The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1833-04-26 00:00:00

amammosasezmaiteam-m........
places
; ornow that the people had a voice in the letgids.t-
at,
ofd?')4ew°llld, not that
till the corn laws were repel;
,ioo lalk of the ten hours' factory bill, and thei ecnrtiy-
)r consequence of the enormous
t tte inquiry ,h_.
y it was as clear as the sun at no 0.011. _
4 in Manufacturers could not help overworking their. w
priceX
read the •
and
'",f revkc,„‘insequence of the corn laws, occasioned. But a
eeerio "m.ing would come,—a proud, and overbearing,
in
wages which the high
e, auftglioligatchy wotild be humbled. Let them i
ree,,.._,
en, like their patritian fehow-oppressoFs, of
e.o,'',',!it ntultis utile bellum the watchword ot to a
ao ttlilessed people. It was with this view he would proposee
uncicut
i'lbOt tile farmers
lillcrinetilnient on Mr. Altwood's motion, that the committee
,ieocecloTte how far the distress of the country was the
r; atotti.r.corn laws, with a view to theietleepsaot.
con-
eh kolit lasvt,!eget(ltithose who. agreed with h ph on. landed interest had had
the Ll i he fact had beene Peace
ered by
bear in mind that rents
1417.7 „,,„,
since
the
from 3) to 50 per cent.—
their pound of
r. • chequer, who h i f
~ or example, .
____,
on
einecetit. (1-lear.) Buatitine . who lived on the taxes, til!`l .
reduced
eneodb noble
sov..n Chancellorret
~
es toTible% like the fendhlder had not adjusted their
titnle-
dholder e alted cireunistances'of the country ;. forwiite£6o,
lame, s. alterw receiving interest on £B7, for their
(Aniterest were only receiving £4O or £5O for their
for wehail.) lie would support the motion of the honaltothe
I oftbat iellaven, because, without subscribing. to I
18 4114 iit ,_Prosperity
blishe_d tiiTt• gentleman, he conceived it incontrovertibly.
(hear.) He
Yed (1,,„1 tof•t!., Prices the expression of both.
antwhat they
and a full currencywerefonvertible
her the toe„„14 his Majesty's ministers ttgr
.er haveetlwer grant. In a very short trine they woulil
""e wou
h out, and
' Would held be burst open the waters would rns
e Power to grant nor deny; for the floougates of
ea am overwhelmed bygone wild deluge of dismay, reve-
l'. fli, 114' (Hear, )
t l'arti
an arbitrary
aittlre i... ainent would or would not sanction
the R'''' said that the question then uncler discussion was,
:try iii.moa the standard of value. He asked whether in a
tryit this where pecuniary transactions wereo'fe
IT beeornteauTtehaaEnt Ptriiceadteisdtrcehsasruacutdeerr, any man out of Bedlam
4 said etary relations into inextricable confusion. When
its
Peceee'died by a lee. asure which owfUnieechesistitiny.
eeee a tat, C eine in any assembly of rational.
miguhtstl;lll7oeuinvr
4.l."leditahlatsarojebt of this kind proposedhadneverbeenhetugs,be
liishiop learn e too in
had forgotten that it was the dis-
4firriettA thehyartteelo)tfina iat ninuutoal
i'llisurkphisiihosbouldiyet, glit c9..eact a,,
tt.ei. krel. Joirmin
e premier at Constantinople. Those w lified
h had
GI
was
haandd
qt
uh
aa t his
ghain the new philosophy, that there
al% 4,14 illin for the circulation of value than the precious
ktaiN
fr that that better medium was paper, ha. d
uc'tartoefuhilmly
I,lu
:paired otitl telling the house what they wanted. , b
w re I, nne. (Cries of " No, ' from
them
14..1ag ritaettithe object to which they tendedw_ar.s aAvt-aolvuoeoltelsos
litioues st. °t what they meant, let them tell
•4rtibie re,
`p f Hear hear ) What was pap 1 t was in-
ke of
Piet,`P w, "nen he 'spoke. of gold and silver, he sPo
me.
i
- p,'''' no, and had been for ages, the circulating ,
er t ivavhat their
'Mee ' when ‘,O„
_, what co
notion that it was to. be
to dentit,octu,vießar.ted from the
be a convertible
h was to
1)111.. -'werld; bidnotion uld you form of the value
qtr,
eii°t be paid
o'n
ilt rs, however, there
:Pay'attliti was that to beenisgsuped, and in'
d then he must as. k
it
"Nivel. ,e,.? But to that uestion his hon. friend.
't eire,',C,°_,ngli he couldlnot help seeing
, blest f-i,e‘i together without limitation, a
that if goldid ive
"u and
depreciation of
what manner. x.' as i
di those
"„lbou0"'?w. (Hear' hear.) His hon. frien ,
.an
..
"11,,,w7ti1-iv,i,ithi
mat tti-ii" iirnit, and would then let it take cu-
his hon.' friend, would pour paper into
ici.airuee.
ithrow the
litta.kee youst_wieake the paper valueless, and
.fromoutihtse meoment
inytiitiuto
eornfuisr::ottulatiitg
tmehdiumsavitil7tises,o y
h n. friend " we
ii
tit weghtal,e last wat: a great qeuna'ntity of paper money,te antiaet
pt:rtaiu e'l great prosperty•" Admitting that to be
.h f Or'‘'hie ~.„tit, they 0u,,,,ht. not to forget that certain elae--
1 r,-' thigh
„,41.1 not exist at present contributed to the formo
't4tlre Isperitv W at that time a monopoly s 1
ien.eha44o,M. t.he continent of E!irore, Y
, pi ed us 1... that the French were boasting that they had,
lilth-dthe4reoo, enetw4ld; we had the full command of the sea .
4pe'riitrvoru tb:lse:lYd otothtt nationsea of !_. PP
ryes
et
ourselves from
as we hafd• Ismeoarpepear-
-o,telP64` enabling us sea,
borrow,
A, t 14 Weldr within the year, had scattered
.a _
false
This uprrooducedhgardeabt laoretkifatii;diaeandl
Pool totes wet over the country. He had always
changes
appear-
re NI. 4 %ere of material use, but he apprehended danger
4'lvklirted to 5 Should, however, like to see whether the
kOtt till senoilinlebt not ulter the case, though, at the same time,
tuiel3reht:lnestion. But there were two difficulties—one
country.
le
,i7ere se !vould occasion to poor persons in the
.'3sliotesthe other was the insecurity the issue
there
f itkVilntet;l9l9B difficulties but he never d
veil at
cope al'ir!g advantage's which should
to au
rie,,e, corm„4-eet with some attention before it came
u_ac-
te°Lowns :81°1). He did believe that the laige man
of vest
„., 'Jut t,. ee in
"tied, he ogrieui, g inedntilecde thatthe house
as eat a state of prosperity as.they
e
I ere very muc
s, 'ed. , (heft ,ipal parts of the country were very much '' lOid klle r) I he farmers' capita s w
Nat. at the - . .. g •
that is, a medium
it. er wil ) The small agricultural towns were lab.o.ur-
-1 etil ti, 10n. ,„, 3 called a want of money,
h means of
thek4 fat% t nere was a class of small traders. in town to
4t
V; °"
Fe game, and if the bankers had t e
P kepi the decided would be a means of facilitatingtrade.
Yt1,44 eot give opinion of his constituents; and although
'ittt was ''Ye up his opinions to any body, he was bound....teo
e t-e the relit "Pinion - Then it would be asked why did h
t) evoi Inreitt • His - •
relative had spoken
• itho Monte
with
. objection was this—he should go
1 014t4 se 0b,...e with a man On his hon.
existing
etett,;• (i,•Lt Was a comlete subversion of the
i fek,e, for till); nn," and linear.) It was quite impossible,
11:14 Ink% as nntry. friend ad, in ,
deed drawn up
4 resell e!theiteo"use to listen to he pro oral without exciting
pp., gt it we distress of the country which might be f
e;li.eef the very one didwho only wanted to catcehr_fleieetsly;
loel'osal f:s.nripossible for any ini.:n in
rivedlkr tt hislitiquiry, in order to afford relief, from the avowed
which he
olin lf, friend, and from the conclusion at
d '', ail foe d
1 arned member for
his senses topseparate
t.O ales, example the hon. an
.c
thPose Nlect was '
this reformed
Al tit that 0 resolutions • or, supposing in
-•ee - set f , a. repeal of the union,.
professor of
141 e Of Ivo; great man Mr.'owen, or any other n
the
liit,4llditionwlin society were to make a seech
were to get up
.J.ti,,B, aod i Mankind, and on a communityds and
ofo
thet de-
Sir of tb4""nld propose a committee to consider
~ US he foil,: 80cial order in this country, he should not be
lit 'e 5f,"•;',,11l the train of those philosophers. For those
• Ith h•,„,_PetiT' give Lis decided vote against the motion.
‘1i,"),4,011. f,,,.aid, that although he believed he shaulddagiroeues
the ech wbiethines avowed by
t!iou,' 'e bae," (Mr. Baring) in the practical net.
____
'Pe -e doct •'"1:411e, and in the vote he should giv!, ythere_
1,11411sQ(1 -" eZeited s •h doubt and apprehension as
ar'ri` Pas: einhees, if theesZugces'ion were acceded to, that he
him in the concluding part of
I ' t:,,eeao to t
4.l‘ek over unilticed. If his hon. frienl_wcuel:te,
ktl4,s, it'ait.ed t
~an iriquiry into these most importtaanrt, d ffi
system,
. el, q,14,1..4 ble_i tact, himselt. prepared to
~,,,ii,eil point ((1111e.ta.oils
hi with a monetary
1
distress, and
s,,alysit 'ils ot,„Leasee co_mmercial difficulty ,
-. andwhich doubts he
iii, t,
.i1,,,„-,,,!.. th snhject of the currency,
and impedi-
I pt ya course
li'ap..l the tri`n. constituting the main obstacle . .
oxen.—
, ofd`ta.% As to "troll of the ho. member for Whitch
e.llre,lit ju 10 Proposed he
of small notes, er he
etl-Nit? li. was predicting the consequences of any political
th 1". liew`th respect to the unavoidable results of thisees
stitt:i ineastit felt
h.le abon. e would be_, that gold would disappear from
confident that the inevitable consequences
4 so y a • e could prove ',.'kli Suee b (Hear ) it id the certainty of thisn
, 41111 f
‘,l 40t.. otu, h.,
~the example
'1 tland there were £1
c p,i,ivertp nouti,,nl, been issued. In ._ co .
and practically
le.e'sose to
0 lic'elt o`r, he C,"Y convertible into c0m,...
I, it„.4 , i tbei. '-1 110 doubt, if required ;
ex-
(..,Sa ~,. thetall. eirelllation That they had practically „
, ,'l,,,sted le current• ' the same state or
, ti, 'ilet, - , aim•y In Ireland
1 4)4 in
.e untes
niwith
Ame-
bit, what had been
, precisely the same results. I
„,.11,,,,-rorki th --0 states
r also, was
4I'M f-"le bf th still smaller denomination were In
circu-
et, 'ease e clirrer , not only gold, but
.silovue_ _
net,
well
ait, itit , 'eeir, that n'• In fact, the matte' Id
revise Nod 44 the bankers had
eat direct interest in ex-
II,`: and ellostitut
id and
small notes, whi eir credit could be
/ ki 'Cta 8? far h ed a cheaper circulation than go
. idkur witf, tit eh admitted there was a positive advantage
It‘ii„e„ than c,,(.„",,tt.s.Ystein of currency. But this advantage
0,1 ah 4- ne ude,"oerbalanced by the simple fact that youu
se,t4 t deilositate security against excessive paper issuers,
I ,i4,Y4 tlrPerty S. or securities you would from banke
~
' tll,,ilee np;lnkersilliVltzbe an ultimate guarantee of the
_aotl-
,,, hoty „, totewi "1. it was no guarantee of an immedia,
tk, tsN.fi,:c,ainst to gold, which constituted the only adequate
'att,Nte ,Merice ofe'-ilsaes of paper money. (Hear, heart.)o
q sh‘efi",,r'ees, to •,rl',"tie of £1 and £2 notes would be
.._
, tt `Y. l',' and Iv -•,.,,i'1l a fictitious stimulus to commercial
1 :Nhvitesultse• ••''''llit go on for a few months without f..etel-.
(.'41•1444-teet on. 5.- 94 the contrary, people might coiigla
tu.c
44 bseg about irpparent increase of prosperity;
.but ma 11
I•Y,ttine ex i.tiontlis or two years the paper circuatioi
e e•leheaen"lve—geld had Talready gone out of' the
Res WoUlii falf—then-there would be a run

for gold—commercial alarm—the hank must contract its issues,
in order to meet the demand for gold—lastly would come that
commercial or political panic against which there existed no
unfailing system of security, but as against which a metallic
standard :monied the best guarantee. In such a state of things
as he had described, it was true the bank would in one sense
continue solvent, but it would be unable to meet the run for
gold, and there must be a stoppage of cash payments. That he
told his hon. friend would be the inevitable consequence of are-
issue of small notes. So much reference had been made to the
part he took in the bill of 1819, for establishing a permanent
system of metallic currency, that he confessed he felt some per-
sonal anxiety on the subject. He had heard of the authors of
this bill having been spokeu of as culprits, who were actuated
by the basest personal motives : he admitted that none of those
insinuations had been uttered in the house, but they were thrown
out in places where they could not be answered, and where they
were calculated to inflame and mislead an excited multitude.
lie repeated none of those vile insinuations had been thrown
out in that place, so that he had not the opportunity which he
could have desired of meeting the utterers of such charges face
to face. It was true that the member for Petersfield had said,
that in his opinion all the blame of the transaction did not at-
tach to Mr. Peel, who at the date of the bill of 1819 was an ig-
norant young man, and the hon. member added, that the blame
might be more justly laid upon Lord Liverpool. lie (Sir R.
Peel) would not allow blame to be thrown upon the departed, he
was quite ready to sustain his share of the responsibility.—
The assumption of the honourable member was, that the bill
of 1819 had been passed without inquiry,—without experience
of distress, arising from an inconvertible paper currency.—
In 1819 five years of peace had passed away, but was the cur-
rency question then first heard of? By no means. The sub-
ject had been referred to in 1810. It was perfectly true that
the resolution of Mr. Horsier, proposing a resumption of cash
payments within two years after the couclusion of peace, had
been rejected by Parliament, and that the resolutions of Mr.
Vansittart were preferred; but in them it was declared that it
appeared expedient to the house at the earliest possible period
to resume cash payments. Thus the principle of cash pay-
ments had been recognized at a much earlier date than 1t819;
indeed, from 1793 up to 1810 Parliament had never made Bank-
notes a legal tender in all cases. Peace arrived in 1814, and
the house recognized the justice of resuming cash payments,
and limited the duration of the bank restriction act to one year.
The year 1815 arrived, the battle of Waterloo was fought, and
a new restriction was imposed, limited, however, to a year. In
1816 the restriction was extended for 2 years more. 1818 ar-
rived, and there was one universal persuasion that we mustun-
avoidably recur to the ancient standard. 1819 came, and still
no one doubted the justice and expediency of returning to cash
payments. A committee was appointed, on the motion of Mr.
Tierney, for the purpose of investigating the subject. Ile (Sir
R. Peel) was chairman of that committee, and presented tits
report to' the house, declaring the opinion of the committee,
that within 4 years of that period cash payments should be re-
sumed, but by gradual steps, and taking the price of gold at
the time. In the other house of Parliament Lord Holland de
dared that he could not approve of the delay of cash pay-
ments till 182.3, and he therefore moved that they be resumed
in 1820. Under these circumstances, if he wished to avoid the
responsibility of the measure, was he not justified in saying
that Parliament, by its unanimous approbation, had taken up-
on itself the responsibility? (Cheers.) Upon the subject of
distress, the hon. member for Whitehaven had referred every
symptom of distress to the bill of 1819. Was there, he asked
the hon. member, no distress previously to the passing of the
act? Had there been none in 1793, when we had an incon-
vertible paper currency ? Was there no distress in 1797 ?
Was there none in 1810, when we had the high war prices of
which the hon. member was so enamoured ? But it appeared
according to the evidence taken before a committee of the
house, that even during the war, and with an inconvertible
paper currency, prices had fallen 50, 60, and 70 per cent. Did
not this prove that a paper currency was no protection against
distress, no invariable stimulant of prices even in a time of war ?
Was there, he asked, no distress in 1816? There was ; bankers
failed in numbers, and great commercial pressure and alarm were
occasioned. After these statements, they did not want witnesses
to prove that there might be distress along with a paper currency.
If a committee, such as the hon. member moved for, were ap-
pointed, and iat he was a member of it, he wouid say to
them—Gentlemen, you must look at other things besides the
change in the currency to account for the distress of which you
complain; you must consider the state of the country during
the war, the stimulus which that war gave to the cultivation
of land, the great outlay of
.government during the war; but
when that is done, you must inquire what have been the effects
of the 18 years of peace, and how far that long interval of
tranquillity had been the means of provoking the rivalship of
other nations in our manufactures. He would ask them to
consider whether England could hope to carryon the same
extent of manufactures, and of almost monopolizing the whole.
trade of Europe, when she had to compete with France, and
Spain, and Portugal, and Italy, and Germany.—Could she hope
with such competition still to keep up the old war prices? Look
at the operation of manufactures in America, and see how far
it had had the effect of diminishing your prices—look at the
different rate of insurances, and at the reduced price of the raw
material, and then say whether they could expect to purchase
at very low prices, and to continue to sell at high prices. He
would then tell them to look at the improvement that had
taken place in machinery,—at the improved application of
steam, and ask themselves if all these things had not tended
to lower the prices of manufactures ? (Hear, hear. hear.)
The land had fallen in value he would admit, but did any
one expect that it would preserve the same value as during
the war, when so much capital was applied in bringing bad
land into cultivation. He regretted that this kind of land was
now thrown out of cultivation, but it could not be otherwise.
One hon. gentleman had carried his objections still further, and
had traced the distress and the disturbance to the same fatal
cause—the measure of 1819. On hearing statements of this
kind, one would like to have the proofs on which they rested
in order to judge for himself. The description of the distress
was almost the only thing like a proof offered. There was
" devouring poverty" and " appaling distress" both very
dreadful, no doubt; but these were caused by the measure of
1819, and then—here was the pinch of the argument—you had
only to change the names, and to substitute -England for Ire-
land, in order to show that the same distress existed here, and
was produced by the same cause. (Hear, hear.) The hon.
member who had used this argument had laid down some posi-
tions which he (Sir R. Peel) would not dispute—he had told
them, that as crime had increased in Ireland, morality had de-
creased (Laughter.) That distress was the cause of much suf-
fering. (Laughter.) He would admit that crime had increased,
but was the year of the greatest paper money that of the least
prevalence of crime? He found from returns before the house
that the commitments in Ireland were—

In 1811
lBl3

- 1815
7,818
- 1816

The hon. member seemedto look upon the years 1818 and 1825
as those of great prosperity, as being years of great paper is-
sue. Now it happened rather unfortunately for his argument,
that in 1818 was the greatest number of any preceding years
with one single exception, and that the commitments of 1825
had been „csreater than those of any preceding year, for in that
year they had amounted to 14,400 (hear, hear,) the largest
amount ever known. He (Sir R. Peel) founded no theory on
these facts. All that he was called upon to do, which he. had
done, was to show that the facts he had stated did not support
the. theory of the hon. member. (Hear, hear, and cheering.),
The hon. member for Oldham had said that he had 3000 power-
looms, but should regret it he had injured any of the. owners of
hand-looms by them. Then the hon. member must feel greatly
distressed, for if any improvement in machinery had ever been
an injury to those engaged in the trade to which it applied,
power-looms were to those who worked at hand-looms. lie did
not mean to say that the use of them was to he condemned—by
no means. lie only mentioned the fact to account for the dis-
tress in Oldham, as arising from causes differing from those as-
signed by the hon. member. The right hon. baronet next en-
tered into statements as to the present. wages of artisans, such
as carpenters, masons, bricklayers, plasterers, plumbers, pain-,
ters, in the midland districts, to show that they were now much
better than under a depreciated currency, and he asked what
would be the effect of a law which would necessarily raise the
prices of provisions without at all raising the wages of those
artisans in anything like the same proportion ? It was much
more easy to raise the price of provisions than the price of la-
' hour, and he maintained that any attempt to depreciate the
currency would have the effect of placing the working-classes
in a much worse condition than at present; for that at this mo-
ment their wages could procure for theM a much larger share
of the necessaries of lire than at any time under a depreciated
currency. At-that late period of the night he would not go
further into these details, connected though they wereswith a
deeply, a most important subject; but let any hen. member
move fora return, and let such return Le laid before the house,
and it would convince all those who would be guided by the
evidence of facts; that the present rate of wages afforded to the,
labouring population a greater command over the comforts and
necessaries of life than they possessed in the so much vaunted
times of a depreciated currency. Let such a return be made,
and if it were honest it would show that there had been, on the
, part of the labouring population, a great increase of the powers
of consumption. Why, then, was this inquiry called for ? Were