The Sun.
London, England, 1857-11-16 00:00:00

TIM MONEY

TO TRU EDITOR OF THE SUN.
SIR,--Truth and justice have triumphed over
reckless selfishness and pertinacious ignorance, and
the principle of Peel's Bills of 1810 and 1844, is, at
the last moment, surrendered. It was surrendered
in 1825, when the Bank issued a bok-full of old 1/.
notes, which as the Governors of the Bank after-
wards said, "saved the country." It was surren-
dered again in 1847, when Ministers recommended
the Bank Directors "to enlarge the amount of their
discounts and advances, .upon approved security,"
promising a Bill of Indemility, if necessary, when
Parliament met. It is surrendered for the
third, and, we trust and believe, for the last
time, now when ruin has been brought
on many solvent, and more than solvent, princely
and o!d-established mercantile houses, and priva-
tion, suffering, and crime, are inevitably entailed on
thousands and hundreds of thousands of inclustriou,
and unoffendin operatives and artizans in England
and Scotland.

Has, then, enough been done—has enough been
suffered—to satisfy the supporters of a visionary
idle theory of the Bullionist faction ? Are the
English people now prepared to repudiate a system
which bitter experience has proved to be ruinous
and pernicious in the highest degree, and to adopt
a system which, under every possible disadvantage,
has been proved to work well, and with the
superior knowledge of monetary science which we
now possess might be made to approach as nearly
to perfection as can be expected in any mundane
financial arrangement.
The Queen, sir, enjoys the prerogative of making
money. We have by usage, for convenience, and
of necessity, y aper money, as well as gold and silver
coins. Let, then, her gracious Majesty exercise
her prerogative to the full. Let paper money--
exchequer notes of V. (or less if thought well) and
upwards be issued, with her Majesty's image and
superscription, and form the basis of our currency
system. Experience has ascertained the fact that
20,000,0001. of such notes receivable for taxes and
made a legal tender at the Bank, would be amply
sufficient in securing an adequate circulating me-
dium, and preserving us from monetary convul-
sions, such as that from which we are now escaping.
These notes would be hailed by a loyal people
with joy, they would ensure a circulation which
would neither be hoarded nor expected. They
would be as safe and stable as her Majesty's
throne, and as the honour and majesty of the
British nation.

What is opposed to this ? We repeat, nothing,
but an idle, though most destructive theory of the
bullioniats. The theory, namely, that nothing can
discharge the functions of money which does not also
possess the intrinsic value, in some metal, which it
represents. Every note, government or otherwise,
must, they say, be convertible into a certain unva-
riable piece or pieces of gold, of ascertained weight
and fineness. We ask, then, why ? If we, atheme,
like to have a cheap, convenient, untiuctuating
token of value, issued under the highest authority
in the State, and made perfectly secure, and "con-
vertible" into everything, gold and silver inclusive,
at the market price, why, why, 0 Overdone,
should we not have it ?

I will not go into the question of foreign trade.
It was proved, from 1797 to 1815, that our foreign
trade went on just as well without gold money as
it ever did with it. Why not ? The foreigner
barters with us. If we pay him in paper notes, he
converts them on the spot into whatever commo-
dities he wishes to take back to his, country. If
gold or silver be required, the bullion merchant
will supply him to any extent.
The truth is, Sir, that England has, again and
again, been half ruined in support of an abstract
crotchet, of no real value whatever except to rash
capitalists, who have turned it to their own selfish
advantage, at the expense of their industrious
fellow-countrymen. —1 am, Sir, your obsdient
servant, PROPHETIC.

TO THE EDITOR, OF THB SUN.
SIR, —As an instance of the most practical 5134;
cation of those views regarding the currency wt
you so ably advocate, may I request you to rerin
from the Glasgow Daily Mail the following
sentence :

" We are glad to inform our readers that at, art
influential meeting of the members of the various
public corporations and committees of parochial
boards held yesterday forenoon, it was unanimously
resolved to receive the notes of the Western and
City of Glasgow Bank in payment of police, water,
poor, and other rates and assessments."
Were the imperial Government to imitate on a
large scale this example of the Glasgow authorities,
every interest in the country would feel secure,
even although the "Old Lady" should be totally
drained of her miserable remnant of gold.
am, &c.
, A. C.
November 14.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.
Six,—ln these days of empiricism it is refresh..
lug to fiud oue enlightened journalist with vt'i
enough to discover the truth, and courage enough
to enumerate it. As a practical man of business,
with a first-class experience of more than 20 years,
I can, without hesitation, endorse your views as to
the true cause of our present monetary
pressure,
and the proper remedy to be applied. The argu-
ments, or rather fallacies, of your dogmatical con.
temporary of Printing House Square, are received
by men of sense "quantum valerunt," and I trust
you will not relax in your efforts to expose to your
readers the heinousness of the Bank Restriction
Act, which has the effect of limiting commerce,
without checking reckless speculation, and, in
times like these, is calculated only to make the
rich richer, and the poor poorer.-1 am, sir, your
obedient servant, J. L. IL
City, Nov. 14, 1857.