Star.
London, England, 1830-06-05 00:00:00

THE CURRENCY QUESTION.

TO EDWARD D. DAVENPORT, ESQ.
FLORENCE, May 17, 1830.
St rt,—Having seen in the English newspaper, that
you have given notice in the House of Commons of a
motion to renew or " restore silver as the standard ein
rency," I beg leave to communicate to you my Luau
ledge on the subject, derived, not only from my argils'!'
tance with the state of the currency in continental man
tries, but also from the experience of a near connection
who, upwards of sixty years ago, was himself person:ilk
engaged in great transactions in Holland relating to
coinage of gold.
You are aware, I presume, that silver is the standard
currency—that is, the legal tender of money, in evert
Christian country in Europe, except in Great Britain
that in all those countries it is lawful to take a premium
for gold coin, or sell it at a discount ; and that an nee..
for or against gold, is as common as is a rise or fall nt
any mercantile goods.
Consequently, Great Britain is the only country %%here
gold coin can be obtained without any premium whatevei
In plain terms, the Bank of England is the only silo'
in Europe where gold coin must be given at prime cost, a,
long as a Bank note can be presented to it. As long a>
the issues of the Bank paper were confined, (as before the
late French war), and as long as there were no enorntou.
capitals in the hands of Exchange dealers, (mercantil,
people, who deal in coin, and in the arbitration of Ex-
change by bills of exchange of all trading nations), they,
was not any great danger of the Bank of England being-
intluenct d in its issues of paper by a demand for gold
coin. Now, however, the case is reversed; and I have
no hesitation in saying, that much of the distress in Great
Britain arises from our having gold as the standard
currency.
It is Sir, within your walls, a common expression et
several most intelligent men, and, among others, I sink
out Mr. HUSK MON, "let us have no tampering vi
the currency." I grant to Mr. HUSK ISSON great knee-
ledge of mercantile affairs ; many just notions on political
economy ; but a very great want of information on the
history of the coinage of England and foreign countries,
appears to me to be most evident in him, and in the
famed Report of the Committee on the Bullion Question
Of that report I shall give you an instance. The
evidence of a mercantile gentleman of London Mated
that there was little difference in the expence of
exporting gold or silver ; and this was taken up as a
fact established by Mr. Ricardo, his follower, Mr.
WCulloch, the author, and several supporters of a gold
stands d. Now, Sir, there is not an Exchange broke:
in any foreign country who will not instantly declare that
the expense of the transport of gold and silver coin is in
the compounded ratio of the bulk and weight—gold is
to silver English coin, in weight, as the ratio of 1 to I-11
nearly ; in bulk, as 1 to 22, perhaps. That is, to ex-
Fort 2,000/. sterling of silver, would require 22 cases,
while in gold it would require only one case ; and the
weight of these 22 cases would be 1.3} times heavier than
the case of gold. I presume I need not say, that nu
carrier, by land or water, would diminish the carriage on
account of the article within, and he must be paid by
bulk and weight ; excepting, however, his Majesty's
ships of war, that bring home bullion or coin from South
America by per centage.
But to meet Mr. Huskisson, and others who support
gold standard on their own grounds, I deny we ever hat,
been able to maintain a gold standard previous to the
year 1797, when the Bank of England stopped payment
in gold.
Had those gentlemen looked into the records of the
Mint, they would have seen, that from the year 1760 t•t
1797, it was a constant struggle between the Mint aml
the exporters of gold. During those 37 years we coined
about 60 millions sterling, includinga small re-coinage o:
worn coin of George H. Now I ask if such an enormous
annual addition to the currency of one and a half million
could have been necessary, if there had not been a con-
stant flow out of the kingdom of gold coin, either melted
or in its original state ? This singular fact struck me
many years ago, and I applied to the experience and
knowledge acquired by the gentleman (to whom I have
already alluded) in Holland for a solution. From him I
learned the following history of gold coinage in Europe :
Almost every great nation has attempted to make gold
coin the currency of the country, as a mode of fiwilitating
money transactions before paper money was invented ;
yet none ventured, except Great Britain, to declare
it the standard. Venice, at a very early periuu
in the history of modern commerce, coined sequins
to a great extent, to forward her commerce in
the Eastern parts of the Mediterranean ; but such was
the constant flow of her coinage to those countries with-
out return, that this Republic afterwards coined largely
as a state profit, but never fixed gold as the standard.—
France, under Louis XIV. made a similar attempt by
large coinage of Louis d'Ors, but her extravagant court.
and most expensive wars, forced out the gold coinage ;
and this export had such influence in other countries,
that Louis d'Ors are in many parts of Italy, at this day,
a standard of many money transactions.
Portugal coined an enormous quantity of moidores
the early part of the eighteenth century, and such was
the influx of them in the Western counties, that their
circulation was twice put down by royal proclamation.
Holland, (I mean the old Seven Provinces,) then the
greatest commercial nation in Europe, coined ducats
largely ; and in the war of the rebellion of 1745, we
obtained permission to coin gold at the Dutch mint, for
the payment of troops and auxiliaries, to the extent of
twenty millions, in the coin ei• Dutch ducats. My rela-
tion was assisting in this money transaction at Rotter-
dam. In 1766 he returned to Holland for a short time,
and to his surprise found that all this immense coinage
had totally disappeared. About the year 1775, the
Dutch Government issued a new gold coinage of cyders
and half-ryders of fourteen and seven guilder pieces, nod
not so fine in the gold as the old Dutch ducat, which W3ll
famed for being flexible, and therefore in so great de-
mand in Eastern countries, as to bear a premium always.
In 1786, when, in early youth, I was in Holland in a
mercantile house, the greater part of this new coinage
had disappeared.
The Germanic States have never attempted any gold
coinage to any extent.
Notwithstanding the great extent of Buonapartea
•
coinages, and subsequently of that of Louis XVIII • they
are at a premium in every town on the Continent ; and,

notwithstanding what has been alleged to the contrary,'
they are at a premium at Paris for small sums. Although
in large money transactions between the Bank of France
and the bankers of Paris there is often no premium taken,
yet to each banker in Paris for small 8111113 one is obliged
to pay a premium : and you will observe, Sir, that it is the
flowing out of gold coin in small sums of commercial tran-
sactions, which exhausts a coinage of a country more surely
than the large exports of a great speculator in coin. He
?corks only when the exchange so turns, that it his ad-
vantage, either to pay a debt due in coin, rather than by
a bill of exchange, in Hamburg, Rotterdam, Amsterdam,
Frankfort, Paris, or Augsburg, (the residences of the
great bill of exchange dealers), or to have a deposit in
any of these towns, waiting a movement in exchanges
that may suit. Again he works when any war is pre-
paring between two powers whose gold, not silver, is as
necessary for a campaign as gunpowder, almost.
When gold thus flows out of all countries, with an un-
seen but steady course, even in countries where it is al-
lowed to bear a premium, how can Great Britain expect
to retain its coinage, where all nations may come and
demand it without a premium as long as the Bank of
England issues paper. How can the Bank of England
be steady in its issues of paper, when such a threatening
power is hanging over it that may at any day be exer-
cised by any of the great capitalists, whom I could name,
whenever it suits (their constant aim) to avail themselves
of this palpable opening to play upon our funds and ex-
changes. This, Sir, is not my individual opinion, but
that of many eminent commercial gentlemen on the
Continent : bankers, particularly, who are astonished at
our persevering in a gold standard. In answer to the
arguments of the fluctuation of the price of silver bullion,
they reply, " does this affect the silver currency of five-
francs-pieces in France, of the guilders in Holland, of the
German States Convention piastres, which pass current
from Frankfort to Naples?"
They urge more strongly the necessity of Great Bri-
tain doing, as all other nations in Europe do, adopting a
silver standard, since one family in Europe, which be-
longs to no country, and indifferent to all, commands an
extent of capital of a whole nation, dispersed in every,
quarter of Europe, and more particularly in the above-
named commercial towns, where all the great money
transactions of Europe are concentrated.
We may set such a power at defiance, if we place our-
selves on the same footing with other nations in our cur-
rency ; but not only are the Bank of England, the
bankers of London, the public credit of the nation itself
under danger, as long as we have a gold standard; but
the price of every article produced by the industry of
Great Britain, may be subjected to sudden and fatal
changes in value.

When the different Sovereigns of Europe were winding
up the deadly expences of the long contest against
France, and borrowing loans, some of the wealthiest
bankers in Europe were ready to take large shares in
these loans, on most moderate terms ; and had nearly
consented to subscribe to the greater part wanted ; but
the threatening influence of this family was so great,
powerful, and overbearing, that they were, on the most
careful and prudential examination of its strength,
obliged to relinquish their subscriptions, and allow their
collected capitals to remain idle for some considerable
time ; or take the current market price of the loans, after
it had 'passed out of the hands of the nation to which I
allude. The family itself had little other real share or
interest in the loans than the commission or per centage
they obtained from those of their nation for whom ef-
fectively they subscribed. This information I received
from an eminent foreign banker. I mean not to throw any
reflection against the great commercial family to which I
allude. Their integrity and talents have, no doubt,
gained them most justly the confidence of almost all the
capitalists of their nation. I argue only against placing
ourselves in money transactions in the power of such
machinery, by obstinately persevering in a system of cur-
rency, different from that of all the rest of Europe, and
of so dangerous a nature.
If you will turn to the work of Lord Liverpool, the
father, on the gold coinage, you cannot find a rational ar-
gument in favour of it ; for I cannot call it rational, to argue
that so great a commercial nation as Great Britain should
have a currency of the finest quality, adequate to its
grandeur. And, indeed, all arguments in favour of a
trold currency is shortly answered thus: " Place our-
selves precisely on the same footing with every other
commercial nation in Europe in our currency, then our
exchanges and public funds will not fluctuate more than
in any other country, and the prices of British industry
will not waver more than those of the Continent.
The result of adopting a silver currency would be to'
give a stability to our paper currency at all times, and
under any circumstances (short of civil war) which it has
%ever yet possessed. The unwieldiness of large silver
payments would make Bank notes in constant and steady
demand, and no run could be effective against that
establishment. Before the invention of paper money,
this unwieldy quality of silver currency produced the
Ibteiii of the Bank of Amsterdam, eic. where money
tt as taken in depot, and the merchant gave checks on the
')atik, by which the whole, or a part of the money lodged,
as transferred in the bank books to him who received
the check ; but in no case were payments made. In times
of
good credit these bank transfers bore a premium ; but
he French revolution developed the truth, which was so
:Nig concealed ;—the Bank of Amsterdam had made large
'owns of their deposits to various Dutch public companies,
%Lich the war annihilated.

.....
If a very great importation of silver from South Ame-
rica should take place, our exchanges, our paper money,
uur funds, and the value in silver of our industry, will
be no more influenced than they will be in other coun-
tries in Europe, whichever way it may be, if we place
our silver currency on the same footing, Again, the
same influence will be general and common to all coun-
tries, should there be a great influx of gold. But if we
Persevere in a gold currency, no man can tell what effect
ru'•y' be produced in either case in England, while our
currency differs from ours nations.
1.0 argue upon these events is idle speculation ;
•n'i yet such arguments have been brought forward
decisive while we lave the actual experience of all
i•'' lest of Europe against any bad effect from a silver
,t,tudattl.

It will be argued that we cannot now go back and
4;ter the standard to silver, while every transaction has
litige(l on gold for some years. I answer, why should
°se perm•vere in a system which we never can maintain,
ItilUllt altering the value of every kind of industry on
of those periodical stagnations in trade and mann-
iamires by which we are now so regularly visited.
I am convinced that a simple enactment of a silver
etandard, .bearing exactly the same proportion to gold, as
6 adopted in :France, will not alter the exchanges, or
.4f-press our funds 1 per cent. lam aware that many
Lreat capitalists will strongly object to this, and on good
;:rounds for themselves ; because it is not their interest,
It does not square with their dealing in money transac-
`l.oas with other countries, that the Bank of England
'"ullid ho able to sak a premium for gold, demanded in
%change for their notes.

LONDON.

SATURDAY, JUNE 5.

THE KING.

Wo lament that the indisposition of His MAJESTY is
assuming a very alarming character. The following Bul-
letin speaks for itself :

"WINDSOR CASTLE, JuxE 5, 1830.

" The Kix G has been embarrassed considerably in his
respiration during the night; and His MAJESTY has
had but little rest.

(Signed) " HENRY HALFORD.
" MATTHEW J. TIERNEY."

We have more than once said, in alluding to the ex
pedition against Algiers, that its success depended on the
state of the weather. It is now reported, that during a
hurricane which prevailed on the coast for three suc-
cessive days, between the 15th and 17th ultimo, two
English and one French men-of-war were driven on shore.

The letter of our old friend 0. P. Q. in to-day's Chro-
nicle, is very interesting. We regret that an unusual
press of matter prevents our making extracts, or saying
more than that every hour adds to our conviction that •
great crisis is rapidly approaching.
The observations suggested by the Letter of Mr. MEA-
SON to Mr. E. D. DAVENPORT, the Member for Shaftes-
bury, are unavoidably deferred until Monday.
When the subject of appointing a commission to affix
the sign manual was first brought before Parliament, a
feeling of loyalty to the reigning Family, no less than
one of personal respect for the Presumptive Heir to the
Crown, induced us to suggest that this charge could not
have been confided to better hands than the Duke of
CLARENCE. The maturest reflection still convincing us
that no inconvenience could arise from his Royal High-
ness forming one at least of the commission, our disap-
pointment may be readily conceived on perusing last
night's Gazette, by which it appears that Lord FARN-
BOROUGH, and two General Officers, Sir Wat. KEPPEL,
and Sir FRANCIS BARNARD, are to form the Commis-
sion ! It is utterly impossible to witness this new proof
of the " military tendencies" of the Cabinet, without
going back to the first days of the present Admi-
nistration, when our feeble voice was raised against
the introduction of a military chief, as not merely
unconstitutional, but pregnant with the most dangerous
consequences to public liberty. While our own opinions
on this vital question have only gained strength with
time, how lamentable is it to reflect that so many
of those guardians of our constitutional rights, whether
within the walls of Parliament, or connected with the
press, have not only changed the tone of disatisfaction
and distrust first adopted by them, but have since lent
their utmost support to men, whose admission to office
excited their marked disapprobation.
Feeling as intensely as ever on the above subject, we
hailed the recent announcement of a coalition among pub-
lic men with feelings of unfeigned satisfaction. Nor
were these unmixed with sentiments of vanity and
self-applause, on reflecting that the hereditary supporters
of freedom had again adopted those notions which we
had ourselves all along so strenuously advocated.
While it is hoped that this Union has been formed
I rather with a view to bring about those reforms which
are now become indispensable, as well for the interests
of those who rule as of those who obey, than to
gratify any objects of personal ambition, we are waiting
the result with an impatience proportioned to the magni-
tude of the great interests at stake.

In urging the new party to convince the people that
they have united for the glorious purpose of promoting
national improvement on a broad and liberal scale at home,
and to rescue the nation from that obloquy which has been
drawn down upon it by a deplorable system of foreign
policy, we are surely justified, by the evidence of the
fact, in stating, that there is little to hope from the pre-
sent Administration, either on the score of our domestic
polity, or foreign relations.

With the exception of one great measure—a measure
which the cries of an indignant people forced on a re-
luctantlGo►emment—what, we will ask, has been done by
Ministers, either to improve our condition at home,
or retrieve the national character abroad ? Let

those who require an answer, look at the pertina-
city with which reform and retrenchment have been
met, whenever the patriotic few within either House
of Parliament, have brought them forward. Let
him look at the violation of solemn treaties and in-
ternational law in all our transactions with Portugal;
and, above all, let them glance at those negotiations
which prove, beyond contradictionithat the Ministers of
Russia and France have laboured to respect and uphold
the rights of an unfortunate people, while those of Eng-
land—free and Constitutional England !—laboured by
every means, and alas, but too successfully, to tread them
under foot !

These are the objects which call for inquiry and re-
dress ; nor can any party expect to obtain the confidence
of the country, unless by a frank avowal of their deter-
mination to obey that call, and follow it up with be-
coming spirit. These are the evils which irresistibly lead
men to lament that imperfect state of the representation,
which leaves no adequate control on any administration,
however good their intentions may be. Where the
cause of these evils are so self-evident, well may wo
recommend, with the great Lord Cit AT it A M, in allusion to
Parliamentary Reform, the necessity of infusing a por-
tion of new vigour into the Constitution, to enable it to
baar its infirmities.

In the late debates upon the distress of the country,
there were some friends of the Minister who maintained,
as a " set off," that it did not extend to Ireland. Such
persons we now refer to the report of the late meeting at
Celbridge, in the county of Kildare, inserted in our last
page. Happy should we be to think with them that it
was only partial, and that misery, when it visited one
portion of the United Kingdom, had deserted the other.
This consolation, however, is denied to us. A public
meeting on the distress of the country was held on
Thursday at Bland, near Halifax, that picturesque and
delightful district which the iron hand of poverty had not
gripped until within the last eighteen months, nor had its
monotony been disturbed by a public meeting of a political
nature from the time that "the memory of man runneth not
to the contrary" until that day. We regret the want of
room for a report of the proceedings. Elland is the most
populous district in the West Riding of Yorkshire, and
ono of the principal seats of the coarse woollen cloth
manufacture. It was stated that so great is the dis-
tress prevailing in it, the inhabitants had the appearance
of old age before they reached the prime of life : that
that the misery is encreasing, and the country could
expect no relief without a full, free, and equal represen-
tation of the people in the House of Commons.

CITY, TWELVE o'CLocE.

We are again without any arrivals this morning, owing, no doubt,
to the late stormy weather ; consequently we have no information
to communicate at present.

Commas opened this morning at the same price they left off yes-
I terday-921 for the account, with little or nothing doing at present,
owing to the great dearth of information.

The foreign market is in the same state of stagnation. Portu.
guest Bonds rather lower.

HALF- PAST ONE.
Consols are at present 92U. Little doing.
In the foreign market also little doing.

The Princess AUGUSTA left town yesterday morning,
on a visit to the Duke and Duchess of CLA RENCE, at
their residence in Bushey Park.
The Duchess of GLOUCESTER dined with the Princess
AUGUSTA, on Thursday evening, at her residence in the
King's Palace, St. James's.
The Earl of ROSELYN, Sir ROBERT PEEL. and Mr.
HERRIES, had interviews with the Duke of WELLING-
, TOW yesterday, at the Treasury.
Lord G. BERESFORD has intimated to his County We-
terford constituents, that he will vote against the proposed
stamp duties.
Eight thousand stone of potatoes have arrived at Kil-
larney, which are to be retailed to the poor at four-pence
per stone.—Kerry Paper.
The Marquis of DONEGAL has refused to sign the re-
quisition for a meeting of the County Antrim, for the
purpose of petitioning against the contemplated increase
of taxes.

The County of Dublin Agricultural Report, publiihed
on Wednesday, gave a very gratifying account of the
state of the growing crops, particularly of oats, which
were represented as in a very forward condition.
The candidate who has commenced his canvass for the
County Kerry• is the Hon. W. BROWN E, brother of Lord
K ERMA RE. F. W. MULLINS, jun. Esq. of Beaufort,
aspires to the same honor.

There are this week, in the Mendicity Institution of
Dublin, two thousand six hundred and sixty-nine paupers !
We are sorry to announce the failure of an old and re-
spectable manufitettiring and mercantile house in the
woollen line in this town. The engagements of the firm
are said to exceed 100,0001. and several of the wool-
sta.;,lers and dyers of Leeds are heavy sufferers.--Leeds
Intelligencer.
The remains of the late Marchioness of NORTII.I3Ie-
TON arrived in the Calais Steamer yesterday, and were
landed by a Treasury order, and delivered to a gentleman
who attended, as a friend of the family, to receive the
corpse The funeral will proceed to the family seat,
Cast!e Ashby, in Northamptonshire. Her ladyship died
at Rome very suddenly.
There are at length some hopes of the formation of a
new street from Waterloo-bridge to the British Museum.
Lord Lowther thought that he could recommend the
Government to go to the extent of perhaps 25,6001.
Mr. Hoblionse, who followed, expressed himself sorry
that the Noble Lord did not feel authorized to go
further, and hoped that the higher powers would give the
Noble Lord permission to hold out some expectation that
Government would lend its aid for this great national im-
provement. Other Members expressed the same hope.
The subject will probably be again alluded to ere loag.
WENTWORTH AND BANYRUPTEY.—It is well
known that the above unfortunate parties were bankers
at Wakefield, Bradford, and York, and that ea:lt esta-
blishment was perfectly independent of the oth:rs. It
is expected that the Bradford and Volk• banks will 1.:1;-
mately pay nearly 20s. in the pound, but in the Wake-
field bank, to which the great mass of the creditors be-
long, there will be a deplorable deficiency. In the Wake-
field estate it requires about 30,0001. to pay a dividend
of Is. in the pound.—Leeds Intelligencer.
It is calculated that the Durham and Northumberland
coal-fields alone contain no less than six thousand mil-
lions of tons of coals, or about as mach as will last, ac-
cording to the present average of consumption, fur the
next 1,727 years.

Si'. JAMES'S IliAlf- NIA it K ET, Jana s.
Ile..vy Lowland Meadow Ilay, E 4 fts. to EY It e
ditto, £2 10e. to £3 ina. Fine Upland Meadow and Rye Gra,
Hay, £3 15.. to ate 13a. Clover Hay. ,e 3 10s. to £.5 54. Oat
Straw, J:2 st, to £2 11s. Wheat Strew, £2 Itm. to £2 19.. per loAd
of 36 trossee.

SMITHFIELD HAYMARKET, Jolla s.
Coarse Heavy Lowland 3leadvw Hay, selt as. to 4 101. Useful
Meadow Hay, X 2 101. to Az 101. Floe Upland Meadow and
Rye Grape Hay, £3 10. to AS Os. Clover Hay, generally,* 31.
to £5 16e. Eztraosdloary be ditto, A-- Os. Oat Straw, di fis.
toil Ns. Wheat Straw, El 10i. to Al 121. per load of 36 Mmes.
A good a ipply at malt t.