The Sun.
London, England, 1833-04-25 00:00:00

of the former ? It is change...on what•
ever side—that constitutes the monstrous mis-
chief of a monetary revolution, and the depre-
ciation now proposed is so much more alarming
an evil than that occasioned by the act of 1819,
that its extent may be greater as it is indefinite,
—that its operation would lead to more rapid
and certain confusion,—and that it could not be

justified by any reference to former pledges or
engagements. In the whole period of the re-
striction acts, from 1797 to 1819, we never lost

sight of our standard of value,—we always pro-
posed to return to it; and if we committed

errors, we never at least resolved to perpetrate
dishonesty, or to justify fraud. But we are
told that in 1824 and 1825 we obtained pros-
perity by a relaxation of our monetary system,
without robbing public or private creditors. It
evinces no small effrontery to exhibit the policy
of that period as an example to be imitated in-
stead of one to be avoided. When 1824 is men-
tioned as a year of commercial activity and hap-
piness, can the panic of 1825, by which it was
followed, be forgotten? Such a season of facti-
tious prosperity might be silently restored again,
with the certainty of a similar termination, but
not through a project like that proposed by the
Hon. Member for Whitehaven, which, by alarm-
ing all the holders of property, would immedi-
ately interrupt all business, and lead to inde-
..

sciiiable confusion. The spirit of speculation
could not even be excited in such circumstances

of undisguised iniquity ; the intoxicating draught
would be rejected from a knowledge of its
deleterious nature, and the country would be
subjected to all the evils of bankruptcy and ex-
haustion, without having passed, as in 1825,
through the previous stages of extravagance and
overtrading. We had intended to have pointed
out many other absurdities in the reasoning of
the currency leader ; such as his apprehension,
that on the present system the Bank might be
called upon some fine morning to pay the whole
800,000,0001. of the national debt in gold ; but
we have left ourselves no room.—Times.

The Tory benches in the House of Com-
mons exhibited a curious appearance last night.
Sir Robert Peel, with his consistent ally Mr.
Alexander Baring, respondere parati, although,
certainly, not cantare pares, with a squad of
the old adherents and desperate expectants of
the party, voted against Mr. Attwood. Lord
Chandos, Lord Stormont, Sir E. Knatchbull,
Sir R. Vyvyan, and most of the more inde-
pendent and respectable, although less instructed
and penetrable Members of the body, voted
for the motion. Mr. Goulburn and Mr. Her-
ries, who might have been expected to take a
part in such a discussion, found it convenient
to be absent. There is just so much consoL.
tion in all this, that even if Mr. Baring could
reconcile his currency differences with Sir R.
Peel, and both could agree upon some method
of establishing a f‘ patent" and secure circula-
tion, which should at the same time double
the quantity of money, and not affect prices
and contracts, there is little danger of such dis-
cordant materials being brought together so as to
enable them to act in concert on public affairs,
either in or out of office. The fact is, the party
is utterly destroyed and scattered to the winds,
and we congratulate the country upon this ad-
ditional proof of its deliverance from them. At
the same time we are not regardless of the manly
stand which Sir Robert has made on this occa-

sion in support of right principles. The
merited chastisement which he inflicted upon
Mr. Baring, has gratified the public, and Sir
Robert cannot have failed to remark the cordial
reception which it procured for him on his health
being given last night at the Mansion-house.
Mr. Alexander Baring did not hesitate to de-
scribe his friend, Mr. M. Attwood, as one, who
(to use a Scotch phrase) " has a bee in his
bonnet." But there is at all events method in
the madness of the Hon. Member for White-
haven. He thinks depreciation would be pro-
ductive of great benefit to the country. Depre-
dation, or rather the phenomena included under
depreciation (for the Hon. Gentleman shys a
little at the word) are with him all in all. But
Mr. Alexander Baring hates all tampering with
coinage. He considers a departure from the
standard neither more nor less than robbery. " It
had been said (exclaimed the Hon. Member for
Essex) by all the supporters of the motion, that
an intense pressure, weighing down the energies of
the nation—that every interest from one end to the
other of the country was labouring-, but labouring
in vain, to rid itself from the overpowering burdens
by which it was almost crushed into the earth.
Now, in his judgment, if that pressure did exist
to the extent affirmed, he should be glad to see
it made out, how it could happen that such a
pressure should at all justify the proposed de-
parture from the present standard of value."
Here spoke another Daniel :—" In his humble
apprehension (he added), the House could
never, consistently with common sense or com-
mon justice, pronounce a decision in favour of
a paper currency of any other description than
one convertible on demand." Yet this gentle-
man, who has so strong a conviction of the in-
jury which a departure from the standard would
cause, and who dwells upon the mischief of
exposing the Bank to runs, proposes, with all
gravity, the making Bank of England notes a
legal tender by country bankers. A banker of
Norwich had told him, that he could not sleep
quietly at night in his bed, unless he hall ob-
tained a sovereign for every one-pound note he
had in the house; but the banker of Norwich
would have slept quietly if Bank of England
notes were made a legal tender in the country.
But this supposes that the banker of Norwich
had Bank of England notes under his head
to cover his issues. The whole scheme
seems admirably adapted for involving country
bankers in danger, and embarrassing the
Bank of England. If any doubt existed of the
solvability of a country bank, B ink of England
notes would instantly be demanded. If these
notes were not forthcoming then gold would be
demanded. If Bank of England notes in suffi-
cient quantity were to be in the possession of the
country bankers, and the exchanges were to be
unfavourable, how could the Bank of England
turn itself round, fettered as it would be by the
operations of the country bankers ? When coun9
try bankers act with prudence, they have not
more to fear from a demand for gold than a de-
mand for notes. The Scotch bankers are not
protected from paying in gold, but they have
neither gold nor Bank of England notes under
their hands in anything like the amount of their
1/. notes. They know that if they were to issue
notes in excess, bills on London would instantly
be demanded, and this again would
lead to
The
saleof stock and other ruinous operations.
scheme of Mr. A. thrillg is absolutely inure
mischievous than that of Arr. M. Attwood ; for
depreciation is too stale a trick to take in any but
but Mr. Baring 's sch mtf,
the very rawest;
would either be imperative, or it would seduce
country bankers into the id,ta that the substi-
tution of Bank of England notes for gold as