THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF ILLINOIS 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 ^875
 
 Wt
 
 PRACTICAL THOUGHTS 
 
 ON THE 
 
 CURRENCY, &c. 
 
 ADDRESSED TO THE 
 
 ELECTORS OF THE PROPOSED 
 REPRESENTATIVE DISTRICT OF STROUD : 
 
 IN KEPLY TO THE 
 
 OPINIONS OF THEIR CANDIDATE, 
 
 POULETT SCROPE, ESQ. 
 
 A PLAIN ENQUIRER. 
 
 Naturani expelles furca, tamen usque recurret. 
 
 BRISLEY, STROUD; 
 AND LONGMAN, REES, ORME, BROWN, GREEN, AND 
 LONGMAN, LONDON. 
 
 PRICE Is. 6(1. 
 
 1832,
 
 r<iJ^ j^i^j^^ ^/ ^^ J^t-^ y^ 
 
 Brother Electors, 
 
 The proposal of ministers, under 
 the projected measure of Reform, to create a dis- 
 trict for two representatives in this manufacturing 
 neighbourhood, has already brought into the arena 
 three candidates for your selection. On the com' 
 parative merits and qualifications of these gentle- 
 tlemen, it is not my intention to offer one word of 
 observation. One of them is a stranger to your 
 neighbourhood, and founds his claim for your sup- 
 port, chiefly, on the views and opinions which he 
 has advocated and published in several pamphlets, 
 respecting various subjects of great moment. 
 He is styled by his partisans, THE TALENTED 
 CANDIDATE ; and, no doubt, the fluency of lan- 
 guage and ability he has displayed on many topics 
 must, in candour, be admitted to be considerable ; 
 though the overweening confidence and high tone, 
 with which some of his opinions are delivered, — 
 and those, perhaps, the most questionable, — and 
 the contempt which he awards, in no scanty mea- 
 sure, to those, ^^hose doctrines may difler from 
 his own, are more calculated to excite a curl upon 
 the lip, than to produce conviction upon the mind. 
 
 R
 
 4 
 
 It is one of these topics, in particular, to 
 which I beg your attention, being, probably, of as 
 great importance to the steady progress of our 
 national prosperity, in every interest, as any that 
 can challenge public attention — it is the question 
 of our currency. As necessarily connected with 
 this, and partaking of the same importance, I shall 
 also, along with it, beg to offer a few remarks on 
 the subjects of Wages and Export trade, or the 
 foreign market for the surplus produce of our 
 industry. The views of your candidate, on all 
 these subjects, do appear to be so contrary to the 
 established opinions of intelligent and experienced 
 men of all political parties, and the data he has 
 assumed for their support, in order to give them a 
 more imposing plausibility, so defective and in- 
 correct, that I humbly think it is only justice to 
 us all, that his dogmas, however peremptorily laid 
 down, should not be received, without some at- 
 tempt being made to expose the fallacy of them. 
 
 This task I have presumed to undertake, and I 
 shall endeavour to perform it in as plain and brief 
 a method as I am able : my object being to place 
 the subjects in question clearly and fairly before 
 the generality of my brother electors, who may 
 not have the leisure and opportunities necessary 
 to prosecute an enquiry into them. As to those 
 who possess a greater share of intelligence, I only
 
 hope to call their more close attention and full 
 consideration to them ; satisfied that they will 
 more comprehensively understand them than 
 myself. 
 
 I shall, in the first instance, before I make any 
 reference to the writings of your candidate, beg 
 leave to state a few of, what appear to be, the prin- 
 ciple arguments in support of the respective doc- 
 trines of paper and metallic currency. 
 
 The precious metals are received universally, 
 at least in all civilized countries, as a circulating 
 medium of exchange : by them the commodities 
 in every market of the civilized world may be 
 purchased ; and from the early ages of mankind, 
 they have been adopted for this purpose, in prefer- 
 ence to any other standard of value. The facility, 
 therefore, which they afford to the commerce of 
 the world at large, constitutes, of itself, no incon- 
 siderable part of their value : but besides this, 
 their greater, perhaps their chief, value consists 
 in their universal use, as well in barbarous as in 
 civilized countries, for purposes of ornament, 
 luxiuy, and magnificence. Other materials might 
 be adopted as a circulating medium, possessing 
 the qualities which are essentially necessary for 
 coia, — such as durability, capability of accurate 
 division, &c. — but none possessing this intrinsic
 
 6 
 
 value, which gives (hem estimation throughout 
 the world. It is on this account that they form a 
 component part of the real wealth of every nation 
 possessed of them. There have been emergen- 
 cies, too, when they have proved, certainly not the 
 least useful part of our commodities, nor, perhaps, 
 the least efficient means of our national welfare 
 and protection ; and it is not impossible that cir- 
 cumstances might again occur, when the vigour 
 of our efforts and the issue of the contest, involv- 
 ing our existence as a nation, might, in no inconsi- 
 derable degree, depend upon a plentiful supply of 
 them. And, even during the prevalence of peace, 
 we may not be secure from emergencies, from which 
 such a supply of that commodity might be essen- 
 tially necessary to relieve us : its aid might be as 
 necessary to alleviate the calamity of famine, as to 
 avert the horrors of war. A deficiency of produce 
 at home might compel us to seek abroad for the 
 first necessaries of life ; in exchange for which 
 we might not possess the kind of commodities of 
 which those countries, capable of supplying us, 
 were in need. Under such an evil, a metallic 
 currency, from its universal reception, would be a 
 sure and immediate resource. Other circumstan- 
 ces may also occur, calculated to create consider- 
 able demand on ourspecie for exportation — arising 
 from overtrading, loans, and other financial oper- 
 ations ; which demand it might not only be very 
 inconvenient, but, perhaps, ruinous to the interests
 
 of the country to satisfy, unless we had a circu- 
 lation pretty abundantly supplied with coin. 
 
 Another important consideration in favour of a 
 metallic currency should not be overlooked, — 
 which is, its tendency to equalize prices in every 
 country, and to correct the fluctuation of them. 
 Prices form the medium through which exchanges 
 are effected with other countries, and the less fluc- 
 tuation there is in them, compared with those 
 countries, the less difficulty and interruption can 
 arise in our commercial intercourse with them. 
 There may occasionally occur causes of this fluc- 
 tuation, which admit of little or no control ; but 
 their eff*ect will not be of long duration, nor great- 
 ly embarrass that intercourse, provided the value 
 of the currency be strictly maintained with that of 
 the precious metals. Whatever aheration, even, 
 may take place in the value of these metals, either 
 from a more deficient, or a more abundant, supply 
 from the mines, no inconvenience or difficulty 
 will be experienced in the intercourse of those 
 countries which use them as a circulating 
 medium, nor any sensible eff*ect on their activity 
 and industry, since their relative circumstances 
 and condition will continue precisely the same: 
 If the precious metals decrease in quantity, and 
 therefore become dearer, it is probable that less of 
 them will be generally used for purposes of luxury 
 and ornament, and more of them be absorbed
 
 8 
 
 in coin ; but it is not probable that any decrease 
 can ever take plare to such a degree, as to cause 
 considerable inconvenience in their general use 
 as a circulating medium. If their value were thus 
 greatly raised, it might probably cause a general 
 division of them into smaller pieces, and perhaps 
 a general addition of paper circulation in sums of 
 a higher denomination ; at the same time they 
 would continue to discharge, just as effectually, the 
 most important function for which they are re- 
 quired, which is a general standard of value. 
 
 In a country, where an exclusive paper circu- 
 lation is adopted as a substitute for the precious 
 metals, which has no intrinsic value, but only such 
 value, as it derives from the credit and responsi- 
 bility of the parties issuing it, and which there- 
 fore cannot be held in universal estimation^ a 
 greater fluctuation of prices would naturally pre- 
 vail. Its extension, or contraction, would be 
 caused by many circumstances, which would pro- 
 duce no effect on a circulating medium composed 
 of the precious metals : at one moment, a delusive 
 appearance of prosperity would create it to an 
 extravagant amount ; the next, convulsions might 
 arise which would almost entirely sweep it away : 
 of this, we are not without several instances in our 
 own country, within the recollection of most of us. 
 
 We have a striking example afforded by France,
 
 9 
 
 of the superior firmness of a metallic currency, 
 under the greatest convulsion that can agitate a 
 nation. When her territories were invaded by 
 foreign armies in 1814 and 1815, she was then 
 possessed of an extensive metallic currency , sup- 
 posed to amount to nearly 80 millions, having no 
 small note circulation. Notwithstanding the po- 
 litical danger and difficulty of these occasions, 
 she did not appear to experience any derange- 
 ment in her currency. On the other hand, the 
 United States of America, on the breaking out of 
 the last war with this country, at which period her 
 currency was composed almost wholly of paper, 
 was plunged into most serious embarrassments ; 
 all the banks in the country being obliged to sus- 
 pend their payments in specie. And it is not as- 
 suming too much, that the steady state of the cin'- 
 rency in this country, during the great political 
 agitation, both foreign and domestic, of the last 
 15 months, and notwithstanding the great check 
 which trade and commerce have also, of late, ex- 
 perienced from the visitation of a dreadful disor- 
 der which is extending itself among us, may be 
 mainly attributed to the more sound condition of 
 it, since the abolition of one pound notes : during 
 the period that they were in circulation, we have 
 frequently experienced very serious panics and 
 embarrassments, originating from much more 
 trifling causes.
 
 10 
 
 The chief advantage in an exclusive paper cur- 
 rency, is its cheapness. It is held that a great 
 portion of the gold, recpiired as a circulating me- 
 dium, might be exported to other countries, in re- 
 turn for which we should receive commodities of 
 equal value, and of real use ; besides saving the 
 loss, in wear and tear, incidental to coin. How- 
 ever, this saving could not be of very great impor- 
 tance, and the amount that could be thus exported 
 would not be very considerable, with any due 
 regard to safety, and would, only in a slight de- 
 gree, compensate for the disadvantages that have 
 been pointed out, even assuming — what it is im- 
 possible to grant — that regulations might be adop- 
 ted which would have the effect of maintaining the 
 value of an exclusive paper currency with the 
 precious metals. 
 
 Another argument sometimes used, is the su- 
 perior conveniency of one pound notes over 
 coin in making payments of a larger amount ; 
 but it is really without foundation : in the present 
 state of the currency in this country, such pay- 
 ments are, in fact, more conveniently made, 
 than when we had a one pound note circulation. 
 It then generally occurred, that nearly one half 
 of the amount of such payments consisted, un- 
 necessarily, of notes of that denomination ; now 
 they are, with few exceptions, made in notes of
 
 11 
 
 £^, or a hig-her value ; coin being- only required 
 for tlie odd sum undei- £^ ; so that, there is mucli 
 greater economy in the operations of a currency 
 of coin, than of one pound notes ; indeed, it is 
 the opinion of practical men of intelhgence that, 
 during the period of tlie one pound note circula- 
 tion, one ihird of its amount in coin would have 
 been adequate to all the purposes for which it was 
 required ; in that case, a greater amount of cir- 
 culation in £b notes and upwards would have 
 been necessary. 
 
 Another advantage, much dwelt on, of a small 
 note currency, is the greater facility cf accommo- 
 dation that Mould be afforded ; but it will be 
 admitted, as an advantage, I imagine, by no 
 one of sound reflection and experience. The 
 same advocates, with no very great regard for 
 con?iistency, contend that, with proper securities 
 for issues of notes and an improved system of 
 banking, the value of an exclusive paper circula- 
 tion may be strictly maintained with the precious 
 metals ; for, how can this greater facility of ac- 
 commodation with one pound notes, and the 
 maintained value of the currency with the precious 
 metals, be reconciled together? This facihty of 
 obtaining accommodation is, in plain words, ob- 
 taining it on more questionable responsibility: 
 they imagine that the maker of paper money would 
 
 c
 
 12 
 
 be less circumspect in lending it, than in lend- 
 ing- Ills coin ; though if he were so, he would be 
 totally unfit for his business: but this very facility 
 of obtaining accommodation — this very want of 
 circumspection — this opportunity or inducement 
 offered to the speculator, without either capital 
 or, perhaps, principle, to embark in those schemes 
 which he, who has property and character to lose, 
 sees no chance of success in undertaking — this 
 forcing of money into circulation, instead of 
 leaving it to flow through those natural and 
 legitimate channels where, in all probability, it 
 would be employed with success, — is nothing, 
 more or less, than depreciating the currency. 
 Whatever circumstances would induce a dealer in 
 money to issue or lend his paper, where he would 
 not issue or lend his coin — these circumstances 
 are, virtually, the cause of a depreciation of the 
 circulating medium, compared with the precious 
 metals ; and the amount of premium he would 
 require to lend his gold, under those circumstan- 
 ces, instead of his paper, would be the measure 
 of that depreciation, to the extent of such issue 
 or loan. Besides this depreciation of the currency, 
 such a facility of accommodation — such a want 
 of circumspection — operates unjustly towards 
 the man of capital and the fair trader, — whose first 
 consideration, in every transaction he is engaged, 
 is the moral certainty of paying his credit to the
 
 13 
 
 full, — by encouraging, on the same terms, those 
 who are not possessed of the same qualifications ; 
 and it creates a false and unsound system of 
 transactions, which eventuallt/ must produce 
 general panic and embarrassment. 
 
 It is also urged by your candidate, and by these 
 advocates, that, with an abundant paper circula- 
 tion, the interest of money would be reduced ; but 
 this argument is sufficiently contradicted by facts. 
 It is well known that at no period were larger 
 premiums given for loans of money, than when a 
 small note circulation most abounded ; and at no 
 period, perhaps, was money obtained on more 
 reasonable terms, and bills discounted in the mar- 
 ket at a lower rate of interest, than a year and a 
 half ago, which was some time after one pound 
 notes had been withdrawn. 
 
 I will now proceed to examine some of the 
 statements of your candidate. He says in his 
 pamphlet entitled a, " Plain Statement, &c." 
 page 6 — " The general embarrassment of the 
 *' productive classes being thus clearly traced to 
 " a continued fall in the price of commodities, 
 " the question arises — to what causes are we to 
 " attribute that fall ? 
 
 " Since prices merely express the value of
 
 14 
 
 ** goods relatively to money, a general fall of 
 " prices is but another expression for a general 
 *' rise in the value of money, relatively to goods. 
 *' Such a rise can only be ouing to its compara- 
 *' tive scarcity, and, if prolonged, is a proof of 
 •' the continued deficiency of money as compared 
 ** with the goods, whose exchanges are to be ef- 
 ** fected through its intervention. In accordance 
 *' with this plain view of the matter, we shall find, 
 " if we look to facts, that whilst the production 
 " of goods of all kinds has immensely increased 
 '* of late years, the quantity of money in circula- 
 *' tion has not only not increased in the same ra- 
 *' tio, (which would have been necessary in order 
 " to keep goods from falling in price,) but has 
 *' actually diminished, and that to a very consi- 
 *' derable extent^^ — he then proceeds to state that, 
 owing to a decrease in the mines producing the 
 precious metals since 1810, the existing coin in 
 Europe and America has diminished one sixth 
 part, and hence he draws a conclusion that the 
 general embarrassment of the commercial world 
 results from this diminished produce : and again 
 observes, page 9, " Thus the reward of industry 
 " has been lessened by every increase of its exer- 
 " tions — not because too many commodities were, 
 " or ever can be produced, but because the cus- 
 " torn being to exchange goods for bits of gold 
 " and silver, and the quantity of gold and silver
 
 u 
 
 ** in the market happening to decrease, every 
 •* addition to the quantity of goods coidd only 
 " increase tlie relative scarcity or value of (he 
 " metals, and lower the money value, or price of 
 " the j^oods themselves." Before commencing 
 the argument, I must make one lemark on his al- 
 lusion to those who possess fixed incomes, uhom 
 he supposes to shut their eves to every distress 
 that surrounds them ; — he says, " as they have 
 '* dined ^^ell themselves, they feel persuaded that 
 " all the world are equally comfortable." This is 
 certainly no compliment to the humanity or sym- 
 pathy of that portion of the community ; nor 
 does it add, at all, to the force of your fluent can^ 
 didate's argument, to insinuate against those who 
 may not exactly auree with him in his views, (and 
 yet may exercise quite as sound a judgment,) a 
 callousness of feeling to the distress of their fel- 
 low subjects. No doubt, they, w hose fixed incomes 
 were arranged and negociated during the period 
 of high prices, or depreciated value of money, 
 are now, comparatively, in much improved cir- 
 cumstances ; but they, whose incomes were arrang- 
 ed or negociated some time previous to that period, 
 when prices were even lower than at present, are 
 in circumstances, certainly not better than they ori- 
 ginally were ; and they, too, have experienced a 
 long season of high prices, during which Ihey 
 were in a situation a great deal worse. It may be
 
 Id 
 
 replied, that the prices of many of ihe useful 
 commodities of life are lower now than they were 
 at the former period of low prices, to which I 
 allude ; hut this reduction is, in no degree, proba- 
 bly, caused by a higher value of money at the 
 present period, but by the great results that have 
 flowed from improved skill in the art of produc- 
 tion. 
 
 But admitting that the reduction of coin in Eu- 
 rope and America (supposed by Mr. Jacob to be 
 about l-6th) has had some slight effect in the reduc- 
 tion of prices, it is too bold an assumption to attri- 
 bute to that circumstance, the universal depression 
 of the industrious classes thronghout the commer- 
 cial world. It is impossible to imagine such an 
 effect from that cause alone ; even had it existed to a 
 much greater extent, it is doubtful whether, in 
 the absence of any other causes, it would produce 
 any very great effect on the activity and industry 
 of those countries, since their relative condition 
 would not be altered : this diminution of the pre- 
 cious metals, whatever it might be, would be 
 gradual, and wages and prices would, as gradu- 
 ally, accommodate themselves to the change. If 
 it were really to an extent to produce an insuffici- 
 ency of pieces of gold and silver, of the same 
 weight and size as those which had been generally 
 in use when the metals were more abundant, to
 
 17 
 
 perform the usual functions of currency in which 
 they had been employed, pieces of a smaller 
 weisfht and size uould naturally be issued ; but 
 no one, with any knowledge of the state of the 
 circulating* medium at present in this country, 
 will venture to assert that there is any scarcity 
 whatever of pieces of gold and silver, or not a 
 sufficiency of them for many more transactions, 
 than those to which they are necessarily applied ; 
 and it is not attempted to be shewn that any other 
 commercial country is at all worse situated, in 
 that respect, than we are. 
 
 Your candidate appears to confound the metal- 
 lic currency of a country with the whole circu- 
 lating medium that it possesses : he leaves en- 
 tirely out of the cpiestion the paper circulation,— 
 in bankers' notes and bills of exchange, — which 
 all commercial countries possess to a very large 
 amount, compared with specie. In our own 
 country this kind of circulating medium, at pre- 
 sent, probably amounts to 10 or 12 times that of 
 our coin ; and if our trading and commercial 
 transactions were in the course of a few succeed- 
 ing months to increase to twice their present 
 amount, no inconvenience whatever, in all human 
 probability, would be experienced from a want 
 of the latter kind of currency : paper circulation 
 of every kind would greatly multiply, as the me-
 
 IS 
 
 dium of those transactions , coin would circulate 
 with increased activity ; more bills, tis true, would 
 be required to be discounted, which would soon 
 cause the coffers to be unlocked, where a great 
 portion ofour coin is at present deposited : it would 
 find its way into the hands of tlie labourer and arti- 
 zan in greater abundance, but it would not be trans- 
 ferred by them into a resting place in their pockets, 
 it would (juickly proceed to the tradesman's 
 shop, who, from his increased trade and therefore 
 increased purchases, would, with equal quickness, 
 transfer it to his banker, in order to procure a 
 more convenient substitute to be remitted to 
 the wholesale dealer, and there it would be ready 
 again, and would soon be called for, to perform 
 the same frjictifying operations. Thus, with a 
 greater impulse to trade — ^with such increased 
 transactions — money would be more abundant, 
 because it would more rapidly change hands ; it 
 would not be locked up in coffers, nor lie idle, 
 because every body could employ it with advan- 
 tage, and therefore every body possessed of it, 
 would be ready to lend it. Your candidate's ar- 
 gument, therefore, that the diminished amount of 
 bits of gold and silcer, and their consequent 
 inadequacy to the transactions of the commercial 
 world, is the cause of stagnation in those trans- 
 actions, and that nothing is wanted but a supply 
 of one pound notes to give an impulse to them
 
 19 
 
 will, if I am not mislakeii, be considered more 
 visionary than sound by every experienced and 
 intelligent mind. 
 
 But, in order to give a more captivating* eife( t 
 to this doctrine, he has made a statement of the 
 comparative amount of the circulating" medium 
 of this country, at the different periods of 1819 
 and 1830, which, as far as I am able to inform 
 myself, is extremely incorrect; besides exhibit- 
 ing a most egregrious omission of what, when 
 put into the scale, will preponderate very much 
 against him. He states that in 1819 the amount 
 of Bank of England notes in circulation was 30 
 millions, and that of country banks also ahout 30 
 millions. The amounts, in both cases, are much 
 over-rated. From the tables in Fairman on the 
 Funds — an accurate authority — the amount of the 
 former did not, in that year, much exceed 25 
 millions. It is more difficult to ascertain, pre- 
 cisely, the amount of country bank paper in cir- 
 culation during that year. Mr. Sedgwick, in his 
 tables, makes it 20 millions and a half in 1818 ; 
 while in 1822 and 1823, it had been gradually 
 reduced to little more than 8 millions: so that, it 
 may be fairly concluded it would not, at any rate, 
 exceed 20 millions in 1819. histead, therefore, 
 of 60 millions of Bank of England and country 
 bank paper in 1819, as he asserts, it will be more 
 
 D
 
 20 
 
 correctly stated at about 45 millions. It is proba- 
 ble that during- the four previous years they 
 would, tooether, average something more, but not 
 much beyond 50 millions. He then states the 
 Bank paper at 19 millions in 1830, and that of 
 country banks at 9 millions, to which I do not 
 object, because I have no means of contradicting 
 him ; but, he says not one syllable about the coin 
 in circulation in 1830 : there was little or no gold 
 in circulation in 1819; — in 1830 the amount 
 would be upwards of 20 millions. Professor 
 Senior states the amount in circulation in Great 
 Britain and Ireland in 1830, at 30 millions ; 
 nearly 25 of which we may fairly assign to Great 
 Britain alone : this, added to the amount of paper 
 circulation admitted by your candidate, will 
 make the whole amount of the circulating me- 
 dium of 1830 exceed that of 1819. But, it must 
 be borne in mind, that a system of issuing bills 
 of exchange of small amounts — as low as £6 or 
 £S — has much obtained, of late years, in Man- 
 chester, Liverpool, and the manufacturing dis- 
 tricts of the north of England, to a much greater 
 extent than formerly : few of the bankers in those 
 places — I believe none in Manchester — now issue 
 any notes of their own, and this small bill system 
 is preferred to the use of Bank of England notes. 
 We must here be reminded too, of the much 
 greater economy and activity there is in the
 
 21 
 
 operations of coin, compared with one pound 
 notes, which I have before dwelt on. 
 
 At page 9 in the same pamphlet, your can- 
 didate states — " Universal over-production is an 
 " impossibility. There is not, and never will be, 
 " so long as man is man, any indisposition to 
 " consume. It is under-production of money 
 " which creates the deceptive appearance of an 
 *' over-production of goods. Slocks of all kinds 
 *' are plentiful ; the only difficulty is the defici- 
 " ency of the medium of exchange," and after- 
 wards, page 10 — " It is then not to the com- 
 *' petition of foreigners that their distress (the 
 " productive classes) is owing, but in common 
 " with that of all other producers, native and 
 " foreign, to their mutual competition in a mar- 
 *' ket, whose medium of exchange has been gra- 
 *' dually diminishing, as the commodities to be 
 *' exchanged by it have been increasing, in quan- 
 " tity.'^ — Every plain mind, my friends, such as 
 you and I possess, will be a little astounded at these 
 passages : but, when we read the castig'ation he 
 gives to the legislators of 1826— " The legis- 
 " lation of 1826 wouhl have disgraced a nursery 
 " of infants, playing at making laus," — which 
 legislators are so complimented merely lor abat- 
 ing the nuisance of a one pound note ( irrulatinn, 
 and amongst whom were allowed, by all parlies,
 
 22 
 
 to be some of the greatest statesmen of llie pre- 
 sent age — when we reflect on this, we shall deem 
 it prudent to be very cautious in expressing our 
 astoiiisliraent. However, as your candidate offers 
 himself for the important station of representing 
 our interests in parliament, we may be forgiven, 
 perhaps, for questioning his opinions, and for 
 endeavouring to discover the most steady and 
 solid foundation of our interests and prosperity ; 
 and, even, I should hope, if we look elsewhere for 
 a more discreet and competent advocate of them. 
 A fluency of diction and a fertility of imagination 
 are not the most essential qualifications for a 
 legislator ; good sense, correct information, and 
 sound judgment are to be preferred. 
 
 Whatever opinions may be entertained about 
 universal over-production, it will be difficult to 
 make such humble, practical minds as ours, my 
 friends, believe that over-production, or — what, 
 in effect, is the same thing — want of demand, 
 has not occasionally been experienced by us, as a 
 very serious evil. Possibly, consumers might be 
 found in the w orld for every thing we are capable 
 of producing, were every one provided with the 
 necessaries, comforts, and luxuries of life to his 
 heart's content ; but, how is he to get hold of them ? 
 he must give the value of them in return, which 
 value his industry must acquire. It is, indeed,
 
 23 
 
 possible that our beneficent Creator may destine 
 such a happy state of things to exist, — that all 
 shall have abundance, without ovei^-production, 
 — before the mysterious moral order of mankind 
 shall arrive at its final consummation. When 
 civilization, founded on eternal truth, shall have 
 spread its blessings throughout all regions — ^vhen 
 art and science shall have fully developed the hid- 
 den means of man's comfort and enjoyment on 
 earth, beyond all bounds, even, of his present 
 conceptions — when the sovereigns of nations and 
 their councils, swayed by the salutary influence 
 of virtuous and enlightend public opinion, shall 
 devote all their wisdom, energy, and anxious care, 
 not to intrigue and to the ascendency of rival fac- 
 tion, or the ambitious views of foreign aggran- 
 dizement, but, to promoting the welfare and 
 happiness of the people — when the insidious de- 
 magogue, who flatters the people with the name of 
 freedom from no other motive, than the more com- 
 pletely to tyrannize over them ; and whose ruling 
 passion is hatred of every thing superior to him- 
 self, which he wishes to pull down and prostrate 
 at his feet, in order that from the ruins he may 
 form a pedestal, on which to elevate his own des- 
 potic ascendency, — when he shall abandon his 
 trade, from a lack of the congenial elements of 
 popular clamour, on which to practise his base 
 and hypocritical arts — when this great moral 
 change shall have taken place, it is possible that
 
 24 
 
 every son of Adam may, by his own industry, be 
 able, honestly and readily, to acquire a sufficient 
 abundance of nature's uants, and that the powers 
 of productioii may be nicely apportioned to that 
 demand : but, this day has not yet arrived ; we 
 are, as yet, in very different circumstances ; pro- 
 ducers must have a remunerating price for their 
 commodities, or, as heretofore, there will be over- 
 production, or, as at present, their powers of pro- 
 duction will be suspended. 
 
 But whatever difficulty there may be in this ques- 
 tion of over-production, your candidate makes 
 nothing at all of it ; he is positive that plenty of 
 one pound paper notes would, at once, get us 
 over it ; though you and 1 may think it quite as 
 rational to make paper-kites, to enable us to fly 
 over it ; but, who are they that want one pound 
 notes for such aerial purposes ? except the bor- 
 rowing speculator, whose repayment of their value 
 would be a matter of mere chance ; or a few short- 
 sighted landowners,* who like not to reduce their 
 
 * There are not many of this class of the community, who 
 are not satisfied that, of all others, their interests are most 
 unfavourably affected by great fluctuation in prices ; and that 
 a metallic currency forms the best correction of that evil. 
 When prices get up, it is some time before rents are raised in 
 the same proportion ; — and it is notorious that, during the pe- 
 riod of high prices, they never were raised to an extent ade- 
 quate to those prices. — On the other band, when prices get 
 down, landlords are immediately called upon for reduction of 
 rent, which call is irresistible.
 
 25 
 
 rent rolls to a metallic standard ; or a few impru- 
 dent money dealers, now nearly extinct, whose 
 impatient and inordinate appetite for gain, promp- 
 ted them to encounter all chances in pursuit of it, 
 and disabled them from entertaining- every sound 
 principle of calculation. 
 
 There is no want of capital to set industry, le- 
 gitimately and successively, in motion ; nor any 
 want of circulating medium to supply the most 
 active state of that industry : the only thing 
 wanted is demand — legitimate demand; here is 
 your candidate's great error ; he regards an in- 
 creased circulating medium as the cause, and 
 demand as the effect; whereas, the simple and 
 obvious truth is the converse of that : demand is 
 the cause, and the etfect would be, an extension 
 of the present circulation of paper, and an in- 
 creased activity of that of coin, abundantly ade- 
 quate to whatever might be required. 
 
 It has been clearly shewn by those who have 
 made the most diligent investigation, that, on no 
 one occasion, has the extension of the circulating 
 medium been the precursor or cause of demand, 
 and, therefore of a higher price of commodities ; 
 it has invariably been the consequence of them. 
 It may certainly, in some degree, have tended to 
 keep prices up a little while in a state of buoyancy,
 
 26 
 
 hut it lias not prevented demand ceasing, and 
 prices falling : and it has been as clearly shewn, 
 that prices have invariably fallen previously to any 
 contraction of the currency, and that such con- 
 traction has been a natural consequence of that 
 fall. 
 
 Your candidate will fiud, if he look into his 
 butcher^s bills, that the price of mutton, of late, has 
 been some 25 per cent, higher than nine months 
 ago ; and would he attempt to make us believe, that 
 this has been caused by an increase of the circu- 
 lating medium having^r^f found its way into the 
 pockets of sheep dealers ? We know that the 
 true cause is, that the supply is less, or, (as you 
 equally incline the balance by adding to one scale, 
 as by taking from the other,) what, in effect, is 
 precisely the same thing, the demand greater. 
 The prices, therefore, have naturally got up, and 
 the dealers in mutton, both wholesale and retail, 
 require a larger amount of circulating medium 
 to carry on their transactions ; which, I fancy, 
 they find very little difficulty in procuring. 
 
 It may not, perhaps, be improper that 1 should 
 here briefly advert to some of the leading causes 
 of the distress which is generally complained of. 
 The effects of our transition from the late extra- 
 ordinary war to a state of peace, — from the
 
 'It 
 
 artificial state of tliinos to which it had given rise 
 in this country, to a gradual deternjination to that 
 which is more natural, which effects have only of 
 late years begun to be exhibited in their full re- 
 ality, — appear to be altogether overlooked by your 
 candidate. Besides the usual causes which tend 
 to enhance prices in all countries, in a state of 
 war, there were many other co-operating ones, 
 which arose out of the peculiar circumstances of 
 this country. The seat of war being confined to 
 other countries, and those chiefly our rivals in 
 the manufacturing arts, we experienced no inter- 
 ruption, and I>ut little competition, in those peace- 
 able pursuits : that circumstance gave a consider- 
 able impulse to our productive industry, in every 
 department, by increasing the demand for it 
 abroad. It also happened that, during this period, 
 the most important inventions in machinery were 
 made in this country^ which, by rendering British 
 labour much more efficient in the production of 
 commodities, enhanced the value of it, relatively 
 to that of other countries, as well as the value of 
 every other kind of national property. The 
 commerce and navigation of the world, too, were 
 almost wholly monopolized by us, being under 
 the control of our naval power ; added to all 
 M'hich, we possessed a highly depreciated paper 
 circulation, unrestrained by convertibility into 
 cash. After the termination of the war, there- 
 
 E
 
 28 
 
 fore, and its attendant causes of great demand and 
 high prices, after the hability of bank paper to 
 cash payments, and after foreign countries have 
 begun to rival us in manufacturing skill and 
 commercial enterprize, can there be any wonder 
 that prices are generally reduced ? With that com- 
 petition, too, our power of production, and also 
 that of other countries., are, from further improve- 
 ments in skill and invention, still increasing, but 
 without our monopolizing the advantages of it. 
 
 As to tiie more general distress of the commer- 
 cial world, there is little doubt that the lack of 
 wisdom in the commercial laws and regulations 
 of all countries — dictated, as they are, by a nar- 
 row spirit of selfishness and jealousy — form no 
 trifling cause of that embarrassment. It is not 
 assuming too much, that a more wise and liberal 
 policy, directing the industry of every country to 
 those resources which nature has more particu- 
 larly conferred upon them, and those pursuits 
 and occupations in which they are more fitted to 
 succeed, would, with less restricted intercourse, 
 tend, more than any other means, to create 
 activity, industry, and prosperity among all. How 
 far this system of free trade is calculated to pro- 
 duce such favourable results, if adopted by an in- 
 dividual nation only, I shall not attempt to discuss 
 here ; — I fear there is too much reason to doubt it.
 
 29 
 
 This, perhaps, most important, remedy for the 
 depression of the commercial world generally — a 
 general improvement in its commercial policy — 
 cannot be counted on, as immediate or certain : 
 but those remedies calculated to alleviate that of 
 our own country, more particularly, and which 
 are within our own power, should not be neg- 
 lected or deferred. — I shall very soon briefly 
 advert to the most obvious of them. 
 
 Your candidate observes correctly in " A Second 
 Letter to the Magistrates of the South of En- 
 gland, ^^ that the export of manufactures, produced 
 by labourers, whose low wages are insufficient 
 for their support, and who must therefore come 
 on their parishes for the deficiency, must be an 
 injurious trade to the community. This is suc- 
 ceeded by the following passage, page 17 — " But 
 *' putting out of sight the influence of this prac- 
 " tice, even allowing* that every employer paid 
 ^' wages sufficient to maintain his labourer's fa- 
 *' mily, as well as himself, it is yet very question- 
 " able, that low money wages are a benefit lo any 
 " country — 1 firmly believe the reverse to be the 
 *' truth ; and since the mass of the inliabitaius of 
 " every country subsist upon wages, I believe 
 •' there is no surer test of the happiness of aii> 
 ^* community than the amount of the price < f 
 " labour." It is difficult to understand from this,
 
 so 
 
 in connexion with other parts of his works, what 
 he means by " low money wages." If we are to 
 understand low money wages, relatively to the 
 high rate of wages to which the peculiar circum- 
 stances of the late war gave rise, (which I have 
 before briefly noticed,) and which, like every 
 thing else fictitiously raised in value by those 
 circumstances, have gradually declined, 1 imagine 
 he will find few men of intelligence to agree with 
 him, that it is possible, by any paper-money-inge- 
 nuity, to bring back such a state of things into exis- 
 tence. It is unnatural, and morally impossible. 
 His scheme of fictitious money, and an unsound 
 system of accommodation, might, like an intoxi- 
 cating dose administered to the miserable hypo- 
 chondriac, give a temporary excitement, and 
 create a momentary phantasm of happiness and 
 prosperity ; but, the delusion would soon be dis- 
 sipated, and be succeeded by a more wretched 
 state of reality. It is not a high rate of money 
 wages, caused by artificial circumstances, but a 
 lower rate, compared with what they heretofore 
 have been, under such circumstances, and with 
 what they are, even now, which is the great desi- 
 deratum for the labouring population of this em- 
 pire : they want commodities at a less price. The 
 natural price of labour, which must depend on the 
 price of the necessaries of life, absolutely required 
 for the labourer's support, should be lower ; the
 
 .31 
 
 demi'.nd for labour would then increase, and the 
 market price of it — or the price it would fetch — 
 would consequently rise. It is a high rate of wages, 
 arising from such a came, that is desirable ; and 
 which would make the condition of the labourer 
 permanently prosperous and comfortable : and 
 not from the artificial causes of taxation, or de- 
 preciated paper currency. 
 
 The simple and obvious mode, therefore, of 
 accomplishing this most important object is, 
 first, carefully to g-uard our currency from 
 depreciation, by preserving it on the same 
 basis, as that of the world at large. Your 
 candidate's panacea of one pound notes might, 
 for a period — but short it would be — raise the 
 price of labour and of every thing else ; but, it 
 would depreciate the currency, and infuse into it 
 \he Jiimsi/ elements of fluctuation — of greater 
 and dangerous extension, and greater and dan- 
 gerous contraction ; — it might, for a moment, ope- 
 rate as an artificial stimulus to increased produc- 
 tion, but without regard to the demand for that 
 production : commodities would accumulate, and 
 in spite of the doctrines of political economists, 
 there would be over-production ; the supply 
 would outrun the demand : all then would cease 
 producing, — those possessed of capital, from pru- 
 dence, those who had it not, from embarrassment ;
 
 and hence a decrease of employment, and conse- 
 quent distress among* the labouring classes, and 
 the great bulk of the community ; for money, 
 however abundant, cannot get into their hands, 
 except through the medium of employment : 
 credit would receive a shock ; all would be bor- 
 rowers, but none would lend ; the funds of the 
 paper money makers would be all exhausted in 
 paying coin for the one pound notes, advanced in 
 an inconsiderate moment to those who had no 
 means — whose transactions were too hazardous to 
 afford a reasonable chance — of repaying" them. 
 Thus would be experienced, what is termed, a 
 scarcity of money ; though the amount of it 
 might be just the same, as w hen it was abundant ; 
 indeed, scarcity of money is the want of credit, 
 and abundance the possession of it, without any ad- 
 dition of bits of gold and silver, or one pound 
 notes. Is such a state of things to be desired ? 
 ought it to be encouraged by artificial facilities of 
 accommodation ? There is a sufficient incentive 
 to it, from the great capital and enterprize of the 
 country and its superabundant powers of pro- 
 duction, even with the most firm metallic money 
 system, without having recourse to stimulating 
 nostrums. 
 
 The next obvious mode of ameliorating the 
 condition of the labouring classes, is relieving
 
 .•3.1 
 
 them, in every possible way, from the burthen of 
 taxation, by transferring it to property. The 
 price of labour enters largely into the cost of all 
 manufactured articles, — of some it constitutes the 
 chief ingredient ; surely then, it is of importance 
 to approach somewhat towards the natural price 
 of it in those countries, which are our competi- 
 tors in the production of them ; especially, as they 
 are making rapid advances in the skill, ability, 
 and other advantages we have long possessed over 
 them. 
 
 Your candidate appears to under-rate the im- 
 portance of the foreign market for the surplus 
 produce of our industry ; and this is an error 
 committed by many others. They are apt to com- 
 pare its extent with that of the home market, and 
 at once they assign to it only a proportionate im- 
 portance ; forgetting that, whatever the portion 
 of our surplus produce may be which is exported, 
 the prices it brings in the foreign market regulate 
 entirely the prices at home, and determine the 
 wages of our labourers. How is it possible, 
 therefore, to adopt any system with success, calcu- 
 lated to elevate to an artificial pitch, the prices 
 of the necessaries of life which they consume ? 
 Neither is the amount of our exports so inconsi- 
 derable: even of late years, it has been near 60 
 millions annually, a sum which is equal, probably,
 
 34 
 
 to the present rental of Great Britain and Ireland 
 logether. It is in this foreign market that the 
 foundation of British prosperity is laid. Where is 
 the hoped-for accumulation of British capital to 
 find employment, except, in a great measure, in a 
 demand from this source ? Its beneficial applica- 
 tion to agriculture must, in this sea-girt isle, have 
 a limit, though in that department there is yet ex- 
 tensive scope for it ; but, with the natural produc- 
 tions and great advantages favourable to the manu- 
 facturing art, with which Providence has ahim- 
 dantly blessed us, no one can calculate to what 
 extent that art may be destined to be carried. 
 Where is the country, in ancient or modern 
 times, which has done one twentieth part of what 
 this nation of shopkeepers has effected, in pro- 
 moting the civilization and happiness of man- 
 kind ? and where is the country in existence pos- 
 sessed, at this moment, of one twentieth part of 
 the means of promoting those noblest objects of 
 man ? With but common wisdom in the admi- 
 nistration of our national policy, the market for 
 British industry and skill will be gradually expan- 
 ded with the civilization of the world : and whilst 
 we are laudably engaged in promoting our own 
 interests, and extending the basis of our national 
 wealth and prosperity to the utmost bounds of 
 the earth, we shall, at the same time, be discharg- 
 ing the gratifying duty of reclaiming our fellow
 
 mai) from the deoradation of savage and heathen 
 life. It is a demand from these sources — frotn 
 these new worlds of civilization yet to be brought 
 into existence — to which we must diHgently look 
 for the surplus produce of our industry ; it is this 
 that will give a healthf/ impulse to the home mar- 
 ket, and will create a natural and durable rise in 
 the wages of British labour, as well as, in the 
 price of every thing produced by it ; and not the 
 delusive bubble of one pound notes. 
 
 Your candidate has furnished us with an ex- 
 ample of his doctrine of low wages and export 
 trade, quite as unfortunate as his argument : he 
 says, page 17, of the last named publication, — 
 " Let those who desire a low rate of wages, as 
 " beneficial to a country, look at Ireland, — are 
 *' wages any where lower ? or is there any where a 
 " population plunged in deeper misery ? Yet 
 " there is also a vast export trade from Ireland : 
 " but who does not see that this is so much the 
 *' worse for the unfortunate inhabitants? While 
 " <;e^OO,000()worth of beef, corn, butter, &c. is 
 " exported, they are left starving on half a meal 
 " of potatoes — There is a striking- example of the 
 " benefit of low wages and large exports I!" 
 Will your candidate inform us whether low wages 
 are the cause of Irish wretchedness, or Irish de- 
 gradation, (proceedingfrom circumstances we have 
 
 F
 
 36 
 
 not time to inquire into here) the cause of \q\v 
 wages ? or, — in that kind of labour, with which 
 we have to compete in the foreign market, — will 
 he inform us whether two labourers in Ireland, at 
 half the wages, are as valuable as one English- 
 man ? It is necessary to look at the habits, moral 
 condition, skill, and efficiency of the labourer, as 
 well as the amount of wages he receives, before 
 you decide on his being well> or ill, paid for his 
 labour. A superiority in these qualifications 
 must always naturally confer a higher value, 
 and, therefore, higher wages, on the labour of 
 those possessing them ; whilst, at the same time, 
 the demand for it will be extended. But, on 
 the contrary, when wages of labour are artifi- 
 cially raised by a depreciated currency and 
 taxation, the demand for it will, sooner or 
 later, he contracted. Besides, Irish exports are 
 the produce of the soil, sent to England, chiefly 
 to pay the rents of absentee landlords, of which 
 the value of one tenth, perhaps, does not flow 
 back to Ireland. Ireland would be differently 
 situated if she exported 8 millions worth of com- 
 modities, the produce of her industry, with a 
 profit, and if she imported, for her own con- 
 sumption, 8 millions worth of the commodities 
 of other countries in return. It is only under 
 such circumstances that she could be justly ad- 
 duced as an example, in proof of your candidate's 
 doctrine.
 
 37 
 
 I have extended my address to yon to a iiinch 
 greater length than 1 proposed, when 1 com- 
 menced it ; but, before 1 conclude I beg to say a 
 few words on the assertions and opinions of your 
 candidate, respecting the state of banking in this 
 country. He states that, " the general embar- 
 " rassment of productive industry is not confined 
 *' to this country, but extends over the whole 
 *' commercial world," and asks, " what but a 
 " general rise in the value of the precious metals 
 " (or their increased scarcity) can account for this 
 " universal depression ?'^ and he asserts that, with 
 respect to this country, a certain, indeed, the only, 
 relief is in issuing one pound notes, and assimi- 
 lating our banking system to that of Scotland ; 
 which, he says, is not only " perfect in theory," 
 but, " has proved itself, in every respect, unobjec- 
 tionable." He ought certainly to have excepted 
 Scotland from this sweeping assertion of univer- 
 sal embarrassme?it, where this banking system, 
 so perfect in theory and practice^ has been so 
 long in operation : but I ask him this plain ques- 
 tion, — where has he obtained his information that 
 Scotland has been free from depression, or more 
 free from it than some other countries ? Her 
 manufactures, commerce, and agriculture have 
 been just as much depressed as those of England, 
 except in those parts of England where evils 
 have existed which have no connexion with
 
 38 
 
 banking, and which have resulted from years of 
 gross mal-administration of the poor-laws. — 
 The state of manufactures and agriculture in the 
 norlh of England, which has been, comparatively, 
 exempt from these evils, has, in no degree, been 
 more depressed than in Scotland. 1 assert this 
 without fear of contradiction — 1 assert it from 
 every source of information that has been laid 
 before the public, and also, on highly respectable 
 and intelligent private authority. 
 
 The present system of banking in Scotland is 
 coeval with most important changes in the 
 political and social condition of that country, 
 which developed its latent energies, and have 
 given a new impulse to its intelligence and 
 industry. From the period of the abolition of 
 the semi-barharous system of clanship, or feudal 
 audiority, towards the middle of the last century, 
 may be dated the origin of the great improve- 
 ment in the condition of that country. The arts 
 of civilized life then began to supersede the idle 
 and dissolute habits of vassal-subordination. 
 Many other favourable circumstances have con- 
 tributed to accelerate the progress of this im- 
 provement. The mode of relieving and sup- 
 porting the poor, though, perhaps, not founded 
 in greater wisdom, than that which has been esta- 
 blished in this country, when justly and prudently
 
 .39 
 
 administered, has, at least been such, as to escape 
 the evils and niisery which, owing to gross abuse, 
 so extensively prevail with us. In Scotland, too, 
 greater attention has been paid to the instruction 
 of the lower orders of the people, and they pos- 
 sess a superior physical hardihood, a more patient 
 endurance of suffering, and habits of frugality 
 and persevering industry, which have, doubtless, 
 aided them not a little, in their career of national 
 improvement ; but, your candidate is much mis- 
 taken when he asserts that, even with all these 
 acknowledged advantages, they have been ex- 
 empt from greater depression, in both agriculture 
 and manufactures, than some parts of England ; 
 and much more mistaken, when he attributes 
 such results to a circulation of one pound notes, 
 under any system of banking. 
 
 I do not wish to offer an opinion upon the dif- 
 ferent systems of banking. It is wrong that a 
 monopoly should exist in that line of business, 
 or in any other ; and it is right that the country 
 should have a free choice of any system, w hich 
 it may deem most beneficial : but your candidate 
 should bear it in mind, that there is no obstacle 
 to such free choice in England, except within 60 
 miles of London. During the suspension of 
 cash payments, and an unrestricted one pound 
 note circulation, no doubt, some security was
 
 40 
 
 wanted by llje English public against imprudent 
 and fraudulent country bankers, which might 
 not be required under the Scotch system. — though 
 this system was an equally fertile source of the 
 depreciation of the currency ; — but in the present 
 state of the currency, in England, that desidera- 
 tum ceases to exist ; and with all the boasted, and 
 perhaps overcharged, advantage of the Scotch 
 system,* there are some peculiar to our own, — 
 
 * One of the advantages of the Scotch system, and of a 
 one pound note circulation, strongly set forth by your candi- 
 date and the few advocates of his doctrines, and which had 
 escaped my notice, is, that the great facility of accommodation, 
 thereby afforded, prevents the necessity of the producer selling 
 his commodities in a falling market : but, from this great 
 disadvantage to the public at large might arise, owing to the 
 high prices which tlie want of a due supply in the market 
 would tend to create. In 1812, when the prices of agricultural 
 produce were so extravagantly high, it was the opinion of the 
 most intelligent men, that the facility the farmers had in get- 
 ting advances from country bankers, was, to no small extent, 
 the cause of it, by preventing the markets being duly sup- 
 plied ; and that the pretended outcry of scarcity had no foun- 
 dation in truth ; as it turned out very evident that the stock of 
 grain held by the agriculturists generally, was nearly as great 
 as usual. However this circumstance might affect the commu- 
 nity then, so peculiarly situated as we were, who would wish it 
 to occur now, unless our little isle were surrounded by Bishop 
 Berkeley's wall of brass, 50 cubits high, isolating us from all 
 communication with the rest of the world? With this doctrine 
 your candidate must necessarily assume, that all producers are 
 on an equal footing, in respect of capital and credit ; in which 
 he is far from right. Among producers of every description, 
 be will tind every shade of capital and credit, — from him who 
 is obliged to take his commodity to market as soon as it is 
 ready, to him who can just as conveniently keep it by him for 
 a twelvemonth, or any longer period, — and this will tend to 
 regulate the supply of the market, and consequently the 
 prices, better than any thing he can devise.
 
 41 
 
 such as privacy, a better kMo\vledy;e of parties, a 
 less degree of strictness iu the rules of business, 
 and, consequently, a greater pronnptness of ac- 
 commodation, — which render it very question- 
 able, whether it may not, under a sound metallic 
 currency, be equally acceptable, secure, and bene- 
 ficial to the public : but, surely, this is not to be 
 decided, dogmatically, by your candidate alone ; 
 surely, the public, having a free choice, may be 
 allowed to judge for itself. It may do to cram the 
 crops of geese and tiu'keys for our tables, but 
 such a process must be rather repugnant to the 
 mental capacities of the rational portion of 
 creation. 
 
 Jn concluding, — it may be remarked, that 
 your candidate ought, in candour, to have 
 waited a little longer, before he pronounced his 
 unqualified condemnation of the metallic system 
 of currency, as the source of all the present de- 
 pression of our national industry. He ought to 
 bear it in mind, that in all changes — from that, 
 even, which is unquestionably bad, to what is de- 
 cidedly an improvement — some time must elapse, 
 before the anticipated good can be fully per- 
 ceived : during the operation of change there 
 must be some degree of derangement, before the 
 habits and feelings of the community can be ac- 
 commodated to that which is new. lie should 
 also, in the same spirit of candour, recollect, what
 
 42 
 
 is obvious to every one of ordinary intelligence, 
 that the political agitation of late, both at home 
 and abroad, and the consternation created by the 
 spreading disease which has visited us, are causes, 
 sufficiently abundant, for a great share of the de- 
 pression of our own country, and also, that of 
 others : and if, in forming his opinions, he would 
 take a little more trouble to attend to facts and 
 experience, he would find that, with respect to 
 our own country, previous to those causes liaving 
 come into existence, and since the change in the 
 currency, industry and activity, in every depart- 
 ment, were beginning to assume a brighter and 
 more cheering aspect, than they had worn for 
 some few years before ; — thus affording a satis- 
 factory presumption, almost amounting to proof — 
 which is confirmed, too, by the mitigated effects 
 of those unfavourable causes — that the springs of 
 national prosperity are yet vigorous and eflScient ; 
 and that, whilst founded on Xhe sound and solid 
 basis of a metallic currency, and relieved from 
 every unfair obstruction, they are capable of ele- 
 vating us to a yet more transcendent position 
 among the nations of the eartii. 
 
 A PLAIN Enquirer. 
 
 Paradise House, Pains wick, 
 March, 1832. 
 
 J. p. Brieley, Printer, High-Street, Stroud.
 
 EKKAIA. 
 
 Page 12, 1 
 
 18,1 
 
 24,1 
 
 24,1 
 
 25,1 
 
 28,1 
 
 ne 28, for is engaged, read is engaged in. 
 
 ne 26, for is the stagnation, read are the stagnation. 
 
 ne 3, for of nature's wants, readier nature's wants, 
 
 ne 4 of the note, for correction, read corrective. 
 
 ne 8, for successively, read successfully . 
 
 ne 18, for every country, read all countries.
 
 '■•r?.^ 

 
 jU.;.laij..\^'J,r>L,..v/: 
 
 :^*.