The Sun.
London, England, 1849-01-15 00:00:00

Jrnin .;-'*---1111;

LoNpuN, MONDAY, JANUARY 15, 1849.

the corn-
On Saturday we published the reply of
mittee of the Liverpool Currency Reform Association
to the strictures upon their plan put forward by a
morning Contemporary. We would strongly recom-
mend those anxious to form a sound and unprejudiced
judgment upon the most important question of the
day to consider calm!v and attentively the arguments
contained therein. The several objections that have
been
masterly
. Urged against their propositions are disposed of
in
manner. Nothing has been left unan-
swered.
The disc •
ussions that have taken place must serve
materially to enlighten the public mind. The
great majority of the people have hitherto been
accustomed to regard the monetary question as some-
thing so abstruse and difficult of comprehension as
to be utterly beyond
the reach of ordinary capaci-
ties. They have been contented to receive without
question the dogmas pompously enunciated. They
have suffered themselves to be
mystified by the cur-
rency quacks—and deeply and painfully bas their
folly been expiated. There have been Perl •
odial fluc-
tuations of the currency, that have deranged all the
calculations of commercial men, thrown our artisans
and operatives out of employment, and involved all
classes in pecuniary difficulties.
Mr. COBDEN has declared in his evidence before
the Committee of the House of Commons upon the
Banks of Issue, " that greater evils—pecuniary,
social, and moral," have been occasioned by these
fluctuations—" than by the direct failure of all the
banks of issue since they were first established in this

country. 4,,,,The,H0n. Gentleman is,in this respect an
unexceptionable witness, whose testimony will
scarcely be impeached even by the bullionists them-
selves. The chief argument adduced in favour of the
iniinitous and impolitic Act of 1844 was, that it
Would in a great degree prevent these ruinous fluctu-
ation!; but even its Parliamentary sponsor, Sir R.
PEA;; was himself compelled to admit that it had
utterly failed in that respect and the country has
*riled from the most painful experience that the ,

Al 1.)
"+ Sill

intensity of the crisis was fearfully aggravated
through its operation.
If there is any foundation whatever for the state-
ments that have been made respecting the late dis-
coveries of gold in California—if only a very minute
portion of the hopes of the speculators should be
realised—another great change in the value of money
must take place, of which it would be impossible to cal-
culate the consequences. The extraordinary results
that followed the discovery of the mines of Mexico
and Peru, and the Brazils, and the consequent alte-
ration in the value of the precious metals, are already
well known. Gold and silver continued to be poured into
Europe in unprecedented plenty; there was a ♦ast
increase in the circulating medium of the several
countries, and, as a natural consequence, a corres-
ponding increase in the price of commodities of every
description. The average price of wheat from
the year 1459 to 1560 was about 9s.' 2d. per quarter,
while from 1561 to 1601 it had increased to no less
than 2/. 7s. sd. Within less than a century the
average price of this, the most important article of
food for the population, had increased fivefold. Every
other article of merchandize had experienced a similar
alteration. Various causes were assigned for these ex-
traordinary changes. The enhanced prices were at-
tributed to monopolies, to hoarding, to forestalling,
regrating, and a variety of different matters, but the
true cause was only subsequently discovered, viz., the
depreciation in the value of gold and silver consequent
upon the increased supply thereof.
If gold to the value of eight or ten millions ster-
ling should be obtained annually from the soil of
California, a similar depreciation must again take
place. The bullionists will be stripped of their
strongest argument; and it is by no means impos-
sible that we shall find those who have hitherto advo-
cated an exclusively metallic currency, or, at least, a
currency at all times convertible, become the
most strenuous supporters of a national incon-
vertible note. Gold and silver have been
selected as the representatives and measures
of value, because it is supposed that there
is little probability of their being suddenly increased
or diminished in any considerable quantity. The
amount that has been collected has hitherto not
much more than balanced the wear and tear, and the
waste that usually takes place, and the absorption of
the metals into other channels. Hence, say the bui-
lionists—" The quantity of these metals, available at
any given period, is much the same, and as the pur-
poses for which they are wanted throughout the
world do not vary materially or suddenly, tht•y
maintain, as a consequence, a very uniform value,
and this value forms a standard by which to measure
1- the various values of more variable com-
modities." This will, however, no longer
he the case. The same quantity of labour
will no longer be required to extract the mineral
treasures from the soil. That labour constitutes the
only true measure of value. It is not because gold
and silver possess intrinsic value, that they have been
adopted by universal consent ; but because they could
not be obtained without immense labour and research.
If, however, the more precious of the two—that
which in this country constitutes the only circulating
medium that can be legally tendered in satisfaction of
debts and liabilities—can be gathered up by common
I labourers, without the aid of complicated ma-
.chinery or the application of capita], to,
Ithe extent of ten or twenty pounds a day
as alleged, or even to that number of dollars—it will
soon become comparatively cheap and valueless. The
I enormous increase in the value of commodities that
I has already taken place in the gold producing dis-
tricts will speedily extend throughout the whole
I world. Then, indeed, public creditors and fund-
holders will have just cause to complain. The word of
promise will be kept to the ear, but broken to the
hope ; they will receive the due weight of metal, of
the requisite standard, but unfortunately that metal
will no longer possess the same command over the
necessaries and comforts of life that it formerly
had ; the gold will be there, but the " purchasing
power" will no longer exist. The equity of the con-
tract will certainly not be fulfilled.
Now the plan suggested by the association would
do justice to all parties. Whether a great increase
or diminution took place would be a matter of little
consequence. Gold would follow the same law that
relates to all other commodities. Its market price
would depend on the relationship between the supply
and demand. Under the present system, however abun-
dant it may be, the Bank is bound to pay a certain
price for all that may be offered- Although not re-
quired for general use, it must still be received,
and all the transactions of the country thereby dis-
arranged. We are bound to pay when gold is cheap
and abundant the same price for which we are com-
pelled to supply it when dear and scarce. This is
certainly not very reasonable, and unless the law be
altered, and,that speedily, the country will pay dearly
for the folly of its legislators.

Although the gold mines of California may stimu-
late the cupidity of the fortune-hunter, the vast
regions of Australia are still regarded as the tree El
Dorado by the suffering and the starving, whose
name, unhappily, is Legion. The subject of emi-
gration now occupies much of the public attention,
and there are few subjects so deserving of considera-
tion from all who have the well-being of their fel-
low men at heart. Some three years since the
author of " Sybil" alluded to the annual arrival of three
hundred thousand strangers in this island, as testified
by the "Population Returns." " How will you
feed them ? How will you clothe them ? How will
you house them ?" he asked. " The rags of the
kingdom are exhausted, and your sinks and cellars
already swarm like rabbit-warrens." To these
momentous questions, of which three years have
only increased the imminent importance, there is but
one answer—Let them emigrate. Let the hands for
which there is here no labour repair to the lands
where there are none to labour—the lands which lie
waste for want of cultivation. This important sub-
ject has rarely been set forth in a more earnest and
forcible manner than in the present number of the
Church of England Quarterly Review. Speaking of
the number of men out of employ, the reviewer very
truthfully—unfortunately too truthfully—remarks :
" Every trade is overstocked with workmen—still
more come and ask for labour. There is such an alarm-
ing amount of unemployed labour in the market that its
value—the only physical value of a man as far as
pounds, shillings, and pence are concerned—is deterio-
rated. Rather than starve, a man will work for three-
fourths, one-half, or even one-third less than another,
until the absolute and real value is altogether lost sight
of. It becomes no longer a matter of what it is worth'
—it is merely a question of what it will fetch.' "
The remedy—the only remedy—for such a state of
things is obvious. People starve by the wayside, and
if they hold out the hand to beg the passer-by ex-
claims reproachfully, " Work !" The advice, strictly
speaking,such ao
dv is right enough, for the labourer alone is
worthy
ifoehiirs to e; but,often under present circumstances,

" Work—work—work,"7
sang the sem"lnve PpsotrerßstY, hunger, and dirt,
Work—
work—work,
While the cock is crowing aloof;
And work—work—work,
Till the stars shine through the roof."
But such continual application barely sufficed to pre-
serve her miserable existence, because the market
was already overstocked by hundreds and tens of
hundreds as fit for work as she. Therefore it is a
mockery to tell a man to work without in some way
enabling him to obey such an injunction. The
Church of England Quarterly Reviewer strenuously
advocates the adoption of an organized plan of whole-
sale emigration. But, whether such a system as he
recommends be adopted or not, the advisability of some
such scheme must be obvious to all who thoughtfully
consider the subject. " You marvel at the ingratitude
of the poor," continues the reviewer—" why ?"
" What in effect have they to be grateful for ?—for their
poverty?
well-to-do friend lying
ilyngseotuhresier Letius cease to talk idly if we can, and, plac-
oiir own.
thoughtsthebir condition, ttmenageinndeeyaovuorurwtiofe,anmay-
in a cellar or an attic in a fever-
stricken neighbourhood—yourself rocd
the relieving ourself in rags, your child-
ren shivering and huddled together in a corner—your
cupboards empty,
insolvency officer to have neglected
you or flatly refused you assistance—even
heart—e vaennd bneagngdarcyl 0
shased
proved itself to be only another to you—
every outlet, every doorway, ever
against you—and then let us 13: now the state of your
' gratitude' to your fellow-man."

-There is one way, however, by which we may earn
the gratitude of the poor :
Fifty thousand pounds is not a very great sum to
build a house for the furtherance of pauperism. What
would that sum do in the cause of emigration? What