Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1817-07-04

which Is generally professed; bnt in his vera.
."y nave great confidence. a. According
70 the hsran he tells us, and so do Others III
interest is regarded rs usury, and forbidden
ms Is not merely law of Mahometsn conn.
tries, put preeept of religion. The Govern
meht, IN those countries, we know to be ALSO.
lutte, and punishment is as severe a, il il ann.
mary. The power of Am absolute Government
ana ,hS influence of a religion, to which tIs
people are enthusiastically devoted, combine
10 prevent the offence of taking interest for
money. But interest is taken, and is augment.
verify OF the prohibition.
have before remarked that some oltbe
roman Magistrates endeavored to gain the IA
xor OF tue people, by proposing laws concern
and the abolition of debts. "These things"
says Montesquseu, naturalized usurv at
Rome. All honest means of borrowing and
" irnuing were abolished and the most mon
{, strous usnry established itself notwitbstaud.
ing the strict prohibition aud severity of the
law. interestin the city was at 81 i'm the
, provinces at IL per cent. Brutus himself
=" lent money at that rate" Ferguson takes a
similar car view OF this subject, speaks OF the same
TACT, and ascribes il to the same cause.
Adam Smith, whose opinions though rene-
rally correct are notalways to be taken upon
uust, rays IL down as Darin in political eco
nomy' that wherever great deal can be made,
by the use of money, a great deal will com
monty be given for il and of course. that
when little can be made, less will be given.
This we all know to be true In a country
IKE oars, where capital is never at a loss for
profitable employment. the privilege OF
employing that capital will be purchased
al nigh price. Iflhen the market price of
money, will regulate itself as the maxim sun.
poses, how futile is the effort TO regulate il bv
law. smith tells that il cannot be done. No
law can reduce the common rate of interest
below the lowest ordinary market rate, when
the law Is made. quote this opinion with re-
spect, because 1t is the opinion of one of
the greatest men, whose writings have ever
enlightened The world, and with confidence be-
cause II is confirmed by tile uniform evidence
ton.
" The same writer recommends the statute
ry provisions IN England on the subject of in
terest, because they foiie,ced the market. and
did not attempt to rfgalitc it, These prov-
sions, so far as they went to fix rate, where
the contract expressed none, were certainly
proper The bill before you does the same
F" The history of England furnishes some We.
ry important facts in relation to this discus.
son. Edward the first, in the year 1878, in.
fiuenced by the same barbarous and fanatic
zeal. which had led him to Palestine, contiscs-
Gated at singlestroke. the property of all the
Jews IN England, and banished them from the
country,-l5000 were robbed and driven into
exile AS tits Impossible. continues the his
toriah, Tor nation to subsist, without lenders
OF money, and none will lend without a COM
pensation, tile practice of usury was thence
forth exercised by the English themselves. or
by i,ombards and other foreigners, and was
probably more since, thanIit had been before.
AS the canon law seconded by the municipia
law, permitted no christian to take interest
the christian was to be paid not onlv for the
nse OF his money, hut for the i,f.pnv and danger
wn'ch he incurred by the transaction. To take
interest says BsntiaIn was acting like lew
the Jews were not only prosecuted without
mercy, but abhorred so much abhorred tina (
when the victims of the roval edict. we're nre.
pairing 10 embark, multitudes were thrown
Dy their CHRISTIAN enenes. into the sea, and pc,
IiShed what man then in that age, would
lend money on interest, without being indem-
mined against the rcproach of acting like a
Jew The spirit of persecution against these
nhhnppy people, If 1t ever existed in this coun,
Try, mas become extinct, but the comparison,
10 which 1t gave birth, is familiar even at the
present day.
Il" The same historian informs ms that Henry
'th, not only enacted laws against interest hut
against all profit on bills of exchange III is
needless, he says, to remark, that, these laws
could not be executed. What sir, not execu.
ted by Henry eth, miser, as W ell as a tyfanf
whose agentswere active and eager i'm pursuit.
OF penalties, and alike regardless of the means
as swell as mischiefs of eXtorting them Yes.
SIR, such was the fact.-These laws could NOT
be enforced. The power of the monarch, the
vigilance OF his agents, aided by timid and
suDservient judiciary, avaied nothing Yet
we go In the same tract We profit neither
by tue evidence of history, nor the admonitious
OF our own experience.
In the reign of Henry Sth, as we have seen
interest at ten per cent was tolerated bnt in
the reign of his son, the prohibition was reyi.
we'd, and continued in force during the reign
OF Mary. Yet money was lent in defiance OF
the law, and of the well know character of Ma.
ry-and the common rate ofinterest was II per
cent. IL law, backed by religious prejudice
and supported by powerful and ambitioss
government, could not restrain the exaction
Oh iuteIest, wha' are we to expect from such
laws here, upheld by no such prejudice, backed
by no snch government but on the other hand
condemned by mutitudes, as impolitic and
absurd,
g In Russia, we are told by Bentham. the
laws are totally unavailing, and contracts are
secretly made for interest at the discretion of
the parties,
9" In England, the rate of interest is fixed
al . percent yet. al this very moment 10. IL.
ana even is percent, are paid for money raj
seq by way of annuity, even with real secu-
know no country, but one, in which
mere IS no law against usury. Mr. Locke
states that in Holland there was no such law.
Every contract stipulated the rate ofinterest
10 be paid and whether the rate was high or
low, the contract was enforced. Now, Sir.
what mischiefs must have been experienced hv
me people OF Holland if our laws are founded
on wisdom and policyI What extortion must
nave nave oeen practisedI How the money lend
ers, restrained by no law, must have grown rich
on the spoIls OF the necessitOus, and the extra
VACANT, who, let il be remembered are always
necessitous Sir, such must be supposed to
nave been the condition oftlle cOnntiy. by all
VINO think these restraining laws beneficial TO
tne people. No superstition, however, could
De more erroneous. The common rate of in.
terest, even then, (about the year I6sO) was 2
per cent "' "
But it may be said, Holland was a rich
country, in which capital abounded true-
anu anu tnat the low price Of money arose fros.
this abundance of capital agreed. / contend
ior no more. Let capital alone-where il a.
bounds, IT can be procured on cheap FERNS !.
Wnere " does not; higher price must be
Pals.-Ihe price will regulate itself. Tile tes
tlmony of Mr.. TurgOt, founded on actual oh
seryallon, Is equally conclusive After enu.
meratiug the varieuS heavy neuaitiao a.-N:,.