The Sun.
London, England, 1821-04-10 00:00:00

assert that they were not altogether possesged of
10001. in gold to meet
_the 'whole of their paper.
They were solvent, no doubt; but when the de-
mand for gold came upon them they must send their
Exchequer bills and stock into the market, which
could not fail to produce a great depression in the
funds. If 'stock fell to 501. or GU, gold Would be
poured in from all parts of Europe to purchase upon
such favourable terms. It should be seriously con-
sidered what the probable demand for gold
would be when cash payments were resumed.
Many whose eyes had been unaccustomed to the
pleasure of seeing a guinea would desire to have
gold from the novelty of the thing. Many too
would demand gold from mere malevolence, froni
a wish to distress .and embarrass the country.
There was a 'party, it should be remembered,
who were at war with the House of Commons,
whose principle of hostility it was not to attack
the Horse Guards, but to sow dissention and dis-
content through the medium of what occurred in
that House. From all these circumstances great
pressure must necessarily arise, from which it
would require all the wisdom of Parliament to
extricate, them. One advantage, however, would
folio*. It would be a warning to them never
again to play tricks with the currency of the na-
tion.

Mr. RICARDO entered into an explanation of
the difference between the measure adopted in
1819 and that which he had then proposed, and
which, he said, would not require the purchase
of a, single ounce of gold on the part of the Bank.
Had that measure been adopted, the alteration
in the .value of money, iu consequence of it,
would. not have exceeded 4 or 5 per cent. ; and
the argument of the Hon. Member who put the
hypothetical case of France having her currency
changed from metal to paper, was completely in
favour of his (Mr. Ricardo's) opinion; for all
the complaints which he bad heard that night
were not against the difference so much between
the relative values of two mediums of currency,
as against the alteration of the value of money
itself. The Hon. Member next proceeded to
controvert several of the positions of the Hon.
Member for Taunton. That Gentleman, he said,
had spoken of silver as if the measure adopted
for a return to cash payments was a new mea-
sure. The fact -was, that up to 1797, both gold
and silver were a legal tender.. At that period
the relative value ceased, and if Government
had not, by an Act of Parliament, closed the
Mint against the large quantities of silver
which were presented there to be coined, silver
would have become the standard of the coun-
try. That very Act of Parliament which passed
for this purpose, he would contend, established
gold as the standard of the country ; therefore
the measure now before the House was not new.
He held it to be merely an assumption that gold
had risen, because the relation of value between
it and silver was altered. He might as justly as-
sert that the silver had fallen. He then adverted
to the evidence of Mr. Baring before the Bank
Cash Payments' Committee, to shew that that
Hon. Member had been of opinion that gold was
a preferable standard to silver. That Hon. Mem-
ber, too, had talked of the mischief of re-agi-
tating this question; yet he (Mr. Baring) did
not scruple to come down to that House with
propositions which would have the very effect of
disturbing men's minds. He then argued, that
labour shared the fate of every other commodity,
and was equally with them affected by the fall
of money. He adverted to the argument arising
from a reference of the variation of the price of
corn to an alteration of the currency. He attri-
buted the late depression of the price of that ar-
ticle to the great increase of the importation
from Ireland and to the good harvest. Be-
sides, a reference to the variation in the price
of corn for the last hundred years, -would
shew that it bad no great connection with
the alteration of currency. He contended
that variableness was essential to a metallic
standard ; and when it was stated that a de-
pression of that standard produced a depression
in the value of commodities, it would have been
candid to state also that a depression in the value
of commodities, to a similar extent, took• place in
other countries where the same standard was esta-
blished, so that the necessary consequences of
employing such a standard- here when they mani-
fested themselves, ought not to be attributed to
the measure now brought under the consideratio►
of the House.

Mr. H. GURNEY felt himself bound to support
the-proposition'of his Hon. Friend, the Member
,for Taunton, feeling that the distresses under
which the country laboured were to be attribut-
ed to a varying standard.
Mr. Er,r,rcE agreed with his Hon. Friend, the
Member for Taunton, in what he had stated to
be the effects of the measure of 1819, for the re-
sumption of Cash Payments; but at the same
time he was in great doubt how he was to deal
with the proposition of that Hon. Gentleman.—
For he had to consider that the bad effects of
the measure had in a great degree been endured,
and that in fairness its benefits should be per-
mitted to take effect. There was one point of
view on which this question had not yet been
treated—at least with as much attention as it
deserved—namely, the 'different situations in

which the menial interest and the landed in-
terest were placed with respect to the political
interest of the State. He would take the vatuk
of the landed property at about 37 millions, and
that of the funded property at 28 JniMons. Sup-
pbsing then that the rent of the landed proprie-
tors was decreased one half, they would have the
prospect of the rents of the landed interest re-
duced to 20 millions, and the income of the
funded interest swelled•to 40 millions.

The CHANCELLOR of the ExcixawEß.---" No,
no r'

Mr. ELLIcE.—Ife would take the income of
the funded interest at thirty millions, and that
of the persons with fixed incomes at ten millions.
But with respect- to the silent revolution which

was affecting the political relations of the State,
he would merely advert to the case of the Queen.
—The moment the public irritation was raised to
any formidable extent, the funded interest took
alarm, and turned over to the support of Minis-
ters. lie concluded by declaring: that he would