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

CUB.RENCY REP ORM.

LECTURE BY SIR A. ALISON.

(From the Glasgow Daily Herald.)
. On Tuesday night Sir A. Alison, Bart., at the
request of the Council of the United Trades, Glas-
Cedelivered, in the City Hall, a lecture on " The
ncy 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, invited those 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 indly 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
feeling—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 assemblyr, for the question I am to dis-
cuss—the question which you have done mo the
honour to request that I should address you upon
is, in a peculiar and emphatic manner, a question
for the ple, 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 indusUy,
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 gre.at
importance in every manufacturing and commercial
community ; and 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—(cheers)—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
extempore, 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 ;I'm 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 a question of that
magnitude is one of universal interest. I cannot
say that I will b•• git powerfully home to your
feelings, but I am sure the facts I have to
state will sink into your minds, and awaken
a train of thought in your bosoms
I trust will not be without fruiot and may
which
conspire to bring about the object we all have
in view, viz., that societyp el
rino sthp
tv
iiscounintsryteamdayopfresent
to render more
a uniform course of
occa-
sional flashes of prosperity, .4_
painful, and gloomy, and distressing the reverses by
which they are succeeded. The first observation I
will make is this—that if we examine the state of
the country, as it has been for the last forty years,
all parties must be convinced that there is some-
thing essentially wrong in our social position.
There is something which prevents the labour,
talent, perseverance, energy, and industry of this
vast community from giving us that vast national
power, and that unbroken 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 features may be observed in the coun-
try, apparently utterly inconsistent with emeh
other, but which, nevertheless, are, both of thent,
perfectly established, and placed beyond all
doubt. And it is for us to say how these opposite
131:its of facts are to be reconciled. In the frrst
place I will give yen the figures of the exports and
ports, of the tonnage. and of the population of
Great • -
Britain in 1849, with the years preceding
and following,hern
and at th
will see in avast
all and
prodigious increase—an
increase exhibiting
strength
the appearance of the great-
est amount of national
ports and social prospe-
rity. In 1818 the Lids were 45,180,0001., the
imports 35,845,000/.,
exports tonnage
2,674,000. In 1819 the °shipping
wer
e 34,252,000/.,
the imports 29,680,640/., and the tonnage
In 1820 the exports were 35,569,0901 the imports
2,666,000.
31,616,0001., and the tonnage 2,50000'0
,
The popu-
lation at this time was as nearly
19,0 state of tO,OOO. Now, there was theas possible
he coun
try id 1819, when cash payments were r
mulled 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 152,389,0001 1
and-the tonnage 7,899,000. In 1855 the exporta
were ,95,688,000/ the imports 143,542,0001., and '
the tonnage 7,018,000. In 1856 the exports were
115,826,0001., the imports 172,544,0001., and the
tonnage 8,241,664. In 1857 the exports 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 P 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 lam 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; Franee 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, Englan d
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
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 disposal 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. How 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 ektraor-
dinary of all, the national debt was 5,000,0001.
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.) 1
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
relieves 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 madisuch 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 :
—4n 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 population—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 th e 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.) I am 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
such vast results are to be ascribed to the state of
the currency, I am aware that I am making a strong
statement, for I am to give from an obscure cause
an. explanation of facts that appear to be inex-
plicable. But I think when you look back with me
to the experience of other countries you will not be
surprised at the statement I have now made. From
the earliest times the state of the currency has
exercised a most
, sperity. Perhapspowerful effect on national pro-
pointedout it is not known to you what was
firstlord Melbourne, who was an
accomplished classical scholar as well 'ass a states-
man, that the contest between Rome and Carthage
by
was less determinedthe skill and prowess of
Scipio and Hannibal than
the paperic
war, e u rwr e
cc
issued by the Romans during the rinn
hih
was issued during the contest;_nmnotatnos
thusbepaidclll,
two
conclusion of peace. The R
what Pitt did
centuries before the
.Christian era,
in 1797, and it was this which carried the Roman
Republic through its contest with Carthage
was saved b
(Ap-
plause.) The Roman empire y you
what adoption of that principle;. and I will tell
They had
what the Roman empire was ruined by. TI
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 et 4.
.rreney 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, dechts 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 c,puntiT, 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 wcis the discovery of
America, and the importation' of the precious
metals from Mexico and Peru, to such an extent
that fifty years after, the prices ef every article

rose to four times their former amount, and a vast
impulse was given to industry. The wages of
labour, and. the price of industry rose at the same
time, and debts were rendered so easy as to amount
comparatively to nothing. The United States of
America were saved during the war with England
by the issue of a currency, bearing a forced circula-
tion. The greatest republic of modern, like the
greatest of ancient days, owed its existence in the
last extremity to the same sovereign remedy.
Then, come to our own times, to 1792, when, as
you all know, the French issued a paper currency,
having a forced circulation. It was that that fitted
out the immense armies that enabled France to
conquer all the monarchs of Continental Europe.
England followed the example. In 1797, Pitt
passed an act suspending cash payments by the
Bank of England, and it was that increase of cur-
rency which enabled us to carry on the war with
France, and brought us through that terrible
struggle. Our allies followed the example, and in
1813 they issued paper currency guaranteed by the
sovereigns of Russia, Prussia, Austria, and Great
Britain ; and that bought al the stores for the
armies, paid all the troops, and passed without ob-
jection, and without the least depreciation,
1 from Xamschatka to the Seine. So power-
ful is a paper currency, when issued in a
wise way, that the little country of Hun-
gary, when engaged in a contest with the power
of Austria, issued a paper currency of 14 millions
sterling, which enabled them to maintain the
armies that maintained an equal contest with Aus-
tria, and, but for Russian intervention, would have
rendered Hungary independent. (Cheers.) Thus
you see how many nations have been saved from
ruin by a paper currency, and to many empires it
has given the fruits of conquest. But there are
dangers equally great on the other side; a paper
currency is to nations the elixir of life ; but, taken
in undue quantities, an elixir will destroy as well
as save. France furnishes one remarkable ex-
ample of that. I have told you, that France issued
bank notes with a forced circulation, which every
one was forced to take. They were transported if
they did not take them. The necessities and pro-
digality of France were such that whereas when
they began this system, their currency was about
60,000,000/., they issued paper after paper till it
reached the enormous amount of 750,000,0001. ster-
ling. You may easily conceive what effect that
had on the state of the country. It altered prices
so much that at a later period of time it was com-
mon to say that a breakfast for six persons cost
one Louis d'Or, or 28,000 francs in paper, which
was the same as to say a pound in gold, or 1,200 in
bank notes. The result was utter confusion in
regard to the value of property, and debtors who
could only lay hold of a few guineas, by theft or
otherwise, were able to discharge debt to an inde-
finite amount. The consequence was the subsequent
misfortunes of France, her inability to raise up a
free government, and her present subjection under
a despotism as powerful as that of Louis XIV. In
Great Britain the effects were not so disastrous, but
effects, nevertheless, did take place which we still
labour under, and which I will show you are the
main cause of the extraordinary contradiction be-
tween the two sets of facts I have laid before you.
The circulation of Bank of England notes rose from
11,000,0001. at the beginning of the war, to
45,000,000/. at the close of the war. All the other
banks increased their circulation in the same pro-
portion, and in 1815 the circulation was 60,000,000/.
That was a much greater quantity than was required
for the circulation of the country at that time, and
nearly double what the country has now. And
what was the effect of that ? Prices of everything
immediately rose. I will explain shortly how it is
that a plentiful currency raises prices ; but in the
meantime I say that in the year 1815 and preceding
years, prices had undergone such a change that the
national debt was raised to 800,000,000/., being at
least 300,000,000/. more than it would have been if
the currency had not been so much expanded under
the pressure of necessity. Had it not been for the
change in the prices of everything, the nation would
not have needed to borrow more than 300,000,000/.
subsequent to 1797. But the money was borrowed
at a time when we were obliged to borrow 500 in-
stead of 300, in consequence of the change in the
value of money. Private debtors borrowed in the
same way, and so 500,000,0001. of private debt were
borrowed in England which would not have been
borrowed bad prices remained as they were. Rents
were tripled in value, and all other articles in pro-
portion, and the parties borrowed in the expecta-
tion that they would not fall. But it may be said
that if everything increased alike in value there
would be more money to pay for everything, and
we would just be where we were. But alas ! we
have contracted our currency since 1819, and so,
while, during the war, we borrowed 60 per cent.
more than we would have done under a contracted
currency, we have now, by contracting the currency,
contracted the resources of the people that have to
pay for it, and that in a still greater proportion.
The notes in circulation in the whole empire in
1814 were 59,000,000/. ; in 1818, 58,325,000/. ; in
1823, only 36,283,000/. ; in 1847, 37,300,000/. ; in
1849, only 33,130,000/. ! The average paper under
discount of the Bank of England was in 1810,
20,070,000/. ; in 1823, 3,853,0001. ; in 1840,
7,280,000/. ; in 1847, 20,710,000/. ; in Nov., 1849,
only 9,810,000/. ; in 0ct.,1855, 19,240,000/. ! What
have been the effects upon capital, and industry,
and wages of these astonishing fluctuations in the
supply of money ? The result has been a constant
fall of prices from 1819 to 1851, attended with vast
profit to the monied, and utter ruin to the working
classes. The consequence is that the riches of the
country accumulate in the hands of the money-
lenders, the currency laws having made a man with
100,000/. worth 200,000/. That is the reason why
the nation is not able to make her armies adequate
to her strength ; the whole wealth of the country
has run into the hands of the monied class, and the
whole burden of that wealth has fallen upon the
working classes. (Cheers.) Now I must, in order
to let you fully understand this point, request your
close attention to what lam now going to say. I
am now going to touch upon a point which has
been, as mathematicians would say, the asses'
bridge to the whole community. Most people never
have been able to get over it; and ninety-nine
people out of every hundred to whom this propo-
sition is stated turn away, and say they don't
understand it. And yet it is a point upon which
their own fortunes depend. The proposition that
I have to state to you is very simple. It lies at the
foundation of the whole question of the currency ;
and if you once get hold of this proposition, and
master it, the whole thing will follow as a matter
of course, and you will at once be able to under-
stand how all the effects I have mentioned have
come to pass. You know that everything
that is plentiful becomes cheap. If bread is
plentiful it becomes cheap ; if oatmeal is plentiful
it becomes cheap ; if beef is plentiful it becomes
cheap. There is no division of opinion as to that.
But, then, there comes the next thing : money is
an article of commerce, as well as bread, oatmeal, or
beef. If money is plentiful, money becomes cheap,
for the same reason that if beef is plentiful beef
becomes cheap. But, observe the effect of money
becoming cheap : it is, that everythingielse as mea-
sured in money becomes dear. For example, if the
price of a boll of oatmeal is,2os., and if the shillings
in the country are increased in number one-half,
then the man with the.oatmeal says to you, " Oh,
money is plentiful just now ; I won't let you have
my oatmeal for 20s. now; you must give me 305."
And, then, you have got so much money that you
are quite willing to pay the 30s. In short, the
effect of what I have stated is thatprices inevitably
rise as soon as money—that is the currency—be-
comes plentiful. When money is withdrawn, when
the currency is contracted, when the gold goes
away, the prices fall. If the money is taken away,
then it becomes more valuable. And what is the
meaning of the money becoming more valuable ?
It is just this, that an article will be got for a less
amount of money—that is prices fall, and with
them the wages of labour come down. Therefore,
just fix these two principles in your minds, and
you will at once see the key to all the extraordi-
nary effects I have mentioned..—that the increase
of the currency, whether in gold or in paper raisee
prices, and the contraction or withdrawal of the
currency, whether in gold or in paper, lowers
prices. Attend to the effect of that, and you will
perceive how it is that thy, currency is such a vital
tiling to profits, to trade, and to the wages of labour.
By increasing the currency, speculation immediately
rises, great profits are made wages are increased,
universal prosperity prevails. Take away the cur-
rency, withdraw the gold and the silver, and the
notes, and everything falls in price—down comes
the profit; everybody that has commodities finds
that every day they get cheaper. The grazier finds
no market for his' cattle, the farmer can get no profit
by his grain, and the manufacturer cannot get his
goods sold. In short, the contraction of the cur-
rency leads all classes to misery; the increase of
the currency makes all classes prosperous. But it
won't go on for ever. If you increase the currency
too much, after the manner of the French with their
assignats, the whole good will be destroyed ; but if
you wisely
do it in moderation, an increase of the
currencyl
necessarily makes people happy, while a
cu
contraction of the currency, cy
whennecessarily
t he
pape
r makes
acquired
em
miserable.
(Applause ) I have told you of the
state of matters in
a forced circulation, which in 1815 had risen to 47
millions and a half. in 1819, cash payments were
reverted to. It was then settled that the Bank of
England were to be allowed to
issue 14 millions
sterling of notes upon securities, and the private
banks about 12 millions more on the same basis.
These were issued in paper, without their being
required to retain gold for the amount. But still,
under this system, the currency was rendered per