The Statesman.
London, England, 1810-09-14 00:00:00

PAPER AGAINST GOLDS
MIN AN INAININATION OF THI REFORM OF TUN 1U&.

sios comatirreis: IN A STAIRS OF LETTgRS TO Till
TAADISMRS CU/ SARISRILS IN /MAR SALISBURY.

LETTER 111. • .
Danger of exciting popular discontents against' country Fawn-
names snekers—De3eription of t/tc atienal Dell—Progress
of the Dell—The different denominations of it of no cons*•
quence—Cost of the .stnli-jacobin war—Progress of the Njp.
tional Expences—Progress of the Revenue or razes - via
effect of lazation—Tries cause poverty and misery in • country
—Not like rents—lnman of &Venue no proof of national
presperitr-What are the signs of national prosperity—Ai-
crease of the Poor Align in Jingland--Cost of the Les-
gatherers suilicient to support 92,50UU
GENTLEMEN,—A London print, which is what
is called a ministerial newspaper, and which I, in
the discharge of my duty as a public writer,
.am
compelled to read, but which, for the sake of your
morals, I hope none of you ever see, has most
harshly spoken of that part of our paper money,
which is issued by the Bankers, whose shops are in
the country. The writer of this print has described
that paper, namely, the country bank-notes, as
" destructive assignats;" and, in another of his
publications, he calls them " vile rags; and then
again, " dirty rags." These hard words, besides
that they are unbecoming in sober discussion, can
do no good, and may du a great deal of irarm, if
they have any effect at all upon the minds of the
people; and, therefore, we will make a remark or
tee upon their tendency, before we proceed with
the topic mentioned at the close of the last letter.
.Asvignats was the name given to the French re.
volittionary paper-money, the distresses occasioned
by which are fresh in the recollection of must pees.
ply; and, to give the saute name to our country
bank notes was, therefore, to proclaim, as far as
this e riter was able to proclaim, that these notes,,
being more than one-half of all our circulating
medium, were as bad, if not worse, than the pa-
per-mouey of France, which produced so much in.
divides! mite ry to so many millions of people.—..
Not that this was betrayitig any secret to th, world;
for, it is beyond all corn prehento foolisii to sup-
pose, that all the world, particularly our sle%rp.
sighted enemy, arc not fully acquaissted with our
situation in this respect, no,re especially now that
the Bullion Report is.. abroad ; but, what I 'find
fault of, is, that this description of country
notes, as contradistinguished from the' tondo's
bank-notes; has a tendency to excite popular Its..
trod, and in cases that may happen, popular via.
lence, against that' part of our paper.niutiey na.
kers, called country-bankers ; than which nothing
can be much more unjust in itself, or be. more
likely to lead to universal jets/talon, the expert.
once of the world having proved, that commotion,
when once on foot, is seldom limited to the arcom.
plishment of its original object; and, we may von.
tore to affirm, that nothing was ever better calcu.
lated to render popular commotion violent, and to
.push it beyond its natural, bounds, than the hatred
and revenge, which, it would seem to be the ob..
ject of the print above-mentiesed to excite in the
minds of the people.
The country paper-money makers aro not, as we
shall soon see, any more to blame than are the paper.
money makers in town. Paper-onotoey making is •
trade, or calling, perfectly innocent in itself, and the
tradesmen way be very moral, and even very Itberal
men. Amongst them, as amongst men of other
trades, there are, doubtless, sharpers, and even
rogues; and, the trade itself may be one that ex:.
poses men to the temptation of becoming roguish ;
but, it does not follow, that all the paper.money
makers, •or, that the paper-money makers in gene-
ral, are men of dishonest views. It is, therefore,
not only illiberal, but unjust in the extreme, to con.
demn the whole of the trade iti a Islay, •to call
their wares " destructive assignats, vile rags,
dirty tar," end the like, whence it is, of course,
intended that it should be undcrctood, that all' the
issuers of them ought to be regarded as jests of so.
ciety. and treated accordingly ; when the.truth ass
as we shall presently see, the fault is not in indivi-
duals, but in the system, out of which the swarm of
paper.thoney makers have grown as naturally mitt
es innocently as certain weli-known little anima%
.are engendered by, and live upon, an impoverished
and sickly carcass.
• Having thus endeavoured to put you upon your
guard against the tendency of this very unjust re.
presentation of our country banker and their too.
neyiretreirndeavour, which, it appeared to me,
riughtsnot to be delayed, we will-now proceed with
our subject, and, its was proposed, at the close of
the last Abetter, inquire into the progress of *the
Funds and Stocks ; or, in more proper terms, into
the INCREASE OF THE NATIONAL DEI3T.
have befure,seen what is the nature of this
debt ": we have. also seen how it began : we by-and.
by have to show the effects of it : but, what we
have to do, at.prestot, is to inquire into, and as.
cAntein, how it has gone on increasing, and what is
new Its amount. We shall next inquire into the
schemes for lessening the Debt ; ai.d, then we s Ali
distinguish what is called redeemed froth unretict no.
pd., debt ; but, first of all, let us leave all um r
views of it aside, and confine our attention rnt rely
to the sums borrowed. We have before. seen, th.tt
- the money has been borrowed in. various ways, cr
under various denominations. In some cases the
money borrowed was to yield the lender 3 iwr con.
Emu, that is to say 3 pounds interest, yea: ty, foe
every hundred pounds of principal. In sumo wes
the lender was to receive 4 per aentein ; in teems
cases 5 per centum ; and in some cases more.gence comes the denomination of 3 per cents. ard
4 per cents, and so forth. But, to the people, wl •
have to pay the interest, these distinctions are of is.
consequence at all, any more than .it would be to
ei!her of us, whether our bakers' bitis were made
. out upon brown paper or spoil white. We shad/

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