§ MR. DRUMMONDsaid, that, in putting the question on this subject of which he had given notice, he would remind the House that in 1810 there was laid upon the table the Report of a Committee, into which Committee Sir Robert Peel was put by the Government of the day to support their erroneous opinions. Sir Robert Peel, however, became a convert to the sounder principles of Mr. Locke and Sir Isaac Newton, and from that time sound principles had been followed by the various Administrations, and by no member of those Administrations more remarkably than by the right hon. Gentleman the Member for Halifax (Sir C. Wood) during the Government of the noble Lord the Member for the City of London. Since that time circumstances had occurred of a totally un- 1385 precedented character, and unreferred to in the Report of that Committee, disturbing the currency, and he therefore begged to ask the right hon. Chancellor of the Exchequer whether Her Majesty's Government had taken into consideration the effects of the reduced value of gold; the consequences of this reduction of value upon the industrious classes, and especially upon contributors to savings banks; and whether he did not think it advisable to appoint a Committee to inquire into the altered value of the standard, and to suggest some remedy for any evil that might be likely to arise?
§ The CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUERSir, in answer to my hon. Friend I have to state, that Her Majesty's Government have carefully watched and observed the course of monetary transactions, and especially with respect to the influx and efflux of gold into and from this country during a recent period; but they do not see the proofs of the reduced value of gold by any means so clearly as they have appeared to my hon. Friend; and they have no intention, under present circumstances, and as at present advised, of appointing any Committee to inquire into this subject.