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Leader (1850-1860), 19th December 1857, Edition 2 of 2, Page 9, • [IK THIS DKMIIIMBKI, A3 ALL OPINIONS, ...

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      No. 404,December 19,1857.] T He X El De ...

      No . 404 , December 19 , 1857 . ] T HE X El DE K . ' ^ 1209

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      ; • ¦ » ¦¦¦ ¦ Leadkb Office, Saturday, D...

      ; ¦ » ¦¦¦ ¦ Leadkb Office , Saturday , December 19 . THE CONTINENT . Thr Bank of France has reduced its discount on commercial bills to six per cent ., uniformly from and after yesterday ( Friday ) . A message from the King of Belgium has been communicated to the Chambers , to the effect that the Princess , " wife to the heir to the crown , is in a condition which holds forth hopes of a continuation of the dynasty . M . Pelissier , French Commissioner in Turkey for settling the frontiers on the Asiatic side , is alout to return to France . Sir Henry Bulwer , English Commissioner at Bucharest , is also preparing to take his departure . The commercial crisis is continuing at Constantinople . The meeting of the Spanish Cortes is postponed to the 10 th of January , when the Queen-will open the session ia person .

      Sib Henrt Ellis.—At A Meeting Of The Soc...

      Sib Henrt Ellis . —At a meeting of the Society of Antiquaries on Thursday night , Mr . Hawkins , Vice-President , in the chair , a letter addressed by Sir Henry Ellis , director of the society , to Earl Stanhope , President , was read by the secretary . The communication was one -which took the members generally quite by surprise , inasmuch as it announced the resignation , of Sir Henry Ellis both of the office of director and of his official seat at the council . Railwat Accidents . —A sexious collision has occurred upon the Shields , Sunderland , and Newcastle branch of the Horth Eastern Railway . About four o ' clock in the afternoon , a coal-train broke down about

      half a mile on the Gatesliead side of the Brockley "Whins station , and the four o'clock train from Newcastle , Gateshead , and felau Main , with passengers from the two first-named towns , and from the south for Shields and Sunderland , ran with fearful impetus into the obstruction , throwing its own engine off the line , and bringing all the passenger-carriages together with very considerable violence . Several passengers were a good deal hurt , but there were no fatal cases . —A girl , the other day , while travelling in a railway carriage from . Grantham to SedgebTook , endeavoured , it is supposed , to get a glance at her house in passing . The door flew open , and she dropped on the line . "When picked up , she was insensible , and she continues in a very doubtful state .

      The Ship Hannah , laden with guano , has foundered off the Azores . The crew took to the boats , and were rescued by another vessel . An Educational . Franchise . — -A memorial in favour of an educational franchise , signed by the Archbishop of Canterbury , Lord Brougham , and a -vast number of persons of political and literary distinction and of various shades of opinion , has been forwarded to Lord Palmerston .

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      • [Ik This Dkmiiimbki, A3 All Opinions, ...

      • [ IK THIS DKMIIIMBKI , A 3 ALL OPINIONS , HOWEVKIt KXTItKHB , AUK ALLOWED AH BXl'l £ B 33 lON , TUB EDITOR NECESSARILY KOLDS UI 3 I-8 ELF BBSroraiBLK FOB MONK . ]

      There Is No Learned Man But -Will Confes...

      There is no learned man but -will confess he hat much profited by reading controversies , his sense awakened , and hia judgment sharpened . If , then ., i be profitable for him to read , why should it not , a lease , be tolerable for riisadveraary to write ;—Mii / toit .

      Our Monetaiiy System. ( To The Editor Of...

      OUR MONETAIIY SYSTEM . ( To the Editor of the Leader . ) Sib , —I know how valuable space must be with you at the opening of the Session , but will you allow me briefly to ask a few questions on the subject of our currency ? The income of tlie kingdom is estimated by M'Culloch at 370 millions , and this must be a very moderate estimate . Now , why should 10 millions , more or less , abstracted from this , either in . American , shortcomings , foreign wars , or home speculation , alter the value of all the rest , produce panic , and check trade , by the usual credit being denied or doubling its customary price ?

      If we orer-import , and turn the exchange against us , why Bhould not the importer find the gold to pay the balance required ? or if people over-trade and over-speculate , why , in those cases any more than the former , must the whole country be called upon to p * y the penalty ? Could no system be devised hy which the penalty should fall upon the offenders only ? If we lose 10 millions by potato rot , or bad harveit , and wo arc obliged to aend that amount abroad to purchase food , we surely ought to produce more to replace the deficiency ; why then is all production stopped till the gold is brought back by the sale of bankrupt or depreciated » tock « , & e . ? Why ehouW money , the representative of produce

      the medium of exchange , be made so scarce by legal enactment , that under exceptional . and peculiar circumstances , or indeed under any circumstances , banks and houses who have 25 s . and 30 s . in the pound should be obliged to stop , for the want of it ? Lastly , and in fact , why must the convertibility of labour and produce be always sacrificed to the convertibility of the note ? Doubtless , the answer to all these questions is very easy , on one supposition . If gold is the only standard of value , if it is the only money , or proper medium of exchange , then it must be kept in the country at all cost , at every sacrifice , and ¦ we must he governed by the exchange , and the industry of the country made secondary to such exchange . But does such necessity really exist ? The Bank now issues fourteen millions of notes on Government security , and these are as valuable as those that are really convertible ; and their value does not depend upon their supposed convertibility into gold —few think of that- ^ -but they rise and fall as they are scarce or plentiful in relation to produce , or to the current demand . " What can be bought or sold with each , particular portion ( or 5 ? . note ) ( rises ot ) falls in exact proportion to the increase ( or decrease ) of the whole . " Xabomy or the cost of production , is the only real and natural standard or measure of value , and production is the first thing we have to care for . Do we not then require a Monetary System that shall foster , rather than constantly check , healthy , sound , and legitimate trade ? and if we thus took care of production , might not the exchanges safely be left to take care of themselves , and the gold to come back in the natural way . without forcing ? for , under such circumstances , we should be certain to import as much gold as the wants of the country required , and those who wanted it would have to pay for it , and not the country at large .. ' ¦ ¦ '¦ ' v ¦ ' ¦ ¦ ¦¦ , - r ' ¦ . '¦' . ¦¦ . ¦ . ' '¦ , ¦' - It is taken for granted by most , if not all writers on monetary science , that a metallic currency is the only sound one ; that gold or silver is necessary as a standard of value , and that together they constitute the best media of exchange . To both of these propositions I dissent . In barbarous times , in unsettled countries , it may be so , but at the present time , as compared to what we might have , and in relation to our wants , gold , as the ' medium , of exchange , seems to me a wretchedly bungling and worn-out contrivance . As a standard of value , gold is said to be the best ' yard measure , ' bushel , * & c , but a standard of value and a measure of quantity are entirely different things . This is illustrated in the difference between the Declared and Official value of our exports and imports . A yard , or bushel , is a fixed quantity , but a standard value is a fixed relationship of one thing to another . Thus , if the pound sterling , the mere unit of calculation' was equal to three bushels of wheat , or five yards of cloth , or four of silk , or fifty of cotton , & c , this is the relative value that ought to be maintained , and not that of the pound sterling to a quarter of an ounce of gold . By maintaining the latter relationship is that , the gold standard—as gold cannot be made to increase as fast as wheat , cloth , silk , cotton , & c , the holders of gold , —that is , all who live on fixed incomes—are benefited at the expense of the producers . Mill tells us that there is an African tribe that calculate the value of things in a sort of money of account , called macutes . They say , one thing is worth ten macutes , another fifteen , another twenty , but that there is no real thing called a maeute ; it is a conventional unit , for the more convenient comparison of things witli one another . Now , if I were asked the oft-repeated question " What is a pound ? " I should say merely a maeute . No doubt this abstract idea could scarcely be got within the compass of the material faculties of our members of Parliament , and they would ' laugh eonsumedly . ' Now as to gold as currency . In these civilized times , the facilities that good bunking establishments afford render money almost unnecessary on ordinary occasions ; the country—and , indeed , the whole commercial world—becomes one vast clearingin ima siiiioi is

      nuusu . . D uruiuury quiet u uungs liable to sudden derangement on account of bad harvests , over-speculation , want of confidence , & c , and then the money is again wanted , and that so immediately , that it has now been proved that gold cannot . be made to adapt itself to the demand with sufficient despatch . The foreign exchanges—that is , the foreign trade in gold—works too slowly , as our oft-recurring monetary difliculties show . If the State made the money—that is , the medium of exchange—the legal tender , it might bo much more suddenly and correctly adapted to the wants of the trading community , and that by known and recognized laws , and not by discretionary powers of administration . The foreign exchanges give them time , act correctly enough , and we could then afford to give them time , and they 1 might safely , nn < l without any anxiety on our parts , be left to the bullion dealer ? , as silver and the corn and cotton trade arc now left to their respective 1 dealers . —I am , sir , faithfully yours , CaAxuM Ban ** .

      Y* .Ti** Notices To Corbespondents. F Vb...

      Y * . ti ** NOTICES TO CORBESPONDENTS . f Vb are again compelled , by the extraordinary pressure oT pphtical , and more especially of literary matter , to omit our'Portfolio'thisweek . *¦¦ -.. ¦ .

      A. Robinson. —Our Sympathies Are Entitel...

      A . Robinson . —Our sympathies are entiTely with the class to which our correspondent belongs , and we deeply regret t hat so much suffering should be occasioned to them by r ?

      Several Communications Unavoidably Stand...

      Several communications unavoidably stand over . SuE * ce cau ? e * ak , eiv of anonymous correspondence . Whateveris intended for insertion must be authenticated by the name and address of the writer ; not necessarily for publication , but as a guarantee of "his good faith . We cannot undertake to return rejected communications

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      Saturday, December 19, 1857.

      SATURDAY , DECEMBER 19 , 1857 .

      ^Hwir Affara . '

      ^ HWir affara . '

      There Is Nothing So Revolutionary, Becau...

      There is nothing so revolutionary , becau . se there is nothing so -unnatural and . convulsive , as the strain to keep thing ' s fixed when allthe world is "by the very law of its creation in eternal progress . —Dk . Aebolj ) . ¦ . - ¦ ¦ '¦ . ¦¦ ¦ ' . ¦ ¦ — ¦ — + - " ¦ - ¦ . .. ¦ '

      The Currency Debates. The Houses Of Parl...

      THE CURRENCY DEBATES . The Houses of Parliament completed their preliminary session on Saturday last , Laving effected all that was absolutely necessary for them , to do . It is seldom that so much real business is achieved so promptly ; but our legislators were anxious to get home for ¦ their Christmas holidays , so they finished their work and broke up on Saturday for the vacatiou , which will terminate on Thursday-the ; 4 th of February . Our readers will be glad to know exactly what has been done , and what has been said , on the deeply interesting question of the Currency . Few of them will have had the leisure to wade through the whole of the speeches ; and still fewer will have analyzed what was said . No small amount of labour is required to pick up the few grains of gold to be found here and there , amidst the masses of verbiage and palaver that lie scattered about the Currenc y Diggings . We think it will , therefore , be acceptable to them , to present a clear and succinct statement of the results of the debate—and to bring before them the subjects that await further investigation and discussion . In the first place , the Government has obtained its Bill of Indemnity for having advised tlie Bank of England to break the law , and that wealthy and powerful corporation is not only excused for having obeyed the established authorities by disobe r the law , but it has received the permission of the Crown , the Lords , and the Commons to go on violating , until the 1 st of March , 1858 , the Act which confers its charter—only one condition being imposed—viz ., that so long as it exceeds the legal issues it shall charge ten nPI * P . mit ' - nt lpnst ; fni » if' . sj nrl \ rn » ir » r >«

      , Next , the House of Commons has agreed to a resolution re-appoihting the committee that sat last year to inquire generally into the laws that regulate our currency . A great mass of valuable evidence was then collected , some of the most able and distinguished men were examined—meu of all shades and classes , from the peer to the builder- ^ -including merchants , bankers , bill-brokers , bank directors—practical men and theorists—were examined and cross-examined by acute and experienced members of the House of Commons , by politicians eminently versed in the mysteries of finance . But the committee made no report , lor tlie inveatigation of the subject referred to them was incomplete , and they recommended that the inquiry should be

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 19, 1857, page 9, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_19121857/page/9/