The Sun.
London, England, 1830-02-08 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

Mr. Moberly has enlisted in the currency regi-
ment, we see, though he has put on a uniform not
strictly according to the fashionable paper regula-
tion. He would have the Minister to issue small
Exchequer Bills,—making the Treasury an issuer of
11. notes perhaps 1 and so turning the flank of the
country bankers, by establishing a paper coinage on
still worse principles than theirs. It is a good
thing for the King to issue gold and silver, because
it confines the manufacture of money to a single
and unalterable standard, authorized by Parliament,
maintained by officers responsible with their heads
for its purity, and so far guarded against the risk of
depreciation. But who or what can have any con-
trout upon the issue of " small" Exchequer Bills,
or on their value ? IVhat is to prevent a distressed
Minister from deluging the empire with them ?
Who or what can withstand a ministerial influence
founded on a (substantially) illimitable power of
issuing inconvertible paper ?—for such it must be.
Making the Minister of the day the coiner-general
of the community, would be a notable improve-
ment in finance. It was not quite correct, we
find, to report Sir F. Burdett as seconder of
Lord Blandford's amendment; nor is it muck
more feasable to discover what were the Honour-
able Baronet's grounds for supporting that ad-
dress in such language as he is stated to have em-
ployed on the occasion. It was unworthy of Sir
Francis Burdett to put an untenable construction on
the words of the Duke of Wellington,—deliberately,
of course, the Hon. Baronet could not have done
so —but he ought in common fairness to have
weighed the Duke's meaning with a little more
patience, before he attempted to fasten upon his
Grace the absurdity of affirming, as :a general pro-
position, that improvements in machinery caused a
lasting impoverishment of the people. Sir Francis
Burdett, we hope stud trust, cannot meditate odi-
ously a race of radicalism with Mr. O'Connell, or
of paradox with the Newcastle' and their tribe
The late divisions, and the course of the discussion
which preceded them, would lead its to desire fo
an Administration, which, as a whole, we respectr
a reinforcement from ranks whence it might draw,
both virtue and ability ;—a reinforcement, more-
over, which it might not be altogether unprofitable
to purchase at the price of one or two removals.
But on this point the events of a very few days
may speak with sufficient eloquence to need no fur-
ther persuasion.—Times.

Those parts of the Speech of the Lords Com-
missioners to Parliament which relate to the
foreign policy of England, are qualified, we think,
when coupled with circumstances which have trans-
pired through other channels, to afford satisfaction
in what relates to Greece, and to allay a contrary
feeling so far as the ease of Portugal is concerned.
It may, no doubt, now be assumed and reasoned
upon, that the independence of Greece, with a
reasonable territory, gratifying all our feelings and
recollections with respect to classic ground, will be
secured; and if an arrangement such as this be in
fact concluded, and if England be a party to it,—
lending her guarantee to the compact, and thence
possessing a full right to protect it from violation,
or from menaces of injurious interference by other
Powers,—we repeat, that an object will have been
accomplished, and a benefit secured to the cause of
liberty and of human happiness, which must com-
municate the highest satisfaction to every English-
man who feels for his country's honour. As for
Portugal, it is a melancholy tale, and the sooner
it can be well wound up, the sooner will , the
public mind be relieved from a weight of pain-
ful and mortifying meditations. But, for the pre-
sent, we turn to the more interesting subject of
domestic concerns. We are glad, then, that Par-
liament is met : much rude clamour will be arrested,
and many secret apprehensions or fearful forebodings
relieved. We do not mean that the wisdom of
that body can alter the train of circumstances—can
interfere between causes past, and their inevitable
consequences now present, and so perform miracles;
but that, the magnitude of the evil being ascer-
tained, and all exaggerations removed, we can now
set rationally to work to alleviate the pressure, and
content ourselves to bear for a while what we can-
not immediately alleviate. " Is not the public
distress severe ?" it is asked. Is it not general ?"
" Is it not beyond former precedent ?" All these
questions may be answered by similar ones :
" Have not we been at war ?" " Have we not
been longer at war than at any other time ?
And that war more general—more fierce and
expensive—than any other war by which the world
has been desolated, the stability of nations shaken,
and their finances ruined, since the breaking up of
the Roman empire ?" And yet, thanks to Heaven,
we are out of it, and safe. Men are beginning to
forget what the last conflict was I—how terrible it
was!—that during its continuance we were either
subsidizing all Europe to fiht for us against France,
or fighting for ourselves against all Europe, with
France and Buonaparte at its head They are be-
ginning to forget, too, besides the necessary consump-
tion of that war, the shameless extravagance which
existed in the mode of carrying it on, and which per-
vaded every. .department of the Administration—ex-
travagance, which those were the first and the last to
support and defend, who are now clamouring most
loudly against the distressing consequences. But
we do not forget these things,—we look to our
files, the faithful cotemporaneous records of past
times, and can there count the many scandalous
jobs which we have—sometimes successfully, and
sometimes unavailingly—denounced. It is now,
however, remarked, that the war has long ceased,
and that we should, ere now, have recovered our
previous ease and comfort. This is an error in
spirit, though not in words. If the war be ended, the
extravagances of the Administration have not long
ceased. It was observed in this journal, three years
after the Treaty of Vienna was signed, that " we
were carrying on a most expensive peace;" and, in
truth, we did not really cease from making war against
our own solvency and security, till we attempted to
revert to cult payments and a wholesome circula-
tion. Till that moment vre were running down the
gulf of national bankruptcy and revolution. Then,
and then only, we stopped, and our difficulties be-
gan in the endeavour to struggle up the stream.
Some thought success impossible, and the attempt
useless. 'We never despaired, and could not believe
that a government of any kind—if called a govern-
ment—could be so base and besotted as to com-
mence the work of spoliation itself, and to set the
example to its own subjects of a general plunder by
a partial robbery. With respect to the difficulties
which are to be encountered from the noble resolu-
tion of adhering strictly to the principles of public
faith and honour, we will acknowledge they are
great; but we will not suffer them to be exaggerated.
The present distress is not general. We know
places where trade is silently, and from small be-
ginnings, working its way up to greatness, and
will soon confer wealth; and, where distress has
been, it is now diminishing,—the goal is turned.
But the agriculturists suffer much, and clamour
more : yet in many places,. particularly in the vici-
nity of great towns,—here in the vicinity of London,
for example,—land lets well, and remunerates both
landlord and tenant. However, let rents come down.
The farmer, the poor oppressed farmer, will then be
able to employ his labourers; and rates, which
have already abated much, will diminish more.
And there is no reason why rents should not come
down; for there is nothing which enters the land-
lord's mansion for consumption, that may not be
purchased at two-thirds or even half of the price
for which it must have been bought ten years
ago. If, in our attempts to introduce a more liberal
system of commerce, some erroneous maxims have
been adopted (which, however, we have no reason
to suspect, for commerce is every where dull—no
where so dull as where our principles have been
rejected), let the matter be re-considered : but thus
much at least is certain, that there can be no sinister
motive for error. A Minister may oppose retrench-
ment or reform, because dirty adherents are to be re-
warded, and profitable abuses retained; but none

an gain, no private interest can be served,
whilst the public surfers from a relaxation of
the provisions of the Navigation Act. The
The word " retrenchment" calls our attention to
that part of his Majesty's speech, in which he in-
forms his subjects " that he shall be enabled to make
a considerable reduction in the amount of the public
expenditure, without impairing the efficiency of our
naval and military establishments." Thanks, many
thanks, on the part of the loyal people of England
for this gracious assurance 1. His Majesty, in forcing
his Ministers to fulfill this engagement, will do
more towards solving all the difficulties of the pre-
sent tituatton of the country, than all the writers
upon the currency question for the last twenty years.
On the subject of the majority and minority, we
may add a few wards. There never was any divi-
sion in which n many mistakes have occurred as to
the votes which independent Members have given ;
and the cause of this has been, the extreme feeble-
twss and indecisive manner in 'which they have
sided with the Opposition. The Romans had an ex-
pression for voting on a division, of a curious kind :
it was called "ire pedibus be sent enliani." This
applies here : some voted against, who reasoned
generally in favour of Ministers. Their feet were
with the Opposition, but their heads with the Go-
vernmen t.—Tames.

We say it with regret, but under a strong convic-
tion of its truth, that there is scarcely any instance
upon record of a British Administration meeting a
British Parliament under such evident signs of weak-
ness and of ignorance of the real state of things as
what the country witnessed on Thursday last.—
Nothing bat the most profound ignorance of the
real state to 'which the country is reduced can, in the
smallest degree, palliate the fact of Ministers put-
ting into the mouth of the King's Commissioners
the apparently heartless allusion to the " partial"
nature of the public distress, which does so much
discredit the Royal Speech. It is the more unfor-
tunate that the ignorance or mis-information of Mi-
nisters should keep the trite state of the country
from the Royal ear, as it gives to the highest Per-
sonage an apparent want of sympathy with the suffer-
ings of his people, although no Sovereign has a heart
more susceptible of the finer emotions of humanity, or
a disposition more anxious to relieve distress. What
is also very curious and worthy of ebsersation, both
the mover and seconder of the Address in the
House of Commons, so far from adopting the Mini-
sterial view of the situation of the country, actually
anticipated the very views, and almcst the lan-
guage of those who moved and supported the
amendment. And how do Ministers themselves
refute the thrice told-tale of national distress, and
justify their own ideas of its mitigated and partial
operation ? In the House of Lords we see the
Prime Minister singling out the class of retail
traders as those who are suffering no distress,
while one of the Ministerial Members for the City
of London (Mr. Alderman Thompson, the late
Lord Mayor) sates, and truly states, that class of
his constituents to be suffering, next to the actual
poor, the severest hardships--while the Chief
Minister, in the House of Commons, whose
peculiar office, one should think, would make
him peculiarly acquainted with the real state
of things, contents himself with asserting the
country to be in a prosperous state, because
the tonnage upon certain canals has increased; but
the accuracy of which statements have since, we
see, been openly questioned. As far as Ministers
are concerned, it would really seem as if to them
" ignorance were bliss ;" and that the real state of
things is that, of all others, to which they obstinately
shut their eyes. The policy of the Duke of Wel-
lington seems to be rather to divide, and thereby di-
minish, the power of his opponents, than to
strengthen his own forces ; while, with a hater of
public liberty at his beck, he would stifle that free
discussion, which some of the warmest of his new
adherenti, but a short time ago, described as the
very vital breath of the country, " without which
we 'die." Instead of giving stability to the Go-
vernment by the acquisition of that species of
talent which is best adapted to the public ser-
vice, we see stations of minor, but still of much
importance, filled up by the class of " walking gen-
tlemen," whose performances on the political stage
mar the scene, aad make the public anxious to see
the curtain fall upon so ill-sustained a drama, and
one that does so little credit to the manager. We
make these observations in no feeling of hostility to
the Duke of Wellington's Government, but in that
spirit of independence which the public has a right,
especially in these times of calamity and danger, to
expect from us. Who are the Ministers of the
country concerns us very little; but it does concern
us, whoever they are, that they should deserve and
possess the confidence of the nation, which AO Mi-
nistry can long do which does not possess that surest
foundation of power—knowledge—knowledge of its
true situation and interests ; arid also that moral
courage which disdains to shrink from unpleasant
truths, and scorns to look for security in subterfuge
and evasion.;---Morning Hcrald.

Next to the important topics• which formed the
subject of discussion in both Houses of Parliament
on the first day of the Session, the debates are cu-
rious and important, as showing the state of parties,
and the situation of the Duke of Wellington's Go-
vernment as regards them. From the speech of the
Noble Lord who is generally looked upon as the
political Mentor of the next heir to the Crown, and
the vote of the Duke of,Cumberland, it would seem
that the Administration cannot calculate upon the
support of either of the King's brothers; and when
it is considered how great a share of the Royal con-
fidence one of those illustrious persons is known to
possess, there are those, we imagine, who will be
inclined to doubt whether the Duke of Wellington's
Government really enjoys a confidence which can-
not but appear to be thus in some respects divided.
Next to this it appears pretty evident, from the
speeches of Lords Cainarvon and Holland in the
house of Lords, and those of Lord Althorp, Mr.
Western, and others, in the Commons, that, though
the Duke may have succeeded in dividing the
Whigs, he has as yet not made converts of them all.
Whether his Grace, adapting military tactics to po-
litical warfare, means to beat his enemies in detail,
remains to be seen. From the speeches of the Mar-
quis of Clanricarde and Mr. Huskisson, it would
seem that every probability of the latter rejoining
the Administration, or of the remains of Mr Can-
ning's party supporting it, is at an end. Indeed,
the tone of. Mr. Huskisson and Mr. Peel towards
each other was remarked as anything but courteous,
and the way in which the latter alternated between
terms " Right Honourable Gentleman" and Right
Honourable Friend" may be looked upon as some-
what ominous on the score of cordiality. But the
most extraordinary circumstance of all is the small-
ness of the minority in one House and the largeness
of that in the other, upon amendments intrinsically
the same.' Amendments pressed to a division on
the first day of a Session are, it must be admitted,
very unusual; and in the Upper House the small-
ness of the minority may be in some measure ac-
counted for by the courtesy which, in that branch
of the Legislature especially, is always shown to the
Crown on such occasions. In the. Commons, the
hugeness of the relative numbers of the minority is
not more. remarkable than the actual smallness of
the majority. After all the pressing influence which
has been used to ensure a full attendance, when we
see the Government mustering only 158 Members
in its ranks, we should be inclined to look upon it
as but a sorry indication of either the popularity or
stability of the Duke of Wellington's Administra-
tion,,,conducted upon its present principles, as re-
gard the internal policy of the country. It is in
vain for his Majesty s Ministers to argue against the
existence of the prevalent and general distress while
the evidence of its dreadful pressure is under the
-eyes of every person who reads their speeches. The
Duke of Wellington has not shown much judgment
or tact in running his head against testimony of the
facts as he had done. There is a certain hardihood
of assertion which bespeaks more callousness than
moral courage, and we should be sorry to think that

it was characteristic of his Grate; but when he
endeavours to close the fountains of Royal and Par-
liamentary sympathy against a suffering people by
denying the actual existence of the misery that
presses them to the
.earth, we cannot avoid saying
that he adopts a course which, if honest, betrays
gross ignorance, and if otherwise, is as criminal as
it will be unavailing. We tell him that, if he would
preserve his power, he must change his policy.—
Morning Plcrald.

The anxiety as to the relative state of parties,
which was extensively manifested previously to the
opening of the Parliamentary campaign, has been
quickly satisfied. From the debates and divisions
which have already taken place, it appears evident
that the Government has but little to apprehend
from its opponents, who are for the most part com-
prehended in two classes; the first consisting of those
who bear ill-will towards the present Ministry on
account of the great measure of last Session ; and
the second including those who are satisfied to
ascribe every evil that oppresses the country to our
present system of currency, and insist with un-
wearied perseverance upon the necessity of a return
to a paper circulation. Neither of these parties
can prove formidable. However erroneous may
have been deemed the line of policy adopted
by Ministers on the Catholic Question, however
ill-judged the expectation of beneficial results,
yet the injustice of striving to make it appear
that the opinions of Ministers on this one subject
vitiate their whole system of policy is so obvious
that there be little strength in opposition resting
on such grounds. In order to gain credit for sin-
cerity, they must attack the measures of Govern.
ment openly and fairly, and s►►ffering no other consi.
derations to intrude than those legitimately con-
nected with the immediate subject under discussion.
The second class we have alluded to, namely those
who consider that nothing but the recurrence to a
paper circulation can save the country, want
strength, because it is evident that the remedy
they propose can never be applied. Though
the transition from an unstable to a safe system of
currency may hive occasioned temporary inconve-
nience in the first instance—and even this is extremely
doubtful—the important benefits which it has con-
ferred, and the dangers against which it secures the
community, are now almost universally acknow-
ledged. The trading and commercial part of the
nation has accommodated itself to the improved
system, any further change in which would, by un-
settling the standard, g►ve a different value to all
money transactions, and once more introduce confu-
sion, distrust, and extensive ruin. Public opinion
is ranged on the side of Ministers; they have not
disguised the state of the country; they have not
shrunk from the truth, and the count►y will confide
in their assurance that every practicable means will
be resorted to, for affording relief to the existing dis-
tresses.—]horning Post.

We cannot help thinking that poor Lord Ellen-
borough has had somewhat hard measure dealt to
him in respect of that luckless epistle of his Lord-
ship's to Sir John Malcolm. The independence of
Judges is, no doubt, a fine theme for popular decla-
mation; but does any one imagine that the practi-
cability of the men appointed to such stations is not
regarded by those who have the filling of them up?
It is doubtful' that Ministers, when upon really con-
fidential terms with each other, talk about such
appointments very much after the fashion of the
Noble President's communication to the Bombay
Governor ? Lord Ellenborough's real delinquency
(if any) is, that be has miplaced his confidence;
for, though the considerations he let out be things
" most powerfully and potently to be believed, yet
it is not honesty to have them so set down." In
respect of one appointment, indeed, his Lordship's
revelations were not so wholly unreserved; he hav-
ing forgotten to mention, that notwithstanding
the high esteem in which Mr. William Seymour
was held by the Lord Chancellor, the Attor-
neys of the Court had given no very frequent
testimonies of equal confidence in his talents, they
having left him abundant leisure to go abroad
in search of health and pleasure ; but that he had
recently returned and was about to espouse (as in
fact he did a few weeks after) the daughter of an
old comrade and favourite Staff officer of the Duke
of Wellington These particulars were surely want-
ing to convey to Sir John Malcolm an intimation
who and what the new puisne Jadge was, and of
all the considerations, pro and con, which led to his
appointment. With respect to the independence
of Colonial Judicatures, we think it must be ap-
parent to all rational persons that the assertion of
such independence ought to be confined to a sphere
much more circumscribed than that proper for dis-
play under a well-defined Government and in
perfectly policed country. Colonial Judges are not
indeed to betray their duties by accommodating their
judgments to the pleasure of the local Government ;
but where the legislatorial power is not imme-
diately accessible, the Colonial Government must
be permitted, upon its own responsibility, to judge
of such peculiar state necessities and emergencies as
may arise ; a power indeed essentially belonging
to the Executive, and to which all subordinate
authorities owe submission under every form and
variety of Constitution. When, therefore, as at
Bombay, the Government intimates to the Judi-
cial Authorities the existence of a state necessity,
limiting the exercise of their functions, it is not for
those authorities to fly in the face of the Governor
and his Council, to denounce them from the Bench,
anti finally to suspend in a pet all the functions of
the Court; but to appeal against the decision of the
local authorities to the supreme power at home, and
meantime to render a ready submission to the Exe-
cutive of the Colony. In every community there
must be a power, somewhere vested, for the con-
servation of the public safety in moments of extra-
ordinary and sudden emergency; and the whole
question is, whether such power is to be attributed
to the Governor of a Colony, or to its Judges; or,
at all events, whether such power is to remain inert
in the hands of the Governor, unless sanctioned by the
judicial authority ; a doctrine which we do not think
at all tenable. Lord Ellenborough may have been
a little careless in betraying so much of his mind;
but his Lordship was wise in looking out for those
who :bad right notions on the subject-of the rela-
tions between the Executive Government and the
judicial authority of a colony.-11,10/ning Chronicle.

When we hear a man like Mr. Huskisson voting
against Ministers because the Address did not de-
scribe the whole nation to be in a state of distress,
we can make allowance for the nonsense talked by
the mob of Members. Partial distress we can un-
derstand, but universal distress seems to us to in-
volve an impossibility. The capital of the nation is
not diminished, and the whole population may be
said to be producing. The idea of universal distress
is, therefore, ridiculous. We allow that too much
is taken by the unproductive from the productive
part of the population ; but this would rather ac-
count for the slowness of the progress of the country
in wealth than for the existence of general distress.
In short, with all deference to Mr. Huskisson, we
maintain that, though there may be overtrading in
particular branches of industry, it is utterly impos-
sible that all branches of industry can be suffering at
the same time. He may as well say that it
is hot and cold at the same time. We
have been much astonished at the readiness with
which the assertions of those who ascribe such mar-
vellous effects to Mr. Peel's Bill are allowed. Mr.
Peel's Bill produced little or no affect; for the best
of all reasons, because the effect had been produced
before. When Mr. Attwood and Mr. B►►ring talk
of the error in the estimate of Mr. Ricardo of the
effect likely to be produced by a return to cash pay-
ments, they forget that Mr. Ricardo did not speak
of the currency when in its most depreciated state,
but when it was nearly as valuable as after the pass-
ing of the Bill. If the price of gold was not the
measure of the depreciation at the period of Mr.
Peel's Bill, it could not be the measure before the
peace. The evidence for the extent of the depre-
ciation in 1814 is the very same which we have for
the extent in 1819—namely, the price of gold. As

this part of the effect produced by the Bill of Mr.
Peel is strangely exaggerated, we cannot do better
than lay before our readers the following impartial
account of the matter from the Edinburgh Courant
of Wednesday last :
" The effect of the Act of 1797 was to consign the re-
gulation of the currency to the discretion of the Bank
Directors. It put in their power, by contracting or en-
larging their issues, to raise or to diminish the value of
their paper; and there was no remedy against this evil,
because the Bank was closed against any return of its de-
preciated notes. It was not till about the year 1801 that
the Bank Directors enlarged their issues beyond the de-
mands of trade, and that the paper fell proportionably in
its value. It is an extremely delicate point to ascertain
the variations which may take place in the value of
money ; because, while it is itself the standard of value,
we have no standard by which its own value can be mea-
sured. In the case of paper, however, we have gold as a
sure standard by which to ascertain its value. In 1801
the price of gold had not varied in the European market ;
but in this country it rose from 31. 17s. 101 d. per ounce
to 41. and 41. ss. when purchased with paper, which
proved that it was not the gold which had risen, but the
paper which had fallen in value ; in consequence of which
it required more of it than formerly to purchase the
same quantity of gold. The effect of this depre-
ciation was to alter all pecuniary contracts, to raise
the prices of all commodities, and to defraud all
creditors to the exact extent of the depreciation. But
this was the utmost extent of the evil. The Bank con-
tinued to make a liberal use of its privilege, and to increase
its issues to such an extent, that the price of gold rose in
1813 and 1814, to 51. Is. and 51. 4s. per ounce, making
a depreciation of 22 and 25 per cent. ; to which amount
all creditors, who had lent in the good and were paid in
the bad currency, were certainly injured. This is the
sure effect of all changes in the value of the currency,
which are therefore earnestly to be deprecated, as fraught
with manifest injustice to individuals, and with ill conse-
quences to the community at large. In 1816, the value
of the currency began to take an opposite course ; it began
to rise; and this change was equally injurious, though it
reversed the situation of the debtor and the creditor, as it
injured the former and benefitted the latter. In this man-
ner it increased the burden of the national debt, which
was contracted in a depreciated currency, and had to be
paid in a currency of greater value. All those evils we
readily admit to have arisen from the great fluctuations
which took place in the value of our currency from the
year 1810 to 1816. In the beginning of 1816 the value
of the paper had greatly risen ; an'l gold was at 4/. 2s.
per ounce. It only required 4s. lid. more in paper
than in coin to purchase an ounce of gold, which
marks a depreciation of about 5 per cent. In 1816,
1817, and 1818, gold continued fluctuating in its value,
from 41. 25., 4/. Is., to 3/. 19s. per ounce ; and in February,
1817, it was as low as Si. 13s. 6d., marking the deprecia-
tion of the paper at 5,3, 1, and even one-half per cent.
In 1819, the memorable year when Mr. Peel's Bill passed,
ordaining the Bank to pay specie for their notes, the price
of gold was 41. ls., which marked a depreciation of less
than 4 per cent. ; and to this amount, and no more, it
must be admitted that Mr. Peel's Bill raised the value of
the currency, and so far benefitted all creditors at the
expense of their debtors. Every debtor who had 1001.
to pay must have lost by Mr. Peel's Bill 3/. 10s., which
his creditor must have gained. But however unjust this
may be in principle, the practical evil, at the time, of
adaing three and a half per cent. to all debts, could not
be very great. Such a change is quite trifling compared
with the changes which are daily made in the ordinary
course of commerce, and of which we hear no complaint,
and to ascribe the existingdistress, the universal depression
of trade, which occurred ten years after, to this trifling
alteration in the value of our curreacy, is such a wild ex-
aggeration, that to use Burke's expression, " it is scarcely
worth powder and shot." Those who ascribe such im-
portant consequences to Mr. Peel's Bill do not consider
that all the great fluctuations in our currency took place
prior to 1819, when Mr. Peel's Bill was passed. These
were the consequences of the original measure of 1797,
and not of Mr. Peel's Act, which made no change that
at the time could occasion any serious consequence, much
less could its effects be felt after the lapse of ten years.
We had various other topics to touch upon, but we have
already exceeded our limits.—lbid.

The ministerial prints which are devoted to the
support of the Government, through thick and thin,
are particularly strong in their expression of delight
at the firmness and wisdom displayed by the Pre-
mier and his colleagues, with respect to the currency
and the state of the country generally. We shall
not copy into our columns the laudatory expressions
employed by the papers to which we allude; but
we are bound in justice to ourselvel, as well as
from respect to our readers, to show that the argu-
ments which have been put forth, both by: the Pre•
mier and his supporters, are based on the most fal-
lacious principles, and that those which we have
uniformly advocated have reason and experience for
their proof. In commenting on . the causes alleged
for the present distressed state of the country, the
Duke of Wellington observed, that certain noble
Lords attributed it to a deficient circulation; but
added, that he held in his hand a document which
would show how very erroneous that opinion was.
The document in question was, first, a statement
of the amount of the largest circulation ever known
in this country during the existence of the Bank re-
striction ; and, secondly, of the amount of the pre-
sent circulation. The circulation during the first
period was made up as follows i
B ink of England notes £30,000,000
Country bank-notes 23,000,000
Cold 4,000,600
Silver

Making in all £64,000,000
The circulation now amounted to 6.5,100,000/.
and the sum was thus made up
Balk of England notes £19,900,000
Country bank-notes . 9,200,000
Gold 28,000,000
Silver

Making i❑ all £ 65,100,000
Now, added the Premier, it is clearly demonstrable
from these documents that the distress is not justly
to be attributed to a deficient circulation, for there
is now a million of more circulating medium than
there was during the former period ! In this con-
clusion, however, there is a gross fallacy.' There
may be in the country abundance of circulating me-
(bum, and yet the medium never circulate at all—
there may be abundance of gold, coined and un-
coined, in the coffers of the Bank, and yet there
may be but a very small portion of it circulated
through the commercial and manufacturing commu-
nity. His Grace does not, in fact, which is no
ground of wonder to us, seem to understand the
difference between a circulating medium and the
circulation of money—bet Ween the existence of
wealth in particular quarters, and the communica-
tion of its use to others where it does not exist in
such plenty ; and yet the very accounts whiCh he
submit:ed in proof of the abundance of a circulating
medium, support the distinction which we have
made in the strongest possible manner. At the pe-
riod quoted by the Duke of Wellington there were
in actual circulation twenty-three millions of country
bank-notes; at the present moment there are, ac-
cording to his statement, only a little more than nine
millions ! But, responds his Grace, there is now gold
to the extent of twenty-eight millions, whereas dur-
ing the time of the bank restriction there were only
four millions; but we reply what does it signify to the
country whether there be twenty millions or one hun-
dred millions,unless the sums in question are in actual
use. During the period of the Bank Restriction Act
there was little or no unemployed capital in the coun-
try—the country bankers gave their money freely, not
only whrn good bills were presented to them—we
mean bills based on property of some kind or other
—but when bills were presented which were based
on invariable integrity and good character, without
much reference to the moneyed ability of the par-
ties. The case is now altogether altered. The
country hankers having merely the profit on their
discounts, and their business by the destruction of
the one-pound note circulation being otherwise ham-
pered, have been under the necessity of contracting
their issues and narrowing their discounts ; and
hence neither the farmer, the manufacturer, or the
retail dealer, can receive from them the same accom-
modation which they formerly enjoyed. The Bank
of England has, in fact, got a monopoly of the cir-
culating medium—the country bankers, who kIIOW
best the circumstances of the country, and the re-
liatice:that is to be placed on the various applicants
ftyr discounts in their neighbourhood, have been

thrown out of the field ; and the consequence is,
that while there is plenty of gold and plenty of notes
in the possession of the former, those who are most
in need of it, and who would have had the use
of it, had not the currency and its issuers
been so prejudicially interfered with, can procure
none of it. The' time, in fact, is past, when cha-
racter went for any thing in insuring payment of
a bill—gold—solid gold, is the security wanted—
and we need not add, that as none of the produc-
tive classes can afford to give this to any great
extent, they are obliged to be content with re-
ceiving accommodation to the extent of 504,
where they would otherwise have received 100/.
To conclude, the Duke of Wellington, in speak-
ing of the taxes, commits a similar error to that
which we have now exposed. Taxes have been
taken off; but they have been more productive in
consequence ; and although, perhaps, the amount
taken off might be found to square pretty accurately
with the increased value of the currency in which
those which now exist are paid, yet it ought to be
remembered, that there was great commercial acti-
vity when the country was saddled with nearly 70
millions of taxes—that profits were high—wages
high—and abundance of employment for all classes
of the community—in a word, that owing to the
prosperous condition of the country, and the absence
of foreign rivalry, the taxes were easily paid—and
that now the community is called upon to meet the
same burthens, under circumstances of diminished
power to bear them. Ministers may say, in fact,
what they please about the circumstances of the
country, and the necessity of being consistent in
support of a golden standard—and their thick-and-
thin supporters echo the wisdom which dictated
their speeches, in direct contradiction of what they
bad previously declared to be " a rash and mistaken
policy"—but their efforts will not succeed—the
sense of the country is against them, and we repeat,
that either its means must be raised to a level with
its burthens, or its burthens diminished to a level
with its means.—Morning Advertiser.