Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-11-25 00:00:00

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THE CURRENCY QUESTION.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE NORTHERN TI4ES

Sir —I venture to put forward the following views on
the Currency question.

If the precious metals are not either wholly or in part to
represent the paper currency, whit is to be substituted, or
will yru have a paper currency withoat arty basa to quaiify
its value. This latter I think no one wilt advocate.

If paper is to be money without any bass, then any one
who emu sign his name, can become a Milliona're whh a
stroke of the pen. If for gold, or paper based on it, you
substitu'e a cari-ency of basaess and unqualified value ;
you reduce th 3 holders of property based upon such stand-
ard to the value of the baseless and unqualified substitue.
A very sly, but sure way of carrying out the Chartist scheme
of '• community of goods and a fresh start."

Assuming that there must be a base; what shall that
bete be? If a tangible recognised property, land, aed the
precious metals -which represents realised labour and
property, are the only real property—silks, corn, cotton,
and other articles of foreign import any come within the
category as assumed to ba paid for with gold, or balanced
by exports ; but if these are in excess of demand, they a•e
unconvertible, and of doubtfil value. If the balanc..: of
trade is against us, gold will be wi hdrawn, as that is the
only recognised paymentthroughout the world, from the
earliest period of history, so ordalaed and adVised, as I
'believe, by more than man's wisdom, and continuously
'provided by fresh discoveries according to the exigencies
of the world If upon the withdrawal of gJle., we can show
imports to equal the deficiency, then it user be well to con-
sider how far a currency for domestic trade only may be
safely enlarged upon it, and this especially, in the case of
corn in times of scarcity, as in 1817, but this wi h great
caution, cr we might be led into an excess, and stili be
unable to meet our foreign creditors.
I think a Bank, under the auspices of government, or a
National Bank, may most safely hare an issue based upon
laud, not payable in specie, for domestic or home trade,
which might also, under government supervision, be ex-
tended to other Banks of issue.

All mortgages are now abstractions from the trade cur-
rency, and an issue upon them would b 3 a sound, safe, and
exteraive relief.

A great portion cf the property of this country is kept
a' its present price by fiction and rigg—manufacturers of
rtilway-stocks, bank stocks, and government securities are,
to a large amount, pledged at doable their paying interests .
These being allowed to fell to their real value would liber•
ate a 'arge capital for trading purposes,for who will dis-
count commercial paper when he can gat 8 to 10 per cent
on such security.

The limitation of our currency to the point that was suf-
-ficient ten years ago, must appear to every candid mind,
however wedded to the prineiple, a fallacy ; but a baseless
-unqualified issue is, in the other extreme, present prices ;
and circumstances tell us we must either rastrain our
'boundless projects or enlarge ,ur capital. This, to be done
honestly and safely, must be done on a sound basis.
Land and the yrecious metals appear to me the only
-safe basis. The extension to land must ha only for
home pu-pa- es, not payable in sp cie, and coald be done
very simpli under government supervision, with profit to
the Consolidated fund.

An issue on g werament securities is the most objection-
able propositicn I ever heard of and °den to the greatest
evils. It is now a most speculative property (if it can
really be called property) it is a debt or mortgage of the
industry of the c)unty, and exists only on its paper reng-
nition—the principal having been spent in wars and other
such expeisive indulgences, and to is,ne paper upon such
a fiction would be to pledge the same thing twice. It
-would give the government arvunduepowar at any -time to
influence prices, and would be a powerful tool br the spec-
ulator. H. WES TON,
Cams:von, Nov. 21, 1857.

TO TH E EDITOR OF THE NORTHERN TIMES.

Eir,—ln continuation f my apologetic lines of yester-
day,• I cannot refrain from stating that della, experience
proves how very little this subject is understood :—the
greater portion of the community acknowledge their igno-
rance, and they who do not, and who mike any pretentious,
appear, for the most part, unwilling to admit anything into
the consideration of the subject that is not based on the
established and popular regime in which we have all been
educated and trained. It teems at 11 to be as dark a
subject to most persona as the science of astrology ; larking,
however, the brilliant luminaries connected therewith,
which are visible to all.—lt is like an abstruse science to
them—unapproachable as it were by any bat bankers, bill-
brokers, money-changers, and monpolising merchants ;
as though it were beyond the apprehensions of any coming
short of talent commensurate with the calling of a Chan-
cellor of the Exchequer This prevailing simplicity, on
the part of the public, is a problem which i will net attempt
to solve at the moment, suffice it to say that few will deny
the fact alluded to. Without, therefore, seeking to show
why it is so, I will endeavour to prove why it should not
be so. Is the currency c f the realm and the laws on which
it is based of so little importance to any class cf society,
that they will not,—in a land, laying cleirn to so much
enlightenment, and rej tieing in their privileges of self-
legislation,—give themselves the trouble to investigate
the true object cf the one, or the real merits of the
wher, when such a scrutiny would make them conversant
with that which should at a'l times supply trade, commerce
and manufecmree, with something answering to the In'
bricating fluid which is so indispenle to the safe working
of any machinery of magnitude.
Daily it is becem:ng more and more evident that the
en rency of this country is of the utmost importance
to every section of society, since it embodies the viral
functions which give expre:sion to our industry—our
talent—our wealth—and without which we should be
reduced to carry on ourtrading by the antiquated, obsole e
and cumbrous paoess of barter in its primeval acceptation
From the child who bays his penny rattle, to the trader
who truffles in sterling thousands, every individual has
the handling of this money—medium of exchange— a d
consequently is interestel in its integrity and efficiency—
for although it be not universally known, his prosperity
and permanent success depend as much on that as oa his
talents and assiduity in business. Hence he is, as much
called upon, by the ordinary dictates of prti fence, to see
that a curren-y which has such important functions to
perform be the useful thing required without being invested
with powers foreign to its normal attributes, as he his
bound by patriotism and loyalty under our British constitu-
tion to promote the amendment of inefficient 1 .ws, by the re •
turn of suitable and right-t carted men as representatives to
Parliament, which, if he neglects.—according to the
notions of every Englishman, he would expect and justly
deserve to be misgoverned and oppressed. Is it not time.
therefore, that this sapUeness and wilful ignorance, as to the
menu and demerits of our exist ng currency, and currency
laws, be laid aside, and that eve y man high and low
turn his attention to it; and that each ask his fellow
what sho ld constitute the currency of this realm, since
that of which it now consists, in consequence of its impo-
tency, has spin drawn us into a commercial vortex. the
shock of which is, without precedent as regards its dimen-
sions, and into a labyrinth of social misfortunes and
miseries it is to be feared, far more calamitous in their
widely pervading influence than we have known in this
country for many years, and all this suddenly, at a moment
when we seemed to be at the zenith of prosperity, glorying
in high prices, as the proof thereof, arid seemingly capable
of so extending our complicated and vast operations
as to convert every leaf, and every embosomed atom of the
earth, into instruments for feeding our intollerable r Teel-
oneness, and fur fostering an unbridled spirit of emulation,
coupled with an insatiable greed of gra;rl that had become
reckless and profligate in the pursuit of a legitimate object,
and callous to that adventurous, yet honest nobility of
aetion, by which our f )refathers obtained the fair fame for
which this highly favoured land was so renowned in every
quarter cf the globe.
Esquire my brother!—and with an unbiassed mind, you
will not find it so obstrnee and difficult a subject to under-
stand as you may have been wont to imagine ; von will
not be long in disco ering ?hat in every article of useful-
ness we are as rich now as we were two months ago, and
that,—simply because g ,Id has in re dity or apparently be-
coins scarce,—Cotton and o her produce, which have in
consequence become cheap, (a mast unnatural result
miler a healthy state of things) be left idle in our stores
Our mills and factories must stand still, aid our busy port
be transformed into a harbour of refuge for a fleet of use-
less ships which our merchants, with the same possessions
collectively as heretofore, can no longer send forth richly
laden with the fruits of our industry and enterprise. The
first scene in this dismal drama is now enacting under our
eyes—well, indeed, will i be for us if the after scenes,
which are already rumbling behind the curtain of our
wiaka, leexerted by a kind interposition of 'Novi 'cm,