The Sun.
London, England, 1859-01-31 00:00:00

Sh are 1

MR. BRIGHT ON THE CURRENCY.

(From the Derbyshire Courier.)
A memorial has recently been addressed by a
number of the inhabitants of Birmingham to Mr.
Bright, requesting his "advocacy in Parliament on
behalf of the interest of labour against that of
money." Mr. Bright has replied in the following
letter to Mr. Edmund Taunton :
" Rochdale Jan. 12, 18.59.
signatures,
of Sir,—l have received a memorial with'many sign
of which yours is the first, requesting me to endeavour to
procure the abolition of the monopoly in money.' It
might be deemed a sufficient answer to say that my time
and thoughts are just now so fully occupied with a great
public question that I cannot undertake anything further;
that is certainly the position in which I am placed,
but I will not confine myself to such it reply ; to
tell you the truth, I do not comprehend what you
complain of, or what you wish to be done, for in
the many conversations I have had with persons
who thought themselves well informed on, what is
called ' Our monetary system,' I have never had the good
fortune to find any two of them agreeing upon the exact
grievance or the precise remedy. I have always thought
this a great misfortune, because until I could see clearly
where the wrong was, or is, I could have small hope of
discovering a remedy. Ido not defend what exists in con-
nection with the Bank of England—much of it seems to be
at variance with the laws of- political economy, but I find
many of the propositions made by those who wish for a
change are even less in accordance with that science, and
long discussion with those who most loudly denounce the
present system only leaves me more puzzled than before.
I confess, therefore, that I am not the most suitable
person to undertake the great change which I presume
you are looking for. I will willingly support any
inquiry by Parliament in the hope that the truth
may at last be discovered ; but I do not feel competent
to teach Parliament and the country on the abstruse ques-
tion to which you have drawn my attention. When it comes
before the House of Commons I will give it all the conside-
ration in my power. I wish I could send you a more satis-
factory roply.—l am, very respectfully yours,
"JOHN BRIGHT."
We give Mr. Bright full credit for his assertion
that he does not " comprehend" what is complained
of, and 'we then affirm that his constituents have
good reason to find fault with their representative
for expecting them to supply him with comprehen-
sion as well as with arguments. Mr. Bright, in his
speech at Bradford, objects to the House of Lords
that they do not represent trade. He says, " They
do not represent trade, they do not, many of them,
know much about keeping of accounts, or buying
and selling, the rise of prices, or thefluctuations
of the markets." Few men understand more than
one thing well. As landowners the House of Lords
may be said to represent land, and to understand
the management of their estates. This is a very
useful and important kind of knowledge. The
wealth of nations springs from the land. The capi-
tal employed in agriculture, says Adam Smith, is
" of all the ways in which a capital can be employed
by far the most advantageous to society." The
House of Lords also contains men who have
thoroughly studied the laws and the constitution of
the country. It contains men who understand how
the army and navy of the country should be managed
so as to protect the honour of the nation, the security
of its commerce, and the lives and liberties of its
inhabitants, It contans men who have devoted
their lives to the consideration of our relations with
foreign countries, and who are fully qualified to
conduct those intricate and difficult disputes which
must inevitably arise between us and other nations.
Mr. Bright has recently exhibited his profound
ignorance of the Constitution of his native country.
The art of war, which is the best security for the en-
joyment of peace, he laughs to scorn, or abuses with
supercilious malignity. Of diplomacy,which requires
frequently the exercise of the most subtle intellect,
he knows only the name. He imagines that a per-
plexed national dispute, as complex in its bearings as
an intricate case in equity, may be settled by in-
stinct, a smut declamation, or the light of nature.
Mr. Bright glories in calling himself a free trader,
plumes himself on having been a leader of the
Anti-Corn Law League, and vilifies the landowners
of England. His kowledge of the principles and
history of free trade is as superficial as his know-
ledge of other things. His notion, with that of the
Manchester School in general, of free trade in corn
was that it would pull down agriculture and exalt
trade on its ruins. But free trade has neither
secured cheap bread, nor permanent prosperity to
trade. And as to the landowners being the chief
monopolists, let him attend to the deliberate opinion
of the great advocate of free trade. Adam Smith had
a mind sufficiently capacious to take in the whole
of a great national question, and sufficient liberality
to award to every class of the community its fair
proportion of merit. " Country gentlemen and
farmers," lie said, " are, to their great honour,
of all people, the least subject to the wretched
spirit of monopoly." The inhabitants of towns,
merchants, and manufacturers "seem to have been
the original inventors of those restraints upon the
importation of foreign goods, which secure to them
the monopoly of the home market." "It was in
imitation of the trading community," he adds, " and
to put themselves on a level with those (inhabi-
tants of towns) who, they found, were disposed to
oppress them, that the country gentlemen and
farmers of Great Britain so far forgot the generosity
which is natural to their station, as to demand the
exclusive privilege of supplying their countrymen
with corn and butcher's meat."
But if Mr. Bright knew little or nothing about
the history of his country, its constitution, its
means of national defence, its diplomacy, or even
about his great question of the Corn Laws, he may
'l)e supposed, at all events, to know something about
.that by which he lives, and the interests of which
'he:professes to be anxious to promote.
"My Liege and Fusbos " says the honourable
member for Birmigham, " ilere s success to Trade."
Here, then, we have a man who " represents
trade," who understands "buying and selling, the
rise of prices, and the fluctations of the markets."
Money, Mr. Bright must know, is one half of
every bargain made in trade. Buying and selling,
the rise of prices, fluctuations in the markets, all
have an intimate relation with money. Yet Mr.
Bright cannot " comprehend" that his constitu-
ents complain of a monetary system under which
poor-rates in Lancashire increased 56 per cent.
last year, and under which several millions of his
fellow countrymen are, as he says, constantly either
paupers, or on the verge of pauperism. He can-
not see " where the wrong is ;" and though not
prepared to " defend what exists in connection with
the Bank of England," much of which appears to
hint to be " at variance with the laws of political
economy," he learns nothing on the Currency
Question from one, he hears what is said and is
" more puzzled than before," and being unable or
unwilling to think for himself on the subject, he
confesses that he—the great "representative of
Trade"—is "not the most suitable person to under-
take" to assist in redressing a great commercial
and financial grievance; that he--the great free-
trader—is not prepared to do anything to repress
the monopoly in money!
"I do not comprehend," says Mr. Bright, "what
you complain of, or what you wish to be done."
We will tell Mr. Bright of what Currency
Reformers complain. We complain of a system by
which man is made the slave of money;
the rights of labour are sacrificed to those of
by which
capital ; and by which the working men of Englandpoverty
are, at intervals of a few years,
the gaol
driven by
and deprivation into the workhouse and
in order that usurers and hard calculators
may
gain 20 per cent. for their money. Mr. ir. Bright 's
constituents addressed him some
to time
request-
ing his assistance and advice obtain relief from
. ago
the distress under which they groaned. That dis-
tress was caused by the monetary crisis of 1857.
A child may understand how the monetary system
works. The s Eng..i; hman s money is mate de-
pendent on the quantity of gold which comes into
the country. When gold comes in abundance
quantity of paper money a large
Bank of England.. Money is then cheap. Dis-
counts go down to 2 per cent. Speculation is
stimulated. Prices rise. Trade flourishes. Poor
men are fully employed at good wages. The taxes
on which Mr. Bright throws the blame of the dis-
tress of the people, are then paid without difficulty.
But when, from the rise on the price of commodi-
ties, or from any other cause, Gold is drained out
of the country, the Bank is obliged to contract its
issues, money is made scarce and dear. Discounts
rise to 10 per cent. Merchants and traders are
ruined by thousands, and working men are thrown
out of employment by hundreds of thousands.
Gold is then tempted back to our shores, by the fall
in the prices of all goods and commodities,
the poor man again gets food for himself and
his family, and the Hard Calculator counts up his
gains, buys another estate, or invests another
£lOO,OOO on Consols in readiness for the next panic.
Here is a question—not a very " abstruse ques-
tion" either, as to its practical evils—to which Mr.
Bright, as a representative of trade, ought to turn
his attentionouiless he means inexcusably to ne-
glect his duty. " But," says Mr. Bright, "what
do you wish to be done ?" Of course we wish this
abominable grievance to be remedied. A repre-
sentativetn of trade ought to make it his business to
find out a remedy for an admitted evil. But
wish
we will give Mr. Bright a remedy-
the Bank to
Government to issue, or to empower
money (which
issue, some 20 millions of papersfficient) for the
experience has proved to be ut
This money to
do-
mestic circulation of this country.
andry everywhere and
be a legal tender at thean
whether gold flowed
receivable for taxes. Then,
in or went out of this country, we should have a
steady, safe, circulating medium. Violent fluctua-
tions in discounts and in prices would be avoided,
and panics would cease.
found "any two"
he never
Mr. Bright says that -
Currency Reformers g
a ree • this is because he
knows so little about Currency Reformers. In the
last committee of the House of Commons on the