The Sun.
London, England, 1829-12-03 00:00:00

MR. 'WESTERN'S LETTER.

(From the Essex Herald.)
EXTRACTS.
TO TILL GENTRY., CLERGY, FREEHOLDERS, AND IN-

HABITANTS OF TILE COUNTY OF ESSEX.
GENTLEMEN,—The difficulties which have long
weighed heavily upon the industrious and laborious
classes now press with such severity, so extraor-
dinary and so anomalous is this visitation of univer-
sal distress, that I feel convinced you must be look•
ing.to your representatives, to whom your most im-
portant interests are confided, for some expression
of their opinion upon the causes of the calamity, and
of the means that ought to be pursued to avert it.
There is hardly an individual now having a capital
engaged in agriculture, commerce, or manufactures,
who does not feel an injury, coming as it were from
an invisible band, and every one whilst feeling it
casts an anxious eye around him, and, unable to
4,iswer from whence it comes, dreads. the moment
another` vietim,_to the mile'
titudes of honest and industrious men who have
already fallen.
You may, perhaps, more especially expect from
me a communication of my sentiments, because I
ventured some years ago to declare a decided opi-
nion upon the cause of the grievances then existing,
and which, with variations in degree, and one short
interval, have continued ever since, and which are
now accumulating and gaining daily more destruc-
tive force. I declared my conviction then to be
that all our sufferings were owing to the mistaken
views of our Statesmen respecting the currency, and
that so fatal was the error they had fallen into, that
the evils arising out of it, however they 'night be less
destructive at one moment than another, could nei-
ther be conquered by patience nor would cease by
time ; that any hopes of relief therefrom would be
fallacious; and that to put off a correction of the
error would only increase the difficulty and add to
the number of sufferers. I was first led to this con-
viction by men of superior intelligence and expe-
rience to myself, who saw the error before I did,
but as soon as the conviction became fully esta-
blished in my mind, the truth of it appeared so ob-
vious, the reasoning upon which it was founded so
clear and so conclusive, that I have never since felt
hesitation or doubt upon the subject ; every day's
tale of misfortune and misery has added strength to
the proposition, and I believe there are few men of
business or reflection who do not now begin to
open their eyes to the light which forces itself upon
them. I say then our difficulties now arise from the
same cause as in 1822; they do not arise from any
of the commonly alleged causes; it is neither sur-
plus production nor surplus population, nor is it the
effects of machinery, nor want of markets, nor corn
laws, nor tithes, nor taxes, which have produced
them. It is the violent and sudden change made
by our Statesmen upon all our money obligations
which has caused the entire evil. The tremendous
effects of legislation upon the currency of a country,
the influence derivable therefrom upon the fate of
nations and on the property and happiness of indi-
viduals, is not at all understood ; but search the his-
tory of this and ever} other country closely and it
will be made apparent. If you only tax your me-
mory with a recollection of the woes of the last fif-
teen years, and reflect upon them, arid make a com-
parison of dates and circumstances, the rapid fall and
rise in the money value of articles, and then again
their depressions, the sadden alternations of pros-
perity and adversity which have taken place, reflect,
I say, a little upon these extraordinary changes, and
you will not fail to see that uot hing but wrong le-
gislation respecting the money of the country can
have been the cause; it is in the power of the su-
preme Government of a country, by an operation
upon the currency, to make or unmake the fortune
of thousands, by one apparently simple measure; and,
I feel no fears or doubts when I assert that one Act,
of 1819, commonly called Peel's Bill, did so*perate.
upon thousands, that it effectively doubled th'adOti
and taxes of the nation, and of every debtor in it; not
indeed to the full benefit of the creditor, but to the
full loss of the debtor. And here lam not looking
merely to the money debt of one man to another of
a hundred pounds on any other amount. All the
industrious and laborious class are debtors, inas-
much as all public payments of National Debt, Civil
List, Army, Navy, Church Establishments, Paro-
chial Rates, Highways, Administration of Justice,
&c., are charges upon, and are paid by the indus-
trious and laborious classes, that is to say,
out of the products of their industry and
labour; and if by an operation upon the
currency those products and labour are made to
sell for only half the price they sold before, the debt
is to all intents and purposes doubled, and those
debtors, the industrious classes, proportionally in-
jured. There is no man who must not, out of the
products of his industry, whether from the plough,
the loom, or the sail, or from the sweat of his brow,
produce twice the quantity of goods to pay the
same amount of charges which would have been rt..

quired previous to Peel's Bill, and upon the pass to
of which this effect was immediately consequent ; it
followed more immediately than ever effect followed
cause upon any conceivable measure of legislative in-
terference; to the astonishment and dismay of the
holders of goods of every description, the , markets
gave way at once 20, 30, 50 per cent. and the
hottest labourer in vain sought a demand for his
labour. It is the universality of this sudden depres-
sion which proves so demonstrably the whole case;
if one or two articles only had so sunk, special
reasons might have been found, but when every
product of agriculture, manufacture, commerce, and
the price of labour itself, all suddenly came down to
such as extent, I say the problem is solved. It is a
diminished supply of money that evidently must be
looked to as the cause. if all our money of every
description consisted of gold and silver, and if one
half was by a combination of causes withdrawn from
the circulation, we should of comae find a propor-
tionate diminution of the quantity of money we
could obtain in exchange for our commodities and
our labour; so if Peel's Bill has equally reduced our
joint currency, consisting of p tper or credit money,
as I may tettn-it, and metallic, of course the effect
must be precisely the same ; and that it did so re-
duce it, the sudden and immedilte fall of commo-
dities and labour is the proof. But the cause of our.
extraordinary difficulties is I think „made still more
apparent by adverting to the general .cirenmitances
and situation of the couutry ; in the midst of diffi-
culty and distress so peculiar, we possess all the ele-
ments of prosperity, the powers of the country, the
wondrous improvement in all the useful arts, the
enlightened intellect, the increased information, the
enterprise, the industry of all the active classes of
society at this moment, never were exceeded or
perhaps equalled; the capital applicable to the em-
ployment of industry is still superior to that of any
other country, though it has been of late years
grievously reduced, and the agricultural capital of
the country to a most serious extent ; still, I say,
upon the whole, there never was a country possess-.
ing so fully the elements of prosperity. What then
can be the cause of the universal embarrassment and
difficulties under which we labour ? I know that
multitudes scill answer the taxes; but I say the

taxes would not be felt, if they were payable in
money of the same value of that in which they were
imposed ; it is the monstrous act of doubling that
value which has occasioned this unexampled state of
things.
•

But you will ask me what must be done ? We
must tell our rulers that comman sense and painful
experience have shown us at length the cause of
our distress ; they must not longer deceive them.
selves or us with plausible statements and vain
hopes ; they cannot longer conceal the trwh and
plain matter or fact; they must reconsider the mea-
sures; they have evidently got into a wrong path,
they must try to get right; perseverance in error
has already gone to an unwart antable extent ; they
have too long sought to avoid a confession of the
terrible mistake that has been made. I say, they
have gone much too far, considering the universal
distress which pervades all the industrious classes
and the sufferings of the laborious, threatening to
injure fatally the moral character of the people. The
idea that their settlement of the currency is never
to be disturbed, is, I think, presumptuous, and even
foolish in the extreme, and evinces a portion of that
confidet►ce and unhappy ignorance ►which distin-
guished those economists who were the oracles of
the day, and the real authors of Peel's Bill (un-
luckily fathered upon and named afre; hint.) Why
not revise and "amend measures of It which
are now confessed by many, even of the promoters
of those measures, to have been passed under a
gross mistake, and which have proved to be totally
different from what was intended ?

In 1822, when the distress under which the pro-
ductive classes laboured exceeded even that of the
present time, I ventured to propose to the House to
revise Peel's Bill, I urged the necessity of so doing,
from the evident proof then existing of its having
been the cause of what we were suffering, and to re-
lieve us from which, I certainly contemplated some
probable alteration of the arl;itrary gold standard
which had been adopted.
4 4 r_ _

Mr. Huskisson, in an elaborate speech, contended
against any alteration, and concluded by moving a
resolution as an amendment upon my motion, that
this House will not alter the standard of gold and
silver in fineness, weight, or denomination ; this he
took from a resolution moved by Mr. Montague, in
1696, when the metallic currency had been unlaw-
fully clipped and debased, and it was proposed to
depreciate proportionally the then standard silver.
Mr. Huskisson argued that the cases were similar,
and that our conduct should be such as was then
adopted upon the advice of Mr. Montague. Whe-
ther that advice was wise may not be so certain.
I believe if its effects had not been counteracted by
causes which he did not contemrlate, the perfect
wisdom of Mr. Montague, as well as that of Mr.
Huskisson, might have been brought into question;
but the state of this country in 1696 and 1819, as
respected its monetary system, had no more resem-
blance to each other than the systems of England
and China. Mr. Huskisson's amendment was carr►ed.
* , * e . S4l,

Of what use, then, is Mr. Buskisson's famous
resolution, or of what effect but to betray and ruin ?
If the money of the country can practically, and to
all intents and purposes, be altered, and to a great
extent, in its value, without altering the metallic
standard, what is maintenance of that standard but
a fraud?
•
- _

I know there are those who will say, if the legis-
lature should entertain the question of the currency,
with a view to any alteration, it would cause great
alarm, destroy confidence, and excite speculation of
every kind ; but there is no ground for such an ap-
prehension, on the contrary, it is necessary to the
restoration of confithnce, which has been destroyed
by these fluctuations and alternations, which I have
described. Such have been the rapid changes in
the money value of all commodities that nobody can
tell what to do or trust to; every species of contra-
diction to ordinary rules has been exhibited ; we
have had low price with a scarcity, high price with
plenty, and people starving in the midst of abun-
'dance. In 1825, when wheat was at 68s. or 70s.
the average, Ministers said the happiness and well-
being of the people was unprecedented, indeed there
undoubtedly was then no complaint, or cause for
any. In 1827, when wheat was at 585., (10s.
cheaper at least), and all other articles varying in the
same proportion, the same men said it was an alarm-
ing price, and means must be taken to facilitate the
supply of foreign corn ; and a bill was passed ac-
cordingly.
• •

At the same time it is possible our difficulties
might at all events be partially removed, much
easier than those who caused ~them are willing to
allow. A judicious though slight alteration will
often produce very considerable effects; I think the
resumption of the silver standard, and the restoration
of the small note currency, would give some relief;
at all events, a trial might be made with safety.
Let it not be forgotten that Scotland and Ireland
have been allowed to retain their country small note
currency with a penalty upon its circulation in Eng-
land. An arrangement so at variance with common
sense and justice can never be, permanent. We
must legislate again, and we must take a different
course from what has been pursued, or we shall very

.....
into a state of decay, out of whieb it NA In 11, ,—(-
tremcly difficult to recover. It it: time the bolos
mous and intelligent people of the country should
ibterfere; if the agriculturist, me;:elrw, trianni,c-
turer, and ship-owner, rni!fe their voice in harmony
with each other, as they obviously ought, on this
occasion, and tell our statesmen that they ascribe
,heir difficulties to the state of the curl eovy ,
legiliture gill certainly take the into ma-
ture consideration j I think otherwise, t tilling will
he done till some dreadful catastrophe t,...curs, and
which, if 16 go on as we now are doi,g, will take
place at no very distant period. In thus addres,ing
you, g►entlenten, I hart done what appeared to me
in indispensable duty at thin 3nactute ; I fee) conti-'
dent you will give me credit for the motives by
which I have been actuated, hovre-ter nu may or
may not agree with me in the opini9ns 1 ratettain.
I have the honour to be, Gentlemen,
Your faithful and ot•e bent servant,-
CHAS. C. WESTEHN.
[This letter, with some Wlditions, will shortly he
published a; a pamphlet.]