The Sun.
London, England, 1840-12-01 00:00:00

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No. 15,049.

PUBLICATIONS.

SALE OF OLD STORES,AT DEPTFORD.
ADMIRALTY, SOMERSET-PLACE, 25..v...7, IF4n.
HI
COMMISSIONERS for EXE.
CUTING the OFFICE of LORD HIGH AD-
MIRAL of the UNITED KINGDOM of GREAT
BRITAIN and IRELAND, do hereby give Notice, that an
WEDNESDAY, the 9th December next, at Ton o'clock in the
Forenoon, 'he Captain Superintendent will PUT UP TO
SALE in Her Majesty's Victualling Yard at DEPTFORD,
several Lots of

dividuals from the ''ainsequences of their own extrava-
gant and presumptus indiscretion. And, lastly, I
have shown that tliOrade of the country has gradually
adapted itself to naimodes and systems of doing busi•
ness, and that the 4Ssue of Bank notes has ceased to
have any important.:ilatinence in regulating prices, on
the value of naottey4r on the extent of our trade.
Two questions, 14tvever, vitally affecting the public
welfare, remain to answei ed. lst—On what grounds
do I insist on bank* giving security for their issues?
23—Ought the politic'to submit to the mode proposed
by the advocates dip Bank of England, for effecting
this object ?
The currency migbe considered the life blood of
the State, and if ta4und, is to the body politic, what
disease is to the, ti Idy.corporate ? for circulating, as it
dues, through an a.st infinite number of channels, it
cithar sustains in-vir,lcalth; and c,-,tifiJeum or sub-
jects to disorder, mistitist, and disorganisation, the whole
fabric: •

NEW NOVEL BY MISS MARTINEAU.
Just published, in 3 volumes, price 319. 6d. boards,
THE HOUR AND THE MAN
A Historical Romance.

By HARRIET 11fAiiiiEALT.
Edward Moaon, Dover-street.

KNOWLES' DRAMATIC WORKS.
Just published, in 2 vols, price 21s, cloth,
THE DRAMATIC. WORKS OF
JAMES SHERIDAN KNOWLES.

OLD STORES;
Consisting or Provisions, Staves Heading, Hospital and Trans-
port Stores, &c. &c. &e. all lying in the said Yard, except
the Transport Stores, which are in the Dock Yard.
Persons wishing to view the Lots must apply to the Super.
intendent for Notes of Admission for that purpose.
Catalogues and Conditions a Sale may be had here, and at
the Yard,

Edward Moxon, Dover-street.

KNOWLES' PRONOUNCING AND EXPLANATORY

DICTIONARY.
In royal Svo., price 165., cloth,
APRONOUNCING AND EXPLANA-
TORY DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH
LANGUAGE. FoUnded on a correct development of the na-
ture, the number, and the various properties of all its'simple
anu compound sounds, as combined into syllables and words.
By JAMES KNOWLES.
Edward Moson, Dover-street,

And here it mac -desirable before I proceed fur-
-1 then, to define whAt44 meant II the term currency, as
much difference of ,opinion appears to prevail on this
point. Itlls of migtfoge, it is contended by some, are
strictly a part attsfilt*#rency, and the public are much
.indebted W..;',Veatabate, Esq., hanker of Wakefield,
for a seriei of very Aluable tables which he has lately
published, giving tlig--number of stamps used in ezch
year, from which it. visiii)ld appear that the circulation of
bills of exchange iiitAnd and foreign in the year 1839,
was about five hunti* and' twenty-eight millions ; and
assuming, as he dais, from his long experience as a
banker, the average ilato of all bids, to be three months,
it. follows that Wanukene hundred and thirty-two mil-
lique.ere alvn 44**,4 that about one million and a
-kir kit ut

This statement, so far as regards the amount of
stamps used, may be all quite correct ; but it is of
rather of too general a character to be of any great
value, and certainly is no correct estimate of the bona
fide transactions of society. For instance—bills drawn
and held as collateral securities—all bills renewed from
time to thne—all accommodation bills, for which no
value is given, or renewed on either side, with many
other classes, must all be deducted. But let that pass ;
and, so far as regards the amount, I would say, if it
were ten times more than it is here set down, so much
the better for the community that can find employment
for them ; but the question is, do they form any part of
our currency ?
Some also contend, that, inasmuch as checks net
only represent a very large proportion of the transac-
tions of society, but do actually make payment for and
put out of existence this million and a half, or whatever
other amount of bills do really fall due from day to
day, that these also ought to be included, and consi-
dered as currency.
I contend that neither is currency, and that nothing
but what has a fixed standard of value, and passes
from hand to hand as a test of all other representatives
of value, and is also convertible on the instant, comes
within the legitimate use of the term currency. Under
this head I place, first, the precious metals ; second,
bank notes, that are made a legal tender ; and, in the
third place, bank notes which pass from hand to hand
with a very limited liability, and are convertible on the
instant ; and it is clear that neither bills of exchange
nor checks do possess these requisites. Bills of ex-
change pass from hand to hand, but only by endorse-
ment, continuing the liability for months, and sometimes
years : they have also no fixed value, ter in one place
they may be converted with a discount of five per cent.,
in other places at seven, eight, and ten per cent. ; and
a very large proportion not at any price, nor in any place ;
and what is considered the best quality of these is also
sometimes in excess, and liable, as at present, to the
same difficulties of conversion as all others.
Checks also are no nearer an element of the currency
than bills of exchange, for they do not pass current
from hand to hand, are limited in their sphere of ac-
tion to the place in which they are drawn, and pos-
sess no one ingredient either by law or usage that
can make them a_ test of the value of any thing else.
Neither are they convertible 9n the instant, for inde-
pendent of many other abuses to which they arc
liable, I know a practice which very generally prevails
in a large town not far from Wakefield, where gentlemen
when they give checks to their tradesmen are in the
habit of putting one, two, or three da,.hes under the
signature, the meaning of which is, that it is to be held
for as many months, and this is perfectly understood by
both the receiver and the banker.

Now, to call bills of exchange, subject to such ex-
cevions us!have stated, or checks„.of
.this,.charact7,
a part c our cur;ney nom be to involve us in an
interminable labyrinth of difficulties. That they are a
circulating medium of great importance, and are fast
superseding the use of the currency, no one can deny,
and so mach the better for us; because there is a
great waving- -in Iroubte, risk, and, expense ; but the
currency is still Or thing by which these are all-to be
tested ; and it has a very separate and distinct exist-'
ence, which above all things it is most important to
strictly bear in mind..
This is the great error which pervades Mr.
Leatham's work, and which appears seriously,
although I think very unnecessarily, to have disturbed
his rest ; for at Page 13, he gives us a statement of
two hundred and eighteen millions due to somebody,
to pay which he says, page 14, " Jfind the sum of three
millions and a half
-.1, as last returned, in the coffers of
the Bank," from which he concludes " that we are on
the edge of a precipice of unmeasured depth, front
o, an fial
which we are 0711 y kept
fi ol
Banks. the) public credit"
ebdyit.a
breath of public opinin „
,dll,iitg intoe
tibrolt'n i
The particular items of this two hundred and eighteen
millions are then given as follows :
24 Millions due from the Bank for Deposits and Notes.
37 due from Country Bankera fJr the same.
22 Savig
135 Billsn ofs
-_Exchange.
218 Millions.

Now, with great respect to the writer of this work,
I must be allowed to say that it is in writings of this
character our only danger lies. We want no protection
for any defect in our
social system, but we do want pro-
tection against the misconstruction which the ignorance
of the multitude may very fairly put on statements such
a 3 this. Mr. Leatham must know perfectly well that
if there was not a single sovereign in the Bank of Eng-
land this account, so far es the Bank of England and
the Saving Banks are concerned, would be settled
without the slightest difficulty, and the 37 millions due
from country bankers, I have no doubt, would be forth-
coming, if called for, in an equally prompt and honour-
able manner, and it would matter not one iota to the
public whether these
their claims were paid to them in
gold or in piper, so long as the medium by which they
were paid did enable them, as it always has done,
and
must, of necessity continue to do, to possess them-
selves of a corresponding value in land, goods, or any
thing else, the Property of others.
The great importance of a metallic currency is, that
it acts as a corrective to the evils of an unrestricted
issue of paper-money, and
thereby maintains a rate of
exchange with all other countries in favour of this ; but
were every sovereign to take its flight to-morrow, our
public and private obligations would continue to be dis-
charged precisely as they are at present, without diffi-
culty, and without embarrassment. Paper-money per-
formed all these functions during the war, and would
d o so again
vi n g °
i f theu3°
acquired
of circumstances required
it ;but ha a
metallic currency, nothing
short of an overwhelming necessity should induce us to
relinquish our hold upon it.
_____

What the 135 millions of Bills of Exchange
has to
do with the Bank of England, or its bullion, I am quite
at a loss to know ; for certain it is that the whole will
be cancelled as they fall due, without the slightest re-
ference to either the one or the other. The Bank of
ntlienteynactuntho
England may be called upon in seasons of pressure and
difficulty to discount a few, but at all other times pri-
vate capital will absorb all that has a locus slandi in the
market, and any relationship which Bills of Exchange
may be supposed to have with the Bank or its stock of
bullion, will be found on examination to be very remote in
deed. Neither can I allow to pass without observation
savings banks having
the statement of Mr. Leathern, that some of the Lon-
doneus sum of twenty-two
millions, and which, coupled as it is with his statement
reac
reached
bankers
tdhoefeel callsa
of two hundred and eighteen millions, would justify
the conclusion in ignorant minds,that if it was called
for it would not be forthcoming. The
erection
of
these
banks were among. the wisest measures that any Go-
vernment ever devised, and the depositors in this fund
do not require to be told that they hold as security for
their re-payment the estate of Mr. Leathern, and that of
every Nobleman and Gentleman within the three King-
doms. Alarm for the,r security pooh ! Should any
Government be ever wicked or corrupt enough to de-
lude or betray the peoPle on this subject, ii would
speedily produce a re-acting of the terrible scenes of
the French Revolution, and the possession of property
would be a mark to indicate and insure the certain de-
struction of its possessor. We tmly call in
question
,the aotAndness of the medium by which the payment may
~he effected, but not the payulent ;t)1 ~,
i ; and to place
.7,1 i, buona a grt,,ston roost our efforts be directed.
Having now disposed of two very spurious items,
which many are anxious to ingraft on our currency, I will
proceed with
the inquiry into what constitutes our pre-
sent currency, and endeavour to point out what are its
defects—what the remedy.
It is hardly necessary to refer to the panic of 1825
for the history of the numerous mushrooms which existed
at that.iime under thienreo of
gv::, :. ..).....,..i.- -...: I..:i.tillitcll;:c ,11,d cir.;uiatioll
of a paper currency has such wonderful facilities in the
circumstances of men, that it is utterly out of the power

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of the great mass to judge of its value, or appreciate
ita real character. It passes from hand to hand as a
representative of value, until some neighbouring com-
petition, or other circumstance, suggests the idea that
it is in excess, and then commences a run, or what is
called a -panic, and the individual whom everybody
knew at his starting to he worth 50,0001. at least,
turns out to have issued 150,0001. of paper money, and
to have lost his original capital, and much more, in doing
it. More than a hundred such in 1825 were engulpheal
in a whirlpool of paper of their own
.creation, and
as a consequence, the funded property of this country
was on one day not saleable for bank-notes, and bankers
borrowed money at the rate of 7:2 per cent. I contend
that the eaistence of such a circulation among the work-
ing people of this great country, who are unable to form
any correct estimate of its value, is as criminal in the
Government that tolerates it as would be that of admit-
ting the adulteration of the necessaries of life, or the
circUlation of base coin.
It is utterly beside the argument to say that any or
:all of these consequences result from the Corn-laws, the
operations of the Bank of England, or any other ex-
ternal influence, if I can demonstrate that they necesaa-
lily flow from the system, and are vices which arc inbe.-
rent to it.

The private bankers, considered as a body, I am
willing to admit, are generally men of high standing and
great personal worth in the country, possessing large
properties, intelligent minds, industrious habits, con-
ducting their affairs with the greatest caution and cir-
cumspection, and exercising a constant and severe scru-
tiny into every transaction of their respective establish-
ments ; but they are, like most other men, acutely alive
to their own interest, and do still occasionally act as