and the livre in France, were originally equal to a pound weight of silver; and our penny-weight also was equivalent in weight to one pennyworth of silver.

He was astonished that the right honourable gentleman should seem to conceive, that the shilling was a coin which had no regular standard. Weights had been made, and were kept at the Mint, which were the standard weight of a shilling, as the legal coin of the country. The right honourable gentleman appeared not even to be aware of the provisions made, upon this head, in modern acts of parliament. The law of the land was so explicit on the subjeet, that he could not repress his astonishment when he heard the right honourable gentleman assert, that the coin called a shilling passed current, without any reference to its weight. Could it be possible, that the right honourable gentleman was ignorant of the existence of the act of the fourteenth of his present Majesty, intituled, " an Act for regulating the weights to be made use of for determining the value of gold and silver coins," the first provision of which act set forth, what the weight should be for trying "certain pieces of gold coin called guineas, and certain pieces of silver coin called shillings?" It was only with reference to their weight that these pieces were to be taken as money. Were they, then, to be told, that the deteriorated worn out thing called a shilling-but which he would only call a counter-could legally pass current, without any reference to its weight?

Another provision in the act of the fourteenth of the present king was, that silver coin was not a legal tender, for any sum exceeding twenty-five pounds, except by tale or weight, after the rate of 58. 2d. the ounce. With regard to the gold coin, by a proclamation of the sixteenth of his present Majesty, it was ordered, that guineas, being the grand medium in which payments were made, should

cease to be a legal tender, if, by any circumstance, they became so deteriorated as not to weigh 5 dwts. 8 grains. The Privy Council had it, at that time, in contemplation, to allow them to pass current, although they weighed less, on a scale of diminished value, according to their weight.

It had been often said, that all money was merchandize; but it might be more convenient to make all merchandize money. The price of any one thing could only be determined by a reference to some other commodity, which, by common consent or established law, was fixed as a standard. This was a position which he must fully allow and admitthat any commodity might, in that way, answer the purpose of money and become money. The precious metals, however, had many decided advantages in this respect over all other commodities. He would not admit that they acquired their value entirely from any convention or agreement; but he thought they came into the situation in which they now stood from possessing intrinsic value. They were money before they were coined. He admitted that they so far partook of the nature of other commodities, that the abundance or scarcity of them must increase or diminish their value. As to what was called price-if there were no paper currency, it would be merely the comparison of other commodities with gold and silver, considered as commodities. When the price of either gold or silver was talked of separately, it could only mean with reference to the other precious metal.

It appeared to him, that it was not possible that there could be any real excess in a currency of gold and silver; and that nothing could be more absurd than to state a precise numerical amount of money which would be proper for the circulation of any given country. If the gold and silver were less abundant, a certain quantity of it would go farther, in exchange for other commodities; but if it were

more abundant, it would require a greater quantity to purchase the same articles. The price of all other commodities would then rise and fall, according to the abundance or scarcity of the precious metals. When paper, however, was the currency-and that paper not convertible into gold or silver-then there might, indeed, be an excessive issue. Even in that case, some persons now contended, that there could be no excess of issues of Bank paper; and their argument was, that the supply did not exceed the demand. It was said, that no man would ask them for money, unless he wanted it to make use of. It was evident, indeed, that the individuals applying for the money wanted it; but it was not evident, that it was for the public good that such issues should be made. Before the Restriction act was passed, nobody spoke of the quantity of notes issued by the Bank. That was a secret which no person was interested in penetrating, when the paper could, at pleasure, be exchanged for gold and silver. It was since the Restriction act that we heard, for the first time, of the quantity of money that was sufficient to serve this country; and the directors of the Bank appeared to have got a scale, by which they could gauge the country with as much precision as an exciseman could take the contents of a cask.

Upon this part of the question his decided opinion was, that coin was of no value, except with reference to the quantity and fineness of the gold and silver which it contained; and that paper was of no other value, but in reference to the coin it represented. If the currency consisted partly of coin and partly of paper, the excess of paper, above what the currency would be if it were coin, must be an excess of currency, and naturally tend to depreciation. It must be obvious, that the value of money was in the inverse ratio of its quantity. The value of a currency consisting of gold and silver could not be depreciated.

If paper, then, had no other value but in reference to coin, and if coin had none but in reference to the gold and silver which it contained, it followed that the real value of the paper was to be measured by the quantity of gold and siver in the coin which it was said to represent.

In confirmation of his opinion, the honourable gentleman referred to a work which must, he said, be considered as something more than an ordinary publication: he alluded to the Letter of the late Earl of Liverpool to the King, upon the Coin of the realm. Independently of the great ability which was manifested in that work, seeing that it was published in consequence of a regular inquiry into the subject, it carried with it the weight of official research, and might be considered, in some degree, as an official document. The noble lord stated, that "all commodities took their price and value, in reference to the coins, or, in other words, to the quantity of gold or silver, for which they could be exchanged." The value of paper, therefore, according to this reasoning, must have fallen, from the time when it would purchase a larger quantity of gold than it would do at present. When, therefore, the right honourable gentleman stated, that these notes had a value in public estimation, different from their value in reference to the price of gold, it was the right honourable gentleman who broached new doctrines, and such as were totally dif ferent from all former received opinions upon this subject. The bank-note did not now bear the same proportion to the gold contained in the coin that it did formerly, and therefore it was depreciated.

upon

If great perplexity and confusion had been produced this subject, they had not been occasioned by the Report of the Bullion Committee, but by the manner in which that Report had been handled. That increased taxation, by causing a greater inundation of paper, had a tendency

VOL. I.

to depreciate the currency, was probable; but that effect found a natural limit. The expense of working the mines prevented a superabundant supply of specie; and the effect of a scarcity of it was to increase its value, and consequently to diminish the prices of other commodities. The depreciation contemplated by the Committee was a depreciation of one part of the currency, from particular causes; which depreciation was detected by a comparison between the paper money, and the Mint standard of gold or silver which it represented. If the coin part of our currency did not bear its due proportion to the Mint standard,—if, for example, a smaller quantity of gold was called a guinea-then the depreciation would be in the coin; but, as it was the paper which represented a smaller quantity of gold than a guinea contained, it was the paper which was depreciated. If our metallic currency, at the present period, were so debased as to occasion a depreciation of twenty-five per cent., then this inequality could not exist, and paper would be a fair equivalent for coin. In King William's reign, the silver coinage was depreciated by debasement to the extent of thirty per cent. below its standard value, and the notes of the Bank, which were payable in silver, were equally depreciated. He was at a loss to conceive what was meant by the current value of bank-notes. What value could the creditor get from the Bank? The law had, indeed, given them its sanction, and the Exchequer received the notes at par-a circumstance which, probably, served very materially to sustain them in circulation.

Whilst he was upon this part of the subject, he must beg leave to call the attention of the House to an admirable Report, made to the Lords of the Treasury in the year 1776. This Report very truly and correctly stated, that the regulations of the Mint having established the gold currency of the country at a higher rate, with respect to silver, than the