The Sun.
London, England, 1851-01-21 00:00:00

went could not tell them that there bad been bar.

vests which were too abundant.

The harvests a

that period were not too abundant, but the Govern-
ment said the people were too industrious, and had
produced too many manufactured goods; and yet
very shortly afterwards, in the winter, the distress
of the people became so great, that the Government
bought up all the old army clothes, and sent them
into Lancashire to cover the nakedness of the indus-
trious classes. Again the one-pound notes were
issued, and this had the effect of checking the
panic. The amount of wealth in the country
was the same—there were the same houses and
lands, and cultivated fields, but the want was a want
of the medium of exchange which had been arbi-
trarily withdrawn. A person might have plenty of
good corn in his barn, but what matter ? He could
❑ot pay his debts in corn—he must, therefore, turn
it into money, but he had the greatest possible
difficulty in getting any money for his corn. Such
was the case with the manufacturer and the mer-
chant, and that caused the extreme distress. Mr.

Twells then noticed the panics of more recen

date which had ensued, and stated that the alter•

ation of the value of the circulating medium had
caused Mr. Cobden, in one year, to lose 20,0001., and
it was the bad currency laws that urged him to do
everything in his power to repeal the corn-laws, that
this country might be enabled to compete with the
foreign manufacturer. He did not say that Mr.
Cobden wished to injure the agricultural interest,
but he wanted to benefit himself, and no doubt,
if it became necessary to benefit himself and
ruin them, he might also find it necessary
that they should go to the wall. Mr. Twells
next proceeded to notice the prejudicial
effects produced by Sir Robert Peel's Bill of 1844,
and asked when that Bill was called in question, what
was his defence ? It was this, that the Liverpool
merchants—men not only solvent, but rich—had no-
body but themselves to thank—it was their over-spe-
culation which had brought them to ruin. That
ruin, however, was caused by the absurd contraction
of the circulating medium. But it is much easier to
impute the blame to the victim, than to take the
discredit of a mistake in legislation. What he
wished to impress upon the meeting was this plain
fact, that ever since the termination of the war when-
ever the circulating
medium of the country was al-
lowed to increase so as meet the demands of the coun-
try, prices had risen to a remunerating level, and
prosperity had returned ; but whenever the circu-
lating medium was contracted beyond the adejuate
supply which the country required, then we had
a system of forced cheapness, and distress had
invariably followed. He considered, therefore,
that a great deal of such distress, when it
existed, was of an artificial kind, and caused not
by any visitation of Providence, but by the mis-
taken legislature of our Governments. It was, how-
ever, of very little use stating those things to them if
he was not
prepared
a
s itp ea topointpared to him, im
ou remedyta,sva
s ;
great
remedy,
to daondawoanve
with the fixed price of gold, and to allow the articles'
for which money was to be exchanged to increase in
proportion as the population and wealth of the
country increased; but that never could be, so long
as we had a restricted circulating medium. One
reason why we want more money in a highly-taxed
country is that there becomes a necessity for an
increase of price of things. Suppose it took six
shillings to make a table, and there was a tax upon
the workman, equivalent to three shillings, while he
was making it, he would have to sell the table

for nine shillings ; but double the tax, and then the
workman, in order to get the same remunerating
profit, must sell his table for twelve shillings. But