The Sun.
London, England, 1844-01-11 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

MAXWELL'S HISTORY OF THE REBEL-
• LION IN IRELAND IN 1798.

Nothing can be more opportune than the sea-
son selected for bringing-. out a work like this,
which treats of the most exciting, and (if: that
which is tragical be so) most intcresting.portion
of the history of that section of the empire,
which now engrosses the most anxious attention
of, not merely the subjects of the British Throne
of all classes and denominations, but also that of
European and 'Trans-atlantic nations. The work,.
which is to be published periodically in parts, is
likely, if we may augur from) the first number,
to prove very interesting; and by no means the
least attractive portion of it will be the Illustra-
tions, by George Cruikshank, two of which are
given m the present Number. The subject is one
rich in romantic incident, and in Maxwell's
hands ought to illustrate well the trite old saw,
that " truth is stranger than fiction." We can-
not, however, but regret-that the chapter on the
" Leaders of the United Irishmen"
.is so short.

It was quite impossible in so brief a space to
give anything like a satisfactory notice of the life
of each of those misguided, but. chivalrous
high-minded men. We quote the following at
random :

" A curious anecdote, related by Dr. Madden in
his biographical notice of Addis Emmet, is cha-
racteristic of the extent to which political and pro-,
fessional enthusiasm will hurry individuals. Emmet
was retained for some persons charged with the ad-
ministration of unlawful oaths—at the time a capital
offence—and was addressing the Court in arrest of
judgment.
" He took up the pleadings in which the words of
the oath were recited, and read them in a very de-
liberate manner, and with all the gravity of a man
who felt thut he was binding his soul by the obliga-
tions of a solemn oath. The words were to the fol-
lowing effect I, A. 8., in the presence of God, do
pledge myself to my country, that I will use all my
abilities and influence in the attainment of an im-
partial and adequate representation of the Irish nation
in Parliament; and, as a means of absolute and imme-
diate necessity in the establishment of this chief good
of Ireland, I will endeavour, as much as lies in my
ability, to forward a brotherhood of affection, an
identity of interests, a communion of rights, and an
union of power among Irishmen of all religious per-
suasions, without which every reform in Parliament
must be partial,not national, inadequate to the wants,
delusive to the wishesiand insufficient to the freedom
and happiness of this country."
" Having read the test—defended its obligations
with a power of reasoning and a display of legal
knowledge, in reference to the subject of the dis-
tinction between legal and illegal oaths, which the
counsel for the prosecution described as producing
an extraordinary impression—he addressed the Court
in the following terms :
" My Lords,—Here, in the presence of this legal
Court, this crowded auditory—in the presence of the
Being that sees and witnesses, and directs this
judicial tribunal—here, my Lords, I, myself, in the
presence of God, declare, 1 take the oath.'
t,lle then toolt„-the book, that was on the table,
kissed it, and sakdown. No-steps were taken by the:
Court against the newly-sworn United -Irishman :
the amazement of its functionaries left them in no
fit state of mind either for remonstrance or approval.
The prisoners received a very lenient sentence.' "

BOOK OF BRITISH BALLADS. Part XII.
How, London, 1844.
being
exceoctuntendenirdiaatiovtelsr,y tsl:lepemrioajrosrtiytyle ooff
art,the and dis-
playing them The illustrations of this Part are its principal
re
playing powers of fancy of no ordinary character.
As for the Ballads, they are merely republica-
tions from Percy, Ritson, Scott, ,Motherwell,
and other.. well-known cqlleefor.of these plus. Othiiipula
COURT OF COMMISSIONERS' OE
SEWERS, GUILDHALL.
THE FILTHY STATE OF THE STREETS OF

TFIE CITY.
In consequence of the representation made by the
Lord Mayor in the Chair at the Mansion-house, upon
the subject of the condition of the streets, lanes, and
alleys of the City, and his Lordship's declared intention
to exercise all the authority he possessed as, C,
Chief -I‘l4-
gistrate to compel the scavenging contractor to do his
dpurot)l:,emtheenstusboug
subject has been at length, introduced in such
a form in this Court as will be likely to lead to the im-
sought for without effect, and even
without notice, from those who ought to have accom-
plished it long ago.
The Commissioners having assembled on Tuesday, at
their Chamber in Guildhall a great number of complaints
were made against the contractor, who attended by de-
puty to answer them.
The result will be seen from the following resolutions,
to which the attention of the citizens has been most par-
ticularly called by the authorities
At a public meeting of the Commissioners of Sewers
for the City of London and the liberties therecf, in the
Guildhall of the said city, Tuesday, January 9, 1844,
John Gore, contractor for rakers' work, having been
summoned to answer different complaints for neglect of
duty, in not duly cleansing the streets and removing the
dust, &c., from the houses of the inhabitants within this
city, being called, his foreman attends on his behalf,
and lays a letter from the said John Gore, and a sur-
igoelovn's
theCourt.certificate
of his inability to leave his house, be-
The various parties complaining attend, and are
heard at length.
Ordered—That the clerk do carefully set forth the
streets, lanes, and places severally complained of in the
summonses, and that a fine be laid on the contractor for
one week's neglect of duty therein.
Ordered—That the clerk do inform the contractor of
the fines so laid, and that if he (the contractor) does not
perform the duties required from him, according to his
contract, this Court will, at the next meeting, serve him
with notice to annul the contract.

Ordered—That the inspectors of pavements bo di-
rected to make a weekly return, in writing, to this Court
of any neglect of duty in the contractor, either to sweep
the streets or to remove the dust, &c., from the houses of
the inhabitants, as required by the terms of his contract.
Ordered—That the clerk do transmit a copy of these
resolutions to the Right lion. the Lord Mayor.
JOSEPH Dsw
The foreman to the contractor pleaded, in excuse for
the almost unpassable state of some of the streets, and
the filthy state of all of them. that Mr. Gore in vain
attempted to get the scavengers employed by him to
Sewers'-office.
~ Principal Clerk,
work at Christmas, not one of them would consent to
shovel, a spoonful out of the kennel. In fact, it was
quite a weakness to expeet that they devote a single hour
of that holiday period to work of the kind.
The Commissioners said that the contractor, of course,
paid these men nothing during the time they refused to
work, and Might hare procured persons in abundance to
do the business, his neglect of which deserved to be
punished by immediate dismissal from the employment
altogether.
It is believed that the fines inflicted will amount alto-
gether to between 2001. and 300/,

n -----
THE NEW AMERICAN omit. PRINCE ALBERT.—
TAhlbeesrzlen whichdid newarripacket ship, Prince
Americaned inthe I is! Ite. -
Thursday last, has, since Sunday, line-of
Dock on
been a source of very
great attraction to persons wno feel an interest in matters
connected with improvements in ship building. The
Prince Albert is the companion ship to the Victoria that
was launched last year, and, although of the same rate of
tonnage (1,000) she is considerably larger in every
respect, and in all her appointments superior.
NATIONAL GALLERY.--'The boys of the Maryle-
bone workhouse, about 200 in number; paid a visit to
the National Gallery on Tuesday. The arrange-
ments, to prevent confusion, were complete, each boy
following close upon the other's heels, having secured
his line of march by encircling with his left arm the rail
which prevents a too near approach to the pictures. Any
advancement in a taste for the fine arts cannot fairly
be adduced from this visit, the boys having been told
to look " over their left" at the pictures, which we sup-
pose they did.

THE CURRENCY.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

Sin,—ln your paper of the 20th instant the following
questions are put by A Cambist," and answers re-
quired— • •
" Ist. If the Bank of England has twelve millions of
gold in its coffers, why does it not contract its notes, cGin
the gold, and put it into circulation ?
"2d. If the Bank of England cannot get rid of its
gold, except by depreciating its paper, or by permitting
it to be depreciated by other banks of issue, or by coining
and putting it into'circtilaion, how is the Bank to rid
itself of the present enormous accumulation of this metal,
and for what object does the Bank keep so large an
amount of gold in its coffers ?"
Permit me to offer the ' following answers to these
qurstions

To the Bank of'England is given the power to regu-
law, as it is termed, the currency ; which they pretend
to do, according -to the wants of commerce, this being a
commercial country—that is to. say,,to enlarge the cur.
rency when' supposed, or rather assumed by them, to be
too small f6r the Wants of -commerce ; and to reduce its
amount When:ri4stlined by them to be too great, or de•
preciated.
In siipport of the -power 'given to"the Bank to regulate
the currency there are two asStimptiOns taken for
granted, which hare Pb- "foundation' in truth. It
assumed, in the 'first piece, that the currency has no
fixed standard,' but must always.necessarily be in a s:ate
of fluctuation in regard to its value ; and, in the next
place, it is equally erroneously assumed, that the cur-
rency of commerce and the domestic currency of a State
are one and the same thing, and that there is no differ-
ence between them.

But there is implied in the very nature of every mea-
sure—and the currency is, merely, the measure of value—
a' standard, is, a fixed 'qUantity, which neither
-admits df in nor over';
•and; that there is such -standard
!'of the cirrincy, 'independent of any regulation of the
Bank of England; as well as of evCrYother'ineasure, can-
not possibly admit of doubt. • '
The wants Of commerce, as to a Medium of exchange,
are supplied by bills of exchange, Exchequer bills, bau-
•kers' 'cheques, and the large notes of banks, which are,
properly, the currency of commerce'; and these being
all-payable in the dothestie currency of the country, are
ruled in regard. to their value by the value of that do-
mestic currency ; from 'which, in the' nature of things,
they cannot depart ; without regard to their own extent,
however great their extent may be. But the domestic
currency 'of a country is that which is- declared legal
'tender by the State, and which enables-the working man
,to exchange his labour for food (thse command over the
labour of man being the very essence of wealth : and the
domestic curcen•ey Of a State is, obviously, necessarily
ruled i❑ regard to its valtie, simply by the limitation of
its amount.

In this country the precious metals form the limit of
our domestic currency, the coins alone being legal
tender. And although bankers issue paper money' t.) a
great amount, yet being payable in the precious metals,
that paper money is thereby-effectually tied down to the'
limit of those metals, and does not increase that limit,
nor add to our domestic currency one single pound
sterling ; a truth that can easily be as clearly estab-
lished as any truth in Euclid ? It is in virtue of its
limit alone that any domestic currency can ever operate.
All the banks in the country, therefore, with the sin-
gle exception of the Bank of England, never can disturb
one legal dOmestic currency. But that Bank, with its
extraordinary means and powers, can, and actually does,
disturb it, but, for a limited period only at a time ; a
period sufficiently long, however, to enable the Directors
of that establishment to plunder their fellow-subjects of
their means, in the manner to be immediately ex-
plained.

Every expansion of our domestic beyond the
limit of the standard, which, as already described, is the
limit of the precious 'metalS, is, of course, the undue in-
-crease .of-the money Value of every man's property
throughout the country ; and every contraction of the
currency, on the other hand, within the limits of that
standard, is the depreciation in money value of that pro-
perty, and the undue increase of the value of money capital
itself ; and every change, therefore, on the average
amount of the Bank of England's paper money, from
the; great extent of their ,issues, forms an Altera-.
tion of the standard ; and; consequently an alteration in
the value of the whole of our domestic medium of ex-
change, as well as of the currency of commerce, which
depends on it, as already described.
'rho average issues of the Bank of England, for the
three months ending with Jan. 7, 1841, were reduced,
according to the published, returns of the Bank, as ap-
pearing in the Gazette, (See Appendix, No. 2), to
16,112,0001. ; and, again, the average of those issues for
the three months, ending Feb. 4, 1843, was 21,108,0001.,
(See Appendix, No. 3). Between these quantities there
is no less a difference, in round numbers, than
5,000,000/. sterling. This expansion of the currency, it
is clear, raised the money prices of all commodities
at least 33 per cent. above those at which they stood for
the three months ending with Jan. 7, 1841, as every one
niar-satitfy hiniself by making the calculation. -
The reduction in the amount of the Bank's issues
during the nineteen months in No. 2 of the Appendix,
ending With May last year, sufficiently: accounts fur the
sufferings and distress of the labouring classes during
that period ; , and the expansion of these issues since,
sufficiently .accounts for the very small ephemeral pros-
perity we have since had, and which can only last until
the Bank again put on the screw.
Thus, under the.pretence of regulating the currency,
which in the very nature of things admits of no such
regulation—fOr- every alteration' tit the amount of the
Batik's issues of paper money, as already Observed,.
-creates- an alteration iii the previouily existing value
of the whole circulating medium of the country—the
most enormous power, that ever was given to mortal
man over his fellow creatures, has been given to one,
class of the -coiiiitiunity -Over the liveS and fortunes of
-their f..110w-subjects. • And to what class has that power
-been given ? TO the very class who were sure to abuse
it—the class of the money-owners—the class who had
the most powerful inducement to do so, that of self-in-
terest. How many thousands of innocent victims in the
middle ranks of life has not this power, within these few
years, seat from affluence and comfort into the Gazette ?
How many hundreds of thousands of innocent victims
among the lower ranks has not this tremendous power
sent to untimely graves, during the same period ? With-
out sufficiency of currency there cannot be sufficiency of
price, and without sufficiency of price there cannot be
sufficiency of wages; and the insufficiency of wages
which existed during the last few years, from the ex-.
treme contractions of the currency by: the Bank. of
s;-Mtgitifiti; first eine-data and att66(niteir,the Vodiett of
fifi7itinocent victims, the labouring)soor,rendefing them
teasily suSceptible of every.pa'ssing disease, of typhus and
tither fsvers—the never-failing concomitants of insuffi-
cient nourishment—and then swept them away into un-
timely graves.
To compare great things with small, let us suppose
that the Legislature gave a power to the publicans of
London, to regulate tie liquid measure of the pint, by
extending it, at times, as far as a pint and a half when
trade was, in their estimation, brisk, and reducing it
at other times, when they thought trade dull, as far as
half a pint only. Can there be the least doubt in the
mind of any sane person, that these publicans would not
immediately take advantage of the power thus com-
mitted to them, and turn it to their own ac-
count ? They would, no doubt, affecting, or
pretending liberality, and a hypocritical regard for
the public interest, sometimes raise the mea-
sure to a pint and a half, and it would be always their
interest, and they would never fail to do so, when they
were themselves out of stock and going to purchase,
and they would take very good care to be out of stock
-before they made such change, for they would then pur-
chase in stock such enormous advantage to themselves ;
but they would much more generally, that is to say, so
long as they had anything to sell, keep down the mea-
sure to a half-pint only. With regard to their brethren
throughout the country, who might not know when
thesechanges were about to take place, those brethren
could reap no advantage from them, for as they would
buy, not knowing the movements at head quarters, they
would sometimes find themselves, without any fault of
their own, ruined and undone ; an, at other times, un-
expectedly and unduly enriched.
Yet this is the very power, on a grand scale, given to
the Bank of England over the whole country, under the
false pretence of regulating the currency. They some-
times raise prices and give a slight ephemeral prosperity
to the industry of the country, so as to blind the public
as to the real nature and extent of their power ; but
they 'much more frequently, to suit their own greedy and
selfish ends, crush that industry to atoms, and sweep
both the labour of the working classes, and the profits
of their employers, into their own pockets.
That the Directors of the Bank of England abuse the
power over the currency thus entrusted to them, and
turn it premeditatedly to their own individual ad-
vantage, is beyond . all possibility of doubt, for
it is eapablal of 'demonstration, and that, too,
from their own published •• returns of the averages
of their istues as appearing in. the Gazette, from the
time they were first ordered to be published in 1834 to
the present time. The same charge, however, cannot be
brought against the partners; or Proprietors, as they
are called, of the Bank for, unless they had access
to the movements in the Bank parlour, which they have
no right to claim, and others may obtain that knowledge,
through the favour of the Directors, as well as they,
they are in no better situation than the other victims of
this extraordinary establishment.
The limit of the precious metals being'the standard,
• and'not the material substance of which they are com-
posed, otherways than as they form that limit, as soon
as thelimit is exceeded by the paper money of the Bank
of England,. the currency becomes of lower value,
stud, ..conSequeritly,.. the metallic part of it, be-
ing thereby depreciated as' well as the paper
part of it, •in reference to the value rof the metals in
other parts of the world as the universal standard, leaves
the country, until the currency being • thereby suffi-
ciently contracted, the, limit of the precious metals be
again restored.
• But the Bank of England, -and the Bank of England
alone, have it in their power, from the extraordinary
command they possess over the currency of this coun-
try, from the enormous masses; almoit the whole, of the
public money constantly passing through their hands,
and their notes being declared legal tender everywhere
except at the Bank, to put into circulation, 'and
• to maintain in circulation, for a limited time, an
extent of paper money sufficient to cause the
whole domestic currency of . the country to ex-
ceed the limit of the precious metals. They ac-
complish this by storing up in their vaults a large quan-
'tity of the precious metals,. as theYhavedone at present ;
they then -.pat out their paper moneytniuch an extent,
as to cause the whole currency, consisting of gold and
L paper, to exceed that limit ; and instantly the whole
mass becomes. depreciated, in reference to the standard,
• and continues so as long as their stock of gold lasts, by
l which they keep their paper in circulation,{ but no longer.
• When their stock of gold becomes exhausted they must
put-on the screw; by calling in their notes.

f _ It!_is cornmeny opposed. that a currency of paper.
cannot ti.
nip. depreciated, so long as it is convertible into. the
precious etals-,• hut this is a palpable mistake. As soon
as a paper cnitency,•tliough convertible' into-the precious
Metals,. becomes extended, -so that the whole currency,
paper and gold, passes the limit of these metals, deprecia-
tion of the whole mass immediately commences, and
continues until the geld be expelled from the country,
and-the-mass of currency of paper and gold be thereby
sufficiently reduced, that the limit of the'preciou.s. metals
• •.
is again restored.i The gold ' leavine• -the • country is
Merely the cOnsepience of the previous depreciation, and
it is only after the gold is gone,' and a• reaction takes
place, that • the depreciation, which has been in existence
all the while, is discovered ;. and, in proportion as the
of the precious metals •is more or .le:3s..exceeded
through the addition' of paper money, will the deprecia-
tien be greater or less, and' will these metals' more or less
,
rapidly leave the country. = - •
It appears rrom the returns in No. 1 of the Appendix,
that the- average issues tho paper money of the Bank,
'from the 18th November, 1834, when those returns' were
first made qUarterlV,' to the 10th November, 1840, when
they came •to be 'made 'public- monthly, ivere, on an
average of the whole of these returns, 17,990,00 e/.; but,
as the Bank, at one period during that time, that is, to-
wards the end- of 1,339,' actually ran short of gold to
meet the deMondi . ott -then) from over-issuer,'which
Could 'only. proceed.- froni. depreciation- -of ,the _whole
mass of en rtencyt both paper and. gold, and. the' Bank
;D:rectors were obliged to go, like. • beggars, -
flank of France to borrow a large amount of the pre-.
cionO metals there to supply the demand f,,r them at
home, it IS perfectly 'Clear, that that sum, in addition
to the gold ' that will circulate along with it is above.
the limit of the precious metals required for this coun-
try ; and, therefore, an issue of convertible paper money'
to that extent' cannot bc.perinanently supported in eirett-
lation'hy ifie Batik- n fact of which the-Directors Of the
Bank, from their previous experience,' could not by.pos-
ailnlity be ignorant. It.is probable -that not more than
17,500,0001. of Bank•paper, convertible:into gold, can he
permanently put into and maintained by the Bank in-
circtilation. • • „

, Here, it must be observed,. that, it. is not the moment,
the 'notes leave the Bank that. their influence on the
• Mass-Of the currency, in reducing its valueand in raising,
prices; prices; is felt. They-must, first, get into general cir-
ciliation, it is evident,- before their influence on the cur-
rency can be felt ;' and it appears from the annexed re-
turns that, from six to nine months are necessary for this'
purpose. Keeping this in view let us. analyse those re-
turns, and the conduct and motives of the Bank of Eng-
land's Directors, in their management of the currency,
u 111 be more clearly understood.
For three months, ending with 13th December, 1836,
the average issues of the Bank were 17,361,0001., and
their stock of gold, three :months afterwards, was
4,048,000/. 'Their stock of gold continued to increase,
the Bank-making purchases of it, and accumulating it.
improperly, in the meantime, until the Ist of May, 1838,
,1
when it amounted to 10,002,0001. No rational cause can
be assigned for this accumulation consistent with common
honesty. The expense of maintaining to large an,
amount of idle unproductive stock in the shape of the
precious metals being great, it was not to be expected
that the Bank would so far sacrifice their own interest as
to retain it, and it became both their interest and duty to
diminish it. Their straighforward honest course, in that
case, was simply to coin so much of it,, and to pay it
away, keeping their issues of paper money as they were
-at 171361;000!. But this did not suit the views of the
-Directors. Their self-interest forbade it. Instead of
reducing 'their 'immense stock Of gold by such honest
Means, they increase their issues of paper money until
they depreciate the whole circulating medium of the
country, 'and increase the money value of every
man's property, and their own among the rest,
and then commences a demand on them for
gold ' for the conversion of their notes, the in
evitable effect of their over issues; and of that effect-
they could not, by possibility, be ignorant; and, in this
way, they chose to relieve themselves of their extra
stock of gold. They give vent to their gold until it be-
comes imperatively necessary for them to lay on the
,screw, as it is termed, by calling in their notes to pro-
tect themselves from insolvency ; and then down go
prices, to the wall go their industrious fellow-subjects,
to the dogs go the labouring classes, and up goes the
value of money, paper money and all. It appears from
these returns, that the Bank continued increasing their
issues of paper money until they reached 19,350,0001.,
and then the gold, which had by this time been leaving
the country, continued to go away until their stock en-
tirely disappeared, and they were compelled, as before
mentioned, to go to the Bank of France, and to borrow
from that establishment no less than two millions and a
half of the precious metals of France, to preserve their
own establishment from insolvency. In the meantime
the screw was applied, and applied so vigorously, that in
little more than twelve months the average amount of
the Bank's issues were reduced to 16,112,000/, as before
mentioned (they could not have been reduced to that
extent earlier without creating a convulsion in the coun-
try, such as would have made the Bank Directors them-
selves tremble), and the contraction was continued
at little more than that amount for eighteen months
afterwards ; until the greater portion of the la-
bouring classes in the manufacturing districts
were thrown altogether out of employment and
rendered utterly destitute, and had to be maintained by
public charity. The deplorable destitution which then ,
prevailed, notwithstanding Sir Robert I'4 el's tal-e asser-
tion to the contrary, that the currency had nothing to do
with the distress, was notoriously the effect produced by
the operations in the Bank parlour, fur as soon as the
screw was in some degree relaxed, the labiuring classes
began again to find employment. '
The Bank of England Directors endeavour to palliate
their misconduct, in thus so unjustly contracting their
issues, by alleging that it ace absolutely necessary for
,thenrstO do- so to- protect themselves and th-eir establish-
ment from ruin.. No 'doubt it was. The averment of
the Bank Directors is correctly true. But who created
the necessity ? The Bank Directors themselves created
the neeeesity, by previous over issues of pap, r money,
which they knew were to depreciate the whole circu-
lating medium of the country. They knew and could
not possibly be ignorant of the fitet. Their own past ex-
perience must have taught them, long before, the fact
that those over issues would be followed by a reaction
sufficient to create that necessity, with as much certainty
as the sun sets ite, he firmament.

Under these: tnemstances is there a man in the
whole country, waase attention is once called to these
facts, so simple as to believe that the Bank Directors and
their friends,",to whom they communicate the secrets of
.ther:7.,Bsitit -parloar, -•de take:-adantsge these
changes 3 Is it possibly to conceive that
Director, or • the fiicbd •in • his —Searets,,:-'exten-
sively engaged in trade, wiil continue to hold his
stock of goods on hand, after a contraction of the cur-
rency is determined on, and he is in the full knowledge
that in six or eight months hence his stock will .be re-
duced, in money value, perhaps 30 per cent. ? -Is there
a man in the whole country so simple as to believe that,
when an expansion of the currency is determined on, the
Bank Director, or his friends will then get out of stock,
or rather will not largely increase his stock of goods on
hand, when he knows full well that in six or eight
months afterwards he will clear by it perhaps 30 per
cent. of additional profits ? If so, that individual must
not only be a man of mighty great simplicity, but em-
bued with more than Boeotian stupidity.

No demand, it is very evident, will ever arise on the
Bank for gold, if the Bank keep down sufficiently the
amount of their issues of paper money, so that the total
amount of the whole circulating medium shall not exceed
the limit of the precious metals ; for it is the excess
beyond that limit only, which operates in depreciating
our present domestic currency, confined, as it is by
law, to these metals. A stock of gold, therefore, though
it be quite necessary to support, for a season, a dis-
honest over-issue of Bank of England notes, and to
enable the Bank Directors and their friends to plunder
their fellow-subjects of their means, in the way already
described, and as they have hitherto done for the last
24 years, is not necessary for enabling the Bank to sup-
port its issues of paper money, if they are confined within
the proper limit. One million of gold will suffice for meet-
ing demands on the Bank, if the Bank do not over-issue,
as well as the twelve millions which they now hold.
Where was the necessity for a stock of gold when their
issues amounted only to 16.112,0001. ? They required
no stock of gold then whatever ; simply because their
issues were then kept so low, that the whole circulating
medium was within the limit of the precious metals,
and, consequently, their notes were of equal ♦alue with
gold.

It is evident that when our domestic currency exceeds
the limit of the precious metals, it is necesatry for the
Bank to have an extra supply of those metals, which can
only last while the depriciation is continued and the
metals are being drawn away. It has been already
rated that not more than 17,500,0001. of the Bank of
England's paper money can be put into, and perma-
nently
maintained in circulation by the Bank on the
strength of gold money—that is, the Gold that will re.
main in circulation in the country, without causing an
excess in the whole currency, beyond the limit of the
precious metals. But the returns annexed (No. 3) show
that the issues of the Bank of England have been
greatly increased beyond 17,500,0001., not for the last
six or eight months only, but for the last eighteen
Months and upwards ;. and yet the gold in the
coffers of the Bank has not been drained away
as formerly, but has been going on increasing
notwithstanding this apparent over-issue of paper
money. now, it will naturally be asked, if the above
theory be true, is this phenomenon to be accounted for?
It is capable of a very clear and satisfactory solution.
It will be fresh in the memory of every one, that
about'twelve months ago, or better, a proclamation was
issued prohibiting the circulation of light gold, and a very
great portion of the gold in circulation was found to be
light. Great dissatisfaction with this measure was ex-
pressed, at the time, by the public, as cruel and unjust,
especially coming, as it did, immediately after the great
depression and distress: of 1841 and 1842. Some lost
3d., some 6d., and some no less than 9d., on the sove-
reign, although the lightest of them was far above the
value of a tax-included priced commodity of equal
amount. The proclamation has keen since repeatedly
renewed ; and the Bank have 'acted with a degree of
keenness in stopping the circulation of light gold never
before witnessed. By thus crying down light gold
great loss has been thrown on the public, and the public
have become, for the present, disgusted with gold money,
and they take the notes of the Bank in preference to
' gold. A greater number of notes are, in consequence,
thus maintained in circulation than formerly, and the
gold is thrown in upon the Bank ; and thus is this phe-
nomenon explained. Accordingly we find that, as the
notes must be changed before being put to their proper use,
enabling the labouring classes to exchange their labour for
food, an uncommon demand for silver has arisen instead
of gold ; but the Bank, alleging that they are not
bound, refuse to pay; in silver ; and, thus their notes, to
a greater extent than ever known before, are kept in
circulation without expelling the gold from the country.
The fact, therefore, of nineteen or twenty millions of

the hank's paper money being permanently kept in cir-
culation fur the present, does not prove that the limit of
the precious metals is thereby exceeded, by:ti-e-Whole
mass of the circulation ;
.because, that limit be
made up of paper abyne, as well as of paper and gold
combined. It merely proves, that amt. lima
is constituted by paper at present - to, a
greater amount than usual. But., perhrps, it
proves Something more. It proves, that the
Bank of England Directors are 11,4 • ignorant
of the true theory of the currency. There cannot be a
doubt that - the m•Orement against light gord • had, its
origin in the Bank parlour, and the obiset of it truly
appears to be to divert public attention from the Get of
the issues of paper money on the circulation, as e:xliibited
in the returns of the Bank, and to
,lull.suspiciOp as to
the Bank's conduct in the management of the currtary.;
and.a,uhnirably has it been calculated for that,purpose.
It proves.beyond doubt the.. Forwrior. i<nowlpOgn which
the 13ank Directors possess _el the workirnr ot- the,-pre-
sent currency system. and th.ti instead of being ignorant
of this ques;ion of the currency, they in reality undcr
Stand it but too well.

The answers to the questions put may now he ant'ci-
,
pated : •- • ,
iat. The Batik of England can, but ,s ill not, cent& act
its notes, coin the gild, and put. it into circulation at
present; beente.;e„ that • isl 4 &feet their object in cid,
!tatting lam” a stun .of these,inctals, that obji et belng,
to support•for a season, wht n the time suitat.le fur thcm-
selves- 7r. ice, an over issue •of the 4 paper money. an*
to enable the Directors and their friends to commit those
?rands (Ii the nnsuspecting. public Oreatly spoken U.
2d. The Bank cat easily get rid ti‘f their present stock
of gold'by citing it and passing it away,,kt-rping their
issues'or pap T money steadily at the sanin fixed amount,
tae whole -circulating medium not exceeding the limit of
the,precions metals, as ascertained. by.,their Own ex-
perience ; in which case, gold will flow into-them ns' last
as.it flows out. But the Bank will prefer to rid them-
4olves of their present dead stock of twelve Millions anii
upwards of these metals, as they have Always hitherto
done, .by depreciath-tg, by over issues of their ji:kper
Money; -the' a hole mass of the currency,. both paper and
gold, and supporting the depreciation 'as'long as their
stock of gold lasts, and the ,Directors individually, and
the frienfls• in their confidence have any thing to eel!.
Bulthey will be more cautious thislictio, how they rid
themselves of their present stock of the precious metals
for very good reasons. In the first - place, they have
become suspected ; and, in the next place,
they' • are about, when Parliament assembles,
tt) apply for a renewal of their 'charter,
with ' increased powers over the currency, by
the ihiitting tip of 'all othor,,the minor banks of issue,
under the pretence that these banks. interfere with their
proper regulation of the currency, although it is as clear
as the sun at noonday, that in regard to their interfer •
ence with, or control over the currency, they are utterly
powerless either fur good or for (evil.

But in whatever way the Dank of England get rid of
their present stock of the precious metals, it cannot
escape observation that they haVe been accumulated, fur
some purpose which the Bank do not. choose to avow ;
fOr itlis well known that the profits of the establishment
do not
.warrant the expense of .keeping up such,an ,enor-
mous amount of unproductive capital.even for the time it
has now been kept up.

Early in 1840, a complaint was brought before Par-
liament by the merchants and manufacturers of Man-
chester that they had been stript of their means, from
time to time, by some invisible power, and that they had
lost within a tow years no less than forty millions of
money, and that many of them were, in consequence,
ruined. Suspecting the cause to spring from the manage-
ment of the currency, they petitioned the House of Com-
mets for an inquiry into the conduct of the Bank of
England in regard to their administration of the cur-
rency. An inquiry could not be refused, and a Com-
mittee of Inquiry was appointed "On Currency and
Banks of Issue." But the inquiry was quashed .by the
COmmittee, and the reputation of the Bank on
tfnat occision, was saved. The Committee was ap-
pointed under the auspices of the late Whig
Ministry, with the acquiescence of the Tory party, and
at its appointment (I state the fact from my own personal
knowledge) it was neither understood nor intended, nor
expected, the:. the Committee should report anything.
The appointment of that Committee was a hoax played
ofF on the public, and particularly on the
.petitioners,
by the late Whig Government, for although it was com-
posed of men of all parties—Tories, Whigs, and Radicals
—the Members were all on one side : on the side of the
money power, and against the people. They consisted
either of great money capitalists, or of their agents and
tools ; and, true to the confidence reposed in them, they
quashed the inquiry and reported nothing—that is,
nothing to the purpose for which the inquiry was osten-
sibly instituted. They were appointed merely for the
purpose of talking and amusing the public, until the
storm, " the pressure on the money market," as it was
then called, Fh o tad blow over of its own accord. The
storm was allowed to blow over without control, in the
manner already seen ; and it sent many thousands of the
middle classes into the Gazette, and consigned hundreds
of thousands of the labouring poor to untimely graves.
Whether gold and silver money, composed as they
entirely are of intrinsic value, be a sound or just cur-
rency or medium of exchange, in a country where the
prices of commodities are artificially increased about 125
per cent, above their natural or intrinsic amount, as prices
were in this country at the date of the Bullion Commit.
tee's Report, in 1811, forms no part of the questions
put, as above quoted, and there fore I will not trespass in
your indulgence in discussing that branch of the subject ;
but I may here shortly state, that although gold and silver
were evidently ordained by nature to be the medium of
exchange, and univerid. standard of inlite among all
civilised nations, and have been accordingly recognised
as such in al! nges, yet they obviously cease to fin; so,
wherever the prices of commodities are artificially in-
-creased by taxi-s above their natural amount, heeatve,
being a fixed quantity, limited by nature in their amount,
.
the precious meta:s are adapted:, as the medium of ex-
change, to the natural prices of commodities only, or
prices without the taxes ; and they are evidently inca-
pable, therefore, of measuring them, prices at their tax-
included amount.

JAMES PEDIE.
Edinburgh, 01,1 Broughton, Dec. 30, 1843.

APPENDIX,

An Aecount of the Aggregate Amount of Promissory Notes pay..ble
to bearer on demand in circulation in the United Kingdom, and
c.f the precious Metals in the Bank of England as appearing flora
the Gazette quarterly .

No. 1.

From the commencement of the Returns to the 10th Nov., 1840.
FOR THE PERIOD FROM NOTES BULLION.
18 Nov. 34 to 10th Feb. 1835... £18,099,000 £8,693,C00
10 Feb. to 5 M 1835... 18,342,000 6,197,000
5 May 'to 28 July 1835... 18,322,000 6.283,000
28 July to 26 Oct 1835... 17,930,000 6,186,000
26 Oct. to 12 Jan 1886... 17,262,000 7,076,000
12 Jan. to 5 April 1836... 18,063,000 7,801,000
5 April to 28 June 1836... 17,899,000 7,362,000
28 June to 20 Sept 1636 .. 18.147.009 5,719.000
20 Sept. to 13 Dec 1836... 17,361,000 4,545,000
13 Dec. to 7 March 1837... 18,178,000 4,043,000
7 March to 30 May 1837... 18,419,000 4,423,000
30 May to 26 Aug. 1837... 18,462 000 5,754,000
26 Aug. 1014 Nov. —lE37 18,344,000 7,432,000
14 Nov. to 6 Feb. 1838... 18,206,000 9,543,1100
6 Feb. to 1 May —lB3B 19,084,000 10,002,000
1 May to 24 July .. 19,266,000 9,749,000
24 July to 16 Oct 1833... 19,350,000 9,437,000
16 Oct. to 8 Jan. 1839... 18,201,000 9,336,0E10
8 Jan. to 2 April 1839... 18,371,000 7,073,000
2 April to 25 June 1839... 18,101,000 4,344,000
25 June to 17 Sept ...1E39... 17.960,000 2,816,000
17 Sept. to 10 Dec 1839... 16,732,000 2,887,000
10 Dec. to 3 March 1840... 16,678,000 4,271.000
3 March to 26 May 1840... 16,817,000 4,386,000
26 May to 18 Aug 1840... 17,128,000 4,560,000

18 Aug. to 10 Nov 1840... 16,798,000 3,729,000

21-.E577,1.8.5,000

General Average for the whole periodE, 17,990,000 ,

No. 11.
Monthly returns for the Quarter, including the Lur weeks from
10 Dec. ending 7Jan. 1841... £16,112,000 £3,557.000
4 Feb.
4 March ...... 16,372,000 4,076,000
1 Apri1......... 16,537,000 4,339,000
29 April 16,587,000 4,638,000
27 May
24 June ...
22 July ...... 16,821,000 3,170,000
19 Aug
17 Sept.
15 Oct.
13 Nov 17,272,000 4,491,000
9 Dec.
6 Jan. 1842
4 Feb.... 16,630,000 5,237,000
4 Match
31 March
29 April 17,235,000 6,500,000
27 May

19-X320,205,000

General Average of the whole period X 16,852,894

. .
No. 111.
Monthly returns for the quarter, including the four weeks
ending NOTES. BU WON.
24 June, 1842 £17,795,000 £7,320,000
22 July
19 Aug.
15 Sept.
14 Oct 20,004,00 - 9,653,000

I() Nov 19,903,000 9, 769,000

8 Dec 19,56'2,000 9;984,000

. ,
7 Jan., 1843 -,- - -, - -
18,283,000 11,054,000
4 Feb 21,108,009 10,9.33,000
4 March 20,340,000 10,984,000

1 April
29 April
27 May
24 June

22 July 19,809,000 11,672,000
19 Aug
16 Sept.
14 Oct. .

11 Nor.

9 Dec 18,791,000 12:996,000

20—E388,218,000
•.
General average of the vrhole
period
Deduct tint general average
No. I.

General average amount of issues
beyond the first period 1,420,900

OUTLAWRY.—Dur:ng the morning service on Mon-
das proclamation of outlawry was posted on the doors of the
parish church at Brighton, declaring Mr. Thomas Reed Kemp,
formerly M.P. for Lewes, and projector of KemP'Town,
Brighton, an outlaw, he having neglected to. render in an
action brought against him by Sir W. Pilkington, Bart., and
Dame Mary Milbourne Svrinnerton, bis wife.
Accounts have been received at Holderness_House
which state that Lady Alexandrine Vane, daughter of
the Marquis and Marchioness of Londonderry, and sister
of the Marchioness of Blandford, is seriously ill of the
scarlet fever, at Paris, and it is feared the other members
of the family may also take the infection.