The Sun.
London, England, 1842-06-21 00:00:00

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT•
HOUSE OF COMMONS, June 20.
Mr. T. DUNCOMBE ioresented a petition front a
gentleman of the name of. Price, residing in Essex,
praying that a clause might be introduced into the
Railways Bill for the protection of property adjacent
to railways.

GOLD COINAGE.
Mr. C. BULLER (in continuation) proceded to say—
When he was mentioning the conduct. of the Bank,
he might allude to a subject which had been wen-
,.
tioned in the papers, namely, ' that while • .the
Bank had been refusing light sovereigns, it •
had also been issuing them. He had heard that from
so many authorities, that he could not doubt it. A
person went to the Bank, tendered eight sovereigns..
and a deduction was made in the payment f 0; 111 i:
them. There was a cuse of a man who, having at one ,Terat
department of the Bank tendered sovereigns which had I'4
been given to him at another department, they were elf
fouud to be light, and the full value refused to be given • .eefe.
for them. While the Bank was refusing light sovereigns, 111'1'
it WaS issuing light sovereigns. He had thought it right • •—"
. to bring the subject before the House, because it appear-
ed to him that by the measure which the Government
had thought proper to adopt, a very great loss had been eslti
in some way or other inflicted on the public. Might he
ask at what period was it that this loss had been inflicted .•
on the public—what period had been chosen by the Go-
vernmeut for inflicting on the country the mischief of al
discredited currency ? It was at a period when the most-.,a0,
unexampled distress existed among all classes ; wheneil
trade and commerce were more paralysed, and the ittee9l.9Q
bourer Less employed, than at any other period Ine.avae.;;loll
aware of. He should have thought it would have bee/1,300
the course of a wise Government, knowing that there 10
was unavoidable pressure from other sources, to have
been exceedingly cautious of making, by their own ..(07_,f
proceedings, any further additions to the pub- Sr
lie burdens. lie thought that such a Govermnent ,141
would have waited. for a. while, or .if .it •
would not have waited, that it would have adopted every bee:
precaution, in order to let the blow fall as lightly as •et
possible on the public. .ile knew not to what cause to
attribute the carelessness of the measure. Ile knew not, .7,4",,
with the exception of the Right Hon. Baronet, upon ~TS47
whom they were accustomed to throw all the responsi-
bility of the acts of the Government—he knew not to
whom to attribute this measure. To be sure there was
the Right lion. Gentleman the Chancellor of the Exe
chequer—a gentleman who had filled, most creditably to •
himself, the office of Vice-President of the' Board of
Trade. lie supposed that the double duties of, his
office had prevented him paying attention to the subject.
lle had had to expound the tariff, and he had had to ,11',./
come down to the House. and contend for every article
of the tariff, because . he had not only to prove to that it 97,
(the Opposition) side of the House, that there would be 101:;
great reduction to the consumer, lout then to turn round ar.,,
to prove to Members on the other side that the reduce; .tf,
tiou in the auties would cause no reduction in price-41
Perhaps, under all these circumstances the Right Hem-.
Gentietnan's energies had been so much tried that he ei
could not attend to the Mint. He (Mr. Buller) could .r#`..i
have wished it otherwise, for he would venture to saY,eitr
that there had been more harm done by this proceede bl
-
ing with respect to the coinage in one fortnight than the et
tariff would make up in the course of a whole year. 1-11 S. %o'6i
(Mr. Buller's) object was, not merely to vindicate the d
Government, but he had another object in view, because .0;
he would certainly be more satisfied if the Government .;
would come forward and explain to the country the rea-
son, which they had not hitherto given, for this sudden
and unexplained act. He would tell those gentlemen,
and the House generally, that this was not a time ,
to take that high course of recklessness, and put
forth to the public edicts inflicting injury on a great,,'
portion of the community without vouchsafing an en:dos-115
nation of the grounds for so doing. The working eliesSeko
were not in a humour to be trifled with upon thisniattel:4o
They had intelligence, and they had suspicion.e, Therli
would not acquiesce in these edicts without inquiry. 111
must say that there never was a period in which a folle.1;
explanation on the part of a Government would have
greater effect upon the good sense and good feeling a J'eji
the great mass of the people than now.—(Hear.) 1.05174
the Government show them that they had not trifled. ith' 1.7,1
their interests ; let them show them that their acts Were .4
with a view to the welfare of tile community. *: The
people, whatever their sufferings might be, would'
content if they were convinced that the measure was a
just one. If the Right Hon. Gentleman could give that
explanation which he (Mr. Buller) hoped he would; if be
could show that the conduct of the Government had been
founded on sound principles ;' if he could show that they
had acted as liberally as former Governments ; if lel.
could show that they had consulted the best interests 0'
the public in the same way as former Governments had;
if he could show that there was an occasion for maltilif
the change, no one would be more rejoiced than himself
He thought the Government should be glad of the or
portunity he had given them of offering an explanation ,
on the subject, and at all events, by briaging the mater •
under the consideration of the House, it would be shoWr;
that parties, however poor and helpless, who lead suffered
from the course taken by the Government, had advocates
in that House who felt a sympathy in their suftitringlii
and who would take care that they should not be inSPrg"tli!
by the misconduct of their rulers.—(Hear.)
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER Sat
that he was sure the House would forgive him for offer-,
ing a few observations in reply to the Hon. and Learned
Gentleman, although he was aware that in doing so he
should have to trespass on the indulgence of the House• ,
The Hon. and Learned Gentleman had endeavoured
tP
connect the important subject he had brought under the
consideration of the House with another subject wh;ee
was to have been the immediate topic of discussion that
evening ; and lie (the Chancellor of the Exchequer)
could not but think that the precedent laid down by thee
lion. Gentleman of iraroducing a discussion upon
question foreign to that immediately before the House'
was calculated to lead to much inconvenience. However'
in replying to the Hon. Gentleman, he would pulbimjl .
that mutter no further, but would strictly confine
to the topic he had introduced. The lion. Gentlemen
had complained of the course taken by the Government,;
for withdrawing from circulation that portion of 0e '•
gold coin which was below the current value. Bef"tre
they proceeded to the consideration of that subject, tl'ee
House, he thout, ought to bear in mind what was t"
state of the law upon the matter. The law laid it doer; •''
as a principle that the gold coin of these realms, whesi
it was under a certain weight, was no lunger a leg
tender for any payment. No person was compelled ti
take it, and if any party took it he could nut coniP'd_
others to receive it from him in return. It followe '
therefore, clearly as he thought, that when a consider;
able portion of the gold coin of the country was defiel,.
in weight, that was a subject which would necesseb,'
attract the attention of the Government. It woula.w-
or
extremely prejudicial to any class that a great 1014),- t:
tion of the current coin should be so, deteriorated dol'ts
could not be offered as a legal tender in any payteel3o.
He was willing to admit, however, that the subject °
attended with inconvenience, whatever was the ete,:s
which the Government might take. He believedit /v,„
impossible lo devise any means of rectifying the dePr.„,
ciated coin, which would not press more or less upoolif
dividuals ; and he believed it would press more.severer'°
upon the lower orders of society, inasmuch as they w'
to
more liable to be deceived by parties who wished
td
profit by them. But he would beg the Hon. and Lee,rllla
Gentleman to bear in mind what the evils of a "ot
coinage were, even to them, and to consider the case, nip •
merely in its reference to particular individuals, ,13'11,
reference to the consequences which must ensue fr° ure
continued depreciation of the coinage, if some ineesjje.
had not been taken to arrest its progress•
was quite ready to admit that it would have "„0,
far more advantageous to every interest of fled
ciety, if the public had been more frequently wilectiel
front time to time of what was the express state °illicit
law on this subject, and of what was the weight at °too
the gold coin of the country was current. lie took they
blame to himself that when he last held the office/le,'
filled, he did not communicate to the public by pli3ot
mation, the provisions of the law in this respect., „et' ,
the House should bear in mind that it was only e'lol4 ,
fielder times measures of this kind could be taken. we'
to defer the period till the evil became intolersblee the
not the course for a Government anxious to presern-ver '•
people from loss, to pursue. The evil was ex;
portion to the quantity cf light coin in circul
more there was of deficient weight the eas
reduce the remainder to the same standal
making a profit from those to_whom such
be passed. Under these circumstances it wi
for Government, if the period was convenient
earliest measures for withdrawing the lig)
circulation. The Hon. Gentleman complau
step was taken to lead the public to suppo;
gold coin was diminished below what was
law, and that this fact was not generally kno
ment or the country. But every person in a
tion must have known that the gold coin was
in weight, and it appeared that such was the
the Committee that sat last year on banks of issue. ouelP,
peered that much inconvenience was caused to the ~
banks by the refusal of the Bank of England
coin under the weight, it not being a legal tedero'n this
Bank made communications to Government LIPeP calfr-
et
growing evil. And when he entered into offieel,,,,et, e
communications were made to him on the siwibitekl,
merely by the Bank of England, but by otheche 11.0
establishments of the greatest respectability. je,oo
Gentleman thought it uncommon that no Pepet ;`1,4,1,;
aware of those sovereigns being light, but the yogi!' ef
that complaints were made that the Bank °' j3ene it
did not take them. 'The law, as far as 013 to, 'PVT
England was concerned, was strictly adhered`
ancbli
witseiocr
neither issued nor received a sovereign b
weight. This was also the case in certain hros,
the revenue, so that, from the practice of gip iere)
departments, and many private ones, a silinc*e.", tee ' fee
tion was held out to the public that coin beloci efl,st
weight would not be accepted as a legal ten e, be ei,ldir
ment. It became the more necessary, beeel-this 460,7,71
beg the House to observe that measures O
.1,5 04(0•
could not be taken at every moment when it 'The tee e
dient, or when it was wished to take theta' t defer hole
and Learned Gentlemen had said, why 11`) coarse ie ;1.5.;
measure ? The answer was, that if such ofea_sedGi,
been pursued, the evil would nave been aggrztlm,
tenfold degree- What he would ask, was, been !toil.
state of affairs in the country ? There hauthe ask,
tieual influx of bullion and gold into 0.000 „Ole
for some time, and was not that, heoto b fed by
a period when the light gold coinage elcevlceencerns•
di awn ? That the evil was great was actory. t't to re' .
every man who knew anything of tri°llnierneei. Win;
He felt that if he had omitted such 0, °eel' doptea
ever a a
medy the evil, it probably would n Goa
That was the reason why the Governme 0110 eller
the course it had done. The Hon. and I-4° cbeeclii pe(‘-e
man had said that the measure he (thaeiance °ll.
the Exchequer) had adopted was at e,.,1 400
cedent. Now the Hod. end Leaned "

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