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

LIGHT GOLD.

Mr. HUME then, in pursuance of notice he had given, said
he wished to call the attention of the House to the loss to the
public by light sovereigns ; and that some offices should be
appointed by the Government to receive light gold at the in-
trinsic value, according to the number of grains deficient
in the average weight, and not allow the loss of six-
pence, mere or less, to the holder of the coin, accord-
ing to the will of the person who is to receive the coin.
No man in Scotland or Ireland lost a penny by gold, and it
was not fair that the people of England should be made to
suffer. It was nothing less than a system of plunder upon the
working classes. It was owing to the neglect of the Chan-
cellor of the Exchequer that such a thing took place, and he
ought to be called to account for it. He maintained that the
Government, in the case of light gold, ought to bear the loss.
The Hon. Member concluded by moving the resolution.
Mr. SPOONER seconded the motion. He considered the
Hon. Member had referred to the working classes, but there
was another important class that suffered—the small tradesmen
and shopkeepers. They were obliged, in the course of busi-
ness, to take light sovereigns as full weight, and when they
pared with them at the Bank, or to the small dealers, they were
obliged to lose at least fourpence in every sovereign. With the
losses and inconveniences attending on these light sovereigns,
the value was often reduced tenpence or a shilling. He con-
sidered the Government ought to be made to bear
the loss. There ought to be places in every town,
regularly appointed, where gold could always be changed
at its intrinsic value. But this was only a small part
of the question. The question was one of the widest
character, and involved the who'e question of the cur-
rency. He was sorry that the two Bight Hon. Baronets con-
nected with the Government were not present, as the Right
Hen. Baronet at the head of the Government, on a previous
eceasion, in reference to a book published in Birmingham on
the currency, said he believed there were only two men in Bir-
mingham that could write so much nonsense. Now he (Mr.
Spooner) adopted all the leading views of that hook, and was
prerst-ed to maintain them against that Right Hon Gentle-
man. He would, however, only call their attention to a few
facts. illustrative of what had been called so much nonsense.
In 1797 a measure was passed, which the Right Hon. Baronet
the Secretary of the Home Department had called a fatal
measure. That measure was the act of Mr. Pitt, and by its ope-
ration they were enabled to raise means to carry on the great
war subsequent to the French Revolution, supporting the Bri-
tish arms in all their efforts, till their standard was planted on
the walls of Paris, after the battle of Waterloo. The policy
of that measure had been denounced by a disciple of Mr. Pitt,
though there was a very scarce book, which supported the
principle of that measure in a very able manner, and the argu-
ments of which ought to be in the hands of every Hon. Mem-
ber. It was entitled " Graham's Corn and Currency "
( Langhter )—a book which was as plentiful as need be one day,
but, all on a sudden disappeared, no one knew why, until at
last it was extremely difficult to obtain a copy at ell. That
mea.ure, the act of Mr. Pitt, led to an extensive issue of paper
money, without which it would have been impossible to carry
out the gigantic operations of the country at that time. The
Hon. Member then referred to the evils which had arisen from
1797 up to 1819—the very year when Sir Robert Peel's, then
Mr. Peel's, famous Bank-note Restriction Bill was passed—in
suddenly resirieting the paper currency. The measure—that
of 1819—was really to be called a fatal measure, and one that
had been most ruinous in i's operations. He was not one of
those who thoueht it was not right to change the character of the
coin ; but by doing so, when they took the single standard of
gold, they had inflicted a heavy penalty on the country. In
addition to this, they went on to say that though the landlords
might change their estates, they at the same time were doing an
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down to the House in 1824, and stating, in the most
glowing picture that had ever been drawn in that House of the
prosperity of the country, and asserting that it was founded on a
rock. What took place? In the spring following the same
Right Hon. Gentleman came down to the House, and in the
most doleful strains complained that it had all passed away.
Again the same thing occurred in IB2B—prices had risen, a
state of prosperity had returned, the completicn of the mea-
sure took place. Again the gold left the country, and then
through a long period came the struggle again: prices fell to
the level of the Continent, the gold returned, and there was
again a partial return to prosperity. The gold left again, and
again distress ensued. The same course had been going on
ever since, and he warned the landed gentry, on the authority
of his Right Hon. Friend (Sir J. Graham), that either the
rents must be conformed to that of the Continent, or the
standard must be conformed to the rate of rents. At the
standard of 31. 17s. 1014 d., prosperity had never been long
continued in agriculture, manufacture•, and commerce toge-
ther. When the reflux took place commerce took the lead,
then manufactures, then agriculture ; but the prosperity of
agriculture being inconsistent with low prices, the gold im-
mediately left the country, and a panic ensued. This would
be, and must be, the consequence of attempting to carry on
this struggle. A new race would be called into ex-
istence, by the great profits of the capitalist. Old
forms would disappear, new ones would arise, and a complete
revolution in the value of property would take place, and he
warned the Right Hon. Baronet that if the system succeeded,
it would be productive of evil at the best, and if it failed, it,
would bring on such a panic as never occurred before. Im-
perfect as his views were, they were honestly felt, and were
formed after a careful consideration of the subject since 1810.
He would not, however, take up their time any longer, but
conclude by seconding the motion.
The CH ANCELLLOR of the EXCHEQUER confessed
that he had not formed the idea when lie came down to the
House that the subject would run over such an extensive range
as it had doneunder the Gentleman who last addressed the House,
einbracing, as it did, a period of nearly half a century. He
would not, however, travel beyond the motion before the House.
A proclamation was made in 1843, calling in the light sove-
reigns. The Honourable Gentleman must be aware that
since 1816, no notice whatever had been taken of the depre-
ciation of the light sovereigns, and so great at length had be-
come the clamour in consequence of this evil, that a memorial
was signed by all the bankers and principal men of the kingdom,
calling upon the Government to 'caress the grievance. At
the moment the change took place, in compliance with that
application, preparations to a large extent were made in the
Mint to supply the amount of coin that would be required.
With regard to the poor, he denied that no measures were
taken to guard against the loss they sustained, but he would say
that no measures they could adopt would remedy the evil. It was
a hardship he admitted, but it was impossible to apply a remedy
where frauds were so easily effected. He should be very glad
to give an opportunity of weighing light sovereigns in every
town in the kingdom, but, when it was recollected that no less
than 500,000 sovereigns were annually depreciated from tear
and wear, he said that the complexity of the machinery requi-
site td carry such a proposition into effect, was a sufficient argu-
ment against its adoption. The Post•office accepted every
light sovereign, subject to the deduction of 3d. each. He
trusted, in conclusion, that the same oecurrence which happened
in 1812 would never happen again, and that every future Go-
vernment would take care to give notice that such sovereigns
were not a legal tender.
Mr. WILLIAMS never expected that any one would have
risen in that House to give them another dissertation on the '