The Sun.
London, England, 1847-05-01 00:00:00

bat short employment under tbv same circumstances is
an evil which the present. system of currency, by de•
stroying credit money when it is most required, aggra-
vates to all enormous extent. If the credit money were
not destroyed, tiee diminution of employment would be
stroll in amount; and, in many cases, would scarcely

be 'sit.
Your pptitioners would entreat the attention of your
lionow ant- Huse to the fact, that the 'amount of legal
tender money ts very small in comparison with the large
business transactions of the nation, and that a slight
diminution of the legal-tender money destroys large
masses of credit. The active circulation of the Bank of

England, for the week ending August 29. 1846, when it
held 16,366,0681. of bullion, wa3 21,311,810/ ; the active

circulation tor the week ending the 3d day of April;
1847, with bullion amounting to only 10,246.4101., is
20f1i5,2341, miking a differende in the aTual circula
Lion of 496,576 L This diminution, t•mall as it is, acting
conjointly wi..h th' distrust which the rapid diminution
of the bullion has created, op:-raies upon more than one
un d red millips of credit in !In -Owe of mp entttale kritc
and upon cialit in other shapes to an. enormous amount.
It is thus evident that, as the trade and commerce of the
nation are carried on and sustained by credit, steadiness
of quantity in the.kgal-tender money of the country is
of vital importance to the trading einnuattnity. Under
the present system of currency, the fluctuations of the
exchanges acting upon the immense inns es of credit
transactions, render " prudent calculation" impossible.
Had the directors of the Hank of England acted strictly
in accordance with the principles of the late enactment,
the fluctuation of the preserit time would be much
greater than it now is ; for whilst there has been a fluc-
tuation of bullion amounting to 6,119,658 t, there is only
a difference in the active circulation amounting to
496,5761., on comparison of the two returns before
alluded to.

Your petitioners are' aware that the directors of the
Bank of England have been touch blamed for not acting
up more strictly to the intention of the Act of 1844.
But your petitioners consider-that it must be evident to
your Honourable House, from the facts here detailed,
that the directors of the Bank of England have done the
utmost that a bad system would allow them to do, to
keep free from " alternations and vicissitudes in that
medium of exchange which regulates the value of every
article in the country." Your Honourable House must
at once perceive that if the directors of the Batik of Eng-
land had reduced their active circulation in the same
proportion as the bullion has been dithinished, the de,
struction of credit that must have ensued would, berme
than the panic of 1825. Such,
this, have brought about
apanic much more disastrous
however, is the restrictive
nature of the Act of 1844, that, in the opinion of your
petitioners, the Bank cast no longer contend against its
operations. With a much lerger amount of bullion' in
its possession at the present time, compared with tonner
seasons of money pressures, t'.e directors have less power
to help the trading community; and have been compelled
not only greatly to increase the rate of interest upon
loans, but have also found it necessary, for the safety of
the Bank, to abk.oletely refuse paper of a very high class,
such- us a -short time ago would have been freely nis-
.counted.
Your petitioners would also submit, that the evil effects
of the fluctuations of the exchanges are greatly aggrae
vated by the immense fixed monetary engagements of the
nation, and that. these aid the foregoing causes ope-
rating together, reT der the I present system of currency
aleogethertinjuet aud impolitic, and call for the imme-
diete interference of your Honourable House. The fore-
going statements clearly chow that the system of cur-
ency, which it was said the Act of 1844 would render
complete, has not and cannot "prevent alternations
arid vicissitudes in that medium of exchange
which regulates the vultt of every ar fele in
the country ;"on • the contrary, your Honourable
House wilt perceive that it has very much aggra-
vAt,i theta, • and has rendered them more disastrous to
the e,,eamereiet-and trading interests of the community;
the peotinetive classes generally, than heretofore
r.:,s been the ewe.
Your peitieners are of (pinion, that the best means
by which the evils re-ultilg from the late deficient
harvests can be mitigated, willbe by the issue of peps r-
na,mey sufficient to sustain the trade of the country
during the 'absence Of the gold currency; and' that a
system of
,paper-money. established with proper.checks,
would at all times be best adapted to the wants of the
country.
Your petitioners observe that, according to the last
of England, the amount hold by the
rii•attTst:f the
its business transactions is only
4,391,4701.
carrßyat
Your petitioners therefore pray your
honourable House to take the state of the Bank and the
currency into immediate
.consideration, and, by the
timely exercise of the .authority of your Honourable
House, protract-theppulatioll of this ceuntry from those
evils with e hich they are now threatened, and which
cannot fail to visit them if the Act of 1844 is allowed to
c,ntinite: iu op.ratiort.
'
Are' your petitiottera vll ever pray for the prosperity
of your Honourable House.
THOMAS BARBER WRIGHT,
NewslxlP"-r Proprietor, Union-street, Birmingham.
JOHN ffAIII.4),W, Printer,
Sut
nn.er-lane, Birmingham.

PP:111'10N OF TR:MIAS eI:LUTON SALT.
The humble Petitioßinrmingham of Thorn" n,
.Auttun Salt, of
,
show,,th,—Thst the fact is before your Honourable
11,-,,zBe, that, whenever the exchanges become adverse,
gold is exhorted,- and the Bank of England is ccmpelled
to diminish her issue of paper money, theieby effecting
a clouble drain on t t," basis of our my, means.
r very' trivial diminution of this basis has been
iro.rat,Tithia'y
accompaniNi by an abatement of the rapidity
of the circulation, of ti‘e nu-nub-vier, and a derangement
of ,thee va,,:t superst:ui:tuva:restity:: Upon it. The dirni-
nisti,(l money iiicle4Wahlt' hf Paying undiminished debt,
" ,upplylng 116 u'iditninihed necessities of exist-
on,.,.., ;;J:d thus n, pi:o-perous, wettLity, and. industrious
to insolvency, ruin, and pauperism.
, , ,),, this Aes,kness of the monetary system, is
p,,,,p,,', kJ
111S0 before your Honourable House,
prosion of foreign-markets, and the
. . *tv and ena'Pal'alivflY high prices niftined in
prosp.ll.,
ri t ' has s'inin' d '
the English ma ce l• , ' alto impbetations, and
t..41‘ : a;'' iri.,l3-trieYt hg' li:. 4ce reducedr
ardree
. •si on•linc,ty*
At-citen exportations.
coi:lf P --
'?-:.-f ..,,. •••• / - - 1
lowed the intruductton (if oods
large quantittes of
ri
hitherto virtually prohibited. •• t t,,,,,,,2 iiiQ •-i. -
4,