Star.
London, England, 1822-06-13 00:00:00

0

for, ir Ole motion-should be tarr;ect lt 'would ix pro-
ductive of raicchievous effects. In 181 S, when gold
had attained the highest price, the depreciation of the
Bank-note had not exceeded 29 per cent. and not 42,
es had been stated by the Member for Essex. His
gm. Friend (Mr. Gurney) had opposed the motion
of the Right Hon. Gentleman, because it went to
alter the standard, and in the same breath he said he
IvJtll.l vote with the Member for Essex,whose motion
wort to alter the standard.
Mr. PE ARSE vindicated the conduct of the Bank
against the remarks of the Member for Portarlingtists4
The Bank had been quite passive in all the import
!ion, of gold, and bid merely availed itself 44 the
port:mons made by the merchants. Up to the
Tor 1610 there was enough of gold to keep it at the
eiJ price. In 1813, when great importations of corn
had been made, and the war had been carried on on
evre enlarged scale, the price rose, and so conti-
eled for four years. If the Member for Portarling-
va was a Member of the Bullion Committee—(Mr.
EICARDO, across the table, “ I was not,-)—then he
culd not see why it was necessary for the Hon. Mem-
ber to hare entered into an elaborate defence of his
conduct. The rise in the price of gold had only
ifocted our transactions abroad.
Sir FRANCIS BURDETT applied to the Member
fe: Essex what had been said of an ancient Patriot,
Vincet amor Patriz !"
The Member for Portarlington had not, as appeared
to ::in:, treated the Member for Essex with his usual
liberality. The Member for Essex had rendered a
r...-at service to the Public by his motion. The 'Mem-
ber 'br Pcrtarlington had not denied the existence
of distress, but as t'aat distress had not existed at
iit::er periods when the price of corn had been equally
1:1v, it was clear that there must be some other cause
for the distress. if the whole income of the country
cr.? 600 millions, and one-third were withdrawn,
with the remaining 400 millions, the People
seetid be called on to pay the same taxes and to bear
same burdens. All the expenses of the Govern-
ment, all the contracts between man and man, were
made during the continuance of the high prices, and
c:3n the supposition of their permanence. The
s:lndard of value had been altered in 1797, and that
tit .•:eciated standard had been made a legal tender.
That was the origin of all the subsequent calamities
the country. The state of things in the time
(.. King ‘Villiam was totally different from the
>eat'day. The Government of that day never
:nade the depreciated currency a legal tender, but
ptmiled those who tendered it. They did quite the
re.erse of the Government of the present day ; for,
t;:eligh they could not allow the clipped money to
rats in circulation, they received it in payment of
taxes at the Treasury. The standard of currency
had been twice altered—in 1797 and 1819.
The celebrated Locke, who lived in the time of King
William, had strenuously contended against any al-
teration of the standard. The Member for Portar-
lington was of opinion, that the El note should have
been, in 1813, fixed at Lis. It was the very thing
proposed to be done by the Member for Essex ; that
the standard should be regulated by a reference to
the price of commodities. In the time of William
all the contracts were made in the legal money of
realm. The Ministers of the present day thought
only of their own temporary convenience ; per-
saading the Bank to act against their own interests,
and sanctioning their conduct by the votes of the
Howe. As to the motion before the House, he ap-
prehended no evil effects from the discussion. Ought
Parliament to be allowed to separate without taking
some steps on this most important subject? The
favourite solution for the distresses of the country
had been, the transition from a state of war to that
of peace; and that solution had long been admitted
by a confiding House of Commons. But that solu-
tion could no longer go down, and then the distress
vas ascribed to the excessive importation of foreign
cora. Hence sprung the Corn Bill ; but still, the
prices and the distress continued. Then Lord
Liverpool imputed the whole to a superabundant
produce; but the Agricultural Committee proved,
that there had been only average crops. He was for
a free trade, as at the time the importation of corn
into the country had been the largest, the price at
home had been the greatest. By excluding foreign
corn, 1,200,000 industrious persons had been thrown
on their parishes. The real cause had not been
assigned, and was to be found in the state of the
currency. The doubts as to the proper remedy were
reasons for adopting the motion of his Hon. Friend.
No company of merchants ought to have been en-
trusted with such powers as had been confided to the
Bank of England, as their it terest and that of the
Peblic must come into competition. If the Noble
Lord could not see his way through the difficulties
of our situation, he ought to throw up his office. He
could not believe that the manufacturing part of the
community could be flourishing while the agricul-
tural were so distressed. The reasoning of his Hon.
Friend appeared to him to be cogent, and his facts to
be conclusive, and he should support the motion.
Mr. HUSKISSON explained, and defended the
accuracy of his reference to the coinage in the time
of King William.
Mr. ATTWOOD said, that the Right Hon. Gen-
tleman who proposed the Amendment seemed to
have mistaken the question. He was astonished at
the appeal to public faith from a quarter where it
had been twice violated. It was the duty of the
Howe to guarantee contracts in the spirit in which
they had been executed—(Hear, hear). The Amend-
ment of the Right Hon. Gentleman tended to commit
the House to a continuance of that system that had
already been so ruinous. The low money rate at
which commodities were exchanged was one great
cause of the distress, especially as that had followed
so very high prices. That state of things would leave
the national industry so heavily burthened to public
and private creditors, as to render it very doubtful
if it could support itself. Instead of meeting the sub-
ject fairly, the most wild and extravagant theories had
been broached. In some cases the people had been
exported, in order to abandon the land, as it had been
asserted that there was too much land in cultivation.
Did the Right Hon. Gentleman know that his =a-
line would change all the existing prices of commo-
dities ? In that case the measure would not have
passed without much discussion. That measure he
must always regard as most ruinous. The fluctua-
tions in the paper and the metallic standard had been
nearly the same. The restoration of a metallic stand-
ard had proved a-covert mode of.increasing all debts