Star.
London, England, 1819-05-22 00:00:00

notorious* fcrill:ithMeLat theTh a. °
mCouillrit
of the Circular;-
Medium was greater than it had ever been at „
and4.lld s.
former_ period. He would assume, that the Cs a
no:re, incre aw-
hiting Mediutn now was no more than. equal to Itc•
bad been in 1797. This was putting the a". 2%;
meat in the strongest possible_light—it was imar;
hag at case even stronger than that which the R ,D707,3'
established. But even supposing this equality, n
sit ; taking
0
t 1 the
a t Trade, Agriculture, gribacdui
were doubled—all this he would admit;
teal still he would undertake to shevr,'thst While rb
View of Capital in the country had thus incmism.
tend the amount of the Circulation rer4iained station.
ney, that amount was not only as much as a a.
Imiesary, but was even too much. Anv difference%
this point must, in his mind, arise from not taints;
ling properly the difference of a Aletalfc
'ead from not considering the power of Paper.
were aware that Paper Circulation, except for Liu
sums, was not of an old date. Before the
war, there was scarcely any such thing as a Cctmtly
Bank. Individuals were then obliged to keep,*
siderable hoards of money, to enable them to carry
on their dealings. Here, then, on die very iir.t Viet,
was one great cause why, tl.,dei the old system, I
great amount of Currency was required, for a pee. •
powsvilich it might be said was new wholly ten.
known. Besides the removal of th'• great can* tf
a larger proportional Circulation under the old rye.
tem, there was another of very extensive effect`
namely, the new mode of Bankers clearing the ac•
aunts, which made a smaller amount of eirculaticat
neswer the purposes of Commerce than had ronteei
lime required. On this subject, he read a passage
Mr. Colquhouus's Treatise on the Wealth gad He-
acmes of the Empire—a Work which he d6cribe,l
as of great value and considerable authority It de-
scribed the arrangements adopted by the Undo-,
Bankers for settling the .1 lances of their daily trans.
actions--arrangernepts by means of which sixty-eight
millions of money only weri,required to be in circ-
lation, where £457,000,000 would have been requitti
under the old system. This was effected by al
agreement between the Merchant's, that their c",
ders en their Bankers thould not be called till
the end of the day, when the forty-six Bakes
met, and balanced t their accounts, paying r.c.
thing_ but the balances. By this arrangement, t.Lr
velocity of the circulation appeared almost inert&
ble; and one million performed as much as twerq
millions. It now occurred to him, and he was sort
he had not sooner thought of it, that it would be me-
ful to have some further information which might
more coropletely illustrate this part of the subject:
for frnstance—calling the amount of the Rink cam.
lation in the last year £27,000,900, which was the
amount, as. it appeared from an account he held ii
his hand, it would appear dint she-items 'kid made
up this gross sum wets. worthy the attention of the
House. thus of those_ £27,000,000, twenty all.
liens were Cl Notes,. send tram the nuasbe, of tiros
that the Notes of various •denominations had ben
issued, and the length. pi time they had been is dr.
culation, it was fauna "tlint £27,000,000 did the wort
taf £240,0(X),000. .It appeared that the £l, aad
• Notes remained in circulation. on an average,
; • ~ 137 to 147 days; that the i.23oo:Notes remained
in circulation, on an average, about-fourteen days,
and the Ll,OOO Notes only thirteen days. The a•
counts from which these results appearectwere al-
ready before their Lordships. But it °realer to
him, that it would be important-I*CA for imam
accounts before the Restriction, and hesegtetted that
they were not before the House. But he was enabled
to state, that in that year the average tune during
which £l, £5, and £lO Notes combated in circuit.
don was 250 days, instead of 137, as now; that the
£l,OOO Notes, which on an average remained oat at
Ct thirteen days, were then twenty-two days
se.nshevved to what an extraordinary degree the
rapidity of circulation had increased. Before the
Bank Restriction, when a circulation of fifty red-
lions was talked of, it meant 20,000,0001. in specie,
end 50,000,0001. in paper circulation, but now a cir-
culation of 50,000,0001. meant 50,000,0001. after.
It was impossible for him to say whether the cats.
lotion was too great or too small, when it was tale
et 50,000,000/. It depended on other circummaas
and contrivances; and there was only one way °lse-
lin at the truth—that was, by having a Emden.
dard of value. The Only means of effecting &isms
by having the value of the paper in the precious me.
tals—in gold or silver. Those who talked so man
of the evils of a limited circulation went on a great
mistake ; for when the transactions of a country well
founded oa solid wealth, a proper Circulating*
diem would always be provided in the coined
things. At the same time he did not mean to AY.
that when from any circumstance a Metallic Cuneacy
was suspended, that a return to it would eat be c•
tended with very serious evils—though he contended
that they would be but temporary. To strengths
his opinions on this subject, he referred to the esi
dence of Mr. Fletcher, Mr. Page, Me. Mashes, aid
others. It was, however, contended, that tbeldietse
gulations operated unfavourably on the price of sins
When the Mint wannot open. and the Goverment
kept the silver circulation in their own bands, end the
Legislature provided- that. it should ant be a lied
tender for any man above forty shillings, he cooling
understand haw Mini regulations have seeks
effect as was mentioned. If the Neble Leers
Lauderdale's). reasoning on-this subject was cannot
it would equalre, apply to copper twin and $
sine
cobs. But theft* teas, that, the silver coinage an
Mt :at allneenden,the same ground as the go
Thus he .Itad brought before. the House his vieo
upon thin mat important subject, and lie hackisme so
With an ardent and anxious desire to revert to =fire!
standard of currency, as speedily at possq)ly,
such a way as to produce theleancemenienco4rx
distress." Suelt:Jen..itgekr as drat which- had ke2
sir
instituted coOktioethe *a foot without many 1..
conveniences.- it' indiiced many men to deliver att..:
" •On oat a subject to.whieltfrom habit and Cdro.
cation they were very ill Atteil to decide, and it pat
duced necessarily an, immediate aid powerful
upon the commercial interest. Such an effect.
jilts
produced. But this must be said, that the.
had Been gone into aithinekt.: any. Om animc".
without any sacrifice-of principle, and with a 5.12
desire on the part of thoie who.werethe amt arn.itok!
for a return to a • fixed standard of curr.cncy.,
should be done with;theleastificetivenicucc—. El 7 I