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

AFRICAN COMPA NY.

•, ..0n the motion of Mr. Gourdlunti, the House went into a
Committee on the African.
...
BENNETT ohjected . the clause fob givi;lg con-Ter.:-
action to the Officers of the COmPanY. The Traethle of giyin,
. compensation had become now so .g,eneral, th beat it Ought to
Opposed.
h4r. GOULBURN contended, that as the Hon. Gentleman
did not object (so far as he could collect) to the possessions of
the African- Company being taken •'from they:, the .proposed
compohsition ought not to be opposed. Thishease was distinct
from most cases of the kind, and the individuals in question
had particular claims to compensation. Young men had gone
out from this country, and resided'on the coast of Africa for
in e, ten, or fifteen yeahi, and thus given up every prospect
that they might have had in England. When the Company
was done away, these individuals would be unemployed.—
Would the Hon. Gentlemen turn these Gentleman adrift, who
had iong resided in a most unWholesotheiliniate, engaged- in
the discharge of a public duty ? Their situation he spewed to
be.one of considerable hardship and difficulty, and at the same
time he contended that the measure in question would prove one
of economy.
MIME maintained it was jlct the Wish, bf his
Friend that these individuals should go without compensation,
but that to which he had objected- Was the giving of Govern-
ment a discretionary power to conipensate theth. wished
the-pensions granted to be brought betbrethe Ilonse. His ob-
jections to the clause, as it stoo-lh were such, that he intended
to divide the /louse on it..
Mr. GORDON did -not approve of the course taken by his
Hon. Friend, which went to omit the clause for compensating
the Officers of the African Company, without proposing any
other mode of reMunerating thena—(" No, no," from Mr..
Hume and Mr: Bennett.)—ll' his Hon-- Fliends only wished to .
obtain a check upon Ministers, he had no objections to the
courese they were taking..
GOCLIBURN offered some further explanations of the
clause, and said, it was not proposed that the compensation
should extend to those who had but recently gone out -to the
coast of Africa.
After some remarks from Mr. are and Mr. SMYTH,
Mr. BENNETT moved, that an addition should be made to
the clause, . declaring that the allowance now :proposed should
.not be considered to be finally and conclusively granted till the
subject had been brought again rimier the con iteration of Par-
liament. This amemtment was agreed to. -
The remainder of the Bill was gone through with ; and 'a
cleese having been agreed to, placing the partS now in the pos-
session of-the African Company unaer the same laws as Sierra
Leone, theJlouse resumed, and.the Report was ordered to be
received to-morrow.
BANK PAYMENTS.

The Order of the Day for the Ifouse resolving,
itself into a Committee on the Bank Cash. Pay-
ments Bill was read.

On the motion for the SPEAKER'S leaving the
Chair—

Mr. BARING rose, and said he had originally,
intended to .move an instruction to the Commit-
tee, to consider what alteration it might be pro-
per to make in the, provisions of the Act of the
.59th Geo. lit, cap. 49, with a view to relieving
the pressure which had been produced by the at-
tempt to carry them into effect; but it having
occurred to him that a Committee of the whole
House was ill adapted for such an inquiry, it
appeared to him to be ,abetter course to move

the zrppointment of a Select Committee, for the
purpose of reconsidering the whole question of
the ,currency up stairs. Having on a former
evening stated his opinions on this subject at much
length, jw should not.....detain the Mouse long on
the present-occasion, but shortly refer to some of
the points he had then touched upon. Looking,
throughout the whole kingdom, no,class of socie-
ty could be found. at ease ; .distress in a greater
or less degree. affected all; but it was pressing
with peculiar severity at this moment on the agri-
cultural interest, .to which ..no possibility of a
remedy appeared as yet fo be foreseen, but in
some measure' which should raise. the price of
produce beyond ‘vhat• the other interests of the,
community-could afford.. The main cause of these
distresses appeared to him to be in the .alteration
of the currency.. ,11 is lion. Friend; behind him
(Mr. Ricardo) thought the difference was e.ne notl
worth consideration—,not more, than fir=e or six per.
cent, ; to him, however] it appeared ;to be ,reatly
. beyond that amount, and to fall little short of
39. or 33 per cent. •if Gentlemen..thought that
the difficulties :in the way -of th operation of
the Act of 59 Geo.:- were of a nature easi-
ly to be overcome—if they thought -the causes.
of the present difficulties were:-not deep-rooted,
hut would shortly work their own cure, he could
not expect them to yield easily to his motion, for
he most admit that it was most important to
touch this sttbjectus tenderly a's possible. Par-
liament had some years ago adOpted.a resolution
that the currency ha:d 'suffered, . no • depreciation,
but in 18.18 it discovered-that resolution• to have
been founded on an' erroneous principle, and
adopted a measure for restoring, the ,currency to'
its former standatdOhe operation of which-upon
those who had acted upon the faith of the pre=
viuus resolution', was to reduce them to a most

perilous state, nearly approaching to ruiia. There
was hardly a county in-Englaud in .which were
not to be seen farmers pressed to the ground by
the weight of contracts, which the alteration in

the currency rendered them unable to 'keep: If
this,hvt been the result of over,tratling 'on the
part of the farmer, he should_liave•tlrought it as
little entitled to relief as overtrading.of any other
kind ; but if, as appeared'to hitwto be the.case,
it fuld.been produced .by reliance on the Tesolu-
tion and the subsequent Act. of the Parliament,:
he could not but think thy had a claim -upon

the Tavg;shiture for relief. Th:-:re were vatious
causes width "might occasion a variation in the
price of commodities; but when they found thAt -..-./.
a corresponding rise or..fall. took platte .i:r•the
pric6 of all articles without. exception, it was a
proof of• an alteration in the star,: u 1 by
they were measured. The .present low price of
corn was a grievance-to the farmer.; but cornois.
compared with all other Coomodities, such. as .
leather, iron, &c. was nearly in the same state as...
before.; therefore the general depression was to
he attributed to the alteratiOn of the curreney.";
Gentlemen might say, "All this is•Vory true. ;:..•
but then there is ito remedy but a'seturn to the ,
depreciated state of the currency." He, how-
ever, thought. otherwise. The currency haVing"
for a long course of years been in. a depreciated - •
state, during which contracts of every kind,wgre
entered into and engagements nrade, whenever
any alteration 1V,3 S made with a view of restor-
ing the currency to its ancient standard,lustiCe' •
required that the rate of such contracts should
so regulated as to conform to whatiwas, borne in
the minds of the parties at the time when they •
were made., Prior to 1797, Old. and '•
jointiy formed the standard of this coinitrx .
gold at the rate of pt. 17s. 100. and silver
15s. 2d. per ounce. Gold now remaioed at the
same rate, but the silver currency had been 're--
.duced to 4s. 10d. making a difference:of aboul'7,
per cent. He contended 'that. .a correspondint;•
alteration should be made in the rate of,the gold.
One main, cause of the difficulties attendant on
the, change in ,the_ currency, and from which
arse the, distresses under ' 'which •the country •:
now laboured, was, that the prices of conimodi-
.ties do not -and will not immediately follow the al.
aeration of the standard, but are slowly, and at
the cost of considerable suffering.forced after it.
;For instance, take the case of any species:vita.'
bour in the rnetropolisy that of stone.cuttingi for
example.;
.a mart,. by his work in.that business,.
earns now from thirty to forty shillings a week,
a rate of wages which certainly cannot last under
an increase in the value'of money: But -thela.
bourer cannot be reduced to take lower wages,.
because lie has been so lon, accustomed to that
scale, until he .is greatly distressed. The' ells-•
tress which will cause him to take a lower sum: •
must be brought about by the necessities of the
master from. being compelled to lower his prices
to his customers, who shall have been inducedhy.
the advance they have experienced in the value
of money, to withhold their orders until the nomi-
nal amount of the pricesshall be reduced to a levet
corresponding with that advance. Although he
believed he stated more strongly than most-Gen.'
jlemen in the outset, his belief of the difficulties
in the way of a return to-the ancient standard,
yet he was now convinced that lie had greatly
undervalued them ; he was convinced indeed
that it could not be effected without • operating
the greatest injustice in its effects,: upon pre-ex-
isting zontracts. He, therefore, felt strongly
impressed with the necessity of
_re-examining the.
question in all its bearings, and no time could be
so well fixed for the re-examination as the present;
because, if they waited another year, the injustice
would be still greater in its additional effects npOR
all contracts entered into in the mean time.
The Chancellor of the Exchequer Migh,t congra-
tulate himself on the stability of
,the revenue,
but if he thought his present sprtern: of -finance.
could be maintained under a variation of the
currency, he could assure that Rightilon. Gen-
tleman he was greatly mistaken.. He concluded
by moving—
That a Select Committee he appointed to examine thn
provisions of fie Act of 59 George 111. cap. 49, and to repro,:
their opinion, whether any and what alteration might he made in
them, with a view to'allcviating the pressure which they have.
produced and are still producing."
Mr. ATwoon seconded .the motion. He said
the House could not be ignorant of the sensible •
change that has taken Place in the country, and'
he 'knew of no other cause to which that could he,
traced, unless to the circulating nredinni, and -the
standard of value which we ourselves haveintro
.duced. Various opinions haVe been entertained
as to the 'extent of the depreciation; but it'has
affected the whole country—agriculture, manu-
factures, and commerce-havo been all affected ;
and it was absurd to attribute it to . some causes
to, which it has been ascribed, namely a supera-.
bundant harvest, and the importation from Ire._
/and; It therefore became the. duty of the
House to enter into an entire investigation" of t.‘tt
case, and to dispel that obscurity' and absurdity,
in which it has been enveloped.--(Cries of Hear,.
hear!)-L-It would hot. 'be .considered that. he
meant any disrespect to the Gentlemen
composed the Committee in' 1810, when ha. Said_
that much had been left undone by, them, atui it
therefore became the duty of time House to dci it
now. The standard of value had been altered'
of late in every manner—one time it is raised,
another time loWered..! In fact. there were no •
means by which it could be varied, lisft,undone,
Or at least unatteMpted ; and when has it
been that Government understood the ini-
portance. of the, measures they 'undertook, when
they
,tampered with the •sta.ndardOf money?=,..
They ,give us a standard of °tie day to meet
the :engagements of ,another. this cause,
the distresses of the fartner, Merehant, an,a, ma.
mufacturer, may all botraced77to this.poin; they'
are all determinable.—(Hear, 'has'
been stated that the'reduction of e.irculation has,
been occasioned by the fall of prices, "This is
not, the case, for the reduction of circulaticri
must always occasion the fall of prices
in fact, was so self-evident, that he was ashamed
to occupy the time of the House on it. Ile would,
however, read a passage from a. celebrated au-
thor, Mr. Locke.—(The Hon. Member then • •
read an extract from
.Locke, which stated that
the removal of money fry::t any country must al7
ways occasion a
.fail of price.s.)--This is pre-
cisely what this country has'experienced. Have
we not witnessed a. proposition in this How t,6
hand over a part of the laud to the fundholtief,
and do ',ye not also know there is a divosition iyi
the former to take liberties with the fandhblder ?
Such a.state of things, cannot exiEt; it is 'a most
dangerous thing to set one part of the people
against the other. Let the Government give
back to the,courktry that standard of value in
which the„debt.has been contracted, the taxi.S
imposed, the burdens of the country and all the

money vengagemetats:.'hateleeen founded, -.and a
considerattef portionofsthedistressesOf the coun-
trywill be removed: --(Hear. bear !) • •
The CIIANVELLOR-Of the .EXCIIEQUER said, he
had been-reproached -from year to-year for hav-
ing deleyeda the . return to cash payments, and
perseveriug tiesystem- which- had been repre-
sented es injurious :to the -commercial interests,
and fatal 'to the prosperity. of the'country ; and
that night he wasecalled upon to pursue a diffe-
rent course, and principally to accommodate the
_standard of value 'to the times :in which engage-
ments had been entered into. Now he should be
very glad: to know from, the advocates of this
course what standard' they would propose ? Was
it the•stafielard of 1.797 they preferred ? Surely
then, as -there- were' many private debts (for he
would-net now speak of the public debt) con-
tracted before- 1797,. still Unpaid, according to
their se: is principles the adoption of that standard
would be a most flagrant act of injustice. There
was no'period when engagements were not enter-
ed into, Subject to the return of Cash Payments,
'The ultimate return was loudly demanded by
every"statesman in the country, although some
difference of opinion-might exist as to the proper
period for so doinga • The Act of 1819 is now a
year in.operation, and to recede and retrace our
steps would, in his opinion, be not only childish,
but an act of injustice to every engagement
that has been entered into. He saw no other
course to pursue but that which has been pointed
out by Parliament. The Hon. Member for
Taunton (Mr. Baring) has not proposed tapledge
the Parliament to any measure, but with a consider-
able degree of dexterity he wishes to submit the
whole case to &Committee, and the Hon. Gentle-
man who followed him (M-r. Atwood) wishes to
reduce the standard to the lowest state of depre-
ciation in which it ewes during the war. lie
thought it was a most ruinous system to
mix •up silver with the gold currency, and
to make silver a legal tender; but, from
the year 1721.t0 1762 or 1763, silver had been
a legal tender to any amount. It was then
limited to 25 pounds. The Hon, Member for
Taunton (Mr. Baring) stated that the adoption
of silver would effect a relief of 7 per cent. He
would not enter into a mere fractional considera-
tion, but would view it on its general principles;
and he believed it was universally admitted by
all those who had • ever turned •their thoughts
to the question, that a standard of one value
was infinitely more advantageous in any coun-
try than a mixture of many. It has been stated
all the distresses of the country flow from the
low prices. This he admitted in a great mea-
sure was the case, but *rt was not confined to this
country. Look to • America . and various other
, countries. Therefore it could not be attributed
to the measure of 1819, or any other measures
of this country. There must be some more ex-
tensive cause for this general evil. He thought
that the sudden cessation of war contributed
mainly to produce this effect, and he imagined
there was not as much stress as there should be
laid upon the two great superabundant harvests ;
for, of course, the greater the produce the lower
the prices must be. - These, however, only af-
fected collaterally the immediate question before
the House. The question for the House now to
consider sseas, whether we were again to retrace
our steps, and throw ourselves among the
troubled and stormy waves of a fluctuating cur-
rency ? If we were now to do so, there would
be no respect paid to our proceedings ; an Act
of Parliament would have no authority. This
Act ie now two years in operation, all the effects
contemplated have been produced, and should.
we now do it away,. the consequence must be to
alienate the confidence of the people from :the
proceedings of that House. _(pear, hear!)
Mr. GRENFELL said, that the evident tendency
of the Amendment was to subvert the Act of the
59th or the late kingaan Act which had passed.
with nearly the unanimous consent of Parlia-
ment but he trusted the question. upon which
that Act was adopted rested upon a basis not 'to
be Sliaken by any attack,' direct or indirect. His
lion. Friend, the Mover of the Amendment, had
on a former occasion spoken of the Act in ques-
tion-as being dangerous, from the uncertainty
which.it created upon the public mind.; and yet
his Hon-. Friend proposed a motion to refer the
whole -question 'to a Corninitee; or, in other
words, to .
open the subject again, and thus occa-
siott that very fluctuation of opinion which he
himself had so strongly condenmed.—(ilearl):
Mr. MONCK said, that the cause of our present
distress was to be found in the excessive taxation
to which the people of this countryneere subject,
and the false principle of the standard by
which we had 'arranged our currencaa The
Honourable- Member for Portarlinglon (Mr.
Ricardo), in speaking of the' subject on a
former occasion, left 'entirely'. Out of conSider-
alien-the issue of country Bank paper. Since
1819, there 4vus a considerable reduCtion in it.—
M i'en'there was a great fall in the price Of 'com-
modities, it was evident that such Must be the
effects becauSe articles being cheaper, the same
quantity of paper currency could not lie absorbed.
In'tl;e year 1818, the duties on 'stainlis for coun-
try bit:Oa-notes; amounted to 165,0001.; in 1819,
to 64,000/. being lesS, by upWards of 100,0001. ;
and inTB2O, the dutias amounted only to 24,6001,
The Very reverse of
.Vvhat 'occurred' iu the- pro-
gress to a paper from a:metallic currency, hap-
pened in the return-to a metallic currency'. In
the latter case gold arted 'Paper. Went on improving
together, arid The question was, how far 'they
Could go on so`? Thelreat increase' in the Civil
Liste &M in theotint of all salaries,' in tlibir
tarp. .etpenditure, and, in all abrartChei''of tile
enblic service, . would require noe,lesS than...a cir-
culiting .'itietlitun of 40,000,000!.. in place of
25,000,0001. the amount of their 'Metallic Cur.-
rency when. the Earl of Liverpool wrdte on the
subject. The whole" amount of ' Paper now in
circulation spas about 50,000,000/. Of'tiiiS the
13arik. of England paper 'anionitted t 625,000,000/.
the country bunk PaPer'to 18e000,000/. and
12:000,0(n/.. for ^ Ireland.; Whit must "be the
ellibt of having' alt this" 'convertible into"gold ?
With respect to-the Bank' of'' England he enter-
tained no doubt of its being fully prepared to
pay in gold ; but Would any person say the same
of the country banks ? He did not hesitate to