly going forward a revolu- 
 tionary " confiscation" of property, at the rate of from thirty 
 to forty millions a-year, under the " legislative " attempt 
 to establish gold-payments upon the basis of a currency 
 previously admitted by the legislature to have been "dc-
 
 14 
 
 preciated " 50 per cent. That such depreciation of our paper- 
 currency necessarily dmA justly from the war, was fully recog- 
 nized by the corn-bill of 1815, 1 have likewise so far proved 
 and insisted upon, as to need no further argument now in 
 support of that great and necessai'y Truth. It will also be 
 observed that I have equally proved, the entire opposition of 
 Mr. Peel's bill passed in 1819, to the principle of ihe corn- 
 bill passed in 1815 : the latter propo^m^ to give relief to the 
 country by an artificial creation of " eighty " millions of de- 
 preciated paper to meet that amount of burthens, which in 
 the present gold-measure of value could only be met by 
 " forty " millions of sovereigns : i. e. supposing the principle 
 of Mr. Peel's bill to be rigidly acted upon, to be carried into 
 full and complete effect — under the operation of that "other 
 law" adverted to by your Lordship, "passed last year, 
 *' hastening the period at which the resumption of Cash-Pay- 
 *' ments should be completed." Your Lordship will not 
 fail to observe, that your own declaration — " never to con- 
 sent" to a "change of the present metallic-standard," 
 amounts in principle and effect to a perfect consummation (re- 
 solutely persisted in) of all the mischiefs produced by 
 Mr. Peel's bill, and of all the mischiefs growing out of the 
 corn-bill, by reason of its inefficiency on the one hand and 
 the numberless opposite evils which it were liable to on the 
 other. By reason of the struggle constantly going on, then, 
 between these two inconsistent and conflicting laws, is that 
 "contractive" operation kept-up upon the currency, caus- 
 ing such infinite distress throughout the whole country ; from 
 the difficulty — or rather, total impossibility of meeting our 
 current expences (burthens of all kinds) which are relatively 
 increased as to our means of paying them, the nearer we ap- 
 proach to the fulfilment of those " halcyon days " — when, in 
 your Lordship's view of the subject, the "resumption of 
 " cash-payments shall be completed.^'' I trust I need not at 
 this time remind you — that, to that class of individuals 
 whom it has of late been so much the unjust and cruel fashion 
 to calumniate and abuse (in laudable imitation of the afore- 
 said William Cobbett) , I mean — bankers generally, are the
 
 15 
 
 country to look, for an efficient cuiTency of any sort whether 
 of gold or of paper. If it be of g-o/d of the present standard, 
 it must previously consist of bullion purchased with commodi- 
 ties — sacrificing at least 50 per cent, on their trade-value : 
 as we shall readily perceive, by taking- the argument on a 
 somewhat different ground from that on which we have 
 hitherto considered it, only tracing it through a few of its most 
 ordinary steps. In speaking of the late distresses in manu- 
 facturing districts, nothing is more common than to hear 
 the most unqualified censure of the use of macJiinery — 
 *' carried," we are told, to such an "extravagant" excess. 
 This notion of the excessive use of machinery, has not been 
 confined to persons of insignificant station and of mean un- 
 derstandings altogether : but, in parliament and by par- 
 liament-men as well as others, I have myself more than once 
 noticed the observation being made. Now, then, observe 
 the effect of a constantly "contracting" currency — under 
 the force of these two laws (the corn-bill and Mr. Peel's 
 bill) working upon some portion of our manufacturing 
 population : take Manchester, for example, with the district 
 round about it. I will here assume — for I consider the 
 truth of the argument as perfectly undeniable, that a portion 
 of our public revenue — say, to the amount of one million 
 yearly, rests chargeable on the district in and about Man- 
 chester. Let there be, as the truth in fact is, a diminution 
 or " contraction " in the total amount of our current circula- 
 tion, equal to the difference between the price which corn 
 has actually averaged during the last twelve years, com- 
 pared with what the corn-bill aimed tojix it at, in 1815. The 
 present consumption of wheat being about equal to twenty 
 millions of quarters — at 80*. a-quarter, would give an amount 
 of currency equal to eighty millions a-year: which, if 6'a:- 
 isting, would accordingly be expended — passing through all 
 hands — and of course finding its way, in due proportion, to 
 the pockets of our Manchester people ; whose goods (thro' the 
 instrumentality of such money or currency) would become 
 exchangeable — first, in the purchase of corn — and 2nd, in the 
 payment of burthens, to which all are amenable. I here
 
 16 
 
 speak upon no less authority than that of the highly respect- 
 ed president of our last corn-bill-committee — Sir Thomas 
 Gooch, when I say — that during the last twelve years the 
 average price of wheat — instead of being 80*. has not ex- 
 ceeded bis. 6c?. a-quarter ; consequently, the "contraction" 
 in the amount of currency will lie in the proportion — between 
 STj and 80 shillings. For the purpose of more simply eluci- 
 dating the principle, I will here take it somewhat higher — 
 calling it 33^ per cent. In the first year then of the opera- 
 tion, burthens being now measuredby this netc kind of peace- 
 currency, increased in value 33^ per cent, (and this increased 
 value, be it observed, I would here rather call " sponta- 
 neous," than strictly imputable to Mr. Peel's bill — the strong 
 principle of " free-trade" constantly working against our 
 manufacturers — as it must do with our present burthens, 
 unaided by Mr. Peel's bill) — I say, one-third more of manu- 
 factured goods would then be required, in order to raise the 
 same given sum. For since the price of manufactured goods 
 will needs bear a proportion to the lessened ability oi others 
 to purchase, a correspondent reduction would take place on 
 those goods, equal to that on the now selling-price of corn. 
 But, as the usual price of manual labour could not thus con- 
 tinue to be afforded, di farther extension of" mechanical " power 
 would be resorted to, in order to obviate a difficulty — so cre- 
 ated, in the way of obtaining money for all fixed and inevitable 
 charges. To pay "taxes," then, in one year there would 
 be an augmentation of the quantity of goods produced — in 
 part, by increased machinery, equal to one-third: and that, 
 without any visibly increased demand, on behalf of former 
 customers ; which would of course again take further effect, 
 in reducing prices still lower than before. Next, another 
 effect would be seen to take place ; there would be a tempo- 
 rary stagnation of trade : the increased quantity of goods on 
 hand, could not be immediately disposed of : hands are again 
 thrown out of work : with misery, wretchedness, poverty, 
 and discontent, among the lower orders of work-people. 
 Goods still go on accumulating, to prevent the spoiling by 
 disuse of valuable machinery : prices go on sinking: capital-
 
 17 
 
 ists — master-manufacturers, are in great distress — many 
 ruined; more hands discharged. The "million" amount of 
 burthens mw^^ still he raised: prices, instead of sinking on€- 
 third, Site now reduced half; cent, percent, "loss" to great 
 numbers, on the amount of their stocks in hand. Another 
 consequence takes place ; goods accumulating ruinously at 
 home — prices daily sinking still lower, now are seen the 
 ruinous effects of a "forced-trade," as it is called — its true 
 cause generally overlooked : mad speculations of various 
 kinds, take place ; goods, uncalled-for in the way of ordi- 
 nary demand, are spread over the whole country — " hawked " 
 through every town and village, at prices ruinously and 
 " unprecedently low :" little shopkeepers, long established, 
 unable to compete with or stand against this new kind of 
 trade — bankruptcies become innumerable ; not from this 
 cause alone, but from the increasing difficulty of collecting 
 their oi'dinary accounts, by reason of the same process of 
 a "contractive" action upon the currency — affecting the 
 means of payment, throughout their whole immediate neigh- 
 bourhood. Taking the entire effect through the said twelve 
 years, instead of reducing prices 50 or 100 per cent, they 
 will, in many instances, drop 5 or 600 per cent, the mis- 
 chief still going on and constantly increasing : the season of 
 *' panic" next arrives! Upon the larger scale of our com- 
 mercial relations abroad, the evil takes much the same sort 
 or course : only, that it leads to one most exceeding fallacy, 
 in the notion of increased "prosperity;" from the very 
 ruinous fact, of so much larger entries being made in the cus- 
 tom-house books of goods exported, in order to force-off 
 the otherwise unsaleable stocks of over-crammed ware- 
 houses and half-deserted shops at home. Now, again, we 
 hear the "joyful" cry of our free-trade mad-men: no one 
 considering, that the only safe speculation throughout the 
 whole process is that of the " commission-agent " — who may 
 (looking only to himself) rapidly make his fortune in the in- 
 verse ratio by which others lose tlieir''s. In this way, no 
 doubt, a few millions of pounds of foreign " gold " may be 
 procured (though, not without subverting the order of useful
 
 18 
 
 commerce — a mutual interchange of serviceable commodi- 
 ties), in order to be coined into English sovereigns which 
 cannot even then be retained. But be assured, my Lord, 
 that for every million of "sovereigns" so procured to be 
 issued from the mint, a correspondent loss to British indus- 
 try and productive capital takes place, at least to the amount 
 of from 30 to 50 per cent. To this thirst for "gold," this 
 antipathy to " dirty rags," this folly of our "corn-laws," 
 this love of" free-trade," this blindness to every thing but 
 the real " truth," is to be ascribed — ruin among farmers — 
 ruin among tradesmen — excessive use of machinery — forced 
 over-trading — wild injudicious speculations — bankruptcies 
 —panic — idleness, poverty, misery, wretchedness and crime 
 among the lower orders ; fraud, trick, evasion, plunder, and 
 robbery (indirect) throughout the whole of society, without 
 scarce an exception in the power to avoid it, let a man's " in- 
 tentions" beas/)Mr<? as the sun at noon-day. Hence, the 
 appearance too, with all the real horrors of a " redundant," 
 half-employed, half-starved, population ! Having an impe- 
 rial " bushel " to measure corn, to the nicety of a single grain 
 — We, the greatest commercial nation in the world, have not 
 a " money-standard " that can decide accurately, whether the 
 price of a quarter of wheat to day shall represent and include 
 half more or half less (and so of many other things), at the 
 expiration of the next six months or at any remote period. 
 My Lord, can or ought things to be suffered to " continue " 
 in such a state as this ? 
 
 From the preceding arguments and statement of facts, your 
 Lordship, I conceive, can no longer entertain a doubt, of the 
 close and inseperable ^'^ connection that subsists, between 
 *' these two great questions of corn and currency;" and of 
 the impossibility of doing justice to one, without duly exa- 
 mining and understanding the other. My Lord, as the friend 
 and supporter of the corn-bill of 1815, you have (tacitly, at 
 least) admitted the " principle " — taking the argument as be- 
 tween debtors and creditors, that the former ought to be 
 considered "legally" exempt from one-half oi all existing 
 burthens — reckoned in the gold-standard of Mr. Peel's bill :
 
 19 
 
 notwithstanding that same law virtually denies the principle, 
 by compelling all debtors to answer nominal demands upon 
 them, either in gold or paper representing double values — 
 compared with commodities, at their present reduced prices. 
 The effect of the corn-bill however, at best, could not have 
 been equally beneficial to all parts of the community alike. 
 The portion of our manufactures designed for " exportation '* 
 — said to amount to one-tifth of the whole, would be likely to 
 be injured in about the same proportion as our " home-trade " 
 would be benefitted by the increased price of corn — ad- 
 ding to the facility which all other persons would derive, 
 from the greater relative amount of currency to meet ex- 
 isting burthens. Let it be supposed, then, of this class of 
 persons — that, by means of superior skill, capital, industry 
 (and so forth), any "raw material" procured from abroad, 
 costing originally £10,000, can be so wrought-up as to re- 
 sell to foreigners for £50,000. Suppose the expence of the 
 process of manufacture, to be £15,000 ; in this case, I can 
 hardly conceive an effect produced from it, short of yielding 
 to the ivhole community a clear "profit" of twenty-five thou- 
 sand pounds. It might happen, indeed, that a part of such 
 profit would be re-expended with foreigners, in the purchase 
 of" corn" — andnoet'i/, if it really were so: but, under the 
 corn-bill we are told, that no such foreign corn shall be pur- 
 chased, except at an advance of 50 per cent, in price. As 
 these manufacturers, therefore, could only command the 
 foreign market, by selling their wares at the gold-price of 
 foreign corn (since, in the very nature of things, there must 
 always be a relative proportion in the value of other com~ 
 modities compared with corn) such manufacturers may, with 
 great truth, complain of the exceeding "injustice" of such 
 a law ; which nothing can at all justify or extenuate the ex- 
 istence of, but that sort of direful expediency, by which ' one 
 * part of a ship's crew may be thrown over-board, as afford- 
 ' iug the only possible chance of preserving the remainder.* 
 But even, in this case of the corn-laws — applied to so large 
 a portion (one fifth) of our manufacturers, the injustice (or 
 rather hai-ds hip J would be st'iW greater than in the other; 
 and for this reason it would be — lhi!f the ivhole crew of a
 
 20 
 
 vessel so circumstanced, would take their chance equally — 
 the fate of each individual being to be determined by " lot," 
 with the concurrent agreement and will of the whole. Where- 
 as, in this instance, the mere will of the strongest party, 
 would decide the "ruin" of the weaker one — nolens volens; 
 without the benefit of appealing to the " justice " of those 
 LAWS — the basis and ground-work of which, as to all the 
 purposes of a wise and efficient government, should be that 
 of " equity " most impartial to all its subjects. But, besides 
 this, my Lord, which is no light objection ; there is also 
 another (not already noticed) , to the principle of a corn-re- 
 striction — which is this : a restriction on the free-importa- 
 tion of foreign corn — at least above 40^. the quarter of 
 wheat, both calls-for and justifies restrictions of all other 
 kinds. Hence it operates, as one of the strongest legal incen- 
 tives to the vicious practice of '* smuggling:" leading to 
 the enormous expence of our present revenue-establishment, 
 for the prevention of contraband dealing ; as well as to some 
 other nuisances, which I need not here stop to notice. 
 Now, to no one of the foregoing objections would a " regula- 
 tion of the money-standard" be in the slightest degree liable. 
 To "reduce all burthens " equally 50 per cent. — instead 
 of partially aiming to " double prices," to meet those bur- 
 thens — would, as respects all creditors at home, precisely 
 amount to one and the same thing : whereas to raise prices 
 only " partially," were unjust in respect of those on whom 
 such partiality would have to fall ; as not to raise them, in a 
 degree admitted by the corn-bill to be necessary (namely 50 
 per cent.) were relatively to "increase" those burthens, 
 equal to the deficiency of price by which the corn-bill takes 
 effect. 
 
 My Lord, the immediate occasion of my addressing this 
 letter to your Lordship, is the having read in one of our 
 senseless public journals — an article, in recommendation of a 
 proposal for ' sending out of the Kingdom 19,000 poor fami- 
 
 * lies, to consist of 95,000 individuals ; as the last merciful re- 
 
 * source, to preserve them from the horrors of " starvation " 
 ' at home !' Such is the effect of evading enquiry, as to the 
 hue " cause" of our present wretched situation, in respect
 
 21 
 
 of many of our deserving, though "unemployed," poor: a 
 proposal, to inflict uponninefi/-five thousand unoffending — nay, 
 I will say valuable, individuals (in deference to the ignorant, 
 wicked, atrocious idea, of a " redundancy " of population) — 
 a punishment, which the laws of England acknowledge as onli/ 
 inferior, in severity and degree, to that commonly awarded to 
 the greatest of crimes ! It can hardly be considered voluntary 
 Emigration, wheu a man consents to this kind of punishment 
 to avoid the prospect of something little short of " starvation.' * 
 If, therefore, it be not voluntary — How differs it essentially, 
 from tchat we call — Transportation ? My Lord, whether — to 
 avoid the troid)le of patient and difficult investigation or not, it 
 shall here be altogether foreign from my purpose to enquire : 
 but certainly, we first enact laws — the sure tendency of which, 
 were to deprive men of employment — and, consequently, of 
 bread: and then, when such effects are seen to be produced, we 
 cry — " population" is over -abundant : voting them, by way 
 oi! coup de grace to their sufferings, fit subjects of banishment 
 for the rest of their lives ! With things at their present pass — 
 Is there an Englishman, who will now " turn round upon 
 " his heel — with cold ungracious rudeness," refusing to give 
 ear to a subject such as this ? Yes ; from ^oo sad experience, 
 I know there ivill be many such ! Be it so ; my Lord. I yet 
 feel confident, that the time is not far distant when Truth and 
 Justice shall find their proper and efficient advocates : we still 
 sometimes hear of " parliamentary-committees ;" and we still 
 have our venerable and learned bench of true English Judges. 
 In such hands, the interests of the " poorer classes" never 
 can be long unsafe. When these — when the venerable and 
 enlightened " equity-bench," have pronounced a deliberate 
 negative against me — then, and not till then, I shall be willing 
 to forego my present ardent wish, to see your Lordship's de- 
 claration yor/na/Zy recalled — in that you " never will consent, 
 " while you continue in the government, to change the money- 
 *' standard," by abandoning the principle of Mr. Peel's bill. 
 
 RICHARD CRUTTWELL. 
 December, 1827.
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 *•««« 
 
 I have lately been indebted to the kindness of an unknown 
 friend, in having sent me tv^^o admirable letters inserted in 
 the Globe newspaper on the subject of the " currency," and 
 the various interesting particulars at this time connected with 
 it: the letters bear the signature of a "Scotch Banker" 
 — whether real or feigned, I cannot pretend to say. It is with 
 considerable regret, that I here feel myself called upon to 
 offer any remarks, in the shape of dissent from the great 
 general truths which these writings contain. However, as 
 there is much reason to suppose, that the frequent " con- 
 trariety " of opinion, expressed by persons who m the main 
 advocate the very same views, have often deterred many per- 
 sons from at all engaging with the subject ; 1 trust I shall stand 
 fully acquitted, in the liberality of this writer's opinion (should 
 my remarks ever happen to reach his eye), of everything 
 like an attempt to disparage his labours, in ^public estimation ; 
 though happening to differ with him on a few points — not 
 altogether destitute of interest, in developing the true princi- 
 ples of this certainly abstruse and very difficult question. In 
 the second of his letters, there is evidently an attempt to 
 ascribe the progressive " rise of prices " during the last half 
 century, to the exclusive sanction afforded by government to 
 the issue of small notes, as well by the bank of England as 
 country-banks — previously, of f 5-notes in 1776, and sub- 
 sequently, of £l-notes in 1797 : thence adopting the illogical 
 inference, as well of Cobbett as others — that, by means of 
 the free circulation of such notes (especially, from the year 
 1797) the " small remainder of our gold coins were thus 
 " driven altogether out of circulation." This I must be 
 allowed to think, were taking a position wholly untenable from 
 the real facts of the case : and which would lead (if true) to
 
 23 
 
 certain consequences, in the highest degree subversive of the 
 principles he clearly aims to establish, in proposing a "re- 
 medy " for evils vs'hich he would fain see removed. In the 
 next paragraph, I also find this most extraordinary and (as 
 I conceive it to be, most) ungrounded assertion : " From this 
 *' cause alone (the use of small notes) proceeded the high 
 " prices of the late war, and not from any abstract tendency 
 "in the war itself to occasion high prices.^* Again, "War 
 " never did produce high prices, upon ant/Jbrmer occasion; nor 
 " would it upon this occasion, if the ancient pressure upon 
 " prices had been continued — and iievei'i/ £3 : 17 : 10^ of price 
 " had been made convertible by laio into an ounce weight of stand- 
 " ard gold.'^ The first part of this expression, were as much 
 as to say, ' that war ' (our late war being of more than 
 twenty years' duration) ' could go on interminably, without 
 ' incurring expence :' for otherwise, if taxes are required to 
 meet such expence — the inevitable consequence of all wars, 
 those taxes would become chargeable upon commodities, so 
 enhancing prices equal to their amount. The assertion there- 
 fore, in our own case, under the creation of more than a 
 thousand mil/ions of debt, (required to carry on only the two 
 late wars — one preceding the independence of America in 
 1783 — the other terminating in 1814), that such war had 
 710 tendency in itself to produce " high prices," and that " war 
 " never did produce high prices upon any former occasion ;" I 
 confess, does appear to me most irreconcilable with truth 
 — nay, even with every thing that borders on the utmost 
 verge of common seme. There can be no doubt, however, of 
 the truth of the latter part of the expression — " that if the 
 " ancient pressure upon prices had beencontiiiued — and every 
 " f 3 : 17 : 10^ of price had still been made convertible by law 
 " into an ounce weight of standard gold;" war "would not 
 "upon this (late) occasion, have produced high prices:" 
 — not, it should be added, to the extent of raising the price of 
 wheat to 12*. a-bushel ; which this same writer informs us 
 it "averaged, during <wew/y year* of the war ending 1814." 
 Again ; no one can reasonably doubt, from reading these 
 letters carefully, the writer's design of discouraging a " return
 
 24 
 
 " to cash-payments," upon the basis of our present metallic- 
 standard ; or indeed that his decided aim, at this time, is 
 to "release the currency" from that gold-pressure io which 
 it is now subject, under the operation of Mr. Peel's bill ; and 
 which (as I perfectly agree with him — if " persisted " in), will 
 ultimately prove the total ruin of the country. But if such 
 j^rmer " release of the currency" from the ancient metallic 
 standard, was — as is here asserted, the " sole cause " of high 
 prices ; having no reference whatever, either to " the late 
 *' or other preceding wars" — then, I should certainly be of 
 a contrary opinion with him, in regard to the policy of 
 abandoning the present system — ruinous as it is, nevertheless : 
 because I never would consent, u^onihxs, [h.\s false J supposi- 
 tion, to replace the currency of a great commercial coun- 
 try in the hands of "bankers" of any description — who, 
 upon this writer's own shoiving (assuming his reasoning 
 were correct J not only could almse,h\it actually did abuse, the 
 *' trust reposed in them," to a most enormously ruinous and 
 unheard-of extent. But here, on the contrary, I must un- 
 equivocally protest, against the whole of such opinion — 
 as most illogically incorrect ! which, indeed, the same writer 
 does himself tacitly admit, in the very next column — where 
 he says, " The increase of taxation, direct and indirect, pairf 
 ** hy the cidtivators of land, probably more than counter- 
 " balances the effect which the improvements in agricul- 
 *' tural science and practice may be supposed to have pro- 
 " ducedin raising rents above the level which existedmV79\.^* 
 I have before taken considerable pains to rebut the former 
 opinion — a very favorite one of Cobbett's, as to any ab- 
 stract tendency which paper possesses in "driving gold out of 
 circulation." The almost total absence of gold from this 
 country at the period alluded to, is certaintly a co-incidence 
 which seems at first sight to favor the notion objected to. 
 The absence of gold, however, in a very great degree pre- 
 ceded this unlimited use of paper ; and was principally owing 
 to other causes— of great national usefulness and necessity, 
 as I have elsewere demonstrated in my "Treatise on the Cur- 
 rency " published two years ago.
 
 25 
 
 I am also equally surprised and vexed, to see this powerful 
 and enlightened writer express himself in such terms as 
 these : The " land-owners will compel — either the abandon- 
 *' ment of the metallic-currency — or the reduction of the 
 " metallic-standard — or the gigantic, unheard-of, most diffi- 
 " cult, and most (/-a«^C7o«* task, oi equitable adjustment J* ^ Now, 
 T conceive the latter is entirely included in either of the 
 two former proposals. But, however " gigantic" the effect 
 of it would be, as a complete and perfect " remedy " for our 
 evils — requiring, indeed, one specific provision in the shape 
 of "indemnity," to merchants trading abroad; I do yet posi- 
 tively deny, its being either unheard-of or difficult or at all 
 dangerous, if undertaken with proper feelings and managed 
 (as of course it would be, if undertaken by Government) with 
 a due regard to justice to " every part " of the community. I 
 am truly sorry to see a proposal thus offered to Ministers — 
 as the " dernier ressort " for saving the country — coupled with 
 consequences which, if really to be apprehended, would serve 
 to discourage a "host of Ministers " from once turning their 
 thoughts to a project so fearfully impracticable and hopeless 
 as it then would be to attempt. While such unaccountable 
 mistakes are apt to occur, to men of the greatest practical 
 experience and knowledge of the subject ; I can readily view 
 the conduct of Ministers (which, on some occasions, I have 
 not scrupled myself to condemn in somewhat, perhaps, too 
 unmeasured terms) with every allowance for this new difficulty 
 — of ' being required to do that, which the very writer who 
 ' proposes doing it himself pronounces — to be difficult and 
 ^ dangerous a-nd unheard-of, in the highest possible degree.' 
 Such remarkable discrepancies however of conduct and opi- 
 nion, may — one should hope, lead to a habit of repressing 
 any over-excited feeling ; inducing us also, to view the errors 
 of others with an equal share of tenderness which maybe due 
 to our own. To say, that we " could not have had high 
 " prices during the late war — with our present standard of 
 " f 3 : 17 : 10^ the ounce of gold" — though strictly true, 
 were yet as much as to say — that we ' could not have had 
 remunerating prices, to meet our current and growing expences 
 
 E
 
 26 
 
 proceeding from the late war :' in fact, that we could not have 
 had a currency at all — commensurate to the extraordinary 
 and unavoidable circumstances, in which the country then 
 found itself involved. This admission were alone sutficient 
 to exonerate the government, at that time, from every charge 
 of blame : proving the absolute expediency, of so " releasing 
 the currency" from the unnatural ^iadi ruinous " pressure" of 
 the old gold-standard, which we are now madly endeavouring 
 to restore — disregarding all intermediate contracts, by encou- 
 raging the principle of Mr. Peel's bill, passed in 1819 ; and 
 which Lord Goderich says, the parliament " last year passed 
 *' another law to hasten the completion of," in 1829 ! ! Thus, 
 though certainly agreeing with this intelligent writer — as to 
 the ruinous policy of now restoring the gold-standard of 
 1776 ; we yet widely differ, as to the original expediency of 
 departing from it, by the use of " small notes" at the time of 
 their first introduction. In a succeeding paragraph, I might 
 also object to a similar reflection unduly cast upon Ministers ; 
 where it says — " after a lapse of 22 years, in the year 1819, 
 ^^ having first reduced the bank-note circulation one-fifth, 
 "the Legislature'" — did so and so. Now the truth is, the 
 " Legislature" did not " first reduce" the bank-note circu- 
 lation at all. Its reduction — whether more or less, was per- 
 fectly spontaneous: " prices" fell, of their own accord, the 
 " moment of the renewal of our intercourse with the conti- 
 " nent; " and therewith the currency became " contracted," 
 without any immediate effort of government — either to pro- 
 mote or retard its operation. The corn-bill of 1815, was in a 
 great measure inefficient to do so ; and subsequently, in evil 
 hour, they did adopt the fatal measure of Mr. Peel's bill — 
 legalizing and confirming such reduction of the bank-note 
 circulation, with all its countless mischiefs to the country 
 up to the present hour. So, likewise — in regard to the 
 " danger" which he seems to apprehend, coupling it with 
 his idea of " equitable adjustment," I really confess I have 
 no belief whatever that any such exists — save, in the minds 
 of a very few persons deriving their nidimetits in the science 
 of " currency" from the Cobbett- School of error — or, as
 
 27 
 
 respects that one unprincipled individual, of foul and delibe- 
 rate deceit. It takes considerable time, to abate altogether 
 the force of our early impressions. And since the " remedy" 
 sought after, in whatever shape it were to be effected, can 
 no otherwise prove useful than as it partakes of that charac- 
 ter — of" equitable adjustment ;" I think, upon a little more 
 dispassionate exercise of his powerful intellect, this respected 
 individual will concede the position — that, ' whatever notions 
 ' of danger the remedy may really include, they must be 
 
 * manfully met and resolutely conquered, before either his 
 ' hopesor mine can be realized — as to any substantial " relief" 
 
 * being afforded to the country.' 
 
 51 Should the intelligent writer of the letters in question by any chance obserre 
 these remarks, he would confer a great obligation by signifying to nic his real name and 
 address. I should ever consider it a distinguished honor to be allowed respectfully to 
 include him in the number of my friends. R. C. 
 
 I have also noticed an objection made by Mr. Kirkman 
 Finlay, of Glasgow, to Sir John Sinclair's proposal, for 
 " raising the gold-standard " to £5. an ounce ; which, by the 
 bye, is precisely 7ni/ own principle — differing only as to the 
 quantum of burthens it proposes to reduce. Mr. Finlay 
 says, in his letter of Dec. 25, 1826 — "it would, if we were 
 *' a nation of debtors, no doubt be very beneficial; but exactly 
 *' in the same proportion it would be very dishonest. But 
 *' as we are not a nation of debtors,'''' &c. &c. Mr. Finlay cer- 
 tainly most egregiously mistakes tlie subject, when he says — 
 " Weare not a nation of debtors." How ! are we not debtors 
 on account of our "public debt," more than equal to twelve 
 hundred millions ; lying something like a dead weight upon 
 the productive industry of the country ? Is not every poor 
 man in England taxed in his full proportion to pay the interest 
 of that debt? Is not his "rent" raised in proportion, 
 although his wages are now necessarily reduced ? Indeed, 
 does not the consideration of the effect of taxes, enter into 
 every private contract between all individuals ; by which rents 
 and all other charges (which may fairly be called debts) are, 
 within the last century, considerably wor^' M«?? donbkdf IIow
 
 28 
 
 then, are we here told in the face of these things, that we are 
 notwithstanding, " not a nation of debtors? ^^ To say it would 
 be "dishonest," to adopt means for "reducing" the whole of 
 those debts — now that, hy the " contraction " of the currency, 
 our means of paying them are and woidd be reduced in equal 
 proportion ; were to c?«»</ a principle,which every just and rea- 
 sonable man da.\\y admits Siud practically adopts — of landlords' 
 ' giving relief to tenants, now that wheat sells at only GO*. 
 ' against the ruinous operation of a lease — each party contem- 
 ' plating the price of 100*. as the basis of their contract, when 
 ' such lease was signed :' and which, rigorously enforced ac- 
 cording to the letter (the " spirit " of the contract being now 
 so entirely changed) , would go to the certain effect of com- 
 pelling farmers generally to dismiss the greater portion of 
 their labourers — or otherwise, to suppoi-t them at a dead loss 
 out of the mere " wrecks " of their already more than half- 
 exhausted capitals. I am the more anxious to make these ob- 
 servations, for the purpose of shewing, how very completely 
 the true principles of this great subject have been mis- 
 apprehended, by persons doubtless of the very highest talent, 
 experience, and respectability — to whom, a tolerably com- 
 petent idea of them might be expected to be familiar. 
 
 My reason for differing from so high and respectable an 
 authority as Sir John Sinclair, as to the rate of ^^ augmenting 
 the prices " of the precious metals, compared with our paper- 
 burthens of all kinds, is this : to "raise" the price of gold, 
 were in effect to "reduce " burthens measured originally in 
 depreciated paper : — inasmuch, as it would practically admit 
 the principle, that ' a smaller sum of money intrinsically speak- 
 ' ing, shall hereafter be taken in discharge of the present 
 * larger amount of burthens : ' and consequently the further 
 (in reason) that such principle were carried, the greater 
 would be the reduction of those burthens, in gold and silver : 
 removing, not only the difference of prices in England com- 
 pared with their average rate abroad, but also the difference 
 in our own means of paying them — out of a currency lessened 
 in amount, by the rate very nearly of 50 per cent. I have 
 before assumed, us the basis of my argument throughout
 
 29 
 
 (resting my first position on the admission of the corn- 
 bill of 1815), that our " depreciated" paper-price of wheat 
 was about 80^. a-quarter ; though I believe, notwithstand- 
 ing, it might have been taken much higher. However, as- 
 suming again — that the average gold-price of the continent 
 may be taken at about 40*. ; the object contemplated by 
 ** raising the standard," would be to reduce our own price 
 to a level with such continental price ; which could only be 
 effected, by assimilating our depreciated paper-standard to 
 the sterling gold-standard abroad. To raise gold, however, 
 only to £5 an ounce, would not bring us much nearer to con- 
 tinental prices than we are at present — taking corn at an 
 average of about 60*. which I conceive to be much below the 
 "remunerating" price, requisite to keep "labourers" — at 
 a tax-rate of wages, yw/Zy and comfortably employed. I should 
 therefore for this, as well as for many other reasons equally 
 cogent and convincing, decidedly prefer doubling the price 
 of the precious metals, which (through doubling the amount 
 of currency J would be equal to a "reduction" of all prices 
 and all burthens 50 per cent, upon the corn-bill-standard of 
 1815. Upon this same principle then, I believe it might be 
 shewn, that eveiy civilized government in Europe, from the 
 Greeks and Romans downwards, have constantly — as rieces- 
 sity required, and the greater their prosperity and greatness 
 the stronger would be such necessity, resorted to the prin- 
 ciple here laid down, of reducing their money-standard (in 
 other words, " raising " their value) to meet unavoidable and 
 often unforeseen contingencies — strictly analagous to the 
 present situation of England, by reason of circumstances 
 arising out of the late and other preceding wars. And this, I 
 will further take it upon myself to declare — that the country- 
 is now in the most imminent peril of what is called "panic," 
 which might any day break forth ; and that it still must be so, 
 without speedily resorting to the on\y just and safe precaution 
 of another " Bank-Restriction-Act:" avowedly, to give 
 a proper opportunity for having the subject carefully and 
 scrupulously examined, with a view to the general inte- 
 rests of ALL His Majesty's subjects. This were not only
 
 30 
 
 dtie to bankers, for their own individual safety ; but due also 
 to them, as the long-established, most efficient, and "legally- 
 acknowledged" mmiey-purveyors for all necessary and indis- 
 pensable purposes required hy the whole kingdom. It were 
 madness downright, to attempt to "cry-down" and "anni- 
 hilate" the use of country-bank-paper : which, but for the 
 present ** defects " of the system — entirely crmfed by imposing 
 upon bankers the fulfilment of conditions new and most out- 
 rageously impossible to fulfil, would afford (in itself) the best 
 kind of " security " that the country can require^ or that cmy 
 currency can afford, proportioned to its usefulness. To think 
 oi superseding the practice of " country -banking," by substi- 
 tuting "branch-banks" from the Bank of England in their 
 stead, besides being an iniquitously innovating infringement 
 upon the already "legal" rights of that most prudent, up- 
 right, and invaluable set of men — country-bankers gene- 
 rally ; is what every rational individual throughout the 
 whole country, ought instantly to lift his voice against : being 
 likely, moreover, to create a most dangerous and unconsti- 
 tutional engine of arbitrary power — so enormously great and 
 liable to abuse, in the hands of a weak or wicked Ministry 
 ifi future (for I would apply neither of these epithets to any 
 one of our present public men) , as might easily destroy the 
 nation's best "liberties," together with the personal pro- 
 perties and independence of every private individual. I re- 
 peat again, the defects of our present banking-system, are 
 purely the result of popular "ignorance" of the subject, 
 from the great unwillingness of men possessing power and 
 influence to study its principles with that care and application 
 which its importance deserves ! 
 
 R.C. 
 
 TIPPELL, PHIMTKB, HALESWOKTH.