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ON 


COMMERCIAL    ECONOMY, 

IN  SIX  ESSAYS  ; 


VIZ. 


MACHINERY,   ACCUMULATION  OF  CAPITAL, 

PRODUCTION,  CONSUMPTION, 
CURRENCY,  AND    FREE  TRADE. 


«  i 

E.  S.  CAYLEY,  ESQ.  J.      „, 

•••  R       I 


LONDON : 
JAMES  RIDGWAY,  169,  PICCADILLY, 


M.DCCC.XXX. 


Tilling,  Printer, 


TO 


FRANCIS  JEFFREY,  ESQ. 


Without  reference  to  his  opinions  on  this  parti- 
cular subject,  these  Pages  are  inscribed,  with  the 
truest  respect  for  his  high  talent,  and  even  higher 
virtue, 

By  his  affectionate  and  obliged, 

E.  S.  C. 


Wydale,  near  Malton, 
February,  1830. 


/ 


PREFACE 


A  PATIENT  investigation  for  a  considerable  pe- 
riod of  time,  has  led  me  to  believe  that  the  chief 
considerations  respecting  Commercial  Economy 
may  be  embraced  under  the  heads,  Machinery, 
Accumulation  of  Capital,  Production,  Consump- 
tion, Currency,  and  Free  Trade.  In  the  sequel 
it  will  be  shewn  how  the  action  of  these  forces, 
combined  as  well  as  individually,  affect  the  na- 
tional welfare ;  and  how  they  might  be  directed, 
so  as  to  allay  the  existing  public  calamities. 

The  object  of  any  publication  on  the  state  of 
the  Country  at  the  present  moment,  ought  not, 
it  seems,  to  be  opposition  to  Free  Trade  as  re- 
spects this  Country,  which  is  as  yet  pre-eminent 
in  mechanical  science;  for  our  producers  being 
in  want  of  custom,  we  can  do  nothing  more 
advantageous  than  to  seize  every  opportunity  to 
extend  the  market  for  their  goods ;  but  to  shew 
how  we  can  carry  on  a  free  trade  so  as  to  pre- 


VI 

serve  the  ratios  of  property  at  home ;  that  is, 
exhibiting  a  method  of  accomplishing  sufficient 
remuneration  to  the  property  which  is  taxed, 
and  at  the  same  time  commanding  sufficient 
lowness  of  price  for  our  foreign  sales.  This 
gained,  our  prosperity  is  for  a  time  secure.  But 
nothing  will  prevent  those  occasional  intervals 
of  distress,  which  the  history  of  commercial  na- 
tions teaches  us  are  ever  occurring ;  unless  from 
time  to  time  we  apply  a  certain  specific  remedy 
in  graduated  proportions.  These  terrible  inter- 
vals so  well  known,  demand  a  cause  for  their 
existence,  which  has  never  been  satisfactorily 
given ;  indeed  I  have  seen  hardly  an  attempt  to 
assign  one.  I  think  the  causes  may  be  assigned; 
and  those  known, — the  results  may  be  coun- 
teracted better  by  preventives,  than  by  violent 
treatment  when  the  crisis  has  arrived. 

What  is  the  spirit  that  rises  to  scare  us  from 
the  pursuit  (so  far  as  regards  commerce)  of  our 
only  true  good  ?  Can  it  be  denied  that  there  has 
existed  a  scarcely  latent  mistrust,  a  kind  of 
"  timeo  Danaos,  et  donaferentes"  among  us,  which 
eyed  with  suspicion  any  proposition  which  ap- 


Vll 


pearcd  to  emanate  from  what  had  previously 
been  considered  an  opposite  interest  ?  Could  that 
(we  imagined)  which  the  agriculturist  so  eagerly 
required,  be  of  corresponding  benefit  to  the  ma- 
nufacturer ?  Could  that  which  was  so  earnestly 
called  for  by  the  manufacturer,  bring  prosperity 
to  the  agriculturist?  This  domestic  war  has  for 
the  most  part  ceased  to  exist ;  for  the  wretched- 
ness of  both  parties  is  too  glaring  to  be  denied 
by  either.  Mutual  sympathy  has  led  to  the  set- 
tlement of  preliminaries,  but  confidence  is  still 
too  weak  to  add  its  signature  to  the  treaty  of 
peace. 

Would  that  this  age  of  science  might  discover 
some  moral  chemistry,  by  which  to  amalgamate 
our  conflicting  interests  ;  or,  in  the  purifying  fire 
of  adversity,  weld  our  iron  fasces  into  a  Lictor's 
rod,  that  should  hereafter  be  proof  against  the 
varying  tide  of  human  affairs. 


ON 


COMMERCIAL    ECONOMY, 


MACHINERY. 

"  Fire  and  water  are  excellent  servants,  but  dreadful  masters." 

"  By  the  adoption  of  a  certain  kind  of  frame,  one  man  performs  the  work 
of  seven,— six  are  thus  thrown  out  of  business."— Lord  Byron. 

Nay,  take  my  life  and  all :  pardon  not  that. 
You  take  my  house,  when  you  do  take  the  prop 
That  does  sustain  my  house  :  You  take  my  life 
When  you  do  take  the  means  whereby  I  live. 

Merchant  of  Venice. 


THE  object  and  use  of  Machinery  was  originally 
the  reasonable  saving  of  human  labour :  the  pre- 
sent, much  more  the  prospective,  effect  of 
Machinery  is,  the  comparative  displacement  of 
manual  labour.  The  loom  is  in  other  hands.  An 
apparently  self-impelling  engine  gives  ominous 
warning  to  the  artizan.  However  slow  the  ope- 
ration may  be,  mechanical  improvement  must  be 
progressive,  for,  with  the  wonderful  contrivances 
of  Nature  for  his  direction,  on  this  side  of  them, 
there  can  be  no  limit  assigned  to  the  construc- 
tiveness  of  man.  While  the  gigantic  power  of 
steam,  resembling,  rather  than  any  thing  else, 
that  energetic  but  invisible  principle  by  which 
Nature  puts  in  play  her  complex  machinery,  is 
ever  at  hand  to  obey  his  call.  Thus  it  has  be- 
come a  serious  and  interesting  question  for  in- 

B 


2  M  AC11IXKHY. 

vestigation, — What  is  to  be  the  remote  conse- 
quence of  a  system,  by  which  the  greater  part 
of  the  population  of  the  globe,  which  has,  to 
all  appearance,  been  called  into  existence  for 
no  other  purpose  than  for  supplying  a  given 
quantity  of  power  for  the  production  of  com- 
modities, I  repeat,  what  is  to  be  the  conse- 
quence to  this  class  of  beings,  who  have  grown 
up  on  the  strength  of  such  expectations,  when 
the  substitution  of  a  cheaper,  more  powerful,  and 
less  perishable  force,  supersedes  the  necessity  of 
their  existence, — and  takes  from  them  that  on 
which  only  they  can  continue  to  live, — the  reward 
of  industrious  labour  ?  This  inquiry,  so  much  more 
easily  suggested  than  replied  to,  with  me,  at 
least,  must  remain  for  future  consideration.  A 
few  facts,  however,  to  exhibit  the  ground- work 
of  the  prepossession  I  feel  upon  this  subject,  may 
not  be  useless,  and  these,  of  course,  will  turn 
upon  the  previous  progress,  and  present  state  of 
Machinery. 

To  begin  with  cotton,  which  forms  so  large  an 
item  in  our  domestic  manufactures,  we  have  a 
quick  succession  of  mechanical  improvements 
from  1760,  a  history  of  which  may  be  seen,  in  a 
very  clear  and  compendious  form,  in  No.  91  of 
the  Edinburgh  Review.  1738,  came  John  Kay's 
picking  peg,  (not  used  in  cotton  till  twenty  years 
after,)  which  enabled  a  weaver  to  do  twice  the 
work  he  had  been  used  to  perform.  1760,  Ro- 
bert Kay's  drop-box,  by  which  a  weaver  can,  at 


.MACHINERY.  O 

pleasure,  use  any  of  three  shuttles, — thus  pro- 
ducing a  fabric  of  various  colours, — with  the  same 
facility  almost  as  a  common  calico.  About  1760, 
James  Hargraves  appropriated  the  woollen  stock 
cards  to  the  carding  of  cotton.  This  was  soon 
superseded  by  the  cylindrical  cards,  or  carding- 
engine,  (the  inventor  not  known,)  but  first  con- 
structed, with  Hargraves'  assistance,  by  Mr. 
Peel.  1762,  Sir  Richard  Arkwright  improved 
on  this,  and  added  a  very  perfect  apparatus  for 
taking  off  the  cotton  from  the  cards.  1767,  came 
Hargraves'  spinning-jenny,  doing  away  the  tedious 
method  of  spinning  by  hand,  and  enabling  a 
spinner  to  spin  eight  threads  where  one  had  been 
previously  spun  ;  and  the  machine  was  subse- 
quently so  perfected,  as  to  enable  a  little  girl  to 
work  no  fewer  than  from  eighty  to  an  hundred 
and  twenty  spindles.  The  jenny  was  applicable 
only  to  weft,  the  yarn  for  the  longitudinal 
threads,  or  warp,  requiring  greater  fineness.  Sir 
R.  Arkwright's  spinning  frame,  1769,  obviated 
this  difficulty,  leaving  to  man  merely  to  feed  the 
machine  with  cotton,  and  to  join  the  threads 
when  they  happen  to  break.  1775,  the  mule 
jenny,  a  compound  of  the  jenny  and  spinning- 
frame,  was  invented  by  Mr.  Samuel  Crompton, 
which  is  equally  adapted  to  the  weft  and  the 
warp,  which  Arkwright's  spinning-frame  was 
not.  1787,  the  power  loom,  enabling  yarn  to 
be  wove  by  Machinery  instead  of  hands,  was 
invented  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Cartwright.  I  may 

B  2 


MACHINERY. 

observe,  says  Mr.  Kennedy,  (one  of  the  first  and 
cleverest  cotton  manufacturers  in  the  empire,) 
speaking  of  these  improvements,  that  their  united 
efforts  amount  to  this :  that  the  labour  of  one 
person,  aided  by  them,  can  now  (1817,)  produce 
as  much  yarn  in  a  given  time  as  two  hundred 
could  have  done  fifty  years  ago."*  (Manchester 
Memoirs,  Second  Series,  Vol.  VIII.,  p.  132.) 

But  we  are  not  to  forget,  that  almost  the 
only  cotton  demand  from  the  continent  of  Europe 
is  for  twist  of  every  kind,  and  a  Manchester 
correspondent  is  of  opinion  that  it  promises  to 
be  insatiable :  the  nearly  total  annihilation  of 
our  once  extensive  exportation  of  cotton  manu- 
factured goods  to  the  European  continent,  is 
the  consequence.  "  The  export  of  cotton  goods 
from  the  Manchester  district,  being,"  continues 
the  correspondent,  "  now  almost  entirely  con- 
fined to  Rio  Janeiro  and  the  South  American 
States." 

Cotton  is  the  chief  item  of  all  our  exports; 
and  yarn,  forming  so  considerable  an  item  of 
those  cotton  exports,  and  the  manufacture  of 
yarn  requiring  in  proportion  200  times  less  of 
human  labour  than  fifty  years  ago ;  and  the 
United  States  now  producing  the  same  quan- 
tity of  yarn  at  10  percent,  cheaper,  (as  will  be 

*  Allowing  22  square  yards  a  day,  as  an  average,  to  the 
supposed  58,000  looms  in  the  United  Kingdom,  we  have  a 
yearly  production  of  370,200,000  square  yards. — This  is  a 
calculation  that  has  been  made ;  but  I  am  not  myself  aware 
of  the  grounds  of  it. 


MACHINERY!* 

hereafter  shown,)  than  the  United  Kingdom;  a 
cloud  is  fast  enveloping,  with  its  chilling  influ- 
ence, the  prospects  of  both  our  custom  and  poor 
houses  :  especially  "  as  we  understand,"  says  the 
Scotsman,  "  that  the  inventor  of  the  Machine 
for  facilitating  hand-loom  weaving,  which  is  now 
in  operation  at  Wigan,  challenges  any  power 
loom  manufacturer,  for  any  sum  not  less  than  fifty 
guineas,  to  weave  with  his  machine,  worked  by 
one  man,  more  cloth  in  a  week  than  can  be 
woven  by  a  man  with  two  power  looms.  The 
description  of  cloth,  to  be  manufactured,  not  to 
be  coarser  than  a  54  reed  Bolton  count,  which  is 
equal  to  a  90  reed  Manchester  count."  It  will 
be  remembered,  that  Mr.  Kennedy's  calculation 
of  one  man  being  with  Machinery  equal  to  200 
fifty  years  ago,  was  founded  chiefly  on  the  pro- 
ductive riches  of  the  power  loom.  Here  is  a 
prospect  of  making  the  difference  between  this 
period  and  that  fifty  years  back,  as  one  to  400. 

It  has  been  computed,  when  there  were  350,000 
persons  operating  in  the  British  manufactories  of 
cotton,  that  these  produced  commodities  equal  to 
what  would  require  the  labour  of  53,000,000  per- 
sons to  produce,  if  unassisted  by  Machines.  The 
wages  of  the  350,000,  at  Is.  per  day,  for  300 
days  in  the  year,  would  amountonly  to  £5, 259,000., 
but,  of  the  latter,  at  the  same  rate,  to  £780,000,000. 
sterling.  If  this  calculation  be  true,  the  tre- 
mendous operation  of  Machinery  is  seen  much 
more  when  we  apply  it  to  the  number  of  weavers, 

B  3 


6 


M  AC  II  IN  Kin  . 


spinners,  bleachers,  £c.  at  present  considered  by 
Mr.  M'Culloch  to  be  employed  in  the  cotton  ma- 
nufacture, viz.,  705,000,  which  doubles  all  the 
results  of  the  first  calculation.  When,  to  this, 
we  add,  on  the  authority  of  the  American  Harris- 
burgh  Convention,  that  weaving  by  power  looms 
is  the  most  profitable  employment  of  females ; 
the  male  department  of  our  cotton  population, 
which,  during  the  stimulus  of  the  war,  scarcely 
perceived  the  silent  progress  of  that  absorbing 
leviathan  of  their  labour — steam,  have  rational 
grounds  for  despondency :  to  them,  indeed,  it 
must  seem,  as  if  Hope,  that  only  blessing  of 
Pandora's  box,  had  been  limited,  in  its  existence, 
to  the  very  moment  when  the  Promethean  gift 
had  assumed  a  feature  of  refinement  and  power 
almost  approaching  the  invisible  agents  of  Nature 
herself. 

Let  us  glance,  for  a  moment,  at  our  next  great- 
est manufacture,  —the  woollen, — which,  from  the 
middle  of  the  fourteenth  century,  has  held  so 
high  a  place  in  the  commerce  of  the  world ;  and 
see  how  the  artizans  dependent  upon  it,  have 
been  affected  by  Machinery  directly ;  and  indi- 
rectly, still  more,  through  the  medium  of  the 
cotton  manufacture,  which  Machinery  has  en- 
couraged and  expanded  so  much.  The  great  era 
of  the  begetting  of  that  race,  (if  it  may  be  so 
called,)  of  Machinery,  which  has  lived  to  out- 
grow all  calculation,  appears  to  have  been  about 
1760  or  70,  just  about  the  time,  most  probably, 


MACHINERY.  / 

when  the  world  at  large,  which  had  looked  to 
England  so  long  for  its  woollens,  began  to  enter- 
tain the  treasonable  idea  of  supplying  itself:  till 
this   period,    the   English,    inheriting   a    sort  of 
prescriptive  right  to  the  trade,  had,  for  want  of 
any  formidable  competition,  been  enabled  to  con- 
tinue nearly  the  old  rate  of  prices,   and  so  the 
necessity  of  any  extraneous  power  had  but  par- 
tially  suggested   itself.      The    woollen    exports, 
which,  in    1738,  had   been   4,158,643,   in  1776, 
were  but  3,868,053,    making,    instead  of  an  in- 
crease,  in  the  forty  years,  a  considerable  falling 
off.     It  became  our  manufacturers  then,    in  order 
to  preserve  their  trade,  to  look  less  to  their  ima- 
gined right,  and  more  to  the  influence  of  superior 
skill.      Accordingly,  we  find,    1776,    "  the  peo- 
ple employed  by  the  manufacturers  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  Shepton  Mallet,  Somersetshire,  being 
offended   at  the  erection  of  some  Machinery  in 
that  town,  for  the   abridgment  of  labour   in  the 
woollen  manufacture,  assembled  in  a  riotous  man- 
ner, and  destroyed  the  obnoxious  Machinery,  be- 
fore they  could  be  dispersed  by  the  military."* 
The    evils    arising    from    this    displacement    of 
manual  labour    would   not    have    concealed   its 

M.  Caesar  Moreau,  on  the  British  wool  trade : — Too 
much  cannot  be  said  in  praise  of  the  indefatigable  industry  with 
which  M.  C.  Moreau  has  tabularized,  and  thus  brought  into  a 
practicable  focus,  an  immense  quantity  of  statistical  informa- 
tion ;  and  the  Statistical  Society  which  he,  principally,  is  at 
this  moment  promoting,  on  the  plan  of  the  Bulletin  Universel, 
promises  great  results,  particularly  as  laying  the  only  true 
foundation  for  Commercial  Legislation. 


MACHINERY". 


head,  until  the  peace  of  1815,  had  it  not  been 
for  an  almost  continued  state  of  warfare  since 
that  time,  giving  to  Great  Britain  the  command 
of  commerce,  through  the  strength  of  her  navy, 
and  calling  for  such  great  additions  to  the  clothing 
of  the  navy  and  military,and  increasing  our  exports, 
of  which  the  following  Table  bears  witness. 


CO 


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05  O5  t*  rH 


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£cO§O»OC5C01>CO 

COOO51>COCOpH05CO 


COCOCipHOOOOCOCO 


S 


i—  i  ©  05  o  C5 


CO  05  CO 
CO 


cocococococococococo 


O5  t^  P-<  CO  t^  <M 

I>  pi  ©  »O  ©  CO 
P-I  CO  PH  <M  O  l> 


^COCOCOOCOOp^OipH 


22  2"S  »2"«b  06  «  o  co 
'T^TO5w5or*i^<i>Tr 


01 


p«  PH  C5  O 


I   C&SOCCC005O05COG5O5 

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Tl   Ol  >M   C^   CO  S4  CM  *T1  CO 


I    Op^<MCOTfOCOt*COO5 

loooooooooo 


M  A  (   1 1  I  \  k  K  V  .  V 

The  war  is  no  more, — the  demand  it  stimu- 
lated and  commanded  has  left  us, — but  the  pro- 
ducers, whom  it  maintained,  and  encouraged  to 
propagate  a  new  race  to  succeed  them,  are  not 
gone, — nor  their  progeny  :  the  war  producers 
remain,  when  war  productions  are  no  longer 
wanted.  What  must  be  the  consequence,  with- 
out increased  demand  from  other  sources  ? — over- 
production or  idleness  are  the  only  alternatives, — 
neither  of  these  will  purchase  food. 

The  Rev.  Edmund  Cartwright,  of  Doncaster, 
in  1790,  invented  Machinery  for  combing  wool, 
whereby  one  man  and  five  or  six  children  attend- 
ing the  mill,  do  as  much  work  as  thirty  men  can 
do  in  the  old  way. —  See  Moreau. 

Mr.  William  Toplis,  of  Cuckney,  in  Notting- 
hamshire, also  invented,  in  1794,  Machinery  to 
go  by  water,  for  combing  wool. 

In  1795,  as  some  relief  to  the  wool-combers, 
(see  C.  Moreau  on  Wool,  1795,)  "  Among  the 
attempts  to  improve  the  woollen  manufacture  of 
Great  Britain,  we  must  not  omit  the  invention  of 
Mr.  James  Booth,  for  fabricating  wool  without 
spinning  or  weaving.  This  was  effected  by  felt- 
ing wool  into  a  web,  by  the  aid  of  Machinery, 
which  operated  mechanically  upon  a  tissue  of 
carded  wool,  to  entangle  and  interlace  the  fabrics 
together."  This,  though  never  as  yet  called  into 
practice,  seems  to  be  a  dormant  principle,  capa- 
ble of  great  effects  in  future. 

About  1800,  the  motion  of  the  improved  steam 
engine  was  also  rendered  as  regular  as  a  water- 


10  .MACHINERY. 

wheel,  and  the  great  inconvenience  and  loss, 
from  the  interruption  of  the  works  by  frosts,  or 
continued  droughts,  were  thereby  avoided." 

Hitherto  the  only  sufferers  from  Machinery  had 
been  the  labourers  it  displaced,  the  manufacturer 
making  up  for  the  cheapness  of  the  finished  ar- 
ticle, in  diminution  of  labour,  and  increase  of 
sale.  But,  soon  after  1800,  the  number  of  small 
manufacturers  began  to  decrease,  many  of  them 
being  ruined,  from  the  larger  capitalists  beginning 
to  engage  in  the  woollen  trade;  and  they  per- 
forming all  the  processes  with  their  own  Ma- 
chinery, were  enabled  to  work  cheaper,  and  un- 
dersell the  smaller  traders. 

In  1800,  this  manufacture  is  supposed  to  have 
given  employment  to  3,000,000  of  men,  women, 
girls,  and  boys,  notwithstanding  the  decrease  of 
the  quantity  of  wool,  and  the  great  abridgment 
of  labour  by  the  use  of  Machinery,  which,  in  the 
various  processes  previous  to  the  weaving,  was 
stated,  by  one  manufacturer,  to  accomplish,  by 
the  hands  of  35  persons,  the  work,  which,  about 
the  year  1735,  required  the  labour  of  1634  per- 
sons. To  this  we  must  add,  the  operation  of 
steam  engines,  and  improved  Machinery,  since 
1800. 

If  all  other  arguments  were  wanting,  that  our 
foreign  trade  in  manufactures  was  on  the  de- 
cline, we  have  but  to  look  at  the  decreasing 
exports  of  the  finished  article ;  and  in  cotton  and 
wool  to  the  amazing  increase  in  the  export  of  yarn, 
particularly  of  the  former,  from  1816  to  1828. 


MAC  n  IN  I;KY.  11 

The  increase  of  woollen  looms  in  Leeds,  we 
are  informed  by  the  Leeds  Mercury,  since  1824 
inclusive,  may  be  taken  at  729.  The  whole  num- 
ber being  now  2100.  This  addition  to  the  num- 
ber of  woollen  looms  in  Leeds  is  about  50  per 
cent,  upon  the  former  number  of  1400  ;  and  two- 
thirds  at  least  of  the  whole  increase,  (viz.  625 
looms,)  have  been  made  since  the  year  1826. 
Now,  in  order  to  make  this  increase  of  Machinery 
profitable,  or  rather  non-injurious,  to  the  opera- 
tives of  Leeds,  there  should  be  an  improvement 
in  the  demand  for  woollen  goods  tantamount  to 
the  saving  of  labour ;  but  our  woollen  exports  have 
declined  in  value ;  and,  I  think,  no  one  can  say, 
that  the  home  consumers  have  been,  or  are,  in  a 
condition  to  make  larger  purchases.  But,  sup- 
posing the  demand  for  woollen  goods  only  equal 
to  that  of  1824,  if  the  number  of  looms  in  Leeds 
be  increased  one-third  of  the  whole  number  since 
1824,  the  displacement  of  one-third  of  the  woollen 
operatives  is  a  necessary  consequence.  It  may 
be  said,  that  the  increased  number  of  looms  is  a 
symptom  of  improvement  in  the  demand ;  but  it 
will  be  difficult  to  persuade  us,  considering  the 
growing  substitution  of  cotton  for  woollen,  the 
falling  off  of  our  exports,  and  the  miserable  con- 
dition of  our  consumers  at  home,  that  the  woollen 
trade  has  improved.  And,  if  it  have  not  im- 
proved, the  new  looms  at  Leeds  must  either  have 
displaced  human  labour  there,  or  other  looms 
elsewhere. 

The  only  object  in  this  Chapter  being  to  shew 


MACHINERY. 

the  decided  tendency  of  Machinery,  and  that  at 
no  very  slow  rate,  to  usurp  the  place  of  manual 
labour,  enough  has  been  brought  forward  to 
illustrate  this ;  it  were  endless  to  pursue  our 
course  through  mechanical  improvements  in  other 
departments  of  manufacture,  though  they  have 
obtained  in  cases,  perhaps,  where  they  might 
least  have  been  expected  :  for  instance,  Mr.  James 
Milne,  an  architect,  has  constructed  a  machine 
for  the  dressing  or  hewing  of  stones,  by  means  of 
a  steam  engine,  or  any  other  adequate  power  ; 
which,  in  the  very  short  space  of  seventy-five 
seconds,  broached  the  face  of  a  stone  five  feet  and 
a  half  long  by  twelve  inches  broad,  the  stone 
being  rough  as  raised  from  the  quarry  when 
placed  on  the  machine,  and  it  drove  the  face  of 
the  same  stone  at  the  same  rate,  making  it  per- 
fectly smooth  and  parallel.  The  practicability  of 
cutting  mouldings  by  this  machine  is  self-evident 
from  its  structure,  though  this  was  not  tried 
whilst  we  were  present,  (says  the  Editor  of  the 
Advertiser,)  owing  to  Mr.  Milne  not  being  pre- 
pared with  the  requisite  tools.  Messrs.  Braith- 
waite  and  Ericson,  whose  loco-motive  engine 
excited  such  astonishment  on  the  Liverpool 
rail-way,  are  said  to  be  likely  soon  to  bring 
to  perfection  a  most  powerful  fire-engine,  to 
go  by  steam,  of  about  30- horse  power,*  which 

*  The  effects  of  this  engine  were  tried  at  a  late  fire  with  a 
success  that  caused  the  workers  of  the  old  engines  to  stop 
playing,  not  only  to  admire  it,  but  because  it  rendered  their 
own  labours  superfluous. 


MACHINERY. 

will  perform  as  much  work  in  forcing  water 
as  could  be  performed  by  about  250  men. 
To  lament  such  an  improvement  as  this,  would 
be  like  a  surgeon  complaining  of  the  absence  of 
disease. 

It  may  be  objected,  that  much  of  the  Ma- 
chinery in  our  manufactures  has  grown  up  so 
gradually  that  there  has  become  a  mutual  adapta- 
tion between  it  and  the  population  ;  that  the  one 
has  learned  to  fit  the  other,  and,  therefore,  that 
the  labouring  class  will  not  suffer  from  the  adop- 
tion of  Machinery.  The  main  decision  of  this 
question  rests  so  entirely  on  the  progress  of  con- 
sumption compared  with  that  of  production,  which 
I  have  reserved  for  separate  Chapters,  that  the 
objection  cannot  here  receive  its  most  effectual 
answer.  But,  I  may  observe,  that,  though  in 
1825,  in  Manchester,  there  were  upwards  of 
30,000  looms  worked  by  steam  engines,  at  the 
close  of  the  year  1814,  there  was  not  one  in  use.* 
Steam  cannot  be  said  to  have  existed  as  a 
power  above  thirty-five  years,  more  than  half  of 

*  See  p.  69.  Harrisburg  Convention.  "  In  1815,  when 
cotton  was  at  20  cents  per  pound,  a  yard  of  shirting  sold  for" 
25  cents,  and  the  cost  of  the  cotton  (|lb  worth  5  cents,) 
being  deducted,  the  manufacturers  had  20  cents  for  their 
labour  and  profit ;  and  yet  very  few  of  them  made  money, 
because  of  the  want  of  Machinery,  and  of  management  and 
skill.  But,  at  the  present  time,  1827,  when  the  price  of 
cotton  is  9£  cents,  the  same  sorts  of  shirting  are  sold  at  9£ 
cents,  leaving  only  7  cents  for  the  manufacturer,  the  cost  of 
the  cotton  being  deducted,  the  business  of  making  such  goods, 
though  madecheaper  than  they  are  in  England,  is  a  good  one! 


14  MACIllXMKV. 

which  time,  what  with  the  whole  range  of  the 
market  of  the  world,  the  call  for  soldiers  and 
sailors,  &c.,  our  labouring  class  did  not  very 
sensibly  perceive  the  operation  of  so  powerful  an 
antagonist.  Since  the  peace,  there  has  been  a 
constant  struggle  for  employment,  (except  during 
the  short  period  of  a  dilatation  in  the  currency, 
when  the  national  powers  of  consumption  and 
of  foreign  speculation  were  so  much  increased,) 
amongst  the  labouring  class;  and  no  wonder, 
when  we  remember  the  estimate  of  Dupin,  that 
the  power  of  steam  engines  in  this  country  is 
equal  to  the  force  of  6,400,000  effective  la- 
bourers, an  effective  labourer  being  equal,  on 
the  average,  to  rather  more  than  two  average 
labourers:  but,  as  the  population  consists  of 
average  labourers,  here  are  above  12,000,000  of 
the  population  operated  upon  in  various  forms 
and  degrees  by  steam.  Of  course,  deduction 
must  be  made  for  increased  individual  consump- 
tion, (which  we  shall  hereafter  show  cannot  pos- 
sibly keep  pace  with  increased  general  produc- 
tion,) and  other  matters ;  but  an  overwhelming 
tendency  in  Machinery  and  artificial  power  to 
displace  an  almost  incalculable  proportion  of 
human  labour,  is  a  point,  it  appears  to  me,  ad- 
mitting of  no  dispute.  If  the  progress  of  Ma- 
chinery in  usurping  labour  be  greater  than  the 
means  of  the  population  for  the  consumption  of 
the  products  of  Machinery,  the  population  of  la- 
bourers must  grow  more  and  more  supernumerary. 
It  is  a  very  lamentable  truth,  but  we  ought  not, 


MACHINERY.  15 

therefore,  to  blink  the  question,  in  order  to  put 
oft"  the  consideration  of  the  evil  day,  when  it  must 
be  provided  against  at  last. 

It  has  been  often  asked,  why  the  intervals 
of  manufacturing  distress  have  been  more  rapid 
in  their  recurrence  of  late  than  in  former  times  ? 
Is  it  not  plain,  that  Machinery  having  usurped 
so  large  a  proportion  of  manual  labour,  the 
market  of  labour  is  from  being  better  supplied, 
always  nearer  the  point  of  overflowing  than 
formerly.  The  closer  the  fluid  approaches  the 
brim,  the  smaller  is  the  casualty  causing  an 
overflow.  What  conduced  greatly  to  the  has- 
tening this  dilemma  of  overflowing  labour,  was 
the  unnatural  demand  for  labour  during  so 
many  years  of  war,  which  acted  as  a  blind  to 
that  consummation  which  Machinery  was  silently 
but  surely  developing.  The  cessation  of  that 
forced  demand  compelled  the  withdrawing  of  the 
curtain,  and  exposed  to  the  view  of  the  labouring 
class,  an  opposing  army  of  labourers,  ready  for 
the  same  field  of  labour,  all  but  equal  to  the 
whole  work  in  demand,  and  cheaper  to  their  em- 
ployers, because  wanting  no  food  to  support  their 
existence. 

The  real  point  to  be  ascertained,  at  the  con- 
clusion of  the  war,  was,  how  the  population, 
which  had  been  unnaturally*  forced  by  its  long 
duration,  was  to  be  so  gradually  brought  to  the 
natural  level  of  the  demand  in  peace,  as  to  leave 

*  The  increase,  according  to  the  three  censuses  made  this 
century,  is  one-seventy-third  per  annum. 


1C  M  A  C  1 1  I  N  K  H  V . 

the  fewest  destructive  traces  behind ;  instead  of 
this,  by  the  oracular  prophecies  of  people  in  some 
authority,  of  the  probable  continuance  of  our 
monopoly  of  the  trade  of  the  world,  (a  most  futile 
expectation,)  we  have  rather  aggravated  than  di- 
minished the  evil,  and  it  remains  the  hydra  of 
the  present  hour.  We  are  not  to  be  put  off  by 
the  abstract  axiom  of  political  economy,  that  the 
amount  of  products  in  demand,  will  always  dictate 
the  wholesome  number  of  producers.  If  the  thing 
produced  never  varied  in  the  quantity  of  labour 
it  required  from  century  to  century,  the  relations 
between  labour  and  goods  would,  it  is  true,  pre- 
serve their  proportion  ;  and  the  gradual  declension 
of  demand  would  re-act  on  the  population,  with- 
out much  apparent  distress  ;  but  new  mechanical 
discoveries  disconcert  entirely  the  grounds  of  a 
supposed  graduation  in  the  change.  Two  prin- 
ciples, of  precisely  the  same  evil  tendency,  were 
in  full  operation  at  the  close  of  the  war,  the 
sudden  contraction  of  the  market  for  our  goods, 
the  almost  equally  sudden  contraction  of  the 
amount  of  labour  in  demand,  through  the  influ- 
ence of  every  day's  improving  machinery.  The 
progress  of  Machinery  has  been  so  rapid,  that  it 
has  outproportioned  the  market  of  demand  for 
goods,  (and  not  in  this  country  only,*)  while  it 

*  In  France,  Machinery  is  advancing  very  rapidly.     "  M. 

Lirot,  af  Valenciennes,  has  200   machines   for  nails   of  iron, 

zinc,  and   copper,  and  has  made    their   use  so  easy,  that    a 

child  of  ten  years  old  can  make  8000  nails  a  day.      A  pump, 


M  AC  11  I  N  !•:  [i\  .  17 

has,  by  a  necessary  consequence,  surfeited  that 
of  manual  labour.  No  wonder  that  Misery  stalks 
abroad,  when  the  healthy  proportion  is  lost,  be- 
tween the  demand  and  supply,  which  alone  can 
constitute  the  sound  condition  of  a  commercial 
country ;  nor  need  it  be  expected  that  the  pro- 
per adjustment  will  ever  be  made  between  the 
great  market  for  goods,  the  prolific  capacity  of 
Machinery,  and  the  employment  of  manual  la- 
bour, otherwise  than  by  an  artificial  expansion 
of  the  first,  a  partial  oblivion  of  the  second,  or  a 
proportionate  diminution  of  the  third. 

But,  if  the  cause  requiring  such  decrease  in  the 
population  have  not  been  gradual,  but  of  instanta- 
neous origin,  the  birth  of  mechanical  invention,  and 

made  by  M.  Frimot,  on  the  principle  of  the  hydraulic 
balance,  raises  87  unities  of  labour,  or  260  cubic  metres,  in 
an  hour,  to  the  height  of  six  or  seven  metres,  and  does  as 
much  work  as  288  men  applied  to  the  best  naval  pumps. 
At  the  last  sitting  of  the  Society  for  the  Encouragement  of 
National  Industry  at  Paris,  a  prize  of  1000  francs  was 
awarded  to  a  Mr.  Coffin,  of  New  York,  for  a  machine  to 
remove  fur  from  skins  employed  in  making  hats,  by  which 
four  men  in  four  hours  are  able  to  do  the  work  of  twenty-five 
men  according  to  the  old  process.  The  mechanical  printing- 
press  of  M.  Gaultier  Laguionie  throws  off  2000  sheets  an 
hour  ;  and  the  wine-press  of  Revillon,  of  Macon,  obtains  one- 
twentieth  more  juice  than  the  common  machines.  M.  Blanqui, 
in  his  late  discourse  on  French  industry,  mentions  many  more 
cases  of  rapidly  improving  Machinery,  and  we  cannot  give  a 
coup  d'oeil  at  the  musee  des  arts  et  metiers  at  Paris,  without 
being  astonished  at  the  mass  and  variety  of  Machinery  there 
exhibited,  comprising  all  our  best  cotton  machines. 

C 


18  MACHINERY. 

of  immediate  operation,  what  power  on  earth*  can 
prevent  its  effect  on  the  labouring  class,  the 
sudden  cessation  of  the  demand  for  employment? 
"  Nevertheless,  (we  are  bound  to  coincide  with 
Mr.  Ricardo,)  the  employment  of  Machinery  could 
never  be  safely  discouraged  in  a  State;  for,  if  ca- 
pital be  not  allowed  to  get  the  greatest  net  revenue 
that  the  use  of  Machinery  will  afford,  here,  it  will 
be  carried  abroad.  By  investing  part  of  a  capital 
in  improved  Machinery,  there  will  be  a  diminution 
in  the  progressive  demand  for  labour ;  by  ex- 
porting it  to  another  country,  the  demand  will  be 
wholly  annihilated,"  (at  least  the  foreign  demand). 

I  have  thus  endeavoured  to  give  a  partial  sketch 
of  the  workings  of  mechanical  invention,  as  it  re- 
lates to  the  labouring  class  of  the  community.  It 
may  be  added,  that  there  is  always  a  moving- 
power  at  hand,  either  of  wind,  water,  or  steam, 
applicable  to  every  new  construction  of  Machinery, 
which  man,  as  he  is  advancing  in  knowledge,  is 
adding  to  the  existing  stock  of  discovery.  The 
more  man  knows,  the  greater  will  be  his  power 
over  the  combinations  of  matter.  So  great,  in- 
deed, may  prove  that  power  in  the  end,  that  it 
becomes  a  riddle,  as  I  have  before  observed,  how 

*  The  number  of  patents  tor  inventions,  granted  since  the 
reign  of  Charles  II.,  to  the  present  time,  exceeds  r>,50(>.  <>t 
which  nearly  *2000,  luivini;  IMM-II  »r:mt«Ml  since  1815,  are  still 
in  force. 


MACHINERY.  19 

population  can  go  on  increasing,  and  still  find  em- 
ployment to  pay  for  the  food  which  its  existence 
requires,  and  which  it  is  possible  that  an  in- 
creasing knowledge  of  nature  may  procure  for  it 
by  much  shorter  methods  than  the  present.  It 
is,  indeed,  a  curious  reflection,  what  the  powers 
of  natural  agents,  directed  by  mind,  may  accom- 
plish, without  the  intervention  of  hands ;  or, 
rather,  with  an  immense  diminution  of  hands. 
The  tendency  of  knowledge  must  be,  though  at 
an  immeasurable*  distance,  in  the  result,  the 
same  in  man  as  in  the  Deity,  viz.  to  give  power. 
Now,  the  omnipotence  of  the  Deity  over  the  ele- 
ments of  matter  could,  (supposing  Him  so  to  will,) 
give  sustenance  to  an  endless  population  by 
the  simple  fiat  of  his  word.  It  is  evident,  that 

*  Surely  there  is  nothing  irreverent  in  this.  Man  is  daily 
accustomed  to  expend  his  energies  on  such  minute  concerns, 
when  compared  with  the  vastness  of  the  universe  around  him, 
that,  at  length,  he  conceives  his  own  efforts  to  amount  to 
something  grand  in  the  scale — (and  so  they  do,  by  permission, 
in  his  proper  field,  human  affairs  ;) — he  has  done  much,  when 
he  and  his  goods  travel  twenty  or  thirty  miles  per  hour,  at  a 
cost  of  three-halfpence  per  ton.  A  aSTmuST^all  would  be 
twenty-five  years  in  travelling  to  the  sun,  a  distance  which 
light  passes  over  in  seven  minutes  and  a  half.  Dr.  Herschell 
calculates*  on  sound  data,  with  reference  to  the  parallax,  that 
even  light,  with  all  its  inconceivable  velocity,  cannot  reach  our 
earth  from  some  of  the  remote  nebulee  of  stars,  in  less  time  than 
(1,910,000,)  very  nearly  two  millions  of  years;  and  still  we 
are  as  short  of  infinity  as  ever.  Who  then  would  vainly  ima- 
gine to  measure  the  intellect  that  created  these  stupendous 
things  by  any  possible  extension  of  improvement  in  man  ? 

c  2 


20  .MACHINERY. 

as    the  power    proceeds  only   from    knowledge, 
(intuitive    in  the  Great   Being,)    that  every   ad- 
dition  to    knowledge   in   man,  will,  through  the 
accompanying   increase   of  power,*   enable   him 
to  provide  both   for   the    necessaries   and   luxu- 
ries of  his   fellow-beings  at  an  easier  rate;    the 
proportion   between    the    producer  and  the  pro- 
duce must  go  on  incalculably  lessening ;  and  we 
know  no  limit  to  this  principle.     It  is  astonishing, 
even  now,  to  see  the  advance  of  man  in  power ; 
when  we  consider  the  intricate  movements  and 
prodigious  results  from  the  simple  power  of  steam ; 
so   varied    and   extensive    is   its  agency,    that  it 
seems  almost  worthy  to  rank  with  the  all-pervading 
principles  of  electricity  or  gravitation;  at  least, 
it   is  of  that  minute   and   intangible    species  of 
power  by  which  Nature  appears  to  conduct  her 
complex  operations,  f 

If,  then,  a  very  limited  number  of  producers 
shall  shortly  be  able  to  supply  the  wants  of  the 
whole  consumers,  I  repeat  the  question ;  What 
is  to  become  of  the  old  race  of  producers? 

Nevertheless,  although  these  seem  to  be  the 
undoubted  principles  which  operate  in  society  at 
the  present  moment,  with  respect  to  the  influence 
of  Machinery  upon  the  condition  of  the  labourer, 

*  "   Knowledge  is  power." — Bacon. 

f  The  growth  of  vegetable  productions  may  fairly  be 
denominated  a  manufacture  :  the  earth  constituting  the  Ma- 
chinery; the  seed,  the  raw  material;  and  the  vital  principle, 
the  propelling  power. 


M  A(    III  \  I-.UV.  21 

and  which  must  regulate  our  present  legislation; 
yet  we  ought  not  to  take  a  narrow  or  temporary 
view  of  what  is  perhaps  the  greatest  of  Divine 
means  for  improving  the  human  race.  We  judge 
only  from  what  we  now  know  ;  and  are  not  aware  of 
those  discoveries  which  the  Deity,  in  his  stupen- 
dous wisdom,  may  reserve  for  the  further  develope- 
ment  of  his  plan  ;  and  we  ought  to  be  cautious  as  we 
legislate,  to  leave  ourselves  open  to  all  the  farther 
unforeseen  possibilities  of  advantage  that  may  arise. 
It  would  have  been  proper,  in  the  early  inha- 
bitants of  this  island,  who  had  no  other  resource 
than  its  native  woods  for  fuel,  to  have  legislated 
with  attention  to  strict  economy  as  to  that  fuel, 
when  increasing  population  began  to  show,  that, 
without  a  limit  to  the  one,  there  must  come  an 
end  to  the  other ;  and  that  thus  the  comforts  and 
welfare  of  the  people  would  infallibly  be  cut  off 
by  their  own  numerical  increase ;  but,  had 
they  resolved  to  destroy  any  portion  of  their 
children  at  birth,  to  counteract  this  effect, 
thus  to  keep  a  balance  between  the  fuel  and 
the  population,  they  would  have  been  legislating 
on  too  narrow  a  principle.  The  hidden  trea- 
sure of  coal  was  not  then  in  contemplation  ; 
but  it  would  have  been  wise  to  have  had 
full  confidence  that  He  who  called  us  into 
existence  would  fully  provide  for  all  our  future 
wants.  The  same  case  now  exists  as  to  coal  as 
then  did  respecting  forests  ;  our  coal  fields  are  ex- 
hausting by  gigantic  strides,  and  steam  is  our  la- 

c  3 


22  MACHINERY. 

bourer  through  its  consumption.  What  is  to  warm 
us,  and  be  our  slave,  when  all  our  coal  is  ex- 
hausted, I  leave  to  the  ultimate  beings  of  that  day 
to  determine.  We  can  already  keep  a  tier  of 
wires  red  hot  as  long  as  we  please  by  galvanism  ; 
and  the  muscles  of  dead  animals  are  put  into  full 
and  forcible  action  by  it.  Who  then  can  say,  whe- 
ther or  not,  with  the  progress  of  mind,  this  giant 
power,  which  supersedes  all  chemical  action,  and 
to  which  steam  is  a  mere  subservient  pigmy,  may 
not  come  in  aid  of  a  thousand  of  our  future 
wants.  It  is  the  safest  for  man,  as  a  legislator, 
to  regulate  those  things  only  which  he  can  perceive 
to  exist ;  but,  at  the  same  time,  let  him  feel  con- 
fident that  he  cannot  be  doing  wrong,  in  accept- 
ing, as  an  eventual  benefit,  whatever  tends 
towards  obtaining,  with  less  exertion  of  body  or 
mind,  any  of  those  products  that  are  necessary 
or  agreeable  to  the  human  race :  however  neces- 
sary occasional  regulations  may  be. 

It  has  been  the  habit  of  society  for  the  labour 
of  twelve  hours  to  be  expended  in  gaining  sup- 
port to  a  labourer  and  his  family  ;  and,  alas!  in 
the  present  posture  of  aifairs,  even  that  exertion 
either  is  denied  him,  or,  if  granted,  will  not 
maintain  him.  But,  when  this  artificial  state, 
induced  by  wars,  debts,  and  bungling  legis- 
lation, has  passed  away,  the  effects  of  knowledge 
and  Machinery  will,  probably,  enable  the  labour 
of  fewer,  and  fewer  hours,  progressively,  to  give 
support  to  the  labourer ;  when  the  surplus  time 


MACHINERY. 


may  be  dedicated  to  mental  improvement,  and 
the  pleasures  of  society.  The  population  of  the 
globe,  at  length,  being  only  limited  by  the  hu- 
man beings  it  can  sustain,  in  rational  leisure,  under 
the  garden  culture  of  the  whole  land,  and  the  pro- 
duce of  the  sea.  These  are  the  visions  of  ages  to 
come,  and  I  only  glance  at  them  hypothetically, 
to  shew  the  ultimate  tendency  of  the  principles  I 
advocate. 

At  present,  it  appears,  beyond  doubt,  that  the  exist- 
ing quantity  of  Machinery  in  the  kingdom,  amounts, 
under  the  absence  of  demand  for  labour,  from  artificial 
causes,  to  a  very  serious  injury  to  the  labouring  class. 


A  <  (  i  M  r  i.A'iro 


ACCUMULATION  OF  CAPITAL. 


An  overgrown  capital  is  the  curse  of  industry." — Bacon. 


THE  accumulation  of  capital  is  always  checked 
by  bad  government :  for  its  growth  and  prospe- 
rity depend  upon  public  faith.  Men  will  not  be 
at  the  trouble  to  attempt  an  increase  of  what  they 
may  have  already  acquired,  unless  they  have 
tolerable  security  for  an  adequate  return.  The 
average  object  of  accumulation  of  property  being 
eventual  enjoyment ;  if  the  chances  are,  that  a 
rapacious  governor  will  seize  upon  their  property, 
self-interest  will  teach  even  the  poorest  intellects, 
unbiassed  by  superstition,  not  to  delay  the  enjoy- 
ment of  their  own,  and  not  to  treasure  up  what 
they  are  not  allowed  to  enjoy.  Some  of  the  pro- 
vinces of  Turkey  seem  to  form  a  very  partial 
exception  to  this  rule ;  but  the  predestinarianism 
of  the  Mahometan  prompts  alike  the  capitalist 
and  the  soldier  to  rush  upon  certain  destruction. 
Let  us  look  for  a  cause — for  the  wealth  of  the 
commercial  cities  of  old — we  find  it  in  the  excep- 
tion they  formed  to  the  ignorance  then  existing 
on  the  subject  of  finance.  In  early  times,  Sove- 
reigns imagined  the  shortest  and  best  way  to  fill 


OK     C  A  IMTA  1..  -•"> 

their  treasuries  was  to  lay  an  embargo  on  money 
wherever  it  was  to  be  found.  But  money  was 
never  wanting  in  caution,  and  always  sped  to  the 
safest  spot ;  and  we  may  take  it  for  granted,  that 
the  superior  commercial  wealth  of  Tyre  and  Car- 
thage arose  from  their  better  government  attract- 
ing the  capital  which  violence  expelled  from  other 
places :  they  being  of  course,  at  the  same  time, 
possessed  of  the  common  facilities  for  trade.  But 
good  Government,  not  situation,  was  the  primary 
cause  of  their  prosperity ;  because  many  places, 
then  without  trade,  experience  has  shown  to  have 
superior  facilities  for  it ;  and  now  that  their 
government  has  ceased  to  be  barbarous,  outstrip 
the  rest  in  the  mercantile  race. 

The  first  object  with  a  considerable  accu- 
mulation of  capital,  must  be  a  profitable  in- 
vestment for  it ;  and  as  the  best  and  most 
obvious  account  it  could  be  turned  to  was 
artificial  improvement  by  manual  or  mechan- 
ical skill  on  the  raw  products  of  the  soil,  the 
springing  up  of  manufactures  was  a  necessary 
consequence  of  the  presence  of  capital ;  the 
encouragement  of  security  ensuring  a  good  school 
for  improvement  in  the  arts  of  manufacture  ;  and 
when  the  raw  material  could  not  be  forced  in  places 
where  capital  had  settled,  money  procured  it  from 
other  countries  unable  to  manufacture  for  them- 
selves. Thus  we  see,  "  according  to  the  text  of 
Ezekiel,  in  Jerom's  translation,  and  Bochart  (Gro. 
sacr.  col.  155.)  fine  wool  was  imported  into  Tyre 
from  Damascus  by  the  Israelites ;  and  Herodotus 


:2(>  AC'C'I.MII.ATIOX 

(L.  in.)  says,  that  woollen  goods  were  manufac- 
tured at  Tyre."*  In  1429,  we  see  the  commer- 
cial towns  of  Italy  getting  their  wool  from  Eng- 
land. 

The  wealth  of  the  Italian  Republics  could 
not  have  been  acquired,  notwithstanding  their 
monopoly  of  the  Indian  trade,  had  it  not  been  for 
the  benefit  of  good  government.  The  Jews,  the 
great  capitalists  of  those  days,  were  not  despised 
in  Florence,  as  in  other  countries ;  and  this  libe- 
rality of  her  government  contributed  more  than 
any  other  cause  perhaps  to  her  prosperity. 

New  countries,  emerging  from  the  savage  state, 
require  an  accumulation  of  the  proceeds  of  industry, 
in  order  to  attain  the  conveniences  attending  the 
disposal  of  capital — the  benefit  of  a  just  division  of 
labour  ;  whence  results  skill  in  manufactures  cor- 
responding to  their  wants  and  civilization  :  and 
the  happy  condition  of  a  nation  is  when  the  quan- 
tities of  agricultural  and  commercial  labour  are 
the  most  evenly  balanced,  the  demand  for  the 
commodities  of  each  being  proportioned  to  the 
power  of  supply  in  each.  After  this  happy  point 
the  scales  are  ever  preponderating  on  the  side  of 
overproduction  in  manufactures ;  because  of  the 
homely  requisites  of  nature  being  much  less  extra- 
vagant in  their  demands  than  the  vitiated  cravings 
of  luxury.  The  thousands  of  shapes  into  which 
the  raw  material  of  manufactures  can  be,  and  are 
required  to  be,  worked  up,  to  please  the  imagina- 
tion, and  the  comparatively  few  shapes  which 

*  M.  Caesar  Morcuu. 


()!••     (AIM  I  A  I..  27 

corn  and  beef  can  be  made  to  assume,  except  in 
the  kitchen,  must  incline  the  tendency  of  over- 
production to  the  side  of  manufactures  ;  especi- 
ally if  the  increase  in  manufacturing  production 
have  not  the  effect  of  raising  the  price  of  agricul- 
tural produce ;  which,  as  it  was  the  original 
source,  continues  to  be  the  barometer  of  the  pow- 
ers of  consumption  in  a  nation.  There  cannot,  I 
think,  be  a  moment's  doubt  that  the  origin  of  all 
property  was  in  the  land  ;  the  produce  of  the  soil 
is  the  spontaneous  gift  of  Nature  (always  to  be 
increased  in  quantity  up  to  a  certain  limit  by 
judicious  management) :  this  is  the  first  and 
only  wealth  at  the  beginning  ;  the  surplus  of  this 
wealth  over  the  immediate  necessities  of  the  cul- 
tivator (he  producing  quadruple  his  own  con- 
sumption), becomes  a  fund  applicable  to  other 
purposes,  exercising  the  ingenuity  and  industry 
of  the  supernumerary  cultivators,  whose  produc- 
tions are  all  modifications  merely  of  the  original 
gift  of  Nature  from  the  soil ;  which  gift  being 
susceptible  of  almost  illimitable  improvement, 
was  constituted,  in  proportion  to  its  improving 
capacity,  the  ever  growing  and  principal  means 
of  the  accumulation  of  national  wealth  in 
every  country ;  for  though  manufactures  can 
reproduce,  and  thus  add  to  national  wealth,  they 
are  dependent  for  their  consumption  on  the  quick 
developement  of  riches  from  the  land  ;  unless  they 
are  consumed  rapidly,  their  rapid  reproduction  is 
useless.  The  producers  of  corn  are,  in  like 


28  Acer  M  r  I.A  r ro\ 

manner,  dependent  for  increase  of  wealth  on  the 
power  of  consumption  in  the  rest  of  the  country. 
The  situation  of  these  two  great  interests  of  a  coun- 
try is,  that  of  the  positive  and  negative  cloud; 
the  supply  must  be  equalized,  or  a  storm  ensues. 

The  tendency  to  accumulate  capital  from  the 
land  before  the  facility  existed  of  investing  it  in 
manufactures,  shewed  itself  in  the  gigantic  build- 
ings and  hearty  hospitality  of  "  the  good  old 
times."  Manufactures  never  could  have  com- 
menced but  for  the  power  of  the  cultivators  to 
produce  more  than  they  could  individually  con- 
sume :  the  surplus  was  a  means  of  existence  to 
those  who  thenceforward  found  their  profit  in 
providing  for  the  conveniences  (the  next  step  in 
civilization  to  the  enjoyment  only  of  the  necessa- 
ries) of  life :  a  similar  tendency  to  accumulate 
has  been  always  visible  in  this  branch  of  industry, 
from  the  intervals  of  distress  which,  at  various 
times,  have  afflicted  it ;  particularly  since  the 
time  when  convenience  began  to  degenerate  into 
luxury,  or  rather  when  luxury  was  added  to  con- 
venience ;  thereby  affording  more  productions  to 
be  purchased  by  that  fund  which  had  previously 
been  equal  only  to  the  consumption  of  neces- 
saries. There  is,  doubtless,  a  growing  capacity 
of  consumption,  first  shewing  itself  in  the  power 
of  adding  the  conveniences  to  the  necessaries  of 
life,  and  afterwards  luxury  to  convenience  ;  but 
the  wholesome  demand  for  products  of  luxury  is 
much  more  difficult  to  estimate  than  those  for 


OK    CAPITAL. 


29 


simple  conveniences ;  and  this  cause,  added  to 
the  eager  competition  of  accumulated  capital  after 
profits,  produced  those  intervals  of  distress  which 
have  arisen  from  production  exceeding  consump- 
tion. 

We  ought  to  ascertain,  as  exactly  as  we 
can,  at  what  rate  capital  accumulates,  compared 
with  the  demand  for  goods  which  it  is  the  means 
of  furnishing  to  the  market.  Capital  appears  to 
me  to  have  a  tendency  to  exceed  population  in  its 
increase  quite  as  much  (at  present,  even  more)  as 
population  tends  to  exceed  agricultural  produce 
in  its  increase.  If  £1,000.,  by  compound  interest, 
doubles  itself  in  fifteen  years,  which  it  does,  this 
is  at  a  rate  four  times  greater  than  the  increase  of 
population,  (taking  sixty  years*  as  the  average 
rate  of  doubling).  Now,  when  we  consider  that 

*  Annual  increase  upon  each  million  of  inhabitants,  and  the 
period  in  which  the  population  would  double  itself,  if  the 
increase  continued  uniform. 

Increase  on  1,000,000  Period  of 

individuals.  doubling. 

Prussia        27,027  26  years. 

Britain         16,667  42 

Netherlands    .  .  12,372 56£ 

Two  Sicilies   ..  11,111  63 

Russia          10,527  66 

Austria        10,114  69 

France          6,536  '. 105 

7)427 


Average  rate  of  doubling  60 

Art.  9.  Foreign  Quarterly  on  Baron  Dupin's  "  Force 
Commercial  de  la  France." 


30  A  C  C  U  AI  U  L  A  T I O  X 

ten  per  cent,  used,  until  lately,  to  be  below  the 
average  remuneration  from  capital  actively  in- 
vested, i.  e.  in  trade,  commerce,  agriculture,  &c. 
we  may  fairly  presume  that  not  more  than  one 
half  of  this,  or  five  per  cent,  of  the  profits,  was 
expended  on  the  capitalist's  own  consumption, 
the  remaining  five  per  cent,  going  to  multiply 
production.  This  will  cause  an  accumulation  of 
capital  equal  to  that  of  money  at  five  per  cent, 
compound  interest,  or  four  times  greater  than  the 
average  increase  of  population;  and  when  we 
remember  the  15  and  20  per  cent,  so  often  made 
in  manufactures  in  prosperous  times,  I  do  not 
think  this  an  exaggerated  estimate. 

If  the  rate  of  profits,  or  interest  of  money, 
immediately  preceding,  and  during  all  com- 
mercial stagnations,  were  correctly  ascertained, 
I  doubt  not  that  both  would  be  found  com- 
paratively low,  from  the  great  competition  of 
accumulated  capital.  These  storms  of  the  com- 
mercial world  seem  necessary  to  clear  the  trading 
atmosphere.  The  stagnation  is  caused  by  capi- 
talists discovering  that  there  is  no  adequate  re- 
muneration for  production :  a  partial  cessation  of 
employment  to  the  labouring  class  ensues,  which 
lowers  wages  universally,  and  at  the  same  moment 
the  greatest  engine  of  consumption  in  the  country 
is  thrown  out  of  gear.  Dissatisfaction  arises 
among  the  capitalists  on  account  of  a  diminution  of 
profits  in  the  old  channels,  and  the  still  greater  loss 
when  they  have  withdrawn  from  ihem;  and  then 
conies  UK  last  struggle  df  Capital  to  iind  a  profitable 


OF     CAPITAL.  '31 

investment,  which  ends  in  those  fruitless  specula- 
tions we  have  so  often  witnessed  in  history ;  and 
which  are  the  positive  destruction  of  all  the  capital 
embarked  in  them.  Then  the  competition  is  dimi- 
nished, and  the  atmosphere  brightens.  The  reme- 
dy for  accumulated  capital  may  thus  be  said  to  be 
the  violence  of  its  disease  ;  but  the  restoration  to 
a  state  of  vigour  under  these  circumstances  is  sel- 
dom accomplished  but  by  the  tonic  of  an  artificial 
stimulus  to  the  consumption  interest. 

All  the  bubbles,  from  the  South  Sea  scheme 
down  to  those  of  1824  and  25,  in  this  coun- 
try, have,  on  their  very  face,  carried  evidence 
of  being  caused  by  over-abundance  of  capital, 
which  competition  had  rendered  unproductive 
in  the  usual  channels.  About  1720,  the  Go- 
vernment proceeded  to  lower  the  interest  of 
the  National  Debt,  an  idea  which  would  not 
have  suggested  itself  had  it  not  been  for  a  super- 
abundance of  capital ;  and  there  was  a  struggle 
between  the  Bank  of  England  and  the  South  Sea 
Company  which  should  lend  to  the  Government 
at  the  lowest  rate,  the  latter  outbidding  the  former. 
In  March,  1825,  the  speculations  before  the  public 
were 

22  Rail  Roads.  18  Foreign  Mining  Companies. 

12  Gas  Companies.  8  English  ditto. 

53  Miscellaneous. 

Having  a  subscribed  capital  of  upwards  of 
£120,000,000.  Two  millions  were  required  for 
the  Northern  Rail  Road — in  two  days  16,000,000 


32  ACCTM  1'I.ATIOV 

were  tendered.  It  is  the  accumulation  of  capital, 
impatient  of  non-employment,  which  gives  rise  to 
these  fallacious  speculations.  The  accumulated  ca- 
pital being,  for  the  most  part,  in  hands  unused  to  an 
inactive  investment  for  their  money,  no  stone  was 
left  unturned  to  discover  new  channels  for  a  pro- 
fitable return :  the  loss  sustained  under  fallacies 
of  this  kind  is  a  sort  of  natural  means  of  dimi- 
nishing the  accumulation  of  capital :  the  humours 
of  the  body  being  too  great  for  its  secretions,  what 
is  to  be  expected  but  eruptions  at  the  surface — a 
bloated  exterior,  tending  to  gangrene.  But  be- 
cause these  bubbles  ceased  to  exist  when  the  fal- 
lacy of  them  was  blown,  it  was  no  proof  that  there 
remained  no  surplus  of  capital;  it  only  shewed 
that  experience  has  at  least  a  short-lived  effect, 
that  its  lessons  are  not  wholly  lost :  and  those 
who  would  have  been  dissatisfied  with  two  and  a 
half  or  three  per  cent,  in  1824,  would  now  rather 
secure  that  than  run  the  risk  of  entire  loss  for  a 
distant  chance  of  more. 

Though  the  profits  of  stock  were  low  in  Holland 
at  a  particular  period  of  last  century,  this  was 
not,  I  conceive,  the  originating  cause  (as  Mr. 
M'Culloch  seems  to  imagine)  of  the  decline  of 
trade  in  that  country  at  that  time ;  but  only  a 
symptom  of  capital  accumulated  beyond  the  de- 
mand of  the  usual  investments  for  it ;  which,  act- 
ing in  the  same  manner  as  a  surplus  population, 
of  necessity  was  obliged  to  end  either  in  great 
distress  at  home,  or  in  emigration  to  some  foreign 
country,  where  the  rate  of  interest  was  higher, 


ui    CA i'i  i  A  i  .  33 

and  still  secure.  We  consequently  find  that,  in 
1778,  Holland  had  £62,000,000.  in  the  English 
and  French  funds,  because  the  returns  for  money 
invested  at  home  had  ceased  to  be  sufficiently 
remunerating. 

At  the  same  time,  the  surplus  accumulation  of 
capital  in  a  country  does  not  depend  exactly  on 
the  absolute  existing  quantity  of  capital,  but  on 
the  proportion  between  the  amount  of  capital,  and 
the  profitable  demand  for  it  in  that  country.  If 
the  demand  for  money,  from  the  flat  condition  of 
the  employers  of  labour,  be  small,  then  a  smaller 
quantity  of  capital  will  leave  a  larger  surplus  of 
accumulation,  than  a  much  larger  amount  of  ca- 
pital when  the  demand  for  money  is  great. 

When  we  find  capital  lying  idle,  and  incapable 
of  finding  active  investment,  no  other  conclusion 
is  left  us  than  that  it  has  increased  faster  than 
enough  for  the  purposes  required  by  the  con- 
sumption of  the  population,  and  especially  when 
we  see  that  population  consume  as  much  on  the 
average  as  heretofore. 

There  has  been  a  gradual  and  general  lowering 
of  the  rate  of  the  interest  of  money  for  the  last 
two  or  three  centuries.  The  cause  of  its  higher 
rate  in  former  times,  was  the  insufficiency  of  mo- 
ney to  meet  the  demand  for  it ;  its  lowness  in  the 
present  age  can  be  attributed  to  no  other  cause 
than  that  the  demand  for  money  is  insufficient  for 
the  supply  of  it.  Therefore,  capital  must  have 
accumulated  beyond  the  growth  and  the  wants  of 


34  \(  CUMULATION 

an  increasing  population,  for  we  see  it  a  drug  in 
many  places,  notwithstanding  the  many  sources 
to  develop  its  use  beyond  those  that  existed  when 
the  rate  of  interest  was  much  higher.  So  that 
surplus  capital  must  seek  new  countries ;  and  by 
encouraging  manufactures  every  where,  may  form 
the  means  of  executing  a  design  of  Providence, 
that  population  should  overspread  every  portion 
of  the  globe.  If  we  may  not  presume  such  a 
design,  we  shall  have  to  seek  a  satisfactory  theory 
for  the  magnitude  of  the  earth  beyond  what  is 
intended  to  be  peopled. 

It  is  a  remarkable  coincidence  that  the  condi- 
tion of  the  money  market  should  have  been  so  very 
similar  at  the  commencement  of  this  and  the  last 
century.  The  wars  of  William  and  Anne  cor- 
responding to  those  of  the  French  Revolution,  and 
the  Peace  of  Utrecht  in  1713  answering  so  nearly 
to  that  of  1815.  The  great  tranquillity  of  the 
reign  of  George  the  First,  the  loans  amounting 
only  to  £2,832,093.,  and  the  reduction  of  the 
national  debt,  contributed  to  an  accumulation 
of  surplus  capital,  which  was  evidenced  by  the 
lowering  the  rate  of  interest  to  the  public  cre- 
ditor :  the  climax  of  the  evil  brought  about  the 
South  Sea  bubble. 

The  evidences  at  this  moment  of  accumulated 
capital  are  so  many,  as  hardly  to  need  illustration. 
The  state  of  the  public  funds  may  suffice.  In  a  time 
of  war  or  panic,  when  money  is  in  great  request,  and 
difficult  of  access,  more  stock  is  given  for  a  certain 


O  K     C  A  P  I  T  A 


35 


amount  of  money,  than  in  a  time  of  peace  and 
tranquillity:  thus  in  the  three  per  cents.,  for  in- 
stance, during  the  late  war,  the  public  creditor 
lent  £60.  in  exchange  for  £100.  stock,  that  fund 
being  then  at  £60.*  But  in  a  time  of  peace,  as 
money  loses  the  investments  which  may  have 
been  stimulated  into  productiveness  only  by  war- 
fare, and  gradually  becomes  more  and  more  plen- 
tiful; instead  of  £50.  or  £60.  obtaining  an  ex- 
change of  £100.  stock,  £80.  or  £90.  must  be  given, 
according  to  the  plenty  of  capital  in  the  market ; 
and  this  accounts  for  the  price  of  the  three  per 
cents,  having  ranged  between  75  and  95  for  the 
last  few  years. 

*  This  is  well  illustrated  by  the  French  Funds. 


Variatic 

October 
November 
Ditto  21 
June 
December 

ns  in  the 

1799 
1799 
1799 
1600 
1800 
1801 
1802 
1803 
1804 
1805 
1806 
1807 
1807 
1808 
1809 
1810 
1811 
1812 
1813 
1814 
1814 
1815 

Price  oj 

7 
11 
20 
30 
42 
54 
56 
53 
58 
60 
76 
93 
86 
80 
80 
79 
82 
78 
51 
45 
73 
81 

f  French  Five 

June  20 
December 

August 
December 

per  Cents. 

1815 
1815 
1816 
1817 
1818 
1818 
1819 
1820 
1821 
1822 
1823 
1823 
1823 
1824 
1825 
1825 
1825 
1826 
1827 
1828 
1829 

53 
63 
55 
64 
80 
63 
70 
78 
84 
89 
77 
93 
92 
102 
106 
91 
96 
99 
101 
107 
110 

January 
August 
December 

August 
December 



March 
November 
December 

March  29 
December 
March  4 

March 

D  2 


3G  ACCUMULATION 

The  same  wholesome  effects  have  not  resulted 
from  the  bubbles  of  1824  and  1825  as  from  that 
of  the  South  Sea  Scheme,  because  more  artificial 
processes  have  been  in  operation.  The  present 
amount  of  capital  in  the  country  might  not  be 
more  than  sufficient*  to  answer  the  increased 
necessities  of  trade,  provided  machinery  (so  much 
of  which  having  arisen  during  the  excitement  of 
the  war,  when  the  consequences  were  unfelt)  had 
not  intervened  to  foster  a  supply  of  goods  far 
beyond  what  would  have  been  possible,  if  all  the 
accumulated  capital  had  been  invested  in  human 
labour  only :  but  machinery  takes  so  little  to  keep 
it  going  compared  with  hand  labour,  that  it  can- 
not hold  all  the  capital  that  had  been  previously 
ready  to  supply  the  employment  of  hand  labour 
merely  ;  therefore  capital  has  to  look  out  for  other 
occupations  than  those  it  has  been  accustomed  to : 

*  At  the  same  time,  we  are  not  to  forget  that  much  of  our 
capital  has  arisen  from  sources  totally  extraneous  and  unnatu- 
ral: how  much,  for  instance,  has  been  extracted  from  that 
excrescence  of  England  with  90,000,000  inhabitants,  India, 
which  should  have  gone  legitimately  towards  its  own  civiliza- 
tion ;  but  which  has  settled  in  this  country  ;  fostering  the  un- 
wholesome results  we  are  now  witnessing, — a  supply  exceeding 
the  bounds  of  demand.  The  same  observation  is  applicable  to 
other  colonies.  The  riches  which  Nature  has  impressed  on 
any  country,  we  may  fairly  infer  to  have  been  intended  first 
of  all  for  its  own  improvement  and  civilization  ;  and  if  they  be 
for  a  period  stolen  away,  there  is  a  principle  of  equalization 
in  operation,  which  will,  eventually,  force  their  return  ;  pro- 
bably by  means  of  the  emigration  of  people,  and  capital. 


t>i      <    AIMTAI.. 


no  easy  matter  to  find  amidst  so  much  compe- 
tition. Machinery,  then,  is  not  only  the  cause  of 
throwing-  much  labour  out  of  employ,  but  is  the 
principal  cause  of  the  inordinate  distress  (if  it 
may  be  so  termed)  in  capital  also  ;  because  more 
capital  being  required  for  manual  labour  than  for 
machinery,  the  accumulation  would  be  less,  if 
machinery  were  not  so  prevalent.  But  capital, 
we  have  seen,  has  always  had  a  tendency  to  ac- 
cumulate ;  and  the  various  intervals  of  manufac- 
turing distress  we  have  so  often  experienced,  are 
attributable  to  this  cause.  Therefore,  though  dis- 
tress would  exist  at  certain  intervals,  independent 
of  the  interference  of  machinery,  yet  the  great 
overstocking  of  the  market  of  labour  by  machi- 
nery makes  that  distress  more  frequent,  and  very 
greatly  prolongs  it.  We  are  now  reaping  the  first 
fruits  of  the  great  prevalence  of  machinery  ;  but 
its  harvest  is  not  yet  housed  ;  nor  is  there  any 
probability  of  its  being  yet  so,  unless,  by  legis- 
lative enactment,  the  property  of  the  employers 
of  labour  be  so  expanded,  as  to  enable  the  labour- 
ing class,  the  great  consumers  of  products,  to 
meet  the  growing  productiveness  of  machinery, 
and  the  competition  of  the  possessors  of  surplus 
capital.  When  we  see  the  labour  of  millions  con- 
centrated in  machinery,  with  (considering  the 
fertility  of  human  invention)  a  growing  accumu- 
lation of  labour  of  immeasurable  and  incalculable 
extent  ;  and  together  with  this  an  accumulation  of 
capital  beyond  the  limits  of  profitable  investment, 

D  3 


38  ACCUMULATION 

what  room  is  there  left  for  prosperity  to  any  por- 
tion of  the  community,  except  the  receivers  of 
fixed  payments ;  who,  it  is  true,  are  numerous, 
and  rich  enough,  and  are  the  chief  preventives  to 
the  great  reduction  in  the  excise,  which  but  for 
them  must  take  place.  At  the  same  time,  how- 
ever, that  they  contribute  to  a  part  of  the  taxation 
of  the  country,  they  are  the  receivers  of  the  whole 
taxation.  Had  they  to  pay  more,  and  others  less, 
the  current  of  prosperity  would  return  to  its  old 
channels  very  soon. 

The  very  general  suffrage  in  countries  of  old 
standing  in  the  scale  of  civilization,  in  favour  of 
the  law  of  primogeniture,  appears  as  if  it  were  an 
intention  of  Nature  to  restrain,  by  this  means,  the 
too  rapid  accumulation  of  capital.  In  new  coun- 
tries, like  America,  there  is  a  great  demand  for 
capital ;  there  the  primogeniture  law  is  disadvan- 
tageous ;  and  Nature  seems  to  point  this  out ;  for 
in  such  countries  the  inclination  to  it  is  very  par- 
tial, whilst  the  reverse  may  be  observed  of  old 
countries.  It  may  be  said,  that  an  equal  division 
of  properties  might  allot  so  much  to  each  younger 
child  as  to  prevent  the  necessity  of  its  embarking 
in  any  trade,  in  order  to  increase  its  stock.  This 
is  possible  in  very  large  properties  ;  but  on  the 
average  of  properties,  it  is  probable  that  the  equal 
division  would  only  generate  a  larger  supply  of 
capital  for  the  purpose  of  production,  and  leave  less 
among  the  unproductive  class,  which  performs  the 
important  function  of  consumption,  without  inter- 


OF     (' A  PITA  I..  39 

faring  with  the  progress  of  the  great  army  of  pro- 
ducers, which  is  already  bowed  down  by  the  weight 
of  its  own  powers.  If  the  equal  division  of  pro- 
perty went  only  to  increase  the  stock  of  unpro- 
ductive labourers,  such  as  the  members  of  the 
law,  physic,  army,  &c.  then  it  would  go  to  dimi- 
nish the  proportion  which  production  bears  to 
consumption,  provided  that  the  whole  earnings  of 
these  unproductive  members  were  spent  upon  con- 
sumption. But  this  is  not  the  case  ;  for  they  do 
accumulate ;  and  their  accumulation,  to  pay  the 
ordinary  rate  of  interest,  must  enter  the  common 
market  of  capital,  and  so  swell  the  general  mass 
of  capital.  Nevertheless,  the  profits  of  the  law 
and  physic  may  be  fairly  said  to  be  a  diminution 
of  the  profits  of  their  neighbours  ;  and  though  this 
applies  equally  to  the  unproductive  as  productive 
parties  in  the  state,  yet  from  the  greater  numbers 
of  the  productive  class,  the  principal  burden  is 
upon  them,  and  forms  a  kind  of  natural  tax  upon 
production.  Thus,  in  the  progress  of  accumula- 
ted capital,  the  unproductive  class  is  one  of 
increasing  importance  to  balance  the  great  scales 
of  production  and  consumption ;  and  thus  we  see 
that  this  class,  which,  in  the  commencement  of 
society,  was  as  a  cypher  to  the  whole,  is  now  cal- 
culated by  Colquhoun  to  be  in  this  country  one- 
fifth  of  the  whole,  and  to  derive  from  the  pro- 
ductive classes  one -third  of  the  new  property 
created  annually. 

That  there  is  then  more  capital  in  this  country 
D  4 


40  ACCT. Mr  i.  ATI  ON 

than  sufficient  for  the  purposes  of  active  invest- 
ment, and  that  this  surplus  goes  to  diminish  the 
productiveness  of  the  whole,  there  can,  I  think, 
be  no  doubt ;  and  there  is  as  little  doubt  that  the 
capital  unemployed  here  will  abscond  to  other 
places,  where  the  channels  of  trade  are  less 
choked  up :  there,  together  with  machinery, 
undermining  the  only  real  natural  privileges  and 
facilities  which  Great  Britain  possesses  for  trade, 
and  which  advantages  she  owed  to  her  early  com- 
mencement in  manufactures,  the  offspring  of  her 
free  institutions.  It  is  the  long  career  of  Great 
Britain  in  freedom,  which  principally  accounts  for 
the  immense  accumulation  of  capital  she  possesses  ; 
and  this  accumulation,  from  reducing  the  rate  of 
profits,  has  enabled  her  hitherto  to  undersell  the 
rest  of  the  world.  But  when  the  two  mainstays 
of  machinery  and  surplus  capital  (to  us  the  cost 
of  centuries — to  others,  so  quick  is  the  commu- 
nication, the  acquisition  a  day)  leave  our  shores, 
they  become  the  stepping  stones  to  the  world's 
eminence  in  those  commercial  dealings,  which, 
until  now,  had  remained  exclusively  our  own.  If 
the  surplus  capital,  which  must  of  necessity,  in 
self  defence,  depart  the  country,  can  be  piloted  to 
India,*  the  evil  day  may,  for  a  short  time,  be 
partially  avoided ;  and  the  wealth,  which  would 
otherwise  contribute  to  the  rivalry  of  other  nations 

'  The  population   of  India  was  stated  by  Mr.  Peel  to  be 
90,000,000. 


01-      ('  A  I'll  A  I  .  41 

with   us  in  manufacturing-  skill,  would  then,  (but 
only  under  improved  government,)  be  applied  to 
the  production  of  cotton  in  India,  the  growers  of 
which  would  consume  a   proportionate  amount  of 
the  British   manufactured  article ;  at  least,  until 
capital  became  abundant  enough  there  to  fix  itself 
in  machinery.     This   transit  of  capital  is,   as  I 
have  before  observed,  of  no  new  invention.     It 
was  the  course  of  that  produced  chiefly  by  the 
advantages   of  good   government   in   the    Italian 
Republics,  and  other  old  mercantile  places,  now 
sunk  to  nothing.     A  part  of  their  capital,   it  is 
true,  remained,  as  it  were,  in  charity  to  a  popu- 
lation which  had  been  fostered  by  a  prosperity 
of  extrinsic  origin ;   and  which  source  being  laid 
dry,    by    the   diversion    of    an   extensive   run   of 
commerce  from  those   channels;  that  population 
which  it  had  forced  into  existence,  were  thrown 
for    subsistence    on    the    possessors    of    capital, 
gradually  absorbing  it  for  want  of  the  means  and 
opportunity  for  its  reproduction.     And   this,    in 
the  course  of  time,  must  be  the  fate  of  all  nations 
whose  wealth  has  not  the   stability  of  domestic 
origin ;  because  there  is  a  growing  tendency  in 
every  country  to  produce  more  and  more  the  arti- 
cles of  their  own  consumption  :  and  what  mainly 
conduces  to  this  result  is,  that  the  producers  of 
any  particular  commodity  for   which  a  country 
may  be  eminent,   are  always  outgrowing  the  con- 
sumers  of  such  production ;  the  supernumerary 
producers  then  fly  to  another  species  of  industry, 


42  ACC'.l'.M  tl.ATlOX     OK     CAPITAL. 

which  had  before  been  in  the  hands  of  a  foreign 
nation.  At  first,  of  course,  from  want  of  skill, 
there  accrues  some  loss  to  this  infant  industry, 
which  a  paternal  government  will  generally  pro- 
tect, on  the  principle,  that  a  little  loss  for  a  time, 
is  better  than  the  longer  loss  of  supporting  super- 
numerary labourers  in  idleness. 

The  loans  contracted  during  the  long  war,  pre- 
vented capital  from  being  distressed  so  soon  as  it 
must  otherwise  have  been,  through  the  compe- 
tition arising  from  the  immense  accumulation  of  it 
which  has  been  made  within  the  last  50  or  60  years 
by  the  high  profits  of  the  originators  of  mechani- 
cal inventions  under  a  depreciated  currency.  The 
public  funds,  however,  hold  fast  a  mass  of  capital, 
which  would  otherwise  fly  in  self  defence  to 
other  countries ;  and  would  then  add  to  a  second 
cause  of  distress,  particularly  in  fixed  capital, 
viz.  other  countries  manufacturing  for  themselves 
what  they  used  to  receive  from  us. 

On  the  whole,  then,  it  appears  evident,  that  the 
existing  amount  of  capital  in  this  country,  even  yet, 
is  too  great  for  the  purposes  of  production,  and  goes 
injuriously  to  depreciate  the  projits  of  the  producers. 


PRODUCTION  OF  WROUGHT  GOODS. 


"  It  is  the  profitable  employment  of  personal  labour  only 
that  creates  a  wholesome  public  wealth." 


THE  largeness  of  production  must,  of  necessity, 
depend  on  the  facilities  afforded  to  production. 
Abundance  of  capital  and  labour  constitute  these 
facilities,  and  vice  versa.  In  a  country,  therefore, 
where,  from  the  comparative  prevalence  of  machi- 
nery, or  other  accumulation  of  labour,  the  wages 
of  labour  are  low ;  and  where,  from  the  accu- 
mulation of  capital,  the  hire  of  money  also  is 
cheap  ;  it  follows  that  production  must  be  great, 
provided  the  consumption  be  equal.  But  it  hap- 
pens, even  when  the  powers  of  consumption  fall 
short,  that  production  will,  for  a  time,  continue 
great,  notwithstanding  the  glut  of  goods  in  the 
market  which  must  ensue ;  because  competition,, 
lowering  profits  to  the  last  pitch,  the  producers 
will  work  up  more  goods  by  means  of  increased 
activity,  and  the  rack  of  invention  to  improve 
machinery  (for  the  very  fact  of  machinery  dimi- 
nishing productiveness  as  respects  value,  at  its 
quondam  rate  of  activity,  redoubles  its  energy,) ; 
thus  manufacturing  perhaps  a  double  quantity  of 
goods  for  the  same  profit  before  derived  from  half 
the  quantity ;  and  even  for  these  halved  profits 


-14  PKOIM  c'i  iu\    OK 

the  mad  struggle  of  competition  will  often  last 
till  sufficient  capital  be  destroyed  to  leave  some 
remuneration  for  that  which  remains.  And 
there  is  still  another  principle,  even  more  detri- 
mental, and  which  has  operated  to  an  alarming 
extent  in  this  country.  Men,  who  have  given 
their  exclusive  attention,  and  dedicated  their  lives 
to  one  branch  of  manufacture,  in  which  they  have 
expended  or  fixed  their  whole  capital,  see  no 
other  prospect  in  life  but  continuing  that  trade ; 
and,  (stimulated  by  that  feeling  of  hope  so  strongly 
implanted  in  the  human  breast)  for  the  sake  of 
keeping  confidential  servants  and  hands  together, 
have,  for  a  length  of  time,  continued  to  work  at 
no  profit,  and,  in  many  instances,  at  a  consider- 
able loss,  to  preserve  an  efficient  nucleus  for  better 
times.  Moreover,  machinery  seems  to  contain 
within  itself  the  seminal  principles,  as  it  were,  of 
an  endless  supply  to  a  glutted  market ;  for  capital 
being  fixed  in  machinery,  cannot,  as  its  particular 
trade  proves  unproductive,  turn  off  its  hands,  and 
apply  itself  to  some  other  branch  ;  because,  unless 
the  machinery,  which  is  not  a  probable  case,  be 
applicable  also  to  another  trade,  it  must  either  con- 
tinue working,  or  the  capital  invested  in  it  be  en- 
tirely lost :  if  worked,  it  must  be  with  less  human 
labour,  and  even  then  at  a  great  diminution  of 
profits,  such  as  will  increase  inordinately  the 
accumulation  of  goods  in  the  market.  The  dis- 
tress of  the  labouring  class,  thus  thrown  out  of 
employment,  must  be  accompanied  by  diminished 
powers  to  purchase  goods  in  the  most  numerous 


class  of  consumers  ;  and  it  is  an  evil  of  growing 
magnitude, 

The  wholesome  condition  of  things,  surely,  is 
a  demand  equal  to  the  supply  of  commodities  : 
it  is  certainly  the  only  means  of  continuing 
to  the  labourer  his  employment.  This,  how- 
ever, was  a  relation  much  longer  preserved  invio- 
late in  antient  than  in  modern  times  ;  because 
from  the  scarcity  of  capital,  that  first  mover  of 
production,  there  were  fewer  competitors  for  the 
supply  compared  with  the  demand ;  a  circum- 
stance, it  is  true,  leading  to  a  few  more  scarcities ; 
but  these  were  of  shorter  duration,  and  less  gene- 
rally felt,  than  the  privations  occasioned  by  the 
absence  of  occupation  consequent  on  a  surfeit  of 
goods,  which  may  be  called  a  starvation  in  the 
midst  of  plenty. 

Whether  it  be  that  the  astonishing  profits 
made  by  the  first  introducers  of  the  present  race 
of  machinery  acted  as  an  immoderate  stimulus 
on  the  people  of  this  country,  I  know  not;  but 
certain  it  is,  that  the  tone  of  society,  and  standard 
of  expectation,  are  much  changed  within  the  last 
half  century.  An  insatiable  thirst  for  riches,  as 
the  principal  good,  has  supervened  contentment 
with  a  sufficiency.*  Half  a  century  is  time 
enough  for  the  developement  of  the  consequences 

*  There  has  been  more  than  a  common  progress  in  operation 
throughout  society  generally  within  the  last  few  years,  which 
has  sapped  the  foundation  of  all  arguments  derived  from  times 
gone  by.  Some  summit  has  been  attained  from  whence  the 


46  PRODUCTION    OF 

from  such  a  change,  especially  when  extraneous 
causes  have  added  to  the  excitement.* 

The  stimulus  to  accumulate  is  greater  than  that 
to  consume  wealth  among  the  owners  of  active  capi- 
tal, with  whom  gain  has  been  a  principle  of  educa- 
tion. A  general  disposition  to  acquire,  and  also  to 
spend  money,  is  not  a  common  inconsistency,  there- 
fore the  balance  becomes  overweighted  on  the  side  of 
production ;  repletion  is  the  consequence,  ending, 
as  in  the  animal  frame,  in  satiety,  sickness,  and 
decay,  or  for  a  length  of  time  inaptitude  to  a  healthy 
state.  No  one  can  pretend  to  check  the  tendency  of 
mankind  after  riches  ;  it  can  but  be  regretted,  for 
their  sake,  that  so  miserable  a  result  should  ac- 
company it.  The  question  could  never  be  amica- 
bly settled  who  is  to  enter  upon  the  employments 

march  has  been  rapid  in  proportion  to  the  difficulty  of  the  pre- 
vious ascent.  An  instance  of  this  is  related  by  Dupin,  who 
says,  that  in  the  375  years  from  the  invention  of  printing  to 
1814,  the  productions  of  the  press  in  France  had  grown  up  to 
45,600,000  sheets  per  annum,  and  in  the  12  years  from  1814 
to  1826  they  had  increased  from  45,600,000  to  144,500,000  : 
in  other  words,  the  advance  made  has  been  twice  as  great  in 
these  12  years  as  in  the  preceding  375. 

*  The  long  continental  war  was  one  stimulus.  Another, 
probably,  was  the  greater  freedom  of  domestic  commerce. 
There  can  be  no  doubt  that  guilds,  charters  to  private  compa- 
nies, or  to  private  persons,  very  much  delayed  the  progress  of 
production;  and  the  entire  escape  from  them,  which  has  not 
been  accomplished  more  than  50  or  60  years,  gives  a  clue  to  a 
cause  for  the  great  increase  of  population  during  this  period 
beyond  former  periods. 


WIUUCHT     <iOODS.  47 

rendered  profitable  by  an  abstraction  of  a  portion 
of  competition,  and  who  is  to  sit  down  contented 
with  the  little  he  has. 

It  has  been  already  shewn,  that  an  accumu- 
lation of  capital  has  taken  place  in  this  coun- 
try beyond  the  means  of  profitable  investment ; 
and  the  strong  symptom  is,  that  the  produc- 
tion of  the  country,  which  is  under  the  com- 
manding influence  of  the  capital  of  the  country,  is 
too  great  for  the  consumption  of  the  country.  It 
is  needless  to  offer  any  evidence  of  this;  there  are 
thousands  at  this  moment  eating  the  bread  of 
capital,  who  would  gladly  produce,  and  are  com- 
pelled to  be  idle.  In  the  month  of  November  (I 
believe)  last,  at  a  meeting  of  the  manufacturers  of 
India  Imitation  Trimmings,  in  the  Saracen's  Head 
Inn,  Paisley,  to  take  into  consideration  the  de- 
pressed state  of  the  trade,  it  was  resolved,  that 
they  would  recommend  the  weavers  to  work  only 
during  day-light  until  the  beginning  of  January. 
Should  this  recommendation  not  be  agreed  to  by 
the  weavers  generally,  those  who  do  not  comply 
were  not  to  receive  their  webs  until  three  weeks 
after  their  former  webs  were  out.*  I  give  this 
only  as  one  instance,  among  many,  of  the  attempts 
made  to  palliate  the  evils  of  overproduction. 
Manchester,  Leeds,  Barnsley,  Macclesfield,  Pais- 
ley, Glasgow,  and  the  rest,  proclaim  aloud  the 

*  The  Globe  Newspaper,  November  30,    1829,  speaks  of 
turns  out  among  workmen  as  advantageous  to  trade. 


48  iMionrc  TION    OF 

same   sad    tale    by   the   silent    stillness    of  their 
looms.* 

The  old  custom  of  merchants  coming  to  manu- 
facturers for  orders,  is  now  neglected :  goods 
are  consigned  to  agents  abroad  (often  unknown) 
for  the  chance  of  a  market.  This  used  to  be  the 
habit  only  of  such  tradesmen  as  were  declining  in 
business.  A  trader  in  good  repute  is  sought ;  he 
need  not  seek  his  custom.  The  very  fact  of  his 
doing  so  is  an  argument  either  against  his  own 
stability,  or  of  a  failing  market.  The  growing 
disproportion  between  the  official  and  real  value 
of  our  exports,  is  a  sure  proof  of  the  falling  off  in 
the  foreign  demand  ;  because  the  official  value, 
which  is  only  the  criterion  of  quantity,  is  rising 
more  and  more  above  the  real  or  declared  value, 
and  that  is  sinking  below  the  declared  values 
of  former  years.  What  can  be  more  natural  to 
expect  than  that  the  market  of  foreigners  should 
fail  us  in  the  ratio  of  their  own  activity,  and  the 
prevalence  of  machinery  abroad,  worked  possibly 
to  some  extent  by  British  capital,  which  can  find 
no  employment  at  home. 

When,  because  of  the  producing  power  of  goods 
from  the  accumulation  of  capital,  and  progress  of 
mechanical  invention  being  more  prolific  than  the 
absorbing  powers  of  the  human  species,  who  are 

*  The  following  Return  of  a  Committee  on  the  state  of  the 
Population  of  Hudderstield,  and  its  oeighbourhood,  will  shew, 
in  the  convenient  form  of  a  Table,  what,  for  want  of  such  a 
methodical  plan,  may  be  concealed  from  view  in  other  places 
equally  distressed. 


the 


WHO  I    (,  II  T     CO()l)S.  10 

consumers  of  those  products,  goods  become 


o: 

<M 

00 


I 


I 


2 


Populatio 


. 

It 

3  -= 
O  00 

c:  <-"  o  c:  co 
n  c  <N  'N  x 


co  Ci  05 

x  sc  i> 

r-i  *N  CO 

fM  <M  1/3 


o 


2  ^ 

o  o  **       ~  :o 

O  1-4  O          O  30  < 

'MC^I'M          ri  rH 


' 


OfNdCJ 


OOO 


§O 
CC 


0          r* 


l>t-it*t^ 

d  •*  «  0 


III 

OTt*CO 
«  «  CO 


O  O  CO 


1      INI 


l 


l>          (NpHOi  O   CO 

CO          C5Tfl>          rH|> 
CO          i-^rHiJ<          rH 


§<N 
oc 


Ml      Ml 

fCTfH         0:O*t 
rtTt-CC         C0l>0i 


:        &-=  : 


E 


50  PRODUCTION     OF 

accumulated  in  a  country,  then  there  requires 
some  artificial  means  of  circulating  goods  more 
rapidly  through  society,  in  order  to  give  a  proper 
degree  of  profit  to  the  increased  number  of  produ- 
cers ;  this  can  only  be  done  by  stimulating  the 

During  the  last  week  of  December,  the  Leeds  Relief  Com- 
mittee are  said  to  have  visited  and  relieved  near  400  more 
families,  containing  more  than  1000  souls,  making  an  appalling 
aggregate  already  of  upwards  of  4000  souls,  whose  daily  in- 
come is  somewhat  short  of  one  penny. 

FALL  OF  PRICE.  (Scotsman. 

At  the  Custom-House  there  is  kept  a  comprehensive  record 
of  our  exports,  with  a  double  register  of  prices — one  fixed  and 
uniform,  according  to  an  official  scale;  the  other  varying  in 
conformity  with  the  prices  of  the  day.  By  comparing  one  list 
with  the  other,  it  is  easy  to  ascertain  the  rise  or  fall  of  prices, 
and  the  result,  in  our  principal  articles  of  manufactures,  is  as 
follows : 
Manufactures  exported ;  comparative  value  of  the  same  quantity 

at  different  periods,  viz.  in  1814  and  1828. 
Market  price  in  1814.  Market  price  in  J  828. 

Hardware      £100  £66 

Woollens        100  60 

Linens  100  58 

Silk  100  48 

Cotton         100  44 

Leather  alone  has  nearly  main- 
tained its  price       100  98 

At  a  meeting  of  Norwich  weavers  in  November,  it  was  said 
that  if  a  man  worked  18  hours  a  day,  he  could  earn  perhaps 
10s. Gd.  a  week;  but  out  of  that  the  expenses  must  be  de- 
ducted. A  letter  was  read  from  Bolton,  dated  November  2, 
stating  that  for  six-quarter  seventies,  which,  in  the  year  1814, 
obtained  24*.,  was  paid  only  8*. ;  for  six-quarter  sixties,  in  the 


si 

powers  and  property  of  the  consumers,  the  fund 
from  whence  the  purchase  money  for  the  products 
proceeds.  The  most  natural  means  of  quickening 
the  circulation  of  goods,  is  by  lowering  their  price: 
and  this,  no  doubt,  at  one  time,  had  the  effect  of 
increasing  the  number  of  purchasers  generally. 
In  those  days,  when  cheapness  arose  from  the 
progressive  skill  of  hand  labour,  there  ensued 
additional  consumption  from  that  greatest  source 
of  consumption,  the  working  class :  but  now, 
unfortunately,  the  principal  agent  in  cheapness  is 
machinery,  which  not  only  is  a  very  diminutive 
consumer  itself,  but,  like  the  dog  in  the  manger, 
objects  to  consumption  by  that  class  which  had 
before  contributed  most  to  it.*  If  machinery  did 
not  supplant  human  labour,  it  would  not  be  used ; 

year  1814,  20s.,  now  only  fetched  5s. ;  for  six-quarter  fifties, 
in  the  year  1814,  20s.,  now  obtained  only  3s.  9d. 

These  are  striking  facts,  and  admit  of  but  few  deductions ; 
and  these  are,  that  since  1814  the  lowness  in  price  has  arisen 
either  from  diminution  in  consumption,  inordinate  activity  of 
machinery,  or  a  return  to  dear-money ;  or  from  all  these 
causes  united  :  but  they  are  all  evidences  of  comparative 
overproduction. 

(  There  are  cases  where  machinery,  instead  of  depriving 
the  labourer  of  employment,  continues  it  to  him.  "  Fifty 
years  ago,  the  mines  of  Cornwall  were  nearly  at  a  stand,  and 
no  power  existed  by  which  they  could  be  carried  deeper,  and 
their  richness  further  explored."  (Taylor's  Records  of  Mining, 
in  reference  to  the  Steam  Engine.)  And  this  at  least  can  be 
said  of  machinery,  that  it  must  eventually  tend  to  discourage 
slavery,  by  the  introduction  of  a  cheaper  slave,  more  than  any 
laws  of  Parliament. 

E   2 


52  PRODUCTION    OF 

its  benefit  to  its  owner,  its  own  prerogative,  is  to 
consume  less  than  the  live  labourer.  Its  wages 
are  less,  only  because  it  can  consume  less. 
Unless,  therefore,  there  be  found  employment  for 
those  who  have  been  artificially  thrust  out  of  the 
rank  of  producers,  which,  with  the  market  of  the 
world  every  day  contracting  more  and  more  within 
itself,  is  not  probable,  consumption  must  de- 
crease ;  and  it  will  be  the  province  of  the  next 
chapter  to  shew  the  tendency  to  that  point. 

But  we  hear  from  some  quarters  that  overpro- 
duction is  an  impossible  thing.  If  this  means 
that  there  is  always  a  tendency  in  the  long  run  to 
limit  the  supply  to  the  demand,  it  is  perfectly 
true  :  few  men  are  so  liberal  as  to  labour  for  no- 
thing :  but  if  it  is  an  assumption  that  overproduc- 
tion cannot  exist  for  a  limited  period,  or  that 
there  is  any  want  of  power  to  overproduce,  I,  for 
one,  have  come  to  a  very  different  conclusion. 
The  cessation  of  a  large  continental  demand,  sti- 
mulated by  a  general  continental  war,  which  is 
over;  the  return  from  a  depreciated  to  a  dear 
currency  ;  the  sudden  absorption  of  a  great  quan- 
tity of  human  labour,  and  consequently  of  con- 
sumption, by  machinery ;  are  all  means  of  over- 
proportioning  the  production  of  a  country  to  its 
powers  of  consumption.  What  are  the  great 
number  of  uninhabited  houses  in  every  large 
town,  many  of  which  have  never  been  fitted  up, 
instances  of,  but  overproduction,  and  a  surplus 
accumulation  of  jeapital,  impatient  of  nonemploy- 


WROUGHT   r, oons.  53 

merit?  In  that  part  of  the  new  town  of  Edin- 
burgh, extending  northwards,  it  is  really  lament- 
able to  see  a  great  proportion,  in  a  half  completed 
state,  going  to  decay.  What  do  the  600,000  tons 
of  wine  in  the  department  of  the  Gironde,  unable 
to  find  an  outlet  or  sale,  mean  but  overproduc- 
tion ?  It  is  true,  there  has  been  a  great  falling  off 
in  the  Bourdeaux  trade,  because  many  of  the 
foreign  customers,  who  used  to  supply  France 
with  commodities  which  she  has  now  determined 
to  manufacture  for  herself,  decline  taking  her 
wine  from  Bourdeaux ;  which  is  a  legitimate 
cause  for  the  surplus  of  wine,  and  for  the  distress 
in  that  department;*  the  markets  are  changed: 
the  case  is  similar,  in  a  great  measure,  with  the 
operatives  of  this  country  ;  the  manufacturer  has 
gone  for  his  labour  to  the  market  of  machinery, 
and  so  has  diminished  the  customers  for  the  pro- 
duce of  the  market  of  human  labour,  which  is 
consequently  surfeited  and  distressed.  Every 
pressure  on  the  consumptive  interest,  without 
some  corresponding  expansion,  is  attended  with 
the  inevitable  result  of  overproduction. 

M.  Aubert  deVi try  (Bulletin  Universel)  seems  to 
attribute  the  universal  distress  to  a  decay  of  capital. 
In  England,  we  have  seen,  this  cannot  be  the 
case ,  because  money  is  plentiful  at  a  low  rate  of 

*  But  the  falling  off  in  the  foreign  exports  of  Bourdeaux  is 
not  above  71,500  tons;  whereas  the  surplus  in  that  depart- 
ment was  lately  600,000  tons.  See  Petition  from  the  Gironde 
Department. 

E    3 


PRODUCTION     OF 

interest,  and  every  investment  for  it  fairly  filled. 
It  is  a  symptom  of  want  of  sufficient  capital  when 
the  consumers  complain  of  a  deficient  supply,  not 
when  the  supply  is  overabundant.  It  is  quite  pos- 
sible that  France  may  not  possess  sufficient  capital 
for  her  new  internal  commercial  regulations  ;  her 
government  has  never  been  such  as  to  favour  accu- 
mulation, or  she  would  have  begun  to  manufacture 
at  home  much  sooner  than  she  has  done :  if  she 
has  been  accustomed  to  cheaper  commodities 
from  abroad  than  she  now  produces  of  the  same 
kind  for  herself,  there  will  be,  of  course,  great  call 
for  capital  to  facilitate  the  interchange  of  goods  by 
opening  canals,  making  rail-roads,  working  mines, 
&c.  These  are,  unluckily  for  France,  at  the  same 
time,  the  greatest  absorbants  of  capital,  and  pre- 
cisely the  worst  feature  of  her  commercial  powers.* 
The  law  of  mines  gives  the  produce  to  the  King ; 
and  the  roads  and  canals  are  so  inefficient,  as  often 
to  allow  the  produce  to  go  to  nobody.  It  is  very 
possible,  therefore,  that  France  may  suffer  not 
from  decay  of  capital,  but  from  the  want  of 
capital  which  she  has  never  had,  and  which  her 
new  commercial  regulations  render  essentially 

*  Dupin  (Force  Commerciale)  states,  that  France,  with  a 
Superficies  three  times  as  great  as  that  of  England,  only  allows 
one-third  as  much  for  roads.  The  canals  recommended  by  a 
Report  from  the  Administration  des  Ponts  et  Chaussees,  inde- 
pendent of  local  difficulties  which  are  forgotten,  are  estimated 
at  .£44,160,000.  And  taking  the  greater  superficies  of  France 
into  consideration,  she  is  estimated  to  have  only  one-twentieth 
of  the  canals  that  England  possesses. 


\\'Hor(;iiT   (.oons.  55 

requisite.  It  is  said  there  is,  and  has  been  for 
some  time,  a  great  scarcity  of  silver  from  the 
American  mines :  if  this  be  so,  it  is  by  far  the 
most  probable  solution  of  any  universal  conti- 
nental distress  ;  because  silver  being  the  universal 
circulating  medium  of  the  continent  (ought  it  not 
to  be  so  here  ?),  the  diminution  in  the  amount  of 
currency,  which  must  be  consequent  on  such  scar- 
city, would  lower  the  value  of  all  fixed  real  pro- 
perty, and  cripple  universally  the  means  to  employ 
labour :  labour  would  thus  become  a  drug  in  the 
market,  and  the  powers  of  production  would  be 
increased  in  the  ratio  of  the  cheapness  of  wages. 
Every  labourer  begging  for  employment,  is  an 
evidence  of  overproduction. 

Overproduction,  then,  not  only  does  exist ;  but 
there  is  a  constant  tendency  towards  its  existence. 
It  is  calculated,  on  the  estimate  of  remunerating 
wages,  that  every  labourer,  on  an  average,  pro- 
duces fourfold  the  value  of  what  he  consumes,  i.e. 
quadruple  the  amount  of  his  wages.*  Most  of  the 
emigrations  from  old  countries  f  which  we  meet 

*  Manufactures  generally,  even  in  the  coarse  cotton  business, 
for  example,  trebles  the  value  of  the  material.  Thus  a  pound 
of  cotton  worth  10  cents,  will  make  cloth  worth  37  cents. 
Harr.  Conv.  p.  67. 

f  The  various  colonies  sent  out  of  antient  Rome,  arose 
from  its  own  exuberance  of  population,  and  the  reverse  in 
the  places  colonized ;  and  are  a  parallel  case  with  the  present 
old  European  family  (particularly  Great  Britain)  emigratifft; 
to  underpopulated  America.  From  the  same  principle,  some 
ages  after  the  deluge,  the  East  first,  and  successively  all 

E  4 


56  PRODUCTION    OF 

with  in  history,  were  proofs  that  what  the  emi- 
grants could  produce  at  home  could  not  be  con- 
sumed with  sufficient  profit  to  the  producers.  Even 
when  machinery  had  scarcely,  if  at  all,  com- 
menced its  influence  on  manual  labour,  we  see  this 
principle  in  operation. 

It  appears  that  the  natural  cure  for  overpro- 
duction, viz.  cheapness,  cannot  obtain  now  in 
this  country ;  because  that  cheapness  is  the 
consequence  of  a  displacement,  by  machinery, 
of  the  employment  of  a  great  portion  of  labour- 
ers ;  whereby  the  average  rate  of  wages  must 
fall  throughout  the  most  numerous  class  of  consu- 
mers ;  and  with  that,  their  powers  to  purchase : 
a  diminution  in  consumption,  and  an  increase  of 
the  general  evil,  is  a  necessary  consequence  ;  and 
that,  beyond  the  natural  limit  which  the  necessity 
to  live  imposed  upon  human  labourers,  because  of 
the  inanimate  agency  superseding  them  requiring 
no  food.  The  most  natural  of  the  artificial  reme- 
dies for  overproduction  seems,  therefore,  unavoid- 
able, and  this  is,  to  increase  the  quantity  of  money 

the  other  parts  of  the  globe,  became  inhabited ;  and  to  say 
nothing  of  the  Phenician  and  Grecian  colonies,  so  well  known 
in  antient  history,  it  is  notorious,  that  it  was  for  the  estab- 
lishment of  such  colonies,  that  during  the  declension  of  the 
Roman  empire,  those  torrents  of  barbarous  nations,  issuing, 
for  the  most  part  out  of  the  North,  overrun  the  Gauls, 
Italy,  and  the  other  southern  parts  of  Europe.  It  is  true, 
that  in  a  minor  degree,  and  on  some  occasions,  the  realization 
of  conquest  and  commerce  have  also  led  to  various  colo- 
nizations. 


WHO  re;  i  IT    GOODS.  57 

in  circulation  in  proportion  to  the  quantity  of 
goods,  which  causes  an  universal  rise  in  the  pro- 
perty of  the  employers  of  labour  and  the  primary 
consumers  of  products :  the  producer  is  not  injured 
by  the  rise,  because  of  his  production  so  much 
overbalancing  his  consumption.  This  remedy, 
from  the  stimulus  it  would  give  to  agricultural 
produce,  would  render  profitable  the  cultivation 
of  a  great  part  of  the  wastes  of  the  United  King- 
dom of  Ireland  especially,  which  would  create  a 
vast  body  of  consumers  to  meet  the  overproduction 
of  goods,  and  that  from  the  most  wholesome  and 
secure  source.  The  opening  of  the  India  trade, 
though  it  would  be  doubtless  a  momentary  stimu- 
lus to  consumption,  and  therefore  very  properly 
taken  advantage  of,  must,  as  it  will  be  hereafter 
shewn,  in  the  nature  of  things  be  transitory. 

On  the  above  grounds,  then,  I  affirm,  that,  of  late, 
production  has  been  too  great  for  consumption. 


CONSUMPTION  OF  WROUGHT  GOODS. 


"  A  population  can  only  acquire   great  activity  when  the 
demand  for  labour  somewhat  exceeds  the  supply." 


I  HAVE  thought  it  of  more  consequence,  in  the 
preceding  chapter,  to  confine  my  attention  less  to 
the  developement  of  the  raw  materials  of  the 
earth,  than  to  the  modifications  of  the  raw  ma- 
terials, which  the  various  manufacturers  bid  them 
assume.  These  modifications  have  appeared  to 
me,  to  be  capable  of  much  more  diversity  and 
multiplication,  than  the  raw  materials  from 
whence  they  are  derived ;  and  the  demand  for 
them  susceptible  of  a  limit  much  less  definite ; 
thus  inducing  unguarded  specultion  in  proportion. 
The  accumulation,  too,  of  capital  being  naturally 
so  rapid ;  and  the  quick  progress  of  mechanical 
invention,  being  a  means  of  self-defence  among 
the  possessors  of  accumulated  capital,  who  will 
ever  compete  for  profit;  I  have  held  the  natural 
stimulus  and  powers  to  produce  manufactures,  to 
have  a  growing  tendency  to  exceed  the  capacity 
for  their  consumption :  and  at  the  same  time  that 
the  accumulating  burdens,  both  from  public  and 
private  sources,  on  what  may  be  denominated  as 
especially  the  goods  consuming  interest,  are  among 
the  chief  causes  which  unfit  it  to  meet  the  growing 


oU  CONSUMPTION     OF 

powers  of  production,  unless  its  means  be,  on  occa- 
sions, artificially  expanded. 

Both  the  manufacturers  and  the  agriculturists, 
nearly  in  the  ratio  of  their  respective  population, 
contribute  to  the  consumption  of  each  of  their 
own  respective  products.  But  it  may  facilitate 
clearness  of  expression  to  consider  the  manu- 
facturer as  the  consumer  of  agricultural  produce, 
and  the  agriculturist  as  the  consumer  of  manu- 
factures. My  remarks,  being  chiefly  confined 
to  consumption  of  the  latter  kind,  in  using 
the  word  consumer,  I  beg  to  be  understood  as 
meaning  the  whole  agricultural  interest,  as  well 
as  the  whole  of  the  unproductive  class  in  the  king- 
dom :  these  classes  being  considered  strictly  as 
consumers  of  manufactures,  as  they  do  not  inter- 
fere with  their  production,  and  are,  therefore, 
wholesome  consumers,  from  not  aiding  in  the  too 
rapid  accumulation  of  goods  in  the  market,  but 
rather,  when  judiciously  stimulated,  serve  to 
counteract  that  evil,  the  influence  of  which  has 
been,  at  all  times,  gradually,  and,  of  late,  most 
rapidly,  progressive  ;  though  the  accumulation  of 
capital,  by  the  productive  part  of  the  agricultural 
class,  may  certainly  be  said  to  be  an  indirect 
abettor  in  this  march  of  progression. 

In  the  primary  stages  of  barbarism,  the  manufac- 
turing, as  a  separate  interest,  is  as  a  cypher  to  the 
whole  community ;  the  small  conveniences  then 
known  are  the  produce  of  time  spared  from  the  hunt- 
ing or  agricultural  labours  of  the  day;  and,  until 


WKOLC  II  i     O0ODS.  ( 

experience  lias  instilled  the  first  dawning  of  the 
benefit  of  division  of  labour,  a  distinct  race  of 
manufacturers  is  a  thing  unknown.  The  first 
source  of  demand  for  manufactures  was  from  the 
first  cultivators  of  the  land;*  the  first  supply  of 
manufacturers  was  from  the  surplus  of  those  first 
cultivators  over  and  above  the  labour  required  for 
the  tilling  the  soil :  the  two  interests  have  grown 
up  and  depended  on  each  other  ever  since;  for 
the  surplus  goods,  beyond  the  wants  of  him  who 
produced  them,  were  consumed  by  the  agricul- 
turist ;  and  the  surplus  produce  of  the  earth,  over 
and  above  the  cultivator's  own  consumption,  were 
purchased  by  the  manufacturer.  These  interests 
have  not  only  been  original,  but  growing  sources 
of  wealth  to  each  other.  The  characters  of  their 
prosperity  are  indelibly  pictured  on  the  same 
canvas.  So  long  as  the  supplies  of  each  are  nicely 
balanced  to  their  respective  markets  of  demand, 
cheerfulness  is  spread  around  :  the  equality  of  the 
scales  is  the  Utopia  of  commerce.  But  there  is  a 
preponderating  tendency,  from  causes  already  as- 
signed, for  the  production  |  of  goods  to  exceed 
the  powers  to  purchase  in  the  true  and  original 

*  "  The  antiquity  of  this  art,  (says  Cowley,  in  his  Essay  on 
Agriculture,)  is  certainly  not  to  be  contested  by  any  other. 
The  three  first  men  in  the  world  were  a  gardener,  a  plough- 
man, and  a  grazier;  and,  if  any  man  object  that  the  second 
was  a  murderer,  I  desire  he  would  consider,  that  as  soon  as 
he  was  so,  he  quitted  our  profession,  and  turned  builder!" 

f  From  Mr.  Taylor's  Records  of  Mining,  it  appears,  that 
such  has  been  the  improvement,  at  various  times,  in  steam 


02  CONSUMPTION*     OF 

consumers,  the  owners  and  cultivators  of  land. 
Then  arises  the  necessity  of  rinding  other  markets, 
or  of  stimulating  the  means  of  the  consumers  at 
home.  The  first  was  the  origin  of  foreign  trade  p 
a  legitimate  opening  for  the  discharge  of  surplus 
commodities,  but  profitable  only  so  long  as  the 
consequences  were  innocuous  to  the  interest  of 
the  great  mass  of  consumers  at  home,  the  market 
of  whose  demand  has  been  as  yet  far  richer  to  the 
producers  of  this  country  than  what  they  have  ever 
found  in  the  whole  world  beside.* 

The  present  prospects  and  condition  of  our  foreign 
trade  is  better  reserved  for  a  Chapter,  which  will 
be  dedicated  to  the  subject  of  Freedom  of  Trade. 
At  present,  I  speak  of  domestic  consumption  ;  the 

engines,  as  to  allow  of  one  bushel  of  coals  at  present  sup- 
plying as  much  power  as  was  in  the  earliest  periods  of  the 
steam  engine,  (perhaps  thirty  years  ago,)  obtained  from  seven- 
teen bushels. 

*  Even  in  America,  unclogged  as  it  comparatively  is  by 
the  artificial  incumbrances  of  older  states,  and  possessing  the 
raw  material  of  both  manufactures  and  luxuries,  which  she 
dispenses  to  the  European  continent,  we  hear  the  following 
from  the  Report  of  the  Harrisburg  Convention  :  '«  Of  this 
we  feel  confident,  on  the  estimate  above,  that  the  aggregate 
value,  at  the  selling  price  of  commodities,  is  more  than  one 
thousand  millions  of  dollars  a  year.  This  is  the  home  trade 
or  internal  business,  without  reference  to  exports  or  imports, 
which  nearly  balance  one  another,  and  would  not  affect  the 
amount.  We  have  no  further  remark  to  make  upon  it,  ex- 
cept to  quote  the  exclamation  of  Mr.  President  Cooper,  '  How 
do  the  boasted  panegyrics  of  foreign  trade  dwindle  into  insig- 
nificance when  set  in  competition  with  this ! ' ' 


WUOrGHT    GOODS.  <))$ 

balance  between  that  and  production  once  lost, 
there  ensues,  (unless  the  foreign  outlet  be  cer- 
tain,) those  periods  of  distress  in  trade  we  read 
of  in  history,  and,  at  present,  see  distributed  around 
us.  The  more  gradual  the  progress  of  a  nation 
in  producing  manufactures,  the  fewer  will  be  the 
intervals  of  its  commercial  misfortunes.  Its  accu- 
mulation of  capital  cannot  indeed  be  so  rapid, 
and  its  sinews  in  war  by  consequence  must  be 
less  strong,  but  it  will  preserve  that  even  tenour 
of  course,  that  peaceful  middle  way,  that  state 
of  progression,  which  is  true  national  happiness, 
much  longer  than  in  a  country  where  from  the 
progress  having  become  too  rapid  for  the  powers 
of  consumption,  and  the  accumulation  of  capital 
so  great,  that  the  fluctuations  are  constant  from 
the  mad  competition  of  money  to  find  profitable 
investment ;  a  struggle  which  costs  the  peace, 
the  livelihood,  and  the  loss  of  thousands,  to 
determine. 

The  condition  of  a  country,  as  it  respects  its 
degree  of  manufacturing  activity,  may  be  seen  in 
the  division  of  the  population  into  its  various  em- 
ployments. The  larger  the  proportion  on  the  side 
of  artizans,  the  greater  the  advance  in  manufac- 
tures, and  the  probability  of  recurring  distress, 
from  a  surfeit  of  goods  and  labour. 

In  France,  (says  Baron  Dupin,)  about  sixty 
persons  in  the  hundred  subsist  by  agriculture, 
and  forty  by  trade,  manufactures,  and  handicrafts, 
including  a  small  number  who  live  idle.  The 


04  CON'S  I   M  !>TI<)\     OK 

preponderance  of  the  agricultural  class,  however, 
in  numbers,  becomes  less  every  year.  This  is 
proved  by  the  increase  in  the  octrois,  the  rapid 
extension  of  manufactures,  and  the  enlargement 
of  towns.  The  100,000  of  Lyons  in  1812,  have 
now  become  150,000. 

The   same   author   calculates,    as   follows,    the 
annual  increase,  in  France  : 

per  Cent. 

Of  the  population         J 

Of  consumption,  as  indicated  by  the  indirect  taxes  . .  3 

Ditto,  as  indicated  by  the  octrois     3  J 

Of  commerce,  as  indicated  by  the  customs       4 

Of  manufacture,  as  indicated  by  the  consumption  of 

coal 4 

Of  ditto,  as  indicated  by  the  iron  fabricated    4  J 


Families. 

Labourers  in  English  agriculture  and  mines. .      1,302,151 
Ditto,  in  English  manufactures,  foreign  com- 
merce, and  shipping,  trade,  fisheries,  &c.      1,506,774 
Fine  arts      5,000 

More  than  one-fifth  of  the  whole  community 
being  unproductive  labourers.  (Colquhoun.) 

Baron  Dupin  has  calculated  the  animate  and 
inanimate  forces  applied  to  agriculture  and  trade, 
in  France  and  Great  Britain,  thus: 

France.  British  Isles. 

In  agriculture 37,278,537      32,088,147 

In  arts,  trade,  &c.     11,536,352      28,118,164 

From  these  instances,  as  well  as  from  every 
other  country,  in  a  progress  towards  civilization,  it 


WHO  IT.  HI     tiOODS.  ()5 

will  be  seen,  that  the  proportion  of  agriculturists 
is  gradually  decreasing,  that  of  manufacturers 
increasing;  and,  hence,  we  observe  what  may 
apparently  seem  the  ambition,  but  what  is, 
strictly,  the  necessity  of  nations,  to  export  their 
produce.  The  progress  of  a  nation's  foreign  trade 
may  be  fairly  taken  as  a  symptom  and  evidence 
of  the  existence  and  degree  of  overproduction  in 
the  articles  exported,  for  which  articles,  the  cus- 
tom, no  longer  to  be  had  at  home,  is  found 
abroad. 

I  know,  it  will  be  said,  that  the  production  of 
a  country,  beyond  its  domestic  consumption,  is 
to  supply  some  chasm  in  the  universal  market, 
for  which  no  other  nation  possesses  equal  faci- 
lities ;  in  many  cases,  this  is  true ;  and,  it  is 
possible,  that  the  producers  of  silk  and  wine  in 
France  might  find  other  channels  of  trade  in  that 
country,  not  so  advantageously  filled  as  they 
ought  to  be,  because,  from  her  short  manufac- 
turing career,  a  general  overproduction  is  impro- 
bable :  but  I  do  not  think  even  those,  who  deny 
the  overproduction  of  cotton,  can  imagine,  that 
there  is,  at  present,  room  for  the  producers  of  it 
in  this  country  in  any  other  channel  of  industry; 
or,  surely,  the  many  unprofitable  speculations 
which  have  been  entered  into,  (particularly  that 
of  over-building,)  could  never  have  suggested 
themselves 

With  the  facility  which,  in  the  progress  of  skill, 
obtains  in  all  commercial  productions,  there  should 


66  CONSUMPTION    OF 

also  be  a  growing  and  accompanying  facility  in 
procuring  those  commodities  which  convention 
has  made  the  representatives  of  their  value, — -I 
mean  gold  and  silver.  The  effect  of  a  facilitated 
production  of  (say)  silver,  would  be  to  give  to  the 
possessors  of  real  and  fixed  property  a  propor- 
tionate nominal  increase  in  the  value  of  their  pro- 
perty. Thus,  if  double  the  quantity  of  silver  were 
to  be  obtained  at  the  old  cost,  i.  e.  with  one-half 
the  labour ;  all  debts,  contracted  before  this  change, 
could,  after  it,  be  paid  with  just  half  the  diffi- 
culty, because  all  fixed  property  would  have  be- 
come doubled,  by  having  two  ounces  of  silver 
where  it  before  had  only  one. 

A  progressive  depreciation  in  the  standard  of 
value  sets  at  liberty,  in  a  great  measure,  the  in- 
cumbrances  of  all  fixed  property ;  and  thus  the 
consumptive  powers  of  a  country  are  kept  from 
falling  too  much  in  the  rear  of  the  rapid  march  of 
the  producers.  This  desideratum  of  stimulating 
the  powers  of  real  property  was  erFeeted  in  this 
country  previous  to  the  discovery  of  the  American 
mines  by  the  Government  enacting  that  the  piece 
of  metal  which  had  before  gone  for  (say)  5s. , 
should,  thenceforth,  pass  for  6s.  7s.  or  8s.,  as 
the  urgency  of  the  case  might  require.  The 
standard  before  being  5s.  would  then  be  altered 
to  6s.  7s.  or  8s.* 

The  discovery  of  the  American  mines  effected  a 

*  Sep  Fleetwood's  Tables. 


WKOTCillT    GOODS.  07 

similar  result  in  a  more  natural  way,  viz.  by 
additional  cheapness  giving  so  much  more  Weight 
of  metal  for  the  same  price;  which,  by  preserving 
the  old  standard  rate,  proportionably  increased 
the  nominal  value  of  all  fixed  property  :  the  only 
difference  between  the  artificial  and  natural  means 
of  depreciation  being,  that  in  one  case  the  stand- 
ard price  was  altered  to  meet  the  scarcity  of 
metals  compared  with  the  increased  powers  of 
production;  in  the  other  case,  an  increased  abun- 
dance of  the  precious  metals  at  the  old  standard 
rate,  brought  about  the  same  result, — an  expan- 
sion to  the  powers  of  all  fixed  property. 

But,  whether  by  artificial  or  natural  means,  the 
obtaining  so  much  more  of  the  medium  of  value 
for  a  given  quantity  of  real  property,  is,  in  the 
average  progress  of  society,  a  point  of  necessity ; 
in  order  to  relieve  the  incumbrances  which,  from 
the  public  necessities  of  the  State,  as  well  as 
from  private  mortgages  and  debts,  attach  them- 
selves to  all  fixed  property ;  for  instance  land, 
the  owners  and  cultivators  of  which,  in  all  old 
countries,  are  the  least  prejudicial  consumers, 
from  their  not  assisting  directly  in  the  quick 
increase  of  goods ;  which  goods,  were  there  no 
market  for  their  consumption,  would  gradually 
cease  to  be  produced,  and  the  producers  of  them, 
in  a  country  where  the  channels  of  trade  were 
tolerably  full,  would  not  only  be  incapable  of 
contributing  any  longer  towards  the  relief  of 
national  incumbrances,  but  would  curtail  the 

F  2 


68 


CONSUMPTION    OF 


powers  of  the  rest  of  the  country  to  incur  taxation, 
inasmuch  as  they  would  be  unable  to  support 
themselves. 

It  is  for  these  reasons  that  we  have  witnessed 
in  this  country  the  raising  of  the  standard  price 
of  gold,  on  the  average  of  £10.  per  century,  for 
three  or  four  centuries,  from  1344  to  1717,  where 
we  stopped.  And  this  artificial  expansion  of  the 
powers  of  fixed  property  has  been  necessary,  not- 
withstanding the  greater  supply  of  metal  from  the 
American  mines,  which  produced  a  similar  result 
by  a  more  natural  progress.  I  do  not  say,  that 
the  powers  of  production  were  not  essentially  be- 
nefited by  a  larger  amount  of  circulating  medium ; 
on  the  contrary,  its  effect  was  wonderful,  not  only 
in  assisting  the  distribution  of  a  number  of  pro- 
ducts then  new  to  the  world,  but  also  in  pro- 
moting the  manufacture  of  them.* 

It  will,  probably,  however,  be  said,  that  the  con- 
stantly growing  cheapness  of  production  is  a  very 
fair  set  off  against  the  growing  incumb ranees  on 

*  The  great  tendency  within  the  last  fifty  years  to  increase 
the  number  of  banks,  is  a  proof  both  of  the  productive  chan- 
nels being  too  full  to  absorb  accumulated  capital,  and  of  the 
wants  of  the  consuming  interest ;  for  it  is  the  province  of  the 
country  banker  to  negotiate,  as  it  were,  a  loan  from  the  capi- 
talist to  th«  employers  of  agricultural  and  other  labour. 
"  There  are,  (says  Joplin,)  thirty-two  banking  companies  in 
Scotland  ;  and  it  is  computed  by  the  bankers  themselves,  that 
the  money  deposited  with  them,  by  the  public,  is  considerably 
above  £20,000,000. 


WKOtUHT    GOODS.  69 

consumption:  this  would  be  true  enough,  provided 
the  improvement  in  the  consumptive  powers 
equalled  that  of  the  productive  ;  but  among  those 
classes  removed  from  the  lowest,  I  know  no  one 
that  would  double  the  number  of  his  blankets  or 
his  shirts,  on  those  articles  diminishing  one-half 
in  price,  though  the  next  set  might  be  laid  in  of 
a  finer  texture.  The  greatest  demand  is  for 
coarse  goods  for  the  wear  of  the  working  classes ; 
and  the  purchases  from  this  source  are  undoubt- 
edly very  much  increased,  when  cheapness  of 
production  is  connected  with  manual  skill.  But, 
when  lowness  in  the  price  of  goods  is  the  offspring 
of  improved  machinery,  the  consequences  are 
widely  different.  All  cheapness  is  the  effect  of 
the  saving  of  labour ;  but  the  labour  saved  to  the 
manufacturer  through  machinery,  in  a  densely 
peopled  country,  is  the  livelihood  destroyed  of 
so  many  labourers,  who,  under  such  circum- 
stances, can  hardly  be  expected  to  increase  their 
purchases  ;  it  is  well  if  they  can  continue  to  buy 
the  same  quantity  of  goods  as  before,  even  at  the 
reduced  price;  and,  therefore,  it  is  that  all  fixed 
property  requires  periodically  expanding,  in  order 
that  sufficient  wages  may  be  afforded  to  labourers 
to  enable  their  purchases  to  meet  the  rapid  in- 
crease of  production ;  for,  as  a  general  rule,  minus 
that  limited  extent  to  which  new  luxuries  induce 
new  branches  of  labour,  every  step  upwards  in 
machinery  is  a  step  downward  in  the  consump- 
tion of  the  working  class ;  and,  if  the  labourer 

F  3 


70  CONSUMPTION    OF 

cannot  support  himself,  the  consumption  of  others 
likewise  is  curtailed  in  supporting  him. 

We  may  almost  measure,  in  some  degree,  the 
injury  done  by  machinery  and  power  other  than 
human,  to  the  consumption  of  the  working  class ; 
for,  machinery,  with  its  various  artificial  propel- 
ling powers,  guided  by  one  man,  being  calculated 
in  instances  already  quoted  to  perform  the  work 
of  150  men,  we  have,  at  a  time  when  the  labour 
market  is  overflowing,  1 50  times  less  consumption 
from  this  cause,  deducting  the  human  labour 
necessary  for  replacing  machinery,  supplying 
fuel,  &c. 

The  various  depreciations  in  the  currency, 
which  have  occurred  in  our  history,  'have  been 
made  more  or  less  as  a  means  to  incur  public 
taxation,  or  under  manufacturing  distress,  in  or- 
der to  increase  the  nominal  value  of  land,  from 
whence  essentially  proceeds  the  power  of  con- 
sumption and  of  incurring  taxation.  The  land, 
being  the  principal  really  permanent  interest  in 
the  country,  always  on  the  spot  to  meet  both 
public  and  private  charges ;  in  the  course  of  years, 
unless,  in  some  degree,  freed  from  its  fetters  of 
public  taxes  and  hereditary  mortgages,  &c.  be- 
comes so  suffocated  with  those  weeds  as  to  find 
its  consumption  disabled  from  keeping  pace  with 
increasing  production.  The  population,  issuing 
from  the  proprietors  of  land,  far  exceeding  the 
extra  accumulation  of  capital  in  landholders,  there 
ensues  a  necessity  of  mortgaging,  to  provide  for 


WUOlc.llT    GOODS.  71 

younger  children.  The  land  from  such  burdens 
becoming  the  debtor,  and  this  debtor  being  the 
iiKiin  stay  of  the  consumption  interest,  the  whole 
community  of  producers  is  benefited,  by  giving 
deliverance  to  the  incumbrances  on  the  land  :  the 
creditor,  also,  who  may  be,  at  the  same  time,  a 
producer,  (and  this  is  a  frequent  case,)  is  bene- 
fited too ;  for  what  he  loses  partially  by  debts  in 
this  process,  he  more  than  regains  in  a  general  ad- 
dition of  custom.  And  the  means  for  accomplishing 
this  relief  to  fixed  property  has  always  been  by  in- 
creasing the  nominal  value  of  the  current  coins,  as 
the  effect  is  general  on  every  kind  of  property.* 

It  might  appear,  too,  that  the  tendency  towar4s 
the  accumulation  of  capital  might  be  a  fair  set  off 
on  the  side  of  consumption,  against  increase  of 
skill  and  improving  machinery  on  the  side  of  pro- 
duction :  but  capital,  to  be  remunerating,  must 
either  be  invested  in  land,  or  let  out  to  hire  ;  if 
the  former  can  be  done  to  any  extent,  it  is  a 
symptom  that  the  old  proprietors  of  land  are  sink- 
ing under  accumulated  burdens ;  if  the  latter,  it 
goes  to  swell  the  mass  of  production.  Even  if 
the  effects  of  accumulated  capital  were  divided 
equally  between  production  and  consumption, 
there  still  remains  skill  and  machinery  to  cast  the 
beam  on  the  side  of  production. 

But  if,  heretofore,  there  existed  the  necessity  for 
periodical  stimuli  to  the  consumption  interest, 

*  See  Bishop  Fleetwood's  Tables  on  the  Depreciation  of  the 
Gold  and  Silver  Standard  in  this  Country. 

F    4 


72  CONSUMPTION'    Oi< 

how  much  more  imperative  is  it  now,  when,  if  the 
artificial  condition  and  national  burdens  of  every 
preceding  period  were  gathered  together  into  one 
heap,  the  mass  would  neither  be  so  large,  so  hete- 
rogeneous, or  unbearable,  as  that  which  is  concen- 
trated on  the  shoulders  of  the  existing  generation. 
The  present  is  an  aera,  there  can  be  no  question, 
complicated  beyond  all  others,  and  requires  more 
artificial  stimulus  than  has  ever  been  employed 
before ;  for  the  loans  which  were  smiled  into 
existence  during  the  depreciated  currency  of  the 
war,  now  press  for  payment  of  interest  on  that 
fixed  property,  which  in  its  deceptive  plenty  voted 
them,  it  is  true,  but  which  has  since  been  deprived 
of  at  least  one  half  the  means  it  then  counted  on 
for  paying  the  interest;  so  that  the  profitable  em- 
ployment of  labour  from  these  parties  is  thus  pre- 
vented, with  a  consequent  amount  of  consump- 
tion:  and  not  from  this  cause  alone,  but  from  the 
influence  of  machinery,  which,  by  usurping  the 
place,  and  lowering  the  wages  of  the  hitherto  best 
consumers,  leaves  them  with  diminished  means,  or 
altogether  without  the  capability,  to  purchase. 

The  Bill  of  1819  lowered,  as  will  be  hereafter 
demonstrated,  the  value  of  all  fixed  property 
full  one  half;  just  at  the  moment  when,  from 
more  than  common  improvement  in  skill,  the  sub- 
stitution of  a  novel  species  of  power  in  the  place 
of  human  labour,  capable  of  unlimited  extension, 
facility  to  production  was  in  every  way  great. 
At  a  time  like  this,  when  also  the  burdens  on  con- 


U'KOIGHT     GOODS.  73 

sumption  were  unexampled,  it  appeared  prudent 
to  our  Legislature,  by  returning  to  an  obsolete 
standard  of  value,  to  diminish  one  half,  the  powers 
of  the  consumers  to  buy ;  and  not  satisfied  with 
this,  for  the  first  time  in  history,  and  precisely  at 
the  period  in  the  history  of  the  world  least  fitted 
for  such  a  change,  our  Legislature  has  subjected 
the  country  to  an  exclusively  gold  standard ; 
which,  as  a  metal,  not  only  imposes  the  most  ob- 
stacles to  a  rapid  circulation  of  goods,  when  the 
smallness  of  demand  requires  an  extraordinary 
facility  for  their  interchange ;  but,  from  its  powers 
of  easy  transition,  exposes  us  to  the  danger  of 
being  deprived  of  our  circulating  medium  (the 
essence  of  the  means  for  a  quick  power  of  con- 
sumption) altogether,  by  making  England  the 
largest  and  most  invariable  market  in  all  Europe 
for  the  purchase  of  gold. 

It  may  be  objected,  that  every  new  machine, 
by  giving  facility  and  cheapness  to  production,  is 
a  benefit  to  the  consumer.  To  the  independent 
consumer,  who  is  secure  of  his  dividend,  and 
unconnected  with  the  internal  welfare  of  the 
country,  it  is  ;  but  the  benefit  even  to  him,  un- 
qualified as  it  may  seem,  is  affected,  when  a 
diminution  in  consumption  causes  the  capital 
usually  applied  to  production  to  overflow,  and 
the  rate  of  interest  to  fall.  To  some  other  classes, 
also,  which  appear  more  or  less  independent  con- 
sumers, cheapness  through  machinery  may  appear 
a  direct  advantage  ;  but  if  the  labourers  thus  dis- 


74  CONS  I'M  l>  I  I  OX     OF 

placed  be  thrown  on  these  classes  for  idle  support, 
and  the  indirect  injury  from  this  cause  be  greater 
than  the  direct  benefit  from  the  other,  the  benefit 
ceases  to  be,  with,  perhaps,  the  addition  of  some 
loss. 

The  returns  of  the  revenue  are  not  always  a 
very  true  barometer  of  the  ratio  of  distress  at  the 
time  being,  because  the  taxation  on  commodities, 
(like  tithe,)  is  seized  in  the  first  instance  out  of 
the  price  of  all  consumable  commodities  ;  and  the 
concussion  is  gradual ;  but  the  falling  off  a  million 
in  the  Excise  of  last  year  is  symptomatic  of  its 
having  reached  the  centre.  The  lowness  in  price, 
too,  of  goods,  occasioned  by  the  high  price  of 
money,  and  inability  in  general  consumers  to  buy, 
holds  out  an  inducement  to  the  receivers  of  fixed 
payments  very  materially  to  increase  their  pur- 
chases ;  for  though  their  incomes  are  only  directly 
doubled  by  the  Bill  of  1819,  the  falling  off  in 
general  consumption,  and  consequent  smallness 
of  competition  among  purchasers,  makes  their 
income  equivalent  perhaps  to  treble. 

To  shew  the  real  effect  of  the  pressure  of  tax- 
ation on  the  consumption  of  the  population,  I 
cannot  do  better  than  select  a  very  interesting 
Table  out  of  the  Scotsman,  August  22,  1829, 
founded  on  a  Parliamentary  Paper  newly  pub- 
lished, (No.  340.)  And  from  the  great  respecta- 
bility and  talent  of  the  contributor  to  the  statis- 
tical articles  in  that  paper,  every  reliance  may  be 
placed  on  its  correctness.  "  From  the  three  enu- 


n    (;ooi)s.  75 

inanitions  made  in  this  century,  we  find  that  the 
population  of  Britain  adds  one  seventy-third  *  part 
to  its  numbers  every  year.  Suppose,  then,  that 
our  revenue  yields  £700,000.  (one  seventy-third 
part)  more  in  1829  than  in  1828,  and  that  the  to- 
bacco, brandy,  and  wine  consumed,  have  risen 
in  the  same  proportions,  what  is  to  be  inferred? 
Not  surely  that  people  were  richer  than  they  were, 
but  that  their  state  has  undergone  no  change 
whatever  !  If  the  increase  exceeds  the  rate  al- 
luded to,  we  have  then  a  symptom  of  improve- 
ment \  if  it  falls  short,  or  is  stationary,  decay  is 
indicated.  The  value  of  the  following  Table, 
which  applies  to  Britain  only,  not  Ireland,  it  will 
be  observed,  lies  chiefly  in  the  second  column  of 
figures,  which  exhibits  the  quantity  of  the  different 
commodities  consumed  by  10,000  persons  at  each  of 
three  periods."  Without  being  strictly  necessaries 
of  life,  the  articles  in  the  Table  are  yet  consumed 
by  all  classes,  and  in  greater  or  less  abundance, 
according  to  the  degree  of  ease  they  enjoy. 

*  The  population  is  taken  for  the  middle  year  of  the  triennial 
period  in  each  case.  In  1790,  it  is  assumed  to  be  10,000,000, 
as  computed  by  Mr.  Rickman  ;  but  if  we  count  backward  from 
1801,  according  to  the  present  rate  of  increase,  it  would  only 
be  9,500,000.  In  1802,  it  was  almost  exactly  11,000,000. 
In  1827,  according  to  the  ascertained  rate  of  increase,  it  would 
be  15,627,000.  In  the  present  year  it  should  be  16,060,000. 


76 


CON7  SUMPTION     OF 


Consumed 

Consumed    in 

by  10,000 

Duty. 

all  Britain. 

Persons. 

TOBACCO. 

Ibs. 

Ibs. 

Average  of  3  years,  ending  1791 

8,810,000 

8800 

Is   3d 

Ditto  of  3  years,  ending  1803 

11,740,000 

10,630 

Is   7jrf 

Ditto  of  3  years,  ending  1828 

14,340,000 

9200 

3s 

WINE. 

Gallons. 

Gallons. 

Average  of  3  years,  ending  1791 

6,650,000 

6650 

Is   6Jrf 

Ditto  of  3  years,  ending  1803 

7,180,000 

6530 

3s    3d 

Ditto  of  3  years,  ending  1828 

7,100,000 

4540 

4s   Wd 

BRANDY  &  GIN. 

Gallons. 

Gallons. 

Average  of  3  years,  ending  1791 

2,060,000 

2060 

5s 

Ditto  of  3  years,  ending  1803 

2,730,000 

2480 

10s  8d 

Ditto  of  3  years,  ending  1828 

1,710,000 

1090 

18s  9d 

HUM. 

Gallons. 

Gallons. 

Average  of  3  years,  ending  1791 

2,310,000 

2300 

4s   4d 

Ditto  of  3  years,  ending  1803 

3,060,000 

2780 

8s   Qd 

Ditto  of  3  years,  ending  1828 

4,300,000 

2750 

Is   Id 

SUGAR. 

Cwts. 

Cwts. 

Average  of  3  years,  ending  1791 

1,490,000 

1490 

13s  Id 

Ditto  of  3  years,  ending  1803 

2,170,000 

1970 

21s 

Ditto  of  3  years,  ending  1828 

3,180,000 

2050 

27s 

TEA. 

Ibs. 

Ibs. 

Average  of  3  years,  ending  1791 

14,770,000 

14,770 

12|pct 

f 

from 

Ditto  of  3  years,  ending  1803 

21,230,000 

19,300  < 

20  to95 

£ 

pr  cent 

!' 

Hi//  1  on 

Ditto  of  3  years,  ending  1828 

26,020,000 

tnlct  J.UU 

3r  cent 

COFFEE. 

Ibs. 

/6s. 

Average  of  3  years,  ending  1791 

980,000 

980 

lOjrf 

Ditto  of  3  years,  ending  1803 

860,000 

782 

Is   5Jrf 

Ditto  of  3  years,  ending  1828 

14,740,000 

9450 

6d 

MALT  MADE. 

Qrs. 

Qrs. 

Average  of  3  years,  ending  1791 

3,920,000 

3920 

10s 
12s 

Ditto  of  3  years,  ending  1803 

3,460,000 

3150 

10s 
18s   8rf 

Ditto  in  1828 

4,297,000 

2750 

20s   &d 

W1UH(.UT    GOODS.  77 

By  increasing  the  value  of  domestic  industry, 
the  means  of  the  industrious  to  buy  taxable  com- 
modities becomes  in  such  ratio  extended.*  By 
throwing  any  large  portion  of  domestic  labour 
out  of  employment,  through  procuring  the  goods 
previously  produced  by  it  from  abroad,  the  Excise 
revenue  becomes  materially  affected,  because, 
though  the  Customs  may  remain  as  large  as  be- 
fore, by  means  of  the  larger  importation  of  foreign 
goods,  (any  duty  on  which,  however,  is  contrary 
to  the  principle  of  free  trade),  against  which, 
nevertheless,  the  smaller  consumption  of  them  at 
home  might  be  opposed :  still,  none  will  be  hardy 
enough  to  affirm  that  the  foreign  labourer  would 
consume  any  of  those  articles  subject  to  our 
Excise  duties ;  therefore  that  portion  of  the  reve- 
nue must  decline  :  particularly,  if  by  the  pretty 
free  importation  of  foreign  corn  we  displaced  a 
corresponding  amount  of  agricultural  labour; 
which  would  also  reflect  a  general  depression 
upon  ALL  the  labourers  in  agriculture,  in  num- 
bers alone  a  very  important  part  of  the  consuming 
population.  For  the  sake  of  calculation,  let  us 
suppose  a  lowering  of  wheat,  which  lowers  other 

*  "  Notwithstanding  the  tariff  law  of  18*24,  (says  the 
Report  of  the  Harrisburgh  Convention,  U.  S.)  the  years  1825-6 
produced  nearly  6J  million  dollars  more  of  revenue  than  1822-3, 
and  17,000,000  more  than  1820-1.  Mr.  Cambreberg  asserted 
that  we  should  lose  2,000,000  revenue,  if  the  bill  of  1824 
passed  into  a  law  ;  but  the  consumption  has  been  increased  at 
the  rate  of  9,000,000  the  average  of  three  years,  and  the 
revenue  has  been  proportion  ably  augmented," 


78  CONSUMPTION    OF 

articles  of  food,  though  not  quite  in  the  same  ratio, 
(through  foreign  importation)  from  8s.  to  6s.  a 
bushel ;  this  is  a  fall  of  one-fourth,  or  25  per  cent. ; 
so  that  from  £108,000,000.  (Colquhoun's  estimate 
of  property  created  annually  by  the  productive 
agricultural  class,)  this  deduction,  which,  on  ac- 
count of  the  inequality  of  the  fall  in  other  agricul- 
tural articles,  we  may  reduce  to  15  per  cent., 
would  be  £16,200,000. ;  we  may  add  to  this  about 
£6,000,000.  for  the  land  that  would  cease  to  be 
cultivated  altogether  ;  and  £4,500,000.,  the  15  per 
cent,  deduction  on  the  £30,000,000.  income  of  the 
unproductive  agriculturist,  or  landlord :  together 
an  annual  diminution  of  the  agricultural  property 
of  the  kingdom  of  about  £26,700,000.,  besides  a 
corresponding  decline  in  the  business,  and  conse- 
quently in  the  income  of  all  those  artizans  (in 
number  more  than  one-twentieth  of  the  direct 
agriculturists,)  who  are  employed  in  making  im- 
plements of  husbandry  ;*  and  who  may  be  said  to 
contribute  as  much  to  the  growth  of  corn  as  the 

*  "  The  total  number  of  inhabitants  in  England  being- 
estimated  at  14,383,331,  it  allows  about  4j  individuals  for  each 
family  throughout  the  nation  ;  but  if  we  take  into  consideration 
that  families  employed  in  agriculture  are  greater  than  of  any 
other  class,  excepting  those  of  the  gentry,  I  think  they  would 
not  be  overrated,  if  we  calculated  each  family  employed  in 
agriculture  at  5J  ;  and  this  rate  gives  us  the  number  of  5,332,<><W 
individuals  employed  in  agriculture,  without  reckoning  the 
blacksmiths,  cartwrights,  &c.  cVc.,  who  amount  to  more  than 
one-twentieth  of  that  number.  1  think  the  man  who  makes 
my  plough,  is  as  much  employed  in  forwarding  the  growth  of 
wheat  as  the  man  who  sows  it."  Mr.  Robert  Merry. 


WROUGHT    COODS.  79 

"\ver  himself.  Here  is  no  small  decrease  in  the 
consumption  of  manufactured  goods,  inasmuch  as 
it  appears  that  a  fall  of  6cl.  in  the  price  of  corn  is 
a  diminution  of  £6,000,000.  per  annum  in  the 
consumptive  powers  of  the  agricultural  class :  * 
not  to  be  made  up  by  any  probable  extension  of 
foreign  trade,  which  can  hardly  be  preserved  even 
by  unnaturally  low  prices  at  its  present  magni- 
tude :  but  there  would  be  a  plentiful  increase  of 
poor's  rate,  especially  under  the  calculation  of 
the  population  having  increased  one  seventy-third 
part  every  one  of  the  14  years  since  Colquhoun's 
estimate  was  made — thus  swelling  the  competition 
for  the  poor-house. 

Nor  can  it  be  said,  that  the  displaced  corn  lands 
would  be  profitable  in  pasture ;  for  there  would 
be  so  many  fewer  cattle,  horses,  and  people, 
capable  of  consuming  pasture  produce,  the  de- 
mand for  which  will  always  diminish  in  propor- 
tion to  the  laying  waste  of  corn  lands  ;  for  arable 
and  grass  land  are  as  mutually  dependent,  as  are 
the  two  interests  of  agriculture  and  manufactures. 

It  is  thought  by  some,  that,  without  touching  the 
currency,  if  our  ports -were  shut  against  all  foreign 
commodities  which  interfere  with  our  domestic 
manufactures,  that  prices  would  rise,  and  so  ena- 
ble us  to  give  remunerating  employment  to  all  the 
industrious  classes,  which  from  their  numbers  form 
the  most  important  branch  of  the  consumers :  so 
far  as  regards  those  particular  manufactures  which 

*  This  is  also  equivalent  to  a  direct  taxation  upon  the  landed 
interest  of  £6, 000,000.  per  annum. 


80  coxsi  MTPIOX   or 

are  undersold  in  the  English  market  by  foreign 
goods  of  the  same  kind  ;  this  might  be  very  true  ; 
silk,  for  instance,  would  rise  in  price,  and  so  most 
probably  would  the  raw  material,  and  conse- 
quently the  manufacture  of  wool ;  but  cotton, 
which  is  not  at  present  undersold  by  foreigners  in 
England,  would  (without  some  extension  of  the 
currency)  rather  lower  in  price  than  otherwise, 
from  the  additional  quantity  of  cotton  thrown  into 
the  market  by  the  cessation  of  a  considerable  part 
of  the  foreign  demand  for  English  cotton,  when 
our  ports  were  shut  against  foreign  goods ;  the 
quantity  of  cotton  in  the  market  would  then  ex- 
ceed the  quantity  of  money  in  the  market  more 
than  it  does  now  ;  therefore  cotton  would  receive 
a  fall  even  from  its  present  low  price  :  or  if  cotton 
refuse  to  be  manufactured  cheaper,  some  of  its 
producers  must  leave  that  investment  of  industry, 
and  go  to  swell  still  more  the  flood  in  the  market 
of  labour.  A  general  expansion  of  property,  by 
means  of  a  cheaper  currency,  would,  however, 
meet  a  great  way,  if  not  entirely,  the  greater  sup- 
ply of  cotton  thus  thrown  into  the  home  market. 
With  respect  to  corn,  too,  the  entire  shutting  of 
our  ports  would  not  raise  its  price,  without  a  de- 
preciation of  the  currency ;  for  as  far  as  55s.  per 
quarter,  the  present  protecting  duty  is  high 
enough  to  exclude  foreign  wheat ;  but  it  is  well 
known,  on  the  average  of  the  last  few  years,  (bar- 
ring scarcity,)  that  the  tendency  of  wheat  has  been 
to  fall  some  shillings  below  55*. :  therefore,  though, 
under  a  perfectly  free  importation,  wheat  might 


GOODS.  81 

fall  to  40$.,  now  that  the  protecting  duty  ceases 
to  operate  as  to  price  below  55s.,  any  falling 
beyond  that  cannot  be  said  to  be  caused  by  the 
competition  of  foreign  corn  ;  the  truth  is,  that  the 
quantity  of  money  in  the  market  remaining  the 
same  as  before  such  prohibition  of  foreign  corn 
into  this  country,  the  price  of  wheat  would  retain 
its  previous  price,  or  about  5(Xy.  per  quarter. 
Throw  an  additional  supply  of  money  into  circula- 
tion, the  supply  of  corn  remaining  the  same,  corn 
would  immediately  rise  :  and  vice  versa.  Increase 
the  supply  of  corn,  the  quantity  of  money  re- 
maining the  same,  corn  would  fall. 

In  a  Chapter  on  Free  Trade,  it  will  be  shewn 
that  almost  every  country  has  now  assumed  to 
itself  the  possibility  of  manufacturing,  in  a  great 
measure,  for  itself;  and  that  the  only  means  of 
securing  the  infancy  of  manufactures  among  these 
beginners,  is  by  prohibiting  worked  up  goods 
from  other  places  where  experience  has,  for  the 
present,  bestowed  greater  skill.  The  outlet  for 
our  surplus  manufactures  is  thus  becoming  every 
year  more  and  more  contracted ;  and  protection 
to  that  domestic  industry,  which  is  the  purchaser 
of  those  surplus  goods,  if  not  as  a  measure  of  policy, 
at  least  as  one  of  necessity,  must  ensue.  Means 
to  purchase  taxed  commodities  must  be  supplied 
to  the  home  consumers.  And  the  taxes  which 
affect  the  labouring  class  (the  largest  consumer) 
should  be  well  considered.  The  chief  part  of  the 
assessed  taxes,  it  seems  to  me,  touch  those  only 


82  CONSUMPTION     OF 

who  can  best  afford  to  pay  them  ;  and  as  they  in 
the  long  run  form  a  just  measure  of  the  real  su- 
perfluous wealth  of  the  parties ;  therefore  are  best 
kept  on  :  but  high  taxes  on  malt,  beer,  tobacco, 
&c.  are  a  wretched  policy ;  because  they  imme- 
diately diminish  consumption  to  an  extent  ruinous 
to  the  revenue ;  and  at  the  same  time  increase 
production  unnaturally  from  the  extra  hours  a 
man  will  work  to  earn  as  nearly  as  possible  the 
same  amount  of  luxuries  he  has  hitherto  enjoyed. 
A  tax  on  malt  moreover  lessens  the  consumption 
of  the  landed  proprietor,  as  the  market  for  barley 
is  thereby  contracted. 

The  consumers,  then,  of  the  country  (I  mean 
those  that  consume  without  producing  manufac- 
tured goods)  are  weighed  down  (as  I  shall  shew 
in  the  next  Chapter,  on  Currency)  by  the  Bill  of 
1819  having  diminished  the  quantity  of  nominal 
money  in  the  country  at  least  one  half;  the  value 
of  the  commodities  they  have  to  sell  (which  is  the 
measure  of  their  powers  to  buy)  is  thereby  lessened 
one  half ;  the  taxes  remaining  the  same  as  before, 
and  only  half  the  property  remaining  to  pay  them. 
The  £800,000,000.,  at  which  the  private  debts  of 
the  country  were  estimated  at  the  peace,  and  the 
£500,000,000.  of  public  debt  which  have  been 
contracted  in  a  currency  depreciated  at  least 
50  per  cent.,  have,  as  the  commodities  of  the  tax 
payers  are  now  selling,  to  be  paid  at  double  their 
value.  The  borrowers  (chiefly  agriculturists)  have 
to  pay  twice  what  they  borrowed  ;  how  can  they 


WROUGHT    GOODS. 

consume  as  much  as  before  ?  How,  indeed,  can 
the  man  who,  when  his  property  under  the  war 
currency  was  estimated  at  £1,000.  per  annum, 
borrowed  the  principal  of  £500.  per  annum;  now 
that  his  property  is  altogether  worth  not  more 
than  £500.  per  annum,  how  can  he  afford  to  con- 
sume at  all  ? 

The  producers  of  the  country  are  weighed  down 
from  the  foreign  market  contracting,  because  of 
the  expansion  of  foreign  industry ;  they  are 
weighed  down  because  the  home  market  has  con- 
tracted from  the  contraction  of  the  currency ;  the 
producers  again  are  sinking  fast  to  destruction, 
because,  at  the  same  time  that  the  power  to  pur- 
chase goods  every  where  is  diminished,  the  power 
to  produce  goods  has  of  late  years,  from  the  cheap 
hire  of  capital,  machinery,  skill,  and  artificial 
power,  been  inordinately  increased.*  The  pro- 
ducers have,  therefore,  the  power  of  supplying 
more  than  can  be  consumed.  The  other  channels 
for  industry  in  this  country  being  filled,')'  idleness 

*  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  we  have  lost  many  old  cus- 
tomers of  late  years,  even  in  cotton  ;  up  to  the  present  time,  this 
loss  has  been  made  up  in  a  great  measure  by  the  greater  sale 
of  goods  at  the  lower  prices  resulting  from  improved  machinery, 
and  wages  altogether  unequal  to  support  the  operative ;  but 
this  will  find  its  limit :  whereas  there  will  be  no  limit  to  the 
cause  which  has  lost  us  custom,  viz.  other  nations  manufac- 
turing for  themselves. 

f  At  a  Meeting  of  the  Iron  Masters  of  Staffordshire,  about 
the  last  week  in  December,  it  is  reported  that  it  was  agreed  to 
blow  out  15  blast  furnaces,  in  the  hope  of  improving  the  trade. 
Birmingham  Journal. 

G    2 


84  CONSUMPTION    OF 

must  be  their  lot,  unless  they  fly  to  countries 
where  labour  is  scarce,  or  unless  the  cultivation  of 
the  waste  lands  of  their  own  country  be  rendered 
profitable. 

What  this  country  now  requires,  therefore,  ap- 
pears to  be  a  stimulus  to  what  may  be  distinctively 
called,  its  consumption  interest,  in  order  to  en- 
rich the  home  market  for  the  goods  of  the  pro- 
duction interest.  It  appears,  from  what  has  been 
before  stated,  that  the  method  pursued,  to  assist 
the  consumptive  powers  in  this  country,  for  three 
or  four  centuries,  has  been  to  increase  the  nomi- 
nal value  of  the  standard  which  represented  pro- 
perty. The  course,  then,  to  be  pursued  now  is 
clearly  (with  some  consideration  to  a  certain  class 
of  fundholders)  to  depreciate  the  standard  in  pre- 
cise relation  to  those  circumstances  which  affect 
the  consumption  interest  so  much  more  grievously 
than  it  has  ever  experienced  within  the  records  of 
history :  for  as  all  taxes  on  commodities  are  laid 
on  the  supposition  of  their  being  eventually  de- 
frayed by  the  consumer,  whose  property  it  is 
expected  will  be  proportionably  increased;  and 
the  present  taxes  being  so  much  larger  than  were 
ever  experienced  before,  and  falling  principally  on 
the  consumers,  (except  where  producers  send 
more  to  market  than  will  sell,);  and  these  con- 
sumers being  chiefly  producers  of  agricultural 
produce,  which  is  low,  on  the  sale  of  which  their 
power  to  purchase  manufactured  goods  depends  ; 
we  may  cease  to  wonder  why  consumption  should 


T     (iOODS.  85 

not  go  on  prosperously,  and  why  so  many  pro- 
ducts should  remain  on  hand. 

An  artificial  expansion  to  the  property  of  the 
consumption  interest  has  been  gradually  more  and 
more  necessary,  ever  since  the  origin  of  machi- 
nery ;  because  not  only  were  the  powers  of  pro- 
duction thus  comparatively  increased,  but  every 
subsequent  improvement  in  machinery  relatively 
doing  away  with  so  much  hand  labour,  has  been 
evidently  the  displacement  of  as  much  consump- 
tion, in  proportion  to  the  thing  produced,  as  ma- 
chinery consumes  less  than  human  mouths :  thus 
the  breach  between  production  and  consumption 
tends  to  widen  at  every  step.* 

Machinery,  together  with  steam,  and  other  arti- 
ficial powers,  will  go  eventually  to  diminish  the 
consumption  of  corn,  and  of  course  tend  to  equalize 
the  price  of  food  compared  with  manufactured  arti- 
cles, which  conclusion  removes  a  considerable  dif- 
ficulty in  political  economy  ;  for  the  price  of  ma- 
nufactures having  always  a  tendency  to  recede,  as 
art  and  civilization  advance,  and  the  price  of  corn, 
from  addition  to  population,  to  rise,  there  seemed 
no  limit  to  the  increase  of  price  in  the  one,  or  the 
decrease  of  it  in  the  other  ;  but  if  machinery  goes 
on  to  displace  human  labour  at  its  present  rate, 

*  The  issue  of  Country  £5.  Notes  in  1776  proved  the  want 
of  a  more  enlarged  currency  than  the  old  metallic  standard 
would  allow  ;  and  if  no  twenty  years  war  had  occurred,  would 
probably  have  supplied  the  place  of  the  £10.  per  century  alte- 
ration in  the  gold  standard  which  since  1324  had  obtained. 

G    3 


86  CONSUMPTION    OF 

corn  must  advance  comparatively  slower  in  value. 
This  is,  indeed,  cutting  down  the  population  of 
the  globe  to  the  consumption  of  manufactured 
goods,  while  it  may  be  very  obviously  questioned 
whether  such  a  criterion  is  destined  to  be  the 
eventual  limit  to  population.  It  is,  perhaps,  more 
rational  to  expect  that  the  most  extensive  peopling 
of  the  earth,  on  the  most  economical  plan,  will  be 
found  the  first  principle ;  the  supply  of  artificial 
products  secondary  to  this.  A  difficulty,  however, 
may  be  started  even  here ;  for  it  is  just  possible 
that  the  earth  may  be  destined  to  perform  only  a 
limited  amount  of  operation,  divided  among  its 
inhabitants,  each  having  a  part  apportioned  ;  and 
that  the  more  extended  individual  capacity  be- 
comes, the  fewer  will  be  the  number  required. 
The  progress  of  skill  and  knowledge,  even  now, 
gives  to  one  man  the  capacity  which  was  once 
divided  among  150.  This  idea  apart;  when  steam, 
&c.  shall  have,  in  a  great  measure,  removed  the 
necessity  of  horse  power,  an  additional  supply  will 
remain  for  the  purpose  of  human  food.  Who 
knows  what  chemistry  may  yet  do  for  the  race, 
in  its  discovery  of  elementary  combinations,  and 
their  adaptation  to  food  ?  Possibly,  too,  the  ex- 
istence of  some  animals  may  be  rendered  unne- 
cessary by  means  of  chemical  combination  ;  they 
(as  many  wild  beasts  are  now  doing,  and,  as  fossils 
assure  us,  others  have  done  before  them)  may 
cease  to  live,  giving  way  to  the  superior  compe- 
tition of  man.  Unless,  however,  there  shall  arise 


W NOUGHT    (iOODs.  87 

new  wants,  generating  new  sources  of  industry 
lor  that  part  of  the  population  exceeding  the  de- 
mands both  for  agricultural  and  manufacturing 
employment,  I  am  at  a  loss  to  conceive  how  addi- 
tional numbers  will  find  a  livelihood.  A  moral  or 
necessitous  check  must  intervene,  to  prevent  an 
accumulation  of  misery  under  such  circumstances; 
which  will  retard  the  increase  of  population  be- 
yond the  demand  for  industry.  From  the  lower 
classes,  then,  after  the  population  of  the  world 
becomes,  in  a  measure,  equalized,  no  great  in- 
crease of  numbers  can  perhaps  be  expected.  But 
it  is  otherwise  with  those  possessed  of  land  and 
capital.  The  numbers  from  these  sources  may  go 
on  increasing  ad  libitum,  until  property  be  sub- 
divided to  the  lowest  pittance  capable  of  support- 
ing life  in  comfort.  Whether  a  great  subdivision 
of  property  has  to  take  place ;  and  how  long  it 
will  be  in  taking  place  ;  or  whether  there  be  a 
still  greater  tendency  to  the  accumulation  of  pro- 
perty in  larger  masses  remains  to  be  proved. 
There  is,  certainly,  a  very  strong  feeling  in  the 
human  mind  towards  transmitting  property  down- 
wards as  unbroken  as  possible  ;  and  as  the  law  of 
primogeniture  is  frequently  spoken  of  in  the  Old 
Testament  without  disapprobation,  and  sometimes 
I  believe  in  the  New  Testament,  we  may  suppose 
this  feeling  in  the  mind  given  for  some  useful 
purpose.  It  will  be  one  of  the  accompaniments 
of  increased  morality  and  prudence  that  there 
should  be  less  recklessness  among  individuals  as 

G  4 


88         CONSUMPTION    OF    WROUGHT    GOODS. 

to  the  capability  of  supporting  a  family,  previous 
to  a  connection  tending  to  an  addition  of  numbers. 
This  moral  tendency  may  be  the  means  eventually 
designed  by  the  Deity  for  the  greatest  comfort  of 
the  greatest  numbers  possible,  consistent  with  it, 
on  the  face  of  the  globe.  His  benevolence  will 
not  allow  of  a  supposition  so  derogatory  to  it — 
as  that  misery  shall  await  the  ultimate  destiny  of 
man  upon  earth. 


CURRENCY. 


Quos  Deus  vult  perdere  priusquam  dementat. 

"  Voila  1'Angleterre,  qui  se  coupe  la  gorge." 

Exclamation  of  a  French  Statesman  on  the 
passing  of  the  Currency  Bill  o/*1819. 

"   Better  to  sink  beneath  the  shock  ; 
Than  moulder  piecemeal  on  the  rock." 


MONEY  is  the  circulating  medium  of  merchandize  in 
the  same  way  that  language  is  of  mind;  and  the 
simple  state  of  barter  may  be  likewise  compared 
to  the  simplicity  of  signs  before  language  began. 
But  a  complex  and  general  interchange  of  ideas, 
without  the  help  of  words,  was  as  impossible  as  the 
present  intricacy  of  commercial  dealings  would  be 
without  that  current,  and  to  every  one,  intelligible 
representative  of  value — money.  Both  language,  and 
a  money  circulating  medium,  no  doubt,  in  the  be- 
ginning, served  as  imperfectly  the  object  of  commu- 
nication, as  the  corduroy  roads  of  the  back  settle- 
ments of  America  now  do;  but  gradually  these  tracks 
became  smoothed  into  rail  ways,  until  they  have  at 
length  reached  their  present  destiny  of  prime  conduc- 
tors of  mind  and  matter.  The  analogy,  however,  may 


90 


C  U  R  ii  K  \  C  V  . 


here  close,  for  a  multitude  of  words  do  by  no  means 
enhance  the  value  of  an  idea;  whereas,  with  money, 
the  more  of  it  there  is,  in  respect  to  the  goods  cir- 
culated by  it,  the  higher  is  the  price  which  those 
goods  will  bear.  It  will  be  evident,  then,  if  such  be 
its  effect  on  the  prices  of  property,  that  the  quantity 
of  money  circulating  in  a  country  should  never  be 
lessened  from  a  point  where  it  has  sustained  a  whole- 
some position :  for  (however  it  may  partially  benefit 
an  isolated  interest)  the  mass  of  property  throughout 
the  country,  by  such  a  proceeding,  would  be  laid 
under  a  tax  equivalent  to  such  diminution  of  circu- 
lating medium ;  because  the  money  in  the  market 
being  less,  less  of  it  would  be  paid  for  each  indi- 
vidual commodity  brought  into  the  market ;  and  as 
the  price  of  goods  regulates  the  value  of  all  real 
property,  all  such  property  would  thus  be  lessened 
in  value ;  whilst  all  the  pounds  which  had  been 
borrowed  in  a  plentiful  currency,  or  when  money 
was  cheap,  would,  in  a  contracted  currency,  have  to 
be  paid  when  money  was  dear ;  that  is,  in  the  latter 
case  a  nominal  sum  of  money  would  buy  more 
commodities  than  before;  which  means,  that  more 
goods,  and  consequently  more  labour,  would  have 
to  be  paid  than  was  ever  borrowed.  This,  it  will 
shortly  be  shewn,  is  precisely  the  condition  of  this 
country  at  the  present  time,  in  respect  to  the  period 
of  the  late  war. 

At  present  it  will  be  right  to  state,  as  correctly  as 
the  very  contracted  means  of  information  at  present 
before  the  public  will  allow,  the  progress  in  the  rise 


A  TABLb,  j  Money,  and  also  in  Decimals,  at  different  periods,  from 
the  Co?i,ie  Of  Money  inferred  therefrom.  To  which  is  added,  the 
Mean  ^  ^ur{ng  tne  present  Century,  at  shorter  periods,  deduced 
by  Lite 


Year 
of  our 
jord. 

Wheat 
per 
Bushel 

?  TIMES. 

-  Beef 
and 
Met- 

—     ton 
Per 
Ib. 

^abour 
nH  us- 
rand  ry 
Per 
Day. 

Depreciation  of  Money,  according 
to  the  Price  of 

Wheat 

^Mis- 
cella- 
neous 
Arti- 
cles. 

Meat. 

Day 
La- 
bour. 

Mean 
of  all. 

.     d. 

*|  d.  ,r. 

s.  d. 

1050 

0     2£ 



10 

42 

26 

1150 

0     4£ 

0     2 

1250 

1     7f 

1350 

1   10i 

0     3 

100 

56 

75 

77 

1450 

1      5 



0     3f 

1550 

1   10A 

!  i  01 

0     4 

100 

100 

100 

100 

100 

1600 

4     OA 

_  1     2 

0     6 





1625 

4  11 

0     6* 

1650 

5     6 

1675 

4     6 

ll     3£ 

0     1\ 

246 

239 

166 

188 

210 

1700 

4     9£ 

1720 

4     4} 

2     2 

0     8 

1740 

3     8 

us   o 

0  10 

197 

434 

266 

250 

287 

1760 

3   9 

144    2 

0  11 

203 

492 

400 

275 

342 

1780 

4     5 

1     2 

1795 

7  10 

W5     3 

1     5J 

426 

752 

511 

436 

531 

Mean  Ap- 
preciation 
by  Interpo- 
lation. 

A.D. 

1050 

26 

1100 

34 

1J50 

43 

1200 

51 

1250 

60 

1300 

68 

1350 

77 

1400 

83 

1450 

88 

1500 

94 

1550 

100 

1609 

144 

1650 

188 

1675 

210 

1700 

238 

1720 

257 

1740 

287 

1750 

314 

1760 

342 

1770 

384 

1780 

427 

1790 

496 

1795 

Ml 

1800  } 

near-  v 
ly  3 

562 

;n  for  the  integer,  viz.  100. 


Beside 


T-t.     r*  *-j*rnhrt,  •  Bishop  FLEETWOOD'S  Chronicon  Pretioswn,  1st  and  2nd  edit. ; 
,  Ff '  of  Ordinances  and  Regulations  of  the  Royal  Household,  in  divers 
;    i  Tfi-o  the  Prices  of  Wheat  and  other  Provisions  in  England,  from  the 
Year  1<  6°>utical  (Economy  ;  and  Dr.  HENRY'S  History. 


l    I    KliL.M   V.  91 

of  agricultural  prices  for  some  centuries  back  ;*  sub- 
joining an  estimate  of  what  may  be  attributed  to  the 
influence  of  the  circulating  medium ,  and  what  to 
other  causes ;  for  an  addition  to  the  circulating  me- 
dium is  by  no  means  the  only  cause  of  a  rise  in 
agricultural  produce. 

The  opposite  Table  is  the  best  authority  I  can  lay 
hold  of;  and,  as  far  as  it  goes,  it  seems  as  well  sup- 
ported as  it  can  be.  It  is  taken  from  an  elaborate 
work,  of  five  or  six  volumes,  on  the  British  coinage, 
from  the  earliest  times  to  the  present,  by  Mr.  Ruding. 

According  to  Baron  Humboldt,  the  amalgamation 
of  silver  ores,  in  the  Mexican  mines,  may  be  dated 
from  the  year  1557.  Any  great  quantity  of  the  pre- 
cious metals  from  these  mines,  notwithstanding  their 
earlier  discovery,  would  not  overflow  Europe,  till  the 

*  M.  Say,  from  a  comparison  of  facts  collected  from  va- 
rious sources,  has  calculated  the  price  of  a  hectolitre  (2£ 
bushels)  of  wheat,  at  different  eras,  in  grains  of  pure  silver, 
and  gives  the  following  as  the  result  :- 

Grains  of  Silver. 

At  Athens,  in  the  time  of  Demosthenes 303 

At  Rome,  in  the  time  of  Cesar    270 

In  France,  in  the  time  of  Charlemagne 245 

Ditto,  in  the  time  of  Charles  VII 219 

Ditto,  in  1514   333 

Ditto,  in  1536    731 

Ditto,  in  1610    1,130 

Ditto,  in  1640    1,280 

Ditto,  in  1789   1,342 

Ditto,  in  1820    1,610 

JVI.  Say  iixfers  from  these  facts,  that  the  value  of  silver  has 
sunk  in  the  above  period  in  the  proportion  of  six  to  one. 


02  CURRENCY. 

introduction  of  the  easy  process  of  obtaining  silver  from 
the  ore  by  means  of  mercury.  Even  for  a  short  time 
after  1557,  the  supply  would  be  contracted,  compared 
with  a  few  years  posterior.*  This  will  account  for 
Bishop  Fleetwood  giving  no  material  rise  in  the  price 
of  corn,  from  1500  (about  the  period  of  the  discovery 
of  America)  to  1570,  when  the  amalgamation  pro- 
cess would  begin  to  have  a  general  effect;  after 
that  time  the  price  of  wheat  cannot  be  estimated 
as  continuing  at  less  than  30s.  per  quarter,  which 
is  a  quadruple  rise  from  the  Ss.  per  quarter,  which 
it  had  been  at  for  some  time  previous.  The  mean 
rise  in  price  of  the  twelve  agricultural  commodities 
in  the  Table,  from  1050  to  1550,  is  more  than 
treble;  which  may  suppose  a  depreciation  of  three 
(out  of  the  nineteen  fold  increase  in  price,  from  1050 
to  1 790)  in  the  coins,  from  the  gradual  accumulation 
of  the  precious  metals. f  Wheat,  it  is  true,  rose  six 
fold  during  this  period;  but  owing  to  the  imperfect 
and  negligent  cultivation  of  those  early  times,  and  to 
the  panics  caused  by  a  prospect  of  a  deficient  supply, 
wheat  is  hardly  a  criterion  by  itself  of  a  rise  from 
depreciation  of  money,  at  least  until  about  the  days 
of  Magna  Charta.  To  shew  the  panic  at  the  pros- 
pect of  a  dearth,  even  later,  Stow  tells  us,  that 

*  In  Mexico,  at  this  present  time,  (says  Taylor,  Records 
of  Mining,)  they  use  eight  times  more  mercury  than  in  Saxony, 
to  extract  one  pound  of  silver. 

f  The  real  depreciation  of  silver,  according  to  Fleetwood, 
from  1300  to  1550,  was  from  20*.  to  40s.  for  the  pound  of 
silver;  we  may  safely  add  1,  as  the  depreciation  of  the  250 
years  previous. 


C  V  K  II J .  \  t'  Y  .  93 

wheat,  before  harvest  in  1557,  rose  to  2/.  13s.  4^/., 
and  fell  after  it,  in  London,  to  5s.  per  quarter ;  and  in 
1497  it  was  £10.  per  quarter ;  in  1499,  4s.  per  quarter ; 
and  this  shews,  also,  the  imperfect  communication 
between  this  country  and  the  continent  at  that  time. 

If  we  take,  then,  the  depreciation  of  money, 
before  the  influx  into  Europe  from  the  American 
mines,  at  three  ;  and  that,  owing  to  the  opening  of 
the  mines  themselves  at  four  ;*  and  add  three  more 
for  the  gradual  depreciation  from  accumulation  of 
the  precious  metals  for  the  two  or  three  centuries 
since ;  we  shall  have  to  deduct  from  the  whole  rise 
of  nineteen  times  in  the  value  of  agricultural  pro- 
duce, between  1050  and  1790,  ten  for  the  depre- 
ciation of  the  coin ;  leaving  nine  for  the  rise  from 
another  cause,  the  advance  of  the  manufacturing 
population  in  proportion  to  agricultural  produce ; 
which  would,  of  course,  greatly  enhance  the  value 
of  such  produce,  and  would  also  be  caused  by  a  de- 
preciation— not  of  money,  but  of  manufactures — 
the  rise  in  price,  from  a  depreciation  of  money,  being 
from  an  additional  quantity  of  money,  in  proportion 
to  the  quantity  of  agricultural  produce  in  the  market; 
the  rise  in  price,  from  a  depreciation  of  manufactures, 
being  from  a  larger  amount  of  them  in  the  market, 
compared  with  agricultural  produce.  The  depre- 
ciation from  this  latter  cause  is  particularly  visible, 
if  we  observe,  in  Ruding's  Table,  the  mean  rise  from 

*  From  a  table  furnished  by  M.  Cuylen,  Secretary  of 
Regency  at  Brussels,  it  appears,  that  the  price  of  corn  at 
Brussels,  rose  nearly  five  fold  from  1500  to  1580. 


94  C  U  R  R  L  N  C  V  . 

1750,  (about  the  time  from  whence  manufactures 
in  this  country  have  advanced  with  such  rapid  strides) 
to  1790.  The  rise,  during  this  period,  is  as  seven 
to  the  whole  rise  of  nineteen ;  part  of  which  may, 
no  doubt,  be  attributed  to  the  partial  issue  of  country 
bank  notes  in  1776;  for  which  cause  suppose  two  be 
deducted  ;  this  leaves  a  rise  of  three  to  spread  over  all 
the  seven  centuries  previous  to  1750,  for  the  gradual 
advance  of  manufactures;  and  four  for  their  more 
rapid  advance  during  the  forty  years  between  1750, 
and  1790. 

From  the  commencement  of  the  war  of  the  French 
Revolution,  or  rather  from  1797  to  1815,  an  im- 
mense increase  in  prices  was  universal  in  every 
product  of  industry,  through  a  depreciation  of  the 
paper  currency,  which  was  unrestricted,  during  that 
period  by  metallic  payments.  This  is  a  fact  which, 
although  declared  when  the  bill  for  resumption  of 
cash  payments,  passed  in  1819,  by  Mr.  Attwood, 
Sir  John  Sinclair,  Mr.  Ellice,  and  others,  was  de- 
nied by  the  generality  of  men  ;  at  least,  to  the  extent 
these  Gentlemen  supposed.  At  the  present  day, 
the  current  of  opinion  is  setting  fast  in  favour  of  a 
depreciation  of  at  least  fifty  per  cent. ;  some  of  the 
Ministers  even,  who  carried  through  the  measure  of 
1819,  have  confessed  their  error;  the  fear  now  is  of 
retracing  our  steps. 

It  would  be  useless  in  me  to  attempt  elucidating 
the  progress  and  actual  state  of  the  depreciation 
during  the  war,  when  it  has  been  so  ably  done  by 
Mr.  Attwood,  who  possesses  perhaps  more  accurate 


IT  Kill  \C\  .  (J/> 

knowledge  on  this  important  question  than  any  other 
person  But  it  will  not,  I  think,  be  useless  (as  a 
publication  in  a  provincial  newspaper  may  not  have 
met  the  general  eye)  to  include  in  these  pages 
(which  I  trust  are  devoted  to  a  search  of  the  truth 
wherever  it  is  to  be  found)  an  exposition  made  by 
Mr.  Attwood,  to  the  Agricultural  Committee,  on 
the  9th  of  April,  1821,  which  was  refused  insertion 
in  the  Minutes  of  the  evidence,  but  which  Mr.  Att- 
wood  himself  published,  July  4,  1829- 

An  Exposition  of  the  Cause  and  Remedy  of  the  Agri- 
cultural Distress ;  by  Thomas  Attwood r,  Esq.  &fc. 

State  of  Agricultural  Prices  before  the  late  War. 

The  prices  of  eigricultural  produce,  so  long  as 
they  were  measured  by  intrinsic  coins  of  the  same 
weight  and  quality,  were  necessarily  preserved  at 
a  certain  level,  which  varied  but  little  for  a  hundred 
years.* 

That  level  generally  amounted  to  rather  more 
than  an  ounce  weight  of  silver,  say  about  5s.  or  6s. 
to  the  Winchester  bushel  of  wheat ;  and  other  things 
in  proportion.^ 

About  the  same  level  also  existed  upon  the 
Continent  of  Europe,  where  the  ounce  weight  of 
silver  very  generally  commanded  about  the  same 
quantity  of  agricultural  produce  as  it  commanded  in 
England.  £ 

*  See  Lords'  Corn  Reports,  Appendix,  No.  12. 

f  See  Wealth  of  Nations,  Vol.  1.  p.  311,  and  elsewhere. 

t  See  Young's  Enquiry  into  the  Rise  of  Prices  in  Europe. 


9G 


CURRENCY. 


An  ounce  of  silver  may,  therefore,  be  considered 
as  the  natural  or  real  price  of  the  bushel  of  wheat. 

State  of  Agricultural  Prices  during  the  late  War. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  late  war,  the  system  of 
taxing  and  loaning,  which  was  then  commenced  to  a 
very  great  extent,  carried  with  it  an  activity  and 
vitality  in  the  circulating  system,  which  had  the  effect 
of  immediately  depreciating  the  general  currency  of 
the  country,  when  compared  with  the  prices  of  pro- 
perty and  labour;  and  soon  afterwards,  the  Bank 
Restriction  Act  released  the  currency  from  the  me- 
tallic standard,  and  established  an  artificial  and  non- 
convertible  circulating  medium  in  the  place  of  that 
real  or  convertible  circulating  medium  which  had 
formerly  existed. 

The  consequence  of  this  state  of  things  was,  that 
the  instruments  which  acted  as  money,  became 
doubled  in  their  number,  or  in  their  activity  and 
vitality,  and  thus  produced  that  general  doubling 
of  the  prices  of  property  and  labour  which  took 
place  during  the  war. 

It  was  thus  that  the  price  of  the  Winchester 
bushel  of  wheat  rose  permanently  from  about  6s.  or 
6s.  6d.,  equivalent  to  little  more  than  one  ounce  of 
silver,  to  12*.  or  13*.,  equivalent  to  rather  more 
than  two  ounces  of  silver,  and  that  other  articles  of 
agricultural  produce  rose  in  the  same  degree. 

It  was  to  these  doubled  prices  of  property  and 
labour,  that  all  the  relations  of  society  had  accommo- 
dated themselves  during  the  war;  it  was  to  them 


91 

that  men's  calculations  and  actions  had  reference; 
and  it  was  upon  them  that  the  national  debt  and  the 
taxes,  and  the  great  bulk  of  all  public  and  private 
obligations,  were  founded.* 

That  the  prices  of  property  and  labour  generally 
did  become  doubled  during  the  continuance  of  the 
war,  and  continued  so  permanently  for  the  last  ten 
years  of  the  war,  is  fresh  in  the  recollection  of  every 
one  ;  or,  it  will  appear,  on  reference  to  the  prices  of 
wheat,  as  stated  in  the  Lords'  Report  on  the  Com 
Laws  in  1814,  Appendix,  No.  12,  or  to  the  prices 
of  provisions  and  of  labour,  as  stated  in  the  Bank  Re- 
ports, Appendix,  No.  36  and  No.  39-t 

State  of  Agricultural  Prices  since  the  Peace. 

When,  therefore,  this  system  was  discontinued, 
and  the  Legislature  proceeded  to  sanction  the  restora- 
tion of  the  old  metallic  standard  of  value,  the  effects 
which  had  followed  the  permanent  suspension  of  that 

*  It  would  be  erroneous  to  estimate  the  powers  of  consump- 
tion in  the  landed  interest,  during  the  war,  by  the  mere  amount 
of  rent.  The  rent  of  land  was  then  by  no  means  commensurate 
with  the  value  of  its  produce,  as  measured  either  before  the  war, 
or  since.  Those  were  the  halcyon  days  of  the  farmers, — when 
their  rent  was  not  within  a  fourth  or  a  sixth  of  the  value  of  the 
land.  The  drinking  and  feasting  of  that  class  from  this  cause, 
must  not  be  forgotten  in  estimating  the  amount  of  revenue  from 
taxes  on  Consumption.  The  price  of  corn  is  a  much  fairer  test 
for  this  purpose,  than  the  simple  rental ; — because  it  includes 
the  capabilities  of  both  landlord  and  tenant. —  The  Author. 

f  See  also  Young's  Enquiry  into  the  Rise  of  Prices  in 
Europe. 


98  CURRENCY. 

standard  necessarily  ceased.  The  artificial  currency 
of  many  kinds,  which  had  been  the  creation  of  credit 
and  confidence,  began  to  shrink  and  contract  into 
conformity  with  the  quantity  and  value  of  the  real 
currency  into  which  it  was  becoming  convertible ;  and 
the  artificial  prices  of  property  and  labour  upon  which 
such  a  prodigious  superstructure  of  public  and  of  pri- 
vate credit  had  been  raised,  began  to  shrink  into  the 
ancient  level  which  the  ancient  standard  had  pre- 
scribed. 

The  bushel  of  wheat,  which  was  about  to  become 
again  convertible  into  an  ounce  of  silver,  according  to 
the  real  prices  which  had  existed  in  Europe  for  a 
hundred  years  before,  began  to  fall  into  conformity 
with  its  new  relations.  All  the  other  productions  of 
capital  and  labour  were  acted  upon  by  the  same  prin- 
ciple. It  was  thus  that  the  foundations  of  the  na- 
tional strength  and  happiness  were  removed,  and 
that  all  the  doubled  burthens  of  the  country  and  of 
individuals  were  left  to  be  sustained  out  of  halved 
means.  Hence  the  bankruptcy,  the  poverty,  and  the 
insolvency  of  the  last  six  years. 

From  this  great  principle  proceed  all  the  distresses 
of  Agriculture,  and  all  the  calamities  and  the  dangers 
which  afflict  the  country.  The  Legislature  have 
adopted  measures,  the  slow  but  inevitable  effect  of 
which  is,  to  reduce  the  prices  of  property  and  labour 
to  the  level  which  existed  for  a  hundred  years  before 
the  late  war ;  but  they  have  not  adopted  measures  to 
reduce  correspondently  the  monied  burthens  and  obli- 
gations with  which  those  prices  are  charged,  and  out 
of  which  alone  they  can  be  defrayed. 


CUHHKNC V.  99 

It  is  thus  that  the  prices  of  property  no  longer 
cover  the  reward  of  industry,  and  that  all  the  modes 
and  the  means  by  which  labour  is  employed  and  life 
supported,  are  obstructed  or  broken  up. 

To  endeavour  to  obviate  this  state  of  things  by 
law  restricting  the  importation  of  grain,  is  a  vain  and 
visionary  attempt.  Other  laws  would  still  be  neces- 
sary to  restrict  the  very  production  of  grain,  and  even 
to  force  its  consumption,  without  the  country's  pos- 
sessing the  instruments  through  the  means  of  which 
alone  its  consumption  is  effected ;  and  even  then  it 
would  still  be  necessary  to  enact  other  laws  counter- 
acting the  laws  of  Nature  ;  forcing  the  importation  of 
bullion  on  the  one  hand,  and  preventing  its  inevitable 
exportation  on  the  other. 

If  then  the  restoration  of  the  old  prices  of  value 
which  we  now  perceive  is  the  necessary  consequence 
of  the  restoration  of  the  old  measure  of  value,  and  if 
the  monied  obligations  which  are  charged  by  law  and 
by  custom  upon  the  monied  prices  of  agricultural 
produce,  amount  now  to  a  greater  sum  than  that 
produce  will  redeem,  after  discharging  the  expences 
with  which  its  production  is  necessarily  attended,  it 
follows  as  a  matter  of  course  that  either  the  old 
measure  of  value  must  be  altered,  or  that  some  part 
or  the  whole  of  the  monied  obligations  of  the  country 
must  be  overturned.  The  capital  of  the  farmer  falls 
first,  for  that  has  the  weakest  hold  upon  the  produc- 
tions of  the  soil.  The  rents  of  the  landlord  fall  next, 
for  they  are  not  so  immediate  and  imperative  in  their 
action  as  the  taxes  of  the  King ;  and  it  is  but  too 

H   2 


100  Cl'HIiKXCY. 

probable  that  these  latter  will  ultimately  themselves  be 
sacrificed,  when  the  ruin  of  the  two  former  shall  have 
produced  its  full  harvest  of  national  misery  and  dis- 
content. 

The  bushel  of  wheat  for  a  hundred  years  before  the 
war,  had  proved  itself  worth  about  5s.  2d.*  or  one 
ounce  of  silver,  or  about  480  grains  of  silver.    During 
the  war,  its  nominal  prices  became  permanently  dou- 
bled; but  its  real  value  could  not  have  permanently 
doubled.      That  must  have   remained  the  same,    or 
rather  have   become  lessened,    by  the  improvements 
in  agricultural  economy.     When,  therefore,  the  Le- 
gislature deemed  it  proper  to  render  the  currency  of 
the  country  convertible  into  bullion,  under  the  old 
standard,  the  bushel  of  wheat  at  the  permanent  prices 
of  the  war,  say  14?.  4d.  per  bushel,  if  those  prices 
had  been  preserved,  would  have  commanded  nearly 
three  ounces  of  silver,    or  1440  grains  of  silver,  in- 
stead  of  one  ounce   or   480  grains  of  silver.     Of 
course,    such    an    anomaly   could    not   exist  perma- 
nently; and,  therefore,  the  depression  of  prices  which 
has  attended  it  has  been  but  the  natural  accommo- 
dation of  the  prices  of  value  to  the  arbitrary  level  of 
the  measure  of  value. 

Cause  of  the  anomaly  between  the  Prices  of  Bullion, 
and  of  Property  and  Labour,  during  the  War, 
explained. 

But,  it  may  be  asked,  if  the  prices  of  property  and 

*  See  the  Accounts  from  Eton  College,  which  gave  this 
average  for  the  100  years,  ending  with  1700,  and  an  average 
of  5s.  4d.  for  the  ninety- three  years  ending  with  1793. 


(TKUKNCY.  101 

labour  did  really  double,  and  it"  the  depreciation  of 
the  currency  was  in  reality  full  cent,  per  cent,  during 
the  war,  how  was  it  that  the  prices  of  bullion  ex- 
hibited only  a  depreciation  averaging  from  5  to  40 
per  cent.  ? 

During  the  war,  the  use  of  a  metallic  coinage  was 
discontinued  in  England  in  a  great  degree ;  and  the 
diminution  of  demand  which  was  thus  occasioned  in 
the  bullion  markets  on  the  one  hand,  combined 
with  the  Increased  supply  which  was  thus  thrown  upon 
the  bullion  markets  on  the  other  hand,  occasioned, 
pro  tempore,  a  real  depreciation  in  the  exchangeable 
value  of  bullion  in  the  markets,  an  ounce  of  silver 
becoming  exchangeable  for  only  one-half  or  one-third 
of  a  bushel  of  wheat,  instead  of  a  whole  bushel  of 
wheat ;  and  the  same  real  depreciation  of  silver  was 
visible  with  regard  to  other  articles  of  agricultural 
produce.  It  could  not  be  the  diminished  production 
of  agricultural  produce  which  occasioned  this  real 
depreciation  in  the  exchangeable  value  of  bullion, 
because  no  such  diminished  production  took  place. 
But  it  must  have  been  occasioned  by  the  increased 
supply  of,  and  diminished  demand  for,  bullion  in  the 
markets,  because  such  increased  supply  and  dimi- 
nished demand  really  did  take  place. 

The  war  which  occasioned  this  state  of  things  pre- 
vented British  capital  from  seeking  foreign  invest- 
ments and  expenditure,  the  only  country  which  was 
open  for  these  purposes  being  the  United  States  of 
America,  where  the  same  principles  were  at  work, 
producing  nearly  the  very  same  state  of  things. 

H  3 


102 


CURRENCY. 


The  use  of  a  metallic  coinage  was  also  during  the 
war  in  a  great  degree  discontinued  in  other  countries, 
such  as  Austria  and  Russia,  and  thus  the  exchange- 
able value  of  bullion,  as  compared  with  commo- 
dities and  labour,  was  beaten  down  lower  than  the 
average  level  which  had  existed  for  a  hundred  years 
before,*  and  which  had  been  found  consistent  with 
the  labour  and  expenditure  required  to  obtain  any 
given  quantity  of  commodities,  and  of  bullion. 

The  depreciation  of  the  currency  during  the  war, 
which  was  in  reality  full  cent,  per  cent,  as  compared 
with  the  prices  of  property  and  labour  generally,  was 
thus  prevented  from  exhibiting  itself  to  its  full  extent 
when  compared  with  the  prices  of  silver  and  gold, 
articles  which  had,  as  it  were,  been  thrown  out  of 
use  in  society,  in  the  great  purposes  for  which  alone 
their  use  is  required.  Nevertheless,  during  the  latter 
ten  years  of  the  war,  when  the  continent  was,  in  a 
great  degree,  closed  to  British  manufactures,  and 
when  the  demand  for  bullion,  for  military  and  politi- 
cal purposes,  called  bullion  again  into  use,  and  gave 
scope  for  the  depreciation  of  the  currency  to  exhibit 
itself  as  compared  therewith,  at  that  period  the  prices 
of  bullion  rose  about  42  per  cent,  above  the  level  of 
the  metallic  standard,  the  price  of  gold  rising  to 
£5.  1 Is.  per  ounce,  and  that  of  silver  to  7s.  4d.  per 
ounce.f 

Under  no  circumstances,  however,  could  the  prices 
of  bullion  have  exhibited  any  fair  criterion  of  the 

*  See  Young's  Enquiry  into  the  Rise  of  Prices  in  Europe. 
t  See  Wetenhall's  Stock  List  of  Nov.  18. 


(  ruui,\(  v.  103 

actual  depreciation  of  the  currency,  unless  those  im- 
mense quantities  of  bullion,  which  were  formerly  oc- 
cupied in  the  coinages  of  different  countries,  could 
have  been  kept  out  of  the  market;  nor,  unless  those 
other  quantities  of  bullion  which  were  formerly  re- 
quired for  the  annual  supply  of  those  coinages,  could 
have  been  annually  removed  from  the  market.  If 
the  whole  immense  mass  of  bullion,  which  was  thrown 
out  of  the  uses  of  coinage  in  Europe  and  America 
during  the  war,  had  been  locked  up  in  public  vaults, 
and  if  an  annual  addition  had  been  made  to  that  mass, 
equivalent  to  the  annual  demand,  which  the  supply 
of  the  different  coinages  formerly  occasioned  in  the 
bullion  markets,  then  the  prices  of  bullion  would 
have  exhibited  a  fair  criterion  of  the  depreciation  of 
the  currency  in  England.  The  permanent  prices  of 
silver  would  have  risen  to  about  10s.  4<d.  per  ounce; 
and  those  of  gold  to  about  £7.  15s.  9d.  per  ounce, 
which  would  have  been  a  rise  of  cent,  per  cent,  in 
those  prices,  equivalent  to  that  which  had  taken 
place  generally  in  other  prices,*  and  preserving  to 
the  ounce  weight  of  bullion  the  same  exchangeable 
value,  the  same  command  over  property  and  labour, 
as  it  possessed  before  the  war. 

Necessity  of  conforming  the  Metallic  Standard  to  the 
Agricultural  Prices  of  the  War. 

When  the  Legislature  thought  it  necessary  to  make 
prodigious  and  continued  exertions  in  the  prosecution 

*  See  Tables,  No.  1,  2,  3,  &c. 

H    4 


104  CURRENCY. 

of  the  late  war,  if  they  had  thought  proper  to  effec- 
tuate those  exertions,  by  open  and  continued  opera- 
tions upon  the  coinage,  instead  of  effecting  them  by 
the  silent  and  unseen  operations  of  the  paper  system, 
and  if  other  nations  had  acted  upon  the  same  princi- 
ple, in  that  case,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  it  would 
have  been  necessary  to  have  doubled  the  nominal 
prices  of  the  metallic  standard,  and  to  have  coined 
an  old  mint  shilling  into  two  shillings,  before  those 
doubled  prices  of  property  and  labour  could  have 
been  substantiated,  upon  which  all  the  great  opera- 
tions of  the  war,  and  all  the  public  and  private  obli- 
gations of  the  country  were  founded.  The  doubling 
of  rents  and  of  prices,  which  took  place  during  the 
war,  the  doubling  of  all  the  numerical  denominations 
of  value,  could  never  have  been  obtained,  unless  the 
instruments  which  measure  those  numerical  denomi- 
nations had  also  been  doubled  in  quantity ;  and  the 
doubling  of  these  instruments  in  quantity,  the  dou- 
bling of  the  general  mass  of  money  in  the  country, 
could  not  have  been  effected  without  doubling  the 
particular  quantity  of  money  which  was  formerly 
coined  out  of  the  ounce  of  bullion. 

It  is,  therefore,  evident,  that  the  depreciation  of 
the  currency  was  full  cent,  per  cent,  during  the  war ; 
and  it  is  also  evident,  that  if  it  was  necessary  to  restore 
a  metallic  standard  on  the  return  of  peace,  that 
standard  ought  to  have  been  depreciated  correspond- 
ently  with  the  depreciation  which  existed  in  the  prac- 
tical currency  of  the  country,  in  which  all  the  taxes 
and  obligations  of  the  country,  and  all  its  public  and 
private  burthens  had  been  incurred. 


(TKK  l.\(    Y.  105 

Such  a  metallic  standard  ought  to  have  been 
adopted  as  would  have  preserved  the  nominal  prices 
of  property  and  labour  on  the  same  level  as  existed 
generally  during  the  last  ten  years  of  the  war  ;  and 
no  metallic  standard  could  have  preserved  that  level, 
unless  doubled  in  nominal  price,  or  reduced  one-half 
in  the  quantity  or  quality  of  the  bullion  which  it 
contains. 

How  far  this  reduction  of  the  standard  of  value 
was  originally  just  or  unjust,  it  is  not  necessary  to 
inquire  now.  It  is  sufficient  for  us  to  know,  that  it 
was  virtually  effected  by  the  Bank  Restriction  Act, 
and  by  the  system  of  taxing  and  loaning  which  ex- 
isted during  the  war.  If  it  was  adopted  for  the  pur- 
pose of  defrauding  annuitants  and  creditors,  it  was 
undoubtedly  unjust.  But  if  it  was  adopted  for  the 
furtherance  of  great  public  measures,  which  were  alike 
essential  to  the  interests  of  all  annuitants,  and  of  all 
creditors,  as  well  as  of  those  of  all  proprietors  and  all 
debtors,  it  was  then  evidently  most  just ;  for  the  safety 
of  the  people  is  the  first  great  object  and  duty  of  the 
Legislature ;  and,  if  the  fulfilment  of  that  duty  has 
the  effect  of  injuring  private  interests,  it  is  fit  and 
just  that  those  interests  should  be  injured,  although 
it  may  afterwards  become  a  question  how  far  it  is 
right  for  the  nation  to  make  compensation  to  such 
interests. 

Reduction  of  the  Metallic  Standard  proposed. 

Since,  then,  it  must  be  acknowledged,   that  a  re- 
duction in  the  metallic  standard  of  value  is  alike  just 


106  CURRENCY. 

and  necessary,  it  becomes  then  the  question  to  what 
an  extent  this  reduction  ought  to  be  carried. 

The  wisdom  of  the  Legislature  has  decided,  that 
the  prices  of  property  and  labour  must  be  preserved 
on  a  level  equivalent  to  10s.  upon  the  bushel  of 
wheat,  in  order  to  enable  the  agricultural  interests 
and  the  country  to  bear  the  burthens  with  which  they 
are  loaded.  To  coin  the  ounce  of  silver  into  8s.,  and 
the  ounce  of  gold  into  about  £6.  6s.  will  accomplish 
this  object  at  once  without  difficulty  or  distress,  and 
without  any  comparative  injustice  towards  any  class 
of  the  community.  For,  if  5s.  %d.  to  the  ounce  of 
silver,  according  to  the  old  standard,  produced  a 
state  of  prices  equivalent  to  about  6s.  6d.*  to  the 
bushel  of  wheat,  for  a  series  of  years  before  the  late 
war,  it  follows,  as  a  matter  of  course,  that  8s.  to  the 
ounce  of  silver  will  produce  a  state  of  prices  equiva- 
lent to  10s.  to  the  bushel  of  wheat;  and  thus  the 
prices  of  property  and  labour  will  ascend  over  the 
level  of  the  monied  obligations  with  which  they  are 
loaded,  and  all  the  productive  and  consumptive 
powers  of  the  country  will  be  instantly  set  free.  A 
reduction  of  the  standard  to  this  extent  will  insure 
to  the  agricultural  interest  the  same  level  of  prices 
which  the  Legislature  contemplated  in  passing  the 
Corn  Law.  It  will  also  insure  to  all  other  classes  of 
the  community  the  means  of  paying  those  prices  ; 
and  it  will  effect  these  great  objects  without  affecting 
the  monied  interest  any  further  than  the  Legislature 

*  See  Table,  No.  4. 


CURUENCV.  107 

intended  in  passing  the  Corn  Law,  because  it  will 
not  elevate  prices  beyond  the  level  which  that  law 
contemplated.  The  only  way  in  which  it  will  injure 
the  monied  interest  beyond  the  contemplated  effects 
of  the  Corn  Law  will  be  in  withdrawing  the  immense 
profits,  which  are  now  made  through  the  foreign  in- 
vestments, and  the  foreign  expenditure  of  capitalists 
and  Absentees,  for  in  all  other  respects  the  alteration 
of  the  metallic  standard  of  value  to  the  extent  pro- 
posed, will  secure  to  them  the  very  same  command 
over  property  and  labour  in  the  reduced  coins,  as  the 
Legislature  contemplated  to  give  them  in  the  ancient 
coins. 

A  measure  of  this  kind  would  act  virtually  as  a 
duty  of  50  per  cent,  upon  all  foreign  importations,  for 
it  would  give  to  the  foreigner  only  the  same  weight 
of  bullion  or  real  value,  under  the  denomination  of 
10s.  to  the  bushel  of  wheat,  as  he  now  receives  under 
the  denomination  of  6s.  6d.  to  the  bushel  of  wheat, 
and  it  would  also  act  virtually  as  a  duty  of  50  per 
cent,  upon  the  foreign  investments  and  expenditure  of 
British  capitalists  and  Absentees,  for  the  ounce  of 
silver  or  of  gold,  in  which  foreigners  measure  British 
values,  would  require  50  per  cent,  more  of  British 
currency  to  obtain  it  than  it  now  requires,  and  it  is 
from  British  currency  that  the  power  of  making  Bri- 
tish remittances  arises.  It  would  act  also  as  a  bounty 
of  50  per  cent,  upon  the  exportation  of  British  ma- 
nufactures, until  their  prices  rose  to  a  correspondent 
level,  at  which  time  they  would  bear  their  just  and 
necessary  relation  to  the  monied  taxes  and  burthens 
with  which  they  are  loaded. 


108  CURRENCY. 

For  these  reasons,  therefore,  it  is  necessary  to  ad- 
vance the  Mint  prices  of  the  metallic  standard  of 
value  to  the  extent  of  full  60  per  cent.,  coining  an 
ounce  of  silver  into  8s.  sterling,  and  an  ounce  of  gold 
into  about  <£6.  6s.  sterling.*  This  alteration  will  still 
leave  a  premium  of  about  40  per  cent,  in  the  hands  of 
all  public  and  private  creditors  and  mortgagees,  who 
advanced  their  money  during  the  last  ten  years  of 
the  war.  It  will  secure  a  permanent  increase  of 
40  per  cent,  in  the  whole  taxation  of  the  country 
beyond  the  level  of  those  ten  years  ;  and  a  permanent 
addition  of  the  same  amount  in  the  real  burthen  and 
the  real  value  of  all  the  debts,  mortgages,  and  obli- 
gations, which  existed  during  that  period.  If  the 
monied  interest  are  content  with  this  enormous  profit 
upon  the  debts  and  obligations  contracted  during  the 
last  ten  years  of  the  war,  there  can  be  little  doubt  but 
that  the  capital  and  industry  of  the  active  classes  will 
be  competent  to  insure  it  to  them.  But,  if  they  per- 
sist in  attempting  to  exact  a  doubled  payment  of  those 
obligations,  if  they  persist  in  requiring  from  the  coun- 
try a  doubled  amount  of  the  property  and  labour 
which  they  ever  advanced  to  the  country,  and  if  the 
Legislature  continue  to  sanction  such  an  object,  then 
there  can  be  no  doubt  that  either  the  capital  and 
the  industry  of  the  country  will  be  crushed  under  its 
burthens,  or  that  the  convulsive  movements  of  society 

*  The  alteration  proposed  will  be  a  reduction  of  32 £  per 
cent,  in  the  present  silver  coins,  and  of  37J  per  cent,  in  the 
present  gold  coins.  It  will  be  coining  13s.  Gd.  of  our  pre- 
sent silver  coins  into  a  pound  sterling,  and  12s.  Gd.  of  our 
present  gold  coins  into  a  pound  slt-rlmi:. 


CtfttH  i  NCTT. 

will  shake  them  oft' for  ever.  As  things  now  stand, 
the  restoration  of  the  old  measure  of  value,  forces 
the  restoration  of  the  old  quantity  of  value.  Thus, 
the  money  prices  of  agricultural  produce  are  reduced 
below  the  monied  expenses  of  cultivation,  and  the 
landlord  has  no  longer  an  interest  in  his  own  estate. 
His  title-deeds  may  indeed  remain,  but  they  are  of 
no  more  value  than  his  manorial  rights. 

THOMAS  ATTWOOD. 
April  5,  18-21. 


No.    I. 

Table  of  the  Prices  of  Wheat,  before,  and  at  the  end 
of  the  War,  extracted  from  the  Custom  House 
Account,  as  given  in  the  Bank  Reports,  Appendix, 
No.  39,  and  exhibiting  the  Depreciation  of  the 
Currency  during  the  War. 

Average  price  of  wheat  in  the  two  half  years  of 
the  year  1792 — 40s.  9d.  per  quarter. 

Average  price  of  wheat  in  the  five  years  ending 
with  1808— 73s.  9%d.  per  quarter,  which  is  an  ad- 
vance of  80  per  cent,  above  the  average  price  of 
1792. 

Average  price  of  wheat  in  the  five  years  ending 
with  1813— 105,9.  lid.  per  quarter,  which  is  an  ad- 
vance of  160  per  cent,  above  the  average  price  of 
1792. 

Average  price  of  wheat  in  the  ten  years  ending 
with  1813 — 89$.  lOtf.  per  quarter,  which  is  an  ad- 


110  CURRENCY. 

vance  of  120  per  cent,  in  the  price  of  wheat  in  the 
ten  years  ending  with  1813  above  the  level  of  the 
year  1792. 

No.  II. 

Tables  of  the  Prices  of  sundry  Articles  of  Agricul- 
tural Produce,  before,  and  at  the  end  of  the  War, 
extracted  from  the  Custom  House  Account,  as 
given  in  the  Bank  Reports,  Appendix,  No.  39, 
and  exhibiting  the  Depreciation  of  the  Currency 
during  the  War. 

Average  prices  in  the  year  1792:— 

Wheat      40s.  9d.  per  quarter.  Rye  29s.  Id.     per  quarter. 

Barley      25s.  lid.     ditto.  Oats  17s.  4d.       ditto. 

Beans       30s.  Wd.     ditto.  Peas  31s.  lOd.     ditto. 
Oatmeal  33s.  3d.       ditto. 

Average  prices  of  the  same  articles  in  the  five  years 
ending  with  1813: 

Wheat    105s.  lie?,  per  quarter.  Rye  63s.  8c?.  per  quarter. 

Barley      51s.  lid.       ditto.  Oats  34s.  lid.      ditto. 

Beans       63s.  Id.         ditto.  Peas  65s.  9d.        ditto. 
Oatmeal  50s.  Id.         ditto. 

which  exhibits  a  permanent  rise  of  160  per  cent,  in 
the  price  of  wheat,  of  1 1 5  per  cent,  in  that  of  rye,  of 
100  percent,  in  that  of  barley,  of  100  per  cent,  in 
that  of  oats,  of  100  percent,  in  that  of  beans,  of 
100  per  cent,  in  that  of  peas,  and  of  little  more  than 
50  per  cent,  in  that  of  oatmeal. 

There  must,  however,  be  some  mistake  in  the  Cus- 
tom House  account  of  the  price  of  this  latter  article, 
because  the  price  of  oats,  from  which  oatmeal  is 


riMlKKN'CY.  1  I  1 

made,  had  risen  full  100  per  cent,  in  common  with 
other  things.  Besides,  in  the  account  from  Green- 
wich Hospital  (see  Bank  Reports,  Appendix  36,)  the 
prices  of  oatmeal  are  given  as  averaging  l%s.  Sd. 
per  Winchester  bushel,  or  98s.  per  quarter,  in  the 
five  years  ending  with  1813;  being  115  per  cent, 
ahove  the  prices  paid  in  the  years  1785  and  1790, 
which  were  only  5s.  3d.  per  bushel,  or  42s.  per 
quarter. 

No.  III. 

Table  of  the  Prices  of  sundry  other  Articles  of  Agri- 
cultural Produce,  before  and  at  the  end  of  the 
War,  extracted  from  the  Greenwich  Hospital  Ac- 
count, as  given  in  the  Bank  Reports,  Appendiv, 
No.  36,  and  exhibiting  the  Depreciation  of  the 
Currency  during  the  War. 

Average  prices,  in  the  year  1 790,  of 

Flour   43s.  4d.  per  sack.  Butter  6|  per  Ib. 

Cheese  4d.  per  Ib.  Oatmeal  5s.  3d.  per  bushel. 

Butcher's  meat  36s.  lOd.  per  cwt. 

Average  prices   of  the   same  articles,  in   the   five 
years  ending  with  1813,  viz. 

Flour  93s.  per  sack.  Butter  Is.  2</.  per  Ib. 

Cheese  8rf.  per  Ib.  Oatmeal   12s.  3d.  per  bushel. 

Butcher's  meat  75s.  \d.  per  cwt. 

which  exhibits  a  permanent  rise  of  near  1 15  per  cent, 
in  the  price  of  flour,  of  100  per  cent,  in  that  of  but- 
ter, of  100  per  cent,  in  that  of  cheese,  of  125  per 
cent,  in  that  of  oatmeal,  and  above  100  per  cent,  in 
that  of  meat. 


112 


CUKKKNC Y. 


No.  III.  (a). 

Table  of  the  Prices  of  Labour  before  and  at  the 
end  of  the  War,  extracted  from  the  Greenwich 
Hospital  Account,  as  given  in  the  Bank  Reports, 
Appendix,  No.  36,  and  exhibiting  the  Depreciation 
of  the  Currency  during  the  War. 

Average  wages  of  labour  in  the  ten  years  ending 
with  1790:- 

Carpenters,  2s.  6d.  per  day ;  bricklayers,  2s.  4>d. 
ditto;  masons,  Qs.  lOd.  ditto;  plumbers,  3s.  \^d. 
ditto. 

Average  wages  of  labour  in  the  four  years,  ending 
with  1808:— 

Carpenters,  4s.  9d.  per  day;  bricklayers,  4s.  9%d. 
ditto  ;  masons,  5s.  ditto  ;  plumbers,  4s.  6d.  ditto  ; 
which  is  an  advance  of  cent,  per  cent,  in  the  wages 
of  bricklayers  and  masons,  and  near  cent,  per  cent, 
in  those  of  carpenters,  and  of  50  per  cent,  in  those 
of  plumbers. 

Average  wages  of  labour  in  the  five  years,  ending 
with  1813:- 

Carpenters,  5s.  6d.  per  day ;  bricklayers,  5s.  3%d. 
ditto;  masons,  5s.  6d.  ditto.;  plumbers,  5s.  Sd.  ditto; 
which  is  an  advance  of  120  per  cent,  in  the  wages  of 
carpenters,  of  125  per  cent,  in  those  of  bricklayers, 
of  near  cent,  per  cent,  in  those  of  masons,  and  of  80 
per  cent,  in  those  of  plumbers. 

Average  wages  of  labour  in  the  nine  years,  ending 
with  1813:- 

Carpenters,  5s.  2d.   per  day ;    bricklayers,    5s.  Id. 


«.  I'  II  It  K  \  C  V .  II 3 

ditto;  masons,  5,s.  3d.  ditto;  plumbers,  5s.  Qd.  ditto; 
which  is  an  advance  of  more  than  cent,  per  cent,  on 
the  wages  of  carpenters  and  bricklayers,  of  about 
85  per  cent,  on  those  of  masons,  and  of  65  per  cent, 
on  those  of  plumbers. 

N.  B.  The  wages  of  masons  had  been  raised  from 
Qs.  6d.  to  2$.  10*7.  per  day,  immediately  preceding 
the  average  of  1790.  The  trade  of  the  plumber 
seems  in  the  first  period  to  have  been  a  kind  of 
craft,  superior  to  common  labour. 

Wages  of  agricultural  labour  in  Cumberland,  on 

O  O  ' 

the  average  of  seven  years,  ending  with  1792,  Is.  3d. 
per  week. 

Wages  of  agricultural  labour  in  Cumberland,  on 
an  average  of  twelve  years,  ending  with  1816,  14<9.  9d. 
per  week,  being  a  rise  of  full  cent,  per  cent,  during 
the  war. 

Wages  of  agricultural  labour  in  Cumberland,  on 
the  average  of  seven  years,  ending  with  1813,  1 5s.  2d. 
per  week,  being  a  permanent  rise  of  near  110  per 
cent,  in  the  wages  of  agricultural  labour  during  the 
war. — (See  Rooke's  Tables  on  Money,  published  by 
Baldwin  and  Co.) 

No.  IV. 

Table  showing  the  relative  Prices  of  the  Bushel  of 
Wheat y  and  of  the  Ounce  of  Silver,  before  the  War, 
at  the  end  of  the  War,  and  since  the  Peace,  col- 
lected in  part  from  the  Accounts  at  Eton  College, 
and  in  part  from  the  Accounts  at  the  Mint  Office. — - 

i 


114 


Cl-KHKNCV 


(Sec  Bank  Reports,  AppendLr,  No.  14,  and  Lords* 
Corn  Reports  in  1814,  Appendix,  No.  12.) 

Price  of  the  bushel  of  wheat  in  Windsor  market,  on 
the  average  of  the  five  years  before  the  war,  from 
1787  to  1792,  6>.  5d.  per  Winchester  bushel. 

Price  of  the  ounce  of  standard  silver  on  the  ave- 
rage of  the  three  years  before  the  war,  from  1789  to 
1 792,  5s.  ^d.  per  ounce :  the  bushel  of  wheat  being 
worth  about  one-fifth  more  than  the  ounce  of  silver. 

Price  of  the  bushel  of  wheat  in  Windsor  market  on 
the  average  of  five  years,  at  the  end  of  the  war,  from 
Lady-day  1809  to  Michaelmas  1813  inclusive, 
14s.  4d.  per  Winchester  bushel,  which  exhibits  a  per- 
manent rise  of  125  per  cent,  in  the  price  of  wheat 
during  the  war,  and  is  nearly  equal  to  three  ounces  of 
silver  at  the  old  Mint  price,  and  fully  equal  to  two 
ounces  of  silver  at  the  then  market  price. 

Price  of  the  ounce  of  standard  silver,  on  the  aver- 
age of  five  years,  at  the  end  of  the  war,  ending  Mi- 
chaelmas 1813,  6s.  5d.  per  ounce,  which  exhibits  a 
rise  of  only  20  per  cent,  in  the  price  of  silver,  and 
leaves  the  bushel  of  wheat  worth  2^  ounces  of  silver, 
instead  of  one  and  one-fifth  ounce  of  silver,  which 
was  its  value  before  the  war. 

Price  of  the  bushel  of  wheat  since  the  peace,  on  the 
average  of  two  years,  ending  1 820,  8*.  6d.  per  bushel, 
which  is  little  more  than  1^  ounce  of  silver,  at  the 
existing  market  price  as  stated  below. 

Price  of  the  ounce  of  silver  since  the  peace,  on  the 
average  of  two  years,  ending  1820,  5s.  Qd.  per  ounce. 


rURRENCY.  115 

N.  B.  Wheat  having  now  again  fallen  to  6s.  6d. 
per  bushel,  gives  to  the  ounce  of  silver  at  the  end  of 
the  war  about  the  same  quantity  of  wheat  as  it  com- 
manded before  the  war. 

No.  V. 

Table  comparing  the  Prices  of  Wheat  in  England  and 
on  the  Continent,  proving  the  impossibility  of  ob- 
taining permanently  under  the  old  Standard  of 
Value  any  higher  Prices  than  at  present  exist. 

Present  Prices  of  the  bushel  of  Wheat  at  Antwerp, 
Amsterdam,  Rotterdam,  Dantzic,  and  Bourdeaux,  as 
stated  in  the  "  Return  to  an  Address  to  His  Majesty, 
from  the  Honourable  House  of  Commons,  dated  the 
6th  of  February,  1821,"— viz. 

Antwerp,  4s.  3d.  per  bushel,  or  only  four- fifths  of 
an  ounce  of  silver. 

Amsterdam,  4s.  Id.  per  bushel,  or  about  four- fifths 
of  an  ounce  of  silver. 

Rotterdam,  4s.  per  bushel,  or  not  quite  four-fifths 
of  an  ounce  of  silver. 

Dantzic,  4s.  per  bushel,  or  not  quite  four-fifths  of 
an  ounce  of  silver. 

Bourdeaux,  6s.  Id.  per  bushel,  or  about  one-tenth 
more  than  an  ounce  of  silver. 

Highest  present  price  of  the  bushel  of  best  English 
wheat  in  Mark-lane  market,  6s.  6d.  per  bushel,  or 
one  and  one-fifth  ounce  of  silver. — See  Wetenhall's 
List  of  3rd  April,  1821,  being  exactly  the  same  as 
the  average  price  of  the  five  years  ending  with  1792. 

I  2 


116  CURRENCY. 

No.  VI. 

Table  showing  the  Comparative  Value  of  Silver  and 
Wheat,  and  exhibiting  what  may  be  termed  the 
natural  or  real  Price  of  the  Bushel  of  Wheat. 

Average  price  of  the  Winchester  bushel  of  wheat 
in  the  100  years,  ending  with  the  year  1700,  as  per 
accounts  from  Eton  College,  as  given  in  Dr.  Copple- 
stone's  2nd  Letter  to  Mr.  Peel,  page  70 — 5s.  2d.  per 
bushel. 

Average  price  of  do.  in  the  93  years,  ending  with 
the  year  1793,  as  given  in  the  Lords'  Corn  Report  of 
1814,  Appendix,  No.  12 — 5s.  4d.  per  bushel. 

Price  of  the  ounce  weight  of  silver  during  the 
above  period  of  193  years,  from  1600  to  1793,  as  per 
Mint  regulations  —  5s.  %d.  per  ounce. 

It  thus  appears  that  the  value  of  the  bushel  of 
wheat  and  of  the  ounce  of  silver,  are  very  nearly  the 

same. 

No.  VII. 

Table  showing  the  Profit  which  has  been  made  by 
Loans  to  Government,  made  in  depreciated  Cur- 
rency under  the  War  Prices  of  Property  and 
Labour,  and  now  re-payable  in  an  undepreciated 
Currency  under  the  Imv  Prices  which  the  attempt 
to  restore  the  ancient  Standard  of  Value  occasions. 

Price  of  wheat  on  the  average  of  five  years,  ending 
1813,  14i'.  4d.  per  bushel,  as  per  Bank  Reports,  Ap- 
pendix, No.  39. 

Price  of  three  per  cent,  consols  in  1813,  as  per 
Wetenhall's  Stock  List— 58,57, 57§. 


CfKUl   NCV.  117 

Eighty  bushels  of  wheat,  at  14?.  4id.  per  bushel, 
makes  £57.  7*.  6cL,  or  57$,  the  then  price  of  £lOO. 
consols. 

Present  price  of  wheat  in  Birmingham  market,  5th 
April,  1821 — 6s.  6d.  per  bushel. 

Present  price  of  three  per  cent,  consols,  4th  April, 
1821— 72£,  72£. 

224  bushels  of  wheat,  at  6s.  6V.  per  bushel,  makes 
£72.  \ls.6d.,  or  72|,  the  present  price  of  £100. 
consols. 

Thus  a  public  creditor  lending  the  value  of  80 
bushels,  of  wheat  to  Government  in  1813,  receives 
back  in  1821,  the  value  of  224  bushels  of  wheat,  or 
near  three  times  the  amount  which  he  lent,  besides 
the  full  interest  in  the  mean  while  calculated  after  the 
same  proportion. 


Price  of  standard  silver  in  1813,  as  per  Wetenhall's 
Stock  List,  7s.  per  ounce. 

Price  of  three  per  cent,  consols  in  1813 — 
58,  57,  57f ;  164  oz.  of  standard  silver,  at  7s.  per 
ounce,  makes  £57.  7s.  6d,  or  57f,  the  then  price  of 
£100.  three  per  cent,  consols. 

Present  price  of  standard  silver,  as  per  Wetenhall's 
List  of  April  3,  1821,  4*.  lid.  per  ounce. 

Present  price  of  three  per  cent,  consols,  April  4, 
1821,  72J-,  72f. 

295  oz.  of  standard  silver,  at  4$.  lid.  per  ounce, 
makes  £72.  10s.,  or  72£,  the  present  price  of  £100. 
three  per  cent,  consols. 

Thus  a  public  creditor  lending  164  oz.  of  standard 
i  3 


118 


CURRENCY. 


silver  to  Government  in  1813,  receives  back  in  1821, 
295  oz.  of  standard  silver,  besides  his  full  interest  in 
the  mean  while,  calculated  in  the  same  unjust  propor- 
tion. 

If  such  public  creditor  had  sold  out  his  stock  in 
Nov.  1817,  when  the  price  of  standard  silver  was 
5s.  2d.  per  ounce,  and  the  price  of  three  per  cent, 
consols,  as  per  Wetenhall's  List,  was  84^,  he  would 
have  received  back  328  ounces  of  silver,  instead  of 
164  ounces  of  silver  which  he  lent. 

So  also  a  public  creditor  lending  10J  ounces  of 
standard  gold  to  Government  in  1813,  when  gold  was 
at  £5.  10s.  per  ounce,  and  the  price  of  consols  was 
57f,  and  selling  his  stock  in  1818,  when  gold  was 
reduced  to  £4.  the  ounce,  and  consols  were  raised  to 
84,  received  back  21  ounces  of  gold  in  payment  for 
his  10;|-  ounces,  being  just  double  the  amount  of  bul- 
lion which  he  lent.  If  such  public  creditor  had  then 
vested  his  2 1  ounces  of  gold  on  the  mortgage  of  an 
estate,  worth  42  ounces  of  gold  in  1818,  he  is  now 
become  the  virtual  proprietor  of  the  estate,  for  the  pay- 
ment of  his  interest  swallows  up  all  the  rent,  and  he 
may  foreclose  for  the  principal,  and  take  possession 
of  the  estate,  whenever  he  pleases.  Thus  the  riches 
of  the  public  creditor  are  quadrupled  on  the  one  hand, 
whilst  public  and  private  burthens  are  quadrupled  on 
the  other. 

No.  VIII. 

Table  showing  the  probable  Reduction  which  will  take 
place  in  the  Landed  Rental  of  the  Kingdom,  under 


CUUKENCV. 

the  Restoration   of  the  old  Metallic   Standard  of 
Value. 

Total  annual  amount  of  the  Government  Ex- 
penditure, in  the  year  1820,  suppose  about  £62,000,000 

*  Total  annual  amount  of  the  Government  Ex- 
penditure, in  the  year  1786  21,657,609 

Total  increase  of  the  annual  Government  Ex- 
penditure, since  the  year  1786  40,342,391 

Suppose  one-half  of  this  Expenditure  to  be  paid 

by  the  Manufacturing  and  Commercial  Classes  20,171 ,195 

Remains  to  be  paid  by  the  Agricultural  Classes      £20,171,196 

Rental  of  the  Land  in  the  year  1814,  as  per  Pro- 
perty Tax  Accounts  £42,970,000 

The  Reduction  of  Agricultural  Prices  one  half, 
to  the  level  of  1792,  will  naturally  reduce 
Rents  correspondently.  Therefore  deduct  one 
half  21,485,000 


Present  Rental  of  the  Kingdom  measured  in  old 
standard  coins,  supposing  Government  Ex- 
penditure to  be  the  same  as  in  1792  21,485,000 

Deduct  proportion  of  Government  Expenditure 
borne  by  the  Agricultural  Classes,  as  above  20,171,196 

Total  probable  Rental  of  the  Kingdom,  when 
the  ruiii  of  the  Farmers  shall  have  thrown  the 
whole  burthen  of  the  increased  Government 
Expenditure  upon  the  Landlords  1,313,804 

No.  IX. 

Table  showing  the  Diminution  which  has  taken  place 
in  the  Circulation  of  Bank  Notes  and  Coins  since 
the  years  1817  and  1818,  when  the  prosperity  of 

*  See  Price  on  Payments,  vol.  1.  page  338. 
I  4 


120 


CURRENCY. 


the  country  had  been  nearly  restored  by  the  in- 
creased issue  of  legal  tenders.  —  (See  the  Lords' 
Bank  Reports,  Appendix,  B.  2,  and  D.  3.) 


Weekly  average  of  Bank  Notes 

in  circulation,  Jan.  4,  1817        £23,900,000 

Ditto,  ditto,         April  5,       26,400,000 

Ditto,  ditto,         July  5,         ....     25,800,000 

Ditto,  ditto,         Oct.  4,         28,900,000 

Add  for  Gold  issued  in  exchange 

for  Bank  Notes,  from  July  1st 

to  October  4th     674,000 

Weekly  average  of  Bank  Notes 

in  circulation,  Jan.  3,  1818 
Add  for  Gold  issued  to  this  day 
Weekly  average  of  Bank  Notes 

in  circulation,  April  4,  1818 
Add  for  Gold  issued  to  this  day 


Total  legal  tenders 
in  circulation. 


i 


26,400,000  ^ 
1,240,000  \ 

27,000,000  j 
2,600,000  \ 


£23,900,000 
26,400,000 
25,800,000 

29,574,000 


27>640»00() 


29>600»00() 


Weekly  average  of  Bank  Notes 

in  circulation,  July  4,  1818 
Add  for  Gold  issued  to  this  day 
N.  B.  Between  this  period  and 
6th  of  April,  1819,  near  three 
millions  more  of  gold  coins 
were  issued,  but  the  opening 
of  the  ports  for  foreign  grain, 
combined  with  the  excess  of 
imports  which  the  rise  of 
prices  had  occasioned,  caused 
the  whole  of  this  gold,  say 
£6,800,000.,  to  be  exported 
in  the  Autumn  and  Winter  of 
1818—19. 


26,000,000 
3,900,000 


29  900  000 


(  I  RRENCT. 


121 


Weekly  average  of  Bank  Notes 

in  circulation,  Oct.  3,  1818  26,200,000^ 

At  this  period,  probably  three  I 

millions  of  gold  coins  out  of  *>     29,200,000 

five  issued,  remained  in  circu-  V 

lation         3,000,000  J 

Weekly  average  of  Bank  Notes 

in  circulation,  Jan.  2, 1819  25,300,000 

At  this   period,    probably  two 

millions  of  gold  coins,  out  of  ^>     27,300,000 
six  issued,  remained  in  circu- 
lation                 2,000,000 

Weekly  average  of  Bank  Notes 

in  circulation,  April  3,  1819  24,800,000         24,800,000 

N.  B.  April  3,  1819.  At  this  period  nearly  all  the  gold 
was  gone.  The  whole  circulation  of  legal  tenders  was,  there- 
fore, only  £24,800,000.  at  the  lowest  average  weekly  amount, 
taken  on  the  days  immediately  preceding  the  issues  of  the  quar- 
terly dividends  from  the  Bank,  at  which  periods  the  circulation 
is  at  the  lowest.  It  thus  appears  that  the  lowest  weekly  average 
of  the  circulation  of  legal  tenders  was  increased  in  the  year 
1817,  by  the  operations  of  the  Government,  from  £23,900,000. 
to  £29,574,000.,  and  that  it  continued  at  about  the  same  level 
until  the  summer  of  the  year  1818.  Soon  after  this  period  it 
began  to  be  reduced;  and  by  the  spring  of  1819,  when 
Mr.  Peel's  Bill  was  brought  forwards,  it  was  reduced  to 
£24,800,000.  which  was  a  reduction  of  near  five  millions,  or 
about  17  per  cent,  in  the  circulation,  effected  previously  to  the 
action  of  that  fatal  measure.  Hence  the  alarming  fall  of  prices 
which  took  place  in  the  winter  of  1818.  Since  the  passing  of 
Mr.  Peel's  Bill,  the  circulation  has  again  been  reduced,  until 
the  beginning  of  January,  1821,  when,  according  to  the  Reports 
presented  to  the  House  of  Commons,  it  amounted  only  to 
£  20,000,300.  which  is  a  reduction  of  about  one  third,  or  full 
30  per  cent,  in  the  lowest  average  weekly  circulation  (effected  to 
promote  the  restoration  of  the  old  standard)  since  the  compa- 


122  CURRENCY. 

ratively  prosperous  years  of  1817  and  1818.  It  is  to  be  ob- 
served that  this  reduction  of  the  Bank  note  circulation  has  been 
effected,  not  by  a  diminution  of  the  Bank's  discounts,  but 
purely  by  a  diminution  of  its  issues  upon  Exchequer  bills,  upon 
which  three-fourths  of  the  whole  circulation  have  been  founded. 

No.  X. 

Table  showing  the  effect  which  the  above  Reduction  of 
the  Bank- Note  Circulation  has  had  in  reducing  the 
Circulation  of  the  Country  Bankers. 

Number  of  Stamps  for  £l.   country  bank-notes  £. 

issued  by  the  Stamp-Office  in      1813   3,793,285 

Number  of  such  Stamps  issued  in  1814    4,018,144 

Ditto     ditto     ditto  .  .    issued  in  1815   2,776,873 

Ditto     ditto     ditto  . .   issued  in  1816   2,181,938 

Ditto     ditto     ditto  . .    issued  in  1817    2,953,920 

Ditto     ditto     ditto  .  .    issued  in  1818    3,875,715 

Ditto     ditto     ditto.,    issued  in  1819 1,784,337 

Ditto     ditto     ditto.,    issued  in  1820   1,683,824 

See  the  Lords'  Bank  Reports,  Appendix  F.  I.,    and  the 
Return  from  the  Stamp-Office,  printed  15th  March,  1821. 


It  thus  appears  that  prices  generally  doubled  during 
the  war,  and  in  many  cases  trebled,  because  of  the 
increased  quantity  of  paper  money.  Gold  and  silver, 
however,  did  not  rise  in  price  in  the  same  ratio  as 
other  commodities ;  because  gold  and  silver  being  dis- 
continued as  a  standard  of  reference  in  Great  Britain ; 
and  a  metallic  coinage  giving  place  to  paper  in  some 
other  countries,  as  Austria  and  Russia ;  an  immense 
quantity  of  bullion,  which  had  previously  served  the 
purpose  of  a  circulating  medium,  was  thus  thrown 


CURRENCY.  123 

into  the  continental  bullion  market,  and  of  course  pre- 
vented an  effect  on  the  price  of  bullion  similar  to 
what  obtained  in  other  commodities  :*  had  not  this 
cause  operated,  the  permanent  price  of  silver  during 
the  war,  it  appears,  would  have  been  doubled,  or 
10,y.  4d.  per  oz.,  and  that  of  gold  £7.  1 5s.  Od.:  even 
as  it  was  during  the  last  ten  years  of  the  war,  when 
British  manufactures  were  excluded  the  Continent, 
and  when  the  demand  for  bullion  for  military  or  poli- 
tical purposes  again  called  bullion  into  use,  and  gave 
scope  for  the  depreciation  of  the  currency  to  exhibit 
itself  as  compared  with  it:  even  then  the  prices  of 
bullion  rose  about  42  per  cent,  above  the  level  of  the 
old  metallic  standard,  or  to  £5.  1  Is.  Od.  the  oz.  of 
gold,  and  7s.  4d.  the  oz.  of  silver. 

There  are  some  few  people  who  assign  other  causes 
than  a  depreciation  in  the  currency  for  the  advanced 
prices  of  the  war.  Among  these,  Mr.  Tooke  attri- 
butes the  high  price  of  corn  during  the  war  to  years 
of  scarcity ;  but  how  does  he  reconcile  this  obstacle  to 
his  argument,  viz.  that  cattle  ranged  in  price  propor- 
tionably  high,  when  no  scarcity  of  cattle  was  felt, 
except  as  it  related  to  the  amount  of  the  circulating 
medium:  the  small  rise  which  would  take  place  on  ^  ^ 

*  Gold  was  not  even  quoted  for  some  years  among  "  The 
Prices  Current."  It  was  thrown  out  of  employment.  It 
might  have  complained  of  paper  then,  as  workmen  do  of 
machinery  now.  To  attempt,  therefore,  to  shew  the  value  of 
property  in  the  war  by  that  of  gold,  is  as  rational  as  to  make 
moonstone,  or  the  philosopher's  stone,  the  criterion  of  price  in 
marketable  commodities. 


124  CURRENCY. 

fat  cattle,  it  is  scarcely  worth  noticing,  \vould  be  com- 
pensated by  its  diminishing  the  demand  for  corn;  the 
fall  in  the  price  of  cattle  was,  of  course,  therefore, 
coincident  with  the  return,  or  prospect  of  return,  to 
cash  payments.  The  rents,  says  Mr.  Tooke,  were 
raised  during  the  war  in  proportion  to  the  rise  in 
prices.  Now  this  is  totally  inconsistent  with  his  asser- 
tion that  the  high  price  of  corn  was  consequent  on 
scarcity:  we  find,  at  the  present  day,  however  high 
scarcity  may  cause  corn  to  be,  the  farmer  remains  so 
much  unremunerated  in  general,  that  his  landlord  is 
obliged  to  make  even  a  return  of  a  certain  per  centage 
on  his  rent,  notwithstanding  the  rise  in  corn. 

No  doubt  a  scarcity  of  corn  will  affect  the  prices 
with  a  plentiful  currency  :  they  are,  in  fact,  two  causes 
contributing  to  one  effect.  It  differs  not  at  all  in 
regard  to  prices,  whether  the  money  remain  sta- 
tionary, and  the  supply  of  wheat  be  deficient;  or 
whether  money  increase  in  quantity,  and  the  supply 
of  wheat  remain  the  same.  But  the  results  to  the 
prosperity  of  the  nation  are  widely  different  from 
these  two  causes  :  the  one  is  the  heavy  but  frequented 
toll  on  the  high  road  to  the  Lord  Mayor's  Day  of 
Trade,  when  the  prospect  of  advantage  and  enjoy- 
ment to  all  is  unclouded  and  free,  and  the  obstacles 
to  be  lightly  brushed  away;  while  the  excellence  of 
the  road  is  cheap  at  its  price :  the  other  is  the  rough 
and  broken  road  to  Famine,  where  the  toll  is  equally 
high;  but  where  the  wealth  is  as  broken  as  the  road. 
We  must  remember,  however,  that  the  rise  which 
takes  place  in  a  time  of  scarcity  of  corn,  is  by  no 


CURRENCY.  125 

means  always  correspondent  to  the  real  state  of 
things ;  and  thus,  when  exaggeration  shall  have 
over-raised  the  price  of  corn,  a  fall  in  the  price 
may  perfectly  well  be  coincident  with  an  increase  of 
currency;  i.e.  the  degree  of  increase  of  currency 
may  not  be  sufficient  to  sustain  the  previous  exagge- 
rated price,  though  it  will  certainly  prevent  its  falling 
so  low  as  it  would  otherwise  do.  All  counteracting 
effects  are  in  the  ratio  of  the  magnitude  of  their 
causes ;  hence,  if  the  currency  increase  faster  than 
the  corn  decreases,  prices  rise ;  and  vice  versa.  The 
calculations  respecting  harvest  must  always  be  uncer- 
tain, as  long  as  uncertainty  of  weather  remains  a  law 
of  Nature,  or  rather  so  long  as  the  bearings  of  such 
law  are  concealed  from  our  view.  The  prices  which 
have  been  raised  by  exaggerated  anxiety,  or  Jewish 
speculation,  when  the  weather  is  unfavourable,  re- 
ceive a  proportionate  fall,  as  a  different  result  with 
respect  to  weather  ensues.  No  strict  rule  for  the 
regulation  of  prices,  under  the  apprehension  of  scar- 
city, can  be  made  out;  for  alarm  will  ever  act  in 
defiance  of  rule.  "  Arguments  are  ever  w  ith  multi- 
tudes too  wreak  for  suspicions,"  says  Bacon.  Of 
course,  if  the  expectation  of  a  scarcity  have  prompted 
a  great  importation  of  corn  from  abroad,  and  an 
average  crop  at  home  shall  be  eventually  reaped, 
such  a  surplus  will  lower  the  price  of  corn  in  despite 
of  an  increased  currency ;  though  the  increased  cur- 
rency will  prevent  the  fall  in  price  being  so  great  as 
it  must  otherwise  have  been,  without  such  increase  of 
money  in  the  market.  Mr.  Tooke  seems  to  affect 


120  CURRENCY. 

surprise  at  the  fact,  that  though  the  amount  of  cur- 
rency was  higher,  wheat  was  lower  in  1804  than  in 
1801 ;  but  the  high  price  in  1801  arose  obviously 
from  a  state  of  scarcity ;  or  rather,  I  may  say,  that 
the  quantity  of  corn  in  the  country  was  so  dispro- 
portionate to  the  amount  of  currency,  that  a  propor- 
tionate rise  in  the  corn  price  was  inevitable,  unless  a 
proportionate  diminution  in  the  amount  of  currency 
had  taken  place.  What  Mr.  Tooke  should  have 
shewn,  if  he  could,  was  that  the  stock  of  corn  in  1804 
was  less  in  proportion  to  the  currency  of  that  year, 
than  were  the  ratios  between  the  currency  and  stock 
of  corn  in  1801. 

The  great  fall  in  the  nominal  price  of  gold,  by  its 
abstraction  from  military  and  political  purposes ;  the 
prospect  of  a  better  corn  supply  from  the  liberation  of 
the  ports  of  the  Continent ;  and  Bonaparte's  defeat 
in  Russia;  would  all  contribute  to  the  fall  of  corn 
from  150s.  in  1813,  notwithstanding  an  increased 
currency. 

Mr.  Tooke  (p.  34,  letter  1)  seems  to  imagine,  also, 
that  it  is  the  high  price  of  commodities  which  causes 
an  enlarged  amount  of  currency  among  country  banks. 
It  would  be  satisfactory  to  know  what  increase  there 
was  in  the  country  bank  circulation  from  the  increased 
price  of  corn  owing  to  the  scarcity  of  1828.  There 
would  be  a  diminution  rather  of  circulation,  I  suspect, 
from  the  diminished  means  of  the  farmers  to  find  se- 
curity for  accommodation.  It  is  the  reasonable  pros- 
pect of  advantageous  trading  that  stimulates  and  regu- 
lates the  amount  of  accommodation  from  country 
banks. 


Had  the  doubling  of  prices,  which  were  absolutely 
necessary  to  enable  property  to  meet  the  unexampled 
war  taxation,  been  to  be  effected  by  any  other  depre- 
ciation of  the  currency  than  through  the  medium  of  a 
deluge  of  paper,  no  other  resource  was  left  but  to  have 
coined  the  sixpence  into  a  shilling,  and  the  half  sove- 
reign into  a  sovereign  :  it  could  have  been  done  in  no 
other  way.  Under  such  a  change,  which  would  only 
have  been  ostensibly  more  real  than  that  which  did 
obtain,  no  Minister  would  have  been  hardy  enough  to 
propose  the  immediate  re-coinage  back  again  of  the 
shilling  into  the  sixpence.  Such  a  sudden  overturn  of 
property,  without  at  the  same  time  cutting  down  all 
the  taxation  for  which  the  depreciation  had  taken 
place,  would  have  been  too  manifestly  insane  to  be 
listened  to  for  one  moment.  Why,  when  precisely  a 
similar  process  has  been  in  operation  through  an 
increased  quantity  of  paper  currency,  and  only  because 
there  was  no  ostensible  coining  of  the  sixpence  into 
the  shilling, — although  the  effects  on  property  were 
precisely  the  same ; — why,  but  from  ignorance  has  the 
Legislature  been  allowed  to  diminish  the  value  of  pro- 
perty to  such  a  ruinous  extent  ?  It  was  ignorance  in 
the  people  to  allow  it;  it  was  ignorance  in  the  Minis- 
ters to  propose  it.  But  shall  obstinacy  be  added  to 
ignorance  on  the  one  hand,  or  want  of  spirit  to  it  on 
the  other  ?  Let  property  assert  its  rights :  and  may 
the  humbled  feelings  attached  to  an  acknowledgment 
of  error,  be  attended  in  our  Government  with  at  least 
its  indenpensable  satisfaction,  the  retracing  their  steps: 
alas,  how  surely  may  they  be  found,  when  havock, 


128  CURRENCY. 

and  even  blood,  have  besmeared  their  very  foot  prints 
in  the  way.  But  the  cry  of  the  "  Fundholder"  meets 
us  at  every  turn,  "  to  find  out  right  with  wrongs,  it 
may  not  be."-  -  "  Be  just  to  your  creditor." 

Let  us  proceed  to  a  dispassionate  consideration  of 
the   fundholder.     "  I  will  beg  leave   (says  Mr.  Att- 
wood,  in  his   Speech  at  Birmingham,  May  8,  1829) 
to  give  you  one  proof  that  there  is  as  yet  prosperity 
enough  among  the  tax  receivers.     In  the  year  1791, 
the  National  Debt  amounted  to  £238,000,000.  ster- 
ling.     Since   then,    the    Government  has   borrowed 
£1047,000,000.  more.     If  you  add  these  two  sums 
together,  it  will  shew  our  present  National  Debt  to 
amount    to    £1285,000,000.   sterling:    but   observe, 
£480,000,000.  of  this  has  since  been  redeemed   by 
the  Sinking  Fund.     The  net  Government  debt  now, 
therefore,    is    about    £800,000,000.    sterling.       This 
£800,000,000.   was  borrowed  at  the  average  rate  of 
£60.    to   the    £100.     of    consols.       The    sum    of 
£480,000,000.,   therefore,   is   all   the  money   which 
the   Government   really   received   for    it.       But   this 
£480,000,000.  was  advanced  to  the  Government  in 
paper  money,   worth  only   one   half  of  the    antient 
money  of  the  country,  or  of  that   which  is  now   being 
inflicted  upon  the  country,  or  rather  ground  out  of  the 
bones  and  vitals  of  the  country.     The  sum  actually 
advanced  to  the   Government    was,    therefore,  only 
£240,000,000.  of  our  present  money.     The  selling 
price  of  consols  is  at  present  87.     The  sum  which  the 
fundholders  are,   therefore,    now  receiving  from   the 
Government  is  about  £696,000,000.  sterling  in  solid 


Cl'UKKXCY.  129 

,  instead  of  the  £240,000,000.  which  they  really 
advanced  !  Here,  then,  is  a  net  profit  of  £456,000,000. 
sterling,  literally  given  to  the  fundkolders,  without 
am/  equivalent  whatever  III  Is  not  this  prosperity 
enough  ?" 

The  following  Tables,  drawn  up  by  Sir  John  Sin- 
clair, (the  indefatigable  founder  of  the  Board  of 
Agriculture,  and  of  all  the  consequent  modern  im- 
provements in  that  art  which  have  hitherto  averted 
its  entire  ruin),  may  serve  to  explain  this  more  in 
detail. 

"  Table  I.  Showing  the  profits  of  the  fundholders 
on  a  loan  of  £100.  in  the  3  per  cent,  stock,  if  it  rose 
to  par  from  54. 

In  Paper.        In  Gold. 
War  price  of  £100.  stock  in  3  per  cent. 

consols      £54     00       37  16     0* 

Profit  to  the  stockholder,  if  the  3  per 

cents,  rise  to  par  in  paper  or  in  gold     46     0  0       62     4     0 

100     0  0     100     0     0 

"  But  as  the  3  per  cents,  are  not  yet  at  par,  it 
may  be  proper  to  state  the  profit  at  the  present  price  of 
3  per  cents.,  viz.  87.  t 


j      i     i 
3  per  cents.,  viz.  87.  t 


*  "  The  value  in  gold  of  the  £\.  notes  was  thus  ascertained. 
A  guinea  in  gold  was  currently  bought  and  sold,  or  exchanged 
for  a  one  pound  note  and  seven  shillings  in  silver ;  consequently 
a  one  pound  note  was  worth  only  about  two  thirds,  or  14s. 
Mr.  Jones,  of  Birmingham,  contends  that,  during  a  great  part 
of  the  late  war,  the  exchange  with  Paris  was  only  16  francs 
per  pound  sterling  in  paper,  or  12s.  3\d.  in  gold."  Sir  John 
Sinclair. 

f  June  22,  1829.  At  the  late  price  of  the  3  per  cents. — 95, 
the  profit  per  cent,  would  be  <£57.  4s.  Qd. 

K 


130  CURRENCY. 

In  Paper.        In  Gold. 
"War  price  of  £100.  stock  in  3  per  cent. 

consols     £54     0  0       37  16     0 

Profit  at  the  present  price  of  87  (metal- 
lic currency)        33     00       49     4     0 

87     0  0       87     0     0 


"  Hence  what  originally  cost  the  fundholder  in 
gold  £37.  \6s.  Od.  is  now  worth  also  in  gold  £87., 
or  yields  a  profit  of  130  per  cent,  on  the  original 
outlay. 

"  Table  II.  Showing  the  profit  on  loans  at  5  per 
cent. 

In  Paper.  In  Money. 
War  price  of  £100.  stock  in  the  5  per 

cents £84     00  58  16     0 

Profit  when  the  5  per  cents,  rose  to  par  16     00  41     4     0 

100     0     0     100     0     0" 


But  three  or  four  hundred  millions  of  our  debt 
were  borrowed  before  the  Restriction :  very  true. 
And  what  was  the  price  of  the  three  per  cent,  consols 
immediately  before  the  Restriction  took  place? — 47; 
which  a  rise  to  the  average  war  price  of  three  per 
cents.,  would  make  60;  giving  an  addition  of  more 
than  one- fifth  to  the  value  of  the  anti-restriction  stock- 
holders property,  to  meet  the  rise  in  other  property. 
All  this  Mr.  Attwood,  however,  seems  to  infer,  has 
been  liquidated  by  the  £480,000,000.  of  Sinking 
Fund.  Was  one  man  ruined  from  the  depreciation 
which  ensued  from  the  Bank  Restriction  in  1797? 
Is  there  one  man,  setting  aside  creditors  and  fixed  an- 


nuitants,  who  has  not  been  injured  by  the  Bill  of  1819, 
which  raised  the  value  of  money?  And,  alas,  how 
utterly  has  ruin  come  upon  many.  "  No  act  (says 
Sir  J.  Sinclair)  can  be  produced  by  which  the  Govern- 
ment was  bound  to  pay  the  public  creditor  exclusively 
in  gold,  until  the  Act  of  1816,  by  which  silver  could 
not  be  made  a  legal  tender  beyond  40-s1. :  whereas,  be- 
fore that  law,  silver  bullion  was  a  legal  tender  to  any 
amount."  No  standard  of  reference  existed  during 
the  Restriction  Act  but  silver  coins,  and  they,  (ac- 
cording to  Mr.  Attwood,)  from  the  wear  and  tear, 
and  debasement  which  they  had  undergone,  did  not 
contain  more  than  one-half  the  standard  silver  which 
the  present  silver  coins  contain.  Even,  according  to 
the  strict  letter,  then,  the  lenders  to  the  State,  from 
1797  to  1816,  have  no  claim  to  be  paid  otherwise 
than  in  silver  coins  of  half  the  standard  weight  of  the 
present. 

The  only  serious  obstacle,  therefore,  to  retracing 
our  steps  to  that  degree  of  depreciation  which  existed, 
and  was  rendered  necessary  by  our  policy  in  the  war, 

(is  the  certain  injury  which  would  be  committed  upon 
some  individual  stockholders,  who,  under  expectation 
of  money  preserving  the  value  which  was  forced  upon 
it  by  the  Bill  of  1819,  have  become  purchasers  into 
the  public  funds  since  that  time.  There  can  be  no 
doubt  that  justice  demands  a  compensation  to  these: 
at  least  to  all  such  as  bought  in  beyond  (say)  the  price 
of  15  :  and  a  scale  should  be  made,  like  that  of  the 
American  Government,  in  regard  to  their  debt — by 
means  of  depreciation  tables. 

K  2 


132  CURRENCY. 

Although,  in  general,  the  opinion  of  the  Americans 
inclined  towards  paying  their  depreciated  war  money 
in  full,  yet  Mr.  Jefferson  states,  that  "  There  is  a 
difference  between  different  species  of  certificates, 
some  of  them  being  receivable  in  taxes,  others 
having  the  benefit  of  particular  assurances,  &c. 
Again,  some  of  these  certificates  are  for  paper  money 
debts.  A  deception  here  must  be  guarded  against, 
(writing  to  a  supposed  purchaser.)  Congress  ordered 
all  such  to  be  resettled  by  the  depreciation  tables,  and 
a  new  certificate  to  be  given  in  exchange  for  them, 
expressing  their  value  in  real  money."  Mr.  Jeffer- 
son, in  another  place,  gives  the  following  table,  to 
which  I  suppose  he  here  alludes. 


CURHKNCV. 


133 


Emission. 

Sinn  emitted. 

Depreciation. 

Worth  of  the  sum 
emitted,  in  silver 
dollars. 

1775.  June     23 

2.000.000 

2.000.000 

Nov.    *J1) 

3.000.000 

3.000.000 

1776.  Feb.     17 

4.000.000 

4.000.000 

Aug.    13 

5.000.000 

5.000.000 

1777.  May     20 

5.000.000 

2  2-3 

1.877.273 

Aug.    15 

1.000.000 

3 

333.333  1-3 

Nov.      7 

1.000.000 

4 

250.000 

Dec.       a 

1.000.000 

4 

250.000 

1778.  Jan.        8 

1.000.000 

4 

250.000 

Jan.      22 

2.000.000 

4 

500.000 

Feb.     16 

2.000.000 

5 

400.000 

March    5 

2.000.000 

5 

400.000 

April      4 

1.000.000 

6 

166.666  2-3 

April   11 

5.000.000 

6 

833.333  1-3 

April   18 

500.000 

6 

83.333  1-3 

May     22 

5.000.000 

5 

1.000.000 

June     20 

5.000.000 

4 

1.250.000 

July      30      5.000.000 

4  1-2 

1.111.111 

Sept.      5 

5.000.000 

5 

1.000.000 

Sept.    26 

10.000.100 

5 

2.000.020 

Nov.      4 

10.000.100 

6 

1.666.683  1-3 

Dec.      14 

10.000.100 

6 

1.666.683  1-3 

1779.  Jan.      14 

*24.447.620 

8 

3.055.952  1-2 

Feb.       3 

5.000.160 

10 

500.016 

Feb.     12 

5.000.160 

10 

500.016 

April      2 

5.000.160 

17 

294.127 

May       5 

10.000.100 

24 

416.670  5-6 

June       4 

10.000.100 

20 

500.005 

July     17 

15.000.280 

20 

750.014 

Sept.    17 

15.000.260 

24 

625.010  5-6 

Oct.      14      5.000.180 

30 

166.672  2-3 

Nov.     17    10.050.540 

38  1-2 

261.053 

Nov.    29    10.000.140 

38  1-2 

259.743 

200.000.000 

36.367.719  5-6 

*  The  sum  actually  voted  was  50.000.400,  but  part  of  it 
was  for  exchange  of  old  bills,  without  saying  how  much.  It 
is  presumed  that  these  exchanges  absorbed  25.552.780,  be- 
cause the  remainder,  24.447.620,  with  all  the  other  emissions 
preceding  September  2d,  1779,  will  amount  to  159.948.880, 
the  sum  which  Congress  declared  to  be  then  in  circulation. 

K  3 


134       »  CURRENCY. 

In  a  memoir  on  America,  for  the  French  Encyclo- 
pedic, and  subjected  to  Mr.  Jefferson's  correction, 
it  was  objected,  in  reference  to  an  adjustment,  "  Le 
remboursement  presentera  des  difficulty's  des  sommes 
considerables."  To  which  he  replied  :  "  There  is  no 
difficulty  nor  doubt  on  this  subject ;  every  one  is  sen- 
sible how  this  is  to  be  ultimately  settled.  Neither  the 
British  creditor,  nor  the  State,  will  be  permitted  to 
lose  by  these  payments.  The  debtor  will  be  credited 
for  what  he  paid,  according  to  what  it  was  really 
worth  at  the  time  he  paid  it,  and  he  must  pay  the 
balance.  Nor  does  he  lose  by  this ;  for  if  a  man  who 
owed  one  thousand  dollars  to  a  British  merchant, 
paid  eight  hundred  paper  dollars  into  the  treasury, 
when  the  depreciation  was  at  eight  for  one,  it  is  clear 
he  paid  but  one  hundred  real  dollars,  and  must  now 
pay  nine  hundred.  It  is  probable,  he  received  those 
eight  hundred  dollars  for  one  hundred  bushels  of 
wheat,  which  were  never  worth  more  than  one  hun- 
dred silver  dollars.  He  is  credited,  therefore,  the 
full  worth  of  his  wheat.  The  equivoque  is  in  the  use 
of  the  word  "  dollar." — This  is  precisely  the  British 
depreciation  case ;  the  only  difference  being  that  the 
equivoque  is  in  the  word  "  pound" — as  may  be  seen 
in  the  following  sketch  for  a  British  depreciation 
table. 


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( I    KKKNCY. 

To  render  this  table  considerably  under,  rather  than 
above  the  actual  state  of  the  depreciation,  the  corn 
price  is  assumed  as  at  par  at  sixty  shillings  per  quar- 
ter :  whereas  the  average  price  for  many  years  before 
the  war  was  only  about  forty-nine  shillings.     As  hu- 
man monetary  affairs  proceed  upon  a  much  less  rapid 
scale  of  change  than  the  variable  prices  of  commodi- 
ties affected  by  seasons  from  year  to  year,  the  depre- 
ciation table  here  given  is  derived  from   an  average 
compensation  line,  representing  the  price  of  corn  as  it 
rose  and  fell  generally  during  the  years  of  deprecia- 
tion ;  in  the  same  manner  as  the  mean  level  of  the 
ocean  would  afford  a  compensation  line  to  its  waves, 
yet  truly  delineate  the  curvature  of  the  earth.     The 
corn  line  is  adhered  to  as   a  criterion,  rather  than 
meat  or  butter,  because  of  its  more  general  nature, 
and  less  liability  to  be  affected  by  local  circumstances. 
It  will,  nevertheless,  be  seen,  that  these  articles  tally 
with  corn,  excepting  in  wet  seasons,  when  of  course 
opposite  prices  prevail.     This  is  particularly  observ- 
able in  the  years  1816-17.     Gold  being  thrown  out 
of  circulation  in  Great  Britain,  Austria,  Russia,  and 
America,  was  consequently  a  drug  in  the  market : 
indeed,  for  some  years,  it  was  not  even  quoted  among 
the  "  Prices  current,"  and  is  therefore  no  criterion  of 
value  at  this  period.     It  will  be  seen,  however,  that 
the  demand  for  gold  for  the  purposes  of  war  in  1810, 
when  the  payment  through   our  manufactures   was 
prevented  by  Napoleon's  continental  system  excluding 
our  goods  from  the  European  market,  causes  it  to 
rise  with  other  articles  in  the  scale,  which  it  did  at 

K4 


136  CURRENCY. 

one  time  as  far  as  forty-five  per  cent. :  and  had  not 
its  non-employment  to  so  great  an  extent  as  a  circu- 
lating medium  been  in  operation,  its  rise  would  doubt- 
less have  corresponded  with  that  of  all  other  commo- 
dities :  even  as  it  was,  a  shade  of  resemblance  in  its 
variations  may  be  traced  with  other  articles. 

Were  a  Parliamentary  Committee  to  sit,  and  adjust 
a  table  of  this  kind,  to  be  put  in  force  by  Commission- 
ers, as  in  the  case  of  the  Income  Tax,  through,  per- 
haps, a  transfer  of  an  additional  amount  of  stock  (at 
the  public  expense)  to  the  names  of  such  persons  as, 
on  a  strict  examination,  should  be  found  irremediable 
losers,  either  previous  to,  or  since  the  war  :*  then, 
at  least,  neither  injury  nor  injustice  would  accrue; 
except,  indeed,  to  the  public,  who  might  well  grum- 
ble, that  after  having,  for  so  many  years,  paid  cent, 
per  cent,  more  than  they  ought  to  the  great  class 
of  fundholders,  they  should  now  be  called  on  to 
provide  against  the  loss  of  another  class  of  fund- 
holders,  when,  if  that  loss  were  made  up  by  the 
gaining  fundholders,  much  advantage  would  still 
remain  to  them.  A  plan  of  this  kind,  however, 
would  add  so  much  to  the  difficulty  of  an  adjust- 
ment, that  it  would  go  far  to  frustrate  it  altogether. 
The  public  must,  I  fear,  be  content  to  act  on  the 
principle  of  a  landlord  with  a  tenant  who  will  neither 
pay  rent,  or  go  to  plough,  and  yet  refuses  to  leave 
his  farm ;  whom,  therefore,  he  must  bribe  to  quit, 

*  All  non  resident  foreign  holders  of  stock,  in  the  spirit  of 
the  principle  of  the  law  of  nations,  should  certainly  be  paid  in 
full. 


CUHHENCV.  137 

at  any  rate,  in  order  to  prevent  ruin  to  the  land ;  and 
must  add  to  his  loss,  in  the  first  instance,  to  provide 
against  a  much  greater  loss  in  the  end. 

What  estimate  to  put  upon  the  sum  which  would 
be  required  for  the  purpose  proposed,  depends  upon 
the  average  annual  purchases*  into  the  funds,  as  well 
as  the  average  price  of  the  funds  of  the  last  eight  or 
ten  years.  I  should  imagine  £50,000,000.  would 
cover  the  whole,  which  I  am  very  certain  the  public 
would  regain  in  one  year. 

And  let  not  the  stockholder  complain  without  just 
cause:  let  him  consider  how  many  20  per  cents,  have 
been  returned  to  the  tenant  from  the  interest  which 
landholders  have  ostensibly  received  from  their  three 
per  cent,  investment  in  land  since  1819,  and  let  20  per 
cent,  be  subtracted  from  the  four  per  cent,  interest 
which  the  stockholder  has  received  without  any  de- 
duction during  this  time ;  and  still  there  would  be  no 
injury  to  the  stockholder,  beyond  what  he  is  liable  to 
in  common  with  every  member  of  the  community. 
Why  is  the  landlord  called  upon  to  reduce  his  rent  20 
per  cent.  ?  By  national  necessity.  Is  the  fund  holder, 
because  he  has  chosen  a  different  investment,  to  be 

*  Perhaps  some  Member  of  Parliament  will  call  for  an 
enquiry  on  this  point.  It  will  be  hereafter  shewn  that  25  per 
cent,  of  taxation  is  due  from  all  creditors,  to  bring  them  up  to 
the  level  of  taxation  on  houses  and  land :  if  the  depreciation 
amount  to  35  per  cent.,  there  will  be  10  per  cent,  to  make 
good  to  some  parties;  certainly  not  to  more  than  half  the  num- 
ber of  stockholders :  this  would  amount  to  £40,000,000.,  or  10 
per  cent,  on  ^400,000,000. 


138  CURRENCY. 

absolved  from  an  equal  charge  ?     The  national  obliga- 
tion is  laid  upon  the  proceeds  of  all  capital,  not  on  any 
peculiar  species  of  investment  of  it.   Why  has  the  fund- 
holder  been  receiving  more  interest  than  the  landholder 
but  on  the  principle  of  less  security :  if  the  landhold- 
er's greater  security  fail  him,  and  he  be  disappointed 
of  even  his  low  interest  of  three  per  cent.,  how  can 
the  post  1819  fundholder  complain  at  an  equal  deduc- 
tion from  his  higher  interest  of  four  per  cent.  ?     He 
will  still  be  so  much  better  off  than  the  landholder  by 
the  larger  interest  he  has  been  receiving  for  his  money 
since  the  time  of  his  buying  in  to  the  funds.     A  land 
tax  has  often  been  imposed,  to  meet  national  emer- 
gencies;  but  it  was   laid  in   that  particular  quarter, 
because,  from  the  stationary  character  of  the  soil,  it 
afforded  the  best  security  for  the  payment  of  taxation  ; 
not  because  capital,  on  being  invested  in  land,  became 
immediately  inflicted  with  the  peculiar  curse  of  paying 
exclusive  taxes.     Property  in  land  is  but  an  accumu- 
lation of  the  proceeds  of  industry,  in  what  has  been 
generally  esteemed  a  pretty  secure,  and,  under  pre- 
sent circumstances,  the  most  harmless,  because,  with 
reference  to  an  overproduction   of  goods,  the  least 
active,  form  of  investment:  it  is,  therefore,  in  fair- 
ness,   no  more    subject  to   taxation  than  any  other 
kind    of  property.       However,     until   loose   capital 
became  so  much  invested  in  the  public  funds,   there 
was  no  surety  that  it  would  remain  in  the   country 
to   be    taxed :    but   now,    that   funded    capital  must 
remain  nolens  volens,  there  is  no  sufficient  reason  why 
the  fundholding  capitalist  should  not  be  taxed  directly 


CURRENCY.  139 

in  proportion  to  his  present  freedom  from  direct  taxa- 
tion. The  precedent  for  such  an  act,  would  be  the 
land  tax,  and  other  taxes  on  the  soil,  which  became 
subject  to  such  an  imposition,  only  because  it  was 
supposed  originally  that  no  other  capital  was  suffi- 
ciently fixed  to  be  certain  of  its  stay. 

The  interest  on  the  National  Debt  amounts  to 
about  £28,000,000. ;  and  the  fundholder,  the  owner  of 
the  interest  of  the  National  Debt,  is  as  much  part 
and  parcel  of  a  fixed  interest  as  the  landholder. 
Now,  as  I  said  before,  if  the  funds  be  a  fixed  pro- 
perty, why  are  they  not  taxed  directly  like  other 
fixed  property  ?  Why  has  a  land  tax  been  imposed 
from  time  to  time,  but  for  the  security  of  all  pro- 
perty from  danger,  external  or  internal  ?  Why  are 
taxes  now  assessed  directly  on  windows,  inhabited 
houses,  and  land,  and  not  on  the  interest  of  funded 
capital?  The  industrious  classes,  from  being  near- 
est the  ground,  and  their  fall  being  quick  in  pro- 
portion, are  now  the  most  immediate  victims  of  the 
late  war,  because  the  tax  payer,  though  he  may  barely 
be  able  to  feed  himself,  is  not  able  to  employ  and  feed 
them.  But  why  is  the  tax  for  supporting  the  poor, 
(imposed  for  national  causes  which  have  benefitted 
none  half  so  much  as  the  stockholder)  to  be  thrown 
on  every  fixed  property  but  his  ?  Why  is  4s.  in  the 
pound  laid  on  pensions,  and  not  on  the  £28,000,000. 
rent  of  the  fundholder  ?  Will  it  be  said,  that  the  fund- 
holder,  when  he  hires  a  house,  pays  the  window  and 
house  tax  ?  If  he  does,  every  one  knows  it  is  so  much 
deduction  from  the  rent  of  his  landlord.  If  he  builds 


140  CURRENCY. 

a  house  of  his  own,  he  then  pays  tax  for  it,  because 
that  part  of  his  property  thenceforward  assumes  that 
privileged  shape  which  legislation  has  blessed  with  the 
doom  of  taxation.  In  order  to  accomplish  the  build- 
ing or  purchase  of  a  house,  he  must  sell  some  stock ; 
which  shews  both  that  the  capital  invested  in  such 
house  drops  any  connection  it  may  have  had  with  the 
public  funds,  and  also  that  the  same  amount  of  pro- 
perty always  remains  untaxed ;  for  some  one  else 
takes  his  place  in  the  funds. 

Estimating  the  poor's  rate  at  present  falling  on  fixed 
property,  as  land  and  houses,  at  £8,000,000.,*  and 
adding  £4,000,000.  for  the  land  tax,  redeemed  and 
unredeemed,  the  house  and  window  tax,  &c.  we 
have  an  aggregate  of  at  least  £12,000,000.  paid 
directly  in  the  shape  of  taxation  by  the  owners  of 
land  and  houses,  from  which  the  fixed  property  of  the 

*  By  a  Parliamentary  Return,  it  appears  that  the  poor  and 
other  rates  levied  in  each  County  in  England  and  Wales  in  the 
year  ending  25th  of  March,  1827,  amounted  to  £7,784,351.  19s. 
General  Gascoigne,  in  the  House  of  Commons,  made  an  uncon- 
tradicted  statement  of  their  amounting  at  this  time  to  not  less 
than  £11,000,000.  And  Mr.  Slaney,  who  has  paid  great  at- 
tention to  the  subject  of  pauperism,  observed  lately  in  the 
House,  "  that  a  few  years  ago  the  proportion  of  poor  in  this 
kingdom  had  been  one  in  twelve ;  soon  after,  as  one  in  nine  ; 
soon  after,  as  one  in  seven ;  and  now  he  believed  it  to  be  as 
one  in  six." — Taking  the  population  of  England  and  Wales, 
to  which  I  suppose  this  calculation  refers,  at  15,000,000, 
we  have  an  aggregate  of  2^,000,000  of  paupers:  but  even 
2,000,000,  at  the  estimated  charge  of  £7.  per  head,  would 
require  £14,000,000.  to  maintain  them. 


141 

landholder  is  exempted  ;  but  which  it  is  liable  to,  inas- 
much as  he,  who  has  all  the  protection  of  the  expen- 
sive government  we  possess,  has  no  right  to  suppose 
himself  absolved  from  a  share  in  its  state  of  involve- 
ment. The  country  he  has  chosen  as  his  own,  and  it 
must  be  for  better  or  worse.  Though  the  partiality 
of  legislation  has  hitherto  refrained  from  taxing  him 
directly  as  it  has  other  fixed  property,  from  an  idea 
that  it  would  be  indelicate  in  the  public  -the  debtor — 
to  tax  the  stockholder  its  creditor,  when  it  would  tend 
so  much  to  its  own  benefit ;  no  one  can,  for  a  moment, 
imagine  that  the  indefeasible  national  law  which  binds 
every  class  of  subjects  under  equal  obligations,  can  be 
subverted  by  an  omission  of  Parliament,  whose  deli- 
cacy in  this  particular  arose  from  a  feeling  that  money 
lent  to  the  public,  must  be  held  sacred  by  the  public ; 
as  if  the  fundholder's  capital  were  not  property  before 
it  was  lent ;  and  as  if  that  property  were  not  since,  as 
well  as  before,  equally  liable  with  other  property  to 
every  call  of  taxation.  "  The  rights  of  the  creditor 
(says  the  eloquent  writer  on  '  the  present  distress,'  in 
allusion  to  coining  the  oz.  of  silver  into  Ss.  6>/.)  are 
bound  up  with  his  duties  as  a  citizen.  He  can  claim 
no  exemption  from  the  burthens  of  the  State.  So 
long  as  he  is  not  singled  out  to  be  oppressed  ;  whilst 
the  same  justice  which  is  measured  to  others,  is  done 
to  him ;  whilst  it  is  not  his  property  alone  which  is  to 
be  offered  up  at  the  shrine  of  national  distress ;  he 
cannot  complain  of  an  infliction  which  he  shares  in 
common  with  every  other  class  of  men."  Obligations, 
then,  to  which  the  fundholder  has  long  been  subject, 


142 


CURRENCY. 


have  as  yet  never  been  charged  on  him.  Why  delay 
doing  so?*  It  will  be  well  that  so  much  of  the 
superabundant  capital  of  the  country,  otherwise  so 
ruinous  in  its  competition  to  the  production  in- 
terest, can  be  made  available  for  national  pur- 
poses, instead  of  its  being  in  a  condition  to  fly 
to  another  country,  after  being  fostered  and  pro- 
tected in  this.  A  national  debt,  in  this  way,  becomes 
a  bondjide  sinking  fund  of  capital,  otherwise  insecure 
for  national  purposes :  an  imaginary  land,  ready  to 
add  its  share  of  relief  to  the  accumulating  burdens  of 

*  It  may  be  said  that  the  exemption  from  taxation  formed 
one  of  the  chief  inducements  to  purchase  into  the  public  funds  : 
this  is  very  possible ;  and  there  certainly  should  be  a  differ- 
ence of  interest  in  favour  of  a  fictitious  investment  like  this, 
because  of  its  inferior  security  to  real  property.  But  has  not 
such  a  bonus  always  been  obtained  by  an  addition  of  one 
(oftener  of  two  or  three)  per  cent,  in  the  dividends  on  funded 
investments  to  that  received  on  landed,  besides  being  removed 
from  such  casualties  as  bad  seasons.  A  great  deal  of  pro- 
spective pity  is  bestowed  on  the  fundholders  who  have  bought 
in  since  1819 — in  case  of  any  currency  alteration  at  this  time ; 
whilst  it  is  forgotten  what  numbers  have  bought  land  within 
that  period,  on  the  expectation  of  a  secure  three  per  cent,  for 
their  money ;  who  have  been  obliged  to  return  from  10  to  25 
per  cent,  of  their  rents  for  the  last  three  or  four  years.  It  is 
said  that  the  Corn  Bill  adds  more  to  the  value  of  land,  than  tln» 
exclusive  burthens  upon  it  take  away ;  and  hence  that  these 
burthens  ought  to  be  struck  out  of  this  question  :  but  with 
prices  regulated  by  the  antient  standard  of  value,  operating  on 
an  increasing  and  vast  supply  of  corn,  and  other  agricultural 
produce  from  Ireland,  under  circumstances  of  more  cheap  pro- 
duction and  facility  of  conveyance  than  any  other  country  can 
supply,  this  plea  falls  to  the  ground. 


(TURK  NC'V  143 

the  country :  and  this  may  serve  to  counterbalance 
the  evil  of  machinery,  which  tends  to  decrease  com- 
paratively the  demand  for,  and  value  of  agricultural 
produce ;  and  so  curtails  its  powers  to  meet  taxation. 
Upon  the  principle  that  the  oz.  of  silver  and  the 
bushel  of  wheat  have,  for  the  two  centuries  down  to 
1790,  had  a  tendency  to  assimilate  in  value,  it  has 
been  proposed  that  the  oz.  of  silver  should  be  coined 
into  86'  6d. ,   which  would  keep  the  bushel  at  about 
7s.  9d.,  or  Ss. :  then  with  the  oz.  of  gold  at  £6.,  we 
should  be  on  a  level   with  the  fundholder,   and  the 
war  taxation.*     I  am  well  aware  of  the   many  ob- 
jectors to  the  plan  of  depreciation;   but  their  argu- 
ments rest  chiefly,    if  not  entirely,   on  the  grounds 
that,    on  former   occasions,   great   hardship   has  re- 
sulted to  the  creditors  when  a  depreciation  has  taken 
place.      But  I  think  they  overlook  the  fact,  that,  in 
the  present,  which  makes  it,  perhaps,  a  distinct  case 
from  all  others,   the  whole  nation,  as  the  debtor,  has 
been  grievously  imposed  upon ;  arid  its  creditors  are 
the  very  men  who  have  reaped  the  whole  benefit  of  the 
imposition :  those  few,  indeed,  who  have  had  no  ad- 
vantage   (and  they  are  very  few,  however  short  their 

*  The  depreciating  the  standard  of  silver  to  Qs.  Gd.  per  oz., 
would  not  affect  the  fundholder  so  much  as  the  wheat  price  of 
10s.  per  bushel,  contemplated  by  the  Corn  Bill  of  1815,  to 
which  they  made  no  objection.  The  manufacturer  and  opera- 
tive would  be  saved,  as  it  will  be  shewn,  from  destruction  by 
a  nominal  increase  in  the  price  of  corn,  through  a  depreciation 
of  the  standard ;  for  these  means  would  not  only  enrich  their 
customers  at  home,  but  they  could  meet  their  foreign  customers 
on  the  basis  of  the  lowest  continental  price  of  corn. 


144  CURRENCY. 

advantage  may  fall  of  the  loss  they  would  sustain  by 
an  unindemnified  depreciation,)  it  is  proposed  should 
be  protected  at  the  public  expense,  which  will  be  after 
the  manner  of  a  fine  for  the  renewal  of  the  lease  of 
prosperity. 

Mr.  Pitt's  estimate  of  the  rental  of  land  and 
houses  in  1798,  (wheat  being  about  56s.  per  quarter,) 
was  £25,000,000.  for  the  former,  and  £5,000,000. 
for  the  latter.  Not  to  be  under  the  mark,  and  taking 
into  the  account  a  comparative  increase  in  the  rent  of 
land  from  improved  husbandry,  and  a  considerable 
investment  of  accumulated  capital  in  new  houses 
since  that  time,  we  may  suppose  the  present  landed 
rental  to  be  ,£28,000,000.,  and  that  of  houses 
£7,000,000. ;  being  an  aggregate  of  £35,000,000.  ; 
which,  including  the  above  direct  taxation  of 
£12,000,000.  upon  them,  makes  £47,000,000.;  so 
that  the  tax  is  rather  more  than  one  quarter,  or  25 
per  cent,  on  the  gross  rental.  The  direct  tax,  there- 
fore, which  is  due  from  the  £28,000,000.  rent  of  the 
fundholder  is  of  course  £7,000,000.,  or  25  per  cent. 
This  taxation  is  strictly  due  from  funded  property  as 
capital,  and  is  altogether  exclusive  of  any  proposed 
alteration  in  the  standard  of  value,  in  consequence  of 
the  monstrous  advantages  which  have  accrued  to 
funded  capital  by  the  return  to  metallic  payments, 
and  by  the  gross  error,  or  profligate  extravagance  of 
Government  borrowing  at  the  rate  of  £60.  to  pay  again 
at  £100.  Whenever  any  adjustment  of  these  matters 
takes  place,  (and  sooner  or  later  it  must,)  the  taxa- 
tion of  25  per  cent.  I  have  proposed  above,  will  of 


I   I    1U<K\(  Y  145 

course  fall  only  on  whatever  remains  :  thus,  if  it  were 
proved  that  the  fundholders  were  receiving  one-third 
more  than  they  lent,  this  deducted  from  £27,000,000. 
would  leave  £18,000,000.  as  the  interest  of  the  debt; 
the  25  per  cent,  tax  on  which  would  be  £4,500,000. 

It  is  evident  that  a  similar  taxation  is  due  from  the 
dividends  on  all  capital  whatsoever,  private  as  well  as 
public.  That  from  private  creditors  could  not  be  ob- 
tained except  through  Commissioners  ;  and  even  then 
much  evasion  would  ensue,  unless  the  debtors  were 
made  immediately  interested  in  a  disclosure.  At  the 
close  of  the  war  the  private  debts  were  supposed  to 
be  equal  in  amount  to  the  public  debt.  We  could 
not,  however,  reckon  upon  more  than  ,£400,000,000. 
falling  under  the  cognizance  of  Commissioners :  at 
4  per  cent,  there  would  be  £16,000,000.  dividends,  the 
25  per  cent,  taxation  on  which  would  be  <£4,000,000.  ; 
or  less  in  proportion  to  any  adjustment  of  debts  con- 
tracted under  a  depreciated  currency. 

I  know  it  will  be  said  that  both  public  and  private 
creditors  pay  some  sort  of  equivalent  to  the  taxation 
of  25  per  cent,  falling  at  present  exclusively  on  land 
and  houses,  in  the  increased  price  of  bread,  occa- 
sioned by  the  import  duties  on  corn.  But  having 
restored  gold  to  its  old  standard,  it  is  quite  obvious, 
that  the  price  of  corn,  even  if  none  were  admitted 
from  abroad,  must  return  on  an  average  to  its  antient 
average  price  at  the  same  standard,  which  was,  and 
now  is,  (exclusive  of  adverse  seasons,)  only  6s.  per 
bushel ;  therefore,  neither  is  the  funded  or  any  other 
interest  taxed  as  a  consumer  of  corn  beyond  what  it 

L 


14G  CURRENCY. 

was  in  1790,  except  in  that  wholesome  degree  requi- 
site to  the  continued  necessity  of  the  grower,  and  to 
the  limitation  of  the  demand  to  the  supply  in  scarce 
seasons  ;  whereas,  the  duty  of  £4,000,000.  on  malt  is 
another  direct  tax  upon  the  land.  The  higher  rents 
of  the  present  time,  compared  with  those  of  1790, 
which,  on  land  in  cultivation  then,  do  not  average 
more  than  15  per  cent.,  have  arisen  from  increased 
skill  in  agriculture,  and  a  more  spirited  outlay  of 
capital,  producing  corn  at  less  cost;  but  this,  like 
any  mechanical  improvement,  is  a  fair  advantage  to 
the  landed  proprietor,  because  it  leaves  the  price  to 
the  consumer  the  same. 

It  will,  doubtless,  also  be  objected,  that  such  taxa- 
tion on  public  and  private  creditors  would  be  unjust, 
because  it  was  unforeseen  at  the  time  their  money  was 
lent.  Have  not,  however,  the  land  tax,  the  malt 
and  beer  duties,  the  poor's  rates,  the  house  and  win- 
dow tax,  &c.  been  imposed  without  the  capitalists 
who  had  made  investments  in  land  and  houses  having, 
at  the  time  of  purchase,  any  expectation  of  them  ? 
These  are  precedents  sufficient  for  a  public  and  pri- 
vate credit  tax. 

After  direct  taxation  is  thus  brought  to  something 
like  an  equitable  level,  then,  if  any  more  be  required 
to  relieve  taxes  peculiarly  burdensome  to  industry,  a 
general  property  tax  may  be  thought  adviseable :  it 
can  never  lose,  however,  its  inquisitorial  character; 
and  is  too  ready  an  engine  of  oppression  ever  to  be 
permitted  as  a  permanent  case  in  a  free  country*. 

If  Parliament  should  persist  in  refusing  any  ad- 
justment of  contracts,  many  of  which  have  actually 


I  I   KUENCY.  147 

doubled  by  the  Bill  of  1819,  it  will  be  no  small  satis- 
faction to  have  discovered  a  means  of  saving,  \\ith 
perfect  justice  to  both  public  and  private  creditors, 
perhaps  £11,000,000.  taxation  to  the  productive 
classes.  By  this  means  it  is  possible,  together  with 
the  issue  of  one  pound  notes,*  to  get  through  our 

*  A  very  unjust  prejudice  has  existed  since  1825  against 
one  pound  notes,  because,  by  a  similar  injustice,  it  was 
thought  right  to  visit  the  evils  of  the  Panic  upon  them.  No 
reason  could  be  assigned,  because  the  Panic  was  owing  to 
nothing  more  or  less  than  the  exchanges  and  balance  of  trade 
causing  gold  to  leave  the  country;  when  £400,000,000.  of 
bills  were  left,  though  payable  in  gold,  without  any  gold  to 
pay  them  with  :  no  wonder  that  a  panic  was  the  consequence. 
Nor  has  it  yet  been  answered  why  one  pound  notes  circulate 
with  advantage  in  Scotland,  and  with  disadvantage  in  England. 
If  joint  stock  companies  were  prevalent  in  England,  with  a 
sufficiency  of  capital,  the  same  feeling  of  security  which  never 
calls  for  a  sovereign  in  exchange,  would  obtain  here  as  well  as 
in  Scotland.  None  of  the  humbug  of  the  exchanges  would 
affect  the  country  circulation ;  but  if  London  choose  to  sub- 
ject itself  to  the  inconveniences  attending  bullion  speculations, 
let  it  have  a  gold  circulation;  there  is  no  reason,  however, 
why  the  country  at  large  should  add  this  to  its  other  sacrifices ; 
for,  put  London  out  of  the  question,  a  one  pound  note  circu- 
lation is  perfectly  feasible :  and  the  truth  is,  small  notes  are 
at  once  the  best  and  safest  possible  currency.  Best,  because 
we  cannot  command  sufficient  circulating  medium  without  pa- 
per ;  and  if  we  could  have  gold,  the  speculations  of  the  bul- 
lion market,  as  lamentable  experience  shews,  occasionally 
drain  it  from  us  altogether  ;  thus  materially  deranging  prices, 
on  u  hid i  the  powers  to  pay  a  fixed  taxation  essentially  de- 
pend. They  are  the  safest,  because  large  notes,  costing  the 
same  for  their  manufacture,  afford  a  much  higher  premium  to 
forgery  than  small  ones ;  and  the  latter  are  not  the  vehicle  of 


148  CURRENCY. 

difficulties  without  an  alteration  of  the  standard.  It 
will  be  too  unfair  both  to  refuse  any  inquiry  into  the 
currency  question,  and  also  that  which  we  are  willing 
to  accept  upon  trial  in  lieu  of  it.  The  depreciation, 
however,  required  in  the  standard  being  not  above 
35  per  ce,nt.,  and  it  appearing  that  25  per  cent,  of 
taxation  is  strictly  due  from  all  creditors  universally, 
it  is  possible  to  make  a  compromise  in  this  way :  Let 
the  proposed  depreciation  take  place,  and  let  all 

large  speculations ;  so  that  great  individual  losses  are  never  to 
be  apprehended  from  one  pound  notes  by  forgery,  or  other  ca- 
sualties, often  attending  on  paper  money.  The  pretence  that 
sovereigns  take  their  place  in  the  circulation,  and  that  because 
£17,960,412.  were  issued  between  May  2,  1828,  and  Decem- 
ber 31,  1829,  they  must  consequently  form  part  of  the  currency 
now,  is  fully  answered  by  the  return  of  the  Bank,  that  out  of 
these  £17,960,412.,  £14,759,820. 10s.  were  within  the  same 
period  returned  to  them;  £3,200,591.  10s.  is  the  only  part 
therefore  remaining  in  circulation  ;  whereas,  the  £8,000,000. 
(or  thereabouts)  of  one  pound  notes,  which  circulated  in  1824, 
were,  from  their  threefold  activity,  equal  to  £24,000,000.  of 
any  other  species  of  currency. 

To  all  that  Mr.  Peel  has  lately  said  in  Parliament  on  the 
subject  of  his  Bill  of  1819,  an  excellent  Pamphlet,  entitled, 
"  The  Present  Operation  of  Mr.  Peel's  Bill,"  though  pub- 
lished, I  believe,  before  the  Session  opened,  is  a  most  trium- 
phant answer ;  and  shews,  by  a  series  of  tables,  that  the  altera- 
tions in  price  which  the  Right  Honourable  Secretary  attributes 
to  the  change  from  war  to  peace,  have,  for  the  most  part, 
taken  place  since  1819,  (four  years  after  the  war  had  ceased ;) 
from  which  period  to  the  present,  with  some  vacillations,  ac- 
cording as  the  operation  of  his  bill  was  allowed  to  be  more  or 
less  gradual,  there  has  been  a  fall  in  price  in  almost  every  arti- 
cle of  produce,  colonial  as  well  as  domestic,  of  50  per  cent. 


CURRENCY.  149 

those  who,  on  the  principle  of  having  lately  become 
creditors,  can  prove  to  Commissioners  a  case  of 
hardship,  with  respect  to  the  additional  10  per  cent., 
(the  difference  between  25  and  35  per  cent.),  be  ex- 
onerated from  loss  at  the  public  expense.  Certainly 
not  above  half  the  stockholders  could  exhibit  such  a 
case.  The  payment  of  this  would  cost  the  nation 
£40,000,000.,  being  10  per  cent,  on  £400,000,000,; 
the  interest  on  which,  at  4  per  cent.,  would  be 
£1,600,000.  There  might  be  a  clause  in  the  act 
effecting  this  measure,  absolving  all  persons  holding 
stock  at  the  time  of  the  passing  of  the  bill,  from  all 
future  taxation  on  the  same  ground,  unless  real  pro- 
perty also  incurred  an  additional  taxation,  when  it 
should  be  imposed  in  an  equal  proportion. 

Do  not  the  inveterate  objectors  to  all  deprecia- 
tion, overlook  also  the  fact,  that  various  alterations 
have  taken  place  in  our  standard,  for  the  most  part, 
it  is  true,  rather  gradual  than  sudden,  as  if  to  meet 
the  growing  necessities  of  a  new  order  of  things. 
They  must  remember,  that  the  depreciation  which 
has  obtained  in  our  gold  standard  since  1344,  in 
the  reign  of  Edward  III.,  has  been,  up  to  1717, 
at  the  average  rate  of  about  £10.  per  century. 
Thus,  in  the  18th  year  of  Edward  III.  the  mint 
price  of  gold,*  paid  in  silver,  was  £12.  1 5s.  Qd. ;  in 
the  5th  of  Edward  IV.  it  was  £22.  12s.  4d.  ;  in 

*  I  take  this  from  a  Table  drawn  up  by  Ruding,  from  the 
Indentures  forming  part  of  the  MS.  of  the  British  Museum ; 
from  Mint  Accounts  in  the  Exchequer ;  from  Snelling's  Tables, 
and  other  authentic  documents. 

L  3 


150  CURRENCY. 

the  3rd  of  Edward  VI.  it  was  £34. ;  in  the  10th 
of  James  I.  it  was  £44.  10s.  Qd. ;  and,  after  some 
vacillations,  it  was  raised,  3  George  I.  to  its  pre- 
sent price  of  £46.  14s.  6d. ;  notwithstanding  the 
advice  of  Locke  to  Lord  Somers,  about  20  years 
before,  that  no  depreciation  should  then  be  allow- 
ed— advice  which,  for  the  time,  was  followed,  out 
of  respect  to  the  character  and  high  talent  of  that 
great  and  extraordinary  man. 

This  large  but  gradual  depreciation  must  have 
been  the  offspring  of  some  natural  causes  :  to  me 
it  has  appeared  (though  I  advance  this  opinion,  as 
I  would  every  other,  with  diffidence)  that  there  is 
a  growing  tendency,  from  accumulation  of  capital, 
skill,  machinery,  and  other  causes,  in  the  produ- 
cers of  manufactured  goods  to  supply  the  market 
with  more  than  those  consumers,  whom  I  have 
distinguished  by  the  term  the  consumption  interest, 
because  they  are  not  producers  of  those  goods,  are, 
under  accumulating  burdens,  public  and  private, 
able  to  purchase.  Very  true  it  is,  that  the  work- 
ing out  of  such  a  system  may  affect  individuals 
considerably;  but  when  oppression,  from  what- 
ever cause,  besets  the  people  at  large,  "  Salus  po- 
puli"  will  ever  be  the  supreme  law.  But  neither 
the  loss  or  the  injustice  is  so  great  as  apparent ; 
for  where  the  creditor,  which  is  a  frequent  case, 
is  also  a  producer,  the  increase  to  his  market  will 
cover  the  loss  to  his  capital :  and  the  high  interest 
at  which  money  was  lent  in  such  a  crisis  as  the 
late  war,  could  be  founded  on  no  other  basis  but 


CURRENCY.  151 

the  insecurity  of  its  return ;  if  security  resulted, 
the  speculation  was  a  lucky  one  ;  if  all  the  shillings 
in  the  pound  cannot  be  eventually  paid,  the  high 
interest  in  the  interval  will  mostly  compensate, 
and  be  even  more  than  equivalent  to  the  whole 
sum  really  lent  at  the  average  rate  of  interest; 
and  even  if  that  should  not  happen,  what  reason 
can  be  assigned  for  a  public  speculator  being  ab- 
solved from  a  law  which  affects  every  private 
speculator  when  the  speculation  is  bad  ? 

It  appears,  then,  according  to  the  experience  of 
past  centuries,  that  the  standard  of  our  gold  coin- 
age should,  by  this  time,  have  advanced  to  £56. 
the  oz.,  instead  of  £46.,  which  it  was  fixed  at  a 
century  ago :  and  this,  independent  of  all  those 
artificial  circumstances  which  have  arisen  out  of 
the  unprecedented  expenditure  of  the  war  of  the 
French  Revolution;  where  taxation  and  machi- 
nery acting  as  clogs  to  the  power  of  consuming 
goods,  both  in  the  great  agricultural  interest,  and 
the  labouring  class,  they  must  require  more  than 
the  ordinary  stimulus  which  preceding  centuries 
have  given  them  ;  and  therefore  it  is  that  a  depre- 
ciation of  8$.  6d.  the  silver,  and  £6.  the  gold  oz.,  is 
proposed.  It  would  be  far  better,  however,  if  we 
would  confine  ourselves  to  a  silver  standard,  after 
the  example  of,  I  believe,  all  the  continental 
nations.  There  are  many  arguments  which  have 
been  already  employed  in  favour  of  a  silver  stand- 
ard ;  and  a  very  important  one  is  that  mentioned 

L  4 


152  CURRENCY. 

by  Sir  John  Sinclair.  "  By  a  return  from  the 
Bank  of  England,  it  appears,  that  during  the 
existence  of  the  late  war,  silver  was  much  less 
subject  to  variation  than  gold ;  the  difference  in 
favour  of  silver  over  gold  being  from  4.84  to  6.56 
per  cent."  Nor  is  this  to  be  wondered  at,  consi- 
dering that  the  supply  of  silver  is  to  gold,  as  52  to  1 . 
And  this  cause,  together  with  the  greater  expense 
of  transit,  makes  silver  much  more  stationary. 
We  are  not  to  forget,  likewise,  that  our  late 
choice  of  an  exclusively  gold  standard,  for  the 
first  time  in  our  history,  must,  especially  during 
the  present  scarcity  of  the  precious  metals  from 
the  American  mines,  operate  considerably  against 
the  powers  of  the  continent  to  consume  our  goods. 
The  general  fall  of  the  continental  prices  is  attri- 
buted to  this  cause,  of  scarcity  of  precious  metals, 
and  I  think  with  a  great  shew  of  reason.*  And  if 
the  truth  bears  it  out,  we  should  surely  be  led  to 
re-consider  the  propriety  of  a  metallic  currency 

*  Mr.  Flores  Estrada,  the  Spanish  Minister  of  Finance 
under  the  Cortes,  states  that  the  supply  which  Spain  derived 
from  the  American  mines  for  four  years  preceding  1808,  was 
about  15,000,000  sterling  per  annum.  Mr.  Estrada,  indeed, 
goes  so  far  as  to  say,  that  they  only  remit  to  Europe  now  about 
2,000,000  sterling  per  annum.  He  states  also  that  it  is  next 
to  impossible  that  any  thing  like  their  former  produce  should 
ever  be  raised  again  ;  alledging  that  the  former  produce  was 
only  raised  by  a  system  of  tyranny  the  most  dreadful  to  con- 
ceive, which  it  is  not  possible  to  make  the  South  Americans 
submit  to,  under  the  liberties  they  now  enjoy.  Attwood. 


CURRENCY.  153 

at  all,  which  is  subject  to  so  many  fluctuations,* 
from  which  a  paper  circulating  medium,  on  the 
joint  stock  or  Scotch  principle^,  is  free. 

Mr.  Taylor,  in  his  Records  of  Mining,  quotes 
a  very  important  passage  from  Humboldt,  who 
says,  "  Mexico  and  Peru  depend  very  much 
upon  the  abundance  and  low  price  of  the  mer- 
cury, for  the  quantity  of  silver  which  they  pro- 
duce. When  the  mercury  fails  them,  which 
happens  often  in  periods  of  maritime  war,  the 
mines  are  not  so  briskly  worked;  and  the  ores 
accumulate  in  their  hands,  without  their  being 
able  to  extract  the  silver  from  them,  (by  the 
amalgamation  process  where  mercury  is  indis- 
pensable,) especially!  where  combustibles  are 
wanting  for  smelting.  What  an  argument  is 
this  against  a  metallic  currency;  where  a  sud- 
den contraction  of  the  supply  of  mercury,  (a 
metal  peculiar  to  so  few  countries,  Spain,  Mount 

*  A  very  urgent  demand  for  guineas,  though  not  arising 
from  the  high  price  of  gold  and  the  state  of  the  exchange,  but 
from  a  fear  of  invasion,  occurred  in  1793  and  also  in  1797 ; 
and  in  each  of  these  periods  the  Bank  restrained  their  dis- 
counts, and  consequently  also  the  amount  of  their  notes,  very 
much  below  the  demand  for  the  merchants ;  these  facts  afford 
illustration  of  the  general  disposition  of  the  Bank  antecedent  to 
1797  to  contract  their  loans  and  their  paper  when  they  found 
their  gold  to  be  taken  from  them."  Bullion  Committee  Report. 

t  In  1801,  the  gold  and  silver  obtained  from  the  Mexican 
mines  amounted  only  to  3,480,000,  while,  in  1803,  the 
coinage  again  amounted  to  4,865,000,  on  account  of  the 
abundance  of  mercury.— Humboldt. 


154  CURRENCY. 

Tonnere,  Carniola,  and  Transylvania,)  can  in 
a  moment  increase  the  value  of  money,  and  lower 
that  of  all  other  commodities,  and  so  undermine 
the  basis  of  all  property :  and,  again,  when 
fresh  engagements  have  been  entered  into,  on 
the  principle  of  dear  money,  a  renewal  of  the 
supply  of  mercury  causes  the  accumulated  ores 
to  fall  in  price,  and  money  returns  for  a  time  to 
more  than  its  former  cheapness ;  and  property 
receives  another  check.  Moreover,  when  it  is 
remembered  that  the  produce  of  gold  from  the 
New  World  is  to  its  produce  from  the  Old  as 
3'5  to  1,  and  the  produce  of  silver  from  the 
New  World  is  to  its  produce  from  the  Old  as 
12  to  1,*  the  argument  receives  additional  force. 
If,  however,  we  are  determined  to  abide  by  a 
metallic  currency,  I  am  not  sure  the  depreciation 
proposed  had  not  best  take  place  by  means  of  an 
alloy.  If  we  could  contrive  an  alloy  that  would 
be  useless  to  the  currency  of  other  countries, 
unless  the  precious  metal  were  extracted ;  and  if 
the  difficulty  of  separation  were  so  great  that  the 
expense  of  the  process  should  prevent  the  transit 
of  such  coins  for  the  purposes  of  merchandize, 
a  great  point  for  a  metallic  currency  would  be 

*  Alexandra  Brogniart,  Paris,  1807, — Traite  Elementaire 
de  Mineralogie ;  who  also  says,  the  total  annual  produce  of 
silver  is  to  the  total  annual  produce  of  gold  as  52  to  1 ;  and 
the  total  annual  produce  of  American  silver  is  to  the  total 
annual  produce  of  American  gold  as  0*2  to  1.  This  estimate 
is  taken  from  1790  to  1802. 


CURRENCY.  155 

gained  in  the  diminished  fluctuation  in  the  quan- 
tity of  it.  Whereas  by  the  present  law  of  a  low 
nominal  and  really  high  standard  for  gold,  we 
have  coined*  a  bait  to  lure  its  transit  to  the 
continental  market ;  and  when  gold  is  called  for 
in  payment  of  imports  instead  of  goods,  the 
price  of  gold  is  raised  by  the  scarcity  consequent 
on  such  payments.  Then,  for  the  purposes  of 
our  domestic  currency,  we  are  obliged  to  buy  it 
back  at  an  advanced  rate.  In  other  words,  after 
having  sold  our  gold  cheap,  we  are  compelled  to 
re-buy  it  dear ;  while  the  scarcity  and  dearness 
of  gold  consequent  on  its  leaving  the  country, 

*  The  Times  newspaper  of  a  few  months  back  gives  the 
following. 

"  GOLD. — By  the  letters  from  Paris  of  the  19th  inst., 
gold  is  at  a  premium  of  lOf.  per  mile;  which,  at  the  English 
Mint  price  of  £3.  17s.  10|rf.  per  ounce  for  standard  gold,  gives 
an  exchange  of  25f.  40c. ;  and  the  exchange  at  Paris  on 
London,  at  short,  being  25f.  15c.,  it  follows  that  gold  is  one 
per  cent,  higher  at  Paris  than  in  London.  By  the  letters 
from  Amsterdam  of  the  20th  instant,  the  premium  on  gold  is 
14£  to  14§  per  cent.,  which,  at  the  English  Mint  price  of 
£3.  Us.  lOjd.  per  ounce  for  standard  gold,  gives  an  exchange 
of  12f.  7c.  to  12f.  8£c. ;  and  the  exchange  at  Amsterdam  on 
London,  at  short,  being  llf.  87£c.,  it  follows,  that  gold  is 
Ig  to  1  j  per  cent  higher  at  Amsterdam  than  in  London.  By 
the  letters  from  Hamburgh  of  the  16th  instant,  the  price  of 
gold  is  102£  per  ducat,  which,  at  the  English  Mint  price  of 
£3.  17s.  10|d.  per  ounce  for  standard  gold,  gives  an  exchange 
of  13.  12^ ;  and  the  exchange  at  Hamburgh  on  London,  at 
short,  being  12.  7J.,  it  follows  that  gold  is  2J  per  cent, 
higher  at  Hamburgh  than  in  London." 


15G 


CURRENCY. 


lowers  the  money  price  both  of  manufactures  and 
natural  produce ;  and  when  this  diminished  price 
of  commodities  has  to  meet  a  debt  stationary  at 
a  high  price,  the  evil  becomes  intensely  aggra- 
vated.    Yet  this  has  been  the  direct  consequence 
of  the  currency  measures  we  have  pursued  since 
the  peace.      "  Instead,    (says  Mr.  Attwood,)  of 
fitting  the  standard  to  society,  we  have  proceeded 
madly  to  force  society  into  conformity  with  the 
standard ;  and  when  the  cries  and  groans  of  an 
oppressed  people  compel  us  to  relax  our  hands, 
we  do  not  abandon  our  wild  and  criminal  object, 
but  we  content  ourselves  with  suspending  it  for 
a  while,    and  with  administering,  by  way  of  ex- 
pedient,   a   few  palliatives*  and  restoratives,    to 
serve  a  temporary  purpose !"     By  means  of  this 
kind,  we  relieved  the  universal  distress  of  1816, 
and   brought   on   the   prosperity  of    1818.       By 
similar  means,  we  relieved  the  distress  of  1822, 
and  brought  on  the  prosperity  of  1824.     By  simi- 
lar means,  we  again  relieved  the  panic  of  De- 

*  Of  the  26,000,000  of  Bank  of  England  notes  now  in  cir- 
culation, how  much  does  the  reader  think  is  issued  upon 
discount  in  the  regular  way  of  Banking  business?  Just  one 
million!  All  the  rest  is  issued  in  the  way  of  "  tampering  with 
the  currency,"  in  purchases  of  the  national  debt,  effected  for 
the  three- fold  purpose,  1st.  of  shoving  off  the  panic;  2ndly. 
of  enabling  the  Government  to  pay  its  dividends;  and,  3dly, 
of  covering  the  retreat  of  the  country  one  pound  notes,  the 
bread  and  cheese  money  of  the  people.  None  of  these  objects 
could  be  effected  without  the  aid  of  this  enormous  circulation." 
—Introduction  to  "  Scotch  Banker,"  182B. 


CUHUI-:NCV. 

ccmber,  1825.*  "  All  which  periods  of  distress 
arose  from  the  prospect  or  actual  return  of  cash 
payments." 

The  only  natural  means  of  escape  from  our 
difficulties,  is  the  sponge.  Government,  and  by 

*  At  the  time  of  the  panic,  the  Bank  of  England  increased 
its  issues  of  paper  money  about  9,000,000,  in  the  course  of 
a  few  days,  besides  issuing  also  many  millions  of  additional 
sovereigns.  These  operations  removed  the  panic  in  the  very 
same  way  as  counter-operations  of  a  similar  nature  had  pro- 
duced it.  During  the  year  1825,  8,000,000  of  sovereigns 
had  been  exported,  and  the  Bank  of  England,  as  is  well 
known,  had  reduced  its  paper  circulation  about  5,000,000. 
This  panic  was  produced  by  the  abstraction  of  the  circulating 
medium,  and  removed  by  its  restoration.  —  Introduction  to 
"  Scotch  Banker." 

By  a  statement  of  the  scale  of  stamp  duties  on  bills  of 
exchange  in  England,  laid  before  Parliament,  on  the  motion 
of  Mr.  Marshall,  M.  P.  for  the  county  of  York,  it  appears, 
on  calculation,  that  the  whole  amount  of  bills  drawn  in  the 
speculative  year  of  1825,  was  about  £600,000,000.,  which, 
supposing  one-eighth  to  be  in  circulation  at  a  time,  would 
add  70,000,000  to  the  currency.  During  the  commercial  dis- 
tress of  1826,  the  amount  was  reduced  to  £400,000,000., 
which  would,  of  course,  reduce  the  circulating  medium  about 
,£20,000,000.,  or  nearly  as  much  as  the  whole  issue  of  pa- 
per by  the  Bank  of  England. 

The  nation  would  not  be  bankrupt  if  it  had  to  pay  only  what 
it  really  owes ;  but  men  in  the  highest  credit  must  be  bank- 
rupt, if,  by  the  process  of  a  particular  monetary  measure, 
debts  amounting  justly  to  but  half  their  property,  become 
doubled.  The  nation  is  situated  precisely  thus.  Yet  as  no 
one  presumes  to  send  the  nation  to  jail,  no  one  seems  to  credit 
its  inability  to  withstand  the  pressure  of  its  debt.  The  condi- 
tion of  the  working  classes,  however,  proves  that  the  load  on 
their  employers  is  at  variance  with  their  welfare.  So  much  of 


158  CURRENCY. 

its  means  Parliament,  may  assume  a  creditable 
countenance;  but  they  cannot  convince  a  bank- 
rupt people  that  its  representative  is  not  bank- 
rupt too.  But  there  remains  artificial  means, 
which  may  entirely  avert  this  natural  national 
blow.  A  depreciation  of  the  standard,  the  next 
remedy,  is  the  only  substitute  for  the  sponge. 
Fundholders  will  be  against  it,  because  they  will 
wish  to  retain  their  ill-gotten  wealth.  Pensioners 
will  object,  because  their  salaries,  which  were 
raised  when  goods  were  dear,  have  not  been 
lowered  in  proportion  since  goods  were  cheap. 

the  produce  is  usurped  by  taxation,  that  production  ceases  to 
be  profitable  ;  and  if  one  class  of  producers  be  prepared  to  sell, 
another  class  is  incompetent  to  buy  ;  thus  the  fund  for  the  em- 
ployment of  labour  is  withdrawn  ;  and  such  a  degree  of  wretch- 
edness is  the  consequence,  that  crime  is  often  committed  to 
secure  the  comforts  of  a  jail ;  for  confinement  and  good  food 
are  preferred  to  starvation  and  liberty.  I  should  be  glad  to 
hear  the  question  put  in  Parliament,  "  What  is  to  be  the  even- 
tual criterion  of  a  national  bankruptcy  ?"  It  is  generally 
looked  upon  as  tantamount  to  a  private  bankruptcy,  if  a  father 
be  unable  to  support  his  own  children.  Viewing  our  Govern- 
ment in  that  paternal  light,  I  should  pass  a  similar  judgment 
on  it.  Nevertheless,  our  creditors  seem  to  imagine  that  a 
crisis  like  a  national  bankruptcy  cannot  happen  unaccompa- 
nied by  some  great  natural  warning  ;  the  fall  of  the  Stock  Ex- 
change, at  least,  or  perhaps  the  crumbling  to  dust  of  St. 
Stephen's.  And  waiting  such  an  event,  they  will  continue  to 
smile  at  their  own  good  fortune,  till  a  Revolution  awaken 
them.  It  appears  to  me,  however,  that  if  the  payment  of 
debts  prevents  independent  support  to  the  great  mass  of  the  na- 
tion, a  moral  bankruptcy  at  least  is  already  begun,  and  should 
be  consummated  at  once  in  favour  of  the  people. 


CURRENCY.  159 

Even  those  Noble  Lords,  possessed  of  real  fixed  pro- 
perty themselves,  may  wish  to  continue  the  bonus 
to  their  pensioned  relatives.  But  is  the  nation  to 
be  put  off  with  reasons  like  these  :  "  that  the 
unwieldy  creditor  and  the  overpaid  pensioner  will 
be  curtailed  of  their  twentieth  luxury,"  to  give 
to  the  people  the  thousandth  part  of  a  luxury 
they  now  have  not.*  The  people  have  outlived 

*  Mr.  Mushet's  elaborate  and  valuable  Tables,  respecting 
the  effects  of  the  changes  in  the  currency  on  the  property  of 
the  fundholder,  have  no  reference  to  the  gains  he  will  now 
receive  on  his  capital ;  they  are  wholly  confined  to  what  has 
taken  place  with  respect  to  the  interest  paid  up  to  the  year 
1820,  and  amount  to  this  :  between  the  years  1801  and  1820, 
the  mass  of  fundholders  lost,  from  variations  in  the  standard, 
the  sum  of  c£l, 454,060. 

But,  in  calculating  this  result,  an  item  of  0£'17,418,225.  is 
stated  as  lost  to  the  fundholder,  because,  if  the  small  annual 
losses  had  been  put  out  to  compound  interest,  they  would 
have  amounted  to  that  sum;  but,  as  this,  in  the  ordinary 
nature  of  human  dealings,  would  not  have  taken  place,  in  so 
much  the  calculation  ought  not  to  have  weight.  In  some  de- 
gree to  balance  this,  he  calculates  the  gains  of  the  fund- 
holders  at  compound  interest,  from  the  changes  in  the  cur- 
rency, at  £1,880,787.  Deducting  this  from  the  supposed  loss, 
the  balance  of  £15,537,438.  of  loss  from  this  source  enters 
into  the  account,  the  general  balance  of  which,  as  above 
stated,  is  06"!, 454,060.  Hence,  exclusive  of  these  false  com- 
pound interest  accumulations,  the  fundholder  has  really 
gained  on  his  interest,  during  the  period  in  question,  the  sum 
of  £13,083,478. 

But  let  it  be  admitted,  for  the  difference  is  not  worth  a 
thought  in  the  vast  scale  of  these  operations,  that  the  fund- 
holder  has  neither  gained  or  lost  upon  his  interest  up  to 
1820,  does  it  alter  the  fact,  that  when  the  produce  of  goods, 


CURRENCY. 

the  cry  of  rents  and  corn.  They  know,  as  well 
as  the  Government,  that  "  this  is  the  fate  of  the 
great  agricultural  ox.  It  has  been  crowned  with 
chaplets  of  corn  bills,  and  decked  out  and  be- 
dizened with  metallic  coins.  It  has  been  paraded 
through  the  country,  and  exhibited  before  the 
public  eye  as  the  main  cause  of  the  public  dis- 
tresses. And  now  it  is  delivered  over  to  the  knife 
of  the  butcher,  blindfolded  and  bound  with  a 
hundred  cords,  whilst  bands  of  cunning  and 
cruel  Jews  are  crowding  around  their  expected 
prey."*  The  people  are  aware  that  the  3  or 
£400,000,000.  of  debt,  which  could  not  be  paid 
but  by  a  Restriction  Act,  now  that  it  has  increased 
to  £800,000,000.,  cannot  be  paid  but  by  a  similar 
policy.  And,  perhaps,  the  most  cautious  method 
of  depreciating  the  standard  would  be  to  seize  the 
moment  when  an  extended  issue  of  paper  had 
caused  a  natural  depreciation.  In  some  way  or 
other  it  must  be  done ;  we  may  quibble  about 

worth  actually  £42.  in  the  continental  market,  was  lent  to 
Government  as  £60.,  and  thus  purchased  stock  now  selling 
for  ,£90.,  the  creditor  has  gained  £48.,  and  the  nation  lost 
to  that  amount ;  equal  to  114  per  cent,  on  all  the  money  so 
lent;  and  amounting,  on  the  500  millions  of  stock  borrowed, 
on  an  average  of  60  to  240  millions  sterling,  neither  can  it  be 
denied  that  for  every  £42.  then  lent,  the  fundholder  receives 
now  an  interest  of  £3.,  about  7  4  per  cent. 

*  "  The  Scotch  Banker." — No  letters  since  those  of  Junius 
have  been  written  with  more  power  than  these  of  Mr.  Attwood. 
They  may  not  have  the  elegance  of  Junius,  but  they  have  ;tll 
his  point  and  inflexibility  of  purport. 


v    I    HIILNC  V.  U)l 

straws  as  long  as  we  like,  but  we  must  kick  the 
beam  at  last.  And  let  not  our  Ministers  any 
longer  oppose  what  is  now  confessedly  the  current 
of  popular  opinion.  We  find  the  best  legislators 
consulting  only  the  spirit  of  their  own  times  ;  and 
overlooking  the  prejudices  of  those  gone  by,  re- 
fuse to  be  bound  by  what  has  become  too  obsolete 
to  be  connected  with  the  prevailing  necessities 
and  wants  of  the  time  being,  well  knowing  that 
laws  are  good,  not  for  their  antiquity  but  for 
their  fitness ;  and  that  an  old  law  should  never 
stand  in  the  way  of  legitimate  effects  from  new 
causes. 

For  the  future,  however,  after  settling  the  cur- 
rency and  the  standard  of  the  precious  metals  on 
grounds  expedient  for  the  present,  we  ought  not 
to  look  forward  to  any  sudden  alterations  in  the 
standard ;  but  rather,  having  ascertained  as  near 
as  may  be,  the  precise  rate  at  which  production 
tends  to  leave  consumption  behind,  to  divide  the 
depreciation  (which  appears  to  me  to  be  neces- 
sary from  this  cause,)  over  a  number  of  years,  so 
that  the  stimulus  to  the  consumption  interest  may 
be  gradual,  and  only  imperceptibly  obstruct  those 
intervals  of  distress,  which,  without  this  remedy, 
it  seems,  will  always  be  happening  in  commercial 
countries.  And  this  graduated  process  will  have 
much  less  tendency  to  excite  a  quick  overpro- 
duction, than  a  sudden  alteration,  which  would 
give  to  the  powers  of  consumption  too  great  im- 
mediate capacity,  and  induce  the  producer  to 

M 


162 


CURRENCY. 


miscalculate  their  permanent  market,   and  so  lead 
to  hurrying  on  the  next  mercantile  catastrophe. 

It  is  possible,  that,  by  strict  economy  and  pru- 
dence, the  present  plan  of  depreciation  may  ena- 
ble us  to  liquidate  so  much  of  the  debt  as  that 
some  diminution  of  this  fall  in  the  standard  may 
be  eventually  rendered  feasible,  when  we  might 
return  gradually  to  a  more  natural  standard.  At 
all  events,  prudence  in  finance,  and  strict  attention 
to  the  administration  of  the  poor  laws,  (thus,  by 
a  gradual  prevention  of  support  to  able  bodied 
labourers,  curtailing  the  growth  of  population,) 
will  prevent  the  want  of  any  further  depreciation 
for  a  length  of  years  very  improbable.  But  to 
watch  over  the  movements  and  bearings  of  so 
mighty  an  engine,  and  so  critical  to  the  good  of 
the  people,  as  the  circulating  medium  has  of  late 
years  proved  to  be,  some  separate  office  should 
be  established  in  the  shape  of  a  Board  of  Currency, 
whether  under  Government,  or  Parliamentary  in- 
fluence, others  best  can  tell. 


FREE  TRADE. 


"  No  authority  on  earth  can  claim  a  right  to  coin  opinions 
into  truths,  and  make  them  current  by  their  authority." — 
Locke. 

"  What!  shall  a  miserable  financier  come  with  a  boast 
that  he  can  fetch  a  pepper-corn  into  the  Exchequer  at  the  loss 
of  millions  to  the  nation."—  Lord  Chatham. 

"  Point  de  doute  que  I'interet  de  cette  puissance  (L'An- 
gleterre,)  si  habile  a  apprecier  et  si  perseverante  a  mettre  en 
oeuvre  ses  moyens  de  succes  n'ait  decide  cette  revolution  dans 
son  systeme  economique.  Elle  a  calcule  que  la  liberte  du 
commerce  en  multipliant  ses  debouches,  ne  1'exposait  &  au- 
cune  rivalite  redoutable." — Aubert  de  Vitrey,  Bulletin  Uni- 
versel. 


THERE  are  two  aspects  under  which  it  behoves 
us  to  consider  the  operations  of  Free  Trade  :  the 
one  as  it  respects  Great  Britain  specially;  the 
other  as  it  affects,  in  a  more  general  manner,  any 
or  all  of  the  individual  countries  of  the  world  at 
large. 

By  a  general  and  genuine  freedom  of  trade,  we 
are  to  understand  a  convention  among  all  the 
nations  of  the  earth  to  receive  each  others  goods 
without  let  or  hinderance,  i.  e.  unrestrained  by 

M  2 


1G4       ,  FREE    TRADE. 

duties  or  prohibitions  on  their  importation.  A 
free  trade,  in  its  full  extent,  is  compatible  only 
with  the  existence  of  such  a  convention  ;  and  that 
again  is  dependent  upon  an  universal  harmony  of 
sentiment  and  interest  among  all  the  people  of 
the  earth.  Whether  a  millenium  of  this  nature 
be  included  in  the  designs  of  Providence,  is  not 
for  man  to  say;  it  is  sufficient  for  him,  perhaps, 
to  feel  that  his  own  every  day's  intercourse  with 
the  world  affords  no  evidence  of  its  existence  at 
the  present  hour.  Our  arguments  must  needs 
then  ground  themselves  not  on  the  possible,  nor 
yet  the  probable,  but  on  the  actual  state  of  things. 
And  the  amount  of  the  existing  difference  of 
interests  in  the  world  must  always  form  the  ab- 
solute ratio  of  the  exception  to  a  perfect  freedom 
of  trade. 

In  the  course  of  the  affairs  of  nations,  their 
governments  (some  through  necessity,  some 
through  extravagance,)  incur  a  load  of  artificial 
obligations  which  disturb  the  smoother  current 
of  their  natural  powers.  Were  this  to  be  shared 
in  an  equal  degree  by  all,  were  all  the  world  to 
war  at  once,  and  not  in  part,  and  all  to  be  in- 
volved in  the  same  expense,  still  no  obstacle 
would  arise  from  this  source  to  the  proposed  end, 
for  the  mutual  relations  would  remain  inviolate. 
It  happens,  however,  notwithstanding  the  com- 
mercial impediment  of  which  it  is  a  cause,  very 
fortunately,  that  war,  on  the  average,  far  from 
being  universal  at  any  one  time,  is  extremely 


MM-1       IK.vDl..  165 

partial,  both  in  extent  and  duration  ;  and,  hence, 
tlu>  unlucky  subjects  of  it  recede  from  their  na- 
tural position  in  proportion  to  the  exactions 
levied  on  them  for  the  carrying  on  of  war ;  while 
others  retain  the  unincumbered  vigour  of  their 
natural  powers,  insomuch  as  they  have  had  the 
happiness  to  be  removed  from  war. 

If  the  taxes  which  a  Government  is  able  to 
impose  on  a  country  for  the  purposes  of  war, 
prove  insufficient  for  their  intention ;  either  the 
war  must  come  to  a  close,  or  resort  must  be  had 
to  borrowing,  under  promise  of  payment,  when 
the  taxation,  which  has  before  gone  towards  the 
current  expenses  of  the  war,  can,  on  the  arrival 
of  peace,  be  set  at  liberty  to  defray,  besides 
the  interest,  the  principal  also  of  the  money 
so  borrowed.  It  is  evident,  then,  not  only 
that  the  period  during,  but  often  also  that 
the  period  succeeding  a  state  of  warfare,  is  ad- 
verse to  freedom  of  action  with  respect  to  com- 
merce ;  as  it  robs  the  country  upon  which  it 
has  been  inflicted  of  a  portion  of  its  equality 
with  other  countries.  For  when  we  consider  that 
the  imposition  of  duties  on  articles  imported  from 
foreign  countries  is  so  easy  a  mode  of  levying 
taxation,  that  it  has  become  accredited  in  almost 
every  country,  we  shall  be  obliged  to  confess, 
that  the  nation  which  has  subjected  itself  to  the 
necessity  of  such  import  duties,  is,  in  proportion 
to  their  amount,  (other  things  equal,)  less  able 
to  follow  a  system  of  free  commercial  intercourse 

M  3 


166  KKKt;     THAI)  I-.. 

than  the  nations  absolved  from  such  necessity, 
the  improvidence  of  human  nature  not  allowing 
of  national  accumulation  for  purposes  of  war ;  in 
the  absence  of  which  the  shock  must  be  trans- 
ferred somewhere ;  and  because  the  commodities 
which  must,  therefore,  rise  in  price,  to  meet  this 
taxation,  must  also  enhance  the  price  of  labour ; 
the  products  of  such  labour  will  consequently  be 
dearer  than  where  no  such  taxation  exists,  and 
be  undersold  in  the  open  market  of  the  world. 
Will  other  nations  accommodate  themselves  to  the 
artificial  condition  of  this  country,  when  she  can- 
not accommodate  herself  to  them?  Shall  the 
interests  of  one  country  effect  a  reform  in  all  ? 
There  is  neither  reason  or  probability  in  supposing 
it.  This  nation,  then,  must  except  itself  to  a 
system  of  free  trade.  Will  it  be  said,  that  com- 
modities ought  not  to  rise  in  price  in  the  ratio  of 
taxation?  Then  who  can  afford  to  buy  those 
imported  articles  on  which  duties  are  laid,  when 
taxation  absorbs  so  much  of  their  income  ?  If 
prices  do  not  rise  in  proportion  to  taxation,  con- 
sumption must  decrease  in  that  proportion. 

But  financial  embarrassment  is  not  only  not  the 
sole  obstacle  to  a  free  trade,  but  that  arising  out 
of  the  unequal  and  artificial  growth  of  society  is, 
in  my  opinion,  of  a  far  more  unbending  temper. 
Perhaps  Nature  herself  may  not  be  so  favourable 
to  it  as  some  imagine.  Of  this  it  will  be  difficult 
to  judge  until  we  obtain  more  accurate  informa- 
tion than  is  at  present  possessed  of  the  greatest 


IK  1.1       I  HADE.  1()7 

possible  supply,  under  the  highest  powers  of 
cultivation  or  manufacture,  of  the  principal  arti- 
cles of  commerce  from  the  most  peculiarly  fa- 
voured sources;  for  instance,  how  much  silk 
goods  could  be  procured  from  France  ;  how  much 
linen  from  Germany  and  the  Netherlands;  how 
much  corn  from  the  North  of  Europe ;  how  much 
wrought  cotton  manufacture  from  Britain  or  Ame- 
rica; how  much  raw  cotton  from  America  or 
India;  how  much  hardware  from  Britain;  how 
much  woollens  and  wool  from  Spain,  Germany, 
or  Britain;  how  much  wine  from  France,  Ger- 
many, and  Portugal  ?  and  so  on  to  the  other  prin- 
cipal articles  of  consumption,  as  sugar,  coffee, 
tea,  tobacco,  &c.  we  may  then  be  able  to  ap- 
proach more  nearly  to  a  rational  conclusion.  If 
it  should  turn  out,  as  there  is  reason  to  believe, 
that  the  raw  materials,  under  the  ultimate  cul- 
ture, of  the  chief  manufactures  can  be  supplied 
from  a  very  limited  space,  say  one  country*  for 
each,  and  that  machinery  has  arrived,  or  is  ex- 
tensively arriving  at  such  an  overwhelming  inde- 
pendence of  manual  labour,  that  one  country, 
say  England,  can  manufacture  more  than  suffi- 
cient cotton  for  the  whole  world ;  and  that  ano- 
ther, France,  with  shortly  to  be  expected  im- 
provements in  her  machinery,  internal  commu- 
nication, and  system  of  cultivation,  can  glut  the 

*  Of  course,  by  country  in  this  sense,  is  meant  such  as 
are  marked  by  natural  boundaries. 

M  4 


168  I  KfcE    TRADE. 

world  with  silk  and  wine ;  that  America  can  do 
the  same  with  raw  cotton  and  rice,  &c.  &c.  how 
are  those  other  countries  to  fare,  which  have  pre- 
viously supplied  a  part  of  these  to  themselves  or 
others,  and  which  possess  no  other  peculiarly 
favoured  means  of  supplying  some  commodity  to 
the  general  market  ?  If  they  can  receive  all  they 
want  from  other  countries  without  any  employ- 
ment on  their  own  account,  what  will  be  the 
value  of  property  in  those  countries?  How  can 
industrious  labour  support  itself  there  ?  The  de- 
mand for  both  would  equally  cease,  and  with  it 
their  value,  and  at  the  same  time  the  means  of 
the  possessors  of  property  and  labour  to  buy 
imported  articles.  It  would  be  an  impossible 
case  to  buy  when  every  source  of  wealth  had 
fled.  To  a  country  thus  situated,  free  trade,  so 
far  from  being  advantageous,  must  be  positive  de- 
struction. It  might  be  sunk  under  water  with 
less  misery  to  its  inhabitants ;  and  yet  many 
nations  of  the  globe  are  so  situated,  that  every 
essential  thing  of  necessity  and  convenience  they 
consume,  might  be  obtained  cheaper  from  some 
other  place  than  they  can  themselves  produce  it. 

The  truth  is,  that  were  there  no  unequal  finan- 
cial difficulties,  the  inequality  of  population  in 
different  countries  is  so  great,  (and  the  cheapness 
of  labour,  c&teris  paribus,  being  in  direct  propor- 
tion to  the  amount  of  population,)  that  those 
countries  which,  from  a  long  enjoyment  of  civi- 
lization and  liberty,  had,  with  the  aid  of  ma- 


FKEE    TUAD1. 

chinery,  encouraged  population  to  a  pitch  of 
superabundance,  would  be  able  to  undersell  others 
where  labour  was  scarcer  and  dearer;  and  con- 
trariwise, where  the  barbarism  of  a  country  pre- 
vented the  profitable  employment  of  labour  in 
any  thing  but  the  raw  produce  of  the  soil,  labour 
might  be  so  cheap  as  to  undersell  the  labourer  of 
a  more  civilized  race ;  and  the  other  channels  of 
industry  in  the  country  of  the  latter  being  filled, 
he  (the  civilized  labourer,)  must  be  checked  in  his 
progress  onwards,  or  cast  back  to  the  condition 
of  the  barbarian,  whose  life,  labour,  and  pro- 
perty, are  of  so  little  value  to  himself,  that  he 
can  dispose  of  them  for  almost  nothing  to  others. 
And  this  advantage  of  producing  cheaply  may  be 
by  no  means  naturally  peculiar  to  such  barbarous 
country;  but  may  arise  from  the  absolute  infe- 
riority and  worthlessness  of  its  own  condition,  or 
the  comparative  superiority  of  the  more  civilized 
one  ;  causes  which  would  probably,  in  a  short 
time,  lose  their  force,  and  then  the  sufferers  in 
the  unequal  contest  would  have  suffered  for 
nothing. 

Notwithstanding  that  it  is  said,  upon  some  au- 
thority, that  "  every  regulation  to  force  industry 
into  any  particular  channel  is  impolitic  and  inju- 
rious;" it  is  evident  that  new  wants  will  occur 
first  to  those  who  are  foremost  in  the  march  of 
civilization  :  but  it  by  no  means  follows,  that  those 
to  whom  greater  wants  have  first  occurred  will 
eventually  be  found  the  most  apt  in  producing 


170  FHK  F.    TKADK. 

them.  After  one  country  has  been  a  century  <>i 
two  producing  a  commodity  which  it  may  itself 
have  introduced  to  notice,  another  country  may 
spring  into  civilization  with  more  natural  facilities 
for  sending  it  better  and  cheaper  to  market ;  as 
American  cotton  displaced  that  of  India.  The 
population  of  old  producers  which  had  been 
superinduced  and  fostered  by  the  manufacture, 
would,  under  free  competition,  be  compelled  to 
give  way.  It  may  be  very  impolitic  to  force  a 
boy  into  any  profession  against  his  will;  but 
when  he  has  got  through  the  uphill  work  of 
learning  it,  and  is  obtaining  a  decent  return  for 
his  trouble,  it  would  be  rather  hard  to  deprive 
him  of  his  business  altogether. 

Were  there  no  inequality  in  population,  skill, 
finances,  and  civilization,  throughout  the  world ; 
it  might  ostensibly  appear  imprudent  in  any 
country  to  force  the  production  of  goods,  which 
could  be  had  cheaper  or  better  elsewhere ;  at 
all  events,  so  long  as  there  existed  sufficient  em- 
ployment for  its  population  in  other  channels, 
(and  further  than  that  I  am  not  prepared  to  speak 
as  to  its  propriety).  But  when  these  equalities 
do  not  obtain,  when  other  channels  for  industry 
are  surfeited ;  or  when  one  country  has  only  been 
overtaken  by  another  in  its  facility  of  producing 
what  the  first  country  could  supply  cheaper 
hitherto ;  it  may  be  necessary  to  pause  previous 
to  so  direct  and  sudden  a  conclusion,  as  that  it 
is  impolitic  and  imprudent  to  continue  industry  in 


FKKF.   Tu.\m:.  171 

a  channel  which  could  be  filled  at  less  expense 
from  other  sources.  We  know,  for  example's 
sake,  that  Poland  is  not  so  far  advanced  in  manu- 
factures as  England,  and  that  its  population,  com- 
pared with  its  power  of  producing  corn,  is  not  so 
numerous  :  Poland,  therefore,  experiences  a  lower 
corn  price  from  its  smaller  demand  for  corn  com- 
pared with  the  supply.  The  greater  corn  price  of 
England,  (independent  of  taxation,)  arisen  as  it 
has  from  the  producers  of  manufactured  goods 
gradually  demanding  more  corn,  is  a  natural  re- 
sult, because  of  the  relations  between  the  num- 
ber of  people  and  the  quantity  of  corn  in  the 
English  market  having  as  gradually  lost  their 
ancient  proportions.  As  manufacturing  skill  and 
the  accumulation  of  capital  advanced,  the  facility 
of  producing  goods  became  greater  than  the 
powers  of  consuming  manufactured  products  in 
the  country  could  keep  pace  with  :  an  extension 
to  the  facility  of  consumption  was  then  necessary ; 
the  natural  means  of  effecting  this  is  by  the 
greater  demand  for  corn  increasing  the  price,  and 
thus  stimulating  the  consuming  powers  of  the 
possessors  of  land.  The  very  consequence  of  ma- 
nufacturing skill  is  to  bring  an  increased  quantity 
of  manufactured  goods  into  the  market,  which 
necessarily  produces  a  higher  price  of  corn,  if 
only  because  of  the  greater  quantity  of  money 
thus  introduced  into  the  market ;  but  the  causes 
above  cited  conspire  to  the  same  end.  If  the 
powers  of  consumption  in  the  landed  interest,  did 


172  FREE    TRADE. 

not  receive  the  stimulus  which  seems  the  natural 
consequence  from  an  increased  demand  for  its 
produce,  the  increased  productions  of  the  manu- 
facturing interests  would  be  curtailed  of  the  most 
valuable  as  well  as  the  most  certain  market  it 
had,  while  the  manufacturing  labourer,  in  pro- 
portion to  his  productiveness,  supposing  no  foreign 
outlet,  must  be  worse  paid.  Moreover,  a  coun- 
try having  arrived  at  a  very  perfect  state  of  agri- 
cultural and  manufacturing  industry,  and  a  great 
population  having  been  superinduced  from  these 
very  circumstances;  and  a  degree  of  luxury 
having  grown  up  comparatively  among  all  classes, 
compatible  only  with  a  state  of  accumulated 
wealth;  is  it  like  a  law  of  Nature  to  let  loose 
among  these  civilized  labourers,  who  have  ac- 
quired so  many  artificial  wants  distinct  from  a 
state  of  barbarism,  (whose  wants  are  the  chief 
means  of  fostering  manufacturing  industry,)  and 
who  are  capable  of  supplying  themselves  with 
food,  to  let  loose  the  products  of  the  earth  from 
a  country  inhabited  by  a  horde  of  barbarians, 
whose  condition  is  so  degraded  that  they  receive 
no  wages  for  their  labour  ;  are,  in  many  cases,  in- 
capacitated from  consuming  even  the  smallest 
portion  of  the  wheat  they  produce  ;  who,  from 
being  compelled  to  live  almost  entirely  on  fruits 
and  herbs,  have  induced  the  will  to  continue 
such  a  custom ;  who  are  ignorant  of  the  refine- 
ment which  the  accumulation  of  wealth  and  the 
progress  of  manufactures  introduce,  and  the  price 


FREE    TRAD  I-..  173 

of  whose  natural  products  have  never  experienced 
a  rise  correspondent  and  necessary  to  an  im- 
proved state  of  existence;  is  it,  I  ask,  like  a 
law  of  just  and  benevolent  Nature,  to  repay  the 
better  employment  and  rapid  accumulation  of  the 
talent  of  the  civilized  nation,  by  lowering  its 
people  to  the  condition  of  the  boors  who  have 
hidden  their  talent  in  the  earth?  The  natural 
products  of  a  barbarous  country  must  of  neces- 
sity be  low  in  price ;  there  is  wanting  there  the 
very  cause  and  principle  of  increase  of  price— 
the  progressively  extending  demand  from  a  ma- 
nufacturing population,  which  has  been  fostered 
and  bred  by  accumulated  wealth  from  the  land. 
The  condition  and  the  existence  of  the  population 
of  such  a  country,  is  of  little  value;  and  the  value 
of  that  which  contributes  to  its  support  is  natu- 
rally correspondent.  The  consequence  of  allow- 
ing products  thus  cheap,  (from  the  cause  of  bar- 
barism,) to  enter  a  country  where  the  same 
products  are  high  in  price,  (from  the  cause  of 
civilization,)  would  be  either  totally  to  outsell 
the  civilized  producer,  and  thus  deprive  him  of 
all  means  of  existence  ;  or,  by  reducing  his  price, 
to  curtail  his  mode  of  living  to  the  savage  state; 
the  very  most  advantageous  expectation  is,  that 
it  would  create  a  sort  of  half  way  state  in  the 
condition  of  the  two  parties ;  all  that  the  civilized 
man  lost,  might  be  gain  to  the  savage ;  all  that 
the  savage  gained,  would  certainly  be  loss  to  the 
other.  I  have  supposed,  under  the  changes  I 


174  FHKK    TRALU;. 

have  been  describing,  no  additional  market  for 
the  sale  of  manufactured  goods,  so  great  as  to 
demand  the  employment  of  an  additional  supply 
of  workmen  ;  there  would  rather  be  a  diminution 
of  demand,  because  the  few  artificial  wants  of 
savages,  would  not  equal  the  custom  of  those 
whose  industry  they  had  displaced,  who  had 
acquired  artificial  wants;  their  consumption 
certainly  could  not  keep  pace  with  the  daily 
increasing  means  of  production  from  improved 
mechanical  skill,  and  the  application  of  extrane- 
ous power. 

Is  it  not  a  fact,  that,  as  a  general  rule,  nations 
who  export,  or  have  exported  corn,  are  very  low 
in  the  scale  of  civilization,  in  fact,  on  the  eve  of 
emancipating  themselves  from  a  state  of  bar- 
barity ;  living  on  the  lowest  species  of  food,  be- 
cause unable  to  purchase  that  which  is  their 
proper  food  ;  but  which  the  mercantile  spirit  of 
a  company,  or  select  few  among  them,  hoard  up, 
for  the  sake  of  exportation  to  other  countries.  In 
the  days  of  barley  bread,  I  believe  England, 
(and,  I  think,  Fleetwood  backs  me  out,)  was  a 
corn  exporting  country.  Are  not  all  nations  to 
be  supposed  in  the  progress  towards  civilization? 
Then  may  we  suppose  a  time  arrived,  when  the 
population  of  each  country  shall  consume  the 
best  of  its  own  products ;  or,  if  there  be  a  sur- 
plus for  a  time,  the  most  profitable  investment 
will  be  found  in  some  new  domestic  manufacture. 
Since,  in  the  course  of  time,  therefore,  it  would 


THK  I.    TRADE, 


its 


appear,  that  each  country  will  be  sufficiently  oc- 
cupied with  the  difficulty  of  providing  food  for 
its  own  people,  what  will  be  the  fate  of  a  popu- 
lation which,  from  extraneous  sources,  has  been 
forced  and  fostered  beyond  the  possible  powers 
of  its  own  soil  to  support  ?  I  can  compare  it  with 
nothing  more  hopeful  than  the  family  of  a  man, 
who,  having  lived  on  promissory  notes,  and  mort- 
gaged his  whole  estate,  has  left  his  children  to 
an  inheritance  of  the  refuse  of  post  obits. 

Were  France,  with  her  present  population,  to 
be  curtailed  of  supplying  herself  with  any  thing 
but  silk  and  wine,  which  may  occupy  about 
4,000,000  of  her  33,000,000  of  population,  the 
competition  of  the  remainder  would,  at  least,  re- 
duce to  penury  that  4 ;  or  6,000,000,  to  which  the 
number  of  the  silk  and  wine  trade  might  be 
increased,  by  a  larger  foreign  trade.  Her  growth 
of  corn,  which,  under  its  present  system  of  culti- 
vation, requires  21,000,000  people  for  114,000,000 
acres,  where  5,000,000  do  the  labour  of  53,000,000 
acres  in  Britain,  must,  in  a  great  measure,  give 
way  to  a  cheaper  supply.  England,  take  away  its 
taxes,  could  provide  it  cheaper.  It  will  scarcely 
be  urged,  that  France,  which  supplies  so  much 
of  the  world's  consumption  in  wine  and  silk, 
would  more  than  double  its  present  trade  in  those 
commodities,  supposing  other  nations  willing  to 
receive  them,  particularly  when  the  distress  of 
her  own  people,  thrown  out  of  other  employments, 
would  discontinue  their  consumption.  The  result 


17G 


FREE    TRADE. 


would  be  similar  in  all  countries  where  the  popu- 
lation exceeded  the  demand  for  the  production  of 
their  peculiarly  favoured  commodity  or  com- 
modities. 

During  the  transition  from  an  artificial  and 
complicated  to  a  perfectly  unfettered  trade,  indi- 
viduals, or  individual  trades,  might  profit  to  an 
enormous  extent;  some,  perhaps,  in  proportion 
to  the  loss  of  their  neighbours.  But,  unless  the 
profit  to  individuals  will  compensate  the  loss  to 
the  nation,  the  nation  must  be  considered  before 
the  individual.  A  man,  by  trading  with  a  foreign 
country  instead  of  his  own,  may  increase  the  re- 
turns from  his  capital,  we  will  say,  5  per  cent., 
which,  there  can  be  no  doubt,  would  make  him 
5  per  cent,  richer  than  before  :  and  if  every  man 
in  the  country  could  increase  his  profits  by  5  per 
cent.,  there  can  be  little  doubt  that  that  same 
nation  would  be  most  materially  benefitted  by 
such  means,  inasmuch  as,  in  every  active  invest- 
ment of  capital,  the  powers  of  forcing  production 
would  be  increased  5  per  cent,  throughout.  But 
if  the  gain  of  one  trader  or  set  of  traders  be  a 
loss  to  the  country,  taken  as  a  whole,  the  national 
interest  assumes  quite  another  aspect.  Let  us  go 
into  the  detail  of  an  imaginary  case  like  this. 
Let  us  suppose  that  "  instead  of  the  linen  manu- 
facturer of  Edinburgh  exchanging  his  linen  for 
the  silks  of  London,  he  would  exchange  it  for 
the  silks  of  France,"  which,  as  they  are  cheaper, 
would  bring  him  in  a  greater  profit  in  the  sale  of 


FttEE    TRADE.  177 

his  imports.     Then,  (to  go  on  with  Mr.  Ricardo's 
own  words,)  "  instead  of  the  silk  manufacturer  of 
London  exchanging  his  silk  for  the  linen  of  Edin- 
bourgh,  he  would  exchange  it  for  the  linen  of 
Germany."     What   would  be   the  result  of  this 
alteration  in  the   channel  of  our  commerce  ?    If 
the  silk  of  France  should  come  to  England,  and 
be  sold  cheaper  than  the  London  silk,  the  Lon- 
don silk  trade  would  be  destroyed.     It  is  equally 
evident,  that  if  the  German  linen   should  come 
to  England,  and  be  sold  cheaper  than  the  Edin- 
burgh   linen,    that    the    Edinburgh   linen    trade 
would   be    destroyed.      If,   however,    the    Edin- 
burgh linen  manufacturer  could  get  cheaper  silk 
from  France,  and  the  London  silk  merchant  could 
not  get  cheaper  linen  from   Germany,  then  the 
Edinburgh  manufacturer  would   receive   a  great 
profit  from   the  cheapness  of  French  silk;    and 
then  only  one  of  these  trades  would  be  destroyed  ; 
but  if  both  silk  could  be  obtained  cheaper  from 
France,  and  linen  from  Germany,  then  it  is  plain 
that  both  the  London  and  Edinburgh  manufac- 
tures must  be  destroyed  ;  and  the  wealth  which 
they  produced   to  the  nation   would  be  lost,  or 
have  to  be  supplied  by  a  foreign  trade  in  other 
articles.     Suppose,  again,  that  instead  of  the  cot- 
ton spinner  of  Manchester  exchanging  his  cottons 
for   the  woollen  goods  of  Leeds,  he  should  ex- 
change  them    for   woollen    goods    manufactured 
where  wool  was  cheaper  than  in  England,    viz. 
Spain,  Odessa,  or  Germany,  the  cotton  spinner 

N 


178  rKl'.L    TUADE. 


of  Manchester  would  individually  profit  by  the 
cheapness  of  Spanish,  German,  or  Odessa  wool, 
but  the  Leeds  manufacture  would  be  destroyed. 
Suppose,  again,  that  instead  of  the  cotton  spinner 
of  Manchester  exchanging  his  cottons  for  the 
corn  of  Norfolk,  he  should  exchange  it  for  the 
cheaper  corn  of  Dantzic,  there  can  be  no  doubt 
that,  things  remaining  the  same,  he  would  thereby 
increase  his  profits,  inasmuch  as  he  would  have 
more  corn  to  sell  in  return  ;  all  which  addition 
would  be  gain  to  him,  except  the  little  he  would 
be  obliged  to  undersell  the  Norfolk  corn  grower  ; 
what  then  is  the  Norfolk  corn  grower  to  do  with 
his  corn  ?  By  the  previous  reasoning,  the  Norfolk 
corn  would  be  undersold  by  the  Dantzic,  and  the 
Norfolk  corn  trade  would  be  destroyed  ;  but  if 
the  Norfolk  corn  grower  could  exchange  his  corn 
for  cotton  spun  where  it  is  grown,  or  where,  if 
manufactures  were  introduced,  they  might  be 
manufactured  cheaper  ;  by  a  parity  of  reasoning, 
the  Manchester  cotton  spinner  would  be  under- 
sold and  destroyed,  and  so  it  would  be  ad  inft- 
nitum,  except  in  one,  two,  or  three  staple  commo- 
dities ;  and  if  the  increased  profits  of  those  one 
or  two  staple  commodities  (from  a  foreign  trade,) 
did  not  compensate  for  the  lost  profits  of  all  the 
other  trades  which  were  destroyed  ;  the  nation  at 
large  would  be  a  loser  precisely  by  the  actual 
amount  of  the  profits  so  lost  and  destroyed.  The 
case  may  be  exemplified  as  follows  :  Suppose  the 
capital  of  the  above  named  capitalists,  viz.  the 


i  in-,  r.   TRA  nr..  179 

London  silk  merchant,  the  Edinburgh  linen  manu- 
facturer, the  Leeds  woollen  manufacturer,  the 
Norfolk  corn  grower,  and  the  Manchester  cotton 
spinner,  to  be  £1,000,000.  sterling  each,  and 
suppose  that,  previous  to  any  of  them  entering 
into  a  foreign  trade,  the  profits  of  each  were  15 
per  cent,  on  their  capital,  or  £150,000.  Then, 
suppose,  as  we  have  shewn,  that,  by  a  foreign 
trade,  the  London  and  Edinburgh  manufacturers 
would  be  swamped  by  those  of  Germany  and 
France,  and  that  the  Norfolk  corn  grower  and  the 
Leeds  woollen  manufacturer  would  be  swamped 
by  foreign  customers  of  the  cotton  spinner  of 
Manchester,  who,  by  this  means,  would  gain  an 
increase  of  5  per  cent,  on  his  capital  of  £1,000,000. 
or  £200,000.  instead  of  £150,000.  The  increase 
to  the  country  would  be  £50,000.  on  the  cotton 
manufacture,  and  the  loss  would  be  £150,000.  on 
each  of  the  others,  viz,  the  London,  Edinburgh, 
Leeds,  and  Norfolk  capitalists,  or  £600,000.; 
from  which  deduct  the  £50,000.  gain,  and  there 
remains  £550,000,  out  of  £600,000.  loss  to  the 
nation. 

To  this  it  shall  be  objected,  that  those  four  ca- 
pitals are  not  destroyed,  but  removed  to  another 
investment,  viz.  cotton.  But  capital  laid  out  in 
improvements  in  land  would  be  a  complete  sink 
of  capital,  if  the  produce  of  that  land  became, 
unsaleable;  moreover,  in  every  trade  there  is  a 
certain  proportion  of  circulating  and  a  certain 
proportion  of  fixed  capital,  the  latter  consisting 

N  2 


180  FREE    TRADE. 

of  tools,  buildings,  machinery,  &c.  (the  ratio 
being  generally  about  half  and  half,  I  believe). 
Now  the  tools  and  machinery  requisite  for  one 
species  of  manufacture  might  not  perhaps  be  ex- 
actly calculated  for  the  purposes  of  another  ma- 
nufacture ;  here  then  would  be  a  great  sinking 
of  fixed  capital.  Besides,  we  must  calculate  for 
a  reduction,  under  these  circumstances,  in  the 
increased  profits  of  the  cotton  spinner  from  the 
competition  of  the  fresh  candidates  for  cotton 
spinning,  particularly  if,  as  is  most  probable, 
they  would  overstock  the  market  of  the  world. 

It  is  always  granted  that  to  the  particular  indi- 
vidual gaining  an  increase  of  5  per  cent,  by  means 
of  a  foreign  trade,  there  would  be  an  advantage  of 
5  per  cent.,  and  that  if  all  the  country  could  trade 
on  the  same  principle  of  increase,  there  could  be 
no  doubt  that  all  the  country  would  be  benefitted 
to  the  same  extent.  Let  us,  however,  suppose 
another  case.  Let  the  manufacturers  of  Blefuscu, 
and  the  corn  growers  of  Blefuscu,  represent  two 
individuals;  and  let  us  suppose  the  capital  of 
each  to  consist  of  £1,000,000.  sterling,  and  that, 
in  exchanging  their  mutual  products,  they  were 
in  the  habit  of  making  a  profit  of  15  per  cent, 
upon  their  capital,  or  £150,000.  each.  Then 
suppose,  that  the  manufacturers  of  Blefuscu  should 
discover,  that  the  corn  of  Lilliput  was  so  much 
cheaper  than  that  of  Blefuscu,  that  by  exchanging 
their  manufactures  for  Lilliputian  corn,  they  could 
obtain  an  increase  of  5  per  cent,  in  their  profit. 


1'UEK    TUADE.  181 

The  manufacturer  of  Blefuscu,  if  he  took  advan- 
tage of  this  circumstance,  would  thus  be  richer 
by  £50,000.  than  before.      Supposing,   however, 
Blefuscu  to  be  in  such   an  artificial  state  from 
taxation,  or  other  causes,  as  to  prevent  its  corn 
growers  from  competing  with  the  corn  growers  of 
Lilliput,  the  corn  grower  of  Blefuscu  would  be 
annihilated,    and    £1,000,000.    sterling     capital 
would   be   lost   to    Blefuscu,    which  before  had 
created  an  annual  produce  of  £150,000.     If,  then, 
£150,000.  be  lost,  and  £50,000.  only  gained,  the 
natural  question  arising  in  this  place  would  be, 
how  is  the  island  of  Blefuscu  benefitted  by  this 
alteration  in  its  commerce  ? 

So  long  as  the  market  can  be  considered  unli- 
mited, it  matters  little  how  trade  is  arranged  ; 
but  when  each  country  has  raised  up  a  sufficiency 
of  population  for  the  labour  necessary  to  its  own 
products,  exclusive  of  machinery,  of  course  every 
improvement  in  machinery,   and  every  displace- 
ment of  a  home  product  by  a  foreign  one,  goes  to 
displace  the  means  of  existence  to  many.    Nations 
possessing   a  proper   complement   of  population 
previous   to    the    overwhelming  ingress    of    ma- 
chinery, must  study  to  adapt   themselves  to  so 
novel  a  circumstance.     To  those  countries,  espe- 
cially if  they  be  not  much  overpopulated,  which 
are  gifted  with  the  powers  of  producing  with  pe- 
culiar facility  some  article  of  great  and  necessary 
demand,  free  trade  would  be  the  best  specific, 
a  complete  newness  of  life ;  that  labour,  which 

N  3 


182  I   KKE    TRADE. 

machinery  had  rendered  useless  for  their  own 
wants,  would  be  rendered  independent,  at  least, 
by  new  custom,  from  a  wider  source :  but  this 
would  be  at  the  expense  of  those  who  had  been 
possessed  of  that  custom  before ;  for  the  products 
of  the  earth  are  not  so  nicely  balanced,  and  so 
equally  dispersed,  over  the  face  of  it,  as  to  give 
to  all  countries  an  aptitude  for  some  commodity 
with  so  large  a  demand  as  to  employ  the  whole 
of  their  labour.  The  five  or  six  countries  which 
shall  happen  to  be  the  pet  children  of  Nature 
will  absorb  the  custom  of  the  principal  conveni- 
ences of  life.  They  would  not,  indeed,  enjoy  a 
monopoly  among  their  own  citizens,  but  a  much 
more  grievous  one  would  they  have  at  the  cost 
of  the  citizens  of  the  world.  The  far  better  half 
of  the  world,  at  least  in  point  of  space  and 
number,  would  pay  the  price  of  the  monopoly  of 
the  other  half.  Venice*  and  the  Italian  States, 
Carthage  and  Tyre,  and  the  rest,  were  all  advo- 
cates of  free  trade  in  their  day ;  not  because  they 
expected  their  commerce  to  be  divided  with  others, 
but  that  the  commodities  over  which  circum- 
stances had  given  them  a  decided  advantage 
might  be  freely  received  every  where ;  and  that 

*  It  is  well  known,  that  while  Venice,  Genoa,  Pisa,  &c. 
had  the  command  of  the  ocean,  they  (as  Great  Britain  did  in 
the  late  war,)  forced  all  custom  into  their  own  hands.  It 
may  be  said,  that  we  are  still  mistress  of  the  seas;  true;  but 
dare  we  exercise  our  power  for  such  a  purpose  ?  The  ramifi- 
cations of  society  are  much  more  widely  spread, — the  links  in 
the  great  chain  are  less  fragile  than  some  centuries  ago. 


FRLK     IUADK.  183 

they  might  have  other  things  from  every  place  at 
the  cheapest  possible  rate.  They  wanted  to  sell 
at  the  dearest,  and  buy  at  the  cheapest  rate.  In 
fact,  the  monopoly  which  they  possessed  was 
very  agreeable  to  them  ;  but  the  world  at  large, 
having  a  different  interest,  found  means  of  pre- 
venting it.  And  then  what  happened  to  them 
all?  The  population,  fostered  by  the  demand  of 
the  world,  when  that  monopoly  was  over,  being 
far  too  great  for  the  internal  necessities  of  these 
small  states,  were  compelled  to  eat  the  bread  of 
idleness,  gradually  absorbing  the  accumulated 
capital  which  had  no  imrnoveable  means  of  in- 
vestment, and  then  ruin  fell  upon  those  places,* 
illustrating  that  saying  of  Admiral  Mordinou, 

*  The  ships  from  India  formerly  discharged  their  cargoes 
at  Suez ;  but  Jedda  and  Coseir  are  now  the  grand  depots 
for  Indian  commerce  in  the  Red  Sea,  and  Suez  has  conse- 
quently declined."  (Madden.)  Why  did  not  the  capital  she 
must  have  accumulated  during  her  prosperity  remain  with 
her?  Because,  like  all  other  places  which  have  been  de- 
pendent on  extrinsic  sources  for  riches,  she  had  fostered  a 
population,  which,  on  her  commerce  being  directed  into 
another  channel,  were  thrown  for  subsistence  on  the  pos- 
sessors of  capital.  Thus  the  capital  was  either  gradually 
absorbed,  for  want  of  the  means  and  opportunity  of  re- 
producing it ;  or  it  fled  from  such  a  tax  to  other  countries ;  for 
benevolence  is  not  the  most  predominant  organ  in  the  deve- 
lopement  of  capital.  I  cannot  but  remark,  that  a  nation  run- 
ning headlong  into  a  department  of  foreign  trade  to  the 
neglect  of  her  own,  reminds  me  of  the  Alderman's  principle 
of  punch  and  turtle  to-day, — head-ache  and  sickness  to- 
morrow. 

N    4 


184  FREE    TRADE, 

"  Que  la  richesse  d'une  nation  se  calcule  sur  la 
masse  des  capitaux  immobilises  ou  mis  en  re- 
serve." (p.  51,  Bull.  Univ.,  July,  1824,)  and  this 
is  the  best  argument  in  favour  of  the  growing- 
value  of  land,  which  thus  becomes  a  matrix  ex- 
panding ad  libitum  for  that  accumulation  of  ca- 
pital which  is  consequent  on  the  progressive  state, 
and  which  secured  in  an  investment  that  must 
needs  be  permanent,  is  a  sinking  fund  to  meet 
national  emergencies;  but  which  loose  and  un- 
realized, and  compelling  competition  to  the  de- 
struction of  producers,  is,  as  Lord  Bacon  well 
either  judged  or  foresaw,  "  the  curse  of  in- 
dustry." 

Free  trade  gives  an  unreasonable  advantage  to 
those  nations  which,  from  being  old  in  the  scale 
of  civilization,  have,  from  the  influence  of  time, 
and  free  institutions,  become  skilful  in  mecha- 
nical art ;  and  yet,  if  temporary  encouragement 
were  allowed  to  other  nations  of  later  growth, 
they  might  have  natural  advantages  that  would 
soon  overcome  the  impediments  of  previous  expe- 
rience on  the  part  of  others.  A  new  nation— 
i.  e.  one  just  emerging  from  a  state  of  barbarism, 
has  its  head  kept  under  water  by  the  monopoly 
of  already  acquired  advantages  on  the  part  of 
older  nations ;  which  being,  perhaps,  totally 
unconnected  with  it  by  the  boundaries  of  Nature, 
can  have  no  right  of  interference  with  its  rising 
prosperity.  By  an  apprenticeship  of  a  few  years 
to  a  particular  species  of  industry,  a  nation,  new 


FHKL     TUADE.  185 

to  manual  arts,  might  bring  itself,  by  exertion, 
to  a  state  to  compete  on  a  par  with  the  more 
advanced  nations,  and  thus  lay  up  for  itself  the 
riches  consequent  on  the  introduction  of  a  new 
source  of  employment  for  industry.  Whereas,  if  the 
competition  of  the  elder  countries  be  allowed  full 
play  during  this  probationary  period,  thus  depriving 
the  learners  of  the  means  of  livelihood  whilst  their 
apprenticeship  lasts,  they  must  be  compelled  to 
surrender  the  acquisition  of  the  knowledge  neces- 
sary to  their  art,  when  a  few  years  longer  might 
raise  them  to  an  equality  with  their  antagonists. 
In  order  to  afford  the  possibility  of  a  nation  com- 
mencing the  operations  of  manufacturing,  some 
facilities  must  be  given  to  the  beginners — which 
the  free  market  of  the  world  will  not  allow. 
Therefore,  unless  their  own  country  will  give 
protection  to  these  beginners  by  means  of  prohi- 
bitary  duties,  they  who  might,  eventually,  be 
able  to  compete  advantageously  with  the  whole 
world,  must,  for  want  of,  perhaps,  a  short  tem- 
porary encouragement,  be  thrown  back  upon  their 
ignorance,  and  remain  useless  members  of  society. 
The  case  of  a  two  year  old  racing  against  an  aged 
horse,  which  shall  be  ridden  with  equal  weights, 
is  really  one  of  justice  and  moderation,  compared 
with  the  one  I  have  just  described ;  for  the  colt 
may  become  a  horse  without  any  deviation  from 
the  course  of  Nature,  and  in  defiance  of  the  supe- 
rior age  of  his  early  antagonist;  but  the  young 


186  FREE    TRADE. 

manufacturer,  in  competition  with  the  old  one, 
who  is  possessed  of  the  requisites  of  skill,  machi- 
nery, and  capital,  but  stands  up  for  one  moment  to 
be  knocked  down  the  next.  Even  in  an  old- 
going  manufacturing  country,  the  young  beginner 
can  never  pretend  to  compete  with  the  old  trader, 
but  must  first  seek  to  learn  his  business,  by  serv- 
ing an  apprenticeship  under  the  auspices  of  a 
master  possessed  of  capital  and  employment; 
by  and  by  he  becomes  a  journeyman,  and  accu- 
mulates a  small  capital  from  the  saving  of  his 
wages,  and  then  is  in  a  condition  to  stand  up 
against  the  rivalry  of  others  ;  but  in  a  new  manu- 
facturing country,  without  protection  for  its  inci- 
pient industry,  no  one  can  possibly  become  a 
master.  There  can,  therefore,  be  no  one  to  har- 
bour the  apprentice.  The  helpless  child,  bereft 
of  the  fostering  care  of  a  parent,  must,  upon  equal 
terms  with  men,  be  trampled  under  foot  and 
destroyed.  Is  it  more  advantageous  for  a  nation 
to  submit  for  a  few  years  to  the  sacrifice  of  a 
small  rise  in  the  price  of  an  article  of  its  con- 
sumption, in  order  to  introduce  the  manufacture 
of  it  among  its  own  people,  thus  creating  a  new 
employment  for  increasing  numbers,  and  so  lay- 
ing the  foundation  for  future  wealth?  or  is  it 
better  that  the  50,000  original  natives  should  have 
no  stimulus  to  industry  ?  which  is  the  only  means 
of  supporting  themselves  respectably,  or  of  in- 
creasing their  numbers,  with  a  prospect  of  even- 


KltKK    TRADE.  187 

tual  welfare.*  To  hope  that  a  species  of  manu- 
facture, which  existed  elsewhere,  would  not 
require  protection  on  its  introduction  into  another 
country,  would  be  tantamount  to  expecting  that 
a  plant  or  animal  from  the  tropics,  could  be 
transferred  to  a  northern  clime,  and  there  flourish 
on  an  equality  with  others  of  native  growth. 
That,  by  care,  such  a  translation  may  be  accom- 
plished, many  of  our  domestic  plants  and  animals, 
apparently  indigenous,  but  in  reality  originating 
from  hotter  countries,  bear  witness. |  Exactly 

*  "  Man  and  all  his  works  are  helpless  in  infancy.  The 
noblest  then  require  the  protection  and  nourishment  of  a  parent. 
Seeing  establishments  in  their  greatness,  we  are  apt  to  forget 
the  humble  beginning  from  which  they  have  risen ;  but  when 
traced  to  their  origin,  it  will  be  found  that  in  every  enlightened 
government  they  have  been  its  nurslings  in  their  infancy.  In 
such  governments,  manufactures  have  been  the  favourite  and 
almost  peculiar  objects  of  their  protection  :  the  history  of  all 
the  manufacturing  nations  is  full  of  proofs,  that  whenever  a 
manufacture  is  in  its  infancy,  it  is  protected  by  duties,  boun- 
ties, and  premiums  on  the  article  ;  privileges,  protection,  and 
encouragement  to  the  artisan ;  until  the  manufacture  has  pro- 
gressed so  as  to  supply  the  wants  of  the  country.  Then  the 
exportation  of  the  raw  material,  the  importation  of  the  manu- 
factured article,  the  emigration  of  the  workmen,  and  the  com- 
munication of  the  knowledge  of  the  art,  are  prohibited  under 
severe  penalties,  in  some  cases  extending  to  the  forfeiture  of 
life.  The  history  of  none  of  these  nations  can  furnish  an  in- 
stance of  a  manufacture  being  left  to  take  care  of  itself,  or  of 
its  success  when  unaided  by  government."  Report  of  Harris- 
burg  Convention. 

t  When  we  see  the  various  productions  in  this  and  other 


188 


FREE    TRADE. 


what  has  happened  to  nearly  the  whole  race  of 
American  Indians,  would  be  re-acted,  in  case  of 
the  countries  which,  from  age  in  civilization,  are 
skilful  in  art  and  manufactures,  being  allowed 
free  commercial  ingress  into  countries  inexpe- 
rienced in  them.  The  one  was  a  free  trade  in 
civilization  itself,  the  other  would  be  a  free  trade 
in  the  arts  of  civilization.  It  may,  perhaps,  be 
said,  that  civilization  must  be  beneficial  at  any 
price,  and  that  the  example  of  it  must,  eventually, 
ensure  it  even  among  savages.  Who  can  deny 
the  blessings  of  civilization  ?  None.  But  if 
the  rashness  of  the  physician  kill  the  patient, 
what  are  the  blessings  of  medicine  to  him?  The 
truth  is,  the  basis  of  success  in  all  cases  of  reform ; 
religious,  moral,  or  commercial,  rests  on  an  immu- 
table principle  of  the  human  mind.  By  a  care- 
ful preparation,  by  a  gentle  insinuation,  by  that 
delicate  blending  so  beautiful  in  Nature  herself, 
great  principles  have  been  inculcated,  and  have 
thriven  :  by  sudden  compulsion — never.  What 
account  will  they  give  of  civilization,  they  who 
were  the  victims  of  Pizarro,  and  of  the  hellhounds 

countries  which  are  not  indigenous,  and  when  we  know  how 
many  have  been  naturalized  contrary  to  expectation,  the  idea 
suggests  itself  that  there  may  be  scarcely  any  limit  to  this 
transfer  of  products ;  so  that  each  nation,  with  natural  boun- 
daries, may  become  eventually,  in  a  great  measure,  independ- 
ent of  extraneous  raw  material.  The  naturalization  in  France, 
by  M.  Ternaux,  of  the  Thibet  goats  from  the  plains  of  Khingiz, 
which  furnish  the  material  of  the  Cashmere  shawls,  is  the 
latest  surprise  on  the  world  perhaps  in  this  respect. 


I-RF.E  TRAIH-:.  189 

usurping  the  paternal  sway  of  Columbus  ?  Why 
are  the  moral  sentiments  granted  to  humanity? 
Why  does  not  the  savage  Indian,  according  to 
the  dictates  of  unbridled  competition,  seize  on  the 
infant's  portion,  which  is  surely  within  his  grasp  ? 
and  if  he  did !  what  would  be  the  consequence 
to  the  child,  whose  only  argument  would  be,  a 
vested  interest  in  life  ?  It  would  be  that  of  the 
newly  civilized  country  described  above,  the 
defence  of  whose  people  is  also  a  vested  interest 
in  the  country  of  their  birth.  Either  the  feelings 
of  the  parent  towards  the  child  are  false  to  Nature, 
and  an  universal  scramble  is  correct ;  or  parental 
affection  is  for  some  useful  purpose,  and  a  limit 
must  be  attached  to  the  principle  of  competition. 

As  the  introduction  of  youth  to  manhood  is 
gradual,  every  improvement  offered  to  manhood 
itself  retains  this  law  as  a  condition  of  success. 
Therefore,  whether  a  change  be  proposed  for  an 
extension  of  freedom  in  trade,  or  a  curtailment  of 
it,  the  process  should  be  equally  gradual,  propor- 
tionate to  the  extent  of  the  vested  interests  which 
would  be  inevitable  sufferers  by  a  sudden  change. 
France  is,  perhaps,  an  example  of  a  too  quick,  or 
rather  too  extensive  transition  at  one  time  in  her 
commercial  policy  towards  restriction ;  England 
the  other  way.  France  could  better  bear  the  free 
system  than  England,  because  she  has  more 
natural  advantages,  and  fewer  acquired  ones  ;  the 
chief  superiority  of  Great  Britain  consisting  in  the 
growth  of  capital  and  skill  from  an  artificial  source, 


190  FREE    TRADE. 

priority  in  the  race  of  freedom  of  action,  which  has 
given  birth  to  a  countless  multitude  of  interests 
which  must  sink  before  the  competition  of  those 
countries  where  liberty  has  been  grafted  on  greater 
natural  advantages. 

Beyond  doubt,  free  trade  would,  for  a  time, 
be  favourably  entertained  by  a  country  on  which 
Nature  had  bestowed  the  monopoly  of  some  raw 
material  of  large  essential  demand,  provided  its 
population  were  not  pre-occupied  with  any  but 
this  staple  commodity;  because  it  would  usurp 
the  custom  of  other  nations :  but  this  very  cause 
of  advantage  to  the  new  nation,  is  a  suffi- 
cient reason  why  an  old  overpopulated  country 
should  not  be  satisfied  with  it.*  If  a  free- 
trading  country  does  not  get  more  by  its  free 
trade  than  it  could  at  home  without  it,  it  is  of  no 
use ;  if  it  does  get  more,  then  that  is  an  abstrac- 
tion of  profit  from  some  other  part  of  the  world  : 
a  loss  which  will  not,  in  the  long  run,  be  borne 
by  the  rest  of  the  world,  unless  other  occupations 
spring  up  for  the  labour  displaced  ;  at  least,  if  the 

*  America  could  and  would  have  exported  corn  in  great 
quantities  to  Europe,  but  Europe  could  not  afford  the  dis- 
placement of  its  own  labour  on  this  account;  therefore  the 
supernumary  agriculturists  of  America  were  obliged  to  betake 
themselves  to  manufacture  for  an  employment.  Children  will 
come  where  there  is  food ;  but  as  not  nearly  all  are  required 
to  produce  food,  the  rest  must  be  occupied  in  something  which 
will  bring  a  satisfaction  to  those  who  do  produce  the  food, 
for  their  labour. 


KRKl«:    TRAD  I-..  191 

whole  surface  of  the  globe,  and  not  particular 
spots  only,  be  to  be  inhabited.  Countries  just  on 
the  eve  of  populating  themselves  have,  however, 
this  great  advantage  over  old-going  ones,  that 
they  can  frame  laws  to  provide  against  the  too 
quick  supply  of  population.  The  old  countries, 
not  foreseeing  the  rapid  strides  which  machinery 
has  made  of  late  years,  have  been  overtaken  by  it, 
and  their  population  must  shortly  be  mastered 
through  its  influence.  As  rail-roads  and  canals  do 
diminish  the  demand  for  horse  power,  so  will 
steam  and  machinery  that  for  man  power;  and 
hence  a  country  which  is  peopling  itself  only  in 
reference  to  machinery,  must  have  fewer  draw- 
backs, and  less  distress,  than  a  country  that  has 
fostered  a  population  for  its  manual  services,  for 
which  machinery  causes  a  diminishing  demand. 

Whatever  may  be  said  in  favour  of  agricultural 
countries  furnishing  corn  alone ;  and  manufactur- 
ing countries  merely  manufactures ;  it  strikes  me, 
that  Nature  herself  furnishes  too  much  of  the 
labour  in  agriculture  to  allow  sufficient  employ- 
ment to  the  population,  which,  from  the  procrea- 
tive  tendency,  must  be  consequent  on  a  thriving 
state  of  agriculture.  Whereas  manufactures, 
which  are  purely  the  result  of  human  labour, 
become  a  most  useful  adjunct  to  agriculture,  as 
they  give  employment  to  supernumerary  hands  ; 
which  are  supernumerary,  because  every  indus- 
trious man,  on  the  average,  produces  more  than 
he  consumes  ;  it  is  estimated  at  four  times.  Sure 


192  FKKE    TRADE. 

do  I  feel,  that  if  population  go  on  increasing  with 
machinery  in  its  van,  it  is  not  one  or  two  peculiar 
species  of  industry  that  will  suffice  for  the  employ- 
ment of  a  highly  peopled  kingdom ;  and  Hume 
coincides  in  this  opinion :  "  Any  people,"  says  he, 
c<  is  happier  who  possess  a  variety  of  manufactures 
than  if  they  enjoyed  one  single  great  manufacture, 
in  which  they  are  all  employed.  Their  situation 
is  less  precarious ;  and  they  will  feel  less  sensibly 
those  revolutions  and  uncertainties  to  which  every 
particular  branch  of  commerce  will  always  be  ex- 
posed." It  may  be  observed  of  free  trade,  that  it 
carries  with  it  the  objection  of  denying  the  means 
of  filling  all  those  small  interstices,  (small  indivi- 
dually, collectively  large)  apart  from  the  great 
staple  trade  of  a  country,  which  afford  occupation 
to  those  growing  supernumeraries  in  a  population 
who  cannot  find  employment  in  the  great  trade 
itself.  There  are  many  of  the  smaller  items  in  a 
farmer's  profits,  derived  from  minor  sources  in  his 
business,  which,  were  the  whole  attention  of  a  sepa- 
rate capitalist  directed  to  them,  would  deprive  him 
of  such  profit;  and  yet  the  labour  so  employed  by 
the  farmer  would  be  otherwise  wasted.  It  is  the 
same  with  the  trade  of  a  country  at  large  ; — there 
are  many  small  items,  that  accumulated,  make  a 
large  national  profit ;  which  free  trade  would  go 
directly  to  destroy. 

The  ultimate  desideratum  will  be  found,  I  think, 
to  be  in  every  country,  variety  of  employment . 
And  every  discoverer  of  a  new  mode  of  industry 


KKKE    THAD1. 


will  be  the  source  of  a  welcome  investment  for  the 
industry  of  his  country  ;  for  the  introduction  of  a 
new  species  of  manufacture  into  a  country,  is  the 
supply  of  so  much  capital  to  the  labourer,  par- 
ticularly in  a  nation  where  labour  is   in  excess 
of  the  demand.     If  this  be  true,  they  who  are  the 
cause  of  an  abstraction  of  any  species  of  industry 
from  a  country  where  labour  is  superabundant,  with- 
out supplying  its  place  with  some  other  equivalent 
investment  for   its   industry,   are   the   reverse   of 
benefactors  to  that  nation.     Before   any  kind  of 
labour  can  be  dismissed  from  an  old  occupation 
with  advantage,  future  employment  must  be  se- 
cured to  it.     A  man  will  not  voluntarily  submit 
to  a  compulsory  exchange  even  of  his  property; 
he  will  fight  before  he  relinquish  it  at  discretion. 
This  is  a  difficulty  which  must  ever  operate  against 
freedom   of  trade   in   all  countries,    which   have 
grown  to  fit  particular  circumstances.     In  a  new 
country,    where   labourers    were    in    demand,    it 
would  answer  extremely  well,  that  every   thing 
should  be  procured  at  the  lowest  price  from  the 
cheapest  market;  because   no   danger  would  be 
incurred  there  of  impelling  labour  into  idleness. 
But  when,  in  such  country,  the  population  had 
advanced  to  that   point,    always  sooner   or  later 
obtaining,   when   the  labourer,   instead  of  being 
sought,    must   condescend    to  seek   employment, 
he  must  find  it   in  some  species  of  industry  or 
other.     When   he   has   existed  for   years  in  one 
particular  occupation;  if  the  labour  which  before 

o 


194  FREE    TRADE. 

supported  him,  be  imported  in  the  shape  of  goods 
from  any  other  quarter,  he  loses  his  former  means 
of  existence:  nor  are  the  chances  in  a  highly 
populous  country,  by  any  means  promising  for 
his  obtaining  employment  in  any  other  direction. 

The  principal  article  of  British  exports  is  cotton, 
the  introduction  of  which  manufacture,  at  its 
present  cheap  rate,  has*  interfered  considerably 
with  the  prosperity  of  the  much  more  real  staple 
of  England,  the  woollen  manufacture.  Great 
Britain  has  no  natural  peculiar  aptitude  for  work- 
ing up  cotton  :  enterprize,  steam,  coal,  capital, 
machinery,  were,  it  is  true,  for  a  length  of  years, 
her  own ;  the  reward  of  an  early  career  in  liberty ; 
but  they  were  not  to  be  exclusive  for  ever ;  the 
advantages  flowing  from  security  to  industrious 
capital,  served  as  a  beacon  to  incite  emulation 
in  others ;  and  as  tlie  imitative  powers  far  exceed 
in  rapidity  of  progress  those  of  the  inventive,  the 
prototype  cannot  for  long  sustain  its  proud  pre- 
eminence: at  least,  the  distance  between  must 
sensibly  diminish.  Other  nations,  which  were 
once  as  nothing  in  the  manufacturing  scale,  have 
cleared  the  horizon,  and  obtained  a  place  on  the 
vantage  ground,  and  are  now  fast  aspiring  to  the 
career  of  Britain.  France,  for  instance,  even  in 
what  has  of  late  years  been  considered  the  pe- 
culiar department  of  Britain,  has,  since  1816, 

*  Our  woollen  exports,    in    1819,  were   £6,734,990.;    de- 
clared value,  in  1828,  £4,564,370. 


FREE     TRADE.  195 

advanced  in  the  ratio  of  310  to  270  more  rapidly 
in  the  cotton  trade  than  we.  India  (good  govern- 
ment encouraging  her  cotton  growth)  may,  in 
the  long  run,  America,  with  her  cotton,  and 
mountains  of  coal,  must  soon,  divide,  and  ulti- 
mately absorb  this  the  principal  of  our  foreign 
exports. 

We  ought,  perhaps,  to  receive  the  evidence  with 
a  few  grains  of  allowance ;  but  until  we  know 
to  the  contrary,  have  no  right  professedly  to  dis- 
believe that  part  of  the  Report  of  the  proceedings 
at  the  General  Convention  at  Harrisburg,  held 
1827-8,  which  declares  as  follows: — "We  have 
before  us  the  London  '  Trade  List,'  of  the  26th 
of  June,  1827,  the  most  celebrated,  authentic,  and 
extensive  exhibit  of  commercial  operations,  which 
is  published  in  the  world.  In  this  '  twist'  brown 
yarn,  No.  20,  is  put  down  at  18s.;  16s.  6^.; 
15s.  4d. ;  and  14s.  4>d. ;  being  for  the  first,  second, 
third,  and  fourth  qualities,  average  16s.  O^d.  for  a 
package  of  10  pounds;  3  dollars,  56  cents,  or  35 
cents,  6  mills,  per  pound;  and  without  drawback 
on  exportation  being  allowed,  as  is  shown  in  the 
list.  But  the  present  regular  selling  price  of 
No.  20  '  twist,'  in  the  United  States,  of  a  quality 
as  good  as  the  first  in  England,  or,  surely  superior 
to  the  second,  is  34  cents  per  pound,  with  five 
per  cent,  discount,  3  dollars,  23  cents,  for  10 
pounds,  or  14s.  6d.  sterling,  or  3^  cents  less  per 
pound  than  the  medium  price,  though  excelling 
the  second  quality,  if  not  equal  to  the  first,  which, 

o  2 


196  FREE    TRADE. 

however,  we  are  assured  that  it  is.  This  is  a 
difference  of  ten  per  cent,  in  favour  of  American 
cotton  yarn !  With  this  plain  exhibit,  it  may  be 
certainly  expected,  that  we  shall  export  millions 
on  millions  of  pounds  of  cotton  yarn,  and  rival 
the  British  in  that  business,  as  we  do  in  goods 
made  out  of  it,  as  soon  as  the  capacity  of  our 
manufacturers  shall  pass  beyond  the  demand  for 
cotton  cloths,  of  which  last,  at  present,  there  is  a 
scarcity,  because  of  the  export,  though  not  much 
advanced  in  price.  There  are  very  few  lots  of 
100  bales  of  goods  now  remaining  in  '  first  hands,' 
for  the  home  demand  is  extending,  and  the  foreign 
one  increasing  faster  than  more  perfect  machinery 
(and  more  of  it)  can  supply.  But  the  domestic 
competition  will  soon  regulate  this.  We  have 
water  power,  or  iron  and  coal,  ingenious  artizans, 
and  industrious  people,  and  the  days  of  British 
monopoly  in  the  manufacture  of  our  own  raw  ma- 
terial are  numbered." — Page  69  of  the  Report  of 
the  Harrisburg  Convention. 

The  most  favourable  aspect  which  this  evidence 
can  assume,  is,  that  the  supply  of  cotton  to  the 
general  market  from  Great  Britain,  will  at  least  be 
disputed.  The  mountains  of  coal,  which  have 
but  to  be  sliced  off,  and  led  away  from  the  hills* 

*  Mountains  of  coal  exist  in  the  State  of  Pensylvania ;  and 
the  people  of  the  growing  manufacturing  town  of  Pittsburgh, 
cut  it  out  of  the  hills  with  as  much  facility  as  they  would  bring 
away  an  equal  weight  of  dirt. 

Cowper's  "  Notions  of  the  Americans." 


FREE     TRADE.  197 

of  Pittsburgh,  would  lead  us  to  a  more  unpromising 
conclusion ;  for  the  increasing  depth  of  our  coal 
mines  must  gradually  enhance  the  difficulty  of 
obtaining  it,  leaving  the  supply  of  fuel,  which 
is  of  the  last  importance  in  manufactures,  of  so 
much  easier  access  to  America.* 

What  pretensions,  then,  has  Great  Britain  to  de- 
pend for  the  riches  of  her  revenue  on  external 
sources?  Is  it  machinery?  A  cotton,  or  a  rice 
ground,  cannot  be  exported,  because  the  climate 
cannot  be  exported.  They  are  peculiarities  of  par- 
ticularly favoured  countries.  Machinery,  in  its  pre- 
sent state  of  excellence,  may  have  cost  England 
some  centuries  ;  and  if  other  countries  could  not 
attain  to  it,  if  mechanical  ingenuity,  if  manual  skill, 
were  the  property  of  England  alone,  we  might  have 
equal  reason  to  expect  this  adopted  staple  to  remain 
secure  to  us,  as  natural  staples  do  with  their  pecu- 
liar countries ;  and  our  engineers,  on  the  strength 
of  a  conviction  to  this  effect,  would  have  us  ex- 
port machinery.  Would  the  Americans  or  Cubans 
part  with  their  cotton,  rice,  or  sugar  grounds,  if 
they  could  help  it?  Then  why  should  we  part 
with  our  machinery  ?  Will  the  sale  of  machines 
compensate  for  the  loss  to  the  labourer  at  home, 
when  foreign  labourers  shall  work  them  instead  of 

*  Professor  Leslie,  upon  a  computation  of  the  coal  fields  in 
this  country,  compared  with  the  demand  for  it  from  manufac- 
tures, and  other  sources,  states  the  probable  supply  as  con- 
tinuing not  more  than  200  years. 

O  3 


198  FREE    TRADE. 

himself?  If  we  have  made  a  natural  out  of  an  arti- 
ficial advantage,  we  should  try  to  make  it  as  sta- 
tionary as  other  natural  advantages  ;  for  the  benefit 
of  exporting  a  little  machinery  would  certainly  be 
a  loss  to  the  country  at  large,  compared  with  the 
value  of  the  products  of  that  machinery  manufac- 
tured at  home,  i.e.  compared  with  the  exclusive- 
ness    which    such    machinery    might    award    to 
British  products.     But  the  truth  is,  and  it  cannot 
be   concealed,    our   machinery  cannot   remain   a 
secret ;  it  will  fly  abroad  in  spite  of  us :  the  engi- 
neers examined  in  the  Select  Committee  on  Arti- 
zans  and  Machinery  (1824)  all  agree  that  it  is 
smuggled  where  it  is  not  allowed  ;  and  the  Custom 
House    Officers   acknowledge    their    inability    to 
prevent  it :  moreover,  the  Evidence  proceeds  to  say, 
notwithstanding  what  has  been  said  to  the  con- 
trary, that  machines  can  be  made  perfectly  from 
drawings   which   are   constantly   sent   abroad  in 
periodical  publications.*     This  proves  machinery 
no  natural  advantage,  and  exhibits  England  in  a 
light  so  far  unfavourable  to  free  trade ;    for  no 
nation  can  profitably  form  part  of  a  free  trade 
convention,   unless   it   can  furnish  from   its  own 
internal   resources    some  commodity  or  commo- 
dities peculiar  to  itself,   which   it  can  exchange 

*  "  Even  a  man  who  does  not  understand  a  word  of  English, 
would  be  able  to  fabricate  machines  from  the  drawings  pub- 
lished by  the  Society  of  Arts." 

Evidence  before  the  Committee  on  Machinery,  etc. 


1  REE    TRADE.  199 

with  other  countries,  for  commodities  peculiar  to 
them.* 

Free  trade  must  certainly  be  confessed  to  be 
the  province  of  countries  possessing  the  power  of 
supplying  commodities  exclusively  their  own. 
England  is  one  of  the  last  places  to  boast  of 
such  :  her  advantages  are  all  artificial,  and  ac- 
quired at  the  cost  either  of  experience,  or  a 
long  course  which  liberty  has  allowed  to  her  in- 
genuity ;  for  which  she  has  no  patent  for  the  ex- 
clusive use ;  while  the  advantages  of  many  other 
countries  are  natural,  immoveable,  and  at  small 
comparative  cost.  Coal,  iron,  canals,  machinery, 
mechanical  genius,  capital : — all  these  America, 
a  flourishing  scion  from  the  same  stock  of  liberty, 
has  in  abundance,  but  the  last ;  which  however 
will  soon  come  either  from  internal  or  external 

*  The  inordinate  cheapness  of  our  manufactured  goods  has, 
for  a  moment,  concealed  from  view  the  gradual  independence 
of  other  nations  of  our  supply  of  commodities.  "  Our  trade 
with  Turkey,"  says  that  intelligent  traveller,  Mr.  Madden, 
"  has  been  long  declining:  in  the  reign  of  Queen  Anne,  we 
had  twenty-five  merchants  in  Constantinople ;  we  have  now 
about  half  that  number.  Our  shipping  gets  no  employment 
in  the  Archipelago  ;  for  one  English  vessel  that  gets  a  freight 
to  Candia,  or  from  it,  the  Consul  told  me,  there  were  twenty 
Austrian.  Our  cloths  are  no  longer  in  request  in  the  Turkish 
markets ;  the  German  cloths,  though  coarse,  are  cheap,  and 
suit  the  people  better.  The  Dutch  supply  the  market  with 
arms;  (we  once  did  so  exclusively).  And  even  in  printed 
calicoes  and  muslins,  we  now  divide  the  trade  with  the  Swiss ; 
the  colours  of  their  goods  are  brighter,  and  more  esteemed 
than  ours." 

0   4 


200  1  REE    TRADE. 

sources.  England  has  plenty  to  dispose  of  at  a 
low  rate  to  the  highest  bidder. 

And  not  in  America*  alone  does  the  disposition 
exist  to  produce  machinery.  Besides  those  of 
France,  conducted  by  English  workmen,  it  may 
be  well  to  mention  the  manufactory  I  of  Mr.  Cock- 
erell,  of  Liege,  (an  Engineer  who  went  out  from 
Manchester,  and  has  realized  an  immense  fortune,) 
who  has  been  almost  exclusively  employed  for 
27  years  in  making  machinery  for  cotton  and 
woollen  manufacturers.  He  has  one  manufactory 
at  Liege,  the  other  at  Sarang,  (four  miles  off) : — 
that  at  the  latter  place  covers  about  seven  acres  of 
ground  ;  that  at  Liege  contains  a  large  iron  mill, 
and  an  immense  colliery,  all  on  the  same  premises. 
They  employ  5  or  600  people. 

With  respect  to  the  quality  of  continental  iron,  J 

*  Committee  on  Artizans  and  Machinery. — In  the  event  of 
the  laws  remaining  as  they  now  are,  would  foreign  nations  in 
Europe  soon  be  able  to  supply  themselves,  and  America  also, 
with  that  machinery,  and  those  tools,  which  our  laws  prohibit 
the  exportation  of?  Mr.  John  Martineau — "  Certainly,  if  the 
laws  remain  unrepealed  and  strictly  adhered  to,  that  must 
necessarily  be  the  case," 

f  Committee  on  Artizans  and  Machinery,  February,  1824. 

I  France  is  very  rich  in  iron  mines;  her  mountains,  the 
Ardennes,  Vosges,  Juna,  Puy  de  Dome,  Pyrenees,  &c.,  all 
abound  with  this  mineral ;  and  the  fields  of  coal  in  France  are 
said  to  be  inexhaustible,  and  the  collieries  very  numerous. 
They  are  to  be  found  near  the  banks  of  the  Allier ;  near 


FREE    TRADE.  20l 

which  has  been  so  much  under-rated,  Mr.  Mauds- 
lay  gave  the  following  answer  to  a  question  put  to 
him  in  the  Committee  above  mentioned.  "  Is  the 
quality  of  foreign  iron  inferior  to  the  quality  of  En- 
glish iron,  supposing  the  ore  to  be  equally  well 
smelted  ?"  Mr.  M.  "  I  do  not  think  that  it  is  so 
generally,  because  a  great  deal  of  the  iron  ore  on 
the  Continent  is  as  good  as  any  we  can  get  here, 
but  the  want  of  a  competent  knowledge  of  smelt- 
ing produces  a  very  bad  article."  "  What  is  the 
quality  of  French  bar  iron  ?"  Mr.  Alexander  Gal- 
loway, perhaps  the  most  valuable  evidence  exa- 
mined, was  asked  in  the  Committee.  "  Their  bar 
iron  is  not  quite  so  good  for  many  purposes  as  our 
bar  iron,  but  it  has  all  the  natural  characteristics 
of  being  equal  to  any  thing  we  possess,  under  an 
improved  manufacture.* 

In  reference  to  the  progress  of  France  in  ma- 
Valenciennes,  and  Lisle  ;  in  the  department  du  Puy  de  Dome, 
de  1' Avignon,  du  Cauter,  and  in  many  other  places.  Many 
of  them,  however,  are  not  worked,  owing  to  the  difficulty  of 
carrying  the  coal  away  when  brought  to  the  surface." 

Quarterly  Review. 

"  In  great  Britain,  in  1827,  690,000  tons  of  iron  were  cast, 
and  the  value  of  the  iron  trade  was  upwards  of  ^0,000,000. 
sterling,  exclusive  of  fine  goods.  The  number  of  tons  of  cast 
iron  made  in  France,  in  1827,  was  200,000;  and  its  iron 
manufactures  yield  an  annual  produce  of  o£3, 000,000." 

Review  of  M.  Blanqui,  and  M.  St.  Cricq's  Discourses. 

*  Report  of  Artizans  and  Machinery,  page  22.  On  Swedish 
iron. — "  Swedish  iron  is  highly  carbonized,  and,  consequently, 
is  in  a  very  forward  state  for  conversion  into  steel.  Many 


202  FREE    TRADE. 

chinery,  it  may  be  useful  to  extract  part  of  Mr. 
Galloway's  evidence.  "  I  visited  not  less  than 
twenty  or  thirty  manufactories  in  France  that 
were  employed  on  machines  of  various  classes, 
and  I  there  saw,  in  1818,  many  of  the  very  arti- 
cles making,  that  I  had  refused  to  make  in  1816, 
in  consequence  of  our  prohibitory  laws,  and  made 
by  the  very  individuals  who  had  applied  to  me." 
"  I  very  minutely  examined  their  manufacture  of 
iron,  steel,  copper,  brass,  lead,  and  zinc,  in  all  the 
varieties  in  which  those  metals  were  used;  and 

people  in  this  country  entertain  a  notion  that  good  steel  cannot 
be  made  from  English  iron ;  that  is  a  very  incorrect  notion. 
It  cannot  be  made  at  the  same  expense  as  from  Swedish  iron, 
but  1  am  sure  that  the  extensive  introduction  of  iron  into  all 
the  purposes  of  life,  will  make  wood  more  plentiful,  and  that 
we  shall,  in  that  case,  very  soon,  from  our  iron,  make  as  good 
steel  as  any  foreign  iron.  A  piece  of  Swedish  iron  will  stand 
a  much  greater  strain,  or  take  a  much  greater  power  to  pull  it 
asunder :  it  is  not  so  well  calculated  for  vibration  as  the 
English  iron.  Twenty-three  years  ago,  when  I  began  busi- 
ness, I  used  nothing  but  Swedish  iron ;  we  then  worked  it  a 
great  deal  better  than  we  were  able  to  work  the  English  iron ; 
and  as  English  iron  has  a  grain,  whenever  we  worked  against 
the  grain,  the  unavoidable  consequence  was,  to  split  it :  we 
imputed  the  failure  to  the  quality  of  iron,  rather  than  to  our 
want  of  judgment.  I  use,  in  bar  iron,  perhaps,  from  100  to 
150  tons  a  year,  and  I  have  never  bought  for  these  fifteen 
years  one  ounce  of  foreign  iron  ;  and  there  are  very  few  pur- 
poses to  which  iron  can  be  applied,  to  which  English  iron  may 
not  be  profitably  and  usefully  applied.  The  use  of  our  own 
iron  has  superseded,  in  a  prodigious  degree,  all  other  iron." 

Mr.  Alexander  Galloway. 


FREE    TRADE.  203 

the  result  of  that  examination  was,  that  it  asto- 
nished me   at   the   progress  France  had,   in   five 
years,  made  in  every  branch  of  manufacture,  par- 
ticularly in  their  bar  and  sheet  iron,  sheet  steel, 
copper  of  every  class ;  together  with  brass.    There 
were  such  specimens  of  excellence  as  I  have  never 
seen  surpassed  in  this  country."     "  I  think  the 
operation  of  our  machinery  prohibitory  laws  has 
made  France  a  perfect  mechanical  rival  to  us." 
"  Nothing  that  we  are  capable  now  of  doing  can 
possibly  prevent  France,  if  she  only  does  what  she 
has  done  in  the  last  five  years,  from  being  as  suc- 
cessful a  rival  in  that  department  as  we  need  fear. 
I  should  say,  if  I  were  a  German  or  an  American, 
it  would  be  a  matter  of  perfect  indifference  to  me, 
if  I  wanted  a  cotton  machine,  whether  I  bought 
it  at  Paris  or  Manchester,  except  as  to  its  price, 
because  they  are  as  well  made  in  France  as  we 
are  in  the  habit  of  making  such  machines."     "  I 
understand  there  are  very  considerable  manufac- 
tories in  many  parts  of  Germany,  and  in  Russia ; 
indeed  I  have  much  reason  to  say  so,  because  I 
supplied  a  considerable  quantity  of  permitted  ma- 
chinery to  Russia,  and  the  prohibited  part  they 
have    since   made   for   themselves;    for  Monday 
brought  me  a  communication,  where  I  had  for- 
merly given  an  estimate  of  £12,000.  for  some  ma- 
chinery, which  they  have  since  manufactured  for 
themselves."     "  My  foreman,    along  with  many 
English  workmen,  were  enticed  to   Russia.      I 
know  well  enough  there  are  many  manufactories 


204  FREE    TRADE. 

established  near  Petersburgh;  there  is  a  gentle- 
man whom  I  furnished  with  a  considerable  quan- 
tity of  turning  machinery  and  saw  mills,  several 
years  ago;  I  understand  he  has  a  manufactory, 
in  which  5  or  600,  or  1000  men,  are  at  this  time 
employed.  Mr.  Thorowgood,  who  has  the  super- 
intendence of  the  government  works  at  Peters- 
burgh,  was  in  my  employ."  "  A  great  many  of  the 
most  considerable  manufactories  in  the  neighbour- 
hood of  Paris  are  conducted  by  Englishmen ;  at 
Chaillot,  at  Charenton,  and  several  on  the  banks 
of  the  Seine,  where  from  1000  to  1200  engineers 
are  employed ;  and  I  have  no  doubt  that  in  Paris 
alone  there  are  from  3000  to  4000  working  engi- 
neers." "  I  do  not  think  France  would  be  in  a 
condition,  with  reference  to  her  present  situation, 
for  any  considerable  foreign  supply  for  five  or  six 
years ;  but  after  that  period  I  think  she  would  be 
quite  adequate  to  foreign  orders.  All  the  machines 
generating  in  France  embrace  all  the  most  recent 
improvements  as  to  accuracy  and  durability,  which 
have  characterised,  perhaps,  the  last  fifteen  years 
of  England ;  they  are  beginning  where  we  have 
left  off.  All  their  frames  for  machinery,  that  used 
to  be  made  in  wood,  are  now  fabricated  in  iron." 
"  The  manufacture  of  machinery  is  not  confined 
to  the  neighbourhood  of  Paris,  it  is  very  exten- 
sively going  on  over  the  whole  of  France :  at  Lyons 
they  are  making  immense  progress;  at  Rouen, 
Abbeville,  and  many  other  places;  also  at  Or- 
leans ;  there  are  considerable  manufactories  in 


riu  i.   TKAD i-:.  '20 "t 

each  of  those  neighbourhoods/'  "  The  amount 
of  labour  on  machinery  is  considerably  more  in 
proportion  than  the  labour  on  most  other  articles 
of  our  export.  In  many  cases,  in  our  coarse  works, 
or  most  bulky,  we  generally  reckon  three-fifths 
of  the  price  of  every  machine  is  in  fact  for  jour- 
neymen's wages  ;  while  two-fifths  are  left  to  stand 
up  for  the  purchase  of  the  material,  for  the  use  of 
tools  and  utensils,  and  also  for  profit ;  but  in  the 
finer  works  we  consider  the  wages  to  be  seven- 
tenths  of  the  price  of  every  article."  "  Wages 
are  higher  in  London  than  Paris;  but  I  have 
heard  from  Englishmen  who  work  at  Paris,  that 
the  difference  is  not  so  great  in  the  expenses  of 
living,  if  they  indulge  in  English  habits."  "  As 
far  as  my  knowledge  extends,  to  persons  carrying 
on  works  in  France,  I  have  never  witnessed  a 
want  of  capital ;  and  capital  is  much  easier  ob- 
tained there  for  mechanical  speculation,  than 
perhaps  in  this  country  at  this  time ;  there  is  a 
great  predilection  among  the  French  for  engineer- 
ing ;  there  is  an  amazing  predilection  among  all 
classes  of  Frenchmen  for  English  machines,  and 
it  is  very  difficult  to  unsettle  them  upon  this 
point ;  I  am  quite  sure  that  if  I  were  to  open  a 
shop  in  Paris,  and  if  the  fact  was  not  generally 
known  to  the  public  there,  and  that  I  was  to  state 
that  the  machinery  came  from  England,  it  would 
fetch  a  better  price  from  that  circumstance ;  they 
have  a  great  opinion  of  English  capability,  and 
deservedly  so;  we  are  superior  to  them  considera- 


206  FREE    TRADE. 

bly  yet,  although  they  are  running  us  very  hard 
in  this  branch  of  our  manufacture."  "  But  I 
think  the  repeal  of  our  law  prohibiting  the  export 
of  machinery  as  it  respects  France,  would  be  ra- 
ther a  day  after  the  fair."  "  There  is  an  immense 
loss  attending  the  making  experiments,  with  a 
view  to  improve  machinery ;  there  is  hardly  a 
machine  that  ever  we  make  that  has  not  been 
reduced  to  the  test  of  practical  operation,  however 
simple  or  however  correct  in  its  principles,  but 
what  requires  an  immense  degree  of  experience  to 
bring  into  practical  operation,  so  as  to  be  worked 
by  ordinary  workmen."  "  I  should  think,  speak- 
ing of  the  cotton  machinery  and  many  other 
branches,  there  is  a  difference  of  30  per  cent,  in 
favour  of  England  over  France  ;  that  we  can  make 
them  30  per  cent,  cheaper  than  they  can  in  that 
country/' 

Price,  however,  is  the  only  solid  basis  on  which 
to  found  calculation  on  this  subject ;  and  it  will 
be  well  to  direct  our  attention  to  the  reasons  for 
its  being  higher  in  France  than  England.  Mr. 
Martineau,  in  his  evidence  in  favour  of  the 
superiority  of  English  machinery,  says: — "  My 
reasons  principally  consist  in  the  natural  advan- 
tages that  England  possesses,  from  the  circum- 
stance of  the  iron  stone  and  coal*  being  in- 

*  "  Within  the  last  three  or  four  years,  there  have  been  dis- 
covered in  the  departments  of  Gard  and  Aveyron,  coal  pits,  of 
more  or  less  extent,  close  to  abundant  strata  of  iron  on  ol 


FREE    TRADE.  207 

variably  found  in  the  same  spot,  and  thus  affording 
a  means  of  manufacturing  iron  at  a  cheap  rate ; 
the  talent  and  ingenuity  of  the  workmen;  the 
immense  spare  capital  we  have  in  this  country; 
the  circumstance  of  our  canals  and  rail  roads, 
already  established,  enabling  us  to  bring  the 
raw  material  from  the  interior  of  the  country  at 
a  very  low  rate."  We  shall  find,  out  of  these 
advantages,  that  where  France  chiefly  fails,  and 
what  forms  the  most  serious  obstacles  to  her  cheap 
manufacture  of  machinery,  is,  as  we  have*  be- 

excellent  quality." — Report  of  the  French  Commission  of 
Enquiry  on  Commerce  and  Manufactures. 

Paris,  Feb.  7,  1829.  "  I  send  a  small  map  of  France, 
on  which  I  have  sketched  eleven  coal  fields.  All  the  coal 
fields  in  the  south  are  associated  with  iron  stone,  or  iron  stone 
is  found  close  to  them  in  abundance.  There  are  about  ten 
coal  fields  in  addition  to  those  I  have  drawn  on  the  map,  so 
that  France  is,  in  fact,  extremely  rich  in  coal  and  iron.  A 
little  British  enterprise  is  alone  wanting,  (and  an  alteration  of 
the  law  with  respect  to  mines,)  to  render  France  most  powerful 
in  every  thing  relating  to  the  production  of  iron  and  coal. 
There  is  one  field  alone  that  would  be  sufficient  to  supply  all 
Europe  with  iron,  and  all  France  with  coal ;  it  is  at  Creusot, 
near  the  eastern  boundary.  From  this  field,  coal  and  iron 
can  be  transported  by  water  to  the  shores  of  the  Mediterra- 
nean and  the  German  Ocean,  and  nearly  through  all  France." 
— Communication  from  a  Scotch  Civil  Engineer  to  the  Editors 
of  the  Scotsman. 

*  "  The  French,  in  1826,  spun  nearly  as  many  pounds  of 
cotton  as  Britain  did  in  1816,  viz.  80,000,000/6. 

"  The  calicoes  of  Baron  Vavoshur  sell  for  Id.  a  yard  ;  simi- 
lar British,  sell  for  bd. 


208  FKKK    TRADE. 

fore  mentioned,  the  inferior  state  of  her  internal 
communications.  When  we  learn  that  a  great 
amount  of  goods  are  obliged  to  be  carried  many 
miles  on  horseback;*  that  there  are  £44,160,000. 
less  applied  to  canals,  and  nine  times  less  to  roads 
in  France  than  England  ;t  and  that  all  minerals 
there,  wherever  found,  belong  to  the  Crown, — we 
shall  not  only  not  be  surprised  at  the  dearness 
of  commodities  of  French  manufacture,  but  wonder 
how  they  accomplish  so  much  cheapness  in  spite 
of  the  many  obstacles  to  it;  obstacles,  however, 
easily  removed,  for  the  difficulty  of  a  backward 
state  of  communication  is  far  from  insupera- 
ble. To  bring  the  canals  of  France  to  an  equality 
with  those  of  England,  it  was  estimated,  some- 

"  The  corderoy,  velveteen,  and  fustians,  of  Troyes,  well 
suited  for  labourers'  and  soldiers'  clothing,  are  now  so  low,  that 
trowsers  can  be  made  of  them  for  4|  francs. 

"  M.  M.  Basile  and  Co.,  of  Versailles,  have  rivalled  England 
in  printed  muslins  for  dresses,  and  excelled  her  in  the  quality 
as  well  as  cheapness  of  worked  muslin,  with  a  chamois  co- 
loured ground. 

"  The  increase  of  the  French  and  English  cotton  manufac- 
tures, for  the  last  14  years,  have  been  as  about  310  the  former, 
and  270  the  latter."-  Discourses  of  M.  C.  Cricq,  and 
M.  Blanqui,  on  French  Produce  and  Industry. 

*  The  raw  cotton  is  transported  by  land  (very  bad  roads) 
from  Havre  to  Alsace,  a  distance  of  440  miles  ;  and  the  manu- 
factured article  is  sent  in  Caravans  to  Paris,  upwards  of  400 
miles. 

f  Dupin  (Force  Commerciale)  states,  that  France,  with  a 
superficies  three  times  as  great  as  that  of  England,  only  allows 
one-third  as  much  for  the  roads. 


KKKK     111  A  I)  I.  209 

time  ago,  by  a  commission  appointed  for  that 
purpose,  that  £44,160,000.  would  be  required: 
canals  are  now  cutting,  which  will  be  of  great 
consequence  to  trade.  The  chief  fear  is  the  bad 
supply  of  water  throughout  France.  In  the  winter 
the  current  is  too  strong:  in  the  summer  the 
water  is  deficient ;  even  the  Garonne,  above 
Bourdeaux,  and  the  Seine,  above  Rouen,  labour 
under  these  disadvantages.  Rail-ways  would  be 
a  better  speculation,  perhaps. 

It  would  be  an  excellent  measure  of  the  French 
Government  *  to  layf  out  a  few  millions  annually 
in  such  undertakings  ;  there  is  no  calculating  the 
eventual  benefit,  should  they  do  so.  It  is  not, 

*  French  Roads. — The  official  part  of  the  Moniteur  con- 
tained a  report  lately,  rilling  six  columns,  from  the  Minister  of 
the  Interior,  to  the  King,  respecting  the  state  of  the  roads  in 
France,  and  the  best  means  of  completing  and  repairing  them. 
The  Moniteur  states,  that  the  total  length  of  the  roads,  called 
the  Royal  roads,  is  about  8,631|  leagues ;  that  only  4,205 
leagues  are  in  good  condition ;  that  3, 166 1  leagues  want  re- 
pairing ;  there  are  814|  leagues  to  complete,  and  446  to  open. 
The  roads  to  be  repaired  would  cost  .  .  .£2,700,000 

To  be  completed       1,770,000 

T>  be  opened         •    1 ,400,000 


Total          £5,870,000 

t  "  There  are  constructed,  or  now  constructing,  3508  miles 
of  canal  and  rail  road,  in  the  United  States.  Most  of  this 
communication  is  made  by  the  public  authorities — not  more 
than  one-fourth  by  companies ;  and  as  far  as  experience  speaks, 
we  are  warranted  in  saying,  it  will  generally  yield  interest  on 
expenditure."— American  Quarterly  Review. 


210  FREE    TRADE. 

that  either  coal  or  iron  are  really  wanting  in 
France,  but  that  the  means  for  their  conveyance 
away  are  wanting.*  As  to  mechanical  ingenuity, 
we  may  strike  a  balance  between  the  artizans  of 
the  two  countries.  And  for  capital,  if  that  be 
wanting,  it  will,  more  than  any  other  article  of 
commerce,  fly  to  the  void  which  is  unfilled.  It 
is,  at  present,  the  chief  staple  of  England,  and 
its  surest  export.  It  wants  no  soil  for  vegetation 
but  good  government,  and  then  nothing  in  nature 
is  of  so  prolific  growth. 

But  if  France^  has  not  all  our  advantages,  what 
shall  we  say  to  the  United  States  of  America? 
Her  enterprise,  her  internal  communications,^  are 

f  When  we  consider  that  two-thirds,  or  21,000,000  of  the 
32,000,000  of  France,  are  employed  in  agriculture ;  and  when 
we  consider  the  improvements  in  agriculture  made  elsewhere, 
but  neglected  there,  it  is  evident  that  the  numbers  which  may 
be  spared  from  the  agriculture  of  France,  will  go  to  swell  the 
list  of  competitors  in  the  race  of  manufactures. 

British  silk  exports,  are  as  one  to  twenty  of  French ;  the 
French  cotton  exports,  are  as  one  to  ten  of  British. 

f  To  the  natural  advantages,  must  be  added,  the  situation 
of  France.  Through  the  low  countries,  she  can  with  ease 
transmit  her  manufactures  to  the  whole  of  Germany;  and, 
placed  upon  the  Mediterranean,  the  Bay  of  Biscay,  and  the 
English  Channel,  she  has  a  ready  intercourse  with  Italy, 
Naples,  and  Egypt,  for  import  of  silk  and  cotton  ;  with  Spain 
for  that  of  the  fine  Merino  wool ;  indeed,  with  all  parts  of 
the  world,  for  every  species  of  merchandize," — Quarterly 
Review. 

t  "  The  average  cost  per  mile  of  our  canals,  is  about 
13,000,  and  our  rail  roads  20,000  dollars,  whilst  similar  works 


KKEK     TH  A  Dtl.  211 

,  if  not  superior  to  our  own;  her  means  of 
procuring  coal  certainly  far  superior;  and  then, 
with  our  surplus  capital  added  to  her  own,  how  long 
shal  1  we  boast  of  our  superiority  ?  It  is  astonishing 
how  quick  is  the  growth  of  machinery,  and  how 
shortly  a  nation  may  supply  itself  with  an  article 
of  manufacture.  "  The  production  of  cotton  was 
only  introduced  into  Egypt  a  few  years  ago.  The 
first  year  of  its  cultivation  only  60  bags  were 
produced;  the  second,  50,000;  the  third,  120,000; 
and,  in  1824,  140,000."* 

in  England  have  cost  about  as  many  pounds.  Our  population 
of  12,000,000,  have  attempted  one-fourth  more  than  England 
with  23,000,000,  and  infinitely  more  than  the  population  of 
the  Continent  of  Europe  :  according  to  the  population,  we  are 
doing  nearly  as  much  again  as  England ;  and  if  we  take, 
abstractedly,  the  work  of  New  York,  she  has  done,  propor- 
tionally to  her  population,  eight  times  as  much  as  England; 
and  yet  we  speak  confidently  of  more  than  doubling  all  this 
within  10  years.  Already  we  have  actually  projected,  sur- 
veyed, and  ascertained  the  cost  and  practicability  of  4000  miles 
more  of  artificial  communication." — American  Quarterly  lie- 
view. 

*  "  There  is,"  says  Madden,  "  a  peculiar  constitution  of 
the  atmosphere  in  Egypt,  which  corrodes  all  implements  made 
of  iron,  by  means  of  the  saline  particles  suspended  to  it;  and 
the  interstices  of  the  machinery  are  clogged  up  with  sand. 
Whenever  a  southerly  or  easterly  wind  blows,  there  is  no 
keeping  the  sand  out ;  during  a  Kamsin,  I  have  found  it  with- 
in my  watch."  This  is  a  serious  obstacle  to  Egypt  ever  manu- 
facturing its  own  cotton ;  but  the  evil  of  corrosion  may  only 
exist  near  Alexandria,  (whence  this  description  is  dated,) 
from  the  influence  of  Lake  Mareotis,  in  its  vicinity,  now  a 
saline  swamp. 

P  2 


212  FREE    'IRA  UK. 

The  United  States  are  another  evidence  of  this  : 

"  This  Table,  showing  the  average  prices  in  the  New  York 
Market,  of  upland  cotton,  and  of  common  domestic  shirting, 
in  the  same  place,  in  the  month  of  April  of  each  year,  of  those 
given,  is  copied  from  the  New  York  '  Statesman,'  and  ac- 
cepted as  being  correct. 
April,  1815.  Cotton,  20cts.  p.lb.  Brown  Shirting,  25cts.  p.  yd. 


1816 

.  .  do  .  . 

28  .. 

do 

..  do  .. 

do  .. 

21  .. 

do. 

1817 

.  .  do  .  . 

281.. 

do 

..  do  .. 

do  .. 

21  .. 

do. 

1818 

.  .  do  .  . 

32  .. 

do 

..  do  .. 

do  .. 

21  .. 

do. 

1819 

.  .  do  .  . 

26  .. 

do 

..  do  .. 

do  .. 

19  .. 

do. 

1820 

.  .  do  .  . 

16  .. 

do 

..  do  .. 

do  .. 

121.. 

do. 

1821 

.  .  do  .  . 

13£.. 

do 

..  do  .. 

do  .. 

121.. 

do. 

1822 

.  .  do  .  . 

15£.. 

do 

..  do  .. 

do  .. 

13  .. 

do. 

1823 

.  .  do  .  . 

10J.. 

do 

..  do  .. 

do  .. 

11  .. 

do. 

1824 

.  .  do  .  . 

14  .. 

do 

..  do  .. 

do  .. 

10  .. 

do. 

1825 

.  .  do  .  . 

10  .. 

do 

..  do  .. 

do  .. 

10  .. 

do. 

1826 

.  .  do  .  . 

11J.. 

do 

..  do  .. 

do  .. 

9  .. 

do. 

1827 

.  .  do  .  . 

0}.. 

do 

..  do  .. 

do  .. 

9J,. 

do.' 

"  One  pound  of  cotton  nearly  makes  four  yards  of  these 
goods."  — Report  of  the  Harrisburg  Convention. 

The  manufacture  of  more  than  half  the  sail 
cloth  consumed  in  the  United  States,  was  accom- 
plished within  five  or  six  years ;  and  it  was 
proposed  in  the  Harrisburg  Convention,  with  a 
fair  show  of  probability  from  previous  facts,  that 
there  was  no  necessity,  but  rather  an  injury  for 
the  country  at  large,  to  import  hemp  and  flax  from 
Russia.  It  would  occupy  nearly  50,000  acres  for 
its  growth,  and  give  direct  employment  to  7000 
hands — indirect,  to  many  more.  "  Should  the 
old  cry  of  monopoly  be  raised,"  says  the  Report, 
"  by  the  objectors  to  any  further  revision  of  the 


FKKK    Til  A  UK.  213 

Tariff,  and  the  charge  of  fostering  and  pampering 
overgrown  establishments,  and  their  proprietors, 
be  reiterated,  the  answer  is  ready ;  they  are 
referred  to  the  effect  of  competition  in  the  manu- 
facture of  coarse  cottons,  of  window  glass,  nails, 
and  other  articles,  which  are  now  furnished  to 
the  consumer  at  lower  prices  than  when  they 
were  imported  from  England,  under  the  old 
Tariff."*  What  President  Jackson  said  in  his 
late  Speech  to  Congress,  relating  to  the  Tariff 
of  1828,  may  appear  ostensibly  to  tell  against  it; 
but  when  we  consider  that  his  chief  object  is  the 
promotion  of  the  welfare  of  agriculture, f  and  that 
that  interest  is  not  injured  by  it,  what  an  argu- 
ment is  this  in  favour  of  it.  For  the  competition 
of  foreign  goods,  which  has  depressed,  in  some 
degree,  the  manufacturers  of  the  United  States, 
only  proves  the  necessity  for  such  a  regulation, 
or  that  smuggling  is  not  efficiently  prevented. 
But  the  real  cause  of  the  ill  success  of  the  Tariff, 

*  In  America,  wages  are  high,  though  corn  is  low ;  in 
Britain,  corn  is,  from  taxation,  necessarily  high,  and  wages, 
on  account  of  machinery,  necessarily  low.  Can  America  or  we 
best  afford  to  reduce  wages  ?  The  wages  of  men  in  factories, 
in  the  United  States,  range  from  five  to  twelve  dollars  per 
week,  i.  e.  from  21s.  4rf.  to  52s.  per  week ;  and  yet,  at  this 
rate,  they  could  outsell  us  in  coarse  cotton,  in  1828. 

f  "  It  is  principally  as  manufactures  and  commerce  tend 
to  increase  the  value  of  agricultural  productions,  and  extend 
their  application  to  the  wants  and  comforts  of  society,  that 
they  deserve  the  fostering  care  of  government." — President 
Jackson's  Speech. 

P    3 


214 


FHF.K    TRADE. 


with  respect  to  manufactures  in  the  United 
States,  arose  from  a  source  they  could  not  an- 
ticipate— the  smuggling  in  of  goods,  which  paid 
no  projit,  from  England.  The  great  objection 
to  the  Tariff,  was  the  possibility  of  damage  to 
the  agricultural  interest ;  but  like  agriculture  in 
every  other  country,  the  grumbling  at  first  at 
a  small  rise  on  articles  of  convenience,  is  put 
a  stop  to  by  the  eventual  rise  in  the  value  of  its 
own  produce,  from  the  increased  and  certain  con- 
sumption by  home  manufacturers.*  "  Pensylva- 
nia,  it  is  calculated,  can  grow  many  millions  of 
bushels  more  of  wheat  than  she  now  does;  but 
as  she  cannot  command  a  market  abroad,  she 
will  demand  one  at  home ;  being  convinced  of 
the  truth  of  what  Anderson,  on  Industry,  says, 
"  No  earthly  method  remains  for  encouraging 
agriculture,  where  it  has  not  reared  up  its  head, 
that  can  be  considered  in  any  way  efficacious, 
but  the  establishing  proper  manufactures  in  those 
countries  you  wish  to  encourage."  And  this 
accounts  for  the  following  Resolution,  passed  by 
the  Senate,  and  House  of  Representatives,  of  the 
State  of  Pensylvania,  on  the  9th  of  December 
last,  since  President  Jackson's  late  Speech  : 
Resolved— "  That  the  Tariff  of  1828  accords 
with  the  spirit  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States,  and  is  a  just  and  salutary  national  mea- 
sure of  protection  to  the  industry  of  the  country, 

*  Harrisburg  Convention,  page  6. 


1  Kl   I      TRADE.  215 

against  foreign  policy  and  legislation."  After 
some  discussion,  this  Resolution  was  passed — 
Ayes  67,  Nay  1.* 

It  has,  however,  been  stated,  that  America 
will  never  really  become  a  manufacturing  nation, 
so  long  as  they  can  acquire  an  easier  and  more 
independent  livelihood  by  agriculturure  ;  but  it 
is  forgotten  that  the  agriculturists  produce  more 
than  they  can  of  themselves  consume.  Unless, 
therefore,  they  have  an  outlet  for  the  disposal  of 
their  surplus  produce  of  corn,  they  will  not  go 
on  increasing  the  quantity  of  land  in  cultivation ; 
and  the  state  of  the  country  must  become  sta- 
tionary, unless  there  be  domestic  manufactures ; 
for  Europe  will  not  consume  American  corn. 
Who,  that  has  read  a  page  of  the  history  of 
America,  can  for  a  moment  suppose  the  possibi- 
lity of  her  standing  still  ?  "  The  products  of  her 
agriculture,"  says  the  Report  of  the  Harrisburg 
Convention,  "  are  rapidly  increasing  ;  the  interior 
is  approaching  the  seaboard  by  canals  and  roads, 
and  pouring  out  its  abundance.  Human  inge- 
nuity cannot  devise  any  way  in  which  this  abun- 
dance can  be  rendered  valuable,  but  by  converting 

*  "  From  all  I  can  gather, "  says  an  American  Correspon- 
dent, "  from  those  who  are  presumed  to  know  something  on 
the  subject,  I  am  inclined  to  think  there  will  be  no  alteration 
of  the  present  Tariff  this  Session,  except,  perhaps,  a  reduction 
in  the  duties  on  tea  and  coffee,  which  may,  probably,  take 
place  soon ;  but  as  to  dry  goods,  I  do  not  believe  there  will 
toe  any  change." 

p  4 


21(5 


I-'HKK    TKADE. 


it  into  goods;  that  flour,  beef,  pork,  &c.  may  be 
exported  in  the  form  of  cotton  goods,  and  other 
manufactures."  The  argument  for  attending  ex- 
clusively to  agriculture,  would  apply  equally  to 
shipping ;  and  yet  we  see  America  beating  us 
even  in  this  ;  as  the  tonnage  in  the  transportation 
of  articles  between  the  United  States  and  Great 
Britain,  and  her  Colonies,  amply  show.  In  1826, 
the  American  tonnage  in  this  trade,  was  373,387  ; 
the  British  65,913. 

It  is  not  in  America  and  France  alone  that 
the  spirit  of  manufacture  is  abroad  ;  in  Russia, 
Germany,  Sweden,  and  other  places,  a  similar 
tone  prevails.*  What  are  we  to  understand  by 

*  "  I  candidly  believe,  that  but  a  comparatively  slight  quan- 
tity of  our  yarn  is  used  at  home ;  the  great  bulk  of  yarns  is 
exported,  thus  proving,  that  the  weaving  of  cloth  in  this  coun- 
try will  never  be  what  it  has  been.     The  export  of  our  ma- 
chinery, also,  may  serve  as  another  proof  of  the  approach  of 
that  period,  when  the  manufacture  even  of  yarns  will  not  long 
be  very  necessary  on  our  part.     It  is  evident,  that,  in  a  short 
time,  spinning  will  find  its  way  into  cheap  countries.     There 
are  at  least  a  hundred  looms  at  work  at  present  in  Poland, 
where,   a  few  years   ago,  there  was  scarcely  one.      The  prin- 
cipal  part  of  the  cotton-yarn  now  exported  goes  to  Prussia, 
Silesia,  and  Germany  generally,  with  Poland,  and  the  Nether- 
lands.    Our  Gallic  neighbours  spin  the  greater  part  of  their 
own  yarns,  and  are  supplied  by  this  country  only  with  a  very 
small  quantity  of  the  finer  numbers." — From  Manchester  Cor- 
respondent to  the  Globe  Newspaper. 

*  "  It  is  singular  that  the  Swiss,  who  have  come  the  last 
into  the  field  of  competition  of  manufactures,  have  at  once  beat 
all  the  scientific  in  France,  and   all  the  unscientific  dyers  in 


I-KKI,    TUADK.  217 

the  immense  demand  for  English  machinery  in 
every  corner  of  the  globe,    but  a  disposition  in 
other   countries   to  manufacture  for  themselves; 
a  wide  spreading  passion,  equal  to  that  for  the 
diffusion  of  knowledge,  from  a  natural  wish  to  be 
independent  of  other  nations  for  what  they  feel 
their    own    powers    are    competent    to    provide. 
Nor  can   it  be   stayed.     It  is  well  observed  by 
Montesquieu,   that  "  a  power  which   has  estab- 
lished itself  by  commerce,  can  subsist  a  long  time 
in  its  mediocrity,  but  its  grandeur  is  of  short  dura- 
tion ;  for  when  it  has  arrived,  imperceptibly,   at 
the  summit  of  its  career,  it  has  the  eyes  of  all 
the  rest  of  the  world  upon  it ;  and  other  nations 
then  begin  to  try  to  deprive  it  of  the  advantages 
it  has  gained,  as  it  were,  by  surprise."     I  am  far, 
however,  from  being  of  opinion  that  Great  Britain 
does  not  possess  within  herself  the  elements  of 
a  long  and  prosperous  career.     The  commercial 
nations  to  whom   Montesquieu  refers,   are   such 
as  the  Italian  Republics,  the  Hanse  Towns,  £c. ; 

England,  in  colours.  The  red  colours  are  particularly  bril- 
liant, and  the  greens  stand  washing." — Correspondent  from 
Belgium  and  Prussia. 

"  From  the  annual  report  recently  made  to  the  King  of 
Sweden,  by  the  Commercial  College,  it  appears,  that  the 
manufactures  of  that  country  have  increased  greatly,  during 
the  last  year.  The  number  of  manufactories,  is  1266,  and  the 
value  of  their  productions  8,118,000  rix  dollars,  or  203,000 
rix  dollars  more  than  the  preceding  year." — French  Paper. 

About  20,000  cotton  spinners  and  weavers  are  in  full 
activity  in  the  city  of  Ghent. 


-  FKtK     TRADE. 

which,  when  the  rivalry  of  their  neighbours  dis- 
possessed them  of  external  sources  of  wealth,  had 
no  internal  scope  to  develope  their  powers.     It 
is  not  so  with  England  ;  the  elements  of  her  power 
and  grandeur  have  never  been  really  of  extrinsic 
origin,  though  the  stimulus  of  the  war  flattered 
her  into  a  diversion  from  the  deepest  mine  of  her 
wealth,   and  which,  in  a  momentous  fit  of  mad- 
ness, she  was  willing  to  sacrifice  to  one  which 
is  daily  receding  from   her   grasp.     Beyond   all 
controversy — whatever  she  has  done  hitherto,  the 
dependence  of  Great  Britain  for  the  future,   is 
based  on  the  rock  of  her  own  internal  resources ; 
and   whatever   increases   generally   the   value   of 
her  domestic  products,  will  be  the  pabulum  with 
which  the  revenue  must  seek   to  be   fed.     The 
public  debt  is  of  large  nominal  amount ;   and  the 
property  of  consumers    must   be    proportionably 
high  to  meet  it.     With  regard  to  prices,  agricul- 
ture and  manufactures  hang  together ;  their  wel- 
fare can  never  really  be  separated;  but  as  the 
land  was  the  origin  of  all  manufactures,  i.  e.  of 
the  power  to  consume  them,  so  will  the  whole- 
some consumption  of  manufactures,  in  a  country 
like   this,    continue   dependent    on    the   growing 
riches  of  agriculture:    for  as  the  produce  of  a 
labourer  is  quadruple  the  amount  of  his  wages, 
a  small  increase  in  the  cost  of  his  consumption 
is  as  nothing  compared  with  the  increasing  de- 
mand for  his  labour,  which  a  remunerating  price 
to  the  most    numerous   class    of  customers   for 
manufactured  goods  will  always  afford. 


FHKE    TRADF.  219 

The  case  of  the  labourer  has  been  wilfully  mis- 
represented. It  is  the* certainty  of  employment, 
not  the  price  of  food,  which  is  the  principal  ob- 
ject with  him.  Whether  wheat  be  £100.  or  5s. 
a  bushel,  provided  wages  be  tantamount,  and 
employment  secure,  is  a  matter  of  complete  in- 
difference to  the  labourer,  who  certainly  has 
hitherto  had  no  great  reason  to  be  elated  with 
the  low  wages  and  low  corn  which  an  attempt  at 
free  trade  and  an  altered  currency  have  given 
him.  We  may,  indeed,  form  a  tolerably  sure 
estimate  of  whether,  with  our  present  skill,  we 
could  profitably  manufacture  cheaper  than  we  do 
now,  by  calculating  the  value  of  wages  in  a 
manufactured  article  when  corn  should  be  at  the 
cheapest  average  price  at  which  it  could  reach 
this  country,  say  40s.  per  quarter;  and  then,  sup- 
posing the  operatives  to  be  in  the  full  employment 
which  some  persons  say  this  cheap  corn  would 
bring  them,  by  comparing  the  cost  of  wages  under 
this  corn  price,  with  the  present  cost  of  wages ; 
when,  according  to  the  reports  from  the  manufac- 
turing districts,  many  thousand  operatives  are  living 
on  under  2s.  6d.  per  week.  At  the  present  low  rate 
of  wages,  there  is  no  plea  for  saying,  that  it  is 
the  price  of  corn  in  this  country  which  prevents 
the  increase  of  our  foreign  exports.*  There  is, 

*  From  1798  to  1814,  the  real  value  of  the  exports  ,had 
always  exceeded  the  official  value,  and  the  gross  amount  of 
the  excess  in  those  years  amounted  to  the  enormous  sum  of 


220  FREE    TRADE. 

however,  ample  room  for  improvement  in  the 
condition,  which,  if  the  currency  were  depre- 
ciated, would  be  gained  by  him  through  the 
enlarged  powers  of  real  fixed  property  to  em- 

£240,000,000.  From  1814  to  1819,  the  real  value  began  to 
fall  with  respect  to  the  official.  From  the  year  1819  to  1828, 
the  official  value  rose  above  the  real,  from  £36,000,000. 
to  £52,000,000.  The  excess  of  the  official  above  the  real, 
in  those  years,  amounted  to  £80,000,000.,  being  a  difference 
of  £8,000,000.  per  annum.  Under  the  operation  of  the  pre- 
sent system,  our  export  trade,  as  he  could  prove,  had  been 
long  falling  off  at  the  rate  of  eight  millions  and  a  half  an- 
nually.— Speech  of  Alderman  Waithman,  Feb.  1830. 

The  following  Table,  published  by  order  of  the  House  of 
Commons,  fully  corroborates  Mr.  Waithman's  statement,  and 
is  particularly  valuable  as  an  almost  exact  barometer  of  the 
effects  of  Mr.  Peel's  Bill  of  1819. 

Table  of  Exports  for   the  last  Fourteen    Years,   shewing  the 

Official  and  Real  Value  in  each  Year. 

Excess  Excess  of 

Years.       Official  value.         Real  value.         of  real  value.      official  value. 

1816  34,774,521  40,328,940  5,554,419    

1817  39,333,467  40,349,235  1,115,768    

1818  41,060,555  45,180,150  3,219,595    

1819  32,983,689  34,282,251  1,268,562 

1820  37,820,293  35,569,077  2,251,216 

1821  40,194,681  35,823,127  4,371,554 

1822  43,558,488  36,176,897  7,381,591 

1823  43,166,039  34,589,410  8,576,629 

1824  48,024,952  37,600,021  10,424,931 

1825  46,453,022  38,077,330  8,375,692 

1826  40,322,854  30,847,528  9,485,326 

1827  51,279,102  36,394,817  14,884,285 

1828  52,019,728  36,150,379  15,869,349 

1829  55,465,723  35,212,873  20,252,850 


KRLK      I  H  A  PI   . 


•2:21 


ploy  labour.  The  present  price  of  wheat*  gives 
a  better  home  market  for  manufactured  goods 
than  a  lower  price  would  do,  because  the  largest 
portion  of  consumers  of  those  goods  are  connected 
with  the  growth  of  corn.  A  lower  corn  price  then 
would  not  increase  our  exports,  because  it  is  out 
of  the  nature  of  the  case  to  expect  a  corn  price  so 
low  as  to  make  the  present  rate  of  wages  projitable 
and  permanent,  and  it  would  certainly  decrease  the 
home  consumption  of  manufactured  goods.  In- 
deed, it  may  be  taken  for  an  axiom,  that  the 
higher  the  value  of  land  in  a  country  like  this, 
the  larger  becomes  the  matrix  for  accumulating, 
in  a  solid  and  tangible  shape,  the  riches  of  such 
country,  as  a  reservoir  with  reference  to  national 
emergencies ;  and  thus  the  agricultural  interest 
may  be  called  the  raw  material  of  prosperity. 
Let  us  hear  no  more  then  the  cry,  "  We  must 
furnish  the  world  with  machinery,  it  is  our  raw 
material;  it  must  be  dearer  at  the  place  of  its 
importation  than  exportation;  therefore  we  must 
be  able  to  manufacture  cheaper  than  other  coun- 
tries." The  same  argument  holds  good  with 
every  other  raw  material ;  the  country  producing 

*  A  labourer,  consuming  only  a  quarter  of  wheat  per  an- 
num, a  rise  of  24s.  per  quarter,  (which  is  the  highest  contem- 
plated, i.  e.  from  40*.  to  64s.,)  extending  over  the  produce  of 
his  hands,  which  cannot  be  estimated,  in  any  thing  like  a 
wholesome  state  of  the  country,  at  less  than  £100.,  only  adds 
one  part  in  83  to  the  cost,  or  \\  per  cent.;  a  portion  so  minute 
as  absolutely  to  escape  the  notice  of  the  most  skilful  eye. 


FRF.J:   TRADF. 

it  could  manufacture  it  cheapest,  provided  coal 
and  iron  could  be  had  in  sufficient  abundance, 
and  these  are  fast  developing  themselves  every 
where,  even  in  India,*  for  before  a  commodity  is 
required,  it  is  seldom  looked  for.  Thus,  in  the 
long  run,  we  have  small  reason  to  doubt,  that  the 
country  of  the  raw  material  will  prove  the  true 
position  also  of  its  manufacture.  Under  good 
government,  what  should  eventually  prevent  Ger- 
man yj-  and  Spain,  (where  there  is  coal  enough 
for  Europe, J)  which  supply  us  with  so  much 

*  "  Two  steam  engines  (says  a  correspondent  of  the  Glas- 
gow Journal,)  were  made  in  Scotland  in  1828,  of  45  horse 
power  each,  and  shipped  to  Calcutta,  for  spinning  and  weaving 
cotton  goods  by  the  natives,  under  the  superintendance  of 
British  workmen,  and  on  the  capital  of  British  merchants, 
some  of  whom  are  extensively  connected  with  the  manufac- 
turers of  Glasgow.  This  power,  in  buildings  and  machinery, 
will  require  a  fixed  capital  of  £85,000  ;  and  of  a  circulating 
capital  annually  for  wages  to  1852  hands,  of  £24,076."  Both 
iron  and  coal  have  been  found,  not  long  since,  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  Madras. 

f  "  I  found  our  low  priced  Yorkshire  narrow  cloths  were 
cheaper  than  any  similar  quality  either  of  Verviers  or  Aix-la- 
Chapelle,  and  that  the  intermediate  qualities,  up  to  fine  broad 
cloth,  were  cheaper  in  these  districts.  I  allude  to  a  stout 
looking  cloth,  but  thin  in  the  weaving — to  Londrins,  to  Bath 
cloth,  to  ladies'  cloth,  and  such  like.  The  difference  was 
full  40  per  cent." — Correspondent  from  Belgium  and  Prussia. 

J  The  company  of  the  Guadalquivir  having  endeavoured  to 
ascertain  that  the  coal  mines  of  the  Asturias  could  supply  them 
with  twenty  thousand  tons  per  annum,  the  intendant  of  that 
principality  replied,  that  it  would  not  only  contract  to  furnish 
them  with  the  required  quantity  at  the  rate  of  14*.  per  ton. 


ru  ri-     i  u  II>K, 


cheap  wool,  from  manufacturing  it  for  themselves, 
and  eating  up  our  continental  woollen  trade, 
which  has  already  suffered  very  sufficiently  within 
the  last  few  years.  It  is  true,  that  if  our  corn 
fields  were  converted  to  pasture,  it  might  appear 
that  we  should  still  be  able  to  preserve  our  po- 
sition as  to  woollens  in  the  foreign  market.  But 
we  must  remember,  that  we  at  present  grow 
carcases  enough  for  the  existing  population  ;  and 
population  in  this  country,  under  such  a  system, 
I  maintain,  must  decrease,  because  few  labourers 
are  required  for  pasture  farming.  Under  a  free 
trade,  our  corn  growers  and  many  other  branches 
of  industry,  would  be  extinct,  less  than  1,000,000 
hands  sufficed  for  our  cotton  manufacture,  when 
it  was  in  fact  the  source  of  supply  to  the  whole 
world  :  and  it  is  not  likely,  unless  reduced  to 
the  very  last  extremity,  that  we  should  produce 
sheep  merely  for  their  wool  ;  dispersing  the  re- 
maining four-fifths  of  their  present  value  to  the 
fowls  of  the  air. 

We  must,  then,  either  have  the  presumption  to 
try  to  exceed  Creative  Wisdom,   in  inventing  new 

inclusive  of  the  expense  of  shipment,  hut  that  the  stores  of 
this  article  which  Nature  had  provided  were  so  considerable, 
and  the  facility  of  extracting  it  so  great,  that  the  Asturias 
were  capable  of  providing  coals  for  the  entire  consumption  of 
Europe  during  an  unlimited  term  of  years.  He  adds,  that  the 
whole  soil  is  one  immense  mass  of  carbonaceous  matter. 

"    The  linen  of  Germany  sells  better  than  that  of  Ireland 
in  Mexico."  —  Bullock. 


I'KKK     TKA1M-. 

products  to  suit  countries  possessing  none  pecu- 
liar to  themselves,  which  would  be  otherwise 
ruined,  when  a  free  trade  allowed  others  more 
favoured  by  Nature  to  dispossess  them  of  their 
wonted  employment,  or  we  must  consent  to  the 
arrangements  requisite  for  a  limited  market. 
Each  country  must  so  conduct  its  commercial 
policy  as  best  to  employ  at  present,  and  eventu- 
ally diminish  a  supernumerary  population  ;  i.e. 
it  must  forego  the  cheapness  of  some  commodities, 
in  order  that,  at  a  somewhat  dearer  rate,  it  may 
employ  its  own  population,  which,  if  it  did  not 
employ,  must  be  supported  in  idleness.  A  free 
trade,  in  such  a  case  as  this,  cannot  answer,  un- 
less the  profits  in  it  are  so  general  and  large  as 
not  only  to  exceed  what  can  be  afforded  by  the 
national  labour,  but  to  support  also  the  idle  ex- 
istence of  those  whose  labour  it  displaces,  and 
renders  nugatory.  A  free  trade,  therefore,  to  be 
profitable  to  a  country  at  large,  must  exceed  in 
its  profits  by  some  little,  both  the  nation's  own 
rate  of  internal  profits,  and  the  sum  required  for 
the  support  of  that  domestic  labour,  which,  by  a 
lower  price,  it  has  the  effect  of  displacing. 

Any  attempt,  however,  of  late,  to  encourage 
domestic  industry,  has  had  but  the  effect  of  de- 
veloping the  cry  of  monopoly!  monopoly!  It  may 
appear  very  plausible  to  decry  monopolies;  but  it 
should  not  come  from  the  advocates  of  free  trade; 
for,  if  I  mistake  not,  Mr.  Huskisson  confessed  his 
object  to  be  a  monopoly  of  the  trade  of  the  world. 


KKKK     TRADK. 


225 


Certainly  the  Americans  have  complained  of  an 
unfair  attempt  on  the  part  of  a  liberal  British 
Government  to  smother*  their  rising  manufac- 
tures. 

We  should  remember  how  natural  it  must  be 
that  our  neighbours  should  possess  an  interest  in 
retaining  some  branches  of  industry  for  their  own 
domestic  employment.     I  fear  our  palate  has  be- 
come so  pampered  by  a  long  monopoly  of  trade, 
as  to  reject  with  disgust  the  homely  nature  of  our 
domestic  demand,  forgetting  that  that  demand, 
if  sufficiently   encouraged,    contains,    within    its 
smaller  surface,   a  principle  of  wealth  to  our  ma- 
nufactures far  superior  to  the  largest  practicable 
external  demand.      How   all    our    foreign    trade 
(of  £35,000,000.  per  annum,)  dwindles  into  insig- 
nificance,   when  compared  with  the  transactions 
of  the  London  clearing  house  of  £5,000,000.|  a 
day;  and  how  trivial  is  the   amount   of  all  the 
shipping  employed  in   importations,    set   against 
that  which  is  called  into  action  by  the  multifari- 
ous parts  of  a  domestic;]:  manufacture. 

*  "  The  Carthaginians,  to  render  the  Sardinians  and  Cor- 
sicans  more  dependent,  forbade  their  planting,  sowing,  or 
doing  any  thing  of  the  like  kind,  under  pain  of  death;  so  that 
they  supplied  them  with  necessaries  from  Africa." — Mon- 
tesquieu. 

f  Burgess. 

J  "  Supposing  trade  to  be  torpid,  the  first  impulse  to 
quicker  circulation  is  an  increased  demand  for  commodities, 
which  is  usually  created  by  our  foreign  customers.  If  they 

Q 


226  KHKE    TRAD  I   . 

By  all  means  let  us  preserve  as  much  foreign 
trade  as  we  can,  consistent  with  the  wholesome 
employment  of  our  hands  at  home.  We  have  no 
market  either  at  home  or  abroad,  I  should  ima- 
gine, to  give  full  employment  to  our  present 
supernumerary  artizans,  unless  through  the  me- 
dium* of  a  gradual  cultivation  of  the  waste 

wanted  to  buy  nothing  but  foreign  or  colonial  produce,  their 
purchases  would  be  confined  to  the  sea  ports ;  where  the  pur- 
chase would  be  completed,  and  where  the  addition  to  the  cir- 
culating medium  would  be  imperceptible.  A  demand,  how- 
ever, even  for  all  our  manufactures  of  any  given  amount, 
would  not  cause  in  each  manufacture  a  corresponding  increase 
of  the  currency ;  but  that  increase  would  be  regulated  by  these 
circumstances;  the  raw  material,  whether  obtained  at  home 
or  abroad  ;  the  proportion  of  raw  material  and  labour  in  the 
wrought  fabric;  the  number  of  distinct  traders,  through  whose 
hands  all  the  materials  have  to  pass,  of  which  the  perfect  thing 
manufactured  is  composed,  before  it  is  shipped  at  the  sea  port. 
The  difference  between  a  foreign  demand  for  cotton  twist,  and 
Norwich  stuff  goods,  is  the  circulation  of  two  bills  for  the 
former,  and jtfve  or  six  for  the  latter.  This  increase  in  the  cir- 
culating medium,  causes  an  application  to  the  bankers  to  pay 
weekly  wages,  more  money  being  required  for  wages ;  the 
receipts  of  all  shopkeepers  are  increased  ;  they  experience  a 
greater  demand  for  goods ;  and  they  must  replenish,  or  their 
stock  will  be  run  out." — Burgess. 

*  India  is  another  opening  for  our  industry  which  is  within 
our  power,  and  it  is  not  difficult  to  foresee  the  consequences  ; 
which  are,  to  encourage  emigrants  from  England  to  India 
possessed  of  capital  and  skill,  who  will  shortly,  with  the  help 
of  Madras  coal  and  iron,  manufacture  the  raw  cotton  on  the 
spot ;  for  though  we  get  our  raw  cotton  now  almost  entirely 
from  the  United  States  of  America,  it  is  only  the  unwholesome 


KKF.K     TRAD!.  '227 

lands  of  Ireland  and  elsewhere  in  the  empire, 
which  might  pay  at  a  wheat  price  of  8s.  per 
bushel.  The  execution  of  such  a  plan  would 
cause  a  demand  for  our  manufactures  more  equal 
to  the  amount  of  goods  produced,  and  would 
give  breathing  time  for  salutary  laws  to  take 
effect  for  preventing  the  too  quick  growth  of 
population,  which  must  be  not  only  enacted  but 
strictly  enforced,  now  that  the  conviction  has 
arrived,  not  I  think  to  be  gainsayed,  that  our 
productions  will  more  and  more  every  year  have 
to  find  their  consumption  at  home,  which  must, 
in  some  degree,  limit  production  in  the  long  run. 

state  of  the  law  which  prevents  an  equally  good  article  being 
grown  in  India ; — indigo  is  an  evidence  of  this.  A  thriving 
English  population  will  grow  up,  and,  if  that  have  not  hap- 
pened before,  eventually  usurp  the  cotton  manufacture  of 
Great  Britain;  beating  us  out  of  the  market,  by  the  difference 
in  the  expense  of  carriage  between  the  raw  and  manufactured 
commodity,  and  by  the  non-existence  of  a  large  debt.  The 
reins  of  Government,  as  power  increases  among  the  colonists, 
must  eventually  be  seized  by  them,  and  the  American  drama 
be  re-enacted ;  except  that,  perhaps,  experience  may  assist  in 
preventing  such  obstinate  irritation  on  the  part  of  the  Mother 
Country.  The  result  here  contemplated,  however  certain,  is 
precisely  the  natural  and  just  one  ;  but  it  is  no  argument  in 
favour  of  our  dependence  on  a  single  branch  of  industry,  and 
that  by  no  means  indigenous,  such  as  cotton  is  to  Great  Bri- 
tain. It  will  be  fair  enough  in  this  country  to  keep  possession 
of  India,  until  it  be  able  to  protect  itself;  after  that,  Nature 
will  take  it  out  of  our  hands.  It  is  sufficient  excuse  for  re- 
taining it,  that  other  nations  might  dispossess  us  of  our  cotton 
trade,  withhold  a  large  field  for  emigration,  and  probably 
govern  the  country  worse. 

Q    2 


228  i  HL:K  TRADE. 

Of  course,  the  obvious  measures  of  the  check 
upon  Irish  population  by  a  gradual  subversion  of 
the  system  of  sub-letting,  and  good  poor  laws 
preventing  support  to  able-bodied  labourers,  are 
presumed.  Do  not  the  operatives  of  this  country 
perceive,  from  the  melancholy  experience  of  late 
years,  that  low  corn  here  causing  a  diminishing 
demand  for  labour,  have  only  given  low  wages, 
and  that  low  wages  have  not  produced  the  ex- 
pected event  of  an  extension  of  our  manufacturing 
sales  abroad  ?  The  old  prejudice,  that  the  larger 
the  supply  of  corn,  the  better  must  be  the  con- 
dition of  the  labouring  class,  is  no  longer  tenable. 
Poland  and  Ireland  are  corn  exporting  countries. 
The  number  of  paupers  in  the  United  States  of 
America  is  proof  enough  that  plenty  of  food  will 
not  produce  prosperity,  when  other  causes,  as  ill 
conduct,  or  bad  government,  deprives  them  of 
the  opportunities  which  can  alone  give  the  means 
of  their  possessing  it.  The  course  of  the  argument 
should  be,  either  that  it  matters  not  what  prices 
are  to  the  labourer,  so  long  as  his  wages  are  ac- 
commodated to  them ;  or  that  he,  like  all  other 
traders,  if  his  labour  be  displaced  by  foreign 
goods,  which  he  previously  produced,  must  go 
without  employment.  The  question,  therefore, 
would  be  reduced  to  this :  Is  it  better  for  the 
labourer,  who  has  no  capital  but  his  labour,  to 
have  corn  at  30,$.  the  quarter  without  employ- 
ment, or  at  60$.  with  employment?  Is  it  better 
for  the  tradesman,  the  most  of  whose  capital  is 


FRKK    TRADE.  229 

locked  up  in  his  trade,  to  have  custom  with  a 
wheat  price  of  60s.,  or  no  custom  with  it  at  3(Xs.? 
The  truth  is,  quantity  of  corn  in  a  warehouse  is 
not  the  charm  to  the  labourer,  but  the  amount  of 
his  means  to  purchase  it;  which  depending  on 
the  demand  for  his  labour,  it  is  evident  that  his 
capacity  for  enjoyment  rests  altogether  on  that 
demand  for  his  services,  the  payment  of  which 
can  alone  give  him  the  power  to  procure  the  ne- 
cessaries, conveniences,  or  luxuries  of  life;  the 
amount  of  the  demand  for  the  labourer  being, 
under  every  circumstance,  the  measure  of  his 
wages  and  enjoyment :  and  the  world,  being  re- 
solved upon  manufacturing  for  itself,  there  remains 
but  little  prospect  of  help  in  our  distress,  except 
from  that  legitimate  source — ourselves.  A  higher 
corn  price  would  enable  the  whole  agricultural 
interest,  composing  about  half  the  nation,  to 
double,*  perhaps,  their  purchases  of  manufac- 

*  I  do  not  say  this  unadvisedly  :  the  present  depressed  state 
of  agriculture  does  little  more  than  enable  its  dependents  to 
exist :  of  the  necessaries  of  life,  they  know  little ;  of  the  conveni- 
ences less;  and  of  the  luxuries  nothing.  The  two  latter,  being 
composed,  in  a  great  measure,  of  manufactures,  whatever 
increased  the  powers  of  consumption  in  the  agricultural  class, 
would  be  nearly  a  clear  bonus  to  the  sale  of  manufactures. 
While  the  increased  wages  of  the  operatives,  from  the  greater 
demand  for  their  goods,  would  make  another  large  addition  to 
their  consumption.  It  really  might  appear,  upon  a  very  ela- 
borate calculation  of  this  matter,  that  it  is  possible  for  wages 
of  2s.  6d.  a  day,  with  wheat  at  8s.  per  bushel,  to  be  somewhat 
more  advantageous  to  the  operatives  than  2s.  Qd.  per 
(the  Preston  rate,)  with  corn  at  5s.  per  bushel ! ! 

Q  3 


230  FREE:  TRADE. 

tured  goods  ;  the  wages  and  employment  of  the 
operatives  would  rise  and  be  secured  accord- 
ingly- 

Although,  as  long  as  machinery  and  artificial 
power  were  kept  out  of  sight,  northern  nations, 
from  their  energetic  activity,  may  appear  to  have 
been  intended  for  the  workmen  of  the  world,  Na- 
ture supplying  them  with  materials  from  the  lazy 
south;  yet  shall  we  find,  I  think,  that  steam  will 
prove,  in  the  sequel,  equally  energetic  in  the  south 
as  north;  and,  as  the  carriage  of  the  wrought 
article,  in  its  more  concentrated  shape,  is  much 
cheaper  than  of  the  raw  material,  the  grower 
must,  at  last,  become  the  manufacturer  too.  At 
present,  capital  is  wanting ;  but  it  is  indigenous 
to  most  soils,  and  will  transplant  to  all. 

At  all  events,  evidence  is  not  wanting  to  prove 
that  a  foreign  trade  cannot  advantageously  exist 
without  reciprocity.  The  falling  off  in  the  ex- 
port wine  trade  of  France,  (which,  however,  has 
been  much  exaggerated,  being  only  about  71,500* 
tons,  and  the  late  surplus  in  the  Gironde  Depart- 

*  The  falling  off  in  the  wine  export  has  been,  in  Dantzic, 
from  6,000  tons,  from  Bourdeaux  alone  to  400  or  500  tons 
from  all  France ;  the  falling  off  in  Prussia  is  from  15,000  to 
4,000  tons ;  Holland  in  about  the  same  proportion ;  Ham- 
burgh, Bremen,  and  Lubeck,  from  40,000  to  15,000  tons; 
Sweden,  from  7,000  tons  to  nothing,  except  100  tons  for  the 
court;  Denmark  and  Norway,  from  5,000  tons  to  1000; 
Russia  from  12,000  to  4,000  tons.  In  all,  71,500  tons  de- 
clension in  the  French  wine  export  trade." — Petition  from  the 
Gironde  Department. 


FKEK    TKADE.  231 

ment  being  600,000  tons,)  is  an  additional  as- 
surance of  this.  If,  however,  in  the  various  new 
sources  of  industry  which  have  arisen  in  France, 
by  which  the  necessity  of  those  foreign  articles 
are  precluded,  which  used  to  come  in  exchange 
for  its  wines ;  if  these  new  manufactures  cause 
an  equal  demand  for  wine  at  home  to  what  was 
previously  experienced  from  abroad,  more  than 
an  equivalent  to  the  nation  is  obtained,  because 
it  is  more  to  be  depended  on,  and  introduces  an 
increase  of  domestic  customers  for  every  other 
domestic  manufacture.  There  can  be  no  falser 
estimate  of  a  nation's  prosperity  at  two  different 
periods,  than  the  amount  of  its  exports ;  because 
the  diminution  of  exports  may  arise  from  increased 
domestic  consumption,  which  is  much  more  va- 
luable, inasmuch  as  there  is  a  double  profit ;  the 
profits  on  each  of  the  commodities  constituting 
the  exchange  falling  to  the  lot  of  the  home  coun- 
try; whereas,  in  the  case  of  export  and  import, 
the  profits  are  divided  between  the  exporting  and 
importing  countries.  It  is,  nevertheless,  ad- 
vanced, that  by  enriching  our  neighbours,  we 
enrich  ourselves,  for  they  thus  become  richer 
customers  for  our  manufactures.  This  may  be 
the  case  for  a  season ;  but,  are  our  foreign  neigh- 
bours always  secure  customers  ?  Does  not  our 
money  help  them  to  manufacture  for  themselves, 
and  to  undersell  us.  Every  addition  to  their 
wealth,  there  can  be  no  doubt,  is  an  additional 
sinew  in  war  against  us.  What  can  continue 

Q  4 


232 


FREE    TRADE. 


their  wealth,  but  a  profitable  investment  for  it ; 
and  what   more    profitable    than   manufactures? 
Whereas   we  can  never  be   wrong   in  enriching 
ourselves  from  domestic  sources ;  we  are  always 
sure  customers  one  to  another,  and  this  even  a 
civil  war  could  not  prevent.     On  a  well  organized 
system  of  protection  to  domestic  industry,  I  have 
little  doubt  that  we  could,  with  great  advantage, 
secure  to  ourselves  an  invariable  supply  both  of 
corn  and  wool.     The  objection  to  the  latter  has 
been,  that  a  certain  species  of  foreign  wool    is 
required   for  the  finer  fabrics   which   the  home 
agriculturist  cannot  supply.      In  this  I  have  little 
faith,  provided  a  short  time  were  allowed  for  its 
naturalization.     Until  lately  it  has  always  been 
thought  necessary  to  import  English  loag  wool 
into  France.     M.  Ternaux  has  had  the  spirit  to 
naturalize  long  wool  led  English  sheep  to  a  great 
extent  in  France,  and  has  removed  many  diffi- 
culties which  prevailed  in  spinning  this  kind  of 
wool,  as  well  as  camel's  and  goat's  hair.     France 
excludes  all  wool  not  her  own  growth,  except  one- 
fifth  of  the  manufacture.     This  excites  great  emu- 
lation among  the  wool  growers,  and,  as  the  North 
of  France  is  the  most  famous  for  its  breed,  (which 
is  a  mixture  of  all  sorts,)  of  sheep,  there  is  no 
reason  to  suppose  that  England  could  not  grow  her 
own  wool. 

With  respect  to  corn,  also,  there  are  few  people 
acquainted  with  the  capabilities  of  our  soil,  who 
deny  that  we  could  grow  sufficient  for  our  average 


FREE    TRADl.. 


233 


consumption,*  if  the  price  were  not  under  8s.  per 
bushel ;  and  this,  deducting  the  influence  of  the 

*  If,  which  there  is  great  reason  to  believe,  a  remunerating 
price  of  corn  would  enable  us,  on  the  average  of  years,  to 
grow  sufficient  wheat  for  our  own  consumption  ;  the  objection, 
that  we  ought  not  entirely  to  discontinue  our  custom  to  foreign 
growers,  lest  they  should  have  no  corn  to  supply  us  with  in  a 
time  of  scarcity,  becomes  nugatory.  Great  odium  has  been 
intemperately  attached  to  the  idea  of  public  granaries ;  but  no 
plan  would  so  firmly  secure  an  average  supply  to  the  con- 
sumer, or  an  average  profit  to  the  producer ;  or  so  equalize 
the  price  between  the  two.  A  store  of  2,000,000  quarters 
would  be  ample,  bought  in,  the  first  time,  either  all  at  once 
from  the  foreigner,  or  by  degrees,  in  our  own  superabundant 
harvests,  when  wheat  was  more  than  ordinarily  cheap,  and 
would  sell  in  scarce  years  for  much  more  than  it  cost,  and  so 
bring  no  loss  to  the  revenue  :  the  whole  mass,  being  in  a  suc- 
cessive course  of  exchange  for  fresh  every  three  or  four  years. 
It  would  be  let  out,  by  orders  in  council,  just  in  those  mo- 
derate ratios  which  would  keep  the  price  at  what  was  settled 
by  Parliament  to  be  the  proper  one  for  the  grower  under  his 
taxation.  The  farmer  could  then  dispose  of  all  his  stock 
every  year,  without  being  at  the  expense  of  waiting  a  twelve- 
month for  a  better  price,  and  then  deluging  the  market  all  at 
once,  without  any  reference  to  the  existing  supply.  Whereas 
a  public  granary  would  be  a  rudder  of  regulation  as  to  price, 
and  of  security  as  to  supply.  The  experiment  of  warehousing 
corn,  upon  the  principles  of  the  ancients,  seems  to  answer 
very  well  in  France.  M.  Ternaux,  the  celebrated  agricul- 
turist and  manufacturer,  began,  in  1828  or  9,  to  deliver  to 
the  reserve  storehouses  of  Paris  the  corn  from  his  siloes  at 
St.  Oven.  The  silo  which  he  opened,  supplied  1,404 quintals 
of  wheat,  of  the  harvest  of  1824,  which,  it  is  said,  was  as 
fresh  in  smell,  and  as  full  in  appearance,  as  when  it  was  first 
stored.  Beyond  doubt,  modern  chemistry  may  be  a  great 


234  FREE    TRADE. 

National  Debt,  is  not  greater  than  the  price  of  the 
two  preceding  centuries.  At  the  present  moment, 
indeed,  the  price,  uninfluenced  by  two  scarce  sea- 
sons, would  not  be  greater  than  it  was  before  the 
war,  i.e.  6$.  per  bushel :  rents,  it  is  true,  are  about 
15  per  cent,  higher,  arising  from  increased  skill  in 
agriculture,  and,  till  lately,  a  more  spirited  outlay 
of  capital,  which  have  produced  corn  at  less  cost : 
this,  like  any  mechanical  improvement,  is  a  fair 
right  to  the  property  of  the  owner,  because  it 
leaves  the  price  to  the  consumer  the  same. 

Those  who  complain  of  the  invidiousness  to 
foreigners  in  our  imposing  large  duties  on  the 
import  of  corn ;  and  at  the  same  time  would 
increase  our  circulating  medium  to  such  an  ex- 
tent as  the  agriculturists  require  for  a  remune- 
rating price  of  corn,  appear  not  to  consider  that 
whether  foreign  goods  be  excluded  by  a  Corn 
Bill  or  a  Money  Bill,  the  result  is  precisely  the 
same  to  the  foreigner,  and  the  odium  really 
equal.  The  difference  to  us  between  a  Corn  and 
Money  Bill  is  this,  that  a  large  circulating  medium 
ensures  permanently  good  prices,  because  it 

assistance  to  us  in  a  plan  of  this  kind.  To  preclude  insects  and 
fermentation,  (both  of  which  require  the  presence  of  oxygen,) 
are  the  postulates,  which  may  probably  be  answered  by  air- 
tight cells,  with  either  carbonic  acid  gas,  or  azote,  or  hydro- 
gen, to  exclude  the  oxygen.  The  bounties  paid  by  the  Bri- 
tish Government  on  the  importation  of  corn,  1796,  amounted 
to  £573,418. ;  and,  in  1800,  to  £2,135,078.  These  facts  are, 
of  themselves,  (notwithstanding  the  time  of  war,)  a  volume, 
in  favour  of  public  granaries. 


FUEK    TKADK.  2'J. 

increases  the  quantity  of  money,  compared  with 
the  quantity  of  goods;  while,  supposing  no 
foreign  corn  to  be  imported,  a  Corn  Bill  can  have 
no  effect  on  prices  whatever,  any  more  than  if  the 
Manchester  Chamber  of  Commerce  were  to  declare 
cotton  shall  be  such  a  price  per  yard,  when  the 
public  will  only  give  a  lower  price.  But  sup- 
posing the  Manchester  cotton  spinners  to  be  hard 
pressed  by  taxes,  and  were  to  say, — "  Owing  to 
a  high  price  of  bread,  the  wages  I  have  to  pay  are 
so  much  increased,  that  I  cannot,  during  the  con- 
tinuance of  these  adverse  circumstances,  withstand 
the  competition  of  the  foreign  importer  without 
positive  loss,  when  my  workmen  must  be  support- 
ed by  the  country  in  idleness  ;"  there  is  a  fair  and 
just  claim  held  out  for  protection  from  Parliament. 
The  fact  is,  that  any  thing  like  a  Corn  Bill,  does 
not  produce  a  rise  in  price ;  Nature  causes  the 
rise,  by  adverse  seasons,  and  the  Corn  Bill  pre- 
vents the  fall  being  too  ruinous  to  the  home  grower 
from  an  importation  from  other  countries  where 
Nature  has,  for  the  season,  been  more  smiling  and 
productive. 

The  only  way  in  which  free  trade  can  at  pre- 
sent be  carried  on  in  this  country  consistently 
with  the  interest  of  the  British  labourer,  is  by 
depreciating  the  standard  in  this  country  so  as  to 
give  a  high  nominal  price  to  goods  which  are 
taxed  for  a  high  nominal  debt. 

The  way  in  which  a  depreciation  in  the  value 
of  our  standard  would  operate  on  corn,  may  be 


23G  FREE    TRADE. 

shewn  thus  : — We  are  to  suppose,  as  has  been  the 
case  for  200  years  preceding  the  late  war,  that  the 
ounce  of  silver  and  bushel  of  wheat  are  as  nearly 
as  possible  of  synonimous  value.  We  may  sup- 
pose, also,  for  the  sake  of  argument,  the  present, 
or  real  price  of  silver  to  be  5s.  per  ounce,  wheat, 
the  same  per  bushel ;  which  is  the  average  price 
at  which  foreign  wheat  could  reach  this  country 
without  any  restrictions.  When  the  foreign  wheat 
importer  (supposing  no  British  corn  laws)  lands  his 
corn  in  England,  he  exchanges  the  bushel  for  an 
ounce  of  silver  :  the  corn,  therefore,  sells  in  Eng- 
land at  5s.  per  bushel :  this  5s.  per  bushel  would 
drive  a  great  part  of  the  corn  land  in  England  out 
of  cultivation,  because,  under  our  burdens  of  debt, 
wheat  could  not  be  grown  on  most  of  our  soils  at 
that  price ;  the  foreigner  would  then  retain  pos- 
session of  the  English  corn  market.  And  sup- 
posing the  price,  from  a  surplus  supply,  to  fall 
to  4$,  6d.  per  bushel ;  however  injurious  it  might 
be  for  the  foreigner,  it  would  become,  under  his 
light,  and  our  heavy  taxation,  still  worse  for 
the  English  grower.  But  supposing  the  price 
of  the  ounce  of  silver  to  be  raised  to  Ss.  in  Eng- 
land, (the  continental  price  of  silver  remaining 
as  heretofore,)  the  price  of  the  bushel  of  wheat 
in  England  would  be  raised  to  Ss.  per  bushel: 
and  the  foreign  bushel  of  corn  exchanging  for 
the  ounce  of  silver  in  England,  must  sell  in 
the  English  market  for  the  same  as  the  ounce 
of  silver  does,  viz.  8$.,  so  long  as  there  is  not  an 


1HKF. 


'-37 


over  supply  of  corn  :  but  these  Ss.,  which  he 
obtains  in  England  for  his  bushel,  are  only  nominal, 
and  would  go  on  the  continent  for  5,9.  only  (the 
supposed  real  price  of  silver)  ;  the  foreign  grower 
then,  in  fact,  sells  his  com  but  for  5s.  the  bushel 
really  ;  the  same  as  before  the  alteration  in  the 
English  price  of  silver  took  place  :  therefore  to 
him  ostensibly  it  appears  neither  an  advantage  or 
otherwise  to  establish  a  depreciation  in  the  Eng- 
lish standard  ;  whilst  to  the  Englishman,  who  has 
to  pay  a  large  debt,  it  is  a  great  advantage  to  have 
the  number  of  his  shillings  nominally  increased, 
for  the  debt  consists  of  but  a  certain  number  of 
nominal  shillings  ;  and  the  more  of  these  nominal 
shillings  the  debtor  possesses,  the  easier  can  he 
pay  the  debt,  and  the  more  he  has  left  for  pur- 
poses of  consumption.  However,  it  is  more  than 
probable  that  this  additional  price  of  the  bushel  of 
wheat  in  England  would  stimulate  the  British 
grower  to  produce  a  larger  supply  of  wheat,  which, 
in  conjunction  with  the  foreign  supply,  might  over- 
stock the  market,  and  cause  a  depression  in  price 
of  6d.  or  Is.  per  bushel  :  for  then  a  fresh  operation 
would  take  place  ;  the  quantity  of  wheat  in  the 
market  would  have  lost  its  relation  to  the  quantity 
of  money  in  the  market  :  by  the  increase  of  wheat, 
more  wheat  would  be  given  for  the  same  money, 
the  price  of  wheat  would  then  be  lowered  ;  the 
bushel  of  corn,  previously  worth  8s.,  or  an  ounce 
of  silver,  must  then  sell  (say)  for  Is.,  or  less  than 


238  FUKK     Til  A  I)  K. 

an  ounce  of  silver.     This  is  a  fall  of  an  eighth. 
Now  the  fall  of  an  eighth  from  the  five  real  shil- 
lings, which  is  the  true  price  to  the  foreign  grower, 
is  l\d.  per  bushel,  which,  deducted  from  the  5s., 
leaves  4«y.  4±d.  per  bushel,   as  the  price  at  which 
the  foreign  importer  must  sell  his  corn  really  in 
England,  when  the  price  is  in  England  7s.  nomi- 
nally, under  a  silver  standard  of  8s.  per  ounce. 
Now,  as  we  are  supposing  5s.  per  bushel,  or  40,9. 
per  quarter,   to   be   about   the  average   price  at 
which  wheat  can  be  brought  from  the  Continent 
to  England,   it  appears  that  the  English  grower 
could  better  bear  the  fall  in  price  from  Ss.  to  7s., 
than  the  foreign  grower  from  5s.  to  4s.  4%d. ;  and 
as  it  is  probable  that  the  foreign  corn  would  not, 
on  the  average  of  years,  be  introduced  into  Eng- 
land at  4s.  4^d.   per  bushel,  the  English  bushel 
might,  on  the  average,  sell  for  7s.  6d.,  or  60s.  per 
quarter.     At  all  events,  no  one  can  for  a  moment 
doubt,  when  a  nominal  debt  has  to  be  paid,  that 
seven  nominal  shillings  will  go  further  in  payment 
of  that  debt  than  4s.  4%d.   real  shillings  ;  for  the 
real  shillings  go  no  farther  in  payment  of  the  debt 
than  the  nominal  shillings  do.     In  fact,  a  duty  of 
6*.  would,  I  should  think,  amply  secure  the  Eng- 
lish grower  from  any  foreign  interruption  at  all, 
when  Ss.  was  the  standard   price   of  silver  ;    for 
whenever  the  foreign  price  was  5s.  per  bushel,  the 
English  MUST  be  Ss.,  which  is  the  thing  to  be 
proved,  and  the  rise  and  fall  are  in  a  similar  ratio  ; 


1  |{  A  1)1   . 

and  all  other  commodities,  besides  corn,  would  be 
affected  in  the  same  way,  and  in  the  same  pro- 
portion. 

Provided  our  silver  ounce  were  depreciated  to 
the  above  extent,  rendered  necessary  by  our  na- 
tional derangement ;  free  trade  would  be  the  best 
thing  we  could  possibly  have.  An  unlimited  mar- 
ket for  over  production,  is  an  evident  remedy. 
Whether,  since  the  scarcity  of  their  circulating 
medium  has  diminished  their  own  powers  of  con- 
sumption, our  continental  neighbours  will  indulge 
us  in  a  measure  of  this  kind,  it  is  for  themselves 
to  consider. 

What  can  we  say  more  then  on  the  subject,  than 
that  since  the  only  real  wealth  of  a  country  is  that 
which  proceeds  from  a  full  employment  of  its 
industrious  population,  whenever  free  trade  gives 
this,  it  is  beneficial ;  when  it  does  not,  it  is  de- 
trimental. Remembering,  however,  that  "  we 
must  not  change  a  prudent  doubt,  for  an  inse- 
cure conclusion.'' 


CONCLUSION. 


From  the  foregoing  Essays,  it  appears, 

1st.  That  the  existing  quantity  of  machinery  in  the 
kingdom  amounts,  under  the  absence  of  demand  for 
labour,  from  artificial  causes,  to  a  serious  injury  to 
the  labouring  class. 

Sndly.  That  the  capital  in  the  kingdom,  in  conse- 
quence of  long  accumulation,  particularly  from  sources 
like  India,  which  did  not  naturally  belong  to  it,  and 
from  the  high  profits  of  the  originators  of  the  present 
race  of  machinery,  is,  under  the  diminished  foreign 
demand  for  goods,  too  great  for  the  purposes  of  pro- 
duction; over  competition  tends  consequently  to  de- 
preciate the  profits  of  production. 

Srdly.  I  affirm,  from  the  evidence  of  long  con- 
tinued distress,  that  production,  of  late,  has  been  too 
great  for  consumption. 

4thly.  That  the  internal  consumption  is  dimi- 
nished, because  of  the  doubling  of  ail  the  public  and 
private  debts  incurred  during  the  war;  which,  in  the 
case  of  a  man  having  borrowed  to  the  extent  of  half 
his  property,  now  to  be  paid  by  the  whole,  leaves 
him  without  bread,  much  more  without  the  power  of 
consuming  manufactured  goods.  That  foreign  con- 
sumption is  decreasing  rapidly,  though  with  occa- 


CONCLUSION.  241 

sional  temporary  vacillations,  because  those  nations 
who  used  to  be  supplied  by  us,  are  now  resolved  to 
manufacture,  in  a  great  measure,  for  themselves. 

5thly.  That  the  most  obvious  and  practicable  plan 
of  enabling  consumers  generally  to  meet  their  bur- 
dens, and  also  a  wholesome  degree  of  production, 
is  to  reduce  the  silver  standard  to  8s.  6d.  per  ounce, 
and  the  gold  standard  to  £6.  the  ounce,  the  expe- 
rience of  three  centuries,  previous  to  1717,  shewing, 
(independent  of  the  late  war,)  that  it  should  now  be 
at  least,  £4.  14s.  6^d.  the  ounce  gold.  The  pro- 
gressive wants  of  society  seem  to  have  required  the 
depreciation  of  about  £10.  per  century,  which  has 
taken  place  in  our  gold  standard  since  the  end  of  the 
fourteenth  century.  In  1717,  it  had  reached 
£3. 17s.  lO^d.  the  ounce,  or  £46.  14s.  6d.  per  pound. 
It  should  now,  therefore,  according  to  the  experience 
of  some  centuries,  independent  of  the  extraordinary 
circumstances  of  the  late  war,  be  £56.  14s.  6d.  the 
pound,  or  £4.  14s.  6^d.  the  ounce.  Late  pur- 
chasers of  funded  stock,  or  lenders  of  private  money, 
to  be  protected  by  an  adjustment  scale,  according  to 
the  date  of  the  transaction.  That  any  other  equiva- 
lent measure  that  is  practicable  will  be  equally  satis- 
factory, provided  it  secures  the  same  universal  ef- 
fects. That  this  necessity  must  be  considered  as  an 
evil,  is  true ;  but  to  let  the  country  sink  into  starva- 
tion or  revolution,  would  be  incomparably  a  still 
greater  evil,  and  \  see  no  other  alternatives.  The 
question  seems  to  be,  whether  it  be  better  to  risk 
inflicting  some  minute  inequality  of  loss  upon  indi- 

B 


242  CONCLUSION. 

viduals  within  a  certain  class  of  fundholders,  being 
about  280,000  persons  in  all,  and  other  lenders  of 
money,  (no  loss  upon  the  aggregate  of  these  classes 
being  risked,  though  they  would  thus  be  made  to 
bear  their  due  share  of  the  public  burdens,)  or  whe- 
ther eighteen  millions  of  persons  should  be  put  to 
silent  starvation,  or  to  the  hazard  of  one  universal 
political  convulsion. 

6thly.  That  the  only  free  trade  practicable  in   this 
country  is  under  a  depreciation   of  the  silver  ounce 
to  S$.  6cL,  the    bushel   of  wheat   and   the  ounce  of 
silver    being   nearly    of  similar   value.      That  thus, 
though  the  price  of  wheat  would  then  be  here  Is.  9d. 
or  Ss.   of  the  new   currency,   the  real    price  in  the 
foreign  market  would  be  the  real  price  of  the  ounce 
of  silver,    say  5s.  (present  currency,)   which  would 
enable  our  manufacturers  to  send  their  goods  abroad 
on  the  basis  of  really  the  lowest  European  corn  mar- 
ket, carriage,  &c.  alone  deducted.     That  the  present 
low  price  of  wages,  which  no  low)iess  of  price  in  corn 
could  profitably  continue,   proves,  that  the   price  of 
corn  is,  at  present,   no  prevention  to  the  exportation 
of  goods  ;  and  that  the  real   wealth  of  a  country  is 
that  which  proceeds  from  the  full  employment  of  its 
industrious  population.     When,  as  I  before  observed, 
free  trade  gives   this,  it  is  beneficial;  when  it  does 
not,  it  is  destructive. 

The  powers  of  consumption  in  the  country  are  not 
so  much  weakened  as  the  condition  of  the  working 
classes  would  seem  to  imply,  because  they  are  obliged 
by  law  to  be  supported  by  parochial  assistance,  if 


i   ON  (.1.1    SI  UN  .  '243 

their  independent  powers  fail  them  for  that  purpose. 
The  falling  off  in  the  wholesome  consumption  of  the 
working  class  may  be  not  unfairly  measured  in  some 
degree  by  the  increase  of  the  poor's  rate,  taking  into 
consideration  the  difference  in  living  between  the 
allowance  from  the  work-house  and  good  wages. 
The  true  individual  falling  off  in  consumption  will  be 
in  the  parties  contributing  to  the  poor's  rate;  unless 
a  diminution  of  rent  protect  them  ;  and  then  the  land- 
lord, upon  whom  the  burden  invariably  falls  in  the 
end,  is  the  sufferer.  The  decreased  consumption 
from  these  causes  is  very  gradual :  A  previous  habit 
of  indulgence  will  cause  men  for  a  time  to  apply  to 
capital  for  what  their  income  has  before  supplied  to 
them :  so  that  it  was  not  until  last  year,  when  a 
defalcation  of  £1,000,000.  in  the  Excise,  and  a  still 
greater  proportional  deficiency  in  the  first  quarter  of 
the  present  year,  that  the  evil  has  begun  to  be  fairly 
exhibited.  As  a  set  off  against  these  deficiencies  in 
consumption,  there  is  in  the  great  mass  of  public  and 
private  creditors  (what  with  the  direct  increase  in  their 
property  from  the  Bill  of  1819,  and  the  great  fall  in 
prices)  a  full  doubling  in  their  powers  to  purchase. 
It  would  be  sad  if  riches,  even  from  this  lamen- 
table source,  did  not  produce  some  indirect  advantage. 
But  consumption  will  always  be  greatest  where 
income  is  the  most  minutely  spread.  The  possessor 
of  £10,000.  a  year  has  the  option  of  laying  by  a  por- 
tion of  his  income,  and  so  may  diminish  consumption  ; 
but  £10,000.  divided  into  incomes  of  £30.  per 
annum,  could  not  be  saved.  Luxuries  may,  necessa- 

R  2 


244  CONCLUSION. 

ries  must  be  consumed.  Thus,  though  the  real 
amount  of  national  income  were  not  greatly  diminished, 
consumption  would  be  proportionally  less  from  that 
income  being  more  accumulated  in  masses. 

There  is  some  appearance  of  obstinacy  in  the 
recurrence  by  a  certain  party  to  the  same  arguments 
against  the  distress,  in  spite  of  facts.  Thus,  some 
would  have  us  suppose,  because  consumption  in  some 
articles  has  not  decreased,  but  the  contrary,  that  the 
condition  of  the  people  (forgetting  the  increase  of 
numbers)  cannot  on  the  average  be  unprosperous ; 
although  the  fact  is  staring  them  in  the  face.  How 
can  they  be  distressed,  it  is  said,  with  an  increase  in 
the  quantity  of  our  manufactures  since  1821,  of  full 
one  third,  from  37  to  £55,000,000.  as  the  following 
table  shews. 

Exports  of  British  and  Irish  Produce  and  Manufactures  from 
Great  Britain. 

Years  ended  Jan.  5.  Official  Value.  Declared  Value. 

£.  £. 

1821     37,820,293  35,567,077 

1822     40,191,681  35,823,127 

1823     43,558,488  36,176,897 

1824     43,166.039  34,589,410 

1825     48,024,952  37,600,021 

1826     46,453,082  38,077,330 

1827     40,332,854  30,847,528 

1828     51,279,102  36,394,817 

1829     52,019,728     36,150,379 

1830     55,465,723     35,212,875 

But  who  or  what  made  this  increase  of  manufac- 
tures ?  Not  the  working  classes ;  but  machinery :  it 


CONCLUSION.  245 

would  not  then  be  owing  to  the  labourer  s  prosperity 
that  consumption  had  advanced,  even  if  it  had  done 
so.  An  increased  consumption  has  doubtless  taken 
place  among  the  receivers  of  fixed  payments,  whose 
incomes  have  risen  in  value,  as  those  of  the  rest  of 
the  nation  have  fallen :  they  are,  therefore,  the 
increasing  consumers.  The  same  table,  however, 
proves  by  a  comparison  of  the  official  (which  is 
merely  the  criterion  of  quantity)  and  declared  values, 
that  in  1830  we  received  actually  less  for  55,465,723 
(say)  webs  of  cloth,  than  in  1821  for  37,820,293. 
This,  it  is  true,  is  partly  owing  to  the  fall  in  price  of 
the  raw  material  of  cotton,  from  2s.  to  6d.  per  Ib. : 
but  cotton  was  6d.  in  1828,  and  yet  the  real  value 
of  51,279,102  (say)  webs,  is  greater  in  that  year  than 
for  55,465,723  in  1830;  and  the  actual  exports  of 
cotton  bear  this  proportion  out.  What  does  this 
demonstrate  but  that  the  present  condition  of  the 
working  class  is  owing  either  to  a  fall  in  wages,  to  an 
awful  extent ;  or  that  machinery  and  the  labourer, 
like  the  pounds,  paper  and  gold,  are  incompatible 
beings  ?  We  must  have  now  a  directing,  instead  of  a 
working  operative. 

Again,  the  same  party  exclaim,  "  the  shipping 
interest  cannot  be  much  distressed,  because  the  ton- 
nage is  increased."  Doubtless,  facts  are  essential  to 
legitimate  reasoning:  but  it  is  one  thing  to  argue 
from  facts,  and  another  thing  to  argue  against  them. 
Care,  too,  must  be  had  that  the  particular  fact  be 
absolutely  connected  with  the  particular  argument. 
Every  fact  will  not  suit  every  argument.  Neither  can 

K  3 


246  CONCLUSION. 

an  irrelevant  fact  contend  with  one  which  does  not 
admit  of  dispute.  It  is  a  fact  that  York  Minster  was 
burnt ;  but  in  order  to  prove  the  burning,  it  was  not 
necessary  to  look  out  for  the  madman  who  committed 
it  to  flames.  Nor  was  the  consequence  certain,  that 
because  Martin  was  mad,  he  would  therefore  burn 
York  Minster.  Nevertheless,  notwithstanding  the 
invincible  fact  that  the  shipping  interest,  as  a  body,  is 
most  lamentably  situated,  there  are  men,  who,  instead 
of  arguing  from  the  solid  fact  of  the  distress,  only  pro- 
ceed upon  what,  in  their  opinions,  would  in  general 
conduce  to  distress  in  that  line ;  and  as  nothing, 
according  to  their  ideas,  can  be  evidence  of  ruin  in  the 
shipping  interest  but  a  diminution  of  tonnage,  their 
arguments  are  founded  upon  that  mere  opinion,  and 
not  upon  the  incontrovertible  and  substantial  fact  of 
the  distress.  The  same  men  would  have  maintained 
that  York  Minster  could  not  have  been  burnt  except 
by  a  madman  (which  is  probable  enough,  primd  facie, 
as  is  also  their  case  of  the  tonnage) ;  and  if  Martin 
had  been  proved  sane,  and  no  other  mad  perpetrator 
found, — York  Minster  would  have  needed  no  repair; 
for,  according  to  their  theory  of  reasoning,  it  could 
not  have  been  burnt.  It  appears  to  me,  that  it  would 
have  been  more  modest,  after  an  attempt  had  been 
made  for  three  or  four  consecutive  years  to  prove 
the  amount  of  tonnage  the  sole  criterion  of  prosperity 
in  the  shipping  interest,  when  that  body  had  year 
after  year,  notwithstanding  an  increased  tonnage, 
sunk  more  and  more  into  adversity, — to  have  sus- 
pected the  truth  of  the  criterion,  rather  than  of  the 


CONCLUSION.  247 

fact  of  distress;  and  to  have  looked  about  for  some 
other  cause  more  in  keeping  with  the  actual  condition 
of  the  shipping,  such  as  a  necessity  of  retaining 
apprentices ;  carrying  freights  at  the  lowest  profit 
rather  than  at  none  (a  ship  being  as  durable,  barring 
accidents,  at  sea  as  in  harbour) ;  while  the  chief  sti- 
mulus to  new  building  would  probably  be  the  im- 
mense fall  in  the  prices  of  the  materials  of  ship- 
building in  this  country,  and  the  power  of  obtaining 
them  still  cheaper  from  abroad,  which  would  (in  the 
great  scarcity  of  investment  for  capital)  induce  new 
capitalists  to  endeavour  to  undercharge  the  old  ship- 
owners who  had  laid  out  perhaps  double  the  capital 
in  the  same  amount  of  tonnage. 

Although  it  is  allowed  that  causation  is  the  faculty 
of  the  highest  order  in  the  human  intellect,  men  are 
ever  aiming  at  it  as  a  means  of  a  secure  conclusion, 
in  preference  to  examining  effects  of  which  they  are 
competent  judges.  The  cause  may  always  be  de- 
bateable  ground ; — the  effect  may  always  by  proper 
care  be  fully  ascertained.  Where  the  cause  is  liable 
to  dispute,  it  is  a  much  safer  means  of  arriving  at  a 
sound  judgment,  to  reason  not  from  a  doubtful  cause 
to  an  effect,  but  from  known  effects  to  known  effects. 
We  should  fare  but  badly,  if  we  fasted  till  we  learnt 
the  causation  of  the  germination  of  wheat :  we  find 
it  more  useful  in  practice  to  reason  thus :  we  know 
if  the  seed  be  good,  that  the  effect  of  putting  it  into 
the  ground  is  that  it  will  germinate  ;  and  if  it  germi- 
nate, we  confidently  await  the  next  effect,  of  an  in- 
creased supply  of  the  seed  we  planted.  In  discuss- 

R  4 


248  CONCLUSION. 

ing  the  fall  of  prices  since  the  war,  we  are  all  in  the 
habit  of  assuming  a  favourite  cause.     One,  a  change, 
from  war  to  peace  ;  another,  from  a  cheap  to  a  dear 
currency;    another,    from   restricted  to   free   trade; 
others,    the  cessation   of  the  immense    government 
expenditure  during  the  war.     But  we  none  of  us  can 
incontrovertible  affirm  the  CAUSE.    We  have  seen  that 
certain  things  have  happened  before,  and  (as  in  the 
case  of  the  seed  germinating)  presume  that  the  same 
will  follow  under  similar  circumstances.     Thus  the 
advocates  for  a  depreciated   currency  may  not  be 
able  to  demonstrate  their  side  of  the  question  mathe- 
matically; still  the  effects  have  been   so   often  the 
same  under  the  same  circumstances,  that  they  have 
with  reason  considerable  confidence  in  their  mode 
of  reasoning  from  effect  to  effect.     In  1815 — 16,  say 
they,  corn  was  comparatively  low  from  the  prospect 
of  a  return  to  cash  payments  in  the  latter  year,  which 
diminished  the  amount  of  paper  currency;  therefore 
prices  fell,  and  caused  great  distress;  in  1816,  it  was 
declared     that  cash    payments    were   suspended  till 
1819  ;  then  came  the  high  prices  and  prosperity  of 
1817 — 18.      Some  will  say  the  high  prices  of  those 
years  arose  entirely  from  deficient  harvests  ;  but  they 
will  find  some  difficulty  in  coupling  scarcity  with  the 
acknowledged  prosperity  of  those  years.      Then  the 
actual  passing  of  the  Bill  of  1819,   caused  the  fall  in 
prices  and  ruin  of  1820 — 1 — 2,  which  was  put  a  stop 
to  by  Lord  Londonderry's  Bill  of  1 822,  for  the  fur- 
ther continuation  of  one  pound  notes  ;  and  the  un- 


CONCLUSION.  249 

derstanding  of  the  period    being  unlimited,    caused 
the  higher  prices  and  prosperity  of  1823 — 4 — 5. 

The  sudden  call  for  gold,  which  adverse  exchanges 
and  the  balance  of  trade  had  withdrawn  in  a  great 
measure  from  the  kingdom,  (and  which  might 
equally  happen  under  a  purely  metallic  currency, 
because  no  amount  of  gold  that  we  could  possibly 
obtain  would  be  able  to  answer  a  sudden  demand 
for  it,  from  four  or  six  hundred  millions  pounds 
of  bills,)  caused  the  panic  at  the  end  of  1825,  which 
was  also  relieved  by  an  issue  of  nine  millions  pound 
notes  and  some  millions  of  sovereigns,  all  in  ten 
days,  by  the  Bank  of  England ;  and  would  have 
proved  the  means  of  our  recovery,  but  for  the  fatal 
Act  of  1826,  for  putting  an  end  to  one  pound  notes 
in  1 829,  the  bitter  effects  of  which  we  are  now  ex- 
periencing, and  which  will  only  end  in  a  complete 
exchange  of  property  throughout  the  country.  The 
reasoning  from  effect  to  effect,  on  this  side  of  the 
question,  is  less  broken  than  on  any  other  :  for  what 
had  the  change  from  war  to  peace  to  do  with  the 
many  and  sudden  vacillations  in  our  condition,  which 
have  taken  place  since  1816?  or  what  had  an  in- 
crease in  our  foreign  trade  to  do  with  our  prosperity 
in  1824 — 5,  when  our  exports  fell  oft'  half  a  million 
in  the  midst  of  it?  Do  we  not  also  see  by  the  in- 
crease of  exports,  which  took  place  in  1825  over 
1824,  being  as  thirty-seven  to  thirty-four  million 
pounds,  that  it  is  not  the  high  price  of  corn  which 
prevents  the  exportation  of  our  goods?  On  the  con- 
trary, does  it  not  prove,  that  the  more  the  domestic 


250  CONCLUSION'. 

powers  of  consumption  are  expanded,  the  more  fo- 
reign articles  are  consumed,  which  require  increased 
exports  for  their  payment?  Or,  how  can  the  amount 
of  free  trade  we  at  present  possess,  account  for  any 
great  portion  of  the  existing  distress,  when  it  ohtains 
in  such  articles  as  cotton,  with  the  prosperity  of 
which  a  perfectly  free  importation  would  not  in- 
terfere. 

Since  this  was  in  the  press,  the  following  some- 
what inconclusive  note  has  appeared  in  Sir  H.  Par- 
nell's  (so  far  as  regards  commutation  of  taxation,  and 
retrenchment  of  expenditure,)  extremely  useful  work. 
u  The  administration  of  Lord  Liverpool  is  entitled 
to  the  gratitude  of  the  public  for  the  ability  and 
courage  with  which  it  undertook  and  accomplished 
the  restoration  of  the  currency  to  its  old  standard. 
The  flourishing  state  of  the  revenue,  of  trade,  of  ma- 
nufactures, and  of  agriculture  in  the  years  1823, 
1824,  and  1825,  during  which  Mr.  Peel's  Bill  was 
in  full  operation  in  bringing  about  the  change,  is  a 
fact  that  completely  exposes  the  e/ror  which  those 
persons  have  fallen  into,  who  attribute  every  modern 
public  calamity  to  that  measure."  Now,  although, 
as  it  has  been  before  observed,  causation  is  not  the 
easiest  operation  of  the  mind,  still  it  is  equally  true, 
that  a  cause  is  necessary  to  every  effect  which  takes 
place  :  and  it  would  have  been  more  satisfactory  to 
his  readers,  if  the  worthy  Baronet  had  indulged  them 
either  with  deductions  from  previous  effects  under 
similar  circumstances,  or  attempted  to  elucidate  the 
cause.  The  more  prosperous  state  of  the  country  in 


COXCLISJON.  251 

1823, — 4,  and  5,  than  that  of  the  three  previous 
years,  Mr.  Alt  wood  and  others  have  supposed  to  be 
owing  to  the  extension  of  the  currency  springing 
from  Lord  Liverpool's  One  Pound  Note  Bill  of  1822; 
and  in  this,  looking  back  to  the  results  of  a  dila- 
tation of  the  currency  in  1817,  they  reason  rather 
from  effect  to  effect,  than  from  any  indisputable 
cause.  Sir  H.  Parnell  has  not  condescended  to  rea- 
son; but  the  domestic  prosperity  of  those  years, 
arising  as  it  did  from  the  depth  of  circumstances 
directly  the  reverse,  demands  a  source  for  its  exist- 
ence ;  which,  for  men  possessed  with  the  anti-depre- 
ciation theory  will  be  the  more  difficult  to  find,  as  it 
could  have  no  relation  to  our  foreign  commerce, 
for  British  exports  fell  off  in  the  midst  of  all  this 
prosperity  nearly  half  a  million.  The  argument  of  a 
change  from  war  to  peace  having  brought  about  the 
distress  immediately  succeeding  the  war,  to  be  con- 
sistent, should  certainly  have  accomplished  a  continu- 
ance of  it  in  the  prosperous  years  of  18 1 8,  1 824,  and 
1825,  as  well  as  in  the  disastrous  ones  of  1820,  1821, 
1822,  1829,  1830.  The  gradual  operation  of  Mr. 
Peel's  Bill  has  therefore,  at  the  particular  crisis  of 
1816,  1820,  1821,  1822,  and  1829—30,  exhibited 
itself  as  far  from  innocuous ;  while  the  opposite  sys- 
tem, in  the  intermediate  years,  was  certainly  emi- 
nently successful.  If  then,  the  war  be  to  blame 
for  commercial  disasters,  how  much  more  is  Mr. 
Peel's  Bill ;  the  following  Table,  which  has  just  been 
printed,  by  order  of  the  House  of  Commons,  exhibits 


252  CONCLUSION. 

one  among  many  instances,  as  it  shews  the  number 
of  persons  who  have  become  insolvent  in  England 
and  Wales,  since  the  year  1813. 

Years.  Insolvents.          Years.  Insolvents. 


1814  1,893 

1815  2,886 

1816  3,263 

1817  3,548 

1818  3,484 

1819  3,352 

1820  4,012 

1821  5,290 


1822  4,955 

1823  4,241 

1824  3,607 

1825  3,665 

1826  4,681 

1827  4,234 

1828  3,717 

1829  .        .  4,063 


It  appears  from  this,  that  the  total  number  of 
insolvents  since  the  peace  is  60,991.  During  the 
first  four  years  of  the  peace  the  number  was  1 1 ,590, 
whereas,  during  the  last  four  years  it  has  increased 
to  16,795. 

What  the  prosperity  of  1824 — 25  really  proves, 
in  connection  with  the  powers  of  the  country,  is,  that 
they  are  equal  to  support  the  burdens  of  taxation  with 
a  wheat  price  of  8s.  or  8s.  6d.,  but  not  with  less, 
instead  of  the  war  price  of  1  Is.  or 


I  have  thus  endeavoured,  by  patient  investigation, 
and  from  a  variety  of  sources,  to  arrive  at  dispas- 
sionate and  just  opinions  ;  but,  in  the  present  state 
of  excitement,  in  the  various  classes  of  society, 
no  opinion  can  be  stated  that  will  not  be  reprobated 
by  one  party,  and  extolled  by  another.  Being 


CONCLUSION'.  253 

myself,  though  in  a  humble  degree,  an  owner  and 
occupier  of  land,  of  course,  I  shall  be  supposed 
to  be  warped  by  that  circumstance.  I  can  only  say, 
that  whoever  will  point  out  how  the  enormous  bur- 
den of  the  State  can  best  be  distributed  over  all  real 
or  artificial  permanent  property,  or  value  of  life 
income,  in  the  most  exact  ratio  to  their  just  amount, 
with  reference  to  the  currency  as  it  once  was,  and 
now  is,  shall  have  my  vote  ;  all  I  wish  is,  to  com- 
bine fair  play  to  every  class  of  property,  monied, 
landed,  or  commercial,  with  a  means  of  letting  our 
present  invested  capital  and  skill  in  manufactures,  tell 
to  the  utmost  in  meeting  both  a  home  and  foreign 
market,  with  a  due  remuneration  to  the  owner,  un- 
der all  our  burdens. 

The  fundholders  case  has  been  thought  to  be  dis- 
tinct from  that  of  all  other  capitalists;  and  to  a 
foreign  holder  this  is  true,  and  must  be  acted  upon ; 
but  when  British  subjects  lent  money  to  Government 
to  carry  on  the  late  war,  was  not  that  property,  so 
lent,  as  much  protected  by  .the  war  as  any  other 
British  property ;  and  is  it  not,  therefore,  in  all  jus- 
tice, as  fairly  rateable  for  the  expenses  incurred? 
Then  let  the  true  value  of  funded  property  be  duly 
probed  as  it  stands  affected  by  the  currency  as  to  the 
wheat  or  produce,  as  well  as  money  standard,  in  the 
same  manner  as  all  real  property  has  practically  been ; 
and  then,  when  thus  fairly  placed  on  its  true  scale,  let 
it  be  taxed  to  its  true  amount.  It  is  a  mere  farce  in 
this  state  of  public  bankruptcy  to  all  intents  and  pur- 
poses, for  a  handful  of  men  to  stand  demanding  that 


254  C  ON  CIA' SI  ON. 

which  is  unjust  upon  the  face  of  it,  in  view  of  a  starving 
nation,  because  it  is  "  so  nominated  in  the  bond."  The 
money  was  lent  upon  the  speculation  that  it  could  be 
so  paid  by  Government,  and  surely  that  Government, 
in  its  firmness  and  wisdom,  (qualities  which,  I  may 
say  without  flattery,  the  present  administration  have 
as  fair  a  title  to  as  any  of  their  predecessors,)  backed 
by  the  united  voice  of  a  groaning  people,  might  state 
the  truth,  we  are  unable  to  fulfil  our  engagement.  No 
man  of  that  day  ever  contemplated  that  a  difference 
of  more  than  5  per  cent.*  could  arise  from  the  resto- 
ration of  the  ancient  gold  standard  ;  hence,  I  affirm, 
that,  with  the  best  informed,  as  a  speculation,  a  gain 
beyond  that  low  per  centage  which  no  one  would 
have  felt,  was  never  in  the  contemplation  of  the  spe- 
culators ;  and,  if  it  be  thought  more  just,  let  a  boon 
to  that  extent  be  granted  to  them,  and  they  will  have 
gained  all  within  the  range  of  their  meaning  in  the 
said  bond.  It  is  hard  for  a  Great  Nation,  for  all  the 
towering  pride  of  England,  and  its  long  line  of  glory, 
to  be  shipwrecked  upon  a  rock  of  mere  words,  a  vox 
et  preteria  nihil.  It  is  the  meaning  ami  intent  of  an 
agreement  that  is  its  essence  and  power.  The  written 
word  is  only  the  evidence  of  such  agreement,  and  I 
therefore  affirm,  that,  as  neither  any  of  the  lenders  or 
borrowers  ever  did  contemplate  a  rise  of  more  than 
5  per  cent,  on  the  change  of  the  currency,  the  spirit 
and  meaning  of  the  case  is  wholly  fulfilled,  if  the 
speculators  be  allowed  the  sum  of  5  per  cent,  above 
what  they  originally  lent. 

*  Even  Mr.  Rieardo  himself. 


CON  I  I.I  'SI  ON.  ., 

There  is  no  trifling  with  these  times,  "  the  school- 
master has  been  abroad  !"  The  public  well  know, 
that  previous  to  the  war,  the  whole  expenses  of  the 
Government,  and  the  interest  of  the  debt,  did  not 
exceed  twenty  millions  per  annum ;  whereas  these  now 
amount  to  fifty-five  millions.  They  know  also  that  the 
five  hundred  millions  borrowed  during  the  war,  were 
worth  no  more  than  about  three  hundred  millions  of 
our  present  currency.  Hence,  if  interest  were  paid 
upon  this  sum,  even  at  5  per  cent.,  it  would  only 
add  fifteen  millions  per  annum,  and  hence  thirty-five 
millions,  with  the  same  establishments  as  before  the 
war,  should  be  our  present  extent  of  taxation.  If  a 
greater  degree  of  uneasiness  in  the  public  mind  calls, 
as  I  think  it  truly  does,  for  an  increase  of  military 
power,  beyond  what  existed  previous  to  1792,  the 
public  may  feel  inclined  to  say,  that  that  uneasiness 
would  cease  with  the  extra  taxation  that  gives  it  birth  ; 
no  doubt,  however,  exists,  that  the  army  which  so  long 
a  war  called  into  existence,  which  covered  itself  and 
the  nation  with  such  glory,  and  its  leaders  with  such 
imperishable  fame,  must  not  be  neglected,  or  its 
proud  services  forgotten  ;  many  really  useful  addi- 
tional offices  of  labour  may  be  safely  sanctioned  by 
the  necessities  that  have  created  them.  I  am  no 
advocate  for  cutting  down  the  proper  rewards  for 
meritorious  services,  or  for  parsimoniously  diminish- 
ing even  the  splendours  due  to  high  stations  of  actual 
service  in  the  Government ;  but  we  cannot  afford 
more  than  the  strict  measure  of  justice  will  allow  to 


256  CONCLUSION. 

each,  and  with  that,  there  can  be  no  doubt  the  coun- 
try would  soon  rally,  and  be  itself  again.  One  vigo- 
rous, generous,  and  disinterested  effort  of  all,  is  due, 
to  sustain  the  noble  country  that  has  given  us  birth 
and  liberty,  even  if  our  own  interest  were  not  bound 
up  in  the  result. 


CONCLUSION.  257 

Bills,  for  the   Consideration  of  Parliament,    con- 
sequent on  the  aforegoing  Observations. 

1 .  A  depreciation  of  the  standard  to  8s.  6d.  the 
ounce  silver,  and  £6.  the  ounce  gold :  any  com- 
mercial panic,  or  stagnation,  from  the  anticipation 
of  such  a  measure,  being  easily  avoided  by  the 
Prime  Minister  and  the  Chancellor  of  the  Ex- 
chequer proposing  it  the  same  night ;  each  with 
a  pledge — that,  as  far  as  the  powers  of  Govern- 
ment extended,  it  should   in  fact   begin  to  ope- 
rate from  the  very  moment  of  their  addressing 
their  separate  Houses. 

2.  In  case  of  this  depreciation  of  the  standard 
being  at  present  refused  by  Parliament; — as  an 
experimental   substitute,    a    public    and   private 
credit  tax  should  be  imposed,  to  bring  taxation 
on  those  investments  to  a  fair  equality  with  that 
on  land  ;  (the  legacy  duty,   &c.    being  counter- 
balanced by  the  auction  and  other  duties,  on  the 
exchange  of  real  property, — such  as  stamps  for 
mortgages,  &c.)      This  measure,  to  give  it,  as  a 
substitute  for  the  depreciation,  a  fair  chance  of 
success,  should  be  accompanied  by  a  renewal  of 
the  one  pound  note  circulation.    And,  with  either 
the  depreciation  or  the  substitute,  a  change  from 
a  gold  to  a  silver  standard,  in  conformity  to  the 
custom    of  the  continent,   would    be   highly  de- 
sirable ;    for  among  other  advantages,  it  would, 


258  CONCLUSION. 

in  the  absence  of  a  direct  depreciation  of  the 
standard,  lead  to  an  indirect  one  of  8  or  10 
per  cent. 

3.  A  Bill  (which  would  be  rendered  unneces- 
sary by  a  depreciated  standard,)  to  modify  the  ill 
effects  on  the  landed  property  and  labour  of  this 
country  by  the  importation  of  agricultural  pro- 
ducts from  Ireland, — the  offspring  of  labour  free 
from  taxation,  and  unused  to  the  expensive  food 
of  corn ;  for  the  produce  being  in  value  propor- 
tioned to  the  price  of  the  food,  which  of  course 
governs  the  price  of  labour  also,  the  English 
grower  and  labourer,  who  eat  corn  and  pay  taxes, 
are  seriously  injured  by  the  importation  of  pro- 
ducts, whose  value  is  disproportioned  to  their 
habits  of  civilized  life;  and  such  a  policy  may 
be  likened  to  that  of  flooding  all  Lombardy,  for 
the  purpose  of  irrigating  a  few  rice  grounds  on  a 
higher  level :  it  is  surely  tantamount,  not  merely 
to  staying  the  progress  of  the  labourer  of  England, 
whose  once  boasted  happiness  and  name  were 
inseparably  connected  with  his  comparative  for- 
wardness as  a  civilized  being ;  but,  what  is  a  still 
greater  hardship,  to  an  actual  downward  impulse 
into  the  habits  and  ranks  of  barbarism.  Taxation 
to  an  equal  extent  with  England ;  as  quick  a 
change  from  potato  to  corn  food  as  possible; 
and,  either  the  cultivation  of  the  waste  lands, 
or  emigration  for  the  numbers  supernumerary  for 


co \ci. i  SJjON,  259 

the   present  amount  of  production  in  Ireland,— 
are  the  most  ostensible  remedies  for  this  evil. 

4.  A  Bill,   to  operate  prospectively,  to  deprive 
the  able-bodied  labourer  of  parochial  assistance, 
so  as  to  diminish  the  inducements  to  early  mar- 
riages between  parties  who  are  unable  to  support 
a  family  in  independence;  thus  meeting  the  in- 
crease of  machinery,  which  may  be  considered  as 
an  evil  at  the  present  moment,  only  because,  by 
holding  out  an  indiscriminate  legal  inducement 
to  marriage,  we  have  legislated  against  the  natu- 
ral check  which  the  difficulty  to  live,   according 
to   civilized  habits,    among    increasing   numbers 
would  have  gradually  imposed.    Had  the  national 
education   been    pursued   early   enough   to   have 
allowed  the  labouring  class  now  to  take  advan- 
tage of  the  leisure  afforded  them  by  machinery  ; 
and  had  improving  poor  laws  advanced  in  equal 
progression  with  improving  machinery, —  our  con- 
dition as  a  nation,  (independently  of  unequal  tax- 
ation,)  would    have  been   comparatively  happy. 
Machinery  is  only  too  forward,  because  education 
and  legislation  are  too  backward;    and  its  evils 
may  be  considered  as  a  punishment  of  our  neg- 
ligence. 

A  most  efficient  part  of  an  improved  poor  law 
would  be,  to  establish  parochial  savings  banks, 
to  receive  a  graduated  tax  on  all  marriages  ac- 
cording to  the  ages  of  the  parties ;  allowing  free 


260  CONCLUSIOX. 

marriage  only  where  the  united  ages  amounted 
(say)  to  seventy  or  eighty ;  and  compelling  a  de- 
posit of  £6.  or  £8.  on  each  marriage,  when  the 
united  ages  were  (say)  forty,  graduating  the  sum 
up  to  seventy  or  eighty.  The  whole  of  such  de- 
posit to  be  strictly  applicable  to  the  uses  of  the 
parties  when  requiring  relief;  or,  if  never  so  ap- 
plied, to  be  disposed  of  by  the  will  of  the  parties, 
with  other  necessary  regulations. 

5.  A  commission  of  scientific  persons,  with  a 
small   sum   at  their  disposal,  to  lay  an  experi- 
mental foundation  for  preserving  corn  in  siloes. 

6.  A    commission,    for   the   purpose   of    com- 
muting taxation,    and   retrenching   expenditure ; 
by  which,    together  with  the  credit  tax,  and  the 
extension  of  Irish  taxation,*  it  is  possible  to  relieve 
the  productive  classes  of  £18,000,000.  of  taxes. 

*  «  The  net  revenue  now  paid  by  Ireland  is,  with  reference 
to  her  population,  at  the  rate  of  about  9s.  a  head;  whereas, 
that  paid  in  Great  Britain  is  at  the  rate  of  70s.  a  head."  -  Sir 
H.  Parnell,  Fin.  Ref. 


Tilling,  Printer,  Chelsea. 


WORKS, 

Lately  Published,  or  in  the  Press, 

HY   RIDGWAYS,    PICCADILLY, 

And  to  be  had,  by  Order,  of  every  Bookseller. 


Mr.  CANNING. A  Second  Edition. 

THE  SPEECHES  OF  THE  RIGHT  HONOURABLE 
(JEORGE  CANNING,  Corrected  by  Himself,  with  Memoirs  of 
his  Life.  Illustrated  by  a  fine  Portrait,  Fac-similes  of  his  hand- 
writing, a  Plate  exhibitive  of  his  mode  of  correcting  and  revising 
his  Speeches,  &c.  in  Two  important  Passages  in  the  celebrated  one 
on  Portugal.  6  vols.  8vo.  3/.  12s. 

"  A  biographical  memoir  of  the  most  illustrious  statesman  and  accomplished 
orator  of  our  age,  prefixed  to  the  only  authentic  edition  of  his  Speeches,  has  far 
superior  claims  to  notice  and  credit  over  any  of  those  ephemeral  and  hurried 
sketches  of  his  life,  which,  without  authority,  and  for  mere  abject  purposes  of 
lucre,  have  been  thickly  palmed  upon  the  public  attention."  —  Monthly  Review. 

"  We  recommend  this  edition  of  Mr.  Canning's  brilliant,  splendid,  and  states- 
manlike Speeches,  as  the  noblest  literary  memorial  that  can  be  preserved  of  him." 
— Literary  Gazette. 

"  This  excellent  and  valuable  edition  of  Mr.  Canning's  Speeches,  by  Mr. 
Therry,  contains,  among  other  things,  a  remarkable  instance  of  the  application 
of  the  new  process  of  typolithograpby.  There  is,  in  the  first  volume,  a  fac-simile 
of  the  proofs  of  the  celebrated  Speech  on  the  affairs  of  Portugal,  with  all  the  cor- 
rections made  by  Mr.  Canning.  Every  mark  which  he  made  in  the  letter- press, 
every  reference,  and  every  word  written  on  the  margin,  is  represented  as  it  ap- 
peared in  his  hand-writing  in  the  proofs."—  Times. 

THE    SPEECHES    OF   THE    HONOURABLE    THOMAS 

(afterwards  LORD)  ERSKINE,  when  at  the  Bar,  on  Subjects  con- 
nected with  the  Liberty  of  the  Press,  and  against  constructive  Treason. 
5  vols.  8vo.  2/.  10s. 

"  These  Speeches,  stored  as  they  are  with  the  soundest  political  doctrines,  the 
first  moral  sentiments,  and  the  purest  oratorical  beauties,  are  calculated  eminently 
to  enlighten,  and  permanently  to  please— they  are  qualified  to  make  men  not  only 
wiser,  but  better  — to  expand  their  views,  to  study  their  principles,  and  to  amelio- 
rate their  hearts— to  teach  them  to  pursue  the  dictates  of  duty  at  evv^ry  pain  and 
peril,  and  to  uphold  the  interests  of  humanity  in  every  sphere  and  season." — 
Morning  Chronicle. 

'*  We  take  the  opinion  of  the  country,  and  of  every  part  of  the  vrorld  where  the 
language  is  understood,  to  be  that  of  the  most  unbounded  admiration  of  these  ex- 
quisite specimens  of  judicial  oratory,  and  of  great  obligations  to  the  Editor  of  the 
collection."— Edin.  Rev.  Vol.  xix. 

THE  SPEECHES    OF   SIR    SAMUEL    ROMILLY,  ia   the 

House  of  Commons,  with  Memoirs  of  his  Life.  By  WILLIAM  PETER, 
Esq.  Barrister ;  illustrated  by  a  fine  Portrait,  by  REYNOLDS,  after 
SIR  T.  LAWRENCE.  2  vols.  26s. 


Valuable  Works  now  Publishing  by  J.  Ill DG WAY. 

Second  Edition,  in  8t?o.  price  3s. 

POOR  LAWS  IN  IRELAND,  considered  in  their  probable  Ef- 
fects upon  the  Capital,  the  Prosperity,  and  the  Progressive  Improve- 
ment of  that  Country.  By  Sir  JOHN  WALSH,  Bart. 

Contents:  I.  Introduction— Statement  of  Arguments  adduced  in  favour  of 
Poors  Rates  in  Ireland.  II.  Division  of  these  Arguments  — General  RemarKs. 
III.  Comparison  of  the  respective  Checks  afforded  to  the  Increase  of  Poors 
Rates,  by  the  State  of  Society  in  England  and  Ireland.  IV.  Comparison  con- 
tinued. V.  Effects  of  Poor  Laws  in  Ireland— Difficulty  of  administering  them. 
VI.  Irish  Absentees.— VII.  Influence  of  Poors  Rates  upon  the  Interest  of  Pro- 
perty, and  upon  the  Progress  of  Improvement.  VIII.  Influx  of  Irish  Labourers 
to  England  not  to  be  prevented  by  Poor  Laws.  IX.  Progress  of  Ireland- Con- 
elusion. 

A  LETTER  to  the  AGRICULTURISTS  of  ENGLAND,  on 

the    Expediency    of    extending   the    Poor   Laws    to  Ireland.       By 
A  LANDOWNER,     is. 

On  the  CULTIVATION  of  the  WASTE  LANDS  in  the  United 
Kingdom,  for  the  purpose  of  finding  EMPLOYMENT  FOR  THE  ABLE 
POOR,  now  receiving  Parochial  Aid,  and  thereby  diminishing  the 
heavy  burdens  of  the  Poor  Rates ;  and  on  the  expediency  of  making 
some  provision  for  the  aged  and  disabled  Paupers  of  Ireland.  By 
L.  KENNEDY,  Esq.,  Author  "  of  the  Tenancy  of  Land,  in  Great 
Britain/'  2.v.  6d. 

REMARKS  on  the  POLICY  of  INTRODUCING  the  SYS- 
TEM of  POOR  RATES  into  IRELAND,  addressed  to  the  Society 
for  the  Improvement  of  that  Country.  By  G.  H.  EVANS,  Esq.  2s. 

A  DISCOURSE  on  the  POOR  LAWS  of  ENGLAND  and 
SCOTLAND,  on  the  State  of  the  POOR  of  IRELAND,  and  on 
EMIGRATION.  By  GEORGE  STRICKLAND,  Esq.  Magistrate  for 
the  East  and  West  Riding  of  York,  Barrister  at  Law,  &c.  Second 
Edition,  enlarged.  3s.  6d. 

Contents:  Introduction.  Importance  of  the  Subject.  Evidence.  Plans  for  the 
Repeal  of  the  Poor  Laws  of  England.  Origin  of  the  Poor  Laws.  Causes  of  their 
present  State.  Forty-third  of  Elizabeth,  Chap.  1 ;  Vagrancy.  Effects  of  the  Poor 
Laws  in  England.  Delays  in  improving  them.  Bill  brought  into  Parliament  in 
June  1827.  Marriage  of  Paupers.  Poor  Laws  of  Scotland.  Irish  Labourers. 
Emigration.  Poor  of  Ireland.  Amount  of  Poor  Rates  in  England  and  Wales. 
Appeals.  Poor  Rates  in  the  Northern  Counties.  General  View  of  the  Poor  Laws. 
Conclusion.  Addenda. 

A  DISSERTATION  on  the  ENGLISH  POOR;  stating  the 
Advantages  of  Education,  with  a  Plan  for  the  gradual  Abolition  of 
the  Poor  Laws.  By  B.  HAWORTH,  Esq.  M.A.  3s.  Gd. 

11  No  scheme  for  the  amendment  of  the  Poor  Laws  merits  the  least  attention, 
which  has  not  their  abolition  for  its  ultimate  object."  —  Ricardo. 

A  DISSERTATION  on  the  POOR  LAWS.  By  the  late  Rev. 
JOSEPH  TOWNSEND,  now  republished,  with  a  Preface.  3s.  6d. 

PLEA   for  the   ABOLITION    of  SLAVERY  in   ENGLAND, 

as  produced  by  an  illegal  Abuse  of  the  Poor  Law  common  in  the 
Southern  Counties.  By  G  POULETT  SCROPE,  Esq.  F.R.S.,  <fec.,  one 
of  His  Majesty's  Justices  of  the  Peace  for  the  County  of  Wilts.  2s. 

NATIONAL  COLONIZATION  SOCIETY;  a  Statement  of  the 
Principles  and  Objects  of  a  proposed  NATIONAL  SOCIETY,  for  the 
Cure  and  Prevention  of  Pauperism,  by  means  of  Systematic  Colo- 
nization. "2s. 


Valuable  Works  now  Publishing  bij  J.  RiDfiWAV. 

THE  SCOTCH   BANKER,     ttvo.     5s.  C>d. 

Contents:  Lord  Godericii,  and  the  Country  Bankers.  The  Prices  of  Wheat, 
and  thr  Metallic  Cnnem-y.  Things  as  they  are.  A  lew  facts.  Things  ;is  tlu-y 
might  have  been.  Famine.  Scotch  and  English  Bankers.  Anticipation  of  the 
late  Panic.  Anticipation  of  the  New  Bank  Restriction  Ad. 

SIR  HENRY  PARNELL,  Bart,  on  PAPER  MONEY,  BANK- 
ING, &c.  &c.  Second  Edition.  5*.  Gd.  boards. 

Contents:  I.  State  of  the  Currency  Question.  II.  On  the  Country  Banks. 
III.  On  the  Causes  of  Commercial  Distress  of  1825.  IV.  On  the  Effect  of  High 
Duties  oil  Foreign  Goods,  in  contributing  to  the  Stagnation  of  Trade.  V.  On  a 
Metallic  Currency.  VI.  On  Paper  Money.  VII.  On  the  Bank  of  England. 
VIII.  On  Joint  Stock  Companies.  IX.  On  the  Disadvantages  attributed  by 
Mr.  Tooke  to  a  Circulation  in  which  Paper  is  in  large  proportion  compared  with 
the  Metals.  X.  The  Banking  System  of  England.  XI.  The  Scotch  System  of 
Banking.  XII.  The  Irish  System  of  Banking. 

(Extract  from  the  QUARTERLY  REVIEW,  No.LXXXlP.  p.  482.) 

"  Those  who  wish  to  look  into  this  branch  of  the  subject,  may  consult  Sir  Henry 
ParnelFs  useful  Tract  upon  Paper-Money  and  Banking,  where  they  will  find  this 
point  clearly  explained." 

FINANCE  COMMITTEE— TAXATION. 

Corrected  Report  of  the  Speech  of  C.  POULETT  THOMSON,  Esq.  in 
the  House  of  Commons,  on  the  28th  of  March,  1830,  on  moving 
the  appointment  of  a  Select  Committee,  to  inquire  into  the  state  of 
Taxation  of  the  United  Kingdom.  2s.  (>W. 

VIEWS  on  the  CURRENCY  ;  in  which  the  Nature  of  our  System 
of  Currency  is  explained  ;  the  Merits  of  the  Corn  Bill,  Branch  Banks, 
Extension  of  the  Bank  Charter,  and  the  Small  Note  Act,  are  exa- 
mined. By  T.  JOPLIN.  8vo.  5s.  6d. 

CORN  and  CURRENCY;  in  an  Address  to  the  Landowners. 
By  Sir  JAMES  GRAHAM,  Bart.  M.P.  New  Edition,  4s.  6d. 

ELEMENTARY  PROPOSITIONS  on  the  CURRENCY. 
Fourth  Edition  with  Additions,  shewing  their  Application  to  the 
present  Times.  By  HENRY  DRUMMOND,  Esq.  3s. 

The  RESOURCES  of  the  UNITED  KINGDOM; 
in  which  the  Present  Distresses  are  Considered,  their  Causes  and 
Remedies  pointed  out,  and  an  Outline  of  a  Plan  for  the  Establishment  of 
a  National  Currency,  that  would  have  a  fixed  Money  Value  proposed. 
By  W.  R.  A.  PETTMAN,  Captain  in  the  Royal  Navy,  and  Author  of 
"  An  Essay  on  Political  Economy,"  "  Cursory  Suggestions  on  Naval 
Subjects,"  &c.  &c.  1  vol.  8s.  6d.  boards. 

The  CURRENCY  QUESTION  freed  from  MYSTERY,  in  a 

Letter  to  Mr.  PEEL,  showing  how  the  Distress  may  be  relieved 
without  altering  the  Standard.  2s.  6d. 

(Extract  from  the  QUARTERLY  REVIEW,  A7o.  LXXX/F.) 

"  We  still  hope  that  the  facts  and  arguments  of  this  clear  and  energetic  Pam- 
phlet may  meet,  ere  the  Session  of  Parliament  closes,  with  that  attention  which 
they  so  well  deserve.  The  great  talents  and  acquirements  of  Mr.  Scrope  have 
been  exhibited  in  many  previous  productions  ;  but  we  do  not  hesitate  to  pronounce 
this  the  most  valuable  Tract  that  has  ever  proceeded  from  his  pen." 

A  PETITION  to  PARLIAMENT  on  the  CURRENCY  and 
BANKERS;  with  Illustrations  and  Reflections,  &c.  By  HENRY 
BURGESS.  4s.  boards. 


Valuable  Works  now  Publishing  by  J.  RIUGWAY. 

The  PRESENT  DISTRESS  in  Relation  to  the  THEORY  of 
MONEY.  By  EDWARD  SOLLY,  Esq.  Is. 

On  FREE  TRADE,  in  Relation  to  the  PRESENT  DISTRESS. 
By  EDWARD  SOLLY,  Esq.  is. 

THOUGHTS  AND  SUGGESTIONS  on  the  present  Condition  of 
the  Country.  By  T.  POTTER  MACQUEEN,  Esq.  M.P.  2s. 

A  FEW  BRIEF  HINTS  on  the  CAUSES  of  the  PRESENT 
DISTRESS.  Is. 

CASE  of  the  CURRENCY,  with  its  Remedy.  By  RICHARD 
MOORE,  Esq.  5s. 

CAUSES  and  CURE  of  the  PRESENT  DISTRESS.     Is. 

On  COMMERCIAL  ECONOMY,  in  Six  Essays;  viz.  Machinery, 
Accumulation  of  Capital,  'Production,  Consumption,  Currency,  and 
Free  Trade.  By  E.  S.  CAYLEY,  Esq.  7s.  6d.  boards. 

REPORT,  together  with  the  MINUTES  of  EVIDENCE  and 
ACCOUNTS,  from  the  Select  Committee  appointed  to  Enquire  into 
the  Cause  of  the  High  Price  of  Gold  Bullion,  and  to  take  into  Con- 
sideration the  State  of  the  Circulating  Medium,  and  of  the  Exchanges 
between  Great  Britain  and  Foreign  Parts.  1  vol.  8vo.  12s.  boards. 

FIRST  and  SECOND  REPORTS,  from  the  Committees  of  the 
House  of  Lords,  on  the  GROWTH,  COMMERCE,  and  CON- 
SUMPTION of  GRAIN  ;  and  all  Laws  relating  thereto  ;  together 
with  the  Evidence  on  Oath.  Second  Edition.  10s.  6d. 

REPORT,  from  the  Select  Committee  of  the  House  of  Commons, 
on  the  CORN  LAWS  of  this  KINGDOM;  with  the  Evidence,  and 
an  Appendix  of  Accounts.  Second  Edition.  10s.  6rf. 

REPORT  on  the  TRADE  in  FOREIGN  CORN,  and  on  the 
Agriculture  of  the  North  of  Europe.  By  WILLIAM  JACOB  ;  as  or- 
dered to  be  printed  by  the  House  of  Commons;  with  an  Appendix  of 
official  Documents,  copious  Tables,  Averages  of  Prices,  Stocks  on 
hand  in  the  various  exporting  Countries,  Shipments,  &c.  Third 
Edition.  1  vol.  8vo.  9s. 

A  COMPENDIUM  of  the  LAWS  passed  from  the  Year  1660 
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sumption of  Foreign  Corn  ;  and  a  Series  of  Tables,  showing  the  Ef- 
fect of  the  several  Statutes,  and  the  Average  Prices  of  Corn,  from 
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FOREIGN  AFFAIRS.    Fourth  Edition.    2s. 

A  LETTER  to  the  EARL  of  ABERDEEN  on  the  Present  State 
of  our  Foreign  Relations.  By  HENRY  GALLY  KNIGHT,  Esq. 

The  SPEECH  of  VISCOUNT  PALMERSTON  in  the  House 
of  Commons,  March  10,  1830,  on  the  Affairs  of  Portugal. — Nearly 
ready* 


n'orks  now  Publishing  by  J.  LI  IDG  WAY. 

of  VISCOUNT  PALMERSTON  in  the  House  of 
Commons  on  the  1st  of  June,  1829,  upon  the  Motion  of  the  Right 
Hon.  Sir  JAMES  MACKINTOSH,  respecting  the  Relations  of  England 
with  Portugal.  Is.  0V. 

LETTER  TO  A  FRIEND  IN  PARIS;  by  one  of  the  Minority 
on  LORD  PALMERSTON'S  Motion.  Is. 

The  POLICY  of  England,  Spain,  and  Mexico,  with  regard  to 
CUBA.  By  AN  ENGLISHMAN.  Is. 

CHANCERY  ABUSES  AND  REFORMS. 

In  8vo.  5s.  Qd.   boards,  or  on  fine  paper,  10s. 

A  VIEW  of  the  COURT  of  CHANCERY.  By  the  Hon.  WIL- 
LIAM LONG  WELLES  LEY. 

(From  the  TIMES.) 

"  It  will  be  long  before  the  common  sense  and  feelings  of  Englislimen  will  con- 
cur in  a  decision  which,  besides  being  opposed  to  what  are  generally  considered 
the  natural  rights  of  a  parent  over  his  children,  has  the  incurable  vice  of  being  a 
partial  rule  of  law.  The  manner  in  which  that  decision  was  arrived  at,  is,  if  possi- 
ble, still  more  objectionable.  No  man  who  looks  at  this  subject  with  the  seriousness 
it  deserves,  but  must  be  filled  with  astonishment  that  in  a  country  where  the  trial 
by  Jury  (the  very  essence  of  which  is  the  examination  of  witnesses  viva  voce)  has 
prevailed  so  long,  and  where  its  advantages  are  so  fully  appreciated,  the  expen- 
sive, dilatory,  and  disgusting  practice  of  affidavit  evidence,  should  be  left  to  be 
the  reproach  of  our  days. 

u  The  history  of  Mr.  Wellesley's  case  may  be  shortly  told.  The  consummate 
legal  cunning  of  Lord  Eldon  laid  a  trap  for  him,  into  which  he  was  so  ill-advised 
as  to  fall.  The  present  Lord  Chancellor,  dealing  with  the  case  like  a  man  of 
sense  and  integrity,  has  done  all  that  can  now  be  done  to  extricate  him,  and  for 
this  he  expresses  himself  warmly  and  gratefully." 

(From  the  LAW  MAGAZINE.) 

"  So  far— to  come  to  particulars,  — as  language  and  style  are  concerned,  he 
always  writes  like  a  Gentleman ;  almost  all  subjects  of  a  personal  nature  he  treats 
of  with  feeling  and  taste ;  he  often  rises  to  eloquence  in  denouncing  the  real  or 
fancied  authors  of  his  real  or  fancied  wrongs ;  and  he  gets  the  better  of  Lord 
Eldon  himself,  in  discussing  one  main  ground  of  his  decisions." 

(From  the  SUN.) 

"  The  Work  bears  unequivocal  marks  of  legal  research.  ***  We  need  not 
add,  that  Mr.  Wellesley  makes  out  a  strong  ease.  *  *  *  His  episodical  sketch  of 
Lord  Eldon  is  sternly  but  forcibly  painted  ;  nothing  was  ever  more  true,  few 
things  more  politely  caustic." 

A  REVIEW  of  the  LAW  and  JUDICATURE  of  ELECTIONS, 
and  of  the  Change  introduced  by  the  late  Irish  Disfranchisement  Bill. 
By  L.  SINCLAIR  CULLEN,  Esq.  Barrister  at  Law,  and  Commissioner 
of  Bankrupts.  3s  Gd. 

REMARKS  on  LAW  EXPENSES,  with  some  Suggestions  for 
reducing  them.  By  HENRY  DANCE,  Provisional  Assignee  of  In- 
solvent Debtors  in  England.  Is. 

***  The  whole  subject,  indeed,  of  debtor  and  creditor,  as  here  treated,  de- 
serves to  be  studied  with  diligence.  *  *  *— Times. 

A  LETTER  to  the  Lord  Lieutenant  and  Magistrates  of  the  County 
of  Sussex  upon  PRISON  DISCIPLINE,  with  a  Plan  to  defray  the  Ex- 
pense of  Prison  Establishments ;  pointing  out  the  Imperfections  of  the 
Criminal  Code,  in  the  uniform  Infliction  of  Labour  not  severe, 
hard  Labour,  and  Whipping  ;  with  Remedies  suggested.  By  JOHN 
MANCE,  Governor  of  the  House  of  Correction,  Petwortb,  Sussex.  Is. 


Valuable  Works  now  Publishing  by  J.  RIDGWAY. 

REMARKS  upon  PRISON  DISCIPLINE,  &c.  &o.  In  a  Letter 
addressed  to  the  Lord  Lieutenant  and  Magistrates  of  the  County  of 
Esssx.  By  C.  C.  WESTERN,  Esq.  M.P.  Second  Edition  :  with  a 
Prefatory  Letter,  and  an  Appendix,  containing  Plates  and  Description 
of  a  Prison  to  contain  Four  Hundred  Prisoners.  3s.  6d. 

The  QUERIST.  By  the  Right  Rev.  Dr.  GEORGE  BERKELEY, 
Lord  Bishop  of  Cloyne.  Now  republished,  wkh  Copious  Notes, 
showing  how  many  of  the  same  Questions  still  remain  to  be  asked 
respecting  Ireland.  4s. 

An  APPEAL  in  the  Cause  of  the  Ex-Parliamentary  PEERS  of 
Ireland  and  Scotland.  By  Lord  ROSSMORE.  3*. 

RIGHTS  of  SUCCESSION  to  SCOTTISH  PEERAGES.     In 

Letters  to  the  Right  Honourable  Lord   K ,  with  an  Appendix. 

2s.  6d. 

Fourth  Edition,  in  8vo.  16s. 

A  SELECTION  from  the  PUBLIC  and  PRIVATE  CORRES- 
PONDENCE of  VICE-ADMIRAL  LORD  COLLINGWOOD: 

interspersed  with  Memoirs  of  his  Life.  By  G.  L.  NEWNHAM  COL- 
LINGWOOD, Esq.  F.R.S.,  illustrated  by  a  fine  Portrait  — a  Plan  of  the 
Battle  of  Trafalgar,  &c.  £c. 

(Extract  from  the  QUARTERLY  REVIEW,  No.  LXXIV.} 

"  We  have  been  more  highly  gratified  and  instructed  than  we  could  possibly 
have  expected  by  the  perusal  of  the  history  and  letters  of  this  noble  and  gallant 
officer,  whose  name,  except  on  one  memorable  occasion,  has  never  attracted  a 
prominent  share  of  notice  among  those  which  belonged  to  the  public  characters  of 
his  day ;  and  yet  his  services  were  of  the  most  important  nature,  and  most  ably 
conducted,  at  a  crisis,  too,  big  with  danger,  not  in  England  alone,  but  to  all  civi- 
lized Europe ;  but  the  field  of  action  in  which  he  was  chiefly  engaged,  though  ex- 
tensive, was  at  a  distance  from  home.  *  *  *  We  once  more  thank  the  Editor  for 
his  highly  important  and  very  valuable  work.  It  is  one  which  will  occupy  a  per- 
manent place  in  the  English  library.  *  *  *  The  portrait  of  one  English  worthy 
more  is  now  secured  to  posterity/' 

(Extract  from  the  EDINBURGH  REVIEW,  No.  XCIV.) 

"  We  do  not  know  when  we  have  met  with  so  delightful  a  Book  as  this,  or  one 
with  which  we  are  so  well  pleased  with  ourselves  for  being  delighted.  Its  attrac- 
tion consists  almost  entirely  in  its  moral  beauty  ;  and  it  has  the  rare  merit  of  filling 
us  with  the  deepest  admiration  for  heroism,  without  suborning  our  judgments  into 
any  approbation  of  the  vices  and  weaknesses  with  which  poor  mortal  heroism  is  so 
often  accompanied." 

A  MEMOIR  on  the  Use  of  Shells,  Hot  Shot,  and  Carcass  Shells, 
from  Ship  Artillery.  By  FRANK  ABNEY  HASTINGS,  Captain  of 
the  Greek  Steam  Vessel  of  War,  Karteria.  2*.  Qd. 

THE  LAST  OF  THE  GREEKS;  or,  the  Fall  of  Constantinople, 
A  Tragedy.  By  LORD  MORPETH.  Second  Edition.  3*.  Qd. 

Second  Edition,  8vo.  price  3*.  6d. 
RETIREMENT,  a  Poem.     By  THOMAS  STEWART,  Esq. 

Also,  by  the  same  Author : 
Second  Edition,    Qvo.  price  2s. 
An  EPISTLE  from  ABELARD  to  ELOISE. 

"  Such,  if  there  be,  who  loves  so  long,  so  well — 
Let  him  our  sad,  our  tender  story,  tell."— Pope. 


Valuable  Works  now  l^ibl'mhing  by  ,J.  K  IDG  WAY. 

In  ttvo.  price  "2s.  (td. 

GODESBERG  CASTLK,  a  Poem.  Hy  MILKS  T.  STAPLKTON, 
Esq. 

Also,  by  the  same  Autlior  : 
LA  PI  A  ;  or,  The  FAIR  PENITENT;  a  Poem.     Price  5s. 

"  Can  beauty  blighted  in  an  hour 
Find  rest  within  the  broken  bower? 
No  :  gayer  insects  fluttering  by, 
Ne'er  droop  the  wing  o'er  those  that  die  : 
And  lovelier  things  have  mercy  shown 
To  every  tailing  but  their  own, 
And  every  woe  a  tear  may  claim 
Except  an  erring  sister's  s«hame." — Byron. 

THE  LIFE  AND  REMAINS  OF   WILMOT  WARWICK. 

Edited  by  his  Friend,  HENRY  VERNON.     2  vols.  Foolscap  8vo.  18s. 

Contents  of  Vol.  I. :  Introduction— Life  of  Wilmot  Warwick— Re- 
mains— The  Odd  Gentleman— Christmas  Night — The  Haunted  Mill— 
The  Dead  Arm  and  Ghostof  Caesar — The  Odd  Gentleman  and  Old  Maid 
—Twelfth  Day— The  Smuggler— The  Poacher— The  Wig— Travelling 
Companions — Henry  Halworth — St.  Valentine's  Day — Gordon — The 
Painter's  Account  of  Himself. 

Contents  of  Vol.  II.  Introductory — The  Monk  of  Benevento — The 
Three  Brothers — The  Revolutions  of  a  Village — The  Boarding  House; 
— Death  and  the  Grave — The  Will — An  Introduction  to  Julia — Julia 
— Sternherst. 

*  *  *  Each   Tale  is   good  in   itself;    but  were  we  to  express  a  preference,  it 
would  be  in  favour  of  *  Christmas  Night,'  <  Henry  Halworth,'  and   *  The  Pain- 
ter's Account  of  Himself.'      Let,  however,  every  one  read  and  decide  for  himself. 
Of  this  we  are   quite  sure,  that   whoever  does  peruse  this  little  work  will    rise 
refreshed  from   it,  and  will  esteem  the  tone  of  tender,  generous,  and  manly  feel- 
ing, that  pervades  the  whole  of  it.  *  *  *"  —  New  Monthly  Magazine  for  December. 

"  *  *  *  In  fact,  it  is  a  novel,  and  a  novel  of  a  very  superior  order.*  *  *" — Gen- 
tleman's Magazine. 

A  GEOGRAPHICAL  and  HISTORICAL  ACCOUNT  of  the 
GREAT  WORLD  :  with  a  Voyage  to  its  several  Islands,  and  a 
Vocabulary  of  the  Language.  Price  3s.  with  a  Map  and  Vignette. 

"  C'est  moi  qui  ai  introduit  dans  le  monde  le  luxe,  la  debauche,  les  jeux  de 
hazard.  Je  suis  1'inventeur  de  la  danse,  de  la  musique,  de  la  coin£die,  et  de  toutes 
les  modes  nouvelles  de  France." 

THE  SUBALTERN'S  LOG-BOOK,  or  Active  Service  in  India, 
England,  &c.  including  Anecdotes  of  well-known  Military  Officers  ; 
Scenes  and  Incidents  during  Voyages  to  and  from  India,  &c.  2  vols. 
postSvo.  20s. 

Contents:  My  Commission — Joining  Depot — Battle  of  Waterloo- 
Money-lending — Heiress-hunting — Going  Abroad — The  Voyage — 
Landing  in  India — The  Regiment  at  Madras — Marching  in  India 
Out-station  in  India — Cantonment  Details — Departure  for  the  Coast 
— Homeward  Voyage — Arrival  in  England — Recruiting  Station — 
Ireland — Second  Visit  to  India. 

*  *  *  *   "  Cadets,  in  particular,  proceeding  to  India,  would  do  well  to  benefit 
themselves  by  the  Author's  Experience."  *  *  * 

THE  BLIND  BEGGAR  OF  BETHNAL  GREEN.  A 
Comedy.  By  JAMES  SHERIDAN  KNOWLES,  Esq.  Author  of  "  Vir- 
ginius,"  and  "  Caius  Gracchus,"  Tragedies,  &c.  £c.  3s.  6d. 


l'ulnublt'  ll'itrks  now  Publiskiny  by  J.  Run; WAY. 

TRAVELS  IN  BUENOS  AYRES,  and  the  ADJACENT  PRO- 
VINCES of  the  1110  I)i:  LA  PLATA.  By  J.  A.  B.  BEAUMONT, 
Esq.  1  vol.  8vo.  with  a  Map.  JXs1.  i\d. 

The  LAST  REIGN  of  the  Emperor  NAPOLEON;  being  the 
Substance  of  Letters  written  from  Paris,  and  addressed  principally  to 
Lord  Byron.  By  JOHN  HOBHOUSE,  Esq.  M.P.  With  an  Appen- 
dix of  Official  Documents.  Third  Edition,  with  Additional  Notes, 
and  a  Prefatory  Address,  in  Answer  to  Mr.  Gilford  and  the  Quarterly 
Review.  2  vols.  24s. 

"  Hobhouse  abounds  in  continental  anecdotes  of  this  extraordinary  man  ;  all  in 
favor  of  his  intellect  and  courage,  but  against  his  bon  hommie.     No  wonder;  how 
should  he,  who  knows  mankind  well,  do  other  than   despise  and   ;»l>hor   them."- 
AJ  wire's  Journal  uf  Lord  Bynm,  Vol.  I.  4to.  page  499. 


THE  INDIES  AND  CHINA. 
The  CHINESE  MONOPOLY  Examined.     3*. 

An  INQUIRY  into  some  of  the  PRINCIPAL  MONOPOLIES 
of  the  EAST  INDIA  COMPANY.  2s.  6d. 

A  BRIEF  VINDICATION  of  the  COMPANY'S  Government 
of  BENGAL,  from  the  Attacks  of  Messrs.  RICKARDS  and  CRAW- 
FURD.  By  Ross  DONNELLY  MANGLES,  Esq.  Bengal  Civil  Service.— 
3s.  6d. 

A  VIEW  of  the  PRESENT  STATE  and  FUTURE  PROS- 
PECTS of  the  FltEE  TRADE  and  COLONIZATION  of  INDIA. 

Second  Edition,  greatly  enlarged. 

"  It  is  evidently  from  the  hand  of  one  who  is  extensively  as  well  as  minutely 
informed  on  the.  subject  of  which  he  treats ;  and  he  it  from  whose  hands  it  may, 
we  cannot  but  think,  that  no  man,  who  has  ever  turned  his  thoughts  to  that  sub- 
ject, should  grudge  the  small  labour  of  reading  this  clear  and  compendious  state- 
ment, and  no  man  presume  to  speak  or  to  vote  in  regard  to  it,  till  he  has  thoroughly 
meditated  its  contents,  and  inquired  diligently  into  the  accuracy  of  its  premises 
and  conclusions."— Edinburgh  Review,  No.  96. 

SUBSTANCE  of  the  SPEECH  of  W.  W.  WHITMORE,  Esq. 
in  the  House  of  Commons,  May  14,  1829,  on  the  Subject  of  the 
TRADE  with  the  EAST  INDIES  and  CHINA.  Is.  Gd. 

NEGRO  EMANCIPATION  no  PHILANTHROPY  :  a  LETTER 
to  the  DUKE  OF  WELLINGTON.  By  A  JAMAICA  PROPRIETOR.  2s. 

A  LETTER  to  the  DUKE  OF  WELLINGTON,  on  the.  Subject 
of  WEST  INDIA  SLAVERY.  By  A  JAMAICA  PROPRIETOR.  Is. 

SLAVERY  in  the  MAURITIUS:  a  REPRESENTATION  of  the 
State  of  GOVERNMENT  SLAVES  and  APPRENTICES  in  the  COLONY; 
with  Observations,  addressed  to  Men  in  high  stations.  By  a  RESI- 
DENT who  has  never  possessed  either  LAND  or  SLAVES.  "2s.  ltd. 

A  LETTER  to  the  Most  Honourable  the  MARQUIS  OF 
CHANDOS.  By  a  WEST  INDIA  PLANTER.  2s. 

On  COLONIAL  INTERCOURSE.  By  HENRY  BLISS,  Esq.  of 
the  Inner  Temple.  3*. 


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