The Sun.
London, England, 1855-12-26 00:00:00

MR. SALT ON THE CURItENCY.

The following additional letter has been Addressed by
_j't
Mr. Salt to the editor of the Tima

Sir,—Again I have to say, think of the challengee you
receive as well as those yon give. Mine runs thus :
" What would have been the effect of the law corn
pelling gold payments if the gold in California and Aus-
tralia had not been disco►ered ? If the delayed arri►al
of a single vessel is a matter of public disquietude and
danger, what would have been our condition under that
law if no single vessel bad ever arri►ed

The question is no longer mine ; the public have taken
it up and made it theirs. From every mouth it is re-
peated, and the Times must answer in " plain, intelligi-
ble, straight-forward terms." It must defend or abandon
its position, and in either case rest its honour on the
triumph of truth.

I have certainly answered the challenge of the Timm.
I have explained the principle, if not the formula, of the
legal tender note at as great length as my ♦ery low
estimate of the public capacity for reading would per-
mit. I will do so still more explicitly at the risk of some
repetition. If I first somewhat ramble, the fault, most
respected Editor, is yours. You thwart me, arose my
path, lead me astray, with your pleasant, mirthful, laugh-
ter-loving spirit. Thus, when I ask you for an argu-
Ment, you fling a gambol ; when I expect a fact you
bring forth a kitten and a mouse, a "ridiculus mug."
A wilderness of monkeys would less trouble and perplex
me than one wayward editor.
Now, most elvish Editor, be it known to you that
the inhabitants of these isles are not Papyrophagi ; they
do not eat bank-notes as kittens eat mice, but they pay
them away for food, and the note thus paid away passes
from hand to hand, filling the hungry with good things,
and not sending the rich empty away,—for ever exist-
ing, and for ever being caught by the same skill and in-
dustry that caught them first. Every one eats his cake,
and still has it ; and so the world spins merrily
round, though the fact be beyond your philosophy.
The story of the note is a strange one. While it
passed from hand to hand, each individual in its course
parted with what he did not want, and got just what he
did want, and, having it, deemed that he was paid
exactly in the value ho wished to possess.
This note, as far as each individual was conoorned,
was paid at the moment he parted with it. Its promise
was substantially realised, and the note passed on with-
out reproach, and when it returned was as welcome as
ever.

Thereon statesmen and theorists gathered together
and discovered that the people eat, drank, and rejoiced
delusively ; that the payment in the thing they waisted
was a snare ; that the promise to pay meant payment in
gold, which they did not want, and could neither eat,
drink, nor use ; and, to insure this payment, they fixed
the price of gold below the price of goods, bribing the
foreigner to take it in preference to the products of
English industry ; and so they got rid of the gold, and
compelled the bank to swallow the paper, and then
the people, worse off than the cat that had swallowed
the mouse, looked round in vain for the note they
had not swallowed. Thus industry was paralysed,
robbed, and wrecked ; happiness and content
changed for misery and discord ; the word of pro-
mise was kept to the ear, but broken to the heart ; every
interest was injured, and theory—no, blundering igno•
ranee triumphed.

I mean no personal accusation, but that, " promise to
pay," instead of a fixed value—a fixed quantity to which
you so lovingly cling—is a Shylock bond, full of fraud
and cruelty, and your defence of it a Shylock defence.
That it is the bond is true, and one more iniquitous and
fatal never existed. The attempt to carry it out has re-
peatedly filled the land with suffering and crime ; driven
honest industry to despair, and lighted the terrific fires
of " Swing" around us ; and still your call is for the
" pound of flesh."
The fraud of money—which is the measure of value—
changing is essentially the same as that of changing the
measures of size and weight, which the law punishes as in-
famous. Though Sir R. Peel was profoundly ignorant of
the nature of money, I believe his intentions were pure—
that his whole aim was to fix its value ; yet, in the face of
the intention of the law and of all that is just, the Times
claims quantity. If, then, tke value of gold had risen so
that the value of an ounce of gold would have been equi-
valent to that of a diamond of that weight, the Times
would still have stood by the bond. A dream of more
rapacious iniquity never haunted Sbylock's brain,
The 7 imes cannot, does not, mean what it says ; it
has erred, writing hastily. Let it earnestly seek the
truth, and, casting from it the farce of editorial infalli-
bility, honourably retract its errors. However, we have
the bill. Let us see what it does for us.

It compels the Bank to issue and withdraw its notes
in proportion to the influx and efflux of gold.
In the first case we have increased issues of money,
increased bills at a date, increased confidence multiply-
ing the power of these issues by quickening their circu-
lation ; prices rise, speculation follows, and the Times
oracularly declares trade to be in the soundest possible
condition. The reaction never fails. The gold is ex•
ported, the Bank issues are withdrawn, and the general
alarm converts into stagnant that which was circulating

money.
With reduced money of reduced power we are called on
to pay increased debts, then ruin comes, and again the
Times declares we are coming to a sound state of things ;
that nothing is so conducive to the general health as
these clearances.
It is dowDright savageness so to afflict a country.
At any rate, the bill insures gold payments. What
does that mean ? Why, that the merchant can go to
the Bank and take gold, not as money, but as merchan•
disc, at prices so fixed that it is a good speculation to
export the basis of our currency, instead of our goods--
a wonderfully wise contrivance. They get their quantity,
Mr. Editor, and we get the consequences.
By the monopoly given to the Bank as sole issuer of

legal tender it has power to charge unlimited usury, and
of its inclinations we have present, though imperfect
knowledge. It gives notice only of its minimumm rate
of discount ; its maximum, is as profound a secret as the
tortures of the Inquisition.
Now, as to the benefit of having the power of claiming
the payment of the legal tender note in gold, it is alto-
gether unascertained, but must be minute, as from the
first issue of notes to the present time not only no one
ever availed themselves of it, but whenever such pay-
ment is tendered, it is point blank refused. The banks
in Birmingham from time to time have been gorged with
gold, and have been unable to get their customers to
take it, except for the convenience of small change.
The run on the Bank of England in 1797 was for
commercial profit and not for payment. The proof i■
that when the Bank stopped the people continued to
take the note as payment.
I do not, Sir, look mainly to the consequences of the
war ; each subsequent year has brought fresh proof of
error. Tho bills of 1819 and 1844 were attempts to bind
modern commerce to the monetary system of ancient
times, disregarding the fact that the changes in the last
50 years have been greater than in the previous ton cen-
turies. The discordance is too great to be tolerated.
Our monetary system must he placed and maintained
in harmony with the progress of commercial civilisation.
With your gracious leave I will in a future letter show
the principles and practice➢ of such a system.
I am very respectfully yours,
T. CLUTTON SALT.