The Sun.
London, England, 1821-03-20 00:00:00

liVelipo7l,- from the increased expence of all
articleconnected v.ith the management of the
farm, caused by the overwhelming magnitude of
the National Debt. The Hon. Gentleman here
referred to the authority of Dr. Coplestone, au-
thor of the Letter to the Right Hon. IL Peel:—
In the return to a metallic currency, care was
to be taken not to go :beyond. the strict limits.
that good faith absolutely required. Had there
been no Public Debt, he should have sanctioned
a depreciation; which, 'under the present cir-
Curnstances,be could.flot cousent.to do with good
faith to the Public Creditor.. The annuitant was
then rEceiving a larger interest than the debtor
could afford to pay ; and than the country could
afford from the exertions ' of her industry.—
The .House had been told that the expence of
living depended on .the value of ''(Told and silver;
but habits had been introduced that it was. ex,'

trernely hard to overcome. If he was to give a
post-boy half-a-crown, where he formerly had
given 3s. and should attempt to explain to him
that half-a-crown was now equal to 3s. formerly,
he would probably be told he was a shabby fel-
low. The same habits would still for a long time
continue under a different state of things. If no
othergood•should result from this dii_cussion, it
would at least show• posterity that we were now
floundering, not from any natural necessity, but
from out own misdeeds. He was of opinion that
the subject shOuld be sent up stairs
.to a Com-
mittee, to experience a mature re-consideration.

—At the timP ofengagements betwixt indiViduats
the resumption of Cash Payments had never
come into. the•account.„: The value attached to
the pound sterling was what it bore iu the com-
merce of cornmOn life. The average value for
10 precedieg years would-be a fair standard to
determine the -future- value of. the circulating
medium. One remedy hi, would propose, was,
to make perpetual 17-apt-rents in bullion instead of

coin, as had been recommended by an 11ou.
Friend (Mr. Ricardo) Paper would then be the
circulating medium, and the Bank would be pre-
vented from throwing
.oat too much paper, from
the liability to pay —in- bullion. Four or five,
millions in the Bank would. be sufficient for the

machinery -of the' system., Under that systeni,
the Bank would never be exposed to a run of a
great amount, to which it, was liable under the
present system. As the country could not do
without paper for daily use, a gteat run of paper
could never be made upon the Bank. By that
means, the expense of coinage, and the wear and
tear of the Currency, would be saved to the
country. That bad for centuries been the prac-
tice of the Bank of Hamburgh. .The only for,
midable objection was, the` forgery of Bank-
notes. But that question had not yet had fair
play. The attempt had been made to discover a
note that could not be imitated, instead of one
that was ditlicultof imitation. Nothing- could be
more clumsy' than the present Bank-nthe. At
the Bank of France there had been only one for
gery at the time of the occupation of Paris by the
Allies, when the 'fine plates having been destroyed
a provisional plate liad been substituted, and then
a forgery -had. taken place. But in France the
lowest Bank-note was of the value of .1201. For-
gery was also extremely rare in America. A gold
token might also be introduced into circulation.
We should act with perfect good faith by taking
silver as a
,standard.. The former tender of silver
was legal by tale, to the amount of i 54., and by
weight, to any amount. Up to 1707 gold and
silver were the, legal tender of the country ; and
at the present-day the former state of the tender'
might easily be restored. Silver appeared to
him to be a preferable
,standard to gold. Underi
the system of bullion payments there was no in-1
convenience frourthe two standards, though there
might in the'case'of coin. The two metals toge-
ther would forth a better standard than one of

them singly, and preyent thee-variation that one
of them singly would be' liable to: As a practi-
cal question, no difficulty would arise from the
joint operation of the two standards. His reme-
dies were the introduction of the Ricardo sys-
tem, and the operation of the two standards. He
should move a ftesolUtion, that it Was expedient
to re-Consider the Act of the 59th of the late
King, chap. 49, to alleviate the pressure that
would result from the strict execution' of that
law. .

Mr. nrciketoo thought:that the power of re-
striction of Cash Payments was one of a very
formidable nature. By regulating the' quantity,
the Bank Directors had the power of determining
the value of the circulating medium. His. Hon.
Friend (Mr.. Baring) •hatl• gone upon theories,
though he professed that he despised all theories;
for, in the year. 1819, he said, before a Com.;
mittee, that. we should have only one standard.
When asked why he thouiztit SO ? he answered
because he understood that machinery was going
out to South America, which would increase the'
production of silver ; and therefore the standard,
in his: opinion, ought to be gold. His. lion.
Friend, who affected to be no theorist, consi-
dered the distresses of the Agriculturists, &c. of
this country, all arose from the alteration of the
'currency of the country-. 'But what was the
fact ? The currency had Hot falleu more than
10 per cent.: and even his standard—,gold—
had fallen in value•-since thepeace. In compar-.
ing the money of France and other countries
with that of England, as well as • the corn and
other cdmmOdities, they would be foUnd all to
have fallen in valUe as 'well as they had in this
country,• lie doubted whether the-proposition of
his lion. Friend was correct, namely that•we had
expended a great part of.
,our capital during-the
war ; on the contraet; believed that there
were such savings- the co.u9try, as more
than counterbalanced - the expenditure of ca-
pital durinohe war. His Honourable Friend had
asked. why we should have . a purer standard
than the rest of, the world*? He (Mr.i R.),
would answer 'that question by asking another,
—viz. • Why. should. we not have a purer
standard than other. coun tries ? It mattered 'mach
to us to have pure. standard,_as far. as regarded
Other countries ; but in our own it amounted to
nothing how the money was depreciated. The.
use of a proposed 'golden token he deprecated,
because; by a gold token he understood a species,
°Penh' with a smaller quantity of : gold 'in :it
than the rest of the-coin_of the land. This, there-,