Retford Currency Society
cTracts3

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CURRENCY,
AGRICULTURE,

FREE TRADE.

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LONDON :

8IMPZIN, MARSHALL, AND CO. STATIONERS' HALL COUBT ; A»»
SKEFFINGTON AND CO. 192, PICCADILLY.

AND A. METCALFE, RETFORD.
1851.

No, 1.

H G*.
9

a & f 6

CURRENCY,
AGRICULTURE, & FREE TRADE,

THE CURRENCY QUESTION has generally been
spoken of as a very difficult one. Englishmen have,
however, long been in the habit of considering difficulty
as something to be overcome ; and if the common sense
of the country be fairly applied to this subject, there is
no fear that it will soon be well understood.

The Currency Question, as it is called, relates to the
laws which have been made about money ; and as every
man has more or less to do with money, every man is
interested in the Currency Question. If unwise laws are
made about any article of trade or commerce, such as
timber or sugar, all those who trade in these articles are
directly and injuriously affected, and other persons are
indirectly sufferers, though to a less extent ; for unwise
laws, ultimately, benefit no one, and injure every body.
But if unwise laws are made respecting money, every
individual and every interest in the country is immediately
affected. And though unjust and unwise money laws may
appear for a time to benefit some as much as they injure
others, yet in the end, it will be found that all suffer from
them. England, with her dense population, her widely
extended commerce, her expensive and artificial system
of agriculture, and her immense load of debt, is more
susceptible than any other nation of tke effects of unsound
legislation respecting her monetary system.

The present money laws are believed, by many persons
who have given much attention to the subject, to be
unsound in principle and ruinous in practice.

Since the Act of 1819 was passed, every class in the
country has, at intervals, been subjected to most severe
distress. This distress has been caused by diminishing
the money, or circulating medium, of the country, and
lowering prices ; and the removal of the distress has been
caused by increasing the money of the country, and
raising prices — high prices and prosperity have gone to-
gether, and low prices and distress. And the reason of
this is, principally, that we have an enormous debt — of
which the larger part was contracted in paper money and
with a high scale of prices — a debt which could never
Lave been contracted in any but paper money. The debt
at the Commencement of the French war, in 1793, was
£239,350,148, — the debt contracted during the war was
£608,932,329*. Having to pay annually a sum of nearly
£30,000,000, as interest of this debt, the English people,
with all their efforts, cannot do it without a sufficient
quantity of paper money, and a sufficiently high scale of
prices. The necessity for high prices in this country
arises from this cause, that to the cost or value of every
article produced, whether iron, corn, cotton, or cattle, the
producer must add the share which he pays of taxes, before
he can derive any profit. A man who works in the forge,
or on the farm, labours so many hours for himself, and so
many hours for his country. The fair price of what he
makes, is the value of his labour, added to the proportion
of the taxes paid by him while labouring. Now, by dimin-
ishing the money of the country, by contracting the circula-
tion, prices are forced down — and thus the the taxes absorb
so large a proportion of the price at which all articles are
sold, that no fair remuneration remains for the labourer.
In speaking of the labourer, the master is included as well
as the man : the man whose head directs, as well as the
man whose hand works. But if it be true that a high
* M'Culloch's Dictionary of Commerce.

scale of prices is necessary in this country, to afford a fair
remuneration to the manufacturer of every article, it is
more particularly the case with the farmer : for this rea-
son. By the application of machinery and science, almost
every article of trade may be produced with less labour,
and consequently, cheaper, than before, and to an almost
unlimited extent. A very small profit therefore on each
article, when an immense quantity of goods is manufactur-
ed, yields a remunerating profit on the whole. But after
machinery and science have done all they can for the far-
mer, there is a limit, which he cannot pass, in growing corn
and feeding cattle. If he endeavours to pass this limit,
the expense becomes so great that he can realize no profit.
And all this becomes still more forcibly illustrated under
the Free Trade system. Free Trade makes the evil of our
money laws plainer than ever. For as by the Acts of
1819 and 1844, we engage to supply all the world with
gold at £3. 17s. 10 Jd. an ounce — which is its un taxed,
continental price — it becomes the interest of the foreign
merchant to receive payment in gold, rather than in com-
modities, because he gets gold from us at his own, com-
paratively, untaxed price ; but if he takes manufactured
goods, he must take them at our highly taxed price— he
will therefore prefer taking gold, and buying the goods he
wants in some country where, taxes being lower, they can
afford to sell at a lower price : and this he will do till the
prices of English manufactured goods are forced down to
the Continental or American level. The English manu-
facturer must suffer, and will suffer severely, under this
system. But the English farmer will suffer soonest, and
will suffer most. He will suffer soonest — for land in
America, and on the Continent, may be made to produce
considerable crops of corn, long before the manufacture
of goods can be successfully transplanted, to any very great
extent, from this country to another. He will suffer most
— because, as was before said, with all the aid of capital,
science, and machinery, and all his own industry, perse-
verance, and intelligence, the supply of produce which the

6

farmer can bring to market must, from its nature, be
limited. But both manufacturer and agriculturist must
suffer: and the injury inflicted on each class will re-act
and increase the suffering of the other. Corn and cattle,
and every description of goods, will be brought to this
country, and gold — or goods reduced in price to their gold
value — will be taken away.

Now what is the remedy for this state of things ?

I. It is to alter the law respecting gold. The FIXED

PRICE OF GOLD IS THE GREATEST EVIL OF THE EXISTING
SYSTEM.

As long as the foreign merchant can demand payment
for what he sells to us in gold at a fixed price, he has an
unfair advantage in every bargain he makes. Let gold
rise and fall in price, according to the supply and demand
in the English market, and we shall then deal with the
foreigner on fair terms. It is only in this manner that a
highly taxed and deeply indebted country like ours, can
deal on equal terms with countries less highly taxed and
less burdened with debt. But the doing away with the
law which fixes the price of gold would have another most
important and beneficial effect. When any amount of
gold is withdrawn from the country, the Bank, to protect
itself, is immediately obliged to lessen its circulation of
notes — so that when money is most wanted for the fair
and needful operations oi trade, then the Bank is forced
to diminish its issues to the utmost. The depression and
ruin occasioned by this course can hardly be estimated.
Mills are stopped— -workmen by thousands are thrown
out of employment — merchants who were rich, find
themselves beggars — funds and shares are depreciated in
value — every contract between man and man is violated
— prices are pressed down to a ruinous level — and the
whole country is thrown into disorder — till by the sacrifice
of enormous quantities of our goods at any price that can
be got for them, and by a practical suspension of the Acts
of 1819 and 1844, a few millions of gold are brought
back into the country. All these evils, which were so

forcibly exemplified in 1847, will recur with increased
violence under the Free Trade system, and will be felt by
the agriculturist to an extent of which he has as yet had
no experience.

Were the law which fixes the price of gold abolished,
these evils would at once be prevented.

II. But if gold were allowed to find its price in the
market like other commodities, it would be necessary to
provide a substitute for home circulation.

This might be done in various ways. Pitt did it, during
the war, by the Act which restricted the Bank from paying
its notes in gold at a fixed price. It might be done by
allowing the Bank to issue notes on government securities,
when a drain of bullion occurs ; and by giving the Bank
power to refuse to purchase more gold, at the fixed price
when it has a large stock in its coffers. This would
prevent panics on the one hand, and over speculation on
the other ; and an adequate circulation of paper being
provided, prices would rise to their fair level. But there
is perhaps no plan more simple in its operation and
correct in principle than the establishment of a National
Paper Money, of £1. and upwards, based on the revenue
of the country, and never exceeding the amount of the
annual taxation. Such money being receivable for taxes,
would be as safe as the government could make it. It
would never be too much, It would never depreciate in
value. It would not be hoarded. It would not be ex-
ported. It would be issued in payment of public works
and services, and in discharge of the interest of the debt,
and it would return gradually for payment of taxes, and
be cancelled. It is the business of those who administer
the affairs of the country, and who manage its finances, to
supply the details of such a plan and the best method of
its practical working. But it is the business of all classes
in the country to advocate the extreme importance of
having a safe, abundant, and unfluctuating Paper Cur-
rency. This would secure to both the manufacturer and
the farmer a remunerating price for the commodities in

which each of them deals ; for, in such a Currency, com-
modities would rise to their fair price — a price which
would include the cost of production, and the proportion
of taxes paid by each as a producer. The manufacturer
would also have a good home market for his goods, and
the farmer a good home market for his corn and cattle.
The farmer would obtain a better and more certain
average price for his produce than he has ever obtained
since the passing of the Act of 1819. Tn 1822 and 1823,
corn fell to 45s. and 50s. a quarter, (5s. 7d. and 6s. 3d.
a bushel) ; and in 1834 and 1835, to 40s. and 45s. a
quarter, (5s. and 5s. 7d. a bushel) ;* but under the pro-
posed alteration of the Currency Laws, corn would, in
common with every other commodity, rise to a good
remunerative price. And what is more, the country,
with rising markets and extending commerce, would
cheerfully pay this price. With returning prosperity, the
revenue would also improve, and taxes might be certainly
and gradually removed, in the best of all possible ways,
Viz. — by the payment of a considerable portion of the
debt, and the consequent reduction of the amount of
interest annually drawn from the nation.

Nothing can save a country from ruin which persists
in an unsound financial system. A period has arrived,
when we must either advance to the highest position of
national greatness, or retrograde into a declining state :
and the issue will depend on the measures now adopted
with respect to the great Monetary and Financial Question
of the time — THE CURRENCY QUESTION.

* The low price of corn at any particular period is not, of course,
a sufficient evidence of the depression of the Agricultural interest, as an
abundant crop yields a good profit at a low price. The Petitions pre-
sented from every part of the kingdom, and the Committees repeatedly
appointed by Parliament to etiquire into the causes of the Agricultural
distress, since the passing of the Act of 1819, prove how severe that
distress has been.

METCALFE, PRINTER, MARKET-PLACE, RETFQRD.

'

Curowp

HOW CAN

PAPER MONEY

INCREASE THE

WEALTH OF A NATION?

LONDON

SIMPKIN, MAKSHALL, AND CO. STATIONEBS HALL COURT ;

W. SKEFFINGTON, 192, PICCADILLY ; J. OLLIVIEK, 59, PALL

MALL ; AND A. METCALFE, BETFOBD.

1849.

8013,

HOW CAN PAPEE MONEY INCEEASE THE
WEALTH OF A NATION?

This is a question often asked. To many persons it appears
impossible that bits of Paper, inscribed with certain characters,
can promote the prosperity of a nation, or increase its wealth.
This question shall not now be answered by explaining the
true theory of money, but by an appeal to facts. Land and
labour being admitted to be the primary sources of a nation's
wealth, let facts shew how Paper Money assists land and
labour to create wealth.

Look, first, at the great fact of the prosperity and wealth
of the United States of America, As a testimony to their
growing prosperity, let us take a short extract from a speech
of EDUAUJ; BURKE, on American Taxation, delivered in the
House of Commons so far back as the 14th. of April, 1774.
Alluding to the Americans, he says : —

" Nothing in the history of mankind, is like their progress.
For my part, I never cast an eye on their commerce, and
their cultivated and commodious life, but they seem to me
rather nations grown to perfection through a long series of
fortunate events, and a train of successful industry accumula-
ting wealth in many centuries, than the colonies of yesterday ;
than a set of miserable outcasts, a few years ago, not so much

sent as thrown on the bleak and barren shore of a desolate
wilderness, three thousand miles from all civilized intercourse."

Such is the recorded opinion of one who richly deserved
the name of a " statesman."

And how was this miracle effected ? The celebrated DAVID
HUME shall answer that question. Here is an extract from
his correspondence with the Abbe Morellet : —

" In our colony of Pennsylvania, the land itself, which is
the chief commodity, is coined, and passes into circulation. A
planter, immediately he purchases any land, can go to a
public office and receive notes to the amount of half the value
of his land, which notes he employs in all payments, and they
circulate through the colony by convention. To prevent the
public being overwhelmed by this representative money, there
are two means employed ; first, the notes issued to any one
planter must not exceed a certain sum, whatever may be the
value of the land ; secondly, every planter is obliged to pay
back into the public office every year, one tenth of his notes.
The whole is of course annihilated in ten years, after which
it is again allowed him to take out new notes, to half the
value of his land."

Now observe here how completely the Currency Question
is a Farmers' Question. Paper Currency, or " representative
money," as David Hume here calls it, would enable the English
Farmer to drain his land, to improve its cultivation, arid to
employ more labour, just as it enabled the American Planter
to convert a barren wilderness into fruitful fields. The means
adopted for issuing the Paper Currency, viz. through a public
office of government, were suitable to a colony in its infant
state. In such a state there would be no body of men of
sufficient wealth and responsibility to act as Bankers. In an
old country, like our own, where capital has been accumula-
ted, Bankers discharge the function, which the government
of the American colonies assumed, of issuing commercial
money. A more useful body of men does not exist. No govern-
ment machinery could provide agents so well adapted for fur-
nishing the money of commerce as the wants of the people
require it, as are the Bankers of this country. As men of
education and probity, resident in every district, acquainted
with the character, resources, and peculiar circumstances of

each individual, Bankers — under just and liberal enactments
for securing the stability of their houses — occupy an honour-
able and important position, and exercise a most beneficial in-
fluence, morally and politically, on the community. Their inter-
ests, rightly understood, and the interests of the agricultural
and commercial bodies, are identical. In promoting the gen-
eral prosperity of the country, they secure their own.*

But we proceed to adduce another authority as to the ad-
vantages resulting from a Paper Currency, viz. DR. BEN-
JAMIN FRANKLIN. In 1764, before the Stamp Act was pro-
posed in Parliament, (which was passed the next year, and
repealed the year following) Dr. Franklin, writing in England
in defence of the Paper Money of the Colonies, says : —

" On the whole, no method has hitherto been framed to
establish a medium of trade in lieu of money, equal in all its
advantages to bills of credit, founded on sufficient taxes for
discharging them, or land securities of double the value for
repaying them at the end of the term, and in the mean time
made a GENERAL LBGAL TENDER. The experience of now
near half a century in the middle colonies, ( New Yoik, New
Jersey, and Pennsylvania ) has convinced them of it among
themselves, by the great increase oj their settlements, numbers,
buildings, improvements, agriculture, shipping, and commerce.
And the same experience has satisfied the British merchants
who trade thither, that it has been greatly useful to them, and
not in a single instance prejudicial."

ADAM SMITH'S version of this system is worthy of obser-
vation : — " It is convenient," he says, "for the Americans,
who could always employ with profit, in the improvement of
their lands, a greater stock than they can easily get, to save,
as much as possible, the expense of so costly an instrument of
commerce, as gold or silver ; and rather to employ that part
of their surplus produce which would be necessary for pur-
chasing those metals, in purchasing the instruments of trade,
the materials of clothing, several parts of househould furni-

* Those Bankers who seem to think that their individual interests
require that the advantages of Paper Money should be doled out under
the most restrictive system that the country can bear, resemble the
Dutchmen in Sumatra, who used to destroy half their crop of spices, in
order to enhance the value of the remainder.

6

ture, and the iron work necessary for building and extending
their settlements and plantations ; in purchasing, not dead
stock, but active and productive stock." Again he says, "The
redundancy of paper money necessarily banishes gold and
silver from the domestic transactions of the colonies, for the
same reason that it has banished those metals from the greater
part of the domestic transactions in Scotland ; and in both
countries, it is not the poverty, but the enterprising and pro-
jecting spirit of the people, their desire of employing all the
stock which they can get as active and productive stock,
which has occasioned this redundancy of paper money." He
also says, " In those branches of business which cannot be
transacted without gold and silver money, it appears that they
can always find the necessary quantity of those metals." — Wealth
of Nations, B, v. CH. in. The "representative money" which
could in the Colonies be converted, at pleasure, into land,
labour, and produce of every kind, could, of course, as easily
be converted, at the market price, into gold and silver.

Now a country prospering ', as was the case with the Ameri-
can Colonies, is generally well satisfied with its form of go-
vernment.

In 1776, Dr. Franklin was examined before a Committee
of the whole House of Commons ; he was asked, "What was
the temper of America towards Great Britain before 1763 ?"

He answers, " The best in the world. They submitted wil-
lingly to the government of the Crown, and paid in all their
courts obedience to Acts of Parliament. Numerous as the
people are in the several old provinces, they cost you nothing
in forts, citadels, garrisons, or armies, to keep them in sub-
jection. They were governed by this country at the expense
only of a little pen, ink, and paper. They were led by a
thread. They had not only a regard, but an affection for Great
Britain, for its laws, its customs, aud manners, and even a
fondness for its fashions that greatly increased its commerce.
Natives of Britain were always treated with particular regard ;
to be an Old England man was, of itself, a character of some
respect, and gave a kind of rank among us."

In an evil hour, the British Government took away from
America its " representative money," commanded that no
more paper "bills of credit should be issued, that they should

cease to be a legal tender," and collected the taxes in hard
silver. This was in 1773. Now mark the consequences.
Ruin seized upon these once flourishing Colonies, the most
severe distress was brought home to every interest and every
family; •' human nature," as Dr. Johnson phrases it, "rose
and asserted its rights." .In 1775, the American Congress
first met in Philadelphia. In 1776, America was declared an
independent State.

Take another fact as to what Paper Money has effected, on
a smaller scale, and in more recent times.

" The STATES OF GUERNSEY, having determined to build
a Meat Market, voted £4,000. to defray the cost. The notes
were guaranteed by the whole of the property of the island,
said to be worth four millions. These notes did not bear any
interest, nor were they convertible into the precious metals.
They were tokens, not possessing any intrinsic value, but only
that conventional or representative value which they received
from the authority of the States by whom they were issued.
They were the symbols of the real money of the island. They
were worthless to any other community than Guernsey, and
therefore there was no inducement to their exportation. Con-
sequently they remained permanently in local circulation for
local purposes. They were inscribed "Guernsey Meat Mar-
ket Notes," and numbered from 1 to 4000, each note repre-
senting £1. of account in the currency of the island. They
were legal tender by universal assent. With these notes the
States paid the contractor, and with them he paid his work-
men, and all who supplied him with materials. They were
freely taken by tradesmen for goods, by landlords for rent, by
the* authorities for taxes.

In due season the market was completed. The butchers'
stalls, with some public rooms constructed over them, were
let for an annual rent of £400. At the expiration of the first
year of this tenancy, the States called in the first batch of
notes, numbered from 1 to 400, and with the £400. of real
money received for rent, redeemed the £400. of representative
money, expressed by the " Meat Market Notes." At the end
of ten years, all the notes were redeemed through the appli-
cation of ten years' rental ; and since that period, the Meat
Market has returned a clear annual revenue to the STATES,

8

and continues to afford accommodation, without having cost
a farthing in taxes to any inhabitant."*

Can it be doubted that — as this able writer infers — the
system which enabled the States of Guernsey to build their
Market, would, if the restrictions on the issue of Represen-
tative Money were removed, reclaim the bogs of Ireland ?

These facts prove that either on a small scale, as in the in-
stance of the GUERNSEY STATES, or on a large one, as in the
case of the AMERICAN COLONIES, the judicious application of
representative money — PAPER CURRENCY — is attended with
the most beneficial effects to the community.

The American Colonies grew great and prospered, not only
with Paper Money, but in consequence of it. Their Paper
Currency was withdrawn — distress, ruin, and revolt followed.
Again, in recent times, an attempt was made to establish, to
a great extent, a Metalic Currency. Commercial depression,
stagnation of trade, and panic, were the results. " The
Americans, "s&ys an experienced Liverpool merchant, Alexander
Henry Wylie, Esq. who was examined before the Committee of
the House of Lords on the Commercial Distress of 1847," have
paid for their experience, and profited by it ; and so far as I
have been able to compare different systems of Banking, and
to look into the subject, I believe that in no part of the world
whatever, is there a system of Banking more perfect than that
now working under the General Banking Law of New York.
It has now been in operation ten years, and it is found to an-
swer securely and profitably : that is, profitably to the pro-
prietary, and usefully to the public. The great peculiarity of
the] General Banking Law is, that it enables any party or
parties desiring to form a Banking Association to do so, on
complying with certain provisions of the Law, the principal of
which is the deposit with the State Comptroller, of an amount of
state stock equal to the amount the projected Banking Associa-
tion intends to issue."

Here is a return to the system of Paper Bills of Credit,
under which the American Colonies originally flourished, and
under which we may expect to see the United States rapidly
advancing in prosperity. Great Britain has paid for her ex-
perience, but has not yet profited by it. The Americans will
* Letters on Monetary Science — by Jonathan Duncan, Esq.

every day grow richer, and we shall grow poorer.

Again, MR. ALISON, the able and distinguished histo-
rian, gives this testimony to the power and superiority of
Paper Money. " When sixteen hundred thousand men were
engaged in active warfare, on the two sides in Germany and
Spain alone, where nothing could be purchased but by specie,
it is not surprising that guineas went where they were so
much needed and bore so high a price. In truth, such was
the demand for the precious metals, owing to that cause, that
at length all the currency of the world, attracted to Germany,
as a common centre, could not supply it ; and by a decree on
September 30th, 1813, from Peterswaldau in Germany, the
allied sovereigns issued paper notes, guaranteed by Russia,
Prussia, and England, which soon passed as cash from Kam-
skatkha to the Rhine, and produced the currency which
brought the war to its successful issue. There was an in-
stance of the manner in which a paper circulation, based on
proper security, supports credit and supplies the want of specie
at the decisive moment. Whereas, according to the present
system, the paper would of necessity have been contracted,
when the specie became scarce — credit would have been ruined
at the critical period, and the vast armaments of the allies
would have been dissolved for want of funds for their support."
England in 1815, and 1845. p. 76, 77.

And in a recent edition of the History of Europe, he gives
this additional evidence of the important advantages which
EXPERIENCE HAS DEMONSTRATED to result from a Papei Cur-
rency. '-' To the suspension of cash payments by the Act of
1797, and the power in consequence vested in the Bank of
England, of expanding its paper circulation, in proportion to
the abstraction of the metallic currency and the wants of the
countrv, and resting the national industry on a basis not liable
to be taken away either by the mutations of commerce, or the
necessities of the war, the salvation of the empire is beyond
all question to be ascribed.

A similar crisis, and from a similar cause, occurred in 1810,
but it led to no injurious results ; on the contrary, it was con-
temporary with the greatest exertions of the nation. The
prodigious absorption of specie for the use of the French and
Austrian armies during the campaign of 1809, joined to the

10

immense cost of the campaign in Portugal, and the importa-
tion of one million five hundred thousand quarters of wheat,
to supply the deficiences of a bad harvest in 1810, had occa-
sioned so great a dearth of specie in Great Britain in the latter
year, that gold and silver had almost disappeared from the cir-
culation ; and a light guinea was worth twenty- five, aud some-
times as much as twenty-seven shillings. But what then ?
The Banks increased their issue in a similar proportion ; that
of the Bank of England was raised to twenty- eight millions ;
its discounts reached twenty millions in a single year. All
other Banks did the same ; and, by this means, not only was
the crisis surmounted without difficulty, but a hundred thou-
sand combatants and forty ships of the line were assembled
round Lisbon, which hurled back the French from the lines of
Torres Vedras. A commercial and monetary crisis which,
beyond all question under our present system, would have in-
volved the nation and all the commercial interests in a general
public and private bankruptcy, was not only surmounted with-
out distress, but the property of the industrious classes was
unimpared during its whole continuance ; and the nation com-
menced in the middle of it, those gigantic efforts which at
length turned the tide against France, and brought the contest
to a glorious termination. It is remarkable that this admira-
ble system, which may be truly called the MOVING POWER OF THE
NATION during the war, became towards its close, the object of the
most determined hostility on the part both of the great capitalists
and chief writers on political economy in the country. Here,
however, as everywhere else, EXPERIENCE, THE GREAT TEST OF

TRUTH, HAS DETERMINED THE QUESTION. The adoption of

the opposite system of contracting the paper in proportion to
the abstraction of the metallic currency, by the Acts of 1819
and 1844, (followed as it was necessarily by the monetary
crises of 1825, .1839, and 1847) has demonstrated beyond a
doubt that it was in the system of an expansive currency that
Great Britain during the war found the sole means of its sal-
vation." Alison's History of Europe, vol. xx. p. 79, 80.

And moreover, the fact that from 1797 to 1815, commerce,
agriculture, and wealth advanced (in spite of all the evils of war)
with a rapidity greater than they had previously done in cen-
turies, proves still further the power of Paper Money, to in*

11

crease the wealth of a nation.

In 1819 we took a step backwards. Peel had riot the power
of destroying the system of Paper Money. Had he been able
to do so, and had he done it, the nation would have retro-
graded as speedily as it had advanced. But Peel's Bill crippled
the monetary system which Mr. Pitt had introduced. Peel
went as far as he dared to restore an exclusively metallic money
— the money of the early ayes of barbarism. Nor shall we ever
permanently prosper as a nation, till we return to a Represen-
tative Paper Money — the money of civilization and progress.
Money which is capable of expanding with expanding wealth
and increasing population. Money based upon the great truth
that a nation's wealth consists not only in the precious metals,
which are drawn out of the mine ; but that there is wealth
lying hid in the nerves and sinews of the labourer, the enter-
prise of the merchant, the skill of the artizan, the discoveries
of science ; which, therefore, gives to every wealth-produ-
cing power of man, to land and to labour — no less than to
gold and silver — -its representative, as well as its real valuer

METCALFE, PRINTER, RETFORB.

PUBLICATIONS OF THE RETFORD
CURRENCY SOCIETY.

Currency, Agriculture, and Free Trade — third thousand : price
3s. a hundred.

To the Farmers of England — third thousand : price 2s. a
hundred.

What has Peel's Bill done, and what has it not done ? — second
thousand : price 2s. a hundred.

How can Paper Money increase the Wealth of a Nation ?—
price 4s. a hundred.

The above may be obtained of Messrs, Simpkin, Marshall,
and Co. Stationers' Hall Court ; Mr. Olliviers, 59, Pall Mall -,
Mr. Skeffington's, 192, Piccadilly, London ; also of the Printer,
at Retford.

SECOND ADDRESS TO THE

MEKS OF ENGLAND.

" A decrease of the quantity of Money produces the same effect on the
u price of a commodity, as an increase of the quantity of the commo-
" dity itself; if CORN be that commodity, an addition to the value of
" Money, such as the diminution of its quantity occasions, ensures at
11 effectually a fall in the price of Corn, as the Opening of the Ports
" and Free Importation," — Sir James Graham's Corn and Currency.

EVERY man ought to know something, and to know it
correctly, of the laws which govern Money^- the circu-
lating medium of exchange — in his own country. Many
may be inclined to say that the Currency Question can
have nothing to do with the Farmer. The Currency
.Question is often called a banker's question. Men of
business, commercial men and traders, may be interested
in it ; but what, it is said, can farmers have to do with
monetary science ? Now consider for a moment what
the business of a farmer is. He raises crops ; he breeds
cattle ; it is his business to cultivate his land in the best
possible manner. And what is the best manner ? Why
it is the most profitable manner. That is the best manner
for his landlord, for himself, and for his labourers. And -
how is his profit to be ascertained ? Why, by the money
which he obtains for his produce. He sells his produce ;
that is, instead of bartering away the part of his corn and
cattle which he does not want to consume, for clothes
and the necessaries of life, he buys money with it, knowing
that money will exchange for every thing which he wants.-
A farmer has also many fixed money payments. H^s.
rent, his taxes, his tythe, his rates, — all these he is obliged
to pay in money. Money is, in short, one half of every
bargain made by the farmer, as well as by men in trade.
Is it not, therefore, of the greatest importance tq the
farmer not only to attend to his crops and his cattle, but
also to the laws which regulate the supply of that in
which he is paid for both ? Suppose that, just at harvest
ffo, 5.

L-JI

time, government were to send out and destroy half the
standing corn, that would surely enhance the price of the
remainder. But suppose government withdraws one-half
of the money which the country has to pay for it, surely
that will greatly lower the price of the crop. And thus
all the skill and labour of the farmer may, as far as his
own interest is concerned, be thrown away. His rent,
tithe, taxes, and rates remaining the same, a withdrawal
of the circulating medium may so lower prices as to
sweep away the whole of his profits — or even to cause
him to cultivate the soil at a loss. Upon abstract prin-
ciples, then, we see the importance of the monetary
question to the farmer.

Now let us consider the practical bearing of this ques-
tion upon the English Farmer in the year 1851, and to
do this we must look back a little. To the English
Farmer, every thing affecting the circulating medium is
extremely important, because his fixed money payments
are on so high a scale. The war left us in 1815 with a
National Debt entirely unprecedented in the history of
the world. The funded and unfunded debt on the 5th
of January, 1816, was stated by the Committee of the
House of Commons, to be £885,186,324. This might
well be called enormous. Sir Robert Walpole had said,
"When the debt reaches 100 millions, the nation will
be bankrupt/' At the breaking out of the French Revo-

^ lution the debt was 260 millions ; so that 625 millions
were added from 1793 to 1816. During this time, what
had been the state of the English farmer? His fixed

-rmoney payments had constantly been increasing — his
taxes rose enormously — his rents and rates also. But

^he monied price of his commodities also rose. From
^689 to 1764 (76 years), the average price of Wheat was
#7s. 9d. a quarter. From 1765 to 1793, it was 49s. 5d.
a quarter. But after the Bank Restriction Act of 1797,
whedPthe quantity of money began to be greatly increased,
the ofece of corn rose rapidly. Taking the average of
wheat from 1/94 to 1820, it was 87s. lOd. a quarter.
From* 1809 to 1820, it was 98s. 9d. a quarter. Nothing
is more frequently said than that the war was the cause of
this enormous rise of price. No doubt the obstruction

of intercourse raised the price somewhat higher than it
would, at times, have been ; but it was not war which
mainly or principally raised the price, for never, under
any circumstances of war or peace, had corn for an
average of five years been more than 50s. a quarter in
this country. But we ask any one who says that the war
raised the price of corn, this simple question — where did
the money come from to pay that price ? Here was corn
nearly doubled in price — how could the country afford to
carry on an expensive war, to pay heavy taxes, to suffer
all the evils of suspended commerce, to raise large loans
for the government, and to pay nearly double the price
for its food ? It was the Paper Currency which enabled
the country to do all this, and to pay the high price which
it did for corn, and all other commodities. The people
cannot give a high price if they have not got the money.
The people must have done without bread corn — must
have lived upon inferior food, as they did during former
wars — had there not been a supply of paper money,
which enabled them, when all their gold and silver was
sent abroad, to carry on their home trade, to increase
their capital, to labour and enjoy the fruits of their labour,
by means of this new and most important instrument of
exchange — 'Paper Money. Labour creates wealth. There
was plenty of real wealth in the country during the war,
because there were plenty of hard-working men toiling
daily to increase the nation's resources. The forge, the
loom, the plough, daily added to the wealth of the people.
That small portion of the national prosperity which lay in
gold and silver was drained away, and when brought back
from abroad was soon sent out again ; but the great mass
of the nation's wealth remained, and the great use of the
circulating paper medium which we had adopted was to
facilitate the distribution of this wealth amongst ourselves,
to be of use in the collection of the taxes, to discharge,
in a word, as it most efficiently and beneficially did,
the functions of Money.

But what was the course pursued by this country after
the Peace of 1815 ? We returned to cash payments ; we
attempted to do away with that system of paper currency
in which our enormous debt was contracted, and we

adopted a gold standard, the highest standard of money
that could be adopted, and which was never the standard
of value in this country before ; and we did this just at
the worst possible time, viz. — when we were enormously
in debt. The Debt was thus nearly doubled at a stroke.
We engaged to pay in goods, in corn, and in labor, nearly
twice the amount of the money we had borrowed. The
quantity of money being greatly diminished, prices fell ;
corn declined nearly one-half; every man who had taken
a lease, or contracted a mortgage, found that he had
thereby signed his ruin. Farmers, about 1819, were ruined
by thousands ; for this plain reason — that they were sub-
ject to fixed money payments calculated on a high scale
of prices, which they had to discharge with their produce
forced down, by the diminution of the circulating medium,
to a low scale of prices. All the producing classes, traders
and manufacturers, suffered from the same cause ; and
then commenced that destructive warfare of the different
classes of society, which has been going on to the present
time. And this contest of classes will continue till Eng-
land's power and wealth are destroyed, unless this great
evil, a bad monetary system, be reformed. Whenever the
principle of Peel's Bills have been fairly carried out, and
the circulating medium has been reduced, distress and
ruin have followed : whenever the principle has been de-
parted from, or suspended — as it has repeatedly been by
government through fear of the consequences — and the
money of the country has been allowed to become ade-
quate to the country's wants, a period of comparative
prosperity has occurred. — Let us, then, learn wisdom by
past and bitter experience — let no class of the community
imagine that they are to be benefited by injuring any
other class of their fellow-countrymen— but let all unite
against the common enemy, viz. — the absurd and ruinous
monetary system established by PEEL'S BILLS OF 1819
AND 1844.

LONDON :

SIJIPKIN, MARSHALL, AND CO. STATIONERS' HALL COURT; AND

SKEFFINGTON AND CO. 192, PICCADILLY.

AND A. METCALFE, RETFORD.

1851.

ftetfotfi Curremg

MARKET BOSWORTH

FARMERS' ASSOCIATION
MEETING,

HELD OCTOBER 2ND. 1850,

AT THE

DIXIE ARMS INN.

LONDON :

SIMI'KJN, MARSHALL, AND CO. STATIONERS' HALL COURT; AND
SKF.FFINGTON AND CO. 192, PICCADILLY.

AND A METCALFE, RETFORD.
1851.

No. 3. [^coutr

REPORT OF THE MEETING

OF THE

MARKET BOSWOBTH FARMERS' ASSOCIATION,

TO COINTSIDER

THE CURRENCY,

AS IT AFFECTS THE INTERESTS
OF THE AGRICULTURISTS OF GREAT BRITAIN,

ITROM THE LEICESTERSHIRE MERCURY.

ON Wednesday, October 2nd, the Market Bosworth Farmers'
Association again met, and the attendance of Members was
numerous. MR. RICHARD SMITH, of Sutton Cheney, was called
to the chair.

MR. NEEDHAM GIMSON moved the first resolution, as
follows : — " That the question of the Currency is one which
materially affects the Agriculturists of Great Britain, and be-
comes indispensably necessary to be considered since the
principles of Free Trade have been adopted." It might be
asked, perhaps, (said Mr. Gimson,) why the Farmers should
take up this question ; what had they to do with it — and, did
they understand it ? If they did not understand it, that was
because they had not yet studied the question (hear). As to
its not affecting thefai, he would remark that the farmers found,
owing to the reduction in the price of agricultural produce,
that they were paying £2 for every £1 they were receiving
(hear) ; and they all knew that our present Currency system
was based on the Corn Law, which estimated the average
price of wheat at 80s. a quarter : that was, no foreign corn
should come into this country under 80s. a quarter. He did
not mean that the farmers received 80s. a quarter for their corn
under that law — (hear) — but that they were supposed to be
receiving 80s., and that their payments were based on that

supposition (hear, hear, hear). They had now, however, to
sell two quarters for that supposed price of one ; and that
being the case, was it reasonable that the landed interest should
be called upon to pay two pounds where, before, they only had
to pay one ? (hear, hear). The other day, as he wanted anew
coat, he went into a tailor's shop to ask the price of one — he
was told 50s. He told the tradesman that money was a scarce
commodity with farmers now ; but that he would give him a
quarter of corn for his coat (laughter). The tailor, however,
said No ; the principle of barter would not suit him : and so
(we understood) the bargain was not struck (hear, hear).
These remarks were very general, he was aware ; and he
refrained from going further into the question, as the Rev. Mr.
Twells would shortly address them at length upon the subject.
But he (Mr* G.) would beg to remind the meeting that they
had a mighty struggle before them, for which they must arm
themselves well. They had justice on their side; their arms
must be the goose-quill and discussion ; and, clothed in a
panoply of hope, assurance, and indomitable perseverance, he
had no fear of the result (cheers). They had no Corn Tax— »
they would have no Bank Tax (renewed cheers).

Mr, J. J. BURBURY briefly seconded the resolution : after
which, the CHAIRMAN said he had now the pleasure of calling
upon the Rev. John Twells, of Perlethorpe, Nottinghamshire,
to express his opinion upon the question now before the
meeting.

Mr. TWELLS then rose and spoke as follows : — In venturing
to appear amongst you, I must request your indulgence, both
as a stranger and as one whose profession may appear to dis-
qualify him, in some respects, for taking a part in the public
discussion of the question which calls us together do- day.
I can unaffectedly say, that nothing but an overwhelming sense
of the importance of this question to the country in general,
and at this time more particularly to the Agricultural Interest,
would have induced me, here or elsewhere, to have come
forward as I am now doing (hear). Yes, gentlemen, it is a
deeply-rooted conviction of many years' standing, founded on a
deliberate and impartial consideration of this question, and an
attentive observation of the facts of the case for the last thirty
years, which has induced numbers of thinking men — arguing
from the experience of what has happened in this country, to
abstract principles as to the causes of what they have wit-*

nessed — to devote their time and energies to this little-under-
stood question : — because we believe that the interests of all,
rich and poor, manufacturers and agriculturists, are so deeply
involved in it, that permanent prosperity can never (under any
circumstances) be secured, till \ve have a thorough reform of
the present Monetary System established by Peel's Bills of
1819 and 1844 (cheers).

The resolution, which will be put from the Chair for your
adoption or rejection, declares " That the Question of the
Currency is one which materially affects the Agriculturists of
Great Britain." And with respect to the importance of the
question to the agriculturists, and all other classes, I beg to
call your attention to the opinion of the late Sir Robert Peel,
in his speech of May 6, 1844, on the Bank Charter Bill.
Speaking of his Currency Bill, he says, — " There is no con-
" tract, public or private, no engagement, national or indivi-
" dual, which is unaffected by it. The enterprises of commerce,
" the profits of trade, the arrangements to be made in all the
" domestic relations of society, the wages of labour, the
" transactions of the highest amount, and of the lowest, the
" payment of the national debt, the provision for the national
" expenditure on the one hand, and the command which the
" coin of the smallest denomination has over the necessaries
" of life on the other, are all affected by the decision to which
" we may come on that great question which I am about to
" submit to the consideration of the committee." With this
comprehensive and well-expressed statement of Sir Robert
Peel I entirely agree. Money is one-half of every bargain
made between man and man. In early times, all traffic was
a matter of barter. Each man bartered the superfluity of
what he possessed, for that which he desired to possess. But
it soon became requisite to have something for which all
should be willing to exchange commodities. That something
was called Money. In different countries, various commodities
have been considered money ; but the precious metals, as they
are called, Gold and Silver, have, from their portability and
durability, been generally adopted for that purpose. One of
the earliest instances on record of a precious metal being a
medium of exchange is that of Abraham, with which you are
all familiar. Abraham bought the field of Machpelah, of
Ephron the Hittite, the son of Zohar, for four hundred sheckels
of silver. This silver was " current with the merchant," but

6

it was not coin. " Abraham weighed to Ephron the silver."
The word sheckel comes from the Hebrew shackal, to weigh.
Calmet affirms that the Hebrews had no coined money until
Antiochus Sidetes, King of Syria, granted to Judas Maccabseus
the privilege of coining money in Judcea. Now the value of
any commodity — Corn, for instance — would depend on two
things : the supply and demand of corn, and the supply and
demand of silver. And here you will, I think, begin to see
clearly how the Currency Question affects your interests. The
farmer is a manufacturer, so to speak, of corn and cattle. H
takes the superfluity of his corn and cattle to market, and
with them buys money. He must possess himself of money,
for money is the only legal tender for his rent, his taxes, and
his debts. And hence the farmers seem to me to have been
much mistaken as to their interests, when they directed their
attention solely to the laws which were made about Corn,
and entirely neglected those which were made about Money
(hear). They ought to have attended to the laws made about
both (hear, hear) ; for their interests are as much affected by
the laws made respecting what they buy, viz. Money, as by
those made about what they sell, viz. Corn. In 1826, Sir
James Graham, in his Corn and Currency, said, " The value
" of money is in the inverse ratio of its quantity ; the supply
" of commodities remaining the same, increase the quantity of
"money, prices rise; decrease the quantity of money, prices
" fall. On the other hand, the quantity of money remaining
" the same, increase the quantity of commodities, prices fall ;
" decrease the quantity of commodities, prices rise." I will
endeavour to make this, if possible, still plainer, because this
should be well understood. I adopt, then, Mr. Mills' illus-
tration. Suppose there are 100 loaves, and 100 shillings to
exchange for them ; each loaf would command a shilling.
The loaves remaining 100, increase the shillings to 200, and
each loaf would command two shillings : decrease the number
of shillings to 50, and each loaf would then command only
sixpence. On the other hand, the number of shillings remain-
ing 100, increase the loaves to 200, and each shilling would
command two loaves : decrease the loaves to 50, and it would
then take two shillings to buy one loaf (hear, hear). Here,
then, is the common sense view of the Currency Question.
If the quantity of money in circulation be increased, the
harvest being an average one, corn rises : — if the quantity of

7

money be decreased, prices fall. A very bad or deficient har-
vest, is an exceptional case ; Corn then rises to a famine-price,
from the scarceness of the commodity, as, with a very abun-
dant harvest, it falls from the plentifulriess of the gifts of
Providence (hear.)

How, then, do facts bear out this theory of common sense ?
There have been two periods of a great increase of money.
One, in the time of Queen Elizabeth, from the discovery of
the American mines ; the other when Mr. Pitt carried out the
system of a Paper Currency. What was the effect of the
increase of the circulating medium in Elizabeth's time ? From
1499 to 1560 the price of wheat was 10s. and 5-12ths a
quarter; from 1561 to 1601 wheat was 47s. 5^-d. a quarter
(hear). What was the cause of this enormous rise ? " The
" discovery of the abundant mines in America," says Adam
Smith, " seems to have been the sole cause of this diminution,
" in the value of silver in proportion to that of corn. It is
" accounted for, accordingly, in the same manner by every-
body ,- and there has never been any dispute, either about
" the fact, or about the cause of it." How few things are
there about which Adam Smith, or any other man, could say,
and say truly, " there never has been any dispute !" (hear).
Look, next, at the still greater increase of the circulating
medium which took place in Pitt's time. What was the state
of the country in 1797 — the period of the Bank Restriction
Act ? After a long and expensive struggle with our American
Colonies, and being at war with France, the gold and silver
of the country was nearly all drained away. The Bank could
no longer pay its notes in gold, and afford assistance to Go-
vernment. Our gold and silver was exhausted : but were we
therefore poor? No, the real wealth — the land, the mines,
the houses, the workshops of the world — remained (hear.)
Our ships covered the seas, bearing away the produce of our
looms and mills, to exchange for the riches of every clime,
And, above all, our country was full of MEN (cheers) — of an
industrious, energetic, and persevering population — a bold
Anglo-Saxon race, with stout hearts and willing hands, equal
to all emergencies, and prepared to encounter and overcome
any difficulties. These constitute the real wealth of a nation
(cheers).

And what did Pitt's measures do ? Why they provided a
representative for all this real wealth. A. Paper Money which

8

might distribute commodities — might enable men to exchange
the productions of their industry, to buy and sell, to pay rents,
taxes, and debts — in a word, to discharge, as the Bank Notes
did discharge, all the functions of money (hear). — Every sov-
ereign we have in this country we have bought with our goods.
So it was then ; while the Paper Money was circulating at
home, our merchants were exchanging their goods for other
commodities, and gold and silver among other things, abroad ;
and this gold and silver were sold to Government, and with it
our troops were paid, and foreign powers subsidized (hear).
Under this system the country nourished, in spite of War and
all its attendant evils. I say " in spite of War." For I adopt
the opinion of a man who has been a warrior from his youth
up — the Duke of Wellington — in calling war " the greatest
of all evils" (loud cheers). Morally, socially, and politically,
War is the most dreadful scourge which Providence has per-
mitted to visit the earth (renewed cheering). This country
felt, and felt severely at times, the evils of war. The closing
of ports and markets by French influence was an evil. The
seizure of ten millions of property belonging to British mer-
chants in the Baltic ports, caused much distress. The refusal
of the Americans to take our goods— of which £7,000,000.
annually were sold in the States — inflicted much suffering on
our manufacturing districts. Still, we spent much in war —
we lent large sums to Government — we paid heavy taxes —
and the nation progressed and prospered (hear). The reason
of this was, that aa adequate and abundant circulating me-
dium was provided. In 1797, the Bank Notes in circulation
were £8,601,964. ; in 1807, the circulation was £16,724,368.
—or nearly double ; in 1814, it was £28,291,832. or more
than three times as much as in 1797 (hear). With this increase
in money, prices rose. The Committee of the House of Com-
mons reported in 1815, that the price of wheat in this country,
on an average of 5 years, had never exceeded 50s. a quarter.
But the average price of wheat from 1794 to 1820 was 87s.
lOd. a qr. and from 1809 to 1820, 98s. 9d. a qr. And observe
— there was NO PROTECTION then (hear, hear). We were then
a corn importing country, and land was constantly being
brought into cultivation. Porter states that, from 1797 to
1816, no less than 17/9 Inclosure Bills passed. We had also
fewer mouths to feed. The population of Great Britain, ac-
cording to Mr. McCulloch was in 1801, 10, 943,000-- while

in 1848 it was 21,000,000 (hear). But it may be said that
this was a " fictitious price " — that it was only a paper-money
price. But, in a highly taxed country like ours, the price,
to be remunerative, must be comparatively high ; for this
reason — that the farmer, and every producer, to get a remuner-
ative price, ought to be able to add the amount of taxation to
the cost of production (hear). If you can produce any article
at a cost represented by 4, and an amount equal to 2 be added
by taxation, your price must become 6 to make it remunerative
(hear).

But high prices, as was before said, can only exist with an
abundant circulating medium. The system of paper money,
in operation during the war, supplied this abundant circulation;
and therefore enabled the country to bear its heavy burdens,
arid to prosper in spite of them (hear, hear). What happened
when our efforts were at last crowned with an universal peace ?
The nation's rejoicings were scarcely over, before a period
commenced of dreadful distress (hear). How was this brought
about ? Immediately after peace was proclaimed, the Bank
was informed that its notes must be paid in gold at a fixed
price (viz. £3. 17s. lO^d. an oz.) Accordingly the Bank pro-
ceeded forthwith to draw in its notes. The circulation, which,,
according to Mr. Loyd, was at its highest in 181.3 and 1814,
was diminished nearly one half in 1816 and 1817. The
country bankers were forced to do the same. Prices declined
immediately — ruin followed. In March, 1815, the Corn Law
passed which was to secure the farmer 80s. a quarter for his
wheat; in the following December, the monthly average was
55s. 9d. a quarter, or 30 per cent, less than the law of March
had fixed as a remunerative price (hear, hear). The distress
of 1816 was terrific. This is the description of it given in
January, 1817, by Mr. Tierney : — "Each succeeding year
since the war ended" said he, " has only made things worse ;
" the distress, at first confined principally to our agriculture,
" has spread to every branch of trade and industry, and the
" national misery has reached a point wholly without a precedent
" since the Norman Conquest " (hear). The people were
aghast, and asked the cause of all this. They were told by
their rulers that it was the sudden transition from war to peace
which was ruining the country (hear) ! How was this distress
removed ? That question was answered by the Bank Directors
in their evidence before the committee of 1819 : " Was not

B2

10

1816," it was asked, "a period of very considerable com-
mercial and agricultural distress?" "Very great indeed,"
answered Mr. Hurman. " Did not that distress render it
necessary to relieve the public by an increased issue of bank
notes ?" " Yes." " Were not the advances made in that
year by the Bank to Government, a great instrument of re-
lieving the distress you have spoken of, by affording more
plentiful circulation ?" " Yes ; inasmuch as they made money
plentiful." Money was made plentiful, and the distress van-
ished (hear). But Government persevered in urging on cash
payments. Peel made his first public change of opinion, and
came out of the committee of 1819 a bullionist. In January,
1819, the country had fully recovered from its prostration.
The Prince Regent told Parliament that he had the " greatest
" satisfaction in being able to inform them that the trade,
" commerce, and manufactures of the country, were in a most
" flourishing condition. The average price of wheat for 1818
was 84s. a quarter ; agriculture was therefore also flourishing.
The revenue of the country, without a new tax, increased in
1818 no less than £4,700,000. Peel's bill passed on July 2,
1819. The consequences of that measure shall be described
to you by Mr. Matthias Attwood. In a speech delivered by
him on June 8, 1830, — (which contains, I venture to affirm,
more statesmanlike principles, more profound and sagacious
views oh monetary science than any speech delivered on this
subject in either of the Houses of Parliament) — in that speech
he says, " That Act fell on the calm prosperity and labours of
"the people — on the prosperous industry of the country — to
" confound, and disorder, and destroy. All the calamities of
"1816 were renewed. The blow was first felt by the
" manufacturing population. Without employment — without
"wages — without the means of subsistence; suffering from
" artificial famine in the midst of plenty — ignorant from whence
" the blow came, by thousands and tens of thousands the
" manufacturing population prepared for resistance." In No-
vember of the same year, Parliament was called together again.
The Prince Regent thus addressed them. " I have observed."
he said, " with great concern, the attempts made in some of
" the manufacturing districts to take advantage of local distress
" to excite disaffection to the institutions and government of
" the country. A spirit is now fully manifested, utterly hos-
" tile to the constitution of this kingdom, and aiming, not only

11

" at the change of those political institutions which have
" hitherto constituted the pride and security of this country,
" but at the subversion of the rights of property, and of all
" order in society." The Luddites at this time destroyed
machinery, to which they attributed their sufferings — riots
broke out in Lancashire — the farmers suffered next — thousands
were entirely ruined (hear) — wheat went down to 64s. a qr. —
incendiary fires spread throughout the rural districts (hear).
The Habeas Corpus Act was suspended — and a special com-
mission sent out to try, condemn, and execute the rioters and
rick burners (hear). The distress continued: in 1820 wheat
was sold at 53s. lid. a quarter, in 1821 at 46s. 2d. a quarter,
and in 1822 at 38s. Id. a quarter (true). Remember there
was no free trade then (hear). The agriculturists were told
that their distress now arose from over production (hear and
laughter) — Providence has been too bountiful, and their crops
too good (hear). Again money was made plentiful. Lord
Londonderry's Small Note Act, allowing £1 and £2 notes,
passed. By loans to government, loans to the landed interest,
loans on public works, money was forced into circulation.
Four millions were thus added to the circulation. The coun-
try revived. Mr. Tooke says that the circulating medium
altogether became 50 per cent, greater in 1825 than it had
been in 1S23. The King, in his speech, said "There never
" was a period in the history of the country when all the in-
" terests of society were, at the same time, in so flourishing a
" condition." Prices rose ; it became more profitable to the
foreigner to take our gold than our goods, and by the end of
1825, scarcely a sovereign was left in the Bank. The circu-
lation was therefore rapidly, contracted, by the Bank with-
drawing its issues, and in December, 1825, broke out the
Panic (hear). The blow fell first on the bankers. One-eighth
part of the country banks in England, and six of the London
banks, stopped payment. They were told that they deserved
their ruin : — it arose from over-isrue of notes — (hear) — that
over-issue which, if it existed, Government had done every-
thing in their power to encourage. The traders and manu-
facturers of the country speedily felt the ill effects of the panic
of 1825. They were told that their sufferings arose from an
over production of commodities. They had worked too hard,
risen too early, been too ingenious in increasing the produce
of their industry (hear and laughter). Yet the poor in the

12

manufacturing districts were starving " with food in abundance
staring them in the face," says Mr. Francis ; and two hun-
dred families were officially declared to have among them only-
four blankets. The country continued to suffer (hear). The
agricultural distress of 1829 and 1830 was most extreme, and
the House of Commons was assailed with petitions from all
parts, and from all interests, which even now cannot be read
without shrinking from the details of the misery which they
record.

In 1832 occurred another panic, though less severe than that
of 1825. The Reform Bill, which distress had driven the
people to demand, brought no relief. In 1834 wheat was sold
for 41s. 5d., in 1835 for 36s. 8d., and in 1836 for 36s. a
quarter : — still, no Free Trade, wheat being protected up to
70s. a quarter (hear). In 1837 came a panic again, and in
1839 the Bank had to borrow 2j millions of specie from the
Bank of France to escape bankruptcy (hear).

Government, in 1843, propounded the doctrine, that Indirect
Taxation had reached its limit. The Whigs went out, leaving
a deficit, the effect of bad money-laws, of £10,072,638, and
Peel again came into office and imposed the Income Tax. In
1844 Peel introduced his Bank Charter Bill, in doing which
he said that " during the last 20 years, four decisive proofs, at
" four distinct periods, had been given, viz in 1825, 1832,
" 1837, and 1839, that under the present system of Currency
the principle of Convertibility is endangered. " This was the
condemnation of his Bill of 1819 by himself. He therefore
proposed to take " effectual measures " — the matured wisdom of
Bullionism — to prevent such evils recurring. Mr. Goulburn
called this measure "a perfect system" (hear, hear !) In
October 1847, came another dreadful panic, in which the Bank
was only saved from stopping payment by the interference of
the Government. — The late Lord Ashburton therefore justly
called the Bill of 1844 " a great experiment which had signally
failed" (hear).

Gentlemen, I have entered into these details to show to you
the repeated proofs which we have had of the imperfection of
our Monetary System ; to show how this country has been
forced for the last thirty years to alternate between prosperity
and distress — and to make it plain that, whenever we have had
an adequate circulating medium, prices have risen to a remu-
nerative level and we have enjoyed prosperity ; and that

13

whenever Peel's system has come into active operation, and
the circulation has been contracted, forced cheapness has
resulted, and distress, misery, and ruin have pervaded all
classes (hear, hear, and cheers).

But it were useless to point out these evils, unless we could
also point out their remedy. This can be done. The great
evil of the present system is the fixed price of gold (hear).
The obligation on the Bank to buy gold when it does not want
it, and to sell it when there is a drain, causes the arbitrary
expansions and contractions of the Currency. With gold at
its market-price, the country flourished during the War, and
would again do so. Paper-money, in which gold might rise
and fall in price, and which should be a legal tender for all
pecuniary obligations, might be provided in sufficient amount,
and made perfectly secure. There are various ways in which
this might be done. Pitt effected it by a Bank Restriction
Act. I proposed a simple method some time since, which
might, with ease and facility, be adopted, viz. to release the
Bank from its obligation to buy gold when it had a certain
sum, say 14 millions, of specie in its coffers, and also to remove
the restriction of never issuing beyond the sum of 14 millions
on securities. In the event of a drain of gold, I would allow
the Bank to issue notes beyond this limit, on securities, and
not only, as is now the case, on the gold locked up in the issue
department. Thus, when gold leaves the country, the void
created in the circulation would be immediately supplied by
bank-notes (hear).

But perhaps no plan has commended itself so generally as
the one proposed by Mr. John Taylor, of London, a gentle-
man who has thoroughly mastered the question, and has
philosophically examined and elucidated it. He proposes that
a National Paper Money should be issued, of £1 notes and
upwards, which issue should never exceed in a year the
amount of the annual taxation. This money paid away by
government for the salaries of its officers, for the dividends,
and for all expenses, would be a legal tender, and being re-
ceivable for taxes would never be either in excess, nor liable
to depreciation. As the penny postage-stamps collect the
whole revenue of the Post-office, so would this money collect
the whole revenue of the nation (hear). The arrangement of
this plan would be matter of detail, and presents no real diffi-
culties. As to private banks and banking companies, I would

14

interfere as little as possible with them — only taking care to
make their issues as secure as possible, that so the currency
of the nation might be rendered as perfectly safe as gold itself
(hear). Thus with a paper-money system similar to that
which we had during the war, but better — improved by all the
suggestions which experience and philosophy can present — is
it possible not to see that the prosperity and happiness of this
country might be increased to an extent scarcely yet contem-
plated ? (hear).

We can tell how this Currency would increase the nation's
wealth : —

I. — It would replace a very expensive medium of exchange
—GoLD, by a very cheap one — PAPKR. The fifty or sixty
millions of gold which are now supposed to be in circulation,
and which are merely used as counters, would be then re-
placed by notes. Here at once would be a saving of more
than two millions a-year, by converting this large amount of
dead stock into active, productive stock (hear). Suppose a
farmer had been taught that it was necessary to use a golden
ploughshare worth £1000, and a man came and said, " I will
" make for you a ploughshare of iron for 100 pence, which will
" do the work just as well:" — it is plain that the farmer would
have the difference between £1000 and 100 pence to employ
as active capital (hear). He could improve his land, drain,
manure, and what not, when he had substituted a cheap
ploughshare for a dear one (hear, hear). Lord Liverpool's
wisdom led him to a contrary opinion, when he advocated the
introduction of the present system, " The richest standard,
" Gold," said he, " is best adapted for a rich country." The
country was prospering with, and by, cheap money. "Adopt
" an expensive money," said Lord Liverpool, " Plough your
" land with a golden ploughshare." We did so, and threw
aside an inexpensive and tried instrument merely to adopt
a fanciful theory (hear, hear, and cheers).

II. — But we say that a representative Paper Currency
would benefit the nation by rendering our circulating medium
independent of the foreign exchanges. When gold flows into
the country, the Bank increases its issues, for it is forced to
buy gold at a fixed price, with its paper. The rate of in-
terest is lowered, and speculation is forced upon the people,
from the difficulty of obtaining a profitable investment for
capital, When gold goes out of the country, the Bank con-

15

tracts its issues, for it is liable to pay its notes in gold at £3.
17s. lO^d. an ounce. Hence money becomes exceedingly
scarce, interest rises enormously, prices fall, trade is para-
lysed, hoarding begins, panic ensues, and distress and ruin, as
in 1825, 1832, 1837, 1839, and 1847, follow (hear). The
effect of the panic of 1825 is thus described by Sir James
Graham in his Corn and Currency : " Commerce is stagnated,
" manufactures suspended ; masters are without money, and
" men without employment ; and ruin and insurrection stalk
" throughout the land." " I believe," said Mr. Cobden, in
nis evidence before a committee of the House of Commons,
" greater evils have been occasioned to the trade and manu-
" factures of the country in 1836 and 1837, and the subse-
" quent periods, by the fluctuations in the currency ; greater
" evils — pecuniary, social, and moral — than by the direct
" failures of all the bunks of issue since they were first
" established in the country " (hear). The Manchester
Chamber of Commerce in 1836 declared that the loss on
cotton, wool, silk, linen, and hardware, amounted to forty
millions through the Currency Laws. In 1847, the loss to
the country, as stated by Mr. Richard Spooner in the House
of Commons, was upwards of 250 millions. These ruinous
fluctuations and panics would be obviated under a well regu-
lated Currency (hear, hear).

III. — But the most important advantage of a Representa-
tive Paper Currency is this, — that we should obtain a circu-
lating medium capable of expansion, a money in which prices
would be able to rise as taxes are imposed, so that taxes
might be added to the cost of production, and a remunerative
price be obtained (hear). And further, as our population in-
creased, and our commodities increased also — in other words,
as our buyers and sellers increased, and the things to be
bought and sold increased — money, the medium of exchange
between man and man, might increase in due proportion.
People sometimes ask me why the law which governs — or
which ought to govern — the Currency, cannot be discovered ?
It is discovered. " Supply and demand," I say, " is the law of
the Currency." As men increase, more food is required, and
more clothes are required ; and if left to itself, the supply
will increase with the demand. So it is with Money. Make
Paper Money as safe as you please — make it as safe and secure
as gold itself; and this we can prove can be done — and then

16

leave the trade in money free. Leave it to the general, the
universal law of trade, viz., Supply and Demand (hear, hear).

I say, that experience fully justifies the expectations of an
improved state of things resulting from an alteration of the
Currency Laws. I say that the Paper Money System which
enabled this country to prosper in spite of war, would pro-
duce tenfold advantages in a time of peace (hear). Observe,
I do not say that Paper Money would do every thing. I do
not say, for instance, that it would enable a farmer to prosper
without skill, labour, judgment, and a fair amount of capital
(hear). I do not say that it would supply the place of science
and of knowledge in the direction of a man's energies. I
know that under any financial system, vice, improvidence, and
ignorance will bear their pernicious fruits. But I do say that
it would secure to labour its just reward ; that it would afford
to every man of integrity, talent, and energy, a fair opportu-
nity of improving his condition ; that it would prevent the
attempts which are made for raising the condition of the
people from being counteracted by the frequent recurrence of
those periods of severe distress and privation in which their
moral condition inevitably deteriorates (cheers). I say that
the Paper Money System which enabled this country to lend
to Government 600 millions, would enable the country to pay
off the debt, and thus cause a reduction of nearly 30 millions
of taxes. 1 believe that this country might then advance to a
greater height of happiness and prosperity than ever — that
instead of disunion and ill-will, we might see all classes
flourishing, and contributing to each other's prosperity; that
the well-being of the poor would furnish the best security for
the possessions of the rich ; that men would learn to prize the
institutions under which they live happily ; and that England
would become the instrument, in the hand of Providence, of
civilizing, elevating, and christianizing the whole world (loud
cheers).

But, gentlemen, I must apologize for taking so wide a
range, as well as for intruding thus long on your attention
(no, no, and cheers). 1 thank you very sincerely for the
patient and indulgent hearing which you have afforded me,
and I commend this important subject to your examination
and consideration. — The statements I have made are open to
investigation : I submit them to your inquiry. Quod dixi dixi
(cheers). Discussion is the best friend of truth (cheers).

I wish the subject to be fairly examined into. We have no
party, no class interest, to serve : " For each and for all," is
our motto (cheers). To extend commercial enterprize — to
restore to Agriculture its just remuneration — to ensure to the
rich the safe enjoyment of their abundance, and to the poor
man the just reward of his labour — this is our object (cheers).
I advocate the Currency Question, in a word, because I wish
to promote the greatest possible htippiness of the greatest
number, with the least possible injury to the least possible
number (loud cheers). And the success of this great question
is a matter only of time. Sooner or later, it will prevail.
But we must all, in our day and generation, do our part : for
the inscrutable decrees of Providence ordain, that every great
and good cause by which the happiness of our fellow-crea-
tures has to be promoted, must, under the blessing of heaven,
be worked out by the persevering energy of man himself (loud
and general applause).

The resolution was carried unanimously.

The second resolution, proposed by a member of the asso-
ciation, and seconded by Mr. ARTHUR BRICKWELL, was as
follows : — " That this meeting is of opinion that the farmers
of Great Britain must look to an alteration of the laws of the
Currency, as one just means of relieving them from their pre-
sent state of depression ; and they therefore direct the Com-
mittee of the Society to take steps for obtaining a revision of
the present monetary system established by Peel's bill of 1819
and 1844." — Carried unanimously.

Mr. H. CHAMBERLIN moved, and Mr. W. HARRISON se-
conded, a vote of thanks to Mr. Twells for his able and elo-
quent address. — Mr. Harrison observed that this was not the
first time they had met in that room, and that more than
once, during their discussion on other topics, some of them
had expressed their opinion that the existing Currency System
had a great deal to do with the present position of the farmer
(hear). For himself, he did not think they would ever get
their rents reduced to their proper level, until the Currency
Laws were reformed (hear). Mr. H. then rapidly gave a
sketch of his own experience as to the extraordinary fluctua-
tions in the price of stock as well as produce, which had taken
place concurrently with the various alterations in the Bank
issues and restrictions of issue since 1819-20, and after
strongly repeating his conviction of the necessity of the Cur-

18

rency Reform Movement being vigorously pushed onward,
said the question having thus been once formally mooted
among them, he trusted that it would not be allowed to drop
(hear, hear). They must look on this as only a preliminary
meeting. They must get further information ; and they must
discuss it again and again, to see whether they were right in
their views or not, though they would not always be as for-
tunate as they had been that evening in securing the assistance
of so able an expositor as Mr. TWELLS (hear, hear). Truth,
however, was truth ; truth and justice only had been advocated
in that Association ; and so long as their body held together,
he believed they would be advocated there (cheers).

Mr. TWELLS briefly replied, and added that it gave him
great pleasure to visit so practical an association as that at
Market Bosworth.

After a vote of thanks to Mr. Harrison, for the incessant
interest he took in the prosperity of the Association, and for
introducing Mr. TWELLS ; and to the Chairman for again pre-
siding, the meeting — the interest of which was kept up to the
very last — separated about half- past six o'clock.

METCALFB, PRINTER, RETFORD.

PUBLICATIONS

OF THE

RETFORD CURRENCY SOCIETY,

I. CURRENCY, AGRICULTURE, AND FREE TRADE

— fifth thousand. Price 3s. per hundred.

II. TO THE FARMERS OF ENGLAND— sixth thousand.

Price 2s. per hundred.

Ill WHAT HAS PEEL'S BILL DONE? arid WHAT
HAS IT NOT DONE ?— fourth thousand. Price 2s.
per hundred.

IV. HOW CAN PAPER MONEY INCREASE THE
WEALTH OF A NATION? — third thousand. Price
4s. per hundred.

V. SECOND ADDRESS TO THE FARMERS OF ENG-

LAND— seventh thousand. Price 2s. per hundred.

VI MARKET BOSWORTH MEETING— second thou-
sand. Price 6s. per hundred.

The above may be obtained of Messrs. Simpkin, Marshall,
and Co., Stationers' Hall Court; and Skeffington and Co.,
192, Piccadilly, London : Also of A. Metcalfe, Printer.
Market-place, Retford

HG
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