SOUTHAMPTON
UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

BOOK NUMBER

-

CLASS MARK

PERKINS
AGRICULTURAL LIBRARY

UNIVERSITY COLLEGE
SOUTHAMPTON

SECOND ADDRESS

TO THE

LANDOWNERS

OF THE

UNITED EMPIRE.

BY

V

C. C. WESTERN, ESQ. M. P.

SECOND EDITION.

LONDON:

PRINTED FOR JAMES RIDGWAY, PICCADILLY;
AND BUDD AND CALKIN, PALL-MALL.

1822.

YOUNGMAN, PRINTER, WITH AM
AND HALDON.

SECOND ADDRESS, &c.
Gentlemen,

The peculiar oppression under
which the agriculture of the country has for some time
laboured, and the increasing distress of this year,
induced me, in the early part of it, to address a Letter
to you upon the subject ; and I hope that I shall not be
deemed presumptuous in venturing again to lay my
sentiments before you. I offer neither opinion nor
advice, with any pretension to superior information or
intelligence; I have only availed myself, as far as I am
able, of those qualities and acquirements in others, who
have placed the whole question before me in a manner
so irresistibly striking to my understanding, that I
cannot help following up their views by every effort
in my power. I shall continue to prosecute the object,
as I have hitherto done, without any admission of party
feelings whatever; I have expressed myself in strong
terms of reprobation of that measure, in particular, to
which I attribute our calamities; but in speaking of its
principle or effects, I differ as much with some of my

4

political friends as with my opponents. Nor do I
think that the Pitt system, that is to say, the mea-
sures of the last thirty years, can fairly be said to
have caused the peculiar and unprecedented difficul-
ties of the present moment, as my political friends, in
general, contend that it has. I do certainly think, the
Pitt system has been, and is, inimical to the liberties of
mankind ; and as such, I ever have been, and shall ever
be, one of its most . determined opponents; but to
charge upon this system the degradation and distress
which the landed interest now is undergoing, appears
to me at variance with any just deduction from cause
to effect. The acts of 1797 cannot excuse the more
destructive measures of 1819 : such a rise in the value of
the money of any country, as was then effected, would,
under any circumstances, produce difficulties similar
to those we now experience; besides which, it is vain to
deny, that, in spite of accumulating burthens, agricul-
ture, and indeed every branch of industry, made more
rapid advances between 1797 and 1814, than at
any former period of our history: neither should we
ever have retrograded from the point then attained, if
our Statesmen had known how to deal with the new
circumstances under which we found ourselves placed
at the termination of the war. The Whigs in general
were, in my opinion, as much to blame as the Ministers,
for urging on, under circumstances so novel and diffi-

5

cult, an inconsiderate and hasty course. Of the pro-
bable consequences of such a course upon the general
prosperity of the country, the Committees of the Lords
and Commons, incredible as it may appear, not only
made no adequate enquiry, but seemed purposely to
turn their backs upon information tendered, and pro-
phetic warnings given by persons who possessed the
fairest claims to attention. Our enormous debt and
taxes, which should have been the primary object of
consideration, are in those voluminous reports kept
wholly out of sight. I do not deny the abilities of the
Members of those Committees in general; on the con-
trary, I think highly of the talents of some of them;
but I do believe, that no Statesmen ever proceeded
to the execution of so arduous and important a duty,
as that, to which they were called, with so much pre-
cipitation, and with so little knowledge of the conse-
quences of what they were doing: of this we now
experience the fatal proofs.

In my first Letter, I declared to you my conviction
that the hasty measures adopted for the restoration
of the currency, formed the chief, if not the only, cause
of our distress; and I informed you of my deter-
mination, unless some other member proposed to
bring the subject under the consideration of the House,
to do so myself. I wish most heartily the task had

6

fallen into abler hands, but I was resolved the session
should not elapse without discussion ; and I made
every effort of which I was capable, to press it upon the
attention of the House. I was most ably supported
by several members, whom it was obviously more my
province to follow, than to lead. We failed; but, for
various reasons, 1 was not in the least surprised, nor
did our failure excite in me a shadow of doubt of our
having been right; nor am I in any way discouraged
from further efforts, which I shall certainly make next
session: on the contrary, I consider it to have been
demonstrated in the discussions which took place in
Parliament, and, indeed, to have been incontestibly
established by the admissions and arguments of our
opponents themselves, that the present prices of agri-
cultural produce, are the necessary consequence of our
measures respecting the currency. Every day's ex-
perience, as it evinces some new feature of distress, and
exhibits some new victim to the relentless. havoc that
is going forward, confirms by melancholy proofs, the
strong conviction on my own mind; and cannot fail, I
am confident, to produce the same impression upon
yours, ere the Parliament shall be again assembled. —
Peel's Bill, I say, is the sole cause of our excessive and
unparalleled distress. It is not that abundant harvests
may not lower the price of corn occasionally to some
degree of temporary injury to the growers ; but no hu-

7

man being ever heard before of their being ruined by
the blessing of Providence on their labours. No page
of history, sacred or profane, affords any surmise of a
country oVEit-flowing with milk and honey ; still less to
such an excess as to destroy the industry that produced
it. It is not a ruinous abundance of corn, but a de-
structive famine of money that is the bane of the
country; let us have plenty of corn and plenty of
money. I abhor the arguments of those who would
console us with the prospect of less bountiful seasons;
I would even pour forth all the loaded granaries of
foreign corn as a compromise ; give us only a suffi-
cient circulating medium, for it is indispensable as
the air we breathe.

It is impossible that we should do otherwise than
accumulate fresh difficulties, if the operation of that
Bill continue in full force. No reduction of taxes,
however extensive, can prevent its most fatal effects;
for it renders up every private debtor, great or small,
a prey to his creditor: every tenant, who can be held
to 'his lease, to absolute ruin: every landlord, not
holding his tenants to their leases, to be annihilated
by settlemen ts, dowers, fixed payments, and mortga-
ges: besides which, it is itself a tax in disguise, so
partial in its operation, that it leaves one class of peo-
ple wholly untouched, whilst it is incomparably more

8

oppressive to those it fastens upon, than any tax yet
known. The House, it is true, decided, as if a very
different opinion prevailed. The House hy no means
invariably adheres to its first decision, however lar^e
the majority: the famous resolution respecting the one
pound note and the shilling, which now is regarded
with derision; the rejection of the Malt Tax Reduc-
tion Bill last year, and the passing of it this year,
nem. con. almost by acclamation, afford recent proofs
of a possible reversal of a first determination. Nor do
the votes of Members always express their real opinion.
There are wheels within wheels, which often produce
marvellous decisions in that House, which, therefore,
are by no means uniformly illustrative of the true sense
of the majority. I am certain that amongst those mem-
bers who negatived my proposal this year, there were
very many whose real opinions were not at all at vari-
ance with my own ; nay, I believe, there were some, and
not a very small number, of the friends to the present
Ministers, and even some of the Ministers themselves,
who believe that the bane to their repose, and the
country's prosperity, since the peace, has been
Peel's Bill; and of that opinion am I most decidedly.
I am, indeed, convinced, that to attempt to hold the
reins of government, and preserve Peel's Bill entire, v/ill
break the heart of any Minister of probity and feeling,
The war left us with unexampled burthens no doubt;

9

but had we been permitted to pay them in the same cur-
rency in which they mere imposed, we should have felt
them, comparatively with their actual pressure now,
as light as air, and with proper economy and retrench-
ment on the part of the Government, the energies of
the people would have overcome all difficulties, and
we should have been as prosperous as ever. It is
that measure, so iniquitous in its effects, so subtle,
fraudulent, and destructive in its operation, which
has alone prevented peace being- accompanied by
its usual blessings, and indeed has converted those
blessings into miseries. Singular it is too, that we
carried forward the work in spite of ample warning:
the preparatory steps upon the termination of the
war, produced immediate distress. Relaxing from
them in the end of 1816, we found relief directly,
and in 1817 and 1818 our commerce as well as a<m-
culture revived. Recommencing those preparatory
steps, towards the end of 1818, we Ligain began to sink.
The Act of 1819 finished the performance, and our
downfall is now daily becoming more rapid and more
frightful: the course we are now pursuing, will, after
the most perfect spoliation, plunder, and degradation
of the landed interest, drive the country into such
a state of misery and anarchy, as hitherto has had
no parallel.

The spoliation of the landowners appears, indeed,

10

never to be considered of much consequence by any
Ministers. The patient indifference with which they
bear fleecing has long been known, and has lost them
that attention and consideration to which they would
otherwise be entitled. An individual who is ignorant
of his own importance and inattentive to his own
interests, will never find persons to give him or
preserve for him, that which he himself wants either
spirit or energy to claim and to maintain ; and however
ingenuous his disposition and disinterested and gene-
rous his motives, he falls into a station below that
which he might have enjoyed. So have you, as a body,
placed yourselves in a situation considerably below
that in which you ought to be, I think, for the country*
best interests as well as your own. You possess not
the influence you should do; you are often imposed
upon, not unfrequently bullied ; and, I am sorry to say,
frightened, by being charged with a selfish desire to
have high rents, to raise the price of corn, &c. But of
all the impositions that ever were practised upon you,
believe me, none ever was comparable to Peel's Bill.
I do not mean to assert, that the actors in the passing
of that Bill, had such fraudulent intentions in view.
I speak thus confidently of the effects of it.

I shall now offer some few observations addressed
to those who' dis honestly imagine, that the extreme
depression of the prices of agricultural produce is

11

caused by redundance and transition from war to
peace; intreating them to bear in mind always, that
it is not a low price of corn as often felt, but depres-
sion to kuin, that I am contemplating. I beg their
attention to the notes which accompany these obser-
vations, as they will at all events, afford material
information to those who are really anxious to dis-
cover the truth.

In the first place, let it be remembered, that it is now
seven years since the war was terminated ; and that
the more remote from that period, the lower has been
the price. If the war had caused the high price, aud
a return to peace the low, it is indisputable that some
similar effects must have occurred in previous wars,
though perhaps not to such an extent. The Green-
wich and Chelsea Hospital contract prices, quoted
below,* are, however, conclusive evidence against
this assumption of the effects of war, upon the price
of those commodities: it is there seen that in the two

* ROYAL HOSPITAL, GREENWICH.

Peace, 1755

War, 1760

Peace, 1765

Peace, 1775

War, 1780

Peace, 1785

Peace, 1790

Flesh per cwt,

Bread per lb.

s.

d.

d. oz.

27

9

1 for 14

31

6

1 for 13i

27

3

1 for 9£

33

5

1 for 9|

34

6

1 for 1 1 1

37

«1

1 for 10|

36

10

flour per sack

43s.

Butter per lb.

Cheese per lb.

rf.

d.

H

3>

n

H

6b
6f

H

n

6j

4

12

last wars, particularly in the American War which
ended in 1783, the price of Bread, Meat, Butter,
Cheese, &c. &c. underwent no greater alteration,
than occurs in times of profound peace. A reference
to the Eton College Tables* of prices of wheat, shews
us also, that in those periods of war. the prices of grain
did not advance, and at the close did not fall: on the
contrary, at the close of the American War, in which
our national expenditure had exceeded all example
prior to that time, the price of grain rose the year
immediately following, and continued higher on the
average of successive years.

ROYAL HOSPITAL, CHELSEA.

Flesh per lb.

Bread per lb.

Butter per lb.

Cheese per lb

d.

d.

ri.

d.

Peace,

1755

. 4 ' .:-

U

71

■ 4' ;

War,

176(1

'4

11

71

Peace,

1765

4

11 .

71

4

Peace,

1775

41

n

7i

64

War,

1780

H

H

7

44

Peace,

1785

4J

1 8

7

41

Peace,

1790

41

1 t

7

41

s Eton College Table of the Price of

£

5 years before the War of 1756 . .1

Average of War to 1763 1

Price of 1764 2

Ditto 1765 2

Average of first 5 } ears of the war 2
5 years before American War ... .2

War from 1775 to 1782 2

Price of 1783 2

Ditto of 1784 2

5 years ditto 2

Wheat.

s. d.
4
1
5

14
17
1

8 0

5
11

6 6

14 2

13 9

8 2

13

A reference to these Tables* exhibits a very curious
and decisive proof of the influence of the currency
upon the price of corn ; or rather, it ought to be said,
of the altered value of the currency itself. During one
hundred anA fifty years prior to 1793, the price, upon
an average of each successive ten years, never ex-
ceeded 51s. per quarter; from 1698 to 1795 inclusive,
only two single years can be found in which it exceeded
60s.; whereas in the currency of the Bank Restric-
tion, it arose two or three times to 140s., it con-
tinued for the latter eight years at or near 100s.,
and upon the average of the whole period at about
80s. Another proof to which I have, indeed,
already briefly adverted, of the high and low
price having been alternately the exclusive effects
of the alteration in the currency, is further deducible
from the price of grain in 1817, which was nearly
equal to any year of the war, contrasted with the low
price of 1814-15, and beginning of 1816. I am

' Eton College Table of the Price of Wheat.

i ■ „ . s. a.

1655 51 7

G5 50 5

75 40 11

85 41 4

95 39 6

1705 42 11

15 44 11

25 35 4

35 35 2

1745
55
65
75
85
93*

1803
13

..32
..33
..39
..51
..47
..51
..80
100

d.

1

2
2
3
8
0
1
0

War begun from this date.— Bank Restriction passed in 1797.

14

aware that 1S16 was a bad harvest, which had, as
it always must have, its proportionate effect upon the
market price ; but every other article felt the influence
of the fresh issue of notes. The Bank had in these
years prepared for cash payments; a contraction
of the currency to a certain amount had been ac-
complished; which was immediately followed by
agricultural and commercial distress, similar, though
not equal, to what we now experience. In the end of
1816 the resumption of cash payments was further
postponed — an advance to Government was made by
the Bank — a fresh issue of Bank Notes took place — •
bur distress began rapidly to disappear, and the
country to revive* — the gold previously collected was
poured forth, and flowed back to the supply of the
Continent, giving relief to those countries which be-
gan to feel its loss. In fact, the changes that have

* Mem Respecting the proceedings of Government as to the unfunded

debt, from the year 1815, in the appendix to the Lord's Report, on the re-
sumption of cash payments, in 1S19.

Extract.— The object of the government, at the conclusion of the peace, in
1814, was to reduce the unfunded debt, and especially (hat portion of it held
bv the Bank, as low as circumstances would admit. The debt to the Bank
was accordingly in the month of Feb. 1816, brought as low as £19,800,000.
The state of distress pervading in 1816, the agricultural & commercial classes
rendered a loan impracticable, except upon most disadvantageous terms;
the government had therefore no alternative, but again to add to the unfunded
• debt, and this was done by direct advances from the bank, especially au-
thorised by parliament. In the spring and summer of the year 1817, a
great improvement occurred in the internal situation of the country; the
funds ichichhad been at C>3, arose in August to 3], and in October to 82
and upwards.

15

been made in our currency, have been felt throughout
Europe, and have produced a similar, though not
equal, depression in the price of commodities. When
we dispensed with the precious metals as money alto-
gether, they found their way into other countries, and
added to their supply; this diminution of our demand
diminished the value generally, the money price of
commodities became of course so much higher. On
the other hand, resuming, as we have now done, our
demand for the precious metals, they have resumed
their former value in other countries, and commodities
have in like manner fallen, as will be seen by the ex-
tract from the price currents in the note below.* In
addition to the effect of our operations upon the money
markets of Europe, some changes in the currency of
other countries, have, I believe, been made in a
degree similar to our own, and producing similar
effects.

* FROM THE BORDEAUX PRICE CURRENTS.

Butter de Bretagne

Cheese de Gruyre

Beef, Salt, first quarter

Pork, Salt, ditto

Tallow de Bretagne ..„'.

Hemp, St. Petersburgu, first qr.

Copper

Iron

Lead .•

Tin

1814.

1S21.

per' cent,
reduction.

Dec. 24.

Dec. 9.

Francs.

Francs.

85— 90

' -2

. m

80— 85

70

14 |

110—115

95 —100

13J

130—140

95 —100

27§

80— -85

70

14 5

55

50

9 8

135

135

'-' 9

27— 30

29

9

37— 40

35 — 36

-8'

155

115 —120

24

Total average per centage reduction 15 §

16

In England, every article, the produce of agriculture,
commerce, or manufactures, has fallen about thirty-
five per cent, within two years.*

FROM THE AMSTERDAM PRICE CURRENTS.

1814.

1)

521.

Butter

■18 — ol

34

—38

Cheese

234—25

17

—19

Beef, s

alt

34 — 35

30

— 35

Pork, s

alt

55 —60

35

—38

Tallow

38

23*.

—24

Hemp

80

59

-60

Copper

63

50*

Iron

\

S —10

10-1-

— 12i

Lead

45

52

Tin

SO

51 -

-52

Guilders per 801b. old weight
Do. per 1001b. do.
Do. per ton of 2001b. do.
Do. do. do.

Do. per 1001b. do.
Do. per ship lb. of 3001b. do.
Do. per 1001b. do.
Do. per'lOOlb. do.
$ Shillings (6 stivers) per
\ 1001b old weight.
Guilders per 1001b . old wt.

Per cent,
reduction.

26^

25

84'
35
39§
25
20 %
22i

15f

36f

Total average per centage reduction 254
N. B. In 1316 an Excise Duty of 2s. per 1001b. old weight was put upon
Iron for home use.

FROM THE LONDON PRICE CURRENTS.

Butter, Cork, first quality, per cwt.

Cheese, Cheshire

Beef, prime mess, per barrel

Pork, ditto

Tallow, Town

Hemp, Petersburg, clean

Copper Cakes

Iron Bars

Lead, Pigs

Tin, Blocks

1814.

1821.

November.

October.

s. s. -

Si J.

123—127

75

100—120

55— 65

195—200

100—110

175—180

58

99—100

49

85— 86

38— 39

150—155

94— 95

13

9

30

22

142

77

per cent,
reduction.

43

46

46£

G7%

51

55 ?

37|

30|

26 5

45J

Total average per centage reduction 444

* LIVERPOOL PRICE CURRENTS.

Feb. 2, 1819. May 14, 1822.

I. s. d. L s. d.

Petersburgh Clean Hemp 44 10 0 41 0 0

Yellow Candle Tallow 3 11 0 1 16 0

I.inseed 3 2 0. 1 15 0

Linseed Oil 44 0 0 1 10 0

Gallipoli Oil 100 0 0 65 0 0

Whale Oil 34 0 0 19 10 0

Cotton, Bengal 0 0 9 0 0 6J

Surat... 0 1 1 0 0 7|

Bowed 0 1 7 0 0 iol

Pernambuco .... 0 1 11J Oil

Coffee, St. Domingo 0 10 5 12 0

per cent,
reduction.
7$

49-i-

434

32

35

424

33J

44

444 '
44
8*

17

The discovery of the American mines, and the effect
produced thereby upon the money price of corn, form a
most important feature in the consideration of this
subject. The increased flow of the precious metals
into Europe, and the immediate and excessive advance
of the money price of corn, certainly furnish irresistible
proof of the perfect dependence of prices upon the
quantity of money circulating in any country. It will
be seen by the account of prices,* given by Dr. Adam
Smith, that, upon long averages of years, the price of
wheat had not for centuries advanced beyond ten or
eleven shillings the quarter ; whereas from 1561, the

LIVERPOOL PRICE CURRENTS, CONTINUED FROM PAGE 16.

Feb.

2, 1819.

May 4, 1

822.

per cent. '

X

s. d. '

I. s.

rf.

reduction.

Sugar, British Plantation.

■ 2

10 2

1 14

8

31

Ilavanah White

2

18 0

1 17

0

31

3 0

0 1

6

50

6 0

0 4

6

25

8 0

0 19

0

31

0 3

1 5

0

38

. 1

8 0

0 16

7

40|

. 1

12 11

0 19

6

40J

26

0 0

22 10

0

13 J

13

0 0

8 15

0

32J

0

9 3

0 11

4

— 18i*

0 7£

0 0

7

6i

17 6

5 5

0

23*.

. 4

12 6

3 7

6

27

British copper cakes, May 130

0 0

98 0

0

23

* owing to the failure of the crop it advanced in price.
Average per centage — reduction 35|, between Feb. 2, 1819, § May 14, 1822.

* PRICES OF WHEAT.

(From Smith's Wealth of Nations, vol. I.J

Years.

m.

.9.

i Years.

i:

S.

d.

1202 to 1286

0

19

■H

1499 to 1560

0

9

2

1287 to 1338

0

12

10J

1561 to 1601

2

7

H

0

1339 to 1416

0

11

n

1595 to 1636

2

10

1423 to 1451

0

10

1637 to 1700

2

11

3£

1453 to 1497

0

8

5

] 1701 to 1764

2

0

6i

18

time when the produce of the mines had found their
way here, to 1601, the price rose to £2 7s. 5§d., and
has never receded much from that amount. This influx
of metallic money, therefore, absolutely quintupled the
price of wheat, whilst the increase of our paper money
about doubled it. Had a scarcity of the precious
metals succeeded their abundance, similar to the com-
parative scarcity of currency, which has been occa-
sioned by Peel's Bill, the same destructive effects,
which we now experience, must have followed ; but the
supply of the mines continued regular, and the price of
commodities so advanced did not recede. In short, it
fs certain that though violent fluctuations in the price
of corn must naturally occur in all countries, no great
alteration of the money value of that and other prin-
cipal commodities has ever permanently taken place,
that was not occasioned by an alteration of the
currency. Equally obvious and indisputable it is,
that if the quantity of money, whether metallic or
paper, which circulates in a country, be reduced, say
one half, we can only have half the price for our com-
modities which we had before. The discovery of new
mines, or the greater or less productiveness of the old,
will necessarily alter the value of a metallic currency,
and consequently the money value of commodities and
property: but it was reserved for Statesmen of these
days, to create a paper money, profuse in quantity and

19

proportionally diminished in value — to incur a public
debt unheard of in amount — to encourage individuals
to engage in an extensive credit system, under the
sacred pledge of the Legislature and Government, that
the value of the currency was not diminished : and then,
after a period of nearly a quarter of a century, to turn
round and require the payment of all these debts,
public and private, and an enormous taxation in a
metallic currency 50 per cent, more valuable than
that in which the debts toere created, and the
taxes imposed. An act of such inj ustice and extensive
fraud is not to be found in the annals of the world.

I know it is said by persons who will not give
themselves the trouble to investigate the subject, that
there is more than money enough now. The capital
of the country is indeed immense, and the quantity of
money disposable must still appear great, though the
currency is not half what it was. The truth is, there
is no profitable employment for our capital; and the
avidity with which foreign securities* are sought, af-
fords another proof of the disordered state into which
we are thrown. The country abounds in wealth ; but
no Bullionist even will deny, that the aggregate quan-
tity of money in circulation has, by Peel's Bill, been
materially diminished, and its value proportionably

* For the Table here referred to, see the 20th page.

20

enhanced. Money, the measure of value of all ex-
changeable commodities, has been suddenly, secretly,
and most essentially changed; we are consequently in
a state of eternal doubt and contention respecting what
measure we are to look to in sales and purchases : we
find we have borrowed in one measure, and are made to
pay in another j we borrowed by the coomb, the quart,
the yard; we pay effectively by the quarter for the
coomb, the gallon for the quart, and the ell for the yard :
all debtors and sellers find by some means, the former
that they have been robbed, the latter that they hav e
been injured, in making up commodities, which do not
return their cost price. There is comparatively no
speculation; no profit to merchants, or manufacturers,
or bankers ; no profitable employment for money ; and

- STATEMENT OF FOREIGN LOANS NEGOTT AG

ED IN LONDON, 1S22.

Countrits.

Amount 'con-
tracted for.

Quantity
issued.

u .
£3 5

o H.
u

Money
value.

Amount
paid up to
July 5.

Remaining
to be paid.

Denmark

Do. import.

Spain, 1821

Do. 1822

Russia

Do.

Prussia

Chili

Colombia

Naples

N. Spa. An.

The follovi in"
are negociatins;.

Portugal

Naples

Holland

3,000,000

1,400,000
1,400,000
3,500,000
500,000
3,500,000
1,000,000
2,000,000
800,000
400>000

1,000,000
250,000
1,400,000
1,400,000
3,500,000
500,000
2,000,000
1,000,000
1,500,000
800,000
400,000

70
80
50
55
72
70
75
70
70
70
100

700,000
200,000
700,000
770,000

2,520,000
350,000

1,500,000
700,000

1,050,000
560,000
400,000

700,000

700,000

500,000
500,000

100,000
400,000
360,000
400,000

250,000

770,000
202,000

1,500,000
600,000
650,000
200,000

17,500,000

1,000,000
2,500,000
2,500,000

13,750,000

0,450,000

3S60,000

5,590,000

5 per cent, interest on the sum funded, except Cliili, Colombia, and New
Spanish Annuities, which are at 0.

21

there is, therefore, no adequate demand, even for the
reduced quantity in circulation : in short, there is no
calculating the effects which such a change of the value
of our money must produce in this country, exclusively
of the effect of paying our enormous taxes in money
of so much higher value, than that in which they
were imposed.

The objections to reconsidering the act of 1819,
appear to me of so little weight, in comparison with
the necessity which demands it, that I cannot help
believing that a false pride misleads the judgment
of many of our Statesmen on both sides of the
House: they must otherwise be ignorant of the
deplorable state of the country. It is true, indeed,
that the condition of our agriculture hardly obtains
their attentive consideration at any time : most of those,
with whom I concur in general politics, confine their
views to the reduction of taXes, and, backed by the
country, have had some success: in doing this they
must so far be right, seeing how cruelly we are goaded
and harassed by taxes ; but they turn their backs upon
the doubling of the aggregate weight of taxation by
that destructive measure. They divert the public eye
from the real cause of that ruin, which has primarily
, seized upon those very classes of society, amongst which
are to be found the best defenders of their country's.

22

liberties. Whilst these men are actually perishing,
they content themselves with dwelling upon the old
grievances, as if nothing extraordinary had happened.
For my part, I have my eyes rivetted upon that instru-
ment, under the operation of which, whilst nearly all,
who do not live upon the public, grievously suffer, an
absolute process of extinction is going on against the
present race of landowners and occupiers ; and with
such alarming rapidity, that to continue talking solely
about old grievances, instead of directing every effort
to arrest the fatal progress of this new, secret, and more
formidable foe, appears to me quite unaccountable. I
know that the property of my tenantry, and my own too,
is going as fast as possible. I am confident that thou-
sands of honest and industrious yeomen have been
already stripped of all the earnings of a long life:
many little farmers have been brought to the parish:
thousands will be, and they begin already, naturally
and justly, to think it no disgrace: thousands of
landlords will be constrained to give up their estates
and houses to loan contractors and their mortgagees,
and their political influence in the country must be of
course proportionably diminished or absolutely anni-
hilated, as the case may be of partial loss or utter ruin.

This fatal measure, which, unfortunately for Mr Peel,
has been named after him, has had a sort of mys-

23

ierious importance given to it by the Bullionists. A
degree of something like superstitious veneration
has been created for what they call a sound
v metallic currency at the ancient standard of value;
a sort of priestcraft is exercised by the learned on
this subject, by which, as in the case of religious super-
stition, unassuming patient men are induced to believe
that there are mysteries beyond the reach of common
sense; and, in like manner, give up the use of their
own understandings, thus undergoing the fate of
all honest dupes. Instead of a bigotted reverence
for that ancient standard, I see in that very epithet
proof of its inaptitude to the present state and
condition of this country; had it been held in just
respect in 1797, it would have been well; but it was
then effectively abandoned, and however unjust that
abandonment, its resumption was impossible. Nearly
a quarter of a century has since elapsed; a different
standard has been ri vetted in upon us; every pri-
vate and public money transaction has been weighed
and framed upon it; and to resume therefore the
old, under such circumstances, is to disjoint and
tear in pieces the entire and mighty fabric, which
has grown up in that period. I know it is said
that to revise Peel's Bill now, with a view to correct
this error, to accommodate the standard nearer to
the medium value of the measure acted upon in that

24

quarter of a century, and thus give us a more abundant
currency than we can have under that Bill unaltered,
would excite a most horrible alarm, and would do I
know not what injustice. Why should alarm be
created by the reconsideration of a subject, which was
fatiguingly talked about every year from 1797 to
1819? What would be the effects of a more abundant
currency, and what the injustice? Why an advanced
money price of commodities, agricultural and others ;
and what mischief therefrom ? The mortgagee would
prefer paying higher for his wheat, and his mutton, &c.
with the continuance of an interest of five per cent, for
his money. The fundholder would enjoy in security,
and upon a good title, what he possessed, instead of
risking it by a robbery of the public, which can be re-
tained only by force, and not by right. The labourer
would again perceive that his labour, which is his pro-
perty, had some value; he would soon find an eager
demand for it in the market; and wages, like all
other commodities for which there is an increasing:
demand, would experience a consequent advance.
The weight of the taxes would be lightened — confi-
dence would reappear — and the country would put
forth all its astonishing energies.

Give us a sufficient currency, and we should be in
the situation which Mr. Hume in his Essay upon

25

Money, written nearly 100 years ago, describes a'coun-
try, in ■which money began to flow more abundantly.
" Every thing," he says, " takes a new face — labour
" and industry gain life — the merchant becomes more
" enterprising — the manufacturer more diligent and
" skilful — -and the farmer follows the plough with
" more alacrity and attention." We wanted not a
more abundant flow of money; we had as much as would
suffice, with proper retrenchment and economy, to
make us all that Mr. Hume described: we were in that
situation, and should have so continued, had not
Peel's Bill interfered to blast the fair gifts of heaven,
and paralize the arm of industry itself. No effort of
industry can sustain the pressure we now undergo.
We are in the situation in which Mr. Hume, contrast-
ing his former picture, shews us, of a country in which
the quantity of money is decreasing. " The work-
" man," he says, " has not the same employment from
" the manufacturer and merchant— the farmer cannot
" sell his corn and cattle — the poverty, beggary, and
" sloth that must ensue, are easily foreseen."

The Committee who, as I before observed, when
framing Peel's Bill, neglected any enquiry into the
evils which it might produce, could not however see
it, though this very passage of Mr. Hume was quoted
for their use by Mr. Alex. Baring, when he was

26

called upon to give his evidence upon the subject,
and he thus warned them of the consequence of too
hasty a reduction of the issues of the Bank.*

Some additional observations respecting the quan-
tity of money which seems to exceed the demand,
appear to be still necessary. A further increased
quantity of currency has recently taken place by
the advance of about two millions to the Government
by the Bank, to make the payments to the 5 per
cent, creditors. The natural effect of this addition
of two millions issued by the Bank, is to raise
prices, and so it would to a given extent, as soon
as a little further time had allowed its gradual
extraction from the banker's strong box, where it lies
nearly useless at present: but then, as the price of
corn and other commodities began to rise, gold would
do so likewise, and advancing soon beyond the antient
standard price of £3 17s. 10d., the notes would return
in upon the Bank for gold; the quantity of notes must

_ - - - r

* Extract from the evidence of Mr. Alex. Baring, before the Committee
on Cash Payments, March 11, 1819.— The Hon. R. Peel in the chair. —
" I am farther of opinion that the operation of redaction, necessary for the
" parpose I have mentioned, mast always be accompanied with restraint and
" inconvenience to every branch of industry in the country; and if it were
" forced with a rapidity at all approaching to what woald be necessary for
'* the payment, in the course of a twelvemonth, the injury would be intole-
" ruble. The Reduction of Paver would produce all those effects which
" arise from the reduction of the amount of money in any country, an effect
" which I think is well described in Mr. Hume's Essay on Money."

27

then be again contracted; and the price of commodities
would again fall. I believe, the Bullionists themselves
affirm that the arbitary price of gold at £3. 17s. lOd.
establishes a certain limit to the issue of bank notes,
which cannot be exceeded : a diminution of their value
below the par of that standard would immediately fol-
low whenever that limit was exceeded, and a conse-
quent run for gold would take place: thus is the bar-
rier to a more extensive circulating medium rendered
insuperable by Peel's Bill. No plan can be devised,
to make any permanent difference: any other cur-
rency, Whether of country bank notes, or joint stock
companies, convertible into gold on demand, at
£3. 17s. 10d., would of course, by the same means,
be equally limited. Such a currency would not
increase the general circulating medium of the
country; it could only supersede that of the Bank of
England. I shall not, I hope, be supposed to be
the advocate of an unlimited paper currency : there
must be some standard or measure, by which it may
be tried, and at which it must be convertible into
the precious metals: but common sense and justice
point out the necessity of rendering such measure
conformable to that by which we borrowed. — The
Bullionists further admit, that the money price of
commodities is limited, or rather governed, by the
aggregate quantity of money in any country. The

28

aggregate quantity of money being then fixed by
the old standard, thus resumed, the money prices of
corn and other commodities, consequently, and of ne-
cessity, revert back to the old average prices existing
before that old standard was abandoned, and there
they must continue under the existence of Peel's
Bill. — The inapplicability of these old money prices
to the actual state of the country, was certainly felt as
strongly by Ministers a few years ago, as it is stated
by me to be now,

I think I may fairly quote Mr. Huskisson, as the
index of their opinion at that time: I did indeed quote
this same passage of a speech, presumed to have been
delivered by him in 1814, in the discussion upon my
motion on the 12th of June last.*

" With respect to the encouragement that ought to
" be given to the farmers, it should be considered that
" there was now a great diminution in the value of
" money, and that the capital necessary for carrying on
" farming operations, must be now double what it was
" before the war. ThenobleLord (Lord A. Hamilton)
" deceived himself therefore, if he thought that things
" could return to what they were before the war; this
" was one of the most dangerous errors that could be

* Vide 27th vol. of Parliamentary Debates.

29

" entertained. What was likely to be the permanent
" charge of the country, now that the war was at an
"end? The whole expenses of this country, including
" all our establishments, before the war, only amount-
" ed to sixteen millions. He could not anticipate
" what part of our present establishments would be
" kept up ; but whatever they would be, he believed
" that our peace establishment must entail upon us a
" burthen of nearer sixty than fifty millions. Would
" this produce no difference in the money value of all
" articles ? When Gentlemen talked of the increased
" price of bread, was not every thing raised in pro-
" portion, and that, not in consequence of the high
" price of bread, but the amount of taxation? It was
if impossible for the country to return to the prices
" before the mar. It had been said that the obvious
" remedy was to lower the rents : he had not the good
ff fortune to be a landholder, and he had no interest
" but that of the public in general in view. The pro-
^ £ portion of the gross produce of the land which now
" came to the landlord, however it might be repre-
f sented in money, was now much less than it Was in
•ff 1792. Previous to the war, in a farm of moderate
" extent, the farmer considered himself requited if he
" made three rents; but it was necessary now in such
" a farm to make five rents, or he would not be enabled
" to g-o on : if even the whole rental of the country

30

u were remitted, it would be impossible to return to
" the prices before the war. He was not afraid to
<f declare, that the people of this country must not
" expect, be the law on the subject what it may, that
" with our burthens, the price of bread can ever be
" less than double what it was before the war."

So spoke the Right Hon. Gentleman in the sessions
of 1814 ! ! ! And he spoke the obvious truth. I cannot
believe that he or his colleagues have really altered
their opinion: the circumstances to which he alludes,
are still precisely the same: the simple truth is, they
were driven into Peel's Bill by the Bullionists Whigs ;
and now rather than acknowledge their error, they are
determined to drag us through, if they can. I see
the difficult situation they are placed in, which is
increased by the power the Bullionists possess,
through the circumstance of a higher money price of
commodities following upon a more abundant cur-
rency; of the unpopularity of which these Bullionists
constantly avail themselves, though of course aware of
its fallacy. It is believed, I know, by multitudes, that
if a higher price should exist again, from whatever
cause, the people at large would be sufferers : they
would be so undoubtedly, if, in the ordinary under-
standing of the word, it were the consequence of scar-
city; but there are distinct causes of high price, not

31

only not producing similar consequences, but abso-
lutely and positively opposite consequences. High
price from scarcity of corn produces consequences
that ever must be considered amongst the most
severe inflictions to which a people are subject. High
price from abundance of money is purely nominal: as
if shillings were rained down from heaven, it would
very soon require a great number of them to purchase a
loaf of bread, and the price would be high; or if six-
pences were proclaimed to be shillings, we should
nominally pay as many shillings as we do now six-
pences. T3ut from high price so caused, or rather low
value of money, no evil follows : no alteration of course
takes place in the relative proportion of food, to the
number of mouths there are to consume it. The bulk
of the people must have an increased quantity of
money, before the sellers can obtain the higher price;
the demand of the opulent classes being too trifling,
hardly indeed varying at all. I have often wished
that some of those persons, who kept up the fallacy
respecting a high money price, would tell me why the
people should not be able to obtain as ample a share
of the larger quantity of money as of the smaller:
this is the point, which, if truth were their object, they
would see they were bound to make out ; and, for
their own credit, I earnestly invite them for once, at
least, fairly and calmly to make the attempt. Now

32 ,

when debts and taxes are considered, the advantage
of a high money price becomes as apparent as the
destructive consequences of the lower measure of
value are now. I have endeavoured to illustrate the
extent of this mischief of taking a lower measure than
that in which the taxes were imposed, in the Tables
annexed, as applicable to the aggregate of our public
burthens. The farmer with 40s. for his quarter of
wheat, and the labourer with his 8s. per week, must
feel the excessively increased difficulty of paying the
same taxes as they did when the wheat produced SOs.,
and the labour 16s. The former are indeed sinking
under it, and their labourers participate, as of neces-
sity they must, in the distress of their employers. The
renewed burnings in many parts of England, with the
resolutions of societies of farmers, published in the
newspapers, against the use of thrashing machines,
are sufficient proofs that the agricultural labourers
are reduced, in those districts at least, to a state of
acute misery.

A further reduction of taxes to the utmost practica-
ble extent, I consider indispensable; but to hold it
out as a remedy for the mischief of Peel's Bill, is to
flatter and shamefully to deceive the people. Can any
man fail to see that the internal commerce of this
country, is carried on upon credit to an extent un-

3a

known in any other; that the amount of private
debts and money engagements, for time, of every
varied description, is incalculable? All which would
not be affected in the least degree by a reduction of
taxes : the debtors would not obtain a shadow of jus-
tice or relief by it; the thousands who yet are cling-
ing to the last twig, would equally become the victims
of that iniquitous measure, and have their whole pro-
perty taken possession of by their creditors. Farmers
are especially in a situation to be thus cruelly sacrificed.
There are a vast many of them who have two great cre-
ditors: their landlord must be looked upon as one; a
friend who lent them half their money to stock their
farm, the other. Should the landlord be able and
willing to relax his demand, nobody dreams of the
friend giving up any portion of his, and the farmer's
fate becomes evident at once.

It is not, ho wever,/iowvwers only, who borrow to carry
on their business; there is hardly a concern of trade or
manufacture, even the lowest, in which productive in-
dustry is not set to work in part by borrowed capital,
and the industrious man subject to ruin: and here I
request you to mark the difference between lowering the
value of money and raising it. This is a point which
I endeavoured particularly to press upon the attention
of the House, when I moved the enquiry into the

effects of Peel's Bill; it merits the fullest consideration,
and yet has hardly been attended to at all. The clearest
way to exemplify, is to state a case under each situa-
tion. Suppose a man with an income of two hundred
per annum, arising from the efforts of industry in the
production of any species of commodities, and that a
portion of his capital is borrowed, the interest of which
amounts to one hundred per annum— raise the value of
money one half, his commodities can only return half
their money price, that is to say, one hundred pounds
per annum, and this industrious man is obviously
left wholly destitute; but this is not all— the creditor
receiving only, it is true, the same nominal sum,
nevertheless obtains that which enables him to possess
himself of twice the quantity of the industrious man's
commodities ; in truth he seizes the whole property of
his debtor:— now lower the value of money and let us
see what follows; the industrious man pays the debt
with half the quantity of his commodities, their money
value being doubled, and his creditor retaining the
same nominal sum, can only command half of them:
this is horrid injustice: but the man is not left
destitute; he retains half his income; there is ex-
actly the difference between the half and the whole;
he is not turned out houseless and pennyless, in a
condition which rivals the cruelty of the most unci-
vilized countries, where security of property is wholly

35

unknown. Such fragrant acts of plunder form apart
of the evils attending 1 that state of beggary, ruin, and
ultimate convulsion, which Hume and Locke describe,
as consequent upon raising the value of money: if I
did not tremble from the effect of their predictions, as
opposed to the authority of our modern philosophers,
the grievous effects already experienced, would suffice
to convince me to whom I ought to pay the greatest
deference. As to calculating the effects of raising
or lowering the value of money, without reference
to debtors and creditors, it would be absurd; be-
cause we know the vast extent of public and private
debts, and because all our national establishments,
civil and military, are charges upon national industry,
and as such, operate as debts. The Monarch and the
private soldier, the First Lord of the Treasury, and,
the lowest Clerk in office, are alike in the predicament
of creditors: they suffered by lowering the value of
money, but were not ruined; their suffering was ac-
knowledged and alleviated, if not removed; but they
are now, in conjunction with public and private credi-
tors, absorbing the entire fruits of the industry of the
country. Ministers boast of the undiminished receipts
of the Exchequer — those receipts are extracted, chiefly,
from the capital of the country — the Exchequer alone
is paid its demands — the Exchequer is all powerful as
relentless; neither mercy or compassion, delay or com-

36

promise— it takes precedence of all claimants, and pro-
mises, ere long, to take the whole; every other propri-
etor finds a distressing deficit. The more I reflect upon
the state of this country, its immense public debt and
taxes, its unrivalled complication of private debts and
engagements, the more I am astonished that the idea
should ever have suggested itself to the mind of any
Statesmen, to raise the value of the money in which
they were created; the measure certainly owes its
origin, in chief, to men who were gainers or expectant
gainers by it ; namely, Ministers receiving salaries from
the public; others who wish to be Ministers ; and some
great monied proprietors were called in, who were sup-
posed to be specially qualified to advise upon such a
subject. Difficult, however, as it is to account for
such an extraordinary proceeding, I do not entertain
a suspicion of any selfish motives on the part of the
Ministers or their rivals; and I try to believe the same
of the great monied men; but when I see public credi-
tors and mortgagees swallowing up the rents of the
landowners, the profits of the tenant, and the general
fruits of industry, it requires the fullest effort of charity
to believe they did not intend it: if we allow them to
be honest, they must all of them be content to be
regarded by us sufferers, as extremely ignorant of the
subject they not only pretended fully to understand,
but exclusively to be the only competent judges of.

37.

They told us at first that Peel's Bill would only pro-
duce a difference of three or four per cent, in the money
price of commodities ; they have now nearly admitted
its operation to the extent of fifteen or twenty, which
of itself must be allowed to be proof sufficient of igno-
rance at all events: but the actual amount of degrada-
tion is in fact much nearer fifty per cent, than twenty,
We all know that the alleged reason for which it was
done, was to indemnify the fundholder and monied
proprietor prior to 1797; but, in order to do so, was it
necessary to make the public pay sixty millions of
annual taxes, in a currency of double value? if it were,
the lesser injustice should have remained unredressed,
rather than inflict that of so much greater enormity ;
but the proposed object is not even now accomplished,
nor can it be by such means at all events : we have only
to reflect, that one half of those very injured persons
have, in all probability, long since purchased with their
money, lands, houses, and stock in trade, and become,
of course, like all other such proprietors, ruined by the
very measure, said to be for their express benefit;
besides which, to atone for the injustice done to
one set of persons under the Act of 1797, by pass-
ins the Act of 1819 to ruin another set of persons,
is most singular. There is not a man of forty, or
five and forty years of age, who by industry has
acquired lands, houses, tenements, or stock in trade,

38

who, as he must have gained them since 1797, is not
thus robbed by Peel's Bill; and if he advanced in
wealth with the assistance of borrowed capital, is
ruined. There is, in truth, another generation grown
up of that class of men, who may justly be called the
bees of the hive; and to treat them iu this manner, is
little short of insanity, as well as cruelty unexampled.

Reverting once more to the immediate state of the
landowners, I fully believe what I have, indeed, asserted
once or twice in the House, without contradiction ; that
landed proprietors, taking one with another, do not
receive more than half their nominal income, after sub-
tracting all their payments ; viz. — land tax ; repairs of
all kinds; land and law stewardships or agencies ; set-
tlements, such as dowers, and provisions for younger
children; and finally debts and mortgages; all which,
for the last 20 years, have been adjusted in the cur-
rency of the Bank Restriction: and as the rental, in all
cases where it was formed upon that basis, must
eventually sink in the currency, under Peel's Bill, one
half, a great proportion of the landowners must be ne-
cessarily and obviously deprived of their tvhole income.
Or take the case of the outgoings, amounting only to
one-third the rental; suppose that rental to be three
thousand pounds a year, the possessor will only have
five hundred a year to live upon.

39

You owe it to your country, as well as to your-
selves and your children, to protect property from
such unexampled spoliation, from a method of attack
far more dangerous than any open force. The effective
enemy here is concealed, under the idea, or under the
pretence, it matters not which as to consequences, of
patriotism, justice, science; and hy means unseen to
the careless eye, accomplishes a system of robbery
more extensive and relentless, than ever took place
under any political revolution that ever occurred :
you are the principal sacrifice, you surely cannot
fail to see it now; some of you have estates which
were in cultivation centuries ago, and which now yield
nothing: to preserve them in cultivation at all, without
any rent, is in various instances actually a burthen.
You must knoiv of many persons, whose estates do not
more than equal the dowers and settlements charged
upon them, many which will not pay the mortgagee:
you must know that the landed interest is in course
of general degradation, as well in respect of political
influence, as property: you must Jinoio instances innu-
merable of your occupiers, who, without any blame
attributable to them, are ruined. It is clear that such
events never took place in any country before: it is
equally clear, that so far is Peel's Bill the cause, that the'
most bigotted admirer of that fraudulent measure, dares
not deny that it has occasioned a part of the injury:

40

then why not the. whole? and if it has occasioned
only apart, why should it not be altered ; why should
that part be suffered, like the last feather, to break our
backs? I say it has caused the whole injury; for that
degree of low price, which might have been occasioned
by plenty, would never have been any injury at all:
it is a low price arising from the want of money
to buy, under which we are suffering ; it is that
Avant of money, which has produced the horrible
anomaly in Ireland of a people starving in the
midst of plenty. Surely if there be doubt on
your minds, as to the cause of all these unprece-
dented calamities, it is high time those doubts should
be solved, so as to enable you to make some com-
mon effort for relief. Why will you not investi-
gate the question? why give up the exercise of
your own understanding? why surrender up com-
mon sense to the parade of science? Believe me,
the economists and bullionists are not gifted with
more sense than other people, though they have more
pedantry; their confidence and pretensions are im-
posing certainly, and I do believe have imposed upon
some of our more ingenuous Statesmen; but the mist
in which they have involved the subject is disappearing,
and the dreadful consequences brought upon us by
their advice are fully exposed to view; the practical
illustration before our eyes of the terrible mistake the

41

Government has been led into, can hardly longer be
denied. If Ministers have not honesty and courage to
retrace their steps of their own accord, it is for you,
the landed interest in a body, (for this is not a party
question,) to tell them that they must do so: tell them,
in terms not to be misunderstood, that you have al-
ready, at their instance, tried the experiment, for such
only should it be considered, longer than you ought
to have done; that you are, at length, resolved not to
have your estates confiscated, and yourselves degra-
ded, turned out of your own family houses, and others
put into possession. You have still the power of self-
defence ; and, iu saving yourselves, it is my perfect
belief, that you will eventually save the people at large
from circumstances as painful, cruel, and destructive,
as did ever occur from bad legislation in any civilized
country.

On the 10th of July, I submitted to the House a
series of resolutions descriptive of the state of the
country— the effects of Peel's Bill upon Taxation—
also upon the relative situation of the public creditors,
and the public who pay them; and I have given Tables
in the Appendix to this letter, explanatory of those
resolutions upon the two latter points. It must, I think,
be obvious to every body, that all taxes, (of course
all other payments,) are in effect made by commo-

42

dities. In order then to trove the real pressure of the
taxes at different periods, I convert the total amount
into various commodities, such as -wheat, gold, and
labour itself. The taxes must, of course, he paid in the
aggregate, by a conversion of every different article
into money, for that purpose. The price currents, be-
fore quoted, show how the price of every article is
fallen, the dealer in each of which must produce so
much more to pay his individual share. The farmer
measures for himself by farm produce, and the labourer
must pay by so much additional time of labour.
As an example, I will begin with wheat; and the
Table No. 1. shews that in 1813, when the taxes
amounted to ^74,674,798, and the price of wheat
was 108s. per quarter, 13,733,296 quarters of wheat
sold, would suffice to pay that amount of taxation ;
the taxes, though reduced in 1821 to .£60,671,825
the price of wheat being 55s. 6d., required 21,863,720
quarters for their discharge, or one half more than the
quantity previously required; and subsequently the
price falling to 45s., it actually requires 26,965,255
quarters to pay them, which is double the quantity
necessary to pay the larger amount in 1813. In labour,
27 weeks of 5,000,000 of persons at 9s. per week, are
necessary instead of 18 weeks and 4 days, which suffi-
ced in 1813, when the labourers earned 16s. per week.
The payment of rent,tythes, and rates, require a similar

43

increased quantity of goods to discharge them. Here
we have a solution of the cause of that facility, with
which we sustained the burthens of 1813, and of their
intolerable pressure now: but we could well sustain
them without going back to the price of 1813. Take
the average price of twenty years, as shewn in Table
No. 2, anal we could then sustain our necessary burthens
without serious injury.

Table No. 2 shews the quantity of wheat which
would suffice' to pay the £60,671,025, if wheat were
at 81s. 10d., which was the average price of the whole
period between 1797 and 1816, and the number of
ounces of gold at the average price of the same period
being 90s. 10d.; and these quantities are compared
with the quantities necessary of each, at the prices of
55s. 6d. for wheat, and 77s. 6d. for gold.

No. 3 shews the extent to which taxes must have
been further carried in 1813, according to the price of
Wheat, and Gold, and Labour at that time, before
the pressure reached the extent which we now sustain.
This is done, by simply converting the quantity of
Wfieat, Gold, and Labour, which is seen in Table 1
to be requisite for that purpose, into money, at the
respective price for each of that year.

No. 4 shews, by the same means, the comparative

44

-weight of County and Parochial Burthens in 1813
and 1821.

No. 5 shews the amount of undue gain of the
public creditors, by the alteration of the currency
through Peel's Bill; and which is a distinct breach
of faith on the part of the Government towards the
people of this country, and a palpable robbery. It
really appears to me, that our Statesmen, on
either side the House, evince by their conduct, a
want of any just comprehension of faith towards the
public, who pay taxes. I should have thought their
first care, at all events the first care of the House of
Commons, should have been, that the public should not
pay more than they borrowed. It is hardly denied by
any body, that at this time, the public are compelled to
pay substantially, to the extent of twenty or twenty-
five per cent, more than they borrowed, and not one
word of complaint is uttered by those guardians of
the public purse. It is only for the creditors, and
all who receive taxes, that they appear solicitous ; and
for the preservation of sacred faith towards whom, we
hear so much canting declamation. I must be ex-
cused for using that epithet, seeing with what an
uneven hand justice is doled out, with what merciless
severity the payers of taxes are treated, if they
dare only to complain. I shall not readily forget the
manner in which the Men of Kent were treated in

45

the House of Commons, for venturing, in the midst of
that ruin which is overwhelming them, to express, in
their petition, an opinion of their possessing as good a
claim to justice as the fundholder; for their crime, in
effect, was nothing more. It is, I own, become quite
intolerable to me, to see so many persons around me,
•whose industry and prudence is absolutely unquestion-
able, daily and rapidly sinking, in spite of every effort,
insulted and calumniated into the bargain ; whilst the
fundholders and tax- receivers pocketing millions, to
which they have no right or title whatever, form at the
same time the sole object of the tender cafe and fos-
tering protection of the Legislature. If these obser-
vations find their way to the public, I shall of course
undergo the censure of those arrogant pretenders to
exclusive good faith; but it is high time to speak
out, or we shall be inevitably crushed. I am sure
also, that the common distress in which landowners
and occupiers are involved, must eventually shake the
security of the fundholder's principal: we shall many
of us give way to the loan-men first. It is most
curious too, to remark here again, that the great
body of the fundholders did not themselves desire
that measure, by which such stolen treasures have been
thrown into their lap : they not only did not require it,
but many of tbem earnestly deprecated the measure;
and petitions were presented against it from the city of

46

London and from Liverpool, amongst the signatures
to which were to be found the names of the most
enlightened and intelligent persons, and of the great-
est wealth and importance in the mercantile world,
whilst no one petition requiring it was presented.

I have the honour to be,
Gentlemen,
Your most obedient humble servant,

CHARLES C. WESTERN.

P. S. I have inserted in the Appendix, a letter of
Mons. J. B. Say, a celebrated French writer, to
Mr. H. James upon the currency subject. Mons. J. B.
Say is well known throughout Europe to be a man of
superior intelligence and research; and I have thought
that the opinion of such a man, removed from the bias
of any pre-conceived ideas or prejudices, cannot fail to
be read with interest and attention. Mr. H. James
has published an Essay on Money, in which he has most
ably treated this subject, and given his authorities so
fully and satisfactorily, that I would earnestly recom-
mend it to those who pursue the subject with a spirit of
fair enquiry and full investigation. I have also given
in the Appendix, a letter from a native of Connaught to
the editor of the Dublin Morning Post, explanatory of
the causes of the distress in Ireland. The writer I
know to be a very intelligent and respectable person.

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TABLE, No. 5,

If pMi^ffi^, Pensions, and all the expenses of the Public Establishments increased in like manner.

Capital created between the
5th of January, 1798, and
5th January, 1816, on sup-
position of the whole being
reduced into a 3 per cent,
stock.

£795,344,000.

Money received for which
the capital was created.

£459,630,326.

EQUIVALENTS IN OUNCES OF GOLD.

At 00*. 10i?. the average
price from 1798 to 1810.

101,203,117

At the same price for Gold,
3 per cent, stock at 80.

140,095,550

At 775. Gd. per ounce for
Gold, 3 per cent, stock
at 30.

163,409,306

GAIN IN OUNCES OF GOLD.

By the rise in the price
of stock.

38,892,483

By the alteration in the
Currency, being so much
unjustcharge on the public.

23,311,756

GAIN by the alteration of the Currency in Money.

Converting the 23,311,756
ounces of Gold into money,
at 90s. lotf. being the aver-
age price at which the debt
was contracted.

£110,976,694.

Ditto, at 77s. Off.

£90,721,587.

Ditto.

Ditto.

EQUIVALENTS IN QUARTERS OF WHEAT.

At 81*. lOrf. the average
price of 1708 to 1810, the
period in which the debt
teas created.

112,333,400

At the same price for
Wheat, 3 per cent, stock
at 80.

155,533,185

At 55s. 6d. the price of
18*21, 3 per cent, stock
at SO-

Annual charge on the above £795,344,000 of 3 per cent. Capital created
for the 459,030,826 of money

Is Money.

£23,860,020

229,285,478

GAIN IN QUARTERS OF WHEAT.

By the rise in the price of
stock.

43,199,785

EQUIVALENTS IN OUNCES OF GOLD.

At 90s. 10ii.

5,253,502

At 77.S, Gd.

6,127,174

By the alteration of the
Currency.

73,782,293

GAIN by the alteration of the Currency in Money.

Converting the 73,782,293
quarters of Wheat into
money, at Sis. lOd.

£301,872,228

Ditto, at 55s. 6d.

£200,579,196

Gain in ounces of Gold Iiy
the alteration of the Cur-
rency.

874,192

GAIN by the alteration of the Currency in Money.

Converting the 874,192
ounces of Gold into money
at Ms. lOd.

£3,933,886

Ditto, at T7s. Gd.

£3,402,063

EQUIVALENTS IN QUARTERS OF WHEAT.

GAIN by the alteration of the Currency in Money.

At SI*. lOtf.

At 55-S. 6d.

Gain in quarters of Wheat
by the alteration of the
Currency.

Converting the 2,768,030
quarters of Wheat into
money, at 81s. lOd.

Ditto, at 55s. Bd.

5,831,370

8,600,000 qrs.

2,768,630

£11,328,311.

£7,682,948.

LETTER

OF

Mons. J. B. Say to H. James, Esq.

PARIS, AUGUST 5, 1822.

Sir— I have received the letter you did me the honour to
•write to me on the 31st ultimo. To give you an answer such
as the importance of the subject merits, I ought to develope
my opinions, to collect together my proofs, which I regret,
at this moment, I have not sufficient leisure to do. All I can
say is, I believe with you, that the reintegration of the value
of the paper money of England has been fatally injurious
(funeste) to the greater part of your nation. I say this,
because the taxes and burdens having been increased in pro-
portion to the rise of prices which Government paid in its
purchases, and you have now to pay very nearly the same
amount of taxes, although you sell your commodities for
half their former worth. — Because the public debt, the
emoluments, the pensions, the payments, and the abuses of
all kinds which had accrued, nominally, during the deprecia-
tion of the paper money, are become excessive evils since its
reintegration. — Because that reintegration augments, by 50
per cent, all money engagements for stipulated time; and I
remark, that the depreciation of money, which is an injury
much of the same kind to all creditors, is nevertheless much
less injurious, in this, that it is more difficult to pay more
than you owe, or ought to pay, than it is to receive less than
is due to you.

D

51

I avow to you, that, in my eyes, it has been a very false
delicacy ; that of having consented to all these acts of
injustice, in order that the ancient creditors of the state
(towards whom the Government did not fear to become
bankrupt, during twenty years, in paying them in a depre-
ciated paper money) should be paid again in sterling money.
In this case they oblige your nation to pay to all lenders who
•were interested in the loans since 1797, a greater amount of
money and interest than was lent, and they give the same
advantage to all sinecurists, &c, to whom still less is due.

When in France the " franc" was made to contain one-
eightieth more of pure silver than the " livre tournois," all
engagements contracted in livres were authorised to be
acquitted in the proportion of SO francs for 81 livres. The
Government of the Republic showed itself herein, much more
just and wise than your administration.

You address to me several questions, of which the principal
is, to know if prices have undergone in France, the same
revolution as in England?

As regards the precious metals, I can answer — no. At
certain critical periods, gold, as being lighter and more easily
conveyed, was in great demand and rose a little, as compared
with the silver money: but silver has always been at from
197 to 198 francs the killogram. I speak of silver of the
title of our money; it cannot rise above 200 fiancs, because
our money being good and heavy money, and 200 francs
weighing a killogram, rather than pay a higher price, the
public would use the silver money in lieu of silver in ingots.

As regards wheat, the price has never been more variable
than within the last twenty years, There have been very
good crops and very bad crops, and the contracts for the
armies (made sometimes at any price) augmented the effects

■I

52

of the vicissitudes of the season. The different parts of
France communicating with each other mostly by land, and
the roads of communication being often impracticable, one
district is subject more than another to the operation of local
circumstances, which prevents any just and general conclusion
being drawn therefrom.

Below is the average price of wheat in the important
market of Roye, in Picardy, one year with another, for the
fourteen years ending in 1816. The measure of Roye is
equal to 52 litres 52 centiemes: —

U. so. de.

1803 5 17 9

1804 8 I 5

1805 8 10 1

1806 9 0 2

1807 8 2 1

11. so. de.

1808 5 18 0

1809 6 16 3

1810 9 4 3

1811 16 5 6

1812 13 9 0

11. so. de.

1813 8 7 11

1814 7 8 0

1815 11 12 7

1816 20 5 3

The medium price for the fourteen years gives for the
measure of Roye 9 livres 19 sous, which is nearly 29 livres
for the septier of Paris;* but this price is evidently too high,
as these fourteen years contain two years of famine and
three epochs of supplies for Buonaparte, for the important
campaigns of Moscow, of Leipsic, and of the hundred days.

The price of wheat for 1821, has been lower than for some
time past; this is undoubtedly occasioned from a succession
of crops which have been good throughout. Wheat is rising
a little this year, because the crops in some parts are found
not to be so good as was before expected.

* Twenty-nine livres tournois for the septier of Paris, is equal to 18
francs 35 centieraies for the hectolitre, which makes 41s. 5d. the quarter
English, or say 5s. 2d. the Winchester bushel, taking; the par of exchange
at 27 francs, 20 centiemes for the pound sterling-. But Mr. Say thinks this
is too high to he taken as the medium value of wheat in France. Chaptal,
in his work on the industry of France, published in 1819, takes the value of
wheat at 18 francs the hectolitre, one year with another, this is equal to
5s, Id. the Winchester bushel. — H. J,

53

The market of Paris is too frequently influenced by the
operations of the administration, for any just conclusions to be
drawn from it.

The price of colonial produce has fallen much in France,
but this proves nothing more than the advantage of having the
sea free, and the cultivation of sugar, &c. being established
through all parts of the torrid zone.

Although it is difficult, consequently, to judge of the value
of money after the variation in the price of such or such an
article, nevertheless we can state, that things generally have not
fallen in price in France since the depreciation and the
restoration of the paper money of England, except as far as
particular circumstances may have contributed; as the
introduction of cheaper and more expeditious processes of
fabrication, &c. I do not believe, therefore, that there is any
giound for saying, that the fall of prices in England, has its
analogy on the Continent. It appears to me, that it proceeds
entirely from the alterations in the value of your money.

1 wish I had more ample and precise information to
convey to you, and to prove to you thereby, the value which
I set upon your works on money, &c. — Works which, cer-
tainly, greatly contribute to point out and establish the true
theory of that important part of the economy of nations.

Accept, &c. &c.

J. B. SAY.

54

, LETTER

Upon the Cause of the Distress in Ireland.

Sir — In the debate on Mr. Western's resolutions, des-
criptive of the distressed state of agriculture, &c. it has been
maintained by Mr. Ricardo and Mr. Peel, that the famine in
Ireland — the present inability of the Irish peasantry to sub-
stitute oatmeal for their food, in lieu of potatoes, upon the
failure of the latter crop, could not be traced to the recent
alteration of the currency. As I consider that any thing
which throws light upon this subject must be beneficial to
Ireland; and as it appears to me that this famine is principally
owing to the alteration in the value of money, which, by de-
stroying the just proportion between rents and produce, has
reduced the wretched tenantry throughout the country to a
most pitiable state of want and beggary. I beg leave to
trouble you with a few remarks upon the manner in which
I imagine Mr. Peel's Bill has been instrumental in producing
this fatal catastrophe. I am a native of one of the distressed
districts, and have watched with an attentive eye, the gradual
increase of the wretchedness of the Irish peasantry since the
first operations of this measure ; I have observed the rapid
strides which misery has latterly made among them, and I
have at last seen them dying around me from the absolute
'want of sustenance.

Before I proceed to point out the manner in which this
visitation has been brought about, allow me to correct the
mistaken notion which seems to have gained much credit,
that the partial failure of the potatoe crop could be adequate
to produce the famine which now overspreads the land. To
Mr. Ricardo, and other Irish Members, who have never visi-
ted' the country they represent, and who look upon the failure

55

of the potatoe crop as a circumstance never known before, it
must appear a very natural mode of accounting for the famine,
but it cannot be subscribed to by those who reside in Ireland,
who are aware that similar failures are unfortunately no no-
velty, and that they have never before been followed by such
consequences. I, myself, have seen many failures of the potatoe
crop, particularly a very extensive one in the year 1817,
which was aggravated by an accompanying failure in the oat
crop. But these failures never produced the frightful misery
which I at present see before me ; in those times I have known
some of the unfortunate peasantry confined to a meal a day,
have known them condemned to very heavy privations, but such
a circumstance as any one dying from want was never heard
of. The distress might be great, and often called loud for the
exercise of local charity, but cannot be compared to the
desolating want, which now seeks relief from English bene-
volence. I have taken some trouble to ascertain the exact
extent of the present failure in potatoes, and I have found
that in general, the loss has not, in the most distressed dis-
tricts amounted to more than one third, or one quarter of the
crop, and in very few instances to one half. The Marquis
Wellesley has ordered an inquiry to be instituted on this sub-
ject, and whenever the result is made public, it will be seen
that my calculation is not incorrect. The impossibility of such
a failure to produce the present famine will be apparent^
when it is considered that, according to the report of the
Central Committee of Mayo, 26'0,000 persons are subsisting
on charity in that county, whilst the whole number of its inha-
bitants, by the census lately taken, only amounted to 300,000.

That the true cause may be rendered more intelligible, it
is necessary to discard the idea, that there is in Ireland the
same reciprocal interest between landlord and tenant, which
exists in England. In England the occupying tenant of a
farm generally derives his right immediately from the lord of
the soil. A mutual interest subsists between him and his

56

landlord, and when the terms of this contract or lease were
altered by the increase of the value of the currencyj it was
for the advantage of both that they should be re-adjusted^
< by a proportionable abatement of rent.

In Ireland, on the contrary, the occupying tenant seldom
holds his farm trom the proprietor of the estate, and there
does not exist a reciprocal tie between him and his landlord.
Lands are, with few exceptions, leased, and till very lately
leases were seldom made for a shorter period than three lives
or 31 years, generally for longer terms, and often for ever.
From thence it followed, that upon the increase of the value
of land, and it has been gradually increasing in Ireland during
the last century, the tenant of a long lease often derived a
greater income from the land than his landlord. It is not to-
be supposed that the descendant of a man, thus become pos-
sessed of property, would continue to till the ground. He in
his turn relet the land to one or more tenants, and also made
long leases. In time his tenants might find that they pos-
sessed a property in the ground, and again let the land at a
higher rate to other tenants ; and in this manner it often hap-
pens that four or five persons intervene between the original-
proprietor and the occupying tenants, all holding interests,
and deriving a profit from the same land. Now, imagine for
one moment the effect which the alteration of the currency,
and consequent fall in the price of produce, had. upon the
system. — The occupying tenants find that the whole produce
of their land would not suffice to discharge the rent which
they have contracted to pay. They apply to their immediate
landlord for an abatement. . If he grant it, he loses his own
profit; nay more, the sacrifice of his whole profit may not be
a sufficient relief to the tenant. If he apply in his turn to his
landlord, the only indulgence he can expect is, to be allowed.!
to withdraw from his contract, which he will not wish to do, if
there exist any chance of being able to squeeze the rent out of
the unfortunate occupiers, as he looks forward with a feverish

57

degree of hope to what he calls a return of the good tiroes,
when he may regain his property. He will most likely con-
tinue exacting from the unfortunate tenants every thing which
they are able to pay, until he reduces them to a state of beg-
gary. — On the other hand, should he be even willing to
surrender his land, it is doubtful that his surrender will be
accepted, especially if he be possessed of other property, to
enable him to make good the deficiencies of his rent. If the sur-
render be accepted, the landlord who accepts it is then in the
place of him who has quitted the field, and follows a similar
mode of exaction.

To render this system more intelligible, I will select one
example of it from the neighbourhood in which I reside. The
farm consists of 200 acres, which is possessed and tenanted
in the following manner: —

The proprietor of the fee is —

No. 1, Lord , an absentee, whose tenant

No. 2, has a lease for ever, at 10s. an acre.

No. 3 has a lease from No. 2, at 25s. an acre.

No. 4 has a lease from No 3, at 30s. an acre.

No. 5, Occupying Tenants, at an average of 36s. an acre,

which was the value of the farm previous to the alteration of
the currency. Upon the alteration of the currency, and con-
sequent fall of produce, No. 5, the occupying tenants, became
unable to pay their rent; No. 4 finding he could. not even
receive from them the amount of the rent he had contracted
to pay to No. 3, requested the latter to accept of a surrender
of his lease. This, No. 3, who is a poor man, with nothing
but this profit-rent to support a large family, refused to do,
knowing that No. 4 would still be able to pay the rent,
although he might fail to receive it from- the land. No. 4
being obliged to make up the rent for No. 3, exacted, in his
own defence, as much as he could out of the tenantry, till they
had literally nothing left, and have now, on the failure of the
potatoes, been consigned to actual starvation. Here are
a number of individuals reduced to absolute want from the

58

alteration in the value of money. The four landlords are
all humane men, and if any one of them were the sole land-
lord, he would, I have no doubt, 'make an adequate abate-
ment of rent to the occupying tenants. It cannot be expected
that No. 1 or No. 2 should make abatements, in order to
enable No. 3 to make a profit of the land. No. 3 is unwilling
to release No. 4 from his contract, as it would be to give up
the only claim to property he is possessed of. No. 4 finds that
his former earnings must be applied to pay rent for land from
which he cannot be reimbursed; and were No. 3 induced to
release him from his contract, the tenantry would not be
benefited by the exchange of one landlord for another; as at, the
present value of money, and consequent price of produce, the
farm is not worth more than 25s. an acre : and any profit
which No. 3 would receive, must be so much exacted above
the fair value of the land.

When this system is duly considered, in which no reci-
procal interest subsists between the tenant and any of his
landlords ; and when it is considered, that in consequence of
their being no manufacturers in the South and West of
Ireland, every peasant there is a farmer, and holds his two or
three acres of land, it will not appear surprising that on the
failure of a potatoe crop a famine should have arisen— a con-
sequence which, if it were not for the previous beggary to
which the operation of the altered currency upon this system,
had reduced the wretched peasantry, could never have fol-
lowed from such a course. It has been the custom to repre-
sent the Irish peasant as a being never possessed of any thing
but the potatoes which serve him for food ; and to those who
entertain this idea, the failure of the potatoe crop appears a
very sufficient cause to produce a famine. But though these
representations may serve very well for declamation, they
must be rectified by a little sober reflection before they
can be used as the foundation for argument. The Irish pea-
sant is not a naked savage, who, in Spring ploughs the ground

59

with his nails, to plant his potatoes, and in Autumnroots them
up to eat them. He is badly clothed it is true, but he is
clothed, and the clothes which cover him, are neither rained
down from Heaven, nor are they the gift of charity. His
cabin may not be furnished like an English cottage, but it is
not empty. His farm is not richly stocked, or highly culti-
vated, but there is generally the cow to give milk for the
children, and the horse to draw the low back car— there is
always the pig to help to make up the rent, and there is the
half acre of oats, which it was customary when the potatoes
fell short, to bring to the mill to grind for food. In former
failures of the potatoe crop, all these would have served as
bulwarks against the ravages of famine. But now the case is
different. The cow, and the horse, and the pig, and the crop
on the ground, have been seized upon to pay the rent, and the
grand jury cess, and the parish cess, and the tithe, the three
former of which have been so much increased by the Act of
Parliament which produced an alteration in the value of
money. In some instances, indeed, I have seen the furni-
ture of the cabin, the bed and the blankets, and the pot for
boiling the potatoes, distrained for the same purpose. The
Irish peasant is certainly at present likely to become the
naked savage he has been represented. He is now, indeed,
possessed of nothing but his crop of potatoes, and where those
have failed, must depend upon charity for his sustenance;
but it is the manner in which he has been oppressed, under
the guidance and protection of Mr. Peel's Bill, which has
rendered him thus dependent, I appeal to any person who
resides in the distressed districts, whether the statement I
have made is inaccurate or exaggerated, and whether the ex-
ample I have selected is an extreme or uncommon case. I
think I may venture to assert, without fear of contradiction,
that there can be no instance found of that overwhelming
want and poverty, the accounts of which are daily rung
through the United Kingdom, existing on the estate of any
Irish landlord, where the occupying tenants derive immedi-

60

ately under him. The Irish landlord is not so devoid of ge-
nerosity and good-feeling, as it is the fashion to describe him;
and if the exaction of rents by the minor landlords and mid-
dlemen, has tended to create the present distress, it should
be considered that this class of men have seen their property
torn from them, by an act of that legislature to which they
looked for protection; and in such a situation, few would be
found who would not make every possible effort to retain it.
Into the policy of that act, which impoverished them, do I
not here mean to inquire; but I wish those political economists
who framed it, to be aware of the fall effects of their measure ,
and of the extent of the misery for ■which they liave to answer.
I see that misery every day around me; I see the haggard
countenances and famine-worn frames of the unfortunate suf-
ferers: and when I am told that it is merely owing to the failure
of the potatoe crop, I cannot but recollect, that during the
pressure of similar failures, I have seen the same individuals
who are now starving with hunger, not only able to procure
oatmeal for themselves, but many of them active in assisting
their poorer neighbours.

A NATIVE OF CONNAUGHT.

Kilkongoll, July 15, 1822.

YOUNGMAN, PRINTER, W1TBAM
AND MALDON.

BY C. C. WESTERN, ESQ. M. P. ;
—•#««=-

ADDRESS

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