The Sun.
London, England, 1859-03-18 00:00:00

CUR.

IRM.

LECTURE BY SIR A. ALISON.
(From Me Glasgow Daily Herald.)
On Tuesday night Sir A. Alison, Bart., at the
request of the Council of the United Trades, Glas-
gow, delivered, in the City Hall, a lecture on " The
Currency Laws : their Effect on the Profits of Trade
and the Wages of Labour." The hall was crowded
in every part, and the lecture was throughout lis-
tened to with the deepest interest and attention.
The greater portion of the audience consisted of
working men.
Sir JOHN MAXWELL, Bart., who occupied the
chair, made some explanations in regard to the
currency question. He then introduced the hon.
lecturer.
Sir ARCHIBALD ALISON, who was received with
three rounds of hearty applause, before commencing
his discourse, invitedthose who were standing at the
far end of the hall to come forward and occupy some
of the reserved seats not filled. The eagerness with
which they availed themselves of this privilege ex-
cited great laughter, and the audience testified their
appreciation of the kindly feeling which prompted
this act of courtesy on the part of the hon. baronet
by hearty applause. Sir Archibald then said—l
respond with pleasure to the flattering invitation
given me by the united trades of Glasgow to
address them on the all-important subject of the
currency. It is always agreeable to meet a vast
assemblage such as I see before me on any occasion,
when not met for the purposes of party, or any-
thing that will cause division, but animated by one
reeling—a desire to alleviate as much as possible
the amount of human suffering, and to add to the
amount of human happiness. (Great applause.)
And, gentlemen, I see with peculiar pleasure that
there is a large proportion of the working classes
in this great assembly, for the question I am to dis-
cuss—the question which you have done me the
honour to request that I should address you upon
Is, in a peculiar and emphatic manner, a question
for the people, a question not of labour against
capital—for labour without capital is the steam-
engine without the coal or fire, but a question of
labour, whether exerted on the part of the masses,
or of the employer with his active industry,
against the case of realised capital, which seeks
often to make an unjust profit over both. A ques-
tion of this sort is one that always must be of great
importance in every manufacturing and commercial
community ; and I think I will show you before I
am done that it is one which has now acquired
greater and colossal importance, in consequence of
the great changes that have taken place of late
years, in the establishing of a new system of trade,
and the annexation of our Indian empire. This is
a time above all others when the working classes
in this and other great commercial and manufac-
turing towns should acquire clear and distinct ideas
of what is the cause of their suffering, and where is
that alleviation to be found, if they are, as I believe
they are, on the verge of a large extension of poli-
tical power—(eheers)—and their voice may soon
come to have a preponderating influence in deter-
mining and guiding the future counsels of their
country. (Cheers.) I am persuaded that the reason
you have requested me to address you upon this
subject is, that you think that, having been engaged
for a long time in the study of contemporary history,
I am acquainted with facts connected with
this subject, relating to our own and other countries,
which you would like to be laid before you in a brief
form. (Cheers.) Impressed with that idea, I have
come to the resolution to address you entirely ex-
tempore. I have nothing written whatever but the
figures, which I shall give to you and to the gen-
tlemen of the press. I feel that, in thus speaking
Ixtempore, I shall best answer the object in view;
for I do not wish to address you as a professor ad-
dresses his students, or a clergyman his congrega-
tion, or as a political leader his adherents, but to
converse with you as a friend does with his friends.
(Great applause.) Before I begin to speak of this
question I shall tell you what the question we are
met about is not, and then I shall tell you what it is.
It is not, in the first place, a question of party, and
I thank Heaven that it is not. It is not a question
which either the Tories or the Whigs, the Conser-
vatives or the Radicals ever have taken up as a cri
de guerre—a party cry. Protection to industry, pro-
tection to labour, has never yet been inscribed on
the banners of any of these parties. The question I
stand here to plead, is not one that ever has been
one of party. It is one, I know well, in which a
large section of the community feel the deepest in-
terest; I need no further proof of that than the
vast assemblage which I see before me. But it is
not a question that has ever furnished a party cry.
And I will tell you the reason. It is because the
subject I am to speak of to-night is not one to ele-
vate one party over another—to give one party the
command of the country at the expense of another,
but to elevate, improve, and bless all parties alike.
(Applause.) Because it is so, it is neglected by all
parties, because, with the usual selfishness of
human nature, what is everybody's business is
nobody's business, and what concerns the whole
community, concerns no one party in particu-
lar. Further, this is not a question which can by
any possibility be made interesting in the way of
moving the feelings. It is interesting in the highest
degree to those who can feel the force of intellect,
to those to whose understanding argument can be
directed. But it is not a question about which
you can move the feelings ; it is a question that
depends on figures, on statistics, and anxious
thoughts ;:no human genius can make it interesting
to the feelings. Also, it is not a question that is
easy. It requires, at the outset, a certain amount
of thought. I will tell you when I come to the
part of my argument that requires thought ; but,
in the meantime, I say that it does reauire thought,
and that it is this that explains why we need
never expect the whole community to be moved
upon the subject, and an amount of public opinion
brought to bear upon it which will tend to that
satisfactory solution of the question, without which
we can never be a happy and a prosperous com-
munity. I have told you, then, what the question
is not. I now proceed to tell you what it is. It is
a question on which depends the liberty, indepen-
dence, and existence of the British empire. I tell
you, and I stake my credit on it, that if the present
system of the currency laws continues, no amount of
wisdom in your statesmen, no amount of valour in
your soldiers, nor of prowess in your sailors, can
prevent us from rapidly declining below our neigh-
bours, and being ere long destroyed. I say that the
liberty, independence, and the very existence of Great
Britain depend upon a right adjustment of her
currency laws ; and I will demonstrate that, if I
am not much mistaken, before you are half an hour
older. It is a question also on which depends not
only the independence, liberty, and existence of
the British empire, but on which depends the re-
muneration of industry, and the prosperity of
every human being in the country. There is not a
human being I now address, or who may read the
report of this speech in the newspapers, from the
Queen on the throne to the captive in the dungeon,
whose fortunes in life, and the fortunes of their
children's children, are not bound up with and
essentially dependant upon the question we are
now discussing. I need not say
aquestion of that
magnitude is one of universal interest. I cannot
say that I will bring it powerfully home t
feelings, but I am your
sure the facts I haveo to
state will sink into your minds, and awaken
a train of thought in your bosoms, which
without fruit, and may
I trust will not be
conspire to bring about the object we all have
in view, viz., that societyin this country maypresent
a uniform course of prosperity instead of occa-
sional flashes of prosperity, only to render more
painful, and gloomy, and distressing the reverses by
which they are succeeded. The first observation -I
i
will make is this—that if we examine the
s t ayteea rosf
the country, as it has been for the last forty
all parties must be convinced that there is some-
thing essentially wrong. in our social position.
There is something which prevents the labour,
e,
talent, perseveranc energy, and industry of this
vast community from giving us that vast national
power, and that unbroen stream of social pros-
perity which we are entitled to look for from these
the greatest blessings of God. My great object is
to show you what that cause is, and in what way it
is to be removed. The first remark I will make to
you is, that since the year 1819, when the great
change in our monetary laws took place, a
double set of foatures may be observed in the coun-
try, apparently utterly inconsistent with each
other, but which, nevertheless, are, both of them,
perfectly established, and placed beyond all
doubt. And it is for us to say how these opposite
sets of facts are to be reconciled. In the first
place I will give you the figures of the exports and
imports, of the tonnage. and of the population of
Great Britain in 1849, with the years preceding
and following, and at the present time • and you
will see in them
avast andprodigious increase—an
increase exhibiting all the
appearance of the great-
est amount of national strength and social prospe-
rity. In 1818 the export, were 45,180,0001., the
imports 35,845,0001., and the shipping tonnage
2,674,000. In 1819 the export s
s were 34,202,0001.,
,
the imports 29,680,6401., and the tonnage 2 666 000.
In 1820 the exports were 35,569,000/ 7theimports
31,515,0001., and the tonnage 2,500 A °. The
popu-
lation at this time was as nearly Its possible
19,000,000. Now, there was the state of tit coun-
try in 1819, when cash payments were resumed in
the Bank ; and I will now tell you what the state
is for the three years preceding 1857. In 1854 the
exports were 97,184,0001., the imports 152,389,000/.
and the tonnage 7,899,000. In 1855 the exports
were 95,688,0007., the imports 113,542,0007., and
the tonnage 7,018,000. In 1856 the exports were
115,826,0004, the imports 172,544,000/., and the
tonnage 8,241,064. In 1857 04 expo* were

122,066,0001., the imports 187,844,0001., and the
tonnage 9,386,000. Now, just reflect on the figures
I have given you, Here is a nation which since
the year 1819-a period of 40 years-has increased
one-half in population, with its exports more than
tripled, its imports multiplied nearly fivefold, and
its shipping increased threefold. Every one will
say, is not that an indication of the greatest pros-
perity? Is there in the whole annals of mankind
a nation which, in so short a time, has made
such progress ? So far so well. But I will give
you another set of figures, and you will judge
whether national power and indications of social
happiness have kept pace with this vast increase
of national resources. The figures I am now to give,
I venture to say, are the most astonishing and alarm-
ing ever yet given to a British assemblage. I could
not have believed them, strongly as my own views
pointed in the same direction, if they had not been
given by the highest authority-that of Sir John
Pakington, in speaking on the state of the navy. In
1760, a hundred years ago, we had 113 ships of the
line in commission ; 1783-the period of the Ameri-
can war-we had 126 ; in 1799, we had 120 ; and,
in 1809, we had 113. In 1812, there were 245 ships
of the line in commission and ordinary, and 272
frigates, and altogether, 1,000 vessels bearing the
royal flag. France, in that year, had 113 ships of the
line and 72 frigates. In 1820, England had 146 ships
of the line in commission and 164 frigates; France had
58 ships of the line and 39 frigates. In 1840, England
had 84 ships of the line and 180 frigates ; and France,
44 ships of the line and 59 frigates. In 1850, England
had 86 ships of the line and 104 frigates ; France
had 95 ships of the line and 56 frigates. In 1858, Eng-
land had 29 ships of the line and 87 frigates; and
France, 29 ships of the line and 76 frigates. At the
end of this year, 1859, England will have 36 ships
of the line and 40 frigates ; and France, 40 ships of
the line besides as many frigates. (Hear, hear.)
Now, gentleman, here is a picture ! Here is a nation
adding a half to its population, increasing in wealth
and industry to such a degree, and you see how it
has let its navy go down, till the French have got
a greater navy than we have ; so that we have no
Channel fleet to protect our shores against an army
of 600,000 men, at the disposhl of the French Em-
peror. This is one proof that there is something
wrong. I will give you another proof. Is this
diminution of our navy explained by an increase
in our army ? Are we turning our blue jackets
into red coats ? Let us examine the returns moved
for by Mr. Sidney Herbert. I need not tell you that
when we were at war with France, we had 300,000
men in the regular army and militia, and about a
million men in arms altogether. Howi stand mat-
ters now ? In 1828 we had on home service 53,934
soldiers, and 25,559 in India. In 1836, we had
43,432 on home service, and 19,720 in India. In
1846, there were 56,286 on home service, and
29,382 in India. In 1856, there were 64,541 on
home service, and 29,629 in India. Twenty-nine
thousand soldiers in India to keep down 180,000,000
Asiatics, and to combat 120,000 sepoys, whom we
knew were ready to revolt ! Sixty thousand sol-
diers in England, and Napoleon with an army of
600,000 men, and no Channel fleet between us !
(Hear, hear.) Lord Hardinge told me that when
he came to the head of the army in 1852, after pro-
viding for the seapert towns requiring to be garri-
soned, in order that they might not be destroyed,
he could not have brought together an army of
10,000 men to defend London; and only 40 guns,
which had not been repaired since the battle of
Waterloo, and most of which, he said, if put in a
clay field, would have gone to pieces. (Laughter.)
All this took place in defiance of the strongest
remonstrances from the Duke of Wellington ; and
when the illustrious warrior sunk into the grave, a
melancholy proof was afforded of the truth of his
complaints, for seventeen guns could not be got in
London to fire a salute over his grave, the customary
honour to a field marshal ! You see, then, that
this great nation, with its 27 millions of inha-
bitants, nine millions of tonnage, 187 millions of
imports, and 125 millions of exports, has sunk
down, in that period of time, to the rank of Bavaria
as a military, and Denmark as a naval power. Is
this to be explained, then, by our having paid off
our national debt ? Let us see. After the Battle
of Waterloo, the national debt was 816,000,0001.
It is now 803,000,0001., and, what is most extraor-
dinary of all, the national debt was 5,000,000/.
larger when the Crimean war began than it was
in 1832, when the Reform Bill was passed. Is there
not something wrong here? I will now turn to
another thing, which is still more important-to
the indications of national prosperity, the marks of
national happiness, the evidences of social well-
being, particularly among the working classes. In
judging of these, there are, as you will all admit,
three great tests ; and if these point the wrong
way, we may be perfectly sure that the community
is suffering. These are the amount of pauperism,
the extent of emigration, and the amount of crime.
Well, in 1846, the number of paupers relieved in
England was 1,332,000, of whom 382,417 were able-
bodied-for able-bodied men in England are en-
titled to relief when out of employment, which, I
am sorry to say, is not the case here. (Cheers.)
In 1847 the number was 1,721,350, of whom 562,355
were able-bodied. In 1848 the number was 1,626,200
of whom 666,338 were able-bodied. (Hear, hear.)
And in that same year there were 2,000,000 pau-
pers in Ireland ; and the whole number of persons
relieved. by public funds in that year in the two
islands was 4,000,000. We know that there has
been great relief by the mines of California and Aus-
tralia, by the vast emigration to other parts, and
by the Crimean and Indian wars. Yet, notwith-
standing all this, in 1854, there were 1,000,576
paupers relieved in Great Britain ; in 1855, there
were 1,017,417; and, in 1856, there were 1,030,737.
I ask you whether that should be the condition of a
country which has madesuch unexampled advances in
wealth ? Let us now turn to the statistics of emi-
gration. In 1821, there were 13,349 emigrants who
left our shores ; in 1831, there were 83,160 ; in 1841,
there were 118,192 ; in 1851, there were 335,966 ;
and, in 1852, the number had reached the enormous
amount of 368,800. During the last twelve years,
2,752,000 subjects of Great Britain and Ireland
have emigrated-a much greater number than the
natural increase of the population. In 1821, there
were 5,337 commitments by a jury ; in 1831, there
were 13,115 ; in 1841, there were 19.647 ; in 1851,
there were 27,960 ; and, in 1852, there were 26,780.
So that while the population has not doubled in
these years crime has increased more than fivefold.
And you will be surprised to hear that the total
number of persons in Great Britain and Ireland
committed for crime in the three years of unex-
ampled prosperity, end 1856, has been as follows :
-In 1854, 135,427 ; in 1855, 151,494 ; in 1856,
147,758. And to give you an idea of what these
numbers amount to, I will just say that they are as
many as the men of both armies who fought at
Waterloo. Here is a state of things which I do not
think was ever exhibited before in the history of
the world. Here is a country which has made the
most extraordinary advances in industry, wealth,
and population, in which, at the same time, there
is the most rapid and deplorable prostration of the
national strength, descending in real strength from
a first-rate to a third-rate power, and emigration
come to such a pass that it has exceeded the natural
increase of the pop ilation-criminals increasing
four times as fast as the population, and the paupers,
in a year of great suffering, actually amounting to a
seventh part of the whole population. I am quite
sure that the facts now mentioned, which are all taken
from Parliamentary reports, are facts that really
require serious attention. Surely, where there are
such extraordinary results, I am within bounds
when I say that there is something rotten in the
state of Denmark. (Applause.) lam now to tell
you what I conceive to be the cause of all this, and
I will conclude by telling you the remedy. The
principal cause of all this I conceive to be the
erroneous state of the currency. When I say that
spiaiteeamb
leen.
such vast results are to be ascribed to the state of
the currency, I am aware that I am making a strong
t
t, for I am to give from an obscure cause
an explanation of facts that appear to be inex-
to the expel'
surprised at
the earliest
exercised a most es
pro-
sperity. Perhaps
first pointed out by Lordn
accomplished classical
Bat I think when you look back with me
the
ece of other countries you will not be
timstatement I have now made. From
man, that the contest betweeirt
was less determined by the
itthise
sscothtaotklea of the currency has
powerful effect on national
mnelown to you what was
Melbourne, who was an
skill
a Rome
wpa enalapcil
_ne
dal
p. s
rccoauawrrs
currency
ehas
nsta states-
man,
et:
the contest, not to be paidtill the
(1 Hannibal than by
was Scipio
eissued during
conclusion of peace. The Romans thus
centuries before the Christian era, what
Pitt did
in 1797, and it was this which carried the Roman
Republic through its contest with Carthage. (A,_
plause.) The Roman empire
. awasnd saved bye
tellb you
he
wise adoption of that principle ,
what the Roman empire was ruined by. They had
not that wonderful discovery of paper money,
which has been the source of prosperity, and the
abuse of which has done so much mischief in modern
Europe. All their currency was in gold and silver.
The mines failed during the reign of the
Emperors, and did not produce one-fifth part of
their former amount. Accordingly the prices
of everything fell, debts assumed an over-
whelming magnitude, the nation was unable
to support armies to keep off the barbarians, the
currency was contracted so as no longer to be ade-
quate to the wants of the country, and therefore
Rome perished. Then what was it that gave the
great impulse to the trade and industry of Europe
-in. the 16th century ? It was the discovery of
metalsAmeri ea,
and the importation of the precious
from Mexico and Peru, to such an extent
that fifty Year after, the prices of every article

of next year the gold and silver all came back,
and the Bank was able to resume cash payments.
(Cheers.) Now, the principle that I say should
be adopted is this :—ln the first place, I would in-
crease the sum that the Bank of England and the
other banks issue without having gold by 50 per
cent. In 1819 Sir Robert Peel thought that 14
millions issued without gold was a proper thing for
the country at that time. The country had then
19 millions of inhabitants; it has now 28 millions.
At that time the country had 40 millions of exports ;
it now has 120 millions. It had 45 millions imports
—tit now has 185 millions. Considering the increase
in these things, it is only fair that the issue of notes
without gold should be increased to 21 millions;
and as to other banks, they should be called on to
deposit securities with the Bank of England for
the amount of their issue. The notes would
thus, in the event of a crash, be perfectly secure.
(Loud applause.) In addition to that, there is
another thing which 'I think should be done in
order to prevent that terrible drain of gold which
is now of so frequent occurrence. Suppose we fix
15,000,0001. sterling as the amount of gold that
should be in the Bank of England to meet the pro-
bable wants of the country, I would have a regula-
tion by which, whenever the gold should get below
that amount, the ineonver,tible notes should be in-
creased by the araount of the deficit. Then, when
the gold comes back—which it certainly will do in
six months—these notes may be called in, and not
issued until required again. (Applause.) I leave
it to the bankers and other practical men to arrange
as to how this should be carried out ' • but that is
the principle on which the Currency Laws ought
to be based. (Hear, hear.) There is only one other
subject on which I wish to say a few words—the
unhappy matter of strikes among working men. I
understand perfe. ly and appreciate strongly the
cause of these stri es. I feel the evil of what the
men complain of, and I am not at all surprised that
the.rtake this mode of remedying it. What .I wish
to impress on you is, -that of all mistakes:that ever
were committed by working men, the most fatal is
that of striking. (Applause.) I know perfectly
well that in many cases strikes are successful.
When the produce of labour is rising in the market
the working men are entitled to say thatthey ought
to sh are in the common benefit that is going on.
But the great error they commit is this, that they
think, by the same means, they can prevent their
wages falling in periods of adversity, and all the
great strikes which have produced such devasta -
tion in society have arisen from this cause. When
the price of produce falls, as it has done now; the
master is of necessity obliged to lower wages; if he
did not do that, he, would become bankrupt in the
space of three or four months. Nevertheless, the
master will retain his workmen as long as he can,
because he loses so much by their going away. He
will never stand out against a strike in the face of
a falling market unless be is compelled to do so. If
you strike when he could not pay you the wages
you demand but at a loss, you strike not in your in-
terest but in his. He is too happy to be rid of you
in such circumstances. Nevertheless, he will not
hold out unless forced to do so. It is the same evil
to a master if his workmen go away as it is to a
general if his army be disbanded. New hands
are never half so good as old ones. (Cheers.) The
old hands therefore will depend upon it that if the
master reduces their payment he does it from actual
necessity ; and the reason of that is that the changes
of the currency produce a fatal change in the price
of his goods. Now, only consider what is the effect
of these great strikes on the interests of the work-
ing classes. Why, the colliers' strike of 1842, in this
county alone, did not cost less than £500,000. The
strike of 1857, which was the consequence of the
monetary crisis of the year before, cost, in the
counties of Lanark, Ayr, and Stirling, no less than
£700,000, all of which fell on the working classes.
In these strikes you combine to do a thing which
is impossible, and in the attempt to do which you
are yourselves subjected-- - the severest priva-
tions: ' Therefore, what recommend is, not
to combine against your master, who is the
victim merely of the currency laws, but
to combine against the laws which create these
great changes in the mirreney—(applause)—and
you will carry with you the whole of society.
There is no man of any sense in the country who
won't join with you in the effort to make such a
change in the currency laws as will prevent these
fatal changes in prices, and with them wages and
profits. - (Hear, hear.) I will conclude by making
one observation, and it is this, I will give you an
idea of the enormous extent of loss inflicted on
the country by these monetary crises to which I
have alluded. There have been four great mone-
tary crises in our own recollections—those of 1825,
1838, 1847, and 1857. Not one of these crises ha s
occurred without causing a loss of no- less than
100 millions on the country—the last much more ;
the bankruptcies in 1857 alone were 45,000,000/.
The monetary crises which have occurred since the
passing of the bill of 1819 have inflicted upon the
community a loss of not less than 500 millions
sterling. To do away with the probability of such
loss occurring again is an object worth striving
for. (Applause.) The present system is that
holders of money issue money to all persons en-
gaged in speculations, however absurd, and, when
the money comes to be paid, up goes the discount.
There is ruin spread over the country to an extent
which would be inconceivable to those who have
not witnessed it. Sir Archibald concluded his
lecture by remarking that if he had made some
effect on the many intelligent persons before him,
and through them OR the country, and that thus a
Aange of the laws which produced so much disaster
might, be effected, his lecture of that evening—the
epitome of the labours of a whole life—would. not
have been given in vain. (Great cheering.)
On the motion of Mr. MITCHELL, Chairman of
the Trades' Council, a vote of thanks was passed to
Sir Archibald Alison for his able lecture ; and the
usual compliment was paid to the Chairman.