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

Friend to understand that the evil was not. yet-eured,
and that he ought to do everything in his power to meet
an evil of which everybody complained.

~~

Sir. R. PEEL observed that, if the evil occasioned by the
light coin had been allowed to go on, it would have been '
impossible to have imagined the consequences. Every
hour of delay would have increased the. evil in the
country, and it therefore became the advisers of the
Crown to take some decisive steps. The Hon. Gentle-
man seemed to think that her Majesty's Government
had suddenly determined to issue the proclama-
tion. They had done no such thing. (Hear,
hear.) It was true that parties on that side
of the House did not know of that intention, and
instead of looking upon that as a charge-against the Go -
vert:tient, he thought it was the highest compliment that
could be paid to them, as the worst results might be ex-
pected from making such a circumstance public. Now,
in order to show that the prinlipal bankers in the metro-
polis were aware of the inconvenience from the light
coinage, he would read a letter sent by them to the
Lords of the Treasury, dated in January of the present
year. (The Right Hon. Gentleman then read the letter,
which urged upon the attention of the Government the
alarming depreciation of the gold currency, and recom-
mended that the bankers should be encouraged to clip
all the light coin which came to their hands, and that
the Bank of England should take all the light gold
brought there at the full value of 31. 17s. lOid. per ounce.
The letter was signed by Messrs. Masterman anc Co. ;
Glyn, Halifax, and Co. ; Smith, Payne, and Co. ; and
several o her London bankers. This showed how sen-
sible the bankers were of the danger of the present state
of the currency. The Hon. Gentleman, however (Mr.
C. Buller), thought that the distress of the country was
a strong objection to the time w hich the Government
had chosen. But he did not look to the fact that the
very favourable state of the exchanges rendered the pre-
sent time an exceedingly convenient one for effecting
the change.—(Hear.) The influx of gold into the country
greatly favoured the operation of Calling in the coin
with the least possible inconvenience. (The• Right Hon.
Baronet then read a letter from Mr. Horsley Palmer, in
which he also pressed most strongly on the Government the
necessity ofsome such measure, and expressed the strongest
apprehensions for the consequence if it were delayed.)
On this part of the case, he (Sir R. Peel) would not dwell
longer after the very manly and sensible speech of the
. Right -Hon. Gentleman, the late Chancellor of the
Exchequer, who had said most
.truly that continued
representations had been made to the Government.as to
the alarming state of the currency ; and that he only
delayed such a measure on account of the peculiar posi-
tion in which he was placed—(Hear)—and the Right
Hon. Gentleman (Mr. F. Baring) only doubted whether
the GoVernment ought not to have taken some minor
measures of precaution against inconvenience. As to
the period of the proclamation, the evil would have been
increased by delay. They were aware of the suffering
of the country, but that could not operate with them as
a justification for not applying a remedy to the evil.
He totally differed from the Hon. Gentleman in his
opinion that the Treasury ought to bear the loss. The
Treasury was the greatest safeguard against a
lavish expenditure of the public money, and
not the House of Commons. The Hon. Gentleman

had referred to the silver coinage of the reign of William
the Third, and had stated that the Government took the
opinion of Mr. Locke upon it. They did so : they con-
sulted Mr. Locke, but they did not act on his opinion. He
advised that the silver coin should be called in and taken
at its value according to weight. But the Government
preferred a more liberal resolution of the House of Com-
mons, and the consequence was, that an encouragement
was given to the clippers to continue their practices.
Ha had shown them what the conseqUence was of rject-
ing Mr. Locke's opinion. The nation was thrown into
such a state of confusion, that our people were ready to
pay out of the public purse in order to relieve
themselves frOm the difficulties to which their con-
cerns were exposed. The consequence of delaying
the proclamation would be, that every man would
immediately apply himself to. the clipping of gold,
which would be carried on to a greater extent then be-
fore. With respect to the motion of the Honourable
Gentleman, he (Sir H. Peel) did not think it right, as it
invo;ved an attack on the Government, to insist upon the
technical rules of the House for preventing' the course
sought to be adopted by the Hon. Gentleman: He
trusted, however, that the example of the Hon. Gentle-
man would not be followed up by any other Hon. Mem-
ber, as great inconvenience to the public business would
result from it.

Mr. C. BULLER explained. He felt obliged to the
House for the indulgence
,extended to him on the present
occasion, and he agreed with the Right Hon. Betronet,
that nobody else ought to follow the same course.—
(Laughter.) With respect to the observations of the
Right Hon. Baronet upon m hat had fallen from him (Mr.
C. Buller). he must state that he never proposed that any
private intimation should be given .of the course meant
to be pursued by Governmet.t in this affair. He com-
plained of the want of proper preparation being made for
the proclamation. _ . _

After a f,..w words from the CHANCELLOR of the
EXCHEQUER,

Mr. HUME said that he admitted it would have' been
unwise of the Government to have taken any course
which would have come into effect at a distant period.
He believed the Government had no other choice. but to
issue the proclamation at once. He only regretted that
that step had not been taken sooner, as it had. been well
known for some time that a considerable depreciation
had taken place in our gold coin. He also thought that
precautions should have been taken to facilitate the ex-
change of light gold. .He believed that many of the in-
couvenierves which had followed the issuing of the pro-
clamation might have been obviated if the Government
had appointed an officer in each town, whose duty it
would have been to pay the full value for gold according
to its weight. As the matter had been managed, he be-
lieved that the holders of depreciated coin had suffered
three times the loss they ought in justice to have incurred.
He thought that the currency ought to be under the sole
management of the Government,. and no individual
should be allowed to have any profit from it. Instead of
the coinage being allowed to circulate for 25 years, as
had been the case at present, the coin should, beealled
in from time to time. However, he gave the Right lion.
Baronet great o•edit for meeting the difficulty at 'once ;
but he thought that there ought to have been a better
preparation, by enlarging the silver currency, and by a
small issue of IL notes. He hoped the Government
would not let the matter go on again as it had gone on
heretofore; but the proclamation should, be thought,
keep people always on their guard. He regretted that
the motion was brought forward in the present form, be-
cause he thought that there ought to be a Committee of
Inquiry. One thing before he sat down he wished to
say, that, up to the last moment the Government continued
to issue light gold in the payment of its own servants.
Captain BERKELEY explained that what he had
stated in an earlier part of the evening, as to the loss en-
dured by the crew of her Majesty's ship Pique, and the
artificers in the dockyards, inconsequence of being paid
in light gold, was confirmed by a letter which he had re-
ceived that day from Mr. Harrison, of th,!. Hampshire
Telegraph. It was not to be supposed that the pro-
prietors of the Railway would acknowledge any share
they had in such an extortion.
Sir GEORGE COCKBURN said that he had it on
the authority of Admiral Bouverie himself, that there
was no truth in the statement that 37 light sovereig,ns
were paid to the men in the dockyards on one night since
the issuing of the proclamation, and he thought-that the
Admiral Nas better authority than the Editor of
the Hampshire Telegraph He (Sir G. Cockburn) had
made all the inquiries he could on the subject of the
Pique, and he believed that the Gallant Gentleman op-
pi.site was misinformed.
Lord EBRINGTON thought, in the present state of
scienca some more effectual remedy might be adopted
than an annual proclamation.
After a few words from Mr. Attv.vood, Mr. Turner,
and the Chancellor of the Excheqner, the subject dropped.