The Statesman.
London, England, 1822-12-16 00:00:00

. ~r

Mt Twums ArrwooD

AND THE
FARMERS' JOURNAL

This Weekly i Piper, called the Farmers' Jownual,
isiich Isms low, for several years. the groat deluder of
the tamers, and whicte has been, perhaps, the cause of
more ruin to them than all the other publications of the
shy; this paper, which has, for so long a time, been in-
flicting on the farmers the curse of Will. HALL'S unspeak.
able delusions; delusions as to the uninformed,and insults
to the understanding part of the agricultural comma..
nitr ; this save paper does; at last, appear to be penal-
his of therm/4,201y of its sins, and, which is still more
praise, or, rather, pardon-worthy, seems to he disposed
to make some atonement for them. It has, not only un-
der the name of the great Agricultural Quack, Wane,
hut in its own name, been contending, tooth and nail'
far the last three years, that the distress of the farmer'
arose solely from the importations of fereiga cora, and
that the sole remedy was, a duty on all eons imported.—
In spite of reason, In defiance of experience the most am.
pie, in open and outrageows opposition to common sense,
these assertions has it persevered in for the last three
years! •
Now, however, under the name of Mr. Teowsa ATV
WOOD. this heretofore wickertifinmial, this prodigiously
sinful newspaper, which usiOst well eXclains, indite lan-
guage of the famous Sonnet of DESDARRIAOZ, •
Male j'ai taut fitit de mal, sloe jamais to boat*
Ne tus p4rdoonera sans blesser to justice ;
that is to say " I have dome so mach misehiV, that thy
" mercy, extended towards me, would be an imputation
on thy justice :" now, however, this wretched sinner of
a news-paper, is, as we hive ja,s.t. ohs d, endeavouring
to make some atonement by saying, by Asserting and by
standing to it, that the distress !moorhen solely from
the rash payment measures; and that 'the sole remedy
is somethiog that shall counteract those measures.
The articles to which we allude, came from the pen of
Mr. Thomas Attwood of Birmingham. I (for it will be
best to speak in the first person) inserted one of these
articles, or letters, of Mr. Atttwood, in the Register, and
in this paper a week or two back. I low find a second,
aid I shall insert it Also, suhjoining, in this case, some
reick3as of my own. I have numhere4 the paragraphs
in order that I may refer in fewer. words to such as I
Cosy find it necessary to remark on. The letter is well
wittier), it discovers great ability in the writer, it shows
that he possess groat knowledge of the subject, and it
is oorthy of an attentive perusal by both landlords and

Sin, Birmingham, Nov. IS,
1. 10 me letter inserted in your Journal of the 2.1
Septrinlier, I represented thit fictitious obllgAtione were
impos►d upon the country, during the war, to the pro-
h4ble amount of 2.041 millions sterling. The whole of
these ram:nous luiriliens, contracted in Bank notes or
f.irthings, are nun mode convertible by taw into heavy
gitiorai; and since they are thus abide to amount to
about Eighteen Tleousand Tons of solid, (hold, instead
of a few reams of paper, it is essential to be assured of
the correctness of such • representation.

2. It is eettain, from Parliamentary returns, that 1047
millions sterling of the national debt were contracted
between the yeses 1793 and 1519, although part of the
enormous debt has in the mean time been redeemed.—
It is certain also that the pay of the soldiers and sailors,
std the salaries Of all the placemen, pensioners and de-
pendants of the Government, were during that period
doubled, and in many Instances absolutely trebled • and
that this doubling and trebling of the general oLliga-
liona of the Government, was brought forward and jus-
tified on the express ground of the depreciated state of
thecorreuey. The annual value of these encreased pay.
omits may be taken at shout 10 millions sterling; sod
this. when turned into principal money, at 20 years pur-
chase. amounts to 21.2) millions more of public obliga-
tion, contracted by the Government during the war.—
Herr then are 1247 millions of public obligation &ctn.
ally contracted in fictitious, or depreciated currency,
si bleb err:slily did not command, on the go, more
than one half the value which it commanded before the
war. and which it now again commands.
3 It may be said, that some small part of this predi.
giros mass of obligations was not contracted in depre-
cated currency, because the instilly at the more, which
ot.easioned the rise of the sailors' wages, took place in
the year 17%; and some considerable loans were con-
s, Acted for by the linvernmeut helm. the Rank Restric-
tion Act took place in 1797. It (nay then be thought
that cutoraets termed prior to 1797, were entered into
it money of time ancient value, and of course ought so to
rcdeemed : lint neither of these inferences is co • . In
the first place, the greater part of such contracts have
long since changed hands, and have become ttsesferred
to pr. twins oho love
1;on for them, and of course are not entitled to any other
kind of money than such as they advanced and con-
tr./OPd fur ; and is the next place, it appears by the Par-
Itimenury Returns, that the depreciation of the cur.
terry was literally 511 per cent. before the year 1797;
for that is the rise which bad even then taken place. not
in the prices of provision. merely, but in all articles of
property and labour generally. where oot counteracted
by (oral or meelsaniaal eiremesstaages. •• -

4. The inundation of papermaney„ which was °era.
1,4111fd by the Batik of England first issuing 51. notes in
1793, and. by the extended issues of au many country
li ink., 'shirk took ;dace soon after that. period, emu-
Lined with the extensive system of taxing and loaning
hiclithe tiovernment chefs asloptedi, 'and *hick left
scarcely an idle guinea in the cuuntry; alt these circueu-
-11`.111re; combined had occasioned a generairiseof prices,
and consequent depreciailon of abont.4o per cent. in the
g. oral csirrency a the editntryo print, collie year 179/.
although such deprecistion•was alopeai* in the price
of:old ; because. as Mr. Cohbett lialgepeatedly 'hewn,
it is, the tendency of iner,ased issues of paper to &pre-
d it.. and '• carry down" the gold itself, fur a certain
period. until the gold has bail time to find other mar-
kets a hero its real value is better appreciated. After
the year 1797, when tbi metallic standout was perma-
nently rewired, this rhhaof 50 per cent. in the prices of
property end labour was confirmed, and another rise of
or 70 per cent. more look place; and thus the ge-
-1...ral rise of prices during the war became permanently
from 101 l to IN per cent. It is. therefore, evident, that
the whole of the obligations contracted during the war,
acre contracted in a depreciated currency, cummandi leg,
on the twenty years average of the war, nut more than
one'balf of the value which the currency of the country
commanded before the war. _

5. Some persowi pretend that it was not a depreciation
of the currency which i cessionol this general and per-
manent rise of the prices of property and labour, but
some peculiar alteration in the relative supply and de-
.m.irht of commodities and laltour, which was occasioned
be the excitements of the war. This is evidently a dis-
tinction without a differences for if the rise of prices is
acknowledged to have been permanent and general dur-
ing the war, it Is of no consequence by what cause it wa
occasioned. Whether it was occasioned by openly coin