The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1826-10-05 00:00:00

Question a
to prevail t
variety of

bead. It
admitting
pretesded
the Man

a already decided," and that it was impossible
repeal of the Corn Laws.,. It had published a
arrageous articles, evident.), proceeding on the
that there was nothing to be feared on that
as Impassible to return to the subject without
las it had calculated wrong, unless it could be
111 Some new obstacle bad come in the way of
This pretended obstacle was found in the
intention

supPnled rimier of the A of Ministers to shirk the
question. We rejoice that the 'Times has come to the re-
sult at which it has arrived. On many occasions that
journal haa,advocated, moderately and judiciously, the re-
vision of the Corn Laws; we tlo not, however, the less de-
test the means by which it. his deemed it necessary to
smooth its way to that result. If the question of the Corn
Laws is decided (as, with the exception of a few indivi-
duals, we • believe that i t actually is), bow can the
Times imagine that there is any necessity for Ministers
to shirk that question, even on the supposition that
they are sufficiently base to be biassed by any such consi-
deration? Thervis, indeed, a necessity for moderation in
the conduct of Minist ere—e necessity of being wiry in
bringing forward their measures in due time and place—a
necessity, perhaps, roc netimes, of playing their checks by
discovery---of eontenti.n ; themselves with a little, rather.
than lasing all; but Nl.inisters, we can boldly Arm, have
no intention (and we
speak on good ground) to shirk any
question srbjcb ..may Jae beneficial to the country, whether
on this or say *kW o evasion.

We are told that t here am three ways in which the rate
of interest may he r aim].
I. By diminiehhis the quantity dimity, the quantity and picot
of commodities rows' tning the same.
2. By ineteasing the quantity and circulation of commodities,
their prices aid eh: quantity of money remaining the same; that is,
by an increase s E I rade.

3. BY raisin/ i the prices of commodities, their quantity and the
quantity of ng uey remaining the same.
Of these t nethods two are impossible on the principles of
DAN!: L If ARDCAITLE himself. If the quantity of money
be dinnnii hed, and that of commodities remain the same,
how can e ao price of commodities still continue the same?
If the quantity of money and commodities remain the same,
how can the price of commodities be raised? We must
either si ippose that the writer himself considered these as
ble cases, or that he admits the existence of other
causes besides the increase of money and demand in de-
terniit ling the price of commodities. In stating these cases,
he ei means nothing, or be means that prices may fall,
thou gh the quantify of money increases. It is true that
the quantity of money in the market regulates the rate of
int rest in some degree; but there is another circumstance,
of far more importance in this respect. An increase of
tl ade itself will only raise the rate of interest so long as
he means of making artificial money are unpractised. The
only permanent cause of an increase ih the rate of interest
is an increase of the risk in lending. As soon as artificial
money is invented, interest will again decline; and, as that
money may be manufactured by individuals who cannot
furnish good securities, the risk of the borrower in
accepting insecure paper is balanced against that of the
lender in advancing on doubtful security, so that the rate
I of interest still remains low. A most singular assertion is
matle—that a decline in the rate of interest is an infallible
I sign that the prosperity of a country is on the wane: in
other words,-•-edilea few are rich. and many are in want, •
nation is in a state of prosperity, and vice versa. We
cannot condescend to reason at length on such a prepos-
, terou3 assertion, snade in defiance of all political science
and reasoning. It would be ridiculous to refer to the state
of the Money Market in foreign countries, where it rises
exactly in proportion to the poverty of the country. We
shall content ourselves with tracing the origin of the mis-
take. It must have arisen from a confusion of Ideas io
making the comparative interest or profit arising from an
equal sum at different periods a test of the whole increase
of the wealth of a nation. An example may make our
meaning clearer :—lf a man augments 100/. in fifteen years
to wo/., by a profit of five per cent, in a business which
cannot be extended without lowering his profits to four per
cent., he could not continue to make the same profits as
. _

before on each 1001., and would not be able to double his

capital in fifteen years ; but he would be enabled to employ
2001., with its growing interest, instead of lOU and his en-
tire profit at starting on the next fifteen years would be 8/.
a year instead of &1. It is impossible that profits should
continue the same while money increases at compound inte-
rest. They must diminish, and the faculty of consump-
tion can not advance in the ratio of interest or profit;
but hew it can be made out that lowness of interest affords
a desponding prospect to the country appears very diffi-
cult to conceive. It indicates a return of confidence;
according to llssarr. HARDCASTIA himself, it indi-
cates an increase of capital; and, in the name of common
sense, what mare is wanting to encourage trade but confi-
dence and capital? The return of confidence we attribute
to the partial substitudon of a sound circulation instead of
that of the country ba'okers ; and we think that nothing
more is wanting to replace ut in a state of prosperity but
an extension of this confidence, and prudence in not em-
ploying more capital in trade than is wanted to answer all
its purposes. Experience has shown us that all our capital
cannot be employed in trade without a considerable retlitc,
tion of prices. The manufacturers thetnselves must do
something in this respect as well as others; they must en-
deavour to employ a greater capital by requiring a less
profit.

The quantity of money, it is said, has already only
operated on the rate of interest and on Government Secu-
rities; "but let it once operate on the price of commodi-
ties, and all the mad scenes of 1824-3 will be acted over
again." A little farther down we are told that "an addi-
tion to the quantity of money would be productive of mis-
chief, for," it is added, " why do the agriculturists and
manufacturers call out for more money? The answer is
easy," he says; "it is, that the price of commodities may
rise." Now it is not easy, for us at least, to say how a rise
in the price of commodities would increase speculation.
We had imagined that a rise in the price of commodities
would prevent even legitimate trade, by shutting us out
•
froth foreign markets.
1 Da tel Et. HaItIAASTLE terminates his discussion by im-
pugning the validity of the rate of exchange as a test of
the redundancy of circulation, and stating some doubts
as to the fact of its being favourable to us in the case of
France. We shall make no remark on the first of these pro-
positions, to which he only alludes. fle awns, also, among
other pertitulars, that silver has been sent abroad in ex.
change for gold ; but we believe there is in this a consider-
able mistake. The greater portion of the gold brought from
abroad has been obtained by the sale of foreign securities.
As to the fact of our having a favourable exchange with
France, we shall just allude to the two propositions by
which he impugns the general opinion. He asserts that the
difference of the value of English and French coins, at Paris,
arises, Ist, from the inferiority of French gold; 2J, from