The Statesman.
London, England, 1822-06-12 00:00:00

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of the metals far ruatiabiliay mud estemarily be any-
."l. Othoteirciametsomos. wadies theieuease of wealth
end roulades, would also change their value I aid
these to modem times, but for that credit, curette'''.
which had hue brought to such perfection, woald have
rendered the upply-of the metals, it tbe Mau were not
mare reductive than formerly, inadequate to supply
DiArmand. He thee reed mottoes front Locke and
. Adam Smith, on the • hurter aftheprecious metals
and skewed that in ale instances it bad appeared. that
mats oterived le run bid,in ii long course of yeaii. varlet'
less in valise than those peid rx ...ex. lie proceeded
to show what had heel the irff-tt of the depAcietion of
money daring the latirieeK. Me was not one if those
who thought the coutiry bed only enjoyed • fictitious
prosperity. To him it appeared that we had acquired ;
all *as bad conatiteted real wealth, while that state of
thingsecrotinued.and at the same time tke population had
increased more rapidly perhaps than it had nee done
within a like period before. In spite of all the pressure
of the war the nation bad advanced with to id strides
is her agriculture, in her manufactures, and in her cern-
'mete ; to every thintibat could indicate real weeltb.
This wealtlirenstined to us at the ena of the period to
which he had referred. and wee arsilahle for all put,
prises. In former Gatti, under circumstances some-
what similar, the population had increased as wealth
was accumulated. This would be seen from an extract
from a work written by Lord Baron, thee Sir Francis
Racer, towards the close of the reign of Elisabeth. This
mitred stated. " That lever before hid a Bk. 1111Febtt
ett hums been. built erithin -Oka-item feridd—sates!`
had the like dharrtity a plate, pieta. and out ..
.111ftell
furniture, been accumulated—aceer had alike • 4.Mrfrty
* • of laid been brought into cultivation—never had'iall
land of tenures been a increased—never Led Uhte mare
Yeti been so plentifully supplied or so well_ ellimidell—
Meter bad se many rivers been cut or direetSleie new
channels ; never bad so many artificers beet known
*hilted in all sorts of handicraft; never were there so
strand new inventions, and while war was, never cestelaec
ail with More vigour and success ;_ the population bad
reetermeee rapidly increased." Thst such was the ef-
fectof an increased currency, had been stated by Mr.
Haile ; and it was curious that the same effects should
this he produced at periods so dirtiest from each other
it, thib, sod as be believed in every ether country from
Hittite. cause. He proceeded to she* bow the value of
got I might he carried down by a great credit currency,
and on this subject he referred to a very able speech
"Adele bed been made by the Chime:eller of the Exche-
quer some years age. is which the Wm* Men. Gentle-
man had deuribed the differeace lo^eppe paper sod
gold, and explained the carcasegtenees w 'eh ought to
be regarded as affecting the pike" Of the latter. Ile
- (Mr.-Western) cousidered the alteration of the currency
to, brave altered the pries of wheat. 'Fa ascertain this he
hail looked back at the prices of wive/ in the 150 years i
anterior to the commencement of the late WILT. He had ,
got the average prices of sub tett years through that
.., .
_period, awl these he hid turned In% averages- of 50
/,- re. Not to detain the bum with the whole, be would
&c
-,,, tely lease the ge prices Ocoee in each. 50 years
• ' the period to which be had referred. IDA. first 50
Itionti,ooding in 1655, the average price or the quarter
tif. Osier was44s. 9d. In the second fifty years, the
rice
i. 'thefts. Id. and in the last fifty years, ending in
, the price was 441. 3d., there being a difference of
duty a few peace between the prices if the first and last
pertain. In the period which hid, since followed the
average price bad been in the Aral ton yeses, ',minor in
4603, 795. ltd. In the sewed tea years. ending in 1813,
the price was 99a. During the perictd of 150 years, which
fie had mentioned, he believed the highest price oldie qr.
of corn was 525. In the first tee years which followed, the
price advanced to 8415., and indite next to lOW. He be-
lieved war had commonly little effectaatherke acorn.
Tie average price of a quarter of corn in the five years
before 17% was IL 14s. The average of the five yeses
eading.ia 1763 was-11. 17s. 10-17414 the average price
was 21. ls. ; in 1765 it was 2/. Bs. and the average of the
first five years after 1763 was 21. Si. He now came
down to tbe American war. The average pike of corn
ii. the five years immediately preceding the American
war was 2/. I Ica the average price dnring the whole
war was 21. 6s. This was less than the average price
in the five years preceding the war. The price in othe
year after the war was 21. 145., and the average price in
Cie first five years was 21. Bs. 2d., the average during
the whole of the American war having been 21. 6s. lii
argued from this that war did not necessarily increase
t.e Ore of corn. He also drew his argument from an-
other fact. From the reports of the quantity of corn
wild in the London markets, in the years 1512 and 1521
Thai • fact was. very curious, and thoroughly corroborated
his position. 4 would be thought very naturally, that
this demand for torn had increased in that period. in the
LIMO ratio as the population bad increased. In 1812,
the quantity of wheat sold was 3,10,921 qrs. at 1255. per
il I trier. In 1521, the sale was 355, 500 quarters, being
a smaller quantity it the rate of 50s. Ile should be
glad to hear it stated that this alteration could have oc-
c,ir red from any other circumstances than the operations
which had been effected with regard to the currency.
'I ,is was the cause of the existing diatreu, and not an
att intlance of corn. He should presently make out that
C.** measure had not only sunk the vane of corn, but
that every other species of property had fallen in value,
a:limier not to the same extent. When the measure
far the restoration of the currency was first proposed,
t..., Right Hun. Gentleman opposite said. that they were
only doing what hail been done in the reigns of Edward
t..eFirst and Elizabeth'. Ile could show that this mo-
dern measure had no analogy to the operations which
were affected in those remote times. With regard to
E sward the First, there could be no rehire to an ancient
suandard because the coinage then in circulation coo-
s'.-uteil of nothing but counterfeits. Elward the Sixth
lisil the coinaces for restoring money to the value of the
standard of Henry the Eighth, and such interference no
doubt created considerable embarrassments and Ilithelli-
lres at the time. But it was art firth in the diary of
'Edward the Sixth, that that* alterations were made for
the purpose of paying his debts ; in fact the Object was
to cheat his creditors. But these alterations were never
ihtended to be permanent. They did not hit more
than six years. notwithstanding that they had not the
effect of disturbing private contracts, much less so
dreadful an operation upon a public debt as this CORR.
tri now so'"-red under. They bad indeed no real effect
upon the standard. for they ended in six years by the
Act of the sth of Edward the Sixth. The Statesmen of
those days knew better than to revert to the ancient
standard of Henry the Eighth, which had been alma-
droned only twenty-five years, even without that p
which now weighed down the resources of the roue-
try. la the case of William 111. there was no altera-
tion made in the currency.—(Hear! from Mr. Peel.)—
He knew that a quantity of debased and clipped coin
- yds' called is—(bear, bear)—but it was taken in taxes.
and not again issued. He must say. therefore, that it
was perfectly puerile to ssy that a measure like the pre-
tent bore any similarity to those of our ancestors. The
house mast retrace their steps ins, measure which they
undertook in ignorance ; and he took blame to himself
that be slid not et first remonstrate against it with all
the power he possessed. He would warn Hon.e Quail!men,
men, by the responsibility which attached to them. nee
to let any false or mistakes pride instigate them ill cm
foie an investigation of a measure that had predueed
effects whhoh. at the time, they could not foresee; feel
, If they did so they, would be turning their backs upon',
•" the Country aid betraying its real interests. The Hai.
'Member then read souse peseages from I lume and Locke,
(For tie remainder of Debate, see last page.)
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