The National Register. — London, England, 1811-05-12 00:00:00

- 'THE NATIONAL REG not given for the guinea from the want of confi dence in the Bank; and a consequent distrust of its notes: it is not 'bought from the advantages it has in ciiculation over the Bank note ; in a word, it is not bonght as coin, but as Bullion to he melted down. Whatever that value may be as Bullion, as a guinea, it is worth no more than a one pound note and a shilling, and consequently its depreciation as compared with Bullion (if depreciation it may be called) is precisely the same with that of the- Bank siOte. But in answer to this we are told that the supe riority of the guinea over the note cannot be doubted, because the former can so easily be melted down. The law, it is said, can never prevent this while the temptation is so strong, and therefore it follows of course that the guinea is worth more than it passes for, according to its denomination, and that the Bank-note is in the same proportion depre dated. This, it is said, is at once the proof of the depreciation and the measure of its extent. Now whether or nut the law on the subject, as it at pre sent stands, be equal to the purposes for which it was framed, is a question on which the wisdom Of Parliament might perhaps do well to decide ; but assuming with the Bullionists that it is not compe. tent to prevent the melting of coin, ani its conse quent exportAtion as Bullion, still the depreciation of the Bank note remains to be proved. Surely it is not too much to suppose that the great body of - the 'people feel it their duty to obey those laws to which they look for protection. If this be admitted, it then follows, that with the great body of the people a guinea is worth no more than it will lass for, according to its denomination. 'Why, then, the question comes to this—because the law can be broken, and there ale individuals ready to v . . , laie it, are we to conclude the whole commu nity think themselves absolved fiom every obliga tion to keep it ? This must be proved before the depreciation of the Bank note on that broad general and sweeping principle, •on which it has been attempted to be maintained, can be established. And are we thus, for the vices of the few, to assume anything so derogatory to the many, as even to suspect that they have no longer any reverence for those laws which, as subjects, they are bound to obey ? Are we to ground our arguments on excep tions from a general principle, instead of building them on the principle itself ? Are we to suppose, that, because a law may be broken by some, that it will be neglected by all ? Surely not ; and till this be admitted, the Bullionist's strongest position is perfectly untenable. That there has been no injurious excess of the circulating medium we think has been clearly TER. proved. On this subject we beg to refer our Readers to the manly, eloc i tte it, and most satis factory speech of the CHANCELLOR of the EICHE.• QUER. If the quantity cf circulating medium, of which the country has been unavoidably drained, had not been promptly supplied by a paper cur rency, what now must have been the state of the nation ? Instead of the improvements which glad the eye in every part of the country, of the en couragement given to industry, and instead of the present flourishing state of agriculture (the effects of a liberal paper circulation), spectacles of ghastly poverty, groaning in despair, would have chilled our blood, and want and misery, driven to madness, would have convulsed the Empire with their un availing struggles. It is (as has been well observed), the fruits of this so much despised circulation, that 'Constitute our national wealth, and secure to us the means of regaining the goid which has been una voidably sent out of the country. Our limits will net allow us to notice all the argu ments of the Speakers on this important question. We cannot, however, refrain from calling the atten tion of our readers to the caricature of argument and burlesque distortion of fact contained in the speech of Mr. WHITBRE %D. Speaking on the al leged depreciation of Bank notes, he asserts, that a man may as well try to eat them as to purchase a dinner with them. This, he maintained, must be known to every one who had travelled ; and he would even ask, if at the neighbouring coffee-houses a man could get any thing to eat or to drink her Bank notes ? Now really this is rather too much. It is true, that a want of change has been much felt, and still more complained of ; but the experience of any man who has travelled, or who has not travel led, must tell him . that this is a most exag gerated statement. It may be that Mr. Wirer- BREAD has frequently beard the cry' of " I can't give change." Some of the people with whom he has dealings may have even been averse to taking notes, as it is rumoured his publicans were in 1797 ; but will any man in his senses believe that if be should happen to travel, the innkeepers on the road will deny him refreshment till he has found means i I to convince them that he has no intention of tender ing a Bank note in payment ? Or, still more pre posterous, can any man believe if he should go into a coffee-house at Westminster, and call for a bottle of wine or a beef steak, that the waiter would say, " Pray, ~Sir, what money have you in your pock et ? Have you gold or silver ? Because if you have only Bank notes, you must go somewhere else, as in a genteel tavern we can't think of giving you any thing to cat or to drink for depreciated paper r , If there be a man who can suppose this, or Who can ~- .