The advocate., 1891-09-30

were prostrated in the dust; and the ener-
gies Of awakened Europe must have been
lost in fruitlesa efforts if the wealth of Eng
land had not at last arPayed them, in dense
and disciplined battalions, ON the banks Of
the Rhine. How, then, did it happen that
this uncomfortable islard, so small a part
of the Roman empire, was able to expend
wealth greater than ever had been amassed
by the ancient mistress Of the world; TO
maintain contest of unexampled magni-
tude for twenty years; to keep on foot a
feet which conquered the united navies of
Europe and an army which carried victory
into every corner of the globe; to acquire a
colonial empire that encircled the earth,
and subdue the vast continent of HindoO-
stan, at the same time that il struggled in
Spain with the land forces of Napoleon, and
equipped all the armies of the north for the
liberation of Germany? The solution of
the phenomenon, unexampled in the his
tory Of the world, is without doubt to be in
part found in the persevering industry of
che English people and the extent Of the
commerce which they maintained in every
quarter of the globe. But the resources
thus afforded would have been inadequate
10 so vast an expenditure, and must have
been exhausted early in the struggle, if they
had not been organized and sustained by an
admirable system of finance, which seemed
to rise superior TO every difficulty with
which it had TO contend. Il is there that
the true secret of the prodigy is to be found;
it is there that the noblest monument to
Mr.. Pitts wisdom has been erected.
\
To the suspension of cash payments by
the act of 1877, and its power, in conse-
QuenCe vested in the Bank of England, Of
expanding its paper circulation in proper
tion to the abstraction of the metallic cur
rency and the wants of the country, and
resting the national industry on ba'i not
liable to be taken away either by the muta-
tiOns of commerce or the necessities of the
war, the salvation of the empire is beyond
all question to be ascribed. Il is remsrka-
BILE that this admirable system, which may
be truly called the moving power of the ma
tion during the war, became toward it's
close the object of the most determined
hostility on the part of both the great capi-
talists and chief writer's on political econo-
my in the country. Here, however, as
everywhere else, experience, the great test
of truth, has determined the question. The
adoption of the opposite system of contract
ing the paper in proportion to the abstrac-
tion Of the metal currency, by the acts of
1919 and 1874 followed ss it was by the
great monetary crises of 1926, 1889 and 1s47)
has demonstrated beyond doubt that it
was in the system of an expansive currency
that Great Britain, during the war, found
the sole means of its salvation. -Alison's o
History of Europe, Vol. I, pages 446-447;
Vol. II, pages 3s4-3S5; Vol. Xxx, pages 70 80.
SECOND PICTURE.
My second picture has been drawn by
the ableet thinkers and writers l will
give only brief statements OF writer's
whose reliability IS above question:
The monetary policy of England since
the termination Of the war in 1915 is a warn
ing to all nations. The greater part of the
national debt had been contracted in what
was called "depreCiated" paper currency,
with high scale Of prices. Our Legislators
determined to make the people pay this
debt in gold, with a reduced scale of prices.
In this manner from 20 to 30 per cent. was
added to the burden which the people of
England had to endure. And not only so,