The Sun. — London, England, 1830-02-06 00:00:00

4)Bn- ratio.- ; absent, s i 'mite). 1 0 1 l to what ' re filing ad that lo to have me he spvige ve ii • lion Alt o ft it by those 1 )t 4/r. liaberlYieo the insinut4 n. and GAI P , Parliatnea li o ber was il l " °use might,/ the case °I li ut br pets .an ? lie ( pc lervation 'r lit quiet ti° cos i "' guy expr lave calla i ould furiii 5 it to a n 1,4 up and IR lieritatioe that I dil you fire Honour' ? ie by the ei tiny expre , ii I entertaial If un. and a°ll d no opj , nor shoo' Hun. a r~, .: illine Plueite, who had treated the distress of the gauntry tightly. . That was not the way to treat it. The speech !mkt in Ills Majesty's name dissatisfied him (Mr. Sad real not so much on account of the topics introduced, t s of those omitted. That subject, upon which the eyes l e the country were turned, was mentioned in a kind of parenthesis —lie meant our distreas. The nature of it ,rte attempted to be concealed by referring to the increased exports. Then came the comment on the Right Hon. feeretary for the Home Department, who told us of the -Pleaeased activity of our home consumption. There was sort of deduction from all this,—namely, that certainly distress did exist in some parts of the 'kingdom. He (Mr. Sadler) affirmed that the truth was not told ; and 'he thought, when the King approached his faithful t e °. Pie, those who advised him should let him say the "tit, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. We . .Were told that we should indulge hopes: but who were they who told us of hopes ? When an alteration of our - ',rte-nt of trade commenced, we were told to indu l g e "Pee ; and how had those hopes been fulfilled ? Had they not been disappointed? At the opening of the last s ession of Parliament, the House had been told that the state of the revenue was most satisfactory, although they k new, or might have known, that the revenue was falling off,, the, p eop l e were gr adually become more distressed, and the. national industry was decaying. When the optics of Ministers did discover a cloud ia the horizon of politics, it Was a Passing cloud only, and the sun of prosperity • would soon shine. Had this prospect been realized ? The People could not subsist, in this manner, upon hope ; ' 41t e„ Y must have relief. The Ministers had opened Pan "ura's box, and let loose all its evils upon the nation - whilst Lope remained at the bottom. They found out haus time to time excuses for our situation : at one time • tie bankers were the scape-goat ; at another some other km No class in the country coil(' please our elders ;-- we always produced too much or too little. iTbe great evil was now our over-production. What 'la of political economy was that which argued that hner-production, the source of all prosperity, was an evil?. Besides, he (Mr. Sadler) denied the fact of over aProductiom Was there 'any over production of clothes Viten the mass of our population were in want of neces ' 4 ary elethiug ? Was there any ever-production of food? at had been said that there was an over production of kern. So that, ia fact, our distress arose from the ordi . ' Ittatirin of Providence. Others imputed our dirtrvis to an qinfletx of Irish labourers. How were we to attribute our lelistreas to these labourers, who were only procuring back ;a small portion of that wealth which was taken from their ieenatry by absentees?—(Hear. hear.)--But it was not ?admitted that distress existed in all parts of the country. Me should be glad if say lieu. Member would tell bins Milers was. the exceptioa. In what state was the ship. • 'Ping trade, which was one of the sinews of our strength ? 'The situation of tha atrade should be inquired iro et, mot on t the Stock Exehage, but in the ports of the country. Theo etbe agriculture,—the sustaining interest of the country,— ' cwas it not known that the labourers were wanting bread, Mall . the landlords were subsisting ea the diminishing Cc :Pita!' of their tenantry ? Then the ranufastuting interest, 1 ' It was , alleged that we maaufsctmeil much, and ex- Petted much,—hut where was the remuneration? No I catt who beheld the elarosats of wealth whish were to be fouled in England, when be saw the present distress, could believe that it was a natural state of things. The ens Wily to meet the difficulties trader which we laboured Weis to estimate their eldest. The country must not be deluded by hope., which had kept net the word of pro 'lroise either to the ear or the sense. It appeared from the I SPeoelt that we were to have retrenchment. Why not before? Why, when thsedistress had so long existed, was this retrenchment not serried sooner into execution? He (Mr. Sadler) ha' been amongst a population which af. forded evident-doe the points under consideration. He :; 14 *Alseeenae person, with when the Lord Lieutenant of the comity from which he earns was well acquainted, who as laured bias that the distress was increasing, and that the 'reports to the contrary were riafonneled. Whilst the Home were considering, therefore, whether the distress seas real or not, the people would become exasperated. He (Mr. Sadler) was certain that the distress was uni 'ental ; and one main cause of the distress was, that we Lad returned to a mediae% of circulation which had exist. ed 40 years ago, though ere had in the mean time con tracted many millions of Jebt, and had hired public ser "ants in paper money, and were paying them in gold. ' M e. J. WOOD never knew any period when the " at "y more impatiently expected the opening of Parlia ments, than upon the present occasion. This feeling had been o ceasiened-by a hope that the public distress would an e e tt e k _ a en irate censideratiun, and a remedy discovered and t by I'M' t lie •apprehended tha t us Ma jesty 's into ers. e th ree expectations must be disappointed by the tenour of `126 Maj • eety!s Speech and the Address; in which there up :: Paared, first, adoubtas to the generality of thedistress; and, 3 , in the se con d p l ace , a d ou bt as t o the practicability of sup 's *hag a•remedy for that which existed. The Speech con -4 oladed with the usual profession of economy, which, like I the sessional orders, was merely a matter of form. He took upon himself to state, that a large proportion of the • I labouring manufacturing classes were in a state nearly o approaching to starvation,—that they were not only in " nant of food. but destitute of clothing, and in many cases Were only enabled, by voluntary contributions, to eke out a miserable existence. The large farmers were paying 1 their rent out of their capital, instead of the profits of • agriculture contributing to that purpose, and the small farmers were fast sinking into labourers and paupers. It was painful for him to advert to the existence of distress 1 ' and dissatisfaction which it was impossible to deny ; the rather, because he reflected with gratitude upon the great and beneficial measures that had been carried into effect by Ministers during the two last Sessions. Ile was not present at the debate of last night, and if he had, would I have felt at a loss in what manner to vote ; for though he did not approve of the Speech, yet he could not join in • s the apposition to Ministers, upon the principles which actuated a set of men who, in the event of their return to power, would not fail to involve the country in misery, men who, in the first instance, would probably set about t- repealing the Catholic Bill ; and whose second measure I would doubtless be the imposition of a higher duty on the '• t importation of foreign grain.--(Hear.)—The remedy of ~ the existing distress lay in our own power : we had an it active population and abundance of capital, but we were prevented by the odious monopoly its the corn trade from exporting o u r p ro d uce w i t h a d vantage t o f ore ign countries, ; and procuring adequate returns. s Mr. ATT WOOD said it was a fallacious argument to ); Say that, because in 1829 the exports of the country sur n Pasted elute of former years, our prosperity was on the untreise, particularly with the full kirowledge which we P°"eleed that, so far from our commerce being in a pros perous condition in consequence of its increase, the farther • ' it was , extended the more destructive and ruinous were the •consequences to those engaged in it. It was absurd to : congratulate the Crown upon an increase such as this in exported produce, which was unattended with advantage •. 1 0 trad e and commerce. He felt persuaded dint his Ma y's Speech contained an incorrect representation of the rite of the country, which exhibited not merely distress in particular parts, or distress affecting particular branches t of ba L tid dstry, but embarrassment extending over the whole i n4 ., u etive community, and thus affecting runny of the • importaut branches of the national wealth, and tend- E in g 10 th e i r rapid destruction. The Chancellor of the z elieque e sa id that in Ireland the existence of comparative p r osperity, m i g ht be traced; but the lion. Member fur ,„,'lre had Satisfied the House that the Ili a bt Hon. G entleman was wrong. The Right lion. Secretary fur ' t he Home Department failed in his attempt to prove the t ruth or justice of the statements contained in the address: • i ndeed one part of the Right Hon. Gentleman's speech d crtteadicted the other, far be first stated that the words of th e *perch were nut inconsistent with the existence of general distress, but he afterwards appeared to argue that • , the limited sense was the true one, and that the distress • t hat existed was consistent with a great degree of Pe'eperity. On this subject we had a conclusive au tbority in the meetings that had been held through out the country, the general sentiment of which core {bitted in compleints of universal, appalling, and ove r- Whelteing distress among the manufacturing and agri tultural classes .. This being case , he asked ` 4°ll / it was consistent with the duty which M inisters ° wed to the Crown and the country , to p lace his Ma j est y , In his Speech front the Throne, in contradiction to the of the people, on a question with regard to which 1 the People were the sole and supreme judge.—(Hear.) — "4% there any doubt as to the aceurary of popular repre • l ectatious upon this point ? Who could form a better opinion as to the prosperity or distress of the people , than th e people themselves? There Wde 110 exaggeration in Ceee representations, which came from different classes, 1 tmtl fr om individuals holding opposite political opinions. Ile took upon loin to say, that the Custom-house returns wer e worth nothing for any such purposes as those to W hich Ministers bad applied them. Those documents Were useful for matters of fiscal regulation, find for the colleutiou of the revenue ; but they showed nothing as to the, ue prosperity or adversity of trade which they reg istered, couse they afforded no data for ascertaining the amount of profit or loss by which the prosecution of any branch of commerce was attended. He could not collect these fact s from the .returns in question, which were therefore quite valueless as eidences upon the subject of the pros I 'erity or adversity of trade. Ile held in his hand pn ex -44,1 from a message of the Arne, ican President (a more and trustworthy document upon the subject of trade . than custom-house returns), in which he spoke of commercial distress as arpiittl to a period distinsiished in England by great exports, when the existence of distress in this country was (icnied by the Treasury, and accounts of custom-house expos to were brought forward to disprove it. Yet it was in relation to then: very exports that the Pre- sii!ent, in his message to Congress, said, "'One great cause of the distress of America was the unusual amount of ex ports from England, caused by the distresses of the Eng lish manufacturers, who, being left without a market in their own countiy, were obliged to send their commoili tiis hither, where they were sold at prices alike ruinous to the English manufacturer and the American mercantile interest." We had not before us the details of the ex- ports of 1829, but we had those of 1828, and they also had been alluded to last Session as an evidence of pros- perity. It had been stated that on an average of three years, the Custom House returns of exports had risen from 40,000,000/. to 52,000,000/. sterling; but would the House believe that of the 52,000,0001, no less than 33,500,0001. consisted of exports arising out of the cot ton trade, leaving 15,500,0001. as the value of the whole of the remaining exported productions of Great Britain. Even the amotn:t of cotton exports failed to prove the pro sperity of that branch of trade ; for we eould not ascer tain by the returns whether, in fact, even ten or five mil lions' worth of cottons bad been exported. It was 133 years since the estimate upon which the value of exported cottons was taken had been made, and probably cotton was at that period a guinea a yard ; notwithstanding which, the same scale of valuation was still adopted. Was that a fair scale in order to ascertain the true value? ( Hear.)—The Hon. Member proceeded to refer to a docu ment circulated among merchants, for the purpose of giving accurate inforufation Ind representations as to our exports and imporci. [Toe Hon. Member did not men tion the name of the docutnent.] In the one which he _ . . . held in his hand, there was the following closing sum- mary of the year 1829 :—" The commer c e of the coun try is in a very depressed state. It is to be particularly noticed, that nearly every description of good', whether raw or manufactured, have been reduced to such a low rate, that the grower or producer suffers con siderably, the value of his commodities having fal len far below a medium or remunerating price—a state of things that cannot continue, and it is only the hope of a favourable change that has induced many persons to continue in trade." Such was the true character of the general commercial transactions of 1829 ; awl the more extensive had been our trading operations, the more extensive was the ruin which they bad produced. It hAI been stated by the Chancellor of the Exchequer that it was the determination of Government that the currency should undergo no further alteration. Now he gave to that declaration (as far as his own belief extended) a posi tive contradiction. No matter how strongly the pledge to the contrary had been expressed, he told Ministers plainly the currency would be altered ; and that many moons would not have rolled over their heads till it would undergo a change if Ministers continued so long to bold the reins of power.—(Hear.)—He judged them not by their declara tions, but by their conduct ; what they had done before they would do again; and during the last 15 years they had been perpetually tampering with the currency. Pressed again by the same necessities, Ministers would again pursue the same course—h• valued not their present declarations or deerulination ; they might as well attempt to determine the state of the next harvest, or to regulate the heat of the approaching summer, as to introduce a principle of certainty into the currency. The standard they had adopted possessed in itself a principle of eternal change, and it was impossible to adapt it permattently to the state of the country. Much evil had been effected by tampering with the currency, with respect to which there had been a vast deal of injudicious and dishonest legisla tion. He disapproved of the rejection of silver as a standard of value. The present standard was a muse avluable standard than that . of 1792,and gave us as low prices as we had then, with greatly increased liabilities.— Having these low prices, all possible reasons were adduced to explain their existence; we were told alter nately of good and bad harvests, of overtrading and un dertrading ; but did any man believe that low prices were attributable to any thing except the present standard, or that it could give us any thing but such prices for agricul tural and commercial produce? Prices were as low now as in 1792, and rents and profits consequently sunk, and there was great distress among all the productive classes. Yet, iu spite of all this, the determination of Govern ment remained firm ; they were prepared to harden their minds and shut their eyes against the public distress, and believe in anything rather than in the existence of the distress which their own acts had brought about, and for the consequences of which they would be responsible.— (Hear. )—To public distress succeeded financiid diffieulty poverty of Exchequer followed : there was the labourer, unable with the wages of 1792 to procure a sufficiency of taxed articles; with the rents of 1792 and the taxation of 1830, the landed proprietor could not maintain his sta tion in society. In consequence of this, we would have a demand for the repeal of taxes—an attack on the malt house, window, tea, and sugar duties. The attack failed : the malt-tax was retained ; Government, confident in the strength of its Parliamentary influence, proceeded; but its triumph was its defeat; and if not in the present ses sion, yet in the next, step by step, and by slow degree, would taxes he wrung front its grasp. With an empty exchequer, would the Government retrench 10,000,0001. or 5,000,000/. of expenditure ? lie did not believe it. Would they refuse to pay the public creditor ? lie hoped not. Would Ministers decline to take their own salaries on quarter-day ? He bad great doubts of it. Would they refuse to pay the soldie:y ? That might be a perilous experiment ; but they would do no such thing,—they would do as they had dose before —go to the state banker and borrow paper money as much debased in value by the quantity issued as metallic money was by being alloyed. Then, when they had restored a temporary prosperity a third time, as twice they had done before, Ministers would bethink them of a gold standard, and the next fifteen years would be like the last, if Parlia ment and the country permitted it. SUch being the case, there would be an eternal succession of depression atone time and prosperity at another : we should be told of un avoidable alternations in national prosperity, and to that system there would be no end 61 the House took the mat ter into consideration, and adopted a system more just to all parties,—more permanent and practical. The Right Hon Secretary (Mr. Peel) had referred to the events of 1819, and talked of individuals who then uttered gloomy predictions. lie (Mr. Attwood) was one of those who took the responsibility of these predictions, and he regretted that they had not been falsified. The Right lion. Gentle man had once attempted to show the prosperity of the country by a reference to the returns of the traffic carritel on on certain of our canals ;—an argument similar in point of value to that made by the Noble Duke at the head of the Government, who said that the country could not be in a distressed state because it now paid a greater amount of taxation than during the war. Whatever might be said to the contrary, he would contend that the distresses of 1822 were met by measures not consistent with those of 1819. On the contrary, they were met by a course which was destructive to a certain extent of those of 1819. He would also contend that the prosperity, such as it was in 1824 and 1825, was not consequent upon the measure resorted to in 1819, but was not at all consistent with it ; and he should on the proper occasion be able to slenv by better evidence than any which could be deduced from a canal account. It had been stated by the Right lion. the Member for Liverpool, and the statement had been repeated by another Hen. Member, that one cause of the distress might be traced to the accumulation of large masses of capital being congregated in the hands of unproduc tive person, ; and he added that one mole of relief (though he had not pointed out how it could be done) would be in the employment—or the dispersion, as he termed it—of the capital so congregated. The great mistake, however, which the Right Hon. Member (and lie was sorry not to see him in his place, to point it nut to him) was in confounding capital with curt ency.—( Hear.) This was the great error of the theory. There might, for instance, he a very high pi ice for Exchequer Bills, and at the same time a great scarcity of the circulating medium— (Hear, bear)—one might be just the effect of the other ; and he (Mr. Attwood) would say that those masses of capital would go nn to accumulate until there should be made a change in that system of currency which the Right lion. the Chancellor of the Exchequer had declared should he perpetual. On the subject of the state of the country, he as mild freely admit that there was a large and very im portant part of the population who were now in a very prosperous condition, much more so than they had been during the war, or during that period which preceded the present state of the currency—he meant all peimanent annuitante, or persons with fixed incomes, but then the benefit derived to this class of persons was not shared by the other portions of the community ; on the contrary, the more prosperous the former, or the non-productive class, became, the greater was the pressure felt by the productive classes, who were necessarily not dependent on fixed in enmes. It was this increase of the income of the unpro ductive classes, arising from increased value of money, which showed the power of that class over capital ; and if tie Right Hon. Gent. would take that into consideration, he would find it was it which gave that appearance of in creaeed business, of increased commerce, which was cal culated to mieletul the Royal mind when alluding to the general condition of the country. If strictly investigated, it would, however, be found. th.t a tavithstanding tle appearances, the burdens of the productive portion of tie community had increased ; that every thing by which the holders of permanent income del iv; adventage was drawn from the industry of the productive c'ast's ; and that what was drassu front the labouring classes was not taken from their surplus wages, but was wrung from their necessaries, from what gave them a wretched e xistence. In conclusion the Hon. Member repeated that he sleuth', at the proper season, be able to prove that the measures adopted with re spect to the currency, and which now existed, were con trary to sound policy, and that the country would never know prosperity until that whole system was changed. He added, that he could not give his assent to the address, be cause it did not, in his opinion, take to the foot of the Throne a correct picture of the state of the country. The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said, that when he stated, in the debate of yesteeday, that the object of some Hon. Members in supporting the arneed ment was an endeavour to alter the standard of the cur rency, the thing was at onae disclaimed. He now how ever was thankful to the Hon. Member who had just eat down for the candour with which he at once avowed that each was his object. This was not the first time, and with equal force, that the Hon. Member had objected to that system of currency which Parliament had settled, and as he (the Chancellor of the Exchequer) hoped, set tied permanently. The Hon. Member, with a power of description which all who heard him must have felt, had drawn a frightful picture of the state to which the cbuntry had been reduced by alterations in the state of the cur rency ; and of the still worse condition to which, accord ing to his (Mr. Attwood's) view, it would again be re duced, if the last measure adopted on that subject were not rescinded. But the Hon. Member would have had a much more extended scope for his great descriptive powers, if he had gone to the other side of the question, and attempted to pourtray the fearful condition into which the country would be thrown, and the dreadful conse quences which most be sure to follow, if Parliament were again to bring it back to that system of currency from which it had been happily rescued by the last measures enacted on the subject.—(Hear, bear.) The Hon. Member had left wholly out of his calculation. that the change in the currency which he conderened, had been now in existence ten years.—(" No, no," " Yes, yes.") Even from the Honourable Member's eaßkahow ing, it bad been that time in cperation. But did the Honourable Member take into consideration the varied transactions of almost every description which had taken place in the reentry within that • time, and all of which had reference to and were measured by tha state of currency as it now existed ?—(flear.)—Coula he 14 a moment consider the large share which the new standard of currency had in those transactions, and not he aware that the change to which he alluded, and which might, perhaps, be practicable if brought about one or two years after the alteration, would now be not only inconve nient, but almost utterly impracticable, at least without involving thousands in the same kind of distress from which they had been rescued ? It might be possible to get Par liament to consent to a measure of the kind : yet the very delay which would be occasioned by an observance of the common forms of the House in carrying such a measure through would he seized upon by the country, and such confusion and dismay would be manifested from one end of it to the other, that Parliament, he felt persuaded, would not attempt to press it. So much for that part of the lion. Member's objection to the address There were one or two other parts of the Honourable Member's speech to which be would say a few words. He would admit with hire, that it would not be a fair criterion of the state of the commerce of the country to take any one year and to quote the exports of that year as a proof of increased trade. He would also admit that the trade of one year alight seem very great, and yet that might be a year when it was carried on at a sacrifice of capital. These might be true of one year; but if he found an increase of exports on the average of three or four years, and if he found that those years were years of increase as com pared with preceding years, he must come to the conclu sion that our export trade increased ; for it was not in the nature of commercial dealings that an extensive trade would be continued increasing from year to year, with a constant sacrifice of capital.—(Hear.)—The observation of the Hon. Member as to the official value being a falla cious mode of judging of our exports, had as little founda tion as his arguments about the average of years. g o t was not pretended that the official was the actual valie; but • that mode of judging was taken, because it was - better to have some invariable standard by which the value could be calculated. The Hon. Member might at any timesee the way in which this calculation was made, and when he as serted that it was done with the view to deceive as to the real value in any,,yeay, he ply showed, his ow p tsitguta acipaintence with the forms in NAlch these done. The Hon. Gentleman appeared to encourage the opinion that his Majesty's Ministers were insensible to the distresses of many classes in the country. He felt it his duty to deny this, and to say, that they were as ineeli afire to those distresses as any other set of men in the commit nity ; but it was no proof that they did not sympathise with the distressed if they refused to withdraw all hope, when they knew that ground of hope existed. It was due to the character of Englishmen. that the ground of hope for the termination of their difficulties should be fairly stated, and in doing so their true interests were better con sulted than by drawing exaggerated pictures of their actual condition, such as had been given by the Hon. Member; which opinion he had reason to believe was confined to , the Hon. Member himself, and to a very limited number beside.—(Hear, hear.) Mr. THANT thought the state of the country called for a snore decided expression of the sympathy of that House than was to lie found in the Address. He thought that after the expression of the opinion of so many able men, it would not be wise to deny that they should enter into a revision of the currency question. It might be said that faith sheald be kept with the public creditor. Ile was a public creditor, and he did not wish to get more for his demand than what an honest man would be entitled to, taking (as we understood the Hun. Member) into con sideration the great increase which had taken place in the value of money. As to the currency question, lie would say, he was no philosopher, and had no fanciful theory o f his own on the subject ; but be could go nowhere out of that House but he beard it said' that the Legislature had taken the wrong course on that question; add when he heard it also said that the incomes of the great mass of the people had not been improved, but greatly deterio; ated by that measure, he could not withhold hie support from any suggestion which would go to an inquiry on the sub ject. He could assure Right Hots. Gentlemen oa the other side, that his objections to the Address did not arise from factious motive!, and that he should always be glad to support his Majesty's Ministers, when he could du so with an approving conscience. Much stress had been laid on the increase of our exports, as the result of our free tiade system. He would muck rather hear of an increase in our excise revenue, for that would be a much better test of the prosperity of the people. In conclusion, sh e Hon. Member observed, that without any reference to party feelings, he was one of those who would support measures of inquiry ; and if any course they had hitherto taken was found to be wrong, they ought to retrace their steps. Mr. Alderman WAITHMAN said, that having already spoken, he was not about to enter into any detail; Ole A question of fact he must say, that never was any thing more fallacious than to judge of our exports by their official value. Ile had a motion on this subject for Tues day next, and he would then prove, that for the last nine years there had been a decrease of 9.000,000/. a year in our exports. The principle he contended for had beets adopted by Mr. Pitt, whose practice it was to quote the real, and not the afield, value, when that Minister had estimated the returns to the Revenue. During the lapse of nine years, there was a real diminution of 9,000,0001. annually, and yet the public was officially told that there bad been an increase of a considerable amount. An :se cession of 12,000,0001. during three, years was set forth in the official documents, instead of which there was found to be a real decrease of more than 16,000 0001., and the official returns of the last year had exceeded those of all the years that had preceded it. lie thought it right to state these facts to the House, and entertained no doubt but the information hereafter to be elicited would obviate many gross inietakts which had gone abroad on the sub ject, and satisfy to conviction every man who understood arithmetic, or was guided by common sense. The report was then brought up and read; as it was about to be read a second time— Mr. HUME said that it had been hie intention to submit to the House an amendment to the Address for the purpose of humbly requesting that Isis Majesty would be pleased to cause measures to be taken with a view to efirect ing a reduction in the public expenditure. It was not, however, Isis wish to press for such an atuendinent at pre sent, as he meant to !ring the subject before Parliament in another shape at no very distant period. He was confident that this would prove the only effectual mode of admini stering the necessary relief to tho distresses of the country. Ministers had said, that altering the standard currency would be an evil ; and if so, their only remaining alterna tive in his judgment was that of bringing down the ex pellees so as to suit the existing circumstances of the sta tion. The Hon. Member concluded with giving a notice to the above effect for Friday, the 12th lest. Mr. MABERLY stated, that be ruse for a few moments which he hoped the Right iu order to nuke a suggestions • . Ffon. eentliqiien ominsite would think worthy of turning in their minds, although he did not intend to put it in the .Izape of a motic,n for an ..mendment or otherwise. What he should say on this 0c,.;.,,i0n was merely dictated by a wish to remove the seoptici.m of a gallant Admiral opp., site, who had seemed to d(lubt the possibility of realizing the plan that he had to propo,e. TVere appeared to be an impression very generally entert zined, that it was the object of many on his si It of the House to effect an im mediate change, no matLr at what risk, in the currency of the kingdom. Whatever opinions other Hon. Gentle men might hold on such a question, he could answer for himself, that he was not one of those individuals..—(gear, hear.)—But he desired to abstain from offering any re marks respecting a deficient currency at present. It was in the recollection of the House that 9,000,000 of Ex- Arguer Bills had, some years since, constituted part of the i;ational resources. Part were in the Bank, and part in the hsuds of the public. In the year 1625 the Bank had made an attempt to dispose of the Exchequer Bills in their possession, but without effest. Now, what he wished to see Government accomplish was simply this—he would haven circulating medium so low as one pound made a legal tender, and receivable for taxation. Such a cui rency, ' • ' ' not being exchangeable for gold, would circulate freely at the wont of junctures, even in time of famine itself, all over the empire, and would prove incapable of depre ciation. Several advantages would unavoidably accrue from the arrangement. One would be the disconnection of Government from the Bank of England,—and thence- forward a aessation of the injury of which their intercouse had hitherto been productive to the public. It would also fialltiC a saving of three or four hundred thousand a year, which in times like the present was by no means to be overlooked. He had recently communicated his opinion to the Right Hon. Secretary for the Home Department, but did not require any answer which would commit Ministers, or pledge them to entertain for a moment the suggestion so submitted. He expected, however, that they would consider its feasibility, and act as they might ultimately deem most eligible for the interest of the public. It would keep Government out of the hands of the Bank, and save the expense of the metal currency. That the existing standard was maintained at a very considerabl, cost, he apprehended was a fact beyond controversy. What he re commended would produce practical benefit, at the same time that it disencumbered us of so much expenditure. It ►xight be alleged, that by acting on this coun'el the Btnk currency would be pro tanto displaced. The objection he would at once meet by fully admitting it ; nor was it, in his judgment, deserving of a moment's consideration, when compared with the advantages to which he had ad verted. In fact, be saw no sufficient argument which could be adduced against the circulating of a government currency equivalent to the whole extent of the taxation, under the superintendence of Parliament. If the Right Hon. Home Secretary and the Chancellor of the Exche quer should be induced to take a favourable view of what he bad thrown out, there was no (hulk but they would greatly improve on his idea, when they brought their stateswaulike talents to the eoutemulation ftf the subject. PARLIAMENTARY REFORM. The. Marquis of IJLANDFORD said he should trespass but a few moments on the indulgence of the House, but would request their most serious attention to a topic of the greatest importance to the interests of the country, and one which could never be too earnestly impressed on the mind of their Sovereign, however• unacceunt►bly it had been neglected hitherto. He alluded to the present pernicious state of the popular representation.—(Hear, the debate of Thursday evening the lion. and Learned Member for Clare had expressed sentiments on this mo mentous topic, in. which he most cordially concurred. He was happy to see that Hon. Gentleman devote his talents to the reprobation of so execrable a system, and he could assure him that he would gladly join heart and hand with so fileient a coadjutor in procuring its abo ition. Mean time he begged leave to move, with permission of the Ilcuse, that the following wholesome admonition to the Throne be appended to their address in answer to his Ma jesty's gracious Speech to both !louses of Parliament. (We could not discover who seconded the Noble Lords motion, but understood that it was Mr. O'Connell.) " That this House feels itself called upon, in the awful and alarming state of universal distress into which the landed, .commercial, and all the great productive interests of the country are.at this moment plunged, to take care that your Majesty Shull not be the only person in your do minioneignorant of such an astounding fact, as well as of the consequent impending danger to the Throne, and other great national institutions established by the wisdom of our ancestors, fir the protection and benefit of the people over whom your Majesty has been called to preside. " That this House is at no loss to indicate the real nassevef ee t4ejonse e ntenettarielatitate _of things, and, in jus lilecto eoteMajeity and the whole station, it can no longer hesitate to proclaim that cause to the world. " It is a fact already too notorious, that this House, which was intended by our ancient and admirable Consti tution to be the guardian of the nation's purse, has, from causes now unnecessary to be detailed, been nominated for the greater part by a few proprietors of chore and decayed boroughs, and by a few other individulala, who, by the mere power of money employed in means absolutely and Positively forbidden by the laws, have obtained a do mination,' also expressly forbidden by Act of Parlia ment, over. certain other cities and boroughs in.the United Kingdom. " That in consequence of this departure from the wis dom of our ancestors, the nation has been deprived of its natural guardian, and has in consequence become so bur dened in the expensive establishments of ell kinds, that, in a period much shorter than the life of man, the taxation has increased from 9,000,0001. to nearly 60,000,0001. a year ; and the poor-rates, or parochial assessments, during the same period, have augmented from 1,500,600/. to 8,000,000/. annually. " That to render such a mass of taxation, so dispropor tionate to the whole wealth of the kingdom, in any degree supportable, recourse has been had, either from ignoranee or design, to the most monstrous schemes in tampering with the currency or circulating money of the country ; at one time by greatly diminishing the value of the same, and at another time by greatly augmenting such value ; and at each and every of such changer, which have been but too often repeated, one class of the community after another has been plunged into poverty, misery, and ruin, while the sufferers, without any fault or folly of their own, have' been hardly able to perceive from what hand these calamities have come upon them. " That, under such circumstances, and with this know ledge before its eyes, this House would consider itself lost to every sense of duty towards your Majesty, and guilty of treason towards the people, if it did not seize this op portunity of declaring to your Majesty its solemn convic tion that the state is at this moment in the moat imminent Idanger, and that no effectual measeree of salvation will, or can, be adepted, until the people shall be restored to • their rightful share in the legislation of the country— that is, to their undoubted right, according to the true meaning of the Constitution, of choosing the Members of this House." On the question being put, Sir F. Bt3FtDETT expressed himself both willing and earnestly desirous to support to the utmost of his power such a proposition as the Noble Lord had then submitted to the Houses But his very wish fur the eventual suc- • tees ten" 4 sio glorious and honourable a cause induced him to recommend the Noble Mover not to press it so inoppor tunely on the• attention of Parliament. The question was .one of such magnitude and interest, that for his own part he should be totally unable to do it the justice that it de manded without time for its consideretion. Although he deprecated the immediate agitation of the subject, he hoped tint the Noble Lord would not lose sight of what he had so laudably begun, or relax his energies when the fitting occasion for their exercise should arrive. In his arduous end public spirited undertaking he could promise him unity of co-operation and support. As for himself, he einuld not but entertain sanguine hopes of success, when he beheld such an individual coming forward from the ranks of the aristocracy, to give the weight of his in fluence and abilities to a service in which he had no inte reet, except that which he must attach to the welfare of his eountry.—(flear, hear.)—lt did honour to his spirit and patriotism as en Englishman, while it reflected cre dit on his talents and understanding as a Member of that House. The.,Nolile Lord deserved the highest praise for lerting boldly' taken up a subject of such import ance—a subject, indeed, of infinitely superior import ance to most of those which they were officially invited to discuss; but he would ' , gain suggest the expe diency of overlooking it at a moment PO inauspicious as the present.—(Hear.)—He must, however, Affirm, that there were indications in the aspect of peliticel effeire, which abundantly justified vigilance and anxiety on the part of thefts who preeestel themselves the friends of the people.---(bear, hear.)—ln referring to whet had just oe cut red in another place, he was only hallowing the recol lections of tho e around him. No one in that House was ignorant of the recent declarations which hail been uttered by the Prime Minister of England.—(Cheers.)—When he found him so shatneftely insensible to sufferings and dis tress which were painfully apparent throughout the land, —when, instead of meeting such an overwhelming pres sure of calamity with some measure of relief, or some at tempt at relief, he sought to stifle eerier important in quiry. —when he called that a partial and temporary evil which was both long-lived ;mil universal, he (Sir F. Bur dett) could nut look On Much a mouralul crisis, in which pubtie mistlrtune wu insulted' by Alinisterial apathy, without hailini any prospect of change in the system that produced it.—(Cheers.)—lf such wee the cal:ous indif ference of a nationli ruler, wl.at 0 - limit] we say to the ig- norAnce which could attribute our distresses to the imtro- duction of machinery—that noi,!r improvement in the in ventions of man to wl:ich men of science and intelligence mainly ascribe our prosperity?—(Hear. )—He felt a high and an unfeigned respect :or that ilustrious person's abilities in the field ; but he could not help think in, that he did himsel on less than jostko when he •aid, about a month before he accepted his present office, that he should be a fit inmate_ for an at.y- lurn of a peculiar nature, if lie ever were induced to take such an onus 00 his shouldera.—(Laughter.)—lie most felt disposed to coincide with him in that opinion. —(Laughter, and cheers.)—lt was not his purpose now to enter at all into the subject of the currency. But when it whsass,Tted that the present pressure was only temporary, the speaker said what no man who knew the country and its resources could ever be prevailed on to be lieve. The averments concerning the circulating, medium also were decidedly untrue. It had been stated thatethere were at present 25,000,000/. of gold coi❑ circulating in England. This he utterly denied : it was impossible that it should be so, nor could any man who had ever taken pains to make himself informer on the subject credit it fur an instant.—(Hear, hear.)—ln fact, both he and very many Hon. Members about hina, had long treated the illustri:nis individual with great tenderness, because they felt he had conferred the greatest benefit on his country.—(Hear, bear.)—He was the only mm in Eng land who could have accomplished what be has done, and be his praise in proportion. But let it at the same time be remembered, that if his services were great, his recompense had been eotnmensur its. They hail repaid him abundantly in returns of confidence and approbation. The time, however, was come when it would he necessary to do notch more. The great healing art which that Noble Person had the wisdom to consummate ought to have been effected half a century before; and now, when it was cat ried, there was a stern alternative placed before Government—justice to Ireland, or civil conten tion.—(Hear, hear. )—Had the latter choice been adopted, could it have been adhered to without resorting to means which would make humanity shudder at the contempla. tion ?--( Hear. )—He was satisfied that the lower louse of Parliament could n• longer he said to be the Commons of England, hut an asserniq of Representatives of Pnr•, against the spirit and genius of the, Constitution.— (Cheers. )---With corruption on all sides staring them is the face, he would ask, was it not time to propose fir a reform It was u fact which admitted of no question : every body knew it,—the House knew it,—all the world knew it,—id sculls, et (pod vol scitis °nines sciunt. It was too apparent to every man who considered the subject, that the state of the representation was the root of all tbe evils with which the country was now, and for years had been, afflicted ; and that, till it was remedied, there could be no permanent remedy for our national grievances. It enabled the Minister of the time being, be he who he may, to command a majority for any measure he chose to bring tOrward, without any regard to its merits or tendency. He therefore hoped, indeed implored the Noble Lord, of whom no man wits a more sincere or warmer admirer,— of whose spirit and boldness in bringing forward the pre sent amendment no man was a snore willing applauder thin himself (whom the Noble Lord would, at all times, Ifind his zealous ally in his intended course of improving our present representative system)—not to then press his motion, but await the day on which he had given notice of his intention W bring the main subject substantively before the House. He assured the Noble Lord that, in giving his advico, he was convinced he was promoting the gre:it object which both had in view, to which indeed he could not hut regret his inability to do justice. He trusted the Noble Lord would, on amainr more con- venient occasion, bring the question again be ore the House, affording by the short delay time to have its gene ral bearings more maturely considered by the Noble Lord himself and the other Hon. Membera. It was not fair play to those who, unacquainted with the NoWe Lord's intention, were then absent, but who, if present, would undoubtedly give the proposition their most cordial sup port, to thus suddenly press so important a matter to a division. He was sure that many then not in their places would be anxious to vote with the Noble Lord on a future occasion. He therefore trusted the amendment would not be pressed to a division in the unixepated state of the House; but that the N& , le Lord would take the sense of that branch of the Legislature at no distant oceasion,when he might depend upon it lie (Sir F. Burdett) would, even if his were the only other vote, give the proposition his most earnest support.—(ffear, bear.) The Marquis of BLANDFORD had the most - unfeigned respect for the personal character of the lion. Baronet, and would yield the most willing deference to his experience in that House, particularly in relation to a measure tending to improve our representative system ; but still felt that he would be neglecting the dictates of common sense s and would ill-discharge his duty to the country, if he did not press his 'notion to an immediate division. Mr. PEEL could not but express his opinion, that a measure of such importance should be not only not thus suddenly introduced to the notice of the House, but that the House should not be at once, without further consi deration, c tiled upon to express its sense of its merits.— (Hear. )—He agreed with the Hon. Baronet, that that was not the fitting occasion to press a motion of such extensive interest to a division, though he differed entirely from the Hon. Baronet in his estimate of its merits and tendency. He could nut but lament that the [lon. Baronet had alluded, contrary to the usage of that House, to the proceedings of the other branch of the Legislature. Such allusions were at all times inconvenient—indeed unfair, as the parties at tacked were necessarily unable to explain or vindicate their conduct at the place and instant of its being animadverted upon. In the present instance the Hon. Baronet bad not only attacked his Noble Friend at the head of the Govern- ment, , but, he was confident quite unintentionally, had misrepresented his Noble Friend's observations. He was satisfied that his Noble Friend did not, as the lion. Baronet had stated, ascribe the distress with which unfortunately the manufacturing and agricultural interests were than visited, to the introduction of steam and machinery. All that his Noble Friend said was that p trtial distress was by no means incompatible with improvements in those elements or causes of our national greatness and prosperity. His Noble Friend by no means lamented these improvements, but only contended that their introduction—he particulat ly allmhd to the power-loom—might at first aggravate the distress by throwing a certain number of hands out of em ployment, and that this partial diminution of the demand for labour (lid sometimes tend, with the great efforts made to undersell foreigners in the markets of the world, to create temporary distress in the manufacturing districts. Was it fair, lie asked, to make this opinion—no matter bow erroneous—the ground of a charge against the Prime Minister, of ascribing the distresses of the industrious classes of the community to the improvements of the ma chinery?—(Hear.)—No man felt more rejoiced at the progress of science than his Noble Friend, as no man was more deeply impressed with the conviction of the intimacy between improvements in science and art, and national greatness. Mr. PROTHEROE should feel himself compelled to vote aotinst the Noble Lord's Amendment,- if he then pressed it to a division, though he had himself proposed resolutions of the same tendency. Every man was partial to his own progeny; he therefore was not surprised at the Noble Marquis's attachment to his; but as he had sa crificed his parental affection last evening, he thought the Noble Marquis might make some little sacrifice on the pre sent occasion. Mr. W. SMITH was friendly to the principles of the 1 Noble Lord's amendment, but must objtet to their being then submitted, without notice or discussion, to the teat of a vote of that House. Mr. WESTERN would give the Noble Marquis his best support on the 18th, the day on which he had given notice of his intention to bring the subject substantively before the house, but would vote against him that evening, should he injudiciously press a division. Mr. E. DAVENPORT would also vote ngainst the Noble Marquis's motion, should he then take the sense of the House on it. He trusted, however, the Noble Mar quis would not injure the cause of which he had . put him self forward as the advocate, by leaving it to the country to infer that there were hut some half dozen members of that House who were friendly to a reform of the prevent ssstetn of representation. Ile (Mr. E. Davenport) had elr years urged the necessity of such a measure, and there fore should not like to see it injured through the indiscre tion of the Noble Marquis on the present occasion. The gallery was thin cleared for a division : For the amendment 1 t I Against it r)(3 Majority in favour of the original Address...... 85. The report on the Address was then read and adopted; and the House adjourned at Eleven o'clock till Monday. Owing to the stormy weather at the last " full of the n ioom" the sea has been stealing a march on the Lincolusbire coat, to the great alarm of some of the funnels in the neighbourhood of lugatnells: one person there had a hovel full of beasts, which stool for some time tip to the mid-sides in wafer ; and at An.krhy wotki cid Neptune bas ciptured about twenty yards of the nevi , tun nel,LiTlCOld Mercury. SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS. The King's Speech, with which the present ses sion was opened, may be characterized as plair, unpretending, and appropriate,fair in its state ments, and le•!s discouraging than others before it have been, in so ftr as it is more entitled to credit for the promises (being definite and moderate) which it hold; out. The only two distinct pledges contained in this communication of the intended policy of Ministers, are of the most important na tore. One relates to an extensive reform in the administration of justice : the other recognizes the obligation of practising the stric!est economy in every department of the state, and :Inures the coun try that the King's Government has been enabled to make considerable reductions in the public expcn diture, without impairing the efficiency of our mili tary cr naval establishments. If the position of the empire be dwelt upon ever so assiduously, or er(:;r so profoundly meditated, we do not apprehend that it would be possible to imagine two arils, the gra vamina of which are felt with more severity, or the remedies_for them more loudly called for, than the burdens and delays of law, and the needless extra vagance of some of our public departments. There is nothing unreal in such grievance•,• nor any thing in the redress of them by the legitimate resources of science end of parsimony, which will not command the cordial approbation of all sober-minded men. It is otherwise with your currency-projectors. Dis mal was their overthrow in the I louse of Lords oa Thursday night, when the Duke of Wellington gave them a glimmering of the utter contradiction brvw.era his sentiments and those of Lord Stanhoije: The amendment proposed by the latter Noble Earl went only to recommend a Parliamentary inquiry irro the state of the nation ; but the comment of his Lolei- sYp on his own text disclosed pretty clearly what that inquiry was destined to result an al teration in the currency. " We must have more money" (i. e. paper), quoth:Lord Stanhope. "We *hall:then be able to borrow ad libitum fmm the way, co t t i j t l : s r ( a Y , y a i h i k l y e e :P; 3 ' r:i ' m n e t e l h e i M m m e i e n n s i , s i nt howertl e i n much h a u r ite l h o m f m C aott a ti e ee r ;: r o t w t euid you have ? When the Bank restriction was in its ut most force, and paper in its highest glory, the Bank of England, the country barks, and some small amount of gold and silver, made up collectively the sum of 64,000,0001. (paper) sterling; wheteas the present circulation of die country (Jan. 1, 1830) is, Bank of England, round :numbers, 20,000,000/.; country bankers, 10,000,0001.; gold, in sovereigns and half-sovereigns, 28,000,0001. or 29,000,000/. ; silver, 7,000,0001.;—total, 65,000,000/." But the paper circulation was seldom at a less discount than ss. in the pound, or 25 per cent. The 64 millions, therefore, not convertible into gob!, would not be worth more than 48 millions of the resent eh ciliation, s'hich is not depreciated,—or, taking . it the other way, the present 65 millions of 'net (or convertible) currency would be equivelcnt to 86 millions of the paper medium of the halcr•on days of Lord Stanhope! What, then, would the Noble Earl have ? lie would have, in the words of the Duke of Wellington, not an " extended but en un limited circulation, when any man might coin at no expense, and lend on no security, anti borrow with out thinking about payment." There never• Ives such a quiet knock-down blow administered to any system of boisterous quackery, as this declaration of the Noble Duke, against tampering with the coin of the realm. We presume the currency•doctors wail now take up some new and more promisime vocation. It appears to us, from the proceedings of Thursday night, that the opposition to Ministers is composed of such inharmonious elements as to preclude tiny reasonable chance of their combining to a common ctr i. The Whig or Liberal speakers among the Lords, who seemed suspicious of the Adinitewr a , don, rather than directly hostile, refused, with the exception of the Earl of Caernarvon, to support Lord Stanhope's address. Where such divisions reign in the camp, no warlike operations on a great or decisive scale are likely to be undertaken, snitch less to prove successful. The effect of Lord Stanhope's eloquence in the Lords s 5 to elicit a minority of nine, headed by an illus trious person, whose patronerce is doubtless u com pensation for paucity of numbers. The &bete in the House of Common•, though it turned upon a veiled distinction between a paragraph in the Ad eh•: se and the amendment of Sir E. Knatchbull, was extremely interesting, (torn the opportunity which it LaTorded to Alen:hers of expressing their opinions on the state of the country, and to Ministers an oc casion of declaring their resolutions with respect to the Insintsnance of the currency. We call the c11.,- tinction a verbal one, because both the Addie,e the amendment admitted the public distress, thong)! :he letter stated the fact more broadly than the for mer. The supporters of the Address seemed us much disposed as the supporters of the amendment to admit, in their speeches, the general nature of the pressure which they all deplored. Their opposition to each other, therefore, lead no political object, and the votes of the minority (had it been even larger than it was) could have had no practical result. .tee the amendment came from what is called the Toy opposition, the liberal members who joined it ill the vote, felt themselves obliged to disclaim ilia genteel principles of their present associates, end to express their reluctance to do any thing which might affect the sability of the existing Administration ; while several of those who voted for the Address would have preferred the amendment, had they not been afraid that they would have given a victory to its supporters on questions of far greater importance than the wording of an address. We recommend to public attention the declaration made by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and the Secretary for the Home Department, expressive of the dete,e mistation of Government to admit no farther tame peeing with the currency. The most important die closures of political feeling, made in the course of the debate, were those of Mr. Huskiteon, who seems at variance with his former colleagues aye more questions then one; and of Lord Darlingtoo, who, finding now, as he expressed it, " a Tory Ad ministration acting on Whig principles," has de serted the opposition► benches, and carried his " Whig principles" to the other side of the House, —Tones. It was said of the late Mr. Pitt, by some person who meant to pay the highest tribute of admiration to his ready and graceful elocution, that he was " the only man who could speak a King's Speech off-hands" This would be rather equivocal praise at the present day, when a King's Speech is about one of the most bald, inelegant, and unmeaning pieces of composition that is to be found in the English langeage. The Speech of Thursday is, especially, meagre is matter and'poor in composi tion; and, if it were not too well known that his Majesty had as little. to do with preparing as with delivering it, the impression which it is calculated to make on public opinion would be extremely tin, favourable to the taste, purity, arid correctness .of th e Royal style of elocution. But we do not . intend to indidge in verbal criticism on this s pemmen of the literary accomplishments of the Cabinet—particu larly as the Attorney-General, who has shown him. self so sensitive and exact a grammarian, might feel it hi, duty to undertake an cflieial defence of the composition against any depreciating remark, which, no doubt, he would show to be clearly libellous, as " tending to bring the literary talents of his M.- jesty's Ministers into contempt?' Let u', there fore, confine ourselves to what the Speech states cf our domestic and foreign relations, and see how far the words put in the mouth of a King are the words of ti uth and soberness, and ho v far they ant in unison with common reason and experieoce.— The Speech states " his Majesty has seen wi!li wtisfaction that the war between Russia and the, Ottoman Porte has been brought to a rcor.elusion." Does his Majesty then really see with satisfaction the utter overthrow and pr, at a lon of his ancient and Lithful ally by her ancien a rd invete ate eon me. is the proud Sult;o1 suing for peace upon his knees . t the gates of his deenceless capit.d, to the likoi l hty and niun phant Czar, a li:owe pleasing to the Royal eye ? Suck was the conclusion of the ly,r