The Sun.
London, England, 1847-10-22 00:00:00

THE CURRENCY QUESTION.
The Anti-Gold-law League held a public meeting
last night at the Crown and Anchor Tavern, Strand,
having earnestly invited the friends of monetary
reform to attend. About 100 persons were present
when the proceedings commenced, but the number
subsequently increased to about3oo. The gentlethen
around the Chairman were, almost without exception,
the same persons as at the last meeting. •
Mr. F. • BENNOCLI' Chairman of the League,
began the business of the evening by explaining that
at the meeting last Wednesday week, the council did
not intend any disrespect to Mr. Owen in not listen-
ing to his observations, but had laid it down as a rule
that no one should address the meeting but those ap-
pointed by the council previously. That council
comprised men of various political parties, but they
all agreed, that having free trade in corn, free trade
in gold had become indispensable. .Our monetary
system, in times of prosperity, forced out a quantity
of notes and encouraged speculation, and then by the
gold being withdrawn the
were
circulation must
be; contracted,. discounts were refused,• and dis-
tress ensued.—(Hear„ hear.) The League laid- it
doWn that wheat at 45s and gold at Si. 17s. 10id.
were at par, but as the one might rise, so Ought
the other.—(Hear, hear.) During the past year we
had paid 8,000,000/. or 10,000,0001. of gold away
for corn, the rest of .the price being 'paid by our own
produce; but this gold was not given away abso-
lutely, but given in exchange for corn, and supposing
that corn not worth more than half its cost, still the
country was not poorer by more than 4,000,000/. or
5,000,000/. ; and how could the abstraction of such
"a drop in the bucket " be pretended to have brought
about the present depression in a country whose esti-
mated wealth was 5,600,000,0000 So, then, to
supply, the loss of 5,000,0001. of gold, or bring it
iiitekTffetheitebereeet liad Wein rectainaln value by
120,000,0001. in twelve months, railways 30,000,0001.,
and the other property of the kingdom (taking it at
a loss of 10 per cent.) 300,000,0001. Yet was there
a merchant present who would say his property had
not been reduced more than 10 per cent. in the last
twelve months ?—(Hear, hear.) Was there a builder
who imagined he could dispose of his houses at a re-
duction of 10 per cent. ?—(Hear, hear.) A large
sugar-merchant at the east end of the town had men-
tioned that day that a friend of his had been obliged
to submit to a loss of 120,0001. upon one lot of sugar
—lO,OOO tons ; not because there was too much sugar,
but because he was obliged to sacrifice his property in
consequence of his being unable to get his bills
discounted.—(Hear, hear.) He (the Chairman) did
not profess to be a high and important commercial
man, but he had some stake in the country ; through
the firm to which he belonged, and which he bad the
pleasure of establishing some ten or twelve years ago,
from 1,500 to 2,000 hands found weekly employment,
and at least 3,500 to 4,000 people were dependent for
their daily food through advices given by that firm
weekly; the amount of wages paid averaged from
1,000/. to sometimes 2,0001. per week. Never, in
his experience, did he see his way so clearly before
him for a large and prosperous trade ; never were his
firm, and the men with whom they were connected,
in so excellent a condition ; never were the parties
with whom he did the largest amount of his trade so
well prepared to give him extensive orders; nay, he
had the orders, but such was the state of things in the
commercial world, as regarded money, that he dare.
not advise the various manufacturers to proceed to
the utmost extent, because, long before the goods or
the bills drawn against them might be ready for the
market, this tide of prosperity might have turned to
a disastrous shipwreck. Therefore he had to say,
"Be prudent, be circumspect; instead of employing
your men to the fullest extent, employ them pru-
dently only, and reduce them by half."—(Hear.) The
Chairman then proceeded to explain at length the
proposal of the League for the issue of 50,000,000/.
of Exchequer-notes. Gold had always been a mis-
chievous thing to: play; tricks with.—(A laugh.) In
the wilderness a calf was made of it ; but the destruc-
tion caused by the golden calf of the Israelites was as
nothing to the sacrifices demanded by the molten
image set up by Sir R. Peel.—(LaUghter and cheers.)
It was not so much the Bank hat was to blame at;
present—of course they would atargellilli at such a
time—they charged 9 per cent that day—but Sir R.
Peel and his Bills yere responsible for the mischiefs.
—(lkay) But NNlrofwas the man to meet this emer-
gency ? Not Lore J. Russell or Sir C. Wo.4
(Ilisses)—the reply to the Liverpool deputation set tlf d
that.—(llear.) To turn from them to those who
w, re the authors of the objectionable law—there was
no man who would be more fearless in proclaiwing
his error if he saw it than Samuel Jones L:iyd, an I
he (the Chairman) thought that gentleman way:
already changing his mind.—(llear.) Sir R. Peel
depended upon him, and pinned himself to Air.
Loyd's opinion in drawing up this law. Either of
them or both would be capable of carrying the re-
quired change. it would be to Sir le. Peel a great
triumph were he to come forward and say, " All that
I have to do is to alter an opinion expressed in my
youth, to redeem the sins of my boyhood, and I
cannot peacefully sink into the grave until I have
done this last great act of justice."—(Laughter.)
There would be something noble in that; his youth
might have been passed in error, but it was a fine
thing to see the hoary hairs of age silvered with dis-
cretion, and more especially if it was devoted to the
benefit of the country.—(Laughter.) His own repie '
tation was as dust in the balance compared to that ;
but, in truth, his coining forward to do so would
make him the greatest man in this empire. He would
do much towards gathering together a party that he
had flung to the seven winds—(A laugh)—and he
would win the lasting approbation of the commercial
Community.—(Cheers.)

Mr. J. buNCAN would begin by noticing the various
conspiracies which property had perpetrated upon
labour. From the Conquest to the Restoration all
taxation was direct, the revenue being raised, first,
from the hereditary Crown lands, and, secondly, from
the feudal dues or rents which the territorial proprie-
tors paid to the Crown for the possession of their lands
it was not necessary to mention the trifling tonnage upon
wine, and the poundage of 5 per cent. upon imported
goods. Charles 11. was obliged to promise before he
was restored to relieve the land from the payment of
the feudal dues, and impose an Excise duty on beer.
When William 111. came over he was required to
give up the Crown lands, and from that time indirect
taxation was resorted to.—(llear, hear.) Pitt and
his successors contracted a debt of perhaps 600,000,0001.
in paper, a pound of which was worth 14s. or 15s. ;
and the first act after the peace was to convert that
debt into the same number of pounds in gold, worth
20s. each.—(Hear, hear.) Before persons railed
against the League for trying to rob the public cre-
ditor, let them justify that flagrant robbery of the
public debtor.—(Hear, hear.) A bonus was thus
given to the lenders, though their property, equally
with that of the landed proprietor, would have been
sacrificed if a French army had landed.—(Hear,
hear.) Large fortunes were made. Sir Robert
Peel's father told him in the House of Commons
that his Bill would double his own fortune, but
ruin his country; and when Sir R. Peel was thus
told that his fortune was in the funds, his conduct
must look suspicious.—(Hear, hear.) In the last
week's Circular to Bankers the following curious
statement was made :

" The revolting part of the subject is, that which
relates to the personal position, in connexion with the
existing money law, of the two men who mainly
caused the infliction of all the ruin and misery under
which the people are sinking.
" Sir R. Peel and Mr. S. J. Loyd are two persons
of enormous wealth produced by an excessive use of
credit. On starting in life their fathers were poor
men of great faculty, bold enterprise, and good con-
duct. They lived to be ranked among the most con-
spicuous millionaires' of,their country by what their
sons would now call the unwholesome use of artificial
credit. Sir R. Peel lived and carried on his works
at Bury, in Lancashire ; he there issued 11. notes to
pay the wages of his workmen. He also established
a warehouse in London for the sale of his goods, and
on that warehouse he drew what were then known in
Lancashire as • pig upon bacon' bills, at two and
three months' date, to pay for the raw materials of
his manufacture. He forced this credit to such a
degree as for a time to deprive himself of the means
of paying with punctuality the duties on his calicoes,
and the officer of Excise held possession of his pre-
mises in Milk-street for six weeks for arrears of
duties.
" When Messrs. Jones and Co., of Manchester,
commenced the banking business there, they drew
bills at two and three months date on I;orne relativts
of the same name, who, we believe, carried on their
affairs in Watling-street. When that house retired
from business, Jones and Co., of Manchester, opened
an account with Vere and Co., bankers, in Lombard-
street, and the amount of bills drawn from Manchester
on this account was so large and extraordinary as to
alarm Vere and Co., who hastily resolved to refuse to
accept them, and they were dishonoured for non-
acceptance, Vere and Co. holding, we believe, all the
time, ample security, in the shape of Lancashire bills,
for all that had been drawn upon them. In these
circumstances Jones and:Co., of Manchester, being in
a thriving condition, having a prosperous business,
and being necessary to the trade of the district, on
consulting their friends and customers who were
called to deliberate on the case, were at once advised