Sitting of 2 July 1811

BERKELEY PEERAGE.
Pursuant to special adjournment, their lordships proceed ed to take the Report of the Committee of Privileges, upon this long pending case, into consideration, which was," That the claimant, William Fitzharding Berkeley, had not made good his claim to the titles and honours of earl of Berkeley, viscount Dursley, &c." and upon the question being put, their lordships confirmed the Report of the Committee, nem. diss.
The Lord Chancellorthen made some observations upon the nature of the proceedings and evidence adduced before the Committee of Privileges, and conclude by moving, That the Report of their lord ships' Committee, together with a copy of the Evidence given in the said case, be

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laid before his royal highness the Prince Regent, together with an Address, requesting his royal highness would be pleased to adopt such proceedings thereupon as he might deem most proper and expedient.
Earl Greyhad no objection to the proceeding recommended by the noble and learned lord generally; but was averse to the introduction of any language in the motion which would appear like an attempt to dictate or point out any particular line of conduct to his royal highness, but to leave such result solely to his discretion, as to what proceeding he might think proper to adopt, if any. He therefore suggested the propriety of omitting the word "request" from the motion, which would then go in effect to simply laying the Report and the Evidence before his royal highness.
The Earl of Liverpoolagreed in the propriety of this suggestion, and expressed his opinion, that his noble friend on the Woolsack, in wording his motion, had no idea whatever of pointing out any particular line to his royal highness, but wished merely that the matter should be left entirely to the royal discretion.
The Lord Chancellorcorroborated what fell from his noble friend, as to his intention with respect to the object and effect of the motion he proposed.
The motion was then amended agreeably to the suggestion of earl Grey, and unanimously agreed to.

DELAYS IN APPEAL CAUSES.
The Earl of Suffolkrose to make two motions on this subject; previous to which he adverted to what he had said before on the subject, and defended most of the observations he then made respecting Greenwich Hospital. He would never submit to be charged with mockery and mummery, for shewing the enormity of a Proctor's Bill. He had been told that it was not the clerk's business to assist him in unrolling that long bill; but he considered the clerk as the servant of their lordships generally, and not solely of the noble and learned lord on the woolsack.—The noble earl went through a variety of particulars respecting the general subject, and appealed to a memorial sent eleven years ago, by Sir Alexander Cochrane, complaining of the practice of employing one sole proctor in causes and frequently in appeals. The Appeals in that House, in 1810, were two hundred
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and nine, and only four judgments were given. This was contrary to those true principles of the constitution he had learned, and hoped to hand down. It was contrary to the provisions of Magna Charta. He then moved for sundry accounts of Prize Money paid and due; and another motion for the number of Appeals at the beginning of the present session, with the number of judgments thereon, and the number of those withdrawn, distinguishing such as come from England, Scotland, or Ireland. He expressed his intention of following up those motions, if agreed to, in the course of the next session.
The motions were then put, and carried nem. dis.

GOLD COIN AND BANK NOTE BILL.
Earl Stanhopemoved the order of the day for the second reading of this Bill. The Bill being read by the clerk, his lordship said, he was extremely happy to see around him on this occasion several noble lords who were not present before when he brought the matter forward, as it afforded hint an opportunity of explaining the object he had in view by this Bill. But before he told them what the Bill was, he would tell them what it was not. It was not, as it had by some been erroneously supposed to be, a Bill to make Bank-notes a legal tender; and indeed it would be highly improper that such a Bill should pass; because the person who might refuse a Bank-note on the ground of supposing it to be forged, might be by this means brought into an unpleasant dilemma. He would now state what the Bill was, and his reasons for proposing it; and, in the first place, he would examine if his foundation was good, and then explain the nature of the superstructure it was his design to raise upon it. His Bill went simply to this, that it should not be legal to give more than 21 s. for a guinea, or less for a Bank-note than the amount for which it purported to be payable. The idea of offering this Bill originated to him on the bringing up of the Bank Token Bill from the other House; the nature of which Bill was to facilitate the introduction of a new circulating medium. On that occasion he had pointed out to their lordships the necessity of establishing some legal tender throughout the country, other than that which it was now impossible to procure. To illustrate the necessity for this, he would suppose that a person agreed to purchase an estate for one hundred thou-

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sand pounds, that the title was good, and that no object stood in the way of the completion of the bargain. But suppose, when the price stipulated came to be paid, that the seller should say, "I expect to be paid in guineas, and will not transfer the estate unless I am so paid;" would their lordships think the purchaser fairly or justly dealt with? Would they not rather consider it to be wrong to require him to perform a physical impossibility, by procuring so many guineas? Yet the law, as it stood, did not afford him any remedy against this unreasonable demand. This was precisely the state of the case, and he would now state the principles on which he maintained that the plan he proposed ought to be adopted It had been his peculiar good fortune in life to be acquainted with many great and eminent men, and among them he could not name one whose estimable qualities of the heart and of the head did him more honour than Sir George Saville, with whom he had the supreme pleasure of being intimate. His idea on this subject he would adopt as his own: it was this clear, and perspicuous, and philosophical definition of the circulating medium," that it was and could, be no other than a measure or scale of different things." Thus ten pound was the measure of a certain number of loaves of bread, of a certain number of tickets to the opera, or of a certain number of miles travelling in a hackney coach. The ten pound was the scale by which the relative value of these three articles was measured. To tills definition he would add, in pursuance of the same idea, that this scale was, or ought to be, fixed and unalterable. As illustrations were good to explain abstract propositions, he would endeavour to apply one to this point. Suppose they wished to measure any thing of length, they would take a yard, consisting of 3 feet, or of 36 inches, and by this means might measure a piece of cloth 36 yards long; but it would not do to measure 36 yards by this piece of cloth, for, being elastic, it might at one time reach to 40 yards. A third fundamental principle was, the circulating medium ought not to be attainable without a certain labour or value given. Gold certainly possessed this quality, but so also did other things; such, for instance, as Hamburgh Mark Banco payments. And book entries in this respect enjoyed a very great superiority over gold, if they were put under proper regulations. Suppose any state
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should open such books in which no person could obtain an entry of credit without performing an adequate public service, was it not evident if he was enabled at some time to transfer that amount, or any part of it, to any other part of the country from that in which this entry was made, that it would be better than if it was paid to him in money? He might lose the money, or might be interrupted on the road, which accidents could not happen to the book entry. Book entries also possessed other advantages over money in rapidity, and in not being liable to depreciation from wear and tear; in the respect of annual interest, and in the immense qualification of being invariable. It was on these principles then, that he founded his proposition. In coming to notice his plan, he had to observe, that he laboured under considerable difficulty. These subjects belonged to government, and were proper for ministers to take up. No other person who proposed any violent change, such as he did, being no less than to change the circulating medium, could expect any very great support. A wise man would therefore try to accommodate his views to existing circumstances, rather than propose a radical alteration of the system. Not to be ludicrous on so grave a subject, he would try to illustrate this part also by a simile. He had found the principle established by law, that payments in Bank notes could not be enforced as legal. A Bank note, like the purchase of a check for admission to a public place, might be changed for something else, for another note; but still that was not the admission, and after various changes, a man might be as far from his purpose as at first. He had endeavoured to fit his plan to this deformed monster. Like the tailor, who made a coat for a person with a hunch back, on being reproached with its ill fashion, he might retort," it was not cut out because it pleased my own fancy, or for any straight well-shaped man; but how could I help cutting it so, as it was to fit a humpy?"—This must be his apology for the shape of his plan, in which he had endeavoured to apply common sense to existing circumstances. He now came to the plan itself, which he had laid down, by desire, to a very distinguished noble and learned lord. [Here his lordship went into an explanation of his otter to lord Eldon, a copy of which will be seen at p. 740.] His grand object was to establish a mode of making payments which

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would create a possibility of making legal tenders. Always keeping in view that the Bank was, and had proved itself to be, solvent, and limited by government to some extent, he proposed, 1st, That, as in Scotland, it should establish many branches throughout the country: 2dly, That in all these branches it should cause books for entries to be opened: 3dly, That persons possessing Bank notes should be entitled to have a credit to their amount in these books: 4thly, That for such credit they should be entitled to transfer all or part to any other person's account: and, 5thly, as these entries could not be forged, that these transfers should be made a legal tender. Having opened the scheme of his Bank to their lordships, he had afterwards received information that a noble lord, possessing great landed property, because, no doubt, he had thought it right so to do, and that it could not be injurious to the public, had given notice to his tenants, that he should expect them to pay him their several rents in guineas, or in Portugal gold, or in Bank notes at a depreciated rate. If this example was followed, it must do incalculable mischief, and to guard against this was the object of his Bill. Various reasons had operated on his mind in favour of creating a new circulating medium, and that of book-entries and transfers. In doing this, he had availed himself of the vehicle of the Bank of England, as he found it established. He maintained that at this moment a pound sterling and a Bank note of 1l. were at par. He proved they were of equal value in this way: Suppose he were to go to a banker's, and lay down 21 one-pound notes on one hand, and 20 guineas on the other, de-tiring that two separate accounts might be opened in his books for these two sums: he would find that they were both to the same amount, namely, twenty-one pounds. It was his wish, for five or six months to come, to maintain the pound note and pound sterling on this equality, which would not be the case were the example of the noble lord behind him (lord King) to be followed, and no legal provision made against that course. [Here lord King, as we understood, asked if they were now at par?] Earl Stanhope said, he had no objection to be catechised by the noble lord, provided he allowed him, in his turn, to become parson. He had shewn that they were-at-par sufficiently to answer his argument, and he defied the noble lord to prove the contrary, He deprecated per-
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mitting the possibility of this depreciation being created, as it must fill with discontent the most useful classes of the community, those on whom their lordships, as well as others, depended for the payments of their rents, and the means of living. They must be cautious not to offend this large body, and that, too, in a way accompanied by gross injustice. It was on that feeling he had acted on several cases; such as that, for instance, of the Dissenters lately, or any class who felt or apprehended abuse. His Bill removed dangerous temptations, and made the pound and note in his sense, or left them, on a par. This Bill had been commended greatly by those who seldom approved of any motion of his. He was happy at this; but they went even farther, and said it was the very best remedy they had heard, but not yet necessary, as nobody would be found to follow the example of his noble friend. He liked rather to give to people the protection of the law, than any understanding or caprice of other men, which was not a firm foundation. As the noble Secretary of State shewed no disinclination, if any necessity appeared, the question turned merely on the probability of the example set being followed. He had a bundle of instances of this sort, and he only wished that a great many more would say so at once, and then they would proceed to prevent the evil. Here the noble earl produced a number of letters, from several of which he read extracts. One person wrote that his landlord said," What one landlord can do, all can do. If lord King succeeds, I will do the same:" and then proceeded, without a fee, to ask the noble earl's opinion. Another letter stated a recent transaction in Hampshire, where a man bought an estate for 400 l. and paid down 100 l. of the money, and afterwards fitted up a house and other buildings at the expence of several hundred pounds more. Some time afterwards came the time of payment, when the vender desired to have his money in specie. The buyer could not get guineas, and notes were refused by the vender, who would have his payment in guineas, or his land back again. The buyer was actually trying to raise money by mortgage on his improvements. The only consolation left to the buyer was an intimation from a friend of the vender's that he could inform him where he might obtain the guineas he wanted, by paying twenty seven shillings a piece for them! (Hear! hear!

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from both sides.) Some might smile, and some shake their heads at this; the whole country might well shake their heads at it. His lordship read another letter which stated the conduct, not of a landlord, but of a lady. He did not know whether the noble lord near him had followed the lady or the lady had followed the lord; but the lady had refused to take any thing but gold, and had asked a person interested, whether he was acquainted with the difference between taking Bank-notes and taking gold. This person, in writing to him, stated an apprehension of the seizure of goods, and a readiness to come and prove the statement made in the letter. Another person, a professional man, had written to him, saying that he had witnessed much of the traffic, and apprehended from it most serious consequences. He stated, that he had been long in the habit of paying and receiving many small sums. A few days ago a gentleman had come to him from another part of the country, and paid him 800 l. observing that he had brought with him 300 guineas, with which, or part of it, the other wished him to oblige him in the payment; but he would not part with any of them, saying that he knew a friend, who would give him six or seven and twenty shillings each for his guineas. This increasing traffic, added the writer, occasioned the great stagnation of gold circulation. Besides other accounts, the noble earl adverted to what he had heard respecting practices in Ireland, which had already been alluded to by a noble lord. He mentioned the profitable trick of a landholder's steward, in contriving, by the use of merely one hundred guineas, to procure the payment of a large rent, by compelling the tenants to purchase them, while they were moving in constant rotation from the shop where they were sold, to the agent's office where they were received. In addition to this, he could mention, that no less a sum than thirty eight thousand guineas were landed in Dunkirk lately, from this country, out of one cutter. He had even heard that a clergyman, a friend of a noble lord behind him (he did not know whether the noble lord intended to give him a living or not,) had said that every landlord in England ought to do the same as those whom he had been speaking of. From these statements of facts, communicated to him by respectable correspondents, and read from a mass of communications, he thought that the objection taken
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to his Bill by the noble secretary of state on the ground of there being no existing necessity for it, could not be supported. Those who objected, merely from the necessity not being apparent, must see from these communications, that the necessity might very speedily arise, and that too, when parliament would not be sitting. All those who agreed with him in the general principle of his reasoning, and the ground, work of his proposition, ought to assent to the enactment of the measure he proposed. He was confident, that, under all our circumstances, the system of book entries was the most practicable mode; and it had also the recommendation of the Secretary of State himself, as the best remedy that had been offered. He was sorry for having troubled their lordships at such length, but the importance of the subject made him feel it his duly to do so; and the more so, because many noble friends were present, who took different views of the subject. The matter was for ministers to consider in good time. It was their particular business to attend to it. He should only say one word more to the noble Secretary of State. Let him take care not to imitate the lazy fireman, who suffered all the houses in the street to be burnt down through his dilatoriness; and when the mischief was done, appeared in the street with his engine. The noble earl concluded by moving the second reading of his Bill.
Lord Kingrose and said:*
My Lords; entertaining strong and decided opinions on the subject of paper currency, which I have never lost any opportunity of expressing, both in my place in this House, and by every other means in my power, I have always been ready to discuss the subject in general, and naturally feel, at present, most anxious to justify my own conduct, in consequence of the charges which, on a late debate, have, in my absence, been made against me.
Under these circumstances, I must crave your lordships' pardon, if I feel compelled to speak of myself, and of my private concerns, in an assembly where such topics in general are so improper; but the course of the late debate renders that detail imperative on me, and, indeed, the question has assumed that shape that it cannot be treated otherwise than by di-
* From the original edition, printed for J. Ridgway, Piccadilly.

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viding it into two principal parts: 1st, My individual conduct; and, 2dly, the general subject of the present depreciated currency of the country, and the alarming projects held out of destroying the ancient standard of value, and of subverting the basis, and denomination, of the lawful money of the realm.
I shall therefore proceed to state plainly, and explicitly, my reasons for refusing at this time to receive Bank-notes at their nominal value, in certain cases, and to avail myself of the remedy provided by the law.
Since the late decision in the House of Commons it appears to be the declared intention of the government, that the restriction shall continue to the end of the war, however distant that period may be.
The subject is thus brought home to the individual interest of every man whose property is yearly, even monthly, deteriorated in consequence of the unnatural state of the currency of the country. Under these circumstances, therefore, I have thought this the proper lime to make a stand in defence of my property, and to endeavour to protect myself from further spoliation and injury
During the last twelve years, we have seen the depreciation of Bank-notes progressively advancing in the most alarming manner; and every hope and prospect of amelioration being destroyed by the recent resolution of the House of Commons, there appeared to remain no other choice than either to submit with tame; and patient resignation to receive payment in currency, of whatever value it shall please the Bank of England, in their forbearance and moderation, to permit henceforth to belong to the currency of the country; or to have recourse to the remedy which individuals possess by law, and which I shall hereafter shew has been purposely allowed and secured lo them by the law.
There is also another reason, which I confess has had some influence with me in this determination. It was asked, insultingly, in another place, whether any person had ever yet ventured to refuse Bank paper in payment or satisfaction of a lawful debt; and on that foundation, it was attempted to be argued, that in point of fact, there, existed no difference in value between paper and gold, and no actual depreciation. By bringing this question to issue, at least one of the remaining wretched supports of this fatal system will be overthrown.
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In this state of things, for the defence of my properly, I have thought it advisable, in the management of my private concerns, to inform my tenants holding lands under old leases, and under old leases only, that I can no longer continue to receive Bank-notes at their nominal value, in payment, or satisfaction, for such contracts, and I am now prepared to assert, not the bare legality, for that is unquestionable, but, what I am much more anxious to prove, the justice and equity of the course I have thought myself obliged to adopt. The plain broad principle upon which I have acted is, to require payment in a currency of the same intrinsic value which the currency possessed at the date of each respective agreement, and in order to as certain this intrinsic value, I calculate the amount of gold which the stipulared rent was able to purchase at the date of the lease or agreement, and require the same weight of gold, or a sum in Bank notes sufficient to purchase that quantity of gold at the present time. I offer this alternative as an accommodation to the tenant, in case he makes the option of paying in paper money, instead of fulfilling his agreement by payment of his rent in the lawful gold coin of the kingdom.
The following is a copy of the Notice:
'By the lease dated 1807, you have contracted to pay the annual rent of 100 l. in good and lawful money of Great Britain. In consequence of the late great depreciation of paper money I can no longer consent to receive Bank-notes at their nominal value, in payment or satisfaction of an old contract. I must therefore desire you to provide for the payment of your rent in the legal gold coin of the realm. At the same time, having no other object than to secure payment of the real intrinsic value of the sum stipulated by agreement, and being desirous to avoid giving you any unnecessary trouble, I shall be willing to receive payment in either of the modes following, according to your option.
First, In guineas.—Secondly, If guineas cannot be procured, by payment of Portugal gold coin, equal in weight to the number of guineas requisite to discharge the rent.—or, thirdly. By the payment in Bank-notes of a sum sufficient to purchase the weight of standard gold requisite to discharge the rent,—The al-

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teration of the value of paper money is estimated in this manner: The price of gold in 1807, the year of your agreement, was 4l. 2s. per ounce; the present market-price is 4l. 14 s. arising from the further depreciation of the value of paper; in that proportion an addition of 14 l. 12 s. 8d. per cent, in paper money will be required as the equivalent for the payment of rent.'
In the above instance there is a difference of 14 l. 12 s. 8d. per cent, in the currency between the year 1807 and the present time. In the case of an agreement dated 1796, when the market-price of gold oil not exceed the Mint-price, because the currency was then in a pure and perfect state, the difference between the payment in gold or in paper money amounts to the whole of the actual depreciation of the currency at this day; and if the market price of gold was 4l. 14 s, on the 10th of May, when the calculation was made, it follows, that in the proportion of 3l. 18 s. the Mint-price of gold, to 4l. 14 s. the present market-price, one hundred pounds will give one hundred and twenty pounds nine shillings. The principle hung thus clearly stated, the only dispute which can arise, as to the equity and fair dealing of the transaction, must proceed from a doubt as to the correctness of the data on which the calculation is founded. The prices of bullion at the different periods are taken, as far as they can be collected, from the returns made by the Mint to the House of Commons, as far as they reach; and since the 5th of March 1811, the price of gold is taken from Wettenhall's prices-current, the same source from which the officers of the Mint derive their information: if there is any error, it is therefore open to correction.
Where, may I ask, is the hardship of this demand? The price of the produce of land, tile price of labour, the price of every great staple commodity, are all affected by the value of the currency which serves to circulate the wealth and industry of the country. In proportion as the currency is depreciated, the price of wheat, of cattle, of all the produce of the land, and of every commodity, is augmented. Of course it must always be understood, that in all cases the price of very thing whatever is regulated by the supply and the demand, and, when so determined, is afterwards affected by every variation in the intrinsic value of the cur-
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rency by which they are circulated. The covenants of a lease secure the payment of rent in the lawful money of Great Britain, (these are the express words of the contract): the lawful money of Great Britain contains a certain known weight of gold of a certain known fineness of standard; and if Bank notes, from any cause whatever, will no longer purchase that weight of gold which, according to the regulation of the Mint, ought to be contained in a certain given sum of lawful money, they will no longer fulfil an old contract according to the spirit and essence of the agreement.
In the case of a contract made for a fixed sum at a distant period, under the uncertainty and irregularity of a paper currency not convertible into gold at the will of the holder, the only equitable course for both parties to adopt appears to be, to ascertain the quantity of bullion which a pound note of the common currency was able to command at the date of the agreement, and for every pound of rent, or interest, or principal sum due, to require the same quantity of bullion, or the amount of debased currency sufficient to purchase that quantity of bullion. This is the true and equitable payment and satisfaction of such contract.
on every sound principle of law and equity, the landlord is entitled to receive the real intrinsic value of the stipulated sum, in good and lawful money; or at least in currency equal in value to the currency at the date of the contract. He is strictly in law entitled to the legal gold coin of the realm, if such is the condition and obligation of the contract; as matter of favour and concession, he may consent to receive his payment in any other shape, for the convenience or relief of the party bound to the fulfilment of a contract; but a payment in a debased paper currency, is a payment in name only, and not in reality. It formed no part of the stipulation of the bond. There is no limitation to the extent to which a loss, proceeding from that cause, may be carried. To put an extreme case, which no man can assert to be impossible, because in another country it has actually been exceeded: a note of one pound may not be worth or pass current for more than one shilling, consequently all commodities would be advanced to twenty times their former value. In a case so palpable, it would be impossible for any one to imagine, that a payment, in such de-

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graded currency, would be in any sense a satisfaction for a contract concluded be fore the depreciation of the currency had taken place. It would be impossible to deny, that, by such a payment, the landlord would be defrauded of nineteen parts out of twenty of his just demand.
In order to prevent any misconception and false statement of my conduct, I take this opportunity of openly stating, that so far from taking any undue advantage by making, in this year, or last year, or at any time, an agreement for land at a greatly advanced rent, calculated on the advanced price of all produce in consequence of the debased state of the paper currency, and then taking advantage of the law, and calling on a tenant, under such circumstances, to pay in gold, or the value in gold, equal in fact to an addition of twenty percent, at the present market price of gold; I am, on the contrary, ready to reprobate such conduct, as most unfair and unjustifiable. My conduct has been totally different; I have strictly abstained from making any such demand, or from requiring a compensation for any alteration in the value of the currency for two or near three years, though such alteration is not inconsiderable. I shall continue to receive payment in Bank notes, until, by a further depreciation, the notes, at some future period, shall become visibly and sensibly deteriorated below their actual value at the date of the leases in question; I shall then expect to receive that difference, if any, whatever it may be. And further, I am prepared to say, that if, by the unexpected event of the restoration of the currency to an improved state, I shall be perfectly satisfied to receive such rents, diminished in proportion to the improvement of the currency at any future period, compared with the currency at the date of such leases. For all land let to tenants at will, I shall continue to receive Bank notes, conceiving the land to be let for the price of the times, or that I have at least the power of obtaining, if I please, the fair price of the times.
To place this subject in a clearer light, and to remove any remaining prejudice, respecting the oppression or hardship of the proceeding, it may be useful to explain the nature of rent. Rent is generally defined to be the value of that part of the gross produce of a farm which remains, after making full allowance for all expenses, taxes, and profit of capital em-
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ployed by the farmer in the cultivation. The gross produce is generally supposed to be divided into four shares, three of which are allotted for the above purposes, and one for the rent: this last portion is then estimated at the average price of produce daring some preceding years, and thus converted into a money price for the mutual convenience of both landlord and tenant.
But the effect of the depreciation of the currency is to augment the price of all the four shares of the gross produce of the, farm, of those which are to defray the expenses, as well as of that portion from which the rent is supplied. It will be found that the tenant suffers no loss, if he is required to make only an equitable compensation, equivalent to the depreciation of the currency; he has already received an advance in the sale of his produce; he is only prevented from acquiring an additional profit, to which he can have no just claim. To any increase of price, in consequence of the increasing opulence and prosperity of the country, the tenant is in every sense justly entitled: the two causes of increased price are totally distinct; the one arises from the fair increased demand and consumption of the country, which may well have entered into the calculation of the amount of rent; the other proceeds from an anomaly in the currency, which never could have entered into the contemplation of the parties.
I presume it will not be denied, that paper currency is in its nature liable to depreciation, after having witnessed the example of so many countries on the continent, of the Assignats in France, of the paper-money of Sweden, of Portugal, and the most recent instance of Austria. The symptoms of depreciation have manifested themselves unequivocally in this country; they are apparent in the advanced price of bullion keeping pace with the excessive issue of notes, in the unfavourable exchange, and in the general rise in the price of all commodities. The average price of wheat, which, from the year 1771 to 1785, was forty-six shillings; and, from 1786 to 1797, was fifty-two shillings; has since that period, which it must be remembered was also that of the Bank restriction, increased in a very different ratio. In the twelve years, from 1798 to 1810 (omitting 1800 and 1801, years of dearth), the average price of wheat for England and Wales has amounted to seventy one shillings the quarter.
At the price of fifty-two shillings the Quarter, it required eighteen quarters of wheat to purchase a pound weight of gold, which by the mint is coined into forty-four guineas and a half. It appears, that during five years, beginning in the year 1802 and ending in 1806, the average price of wheat was seventy shillings; and as in the same years the mean price of gold bullion was nearly 4l. 2s. per ounce, or 49 l. 4s. per pound, it required fourteen quarters or half a bushel of wheat, at seventy shillings, to purchase a pound of gold at that market-price of bullion. During the last five years, eighty-five shillings a quarter may be stated as the average price of wheat, and the mean price of gold has been nearly 4l. 7s. per ounce, or 52 l. 4s. per lb.: it required therefore only twelve quarters and two bushels of wheat, at the price of eighty-five shillings, to purchase a pound of gold, even at the advanced rate of gold, during these five years.
It may be inferred from the highly advanced prices of wheat, compared with former times, and particularly its rapid increase since 1797, that the paper currency has suffered a material alteration of value. But from this examination of the relative value existing between corn and gold bullion, after making great allowance for the advance in the price of wheat in consequence of an increased demand, it may also be suspected that the supply of gold itself has been likewise very considerably increased; or, in other words, that the real price of gold has been most sensibly diminished. This view of the subject has convinced me of the propriety of not submitting any longer to the loss which arises from the present great inferiority of the value of the note to that of gold, seeing that the gold itself, compared with the best standard of value, has in all probability become really much cheaper and more abundant than at any former time.
It must be kept in view, that payment in gold is the condition of the obligation, and that, in most instances, the option proposed is much to the advantage of the tenant, and intended as an equitable modification and abatement of the legal demand. In the North of Ireland it is not unusual to require rents to be paid in specie, and the effect has been to retain the gold coin in those districts where that practice continues.
Having acted on principles, such as I have described, and being satisfied with
798
my own conduct, I shall not be deterred by clamour, or by any imputation what-ever, by which it may be attempted to prevent me from insisting, at the same time, with firmness and moderation, on a just and legal demand. It may suit the interest of some persons, by such unworthy means to attempt to put down that which they hesitate and fear to do, by legislative interference, notwithstanding the facility with which, of late years, acts of parliament have been passed, to suit the convenience or inconvenience of the moment. It was attempted in France to intimidate individuals, who preferred the good metallic money to worthless assignats, by branding them with the charge of incivism, or incivic practices, in the revolutionary phrase; and, to judge from the language of his Majesty's servants, who are endeavouring to inculcate the acceptance of paper money as a moral and political duty, we are here also to be governed according to the true jacobin doctrine, which required individuals to regulate their conduct not by their own proper interest and convenience, but according to some speculative principles. In a well-regulated state, the proper interest of individuals is inseparable from that of the government, and it is the duty of government to take care to avoid any system or state of things in which individuals, pursuing their own interest, and acting legally, shall have the appearance of acting at variance with the public interest If the notes of the Bank of England are not depreciated in value, and if, in fact, there is no difference between paper and gold, the preference given to the latter will be an idle preference, of no public inconvenience, because it will not be followed. If the value of the Bank paper is really at par, it is not in the power of any individual to alter the fact; and any attempt to do so would be despised as it deserved: but if, on the contrary, the Bank-paper is greatly inferior in value to gold coin and bullion, it is highly meritorious to expose and resist a system, through which the whole community is impoverished and defrauded.
I must desire to be informed by what; new rule, by what new order of things, an individual is bound to account in parliament for his conduct in the management of his private affairs: if he has claimed his right only, it is his by law; and if he has demanded more than his right, the poorest man in the country may have redress against him.
Having now, my Lords, as I conceive, proved the justice of my conduct, by a statement irresistible in a court of equity, I shall proceed to the other part of the subject, and I shall, in the first place, endeavour to show, that in the year 1797, the law respecting legal tender was by design left without alteration. The legislature, contemplating the inconvenience to which individuals were exposed, by the Bank restriction, took away the power of arrest: as long as the value of gold and paper money was equal, there was no temptation to insist on gold; but if gold was demanded, the debtor had it in his power to buy bullion, and take it to be coined at the mint, the law, in the mean time, protecting him from arrest. The legislature, when it sanctioned the Bank restriction, in 1797, most assuredly never contemplated the depreciation of the currency as now existing to so great an extent. The association agreement, to receive Bank-notes, entered into by the members of the privy-council, and the great merchants and bankers in London, was perfectly voluntary: it was entered into on the presumption that the currency was then, and would continue to remain at the full standard of value. At that lime it was little expected that the Bank of England note of one pound, which had always been able to command a certain weight of standard bullion, would ever be so reduced in value as to contain sixteen shillings and seven-pence only, instead of twenty shillings, its former intrinsic value; a defalcation of three shillings and five pence in the pound on all fixed income, a privation much greater than the income-tax, the heaviest burden ever imposed at once on any country. * That at least is
*The following Table will show the real Value of a one Pound Bank-note, at the Market price of Gold.

Market price of Gold per oz.

Real Value of Note.

£.

s.

s.

d.

3

18

20

0

3

19

19

8 7/10

4

0

19

6

4

1

19

3 1/10

4

2

19

0 3/10

4

3

18

9 5/10

4

4

18

6 8/10

4

5

18

4 2/10

4

6

10per Cent

18

1 6/10

4

7

17

11 1/10

4

8

17

8 7/10

paid for the public service; but is it to be endured, that a Bank-tax of near double the income-tax shall be taken from the income of individuals, not for the public service, but for the sole gain and benefit of that corporation? I am almost tempted to say, (if the Bank is so accustomed to the vast gains it has acquired, by the continuance of (he restriction, that it will not consent to forego them), that the government would make a provident bargain, by paying five or six hundred thousand pounds annually to the Bank, stipulating, in return, that the Bank should reduce the quantity of notes in circulation, until their intrinsic value was restored.
Some step must be taken to put an end to all the manifest injuries, both public and private, arising from the depreciation of the currency. To consider it in one point of view, the public expenditure this year of ninety millions is equivalent to seventy four millions only of currency of the former standard; but as the interest due to the public creditor is a fixed sum, the extraordinary expence incurred in this single year, in consequence of the state of the currency, has been little short of ten millions sterling. It is now evident, that it will be found impossible to avoid augmenting the pay of the army, of the navy, of all the servants of the government, unless you speedily interpose and take effectual measures to restore the value of the currency.
In Portugal and Sicily, the loss incurred by government, from the adverse exchange in the last year, is not less than twenty per cent. on all money remitted to those countries; and it is in vain to attempt to conceal the fact, that the expences of the government at home, in the

4

9

17

6 3/10

4

10

17

4

4

11

17

1 7/10

4

12

16

11 4/10

4

13

16

9 2/10

4

14

20 per Cent

16

7 2/10

4

15

16

5 1/20

4

16

16

3

4

17

16

1

4

18

25 per Cent

15

11

4

19

15

9

5

0

15

7 2/10

5

1

15

5 3/10

5

2

15

3 5/10

5

3

16

1 7/10

5

4

15

0

supplies for the navy, and for the ordnance, are all equally augmented. The only advantages, indeed, which the government derive from the continuance of the Bank restriction, are some certain accommodations which it received from the Bank, in discounting exchequer bills and government securities, and the shameful profit of defrauding the public creditor, by compelling him to receive payment in depreciated paper money. It has sometimes been argued, that the value of gold, by some unusual circumstances, has of late years greatly increased; and it is contended, that gold, which is the common standard and measure of value in all pans of the world, is not in this country the best suited for that purpose, or at all comparable in certainty and steadiness to the standard value of the Bank of England note on examination it will be found, that this alledged dearness of gold depends entirely on the commodity which you have to give in exchange for it. It is perfectly true, that if you have only Bank paper to give in exchange, the gold is extremely dear in the exact proportion as the paper to be given in exchange is become cheap; but if you have corn or labouur which have been considered as the most perfect standard of value, it will be found that gold is really much cheaper than at any former time, as less labour and less corn will now command the same weight of gold. The same result will be found to take place universally in every quarter of the globe. In France, the money prices of all commodities appear to have risen one fifth since the Revolution. In every country, it will be found that the prices of commodities, of food, and of labour, have risen, or, what is the same thing, that gold has in fact fallen in value. That the supply of gold imported into England is very large, may be seen from the evidence of the greatest bullion-merchants in London, who say you may procure any quantity, provided you will pay the price.
It is further said, that all the gold in England is clandestinely exported to France in payment for corn, which we must of necessity procure, and which they will not consent to give us except in exchange for gold. It is perfectly true, not only that the exports, but the imports of gold, are in much larger quantities than at any antecedent period.
All the bullion, which in the shape of tribute, and in the ordinary course of commerce,
802
flowed constantly from Spain and. Portugal into France, and through Franca to the other parts of the continent, has now, from the total interruption of all intercourse, ceased to be carried in that direction.
A new and more easy channel has been discovered, by which the produce of the-gold mines of South America, can be distributed over the continent of Europe; the more open communication and intercourse which has lately taken place between Great Britain and the Spanish and Portuguese settlements in South America, has opened a new road, through this country, for the passage of the precious metals from the new world, where they abound, to the old continent, which docs not produce them. That this is the new course of commerce is obvious from the state of our commercial relaition and easy access to South America; it must be so in the present state of the world. It follows of course, that the geld must be cheaper in this country than in other countries to which it is afterwards exported; it is in the nature of things that it must be dearer in France, by all the expence of transport, risk, and insurance, which is incurred by the export of bullion.
The proposal of introducing an alteration of the law of legal, tender, which has been intimated with a view, I suppose, of feeling the way, before so dangerous an innovation of the general rules of law and justice shall be openly avowed, is the most pernicious and destructive ever ventured to be made by the wildest theorist in any civilized country. All the fatal consequences of such a measure, once carried into execution, no man can possibly fore see. But of this we may be well assured, that it threatens to subvert the whole sys tem of the political economy of the country; that it will overturn all fixed and certain standard of value, and totally destroy the spirit and meaning of all contracts and engagements between man and man.
By such an act, you at once declare bank-notes to be a forced paper currency, no longer resting on the basis of voluntary circulation; you will proclaim to the world that your bank-notes are assignats to all intents and purposes, differing in degree only, and not in kind. Mr. Burke, when contrasting the paper money of England with the assignats in France, describes them as powerful on the exchange, because impotent in Westminster Hall. How little did that great man imagine

803
when he was describing the horrible system of the French assignats, that he was also drawing the future picture of his own country!
A forced paper currency, once established by law, will leave no means of retreat; it will advance thenceforward with rapid strides towards that horrible system of finance which ruined millions in France; if once you start on the same course, you must inevitably run the same race. Your enactments must be either ineffectual, or intolerably tyrannical. The symptoms of rapid depreciation have already unequivocally appeared, and a legislative enactment, vainly intended to support the value of your paper money, will prove here, as, infallibly as it has proved in all other countries where the same fatal measure has been adopted, the immediate forerunner of the last crisis of the paper system.
Against such a monstrous proceeding we have the authority of Mr. Pitt himself. We have also the authority of judges in Westminster-hall. In the court of Common Pleas, upon a question whether banknotes were made a legal tender by the Restriction Act, Mr. Justice Heath held this language:
"Whatever inconveniences may arise, the courts of law cannot apply a remedy. I think indeed the legislature acted wisely, having the recent example of France before their eyes, to avoid making banknotes a legal tender; for in France we know that legislative provisions of that kind, in favour of paper currency, only tended to depreciate the paper it was designed to protect, and were ultimately repealed as injurious in their nature *."
We have indeed the experience and example of France, as a warning to avoid the same calamities: in support of the assignats, there was legislative interference, and penalties and terror ever ready at command, exercised with unrelenting severity and unceasing vigilance. But I ask, did ever that system of terror stop the depreciation, or uphold the finances of France? Has the forced paper currency of Austria (the most recent instance) preserved the finances of that empire? on the contrary, their destruction is also nearly completed.
It may be instructive to us to know what has been done in other countries, to modify
* Bosanquet and Puller's Reports, vol. ii. p. 526, Case of Grigby v. Oakes,
804
and correct the disturbance of all contract" occasioned by the progressive depreciation of their respective currencies. In France, and in Austria, it has been found necessary to establish a rule for the equitable performance of contracts. When the frenzy of the Revolution had subsided, the French government, after the destruction of their assignats and mandats, and the consequent reappearance of metallic money, ascertained the value of the Louisd or, as compared with assignats at different periods. When the Louis of 24 livres purchased 600 livres in assignats, it is clear that an engagement made in assignats at that rate was 25 times the value in good money. When the Louis was worth 1,200 livres, a contract made in assignats was 50 times the value of the metallic money. And in this simple manner, according to any given market-price of the Louis at a given time, contracts were reduced to their real value.
The remembrance of the assignats has, however, in a great degree, put an end to leases in France; and if they are ever now made, the rent is stipulated to be paid in certain measures of corn. It may shortly be found necessary to have recourse to the same precaution in England. The practice has, no doubt, its inconveniences; no man can calculate the exact amount of his income for any particular year, because it will depend on the seasons and the casual supply of that year: but if, instead of the money in which the rent is paid actually containing or faith fully representing a fixed certain weight of gold of a certain standard, there shall be substituted a currency subject to depreciation, in that case the undefined loss will far outweigh any possible inconvenience" and the landlord in his own defence must again resort to the antiquated mode of former ages, and stipulate for a certain measure of the gross produce of the land.
It is said that some legislative interference is absolutely necessary to protect the tenants against the demand of their landlords, and on that account the Bill is favourably received by those who profess to support the interests of the former. Little, indeed, do these men understand the interest of the tenant, who exhibit such total ignorance of the great and permanent interest of the agriculture of the country, to which the interest of the tenants and of those who follow agriculture as a profession is inseparably united If once the impious breach is made in existing

805
contracts, if once the legislature interferes with a violent hand, and tears out of the contract those positive stipulations, in faith of the due performance of which one of the parties has resigned and delivered over his valuable property, in the firm reliance that he shall be permitted to receive what he considered as a valuable equivalent, but which condition is after-wards totally abrogated by an ex post facto Jaw, there is an end of all faith both in public and private transactions. No man can henceforth place his dependance on the faith of contracts; the lands must be occupied by yearly tenants, for no landlord, after so dreadful a lesson of legislative injustice, will assign his properly for a fixed term to the chance of an uncertain value. There has already appeared a visible and general unwillingness to agree to new leases for long terms; and any suspicion of the possibility of interference with existing contracts, will extend that unwillingness to make leases even for the shortest periods.
My Lords, the difficulties of our situation have proceeded from long continued legislative interference; from having deserted the old sound maxims and general rules: the further you proceed in this course, the more difficult is your retreat. I well re-member the emphatic words in which our present situation was described in a former debate in this House: it was forcibly said," that legislative interference was heap" ed on legislative interference, difficulty was added to difficulty, until at last the original object lies overwhelmed and buried under the incumbent mass and rubbish of superadded matter." It is in vain to imagine that any interference can uphold the value of Bank-notes, if they are deficient in intrinsic worth, if less gold is given for the paper than that paper promises to pay. The attempt is against the natural order of things, and is pregnant with every mischief. Whatever may be the consequences, I am convinced the discusion must do good; the subject has been suffered to rest for several years, and by that neglect the depreciation has gradually and progressively advanced; and no possible effect arising from agitating this question, and bringing it to issue, can be go pernicious as the actual state of our degraded currency. In the year 1803 I op-posed the Restriction Bill; I resisted it in parliament, and endeavoured to expose the system, which I thought so injurious to all public and private interests. I fore-
806
told the consequences; and, having now unfortunately seen my opinion confirmed far beyond my expectation, of all men I am the last to be blamed if I have now had recourse to a remedy founded both in law and justice. *
* This Speech is taken from the original Edition printed for J. Ridgway, Piccadilly; to which is added the following

POSTSCRIPT.
"Having so plainly stated the principle on which I expected those, who had entered into contracts with me, to discharge their engagements; I hardly thought it necessary to add, that I consider myself as under the same obligation to those who have demands upon me under any old contract or engagement. I take this opportunity of stating, that I not only hold myself bound, and am ready, to satisfy all such demands, by payment of the same intrinsic value which the currency had at the date of each respective contract; but that I have already acted upon this principle in a payment of considerable amount.
"The Bill now before parliament will place some impediments in the way of those who desire to carry into effect an equitable adjustment in the payment of old contracts; but methods may be devised for an equitable arrangement without much trouble or expence. For this purpose, ascertain the weight of standard gold which the currency was able to purchase at the date of the contract, and let the payment be made in the same weight of standard gold. Coined money was invented for the general convenience; but if it cannot easily be procured, payment" may be made in uncoined bullion of the same standard.
"For instance, if the price of gold at the date of the contract was 4l. 5s. per ounce, then, in the proportion of 4l. 2s. to 31. 18 s. the Mini-price, it will require the weight only of 95 guineas and 1/8 0/2 as the equivalent for 100 guineas; and as that weight of standard gold may afterward" be sold at the market price, the landlord who receives it at that rate (an act of favour and concession on his part) will be indemnified for the increased depreciation of paper since the date of the contract, and at the same time will have regulated the payment according to the intrinsic value of the currency at the date of the lease.
Earl Bathurstsaid, notwithstanding the very able manner in which the noble lord who had just sat down had defended his
"For all contracts made before any depreciation had taken place, it will of course require the weight of 100 guineas in standard gold to discharge a demand for 100 guineas; but if, instead of standard bullion, a preference, for the sake of convenience, is given to Portugal gold coins (which, as an article of commerce in demand, are more valuable), an allowance may be made in proportion to their superior price in the market, requiring the weight of 98 guineas in such coin for 100 guineas due."
Since the restriction on cash payments in 1797, the natural check and safeguard against excessive issues of paper-currency has been removed; and it is confessed, that the Bank has not been guided in regulating the amount of their notes either by the price of gold bullion, or by the state of the foreign exchanges. All paper, not convertible into gold on demand, is in its nature liable to depreciation from excess, and the amount of such depreciation "is measured by the excess of the market-price of bullion above the Mint-price. When the paper-currency is not able to purchase as much gold as it promises to pay, then in proportion to that smaller quantity which it can command at any given time is the depreciation of the paper. Since 1799, gold bullion has progressively advanced in price, in proportion as the real value of the note (by which the gold has been purchased) has declined.
"The alteration of the intrinsic value of the currency has been so considerable, that it is become necessary, for the just and equitable liquidation of contracts made prior to the depreciation of the currency, or at any time during the progress of that depreciation, to ascertain the real intrinsic value of the common currency in which all contracts have been estimated, at the date of each respective agreement. For this purpose, it must be ascertained what quantity of standard gold any given sum of the common currency was able to command at the date of the agreement; and the payment of the same quantity of gold, or the value of that quantity, will be the equitable fulfilment of the contract, according to the intent and meaning of the parties. A payment in paper-money of inferior value is a payment in name only
808
conduct, he would still maintain, that the measure which he was now about to adopt would be mischievous to the country, and
and not in reality; a payment in good and lawful money, according to the letter, may be a payment of more than was intended by the spirit of the contract.
"It has been said, that no contracts since 1797 could have been expected to be paid in gold. If such contracts stipulate for payment in gold, they are nevertheless binding on the parties, and any modification must be considered as an act of favour and concession. Such contracts ought, on every principle of justice, to be fulfilled according to their spirit and meaning. The restriction act at first was expressly stated to be only temporary; and for ten years, there was no important depreciation: it was not before 1808 that any serious injury was sustained. The hope that the currency would be restored to its former value, might have induced many persons to submit to a loss of five or six per cent.; but are there no limits to the endurance of an injury, and is the patient acquiescence for so long a time to be now urged as a conclusive reason against all future attempts to resist a manifest fraud and public injustice?
"It appears, that any considerable increase of the amount of notes in circulation has an obvious influence in producing an advance of the price of gold, and a correspondent diminution of the real value of the pound note. The average price of wheat for England and Wales, which from 1771 to 1785 was forty-six shillings the quarter, and from 1786 to 1797 was fifty-two shillings, has since that period, in the short space of fourteen years, experienced an advance in price greatly exceeding the advance of the whole preceding century. Before the Bank restriction, and even during the two first years, it required 18 quarters of wheat to purchase one pound weight of standard gold, which was coined into 44 guineas and a half; at subsequent periods it has required only 14 quarters and half a bushel, 12 quarters and 2 bushels, to purchase a pound weight of gold, even at the apparent high price of gold. These calculations are made on the average prices both of corn and gold for five years, and five years, omitting the two years of dearth 1800 and 1801. In the last year, 1810, the average price of wheat was 106 s. 2d. the quarter, and the price of gold for that year was 4l. 11 s. the ounce;

809
an act of injustice towards his own tenants. He was exacting from the tenants a sum which they were not aware of at the time when they received their leases, and which, if they had been aware of, would perhaps have had the effect of preventing
it required then only 10 quarters 2 bushels and I peck to purchase a pound of gold; which same quantity of gold fourteen years before required no less than 18 quarters of wheat to purchase it. Considering the facts here stated, it is impossible to maintain that the price of gold has increased of late years; on the contrary, there is every reason to believe that a real and sensible diminution in the value of the precious metals has taken place, comparing them with wheat and labour, usually considered as the best criterions and standards of value.
"The pound troy is, by the regulation of the Mint, coined into 44 guineas and a half, of the weight of 5 dwts. 9 3/8 9/9 grs.; but guineas, if not reduced below the weight of 5 dwts. 8grs. continue to be a legal tender. At that weight, viz. 128 grains, the pound troy of 5760 grains is equal in weight to 45 instead of 44½ guineas. Promissory notes and tokens of the Bank of England, to the amount of 46 l. 14 s. 6d. can virtually and lawfully be discharged only by the payment by that corporation of 44. and a half guineas, or gold coins to that amount; and as 44 guineas and a half is only another name for a troy pound-weight of standard gold, every 46 l. 14 s. 6d. worth of Bank notes is an engagement to pay a troy pound weight of standard gold. [From the Theory of Money, printed for S. Highley, 24 Fleet Street, 1811; a work containing a variety of useful information upon this subject.] A Bank-note, or any paper-currency, neither has, nor can have, any value but what it derives from being a true representative, not merely of the coins of the realm, but of a certain quantity of gold; because the coins of the realm have themselves, and can have, no value but what they derive from the quantity of sterling gold contained in them, and the gold coins in use are legal tender so long only as they contain the quantity of gold declared by the King's proclamation to be contained in them.
"In the earl of Liverpool's Treatise on the Coins, an account is given of the different treasons against the pound sterling which have been committed at different
810
their acceding to the leases. In all the leases which he had granted subsequent to 1797, the tenant had a right to conceive he was to pay in paper, and not in gold, and therefore he ought to have told the tenant he would insist on having his rent
times; a brief summary of which may be usefully inserted:

s.

d.

1.

In the 28th year of his reign,

Edw. 1.

coined 1lb weight of silver into

20

3

2.

—

18th

—

Edw. 3.

—

—

22

2

3.

—

20th

—

Edw. 3.

—

—

22

6

4.

—

27th

—

Edw. 3.

—

—

25

0

5.

—

13th

—

Hen. 4.

—

—

30

0

6.

—

4th

—

Edw. 4.

—

—

37

6

7.

—

18th

—

Hen. 8

—

—

45

0

8

2d year of her reign.

E1izabeth

—

—

60

0

9.

—

43d

—

Elizabeth

—

—

62

0

"The reformation of the coin (in those times the only circulating medium) seems to have formed no inconsiderable part of the grievances for which parliaments attempted to obtain redress from those sovereigns, who, urged by their necessities, had degraded the coin for the purpose of defrauding their subjects.
"Since the establishment of a more regular government acting by general rules in the administration of the national affairs, according to the well understood interests both of the government and people, no sovereign of England, since the reign of Elizabeth, has had recourse to the expedient of making further innovation in the standard of the currency. The legal standard has remained unaltered ever since the time when queen Elizabeth made the last alteration in the silver coinage, and gold has since been made the only legal tender in all payments above 25 l. in value.
"The use of the second table is to shew, by inspection, the real quantity of gold which the current paper-money was able to purchase in any given year, that quantity, or the weight of the number of guineas in the 3d column, being, according to the spirit of the contract, the equitable payment of 105 l.; the 4th column shews the value of the weight of gold equal to the number of guineas contained in the third column, at the price of 4l. 14 s. per ounce; the 5th and last column shews the further depreciation of paper money for every hundred pound since the date of the contract.
"It would have been a much easier and shorter method to have paid the difference of the value of Bank-notes by an addition to the nominal sum equivalent to the depreciation; but this practice would hive exposed the fact to daily view, and would

811
paid in gold. The noble lord had stated, that in those cases where the leases had been granted within the last two years, he had made no alteration; and that all that he asked for was an indemnification for the alterations which had taken plate in the value of the currency since the restriction act. What sort of a principle was that, he would ask, which was not the same at all limes? But the truth was, he did receive an indemnification by the increase of rent at the granting of every new lease, if a long lease were granted a greater rent was required than for a short one. The sum required for a lease of 7 years, was greater than that for a lease of 4; the sum for a 14. years lease was greater than for one of 7; and for 21 years, greater than for 14. On what other principle but the probability of a progressive depreciation, was this advance of prices asked? The noble lord, according to his own principle, must have been more aware than any other person, of the depreciation, and having been aware, would exact, at the time of granting his leases, a proportionate advance: yet now he was requiring to be paid a second time for that rise. Upon the principle of the noble lord, for all the leases granted by him in 1801 and 1802, he ought to have allowed a deduction of rent in 1804 and 1805; for the price of gold was higher in 1801 and 1802, than it was in 1804 and 1805. If he did not make any allowance to his tenants then, he was not entitled to ask them for any addition at present. He would put it to the noble lord, if he had
have carried with it irresistible conviction; and the legislature has lately interfered to prevent the depreciation from becoming thus palpable and manifest.
"If gold is in demand for the payment of contracts, for instance, for the discharge of rent, it will now be necessary for the tenant to require two prices for his produce, one for gold, and another for paper; or he may, if more convenient, dispose of the whole of his produce for the ordinary paper currency, and purchase the weight of standard gold (if gold coin cannot easily be procured) requisite to discharge his rent or bond-debts, according to the spirit of his contracts.
"It has sometimes been said, that the total disappearance of gold, and universal substitution of paper in all payments, prove, that it is impossible to procure gold but it must be recollected, that the
812
made any such allowance? He must have been more aware of the increasing depreciation than any man living, from his known talents, and the attention which he had paid to the subject; but his tenants would not be aware of the intention of the noble lord, that he was going to set up a principle, that the rent was not to be a fixed Sum, but should fluctuate according to the price of gold. The noble lord had stated, that he had adopted this line of conduct for the purpose of calling the attention of government to the subject, in, consequence of certain Resolutions which, had been adopted by the House of Commons. But why did he not adopt this course earlier in the session? He seemed to have put it off to the last period, that he might elude the vigilance of parliament. As to the question of depreciation, it was attended with great difficulties. He would, however, proceed to make one or two observations on what fell from the noble lord on this subject. He had said, that the advance in the price of gold must be attributed to an excessive issue of paper. Then in proportion as that issue diminished, the price of gold must fall. But if they looked to the papers which had been laid before the other House, they would be found not to confirm this doctrine; for the price of gold has risen when there was a decrease in the issue of notes, and fallen when the issue was increased. He had also stated, that a depreciation was attended by a general rise in the price of all other commodities. No doubt if a depreciation of the currency
whole question rests precisely on the inferior value of our paper-money compared with gold; and there fore, as long as any considerable difference exists in reality, it is a manifest absurdity to imagine that payments will be made indifferently in gold and paper, when one currency has been 10, 15, and even 20 percent, less in, value than the gold coin. Let the value of the paper currency be restored to the value of the legal gold coins, and payments will again be made in gold and paper indifferently; let the opposite course be persevered in, and allow the depreciation to become so sensible that gold shall be demanded generally in preference to paper money in satisfaction of old contracts, and in this manner the demand for gold will establish two prices, one for commodities sold for paper, and another for those sold for the gold coins."

813
should take place, it would be attended with a general advance of the price of all other commodities; but he would venture to say that a general rise might take place in the price of commodities without any depreciation of the currency. This might take place from an encreasing trade, and various other causes. But he would ask: was the fact such as had been stated by the noble lord? Was there a general advance in the price of commodities? Let the noble lord compare the current prices at present with those in 1808, and he would find that a large proportion of commodities, and those by no means inconsiderable commodities, had fallen in price. He would find that iron and wood, unfortunately for the noble lord adduced as instances of a rise in price; tallow, cotton, and a great number of other commodities, had experienced a great fall in them. When there was a depreciation in the currency, there would be a general advance in the price of commodities: but if there was a general advance it did not follow that there was depreciation. He had another observation to make: the measure of 1797 had been adopted by all succeeding administrations, and in particular by the administration to whose measures the noble lord acceded, and which he had supported. But the session of parliament, during which his friends were in administration, passed away, without either repeal or limitation of the restriction act being introduced. He believed there was not even a scrap of paper to shew that that administration had ever turned their thoughts to the subject. No doubt they acted wisely, and it would have been an unwise course to have acted otherwise; and the present administration had acted also properly in continuing the system. He concurred with the principle of the Bill of the noble earl, but, at the present period of the session, he thought it advisable to avoid making any legislative enactment on the subject. He hoped there would be a general disinclination in the country to follow the conduct of the noble lord; but if the evil should ever become general, it would be unfit for the House to suffer it to continue. It would be proper for them then to inquire into the instances of oppression which might take place. The noble earl who spoke first had mentioned several cases. Under these circumstances be thought it would be advisable to avoid making any laws on the sub-
814
ject at present, and that this alteration might be effected with more propriety at some future period.
Lord Hollandwas perfectly ready to profess that he was not much acquainted with the doctrines respecting the circulating medium, much less so than many others of their lordships; but as far as he understood the subject at all, he assented to the doctrines of his noble friend (lord King); and this, together with the manner in which his noble friend had been attacked, both in and out of doors, made him anxious to deliver his opinion, and to share with his noble friend the obloquy and clamour that had been so loudly raised against him. He had no hesitation in saving, that if this measure passed, it must be only the first of a series of bills more daring than any this country ever saw, in order to attain an object which no government had a right to accomplish, and which, in reality, no government could effect. The noble earl who spoke last had gone so far as to assert, that the demand made by his noble friend was unjust towards his tenants, and mischievous to the country. On the contrary, he would maintain, that should it appear, as he had no doubt it would, that his noble friend was only dealing fairly for the interests of his own family, acting according to the laws of the land, and in consonance to his own rights, even though his conduct should be hostile to the system pursued by government; all that would only prove that their system was a had one, and the sooner it was done away with the better. Instead of exciting a clamour against the conduct of his noble friend, should it not rather be received as a warning, that it was high time for government to retrace its steps, and if possible correct the evil before it was beyond the reach of remedy The whole matter might be resolved into this short argument. Bank notes were either depreciated, or they were not; if there was no depreciation, then his noble friend's demand could do no harm, and gold could, of course, be obtained; if there was a depreciation, then he must contend that his noble friend was giving the country a warning in time, by which they might profit." Lay not this flattering unction to your souls," as if the present system could go on much longer. Were this Bill carried, recourse must be had to the principle of a maximum, and all the other measured which originated in France from the law

815
that forbad the circulation of assignats but at its nominal value. The law of the maximum proceeded not from wickedness or folly, but from the previous steps that were taken. People would not bring their commodities to market, when they could not get what they wanted in exchange, and hence all the measures of force adopted to prevent the people from famishing. This Bill once made a law, he defied parliament to stop in the tremendous career; and to the very same complexion as in France would the matter come at last in this country. There was no other remedy but making the Bank resume its payments in specie. There was no choice, no other medium left. The Bank must either pay in gold, or things would go on, till parliament would be actually forced to adopt the most abominable measure of a maximum. The noble earl had stated, what in his mind was the ground of advancing rents on granting leases. He said that, it was founded on a calculation of the advance in the depreciation of money. But how much did these fatal words," Good and lawful money of the land," stand in the way of such an idea? Did not these words expressly mean, that the landlord was not to be paid in a depreciated currency; and was not the Bank-note depreciated, when a pound-note and seven shillings were currently given for a guinea? But the true reason why the landlord granted a long lease, was that his tenant might have an opportunity of improving the laud to his own advantage, and thus leaving it ultimately in the hands of his landlord of more value than he found it. He must again repeat, that his noble friend had, in his mind, acted agreeably to the interests of his family, the law of the land, and his own rights.
The noble earl had said, that the last administration was equally accountable with the present for the continuance of the Bank restriction. But that administration, it was to be recollected, lasted only about a year, three months of which were employed in a negotiation for peace; and had it been attained, the Bank restriction would have ceased of itself.
He would now shortly advert to the speech of his noble friend the mover of the present Bill. He never listened to the speeches of his noble friend without information and instruction; and, however much he admired the ingenuity which he had displayed on the present occasion,
816
and gave credit to his honourable intentions, yet he felt convinced that his noble, friend was recommending a series of, measures which would involve the country in the greatest calamities. A noble lord high in office (lord Liverpool) seemed on a former night to approve of this Bill as a, remedy; adding, however, that the evil was not so great as to require it at present, though it might do so in time. Now, he, on the contrary, would maintain the very converse of these two propositions, namely, that the evil did exist to a very great degree, but that this measure ought neither now nor at any future period to be the remedy. Mr. Burke, when speaking of the assignats, had justly observed, that it was the very essence of Bank-notes to be founded on credit, and that the great distinction of the Bank of England notes was," that they were powerful upon change, because incompetent in Westminster-hall." The instant the Bank note was supported by the hand of power, and not by credit, then its value would, rapidly sink away. Where was the justice of coming with the arm of authority, and saying," take this-note for a guinea," when it was known that the guinea was worth 27 shillings? But his noble friend had said, there was no remedy left—it was Hobson's choice—you must take it because nothing else was to be got; though he would not have it made a legal tender. This reminded him, of the story of a gentleman who was fond of deep potations at his table, and who used to say to his guests," I press no man, to drink more than he chooses, but still I, make it a rule, that every one who stays-should be expected to drink." Of course, those not inclined to drink deep soon rose to fake their departure, upon which he, used to ask his servant, in their hearing, whether he had let loose the great dog to walk about the passages; so that either way he had them. And thus, the Bill did not make Bank-notes a legal tender, but it would so operate that we should soon not be able to get any thing else. It was a legal tender in disguise, and would banish all money from circulation, while it necessarily increased the issues of paper. His noble friend had again quoted the saying of Sir G. Saville, of its being possible to make any thing the measure of value. He agreed to it so far, but then it must be that which the people at large agreed to take as a measure, and not what the government chose to force upon them. Value must consist either in opinion, or in

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intrinsic use. And here he would call to I the recollection of the House, what Mr. Burke, in his Letter to a Member of the National Assembly, had said on the subject of the assignats. He could not now quote the expressive language of that great man, but the substance of it was," that the assembly might place the government in what hands they chose, but if once they declared paper to be coin, (he real governors of the country would be the coiners of that paper." Should this Bill pass, the government of the country would be no longer in the bands of King, Lords, and Commons, but in those of the Bank; and all the multifarious transactions of men, in all the walks of life, would be left lo their control Their lordships were interested with the government itself, not to place the happiness of the country at the discretion of the Bank directors. He must, therefore, enter his solemn protest against this measure. If once adopted, we could not stop; the Bank-notes would run the same course with the assignats, and after passing through various stages of depreciation, would at last end in being absolutely valueless. He knew that a great deal might be said of the inconvenience of paying in specie; but if that was not done without delay, or at least a period fixed for the resumption of cash payments at the Bank, the neglect would not fail to draw down the greatest evils upon the country.
The Earl of Rosseobserved, that all the arguments of the noble lord who had just sat down rested on this foundation alone, that the paper currency was depreciated. Now, that was the very question to be decided; and there was one argument which, to his mind, was decisive, that no depreciation had taken place. The value of any useful article could only be depreciated by too great abundance. There was every reason to believe that the amount of notes of the Bank of England now in circulation did not exceed the mass of circulating medium compounded of notes and gold in 1798. Was a less quanitity of currency required now than in 1798 to conduct the mercantile transactions of the country? Surely not; our domestic transactions had, on the contrary, greatly increased, and therefore there could not be a superabundance of the circulating medium, which could be the only cause of its depreciation, particularly as nobody doubted the credit of the Bank. The question was, whether a remedy should
818
be applied to prevent the evils which a noble lord's determination was likely to produce. He thought there should, and that the present Bill presented that remedy of all the measures of Mr. Pitt, who was certainly one of the greatest financiers that ever lived, the Bank restriction was that which was attended with the greatest advantages. Had it not been for that great operation, the country would long ago have succumbed before the enemy. It was asserted by some, that if the quantity of circulating medium was reduced, it would increase its value. But, then, look at the other consequences. It would cramp and confine the industry of the country; it would put a stop to the operations of agriculture and commerce; the country would suffer the most tremendous evils. This would be the effect of making the Bank pay in gold, as its issues would necessarily be contracted in proportion. He wished this measure to be extended to Ireland also. The situation of the people in the north of Ireland was at present most calamitous; they were completely at the mercy of their landlords. Many of them would only take their notes at a discount; and if there were any noble lords from that part of the empire now present, he would ask them, if there was not a class of persons there who would only receive notes at one value, and issue them at another? Could there, he would ask, be a more monstrous injustice than this? Many persons flattered themselves that few would follow the example which a noble lord had that night declared his intention to set. He thought most highly of the good sense and patriotism of the people of England; yet, when men thus saw an opportunity of getting an addition of 20 percent, on their rents, was it to be supposed, that only a few would avail themselves of it? He conjured their lordships to adopt the measure, and that without delay.
The Earl of Lauderdaleregarded the present subject to be paramount to all others in point of importance; and the magnitude of the question was such as would render it criminal in ministers to dismiss parliament at present, without coming to some determination upon it. The noble lord who spoke last had asserted broadly, that the paper was not depreciated, because the issues of the Bank" were not greater than the compound mass of gold and paper in circulation in 1798. But were the notes of the Bank of England

819
alone to be considered? Why, the private Banks had doubled since 1798, and now there existed the extraordinary number of 720 private Banks, all issuing as much paper as they could possibly circulate. Whenever the notes of any country were withdrawn from circulation in any number, then the effect was, that the value of those which were left increased. This was the case in the North American colonies, and it was the same in the reign of king William, as he should afterwards shew. He was anxious to know whether ministers really approved of this Bill. Could they figure to themselves any advantage from it? Who was it that they wished to relieve? Was it the tenants? Why, the noble lord was perfectly willing to receive Bank-notes at their present value compared with the coin of the country. So far, then, they would circulate as before. But were this law to pass, he had not a doubt that it would not only diminish the number of Bank notes, but also depreciate them. He really thought that the only object of his noble friend, in proposing this measure, was to feel the pulse of the House and of the country, on the subject. The noble lord had asked, whether this was not a new state of things? No: at the latter end of the last century, circumstances almost exactly similar occurred. In the year 1695, men were going about purchasing notes for the purpose of paying their debts; and after they had collected a great number at a depreciated value, they brought them forward, and paid them to their creditors, who were obliged to receive them at their full amount, or to go without any pan of their demand. In proof of this the noble earl read an extract from Mr. Drake's account, in 1699, of the attempts made at the above period to diminish the value of bank notes. He contended that two species of circulating medium could never exist at the same time in equal credit; for if one rose in value, the other must be depreciated; and if gold rose, paper, which was to represent it, if it once lust the confidence of those who were to receive it, must sink in the same proportion as the other rose in value. This was the case in France when the louis in gold was worth. 1200 assignats in paper. Nothing could be more wretched and miserable than the situation of the people under these circumstances; notwithstanding which, no sooner was the whole of the paper swept away from the face of the country, which it was in the space of one
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day, than from that moment, the very same country, from being greatly distressed became highly flourishing, by getting rid of a set of wicked and mercenary individuals, who delighted to make their own fortunes upon the ruin and misery of the public at large. Many arguments had been urged to shew that the credits of the Bank of Scotland were similar to those proposed to be introduced by the present Bill; but he denied that any proof had been adduced in support of these assertions; and he was sorry to observe, that for want of more substantial arguments, ministers had been driven to resort to that miserable one, that the last ministers, who were only in office one year, had not taken any step to remedy the grievance that was now so loudly complained of. It was, extremely unfair to urge such an argument in their own defence; because they well knew that the late ministers were, during the greater part of the time they were in office, engaged in a negociation for peace; which had they succeeded in effecting, would have put an end to the Bank restriction. Had they continued in office longer than they did, he was convinced they would have shewn their zeal for the interests of the country, by attending, in the most serious and effective manner, to this most important and desirable measure of causing the Bank to resume their payments in specie.—Before he sat down he would conjure ministers maturely to consider the nature of the measure they were now about to adopt. He knew very well that the noble earl who brought forward this Bill was possessed of great ingenuity; but he did not seem to have studied the nature and extent of its provisions. Could they bring forward an effectual remedy? No; the only way they could do it would be to make Bank notes a legal tender—a measure which he believed no man would venture to bring forward, either in that House or the other, without a great risk of being called to the severest account. The noble earls in his letter to the Lord Chancellor, had assimilated the pledges of the Bank to be given by this Bill, to those which were in force relative to the royal Bank of Scotland; but nothing could be more different; for in Scotland there was not a bank-note in circulation which the Bank was not obliged, to pay in cash whenever it should be demanded. To this had been owing the very great improvements in that country, and the reason why the rents there had in the same space

821
of time risen to a much higher state than they had done in England. Speaking of the argument of the noble earl (Bathurst) as to the injustice with which he had charged his noble friend (lord King) of acting towards his tenantry, his lordship declared, he never heard such nonsense. He felt ashamed of the House when he reflected on the mode in which the question had been urged. Ministers had adopted a measure, for which they had not been able to advance a single argument, except that of condemning an individual for pursuing a course with respect to his own property, which the law most fully and directly sanctioned.
Lord Redesdalesaid, if every landlord in the country were to insist on his tenants paying their rent in gold, they might very soon come to the point of asking two hundred for one, because for the tenants to obtain gold would be impossible. The noble lord said, that the statute of Edward 6 applied only to gold and silver, and not to any other circulating medium. If the noble earl persisted in the present Bill, and it should be adopted, it might be necessary to introduce the words of that statute, and make them applicable to paper. The act of parliament, which in 1797 laid the restriction on the Bank, made paper the same as gold, with respect to debts and public credit; and, whether the legislature were right or wrong in that measure, he thought that having said so, it how became the duty of parliament to protect the people in what had been done. Coin had been some how or other driven from the country; and if tenants could not get gold to pay their rents, they must be protected from being forced out of their farms, for not being able to effect impossibilities. The plan proposed by the Bill was, that bank-notes should be protected from depreciation, as gold was by the statute of Edward 6, that no man shall be compelled to take such notes; but if they did take them, it should not be for less than a pound. He did not think the words of the Bill would have that effect; yet the state of things required that some provision should be made against the existing difficulties and inconveniences, and he should therefore give his support to the Bill.
Lord Grenvillerose and said: My Lords, in addressing you on this occasion, it is painful to me to observe, that I cannot remember in the course of my life to have ever seen the ministers of this country placed
822
in so disgraceful a situation as that in which they appear this night. Whatever may be the variety of opinions entertained upon this subject by different persons there is no man in the community who does not feel that this is by far the most important question in the whole circle of the political interests of the empire. I know that the House of Commons has already, by coming to certain Resolutions, expressed their belief that by so resolving, they had set this question entirely at rest. If the dangers, indeed, which being set before the view of that House, were intended to be counteracted by these Resolutions, had been purely visionary, the object had been perhaps accomplished. But if, on the contrary, we have now a practical test of the reality of the danger—if the predictions of those who pointed it out have been since completely verified—if in every day, and every succeeding hour, the evil is increasing—we have a manifestation of the futility of the supposition that the vole of the House of Commons would put a period to the discussion. I did not feel disappointment, my Lords, for it was what I expected, though I confess it was with a sentiment of indignation that I found only one of his Majesty's ministers rise on this occasion; and that he, declining all enquiry, all examination into the state of the alledged depreciation of the currency, should confine his whole answer to an attack on the private conduct of my noble friend. Provided men sinned not against the laws—provided they made the laws the rule of their conduct—it was an ancient maxim of wholesome government to permit them to act, under all circumstances, by their own discretion, and not to interfere in any manner, by regulations of any kind, or authority of any description, to debar them from the right of exercising their free and unbiassed judgment. It was left to the period of the French Revolution, it was left for Robespiere, for the Jacobin Club, and for the present ministers, to pronounce upon the private actions of individuals, and to determine whether they deserved the character of civism or incivism. My Lords, if men are to be governed by rules, those rules ought to be clearly expressed and generally understood, not left to the interpretation of political parties. In alluding to my noble friend and relation (lord King),'., I am sure that the censures applied to his conduct were most unmerited. I know and love the character of that noble lord;

823
I know his public spirit, his extensive in formation, his acquaintance, equalled by few, with the subject now before us. My Lords, I also know the private virtues that adorn him, the kindness of his temper, and the benevolence of his heart; and if I were called on to name the last man in the country likely to commit an act of injustice and oppression, it would be my noble friend. If the time is arrived for the introduction of new principles of government, and if my noble friend is to be required to explain the reasons which govern his private proceedings, in this assembly, will your lordships tell me where these principles are to stop? Are the merchants likewise to be called to your bar, to be interrogated as to the mode of managing their business, or to be instructed by government in the means of conducting their commercial transactions, so as to produce the greatest share of advantages to the country? Is that maxim of political science which influenced the policy of the government till it was subverted by the rash measures of the Board of Trade, to be at length utterly relinquished? That maxim which has been sanctioned by the most eminent statesmen and writers, and in the justice of which I most heartily concur, that the best way of promoting the public, was to give unrestrained freedom to the prosecution of individual interests, the aggregate of which constitutes the mass of national prosperity? It is not my intention, my lords, to trespass on your patience by following my noble friend through all the detail of his lucid and manly speech. In answer to the observations upon it, made by the noble lord (Bathurst) I content myself with appealing to the law, the plain understood law of the country. It is by that law that the members of the community must regulate their conduct, and not by party doctrines in parliamentary debate. I do not wonder at the wrath of ministers being directed against my noble friend: I do not wonder at the cowardly attempt to raise a public clamour against him, because he has been the immediate means of proving the fallacy of their belief, that they had set this question finally at rest. If, however, they had been animated by one spark of justice, or ordinary candour they would not have held him out as a solitary example, but have fairly admitted what has been stated to you by a noble lord, this night (lord Rosse) that he had only imitated what has been the common practice in the north of
824
Ireland, as well as the conduct of numerous individuals in this part of the empire. But this would not have suited their design, this would have been to admit the existence of the mischief that is coming upon us, and the only way of accomplishing this purpose was, if possible, to deter him by clamour and invective, from persisting in pursuing the dictates of his judgment. The question, however, is now said to assume a public character, and in this light I perfectly agree with those noble lords who have dwelt on the urgent necessity of applying an early remedy. The kind's ministers, indeed, from whom it was natural to hear something on such a subject, do not favour us with the slightest observation. I believe, my lords, and I have before expressed this opinion, that the moment is at length arrived when, if the evil be not arrested it must advance with an accelerated progress, till it produces a stale of calamity, not only unequalled by any thing that has hitherto ever affected this nation, but which it is almost impossible for the imagination to conceive. We are, however, in that miserable style of argument by which the measures of administration are generally defended, desired even now to shut our eyes to this alarming and extensive danger, and are told still to confide in our shield and buckler, as a certain armour against all the perils that surround us. A noble and learned lord has informed us that when Mr. Pitt first adopted the mensure, of the Restriction, he contemplated at the same time its indefinite duration. Really I am at a loss to know where the noble lord acquired this knowledge, but I do feel it to be my duty to declare, and it is a declaration which the part I took in the public councils at that period warrants me in making, that the most painful day both to Mr. Pitt and ray-self, of his and my political life, was that on which the circumstances of the country were deemed such as to impose on us the necessity of coming to parliament with that proposition as a temporary measure. By what considerations we were afterwards induced to extend it for successive short periods, it is unnecessary to explain; suffice it to say, that they are considerations which I shall ever deeply regret had any influence upon my mind. I do assure my noble friend that I have long since fully concurred in the arguments which he has urged against the original policy of that restriction. It must be in the memory I of some who hear me, that I did oppose in

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my place in this House, the Bill for extending the restriction to the end of the war, and even then considered the propriety of the virtual resumption of cash payments. Does the noble earl think then, that blame is rather due to me than to those ministers who now sit in silent apathy, and see the evil approaching to its maturity with the most perfect insensibility? With regard to my conduct when last I held an office in his Majesty's government, I beg leave to remark that I was from the month of February to the November following, engaged with many of my noble friends near me, in endeavours to preserve what we considered to be the greatest boon that could be obtained for the people of this country, a safe and honourable peace. Had that event been happily accomplished, the Bank restriction would have been consequently at an end. If called on to account for the subsequent four months which I passed in office, I am called on to perform a task of which I am not ashamed. From the moment when I found that a safe and honourable peace was not to be obtained, I bent the whole force of my mind to prepare and mature a permanent system, which by wise precaution and provident arrangement, might so economize and husband our resources, as to enable us to continue the contest, not merely for a few years, but to the most distant period. Without any of those extraordinary exertions which have since been made, and in my opinion for the must impolitic purposes, this system would have operated in the most beneficial manner. I did not forget that the restriction was a permanent evil, but I conceived that the most effectual mode of dispensing with it, was to place the government in such a situation as to deprive the Bank of the plea of its necessities to continue their own profits. I know that it is not, as it was said to be declared by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the want of gold in which the necessity of the continuance of the restriction originates. It is in the exigencies of the government, and in profuse and wasteful expenditure. To supply those exigencies, and to support that expenditure, you permit the Bank to make unlimited issues and spread through the country a depreciated currency. It is for this purpose that his Majesty's subjects are compelled in amount to pay their income tax, once to the revenue, and twice to those who profit by the restriction. This state of things is now openly
826
avowed and defended, as necessary to the support of government. Necessary it may be, while the annual expenditure is 90 million sterling, but that is an expenditure which it is absurd in the highest degree to imagine you can maintain. However grateful to your wishes or flattering to your pride, you must at length renounce this vain idea. With all my respect for the logical acuteness of the noble lord near me, I do not think he has acted up to his own sense of the utility of definition in his explanation of paper at par, and paper under a depreciation. Neither do I agree with him, that bankers are exclusively the true judges of its real value. I consider a paper currency to be depreciated when in the transaction between man and man, less gold is given for the paper than that paper promises to pay, and that in proportion to the difference between the sum promised as to the sum thus paid, is the extent of that depreciation. The noble and learned lord has put an extreme case, equally applicable to all periods, and has said, that if gold was required to the fulfilment of all contracts, it could not possibly be procured. There never, however, was a time, and I am ready to establish the fact, when there was more or even so much gold in the country as at the present period. No difficulty is experienced in obtaining any quantity, as stated in, the evidence before a Committee of the House of Commons, if the price is only offered. We were formerly accustomed to draw our supplies from foreign countries, not always well disposed to us, and sometimes in open hostility. The demand for gold, as will ever be the case, was still, notwithstanding the hazard and difficulty, more or less supplied. You have now free access to the countries which produce gold, you are the masters of the seas, you pursue the trade without the slightest interruption from any state, and the consequence is, that you both import and export in larger quantities than at any antecedent period. It is to a destructive policy alone that the evil must be attributed. It has advanced slowly, progressively increasing, like the Mississippi and South Sea schemes, and, like them, if not checked, it must end in the most extensive ruin and calamity. My lords, it has often fallen to my lot to point out the inevitable results of the issue of the asssignats in France. How little did I then imagine, that, in the description I then gave, I was but anticipating what, in the course of twenty years, would

827
be the faithful picture of my own country! How little did I then apprehend that the established credit of Great Britain, that her flourishing finances and proud resources, would perish by the same hideous monster, appearing in all his pristine deformity!
The noble lord then commented on the pernicious tendency of the Bill, which, though declared by the noble earl who brought it forward, not to be intended to make Bank-notes a legal tender, yet went so near it as to create great risk of committing gross and flagrant injustice. The noble lord next proceeded to animadvert with great strength of argument and observation upon the danger of making paper a legal lender. His Majesty's ministers appeared now to be adopting measures which had been stigmatised by all eminent authorities upon such subjects as most injurious to a state. They had determined to issue tokens for three sterling shillings—tokens which, according to the standard value in the sterling shillings, would not be worth more than 2s. 4d. In this instance he must contend, that they were not satisfied with a depreciated paper, unless they accompanied it with a debased coin. If this measure were fit to be adopted, he should be glad to know, why the tokens were not to be issued by government for the profit of the public? He could see no good reason why the profit should go to the Bank of England, rather than to the treasury. The tokens were to be prepared in the King's mint, and under the immediate sanction of ministers, and if the nation was to take the mischief of the issue, the public was entitled to the profit—He had thus long detained their lordships, because he felt it necessary, to state explicitly his opinions upon the present measure. But he had by no means exhausted the subject; he had not even expressed all the considerations which suggested themselves to his mind upon the question. If the measure were to be persisted in, he should often have to address their lordships upon it; not that he was not perfectly aware how little useful it was to address their lordships upon such occasions; but because, feeling as he did respecting this measure, he should not think that he had performed his duty if he failed to state his sentiments fully. Whatever might be the future misfortunes of the country in consequence of these measures, he was sure that he could bear his proportion of them with the fortitude of a Man conscious of having discharged his
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duty in endeavours to avert them: but when he considered how particularly it had fallen under his observation on a former occasion to watch the progress and effects of similar measures in that unhappy country, France, he should be criminal not to use all the means in his power to prevent their introduction into his native land.
The Earl of Liverpoolobserved, that the question before their lordships had been argued with a view to the ulterior measures which the noble earl who brought the present measure forward had in his contemplation. For his own part, he wished, in any thing he should feel it necessary to say upon this Bill, not to be understood to give any opinion or approbation of those ulterior measures. The principle of the Bill under consideration he had certainly approved of; and when first the measure was opened to their lordships, he had declared it to be the best remedy for the evil in the contemplation of the noble mover. And this declaration he had made, founding his opinion upon the principle of the measure of 1797, that it was not desirable to extend the principle of legislation beyond the necessity of the case. He had, however, on that occasion, conceived that it might be better to let the question rest upon the law as it stood, be cause he was then of opinion that the example mentioned by the noble earl would not be generally followed. This opinion of his was not founded upon any impression that he had any right to inquire into the precise degree of public spirit and principle which individuals might be influenced by in the regulation of their private concerns, but because he thought it would not be for the interest of any individuals to follow that example. The interest of landlords and tenants could not be separated, and consequently any act that would bear hard upon the tenant must be injurious to the landlord himself. If the example of the noble lord were to be followed generally, the tenants would indemnify themselves by raising the prices of the articles they brought to market; but if it were not followed generally, the particular tenant would not have the means of indemnifying himself by a rise of prices, and the consequent injury he would suffer would also be felt by the landlord. Though, he had at first thought, that upon the whole it would be better to leave the law as it stood, yet when he attended to the principle of the measure under consideration,

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and particularly to the doctrines of those who had opposed it, he began to feel that the remedy should be upheld; that if parliament should separate before the adoption of such a measure, much public inconvenience might be the result; and the remedy which was now easy, would perhaps then be ineffectual. If ever a question had been exhausted in the history of the proceedings of parliament, it was the present. It had not only been discussed day after day for many successive days, but a very considerable number of publications had been written by able, acute, and ingenious men upon both sides of the question. Whatever difference of opinion there might have been as to the origin of the evil, upon the propriety of binding the Bank to resume cash payments at any definite time there appeared to be very little difference. Upon a division on that question, in another place, the minority did not exceed 47. The noble baron who spoke second in the debate, had stated that Bank notes were depreciated, because they did not now purchase as much food and other necessaries as formerly, and had instanced wheat and corn. But the papers on their lordships table shewed that the rise in the price of corn was attributable to other causes. The consumption had increased considerably beyond the produce. The 400,000 quarters formerly imported were now consequently increased to 6 or 700,000. This was not owing to depreciation, as by reference to the price of iron, timber, wool, cotton, feathers, tallow, and hides, which were known to have fallen in price as gold bullion rose in the market. The measure of restriction had been resorted to in the first instance to prevent the Bank from paying in cash, and to keep the bullion in the country; and he knew it to have been the opinion of the great man who originated the Bank restriction, that the public creditor should never be placed in a worse situation than any individual having equivalents in any other species of security. But the public creditor, if compelled to take notes at par for his dividend, whilst the tenantry would be allowed to take them at a depreciated rate, would be greatly injured. The noble baron had said, that gold enough could be had, if we were willing to pay the price for it. He knew not upon what authority this had been asserted; but he knew that one of the most extensive and respectable merchants perhaps in the world, who was apt much in the practice of giving his
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support to his Majesty's ministers, had decidedly slated in the House of Commons, that if he wanted guineas, he should not know how to get them. If the Bank could procure gold, it would find its way out of the country. This was owing to the unexampled state of the world, and the convulsed state of commerce. He agreed with the noble baron, that our exertions in the prosecution of the war had the effect of a drain upon the coin of the country; though he differed from him in thinking that the exertions we were making were well worth the price we paid for them. When he considered the consequences that might follow from the example pointed out by the noble mover, he thought it would be unwise to reject the Bill, as such rejection would lead to consequences highly injurious to tenants, but still more injurious to the public creditor.
The Earl of Lauderdalebriefly explained, and referred to the evidence of Mr. Merle and another, to shew that gold might be had as heretofore.
Earl Stanhoperose to reply. Before he should say any thing upon the subject of the Bill, he must observe, that a noble earl had stated" that he had views of his own ill bringing forward this measure," and he wished for an explanation.
The Earl of Lauderdaledisclaimed distinctly having ever intended to say, or having ever conceived, that his noble friend could have had any views of interest in the measure.
Earl Stanhopeexpressed his satisfaction at the explanation given by his noble friend, and added, that he had not conceived it possible for his noble friend to suppose that he could have had any views of interest in bringing such a measure. But when such words struck the ear, they ought to be explained; and he should be extremely sorry that any person who had heard the words should think them applicable to him. He had always been a speculative man, and very little given to views of self-interest. He had always thought, that the man who was in possession of a large property not gained by his own talents and industry, but derived from the mere accident of birth, was in fact but a trustee for the public; and owed it to that public, to return some part of that estate for its benefit. To shew that he could not only preach, but practise, he would say that he had never received a shilling "from the public, and that thou, sands and thousands he had expended for

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the advantage of the public. He should never have said this, but that the words so satisfactorily explained had been used, and this led him to the answer to the question of his noble relative (lord Grenville) "what he meant to with the small transactions? In reply to this question, he had to state a fact which, he was persuaded, would give their lordships satisfaction. He had, after many years of application, at much expence, and with the assistance of the ablest artists, discovered an effectual mode of preventing the forgery of bank notes. It was a thing hitherto thought impossible, but he had discovered the means of striking off a million of plates, all of them proofs; and when he had it complete, he should give the invention gratis to the Bank for the public good. When he came down to the House, he imagined that ministers would have thrown out his Bill; but the arguments of his noble friends against it had made converts of them, a task which he could not accomplish; so he had to return them thanks, right and left.
A division then took place,

For the second reading

36

Against it

12

Majority

—

24

The Bill was then read a second time.

PROTEST AGAINST THE GOLD COIN BILL.
The following Protest was entered upon the Journals:
Dissentient,
"Because we think it the duty of this House to mark in the first instance with the most decided reprobation, a Bill, which in our judgment manifestly leads to the introduction of laws, imposing upon the country the compulsory circulation of a Paper Currency; a measure fraught with injustice, destructive of all confidence in the legal security of contracts, and as in variable experience has shewn, necessarily productive of the most fatal calamimities:
GRENVILLE.
ESSEX.
JERSEY.
GREY.
LANSDOWNE.
COWPER.
KING.
LAUDERDALE.
"For the reason assigned on the other side, and because the repeal of the law for suspending Bank payments in cash is in ray judgment the only measure which can cure the inconveniencies already felt.
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and avert the yet greater calamities which are impending from the present state of the circulation of the country.
VASSALL HOLLAND."