£3 17s. 10 d. an ounce; but that the Bank shall proclaim, from time to time, the rate at which it will be ready to exchange its notes for gold; and that rate is to be fixed according to the market price of gold as compared with the paper; so that you may sometimes get an ounce of gold for four pounds in paper, or less, and sometimes you may be obliged to give ten pounds in paper for the ounce of gold. This would be a pretty thing; and, above all things, a pretty standard of value! The word standard means a thing which is fixed, as to its dimensions, capacity, or weight. Mr. TAYLOR'S standard is to be subject to everlasting variations: it is, in short, to be no standard at all; and, in such a case, there can be no guarantee, no security. The paper would depreciate as heretofore; the gold would leave the country in the same way as formerly: panics would come, confusion would arise, and an overthrow of property would be the end. exchange at the present standard rate of your first letter, and I shall so treat the second; and insert, also, the representation of the Grand Jury of the county of Kent. These gentlemen point out no remedy at all; they do not even allude to any remedy; they complain of the distress in which their tenants and labourers are involved; but they leave the remedy to the Government; a thing which I should not have done. They well understand the cause of their suffering, and they were of weight sufficient to demand that cause; they, at any rate, might have pointed out the measures which ought to have been adopted; but I am afraid that they, like you, sigh for a return of the mischievous paper, and vainly imagine, that by a patching-up of this sort, the terrible evils of the present day may be got over, and that the greater evils which threaten may be prevented. As easy would it be to restore your hair to the colour which it bore forty years ago, as to prevent final convulsion if we once more come to a depreciated paperFrom your letters, where you talk a- money. It is somewhat depreciated bout guarantees and security for the pa- now, and will be as long as a five-pound per, I should imagine that you had been note shall exist in the country. This taking a leaf out of Mr. Taylor's book; debased organ of exchange is gradually and I am really inclined to think that disappearing; it will totally disappear this has been the case: but this slight at the end of about two years from this disguise will hardly deceive the DUKE time; the depression will go on inof WELLINGTON. You flatter him by creasing until the hour of the disapexpressly saying that you do not want pearance of these things; and, unless the salaries to be reduced. He will like the taxes be reduced much more than this; and his colleagues will think you one half in their present amount, a state a fine gentleman; and all the court la- of things will arise such as was never dies, finding that you wish to leave all dreamed of even by the most sensitive the places and sinecures and grants, and alarmist. What I am now writing I to leave all their numerous tribes of pro-wish to be remembered; but it will be tegés untouched, will say that you are a very nice man. But the DUKE of WELLINGTON will soon discover that there is no safety in the paper project; he will discover that convulsion must come at last, and that that convulsion may arrive very soon; and I trust that he will, before it be too late, place us in a state of safety by a return to the taxes which ex-you ascribed the distress to a rise in the isted before the war. value of money, and proposed to lower the value of the coin. In 1829, you proposed a new and large issue of paper, as the proper remedy for the distress. Having thus changed; having ascribed I, Sir, do not treat you as you treat me: I not only name you, but give your publications, to my readers, and put them upon record. I so treated remembered whether I wish it or not. half-face that of an ass. Such, to him, would be the effect of following your advice. He knows this himself very well; and, therefore, were there no other reason for his rejecting that advice, this would be sufficient. I have always thought that he would adhere to this measure, and I have the happiness to think so still. But even upon the monstrous supposition (which, observe, I do not entertain) that he were regardless of consequences like these to his character; a supposition which I put, observe,merely for the sake of the argument, deeming it utterly impossible, that a man so famed should doom himself to eternal disgrace; should make his name a byword, and, as such, and only as such, recollected, after his death: suppose, however, for the argument's sake, that he was dead as a door nail to all feelings of shame and of character, and was content to strut about in stars and garters, pointed at as the fool par excellence; proceeding upon the monstrous spposition, still, I say, that he cannot follow your advice, however plastered over your paper-scheme may be by pretended guarantees and securities for your farm, and for me to be sitting in your seat. If I had been in that seat in the year 1819, Peel's Bill never could have passed; people talk about coughing down: people talk about not being attended to: I have no notion of such a thing you and your mates might have voted the viscera out of your bodies; but, if I had been there; if I had been in the room, as BURDETT used to call it, though, if he used to speak truth, the hours might have been late, and the company bud: if I had been in that room, that bill never could have passed. I am glad I was not; for now the nation has before it the works of your hands. It has before it, behind it, and in the very heart of it, the proof of what can be done by an unreformed Parliament; by a system of election such as that which has existed for so many years; and by a septennial Parliament. To return to the Duke of Wellington, you talk about relief to others; but what relief could he get were he to commit the enormous inconsistency and folly of returning to a small paper-money? In the first place, all that loss of character which I have above described the dictionary would be hunted for synonymes of contempt to its safety. be heaped upon him; mean, dastardly, Some time before I left London, I resilly, empty, shuffling, trimming, pal-ceived a book written by a Mr. TAYLOR, tering these would be amongst the of BAKEWELL; and I understand that epithets which would for ever remain Bakewell is in this county of Derby. I associated with his name. The very do not know who or what Mr. TAYLOR boys would point at him, and be ready to spit at him as he went along the streets he would have presents of night-caps from the French; in the caricatures, his ducal coronet would give place to a cap and bells: idiot would be his motto: in short, I have never read or heard of a public man in any nation in the world, who, as an object of reproach and contempt mixed together, and both in so extreme a de-es also, at the country banks and branch gree, as the reproach and contempt which would, in this case, be affixed to him for his life. If some one were to exhibit him in imitation of the Clerical Magistrate in The Honse that Jack Built, which was published in the year 1819, he would be exhibited as having the half-face of a greedy wolf, and the other is; but he writes smoothly enough, and is a great apostle of perpetual papermoney. His scheme is, that the Bank of England only shall issue the papermoney; that the paper-money shall be circulated by the country banks and b the branch banks, according to the plan of Mr. HORSLEY PALMER, which was published in 1827; that this paper shall be a legal tender in the payment of tax banks, and in the transactions between man and man; that the holders of the paper shall, however, have a right to demand gold in exchange for it at the Bank of England itself; at the motherbank in Threadneedle Street, London; but (and here is the cream of the thing!) shall not have a right to demand gold in exchange at the present standard rate of your first letter, and I shall so treat the £3 178. 104d. an ounce; but that the second; and insert, also, the representaBank shall proclaim, from time to time, tion of the Grand Jury of the county of the rate at which it will be ready to ex- Kent. These gentlemen point out no change its notes for gold; and that rate remedy at all; they do not even allude is to be fixed according to the market to any remedy; they complain of the price of gold as compared with the pa- distress in which their tenants and per; so that you may sometimes get an labourers are involved; but they leave ounce of gold for four pounds in paper, the remedy to the Government; a thing or less, and sometimes you may be which I should not have done. They obliged to give ten pounds in paper for well understand the cause of their sufthe ounce of gold. This would be a fering, and they were of weight suffipretty thing; and, above all things, a cient to demand that cause; they, at pretty standard of value! The word any rate, might have pointed out the standard means a thing which is fixed, measures which ought to have been as to its dimensions, capacity, or weight. adopted; but I am afraid that they, Mr. TAYLOR'S standard is to be subject like you, sigh for a return of the misto everlasting variations: it is, in short, chievous paper, and vainly imagine, to be no standard at all; and, in such a that by a patching-up of this sort, the case, there can be no guarantee, no se- terrible evils of the present day may be curity. The paper would depreciate as got over, and that the greater evils heretofore; the gold would leave the which threaten may be prevented. As country in the same way as formerly: easy would it be to restore your hair to panics would come, confusion would the colour which it bore forty years ago, arise, and an overthrow of property as to prevent final convulsion if we once would be the end. more come to a depreciated paperFrom your letters, where you talk a- money. It is somewhat depreciated bout guarantees and security for the pa- now, and will be as long as a five-pound per, I should imagine that you had been note shall exist in the country. This taking a leaf out of Mr. Taylor's book; debased organ of exchange is gradually and I am really inclined to think that disappearing; it will totally disappear this has been the case: but this slight at the end of about two years from this disguise will hardly deceive the DUKE time; the depression will go on inof WELLINGTON. You flatter him by creasing until the hour of the disapexpressly saying that you do not want pearance of these things; and, unless the salaries to be reduced. He will like the taxes be reduced much more than this; and his colleagues will think you one half in their present amount, a state a fine gentleman; and all the court la- of things will arise such as was never dies, finding that you wish to leave all dreamed of even by the most sensitive the places and sinecures and grants, and alarmist. What I am now writing I to leave all their numerous tribes of pro-wish to be remembered; but it will be tegés untouched, will say that you are a remembered whether I wish it or not. very nice man. But the DUKE of WEL- You have changed your views of this LINGTON Will Soon discover that there is matter three several times. In 1816, no safety in the paper project; he will you ascribed the distress to a surplus discover that convulsion must come at produce, and obtained a sort of supplelast, and that that convulsion may arrive mentary act to the corn-law, which very soon; and I trust that he will, be- supplementary act imposed additional fore it be too late, place us in a state of duties upon foreign seeds. In 1822, safety by a return to the taxes which ex-you ascribed the distress to a rise in the isted before the war. value of money, and proposed to lower I, Sir, do not treat you as you treat the value of the coin. In 1829, you me: I not only name you, but give proposed a new and large issue of paper, your publications, to my readers, and as the proper remedy for the distress. put them upon record. I so treated Having thus changed; having ascribed I remain, Sir, your most obedient, most humble servant, two different causes at different times as on Saturday night, to an audience which producing the same effect; and having filled the theatre to the utmost, pit, distinctly proposed three different re- boxes and gallery. At the first lecmedies for the same evil, let me hope ture, I adhered to the London charge of that you will now pay some attention to a shilling indiscriminately; but the my opinions, who have never, for one kind, judicious, and zealous friends single moment, had a different view of which I found at Derby, managed the either cause, effect, or remedy, but who matter otherwise at the second lecture, have, during the space of six-and-twenty which was put off until Saturday, on years, persevered in warning the Go-account of the Christmas Eve, and the vernment of its danger, and called upon Christmas Day, and charged the boxes it for a reduction of the taxes; for a at two shillings, the pit at a shilling, lowering of all the expenses, and par- and the gallery at sixpence. This ticularly of the salaries of those of the judicious arrangement not only filled the army, and of the interest of the Debt; house, but gave great satisfaction to this being, in my firm conviction, the all parties, A more respectable, more only measure that can prevent a final attentive, more generous audience no convulsion. Hoping that you will duly man ever had the honour to address. consider these matters, and add your It is not for me to say what degree of weight, whatever it may be, to that of impression 1 produced; but I have every those who wish for these reductions, reason to hope that it was great and good. I and my sons and daughter were lodged at the house of friends, not known to us, however, for more than about a year, and known to us only in consequence of their good opinion with regard to the effect of my writings. We were (noticed and visited by many of the most opulent persons in that most opulent town; and, upon quit ting Derby, I could safely say, not only that I had been pleased with my reception, but that I left it with impressions of gratitude which will never be effaced from my mind. Derby is a very fine town, and distinguished above most others that I have ever seen, by the absence of miserable dwellings, and of squalidness in even the poorest inhabitants. And is it not impossible to think of such a town; to think of a mass of people so industrious, so diligent in their affairs, so punctual in all their dealings, so learned, so skilful in all affairs connected with the happiness and greatness of a country; is it not mortifying, and cruelly mortifying, to recollect, that the happiness of such a community of men should be troubled. should be marred; and that they should, the very richest of them, be kept in a state of uncertainty and anxiety as to the future, by the measures adopted by those who are so highly paid for watching over their NORTHERN TOUR. Liverpool, 28th December, 1829. We set off from Derby at five o'clock yesterday morning; and, coming through Ashbourn, Leek, Macclesfield, Knutsford, &c., reached this place last night at about seven o'clock. The snow was pretty deep until we reached Knutsford, on this side of which there has been but very little; but the frost has been, and is, pretty sharp, an evil hardly felt in counties where coals are so cheap and so excellent, and where so large a part of the people are employed within doors. Nature, which has been so prodigal in Hampshire, Sussex, Surrey, and Kent, in garnishing the country with woods, has here been very niggardly in that respect; but, as far as fael is concerned, she has made ample compensation by the endless resources which she has provided under ground. I held my second lecture at Derby, welfare! I had very little time to go out, while and at Wolverhampton on the 27th of at Derby; but in consequence of hear- January. At ing of a very fine collection of pictures This is as near as I can possibly name and curiosities at the house of Mr. the thing at this moment. At ManSTRUTT, I obtained ready permission to chester there is, I believe, the theatre of go thither, with some other gentlemen. the Mechanics' Institution bespoken; I pretend to be no great connoisseur in at Bolton, the theatre; at Dewsbury, a such matters. I have, indeed, seen place sufficient for the audience. several private collections of the same Leeds, friends only wait for my instrucsort; but I never before saw one equal tions, having written to me for those to this, whether as to the beauty, the instructions. At Sheffield, a place will variety, the arrangement, and every other be provided. At Barnsley, a place is circumstance connected with the affair. provided. At Nottingham, the place of Our reception was, 1 understood, quite all places in this world; at that zealous, in accordance with that liberality which public-spirited, and intelligent town; the owner shows to all strangers; and, upon the whole, I have seldom been so much gratified, in the whole course of my life, as I was at Derby... that town which made such a noble stand against PITT and his ruinous antijacobin war; that sensible town, the people and corporation of which were so basely calumniated by JOHN BOWLES, the Dutch Commissioner, and by all the mercenary myrmidons of the Government of that day; at this town, which I have so long desired to see, a place has been provided for the lectures. Here, at Liverpool, I intend to lecture to-morrow (Tuesday) evening, and on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evenings; and then to go to Manchester on Sunday; to continue there three days, and, on the fourth, to go to Bolton. From Bolton, I intend to go to Preston, I should observe here, that the arto see my old friends, and to speak to rangement at Derby; that is to say, them from the bow-window of the using the theatre at two shillings the boxCastle Inn, whence I had the honour so es, one shilling the pit, and sixpence the frequently to address them in 1820. gallery, appears to be very judicious, beFrom Preston I shall go to Blackburn; cause it conveniently admits of persons from Blackburn, to Huddersfield, Hali- of all ranks; and that, too, according to fax, Bradford, and Dewsbury; then their taste and habits. I therefore recomback by Leeds, Barnsley, and Sheffield, mend my friends to make a similar arto Nottingham. From Nottingham to rangement, wherever they can, and not Leicester, then to Birmingham and to wait toconsult me about the matter. I Wolverhampton. If I can, I will go ought not to speak of this use of the theaonce more to Derby, from Nottingham, tre without noticing the liberal and: and then to Leicester; but, being con- generous behaviour of the owner and fined to time, that must depend upon manager of the theatre at Derby, who circumstances. As nearly as I can de- gave his consent, without hesitation, termine, the times of arrival at the seve- and who left the charge entirely to the ral places will be as follows: at Man gentlemen of the town. I ought to add, chester on the evening of the third of too, that this gentleman is an Irishman, January; at Bolton on the morning of who has done a good deal towards cur the 7th of January; at Preston on the ing the sore place made by his countrymorning of the 9th of January; at men in London. The post of this day Huddersfield on the 10th of January; reminds me, by an account of the death at Dewsbury on the 11th of January; of Mr. TEGART, apothecary, of Pallat Leeds on the 13th of January; at Mall, of the just thirty years of kindBarnsley on the 16th of January; at ness and generosity that I and my family Sheffield on the 18th of January; at have experienced at the hands of that Nottingham on the 22d of January; at gentleman, who was both an Irishman Leicester on the 24th of January; at and a Catholic, and to whom I alluded Birmingham on the 25th of January; in the History of the Protestant Refor |