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I
COBBETT'S
PAPER AGAINST GOLD:
Containing the History and Mystery of the Bank of England,
the Funds, the *Debt, the Sinking Fund, the Bank
Stoppage, the lowering and the raising of the value o
Paper- Money; and shewing, that Taxation, Pauperism,
Poverty, Misery and Crimes have all increased, and ever
must increase, with a Funding System.
l.]_COBBETPS PAPER AGAINST GOLD.— [Price Two-Pence.
INTRODUCTION.
B, tley, 6th February, 1 817.
The time is now come, when every
Irian ia this kingdom ought to make
himself, it' possible, well acquainted
-with all matters belonging to the
Paper-Money System. It is that
System, which has mainly contri
buted towards our present miseries ;
and, indeed, without that System those
miseries never could have existed in
any thing approaching towards their
present degree. In all countries,
where a Paper-Money, that is to say,
a paper which could not, at any mo
ment, be converted into Gold and
Silver, has ever existed; in all coun
tries, where this lias been the case,
the consequence, first or last, has
always been great and general misery,
and, iu most such cases, such misery
Las been productive of that confusion
and bloodshed, which I most anxiously
Jiope will be prevented, in tin's in
stance, by timely measures of a just
and conciliatory character anc1 by the
good sense, patience and fortitude of
the people.
To be able clearly to trace our mi-
series to this grand cause, the Bank
and the Paper-Money, it is necessary,
that we inquire into the origin ot
money, how it acts upon the a flairs o£
men, how prices depend upon its
quantity, and how money itself is
changed in its quantity and value-
Next it is necessary, that we come at
a clear idea of the origin of Paper-
Money and of its introduction intp
this country. Kext, we ought to see
the origin of the Bank and its Paper ;
to see how Loans have been made
and how and by what means a Debt
has been created. This compels us
to go back and trace minute! v the
Bank and the Debt from their fatal
birth to the present time ; to show-
how they arose both together, and
how they have gone swelling moun
tains high, side by side while taxes,
pauperism, misery and, crimes have
all gone on increasing in the same
degree. We ought next to inquire,
whether it be possible to hvsen ths
Debt by that scheme, which has been
called the Sinking Fund. Then we
ought to enter into all the facts of that
curious event, called the &auk-&&-
striction, which was a 8tnpjwye of
Cash-Payments at the -Bank, in vio
lation of the Bank Charter and of the
laws of debtor and creditor. This
transaction ought now to be clearly
by every man in .England.
Priii tt-.r, Bream's Buildings,
INTRODUCTION.
sum of 1,000 pounds each; that the
whole of this sentence has been exe
cuted upon me, that I have been im
prisoned the two years, have paid the
thousand pounds TO THE KING,
and have given the bail, Timothy
Brown and Peter Walker, Esqrs.
being iny sureties ; that the At
torney General was Sir Vicary
Gibbs, the Judge who sat at the
trial, Lord Ellenborough, the four
Judges who sat at passing sentence,
EHenborough, Grose, Le Blanc, and
Bailey; and that the jurors were,
Thomas Rhodes of Hampstead Road,
John Davis of Southampton-place,
James Bills of Tottenham Court Road,
John Richards of Bayswatcr, Tho- I
mas Marsham of Baker Street, Ro
bert Heathcote, of High Street,
Marylebone, John Maud, of York
Place, Marylebone; George Baxter,
of Church Terrace, Pancras ; Tho
mas Taylor, of Red Lion Square ;
David I)eane of St. John Street;
William Palmer, of Upper Street,
Islington; Henry Favre, of Pall-
Mall ; and that the Prime Ministers
during the time were Spencer Perce
val, until he was shot by John Bel-
lingham, and after that Robert B.
Jenkinson, Earl of Liverpool; that
the prosecution and sentence took
place in the reign of King George
the Third, and that, he having be
come insane during my imprisonment,
the 1,000 pounds was paid to his
son, the Prince Regent, in his behalf;
that, during my imprisonment, 1
wrote and published 364 Essays and
Letters upon political subjects ; that,
the same time, I was visited
[tffl
by persons from 107 cities and towns,
many of them as .1 M>rt of deputies
from Societies or Clubs ; that, at the
expiration of my imprisonment, on
the 9th of July, 1812, a great dinner
was given in London Ibr the purpose
of receiving me, at which dinner up
wards «f GOO persons were present,
and at which Sir Francis Buniett
presided; that dinners and other pin-
ties 'were held on the snme occasion
in many other places in England;
that, on my way home, I was re
ceived at Alien, the iirst town in
Hampshire, with the ringing of the
Church bells ; that a respectable com
pany met me and gave me a dinner
«'it Winchester; that I was drawn
from more than the distance of a
mile into Botlryby the people; that,
upon my arrival in the village, I
found all the people assembled to re-*
ceive me ; that I concluded the day
by explaining to them the cause 01
my imprisonment, and by giving them
clear notions respecting the flogging
of the Local Milkia-men at EJy, anei
respecting the employment of Ger
man Troops; and, finally, which is
more than a compensation for my
losses and all my sufferings, I am in
perfect health and strength, and,
though I must, for the sake of six
children, feel the diminution that has
been made in my property (thinking
it right in me to decline the offer of
a subscription), I have tli£ consola
tion to see growing up three son*,
upon whose hearts, I trust, all these
facts will be engraven.
WM. COBBETT.
Botlty, July IS, 1812.
PAPER AGAINST GOLD.
T)U III N(J tlic last session of par
liament, a Committee, that is to sav,
ten or twelve members, of tlic House
of Commons, were appointed to in
quire rnlo the cause of the high price
of Gold Hnition., that is, (iold not
coiu.nl; and to take into consideration
the stale of the peculating medium, or
money, of this country. This Com
mittee have made a J'eport, as they
call it; hut, it is a great book, that
they have written, and have had print
ed ; a hook much larger than the
whole of the New- Testament. Of
this Ucport I intend to enter into an
Examination; and, as von have re
cently felt, and are still feeling, sonic
of the effects of Paper- Money, I
think it may not he amiss, if, upon
this occasion, L address myself to you.
1 have introduced mvself to von with
out anv ceremonv ; hut, before we
j);«rt, we shall become well acquainted;
and, I make no doubt, that you will
understand the distinction between
Puper- Monev and Gold-Money much
too well for it to !>e in the power of
any one ever again to deceive YOU;
which understanding, will, in the
time* now fast approaching, be of
great utility to all those amongst you,
who in iv have the means of laying up
money, however small the quantity
may be.
The Committee above-mentioned,
which, for brevity's sake, I call the
liullion Committee, sent for several
persons, whom they examined as wit
LETTER I.
Appointment of the Bullion Committee — Main point* of the Report — Proposition fW
ti'o • ank to pay in two Years — To merit the appcllatiou of a Thinking; People,
ue »>uist shew that our Thinking produces Knowledge — Go back into the History of
1'aper Money — Definition of Money — Increase of Paper— What is the cause of this
Increase: —Orijrin «»fthe Bank of England — How it came to pass that so much Paper
Money ifot afloat— Increase of Kank Notes wanted to pay the increase of the interest
on tUe National i)eiu — Progress in issuing Bank Notes from 20 to 1 Founds— Suspj.
rion aw ikened in 1797 wliich produced the Stoppage of Gold and Silver Payments at
the B.iiik of iCnglaml
nesses, touching the matter in ques
tion. There was SIR FRANCIS BAR
ING, for instance, the great loan-
inokcr, and GOLDSMIDT, the rich
,Je\v, whose name you so often see in
the news-papers, where he is stated
to give grand dinners to princes and
great men. The Evidence of these,
and other money~dealers and mer
chants, the Bullion Committee have
had printed; and, upon this evidence,
as well as upon the Report itself, we
shall have to make some remarks.
The result of the Committee's in
quiries is, in substance, this ; that the
hiyh price, of gold is occasioned by the
low value of the paper-money; that
the low value of the paper-money has
been oecasioned (as, you know, the
low value of apples is) by the great
abundance of it ; that the MI fa wau
J ^ 4-* »/
to lower the price of the yold is to
raise the value of the paper-money,
and that the only way to raise the
value of the paper-jnortey is to make
the quantity of it less than it now i>.
Thus far, as you will clearly see,
there was no conjuration required.
The fact is, that, not only do these
propositions contain well-known, and
almost self-ei ident truths ; but, thdse
truths have, during the last two or
three years, and especially during the
last year, been so frequently stated in
print, that it was next to impossible
that any person in England, able to
read, should have been unacquainted
with them. Hut, having arrived ait
the conclusion, that, in order to raiat
3]
PAPER AGAINST GOLD.
the value of the paper-money, its
quantity must be lessened; having
come to- this point, the rest of the
way was more difficult; for, the next
object was, to point out the means of
lessening the quantity of the paper-
money ', and this is an object, which,
in my opinion will never he effected,
unless those means include the de
struction of the whole mass.
Not so, however, think the Gentle
men of the Bullion Committee. They
think, or, at least, they evidently wish
to make others think, that it is possi
ble to lessen the quantity of the paper-
money, and to cause guineas to come
back again and to pass from hand to
liand as in former times ; they would
fain have its believe, that this can be
done without the total destruction of
the paper-money ; and, indeed, they
have actually recommended to the
House of Commons to pass a Law to
rause the Bank in Threadneedle
Street, London, commonly called the
Bank of .England, to pay its notes in
real money, at the END OF TWO
YEARS from this time. Two years
is a pretty good lease for people to
have of this sort. This Bank promises
to pay on demand. It does this upon
the lace of every "one of its notes ;
and, therefore, as a remedy for the
evil of want of gold, to propose, that
this Bank should bcyin to pay in two
years' time, is something, which I
think, would not have been offered to
the public in any age but this, and,
even in this age, to any public except
the 'public ii\ this country. The notes
of the Bank qf England bear, upon the
face of them, a promise that the Ban
kers, or Bank Company, who issue
the notes, will pay the notes upon
demand. Now, what do we mean
by paying a note? Certainly we do
not mean, the giving of one note for
anoth&r note. Yet, this is the sort of
payment, that people get at the Bank
of England; and this sort of pay
ment the Bullion Committee does not
pr.opose even to begin to put an end
to in less than two years from this
time.
Gentlemen; we, the people of this
country, have been persuaded to be
lieve many things. We have been
persuaded to believe ourselves to be
" the most thinking people in Enrope;"
but to what purpose do meu think,
unless they arrive at useful knowledge
by thinking? To what purpose do
men think, if they are, after all their
thinking, to be persuaded, that a, Bank,
which has not paid its promissory
notes in gold for thirteen years and a
half, will be able to pay them in gold
at the end of fifteen years and a half.,
the quantity of the notes having gone
on regularly increasing? If men are
to be persuaded to believe this, to
what purpose do they think? But,
before I proceed any further in my
remarks upon the Report of the Bul
lion Committee ; before I proceed to
lay before you the exposures now
made by the labours of this Com
mittee ; the facts now become evident
through this channel ; the tionfcssunis
now made by these members ef the
House of Commons : before I pro
ceed to lay these before yon, and to
remark upon the remedies, prcpf-red
by the Committee, it \uil 'be Lei c-y.-ary
for me to go back into the h infer;/ of
the paper-money ; because, without
doing this, I shall be talking to you of
things, of which you will have no clear
notion, and the reasonings, relating
to which, you will, of course, not at
all understand. It is a great misfor
tune, that any portion of your time,
should be spent in reading or think
ing about matters of this kind ; but,
such is our present situation in this
country, that every man, who has a
family to preserve from want, ought
to endeavour to iKake himself ac
quainted with the nature, and with the
probable consequences, of the paper-
money now afloat
Mmsey, is the representative, or the
token ot property, or things of value.
The money, while used as. money, is of
no other use ; and, therefore, a bit of
lead or of wood or of leather, would be
as good as gold or silver, to be used as
money. But, if these materials, which
are every where found in such abund-
ance, were to be used as money, there
1ETTER 1.
would be so much money made that
there would be no end to.it; and, be-
sid?s, the money made in one country
•would, however there enfened by
law, have no value in any other ooun-
try. For these reasons Gold and
Silver, which are amongst the most
scarce of things, have been, by all
the nations that we know any thing
of, need as money.
\Vhile the money of nny country
consists of nothing hut thrre ri"-.;rre
metal?; while it c : •. ; nothing
but gold and silver, there is no ir r
of its becoming too abundant; Lui ii
the money of a country he made of
lead, tin, wood, leiither, or p'-per; and
if any one can make it, who may
choose to make it, there needs no ex
traordinary wisdom to foresee, that
there will be a great abundance of
"this sort of money, and that the gold
and silver money, being, in feet, no
longer of any use in such a state of
things, will go, cither into the hoards
of the prudent, or into the bags of
those, who have the means of scud-
ing or carrying them to those foreign
countries where they are wanted, and
where they will bring their value.
That a state of things like that here
spoken of, does now exist in this
country, is notorious to all the AvorJd,
But while we are all acquainted with
the fact, and while many of us are
most sensibly feeling Ifcfi effects,
scarcely a man amongst us takes the
trouble to inquire into the cause : yet,
unless the cause be ascertained, how
are we to apply, or to judge of a re- !
medy? We see" the country abound-
ing with paper-money ; we see every j
man's hand full of it ; we frequently
talk of it as a strange thing, nwl a
great evil; but never clo we inquire
into the cau^e of it.
There are few of you who cannot
remember the time, when there was
scarcely- ever seen a bank note among
Tradesmen and Farmers. 1 can re
member, when this was the case; and,
when the Farmers in my country hard
ly ever saw a bank note, except rhen
:hey sold their heps at "VVcyhiil i'air.
People, in those days, used 10 carry
little bags to put their money in, in
stead of tiie paste-b;.ard or leather
cases that they new carry. If you
look back, and take a little tisne to
think, you will trace the gradual in
crease of paper-money, and the like
decrease of gold and silver n-oney.
At first there were no bank i-oles un
der iM) pounds; next they came to 15
pounds; next to 10 pounds: at the
beginning of the last \var, they came
| io 5 pounds; and, betbie the end of
i it, they came down to 2 and to 1
I pounds. How long it will be before
j they come down to parts jrf a pound,
I it would, perhaps, be difficult to say ;
but in Kent, at least, there are country
notes in circulation, Jk> an amount so
low as that of seven"*&feillings. It is
the cttw.se of this that is interesting to
us ; the cause of this change in our
money, and, in the prices of goods of
all soils and of labour. All of you
who ave forty years cf age can re
member, when the price of the gallon
loaf used to be about ten pence' or a
^hill.iy, instead of two shillings and
sixpence or two shillings and ten
pence, as it now is. These effects
strike you. You talk of them every
day; but the cause of them you sel
dom, if ever, either tall; or think of :
and it is to this cause that I am now
endeavouring to draw your attention.
You have, du.ing the last seven
teen years, seen the quantity of paper
money rapidly increase ; or in other
words, you haye, day after day, seen
less and less of gold and silver appear
in payments, and, of cou: so more -and
more of paper-money. But, it was
not til! the year 1/1)7, that the paper-
money began to increase so ve:-y fast.
ft was then that the tiuo and one
pound notes wore first nu;de by the
Bank of England. It was then, in
short, that paper-money became com
pletely predominant. .But; you v, ill
naturally ask me, *' what was the
cause oi'thatf The caune was, that
the Bu:«-k of EiU'-laruk .topped -p(>'!/-
iit'j its notes in gold tend x>t'n<r. "V* ' '•: !
stop paying its no!es . Reiuse to pa$
its pro.-tii&Kory •unti-.K? _The B;?nk oi
England, when its no es werep?csei
PAPER AGAINST GOLD.
ed, refuse to pay them? Yes: and,
\vhat is niore, a?* Act of parliament
brought in by Pitt, was passed, to
protect the Bank of England against
Jhe legal consequences of such refusal.
So that, the people, who held promis
sory notes of the Bank, and who had,
perhaps, given gold or silver for them,
when they went to the Bank for pay
ment, were told, thai they could have no
gold or silver, hut that they might have
other notes, more paper, if they pleas
ed, in exchange for the paper they
held in their hands and tendered for
payment. From that time to this, the
Act of parliament, authorising the
Bank of England to refuse to pay its
notes in gold and silver, has been in
force. At first it was passed for three,
mont/is ; n'ext till the parliament should
meet again ; then it was to last to the
end of the war', then, when peace
came, it was continued just for a year,
till things should be settled ; then, as
things were not quite settled, it was
continued till parliament should meet
again; and, as this present war had
begun by that time, the act was made
to continue till six months after tkc
•next peace.
The reasons given upon the differ
ent occasion?, it will he very material
to notice ; for, it is this stoppage in
flie payment of gold and silver at the
Bank of England upon which the
whole question turns. Every thing
hangs upon this ; and, when we come
to examine that part of the Report
\vhich treats of the Bank's reviving
its payments in gold and silver, we
shall find it of great use to us to recur
to the reasons, the divers, the mani
fold reasons that were given, at differ
ent times, for suspending those pay
ments. Since that suspension took
place, you have seen the gold and
silver disappear ; you h^ve seen, the
paper has supplied the place of gold ;
paper-money makers have set up all
over the kingdom ; anel might not this
well happen, when, to pay paper-
money nothing more than paper-
money. was required 1 But, the rcn-
tons given for this measure of suspen
sion ; the rcaaoas given for the pass
ing of an Act of Parliament to pro
tect the Bank of England against the
demands of its creditors are seldom
recurred to, though, as you will pre
sently see, without recurring to those
reasons, and without ascertaining the
true cause of the passing of that Act
of Parliament, we cannot form >o
jood a judgment relative to the remedy
now propcrsed ; namelv, that of the
Bank of England's reviving its pay-
ments in gold and silver. This is the
remedy, which the Bullion Com
mittee propose; and, you will say, a
very good remedy it is ; a vory good
remedy indeed; fpr people who have,
for go long a time, not paid their notes
in gold and silver, to begin to pay their
notes in gold and silver, is averv good
remedy; but, the thing to ascertain, is,
can the, remedy be applied] This is
the question for us to discuss. It re
quired nobody to tell us, that payiny
in, f) old and silver Mould bean effect
ual reined v for the evils arising from
not paying inyoltl and silver; but, it
required much more than I have yet
heard to convince me, that to pay
again in gold and silver icas possible.
The Chief object of our enquiries
being this: Whether it be possible,
witliout a total destruction of all the
paper money, to restore gold and silver
to circulation amonyst i($ ; this being
the chief object of our enquiries, we
should first ascertain hoic the (/old and
silrer was driven out of circulation,
and had its place supplied by a paper-
money ; for, unless we get at a clear
view of this, it will he next to impos
sible for us to reason satisfactorily
upon the means of bringing gold and
silver back again into circulation.
Some people suppose, that paper
made a part of the currency,
or common monev, of England. They
seem to regard the Bank of England
as being as old as the Church of Eng
land, at least, and some of them ap
pear to have full as much veneration
for it. The truth is, however, that
the Bank of England is a mere human
institution, arising out of causns hnv-
lir_c nothing miraculous, or superna
tural, ubput thcpi; ;md that both the
LETT ER I.
[10
institution and the agents who carry
it on, arc as mortal as any other tiling
and any other men, in this or in any
other country. THE HANK, as it is
called, had its origin in the year 1094,
th.it is, a hundred and sixteen years
ago; and it arose thus: the then
King, WILLIAM III, who hud come
from Holland, had begun a war
against France, and, wanting money
to carry it on, an act was parsed
(which act was the 20th of the 5th
year of his reign) to invite people to
make voluntary advances to the go
vernment of the sum of 1,500,000
pounds, and for securing the pay
ment of the interest, and also for se
curing the re-payment of the princi
pal, taxes were laid upon beer, ale,
and other liquors. Upon" condition
of 1,200 ,OOQ/. of this money being
advanced, within a certain time, the
subscribers to the loan were to be in
corporated ; and, as the money was
advanced in due time, the incorpora
tion .took place, and the lenders of
the money were formed into a,trading
Company, called " THE GOVERNOR
'• AND COMPANY OF THE BANK
" OK ENGLAND." Out of this, and
other sums borrowed by the govern
ment in the way of mortgage upon
the taxes, there grew up a thin'j;
called the Stocks, or the Funds (of
which we will speak hereafter); but
the Hank Company remained under
its primitive name, and as the debt of
the nation increased, this Company
increased in riches and in conse
quence.
Thus, you see, and it is well wor
thy of your attention, the Bank had
its rise in war and taxation. But, we
must reserve reflections of this sort
for other occasions, and go on with
our inquiries how gold and silver have
been driven out of circulation in this
country, or, in other words, how it
came te pass that so much paper-
money got afloat.
The Act of Parliament, which I
have just referred to, points out the
manner in which the Bank Company
fhall carry on their trade, and Uic ar
ticles in which they shall trade, al
lowing them, amongst other things,
to trade -in gold, silver, bills of ex
change, and other things, under cer
tain restrictions ; but, as to what are
called bank notes, the Company was
not empowered to issue any such, in
any other way, or upon any other
footing, than merely as promissory
notes, for the amount of which, ia
the coin of the country, they were
liable to be sued and arrested. Uav-
j ing, however, a greater credit than
any other individuals, or company of
individuals, the Bank Company is-
sued notes to a greater amount; and,
which was something new in England,
they v\ere made payable, not to any
particular person, or his order, and
not at any particular time ; but to tho
bearer, and on demand. These cha-
rartrristics, which distinguished the
promissory notes of the Bank of
England from ail other promissory
I notes gave the people greater confi
dence in them ; and as the Bank
Company were always ready to pay
the notes in Gold and Silver, when
presented for payment, the notes be
came, in time, to be looked upon as
being as good as gold and silver.
Hence came our country sayings: —
| " Ax yowl as the Bank ;" " As solid
" an the It anh ;" and the like. Yet,
the Bank was, as we have seen,
merely a company of mortal men,
formed into an association of traders-;
and their notes nothing more than
written promises to pay the bearer so
much money in gold or silver.
\Ve used to have other sayings
about the Bank, such as, '* As rich as
11 the Bank ;" " All the gold in, the
" Ban/t;" and such like, always con
veying a notion, that the Bank was a
place, and a place, too, where there
were groat heaps of money. As long
1 as the Company were ready and
willing to pay, and did actually pay,
their notes in gold and silver, to all
those persons who wished to have
gold and silver, it is clear that thcso
opinions of the people, relative to the
Hank, were not altogether unfoMudod;
in
PAPER AGAINST GOLD.
[12
for, though no hit of paper, or ofanj
illing which has no value in itself,
can be, in fact, so good as a bit of
gold; still, if it will, at any moment,
whenever Iho holder pleases, bring
him gold or^silver to the amount
written upon it, it is very nearly as
got d as gold and silver; and, at the
time of which we arc speaking, this
was the case with the promissory
note;? of the Hank Company. But, it |
must he ciidcnt, that though the Coin- 1
pauv were ready, at the trine now re- j
ferred jo, to pay their notes in gold I
and silver, they h:ul never in their!
money-chests a s-ulHcicncy of gold and t
silver, to pay off ail their notes, if'
they had been presented all at once. ;
This must bo evident to every man; !
because, if the Bank Company kept •
Jcvcked up as much gold and silver as \
their notes amounted to, they could i
get nothing by issuing their notes, and ;
might full as well have sent out their I
gold and silver. A farmer, for in- \
siance, who is generally using a him- ,
<lred pounds of money to pay his
\sorkmen, uught lend the Jamdicd
pounds and get interest for it, it
lie could persuade his .workmen to
take promissory notes of his own
(hawing, instead of money, and, if he
were sure, that these promissory notes
Mould not be brought in for payment;
but, if this was not the case, he would
be compelled to keep the hundred
pounds in his drawer ready to give to
those who did riot like to keep his
promissory notes; and, in such case,
it is clear, that the money would he
of no use to him, and that he might
lull as well have none of his notes out. j
.hist so wiih the -Hunk Company, '
who, at no time, could have in hand
gold and silver enough to pay off all
their notes at once ; nor was this ne
cessary as long as the people regarded j
those notes as being equally good with j
gold and silver. But, it is clear, that
tl'is opinion of the goodness of the
Company's notes, cr rather, the fed-
ing of conjidence, or, still luore pro
perly perhaps, the absence of all sus
picion, with respect to them, must, in
a great degree, depend upon the quan
tity of notes seen in circulation, com
pared with the quantity of gold and
silver seen in circulation. At first,
the quantity of notes was very small
indeed ; the increase of this quantity
was, for the first twenty years, very-
slow; and, though it became more
rapid in the next twenty years, the
quantity docs not appear to have been
large till the war which took place in
1755, before which time the Bank
Company put out no notes under 20
pounds in amount. Then it was that
they began to put out 15 pound notes,
and afterwards, but during the same
war, 10 pound notes. During all this
time, loans, in every war, had been
made by the government. That is to
?:\v, the government had borrowed
money of individuals, in the same
way as above-mentioned, in the year
l(ii)4. The money thus borrowed
was never pn\ed oil', but was suffered
to regain at interest, and was, as it is
m>w, called the NATIONAL DKBT,
the interest upon which is annually
paid out of the taxes raised upon the
people. As this debt went on in
creasing, the bank-notes went on in-
creasing, as, indeed, it is evident they
must, seeing that the interest of the
Debt was, as it still is and must be,
paid in bcnik-notes.
1 1 is not simply the quantity of
bank-notes that arc put intoj:ircula-
lion, which will excite alarm as to
their solidity ; but, it is that quantity,
i! is he great, compared with the qiian-
///// oj (fold and silver, seen in circu
lation. If, as the bank-notes in
creased, the circulating gold and
silver bail increased in the same
proportion; then, indeed, bank
notes would still have retained their
usual credit ; people would still have
Lad the same confidence in them.
But, this could not be. From the na
ture of things it could not be. The
cause of the increase of the bank
notes, was, the increase of the interest
upon the National Debt; and, as it
grew out of an operation occasioned
by poverty, it would have been
13]
LETTER II.
[14
strange indeed bad it been accom
panied with a circumstance, which
would have been an infallible indica
tion of riches.
Without, however, stopping here to
inquire into the cause of the coin's
not increasing with the increase of
paper, sullice it to say, that such was
the. fact. Year after year we saw
more of bank-notes and less of gold
and silver ; till, in time, such was the
quantity o'i bank-notes required to
meet the purposes of gold and silver
in the payment of the interest of the
still increasing Debt, and in the pay
ment of the taxes, many otiier banks
were opened, and they also issued
t!wir promissory notes. The Bank
Company's notes, which had never
before been made for less sums than
10 pounds, v. ere, soon after the be
ginning of PITT'S war, in 1793, is
sued for Jive pounds, after which it
was not to be supposed, that people
rould have the same opinion of bank
notes tiiat they formerly had. Every
part of the people, except the very
poorest of them, now, occasionally,
ut least, possessed bank-notes, llents,
salaries, yearly \vapcs, ail FUWS above
five pounds, were now paid in bank
notes; and, the government itself was
now paid its faxes i& this same sort of
eurroncv.
In such a ?tate of things it was
quite impossible that people should
not begin to perceive, that, gold and
silver was better than bank-notes;
and that Ihe-v should not be more de
sirous of possessing tlio former than
the latter; and, the moment this is
the case, the banking system must be
gin to tremble ; lor, as the notes are
payable to the bearer, and payable oo.
demand, it is very certain, that no
man, with such a preference in bis
mind, will keep in his possession a
bank-note, unless we can suppose a
man so absurd as to keep a thhig, of the
goodness of which he has a suspicion,
while, for msrely opening his mouth
or stretching forth his hand, he can
exchange it for a thing of the sazuc
nominal value, and of the goodness of
which it is impossible for him or
any one else to entertain any suspi
cion. " Public Credit," as" it bus
been ca]led, but, as it may more pro
perly be called, " The credit of bank
notes" has been emphatically de
nominated, " -SUSPICION ASLERP."
In the midst of events like those of
1798 and the years immediately suc
ceeding ; in the midst of circBnl-
stances like those above-mentioned,
relating to the bank-notes, it was im
possible that SUSPICION should sleep
any longer. The putting forth of the
5 pound bank-note* appears to have
rouzed it, and, in the month, of
February, 1707, it became broad
awake. The stoppage of payment oa
the part of the Bank Company was
tiie immediate v consequence ; but, a
particular account of that important
event, which totally changed the na
ture of ail our money transactions,
and. which will, in the end, produce,
in all human probability, effVcts of
the most serious nature, must be the
subject of a future Letter. In the
mean while I am,
Your Friend,
WM. COBBETT.
State Prison, Ncu-^aic^ Thwsdayf
ZOih August, J810.
LETTER II.
What are tlie F<iud* and Slocks and National Debt ? — Necessity of clearly nnxirrsfatidiog
what these w-o ids nuan — Mpauiug of them — Inquiry into th Oricin of the Funds ami
Debt — The Kni'lisH Revolution— Act of 'Parliammt, 4ih Wiiinm III C it>. 5, 'begin*
the Funding and Deb? .Sys'tm — First fjoan-to Government- — Nature of Funds aud
Storks and National Dfbt — Explanation of how "• Money i^ p:ir in Uu1 Fund*" — lilns-
fration in the ruse of Mc-ssr*. Muckv.orm and Company, and lint of F/i'irntr
horn — The Funds shown t(* be NO PLACE, nor any tiling of a mystical i.aiure.
GENTLEMEN,
HAVING- in the foregoing letter,
Bank of England, and of its Notes,
from tiuvr origin down to tfee tima
taken a sketch of the History of the when that Bank slopped paying it*
151
PAPER AGAINST GOLD.
br !
ld and xileert tlie next thing
do, in our regular course of pro-
.^, will be to inquire into, and
ascertain, the cuww of that
e- ; 'or it it; very evident, that
without uscertaiHing this cause, we
tiiaii not be able to come to any thing;
)il^c ;t (SeQitfed opinion with regard to
our m^in question, n,»!ue}v,TYHF,7HKK
THERK RE ANY PROBABILITY THAT
TIIJ.S UAMv WILL BE AB1K TO RF<>
7 URN TO THKJR ^AYMKNTS IN
**o&p AND RiLVF.R,in \vhich question
every man of n-S from the highest to
tfcefowe^t. js s* deeply interested.
.Put, it is neccss'irv for us to stop a
v. I lore we are, and not go on ;my
jr with »ur inquiries into the
of the stoppage at the Hank of
llngfand. until we have taken time to
fcofi a little at the FT'NpS and the
RATIONAL DEBT. These arc
w-*rds which are frequentjv made u.se
«?»f; but, like maiiv other xiords, they
ft>»n<i lor things which art? titt'.'C Tin-
rfcrsfooH, ar>ii th^ Ifisji, perhiup?, IXN
•f;»Tj^f tiie \v«>nls ;j.re so very commonly
>t^ed. As iu the instance o(' Shrove
'fiH'sday or Shrovetide, words which
we all, from the oldest to the
youni^st, make nse of; hut as to
their waning, we content ourselves
with stipposing (or appearing to j;>;])-
fro^e), that th^y contain a connnand~
uuent for its to eat Fritters and Pan-
takes, jiml to murder poor nnolTend-
ing eoeks; v/hereas tliey mean, the
Tuesday, or the time for griny to cnn-*
jfes» our .sin.s tor and to get absolution.
J'rma tht Priests; to skrievv, being a
wojrd eqiial in me-awin^ to confess, an'l
*^rwe to confessed ; and the nse of
them in the case here mentioned
liivivimr been handed down to us from
the1 flays of our forefathers, when the
C*t:h<»i;ia worship was the worship of
the eouiitry.
Moris Irons, however, as is the per
version of the meaning of words, in
thrs instance, it is scarcelv more so
than in tlr(; nise of th«j Funds anrl tlie
fhrtiotfal J)rbt ; but, tln^ro is this
wry inij>urtant diiferenc't* in the two
rases; l^iut, while, in the former, the
jK'Mersioit is alt^iwliyl with rm mis-
ebief to. either inciividuuls, or to the
nation, in the latter, it i^ attended
with great misc!ii"f to hoth ; with the
rnin and misery of many a thousand
of widows and orphans, and \vitli
Mroes unnumbered to tiie nation at
large. Hut, if a right understanding
of the meaning of these words be, in
al! cases where words are irsetl, of
some consequence, it, is of peculiar
consequence here, where, as may
hare Ifien gathered from the pre
ceding letter, MP sh;i!l find the Funds,
the <S/«f;v*r and the National Debt., to
he so Hosely inlcrwuvrn ^ith the
Bank Xotes, as to be quite inse
parable therefrom in every possible
state or stage of their existence.
The word FIT^\I) means, a quail-
tify of money put orcolfetted together.
The word ST(K'K' MS applied to such
matters, has the same* meaning. BotU
words mriv admit of meanings some
what dillVrrnt from this; but, t!iis is
the meaning which plain men com
monly give to these vords ;• and it is,
tot>, the fair and seiisibk* meaning of
them, J»ow, we sliaii presently see,
in what degree this meaning belongs
to what are commonly ca-llet) the
Funds, or the Stnrh*. int»> the wi.sin
and progress tvf whk'h, WP are now
going to inquire ; ai/d, an inquiry it
is, M'orthy of the undivided atte-ntiori
oferery trne Knglishrnan ; <»iery man
who wjshes to see ;lie country of his
forefathers pFeserred from ruin and
subjugation,
.80011 after tlie "ESGUSH REVOLT*.
TION ; that is to sav, sot>n after our
ancestors, who had too mu«'!i spirit to
be dragooitcd «>ut of their libertv and
their property, had driven aw?»\ king
James the Second, and 1. -ul brought
over the Vrmre o-f Orange, and made
him king hi his stead, and h.id, at the
same time,, taken measures for strip
ping the family of Stuart of the crown
for ever, and putting it u|Mm the heads
of his present Majesty's family; soon
after thiji Revolution, the existence
f>f >'in»d.s, Stocks, on^ a .National
Debt be^an, under the auspices of
that same Prince of Orangp, who-
v as Rien become our King \\illiaiu
111. and who appi'-ars to have lo.«t
but very liu'c tuny in discovering the
17]
LETTER II.
[is
cHo.clusjl way of obtaining money
liroui the Knglish, without resorting,
as the iStnuris had, to those means,
the UFO of whM-li had, ever and anon,
<e\cked commotions against them;
\viiich had brought one of them to 'the
scafluhl; and \\hich, at last, after
-driving another fronu the land, had
for over stripped them of their crown.
The if iii motives ibr creating a.
National Debt we shall, bv-aiid-by,
perhaps, have occasion to notice ; hut,
^tt present, our business is U» g<;t at a
clear notion of the way in. ickich it
was vrwited,
William the Third was hardly seat
ed upon the throne before a war was
begun against France, and, in the 4th
year of his reign, being the year 1<J9:?,
an act of pariiament was passed im
posing " Certain Kates and Unties
" upon Beer, Ale and others Li-
" quors, ibr securing vcrtaijt Rixom-
" penccs and Advantages in the said
*' Act mentioned, to such Persons as
**' shall voluntarily advance the sum
" of Ten Hundred Thousand JPvunds
" towards carrying on the War against
" France." This" is the Title of the
Act, being Chapter #rd of the 4th
year of William a%d Alary. These are
the very words; and fatal words they
were to England.
In the body of this Act, it is enact
ed, that the persons, who shall advance
the million of pounds, shall, out of the
rates and duties imposed by the act,
receive a certain interest, or annual
payment, for the u.se of the money so
advanced. They were to have, and
they had, their money secured to
them by the way of annuity for life or
lives; and, they were to have certain
advantage* in eases of survivorship;
and the annuities were to be, redeem
ed upon certain conditions and at
certain times. But, it will be quite
useless for us to load our subject with
a multitude of words, and to ring the
changes upon all the quaint terms,
which, as appertaining to these mat
ters, have, one would think, been
Uiade use of Ibr no other purpose
than that of con fusing the understand -
kigs at* plain men. The light wherein
to view the transaction is this : Ths
(•ovei nment was (no matter how, or
from \\hat cause) got into a war with
-France ; and, for the alledged purpose
of pushing on this war with " viymu*
(it is odd enough that the very word
was made use, of, just as it is now}
they borrowed a million of pounds of
individuals, and, at the same time,
imposed taxes upon the whole nation
Ibr thv purpose of paving .the interest
of the money so borrowed; or, in.
other words, the nation's taxes wero
mortgaged to tine lenders of this mil-
1km of pounds.
The lenders of th«e money, who, ia
time, became to be c^\[^ fund-holder^
or stock-holders, did, as the work of
icmliug and fund-makuig advanced,
make their loans in various ways, aiul
the bargains between them and the
government were of great variety in
their terms, and in the denominations
made use of; but, it was always ib?«;
same thing in eff\*ct: the governing!*
t)orrowcd die money of individuals*
it mortgaged taxes for tbe pa \nicm
of the interest; and those individuals
received for their money, promises, or
engagements, no matter in what shape,
which enabled them to demand annu
ally, half-yearly, or quarterly, ike
share of interest due to each of them;
and any single parcel of interest* so
received, is what is, in the queer Lou*
guage of the funding trade, called a
"dividend." No matter, therefore,
what the thiiii*; is called; no matter
how many nick-names they choose to
give to the several branches of the
Debt. We duiJy see, in the news
papers, what is called the " PRICK
OF STOCKS," as in the following
statement, which is in all the news
papers of this dav:
Bank Stock £
3 per Cent. Red. 6$\ 1 1 £
8 per Cent Con. 67£ 8 7-j.
4 per Cent. 85 4£ 5|- 4|
O per Cent. Navy 99| £ J |
Lung Annuities i8£
Oiurjium '2-$ \ dis.
Exeh.eq. Bills 1 dis. 5
Bank Jitock for open.
Cor.sols for 08j- ^
19]
PAPER AGAINST GOLD.
f These are names, which the dealers,
or jobbers, in Stocks give to the se
veral classes of them. But, as T sa<d
before, let us avoid confusing our heads
with this worse than Babylonish col
lection of names, or sounds, and keep
fully and clearly and constantly in our
eight, these plain facts : FIRST, that
ike Funds, the Stocks, aiid the Natio
nal Debt, all mean one and the same
thing; SECONDLY, that this Debt is
made up of the Principal money lent
to the Government at different times
since the beginning of the thing in
1692; THIRDLY, that the Interest
upon this principal money is paid out
of the taxes; and, FOURTHLY, that
those persons who are entitled to re
ceive this interest, are what we call
fund-holders, or stock -holders, or, ac
cording to the more common -notion
and saying, have " money in the
funds"
Being here in the elementary, the
mere horn-book, part of our subject,
we cannot make the matter too clear
to our comprehension ; and, we ought,
by no means, to ;ro a step further, till
we have inquired into the sense of this
saying about people's " having money
in the Fit fids;" from which any one,
who dbl not understand the thing,
would naturally conclude, that the
person who made use of the saying,
looked upon the Funds, as a place,
where a great quantity of gold and sil
ver was kept locked up in safety. Nor,
would such conclusion be very errone
ous ; for, generally speaking, the no
tion of the people of this country is,
that thj Funds or the Stocks (they are
made use of indiscriminately,) is a
PLACE, where money is kept. A
place, indeed, of a sort of mysterious
existence; a sort of financial Ark; a
place not, perhaps, to be touched, or
even seen; but, still the notion is,
that of a place, and a place, too, of
more than mortal security.
Alas ! the Funds are no place at
all! and, indeed, how should they,
seeing that they are in fact, one and
the same thing with the National
Debt? But, to remove, from the
mind of every creature, till aoubt
upon this point ; to dissipate the mists,
in whicli we have so long been wan
dering about, to the infinite amuse
ment of those who invented these
terms, let us take a plain common*
sense view of one of these loaning
transactions. Let us suppose, then,
that the Government wants a loan,
that is, wants to borrow money, to the
amount of a million of pounds. It
gives out its wishes to this effect, and,
alter the usual ceremony upon such
occasions, the loan is made, that is,
the money is lent, by Messrs. Muck-
vforrn mid Company. We shall see,
by-acd-by, when we come to talk
more fully upon the subject of loans,
what sort of a way it is, in which
Muckworm pays in the money se lent,
and in what sort of money it is that
he pays. But* for the sake of simpli
city in our illustration, we will sup
pose him to pay in real good money,
and to pay the whole million himself
at once. Well: what does Muck
worm get in return? Why, his name
is written in a book ; against his name
is ivritten that he is entitled to receive
interest fora million of money; which
book is kept at the Bank Company's
house, or shop, inThreadrieedle Street,
London. And, thus it is that Muck
worm "puts a million of money into
" the Funds." " Well," you will
say, " but what becomes of the money ?"
Why, the Government expends it, to
be sure : what should become of it ?
Very few people borrow money for
the purpose of locking it up in their
drawers or chests. "What? then,
" the money all vanishes ; and nothing
" remains in lieu of it but the lender's
" name ivritten in a book?" Even
so : and this, my good neighbours, is
the way, that " money is put into the
" Funds."
But, the most interesting part of
the transaction remains to be describ
ed. Muckworm, who is as wise as
he is rich, takes special care not to
be a fund-holder himself; and, as is
alwa3rs the case, he loses no time in
selling his stock, that is to say, hit
21]
LETTER II,
[22
right to receive the interest of the
million of pounds. These iimcis, or
stock, as we have seen, -have no bodily
existence, either in the shape of mo
ney or of bonds or of certificates or of
any thing else that can be seen or
touched. They have a being merely
in name. They mean, in fact, a right
to receive interest; and, a man, who'
is said to possess, or to have, a thou
sand pounds' worth of stock, possesses,
in reality, nothing but the <riyht of
receiving the interest of a thousand
pounds. When therefore, Mucky/orm
sells his million's worth of stock, he
sells the right of receiving the interest
upon the million of pounds which
lie lent to the government. Br.t, the*
way iii which sales of this sort are
eifreted is by parcelling the stock out
plain fact is, that Muckworm's money
has been spent by the government, that
Muckworm has now Ike two thousand
pounds of poor Grizzle Greenhorn,
and that she, in return for it, has her
name written in a Hook, at the Battle
Company's house in Threadneedle
street, London, in consequence of
which she is entitled to receive the
interest of the two thousand pounds;
which brings B us back to the -point
whence we started, and explains the
whole art and mystery of making loans
and funds and stocks and natiuual
debts.
It will be very useful to show the
effect of this " putting money in the
" funds," with respect to the party,
who is said to- put it in. I do not
know of any duty more pressing upon
to little purchasers, every one of whom j me, than that of showing, in this plain
buys as much as he likes; he has his
name written in the book for so much,
instead of the name of Muckworm
and Company ; and, when Muckworm
has sold the whole, his name is cros
sed out, and the names of the persons,
to whom he has
book.
sold, remain in the
And, here it is that the thing comes
home to our very bosoms ; for, our
neighbour, farmerGreenhorn,who has
and practical way, what have been,
what are, and what must be, the con
sequences to those, who thus dispose
of their property ; especially if they
have no property of any other sort.
But, this will be found to belong to
another part of our subject; and, as
we have now seen what the Funds
anJ the Stocks realty are; as we
have blown away the mist in which
we had so long been wandering; as
the financial Ark is now no more in
all his life long been working like a
horse, in order to secure his children our sight than any veritable box made
from the perils of poverty, having first
bequeathed his farm to his son, sells,
the rest of his property (amounting
to a couple of thousands of pounds),
and, with the real good money, the
fruit of his incessant toil and care,
purchases two thousand pounds worth
of Muckworm's Funds, or Stocks, and
leaves the said purchase to his daugh-.
ter. And, why does he do say? The
reason is, that, as he believes, his
daughter will always receive the in
terest of the two thousand pounds"
without any of the risk, or trouble,
belonging to the rents of house or
land. Thus neighbour Greenhorn is
said to have " put two thousand
" pounds in the funds^;" and thus his
daughter (poor girl!) is said to " have
of deal boards and nails ; as we are
now satisfied, that there is nothing
mystical in the words Funds and
Stocks, and that, so far from meaning
a place where a great quantity of
money is kept, they are not the name
of any place at all, nor of any thing
which has a corporeal existence,
and are the mere denominations, or
names, of the several classes, or par
cels, of Debt, which the government
owes to individuals: in short, as we
have now, let us hope, arrived at a
complete knowledge of the nature
and origin of the Funds and the
Stocks and the National Debt, which,
as was before said; are, in fact, all
one and the same ^ thing, it is time
hat we proceed to enquire into "their
her money in the funds;" when the \ progress, and to see hew that progress
£3]
PAPER AGAINST GOLD.
[24
is connected with the increase of the
}*ank Notes and with the stoppage
of rfie payment of those notes in gold
and silver. To do justice, how
ever, to this copious and interesting
theme, especially when coupled with
what it will be necessary to say as to
the schemes for arresting the pro
gress of the Debt, \v ill demand a se
parate Letter.
In the mean while,
I am with perfect sincerity,
Your Friend,
Win. COBBETT.
State Prison, Ntwgatf, Thursday,
6th Sep. 1S10.
LETTER III.
Danger of exciting Popular Discontents against Country Paper-Money Makers — Dp-
srriptiou of the National Debt — Progress of the Debt — The different Dewoniination*
«f it of no Consequence — Cost of the Anti-jacobin War — Progress of the Narional l-x-
pences — Progress of tiie Revenue or Taxes- — The Effect of Taxation-— Tuxes cause
Poverty and Misery in a Country — Not like Kent* — Increase of Revenue no Proof of
National Prosperity — What are the Signs of National Prosperity — increase of the Poor
Rates in England — Cost of the Tax-Gatherers sufficient to support 1)2,.>UO Families. ,
GENTLEMEN,
A LONDON print, which is what
is called a ministerial newspaper, and
which I, in the discharge of my duty
as a public writer, am compelled to
read, but which, for the sake of your
morals, I hope none of you ever see,
has most harshly spoken of that part
«f our paper money, which is issued
by the Bankers, whose shops are in the
country. The writer of this print has
described that paper, namely, the
country bank notes, as te destructive
" assiynats;" and, in another of his
publications, he calls them " vile
" rays ;" and then again " dirty rays."
These hard words, besides that they
are unbecoming in sober discussion,
can do no good, and may do a great
deal of harm, if they have any eH'ert
at all upon the minds of the people ;
and, therefore we will make a re
mark or two upon their tendency, be
fore we proceed with the topic-: men
tioned at the close of the last letter.
Assiynats was the name given to the
French revolutionary paper-money,
the distresses occasioned by which
are fresh in the recollection of most
people ; and, to gire the same name
to our country bank-notes was, there
fore, to proclaim, ns far as this writer
was able to proclaim, that these notes
biiny more, than nt:e half of all QHT <•!,•••
culatinfj medium, were as bad, if no?
worse, than the paper money of
France, which produced so much in
dividual misery to so many millions
of people. Not that this \va$ betray
ing any secret to the world; for, it is
i be} ond -all comprehension foolish
I to suppose, that all the world, particu-
| larly our sharp-sighted enemy, are
| not fully acquainted with our situa-
! tion in this respect, more especially
| now that the Bullion Report is abroad;
| but, what I find fault of, is, that this
description of country-bank-notes, aa
contradistinguished from the London
bank-notes, has a tendency to excite
popular hatred, and, in cases that
| may happen, popular violence, against
that part of our paper-money makers,
called country bankers; than which
nothing can be much more unjust in
itself, or be more likely to lead to
universal confusion, the experience
of the world having proved that com
motion, when once on foot, is seldom
limited to the accomplishment of iU
original object • ami, we may venture
to affirm, that nothing was ever better
calculated to render popular commo
tion violent, and to push it beyond its
natural bounds, than the hatred and
revenge, which it would seem to be
the. object of the print above mention
ed to excite in the minds of the
people.
The country paper-money maken
CntereS at Stationers' foal!.
2.]— COBBETT'S PAPER AGAINST GOLD.— [Price Two-Pence.
25]
are not, as we shall soon see, any
more to blame tiien are the paper-
money makers In town. Paper-mo
ney making is a trade, or calling, per
fectly innocent in itself, and the
tradesmen may I -> very moral and even
very liberal men. Amongst them, as
amongst men of other trades, there
are, doubtless, sh-arpers and even
rogues, and, the trade itself may be
one that exposes men to the tempt
ation of becoming roguish; but it does
not follow, that all the paper-money
makers, or, that the paper-money
makers in general, are men of dis
honest views. It is therefore, not
tmly illiberal, but unjust in 'the ex
treme, to condemn the whole of the
trade in a lump, to call their wares
" destructive assignats, vile rags, dirty
rags" and the like, whence it is, of
course, intended that it should be un
derstood, that all the issuers of them
ought to be regarded as pests of so
ciety and treated accordingly; when
the truth is, as we shall presently
see, the fault is not in individuals, but
in the system.
Having thus endeavoured to put
you upon your guard against the ten
dency of this very unjust representa
tion of our country bankers, and their
money, an endeavour, which, it appear
ed to me, ought not to be delayed, we
will now proceed with our subject, and,
as was proposed, at the close of the
last Letter, inquire into the progress of
the Funds and Stocks; or, in more
proper terms, into the INCREASE
OF THE NATIONAL DEBT.
We have before seen what is the
nature of this debt : we have also seen
how it began: we shall, by-and-by
have to show the effects of it : but
what we have to do, at present, is to
inquire into, and ascertain, how it has
gone on increasing, and what is now
its amount. We shall next inquire
into the schemes for lessening the
Debt ; and then we shall distinguish
what is called Redeemed from Un-
W, MOLINEUX, Printer, Bream's Buildings,
Chancery Lane.
[26
redeemed debt; but, first of all, let
us leave all other views of it aside,
and confine our attention merely to
the sums borrowed. We have before
seen, that the money has been bor
rowed in various ways, or under va
rious denominations. In some cases
the money borrowed was to yield the
lender 3 per centum, that is to say
3 pounds interest, yearly, for every
hundred pounds of principal. In
some cases the lender was to receive
4 per centum ; in some cases 5 per
centum ; and in some cases more.
Hence come the denomination of 3
per cents and 4= per cents, and so
forth. But, to the people, whd have
to pay the interest, these distinctions
are of no consequence at all, any more
than it would be to either of us, whe
ther our bakers' bills were made out
upon brown paper or upon white. We
shall see afterwards what we have to
pay yearly in the shape of interest,
which is the thing that touches us
home; but, let us first see what the
principal is, and how it has gone en
increasing ; bearing in mind, that, as
was shown in the foregoing Letter,
page 17, the borrowing, and, of course,
the Debt, began in the year 1692,
in the reign of William the Third,
and that the loan made in that year
amounted to one millions of pounds.
When QUEEN ANNE,
who succeeded Wil
liam, came to the
throne, which was in
the year 1701, the
Debt was . . . £16,304,702
When GEORGE I. came
to the throne in 1714,
•it was 54,145,363
When GEORGE!!, came
to the throne, in 1727,
it was 52,092,235
When GEORGE III.
came to the throne, in
1760, it was . . 146,682,844
After the AMERICAN
WAR, in 1784, it was 257,213,043*
PAPER AGAINST GOLD.
[23
At the latter END OF
THE LAST WAR; that
is to say, the first war
against the French Re-
volu tionis ts , andwhic h ,
for the sake of having
a distinctive appella*
tion, we will call the
ANTI-JACOBIN WAR:
at the end of that war,
inl801,theDebtwas 579,931,447
At the PRESENT TIME;
or rather, in January
last: ..... 811,898,082
That is to say, eight hundred and
eleven millions, eight hundred and
ninety eight thousand, and eighty two ;
nnd these mpounds, in English pounds,
too ! There are, in the accounts,
laid before the parliament (from whicji
the last'mentioned sum is taken) some
shillings and pence and even "FAR
THINGS, in addition; but though
these accountants have been so nice,
we will not mind a few farthings.
Part of this Debt is what is called
funded and a part unfunded; part is
called Irish Debt, part Emperor of
Germany's Debt, and another part
the Prince Regent of Portugal's. But
interest upon the whole of it is payable
in England; and that is all that we
have to look after ; it being of no con
sequence to us what the thing is call
ed, so that we have to pay for it. So
that we are taxed to pay the interest
of it, what matters it to us what names
the several parts of it may go by? I
hope, that there is not, at this day, a,
man amongst you, who is to be amus
ed with empty sounds : I hope that
your minds are not now-a-days, after
all that you have seen, to be led
away from the object before them by
any repetition of mere names. So long
as we are taxed to pay the interest
upon the Jtebt> that man must .be ex
ceedingly weak, who is to be made to
believe, that it is of any consequence
to any of us by what name that debt
is called.*
There is, besides the above, the I.MHA
i but of that we will sneak smother
time*
Such, then, has been the progress
of the National Debt ; and, it is well
worthy ©f our attention, that it has in
creased in an increasing proportion.
It is now nearly six times as great as
it was when the present king came to
the throne ; and, which ought to be
yvell attended to, more than two thirds
of the whole of the debt has been con
tracted in carrying on, against the
French, that war, which, at its com
mencement, was to succeed by means
of ruining the Jitiances of France.
When the ANTIJACOBIN 'WAR be
gan, in 17,93, the Debt was, at
the utmost 257,213»043/. It is now
811,S98,0&2/. Such has, thus far,
been the financial effect; such has
been the effect as to money-matters, of
the wars against the Jacobins. How
many times were we told, that it re
quired but one more campaign; one
more ; only one. more vigorous cam
paign, to put an end to the war ; to
destroy, to annihilate, for ever, the
resources of France. Alas*! those
resources have not been destroyed.
They have increased in a fearful de
gree; while we have accumulated
hundreds of millions of Debt in the
attempt. How many writers have
flattered us, from time to time, with
the hope, nay, the certainty, (if we
would but persevere) of triumphing
over the French by the means of onr
riches! To how many of these de
ceivers have we been so foolish as to
listen! It is this credulity, which
has led to the present state of things;
and, unless we shake it off at once,
and resolve to look our dangers in the
face, we shall, I greatly fear, expe
rience that fate which our tlceeivers
told us would be experienced by our
enemy. PITT, it is well known,
grew into favour with the nation in
consequence of his promises and his
plans to pay off the National Debt ;
and, this same PITT, who found that
Debt 257 millions, left it upwards of
600 millions, after having, for twenty
years, had the full power of managing
all the re-sources of the nation ; after
having, for nearly the whole of that
time, had the support of three fourths,
29]
LETTER III.
[SO
if not more, of the Members of the
House of Commons ; after having, of
course, adopted whatever measures
he thought proper, during the whole
of that time. He found the Debt two
hundred and fifty odd millions, and he
left it six hundred arid fifty odd. Tbis
was what was done for England by
that PITT whose own private debts
the people had to pay, besides the ex-
pence of a monument to his memory !
Tin's is what every man in .England
should bear constantly in mind.
Having now seen ftuw the National
Debt has increased, let us next see
how the EXPEJNCES, of tke Na
tion have increased; and, then take a
look at the increase of the TAXES;
for in order to be able to form a cor
rect opinion upon the main points,
touched upon by the Bullion Com
mittee, we must have a full view, not
only of the Debt but of the Expences
and the Taxes of the nation.
When QUEEN ANNE
came to the throne,
in 1701, the whole
Expences of the
year, including the
interest on the Na
tional Debt a-
11161111 ted to . £5,610,987 Peace
When GEORGE I.
camt; to the throne,
in 1714r and just
after Queen Anne
had been at war
eleven years . 6}633,581 Peace
When GEORGE II.
came to the throne,
in 1727, . . 5,441,248 Peace
When GEORGE III.
came to the throne
in 1760 . . 24,456,940 War
After the END OF
THE AMERICAN
W A Rand at the be
ginning of PITT'S
Administration, in
1784 . . . 21,657,609 Peace
At the latter End of
the last, or ANTI-
JACOBIN WAR, in
1801, . . . 61,278,018 War
For the last year, that
is the year 1809,
£82,027,288, 5.?. If d War.
Now, without any thing more than
this, let me ask any of you, to whom
I address this Letter, whether you
think it possible for the thing to go on
in this way for any great length of
time ? If the subject did not present
so many considerations to make us
serious, it would be quite impossible
to reft ain from laughing at the scru
pulousness that could \j\\tjive shillings
and a penny three farthings at the
end of a sum of millions that it al
most makes one's head swim but to
think of. Laughable, however, as we
may think it, those who have such
accounts made out, think it no laugh
ing matter. It is, on the contrary,
looked upon by them, perhaps, as no
very unimportant part of the system.
Upon looking at the above progress
of the Expenditure, it is impossible
to avoid being struck with the increase,
during the present reign. The year
1760 was a time of war as well as
the present ; but, as we see, a year of
war then, cost only 24 millions;
whereas a year of war now costs 82
millions. We see, too, that a year
of war now costs 20 millions more
than a year of war cost only ten
years ago. What, then, will be tho
cost if this war should continue many
years longer, and if, as appeaiances
threaten, the enemy should take such
measures, and adopt such a change
iu his mode of hostiiit}r, as to add
greatly to the expensivcness of our
defence? This is a very material
consideration ; and, though it will
hereafter be taken up, still I could
not refrain from just tou-'/hiitg upon
it in this place. Am I told, that our
money is depreciated or fallen off in
value; and that the "increase in
our Expences is more nominal than
real; that the increase is in name;
merely in the figures, and not in the
thing; for that a pound is net worth
any thing like what a pound was
worth when the king came to the
throne? Am I tell tlrs? If I am
31]
PAPER AGAINST GOLD.
[33
I say, thai v e are not yet come to the
proper place for discussing matters of
this sort; that v,e shall come to it
all in good time; but, that, in the
meanwhile, I may hope to hear no
more abuse of our doctrines, from
those, at least, who, in this wav,
would reconcile our minds to the
enormous increase in the Nation's
yearly Expences.
Having now taken a view of the in
crease of the Debt, and also of the
> early IZxptuces of the nation, let us
now see how the Revenue, or Income,
or, more properly speaking, the
TAXES; that is to say, the money
received from the people, in the
course of the year, by the several
sorts of Tax-gatherers; Irt us now
see how the amount of these has gone
on increasing.
When QUEEN ANNE
came to the throne, in
1701, the yearly a-
mount of the "taxes was £ 4,212,358
"When GEORGE I. came
to the throne in 1714,
it was 6,762,643
When GEORGE II.
came to the throne in
1727, it Mas - - - 6,522,540
When GEOUGE III.
came to the throne in
1760, it was - - - 8,744,632
After the AMERICAN
war, iu 1784, it was 13,300,921
At the close of the Anf.i-
Jacobia war, in IbOl,
it was 36,728,971
For the last year, that is
1809, it was - - - 70,240,226
It is quite useless to oiler any
comments upon this. The figures
speak too plainly for themselves to
receive any assistance from words.
As to the correctness of these state
ments, there may, perhaps, be found
some little inaccuracies in the copy
ing of the figures, and in adding some
of the sums together ; but, these must
be very immaterial; and, indeed,
none of the questions, which we have
to discuss, can possibly be affected by
any little error *of this sort. I say
may, possibly, be attempted to lw
raised out of circumstances, such a.- .
have here mentioned.
Thus, then, we have pretty fuirl?
before us, a view of the increase oi
'the Debts, ihe Expences, and tho
Taxes, of the nation; and a view it is
quite sufficient to impress with seii'crs
thoughts every man, who,ce regard
for his country is not confined to
mere professions. There are pe- sons,
I know, who laugh at this. Thf-y
may have reason to laugh; but ire
have not. The pretence is, that taxes
return again to those who pay them.
Return 9 gain ! In what manner do
they return 1 Can any of you per
ceive the taxes that you pay coming
back again to you ? All the intcr
rested persons who have written upon
taxation, have endeavoured to per-
"stiade the people, that, to load them
with taxes does them no harm at ail,
though this is in direct opposition to t
the language of every Speech that tl:e.
King makes to the Parliament during
every war; for, in every such Speech,
he expresses his deep sorrow, that he
is compelled to lay new burdens upon
his people.
The writers here alluded to, the
greater part of whom live, or have a
design to live, upon the taxes, always
appear to consider the nation as being
rich, and prosperous in a direct pro
portion to the quantity of taxes, that is
raised upon it; never seeming to take
into their views of riches and p.o,--
perity the ease and comfort of the
people who pay those taxes. The ?r :.-
lion of these perrons seems to be,
that, as there always will be mo;©
food raised and more 'goods made in
the country than is- sufficient for those,
who own, and who till the soil, an I
who labour in other ways, that tbe
surplus, or super-abundance, ought to
fall to their share ; or, at least, that
it ought to be taken away in tuxes,
which produce a luxurious way of
living, and luxury gives employment
to the people; that is to say, that it
sets them to work to earn their own
money back ay ain. This is a mighty
to]
LETTER III.
[34
The tendency of taxation is, to
» create a class of persons who do not
Julv.mr; to take from those who do
labour the produce of that lahotir,
and to give it to those who do not la-
hour. The produce taken away is,
in this case, totally destroyed', but, ii
it were expended, or consumed,
amongst those who labour, it would
produce something in its stead. There
\v£>uld he more, or better cloth; more
or better houses; and these would be
/nore generally- distributed; while
the growth of vice, which idleness
always engenders and fosters, would
be prevented.
1C, by the gripe of taxation, every
grain of the surplus produce of a
country be taken from the lowest
class of those who labour; they will
have the means of bare existence left.
Of course, their clothing and their
dwellings will become miserable, their
food bad, or in stinted quantity; that
surplus produce which should go to
the making of an addition to their
moiil, and to the creating of things
for their use, will be annihilated bv
lllbse who do nothing knt cat. Sup
pose, for instance, a community to
consist of a farmer, four cottagers,
a tavlor, a shoemaker, a smith, a
carpenter, and a mason, and that
the land produces enough for them all
and HO more. Suppose this little
community to be seized with a desire
to imitate their betters, and to keep a
sinecure placeman, giving him a tenth
of their produce which they formerly
£ave to their shoemaker. The con
sequence would be, that poor CRISPIN
would die, ami they would go bare
footed, with the consolation of reflect
ing that they had brought themselves
into this state irom the silly vanity of"
keeping an idle man. But, suppose
the land to yield enough food for all
ten of them, and enough for two more
besides. They have this, then, be
sides what is absolutely necessary to
supply their wants. They can spare
enc of their men from the field, and
have besides, food enough to keep
him in some other situation. !Nov/,
which is hest, to make him a second
carpenter, who, in return for his food,
would give them additional and per
manent convenience and comfort in
their dwellings ; or, to make him a
sinecure placeman or a singer, in
either of which places he would be
an anuihilator of corn, at the same
time, that in case of emergency, he
would not be half so able to defend
the community. Suppose two of the
cultivators x became sinecure place
men, then you kill the carpenter' or
some one else, or what is more likely,
all the labouring part of the com
munity, that is to say, all but the
sinecure placemen, live more mi
serably, in dress, in dwellings, and in
food. This reasoning applied toie?tst
applies equally well to mi/ttvns, the
causes and e fleets being, in -he latter
case, only a little more diillcult to
trace.
Such is the way in which taxes ope
rate; the distinction between which
operation and the operation of rents
being this, that in the latter case, yon
receive something of which you have
the particular enjoyment, for what y
give; and, in the former case you re
ceive nothing. It is by no means to
be understood, that there should be
no persons to live without what is ge
nerally called labour. Physicians,
Parsons, Lawyers, and others of the
higher callingstm life, do, in fact, la
bour ; and it is right that there should
be persons of great estate, and with
out any profession at all ; but then,
you will find, that these persons do not
live upon the earnings of others: they
all of them give something in return
for what they receive. Those of the
learned profession give the use of
t/teir talents and skill ; and the land
lord gives the use of his land or his
houses.
Nor ought we to look upon all"
Taxes as so much of the fruit of our
labour lost, or taken away without
cause. Taxes are necessary in every
community; and the man, whether he
be statesman, soldier, or sailor, who
is in the service of the community,
gives his services in return ipr that
portion of the taxes wliich'he receives.
35]
PAPER AGAINST GOLD.
[36
We arc not talking against taxes in
general; nor, indeed, will we stop
here to inquire, whether our taxes, at
their present amount, be necessary ;
or, whether, by other counsels, they
might, in great part, at least, have, been
avoided. These are questions, which,
for the present, we will wholly pass
over, our object being to come at a
correct opinion with regard to the
effect of heavy taxation upon the
people who have to support it, re
serving for another opportunity our
remarks and opinions as to the neces
sity of such taxation in our particular
case.
By national prosperity the writers
above alluded to mean something very
different indeed from that which you
and I, who have no desire to live
upon the taxes, should call national
prosperity. They look upon it, or,
at. least, they would have us look
upon it as being demonstrated in the
increase of the number of chariots and
of fine-dressed people in and about
the purlieus of the court; whereas,
reflection will not fail to teach us, that
this is a demonstration of the increase
of the taxes, and nothing more. Na
tional prosperity shews it:-elf in very
different ways : in the plentiful meal,
the comfortable dwelling, the decent
furniture aixl dress, the healthy and
happy countenances, and the good mo
rals of the labouring classes of the people.
These are the ways in which national
prosperity shows itself; and, what
ever is not attended with these signs,
is not national pro.-'nerit^y. Need I
ask you, then, if heavy taxation be
calculated to produce these effects ?
Have our labourers a plentiful meal
of food fit for man ? Do they taste
meat once in a day? Are they de
cently clothed ? Have they the means
of obtaining firiijg ? Are they and
their children healthy and happy ? I
put these questions to you, Gentlemen,
who have the means of knowing the
facts, and who must, I ani afraid,
answer them all in the negative.
But, why need we here leave any
thing to conjecture, Avhen we have the
undeniable proof befor? us, in the
accounts, laid before Parliament, of
tiic amount of the Poor* Rates, at two
different periods, ami, or course, at
two different stages in our taxation;
namely, in the year 1784, and in the
year 1803? At the former period,
the taxes of the year, as we have seen
above, amounted to £,13,300,921;
and then the Poor Rates amounted
to £.2,105,623. At the latter period,
the taxes of the year (as will be seen
from the Official Statement in Regis
ter, Vol. IV. page 1471) amounted
to £41,931,747 ; and the Poor Rates
had then risen to £5,246,500. What
must they, then, amount to at this day,
when the year's taxes amount to up
wards of 70 millions of pounds?
Here, then, we have a pretty good
proof, that taxation and pauperism go
hand in hand. We have seen what
was produced by the ANTIJACOBIN
WAR. The taxes continued nearly
the same from 1784 to 1793, the
year in which PITT began that war ;
so that, by the ANTIJACOBIN WAR
alone the poor rates were augmented,
miioniiiial ?:.ipuiit, from £.2,105,623
to £.5,246,506; at which we shall
not be surpri/ed, if we apply to this
case the principle above illustrated in
the supposed community of ten men,
where it is shown, that, by taking the
produce of labour from the proprie
tors of it, and giving it to those, who
do not labour and who do not give the
proprietors of such produce any thing
in return, poverty, or, at least, a less
degree of case and enjoyment, must be
the consequence.
The poor-rates alone are now equal
in amount to the whole of the national
expenditure, including the interest of
the Debt, w^hen the late king came to
the throne ;Nand, the charges of ma
naging the taxes ; that is to say, the
wages, salaries, or allowances, to the
Tax-Gatherers of various descriptions ;
the bare charge which ' we pay on
this account amounts to very little
short of as much as tke wln'-le of the
taxes amounted to when King William
was crowned.
This charge ; that is to say, what
to the Tax-gatherers, in on?
LETTER IV.
shape or another, is stated in the
account laid before Parliament for
the last year, at £.2,886,201, a sum
equal to a year's wages 01 92,500
labourers at twelve shillings a week,
which may, I suppose, be looked upon
as the average wages of labourers,
take all the kingdom through. Is
this no evil? Are we to be persuad
ed, that, to take the means of support
ing 92,500 families, consisting, upon
the usual computation (5 to a family),
of 461 ,000 souls; that to take away
the means of supporting all these,
and giving those means to support
others, whose business it is to tax the
rest, instead of adding to the stock of
the commcuiity by their labour; are
we to be persuaded that this is, wo evft ;
and that, too, though we see the poor
rates grown from 2 millions to 5
millions in the space of 10 years ? Are
we to be persuaded to believe this ?
Verily, if we are, it is a great shame
for us to pretend to laugh at the Ma-
homedaas.
Having now taken a view of the
progress of the National Debt together
with that of the National Expences
and Taxes ; and having (by stepping
a little aside for a moinent) seen some
thing of their effect upon National
prosperity, we will, in the next Let
ter, agreeably to the intention before
expressed, inquire into the schemes
for arresting this fearful progress ; or,
as they are generally denominated,
plans for paying off, or reducing, the
National Debt; a subject of very
great importance, because, as we must
now be satisfied, the bank notes have
increased with the Debt, and, of
course, the reducing of the Debt
would,- if it were accomplished, tend
to the reduction of the quantity of
bank-notes, by the excess of which it
is, as the Bullion Committee have de
clared, that the gold coin has been
driven from circulation.
I am, Gentlemen,
Your faithful Friend,
WM. COBBETT.
State Prison, Newgate, Tuesday,
llth, Sfpt. 1810.
LETTER IV.
Scheme* for paying off tlie National Debt — Former Sinking Funds — Origin of Pitt*
Grand Sinking Fund — Changes made bv Pitt's sway in (he state of this Country — Grand
Sinking Fund Act — Purposes of it — The Commissioners and their manner of proceed-
in {I— How they would buy up Grizzle Greenhorn's share of the Debl — What Redemp
tion mean? — Commissioners step into Grizzle's shoes — "We still are u.xed for the Interest
— Evils of the Grand Sinking Fund*— \V hat would be really ledeeming — American
mode of Redeeming — Statement of the Increase of the Interest on the IDebt — Clause
in Pitt's Grand Sinking Fund Act for ceasing to pay Interest, in 1808, upon Stock
bought up.
GENTLEMEN,
OUR next business is to inform
ourselves correctly with respect to
the Schemes-, which, at different times,
have been on foot for PAY [NG OFF
THE NATIONAL DEBT, and
about which paying off we have, ail
our lives long, heard so much.
We have seen how the Debt has
gone on increasing from its first exist
ence to the present day; we have
seen how the Expences of the nation
and the Taxes of the nation have gone
en increasing with the debt ; we have
also seen that the increase of the
Bank-Notes has kept pace with the
rest, till those notes have, at last,
driven the gold coin out of circulation.
This last, is the evil, tor which the
Bullion Committee have endeavoured
to iiiid out a remedy, and suoii a
remedy they appear to think that they
have found, in an Act of Parliament,
which they propose to be passed for
causing the Bank Company to pay
their promissory notes in gold and
silver in two years' time. One of
our principal objects, in this discus
sion, is, to enable ourselves to form I
correct opinion as to the practicability
39 1.
PAPER AGAINST GOLD.
[40
of this remedy, even at the end of
two years; and, as we have, from
what has already been shown, good
reason to believe, that the quantity of
'>ank notes, the excess of which h s
Jriven the gold out of circulation,
cannot be lessened unless the Debt
be also diminished, ft is necessary
for us to ascertain what has been
don 3 or attempted, and what is likely
to be clone, ii-i the way of causing
such diminution.
From very early stnges of the Debt;
indeed, almost from the very begin
ning of it, there were measures pro
posed for paying it off, the idea of
an everlasting Dpbt, and an ever
lasting mortgage upon the nation's
moans, feeing at first, something too
frightful for our upright and sensible
ancestors to bear. Propositions, and
even provisions, were at different
times accordingly made for paying ofT
parts of the Debt, and some compara
tively small sums were, in the early
stages of the progress, actually paid
off; the Debt bepame less, and less
interest was, of course, paid upon it.
Still, however, as new wars came on,
new sums were borrowed; and, as
lending money to the government was
found to be a profitable trade ; as so
many persons of influence found their
advantage in the loaning transactions,
the money was always easily enough
raised. But, yet there continued to
fee a talk ot paying off' the Debt; and,
in time, a part of the yearly taxes were
set aside for that purpose, which part
of the taxes so set aside was called a
SINKING FUND.
These being words, which, as be
longing to our present subject, are of
vast importance, it is necessary for
us to have a clear notion of their
meaning. The word fund, as was
before observed in Letter II. page
20, means a quantity of money put
together for any purpose ; and, in the
instance before us, the word Sinking
appears to have been prefixed to the
word Fund in order to characterize,
or describe, the particular purpose,
or use, of the taxes so set apart;
namely, the purpose of sinking, or
reducing, or diminishing, or lessening,
the Debt. So that the Sinking Fund,
of which we have all heard so much,
and of which most of us have known
so little, means, in other words, in
Mords better to be understood, a
Lessening Ftfttd ; and whether the
thing has, in its operation, hitherto,
answered to its name, we shall by-
and-by see, if, indeed, we have not
seen enough to satisfy us upon this
poiut in the increasing of the Debt, as
exhibited in the foregoing' Letter.
The amount of taxes thus set apart,
or, to use the words with which we
must now grow familiar, the Sinking
Funds, which were, time after time,
established, were in many cases,
applied to other purposes than that
for which they were destined, or
intended. Indeed, they seem, for
many years, to have been very little
better than purses made up at one'
time and spent again at -another, with
out answering any rational purpose
at all; and, accordingly, the nation
does not appear to have paid any
great attention to them, or to have
considered them as of any conse
quence, until the year 1786, when
the present GRAND SINKING
FUND was established by PITT, who,
but a little while before, had been
made Prime Minister, and whose sys
tem has continued to this day.
Gentlemen, we are now entering
upon a purt of our subject, which
not only demands an uncommon por-*
tion of your attention, but, into the
discussion of which you will, I hope,
carry such a spirit of impartiality as
shall subdue all the prejudices of
party and dissipate all the mists of
ignorance which have therefrom ari
sen. It is, even yet, impossible to
mention the name of PITT, without
exciting feelings that struggle hard
against reason, and that, in some
minds, overcome it. During his ad
ministration, the nation was divided
into two parties, so hostile to each
other, that both were easily made
subservient to his views; and, it is,
with every man who really loves hi»
country, matter of deep regret, that
41]
LETTER IV.
[42
the same, or nearly the same, divi
sions continue to the present day.
It is not. for me, \vlio, at one time,
really looked upon PJTT as the great
est minister that England ever saw,
to reproach others, who may still be
as iy,iorant of tfte truth, as I was then,
for their attachment to his memory,
for their high opinion of the schemes
of his inventing, and for the^r blind
adoration of those schemes; but when
they have, as I have, taken a lair
and full view of all his measures ;
when they have compared his deeds
with his professions, his performances
with his promises; when they have
seen, that he adtled threefold to cur
Taxes and our Expenditure, and
that, notwithstanding this, the power
and the territory of France were ex
tended in proportion to the sacrifices
he called upon us to make for what
he called resisting her; y,hen they
see, that the standard of national
misery, the poor-rates, rose, during
his sway, in almost a triple degree ;
when they see, that the war at the
outset of which he relied, in no small
degree, for success upon the destruc
tion of French asiign&tfy did, at the
end of four years, cause the stoppage
of gold and silver payments at the
Bank of England, and that its prolon
gation has led to a state of things, in
which a public print devoted to the
government, has described the largest
class of English bank-notes as " de
structive assiffnats ;" when they see
this, and when they see, thai, the
National Debt, which he himself
called <: the best ally of France;"
when they see, that that Debt, which
he found at 200 ^millions and odd, he
left at 600 millions and odd, while
France, during his wars against her,
had exchanged her assignats for gold,
and had extended her territory and
her sway to a degree which made
that nation, whose power our fore
fathers despised, an object of conti
nual dread to Englfyid; when the
former partizans of PITT see this, as
they must, aye, and feel it too, will
they still persist in asserting the wis-
doui of his plans; and, above all,
will they, when they see the Debt
tripling in amount under his hands,
still persist in asserting the efficacy of
hii> Sinking Fvnd, ai^d, upon that bare
assertion, reject all inquiry into either
the nature or the effect of that cele
brated scheme ?
Let us hope, that, in *a country
boasting of the thoughtfulness of its
people, there can be but very few
persons' so besotted as this; and,
indeed, it is due to the country to say,
that there do not appear to be tmy
such left, excepting amongst those
who live upon the taxes, and whoso
perverseness arises not from their
want of information. But, be this as
it may, I am satined that you, my
Friends and Neighbours, who, like
me, have no int. rests separate from
those of our country, will not, what
ever may have been jour prejudices
heretofore, wilfully shut yeur eyes
against the 'truth ; and that you will
accompany me in this inquiry with
that great attention, which, as I be
fore observed, the subject demands.
Pitt's Sinking Fund was begun in
the year 1786, by an Act of Parlia
ment (being Chapter XXXI of the
2(>lh year of the reign of George
Til.) entitled — " An Act for vesting
" certain sums in Commissioners, at
" the end cf every Quarter of a Year,
" to be by them applied to the Rcditc-
" tionofthe National Debt." In virtue
of this Act a certain part of the taxes
was, in each year, to be paid to cer
tain persons named in the Act, as
Commissioners for managing the con
cern ; and, these taxes, together with
the accumulations upon them, have
been, as formerly, called a Sinking
Fund.
It is no matter what was tK
amount of the sum, or sums, of
money, thus to be set apart out of the
taxes, and to introduce particulars of
that sort would only embarrass our
view. Suffice it to know, that certain
sums of money, being a part of the
taxes, were set apart, and that, with
this money, together with its growing
interest, the Commissioners, appoint^
ed by the Sinking Fund Act, were,
43]
PAPER AGAINST GOLD.
[44
at stated periods, and with certain
limitations in their powers, to redeem
the Debt as fast as they could, the
word redeem having now come into
fashion instead of the word pay off.
It is of no consequence what were
the periods, « what were th® days of
the week or the times of the moon,
when this work of redemption v/as to
be performed. The effect is what we
Lave to look after ; but, in order to
hawi a clear view of even that, we
must see the manner of doing the
tiling, the manner of redeeming or
paying off the Debt- for, without
that, we shall be continually exposed
to be bewildered and deceived ; and,
indeed, we shall be quite unable to
form any thing like a clear notion of
what the, Sinking Fund really is.
The Commissioners, with the
money thus put under their care .and
management, were to purchase up
stock from individuals, which stock
would then become the property of
'the nation. But, stay. We must
go gently on here, or we lose our
selves in a moment. We must, in
deed, not proceed a step further, till
we have gone back to Letter II,
at pages 18, 19, and have taken
another look, and refreshened our me
mories as to what STOCK means.
Having done so, and read on to the
end of the first paragraph in page 19,
we may proceed by repeating, that
the Commissioners were to go to
work with the money lodged in their
hands, out of the taxes, and purchase
up Stock. We have seen, in the
pages just referred to, how Stc,ck is
wade; we have seen how MUCK
WORM lent his money to the govern
ment ; we have seen how he got his
name written in a book in return for
his money ; we have scan that Stock
is nothing that can be seen, heard,
smelled, or touched; we have seen
that it signifies the right of receiving
interest upon money lent to the go
vernment, which money has been
long ago expended; we have seen
the operation by which Muckworm
became possessed of stock: and,
lastly, we have seen our neighbour,
FARMER GREENHORN, purchase
two thousand pounds worth of Mucic-
WOUM'S stock, which the former be
queathed to his poor daughter
GRIZZLE.
Now, then, observe, the whole of
the Stock, of which the National
Debt is made up, is exactly the same
sort of thing as this two thousand
pounds worth of Slock, belonging to
Grizzle Greenhorn. There is a
book, in which a list of the names of
all those persons is written, who
have, like Grizzle, a right to draw
interest from the government out of
the taxes ; against each name in this
list is placed the amount of the sum
for which the person lias a right to
draw interest. Some have a right to
({raw interest for more and some for
less. And' these sums runke up what
is called the National Debt. Of
course, the Sinking Fund Commis
sioners, in order to pay off the Na
tional Debt, or any part of it, must
purchase up Stock from individuals ;
or, in oilier words, pay them off their
share of the Debt. If, for instance,
Grizzle Greenhorn has a mind to
havener hvo thousand pounds to lay
out upon land, or do any thing else
with, she sells her stock, and, if it so
happen, she may sell it to the Com
missioners ; and thus, as they pay
her for it with the nation's money, it
is said, that, by this transaction, they
have redeemed (by which I should
mean paid off) two thousand pounds
of the National Debt. Grizzle, who
was the creditor, Iras got her money
again ; she has no longer any right
to draw interest for it; and of course,
you would think, that these two thou
sand pounds worth of debt were paid
off, and that the nation, that we the
people, had no longer any interest to
pay upon it; you would naturally
think, that we were no longer taxed
to pay the interest upon this part of
the Debt.
Greatly, however, would von be
deceived; cruelly deceived, if you
did think so ; for, notwithstanding
the Commissioners have redeemed
these two thousand pounds, we hare
45]
LETTER IV.
[40
still to pay the interest of them every
year ; we are still taxed for the money,
wherewith to pay tins interest, just in
the same way. as if the two thousand
pounds worth of Debt It ad not been
redeemed at a//, but still belonged to
Grizzle Greenhorn! This is an odd
way of redeeming ; an odd way of
paying off; do you not think it is,
Neighbours ? We have before seen,
that the National Debt is a mortgage
upon the taxes. It is constantly
called so in conversation, and in
writings upon the subject. But,
should not either of you, who hap
pened to have a mortgage upon your
land or house, think it strange if,
after you had redeemed a part of the
mortgage j you had still to pay in
terest upon the part redeemed as
well as upon the part unredeemed?
TO REDEEM, as applied to money
engage merits, means to discharge, to
set free by payment. This is the
meaning of the word redeem, as ap
plied to such matters. It sometimes
means t© rescue or to ransom, from
captivity, from forfeiture, or from
peril of any sort, by paying a price.
But, in every sense, in which this
word is used, it always implies the
set-tin f/ free of the object on which it
operates ; and, when applied to a
mortgage, a bond, a note of hand, or
a Debt of any sort, it . implies the
paying of it off'. How, then, can the
two thousand pounds worth of Debt,
purchased from Grizzle Greenhorn,
by our Sinking Fund Commissioners,
be said to be redeemed by us, if we
are still taxed to pay the interest
upon it, and, of course, if it be not dis
charged, and not set free?
Nothing, at first sight appears
more plausible, nothing more rea
sonable, nothing more clear, than
the mode above described] of re
deeming the Debt by purchasing from
the several individuals, who, like
Grizzle Greenhorn, own the Stock
or the Debt, their respective shares
thereof. And, the operation is as
simp ift as any thing can be. For,
the Sinking Fund Commissioners,
having, for instance, received two
thousand pounds from the Tax-
gatherers, in virtue of the Sinking
Fund Act, go and purchase Grizzle'*
stock ; they give her the two then-
sand pounds; her right to draw in
terest from us ceases ; her share of
the Stock or Debt is redeemed or
paid off; and her name is crossed out
of the Book. Ah ; but, alas ! the,
names of our Sinking Fund Commis
sioners are written in the Book in
stead, of hers ! Aye ; we have to
pay the interest of the two thousand
pounds to them instead of to her ; and
our taxes on account of this which is
called the redeemed part of the Debt,
are just as great as they were before
this curious work of redemption be
gan.
" Well then," you will say, " what
" does this thing mean; and what
" can it have been intended for?"
Why, to speak candidly of the mat
ter, though the thing was an inven
tion of IJITT, under whose sway s@
much mischief came upon this nation,
I believe, that the thing was well
meant. I believe that it was in
tended to free the nation from its
Debt, But, I am satisfied, that it
has been productive of no small part
of the evils, which England and
which Europe have experienced
since its invention ; for, by giving
people renewed coniidence in the so
lidity of the Funds or Stocks, it ren
dered government borrowing more
easy ; and, of lourse, it took from
th> Minister that check to the making
of wars arid the paying of foreign
armies, for the want of which check
tae Expences and Taxes and Debt of
the country have been so fearfully
augmented, to say nothing, at present,
about the dreudful changes which
those wars have made in our affairs
both at home and abroad.
To produce such eflecte was, how
ever, certainly not the intention of
the scheme. The intention was, that
the Sinking Fui«:d Commissioners,
should, with the money put into their
hands out of the taxes, purchase up
Stock, er parts of the Debt, belong
ing to individuals ; that the parts, &•
47]
PAPER AGAINST GOLD.
[48
purchased tip, should not cease to
exist ; that they should be written in
the Great Book under the name of
the Commissioners; that the Com
missioners should receive the interest
*ipon them, instead of its being re
ceived by individuals as before ; that
this interest, as fast as it came into
the hands of the Commissioners,
should, like the money paid to them
annually out of the taxes, be laid out
in purchasing up more Stock fron;
individuals ; and that the thing shoulr1
?>o on thus, till the last of the Stoci
or Debt, got into the hands of Con
niissioners ; when, of course, the go
vernment might burn the Great Book,
and the National Debt would be
paid off.
This scheme was very pretty upon
paper; it made a fine figure in the
newspapers and pamphlets of the
day ; and looked quite solemn when
embodied into an Act of Parliament.
There was, to be sure, when people
looked into the matter more closely,
something rather whimsical in the
idea of a nation's paying intnvst to
itself: something very whimsical in
a nation's GETTING MONEY by
paying ifxclf interest upon its men
Stock. Many persons thought so,
at the time, and some said so ; but
the formidable tables of figures made
nut by court calculators, and the
flowery and bold speeches of PITT,
soon put all such persons out of coun
tenance, and reduced them to silence ;
or exposed them to the charge of fac
tion and disaffection and disloyalty.
The country, infatuated with its
" Heaven-born Minister," became
deaf to the dictates of common sense;
and, with as much fondness as the
mother hangs over her smiling babe,
it cherished and fostered the fatal
delusion.
As the execution of the Sinking-
Fund Act proceeded, more and more
of the Stock, or parts of the Debt,
became of course entered in the Great
Book in the names of the Commis
sioners. Hence arose a new deno
mination in our national money ac
counts; namely, the redeemed debt;
that is, the parts ot the debt, as afore
said purchased up by the Commis
sioners, was now called the " redeem-
" ed debt;" a phrase which contains
a contradiction in itself. But, still
it was unavoidable ; for, it was not
paid off; it was bought up, but we
had still, and have still, to pay intercut
upon it ; and, therefore, it could not
be said to be paid off; for, it would
be folly too gross to pretend that we
had paid off a debt or a mortgage, for
which we were still paying interest.
If, indeed, the parts of the debt, which
were purchased up by the Commis-
-•^uors, Hud been, at once, done^away,
and W3 had ceased to pay interest
upon them, then those parts would
have been really redeemed. If, for
instance, Grizzle Greenhorn's two
thousand pounds worth of Stock had
been crossed out of the Great Book,
and had not been inserted in it again
under any other name, that two thou
sand pounds worth of the debt would
have been redeemed in reality. This
is the way in which the Sinking Fund
of the American States operates. They
raise yearly a certain sum in taxes";
with that sum they purchase up part
of their debt; and then that part of
the debt censes to exist in any shape
what over. The next year they raise
a like sum in taxes, and again pur
chase up parcels of the debt. And,
thus they proceed, having every suc
ceeding year, less and less interest to
pay itpon their debt. This is real re
demption : this is real paying off.
But, the way in which we proceed
bears no resemblance to it; nor has
any tiling in common with it, except
it b« the name.
Let us, before we proceed any fur
ther, take a view of the increase of the
interest that we, have to pay upon the
debt. We have seen in Letter III.
page 25, how the debt itself has gone
on increasing. But, we have not yet
taken a look at the increase of the
INTEREST; though this is ve*>
material, and, indeed, it is ihe only
thing, belonging to the debt, worthy
of our attention. The statement of
the amount of the debt itself is of no
49]
LETTER IV.
[50
practical uss, except as it serves to
illustrate, to render more clear, the
part of the subject upon which we
now are. For as we have seen, the
Debt is nothing more than a right
possessed by certain persons, called
Stock-Holders, to draw interest from
the nation ; or, io other vfrords, to take
annually, or quarterly, part o;' the
taxes raided upon the people at targe.
Let us, therefore, take a look at the
progress of this interest.
When QUEEN ANNE
came to the throne, in
1701, the annual in
terest on the National
Debt was . . . £1,310,942
When GEORGE I. came
to the throne, in 1714 3,351,358
YThen GEORGE!!, came
to the throne, in 1727 2,217,551
When GEORGE III.
came to the tin-one, in
JL760 4,840,821
Alter the AMERICAN
WAR, in 1784, and
just before the mak
ing of Pitt's Sinking
. Fund . . . . \ 9,669,435
At the latter end of the
A NTI-JACOBIN WAR,
in 1801 .... 21,778,018
For the LAST Y EAR, that
is 1801) . . . . 32,870,608
There are included in this sum
" char yes, for management ;" and, as
we have before M en, there is some of
the Debt (small portion;-) called the
loans, or debts, of the Emperor of
Germany, and of the Prince Regent
of Portugal, which, it is possible, they
may repay us; hut, this is, as it is
called in the account laid before Par
liament, during the last session, the
" Total charge at account of Debt,
" payable in Great .Britain." And,
let me ask any sensible man, what
consequence it can be to us, what the
Debt is called; what consequence by
what name the different sorts of it uiaj
go, so that the interest upon it still goes
on increasing, and so that we have to
pay the whole of that interest out of
the tas.es?
When PITT'S Sinking Fund was
established, there wcs a time fixed,
when the interest should begin to b&
dianniahed. I mean, a time was fixed,
wiien tho people should no longer
pay taxes to defrsj the interest upon
the Stock, or parts of the Debt, wnicii
should after that time be purchased up '
hy tite Commissioners, The time so-
fixed was 1808, two years ago. The
year was not named in the Act; but,
it was known to a certainty ; because
this ceasing to pay interest was to be
gin, when the interest upon the Stock,
or parts of the Debt, bought up.^to-
gether with the sums paid to the
Commissioners out of the taxes, should
amount to a certain sum (four millions
annually); and, as the sums to be
paid to them were fixed, it was a
mere question of arithmetic when the
paying of interest would cea: e, agree- >
ably to the terms of the Act; as e^
pressed in the XXth clause, as fol*
lows : " And be it further enacted by
" the authority aforesaid, that when-c
" ever the whole sum annually leceiv-
" able by the said Commissioners, in^
" eluding as well the quarterly sum
" of two hundred and fifty thousand
" pounds herein before directed to ba
" issued from the exchequer, as the
" several Annuities and Dividends of
" Stock to be placed to the Account
" of the said Commissioners in the
" Books of the Governor and Conv-
" pany of the Bank of England, by
" virtue of this Act, shall amount in
" the whole to FOUR MILLIONS AN-
" NUALLY, the Dividends due on such
" Part of the Principal or Capital
" Stock as shall thtnce-fortk be paid
" off by the said Commissioners, and"
" the Monies payable en guch Ai.»-
" nuities for Lives or Years as may
" afterwards cease and determine,
"SHALL NO LONGER BE
" ISSUED AT THE RECEIPT
" OF HIS MAJESTY'S EXCHE-
" UUER,butshailbeCO]SSIDEK-
*' ED AS REDEEMED by Par-
" liament, and shall remain to be dis-
" posed of as Parliament shall direct.*'
In what way it might have been sup
posed, that Parliament, in its wis
dom, would dispose of these parcels of
511
PAPER AGAINST GOLD
[52
redeemed debt, I shall not, for my
part presume to hazard a conjecture;
but, as was before observed, it was
easy (the sums being given) to ascer
tain the time, when the provision iu
this clause would begin to operate;
and, that time was, the year 1808.
There was another Act, passed
seven years later, (1792), allotting
more of the taxes to the same pur
pose (Chapter 52 of the 32nd year of
this king's reign) ; and still the same
provision was made ; namely, that,
when the produce of the Sinking Fund
should amount to 4 millions annually,
all the Stock, or parts of the Debt,
that should be purchased up by
the Commissioners after that time.,
SHOULD NO LONGER HAVE
INTEREST PAID UPON IT
•OUT OF THE TAXES; but that
t&eseparts of the Debt should (mark the
words) " be considered AS KM-
<< DEEMED." And so they would.
They really, in that case would have
been redeemed ; but the word re
deemed is now applied, even in the
Accounts laid before Parliament, to
f those parts of the Debt, bought up by
! the Commissioners, the dividend, or
interest, on which parts, IS STILL
ISSUED AT THE EXCHE
QUER; that is to say, is still paid
out of the taxes ! And all this goes
on amongst " the thinking" people of
En-land!
But, what was done, in the lona;
expected year 1808 ? What was done,
when the year of promise came ? This
is the most interesting part of this
most curious history ; iut, as to bring
to a close the whole of the discussion,
relating to the Sinking Fund, would
extend this letter to double its present
length, I think it better to make the
remaining part of it the subject of
another Letter, beseeching you, in
the meanwhile, to maKe up, by your
patience in the perusal, for whatever
want of clearness may be discovered
in the writer.
I remain, Gentlemen,
Your faithful friend,
Wm. COBBETT.
State Prison, Nwcgatc, JTinrsday,
September 14, 1810.
LETTER V.
»« I would inculcate one truth with prcnliar earnestness : namely, tfcal a Retolution is not the nt»
" cessary consequence of a National Bankruptcy. —Pursuits of Literature.
Digression respecting the use of Bank-Notes as a Political Support to the Government—
Mr. Addington's Notion of convincing Buonaparte by the means of a Tax — Answer of
the Moniteuv — Advice given to Mr. Addington in the Register in 1803 — Passage quoted
from a Government News-paper describing Bank-Notes as necessary to the Existence
of (he Government — Same Doctrine promulgated by Mr. Paine in his Rights of Man — .
How different is this from what the World has been toi.d — Effect of it to encourage the
Enemy — Resume the subject of the Sinktng Fund — No Interest taken off in 1808 —
Addiugtou's Act of 1802 — George Rose quoted to prove that it was clearly held forth
to the Nation that Taxes would be repealed in consequence of the Sinking Fund —
P.S. Sir Joh/n Sinclair's Pamphlet.
GENTLEMEN,,
BEFORE we resume the discus
sion, relating to Pitt's Grand Kinking
Fund, which want of room obliged
us to break off, at the close of the last
letter, I think it may be useful to
submit to you here an observation or
two, calculated to obv.iate any un
founded apprehensions that might
otherwise be excited by the appa
rently inevitable fate of the paper-
money ; and this I deem the more
necessary, as publications are daily
appearing, from the pens of ignorant
53]
LETTER V.
[54
or interested persons, the evident ten
dency, and, indeed, object, of which,
is, * to persuade the public, that the
existence of the government; that the
existence of law and order ; that the
safety to persons and property ; nay,
that the continuance of the very
breath in our nostrils, depend upon
the credit of the Bank Notes.
The author, from whose writings I
have taken my motto to this present
Number of my work, was, you see,
of a- *rery different opinion; and, I
have quoted his sentiment upon the
subject, because his work is well
known to be of what is called the
ANTI-JACOBIN kind, that is to say,
a work the tendency of which is to
prevent men like you from having
any thing to say or to do, any more
than your horses, in the affairs of
government. This writer, who, how
ever, might mean well, and who is
certainly a very clever man, so far
from supposing that the existence
of the government depended upon
the credit of bank-notes, is, you
see, fixed in his opinion, and an
opinion that he wishes " to in-
" cwlcate with peculiar earnestness/'
that a REVOLUTION, thereby mean
ing a change in the form of govern
ment, is not the necessary conse
quence', even of a National Bank
ruptcy ; that is to say, not only a
total discredit of all th.e paper-money
and especially the Bank of England
Notes, but also an utter inability to
pay, in any way whatever, the in
terest upon the National Debt, or
•any part of it.
This is my opinion also, as it al
ways has been since I turned F-.IV at
tention to the subject. At the begin
ning of the present war, MR. AD-,
DINGTON, who was then the Prime
Minister, told the House of Com
mons, that one of his principal objects
in laying on the Property Tax and
oilier war tuxes, was, " to convince
" Buonaparte^ that it was hopeless for
" him to contend with our finances"
To which the MOXITEUR, or French
government-newspaper ,replied : "Pay
<( your bank notes in gold mid silver,
" and then we will believe you, with-
" out your going to war."*
Whether the Minister made good
his promise; whether he has con
vinced Buonaparte, that, it was " /«»/«?-
" less for him to contend with our
"finances" you, Gentlemen, are as
Hkely to be able to judge as any body
that I know. I, for my part, "blamed
the Minister for holding out such a
motive for his taxing measures. 1
said to him: The true way of con
vincing your enemy, that this war
upon your finances will be useless, is
to state explicitly to the world, that
you are not at all afraid of the con
sequences of what is called a national
bankruptcy ; for, while you endea
vour to make people lelieve, that
such an event cannot possibly happen,
they will certainly think that you re
gard it, if it should happen, as irre
trievable ruin and destruction; and,
therefore, as you never can quite over
come their apprehensions, the best
way is to be silent upon the subject,
or, to set' the terrific buy-bear at de-
fiancc. To Buonaparte's exultation
at our approaching bankruptcy the
answer is always ready : France has
been a bankrupt; France has not
paid her paper-money in specie; yet
France is not the weaker f0r that;
France is, in spite of her ruined
finances, in spite of the long pam
phlets of Sir Francis D'lvernois and
Mr. Rose, in spite of the longer
speeches of Lord MorrJngton, Lord
Auckland and Mr. Pitt, in spite of
the innumerable columns of figures
which these noblemen and gentlemen
have drawn up in battle array against
her ; in spite of all this, France is yet
powerful, yea, much more powejful
than she was before she experienced
what is called a national bankruptcy.
What ground, therefore, have the
French to rejoice at our finances
being about to undergo a similar ope
ration ?
Such were my sentiments and my
reasoning upon this subject, seven
* Register, Vol. III. page 918. Jr.ne, ISO*
55]
PAPER AGAINST GOLD.
[56
years ago ; a time, when to pronounce
the word depreciation-, as applied to
bank-nctes, was sure to expose a man
to charges ve: y little short of treatott,
which charges were made by those \ cry
persons, who have now declared ti;e
greater half of our bank-notes to be
** destructive assiynats," and who have
called them1 *' vile and dirty rays"
My opinion was, and it still is, that
the total destruction of the puper-
money would not cause any change
injurious to this kingdom; and, in
deed, I should have a most hearty
contempt for the constitution and for
the whole form and composition of our
government, if I thought that their
existence depended upon tiie credit
of bank-notes. There are however,
those who think just the reverse; and
these are, too, writers, who appeal
to be entirely devoted to the govern
ment: one of \vhom goes so far as to
say, that the government has no other
trvst'ii'orthy support than that which
it derives from the bank-notes. '• The
" human mind," says he, " is sen-
" sible only of the present good, or
" evil, and has too little thought to
" anticipate consequences, and if- it
" icas not for the immediate personal
" interest of a very large and informed
" part of the community in the Nation-
" al Debt, Patronage and Paper Cur-
" rency, GOVERN M EN T CO CJLD
"HAVE NO EXISTENCE,stand-
" ing insulated on the pure basis of
" duty, and remote national and res-
" pective good. The conduct of Swe-
"' den, America, Ireland, and the
" Jacobins of England, in their par-
" tiality for France, exemplify a want
" of sense to execute the maxims of
" EPICURUS: The paper currency
" of Bonk Notes (there should be no
" Country Bank) offers to Govern-
" ment a most indestructible support,
'• because IT MAKES THE DAI-
" LY BREAD OF EVERY IN-
" DIVIDUAL DEPEND SUB-
"STANT1ALLY ON THE
"SAFETY OF GOVERN-
" MENT, whereas money, which
" may be hoarded, separates the in-
" dividual from the public safety. In
" the present revolutionary state of
" tuG world, I think our paper cur-
" rencv a most miraculous mean ty
" saicatioi}, and the man who would
" propose the payment of Bank Notes
" in .specie at any period, to separate
4< individual property from public
I " safety, might as well propose the
" burning of the Nacij to protect the
" commerce of fhe world."*
gentlemen, do you remember the*
writings of PAIN K ? Do you remem-
Js^f the Rights of Man for 'the wri
ting of which the author was prose
cuted by the then Attorney General
who is now the "Lord Chancellor?
Do you remember the f(igftf*of Man,
the author of which was prosecuted,
and, being absent, was outlawed; the
publishers of which were prosecuted
all over the kingdom; the circulating
of which was forbidden by Procla
mation; and, to counteract the princi
ples of which ASSOCIATIONS were
formed of the rich and the powerful ?
Well, it was in ttis very work, that
the doctrine here laid down by this
government writer, was first started.
PAINE said, that the existence of the
government depended upon the existence
of the bank-notes ; and that, the ques
tion was not, how lony the British go
vernment icovld stand ; but, how long
the Funding System would last*
PAINE'S mode of reasoning was, if I
am correct in my recollection, as near
ly as possible like that of this govern
ment writer. He laid it down as an
admitted fact, that the people (owing
to causes that he stated) must be
whclly indifferent about the fate of
the government ; but, that, as so many
of them were, either by holding
Stocks or Bank-notes, interested in the
fate of the government, they would,
while the Stocks and Bank-notes last
ed, continue to support the govern
ment, whatever might be their feet"
ings towards it. But, that, when,
from whatever catsse, the Funding
System should fail, not a soul would
be found to l'*ft a finger, or, even to
* MoRNfNC POST news-paper: 14th Sept.
1810.
at &>tatumer0' Ifpald
T «™~.
3.]_COBBJiTT'S PAPER AGAINST GOLD. —[Pi-ice Two-l'euye.
57]
express a wish in lavotir of- the cxi?;l-
ence of the government.
Just the" same, or rather more, is
now said by this government writer;
a writer, one halt' of whose pages are
filled with invectives against thosfc
whom he calls the friends of the Em
peror of France. But, how is it pos
sible for arty thins; to be written morn
agreeable to the Emperor Napoleon
th;i:i what this writer has put forth?
Until now the world has been told
that we entertained a real love for
our government;- that we were at
tached to our constitution because it
afforded such fine protection to our
persons and our property; that we
loved the constitution, because it in
sured to us the enjoyment of liberty,
and defended us against every spe
cies of oppression; that we had
made numerous sacrifices, and that we
were ready to make as many more,
nay, even *' to spend our last shilling
and shed the last drop of our blood,"
Ibr the sake of these liberties and in
defence of a king, whom we so dearly
loved, and in gratitude for the bles
sings enjoyed during whose reign, we
held a Jubilee. Until NOW, this is
what the world has been told. But
NOW it is told, by this loyalty-pro
fessing writer, that the only m:»tive
whence we support the government
at all, is, to preserve the value of the
Bank-notes that we hold ; tfcat, if it
was not for the immediate personal
interest of so many people in the Na
tional Debt, and for patronage and
paper currency, the Government could
have no existence; that we support
the government because without its
existence, the bank-notes would fall,
and because, by the number of bank
notes, we are thus made to depend
upon the safety of Government for
our daily bread; and that, therefore,
the man who would propose the pay
ment of bank-notes in gold and silver
at any period, might as well propose
the burning of the Navy, or, fti other
words, the giving up of the country to
France.
What, Gentlemen ! are we never,
then, to see gold and silver again?
(SB
Every Minister; every. Member of
Parliament; every one of those, who
encle.ivoured to palliate the measure
of protecting the Hank Company
from paying their notes in Goh| and
Silver; every one of them " la-
" mented the necessity," as they called
it, of the measure. But, NOW, be
hold, we are told that it was a good
thing ; and not only a goo'd thing, but
that the government could not exist
without it! Gentlemen, we call pur-
selves a " thin/ting people;" but, be
lieve me, that this is What would not
have been said to any other civilized
people upon earth.
We might here easily show how-
encouraging a prospect doctrines of
this sort hold out to our enemy, and
how strong an inducement to use all
those means, whether in the way of
attack or of menace, which are likely
to destroy the credit of the paper-
money, that being, if these doctrines
be sound, the sure and certain w ay
of destroying our government. But,
another opportunity will offer for ob
servations upon these matters ; and,
it is now time that we return to our
inquiry into the SINKING FUND.
In the last Letter, page 50, hav
ing stated the provisions,,, made in
the ACTS of 1786 and 1792, for the
nation's ceasing to pay interest upon
the Stock that should be redeemed,
or bought up by the Commissioners,
after the year 1808; or, in other
words, the nation's ceasing to pay
taxes on account of the Stock, or piyrt
of the Debt, which should be bought
up after that time : having stated
these provisions, we were proceeding
to inquire — What was done in the long"
expected year, 1808 ? ' What was
done when the year of promise camel
Why, my Neighbours, nothing at
all was done: just nothing at all in
the way provided for. The nation
ceased to pay no dividends of interest;
and, of course, this work of redemp
tion caused none of its taxes to be
taken off. " Well," say you, " but i*
" it possible, that, after such a solemn
" proceeding; after the express and
" positive declaration in two Act* of
c
PAPER AGAINST GOLD.
" Parliament, that the dividends of!
" interest should cease to be paid iii i
" 1808 ; is it possible that, after
" that, all the dividends did continue
'? to be paid, just the same «* if those
" Acts had never been passed?" O,
yes ! It is not only possible to be so,
but itt'j so. All the dividends have
continued to be paid ; and arc paid to
thin day. The above-mentioned pro
visions, in the Acts of 178(;>t and
1792 were repealed. The Parlia
ment undid what it had before done.
It did away the provisions, which it
had made in 1786 and 1792. It
passed another Act, which said that
those provisions should not be carried
into effect ; or, in other words, that
which >vas law before was no Ion ga
la w.
This new Act was passed in the
month of June, 1802, ADDINGTON,
the successor and the friend of PITT,
being then Minister. This Act
(which is Chapter 71 of the 42d year
of the reign of George III.) is en
titled — " An Act to amend and
" RENDER MORE EFFEC-
" TUAL two Acts passed in the
t; twenty-sixth and thirty-second
" years of the reign of his present
" Majesty, for the reduction of the
" National Debt." This Act, which
was to render those two Acts more
effectual, sets out by stating, that the
aaid two Acts had been by experience
found " to be attended with most be-
" neficial consequences to the public
" credit of the country;" and having
made that declaration, it sets to work,
and repeals the two provision* above-
mentioned ; and, of course, when the
year 1808 came, when the year of
expectation arrived, wo dividends
ceased to be paid, and interest upon
the whole of the Debt was still paid,
and is still paid to this day.
Gentlemen, it is hardly to be be-
Jieved, that any men, who, like PITT
and his associates and supporters,
had invented and caused to be passed,
the two first mentioned Acts, could
propose the last mentioned Act, that
is to say, the Act of 1802. Not
only, however, did -they propose it,
but the ANT<II-JACOBIN writers
1 anglied in our faces and called us
fools, if not levellers and jacobins, if
we ventured to express any doubt at
all of the wisdom and justice of any
of these successive measures ; and,
these writers stoutly denied, that it
ever wan intended to take, off any of
the taxes in 1808; and, of course,
they maintained, that we, who felt
disappointment, in this respect, \vere
fools for our pains, and, indeed, they
expressed themselves thus, that we
" were " nature's fools" and not the
fools of the Minister.
Naver, surely, were any portion of
mankind treated with such barefaced
contempt as the people of England
were, at the time referred to, by the
venal writers of newspapers, pamph
lets, magazines, *nd reviews, who,
seeing the people terrified out of their
senses, by alternate alarms within
and without, seemed to think that he
was the best man, who could show
the greatest degree of scorn for their
understanding and character. Had
not this been their persuasion, would
they have dared to tell us, that none
but fools ever expected the Sinking.
Fund to produce a repeal of Taxes,.
when it must still remain in the me
mory of every man, who was then at
all conversant in political matters,
that the repeal of taxes ; the lessening
of the taxes ; the making of their bur
l/tens less, was the promise held forth
to the people by the supporters of
PITT; nay, when it is notorious, that
PITT owed the establishment of his
tremendous power to the opinion
which the people entertained, that he
had discpvercd, and would put in
practice, the means of reducing the
load of their Taxes? This, as the
great end of his schemes, was so nuich
talked of; it .is so well known, that
this was so distinctly stated in the
speeches in parliament, and so many
times repeated, that I am almost
ashamed to trouble you with any
proof of the fact; yet, considering
that the point is of great importance,
I will put the matter beyond all dis
pute by a reference to a work on the
61]
PAPER AGAINST GOLD.
[G2
increase of the Resources of the king
dom, published in 1709, under the
name of GEORGE ROSE, who was then
a Secretary of the Treasury, and who is
nmv Treasurer of the Navy and a Privy
Counsellor, and who, in the execution
of the work about to be cited, w;as,
doubtless, assisted by PITT himself.
Indeed, this must have been the case;
or, at least, it must be believed, that
nothing, upon such a subject, and
under ttie name oi his official 'Secre
tary, would be published without
PITT'S previous approbation. In
this work, which is entitled, " A
" Brief Examination into the In-
" crease of the Revenue Commerce,
*' and Manufactures of Great Britain,
" from 1792 to 1799;" in this work
the hopeful effects of the Sinking
Funds of 1786 and 1792 are pointed
out, and the writer says :— " By the
" operation of these sinking funds,
" without any farther intervention of
" Parliament, the one existing before
" the war, will attain its maximum
" (4,000,000/. a year) most pro-
" bably, in 1808, in no case later
" than February 1811. As the di-
" vidcnds due on such parts of the
" old debt as shall be paid off after
" the sinking fund shall have attained
" its maximum, and the annuities
lt which shall afterwards fall in, will
"be at the disposal of Parliament,
" the period of REPEALING
1 TA\ES annually, to an amount
tl equal thereto, cannot be delayed
" more than nine, ten, or elevenyears"
Need I ask you, Gentlemen,
whether you have heard of any re
pealing of taxes ? Whether you have
felt your load of taxation lightened ?
Whether you pay less taxes, than you
paid when this placeman wrote his
book in 1799? No: These ques
tions I need not put to you ; nor need
I ask you what are your feelings
towards- those, who fed you with
hopes of a diminution of your 'bur
dens ; nor need I, perhaps, say one
more word upon the subje'ct of
the Sinking Fund, not to have seen
through which by this time would
argue a much greater want of discern
ment than I am disposed to attri
bute to any part of my country
men, and especially to you, whose
discerning faculties have, as to mat
ters of this sort, been, of late, pretty
well sharpened by experience. Ne
vertheless, with the hope of leaving
no possibility of bewildering any
body in future, with regard to the
nature or effect of the Sinking Fund,
I shall add some additional remarks;
but, as these remarks will open to
us quite new views of the matter, and
Mill extend to some length, I shall
postpone them to my next; and Ire-
main, in the mean while,
Your faithful Friend,
WM. COBBETT.
State Prison, Newgate, Monday,
September 17, 1810.
P. S. A. pamphlet, entitled, " OB-
" SERVATIONS ON THE REPORT OF
" THE BULLION COMMITTEE," ha*
just been published by Sir JOHN
SINCLAIR, who is, it seems, a mem
ber of Parliament, and who is said
to have been recently made a Privy
Counsellor. So much of such gross
ignorance, in so short a compass, I
do not recollect to have met with in
the course of my reading, except,
perhaps, in the Morning Post news
paper, or in the British Critic Re
view. Such a publication would be
wholly unworthy of serious notice,
were it not pretty evidently the ve
hicle of the sentiments and views of
others. For this reason, some of
its prominent absurdities will be no
ticed, when I come to that part of
my subject, to which they more par
ticularly belong. In the mean time,
in order to furnish the means of
judging of this writer's depth of un
derstanding, take the following spe-4
cimen from a former work of his,
and compare his theory with the
practice now before our eyes. " The
" PUBLIC DEBTS of a nation, not
" only attract riches from abroad,
" with a species of magnetic in-
" fluence, but they also retain money
" at home, which otherwise would be
" exported, and which, if sent to
" other countries., might p^ssiUjr b«
63J
LETTER VI.
[G4
" attended with pernicious conse-
" quences to the State, whose wealth
" was carried out of it. If France,
" for example, maintained its wars
" by borrowing money, and England
" raised all its within the year,
" the necessary consequence would
" be that all the loose and nnem-
" ployed money of England, would
" naturally be transmitted to France,
" where it would be placed out to ad-
" vantage." This i* quite sufficient.
The next time that Sir JOHN thinks
of writing upon matters of this sort,
he will do well to go, previously, and
take a lesson of Mrs. DE YONGE.
She will \>e able to tell him for a cer
tainty, whether National Debts have
a tendency to keep money at home, to
prevent it from being exported, and to
bring money from abroad. She will
also be able to give him a lesson upon
depreciation, in a way, which, per
haps, will make the thing compre
hensible even to him.
LETTER VI.
' It i* not altogether improbable, that, when the nation becomes heartily sick of Us Debts, arwl \» truelly op-
" pressed by them, some darinjr projector m:iy arise with visionary schemes for their di.-ctmr£,r • and, as
" public credit will begin, by that time, to he a little frail, the least touch will destroy it, and in'thi* inuii;iei
" it will die of the Ductvr. But, it is more probable, that the breaeh of national faith will be the ru-ovary
" effect of wars, defeats, misfortunes, and public calamities, or even, uerhau*, of victories aad conquests ''—
HUME on Public Credit.
Sayine that a Man writes from a Prison is not a satisfactory Refutation of his Arguments
-—Proceed with the subject of the Sinking Fund— A Hedged 'rounds of Addington's Act
in 1802 — The Time when it was to begin to yield ns Relief, to wit 45 Years — Mr.
Brand's Answer to an Argument of mine— He denies that Interest is paid upon the
Redeemed Stock — Acts of Parliament and Public Accounts say the contrary — Exami
nation of the Example stated by Mr. Brand — Great Error in regarding things as alike
which are essentially dissimilar in their Properties— Consequence of this Error shown
in the supposed cate of Thrifty— -Grand Fallacy in supposing that what we pay to sup-
port th> Sinking Fund, would otherwise be of no use to us — Conclusion of the subject
of the Sinking Fund— P. S. Mr. Randall Jacksoii's Speech at the Bank Company'*
House, in Threadneedle Street.
GENTLEMEN,
IT was naturally to be expected,
that those venal men, who for want
ef industry to " labour with their
" hands the thing that is good," and
from a desire to live upon the labour
of others, have chosen the occupation
of writing, instead of obeying the
voice of nature, which bade use the
brush and not the pen, to blacken
shoes and not paper ; it was naturally
to be expected that those venal men,
who gain their livelihood by serving
the corrupt and by deceiving the .weak ,
and the number of whom, in this
Town, is unfortunately, but too gretU ;
it was naturally to be expected that
this description of men weuld feel
alarmed at the progress of these Let
ters, which, by making honest and
useful truths so familiar to the mind>"
of the people, threatened literary ve
nality with destruction. Accordingly
these instruments of Corruption have
shewn their anger and resentment
against me ; but, the only answer they
have offered to me is this : " that I
" discharge my gun from a stone-bat-
" tery ;" meaning that I write from a
priso?t; therein giving the public a
specimen of their wit as well as of
their manliness. This is always the
way; it is the const3iit practice of
those;, who, while they are, from what
ever motive, impelled to oppose a wri
ter, want either the materials or the
ability to shew that lie is wrong ;
and, Gentlemen, you may lay it down
65]
PAPER AGAINST GOLD.
[66
as a maxim, that when any publication
is answered by abuse, and especially
personal abuse, the author of such
publication is right, or, at least, that
his abusers want the ability to skew
that he is wrong. Facts and reason
ing, if erroneous, always admit of
refutation : but, if correct, no one can
refute them ; and, if erroneous, to re
fute may still require some ability;
whereas, to abuse the person from
whom they have proceeded, is within
the power of every one, a gift not
denied to any creature capable of
uttering articulate sounds or of making
marks upon paper. The great cause,
however, of abuse in such cases, is
the weight of the truths, against which
such abuse is opposed : for it is here
as in common verbal disputes, he who
has the truth, clearly on his side, is
always seen to be in good temper,
while his opponent scarcely ever fails
to discover impatience and anger,
and, in but too many cases, to give
way to personal invective and false
accusation; and, be you well assured,
Gentlemen, that even the venal men,
above-described, answer me by say
ing that I write from a prison, onjy
because they have no other answer to
give.
Leaving them in the full possession
and unenvied enjoyment of all the
advantage and of all the honour which
such a mode of answering can give,
let us proceed with our inquiry into
the effects of the SINKING FUND,
just casting our eye back first, and
refreshing our memory as to the fore
gone facts ; namely, that the Sinking-
Fund Acts of PITT, which provided
for the cutting off some part of the
interest upon tbe Debt in 1808 ; that
these provisions, which led the poor
nation to hope for a taking off of part
of its taxes in 1808 j that these pro
visions, which, as we have Seen, were
held forth to the believing people -of
England, in the pamphlet of GEORGE
RQSE, as tlj.e sure and undoubted
pledge for the taking off of taxes
in 1808, or thereabouts; that these
provisions, in order to begin to taste
the benefit of which, the people were
to pay a million a year of additional
taxes for twenty -two years; that these
provisions ; yes, we must bear in
mind, that these provisions, after the
people hafl gone on hoping for sixteen
years out of the twenty two : that
these provisions, were, by ADDING-
TON'S Act of 1802, repealed, done
away, made of no more effect than if
they never had been enacted by the
Parliament.
" Well," you will say, " but upon
" what ground was this measure
" adopted? What end was it pro-
" posed to answer?" Oil! why it
was to pay ofV the Debt, new as well
as old; for, by this time, the Debt
contracted since the existence of the
Sinking Fund, was become greater
than the one contracted before. It
was to pay off the Debt, new as well
as old, sooner than they would have,
been paid off, if this new Act had not
been passed. And it was said, in
support of the measure, that it would
be better for us (good God, what a
" thinking" people we are !) not to
have any of our taxes taken off in
1808 ; but to go on paying interest
upon the whole of the Debt, as before,
till our Sinking-Fund Commissioners
had bought up the whole of the Stock,
and that, then (Oh, then !) then, my
boys, huzza! for, then we should be
completely out of Debt.
" Tkiiikiny people1* of England,
when do you think that that then was
to arrive ? V/hen do you think that
it was supposed that our Commissio
ners would have bought up the whole
of the Stock existing when the new
Act was passed : When do you think
that the day, the happy day, the new
day of promise \vas to come ? When
do yen think we were, according to
this" Act for rendering the Sinking
Fund « MORE EFFECTUAL ;"
when, aye when do you think, that
we were, according to this improved
plan, to begin to feel the effects of it,
in the lessening of our taxes ? How
many years do you think we were to
wait ; how many years to keep paying
additional taxes for the purpose of
paying off the Debt, before we began
67]
LETTER VI.
[68
to taste of any redemption of Taxes in
consequence of it? Only FORTY
1FI V£ ! Forty Five years only had
we to wait; and now we have only
THIRTY NINE to waft, and to
pay taxes all the time, over and above
the interest upon the Debt; only thirty
nine years hefore we shall cease to
pay interest upon the whole of the
Debt existing in 1802; about Jive
eighths of the Debt, now existing.
We have been waiting ever since the
year 1786; we have been waiting for
twenty four years ; we have been
paying taxes all that time, over and
above the interest of the Debt; we
have, for twenty four years, been
paying taxes for the purpose of pay
ing off the Debt; and, now, at the
end of these twenty four years, those
of us who are alive have tlte consola
tion to reflect, that we have only
thirty nine years more tn wait and to
pay these Kinking Fund taxes, before
we shall begin to taste the fruit of all
this patience and all these sacrifices,
and that, at the blessed time here
mentioned, some of our taxes will be
taken off, unless another
Act should be passed, between this
time and that, for rendering the
lasf made Act " MORE EFFEC-
" TUAL."
Gentlemen, need I say more? Cer
tainly it is not necessary ; but, there
are still some views to take of this
matter, which having taken, we may
defy all the world to puzzle us upon
this subject again.
We have seen, that we stilt pay
interest upon the whole of the Debt ;
we have seen, in Letter IV. p. 6JJ,
that, since the Sinking Fund was es
tablished, the' interest we pay has
increased from nine millions and up
wards to thirty-two millions and up
wards; and, we humbly think, at
least I do, that so long as I am com
pelled to pay interest for a Debt, it is
no matter to whom, or under what
name, I pay it. This is an obvious
truth. There is something ' so con
summately ridiculous in the idea of a
nation's getting money by paying in
terest to itself upon its own stockj that
the mind of every rational man natu
rally rejects it. It is, really some
thing little short of madness to sup
pose, that a nation can increase its
wealth ; increase its means of paying
others ; that it can do this by paying
interest to itself. When time is taken
to reflect, no rational man will attempt
to maintain a proposition so shock
ingly absurd. I put the thing in this
way in an Article, published by me in
1804,* and 1 requested the late
REV. JOHN BRAND, who had writ
ten a great deal upon the subject, .to
look at the Article, and to tell me
what sort of answer he could find to
this part of it. He did so, and the
following was his answer :
" I have looked at your observa-
" tions on the Sinking Fund ; and the
" following is my answer to your
" great argument; namely, "that the
" " Debt said to be redeemed is an
" " imaginary discharge, because IN-
" " TEREST thereon continues to be
" " paid:'—— -If the interest does
" continue to be paid, the conclusion
" is just ; and this is the fundamental
" principle of much of what you have
"said. It is, reduced, therefore,
" to a question of fact, and I should
" say the interest does not continue to
" be paid. The same tax continues
" to be levied, it is paid also away,
" but it, is paid for another purpose;
" it is yearly applied to the paying off
"more principal; no part of it is
" Q-ppKtd to the payment of interest.
" Take an example in a private
" concern, A has on his estate a
" mortgage of £.70,000 at 3 per cent.
" which he has the liberty to pay off
" as he pleases. He determines to
" diminish his expenditure by £.1,000
" a year, at the end of the year he
" pays the interest £.2,100, and part
" of the principal <£.1,000, his pay-
" ment that year is £.3,100, and this
" sum he continues to pay annually
" till the debt is annihilated; it is
now reduced to £.69,000; at the
" end of tire second year there will
" be due for interest £.2,070, being
• REGUTVK, Vol. V. page
PAPER AGAINST GOLD.
[70
" 30 less than the year before ; when,
" therefore, the second payment oi'
" £.3,100 is made, it will consist of
" two parts, £.1,030 for principal,
" and £.2,070 tor interest. -The
" interest of the 1,000 paid off the
" first year does not continue to be
" paid in the second, and the £.30
" interest of the part of the capital
" redeemed or paid o// is now applied
* to the payment of more fapitai
" 8uch mortgager at the end of the
" year has actually paid ofi' £.1,000,
'" of year two £.2,030, and of year
" three £.3;060 18s. And that lie
" continues to pay annually the same
" sum on account of vlebt, that is, on
" account of principal and interest
" jointly, does not in the least aM'ect
" this conclusion.
Now, in the first place, you see,
MR. BRAND takes up " a new posi
tion" as most combatants do, when
they are afraid to meet their antago
nist. He is obliged to say, that we
DO NOT continue to pay interest
upon the part of the Debt, which is
bought up, or, as it is called, redeem
ed. Aye ! but, what say tbe Avts of
Parliament? They s;u3 that interest
is continued to be paid thereon : they
say, that, when any Stock, or parts wf
the I,)ebt, are bought up, or redeem
ed, by the Commissioners, " the di-
" vidends thereon shall be reeured by
" the said Commissioners," or by the
Bank on their aeount. And, what
is the language of the Accounts, laid
before Pailiament? Why, in • the
account of .the nation's Expenditure
of last year, there is the folluu in^ item :
" INTEREST on Debt of Great Bri-
" tain REDEEMED, £.4,443,519."
So that, either the Acts of Parliament
and the Public Accounts make use
of misnomers, or, 1 was right in cal
ling it interest. Besides, how com
pletely does this denial of MR. BRAND
dissipate .all our fine dreams about
the gains of the Sinking Fund ? Is it
not the commonly received notion,
that we gain money by this fund?
Are we not continually told, by the
venal writers of the day, about "what
the Fund yields '( Were we not told
by them, less than six weeks ago, that
Liiis Fund had produced such and
such sums ? And, what is meant by a
Fund's yielding and producing, if you
cast the notion of interest aside? In
what other way is it to yield? In
what other way can it produce an
addition to its amount? Yet, on the
other hand, it is impossible to adhere
to this notion of interest, without
tailing into the gross absurdity, before
mentioned, of. supposing that the na
tion can get nwney ; that it can in
crease its means of paying others, by
paying interest to itself, by becoming
the lender of money to itself, by be
coming itsou-n creditor; an absurdity,
which, as we have seen, MR. BRAND
! dared not risk his reputation in at
tempting to support.
We now come to MR. BRAND'S
" example in a private concern.**
And here, Gentlemen, suffer me once
more, and in a more pressing manner
than before, to solicit your attention ;
because we have now before us the
ground work of all the sad delusion,
which has so long existed and which
does still exist, upon this subject.
It is a natural propensity of the
mind of man to assimilate things,
v. hichhe wishes to understand, with
things which he does understand.
Hence the application of the terms
mortgage, redemption, and others, to
the Debt of the Nation. But, in this
work of assimilation, or bringing thing*
to a resemblance for the purposes of
illustration, we ought to take the
greatest care, not to make use of
violence, not to regard as alike, things
which are essentially different in their
properties; for, if we do this, error
must be the result, and I think, you
will find, that this has been done by
all those, who have reasoned like MR.
BRAND; tkat is to say, the whole. ut
those writers and speakers, who
have held forth the Sinking Fund
as likely to produce relief to the
country.
We knowr, we daily see, that pri
vate persons pay off encumbrances upon
their estates; and, we know very wrell
and very familiarly, how fast the mo-
71]
LETTER VI?
[72
iiey of private persons increases by
being permitted to lie at compound
interest. This very common portion
of knowledge appears to have been
quite enough for our Financiers, who
had, therefore, nothing to do but to
look into interest tables, where they
would not fail to fiudy that a million
a year set ajmrt, in 1786, would, at
-compound interest, pay off the then
existing Debt, in the space of sixty-
years vlrom that time. They ask no
more. This quite satisfies them.
They have no doubts upon the sub
ject ; and, accordingly, they set apart
the minion a year; that is to say,
they make a law for applying, as we
have seen, a million a year of taxes,
raised upon the nation, to the paying
of the nation's Debts. But, where is
the real similarity between this pro
ceeding and the proceeding of the
individual as supposed by Mr. Brand,
Mr. M' Arthur, Mr. Pitt and others ;
for they have all made use of the same
sort of illustration ? Where is the si
milarity in the cases ?
MR. BRAND'S individual, to whom,
for the Fake of«clearness, we will give
tho name of THRIFTY, diminishes his
expenditure, by a thousand a year;
that is, he, instead of spending it upon
beer, wine, bread, beef, and servants,
pays it annually to GOLDHAIR, who
has the mortgage upon his estate.
Now, this you will clearly see, is to
be a thousand, a year SAVED by
THRIFTY ; and, besides this, he re
solves to pay to GOLD HAIR (who has
the mortgage on the estate, mind) as
much more every year as will make
each payment equal "to wrhat lie for
merly paid on account of the interest
of the whole debt. This is an odd
sort of way to do the thing, but it is
THRIFTY'S humour, and there can
be no doubt, that, m time, iie will,
thus, pay off his mortgage. But again,
I ask, what similarity there is in
the case of JHIUFTY raid the case of
•A NATION ?
THRIFTY, wo are told; " deter-
" mines to diminish his. expenditure"
Can a K AT ION do this? THRIFTY
knows to a certainty what nis income
and what his expenditure will be ; the
former \sjixed, and over the latter he
has complete confront. Is this the
case with a NATION ? Prudent
THRIFTY does not, and indeed, the
supposition will not let him contract
a debt with SILVERLOCKS, while he
is clearing off with GOLDHAIR. Is
this the case with A NATION? But
suppose, for argument's sake, that, as
to ail these, there is, a perfect simila
rity; still is there a point of dissimila
rity, which nothing can remove.
THRIFTY, we are told, SAVES a
thousand pounds a year. Haw does
the saving arise ? Why, he has less
beer, wine, bread, beef, and servants
than he had before. His saving, then,
is made from the brewer, the wine-
merchant, the baker, the butcher, and
the footmen; or, rather, it is made from
the public ; it is made from the nation ;
it is made from a third party. But
where is the NATION to find a third
party from whom to make its saving ?
But, what we are now going to
view is the GRAND FALLACY.
In this case of THRIFTY it is suppos
ed, that he makes retrenchments from
useless expences ; that " he determines
" to diminish his expences by a thou-
" sand a year," and that, what he
WASTED before, what HE GO!1
NOTHING BY THE USE OF
BEFORE, he now applies to the
paying off of his mortgage. . This is
very rational, and very efficient it
would be ; but, is this the case with A
NATION ,? Would the money, which
is collected from the people in taxes,
for the purpose of supporting the
Sinking Fund, be wasted, if not col
lected from them ? Would it be
squandered away by the several indi
viduals who pay it, in the same man
ner that THRIFTY'S thousand a year
is supposed to have been wasted,
before lie began the work of redemp
tion ? Would it, in short, be of no
advantage to them, if it were not
taken away to be given to the Sinking
Fund ? Oh, yes ! And it would pro
duce a eempound interest, too, in the
73]
PAPER AGAINST GOLD.
[74
hands of individuals, as well as in the
bands of the Sinking Fund Commis
sioners. What has the nation gained,
then, by paying millions to Commis
sioners, instead of keeping those mil
lions in their own hands? SINCE
THE YEAR 1786, THE NATION
HAS PAID UPWARDS OJP 160
MILLIONS INTO THE HANDS
.OF THE SINKING-FUND COM-
MISSIONER8; that is to say, so
much money has been collected from
the people in taxes for the purpose of
redeeming Debt; and, if this sum
had been left in the people's hands,
would it have been of no use to them?
Would it not, at any rate, h&ve helped
to prevent the Debt ; since that time,
from being AUGMENTED IN
THE SUM OF 600 MILLIONS.
Let us give the thing one more
turn, and then, it is, I think hard, if
we may not safely quit it for ever.
THRIFTY is supposed to take his
thousand a year out of what he be
fore wasted; out of his superfluities.
But, does our Sinking Fund money;
do the taxes that we pay towards the
Sinking Fund, come oat of our su
perfluities? Arid, why suppose that
THRIFTY icasted any money before ?
Why suppose that he had any money
to u;aste? Is THRIFTY'S being in
debt,' and having his estate encum
bered; are these reasons sufficient for
concluding, that he had it in his
power to " determine to diminish his
'" exp^iices ?" Are they not rather
reasons sufficient for concluding, that
Jje was in circumstances of distress ?
Yes; and if, when we have come to
that rational conclusion, we suppose
him persuaded to believe, that he will
get out of debt by borrowing from
.SILVERLOCKS all the money that he
pays off with GOLDHAIR, and load
ing his estate with a new mortgage,
with the addition of the cost of bonds
and fees, then we shall have' before
.our eyes " an example in a private
" concern," pretty well calculated to
illustrate the celebrated scheme,
which we have now been discussing,
and of which I now flatter myself
that a single word more need never
be uttered to any man of only com
mon sense.
I am, Gentlemen,
Your faithful Friend,
WM. COBBETT.
State Priso,\, Neirgsfe, Thursday,
20IA Sept. 1810.
P. S.— - FRIDAY, 21st SEPT.— I
have just seen, in the Public Prints,
a report of a Speech, said to have
been delivered yesterday at the Bank
Company's House, in Threadneedle-
street, by Mr. RANDALL JACKSON.
I shall not, as I said before, suffer
any publications of the day to inter
rupt the course of my discussion. Li
my next LETTER, which will open
the way to that memorable transac
tion, the Stoppage of Gold and Silver
payments at the Sank of England, I
shall, in all likelihood, have occasion
to notice Mr. Jackson's Speech, not
so much on its own account, as be
cause it appears to have been highly
applauded by the people at the head
of the Bank Company, for whom,
perhaps, Mr. JACKSON, who, it seems
is a lawyer, made it in the way of
his profession. One word, however,
I must beg leave to add upon the part
of this Gentleman's speech, in which,
as the reporter says, he alluded to
me, as one who had exulted at the ap
pearance of the Bullion Report, be
cause that Report, corning from such
hiyh authority, had put the stamp cf
correctness on my opinions-. Never
did I say this ; never did I think this.
Never did I look upon the Bullion
Committee as a high authority ; and,
meanly indeed should I think of my
self, if I thought any thing, that they
could say or do, capable of adding
the smallest weight to my opinions.
No : what I exulted at was, that my
principles and doctrines, as to paper-
money, had, at last, produced practi
cal effect, a proof of which was con
tained in the Bullion Report; and
that, it was now more likely than be
fore, that such -measures would, iu
time be adopted, as would he iikt'!<
to secure the country from tin
75]
LETTER VII.
[76
tnral consequences of that over
whelming CORRUPTION, and (hat
want of love for the real Constitution,
which I regarded as the fruit of the
Paper-money System, and which,
years ago, I proved, as I think, to |
have proceeded, in great part, from j
that poisonous and all-degrading root, j
This was the cause of my exultation.
I looked upon the Bullion Report as i
tending to this great object; and, as
I prefer the accomplishment of this
object, as I look upon the happiness
and honour of my country as of
far greater value to me than any other
worldly possession, I said, and 1 stiii
say, that the Bullion Jteport has
given me more pleasure than I should
derive from being made the owner of
the whole of Hampshire. As for
any idea of a party nature, I shall, I
am sure, ho believed \\hen I say, that.
I did not care one straw to what
party the Committee belonged. If I
had a wish us to party it certainly
would be, that no change of ministry
should take place ; for, (without pre
judice to the OUTS, who, I think,
would do the thing full as well with a
little more time) I am quite satisfied
tli at the present men will do it as
neatly and as quickly as any rea
sonable man can expect.
LETTER VII.
REAL MONEY can hardly ever multiply too much in any country; because it will always, as IT iti-
•' creases, be the certain iign of the increase of TRADE, of which it is ttie measure, and consequently
" of the soundness and vijrour of the whole body. But this PAPER MONEY may, and does increase,
" without anv increase of Trade; nay often when Trade greatly drclinns. FOR IT IS NOT THE MEA-
" SURE OF THE TRADE OF ITS NATION, BUT OF THE NECESSITY OF ITS GOVERNMENT ;
" and it is absurd, im*./ mint be ruinous, that the same cause which naturally exhausts the weulttt of a Na
tion should likewise be the only productive cause of money." — BURKE.
Review of the Ground over which we have passed in the foregoing Letters— Opening the
Way into the History of the Bank's Stoppage in 171)7 — Yague Notion about the In
crease of Bank-Notes bein? a Sign of an Increase of Trade and Wealth and Pros-
f perity — This Notion examined — Mr. Handle Jackson's Speech inveighing against those
who have recommended that he and his Partners shall he compelled to Pay their Pro
missory Notes in two Years — His Notion that an Increase of Bank Notes naturally
arises from ;ni Increase of Trade-~Abase heaped upon those who wish the Bank to pay
its Notes — Snch Persons called Riflers and accused of wishing to destroy tlie Credit of
Old England — An Increase of Promissory Notes is a Proof of an Increase of Debt —
Five Ways in which Bank-Notes get out into circulation — Absurdity of supposing that
»n Increase of Promises-to-pay are a Sign of an Increase of the Means of Payinc—
N. »•;. An Account of the Distresses arising from the Failure of the Banks at Salisbury
and Shaftsbury.
GENTLEMEN,
IN the foregoing Letter, we closed
the discussion relative to the Sinking
Fund; and that brought us to a
point, to a sort of stage-, or resting
place, on our way, from which point
it will be advantageous for us to take
a brief review of the ground over
which we have passed ; for, when the
design of the writer is to serve the
cause ef truth, and especially when
I the truths he wishes to make ap-
j parent, have been industriously en-
i veloped in darkness; in such a case,
every other quality in writing ought
to yield to that of clearness.
It was stated, at the out-set of our
inquiries, that the Chief Object of
them was, to ascertain, or, at least,
to enable ourselves to form a decided
opinion, " Whether it be possible,
" without a total destruction of all
77]
PAPER AGAINST GOLD.
[78
" the paper-money, to restore Gold
" and Silver to circulation amongst
" MS." In pursuit of this object, it
became necessary for us to make
some preliminary inquiries as to the
cause of the Gold and Silver haviny
gone out of circulation.
The cause, the immediate cause,
that is to say the cause which came
close before the effect, was the in
crease of the paper-money. This
cause was evident to evory one ; but,
then, it became us to inquire what
had been the cause of that increase;
otherwise our inquiries would have
been as useless as would be those of
a tanner, who, upon finding a score
of his sheep dead, should content
himself with ascertaining that they
had been killed with a knife, without
making any inquiry as to the person
by whom the destructive instrument
had been used. Common sense,
therefore, dictated to us to inquire
into the cause, or causes, of the in
crease of the paper-money; and, iu
order to come at a clear understand
ing with respect to these causes, we
were obliged to go bark to the inaus
picious origin of the paper-money
system, that fatal system, whence
arose the National Debt, that Debt
which even PITT himself, the great
abettor of the system, called " the
" best ally of France"
During this retrospect, we have
seen, that the Bank of England is
merely a Company of trailers, whose
charter arose out of a loan which they
made to the Government, and that,
at its institution, it never entered into
the mind of man, that these traders
were ever to be protected by law
from paying, in the king's coin, their
promissory notes,' as they have been
from February 1797 to* the present
day. We have seen, in proceeding
to inquire into the cause of this non
payment or stoppage, on the part of
the Bank, in 1797, that the Bank
notes have gone on increasing in quan
tity, and that these notes, of which,
for more than half a century, there
wore none yndcr 20 pounds, appear
ed, in the war of 1755, in the shape
of 15 pounds and 10 pounds; and,
during PITT'S war against the French
revolution, which war he carried on,
in part at least, for the avowed pur
pose of destroying the finances of
France, we have seen that they ap
peared in the shape, first, of 5 pounds,
and, at last, in the shape of 2 pounds
and 1 pound. We have, in order the
better to understand the history of the
Bank Stoppage in 1797, and the
better to estimate its consequences,
taken a view of the Funds and Stocks
and National Debt; we have seen
how they arose; we have described
their nature ; we have traced them
in their dreadful progress; we have
seen how the National Debt has gone
on increasing, from the reign of Wil
liam the Third to the present day;
we have seen how exactly the in
crease of the National Expenditure
and the Taxes and the Poor Hates
have kept |>dice w»th the increase of
the Debt; ami, in the three last
Letters, we IMVC seen an ample de-
vclopemcnt, a clear exposure, of the
schemes for " redeeming" or " pay-
" iny off," that Debt, and we have
seen, that during the operation of
those schemes of redemption, the
Debt has gone on increasing, and,
that the interest we pay upon the
Debt, has, .since the Grand Scheme
of PITT has been in force, been aug
mented from 9 millions a year to 32
millions a year.
This is what we have seen and
what we have done. And having
now, to use the sportsman's language,
made good our ground, we may be
gin to move forwards towards the in
teresting history, of the stoppage of
gold and silver payments at the Bank
of England, in 1797.
Our first step, in opening the way
into this history, must be to obtain a
clear notion with regard to the man
ner, in which bank notes are issued,
or put out into circulation among the
people ; or, rather, with regard to
the immediate causes of putting them
out. For unless we have a clear uii-
79]
LETTER VII,
[80
derstunding upon this point, we shall
liave but a confused idea of the more
distant causes, of their increase.
There, is, apparently, a vague, or
indistinct, notion, floating in the minces
of some men,' that the increase of the
bank notes is an indication, or sign,
of an increase of TRADE, of WEALTH,
and of PROSPERITY, which, as you
must have perceived, are, by such
persons, always jumbled .and con
founded together, for want of proper
attention to the facts and principles,
which we have stated and laid down
iu Letter III, from page 23 to page
37. But, we must not suffer our-
selves to fall into this confusion ; and,
indeed, does not common sense reject
the notion, that an increase of pro
missory notes, which necessarily ar
gues the want of tbe means, of the
person, issuing them, to pay in specie;
docs not common sense, does not the
plain understanding of every plain
man, reject, with scorn, the notion,
that such an increase is a sign of in
creasing wealth and prosperity iu the
person, or body, or community, by
whom the issue is made? Why does
our neighbour NEKDY give a note of
hand in payment of his rent or of his
taylor's bill ? Why, because he has
not the money in his pocket or his
drawer. And, are we to be made to
believe, that the circumstance of his
not having money to pay what he
owes is a proof of his wealth and pros
perity ? We have been persuaded to
believe many things; but, I think,
that, at tin's day, we shall not be per
suaded to believe this. At the time
of the numerous bankruptcies, in 1703,
just after PITT'S war broke out, PITT>
asserted, that they were a sign of
national prosperity, and was almost
huzzaed for the assertion; but, we have
Jiad time now to experience, time to
feel, the worth of PITT'S assertions,
predictions, plans, and measures; and,
with the benefit of this lesson, we
shall not, now, be so easily persuad
ed, that bankruptcy is a sign of pros
perity ; though, it must, I think, be
allowed, that it is full as true a sign of
discovered in the increase of promis
sory notes, which increase i«, and must
be, always an infallible sign of a
want, in a greater or a less degree, of
the means to make payment in money.
As to the increase of Trade, that,
indeed, will demand, as we shall here
after more fully sec, a certain in
crease of circulating medium, or
money, as must be evident to every
man, who reflects, but for one moment,
upon the subject; because, where
there are ten purchases of a pound
each to be made (supposing them to
be made in the same space of time)
twice as rnuoh money will be wanted
as where there are only five purchases
of a pound each to be made. But,
the increase of trade, that is to say,
the increase of purchases and sale's,
or, in other words, the increase of
MONEY'S WORTH things, though
it is a very solid reason for the in
crease of money, is no reason at all for
the increase of promissory notes, and
especially of promissory notes which
will not bring money in, exchange for
them. The man, who is in a great
way of trade, gives more promissory
notes than a man in a small way;
but, he Uas proportionate means, and,
at any rate, does not give notes with
out possessing the value of them in*
goods, or property of ?ome kind, in
moneys-worth things ; and of course
bis notes are convertible into money ;
but, is this the case with the notes of
the Bank ? Is this the case with the
notes of any of our Banks ? Such a
man stands in need of no law to pro
tect him against the demands of the
holder of his notes; but there is a
law to protect the Bank of England
against the demand of any holder ot
its notes, who may wish to have gui
neas in exchange for those notes.
And, can the increase of such notes
be regarded as a sign of the increase
of trade?
Yet this is a favourite fallacy with
those, who either do not understand
the matter, or who, while they do un
derstand it, Avish to deceive the v, orld,
and the people of this country in par-
\ ro^pority as that which has now been j ticujar. This same fallacy was. put
81]
PAPEH AGAINST GOLD.
fortli with great assurance, at the
House of the Bank in Thread needle-
Street, London, no longer ago than
last Friday, by the Gentlemen, a Mr.
RANDALL JACKSON, mentioned in
the Postscript to the last Letter, page
73, in a speech, the whole of which
(together with the speeches of the
GOVERNOR or THE BANK and of a
Mr. PAYN, a Country Banker), as
reported in the Morning Chronicle,
of "Saturday last, will ho found in the
APPENDIX, A, and which I beg
leave to recommend to your attentive
perusal.
MR. JACKSON, who is, it would
seem, a proprietor of Bank Stock;
that is to say, one of the Bank Com
pany ; that is to say, one of the per
sons in whose name the Bank-notes
are issued ; that is to say, one of the
persons, who put forth the promissory
notes of the Bank ; that is to say, one
of the persons who derive a profit,
who get rich, from the putting out of
those notes; MR. JACKSON most
Itmdiy inveighs against the Bullion
Committee, and, indeed, pretty round
ly abuses them ; pretty roundly abuses
a Committee of the House of Com
mons, for having recommended to
the House to pass a law to oblige him
and his partners to pay their notes
agreeably to promise; and, this he
does, you will observe, at the very
time that he is railing against the re
volutionists of France, for their level
ling principles, and insinuating, that
there are such levellers now at work
in England ; all which may be very
natural in MR. JACKSON;' for, who
that is protected by law from the
payment of his promissory notes,
would wish that law to be repealed,
and its place supplied by a law to
compel him to pay ? It may be veiy
natural for a gentlemen, so situated,
to abuse the Committee; but, it would
be very foolish in the people; very
foolish in the holders of his notes;
very foolish in 'his creditors, to join
in such abuse. IJpon this part of his
speech, however, we shall find a more
suitable place for extending our re
marks, and also Kxwr noticing what he
said about the vast increase of Cotin-
try Banks, without seeming to per
ceive, that that increase has been
owing solely to the lawr which pro
tected, and still protects, the Bank of
England against the Gold and Silver
demands of its creditors. Upon these
parts of his speech, and upon his as
sertions respecting a debt said to be
due to the Bank from the public ;
upon his statement of the causes of
the Bank stoppage ; upon the wonder
ful unanimity of all the speakers at
this Meeting of the partners of the
Bank Company, in declaring, that
there would be NO GOOD in their
paying of their promissory notes in
Gold and Silver; upon all these to
pics, and upon some others, brought
forward at the Bank Company's
Meeting, we shall' find, hereafter, a
more suitable opportunity for making
and applying our remarks, which, in
deed, belong to other parts of our
subject, and, therefore, we will, at;
present, confine ourselves to the only
topic, introduced into these speeches,
which belong to the part -of our sub
ject now immediately before us ;
namely, the notion, that the increase
of bank-notes naturally arises from an
increase of trade.
Since, however, 1 have- digressed
so far, I take tlip liberty to continue
on a little further for the purpose of
noticing a paragraph, in a newspaper
of this very morning (Monday, 24th
Sept.), which imitates MR. JACKSON
in abusing those, .who are desirous of
seeing the Bank Company once more
pay their promissory notes in Gold
and Silver. " We are happy," says
this writer, " to find, that tho opinion
" we have more than once expressed
" upon this subject is sanctioned by
" the first authorities in the Comitry,
" and that the mischievous idea of
" throwing open the Bank immediate-
" ly to be rifled by the engrossers and
"exporters of guineas, is universality
<c reprobated. Sir John Sinclair has
" taken up the pen upon th,e Subject,
"and most ably does he treat it.
" Neither the authority of the Com-
" mittee, nor the clamours of 'those
S3]
LETTER VII.
* who wish to destroy the public credit
' of Old England have been siiffi-
' cient to intimidate that highly in-
* formed and much respected Gentle-
' men from coming forward to vindi
cate truth and dispel a most mischie
vous delusion" What Gentlemen!
is a recommendation to pass a law to
oblige the Bank Company to begin to
pay its promissory notev in gold and
silver, at the end, of two years ; is this
to be called " throwing open11 the
Bank to he " rifled?' Are you and
all of us, who hold hank notes, to be
denominated " riflers" or robbers, be
cause we may wish to be paid the
amount of those notes in gold and
silver? Is a desire to see the Bank
pay its promissory notes upon de
mand., agreeably to the words written
in them, and to see the king's coin once
more come back into circulation
amongst us; is this desire to be at
tributed to a " wish to destroy the
" public credit of uld England?"
Gentlemen, this language shews two
things : first, that those who use it
entertain a most hearty contempt for
the people of England; and, second,
that their cause is so very bad, that
they dare not even attempt to offer in
support of it any thing bearing the
shape of an argument.
Leaving the Bank Company to the
support of these railers, let us now,
with the calmness and candour which
belong to the cause of truth, return to
our inquiry, whether the increase of
the bank notes has arisen from an in
crease of trade, and, if not, what has
been the real cause, or causes, of that
increase of bank notes which has dri
ven the gold and silver out of circula
tion.
We have seen, that a real increase
of trade means, an increase in pur
chases and sales, or, in other words,
an increase in commodities, or things,
which are really worth money. Con
sequently an increase of trade will
'naturally demand an increase of mo
ney; but, what it demands is an in
crease of real money, seeing that the
increase of the trade itself is no other
than an increase of moneys worth
things ; and, that the increase of its
demand will not be for paper, or for
notes not convertible into money.
Precisely the contrary ; and, in pri
vate concerns, we every day see, that
it is the falling off of a man's real
trade, it is the lessening of his quan
tity of money's worth things, that in
duces him to have recourse to tlio
issue of paper, paper which he can
not turn into money. In a word, it
is DEBT that makes a man give pro
missory notes. An increase of trade
always implying an increase of mo
ney's worth things, brings, of itself,
an increase of real money, unless that
money be by some unnatural cause
withheld from circulation. It is just
the same with a nation, whose in
crease of money's worth things will
bring to it an exactly proportionate
increase of real money/ if that money
be not kept hack, or driven out again,
by some unnatural cause ; but, DEBT,
and the attendants upon debt, lead to
the issuing of bank notes, or, to
paper of some sort or other, or, to a
something, no matter what it be,
which has not a real value in itself.
Real money is the representative of
MONEY'S WORTH THINGS:
promissory notes are the represen
tatives of DEBT; and, this we shall
clearly see, as we proceed in examin
ing into the way, or rather, the divers
ways, in which bank notes get out
into circulation amongst the people.
The bank notes have in them noth
ing of a mystical nature. They are the
joint work of paper-maker, an engra
ver, a printer, and the person who
puts his name, in writing, at the bot
tom of them. Being thus brought to
perfection, they are delivered at the
Bank Company's House, or Shop,
FIRST, to any persons, to whom tfye
Company may owe meney, for work
done to their buildings, or to others
for keeping their books, or for paper,
or for printing, or, in short, for anyr
services performed for them. A SE
COND way, in which the notes get
out, is through what is called discount
ing ; that is to say, loans of bank
notes made to private persons, for
85]
PAPER AGAINST GOLD.
[86
which the borrower leaves in posses
sion of the Company a note tff hand
or bill of exchange, that is to say, an
engagement to pay back again as
much as he receives together with
interest for the time, or, rather, the
interest is deducted when the loan is
made. A THIRD way, in which the
notes get out, is through the advances,
or loans, which the Bank makes to the
Government, by way of anticipation
upon the taxes, before they come in.
A FOUKTH way is through the pay
ment of the interest of Exchequer
Hills, or ]\'avy Bills, which are a sort
of promissory notes, given by the go
vernment, and upon which the Bank
.sometimes pays the interest, and, at
other times, discounts them, or pur
chases them of the holders at the
current price; but, in every case, a
fresh parcel of bank notes, get, through
the means of these bills, into circula
tion. A FIFTH way, in which the
notes get out, is through the payment
ef the dividends or the interest, of the
Stock, or National .Debt, which divi
dends are paid quarterly; and, as we
have before seen, (lie amount is three
times as great as it was at the begin
ning1 of PITT'S war against the Jaco
bins of France, which we have called
the ANTI-JACOBIN WAR.
Now, without enumerating any
more of the ways, in which bank
notes get into circulation, is it not as
clear as the Sun at noon-day, that
thry are always the representatives of
DPiBT ? Is it not a fact that no one
can deny, that the increase of them
proceeds from the increase of Debt,
and not from the increase of trade?
Away, then, with the nonsense of
those dreamers, who would persuade
us that an issue of promissory notes
proceeds from an increase of money s
worth things! Away, with the idle
talk about an increase of things of real
value calling for an increase of paper
promises! Away, away, with the
confused, the childish notion, that an
increase of the means of paying pro
duces an increase of promises to pay!
As well mkht any one tell you, that
the increase of the paper of the Salis
bury* and Shaftesbury banks arose
from the increase of the mean* of
* The scenes at SALISBURY, on account
of the failure of the Banks at that city and
at Shaftesbury, have been truly distressing.
At Salisbury in particular, where the great
est part of the sufferers live, the poor people
were, in many cases, without victuals or
drink for some time, and many persons, in
a respectable way of life, were for many
days together, obliged to sit down to dine
upon little more than bread, no meat being
to be purchased with the only sort of money
(if a debased paper ought, for a moment, to
go by that name) which was, generally
speaking, in possession of the people. Many
persons, in the lower ranks of life, who had
gathered together a few pounds, the fruit
of long labour and anxious care, of frugalit j%
and of forbearance from enjoyment ; the
fruit, in short, of an exercise of all the
domestic virtues, and destined to be the
provision, as the saying ic, " against a rainy
day," that is, to be the source of comfort iii
sickness or in old age ; many persons of this
description, the heart ache of one of whom
ought to give us more pain than to see fifty
thousand Public Robbers swinging from so
many gibbets ; many persons of this descrip
tion; many of these very best of the people,
saw their little all vanish in a moment, and
themselves reduced to the same state witk
the improvident, the careless, the lazy, the
spendthrift,' the drunkard, and the glutton,
looking back upon a life of labour and of
care, and looking forward to the misery and
disgrace of a woikhouse! To describe tbe
scene, when the Meetings of Creditors took
place, at Salisbury, would be impassible.
The Council Chamber of the city (for no
other place, except the Cathedral, would
have contained a twentieth part of them),
was surrounded with such multitudes, and
so eager were they, in pressing forward,
that some were in danger of their lives ;
and the constables, from necessity, perhaps,
laid their .staves about the heads of many of
those who came to demand their due,
particularly, as I am informed, on the 7th of
this month. What a scene was this ! Here,
PITT, if he had still been alive, might hav*
seen a specimen of the fruits of his system !
The holders of the notes, were, I under
stand, each of them c-ompelled to be at the
expence of an affidavit, and obliged also, to
attend ill person, or by an attorney, at the
Meeting of Creditors, and also for the re
ceipt of the dividends whenever any shall
take place. It is t-asy, therefore, to ron-
ceive what portion of payment will ever fall to
the lot of hundreds of poor men and women,
living at a distance from Salisbury, and
scattered about in country places, where a
news-paper is hardly ever seen. One of the
banks was eaUed the Salisbury and Slu]ftej~
bury bank, aud part of the note* are ii*it'i at
87]
LETTER VII.
[88
paying their debts, an assertion, which, r truth than the assertion above noticed,
with the present scenes before your
eyes, might be a little more impu
dent, but not a whit more contrary lo
one place, and part at the tither. Those
notes, which were dated at the latter place,
were to be proved at meetings to be held
there; so that, many of the poor fellows,
who had brought their notes to Salisbury,
were told, that they must curry them to
Shqftfslury, a place at twenty miles distance!
The holder of each note, \ras, I understand,
compelled, in order to have a claim to any
dividend, to swear that he had given the fv'll
value of the note; so that, one man cmild not
demand payment of the note of any other man ;
and, people could not sell the notes for any
thing below thfir nominal vaftte. It is evident,
that, under circumstances like these, a great
portion of the poor people who hold any of
these notes, will lose the whole amount of
them. I have two men, for instance, who
had Ihe misfortune to be of this number,
James Gullingham and William Hurckett,
the former of whom had a five pound note,
and the latter a one pound note, both issued
under the name of Bowles, Ogden, and
Wyndham, and both which notes I have
now lying upon the table before me. These
men are at twenty-eight miles distance from j
Salisbury ; to present the notes at the Meet
ing would have required three days absence
from home in the midst of harvest, besides
their expences at Salisbury and upon the
road, which, without the expence of the
affidavit, would have amounted to more
than the one pound note of Hurckett, to
say nothing about the expences attending
the receipt of the dividends. Indeed, upon ,
and, I trust, completely refuted*
I am, Ge-ntlemen,
Your faithful friend,
WM. COBBETT.
State Prison, 1$ (negate^ Monday,
24*A September, J810.
the circumstances being related to me, I
was quite satisfied that any attempt of poor
Guilingham to recover his debt from Messrs.
Bowles, Ogden, and Wyndham, even sup
posing them to pay 20 shillings in the pound,
would be a losing concern, and that the best
way was for me to take the debt off their
hands. I intend to send the pretty little
bits of paper down to them, with a request,
that they will paste them upon two little
boards, and hang thein^up in their cottages,
not only by way of ornament, but as a
lesson to their neighbours and their chil
dren. I dare say* that there are many con
siderate masters who will act in like man
ner; but, it must be manifest to every one,
that hundreds of poor families will suffer,
and very severely sutler, from this one
failure. What, then, must be the conse
quence, if tlwse failures should become general;
and, does it not become every one, who
wishes to see the peace and independence
of the country preserved, to use his utmost
endeavours to convince the public of the
necessity of measures to restore to circula
tion the gold and silver coin, and thereby to
prevent, if possible, those dreadful convul
sions, in which the issue of a paper curren
cy, not convertible into specie, have but too
frequently, not to say, invariably,
©ntereU at Stationers'
Printed by W. MOLINEUX, 5, Bream's Buildings, Chancery Lane; Published by WM,
COBBETT, Jun. No. 3, Catherine Street, Strand: aud Retailed at No.
Strand,
° 4.]-€OBBETFS PAPER AGAINST GOLD.— [Price Two-Pence.
[90
LETTER VIIL
" That provisions and labonf ShouM become dear by the increase 6f trade and money, is, in many respects
" an ii.convenieuce ; but an iuconvenieuce that is unavoidable, and the effect of that public wealth, and
" pioipcrity which arc the end of all our wishes. It is compensated by the ads'antagcs which we reap from
" the possession of those PRECIOUS METALS, and the weight which, they give the nation in all foreign
" •uarj And negotiations ; but there appears no reason for increasing th*t inconvenience by a counterfeit
11 manty, which foreigner* will not accept of in any payment, and whiclt any great disorder in the state
•' Kill reduce to nothing."'' Hume.
Further Observations respecting the fallacious Notion that Paper Money is the Con
sequence of an Increase of Trade? and of National Prosperity — Sir John Sinclair's Idea
about Roads and Canal* —Exemplification in the Instances of France and the American
States — Destruction of the Paj.er Money in both those « Countries, the dawn 6f
National Prosperity — Our own history shows the Influence of a National Debt in
producing Bank Notes — Our Bank was the Offspring of the Debt— The Bank was
necessary *in order to pay the Interest of the Debt — Boldness of Mr. Jackson and
Sir John Sinclair in asserting that Paper Money is necessary to Trade, and is a Mine
of National Prosperity-— What would Hume have said if he had been told that
Scotland would produce a Man to assert what Sir John Sinclair Las asserted ? — The
" to HERE !'' and the " to THERE !" — The real cause of the increase of the Bank
Notes— That Increase shown to have kept pace with the Increase of the Debt-
Conclusion of this part of our subject.
GENTLEMEN,
IN the foregoing Letter we opened
the way towards the history of the
Stoppage of Gold and Silver, or,
Real-money payments, at the Bank of
England, in the year 1797, by show
ing the divers ways, in which bank
notes get out into circulation, or, in
other words, the divers motives for
making those notes; and by clearly
showing also, in reasoning upon gef=
neral principles, that it is Debt and
not Wealth, that generates promissory
notes, of whatever sort they may be,
or by whomsoever issued. So fond,
however, have we been upon this sub
ject, and such great pains, for so long
a time, have been taken to make us
believe, that the increase of the paper-
currency proceeds from an increase
of Trade, or of something favourable
to us, that I should not be perfectly
W. MOLINEUX, Printer, Bream'f Birt!ding«
e.
satisfied with myself, were I to hasten
forward, without first submitting to
you all the observations that hare
occurred to me upon this part of our
subject.
When those, who, from whatever
motive, have written in favour of the
Paper System, have had to account
for the vast increase in the quantity
of the bank-notes, they have always
had recourse to our " increasing
" trade" and " wealth" and " pros-
" perity" and "improvement;" and
they have, like SIR JOHN SINCLAIR,
bid us look at the increase of turnpike
roads and canals and harbours ana
new inclosures. Now, this reference
to roads, canals,harbours, and enclo
sures is singularly unhappy ; for, the
Emperor Napoloon, in his annual
speeches, to his Corps Legislatif, or
Parliament, tells them of new roads
91]
PAPER AGAINST GOLD.
[02
and canals, compared to which ours
arc not worth naming, while we kno\v
pretty well that lie has, during this
war even, made a harbour and an
arsenal and a jlcct too, where there,
was before no semblance of mariiiwe
means, to get at which fleet, or, rather,
to attempt to get at it, has cost us all
the lives and all the millions of taxes
expended in the Walcheren Expedi
tion ; and, while we see, that, as to
agricultural improvements, France is
able to let us haw bread. Therefore,
as this is the case in France, and as
these same writers assure us, that the
people of France are in a state of
extreme »mw/, methinks that new
.ds and roads and harbours and
asrrieult vsral improvements should not,
'by these writers, at any rate he cited
as proofs of National prosperity.
But, what have these exertions of
genius and industry; these efforts of
bodily or mental faculties of a
j.eopje; what have these to do with
paper-money? There is no paper-
money in France. Yet the French
make roads and canals and harbours
and agricultural improvements. There
is no paper-money, by which we al-
wavs mean, paper nut convertible into
gold or silcer at the will of the holder;
there is no paper of this kind in the
AMKRICAN STATES ; yet, it is pretty
notorious, that there are improve
ments going on in those States, some
of which are- truly astonishing, and one
instance in particular, t cannot help
giving you. just as I found it publish
ed in the London news-papers of the
llth of last month* Having seen
* It is now a little more than five years,
v.:ncc a number of German families, styling
themselves "THF, HARMONY SOCIETY;" went
to the United States, with the view of fonn-
itt« a distinct settlement. They soon planted
themselves in the wilderness of BUTLER
COTJNTV, in the north-western corner of
Pr s.sti VANIA. The following account of
tbe origin and progress of their settlement
fs copied from the Mirror, a paper publish
ed In the neighbourghood of this frugal, in-
and thriving people.— The Asso-
and admired this wonderful, and,
perhaps, unparalleled, instance of
prosperity and happiness proceeding
from the united exertions of genius
and industry; and, being at the same
time, aware, that something approach
ing towards it must necessarily be
going on in other parts of the coun
try, you have only to know, that there
is no suck thing as a paper-money in
any part of that country; for, then your
conclusion must be, that a paper-mo
ney is not necessary to create, or to
aid the operations of, genius and in
dustry ; and, history, at onci; to in
form and console you, affords you
these further facts, that both in France
and America, there has been a papey-
money ; that, in both countries, that
money has met with its total destruc
tion; and that, since such destruc
tion, both countries have flourished
much more than they did" while that
money was in existence.
What have the partizans of the
Paper System to offer in answer to
this ? Will any one of them venture
to look these facts in the face ? I do
not believe they will. They will, I
should suppose, rather choose to con
fine themselves to a dull re-assertion
of their former assertions, inter
spersed, may be, with a seasoning of
abuse upon those, by whom their igno
rance, or insincerity, is detected and
exposed. But, without resorting to
the instances furnished in foreign
countries, have we not, in the history
of our own finances, quite a sufficient
proof, that paper-money, or, indeed,
bank-notes of any sort, are not the re-
ciation of Harmony had its origin in Ger
many upwards of 20 years ago ; and feeling
themselves much oppressed on account of
their religion, they concluded to seek a
country where they could exercise their re-
ligiou without hindrance or oppression. —
They chose the United States of America.
In the year 1804, in December, about 20
fancies* arrived in Zelin.ople, in the neigh
bourhood of which, Mr. George Kapp,
with some others, bought about 4,700 acres
of land, and during that fall built nine log-
03]
LETTER VIII.
[94
presentatives of any thing but Debt?
In every country, of which we have
any knowledge, a Government-Debt
has been accompanied with bank-notes,
or payments in paper, of some sort or
other, no matter under what name.
The .Debt, in England, did, as we
have seen (Letter II, p. 17), begin in
the year 1G92; and there appeared,
at first, no intention to pay either the
interest or the principal in any thing
hut the usual gold and silver-coin of
the country . People lent their guineas
and crown pieces, and there was not
the smallest notion of their being re
paid in any thing but guineas and
crown pieces. But, it was soon
found, that to pay the interest of its
houses. — fn the year 1805, in the spring,
the. Society consisted of about 50 families :
they laid out the town of Harmony on their
own land, and in tlutf. spring built twelve
log-houses 94 feet by 18, built a large barn,
cleared 25 acres round the town, and 151
acres for corn, and 50 acres for potatoes ; a
grist-mill was built this year, the race
;}-Sths of a mile long, and 15 acres cleared
for meadow, the other ground sowed with
wheat and rye ; in the fall and winter, 30
houses more were built.— In the year 1806
an inn was built two stories high, 4L2 by 32
feet, and some other houses ; 300 acres
cleared for corn, 58 acres for meadow ; an
oil-mjll was built, and a tannery, a blue
dyer's shop, and a frame barn 100 feet long.
In the year 1807, 360 acres were cleared
for grain and a meadow, a brick store
house built, a saw-mill and beer-brewery
erected, and four acres of vines' planted*:
in this year the Society sold 500 biishils of
grain, and 3,000 gallons of whiskey manu
factured by themselves of Iheir own pro
duce.— In the year 1808, a considerable
quantity of ground cleared, a n^eeting-
honse built of brick, 70 feet long and 55
feet wide, another brick-house br.iit. some
other buildings.and stables for caUie pot
ash, soap-boHcr and candle-drawer shop.*
erected, a frame barn of 80 feet long b.iilt.
Of the produce of this year was sold $.'.,000
bushels of grain; and 1,400 bushels were
distilled. — In the year 1S09, a fulling-mill
was built, which does a great deal of busi
ness for the. country, also a hemp-null, an
oil-mill, a grist-mill^ a brick-warehouse 46
feet by 36, and another brick-building of
the* same dimensions, one of which has a
cellar completely arched Tinder the whole,
Debt, the government needed some
thing other than gold and silver;
which, indeed, any one might have
foreseen, because the Debt itself ne
cessarily arose from the want of gold
and silver within the reach of the go
vernment. It was, therefore, supreme
folly to suppose, that the government,
who had borrowed people's guinea*
from want, would long have guineas
enough to carry on wars and to pay
those people too. Accordingly, in
only two years after the Debt began,
the Bank was established ; the Bank
made notes; these notes, as far as
they went, supplied the place of real
money ; and, very soon, by giving all
possible countenance and support to
for the purpose of a wine-cellar. A con
siderable quantity of land cleared this year.
The produce of this year was 6,000 bushels
ef Indian corn, 4,500 bushels of wheat,
5,000 bushels of oats, 10,000 bushels of po
tatoes, 4,00011)5. of hemp and flax, 100
bushels of barley brewed into beer, and 50
gallons of sweet oil, made from the white
poppy. Of the produce of this year will be
sold, 3,000 bushels of corn, 1,000 bushels of
potatoes, 1,000 bushels of wheat ; l,yoo
bushels of rye will be distilled.— In th*-.
year 1810 will be erected a barn 90 feet
long, a school-house 50 feet by 44 wide, a
grist-mill with three pair of stones, one of
which will be burrs, and some small brick -
houses for families.— The society now con
sists of 180 persons, comprising 140 families,
they have now 1,600 acres of land cleared,
203 acres whereof are in meadow, aii<i
possess at present G,000 acres of land. —
There are different tradesmen members of
of this society, who work for the country as
v.ell as the society, to wil : Twelve shoe
makers, six taylors, twelve weavers, three
wheel-wrights, five coopers, six blacksmiths-,
two nail-smiths, three rope-makers, three-
blue dyers, ten carpenters, four cabinet^
makers, two sadlers, two waggon-makers,
twelve masons, two potters, one soap-boiler,
a doctor and apothecary, but neither pur son
nor kurj,e.K, and in a short time a hatter and
a tin-plate worker are expected.— During
the last year the shoemakers alone worked
for the country to the amount of 112 dollars
anl 8 cents, the coopers/to the amount of
207 dollars, the sadlers to 'the amount of
759 dollars 54 cents, the tannery 675 dol
lars, .the blacksmiths 1UO dollars.
D2
PAPER AGAINST GOLD.
the Bank, the government got great
Eart of the interest of its Debt paid in
ank notes. Thus were the bank
notes, from the very oijtset, as, in
deed, all promissory notes must be,
the representatives of Debt, and not
of wealth, of prosperity, or of trade ;
and, if this was the case, at a time
when these notes were convertible into
yoid and silver, shall we now look
. upon them in a better light ?
In spite, however, of the voice of
history and of reason, and even in
spite of common sense, there are (as
in the instances of MR. KANDALL
JACKSON and SIR JOHN SINCLAIR)
men to he found, so ignorant or so
hardy as to hold up bank-notes, pro
missory notes, and promissory notes,
too, not convertible into real money :
there are men to be found to hold up
this paper-money, which, as we have
clearly shewn, is always issued in
consequence of Debt, in consequence
of a want of real money, and which
paper-money is, as BURKE (See the
Motto to Letter VII, page 76) well
describes it, " not the measure of the
" trade of its nation, but of the neces-
t( sities of its government:" there are
men to be found, who, like MR. JACK
SON, insist that an increase of paper-
money is called for by an increase of
trade; and, who, like the bolder
BARONET, scruple not to assert, that
" the abundance of circulation" (speak
ing of bank-notes not convertible into
uo4d and silver) " is the great source
" of Mir opulence and strength, and a
" MINE of national prosperity ';" yea,
who have the boldness to call pro
missory notes, which are issued only
because the issuers are not able to
pay in money, a mine of national
prosperity; and, who are hardy
enough to make this assertion at the
very moment when they themselves
are declaring, that it would be ruinous
to attempt to force the issuers of such
notes to pay them in money when
presented.
HUME, as will be seen from that
passage of his Essay on Money, from
which I liave taken my inofto, ob
serves, that there is an inconvenience
in the increase of real money, which,
as was shown- in the last Letter, is
naturally produced by an increase of
trade ; and he calls bank-notes
(though, observe, convertible into gold
and silver, as they were in his time),
counterfeit money. What, then,
would he have said of our present
bank-notes ; what would he have said
of bank-notes not convertible into
gold and silver ; and what would he
have said, if he had been told, that
Scotland would produce a man, who
would tell the people of Great Britain,
and in print too, that such bank-notes
are a mine of National Prosperity ?
We have now, I think, said quite
enough to convince any man, whose
faculties enable him to distinguish
falsehood from truth, that the notion
of an increase of trade demanding an
increase of paper-money is one of the
most gross delusions, that either igno
rance or an intention to deceive ever
attempted to practise upon mankind.
We have, in short, clearly shown,
that the increase of bank-notes, and'
of promissory notes of every descrip
tion, are produced by Debt, are the
offspring and representatives of Debt,
and that real money, and real money
only, is the representative of property,
or wealth, or things of real value, and,
of course, that an increase of trade,
which is only another term for an in
crease of moneys-worth things, de
mands, and if there be no unnatural
cause to prevent it, will, of itself,
bring into circulation an increase of
real money.
To acknowledge this truth would,
however, have been so manifestly in
jurious to the Paper Money System,
that it is not surprizing that the par-
tizans of that system (which is but
another name for those who have pro
fited, and do still profit, from it)
should have taken uncommon pains
to avoid the acknowledgment, and
even to maintain, with their utmost
ability, any opinion of a contrary
tendency. ' Hence all the absurdities,
that we find in the various speeches
97]
LETTER VIII.
[98
and pamphlets, uttered and written
upon the subject, and in which the
increase of the bank-notes, and now
of the paper-money, have been, at
different times, attributed to almost
every cause but the real one. At one
time it was the enterprize in com-
merce ; at another, the enterprize in
roads and canals; at another, the
-" pressure of the war," which was, as
a distant cause, true ; at another, it
was a " temporary alarm ;" at
another, it was speculations abroad;
at another it was the " influx of
" wealth;" at another, it was Jaco
binism; and now, there are three
causes, an increase of trade, the em
barrassment to trade occasioned by
Napoleon's commercial warfare
against us, and the exportation of gold!
These last-mentioned causes, which
any one may hear' from, perhaps, the
three first persons whom he meets in
Threadneedle Street, do, to be sure,
most admirably accord with eacli
other ! But, it is the lot of falsehood
to contradict itself.
In the meanwhile, however, very
great is the mischief which arises from
this misguiding of the public mind.
The people, while amused with this
" Lo here! and Lo there!" see not
that which they ought to see ; they
see not the real cause of the increase
of the paper-money, the real cause of
the gold and silver having gone out of
circulation ; and, of course, they use
no endeavours, they express no wish
to see adopted any measures, calcu
lated to remove that cause, and to re-,
lieve their country from this, the most
formidable of all the dangers with
which it is threatened.
That this real cause is no other,
than the increase of the, Debt con
tracted by the government, cannot, I
think, be doubted by any one,' who
has gone patiently through the fore
going Letters, and who must have
seen, that, as the Debt increased, the
hank-notes became of greater amount
in tiie whole, and of sums smaller and
smaller, till, at last, they came down
to a single pound. At first, and for
half a century, there were no bank
notes for a sum less than twenty
pounds. When the Debt got to about
70 millions, there were fifteen pound-
notes made ; before it reached 150
millions, there were ten pound-notes
made ; before it reached 300 .millions,
there were Jive pound-notes made ;
and before it had reached 500 mil
lions, there were two pound-notes and
one pound-notes made. Since it
reached 500 millions, there have
been, in some parts of the country,
notes made to represent silver-coins,
and the SILVER TOKENS, issued from
the Bank of England, the intrinsic
value of which is less than the nomi
nal, have heen circulated over the
country, while the gold-coin, of every
value, has almost wholly disappeared,
is notoriously exported, and while
English guineas, not one of which is
seen by hardly any man in England,
in the course of a, month, make part
of the common current coin on the
continent of Europe, in the American
States, and more especially in France ;
aye, in that very country, which PITT
and^iis associates told us, over and
over again, was in " the very tgulph of
" bankruptcy;" and which we were, l
year after year, induced to believe
would be totally ruined by the fall of
that paper-money, the place of which
has been, in a great part, supplied
by our guineas !
Thus, then, we have seen, both
from reason and experience, that it is
Debt which produces bank-notes, and
paper-promises of every sort; and,
having seen the manner in which
these paper-promises get out amongst
us, and how their increase has kept
pace with the increase of our Debtf
we shall, in the next Letter, proceed
to trace this increase to that grand
and memorable effect, the Stoppage
of Gold and Silver-payments at the
Bank of England, in 1797. -
J am, Gentlemen,
Your sincere Friend,
WM. COBBETT.
State Prison, Newgate, Thursday,
Z7th Serf. 1810.
99]
PAPER AGAINST GOLD.
[100
LETTER IX.
The con&tprrjation was genpral through the whole kingdom. Thousands of families were utterly ruined, and
" reoocf d from opulence to beggary. Despair seemed to have seized upon the country, in which so raanv
" suicides were ncvei before heard of."-— HISTORY OF THE SOUTH SEA BUBBLE.
This Letter a Digression from the regular Line of the Discussion—Death of Abraham
Goldsmidt the great Jew Money-Dealer — Effect of it described, as to the Funds — He
and Sir Francis Baring called the Pillars of the City — The Corporation of London
thought nothing of — Perilous State of the Country, if such be the Pillars of its Credit
Goldsmitk's Character— His Charities— His princely Entertainments— His Transactions
with Sir John Peter at the Exchequer Bill Office— The Motive for the Act of Self-
Murclcr— A Hint at the Reasons why this Jew has been so praised ; and why benevolent
Jew Chararf r-rs have been introduced into some of our modern Stage Plays— The C'-mse
of Goldsmith's committing the Act — History of the Loan-Transaction— What Omnium
and Discount is— Progress of the Fall of the Price of Stocks— News-paper Puffs to
keep them up — What must be the State of the Country if such trilling Causes produce
Discredit — " Capital, Credit, and Confidence'' — What Security have we that. Tilings
will not become worse? — The Effect upon the Minds of our Enemies — Can it be sup
posed that People will purchase Stock, or hold -Stock if the Fabric be so trail ?— May
ret Napoleon cause a Combination against the Funds ? — Of the Remedy or Expedient
talked of — The Loan-Makers have no Claim to Compensation for any Loss they may
sustain — The famous and immortal Loyalty Loan in the Days of Pitt— This Ca&e diffe
rent from that of the present Loan-Makers— Conclusion of the Digression.
GENTLEMEN,
THE death of ABRAHAM GOLD-
SMI DT, the rick Jew, mentioned in
Letter I, page 2, and who is said to
have shot himself on Friday last, the |
28th of September ; this death is, in :
the history and progress of the Paper-
Money System, an incident of some
importance, and at this time, worthy |
of our particular attention ; because
the circumstances connected with it
afford, perhaps, a more striking and
satisfactory illustration, than any
other that ea*n be imagined, of the
loan-making transactions. In inquiries,
which, are of an intricate nature, it
is always advantageous to he able to
combine practice with principle ; and,
we shall, I think, find in the circuin-
tances just alluded to, such a deve-
lopement, such a practical exemplifi
cation, of some of the principles which
we have laid down, as could scarcely
have been derived from any other
source. The present Letter will, in
deed, turn us a little aside from the
direct line of our pursuit, and may
be considered as a Digression ; but,
it will not tend to confuse us, and the
matter of it will be, found of great use
to us during the rest of our inquiry.
The news-papers, and particularly
those which praise the government
unceasingly, have stated, "that, when
the intelligence of this man's death
reached the city of London (he
having shot himself at his house, or
rather palace at the village of MORDEN
in Surrey) all was confusion and
consternation. They tell us, Hi at
" The Stock Exchange, Capel-court,
" and even the Royal Exchange, were
" crowded, all persons eagerly making
" inquiries about this event, and for-
" getting almost ('eery fhiny else. —
" Little or no business was done. We
" question whether peace or war siul-
" denly made ever created such a
" bustle*" We are told, that " Words
" would be inadequate to express the
" surprize, the alarm and the dismay
" that were visible.!" We arc further
told, that the moment the intelligence
reached the City of London, " the
" FUNDS felt the effect, and three
* COURIER Newspaper, 28th Sept. t Ibid.
101]
LETTER IX.
[102
«« per cent. Stock fell from 661 to
" 63*;*" that is t© say, hundreds of
millions of this sort ©f property in
stantly lost in value about 8 pounds in
every hundred,
th'er place, that
We are told, in ano-
the Ministers sent
off a Messenger, with the melan-
" laneholy tidings, to the Kiny and
" to the Prince of Wales.-?'
And all this for the death of a Jew
merchant? The h'uiy and the heir
apparent to be informed of it by a
royal Messenger! And, is it really
true, that this man's having shot him
self made the citizens of London
forget almost every thing else ? I§ it
really true, that such an event put
business nearly at a stand? Is it
really true, that it produced an effect
equal to peace or war suddenly made ?
And is it true ; is there truth in the
shameful fact, that a Jew Merchant's
shooting himself produced alarm and
dismay in the capital of England,
which is also called, and not very im
properly, perhaps, the emporium of
the world ?
If all this b6 true, it is high time
that we become acquainted with the
The Pillars of the City of London !
The Corporation of that famous City,
the Mayor, Aldermen, Sheriffs, Com
mon Counsellors, and the Liverymen ;
all these ; the whole of this admirably
constituted body, to which, upon so
many occasions, the people of the
kingdom have been indebted for the
preservation of their liberties; the
whole of this body sinks out of sight,
and all the Companies of industrious
and ingenious Tradesmen along with
it; they all become nothing, at the
mention of the names of a couple of
dealers in funds and paper-money I
With eyes very different, indeed do I
view the parties ; arid, though I desire
not the death of either, and am as
-sorry as you, my neighbours, to hear
of the untimely death of any man/
I have not the smallest hesitation in
saying, that I look upon the life of
SIR FRANCIS BARING, or that of
GOLDS M IDT, as being of no more, if
so much, value to England, as that of
any o.ie of your apprentices, or
plough-boys; and, I have no doubt,
that, before we arrive at the close of
this Series of Letters, you will see
reasons why such a person was thought, | £°0(^ reason for believing, that my
of so much consequence ; and that we opinion is founded in a just estimate
' of the nature and tendency of the
consider well the tendency of a sys
tem, that could make his life, or his
death, an object of national import
ance. One of the public prints pre
sents us with the following disconso
late reflection : "The mutability of
" human affairs has been strongly
" evinced during the lastfew weeks. —
" SIR FRANCIS BARING and MR. A.
" GOLDSMIDT, who were considered
" as the PILLARS OF THE CITY,
" are both dead within that time.
" The effects their deaths have had
on
the funds of the country will
" best bespeak the support they gave
•' them while they lived.;" What !
••TIMES Newspaper, 29th Sept.
t COURIER Newspaper, yytli Sept.
J TiM£s Newspaper, 29th S£pt.
professions of these several parties.
But, are these writers aware of the
import of their words, when they tell
us, that the two persons above-men
tioned were the PILLARS of the City
that they t/are support to the funds oft
the count nj; and that their deaths
have occasioned those Funds to fall?
Are these writers aware of the ten
dency of such declarations ? Do they
consider what it is that they are sav
ing; what it is they are proclaiming
to the people and to the world ? If
they do, and if they expect to be be
lieved, their intention must be to de-
stroy all confidence in the Funds and
•Stocks : for what man in his senses
can possibly confide in that which
leans for support upon the life of in
dividuals, and of individuals, too, who,
103]
PAPER AGAINST GOLD
[104
from the perils of their very calling,
are liable to be driven to commit
acts of suicide? In some 'cases, we
are compelled to leave our property
dependent upon the lives of indivi
duals; but, no man with his intel
lects perfect ever does this 'from
choice', and, if these writers should
make the public in general believe,
or, if the public from any other cause
should believe, that the Funds stand
in need of the support of individuals,
it is a pretty clear case, that the
price of them must fall very low, be
fore many people will be inclined to
dispose of their solid property in
order to purchase Stock. They must
come down to almost nothing, and
the purchase must be a sort of gam
bling; Tor no man will lay out his
money in Stock, as men hitherto have
done, if it should become matter of
general belief, that the Funds are in
any degree dependent upon the lives,
and, of course, upon the will of indi
viduals.
We will now see (for it is very
curious) what has been said as to the
cause of GOLDSMIDT'S putting an
end to his life ; and, that will let us
into matter essentially belonging to
our subject. But, before we pro
ceed any further, I think myself
called upon to make a few remarks
upon what has, in some of our news
papers, been said about the character
of this niaij ; for, though I have no
desire to say any harm of him, or to
cause people to believe harm of him,
I think it wrong ; I think it very un
just towards my readers ; I think it
an act of treason to the morals of my
country, to stand by, with pen in hand,
and to see spread abroad amongst the
people such unqualified praises of a
man, who has terminated his exist
ence by suicide, and especially
when I do not believe those praises
to be founded in truth.
We are told of his acts of charity ;
bis subscriptions to charitable under
takings ; his name, we are told, was
always seen foremost upon such oc
casions. But, why tell us of this
again, if every individual act has
been carefully printed and published
before. There are cases, in which a
man's acts of charity may get out to
the world in spite of him ; but, he is
very unlucky when his1 name is printed
upon every trilling occasion, which
has been the case with this man's
charities. Besides, what has he given,
put it all together 1 Not, perhaps, the
odd shillings and pence upon the
the enormous sums that he has gained
by his dealings with the government ;
and, is any man so blind as not to
perceive, that motives very different
indeed from those of charity might
dictate his gifts 1 A man, acquiring
such immense wealth, must see, that
something was necessary to keep the
public from grudging ; and, though I
do not take upon me to say, that
GOLDSMIDT'S donations proceeded
from this motive, I cannot help think
ing that they frequently did, when I
recollect how many paragraphs, stat
ing the nature and amount of his
charities, I have, at different times,
read in the newspapers.
"-Who builds a Church to God, afxi not to fame,
" Will ne'er inscribe the marHe with hi» name."
One o"f his eulogists says : " he had
" done so many kind and generous
actions — his benevolence was so
" enlarged — his. public and private"
*' character was so princely, embrac-
" ing men of all persuasions — he was
" so unostentatious in his habits, and
" so mild and cheerful in his man-
" ners ; — in short, a man more truly
" amiable in all the relations of life
" never existed. He was incessantly
" employed in acts of friendship ; and
" though like >jvery man of extensive
" dealings, he had to encounter the
" bitterness of opposition and envy,
" we never heard even from his most
" active, rivals, any other than the
" most favourable testimony to his
" virtues. He died in the 53rd year
" of his age.— We understand that
305]
LETTER IX.
1108
" that which preyed most acutely on
" his feeling, and wrung from him
many an agonizing exclamation,
was the manner in which he had
been treated by some persons who
had been under the greatest obliga
tions to him. He liad, for years,
been a man the most looked up to
in the monied market — his com
mand of money had been immense
— liis credit unbounded. This was a
proud situation; but elevated as he
was, it inspired him with nothing
like hauteur or insolence — he was still
the same affable n\an, increasing in
kindness, if possible, with his in
creasing wealth*." The much greater
part of this has not, I am satis
fied, a particle of truth in it. Never
was any thing more csicntatious than
the acts of benevolence, as they are
called, of this man^ who, as I ob
served years ago, merely tossed back
to the miserable part of us, in the
shape of alms, the fractious of the
pence, upon the immense sums of
money that he got by his traffic in
loans and bills and funds. The pub
lic, if it has any memory all, must re
member the accounts that wrere given
of his entertainments, at which even
princes were present ; and at which,
probably, as much was consumed in
an evening as would have maintained
the whole village of Morden for a
year. Of these entertainments the
most pompous accounts were pub
lished in all the newspapers of the
day ; and, from the manner of the
publication, there can be but little
doubt of its having been paid for.
As to his having shewn his hospita-
tality to men of all persuasions, that
is precisely what a man does, who is
more intent upon securing the favour
of men in, power, than upon cultivat
ing real friendship; and, indeed, I
have, for my part, very little doubt,
that the cost of the entertainments of
GOLDSMIDT was always put down
amongst the necessary out-goings of
his trade.
* MORNING POST Newspaper, Oct. l.
Thus far, however, what I have
stated may bewailed matter of opinion.
What I am' now going to state is
matter of fact, and of fact, too, th&t
the people of England should have
been made fully acquainted with long
ago. I allude to this man's trans
action with SIR JOI!N PETER in the
funding of Exchequer Bills, and which
transaction is related in a Report made
by a COMMITTEE of the House of
Commons, which was ordered to he
printed on the 14th of May last, and
which will be found at page 193 of
the Appendix to Vol. XVII of the
Parliamentary Debates. And here,
Gentlemen, we shall have a view of
something of no small interest to us
as belonging to the Inquiries, in which
we are engaged.
In Letter VII, at page 85, men
tion was, made of Exchequer Bills;
and they were described as one sort
of the promissory notes, issue$ by the
government in payment of persons,
to whom they owe money. They are
like other promissory notes, with this
difference, that they bear an interest
of so much upon each hundred pounds
every day, the rate of which interest
varies according to circumstances.
In short, an EXCHEQUER BIL£, which
derives its name from the place
whence it issues, is like a bank-note,
not convertible into money at the will
of the holder, except that the bank
note does not bear interest, and the
Exchequer Bill does. You will ea.- iiy
perceive, that these Exchequer Bills,
while out, form a part of the National
Debt. They belong to what is called
Unfunded Debt ; and, they are some
times paid off and taken up, as a pri
vate person pays off and takes up his
notes of hand. But, sometimes, the
government, like the private per
son, finds it inconvenient to pay off
these bills ; and, in such cases, it
funds them ; that is to say, it makes
an advantageous offer to the holders
of them to exchange them for Stock ; and
when this is done, the amount of such
Exchequer Bills is, of course, added to
the great mass ojtfrc permanent Xctfona I
107]
PAPER AGAINST GOLD.
[108
Debt ; which, as you will perceive, is
a way of borrowing money that occa
sions much less talk and noise than
would be occasioned by a new loan.
The loan, this year was for 14 millions ;
hut, then, there were" Exchequer
Bills funded to the amount of eight
millions, so that the addition to the
permanent or funded Debt, lias, in
fact, in this one year, been 22 mil
lions.
I have just said, thr;t when the
government finds it inconvenient to
pay off and take up Exchequer Bills,
it makes an advantageous offer to the
holders of them, by which these
holders are induced to give them up,
and to take Funds or Stock, in lieu
of them. The Bills are brought by
the holders to a certain place, called
the Exchequer Bill Oilice, where
they are received, and where the
voucher is given which procure the
holder stock in exchange for them.
Upon these occasions, there is. gene
rally a great struggle of the Bill-
holders to yet first into the office ; be
cause when the quantity of Bills .to
he funded have been presented and
received, all the rest must, for the
present, at any rate, still remain with
the holders ; and, as there is an ad
vantage in getting them funded, it is
evident enough, that there must al
ways be an anxious rivalship in pur
suit of that object.
Upon an occasion of this sort, in
the month of March last, ABRAHAM
GOLDSMIDT attended, amongst others,
with a view of getting into the Ex
chequer Bill ollice ; and, being una
ble to get in at the common door, so
early as some others, lie went to a
passage leading to another part of the
ofTice,wherehemetSiK JOHN PETER,
one of the Paymasters, or persons
who conduct the business of the oilice.
" To this person, he delivered hu
" pnekct-book, containing Exchequer
«' Bills to the amount of 850,000
" pounds, and then went air ay. SlR
" JOHN PF.TER carried in the book
.A the bills ; and, in consequence
" of this, GOLDSMIDT'S hills were*
" funded ; while the bills of other
" persons, M-ho had attended from
" the earliest hour, and had got in
" ,amongst the very first, and whose
" bills were actually received, had
" their bills returned without being
" funded." It appears also, from the
Report, that, upon a previous day,
this GOLDSMIDT, with "a few ethers,
had found out and used the means of
getting into the Office before the door
ivas opened to the public. The Com
mittee state, that the same Paymaster,
" SIR JOHN' PETER, according to an
" arrangement previously made, did,
" on the first day of funding, before
" the doors were open to the public,
" take into the oflice with him, Mr.
" GOLDSMIDT. Mr. BUTTON, and
"'Mr. GILLMAN, as appears from
" the evidence of Mr. GHlnian and
" Mr. Sutton. The other Paymaster
" in attendance, MR. PLANTA, says
" that he found those c/entlemen in
" the Board Hot-mi upon his arrival
" at the oilice ; that he knew it to he
'* a great impropriety; that he ex-
" pressed indignation at the proceed-
" ing, and ordered the doD'rs to be
" immediately thrown open to the
" public. The names, however, of
" the gentlemen so introduced stand
f amongst the very first on the books
" of that day" The Committee re
probate these proceedings, as partial,
unjust, and foul; and recommend
means for preventing the like in
future.
Now, Gentlemen, this is quite
enough to enable you to judge of the
real character of GOLDSMIDT, whc
is so extolled by our courtly news-
writers, who have, doubtless, their
/reasons for what they do ; you will,
from these facts alone, facts which
cannot be denied, be able to judge,
\vbHher this man is deserving of the
character, which, with so much in
dustry, is given him; whether he, was
that kind, benevolent, disinterested,
generous, and noble-minded man,
which he has been represented to be;
109]
LETTER IX.
[110
or, whether with all his outward show
of liberality and generosity, he was,
as to his essential practices, still a
money-loving, a money-amassing Jew,
and nothing more ; and if any addi
tional proof of this were wanting,
what need we but the simple fact of
his having killed himself, because he
was losiny a part of his immense
wealth ; a truly Jew-like s motive
for the commission of an act—
at which human nature shudders?
Gentlemen, how much more to be
respected and to be pitied are hun
dreds and thousands of your indus
trious and honest neighbours, who
had their all snatched from them in a
moment* and who, after a life of la
bour and of abstinence, saw them
selves deprived of the means of buy
ing a dinner ; and that, too, observe,
without any fault of theirs, without
any greedy speculation, any desire on
their part to gain by over-reaching
their neighbours, or to possess any
thing which was not the fair fruit of
their labour ? What value are we to
set upon the princely feasts of a man,
who eould creep in at a back door to
get the preference in funding Exche
quer Bills ? What value are we to
set upon friendship, such as lie would,
doubtless, entertain for such men as
SIR JOHN PETER? And, as to his
charities; as to what he used to give
to the miserable part of our country
men, under the name of charities, it
is ,very probable, that the whole of
v/hat he bestowed in this way in the
course of his life, did not amount to
half so much as the sum that he'
gained in consequence of his proceed
ing above-noticed with SIR JOHN
PETER.
Gentlemen, the reasons why he
has been so much praised by many
of our news-writers would amuse
you; and it would also entertain you
to learn the real cause of the fine
benevolent Jewish characters, which
are to be found in some of our
modern plays, if indeed, a. feeling of
shame for your country did not over
power your propensity to laugh at
at these offerings of literary venality
at the shrine of Mammon. But,
having now bestowed quite as much
time as it merited in remarks upon
the character of the departed Jew,
but which remarks were demanded by
truth, we will now proceed to those
matters, connected with his death,
which are of much greater conse
quence to us, and a clear understand
ing of which will be found to be
greatly useful in the course 'of the
remainder of our Inquiries. Indeed,
these matters not only relate to our
subject, but they are strongly illus
trative of some of the most important
parts of it.
The cause, of GOLDSMIDT'S com
mitting the act of self-murder is stated
as follows: " The cause of this rash
" act it is not difficult to assign: —
" Mr. Golclsmidt was a joint con-
" tractor for the late loan of 14 mil-
" lions with the house of Sir Francis
" Baring, and taking the largest pro-
" bable range that he had dealt
" amongst his friends one half of the
" sum {Allotted to him, the loss sus-
" taiued by the remainder, at the- rate
"of 65/. per thousand, which was
"the price of Thursday, v. as more
" than any individual fortune could
" lie expected to sustain. Ever since
" the decline of Omnium from par,
" Mr. Goldsmidt's spirits were pro-
" gressively drooping; but when it
" reached 5 and (j per cent, discount.
" without the probability of recover-
" ing, the unfortunate gentleman ap-
" peared evidently restless in his clis-
" position, and disordered in his
" mind ; and, as we have reason to
" believe, not finding that cheerful
" assistance amongst his inonied
" friends which he had experienced
" in happier times, he was unable to
" bear up against the pressure of his
" misfortunes ; and hence was driven
" to terminate a life which till then
" had never been chequered by inis-
" fortune. The moment intelligence
" of the distressing event reached ths
ill]
PAPER AGAINST GOLD,
[112
V tire city, which was about (lie period
of the opening of tjie Stock Ex
change, the Fun(js suddenly felt
the effects, and the Three per Cent.
Sco^'k fell in a few minutes from
66^ to 63 £: Omnium declined
from about (H to 10^- discount, and
then remained steady at that price
for some time."* What to do with
all these cant words one hardly
knows; but, taking along with us
what we have before seen, we shall
be able, with a little explanation, to
understand them.
In Letter II, page 18, and onwards,
we saw something of the manner, in
which Loans are made to the govern
ment; but, we must here speak of
the transaction a little more in parti
culars.- The Loan-Maker bargains
•with the Minister to lend so many
millions of money, upon condition of
receiving so much Stock means,
and we have seen what Stock remains.
But, this Stock (as will be seen in
Letter II, page 18,) is of several
sorts : 4 per cents., 3 per cents., 'and
soon. And the Loan-Maker gene
rally agrees to take some of each sort.
As soon as the Loan is made, he
begins to sell his Stock, as we have
seen, in page 20, to such people as our
good neighbour, FARMER GREEN
HORN ; but, when he sells it, all the
sorts of it are put together, and hence
it is called OMNIUM, that being a
Latin word, meaning THE WHOLE
TOGETHER, OF ALL TOGETHER.
When the Omnium will sell for more
than has been given for it, it is said
to be at a premium; and when it will
not sell for so much as has been given
for it it is said to be at a discount,
that word meaning, to count back, or
to refund; so that, in these transac-
sions, to sell at a premium means to
gain by the sale, and to sell at a dis
count means to lose by the sale; pre
mium means gain, and discount means
lots.
TIMBS Newspaper, Sept. ?9
Applying this to what we have
before seen, respecting the cause of
the death of GOLDSMIDT, it will be
perceived, that he was losing 6 per
cent, or 6 pounds in the hundred,
upon his part of so immense a tran*
saction as that of a Loan of 14
millions. It is said, you will observe,
that he and the BARINGS took the
Loan between them; and it is sup
posed, that a great part of his share
remained unsold, at the time when
the fall in the price took1 place. Hi*
loss, if the price did not mend, would,
of course, be immense; and, it ap
pears, that the thought of such a loss
was more than his mind could bear ;
which latter is by no mean? wonderful,
seeing that his soul was set upon
gain ; that all his views and notions
of happiness centered in wealth.
The lover, whose passion is too strong
for his reason, destroys himself, be
cause the object of that passion is
dearer to him than life. GOLDS M IDT
destroys himself, because wealth is
dearer to him than life. And yet,
we are to be told, of the princely mu
nificence of this man! Never was
there a nation so much insulted as this !
In most cases there is a considera
ble gain made by LOAN-MAKERS,
who have, indeed, in many cases,
become so rich by .these transactions
as to be enabled to surpass in ex-
pences the gentry and the nobility of
the kingdom, which, as we shall by-
and-by see, is one of the great evils
of the National Debt. How it has
happened, that so great a loss has
hitherto been experienced upon the
present Loan, it would be very 'diffi
cult, perhaps, for any one to tell. It
lias been asserted, in the public
prints, that there was a combination
against the Loan-Makers ; but, this is
perfect nonsense ; for, all Stocks fell
at the same time ; and, what a fine
state must that thing, called PUBLIC
CREDIT, be in, if any combination of
individuals can injure it?
The progress of the fall in tlic
price of Stocks, and particularly of
113]
LETTER IX.
[114
the Omnium, upon this occasion is
very curious ; and, it will be of great
use to us to take a look back into the
public prints, and see the attempts
there made to keep up the prices;
attempts which come very fairly under
the denomination of puffing. These
attempts are worthy of the greatest
attention ; for, trifling and even stupid
as they appear, and as they are in
themselves, they will, if I mistake not,
be hereafter referred to as being
amongst the most significant signs of
the times.
These attempts began with a para
graph, inserted in all the daily news
papers, stating the amount of the for
tune of Sir FRANCIS BARING'S
family, who, it will b^ recollected,
were now become the part owners of
the OMNIUM along with GOLDSMIDT.
The paragraph, of the llth of Sep
tember, was^as follows: " Yesterday
** morning, at one o'clock, died at his
" house at Leigh, Sir Francis Baring,
" bart. in his 74th year. He was
" physically exhausted, but 'his mind
04 remained unsubdued by age or in-
" firmity to the last breath. His bed
" was surrounded by nine out of ten,
" the number of his sons and daugh-
" ters, all of whom he has lived to see
" established in splendid independ-
" enee. Three of his sons carry on
" the great commercial house, and
" which, by his superior talents and
4( integrity; he carried to so great a
" height of respect— and the other
" two sons are returned from India
" with fwtunesT His five daughters
'• are all moat happily married, and
" in addition to all this, it is supposed
" lie has left freehold estates to the
" amount of half a million. Such has
** been the result of the honourable
" life of this English Merchant."
On the 17th of September, the
following was published : (< Stocks
" experienced this morning a con-
(t siderable depression : Omnium was
" at 5£ discount. The death of Sir
*' Francis Baring is said to have been
" the chief cause of it"
On the 19th: "The sudden and
" rapid decline of the Stocks merits,
" it may be supposed, some notice*
" Consols, which begun yesterday at
" 66f, closed at 651; and Omnium
" left Off at 6£ discount. Various
" causes were assigned for this effect
" (a descent upon Heligoland, a sub-
" sidy to Russia,) all equally impro-
" bable. We can do no more at pre-
" sent than state the fact, though ice
" strongly suspect- that ice know the
" came"
On the 20th: "Stocks were better
"this morning; and the attempts tv
" continue the depression of the Funds
" are likely to be defeated, -as they
" ought to be."
On the 22nd: "Yesterday being
" a holiday, no business wras pub*
*' licly transacted in the Funds, but
" several private bargains were made
" at an advanced price. Consols
" were done at 661 which is a material
" rise. There is reason to hope that
" a feV days will dispel the alarm
" which was raised and propagated
" beyond what any just cause could
" warrant, by persons desirous offish-
" ing in troubled waters; by certain
" writers, eager to convert public con-
" fusion to the promotion of their poli-
" tical views , and by certain jobbers ,
" anxious to make it subservient to
" their pecuniary interests. The er-
" roneous idea so industriously cir-
" culated by certain individuals that
" there is a depreciation of the Sank-
*' currency, has undoubtedly con-
" tributed, in some degree with other
" circumstances of pressure, to pro-
" duce the late depression in the
" funds.w
Now, it must be observed, that
these paragraphs were czrci'/ar; that
is to say, they went through all tb-^
daily news-papers, or, at lea-sf, EC
all of them, and for aught I know, to
the contrary, through the weekly
nows-papers too ; so that, there is not
the smallest doubt of the puffing hav
ing been carried on at the i
of some interested party.
115]
PAPER AGAINST GOLD.
[116
But, Gentlemen, what a stale, I
again ask, must that thing1, called
PUBLIC CREDIT, he in, if it ran be
affected in this way? First SIR
FRANCIS BARING'S death causes
the Funds to fall, atod the foil in the
Funds causes the death of GOLD-
SMIDT, and then the death of GOLD-
SMIDT causes the Funds to fall lower
still ! What is all this talk about
combinations ; about attempts to con
tinue the depression ; about an alarm,
beyond any just cause; about the
Funds being depressed by persons
desirous of iishing in troubled w
l>y certain .writers eager for pu!;ik
confusion; by certain jobbers anxious
1o promote their own interest ; by
certain individuals who have insidi
ously -circulated erroneous id-us about
the depreciation of Bank-notes?
What is all this talk? What does all
tiiis mean? Is it come to this at last,
that this PUBLIC CREDIT, which
"was to defend us against all the war
like operations of France ; is it come
to this, that this PUBLIC OK ED IT,
this defence of the country, is to be
destroyed, or, at least, materially,
affected, by the tricks1 of money-Job
bers, the opinions (and the erroneous
opinions too) of political writers, or
by the death of a Jew ? If this be
the case, let those who have what, they
call money in the Funds, let the GRIZ
ZLE GREENHORNS, look to them
selves.
At the peace of Amiens, when we
reminded PITT and his associates of
the promise they had made us never
to make peace without obtaining
" indemnity for the past and security
"for the future" and, when we proved
to them, that, while they acknow
ledged that they had obtained no in
demnity for the past, they had left us
more insecure tl^tn ever for the future.
When we pointed out to them, the con
sequences of their war, which had put
into the hands of France so many
countries, and so much of maritime
means; and of their peace, which
had left all these terrible means in
her hands: when we pointed out this
to them, what was their answer?
Why .this: that, though France had
acquired a great extent of terri
tory, her acquisitions in point of
strength did not surpass ours, which
consisted of an immense mass of CA-
?ITAL, CREDIT, and CONFIDENCE;
the changes upon which words were
rung o|er and over again, till the
speech became full as enlivening and
instructive as a peal of the three bells
of Botley Church. But, what be
comes of these fine things, if the
scribbling of a news -paper writer, or
of a pamphleteer, or if the sudden
death of a Jew, is capable of bo ma
terially affecting them ? What, in
that case, becomes of that Capital,
Credit, and Confidence, .which were
to counterbalance all the acquisitions
of France, and were to prove a never-
failing defence to England ? True
said the adherents of PITT, Mho
wished still to find something to say
by way of apology for his ruinous
measures; "true," said they, "France
" has made conquests; she has gamed
" sea-ports ; she has acquired and
"now quietly possessess, the means
" of rearing a navy ; but, look at the
"immense CAPITAL of England;
" look at her CREDIT ; look at the
" CONFIDENCE which she possesses;
" look at these pillars of national
" strength." It was not easy to see,
however long one looked, that these
things were pillars of national strength;
but, if they were ; if they were the
pillars, upon which this nation was to
depend, what are we to think of our
situation, when we are told, as we are
in the above-cited publications, r.$d,
indeed, us we are told ever}' day, tl^iat
the Fund:-, which are said to he the
barometer of national CREDIT, can
be, nwharp, been, and still «?*e, lowered
in, th'r ir value bv such trifling tilings as
the erroneous opinion of a writer on
-po'itic!5, or the death of a Merchant or
a Jev- ? If what we have been told
about the importance of CREDIT be
true ; if it be our defence against
1171
LETTER IX.
tlie enemy, wliat must our .situation
b«>. if what we are -now told be true,
namely, Uiat this CREDIT has been
shaken by such contemptible means ?
PITT and his associates told us, that
CAPITAL. CREDIT, and CONFI
DENCE, which is using three words
instead of one, merely tor the- sake of
the sound; they told us that these
v ere the pillars of the nation ; and,
as we have seen above, our news
papers uo\v tell us. t!mt SIR FRAN
CIS BARING and GOLDS MIDT were
the pillars of our CRKDIT; so that,
;u last, we come to this comfortable
t onclui>ion — that. the defence and pre-
ifion of the country depended
iipwii SIR FRANCIS EARING and
i)S. MIDT, one of whom has died
iiiid the other shot himself within the
last, three \\ ceks ! And this is the
riled, is it, of the PITT system of
what is csJk'ii Public Credit.'
If what ve are now told be true,
what security have we, that things
will stop where they arc .; What rea
son have we to conclude, or to sup
pose, that the same ciiu^es will nut
continue to operate, 'till the whole of
the Funds are annihilated; that is to
say, until- nobody will give any thing
at all for any sort of the 8 took '{ We
are told, that the lull, which Las al
ready taken, has, in part, been the
consequence of combinations of indi
viduals, which must mean, combina
tions not to purchase ; and, who i* to j
•fnd an end to such combinations I \
\Viio is to preycnt the force of them
from increasing ? . Then, again, \\ e
are told,, that the fall has partly
been produced by jobbers intent
upon their own interests ; and,
who, let me ask, is to alter the na
ture of these jobbers;. who can say,
or even guess, when these interested
jobbers will be pleased to desist from
their selfish and mischievous prac
tices? 'If the causes of the fail be
such as have, been stated to the pub
lic in the above-cited -and other pub
lications, vvliQ will preteiiji to say
when or where, the fall will stop ?
And, 1 should be very glad to hear
any reason, why, if those alledged
causes be founded in truth, the Fund*
should not continue to fall, till they
are not worth owning ; till it is not
worth GRIZZLE GREENHORN'S while
to have her name written in the
Great Book.
We here see, that these boastetl
friends of their country; these men
of such high-Hying loyalty; these,
writers who accuse of Jacobinism all
those who cannot believe, and wjio
will not say, that the Paper-money is
us good, if qot better, than Gold and
Silver; we Here see, that these boast
ed friends of their country , who ap
parently, would eat Buonaparte ruv ,
if they could get at him ; \ve b«"re see
these outrageously-loyal writers pro-
claiming to that same Uuouapartft
what must delight him more than al
most any thing tiiat he could li
namely, that such is the stale of our
public credit, sucli the state of our
pecuniary resources, such the confi
dence in our funds, such the confi
dence in the security of our govern
ment-bonds, that this confidence is
shaken by a combination of jobbers,
or the death of a Jew. How much
abuse has been, at various times,
leaped upon these, who have ex
pressed theii; doubts as to the dura
bility of the Paper-money system!
Nay, the Bullion Committee them
selves have been very grossly abused
for their Report upon the subject ; by
which Report, their opponents say,
they have injured the credit of the
country. They are charged with
having1 injured the credit of this coun
try, because they have recommended
that the Bank of England should pay
its notes in Gold and Silver. What,
then, are those men doing, who now
assert, that a combination of indiri
duals ; that the tricks of interested job
bers ; that the erroneous opinions of
political writers: what are the men
doing, who. assert, that these things
119]
PAPER AGAINST GOLD.
[120
arc capable of causing the govern
ment securities to fall in value ; and,
who scruple not to tell us, that the
men, who were the pillars of the
Public Funds,' arc dead? What are
these writers doing; and how will
they now be able to hold up their
Leads and complain of the endea
vours of others to destroy what they
call public credit, which, if it admit
of destruction by the means of the
pen, must assuredly fall for ever un
der the pens of these writers ?
It what these writers say be true ;
if the stocks are to be lowered in
value by combinations of individuals,
by the errors of writers, by the re
ports of committees, or by the death
of a Jew; if this be true, can it be
thought, that people will long be dis
posed to become proprietors of stock ?
Can it be thought* that they will, like
©ur neighbour GREENHORN, put their
money in the Funds ? Can it be ex
pected, that fathers and mothers will
make provision for their children, or
their grand-children, by purchasing
stock, liable to be lowered in value
by such causes ? Nay, can it be ex
pected, that any man in his senses,
who is now the owner of stock, will
not dispose of it as soon as possible,
and at almost any rate ? For, is it
possible to regard as safe property ;
is it possible to regard as any pro
perty at all, a thing the value of which
may be lowered ten per cent, in the
space of ten days, and, of course,
which may be lowered to almost no
thing ; is it possible to regard as any
property at all, a thing the value of
which may be thus reduced by the
combinations of individuals, the trick
ery of jobbers, the errors of political
writers, or the death of a Jew, or of
any other 'individual or number of
individuals ? Is it possible to regard
such a thing as property? Common
I sense says, no ; and yet the statement
(of these causes, a statement, which,
| if it have any effect at all, must tend
j to the discredit, and, indeed, to the de-
j struction, of the Funds ; this state-
I inent comes from the pens of those,
who cry out JACOBIN against every
man, who ventures, in however mo
dest a ^ay, to express his doubts
of the solidity of the Funding Sys
tem.
These v.-riters, in their eagerness to
abuse those, to whom they impute the
fall of the Funds, seem to have over
looked the conclusions that would na
turally be drawn from their premises,
else they would have perceived what
a dangerous thing it was to declare
to our powerful and sharp-sighted
enemy that a combination of indivi
duals was capable of shaking our
Funds. That enemy is, by these
same writers, represented as being
all-powerful by his intrigues in other
countries ; and, is it too much to sup
pose, that it might be possible for
him to find the means of forming
combinations against the Funds in
England? If combinations of indi
viduals can pull down the value of
our Government securities, is it to be
believed, that our enemy will not be
disposed, and that he will not endea
vour, to form such combinations ?
And, if we are asked, where he will
find individuals so base, have not
these writers pointed -them out to
him; or, at least, have they not told
him, in terms that admit not of mis
understanding, that there are such
individuals in England, in London,
and now actually at work ; and that
these individuals have caused the
Funds to fall, have caused the Go
vernment securities to lose part of
their value ? Let these writers, there
fore, confess that these statements of
theirs have pfocecded from error ; or,
at Stationers' &alu
LONDON :— Printed by WM, MOUNEUX, bream's Buildings, Chancery Lane.
N»- 5.]-COBBETT'S PAPER AGAINST GOLD.— [Price Two-Pence.
1213
at any rate, that they are -untrue; or
let them for ever hold their tongue as
to complaints against those, \vlio en
tertain doubts of the solidity of the
paper-money system.
Here, Gentlemen, I should have
concluded this already-too-Iong Let
ter ; but, an article, which I find in
the public prints of this morning
(Tuesday, 2nd October) induces me-
to add some observations upon the
subject of the remedy or expedient,
which has been more than hinted at.
The article alluded to, is as follows :
" The state of the Funds was a little
" improved yesterday ; and as no
" bad consequences beyond those of
" the first shock had arisen from Mr.
" Goldsmidt's death, it is hoped that
" things will soon be restored to their
" former level. The result of the
" conferences of the leading Loan-
" holders, with the Chancellor of the
" Exchequer and the Lords of the Trca-
" sury, on Saturday, has not yet been
" made known. Mr. Goldsmidt's
" house continues to discharge, with-
** out reserve or hesitation, all the de-
" mands made on it. The account
" at tlie Stock Exchange was not set-
" tied nor declared yesterday, in con-
" sequence of the attendance of Mr.
" Nathan Solomons, Mr. Goldsmidt's
" broker, at the funeral, which took
" place, according to the Jewish rites,
*' about noon yesterday. His feody
" was placed by the side of that of
" his brother Benjamin. Yesterday
" morning early Mr. Perceval came
" to town from his house at Ealing,
" and soon after sent off letters to the
" Governor and Deputy-Governor of
" the Bank, Mr. Wish, the Chairman
" of the Commissioners of Excise, the
" Treasurer of the Ordnance, and a
[122
" number of other official Gentlemen;
" they all attended Mr. Perceval, and
" he was with them during the whole
" of the day."
These conferences will not, I trust,
as some persons appear to suppose,
lead to any application of the public,
money, that is to say, of the taxes, to
the assisting, as it is called, of these
Loan-holders. ri}he Loan-holders, or
Loan-makers, have never been known
to return to the people any part of the
immense projits, which they, from
time to time, have made upon their
loaning transactions. We see, from
one of the above-quoted passages, that
SIR FRANCIS BARINC has gained
enough to lay out half a million of
money in freehold estates. Great part
of this was, it is reasonable to suppose,
gained by the many loaus to Govern
ment, in which he has been at differ
ent times concerned. Well, then, if
these profits, these immense gains, be
considered as fairly belonging to him,
or his heirs and successors ; and, if
we view the not less immense gains of
GOLDSMIDT in the same light; if the
gains be theirs, ought not the lossio
be theirs also ? Upon any other prin
ciple, what a sort of bargain would
a government-loan be ? A bargain
where all the chance of gain wou'd be
on one side, and all the chance of loss
on the other. If the loan-maker
gained, well ; but, if he lost, the peo
ple must make good his loss. Is this
the way that dealings take place be
tween man and man? Is there any
one of you, Gentlemen, who woud
sell a load of wheat to a miller, leav
ing him the chance of gaining by it,
and, if he happened to lose by it.
would give him back again the aniouo
of his loss ? Oh, no ! You would kee
W. Moliaeux, Printer, B.-eRTn's
Chancery LA
123]
LETTER IX.
[124
the whole of the price of your wheat,
and leave the miller to console himself
in counting his gains upon other oc
casions.
But, if contrary to my wish and
expectation, " relief," as it is called,
were to be given to those persons, in
what way could it be done? The
loan is made and ratified in virtue of
an ACT OF PARLIAMENT. There
can be no alteration made in the bar
gain ; there can be no change in the
terms of payment; there can be no
abatement in the demands of the go
vernment, without another ACT OF
PARLIAMENT, previously passed. —
Those who made the loan must pay
the 14 millions into the King's Exche
quer, let what will be their loss upon
the transaction^ unless indeed, the
whole of their property, real and per
sonal, be insufficient for the purpose ;
and, in that case, the people have a
right to expect, that the government will
take care to hold back from the loan-
makers, or to recover from them, so
much of the new Stock as will not
leave the loan-makers a farthing in the
people's debt.
During PITT'S Anti-jacobin War,
which, as you will bear in mind, was
to succeed by producing the dcstmc-
tion of the paper-money in France ;
during that war, which was to dimin
ish the power of France, and to re
store the Bourbons by the means
of ruin to the French finances ; dur
ing that famous war, which was to
plunge, and which, as PITT told us,
did plunge France ," into the very
" gulph of Bankruptcy ;" during that
renowned war, there was what was
called a « LOYALTY LOAN."
People were invited in the name of
loyalty, to come forward and lend
their money to the government, for
the purpose of carrying on the Anti-
jacobin war with vigour ; and, at the
same time, no,. very unintelligible hiats
were given, in some of the public
prints, that those who had it in their
power to lend, and did not lend, upon
this occasion, were deficient in point
of loyalty, an imputation not very pleas
ant at any time, and, at the time
to which we are referring, singularly
inconvenient. The LOYALTY LOAN
was accomplished ; but, owing to some
cause or other, it did not prove to be
a profitable concern for the lenders ;
and, as in the case of the present
loan, as far as it has gone, the loan
fell to a discount, and a loss was sus
tained upon it. Such loss, one might
have expected, would have been not
only contentedly, but gladly sustained,
as a sacrifice upon the altar of loyalty;
and this, it was said by PITT, would
have been thfc case, but that he and
his associates in the ministry, did not
think it wise to suffer loyalty so diain-
terested to experience any loss. An
act, therefore, was passed for making
good to the lenders whatever they
would otherwise liave lost by their
ardent affection for their king and
country, and loyalty was thus pre
vented from costing them any thing.
The case, however, of these loyal
and devoted persons was somewhat
different from that of the makers of
the present loan. The Loyalty Lonn
men Lad never gained any thing by
loan-making. They had not got their
half million's worths of freeholds and
their palace-like mansions. They had
made a bargain, and they ought, in
my opinion, to have been held to that
bargain ; because, if there had been
a gain instead of a loss, they would
have put that gain in their pocket,
and would, doubtless, have looked
upon it as doubly blessed, being the
profits of trade and of loyally too;
and further, because, thoy had put
their names down upon a list, which
was to hold them forth to the world
as men ready to make sacrifices for
their king and country, in contradis
tinction to those, whose names were
not put upon the list. But, still,
though nothing, in my opinion, can
ever fully reconcile to principles of
justice, the compensating of these
people for their losses by that loan,
there u great difference between that,
125]
PAPER AGAINST GOLD.
[126
case and the case of tlie present loau-
makers or holders, who have no claim
whatever to any compensation at all,
or to any relief, or to the adoption of
any measure, that shall cost the people
one single shilling. If they lose by
this loan, they have gained by other
loans. If they cannot pay without
the sale of their goods and chatties,
why should not their goods and chatties
be sold, as well as the goods and chat
ties of those, who out of pure loyalty,
have set up papers for the purpose of
writing me down, and whose names I
have never once mentioned, on whose
papers 1 have never set my eves, and
who have killed themselves in their
foolish attempts to wound me? Why
should jiol the "loan-makers, if tlioy
cannot make good their bargain, have
their t-oods and chatties, sold as well
astho.se loya'ty writers? I »m, how
ever, reasoning here, against an un
founded surmise; for, it appears from
the above quoted publications, that the
family of BARING is very rich and
in perfect credit, and that the concerns
of GOLDSMIDT are in a flourishing'
way, seeing that his house is able to
meet all the demands upon it, of every
sort, without the least delay or hesi
tation. This being the case, there
can be no need of any interference on
the part of the government) who will
doubtless' see, that the bargain is ful
filled agreeably to the "terms.
i have now done with this acci
dental occurrence, the notice of which,
so much at length, forms" a Digression
from the regular line of oiu; progress,
by which, as we shall see by-and-by,
will have afforded us practical know
ledge, of great use in our future in
quiries.
I am, Gentlemen,
Your faithful friend,
COBBETT.
State Prism, Newgate, Tuesday,
2nd October, 1810.
LETTER X.
' They" (tl>« French Revolutionist*) " forget that, in England, not one shilling of Paper Money of any
40 description i* received !>ut of choice; ih«t tne wholw has had its origin in cash, actually deposited ; and
" that it is convertible., at pleasure, in an instant, and without the smallest loss, into cash again. Our
" 1'aper'is of v;.luf in commerce, because in lau> it is of none. It is powerful on Change, because in West-
" minster hall it i? impotent. In payment, of a debt of twenty shillim>s, a creditor may refute all the paper
" of the Rank of Engtirn((, Nor i* there amonci us a single public security, of any quality or nature whatso-
" ever, that z'» enforced by authority. In fact it miirht be easily she«n, that our paper wealth, instead of
" lessening the rc<d co'n, has a tendency to increase it; instead of being a substitute for money, it only
" facilitates its c-ttHry, u.s exit, and its circulation ; that it is the symbol of prosperity, and not the badpe
" of distress. JYm>;- was a war city of cash, atid an exuberance, of paper, a. subject of complaint in this
"nation." burke. Reflections on the French Revolution. Written and published in 1790.
" But, whatever momentary relief', or aid, the iUinisier and the Bank mi "lit expert from this low contrivance of
" Five Pound Notes, it will increase the inability of the Bank to pay the Higher ffotcs, and hasten
" the drstrucnon of all ; for, even the small taxes thai; u!=ed to be paid in money, will now be paid iu those
"notes, and the Bank will soon find itself with scarcely any other money than what the hair powder-
" guinea tax brings in.—" — Paint! $ Decline and Fall oi" the Euglish System of Finance. Written and pub
lished in March, J7Ofi.
" When the situation of the Rank of Enplsuid was u; der the consideration of the two Houses of Parliament,
" in the yenr 1707, it was my opinion, and tLat of many others, that the extent, to which the Paper-Cur
" rency had l>een carried, was the Jlr^t MK! prim /pal, 'hough not tli<: sole <ause, of the mwfty difficulties
" to which that Corporate Body was then, and had, of late ye;>rs, from time to time, been exposed, ia
" supplying Ure cash, 'necessary t\>r the commerce of tLe kingdom." — diaries 'Jenkinton. Earl vf Liverpool,
Letter to the Kin^ , published in ib05.
Horrid Passage from the Mornincr Post News-Paper— Such are the Writers by whom
the Paper-rVToriey System and its Pntrons are supported — Such are the Answers that
are given to these Letters — Bank Ftipev asserted to be the only Sort of •Currency cal
culated to exert the Energies of an island — Proceed in tracing the Increase of "Debt
and Notes to that yrand Effect, the Bank Stoppage — Table shewing the annual Increase
of the Debt and Interest from 1793 to 17^7 — Increase in the Number and Amount of
Payments at the Bank demanded small Notes— Hence came the Five Pound Notes —
Burke's Picture of the English Bank Paper — Paine's Prediction— Lord Liverpool the
Historian of Pained Prophecy.
127]
LETTER X.
[128
GENTLEMEN,
In returning to our subject, we
must bear in mind, that,in Letter VIII,
and in the foregoing Letter, we saw
clearly, that bank-notes, as well as all
other 'promissory notes, ought to be
considered as representatives of .debt,
while real money ought to be consi
dered as the representative of property,
or things of real value. At the close
of Letter VIII, we saw how the in
crease in the quantity of bank-notes
had kept pace with the increase of the
National Debt; and we proposed,
when we should resume the subject,
to trace this joint increase to that
grand and memorable effect, THE
STOPPAUE OF GOLD AND SILVER
PAYMENTS AT THE BANK OF ENG->
LAND in 1797.
But, before we enter upon this in
teresting matter, will you give me leave
again to give you a specimen of the
way, in which my Letters are answered
by the venal writers in London '?' To
do this will not be without its utility,
both now and hereafter. It will be
useful to shew you what sort of writers
those are, who are opposed to me;
and, though it may not be so useful
to posterity, it will, nevertheless, be of
fome use, and will be very curious,
for our children to see what manner
of men those were, who wrote in
favour of the Paper-money System.
The passage I am about to lay before
yeu was published in a news-paper,
printed for the use of " The Fashiona-
" ble World" under the date of the
Cth of this month, and Its words are
these. " To the People of the United
" Kingdom. — The detestable charac
ters exposed lately in the pillory,
may be considered the real repre
sentatives of the Corsicau Tyrant
and his Ministers, who boast of the
monstrous vice which excites such
" horrors in every British bosom, and
" who, fearful of your valour, are
" exerting every artifice to subvert
•' your empire, betray your virtue, and
" extirpate your people. COBBETT,
" the oracle of the Jacobins,
" the British Papers for speaking ill
" of such infamous monsters, \\ hese
" detestable practices must annihilate
" every virtuous principle from the
' human breast ; and he tells the
' British People, in effect, that if
1 they are to be robbed by taxes and
' oppressed by power, it is of no con-
' sequence whether they are conquered
' by a French Vcre-street gang, or
' governed by a virtuous British Sv-
1 vereignandhisrexpcctablc Ministers.
1 Such is the profound reasoning of
' an apostate low-mindvd scribe, who
' is impelled by a savage passion
' revenge for Ministerial deserved
' contempt, and by foolish and base
' hopes of conciliation with the Cor-
sica?i Monster, who often rewards,
but never has been known to forgive.
He publishes weekly an infernal
Register, to excite mutiny in the
( ani^y and thcjleet, to seduce the
' loyalty of British subjects, to con-
( found the good sense of the yeomanry
by low cunning and artful scphis-
1 try, and above all, to destroy Public
' credit and Bank Paper, as tht best
( bond of. individual and public secu-
' rityt and the only medium of cur-
' rency to suit and cxtrt the energies
' of an insular and commercial pecple.
' Such a man, whom reading and
' writing made a corporal, but whom
1 sense and reason will never make u
' politician or an honest patriot, may
' be the pi oper oraclt of a Vcre-strttt
' gang of regal French rujfians, but
' his councils of liberty, economv,
" and reform, must be regarded as the
" treacherous delusions of a French
" spy, when offered to a free, virtuous
" and happy nation."*
Stick, Gentlemen, is the language
of my opposers. Such is the sort of
men who dislike me. Such are the
answers that are given to my state
ments and my reasoning upon a sober
and most important subject of political
economy. The abuse here heaped
* Morning Post, Saturday, Oct. 6, 2810.
129]
PAPER AGAINST GOLD.
[130
upon a person, whom our Commander
in Portugal, in his public dispatches,
recognizes as an " Emperor" and
wjUo, in our courts of justice, has
been recognized as a " Sovereign of
'* France," to say nothing of our ne-
gociations and treaties with him ; the
abuse here heaped upon Napoleon,
who is not only called a monster, but
is distinctly charged with " boasting
" of the monstrous vice," for being
guilty of which several infamous
wretches have lately stood in the pil
lory in London, can, surely, not meet
with the approbation of any man upon
earth ; for, one would fain hope, that
there is not another man like this
Mxiter. Yet is it a serious considera
tion for the country, that such an
accusation should be thus boldly put
forth in our public news-papers, and in
a news-paper, too, which, from its uni
form praises of the men at present in
power, is called a ministerial news
paper, and is, in general, looked
upon as a sort of half official print.
As far as concerns this particular
article, every man in England will be
ready to acquit the ministers; and,
indeed, every one will readily believe
that it must meet with their sincere
reprobation. But, this may not be
the opinion abroad ; and, I leave you
»o guess what an impression such a
publication is calculated to give the
World of our national character.
There is one declaration here, about
the paper-money, that I wish you to
bear in mind ; namely that " bank-
" paper is the best bond of individual
" and public, security, and the only
medium of currency to suit and
" exert the energies of an insular and
*' commercial people" So that, ac
cording to this writer, the return of
gold and silver would be no good at
all, and we ought, indeed, to desire to
get rid of it, if we had any; though,
upon the trial of DE YONGE (of which
we shall see more by-and-by), both
the Attorney General and the Judge
so decidedly declared the exportation
of the coin to be a most mischievous
practice; and though this writer him
self, little more than two months ago,
congratulated his readers upon the
prospect of .seeing bank-paper de-
stroyed, which paper he called, in his
print of the 19th of July, " destruc-
" tivc assianatsi" and afterwards, "vile
" dirty rags-" aye, that very paper,
which he now asserts to be " the best
" bond of individual and public secu-
" ritv , and the only medium of cur-
" rency to suit and exert the energies
"of an insular and commercial
" people/'
Let us now leave our opponents ;
let us leave the paper-money system
and its patrons to receive all the sup
port that writings like the above can
give, while we proceed in tracing the
increase of the National Debt and
that of the bank-notes to that grand
and memorable effect, the stoppage of
gold and silver-payments at the Bank
of England in 1797*from which time
our paper-money began, because it
was then that the bank-notes ceased
to be convertible into coin, and have
remained in that state to this day.
We have already seen, that, at the
beginning of PITT'S war with tbe Re
publicans of France in 1798, our
National Debt amounted to about 250
millions, because it did not increase
during the peace preceding that war.
[ts amount, at the close of the Ameri
can war, was 257 millions (See Letter
[II. page 26), and the annual interest
3 aid upon it was 9 millions and about
a half. The debt, and, of course, the
nterest along ^rith it, decreased a little
>efore the beginning of PITT'S Var
against the Jacobins of France; so
hat, when that war was begun, both
Debt and Interest were somewhat less
than at the conclusion of the American
war. We will, however, take them
at what they were at the last-mentioned
>eriod ; and, in order the more clearly
;o shew the progress of the cause of
he great increase of bank-notes, and
finally, of the Stoppage of Gold and
Silver-payments at the Bank, we will
state the annual increase of the Debt
131]
LETTER X.
and Interest, from the beginning of
the war to the year 1797, when the
Stoppage took place, which statement
[132
is not only very curious, but is of
singularly great importance.
DEBT.
Before the? Anti- Jacobin war began (in 1793), the
amount was
257,** 13 043
j.>ii-.Ki-,yi.
9 669 435
In that same year was added
6 250 000
oe)2 O 1Q
Amount at the end of 170.3
263 463 043
q 9^2 °47
In tlte year 1794 was added
1> 676 525
773 324
Amount at the end of 1794
279 139 567
j Q (Jy5 571
In the year 1 795 was added
25 609 8<>7
1 227 4 1 5
Amount at the end of 1795
304 749 464
1 1 92° 986
In the year 1796 was added
4 I 3()3,6(>9
] a 30 373
Amount at the end of 1796
346 053 1 63
13 773 3C>9
In the year \7[)7 was added
67,087,668
3 '2 4 1 ,7 90
Amount at the end of 1797
413,140,831 17,01.5,149
Thus, then, we see, that the first
four years and a half of PITT'S war
with the Jacobins, or Republicans of
France, nearly doubled the Debt and
the Interest, or (which is the same
tiling to .the people), the annual charge
on account of Debt, which, together
with interest, includes management
and Sinking fund-allowance. Four
years and a half of the Anti-jacobin
war nearly Doubled these; and, ac
cording to the principles we have
before laid down, in Letters VII and
VIII, the bank-notes would necessa
rily increase in the same proportion
as the Debt and Interest increased ;
because, every quarter of a year, the
dividends to be paid at the Bank,
became greater and greater.
Before the Anti- Jacobin war began,
the dividends of a year, amounted, as
we see above, to 9,669,435/. To ob
viate all pettifogging cavil here, let me
state, that this sum was not wholly
dividends, or interest; but consisted,
partly, of " charges for management"
paid to the Bank of England; and
jtlso of charges on " account of the
" Sinking Fund." But, as was ob
served before, (his is of no consequence
to the people, who pay the taxes, out
«>f which the whole sum comes; and,
I only make the distinction to avoid a
cavilling charge of misrepresentation,
or error. Wlien, therefore, we speak
of the amount of the Interest of the
National Debt, let it be understood,
that we include these charges; and
that, by the word Interest is meant
the annual charge on account of the
Debt. ,
To resume, then ; before the Anti-
Jacobin war began, the dividends, or
interest, of one year amounted, as we
have seen, to 9,609,435 pounds; and
before the nation got to the end of the
fifth year of that war, a year's di
vidends, or interest, amounted to
17,015,149 pounds ; not much short
of double. The Bank, therefore,
having nearly twice as much to pay
yearly in interest of the Debt; having,
to speak in round numbers, 17 millions
to pay under this head, where it had
but 9 millions to pay before the be
ginning of PITT'S Anti-Jacohin war ;
having twice as much to' issue on this
great score as it had previous to the
war, was, of course, compelled to in
crease the quantity of its paper-pro
mises, or the quantity of its Gold and
Silver-coin ; because, as we have be
fore seen (Letter VII. page 77), an
increase in the number and amount of
PAPER AGAINST GOLD.
[134
payments must necessarily demand an
increase of the money, or medium, in
which those payments are made; and,
why this increase, at the Bank of
England, ,'would take place in paper-
promises, and not in Gold and Silver-
coin, we have seen in Letters VII and
VI f I, where it was shewn that an
increase of Debt must produce an in
crease of paper-promises, or notes,
when once a paper-system has begun.
That the experience of the times, of
.which we are now speaking, perfectly
corresponded with the principles here
stated, we shall now see by adverting
a little to the manner, in which the
payments of interest at the Bank
were formerly made.
It has before been observed, that,
when the Nation,.)! Debt iirst began,
the whole of the interest was paid in
Gold and Silver, tiiere being then no
such thing as bank-notes, and no suck
thing as a Bank, in this country. It
has also been observed, that, very
shortly after the Debt came into exis
tence, itpioduced its natural offspring,
a Bank, which issued its promissory
notes, and in which promissory notes
the interest of the Debt was, in part,
nt least, paid. At Jirst, it appears,
that the Bank paid ait interest upon
its notes, or bills ; but, this was soon
left oil'; and, from that time, the bank
notes, or bills, became part of the
circulating medium of the country.
When the Stock owners, or Public
Creditors, as they are sqrnethnes
called, went !<•> tbn Bank- to receive
their di* -kuiuls. or interest, they might
hu^e either bank-notes, or Gold and
Silver, according to their choice. —
Some persons chose the coin, and
some the paper. But, as the Debt
increased, and, of course, the amount
of the dividends, or interest, it was
evident, from what has already been
said, that the Bank would possess a
less and less quantity of Gold and Sil
ver in proportion to the quantity of
'ts paper. And, further, the pay
ments of interest having, as we have
seen above, become nearly double i»
amount to whet they were in 1793,
previous to the Anti-Jacobin war, it is
natural to suppose, that there would
' be double the number of Stock-hol
ders, and, of course double the number
of payments to make. Therefore, as,
at every payment, the receiver had
his choice of paper or Gold and Sil
ver-coin, there were double the num
ber of chances against the Bank ; and,
at any rate, as there were, as yet, no
bank-notes of an amount less than
TEN POUNDS, there must necessarily
be, upon every payment an issue of
Gold and Silver from the Bank, to
the amount of every demand, or part
of a demand, falling short of ten
pounds.
This the Bank could bear before
the Anti-Jacobin war; but, when that
war had nearly doubled the Debt, the
Interest, and the number of the pay
ments, on account of Interest ; when
this increase had taken place, the
Bank found it necessary, not only to
augment the general quantity of its
notes ; it found it necessary not only
to add to the total amount of its notes ;
that is to say, to put out a greater slim
in notes, than it had out before the
Anti-Jacobin war; but, it also found
it necessary to put out some notes of
a lower amount than it already had, in
order to pay the parts of ten pounds,
which we have just mentioned.
Hence came the FIVE POUND
NOTES. And, you will perceive,
Gentlemen, that causes precisely si
milar had formerly produced the FIF
TEEN POUND .NOTES and the I\EN
POUND NOTES ; namely, an increase
of the National Debt, and, of course,
an increase of the dividends, or in
terest ; these being always paid at the
Bank, after the establishment of the
Bank Company.
Here let us stop for a little and
look back at the MOTTO, or, rather
M OTTOS, to this Letter.
In the FIRST, the passage from
BURKE, we have a picture of English
Bank Paper previous to the war;
aye, to that very war, which that very
135]
"LETTER X.
[136
picture and others in the same publi
cation greatly tended to produce, and
were, without, I believe, any bad mo
tive, intended to produce. Look well
at that picture, Gentlemen. Look at
he triumphant contrast there exhi
bited between the money of England
arid that of France, which latter
country had then a paper-money.
And, when you have viewed that pic
ture in all its parts ; when you have
fully examined the contrast ; then turn
j our eyes to what is now exhibited to
the world: then see what English
Bank Paper now is, and what in this
regard is the state of France, where
alf the paper-money has, long ago,
been destroyed, and where there is no
currency but that of Gold and Silver-
coin, part of which coin consists of
English Guinea?, those guineas the ab
sence of which all men of sense and
of public-spirit so sorely lament, and
the practicability of causing the re- .
turn of which is, as you will bear in
mind, the chief object of our Inqui
ries.
In the SECOND motto, the passage
from PAINE, (the mortal antagonist
of Burke as to every thing else) we
have an opinion as to the consequences
of the Bank having made 5 pound-
note?. We have a prediction as to
the inability which it M ill produce in
the Bank to pay its higher notes. This
prediction was, it appears, written in
March 179G, and it was published in
England, in or about, the month of
June of that year ; which was, as we
shall see by-an(Uby, only about nine
months before the stoppnge of gold
and silver-pay jn cnts at the Sank ac
tually took place.
In the THIRD motto, the passage
from the late LORD LIVERPOOL, we
have the opinion, not only of the
writer himself, who upon such a
matter, is no very mean authority, but,
as he asserts, of many others (doubt
less, persons of distinction, as to rank,
at least); we have an opinion, thus
sanctioned, that the increase of the
paper-currency was ihejirst and prin
cipal cause of the Stoppage of Gold
and Silver-payments at the Bank;
and which opinion .perfectly cor
responds with that of PAINE, there
being this distinction in the merits of
the two writers, that Lord Liverpool
only recorded what PAINE had fore
told: the former was the historian,
the latter the prophet ; and, it is not a
little curious, that Lord Liverpool, a
clerk in whose office had written under
a feigned name, a sham life of PAINE,
shoul^l become the recorder of the
trutli of PAINE'S predictions, and that
too in " a Letter to the King" in
whose name the very work containing
the predictions had been prosecuted as
A LIBEL.
Here are three writers, all of whom
of great understanding and experience,
and the two former of abilities scarcely
ever surpassed in any age or country,
all opposed to each other as to every
other question ; each one hating the
other two, and each one hating the
other one : yet all agreeing as harmo
niously as their bones would now
agree, if they happened to be tumbled
together ; all agreeing as to these prin
ciples respecting paper-money.
Having now traced the increase of
the Debt down to the putting forth of
the 5 pound bank-notes, we will rest
here, and resume the subject in our
next.
I am, Gentlemen.
Your faithful friend,
WM. COBBETT.
State
6th
, Monday
, l»10.
137]
PAPER AGAINST GOLD.
LETTER XL
d-nofe* will circulate chiefly amonj; llttlf. shopkeeper*, butchers, bakers, market people.
" renter* oi small houses, lodgers, Sec. All the high departments of commerce, and the affluent stations of
•' life were already overstocked. «s Smith expresses it, vith the bank notes. No place remained open
" wlverein to crow(l an additisnal quantity ot bank-not^s but among the class of people I have jnst men-
" tjoned, and. the means of *io nq this <>ould be bfst rffV-cred by coining five pound-notes. V>ut no nrw
" supplies of money can, us WHS said before, now arrive at tl e Bank, as nil i he t;ixcs "will be paid in
" paper. What, then, would be th& consequence, -were the Public Creditors to demand payment of their
" Dividends in Cash, or demand Cash for the b«iik-uotos in which the Dividends are paid ; a circumstance
" always liable to happen." — P«m#. Decline and Fall of tt.e English System of Finance. Published iu
" 179^:
I should st<--p here, but there is a subject of so great importance, and so nearly connrctr-d with the Coins
" of ynur Majesty'* realm, that t should not discharge my duty if I left it wholly unnoticed ; I meau what
'* is HOW called Paper currency '. which is carried to so great an extent, that it is become hij>h!y incouve-
" niei tto your Majesty's subjects, and may prove, in itt consequences, if no remedy is applied, dangerous
" to the credit of the kingdom. It is certain, that tn^ smaller Notes of the, B*nk of England, and those
" issued by country-Bank f-rs, have supplanted the Gold Coins, usurped their functions, and driven a ereat
" part of tliern o»t of circulation : in some parts of Great Britain, and especially in the. southern parts of
Ireland, small Notes have been issued to supply the place of Siher Coius. of which here is certainly a
" great deficiency."— Charles Jenkinson, Earl if Liverpool,- Letter to the King. Published in 180.r>.
Progress from Frvrc to ONE Pound Notes — Suspicion begun soon after the FIVE Pound
Notes — Paine's Prediction as to People going to the Bank — Lord Liverpool's Opinion
agreeing with that of Mr- Paine— History of the Bank Stoppage of Gold and Silver
Payments — Enormous increase of the Debt in 1797— Other cause — Alarmists — Meet
ing* of Parliament in Oct. 17.°- (>'«—• Alarm of Invasion — Arming Acts — Mr- Fox's Opinion
of the Alarm — Exaggerated Representations of the VenarPrints — French Fleet ap
pears off the Coast of Ireland — Effect of the Alarm begins to he felt at the Bank of
England— Ve.nal Prints change thtirTone all of a sudden, at.d accuse the Jacobins of
exciting Alarm — Run upon the Bank become* serious — Increased by a Report of a
French Fleet with Troops on board, being off Reachy Head— Followed immediately
by the landing of Tnte and his Raggamuffins in Wales — Bank receives its finishing
blow — Vain attempts to check the Hnn-npon the Bank — Order of Council issued-—
Disappointment of the Crowd at the Bank in Threadneedle Street.
GENTLEMEN
IN the foregoing Letter, we traced
the Rational Debt, and the Interest
thereon, in their progressive increase
from the year 179-3 to 1797 inclusive,
in which latter vear we shall find that
the Stoppage ot Gold and Silver-pay
ments, -at the Bank of England, took
place. "We have seen, that, in the
course of the aforementioned period,
the amount of T)eht and Interest was
nearly doubled ; ^ e have seen that j
the Bank of England, had, of course, |
nearly double the sum to pay in
Dividends, or Interest ; we have seen
Low this increase of payments at the
Bank of England produced a new fa
mily of noter-," so low in amount as
FIVE POVNDS, there having been be
fore the Anti-Jacobin War, no Bank
Notes under TEN POUNDS; we shall
soon see how the same still growing
and ever-prolific cause brought forth, '
at last* a still more numerous and
more diminutive litter ; and, when we
have gone through the history of the
Two and ONE Pound Xotes, we
shall want scarcely any thing further
to convince us, that, in such a state of
thing.-, it was next to impossible for
Gold and Silver to remain in circula-
tioiu
It was observed in Letter I, page
(>, that when motes, so low in amount
as FIVE POUNDS came to be issued;
when rents, salaries, yearly wages,
and almost ajl the taxes came to be
paid in paper ; when this became the
case, and when, of course, every part
of the people, except the very poorest,
possessed occasionally, bank-notes, it
was impossible that men should not
begin to think, that there was some
difference between Gold and Silver
and Bank-notes, and that they should
not become more desirous to possess
IW]
LETTER XI.
[14
the former than the latter. In other
-words, ii was impossible, that men
should not begin to liave some, suspi
cion relative to the Bank-notes ; and,
it is very clear, that the moment s«ch
suspicion arise?, there is an end to
&ny papT-money, which is convert
ible into Gold and Silver at the will
of the bearer, who will, of course, lose
not an Instant in turning that of which
he has a suspicion (however slight)
into that of which it is impossible for
any one to have a suspicion.
Thus it happened in 1707, as
PAINE, in his pamphlet, published
only the year before, had foretold, in
t<kf? words of the first of my mottos
to tii is Letter. He there told Ms
readers how the issuing of the Five
Pound Notes would opera.tr ; he
pointed out how this measure would
keep real money from the Bank ; and
be asked what must be the conse
quence, if (as it might any day happen)
the people should go to the Bank and
demand cask for the, notes. This did
• happen the .very next year ; and, as ho
•lore told in another part of his pam
phlet, those who went to present their
.notes frst came best off. LORD LI
VERPOOL, in the past-age, which I
have selected for my second motto to
this Letter, had when he wrote, .seen
the thing happen ; he had seen the
fulfilment of what Mr. PAINE had
foretold, and spoke, therefore, of the
" dtittitjerout" consequences of ;m ex
cessive issue of paper, with the fact
before his eyes. Experience, which,
*'nys the proverb, " makes fools wise"
had taught his Lordship in 1805,
what he might have learnt from Mr.
PAINE in 1706. Nevertheless, the
opinions of Lord Liverpool have some
weight, and are worthy of attention
with. us in .England; because, though
his talents and mind were of a cast
quite inferior to those of such men as
HUME and PAINE and BURKE, and
though there is nothing in what he has
said, which I had not said, in the Re
gister, years before, still as being a
inan of great experience in business,
as having during this whole reign
| been a great favourite at court, an
! especially as having, upon this occ?
•->, addressed himself directly to th
Kiny, his opinions, though of no con
sequence elsewhere, are worthy c
some notice in this country, and ma
possibly, in some minds, tend to pro
j duce that conviction, which, in th
j same minds, a stupid and incorrigibl
| prejudice would have prevented fron
bring produced by all the powers o
HUME or PAINE.
But, we must now return to tin
Bank, and see how it happened tha
the people -went to demand money ii
payment of the notes in 1797. Tha
it did happen we all know ; but, ther<
are not a few of the people formin:
the present population of the country
who have forgotten, or, who have
never known, the true history of tin
Stoppage of Gold and Silver- payment
at the Hank of England; yet, with
out a knowledge of this history, anc
a thorough knowledge of it too, w<
cannot possibly pursue our inquiries
to a satisfactory result.
We have seen abundant arguments
to prove, that paper-money, that pro
missory paper of every sort, is the off
spring and representative of Debt,
that a National or Public Debt never
can fail to bring forth bank-notes, or
paper-promises of some sort or other ;
that, of course, as the Debt increases
and its Interest increases, there will
be, and must be, an increase of the
paper in which that interest is paid;
and in the last "Letter, p. 131, we
saw, in the Table of increase of the
Debt* and Interest from the beginning
of the Anti-Jacobin War to the year
17.97, we here saw, in practice, the
c?»ii?-r of the making of the FIVE
POUND bank-notes. But, as we have
since SCDK that measure was not suf
ficient. We saw, at p. 134, that it
was o avoid paying -in Gold and
Si/rrr the sums, or part of sums, from
T! N to FIVE pounds- which must have
induced the .Bank to make and put
out notes so low as FIVE POUNDS.
if you look again at that Table, gen
tlemen, you will sec how the increase
Ul]
PAPER AGAINST GOLD.
[142
went on ; you will see, that it was
greater and greater every year. In
the year 1793, the addition of the
annual Interest was (speaking in
round numbers) only 260 thousand
pounds; but, in the year 1797, the
addition was, 3J. millions; that is to
say, a third part of as much us the
whole amount of the Interest previous
to the Anti- Jacobin war. Thus did
this war of PITT against the Repub
licans of France cost, in only one
year, nearly as much, in addition to
Debt, as the cost of the whole 01 the
American War, the extravagant ex
penditure of which had, till now,
bt-en proverbial.
There were, however, other causes
it work, at the time of which we are
now speaking ; causes operating upon
the paper system from without; causes
which must be here fully stated ; for,
besides tiiat a knowledge of them is
essential to our inquiry, it is demanded
by justice towards those who opposed
the ruinous measure of PITT, and
who foretold their consequences ; and
iiis demand is, in a peculiar manner,
addressed to ME, who, from being so
situated as to be unable to come at,
31* even suspect, the truth, while many ,
iircumstanees conspired to make me
.{ike for truth that which was false,
ivas not only one of the dupes of the
vy< trm bul who, unintentionally, con-
rributed according to the degree of
•ny talents, towards the extension of
;he circle of duplicity.
Credit is a thing wholly dependent
ipon opinion. The word itself, in-
leed, has the same meaning as tlie
vord belief. As long as men believe
n the riches of any individual, or any
company, so long he or they possess
ill the advantages of riches. But,
vhen once suspicion, is excited, no
natter from what cause, the credit^ is
haken: and a very little matter over-
ets it. So long as the belief is im
plicit, the person, towards whom it
txists, goes on, not only with ail the
Appearances, but with all the c.d van-
ages of wealth ; though, at the same
time, he be insolvent. But, if bis
wealth be not solid; if he have merelv
the appearance of wealth ; if he be
unable to pay so much as he owes, or
in other words, if he be insolvent,
which means neither more nor less
than unable to pay. "When an indi
vidual is in this situation, he is .liable,
at any moment, to have his insolvency
exposed. Any accident, that excites
alarm in the minds of his creditors,
brings the whole upon him at once ;
and he who might otherwise have gone
on for years, is stopped in an instant.
Thus it will happen to Companies
of Traders as well as to individuals ;
and thus it did happen to the Bank
Company, at the time we are speaking
of, and at which time an alarm of in
vasion prevailed through the countrv.
From the very out-set, of the war,
the inventors and supporters of it had
b: en, from time to time, propagating
alarms of various sorts, by the means
of \vhich alarms, whether they them
selves believed in them or not, they
were enabled to do things, which
never had before been either known
or heard of or dreamt of in England.
Tli<? mode of reasoning with the peo-
wasthis: You see, that, in France,
the revolution has deprived the people
of both property and life ; there arc
those who wish to cause a revolution
in England: the measures taken, or
proposed, are absolutely necessary to
prevent the accomplishment of this
v»'i*si. : therefore, you have your choice,
either to submit quietly to these mea-
jyiresj whatever portion of your liberty
or property they may take away, or
let in upon you a revolution 'which
will take away all your property and
your lives into the bargain. There
was no room for hesitation; and thus
were tiie people determined, and with
this view of the matter did they pro
ceed, until the time above reierrod to,
the ministers being, probably, full as
much alarmed as the people, and cer
tainly not with less cause.
At times, however, especially after
the war had continued for three or
,431
LETTER XI.
[14
four years, the effect of alarm seemed
to grow very faint. Danger has been
BO <. ften talked of, that at last, it was
grown familiar. In the year 1796,
however, things began to wear a se:
rious aspect. All the minister's pre
dictions and promises had failed ; his
allies, to whom and for whose support
so many millions had been paid by the
people of this country, had all laid
down then: arms or had gone over to
the side of France ; the assignats in
France had been annihilated without
producing any of the fatal conse
quences which PITT had so confi
dently anticipated, and upon which,
indeed, he had relied tor success ; and
a negotiation for peace, opened at the
instance of England, had produced
nothing but a convincing proof of high
pretensions of the enemy, and of his
confidence in his cause and resources.
When the parliament met, there
fore, in October 1 790, the ministers
and their adherents seem to Uave been
lull of real apprehension. They failed
not to renew the signal of alarm, in
which, indeed, they were kept m coun
tenance by the enemy, who had openly
declared his attention of invading the
country. The subject was mentioned
in the King's speech, upon a part of
which a motion was grounded on the
I8th of October, for the biiuging in
of bills for the raising men with all
possible speed, for the purpose of de
fending the country against invasion.
In virtue of a resolution parsed in
consequence of this motion, three acts
were passed with all possible rapidity,
the first for providing an augmenta
tion for the militia to be trained and
exercised in a particular manner ; the
second for raising a certain number of
men in the several counties of England
and Scotland (there were two Acts),
for the service of the regular Army
and the Navy; and the third for rais
ing & provisional force of cavalry to be
embodied, in <*;se of necessity, for
the defence of these kingdoms ;* which
acts were finally passed on the llth of
* 37G<>crge III. Chapters 3, 4, 5; and 6.
November 1796. When this measur
was under discussion, MR. Fox, M:
SHERIDAN, and others opposed :
upon the ground of its not being nc
cessary, and MR. Fox,, who called :
a requisition, after the French mannei
observed that, if it was necessary t
our /safety, it was the conduct of th
ministers and of the last parliamen
who coniided in them, which hai
brought us into that miserable situa
tion, "a parliament," he said, " whic]
" had done more to destroy ever
" thing thai is dear to us, than ii
" better days would have entered int
" the mind of any Englishman t<
" attempt, or to conceive; aparliamen
" by M'hom the people had been drainei
" so much, and from whom they ha<
" had so little bent* lit; a parliamen
" that had diminished the deares
" rights of the people se shamelessly
" and so wickedly; a parliament whosi
" conduct it was that had given ris<
" to this measure," MR. Fox added
that he did not believe that invasioi
would render any such measure ne
cessary ; that the real resources of tht
country consisted of the peopled
attachment, to the constitution, anc
that, therefore, the proper measure t<
be adopted would be to allow them U
possess the .spirit of that constitution
Tbe minister and his partizans con
tended, however, that there was rea]
cause for alarm ; and PITT said, thai
as to the constitution " it still, pos-
" scssed that esteem and admiration
" of the people, which would induce
" them to defend it against the designs
" of domestic foes, and the attempts oi
" their foreign allies;' thus, according
to his usual practice, proceeding upor
the assumption, that there was a part)
in the country in alliance, as to wishes,
at least, with the enemy.
While tl/ese measures were befort
parliament, the venal part of the press
was by no means inactive. Repre
sentations the most exaggerated wert
made use of in speaking of the tempei
arid designs of the enemy, alwayi
insinuating that the opponents of th<
Minister were ready to join the enemj
•145J
PAPER AGAINST GOLD.
[14G
or, at least, wished him success. The
French were exhibited as being quite
prepared; and a descent wss held
forth as something almost too horrible
to be thought of. " This was useful for
the purpose of making the Am- ing
Acts go down ; but the alarmists did
not seem to be aware of its cutting
another way; and, least of all do they
appear to have hnagined, that it would
set people to thinking of what effect
invasion might produce upon ban k notes.
In the mean while, the negociations
for peace were broken off by the month
of December, which gave rise to new
alarm* This was soon followed by
the appearance of a French naval
force, with troops on board, off the
coast of Ireland; and, though its
return back to France, without "at
tempting a descent, might, one would
think, have tended to quiet people's
fears, it was, on the contrary, made
the ground-work of a still more general
and more vociferous alarm. There
were now no bounds to the exagger
ations of the venal prints. From the
first week in January, (1797) to the
third week in February, the people
were kept in a state of irritation hardly
to be conceived. Addresses to them,
in all shapes and sizes, were published,
calling upon them to arm and come
forth at once, not waiting for the slow
process of the Militia and Cavalry
Acts. " Already," were we told,
" the opposite coast was crowded with
" hostile arms: forests of bayonets
" glistened m the sun; despair and
" horror were coming in the rear."
It was next to impossible that this
should not make people think of what
was to become of them ; make them
reflect a little as to what they were to
do in case of invasion; and it required
but very little reflection to convince
them, that money, at all times useful,
would, in such a case, be more useful
than ever. Whence by a very na
tural and easy transition, they would
fee led to contemplate the possibility
of real money being rather better than
paper. That?* enough! There needs
no more-! Away, in an instant, they
go to th« Bank, where the written
promises tell them tire bearer shall be
paid on demand.
This effect of the alarm, an effect
of which neither PITT nor any of his
adherents seem ever to have had the
smallest suspicion, and, indeed, when
MR. Fox cautioned them against it,
they effected to laugh at what he said;
this effect of the alarm, raised and
kept up by the minister and the.
great Loaners and men of that de
scription; this effect of the alarm
began, it appears, to be sensibly felt,
at the Bank of IJngland, imrnediatelv
after the appearance of the French
fleet off the coast of Ireland; and, as
it after wards appeared, from official
documents, the drain had become so
great by the end of the third week in
February, that the Directors saw the
impossibility of going on, unless some
thing could be done to put a stop, or,
at least, greatly to check, the run upon
them for cash. The people were, in
short, now doing precisely what
PAINE, only about ten or eleven
months before, had advised them to
do, and the consequence was precisely
what he had predicted.
It was now extremely curious to
hear the language of the venal news
papers, who had, for months before,
btien endeavouring to excite alarm,
and who abused MR. Fox and his
party, called them Jacobins, and,
sometimes, traitors, because they said
that the alarm was false, and wa?
invented for bad purposes. These
very news-papers now took the other
side. They not only themselves said,
that the alarm was groundless; but
they had the impudence, the unparal
leled, the atrocious impudence, to
accuse the Jacobins, as they called
them, of having excited the alarm, for
the purpose of injuring public credit/
This change of tone was begun on
the 17th of February by those noto
riously venal prints, those prints so
far famed above all others in (lie amiala
of venality ; — the "TRUE BRITON"
147]
LETTER XI.
and the " SUN." The tiling was be
gun in " An Address-to JOHN BULL/'
iu which the " most tkinkiny people,"
who were still all in trying confusion
to get on with the levies of additional
famous landing of TATE and hi:
handful of raggairmffios in WALES;
appears toha\e given confidence ii
bank-paper the finishing blow.
All, as appears from the documents
militia, and parish-men for the army and as we shall by-and-hy see, wa:
and navy, and the provisional cavalry; consternation in Threadneedle-street
the " most thinking people," while all ; The diminution of the gold heeaiiH
hurry and bustle about this, were told ! greater and greater everv day. Ii
by these shameless writers, who had
almost called the people traitors for
, not making greater 'haste to arm; the
people were, by these same writers,
now told, that alarm might be pushed
too far ; that, if so puelied, it might j
do us ''an injury equal to invasion; that
every one must see, that the French
icishcd to ruin our credit; that, of
course, to shew an eagerness to sell out
of the funds was to favour the designs
of the enemy ; that it was, besides, the
greatest nonsense in the world for
people to suppose that their property
was not safe in the Bank of England ;
that no apprehension need be felt, and
that the people who had money in the
venal prints
s crv on
funds,
wooden
might
safely
walls of
rely
Old
upon thr?
England.
Though, observe, the whole country
vain did
again:,! alarm. They had cried " wolf.''
till the people had believed them
They had called uppn them to " strimi
" forward in defence of the co?istitii-
' " tion" 'till they had convinced then
it was time for every man to thinf
a little about taking care of himself
In vain did these venal writers no>\
call aloud against alarm; in vain die
they s'vy, (24th February) that the
Bead1 y Head-report " avose from c
" mistake in the signals; tlnat the re-
" sources of the7 country were iiiidi-
" mimshed; that it was deg jading tc
" suppose that we had not a sufficient
"force to annihilate the enemy ; that
" the panic IK as shameful, unmanly,
" mean, and dastardly;' In vain did
they assert (24th February), that " in-
actually in movement, down to j " vasion war- more to be desired than
the very beadles, in order to raise j " dreaded;" in vain did they exclaim:
men for defence by land.
" The evidence of facts" was before
the people's eyes; The alarm was
JJCUJJit-
to be
allayed by assertions like
not
Ihese. And, though the venal prints
grew more and more positive in their
assurances, that there was now no
danger from invasion; though they
(on the 21st of February) assured the
people, that it was " an error to sup-
" pose that the enemy was at our
" gates," and that " a panic might do
" infinite mischief to public credit,"
people still kept carrying their notes
softly to Threadneedle-street , they
kept on selling out of the Stocks : and,
a report, on the day last-mentioned,
of the appearance of a French fleet,
with Tsoops on board, off BE ACHY
HEAD*, immediately followed by the
" Let us, for God's sake, not give
" way to our fears so as tn injure
" public credit." In vain did they
(25th February) aver, " that the alarm
" was groundless ; that they were sure
"no attack was meditated; and that
" they were convinced it never would
" be." In vain did they again ex
claim ; " for God's sake let riot the
" gloomy despondency of a few men
" in the city give a fatal blow to pub-
" lie credit."
In vain were all these efforts : SUS
PICION, to use PAINE'S emphatical
expression, wa&. no longer ASLEEP,,
It was broad awake, and to stay its
operations was impossible. To ex
cite fears in the breasts of the people
was a task to which the venal prints
had been adequate; but to remove
* " PORTSMOUTH, FEB. 20. — An account " past ten, A.M. of several French transports,
reached this place, this morning at half ' '• convoyed by armed ves&els, having bitn seen
PAPER AGAINST GOLD.
[15C
those fears, or to impede the progress
or their effects upon the mind, \vns too
much for any human pow* r to accom
plish. The rim upon the Bank conti
nued to itxr&ise, until the day last
mentioned, Saturday, November the
23th of February 1797, a day which
will long be remembered, and \viiich
will he amongst the most memorable
in the annals of England, as being the
last (hitherto at, least) on which the
Bank of . England was; compelled, at
the will of the bearer, to pay its pro
missory notes in gold and silver,
agreeably to the tenor of those notes ;
until the evening of that day the run
continued, but, on the next, though it
was Sunday, an Order was issued
from the PRIVY COUNCIL requiring
the Directors of the Bank to fofbcai
issuing any cask in payment, until the
sense of Parliament could be taken
upon the subject, which memorable
instrument was in the following words*,
to which I must beg of you, Gentle
men, tot pay particular attention.
ojf Beuchy Head. The intelligence came
by tht' signal posts, and Admiral Mr P.
Parker immediately on receiving it, or
dered two ships of the line and five fri
gates to slip their cables and proceed to
sea. This squadron is now out of sight,
and all the other ships are getting in rea
diness. — The sensation that this made in
the City may be easily conceived. It
spread a very general alarm; but it was
soon contradicted. Letters, written as
the oost was setting out, stated that the
alarm had been occasioned by a mistaken
signal, and that instead of a fleet of 300
French transports, it was no more than a
signal that 3 priuiteers had been disco
vered oft Beachy Head. — Such, however,
is the consequences of the state of alarm
intv which Guv eminent has thrown lite country
by the cry of a threatened Invasion." —
MOHNINO CHRONICLE, "2 Feb. 1797^
* " On Saturday the public mind received
ike shock of a titu' alarm. An express ar
rived from Lord Miiford, informing the
King's Minister* that a body of French
troop?, amoiiHjtinff to about I '200, h\d
\iren landed aT~Fiskard out of the ships
which we stated had approaeht-d the
coa.«t of Pembroke. Ministers took the
faiiiest cpportimit) of announcing the
tact to the Lord Mayor." •— MOUMNC.
-:, tf; K-bniarv, 17-7.
• "\Ve shall, by-and-by, see whence it
was tliat. " Mr. Chancellor of the
" Exchequer" recerved his informa
tion, and '.ivhat sort of information il
was that Le did receive; but, for th«
present, wo will, in order to avoid
making this Letter too lonir, contest
ourselves with seeing what the Dank
Company did in consequence of this
Order not to pay their creditors ; this
requisition not to pay their promissory
notes when presented; this Order to
forbear issuing cash in payment.
The ruV had been very great oa
the Saturday, and people would
scarcely suspect, that the Sunday,
especially by such a godly ministry a:;
PITT'S was, would have been spent
in labour of any sort. It would,
however, naturally give people tint-;
to think a little; it would afford them
leisure to reflect on the consequence
of being without a farthing of cash n>
case of invasion. Accordingly, on thtf
Monday morning, they appear to huv.
been quite prepared for furnishi.!*;;
* At the CMmcil Chamber, U'lriiehall, Fet.
:-7, 179?.
By the LORDS- of his MAJESTY'S Mc^t
Honourable PRIVY COUNCIL.
Present,
The LOR:) CHANCEI.LOU (Rosslyn)
I-ORD PflKSlHEVT
DIKE of PORTLAND
MAHQCJS COUNVVALLIS
FARL SPF.NCEII
EARL of LIVERPOOL (Charles Jenkinson)
LORD GRBNVILLI
Mr. CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQGEJ»
Upon the representation of the Chancellor rf
the. Exchequer, stating that trom the re?u;'t
of the information which he has received, H;I:;
of the enquiries which it has been his dc/,-.
to make respecting the effect of the
demand for specie, that have been made
the metropolis, in consequence of ill-fo
ed (ir exaggerated alarms in different parts <.,t"
the country, it appears that unless som«
measure is immediately taken, there may
he reason to apprehend a want of a $!$•-
cunt supply of cash to nnstar the exigencies «f
the public swchf. It is the unanimous opinion
of the .Hoard, that it i-* i!uti^i^»Re>-ihly-*i<?*>->-
s-ary,/wr the public twice, that the Directo- .
of the Bank of F.ns;land should for'nar i-.-
suing <ir<y cash in iw/mfnt u^'il the sense of
igroViit OHM or". tnk».i >on Uwt snt'.' I
d i1"" ui-oper nu'a*'^.f* adopt
151]
LETTER XI.
[152
themselves with real money, if it was
to bn had at the Bank. Let us, how
ever, as to this fact, take the words of
the venal writers themselves. " Yes-
" terday-morning," says the TRUE
BRITON of Tuesday, the 28th of Fe
bruary, " a great run seemed to have
" been meditated upon the Bank, as
" A CROWD OF PEOPLE AS-
" SEMBLED THERE AS SOON
" AS THE DOORS OPENED.
" This design was HAPPILY de-
"feated by a Resolution of the Privy
" Council, transmitted to the Bank
" Directors on Sunday, and, in con-
" sequence, they had Hand-bilk ready ,
" for delivery, a copy of which, with
" the Order of the Privy Council au-
" ne^ed, ©ur readers will find, as an
" Advertisement in the front of our
" Paper.''*
Such, Gentlemen, was the manner
in which the Stoppage of Gold and
Silver payments at the Bank of Eng
land took place ; such was the manner
of that event, which produced the
evils, for which the Bullion Committee
have proposed a remedy. Upon the
Order of Council there is much to ob
serve, before we proceed further ; but,
having lafcl before you a plain narra
tive of the event, it will be best to re
serve those observations, 'till my next,
and, in the meanwhile,
I remain, Gentlemen,
Your sincere friend,
WM. COBBETT.
State Priinn, Ntirprate, Monday,
October, 18 iO.
for maintaining the means of circulation,
and 9*ppftrtmg the public and ctnnmeiciat credit
of the kingdom at this important conjunc
ture ; and it is ordered, that a copy of this
minute be transmitted to the Directors of
the Bank of England, and they are hereby
rtquirtd, on tiie grounds of the exigency of"
the case, to conform thereto until the sense
of Parliament can be taken as aforesaid.
W. FAWKENER.
, * " Bunk of England, Febi-uary 27, 1797.
In consequence of an order of his Ma
jesty's Privy Council notified to the Bank
last night, a Copy of which is hereunto an
nexed—The Governor, Deputy Governor,
and Directors of the Hank of England think
it their duty to inform the Proprietors of
Bank Stock, as w«:ll as the Public at large,
that the general concern* of the Bunk are in the
most effluent and prosperous situation, and such
as to jintclude every doubt as to the security of
its notes.---The Directors mean to continue
their usual discounts for the accommoda
tion of the Commercial Interest, paying the
amount in Banknote*, and the Dividend War
rant* will be paid in the same manner.
FRANCU MARTIN, Secrehtry.
(Bntettt at Stationers'
LONDON : Printed by WM. MOLIMEUX, Bream's Buildings, Chancery Lan*.
6.]— COB BETT'S PAPER AGAINST GOLD.— [Price Two-Pence.
153]
[154
LETTER XIL
¥ Every "ietim of injustice and cruelty" fipealting of the French government) " &«• <?ueaf As fcw revenge to hit
"' connections, to hiv friend*, and to hit relations ; or (if all these sl.ould be involved in the same common
" fate with himself; every such execution raises detestation and abhorrence, even in the breasl of ordinary
spectators, and unites the public opinion against a Government, which exists only by the daily practice
of robbery and murder. .From this disgusting scene, let us turn our eyes to our owntituation. THERE
" the cor.trast is striking in all its parts. HERE we see nothing of the character and genius of arbitrary
"finance; none of the bold frauds of bankrupt power; ronfc of the wild struggles and plunges of des-
" potiwt, in distress ; no lopping off from tl.e capital ofde'n; no sii&pennon of intercut ; no lobbery, under
" the name of loan; no raising the value; no debasing the mbxlance of the coin HERE we behold
" public credit of every description rising under all tin- disadvantage* of a general war ; an ample re-
•' venue,, flowing freely and copiously from the opulence of a contented people." — Lord Mornington
•• (now Marquis Wellesley)- Speech in the House of Commons, 2 1st January 1794.
" The interest of the national funded debt is p,.id at the Bank in the same kind of paper in which the taxes arj
" collected. \Yh«n people find, as they will find, z. reservertnoss among each other in giving gold and silver
" for bank notes, or the least preference for the former ovei the latter, they will go for payment to the
•' Bank, where they have a right to go. They will do this as a measure of prudence, each one for himself,
'•' and the truth, or detunon of the funding system mil be then proved." — Paine. Decline and Fall of
the English System of Finance. Published in 1"{X>-
*' The great object, however, is to opeu the Bank of England, and to enable it to carry oil its pecuniary
" transactions to the extent which its resources will admit of, cu tht: solid principle of giving either c*sh or
" paper at the option of the applicant. Until that is done, neither' public orprrcate credit, nor agritnt
" ture, nor commerce, nor manufactories, nor the income of the nation, can go on prosperously^"*- -j
Sir John Sinclair. Letter, published in 1797.
Tlie Impression made upon the Country by the Stoppage of Gold and Silver Payments
at the TJauk— Ridiculous Situation of the Ministers in complaining of False Alarms — Ja
cobins now accused of causing the Run upon theBank -"Foolishness of this Accusation —
Mr. Wilberforce answered by Mr, Fox — Now was the Time for Mr. Pitt's Adherents
to leave him — They had been warned by Mr. Fox and others — King's Speech and
Language of the Minister at the Opening of the Session during which the Stoppage
took place— If the Minister's Adherents had now quitted him it might have prevented
the present Dangers — Mr. Pitt's Humiliation in the House of Commons — Questions
put to him upon the subject of the Legal Tender, by Mr. Combe and Mr. Nicholls— «
His Inability to determine on what Measures he should propose.
GENTLEMEN,
HAVING, agreeably to the inten
tion expressed, traced the increase of
the Debt and of the Bank-Notes down
to that grand and memorable pfFect,
the stoppage of Gold and Silver-pay
ments at the Bank of England, our
next object must naturally be to know
what impression that event produced
upon the nation, and what measures
were adopted in consequence of it; in
other words, to continue the history of
the stoppage down to the time, when
the evil of paper-money produced the
forming of the Bullion Committee.
The impression made upon the na
tion in general was such as might have
been exuected, after all the flattering
W. MOLINEUX, Printer, Bream's Buihiinfcs/
accounts which had been giren of the
national resources. The ORDER OF
COUNCIL does, you will perceive,
ascribe the event to " ill-founded and
u exaggerated alarms, in different
" parts of the country." But, sup
posing this to have been the chief, and
only cause, with what face could the
ministers complain of these alarms;
seeing that they themselves had done
their utmost to excite them? They
had not only proposed and carried
through the Arming Bills, but they
had been writing to me magistrates, in
every part of the kingdom, calling
upon them for internal preparations
" while" (Morning Chronicle, 22nd
February 1797) '* Contractors had
F
155]
LETTER XII.
[150
'* put every town mto commotion by
*-' inquiries as to the number of Ovens,
" the quantity of gram, and the State
" of the Provisions" Nay, the
preamble of the Arming Acts itself
proclaimed, that the measures were
become necessary, " in order to pre-
" vent, or repel, any attempt, which
" the enemies of the country might
" make to effect a descent upon the
" kingdom." After all this it was,
that the Privy Council spoke, in a
sort of complaining tone, of " ill
-founded and exaggerated alarms" !
When the matter came before
Parliament, the Opposition did, cer
tainly, not spare the Minister and his
adherents, who had the confidence to
hold the same tone as to the alarm ;
and whose opinion of the minds of the
people was such, that they scrupled
not to repeat the assertions-" of the
venal prints, and to ascribe the injury.
(for they then acknowledged it to be
an injury) which Public Credit had
sustained to unfounded alarms, ex
cited by the internal enemies of the
country, which, in a contrary sense,
some members were malicious enough
to believe. GENERAL WALPOLE
(m the Debate of the 1st of March)
made an admirable exposure of them
in this way, to which .no answer was
"given, but that they were not always
to feel alarm, because they had 'once
felt it ; though the fact was that they
were proclaiming alarm, with all their
might, 'till the Bank, as it afterwards
appeared, represented to them secretly,
that the alarm, if continued, would
take away all their cash. Mr. SHE
RIDAN, in adverting to the speech of
GENERAL WALPOLE, who had re
marked upon MR. WINDHAM'S not
having signed the Order of Council,
said, " that he believed it proceeded
" from the reflections it contained
" agamst the alarmists," and he
added, that " even amidst the wreck
" of public credit, it was impossible
91 not to laugh at the juggling tricks
" and miserable shifts to which ini-
" nisters had recourse."
The venal part of the press, now
that it was impossible any longer to
disguise the state of the credit of the
Bank, began a regular new attack
upon the Jacobins, whom it had be
fore reviled for endeavouring to check
the alarm, and whom it now accused
of causing the alarm. The noto
riously venal prints before-mentioned
(TRUE BRITON and SUN), which
had, to the last moment, abused the
Jacobins for (as they, said) propaga
ting the fake notion of the Bank not
having gold to answer their notes.
These prints, never equalled in vena
lity, I believe, by anr prints in the
world, the MORNING POST only ex-
cepted, now abused those same un
fortunate Jacobins for not acknowledg
ing the necessity of the Order in
Council. They (3rd March 171)7)
again accused the Jacobins of having
caused " a distrust of the Bank," and
of having formed a design to ruin the
credit of the country, in which " they
" had so far succeeded, at least, as to
" persuade the people, in some parts
" of the country, that gold was pie-
"ferable to Bank notes."
Gentlemen, pause here for a mo
ment, and contemplate tlie foolishness
as well as the injustice of such obser
vations as these. You will bear in
mind, that the Jacobins, as they were
called, were, by these same writers,
constantly represented as men with
out learning, without sense, without
property, and, of course, without in
fluence. How, then, were they to have
the power of producing such an effect
upon the minds of the nation ; and, upon
the minds of those, too, who held the
bank-notes and \vl\oowned the Stock?
The Jacobins, as these venal prints had
the incidence to call them, had not
been able to persuade the people to
check Mr. PITT in his ruinous career
of war and expenditure; tlu-y had not
been able to prevent any one of the
measures of that Minister ; thev had
not been able to persuade the people
to do any one thing that they wished
them to do, aud, at the very time we
157]
PAPER AGAINST GOLD.
[158
are speaking of, they were out-voted,
in the parliament, four to one. Yet,
to these same Jacobins was now
ascribed that run upon the Bank,
which produced the Order in Coun
cil ; which produced an order, issued
by the king's Privy Council, to encou
rage a Company of Merchants to re
fuse illegally, to pay their promissory
notes, when duly presented. The Ja-
cohins, as they were still called with a
degree of impudence not to he
adequately described ; the Jacobins,
who were represented as defeated and
put down, and as being held in ab
horrence by the people, were, never
theless, at the same moment, repre
sented as having such power over the
mind of that same people, as to cause
them to make a run upon tlie Bank,
which was called " stabbing the coun-
" try in its vitals." Mr. Fox, ia an-
s\ver to Mr. WILBERI'ORCE, who
(March 1, 1797) attributed " much of
" the public calamity to the conduct
" of the Opposition, and to the con-
' duct of those who had proceeded to
" lengths which the Opposition would
" not avow ; in answer to this MR.
Fox said : " this reminds me of a
" scene in Ben Johnson, where it ap- :
" pears, that an Imposter had played
" his tricks very successfully for a
[t long time upon his dupes, and,
" when he was detected, the dupes
:< became very angry, not at the 1m-
'l poster, but at those who had de-
' tected him."
Now \vas the time for those, who
:iad been deluded into a support of
Mr. PITT'S measures, to make a
rank and manly acknowledgement of
.heir error, and to join Mr. Fox in
lenianding a change of system. They
lad, when war was first contemplated,
'eeeiyed the most solemn assurances,
li#t the -resources for vigorous prcpa-
ation (at first preparation only was
alked of) were ample, even from the
•xcess of the revenue; * thev had been,
* " Gentlemen of the House of Coni-
; mons. Itis a arreat consolation to me to
when, after the war had begun and
had brought* at once, very disastrous
effects as to pecuniary matters, told
that those effects vrere completely re
moved, and that the revenue was in a
favourable state ; f they had been told,
that the war could not be of long du
ration; they had been told that the
situation of France, in every respect,
and especially in respect to her fi
nances, was desperate beyond de
scription; the French system had
been repeatedly described to them as
one that could not last above a few
months, having in itself the seeds of
inevitable destruction ; they had been
assured, that all the powers of Europe
would join us against France; they
had been told, that, if there were no
other cause of ruin to our enemy, that
enemy must be ruined by the loss of
all his colonies (which we had taken),
and by the annihilation of his naval
force, which seemed to have been
nearly completed by the fourth year
of the war; they had had, year after
year, exhibited to them such pictures
of the finances of France compared
with those of England, as to make
them believe that France must spee
dily become bankrupt, while England
was (and partly in consequence of the
war) becoming, every day, more and
more rich, that her commerce was
daily increasing, and that her credit,
which was always firmly established,
was now built upon a rock ; they had,
even in the King's Speech, made at
the beginning of the session of which
*' reflect, that you will find ample resources
" for effectually defraying the expence of
" vigorous preparations^ from the excess of
" the actual revenue beyond the orden.iry ejr-
•* penrliture." KING'S SPEECH, ISth Dec.
179?.
f " T feel too sensibly the repeated proofs
" which I have received cf the affection of
" my subjects not to lament the necessity
"of any additional burthens. Itis, hovv-
" ever, a great consolation to me, to observe
"the favourable state of the Revenue, an'd
" the complete success of the measure which wat
•' last year adopted for rernoving the embun'tiss-
u merits affecting commercial vcredif."-- - — -
KING'S SPEECH, 10th January 1794.
159]
LETTER XII.
[160
we are now speaking, and during
which the stoppage took place, at Ike
beginning of that very t-essiou they
had been told, in the King's Speech,
of the SOLIDITY of the pecuniary
resources ,of the country, * while the
Minister and his adherents echoed
back, the assertion. Upon this last
occasion, which, Gentlemen, is wor
thy of particular attention, the time
being only four months before the
Banl^-stoppage actually took place ;
upon this occasion, SIR WILLIAM
LOWTHER, who seconded the ad-
dresSj and who is now a Lord, I be
lieve, said " if we regarded our Ji-
" nances, they were ABUNDANT
" in the EXTREME, and such as
" were adequate to any emergency
" of the country." LORD MORPETH,
son. of the earl of Carlisle, who
moved the address to the king in an
swer to his speech, said " As to
" our internal situation, \ve have
" witnessed it, for some time past,
" with joy and exultation ; and have
" reason to congratulate his Majesty
" and the people at large, upon our
" auspicious prospects in that re-
" spect." And Mr. PITT himself
said, " As to our resources, they fur-
" nish, indeed, in a moment like the
" present, a subject of peculiar cmi-
" gratulation and well-grounded con-
"Jidence. • ••. Our
** resources remain as yet, untouched,
" and we shall be abte to bring them
" into action with a degree of concert
" and effect, worthy of the character
" of the British nation, and of the
" cause in which they will be em-
" ployed. These resources have in
"them, NOTHING HOLLOW
" OR DELUSIVE. They are the
* •' It is a great satisfaction to me to ob-
" serve, that, notwithstanding the tempo-
" rary embarrassments, which have been
" experienced, the state of the commerce,
" mauufactures, and revenue of the country
" proves the real extent and SOLIDITY
" of ow resource*, and furnish you such
" means as miust be equal to ant} exertioni
*« which the present crisis may require." —
KING'S SPEECH, 6th October 179<J.
" result of an accumulated capital, of
" ojadually increasing commerce, of
" HIGH AND ESTABLISHED
"CREDIT; and they have been
" produced while we have been con-
" tending against a Country, which
" exhibits, in every respect, the re-
" verse of this pictured*
Such, GentJenien, was the laa-
guage of the Minister and his adhe
rents at the beginning of that session,
during which, took place the memo
rable event, recorded in the foregoing
Letter; and before you proceed any
further, I beg you to look well at it.
I beseech you to consider it well. If
you do so, you never will be deluded
again by any high-sounding asser
tions, let them come from what quar
ter they will. These, which I have
just quoted, are memorable words.
They are precious matter for history.
They go a great way in enabling any
one to judge of the character of Mr.
PITT, as a statesman, and especially
as a political autonomist. Gentlemen,
there is no such thing as answering
me here. No one can contradict me.
What I have laid before you is indu
bitably true; and, as such, I am.
sure, it will have weight upon your
minds, whatever your prejudices here
tofore may have been.
The adherents of Mr. PITT had
been told all that we have now taken
u. hasty review of; and, though they
ought never to have believed it, hav
ing constantly been warned against
the delusion by Mr. Fox, Mr. SHE
RIDAN, Mr. NiCHOLLs, Mr. HOB-
HOUSE, Mr. GREY, Mr. TIERNEY,
and others, but especially by the
three former ; though they ought not
to have believed, and would not, had
it not been for the blinding influence
of the fears excited in their minds,
have believed in those delusive asser
tions and predictions ; still, if they
did believe in them, they were not
(if they looked upon the principle of
the war as being just and wise) to be
t See Purhameatery Debates, 6th Oct
161]
PAPER AGAINST GOLD.
[162
blamed for supporting the minister;
but, when experience had undeceived
them ; -when they saw the proof of
their error; when clearly established
facts told them that they were in the
wrong course ; when they had before
their eyes, that which could not pos
sibly leave a doubt m any man's
mind, that the system which they had
vso lone; supported was ruinous to
.heir country; when they saw the
Bank of England stop payment of its
notes, and take shelter under an
Order of the Privy Council, imme
diately followed by an Act of Indem-
nif cation, that is to say, an act to
shelter the parties concerned from the
penalties of the law ; when the adhe
rents of Mr. PITT saw this ; when
they beheld these effects,, this mighty
ruin, which that adherence had
brought upon their country; when
they beheld this, they ought to have
withdrawn their support ; and, if they
had done this, though I am very far
from saying, that they could have re
stored Gold and Silver-payments at
the Bank, and am still less inclined
to gay, that they would have put a
stop to the workings of the French
revolution, I am decidedly of opi
nion, that there was yet time to give
such a turn to that revolution as to
render it less violent in itself, less se
vere towards Europe iii general, and
infinitely less dangerous to this coun
try ; as we, in all likelihood, never
should have seen an Emperor in
Prance, and, of course, should not
have had to .'read, and to guard
against, the effects of his ambition and
his power. It must, I think, be now
clear to all the world, that to Mr.
PITT, supported by the great mer
cantile and .inoaied bodies, BUONA
PARTE owes his rise an<i his great
ness ;- and, that, instead of beiiig, as
Mr. PITT once called him, " the
child and champion of Jacobinism,"
he may be truly called the child of
Mr. PITT and the Paper-System, that
system, the effects of which we shah1,
every day, feel more and more; that
system, of the evfls of which almost
every man seems now to be tho
roughly convinced; that system, of
which to prevent, or, at least, retard
the still greater evils, the Bullion
Committee have proposed that re-
medy,, into which we shall, by-and-
by, have to examine.
Mr. PITT, who was in the House
of Commons, boldness personified;
who never seemed to feel as men in
general do upon being defeated in ar
gument, or at being detected and ex
posed as to points of fact; who al
ways appeared to increase in boldness
in proportion as lie was worsted in the
contest^ does, however, seem to have,
for a while at least, felt himself hum
bled upon this occasion, and to have
been as the vulgar saying is, com
pletely chop-fallen; and, after what
we have seen him (in the above-quoted
passages) assert, only four months be
fore, well might he feel humbled;
well might he feel afraid to open his
mouth in the presence of those, who
had so often told him that such would
be the result of his system, and whom
he had, as often, reproached with the
want of love for tktir country ; and
even at whose opinions not only him
self hut his underlings had been ac
customed to laugh. To come to the
House of Commons, that scene of his
long-enjoyed triumph; to come to
that bench, whence he had so long
been in the habit of dictating to all
around him, and of dealing out his
sarcasms upon all who dared question
his infallibility; to come to the same
bench, and thence to deliver a Mes
sage from the King, (27th February
1797) announcing the Stoppage of
Gold and Silver-payments at the Sank
of England ; to do this, and to look
Mr. Eox in the face, seemed to be
too much even for Mr. PITT ; to come
down to the House, and say, that ne-*
ccssity had compelled him 16 issue ah
Order of the King's Council to forbid,
or to protect, the l3ank of England
from paying the just demands of its
\ creditors, was more than he was able
LETTER XII.
[164
to do without faultering, and it is,
perhaps, more than any other man
upon earth, under similar circum
stances, would have been able to do
at all.
His confidence seems, for once, to
have failed him; nnd, what is upon
record as to the debate, clearly proves,
that he did not know what to do ; that
he literally was at his wifs end.
Having delivered the Message, and
laid a copy of the Order of Council
upon the table, he moved for the
-Message to be taken into considera
tion the next day ; and, at the same
time, .gave notice of a motion for ap
pointing a Committee to inquire into
the concerns of the Bank, an inquiry,
he said, which " would greatly tend
4< to confirm the solidity of the Bank
" capital." He also said, that he
meant to declare by law, that " notes
" instead of casji would be taken by
" t/tc public in payment of the sums
" due to them by the Bauk" Mr.
ALDKRMAN COMBE asked him, whe
ther he meant " that banknotes
" were to be taken only by the rcr-
" ceivers of the revenue, or, that they
4< were to become ft legal tender in
" all money-transactions," He an
swered, that, " in the first instance,
*' he meant only to propose, that the)/
*' should he taken on the part of the
" public," leaving future measures to
be decided upon, alter the Committee
should have made their report. Mr.
COMBE asked him "whether it ^ as
" 7m opinion, that this measure would
41 be resorted to in the, ewrf." He an
swered, that " he had no opinion
•" upon the subject." Mr. Fox a.ked
him, " if he disclaimed the opinion.''
He replied, that " lie said not/ting
" about it at a//."
Look at him, Gentlemen! See there
the man, who had the management of
the affairs of this country for twenty
years, and during whose aclmiriistra-
tion more persons were, I believe,
promoted to the peerage, than during
any century before. Look at him.
£ee him, who, only four months be
fore, had boasted that our " resources
" were untouched" and that there
was " nothing hollow or delusive in
" our finances." Look at him now,
not able to say; nay, not able to give,
an opinion, whether he shall propose
Bank-notes to be made a legal tender,
or not! Mr. NICHOLLS (of whose
great understanding upon this subject
we shall see manv proofs by-and-bv)
" pressed him for an answer to the
" question which had been put to him,
" whether it was his intention that
" the notes of the Bank of England
" should be declared a legal tender
" from the Bank to the public credi-
" tor? If so, he was about to pro-
" claim an act of insolvency. And,
" considering it in this light, he re-
" probated his silence, as an instance
" of most atrocious arrogance. After
" animadverting, in the severest terms,
" on the confiding majorities in that
" House, who supported the Minis-
" ter in every measure, however wild,
" and sanctioned every part of his
tf conduct, however insolent, he con-
" eluded with repeating the question,
" whether or not bank-notes were to
" be declared a legal tender to the
" public creditor" After the treat
ment which this gentlemen had fre
quently received at the hands of Mr.
PITT and his adherents, it could sur
prize no body to see him give way,
upon tliis occasion, to a degree of
asperity, which, without taking these
circumstances into view, might not
have beeu fully justified by the con
duct of Mr. PITT tr;nn this particu
lar occasion, who, in answer to Mr,
NICHOLLS, said, that he was " per^
** plexed by the observations and
" questions of the learned gentleman,
" who to an intricacy which it was
" impossible to unravel, added an
" exertion of voice much beyond
" what, be was accustomed to, and an
" asperity of language which even
" exceeded that of the other lionour-
14 ,'ibio geatle-gentleinan (Mr. SHERI-
" DAN). He hoped that he would
" not persist in thinking it atrocious
PAPER AGAINST GOLD.
" arrogance in him, if he did not at-
" tempt to answer what he conceived
'" it would be unpardonable arrogance
" in him to attempt to understand.
" When a man obtruded his opinion,
" with too much rashness or too
" much positiveness, then he might
" be accused of arrogance; but he
" did not perceive that the man who
" altogether declined giving an vpi-
" nion, could incur the imputation.
« But the learned gentleman seemed
*' to be as ignorant of the forms of
" the House as of the common mode
"' of business. He might have known
*' that though it would be sometimes
" convenient to ask and to communi-
" cate information by question and
" answer, that, no discussion can re-
" gularly take place, except when a
" motion was before the House."
This was a very poor evasion ; but,
m fact, he could give no answer to the
question, unless he had been ready to
jniuke a full and fair acknowledgment
of his not knowing what to do. No
thing could be plainer than the ques
tion ; nothing more distinct; nothing
more intelligible to any man, who un
derstood the common meaning of the
ightfui words, LEGAL TENDER,
ut, how was an answer to be given?
Even « if the minister Lad made his
mind up to go that length. Even if
he had screwed his courage up to the
contemplation of such a measure, how
was he to find face to propose it aft
at once ? To propose such a measure
required time, even with such a man
as Mr, PITT. It, at any rate, re
quired time for him to look round
him in the House. It required time
for him to discover how his adherents
felt, and whether they were stiil to be
depended upon. It also required
time to break the matter to the public,
and to afford an opportunity for the
press, and for the minister's monied
friends out of doors to exert their in
fluence. It not only required time
to see what could be done, but what
dared to be attempted.
To obtain this time the scheme ot
a Committee of Inquiry was resorted
to, the result of which inquiry and an
account of the measures adopted, we
shall see in the next Letter, In the
meanwhile, I am,
Gentlemen,
Your faithful friend,
WM. COBBETT.
State Prison, Newi*atf> 77tur.«%,
October 18, 1810.
LETTER XIIL
But it was urged that the Bank had temporary difficulties to encounter, and that it behoved them to adopt
'• some moiih or grouting relief to that impoitant public boiiy. The House of Commons, however, knew
" norl:in» of this. No application WHS nmcte to them by the Band ; nor did it appear even that application
" h«d beeirniHdp for the Order in Council ; on the contrary, it appeared that this facetious Council, instead
" of examining the Directors of the Bank, acted entirely upon the authority of the Chancellor of the. Ex-
" ch» qiu'i . N^y.'whsit added to h»s surprize was, that not one of the Hank Directors who h<t<i seats in
" that House, had ev*r iwwt forn nrd mid expressed < in opinion upon the subject. Some informatioi*
" was certainly necessary before the House, sanctioned so novel and dangerous a measure. They had
" heard of tho'Bank a short time at>o l«ndin<* two millions to Government, and they had &lso heard of
" the dividends on Bank Stock increasing Was it not material to be informed therefore how they had
•• come to stop payment at a time when thtir affairs seemed to be going on so prosperously ?'' — MR.
SHERIDAN. Speech C»th Feb. 1807-
Mledgerl Ability of the Bank~Proceedings out of Doors for what is called Support of
Public Credit — Mansion House Meeting — Brook AVatson— Quarter Sessions Resolu
tions — Privy Council Resolutions — Representations of the Venal Prints relative to
these Resolutions — Real Origin of the Mansion House Meeting — Directors prevail
upon Vlv. Pitt to have a private Meeting of Bankers at his House — Plan of a public
Meeting there laid-— Peep behind the Curtain — Meeting of the Bank Proprietors-
Declaration of the Governors, Mr. Bosanquet and Mr. Thornton — These Declarations
compared w ith the private Minute of the Bank, expressing their Alarm for the Safety
of the Mouse; and for calling upon Mr. Pitt to know when he would interfere
1675
LETTER XIII.
[16S
GENTLEMEN,
WHEN we look at the boast, re-
lejTjedto in the words of my Motto,
and consider how many boasts of the
game sort the Minister had uttered,
and which he had continued in the
hahit of uttering, down almost to the
very hour of the Bank Stoppage, we
cannot help wondering that he could
no longer endure his existence.
What, then, will be the astonishment
of posterity, to hear him, in a few
months after that event, speak of it
and of the measures growing out of
it, as the happy means* of safety to the
country ; and what will be their shame
to find, that he was still confided in
and supported ?
As we proceed with the history of
the measures of remedy which Avere
now adopted, we must not fail to pay
particular attention to the opinions and
doctrines, at this time expressed and
kid down by the Minister and his
adherents, especially by those of his
adherents, who had a more immedi
ate interest in the concerns of the
Bank of England. We must take
care to bear in mind what they then
said as to the oriyin of the Order of
Council for the Stoppage of (*old and
Silver-payments at the Bank; what
they said as to the nature and neces
sity of the measure ; what they said
as to the ability of the Bank to re
sume its payments; and what they
«aid as to the time of such resumption.
What they then said, as to all these
points, we must take care to bear in
mind ; because, we shall have to com-
Eare it with what the same persons
ave said since, and have to shew
liow in this case, as well ag in so
many others, the nation has been led
on, by dtgrees, to acquiesce in what,
if proposed to it all at once, would
have made it shrink with affright, or
fired it with indignation.
Before the House of Commons
met, the day after the Message and
Order pf Council had been laid be
fore it, that is to say, on the 28th of
February 1797, the Anti-Jacobin
adherents of the Minister had been
hard at work out of doors. A meet
ing had been called in the Mansion
House of the City of London con
sisting of Merchants, Bankers, and
others, the Chairman b.-ing the Lord
Mayor, whose name was BROOK
WATSON, who then or very soon
afterwards filled the lucrative office of
Commissar)/ General to the Army,
and who was, in a very few years after
that, made a Baronet. The persons
assembled upon this occasion pro
claimed their resolution not to refuse
bank-notes in payment of any sums
due to them, and to use their utiuost
endeavours to make all their payments
in the same manner ; * which, as vou
will perceive, Gentlemen, was neither
more nor less than resolving, that
they would do their utmost to keep
up their own credit and consequence,
and, in fact, to preserve themselves
from instant ruin.
Similar Resolutions were passed
in the country, where the Quarter
Sessions happening to be then taking
place, the Resolutions were sent forth
from the Bench, with, of course, some
thing of a magisterial weight and
* MANSION-HOUSE, LONDON.—
Fthruary 27, 1797. — At a meeting of Mer
chants, Bankers. &c. held here this day, to
consider of the steps which it may be pro
per to take, to prevent Embarrassments to
Public Credit, from the effects of any ill-
founded or exaggerated Alarms, and to sup
port it with the utmost exertion* at the pre
sent important conjuncture — The LORD
M^YORtn the Chair ;— RESOLVED UNANI
MOUS i/y,— -That we, the undersigned, being
highly sensible how necessary the preser
vation of "Public Credit is at this time, do
most readily hereby declare, that we will
not refuse to receive Bank Notes in pay
ment of any sum of money to be paid to us ;
and we will use our utmost endeavours to
' make all our payments in the same manner.
— BHOOK W ATSON.
The resolution lies for signing at the fol
lowing places; LondonTavern,Bishopsgate-
.ctreet; Crown and Anchor Tavern, Sti and;
St. Albaus Tavern, St. Alban's Street;
Three-Crown Coffee- House, in Three-Crown
j Coint, Borough ; and at Lloyd's Coffee-
} house.
PAPER AGAINST (SOLD.
[170
authority, as will be seen in the in
stance of the magistrates of Surrey,
who, with Lards Grantlcy and Onslow
at their head, appear to have led the
way.* The Privy Council (pray read
their names all over) had also a meet
ing upon the subject, and it was quit?*,
curious to see the Judges mid great
pensioners, and even the Ministers
themselves, not excepting the Lord
High Treasurer, publishing their pro-
nuses to receive and to pay bank-notes,
and, as far as depended on them
individually, to support the circulation
of those notes.t
These Meetings and their Resoluti
ons famished the venal prints with the
pretence for asserting, that the alarm
was at an end; that the people had
* SURREY".— At the General Quarter
Session of the Peace of our Sovereign Lord
the Kin-;, holdcn at Saint Mary, Newing-
ton, by adjournment, in and for the said
County, on Thursday, the 2nd day of
March 179?.— — We, whose names are
hereunto subscribed, being; desirous to con
tribute, as f'ar as we can, to the support of
the public and commercial credit of the
kingdom, at this important crisis, do hereby
agree and bind ourselves to receive tiie
Notes of the Bank of England in all pay
ments as Money, and to support, as far as
depends on us individually, their circulation
for the public benefit.
Grantley, Edward Layton,
Onslow and <y.ranlev. John Morgan,
John Frederick, Peter Broa^iey,
Joseph Shaw, M. Nolan,
Thomas Evance, George Sheplcy,
Kd. Carpenter Smith, Thomas Barrow,
George Griffin Stone- Francis Lawson,
street, John Jos. 6hermer,
James Bulcock, Robert I orrest,
William Hill, John Pardon,
Robert Burnett, Edward Morris,
Gideon Fournier, Vitruvius Lawes,
Benjamin Robertson, Samuel Marryatt,
Jonathan Stonard, W D. Best,
James Fielding, Arthur Onslow.
Ordered, That the Clerk of the Peace do
cause the above to be forthwith advertised
in the Morning Papers.— By the Cintrt,
LAWSON.
t At the Council Chamber, Whitehall,
the 28th of February 1797,— Present— The
Lords of His Majesty's most Honourable
Fnvy Council, — We, whose names are here-
had time to reflect, and that reflection
could not fail to convince them, that
there was no room for suspecting the
solidity of the Bank. The meetings
and resolutions (to which latter, in
London, there were soon obtained
thousands of signatures) were repre
sented as having been perfectly volun
tary; that they were the spontaneous
effects of pare public-spirit, working in
the breasts of loyal and disinterested
men, and, of course, that those who did
not come forward to resolve,or to sign,
were disloyal men.
Gentlemen, stop with me here for
a minute. Some of you may have
been induced, ' by these venal writers,
to think ill of all those of your neigh
bours, who disapproved of MR. PITT
and his deeds; some of you may have
been -thus led, by the representations
of these writers, to hate your honest
neighbours, to stigmatize them as
Jacobins, and to suspect them, in fact,
of treasonable designs ; some of ymi
may, from this corrupt and deadly
unto subscribed, being desirous tn contri
bute, as far sws we can, to the support of the
public and commercial credit of tins King
dom, at this important crisis, do hereby
agree and bind ourselves to receive the
[Notes of the Bank of England in ali pay
ments as Money, and to support, as far as
depends on. us individually, their circu
lation.
J. Cantnar', . Sydney,
I.oughborouirh, C. Grenville;
Chatham, P. Onslow and Cranky,
Dorset, Walsiugham,
Leeds, Kenyon,
Montrose, Mahnesbnry,
Roxburgh, Auckland,
Portland, St. Helen's,
Townshend, Henry .Addington,
Oornwallis, W. PITT,
Bute, HENRY DUNDAS,
Pembroke, Cha. Townshend,
Westmorland, C. F. Greville, V. C.
Chesterfield, J. C. VILUERS,
Sandwich, , James Greville,
Drununond Hay R. P. Arden,
Kinnoul, Wm. Wynne,
Macclesfield, . THOMAS STEELE,
Spencer, A. Macdonald,
Liverpool, S. Douglas,
Mornington, \V. Windham.
Gower Sutherland,
1711
LETTER XIII,
[172
source, have had your minds so
poisoned, aad so perverted from their
natural bias, as to have contributed
tov/ards those fatal divisions in the
nation, the effect of which, it is to be
feared, your children's children will
rue. Qf Mich of you, therefore, as
answer to this description, let me beg
the earnest attention, while I develope
the true source of the above-mentioned
mee'tings and resolves, which, as you
have seen, were described, by the
venal writers, as being perfectly vo
luntary, and flowing from pnie public-
spirif.
You will bear in mind, " that the
Order in Council was signed on
Sunday, the 26th of February, and
that it was laid before the House of
Commons on Monday the 27th, on
which last-mentioned day, t e Man
sion House Meeting, Mr. BROOK
WATSON m the Chair, took place.
The next, Tuesday the 28th, the
Minister, in opening the way for his
first motion about the law to sanction
the Order in Council, said, in allusion
to this meeting: " With respect to the
" first step to be considered, the state
" of the Bank, that already has, in a
" great measure, been ascertained by
ik the confidence, of public opinion. Of
" this public opinion, the most unequi-
" vocal and satisfactory proofs have
" bean afforded, even within the short
" space that has elapsed since the mi-
" nute of Council has been issued. It
" has been clearly evinced, that there
*' is no doubt entertained with respect
" to the, solidity of the Bank to
¥< answer all the demands of its
" creditors." Thus he appeared to
consider the resolution of the Meeting
of the Bankers and Merchants as ex-
pressivc of the opinions and feelings
of the nation at large, and, of course,
as being a voluntary act, an act of
tjieir own, an act not, by any means,
dictated by him, or by the Bank, nor
hatched or contrived by them. Thus
the thing appeared to the world; thus
it appeared' to the " most thinking
*' people in all TRurope ;" this was its
outside look; but, let us now take a
peep behind the curtain.
For a while, no official documents
were laid before Parliament, relating
to the Stoppage. This was avoided
by one means or other. But, it could
not be for ever avoided ; and, at last,
some of the papers were laid before
the House of Commons ; but, by the
time that these got printed, the public
was lulled again, and the papers passed
with little or no notice. Amongst
these papers, was a minute of the
BANK DIRECTORS, respecting an
" Interview with the Chancellor of
" the Exchequer (Mr. Pitt) on the
"24th of February 1707;" which,
yon will observe, was on the Friday
before, the Bank having issued Gold
on Saturday for the last time. On
the Thursday, the run upon the Bank
had been very hard ; and, the mea
sure of Stoppage of cash-payments
seems to have then been looked upon
as settled. With this measure in their
eye, the Bank Directors and Mr. Pitt
did what we shall see recorded in the
following minute of the Bank Di
rectors' proceedings, under the date
just mentioned, of the 24th of Febru
ary 1797. " The Governor and
" Deputy Governor this day waited
" on Mr. Pitt, to mention to him,
" that it would, in the present cir-
" rumstances, be highly requisite, that
" some general meeting oflhe bankers
" and chief merchants of London
" should be held, in order to bring
" on some resolution for the support
" of the public credit in this alarming
" crisis ; and they took the liberty to
" recommend to Mr. Pitt, to have a
" private meeting of some of the chief
bankers at his house to morrow, at
" three o'clock, in which the plan for
" a more general meeting on Tuesday
" or Wednesday next might be laid;
" in the propriety of which Mr. Pitt
agreed, and said he would summon
" a previous meeting for to-morrow
'• according li/. Tltis was coiumuni-
" cated by the Governor to the
" Committee."
173]
PAPER AGAINST GOLD.
[174
Thus, Gentlemen, were " the most
" thinking people in Europe" treated.
Here you see the origin ; here you
see the real cause, "of the public
spirited meeting at the Mansion
House ; here you see how those pure
and disinterested persons were put in
motion. You have, heretofore, seen
the show; bnt, you have now seen, as
to this part of it, the funnels, pullies,
pegs and wires; and the only mis
fortune is, that you SLC them a little
too late ; though, J trust that the ex
position may yet do some good, and
at any rate, it must, I should think,
make you a little less credulous in
future, a little less inclined to believe
every word that conies forth under
appearances like those above de
scribed.
While Meetings were going on in
such a jovial way, in all other
quarters, it would have bee^ strange
indeed if the Bank itself had not had
its meeting. This took place on
Thursday, 2nd of March. The Order
of Council had been issued on the
Sunday, 26th of February ; it had
been laid before the House of Com
mons on the 27th ; on the same day
the Meeting had taken place at the
Mansion- House; on tbe 28tL (as we
shall presently see) the couduct of the
Bank began to be discussed in parlia
ment, and it had been asserted there,
that the Order of Council was the
sole work of the government, and not
of the Bank ; the manifest intention
of which was to cause it to be be
lieved, that the government forced the
Bank not to pay its creditors agreeably
to its promissory notes; and, that the
Bank neither wanted nor wished any
such measure on its own account.
Declarations to this amount had been
Blade in parliament ; but, it appears,
that a repetition of them at a Bank
Meeting was thought necessary ; and
accordingly a meeting took place ; or,
to use their own language, " A
" COURT OF PROPRIETORS was
" held" on the day just-mentioned,
namely, the 2nd of March T
At this meeting at the Bank, where
one might have expected to see the
Directors and Proprietors clothed in
sack-cloth and ashes, the tirst thing
done was, the passing of a vote of
THANKS to the Directors for hav
ing acted agreeably to the Order of
Council, that is . to say, for having
availed themselves of this Order to
refuse payment of their promissory
notes, to refuse payment of their just
debts legally demanded. They had
been guilty of a violation of the law,
and for that violation they were
thanked by their constituents, the
stock Proprietors, who in fact, were
the Debtors of the holders of Bank
notes ! Having, with an unanimous
voice dispatched this part of tbe busi
ness of the day, the GOVERNOR of
the Bank took, it appears from the
report of the proceedings, the oppor
tunity of publicly declaring (in a way
that might get into print) that the
. Bank Directors had macte no appli-
cation to the government for an order
for the stoppage of Cash-payments at
the Bank. Mr. BOSANQUET, who
it seems, was a Director, declared,
that the measure " was \ot adopted
" at the instance of those concerned in
" the direction of the Bank ;" and Mr.
THORNTON, also a Director, said,
" that he wished it to be understood
" explicitly, that the Order in Conn*
" cil was not issued at the instance of
" the Bank Directors." Mr. BOSAN-
QU-ET called the stoppage " a great
" state measure ;" a measure dictated
by " national policy." He said it was
" meant to operate only for a short
" time;" and that " he earnestly hoped"
(how different from the language of
Mr. Handle Jackson and the present
governor of the Bank) ; yes, he
EARNESTLY HOPED, -that the
" Bank, which was quite able? would
" soon be PERMITTED to pay its
" notes in cash, in the same manner
" that it had formerly done."*
* The following is the Report, taken en
tire, from the Morning Chronicle of th« 3d
of March, 1797.
175]
LETTER XIII.
When, Gentlemen, you have read
through the report of the Bank Pro
ceedings of the day here referred too,
and I beseech you to read every word
of it, you will, doubtless, be astonished
at the hardihood of men, who could,
under such circumstances, hold such
language. What! thankihv Directors
for not paying their promissory notes !
| Tkank them for this? The Proprietors
j of Bank Stock, who were the persons
composing the Meeting upon this oc
casion, were the persons who owed
the amount of the Bank-notes ; they
were the debtors of the note-holders;
the Directors were their agents. So
that, here we gee a parcel of people,
who had issued great quantities of
" Yesterday a Court of Proprietors was
held at the Hank, — The GOVERNOR of the
Bank, after the Order in Council, of the
the 26th of February, was read, stated, that
the Court of Directors had thought it their
duty fo acquiesce in the Order, and hoped
they had acted in conformity to the opinion
and vvi.'hrs of the Proprietors of Bank
stock. --Mn. HARMAN moved, "that it is
the opinion of this Court, that the thanks
'»f the Proprietors of Bank Stpck are due to
the Court of Directors for their acquiescence
in tin- Order in Council, and for their speedy
communication thereof to this Court.'' The
motion was put and carried unanimously. —
MR. AU.ERDYCE asked, I'htthcr the appliut-
tifin hud bee:) made from tin1 hank to Gorern-
«r?wf, for the. Order in Council, to prohibit
them from issuing specie? — The Governor
of the Bank replied, that no such application
had lieen made*, by the Court nf Directors, but
that the Bank having experienced an unex
ampled drain of specie for some time past,
that. Court had thought it their duty to ac
quaint the Minister of the Country with the
circumstance, that he might take what
measures, he might deem necessary, and at
tlu ?ame time remove all responsibility, for
such measures from the Direction. He
sif'sded, that a Secret Committee of the
House of Commons h;ul been appointed to
enquire into the state of the Bank accounts,
and that the Court of Directors were/?/////
]>ersv(i<ic.l that the result of that fiifjuirif would
he a report (if the perfect solidity of the Corpora-
/;,,)i. — MR. SAN-SOM wished to be informed
whether there was any precedent for the
House of Commons appointing a Committee
to enquire into the aiiuirs of the Bank ? In
J-.is opinion, if a Committee was to be ap
pointed it ought, to be a Corrimittee chosen
from the Proprietary ; but after the assur
ance which they had from the Directors of
the solitlitv of the Bank capital, he saw no
necessity for any enquiry at all. — A Pro
prietor stated, that there was a precedent
for the measure on the Journals of Hie
House of Commons, in 169(>. — M«. MAN-
?>JNC said, lie had examined into the pro
ceedings of the House of Commons, in 1696,
and found that there was not the smallest
resemblance between that and the present
measure. At that time the Dank had bt-en
established for only two years, their Notes
wt re at a discount all over the Kingdom,
and the Silver-coinage was called in, cir
cumstances which were totally ditferent
from the present.— Mr. BOSANQUET begged
leave to tronble the Court with a very few
words. He said that the Order in Council
was to be considered entirely as a grtat state-
measure^ which was not adopted at the in
stance of those concerned in the direction of the
Bank The Court of Directors, in the pre
sent state of public affairs, had considered
it to be their duty to keep the Minister of
the Country informed respecting the situa
tion of the Bank. For some time past there
had boen an an unexampled ruin for specie
upon the Bank, and this they communicated
to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, ken: ing him
to adopt what measures he might think proper.
The consequence was. the Order in Coun
cil, of the 26th of February, was issued.
It would have been absurd in the Directors
of the Bank to have resisted this Order,
because the Minister must have been sup
posed to be in possession of a great deal of
information to which they had no access, and
to be in the knowledge of circumstances of
which they were not aware ; besides, that
there was no knowing what might have
been the consequences had the unusual
drain for cash, which they had experienced,
been continued for any length of time. —
They complied, therefore, with the Order of
his Majesty's Council, understanding it to
have been dictated by national policy, and
meant to operate only for a short time. He
had no hesitation in saying that the affairs
of the Bank were in a state of the greatest
affluence qf prosperity, that they had even a
considerable surplus, and that he eatnestly
hoped they would SOON BE PERMITTED to
pay their Notes in cash in the same manner as
they had formerly done. — Mr. THORNTON
wished it to be understood explicitly, that
the Ovder in Council was not issued at the
instance of the Bank Directors ; that their ac
counts were not tendered to the Housf of
Commons for examination, and that they
neither asked nor wished for the "partnership
and guarantee of Government. — There being
no other business before the Court, they ad
journed to yesterday fortnight, when the
dividends become due.
177]
PAPER AGAINST GOLD.
[178
promissory notes, assemble together,
and thank) aye, and publicly thank,
their agents ibr having refused, ille
gally, refused, payment of those notes !
Geatleruen, our venal prints may
talk as they please ; they may re
fer- us to what instances they choose;
but any tiling equal to this, any such
instance of cool assurance> I defy
them to produce from the history of
the world, or, even from the works of
imagination.
But, as yet, we have not seen these
proceedings in their true colours. We
have seen them in colours pretty
strong ; but we have not seen them as
they will appear when we have taken
another look at the Bank-documents,
which were afterwards laid before
parliament, and which, as was before
observed, never got out fairly to the
knowledge of the people. We have
seen these Bank Directors making
public declarations, that they had no
hand at all in the Stoppage ; that they
did not apply for the Order in Council;
that it was a measure of the govern-
ment ; that it was a sz'aie-nieasure ;
and that they earnestly hoped soon to
be PERMITTED to resutue t/teir
payments i/i cash. This is what
they told the public on the 2nd of
of March. And, it was not only at
the Bank-meeting that this declara
tion was made, it was repeatedly
made in the House of Commons ; but,
we will, at present, confine ourselves
to what w as said by the Bank Direc
tors themselves.
Such, then, were their declarations
on the 2nd of March. Now, then,
let us see what they had been at in
secret with the Minister, during the
nine days before. On the 21st of
February, they, observing, with great
uneasiness, the large and constant de
crease in their cash, held a particular
consultation on the subject, and per
ceiving that their cash was reduced to
a certain sum, of which certain sum,
be it observed, they do not state the
amount, they came to a resolution to
go to Mr, Pitt, and tell him " how
"their cash was circumstanced, :; they
did so, and Mr. Pitt observed, to
them (and you will laugh heartily at
the observation) " that the alarm of
" invasion was now become muck
" more general than he could tidftk
" necessanf" they then pressed Mr.
" Pitt to make some declaration in
" parliament, upon this subject, " in
" order to ease the public mind" —
This is a pretty specimen enough of
the intercourse that existed between
these parties, and will serve to ex
plain the reason for many of the
speeches that we have at different
times heard.* MR. PITT, however,
* Resolution of the Court of Directors, and
Deputation's Interview with the Chancellor <tf'
the Exchequer, 21st February 1797.
The Committee observing with groat nn-
easinesss, the large and constant decrease
in the cash, held a particular consultation
on that subject this day; and on examina
tion into the state of the cash since the begin
ning of this year, they found that in the
course of the month of January there had
been a decrease of /. and since the
beginning of this month a farther loss oi'
I. and that the cash was now re-
dueed to between --1. and about
I. value, in bullion and foreign
coin, about the value of I. in silver-
bullion. Perceiving also, by the constant
calls of the bankers from all parts of the
town for cash, that there must be some extra
ordinary reasons for this drain, arising, pro-
bally, from the alarms of an expected in
vasion ; the Committee, after maturely con
sidering the 'matter, resolved to send a
notice to the Chancellor of the Exchequer,
of tiie situation of matters at the Kaizk : and
to explain exactly to him how tin; cash is cir
cumstanced, that he may, if possible and
and proper, strike out some means of ullt-
viiiting the public alarms, and stopping this
apparent disposition in people's minds for
having a large deposit of cash in their
houses. The Governor, Deputy Governor,
with Mr. Darell and Mr. Bosanquet, were
deputed to wait upon Mr. Pitt ; who went
to him ; and after describing to him the
anxiety of mind which all the Directors
were under on this subject, they explained
to Mr. Pitt the exact particulars above-
mentioned. Mr. Pitt seemed aware that
this unusual drain of cash from the Bank
mustaiise from the alarm of au invasion,
which he observed was now become much
more general than he could think necessary. He
said, tkat by all his informations he could
179]
LETTER XIIL
did, it seem* press them, in his turn,
" to endeavour to obtain a supply of
" gold from abroad,'' and the Gover
nor told him they would do what they
could m that way.
On the 22nd of February they had
another interview with Mr. PITT,
and they gave GOLDSMIDT and
ELIASON orders for the purchase of
gold at Hamburgh. But we no
where find any account of the success
of this order, which was, besides, ren
dered useless by the Order of Coun
cil, which rendered Gokl -unneces
sary*
On the 24th of February they had
another interview with Mr. PITT;
and what they say as to this inter
view we* must pay particular attention
to. At a Committee consisting of the
whole Court, it appeared that the
cash was going' away faster than ever
not learn of any hostile preparations ot con
sequence making in France to invade this
country, except the fleet which was re
fitting; at Brest, after being driven off from
the coast of Ireland ; but that he could not
answer that no partial attack on this country
would IK- made bv au?h a mad and desperate
enemy as we had to deal with. The depu
tation pressed on Mr. Pitt to declare some
thing of tliis kind in Parliament, in order to
t>asc the pnblicmintL Mr. Pitt also mentioned,
that he hoped the Committee would, in the
piescnt situation of matters, think it neces
sary to endear Mir at (Gaining u supply of gold
Jrnm foreign countries, which the Governor
told him they were considering about, and
uliould do tcli ml they could therein.
* Interview with, the C linnet llor of the Ex
chequer, '-2%nd of February 1797. — Messrs.
Gold.smidt and Eliason attended the Com
mittee this day, and were directed to give
further orders to Hamburgh/or the purchase
of gold; and were told that an application
would Immediately be made to the minister
to order a frigate or armed sloop to go to
Hamburgh to take in such gold as might be
bought, and also to desire that the restric
tion on the ea; -tains of the packets, not to
take any gold on board at Hamburgh for
this country, mijjht betaken off. The Gover
nor and Depdtv Governor waited on Mr.
Pitt on this subject, who promised to apply-
to the Admiralty for directions about send
ing out a frigate or armed sloop; and that
he would applN to the Postmaster General
to give the oidrrs to ttse captains of the I tprdbgty.
[180
" >vhich gave suck an alarm for the
SAFETY OF TffJSHOUSJB^mark
the words) that no time was lost in
sending a deputation to Mr. PITT, to
ask him how far 'they might venture
to go on paying cash, and " when
" HE would think it necessary to
" INTERFERE/' Mr. PITT told
them, that this was an affair of such
importance, that he must be prepared
with some resolution to bring forward
in the Council: f
t Inierrifia with the Chancellor of the Ex-
clicqiter, 24Y/1 qf l-'tb-uiiry 1797. — At a Com-
mitlte of the whole Court held this day, it
appeared that the loss of cash yesterday was
above '.and that about
were already drawn out this dnytwhichgare
mch mi alarm for THE SAFETY OF HIE
HOUSE, that the Deputy Governor and
Mr. Bosanquet were desired to wait on Mr.
Pitt to mention to him these circumstances,
and to ask him how far he thought the Bank
might venture to go on paying cash, and
when he would think it necessary TO IN-*"
TERFERE before our cash was so reduced
as might be detrimental to the immediate
service of the State. Mr. Pitt said, this was
a matter of great importance, and that he
must be prepared with some resolutions to
bring forward in the Council, for a Procla
mation to stop the issue of cash from the
Bank, and to give the security of parliament
to the notes of the Bank. In consequence
of which he should think it might be proper
to appoint a Secret Committee of the House
of Commons, to look into the state of the
Bank-affairs ; which they assured him the
Bank were well prepared for, and would
produce to such a Committee. Mr. Pitt
also observed that he should have no objec
tion to propose to Parliament, in case of a
Proclamation, to give parliamentary security
for Bank-notes. The Governor and Deputy
Governor .this day waited on Mr. Pitt, to
mention to him, that it would in the present
circumstances be highly requisite that some
general meeting rtf the bankers and chief mer
chants of Londoli should be held in order t»
briny on fn>nu: resolution for the support of the
pubbc credit in this alarming crisis ; and
they took the liberty to recommend to Mr,
Pitt, to have a private mcti ing of some of the
chief hamters at his house to-morrow, at three
o'clock, in which the, plan for a more gene
ral meeting on Tuesday or Wednesday
next might be laid, in the propriety of
which Mr. Pitt agreed, and said he would
5uwn.cn. a pnvious meeting for
packets.
Governor to the Committee.
was communicated by the*
ISU '
PAPER AGAINST GOLD.
[182,
Thus, you see, Gentlemen, the Stop
page-measure clearly originated in ike
representation of the, Bank Directors;
arid, which is very well worthy of
your marked attention, Mr. BOSAN-
gUET was one of the persons depu
ted to wait upon Mr. PITT on this
last mentioned occasion. The
shuffle of saying, that the Bank
Directors were afraid that the drain
might injure the " public service" is
too paltry, in any view of the matter,
to have any weight ; for, whose claim
upon the Bank could be so good as
that of the holders of the Promissory
notes? And who were " the public"
but the holders of these notes ? But,
as if it had been resolved to leave no
room even for this miserable attempt
at excuse, the Minute of the Direc
tors of the 24th of February ex
pressly says, that it was " alarm for
« the safety of the HOUSE1' that
rent the deputation to ask for the in
terference of Mr. Pitt; alarm for the
sat'ety of the HOUSE, and not any
motive at all connected with tlie public
service or the public good.
Having now pulled aside the cur
tain; having laid the whole thing bare
to your view; having placed the ap
plication to Parliament in its true
light; I shall, in my next, lay before
you an account of the measures,
which the Parliament adopted, and
which have, under one pretence or
another, been continued in force tu
this day.
In the meanwhile, I remain,
Gentlemen,
Your faithful Friend,
WM. COBBETT.
State Prison, Newgate, Thursday,
October 25th J810.
LETTER XIV.
The question for the people to ask, and the only question, is this: whether die quantity of Krmk Tvotes.
" payable ou demand, which the Bank has ijjued, be greater than the Bank CHU pay ofl in Gold uud
'• Silver." Paine.
The Measures adopted by Parliament, in consequence of the Bank Stoppage — Names of
the Bank Directors in 17J>7. — King's Message — Mr. Pitt's Motion for a Secret Com
mittee — Mr. Fox and other Members wished for an Inquiry into the Cause of the
Stoppage — Mr. Pitt's Motion carried by a great Majority — List of the Minority —
Necessity of a Parliamentary Reform— Manner of appointing the Secret Committee —
Names of the Committee— Restricted Powers of the Committee— Reports from the
Committee— Not a Word said about the Quantity of Gold and Silver in the Bank —
Mr. Paine's Assertion about the Inability of the Bank to pay in Gold and Silver— No
Attempt made to disprove this Assertion-— Mr. Pitt's, Sir John Mitford's, and Lord
Hawkesbury's Assertions- -Mr. Grey not satisfied with the Evidence produced before
the Committee — Mr. Sheridan's Answer to Lord Hawkesbury.
GENTLEMEN,
I HAVE now to beg your atten
tion to a very important part of our
subject; namely, the measures, which,
by way of remedy, were adopted by
the Parliament, in consequence of
the run upon the Bank and the Stop
page of Gold and Silver payments
ttee,
The Letter immediately preceding
this put you in possession of a thorough
knowledge of the way, in which the
Bank Directors and the Minister had
gone to work, in order to prepare the
way for the Parliamentary Measures
which were to follow. You were
there placed behind the curtain; you
saw all the actors in their natural
1831
LETTER XIV.
H84
persons; * all the paints, patches
cloaks and visors ; all the trap-doors
pullies, pegs and wires. You no
only saw the Resolving and Subscrib
ing show acted, but you saw it got up
you saw the Showman and all his
people busy in making their prepara
tions; and, after that, you were let in
to the rehearsal.
In Letter XII, at page 155, you
have seen how the matter was first
brought before the Parliament, on
Monday the 27th of 'February 1797,
in the form of a Message from the
King ; t and, you have seen, that the
Minister, the hitherto-bragging Minis
ter, being upon that occasion pressed
* Truth and Justice demand, that, as far
as possible, the NAMES of all the persons
who took an active part, upon this memo
rable occasion, should be recorded. Par
liament may yet revise the measures of that
day ; and, then, the names of all the parties;
immediately concerned, ought to be known,
and must be known. — From this opinion it
is, that I insert liere the names of the per
sons who" were the DIRECTORS of the Bank
of England, at the time when the Stoppage
took place, and amongst them we find our
friend, BKOOK WATSON, who was, as we
have seen, in the Chair at the Maasion-
House Meeting.
Thomas Raikes, Governor.
Samuel Thornton, Deputy Gm'trnn >
T. Boddington. Job Mathov.
S. Bosanquet. .SjrK. Neave.
Alex. Champion. Joseph N lift.
Edward Dai ell. John Pearse.
Thomas Dea. George Peters,-
George Dnrricn. Charles Pole.
N. Bogle French, John Pngi-t.
Daniel Giles. James Reed.
Jeremiah Harman. P. I. Thellusson.
Thomas Lewis. Godfrey Thornton,
Beeston Lon£. Brook Watson.
William Manning. John Wlutmoie.
t GEORGE R.
His Majesty thinks it proper to communi
cate to the House of Commons, without
delay, the measure adopted to obviate the
effects which might be occasioned by the
unusual demand of specie lately made from
different parts of the country and the me
tropolis.— The petuliar nature and exigency
of the case appeared to- require, in the first i
instance, the measure contained ia the]
by Mr. COMBE and others for an
answer to the question as to wkat he
meant to do, had no answer to gi/e.
On the 27th PITT gave notice of a
motion, to be made next day, for the
appointment of a Committee to inquire
into the ability of the Bank to pay the
demands upon it; and also to inquire
and make report as to the necessity of
continuing of the measure adopted by
the Council, that is to say, continuing
the refusal of money-payments at the
We shall have to speak more fully
about this Committee by-and-by; but
we must stop here a moment, and
take a brief sketch of the debate that
ensued upon PITT'S motion. Mr.
Fox and those who were with him
said, that they had no objection to
the appointment of a Committee, pro
vided it was appointed fairly; but,
they insisted, that it would discover a
shameful disregard of their duty, if
the House moved an inch further
without inquiring into the causes
which produced that alledged neces
sity, npon which the Order of Coun
cil, sanctioning a violation of the law,
wdsfou?ided. They said, here is the
Order of Council which his Majesty has
directed to be laid before the House. In
recommending this important subject to the
immediate and serious attention of the
House of Commons, his Majesty relies with
the utmost confidence on the experienced
wisdom and firmness of his Parliament for
raking such measures as may be best calcu-
ato » to meet any temporary pressure, and
to c«ll forth, in the most effectual manner,
the extensive resources of his kingdoms/in
upport of their public and commercial
credit, and in defence of their dearest in-
erests. G. K.
t " That a SECRET COMMITTEE, be
; appointed to ascertain the total amount
t( of the out-standing demands on the Bank
" -of England, and likewise of the funds
*' for discharging the same ; anu that they
" do also report their opinion of the neces-
" >>ity of providing for the confiittuttwri arid
" contintui'ice of the measures, taken in pursu-
" ance of the minute of Council on the 26th
" instant."
CnterfU at Stationers'
Printed by WM. Moi.TNrrx, 5, Bream's Buildings, Chancery Lane; Published by "VVM,
K-°- 7.]— COBBETT'S PAPER AGAINST GOLD.— [Price Two-Pence.
185]
minister calling upon you still to con
fide in him, in him, under whom the
Bank has been compelled to stop pay
ing its notes. Ought you not to in
quire, first of all, into his measures?
Ought you not to inquire into the
causes, of the fatal and disgraceful he-
ty of this Stoppage* Here is a
minister, who has had a majority of
your votes for years'; he has had your
unlimited and blind confidence ; lie
had the absolute command of all the
resources of the nation ; he has done
what he pleased for years past; he
has within theme very few weeks, told
you himself, and advised the King to
tell you, in the most solemn manner,
that your pecuniary affairs were in
the most flourishing state, and rested
upon the most solid foundation; and
this same man now comes and tells
you, tiiat necessity, that urgency, that
something hail compelled him to issue
an Order to sanction the Stoppage of
Cask payments at the Bank, and to
oblige the puhlic creditor, contrary to
law, to receive his dividends in paper
instead of the Gold and Silver coin,
which the law gave him a. right to
demand.
This, said Mr. Fox and his/riends,
is what this Minister now tells you ;
and, will you not, before you proceed
to inquire into the propriety of con-
tinuiny'tiie Stoppage, inquire into the
cause of the imperious necessity,
which is said to have produced it?
Will you attempt an expedient, will
you attempt a remecty, without in
quiring into the cause of the evil?
Will you do that, which, even now,
after all that you have seen and felt,
shall prove to the world that your
W. MOLINEUX, Printer, Bream's BuiUlicg*,
Chanceiy Lane. •
[180
confidence is as blind as ever? " Have
" any three months,, in the course of
" this war," said Mr. Fox, " past
" without the minister's proi&cing
*' some new expedient? ana hare not
" all his expedients proved err one
" ons ? Year after year he has been
" amusing us with predictions with
" respect to France, which was now
" on the verge and now in the gulf of
" bankruptcy; the assignats and the
" mandats could not possibly continue,
" he said ; which was very true, but
" while he was thus amusing us, he
" led us to the very same verge, aye,
" into the very same r.ulf. ' Mr.
HOBHOUSE said, " that the assur-
" ances of the minister wouM never
" beat down this plain dictate of
" common sense, that by Lis conduct
" the Bank had been obliged to com-
"rnit.an act of insolvency, by re-
" fusing specie for its paper,' and,
" therefore he wished for a full in-'
" quiry into his conduct." Mr.
SHERIDAN, in a most admirable
speech, laid the whole matter open,
completely exposed the motive of the
proposed committee, and moved to
Mr. Pitt's motion an amendment, in
the following words, " That the Com-
" mittee should inquire iiito the causes
" which produced the Order in Coun-
" cil."
In spite, however, of these speeches ;
in spite of all the arguments made
use of on this side, and none of which
met with even an attempt at aii
answer from any one but Mr.
PITT himself; in spite of all this, the
House decided, by a majority of 244
to 88, against Mr. SHERIDAN'S
amendment, that is to sayr, againa' in-
O
187]
LETTER XIV.
[188
quiring into the cause of the alledged
necessity which induced the Privy
Council to issue an order, sanctioning
a refusal, on the part of the Bank, to
pay their promissory notes in Gold
and Silver. The men, who voted
upon this occasion, should be known.
We have only the names of the Mi
nority recorded. Those you will keep
in mind, Gentlemen, and, before we
have finished the subject, we shall
come at the names of the Majority;
«>r, at least, we can get the names of
all the members besides the minority*
Mr. Fox renewed the subject, on the
1st of March, by a motion for the
appointment of a separate Committee
'* to inquire into the causes, which
" produced the Order in Council of
" the 26th of February," for the
Stoppage of cash payments at the
Bank; and he was left in a similar
Minority.
Here it is, Gentlemen, that you see
the real cause of all the calamities
that have fallen upon our country,
and of all the dangers that now
threaten it, and these are dangers that
will not be frowned out of counte
nance, that will not be made to hide
their head, at the sound of the voice
of men in power; dangers that are
not to be talked or voted away. You
have seen these dangers creep on
upon us by slow degrees, but you
have seen their pace to be steady.
They have never stopped. They keep
gathering about us ; and he is a very
foolish man, who expects any remedy,
'till the great cause of the evil be re
moved; that is to say, until there shall
take place a radical Reform of the
Commons' House of Parliament,
agreeably to the principles of the
English Constitution, which Reform,
to use the words of the Kent Petition,
is now more than ever necessary to
the safety of both the people and the
throne.
The motions for a full inquiry being
rejected, the minister proceeded in
his work of getting a SECRET COM
MITTEE, who were to inquire into
the affairs of the Bank, and to report
their opinion relative to the necessity
of continuing, by Act of Parliament
List of the Minority, on
Mr. Sheridan's Amendment, on the 28th of
February 1797.
Aub; ei , Sir J. Dolben, Si/ W.
Baker,* J. . Dashwood, Sir H. M.
Bampfylde, J. C. Denison, W. J.
Barclay, G. .Dundas, C.
Bastard, J. P. Fitzpatrick, General
Beanclerk, C. Fletcher, Sir H.
Biddulph, R. Foikes, Sir R.
Baker, W. Fox, Right Hon. C. J.
Bunbury, Sir C. Galway, Viscount
Bird, W. W. Greene, J.
Burdett, Sir F. Hare, J.
Bouverie, Hon. E. Harrison, J.
Brogden, J. Hobhouse, B.
Burch, J. R. Hussey, W.
Byng, J. Jefferys, N.
Clarke, E. Jervoise, C. J.
Coke, F. Keene, W.
Combe, H. C. Kemp, T.
Courtcnay, J. Knight, R. P. '
Crcwe, J. - Langston, J.
Curw«n, J. C. Langston, W. Gf.
Copley, Sir L. Lemon, Sir W.
Lloyd, J. M.
Shum, G. C.
Mi Her, Sir W.
Shuckburgh, Sir G.
Nicholls, J.
Sinclair, Sir J.
North, D.
bmith, W.
Northey, W.
Spencer, Lord R.
Pierse, H.
Stanley, Lord
Pa Ik, L.
Sturt, C.
Phillips, J. G.
Tarleton, Geue»l
Plumer, W:
Taylor, C. W.
Pollen, G. A.
Porter, G.
Tyrwhitt, T.
Towns end, Lord J.
Pultcuey, Sir W.
Tuftou, Hon. Hi
Rawdon, Hon, J.
Vane, Sir F.
Rawdon, Hon. G.
Vyner, R.
Ridley, Sir M.
Walwyn, J.
Richardson, J.
Walpole, Colonel
Robson, R. B.
Western, C. C.
Kusicll, Lord J.
Wilkins, W.
Rnuell, Lord W
\v~innington, Sir F.
St. John, St. A. ,
Wycombe, Earl of
Scudamore, J.
Sheridan, R. B.
TELLERS.
diaries Grey and Samuel Wliitbread.
189]
PAPER AGAINST GOLD.
[190
the refusal of coin at llie Bank. And
now, Gentlemen, I beg you to ob
serve well tile manner of appointing
this Committee. It was to consist of
fifteen members; every member of
the House, who was present, might
put fifteen names into a box ; and,
when 'all the names were taken out,
the fifteen persons whose names ap
peared oftenest upon the tickets put
in, were the Committee. Of course
that side which had a majority of
tickets to put in would choose the
members of the Committee. The
custom, indeed, is, upon such occa
sions, to make out a List and send it
round amongst the members, and of
course, all those, who are on the side
of the Minister, will take the Minis
terial List; so that, in fact, whoever
has a majority in the House, chooses
tl+c Committee. Upon the particular
occasion before us, Mi\ SHERIDAN,
before the Report of who were the
Committee was made to the House,
read the names of them out loud in the
House ; and, when the report came to
be made, it appeared, that his List
was perfectly correct* Indeed, lie
had got hold of one of the Ministerial
Lists, and of course, he could not be
in error in this respect.
But, even a Committee, thus form
ed ; a Secret Committee chosen by the
Minister's own party ; even tbis Com
mittee were, Mr. PITT said (See
Debates, 28th February) " by no
" means called upon to push their in-
'• quiries, into circumstances, the dis-
•' closure of which would be attended
" with temporary injury to the credit
" of the country, and with permanent
" embarrassment to the operations of
"the Bank." Mr. PITT said, that
his principal object in appointing such
a Committee was to have it ascer
tained, that the affairs of the Bank
were in a prosperous state ; that the
Bank had abundant means to answer
all the demands upon it; and that,
therefore, the holders of Bank Notes
ought to look upon them as being
equally good with gold and silver.
Now, the way, and the only way, to
produce this so-much- wished-for con
viction was, one would have thought,
to let the Committee ascertain that
the quantity of Gold and Silver in the
Bank was sufficient for paying off the
Notes ; or, at any rate, was in a due
proportion to the Notes^ But, so far
from this being done, the Committee
did not make any inquiries at all re
lative to the quantity of Gold and
Stiver in the Bank. They merely in
quired into the state of the books at
the Bank, setting their Bank-notes on
one side and their Stock on the other
side. The Bank said : We owe the
holders the amount of our Notes, but
the Government owes us still more;
and not a word was said about Gold
and Silver, though one would have
thought, that this was the great, and
imlcen, the only thing to.make inquiry
about; especially as Mr. PAINE, in
his pamphlet, published the year be
fore, had made statements, whence
he had drawn a conclusion, that the
Bank, if put to the test, " had not
" money to pay half a crown in the
" pound."
This was a charge, which, one
would have thc.ught, it would be the
grand object of the Minister and the
Bank to do away. But, no such thing
• List of the Secret Committee.— William
Huuey; William Plumer ; Thomas Powys ;
Thomas Gremille; William Wilberforce;
John Blackburne ; Thomas Berney Brainp-
»ton ; Charles Bragge: Sir John Mitford
(Solicitor General); William Wilberforce
Bird ; John Faite ; Isaac Hawkins Browne >
Sir John Scott (Attorney General) ; Johr
William Anderson.
The three first had, as will be seen by a
reference to the List, voted with Mr. Fox
for a full inquiry ; but all the rest belonged
to the party of Mr. Pitt.
1911
LETTER XIV,
[192
was even attempted, and the two
Keports of the Committee,* did ac-
accordingly not at all tend to the re
storation of that sort of confidence,
which would have enabled the Bank
to open its doors to the applicants for
Guineas. It was in vain that Mr.
PITT told the House, that the reports
of the Secret Committee were highly
consoling; that the affairs of the Bank
were in a most prosperous state ; that
persons most conversant (alluding to
the Mansion House Hesolvers) be
lieved in the solidity of its means;
that the public had nothing to do with
the internal economy of the Bank;
that it was sufficient for the public to
* FIRST REPORT, March 3, 1797.— The
Committee appointed to examine and state
the total amount of out-standing demands
on the Bank of England, and likewise of
the Funds for discharging the same; and to
report the result thereof to the House,
together with their opinion on the necessity
of providing for the confirmation and con
tinuance, for a time to be limited, of mea
sures taken in pursuance of the minute of
Council on the 26th of February last; and
who are empowered to report their pro
ceedings from time to time to the House ;
have, pursuant to the order of the House,
proceeded to examine into the several
matters referred to their consideration, and
have unanimously agreed upon the following
Report, viz.— Your Committee have ex
amined the total amount of outstanding de
mands on the Bank of England, and like
wise of the Funds for discharging the same ;
and think it their duty, without loss of time,
to state those total amounts, and to report
the result thereof to the House. — Your
Committee find, upon such examination,
that the total amount of out-standing de-
"inandson the Hank, on the 25th of February
last (to which day the accounts could be
completely made up) was ,£. 1 3,770,390 ;
and that the total amount of the Funds for
discharging those demands (net including
the permanent debt due from Government
of £. 1 \ ,686,800, which bears an interest of
three percent.) \vas on the same 25th day
of February last ,£.17,597,280 ; and that the
result is, that there was, on the 25th day of
February last, a surplus of effects belonging
to the Bank beyond the amount of their
debts, amounting to the sum of ..£.3,826,890
exclusive of the above-mentioned permanent
know, that the corporation was a rich
corporation ; that the solidity of the
Bank was asserted in the report of
the Secret Committee then on the
table ; that that report left no doubt
upon the subject ; that it was an im
portant consolation, that there were
funds amply sufficient for the ultimate
security of those who could not have
their demands satisfied for a time ;
and that as to what was due from the
Government to the Bank, it rested
upon the best passible security, be
cause it rested upon the aggregate
powers of (he country. (See Debates
9th March 1797). In vain did Lord
Hawkesburv, in answer to Mr. Fox,
dr^bt of o£'-1 .1,636,800 due from Government.
And your Committee farther represent, that
since the 25th of February last considerable
issues have been made by the Bank in bank
notes, both upon Government securities and
in discounting bills, the particulars of which
could not immediately be made up; but as
those issues appear to your Committee to
have been made upon corresponding secu
rities, taken with the usual care and atten
tion, the actual balance in favour of the
Bank did not appear to your Committee to
have been thereby diminished.
SECOND REPORT, Tuesday, 7th March. —
Mr. Brampston brought up the following
Report :
The Committee appointed to examine and
state the total amount of outstanding d*
m;;nds on the Bank of England, and like
wise of the Funds for discharging the samr ;
and to report the result thereof to the
House, together with their opinion on the
necessity of providing for the confirmation
and continuance, for a time to be limite.d,
of measures taken in purMiance of the
Minute of Council on the 2mh of February-
last ; and who were empowered to report
their proceedings from time to time to the
House ; have farther examined into the
several matters referred to their considera
tion; and have agreed to report to the
House ;— That, in their opinion, it is nect*~
sunj tu provide for the confirmation and conti-
nuance, for « time to be limited, of the measures
taken in pursuance of the Order of Council on
the 26th .of February last ; submitting to the
wisdom of parliament to determine for what
limited time it may be necessary that those
measures should be continued.
193]
PAPER AGAINST GOLD.
[194
deny that tlie term, Bankruptcy ap
plied to the situation of the Bank or
the Government. He said, what was
very true, that the embarrassments of
the Bank were imputed to the scar
city or want of specie. But, in vain
did he question the truth of this pro
position; in vain did he say that a
scarcity of guineas might rise from
an increase of trade, and not from the
the excess of paper; (Debate 9th
Blareh 1797) in vain'did Sir John
Mitford, then Solicitor General (same
Debate) say that no man, however
rich, would be able to stand a run;
that it was unfair to call the stoppage
a Bankruptcy ; that the Bank was
solvent, although at this time unable
to pay in cash; that the refusal to pay
in cash could not be called a fraud,
became the public knew that such an
event. might happen; that the stoppage
at the Bank w;:s like that which
might be enforced by the door keepers
of a theatre, upon a false alarm of
lire, in order to prevent the people
from rushing out all at once, to their
destruction or injury; that if nothing
had bee;]! done to put a stop to the
ran upon the Bank, the Bank must
have been t-?t?.l'y ruined ; that there
were other public creditors besides
the Stock-holders, the army and the
navy ; thai tliey were as much public
creditors as the holders of Bank-notes
could be, and that they required
payment in cash more so than any
other description of men in this
country.
In vain was all this said. Mr.
GREY (now Earl Grey), said that
'the evidence brought before the Com
mittee had not satisiitfd him ; and
the satis/action to the public was evi
dently not greater ; for, if it had been
satisfactory, or if the- report of the
» Secret ConuniM'^ had been satis
factory, there could have been Jio oc
casion whatever for continuing the
power of the "Rank to. refuse payment
in specie. This* ua« told the:n by
Mr. Fox and Mr. SHERIDAN, who
asked : if the Bank be in so pros
perous a situation as you say it is, why-
do you wish to pass a law to protect
them against the demands of the
holders of their notes ? If the Bank
be so rich as you say it is, what need
has it of your assistance ?' Y~ou tell
us, said Mr. SHERIDAN (alluding to
the speech of Lord Hawkesbury) that
paper " is not only a cleaner, neater,
" and more portable medium to re-
" present property ; but that it is the
' very essence of wealth itself, and
" that the flourishing state of our
" commerce is the cause of this in-
" ability to produce specie to answer
"demands upon the Bank of Eng-
" land." See Debate of 9th March,
where these observations are followed
up by an inimitable instance of what
is called by logicians the reductio ad
absurdum. You tell us, said he, that
the public are of your opinion, and that
they reject our opinion; you tell us
that the public are satisfied with thp
report of the Committee ; you tell us
that the public like Bank notes as well
as guineas. But, with these assertions,
upon your lips, you pass a law to pro
tect the Bank against the demands of
that public ; you pass a law to compel
that public to receive paper at the Bank,
instead of that gold, which you say
tiiev like no better than that paper.
The truth is, Gentlemen, the
public, generally speaking, knew
nothing at all about the transactions
between the Government arid £hc
Bank ; they knew nothing at all about
the trade or the property of the Bank ;
they knew that they held promissory
notes issued by the Bank, payable to
the bearer on demand, and they
looked upon these notes as being
equally valuable with gold, because,
until now, they could, at any time,
carry them to the Bank, and receive
gold in exrliansfe for them. Nothing,
Tore., could have the smallest
tendency to convince them of the- BO-
lidity of the Bank, unless it, at the
same time, Vndcd to convince them,
that there wa'-'. gold in the Batik, suf
ficient to answer the demands of
195]
LETTER XV.
[-196
those, who presented notes for pay
ment, or who chose to demand gold
in payment of their dividends, or in
terest upon their Stock. And, not a
particle of conviction, in this way,
were the reports of the Secret Com
mittee calculated to produce.
jyir. SHERIDAN (see Debate 28th
February 1797) said that he was
" convinced that if the Bank was not
" able to resume its payments imuie-
" diately, he foresaw it never would
" be able afterwards to defray its
" outstanding engagements in cash."
And the reason he gave was that the
suspension of cash payments would
produce the issue of a greater quan
tity of paper. This reason was so
manifest, that it was impossible
that . the truth of it should not
be felt, though owing to the pre
judices of the times, there were
few persons amongst the Merchants
and Bankers, by whom it would bp
acknowledged. The same was said,
by Mr. NICHOLLS and Mr.
HOUSE, in whose speeches, together
with those of Mr. Fox and Mr. SHE
RIDAN, will be found predictions of
all the consequences, which have
already flowed, and which are likely to
flow from the stoppage of gold and
silver payments at the Bank.
We have now seen enough of the
measures which were adopted as fore
runners of the Acts of Parliament
relating to the Bank Stoppage ; and,
in my next Letter, I shall, I flatter
myself, be able to present you with a
complete, though a very concise,view of
those Acts, with which every man in
this country ought to be thoroughly
acquainted. In the mean while, I
remain,
Gentlemen,
Your faithful friend,
WM COBBETT.
State Prison, Newgate, Thursday^
1st, 18)0.
LETTER XV.
" When the situation of the Bank of England was under the consideration of the tvro Houses of Parliament
'• in the year 1797, it was my oi.inir.n aud that of many others, that the cj-ttnt to zt'ttich 1-o-per cur-
" rency had been carried, a>«v the fir rf at>d principal, thouch not the sole, cause of the many difficulties,
" to Which that corporate body was then, and had of latfc years from time to time, been exposed, in supply-
" ii<g the Cash occasionally necessary for the commerce of the Kingdom ; for the Bank of England bt inp, a*
" the head of all cirr'ulatlon, a. id the grc'tt i&po'itory of unemployed cash, it necessarily happens, that
" •whenever a suddi-n in' rfased supply ot Coin becomes indispensable, in consequence of private fa)lures
" or gei.cral discredit by whuh Notes of the before mne'ioned description aie driven out of circulation,
" the Rank of England can alone furnish the Cvzns which, are required to make up this deficiency,
" and this corporate body is thereby rendered responsible, not only for the value of its arm -notes, which
" it may have issued, but, in a certain degree, for such as may be issued by every private Banker in the
" Kingdom, let the substance, credit, 01 discretion * ( such a banker be what it may." LATii EARL
OF LW RPOOL. Letter to the King. Published in 1805-
* The Quantity of Cash in the Bank can never, ou the evidence of these circumstances, be so much as two
" millions; most probably not more than one million; and on this slimier t«-ig hangs the whole funding
"system of four hundred millions, besides many millions B«ak Notes. The sum in thebHiik.it Mr.
" Chalmers be correct, is not sufficient to pay one fourth of only one year's interest of the national debt,
" were the creditors to demand payment in Cosh, or to demand Cash for the Bank Notrs in whirh U.
** interest is paid. A circumstance always liable to happen." PAINE. Decline and Fall of the Knglish
" System of finance. PiibliahedinllQb,
A more minute View of the Affairs of the Bank necessary— State of the Case between
the 'Bank and the People—The Property of the Bank—The Statement of Debts and
Credits in the Report of the Secret Committee— The Bank renders its own Account—
The more detailed Statement published by Mr. Allerdyce— The Property of the Bank
is in Paper and not in Specie — Amount of the Bank Notes compared with the Cash —
The tfreat Question was, what Casli and Bullion there was in the Bank — Mr. Paine's
Opinion founded upon the Estimate of Mr. Eden and Mr. Chalmers — Error in sup
posing that the Minister took Specie out the Bank to send it abroad— Mr. Pitt's An
swer to Mr. Hobhonse and Mr. Hussey— Mr. Pitt's Argument verifying the Opinion of
Mr. Paine— The wliole become a System of Paper.
197]
PAPER AGAINST GOLD.
[198
GENTLEMEN,
IN the foregoing Letter (at pages
191 and 192), we have seen the lie-
ports of the Secret Committee of the
House of Commons, relative, FIRST,
to the state of the Bank's Affairs ;
and, SECOND, relative to the conti
nuance of refusal of refusal of Cash
Payments at the Bank. We shall
next take a view of the ACTS, passed
by the Parliament, upon this me
morable occasion ; not, however, 'till
we have looked a little more minutely
into the state of the Bank's Affairs.
It was before observed, that the
Committee, that even a Secret Com
mittee, and that Committee; appointed,
too, in the manner that we have seen
(at page 189); that even a Committee
like this were not permitted (to use
the phrase of Pitt) to " push their in-
" quiries into circumstances, the dis-
" closure of which would be attended
" with injury to public credit." Ac
cordingly, not a word do this Com
mittee say about the quantity »f Gold
and Silver in the Sank, though the
great, and, indeed, the only cause of
the Stoppage, and of the whole of
these proceedings, was, the alarm
felt by the Directors at the daily de
crease in their Gold and Silver. The
question, and the only question of any
importance to the peple, that is to say,
to the holders of the Bank Notes,
was : " Is there a quantity of real
11 money in the Bank sufficient to pay
" us the amount of our notes, when
" we may choose to present them for
" payment." This was the question,
to which the people wanted an an
swer; but with nothing relating to
this question, were the Committee to
meddle. This question was, with as
surance unparalleled, said to belong
wholly to the " private economy of
" the Bank, with which the public
" had nothing at all to do"
Surely nothing ever was heard so
impudent as this. The holders of the
Bank Notes, the creditors of the
Bank Company, the creditors of this
Company of Merchants, carry their
notes and demand payment; the
Company of Merchants apply to the
Minister, and he obtains from the
Privy Council an Order to authorize
the Company to refuse to pay the just
and lawful demands of their creditors,
and then the Minister, when he comes
to the Parliament for an Act to sanc
tion and to continue this refusal, tells
the House of Commons, that even a
Secret Committee of them, though
chosen as we have seen, are not to
push their inquiries into circum-
stauce$, the disclosure of which might
injure the credit of the Bank; and
yet he has the face to say, at the
same time, that the report of this
Committee cannot fail to satisfy the
country of the aldlity of the Bank to
pay all its outstanding demands*
Gentlemen, we will now look a
little more minutely into that report.
It states, that the Government owes
the Bank Company £.11,686,800,
which bears an interest of three per
cent ; that is to say, that the Bank
Company, like our neighbour GRIZ
ZLE GREENHORN, is a Stock-holder
and has its name writtten in the
GREAT BOOK; wfcich Great
Book, you will bear in mind, is kept
at the Bank itself, an(J the interest
upon the said stock is paid by the
Bank Company to the Bank Com
pany and in bank-notes made at the
order of the Bank Company ! This
was ah1 very fine, to be sure ; but, it
certainly tTid not go one inch towards
convincing the holder of a bank-note,
that the Bank was able to pay him in
Gold or Silver. The Committee next
state the means and the Debts of the
Bank as follows :
Total amount of the Funds
of the Bank (exclu
sive of debt due to it
from tin*, Government of
£.11,686,8000) on the
25th of Feb. 1797 £.17,597,280
Total amount of outstand
ing demands upon the
Bank on the 25th of
February 1797 13,770,390
Surplus in favour of the
Bank 3,826,890
J.99]
LETTER XV.
Tliis was all very line again ; but
what was it to the public ? What
was it to the holders of the bank
notes, who wanted Gold for them ?
Besides, wJience came the evidence
of the truth of this ? The proofs of a
trader's solvency is not, I believe,
generally left to himself. The Bank
Company had stopped payment, and,
when an inquiry was taking place into
the state of its affairs, and especially
with regard to its ability to pay, how
comes it that the inquirers were con
tent with its own statement and its
men story? This is not the way that
inquiries are made into the affairs of
other traders, when they stop pay
ment. Mr. GREY, as we have seen
before (See Debate of 9th March
1797), said that, though one of the
Secret Committee the evidence had
not satisfied him; and, indeed, what
was this report more or less than the
Bank's presentation of the state of its
own affairs?
But, supposing the statement to be
correct, still what was there to satisfy
the people of the country ; what to
satisfy the holders of the notes, that
the Bank was able to pay those notet,
that is to say, to give gold and silver
for them. For, as to payment in any
other way, it is nonsense to talk of
it. What was there, in this Report,
then, to cause it to be believed, that
the Bank was able to pay it* notes ?
Here is very big talk ; high-sounding
words, and more high-sounding fi
gures ; but, if we put them to the
scrutiny we find nothing at all in
them : we find not the smallest cir
cumstance to induce any holder of a
bank note to suppose, that the Bank
is, or ever will be, able to pay that
note off, agreeably to the promise,
expressed upon the face of it.
The statement, however, from
which it appears, the Secret Com
mittee made up their Report, was
more in detail. This statement was
afterwards given to the public by Mr.
ALLERBYCE, a member of the then
Parliament, and a person who con
stantly voted with the Minister. The
statement thus given was as follows :
STATE OF THE FINANCES OF THE BANK OF ENGLAND,
FEB. 25 1797.
Particulars of Debt Account.
Drawing Account ^.2,339,600
Exchequer Bills 1,676,000
Unpaid Dividends 983,730
Do. in Bank Stock 45,150
Do. in India annuities 10,210
Sundries unclaimed , 1,330
Due from Cash on the loan of
1797 17,060
Unpaid Irish dividend 1,460
Do. on Imperial loan 5,600
5,130,140
Bank notes in circulation. .... .8,640,2.50
4.13,770,390
Balance 3,826,890
17,597,280
Particulars of Credit Account.
Bills and Notes discounted — 1 „<-,,,,„
Cash and Bullion J 4>176>°80
Exchequer Bills 8,228,000
Lands and Tenements 65,000
Money lent to India Company. . . . 700,000
Stamps 1,510
Navy and Victualling Bills. 15,890
American Debentures 51,150
Petty Cash in House 5,320
Sundry articles 24,150
5 per Cent, annuities 795,800
5 per Cents 1797 1,000,000
Treasury bills paid for the Go
vernment 1,512,270
Loan to Government 376,000
Bills discounted unpaid 88,120
Treasury and Exchequer fees .... 740
Interest due on different L3)aas
advanced to Government 554,250
17,597,280
201]
PAPER AGAINST GOLD.
Now, .what is all this ? Why, it is,'
with the exception of three of the
items, a mere account of paper be
tween the Government and the Bank,
and in which the people, who held
the bank notes, could have no interest
whatever. The Bank held Exche
quer Bills, and Navy and Victualling
.Bills, and had lent money' (that is to
say 'bank notes) to the East India
Company and had five per cent, stock
and Treasury Bills and had interest
due upon loans ; all 'which might be
very well for the Bank, but what was
it to a man, who held a bank note and
who could not get payment for it when
he presented it to the Bank ? These
line articles of credit were very good
for the Bank Company ; but what
good were they to 'SQUIRE GULL,
who, being alarmed at the prospect
of a Jacobin invasion, wished, in
spite of his loyalty, to turn his bank
notes into guineas ? What use were
they to our neighbour GRIZZLE
GREENHORN, who ROW wished, of
course, to put by a few guineas, and
who, of course, wished to receive her
dividends in gold, to prevent her from
doing which by law this very rcpoit
was a preliminary step ? What con
solation was Grizzle to draw from
this account of debts due from the,
Government to the Bank, especially
when it was clear, that if the Govern
ment ever paid the Bank, it, nmst
pay it in bank notes, seeing that in
bank notes the taxes were ijow
paid?
The three items to which the people
would look, were those expressing on
one side, the amount of the bank notes
in circulation ; and, on the other, the
amount of the cash, or coin, ar,d bul
lion in the Bank Company's House,
commonly called the Bank. Accord
ing to the above statement these were
on the 25th of February 1707, as
follows :
Amount of Bank Notes in circu
lation «i'.8,64U,2^0
Hills aiul Notes discounted, Cash
and Bullion 4,176,060
Petty Cash in the House ;'..3i'()
4. lH i ,400
Difference -< ,4-Srt . .•><)
But, who is to say how much th«
Bills and Notes discounted amounted
to? Who is to answer, that they
did not make one half; who is to say,
that they did not make nine tenths of
the sum of /;4,17().080? Why was
the amount of the cask and bullioti,
huddled up in one sura along with the
amount of Bills and Notes Jfl ^count
ed ! Why were things so different in
their nature confounded together? if
GRIZZLK GKEENUOKN wanted her
hank note? payed at, the Bank, she
would not take discounted bills in pay
ment. What the nation wanted to
pee, was, how much the Bank had oi'
that sort ofthiiiy, in which banknotes
could he payed ; how in*xli it had of
that sort oi' thing, the value, of which
no invasion or revolution would de
stroy : how much it had of that sort
of thing, in ^hich it bad promised to
pay upon demand ihe bearers of its
notes; how much, in short, it had of
MONEY, and not of bills and notes
discounted, with which the people hat?
nothing at all to do, there being no
man of common sense, who could
care a straw 'about how much of its
paper the Bank gave to others for
their paper, so that he got guineas for
his bank notes ; and, if lie could not
get this, what consolation was it to
him to know, that the Bank had lent
but .little, of its paper to the mer
chants ?
As to the exact quantity of cask
(md lullion in the .Bank, "when the
Stoppage took place, Mr. ALLER-
DYCE gives a table, . shewing the
amount at stated periods, for several
years, according to which Table, the
total amount of the cash and bullion
in the Bank, at the time of the Stop-
203]
LETTER XV.
204
page, was £.1,272,000. Aye, ONE
MILLION, TWO HUNDRED
AND SEVENTY-TWO THOU
SAND POUNDS. He comes at
this sum thus. The Bank of England
have Numbers, to denote their quan
tity of cask and bullion. When they
submitted their accounts to Parli
ament, in 1797, it was thought ne
cessary to keep the amount of the
cask and bullion a secret from Par
liament and the public. They, there
fore, only gave the Numbers tor dis
tinct periods in several years, in or
der to shew the proportionate increase
or diminution of the cash and bullion.
From these Numbers, however, a dis
covery was, it is said, made, and the
sum above-named, ascertained to be
the amount of the cash and bullion in
the Bank at the time of the Stoppage.
But, upon this, I wish to place no
reliance ; nor do I care, whether the
statement above given, of cash and
bullion and discounted bills be cor
rect, or not. These are things of in
ferior consequence compared with the
great and well-known facts ; namely,
that no proof was produced, or at
tempted to be produced, that the
Bank Company had gold or silver, or
both together, sufficient to pay its
promissory notes ; and that no ac
count was rendered to the Parliament
of the amount of the cash and bullion
in the Bank.
Mr. PAINE had, only the year be
fore, said, in the words of my motto,
that the quantity of cash in the Bank
could never, on the evidence of cir
cumstances, be so much as two mil
lions, and most probably, not more
than one million ; that, on this slen
der twig, always liable to be broken,
hung the whole funding system of four
hundred millions, besides many mil
lions in bank notes ; that the sum in
the Bank was not sufficient to pay
one fourth of only one year's interest
of the National Debt, were the cre
ditors to demand payment in cash, or
to demand cash for the bank notes in
which the interest is paid : a circum
stance always liable to happen. Mr.
PAINE founded this opinion upon a
statement of Mr. EDEN (now Lord
AUCKLAND) and Mr. CHALMERS,
Clerk to the Board of Trade, who
had given an account, or, rather an
estimate, of the gold coin circulating
in the kingdom ; and, it is truly smv
prising to observe how near Mr.
PAINE was to the exact truth as to
this point, though at the time when
his pamphlet was published, its cal
culations and predictions were treated
with scorn, and the work itself was
ascribed to a malicious desire to cause
the ruin of England ; just as if it
were in the power of PAINE, or of
any one else, to injure the credit of a
nation ; or, as if any thing but the
want, the real want of the gold and
bullion could shake the faith of the
public in such an establishment as
that of the Bank. PAINE might have
written 'till this time without persuad
ing any one that a guinea was a thing
not to be relied upon. He never
would have written people out of their
belief in the goodness of fjuineas.
And, if the Bank had stood a run
for only one week, he might have
written his pen to the stump, but
would not have shaken the people's
confidence. Credit that has a solid
foundation need fear no assaults.
At the time, when this subject was
under discussion in the House of
Commons, the Minister was charged,
by the Opposition, with having taken
the Money from the Bank and sent it
abroad in subsidies. Tin's was cer
tainly a very great error, or, it was
made use of for the purpose of annoy
ing the Minister at the expence of
truth. I am, however, disposed to
attribute it to error ; for, it was urged
in suck a manner, and by such per
sons, as to obviate all suspicion of its
being a mere party weapon. Mr.
H'OBHOUSE (Debate 28th February
1797), said, that he suspected that
the monev had been buried in (?er-
[205
PAPER AGAINST GOLD.
[206
many, and not by the people of Eng
land, in dread o-f invasion. And Mr.
HUSSEY said, that the Minister
" had laid his rapacious hands upvn
" the sums destined for the payment
" of the public creditor. He knew
" that the public creditors had been
" refused their just demands. He
" had witnessed the truth of this woe-
" ful circumstance himself. He had
" been told by a person who had ap-
ft plied for payment, that, in payment
" of a sum of twenty-three pounds,
" three pounds in cash had been of-
" fered, and the rest only in notes.
" Such a melancholy day as this for
<$ England he had hoped never to live
" io see. Let the Chancellor of the
" Exchequer pay the ten millions
" Government owed the Sank, and
" then it would be able to fulfil all its
" engagements. It was not that the
" Bank was unable to satisfy its cre-
" ditors, but it was the continued de-
ts mand of money to feed the czpencts
il of t, its ruinous and disastrous war,
" which rendered it unjust to those
" who depended upon its credit."
Mr. PITT, who seemed to have
avoided this point with all his care,
suid who, as I once heard Mr. WIND-
HAM describe him, was so dextrous
in the selection and use of words as
to be able " to speak a {king's speech
" oft-hand,'' could not remain longer
silent under this attack. He had been
told nearly the same by Mr. SHE
RIDAN ; but he Deemed to be willing
to take the chance of that being
ascribed to party motives. When,
however, he heard the same, seriously
urged by Mr. HUSSEY, and saw that
the notion was making its way amongst
the public, and of course, that
the whole of the calamity would be
ascribed to him and his Anti-Jncobin
\var, he could no longer refrain from
declaring what was the nature of the
property of the J3c.?:!t, and to avow,
that the whole of its transactions with
"Government, or nearly so> were trans
actions of paper, a fact of which the
( country had, till that moment, been
in compete ignorance.
He said that Mr. HUSSEY was
wholly in error to suppose that the
Bank made advances to the Govern
ment in specie ; he said, that the ad
vances were made in notes, and paid
in the same manner ; that, if the Go
vernment were to raise money and
pay the Bank, the Bank would not
thereby be supplied with an additional
auinea in cash ; that the taxes were
not paid in specie, that loans were
advanced without any expectation of
re-payment in specie ; that the Bank
never had it in contemplation that
evenr quarterl} dividend was to be
paid in cash ; that the receipt of the
revenue was in paper, and that the
whole of Mr. HUSSEY 's observations
were intirely founded in mistake.
Mr. SHERIDAN, in answer to this,
said, that the deficiency, or inability
at the Bank arose not merely from
the positive want of cash, but from
i the disproportion between the quan-
' tity of cash and the quantity of
paper ; and, of course, that, if their
lent paper was returned to them, they
would find themselves at liberty to
ismc more of their specie. This would
have been true in a state of things
where the difference between the
quantity of specie and the quantity of
paper was less ; but, in the present
case, it was too great for confidence
to be restored, and, of course, for the
Bank to return to its payments in
cash. Mr. PITT'S answer was com
plete. It was the plain truth, which
he was obliged to bring out, in order
to divide the blame with the Bank.
He was told to borrow and to pay the
Bank what he owed them. What
good will that do, said he, when my
loan will consist of Bank notes, and
I must pay the Bank in those notes?
He was told to raise the sum in taxes
and so pay the Bank. What good
will that do, said he, when my taxes
will consist of Bank notes, and I must
pay the Bank in those notes. The
207]
LETTER XVI.
[208
answer was complete towards his ad
versaries in debate, and not less com
plete as a demolislier of his own repu
tation as a Minister of Finance. He
now said precisely what Mr. PAINE
had said the year before ; he now
confirmed, with his own lips, • what
PAINE had been so abused~for saying.*
He appears clearly to have perceived
his dilemma; but, to extricate him
from it was beyond the power even of
Ins dexterity. He was obliged to ac
knowledge, that the whole was become
a system of paper, or, that he had
taken the gold from the Bank, and, of
the two evils he chose that, which
would expose him to the least share of
public odium.
Tiiis view of the State of the Bank's
Affairs has led me further than I ex
pected ; but it was quite necessary as
an introduction to that of the Acts of
Parliament, which will be the subject
of my next.
I am, in the meanwhile,
Gentlemen,
Your faithful friend,
WM. COBBETT.
State Prison, Netrgate, Monday,
November 5th, 1810.
LETTER XVI.
" It is admitted that a paper mrd'nro, under the form of bank notes or Government securities, is circulated
" in France, England, and most other coin mn-cial couutiics; but nobody is compelled by law to receive
"the payment of nny dfbt in such im.i.ey : hesice it is, that the p;iper of tiiose countries bears no
" re'e.iiblaoce to ours, except in n<une. Kvery m.m receives a. bank note er refuses it at pleasure.
" Whf-n he receives it, he knows thai on the next hour he may have it changed for gold or silver, as the
" Rank is obliged to make such payments on demand. .For thi* reason, bank-notes being portable, are
" frequently preferred to coin ot trie weighty- metals." SYLVIUS, on the American paper money, 1787
Introduction of the Bank Restriction Act into the House of Commons — The Origin of
this Measure — The Kill moved tor by Mr. Pitt — Suspension of the Two Acts
Prohibiting Small Promissory Notes — The Title and Preambles of those Acts — The
Principles of those Acts — Title and Preamble of the B.uik Restriction Act— View of
the Provisions of that Act— TLe Legal Tender—The Meaning and Application of the
Word Restriction.
GENTLEMEN,
We have now to take a view of the
Acts of Parliament, passed in conse
quence of the Stoppage of cash pay
ments at the Bank of England ; then
to see what was, at the passing of
these Acts, sa:d by the advocates of
them, respecting their duration; an 3
this will enable us to form a pretty
correct, judgement as to the statesman
like wisdom of those advocates, and
also as to the probability of the Acts
* I speak here of those writings merely
of Mr, PAINE, which relate to Finance,
without wishing to convey any commenda
tion of some of his other writings, the sub
jects of which, are in no -wise, connected
with this subject, [n the principles of finance
be was deeply skilled ; and, to his very great
and rare talents as a writer, be added an un
common degree of experience in the concerns
of paper-money, the rise and fall of which
he had witnessed in the American States and
in France. Truth is truth, come from whom
it may ; and there is no greater folly than
that of rejecting it, that of shutting one's
eyes and ears against it, merely because it
proceeds from persons, of whose conduct, in
other respects, one may disapprove. TUe
writings of LORD BACON are held, and justly
held, in great estimation ; though he was, as
our elegant and virtuous poet describes him,
" the meanest of mankind." The late Lord
Liverpool, Mr. Pitt, Mr. Fox, Mr. Sheridan,
Mr. Nieholls, Mr. Hobhouse and others, and
as we shall see by-and-by, a Committee ot
the House of Commons, have since acknow
ledged the truth of the principles of Mr
Maine's work. Events have proved the trult
of them, and, to point out the fact, is m.
inon? than an act of justice, due to his talents
and at) act the more particularly due at my
hands, 1 having been one of bis most violei v
assailants. Any man may fall into em>r, but
a fool or a knave will seldom acknowledge it .
209]
PAPER- AGAINST GOLD.
[210
ever bem* hereafter removed, except
by a to till annihilation of the paper-
money.
Until the time at which the Bank
Stoppage took place; until the 20th
day of February 17,97, the Notes of
the Rank Company were considered
as good as real- money, because, if the
holder chose it, he could, at any mo
ment, demand a;id receive real mo
ney in exchange for them. But, when
the Bank, in the manner that we have
seen, reiused payment upon demand,
.lie nature of the notes \vas wholly
changed. Tiiey were no longer equal
in value to real insne-y; and nothing
but a species of compulsion would, of
course, induce the people to receive
them in payment of any debt thereto
fore contracted.
New, then, came tlie pinch. Now
C'ime forth the fact, that it was beyond
all the powers of hypocrisy, tritk,
and eonlusiivf verbosity any longer to
disguise: forth came the fact, that
Bank Notes were to be, in reality, j
forced upon the people ; that the -man, |
who had a debt due to him, must take !
them in payment, or if he refused
them, be unabie to arrest his creditor:
forth came the fact, aye, forth it came,
iii'ter ail the railing against French
ass-gnats; forth came the fact, that no
man who held a Bunk note; that no
imtn who held a note oi' that Com-
pany of Traders, payable on demand,
eorJ^. compel them to pav him, except
in other suck notes. Forth came this
fact, and yet those who had brought
the finances of the country into such
a state, were still kept in power; to
their management were the nation's
affairs still left: to their promises did
the credulous and affrighted people
still listen ; and of their measures has
the nation ever since been feeling,
and will, it is to be feared, long feel,
the consequences.
The Order of the Privy Council
(8ee it in Letter XT, page 149) re
quired the Bank Company to stop
paying their notes in money. The
words are " to forbear issuing any
•* cash in payment." I beseech you,
Gentlemen, to consider well the na
ture of this transaction. Look back
at the origin of the Bank. Consider
it, as it really was, a mere Companyr
of Traders. Then view the holders
of the Notes, who wrere so many legal
creditors, so many persons having a
just and legal claim to be paid upon
demand. See all these creditors at once
deprived of their legal rights of pay
ment by an Order of the Privy Coun
cil, of which the Minister himself was
a member. See here a Company of
Traders, having promissory notes out
to the amount of many millions, re
quired by the Privy Council " to
" forbear" to pay off' the said notes;
and above all things, obserre, and
NEVER FORGET, that this order,
or request, was made in consequence,
as we have seen from the official do
cument:;, of representations made by
this Company of Traders themselves,
who, as is stated in those documents
(Letter XIII, page 172), made such
representations in consequence of the
drain upon their cash and of the alarm
they therefore feit for the safety f-f
their House.
This was a -fine spectacle to be
hold : it was a fine thing to be held
forth to the world by a Minister,
whose boastiiig about his financial
resources and about his support of
public credit had been incessant from
the day he first vaulted into the saddle
of power. *lf this could be done with
regard to one Company of Traders,
why not with regard to any other
Company of Traders, or any other
single Trader, in the kingdom? If
the Privy Council, avowedly upon
the representation of the Minister,
were to protect this Company of
Traders against the la wful, demands
of their creditors ; what reason was
there that other Traders, that other
Debtors, should not be protected iu
the same way, if they should " feel
" alarm for the safety of their House '?"
We must never lose sight of this fa«t,
that the Order in Council arose from
211]
LETTER XVI.
[212
a representation of the Minister; that
representation arose from one made to
the Minister by the Bank Company ,
and this latter representation arose
(See Letter XIII, p. 179) fro.n the
drain of cash at the Bank, and from
the alarm which the Bank Company
felt for the safety of their House.
tender, he knew not \vhat to answer;
that he twisted and writhed in j,rcat
apparent embarrassment of mind : but,
that he knew not wh »t to answer. We
have also seen, that, before the House
met the next day (28th of February
1797) the meetin/ at the Mansion-
iiouse had taken place, having been,
Tuis should be constantly kept in • as we have seen, previously contrived,
in private, with the Minister^ We
have seen an account of the other
Meetings through the country ; and
we have seen, in Letter XIV, ti»e
manner of forming the SECRET COM
MITTEE, from whom came Reports
(Letter XIV, p. 189), declaring the
vew. We should never, for one
ment, lose sight of the fact, that the
whole of this measure of protection to
the Bank had its origin in represen
tations made by the Rank Company
itself. And, if we keep this faot
steadily in view, we
danger at coming at
elusion.
Thus -far then,
shall be in no
a proper con-
we have seen the
transaction going no further than the
Privy Council. We have seen it
originate with the Bank Company, the
demands of whose lawful creditors
had given them alarm. . We have
seen the B.mk Company calling upon
the Minister to know when he would
interfere. And, we have seen the
Minister, after saying, on the 24th,
that he would prepare a resolution (f
Council, go to the Council, on tie
2fjth, and obtained the Resolution and
Order that we have seen. Thus the
Privy Council became a party to the
transaction ; and we are now about
to see how the Parliament put the
finishing stroke to it by giving to the
Order of Council the sanction of law ;
we are now about to take a view of
the Legislative Acts, by which, to use
the expression of the late Lord Liver
pool, paper-credit was exchanged for
paper -currency , by which bank-notes
were moulded into paper-money.
In Letter XII, page 164, we have
seen how the minister first introduced
t» the House of Commons the project
of passing a law to san-ction the Order
in Council ; that is to say, to sanction
the refusal of the Bank Company to
pay their promissory notes. We have
seen, that, upon being asked by Mr.
ALDERMAN COMBE, whether he
me:mt to make tke bank-notes a legal
affairs of the
Bank to be n a most
way, and that the Com
pany were possessed of a great surplus
of means.
Thus prepared, and perceiving, by
this time, that his adherents were re
solved to sta :d by him (See Letter
XIV, p. 194) the Minister, on tiie
9th of March, 1797, moved for leave
to " bring in a bill to confirm and
" continue the Order in Council of
" the 26th of February, for a time to
" be limited." This was the first
motion towards making of the law for
authorising the Bank to refuse to pay-
its creditors their just demands ; that
law, which has filled the kingdom
with banks and with paper-money,
and which, as we shall by-and-by see,
has produced no small share of our
present dangers and distress. But,
before we proceed any further in the
history of this ACT, which, you will
bear in mind, is the Act, which the
Bullion Committee have proposed to
repeal in two years from this time ;
before we proceed any further in the
history of this Act, we must shortly
notice two other Acts, which were
passed before it, and which, though
of inferior importance, were thejirst-
born of the Bank Stoppage.
The refusal of the Bank Company
to pay their notes was, as every one
must naturally suppose, productive of
the consequence of driving all the
sold coin out of circulation; for,
213]
PAPER AGAINST GOLD.
under such circumstances, the mo
ment a guinea or a half guinea got
into the hands of a person able to keep
it, and not an ideot, it would remain
very quiet in the chest of that person ;
and, as the smallest notes then in cir
culation, were notes for five pounds,
the difficulty in making payments
would necessarily be very great. The
distress, arising from this cause, was
so great, that on the 1st of March, it
was resolved by the House of Com
mons to bring in a bill to legalize the
issuing of small, notes by private per
sons ; and, on the same day a bill was
read a second time for enabling the
Bank of England to issue notes under
Jive pounds.
The reason for passing these Acts
was this; there were in existence two
Acts of Parliament, which prohibited
the negotiating of promissory notes
and otlier paper of an amount under
five pounds. These Acts are, upon
this occasion worthy of our particular
attention; because they were passed
upon the principle, that small paper
promises were injurious to the com
munity. The first of these Acts was
p -ssed in the year 1775, and, as will
be seen from the Title and Preamble,
which I beg of you to read,* small
* FIFTEENTH GEO. III. Chap. LI. — An
Act to restrain the uegociation of promis
sory notes and inland bills of exchange
under a limited sum, within that part of
GreatBritain called England. — Whereas va
rious notes, bills of exchange, and draughts
tor money, for very swill sums, have for
some time past, been circulated or negociated
in lien of cash, within that part of Great Bri
tain called England ; to the great prejudice of
trade and public credit : fyc. fyc. Be it, there
fore, enacted by the King's most excellent
Majesty, by, and with the advice and con
sent of the Lords Spiritual ailfd Temporal,
and Commons, in this present Parliament
assembled, and by the authority of the
same. That all promissory or other notes,
bills of exchange, or drafts, or undertakings,
in writing, beaignegoeiable or transferable
for the payment of any sum or sums of
money, less' than the sum of twenty shillings in
the whole, which shall be made or issued at
any time from and after the twenty-fourth
day of June, one thousand seven hundred
anil seventy-fire, shall be, and the same are
hereby declared to be, absolutely void and
paper currency was, at that time, de
clared by law to be of " great prcju-
" dice to trade and public eredit.n
There were in 1775, as we have al
ready seen, no bank-notes for sums
less than TEN POUNDS, and, it was
then supposed, that smaller notes
would be an injury. In two years
after the above Act was passed the
effect of it having been found geod,
another Act was passed carrying the
prohibition to any sum under five
pounds. And, Gentlemen, I beg you
to pay particular attention to the lan
guage of these Acts. The first says,
that the circulation of notes for very
small sums, in lieu of cash, is to the
great prejudice of trade and public
credit; and, after the Parliament have
had two years' experience of the ef
fects of this Act, they pass another,
in which, after declaring that the cf-
focts of the former Act have been
" very salutary" they extend the pro
visions of it from the sum of twenty
shillings to the sum of Jive pounds.f
Thus, then, small paper currency
was proved to have been an evil; it
was proved, by experience, to have
been injurious to trade and to public
credit; and, therefore, while there
were no bank notes for sums less than
of no effect, any law, statute, usage, or
custom to the contrary, therefore in any
wise notwithstanding.
t SEVENTEENTH, GEO. 111. Cap. XXX. —
An Act for further restraining the negocia-
tion of promissory notes, and inland bills, of
exchange, under a limited sum, within that
part of Great Britain called England. —
Whereas by a certain Act of Parliament
passed in the fifteenth year of the reign of
his present Majesty (intituled an Act to
restrain the negociation of promissory
notes and inland bills of exchange under a
limited sum, within that part of Great Britain
called England, all negociable promissory
or other notes, bills of exchange, or draughts,
or undertakings in writing, for any sum of
money leas thun the sum of twenty shillings in
the whole, &c. &c. and whereas the said Act
hath bven attended with ttry salutary effects,
and in case the provisions therein contained
were extended to a further sum, tlie good JM«--
pt^e of the said Act would be further advanced.
B« it, therefore, enacted, &c. And the
Act exjtends the prohibition to any sum
wider five pounds.
215]
LETTER XVI.
[211
ten pounds, the law forbade that there
should be any other circulating/ or ne
gotiable notes, under live pound?.
Tims, as to paper-currency, stood
the law in 1797, when the Bank
Stoppage took place ; and .as we have
already seen, in the former part of
this Letter, the. country was, in con
sequence of. the Stoppage, thrown into
tlie greatest distress for- the want of
something to represent small sums.
Ths manufacturers, and, im! sod,
ail the journey men and labourers,
throughout the kingdom, could not b"
.paid in the usual manner. The coin
had d'tsappvaredi'ds it naturally would
the moir.^t a batik-note. Mrowld not
fetch its £'i:io:mt in guineas at the
Bank;, and, the guineas and half
guineas having; £one out of sight,
which they did instantly, there were
no means of paying small sums.
Therefore, the very lirdt tiling to be
done, was to provide something to
supply the place of the guineas and
h>«lf-<*uiiieas, and, indeed, the whole
of the coin, except the ham me red -out
shillings and sixpences, such as we
•now see current.
For this purpose, it was necessary
to pass an Act to repeal, or, at lra.-t,
to suspend, the two Acts, of which
we have just taken a view, and, ac
cordingly a suspension Act was passed
on the 10th of March 1797, the title
and preamble of which Aet are here
inserted as worthy of attention, and
us matter for future remark.* This
* THIRTY SEVENTH Geo. Ill, Chap. XXXII.
——An Act to suspend fisr a limited time,
the operation of two Acts of the fifteenth and
seventeenth years of the reign of his present
Majesty for restraining the negotiation of
promissory notes, and inland bills of ex
change, ttnder a limited sum, within that
part of Great Britain called England.
whereas an Act of Parliament was past in
the fifteenth year of the reign of his present
Majesty, intituled an Act to restrain ihr
negociation of promissory notes, and inland
bills of exchange, under a limited sum,
within thit part of Great Britain called
England : And whereas another Act was
Act, by which the suspension was tr
be continued only till the first day o
the then ensuing mouth of May; tha
is to say, for forty days onlv, was, a;
we shall by-and-by see, afterward:
extended in its duration, and has con
tinned in force till this clay.
But, this was nothing wilhou
giving a power of making small note:
to tha Bank of England. The Ban'
had dividends to pay ; and, of course
all the sums, or parts of sums, un,d&:
five pounds (there bc-iii:-.';, as TK.-J, i;;
notes under that sum) t.hr-y vvi
compelled to pay in cash, which v» a
what they did not ///;% and, in ia.oi
what they were not,, perhaps, jdiie t;
do. It was, therefore, necessary
above all things, to ;<>;ive .them apowc
of making- sm--ili notes. There was ;
doubt whether the two Acts of tin
15th and 17th of George the Third
above-mentioned, applied to b;irJ
notes ; and, it, was thought by som<
persons, that tluiy did not so apply
but, an Act of Parliament, the grca
cure for j»ll doubts and difficulties
was passed to remove this doubt; an<
such was the haste, in doing this, tha
the Act was passed en the 3rd* o
March, though the lull was brought ii
only on the %8tk of February. Tin
Aet authorixecl tho Bank to issu
notes for siimsimder five pounds; and
accordingly, two and one pound note
were immediately- issued.f
Now, Gentlemen, I beg you t<
stop here for a moment, and tuki
passed in the seventeenth year of the reig
of bis present Majesty, intituled, an Act fo
farther restraining the negotiation of prc
missory notes, and inland hills of exchang
under a limited sum, uhhui that part (
Great Britain called England; and where?
IT IS EXPEDIENT 'hat the said • Acl
should be suspended for a certain time, so far a
the same may relate to any notes, draught:
or undertaking* made payable on demand
&c. &e. &e. The Art then suspends thos
laws until the first day of May 1797.
tTllIKTY-SFAENTIiGeo.IH.Cha]..XXVII
An Act to remove doubts respecting Pr<
OEnterefc at fctatfonets'
Printed by W. MOLINEUX, 5, Bream's Buildings, Chancery Lane; Published by W. GOBBET
Jnn. No. 8, Catherine Street, Strand ; and Retailed at No, 192, Strand.
-COHBETT'S PAPER AGAINST GOLD.— [Price
217]
another look at the language of these
Acts of parliament, these solemn de
clarations of the Legislature. In the
year 1775, they say, that the circu
lation of small notes, iti lieu of cash,
is of " great prejudice to trade and
«' public credit." In 1777, they de
clare, upon the evidence of two years
of experience, that their having lessen
ed the quantif*f of small notes had
produced " very salutary effects." And
in 1797, under the ministry of PITT,
whose debts the public have paid, and
for whom they are to pay for a monu
ment ; aye, under the ministry of this
man, the parliament were brought to
declare, that to make small notes, that
to do juftthe contrary of what the above
two acts were intended to effect, V.T.S
" expedi nt for the pub lie service, and
" for the convenience of commerce"
In 1775 and 1777 it was enacted,
that small promissory notes, in lieu of
cash, were " a great prejudice to
" trade and public CREDIT." In
1797 it was enacted, that small pro*
miesory notes, in lieu of cash, were
" expedient for the public service and
" for the convenience of commerce"
Gentlemen, when you have paid due
attention to this, you will iiardly want
any thing more to enable you to an
swer those, who have yet the folly or
the impudence to attempt a defence of
the ministry of PITT, who, as it has
been well observed, in reply to one
of his eulogists, found the country
yold, and left it paper.
But, the grand measure was yet to
come. There was, as vet, no tew to
sanction the deed of refusing to pay
the bearers of the Bank's promissory
notes. This was a thing that the peo
ple had yet to receive at the hancU of
inissorv Nrotes of the Gov< mor and Company
of the Hank of . Kr'jlarul, for payment of
simis of money nndei fh.e pounds. -Where
as it is expedient for tiM-puMic s. rvice, and for
the convenience'^ commercial circulation, that
the Governor and Company of the JBank of
England should issue Promissory notes, pay-
nble to bef.ivr, for sums of money under Ji^s
', t'irc. &c.
W. Molineux, Printer, Bream's Build:ng«,
Clique-cry l.sae.
[218
those, who had plunged them into the
Anti-jacobin war, and who h:ul ii-J
them with the hopes of beating France
through her fiivmees. Yes, the neople
of England, the " most thinking peo-
" pie," had yet to swallow this ; they
had yet to gulp this bolus from the
hands of tho.se, who had buoyed them
up for so many years, by comparisons
of the jfaurishiiiff state of the English
finances compared wilh those oi'
France, which last nation they still
believed to be, as PITT told them,
<c in the very gulph of bankruptcy;'
This measure was, as we have seen,
introduced into the House of Com
mons, in form, on the 9th of March,
1797, in a motion in^de by PITT, for
leave to bring in a Bill for continuing,
for a limited time, what he called the
RESTRICTION (pray mark the
word) upon the Bank, relative to its
issue of specie. This Bill, after
undergoing the discussions, some of
which f shall have to notice more
particularly by-and-by, became
en the 3rd of May, 1797.*
* THIKTY-SBVENTH Geo.lII. Chap. XLV.
An Act for confirming arid continuing
for a limited time the Restriction contained
i:i the minute of council of the twenty-sixth
of February, one thousand seven hundred
and ninety-seven, on payments of cash
by the Hank. Whereas, by minute of
his Majesty's Privy Council, made on the
twenty-sixth day of February, one thousand
seven hundred and ninety-seven, upon the
representation of the Chancellor of the Ex
chequer, stating, that from the result of the
iufbrmntSv.n which he had received, and the
inquiries which it had been his duty to make
respecting the effect of the unusual demand?,
tor specie, that have been made upon the
metropolis, in consequence of ill-founded or
exaggerated alarms in different parts of the
country, it appeared, that unless some me.t-
stm> was immediately taken, there might be
reason to apprehend a want of sufficient sup
ply of cash to answer the exigencies of the
public service; it was declared to be the
unanimous opinion of the board, that it was
indispensably necessary for the public service,
that, the directors of the Bank of England
should forbear issuing any cash In payment,
until the>ense of Parliament could be taken
on that subject, and the proper measures
adopted thereupon for maintaining the means
uf circulation, aud supporting1 the public and
a
219]
LETTER XVI.
[220
When you have rea^d the Title and
Preamble of this Act, you will ac
company me in a bjief sketch of its
provisions, which you will Ihid not
only curious and interesting, as an
object .of public attention, but useful
ajso to each of you as individuals,
who will heuce learn, how far you
are compelled to receive payment in
Bank-notes, and in what way your
previous contracts have been aflected
by this Act.
The Preamble of the Act having
repeated what was contained in the
Order of Council, and having declared
that to confirm and continue, the re
fusal to pay in Gold and Silver,
though such refusal was not warranted
by law ; having acknowledged the ille
gality of the things done, and declared
the necessity of continuing to do them;
having made this beginning, the Act
next proceeds, SECTION I. to indem
nify the Bank Directors, and all other
persons for having done these illegal
things; that is to say, to protect all
such persons against y.ny appeal to the
law> that any suffering party might be
inclined to make. So that, whatever
loss or hindrance or injury any man
might have suffered from the non
payment of the promissory notes of
the Bank-Company, such sufferer
was, by this Act, at once deprived of
all legal means of obtaining redress.
The Act next provides, iri.' .'SECTION
II. that the Bank should b« liable to
DO prosecution for the non-payment
of any of their notes, that they might
be willing to exchange for other notes ,
and, tli at in case the Bank were sued
by any one for the non-payment of
their notes, they might apply to the
Court to sfop proceedings in meh
actions, who might stop them accord
ingly, and without costs to the plaintiff
commercial credit of the kingom at this im
portant conjuncture •, and it was ordered,
that a copy of the said minute should be
transmitted to the directors of the Bank of
England^ and they were hereby required, on
the grounds of the exigency of the case, to
conform thereto until the sense of Parlia
ment could be <<iK;n as ak>i«said: And-
j in any action brought against the
Bank for non-payment of its notes,
unless the Court should think the ac
tion necessary. SECTION III. Per-
mits the Bank to issue cash in pay
ment of any sum under twenty shillings,
or where less than twenty shillings
should be a fractional part of a sum
to be paid by the Bank. This was
a very gracious permission! The
same Section allows thein to issue
cash for the service of the Army, the
Navy, or the Ordnance, in pursuance
of an order of the Privy Council.
SECTION IV. Specifies that the
Bank, during the restriction or stop
page, shall not advance to the Govern
ment any cash or notes exceeding in
amount 600,000 pounds. SECTION
V. Permits the Bank to repay cash
to those persons that may choose to
lodge cask in the Bank. But, the
Section permits the Bank to repay in
cash only three fourths of the amount
of what shall be so lodged with them.
SECTIONS VI. and VII. Permit
the Bank to advance the sum of
125,000 pounds to the Bankers of
London and Scotland. SECTION
VIII. Treats of payments between
private individuals, and it provides,
that all payments which have been
made, or which shall be made during
the continuance of this Act, in Bank
of England notes, shall be deemed
payments in cash, if accepted as such.
SECTION IX. Contains the great
alteration made in. the law between
debtor and creditor. We have seen,
that by the 2nd Section, the Bank
notes were made to be quite equal to
cash in the case of all demands, made
upon the Bank for payment of its.
notes, which therefore, made the
notes of the Bank, as far as related to
debts due from the Bank, on account
whereas, in pursuance of the minute, the
said governor aud company of the Bank of
England, have, since the said twenty-sixth
day of February, one thousand seven hundred
and ninety-seven, forborne to issue cash in
payments, except for purposes fur which the
is-ue of cash was dcemfd unavoidable ; it is
accessary that the Rctlricttyn in the said
2211
PAPER AGAINST GOLD.
of its notes, a LEGAL TENDER, which
words mean such money or currency
as the law regards as good in the pay
ment of debts. Guineas, for instance,
are a LEGAL TENDER, because, the
tender or offering of them in payment
is sufficient to prevent any action or
proceeding at law being entertained
against the person, who may have
offered them in payment, in quantity
equal to the amount of the debt. But,
Bank-notes were not made a legal
tender, and they are not now a legal
tender, between private individuals.
If a man owe me money, I can still
demand coin in payment ; and the
only difference is, that I cannot, if my
debtor tender me the amount of the
debt in Bank of England notes, cause
him to be arrested and held to special
bail, as I might have done, if this Act
had not been passed. This part of
the Act every one should read, and,
therefore, I have put the 9ih Section
in a note,*, SECTION X. Provides
minute, although not warranted by Law,
should be confirmed, and should be continued
for a limited time, by the authority of Par
liament : Be it therefore enacted, &c. &c. &c.
* SECTION IX. And be it further
enacted by the authority aforesaid, That
during- the' continuance of the restriction on
payments by the said governor and company
in cash, imposed by this Act, no person shall
be held to special bail upon any process
issuing out of any court, unless the affidavit
which shall be made for that purpose accord
ing to the provisions in the Act of the
twelfth year of the reign of his late Majesty
King George the First, for preventing fri
volous and vexatious arrests, shall not only
contain the several matters required by the
faid Act, but also that no offer has been
made to pay the sum of money in such
affidavit mentioned, and therein sworn to,
for the purpose of holding any person to spe
cial bail, in notes of the said governor and
company, expre«ed to be payable on 'de
mand (fractional parts of the sum of twenty
shillings only excepted ;) and if any process
shall be issued against any person, upon
which such perton might have been held to
special bail before the passing of this Aet,
and no affidavit shall be made as aforesaid,
that no such offer of payment in notes of the
governor and company had been made as
aforesaid, such person shall not be arrested
on such process, but proceedings shall be had
against such persun in die sara« manner M if
that the collectors of the public re
venue shall accept payment in Bank
of England notes. " SECTION XI.
Permits the Bank to issue cash, in
certain cases, upon giving Five days'
notice to the Speaker of the House of
Commons. ' SECTIONS XII. and
XIII. Provide for the continuance
of the Act to (he 24th of June (a.
duration of only jifty-tw'o days), and
for the repealing or altering of it
during the then present session of
parliament.
This, Gentlemen, is what is called
the Bank-RESTlllCTiON Act, a
very convenient phrase, calculated to
convey the notion, that the Bank is
able and willing to pay ; but, that it
is not permitted to do it, I beg you
to bear along with you the meaning of
the word Restriction, which implies
an act done by one party to prevent
another party from doing what fie
would do if not prevented. To restrict
is to limit, or confine. I am restricted,
no affidavit had been made for the purposes
of holding such persons to special bail, under
the provisions of the said Act of his said late
Majesty King George the First ; and all pro
visions in such Act, or in any other Act of
Parliament, for preventing frivolous and
vexatious arrests, shall be applied to the pro
visions in this Act contained, so far as the
same are capable of being so applied : Pro
vided always, that if affidavit shall be made
upon which any person or persons might have
been held to special bail upon any such pro
cess AS aforesaid, before the passing of this
Act, and it shall be likewise sworn in such
affidavit, that such offer of paymejit has beeji
made as aforesaid, so thrtt the person or p Ar
sons who might have been arrested and held,
to special bail upon such process, if this Ac-t
had not been made, cannot, by reason of
such offer and of the provisions in this act
contained, be so arrested and held to special
bail, it shall be lawful for the court out of
which such process shall issue, or for any
judge of such court, in a summary way, to
order the defendant or defendants in the
action in which such process shall issue, and
who might have so held to special bail as
aforesaid, if this Act had not been made, to
causo notes of the said governor and com
pany, expressed to be payable on demand to
the amount of the sum of money for which
such person or persons might have been sa
held to special bail, if this Act had not beei
made, to b* deposited in such nuuuicr a-
223]
LETTER XVI I.
[224
for instance, from going out of New
gate. I am here in a state of re
striction. I should go home to my
farm and my family, if it were not for
this restriction ; and so " the most
thinkvig people of Europe" think, of
course, that the Bank Company would
pay their notes in Gold and Silver, if
they were not restricted in the same
manner. But, of this we shall see
more in the next Letter, when we
come to speak of the duration of this
restricting Act; and, in the mean
while, I remain,
Gentlemen,
Your faithful friend,
WM. COBBETT.'
State Prison, Newgate, Monday,
November 12, 1810.
LETTER XVII.
Noting out ;i law, declaring bauk-note? to be a leynl tender of parmpot. can relieve th« bankers ani
" the trading part cf^he community trorn tiie hardships to which th.-y are now liable; and yet, lite
'• remedy must, in the end, be worse than the evil." Afr. llobhouse. Speech iu tlie House »f
" Commons, 27 di March, 17^7.
The Legal Tender — Gold is the only Legal Tender for any Sum above 25 Pounds — Acts
of the 14th and 39th of Geo. III. — Mr. Huskisson's Remark upon the Legal Tender—
The Effects of a Legal Tender in Paper— Illustrated by the Case of New Jersey-
Act against Legal Tender in Paper, 4th Gco. Ijtl. chap. 34— Mr. Huskisson's Mis-
statement as to the Motions entertained respecting the Legal Tender at the passing of
the Act of 1797— Mr. SHERIDAN'S Prediction when the Act was moved for— Sir F.
Baring proposes to make t:ie Notes a Leg>tl Tender — Mr. Pitt declines it for the
present--- The Mansion House and other Meetings had, in some sort the effect of Law —
The Law as it now stands as to the Legal Tender of the Bank of England Notes-
Country Bunkers may be compelled to pay their Notes in Gold.
GENTLEMEN,
BEFORE we proceed in our inquiries
as to the DURATION of the Act,
which was the subject of the fore
going Letter, and hy which the Bank
of England was protected against the
cash demands of the holders of their
promissory notes ; before we proceed
in these inquiries, which will discover
matter not a little curious in itself,
and, very interesting as connected
with what is now yoiny on ; before we
thus proceed, I must beg your atten-
such Court or Judges shall direct, to answer
the demands cf the plaintiff or plaintiffs in
mch action ; and if such deposit shall not be
made within the time limited by such order,
after such notice thereof as shall thereby he
directed to be ghen, it shall be lawful, upon
tion to a few more words upon tin-
subject of the LEGAL TENDER.
The truth is, that gold and gold
only is a legal tender, in this king1
dom, for any sum above 25 pounds ,
unless the silver be tendered in weight.
This was settled bv an Act, passed in
1774 (14 Geo. 1 11. Chap. 42), which
Act provided, that no tender in pay
ment of money made in the Silver
Coin exceeding the sum of 25 pounds,
sJiould be deemed a legal tender for
more than its value by weight, at the
affidavit duly made and filed, that such tie-
posit has not been made according to such
oi'dei i to arrest such defendant or defendants,
and hold him, her, or them to special bail,
itt such and the* same manner as if the said
Ac-chad not bevn made.
PAPER AGAINST GOLD.
rate of 5*. 2d. for each ounce of
'Silver. Tiiis Act continued in force
fur two years, when it expired; but
it v, as again revived in the year 1799,
nml made perpetual. , Thus, you see,
tLat even Silver coin was not, except
in small sums, a legal tender, and is
not a legal tender to this day.
But, though the Bank of England
notes were not by the Restriction, or
Stoppage Act, made a legal tender, to
nil intents and purposes, they were
made so to a certain, extent; for, by
the tender of them in lieu of money,
any debtor could escape arrest and
also escape the giving of special bail;
and, as to the Bank of England, the
Act not only protected it against the
demands of its creditors ; that is,
against the holders of its notes, but by
the same Act, the Bank was to pay to
the public, any thing due from the
former to the latter, in its notes, and
not to be compellable to pay in gold
or Silver. This was going some way,
at least, in making bank-notes a ley at
tender, and this seems to have been
overlooked by Mr, UUSKISSON, (a
Gentleman of whom we shall have
much to say by-and-by,) who in speak-
Act of the 39th of the King remained
unaltered ; or, that the Act of the
89th of the King did itself remain
unaltered; which of these may be his
meaning, I cannot positively say; but,
of this I am sure, that, in all the three
suppositions, it was quite unnecessary
to express such meaning, seeing that
the Act, which he so positively and
carefully assures us was not altered
by the Act of 1797, was not in exist
ence at the time, and was not passed
till two years afterwards.
The mischievousuess of forcing
paper-money upon a people are very
well known. It has been most
severely felt in all the countries where
it has been resorted to, and ii has
never failed, sooner or later, to anni
hilate the whole of the paper, attempt
ed so to be forced upon the people.
This was the ca?.e in all the States of
North America, every one of which
has, first or last, had a public debt, a
paper-money, a hyul tender in paper,
and a state bankruptcy. The last of
the States, I believe, that clung to a
legal tender in paper, was NEW JER
SEY ; and, the consequence Avas, that,
even in the year 1792, when I first
ing of the change created by the Act 1 went to the United States, that part of
of 1797, in our money sv.-tcin, ob
serves, that that Act did not repeal any
of the former regulations relating to
the coin, and that it did not alter the
Act of the 39th of the King. " It
" did not," says he, " alter in any
" respect the existing state of the la\v,
"' tither as to the weight or the fine-
" ness of the trold coin ; or the Act of
" the 39th of the King." I have
quoted this Gentleman's own words,
because I am not quite sure that I
clearly understand them. Mr. IJrs-
KISSON is a member of parliament,
and a pensioner, and such people are
apt to talk in a style that cohimon men
cannot comprehend. Whether he
means, here, that the weight and the
fineness of the Act of the 39th of the
King remained unaltered; or, that
the existing state of the, law as to the
the Union was still suffering from the
disreputation brought on it by the
legal tender, which, before it was put
an end to, had not only produced a
total stagnation of trade, and had
brought ruin upon thousands of
people, but it had begun to drive the
people out of the State ; and, had it
not been put an end to, the State would
long ago, have been wholly depopulated.
But we need not go abroad for any
thing to convince us of the settled
opinions of statesmen and politicians
as to the effects of a legal tender in
paper. We have only to look into
our own Statute-Book, where we
shall find the thing sufficiently repro
bated, as in the Act passed in the
year 1763, which declares such a
tender to be discouraging and preju
dicial to tjrade and commerce, and the
227]
LETTER XVII.
[223
cause of confusion in dealings and a
lessening of credit, in the Provinces
where it was in use; and, having de
clared this; having laid down these
as principles, the Act goes on to
forbid the issuing of any more sue><
paper; it makes void all Acfc» 61
Assembly thereafter passed to estab
lish or keep up such tender; and U
inflicts a fine of 1,000 pounds (with
immediate dismission, and future inca
pacity to fill any public office or place
of .trust) on any Governor, who shall
give his assent to such Act of Legal
tender.*
Mr. HUSKISSON, who was one of
the Bullion Committee, of the labours
of wlpch we shall soon see a good
deal; Mr. HUSKISSON, who enjoys a
large pension, paid out of the taxes
raised upon the people, and who,
therefore, ought to understand some
thing of such matters ; this Mr. HUS
KISSON (of whom I shall have to tell
you a great deal before we have done)
has just published a pamphlet, under
the title of, " The Question concern-
" ing the Depreciation of our Cur-
" rency stated and examined;'5 to the
doing of which he was, it would seem,
\ike ifcosa Matilda, reluctantly forced
by the pressing partiality of friends.
'this Mr. Huskisson, in his pamphlet,
which is, apparently, intended to justifjr
his conduct as a member of the
Bullion Committee, has said, that " if
" it had been proposed, at once to
" make bank-notes a legal tender a nd,
M in direct terms, to enact, that every
" man should thenceforward be obliged
* FOURT» YEAR, Geo. III. Chap. 34. An
Act to prevent Pap.er liilis of Credit, here
after to be issued in any of his Majesty's
Colonies or Plantations, in America, from
being declared to be a legal tender in Pay
ments of Money ; and to prevent the legal
tender of such bills as are now subsisting
from being prolonged beyond the periods
limited for calling in and sinking the same.
Whereas great quantities of Paper
Bills of Credit hav«? been created and issued
in his Majesty's Colonies or Plantations in
America, by virtue of Acts, Orders, Re«o-«
" to receive them as equivalent to the
" gold coin of the realm, such a pro-
" position would have excited universal
" alarm, and would have forcibly
" drawn the attention of the legisla-
'• tare and the public to the nature of
" our circulation and to the conse-
" sequences of such an innovation.
" But, certainly, nothing of the sort
" was in. the contemplation of any
" man wh.- n first the suspension-act
" was passed." But, is this true, Mr.
Huskisson? Your memory fails you,
I hope ; for, not only was it in the
contemplation of many persons; but
several persons said, that, in ejfect,
the bank-notes would become & legal
tender, and that, they would, of course,
depreciate.
Gentlemen, it is at all times right,
that the truth should be known, re
specting the conduct and the cha
racters of men in any- wise entrusted
with the management of the public
affairs; and, at this time, and espe
cially as relating to this most im
portant subject, it is right that no part
of the truth should be hidden. With
this conviction in my mind, I shall be
rather minute in my references to what
was said at the time when the Act of
1797, which protected the Bank
against the demands of the note*
holders, was under discussion.
The bill, as was stated in my last,
was moved for by Mr. PITT on the
Oth of March ; and during the debate
of that very day, Mr. Fox contended,
that, if the bill passed, the property
of the Stock-holder must, at once, be
lutions, or Votes of Assembly, making and
declaring snch Bills of Credit to be legal
Tender in payments of Money. And whereas
such Bills of Credit have greatly depreciated
in their valve, by means whereof Debts hate
been discharged with a much less Value than wu
contracted for, to the great discouragement and
prejudice of the Trade awl Commerce of his
Majesty's Subjects, by occasioning Confusion
in Dealings, attd lessening Credit in the said
Colonies or Plantations : The Act
proceeds as above described.
229]
PAPER AGAINST GOLD.
depreciated in value ; and, Mr. SHE
RIDAN said, that *' he believed we
*' should not bug be able, after the
" inundation of paper to which Ihi?
" system giwe birth, to stop them
" from making bank-notes a legal
"' tender, and tlien adieu to the ap-
" pearance of specie at the Bank,
" and 'soon afterwards to the real
" value of the Bank note/ When
the bijtl was under discussion on the
27th of March, Mr. PITT having
said, that the clause, respecting the
bar to arrests for debt, did not go
the length of making Bank Notes a
legal tender, nor to take away the
power of the creditor to pursue the j
debtor in the usual course of tow, in |
order to obtain payment in easlu Sir
FRANCIS BARING said, thai he saw
no means of avoiding the evil to be
apprehended by bankers and mer
chants but that of making Bank Notes
a legal tender; and Mr. DENT was
for making Bank Nr-^s a kyalte&der
daring the suspension of cash pay
ments. Now, what did Mr. PITT
say, in answer to this suggestion from
his friends? 1U said, that 4< as to
" making Bank Notes a legal tender,
** he thought, that, if it was possible, to
*' meet the present difficulty without it,
" it ought to be met without it; that,
" upon a subject of so much difficulty
" and uncertainty, 7*0 man could speak
" with confidence; but, that es fang
" as the circulation rested upon paper
" taken by consent, he thought it
" would not be adciseable to have it
" taken by compulsion!9
Upon this ground, the Act was
passed; and, it is very clear, that one
of the objects of the short duration
of the first Act, which was passed
for only 51 clays, was, to gee whether
people were inclined to have recourse
to the law to compel payments in cash
for debts due from private individuals
to other private individuals. Every
means, as we have seen, had been
taken to prevent this, A planned
Meeting of Bankers and Merchants
had been held, at the Mansion House
in London, and its resolutions for
taking and circulating Bank Notes
had been issued under the sanction
of the then LORD MAYOR. Similar
resolutions had been issued from the
several benches of Justices at the
quarter sessions, in all the counties;
and, indeed, ag these resolutions were
Signed by the Clerks of the Peace,
and had about them all the air of acts
of authority, the effect upon the far
mers and tradesmen in general was
nearly the same as that of an Act of
Parliament, making Bank Notes a
legal tender. If these means had
furled, however, there pan, I think,
be very little doubt, that the measure
of making Bunk Notes a legal tender
would have been adopted; for, the
only reason which Pitt offers, as ive
see above, for not doing it at once, is,
that the people Veined, at present^
to bu disposed to take the Bank Notes
as cash vitkotet compvkinn; and,, he
very clearly meant, that, if the people
refused to consider them as cash,.
compulsion must and would be re
sorted to.
And yet, after a!! this, and with
these facts recorded in the Parlia
mentary Preceedings of the time, Mr.
HusKissoNywhowas actually in office
under PITT or DUN DAS when the
measure was discussed; with all tbis
before his eyes, this Gentleman tells
the public, that neither the making
Bank Notes a legal tender nor any
thing of the sort was in the contem
plation oj any man at the time when(
the Act for the suspension of cash
payments was passed ; and that anv
proposition of the kind would have-
excited universal alarm, and wouldl
have forcibly drawn the attention &f
the legislature and the public to th«
possible consequences of such an in
novation !
Here, Gentlemen, we have an in
stance either of the incorrectness^ j
might say, the ignorance, or the »V
sincerity, of Mr, HuskissoB, who, ti
•231]
LETTER XVII.
say the truth,
temptations, as
see, to draw a
is not without his
we shall by-and-by
veil over the origin
and the conduct of the originators of
the measure of 'protecting the Bank
against the demands of the note
holders;, to do which it was absolutely
necessary either to make Bank Notes
a legal tender, or to do something that
should answer the same purpose. To
make them a legal tender by law, at
once, would, indeed, have been a
thing so shameful as not to be endured,
in the face of the principles laid down
by the Parliament, in the Act of the
4th year of Geo. III. above quoted.
To pass a law making English Bunk
."Notes a legal tender, putting English
Bank Notes upon a level with the co
lonial paper mentioned in that Act;
to make Bank Notes the degraded
tiling there described, was what could
not be thought of, until all the means
of avoiding it had been tried; but, it
is, nevertheless, very clear, that if the
circulating; if the promulgating (with
all the appearance of official autho
rity) of the resolutions from the Man
sion House and from the benches of
county Justices; it is very clear, that
it" these had failed in giving currency
to the Bank Notes, these notes would
have been made a legal tender in all
%'.ises, and to all intents and purposes
whatever. They are a leal tender
frojo. the Bank itself.
tender to the Stock-holder n pay
ment of his dividends. No man can
sue the Bank Company on account of
their refusing to give him gold for any
of their promissory nates of which lief
may be the holder; iu>/ can any Stock
holder sue the Bank Company on ac-
count of a refusal to pay him the
amount of his dividends in cash.
They are certainly 'not a legal tender
between rnan and man, any farther
than as far as relates to the barring ef
an arrest, and of the necessity of
special bail. You cannot arrest, or
demand special bail from the debtor,
who tenders you the amount of your
tiebt in Bank of England notes;* but
-The pro a legal
you may sue him in the other wav.
The tender of Bank Notes secures
the debtor from arrest and from being
obliged to give special <iail, in the
first instance; but, it does not protect
him against being /?#«% compelled to
pay in cash. If, for instance, GRIZZLE
GREENHORN owes either of you a
hundred pounds; or, which is better
illustration, perhaps if you have in
your hands a hundred and five pounds
in amount of the notes of Messrs.
FAPERKITE & Co. Country Bankers,
and you have a mind to have gold for
those notes, looking forward to a time
when you may want them, and having
a greater attachment to the king's
picture than to the arms and crests of
Papcrkite & Co. In such a case, you
go to Paperkite with his notes, and
demand payment of them, lie tenders
you, as a matter of course, Bank of
England notes to the amount of those
«f his own which you present for pay
ment; but you, in, pursuance of your
design to be possessed of a hundred
of the King's pictures, demand yold,
and stick to (hat demand. If he
cannot, or will not, pay you in gold,
you cannot arrest him or compel him
to put in special bail, but, you can
bring the ordinary action of debt
against him, the decision of which is
sure to be in your favour with the usual
cost:*, and, while the action is going
on, he is obliged to deposit the Bank
of England notes in court, as the
ground of being protected in the mean
while against arrest and against the
demand of special bail; and, if he
does not make this deposit, you can
even arrest him, as in any other case
of refusal or inability to pay.
Thus, Gentlemen, stands the law,
with regard to the legality of a tender
of Bank of England notes. The Tax-
;atherer cannot refuse them in pay
ment of taxes; the Stockholder cannot
refuse them in payment of his divi
dends; and the note-holder cannot
demand coin for them of the Bank
Company or of any body else, of
whom he has once received them **
233]
LETTER XVIII.
[234
payment; ,but, any private individual
may refuse them in payment of money
due, to him from any body but the
Bank Company; and, may proceed to
recover payment in real money, in the
\v ay above described.
Jhiuking it desirable to keep this
subject of the Ler/al Tender distinct
fro?,, that of the Duration of the Act
of 1797, and having necessarily a
good deal to say upon the latter sub
ject, and much interesting matter to
develope, I shall not enter thereon till
my next Letter; and, in the mean
while, I remain,
Gentlemen,
Your faithful friend,
WM. COBBETT.
State Prison, Newgate, Mviday,
November 9 If A, 1310.
LETTER XVIII.
loped c;<n)tlf>tTjen would direct their most serious attention to thr subject. The bit! was of the utmost
rnporfuite ; if a papei currency vere once established, how couUi it be got rid of? If gold and silver
were once driven out of circulation, how were Inoy r-j be recovered ? The sure consequences of a paper
urrency would \>e a debt so enormous, that it would never be removed. ' The. old debts and tlie new would
anish topf-ther, and the funded property would :-:itik with them. A revolution in property might product
revolution jir Government, and all those scenes of blood which had disgraced France."— MR.
4ICI10LLS. Debate, 27th March 1797- On the Bank ReUrectiofi Bill.
Duration of the Bank Stoppage or Restriction Act — Recapitulation of the Dates of the
principal Oerwences leading to the Act — Apparent Reluctance with which the Bank
Company submitted to the Restriction — They now discover that they have no Objec
tion to be restrained — Mr. Huskisson says that the Duration could not have been
foreseen— The probable Reason of this— Mr. Huskisson's Places and Pensions — Such
a Person ought to have foreseen these Consequences of the Act— Others did forscc
them.
GENTLEMEN,
WE now come to that subject which
naturally connects the proceedings and
measures of 1797, with the Report
of the Bullion Committee, namely,
the DURATION of the Act of 1797,
that Act, which was made for the
purpose of protecting the Bank Com
pany against the legal demands of the
holders of its promissory notrr, and
which Act, as yon will not fail to
bear in mind, arose out of an alarm
felt by the Bank Company for the
safety of their House. It is very
material to keep constantly in view
the progress which ended in the pass
ing of this Act, which, as you will
have already perceived, did* in fact,
decide the fate of the paper-money in
England'; and, therefore, I will here
again place before you a recapitulation
of the dates of the principal occur
rences,
February 21st, 1797,' the Di
rectors of the Bank, " observed
" with great uneasiness the large
" and constant decrease in their
11 cash,1" a deputation of them
went to the Minister (Pitt) to
make him acquainted therewith ;
and, as they attributed the run
to the alarm of invasion, they
begged of the Minister to say
something in Parliament, " in
" order to ease the public mind
" upon that score."
February 24th. At a meeting of
the Directors, it appeared that
the " loss of cash yesterday was
" above £ and that about
" £ * were already drawn
* There were no sums inserted. The
statement of sums was left in blank as it if
here.
885]
LETTER XVIIT.
** out this day, which gave suck >
** <m alarm, for the safety of the
" House" that a deputation was
sent to M r. Pitt, to ask him when
he would think it necessary torn-
terfere. At this meeting with
the Minister it was agreed, that a
resolution should be by him pre
pared to bring before the Coun
cil for stopping payments in cash ;
also that a general meeting of
Bankers and Merchants should
be contrived in order to pass re
solutions to support public credit ;
and the Minister, at the rcc&n-
me-ttdutidii of the Deputation,
agreed to get a private meeting
of. the chief bankers at his h<nife
4htf next day, in order then to
lay the plan for a general meet
ing,
February 26. The Order of Coun
cil was issued, stating, that the Mi-
sister h^d given the Council such
information relating to a run upon
tfoe Bank, as induced tbe Council
to regbire, and they therefore did
require, the KaukCorapany tbfar-
lear isveting any cash in payments,
until tlie sense of Parliament
should be taken upon the subject,
JFebmary 2?ih. An immense
crowd of people assembled -early
in the morning at the doors of
the Bank and in Thrcadneedle-
ftf eet, io order to get gold tor the
Rotes they held ; but, instead of
gold they received a notification,.
that they might have bank-notes
lent to them in discounts, and
that tin? dividends, or interests
upon Mock, would be paid in the
game manner. "VPliert upon they
retired, sh^ki^g their long ears,
awl consoling themselves with
the hope, that they would get
gold in a week or two.
0Q he very same day (27th Feb.) the
general Meeting of Bankers and
Merchants which had been • pro
posed to the Minister by the Sank
Directors, was held at the Man
sion House in London ; that is to
say, the State House of Lord
Mayor (Brook Watson) the Chief
Magistrate of the City, who was
Chairman of the Meeting, ami
who signed the Resolutions, to
which, therefore, the air of au
thority was given.
February 28th. The Privy Coun
cil, including all the Ministers, of
course, had a Meeting, and sign
ed an agreement to take and give
bank-notes in the same way as
tlie Bankers and Merchants who
had signed their resolutions.
March 2nd. The Magistrates met
at the Quarter Sessions for th«
Comity of Surrey, signed an
agreement of the same sort, which
was promulgated " by Order of
the Court" and was signed, like
any other magisterial act, by the
Clerk of the Peace. The like
was done in ail the other coun
ties.
March #rd. At a meeting of the
Hank Company, consisting of the
liv'iik Proprietors in general, was
passed an unanimous vote of
thanks to the Directors for having
obeyed the order in Council ami
for having refused to pay In cash*
From this Meeting it was pro
mulgated, that AO application had
bcoa mailo by the liaiik Direc
tors for the Order to withhold
eatfh; that the measure was nut
adopted at the instance of those
concerned in the direction of the
Bank; that they complied with
the order, understanding it to have
been dictated by national policy*
and meant to operate only for a
short time; that their affairs were
in a state of tbe greatest (rfflvtnee,
and that they earnest iy hoped
they Mould soon be PER
MUTED to pay their notes in
cash in the same manner as they
had formerly done.
March 9th. The Ministers moved
ia the House of Commons, foi
337]
PAPER AGAINST GOLD.
[238
leave lo bring in a Bill to sanc
tion what had been done by the
Privy Council and by the Bank
Directors ; to protect both against
any legal proceedings for having
done an unlawful act ; and to au
thorize the Bank Company to
CONTINUE to refuse to 'pay
their notes in cash, for a certain
time to be named.
May 3rd. This Bill became a law ;
and by it the Bank Company
were authorized to refuse to pay
their promissory notes in cash,
until the 24th of June in that
same year ; that is to say forjifty
two days.
Such, Gentleman, was the progress
•which ended in the passing of the
Cask Stopping Act, which is gene-
rally called the BANK RESTRICTION
Act, and which, to those, from whom
the above facts have been kept hidden,
would, from this name as well as from
the language of the Act itself, appear
to have been made without any ap
plication for such a measure on the
part of the Bank Company, and even
against the wishzs of that Company,
who would, from outward appearances,
be looked upon as being compelled
against their will, to refuse cash-pay
ments of their promissory notes, and
to yield to this compulsion without
remonstrating, merely from their sense
of loyalty and public spirit.
These outward appearances, how
ever, have nearly lost their e fleet;
and, it certainly would be something
yery wonderful indeed if they had not,
seeing that the advocates of the Bank
now complain, not of the " restric
tion," but of the Bullion Committee,
who have proposed to remove the re
striction at the end of two years ! Oh !
this is delightful. This is, per haps,
the finest instance of putting profes
sions to the test that ever was heard of
in the world. Here are the Bank
Company restrained; they are restrain
ed from paying their promissory notes
in the current coin of the kingdom ;
there is, which seems ~**%v hard, a
law to prevent them from paying in
gold ; they would seem to have been
so eager to do it, that it was absolutely
necessary to pass a law to hold in
their hands. Well. You have, say
the Bullion Committee, endured this
restraint for thirteen long years, which
is long enough in all conscience, and
therefore we will remove this restraint ;
we will permit you to pay in gold.
This kind proposition, however, in
stead of calling forth expressions of
joy and gratitude, throws the advo
cates of the Bank Company into
the utmost consternation and dis-
ntay, and they abuse the Bullion
Committee as men who have aimed a
blow at the very vitals of public credit.
Alas ! what, then, the Bank Company
were not so uneasy as we thought un
der this restraint? They did not com
plain and moan, in secret, as we sup
pose they did at being restrained from
paying iht'ir promissory notes? Nay,
by all that is wonderful, it would seem
that they tik&to be restrained?
To return from this digression, into
which I was drawn by this strange
perversity of taste in the Bank Com
pany, let us now, after having refresh
ed our memories as to the pogress
which led to the passing of the Cash
Stopping, or Bank Restriction Act,
see by what means, and vpon ichat
yroundsy it has been continued in force
from tho 3rd of May, 1797, to this
day; and, here, Gentlemen, you will
find the most curious and most
valuable part of this most curious and
most valuable history.
One of the objects' which we ought
to have in view, is, to ascertain, and
not only to ascertain, but to put safely
upon record, so that they may be turn
ed to at any moment, the names of as
many as possible of those, who had a
hand, who really aided and abetted,
the measure of what is called the
fiarih Restriction, that is to say, th<
Act to bear the Bank Company ham.
less in refusing 'payment of its promi*
sory notes. The Bullion Committe*
has described the consequences of tha
239]
LETTER XVIII.
[240
measure; they have plainly told us
what mischiefs have arisen from it;
they have told us how very injuriously
it Lis operated towards creditors of
all descriptions, but they have heen
wholly silent as to the parties by
M'hom the fatal measure was promoted
and brought about, as well as to the
parties by whom it was opposed; and,
they, have also been quite silent as to
the grounds, upon which the Act au
thorizing the refusal of cash has, from
time to time, been continued from
May 3rd, 1797, to the present day.
."Nay, Mr. HUSKISSON, one of the
members of the Bullion Committee,
ivlio, not content with the share he
look in. the labours ol the Committee,
has, as we saw in Letter XVII, pub
lished a pamphlet upon the subject,
has not only avoided to say -who it was
that was the cause of the Act, but
T.vould seem to wish his readers to be
lieve, that those who caused that Act
1p be passed could have no idea of its
being continued so long, and, the in
ference he leaves to be drawn is, that,
THOSE PERSONS have not been the
cause of such continuance.
To explain satisfactorily the pro-
! table reason why Mr. HUSKISSON
endeavours to give this turn to the
thing, it might, perhaps, be sufficient
to tell you, that he himself has been
: teadily on the side of the minister at
the time when the first Act was pass-
od, in 1797, and also at every renewal
of that Act. This might suftice in ex
planation of this part of Mr. HUSKIS-
SON'S conduct; but, I must not omit
this opportunity of introducing this
gentleman to you in form. He is one
of the men, whom you help to pay;
and, it is possible, that you will have
to pay him as long as he lives. There
fore, you have a perfect right to know
irho and what he is ; what he has done,
and what ho i>s likely to do, for the
people of England.
Mr. WILLIAM HUSKISSON, the
author of th^ pamphlet mentioned in
my last, owes what he has got not to
any family connection, but soleh to
his own personal exertions, having, in
his early days, been, according to
some, an Apothecary, and, according
to others, a Banker. He did ^ot
waste the precious days of his youth
at schools and colleges, learning 'Latin
and laziness. Like you and I, Gen
tlemen, he owes nothing to pedagogues
or to pedigree ; and though he does
not belong to that class of men whom
PAINE calls the Nobles of Nature-
yet, were ^Nature to give titles, she
would certainly dubb Mr. Huskisson
a Knight. This gentleman w«s in
France at the breaking out of the
ANTI JACOBIN war; that is to sa\
the war which begun in 1793, and
which, as we have seen, produced
such effects upon the bank-note sys
tem. He appears, from a French
pamphlet which I have in my posses
sion, to have been a very ardent friend
of the French revolution, at the out
set, and, a speech of his, delivered in
a club at Paris, upon funds and tythcs,
it would do your hearts good to hear.
From Paris, however, Mr. Huskissoii
returned to England in 1793, having
come away upon the recall of our am
bassador, Lord Gowt.T, now Marquis
of Stafford, to whom, it is said, he
had been useful at 'Paris and who is
said, in return to have recommended
him to the notice of those two worthy
associates in power, and never to-be-
forgotten ministers, PITT and D'UN-
DAS. They found him useful ; and,
though his out-set was low, he found
himself, at the end of less tiian seven
years, an Lender Secretary of State, in
the Colonial Department, and a Mem
ber of Parliament. In the winter of
1801, when PITT and DUN DAS went
out of olfice, Mr. HUSKISSOM followed
them, but not without taking care to
cast a look behind him ; and by the advice
of Mr ADDINGTON, the successor of
Mr. PITT, our author had conferred
on him a PENSION, for life, to be paid
out of the taxes raised on the people,
to the amount of 1,200 a year; and
afterwards, a pension, to be paid from
the same source, was settled upon his
PAPER AGAINST GOLD.
wife, Mrs. ELIZA EMILY HUSKIS-
SON, to the amount of 615 pounds a
year ibr her life, to commence at her
luisband's death. What a nice com
fortable way this is. Gentlemen, to
make provision for one's .wife and fa
mily ! Mr. Hrsiussoi^s pension
was to be suspended whenever he
should be in possession of an ollice of
the annual value of 2,000 a year, or
upwards, and, when lie quitted such
office, he was again to receive the pen
sion. So that he made 'sure of 1 ,2001.
a year for life, and of 615 pounds a
year for the life of his wife, if she
should out-live him. This shewed not
only a very provident but a very affec
tionate disposition. But, our author
did not stop hvre ; for he obtained the
Agentship of tho Island of Ceylon, ac
knowledged by himself to be worth
700 pounds a year, and this he still
held along with the office of Secretary
of the Treasury which he got in 1804,
and Mrhich at 4,000 pounds a year
salary, he held, with an interval of
about fifteen months, 'till about Octo
ber, 1809. So that, while in, office he
got 4,700 pounds a year; anil while
out of office, 1,900 pounds a year,
1,200 pounds of which he has for life,
with a provision of 615 pounds a year
for the life of his wife, if she should
out-live him.
Such, Gentlemen, is the history of
the public life of the author of the
pamphlet, of which I am about to
speak. He is now one of the Mem
bers of Parliament for Harwich ; he
was one of the members of the
BULLION COMMITTEE, and his
pamphlet, the title of which was men
tioned in my last Letter, has been
published for the purpose of explain
ing some parts and defending other
parts of the famous and immortal
lleport of that Committee.
But as perfection is not to be ex
pected in any thing human, this Re
port omits to say any thing about the
grounds of the continuance, or dura
tion of the Cash Stopping, or Bank-
restricting Act; and Mr. HUSK is SON !
seems to think it incumbent upon
him to say some little matter upon
that subject. He put himself in a
ticklish predicament, when he took up
his pen upon such a subject; for, \vc.
have seen, that he was in office ; we
have seen that he was in the receipt
of -the public money from the year
1793 to the time when he became a.
member of the Bullion Committee ;
we have seen, that, from 1804 to the
end nearly of 1809 (with the excep
tion of about fifteen months) he was a
Secretary of the Treasury, and it is
perfectly notorious, that he was what
was called the Minister PITT'S rigl it-
hand man; that he hail, in fact, the
chief actual management of the pecu
niary alTaii-s of the Exchequer and
Treasury ; that he was so closely in
timate with Mr. PITT, that he was
one of the few persons with him when
he died ; and that he was one of the
witnesses of his will and one of his
creditors.
A person thus situated ought to
have had some knowledge of the finan
cial affairs of the kingdom. A person
thus situated ought to have known
pretty well the nature and tendency
of a measure like the Cash-Stopping,
or Bank-restricting Act. A person,
to whom the people of England pay
4,700 pounds a year while he is in
oflice, und 1,900 a year when he is
out of .office. A person, to whom, at
the very least, we are to pay, out of
the taxes, 1,200 pounds a year for
his life, with a contingent 615 pounds
a year for the life of his wife. Such a
person, Gentlemen, ought to have a
mind capable of extending its inqui
ries and conclusions beyond the pre
sent moment; and, in a case like that
of the Stopping or Restricting Act,
to be able to foresee the consequence;*
that will result. In short, the man,
be he who he may, that receives frOi^
the people such pay, ought, if his de
partment be that of the Treasury, to
be ashamed to plead ignorance as to
any principle or point connected with
the subject before us.
240]
LETTER XVIII.
[244
Yet, what docs Mr. HUSKISSON
say as to the duration of the Stoppage,
or Restriction Act? He is in a
dilemma. To pass over the matter in
silence, will not do, because he is
.compelled to speak of the injuries
arising from the long duration of the
Act ; and, to censure the passing of
the Act will not do, because it is so
well known that he was in office
when it was first passed, and aJso
when it was twice or three times re
newed. In this difficulty, he has re
course to a plea, which he does not
appear to conceive makes against
himself. He wishes his reader to
gather from what is said, that those
who were the cause of the Act origi
nally never could dream of its heing
continued in force so long. He says, that
that Act was, when first passed,
*' considered and proposed, as an ex-
" pedient that should be of short du-
" ration, the course of the proceed.-
*' ings of parliament abundantly indi-
•' cates ; but, if, in the year 1797, it
" had been foreseen), that this tempo-
" rary expedient, would be attempted
" to be converted into a system for an
" indefinite number of years, and that,
" under this system, in the year 1810,
" every creditor, public or private,
" subject or alien, to whom the law,
** as it then stood, and as it now
" stands, had secured the payment of
" a pound weight of standard gold for
" every £46 14s. 6d. of his just de-
" mand, would be obliged to accept,
" infull satisfaction, about 10^ ounces,
" or not more than seventeen shillings
" in the pound; with a prospect of a
" still further reduction in every sub-
" sequent year:— it is impossible to
*' conceive that the attention andfetl-
" ings of parliament would not have
" been alive to all the individual in-
" justice, and ultimate public cala-
*' mities, incident to such a stute of
*' things ; and that they would not
" have provided for the termination of
" the restriction, before it should have
" wrought so much mischief, and laid
" the foundation of so much confusion
" in all the dealings and transactions
" of the community.'^
Here are two questions : that of
the dilation of the Act, and that of
depreciation of the Bank notes. The
latter will form the nibject of a sub
sequent Letter. As to the former,
Mr. Iluskigson would evidently have
us believe, the continuation of the
Act for any length of time was not
foreseen, either by him, or by any
*body else. HISTORY, TRUTH, JUS
TICE; justice to the living and the
dead; but especially to the dead, de
mand the proof of the contrary ; de
mand that, you, Gentlemen, and that the
whole of the people of England should
know, that if PITT and his colleagues ;
that, if those to whom we have paid
so many many thousands and hun
dreds of pounds, in salaries, pensions,
allowances, and fees; that, if they did
not foresee the consequences of the
Act of May 3, 1797, there were others,
who did foresee tho.se consequences,
though, unfortunately for the country,
the parliament were deaf to their pre
dictions, and still supported Mr. Pitt
and his system.
It w now more than THIRTEEN
YEARS since this Act was passed, since
this deed was done ; since the blow,
under which credit is now staggering,
was struck ; but, it is not only neces
sary to justice towards individuals but
to public safety to shew, who it was
that did that deed, and who it was
that had ende'avoured to prevent the
measures which produced it and fore
told its fatal consequences. It is now
the practice of the PITT school, when
they speak of the Stoppage, or Re
striction Act, to speak of it as of a
thing that nobody could help; as men
speak of a flood, or thunder-storm, or
any other calamity, in the causing or
the preventing of which it is well
known that mankind can have nothing
to do. But, we must not, Gentlemen,
suffer them thus to get off. They have
had tlie sway in the country for the
243]
PAPER AGAINST GOLD.
'246
last ttcenty-six years, fifteen months
exempted. They have followed their
own plans. They have constantly in
sisted that theirs were the wisest
plans. They huve made people feel
that it was full as safe to leave their
plans unattacked. Well. We have
now the result before us. P ITT and
his admirers and adherents have pos
sessed the places and the powers of
the state for twenty-six yearn ; and we
now see what are the consequences.
Those who like the consequences ;
those who think the present state of
thiugs a goud one, will of course, be
thankful that we have had such men
in power ; but, those, who, like Mr,
HUSKISSON, are able to discover
some grounds for apprehension, must
excuse me, if I point out those to
whom we owe the danger; or, if, in
the words of the old maxim, " I clap
" the saddle upon the right horse."
Tliis task must, however, be re
served for my next ; and in the mean
while, I remain, G intlemeu,
Vour faithful friend,
WX COBBETT,
State Prison, Newgate, Thursday,
Nowmbtr 2<>' 1810.
LE1TER XIX,
" Thin. tti« measure of aoo 'payment originated with the persons bound to pay.1
the House of Com-.MiHis, Jior. 2C', !?<)?•
• Mr. ticrney't Sp*ech, ia
The Reason for the Stoppage, or Restriction, Act — Mr. Pitt and his Adherents re-
prr«ent it as of short Duration — Mr. Fox and others foretell that it will never b« re
pealed—The Dates of the several Renewals of the Act— Pretence for the first Rene wal
— Resolution of the Hank Directors-— Report of the Secret Committee— Pretence for
the second Renewal— Exposure of tlvs }>y Mr. Hobhouse — Miserable Answer of the
Minister— Mr. Tiemey's Exposure of the". whole Thing — The Measure traced to the
tnd of the last War.
GENTLEMEN,
THE task first to be performed,
agreeably to the conclusion of my last
letter, is, to point out to you, and I flat
ter myself, to your children's chil
dren, tho*e persons, who bore a dis
tinguished part in the discussions of
the Stoppage, or Restriction, Act;
and, especially to show you, that that
Act was not a thing that came like a
flood or like thunder, as Mr. Kuskisson
appears to wish us to believe ; and
that its duration was a circumstance
which y«ks not only foreseen but dis
tinctly fort-told by several of those
persons, who, by the party to which
Mr. Huskisson belonged, were re
presented as the enemies of their
country. The Bill was, as we have
seen, brought into the House of Com
mons on the 9th of March, and be
came a law on the 3rd of May. Be
tween these days there were several
debates upon tfce subject; and, you
will now see, whether, as Mr. If us*
KISSON would have the public believe,
there was nobody that could foresee
or dream of, this long continuation of
the non-payment of cash at the Bank.
Justice to the dead as well as to the
living, as was before observed, de
mands that the truth of this fact
should be well known ; but, besides
that, the knowledge of the truth here
will be of great utility in the guiding
of our judgment for the future. 1 shall,
therefore, give the very words of the se
veral speakers upon the subject, just as
they stand in the Reports of the
Parliamentary Debates of that time ;
and, that any one may, when ho
pleases, examine into the correctness
of mv statements, I shall give the
date of the- Debate from which I make
my quotations.
Mr. PITT and his adherents held a
language of great confidence in the
solvency, and even in the wealth of
247]
LETT Ell XIX.
[248
the Bank Company. You have seen,
that the first Act of Stoppage, or, as
it is called, of Restriction, was to last
for onlyjifty-tiuo days, which, of itself,
amounted to a declaration, that the
Bank would he ahle to resume their
payments in a short time ; and, during
the debates upon the bill, in its seve
ral stages, every thing was said, that
could be thought of by the Minister
and his adherents, to cause the public
to believe, that the suspension of cash-
payments would be very short indeed.
In the debate of the 23rd of March,
'Mr. WILBKRFORCE said, that, " Gen-
** tlemen did not consider how much
" of this distress arose from the very
" nature of our commercial dealings.
" The credit we gave was one year,
" eighteen mouths, or two years,
" while we paid at six months ; so that
" in the progressive increase of trade
"it was some time before the balance
" flowed in. The bad effects were
" passed, the good wen; yet to come."
On the 24th of March, Mr. PITT said,
that, " as to the exact period, he could
" make no positive conjecture : for he
" felt it difficult to say, whether
" one mouth, or two, or three t would
'" be better. But when lie reflected,
" that it must require some time for
" money to circulate buck from the
te country to the Bank, and also to be
•' refunded from abroad , and from all
" the other sources, from which its
" wealth may be derived, he could
." not entertain a firm hope that the
" restoration of the Bank could be
" other than gradual, he would, thcre-
" fore, limit the operation of the pre-
u'sent clause to the 24th of June
" 1797." On the 29th of March,
Mr. LUBBOCK said, that " if 7*0 par
ticular day was fixed, and th Bank
" began to pay specie without such
" notice, all would go on gradually
" and smoothly; that he was eon-
" vinced, with a very little assistance,
" that the Bjiik might go on as usual
" ^imediate'ly, and discount freely;
" if £3,000,000 were added to their
" capital, it would enable the Bunk to
" discount to a much larger amount,
" which would more than accommo-
" dale the commercial world ; and he
11 would venture to be d — d, if such a
" sum would not be subscribed in
" twenty-four hours ; this would put
" all to* rights." On theSlst of March
Mr, PITT said, " Leave the Bank and
" them to exercise a discretion con-
" cerning it, which, at all events,
" could do no injury, and might, more
" than probably would, lead to the at-
" tainment of that which the right ho-
" nourable gentleman himself seemed
" so anxious for, namely, the rcstora-
" tion of cash payments at the Bank."
And, again, on the same day he said :
" Probably then the cash in the Bank
" on the 25th of February was no
" yet diminished — then if more
"cash came in, it would gradually
" enable the Bank to open again and
" resume its operations by those slow
" and successive steps which would
" make a resumption »ff/t'." — On tho
same day, Mr. SAMtfeL THORNTON,
one of the Bank Directors, said, in
speaking of the clause, which invites
people to carry gold to deposit in the
Bank, that, " on the whole he con-
" sidered it as a most important mea-
" sure, and that it would enable the
" Bank to resume its usual gene-
" ral payments long antcc: dent to the
" period Jixed for its recovery." Thus,
all of them spoke either of a. gradual or
a speedy return to eash-payments ; and
this last gentleman, a most firm ad
herent of the Minister, and a Bank
Director expressed his opinion, that
the Bank would be able to pay even
before the expiration of tiiejfifty-lwo
days, for which the Act was made.
(Enterefc at Stationers' $aff.
Printed by \V. MOLI.VEUX, 5, Bream's Building;?, Chat-eery Lane; Fublishf-r] by W. COBBETT,
Jun. No, 8, Catherine Street, Strand ; and Kvtailed at No. 192, Strand.
/j-COBBETTS PAPER AGAINST GOLD.— [Price Two-Pence.
249]
Now, Gentlemen, hear the other
side. You have heard the Minister
PITT and his adherents. Now hear
Mr. Fox and those who stood with
him. But, above all things mark the
words of Mr. Fox. Look at his pre
dictions; and, I need not point out to
you, how exactly they have been ac
complished thus far, and how mani
fest it is that the rest are in the way
of speedy accomplishment. Mr. Fox
is no more ; but his words will never
die. The evils he foretold, and that
he laboured to prevent, have all come
upon us, or now menace us with
horrid aspect.
In the debate of the 7th of March,
Mr. HOBHOUS'E said : " But we are
" told that this bill is to exist for a
" short time only. Has the right
" honourable Chancellor of the Ex-
" chequer considered what is likely
" to take place when this bill shall ex-
" pire ? Will not the holders of Bank
'* of England notes, the very moment
" that the suspension of payment in
" specie is at an end, rush in large
" bodies to the Bank and demand
'* specie ? Having been once deluded,
" will they ever expose themselves to
" the risque of being deluded a seco7id
" time ; having once lost the opportu-
" nity of converting their notes into
" specie by a sudden and unexpected
'* Order of Council, will they ever
" voluntarily become holders of such
" notes again ? The least wound
" given to public credit is not easily
" healed ; public confidence once lost,
" is not easily recovered." What
Mr. NICHOLLS said, in the debate of
the 22nd of March, we have seen in
the Motto to Letter XVIII. In the
same debate Mr. Fox said that, "He
[250
" knew not what the duration of the
" bill was intended to be, whether for
" three weeks or for three or six
" months ; but this he knew, that the
" longer the duration, the greater our
" difficulty would be ; and he must
" be a sanguine man indeed, if he
" thought the country would not be
' ruined in its credit, if this bill con-
" tinued for six or eight months. —
" There were some persons who con-
" fessed that this evil could not be
" removed during the war: he agreed
" with them ; but he doubted whether
" it could be removed EVEN IN
" PEACE, unless that desirable event
" should take place very soon. Every
" hour that it was delayed diminished
' our chance of removing the cala-
' mity. If we had not peace in the
' spring of 1797, what should we say
' in the autumn ? This was a question
* which did not depend on the taking
* of a town or a fortress. An enume-
' ration of many successes in that re-
' spect would be of no avail. This
* was a time in which AVC should not
* conceal any thing from the public.
'* A new loan of several millions was
' speedily wanted, which certainly
' would not tend to improve the situa-
' tibn of paper credit. He could not
' bring himself to state the circum-
' stances of this country without the
' most painful anxiety. The House
' ought to consider that this country
' was now on the brink of a dreadful
' precipice, and that one false step
' might throw it into a gulph out of
' which it never could rise." In the
same debate, in answer to a remark
of Mr. PITT " that an increase of
" Bank notes would hasten the period
" of cash payments" Mr. Fox saicf,
* MOLJNEUX, Printer, Bream'* Buildings
Chancei y Lane,
£51]
LETTER XIX.
tliat " to say that paper differed from
« the nature of every thing else, and ,
that it was valuable in proportion as
it was plentiful, and not as it was
'rare; and that the abundance of
* paper would incline people not to
1 hoard guineas, but would induce
* them to carry them to the Bank,
' were propositions so inconsistent
t with sound reasoning, that he wag
' ashamed of calling up principles so
' merely elementary, and which were
* as clear a^ the simplest proposi-
* tions of mathematics." In the same
debate, Mr. SHERIDAN said, that
" There would be wo end to the bill,
" should it be carried into ellect. He
" would repeat, therefore, what he
* had said before, that it would be
' better to suspend the proceeding
' altogether, than to hazard the evils
' which its enactment, without the
' prospect of a limitation, would pro-
< duce," Jn the same debate, Sir
WILLIAM PULTENEY said: "Does
" any man, in his senses, imagine,
« that if this stoppage of payment in
" specie is to be of long duration,
" that the merchant will not advance
" the price of his foreign articles ? —
" This appears to me to be a great
" evil ; and I have no idea of assenting
" to any bill of this kind, unless the
"duration be Jixed, and irrevocably
" limited to a short period.'' In the
debate of the 24th of March, the
same gentleman, Sir WILLIAM PUL-
TENEY, said, that " he was. of opinion
" that the longer the period wag, the
" heavier would our difficult ics grow.
" It was useless to say, that cash
" might jflouj back from the country
" and from abroad; for, while we
" were waiting for that reflux of
" specie, our destruction must ensue;
" it was impossible to rettore the
" Bank by the balance of trade to
" which the right honourable gentle-
"man, Mr. PITT, alluded. The
" theory was false, and nothing solid
" could be expected from it. Three
" weeks iiad already been given to
" the Bank, and, he was willing to
" grant it one month more; if, then,
" it could not pay, wo must look for
" some other remedy : for that now
" proposed would be found of no
" avail. We should be only compelled
" to prolong the restriction from one
period to another, till our paper met
" the fate of the French aunty it ats."
Such, Gentlemen, were thiVopinioiM
expressed, upon this part of the- s\i-b-
ject, when the cash-stopping biH was
iirst before the Mouse of Commons.
You see, then, that, while Mr. PITT
and his adherents wore full of confi
dence of the Bank being able to return
to its payments in cash ; while they
saw no danger at all from this mea
sure ; while they thought that the in-
itation contained in the Act for peo
ple to bring money into the Bank
Shop would again fill the Shop with
real treasure ; while they, and espe
cially Mr. WILBERFORCE, described
the Stoppage of cash-payments rather
as a skn of prosperity and riches than
the contrary ; while they did not, as
Mr. HITSKISSON says, dream of the
Act being continued for a length of
time; while their opinions, or, . at
least, their declarations, were of this
sort, the declarations on the other
side of the House, the declarations of
those whom this " most thinking"
nation would not bclierc, the declara
tions of those whom this " most think -
" ing" nation Mere persuaded to look
upon as its enemies and as the friends
of France, were just the contrary.
Mr. Fox and his party not only fore
saw, but they foretold, what has since
come to pass. They said, that, if the
Act was once passed, it must go on;
and they gave reasons, for their opinibn ;
reasons that were not attempted to be
overset by other reasons, and that
were opposed by nothing but abuse or
'foul insinuation.
Having, now, as far as relates to
this point, done justice to the parties
who took a part in the debates upon
the occasion -referred to; having
253;
PAPEll AGAINST GOLD.
[254
shewn tliat Mr. HUSKISSON has not
fairly represented the matter ; having
shewn that Mr. PITT and his adhe
rents either meant to deceive the na
tion as to the ability and willingness
of the Bunk to return to payments in
cash, or were themselves ignorant of
the natural consequences of the mea
sure, and that they had either less sin
cerity or less knowledge than their op
ponents ; having placed this import
ant part of the subject beyond the
power of future misrepresentation, we
will now trace this famous Act of
Parliament through its several renew
als, from its first passing to the pre
sent day. In the whole, there have
been Six Acts passed; the ^original
Act, of which the several clauses are
mentioned in Letter XVI, page 214,
and Five Acts of Renewal. There
are, in some of these Jive, trifling de
viations from the original Act ; but,
these are very unimportant. The
great provisions about stopping cash-
payments, about protecting the Bank
Company against the demands of their
creditors, and about the protection
from arrests in individual cases, are
all preserved, are now in full force,
and, therefore, the alterations of no
material consequence. -
We have seen the title and preamble
of the Act before, at page 215, and it
will be best, before I offer you any
observations upon the reasons, which at
the different renewals, were stated in
Justification of the measure, to furnish
you with the dates of the six Acts, that
you may, if your affairs should require
it, and opportunity enable you to do
it, refer to these Acts yourselves.
THE FIRST was passed in the 37th
year of the reign of George III, and
is, of the Statutes of that year, Chap
ter 45. The date, according to the
common way of dating, is 1707, and
01* tlw 23d of .May. To continue in
force to the 24th of June 1797 ; that
is to say, for only Jiffy-two days.
THE SECOND : 37 year George
III, Chapter 91. That is, in 1797 ;
and the day when the Act passed was
the 22nd of June ; to continue in
force 'till one month after the com
mencement of the then next Session of
Parliament ! Mark this. See what a
leap was taken. But you will see a
greater presently.
THETHIRD : 38th year George III,
Chapter I. That is, 1797; and the
day when the Act was passed was the
30th of November; to continue in
force 'till one month after the conclu
sion of the then war by a cftjinitive
treaty of peace ! Bravo ! See how
it gains strength as it goes. " Give
" them an inch, 'and they'll take an
*' ell" says the old proverb. But,
we have not yet seen the boldest leap.
This Act, mind, was to protect the
Bank 'till the end of the war ; and
the reasons for that we shall see by-
and-by.
THE FOURTH (Peace ?rcrs now
come, observe) : 42nd year George
III, Chapter 42. That is, 1802 ; and
the Act was passed on the JJOUi of
April ; to continue in force (though
peace u-as made) till the Isf of March,
1803. We shall by-and-by, see the
reasons that \vere given for this. —
These reasons are the interesting matter.
THE FIFTH (Peace still continu
ing) : 43rd year George III, Chapter
18. That is, 1803 ; and the Act was
passed on the 28th of February ; to
continue in force till six icee.ks after
the commencement of the then next
Session of Parliament. This was the
second renewal after the end of the
war. The second renewal during
peace.
THE SIXTH (War was now begun
again) : 44th year George III, Chap
ter . That is, 1803; and the Act
was passed on the 15th of December ;
to continue in force till six MONTHS
after a conclusion of a difimtive treaty .
of peace!
This last* Gentlemen, is the Act
which is now in force. This is the
Act, which now protects the Bank
Company against the demands of the
holders of their promissory notes.—-
This is the Act, which the BULLION
/ 2
255J
LETTfeR XIX.
COMMITTEE recommended to be re
pealed in such a way that the Bank
Company shall he compelled to pay
again in cash hi two years from this
time. You will now be so good as to
recall to your minds, that the main
question for us to determine is, whe
ther, if such a law were passed, it is
likely that it could be executed : in
other w'ords ; whether ft be likely that
the Bank Company will ever again be
able to pay their notes in money. This
is the main question for our determi
nation, because upon that question
hangs the whole paper system; and,
In order the better to enable ourselres
to determine that question, and also
to complete the history of the Bank
Company and the Bank Stoppage, or
Restriction, as they call it, we must
now take a view of the REASONS,
which, at the several renewals of the
Stoppage, or Restriction Act, were
urged in justification of the measure.
The FIRST Act was, as we have
seen, proposed to the Parliament by
the Minister, and defended by him
and his adherents upon the ground of
necessity. The drain of cash was said
to have been sudden and unusual,
arising from false alarms of invasion.
The emergence was said to be tempo
rary. The stoppage was acknowledged
to be a great evil; but, it was main
tained, that it was absolutely neces
sary, as the only means of avoiding a
greater evil. It was, particularly by
the then Attorney-General (now Lord
Eldon), and by the then Solicitor-
General (now Lord Redesdale), urged,
that the measure was necessary to the
safety of the public creditor, or Stock
holder ; because, if the run upon the
Bank had not been cheeked by force
of law, the Bank would have been
totally ruined, and, of course, that the
Stock-holder would have lost his all.
But (and I beg you to mark it well)
vhen the SECOND Act came under
discussion, in June 1797, the Minister
and his adherents began to hold a
different sort of language, and to
speak of the Act, not as the less of
two evils, but rather as a measure
adopted from choice and not from ne
cessity. This Act, which was the^rsf
act of renewal, had for its forerunner,
a correspondence between the minister
and the Bank Directors. His letter
to them was dated on the twelfth of
June, and their answer on the 13th.
These letters having been prepared,
he, the minister himself, moved, in
the House of Commons, on the 15th
of June, that the said letters should be
laid before the House, which was
done. And, what do you think, Gen
tlemen, that these letters contained ?
Why, the minister's letter told the
Bank Directors, that he did not think
that it was expedient, that they should
begin again to pay in cash, at the
time specified in the first Act of Par
liament ; and they, very submissively,
acquiesced in the minister's opinion/
Now, pray do not laugh, Gentlemen;
for, you will find in the end, it is no
laughing matter.
These two Letters, and nothing in
the world besides, were made the
ground of a legislative proceeding.;
made the ground, and the sole ground
for continuing, for five months longer,
an Act of Parliament, which protected
the Bank Compary against the de
mands of their numerous creditors,
the holders of their notes. In the
course of his speech, the Minister* the
" heaven-born Minister," said, " that
" he had the satisfaction to say, that
" there was in the affairs of the Bank,
with regard to the means of pay
ment in cash, an improvement that
was highly consoling, and that the
apprehension of their not recovering
their ability to pay in the accustomed
manner had been greatly exagge
rated, when the subject first came
before the House." He said, in
another part of his speech that " he
was still anxious to come to the ter
mination of the restriction ; and, al-
thonech that could not be on the day
appointed, yet it was a satisfaction
to the public to find, that the incon
venience of the measure was much
i?57]
PAPER AGAINST GOLD.
[258
" less than had been foretold ; and that,
" indeed, the consequence of the mea-
" sure had been the reverse of what
" had been predicted by its oppo-
" nents."
Without more ado the bill was
brought in, and was passed, as we have
seen, in seven davs afterwards, with
out any further debate about the mat
ter. Four fifths of the House of Com
mons were still at the back of the Mi
nister ; he appears to have lost not a
single vote in consequence of the state
to which it was now manifest he had
brought the aft'airs of the nation ; there
were still th« same majorities for him
in the House, and there was still the
*ame shouting for him at Lloyd's ; the
majority of the nation, partly from
folly, partly from fear, partly from the
influence of the paper system, were
still as loud in his praises as ever, and
Mr. Fox, apparently \vearied with ex
ertions which afforded no hope of suc
cess, left the people to feel tiie effects
of their infatuation.
But, when the THIRD Act came to
be passed, in November 1797, a little
more preparation was necessary ; and
it was also necessary to find out new
reasons, a quite new doctrine, in justi
fication of it; or, to acknowledge, at
once that the Bank was .unable to
pay. The refusal to pay their notes
in cash had now lasted for nine
months ; the alarm of invasion was
over; and, it appeared difficult to con
ceive any reason whatever for the con
tinuation of the Stoppage, or Restric
tion Act, other than that of the inabi
lity of the Bank Company to pay their
notes in money. Other reasons were,
however, found out; but, by way of
preparation another S EC RET COM
MITTEE was now appointed in the
House of Commons, which Committee
were, as we shall see, the vehicle
through which the new doctrines first
made their way into that House.
This Committee, by the hands of
Mr. CHARLES BRAGGE (now Bragge
Bathurst, and Member for Bristol),
made their Report to the House on
the 17th of November 1797; and, I
will venture to say, that a more cu
rious document never was produced
in the world. Every syllable of it is
worthy of your attention; and I beg
of you to go careful.y through it before
you proceed any further. The Report
was, in part, grounded upon a Copy
of a Resolution oj the Bank Directors,
which had been passed some time be
fore, and which was laid before this
Committee of Secrecy. I shall insert
this Resolution first; and I must
again beseech you to read every word
of both documents with attention ;
for, you may be well assured, that the
whole world never saw such docu
ments before.*
* Resolution of t lie Court of Directors of
the Rank.
At a Court of Directors, at the Bank, on
Thursday the 26th October 1797.
RhsoLVKD.— That it is the opinion of this
Court, That the Governor and Company of
the Bank of England are enabled to issue
specie, in any manner that may be deemed
necessary for the accommodation of the
public; and the Court have no hesitation to
declare, that the affairs of tlu. Bank are in
such a state, that it can with safety resume its
as.aistomed functions, if the political circumstan~
ce$ of the country do not render it inexpedient r
but the Directors deeming it foreign to their
province to judge of these points, wish to SM&-
mit to the wisdom qf Parliament, whether ag
it has been ONCE JUDGED PROPER
TO LAY A RESTRICTION on the pay.
ments of the Bank in cash, it may, or may
not, be prudent to continue the same.
The Committee of Secrecy, appointed to enquire
whether it may be expedient further to con
tinue the Re$tnciion, contained in two Acts,
made m the last Session of Parliament, re
specting payments in Cash by the Bank; have
enquired accordingly, and agreed upon the fol
lowing Report ; viz.
Your Committee have, in the first place,
examined the total amount of out-standing
demands on the Bank of England, and of
the funds for discharging the same ; and
find, from the examination of the Governor
and Deputy Governor of the Bank, and the
documents produced by them, that the total
amount of out-standing demands on the
Bank was, on the lith day of this instant
November, \7t$"i8t910l.; and that the total
amount of the funds for discharging the
same (without including the permanent debt
PAPEE AGAINST GOLD.
[200
This Report, this matchless, this
immortal Report, having been laid
before the House, having been
submitted " to the Wisdom of Par-
" liament," the" heaven-born Minister"
rose to move, at once, without any
time for printing the Report,, to bring
in a bill to extend the duration of the
Act of Stoppage, or Restriction, as it
is called. He said, that he would,
however, move for the printing of the
Report, " in order that all the Mem-
" bers might have the satisfaction of
" informing themselves, in detail, of
" statements so very pleasing and ini-
"portant; those gentlemen, he said,
** who had now heard the report read,
" would think with him that after the
"full examination the subject had nn-
" dergone in the Committee; after
" the clear and decided opinion that
" Committee had pronounced upon
" it ; and after the distinct statement
" not only of them but of the Bank
" Directors; it would be unnecessary
" to detain the business merely on
" account of the printing ; and that r*
" would be proper to proceed without
" delay to the object of that Report;
" and move for leave to bring in a bill
due from Government, of 1 1,686,8002, which
hears an .interest of throe per cent.) was,
on the same day, 21,418,46'OJ. ; leaving a
balance of surplus in favour of the Bank
(exclusive of the above mentioned debt
from Government) of ;4, 839, 550.
your Committee next proceeded to ex
amine the principal articles of which the
above mentioned sum of 2i,4J8,460/., being
the credit side of account, is made up, with
a' view of ascertaining how far the Bank
might be enabled to resume its accustomed
payments in cash, in case the restriction at
{TV. sent subsisting should be removed : and
your Committee find, that the advances to
Government have, on the one hand, been so
much reduced, since the 25th of February
)ast, as to amount, on the said 1 1th day of
this instant November, to no more than the
sum of 4,2Mt,MO/. while, OQ the other hand,
the cash and bullion in the Hank hart; increased
to un ctinimni more 'Umnfire times the value <>f
that at which they stood on the name V^th of
February last, and much abov-r that at which
they have stood at any time since the begin
ning of September 1795. — YourCommitt.ee
farther f;nd, that the course of exclinnge
with Hamburgh is, at present, unas-mily fa-
rm>nJ>lc to /A is country, and that, from the si
tuation of our trade, there is good, reason to
imagine it will so continue, unless political
circumstances should occur to ailect it. —
Your Comnaitree next proceeded to examine-
the Governor ;«;ul Deputy Governor of the
Bank, as to their opinion cf the incmiveuir.ice
which may have arisen from the restriction
imposed on the Hank from making pay
ment in cash, and of the erpeditncy of conti
nuing xuzh rc*tricli<nt : and your Committee
find, that taey are not wmre <f any such in-
eonrer.icncfi, and that they are supported
in that idea,* by knowing that the bankers
and traders of London who had a right
by the Act of Parliament to demand
three-fourths of any deposit in cash which
they had made in the Bank, of 500J or up
wards, have only claimed about one sixteenth :
and your Committee find, that the Court of
Directois of the Bank did, on the 26th of
October, 1797, come to a resolution, a copy
of which is subjoined to this Report.— Your
Committee having farther examined the
Governor and Deputy Governor, as to what
may be meant by the political circumstances
mentioned in that resolution, find, that they
understand by them, the state of hostility in
which the nation isniili involved , and particular
ly such apprehensions as may be entertained
of invasion, either in Ireland or this country,
together with the possibility there may be
of advances being to be made from "this
country to Ireland ; and that from those
circinnsiatices so explained, and from the
nature of th$ war, and the avowed purpose
of the eneivy to attack this country by meqns
of its public credit, and to distress it in
its financial operations, they are led to think
that it will be expedient to continue the re
striction now subsisting, with the reserve
for partial issues of cash, at the discretion
of the Bank, of the nature of that contained
in the present Acts; and that it may be so
continued, without injury to the credit of the
Sank, witlujut an advantage to thf nation. — •
Your Committee, therefore, having taken
into consideration, the general situation of
the country, are of opinion, that notwith-
standigg the atfatys of the Bank, both with
respect to the general balance of its ac
counts, and its capacity of making payments
in specie are in fiiich a stale tlud it might with
safety resume its accustomed functions, UN D ER
A DIFFERENT STATE OK PUBLIC
AFFAIRS , yet, that it will be expedient to
continue the restriction now subsisting on
such payments, for such time, and under
such limitations, as to the wisdom of Par
liament may seem fit.
261]
LETTER XVII.
•" for that purpose." He further said,
that it was necessary to continue the
restriction during the war to defeat
the object oT the enemy, which was to
destroy our credit ; that the further
continuation of the restriction could
not. reasonably produce any alarm or
apprehension, since they had now in-
(tisjmteble evidence before them, that,
50 far from the gloomy predictions of
the opponents of the measure having
been verified, the national credit had
rapidly risen to the high condition of
prosperity which had just bsen exhi
bited. At the end o? this harangue,
he moved for leave to bring in a bill
for continuing the Stoppage of cash-
payments, at the Bank, till a month
after the conclusion of a definitive
treaty of peace', which, by the Re
presentatives of " the most thinking
people m the world," was agreed to
without # single dissenting voice!
When, however, the subject came
to be discussed again on the 22nd of
November, the thing was not suffered
to pass off'in silence. Mr. HOBHOUSR
observed upon the. new doctrine which
was now brought forward in defence
of the measure : " lie reminded the
" House, that he had said on a former
" occasion that this would be the ease ;
" and now tiie Minister was making
" srood his predictions, alledging as a
" reason for so doing, that the nature
" of the contest in which we are en-
" gaged demanded it, though this was
te no part of the grounds for the former
" restriction, and though in comparing
" the war now with its nature at that
" time, it did not appear there was
" any material difference. Why the
" nature of thp war, then, made a
" restriction of six months only ne-
" ces^ary, and its naturfc now made a
" restriction during; the contest neces-
" sary. be could not discover ; to him
" it appeared absurd and irreconcile-
" able to common sense and sound
" policy." What answer was given
to this by the Minister ? What answer
could he p£ve ? He had, in fact, noth
ing to say. He repeated all tke
1 former assertions about tlie riches of
Lthe Bank, though those assertions
1 evidently made agafnst him; and, as
to the main argument, what did he do,
but rely solely upon the opinion of the
Secret Committee, a Committee, who
had, in fact, been chosen by his own
adherents. He said : " As to tfee
" plan of continuing the restriction
" for the whole term of the war, the
" reasons for it being stated distinctly
' in the Report of the Committee, it
" was unnecessary for him to say a
" word more upon the subject ; it
" would be found there distinctly set
" out that the Bank was in a state
" which in ordinary times would
" enable it to resume its cash pay-
" ments and operations on the accus-
" tomed scale. But that the avowal
" of the enemy to attack us through our
" finances, and to ruin our public
" credit, was the motive (he presumed
" a sufficiently cogent motive) to make
an additional term of restriction;
and when it was remembered that
" wo injury nor eren inconvenience,
" had been sustained by the restric
tion hitherto, the House could not
" but think it a sufficient encourage-
' mentto adopt thiit, now called for.**
In a subsequent stage of the . bill, the
next day, he said : " We were con-
1 tending with an enemy whose object
' was to attach the credit of the
" country, a?id to embarrass its foian-
" cial operations. It was necessary
" to meet tb^se attacks in a manner
" that would defeat the object of the
" enemy. The House should take
" every measure to ward off the
" danger, and the present was, in his
" opinion, the best thatccmW possibly
" be adopted. Mr. IIu.«sRY having
pressed him closely upon this point,
he further said, that, u It was ne-
'* cessary to hold out to the enemy , that
" the country was prepared to meet all
^ its efforts of desperation ; but it did
" not follow that the restriction v/ould
" be continued during the whole of the
" the war. While, however, it was
" pursued hi its present shape, lie cer>
263]
LETTER XIV.
[264
" tainly considered the restriction as
" absolutely necessary.""
These miserable reasons ; these
most pititul pretences, Mr. TIERNEY
exposed, in his speech of the 22d of
November, in a manner so complete,
that one is shocked at the thought of
tlie House afterwards suffering the
measure to proceed { one cannot help
wondering, that tlie Minister was able
to sit and hear him; and, it is impos
sible to feel any compassion for the
people who still supported and ex
tolled him ; and who richly merit all
that could, or can, befall them from
that cause, they having supported him
'with their eyes open, and against tlie
clearly and loudly expressed dictates
of reason and truth. Mr. TIERNEY
said : " that the enemy would aim a
" blow at our credit and finances, all
" would agree, for all modern wars
" have been without exception car-
" ried on upon that principle. Mo-
" dern wars are made upon resources
" rather than blood ; but was this the
" way to prevent the enemy from suc-
" ceeding? — most whimsical expedient!
tf — In order to leave to the enemy no
t( credit to attack, they destroy credit
" themselves. But at last they speak
" plainly, at last it comes out it will
" distress the financial operations of
" the country ; and then they delibe-
" rately weigh and find that it will be
" expedient to continue the restric-
" tion with the reserve of partial is-
" sues of cash at the discretion of the
" Bank, and that it may be so conti-
" nued with advantage Jo the nation,
" and without injury to the credit of
" the Bank. This was the result of
" the examination of the Governor
" and Deputy Governor of the Bank
" of England. This was their advice.
" This precious plan, which first ori-
" ginated in the diabolical, but fer-
" tile mind of that monster Itober-
" spierre."
Mr.TiERNEY, in this speech, which
was one of the best made upon the
occasion, and to which I do not pre
tend to do full justice, then shewed
how clear it was, ,that the Bank Com
pany and the Minister went hand in
hand through the whole of the trans
action ; that their operations were in
tended to screen one another ; that the
Bank Company called upon the Mi
nister for protection ; and the Minister
made that the pretext for his propo
sitions to Parliament. He observed
that the principal reason for continu
ing to protect the Bank from paying
their notes, came from the Bank Di
rectors themselves, who even before
the meeting of Parliament had come
to a resolution, that they were able to
pay if the political circumstances of
the country did. not render it inexpe
dient, but that the stoppage of pay
ments in cash having been ONCE
judged proper, they submitted to the
wisdom of Parliament, whether it
would not be proper to continue the
same. " Thus/' said Mr. TIERNEY,
" the measure of nonpayment origin
ated with the persons bound to pay ;"
and who, from the language of the
Act, the \vorld would believe were
restrained against their will from pay
ing.
From the Report of the Secret
Committee, you will have perceived,
that the Bank Company of Traders,
were the chief source of the Com
mittee's information ; for the Commit
tee say, that, having asked them what
they meant by those " political cir-
" cumstunces of the country," men
tioned in their Resolution, the Bank
people told them, that they alluded to
the war in which the country was en
gaged ? Upon this ; aye upon this
ground, suggested by the Bank Com
pany themselves, did the Committee
report, that it would not be safe for
that Company to pay its notes during
tlie war ; and upon the same ground
did the House of Commons come to
a like determination.
Gentlemen, were not these fects
fresh in our memories ; were they not
capable of proof by living witnesses;
nay, were they not proved by the ex
istence of the Act of Parliament, of
PAPER AGAINST GOLD.
[260
which we are speaking, would they,
could they be believed ? Could they
be believed to have taken place in any
cation upon earth ; and, especially
amongst a people, calling themselves
" the most thinking people in the
world T
Thus have we traced down this Act
of Stoppage, or Restriction, as it is
called, to the end of the last war. We
have seen that its continuation was at
last justified upon the ground of its
being dangerous for the Bank to re
turn to money payments DURING
THE WAR, And now we have to
see what reasons were given for con
tinuing the restriction, or refusal to
pay, AFTER THE WAR WAS
OVER. But, this, by no means the
least interesting part of the subject,
must be reserved for another Letter.
In the mean .while, I remain,
Gentlemen,
Your faithful friend,
WM. COBBE1
State Prison, ff#wg<tte,
December 4tk 1810.
LETTER XX.
The Fnglish are a sober, THf^KIXO peo[»U-, and are more intelligent a*iH more »oZ/rf than an
" I ever had the fortune to sec."— LORD SlGKMONTS SPEECH iu the Iloese of Lords, 1st Feb. 1792.
The War being now over, Mr. Pitt's Reasons ceased of course — The Peace brings no
golden Payments at the Bank — Mr. Addiu^ton becomes Minister—Gives Notice of an
Intention to continue the Act of l~97---Mr. Robson calls for Papers, which are refused
—He compares Bank-Notes to Assijjrnats, and is himself called to Order — Mr.Adding-
ton's Reasons for renewing the Act in April 1802™ His Reasons for another Continu
ation of the Bill in February 180? — Mr. Tierney culls for Inquiry — the Act renewed
again, iu Dec. 1803, till six Months after Peace.
GENTLEMEN,^- j upon the defensive. This was the
IN Letter XIX, page 246, we j precise ground stated hy the Minis-
traced the Bank Stoppage or Re
striction Act, down to the end of the
last war, in the year 1802. Wt^saw it
introduced under pretence of the ab
solute necessity of a temporary purpose;
we saw it passed, at first, for only
fifty-two days; and with every expec
tation held forth, that it would be re
pealed before the expiration even of
that time; we then saw, that it not
only lived for the fifty-two days,
but, at the expiration of that time,
was \ prolonged for Jive months; and,
when the end of that five months
came, we saw it prolonged for the
duration of the war, upon the ground,
that the enemy had openly avowed
his determination to effect the de
struction of our public credit, and that,
therefore, it was necessary to keep
ter himself. The enemy had avow
ed his determination to destroy our
credit, and therefore the Bank was to
be protected from paying its promisso
ry notes, agreeably to the conditions
on which these notes had been received
in payment. The enemy had avowed
his determination to blast the credit of
England, &ud, therefore, the Bank of
England was to stop payment with
impunity, as long as the war should last.
Such were the razsows,such the doc
trine, to which was at last driven the
" Grand financier," Mr. PITT, who
had begun his career by bespeaking a
column to his memory, on which the
words " PUBLIC CREDIT" should be
inscribed ; such was now the doctrine
of the " heaven-born minister;" " the
"Pilot that weathered the storm;" "the
LETTEll XX.
•• great statesman now no more." He
weathered the storm so ably, that, at
the end of onlv four years of iiis war
against the .Republicans of France,
during which four years he had, per
haps, forty times foretold that France
vouid sink beneath the weight of
bankruptcy, he himself comes into that
same House of Commons where his
promisee to ruin France hud heen so
often heard, and there he calls upon
the members to protect the Bank of
Jvngland in non-payment of its notes ;
lie calls upon them for a law to com
pel the Public Creditor to take his
dividends in a paper not convertible
into gold ; and, his reason for this is,
that the French, that those same
French, that the bankrupt French,
that the beggared French threatened
to make war upon our Jinanc.es ! Aye,
he, the boaster, who had made so
many, so many scores, of triumphant
comparisons between the situation of
l,iv;iaud and France ; who had so
many scores, I might say hundreds
of times (for lie frequently did* it se
veral times iu one speech), represent
ed .Kngiand as so highly blessed in
wealth and credit, while France was
:<;juk into the lowest a by?* of poverty;
and threatened with all the evils at
tendant uponadebp*cd ptiptT-money ;
he, this very game man; the identical
'* heaven-born minister," now asked
for a lav\ to protect the Bank against
the deinards of the holders of its
notes, :uid tw compel the Public Cre
ditor to revive his dividends in that
:*:mie, fort of notes or not at ail; and,
all tiiis he did, because those same
poor, ruined, beggared, and beaten
French, had avnwcd their intention of
;ht;/'iny war upon ourjinanccs.
•But, 1.1 any rate, this reason held
srood or>iv dvrixy the war. The
•* heaven-born man/' as we have seen
in the last Letter, expressly stated,
that the measure was a mere war mea
sure, intended to meet the hostility of
ontiny; '•' to meet his efforts ci
" dri-pf-ration" But, it did not follow,
L" ?aid, that the non-payment of ca«h
would continue during the whole, of
the war; but merely while the enemy
pursued the war in its, then ** present
shape." 80 that, at all events, it was
believed, or, it was intended to make
this " most f /linking people in thn
world" believe that the measure Would
last only for the war at longest, and
that when peace returned, they wanlri
once more get guineas for their note*,
and that these of them who had divi
dends to receive, would receive them
in gold if they chose, as they formerly
used to do; and, this was one of the
reasons why the nation so anxiously
wished for peace.
Well, in 1802, Peace came! L'ut,
alas ! it bror^ht no guineas in pay
ments at the Bank. It brought with
it no golden payments to the Stock
holder, &• Public Creditor, as some
people call him. Peace brought -no
repeal of the Bank Stoppage, or II <*
striction Act. On the contrary, it
did, as we have seen at page 254,
bring an extension of the duration of
that Act from the 80th of April,
1802, to the first of March, 1803.
And th;is it was that, the promise \*as
kept. Thus it was that " the, most
" thin kin y people -'in the world" saw
their "heaven-born Minister's" doc
trines verified.
ISut, what was now \\\? pretence for
continuing this Act? The Avar was
over. The shoutings and the hon-
firings and the boll-ringings for peace
had taken place. Mr. ADDINGTOTV,
the prime minister, and LOF.J>
HAWKESRURY, the negotiator, had
been praised in all manner of Avays
for the " blessings ofprace." What,
then, could l>e tlie pretence for' con
tinuing the Stoppage Act? You shall
hear, Gentiemen; lor it is iiv>pr)8sible
to do justice to the reason except in
the words of the Minister himself and
of those who supported him.
You must remember, Qentlernerf
that just before the. peace was be(fith
to be negotiated, the " heaven-born.
and some others went out of office*,
i and that Mr. HENIIY ADPINGTON,
2G9]
PAPER AGAINST GOLD.
[270
now LOUD VISCOUNT SIDMOUTH,
snccruk-d him, as prime minister.
To hi* lot, therefore, it fell to propose
the continuation of the Stoppage Act,
in peace; but, you should bear in
niiiiii, that this was, in fact., no change
oj ministry ; it was merely a change
of a very few of the men in power.
Ail those who hud voted for PITT,
continued to vote lor his saccessor, as
did also Mr. PITT himself. So that,
the continuation of the Stoppage Act
is not to be ascribed, in anywise, to
is change of man, the people still in
power being tiie same people who
supported ail the measures of the
minister, PITT, and who, indeed,
brought him back into power again
in the year 1804.
It was ou the 8th of April 1802,
that the continuation was proposed by
Mr. ADDINGTON ; but, notice of his
intention having been before given,
r. ROBSON, on the 2nd of April,
moved for certain papers, shewing
the nature of the affairs of the Bank,
which was opposed by the Minister,
ADDLNGTON, who, without more
ado, moved the previous question upon
it. Whereupon Mr. ROBSON said,
tbat this was using him and those who
thought with him very ill. Notice
had been given, he said, by the mi
nister, of his intention to bring in a
bill to continue the Act, which pro
tected the JBarik frojm paying in gold
and silver, and, he wished to know
how the affairs of the Bank stood,
that he might be able judge whether
he ought to consent to such a mea
sure or not. " He maintained that
" all Europe was contemplating the
" payments of specie by the Bank , as
" the criterion of the credit of the
" Country. If the Bank cgntinued
" to issue paper, country banks would
" do the same without controul ; they
" would issue their notes without
te mercy.- It was, in his opinion,
' THE COMMENCEMENT OF
« A COURSE OF ASSIGNATS.
(Order! order! and question! was
" called from every part of the
" Home?)
The question being put, it was
carried against Mr. ROBSON, without
a division. He was not allowed to
have the papers he wanted. It was
unnecessary, lie was told; and, when
he ventured to compare bank notes
to assignats, lie was called to order.
He was called to order for speaking
irreverently of those notes, those pro
missory notes, which were by law
rendered not payable agreeably to
promise, and which law it was now
proposed to continue.
Now we come to the Minister, Ad-
dingion's reasons for continuing tliig
A ct after ike end of the war ; and to
those reasons we must pay particular
attention. He prefaced his proposi
tion, as his predecessor always usejd
to do, by very high language about
the ability of the Bank to pay in coin.
He said, in the debate of the Oth of
April, *'. I have the satisfaction of
" boing convinced, that the measure
" cannot furnish a pretence to the
" most timid man in the House, to
w suppose the Bank does nut possess
" within itself the most ample means
" of satisfying the full extent of the
" demands ictiwh may be made upon
" it, by the payment of its notes in
" speeic" In the debate of the 2L$t
of April , he said, that " on the soli-
" dify of the Bank, he was entitled to
" say and assume, there was now no
" question, cither in that House or
" elsewhere. On the DISPOSI-
" TK)N of the Bank to make pay
" nicnts in specie, he was also en-
" titled to assume, nay he owed it to
'- the Bank to' ASSERT, they had
" manifested a readiness to do so. It
" was, however, thought necessary to
" continue this restriction for a
" while" Having said this, he said,
that it was, of course* quite unneces
sary to enter into any inquiry as to
the state of the Bank's affairs; and,
accordingly, it only remained for him
to state the grounds, upon which he
2H]
LETTER XX
[272
proposed the continuation of the mea
sure. But, Gentlemen, pray bear in
mind, that this Minister gave the
country to understand, that the Bank
Company hud, even at that time
" manifested a readiness to make pay-
" ments in specie" and this was now
nearly nine years ago. Yet, Mr.
HANDLE JACKSON now bestows
something very much like abuse upon
the Bullion Committee, because they
recommend to the House to make
the Bank Company begin to pay in
specie in two years from this time.
What should make the Bank Com
pany angry with the Committee, it' it
was true, that they wished to pay in
money so long as eight years and nine
months ago ?
The grounds which the Minister,
ALDINGTON, stated for the con
tinuation were as follows. In the
lebate of the 9th of April, he said :
•' The grounds on which I shall rest
' the proposition I have to make to
u the House are notorious ; and it
" will be for the sober and dispas-
" sionate reflection of the House,
'' whether the measure I shall submit
".does not necessarily result from
' facts and circumstances too well
' known even to require a particular
' statement of them. It cannot be
" necessary for me to inform the
M House, that the rate of exchange
" beeween this country and foreign
" parts is disadvantageous to our-
" selves It cannot be neces-
" sary for me to prove, that while
" the rate of exchange is disadvan-
" tageous to w,s, an augmentation of
" the circulating cash would create a
" trade highly injurious to the in-
" terest and commerce of this country.
" It is well known, that for several
" months past there has been a trade
" carrying on in purchasing guineas
" with a view to the exportation of
" them. In addition to these
." reasons, the House will reflect upon
" the inconvenience which would un-
" avoidably result from letting loose
" such a proportion of the coin of the
" country as would be circulated by
" taking oft' the restriction. I am not
" aware of any inconvenience that
" can possibly arise from continuing
" it. We have had the satisfaction,
" arising from the experience of three
" or four years of difficulty? We have
" had experience, that during such
" period, the credit of the Bank has
" undergone no diminution whatever.
" Bank notes have maintained their
" reputation, and have been every
" where received cheerfully and rea-
" dily Some Gentlemen are
" desirous that the Bank should pay
" in cash for notes of small denomi-
" nation; but till there is a full and
" abundant supply of cash by open-
" ing the Bank entirely, it is ex-
" tremely convenient to afford circu-
" lation to £.1 and £.2 notes. By
•' the payment of them in specie, a
" general anxiety would be intro-
" duced of obtaining cash at the Bank.
" Notes of £.1,000 and £.500 would
" be changed for notes of £.1 and £.2
" in order that th?y wight be immedi-
" ately changed again for cash. If
" a restraint was to be imposed with
" respect to the number of notes of
" small denomination, they would be
" driven out of circulation altogether;
" and there would be no small notes
" but those issued by Banker?."
There, Gentlemen, you have now
before you the reasons why this Act
was continued after the war. The
Minister, Mr. PITT, told the nation,
that it was necessary during the war,
in order to prevent the enemy from
executing his vow of destroying our
credit; and the Minister, Adding-
ton, told the nation, that it was ne
cessary offer the war was over, be
cause tht.rate of exchange was against
us, because people were exporting
guineas when they could lay hold of
them, because to repeal the Act would
let coin loose, because the experience
of years had shewn that the stoppage
of cash payments had done no harm
lo the credit of the Bank whose notes
were every where received cheerfully
#73
PAPER AGAINST GOLD.
L274
and readily, and finally, because (pray
mark !) if a part of the notes were to
be paid in specie, that would give rise
to a general anxiety to obtain cash at
the Bank, .and that people would
i:hauge large notes into small ones, in
order immediately to change these lat
ter for cash.
So, then, Mr. ADDINGTON, the
people did, even in your time, like
gold better than the notes ? Though
you could not perceive, not you\,
any inconvenience from the eonit-
nuation of the Act ; though you had
seen with satisfaction the experi
ence of the years of suspension ;
though the credit of the Bank had
undergone no diminution whatever;"
though the Bank notes had main
tained their reputation and had been
every where received cheerfully and
readily : yet, notwithstanding all this,
you object to make the small notes
payable in gold, lest the holders of
them should run to the Bank and get
cash for them ; lest this taste for the
sweets of gold should excite a general
anxiety of obtaining cash at the Bank;
and lest large notes should be changed
into small ones for the purpose of
again changing these latter into cash.
But, why was this to be feared ? The
Bank Directors were surely, the best
judges of this ; and, you say, not only
that they are able to pay; but that
they have manifested a readiness to
puy their notes in specie. Now, this
being the case, what danger was there
of a run upon the Bank; And, ifi
there had been a run, what danger
was there in tliat ; seeing that there
were means amply sufficient to meet
such run ?
Mr. ROBSON, whom we have seen
called to order for speaking so irre
verently of Bank notes, opposed the
bill in its subsequent stages : he point
ed out the advantages which the Bank
derived from the Act; he foretold
what the Bullion Committee have
now declared to have come to pass ;
in short he did all that it was in his
power to do to prevent the continu
ation of a measure, which a Com
mittee of that same House of Com
mons have now declared to have pro
duced such fearful consequences; and
this Mr. ROBSON, did while Mr.
HUSKISSON, who now tells us that
7io one foresaw the evil, not only suf
fered the measure to pass in si
lence, but was one of the majority of
the Minister by whom the measure
was proposed and put in execution.
Well, but, after all, the Apt was
to last only ten months ; only till the
first of March 1803 ; it was only, as
the Minister's brother, Mr. Hi LEY
ADDINGTON, called it, " a temporary
provision, 'till the effects of the peace
should have begun to operate" Only
tin's. Nothing more. Yet did they,
when the 1st of March, 1803, came,
renew the Act again. Again did they
pass a law to protect the able-and-
willing-to-pay Bank against the de
mands of the note-holders! Again
did they pass an Act, to continue • in
force till six weeks after the com
mencement of the then next session
of Parliament, the measure for pre
venting payments in cash, though
peace had been made a whole year,
and though they said, that the Bank
was able and ready to pay.
Let us see, then, Gentlemen, what
were the reasons given now. " The
" most thinking people in the world,'*
were, as we have seen, told the last
time, that the Act of renewal was
" a temporary provision, Hill the ef-
" fects of peace should have begun to
operate;" and, as peace had now
lasted a whole year, what reason,
what pretence, what excuse, what
apology was now to be found ? This
is what we ought to keep our eye
upon. We know well, that they re
newed the Act ; but, in order to be
able to judge of what will be donein fu
ture, we must take care to keep in view
the reasons, which, at the different re
newals, were given for the measure.
When he came to propose the se
cond renewal after the war was over,
it must be ' confessed, that Mr. AD-
LETTER XX.
[27G
DINGTON did appear to perceive 1hd
light in which he stood, lie did
appear sensible of his situation ; and,
doubtless, this was amongst tile things,
for which, .'is it was asserted by a
pamphleteer soonafter\vards,Mr.PiTT
was under obligations to his successor.
It. was on the 7th of February , 180-5,
that he moved for leave to bring: in
this bill. He begun by saying " that
" it was with the utmost reluctance
" that he submitted the proposition to
'* the House, but the reasons which
" suggested it were too strong, and
" and the necessity too urgent, to be
" resisted ; that necessity, however,
" he hoped., irould soon disappear;
"and, he anxiously and impatiently
" locfked forward to the day, whish
" he trusted was not far removed,
" when the Bank would be at liberty
" to resume its payments in specie."
The grounds for proposing this mea
sure he stated to be, that the course
of exchange was still against this
conn t IT, ami, as the House " last
" year, considered that a sufficient ar-
" gument for the measure, he would
" appeal to the candour and good
'• sense of the House whether it would
'* be expedient to. allow the restric-
" tion to cease." He also said, " that a
" sudden issue of cash from the Bank
." would produce a run upon the coun-
" try banks, and a consequent run
" upon the Bank of England, which
" might be productive of most serious
" consequences." He further observ
ed " that the exchange being against
" us had arisen from the circumstance
" of scarcity of coin, which, of late
" years had caused so mnch Bul-
" lion to be sent out of the country,
"and that it was obvious, that we
" should wait the operations of a flou-
*' rishing commerce to bring back
" some proportion of this vast Amount
" of Bullion, before we attempted to
" permit the Bank to issue specie."
The whole world never, in my opi
nion, heard any thing like this before.
Were it not upon record, in a man
ner not to be disputed, it would not,
it could not, be believed. Mr. TIEJK- .
and Mr. Fox, spoke against the
motion, and particularly wished for j
an inquiry previous to the passing of I
such a bill. Mr. Tierncy said " ac- :
" cording to the report of the Com- !
" mittee of 1797, the proportion of
" cash and Bullion in the Bank
" amounted to ONE MILLION,
" when the Order of Council was
" issued; and some short time after-
" wards this sum was increased to
" SIX MILLIONS. Was it not
" now a fit object of inquiry ; What
'* had become of their six millions ? if
" it was forthcoming to meet any ex-
" igency ? and if it was, why should
" the Bank Fiesitate to resume their
" operation ? They could not be
" afraid of a run upon them, for who
" could now think of any material
" advantage from boarding gold?"
Nevertheless, the bill passed ; and
thus was the Bank protected against
demands upon them for cash, until
!-;i\ weeks after the commencement
of the then next Session of Parlia
ment, which Session began in No
vember 1803.*
After what we have noiv seen, we
can hardly expect to hear of any
more reasons. It would, I think, have
been utterly impossible to invent any
pretext that Mr. AD DINGTON would
have made use of; but, most fortu
nately for him, before Parliament met,
and of course, before the Act ex
pired, WAli had begun again*. That
was quite enough ; and. without any
scruple, hesitation, or ceremony, the
Minister brought in a bill to prolong the
Stoppage, fcr Restriction, till the war
should be over, and until six months
after a definitive treaty of peace should
be concluded. He said, that "though
" doubts had been entertained as to
* The whole of this debate is very iin-
portanf, anc! also a subsequent one o? the
llth of February, 1803. They will be
fount! at full length, and very accurately
given, in the POLITICAL KI&UTER, Vol.
III. pages 1243 and 1347
277]
PAPER AGAINST GOLD.
1278
" the propriety of the measure, during
" a period of peaee. Under the im-
" pression, therefore, that no doubts
" existed on the subject, he should
<; take it for granted that no objection
" would be made, in the present in-
" stance, to a renewal of the measure.
tl It was satisfactory to know that the
"credit of the Bank had remained
e< firm and unshaken; during the past
" experience of the measure, and that
" its sufficiency to make good its en-
<( gnycments, botk was, and is, unaf-
"jf'ectcd by even the slightest sus-
This w;v all. There was very little
more said about the matter. All the
an\;ief ytir.it he expressed upon the
former occasion, for the happy day of
cash-payments to come, was now for
gotten ; or lie had got an entirely new
view of the matter. There were some
very interesting debates upon the sub
ject, in the House of Lords, hi which
LORD KING and LORD GRENVILLE
took a part, and in which they shew
ed, that they were duly impressed
with the dangerous consequences of
continuing this Act in force ;t but,
what they said was of no avail. The
Act was passed; it is, as you we 1
know, Gentlemen, in force to this
day; and, the proposition of the
Bullion Committee is, that it shall be
in force, to its present extent, at least,
only two years ionge
When we take a
review of "the
reasons for the passing of this Act,
at the several times at which it has
been passed; when we see how those
reasons have varied; when we see
how many times the expectation of a
return to cash-payments has been dis-
* See Parliamentary Debates, Vol. 1,
page 52. Where the reader will find Mr.
ADDINGTON'S grave idea* re8pecting hoard
ing money.
t .See Parliamentary Debates, Vol. I,
page I &l to 156. And page 304 to 319.
These two debates are of great importance.
There is scarcely any thing to be found in
the Bullion Report, as touching the main
points, which will not be found to have been
said, upon this occasion, by one or the other
of these two NoblenitD.
appointed; but, especially when we
Wk well into the part which the
Bank Company themselves have borne
in those transactions; when wo look
at what passed between the Minister
and the Bank Company previous to
the Stoppage ; when we look behind
the curtain and see the plan laid for
a private Meeting of tho principal
Bankers to settle upon the scheme for
a general meeting; when* we after
wards hear the Minister, in. Parlia
ment, talking of that Meeting as of a
thing in which he had had nothing to
do, and citing it as a mark of the public
confidence in the Bank Paper ; when
we take this view, Gentlemen, it is
not, I think, possible, that any of v*
can ever again be deceived by prf**-
fessions, promises, and outward appear
ance, as far, at least, as relates to thu
subject of Bank notes.
I have now gone through the whole
history of the Stoppage of money-
payments at the Bank of England,
which history, though it has, lientlt--
nit'ii, taken up a good deal of tmne,
will, I trust, be found woli worth botU
our time and our labour. Without a
knowledge of tin's history, it is im
possible for any one to form so correct
an opinion, as to {he future t as he will
be able to do with this history fairly
imprinted on his mind. In this his
tory he has before Mm the experience
of thirteen years; and, from what has
been, he will easily form his opinion
as to what, under the operation of
similar circumstances, is likely to hue-.
We have, by toiling through this his
tory, furnished ourselves with all tL«
knowledge (of any
real
here)
possessed by the members of the
Bullion Committee; and, perhaps, a
little more; so that, we shall now
enter into an examination of their
production without any dread of dilfi-
culty in the -progress, or of error in
the conclusion.
I am, Gentlemen^
Your faithful Friend,
WM. COBB1OT.
State Prison, Newgate, Monday,
10th December, IB 10.
[279
LETTER XX}
[280
LETTER XXI,
Appointment of the Bullion Committee— Names of the Members— Quantity of Bank-
Notes, compared with the Quantity of Real Money— -Amount of Bank of England
Notes in 17D7, and at this Time — Number of Country Banks — Probable Ampunt of
their Notes — Amount of Real Money in the Bank of England — Probable Amount of
Real Money in the Hands of the Country Bankers.
GENTLEMEN,
WE have now arrived at a point
whence we can see to the end of our
discussion. We have seen how the
Bank and the Stocks and the Bank
Notes arose ; we have seen that they
ah* grew up with the National Debt
and the Taxes; we have- seen, that,
at last, the Bank Notes became so
large in amount that they could no
longer be paid in money at the Bank
Shop in Threadneedle Street; we
have seen the means that have, in the
several stages, been resorted to, in
order to protect the Bank Company
against the demands of its creditors,
the holders of its notes ; and we have
had a pretty fair view of the conduct
of all the parties concerned in these
transactions. With the EVIL and
with the causes of the Evil we are
now well acquainted : it only remains
for us to obtain as good information
with respect to a REMEDY.
To discover and point out a RE
MEDY were the objects of the BUL
LION COMMITTEE, of whom I
must speak here a little more fully
than I hitherto have done. ; This
Committee, consisting of the members,
whose names you will find below,*
Mr. Homer
Mr. Henry Thornton
Mr. Sharp
Mr. Huskissor.
Mr. Tierney
Mr. Grenfeil
Mr. Davies Giddy
Mr. Abercrombie
Mr. Baring
Mr. Foster
Mr. Sheridan
Lord Temple
was, as I stated in Letter I, appointed
by the House of Commons, during
the last Session of Parliament, " to
" inquire into the cause of the high
" price of Gold Bullion, alid to take
" into consideration the state of the
" circulating medium, &c. <tc. and to
" report the same to the House."
They did so; and their Report was,
by the House of Commons, ordered
to be printed on the 8th of June last.
This Report, after shewing that the
Bank Notes have depreciated; after
giving very clear proofs of this fact,
and also of the fact that the deprecia
tion must continue to increase, unless
put a stop to by some means or other ;
after this, the Report recommends, as
a remedy, that the Bank Company
shall be, by law, compelled to pay
their notes in cash, as formerly, in
two years from this time; and, there
fore, the only great object which re
mains for our consideration, is, whe
ther this proposed remedy be practica
ble, or, whether it be one that cannot
be put in practice.
In order to arrive at a correct con
clusion as to this great question, upon
which, as you must already have per
ceived, the very existence, not only of
Mr. Parnell Mr. Perceval
Mr. Brand Mr. Long
Mr. George Johnstone Mr. Thompson;
Mr. Dickenson Mr. Manning*
Mr. Mageus
Printed by W. MOLINEUX, 5, Bream's Buildings, Chancery Lane; Published by W. COBBETT
. Jan. No. 8, Catherine Strett, Strand : and Retailed at No. 192, Strand.
N°'10-COBBETT'S PAPER AGAINST GOLD.— , Price Two-Pence
281]
the paper-money system, but also of
the Stocks or Funds, entirely depends,
we must, 1st. take a view of the
quantity of paper-money now afloat,
compared witti the quantity of real
money and bullion in the hands of
the Bank Company and in those of
the Country Bankers; 2d, we must
inquire into the rate of the deprecia
tion of the paper-money ; 3rd, we must
inquire into the means which the Sank
Company would have of obtaining real
money, wherewijLh to redeem, or pay
oil', their notes, or any considerable
part of them, and, if we shall find,
that for them to do this would be
impossible, our conclusion must be,
that the Bank Company cannot re
turn to their payments in gold and
silver.
The discussion of these matters I
shall divide into three Letters, in this
first of which I shall take a view of
the quantity of paper-money now
afloat, compared with the quantity of
real money in the hands of the Bank
Company and in those of the Country
Bankers.
The amount of Bank of England
notes in circulation before the Stop
page of payments in Gold and Silver,
in the year 1797, was, as the Com
mittee state, between 10 and 1 1 mil
lions of pounds. But, as it was na
tural to expect, when the Bank Com
pany was protected by Act of Parlia
ment against the demands ot their
creditors, they immediately began to
increase the quantity ef their notes;
and, let me ask, what lover of gain
would not do the same ? Where shall
we find a private person of that de
scription, *v ho would not increase the
issues of his promissory notes as long
as any one would take them, if there
were an Act of Parliament to protect
him against the demands of the hold
ers of those promissory notes?
That the consequence, which was
naturally to be expected, did take
place, was very well known, and had
been clearly «hewn in the Register,
W. Mlinoeux, Printer, Bream'* Buildings,
Qhaacery Lan«,
[282
and much commented upon therein,
long before, several years before, the
Bullion Committee existed, the readers
of the Register need not be told.
But, the Bullion Committee have ve
rified the facts and opinions given, in
this respect, in the Register; they
have published to the world, through
the channel of the House of Com
mons, that, what had been before
published in the Register, relating to
this matter, was sound and true.
They state, with regard to the
amount of the Bank of England notes,
that, previous to the Stoppage of
cash payments, in 1797, and the con
sequent Act of protection to the
Bank, the amount of these notes
" was between TEN and ELEVEN
" millions, hardly ever falling below
" NINE, and not often exceeding
" ELEVEN;" and that in May 1810,
the amount was upwards of TWENTY
ONE millions.
Gentlemen, you have so recently
felt the effects of a paper-money, not
convertible into gold and silver, look
at this. You see, that the amount of
the Bank of England notes has been
doubled in the course of 13 years, even
according to the account given in by
the Bank Company themselves. It ia
not my intention to insinuate, that
this account is not a true one ; but, it
is right that we should know, that this
statement has been made by the Bullion
Committee from an account made out
and presented to the Committee by
the Bank Company themselves ; and
that, therefore, we may rest perfectly
satisfied, that the amount of the in
crease in their notes has not been
stated too high.
But, as yet, we have seen only one
limb, and, perhaps the least fruitful o*.
this paper-money tree. The other
the Country Banks, has been, accord
ing to all appearance, much, more
prolific. It appears from the Report,
that, before the Stoppage, or Restrict
ion law was passed, there were TWO
HUNDRED AND THIRTY
283]
LETTER XXI.
[584
Country Banks* and that, in April
last, they had increased to SEVEN
HUNDRED AND TWENTY
ONE ; \vhich is an increase more
than threefold as to the number of
Banks, and, if we allow, as it is
reasonable to do, that the notes of the
old banks also increased in quantity,
the addition in the whole amount must
have been prodigious. No wonder
that gold, and crown-pieces, disappear
ed ; for how were they to be expected
to remain in circulation along with
such masses of paper ?
As to the amount of the Country
Notes at either of the periods before-
mentioned, or, at any period at all,
the Bullion Committee say, tkat they
are unable to ascertain it with any
degree of precision ; but, from certain
returns obtained by them from the
stamp office, they shew, that, after
making all allowances, and -taking the
matter in the most favourable point of
view, there was, during the year 1809,
in the 5 and 10 pound notes alone, an
INCREASE to the amount of more
than THREE MILLIONS; and,
from the other notes which appear to
have been stamped in that year, there
could n<jt be an increase of less than
TWO MILLIONS more in the
Country notes for other sums. In
that same year there was an increase
of a MILLION AND A HALF
in the amount of the Bank of England
notes ; so that, in the year 1809, the
total amount of the increase of the
Notes of all sorts could not be less
than six millions and a half. And
yet " the most thinking people" seem
to be quite astonished, that they no
longer see any guineas ; that guineas
are bought up and sent abroad ; and
that people in trade purchase, at a
premium, with Bank Notes, the
things called shillings and sixpences,
from the keepers of the Turnpike
Gates.
The amount of the Country notes,
though it has not been ascertained by
the Bullion Committee, and though
they were unable to ascertain it. may
be computed with a tolerable degree of
accuracy, seeing that they have as
certained and stated, that there was,
in the 5 and 10 pound notes alone,
an increase to the amount of three
millions of pounds in the year 1809,
and in the whole of the Bank of
England notes to th-e amount of a
million and a half; for, unless any
one can see, which I cannot, any
reason for a greater proportionate
increase in the Country Bank paper
than in the London Bank paper, the
question is nothing more than a very
plain one in the Rule of Three (if one
ought, in such ajcase, to be permitted
to use the Golden Rule,) and which
question would thus present itself ; if
1,500,000, of increase require a total
amount of issues ef 21,249,980, what
total amount of issues will be required
by an increase of 3,095,340. The
Answer will be 43,000,000 and up
wards. And if we make our computation
upon the .increase of 5,000,000, we
shall find the whole amount of Country
Bank notes, in 1809, to have been
70,000,000 and upwards, which,
there being 721 Country Banks, is
less than 100,000 for each ; and, it is
well known, that many of them have
half a million of notes out. Your
great Bank, at Salisbury, had, I
believe, notes out to the amount of
000,000 pounds.
Now, I am not aware of any thing
that can be said against this mode of
computation. I am, for my own part,
fully persuaded that it is fair, and,
that the result of it is not very far
from the truth. But, in order to leave
no room for cavil, let us suppose the
amount of the Country notes to be
only one half what it is her?* computed
at. Even in that case there must be
now in circulation paper promises to
the amount of 56 millions of pounds
and upwards.
Tlris, then, is the sum against which
we have to set the coin and bullion,
the gold and silver in the hands
of the London Bank Company, and
in. time *£ the Country Hankers.
285]
PAPER AGAINST GOLD.
[S8G
What is the exact amount of this no
one cao, tell, but every one must sup
pose, that comparatively, it is very
small indeed ; for if this had not heen
the case with regard to the Bank
Company, even in 1797, why did
they not state the amount of their
real money ? Why were they so shy
upon that score ? And, indeed, if their
stock of real money had not been very
good indeed, v.hy did they apply to
the Minister to know when he would
interfere? If they could have stood a
run of a week, they would have need
ed no Act of Parliament to protect
them against the demands of the note
holders. But this they could not
stand ; and there needs no other proof
of the smallness of the quantity of
their cash.
In Letter XV, page 202, we have
seen, that the whole amount of their
Cash and Bullion and Bills discounted
was only 4,176,080 pounds, on the
25th of February, 1797. As was
there asked, who is to say how much
of this consisted of Bills discounted ?
If more than one half had consisted
of cash and bullion they would not
have been jumbled together with Bills
discounted. Indeed, the cash, at that
time, in possession of the Bank Com
pany, was computed at 1,272,000
pounds, and, in a speech of Mr.
TIERNEY, quoted in Letter XX, page
276, it is stated at 1,000,000 of
pounds. There is no certainty in
this, to be sure ; but, Gentlemen, we
are quite certain of one thing, and
that is, that when men, whether single,
or in companies, have plenty of pe
cuniary means, they never are very
oautious to disguise the fact.
Is it probable then, that the quan
tity of cash in the hands of the
London Bank Company has increased
since 1797 ? Is it likely that, if they
had but about a million before they
were protected against the demands
of the note-holders, they have in-
greased the quantity since ? Will " the
" most thinking" people believe this ?
Tf they will there is certainly no
doubt but they are prepared for the
verification of the old proverb about
believing that the "moon is made of
" green cheese."
And, as to the Country Banks,
to suppose that they contain any thing
worthy of notice, in gold or bullion,
would be too absurd to be treated se
riously. The moon-raking adventure,
which has been ascribed to a Wiltshire-
man., was thus applied by DEAN
SWIFT at the memorable time of the
South-Sea Bubble, when so many
thousands and tens of thousands of
families were ruined by jobbers and
dealers in Funds and Stocks:
One night a fool into a brook
Tims from a hillock looking dawn,
The Golden stars for guineas took.
And Siivei- Cynthia for a crown.
The point he could no longer doubt,
He ran,. he leap'd into the flood,
There sprawl'd a while, and scarce got out,
All coverM o'er with slime and inud.
But, Gentlemen, foolish as our poor
countryman was, in this case, he was
not half so worthy of ridicule as we
should be, if we, with all the inform
ation we now possess, or have, at least,
had the means of possessing, were still
to believe, that Country Bankers have,
or ever will have, gold or silver sufficient
to pay off a thousandth part of the notes
that they have issued.
After taking this view of the matter;
after comparing the amount of the
Bank notes with the amount of the
Cash and Bullion, in the hands of
those by whom the notes have been
issued, ought we to wonder, that those
persons and all their friends, deprecate
the notion of paying again in cash ?
You have seen, Gentlemen, in the
course of these Letters, that the Bank
Company have been represented, \ipon
several occasions, as being perfectly
ready to pay again hi cash, and that
they have, upow all occasions, been
represented as able to pay again iii
cash. You have, all along, heard the
Stoppage spoken of as a temporary
287]
LETTER XXII.
[288
measure ; as a measure to last only
for a time ; the pretences were lame,
to be sure, but still there were pre
tences. Now, all this is thrown
aside, and they say, in plain terms,
that not to pay in cash is a very good
permanent system.
With such a mass cf paper and so
little coin and bullion, it was not to be
expected that the paper would not de
preciate or fall in value: but, as I
wish to make this depreciation the
subject of a separate Letter, I shall
here conclude by subscribing myself
Your faithful friend,
COBBETT.
State Prison, Newgate, Monday,
December 17th, 1810.
LETTER XXII.
" Legal Tenders have been the cause of the overthrow of every financial system into which they have beta
" introduced. ''— Eiiay OH .American Paper-money-
The Question of Legal Tender in Bank of England Notes— Two Letters received from
Correspondents as to the true Constitution and Practice of the Act of 1797— How far
the Bank of England Notes are a Legal Tender— They are so far as relates to Debts
due from the Bank of England including the Dividends— Not so with regard to Debts
and Contracts between man and man — Any holder of a Country Bank Note may com
pel the Payment of it in the Coin of the Kingdom — This proved by the Decision in the
Case of Grigby against Qakes — The Opinions of the four Judges in that Case— The
Justice of this Decision— The Reason why People have not hitherto compelled the
Country Bacnkers to pay their Notes in Coin,
GENTLEMEN,
THE proposed subject of this
Letter, was, an inquiry into the rate
of the depreciation of paper-mcncy ;
but, two letters, which I have received,
in the last six days, the one from
Glasgow, and the other from the
neighbourhood of Exeter, induce me
to devote this present Letter to the
answering of them, they being upon
the very important subject of the
legal tender.
The wrtter of the first letter ex
presses his doubts as to the correctness
of my exposition of the Bank Stop
page, or Restriction Act, (See Letter
XVI, page 219,) and his wishes that
I would give him my opinion again,
after having taken time to revise wlr^t
[ before said upon this part of the
subject. My correspondent near
Exeter, who tells me that he is a
farmer, thanks me for the useful in
formation that he is so good asf to say
he has received from this1 series of
Letters, and begs me, in a very earnest
manner, to tell him, whether I am
quite sure, that I was correct, when 1
said, that ajiy holder of country bank
notes might compel the payment of
them in gold and silver. Both these
gentlemen have put their names to
their letters ; but, as the same doubts
and uncertainties may have occurred
to others of my readers, I shall give
my answer in this public manner, and,
after having so done, there will, I
trust, remain no doubt or uncertainty
.it all.
I stated to you, Gentlemen, ID
Letter XVI, that, as far as related to
debts due from the Bank of England,
the notes of that Bank were, by the
Act of 1797, called the Bank Stop
page, or Restriction Act, made a legal
tender; that is to say, that the creditor
PAPEft AGAINST GOLD.
[290
was compelled to take those notes in
payment, or to go without any pay
ment at all. It, for instance, any one
of you has a Bank of England note
of ten pounds, and carry it to Thread-
needle Street for -payment, the Bank
Company may compel you to take
other of their notes in payment, or
they may, if you refuse such notes
in payment, refuse you payment in
any thing else.
It is the same with regard to the
payment of the dividends, that is to
say, the interest of the Stocks or
Funds. If, for instance, our neigh
bour, GRIZZLE GREENHORN, when
she goes to receive her half-year's in
terest upon her Stock, which, you
know, is paid her by the Bank Com
pany, were to say : •" pay me in good
" gold and silver," would, or might,
receive for answer, an assertion, that
the* law, the Act of 1797, protected
the Bank Company against such an
unreasonable demand. In a word,
the BanL Company might refuse, ab
solutely refuse to pay her her interest
in any thing but their ^own promissory
notes ; and, then, if she tendered them
those promissory notes for payment,
they might refuse to pay them in any
thing but other of their own notes;
that is to &ay, they would be ready -to
give her jresh promises to pay in lieu
of the promises to pay which they
had given her before ; but, she could
not compel jthem to give her one
shilling's worth of gold or silver,
except there might be due to her, in
the way of interest, any fractional
part of a pound.
Thus far, then, the Bank Com
pany's notes are a legal tender. And,
in the affairs between man and man,
if such notes be once accepted and
received in payment of any debt what
ever, they are, after such acceptance
and receipt, to be considered as a
legal payment in that case. If, for
instance, 1 owe my neighbour a hun
dred pounds, and tender him Bank of
England notes in payment, and he
receive them in payment to the amount
of the sum due to him, he is paid, I
am acquitted of my debt ; he cannot
afterwards sue me for the debt, upon
the ground, that I have not paid him
money, as he might do in the case of
other promissory notes, if there were
no particular agreement to bar him.
But, here the legal tender of Bank
of England notes stops. They are not
yet, in any other case, put upon a
footing with money. As to all tho
transactions between man and man,
except in the above circumstances,
which can occur only where the Bank
of England itself is a party, no person
is obliged to take Bank of England
notes in payment of any debt, or legal
demand. And this is a thing well
worthy of the attention of all those,
who have it in contemplation to enter
into contracts which are to have a fu
ture operation; for, if the value of
gold and, silver, compared with that
of Bank notes, should continue to in
crease, those who now make contracts
for payments to be made some years
hence,' should beai it constantly in
mind, that the party to whom they
will have to make such payment, will,
at all times, have it in his power to
insist upon gold coin in payment.
If this be the law, without any other
exceptions than those above named,
it follows, of course, that I can have
not the least hesitation in telling my
Devonshire correspondent, that I am
quite sure, that any holder of a Country
Bank note has it", at all times, in his
power to compel the payment of it in
gold or silver coin from the King's
mint, and of full weight and due fine
ness. I know, that a different notion
has prevailed ; and, I have heard it
said, or seen it stated in print, that
this compulsion cannot be effected;
because, it has been said, if you were
to bring your action of debt against
Paperkite and Co. they would pay
the amount into Court in Rank of
England notes ; and that, upcw proof
of their having done this be*ug
291]
LETTER XXII.
L292
duced, the Court would stop the pro
ceedings, or at least, throw all the
costs thereafter incurred upon you.
This would, indeed, make the Bank
of England nates a legal tender in fact,
though not in law ; or, in other words,
it would make an Act of Parliament
a mere delusion, a shuffle, a cheat, a
base premeditated fraud. But, this is
all a mistake ; it is not founded in
fact ; the Courts would attempt to do
no such thing ; for, if one could in any
case, suppose the inclination to exist
in the mind of a Judge, he would not
do it, nor think of it, in the face of
what has already heen done.
The question has been decided, and
that, too, with all possible solemnity,
as will* appear from the case which I
am now about to lay before you, and
the perusal of which will remove all
doubts whatever upon the subject. —
There appears to have been no doubt
about the letter of the law, in the mind
of either of my correspondents; but
they both doubt of its interpretation
in tfic Courts ; and the last-mentioned
gentleman say*, that, though upon the
face of the Act, there is nothing to
warrant the supposition, that a holder
of a Country Bank note- could not
compel the payment of it in gold and
silver, yet he thinks, that such holder
would, by the judicial construction of
the Act, be defeated in any attempt
to compel such payment; and, he
seems to think, that this is pretty-
clearly demonstrated in the fact (as he
supposes it to be), that no one has ever
yet attempted to compel Country
Bankers to pay their notes in gold
and silver.
He will, doubtless, be surprised to
find, that the attempt has not only
been made, but that it fully succeeded.
In the year 1801, four years after tike
Bank Stoppage, or Restriction Act
was passed, a Mr. GRIGBY, in the
county of Suffolk, went to the Bank
Shop of Messrs. OAKKS and Co. of
St. Edmunds Bury, and in presenting
them one of their own Five Guinea
notes for payment, demanded money.
The Bankers tendered him a Jive
pound Bank of England note, and
five shillings, which he refused to re
ceive, saying, that the five pound
Bank of England note was not money,
and that he would not take it. The
Bankers told him, that if he wanted
specie for his accommodation, they
would let him have it. He declined
to receive it in that way ; he said that
he stood in no need of it as an accom
modation ; that he demanded it as a
right ; and that, unless they paid him
in the coin of the kingdom, 4ae would
bring an action of debt against them.
Upon this ground they refused him
payment in coin, whereupon he brought
his action and obtained a verdict in
his favour at the Assizes; but the
question of law was, upon the motion
of the Defendant's counsel, reserved
for decision by the Judges ; and the
following is the Report of the Case,
as argued before, and determined by
the four Judges, of the COURT OF
COMMON PLEAS, on the 19th of
November 1801.
GRIGBY against OAKKS and Ano
ther — " This wag an action on a pro-
" missory note ; the Defendants us to
" all but five guineas pleaded non
" assumpserunt, and as to the remain-
" ing five guineas they pleaded a
" tender. The cause came on to he
" tried at the Summer Assizes for
" Suffolk, before Mr. Baron Hothain,
" when a verdict was found for the
" Plaintiff, with one shilling damages,
" subject to the opinion of the Court
" upon the following case. The De-
" fendants are Bankers at Bury St.
" Edmunds, and issued the note in
'' question for five guineas, payable on
' demand to the bearer. On the 31st
' of January last, the Plaintiff carried
' several notes to the shop of the De-
' feudant, and demanded payment.
" He first presented other notes, to
" the amount of 50 guineas, for which
"he received payment, partly in
" Bank of England notes and partJy
" in cash, the cash being ten pounds,
" and being the proportion of mo'iey
293]
PAPER AGAINST GOLD.
[294
" they usually pay. lie then pre-
" scnted the note in question, for
" which the Defendants tendered
" in payment a five pound Bank of
" England note and five shillings in
" in silver. This the Plaintiff ret used
" on the ground that the tender was
" partly in a Bank of England note,
" objecting to such note, and insisted
" on being paid wholly in money.
" The Plaintiff did not at the time
" say he wanted money for his own
" particular accommodation, but stated
" t!iat he came on purpose to have cash
" for the note, or to bring an action
" if payment in money was refused.
" The question for the opinion of
" the Court was, Whether under the
V circumstances before stated, the
" Plaintiff was entitled to recover ?
" Serjeant SHEPHERD, for the De-
" fendants, urged, that though un-
" questionably previous to the passing
" of the 87 Geo. 3, c. 45, commonly
" called the Bank Act, a bank-note
" w.ould not have been a legal tender,
" yet that, since the passing of the
" above Act such notes must be con-'
" sidered as cash, for that the nece?-
" sary consequence of the above Act
" being to absorb a vast proportion of
" the actual cash of the country, the
" Legislature must have intended to
" give a new character to Bank notes
" by way of substitute ; that they had
" specifically declared them to be a
*' good tender so as to prevent an
" arrest, and yet if the same spirit
" which actuated the present Plaintiff
" in the counnencement of this action
*' was to continue to influence his con-
" duct, and that of others also, a De-
fendant.though exempted from arrest
might ultimately be taken in execu
tion, though ready to pay in Bank
notes, since he might possibly be
unable to satisfy the judgment ob-
' tained against him altogether in
" money : because even if a sale of his
".goods" took place, the Sheriff might
*' not be able to avoid receiving a large
" proportion of bank-notes from the
" purchasers ; that, indeed, in some
respects, bank-notes were privileged
by the 37 Geo. 3, c. 45, beyond
cash, inasmuch as a tender of them
in satisfaction of a debt operated to
discharge a party from arrest, which
was not the case with a tender of
'money, which must be pleaded in
bar ; and that no contrary inference
could be drawn from the 8th sec-
tion of the Act, which declared pay-
nients in bank-notes to be equiva-
lent to payments in cash, if made
and accepted as such, because that
must have been the case before the
passing of the Act, and therefore
that clause must be deemed nuga-
tory.
" Serjeant SELLON, on the other
side, was stopped by the Court.
" LORD ALVANLEY, (Chi*>f Jm~
tice). — The question for the Court
to decide is a mere question of law,
arising, as it has been contended,
out of the provisions of the 37 Geo.
3, c. 45. In fact we are called up-
on to say whether it follows as a ne-
cessary consequence from that Act,
that a tender in bank-notes is equi-
ralent to a tender in money ? It
may be very true that individuals
may be occasionally subjected to
great inconveniences from the ope-
ration of that Act; but are we there-
fore to say that the Legislature has
enacted that which the provisions of
the Act do not wan*ant? If we were
at liberty to refer to our own pri-
vate knowledge of the language that
was held in Parliament while this
Act was pendhig, no doubt could be
entertained upon the subject We
kno\r that it was very much can-
vassed at that time, Whether or not
the Legislature ought to go the length
of declaring bank-notes a good legal
tender? If, therefore, it had been
intended by the Legislature so to
make them, that intention would
have been expressed in such clear
terms that no question coulo have
arisen upon the subject. Indeed,
it is expressly provided, in the 2nd
section of the Act; that if the Go ver-
295]
LETTER XXI t
[296
nor and Company of the Bank of
England shall be sued on any of
their notes, or for an}' sum of mo
ney, payment of which in their notes
the party suing refuses to accept,
they may apply to the Court in
which such proceedings are insti
tuted, to stay proceedings during
such time as they are restricted
from paying in cash. But with re
spect to individuals it was not intend
ed to prevent any creditor, who
should be so disposed, from capti
ously demanding a payment in mo
ney, though such a creditor is de
prived of the benefit of arresting his
debtor. Thank God, few such cre
ditors as the present Plaintiff have
been found since the passing of the
act ! But yet, whatever inconveni
ences may arise, and to whatever
length they may go, Parliament and
not this Court must be applied to for
a remedy. Inconvenience arising
from the operation of an act of Par
liament, can be no ground of argu
ment in a Court of Law ; and even if
it were, still I should entertain no
doubt, that it was the intention of
the Legislature to make bank-notes
a legal payment only in certain cases
by them expressed, and that in all
other cases they should remain upon
the same footing upon which they
stood before the uct, except as to
the exemption* from arrest, which
they afford to the party tendering
them in payment. The 8th. section
of the act, which has been treated
as nugatory in the argument, how
ever it may enact nothing new , still
appears to me pregnant with the in
tentions of Parliament, and to speak
loudly the resolution not to alter the
character of bank-notes, but in those
cases which are specially provided
for. Without however referring to
any of those specific clauses, and ar
guing from them as to the intent of
thf Legislature, T should be Nearly
of opinion, that the present Plaintiff
is MJ titled to our judgment in his fa
vour,
" Judge HEATH. I am of the
same opinion. The question for us
to decide is, whether a tender in
bank-notes is a good legal tender ?
Now the 37 Goo. 3, c. 45. appears
to me to negative that question ; for
the several provisions ot the act
making them a good and legal tender
in certain excepted cases, excludes
the idea of their being so generally
in cases not provided for by the act.
It has been argued, however that
the operation of the act will in many
cases be very injurious, unless we
determine it to be a necessary infer
ence from the act that bank-notes
were intended by the Legislature
to be put upon the same footing as
cash. But whatever inconvenien
ces may arise, the Courts of Law
cannot apply a remedy. I think,
indeed, the Legislature acted wisely,
having the recent example of France
before their eyes, to avoid making
bank-notes a legal tender; for in
France we know that legislative pro
visions of that kind in favour of
paper currency only tended to de
preciate the paper it was designed
to protect, and were ultimately re
pealed, as injurious in their nature.
" Judga ROOKE. I am of the
same opinion.
" Judge CHAMBRE. This case ap
pears to me almost too plain for
argument. It has been thought
that the Courts went a great way
in holding a tender in bank-notes to
be a good tender, if not objected to
at the time. Certainly that was art
innovation ; though perhaps a bene
ficial one. But the act upon which
the present question arises affords
nothing but arguments against the
inference attempted to be drawn
by it. Surely the observation that
in some respects the Legislature
have put bank-notes on a more fa
vourable footing than cash, leads to
a conclusion directly contrary to
that which it was intended to sup
port. If the Legislature have not
gone far eaough, it is for themt
297]
PAPER AGAINST GOLD.
[298
" not for us, to remedy the defect.
" Indeed, by making bank-notes a
" good tender in certain cases, speci-
" fically provided for, they appear to
" me to have negatived the construc-
" tion we are now desired to put upon
" the act."
It will hardly be doubted, that I
have copied this report with great
care. I have, indeed, given every
word of it ; but, for the satisfaction of
my correspondents, to whom I am
really obliged for their inquiries, I will
add, that the report is taken from a
ivell known law-book, entitled, " Bo-
" sanquet's and Puller's Reports of
" Cases argued and determined in the
" Court of Common Pleas and Ex-
" chequer Chamber and in the House
" of Lords, from Michaelmas Term,
" in the 40th year of the reign of
" George III. (1799) to Michaelmas
" Term, in the 42nd Year of the same
«« reign (1801,) both inclusive."
After reading this report, there can
not remain, in the mind of any man,
the smallest doubt upon this subject.
Here is the fact, in practice as well as
in theory, clearly established, that
any holder of a Country bank-note,
Eayable to bearer on demand, or the
older of any such note, except of the
Bank of England, may, at any time,
when he pleases, demand payment of
such note in the gold and silver coin
issued from the King's mint, that coin
being of iegal weight and fineness.
And, if such payment be refused,
upon deman^ the holder of such note
may immediately proceed to sue for
such payment, which, if the party
sued has the means, he mt.-t finally
pay in coin, together with full costs of
suit.*
And, indeed, if this was not the law,
* The shilling damages, mentioned in th£
first part of the above Report, is merely the
nominal damages, which it is the custom to
lay, in cases where the object, as in this
case, is to ascertain the question of right.
Bat, the Plaintiff had his costs qf suit in this
case, as every other plaintiff must have,
who brings an action in a similar way, and
on similar groundi.
the Bank of England notes would be
a legal tender to all intents and pur
poses ; for, the issuers of these notes
being protected by law against the
holders of them, the holder of a Coun
try Bank note would have no claim
\ipon the Country Banker, or upon
any body else, for coin. The man
who chooses to take a Bank of Eng
land note, does it knowing that he can
not force any one to pay him its no
minal amount in coin ; and, therefore
if he choose to take it, he has no rea
son to complain. Persons, who buy
Stock, know that they are to be paid
their interest in Bank of England
notes; and, therefore, they have no
reason to complain. But, if either of
you sell your corn or your wool, and
take a Country Bank note for it, that
is to say, the promissory note of your
neighbour, you expect to have the real
worth of your corn, or your wool ;
and, of course, you expect to be paid
by your neighbour in the real money
of the kingdom, which money, as I
have now shewn you, you have a legal,
as well as a moral, right to demand.
Lest any one should raise a doubt
upon the circumstance of Mr. GRIG-
BY'S demand having been founded up
on .a note given for guineas instead of
pounds, I beg you to observe, that this
circumstance was not even alluded to
by either of the Judges, or by the
Counsel who argued against Mr.
GRIGBY. You will perceive, besides,
that the Judges speak generally of all
delfls, except tho^e only due from the
Bank of England itself. The decision
is founded upon the broad principle,
that Bank of England notes may be
refused in all cases, except only those
wherein the Sank of England itself
is the debtor, including the dividend!*
upon the National Debt, and there the
Bank is regarded as the debtor to the
Stock-holder.
It is also worthy of your observa
tion, that, though the Chief Justice
seemed to think, that it might become
necessary to make the Bank of Eng
land notes a legal tender in all cases
LETTER XX 111.
another of the Judges expressed him
self as decidedly of opinion, that such
a measure would be both unjust and
impolitic; .ami, indeed, that it would
?ast, to imitate the mea-
. of Iloirfi.spiERE, who compelled
the people of France to take paper-
j»onfy upon pain of death.
Ii' it should be asked., why other
persons have not done as Mr. GRIGBY
did, the answer is, that the people of
this country, generally speaking, have
really thought, that, by the Act of
1797, the Bank of England notes
were made, to all intents and pur
poses, a legal tender, and, of course,
that, if a man refused to take them in
payment, be had not the means of
forcing 'the debtor to pay him in any
other sort of thing. Nor is this ge
nerally prevailing error to be much
wondered at, seeing what were the
means made use of at the time of the
Bank Stoppage. When you reflect
upon the famous meeting and resolu
tions at the Mansion- House in Lon
don, the secret history of which I have
.tfiven you. WJien you reflect upon
the effect of these RESOLUTIONS,
issued under the signature of the LORD
MAYOR; followed, as they immedi
ately were by Resolutions, of a simi
lar purport, from the PRIVY COUN
CIL, -iiid from the, Justices assembled
in Quarter Sessions, in the several
counties. When you reflect on the
official manner, and the authoritative
air of all these promulgations, you
will cease to wonder, that the Resolu
tions to take and pay the paper of the
Bank of England wrere, by the mass
of the people, regarded as having the
force of law
Now, however, you know the true
value of those Resolutions ; you know
what is, and what is not, the law, re
lating to this important matter, in
which every man of you is so deeply
interested, and on your judgment and
discretion with respect to which may
depend the permanent welfare of your
selves and your families, to assist in
the advancement of which welfare has
always been, and always will be, a
principal object of the labours of
Your faithful friend,
WM. COBBETT.
State Prison, Newgate, Monday,
December 24 M, t810.
LETTER XXIII.
*Xt is in the tort tveiitjj years of the Funding Sjstera, that all the great iho^kt begin t« cpertte,"— Paine,
Events since the Date of the foregoing Letter— Bank Notice about the Dollar— Various
Reports of the Effect of that Measure . Proposals in Parliament respecting the Bullion
Report.
GENTLEMEN,
In reviving my correspondence with
you, it will be necessary for me to re
vert for a moment to the point, at
which I broke off, which was at
Letter XXII, in which, as you will
recollect, it was shewn, for the satis
faction of two correspondents in the
country, that, any man, having country
bank-notes in his possession, had (and
he still has, of course) the power of
compelling the drawer of such notes
to pay him in yold or silver, the lawful
coin of the realm.
But, that Letter was a digression
from the main track of our subject,
3011
which, at the close of Letter XXI,
was leading us into the great question
as to the depreciation, that is to say,
fall, of the Bank of England notes ;
a question, which has caused more
discussion than any other that has
been agitated for many years past,
and which, I think, we may now look
upon as completely decided, seeing
that , while the dispute was going on,
the Bank Company themselves have
done an act which can, in the mind
of no man out of a mad-house, leave
the .smallest doubt upon the subject.
Nevertheless, as I wish that this
series of letters should contain the
whole • of what I have thought, and
still think, relating to this interesting
mutter ; I shall treat of the question
here spoken of, after I have recorded
the events, which have taken place
since I last addressed you; and which
events are important to a degree, that
few persons, comparatively speaking,
appear to imagine.
When, on the 24th of December,
I wrote my last Letter to you, I did
expect, that the winter would not pass
over our heads without some striking
change as to the circulating currency
of the country. It appeared to me,
as I had, upon former occasions, told
my readers, quite impossible, that
things could go on much longer with
out events that would strike the im
pudent partizans of the paper system
dumb, The guinea had, for some
time, been a marketable commodity ;
and under such circumstances, the
paper will not continue much longer
without being openly at a discount in
all transactions. The coin of every
denomination grew daily more and
more scarce ; till at last, change for a
pound note was with difficulty ob
tained ; and, as these difficulties in
creased, people, of course, felt an
increased inclination to hoard the
coin.
As a remedy for this evil, the Bank
Company issued a Notice, raising the
Dollar (which was in circulation at the
rate of 5s.) to 5*. 6d. and it was after-
PAPER AGAINST GOLD
[302
wards found, that this Notice had been
issued with the advice and approba
tion of the PRIVY COUNCIL, or, at
least, of a Committee of the Privy
Council, appointed to watch over the
affairs of Coin.* This Notice, which
was first published on the 18th of
March, not only failed to produce the
intended effect; but, it produced an
effect precisely the opposite of that,
which was intended by the Privy
Counsellors and the Bank Directors.
The few Dollars that were in circula-
lation immediately disappeared, and
the distress for change became so
great, that people were obliged to
take ten shillings worth or 15 shil
lings worth of halfpence in changing
a pound note, which halfpence were,
for the most part, mere raps, not
worth a tenth part of their nominal
value.
Many of the shop-keepers in Lon
don, in order to procure the means of
carrying on their business, notified, by
bills put in their windows, that
they v/ould receive the Dollar (the
real value of which, is less than 4s. Gd.)
at 5s. 9d. and some of them notified,
that they would receive it at 6*.
The same continues to be done now;
and, that man must be blind indeed,
who does not perceive, that two prices
have to a certain extent, already taken
place.
The inconvenience arising from th«
want of money under a pound note
was felt very severely by the Bankers,
whose customers drawing upon them
for any sums that they might happen
to want, frequently, of course, drew
for parts of a pound. These the
Bankers were unable to supply ; and,
on the 9th of April, a circular para
graph appeared in the London news
papers, exhorting people to draw for
whole pounds. On the same day it
was stated, that, in the shops, markets,
* The Notice, and the Minute of these
Privy Counsellors will be found in the
A^oendix (C).
303]
LETTER XXIII.
[304
and public offices, people gave written
acknowledgments for the pails of a
pound, and left them thus unpaid.
On the llth of April, Mr. MAN-
Ni?vG, the Deputy Governor of the
IBank, and who is also a Member of
Parliament, informed the House,
that, the Bank were about to issue a
large quantity of Dollars ; and he ob
served, that those persons who were
hoarding; them, in the expectation that
they would rise in price, would be
disappointed. Some days before
this (on the 4th of 4prilV the Bank
thought it necessary to publish an ad
vertisement, that the report of great
quantities of their notes having been
forged, and that the plates from which
the saici notes had been taken, had
been stolen, was wholly false; and, it
seems, that this report was spread
very widely through the country ; the
object being to excite suspicion of the
Bank of England notes, and thereby
to insure a preference for the Country
bank-notes. On the 19th of April,
it was stated in the public prints, that
a person had a promissory note disho
noured because he could not produce
to the person, who" had to receive the
payment, the change of 18s. 3rf.
On the 23rd of April a prisoner, con-
lined for debt in the Marshalsea
Prison, obtained his release, because
his creditor in paying him his main
tenance money, gave him a piece of
foreign coin instead of a sixpence.
On the same day, it was stated in the
public prints, that at some of the
public offices, change was not only
refused, but that certain o'f the Clerks
in those offices, were dealers in the
article, and suppliedjhe bankers with
nicer at 3 per cent*- On the same
day, 23rd of April, JAMES KING, a
Guard to a coach, was taken before
the Lord Mayor, upon a charge of '
having bjpugkt guineas, and was held
to ba#4 On the 26th of April,
there was a paragraph, published in
alj the London daily prints, stating,
^fhat the Chinese had just discovered
that gold and silver were too abundant1
with them, and, it was added, that
they were going to send great quan-
ties of it hither, some of which might
be speedily expected. • In the pub
lic prints of the 27th, 29th and 30tli
of April, it was stated, that ten thous
and pounds in gold had been seized
on board of a ship, about to carry it
abroad. M any statements of this sort
had appeared before, but this one was
worthy of particular attention.
Also that a riot, attended with acts of
violence and killing, had taken place
at Sampford, in consequence of the
scarcity of change.—*- A circular
paragraph appeared at this time repro- -
bating the practice of hoarding, and
hinting that it would be proper to
punish it as a crime. At the same
time another circular paragraph ap
peared advising people not to hoard
the change, for that a new silver
coinage was just coming out that would
sink the value of the present coin.
At the same time Mock bank-notes
were circulated from the King's
Bench and Fleet Prisons, by the
means of which some unwary persons
were cheated. An account of gold
lawfully exported during one week
was published at this time, from
which it was manifest, that the gold
and silver were going to France and
her dominions as fast as possible.
It was now announced that the Bank
had issued more Dollars, and that
£.300 worth had been sent to each of
the Banking Houses in London.
Such, Gentlemen, were the symptoms
of the effect of raising the nominal
value of the dollar ; and on the 8th of
May, it was stated in the public prints,
that another seizure of guineas had
been made on board a ship sent into
Dover. The words of the statement
were these : "Four thousand and
" ffty more guineas have been found
on board the ship sent into Dover
last week, it is supposed she will
be pulled to pieces, as her very iron
ballast is hollou-ed to receive gold.
She is called the New Union of
London." They may pull her to
'305
PAPER AGAINST GOLD,
{306
pieces and burn her ; they may do
what they like ^ith her; but, Gentle-
meu, as long as this paper-money ex
ists in England, he gold and silver
will continue to go out of it in some
way or other. The Government may
be ingenious, and we know it is able
o employ great numbers of artful
men ; but, all their art put together ;
tand all the powers of the government,
not excepting the power of life and
death, will never make gold and silver
circulate at par with a depreciated
paper.
I have thus filled up the history of
the time since I last addressed you.
That time is hardly five months, and
\et, what events are here! What a
change is here, in so short a space of
time ! And, canyon be made to be
lieve, that the thing will stop where it
is ? Is it possible that you can be
persuaded to believe, that the Bank
Notes will now, or will ever, revive ?
The grand effort now, with all those
who wish to deceive the people, and
to profit from their credulity, is to per
suade them, that it is not the Bank
Note that has fallen; but, the geld
and silver that have risen. This seems
to be the last trick in the budget ; but,
what I have to say upon this head I
must reserve till I come to my intend
ed Letter upon the subject of depre
ciation.
In the mean while we must see
what has been passing in Parliament,
relating to this matter ; so that, before
we proceed upon the remainder of
our inquiries, we may have the whole
history of the paper-money before us,
down to the very day when we shall
come to our conclusion. In the fore
going Letters, there will be found, I
am convinced, the most complete his
tory of our Paper Money that has
ever yet appeared in print. We have
there traced it from its very outset to
the day when the people of Salisbury
became, all in a moment, destitute of
the means of getting a dinner. In this
Letter its history has been brought
«*wn to last Saturday ; and all that
we have now to do is to give, in as few
words as possible, the history of the
BULLION DEBATE, which, per
haps, would be unnecessary for our
present purposes ; but, this is a sub
ject every fact belonging to which
ought to be so recorded as to be capa
ble of being hereafter referred to ; and
ought, if possible, to be made known
in every part of the world.
The Report of the Bullion Com
mittee, which was printed last year,
was laid before the House of Com
mons but a short time previous to its
rising. It was ordered to be printed
on the 8th of June, and 1 must say,
that it gives me great pleasure to re
flect, that it issued from the press on,
the very day that I was sent to jail! I
shall always remember this with satis
faction. It will be a source of de
light to me as long as I have breath
in my body ; aye, and it will be borne
in mind, too, long after the bank-notes
and all, yea all, that thereon depend,
shall have come to their true level ;
their proper state.
The time being so short, the House
could not take the Report into con
sideration, during the last Session;
therefore, this part of the business
was to be performed during this
Session. The Chairman of the Com
mittee, Mr. FRANCIS HORNER, was
to propose some measure to be adopt
ed in consequence of the Report ; but,
he being a lawyer and a placeman at
the same time; having to go the
Western circuit and to manage the
Nabob of Arcot's Debts, he, of
course, could hardly find time for this
Bullion affair. After many appoint
ments and disappointments, however,
he, at last, brought the matter for
ward on Monday last, the 6th instant,
when a Debate ensued, which lasted
during four successive nights ; it being
the custom in this Assembly to carry
on the greater part of their works
after it is dark.
Previous, however, to this Debate
Mr. HORNER had laid upon the table
of the House a string of PROPOSE
307]
LETTER XXIV.
[308
TIONS, expressive of his opinions as
to the state of the coin and paper-
money Nof the country, andvalso as to
the remedy to be applied, la a few
days after these had been before the
house, Mr. NICHOLAS VANSITTART, j
who took the other side of the ques- ,
tion, laid before the House a set of
opposing PROPOSITIONS; which he
soon afterwards followed by a set of
Propositions being the former set
amended ; and these were follow
ed by another paper from Mr.
HORNER, containing Propositions in
the form of amendments upon his bro
ther lawyer's Proposition?, both of
the gentlemen being " learned
friends."
The* way being thus prepared, all
the preliminary steps having been
taken, the discussion was entered
upon on the day before-mentioned, at
the end of one year, two months, and
fourteen days from the time that the
Committee commenced its labours.
I have began inserting this Debate,
and I shall insert all the principal
speeches before I have done; and I
do it, because I wish to afford all my
readers, and you, Gentlemen, in par
ticular, an opportunity of perusing,
at your leisure, what these persons
have said upon this important subject;
and, besides, my wish is to place
these speeches where they may be,
at all times, conveniently referred to,
seeing that my conviction is, that
events are now hastening on apace;
events that will set all low cunning,
all chicanery, all trick, at defiance;
and that, of course, will put the opi
nions, contained in these speeches, to
the test. My conviction is, that the
time is not far distant, when it will
be impossible to deceive the people
of England; when truth will reign;
and, at that time, it will be of
great advantage for us to know
what have been the opinions of -men
who have taken a part in these dis
cussions, and to what point, whether
good or evil, their endeavours have
tended*.
What we have to discuss is the
question of depreciation, or fall, in
the value of the Bank Notes; and,
after that, the remedy proposed by
Mr. HORNER and those who side with
him. I shall, I trust, go to work in a
way very different indeed from that
of these gentlemen; and, when I have
written my opinion, there the matter
will rest, and the truth of our several
opinions will be tried by Time, which
tries all things.
t remain,
Gentlemen,
Your friend,
. COBBETT.
State Prison, Newgate, Friday,
May, \0th, 1811.
AppendixD.
LETTER XXIV.
Sauce for the Goose is sauce for the Gander."— Old Proverb.
Injury to Commerce by Buonaparte-He is said to have caused the Gold to leave
England -The Fault is with our Government-Oui Appeals to the French People
absurd-Forged Bank Notes sent into Kent from France-Forged Ass.gnats— De
cision in the Court of King's Bench
GENTLEMEN, to inquire, whether the Bank of Eng-
WE have now to discuss the ques- land Notes have, or have not, depre-
tion of Depreciation. We have now dated; that is to say, fallen in value.
309]
PAPER AGAINST COLD.
[310
After what we have seen in the former
Letters, and particularly in that im
mediately preceding, it is, indeed,
nearly useless to put this question to
any man of sense, and much more so
to make it a subject of serious dis
cussion. Nevertheless, it will be
right so to do ; seeing that these Let
ters are intended to treat of every
part of this great subject, and to put
upon record all the material facts and
arguments appertaining to it.
In the House of Commons, during
the Debate on the Bullion Report
and on the Resolutions thereon pro
posed, by Mr. FRANCIS HORNER on
the one side, arid Mr. NICHOLAS
VANSITTART on the other, it was
contended, by those who were for Mr.
VANSITTART, that is to say, by the
MINISTRY, and their adherents ; by
this part of the House it was con
tended, that the Bank paper had not
depreciated, or fallen in value; and,
being asked, how they then account
ed for the fact, that a guinea was
worth 26s. or 27s. they answered,
that it was very time, that Gold and
Silver had risen; but, that the Bank
paper had not fallen. •
They were then asked, how, since
they would insist upon it that it was a
rise of Gold and Silver, it had come
to pass at this time above all others.
Allowing, for argument's sake, that it
was a rise in the value of the guinea,
they were asked how the value of the
guinea came to rise. Their answer
to this was, that it was owing chiefly
to the injury done to our commerce by
the extraordinary, the cruel, the sa
vage measures of the inexorable tyrant
Buonaparte, whom they designated by
every appellation characteristic of a
despot, and even a fiend,
Gentlemen, we will stop here and
make a few observations upon these
charges against the Emperor of
France ; for, it would be very foolish
in us, who call ourselves " the most
" thinking people in the world," to
suffer ourselves to be amused with
charges against Napoleon, when we
should be considering of the real
cause of the mischief thai is ncur
come upon us, and of the greater mis
chief that is still coming, and will
come with most dreadful effect, unless
we take timely measures for prevent
ing that effect; this would be selling
ourselves to laughter indeed, making
ourselves an object for the contempt
of Europe, not excepting the Dutch
and those other nations, whom, v.iih
empty insolence, our hireling writer*
and others ailect to pity.
We call upon tlie Bank for Gold
and Silver in payment of their pro
missory notes. They have no Gold
or Silver to give us; or, at least, none
do they give. They are protected by
law against our demands. Some per
sons propose to remove this impedi
ment to our demands. The men in
power and a great majority of the
House of Commons say, uo ; and,
they, in objecting to the proposition,
say, that the Bank have not the gold
and silver; that they cannot get if;
and, that -it is, therefore, impossible in
make them pay. This is a sorry an
swer enough ; but, when we complain,
we are told, that the fault is not witii
the Government or with the Bank,
and that it is woolly with Buonaparte,
by the means of whose laws, edicts,
and workings of one sort or another,
the Gold and Silver have been drav»n
out of England.
What should we think, Gentlemen,
what should we " thinking people*
think of a General, who was to writ*
home word, that he had been beaten
and routed and lost half his army ;
but, that the fault was none of hip,
and that it was wholly the fault of
the enemy's General, who had adopt
ed against him a series of extraordi
nary, cruel, and savage measure,*?
What should we thinking people stiy
to such a geVieral? What would Mr.
QUIN, the editor of the Traveler
news-paper, in his sublime wntionv
in the Common Council, sny to sucTi
a general? Would he vote him thanks
and a sword ? I do not say that he
311]
LETTER XXIV.
[312
would not; but, I think, that you
•will agree with me, that such a ge
neral would, amongst most men, meet
with but a cold reception; and, that h
Mould be toW, tliat it was the business
of the enemy to beat him, to rout him,
to break him up, to ruin him; and
that it was his business to prevent the
enemy from so doing, and a] so to
beat and break up and ruin the
enemy.
Just such, must, if we have a grain
of sense left, be our answer to the
ministers and their adherents, \Vhen
they blame Buonaparte for having de
prived us of our Gold and Silver. It
was their business to prevent him from
doing us this mischief. It was their
. business to protect the country against
the fatal effects of the enemy's mea
sures; and, if they found themselves
unequal to the task, they should have
aaid SG; and* I warrant them, there
would not have been wanting others
to take the labour off their hands.
These ministers and their predeces
sors, for the last twenty years, have
had the complete command of all the
means, all the resources, of this king
dom, of every sort. They have car
ried all the measures that they pro
posed. They have found out the way
of putting down all opposition, or, at
least, of rendering all opposition quite
inefficient; and, therefore, to them,
and to them alone, the nation is to
look for responsibility for whatever
mischiefs exist, or are likely to exist.
If, indeed, all be well; if there be
nothing to complain of; if the nation
be in no danger; ft' there be no evil;
then, they have nothing to be blamed
for; but, if there be any thing in our
situation, the existence of which we
have cause to lament, to whom are
we to look for responsibility but to
them ?
But, to take another view .of the
matter, what, let me ask, has Napo
leon done against our commerce
our currency, for which he will not
easily find a justification in our ex
ample ? Have we neglected any means
in our power to injure the commerce
and the finances of France? Did not
Pitt, from the very outset of the war
against the French Jacobins and
Levellers, call it a war of finance?
And, were not all our efforts bent
down towards the beating of France
through her finances? This is noto
riously the fact; and, as to her com
merce, it must be well known to every
one, that we risked a war with the
American States for tha purpose of
intercepting provisions in their way to
the people of France, when they
were menaced with famine. Was
this fair and honourable warfare ? I
shall be told that it was. I will not
discuss the point. But, if it was so,
what reason have we to complain now,
when France prevents us, not from
receiving corn from her dominions;
but, merely from sending our products
to those dominions. This is the ut
most that Napoleon does, or that he
can do; and, I put it, then, to any
reasonable man, whether we have
real cause of complaint. We may bo
sorry for what Napoleon is doing;
and we must be sorry for the indivi
duals who suffer from his measures ;
t, can we complain uf him for not
receiving our goods now, when we
recollect, that we would not suffer
lie people of France to receive^ftmr
rom America when we thought them
n the midst of famine, and when we
•urther recollect, that we openly
avowed the wish and the endeavour
to prevent their receiving Jemtfs
Bark, a drug so necessary, in many
cases, to the preservation of life?
This was fair in us, I shall be told.
Very well. That I am not question
ing; but, if this was fair; if a state
of war tolerated this, have we, I ask
LONDON
(EntereB at Stationer*'
-Printed by War, MOLINEUX, Bream's Building!, Chancery Lane.
N°-J1.]~ COBBETT'S PAPER AGAINST GOLD.— [Price Two-Pence.
313]
again, any reason to complain of
him, any reason to call
tyrant
(as GEORGE ROSE did) because he
\viil not now permit any part of his
[314
collect our conduct at the outset of
the war ; and for many years, during
its continuance ? Ail our appeals,
therefore, from Napoleon to the peo-
people to receive goods which are pie of France are absurd ; and only
our produce or our property ?
Oli, no! We must expect that the
people of France have the same sort
of feelings that we have ; and, Gen
tlemen, mark it well, I pray you, we
intercepted the flour on its way to
France long before Napoleon's name
was known to us. We, or at least,
our venal writers, now affect a vast
deal of compassion tor the people of
France. These writers appear to la-
bespeak the desperateness of our si
tuation.
To return more closely to our sub
ject ; it appears from the report of the
Bullion Debate, that Lord CASTLE-
RE AGH said, that the tyrant of the
Continent had, thus far, been de
feated in all his attempts against us ;
that he at first attempted invasion,
that he next endeavoured to excite
rebellion, that he then assailed our
commerce; and, that having failed hi
ment that the French people are sub- , _.o
jected to so terrible a despotism. | all these, he was now endeavouring to
But, either the people of France hear ' ruin our currency.
what our writers say, or they do not :
if they do not hear it, then it cannot
possibly produce any effect upon
them ; and, if they do hear it, they
cannot fail to call to mind, that we
have been at war against them through
all their forms of (/overnment ; and,
that while they were under a repub
lican form, or namet our hostility
was much more decided and bitter
than at this moment ; for, we then de
clared war against the principles of
their constitution; we declared that
no relations of peace were to be main
tained with them ; and, now that they
are under a monarchy (for that means
a government by the will of one per
son), we affect to feel a great deal of
pity for them ; we sigh to see them free;
and call upon them, as loudly as our
venal writers can, to rise against their
tyrant. Had we begun war with
them only when their revolution had
worked itself into a monarchy, then,
indeed, our appeals to them against
their ruler might have bee» of some
avail ; but, how is it possible for them
to believe, that we are now desirous
of seeing them free, when they re-
VT, MOUNEUX, Printer, Br«un'» BuildiGgs,
Now, how far this statement Vas
true, I shall not pretend to say ; and,
indeed, except as to the last point,
it is beside my purpose to make any
remark upon what is reported to have
been said by this Lord. That that part of
the statement is true, there can, how
ever, be little doubt ; for, it has been
stated in the public prints, that there
have been great quantities of forged
Notes, purporting to be Notes of the
Bank of England, sent into this coun
try from France and Holland. This
interesting fact has been very care
fully kept out of the London daily pa
pers; but the country papers have
been less cautious, owing, I suppose,
to their being at too great a distance
from good advice and powerful argu
ments. The following article, which
I take from the OXFORD MERCURY
of the 4th instant, will be quite suf •
ficient to explain the nature of what
is going on in Kent. — " We Are sorry
to learn that a vast number of
forged notes, purporting to be those
of the Bank of England, are in cir
culation, particularly on this coast,
to an alarming exter\; we have
3151
I'APER AGAINST GOLD.
[3LG
" heard to the amount of 200,0007.
" having been rvvcntly imported iitto
this county from France and Hol-
"' land, where it is said they are ma-
" nufactured ! We know not to what
" extent the evil may extend. Several
" 51. 107. and even 201. of those notes
" have already been detected; and
" numerous I/, of the same description
" are in circulation ; indeed, at Folk-
" stone, and some other places, the
" notes of the Bank of England are
" almost generally refused in pay-
" merit from this circumstance; and.
" we hope some steps will he imme-
" diately adopted to put a stop to
" them. Two 5/. were recently passed
" through the Dover Union Bank;
"and a 201. note was remitted to
" town by a respectable tradesman
" in Dover, a few days since, which
" Droved to be a forgery. We should
" recommend every person to keep
•' the number of the notes which pass
" through their hand?, or have them
" previously indorsed by the person
"who passes them; we look upon
" this to be a very necessary precau-
" tion, as it is a matter of the most
" serious consequence to tradespeople
" in general ; for if the Bank of Eng-
" land notes can be so readily imi-
" tated, how easy must it be to forge
" the Provincial Note^ of this and
" other counties/'
This is a war of finance with a ven
geance ! But, even this I am not
disposed to call an ynfair and dis
honourable species of warfare. I am
not disposed to call this a cheating,
swindling, base and cowardly mode of
attacking a nation : indeed, I should
not dare to call it so, if I were dis
posed to it, seeing that we did the
same towards the French r:h:n they
had a,papf . -moncip It is wcil known
to us, frit, it ought also • f bi; k' own
to our children (some of whom ivill,
I dare say, .ra.ad these *,ette'r<0: tl-n.t,
in tlie year 17 91, fV Frenuh people
made a revolution in theL ;»i-ih-
ment; that they chiwe rcprese: .
to frame a new constitution f<n- them ;
that they changed their absolute. •!
monarchy, or despotism, into a li- '
mited monarchy; that they declared
freedom to be their birthright ; that the
nobility, not pleased with the change,
left the country ; that the princes of
the blood did the same ; that the fu
gitives met with protection and en
couragement from foreign Govern
ments ; that these Governments after
wards made war against the French ;
that England joined in that war; that,
sometime after this war began, the
French put their Kino: and Queen to
death, and declared their country a
republic ; that the French had, at
that time, a paper-money, called As-
*i<jnats ; that upon this paper-monej',
t was thought, depended the fate of
the French revolution ; that, from the
Speeches in the English Parliament,
it will clearly appear, that the Govern
ment of England looked upon the da-
basement of those Assiynats as the
sure means of subverting the new or
der of ihings in France. All this
should be known to our children as
well as to ourselves ; and, when they
have a thorough knowledge of these
facts, they should be told, that false
Assignats, that forged Assiynats, Mint
counterfeit French paper-money; that
these things were fabricated in Eng
land in quantities immense. They
were intended, of course, to be sent
into France, there to undermine the
French finances, and to produce the
overthrow of the Republican govern
ment. The former of these objects
they did effect ; or at least, assisted to
effect; and, they, in all probability,
contributed towards those causes,
which finally led to the re-erection of
the absolute monarchy in the person
of Napoleon.
I w?.s always, after hearing of th&se
forced Assiynats, very desir6us of see
ing one of them . ; and, some time ago,
a gentleman gave me nine or ten,
which, with many others, were given
to him at'the'ume that the fabrication
wu:- c./;i:^' on. 'He gave iilfe an As-
signat for 90 "Livres, one for 50
317]
LETTER XXJV.
Livres, one fur 10 Livres, and seve
ral tor 5 Livres, VVe cannot have
this tact too strongly imprinted upon
our minds, and cannot make the im
pression too strong upon those of our
children. It is a great point, not
only in the history of paper-money,
hut also in the political history of the
world. I will, therefore, give here,
as nearly as I can, a copy of one of
these forged Assignats, but not of so
large a size as the original, from which
I take it.
S! GNAT DR 5nCREE LE 1 NOV.
DO MAIZES NATIONAUX.
ASSIGNAT DE CINQ livres
pat/able au Porteur par la Caisse de 1'Extraordinaire
Corset
59 JD
Cinq Liv.
(5.)
CINQ
The translation of this, is : " As-
" signat of 5 Livres, created 1 Nov.
" 171)1. National domains.
" Assignat of Five Livres, payable to
" the bearer by the Extraordinary
"Chest."' And" the word " CORSET"
was the name of the Cashier, I sup
pose, who signed the Assignats in
France.
Such were the means, which ive
made use of towards the French na
tion; and, therefore, I trust, we shall
not now hear of any complaints against
them for their endeavouring to send
?/s an ample supply of Bank notes.
" Sauce for the goose is sauce for the
gander," all the world over.
But, was this ; do I ktww that this
was, the work of Government ? That
it was actually done by the order of
" the great statesman now no more,"
and paid for out of the people's taxes.
It was not a trifling sum that these As
signats cost in the forging. They
yrere wrought with great ' care in
France. There was a very inge-
rJou^ly contrived dry stump upon
A. The engraving was of rcost
oisite workmanship. To hare ef-
ed tlis imitation the most ingeni
ous artists in England must hare used
their talents. But, how do I know,
that this forging work was carried on
under the authority of the Govern
ment? Suppose it was not? What
do we, the nation, get by that in ths
argument ? If it was not the Govern
ment who ordered the thing to be
done, it was the people of England
who did it themselves; and, there
fore, they have, in that case, stiU
less reason, if possible, to complain
of the French for sending over forged
Bank Notes to England at this time.
Whether, however, it was, or wa«
not the act of the English Minister
and Government, you, Gentlemen,
shall now have a fair opportunity of
judging for yourselves. I could here
relate to you what I have heard many
persons say upon this subject; I
could state to you names and trans
actions upon what I deem, and upon
what you would, I dare say, deem
very good authority ; but, as to mat
ters of this sort, I always love to deal
in undeniable evidence ; proof posi
tive; facts that leave no room for
shuffle. So I shall do here.
It happened, some time after Ibis
I. 2
319]
PAPER AGAINST GOLD.
[320
forging work had been going on, that
there was a law-suit between two of
the parties engaged in it. Law-suits
are apt to lead to exposures. So it
happened now, as you will see by the
following Report, which I copy, word
for word, from the Law-Books, which
are daily cited as authorities in all our
courts of justice. " STRONGI'-
TH'ARM AGAINST LUKYN.—
Case on a Promissory Note. — The
Note was drawn by the Defendant,
payable to one Caslon, and by Cas
lon indorsed to the Plaintiff.— The
Plaintiff proved the Defendant's hand
writing and the indorsement by Cas
lon.— ERSKINE, for the Defen
dant, Mated bis defence to be, that
Lukyn was a Stationer, and the Plain
tiff anEngraver; and that theNote upon
which the Action was brought was
given to Caslon, for the purpose of
paying the Plaintiff for the engrav
ing of Copper plates upon which
FRENCH ASSIGNATS were to
be FORGED ; and contended, that
as the consideration of the Note was
fraud, that it contaminated the whole
transaction, and rendered the Note
not recoverable by law. — Caslon, the
indorser, was called a* the witness.
He proved that Lukyn, the Defen
dant, haying it in contemplation to
strike off impressions of a consider
able quantity of Assign ats, to be issued
abroad, had applied t6 him for the pur
pose of recommending an engraver for
the purpose of engraving the necessary
plates ; and that Lukyn represented to
him that they were for the Duke of
York's army. He said that he applied
to StrongWarm, the Plaintiff, who
at first declined the business totally ;
but. that, being assured by the witness
that it was sanctioned by Government,
and was for the use of the Duke of
York's army, he then consented.
The witness further denied that it
was ever communicated to the Plain
tiff that they were to be circulated for
aiiv other purpose than as he had re
presented.— LORD KENYON said,
that if the present transaction was
grounded on a fraud, or contrary to
the laws of nations, or of good faith,
he should have held the Notes to be
void ; but that it did not appear that
there was any fraud in the case, or
any violation of positive law. Whe
ther the issuing of these Assignats, for
the purpose of distressing the enemy,
was lawful in carrying on the war?
he was not prepared to say ; or whe
ther it came within the rule an dolus
an virtus quis in hoste requisit ? But
let that be as it might, it did not apply
to the present case. It was not in
evidence, that the Plaintiff was a
party in any fraud, or that it was ever
communicated to him that the Assig
nats were to be used for any improper
purpose : on the contrary, he sup
posed that they were circulated by
the authority of the higher powers of
this country ; and, therefore, did not
question the propriety or legality of
the measure* — His Lordship declared
his opinion, therefore to be, that the
consideration was not impeached, and
that the Plaintiff was entitled to reco
ver. — The jury found a verdict for the
Plaintiff. — MINGAY and MARRYAT
for the Plaintiff. — ERSKINE and LAW
for the Defendant.* Having read
this document, Gentlemen, you will
want nothing from me to enable you
to decide who it was that caused the
Assignats to be forged; nor will you
want any one to assist you in forming
a correct opinion as to the conduct of
either the Plaintiff, the Defendant,
or the Judge. The thing is before
you ; and it speaks for itself much too
plainly to be misunderstood.
Well, now, after this ; with this be
fore our eyes ; knowing that the world
is well acquainted with this fact, is
it not a little too impudent in us to
pretend to find fault with the French
for supplying our coast with Bank
Notes ? I do not know any thing tha
is more disgusting than this species of
injustice, which proceeds from sclf-
* See Kspinassc's Reports : Mich, Term,
36 Gee. III. 1795.
321]
LETTER XXV.
[322
conceit. It is the worst kind of inso
lence, and whoever has paid attention
to its effects, must have perceived,
that it never fails to excite contempt
in men of sense. What, I should be
glad to know, is there in us that we
should be justified in forging French
paper-money any more than the
French should be justified in forging
English paper-money? Upon what
ground is it that we claim the exclusive
right of forging the paper-money of
our neighbours ?
After what we have seen above,
you will, I am persuaded, agree with
me, that it is childish in the extreme,
to say the least of it, for us to com
plain of the Emperor of France for
having, as LORD CASTLEREAGH said,
set about a scheme for the ruin of our
currency. And, it is equally childish
in us to suppose, that he will not now,
when we have proclaimed the effects,
persevere in his hostility to our com
merce. He is now told, by a majori
ty in the House of Commons, that it
is his system, which has produced all
our pecuniary distress. We now say
that it is he who has filled the Gazette
with the names of Bankrupts ; which
has made one of the two "* pillars of
" the Stock Exchange" blow his brains
out; which has raised the paper price
of the Dollar ten per centum at a slap ;
and which now maJres the fund-holder
tremble. He is now told this by our
Minister of finance ; aye, and by the
vote of a majority, and a very great
majority too, of the Honourable House,
upon whose Journals it now stands
declared and recorded, that the com
mercial system of Napoleon has pro
duced the very effects that Jie in
tended, and that he vowed, it should
produce. And, yet, there are men
amongst us to call Napoleon a mad
man !
I have taken up too much of your
time to enter now upon the subject of
Depreciation, which, therefore, I must
postpone till my next, begging you,
with reference to the above related
facts, always to bear in mind, that, at
the outset of our war against the Jaco
bins of France, we had plenty of gold
and the French had nothing but
paper, and that now the French have
plenty of gold and we have nothing
but paper.
I am,
Gentlemen,
Your friend,
WM. COBBETT.
State Prison, Newgate, Friday,
17 th Muy, 1811.
LETTER XXV.
" Nothing is more certain than death, and nothing more uncertain than the time of dyin^; yet, we caa
" always fix a period beyond which man cannot live, and within some moment of which he twill die. We
" are enabled to do this, m»t by any spirit of prophecy, but by observation «f what has happened in all
" cases of human «r animal existence. If, then, any other subject, such, for instance, as a system of finance,
" exhibits, in its progress, a series of symptoms indicating decay, its final dissolution it certain, and.
" from those symptom* we may calculate the period of that dissolution."—— Paine. Decline and fall
of the British System of Finance, published in 1796.
The Subject of Depreciation discussed— Lord Stanhope** Bill— Lord King's Notice
to his Tenants.
GENTLEMEN,
THE foregoing Letter we began
with proposing to discuss the question
of depreciation, but were stopped by
the desire of shewing how childish,
and, indeed, how unjust it was in our
Government to complain of thft endea
vours said to be used by the French
for destroying our paper-nnmey, see-
323]
PAPER AGAINST GOLD.
[32*
ing the endeavours which were used
here to destroy the Assignats in
France. We will now resume the
subject of depreciation, and see whe
ther the paper money of England be,
or be not, actually depreciated ; and,
if we find that it is, we will inquire
whether it can be restored to its former
value by any of the means, called re
medies, that have been pointed out by
any of those who are our rulers, or
lawgivers.
To depreciate means to lower in va
lue ; and the word depreciation is
used to signify that state, in which
any thing is, when it is lowered, or has
fallen, from its former value. Hence
the term depreciation* as applied to
Bank Notes ; and, when we thus ap
ply it, accompanied with the affirma
tive of the proposition, we say, that
Bank Notes have fallen in value,
and, of course, that any given sum in
such notes is not worth so much as it
formerly was.
Much puzzling has, upon this sub
ject, arisen from a very natural cause :
namely, that the note always retains its
nominal value; that is to say, always
goes by the same name ; a pound note
still is called a pound note, whether it
be worth as much as it formerly was,
or not. But, to this point we shall
come more fully bye-and-bye, after
we have spoken of the way in which
a depreciation of money, or the lower
ing of the value of money, takes
place.
Money, of whatever sort, is, like
every thing else, lowered in its value
in proportion as it become? abundant
or plenty. As I said upon a former
occasion, when apples are plenty ap
ples are cheap ; and cheap means low
in price. The use of money is to
serve men as a sign of the amount of
the value of things that prt.ss from man
to man in the way of purchase and
sale. It is plenty, or scarce, in pro
portion as its quantity is great or small
compared with the quantity, of 'things
purchased and sold in the community;
and, whenever it becomes, from any
cause, plenty, it depreciates, or sinks
in value. Suppose, for instance, that
there is a, community of ten men, who
make amongst them 100 purchases in
a year, each purchase amounting tQ 1
pound. The community, in that case,
would possess, we will suppose, 10
pounds; and no more, because, the
same money might, and naturally
would, go backwards and forwards,
and because, except under peculiar
circumstances, men do not hoard.
Now, suppose, that the money in pos
session of this community is doubled
in quantity, without any other altera
tion taking place, the quantity of goods
and chattels and the quantity of tilings,
including services, purchased, and the
number of purchases all continuing
the same. Suppose this ; and, we
are here speaking of money of any
sort. No matter what sort. Suppose
it to be gold, arid that its quantity is
thus doubled. The consequence
would be, of course, that at each of
the hundred purchases, double the sum
would be given that was given before ;
because, it this were not the case, part
of the money must be kept idle, which,
j upon a general scale, can never be,
I there ben-,,' no motive for it. Sup-
| pose that one of the hundred pur
chases was thai of a horse. The pur
chase, which was made with 1 pound
before the doubling of the quantity of
money, would require 2 pounds after
that doubling took place ; and so on
through the whole; and, in such a
state of things people stould say, that
prices had riaen, that commodities
had doubled in price, that every thing
was twice as dear as it used to be.
But, the fact would be, that money
was become plenty, and, like every
thing else, cheap in proportion to its
abundance. It would be, that money
had fallen or had been depreciated,
and not that things had risen ; the loaf,
for instance, having a real value in its
utility in supporting man, and the mo
ney having only an iniayi/iary value.
Prices in England have been rising,
a;^itis commonly called, for hundreds
_
325]
LETTER XXV.
[836
of years; things have been getting
dearer and dearer. The cause of which,
until the Bunk note system began,
was the increase of gold and silver in
Europe, in consequence of the disco
very of South America and the subse
quent working of the mines. But the
increase of the quantity of gold and
silver was slow. " Nature," as PAINE
observes, '* gives those materials out
" with a sparing hand;" they came,
as they still come, in regular annual
quantities from the mines ; and that
portion of them which found its way
to this country was obtained by the
sale of things of real value, being the
product of our soil or of our labour.
Therefore, the quantity of money in
creased very slowly ; it did increase,
and prices gradually rose, but the in
crease and the rise were so slow as
not to be strikingly perceptible.
During the average life of man the rise
in prices was so small as hardly to
attract any thing like general attention.
Curious men observed it, and some of
them recorded the progress of prices ;
but, as there was no sensible differ
ence in prices in the average life of
man, the rise never became an object
of general interest, as long as gold and
silver were the only currency of the
country.
But, when the funding system
began, and paper became, in many
casesy a substitute for gold and silver;
when the increase of the quantity of
money in the country was no longer
dependent upon the mines ; when the
check which nature had provided was
removed ; then money, or its substi
tute, paper, increased at a rate much
greater than before, and prices took a
proportionate rise, as they naturally
would. The nature of the FUNDING
SYSTEM has been fully explained be
fore ; we have also seen how it would
naturally cause the paper-money to go
on increasing. We have seen, that
the Government, as soon as it began to
make loans, was compelled to estab
lish a Bank, or a something, in order
to get the means of paying the interest
upon the loans. The amount of the
loans would naturally go on increas
ing in order to meet the rise in prices,
and thus the increase of the paper
would continue causing rise after rise
in the prices, and the rise in the prices
would continue causing addition upon
addition to the quantity of the paper.
This was the natural progress, and it
was that which actually took place.
Still, howrever, the paper passed in
company with the gold and silver.
Money was more plenty ; it was of
less value ; and, of course, any given
quantity of it would purchase less
bread, for instance, than formerly ;
but, still there was no difference in
the quality of the two sorts of money ;
metal and paper both not only passed
at the sums tlnat they had usually
passed at; but people liked the one
just as well as the other; and, it was
a matter of perfect indifference to any
man, whether he took a hundred
guineas in gold, or one hundred and
five pounds in paper. And, the rea
son of this indifference was, that the
holder of a bank-note could, at anv
moment, go to the Bank, and there
demand and receive payment in gui
neas. This was the reason why the
paper passed in society with the gold.
But, it was impossible that this society
should long continue after the paper
increased to a very great amount, and
especially after the notes became so
low in nominal value as 5 pounds; for,
then, it was evident, that all the taxes
would be paid in paper; that the
Government would receive nothing but
paper ; that the Bank could get no
thing but paper from the Government;
that whatever gold went out, of the
Bank wouM never return to it ; and,
of course, that the Bank Would in a
short time, be unable to pay its notes
in gold, if called on for that purpose
to any great extent.
A call of this sort was made upon it
in 1797; and, as we hivfe seen, and
now feel, the Bank was ulVable to pay.
Its creditors, that is to say, the hold
ers of its .notes, demanded taeii
327]
PAPER AGAINST GOLD.
[328
money ; the Bank flew to the minister
Pitt for protection ; the minister, by
an Order of Council, authorized the j
Bank to refuse to pay its creditors; t
the Bank did refuse ; the Parliament
passed an Act to shelter the Minister
'and the Bank Directors and all who
had been guiity of this violation of law,
and, at the same time enacted, that,
for the future, the Bank should not
be compeilabie to pay its notes in gold
or silver. After tin's memorable
transaction, the full and true history
of which I have recorded in the fore
going Letters; after this, the whole
concern assumed a new face and in
deed a new nature. The holder of a
bank-note could no longer go and de
mand payment of it in guineas ; it was
impossible/ therefore, that he should
look upon 105/. in notes as quite equal
in value to 100 guineas. Stiji, how
ever, in consequence of the Meetings
and Combinations of the rich, and ov
the enormous influence of the Govern
ment, to which may be added tiie
dread in every man of being marked
out a* a Jacobin and Leveller; in
consequence of all these, and of the
necessity of having something to serve
as money, the notes continued to
circulate ; and, as the alarm subsided,
the guinea returned and circulated in
company with them; but, not with
that cordiality that it used to do. It
became much less frequent in its ap
pearance in company with the notes ;
it held itself aloof ; seemed to demand
a preference ; but not appearing to like
to assume this superiority over an old
and familiar associate, and yet unwill
ing to pass for so much less than its
worth, it soon began to keep away
altogether, retiring to the chests of the
hoarders, or going upon its travels
into foreign parts, until such time as
it found itself duly estimated in Eng
land, which would naturally be when
people began to make openly a dis
tinction between paper and coin.
That time arrived about two years
ago ; but, no sooner was the distinction
thus made, and acted upon, than the
Government began to prosecute the
actors, and commenced, I believe, in
the well known case of DE YONGE,
who, under laws passed about two
hundred years before such things as
bank notes were ever heard of, was
convicted, about a year ago, of the
crime of exchanging guineas for more
than their nominal value in banknotes.*
DE YONGE moved for an arrest of
judgment ; the case has been since
argued before the judges, and their
decision thereon has recently been
promulgated. Other persons have
been prosecuted in the same way and
upon the same ground, the effect of
which naturally lias been to deter
people from openly purchasing and
scliing guineas, and also from tender
ing them generally in payment for more
tii an their nominal value in paper.
But, it is very notorious that the dis
tinction is, nevertheless, made, and
that, in payments, men do take gold
at its worth in comparison with the
paper. Two prices are not yet openly
and generally made ; but, they exist
partially, and the extent of them is
daily increasing.
To this point, then, we are now
arrived, and here we see proof, not of
a depreciation of money of all sorts,
arising merely from that general plenty
of money spoken of above ; but arising
from the abundance, or plenty, of
paper, that is to say, the great quantity
of the paper compared with that of the
coin. Hence we say, that they bank
notes have depreciated, or fallen in
value; and, that there should be found
any human being to assert the contrary,
or to believe, or affect to believe, the
contrary, is something that, were not
the fact before our eyes, no man could
think possible : but, we live in times
when wonder no longer seems to form
a feeling of the mind.
This state of things it was easy to
roresee ; but, the nation has been de-
* The report of this Trial, together with
observations thereon, will be found in the
appendix, (B.)
LETTER XXV,
[330
luded by the specious argument of the
tqual powers of gold and paper in
purchases. " Go to market," we have
been told, " and see whether the
" pound note and a shilling will not
" bring you as much meat or clotli as
" a guinea" This was conclusive
with unreflecting minds, and it quiet
ed, or assisted to quiet, all those, who,
though they were capable of discern
ing, dared not look the fearful truth in
the face. I looked it in the face rather
more than eight years ago, and strenu
ously laboured to prepare my country
men for what has now come, and what
is now coming to pass. Upon one
occasion, this standing delusive argu
ment was made use of in answer to
me : whereupon I made the following
remarks : " The objection of my
" other correspondent has more plau-
" £ ibility. These arc his words : " 1
* think the argument, that Bank
' paper is depreciated, drawn from
* the difference between the sterling
* and the current value of a dollar,
4 if it prove any thing, proves too
* much. That guineas are depre-
* ciated you will hardly insist, yet
I would sturdily maintain, from
your premises, that they are, since
a guinea will not purchase so
many dollars as it formerly
would." — Yes, but I do insist
though, that guineas are depreciated:
" not in their intrinsic value, but in
" their value as currency, that is to say,
" in their power of purchasing com-
" modities in this country. When
" there is a depreciating paper in any
" country, the current coin of that
" country depreciates in its powers
" along with the paper, because it has
" a fixed nominal ralue, and it can
" pass currently for no more than an
" equal nominal value in paper, until
" the paper is at an open discount.
" The metal is degraded by the society
" of the paper ; but, there comes a
" time when it will bear this degrada-
** tion no longer ; it then rises above
" its nominal value, or, in other words,
" the paper is at a discount."
This was published so long ago as
the 14th April, 1804. " There comes
a time /" Aye, and that time is now
come. But, let me not be guilty of
robbery, and especially of the Dead,
and more especially of one whose
writings, and upon this very subject
too, as well as other subjects, I for
merly, through ignorance condemned.
I allude to the writings of PAINK, the
abused, the reprobated, the anathe
matized, TOM PAINE. In his work
from which I have taken the per
spicuous and impressive passage that
serves me as a motto to this Letter, and
the equal of which has seldom dropped
from the pen of any man ; in that
work, PAINE thus exposes the de
lusive argument of which I have just
been speaking; " It is said in Eng-
" land, that the value of paper keeps
" equal pace with the value of gold
" and silver. But the case is not
" rightly stated : for, the fact is, that
' the paper has pulled down the value
' of gold and silver to its own level.
' Gold and silver will not purchase
* so much of any purchasable article
' at this day (March, 1796) as they
' would have purchased if no paper
' had appeared, nor so much as they
' will in any country of Europe,
* where there is no paper. How
' long this hanging together of paper
' and money will continue makes a
' new case ; because it daily exposes
* the system to sudden death, inde-
" pendant of the natural death it
" would otherwise suffer." Here he
lays down the principle; and, if,
instead of reviling his writings, the
Government of England had lent a
patient ear to him, and taken a lesson
from his superior understanding and
experience, how different would have
been our situation at this day ! He
proceeds thus : " 1 have just mention-
" ed that paper in England has pulled
" down the value of gold and silver to
" level with itself ; and that tin's pull-
" ing down of gold and silver
" money has created the appearance
" of paper money keeping up. The
PAPER AGAINST GOLD
[332
•' same thing, and the same mistake,
*• took place in America and in France,
" and continued for a considerable
*' time after the commencement of
*"' their system of paper; and the
" actual depreciation of money was
" hidden under that mistake. It was
" said in America., at that time, that
*' every thing was becoming dear ;
" but gold and silver could then buy
" those articles no cheaper than paper
" could ; and therefore it was not
** called depreciation. The idea of
41 clearness established itself for the
" idea of depreciation. The same
" was the case in France. Though
" every thing rose in price soon after
'* assignats appeared, yet those dear
" articles could be purchased no
" cheaper with gold and silver, than
" with paper, and it was only said that
•' things were dear. The same is still
" the language in England. They
" call it dcarness. But they will soon
" find that it is an actual depreciation,
" and that this depreciation is the
" effect of the funding system ; which
" by crowding such a. continually-
" increasing mass of paper into cir-
11 dilation, carries dmcn the value of
" gold and silver with it. Hut gold
*' and silver will, in the long-run,
" revolt against depreciation, and
" separate from the value of paper ;
" for the progress of all such systems
" appears to be, that the paper will
" take the command in the beginning,
*' and gold and silver in titt end."
How well is this expressed, and
how clearly the truth of it rs now ve
rified ! Yes : we talk about dcarness ;
we talk of high prices; we talk of
things rising in value; but, the fact is,
that the change has been in the Money
and not in the articles bought and
sold ; the articles remain the same in
value, but the money, from its abund
ance, has fallen in value. This has
till of late been imperceptible to the
muss of the people, who Mere con
vinced of the non-depreciation by the
argument built on the circumstance of
the guinea and the paper being upon
an equal footing at market. They
did not perceive, that the paper had
pulled down the gold and silver along
with it ; they did not perceive that the
coin was sliding by degrees out of the
society of the paper; they did not
perceive that, in time, the coin would
disappear altogether; they did not
perceive that an open contest would,
at last, take place between the guineas
and the paper, and that, if the law
came to the assistance of the paper,
the coin would quit the country.
Now, however, they do perceive
this; the facts have* all now been
established in a way that seems, at
last, to have produced conviction even
in the minds of this "most thinking
people ;" but, there is reason to fear,
that this conviction will have come too
late. How happy would it have been
for this nation, if the opinions of Mr.
PAINE, touching this subject, had
produced, at the time, their wished-for
effect ! No man in England dared to
publish his werk. Any man who
had published or sold it would have
been punished as a seditious libeller.
Yet, in my opinion, does that work ;
that little work, in the space of twenty-
five pages, convey more useful know
ledge upon (his subject, and discover
infinitely greater depth of thought
and general powers of mind, than are
to be found in all the pamphlets of the
three-score and two financiers, who,
in this country, have, since 1 came
into this jail, favoured the world with
their opinions upon the state of our
money system. The writings of these
people would make ticcnttjjive thick
octavo volvmffs ; and in all of them
there is not so much power of mind
discovered as in PAINE'S twenty-five
pages. Yet, no man would dare to
publish this little work in England.
By accident I possess a copy that 1
brought from America, but -which I
never read till after my return to
England. In 1803, when there was
much apprehension of invasion, and
when great complaints were made of
the scarcity of change; I began to read
333]
some books upon the subject; and,
after reading several without coming
to any thing like a clear notion of the
real state of our currency, I took up
the little essay of PAINE* Mere i
saw to tiie bottom at once. Here
was no bubble, no mud to obstruct
my view: the stream was clear and
§,trong : I saw the whole matter in its
true light, and neitiier pamphleteers
nor speech-makers were, alter that,
able to raise even a momentary puzzle
in. -my mind, PAINE not only told
me what would come to pass, but
shewed me, gave me convincing rea
sons, why it must come to pass; and
he, -convinced me also, that it was
my duty to endeavour to open the
eyes of my countrymen to the truths
wh'ich I myself had learnt from him;
because la's reasoning taught me, that,
the longer those truths remained
hidden from their view, thfc more fatal
mast be the consequences. -The oc
casion of this work of PAINE is
woi thy of notice. One of the motives
of writing it was, as he says, at the
close, to retaliate upon PITT, who,
in speaking of the French Republic,
hajd said, that she was " on t&e verge,
vay, eveii in thcyulph of Bankruptcy "
PAINE said, that England would soon
be in a worse situation than France
as to her tinances ; and, in less than
twelve months after he wrote his
work, the Bank became unable to
pay its notes in cash.
To return to the subject of depre
ciation, the fact has now been estab
lished in all sorts of wrays. Gold
coin has been, and is, sold -at a pre-
miitm ; a guinea will sell for 27 shil
lings, and the other coins of the realm
in the same proportion ; many per
sons in London have written upon
their shop windows notifications that
they will take the coin at a higher
than the nominal value ; in numerous
,cases a distinction is made in prices
paid in coin and prices paid in paper.
If these are npt proofs of an actual
depression of the paper t what, I should
be glad to know, will ever be ad-
LETTER XXV.
[334
mitted as proof df that fact ? Indeed,
there is no longer any doubt remain-
•ing upon the subject; and, therefore
we will now proceed to take a view
of the REMEDIES that have been
proposed by our Rulers aiid Law
givers, who, if they had followed the
advice given in PAINE'S Second Part
of the "RIGHTS OF MAN'/' instead
of prosecuting the author, would not,
I am convinced, have had to lament
the present state of our finances.
As to REMEDIES, Gentlemen,
I, in the first of this series of Letters,
stated to you, that the Bullion Com
mittee had recommended to tb*
House of Commons to puss a law to
compel the. Bank to pay their notes
in gold and silver at the end of two
years. This same proposition has
been since made in the House ; but
the House have resolved, that no such
measure is necessary. Those who op
posed the proposition said, that the
Bank had not the gold, and could no?
get it, and that, therefore, they couh*
not pay in gold. This was a very
sufficient reason : and, I must confess,
that I was and am, as far as this
goes, exactly oi' the opinion of these
gentlemen. For, to what end pass
such a law, if the gold was Hot to be
had ? There were several sensible
men belonging to the Bullion Com
mittee, and the gentleman who brought
the measure forward in the House, is
looked upon as a person of good un
derstanding. It, therefore, appeared
astonishing to me, that they should
propose such a measure, seeing that
I have never been able to discover
any way whatever, by which gold
could possibly return to the Bank and
remain there in quantity sufficient to
enable that Company to pay their
notes in gold upon demand. To re
sume payments in gold would, indeed,
be a complete remedy; but, to do this;
in my opinion, and, for many yeai
past, has been, utterly impossible.
By what means are the Bank Com
pany to get the gold? We are told;
that there is gold enough if the Bank
335J
PAPER AGAINST GOLD.
[336
Company will but purchase it?
Wiiat are they to give for it? Why
their paper, to be sure ; and, as it
would require 27 siii; Lings in their pa
per to purchase a guinea, this would
be a most charming way of obtaining
the means of paying off the paper with
guineas. Let us take an instance.
Suppose the Bank Company, by way
of preparing for cash payments, to be
purchasing all the guineas they can
find, and, in such case, they would,
of course, apply to our old friend,
Mrs, DE YONGE, to whom, by the
by, I here present my congratulations
on the late decision of the judges in
favour of her husband ; the Bank
Company would, I say, naturally ap
ply to this good Lady, who, it being
now decided that the old biting law
does not forbid the buying and selling
of bank notes and guineas, would
drive with them as good a bargain as
she could. Suppose them to buy
100 guineas of her at the present
price, 27 shilling? each, they would,
of course, give her for them 135
pounds in their notes. And, thus
they must go on with other people k
Having, at last got a good lot of
guineas together, they brgin paying
their notes in guineas. It is pretty
evident that the vast increase of pa
per occasioned by the purchase of
the guineas would have caused a new
and great depreciation of the paper,
and that, therefore, the moment the
Bank was open to demands in coin,
people would crowd to it in all di
rections. I can fancy the eager
crowd now before me, pressing
in from every quarter and cor
ner; and, amongst the very fore
most and most eager, I think I see
our friend Mrs. DB YONGE. " What
*' do you do here, Madam," I think I
hear a dejected Director say, " what
" do you do here, you w.iio sold us
" guineas but the other day?'' " Aye,
" Sir/' says the lady, " and for tht> se
" very guineas I am come ,again, and
"mean to take them away too ith
" 105 pounds of the 135 that you
" gave me for them."
Need I say any more upon this
subject? Is it not something mon
strous to suppose, that it would be
possible for the Bank Company to
buy gold in quantity sufficient to be
able to pay their notes in it? "Well,"
say others, " but the Bank may lessen
" the quantity of its paper by narrow-
" ing its discounts" To be sure they
" might ; and the only consequence of
" that would be, that the taxes would
" not be paid, and, of course, that
" the soldiers, the judges, and all
other persons paid by the public
would have to go without pay. The
discounts make a part of the system ;
and, if it be put a stop to, that is nei
ther more nor less than one of the
ways of totally destroying the system.
To lessen the quantity of the paper is,
therefore, impossible without pro*
ducing 'ruin amongst all persons in
trade, and without disabling the coun
try to pay the taxes, at their present
nominal amount.
But, suppose all other difficulties
were got over, did these gentlemen of
the Bullion Committee ever reflect
upon the consequences of raising the
value of money to what it was before
the Bank Stoppage ? Sir FRANCIS
BURDKTT, in his speech, during the
Bullion Debate, told them of these
consequences. Pie observed, and
very justly, that, if money were, by
any means, to be restored to the value
it bore in the year 1796, the interest
of the national Debt never could be
paid by the people ; that interest, he
observed, was now 35,000,000^.3
year; and, if the value of money was
brought back to the standard of 1796,
this interest would instantly swell to
43,000,000/ of money at the pre
sent value. All the grants, pensions,
fixed emoluments, pay of soldiers,
judges, chancellors, clerks, commis
sioners, and the rest would be raised,
in point of real amount, in the same
proportion ; so that, it would be nt-
337]
LETTER XXV.
[338
terly impossible for taxes to such an
amount to be raised. And, if it were
j'trssible, it would be frequently un
just ; for, observe, all the moitey
(making nearly one half of the na
tional Debt) that has been borrowed
fcince the Bank Company stopped
paying in gold and silver; all the
money borrowed since that time ; all
the loans made in the name of the pub
lic since that time; all the money lent
to the public, as it is called, has been
lent in depreciated paper; and, that
which has been so lent this year has,
if guineas are at 27 shillings, been
lent in paper 27 shillings of which are
worth ?w more than a guinea. And,
are the people to be called upon to
pay interest upon this money in a cur
rency of wl'ich 21 shillings are worth
a guinea ? This would be so abomin
ably unjust, that I wonder now any man
like Mr. HORNKR ever came to think
of it. He expressly stated, that the
paper was now worth only 15s. Wd.
in the pound ; of course he must have
known, that this was the sort of
thing of which the loans, for some
years past, consisted ; arid yet, he
would have had a law passed, the
effect of which would have been to
make the people pay interest for this
money at the rate of twenty shillings
in the pound. This is what never could
have been submitted to : not because
the people would have resisted; that
is not what I mean ; but, it is what
could not have been carried into ef
fect, and for the same reason that
the man could not have two skins
from the carcass of the same cat. If
the quantity of the Bank paper were
diminished, its value would rise ; and,
if its value rose, the value of the
interest upon the National Debt,
would rise also ; therefore to enable
the people to continue to pay the in
terest upon the Debt, the amount of
the interest must be lessened, and
what would that be Vut a partial
spvnye. So that, turn and twi*t the
thing, whatever- way you will, you still
find it the same ; you still find, that the
system must go on in all its parts, or
be put a stop to alogctlier.
In most other cases, when men
talk of a remedy, they advert to the
cause of the evil. If I find that my
health is injured by drinking brandy,
the first thing I ought to do in order
to recover my health, would naturally
be to leave off drinking brandy.
What a fool, Avhat worse than ideot,
must that man be, who, feeling the
fire burn his shins, still retains his
seat. Yet, in this important national
concern, never do you find any of
our writers or legislators dwelling
upon the cause of the evil, of which
they appear so anxious to get rid.
They tell us, indeed, that the depre
ciation of the paper is occasioned by
its excessive quantity ; but here they
stop ; they never go back to the cause
of that excessive quantity of paper;
or, if they do, they only speak of the
interests of the Bank Company. If
they did go back to the real cause,
they would find it in the increase of
the national Debt, to pay the interest
of which, commonly called dividends,
has required, has rendered absolutely
rtccessary, the present quantity of pa
per. Indeed, one engenders the other.
Every loan occasions a fresh batch of
paper to pay the interest upon it;
that fresh batch of paper causes a
new depreciation and a new demand
for paper again to make up in the quan
tity what has been lost in the quality.
So that to talk of lessening the quan
tity of the paper, while the national
Debt remains undiminished, does re
ally seem to me something too absurd
to be attributed to any man of sense.
What, then, must it be to talk of les
sening the quantity of paper, while
the national Debt is increasing at an
enormous rate, and while it is noto
rious tli at that Debt has been nearly
doubled in amount during the last
fourteen years ; aye, while it is noto
rious, that, during the last fourteen
years, that Debt has increased as
339]
AGAINST .GOLD.
T340
much as the whole amount of it was
before ; or in other words, that, since
1796 as much money has been bor
rowed, by the Government as was bor
rowed in the whole hundred years
preceding ? What must it be, then,
to talk of lessening the quantity of the
paper, .vihile the national Debt, which
was, and is, the cause of the paper,
keeps on in this manner increasing?
One really would think that such a
proposition could have originated only
in Bedlam, in 1798, the next year
after the stoppage, the amount of
Bank, pf .England Notes in circu
lation was, 18,334,752/. ; and the
.amount of ,the interest upon the na
tional Debt, in that year, WLS,
17,750,402. In 1809, the amount
of the Bank of England Notes in cir
culation was, 21,249,980*.; and the
amount of the interest upon the national
Debt in that year was, 3Q,G93,447/.
(exclusive of Irish loans.) Now let
.this.be tried by the Rule of Three,
and ypu will see with what exactness
the amount of the Bank Notes keeps
pace with the amount of the interest
upon the national Debt, commonly
called the Dividends, which many
.poor creatures in the country look
upon, or, rather, used to look upon,
as something of a nature almost di
vine. Let us put this down a little
jnpre distinctly.
Inl798, the Dividends amount
ed to .^ 17,750,402
The. Bank Notes out
in circulation 13,334,752
In 1809, the Dividends amount
ed to 30,093,447
The Bank Notes in cir
culation 21,249,980
Here we have the real cause visibly
before us. What folly, what mad
ness, is it, then, to talk of lessening
the amount of the notes while we
are continually augmenting the amount
of the Dividends, which are the cause
of the notes? Here we have before
our eyes propf ;that the Dividends
(by the use of which wrord I mean to
include all the annual charges upon
the Debt) and the Bank Notes liaye
gone on increasing for the last ten
years, and I had before shewn that
they had done so theretofore; and,
with this fact before our eyes, we, the
people of this " most thinking nation,"
hear some pf pur legislators propose
to lessen the amount of the paper,
while not a man of them seems to
dream of lessening the amount of the
Debt. We hear them propose to
narrow the stream, while they say
not a word about narrowing the spring
whence it flows. They have seen, or
you, at least, have seen, Gentlemen,
that the bank-paper arose out of the
national Debt ; }*ou have seen that
the Bank was created in a short time
after the Debt began ; you have seen
the increase pf the paper keep an
exact pace with the increase of the
Debt; and, is it not, then, to war
against facts, against a century of ex
perience, against the nature of things,
to propose to narrow the issues of the
paper without previously narrowing
the bounds of the Debt and its Divi
dends? If the authors of this propo
sition had read the work of PAINE,
they would never have offered such a
proposition. Head this work they
may, but they have not duly consider
ed its arguments, or they have shut
their eyes against the clear conviction
that it is calculated to produce. He
pointed out in his Second Part of the
Rights of .Man, the means of saving
England in the way of finance. That
work was written in 1791. So early
as that he foresaw and foretold what
we have now before our eyes, and
what we, have daily to expect. He
tbere pointed out the sure and certain
means of effectually putting a stop to
further increase of the Debt, of in
suring a real diminution of it, and,
at the same time of doing ample
justice to the fund-holders. For this
pamphlet he was prosecuted, a..d
having gone out of the country, IL?
was outlawed. A Royal Proclamation
was issued principally for the purpckse
341]
LETTER XXV,
of suppressing his work, scores of
pamphlets having been written in an
swer to him in vain. He was burnt
in effigy in most parts of this his na
tive country ; and his works were sup
pressed by the arm of the law. Well,
our Government had its way ; it fol
lowed its own counsel and rejected
that of PAINE; he was overcome by
it, and driven from the country; those
who endeavoured to cause his prin
ciples to have effect were punished or
silenced, or both: and, what is the
result ? That result is now before us,
and fast approaching us; and f in a
short time, in all human probability,
events will enable us to form a per
fect correct decision upon the respec
tive merits and demerits ol the then
conflicting; parties.
Now, Gentlemen, if you have at
tentively read the Letters, of which
I now address to you the XXVth,
you will have no doubt at all, that the
cause of the influx of paper and of
the consequent depreciation of all
money first, and then of the paper
itself alone as compared to the money ;
you will have no doubt that the real
cause of all this, is, the increase of
jtlie national Debt; and, yet, in all
the parliamentary debates upon the
subject, you have heard of scarcely
any man who ventured to mention
this cause. It was a thing too tender
to touch. It was what we call a
sore place ; and, the old proverb about
the galled horse applied too aptly.
If the depreciation had been traced to
the national Debt, as Mr. HORNE
TOOKE once traced it while he was in
Parliament ; for, he then foresaw and
foretold what was now come to pass,
and told the House, that, if they con
tinued the then expenditure, the fund-
holder would not get, in a few years,
a quartern, loaf for the Dividend upon
a hundred pounds, of stock; if the de
preciation had thus been traced back
to its real efficient cause, it would
have awakened reflections of an un
pleasant tendency ; it would have set
men to consider what was the cause
of the increase of the Debt; to look
back and inquire whither the money
was gone; for what purpose it had
been borrowed ; who were the persons
that had profited, from that -borrowing ;
who, in short, it was that had swallow
ed all that money the interest of
which the nation was paying, and had
so long been paying. These reflec
tions it was not the desire of either
party to awaken; but, they belong to
the subject, they naturally present
themselves to every one who looks
only a little beneath the surface, and
I venture to say, that, in the end, they
will become familiar to every man in
the kingdom. If this real cause of
the evil had been acknowledged, it
would have saved a great deal of time;
for, then, m^n would not have amused
themselves with talking about such
REMEDIES as that of Mr.
HORNER; and all the talk about the
narrowing of discounts and the pur
chasing of gold and the improving of
the exchange would have been heard
like the twice told tale of an ideot. The
short and the only question woulA
have been this: can we, bya?iy meant,
diminish the amount ofjheJfavidendi?
And, if that question had been an
swered in the negative, there was no
course, for those w^io wished to sup
port the Pitt system, to pursue but
that of letting things take their own
course, and aid the paper with their
wishes.
So much for the- REMEDY of the
Bullion Committee ; but, our attention
is now called to another, founded on.
more imperious circumstances. I
allude to the proposition of EARL
STANHOPE, which was, on the 27th
of June, brought forward in the shaps
of a Bill, and which is, in that shape,
now actually before the House of
Lords, where it has undergone a
second reading. Compared with this
proposition, all that has been said &h;d
done before is mere child's play. Tiiis
Bill brings the matter home to the
public mind; it shews the most cre
dulous that .even thoee, on ^haae
3431
PAPER AGAINST GOLD.
[344
stoutnesss they rested their faith,
begin to quiver. It cries, a truce with
all pretensions. It puts the sense and
the sineerjjy of every disputant to the
test. The minister told us, that he
wished the debate on the Bullion
Heport to come on, that the matter
might be set at rest. Set at rest!
Mercy on us! Set at rest! And so
said OLD GKORGE ROSE too. But,
what did they mean by setting the
matter at rest? Is it possible, that they
could imagine, that this matter was to
be set at rest ; that this great question
of paper-money; that this subject in
which every human creature in the
country is so deeply interested ; is it
possible that they thought this matter
would be completely set at rest by a
vote for their majority? No, no!
This is one of the things that that
House cannot do. They can do a
great deal ; they can do more than 1
dare to trus myself to describe; but,
they cannot set this matter at rest,
nor have they, and all the branches of
the Government united, the power to
stay the progress of the paper-money
only for one single hour. The Mi
nister and his people have now seen
what rest they insured for the sub
ject! I always said, that the " first
" man of landed property who openly
" made a distinction between paper
" and gold, would put the whole
" system to its trumps, and compel
" the Bank notes to sue for the
4* power of the Government for their
" protection." This has now been ve
rified, and the remainder of my pre
diction, which I need not here repeat,
is not far from its accomplishment.
The grounds of LORD STANHOPFAS
proposition were stated by himself
very explicitly, in moving, the 2nd in-
tant, the second reading of his JBill.
He said, that he had long thought
upon the subject and had long enter
tained the opinion, that some legisla-
\ the measure was necessary to pie-
serve the bank note system from
total ruin ; that a notice recently
given by LORD KING to his tenants,
signifying that he would no' longer re
ceive his rents but in gold or in a
quantity of paper equivalent in powers
of purchase to gold,* had convinced
hint that there was no time to be lost,
and that, the measure in contemplation
ought to be adopted before the 'Parlia
ment rose. Jle said that the Minis
ters having declared, that their only
objection to the measure arose from an
opinion, that they thought no measure
of the kind necessarv, being persuaded
that nobody would be found to follow
* " By Lease, dated 1802, you have con
tracted to pay the annual rent of £47 oj.
in good and lawful money of Great Bri-<
tain. Jn consequence of Hie late "real;
depreciation of paper money, I can no
longer accept any Bank notes, at their
nominal valur, in payment or satisfaction
of an old contract. \ must therefore de
sire you to provide for the payment of
your rent in the legal gold coin of the
realm. At the same time, having no
other object than to secure payment of
the real intrinsic value of. the siuu sti
pulated by agreement, and being desirous
to avoid giving you any unnecessary
trouble, I shall be willing to receive pay
ment in either of the manners foHowhig
according to your option. — 1st, By pay
ment in Guineas ; — 2nd, If Guineas can-
not^e procured, by a payment in Por
tugal Gold coin, equal in weight to the
numbers of Guineas requisite; to discharge
the rent ; — 3rd, By a payment in Bank-
paper of a sum sufficient'to purchase (at
the present market price) the weight of
standard Gold requisite to discharge the
rent.— The alteration of the value of the
Paper-money is estimated in this manner ,
the price of Gold in 1802, the year of
your agreement, was £.4 an ounce. The
present market price is £A 14*. arising
from the diminished value of Paper ; in
that proportion an addition of ,£.17 10s.
per cent, in Paper-muney will be required
as the equivalent, for the payment of
rent in paper.''
Cntrrrt at fctariounw'
:— Printed by WM. MOLINEUX, Bream's Buildings, Chancery Lane.
12.]— COBBETT'S PAPER AGAINST GOLD.— [Price Two-Pence
345]
the example of Lord King, it wa
only necessary tor him to shew then
that there were others to follow tha
example, in, order to convince the mi
nisters, that the Bill was entitled to
their support. Having made thes<
preliminary observations, he said, tha
he had a bundle of instances of this
sort, and he only wished that a great
many other parsons would declare
their intentions at once, and then the
House would proceed to prevent the
evil. He then produced a number oi
letters, from which he read extracts.
One person wrote, that his landlord
had said, " what one landlord can do,
" all can do, and if Lord King suc-
" ceed, I will do the same." An
other letter related a recent transac
tion in Hampshire, where a man
bought an estate for 400/. and paid
downlOO/. of the money,and afterwards
laid out several hundreds of pounds
upon the premises, and when the time
of payment came, the seller insisted
upon having payment in guineas,
which the buyer could not obtain, the
seller, however, would have it, or
have his land back again, and the
only consolation left to the buyer wras
an intimation from a friend of the
seller that he could inform him where
he might obtain the guineas at 27 shil
lings each. Another letter stated that
a Lady, who was a Land-owner, had
insisted upon her rent in gold, and
that the tenant apprehended a seizure
of his goods, and was ready to verify
the facts if called on. Another in
formed him, on the part of an Attor
ney, that the practice Mras become
very common to sell guineas and then
pay debts with the paper.
These were the grounds, stated by
LORD STANHOPE, of the measure that
he proposed; and, upon his stating
these grounds, the Ministers, who
bad, at the first reading, said that they
did not see any necessity for the mea-
W. yOLIlCEUX, Printer, Bream's Bulldlup,
Chauesij Lane
[34(5
sure, or any measure of the kind,
allowed that there was such necessity,
and supported the second reading ac
cordingly.
Now, Gentlemen, before I offer
you any observations upon this mea
sure itself, or upon the conduct of
LORD KING, whose notice to his
tenants seems to have given rise to it,
it may not be amiss for me to say,
that, from all that has ever come to
my knowledge, there is not a more
disinterested man, or a truer friend to
freedom and to his country, breath
ing, than LORD STANHOPE, whom I
trace through the parliamentary pro
ceedings of the last twenty years,
always standing nobly fprward in the
cause.of justice, liberty, and humanity,
and, but too often standing forward
alone. His protest against the Anti-
Jacobin war, which began in 1793,
and which has finally led to our pre
sent calamities, will live when we
shall all be in our graves. He there
pointed out all, yea all, that has now
come to pass. That protest, every
sentence of which is full of wisdom
and of just sentiment, has these re
markable words : " Because war
' with France is, at present, most im*
' politic, extremely dangerous to QUT
' allies the Dutch, hazardous with
' respect to the internal peace and
' external power of this country, and
' is likely to be highly injurious to
our commerce .The war may,
* therefore, prove to be a war
against our commerce and manufac-
' tures, against the proprietors of the
'funds, against our paper-currency,
' and against every description of
' property in this country." How
ompletely has all this been verified !
..ORD STANHOPE was abused: he
was called & jacobin and a leveller, and
LOW the nation is tasting the bitter
ruit of the spirit that dictated that
abuse. Every where was he to be
M
347]
LETTER X
found, in those horrible days, where
liberty was assailed. Not an act,
which he deemed injurious to the
rights of Englishmen, escaped his
strenuous opposition. In short, were
I called upon to name the peer, whom
I thought to have acted the best and
truest part in those times, and for the
whole course of the last twenty awful
years, I should certainly name this
very nobleman.
You will, therefore, Gentlemen,
believe that, if I dissent from the
measure which he has nowr proposed,
that dissent proceeds from my con
viction, that the measure itself is not cal
culated to produce thatgood^which I am
certain its author wishes it to produce.
The detail of the Bill I will not
attempt to discuss. Its principles are
what have struck me, and these I
gatN*~ from its chief provisions, which
ar< , mat, in future, the gold coins
shall not be tendered or taken for
more than their nominal value, and
that the bank paper shall not be ten
dered or taken for less than its nomi
nal value. This is LORD STAN
HOPE'S REMEDY; and this he ap
pears to think will prevent the possi
bility of a further depreciation of the
paper. We have seen the cause and
the progress of that depreciation; we
have seen how the paper pulled down
the coin along with it, 'till the coin
could no longer endure the society ;
v e have seen the time and the manner
of their separation; but, LORD STAN
HOPE appears to think, that, by the
means of this Bjjl, he shall be able not
only to restore that harmony which
formerly existed between" them;
but that he shall be able to chain
them together for ever after; to
bind them as it were in the bonds
of marriage, and to render the ties
indissoluble. If he do this, he will
do what never was done before in the
world ; he will destroy all the settled
maxims of political oeconomy as far
as they relate to finance; his achieve
ment will be a triumph not only over
the opinions and experience of man
[345
kind, but over the very nature of man,
which incessantly impels him to seek
iiis own interest, and, at the very least,
to use all the means in his power to
provide for his own preservation.
After having said this I shall natu
rally be supposed to be convinced, that
the Bill Mould be utterly inefficient
for the purposes it contemplates. In
deed, such is my decided opinion,
and the reasons for that opinion, I
will now proceed to submit to yon.
A guinea is not to pass for more than
21s. There must be some penalty to
prevent the passing of it for more.
Lord STANHOPE will propose nothing
cruel; but, for arguments' ^ake, let the
penalty be death. What, then ? Why
need any one risk any penalty, as far
as readi/ money transaction goes?
One of you go to market with a pjg
for sale. " What do you ask for that
" pig, farmer?" Answer; " Twenty
"seven shillings" " I'll' give you a
" guinea." " 'You shall have him.5'
Where is the possibility, then, of en
forcing such a la\v ? "The parties, in
any case, have only to settle, before
they deal, in what sort of currency
payment shall be made, and then they
will, of course, make the price accord
ingly. As to debts, indeed, whether
book debts, or debts arising from con
tract,, in the payment of them, the
gold and notes must, if this Bill pas--,
be taken at their nominal value ; that
is to say, the paper must; for, as to
gold, who will be fool enough to
tender gold in payment at its nominal
amount, when it is notorious that it
will fetch a premium of six shil'.inss
upon the guinea? If the Bill become
a lawr, therefore, any tenant who has
rent to pay, arid who has guineas in
his purse, will first go and purchase
paper-money with his guineas, and
with the paper-money, he wrill go and
pay his rent. This rent, for instance,
is 105/. a year, and he has a hundred
guineas in his chest. But, he will .not
be fool enough to carry these to his
landlord. He will go and buy 105
pounds worth of paper-money with
849]
PAPER AGAINST GOIJX
t,yftiyht.v£ jiis guineas; and will
then go and pny his rent, and will
return home with ^8 of his guineas
still , in his pocket. .So that, as far as
the Bill will have effect, it appears to
me that it will bear almost exclusively
upon landlords.
I shall be told, perhaps, that,
though guineas may now be bought
and sold, in consequence of the de
cision of the judges, which, in the
case of DE Yoisoii, has been pro
mulgated since I began this Letter,*
yet, wre are not to suppose, thtit the
present Bill will not, provide against
such traffic by making it penal to be
concerned in it. But, as I have
shewn above, men may go on with all
ready money transactions, and with
perfect safety, make a distinction be
tween paper and coin, which amouiits
to the same thing as buying and selling
the coin or the paper. It will require
but very little ingenuity to discover
the means of so managing the mutter
that the landlord shall never see a
shilling's worth of coin from the
hands of the tenant.
But, suppose that the coin should
not be permitted to be bought and
sold ; does any one believe, that any
law will prevent a private traffic in
* The following is the Report of this
DECISION, as given by the Chief Judge,
Lord Ellenborough, in the Court of King's
Bench, on the 3rd instant. " THE KING
" against DE YON GE.— Lord ELLENBOROUGH
" communicated the Judgment of the Court
" in this case, which along with another
" case, the King v. Wright, coming from
" the Assizes for the County of Bucking-
" ham, had been reserved for the opinion
*' of the .12 Judges, on a point of law.
" Both , causes had been fully and ably
*' argued before the Judges in the Court of
" Exchequer Chamber, and the argument
"had occupied a number of days. The
" question arising in the present case was,
*• the Defendant having been convicted of
" purchasing 52 Guineas at the rate, in
" Bank Notes, of 22*. 6d. per Guinea,
" whether, in so doing, he had been guilty
*' of an offence punishable under the Act of
" (be 5th and 6th of Edward VI. which
" prohibited the exchanging of coined gold
c< for coined silver, or for gold and silver,
"the party, giving or receiving more in
the article? And, if that couU lid
done, is any one mad enough to .sup
pose, that the .guinea will still 'circu
late at par with the paper? Pass
this Bill, or any Bill, that shall pre
vent men from passing the guinea
for more than its nominal worth, and
the consequence will be, that. a guinea
will never again be, seen in circulation.
Those who have them will keep them
in their chests, waiting an occasion to
export them, or more patiently wait
ing till circumstances have produced
the repeal of. the law which has driven
the gujncfi into the hoard. The cause
that we see no guineas now in common
circulation, is, as I said before, that
they cannot obtain their fair value.
They would have been openly sold
long enough ago, had there not been
an opinion, that the traffic was punisha
ble by law. Now that obstacle is
removed ; but, in all likelihood, ano
ther will be erected by the present
Bill. In that case the guineas will
all either be hoarded or sent out
of the country, and paper must and
will be made to supply their place.
The Dollars, the new things of three
shillings and eighteen pence, now
coming out from the Bank, will al»«
be hoarded, and to notes for shillings
" value than the same was current for at
" the time ? All the Judges, except thre^,
'» were present at the whole of these argu-
" ments, and at the last of them the whole
" of the Judges were present. The Court
" had no opportunity of knowing what wa»
" the opinion of the absent Judges on that
" part of the case at the argument on which
" they were not present, but they had no
" reason to presume that they dissented
" from the opinion of the other Judges who
" were present, all of whom concurred is
" opinion that the Defendant in this case
" was not liable under the Act of the 5th
" and 6th of Edward VI. The Judgment
" therefore, feU to be arrested ; and the
" Judgment uros anesied accordingly." Thus,
then, this case is decided as I always said it
must be, unless all semblance of law was
banished from the land. Many people
thought and said, that the conviction would
be confirmed , but, I never taought so for
a moment. Oh, no I The Judges knew a
great deal better than to do rhat.'
351]
PAPER AGAINST GOLD.
|352
and sixpences, we must come, I am
convinced, in the course of the year,
if this Bill pass; so that the 'Bill,
while it will be wholly inefficient for
the purpose of arresting the progress
of depreciation, will be efficient enough
in producing a contrary effect.
The Bill does not, the author of it
says, make bank notes a legal tender.
It does not do it in words, but it ap
pears to me to endeavour to do it in
effect ; and that being once done, all
the usual consequences of a legal ten
der must follow. It was easy to see
that the system would come to this
pitch; there is nothing in the state
to which we are come, that ought
to surpr.ize any one; what has hap
pened was to be expected, and was,,
indeed, long ago foretold; but, what
might reasonably surprize one, is,
to hear this measure represented
by the ministers as necessary to the
protection of the fund-holder ; Can
they be serious ! Is it possible, that
they can be serious when they say
this ? If they are, nothing that they
«ay or do can ever be a subject of
wonder. Men, who are capable of
believing that the Bill of Lord Stan
hope will operate, as a protection to
the, fund-holder, are capable
but, really, I want words
to answer my purpose. Imagination
can frame nothing that such men are
not capable of in the way of belief.
That the paper would, at last, become
a legal tender, or forced circulation,
it was easy to see. I did, indeed, for
iny own part, expect this state of the
paper to bejapparent long ago. The
faith of this " most thinking people" I
knew to be almost passing conception ;
but, still I did not think it adequate to
the supporting of this paper-money
for 14 years after the issuers had
ceased to pay in cash and after they
were protected by law against the de
mands of their creditors. It was,
however, certain, that the thing must
come to this point at last ; it was cer
tain, that, if the nationaj Debt and
the taxes continued to increase, the
time must come when landlords would
see that they must either starve, or
demand their rents in coin; and,
/whenever this time came, it was, as I
have many times said, impossible to
keep up the paper only for six months
without making that paper a legal ten
der, which might eke out its existence,
perhaps for a ye,ar or two, but which,
in the end, must ensure its total de
struction. I have several times been
asked, what reason there was why
landlords should not demand their
rents in gold and silver ; or in bank
notes to the amount of the gold and sil
ver ; and, my answer has always been,
that there was no reason at all against
it now, but that there soon would be ;
for that the moment such demand was
made, Bank notes would be made a
legal tender. This was natural, and,
therefore, the ministers are now doing
just what I always expected they would
do, whenever any land-holder did what
Lord King has now done; but, to hear
them speak of it as a measure calcu
lated to afford protection to the fund-
holder is what I never could have ex
pected. They will see what sort of
protection it will give him; and he will
feel it ! What wall be his fate I shall
not pretend to say; but; I hope, there
is justice enough yet in the country,
real justice enough to prevent him
from perishing, while there exist the
means of such prevention, I trust,
that his claims will meet with serious
and patient consideration ; that the
question of what is due to him and
to whom he ought to lookjor payment
will be settled upon sound principles
of equity. I am for giving real pro
tection to the fund-holder ; but, to
hear the Ministers say, that he is to
meet with protection from a measure
such as that now before Parliament, a
measure that must inevitably accele
rate the depreciation of the paper, is,
surely, sufficient to fill one with surprize
and dismay, if, at this day, and after
all that we have seen, any thing ought
to produce such an eflect in our minds.
On the 2nd of July, a protest ws
entered, in the House of Lord?,
against LORD STANHOPE'S Bill, which
LETTER XXV.
[854
protest I here insert. " Dissentient,
«« — Because We think it the duty of
" this House to mark in the first in-
" stance with the most decided repro-
•' bation, a Bill, which in our judg-
" ment manifestly leads to the intro-
" duction of laws, imposing upon the
" country the compulsory circulation
(t of a Paper Currency; a measure
" fraught with injustice, destructive
" of all confidence in the legal secu-
" rity of contracts, and, as invariable
" experience has shewn, necessarily
" productive of the most fatal cala-
" ities :
GRENYILLE, LANSDOWNE,
ESSEX, COWPER,
JERSEY, KING,
. GRF.Y, LATJDERDALE.
" For the reason assigned on the
'* other side, and because the repeal
'• of the law for suspending Bank
" Payments in Cash is in my judg
ment the only measure which can
cure the inconveniences already felt,
and avert the yet greater calamities
whirh are impending from the pre
sent state of the circulation of the
country. VASSALL HOLLAND."
In the* protest of the eight peers I
heartily concur ; but I do not agree
with LORD HOLLAND in liis addition
to it, if his lordship means to say , that
it is possible to resume cash payments at
the Bank. To pay the notes in gold
upon demand, agreeably to the pro
mise upon the face of the notes, is
certainly the only cure for the incon
veniences already felt and the calami
ties now impending ; but that it is ut
terly impossible to adopt this cure is,
to mv mind, not less certain. His
Lordship proceeds upon the notion of
Mr. HORNER and the Bullion Com
mittee, namely, that the cause of the
depreciation consists in an excessive
issue of paper, which is very true, if
you compare the quantity of the paper
with that of the gold, or of the real
transactions of purchase and sale, be
tween man and man ; but, which is
not true, if you compare the quantity
of paper with the amount of the Divi
dends payable on the National Debt ;
and, I would beg leave to put, with
sincere respect, this question to LORD
HOLLAND : " If cash payments were
" restored, and money, as must be
" the case, were restored to its for-
" mer value, where does your Lord-
" ship think would be found the means
" of paying the Dividends?"
It is impossible! The thing never
can go back; no, not an inch; nay,
and it must keep advancing. This
very measure, by hastening the de
preciation, will causo a new .addition
and still larger than former additions,
to the National Debt, and of course
to the Dividends. Those additional
Dividends must bs paid in an addi
tional quantity of bank notes; and
thus the system mustyoon, as PAINE
foretold, with an accelerated velocity,
until it can go on no longer. Having
this opinion so firmly fixed in my
mind, I was quite surprised to see
the Marquis of LANSDOWNE endea
vour to mend the Bill of LORD STAN
HOPE by the introduction of a clause
for prohibiting the Bank Company
from augmenting the quantity of their
paper after the passing of the Bill.
This sliews, that his Lordship has,
what I deem to be, and which, I
think, I have proved to be, a most
erroneous view of the real cause of
the depreciation. If he thought with
me, that the cause is in ,the increase
of the National Debt and of th<i Divi
dends, he would have proposed no
such amendment as this.
As to the conduct of LORD KING
nothing could be more fair or more
laudable. He wished to take no ad
vantages of his tenants; he only
wanted a fulfilment of his contract
with them ; and, as the spirit of the
contract was more favourable to them
than the letter, he abandoned the
letter, and only required them to
hold to the spirit. To hear him,
therefore, charged with oppression,
and by ! But, it is as well to
keep ourselves cool. Let others chafe
and foam. And, if the House cf
355]
PAPER AGAINST GOLD,
[356
Lords do choose thus to determine
why, all that I can say about the
matter, is, that they are the best
judges whether they stand in need of
tlieir rents, and, if they do not, I
really do not see much harm in their
giving them to their tenants; and,
this act will be the more generous as
they are about to do it bv a law, so
that the tenants will keep the rent*
without having to give the landlords
even thanks in return. That such
will be amongst the effects of theBill,
if it pass, there can be no doubt;
and, as far as it operates in this way,
a most popular Bill it will be. It
will act as a distributor of wealth ; of
money, 'lands and tenements ; for, to
suppose, that, in many cases, the
tenants will not soon become the pro
prietors, is to discover but very little
thought on the subject, and that, I
am sure, would be a shame in a body
of HEREDITARY LEGISLATORS in the
" most thinking nation in the world."
What a change this will make ! Hap
py is the man who is a tenant ! Much
better off is he than the man who tills
his own land ; because the former has
given nothing at all for his, whereas
(he latter has paid, at some time or
other, purchase money for what he
possesses. The letting of long leaess
is out of fashion ; but, in general, the
lands of great proprietors are held
upon lease, and these leases are not,
upon an average, for less than seven
years at the lowest. Some of these
leases are nearly expired, of course,
but, others will naturally be but just
commenced. So that, the average
time, for which the land is now let, I
shall take at three years and a half.
All the Duke of Bedford's estates,
for instance, are let, then, for three
years and a half yet to come. Now,
if the paper depreciate three or four
times as last as it has hitherto done,
the tenants of the Duke of Bedford
will have a brave time of it for these
three years and a half. But, if the
Kill, which is now before Parliament,
send down the paper to the state
of the French assignats in 1794, what
will, in that case, be the situation of
the Duke of Bedford? There are
many landlords, who cannot hold out
for three years and a half, and who,
therefore, must sell, in whole or in
part ; but, there will, indeed, be this
convenience, that they will every
where find a purchaser ready at hand
in their tenant, and one, too, who will
not only know the real value of the
property, but who will have the money
ready to pay for it. This is nothing
in the way of 'A joke. I am in earnest ;
it is what I am convinced will take
place, if the Bill of Lord Stanhope
pass into a law ; but, as I said before,
if the Lords like it, nobody else can
possibly have a right to "interfere.
They may, surely, do what they please
with their own property. All that I
wish to stipulate for is, that we Jaco
bins and Levellers shall never be ac
cused of this act of distributing the
lands and houses of the rich amongst
those who are not rich ; that we shall
not be accused of this great act of pull
ing down and raising up. Hume re
marked that the funding system, in the
space of 500 years, would cause the
posterity of those now in the coaches,
and of those upon the boxes, to change
places ; but, if this Bill of LORD
STANHOPE pass, this change will be a
thing of much quicker operation.
I shall be told, that Lord King's ex
ample would have operated even more
quickly than this measure in destroy
ing the paper. Granted. It would
there is no doubt, have produced, in a
very short time, that which must have
totally destroyed the paper system, root
and branch, namely, TWO PRICES,
against which, openly and generally
adopted, no paper-money ever did, or
ever can, staud for any length of time.
That that example would have been
generally, nay universally, followed,
there can be no doubt at all, for, no
man voluntarily gives away his rents,
or, rather, lets another withhold (hem
from him. Some persons would have
been a little shy at first ; but, when
357]
LETTER XXVI.
[358
tliey found that others did it, they
would have got over their shyness,
sun] the demand would have been uni
versally made. Thus, then, the TWO
PRICES would have been estab
lished ; and the gold and silver, find
ing that they could pass current tor
their real worth, would have come
forth from their hiding places, some,
while the rest would nave hastened
back from abroad. " Surely I" say
you : " why then, are the Government
•'* alarmed at the effect of Lord
" King's example, i£_ it would bring
" back gold and silver into circula-
" tion ?" Oh ! there is good reason
lor their alarm ; for, observe, THE 1
TAXES \VOLTLD CONTINUE
TQ BE PAID IN PAPER ! When
the tax-gatherer came to the door
of one of you, for instance, you
would," if you had only gold or silver in
the house, beg him to call the next
morning, or to sit down a bit, while
you, with your gold, would go and
purchase paper-money sufficient to
pay him the amount of his demand !
There needs.no more to convince you
that the Government has good reason
for alarm at the prospect of seeing
Lord Kings example followed, as it
assuredly would be, if there were no
law to prevent it. In short, that ex
ample would annihilate the paper
system in a year.
The next Letter will close the sc
rips. In the mean while,
I remain,
Geutlemen,
Your friend,
WM. COBBETT.
State Prison, Newgate, Friday,
5thJuhj, 1811.
LETTEU XXVJ.
It is not that the money which the Public Creditor receives, as interest for Ms capital, is lesi than it used
" to be; it is that the quantity of goods he leceives for his money is /ess; and he will be still receiving
" less and less, while your taxes will be rising more find. more, if th* next Administration" (Adilingioo was
" just at this time coming into power in pl«ce of Pitt) '• niean to goon like the last, it would be a goon
* ' thing for the country if no m^n would lend thsin a groat. Let them take three fourths of a man's
A interest, or property, from him, and take off the tuxes, aud tlie v^ople would be doubly gainers. If you
" reduce the National Debt, we may laugh and sing at home and bid defi*i;c« ta all the world ; if you do
41 not reduce it, the consequence will be, that, instead of paying the National Creditor J20 quartern loavct
'" for a year's in'erett of his ;£?.100 you will go on, till you only pay him 8 or 3 quartern loatct. Depend
" upon it that it will be the fate of the National Crediloi." — -Air. Hoi fie. Tookt'i Speech, luthe House of
" Commons, Cud March, 1801.
Mr. Home Tooke and the Reformers— Effect of Lord King's Example— Two Prices-
How these would affect the Government, the Generals, the Judges, the Sinecure Place
men and Pensioners — Lord Mornington's Speech iii 1794— Progress of the Assignation
France— Mr. Perceval's Speech in the House of Commons, 9th July, 1811.
GENTLEMEN,
LOOK at the mofto! Look at the
motto ; and, especially, if any of you
should unfortunately \y^fund-holders ;
in that case, let me heseech you, to
Jook at the motto. They are the
words of a very wise man. They
vrcrc spoken, you see, rather more
than ten years ago. The speaker
was laughed at hy some, and railed
at by others; but, I imagine, that, at
this time, those, who then laughed,
are more disposed to cry, though I
by no means suppose, that the railert
have ceased, or ever will cease their
railing, as long as they have tongues
or pens wherewith to rail. The
House of Commons passed an Act
which, for the future excluded Mr.
Tooke, soon after he made this speech.
They did so upon the ground of his
being a Clergyman in Holy Order* .
359]
PAPER AGAINST GOLD.
[380
Jfo matter : they got rid of him for
the future ; but, they have not got rid
of the event that he foretold. Oh, no !
that is coming upon them in spite of
all their triumphs over Mr. TOOKE
and Mr. PAINE and Messrs. Mum,
PALMER, MARGAROT, GERALD,
WlNTERBOTTOM, GILBERT WAKE-
FIELD, and many others. The Govern
ment beat all these reformers ; they
not only put them down; they not
only ruined the greater part of them ;
but they succeeded in making the na
tion believe that such ruin was just*
Well ! The Government and the na
tion will now, of course, not pretend,
that the present events have sprung
from 'the Jacobins and Reformers.
Mr. To6KE told them to reduce the
^National Debt. They rejected his
advise. They despised his warning.
The kept him, for the future, out of
Parliament. Well. Let them, then,
not blame him for vhat has since
happened, and what is now coming
to pass.
I beg you, Gentlemen, to reflect
well on these observations; for, such
reflection will be very useful in pre
venting you from being deceived in
future, and will enable you, when the
utmost of the evil comes, to ascertain
who are the men who have been THE
AUTHORS OF THE EVIL, and
to whom, accprdinglv, you ought to
look for a just RESPONSIBILITY.
If nt, upon this vital part of the subject
I have some hints to offer to you
hereafter : at present I must return,
for a while, to the point where I
broke off in my last Letter, namely,
the reason for the alarm of the Govern-
in?.nt at the prospect of seeing Lord
King's example followed.
I spoke of the TWO PRICES
before ; but, let me say a few more
words upon that very interesting part
of our subject. Two Prices have
always proved the death of paper
money. In this case it would have
been the same, and, in the end, it will
still be the same ; for, the Bill of
lord Stanhope can do no more than
retard the event of six or nine months ;
and mind, I tell you this with as much
confidence as I would venture to
foretel the arrival of Christmas day.
I do not say, that the event will come
in six or nine months ; but I say,
that this Bill will not keep it off for* a
.greater length of time than that. If
TWO PRICES were generally
made, we should see the gold and
silver back into circulation immediate
ly ; but, none of it could get to the
Bank, because no man would pay his
TAXES in gold and silver. Con
sequently the fund-holder and the
Government would be paid in paper,
while gold and silver would be circu
lating amongst all the rest of the com
munity. As soon as there are two
prices, the paper must depreciate at
an enormous rate; and, as the Go
vernment would have to pay its con
tractors and others whose pay was
not fixed, in this depreciated paper,
it must have a greater quantity of that
paper, and it must come from the
Bank. It is so easy to see how this
must work ; how rapidly it must go
on; how soon it must render the
paper worth little more than its
weight in rags ; all this is so easy to
see, that I will not suppose any one
of you so very dull as not to perceive
it.
The Government, with nothing but
paper at its command, would soon
begin to feel somewhat like a person
who has taken a powerful emetic. The
big round drops of sweat would stand
upon its forehead; its knees would
knock together ; it would look pale as
a ghost ; an universal feebleness
would seize it. That is to say, all
this would take place, if the Govern
ment persevered in the Pitt system,
and that it would do so, who cau
doubt after what we have seen during
the last twenty years. If the .TWO
PRICES were openly made, and
became general, as they, in all pro
bability, would, in the course of six
or eight months, the paper would fall
so low as that 5, or ~ perhaps, 10
361]
LETTER XXVL
[362
shillings would be required to purchase
a quartern loaf. How, then, would
the Government, who would get
nothing but paper, mak,e sliift to pay
its way; The Generals and Judges
and others, having & fixed pay, would,
indeed, still be paid as they were
before, and, of course, the Govern
ment would lose nothing by taking
paper as far as tlris description of
expence went ; for, you will observe,
that I hold it to be impossible, that
the parties I have just mentioned,
namely, the Generals, the Judges, tho
Tax-Commissioners, and the like*, I
hold it to be impossible, that these
men should not all of them be ex
cessively happy to take the paper-
money, though at a hundred for one,
seeing that the greater the degree of
depreciation, the finer the! opportunity
for them to give proofs of their de
votion to public credit. Bat, though
my Lords the Judges and Lord Arden
and Lord Buckinghamshire and Lord
Liverpool and Lord Bathurst and the
Marquis of Buckingham and Lord
Camden and Old George Rose and
Mr. Canning and my neighbour the
Apothecary General and Lord Ken-
yon and Lady Louisa Paget, and,
indeed, the hundreds of those who
have fixed sums paid them by the
Government out of money raised upon
the people, whether in the shape of
salary, sinecure or pension; though
air these persons would, I dare say,
from motives of public spirit, cheer
fully continue to take the paper till a
pound of it would not purchase a
pinch of snuff; still, there would be
some things and some services that
must be paid for in money, or they
would not be obtained. Beef and
Pork and Biscuit could not be bought
without real money These are com
modities that do not move without an
equivalent. Whether the soldiers would
be paid, under such circumstances,
in paper so much reduced in value,
I shall not pretend to gay, and will
leave the point to be settled by those
who have lately said so much about
this useful and numerous class of
active citizens. But, one thing is
certain : that THEY must be paid in
a kind of money that will purchase
eatables. They have bargained to
receive a certain sum per day ; and,
if the same should not purchase half
so much beer or beef as it does now,
the bargain will not be so good an one
as it is now; though, observe, I am
not supposing, that there would not
be found public spirit enough amongst
the soldiers to make them take the
paper in preference to gold. At any
rate, this is a matter winch belongs
exclusively to those who have the
management of our affairs, and who
are. paid very woli for such manage
ment.
It would be useless to extend our
remarks hare. It is as clear as day
light, thp.,% whenever TWO PRICES
shall be generally established, the
death of the paper is at hand,
and. indeed, the death of the
funding system ; because, owing to
the rapidity of the depreciation,
the fund-holders, our poor friend
GRIZZLE GREENHORN and all the
rest of them, would soon be in the
situation described by Mr. HORNK
TOOKE, iii the passage taken for my
motto ; that is to say, a hundred
pounds of their stock would yield
them a couple or three quartern loaves
in the year ; and, it is within the
compass of possibility, that many per
sons, who are now enabled to ride in
their coaches by incomes derived from
the funds, may end their days a?
paupers or beggars. In short, it is
quite impossible for any man of com
mon sense not to perceive, that the
establishment of TWO PRICES
would put an end, in a short time,
not only to the property of the fund-
holders, but to the sinecures and pen
sions, and also to great numbers of
ether emoluments derived from the
public revenue. Put an end to all^or
a time at least, and subjecting them
to an after revision.
If we are of opinion, that this effect
363]
PAPER AGAINST GOLD.
[364
would have been produced by tlie ex
ample of Lord King being followed,
there is, I think, little room for won
der, that the ministers were alarmed
at the prospect. I know it will be
said, and with perfect truth, that, in
time, the same effect will be produced
by Lord Stanhope *s Bill; but, sup
posing it to be produced full as soon
by the Bill, it does not follow, that
the ministers perceive that. On the
contrary, it would seem, that they
do not perceive it at all; and, it is
evident, that they have a sort of vague
notion, that the Bill will stay the de
preciation. I am convinced, that it
will not •; I am convinced, that it will
hasten the depreciation, and though
not <{ulte so fast as fhe example of
Lord King would, stili that, in the
end, the effect wii.l be the same. But,
the ministers could, in the one case,
see the effect : in the other they ap
pear not to have seen it ; and, this is
quite sufficient to account for their
giving their support to the Bill.
I said before, Gentlemen, that this
Bill was the first of a series of mea
sures, the object of which would be
to keep up the paper by the force of
faw. This seems to be the opinion of
all those who have opposed it in the
House of Peers : that it is merely a
*tep in the old beaten path of keep
ing up by the arm of power a depre
ciated paper-currency. This course
has been before pursued, in other
countries, and it has, in every part
of the world, led to the same end; the
total destruction of the paper. Each
of the Colonies, now moulded into
an united nation in America, had its
debt, its paper-money, its legal ten
ders, and its public bankruptcy, be
fore their separation from England,
and even before the revolutionary
quarrel began. Bat, it was in France,
where the thing was performed upon
a grand scale ; and, by taking a view
somewhat more close than we have
hitherto done, of the progress of the
measures in France, we shall be able
more correctly to judge of the ten
dency of what is now going on here.
There are divers histories of what
was done in France, relative te the
assignats; but I choose to take for my
authority one of the present Ministers,
the Marquis WELLES LEY, when he was
Lord MORNINGTON, made a speech in
the House of Commons, which wras af
terwards published in a pamphlet, or
rather book, in which he gave an ac
count of all the pranks played with
the assignats in France, up to the
time of his making the speedy which
was on the 21st of January, 1794, just
three years and a. month before the
then ministry, whom he supported,
issued an Order in Council to protect
the Bank of England against the de
mands of cash for their notes.
In this memorable speech, mani
festly drawn up for the purpose of
exciting horror in the people of Eng
land at the wickedness of the French
Rulers relative to the assignats, and
also to make the people believe, that
the state of the assignats must prove
the overthrow of France ; in this me
morable speech, not only facts . are
stated, but principles and maxims of
finance are laid down. We will take
a cursory view of them all ; for tiwc,
which tries every thing, has now
brought us into a state to judge cor
rectly of those facts, principles, and
maxims.
Lord Wellesley told the House of
Commons, that the rulers of France
were very wicked, but that they were
not less foolish than wicked ; that
their ignorance was, at least, equal to
their villainy, though the latter was
surprisingly great. He said, that " the
" French Revolutionary Govern-
" merit, in order to supply an
" extravagant expenditure, had re-
" course, at first, to increasing the
* mass of paper-money ; and, that they
" declared, that they had no other
" means of sustaining the pressure of
" the war* than by the creation of an
" additional quantity ef assignato"
366]
LETTER XXVI.
[366
There is, then, nothing original in the
declarations of Lord Liverpool and
Perceval and Hose. Nothing new in
their recent assertions, that it was the
paper-money that enabled them to
provide for the defence of the king
dom, to make such great exertions
against the " enemy of the human
" race," to gain such victories in Spain
and Portugal* and to add such glories
to the English name ! This was all very
fine and lull of comfort ; but, as you
now see, Gentlemen, there was nothing
new in it. The same thing had been
said before by the revolutionary ru
lers of France ; the same thing had
been said by Danton and Robes
pierre and their associates in praise
of the revolutionary money of France.
The ministers have frequently de
nied that the coin of the country is,
or ought to be the standard of value.
Rose and Lord Westmoreland and
several, others of them have denied,
that the Bank notes ought to be look
ed upon as depreciated, merely be
cause they would not go for the same
quantity of gold as formerly; and the
hireling writers have taken infinite
pains to decry and run down the gold
and silver coin. One of them calls
guineas an incumbrance ; another says
that gold and silver are merely arti
cles of traffic, and that the Bank notes
are the only money fitting the coun
try ; another has said, that, were it
not for the National Debt, the pa
tronage, and the paper-money, the
Government could have no existence,
and that the Bank notes offer to
the government a most indestruc
tible support, because they make the
daily bread of every individual depend
upon the Government; and, another
lias said, that Bank paper is the best
bond of individual and public secu-
r-ity, and the only medium of currency
to suit and exert the energies of an
insular and commercial people !
What a similarity between this
language and the language of the
Rulers of France in favour of their
assiynats! They called them, as
Lord Wellesley said in his speech,
revolutionary money; their Chancellor
of the Exchequer said that it was a
happy thing for the people to have
Republican > assignats instead of
pieces of metal bearing the effigy of
tyrants ; that the whole nation despised
the corrupting metals, and that he
would soon find a way of driving
back the vile dung into the bowels of
the earth. In another part of his
speech, Lord Wellesley tells us, that
people were imprisoned and punished
for their contempt of assignats.
Nevertheless, the people of France
had, it seems, still an unnatural
hankering after gold and silver in
preference to assignats ; and, they
did in fact, make TWO PRICES; the
consequence of which was an enor
mous rise in the price of all the ne
cessaries of life, the proprietors of
which were reviled as enemies of the
country, and, as such, many hun
dreds of them were put to death.
This, however, was not sufficient to
put a stop to the rise of prices, 'and,
indeed, did not check it at all. Then
came the law of MAXIMUM (as 'it
will in England if the present course
be pursued), fixing the highest price
at which any of, the necessaries of
life should be sold, and at which men
should work and render services.
This terrible law, Lord Wellesley
tells us, had nearly starved the whole
nation; for the farmers would not
bring their produce to market, and
tradesmen kept their goods locked up.
Then, he tells us, that these persons
were pursued as monopolists; and
thus, said Lool Wellesley, " every
"farmer whose barns and granaries
" are not empty; every merchant and
" tradesman whose* warehouse or shop
" is not entirely unprovided \\ii\\
" goods, must be subject to the charge
" of monopoly. This crime is punish
ed Differently, according to the enor-
" mity of the case; but, most fre-
" quently the punishment is death."
So that it is time for farmers and
tradesmen to look about them, nnd
367]
PAPER AGAINST GOLD.
[36S
especially the farmer*; who, if they
do not already see the danger of their
landlord's property being withheld
from him, will, perhaps, he more
clear-sighted when their own natural
fate is pointed out. They hear LORD
This very Bill now under discussion,
will impose a penalty, whether of
imprisonment or not I do not yet
know, upon any person, who takes,
or gives, or offers, bank notes, under
par. The prohibition was made in
KING accused of , black malignity ; j the Lords, and the Minister has said,
they hear him charged with selfish- , that he means to add the penalty !
ness ; they hear him classed along with
pedlars and Jews. This was, as
Lord Wellesley tells »s, precisely the
language which Danton and Robes
pierre and their underlings made use
of towards the people of property in
France, who had a " conte.mjrt for
assignats. " They were accused of
incivisiji ; they were called egotists,
and were, in almost the very words
in which' LORD KING is now arraign-
ed by the COURIER, told that they
" committed a robbery against the
"RIGHTS OF SOCIETY!" And,
this is what the people of England
are told, observe, after eighteen years
of war, after eighteen years of blood
and taxation, in, order, as they were
promised, to preserve their country
from what they saw going on in France^
" But, our paper is at par" .say
some of the PITTITES still; " Our
** paper is not depreciated." So they
said in France. Yes, said Lord
WELLESLEY, " the French minister
*' of Finance hns boasted, that his
" assignats are at par ; but, the laws
" which have been passed for punish-
•' ing with long imprisonment any
'* person who takes, gives, or offers
" assignats under par, sufficiently ac-
" count, for this circumstance." Good
God! It would redly seem, that
every saving is to come home to us !
that upon our devoted1 heads are to
be visited all that was felt, and, which
is more, perhaps, all that was, by
our rulers, said to be felt by the
people of France: aye, it really
would seem, that all, that a//, to the
very letter, is now to come home to
the people of England, who were led
to build their hopes of success and of
safety upon the ruin of the people, or
at least, the Government of France !
Let us now look, then, at the COM-
toast which Lord WELLESLEY drew,
upon that memorable occasion, be
tween the situation of England and
that of France. " From this dis-
'• gusting scene," said lie, " let us
" turn our eyes to ovr own situation.
" Here the contrast is striking in all
" its parts. Here we see nothing of
" the character and genius of ARBI
TRARY FINANCE; none of
" the bold frauds of bankrupt power :
" none of the wild struggles and
11 plunges of despotism in distress;
" no lopping off from the capital of
"the debt; no suspension of interest ;
" no robbery under the name of loan,
" NO RAISING THE VALUE,
"no DEBASING THE SUB-
" STANCE of THE COIN. Here
" we behold public credit, of every
" description, rising under all the
" disadvantages of a general war;
" an ample revenue, flowing freely
" and copiously from the opulence of
" a contented people,"
Gentlemen, read this with atten
tion ; and, when you have so done,
draw yourselves the contrast which
the situation of England now presents
with that of France ! It is a fact per
fectly notorious, that there is no such
thing as paper money in France; it
is also notorious, that not only does
France abound in gold coin, but that
the coin of this country, the guineas
of England, are now gone and are
daily going to France; aye, to that
same country, which was to be ruined
and overcome and subdued by the
failure of its finance ! This speech of
Lord Wellesley, and all the nume
rous other speeches of the sume
description, were intended for the
purpose of gaining the people's con-
869]
LETTER XXVI.
[370
currence to the prosecution of the
Antijacobin war, which war, by
uddiug five hundred millions sterling
to our Debt, has produced the fruit
of which we ar» now about to taste.
Year after vear the
same means
were made use of for the same
pur
pose, and with similar success. At
tiie opening of the Session of Parlia
ment, in October, 1796, PITT him
self told the Honourable House, that,
in his conscience, he believed, that,
with finances so dilapidated, the
French would not be able to stand
out another campaign !" ** This DE-
" PRECIATION of the ^ssighate,"
said he, " is so severely felt, that it
" has been repeatedly admitted, that
" means must be found to employ
" resources less wasteful. This prin-
*' ciple has been recognized by every
'* financier or statesman. Even at
" the j>eriod when the depreciation
** was only one half, it was declared,
" that unless some immediate remedy
" was applied, they would be unable
*•* to maintain their armies. Months
" have since elapsed, and no substi-
" tute has been employed. Resources
" thus strained to their utmost pitch,
" and incapable -of any renovation,
44 must have in themselves the seeds
" of decay, and the cause of inevi-
*' table dissolution"
This, Gentlemen, wras PITT'S rea
soning as applied to France. Little
did that presumptuous and shallow
man dream, that, in less than four
months from that very day, he was
doomed to come into that same House
of Commons, and from the same
spot where he th«* stood, announce
that the Bank of England was no
longer able to pay its notes in the
coin of the realm, and that he had
been guilty of a violation of the law
in issuing an Order of Council to
guarantee the Bank Company against
the consequences of refusing to pay
the debts due to their creditors! But,
as if this were not enough, he must,
uitbe speech just referred to, comment
upon certain metallic money then, it
was said, about to be issued in France
*' Metallic pieces/' said he, are, it
" seems, to-be put in circulation; but
" it is not said, whether these are
" to be of the DENOMINATED
" VALUE: if not so, they are only
" METALLIC ASSIGNATS !*'— -
Yet this same minister, who lias
been impudently called " the great
" Statesman now no more," had, in
a short time afterwards, to propose to
this same Heuse of Commons, to
sanction the issuing of Dollars at 4s.
and 9d. the real value of which was
4s. 4~d.; he lived long enough to
propose to the same House of Com
mons, to give its sanction to an issue
of dollars at 5*. ; if he had lived till
now, (I always regret that he did
not !) he would have seen the Dollar
at 5s. 6d. And, what he would have
seen it at, if he had lived till a few
years, hence, I must leave TIME, the
trier of all things, the rewarder of
all good deeds, and the avenger cf
allinjwies, to say. >
You will now be able to judge how
far our situation, in respect to paper-
money, resembles that of France at the
time when the revolutionary rulers of
that country were endeavouring to
keep up the Assignats by the arm of
the law, by the terrors of the jail and
the guillotine. Mr. PERCEVAL say*
that there is no resemblance whatever
between the bank notes and the assig-
nats. I shall shew you, that Mr.
Perceval is deceived; that he does
not understand this matter ; and that,
if he had read the works of PAINE, at
the time when his colleague Lord
Eldon (then Attorney General) was
prosecuting the author, he would not
have hazarded anj such assertion.
But, we must now take a look at
the whole of this speech of Mr. Per
ceval. I mean his speech in the
House of Commons, on Tuesday last,
the 9th instant, upon the first reading
of Lord Stanhope's Bill in the House
of Commons. This speecji will be a
3711
PAPER AGAINST GOLD.
memorable one. The child yet un
born will have cause to think of this
speech, and of the series of measures,
of which, as appears to me, it is the ne
cessary forerunner.
Mr. Perceval (I have the report of
his speech as given in the COURIER)
begun by stating his reasons for having
come round to the support of Lord
Stanhope's Bill, after having, at first,
disapproved of it. He says, that he,
at first, thought it unnecessary, because
he did not think, that any body would
follow the exayiple of Lord King ; but,
that finding that it was likely, that
the example would be followed, he
then thought it necessary to support
the Bill. Thus, then', at airy rate, it
has been one .individual who has
caused this Bill ; the Bill is made for
the purpose of preventing that indi
vidual and others from obtaining in
payment of rent what the law now
authorizes them to demand ; it is a
Bill, in fact, which, against tlie will of
one of the parties at least, alters con
tracts made years ago. Yes, says
Mr. Perceval, it does so; but, the
same was done in 1797 ! That is the
answer. <> Because the thing was done
by Pitt, he may do it! .He said, that,
until no\v, this preference for coin
before paper had been shewn by none
but Pedlars, Jews, and Smugglers ;
and, in speaking, afterwards, about
the possibility of the Bill being ineili-
cient, and a legal tender being neces
sary, he said that " he did, however,
' hope, that the ODIUM attaching to
' the* conduct which gave rise to
' this Bill, WOULD PREVENT
'OTHERS FROM FOLLOW-
< ING THE EXAMPLE." These
are memorable words, especially con
sidering from whom they came. —
Aye, aye ! I know well what workings
of mind there must have been before
they were uttered. I would not have
such workings in my mind for ten
times the worth of the reversion of
Lord Arden's sinecure. Oh ! a time
is coming, when all these things will
be seen and felt as they ought to be.
But, let us return to this memor
able expression . "the ODIUM!"—
A- man, then, is it seems, to incur
odium if he demand his due; Iris
due in equity as well as in law ! Gen
tlemen, you are, far the most part,
tenants ; but, take care how you suffer
}rourselves to be led to wish for any
advantage from this Bill, which will
most assuredly operate, in the end, to
your injury, and perhaps, to your
utter ruin. Let me explain to you, a
little more fully than I have hitherto
done, the nature of Lord King's de
mand upon his tenants. He let a farm,
for instance, in 1802, to JOHN STILES
for £.100 a- year, in good and lawful
money of the realm. He has until
now, continued to take the £.100 a
year in bank notes ; but now he finds,
that those notes are so far from being
good and lawful money of the realm,
that they have sunk in value 20 per
centum, aud that, instead of £.100 he
would, in effect, get only £.80. If,
however, the thing was likely to stop
where it is, he might possibly go on
receiving paper to the end of the pre
sent leases, when he would take care
to raise his rent of course ; but, the
thing is not likely to stop ; it goes
regularly on ; gold is purchased up ; a
guinea sells for 27*. &/. And is it
not, then, time for Lord Ring to be
gin to protect himself against this de
preciation? JOHN STILES, you see,
suffers no hardship in this, because he
raises the price of his corn and cattle
to meet the effects of the deprecia
tion. Suppose, for instance, that the
paper has depreciated 20 per centum,
or five pounds in every twenty, since
1802; and suppose, that wheat is. now
25 pounds a load ; consequently, it
will require only. four loads of wheat
to pay £.100 now, but it must have
required Jive loads to pay £.100
in 1802. But, is it not just and
fair, that JOHN STILES should
give Lord King as much wheat for
his rent in 1811 as lie contracted
to give him in 1802? If he does
not do this, and if the paper go
on depreciating, may it not come
to pass, that JOHN STILES will
373J
LETTER XXVI.
[374
not give Lord King more than a
bvuhel of wheat in a year! Aye,
may it; and a great deal sooner too
tli an many persons seem to ima
gine. And", because Lord King wishes
to avoid this ruin is he to be lumped
along with jews, pedlars, and smug
glers, and are we to be told of the
of/ium attaching to his conduet? —
However, upon this head,. 1 shall al
ways say, ibr my part, that the
Lords are the best judges of whether
they or their tenants are likely to
make the best use of the rents ; and,
if they like to give the rents to the
tenants, I know of no one who has
any right to find fault with them. —
They and the other great land-owners
appear to have abundant confidence in
Mr. Perceval, in the Bank, and in the
East Lidia Company ; and the Clergy
appear to have equal confidence in
them. Well, then ; I really see no
good reason that we, the people in
general, have to find fault with what
is going on. The matter seems, I
tkink., to lie wholly bet\yeen the land
owners and this little sharp gentle
man and his colleagues ; and to them
I will leave it, being quite satisfied,
•that the former are now about enjoy
ing the just reward of their conduct
for the last twenty-six years.
Mr. Perceval said, that those who
supported the Bank Restriction Act
in 1797, were inconsistent in not sup
porting this Bill; and he talked a
great deal about the inconsistency of
those who proposed,- the other day, to
continue the Restriction ibr two years
longer. With these matters, Gentle
men, WE have nothing to do. The
affair is all their own, THEY made
the war that produced the loans that
produced the paper that produced the
run that produced the stoppage of cash
payments that produced the deprecia
tion that produced the sale of guineas
and the hoarding and exportation of
them. THEIR work the whole of it
is, and which set of them were first
at it, or which last, is of no conse-
qu euce to us. They have it all amongst
them. They chose the grounds of
war, and the time ibr beginning; they
put down all those who opposed them;
they have been, for 2(j years, the
rulers of the country and the masters
j of all its resources. One set, there-
| fore, is, and ought to be, just the same
as the other in the eyes of the people.
Let them settle the 'matter of prece
dence between them; let" them bait
one another as long as they please ;
but let not us be, by such baiting,
amused and drawn away from tiit?
great points, at issue.
The "object of the Bill" Mr. Per
ceval said, •" was to prevent the e&tab-
" lishmcnt of TW(?¥RICESvtish
-'' must be the case if Lord King's ex-
" ample were generally followed.'11 —
Now, you -will be so good as to bear
in mind, Gentlemen, that this is, Mr.
Perceval says, the object. of the BUI;
and, I beg you also to bear in mind,
that I say, that 271 this object t/te Bill
will fail. Here we are, then, 1 and
the Minister, foot to foot in oppo
sition. I say his scheme will no*
prevent the TWO PRICES. I>saf
it will not : he says that such is its
object : we shall see who is right
JFie ought to be ; for, I am sure, he is
paid money enough for thinking for
this most thinking people in the world.
He did, however, confess, that- it was
possible, that this Bill might not -be
efficieTit; and, \vhat was then to be
clone ? Why, the bank notes, he said
must in that case, be made a legal
tender! Bravo! Come: to't again!
Once more, and then comes the
maximum! I always said, that it
would be thus. 1 always said, that
the moment any one put the paper-
money to the test, the paper-money
would be made a legal tender. This
Bill it was (but I do not believe it now
is) believed would have the same
effect ; but, if it fail of that effect, then
the legal tender is, it seem?, to come.
Mr. Perceval says, that this mny
become necessary. For what, Mr.
Perceval? What may it become ne
cessary for? Necessary to do ivhat,
357]
PAPER AGAINST GOLD
[376
thou Minister of Finance? Why,
vou will sav, I suppose, to prevent
TWO PRICES, and to PROTECT
THE FUNDHOLDER. And, dost
thou really think ; dost thou, a disciple
of the great statesman now no more,
think, in good earnest, that a legal
tender law would prevent two prices and
protect the fundholder? Forgire me,
but, it is impossible for me to refrain
from laughing at the idea. You will
say, I suppose, that it is " no laugh-
*' ing matter." Cry then, if you like,
but I will hot ; nor will any one be
longing to me. But, how is the legal
tender to prevent TWO PRICES
being made ? An Act of Parliament,
making the bank-notes a legal tender,
would cause debts to be paid in paper ;
but, it could not make the butcher or
the baker give their meat or bread for
bank-notes. They would and they
must and they will have two prices;
a money price and a paper price ; and
this will become general in spite of
every thing that can be done to oppose
it. What protection, then, will the
fundholder, or " public creditor" as
he is called, derive from measures
like these ? Mr. Perceval supposes a
case (of which I will say more by-
and-bye) in which the fundholder of
£.6,000 capital rents a house of
£.300 a year, and says that it would
be extremely hard, if this man, who
is obliged to receive his £.300 a year
from the Government in paper, were
to be left exposed to the compulsion
of paying his £.300 a year rent in
gold. Where is the hardship, if bank
notes are as good as gold ? Where is
the hardship, if the notes have not de
preciated? And these assertions are
daily and hourly made. But, to re
turn to the baker and butcher, for
these are the lads 'that it will be
most difficult to manage; what will
this fundholder do with them ? How
will Mr. Perceval protect him against
them? Why, to be sure, he will, and
indeed, consistently, he must, have re
course to maximum. And, it may
not be amiss here to explain to you
farmers aixl tradesmen what a maxi
mum means; for, you will find it a
matter, in which yw are very deeply
interested.
They had a maximum in France,
in the times of depreciated paper-
money. The rulers of that day, find
ing the assignats depreciate very fast,
passed a law to put a stop to the de
preciation, which only made them de
preciate the faster; and, as the as
signats were bought and sold, as our
bank paper now is, they passed ano
ther law to prevent the gold from
passing for more than its nominal
worth and to prevent the paper to pass
for less than its nominal worth. This
object, though attempted to be ac
complished by the means of very
severe penalties, Avas not accomplish
ed. There was still a money . price
and a paper price ; for, when a man
went to market, he pulled out his
paper, or his coin; and, the article
was high or low priced accordingly.
If the thing to be bought was a
quarter of mutton, for instance, a
crown piece in silver might be the
price ; but, if the payment was to be
made with paper, then the price might
be ten pounds or fifty pounds, perhaps.
The next thing, therefere, was to pro-
hibit the use of coin altogether. But,
this did not answer the purpose. The
assignats still kept depreciating, and
the rate of depreciation kept on in
creasing, till, at last, it required a
hundred pounds to purchase a pair of
common shoes; and, this was not at
all wonderful ; for, when once a paper
money is got into an acknowledged
Cnterrti at Stationers'
Printed by W. MOLINEUX, 5, Bream's Buildings, Chancery Lane; Published by W. COBBBTT,
Jun. No. 8, Catherint Street, Strand : and Retailed at No, 192, Strand.
COBBETTS PAPER AGAINST GOLD. — [Price Tu-o-Penct?.
377]
and notorious depreciation, it ahvays
goes on with, accelerated velocity.
Well, what was now to be done'
If it took a hundred pounds to pur
chase a pair of common shoes, what
was the use of collecting taxes in such
money ? And what was to become ot
those" whose incomes, founded on
former contracts, were paid them in
such money ? What was the Govern
ment to do ? Why, to fix a price upon
all the, necessaries of life, and to
compel people to sell their goods at
those prices. This was done, and all
farmers, bakers, butchers, and others,
were compelled to sell their commodi
ties at the same price, in assignats, as
they used to sell them tit in money,
before any assignats were made. Tiie
consequence of this was, that those
who had corn or meat or other neces
saries, did not bring them to market ;
the shopkeepers shut up their shops,
or hid their goods. To counteract
this, a law was passed to punish mono
polists, and every man, who kept more
corn, meat, or necessaries of any sort,
in his house, than was absolutely ne
cessary for the use of his own family,
became a monopolist, and, in many
cases, such persons were punished
with death! This was the last of that
Maries of measures, which was adopted
in Prance during the reign of terror
and blood. The guillotine was conti
nually at work to enforce this last
measure. The market place in every
considerable town reeked with human
blood. Hundreds of thousands of inno
cent country people arid shop-keepers
perished upon the scaffold and in
prison in consequence of the laws
made for the purpose cf -sustaining a
depreciated paper-money in France ;
and, wherever a similar project is
attempted to be forced into execution,
similar consequences will follow.
At last, however, the people of
France, unable to endure so hellish a
W. MOLI>'F.UX, Pt iuier, Bre.am'8 Buildings,
CUftucsrj LBQC
13/8
system any longer, put an end to it
and to its authors. The paper-money
was totally annihilated, and, in
a short time, gold and silver came
back into circulation. But, in the
mean while, what protection did any
of these measures give to the man of
fixed income, who might be compared
to our fund-holder ? Hov* did he get
any protection from any of these
measures ? Yet, he got full as much
as the fund-holder in England will get
from this measure of Mr. Perceval,
who, though he may, in part, ruin the
land-owner, will not, thereby, do ths
fund-holder the smallest good. The
rent of the fund-holder's house, is the
least article of hit* yearly expences.
His servants, his upholsterer, his
butcher, his baker, his haberdasher,
his draper, his brewer, his wine-
merchant, cV'c: &c. will all be paid in
gold, or in paper upon the principle of
TWO PRICES. There is, there
fore, no means of protecting the fund-
holder against these gentlemen, except
the maximum. It is useless to talk
about it, and for people to attempt to
buoy themselves up with a sort of
vague notion of the impossibility that
an English ministry should ever do
what was done by Hobespierre. 1
hope they never will, indeed; but,
this I am sure of, that, without doing
what was done by Robespierre, they
cannot make the fund-holder's income
equal in value to gold and silver.
This is what Mr. Perceval wishes to
do; this is what he calls protecting
the fund-holder, and this would be
protecting Irim; tut this, I tell him,
be cannot do', nor can all the powers
on earth do it. To stop where we are
is within the scope of possibility. By
an immediate stop to the increase of
the National Debt and the Dividends ;
by an immediate stop to all Loans and
ssues of Exchequer Bills ; by an im
mediate reduction of the Taxes; by
N
370]
PAPER AGAINST GOLD.
[380
such means; immediately adopted, we j I wish to see the event of the Bill
might stop where we are-; but, to now before that House, before I take
restore, is impossible. To make the
dividends north their nominal amount
in gold and silver is no irtore possible
tii an it is to bring back yesterday.
When I closed my last Letter, I ,
thought that, in this, I should have
been able to conclude the discussion;
but, the debate in the House of Com
mons has created new matter, and, as
my leave of the subject, 1 must defer
the conclusion till next week.
I remain, Gentlemen,
Your Friend,
WM. COJJBJETTV
State Prison, Newgate, Friday,
} 2th July, 1811.
LETTER XXVII.
''I maintain, that all Europe is contemplating th« payment in specie at the Batik as the critcrioi-
" credit of the country, if the Batik continue, to issue paper isitleout coaLrout, the Country liauks will
" do tit f. same. 1 hey will pour out their nous upon us without rnuroy ; stud we are now BEGlVNI'N'Cr
" A COURSE OF ASSIGNATS Loud cries of Order! Order! Question, Question, Question, rioiu
" every part of ttie House.-"-— Mr. ROBSOVs Speech, iu the Honourable llou»e, Sad April, JbOS.
' By these WISE and provident measures (the measures rolkting to the Bank Stoppage) all the appreht-nsions
" th;tt were entertained ure vanished: tht credit of the Rank is as high, t-otii ?.t home and abroad, a t> ic
"ever was; and, not the slightest inconicnience pouiblc is, or has been, experienced trout its not payiiu;
" in CHsh."UJLD GEOUGE KOSE. Brief Examination of the i'iu,»utcs, jiubiwhfed a' rat iu 179^, and
republished iu 1806". '
Mr- Robson's Proposition— George Rose's " Blessed Comforts''— The Nature and Extent
of these Comforts— Great Use of ascertaining them— Necessity of discovering who
has got the Money that has been borrowed on Account of the Public— Case uf
De Yonge.
GENTLEMEN,
BEFORE I resume the thread of
our discussion, which was rather ab
ruptly broken off at the close of my
last Letter, give me leave to beg your
attention to the two passages, which I
haVe, upon this occasion, taken as
MOTTOS.
You see, that Mr. ROBSON was
called to Order; that he was run
lown by all parts of the Honourable
House; that he was hooted out of
jountenance, and, you may see in the
history of that day's proceedings, that
le was obliged to sit down and to hold
kis tongue. And yet, what did he
jay? What was the fully he was
joilty of? Why, foretelling precisely
what has now come to pass. And, I
beg you to observe, that he recom
mended upon the occasion here re
ferred to a controul as to the quantity/
of paper to be issued by the Bank, *;i
measure now recommended by the
'whole (if otic parly in the Honourable
House and by part of t lie oil^r parti) :
and, though I am not one of those
who think that it would have been
possible to save ths paper by the
means of any such controul; still,
the proposition is now put forward as
the only one that can restore tho
paper to its former value. Yet did
the members of the Honourable
House hoot Mr. ROBSON down; they
coughed and laughed and hallooed
him off his legs. Ah! but those
times were very different frora the
present. The enemies of the truth
were then strong. They }iad not as
yet se«n the guinea at a premium,
and the bank-note at a discount.
[381
LETTER XXVII.
[382
Faith ! They have a great deal more
to see yet : what they have to see they
can scarcely guess at. Much good
may it do them. They hooted down
Mr. Robson ; they had their own way ;
and, therefore, let them not complain
when the days of their humiliation
shall arrive.
The second motto calls to our minds
the means that were, and that, all
along, have been made use of to de
ceive the people as to, the finances in
general, and especially as to the state
of the paper-money, in which work
this GEO.RGK ROSE has borne a prin
cipal part. He was, for many year*,
Secretary to the Treasury under
PITT, by whose authority this pub--
licationwas made inthe name of ROSE.
In short, he has been a great actor
in the' drama, which is now drawing
to a close ; and he is one of the men,
of whose pa.st (Conduct it will, here
after, be necessary, absolutely, ne-
cessarv, to give the history. " AW
" the slightest inconWRicHoeJ' JVo,
not to George Rose, perhaps; but,
could the rest of the nation say so 1
Could they say so, out of whose
taxes George Hose was getting about
ten thousand pound* a year ? But,
there is another passage in this sanir
publication of GEORGE ROSE, to
which I must beg leave to solicit your
attention, of which it is well worthy.
" There is a time for all things,"
and now is the time for reminding
the people of England of the means
by- which they have been deluded. It
was in Tain to endeavour to open
their eyes before ; but, now, per
haps, they may be induced to uuckc
ase of their senses. The following is
a specimen of the means employed to
delude them, at once to wheedle and to
scare tliem into a quiet surrender of
their money. I beg you to read it
with attention ; and you will, I hope,
be ashamed at having been deceived
by lies and hypocrisy so glaring. "As
" the amount of the debt, wMck will
" be incurred in this and every sub-
" sequent year of the war, will be so
" reduced by the application of the
" money coming in from the tax on in-
" come (after ten millions shall have
" been raised for the service of each
" current year), as that the perma-
" nent debt, which will be left as an
" addition to the antecedent one,
" will not exceed the annual amount
" of the whole produce of the sink
ing fimd. This is A TRUTH
" so important, that it cannot be too
" often or in too many shapes exhi-
" bited for the satisfaction of our
" country, for the conviction of our
" enemies, and for the information of
" Europe. If France lids built hopes
" (foutided on ignorant or visionary
. " calculations), on the expected o\re"r-
" throw of our financial system, and
" has trusted to the failure of
" our resources, she may now per-
" ceive what nieans, after so many
" years of this arduous struggle, Great
" Britain still possesses for niaintain-
" ing it; It would be a slander to the
" sense and virtue of the people, to
" suppose an abatenxmt of that spirit
" which, has enabled Government to
" call forth those resources. Tho
" prosperous state of the empire
" which ailbrds the power, furnishes
" all the inotive, for continuing the
" contest; a contest} the support of
" which to a successful issue is to se-
" cure us in the enjoyment of every
" national advantage, and to protect
" us from the infliction of every nn-
" tional calamity* The imperious and
" awful necessity of the present crisis
" unavoidably subjects us to heavy
" burdens. It has been said that
" they ought to be considered as a
" SALVAGE for the remaining part
" of our property. In the consider-
" ation of property, to which it was
" applied, the figure is suilkiently
" striking ; but, in other respects, the
*f metaphor, though just, is wade-
" quate. What Tarifl'' shall settle the
" difference between national inde-
" pendence and inexorable tyranny ?
" between personal liberty and requi-
" sitions. prisons, aiid murder? be-
383]
PAPER AGAINST GOLD.
"twees tbe BLKS3BD COM-
" FORTS OF RELIGION", and
" the gloomy despair of Atheism ?"
Well said, Old GEOKGK ROSE!
This was the sort of language by
which the nation was led on in the
former war. Tbe cant does, indeed,
no longer take. It has not the powers
that it possessed ten years ago ; but,
still there is cant in the nation, and
we ought to be constantly upon our
guard against it, " Between the lies-
" sed comforts of religion, and the
" gloomy despair of Atheism /" Why
this, Gentlemen? What had the
Wessed comforts of religion to do
with the matter? How, it any .of
rou had hud the spirit to put the
question to him ; ho\v wore the blessed
comforts of religion to be taken from.
you by the French Republicans ?
How were those blessed comforts to
be secured to yon by a bloody war
against those Republicans ? In short,
what had religion or atheism to do
with the matter ? What an impudent
thing to tell you, that, if you did not
part freely viith your money, you
would be plunged into the gloomy
despair of Atheism ! What an impu
dent thing was this ! But, let us see
what GEORGE ROSE really meant,
when he was talking about the blessed
comforts of reUgion and the salvage
upon your property. He says " sal-
" vage upon OUR property ;" but, we
shall soon *<>e what sort of salvage he
paid. \ ou were to pay salvage, fcmt
he did not tell you to whom. He did
not tell the ** thinking people," that
he Atffttejfwaa one of the great re
ceivers and pocketers of the said sal
vage. Yet, -at the time when he
wrote he and his sons were, and they
now are, in the receipt annually of
public money to the following amount :
OLD GEORGE ROSE, as
Treasurer of the Navy ••••£. 4,324
OLD GEORGE ROSE, as
Clerk of the Parliaments
which u a sinecure, and is
for his life, and is granted
qjbe/pruM life of his eldest
son. YOUNG GEORGE ROSE 3,278
OLD GEORGE ROSK.—
Keeper of Records in the
Exchequer, another smerure
place
WILLIAM STKWART ROSE,
second son of Old George
Rose, as Clerk of the Ex
chequer Pleas, which is also
a sinecure place
[384
400
Such was the sum which " the
" blessed comforts of religion" yielded
to this man : no wonder, then, that
he ielt an uncommon decree of hoi >
ror at the thought of seeing tho.-:c
blessings supplanted by the " gloomy
" despair of atheism," which of course-
being interpreted, meant the loss of
this ten thousand pounds a year ! So
you, the people of England, yea,
" this most thinking people of JKu-
" rope," as Lord STORMONT -(who,
by-the-by, had a fat sinecure) called
them, were to pay George Hose and
his sons ten thousand pounds a year
in part of the means of preserving
themselves from the gloomy despair
of atheism ! But, observe, Gentle
men, OLD GEORGE HOSE has been
for nearly thirty years in the receipt
of large sums annually of the peopleY
money. His salary as Secretary of
the Treasury he had before he was
Treasurer of the Navy, and that wa«
4,000/. a year. It is sixteen years,
at lerurt, since lie got the grant of the
office of Clerk of the Parliaments, at
3,278/ a year, which is just so mucb
money for doing nothing at all, tho
office being what is called a sinecure.
How long he has possessed the 400/.
a year as keeper of the Exchequer
Records 1 do not know ; but, 1 be
lieve, twenty years if not more. So
that, I think, we shall not Le far
from the mark, if we suppose him tc
have possessed the -whole for twenty
years past. What other emoluments
he may have had, how much more
of the public money he may have, re
, I do not know. His spj
385]
LETTER XXVII.
[326
is, I brlicre, to have- a
fame pension for life for hi# trip to
America; where he did not remain -a
• .'p,r, I believe, altogether. Hut these
\\ ill be matters for another day's reck
oning. Tor the present let us see
what the above su;u amounts to in the
course of twenty years. The princi
pal money is SfQ§x7$0£ In words,
tiro hundred and two thousand, seven
hundred and eighty pounds; and if,
we add the interest, the amount is
about 323.000/. in words, THREE
HUNDRED AND TWENTV
TI1KEETHOUSAND FOUNDS,
nearly two thirds of which has been
received for sinecure places, that is to
say, for dairy nothing.
Here are " blessed comforts of re
ligion !" The thinking people, " the
most thinking people in the world"
Mere desired to believe, that un
less they paid this and other such
sums, they would lose all the " bles-
" se.d comforts of religion," and would
be plunged into the gloomy despair of
atheism ; that, in short, if they did
not continue to pay these sums of
money, they would all go to hell as
sure as they were born. Oh, " most
44 thin/tiny people !"
But, Gentlemen, now let us apply
what has here been .seen to the sub
ject before us. I observed to you,
before, and, indeed, proved to you,
the measure of Lord King was ren
dered necessary by the difference be
tween the value of paper and that of
coin, that that difference baa arisen
from the depreciation of the paper,
that that depreciation has arisen from
the abundance of the paper compared
with the quantity of gold ia circulation,
that that abundance, has arisen from
the stoppage of the payments of cash
at the Bank, that that stoppage arose
from the vast increase in the amount
of the National Debt and the Divi
dends : all this I have before proved
to you, and in a manner, I tru.ct, that
you clearly understand ; but, there is
still one stage farther to go back, and
that is, to the CAUSE of the increase
»f the Nation n IJ&ebt ! Mark well ; what
1 say here, Gentlemen. Mark this
well; for this is now, or, at least, it very
soon must be, the great, and indeed,
the only object, connected with the pa
per system, worthy of our attention.
In the common concerns of life, in
the affairs of individuals, where inte
rest induces men to do the best they
can for the prosperity of the concern,
we always find, that, in the case -of
embarrassment, arising from debt, the
cause of such debt is looked well into
by those who wish to retrieve the af
fairs of the concern ; and, if they find,
that the debt has been incurred by
this or by that species of extrava
gance, they set to work to put a stop
to such extravagance, and, in case**
calling for it, they inquire who it ii
that has derived gain from the crea
tion of the Debt Arid, why should
we do this ? Why should not we, in
our present state,, inquire who hare,
ii any persons have gained by this in*
crease of debt; or, in other words,
whether there be any persons who
have beon receiving, for the last
twenty or thirty years (we may stop
there,) large sums of money out of the
loan*, which loans have added to the
Debt? Why, in shor% should not
we look with this sort of eye into our
affairs'? The nation, this " mott
thinking nation," seems here again
to be deluded. The public were get*
ting into motion : it was impossible to
keep them perfectly quiet any longer :
but, it was easy to throw them off
upon a wrong scent ; and, for this
purpose, the halloo against Lord
KING was set v.p. But, "steady"
men of England 1 " Solid? men of
England I Thinking, " most thinking
" people" of England 1 Do not, thus,
to the last, expose yourselves to the
ridicule and contempt of the world !
Let me beseech you not to be dupea
and gulls to the last moment 1
Whatv, considering us as rational
men; considering us as intellectual
beings; considering us as creature*
baring souls in our. bodies; consider-
38?
PAPER AGAINST GOLD.
[3S8
ing us as something superior to
the beasts that perish : considering
ourselves in this light, what, I ask,
have we to do with the manner in
which LORD KING, one of the land
owners, wishes to settle with his
tenants for their rent ? L Let him, in
the name of common sense, manage
his affairs in any way that he likes
best; and let us endeavour to retrieve
our affairs. With this laud able de ter
mination in our minds, and being con
vinced that all our embarrassments
arise from our Debts, let us look back
into our books for the last twenty
or thirty years, and see how we
have got rid of our money. We Jiave
always had a large income, and yet
our A GENT, for the time being, has
been borrowing money for its* This
may possibly have been necessary ;
but, afr least, let us not act the part of
careless men in common life, who, in
in spite of circumstances enough to
awaken suspicion in. credulity itself,
still confide in a plundering sharper.
Let us look into our books ; let us look
back into our old accounts, and see
what our AGENTS, in succession, have
done with our money. Our income
they have expended, they have made
prodigious loans in pur name, and have
charged uS with interest upon them :
let us see, then, to whom and for what
they have paid away all this money ;
for, if we should find, that they have.
taken any part of the money to them
selves or given it away, that opens to
us a most interesting view of the
matter.
Well, then, in looking over the ac
count books of the nation for tl»e last
twenty or thirty years, I find several
large sums paid to OLD GEORGE
HOSE and his sons, and J find, too,
that the far greater part of it has been
paid them for sinecure offices, that is
to say nothing-to-do-Offices. 1 put
these sums together, I calculate the
interest upon them, and I find them,
together with the interest, amount to
£.323,000 or thereabouts. So ! say
I, here I hare, then, discovered the
cause, in part, of this embarrassment
in pur uftkirs. If this money had not
been given to the HOSES, the nation
would not, of course, have been so
much in Debt, the Dividends upon the
interest of the Debt would not have
been so large, the Bank Company
need not have made so much paper to
pay the Dividends with, the run upon
the Bank would riot have taken place
so soon, the stoppage of cash payments
would not have been called for at so
early a period, the depreciation would
not have come on so fast, the gold
would have been longer in arriving at
a premium, and LORD KING would
not as yet, at least, have given the no
tice, which has led to the Bill now be
fore parliament.
I shall be asked, perhaps, what -i^-
nifies £.323,000 v hen the, whole of
the Debt amounts to £.800,000,000.
My answer is that millions are com
posed of ones; and that no sums are
so large as those which »TOW out of
many small ones. But /.v this a small
sum? Look at it! It is a 2,500 th
part of the wholv of Me National
Debt. Think of that! I may have
had an error in my estimate ; the
Hoses may not have had this income*
{'or so long a time ; and I may have
committed an error in computing the
amount of the interest ; but, if I am
right, as 1 think I am, and under the
mark instead of over the mark, then
have these persons, this one family,
and, indeed, one member of it chiefly,
received, from the nation, in principal
and interest, a 2,500th part of the
whole of the National Debt at this
day in existence.
Here we are upon the TRUE
SCENT, Gentlemen; and I am quite
satisfied, that all the hallooing and
hooting and doubling and luring in the
world will never, in the end, prevent
I us from having success in the chace.
A 2,500th part of the whole Debt
mind ; but, of the Debt created within
the last twenty or thirty years, it will
make about 1,800th part. So that,
if my calculations be correct, George
LETTER XXV J I.
(390
Rose and his Son (without including.
the value oi' the reversionary grant or
'>f the Havwfs pension) have, during
the last twenty or thirty years, re-
oi-hed, in principal and interest, a sum
oi money from the people equal to a
1,800M, part of ail that portion uf the
National Debt, which has been created
during the last thirty yearsl
When sinecures and pensions have
been talked of, you have observed
certain persons ,«.et up an affected
horse laugh, as it' the amount was a
mere trifle, a thing to laugh at; hut,
you see, Genthmen, that these are
not trilles ; that they are things worth
looking into ; and there are lew per
sons, I believe, who have ever had to
do with embarrassed pecuniary affairs,
who \vill not think with me, that the
sooner ivt look into these things the
better. For, it we were, tor instance,
to lind out, in searching the Nation's
old accounts, 1,800 persons, each of
whom has received of the public mo
ney, in the last thirty years, a sum .hi.
•tmount equal to that received by
GEORGE HOSE, then tiie thing is
-.iiade dear at once. There is no more,
'iiflicultv. We, at once, see the cause
*>f tbc increase of the national Debt;
or, at least, we see the means that
night have been employed to prevent
'the stoppage of- the Hank casli pa^-
iicnfs, and the consequent deprecia-
• ion of the paper-money.
I shall be told, may be, oy some !
persons, that I forget the services j
diieh GEORGE ROSE has rendered \
to the country. That is a point upon
vhich men may dilfer in opinion; but,
i hen, that claim has been satisfied by
he Salaries as Secretary of the Trea
sury and Treasurer of the Navy ; so
that, at any rate, there are more than
six tenths of the whole sum to be kept
!•> the, sinecure amount; am!, as 1 said
•ij'fore, there may have been many and
/arge emoluments of which I have,
and can have, no knowledge. There
is, indeed, the other claim, mentioned
in the early part of this letter, name
ly, the preserving to us, the " mast ;
" thinking people in the world," the
" BLESSED COMFORTS of reli-
'* gioii ;" and really I must confess,
that, against those who thought that
paying taxes and creating national
Debts were necessary to prevent them
from being made Atheists by French
Republicans, this claim is good. Those
who could be made believe that must
be of so stupid and so base a nature
as to make them wholly unworthy the
attention of him, whose object is
happy and free ; because such people
must have been fashioned by nature to
be slaves. What^i degrading idea!
Pay money to prevent myself from
being made an Atheist ! Pay taxes ;
suffer in silence my estate to be taken
from me by piece-meal, and sit quiet
while I am told, that this is necessary
in order that the French may not take
from me " the BLESSED COM-
" FORTS of religion !" -Talk of cre
dulity, indeed ! Talk of the pilgrims
who used to go and make their offer
ings at the shrine of Thomas a JBecket !
Talk of the Priest-craft and gullibility
of three centuries back ! 1 defy any
man to produce me, from the annals
of superstition, from any of the re
cords of human credulity or human
cowardice, any thing which to the cha
racter of man is so degrading as
this is.
Yet, this was the sort of language
made use of by the pr.rtizaus of Pitt,
during the whole qourse of the Anti-
jacobin war. There were many tricks
played on"; but the grand, tlie master
trick, the never failing fraud, was the
alarm at the d;mgcr of seeing athctttfo
introduced instead of the Christian
Rcliyioti ; the " gloomy despair of
" Atheism/' says GEORGE HOSE;,,
instead of "the BLESSED COM-
" FORTS of religidn !" What would
I give to have seen GEORGE just at
the moment of his finishing that sen
tence ! I should like to have watched
his looks, and, if possible., to have
heard his soliloquy! "BLESSED
"COMFORTS 6f religion!'' He
seems totally to have for gotta *hs
aoi
PAPER AGAINST GOLD.
ten thousand prwnfl a year ; but, I
trust, that the time is not far distant,
when that and all other matters of the
kind will he well and scrupulously at
tended to,
Upon a future occasion, Gentlemen,
I intend entering more at large into
an inquiry as to what has become of
the money borrowed during the last
twenty or thirty years; but, this I
must defer till another opportunity.
In my next I intend closing this series
of hitlers, when I shall have seen the
discussions upon the Bill, now before
the Parliament, brought to an end.
'Jli at will be a natural point for me
and you, Gentlemen, to rest at, until
something new and important shall
arise, and that that will soon he the
case I am pretty certain. In the
mean Avliile I beg leave to subjoin a
3 tV.w remarks on the case of DE
YONGE; together with a Letter from
himself to LORD VJSCOUNT FOLKE
STONE, and remain,
Your faithful friend,
WM. COBBETT.
Slate Prison, Nevgate, Thursday,
18//1 Jufy, 1811.
THE Case of DE YONGE, the
Jew, who, in the month of August
last vrar, was tried for selling Gui
neas for more than their nominal value
in Bank Notes, has prpved what I
then said it would be, " one of the
" mo.-'t important that had taken plape
" for many years."- 1 said, and
published, at the time, my opinion,
that, notwithstanding the prosecution
had been orderefl and carried on by
the Attorney Gcnwal (Gibbs), and
though the man bad been found guilty
by a Special Jury and in coincidence
with the direction of the '/wc/f/f (Elfen-
borough;) notwithstanding all this, 1
gave it as my d cided opinion, and
maintained that opinion by argument,
that the Jew had -been guilty of no
crime in the eye of the law of Eng
land. 1-he CUSP, as we have before
seen, lias since been argued before the
Twelve Judges, and they have pro
nounced, that" what the man was
charged with was not a crime.
It is a long time since tbis man's pro
secution began. Notice will be found
of it in the llegister a year and a
ha,lf ago. It was manifest, that the
poor man must have greatly suffered
in purse as well as in mind; and,
when the Judges had declared him
guilty of?io crime, LORD FOLKESTON E,
who had before interested himself
greatly in the man's fate, and had
given notice, that if the case was not
speedily decided upon by the Judges,
he would bring it before Parliament;
wrheii the Judges had decided, his
lordship complained, in the House of
Commons, that the poor man had suf
fered greatly, and ought to have com
pensation made him. The ATTORNEY
GENERAL answered, that every wan
was liable to the same sort of jncon-
venience and injnry. To be sure,
said bis lordship, every man is liable
to have a false accusation preferred
against bim ; every man is liable to
be prosecuted without sufficient
grounds ; but, this was a singular case :
the prosecution was ordered by the
King's own Attorney General; and,
what is more, the crime, as it was
called, was, by the government Soli
citor, procured to be committed; so
that the man was prevailed upon by
the prosecutors to commit what they
deemed a great crime ; they tempted
him to commit the crime; they, in
fact, made the crime, or the supposed
crime, that they intended to prosecute,
and that they actually did prosecute.
This is by no means a common case ;
it is by no means one of those vexa
tious and groundless prosecutions to
which any man is liable from the ma
lice or mistake of others. This was
a prosecution by the law officers of the
Crown, and by the Attorney General
in particular ; and, all the sufferings
of J)E YONQE have arisen from the
Attorney General's not knowing the law
upon this point. It is no cr me, to
be sure, to be ignorant of the law upon
any point j nor is it to be supposed
893]
LETTER XXVII.
[394
that Attorney Generals are conjurors
any more than other men ; hut, when
they seek to get the grounds of a pro
secution ; when they get a man to com
mit a crime (or when those under
them do it), they may have an oppor
tunity of prosecuting it ; when this is
the case, there can be no doubt, I
think, that they ought to know the law
before they proceed. And, I am
jjuite sure, that, in all such cases,
where there is an acquittal at last, the
suffering party ought to be indemnified
for his sufferings and losses. For, if
this be not so, whit man is sale from
utter ruin ? >f Ao may not be ruined ?
What De Yonge has "suffered we shall
now «ee, in a Letter, \vhich he has
had the gratitude to address to Lord
Folkestone, and which, as being a
very clear and modest statement of
his case, and as a document connected
with the great subject of which we
are treating, I here insert. —
" MY LORD; I should be wanting
" in gratitude were I to omit return-
" ing you my most sincere thanks for
" your disinterested endeavours on
" my behalf, and I assure your Lord-
" ship I do not feel the less grateful
"because they were unsuccessful. —
" Your Lordship will perhaps ex-
" fuse me if I mention a few circum-
" stances in mv case of which I think
" I am justified in complaining, and
" particularly as Mr. Attorney Gene-
" ral asserted that I had suffered no
" material hardships. =•- In the first
" place, I did not seek the barter or
" exchange which formed the subject
" of the accusation against me, the
" plan was laid by the Mint Solicitors
" to tempt me to the bargain, and
" then to prosecute me. — Pursuant to
" this arrangement, a foreigner was
" employed, who came to my house
" as the interpreter to another man, in
" his company ; they stated, that they
" were recommended to me to make
" the purchase, and, after urging me
" to deal with them, officers came into
c< my house, seized me and my money,
" and, at a late hour in the evening,
" I was hurried from my family to a
" loathsome prison, (the Poultry
" Counter) and there kept three days
" and three nights in cus'tody without
" bail being admitted. At length, on
" the final examination, I was dis-
" charged on giving bail to a large
•' amount, which I had some difficulty
" in procuring ; and had I not been
" able to obtain them, I must have
" remained in custody 18 months, the
" period this question has been pend-
" ing. Lastly, the expence and anxiety
" I have sustained has been enormous,
" some through the 'solicitors for the
' prosecution, for, after going through
" all the nesessary forms of law to
" bring the first Indictment against
" me to issue, and, indeed, when it
" stood for trial, the prosecutors moved
" to quash it and prefer another, be-
" cause they had misrecited the pro-
" clamation.— A second Indictment
* was accordingly found, and this also
' I proceeded in, until it was coming
' on for trial, at the Old Bailey, when.
' ta my great mortification *and asi-
c tonishment, it was removed by the
' prosecutors into the Court of King's
' Bench, by which means, 1 had, as
' it were, my defence again to com-
' mence. — Being in very moderate
' circumstances, and having a family
1 to support, I have necessarily sus-
' taiued many deprh ations in conse-
4 quence of the great law' expences
* incurred in defending myself against
' this accusation, and, I fear, it will
' be a considerable time before I can
' recover myself from the injuries I
' have sustained. — I will not further
* trouble your Lordship, but con-
" elude with observing, that I hum-
' bly conceive the Law Officers of the
' great public bodies and of Goyern-
' rnent, having, as they must, the best
' means of information on legal points,
" ought to be somewhat more circum-
" spect and accurate in their expound-
" ing acts of parliament, before they
*' distress and bear down an Jiumble
305]
" individual and expend the public
" money, by harrassing and groimd-
" loss prosecutions. — I am, my Lord,
" witii the greatest respect, your most
PAPER AGAINST GOLD. [39t>
and verv humble Ser-
" obedient and very
" vant,
JAMES DE YOTJNG."
107, Honndsdifch, IJthJuly,
LETTER XXVIII.
u I Iflpked upon the "Bullion Report as likely to lead to what would be likely to secr.rc tTie cobiitry from the
Dritura.1 comeqiif.aces of t.liat O"fY\vlv'itniu<; rorruption, which I r«»<irtlod as the fruit of tlie paprr
systeru ; and, as I have tiie accomplishment of this grent object deeply »t lie;»rt; as I look upon tli*: hap-
piuess ami honour of my country as of Ur greater v,.lue to me Uiau uny other worldly possession, I
snid, and I still say, that the liulliou Report has giveui me more ple>sc-ure tlitm I should dt-iivp ;ri,m
being made the owner of the whole of Hampshire. As to any ideaof a party nature, I shall, I am suic,
be believed, when I say, that I did not care one straw to' what party the Committee belonged, If [ |KI<1
n wisl) as to puvtv, it certainly would be, that no ctian^c of ministry should take plucc; for, without
prejudice to the OUTS, who, I think, would do the tiling full as well with -A li'ti.: HK,,C U;ne, 1 ;:1n
quite satisfied, thnt the present, people will do it as itcat.li/ and «s quickly, as any ic-ibOiiibie inun ctn
expect." POLITICAL REGISTER, Vol. XVIII. p. 427, Sept. 22ud, 1810.
?rogrpss of Lord Stanhope's Bill — Effects ofits Provisions — Mr. Brougham's' Resolutions
— The Justice of Lord King's Claim insisted on — Illustrated by the Gi ants to the King
and the Additions to the Pay of the Judges.
GENTLEMEN,
THE Bill is past! And, he you
assured, that the die is cast ! When
I wrote the passage, which I have
luken for my motto to tins letter, I
did expeet to see what I hinted at in
the close of that passage ; but, I must
confess, that I did not expect the pro
gress to have been quite so rapid as it
has been. For the future my calcula
tions will be more likely to keep pace
with events.
Well, the Bill of Lord Stanhope is
now become a law. We will, there
fore, take a short view of the rise and
progress of H ; and, when we have so
done, we will -examine its provisions,
and endeavour to point out its conse-
qtienees.
The Bill was brought into the House
of Lords and read a first time on the
l27t[i of June, when no division took
place, and whon an intimation was
by the ministers, that they
oppose it.- On the second of
Juty, it was read n second time, and,
bring now supported by the minister:?,
thv-j! question for the second reading
v,as carried, 86 for it, 12 against it.
OM the 8th of July^ it w^ read a
third time and passed, 43 for it ami
16 against it. In the Honourable
House, it was re:id a iirst time on the
9th of July, and, upon a division OH
the question, thrr« appeared 64 for it
and 19 against it. On the 15th of
July it was read a second time, 133
forSt, and 35 against it. On the 17th
of July it went through a committee
of the House, and, on the 19th of July,
it was read a third time and passed
with the amendments, relating to the
penalties. On the 22nd of July, the
amendments introduced by the Com
mons were agreed to by the Lords.
On the 24th of July it received the
Rovai A I-1 sent by Commission; and
thus it is become A LAW; thus a
new pencil law has been added to the
almg.st. endless number already in ex
istence. Main hundreds of the, peo
ple of this country lia\ e been banished,
or put to deatli, for imitating the pro
missory notes of the Bank Company;
and now the people are liable to be
punished for passing them for what
iliMf may deem their worth, though
they be their men properly.
Tbe provisions of the Bill are not
numerous : it is a pithy affair The
397]
LETTER XXVIIL
[398
first part relates to the passing of coin
and paper, and the second to the re
covery of rents. It will be best to
insert the words. Those of the first
[Kirt are as follows : " Be it enacted,
" that from and after the passing of
" this Act, no person shall receive or
" pay for any gold coin lawfully cur-
" rent within the realm, any more in
* value, benefit, or advantage, than
" the true lawful value of such coin,.
" whether such value, benefit, profit
" or advantage be paid, made, or taken
" in lawful money, or in any note or
" notes, bill or bills of the Governor
" and Company of the Bank of Eng-
" land, or in any silver token or
' tokens issued by the said Governor
' and Company, or by any or all of
' the said means wholly or partly, or
1 by any device, shift, or contrivance
' whatsoever. And be it further en-
" acted, by the authority aforesaid,
" that no person shall by any device,
" shift, or contrivance, whatsoever,
" receive or pay any note or notes,
" bill or bills of the Governor and
" Company of the Bank of England,
" as of less value in money, except
1 ' lawful discount, than the sum ex-
" pressed therein, to be thereby made
" so payable." Thus it stood as
it went from the Lords. There
were, I believe, some trifling verbal
alterations 'made in the Honourable
House, who also added the penalty t
and made it a misdemeanour to dis
obey this part of the law ; of course,
offenders against it may be punished
byyi'/ie and tonprisonnicnt, or, as I am,
by botk> at the discretion, perhaps,
of the Judges ; but, of this I am
not sure, not having, as yet, seen the
Act in its h'nished state.
Thus, then, the Bank Company,
after having applied to the Govern
ment to issue an Order in Council,
after having subsequently applied for
acts of Parliament, to screen them
against the consequences of refusing
to pay their promissory notes in coin,
now see a law passed making it cri
minal, for any one to get rid of any of
those notes that he may happen to
possess for their real worth in coin !
This law does what the laws al
ready in existence could not do in the
case of DE YONGE; or, at least, it
attempts to do it. It forbids and
punishes the selling of gold coin for
more than its nominal worth in Bank
Notes, which was precisely what DE
YONTGE did. But, do you believe,
Gentlemen, that this will put a stop
to the traffick? I should think, that
nobody could believe this ; , and, if
any one were inclined to believe it,
he need only consider the little effect
produced by the conviction of DE
YONGE to convince him of the con
trary. That gentleman was found
guilty of the crime of selling guineas
at Twenty two shillings and sixpence
each, and, while he lay under that
conviction, the price of the guinea
rose to Twenty six or Twenty seven
shillinys. This is a pretty good proof
that the price of the guinea is not to
be kept down by penal laws. But,
if the law should put an end to all
purchases of gold coin in Bank of
England notes, it cannot have any
such effect with regard to Country
Bank Notes. Suppose, for instance,
that one of you had a fancy for a
hundred guineas to lay snugly aside,
and I had them to dispose of; the
price would be 135/., but, say we,
the bargain must not take place in ~
notes ofthe Governor and Company
in Thread needle Street, for so says
Lord Stanhope's law. But the law
does not say, that such bargains shall
not be made in Country Bank notes ;
and therefore, you give me 135/. in
the notes of Paperkite and Co. which
notes will, in all probability, answer my
purpose full as wellasthe Londonnotes,
or better if I want to pay them away
in the country ; and, if they should
not answer my purpose quite so well, -
what have I to do but go to the
country bankei and get them changed
for Bank of England notes ? I keep
390]
PAPER AGAINST GOLD.
MOO
.the country b:mk not^s if I please, and
if I please I change them. This is
one way, then, and a most effectual
way to >, of rendering the Bill of no
ute as to its main apparent object
But, bow in any are the wavs, in
vhich such a law may, must, and will
be evaded I It is a law intended to
make people part with their property
tV>r has than it is worth in the one
cuse, and to make them obtain for it
wore than it is worth in the other
case. The old adnge of " a thing is
*' worth what it will briny1 is, by this
laWj fo be totally destroyed after
Ii. iv ing lived in the world ever since
purchase, or even barter, was known
amongst, mvii. According; to this law,
a thing, in one case wfii be rvorfh
more than it is to be sullbrcd to bring,
and, in the other case, a thing will
not bring *o muck as it is to be as
serted to be worth. It is u law, in
short, to compel men to dispose of
certain articles of their property (if
taey dispose of them at all) at a price
fixed on by the Government; and is
such a law as never was heard of be
fore, except in France, during the
times of Robespierre and Danton and
Marat. It is, as Mr. BROUGHAM
has called it, in his Resolutions, a law
of maximum as to gold coin; but, it
is a law, which cannot be generally
enforced, and which can have only a
temporary and partial effect, if any
at all, in checking the traffic in coin
against paper ; and to whatever ex
tent it is efficient, it will be efficient
in driving all the coin out of the king
dom, excepting such portion as peo
ple are enabled to hoard; for, if I
have a guinea, or any tiling else, that
is worth 27 shillings, and if there be
a law which prevents me from getting
at present in England more than 21
.shillings for it, I shall certainly hoard
it 'till I can <j;et the worth of it, if I
have no safe means of sending it
abroad. Where is the man who will
not do this ? I am sure that there is
not a man amongst you who would
! not do it. Yes, I am sure, -that
j there is not one single farmer iii aH
! England, who v»'ill not hoard a guinea
' rather than exchange it for a b».nl:
note of twenty one shilling?. So that,
as I have observed to £>ou before, yiid
as has been very well expressed
in 'Mr. BKOT.'GHAM'S Resolutions,
this law will, as far as it shall be
efficient, .drive the little remains of
gold coin into hoards or cut of th«
country, and, by preventing a free
and open and unrestrained competi
tion between the coin and the paper,
will, as far as it lias effect, preveut
the operation of the only cure for the
evil of a depreciated paper money.*
* It was on the 1 9th of July, that Mr.
BROUGHAM proposed his K [-.SOLUTIONS to
the House of Commons. They were ne
gatived: and, gentlemen, I beseech you to
compare; them" with such resolutions -as \vrre
agreed to by that House. These Resolutions
are well worthy of attention, containing as.
they do what will become a memorable
protest against the law, which is row the
subject of discussion, and which will, ben
subject of observation with our children,
if any trace of it shall remain beyond our
own time8.
I. That by the Lavr and Constitution of
these Kealms, it i* the rndondted right of
every man to sell, or otherwise dispose of
his property for whatever he deems to h*
its value, or vluittver consideration hr
chusos to accept. And that every man
possessed of a Bank Note, or other sctMi-
rity for the paymriit of money, has an un
doubted ii«ht to give it away for nothing,
or in exchange for whatever sum of money
he pleads ; or if he cannot obtain what he
demands, to retain possession of it.
II. That any statute, having for its ob-
jtct 10 restrain this rjgjitofoutd be contrary
to the principles of the ftvitUi Constitution,
and a iterant violation of the most j-acrcd
Rights or' Property, and the ancient and
inalienable Liberties of the People.
III. That any statute, having for its ob
ject to prcvent'tlW 15a«k, or other Paper
Currency of the; Country from bring ex-
rhnngfd against the lawful money of tin
Kealm below a certain rate, wonUl, if it
could be carried into eflVct, cause Un
lawful money of tuc realm to disappear,
and would, in proportion to its efficiiey,
preclude the application of the most ap
propriate remedies for the present derange
ment in the circulation of the country.
401]
LETTER XXVIII.
[402
I have before observed, that, in all
Teady-mvncy transactions, this law
must be nugatory, and I have given
an instance of a farmer having a pig
to sell at market. It will, of course,
he the same in all other bargains for
ready-money; and, even in cases of
credit, amongst friends and neigh
bours, the same will take place. Some
roguery may be, in this respect, cre
ated by the law, but the law will
never compel men to give the guinea
and receive the note at their nominal
value, one compared with the other.
In that place, where, of all others,
one might expect to see the disposi-
sitions of men concur with this hw*;
f mean, the Stock Exchange, a dis
tinction between coin and paper is
Already maiie ; for Stock has fre-
IV. That the free exchange of the lawful
Money of the realm v.ith the paper cur-
jvncy on such terms as the holders of each
may think proper to settle among them
selves, is not only the undoubted right of
the subject, but affords the best means of
restoring the circulation of the country ,to
its sound and natural state, by establishing
two prices for all commodities, whensoever
the one currency is from any causes depre
ciated below the other.
V. That no law whatsoever can alter the
real value of the paper currency in rela
tion to the lawful money of the realm, nor
alter the real value of either kind of cur
rency, in relation to all other commodities ;
and that any attempt to fix the rates at
which paper and coin shall pass current,
must, in proportion to its success, interfere
witb the just and legal execution of ail con
tracts already existing, without the possi
bility of affecting the terms upon which
contracts shall be made in time to .come.
'VI. That it is the boundcn dutv of the
CojnmoiiH House of Parliament., as the
guardians of the rights of the people, to
discountenance and resist a scheme which,
has for its immediate objects the establish*
ment of a maximum in the money-trade of
the realm, and the dissolution of the obliga
tions already contracted by numerous
classes of the community,, but which has
for its groundwork principles leading to an
universal law of maximum, and the infrac
tion of every existing -contract for the pay
ment of money ; and that a Bill touching
the gold coin which has lately been brought
from the Lords, has ull the said objects,
and proceeds npeu the said principles.
quently beei bought with guineas at
a price much lower than the rate of
the day, which rate is regulated upon
the supposition that paper-money is
to be the medium. And, who is to
prevent this, without a general jaw of,
maximum; that is to say, a. law put
ting a price upon all commodities
whatever, and punishing men lor sell
ing them for more than the price so
fixed? This present law, therefore,
is nothing of itself. It is nothing un
accompanied with a maximum of
prices. Those who have begun in
this1 path, must keep on, and go the
whole length, or they do nothing at
ail, except drive coin out of the coun
try or into the hoards, and, perhaps,
in many cases, cause a breach of con
tracts between man and man. To a.
maximum they must come at last, or
what is done will be of no e.Tcct at
all.
The other provision of the Bill re
lates to distress for rent, and is as fol
lows : " And be it enacted, by
" the authority aforesaid, that in ease
" any person shall proceed by di-s-
" lieas to recover from any tenant
" or other person liable to such dis-
" tress, any rent or sum of money
" due from such tenant or other poi-
" son, it shall be lawful for such to
" ii ant or other person, in every
" such case, to tender notes of the
" Governor and Company of the.
" Bank of England, expressed to
" be payable on demand, to the
" amount and in discharge of such
" rent or sum so due to the person
" on whose behalf such distress is
" made, or to the officer or person
" making such distress en his behalf;
" and in case such tender shall be ac-
" ceptcd, or in case such tender ?krJl
" be made and refused, the gccds
" taken in such distress shall be Jcrth-
" with returned to the parti/ distressed
" upon, unless the party distraining
" and refusing to accept such tender
" shall insist that a greater sum is
«' due than the sum so tendered, and
403]
PAPER AGAINST ^G
[404
" in such case the parties shall pro-
" ceed as usual in such cases ; but if
" it shall appear that no more was
" due than the sum so tendered then
" the party who tendered such sum
" shall he entitled to the costs of all
" subsequent proceedings : Provided
" always, that the person to whom
" such rent or sum of money is due
" shall have and be entitled to all such
" other remedies for the recovery
" thereof, exclusive of distress, as such
" person had or was entitled to at the
" time of making such distress, if
" such person shall not think proper
•' to accept such tender so made as
" aforesaid: Provided also, that no-
" thing herein contained shall affect
'* the right of any tenant, or other
'< such person as aforesaid, having
" such 'right to replevy the goods
e taken in distress, in case, without
" making such tender as aforesaid, he
" shall so think lit.'"' Now, what
does this part of the Bill effect? It
has frequently been said, that the
tenantry ought to he protected, and
Lord .Stanhope iias all along said,
that his object was to protect the te
nant. What, then, has this Bill done
for the term at? If the thing leased
be a farm, or lands N of any sort, dis
tress is not the mode that the land
lord would pursue. He has other
remedies, and those much more et-
tieient than that of distress. 80 that,
hi fact, this law affords no protection
at all to the tenant. N
But, though this law will do the
tenant no good, it may, and, in some
eases, will, do him a great deal of
harm, especially as the minister
has avowed his intention of making
the bank notes a legal tender if this
law should prove insufficient far the
object in ^iew. Under? such cir
cumstances, no man in his senses, vf ill
let a new lease, or renew an old
one ; for, though a corn-rent might
possibly serve to guard him against
the total loss of his estate, still he will
be afraid, and he will think it the
safest way to let no lease at all. Te
nants for term of years will, therefore,
become tenants at will, and will have
their rents raised upon them every
year agreeably to the depreciation of
money and the rise in prices; and,
another consequence will be, that
landlords will, whenever it is practi
cable, take the lands into their own
possession and use, seeing that even
a yearly letting may, in the times that
may arise, become dangerous ; for, if
a law be passed to-day in consequence
of a single landlord's demanding ins
rent according to law, what have not
landlords to fear? The safest course,
therefore, that they can pursue is to
keep, as far as they are able, their
farms in their own hands ; and this,
to a very great extent, they certainly
will do. So that this law, as far as it
is efficient, will produce a virtual vio
lation of contracts and a discourage
ment to agriculture.
During the discussions upon this
measure, several hints were tlm.wn
out as to the courts of law setting then-
faces against those who should de
mand payment in gold. Sir SAMUKT.
Ho M ILLY observed upon what Mr.
Manning said about the law being too
strong for the landlords, that it alarm
ed him to hear such language; and
that he thought it dangerous in the
extreme to expose men to such an
uncertainty as to the real meaning of
the law, "But Mr. FULLER and Lord
STANHOPE, as appears from the re
ports of the newspapers, came to the
point at once. The former is reporth
ed to have said, in the debate of the
9th of July, that " he wondered to
" hear any doubt of the solvency
" of Government; and Government
"surely had ships and stores, and
" plenty of valuables besides. He
" (Mr. Fuller) did not understand the
"objects of the parsons who had
" brought forward the question, but
" he was convinced they were.some-
" thing sinister. (A laugh.) As to
*' Bank notes, if any landlord was
" offered payment in them, and he
" wanted gold, he (Mr. Fuller) did
405]
LETTER XXVIII.
[406
" not know what might be done; but
" of tliis he was sure, that THE
" WHOLE TENANTRY OF
" THE COUNTRY WOULD
"MliET AND TOSS HIM IN
« A BLANKET, (laughing.)" AndH
the latter is reported to have said,
in the House of Lords, on the 22nd
of July, that, " his Noble Friend
k' (Earl of Lander dale) had called the
" Bill a legislative HINT; but it
" was a pretty broad hint, too. He
•'* did not know whether his Noble
*'* Friend had been educated at any
" oi' the Universities: but he believed
"'not at Oxford. There was a story
4i there about, a broad hint, •which they
' called "' Juh-ii Kealtfs broad hint"
¥' There was a man that John Keale
:' did not like; John gave hint a hint
" -that he did not like, his company:
" but he would not go away. "What
""did you do, then," says one to
''John? "Do," says John^ Keale,
" "^hy, I kicked liim down stairs.
" " That was a pretty broad hint ! ! !"
" (laufj/iing.) So he, t'Karl Stan-
" liope) had given Lord King a hint;
•' and // he. followed up this Ausineto,
" whv, when next Session came, he
" would gue him a BROAD hint!
" (a laugh.)". Quite a wit., I declare : j
" Quite a sea-wit, Mr. Benjamin !"
Well, you know, Gentlemen, that
there is a time for all things, and, of
cour.se,. a time lor laughing. But, it
is well worthy of remark, that this
war (for it is the same that began in
1793) was waged in the " PRE-
' SKRVAT10N OF LIBERTY
" AND PROPERTY" AGAINST
•'REPUBLICANS AND LE-
" VELLKRS,' that was the title of
the Association at the Crown and
Anchor. This is well, worthy of re
mark ; now is the time to make such
remark. This war has now been
going on eighteen years ; this war for
the support of order and Ian' and pro
perty, and now, behold, we hear, in
the two Houses of Parliament, the
supporters of this system, talk of toss
ing a landlord in a bhiJtet and kick'
ing him down stain, if be should per
sist in demanding payment of hit
rents agreeably to the. contract in his
leases !
Gentlemen, if you have read the
reports of the debate* in Parliament,
upon this .subject, you must, have ob
served, that the people in the ministry
have very loudly disapproved of the
conduct of LORD KING for demand
ing of his tenants payment in gold, or
in notes in sufficient amount to make
up for the depreciation of money.
Now, observe; they have brought for
ward, seyeral times, propositions for
large (/rants to the King undto others,
on account of the rise in prices,
winch, as I have already explained
to you is only another name for the
depreciation of money ~ I beg you to
mark well what I am now going to
state to you; because it will give you
a clear insight into this whole- matter.
In 180t2, eight years ago, a large
sum of money, no less a sum thau
990,053/. (why not hare made it a
round million ?) was granted by Par
liament " to the King to discharge
'• the arrears and debts due u^on the
" CIVIL, LIST on the 5th of Ja-
" nmiry-,1802." The Civil List, Gen
tlemen, is the King's establishment of
servants and officers of diile^cnt sorts,
and, in short, of all his expenees.
The King had a permanent allowance,
iixed by Act of Parliament, of
800,000i. a year for these purposes;
but, in 1802 (the time we are- now
speaking of) the Civil I^st Lad' got
into debt; and the then Minister,
Addington, taking advantage of tfie-
national satisfaction at the Peace of
Amiens, proposed a grant of the-
above sum, for the purpose of paying
off this debt. Mr. Fox and others
opposed the grant; but it was sup
ported by PITT, GEORGE ROSE and
the majority, and upon a division,
h,ere were 226 for it and only 51
against it. And, let it be borne in
mind, that the grant- was justified by
PITT on this ground : that it did not
make an increase to the Civil List .
407]
1'APJER AGAINST GOLD.
[408
' in proportion " to the increase of
" the price of commodities, and to
-THE DEPRECIATION OF
" MONEY." So he said; so they
all said ; and the assertion was sanc
tioned by a vote of the House grant
ing 990,0537. to the King. Now,
then, if the King was to have a grant
like tins on account of the past depre
ciation of money, why should Lord
King be reviled, why should he be
tossed in a blanket, or kicked down
stairs, for demanding payment in such
a way as to give him some securi-
for future depreciation of money,
especially when we consider, that he
only demanded the fulfilment of a
bargain, while the grant to the King
was ovet" and above the fulfilment of a
bargain made with him by the public ?
But, did the demands for the King
stop here? Very far from it; for, in
the year 1804 (only two years after
wards), PITT, 'who was then come
back into power, called for another
grant for a similar purpose, to no less
an amount than 591,8427. 3s. 10|«7.
How scrupulously exact the Gentle
man was ! To a halfpenny, you see !
Oh, wondrous financier! This grant
also was made, and without any divi
sion of the House, though it was-stre-
nuously opposed by SIR FRANCIS
BURDKTT, upon the ground of its
being a departure from a bargain with
the public, and of the practice of
making such grants being calculated
to render the Royal Family absolutely
dependent upon the Minister of the
day. This grant also was justified
upon the ground that money had de
preciated and the prices cf all commo
dities increased. This grant was ac
companied with a permanent addition
to tbe Civil List of b'0 ,0007. a year;
and, indeed, the annual sum, nowpaid
by the people on that account is
958,0007. exclusive of 295,9687. If.
S^rf. in allowances and pensions to tha
Royal Family, besides the amount of
sinecure places and military offices
that some members of the Family
enjoy ; the propriety or impropriety
of none of which I am discussing,
but it is necessary to state them in
order to enable you to judge of the
fairness of the attacks upon Lord
KING, who only wanted a bare ful
filment of contract with regard to his
own private estate ; who only wanted
to save himself from ruin from the
future depreciation of money, and
who gave up to his tenants all they
had gained from him by the past.
Now, Gentlemen, I beg you to ob
serve, that this second grant to the
King; this grant of £591,842 was to
pay off what he had lost in two years
by the depreciation of money; and,
you w-ill also observe, and mark it
well, that these are tiro out of the
nine years that have elapsed since Lord
King let the Estate respecting the rent
of which you have seen his notice to
his tenant. The King, in 1802, had
a fixed allowance of £.800,000 a year
out of the public money ; and at the
end of only two years, his advisers find
him to require a grant of £.591,842
oa account of the depreciation of
money ; that is to say, £,295,921 in
each of the two years. More than
30 per cent, per annum f And, is
Lord King, after having silently suf
fered under the gradual depreciation
for nine years, to be attacked in this
manner; is he to be lumped alon::
with Jews and Pedlars and Smnp-
glen; is he to have a hint that he will
be kicked down stairs or tossed in a
blanket, because he now, wheo he see*
the guinea selling at 25, or 20. or 27*.
is resolved to have a fulfilment c
his Bargain, and not to be wholly
CBntmH at
Printed by \V. MOLI.VEUX, 5, Bream's Buildings, Chancery Lane; Published by W. CoaaSTT,
Uun. Nu. 8, Catherine Street, Strand: and Retailed at NQ. Iff, Strand.
N°- 14.]-COBBETTS PAPER AGAINST GOLD.— [Price Two-Pence.
[409
ruined by this depreciation of
money ?
But, Gentlemen, this principle of
augmenting allowances out of the
public treasure, on account of the
depreciation of money, has not been
confined to the King and his family.
It has been acted upon in almost all
the departments under the Govern
ment, the army and navy excepted,
where, as far as relates to the Com
missioned Officers especially, little
augmentation has taken place. I will,
however, here confine myself to one
particular class of persons, namely,
THE JUDGES, and I do it the
rather because it has been hinted
prettv broadly, that the Courts of Law
woufd set their faces against the efforts
of those, who might attempt to enforce
payment in gold.
Be it known to yon, then, Gentle
men, that the Judges' pay has had two
lifts since the Bank stopped its pay
ments in gold and silver. The first
was, in the year 1799, two years only
after the passing of our famous Bank
Restriction Act. The two Chief
Judges, whose incomes were very
large, underwent no augmentation by
Act of Parliament; but, the pay of
all tlje rest was augmented by the
Ac% Chapter 110, of the 89th year
'»f tlie King's reign; and, no trifling
augmentation did their pay receive, it
being upon an average nearly, if not
quite, half the whole amount of their
former pay. The Chief Baron of the
Exchequer had £.1,000 a year added
to his former £.3,000 a year; and all
the nine Puisne Judges had £.1,000
each added to their former pay, which
was, in some cases a little more nnd in
some cases a little less than £.2,000 a
year before. And, besides this, the
Act enabled the King, that is to say,
his advisers, to make a permanent
W. Molineux, Printer, Bream's Building*,
Chancery Lane.} >
[410
provision for any judge that might be
come superannuated, and it fixed on
great pensions for them in this case,
which pensions can, in consequence
of that Act, be (/ranted without any
particular consent of the Parliament,
which was not the cane before. Mr.
TIERNEY opposed this measure in a
very able manner. He said, that the
House of Commons would thus lose
all check and controul as to such re
munerations ; and that the influence of
the Crown would be thus greatly and
most fearfully enlarged. The mea
sure was, however, adopted; -and thus
the Judges, in Scotland as " well as in
England, received an ample compensa
tion for the depreciation of money, up
to the year 1797.
Having gone on with this pay for
ten years, it appears to have been
tho.ught time to give them -another lift ,
and, accordingly an Act for this pur
pose Was passed in the year 1809, of
which the people seem to have taken
not the least notice. It seems to have
escaped every body's attention; but,
indeed, the Acts now passed are so
numerous, that it is next to impossible
for any single man to be able to pay
attention to them all, or to a quarter
part of them. This Act, which is
Chapter 127 of the 49th year of the
King's reign, makes an addition of
£.1,000 a year, to the pay of the
Chief Baroii of the Exchequer; also
an addition of £.1,000 a year, to each
of the nine Puisne Judges ; and it
gives an additional £.400 a year to
each of the Welsh Judges. Thus, nt
the .end of twelve years from the time
when the Bank stopped paying in
gold, the pay of the Ifosfrsh Judges
was nearly doubled; and, shall my
Lord King be represented as a pedlar,
& jew, and a smvggler, because, at the
end of nine years of depreciation of
411]
PAPER AGAINST GOLD.
[412
money, he wishes to put a stop to the
ruinous progress 7 And shall he be
threatened with the hostility of these
same Judges, in case he should attempt
to enforce his legal claim? Shall li?
be told about being fought off in the
Courts, and about the law being too
strong for him?
At the time when these Acts were
passed for augmenting the pay of the
Judges, one of the arguments was,
that such augmentation was necessary
to support the DIGNITY of the
oflice of Judge. Now, in what way
was an increase of pay to produce such
an effect ? Certainly in no other way
than that of enabling the Judge to
augment his expences of living; for,
as to his authority, as to his powers,
as to his station, the money would
make no alteration at all in them.
This being the case, there appears to
have been no good reason for aug
menting the Judges' pay any more
than the pay of the officers of the
Navy, or of any other persons in the
public employ. Mr. TIERNEY used,
at the time when the first augmenta
tion was proposed, an argument very
applicable to our present purpose :
" If," said he, " an augmentation ot
" income be necessary to support the
" station of the Judge, has the country
" no interest in enabling the officers
" ef the Army and Navy, of the
" Ministers of the Church, or the
" Magistrates, to maintain their station
" of society ? If the circumstances 01
•« a Judge, who has £.2,000 a year,
" require that he should have an ad-
" ditional £.1,000 we know very well
" what must be the situation of a
" private Gentleman with an income
" of £.2,000 a year." \ ^
This argument applies precisely to
Lord King. The answer to Mr.
Tierney was, that the private Gentle
man, if his estate was in land, wrould,
of course, raise his rents in order to
make his income keep pace with the
depreciation of money. But the
reply to this is, that, if bis estate was
let upon lease, as Lord King's is, he
could not raise his rents, till the ex
piration of that lease ; and if he let a
I'arm upon a fourteen years' lease in
the year 1798, he has been receiving
money at the rate of that time, during
the last thirteen years, whereas the
pay of the Judges has been doubled in
the space of twelve of tho^e years.
This is, in fact, the situation of Lord
King. Either, thefore, it was not ne
cessary, and it was not just to augment
the pay of the Judges in any degree ;
or, it is extremely unjust that Lord
King should be prevented from aug
menting his income. Indeed he lias
had, till now, all the legal means of
making his income keep pace with the
depreciation of money, by demanding
his rents in gold; that is to say,
agreeably to the terms of the contract,
in good and lawful money of the
realm.
This legal, this equitable, tins fair,
this honest, this indubitable claim, he
was preparing to in force, when my
Lord Stanhope steps forward with the
proposition of a law avowedly intend-
d to prevent him from so doing ; to
throw impediments in his way; to
interfere in the management of his
\states ; to take from him part of the
egal means which he before possessed
of preserving his property ; and, for
iaving signified his intention to use.
those means, he is held forth as a jew,
a pedlar, and a smuggler. I have
observed, that Mr. SHERIDAN has
taken part upon this occasion with
those who have censured Lord King.
Arid this is the more remarkable as
he has seldom taken part in any dis
cussion whatever. Is Mr. SHERIDAN
aware of the consequences to which
this may lead ? It is hardly necessary
to tell him, that the day may not be •
far distant, when the CIVIL LIST
will have to be settled anew ; and, I
should be glad to know whether, ill
that settlement, it is likely to be the
wish of the parties concerned, that
the sum should be fixed as if it were
413]
LETTER XXVIIL
[414
to be paid in gold* Whether, in short,
the amount of the Civil List would be
fixed for the future, at its present
amount* But, if that were not to be
the case, how could a larger amount
be proposed or supported by those
who have now raited at the conduct ot
Lord King?
Endless are the difficulties, into
which those have plunged themselves^
who have reprobated the conduct of
this nobleman as unjust, or who have
represented it as unwise. Such
persons will hardly muster up the
resolution to make a frank acknow
ledgement of their error ; and yet, if
they do not do this, with what face
can they propose, or support, or
sanction, either expressly or tacitly,
any measure which shall have for its
object, the preservation of the Crown,
the Royal Family, the Army, the
Navy, the Courts of Justice, or any
department of the state, against the
effects of the depreciation of money?
The measure of Lord King fell far
short of the justice due to himself, for,
though the money had depreciated
considerably at the date of his oldest
leases, still, it has gone on depreciating
further from that time to this. He,
therefore, would have been fairly
entitled to payment in Gold, and
nothing else, for the remainder of
those old leases. But, pursuing a
moderate and liberal course, he re
strained his demands far within their
legal bounds. With a considerateness
that does him great honour, he suffer
ed his tenants quietly to retain what
they had gained during the past, and
only required of them a due fulfilment
of contract for the future, which was
not less necessary to the welfare o.
his tenants, than it was to his own
protection; because without such a
measure, it was impossible they ever
could obtain a renewal of their leases.
Much, during; the discussions upon
this famous Bill has been said about
patriotism : and Lord King has been
charged with a want of that quality,
because he made the demand, of which
so much has been said. But, if Lord
King, in barely demanding the fulfil
ment of a contract in order to protect
himself against the effects of the de
preciation of money ; if Lord King,
in barely appealing to the law already
in existence for his protection against
this ruinous effect of paper money ; if,
for this, Lord King is to be accused
of a want of patriotism, and is to be
lumped with Jews, Pedlars, and
Smugglers, what will be the inference
with regard to the King and Royal
Family, and my Lords the Judges, to
protect whom against the effects of
depreciation laics have been passed,
laws proposed by the minister of the
day and sanctioned by the majority.
Lord King comes for no law to
protect him; he asks for no law
against his tenants ; he only wants his
due according to the existing law ;
and yet, he is, and by the very people,
too, who approved of the above-men
tioned large grants to the King and
the Judges, accused of a want of pa
triotism !
The venal prints have not failed to
join in the accusations against Lord
King, whom the COURIER, on the
5th instant, charges with motives of
" base lucre" as the ATTORNEY
GENERAL did me, and with precisely
the same degree of justice. The
article here referred to in the COU
RIER concludes with some observa
tions as to the duty of patriotism,
in this case; and says, that, " On an
' occasion in which ALL SUFFER,
' the man who first abandons the
' general cause for his own personal
' interests, must needs make a very
' sorry figure before the world, just
' like the coward who is the jfirst to
jfly ™ battlet while victory is dcutful.
' But if this man were an high officer,
* a Legislator, an hereditary Coun-
' sellor of his Sovereign, whose
' peculiar duty it is to set an example
' ojf bravery, of fortitude, oj 'contempt
1 for personal consequences in the
" general cause, with what feelings
" could wo view bis conduct? Now,
OJ2
415]
PAPER AGAINST GOLD
[416
it is to be ooserved here, that;all this
talk about the public cause, is mos
shocking nonsense, and what no mar
in the world besides one of these hire
lings would be found to put upon
paper. But, if to demand merely the
fulfilment of contracts in order to
preserve his fortune against the effects
of depreciation of money, if this be to
" abandon the general cause for his
" own personal interests" if this be to
resemble " a coward who is thejirst to
" flee in 'battle " how will this venal
man speak of the King and Royal
family and the Judges? The King
has, since the year 1799, had two
great grants in augmentation of the
sum allowed him, the Junior Branch
es of tlie Royal Family have had
one additional grant (in 1806) and the
Judges have, as we have above seen,
Lad their pay doubled actually doubled,
since that time. And yet this venal
man accuses Lord King of " BASE
" LUCRE" because he is endeavour
ing to get what is Jus due ; because he
is endeavouring to get his own ; be
cause he is tr\'ing to protect himself
against that ruin wlrich he foresees
will come upon him, if he does not
now begin to obtain the fulfilment of
his contracts.
" On an occasion," says this venal
man, in " which ALL suffer." No :
not all. The King has not suffered
from the depreciation, nor have the
Judges, whose pay has been, as we
have seen, actually doubled since the
stoppage of cash payments took place,
and who, of course, would be now as
well off as they were before that time,
if the pound bank note were worthy
only ten shillings, and Mr. HORNER
tells us it is yet wort!) about sixteen
shillings. " ALT; 'do not suffer, then.
The Judges, so far from suffering
have gained very greatly ; and yet,
no one has ever charged them with
motives of " BASE LUCRE." The
Judges of England alone have re
ceived, since th<> year 1799, in virtue
of tl>~ two Acts above-mentioned, no
less a sum than £.120,000, that is, ,
one hundred and twenty thousand
pounds of principal money, more than
they would have received had not
these two grants been made to them ;
and if we include the interest, as iu
all such calculations we must, they
have received, since 1799, over and
above their former pay, about £.145,
000. And, yet, my Lord King is, by
this venal scribe, accused of motives
of "BASE LUCRE/' because he
wishes to prevent the whole of his
income from being sunk in the depre
ciation of money. The Judges have
actually put in their pockets this large
sum ot money; they have actually
touched it, since the year 1799, and,
of course, the National Debt is so
much the greater on that account ;
the interest upon that Debt is so much
the greater on that account; the
quantity of bank notes to pay the
Dividends are so much the greater
on that account ; and, of course, these
two Acts of Parliament have tended,
in some degree, to hasten the depre
ciation, and to produce the very effect
which now threatens to ruin Lord
King, and to find out a remedy for
which puzzles so many men who
think themselves wise. Lord King's
measure does not tend to add to the
tional Debt; it tends to produce
no addition to the Dividends or the
bank paper ; it is a mere measure of
management of his private affairs,
which does not trench upon the public
ijood in any way whatever; and yet,
le is lumped along with Jews, Pedlars,
and Smugglers, and is accused of a
want of patriotism !
This wvriter tells us, that it was the
duty of such a man as Lord King to
set an example of " contempt of per
sonal consequences" meaning, of
course, pecuniary consequences. But,
was it more his duty than it was the
Juty of the King, the Royal Family,
md the Judges'*. He says that Lord
"Cing ought to have done it, as being
in hereditary counsellor of the crown.
[f Lord King had had much to do
n counselling the Crown, the present
417]
LETTER XXVIII.
[418
subject would, perhaps, never have
been discussed ; but, be that as it
may, was it more, his duty to set an
example of contempt of pecuniar tf
consequences than it was of the King ?
Was it more his duty than it was tke
duty of the Judges ? Was no example
of this sort to be expected from them,
while it was to be expected from
himl And, I beg you to observe the
wide difference between the case of
the Judges and that of Lord King.
No new law is made to favour the
interests of the latter ; but a new law
is made, and afterwards another, new
law, to favour the interests of the
former. Lord King does not attempt
to obtain any real addition to his
original rents; but there is granted
to the Judges a very large real
addition to their original pay. The
COURIER calls upon Lord KING to
suffer quietly for the good of his
country. His suffering would not do
the country any good, but a great
<leal of harm. But, upon the sup
position that it would do the country
good, what does the same man say
about the augmentation of the pay of
the Judges ? When the augmentation
to the pay of the?e persons was under
discussion, Mr. PKRCKVAL (who was
then a barrister) argued, that the
Judges ought to have quite enough to
maintain them in all their state without
touching their private fortunes ; and,
observe, this he said at the very time,
in that very year, I7J)9, when Old
George Hose, who was then one of
the Secretaries of the Treasury at
£.4,000 a year, and who had another
good £.4,000 a year in sinecure places,
was preaching up to " the most think-
" ing people of all Europe," his
doctrine of sacrifices and salvage, a
specimen of which I gave you in my
last Letter. " The imperious and
" awful necessity of the present
" crisis," said- GKORGE, unavoidably
" subjects US to heavy burdens. It
" has been said, that they ought to be
" considered as a SALVAGE for
" the remaining part of OUR pro-
" perty. The metaphor though just
" is inadequate ; for what Tariff shall
" settle the difference between the
" BLESSED COMFORTS OF
" RELIGION and the GLOOM V
" DESPAIR OF ATHEISM."
George talks of " US " and of" OUR"
property ; but HE was gaining all
the while ; aye, and he got his great
sinecure place, with reversion to his
eldest son, while " imperious and
" awful necessity," was calling upon
the nation for sacrifices. GEORGE'S
doctrine of SALVAGE was for the
use of others, and not at all for his
own use ; nor did this doctrine of
SALVAGE apply to the Judges,
who, we have seen, received an ad
dition to .their pay out of the public
money, during the times of this " im~
" perious and awful necessity;" during
the time that George Rose was calling
upon the people, for the love of God,
not to spare their money. " Oh ! "
said George, " it would be a slander
" to the sense and virtue of the people
" to suppose an abatement in that
" spirit which has enabled the Govern-
" iiient to call forth those resources."
And, at this very time he was receiv
ing upwards of £.8,000 a year out of
the taxes raised upon that same people,
and Mr. TIERNEY, who opposed the
augmentation to the pay of the Judges,
was told, that they ought to be enabled
to maintain all their dignity and state,
that is to say, to live and keep
their families, without touching their
private fortunes. And, yet, Lord
King is to be lumped with Jews, Ped
lars, and Smugglers ; he is to have a
hint about tossing in blankets and
k irking down stairs; and, what is still
more serious, he. is to see a ia\v passed
avowedly to counteract liis measures
\A ith regard to the management of his
own estate ; he is to be accused
of motives of base lucre ; he is to be
held forth as an enemy to his country;
and all this because he wishes to
obtain \vhat is legally and equitably
419]
PAPER AGAINST GOLD.
[420
his due ; what is his due as fairly as
the produce of their fields is the due
of his tenants.
I have now, Gentlemen, to apolo
gize to you for having taken up so
much of your time in illustrating what
was so clear itself. The additional
grants to the Civil List, and the aug
mentation jof the pay of the Judges,
did not properly belong to our sub
ject; but, when my Lord King was
reviled, and when a law was avowedly
levelled at liim, because he sought,
in 1811, to protect himself and family
against the ruinous effects of depre
ciation, justice demanded of me, if I
wrote at all upon the subject, to shew
what has been done in behalf of the
King and the Judges in 1799, 1802,
1804, and 1809, and especially as
these measures in behalf of the King
and the Judges were approved of and
supported by some of those who
now reprobate the conduct of Lord
King.
In my next Letter, which will be
the last of the series, I shall have to
of|er you some observations of a more
general nature, ?iud in tke mean while,
1 remain,
Qentlemen,
Your friend,
WM.COBBETT.
State Prison, Newgate, Friday,
L'6f/i, Ji/ty, 1811.
LETTER XXIX.
rue u-»v of convincing roar enemy, that his war U(.>on your finance.* will he useless, is, lo state cipli.
" chly to the worid, that you *re not at all afraid oftl.oconsequeucesof a national bnnkiitptcy •• for, while
•* you endeavour to nv.ike ptwple believe, that such an event can-nut possibly happen, they will certain!/
* fhiuk, that you regard it, if it should happen, K irretrievable TUSH and destruction; and, therefore, as
•* .V"u never c.ui quite ovt-rcoim their aj y>. chen>ionb, thf best way ii to t>«> sil< nt upou the subject, or to
" *et the temfic iiugbeur ut dcnauct,"'— Political liegiticr, 1M& June, ;a03.
What is to be the end of all this ?•— Paper-Money is not the cause of Sunshine and Showers
— We may exist without Paper-Money — England did very well before Paptr-Money
•was heaid of-— What is to become of the Fundhohlers ? — The Saje of the Royal Plate
and of the Church Property in Austria — Let what will happen in England the Jacobins
and Levellers will not merit any Share of the Blame— Conclusion.
GENTLEMEN,
WHAT, then, is to be the end of all
this ? What are to be the ultimate ef
fects produced upon the nation by this
depreciation of the paper-money ? —
The PITTITE party tell us, that there
is not gold to be had ; that the Bank
cannot pay in gold ; and that the mat
ter must be left to better times and to
better fortune. The other party tell
iy», that, if they had the power of
adopting what measures they pleased,
they would cause the Sank to pay
again in gold ; that thy would restore
the paper to its former estimation ;
.and, in short, retrieve the whole sys
tem. I have, I think, shewn you very
clearly, that to cause the Bank to pay
again in gold is impossible ; and that,
let what will happen, let what will
ta^e;place as to commerce, or as to
war, the Bank Paper will never re
gain any part of what it has lost, as
long as the national debt shall exist ;
or, rather, as long as the dividends
shall be paid upon the interest of that
debt.
Now, if I have shewn this to your
satisfaction, the question, and the only
question, that remains to be discussed,
is, what would be the CONSE
QUENCES of a cessation in the
payment of the dividends ; that is to
say, the total destruction of the Na-
4-21]
LETTER XXIX.
[422
tional Debt ; the total breaking up of
the Funds and the Bank Note system.
This is the only question tliaC now
remains to be diseussed ; but a very
important question it is, and one
which, I hope, will receive your pa
tient attention.
To hear the greater part of people
talk upon this subject, one would ima
gine, that the Bank Notes were the
meat, drink, and clothing of the in
habitants of this island; and, indeed,
that they gave us sun-shine and show
ers and every thing necessary to our
existence. One would really sup
pose, that the general creed was, that
the Bank Directors were the Gods
of the country, that they were our
Sustainers if not actually our Makers,
that from them we derived the breath
in our nostrils, that in and through
them we lived, moved, and had our
bejug. No wonder, then, that there
should be an apprehension and even a
horror inspired by the idea of a total
destruction of the paper-money; no
wonder, that, when I began, about
eight years and a half ago, to write
against the Funding System, I should
have been regarded as guilty of blas
phemy, and should have been accused
thereof by that devout man, Mr.
SHERIDAN; no wonder that some
men's knees should knock together
and their teeth chatter in their head
upon being told, that the day is, pro
bably, not far distant, when a guinea,
a real golden guinea, will buy a
hundred pounds' worth of three per
cents.
But, Gentlemen, is there any
ground for these apprehensions ? Are
such apprehensions to be entertained
by rational men ? No : the corn and
the grass and the trees will grow
without paper-money ; the Banks may
all break in a day, and the sun will
rise the next day, and the lambs will
gambol and the birds will sing and
the carters and country girls will
grin at each other, and all will go
on just as if nothing had happened.
" Yes/' pays some besotted Pittite,
** we do not suppose, that the de-
" struction of the paper-system would
" put out the light of the sun, prevent
" vegetation, or disable men and wo-
" men to propagate their species : we
'* are not fools enough to suppose
" that." Pray, then, what are you
fools enough to .suppose ? Wliat are
you fools enough to be afraid of
For, if the destruction of the paper
produces, and is calculated to produce,
none of these effects, how can it be a
thing to excite any very general ap
prehension ? Vtko would it hurt ?
" Oh ! it would create universal up-
" roar and confusion: it would de-
" stroy all property ; it would intro-
" duce anarchy and bloodshed, and
" annihilate regular government, so-
" cial order, and our holy religion"
Thsse are the words that JOHN
BOWLES, the Dutch Commissioner,
used to make use of. This is the de
clamatory cant, by the means of which
the people of this country have been
deceived and deluded along from one
stage of ruin to another, till, at last,
they have arrived at what they now
taste of. If, when JOHNNY BOWLES,
or any of his tribe, had been writing
in this way, a plain tradesman, who
gets his living by fair dealing and who
has no desire to share in the plunder
of the mibl'u, had gone to the writer,
and, taking him fast by the button, had
said to him : " Come, come ! tell
" me, in definite terms, what you
" mean, and shew me how I should
" be a loser by this thing that you ap-
" pear so much to dread. None of
" your rant ; none of yourjiorrifying
" descriptions; but come, JOHN, tell
* me HOW I should be made worse
' of in this world, and HOW I
* should be more exposed to go to
' Hell, if that which you appear to
' dread were actually to take place :"
if any such man had so addressed
this Treasury scribe, the scribe would
have been puzzled much more than he
was by his per cents, about the Dutch
Commission.
423]
PAPER AGAINST GOLD.
[424
Why, Gentlemen, should tlie total
destruction of the paper-money pro
duce, any of these effects ? why
should it destroy all property ; why
produce bloodshed ; why destroy our
holy religion ? I have before told you,
that the paber-money was unknown iu
England, till within about J07 years.
England did very well before that
time. The people of England were
brave and free, happy at home and
dreaded abroad, long before paper-
money was heard of. Why, then,
should they now believe, that, without
paper-money, they would be reduced
to a state of barbarism and slavery ?
The Church, as is now established,
existed long before paper-money was
thought of, and so did all those laws,
which we yet boast of as the great
bulwark of our freedom; and, what-
is more, I defy any man to shew me
one single law, in favour of the liber
ties of the people, which has been
passed since the establishment of the
Paper-Money System, while nume
rous laws have been passed hostile to
those liberties. Before the existence
of the National Debt and the Bank,
the House of Commons used fre
quently to refuse to grant the money
called for by the Crown; since they
have existed, no grant of tlie kind l^as
ever been refused by that House.
Before the Paper System existed,
there was no standing army in Eng
land ; Before the Paper System ex
isted, there were not more than two
hundred thousand paupers in England
and Wales : there are now twelve
hundred thousand.
Why, then, should we alarm our
selves at what appears to indicate the
appoaching destruction of this System?
" Oh, but," says the Minister (Per
ceval), " without the Paper System
*' we could not have had the victories
" recently wo# in Spain and Portu-
" gal : " to which he might have
added the achievements at Quiberon,
at Dunkirk, at the Heldcr, at Ferrol,
at Buenos Ayres, in Hanover, in Leon
and Gallicia, at'Corwma, at Walche^
re?i, <Src. &c. The list might be
swelled out to three times this length ;
but this is long enough. If what the
Minister calls the " recent victories"
are the fruit of the Paper System, ro
are all the achievements to which 1
have here called your recollection.
Indeed they were so ; for, the wars
themselves proceeded from the same
source. The American War grew out
of the Paper System ; and so did the
Antijacobin war, which began in 1793,
and which has finally produced the
state of things which we now have
before us. So that, as to the use of
the Paper System in this way, there
can, I think, be very little doubt.
" \Yt-li, but, after all," some one
will say, " what is to become of the
" Fluid-holder t How is he to get
" re-paid r My answer to this is,
that, it does not appear to be a matter
in which the people, I mean the mass
of the nation, have much to do or' to
sav. For, Vhat is the .Fund-holder or
Stock-holder? Why, he is a man,
who, choosing a large ruther than a
small interest for his money, has lent
it to some persons in power, under an
agreement, that he shall be paid in
terest upon it out of the taxes raised
upon the people. A man, who lends
money, knows, of course, or, at least,
he ought, to know, the sufficiency of
the borrower; or, if he does not
know that, he, of course, takes the
risk into his calculation; and he can
have no right to complain if .the
chance?; should happen to turn up
against him. Upon this principle SIR
JOHN MITFORD (now Lord Redes-
dale) went 'in defending the first Bank
Restriction Bill, when, in answer to
those who contended, that it would be
a breach of faith to compel the Fund-
holder to take payment in paper, he
said, that the Fund-holder, when he lent
his money, knew that a case like this
might happen, and that, therefore, he
had no reason to complain. Till I
read this, I thought that I was the
only one who had held the doctrine,
so "that my sati&factian at seeing my
425]
LETTER XXIX.
'[426
opinions corroborated by such high
legal authority was some what, diminish
ed by the reflection, that I had lost
what I had deemed my undivided
claim to originality.
I do not, however, see any reason
why the landholders, or, at least, that
part of them, who have been com
pelled to suffer their preperty to be
thus vested, should not, in any case,
have a just compensation. And how?
Whence is this compensation to come ?
In Austria, our old and faithful and
august ally, the Emperor, is acting
the part oif a very honest man. The
paper-money in Austria lias fallen to
a fourteenth part of its nominal value,
in spite of several Edicts prohibiting
the pausing of it for less than its
nominal value. A hundred florins
in silver were worth fourteen hundred
and fifty three florins in paper when
the last advices came away; and, per
haps, owe florin in silver, is, by this
time, worth fifty florins in paper.
Of course the Government creditors,
or Austrian Fundhoklers, must be
ruined, unless something be done to
obtain a compensation for them. The
Emperor, therefore, like an honest
man, has, as the newspapers tell us,
sent all his plate, all hi» gold and sil
ver, in whatever shape, to the mint to
be melted down and tur»ed into coin
for the payment of the people who
have lent him and his Government
their money. And, besides this, the
Clergy, animated by a zeal i\>r their
sovereign truly wjorthy of example,
have given up their estates to be sold
for the same honest purpose, which,
doubtless, they have been1 the more
disposed to dp, when they reflected,
that the debts of the Government
were incurred in carrying on a war for
" regular government, social order, and
*' their holy religion," and in the pro
ducing and prolonging of which war
they themselves had so great a hand,
as^ well as in persecuting all those
who were opposed to the system.
Accordingly, we see accounts in the
public prints of the SALES OF
CHURCH LANDS going on in
Austria. They are said to sell re
markably well;* and, it is stated,
that, these sales, together with the
meltings of the Royal Plate, will
yield enough to satisfy all the Govern
ment Creditors; or, at least, to afford'
them the means of living beyond the
reach of misery.
But, methinks, I see start forth a
Courtier on one side of me and a
Parson on the other, and, with claws
distended ready to lay hold of mv
cheek, exclaim : "What, cold blooded
" wretch! are these, then, your means
"of compensation for the English
" Fund-holder? Softly! Softly! Give
me time to speak. Do not tear mv
eyes out before you hear what I have
to say. Stop a little, and I will tell
you what I mean.
Now, why should you be in such a
rage with me ? If I were to propose
that the same should be done here as
is now doing in Austria, what would
there be, in my proposition, injurious
to either the station or character of
tiie king or the clergy? Am I to sup
pose, that the Crown depends upon
the possession of a parcel of plate by
the King and Royal Family; that a
throne, the seat of kingly power, is
supported by a waggon load, perhaps,
of gold and silver dishes and plates
and spoons and knives and forks and
salvers and candlestick* and sauce-
hoats and tea-pots and cream-jugs?
Good Heavens ! What a vile opinion
* VIENNA, JULY 6 — " A second sale of
ecclesiastical estates will soon take place.
On the 2 "id will be sold, the estate of
lleixendorf ; and on the '24th, those of St.
George and Banmsfarten. As there are
many competitors, the, sums produced by
these gales have greatly surpassed what the
lands were estimated at. The body of
merchants in this city published, some
days since, a memoir' in their defence,
against the charges objected to them, of
having contributed to the depreciation of
the paper mouey. The memoir has been
transmitted to the Minister of Finance,
and presented to his Majesty the Km-
peror.''
427]
PAPER AGAINST GOLD.
[428
innst they have of the throne, who
look upon such things as tending to i
support ! And then, as to the Church
what could her sons wish for more
earnestly than an opportunity of giving
us a proof of their disregard of thiugs
temporal? Besides, there would be,
in this case, a striking proof of the
truth of the good maxim, that "Justice,
*' though slow, is sure ;" for, it is well
known, that the Paper System, which
would thus draw upon the Church,
was the invention of A BISHOP of
that same Church!
Bat, the Courtiers and the Clergy
may be tranquil; for I do not think il
at all likely Uiat such measures will
become necessary in England, though
they have been adopted at Vienna,
and, as would seem, with such sin
gular success. I am of opinion, that
there would be found ample means,
els&vherc, for a due compensation to
those Fundholders, who had been
compelled to vest their property in that
way. In short, 1 am quite satisfied,
that we have nothing at ail to fear
from the destruction of the paper-
system if that should take place; and.
as the friends of the system assert,
that we have nothing to lear from its
continuing to exist, we are, I think,
tolerably safe. The R U IN of A merica
and France were foretold because
their paper-money was falling; but,
the prophecy proved false. They
were both victorious, both became
'^prosperous ; and, what is odd enough,
both have since become receptacles
of the coin that is gone from Eng
land; aye, from that country, who
hoped to triumph over them by the
means of that same coin ! H o\v many
times did PITT predict the time when
France would be what he called cx-
Jiaustedy and how was he hallooed on
by his numerous understrappers ot
all sorts, verbally as well as in print!
Has she been ruined? Has she lost
in population or in power? Is she
exhausted? Has she become fecblel
Wo are still struggling with her; and
do we find her grew weaker and
weaker ?
Well, this doctrine of RUIN from
a depreciated paper-money is a false
doctrine. It wras engendered in a
shallow brain, and brought forth by
arrogant emptiness. But, suppose it
to be sound us applied to us ; suppose,
for argument's sake, that the destruc
tion of the paper system should take
place, aiij should prove the utter ruin
of the country; or, suppose, at any
rate, thai it should send all the Fund-
holders into beggary, should cause all
the Church and Collegiate property
to be sold as in Austria, should send
the Royal Plate to the Mint, should
annihilate all the remaining feudal
rights and tenures ; and, in • short,
should produce a species ot revolu
tion. I say, that it need do none of
this: I say, that not one of these is a
necessary consequence of the over
throw of the paper system; hut, for
argument's sake, suppose the contrary,
and suppose that such overthrow were
to take place; WHO, in that case,
would be to blame I
This is a question that every man
ought, as soon as may be, to answer
in his own mind; for, if any of these
consequences were to come upon us,
it would be of the greatest utility to
be able to say, at once, who it was
that had been the real authors of the
calamity. Certainly, then, the Re
formers, commonly called Jacobins
and Levellers, have had nothing to do
with the matter. They have had no
power. They have been carefully
shut out. from all authority. They
have filled no offices of any sort.
They have been held forth as a sort of
enemy in the bosom of the country.
There is no creature who has had
power, of any sort, no matter what,
who has not employed that power
upon them. They have been either
killed, banished, ruined, or, at the
least, beaten down and kept down.
Well, then, they will not come in for
any of the blame, if things should turn
out wrong at last. They have had no
hand in declaring war against the
regicides of France; they have had
no hand in forming leagues, in voting
420]
LETTER XXX.
[430
subsidies, in sending out expeditions ;
they have had no hand in making
loans or grants; and, therefore, they
will, surely, not come in for any share
of the blame which shall attach to the
consequences. They have been re
presented as an ignorant and factious
herd, " a. low, degraded crew? while
those who have thus described them
have had all the powers and the re
sources of the country at their com
mand; and, therefore, let what will
happen, the Reformers will have to
bear no portion of the blame. The
full-blooded Anti-Jacobins ; the mem
bers of the Pitt Club ; all the numer
ous herd of the enemies to Reform
may be fairly called upon for a share
of responsibility; but, to the Re
formers who have had no power, and
who have been hardly able to exist in
peace, no man can reasonably look.
I shall now, Gentlemen, after
nearly a twelvemonth's correspond
ence, take my leave of you, and
with the conviction, that 1 have
done much towards giving you a clear
riew of the subject, of which I have
been treating. T had long enter
tained the design to make the subject
familiar; to put my countrymen in
general beyond the reach of decep
tion on this score; to enable them
to avoid being cheated, if they chose
to avoid it; and a sufficiency of time
for the purpose being famished me,
it would have been greatly blameable
in me, if I had neglected to avail my
self of it: I have not been guilty of
this neglect; I have, with great care
and research, brought together what
appears to me to be the whole, or
very nearly the whole, of the useful
information relating to the paper
system; I have laboured most zea
lously and anxiously for the accom
plishment of the great object in
view; and it more than repays me
for every tiling to hear, to see, to
know, that / have not laboured in
vain.
In the course of these Letters, I
have clearly expressed my opinions
as to the fate of the - paper-money ;
those opinions are in direct oppo
sition to many of those persons, in
parliament as well as out of parlia
ment, who have delivered their sen
timents upon the subject: TIME,
the trier of all things, must now de
cide between us ; and, if I am
wrong, I have, at least, taken ef
fectual means to make my error as
conspicuous and as notorious as pos
sible. One thing, above all others,
however, I am desirous of leaving
strongly impressed upon your minds,
and that is, that it is my decided
opinion, that, let what will be the
fate of the paper-money, that fate,
however destructive, does not neces
sarily include any, even the smallest,
danger to the independence of Eng
land, or to the safety of the throne,
or to the liberties or the happiness of
the people.
I remain,
Gentlemen,
Your friend
and obedient Servant,
WM. COBBETT.
Slate Prison, Newgate, Friday t
2d August, 1811.
LETTER XXX.
The Bullion Committee's two years twice expired. — The Peace of 1814 saw the Bank
Protection Bill renewed— All the pretexts were vanished.— Ominous opinions.— New
issue joined between the Author on the one part and the Paper partizans on the other.
GENTLEMEN,
IN renewing my correspondence
with you, after a lapse of more than
four years, and after the wonderful
events of the years 1814 and 1815,
it may be necessary for me to remind
431]
PAPER AGAINST GOLD.
[432
you of the state, in which we left the
question of Paper against Gold, in
the summer of 1811, when I re
mained at issue with the Bullion
Committee and also with the par-
tizans of Paper-Money, appealing to
TIME, the trier of all things, to de
cide between us. Four years is a
considerable space of time ; and , we
shall see now, on which side TIME,
thus far, has decided.
The Bullion Committee proposed
to the Bouse of Commons to compel
the Bank to pay in gold and silver
at the, end of two years from 1810.
The Ministry opposed this proposi
tion; and asserted, that, when peace
returned, specie would return, and
the payment of it at the Bank would
take place, as a matter of course,
because the law, which protected the
Bank against demands of payment in
cash, would, of itself, expire at the
end of six mouths after peace should
be made. This Act was passed in
December, 1803. See page 254.
Now, in opposition to these two
assertions, I was satisfied, that I
proved it to be impossible for the
Bank to pay in real money, in war
or in peace, as long as the dividends
on the Debt continued to be paid.
Well, Gentlemen, what has since
been done? Has the Bank vet paid
in Gold and Silver, though four years
instead of two have passed over our
heads? You know well that it has
not.
But, observe, peace was made in
May, 1814. And what did the
Ministry then do? Did they suffer
the Act to expire, " as a matter of
course ?" Did they make good their
assertion, that Gold and Silver should
come back with peace? They as
sured us, that it was the power of
Napoleon -which had robbed us of
our gold and silver; and that, in
order to get them back again, we
must go on fighting and paying, till
that power should be diminished. It
was not only diminished in 1814;
tut it was destroyed. Napoleon was
dethroned and banished, and the
loug-sighed-for event, the restoration
of the Capets, took place. A Con
gress met at Vienna ; all was so ar
ranged, that peace in Europe pro
mised to last for our lives, and peace
with America had taken place too.
Now, then, was the time to suffer the
Bank Act to die that natural death,
of which the minister had so boldly
talked in 1810. But, instead of this,
what did the Ministry do ? Why,
they renewed the Act for another
year ! And, you will please to ob
serve, that, though this renewal did
not actually become a law till after
the return of Napoleon from Elba,
it was distinctly stated by the Minis
try, before that time, that the renewal
would be proposed to the Parliament;
and, Ministers in England seldom
propose, as you know very well, any
measure, which the Houses refuse to
adopt.
Therefore there is no shadow of
excuse for the renewal of the Act,
except, that the Bank cannot, in
peace any more than in war, pay in
Gold and Silver. This is a very
good reason for renewing the Act;
but this is completely fulfilling my
prediction ; completely proving, and
that by Act of Parliament too,
the soundness of my former reason
ing.
The Parliament and, indeed, the
country, \vere, as to this question,
divided into two parties: one said,
'that the Bank would be able to pay
in specie in two years: the other
said, that the Bank was alway* able
to pay, but that it would not be pru
dent to suffer the Bank to pay, till
peace came. I gave it as my opinion,
that peace would not enable the Bank
to pay ; or, at any rate, that her
Ladyship would not pay in Gold and
Silver when peace should come.
Thus far, then, time has proved me
to have been right.
We must now wait for TIME
again; but, happily, we shall not
have to wait lony. Peace is now
433]
LETTER XXX.
[424
again come ; and come in a way, too,
that seems to defy even chance to
interrupt its duration. Not only is
Napoleon down, but he is in our
hands; he is banished to a rock, of
which we, have the sole command
and possession; he is as completely
in the power of ,our Government as
if they had him in the Tower ol
London. Therefore, this great ob
stacle to Gold and Silver payments
is swept away. The Capets, or the
Bourbons, as they call themselves,
are restored. Spain has regained
that beloved Ferdinand, in wiiose
cause we were ,so zealous, and he
has restored the Inquisition and the
Jesuits. The Pope, to the great joy
of loyal prote.stants, is again in the
Chair of Saint Peter; has again re
sumed his Keys and his Shepherd's
crook. In short, our Government,
so far from dreading any enemy, is
in strict alliance with every sovereign
in Europe.
Now, then, are come the halcyon
days. Now John Bull is to sit down
in peace under his own vine and his
own fig-tree with no one to make him
afraid. Now there will be ; there can
be, no need of armies or navies.
Now, then, my good neighbours, we
shall, surely, see Gold and Silver re
turn. Which of you will bet any
thing on the affirmative of this pro
position? My opinion is, that we
shall not see it return; that we
not see the Bank pay in Gold and
Silver ; that we shall not hear the
Minister say, that the Old Lady is
ready with her csah. In short, my
opinion is, that another and another
Act of Parliament, will convince even
the most stupid and credulous, that,
as long as the dividends on the Na
tional Debt are paid, so long will they
be paid in Bank Notes, so long will
the law to protect theBank against de
mands in real money remain in full
force : for, the man that needs more
than two more Acts of Parliament to
produce this conviction in his mind
rnusit 1>« fin, idiot.
Let us wait, then, with patience for
two years more ; but, let us keep our
eye steadily fixed on the movements
of the Ministry and the Bank. Let
us listen quietly to all they say, with
out seeming to take any notice of
what they are about. If they do pay
in cash at the end of two years, and
still continue to pay the dividends, or
the interest of the Debt, I will
frankly acknowledge, that I ought to
pass for an ignorant pretender all the
remainder of my lifo. If they do not
pay in cash at the end of two years
more, then, what they ought to pass
for I shall leave my readers to de
cide.
As to giving them a longer tether,
that is wholly out of the question.
Twelve years is the average length, it
is said, of the life of man. I have
already given them four. I will al
low them two more ; but, as the grey
hairs begin to thicken, very fast upon
my head, as my sons and daughters
ijegin to walk faster than their father
and mother, I certainly shall not
lengthen the tether ; but, at the end
of two years from this first day of the
month of September, 1815, I shall,
if I still hold a pen, and the Old Lady
does not pay the dividends in cash,
assume it as a notoriously admitted
fact, t hat she never will and never can.
Before I conclude this letter, how
ever, I will just notice the strange
doctrines which are beginning to be
held. We hear people saying, and in
print too, that Paper Money is a bet
ter thing than gold and silver coin.
That it is more commodious; that it can
not be sent out of the country (which,
last is very true) ; that it is so much
clear gain to the nation ; that the na
tion would be ruined, if it were to use
gold and silver coin instead of paper-
money. These are ugly notions. They
seem to be thrown out to feel the
pulse of John Bnll. They do not
come forth officially ; but they come
from sources that render them rather
more than suspicious. The friends of
Government; that is to say, those
485
PAPER AGAINST GOLD.
[43G
who, in some waj or other, gain ly
the taxes, promulgate them ; and
tence we may pretty safely conclude,
Ufat they are not very disagreeable to
the Government itself. There is one
person connected with the Old Lady,
who has put forth such doctrines.
Very natural, you will say. Yes, but
it is not so very natural that we should
adopt them into our political creed.
These doctrines do not argue much in
favour of our expectations of gold and
silver payments. They put one in
mind of Goldsmith's friend's high eu-
logium on liver and bacon just when he
was about to announce to his guest
the absence of a promised venison
pasty.
Wifli these hints ; with these mo
tives to watchfulness, let us now lay
aside the subject of Paper against
Gold, and proceed to inquire what
(food this nation has derived from the
late wars, in which we are said to
have acquired glory that calls for
thanksgivings and monuments. This
inquiry shall be the subject of future
letters.
I am,
Gentlemen,
Your faithful friend,
WM- COBBETT.
s September lit, 1815.
LETTER XXXI.
What is the condition of Great Britain, compared to what it would have been, if the
wars against the French had not taken place.
GENTLEMEN,
THE war, which began in 1793, is
now over. The troops are not all
come home, the ships are not all paid
off", the account is not woiuid up; but,
the war is over. Social Order is re
stored ; the French are again under
the power of the Bourbons ; the Re
volution is at an end ; no change has
been effected in England ; our Bo
roughs, and our Church Nobility and
all have been preserved ; our Govern
ment tell us, that we have covered
ourselves with glory. And now let
us see what we have gained by this
long war ; what we, tbe people of
England, Ireland, and Scotland, who
pay taxes for the support of the people
in office, the army, the navy ,,the' sine
cure placemen, the pensioners, and the
royal family, have gained by this war.
But, here I shall be met at the
threshold by Old George Rose, who
will say : that is not " a fair way of
putting the question." George, \vho
is a person of such well-known
merit, that he has sinecure places
worth about 4,000/. a year, the greater
part of which descends in reversion to
his eldest son. George, who is very
long-sighted, and can perceive con
clusions which are greatly at a dis
tance from the premises, will meet
me at the very out-set, and cry
" hold ! hold ! it is not of what
" the poor fellows have gained that
" you ought to talk to them. You
" ought to ask them how much more
" they would hace lost than, they have
" lost, had it not been for the war,
" now happily terminated amidst such
" a blaze of glory."
George sees what I am going at.
He knows, if you do not, what a pic
ture I am going to draw, and how
clearly I shall trace our Debts, Taxes,
Paupers, and manifold miseries, now
only beginning to be seriously felt, to
137]
LETTER XXXI.'
[438
the war; and, therefore, he would
make you believe (as he has endea
voured to do in print long ago), that
it would have been still worse for you,
if the war had not taken place.
Gentlemen, I will leave even
George Rose nothing to complain of.
1 will take the question in his own
way; and I shall, for argument's sake,
voluntarily make admissions in his
favour, far which he (though that is
saying a great deal) would not have
the conscience to ask,
It is impossible to say, or even to
form any thing like a correct estimate
of, what would have been the con
sequences, in England, of remaining
at peace in 1793, instead of going to
war against the French people. But,
it is easy to name some tiling-;, which
would not have taken place, even if
peace had been preserved. For in
stance, the earth of England would
still have retained its former qualities ;
the sun, the moon, the stars, the
rains, the frosts, the snows, would
not have been obstructed by peace.
The animals, of all sorts, would have
continued breeding. Young people
would have continued to grow up and
see their parents buried. We should,
in short, have the same air to
breathe, and the same kinds of food
and drink, and the same kinds of
clothes to wear
There are some of the most reso
lute Antijacobins, who will assert the
contrary of the greater part of all this.
They will insist, that all nature would
have suffered; and that England would
have become a wild waste, inhabited
by savage men and savage beasts.
This, however, we will not believe. We
must confine our admissions,. great as
they are to be, far within this compass.
I will admit, then, that, if the
People of France had been suffered
to remain at peace, that, as far as the
circumstances of the two nations were,
previous to the French revolution,
alike, so far the People of England
would have followed their example.
The Jacobins, as the friends of Re
form, were called, were very active.
The success of the People of France,
in overturning a most horrid despot
ism, had produced great pleasure in
England amongst the mass of the
people; and, I have no doubt, that,
had our Government continued at
peace with France ; that had it not
adopted any of its hostile measures
in 1792 ; that, if it had continued the
former relationships of peace, com
merce, and intercourse with France,
some very great changes would have
taken place in England.
What, then, according to the above
supposition, would those changes have
been ? \Ve are told of the burning of
country houses, of the demolition of
gentlemen's property, of the pillaging
of Aristocrats, of the massacres and
guillotinings of the French. But, first
let it be observed, that, all these,,
which took place after July 1792, are
fairly to be ascribed to the war, thattuar
which the Bourbons and Aristocrats,
and the Prussians and Austriacs,
made npon the French, in order ta
compel them to return to a submis
sion to that despotism, which they had
overturned. Previous to this time,
though there were many acts of un
justifiable violence on the part of
some of the people, there were none
of those bloody scenes, which took
place after the invasion of France by
the Aristocrats and the Prussians,
with the Duke of JBrunswick at their
head, in 1792, when the king was
alive, and .was enjoying as much
power, as many very wise men think
a king ought to enjoy. It was, there
fore, not till war was begun against
the French People, that those bloody
scenes ensued, which are, by the-
Aristocrats, ascribed to the revolu-
lution, when they ought to be, and
are by all just men, asc/ibed to- the i?ar
waged against the French People.
In seeking, therefore, to ascertain
what changes would have taken place
in England, we must always bear in
mind how far the French had gone,
previous to their being attacked by the
439]
PAPER AGAINST GOLD.
[44<
Emigrants of the Allies; and, previous i
to our hostile measures against them,
indicating intentions of war. Because, ;
all the changes which the French |
made after that, we have a right to
suppose they would not have made
had it not been for the war; that very
war, of which we were the main sup
porters, and which has only now
come to a close after twenty-two years
duration.
What, then, were the changes,
which the French (whose example,
observe, it was said %ve should follow)
made previous to the war ? But, be
fore I come to state these, I must
notice, that the situation of England,
at the commencement of the French
revolution, was very different from
that of France. The sufferings of the
latter had been so much greater, that
it is not reasonable to suppose, that
the people here would have gone such
lengths, in the way of resentment, as
ihe people of France went. This
leads us to call to our recollection
what the sufferings of the people of
France really were.
It is notorious, that, for ages, pre
vious to the French revolution, we, in
this country, constantly described the
French as slaves ; our histories, our
moral essays, our political writings,
our poems, our plays, all describe
them as slaves, and as cowards for
submitting to such a government as
then existed. Noiu, indeed, our con
ductors of news-papers, with a de
gree of impudence absolutely without
parallel, abuse the French people for
having destroyed the PATERNAL
sway of the Bourbons /— — Let us now
see, then, what was the nature of that
" paternal away ;" and, when we have
taken a full view of it, and of its ef
fects, we shall be able to judge, whe
ther it be probable, that the people
of France will listen to those who an
endeavouring to bring them back t<
blessings of that "paternal sway."—
Bat, how are we to get at a true ac
^ount of the nature and effects of th
Bourbon government ? We must re
sort to some authority: to somebodv'
word, whose word is to be relied on
— The authority, to which I am abou
to refer, is that of Mr. ARTHUI
YOUNG, who is, and who has been
for many years past, Secretary to th
Board of Agriculture, with a salarv
paid by the public, of 500/. a year,—
Mr. Young is, in the first place, j
man of great talents; and, perhaps
it is impossible to tind out a person s<
fit to be referred to as Mr. Young
His studies had been of that kind
which peculiarly fitted him for an in
qniry of this description ; and, he wa
in France at precisely the time- fo
making it. lie made, during the year
1787, 1788, and 1789, atffegridiitti
ral and politico-ceconomical survey o
the kingdom of France. He wa
there when the revolution began ; h
was there during its progress until th
new constitution was formed* He wa
not only living in great intimacy wit!
many of the most respectable leader
in that work ; but, he himself, cross
ing the kingdom in till direction?
made himself minutely acquainted
by the means of personal inquiry am
the evidence of his senses, of ever
particular, relating to the nature an<
effects of those "• ancient Ordinance
" and Customs,," of which the parti
zans of the war now boast.-— Durin
his travels, he gives an account c
these, by citing numerous instances
of the abominable tyranny, unde
which the people groaned ; and, f
the close of his work, he publishe
reflections on the Revolution, begir
ning with a summary description i
(ZEnterefc at ®tationer0'
Printed by W. MOLINEUX, 5, Bream's Buildings, Chancery Lane; Published by VV. CobBET
Jun. No. 8, Catherine Street, Strand: and Retailed at No. 192, Strand.
15-1-COBBETT'S PAPER AGAINST GOLD.— [Price Two-Pence.
441]
the state of the people under the
Bourbon government, and, to the
evidences of his own observation, add
ing, as he proceeds, the complaints con
tained in the Cahiers, - that is to say,
the lists of complaints, made to the
National Assembly by the most re
spectable people of the different pro
vinces, to which Cahiers, he refers in
the notes. — This part of Mr. Young's
work, I am now about to insert. I
beg you to go through it with atten
tion. You will see how every part
of it applies to the subject on which
we are, and also to the present crisis.
ON THE REVOLUTION OF FRANCE.
" The gross infamy which attended
letters de cachet and the Bastile,
during the whole reign of Louis
XV. made them esteemed in Eng
land, by people not well informed, as
the most prominent features of the
despotisni of France. They were
certainly carried to an excess hardly
credible; to the length of being sold,
with- blanks, to be filled up with
names at the pleasure of the pur
chaser ; who was thus able, in the
gratification of private revenge, to
tear a man from the bosom of his
family, and bury him in a dungeon,
where he would exist forgotten, and
die unknown !* — But such excesses
* An anecdote, which I have from an au
thority to be depended on, will explain the
profligacy of Government, in respect to these
arbitrary imprisonments. Lord Albemarlc,
when ambassador in France, about the year
1753, negociating the fixing of the limits of
the American colonies, which, three years
after, produced the war, calling one day
on the minister for foreign affairs, was intro
duced, for a few minutes, into his cabinet,
while he finished a short conversation in the
apartment in which he usually received
those who conferred with him. As his
lordship walked backwards and forwards,
W. MOLIXEUX, Printer, Brea
Chaucer^ Laue.
[442
could not be common in any coun!r\ ;
and they were reduced almost to
nothing, from the accession of the
present King. The great mass of the
people, by which I mean the lower
and middle ranks, could suffer very
little from such engines, 'and; as few
of them are objects of jealousy, had
there been nothing else to complain
of, it is not probable they would
ever have been brought to take
arms. The abuses attending the
levy of taxes were heavy and uni
versal. The kingdom was parcelled
into 'generalities, with an intend ant
at the head of each the whole
power of the crown was delegated
for every thing except the military
authority; but particularly for all
affairs of finance. The generalities
were subdivided into elections, at the
head of which was a sub-deleguC-,
appointed by the inteiidaiit. The
rolls of the faille, capitation, ving
tiemcs, and other taxes, were dis
tributed among districts, parishes,
and individuals, at the pleasure of
the intendant, who could exempt,
change, add, or-diminish, at pleasure.
Such an enormous power, constantly
acting, and from which no man was
free, must, in the nature of things,
degenerate in many cases into abso
lute tyranny. It imut be obvious,
that the friends, acquaintances, and
dependants of the intendant, and of
in a very small .room (a French cabinet is
never a very large one), he could not help
seeing a paper Jying on the table, written
in a large legible h?.nd, and containing a
list of the prisoners in the Bastile, in which
the first name was Gordon. When the
minister entered, I/ord Albernarle apolo
gized for his involuntarily rerna king the
paper.; the other - replied, that it was
not of the least consequence, for they nsade
no secret of the names. Lord A. then
isaid, that he had seen the name of" Go; 'o::
first in the list, and he begged to know, .
in all probability the person of this na:r^
PAPER AGAISST GOLD.
[444
all his sub-deleguts, and the friends of
these friends, to a lci:g chain of de-
pendance, might he favoured in tax
ation at the expense of their mise
rable neighbours; and that noble
men, in favour at court, to whose
protection the intendant himself
would naturally look up, could find
little difficulty in throwing much of
the weight of their taxes on others,
without a similar support. Instances,
and even gross ones, have been re
ported to me in many parts of the
kingdom, xthat made me shudder at
the oppression to which numbers
must have been condemned, by the
undue favours granted to such crook
ed influence. But, without recurring
to such cases, what must have been
the state of the poor people paying
heavy taxes, from which the nobility
and clergy were exempted ? A cruel
aggravation of their misery, to see
those who could best afford to pay,
exempted, because able ! — The in-
rolments for the militia, which the
cahiers call an injustice without ex
ample f, were another dreadful
scourge on the peasantry; and, as
married men were exempted from it,
occasioned in some degree that mis
chievous population, which brought
beings into the world, in order for
little else than to be starved. The
corvtes, or police of the roads, were
annually the ruin of many hundreds
of farmers ; more than 300 we- re
reduced to beggary in filling up one
was a British subject, on what account lie
had been put into the Bastile. The minister
told him, that he knew nothing of the mat
ter, but would make the proper enquiries.
The next lime he saw Lord Albemarle, he
informed him, that, on inquiring into the
ease of Gordon, he could find no person
who could give him the least information;
on which he had had Gordon himself inter
rogated, who solemnly affirmed, that he
had not the smallest knowledge, or even
suspicion, of the cause of his imprisonment,
but that he had been confined thirty years;
however, added the minister, I ordered him
to be immediately released, aud he is now
at large. Such a case wants no comment.
* Nob. JSricy, p. 6; «Scc. &c.
vale in Lorraine : all these oppres
sions fell on the tiers ctat only ; the
nobility and clergy having been
equally exempted from tallies, militia,
and corvues. The penal code of
finance makes one shudder at the
horrors of punishment inadequate to
the crime t. A few features will
sufficiently characterize the old go
vernment.
1. Smugglers of salt, armed and
assembled to the number of five, in
Provence, a fine of 500 liv. and nine
years g allies; — in all the rest of the
kingdom, death.
2. Smugglers armed, assembled,
but in number under five, a fine of
300 liv. and three years gullies. Se
cond offence, death.
3. Smugglers, without arms, but
with horses, carts, or boats ; a fine of
300 liv. if not paid, three years gal-
lies. Second offence, 400 liv. and
nine years (/allies. — In Dauphine, se
cond offence, gallics for life. In
Provence, Jive years y allies.
4. Smugglers, who carry the salt
on their backs, and without arms, a
fine of 200 liv. and, if not paid, are
flogged and branded. Second of
fence, a fine of 300 liv. and six years
gallics.
5. Women, married and single,
smugglers, first offence, a fine of 100
liv. Second, 300 liv. Third, flog-
gcd, and banished the kingdom, for life.
} It is calculated by a writer (Rccherches
et Consid. par M. le Baron de Conner^ torn,
ii. p. 187,) very well informed on every sub
ject of finance, that, upon an average, there
were annually taken up and sent to prison
or the gallies ; Men, 2,310. Women, 896.
Children, 201. Tetal, 3,437; 300 of these
to the gallies (torn. i. p. 1 12). The salt con
fiscated from these miserables amounted to
12,633 quintals, which, at the mean price of
8 Hv. are 101,064 liv.
2,7721b. ef salted flesh,at 105. 1 ,386
1 ,086 horses, at 50 liv 54,300
52 carts, at 1 50 liv 7,800
Fines 53,207
Seized in houses 105,530
323,287
445]
LETTER XXXI.
[446
Husbands responsible both in fine and
body.
6. Children smugglers, the same as
women. — Fathers and mothers respon
sible ; and for defect of payment.,
flogged.
7. Nobles, if smugglers, deprived
of their nobility ; and their houses rased
to the ground.
8. Any persons in employments,
(I suppose employed in the salt-works
or the revenue), if smugglers, death.
And such as assist in the theft of salt
in the transport, hanged.
9. Soldiers smuggling, with arms,
are hanged; without arms, (failles for
life.
10. Baying smuggled salt to resell
it, the same punishment as for smug
gling.
11. Persons in the salt employ
ments, empowered, if two, or one with
two witnesses, to enter and examine
houses, even of the privileged order.
12. All families, and persons liahle
to the tattle, in the provinces of the
Grandes Gabelles inrolled, and their
consumption of salt for the pot and
saliere (that is, the daily consumption,
exclusive of salting meat, &c. &c.)
estimated at 71b. a head per annum,
which quantity they are forced to buy,
whether they want it or not, under the
pain of various fines, according to the
«ase.
The Capitaineries were a dreadful
scourge on all the occupiers of land.
By this term,- is to be understood the
paramountship of certain districts,
granted by the king, to princes of the
blood, by which they were put in pos
session of the property of all game,
even on lands not belonging to them ;
and, what is very singular, on manors
granted long before to individuals ; so
that the erecting of a district into a
capitainerie, was an annihilation of
all manerial rights to game within it.
This was a trifling business, in com
parison of other circumstances; for,
in speaking of the preservation of the
game in these capita ineries, it must
be observed, that by game must be
understood whole droves of wild
boars, and herds of deer, not confined
by any Avail or pale, but wandering,
at pleasure, over the whole country,
to the destruction of the crops; and
to the peopling of the gallies by the
wretched peasants, who presumed to
kill them, in order to save that food
which was to support their helpless
children. The game in the capitain
erie of Montceau, in four parishes
only, did mischief to the amount of
184,263 liv. per annum.* JSo won
der then that we should find the
people asking * Nous demandons d
' grand ci'is la destruction dts capi-
' taineries <§* celle de toute sortc de gi-
' fo'er'.t And what are we to think of
demanding, as a favour, the permis
sion — * De Nettoyer ses grains, dc
' faucher fas pres artijiciels, et d'en-
* lever ses chaumes sans egard pour la
' perdrix on tout autre. gibier.'t Now,
an English reader will scarcely under-
. stand it without being told, that there
were numerous edicts for preserving
the game, \\hich prohibited weeding
and hoeing, lest the young partridges
should be disturbed ; steeping seed,
lest it should injure the game ; ma
nuring with night-soil, lest the flavour
of the partridges should be injured
by feeding on the corn so produced ;
mowing hay, <fcc. before a certain
time, so late as to spoil many crops ;
and taking away the stubble, which
would deprive the birds of shelter.
The tyranny exercised in .tliese capi
ta ineries, which extended over 400
leagues of country, was so great, that
many cahiers demanded the utter sup-
* Cahier <lu tiers Hat de Weaux, p. 49.
t De Mantes and Meulan, p. 40.-— Also,
Nob. 8f Tier Etat de Perorme, p. 42.— De
Trow ordres de Montfort, p. 28.— That i* :
" We most earnestly pray tor the suppres-
" sion of the Capitaineries, and that of all
" the <*ame laws."
t De Mantes and Meulan, p. S3.— That is
to say, "• the favour to weed their corn, to
" mow their upland grass, and tc take off
" their stubble, without consulting the con-
" venience of the partridges, or any other
" sort of game."
447]
PAPER AGAINST &GLD.
[448
pression of tliem.* Such were the
exertions of arbitrary power winch
the lower orders feit - directly from
the royal authority ; but, heavy as
they were, it is a question whether
the otherSjSulrered circuitou&ly through
the, nobility and the clergy, were not
yet more oppressive ? Nothing can
exceed the complaints made in the
cahiers under tills head. They speak
of tlie dispensation of justice in the
mauerial courts, as comprising every
species of despotism : the districts in
determinate —appeals endless — irre-
concileable to liberty and prosperity
— and irrevocably proscribed in the
opinion of the publicf — augmenting
litigations— favouring every species of
chicane — ruining the parties — not only
by enormous expenses on the most
petty objects, but by a dreadful loss
of time. The judges commonly igno
rant pretenders, who hold their courts
in cabarets, and are absolutely depen
dant on the seigneurs.]: Nothing can
exceed the force of expression used
in painting the oppressions of the
seigneurs, in consequence of their
feudal powers. They are " vexations
qui sont le plus grand fltau dcs peu-
ples.§ — Esclavage aj$igeant,\\ — Ce re
gime dcsastreuse.^— -That the
feodalite be for ever abolished. The
countryman is tyrannically enslaved
by it. Fixed and heavy rents ; vexa
tious processes to secure them; ap
preciated unjustly to augment them :
rents, solidaires, and reveackables ;
rents, cheantcs, and levqntes; jumagcs.
Pines at every change of the proper-
* Clerge de jProvins 8f. Moiitercau, p. 35. —
Clerge de Paris, p. 25. — Clcrge de Mantes Sf
AIeulan,p. 45, 46'. Curgt de Laon. p. 11. —
Nob. de Ncnwws, p. 17. — Nob. de Paris, p. 22.
— Nob. d' Arras, p. 29.
t Rennes, art. 12. J Nevernoisj'art. 43.
§ Tiers Etat de Fames, p. 24.— That is
" Vexations which are the greatest scourge
" of the people."
|j T. Etat Clernwnt Ferrand, p. 5?.— That
is : u Cruel Slavery."
t Tiers Etat. Auxnre, art 6.— That is:
«' This ruinous system of governing."
ty, in the direct as well as collateral
line; feudal redemption (retraite);
fines on sale, to the eighth aud even
the sixth penny ; redemptions (ra-
chats) injurious in their origin, and
still more so in their extension : bana-
lite of the mill,* of the oven, and of
the wine and cyder-press ; corvees by
custom; corvees by usage of the fief;
carvers established by unjust decrees ;
corvets arbitrary, and even phantas-
tical ; servitudes ; prestations, extra
vagant and burthensome ; collections
by assessment incollectable ; aveux,
minus, impunissemens ; litigations ru
inous and without end : the rod of
of seigneural finance for ever shaken
over our heads ; vexation, ruin, out
rage, violence, and destructive ser
vitude, under which the peasants,
almost on a level with Polish slaves,
can never but be miserable, vile, and
oppressed.! They demand also, that
the use of hand-mills be free ; and
hope thai posterity, if possible, may
be ignorant that feudal tyranny in
Bretagne, armed with the judicial
power, has not blushed even in these
times at breaking hand-mills, and at
selling annually to the miserable, the
faculty of bruising between two stones
a measure of buck-wheat or barley 4
The very terms of these complaints
are unknown in England, and un
translatable ; they have probably
arisen Icng since the feudal system
ceased in this kingdom. What are
these tortures of ihe peasantry in
Bretagne, which they call cJievauc/tcs,
quint (lines, soules, saut de poison,
* By this horrible law, the people are
bound to grind their corn at the mill of the
seigneur only ; to press their grapes at his
press only ; arid to hake their bread in his
oven ; by which means, the bread is often
spoiled, and more especially wine, .since in
Champagne those grapes which, pressed
immediately, would make white wine, by
waiting tlr the press, which often happens,
make red wine only.
f Tiers El at Rcnnes, p. 159.
J Rcnnes, p. 57.
449 j .
LETTER XXXI.
[450
laiser de marines; chansons; trans-
porte d'aevf sur un charette ; silence
des grcnouilles ;* corvee a misericorde ;
.milods; Icicle; couponage ; cartelage ;
barayv ; fouage ; marechaussce ; ban
vin ; ban d'aout ; trousses ; gelinage ;
coverage ; taillabilitie ; ningtain ; ster-
laye ; bordelage ; mintage ; ban de
veudanges ; dreit d'accapte ?*- In pass
ing through many of the French
provinces, I was struck with the va
rious and heavy complaints of the
farmers and little proprietors, of the
•feudal grievances, with the weight of
which their industry was burthened ;
but 1. could not then conceive the
multiplicity of the shackles which
kept them poor and depressed. I
understood it better afterwards, from
the conversation and complaints of
some grand seigneurs, as the revo
lution advanced ; and I then learned,
that the principal rental of many
estates consisted in services and
feudal tenures; by the baneful in
fluence of which, the industry of the
people was almost exterminated. In
regard to the oppressions of the
clergy, as to tithes, I must do that
body a justice, to which a claim can
not be laid in England. Though the
ecclesiastical tenth was levied in
France more severely than usual in
Italy, yet was it never exacted '.with
such horrid greediness as is at pre
sent the disgrace of England. When
taken in kind, no such thing was
known in any part of France, where
I made inquiries, as a tenth : it was
always a twelfth, or a thirteenth, or
even a twentieth of the produce. And
in no part of the kingdom did a new
article of culture pay any thing ; thus
turnips, cabbages, clover, chicoree,
potatoes, &c. <l*c. paid nothing. In
* This is a curious article : when the
lady of the seigneur lies in, the people are
obliged to beat the waters in marshy districts,
to keep the frogs silent, that she may not
be disturbed ; this duty, a very op
pressive one, is commuted inte a pecuniary
fine.
f Resume des cahk'rs, torn. iii. p, 316, 317.
many parts, meadows were exempt.
Silk- worms nothing. Olives in some
places paid — in more they did not.
Cows nothing. Lambs from the 12th
to the 21st. Wool nothing.— Such
mildness, in the levy of this odious
tax, is absolutely unknown in Eng
land. But mild as it .was, the bur
den to people groaning under so many
other oppressions, united to render
their situation so bad that no change
could be for the worse. But these
were not all the evils with which the
people struggled. The administration
of justice was partial, venal, infamous.
I have, in conversation with many
very sensible men, in ditferent parts
of the kingdom, met with something
of content with their government, in
all other respects than this ; but upon
the question of expecting justice to be
really and fairly administered, every
one confessed there was no such thing
to be looked for. The conduct of the
parliaments was profligate and atro
cious. Upon almost every cause that
came before them, interest was openly
made with the judges : and woe be-
tided the man who, with a cause to
support, had no means of conciliating
favour, either by the beauty of a
handsome wife, or by other methods.
It has been said, by many writers,
that property was as secure under the
old government of France as it is in
England ; and the assertion might pos
sibly be true, as far as any violence
from the King, his ministers, or the
great was concerned; but for all that
mass of property, which comes in
every country to be litigated in courts
of justice, there was not even the
shadow of security, unless the parties
were totally* and equally unknown,
and totally and equally honest; in
every other case, he who had the
best interest with the judges, was
sure to be the winner. To reflecting
minds, the cruelty and abominable
practice attending such courts are
sufficiently apparent. There was als >
a •circui&stance in the constitution of
451]
PAPER AGAINST GOLD.
these parliaments, but little known in I
England, and which under such a !
•government as that of France, must |
be considered as very singular. They
had the power, and were in the con
stant practice of issuing decrees, with
out the consei>t of the crown, and j
which had the force of laws through (
the whole of their jurisdiction ; and i
of all other laws, these were sure to •
be the best obeyed; for as all infringe- i
ments of them were brought before |
sovereign courts, composed of the •
same persons who had enacted these j
laws (a horrible system of tyranny !) j
they were certain of being punished j
vrith the last severity. It must ap
pear strange, in a government so de
spotic in some respects as that of
France, to see the parliaments in every
part of the kingdom making laws
without the King's consent, and even
in defiance of his authority. The
English whom I met in France in
1789, were surprised to see some of
these bodies issuing arrets against the
export of corn out of the provinces
subject to their jurisdiction, into the
neighbouring provinces, at the same
time that tbe king, through the organ
of so popular a minister as Mons.
Necker, was decreeing an absolutely
free transport of corn throughout the
kingdom, and even at the requisition
of the National Assembly itself. But
this was nothing new ; it was their
common practice. The parliament
of Rouen passed an arret against
killing of calves : it. was a prosperous
one, and opposed by administration ;
but it had its full force ; and had a
butcher dared to offend against it, he
would have found, by the rigour of
his punishment, who w;-^ his master.
Inoculation was favoured by the court
in Louis XV.'s time ; but the parlia
ment of Paris passed an arret against
it, much more effective in prohibiting,
than the favour of the court in en
couraging that practice. Instances
are innumerable, and I may remark,
that the bigotry, ignorance, false prin
ciples, and tyranny of these bodies
were generally conspicuous; and that
the Court (taxation excepted), never
had a dispute with a Parliament, but
the Parliament was sure to be wrong.
Their Constitution, in respect to the
administration of justice, was so truly
rotten, that the members sat as judges,
even in causes of private property, in
which they were themselves the par
ties, and have, in this capacity, been
guilty of oppressions and cruelties,
which the crown has rarely dared
to attempt.
It is impossible to justify the ex
cesses of the people on their taking up
arms; they were certainly guilty of
cruelties; it is idle to deny the facts,
for they have been proved too clearly
to admit of a doubt. But is it really
the people to whom we are to impute
the whole? — Or to their oppressors,
who had kept them so long in a state
of bondage? He whe chooses to be
served by slaves,8 and by ill-treated
slaves, must know that he holds both
his property and life by a tenure far
different from those who prefer the
service of well treated freemen; and
he who dines to the music of growling
sufferers, must not, in the moment of
insurrection, complain that his daugh
ters are ravished, and then destroyed;
and that his sons' throats are cut.
When such evils happen, they surely
are more imputable to the tyranny of
the master, than to the cruelty of the
servant. The analogy holds with the
French peasants — the murder of a
seigneur, or a chateau in flames, is re
corded in every news-paper; the rank
of the person who suffers, attracts
notice ; but where do we find the
register of that seigneur's oppressions
of his peasantry, and his exactions of
feudal services, 'from those whose
children were dying around them for
want of bread? Where do we find
the minutes that assigned these starv
ing wretches to some vile petty- fogger
to be fleeced by impositions, and a
mockery of juTstice, in the seigneural
courts? Who gives us the awards of
the intendaut and his sub-delegues.
453]
LETTER XXXI.
[454
which took off the taxes of a man of
fashion, and laid them with accumu
lated weight, on the poor, who were
so unfortunate as to be his neighbours ?
Who has dwelt sufficiently upon ex
plaining all the ramifications of despo
tism, legal, aristocratic, and eccle
siastical, pervading the whole mass of
the people ; reaching, like a circulating
fluid, the most distant capillary tubes
of poverty and wretchedness? In
these cases, the sufferers are too
ignoble to be known; and the mass
too indiscriminate to be pitied. But
should a philosopher feel and reason
thus ? Should he mistake the cause
for the effect ? and giving all his pity
to the few, feel no compassion for the
many, because they suffer in his eyes
not individually, but by millions?
The excesses of the people cannot, I
repeat, be justified; it would un
doubtedly have done them credit, both
as men and Christians, if they had
possessed their new acquired power
with moderation. But let it be re
membered, that the populace in no
country ever use power with modera
tion; excess is inherent in their
aggregate constitution; and as every
Government in the world knows, that
violence infallibly attends power in
such hands, it is doubly bound in
common sense, and for common safety,
so to conduct itself, that the people
may not find an interest in public
confusions. They will alwavs suffer
much and long, before they are effec
tually roused ; nothing, therefore, can
kindle the flame, but such oppressions
of some classes or order in the society,
as give able men the opportunity of
seconding the general mass ; discon
tent will soon diffuse itself around ;
and if the Government take not
warning in time, it is alone answera
ble for all the burnings, and plunder-
ings, and devastation, and blood that
follow. The true judgment to be
formed of the French revolution,
must surely be gained, from an atten
tive consideration of the evils of the
old Government : when these are
well understood — and when the ex
tent and universality of the oppression
under which the people groaned —
oppression which bore upon them
from every quarter, it will scarcely
be attempted to be urged, that a re
volution was not absolutely necessary
to the welfare of the kingdom. Not
one opposing voice* can, with reason,
be raised against this assertion: abuses
ought certainly to be corrected, and
corrected effectually : this could not
be clone without the establishment of
anew form of government; whether
the form that has been adopted were
the best, is another question absolutely
distinct. But that the above-men
tioned detail of enormities practised
on the people required some great
change, is sufficiently apparent."
THUS we have the causes of those
violences, which the people of France
committed at the beginning of the re
volution. Mr. Young has fairly stated
them. They were produced by those
* Many opposing voices have been raised ;
but so little to their credit, that I leave the
passage as it was written long ago. The
abuses that are rooted in all the old Govern
ments of Europe, give such numbers of
men u direct interest in supporting, cherish
ing, and defending abuses, that no wonder
advocates for tyranny, of every species, are
found in every country, and almost in every
company. What a mass of people, in every
part of England, are some way or other in
terested in the present representation of the
people, tithes, charters, corporations, mono
polies, and taxation! and not merely to the
things themselves, but to all the abuses
attending them; and how many are there,
who derive their profit, or their considera
tion in life, not merely from such institu
tions, but from the evils they engender!
The great mass of the people, however, is
free from such influence, and \\ ill be en
lightened by degrees ; assuredly they will
find out, in every country in Europe, that
by combinations, on the principles ot liberty
and property, aimed' equally against regal,
aristocrat ical, and mobbish tyranny, they
will be able to resist successfully, that va
riety of combination, which, on principles
of plunder and despotism, is every \\h«ire
at work to enslave them.
455]
PAPER AGAINST GOLD.
[456
Nobles, Priests, and that Bourbon
family, to seat whom in their power
again we have saddled ourselves with
an everlasting Debt.
Now, unless we are ready to admit,
that we are worse than the French
naturally ; that we are a more foolish,
or a more wicked, or more sanguinary
race, it can never be supposed, that
we should have gone so far as the
French went previous to the war of
1792 ; because we certainly had not,
at that time, such oppressions to com
plain of and avenge. Indeed, all that
the people of England complained of
was, that they were not represented
in Parliament; and this had been
complained of by PITT in terms more
strong than by any other man that
ever lived. He had gone so far as to
say, that, without a reform in the Par
liament, it was impossible, that any
Minister, in England, should be a
Minister and an honest man. This
grievance had long been complained
of by the whole nation, those who
were interested in the abuse cxcepted,
and even'these seemed to object more
to the time and the manner of the
proposed reform than to the thing
itself.
. At tlie breaking out of the French
Revolution the people of England
were,, at first, astonished: but, they
soon began to perceive, that this event
\voukl compel the conceding of that
reform in the Parliament, which thev
-liad so long petitioned for in vain.
Those in power saw it too. All com
munication was, by war, cut off be
tween the two countries; reform did
not take place; our system of govern
ment v.as no \v-stecled, instead of
being softened ; and by divers laws,
still in existence, the liberties of the
-people, were abridged, instead of
being enlarged.
But, do I suppose, that the people
would have stopped at the end «o€ a
Reform in the Commons House of
Parliament? Frankly to speak, I do
ii'.-t believe they would. I think it
v.oulu have been wise for them to stop
there, but I do not think they would.
The Established Church would have
been abolished. There was, and there
is, nobody who approves of tythes.
We even now hear the land-occupiers,
and even the land-holders, including
many of the nobility, respecting tythes
as one of the causes of our inability
to sell corn so cheap as the French ;
and, thus, after all, and even while
we are paying armies to put down the
French revolutionists, inculcating the
wisdom of following their example in
this very material point: So that, if
to this dislike of tythes amongst the
Church people themselves, amongst
those whose relations, sons, fathers,
brothers, own the tythes, what might
not have been expected from the dis
senters ? From ail those numerous
sects, who look upon the Established
Church, not only as a heavy burden
to them, but as a great injury to
religion itself? What mercy could
she-, as to her property, reasonably
expect from these millions, whom she
had so long kept in a state of depres
sion, and whose teachers she had so
long iilied with envy .
The Nobility would have stood but
little better chance. The nation was
too full of knowledge ; there were too
many men of wealth and talent, not
belonging to the Noblesse ; there
were too many opulent merchants and
manufacturers and others, to have
suffered the Nobility to remain. The
Orders of Nobility would therefore,
have been, in all likelihood., abolished.
There is no doubt, that, cither by a
reformed Parliament, or in conse
quence cf popu'fir menaces, the whole
of the Sinecure Placemen, and nearly
the whole of the Pensioners and
Grantees would have been dismissed
without a penny of compensation ;
and there is as little doubt that the
Game-laws would have been wholly
swept away.
I will allow, too, that the powers
and expenses of the King and his
family would have been greatly
abridged ; that they would have been
457]
LETTER XXXI.
[458
reduced to T>e merely the Chief
Magistrates of the country ; that they
would no longer have enjoyed Droits
of Admiralty ; and that all magnifi-
eence and show must have been laid
aside. Whether this would have been
wise or not is another question. Such
was the temper of the time, that, I
think, had it not been for the war, it
would inevitably have taken place.
But, when I have made these ad
missions, I am sure, that even George
Rose cannot ask me to allow, that the
people of England would have gone
further ; that they would have pro
ceeded, as the French did, to the
burning of Noblemen's houses, to the
pillaging of their farms, the murder of
themselves and their families, to the
personal ill-treatment and robbery of
the houses of the Clergy. To allow
this would be to allow, that the people
would have done that without provo
cation, which the people of France
did with provocation ; »and this would
be to allow, that the people of England
are, by nature, a great deal less just
and humane than the people of
France.
I say without provocation, because,
though the people of England had to
complain of the want of being duly
represented in Parliament, and though
they did complain of the law of tythes
and some other grievances, all their
complaints, in 1792, put together, did
not amount to almost any one. of the
hundreds of oppressions, under which
the French people had groaned for
centuries. The Clergy, in England,
if they had great possessions, owed
their preferment, in most eases, to
patronage solely ; if many of them
were fox-hunters, or men of fashion,
they were yet, generally speaking,
very little inclined to oppression of
any sort, and were as mild in their
manners, and as kind -and as liberal,
in all respects, as any other gentlemen
in the country. They were at the
head of no intolerant Church. They
had never murdered people for the
love of Christ. If people went to
hear them, it was well ; if not, it was
also well. Never was there in the
whole world so inoffensive a Church.
The Nobility, with few exceptions,
had long been in the habit of mixing
indiscriminately amongst the opulent
of all descriptions. In the chace, on
the turf, at the gaming table, at the
Bible Societies, atagriculturalmeetings,
in Societies, and Clubs and Parties
of all sorts, they had had the good
sense to mix with the nation at large*
They were, in general, the best and
kindest landlords and masters, as they
are still. And, which was more than
all the rest in their favour, they joined
to their affability and liberality their
fair share of learning and talent.
In short, there was nothing in these
two orders of men to call forth the
hatred or vengeance of the people.
Yet, such was their alarm at the
abolishing of the Church and of tythes
in France, that they instantly acted
as if they had been of the same de
scription as the persecuting Priests
and petty lay Tyrants of that country,
who were also called Clergy and
Nobility, but who no more resembled
ours than the poison-tree resembles
the vine.
What have been the consequences
of this their decision, as to the freedom
and happiness of France, the Continent
of Europe, and of England; and what
will, in all human probability, be the
final consequences of it, to our Church
and Nobility themselves, who, by this
time, must begin to be frightened at
their own success, is a subject into
which I will not now enter. We all
know, that there is an English army
in France ; that Hanoverian and other
German armies, subsidized by us are
there also; that the Bourbons are
again upon the throne of that country ;
and -that the Roman Cotholics, stimu
lated by their Priests, are again, as
during the reigns of former Bourbons,
cutting the throats, mangling and
burning the bodies of Protestants.
And, it is for us now to inquire, " how
" much more WE should have lost,
459]
PAPER AGAINST GOLD.
[460
44 than we have lost, if the war had
" not taken place."
Our' losses are these: 1st, all that
part of our incomes, or fruit of our
labour, which have been taken away
during the war for the purpose of
carrying it on. 2nd. All that part of
our property, which lias been taken
and actually sold, or is now for sale,
by the Government, under what is
called the redemption of the Land
Tax. 3rd. All that part of our pro
perty, or fruit of our labour, which is
required to pay the interest of about
eight hundred millions of Debt, occa
sioned solely by the war, and which
will be required for ever. 4th. All
that part of our property and the fruit
of our labour which is required to
maintain that increased standing army
and those innumerable pensioners and
and half-pay officers, naval and mili
tary, who have been created by tbe
war. 5th. The permanent supply of
Manufactures to the United States
of America, which are now able to
manufacture for themselves, and this
solely in consequence of the war, be
cause the Orders in Council, Impress
ments from American ships, Non
importations, Embargoes, and finally
war with America, were all produced
by our war against the French, (jth.
That state of comparatively light tax
ation, and ease and plenty, and cheap
ness, which left our rich people no
reason to wish to migrate to foreign
countries, which enabled our farmers
to sell their produce as cheap as the
French, and which enabled our ma
nufacturers to undersell all the world.
These, as no one can deny, are our
losses by the war. By peace, I allow,
that our Nobility might have lost their
titles, our Clergy their tythes, our
Sinecure placemen and Pensioners
their incomes from those sources,
our King and Royal Family much of
their power and splendour ; and that
we should have lost the Borough
System I am quite certain. Whether
what we might thus have lostbyjpeace
would have been greater than what
we have lost by war, I must now leave
for you to decide.
" Aye," some one may say, " but
" you have forgotteiAwr gains by the
" war. You have forgotten the im-
" mense mass of glory" I really do
not see, that of military or naval glorv
we have gained a, single particle bv
this war. Nay, I think we have lost.
The war in Spain arid Portugal
exhibited a mere branch of the army
in France fighting nearly the whole of
our military means, aided bv immense
fleets, and aided by the chief part of
the people of those two countries.
That „ war continued many years.
There were Spanish armies and Por
tuguese armies to assist us. The two
Governments were on our side. We
had fleets in every harbour. The
French were in an enemy's country.
And they were not driven out, at last,
'till all the rest of Europe were pouring
their armies into France on the East
and on the North.
We were victorious at the battle of
Waterloo; but we had with us an
immense army of Hanoverians, Bel
gians, and Prussians, and, what is
more, we were fighting, as all the.
people of France thought, for the King
of France. We have now an army in
France ; but, it is there by the aid of
allies and troops subsidized by us,
amounting to one million and eleven
thousand men. In short, our arinv is
in France with the armies of all the
rest of Europe at their back, and \vitli
France divided in itself besides. Is
this the harvest of glory, of which we
have heard so much talk ? And is it
this glory which is to compensate us
for all our sufferings and all our losses?
When English Kings sailed from
Southampton with bands of English
followers, landed in France, fought
battles there, defeated the Kings of
France, and finally caused the Kiiiij
of England to be crowned at Paris,
and to reign as King of France by his
Vice- Hoys for s< • vrral years, that was,
indeed, military glory ; but, in this
war, the very title of tiiug of 2'rance,
4G1]
LETTER XXXI.
[462
which served to perpetuate the re
collection of that glory, has been given
up, and that too, observe, as a pre
parative for peace, with Napoleon,
who, it was clearly foreseen, would not
have acknowledged the title, though
the Bourbons had always acknow
ledged it. And, is it, then, for us,
Englishmen, whose ancestors really
conquered France, as the French had
before really and more effectually
conquered England, to brag about the
glory of getting to Paris along with a
million of German troops ? And that,
too, after we have so recently seen the
French, unaided by any other nation,
sally forth, and really conquer every
state on the continent of Europe,
Russia only excepted, and that ex-
cepted only because France was then
co-operating with the German allies.
But, have the English army given
no proofs of their determined bravery,
during these long wars ? Oh ! yes, a
great many. They have acted like
very gallant men. Their officers, of
all ranks, have discovered great ta
lents, and wonderful zeal. But is
this any thing new ? When were the
people of these Islands not brave ?
When were they not true to their co
lours? Did it need the battles in
Egypt, in Naples, or in Spain, to
acquire a character for valour, for
those whose ancestors had conquered
Canada ; and who, before that, had
fought under Marlbovough ? Whence
comes the notion, and what can be its
motive, that valour is something new
in the English, Scots, and Irish cha
racter ? Besides, to say nothing about
our many reverses in Europe, and
especially that of the Helder, are we
to be made forget what has passed in
America? And if there has been a
balance of accounts on the side of Ca-
nida, can we quite overlook the fa
mous battle of New Orleans? In
that battle there were engaged from
ten to twelve thousand British troops,
sent from France, under General
PAKENHAM, who had been so much
extolled for his exploits in the Pen
insula of Europe* This army was fur
nished with all the means of destruc
tion. A great fleet, with its seamen
and marines aided it in all its opera
tions. The American General Jack
son, a lawyer by profession (who had
never before, I believe, seen a single
regiment in the character of an
enemy), with the inhabitants of New
Orleans aided by the militia of Ten-
nese and Kentucky, had assigned to
him the task of defending the city
against the army of regulars, and, as
they were called, of invincibles. With
his untutored bands, even whose offi
cers were not in uniform, he, with
inferior numbers, attacked the British
army twice, in the night-time, before
they were ready for the main attack
on him. On the 8th of January, 1815,
they advanced to that attack, with
rockets, bombs, an immense train of
artillery, and with all the apparatus
for storming, the soldiers and sailors
having been previously stimulated,
and steeled against relaxation, by as
surances the most gratifying to their
tastes and wishes. They finally ar
rived at the point of onset : the fag
gots, which they carried to make
them a road over the works, were
just tossing into a ditch : in idea the
city with all its spoils were in their
possession. At that moment the brave
and prudent enemy, with as much
coolness as if he had been aiming at
harmless birds, opened his fire upon
them, and swept them down like grass
before the scythe of the mower. He
sallied in pursuit, marching over blood
and brains and mangled carcasses,
and finally, to use the words of his
countrymen, " drove the survivors to
" their ships, and bad them carry to
" England the proof of the fact, th; t
" the soil of freedom was not to be
" invaded with impunity." There
were more than half as many British
soldiers and sailors killed and wound
ed in this battle as in the battle of
Waterloo. And, is this battle to pass
for nothing ? Is this to form no item
in the account of glory ? Is there no
463]
PAPER AGAINST GOLD.
[464
deduction to be made here from the
gain of glory by the war.
• As to our Navy, when was it not
victorious over all its enemies? When
did it not, since the days of the Stu
arts, drive the navies of the French,
Dutch, and Spaniards from the ocean?
When was it not thought disgraceful
for an English ship to yield to a force
considerably superior to her own ?
When Avas it thought glorious for an
English squadron to take a single
frigate, ? When was it known that
English ships yielded, one after ano
ther, in every part of the ocean, to
ships of the same class and force ?
When was it dreamt of, that whole
squadrons of En^is'i sLips of war
would be beaten and captured by
squadrons of inferior force ? Never,
till the late war .ar/ainst America ;
which war, we must always bear in
mincl, grew out of, and formed a part
of, the war against the French.
Thus, then, stands the account of
glory. How that of National- Pros-
parity stands, we thall see in another
Letter.
I am,
Your faithful Friend,
tVM.' COBBETT.
Botty,
3d September, 1815.
LETTER XXXII.
The Costs of the War in the Articles of Funds, Debt, Expenses, Taxes, and Paupers.--.
Conclusion.
GENTLEMEN,
HAVING now seen, in the ag
gregate, what we have gained in the
way of Glory as well as in the way of
civil and religious liberty, and what
we have lost in the way of Prosperity,
it will be necessary, as to the latter,
to enter into some details ; because,
with regard to the debt, the .taxes,
the funds, the trade, population, and
pauperism of our country, we aVe able
to refer to documents which the Go
vernment itself own to be correct.
An inquiry of this sort is pecu
liarly necessary in a case like the pre
sent, because it is notorious, that the
war was begun under the pretext of its
being necessary to the presei vation of
our property, which, we were told,
would all be taken away from us
(though it was not said very particu
larly by whom) unless we made war
upon the French nation. In talking
of glory, too, we must bear in mind,
that our glory is, in great part, & pur
chased article. We are not like the
French and the Americans, \f\\ojiyht
their battles themselves, and who re
semble those tradesmen who carry on
their business themselves, having no
journeymen under them. England is
like a master tradesman, who, though
he now and then puts his hand to the
mallet," does, in fact, carry on his
trade by means of journeymen. Du
ring the lirst war against the Ameri
cans, we had Brunswickers, Hans-
packers, Hessians, Dramstauters, and
other troops in our pay, as to much
per man per month, and so nruch^er
life, if killed or lost \vhilt; in our service.
During the war against the French, we
have had in cur employ and pay,
Russians, Prussians, Dutchmen, Au-
trians, Neapolitans," Papal troops, Si
cilians, Spaniards, Portuguese, Swit-
zers, Savoyards, Hessians,
French Ro y a i i st ; • , H ano verians ,
Blacks, and 1 do not know how
4S5J
LETTER XXXII.
[466
many otLer nations. Our glory,
therefore is much more an affair of
money than of arms. Indeed this idea
was very well illustrated at the Win
chester meeting against the renewal
of the Income Tax, by a country gen
tleman (who, by the hy, js paper-
maker to the Bank of England) who
plainly stated in his speech, that those
who. had paid the taxes to carry on
the war ought to share in the honours,
then recently conferred on the new
Knights of the Bath. He was very
right, for it was owing to those taxes,
and those taxes onjy, that the victo
ries by the hands of Spaniards, Por
tuguese, Swedes, Hessians-, Prus
sians, Hanoverians, &c. were gained.
When a prize is awarded to a farmer
for rearing the best 'ox, for instance,
it is very well known that the ox has
been reared, not by him, but by his
labourers, who are supported by his
money, and who are put in move
ment at his instigation; but, as,
according to the rule of the law, that
he who does a thing by another does
the thine/ itself, so the farmer receives
the reward, and the labourers receive
their wages.
Upon this principle it is, doubt
less, that our newspapers claim for
us the whole of the glory of the re
cent successes, and of all that is now
doing against the French people. But,
upon the same principle, the greater
part of the glory falls fairly to the
share of the taxes, and that admi
rable money machine, the Bank, in
ThreadiieedLe-street. It was that ve
nerable Old Lady, who brought the
Russians and Prussians, and Austri-
ans and Hanoverians into the iield,
who inspired them with patriotic and
loyal feelings, and who iilled their
hearts with valour. And, if her La
dyship's merit does not find a dis
tinguished place upon the great Wa
terloo Column, there is no justice left
amongst men.
It is agreed on all hands, that the
war has cost a great deal of money,
and the country is now beginning to
feel the effect of that 'cost ; but, the
amount of the whole cost has never
been, as far as I know of, clearly
stated at one time. The divers items
have been stated at different times,
and in different shapes; but the
whole has never been brought into
one concise view. This is what I
shall now attempt, beginning with
the state, or value of the FUNDS.
We will take 3 per cents, as the
standard of the whole. During the
peace, which ended in 1793, the
average price of the 3 per cents, for
years, ^ had been 96. The average
peace-price is now 58, and that, too,
in paper-money. So that, in fact,
every person, who held funded pro
perty in 1792, and who, or whose
heirs or successors, still hold that
same property, have actually lost
one half of it by depreciation in value,
and 10 per cent, in addition out of
that half, which is now stopped out
of the dividends in the shape of Pro
perty Tax. — This is the cost of the
war with regard to the Funds.
The DEBT, which is commonly
called the National Debt, or the
Public Debt, demanded, in 1793,
nine millions to pay the interest of it.
It now demands £43,723,149 to pay
the- interest of this debt; and, there
fore, the property and labour of the
nation are mortgaged for 34 millions
a year more than they stood mort
gaged for Before the war. — This is
the cost of the war in the article of
debt.
As to EXPENSES, which are to
be expenses of peace, exclusive of
the debt, they are not precisely
known ; but the Minister has told
us, that they will amount, Civil L'"st
and all, to about 22 millions a year.
Before the war, they amounted to dx
millions a year. This, therefore, is
the cost of the war in the article of
permanent Peace Expenses.
The TAXES ,of 1792 amounted
to 15 millions a year. They must
uow, in peace, amount to 62 millions
a year. That (key must bo seven-'.y
467]
PAPER AGAINST GOLD.
[468
felt is certain. From every class of
persons complaints against them have
come. They now are so heavy,
that the direct taxes alone upon a
farm exceed in amount all that it
takes to pay and feed all those who
labour on that farm. — The conse
quence is, that ruin is spreading
around in every direction.— You are
now driving your sheep to sell them
to us in the richer soils. Only two
years ago, you would not condescend
to look at us, if- we had not 300
pounds in our pocket to give you for
100 ewes. You now pull off your
hats to us if we have got 125 pounds,
to give you for the same number.
But we have not more to give ; our
taxes remain the same, or are aug
mented, and yours remain the same,
though your ewes are fallen (taking
all the sorts together) from 60s. to
25s. Bear in mind, however, that
this is the fair and honest price of
the war, for which ninety-nine hun-
dredths of you were advocates. This
is the fair and honest price of that
glory, on the acquirement of which
you made bonfires, and roasted sheep
and oxen. Y'ou may now roast all
your sheep and oxen; for we have
no money to give you for them. The
tax-gatherer takes away all that our
corn amounts to, except what goes to
keep our labourers a- d our poor.
The POPULATION of the
kingdom, to have kept pace with
the Taxes, ought now to have been
51 millions, and excluding those per
sons, brought thither by the war, and
who are now gone away, it is not
10 millions. Nay, so great has
been, and is, the emigration, that
if a census of the actual residents
were now taken, there is every rea
son to believe, that it is of lower
amount than in 1792.
The PAUPER part of the popu
lation have increased in the propor
tion of from one to 18 to one to 7.
This is a fact, which I have proved
in detail twenty times ; and, I have
been answered bv anv one,
who did not make the increase
higher.
The NAVIGATION, COM-
M KRCE, and MAN UFACTURES,
as they are represented in the Official
accounts, have increased in the pro
portion of nearly one half. But, these
accounts relate to a state of war, and
a war of so singular a character as to
have been, for the time, advantageous
to all these. In peace it seems im
possible that they can maintain their
present ground. But, admit that they
do, here is an increase of these to
the amount of a half, while the
increase of evils has been to the
amount of rather more than four-
fifth*.
Such, my friends and neigbours,
has been, to us, the consequences of
our harvest of Glory! Such has
been, to us, the consequences of hav
ing succeeded in restoring the Bour
bons to the tin-one of France, and of
throwing the French people back in
their pursuit of freedom. It is now
hoped, by some persons, that the re
storation of the Pope, the Inquisition,
the Jesuits, and the Bourbons, will
so far brutalize the people of the Con
tinent of Europe, that we shall have no
rivals in the arts of peace ; and that,
thus, we shall be left to enjoy a mo
nopoly of Navigation, Commerce, snd
Manufacturers ; and be, thereby, en
abled to pay the interest on our Debt
and to meet the enormous annual ex
penses of our Government. With
out stopping to comment on the
morality and humanity of this hope,
entertained in a country, abounding
in Bible Societies, I venture to give it
as my decided opinion, that the hope
is fallacious. Russia, Denmark, Sv/e-
den, Holland, Austria, Spain, the
Italian States, and even the Bour
bons, will all push forward for their
share of the benefits of the arts of.
peace. While our purse is open to
them all, they will be subservient to
us ; but that cannot be for ever.
It, cannot be for many months longer.
And, mark my words, that, as soon
469]
LETTER XXXIL
[470
as we cease to pay, so soon shall we
cease to have friends so very complai
sant as our friends now are.
Thus, Gentlemen, I close this long
series of Letters ; too long, I am
afraid, for your patience ; but, I am
of opinion, that occasions will fre
quently arise, when a recurrence to
their contents will be of service to
most persons, who pay attention to
the politics and political economy of
our country.
I am your faithful friend,
And most obedient Servant,
WM. COBBETT.
Botley,
12//J September, 181.5.
THE END,
(Entered at Stationers' E;ah%
Printed by W. MOLINEUX, 5, Bream's Buildings, Chancery Lnne; Published by W. CODBETT»
Jim. No. 8, Catherine Street, Strand: and Retailed at No. 192, Strand.
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