The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1848-09-26 00:00:00

MR. JONATHAN DUNCAN'S LECTURE ON THE
CURRENCY, LAST NIGHT.

Yesterday evening, the first of two lectures upon the
subject of our monetary laws, and their effect in produc-
ing periodical suffering amongst the mercantile, manu-
facturing, and commercial classes. The attendance was
a highly respectable and tolerably numerous one, amongst
which we were glad to observe a considerable sprinkling
of our intelligent working classes, was given in the As-
sembly-room, Great Howard-street. Mr. Chas, Holland
was moved to the chair, and in a brief and lucid manner
introduced the subject to the meeting, explaining the
mode in which the present laws were introduced, and the
objects for which they were devised, which he showed
they had utterly failed to effect, and indeed had
aggravated the evils which they were intended to cure.
He contended that difficult and abstruse as the subject
was said to be, it was high time that the community
should begin to examine its various bearings for them-
selves. It had been the subject for inquiry before two
committees, one in the lower and the upper house, the
first of whom reported in favour, and the latter against
the present laws. But these committees confined them-
selves to the law of 1844 ; and the question before them
was a narrow one. Both the measure of 1844 and that of
1819, whose principle was convertibility, should be exam-
ined ; and Mr. Duncan, he believed, would address him-
self to these inquiries. After stating that he should hold
himself unpledged to Mr. Duncan's particular views with
which he was not well acquainted, and that he had come
to the meeting as a hearer only, he introduced Mr. Dun-
can to the audience.

After same preliminary remarks on the obstructive force
of prejudice, and on the difficulty which truth always has
to encounter in its endeavours to obtain a fair hearing
before an impartial jury, Mr. Duncan proceeded to define
the meaning of the word " money," which may be used
in three senses First, as that which possesses intrinsic
value ; 2d, that which has only a representative value ;
3d, that which combines both, which is its common accep-
tation with us as coin. The bits of bullion, called sove-
reigns, are money of intrinsicvalue, but cease twbe money
if they lose a fraction of their prescribed weight s Exche-
quer Bills are specimens of representative money s and
our silver coins, passing for more than their intrinsicvalue,
combine both the intrinsic and the representative (nullities.
The question with us is, what money ought to be ; and if
it can be shown that the precious metals are the very worst
commodities that could be selected for a currency, it will
he in vain to plead long established usage in their defence.
We must first lay down a distinction between real and
symbolic money. In a comprehensive sense, the earth,
the crops it yields, the cattle it sustains, the metals and
minerals contained in its bowels, the structures raised
upon it, vessels, dockyards, railways, warehouses, facto-
ries, in a word, all things of value which may be trans-
ferred from man to man, constitute real money. Of this
sort of money Great Britain possesses an abundance—
statists estimating it at five thousand millions. The dis-
tress so often witnessed cannot, therefore, arise from any
deficiency of real money. Symbolic money is the sign,
not the thing signified ; it is an instrument hp which real
money is symbolized and put into. circulation. It is the
representative of the reality ; and; if necessary, no dan-
ger could arise were the whole amount of real money
represented by symbols. But, in practice, that amount
never would be necessary, owing to the rapidity of circu-
lation. Before the incorporation of the Bank of Eng-
land, money of the state was issued by the- crown,
and it is desirable- to revive that prerogative, by the
issue of paper paiinds, not possessing any intrinsic value,
to the annual amount of the taxation voted by parliament.
This is the theory. At the end of every financial year,
the Crown is debtor to its subjects to the whole extent of
all the supplies it may require during thatyear, and it is
proposed that it should pay for those supplies with taxa-
tion notes, covenanting to take them back again at'the
same value at which' they were issued, in payment' of
taxes, when the Crown became creditor-of its subjects.
Though' such notes would be intrinsically valueless, yet
the condition annexed to them of discharging taxes would
render them valuable, asin the case of postage stamps.
These notes would pass as legal tender from, man to man-,•
and perform all the functions of money ; and as the Crowe
would create, not borrow-them, they would not bear any%
interest. They could never be in excess, since they would
be limited to the annual amount of taxation, nor could
they ever depreciate. This' theory will be more readily
understood 'if we consider- that all taxes were formerly
paid in kind, and then the subject tendered his real
money into the treasury ; but since taxes in kind are now
commuted into money taxes; •that money ought to be the
symbol of the-reality. The people are only bound in jus-
tice to give a 'portion of their time, produce, or labour for
the protection. they receive from government, and the go-
vernment, by issuing taxation- money, gives a certificate
and receipt that such time, produce, or labour has been
rendered. To •compel the people to pay their taxes in
gold is tyranny-, -since government can not retain gold in
the country, or prevent it being hoarded, in which cases
commodities fall in price, so that a tax of five pounds be-
comes, in reality, a tax of seven or ten pounds, esti-
mated in time,.-in produce, or in labour. Commercial
money differs from taxation- money. The latter is
issued by the Crown, and is declared legal tender.
The former is issued by joint-stock banks, and is not legal
tender. In order that commercial money should be worthy
of public confidence, it is proposed that none should' be
allowed to issue it who had not lodged an ample security
with Government, whether in land or consols, to be ap-
proved of by the law officers of. the crown. o the ex-
tent of two-thirds', or three-fourths, of the security, the
proposed banks might issue notes, to be marked with a
distinctive stamp, such stamp- being a certificate to the
public that the security was lodged. The public would
be empowered at all times to demand the conversion of
commercial money into taxation money, the latter alone
being legal tender, or into gold; at the market price of
that metal. Such was the basis of the monetary system
proposed, and Mr. Duncan stated that there was no
novelty in taxation money, as it was established by King
Henry the First, and maintained till the establishment of
the Bank of England, under the title and name ofeErn.
chequer Tallies, of which he read a curious and interest-
ing account from the writings of Mr. John Taylor. With
these tallies we founded our colonies, our navy, and- our•
constitution, and through these the grandeur of the •em- :
pire. The lecturer then proceeded to comment seriatim
on all the stock' fallacies adduced by the bullionists-
against representation money. The first to which he
alluded was, that paper money would be in excess.• To•
this he replied,_ that the charge could not apply to tax-
ation money as he had defined it, because it would be
limited to the annual amount of-taxation, and the dread of
impeachment would prevent anysninister from violating his••
trust. Commercial money would' also be limited, as• de-
scribed, to somewhat below the extent of the securities.
However, in all transactions between a banker and his
constituent, a double check against our issues exists. If
a man wants a-thousand pounds only on loan, he will not
borrow two thousand, however pressed upon him for why
pay interest on what is of no use to him ? Again, bankers
do not fling their notes about-in the street ; their pru-
dence admonishes them to lend only to those who will in
due time redeem their loan ; so that caution on both sides
renders over-issues quite impossible. It is no answer to
say that there were over-issues by private bankers during
the war ; since the system which then prevailed is quite
different to the one proposed. Fallacy the second. " That
prices would rise indefinitely in paper money.'! This as-
sumes that money is the active cause of a rise in prices,
whereas it is only the permissive cause. The distinction
is of the highest importance. It is not mone-s•that creates
business, but business that creates money. If you cramp
money, prices fall, but if you make money excessively
abundant; you will net raise prices indefinitely, for so soon
as they have found their due level, competition will pre-
vent them rising any. higher. It is well known that, by
the pressure of the atmosphere, water will rise, in a
vacuum (the barrel of a pump for instance) to about thirty.
three feet. Now suppose that the water.had always been
prevented by the interposition of a plug from rising
higher than ten feet, it would follow., that when this
plug was raised- one, two, or ten feet higher, the
water would immediately rush up and fill the va-
cuum created. Now had the plug, never been en-
tirely withdrawn, and people had not known what
was.the cause which produced the rise in the water, they
might have concluded that it would- rise ad infinitum ;
and that it was necessary to interpose a-limiting power, to
prevent it overflowing and deluging everything around.
But it was obvious that the removal of the plug was not
the cause of'the rise of the water, but was only that which
permitted it to rise; the cause was the weight of the
atmosphere, and it ceased to act s'hen an equilibrium was
gained. So, in like manner, the extension of the cur-
rency is not the cause of the rise in prices, but is only
what permits it; the cause is the weight of taxation, and
the rise will cease whenever a price, which will form an.
equilibrium with the weight of taxation, is obtained.
•
Competition will infallibly prevent prices rising higher
than this. We can not enter fully into an exposition of
all the fallacies, as we have of'the two first, on account of
the limited time allowed us to make up the report. But
we can indicate them. They, comprise the following
That capital consists exclusively of the precious metals.
That coined gold is not fixed in price. That usury is jus-
tifiable with limited money. That a return ta paper
money would involve a breach of faith with the pub-
tic creditor. That we ought to have cheapness with
high taxation. That paper would not be convertible.
Mr. Duncan then passed on to historical evidence show-
ing the evils of metallic money, and next pointed out the
advantages of paper money. He instanced the building
of a market at Guernsey, which did not cost the inhabi-
tants a farthing, and now returns an annual revenue. He
applied the principle to the reclamation of waste lands,
and showed how a properly-framed money would operate
as an absentee tax, and cited in favour of his plan the
authorities of David Hume and Dr. Franklin. The lec-
turer then read Mr. Jones Lloyd's theory of trade, and
argued that that theory was the condemnation of the very
system it was intended to support. He then alluded to
Mr. Gray's principles, in which he concurred, and in-
sisted that production could go on indefinitely with an
expansive currency, and that pauperism, crime, and nine-
tenths of the evils of society would disappear, if monetary
science were understood, and its truths embodied in prac-
tical legislation.
The Lecturer was listened to with great attention
throughout, and frequently elicited loud applause, and at
the conclusion, after a few words from the chairman, the
meeting broke up, much gratified with the information
which had been conveyed upon them.

EXTRAORDINARY ACCIDENT.—On Friday night, about
seven o'clock, Henry Oldridge, a workman in Exeter,
accidentally broke a bottle of turpentine in his trousers'
pocket, and the contents saturated his clothes, which,
coming in contact with a light, ignited. The flames en-
veloped his loins, and ascended rapidly towards his head.
A Mr. Reed, whoi was passing, ran to the sufferer, and
there being nothing at hand to wrap round him, he ex.
tinguished the flames by pulling the burning clothes from
his person, which presented a frightful spectacle. Vie.
was taken to the liuspital in a very dangerous state,