THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF nXINOIS 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 33e 
 BST5
 
 .M?!ffif£fft*iivi.-i-;.>/.."..',:-.v-r-'
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 liNIVERSITY OF lUlNOIS
 
 <7. 
 REFLECTIONS "^ 
 
 ON THE 
 
 ABUNDANCE 
 
 OF 
 
 PAPER IN CIRCULATION, 
 
 AND THE 
 
 ^camtp of g)pecie. 
 
 Bv Siu PHILIP FRANCIS, K. B. 
 
 Ad tempora, quibus nee vitia nostra nee remedia pati possumus, 
 perventum est. 
 
 • SECOND EDITION. 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 PRINTED FOR J. RirxJU'AV, 
 
 NO. 1/0, OPPOSITE OLD BOND STREET, PICCADTLLY, 
 
 1810.
 
 REFLECTIONS 
 
 ON THE 
 
 ABUNDANCE . OF PAPER, 
 
 AND 
 
 SCARCITY OF COIN". 
 
 AVERAGE PRICE OF BANK-STOCK. 
 
 1760...* ^ iic| 
 
 1777 ^' I33I 
 
 1797 a^I27|- 
 
 1809 ^280 
 
 Dividend raised from 7 to 11 per Cent., besides sundry 
 Bonusses, which shall be stated hereafter. 
 
 It was said by William Earl of Chatham 
 forty years ago, or somefepdy has recorded 
 it for him, ** That it was a maxim he had 
 observed through life, when he had lost his 
 way, to stop short, least, by proceeding with- 
 out knowledge and advancing from one 
 false step to another, he should wind himself 
 into an inextricable labyrinth, and never be 
 able to recover the right road." He was 
 naturally a brave man, and, by constantly 
 
 B
 
 holding a high language, accustomed his 
 mind to keep company with generous 
 principles and great ideas. When George 
 the Second, indignant at the Convention of 
 Closter Seven, concluded by the Duke of 
 Cumberland, repeatedly said to Mr. Pitt, ** / 
 gave bim no powers,*' his repeated answer 
 was, ** Very Jul/ powers i?:deed^ Sir,** 
 
 Most men are ready to admit that plain- 
 ness and simplicity are good moral qualities, 
 and not at all unwilling to encourage them 
 in others. But it is not so generally known 
 or admitted, that these qualities, instructed 
 by experience or enlightened by reflection, 
 are the surest evidence of a sound under- 
 standing. A cunning rogue may cheat a 
 wiser man of his money ; but, in an ab- 
 stract question to be determined by judge- 
 ment, it is not possible that skill and artifice 
 can finally prevail over plain reason, which, 
 in the ordinary transactions of life, is called 
 common sense. If it were possible for me 
 to personify the British nation, and if I 
 were at liberty to offer my humble advice 
 to so great a person, the first thing I should 
 recommend to him would be to adopt the 
 maxim of Lord Chatham, to stop for a
 
 3 
 
 moment, in order to take a general view 
 of bis situation with his own eyes, and to 
 reflect on it himself. The first question I 
 would urge to his consideration, as more 
 immediately pressing, though not more im- 
 portant than many others, is, whether this 
 kingdom, with many appearances to the 
 contrary, be not essentially impoverished, 
 and whether the causes of that effect be or 
 be not in a state of progression. It is in 
 vain to argue with any man, who professes to 
 think that a circulation of paper, not con- 
 vertible into specie, and which may be in- 
 creased ad libitum by those who issue it, is 
 as sure a sign of wealth as specie itself, or 
 at least answers all the purposes of gold and 
 silver, as it certainly does some of them. 
 His principle, if he be in earnest, which I 
 should very much doubt of any person in 
 possession of his senses, would oblige him, 
 in many other cases, to maintain that the 
 shadow of a good thing is just as good as 
 the substance ; or that water, forced into the 
 system, performs the functions of blood, 
 with equal effect and greater facility. With 
 the help of tapping it might do so, as 
 long as the stamina lasted. But, in these
 
 cases, the patient is apt to give the lie or 
 the shp to the physician, and to die of a 
 dropsy with the panacea in his bowels. He, 
 who really suffers his mind to be amused with 
 such fancies, has something to enjoy, and 
 it would be cruel to undeceive him, But, in 
 fact, there is no such person out of Bedlam, 
 except perhaps on the coast of Angola, 
 where, in former times at least, the ho- 
 nest Christian trader persuaded the infidel 
 natives that cowries and glass beads would 
 answer their purposes much better than gold 
 or silver. In this way, they were converted 
 out of their property, but not at all out of 
 their infidelity. 
 
 Paper undoubtedly is more convenient and 
 manageable than coin ; it executes many ser- 
 vices much better ; and, as long as its credit 
 is good, a reasonable circulation of it helps 
 to promote and facilitate the operations of 
 industry. But, with all its facilities as an 
 ^gent, there is one condition essential to 
 its value as a sign, namely, security. Take 
 away that condition, and the value of a 
 Bank-note immediately becomes imaginary. 
 Jt has no intrinsic value, and it represents 
 nothing. Such paper may pass among our-.
 
 5 
 selves by agreement, and we may coin as 
 much of it as we please ; but, so far from 
 being a sign or effect of wealth, the increasing 
 abundance of such paper, without specie ex- 
 isting and forthcoming to answer it, is a sure 
 and indisputable evidence of immediate or 
 approaching poverty. The first question to 
 be considered is, what is become of the gold 
 and silver, which, before the present war, 
 were plentiful enough j and, if they are gone, 
 whether, in the present course of things, 
 there be any likelihood of their coming back 
 again. Near two years ago, Mr. Baring 
 gave us fair warning of our situation and its 
 consequences. He truly said, "That this 
 '• country then stood in the singular predica- 
 ** ment of abandoning the general medium 
 ** of circulation, gold and silver, for paper, 
 •* which is of no value beyond its own li- 
 " mits.*' Even then he told us, that ** the 
 ** precious metals had not increased in quan- 
 " tity in proportion to the depreciation of 
 ** our nominal money, to furnish us the 
 " means of circulation." If that was the 
 case two years ago, what must it be now, 
 when we know that there is no bullion left, 
 and that guineas are not to be found, unless 
 they hnppcn to be stopped in their way to
 
 tl|e continent ; and when the expenditure, 
 we have to provide for, is not much less 
 than eighty millions a-year? Of this ex- 
 pence, a very great proportion cannot be 
 paid with paper, videlicet, your armies and 
 garrisons abroad ; your navy on foreign sta- 
 tions j subsidies to foreign courts, and many 
 other expences, such as the interest of the 
 public debt held by foreigners at war with 
 you, and estimated at seven hundred thou- 
 sand pounds a-year; besides the bullion, 
 from six to eight hundred thousand pounds, 
 exported annually by the East India Com- 
 pany. All this amount must go in gold 
 and silver, unless the favourable state of 
 your trade with the continent and else- 
 where gives you a foreign credit, which 
 may help to supply you with part of the 
 sum wanted to answer these demands. 
 
 While our houses are ransacked for taxes ; 
 while the community are crushed by the 
 weight, and harassed by the exaction ; while 
 the opulence of a few, who share in the 
 produce, is the only consolation left to those 
 who pay for it ; let us see and consider 
 what sort of comfort we receive from the 
 dealers in paper. There can be no doubt
 
 7 
 that these worthy persons have it seriously at 
 heart to furnish us with any relief, that 
 may help to keep us quiet, while they turn 
 the whole system, and every possible profit 
 growing out of general distress, to their own 
 special advantage. Now, these people tell 
 us, with as much gravity as if they be- 
 lieved it, that Bank-notes are not depre- 
 ciated ; by which, I suppose, they would 
 be understood to mean, in comparison with 
 the standard coin of the kingdom, or, at 
 least, with bullion ; for money, after all," 
 is the measure of commerce, and of the 
 rate of every thing. If this be not their 
 meaning, they do not speak intelligibly, or 
 they say nothing to the purpose; and then I 
 should leave them to argue with one ano- 
 ther. But, taking their proposition in its 
 plain and obvious sense, 1 say it is not true. 
 As long as Bank-notes, orl paper securities 
 of any other kind, were convertible into 
 specie on demand, the value of such paper 
 could not be depreciated otherwise than by 
 the bankruptcy of those who issued it. But 
 the case is quite altered, when the Bank is 
 exempted by law from paying their notes 
 on demand, according to the fundamental 
 5
 
 condition of their charter sine qua non^ and 
 when the moral and lawful claims of creditor 
 against debtor are dissolved by an act of 
 power. Without arguing now on the me- 
 rits or necessity of that measure, because it 
 is a lost case, let us look to the consequences 
 of it, as connected with the present ques- 
 tion. Suppose that, on any given day, an 
 ounce of gold might be bought with 3/. 1 8 J. 
 in Bank paper, it would be fair to say, that 
 paper and gold, compared with one ano- 
 ther, were at par. He, who had one of 
 these commodities, might purchase the 
 other without loss, if he wanted it. But if, 
 in the course of any given period, this ounce 
 of gold should be progressively rising in its 
 paper price, as for example, because it is 
 the fact, from 3/. i8j. to 4/. ioj. can it 
 possibly be denied, that the value of gold, 
 in relation to paper, has risen twelve shil- 
 lings an ounce, and that the value of the 
 paper, in the same relation, has fallen in 
 the same proportion ? There is no end of 
 cavilling about words ; but, in plain Eng- 
 lish and common sense, what is a diminu- 
 tion of value, but a depreciation of the 
 thing valued ?
 
 9 
 
 When, by agreement or otherwise, any 
 two things arc made the measure of each 
 other, by a par settled between them, if one 
 of them rises above that par, and the other 
 sinks below it, the difference must be a pre- 
 mium on the first, and a discount on the 
 second. It matters not, whether this mea- 
 sure relates to coin and paper, or to corn 
 and cloth. For example ; suppose a yard 
 of cloth and a bushel of wheat on a given 
 day to be equal to each other reciprocally. 
 If, in a lapse of time, that equality should 
 be lost, and if a yard of cloth should be 
 valued at two bushels of wheat, it seems to 
 me self-evident, that the cloth would be at 
 a premium, and the corn at a discount of 
 fifty per cent, in relation to each other. 
 He, who denies the truth of this proposi- 
 tion, will be bound to maintain that, if the 
 price of gold were to rise to ten or twenty 
 pounds an ounce in paper, the price of the 
 said paper would not be diminished, which 
 I conceive is the same thing as saying that 
 it would not be depreciated. 
 
 Another short view of the question, or 
 rather another form of putting it, I should 
 C
 
 lO 
 
 imagine, would end it. Suppose the thing, 
 which any man wants to buy, is Bank- 
 notes, and that he has nothing to pay for 
 them but gold. Yesterday his ounce of 
 gold would only have bought four pounds 
 in paper. To-day he can get five pounds of 
 the same paper, with the same ounce ot 
 gold. Is the paper cheaper to-day by 
 twenty-five per cent, than it was yesterday ? 
 But, cheap or dear, is measured by price, 
 and, if the price be so much lower, is, or is 
 not the value so far reduced ? Whether re- 
 duction of price be depreciation or not, or 
 equivalent to it, is a verbal question very 
 fit to be argued in 'Change Alley; but pro- 
 bably will not be entertained by any man, 
 who has brains enough left to defend his 
 pockets. Here this part of the subject may 
 be dismissed, with one short memorandum 
 to the reader, which he should for ever bear 
 jn mind, viz. that, considering specie and 
 paper as equally a medium of circulation, 
 there is this essential and eternal difference 
 between them, that paper, at best, can be 
 nothing but a sign among ourselves ; but 
 that, by the common consent of mankind, 
 gold and silver have an intrinsic value, and
 
 II 
 
 constitute a real pledge or deposit, as well 
 as a sign ; and though the price may acci- 
 dentally vary, according to the quantity and 
 the demand, still an intrinsic value adheres 
 to the substance. If indeed wealth be an 
 evil, and poverty a blessing, there is no- 
 thing so easy as to get rid of the evil, and 
 not only to secure the present blessing, but 
 to entail it on posterity. For this desirable 
 purpose, no effort is necessary but to per- 
 severe in the smooth, down-hill course, 
 which we are now pursuing. The plane 
 is inclined, and the machine, once in mo- 
 tion, will go of itself. There is nothing so 
 quiet and easy as the descent of a falling 
 body through an unresisting medium. 
 
 They, who deny the depreciated value of 
 paper in circulation, have a loose vulgar way 
 of talking, fit to satisfy such careless people 
 as the inert mass of the English consists of. 
 It is said, with a triumph over arguments, 
 which are not listened to, that, as long as a 
 one pound note and a Birmingham shilling 
 will purchase as much beef and mutton, or 
 any other commodity in the shops, as a 
 guinea, either of them is equal to the other.
 
 and, consequently, paper is not depreciated, 
 at least among ourselves ; for no man, 1 
 think, has the confidence to affirm, that the 
 proposition would be true, if applied to our 
 mercantile intercourse, or any other moneys 
 dealing with foreigners. If it were so, that 
 is, if we were cunning enough to persuade 
 a foreign creditor to receive Bank-notes in 
 payment, then undoubtedly we might soon 
 settle the score with him, as we do with 
 many other creditors nearer home. As to 
 internal circulation, it is true that he, who 
 has but a few guineas left, may be compelled 
 to part with them, though he gets no more 
 for his guinea than he might for a note and 
 a shilling. But first, it is certain that all 
 these rare, straggling guineas, are shot flying, 
 or caught up as fast as they appear, and 
 cither hoarded, or melted into ingots, or ex- 
 ported in specie. But would any man, 
 Jew or Gentile, who possessed a thousand 
 guineas, lend or pay them for ^ 1050 in 
 paper, while various ways are open to him, 
 by which he may exchange them for the 
 same paper with a profit of fifteen or twenty 
 per cent. ; and, if he were so ill-advised 
 or so generous, would not his thousand
 
 13 
 guineas be seized by other Jews or Gen- 
 tiles, and go directly to the crucible? A 
 Birmingham shilling may do as well for 
 common change, as a shilling from the 
 mint, if such a thing existed or ever came 
 into sight, because, in petty dealings, where 
 the shilling changes hands every minute, a 
 small shifting loss is not regarded — nulla est 
 de minimis curai or, because Vv^e are willing 
 to pay a light tax for a constant convenience; 
 but not so when great payments are in ques- 
 tion. For then we know the difference, and 
 that it constitutes an object worth attending 
 to. Would any debtor make a payment of 
 ^ J 050 in guineas, if, by melting the same 
 guineas, he could pay the debt, and put a 
 hundred pounds worth of the circulating 
 paper into his pocket ? The case is just the 
 same in purchase as in payment. If, to buy 
 a certain quantity of corn or cloth, he parts 
 with a thousand new guineas instead of 
 ^ 1050 in Bank-notes, 1 say he is cheated 
 or he cheats himself; because the guineas 
 are worth fifteen or twenty per cent, more; 
 which difference he might realize by meltino- 
 or exporting them ; and, if he were resolved 
 to forego that profit himself, somebody else
 
 14 
 Would take it instead of him. The public 
 would gain nothing by his forbearance. 
 But what signifies arguing such questions, 
 when we all know that there are no heavy 
 guineas in connmon circulation, and very- 
 few even of those, that have been most se- 
 verely clipped or sweated ? Does any land- 
 lord receive one guinea in a thousand pounds 
 in the rents of his estate ? That question 
 was asked in the House of Commons seven 
 years ago, and neither then nor since has 
 ever been answered in the affirmative. 
 
 I know it is stoutly asserted, that there 
 never was any thing so flourishing as the 
 foreign trade of England at this time ; that 
 our imports are considerable, but that they 
 are exceeded by our exports to the amount 
 of many millions, which, it seems, find a 
 rapid and profitable sale, wherever they are 
 sent. Foreign markets are never glutted 
 with Enfrlish o-oods, and these eoods arc 
 never sold under prime cost, to save or se- 
 cure the freight ; or left to perish on the 
 beach, as I know they do at Heligoland, to 
 an immense amount, particularly of colonial 
 produce. A gentleman, very lately arrived
 
 15 
 
 from that fortunate island, assured mc that, 
 from the beach to the stairs, he had walked 
 up to his ancles in salted sugar and rotten 
 coiFee. Moreover, it is stated to me, on the 
 authority of a gentleman of unquestionable 
 veracity, who arrived from the Brazils within 
 this month, that British manufactures of all 
 sorts, particularly cloths, were sold there 
 and at Buenos Ay res, when they could be 
 sold at all, 25 percent, under prime cost. 
 Nevertheless, trade flourishes to such a de- 
 gree, that the name of a bankrupt in the 
 Gazette, is as rare as a nightingale in Scot- 
 land, or a guinea in circulation. Now of 
 all general propositions concerning the real 
 state of profit and loss by foreign trade, the 
 truth is difficult to be proved, when they are 
 true, and. the falsehood still more so, when 
 they are false, that is, by direct and specific 
 evidence ; because there is an underhand 
 trade, of which no account can be taken, 
 and even the valuation of goods entered for 
 exportation is not measured by the quantity, 
 but by a computed price, and therefore 
 must be at all times problematical ; as if, 
 on much the same principle, it might be 
 iairly concluded that he, who eats a pound
 
 i6 
 
 of bread, when it costs a penny, must of 
 course eat six times as much, when the same 
 pound costs him sixpence: or as if a baker 
 could prove that he had sold six pounds of 
 bread, because he had made a return of that 
 number of pence to the exciseman. So, at 
 least, I am advised by the learned. A great 
 importation of naval stores or other articles 
 of necessity from the Baltic, and of corn or 
 luxuries from France, of itself proves no- 
 thing, but that this country is so much in 
 debt to the enemy, and then the question is 
 whether such import is balanced by an equal 
 or greater exportation of our own commo- 
 dities to France and Russia, or whether it 
 be overpaid, which would create a credit in 
 our favour, or in what other manner the 
 account is settled. Now a true and satis- 
 factory answer to that question, as I am 
 told, will not be collected exactly from Cus- 
 tom-house statements; but, as I am quite sure, 
 may be safely and certainly derived from 
 another test, which never did, or can deceive 
 us, and which, for the purpose in hand, 
 would make all official accounts unnecessary. 
 Whenever we see the market price of bul- 
 lion reduced to the level, at which gold and
 
 I? 
 
 silver m^y be coined, we may be satisfied 
 that there is no danger of wanting guineas 
 and shillings for the uses of circulation, or 
 any other, and to make that of paper per- 
 fectly safe, as well as convenient ; and, if 
 we see the course of exchange, between this 
 and other countries, materially in our favour, 
 we may be equally sure that the trade with 
 those countries is favourable to us, and that 
 there must be an influx of real wealth into 
 Britain. National prosperity proves itself. 
 It may be felt and enjoyed, but cannot be de- 
 monstrated. On that subject all other evidence 
 is either fallacious or superfluous. A wor- 
 thy Knight and Alderman weighs himself 
 mechanically, or out of pure animal cu- 
 riosity, to know how much he has gained 
 or wasted in solid contents, since he dined 
 at the Mansion-house. This well-fed ma- 
 gistrate, with a florid face, the appetite of 
 a cormorant, and the digestion of an os- 
 trich, has no occasion, as I take it, to send 
 for the doctor to feel his pulse. In all bo- 
 dies, human, or made of men, spirits and 
 strength are the test of constitution. Ge- 
 nuine health makes no appeal to calcula- 
 tion. But -suppose the symptoms in this 
 
 D
 
 1.8 
 
 case to be notoriously revc^rsed ; if specie 
 disappears, if the whole mass of gold, 
 which proved the super-lucration of our 
 trade, and which since His Majesty's ac- 
 cession has been coined into sixty millions 
 sterling, be gone or going, and if bills oh 
 the rest of the world, or on Europe, are 
 not to be had but at an exorbitant premium 
 sufficient to make it the interest of the per- 
 son, who w^ants to make a remittance, ra- 
 ther to send the amount in specie, than to 
 buy the bill ; cunning men may argue, 
 and silly people may listen to them ; but 
 neither their arguments nor their docu- 
 ments, with which the plainest questions 
 are sure to be overwhelmed and strangled, 
 ought -to have the weight of a feather agkittst 
 the' facts. With a glut of paper, intririsi- 
 cally worth nothing, and representing no- 
 thing, y;i6li'aiTS going headlong into real beg- 
 gary; while these people tell you that 'it is" 
 just 'the contrary, and that you never looked 
 better in your life. To comprehend the 
 truth of these propoSitiotts, the difficulty it 
 not in the' 'subject, which in fact is intel- 
 ligible enough to any sound, attentive un- 
 derstanding. But it is involved in artificial
 
 obscurity by many laborious writers, who 
 either do not know how to express them- 
 selves in direct terms and honest English, or 
 have some incerest to serve by endeavouring 
 to perplex us, and therefore seldom tell us 
 the steps or process between their premises 
 and their conclusion. I do not mean to deny 
 that a paradox may be true, though it should 
 contradict a received opinion; but after all, 
 in the consideration of practical questions, 
 the safest way is to be governed by common 
 sense, and, in particular, not to be very 
 ready to believe that nations are sure to thrive 
 and prosper by the same courses, which 
 would ruin an individual, and land him in 
 a jail. ** This business of money and 
 *' coinage is by some men, and amongst them 
 ** some very ingenious persons, thought a 
 " great mystery and very hard to be under- 
 '* stood. Not that truly in itself it is so, but 
 " because interested people that treat of it, 
 ** wrap up the secret they make advantage of, 
 "in a mystical, obscure, and unintelligible 
 '* u^ay of talking; which men, from a prc- 
 ** conceived opinion oi the difficulty of the 
 " subject, taking for sense, in a matter noi 
 " easy to be penetrated, but by the men of art . 
 D 2
 
 •Met pass for current without examination. 
 •'Whereas, would they look into those dis- 
 *' courses, and inquire what meaning their 
 *• words have, they would find for the most 
 " part either their positions to be false, their 
 ** deductions to be wrong, or (which often 
 " happens) their words to have no distinct 
 ** meaning at all. Where none of these be, 
 " there their plain, true, honest sense would 
 ** prove very easy and intelligible, if ex- 
 *' pressed in ordinary and direct language.". 
 — JoHM Locke, 
 
 It is said, lessen the paper in circulation, 
 and that will soon bring back the specie, be- 
 cause then the specie will be wanted ; as if 
 wanting any thing were a sure method of 
 getting it. Possibly a diminution of the 
 paper might have that effect in some degree, 
 if the specie were only hoarded within the 
 kingdom, and kept out of sight. But sup- 
 posing the case to be that foreigners, who 
 refuse to be paid in paper, have got posses- 
 sion of our gold and silver, or of a great 
 part of it, will they bring it back to pur- 
 chase t'liat paper because there is less of it 
 in circulation here, and when the article is 
 so much dearer by a reduction of the q[uan»
 
 tity ? No reason occurs why they should do 
 so. Tell us yours, if you have any ; and 
 don*t leave your own naked, helpless concep- 
 tions in the street, or at other men's doors, 
 to shift for themselves, like bastards in a 
 basket. But will foreigners bring back gui- 
 neas to purchase our produce or commodi- 
 ties ? Apparently not ; for, even if the ports 
 of the continent were open, they are our 
 creditors already ; and whatever value they 
 receive from us, must go, in the first in- 
 stance, to the discharge or diminution of 
 that debt, which, as long as it continues, 
 will supply them with bills on England, to 
 be had at a very great discount, which is 
 sure to be paid by the debtor. 
 
 Without attending to occasional fluctua- 
 tions in the price of bullion, which, if 
 they are accidental, can only be temporary, 
 what is the true cause of the scarcity of 
 gold and silver in this or any other com- 
 mercial country, supposing such scarcity 
 to be progressive and likely to be perma- 
 nent ? To this question, in the nature of 
 things, there is but one answer, plain, ra- 
 tional, and everlastingly true. Every thing
 
 VI 
 
 else is mere paradoxical juggling, difficult 
 to be understood, and only calculated to 
 confound the understanding of mankind. 
 If any country should constantly, or for a 
 great length of time, import more, for her 
 own consumption, than she exports of her 
 own commodities, the difference or balance 
 oi trade against her must be finally made 
 good in specie or bullion. But this is only 
 a part of the present case. In addition to the 
 balance of trade, supposing that to be against 
 us, the balance of all other money transac- 
 tions with the rest of the world must be 
 added to the commercial deficit. A great 
 foreign expence can only be provided for 
 in one of two ways ; either, first, by a 
 credit abroad, equal to all those expences, 
 which credit cannot be had otherwise than 
 by a proportionate profit on your trade, and, 
 i f that were the case now, there would be 
 no occasion to export specie. Gold and 
 ^ilver would remain here in statu quo, and 
 the Bank of England would never have been 
 under the necessity of stopping payment; 
 or, secondly, you must pay the balance out 
 of the existing wealth or substance of this 
 Icingdom. For these services, the foreign-
 
 bullion goes first ; then go the guineas ; for 
 as to silver coin, there is none, other than 
 that of Birmingham, for common change, 
 and lately a few dollars ; and even of tbem 
 there is no great plenty, though the Bank 
 say they have issued to the number of 
 4,817,634 since the year 1797, which 
 shows that most of the old ones have taken 
 wing, and will soon be followed by the 
 rest. They are all ahke birds of passage. 
 A lame dollar will be as much a curiosity as 
 a Woodcock in August, for the dollars go 
 just like the guineas; and, if so, it proves 
 another thing, which the best dreamer? 
 never dreamt of; that raising the nominal 
 value of your coin, won't keep it from tra- 
 velling. Finally, the plate must follow the 
 guineas, or you must stop short and stop 
 payment; and then, I say that, in spite of 
 Bank-notes and paper circulation, or any 
 agreement among ourselves to receive and 
 pay in that sort of coin, and in spite of a 
 grand sinking-fund into the bargain, tl->e 
 nation most be bankrupt, beggared, and 
 undone, and that we are every day approxi- 
 mating to that conclusion. These propo- 
 • sitions, whether true or not, are intcHigible,
 
 M 
 
 and, if any great banker, instead of writing 
 an intricate volume, would have the gene- 
 rosity to say Tes or No to the truth of them, 
 I then should think that he dealt fairly with 
 the subject, and that he had no design to im- 
 pose upon me by cunning sophistries or end- 
 less argumentation. 
 
 In the last distress of argument, when the 
 facts stare us in the face, and the authors of all 
 the mischief have no subterfuge left, they 
 still have a triumphant way of talking-— 
 '* H'^ell, where ^s the remedy ? and what is^ 
 your advice .^'* as if it rested with the pa- 
 tient, whom they have reduced to the point 
 of death, to cure himself; and indeed, if 
 we cannot cure ourselves, there must ere 
 long be an end of us. Now, without 
 regarding any thing said b^ such people, 
 the question they put is of too much im- 
 portance not to deserve consideration. On 
 the sober principles of plain reason, there 
 is but one way of answering it. A na- 
 tion, wasted by a dysentery, is i>o more to 
 be cured by a charm or a Jiostrujn, than a 
 galloping consumption by a specitic over- 
 night, or a pill taken fasting. , You 
 must tQtally change your system, and alter
 
 your course. The effect of a new regimen, 
 supposing it adhered to, is in its nature 
 slow, and furnishes at best only a reasonable 
 probability of success. But if the patient 
 can neither wait for the remedy, nor endure 
 the disease, the case is desperate, and the 
 less he thinks of it the better. In the 
 plague of Athens, the few, who escaped 
 the infection, determined to enjoy life while 
 it lasted, and, in the midst of disease, deso- 
 lation, and death, spent all they had left 
 in banquets and festivals. They had sing- 
 ers from Magna Graecia, and dancers from 
 Gaul, who received an Attic talent, or 
 193/. 15^. every month for their trouble, 
 which in those times was reckoned a high 
 salary. 
 
 Some persons think that the Bank should 
 immediately be compelled to pay their notes 
 in specie, on demand, as in strict justice 
 they ought to do; but, in the first place, 
 it may fairly be suspected that it is not in 
 their power. In all probability, the gui- 
 neas, they may still have in reserve, would 
 not answer a tenth part of their notes in 
 circulation, and, in the present state of 
 
 £
 
 26 
 
 things, whatever specie they issued would 
 soon disappear. If, for example, they 
 were to issue a million of guineas to-mor- 
 row, they would all vanish. Some would be 
 hoarded, more would be melted, and all the 
 rest be exported: and this must for ever be 
 the case, as long as our expences abroad fa'r 
 exceed our co;^imcrcial credit with other na- 
 tions J and if, in addition to those expences, 
 the balance of trade be also against us, itis 
 fit we should be told, in plain terms, how 
 those expences and that balance are to be 
 made good". Then what resource is left to 
 save us from beggary ? There is but one, 
 if we have strength and stam.ina left to wait 
 tbeeifect of it. The nation must tread back 
 its steps, and reverse its proceedings in the 
 same path, which has brought it to its pre- 
 sent decline. Stop your foreign expences. 
 Sell more than you buy ; and then the 
 wealth, that has left you, will gradually 
 come back again. When the foreign ac- 
 eount is against you, the gold and silver 
 must go to balance it. When that balance 
 is reversed, the gold and silver will return ; 
 but never till then, or by any other means. 
 This is up-hill work I know, but this and
 
 27 
 
 nothing else can stop the growing mischief, 
 or at least retard its progress. 
 
 A war of fifteen years continuance seems 
 to have been quite long enough for an 
 experiment, and might invite us to try 
 whether it might not be possible for a com- 
 mercial nation to breathe or float in another 
 element. Not that I mind what is called 
 the mercantile interest in the city. They 
 are the loudest advocates of war, because 
 they all gain by it more or less, though not 
 at all in the true character of merchants. 
 But, granted ; war is no longer a calamity ; 
 or at worst it is a necessary evil, incident to 
 the system. It is the physic and phlebotomy, 
 that clears the intestines and opens the veins, 
 and saves the body politic from bursting of 
 a plethora. Agreed. It is fit, I suppose, 
 because it always happens, that feeble rea- 
 son should give way to vigorous insanity. 
 What sort of war do you mean now ^ 
 What ! still a continental war ! after the de- 
 solation and conquest of Spain, are we really 
 so wicked and abandoned, as still to set up 
 a sham defence of Portugal, for no conceiv- 
 able purpose, but to bar that unfortunate 
 
 E 2
 
 ^8 
 
 Country from sorne timely capitulation that 
 might shelter it from the last of all human 
 calamities, from being taken by assault, with 
 no possible escape from conquest but emi- 
 gration, nor even from utter destruction 
 but in a hopeless appeal to the mercy of the 
 -sword ? The measure in agitation supposes 
 that Portugal, rebus sic stantibus, can be 
 defended by British assistance. If that be 
 the war you m.ean, it is worse than all the 
 rest ; because it stands on an assumption, 
 which you know to be false. The conti- 
 nent is gone; you know it is irretrievably 
 gone ; while your act supposes that son)c 
 part of it may still be recovered or preserved. 
 Not that I deny that peace, obtained by 
 these ministers, might be just as calamitous 
 as war. In their hands, a war of folly could 
 end in nothing but a peace of submission. 
 I will not, even in thought, be party to so 
 base a conclusion. If peace is not to be had 
 ' with honour and security, by which, I mean 
 an effective, though not, perhaps, a formal 
 security against the latent growth of means 
 and power to invade us ; — if that be the 
 only alternative, there is no option. Let 
 the war take its course ; or, as I heard Lord
 
 29 
 
 Chatham declare in the House of Lords, 
 with a monarch's voice, let discord 
 PREVAIL FOR EVER. I do bclieve, that 
 peace, secure in this sense, might be ob- 
 tained ; at least it ought to be attempted, 
 not for the sake of putting Buonaparte in 
 the wrong ; — a lost hope — 
 
 " Created thing not values he, nor fears i'* 
 
 but to show lis positively what we have to 
 
 trust to, and that we have nothing to look 
 
 to but perpetual war. Yet if it were possible 
 
 to be admitted to talk to him, supposing the 
 
 continental question to be given up, 1 think 
 
 he might be convinced that it is essen- 
 
 pally Jais own interest to suffer the world to 
 
 be quiet, if it were only for seven years. 
 
 At all events you must put a stop to your 
 
 foreign expences. The nation not only 
 
 bleeds from its arteries, but a considerable 
 
 portion of its substance is poured into the 
 
 hands of its enemies, and employed against 
 
 you. You pay ^700,000 a year to fill a 
 
 sponge, which Buonaparte squeezes into 
 
 his own treasury, whenever he pleases. 
 
 Nay, the holders of foreign stock are not 
 
 even called upon to contribute to the protec-
 
 30 
 tion of their own property in our funds ; for 
 some good reason or other, -^vell known to 
 some gentlemen in the city. 
 
 , Industry and economy, protected by peace, 
 would gradually bring back gold and silver, 
 without which, no nation, having a per- 
 petual and unavoidable intercourse of dealing 
 with the rest of the world, can be rich. 
 
 If we had power to extort, or influence 
 to obtain a direct answer from persons, who 
 hold a flourishing language about the ac- 
 tual riches of Britain, and its prosperous 
 dealings with foreign states, we might be 
 contented to ask them this plain question : 
 ** Can youy or any of you, or all of you 
 put together, name that commercial house, 
 or place, on the continent, where you have 
 a sufficient credit, arising from your sales 
 of British goods, to entitle you to draw on 
 such foreign house even for so small a sum 
 as one hundred thousand pounds at par, 
 with a certainty that your bills will be ho- 
 noured ?" If you have no such credit any 
 where, then it is plain that the continent is 
 not debtor to England, which it must be 
 4 

 
 j if we furnished them with geods to the 
 I double or treble amount, as you say; of what 
 
 , we take from them. 
 
 \. 
 
 By your own showing, if it were true, 
 you ought to sell your bills at a discount, 
 and be thankful to any body, who would 
 give you money for them, almost at any 
 rate. Has the reader already forgot the suf- 
 ferings of Sir John Moore and his army, 
 at Salamanca, in November 1808 ? Let 
 him read the following extracts, and recol- 
 lect what was even then the state of our 
 credit in Spain and Portugal, and conjecture, 
 if he can, what has happened since to give 
 us a credit there or any where else on the 
 continent. 
 
 10 "Nov. 1808. — ** We are now in the 
 greatest distress for money; and, if a quan- 
 tity docs not speedily arrive from England, 
 we must depend on the generosity of the 
 Spaniards for our supplies. I doubt at pre- 
 sent if there is wherewithal, after the 24th 
 of this month, to pay the troops their sub- 
 sistence. I fear that in England, until very 
 lately, they were not aware of the impossi^
 
 32 
 
 hility of procuring money either in Portugal 
 or Spain." 
 
 'Nov, 1 6. — ** If money is to be, found, 
 such are our necessities we must get it on 
 any terms !'* '/ 
 
 Speaking of the disposition of the people 
 of Salamanca, he says, Nov, 19: ** All 
 this shows great good will. The funds, 
 however, which it can raise, are small, and 
 very inadequate to our wants. Lord Castle- 
 reagh says, that two millions of dollars are 
 on their passage to Corunna, but that the 
 difficulty of procuring silver is such in Eng" 
 land, that I must not look for a further 
 supply for some months." 
 
 Dec. I. — ** Such is our want of money 
 thiit, if it can be got at a hundred per cent., 
 we must have it ; do therefore, if possible, 
 send me some at any rate /" 
 
 Mr. Huskisson's evidence delivered on 
 the 6th of March to a Committee of the 
 i^touse of Commons, did not appear until 
 some time after the first edition of this pam-
 
 33 
 |)h)et had' been published. It is very: ma- 
 terial in itself, and comes powerfully in aid 
 of the principal allegations and opinions, 
 which I have endeavoured to establish on 
 ih€ subject in question. He is a competent 
 witness in every sense. His information, 
 as far as his evidence goes, cannot be dis- 
 puted. His integrity is not to be suspected; 
 and his testimony is the more valuable, be- 
 cause it is delivered as it ought to be, not 
 only with great deliberation, but with all 
 possible reserve and circumspection : and, 
 being recorded in writing and in print, is 
 Jiot hable to be ill reported or misconstrued, 
 a-s a fugitive speech might be, and often is, 
 ift the newspapers. The Court knows no- 
 thing of extrajudicial argument, and will 
 not suffer its judgment to travel out of the 
 RECOPvb. Cardinal de Rctz says more than 
 once, in the course of his delightful Me- 
 moirs, •' Jc crains les apologies conimc la 
 mort ;** — not meanins: an excuse or concession 
 in our sense of the word, but the act of ex- 
 plaining, retracting, or qualifying any thing 
 deliberately said or done. A mere mistake 
 is innocent. A real change of opinion, on 
 better information, is at all times free from 
 
 F
 
 34 
 exception, and in general is too much a 
 duty to be deemed meritorious. At all 
 events, the error must be honestly corrected, 
 and the change of opinion frankly avowed. 
 None of these cases are in question. Hav- 
 ing read and considered Mr. Huskisson's 
 evidence^ with the utmost attention, I see 
 nothing in it that required an apology to the 
 Bank, or an explanation to any other party. 
 The English language has no terms more 
 intelligible than those, in which the evidence 
 is expressed. From the beginning to the 
 end of it, every thing he says is plain, con- 
 sistent, and indisputably true. Were it 
 otherwise, that is, if the meaning of any 
 expression, he had inadvertently used, were 
 j-eally ambiguous, I should be as ready as 
 the warmest of his friends to resort to his 
 character to illustrate his intention ; because 
 my reliance on his honour and veracity 
 obliges me to give implicit credit to the 
 truth of every thing he asserts j and the 
 rather, tho* it is not wanted, because his 
 subsequent explanation tells me, that what 
 he said at first was not the allegation of a will- 
 ing opponent, but apparently the unwilling 
 confession of a friend. In effect, his recorded
 
 35 
 
 evidence says nothing but what any indif- 
 ferent person would readily believe to be 
 true on testimony much more questionable, 
 or on infinitely weaker authority. He says 
 that, in June last, the foreign exchange, 
 particularly that on Hamburgh, was from 
 eighteen to twenty per cent, against Eng- 
 land ; — that he certainly thought, and 
 the course of the inquiries, which were 
 then made, led him to believe that it 
 would not have been practicable to have 
 raised any very large credits on the con- 
 tinent; that a remittance to Austria, of 
 a certain monthly sum, would have been 
 an operation, extremely difficult, if not 
 impracticable ; and that the result of his 
 inquiries was, not to show that it was 
 altogether impracticable, but that the 
 operation would be attended with very 
 great hazard and loss. Finally, that, when 
 the expedition sailed to the Scheldt, there 
 was in point of fact, and strictly speak- 
 ing no foreign coin, applicable to military 
 service abroad, at the disposal of Go- 
 vernment. The whole sum purchased, 
 and he believes he included all the dollars 
 that could be obtained from the Bank, 
 
 F 2
 
 36 
 
 '.Vwas in dollars ai^ 60,000, and in -Dutch 
 ^' ducats ^ 65,000, making all together 
 ** ^125,000." 
 
 In the consideration of these assertions, I 
 have consulted the understanding of others, 
 and taxed my own to no purpose, to find 
 out an ambiguity, or a loop to i^ang a doubt 
 upon. As to guineas, they are never men- 
 tioned or alluded to. The word is as scarce 
 as the thing. Much less is it any where af- 
 firmed or insinuated, that the Bank of Eng- 
 land is not actually revelling in standard 
 coin, which nothing but an order in Council 
 can prevail on them to part with. The so- 
 lidity of the Bank was no wherein question. 
 Then why so much labour to prove what 
 nobody denies ? Is the state of cash in a 
 chest, a fact or a problem f Is it to be es- 
 timated as a flowing quantity, or measured 
 like the contents of a cube ? Irrelevant or 
 superfluous evidence, though nothing to the 
 purpose, is not always indifferent in its cflFect. 
 The first impression of an effort to demon- 
 strate a proposition not in dispute, is to 
 excite suspicion. On the 15th of March, 
 Mr. Huskisson is said to have made the
 
 37 
 following declaration in the House of Com- 
 mons, as I find it reported, with great ap- 
 parent accuracy, in the Morning Post, 
 that ** he wished to enter into some expla- 
 *' nation of the evidence, he had recently 
 ** given in the Committee of that House, 
 *• which evidence had been much misre- 
 '* presented : that at the period, to which 
 '* his evidence referred, the Bank of Eng- 
 •* land had a7nple means of furnishing His 
 *' Majesty's government with specie, and 
 *' were in a condition to meet, with perfect 
 ** safety, any termination of the restriction 
 *• upon payments in specie that might have 
 •* been directed.'* 
 
 The 'Evidence says, that, in the opinion 
 he *• entertained at the time the expedition 
 ** was prepared for the Scheldt, and the view 
 " he took of our pecuniary resources as far 
 ** as relates to foreign coin, he conceives 
 *• that we did not possess means adequate 
 *' to the expenceof such an expedition, even 
 ** up to the moment, when it might be sup- 
 ** posed to have obtained a secure footing 
 *• on the continent ; and consequently, 
 '* with a reference to this pecuniary difli-
 
 38 
 '* ciilty, that mty such expedition could not 
 '* be undertaken without incurring great 
 ** risk of finding itself without the means 
 ** of providing for the subsistence, and the 
 '* unavoidable extraordinary expences of the 
 •' army/* The speech, as I read it, affirms 
 that *• the Bank had ample means of fur- 
 ** nishing Government with specie," which 
 the said Government might have obtained, 
 but did not obtain, though the fate of the 
 expedition depended on its possessing that 
 supply. Why ? Because they had pro- 
 ceeded on a principle of extreme moderation I 
 Now, putting the two propositions toge- 
 ther, let us see what they amount to. The 
 expedition is voluntarily exposed to a 
 failure; nay, can hardly be landed in Hol- 
 land, because the Government is too 7;/^?^^- 
 rate to call for a supply of guineas from the 
 Bank, which they had a lawful right to do, 
 ■while the Bank was in possession of such an 
 abundance of cash as even to have been able 
 to have resumed, with perfect safety, the 
 payment of their notes in specie. 
 
 In a moral sense, moderation is a good 
 quality, though not positively a virtus, or
 
 39 
 
 fiot of the first order. In practice, the rule 
 IS purely prudential,^ or very little better, 
 because excesses in general are dangerous 
 rather than vicious ; and therefore physical 
 prudence says, " Govern your passions, and 
 don't over-eat yourself''' But, whether it 
 be a merit or a defect, this is the first time, 
 I believe, that any mortal ever heard of 
 moderation in cxpence, or in any measure 
 that led to it, being imputed to His Ma- 
 jesty's government, that is, to the present 
 Administration; for it is still the same ship, 
 with a second-hand keel, some of the old 
 running rigging, and no rudder. Hitherto, 
 this particular sort of moderation has been 
 an occult quality in the system. The 
 highest powers of Herschel's telescope, 
 sweeping for satellites for the Georgium 
 Sidus, were required to discover it. Now, 
 it is a singular fact, that the moment an in- 
 stance of this species of moderation is attri- 
 buted to this Government, it should not 
 only cease to be a virtue, but, in their 
 hands, K? converted into a folly and a vice; 
 and, what is still more extraordinary than 
 cither vice or folly, that it should warrant a 
 charge against them of downright waste and
 
 40 
 
 extravagance. Is it possible to deny that 
 he, who leaves the means incomplete, or 
 neglects to provide the final supplement, 
 when the service or the object cannot be ac- 
 complished without it, throws away and 
 abandons all that he has spent on it already ? 
 Success, or any thing else, may be pur- 
 chased for more than it is worth. Still you 
 have something for your money. Your 
 loss is the difference between the value and 
 the price. In the present case, your whole 
 expence is wasted, and this waste, it seems, 
 is to be carried to the credit of His Majesty*s 
 government under the head of *' Lost by 
 moderation,'^ 
 
 Or docs the speech mean to insinuate, 
 what assuredly it docs not say j fi^^t^ that 
 an English army on the coast of Holland 
 could not have been subsisted with any thing 
 but Spanish dollars and Dutch ducats; se^ 
 condly^ that he, who has guineas in plenty, 
 can by no means exchange them for bullion 
 in ge?terey or for dollars or ducats /;/ specie ? 
 Abraham, what say you? 
 
 Qmd, ais, dulcissime rerum ?
 
 41 
 What says the synagogue ? 
 
 Ye siuains of Solyma, begin I he song. 
 
 I should like to see the faith and credit 
 of the Bank, or of any other great authority 
 in the city of London pledged, with their 
 reasons, to the affirmative, distinctlj^ 
 plainly, and in the identical terms of those 
 propositions; with this single condition, that 
 the parties, so at issue with me, should sign 
 their names and place of abode, to the af- 
 firmance in question. 
 
 hi addition to all this evidence, which 
 one would think were enough to convince 
 an infidel, we often sec in the newspapers 
 an account of the capture of cargoes of 
 guineas in a course of exportation, and fall- 
 ing into the hands of captors, who would, 
 willingly dispose of them in the same man- 
 ner if they could, and exactly for the same 
 reason, viz. because there is an exorbitant 
 profit on the exportation of the said guineas. 
 The laws, it is true, prohibit melting or ex- 
 porting the current coin : but, with respect 
 to offences impossible to be prevented, and 
 so little open to detection, u'hat signify posi-
 
 42 
 
 tive laws or penalties, and especially when 
 the object of them is not a crime in itself? 
 If gold be a commodity, as the merchant 
 says it is, why not sell it for the utmost 
 price like any other property ? But, in a 
 particular form, it ceases to be a commo- 
 dity, and then you must not dispose of it 
 to the best bidder. Why not ? Because it 
 would be a positive offence ; for, as to any 
 moral difference between melting a guinea 
 and an ingot, I do not see how it can be 
 proved. Either of them is just as much my 
 property as the other. But what is pro- 
 perty without thepower of using or dispos- 
 ine: of it as I think fit ? The reader, 1 trust, 
 will not suspect me of providing a shelter 
 for any practice of my own. I really did 
 never melt a guinea in a crucible, though 
 many of them have melted in my hands. 
 Against clipping or sweating the current 
 coin, there is or may be an effectual remedy. 
 A general resolution to take light guineas 
 only by their weight, would soon put an 
 end to the crime in that form ; for crimiC it 
 is, and they who practise it are thieves. 
 After all, this is but an empty argu- 
 ment, de non apparentibus -, and one of the
 
 43 
 
 surest proofs, though not a direct one, of 
 the extraction of all the gold, is that there 
 are no light guineas in common circulation. 
 Light or heavy, they all emigrate, with this 
 difference only, against the general laws of 
 motion, that the heaviest march first, and 
 leave the sick and wounded to follow. Here 
 and there a few fugitive guineas make their 
 escape in transitu ; but, sooner or later, 
 the leaders and the followers are equally 
 taken prisoners, or desert to the enemy. Still 
 we have it from authority, that there never 
 was or will be such a flourishing export 
 trade as that of England ; that it cannot be 
 checked by the power of Buonaparte, and 
 that the natives of France, Holland, Ger- 
 many, &c. sooner than not buy our ma- 
 nufactures, not only would risque the con- 
 fiscation, but expose thcmsclve* to corporal 
 punishment. It may be so; but to believe 
 it with or without evidence, if any man 
 does believe it, seems to require more than 
 human magnanimity. 
 
 I do not mean to deny that individuals in 
 great number, thrive by the prodigality o^ 
 Govfrnmcnt, and fatten on tl.r public ^poil.
 
 44 
 
 The fact IS sufficiently known, though 
 little felt : because a very symptomatic in- 
 sensibility to this, and every other national 
 concern, prevails more or less over the 
 whole empire. The evil of the day is suf- 
 ficient to occupy a degraded population, 
 who, thinking of nothing but how to exist 
 on any term^s, how to pay taxes, or how to 
 evade them, gradually sink into indifference 
 .^bout every thing but the enjoyment or dis- 
 tress of the moment. Panem et Circenses. 
 As if we had converted our whole inherit- 
 ance into an annuity, and had nothing but 
 a life interest in the salvation of the country. 
 Even that base calculation may fail under 
 the selfish being, who trusts to it. No man, 
 who is not superannuated already, can be 
 sure that the thing he calls England, and by 
 which he means nothing but the stocks, 
 will survive even himself. Such apathy, 
 wherever it prevails, is a sure forerunner 
 of national baseness first, and then of 
 ruin. The sensation of pain is the pro- 
 vidential vv^arning against danger, the sentry 
 or outpost, that gives notice of the ap- 
 proach of an enemy. The being, who 
 Jecls none, or who is suddenlv relieved from
 
 45 
 it, or who by intoxication has deadened his 
 senses, knows nothing of his own case, 
 and dies of a mortification below, with a 
 languid flush in his fiice that looks like a 
 return of health. To reduce a nation to this 
 state, many moral causes contribute ; but 
 practically none more than excessive taxa- 
 tion. Domestic diflicultics depress the mind, 
 and prepare it to look for relief, not in any 
 energy of its own, but in some possible 
 change of position, in the chapter of acci- 
 dents, or in submitting with indifl^erencc 
 to any change of power. Lord Bacon says, 
 'Nunquam fiet ut populus, tributis oppres- 
 sus^ fortis exist at et bellicosus. Then comes 
 the habit, which sooner or later forms the 
 character. A constant inclination in a per- 
 verse direction will make a nation, as well 
 as a plant, take an unnatural bent, until, by 
 gradually weakening the spring that might 
 redress it, they both grow downward with 
 their own consent. 
 
 With these objects in the mind, and all 
 the consequences in view, it is difficult to re- 
 frain from adverting to the general state and 
 actual coniiuct of public affiiirs. Believing,
 
 46 
 
 as I do, that some internal catastrophe 
 hangs over us, which might possibly be 
 averted or provided for by wisdom at the 
 hehn, but which ignorance and folly can 
 only accelerate, I call on the nation to look 
 at their government. Is it an abuse to be 
 endured, that any set of men, with no other 
 title or shelter but the word prerogative^ 
 should dare to hold and retain the executive 
 power of the state, with a hundred Peers 
 protesting against them, without the confi- 
 dence of the House of Commons, and them- 
 selves on their trial at the bar of that House! 
 At the public shame of such a sight, indig- 
 nation sickens into scorn. Resentment dies 
 of contempt. Such authors of sueh ruin 
 take away all dignity J rorn distress, and make 
 calamity ridiculous. 
 
 The ancient maxim of criminal justice, 
 was, '* ui nietus ad omnes, fcena ad paucos 
 perveniret ;" that the few might be pu- 
 nished, and the many be deterred. In the 
 present practice, this wholesome relation of 
 guilt and punishment is inverted. The few 
 escape, and the multitude suffer. The 
 highwavman is "uiltv of violence and in-
 
 47 
 justice, but not of breach of trust. When 
 he is detected and taken, would you pardon 
 him the robbery, because at last he offered 
 to return the watch or the purse, or as many 
 of the guineas as he had not made away 
 with? The crimes of individuals, however 
 enormous, are not necessarily mortal to great 
 communities. The death of nations is im- 
 punity. Still we are lulled with fine pro- 
 mises, and flattering prospects. Hope is a 
 dangerous narcotic, and not only sets the 
 mind asleep, but, like opium to the Turks, 
 furnishes the brain with many delightful 
 visions. Thus it is that a nation may walk 
 in its sleep, until it reaches the edge of a 
 precipice without the power of turning 
 back. These treacherous delusions are deadly 
 symptoms. When nothing but a drastic 
 resolution can save the animal, false hope 
 supplies him with palliatives, and bars the 
 last extremity of its last resource, by ibc 
 exclusion of despair. 
 
 Not long ago an opportunity came of 
 itself, of stating some new opinions of my 
 own on the subject of a refprm of the House 
 of Commo'ns, to a Member of Parliament, 
 
 5
 
 48 
 
 of whose integrity no man can be better 
 satisfied than I am. I took the liberty of 
 saying to him ; ** Sir, do whatever you 
 think right, for its own sake, and never 
 look to popularity for support or reward. 
 Honest fame will follow you, if you deserve 
 it. The very people, whom you serve, may 
 be turned at any moment against you, by a 
 cry or a signal, and run you down for your 
 pains. Your own hounds, any fine morn- 
 ing, had as lief hunt the huntsman as 
 the hare. As to parliamentary reform, I 
 have tried it enough to be convinced that 
 it never can be adopted on any sound 
 principle, that would at once be safe in 
 its operation, and effective to its purpose. 
 The people are well enough represented. 
 The milk throws up the cream. No 
 change in the form will mend the mate- 
 rials. I am sure you will find it, as I 
 have done, a vain attempt to build Gre- 
 cian temples with brickbats and rubbish." 
 This anecdote is nothing to the present pur- 
 pose, but it may answer some other; nor 
 would I now, in April, have uttered any 
 thing like despondence or indifference on the 
 subject. The division of Saturday the 31st
 
 49 
 of March, supersedes all argument. The 
 case speaks for itself, and necessity makes a 
 law for it. Extremities arc not to be go- 
 verned by mediation. In the language of 
 Mr. Burke, the treacherous expcciie?its, 
 called moderate measures, are exhausted. I 
 am as little sanguine as ever about the 
 success of a reform in the construction of 
 the House of Commons. But, knowing of 
 no other remedy, I cannot answer those, 
 who say that, when the exigency leaves you 
 no choice, the last chance is to be taken. 
 The opinions of wise and thoughtful men, 
 on this great question, are changing every 
 day. For myself, I can only say that I 
 did not abandon my principles with my 
 hopes j and that, whenever the nation shall 
 be generally disposed to adopt the measure, 
 I shall be found where I was left, and ready 
 to take part in the execution of it. If any 
 man thinks it worth inquiring, what those 
 principles were, he will find them recorded 
 in the Parliamentary Debates of the 21st of 
 March 1806. I said then, and I adhere 
 to it, that *' I never harboured a thought 
 ** so dangerous and so absurd, as that of 
 
 H
 
 so 
 
 ** separating the power from the property of 
 *' the country.'* 
 
 Reverting to my subject, I trust it will 
 be behtved that 1 have sense enough to feel 
 that these faint ideas, the languid produce of 
 an impoverished mind, left to fallow without 
 manure, hardly deserve the name of reflec- 
 tions. But, such as they are, they may per- 
 haps lead others to aright course of thinking 
 on the subject they relate to. The expiring 
 lamp, that glimmers on a post, shows the 
 passenger his way. He, who grows the 
 flax or the wool, is of some little service to 
 art and industry of a higher order, though 
 he cannot manufacture the articles himself. 
 Even this insipid essay will not be quite 
 unprofi-table, if it furnishes materials to 
 greater abilities, and helps to set some 
 superior understanding at work. At all 
 events, I am not holding a new language 
 to serve a present turn. On the '31st of 
 March 1806, I attempted to make what is 
 called a speech in the House of Commons, 
 on the effect of an exorbitant paper circula- 
 tion, as I then understood it. My opinion 
 of course made no impression; for I was
 
 honoured with an audience, which cared 
 just as nnuch about the subject as the person. 
 A short extract from that speech will there- 
 fore have the merit of novehy with those, 
 who read it now ; for, tho* it has been 
 long in print, I see no reason to suspect that 
 aiiy body has hitherto perused it but my- 
 self. 
 
 ** I know that there did never exist such 
 a scene of expence and luxury, and of un- 
 bounded dissipation of fortune, as London 
 exhibits. If extravagance and profusion 
 are a proof of wealth, we need not look fur- 
 ther. The proof is equal to the proposition, 
 and exceeds it. Reflecting men, I believe, 
 will not trust implicitly to these appear- 
 ances. In fact, they can only be accounted 
 for by a glut of factitious riches. No man 
 wastes a real property at this rate. Xo 
 man parts with gold and silver with the 
 same facility, with which he squanders a 
 pretended security in rags, which he knows 
 he cannot change into specie. The circulation 
 of this paper, however, as long as it lasts, 
 gives life and activity to all the means of 
 immediate enjovmcnt. It i- truw J'hsV, 
 
 U 2
 
 5- 
 who are satisfied with the present, are not 
 likely to consider the consequence. Others 
 perhaps may submit to be better taught by 
 experience. The history of France fur- 
 nishes an example in point, on a great, but 
 still on a very inferior scale. There never 
 was a period of. such extravagant expence 
 and riotous profusion in Paris, as in the 
 days that preceded the fall of the royal 
 bank, in 17 19. France was deluged with 
 paper, as vve are. Suddenly the credit of 
 the bank fiiilcd. Down went the paper, 
 down went Paris, and down went France." 
 .Adverting to the same transaction, Sir 
 James Stewart says, that, " an ilKconcerted 
 system of credit may bring ruin on a nation, 
 altho' fraud be out of the question ; and, if 
 a nation be plunged into all the calamities, 
 which a public bankruptcy can occasion, it 
 is but a small consolation to be assured of 
 the good intentions of those, who were the 
 causeofit. On the 27th of February 1720, 
 an arret was published, forbidding any 
 person to keep by them more than 500 
 livrcs in coin (or ^£'20 sterling). This 
 was plai-nly aniudling the obligation in 
 the Bank-paper, to pay to the bearer^ on
 
 53 
 
 demand, the sum specified, i?i silver coin. 
 On the 22cl of May, a man might have 
 starved with lOO milhons of paper in his 
 pocket." 
 
 In better times, while feeling was alive, 
 and when reason was animated by passion, 
 these incentive materials might have fur- 
 nished some force of thought and energy 
 of language. But age and infirmities have 
 done their ofiicc, and their worst. Plurima 
 de nobis mini. The reader, who believes 
 my intention to be good, will make allow- 
 ance for the natural effect and progress of 
 decay. Any account, if it be honest, has 
 fairly a claim to errors excepted. A man 
 of my age may still be in his senses, when 
 his senses are good for nothing. With a 
 callous heart, there can be no genius in the 
 imagination or wisdom in the mind ; ami 
 therefore the prayer, with equal truth anil 
 sublimity, says, " Incline our hearts uoto 
 wisdom." Dans les grandes affaires, V es- 
 prit est vioins que rien sans le caur. A 
 brave man, with truth of his side, need nut 
 wish to be eloquent. Resolute thoughts 
 find words for themselves, and make their
 
 54 
 own vehicle. Impression and expression arc 
 relative ideas. He, who feels deeply, will 
 express strongly. The language of slight 
 sensations is naturally feeble and superficial.
 
 APPENDIX, 
 
 I. 
 
 BANK-STOCK. 
 
 In June 1799, ^ bonus was given of 10 pet- 
 cent. Loyalty Five per Cent. 
 In May 1801, ditto ^5 Navy Five per Cent, 
 stock. 
 
 Nov. 1 802, ditto 2l ditto. 
 
 Oct. 1804, ditto 5 per cent, cash. 
 
 Oct. 1805, ditto. 
 
 Oct. 1800, ditto. 
 And in April 1S07, the dividend was raised to 
 ten per cent. ; which, with the payment of the 
 property-tax, makes eleven per cent, regular 
 interest. Yet all this put together, exhibits no 
 criterion to form a conjecture of the real amount 
 of their profits. 
 
 II. 
 
 On the 12th of January IS 10, the Bank 
 Paper issued amounted to ^'21.40(3,930. 
 
 5
 
 56 
 
 iir. 
 
 On the 12th of January 180g, *> ^ 3^^520 
 
 Amount of notes under ^ 5 J 
 Ditto on the 12th of Jan. 1810 5,854,170 
 
 Increase of one and two pound 1 ^ 
 
 . ^ y ^ 1,548,250 
 
 notes, in one year . 
 
 '.} 
 
 IV. 
 
 Return of the Importation of fVheat and Oats into 
 London alone, from the 1st of j^ugust I8O9, to 
 Zlst January \^\0, from foreign Countries. 
 
 
 Qrs. Wheat. 
 
 Qrs. Oats. 
 
 x\ August - - 
 
 - - 3,0 JO 
 
 13,100 
 
 September - 
 
 - - 5,700 
 
 6,100 
 
 October - - 
 
 - 1 9,000 
 
 12,900 
 
 November - 
 
 - 48,900 
 
 22,000 
 
 December - 
 
 - 2G,000 
 
 5,400 
 
 102,010 59,500 
 
 1810. In January 145^000 36,700 
 
 247,610 96,200 
 
 Value of 247,610 Quarters ^ ^- 
 
 Wheat, at 100.. . . / ''^"^^'^^O 
 
 } 
 
 Value of 96,200 Quarters 
 Oats, at 30^. . . . 
 
 141,300 
 
 £ 1,382,350
 
 57 
 
 Which sum of ^ 1,382,350 has been paid to 
 the enemy of our country, chiefly in specie, 
 besides yielding a revenue to Buonaparte as 
 follows : 
 
 Duty payable on exportation, -^ ^, 
 
 247,600 Quarters Wheat, J> 148,566 
 at 12* 
 
 Duty payable on exportation, 
 96,200 Quarters Oats, at 
 
 ion, \ 
 12*. J 
 
 57,200 
 
 ^ 205,766 
 
 Riches and money are got, kept, or lost, in 
 any cduntry, by consuming less or more of fo- 
 reign commodities than what by commodities or 
 labour is paid for. This is the ordinary course 
 of things. But, where great armies and alliances 
 are maintained abroad, by supplies sent out of 
 any country, there, by a shorter and more sen» 
 sible course, the treasure is diminished. 
 
 The necessity of a proportion of money to 
 trade depends on njoney, not as counters, but on 
 money as a pledge. 
 
 A law cannot give to bills that intrinsic value, 
 which the universal consent of mankind has an- 
 nexed t© silver and gold. — John Locke. 
 I
 
 fi8 
 
 ■.,rMr. . 
 Home of Commons, March J 5, 1810. 
 
 Mr. Huskisson, before making the motion of 
 which he had given notice, relative to the issue 
 of specie from the Bank of England, wished to 
 enter into some explanation of the evidence 
 which he had recently given in the Committee of 
 that House upon the subject, and which evi- 
 dence had been much misrepresented. It was of 
 importance that it should be understood, that at 
 the period to which that evidence referred, the 
 Bank of England had ample means of furnishing 
 His Majesty's Government with specie, had His 
 Majesty's Government exercised the right with 
 which they were vested for that purpose : in the 
 exercise of which right, however, they had pro- 
 ceeded upon a principle of extreme moderation. 
 Had the question of cash payments at the Bank 
 of England been considered merely as a banking 
 question, unconnected with the political state of 
 Europe, he had no difficulty in saying the BanlL 
 of England was in a condition to meet with per^. 
 feet safety any termination of the restriction 
 upon payments in specie that might have been 
 directed. That was the state of the Bank at the 
 period to which he had alluded; and since that pe- 
 riod His Majesty's Governracint had not, by any
 
 act of theirs, withdrawn from the Bnnk the 
 means they had then in their possession. He had 
 the greater satisfaction in calling the attention of 
 the House to this statement, because, whether 
 the subject was considered with reference either 
 to the ability of the Bank to make their payments 
 in specie on the one hand, or to the moderation 
 of His Majesty's Government, in their demands 
 upon the Bank, on the other, it was very desi- 
 rable that no mistake should take place, but that 
 the providence of the Bank of England to 
 provide the necessary means in the one case, 
 and the forbearance of His Majesty's Govern- 
 tnent to trench upon those means in the other, 
 should be clearly understood, and duly estimated. 
 A great deal had been saidabout the silver currency. 
 Now it was well known that silver did not form 
 any part of the standing currency of the realm. 
 Indeed it was declared by law, that no payment 
 for a sum exceeding ^ 25 could be made iu 
 silver, unless 'it was tendered by weight at the 
 standard price. His Majesty's Government had 
 purchased silver therefore only as they would 
 other merchandise, and he had no doubt but 
 more might have been procured. To prove his 
 assertions with respect to the satisfactory state of 
 the Bank of Eugland in these respects, he would 
 move, " That tliere be laid before the House an 
 *^ account of all issues of the coin of 'this realm 
 I %
 
 ^0 
 
 .^^ from the Bank of England since the first of 
 " May 1793, under any Ordei-s in Council 
 ** made for that purpose, specifying tlie date 
 ^^ of each order, and the amount thereon." It 
 could scarcely be necessary foi- him to add, that 
 without an order in Council, no such issue could 
 be made. — The motion was agreed to. 
 
 VII. 
 
 David Ricardo says, p. 34, '* The Bank re- 
 " gulate the amount of the circulation of all the 
 '^ country banks, and it is probable, that if the 
 " Bank increase their issues three millions, 
 " they enable the country banks to add more 
 " than t velve millions to the general circulation 
 ^' of England." I do not doubt that he has 
 some good reason for what he has said, though 
 to 7ue it does not Occur. At first sight, the very 
 contrary might be expected to happen. For sup- 
 posing any given quantity of paper (and no more) 
 to be necessary for the uses of circulation, and 
 that any issue beyond that quantity would be su- 
 perfluous, then the ,constequence seems to be, 
 that, in proportion as the Bank issued more of 
 their paper, the country banks must issue less, 
 because so much less, on the whole, would be 
 wanted ; or vice versa. I should be much obliged 
 to David Ricardo, as I am already on other acr 
 
 4
 
 6i 
 
 counts, if he would explain this matter by its 
 process, in a plain popular way, without resort- 
 ing to metaphysics ; and also on what evidence 
 he states it, as a matter of fact, or why he be- 
 lieves it to be probable, that any increase in the 
 issue of Bank paper enables the country banks to 
 add more than four times that amount of their 
 own. All this, he would be able to explain, if 
 it be true, by a short paragraph in the Morning 
 Chronicle. Supposing the last proposition to 
 be granted, the consequence seems to be, that 
 the Bank having, as we know, issued twenty-one 
 millions and a half in January last, the country 
 banks, by the very^ means of that issue, have or 
 might have issued eighty -four millions. Then 
 comes an account, and a total, which, if it were 
 ever looked at, would be enough to startle the 
 most resolute admirer of credit without coin. 
 On the fifth of January last, the national debt 
 amounted to upwards of seven hundred and 
 eighty-four millions and a half. The unfunded 
 debt, at the same time, amounted to 49,634,948 
 pounds sterling in Navy debt and Exchequer 
 bills. Of these last, eight millions have been 
 funded, which increases the funded debt in a 
 higher proportion. The various notes, circu- 
 lated by all manner of bankers, cannot, on the 
 principle of David's calculation, reckon for less 
 than one hundred and five millions sterling; and
 
 the bonds < issued by the India Company on the 
 first of March 180Q, amounted, by their own 
 account, to ^4,869,992 ! 
 
 The public debt of Ireland, amounting to 
 more than eighty-two millions, and the notes, 
 issued by the Irish Bank, which a year ago 
 amounted to upwards of three millions, must be 
 taken into tlie same account. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 1. National funded debt of-j^ 
 Great Britain . . i 
 3. Unfunded ditto . . . 
 
 3. Notes issued by the Bank*) 
 
 of England . , . J 
 
 4. Notes of private bankers 
 
 5. India bonds in circulation 
 
 784,552,ai 
 
 49,634,943 
 
 21,406,930 
 
 84,000,000 
 4,869,992 
 
 IRELAND. 
 
 6. Funded debt in Jan. 1810 . 
 
 7. Unfunded ditto, exclusive 
 
 of the capital of sundry 
 annuities, for lives and 
 for terms, which I cannot 
 ascertain .... 
 
 81,510,85(1 
 
 684,809 
 
 Carried over ^ 1,026,659,6
 
 Brought over 1,026,659,677 
 16. Notes Issued by the Irish"! 
 
 Bank on the 1st Feb. I 3,o;2,5l6 
 
 I8O9 J 
 
 p. Notes issued by private -i 
 
 bankers, computed on I 
 
 the principle of Ricardo's [ 
 
 calculation .... J 
 
 Total ^ 1,041,732,193 
 
 In this account the only disputable article is, 
 the amount of notes, issued by private bankers, 
 taken on a general computation, which it is im- 
 possible to ascertain. 
 
 This stupendous edifice of credit is at once 
 an object of terror and astonishment. At a dis- 
 tance sufficient for safety, the most formidable 
 phenomenon may be viewed with admiration 
 or indifference ; but not so, when the danger ap- 
 proximates, or the sense of it is real. A deep 
 and uniform impression on a constant mind, or 
 even on a timid imagination, cannot be wholly 
 against reason. This pile of paper is too near 
 us to be seen thro' a false medium, or to be 
 contemplated without fear. I am not gifted with 
 faculties to compare it to any thing but a won-
 
 dcrful liouie of cards, of which the mateftals are 
 light enough to he blown away or to fall to pieces 
 at any moment, bat heavy enough to crush thfe 
 kingdom in their fall. ■ 
 
 Xm ^^^' 
 
 5. GonBtVL, Printer, |-ittle Quw-u Stretr, Lendon.
 
 
 ,m