The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1822-04-05 00:00:00

•
is pairs'i Isis* that tie iissniiag ttf time is-
halitosis, awl the julalicalioo of %Arad law, seem to MO
iodisprovoble to preserve order, awl to put as cad to
Ike wears of loslivisloal atrocity, which hare Moe too
freqoeat. Hie preellcocy tbenfore, by the advice of Ike
Presides, sod of the Senate, declares the isle of Corfu

reed lts deettiedeileJes **dm martial low, bet Awl Sise *WA
hi will mot cease to be la forte, sod tie Cringes' Gawk
will Maio its functions. AA the istbabitaats are to deliver
spy's* arms, which will be regittelwa mid tiibettd, to be
resewerd lot die petrel to ad.flMllctildes tagsktlytt Ott of tlie,
pa 21"1611°P. 440.41.4 griftfedire 604.0tal
-0441.- "1 SIT bet eeP Matiktgle Mabee tot eft* bs
Sea comprised la Ibis raeleleadem trill be rehears/
by the march of a body of troop, bste Am Tillage or dish let
where this act shall hp. taken plaememd ahem She difiletk
iiMirretly transgress against three esensoose shell be
Isle to sill the signer of martial law.
lIRUSSILLS, APRIL 1.
To the am project d law relative to the _ode of the do.
males is added a table of the soma aimed, elpitoded, or le
be ,expended for the fottideatioa mid wising of die
Member, part of the kingdom, for which a see of eight teal'
limn is assigned.
The expeasgs of the artillergAe. &e amopot to 13,(A10,000
florins, maim together a swam 118015,306 dories. The
perorate wade to this purpose by the Netherlands, Eng-
land, sad Frame', have prodneed the ram of 74,440,158
florins.

A letter from Bayonne, of this 111111u.kfilreh, contain. the
fullowiwg particulars Term bM its bight at Pam-
petits. : the horrible sod bigtittnietwe which passed there
on the 19th, has tilled it WO onswiteroatian. The troops
funny for eight hours is the 'lnsets with this national
gaud, and there were charges with the Isayosiet. Several
Akins were killed or *flooded, as well as cititeas; the
nasiber is not knowo, hat it stews to hare been cosaiders.
ble. Ou the 2tith fresh revocation Woe `ins, and the city
Ins again on the point of heeousiag a stelae of corsage.
Bader these unhappy circumstances many of the wealthy
inhabitants have retired to Todela, in Ns . Tnrellers
no
longer rattan to pass through Pasapektaa."

Wa have received poim Papers to the ed instant.
They contain serious rumours respecting the stile
off the neggci■tion between Turkey and Russa.
There rumours are rather or a warlike character.

Extracts from Spanish Papers to the 21d instant
are given in our preceding columns. They notice
some excesses in the north of Span, but the ni-
fenclers are rather smugglers then rebels. A ten-
dencr to &sortie: Juts *leo manifested itself in the
capital, but it is not of a serious nature.

Ws do sot think with Lord LONDON DIMLY
iitetiSsion in the House of Commons on
illtashmeaday everting upon the Report of the Agri-
-elgthriteounittee was premature, but it is im-
possible to deny that much more was said on that
°erosion thin was wire or politic. We are amazed
at finding such men as Mr. ELLICE sad Mr.
WESTERN echoing the vulgar clamour against the
Cash Payments Bill, and seriously descanting
upon the expediency—nay the very necessity of
repealing that protectire anal providential measure.
Admitting for a moment—but only for the sake of
argument, that no share of the existing distresses
would now oppress the country if that measure
had not been enacted, can it be concealed that
this very result, pernicious as it may be, is but the
necessity consequence of the change that has been
effected, and that, according to the same line of
reasoning, similar effects must flow from such e
change at schatecer period it was to be eccom-
plialred I Where then would be the wisdom of
. rettneing our steps, and of once snore submitting
the whole property of the empire to the capricious
varieties of an inconvertible paper currency, whets
oar reason and experience tell us that we bill'',
only put off the tvil to some other period, and
must again encounter all the sufferings which are
necessarily to flow from the act of restoring our
demreciated currency ?
There can be no doubt that a change in thc rela-
tive value of the currency of a country must pro-
duce a proportionate change in the value of every
species of property. and must proportionally affect
all coveirsots that had been previously made, with
direct reference to the value of the existing cir-
Culatiug medium. An extraordinary alteration has
taken piece in the value of our currency since the
year 1814, but that this change in all its extent is
to be attributed to Mr. Pates Bill exclusively,
we wholly deny; and to no less confidensly assert.
that if the Rill were to be repealed to-muerow, the
currency of the cents's, Mt ird not be so deeply de-
itreciated as it was duress, the: last five years of the
war. The entrenry of this country during the
greater part of Ow war, atheist since the year 1800,
whets geld rose above the Mint price, and the cur-
rency felt u sudden depreciation so the amount of
8 per cent., consisted of Bank of England notes
and country bank paper. We omit to notice the
effect which might have been produced by the
amount of the trofunded Government securities.
The eptantity of country bank notes in circulation
at any given 'Atticad cannot he ascertained with ally
degree of confidence, but that it fir exceeded the
amount of the notes of the Bank of Etiglisild three
callow be soy doubt. It is hence evident, diet
they who estimate the state of the currency by cal-
culating only the Bank of England notes in circu-
lation, must be liable to the most serious errors.
The safest criterion for ascertaining the state of the
i currency is to see the prices of gold at various times,
foe gold, ria an article of commerce, is more seas,-
hen in. ito nature, and more susceptible of the
slightest variation its the state of a circulating medium
not consisting exclusively of 'gold. than any other
article whatever, From the year 1801 to the year

1810, /old slid not for any considerable time ctn.
coed the average of 41. an ounce; bat in 1810 it
mounted Suddenly to Al. 104. Bank notes lbw-
fore were, in the year 1810, at • discount of
13/. 9.. 6.1. per cent. ; and in proof that this de-
' liteetietion .sese (wird _safety by an increased rose of
paper, we find that the Batik uY England had en-
-1111;,T4571,2i41811.68, 7thlie hdigurlii:gst aintheoul}e.emr t
l!iricotilehtoloinn
.during the year 1809, to 84...i40,1t'51., the saw!" i
in circulation as the.2sth August, 1810. The re-
turns
of the stamp duties sbew an eyesl increase is 1
the issuer of the country banker,. The yesr 1810
was thus au excellent year for farmers, aid for all
patrons who had contracted to pay, but to land-
lords and creditors it was a year of spoliation ; their
rents and credits were at once reduced within the
space of • few mouths noires than 11 per cent. In
this year the Report of the Bullion Committee re-
commended • relearn to cash payments, and 'check-
ed the lavish issues of paper money. The currency
was +hereby again altered, mill Bonk notes. which
in 1810 were at a discount of 13 per crut. fell to a
discount of way 71. 16.. 10d. Gold was then at
41.45. tie,. as since. The Bank of England bad
reduced its s.ea m 1811 to 83.894,8331. and the',
stamp duties for country bank notes, which in the
October quarter of 1810 amounted to about
22,0001. fell in the January quarter of 1811 to
aboot 18,500/., and in the April quarter to about
18,0001. If the comparison were confined to the
seamier for notes under two greiness, the diminu-
tion would appear much more remarkable. The
vote of the Room of Common* in May, 1811, which
in the face of common seuse arid truth declared a
pound note and • shilling equal to n golden gullies,
restored confidence to the hankers throughout the
kingdom, and for the three following years we
find the leases of the Bank of England increasing;
we also find the emonat of the stamp duties pay.
able for country bank notes advancing with asto-
nishing rapidity, until at length, in the January
quarter of 1814, foe those that were re-irmuble
alone, it reached the erem of 40,000/. The number
of private banks in Great Britain to which licenses
were granted for the issue of promissory notes pay.
able on dem snd, from the 10th of October, 1813,
to the 10th of October, 1814, amounted to no less
than 1,026! In England and Wale. the number
was 940. The edifect upon the currency was such
as might be expected. The depreciation amounted
to 251. 2s. 6.1. per cent. and phi pond in the roar-
ket at 51. 4.. Here was a reduction of rents fully
one-fourth on all farina which were taken in or
previous to the year 1800. But as leaves ex-
pired, rents were of course raised, all deeds were
made with reference to the existing state of the
currency, marriage settlement., jointures, the for-
tunes of. younger children, dower, every thing was
accommodated to this depreciated 'medium, and
had a measure been then enacted suddenly for
the restoration of a gold currency, at the rate at
31. 17s. bold, so ounce, it would have been se un-
just as impolitic. The same consequences, how-
ever, flowed from other sources. The sudden ces-
sation of the war lime en alarm to the country
bankers, who immediately began to contract their
issues ; a diminutien in the circulating medium
produced its necessary consequences, and the failure
of some country bankers still further increasing the
alarm, aggravated the distress. It is estimated that
more than 200 bankers stopped payment during
the years 1815 and 1816 ; and such was the dimi-
nution in the amount of the notes in circulation,
dirt gold in April 1816 fell to 4/. an ounce,
end consequently the currency suffered at that
time a depreciation of only V. 13..44. iwr cent.
In the October of the mime year the depreciation
was still less, for gold was quoted at 31. 18s. 64.
and so it remained until the following April. The
average issues of the Batik of England were at
that period about 27,000,0001. ; but the stamp
duties on the country bank paper did not exceed
its the October quarter of 1816, 5501. and the
number of licenses granted for the issue of pro.
mirsory notes to private bankers in England mid
%Vales, from October of 1815 to October 1831 i,
amounted to 831, and in the next year to only
75g. The reduction in the stump duties is most
extraordinary, but our atatemeut rests Lippe
the authority of the official papers 'which have
been laid before Parliament. The issues of
country bank paper mast have been reduced to
about 1.80111 part of what they were in she latter
months of 1813 and the beginuing of 1814. This
circumstance, which rests upon the chorea evi-
dence, is its itself sufficient to account fur the ex-
tensive change that has been effected in Ille salue of
the currency and the prices of gold, aid for the
denies' which, in the years IS 16 and 1817, pervaded
every part of the country, and which, from the
permanent nature of the covenants that affect
hustled property, continues still to overwhelm the
ugriculimal inteiests.
We presume that in this plain statement of facts
we have given to the public some food fur thought.,
The depreciation in the curiesey during the our
mounted to more ehau 25 per cent.; the subsequent
restoration of the currency has caused nu e quelly ex-
tensive,though a more rapid and a more sensible re.
volution it. the value of the property, end in all the
pecuniary relations of the country. This revert ution, to
the emetic of 23 per cent., we have shears was ef.
fected before Mr. PREVII Bill was enacted, and the
only effect of that calumniated measure was to pro.

- _...iai.

eta the country. '
from itiOthett denreciation Olf the
currency. and from the repeated shocks and son.
villsiona which frequent and capricious changes in
the currency of • country must produce. In .1800
the currency oak in its mature! rtatei. in
1801 it antlered a sudden 'depreciation if
per cent. Was this no evil to the coelitr% ?
In 1802 it was imprinted per cent. Here
wits another violent and extensive abet:yin!' ..t
the value of the whole property of the empire. lit
1810 it again fell I I per cent., in the next year t:
suddenly rose 6 per cent., in the fulluaing yea;
it fell 13 per cent. and was al • disco:tint lir
204 141. 9d.; it continued to firli further
year 181§, and in 1814 still more. whew the dis,
count amounted to 4/. Ys. 6.1. Its 11(45 it rocs
nearly 9 per cent.. and in 1816 egeiu rem 14;w4]
cent. ; in 1819 it jell 2 per cent.; and is now /*lO-
in its proper state, as it stood in the year 1500.
Let Parliament and the country consider the ne-
cessary effects of such extensive and rapid elteri•
anon, in the value of the circulating medium of the
country, and then say whether the current" rail
ever again he made the subject of legialetiVe tam-
pering for the ,attairimeut of some temporary
convenience. We forbear to speak of the der.
honesty and impolicy of altering the standard
of value by which all contracts have been made
throughout the empire since the month of April,
1816. Hall contracts previously made during the
existence of the depreciated currency be found to,
he inconvenient and intolerable, let them he re.
acinded openly, and with the consciousness of the
parties concerned ; but let us have no indirect
measures. let net the currency of the country he
again debased, nor the whole concerns of the em-
pire be subjected to eternal derangements, that
debtors or parties who have contracted to pry may
receive a partial remission of their engagements.
But will any person venture to affirm, that if
the issue. of gold by the Bank of England were
again restricted, the paper currency of the country
would again increase to such an extent as it did
during the war ? Some years passed after the first
enactment of the Bank restriction before the cur-
rency suffered a depreciation exceeding 2 per cent.
The sudden debasement is 1801. which continued
during ittoe, was followed by six years in which
the lowest depreciation was 21. 13s. 2d. and for more
than two years precious to the passing of Mr. Peres
Bill the depreciation was not more considerable. If
tier Bill, therefore, to use the common though incor-
rect mode of expression, were repealed to-morrow.
or, to speak more correctly, ifs Bank restriction law
were again enacted, what probability is there that
the issues of the Bank of England or of the coun-
try banks would exceed what they are at this mo-
ment ? For our own parts we entertain a strong
belief that no increase would take place, and that
circumstances too powerful to be controlled by
legislative enactments would save the empire bons
a renewal of the calamities which have already
flowed from the debaeement of the currency.

The Report from the Select Committee en
Recognizance, has been printed by order of the
House of Cominout. It points out revers' defects
in the present system of levying forfeited 'retest&
zutices, particularly the dilatoriness of the process,
and the great loss sustained by the revense. In
the Duchy of Lsncuster, it states that the gross
amount levied on forfeitures estrested is little more
than 16s. in the 1001. and in every other part of
England it does not exceed lOs. in the HAL The
Report concludes with recommending a Bill to
amend the present defective system.

The East India Company's ship Herefordshire
has arrived in the Channel. She left China on the
23d of November, and St. Helena on the 6th of
February. All the Company's shins of the season
had arrived at China except the Venseffart.
We learn, from good authority, that Mr. CAN-
NING does not intend to vacate his seat tor this
borough, by accepting the Chiltern Hundred., until
immediately before his departure for India, which
will um be before next September.—( Liverpool
Advertiser./
The account of the public Revenue for the pre-
sent quarter, it,is said, will exhibit a great increase
above that of tbe corresponding quarter of Lot
year; report states nearly a million.
Letters end petters from Vaindraito to the be-
g:issuing of November mention that the royal. pirates
at Orico had been driven into the init.. iiir by the
Patriots from Conception. Sir T. HARDY had
taken active measures to put • stop to these depre-
dations, having dispatched the f 'merry 7,100 p of war
to get till of these marauders. The cunviers
at
Juan Farmilid• a, swirled by the garrison. int-
prisosied the Governor, who was subsequently re•

The following is an extract of a letter from Val.
parsipo, dated November 8 :—" The Sacramento
has arrived, and it appears that Lad COMBINE
has gone for Callao, but others say, for Acapulco
but I am informed that las object is to look after
the chip Emperor Alexander. in which. I believe.
be is tmtere►ted. The army at Guyaquil has suf-
fered eousalerahly, and General SUCRE, after having
run ted the Spaniards, has been completely defeated,
and it is expected the Spaniards will again br Inns-
te r s of tioysquil."
Some further partictitnrs of the loss of the Lisa'
flail schoon►r, la►ely announced in this Paper. are
given to another column. The Linen Hell had
'25,000 guineas ow board, being !Hirt of a sons of
100,000, rewired from the Batik of Ireland to the
Batik of Etsg/and. The money and Mime other
lean of the caw have been tumid. The remit-
tance, it is wird, was made upon the favourable
stall of the eat:Range beiaeaa the two countries.

iOC"

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