The Sun.
London, England, 1847-09-30 00:00:00

VI;-

I'ATIONACANI4I:6OI.4. DLAW
LEAGUE. .
A numerous meeting of the friends of menettule
referin was held last evening at Aliderton's Heel,
Fleet-street, •for the purpose of organizing an ee.nti-
Gold Law League.
Shortly alter eight o'clock, Mr. BENNOCII, who was
called to the chair, opened the proceedings in the fol-
lowing terms :—Gentlemen, after this meeting was
first announced by public advertisement I certainly
determined to attend, but until late this afternoon I
had no idea that I should be selected to fill the ho-
nourable post to which you have just elected me. It
will be my first duty, as far as possible, to maintain
order in this large meeting, and, in the next place, to
obtain for every man, whatever his sentiments may
be, a full, fair, and impartial hearing. It requires no
wizard to inform us that these are times of terrible
difficulty—it requires no man to inform us that
there is something wrong in our commercial systern
when we find firm after firm falling to the ground
with a tremendous crash. It behoves us as men,
as citizens, and especially as citizens of London,
the centre of the commercial world, to endeavour
to ascertain whet the causes may be, and if pos-
sible, to supply a remedy. lam surrounded by a
number of gentlemen who believe that great difficulty,
danger, and mischief, are to be found in our mone-
tary system, and I wi;h them believe that our present
money system is the root of all this tremendous evil.
—(Hear, hear.) Those gentlemen will expound
more clearly than it is possible for me to do the
various principles which- they propose to be adopted
in order to carry on the great commercial business of
this empire. I believe that the gold standard is an
unjust one. I believe that gold should not have a
fixed value, while everything else is allowed to rise
Which is the only rational
system,
and fill and find its value according to the general
oflasy
supply
and
oanned demand,
hicl
ihould be Applied to gold
as well as to everything elseecf
,Loud cheers.)
And I find that the abstracfll-of 5,000,000/.
or 6,000,000/. of gold fronts n',.s country, to
supply us with food, has 1-Teen the cause
during the past winter of deranging our com-
mercial transactions, and of lowering the value of every
commodity in which we deal. During the last ten
months our funded property has been reduced ten per
cent., or nearly 80,000,000/., and other property
has been depreciated, perhaps, to the extent of
200,000,000/. We cannot but believe that a system
which causes the abstraction of 5,000,000/. to provide
20,000,0001. worth of food, must be bad when at-
tended with such dreadful consequences.—(Cheers.)
One evil is, that discounts rise in order to get the gold
standard back to this country—the screw is put on by
the Bank, discounts become difficult, merchants fail,
manufacturers close their mills, operatives are thrown
on the parish, and all are injured to an extent almost
incalculable.—(Hear, hear.) And for what ? Be-
cause we want 20,000,000/. of food, .5,000,000/. of
gold are sent out of the country. This seems to be a
terrible consequence of so trifling a matter. One
would have thought it more reasonable to have
sacrificed 40,000,000/. of positive property than be
subjected to the operation of a system by which we
have lost at least 200,000,0001.—(Hear, hear.) That
loss has been felt by the nation at large, and felt, too,
after a year of the greatest prosperity.—(Hear, hear).
It would seem as if a law were made that, whenever
the nation was on the high road to fortune, some
fiend was to give us a foul stroke, and lay us pros-
trate on the earth.—(Cheers). Having now passed
through a season of famine, when every; eacilitY
should Le affbrded us to make up our deficiences, we
find ourselves fettered by a golden chain, and our
circulation is contracted to an extent equal to the
amount of gold leaving the country. That which
may be regarded as the vital part of the commercial
principle is taken from us at the very moment when
we require it the most. The physician who would
bleed his patient at the very time when he was sink-
ing from lassitude, and required the most nourishment,
would not act more absurdly or injuriously than our
present monetary system.—(Cheers). It seems to me
that to make gold the standard of value or the cir-
culating medium, in a great country like this, is wrong
in principle. • We have 52,000,000/. of gold circulat-
ing in this country. That sum would pay for the labour
of 1,000,000 of men, at 20s. per week. The interest of this
money (which, while circulating, bears no interest)
would, at five per cent., amount to 2,600,000/. That
sum would give perpetual employment to 50,000 men.
—(Hear, hear.) Here is an army that might be
raised up for our internal defence, or the carrying
out of various public improvements, and supported
out of this fund without the loss of a single ferthing.
Here is a fund from which we might educate our
people. Yet we prefer using a legal tender, that on
which so much labour has been expended, when a
symbol which would cost little or nothing, issued
under the authority of the State, and bearing the
signature of the Sovereign, would answer our pur-
pose. What we want is a symbol to represent labour.
[here is no occasion to have labour to represent
labour.—(Hear, hear.) That would be a waste of the
emeoes rat 412._ .)
principles laid down by this proposed league or con-
federation is, that the highest possible price, with
the taxation value added, will be obtained for
every product in the empire, while, at the same
time the foreigner coming into competition with the
native producer, will only obtain an equal price in
the current money of the realm. If he wishes to take
this money to his own country, he will receive the
gold value of that note, or symbol, whatever that may
be. Suppose the value of an article is 205., or 5 dale.
of gold, that, by taxation, as has been well said by
one gentleman present, may be increased to 305.; but
the foreigner who wishes to convert a note of that
value into gold will only get 5 dwts.; the difference
will represent the cost added to production by taxa-
tion. By this means the native producer would be
able to compete successfully with the foreigner.—
(Hear, hear.) The Chairman concluded by calling
on Mr. Stodhart to move the first resolution.
Mr. CAPPP, the Secretary, informed the meeting
that there was a series of five resolutions which it
would be necessary to put together to the meeting.
The resolutions were as follow,
1. " That the legal tender currency or money of
the realm ought to consist of Exchequer notes of the
value of one pound and upwards; such notes to be
issued with the consent of Parliament in discharge
of the current obligations of the State to an amount
not exceeding in the course of the year annualtheotthe
by
taxation of the country ; the fractional parts
pound being represented as at present silver and
copper coins.
2. " That as gold is a commodity, and is so con-
sidered in our present monetary,s
system, the
of a legal tender
sove-
reign being deprived of its character
if it lose any portion of its legal weight, it its proper
that it should be treated a
• s a commodity, and be
s e law of supply
allowed to rise or fall in price a
al tender cur-
and demand may require, in theirshg
or money of the realm.
rency
convenience of the public a
3. " That for the
bullion office be established at the Mint or the Bank,
for the deposit of gold and
silver billion, in return
for which the parties shall receive bullion-notes re-
presenting the value f
of such deposit at the rate o
31. 17s. 100. per ounce for gold, and ss. per ounce
for silver, which notes will sell et .a higher or lower
price as the • •
bullion which they represent rises or falls
in the markets.
4. "That the system of money would enable us to
sell our goods in foreign countri7isnea their lowest me-
,
it would afford
tallic value, while, at thesaamt
home prices so much
higher in the legal tender e t
to our productive
classes
currency of the country as
themf that
peculiar taxation which en-
hances the
would return
st
of their productions, thereby giving
increased facilities
co
to the extension of our foreign
"thout subjecting our agricultural, manufac-
trade wi
• trading population tu a ruinous competi.-
turing, or
lion with others of their own class in comparatively
untaxed countries.
5. " That in order to carry these measures into
effect, a society be formed, to be called ' The Anti-
Gold Law League,' whose province it shall be to
take such steps as may be necessary to bring the
same before Parliament, and to diffuse useful infor-
mation on the subject by means of lectures, &c.,
throughout the country, and that an annual subscrip-
tion of 105. shall constitute the payer thereof a mem-
ber of this League, and shall entitle him to a copy of
each of its publications."
Mr. STODUART moved that the resolutions be
adopted.
Mr. FAIRBAIRNE seconded the motion.
Mr. JONATHAN DUNCAN then came forward and
addressed the meeting as follows :—Mr. Chairman
and Gentlemen, it devolves upon me to enter more
extensively into the system which we propose to ad-
vocate, and 1 feel it extremely essential to call upon
you for your indulgence while attempting to throw
light upon a subject so much darkened by our oppo-
nents.—(Hear, hear.) We are obnoxious to charges
of a very grave and serious character. We have
been designated as currency-mongers and currency
doctors. Some think us almost lunatics, whilst others
who charge us with attempting to put fictitious money
into circulation under the name of flimsies or kites,
represent us as attempting to perpetrate a fraud on
the people of England. Now, it is against those
charges that in the first place I wish to vindicate
ourselves. if you only give us credit for ordinary
common sense, do you think that we should be so
silly as to waste our time in attempting to palm upon
the public a fiction for a reality ? (Ilear, hear.) Do
you think that we so little comprehend the native
good sense of Englishmen as to imagine that we could.
succeed in so perilous and so stupid a course ? But,
gentlemen, I will endeavour to explain to you, first
of all, what we mean by money, and 1 hope to convince
you that money made of paper is as solid a security as.
money made of gold ; and unless I can establish
that point, I feel that 1 have no pretensions to your
support.--(Hear.) 1 distinguish money from cur-
rency fundamentally in this respect, that money is
a legal tender, while currency is not a legal

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