The Sun.
London, England, 1827-06-15 00:00:00

a nominee stood in a most unpleasant situation, being at
once an assistant to one of the parties and a judge in the
cause. He would bring the subject before the House next
Session.

Mr. WYNN, after making some observations on the
subject, expressed a hope that the non. Member would
delay pressiog his motion till the next Session of Par-
liament.

^M
Mr. M. A. TAYLOR readily acquiesced in the Right
Honourable Gentleman's request, and accordingly withdrew

is motion.

CORN BILL OF 1522.
Mr. WESTERN rose for the purpose of giving a notice,
or rather of completing a notice he had given on a former
evening. After the disposal of a Bill which had passed
that I-louse, but which was arrested in its progress in
another place,-
Mr. BARING here rcsa to order, and observed, that as
the House could know nothing of what was done with the
Bill in another place until it was officially communicated,
it was not regular to advert to it, much less to make it the
subject of a notice here. It would he time enough to take
further steps when the House were informed of the fate of
the Bill in the other House.

•
The SPEAKER said, he understood the Hon. Member
was about to give a notice not contingent upon any thing
which was done elsewhere.
Mr. fIUSKISSON said, if it were contingent it would
he irregular, until they knew of the contingency. He
had understood from general rumour, that the Hon. Gen-
tleman did intend to bring forward a motion, and he hoped
he would give notice of the day.
Mr. WESTERN said, then, without waiting for any
contingency, he gave notice, that on Monday next he would
move for leave to bring in a Bill to repeal so much of the
Corn Bill passed in 1822 as prevented its coming into
operation until the price of wheat reached 80s..—that was,
simply, to allow that Act to come into immediate operation.

DISTRESS OF THE COUNTRY.
Mr. EDWARD DAVENPORT said, that in rising to
move for the appointment of a Select Committee, to inquire
into the calms of the severe distress which had afflicted
the commercial and industrious classes of the community

during the last and present years, he felt his inability to do
justice to the subject. Besides the external difficulties
which he had to encounter in bringing forward his motion,
there were others of an intrinsic character, which he had
not contemplated. There appeared to be a disposition in
some individuals to oppose any proposition, which appeared
to be prima facie for the benefit of the cause of justice and
huManity. There were others who thought the motion
ought not to be brought forward, because, wishing to sup-
port the existing Administration, they therefore considered
it improper to scrutinise the public mischiefs which had
occurred under the preceding Administration. This ap-
peared to him to be an act of unusual respect for a defeated
enemy ; a respect, indeed, which the Members of the late
Cabinet did not seem disposed to pay to their own charac-
ter ; for they bad used their utmost endeavours to defeat a
Bill which, not long since, had been concocted by them-
selves. But whatever other encouragement might be
withheld from him, he had at least one support—that para-
mount sense of duty which had always been, and lie trusted
always would be, the whole rule and guide of his public
conduct. He trusted that, in consideration of the various
obstacles to which he had alluded, the House would indulge
him with a patient hearing while he endeavoured to explain,
as well as he could, the evils of that system to which cer-
tain Members of the Cabinet appeared determined perti-
naciously to adhere. That system had already hurled
thousands of industrious tradesmen from a state of comfort
and respectability to one of embarrassment and necessity;
it had hurled tens of thousands of the classes immediately
below them into a state of destitution and want. He would
show the inconsistency of the persons under whose auspices
the country had been reduced to this deplorable condition.
He would shew that that condition would become worse or
better, according to the measures which Government might
think proper to adopt ; and that it could be rendered better
only by means calculated to bring on a crisis of greater or
less intensity ; for if the circulation of Bank of England
Paper were increased, we should immediately see a rise in
prices in the Stocks, and in all the concomitants and prog-
nostics of national prosperity. The supporters of the
policy which he condemned flattered themselves that
they were maintaining the national faith. What
was meant by the national faith ? Did it not mean to pre-
serve the spirit of mutual contracts; the just and natural
relations of debtor and creditor ? The measures that had
been adopted, however, had ruined numerous debtors;
who were called upon to pay their creditors infinitely more
than they had received from them. Another alarming cir-
cumstance was the defalcation iu the revenue; amounting
in one year to four millions. How could public affairs go
on in a right course under such circumstances? 'Of all the
causes of the existing distress among the people, one which
most puzzled him was the facility with which persons of
the highest talent and of the most 'Constitutional principles
lent their assistance to measures which surreptitiously
raised the taxes one-third above the amount which it was
intended they should be when they were laid on. Unless
something were speedily done, it was impossible to say
what mischiefs might not ensue. Very strong symptoms
of something like anarchy were already showing them-
selves, in the wish to have a Minimum of wages, a maxi-
mum of labour, &e. The fact was, that a large portion of
the people were in a state of suffering which they felt to
be almost intolerable. He thought every Member in the
House must feel convinced that something must be done
for the working. classes. This was as obvious to rea-
son, as it was impressive upon humanity. The poor
could not any longer support themselves by their in-
dustry. To the eternal disgrace of the country, and to
the no great honour or glory of those who presided over
its destinies, the labourer was not worthy of his hire. If
the House would grant him the Committee he required,
lie would pledge himself to prove the following facts :
That the fluctuating systems pursued by Government,
were of ,7reat evil to the country ; that every tax was a
grievance to sae country at large, and a benefit only to
those who received it ; that free trade, the existing
standard, and existing taxation, could not simultaneously
be maintained ; that the intercourse between the Govern-
ment and the Bank of England wag detrimental, inasmuch
as it was dangerous to the stability of that establishment.
He would explain the difficulties arising from the silver
standard being withdrass-n from use. Lastly, be would
pledge himself that the present system had been, and con-
tinued, a fertile source of the increase of distress and crime;
and as this last subject might possibly be a little interest-
ing, and coins home to the feelings of Hon. Members, he
would expatiate more upon it. The Honourable Member
then went into a statement to prove that crime was con-
sequent upon distress. He maintained that neither the
Game Laws nor high prices of corn had created the crimes
which had Lew; so greatly increased of late throughout
the country. He denied that the prices of corn had been
high, for they had been Iowa: last winter than for the last
thirty years. It was, in point of fact, not high but low
prices that had been the cause of the distresses of the
country ; and uo laws could deter persons finm com-
mitting crimes when they had no alternative but starving
or committing them. lie held in his hand a synopsis,
which would show that within the last forty years,
there had been not less than thirteen different financial
periods, and all characterised by precisely the same
features. The Govermnent, therefore, was in no want
of experience, and had erred in spite of the light
thrown upon their situation by preceding events. Ad-
verting to the lights by which the House was governed in
the year 1919, he read to the House, in the first instance,
a passage from Mr. Peel's speech on bringing forward his
Bill in May of that year, in which that Right Hon. Gen-
tleman reprobated the amount of paper circulation. The
Hon. Member (Mr. E. Davenport) was surprised that the
Right Hon. Gentleman, when last year Minister for the
Home Department, ieee,. not made the same complaint.
That" moot honest Bill, whicSta went emphatically by the
name of the Right Hon. Gentlernar3, passed amid loud
cheer; and in this case, as in some etliers, the. record of
that applause was the erly existing proof of the excetlence
of the measure. The Hon. Gentleman then read a quota-
tion of Mr. Rieardo's opinion on the increase of the circu-
lating medium, and subsequently a passage froia a petition
from Liverpool, presented in the session of 1821, on ilia
resumption of cash payments, and asserting, that it had
been determined by Parliament to seteen to a gold circula-
tion, rather with a view to the convenience sad interest of
the Bank of England, than the general welfare of the com.
nu,nity. Every subsequent attempt to trace the difficul-
ties of,the co-;ntry to the change in the currency was in-
variably repressed Houses ; and in order to esta-
blish this point, the 1:1On. Alemb?e referred briefly to the
proceedings and speeches in Pailianienr. In the year fol-
lowing (1822) another Committee was appointed, under
the manctic; of the Noble Marquis then at the head of public
affairs ; and, in conaeouenCe of its Report, and the state of
the Nation, no less than sevea or eight schemes were pro-
posed to increase the currency, and thereby to relieve the
pubhc distress: money was to be lent by the Baal: of Eng-
land upon martiszge ; and next it was to be advanced upon
stock ; and all the Yariaps expedients had for object the in-
crease of the circulation. At this period were sown the
see& of that commercial and mercantile revulsion which had
been by many dieengenuonsly attributed to the transition
from war to peace, and to the boundless spirit of speculation
encouraged by provincial ank It was, in fact, to be
justly traced for
the measburess. of Government, and the

Bank of England forcing the circulation. The Honourable
Member, after noticing the state of the Exchanges, which,
in 1822, began to wear an adverse appearance, called upon
the other side of the House to state, whether any and what
steps had been taken to compel the Bank of England to
restrict its paper issues. So far from any attempt of the
kind having been made, the House would bear with sur-
prise that there had been an absolute increase of that pa-
per circulation which had been already proved to be exces-
sive. By a Return upon the Table, it was shewn that, in
July, 1825, the paper currency of the Bank of England
was not less than 21,763,0001., which rendered the gene-
ral currency of the Kingdom nearly ten millions more than
it had been in the two years immediately preceding. Yet
this increase had been effected without the slightest warn-
ing to the nation ; and the King's Speech by Commission,
in February, 1825, declared that there never had been a
period when all the great interests of the Empire were in a
more flourishing condition. On the conclusion of the
Session, in July of the same year, these congratulations
were reiterated by the Advisers of the Crown. Yet, at
that moment, they must have had, in their pockets, the
returns from the Custom-house of about eight millions of
bullion which had recently been sent out of the country.
In about three months afterwards the shock took place;
into the details of which he would not enter, but state that
the aggregate of bankrupts and insolvents amounted to no
fewer than 11,400. The lion. Gentleman particularly
referred to the calamitous state of the wool districts; and
after reading some quotations on the subject, spoke generally
of the distress and difficulty under which the whole coun-
try laboured. If any private individual had received a cor-
responding account of the ruinous condition of his affairs,
would he not have called his steward to a strict ac-
count, and have taken instant steps to inquire, and to
remedy ? Speculation might have aided, but it had
unquestionably not occasioned the evil. On this point,
the Honourable Member adverted to the Correspondence
between Government and the Bank regarding the panic,
in the Money Market, which strongly condemned the
spirit of speculation which it was asserted had been
" fostered and encouraged by the country banks."
He denied this position, and contended that the coun-
try banks were guiltless of all contribution to the
public calamities. He supported himself in his opi-
nion by several speeches in Parliament, in which it was
urged that speculation had been carried on principally in
London and Liverpool, where no country notes circulated,
and in Glasgow, where the Scotch banking system ex-
isted in its perfection. He also read au extract to the same
point from a letter from Mr. Thos. Attwood to Mr. Glad:
stanes. His object was to obtain an inquiry, which he
thought absolutely necessary for the welfare of the country.
He would not pretend to dictate what was the course that
should be pursued, but something was required ; and the
first step towards the object was inquiry, for which he
should certainly press. He thought that something should
be done with regard to the currency, which ought no longer
to be subjected to the fluctuations which it had recently
suffered. While on that subject he must say that some
fresh regulation of payments to public officers ought to take
place; and unless some Member better qualified than him-
self would undertake the task, it was his intention to call
the attention of the House to the subject of the salaries of
public officers. When the currency was depreciated, those
gentlemen took care of themselves, by increasing the amount
of their salaries ; and now that the old currency was re-
stored, he thought they should be reduced to their former
standard. As part of the country was in this way put
upon short allowance, be thought that the salaries of public
officers should be reduced in the same manner, that all
might share alike, and that there might be no Benjamin's
mess at the public feast. The Hon. Member concluded
by moving that a Select Committee should be appointed,
for the purpose of inquiring into the causes of the distress _
of the commercial and industrious classes, during the last
and the present year.
Mr. LEYCESTER seconded the motion, as he thought
some inquiry was absolutely necessary. He thought so, be-
cause there weve so many different opinions both with re-
gard to the causes of the distress and the remedies that
ought to be proposed to meet it. For himself, he believed
that the distress of the manufacturing part of the commu-
nity was occasioned first by the faultiness of the law, with
respect to the money system of this country, and next by the
mismanagement of the power that had been trusted to the
Bank of England ; the Directors of which, by their impru-
dent issues of money, when money was already too plentiful
in the. market, and by their discounting bills at a small
rate at the same time, gave such au encouragement to
mad-brained speculation, that there was no scheme, how-
ever wild and extravagant, that was not sure to be encou-
raged and supported. The third great cause of the evil was,
the existence of the Sinking Fund. To remedy the distress
which these three causes had produced, it was his opinion
that they should first correct the law regarding the Cur-
rency ; next, that they should regulate the power of the
Bank of England in such a manner as to prevent a repeti-
tion of those evils which their mismanagement had pro-
duced ; and, lastly—that they should give the Sinking
Fund its coup de grace. They had got it down, and he
thought they should keep it down. On the grounds which
he had thus noticed, he should support the motion.
Mr. R. KING also supported the motion, and trusted
that some measures would be adopted for the amelioration
of Ireland ; one of the evils of which arose from the want
of Poor Laws. Ireland had long been the object of mis-
rule and oppression—misrule by the Government, and op-s
pression by the landlord. The absentees generally were
the cause of much evil to Ireland, although Dr. M'Culloch
had published some very crude and undigested opinions on
the subject. The Bill of the Right Hou. Gentleman (Mr.
Peel) was a robbery on the prospects of the people, but the
late chancres in the Ministry had opened a bright prospect
for Ireland, and for humanity in general.
Mr. F YLER said, that the real remedy for the dis-
tresses which had lately existed, and still did exist, was a
wise regulation of the corn trade. High prices of corn
made high prices of everything else. He deeply regretted
the manner in which the Corn Bill had been treated in the
other House. The cup of hope which had been held up
to the lips was, for the present, dashed to the ground.—
After the sun had begun to dawn, the country was sud-
denly involved in Cimmerian darkness.
Sir F. BURDETT observed, that the subject was of
the very greatest importance, and if it were necessary or
highly advantageous to enter upon the consideration of it
without delay, he should not think that it was a good
objection that the proposition came at so late a period of
the Session ; for if it were of paramount importance to
enter upon the consideration of the subject immediately,
then the duration of the Session ought to be extended, in
order to afford the opportunity. Arid then, whether the
matter should be taken up this Session or not, the Hon.
Gentleman who had brought forward the proposition had
done good by calling the attention of the House, and the
Ministry particularly, to the subject. He did not concur
in the opinions which had been expressed' by his Hon.
Friends who had spoken on the question ; but that was
only an additional reason for entering upon the inquiry.—
It was a great fallacy to imagine that the question had been
set at rest. The evil had been brought upon us by mal-
legislation, and the question would never be set at rest
until the matter should he settled on the true and right
basis. The subject had been at first taken up by Mr.
Horner, and several other persons of great talent and in-
dustry, and an elaborate report had been produced, and
upon the whole there had been no want of attention to it.
The subject, however, still required examination. When
the Bill of 1819 was under discussion, it was said by
several persons that it was impossible the Bank could
pay in gold. But he had then stated, that the question
was not whether the Bank could pay in gold, but whether
the country could bear that it should. It sow ap-
peared that it could not at that time immediately resume
the cash-payments without great injury to the country.—
It appeared that the resumption was a great deal too sudden.
There was a period during the war, before the death of
Mr. Pitt, when the cash payments might have been resum-
ed without injury to the country, but that period had not
been taken advantage of. Mr. Pitt, like many others, was
in a great error on this subject, and thought that the ques-
tion depended on the balance of trade, and that cash pay-
ments weld never be safely resumed till a period of peace.
These notions had been now exploded ; but such being
Mr. Pitt's opinion, that accounted for the fact, that there
was no serious attempt to return to Feel) payments during
the continuance of the war. The issue of too great a quan-
tity of paper hi-al been an evil, but the increase had taken
place so gradually, that the people were not aware of it.
A rash step had been taken in' the sudden resumption of
casts payments, and those who proposed it, 'and many other
able men, such as Mr. Ricardo, had no idea of the extent
of evil which followed upon it. They said that the change
would not make a difference of snore than 5 or 10 per
cent. But the difference was much greater ; for
when you contracted your currency by five millions,
this mane a diffe;-enae its the state of prices to the
extent of fifty millions. Prices were diminishes, and
incomes were diminished, and a very serious injury
was done to many classes of the community. After the
state of society produced by the high prices, the idea of pay-
ments i gold at length produced sensations similar to what
the sight of water oceseiosscd in cases of hydrophobia. He did
not mean to say, that we ought always to,rest contented with
a depreciated currency. Ile only said, that the return CO
cash payments had been too Sudden, and that the first
efforts ought to have been to prevent the currency from
being further depreciated, and that the return to cash pay-
ments ought to hay, been much more gradual than it had

been. The mischief had certainly not risen from over-
production, or too much wealth. Up to the close of
the war, commerce and manufactures had flourished in a
very high degree. What was it then which brought on the
distress ? Nothing but the sudden alteration in the state
of the currency. It was then that the agriculturists were
reduced to the greatest distress, and did not know the cause.
They felt quite out of their element, and were like fish in
the channel of a river, from which the water had been with-
drawn—gasping for breath. Then they solicited Corn
Bills as a remedy for their distress, but no relief could be
affiirded by such means. A free trade in corn, while it
would be advantageous to all, would be particularly so to
the agriculturists. It was, indeed, a great absurdity to
talk about prices at all, until the currency should be settled
on a proper and perma-.sent basis. The Hon. Baronet then
referred to the letter lately published by one of the Bank
Directors, recommending the substitution of Bank of Eng-
land notes for those of country banks. Great fault had
been most unfairly found with this gentleman, because he
had put forth this paper, with the view of feeling the senti-
ments of the country as to his proposition. He (Sir F.
Burdett) could not conceive how blame could attach to this
proceeding of the Bank Director, if that gentleman thought
his plan likely to prove useful to the country. The paper
itself was very ably written, and full of sound, good sense.
For his own part, he was of opinion that it would be a happy
circumstance if the paper currency could, by such a plan as
this, be secured from those perilous incidents to which the
paper of the country bankers was liable ; and this advantage
would be still further augmented, by substituting the paper
of the Bank of England, the circulation of which was imme-
diately under the controul of Parliament. The country
bankers issued with reference to no principle but their own
private interests. But the connection of the Bank of Eng-
land with the Government necessarily compelled it to regard
higher considerations than those of its own immediate be-
nefit. The objectiontaken to this plan, on the ground of
monopoly, was misapplied. Where, for the sake of abund-
ance of supply and lowness of price, competition was de-
sirable, monopoly was undoubtedly mischievous. But in
this case the object was a small supply and a high price,
which were the very reverse of what was wanted in ordi-
nary cases. The restoration of the metallic standard had
produced not only distress in agriculture, but in all the
classes who were dependent on prices. By the contraction
of the currency they had been as much defrauded as the
fundholders would if the interest of the National Debt had
been reduced. He agreed that no effectual remedy could
he devised to remove the distresses of the population of
England, while the excessive influx continued from Ire-
land ; nor was he altogether friendly.to the scheme of emi-
gration, by which the most skilful, enterprising, and in-
dustrious portion of the population was carried out of the
country. Upon the whole, as there were so many topics,
of the deepest interest to the public welfare, which might
advantageously be investigated, he should support the
motion.
Mr. MABERLY was of opinion that no sound system
of currency could ho established, while the Bank of Eng-
land had the power of contracting and enlarging the cir-
culation at pleasure. He trusted this question would be
fully considered before the Bank Charter was renewed..—
Looking at the course recently followed by the Bank, it
was, he thought, quite clear that one of the two things
must soon occur—and perhaps before the next Session—
either the metallic currency would be discontinued, or we
should bare another Restriction Act. In 1825, it was
known that the Bank were very nearly driven to that mea-
sure ; they had hardly the means of keeping open their
doors for six hours. As to the Bank Paper, to which the
Hon. Baronet had alluded, neither did he quarrel with the
matter of it; but he contended, that when it was publish-
ing, day after day, in the newspapers, as a Circular from
the Bank of England, the Directors ought to have come
forward at once and denied its authenticity.
Mr. PEARSE had no apprehension that the Bank would
be obliged to suspend Cash Payments. The circumstances
which led to the restriction in 1797 could not take place
in peace, when the balance of trade would necessarily be in
our favour. He maintained that the circulation of the
Bank had never been either more or less than the wants of
the country required.
Mr. HUSKISSON would not detain the House many
minutes, in adverting to some of the miscellaneous topics
on which Hon. Gentlemen opposite had so long occupied
their attention. The motion was for a Committee to in-
quire into the causes of the difficulties which had affected
the industrious classes of the community during the last
and present year, and in making that motion the Hon.
Member had gone into almost every topic of political eco-
nomy which could afford matter for discussion there or in
any other place. To these topics every other Gentleman
who had since addressed the House had added almost every
other topic which could by possibility engage the at-
tion of Parliament pesdi:vide the opinions of the House.—
One of the 'subjects adverted to by the Hon. Mover was, the
measure passed by Parliament, which went to the abolition
of one and two-pound notes. The Hon. Seconder praised
that measure ; on many other points the opinions of the
Hon. Mover and Seconder were wide as the poles asun-
der. Another Hon. Gentleman, speaking of Ireland,
wished this Committee, on the 14th day of June, to inquire
into the state of the population of Ireland—into the relations
between landlord and tenant in that country—into the mode
in which the landlord oppressed the tenant, of which he had
given a statement, which he (Mr. Huskisson) trusted
was a highly coloured one, but with respect to which, if it
were not highly coloured, he would only say, that the evil
could be corrected only by the better feelings of the land-
lord, and not by the intervention of the Legislature. The
question of emigration in all its branches was also to oc-
cupy the attention of this Committee. Another question
which was to be submitted to this Committee on the 14th
of June was, whether it would be expedient to abandon
the Canadas, and separate them from the dominion of the
Crown? The Sinking Fund, the Catholic Question, and
every other possible practical and theoretical question that
could occupy the attention of Parliament, were also to be
submitted to this Committee. Considering the very oppo-
site sentiments of the Gentlemen who spoke in favour of this
Committee, it would be extremely difficult, however de-
sirable it might be, for them to come to a satisfactory de-
cision on the various questions which were to be brought
under their consideration. He (Mr. Huskisson) well re-
membered the period to which the Hon. Mover alluded;
when he (Mr. I-I.) was regarded as a wild theorist, and a
dealer in abstract doctrines, on subjects connected with the
currency. In the year 1811 he was in a very "Tall mi-
nority, which voted that the currency was in a state of
depreciation, and it was a little singular that those who
now pressed upon them the consequences of that deprecia-
tion, and who exaggerated the effect it had produced on the
rent of land, and on the interests of the landowner, were
among those who at that time did not believe in the exist-
ence of the evil. The rent of land had doubled in the last
ten years ; yet those gentle Men did not, in the year 1811,
believe in the diminution of the value of money, but de-
nounced him (Mr. 11.) and all those who maintained that
doctrine, as visionary theorists, and as men altogether un-
worthy of the respect or notice of the public. It
*was certain that those men who now considered
themselves infallible were not among those who perceived
the depreciation of the currency which led to the conse-
quences which bad since ensued. The Hon Gentle-
man wished that the salaries of those whose labours
and talents were devoted to the service of the public should
be reduced to the standard of 1792. If a direct tax were
to be levied upon the income of the country, it would at
least be just to levy it equally and impartially upon every
species of income. An Hon. Gentleman had adverted to
the low amount of the incomes of persons connected with
the Board of Ordnance, as compared with the present sa-
laries. Now he (Mr. H.) believed there was not ose of
the Gentlemen connected with that Department, who
would net be glad to be placed in the situation of those
who held similar situations in 1792. The fact was, that
although the amount of the salaries in 1792 was small, the
emoluments derived from fees, which were now abolished,
were so considerable, that the whole remuneration greatly
exceeded the amount of the existing fixed salaries. The
motion before the House was in reality an attempt to re-
new the motion made by the Honourable Member for
Essex (Mr. Western) in 1822. He (Mr. H.) had at
that time assigned at too much length the grounds upon
which he opposed that motion, and he should not trouble
the House with a repetition of the arguments which he had
then used. If it were wrong in the year 1822 to depart
from the system by which the currency was settled in the
year 1819, it would be much more wrong, he apprehended,
to attempt to unsettle that system in the year 1827. There
was no part of his (Mr. H.'s) public lire upon which he
lOoked hack with more satisfaction, than the occasion on
which lie had opposed the attempt of the Honourable
Member for Essex, to break in upon the system
adopted in 1819, by which Parliament was pledged not
to make any alteration in the fineness, weight, and de-
nomination of the Currency. Five years had elapsed
sifice the" House had conic to that Resolution ; and they
would now'; in his opinion, be guilty of something which
would almost amount to insanity, if they were to attempt to
alter it. lie should, therefore, give his decided opposi-
tion to a motion, of which the object substantially was, to
introduce a doubt whether Parliament ought to adhere to
the standard of currency adopted in 1819. No measure,.
in fact, would be calcUlated to create'raore alarm through-.
out the Country 'than the' one which suggested the proba-
bility of an attempt On the part of 'the Legislature, either
now or at any other period, to alter that standard. It was
a proposal fatal to all the landmarks of property, and cal-