The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1833-01-25 00:00:00

THE CURRENCY.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD.
SIR,—I now return to the consideration of the important sub-
ject of our currency, with a reference to what I have already
stated.

Notwithstanding the expense consequent upon the necessity
Which country bankers are now under, of keeping a consider-
able supply of gold beside them, for the purpose of meeting
their broken payments under five pounds, and exchanging their
cotes for larger sums when so required, their business has
Proved beneficial to themselves, and safer to the public; their
issues have been kept on a more limited scale, while the capi-
tals of monied men have been increasing; the trade of the
country is protected by abundant supply and moderate prices;
and the sound state of our currency, renders more difficult the
creation of artificial capital, and of that speculative hazardous
enterprise, to which it was wont to be applied by those who
had every thing to gain and but little to lose. In this state of
things, with our trade and commerce flowing in a safe and
steady channel, generally productive of some, though moderate
If torn, wild undertakings, such as most of us have witnessed
to Other times of delusive.prosperity, are now kept in check;
both merchant and manufacturer require less pecuniary aid in
the shape of loan or discounts; money has therefore become
Plentiful, and in supply beyond demand ; in consequence, the
discount rates of interest have been gradually falling, at pre-
sent not exceeding three per cent., and in some transactions
even lower.

These details are not likely to afford much information to
Wally of your readers who may take the trouble to peruse them;
out I consider them necessary to elucidate the grounds on which
the opinions I entertain on the subject of our currency are
tcaided: that they are facts, will not, I think, be denied.
I now come to the changes that are called for in our cur-
teacY. Such as I have seen proposed are certainly stated in
,terms more or less obscure and- undefined. As far as I have
*tea able to understand them, the leading features seem to be—
a desire to restore the power to issue small notes of one and
two pounds ; next, to increase the number of chartered or joint
84)04 banking companie, and to remove the restrictions they
are now subject to. There seem to be a few who would go the
length of depreciating our currency, by increasing the value of
dishonest
gold and silver coin, under a mistaken idea ( I hope not a
mlanonest one) that they would in that proportion enhance the
value of productive labour. They seem to think that the sove-
-I.!lgn should retain its present value, but contain a less quan-
ti,ty of gold; thus, if reduced one lourth, the debtor who owed
`"s• would be enabled to pay it with 15s. of the currency in
'''hieh his debt was contracted ! There the effect would cease,
as the price of everything would thereafter rise in exact pro-
rtion to the depreciation. This principle has been contended
by a very few, as applicable to the public debt, under the
ttille of an equitable adjustment, fixed upon a scale to corres-
pond with the original contract prices ; but those who do so
seem to forget, that at the time when the great part of the debt
'`as Contracted, the low prices at which the loans were taken
credit;
the consequence of the extremely depressed state of public
Cdit; and therefore that the risk to the lender of being paid
annuity was considered to be in proportion to the price.
That the war in which we were engaged, after so many alarm-
vicissitudes, terminated favourably, was fortunate for the
ellders; but we all know it might have been otherwise. The
Public can have no right to avail themselves of that result, or
4-"Ilge the solemn engagements then entered into with their
7teditors, even had the same parties continued to stand in that
8,-;ll4ti°n, which in few instances only can be found to be the
i:se• If illustration is required, look to the late Belgian and
°rtugal loans, where the prices are low, but are in proportion
14 the credit of the borrowers, and to their chance of repay-
ment.

As regards the increase of chartered or joint stock banks, the
onLY impediment understood to be in their way is the bank
charter, which will soon expire; it is then to be hoped that the
ltehgeiisrlant:luor:eywill, by its enactments, encourage the creation of
such banks as will afford increased security to the public in
transactions, and therefore be preferable to that of
Use small banking concerns that now exist in almost every
quarter of the country; but as such banks are likely to be more
guarded and tenacious in their issues, and in the securities on
vhich they may be disposed to lend their funds, when banking
i 8 transferred to these channels of increased prudence and
safety, it will be more likely to narrow than to extend the pre-
sent paper circulation.
The only change, then, that seems to be avowed and under-
stood, as requiring more particular observation, is that which
Proposes to restore the circulation of small notes; for none have
;beenhardy enough even to hint at the direct suspension of
payments,gash
though various schemes of securities have been
broachedl to cover issues of notes under deposits or investments,
,utit none with sufficient shape and substance to require consi-
deration : were it otherwise, I should endeavour to show that
LeY are uncalled for, and would not avail the parties who might
e an interest in them. I therefore return to the views and
lt)ettations of those who advocate resuming the issue of small
Netes.
These parties profess to do so on the ground that it would
.4414 money more abundant; that, in proportion to its abun-
ee, the value of all the fruits of productive labour, and there-
d4;:of labour itself, would increase in this country; that abun-
tk. ltieci byee of employment would thus be afforded,and readily ob-
er at the working classes, whose comforts would be in-
eased; and that, with these changes, general prosperity and
,„,,e°lltentment would be restored ! I think I shall find no diffi-
i'ltY in showing that this is altogether a delusion, and that
results would not be produced, were the measure itself
racticable which I do not hesitate to contend that it is not.
At the period when the issue of paper money, and of small
motes
particular, became so general and extensive, the gold
;04:rthellcY had been withdrawn and applied to foreign payments,
e Purposes and in the manner I have stated; nor was it'
atlY way possible tore cover the gold so exported until these
Latit';agesnents terminated ; when they did so, they left the
t
rltees of payments in our favour, arising from the state of
tl'`ic, to be received in the precious metals ; until then we were
ieee'sorily and unavoidably dependent on a paper currency.
*8 the gold and silver was in this manner brought back, it
I:ll,,tilito circulation, and took the place of the small notes. I
tv,‘ it Must be evident to every one, that this consequence
,er the natural one to follow, and that the gold and silver re-
ed can only be employed in this manner.
I)te ;ellist also be kept in mind, that this Importation of the
tliee:o4B metals is the fruits of national prosperity, produced by
lq,o`47ourable state of our foreign trade; and I now ask those
the
~Pt°Pose to restore the small note currency, and thus extend
The Per circulation, by what means they expect to effect it?
Iktio6 is now an ample supply of the precious metals in circu-
b 11 and found to be sufficient for every purpose : if notes are
iF t,! introduced, they must displace the metallic currency, and
"Y are to be payable in it at the will of the holder, how is
4,1,8, to be effected without such currency, were they to succeed
illisteir object? But supposing that they did so, what is to be
e with the gold now in circulation, when so displaced ? or
1, :sat are the inducements expected to influence the public to
ive their payments in paper, rather than in gold, short of
Isetei°4 ? The gold cannot be exported to other countries,
base we have, from the relative state of our trade with them,
te b,;,"ive, in place of having payments to make ; and it cannot
-mtiPosed that the Bank of England, private banks, or indi-

viduals, will consent to retain their gold in their coffers unem-
ployed, and therefore unproductive. It is, then, evident that
whilst our foreign trade remains in a prosperous state, and
wealth increases, however slowly, with a balance of payments
to receive, it can only be received in the precious metals, which
must necessarily be employed in the currency of the realm,
where it forms a safer and sounder medium for internal ex-
changes than has yet beea discovered; nor will it stop in this
state with the exclusion of small notes, but as the supply in-
creases, it must also displace a part of the larger description of
notes now in circulation.

Those who from poverty or disappointment feel the pinch
that follows both, appear to indulge the expectation, that if the
circulation of paper money were to be extended they would be
benefitted by it. This is also a delusion. Can they suppose
that those who might have the power and disposition to issue
small notes on a large scale, would part with such to them, or
to any other, without first receiving satisfactory security, in one
shape or another ? And if these parties, who proclaim whilst
they deplore their own wants, have none such to give, I ask
them how they can be benefitted by such issues? On the other
hand, I have already shown that those who do possess the means
of giving such securities can now receive advances of money
upon them, to the fullest extent prudence will admit of, and,
consequently, that no further creation of capital is required.
The circulating medium of Scotland is wholly paper, or
nearly so, from one pound notes upwards, payable in cash at
the will of the holder; but the relative situation of the two
countries is very dissimilar—to speak comparatively, England
is rich, Scotland is poor. England, with few exceptions, has
always been accustomed to a metallic currency, Scotland to a
paper. one. In England, in order to benefit and promote the
national bank, private banking was restricted to six partners,
and the circulation of their paper money in many instances
discouraged. In Scotland no such restrictions on banking
existed; the want of gold made the circulation of small notes
necessary, and without them, the ordinary commercial inter-
course could not be carried on. With few exceptions, private
banking (such as exists in England) has been discouraged
there, and either chartered or joint stock companies established
in preference, on account of the increased safety they afforded.
One of these exceptions, under the firm of Maberly and Co.,
by holding out the temptation of doing business on more fa-
vourable terms, succeeded, some years ago, in establishing
banks for issuing notes in different quarters; they have since
failcd, and as yet, I understand, the holders of their notes have
not even the prospect of a dividend. On tqe other hand, in the
few instances that have occurred of joint stock banking com-
panies suspending their payments, the creditors have always
been paid in full : so much for the advantages the Scotch sys-
tem of banking possesses over that of England. At the same
time it must be taken into consideration, that the aggregate
money business of Scotland is of small amount when compared
with that of England; and that the issues and circulation of
bank notes is controlled and checked by wholesome local regu-
lations, such as do not exist in English private banking; which
regulations tend essentially to protect the public and be-
nefit the banks.

I have thus endeavoured to point out the evils that were
produced by an excess of paper currency, as well as the safety
and advantages of a metallic one ; that the last is the fruits of
a prosperous foreign trade and the growing wealth of the
country, and that whilst this state of things continues, it can
neither be displaced, nor paper money substituted for it, were
it even desirable; that the attempt would prove a failure, and
a source of disappoiu;ment to its promoters.—l am not sur-
prised to observe those who feel the want of money, while they
see it abundant in the hands of their more fortunate neighbours
(like the writer in the Albion under the signature of "an Old
Sailor,")attempt to build castles in the air on the basis of paper
kites, but I do lament to observe that many successful Candi-
dates for seass in the present Parliament, did in their addresses
and speeches indulge themselves, for apparently popular ob-
jects, in descriptions of vague and undefined benefits, resting
on similar grounds, and such as, in my opinidn, are only calcu-
lated to mislead the credulous and ignorant, by creating un-
founded expectations.—Yours, &c.
Jan. 23, 1833. MERCATOR.

CHURCH TEMPORALITIES,

TO THE EDITOR OF THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD.

Sir,—We hear much of the benefits which would result from
reducing the Church to a state of Apostolical poverty.
It is absurd to maintain, that a Christian clergyman should
be as poor as St. Paul, while we permit a Christian layman to.
be as rich as Crcesus. Our Saviour's doctrine about poverty
has indeed a special application to the clergy : but we treat it
now-a-days as if it had an exclusive one. The right rule I take
to be this : a Christian clergyman should have enough for
decency, according to his station, in his personal expenditure,
and for liberality in his charities to others.
The French Church after the Concordat of Napoleon offered
an example of a cheap church—under Napoleon too, who was
famous for making functionaries of• all kinds do their work. I
submit to your readers the following passage from Scott's Life of
Napoleon, vol. viii, p. 310:
" The salary allowed by the state to the curate was only
500 fr. (£26 16s Bd)"—really under £2o—" yearly. No doubt
each community were permitted to subscribe what they pleased
in addition to this miserable pittance : but in France, when the
number of those who care for no religion at all, and of those
whose zeal will not lead them the length of paying for it, is
deduced, the remainder will afford but a small list of subscribers.
The consequence was, that at the period of the restoration,
many parishes were and had been for years, without any public
worship. Ignorance had increased in an incalculable degree."
—I remain, Sir, your obedient servant,

A CHURCHMAN.

INFANT LABOUR.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE LIVERPOOL ST✓INDARD.

Sir,—My attention has been drawn to the subject of In-
fantine Labour in our Manufactories, now so much discussed
in the papers ; and I recommend its further consideration to
the particular notice of your philanthropic contemporaries,
and their influential supporters.
The grievance is so near at hand, that they need not trust to
the statements made by interested individuals at a distance ;
or hesitate to admit the truth• of accounts, so exaggerated and
garbled, as they describe those put forth by our West India
brethren in their defence to be.

They can here judge for themselves,—and if a deputation
were arranged out of their numerous and charitable body, and
packed together in a comfortable roomy omnibus, to start with
all convenience and despatch, I would attend with the highest
satisfaction to cheer the departure of such an expedition from
this town, to probe the truth of these inhuman charges to the
bottom.

Our Liberals would be better employed on such a charitable
errand that begins and ends at home, than in pushing forward,
to the moon, if it were practicable, the Reform Bill, and in
quarrelling about the merits of the Ballot. The public are
getting tired of the long unmeaning yarns spun on these sub-
jects,—a little rest would be acceptable after so much agitation;
besides so much force has been applied to excite a rotatory
motion in the Bill and the Ballot, that I think they may be
safely left to spin by themselves, like friend Egerton's top,
while he attends to the duties of the Mercury.
What though Mr. Sadler, who has preceded our philanthro-
pists in taking up the cause of the young, innocent, and