The Sun.
London, England, 1845-07-26 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, SATURDA I. EVENING, JULY 26, 1815.

Birmingham system of currency. He would not now follow
the Hon. Gentleman ( Mr. Spooner) through the arguments
which he brought forward, but confine himself to the subject
before the House. With respect to the difficulty pointed
out by the Right Hon. Gentleman the Chancellor of the Ex-
chequer, of finding persons in the various towns of the kingdom
to undertake the business of weighing sovereigns deficient in
weight, he considered it was totally unfounded, for any banker
in those towns, or the persons to whom the taxes were paid in
the district, would, for a small consideration, perform such a
duty. The loss on each sovereign on an average was 234 d, now
the loss to the public on the present arrangement was 6d., and
sometimes a ls., and it was net unusual to find sovereigns of
full weight being rejected unless the reduction was submitted
to. After the Ist of January, 1841, sovereigns were sold as
bullion, and only 31. 16s. 61hsd. being given per ounce, 41,4 d.
was lost upon every ounce of the 3,000,000 sovereigns then
called in, and something was necessary to prevent the recur-
rence or continuance of so serious an inconvenience.
Sir ROBERT PEEL regretted very much that he had not
been present during the commencement of the speech of the
Hon. Gentleman the Member for Birmingham, not from curio-
sity, but interest in everything that fell from such a talented
Gentleman. It was a pity that he had not given notice of his
intention to second the motion of the Member for Montrose, as
Honourable Gentlemen would have then been aware of the
prospect of an amusing disquisition on the Birmingham system.
However, from theifew audibly urged arguments of the Hon.
Member, he could say that he (Mr. Spooner) had proved him-
self a worthy representative of the opinions of Birmingham.—
Laughter.) But the Honourable Member had assumed a
rather inconsistent position in the course of his latter observa-
tions. He had traced the whole question and course of the
currency, from the monetary transactions in 1797 to the
final change in 1844, and had said that in the year
18•,2 the greatest distress prevailed, at which period
the Marquis of Londonderry proposed an extension of the
currency. The prosperity that followed this change was,
they were told, temporary and delusive, and had been followed
by a ruinous depression in the year 1825, caused by the change
in the value of the currency, arising from the large issue of paper.
But it would have been supposed that If the Hon. Member at-
tributed the distress at that period to this unlimited issue of
paper, he would have concluded that a still greater crisis
would have ensued from the adoption of a system which would
cause the issue of inconvertible paper. As to the authority of
Mr. Alison, whom his Hon. Friend considered a paragon of
philosophers, he would quote one sentence from that authority,
to show what credit should be given to his views, and he
thought that pamphleteer and his Honourable Friend the
Member for Birmingham would make a fair couple—
Castor and Pollux—in the expression of their unique
opinions.—(Loud laughter.) Mr. Alison, after intro-
ducing a few curious original apothegms, advised that paper
should be paid in gold, according to the standard value of the
metal, so that notes issued at the rate of 31. 16s. 10 d. per
oz. might afterwards receive payment at the rate of 61. or 71.
per oat And when forsooth the coin ran up to the value of
101. per oz., which under such a system it very speedily would,
the banker need not pay in gold, and of course he would only
have to depreciate the value of paper, and raise that of gold, to
render himself virtually irresponsible.—( Loud laughter.)
Really such arguments were absurd, and he could scarcely de-
scribe his surprise at hearing the Hon. Member subscribe to
such opinions. As he said before, he hoped the Hon. Mem-
ber would, on another occasion give notice, of his intention to
speak, and he for one would like to be present and listen to him.
Mr. J. STEWART said he trusted the present debate
would lead to some efficient and satisfactory change in the
arrangements for specifically correcting the monetary system.
Mr. NEWDEGATE was rejoiced that the attention of the
House had been called to the state of the currency. The
effects of a metallic currency were every day felt more and
more stringently. There had been spread abroad so strong a
feeling in favour of Sir Robert Peel's currency policy that it
was looked upon as a sort of treason to impeach it. But the
fact could not be denied, that it was impossible to go on
paying the interest of the national debt in the present cur-
rency. If free trade principles were to be carried out with
the present monetary system the greatest evils must be ex.
petted. He had not intended to trespass so long upon the
House this evening, but he would take an opportunity next
session of bringing the attention of Parliament to the subject.—
( Hear, hear.) The effect of the present law was to give a pre-
mium to the money lender at the expense of the rest of the
community.
Mr. MUNTZ said that he could not understand how his
Hon. Colleague could go the length he had done, of abolishing
all metallic payments. He did not think that his Hon. Friend
had shown his usual discretion in bringing forward a currency
debate on this question. He thought that currency had
nothing at all to do with it. He wished that the standard should
be fixed in silver. He had himself often seen women with
children in their arms unable to get food, in consequence of
not being able to get change for their gold. He thought that
the object of the motion was a very proper one. He thought
it much better that they should have 11. notes than that they
should be rubbing sovereigns together to the loss of the poor,
who would lose 6d. in consequence of their being light. He
hoped the Government would well consider the matter, and
introduce some measure which would enable the poor to avoid
this loss.

After a few words from Sir W. CLAY,
The House divided, when there appeared—
For the motion 34
Against it
Majority against the motion ' - —3O
Mr. SPOOER said he did not intend to speak in favour
of any remedy for the present difficulty ; but he did say he was
still of the same opinion he before expressed upon the question.