The Sun.
London, England, 1847-12-03 00:00:00

TFIA StrN,

tained we had no such thing as;:convertibility, and what
he would suggest was, that silver should be made the
standard as well as gold. He had never been an advo-
cate for free trade, but he thought, as the measure had
passed, it ought now to have a fair trial. He did not
attribute our recent calamities to free trade, but to the
large and necessary importations of grain in 1846. Some
disparagement was cast upon the merchants who had
been engaged in the importation of grain during that
year. He was prepared in that place to defend them.
What were the facts ? In January, 1847, the First
Minister of the Crown (Lord J. Russell) came down to
that House, and recommended the importation of foreign
corn upon as extensive a scale as possible. With that
view—to encourage the importation of it—some of the
restrictions then existing were removed. In July of the
same year similar recommendations were repeated—a
farther suspension of duties took place. Corn was im-
ported
accordingly, and the country stood in need of it.
Instead, therefore, of the importers being blamed, they
were, he conceived, entitled to the thanks and approba-
tion of the country, even though some pecuniary advan-
tages should have accrued from such speculations. Our
stock of corn was already growing very low, and i❑ his
opinion, before next harvest we should have to send eight
or ten millions of money out of the country for grain to
meet our actual requirements.
Sir W. CLAY should decidedly support the appoint-
ment of the Committee. Ho wished to caution the
House and the country against expecting too much from
the inquiries and recommendations of the Committee, or
from the legislation which might follow. Legislation
upon these subjects was rather valid to prevent evil than
to originate good. It was quite beyond the power of
the Legislature to add one single pound to the capital of
the country. The utmost it could do was to take care
that the country, in making use of a paper currency,
should not overstep the limits within which alone the
advantage of a paper currency might be safely used.
The point of the inquiry of the Committee would be
practically this, whether the object of the Act of 1844
had been desirable; and secondly, whether that object
had been attained. It should be borne in mind that the
framers and supporters of that measure had never held
it out as a measure that would of necessity prevent fluc-
tuations. In his opinion, the experience of the last year
had afforded a most convincing proof of the ♦alue of the
measure of 1844. It was to the natural operation of
that Act he attributed the beneficial change which had
taken place in the course of the last six weeks, and
by no means to the relaxation permitted by the Govern-
ment letter of tho 25th of October. As to that pro-
ceeding itself, he by no means concurred is the opinion
that it ought to have been earlier adopted. Had the
measure been earlier taken, it would soon have been fol-
lowed by a large issue of paper of the Bank, and the
consequent entire derangement of the exchanges. He
considered it idle to talk of restriction of the currency ;
for, under the Act of 1844, it was made to expand to
the fullest extent necessary ; all that was done was to
prevent a factitious superabundance of issues. The
events of the last twelvemonth had convinced him that
something was necessary to regulate the Bank's action.
Mr. MASTERMAN said he should not have risen ex-
cept for the remark that had fallen from the Hon. Mem-
ber for the Tower Hamlets (Sir W. Clay), as to the re-
cent interposition of Government. He considered that
the Committee would be the proper place for discussing
the causes of the recent commercial disasters, but he
was anxious now to express his opinion that great credit
was due to the Government for their recent interference,
at a moment when, he believed, the country was never
in a more dangerous state.—Hear.) The evil at that
time was not so much a want
,of money, as the belief
that there was a want of it ; a panic existed withont
any real cause.—(Hear, hear.) He had had the honour
to form one of a deputation who waited on the
members of the Government; and though, in that inter-
view, he had advocated some relaxation, he had done so
without any wish to give room for fictitious issues.—
(Hear, hear.) He had never been favourable to the
Bill of 1844. At the time it was proposed he had ex-
pressed his opinion that no one could say whether the
authorised amount of fourteen millions was sufficient ;
and that it might be necessary to give the Bank power
to issue beyond that amount.—(Hear, hear.) From
what was said by the Right Hon. the Chancellor of the
Exchequer, he conceived he was now convinced that
that measure could not longer work without some modi-
fication. If the Committee was appointed, its inquiries
might occupy a long time; and he hoped that some re-
solution would be come to by the House in the interim,
giving the public confidence that the Bank would be
authorised to extend its issues if necessary. He begged
again to thank the Government for their timely and
valuable interference.—(Hear, hear.)
Mr. BLEWITT severely condemned the Act of 1844,
and likened its operation to that of an "infernal ma-
chine." He quoted from the speech of Sir R. Peel, in
proposing the Act of 1819, and contended that the
Right Honourable Baronet had contradicted his own
principles in the Act of 1844. He felt dis-
gust at the principles which had been pre-
scribed to the Bank as their rule of action. It would
seem, from the way the Chancellor of the Exche-
Exchequer treated the matter, that they were first to be p
ruined before they were to be saved.—(A laugh.) When
the letter of the Government was written, had the potato
crop emerged from its rottenness, had the great houses
arisen from their ashes, or had the foreign exchanges
altered at the magical bidding of Wood, the enchanter ?
—(Renewed laughter). Not so! though happily now,
if all did not go so merry as a marriage bell, at least the
bell that rung the knell of commerce had ceased to toll.
—(lronical cheers and renewed laughter.) But he was
tiring the House.—(Cries of " No, no; go on.") Well,
then, he would state his views on the subject of converti-
bility and the standard.—(Hear.) What the gold
standard was he was unable to say ; but that it was
something of consequence in the opinion of the Right
Hon. Baronet was clear from the fact that he would not
have a silver standard at any price. All people were
entitled to demand gold from the Bank of England at a
certain price. Why should we be obliged to buy gold,
not at its market price, but at a price fixed upon
it by the bullion brokers ? Suppose the Em
peror of Russia were to take it into his head to ex-
change his millions of gold for iron rails, or any other
product of this country, why there would be no demand
for gold at our fixed price, and it would have to lie in
the cellars of the Bank useless, except, perhaps, to
minister to the diseased fancies of the bullionists.—

(Hear, and laughter.) For his part, he could not con-
ceire whence arose the dread there was in this country
of an export of gold. He could see no reason why gold
should not be made an exchangeable commodity as well
as anything else. When our crops failed we had real
cause for dread, but what was the use of shedding tears
for the loss of bullion, which was mere dross, and only
useful as a medium of exchange. He was anxious that
an addition should be made to the subjects for inquiry
by the Committee as to the operation of tho Act of 1844,
and he trusted that would be assented to.

On the motion of the Marquis of GRANBY, the
debate was then adjourned.
__

RAILWAY BILL.
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER gave
notico that he should proceed with the Railway Bill at
the meeting et the House to-morrow.
The House adjourned at Twelve o'clock.