The Sun.
London, England, 1844-02-15 00:00:00

fit) r' inff

LONDON, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 1844.

The Lords did not sit last evening.
In the Commons Mr. BRUGES took his seat for the
borough of Devizes.
Mr. FERRAND made another exhibition last even-
ing which surpasses all his former feats. He stated
that Lord DENMAN, in a case which came before
him relative to the separation of mother and child,
had delivered a judgment, which was he unanimous
opinion of the Court, that there were some cases in
which it was necessary to break in upon an Act of
Parliament, and he quoted, in confirmation of his
original statement, reports in four morning papers.
Lord DENMAN, we are ready to admit, assumes very
high ground with regard to the jurisdiction of the
court in which he presides; but, if he said this or any-
thing like he said that a Court of Justice could
break in upon- the law of the land, he ought at once
to be put into Bedlam, with Mr. FERRAND for his com-
panion. Sir J. GRAHAM, in answer to this strange
assertion, said he could assure the House, from the
highest authority, that Lord DENMAN not only did
not make use of such an expression, but exactly the
converse of what had been imputed to him. Mr.
FERRAND did not reply.
Th4:Small Debts Bill and the Superior Courts of
Common Law Bill were read a second time.

Mr. STUART WORTLEY moved the second reading
of the Horse•racing Penalties Repeal Bill, which
might be more properly entitled the Betting Penal-
ties Repeal Bill. He showed the necessity for the
Bill, and related some anecdotes on betting which
may be interesting to gamblers.
Mr. M. GIBSON opposed the motion. The law
which had been said to be obsolete, or which had not
been
into effect
on for fifty years, had actually been car-
ried effect against a person of the name of BOND,
and he had been ruined by a conviction. • But when
it touched the higher classes then the cry was raised,
and a Bill was brought in to stop the actions, and,
that Bill had been sanctioned by the Episcopal
Bench. • No Bill of Indemnity had been broughtin
for BOND—no statute had been passed to prevent the
rich from setting a bad example to the poor. He
concluded by moving for a Select Committee to
examine into the existing statutes against gambling
<X every kind. Lord J. MANNERS and Colonel PEEL
supported the Bill, Mr. VERNON SMITH and Mr.
Hums opposed it ; and on a division there were for
the second reading 112, and against it '2.5. The Bill
was then ordered to be committed on Wednesday next.

In answer to a question from Lord JOHN RUSSELL
iSir JAMES GRAHAM said it was the intention of the
'Government to give precedence to the adjourned de-
&ate on the Irish question. Lord LEVESON then re-
awned the adjourned debate, and supported the motion
.of Lord JOHN RUSSELL.

Mr. B. COCHRAgE agreed with many of the re-
xaarks made by Lord JOHN RUSSELL, and considered

that they should legislate for Ireland, not only on just
and wise principles, but generously.
Lord CLEMENTS followed, and supported the mo-

tion.

After speeches from Mr. YOUNG, Sir GEORGE
GREY, and Lord ELIOT, the debate was again
adjourned.

A motion made by Mr. FERRAND relative to the
Poor-law Commission was negatived, and the House
adjourned at Half-past Twelve o'clock.

The letter of a Correspondent in our Paper on
Saturday has befittingly recalled our attention to the
important subject of the currency. Our previous
article had gone far to show the miserable folly of en-
deavouring to effect the transactions of a great com-
mercial country like this through a metallic medium)
and the terrible injury and injustice to which the
mercantile community have been subject through
the endeavours to use it. Here we have a practical
illustration of the robbery, for we can designate it by
no better name, to which the public are always liable
in the use of coin.
Without adverting to the peculiar character which
coin bears as being expressly the most palpable and
efficient instrument of despotism, an instrument which
irresponsible power has so often used, first in deluding
and then in oppressing the people, we have in the
fact stated by our Correspondent a definite and
tangible base on which to calculate the loss which the
country sustains, in these days of freedom, through
the agency of an illusory evil for which no one can be
made answerable. The advocates of a metallic
currency have invariably laid down' its unalterable
and intrinsic value as the chief of its merits. But
how different the fact really is may be very briefly
shown, In all the decisions of moral adjudication
it is an invariable principle, that he who causes a
wrong should make recompense for the injury he oc-
casions. Yet, in the case of a metallic currency,
put into circulation by the Government, it is a
well-known contingency, apprehended and anti-
cipated before a sovereign is issued from the
Mint, that, in the course of years, it must
be abraded and reduced in value, and that which
is sent forth to the world as of the full worth of 205.,
is, in every third exemplar, taken back as entitled to
be exchanged for only 19s. 6d. This may appear a
trifling loss; but there is a good old Scotch adage, to
the effect, that many small units form a large aggre-
gate, and this aggregate will be seen to consist of no
small amount.
Besides the loss from abrasion, the admirers of the
metallic system, who pin their faith on the supposition
of the permanent and unvarying estimate of a gold
price, will be surprised to learn, that since its original
issue in the time of JAMES 1., with little difference in
its intrinsic worth, our principal gold coin has been
altered by authority no less than twelve times in its
monetary value, to say nothing of the perplexing and
injurious influence of those fluctuations which have
been caused by political events. What these were
during the war the greater part of those now living
can very well remember.
It is, however, of the silent and comparatively un-
observed robbery perpetrated on the public, and too
often on that portion of the public who are least able
to bear it, that we would now speak. The amount of
gold coin issued by the Bank of England from
January, 1821, to the 15th February, 1833, is stated
by Mr. HORSLEY PALMER to have been 38,500,0001.
Deducting from this 8,500,000/., supposed to have
been exported from the country, the export of which,
by-the-bye, cannot have been otherwise than a dead
loss, we have just 30,000,0001. left in the hands of the
public. We will say nothing of the 5,000,000/. at that
time in the vaults of the Bank, because it is reasonable
to suppose that some portion, from the hoarding of in-
dividuals, or from its state of rest in the hands of
bankers and others, would remain free from that
degree of abrasion to which the other portion of the
metallic currency would be subject. Thirty millions
of hard sovereigns, then, have been rubbing and
jingling together in the hands of the public since
they first came forth from the Mint.
Now, we give no light advantage to our opponents
in supposing that none of this gold is chargeable
with any deficiency till three years after the last
piece has passed over the counter of the Bank ; but
we will ascertain what loss has been suffered by the
public on this mass of bullion, and in doing so we
quote from one who, whatever may be his judgment,
has at least proved himself a zealous partisan
for the use of metal in the transactions of life.
The account, however, is official, and we, therefore,
use it with the less hesitation, notwithstanding
the source through which it has come.
The following is the amount of gold coin tendered
at the Bank of England, together with the amount
rejected as light, dr ring the several years specified
Amount tendered. Amount rejected.
1836 £6,427,749 £637,565
1837
1838
1839
1840
1841
1842
6,214,439 2,067,091
to June 25
We have here a total, tendered at the Bank,
during six years and a half; of 59,880,971/., while,
during a period of more than twelve years, the
amount issued and circulating, in the hands of the
public, was only 30,000,0001., showing, even on
this presumption, that the coin issued between
January, 1821, and February, 1833, was all of full
weight, a presumption more favourable than any the
Bank or the Government are entitled to ; that the
whole of the gold currency, or that which was equi-
valent to the whole, had been tendered to the Bank four
times over ; four times over had been deliberately exa-
mined by the authorities in Threadneedle-street, who,
gradually sifting from the amount 13,403,6501., or
about three-eighths of the whole amount, which had
been thrown back upon the public (who were
thereby being called upon to endure a further
loss on that amount), had received the remainder I
from time to time, not as being of full weight,
but as not, at the different times of the receipt of the
different portions, being so light as to be unfit for
circulation ; or, in other words, as not being suffi-
ciently deprciated for them to derive the greatest
gain by its acceptance.
The proportion of light gold to the whole gold cur-
rency rises rapidly from 10 per cent in 1836 through
131 in 1837, 20 per cent. in 1838, 22 per cent. in
1839,28 per cent. in 1840,26 6-10 in 1841, to 33 3-10
at the end of June in 1842.

We impute no bad principle to the Bank—we be-
lieve the Bank Directors to be as honest and as

honourable men as any in the empire. But we do say
that these facts prove one of two things—either that
the Bank knowingly issued, from year to year, a large
amount of gold coin with the cognisance that it was

light, and uttered it at the rate of value in which
every sovereign was counted out to the public as of
the worth of 205., with the assurance that it would

be returned and received at a less worth, and they
would, thereby, make a gain of it, and a greater gain
according to the length of time at which its receipt
was deferred; or else a metallic currency is subject
to so rapid a depreciation, that an inevitable and

great loss must be annually sustained by the public.
We believe the latter to be the case. We believe
that the Bank, unwilling to inflict a loss, and unwilling
to bear it, kept the coinage afloat as long as it
could, and ultimately received it at a loss to the com-

munity. At the end of June light gold was received
in Threadneedle-street at the minimum Mint rata of
31. 17s. 1 Oid. per ounce, and by the end of 1843 the
amount so received was estimated at more than
10,000,000/., or one-third of the original issue. This

was the final loss, but how great a loss had been borne

_
by individuals previously, who can tell ?
We have, however, facts to guide us. By all the
laws of proportion in the estimate of fluctuating sub-
jects, we have a right to take the average ; and during
the whole of the period, from 1836 to the end of
1843, nearly one-fourth of the whole gold circulation
was of light weight; and, consequently, of depre-
ciated value. We find that during the actual trans-
actions of commercial life, the loss is about 24- per
cent. Now, without overburdening our readers
with a multitude of figures, we may allow the loss
not ascertained, but which must be incurred by
individuals whose grievance is never known, such as
that of the artisan, the labourer, and the little trader,
to go against the loss saved by the yearly amount of
gold abstracted from circulation, and replaced by
pieces of full weight. We have, then, an annual de•

ficiency of two-and-a-half per cent. upon 7,500,000 L,
or about 375,0001.; and if we add to this the loss oc-

casioned by the admixture of spurious coin,