The Express.
London, England, 1847-05-26 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

The Financier and Commercial Crisis considered. By

LORD ASHBURTON,

The name of the noble author alone will suffice
to command attention to this bruc',ore. Without
stopping at present to discuss the soundness of its
views we merely propose to observe that it is full of
matter, and present some samples of its style of thought
and expression to our readers.
To many it will be satisfactory to learn that Lord
Ashburton contemplates the present state of monetary
affairs without alarm.

The truth is, that Were Is no ground for any apprehension; the
treasure in the bank is abundant; there u no reason why it should
not promed with caution End prudence in maid the ordinary legiti-
mate trade; that trade hoe shown itsed deem ring of that support,
and proved Omit to be in a round state by standing firm during the
heavy storm raised by a mistaken theory. The droll, of gold ic por-
tal and to one country, and is not likely to go further, union under a
second el:Motion of famine ; and Would we be pardsbed by such a
further calamity, we shall best do our duty by fostering and pro-
moting our domestic indimtry, which can alone enable no to meet it.
Lastly, with 10,000,0001. to Weir coffers, the Bank directors are an
safe as any Bonk director. ever were; but it must be admitted that
the ltreat bugbear, the act of 1844, In enough to frighten men lets
timid men, and from this the legislature, if it be wise, will hasten to
relieve them.

The grounds upon which he entertains this conso-
latory confidence will appear from his striking
sketches of the panic of 1823, and of that which is at
present fluttering the exchanges of England. On the
former he three 00111104 Ste
The withdrawing of the mehis from the Rank is, it is mid, always
to be met by a great neinedon it both-notes. On this subject wo
ham ea mem& Made eer recollection no bent:motive and no conch:-
ghee:A r rertedieg erl theory would be superfluom. The with-
al thenweelstrona tbs soignee( tits Beak will bedevermined by
cos of Ewa imam:—t. Either by s and eland, segaineretal or
egad, within its country; cer A Owed he mg ter abroad,
elm mita state of the largo enaragoe.
Itannr thi: dada W entirely of the Mawr dairyman. TM
exchanges were Ihrorter ; there woo no thrond ram go tram
abroad; but the Irk we eeposod, not to a wad drab, bat to
=COW= ether led ort ran Ittry t— aiel is I wee on that
to rare rat the lelo Lad L.:cer-
eal!. Mr. H. sml the Oeverace et ark. the
=Vsal that Mara aro very &Simile hall....reente.;
ies err we : Admiteres Mate most Ir:A sad
trierlpir erlets4 .1.. hardly be said the they were
amolflass shwa lie Rank, were foamed hs se wire
ft the wag et pmellee, with the smile emeglieu of the
.07restaL Meals beMers, hi town an wary, fell in
numbers ; red Os pooh air ally =request an sea a state of
==a twoh era the Err solid end weekkur establish-
hid obis open thew
,weertithe by hoidrg their notes
or MO eardlon ; le prey et a the rfts of the
droller wen al tbe _i dignarlin They rebid kr thrr
loodeola while the of soles, rough more ntuserea• sees
tar Wile pea& Ms weft use, stopping in the first harm
▪ skodo tiers, Mood every country bunker to draw bra
I all floarrargise est it the hank; and the extant of their
dimemg ma he MK gaged by the atatemeat of one of the MA
11411112111•1111•110111ilb 1611•111anken ams, that he to not
=aid In kit banes grr mem sees he had out. It No
In Ili Yews ant w~lehed without great ear-
Ass ; hot Oases, no prelere deer do the maisterro of the
pored work sad ewe at Ws monist the parte will now taw
leiftlismi Woes eerdard by the prewift Owe ore
✓oosts lair kg or die le site with lapartr.
The pit it Se left vas to within a ray ter thersond
park; Sr ablisughergerobers showed • malt tether lea
sorderes, • serria elm, with waft wed meta-
TM ride to lard larrpost was for
teleil=r7:= to do whir nareaty eared Aar to arra-
argorks at ink pare ; end that gar sits to the
arrow Iher awilhsed ban= LW LI Yes
the emu et We Illeak airelt. We st ore the
folhowlog hub Wads ors ; as Ms been eta* elearvak ties
purr drifts la oar of alarm ar are sides es waver
aroger. The ark of the Irk al arse& pram wee
Then wr no we is the marry who wee fa ready to
rm r • wows et skrenlatisa, sad to gra era his gold for
/t, the mart he nen owed list his rirkevr wield uhe It from I
blet suer The pal was ast waist to rod Arad; tha state of
bil=llelbsegle Made Isiazest. Years, no fear of
lt
of gaga. Ths sal /sale or y do-
mes*: whew wail which we die
past to hut at a eatoftWe k who everybody ,•r the
parr • t the PRO it amoral is sea a stets or Or the
pawn so wall se mg ho soil to her dope no err bear,
re his are ftsamaillis red smug more wedgy sad wftlly
Lpaha vftee It we re
la left as et dims Sr swift he the ire v w 'Mow
lad wieskaseets weei by as AWN, the Peek MIT=
WI. a hq. ailftel b eTwase we wads owl sheet
at alai II IL, wore seriassmir hurl ft bola ashluew wee
drafted; Ile reit welmodlels fte waft reeiteed a dew
Win wwww Iliaemsbsts bet we assiftsw sad lhe
webs pit wee Telsrael le Ws Wsk. The sloe Wide
sere Wreessi hen 111011141111111. laDeasseber, telft SO=Bl.lga
Week UN; NW knew wrist lo ram the pews% OW
sqy Waded beim the ad et Yet wee le War meow swelet
wale et PAII,POId, wire Or burr he he irk w swesoftety
ftereweiW We Imre etpoper, la wadies lofts lbws of
list ten web ewes • assisamy
It Is Swift vaweeres that I Weald mod nyedt Sew Wag
=I le welalata Wit ST reel ot weer la Y.
• drain et weds; Wit Wei I do =IOW
Is. SW knerstearrorsody tor that rrisder ora mit Ilme la vas
eadielefts lowst lo he so by the resift by
a feet.
met slat hew wiled drift weed by serer
Bat Or sot cd 1144 says that al are of dada AO be Ceied la
the are maim ; that then is ae asides no )des
mod Wear to argil; sot my nom W l.it se keg
ea he ewe et 11111-38 le to eabefteft he sasaftlfte
• Woe west SW Oho es et IM est soy wads* Wee writ
ewe. hat weld hoe rierreelet i the dllftudllw OW ft awe.
evils Is net etwftemeolas and theredne mark without
, sellar el peera- bately ow awhile.
e aided abate et adze is thus described:
Hews Yea swiftest the we et 1124 let no eberdy also the
unfortunate smarm Irish we sow Wart, slow, sift acrd
state a tomes,,
-me Wlllftleft of wefta he Peak. war waders
1 • palm Om Wm ft left the wen at Se Dash wan
empty, t • hose paella of weehmle rubel by Ned issieleftw
The yarn sifts Twit had Wed ter a bag law at abed
=ZOOM. la Need swim;; its mewed et We twee we tea.
• bertha tellerseeles a vein vale et kiwi& It
MOM arl fir a keg Uwe Se ifteiftes 11111i111
haw hew alfth lereetsey whew_. Mee _N fess es

five =Mums off their heads. The want of food thus occurred, end,
combined with the increased price of cotton, overbalanced the smoimt
of our exports, and required a part payment in hellion. The natural
questleo, then, to be asked wet% to "dad extent this was iikely to go.
The continental excVes allbrded no ground for alarm ; Ramie
at flirt took some from to, which Fenn tensed , but the
thief demand was Alberta—a country with 'which wo have
always an catenate reciprocal trade. It might fairly be preowned
that four or fire millions would =tidy this demand, which would
reduce the treasure of the Bank from fifteen to ten inhliona
Ibis, which might have been the pruned colmate of practical men,
turns out to be the truth ; and the Bank, with its ten millions left in
Its coffers, need have disturbed no intereats, or disturbed them
slightly. But the directors had no power to exerehe any o, intro ;
the rigid parliamentary machine was to think sad set for then, the
whole country was disordered ; and It mould be difficult to form any
estimate of the ;Immense lows both vf the Exchequer and of
indiri-
dtulswhich mimed.
. . _

I beg rot to be undeegood aa retelling to maintain that the of of
specie or the adverse state of the foreign Exchanges are In uo caws
to he considered by the Dank ; I hold there symptoms, on the
contrary, to be cesential elements in guiding de conduct coot but that
they roust be conioilercri with an eurroundinf and ae:ism
eirxemetances by luen of Waimea and exper.ence, capaiilert
giving to them all • oirre.ponding weight und importance
in their deliberation, and not be impreet upon them drily and with-
metically—nay, mechanically. by Oct of varlet:tett. This b•rpiestaim
between limitation by rule or by diseretwo, and the limitation by rule
suits only • state of thing. as invariant m the rule itself. It would
be foolish and even mischievous is inculate indifference to er 'o ash
lightly of any sumension, 4, en for an hour, of tut cash pop e:vents of a
great bank. It would be, to s.ey the least of it, :a greet peeiglereantd,
to be guarded modest by every prudential measure • abr.olote security
ageing such • catastrophe is hardly attainable in the care a bank of
lane. The act of 1811 certainly duet not give it; for the whole
treasure left by that eat at the depute' of the Bank might have Wm
drawn met In nee minutes by the private depositors; and it b worthy
of remark that with us, under the former uncontroaed management
of twenty. four directomomeh a diagram has never happened, eaet ;t-
-ine In 1197, when the suspension was forced upon the flank by the
large Corer:re paynamta of the sdnieter; and those operations were
reluctantly consented to Ly the ilireetore, from a belief that the askty
of the country from a tore.gn enemy depended on therm
Mote than one pregnant suggestion is thrown out
by Lord Ashburton : we confine et:mires to the fol-
lowing, partly because it seems to bo the author's
favourite, partly because of the characteristic wari-
ness with which it is propounded:
It cannot, I fear, be raid that no extent of (obesity could endanger
a momentary disturbanee of the cash payments of the Rank ; but it
moat be of a very extwordiwory character mod such as it would be
vain to attempt to guard againet. And with reference to this view of
the eubject, I will conclude with a few othertations tea the subject of
a proposal made by me In 1819 to include diver as wed an gold in our
system of legal to oder, in accordance with the practice of, 1 believe,
every country in the world excepting Poe tugal.
The Mist I,rd Liserpool gave a very fooloh reason for preferring
gold to silver es a singlet egandanl, —Wet the richer. *matey In the
; world should have the richest metal for a stagdnrd. Common
' meow should have led an accurate obeerver to the eery comm.
site conclusion. The wealth of a nation like ours does not comet
In the pre:iota metals. We bolo little mole of them than
is necemary to circulate the almeet countless millions of our wealth,
and touch lean in proportion than es held by many much pewee coon-
trite In proem teen to the amount of wealth circulated, it is essen-
tial to enlarge fur safety the metallic base which is w tit serve paper
from depreciation ; and that, it cannot be doubled, is greatly enlarge)
by oannorming to the Meth], of all me neighbours in taking the
doable, and If not the douOle., the silver Wardard.
'The mass of wealth and the objects of exchange are, at least, quo.
droplet' since this wine dictum of lord ',moot ; but he would
narrow, instead of enlarging, the base on which it rests. Mr. Ma-
ki.= was very anxious to promote this change in our dretiLWon,
end at Ida instance I gave evidence before the Privy Council, which
was printed and pemented to parliament. The opiniemof the Rank di-
rectors was adverse to a,, anal the Reejeet fell to the ground." The WSW
merit of the directore was, tied miter bulUmt anmrered equally their
purposo of checking an adverse mate of exclaim ge and a demand of
then gold from abroad, as if it were converted into a eta rent min.
Now, during the late preemie, this argument has eingularly con-
tradicted. he Bank has held upwardeof 1,500,0001. in sayer, with!: it
baa In vain attempted to convert Into gold, and it has refused to buy
Myer at any prase. It is further to be observed that
the act of 1814 only permits eilver to be taken as a
security for honk issues in the proportion of one-fourth or
compared with gold, Pus recognising the ineuflitieney of silver bul-
lion to secure paymenta en gold coin. Wiliam er may be our mu&
de nee or security in the quiet times of mare, it is always to be feared
that, Moo d we unfortunately be engaged ill mother war, when we
are called upon to tiebt ue mush with our money as with one none.,
our standard may fail us; and they who are on this point most
jealous should endeavour to enlarge as much as passible
the hue on which oar paper must reel ; the y should
• ell comider whether the desire to refine ado much on the
absolute perfection of the standard may not endanger their having no
standard at all, and leave them to leper into the liirmingbaut mire of
insonvertible raga.
I could not treat this general subject without again recording my
opinion about a slim, standard, but I cannot recommend that it be
acted upon until the opinions a the best public euthorities change, for
1 must alma that they are genemlly against me. I trust that the
country will not Per a long emetic° ebb question prong! by the die-
trams of war. The politiod horizon is colon and mat enough at
prese
goldent,
stend and I
ard. may at my age fairly hope not to outlive the reign in
th
It is hardly necessary to notice at any length the preporrala, loom
some quiirtars of no great authority, of returning la En glend to the
circulation of notes under 5/. I cannot see that nay reline to our large
dealing. could rmult from wen .mall expedients. This meanie,
mold only tend to drive gold coin out of the meant cirenladon, and
routine it to the coffers of the mos: it would give little facility en the
circulation of our taillione, while it would largely promote the trade
of forgery. It could only he during a total suspensim of specie pay.
meats that small notes would be minted, bat to the event of such a
misfortune they would be Indispensable.