The Express.
London, England, 1847-10-22 00:00:00

THE EXPRESS, FRIDAY EVENING, OCTOBER 22, 1847.

ANTI-GOLD LAW LEAGUE.

The third meeting of this association seas held
yesterday evening, at the Crown and Anchor Tavern, F.
BANNOCH, Esq., in the chair, who emoted the proceedings
. by intimating that the society was rapidly progressing
numbers, gentlemen of all classes of political opinions acceding
to it. The principle of the association was simply this, that the
currency system was wholly erroneous, and must be altered.
! While the trade in everyother commodity was being rendered
free, the price of each being regulated by the law of supply
and demand, gold alone was kept at a fixed price amongst us.
Our currency system was the sole cause of our present die-
' tresses. The coat of imported corn had little or nothing to
' do with it. Our whole outlay for foreign cora during the
put twelve months, bad not exceeded twenty millions, of
' which but eight or ten millions. at the outside, had
been paid in gold, and supposing that the corn so imported
wee worth, in original value, one half this amount, the &boo-
' lute loss to the country in gold had not exceeded four or five
million', a mere drop in the ocean, when it was considered
that the property of the country was valued at 50,000
I millione. To get beck this five millions the screw war
mercilessly applied, and with what effect? Why this, that
within the same twelvemonth Console had fallen 15 per
cent., involving a total loam of 120 millions. Railway
property had suffered to the extent of 30 millions, and
other property to the extent of certainly not less than 300
minima, being, in all, 450 millions sacrificed to get back
five. This was no imaginary calculation, but formed
on carefully collected data. He had but that day
conversed with a friend who had 10,000 tons of
sugar by him. Should the pressure of affairs compel
him to sell this sugar, in the present currency-occa-
sioned state of the market, he must sell it at a lam of 121. per
ton; being a total loss, to this one Individual, on this one
commodity, of 120,0001. To illustrate further, and from his
own cam: the house of which he was • member, in pros
pekoes times, employed from 1,500 to 2,000 hands, to whom
he paid from 1,2001. to 9,5001. weekly. He had at this mo-
ment large orders, but such was the state of things that he
could not, in self-defence, hazard their execution. The con-
sequence was, that one-half of the people ordinarily engaged
through hi. advice" were, with their families, thrown oat of
bread, and this solely from the obstruction which our tyran-
nical currency system threw in the path of commerce. The
chairman, after some further observations, introduced
J. DUNCAN, Esq., who observed that up to the time of
Charles 11. the revenue of the country was levied by direct
taxation, partly from the crown lauds and partly from the
feudal duce, the tint act of the restoration was, in favour of
property, to commute the feudal duties on land into excise
duties. Next, under William 111., the landed proprietors
divided the crown lands among themselves, and this neces-
sitated a large Walesa of the excise duties. The loan of
William and of Anne led to the funding system, and new,
by gradual steps, matters had come to this condition, that,
with the exception of Peel's income and property tax, the
h in
or the state nu . t e dustry of
c*- -
the realm, property having, most nefariously, exempted at- I
self from its share of the burden. Of our enormous
debt, 600 millions had been contracted at the rate of not
more than 14s. for the pound—a flagitious robbery of the
public debtor, their share an which had created the families
of Sir Robert Peel and Mr. Jones Loyd, the very authors of
the system which woo saw ruining the country. Let him
ad to tho mooting, from the Banters' Circular, the actual
histegy of the AM et *see two familial :
The reselling pentenhe smiles le that which relates to the personal
mann annesks with the dean money law, of the two men ,
who tOmares the Millen ala the ruin and misery under
whisk Iles Meek en PIM& Mr" Pool and Mr. sunset Jones
Leedom Pre wens` etamarme wallh, produced by an eicemPre
me et meet Oa mamba k lit leek Wes were poor men of port
bee" hold imMerlie. MA geed moket ; they lived to be ranked
Nem the Meet enereplemme WlYMelees et their country, by what
trite=seles Lampthole weellhoteeld eat the unwhobome um
o
met. hart Ped NMI Ellarrlei cm his work. at
Sem le Lamed** ; be Mee immadmaeirsemot notee to pay the I
mend hio nab= ; aelehildol a werrhome to London
*glom& ("biassed', end ea Met wanimem he drew what were
than knows Ur .14drit as pleameehaeoe" Ws, at two and
three noothe date, to pay kr the raw mitorish of his manufacture.
Ile keset this credit to ewe a dopes m, he a time, to deprivel
...not the means of pay* with paastaagty the dates on his coll-
ects, and the oaken of unto land pommel= of hls premises in Milk-

start kg Ii weeks he amore of dram When M. Jere end
Om el Merrell,. esmergegre teeter herr trees lww
bre err nether mere we eanwertheerthe smarm,
umilowerodion
raw no Winkto am
briid onm. Ink @Mks Illollnpontot. When
me JureamilOm otl=
an armee wllk Wee Eel b„rake% fa mad
the sleet of lie Armee lean lboaltailor ea Ms assert
was so lags seiremileeey as term Vero smi Ce,. who spy
resolved le nem le ewer arm eng=w2me gliweserel
ecceptasess—Verear Oe. kern& we idler time am& se-
curty ths rep of Liesseklealils he gist headar
upon them. La War ebeewerrea. Jar yd Oa. of limalselier,
being in • thriving meglitegherg a rerweeersleseureadih rd
being in
ts theirs& ft
pasemera, who wen Slid le dellblelde ail re left aims et ate
egret to ogee their own here Is Lade, ar M r bane gepen-
ant esi the melee animal nal anoolooo Lerearelters, whisker,
oe was
thsa=rew whalsay sr el nercentilis medlt.
endl era le rear* et the Ira Ohre
tor eed °marl* mew iris et the her el re haring re west I
cif Ow Oty ese weak Mad sag. we hire. warty
leseme.
or
our eeeraway reemeen, Kr.
=rims Lo
yd or ler R. wird now cell =Mid wont
barer ems the foundation se thts eminent herthr
sad we Asir to see a return rile to prirliament of the amount
"pigranremin bills drawn upon It from Lancashire In every
Tear from 1796 le 1847 Inclusive.
There was no noon whatever why the men of industry
of the present time should not prosper, like their fore-
fathers, but this, that the Peels and Jones Loyd/ had, by
their measures, withdrawn from them the means of prospe-
rity—had let maths waters on which the mercantile vessels of
the state might otherwise ride, u heretofore, triumphant. Mr.
Duncan then quoted the statute hook to show that, contrary
to the statements of particular journals, the price of gold was
a fixed price, and referred to Sir Robert Peel's speech of
1444 as a tissue of blunders and contradictions. For instance,
Sir Robert described himself as bringing back gold to the
standard of Elizabeth, whereas the standard of Elizabeth was
171 grains to the sovereign, while the ataniard of Victoria
was only 123, a difference of not less than Si. in the pound,
The same sagacious statesman, while solemnly denouncing
inconvertible paper, had most consistently sanctioned in the
Banks of England, Scotland, and Ireland an aggregate issue of
31 millions of inconvertible paper, without any me allic basis
or security whatever. Mr. Duncan then explained the
ing proposition of the league, viz.:—" That the legal-
tender currency, or money of the real,, ought to consist of
exchequer notes of the value us; one pound and upwards ;
such notes to bz issued with the consent of parliament, in
:lisckarge of the current obligations of the state, to an amount
not exceeding in the course of the year the annual taxation
of the country; the fractional parts of the pound being re-
presented, as at present, by silver and copper coins. Mr.
Duncan, in conclusion, denounced the new money power,
the class of usurers, from pawnbrokers up to bullion-mongers,
which had grown up in this country, threatening its very
existence.

Mr. BELL having addressed the meeting, followed by Mr.
Taylor, who replied to some questions arising out of a farmer
discussion, the meeting, which was an extremely crowded
one, broke up. We may mention that the secretary an-
nounced the consent of the council toe suggestion, made by
numerous poorer supporters of the cause, that a subscription
of 2s. 6d. might be accepted, instead of 10.., the larger sum,
however, alone for the present entitling the subscriber to
copies of the society's publications.