The Sun.
London, England, 1844-03-04 00:00:00

CORN AND CURRENCY.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.
Sin,—After the many conflicting opinions which hare
occupied the minds of the public on the subject of the
corn-laws, I beg to ask whether it would not be an act
of justice to the farmers, renting their farms on long
leases, at war prices, to commute the payment of their
rents, from a payment in money, to a payment in corn,
i. e., that a farmer who took his farm at a rent of 250 L.
per annum when corn realised 755. per quarter, should
now, that the price has fallen to 455., have the option,
by authority of Parliament, of commuting the payment
of his rent, from a money payment to one of corn,
which, at the rate of 455., would make his rent amount
to 150/. ?

I beg leave further to ask, whether it would not be a
public benefit to alter the present duty on corn from a
sliding scale into that of a fixed duty of Bs. per quarter;
to put it out of the power of cornfactors, possessing large
capital, to form combinations to raise the price of corn
to a height that would permit of their importing corn
into this country, at a very low duty, or free of duty.
and thereby glut the market, and deprive the farmer of
the fair remunerating price, which he would otherwise
get for his corn? And I submit the fairness of continu-
ing this fixed duty only so long as the countries export-
ing foreign corn to us should refuse to admit British
manufactures into their, respective countries on a fair
principle of reciprocity ; and that, as soon as this should
be done, their corn would be admitted into British
ports free of duty. This would remove the impression.
so prevalent on the Continent, of our being only actuated
by selfish motives in our commercial dealings, and evince
our readiness to form commercial arrangements with
them, on a footing of perfect equality.
Having said this much on the subject of corn, I will
now beg to offer a few remarks on the present state of
our currency.
Locke has said on this subject, that " It is necessary
your gold should be coined, and have the King's stamp
upon n, to secure men in receiving it,.that there is so
much gold in each piece—but it is not necessary that it
should have a fixed value set upon it."
In opposition to this authority, our Government have
thought fit to make gold the standard coin of the realm,
,!it a fixed value, altogether overlooking that it is, in
r itself, an article of commerce of a fluctuating value, and
also the great depreciation it undergoes by being but
for a short time in circulation, which is augmented to a
great amount by the abrasion, filing, plugging, and other
practices, resorted to by certain classes of :he community,
who obtain their livelihood by deteriorating our gold coin,
to which must be added the expense of recoinage at the
Mints, altogether causing a loss to the public of upwards►
of a million sterling per annum. But this bears no
comparison to the loss and ruin a contracted gold cur-
rency has brought upon our merchants, manufacturers
artisans, and the whole country, from its total inade-
quacy to answer the demands of the public as a circu-
lating medium. This, combined with the high price of
corn, and the States forming the German League
having refused to admit our manufactures into their
ports, have obliged many of our manufacturers, first to
reduce the number of hands in their factories, and after-
wards (although the manufacturers submitted to a dimi-
nution of wages, and to work for a greater number of
hours), they found themselves compelled to close their
factories' altogether to prevent total ruin to themselves ;
thus obliging the unfortunate people employed by them
to apply to their parishes for relief, and to become a
heavy burden to the rest of the community, instead of
beingproductive labourers, aiding the national prosperity.
This is the present condition of a large proportion of
our manufacturers and artisans. Under this state of
things the Wing Ministry contrived to manage, with a
deficient revenue after many years of peace, without
affording to the productive classes any relief, and the
Tory Government, who have succeeded them, have been
obliged to impose odious war•taxes upon the country,
after twenty-nine years of peace, to enable them to meet
the public expenditure.
Such a state of things cannot last; a remedy must be
applied to avert still more fatal consequences ; and this
remedy, it is my firm conviction, is within our reach.
The cause of all our difficulties is our metallic cur-
rency being totally insufficient for the public wants; and,
from this circumstance, checking industry, obliging our
manufacturers to discharge their workmen, and para-
lysing all the attempts of our merchants to employ our
shipping with their ancient spirit of enterprise.
To correct this it will be necessary to discontinue the
employing of gold as our circulating medium imme-
diately on the expiration of the charter of the Bank of
England.. We must, instead of it, establish a paper cur-
rency, sufficient in amount to answer all the wants of the
country. This can be done with perfect security to the
State, on a basis that will secure its standard value

without the smallest fluctuation, by issuing, instead of
our present circulation of sovereigns, a paper currency
of one-pound notes, on the faith and security of Govern-
ment, payable on demand, in gold, at the Bank, not at a
fixed value, but according to the price of gold in the
market, which should be regularly published in the
London Gazette.

To enable the Bank to meet the demands made upon
it for payment of our notes in gold, it will be necessary
to have all our gold recoinod in coins equal in weight
and purity to five of our present sovereigns, " having the
Queen's stamp upon it, to secure men that there is so
much gold in each piece," and these coins should alwaye
be kept in deposit at the Bank for that purpose.
It will be evident from the above, which gives to gold
its fluctuating value, that it cannot be considered as the
standard of value in our currency ; but that the paper
currency of one pound, bearing a Government stamp,
will become so, as the symbol and representative of that
amount of currency. The same rule will apply to the
new sovereigns, which cannot be put into circulation, nor
will any one be obliged to receive them, at a fixed value ;
but those wishing to exchange them at the Bank, for
notes, will receive their value for them, deducting any
deficiency in weight, and a small per centage to defray
the expense of recoinage, before they are again placed
in deposit.
The practice of circulating one pound Bank notes is that
followed in Scotland. and no other proof of its excellence
need be required, than a perusal of the state of Scot-
land before the present system of banking came into
operation.—(See Fletcher, of Saltoun.) Scotland was
then a poor barren country, swarming with a population
that was anything but profitable to the State, with a very
defective system of agriculture, and miserably decayed
towns, thinly inhabited; and no commerce but what
arose from a very limited intercourse with Holland, the
Low Countries, and the coast of France, and even this
commerce was most of it contraband, and carried on by
a bold and daring race, who generally avowed that they
were in the free trade, and questioned the right of any
one to meddle with them, when acting fairly with the
people of other countries, with whom they dealt. Mark
the difference now ! The Scotch, by means of their
banks, have altered the face of the country, as if by
magic, by their improvements in agriculture ; their
towns have increased along with their commerce in a
wonderful degree: witness their magnificent cities of Edin-
burgh, Glasgow, and-rnany others, containing enterpris-
ing and intelligent merchants, and their ports abounding
with shipping, notwithstanding the depression that has
been so generally felt throughout the land.
If we add to this widely extended circulation of ono
pound Bank notes the practice followed by the Scotch
banks, of giving a letter of credit to every individual
possessed of property which he cannot immediately
convert into cash, upon his procuring two undoubted
sureties for the amount of his credit, we would then
have the whole property of all those engaged in trade
and agriculture brought into a state of activity and re-
production.
Let us now consider the effect this widely extended
circulation would be likely to produce upon the nation.
Ist. It would give new life to every part of the com-
munity engaged in commerce or agriculture.
2d. It would immediately relieve all our manufac-
turers and artisans from their present state of depression,
and give to the farmer a fair price for his corn, which
would be consumed by the manufacturers and artiesns,
when is full employment.
3d. It would afford capital to those willing to be
engaged in commercial enterprises that would enable
them to carry the commodities, produced by the s 1
and industry of our manufactures and artisans to every
quarter of the globe, to the widely extended empireoe of
China, to our Indian empire, and to the
d States
et ot ever
Asia, by steam-boats up the
to get avfery
other country where they would be likely_ _
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bring up their families in peace and come
ilEsiihlnd.ren in their turn, to live by
labours, skill, and industry; they would, instead of
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joining those wild theorists, prove themselves faithful
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subjects and firm supporters of the Government.
AN INDIAN OFFICER.