The Sun.
London, England, 1844-01-31 00:00:00

much impertinence respecting the real nature and the
origin of the term money, but that we find the advo-
cates of a metallic currency make it the foundation
of their opinions, under the conception that intrinsic
value must always be given whenever commodities
change hands; and the notions of a national currency
which have now for many years prevailed, have so
led to a contraction of the medium of exchange, as to
occasion evils which, unless rectified, are likely before
long to break up the very foundations of society.
Mr. HUBBARD confines his notions of currency to
coins and bank-notes, endeavouring to enlarge what
he cannot but see is a very insufficient supply,
by taking the stock of gold dormant in
the Bank as a portion of that in general
use. But if words mean anything, the term
by which we indicate the medium of exchange im-
plies that which is constantly passing from hand to
hand. The cash in the till of a tradesman, or the
balance with the banker of the merchant,as:well as the
working st )ck of the banker himself, are all currency;
but the 14,000,000/. now hoarded up in the vaults of
Threadneedle-street, and intended to be kept in re-
serve, is no more a portion of the circulating medium
than if it were sunk at the bottom of the Atlantic.
The retention of this amount in the hands of the
Bank not only tends to reduce the amount of the
metallic currency, but also to impede the circulation of
another kind of currency, in the shape of bills of ex-
change, which, although held as of no account by Mr.
Hu BBARD, yet, as representing goods sold and delivered,
are just as much a part of the whole stock of currency
as any other representatives of value whatever. With
these included in the account, the inconvenience and
national loss is bad enough, but without them the
aspect of things is terrible indeed. It has been stated
by several authorities that the annual produce of the
country from manufactures and farming is about
470,000,000/., and we are prepared to show that this
is considerably below the real amount. To effect
the distribution of so much wealth Mr. HUBBARD
makes out there is about 79,700,000/. He says.
" It appears that in the year 1838, out of 55,000,0001.
of paper money assumed to have been • necessary for
working the various banks in the United Kingdom,
about 13,000,000/. were issued upon bullion or
gold coin, the remaining 42,000,000/. being
issued upon some sort of securities bearing interest,
The gold coin of the United Kingdom I take at
33,000,000/., and as 8,300,0001. were held by the
banks against their issues, there remains 24,700,000/.
to add to the 55,000,000/. of paper ; thus making the
entire amount of the currency 79,700,0001.," or some-
where about 3/. a head for the population, and
leaving nearly six-sevenths of the annual pro-
duce of the country, to say nothing of the accumu-
lated stocks of indestructible goods unrepresented by
any medium of value whatever. Need there be any
wonder at the cry that money is hard to come at ?
Yet Mr. HUBBARD says that a metallic currency is
the only sound medium of exchange, and that gold is
valuable only from its limited supply ; meaning, we
presume, a small supply. A sounder authority gives
a somewhat different account, and more explicitly
developes the mischievous working of Mr. HUBBARD'S
notions—he gives the following statement. It is
made up from averages of six years at least, in order
that the erroneous representations which the accounts
of one year would give might not mislead, and he
commences with the six years just prior to the
passing of the Bill for the resumption of cash pay-
ments :

1814 to 1819 (both inclusive.)
Amount of population £11,125,000

Average bills of exchange in circulation at one
time, calculated from the amount of duty re-
ceived by the Stamp-office, according to Mar-
shall's tables X 143,000,000
Bank of England notes
Country bank notes 18,000,000

X 178,500,000