existed previously to the passing of the bill enacting the prospective repeal of the Bank Restriction Act. This, at least, is the fact of all farms let on leases executed before 1819.

The fact of a depreciation having taken place in our currency, during the suspension of cash payments, has been unanswerably established by the arguments and proofs of the bullion committee in 1811: there are few who do not now accede to the truth of the following resolution recommended by that committee for the adoption of the legislature. It is the tenth of the resolutions proposed by Mr. Horner in a committee of the whole House of Commons, May 6th, 1811; Resolved, "that it appears, that the actual value of the promissory notes of the Bank of England (measuring such value by weight of standard gold and silver,) has been, for a considerable period of time, and still is, considerably less than what is established by the laws of the realm to be the legal tender in payment of any money contract or stipulation." The present Chancellor of the Exchequer strongly denied, and, to the inexpressible astonishment of the public, still continues to deny, that any such depreciation had taken place in our currency, and on the 14th and 15th of May, 1811, among other memorable resolutions, he prevailed upon a majority of the House of Commons to adopt the following:-Resolved, "that the promissory notes of the Governor and Company of the Bank of England have hitherto been, and are at this time held in public estimation to be equivalent to the legal coin of the realm, and generally accepted as such in all pecuniary transactions to which such coin is lawfully applicable." But when it is a fact, notorious to all the world, that the guinea sold for, at least, 11. 6s. 3d.; nay, when it is known, that government itself gave 28 shillings a piece for guineas, to be sent abroad, it is an absolute waste of trouble to argue with any man who, in the very teeth of these facts, has still the hardihood to maintain, that the guinea was not worth "more than a pound note and a shilling. At the very moment, when this right honorable financier maintained that a pound note and a shilling were equivalent to a guinea, his agents and emissaries were traversing the country, in all directions, and buying up all the gold which they could meet with, at the rate of 28 shillings for each guinea; which is as convincing a proof as that two and two make four, that the depreciation in the value of the pound sterling was at that time 33 per cent. Of the fact therefore, that a very considerable depreciation had been produced in our currency by the suspension of cash payments in 1797, no rational mind can, for a moment, entertain a doubt. Indeed, it is now almost universally acknowledged that the currency of this realm had suffered some depreciation; although there be not an equal concurrence of opinion as to the

amount of this depreciation. Mr. Ricardo maintains that it did not exceed seven or eight per cent.; while Mr. Baring, with equal confidence, rates it as high as 333 per cent. These two estimates

appear to be the extremes between which this depreciation fluctuated between the year 1797 and the year 1819. If we take the mean amount of these two estimates, or 22 per cent., it will probably give very nearly the average amount to which the pound sterling had, during that period, been depreciated.

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To show the additional pressure thrown upon the occupier by the operation of this alteration in the standard, let me take the instance of one hundred acres of land hired, seven years ago, at 40s. per acre. The tenant then promised to pay his landlord 2007. sterling in paper: gold bullion, at the same time, sold in the market at five of these pounds sterling per oz. The 2007. sterling which the tenant, therefore, promised to pay, as rent, for these 100 acres of land, would have purchased at this rate just 40 oz. of gold. Now every school-boy must know that if 2001. sterling are equivalent to 40 oz. of gold, one of these pounds sterling must be equivalent to the fifth part of an oz., or to 96 grains. The standard of the pound sterling was, therefore, 96 grains of gold. The repeal of the Bank Restriction Act raises this standard from 96 grains to 120 grains of gold, (I shall leave out the fractions) that is, it raises the standard of the pound sterling from the depreciated rate into which it had fallen during the suspension of cash payments by the Bank, and restores it to its metallic value before that suspension. The rent which the tenant contracted to pay his landlord for 100 acres of land was 2007. sterling, or 40 oz. of gold. The repeal of the Bank Restriction Act raises the value of the standard to 120 grains, and obliges him to pay his landlord the same number of pounds sterling containing this quantity of gold. Before the repeal of this Act each oz. of gold counted for five pounds sterling, since its repeal it can count only for four pounds; and, to make up his rent, the occupier must now purchase 50 oz., thus making an addition of one fourth to the quantity of gold which he had engaged to pay his landlord.

As it appears of great importance that this subject should be rendered as plain as possible, to those who are not much accustomed to think and reason on political economy, no apology need be made for adding another illustration to point out the effect produced by a variation in the standard of value. Let it then be sup posed that, instead of gold, rents were paid in corn, and that the occupier of one hundred acres of land had covenanted to give the owner as rent, one hundred bushels of wheat, containing eight gallons each. A theoretical economist imagining ten to be the proper number of gallons to constitute a bushel, prevails upon the legislature to enact that, for 'the future, the standard

English bushel should contain ten gallons. The standard of value being thus increased from eight to ten gallons, the occupier of these hundred acres would be compelled to add one fourth to the amount of rent which he had contracted to pay, supposing the owner still to exact from him the same number of bushels of this increased standard. He had agreed to pay 100 x 8 gallons of wheat to his landlord as rent; but an addition of 2 gallons having been made to the standard, by which the bushel is measured, he is now called upon to pay him 100 x 10 gallons of the same commodity. Every one, in this case, would instantly perceive that the share of the produce received by the land-owner as rent had increased in the proportion that 8 bears to 10, and the consequence of such an addition to corn rents would inevitably be found similar to the ruinous pressure which the agriculturists feel at present. For whether rents be paid in corn or gold, an addition to the size or weight of the standard by which the quantity of either of these commodities is measured, must produce results precisely similar.

The statements of those individuals who have been examined by the committee appointed to investigate the present state of agriculture, prove that the depreciation which has taken place in the money value of agricultural produce since the passing of the bill enacting the prospective resumption of cash payments, amounts to 25 or 30 per cent.; and this constitutes, very nearly, the difference between the present standard of the pound sterling and the real value of the paper pound of the Bank of England, which was the only legal measure of value that existed in England from 1797 to 1819, while the obligation of the Bank to pay specie for its notes was suspended. A bushel of wheat will at this moment exchange for, pretty nearly, the same quantity of all other commodities; it will exchange even for nearly the same weight of gold which it would have exchanged for before the resumption of cash payments took place in 1820. Gold and wheat, when bartered for any other commodities, bear nearly the same exchangeable value, at the present moment, that they did during the suspension of cash payments; but, exchanged for pounds sterling, they are depreciated in value one fourth: no change has taken place in the real value of gold or wheat, but the value of the pound sterling is altered; these commodities are still of the same relative value in exchange, but the standard by which they are to be measured is increased. During some portion at least of the period which elapsed while cash payments were suspended, an oz. of gold was equivalent to five pounds sterling; the standard of the pound sterling, therefore, contained no more than 96 grains of gold; and all contracts, in money transactions, were fixed and settled upon this standard. When a landlord

therefore let his land for 100 pounds, he let it for 100 x 96 grains of gold but the late regulation of the currency having raised this standard from 96 to 120 grains, and no reduction having taken place in the number of pounds sterling claimed by the landlord, the tenant is obliged to pay him now, not the quantity of gold which he had bargained to pay, not 100 x 96 grains of gold; but he is compelled to pay his rent in a different standard; he must now pay him 100 x 120 grains of gold. A grain of gold exchanges now for the same portion of wheat or any other commodity as it exchanged for before the late regulation of the currency; the occupier of land is now therefore forced to pay 1200 grains of gold for the farm which he had rented of his landlord for 860 grains; the value of wheat, compared with gold, being the same, the tenant must sell one fourth more wheat than he sold before to procure the additional quantity of gold which this increase of the standard obliges him to pay his landlord.

I am therefore disposed to concur with those who are of opinion that the difficulties under which the agriculturists of this kingdom at present labor, must be attributed principally, if not exclusively, to this cause. The share of the produce of land which the occupier pays in the form of rent, has received an addition proportioned to the increase of the standard by which this portion is measured: a pound sterling will now exchange for or purchase at the least, one fourth more wheat, or any other commodity, than it would have bartered for previously to the repeal of the Bank Restriction Act; not because the quantity of wheat is increased when compared with gold, nor yet with any other commodity; but because the pound sterling now represents a greater weight of gold than it previously represented: the pound sterling, as fixed by the late regulation of the currency, contains 120 grains of gold, and is equal to one pound sterling of the period between 1797 and 1819, containing only 96 grains, and the fourth of another. It must therefore follow, as a matter of course, that where the income of the landlord remains nominally the same, its exchangeable value, calculated on the command over the necessaries of life which it gives him, has been improved one fourth by the operation of this recent regulation of the currency: and for the correctness of this assertion I appeal to the experience of every land-owner, and of any other individual who lives upon a fixed money payment. All' fixed money rents continuing still nominally the same, notwithstanding the addition made to the standard of value, those who áré entitled to receive them are all 25 per cent. richer than they were before the resumption of cash payments. Let any man examine his butler, his baker, or his cornchandler's bill, and he will find that, with the same consumption of these articles, the amount

of his expenditure has been nominally diminished one fourth. An individual with an income of 4000l., at the present moment, has as great a command over the necessaries of life as an income of 5000l. would have given him before this alteration in the standard not because any alteration has taken place in the real value of these necessaries, but because an alteration has been made in the standard by which this value is measured. The quantity of corn then which the landlord, who exacts now the same nominal rent from his tenant, takes as his share of the produce, amounts to one fourth more than the grower had contracted to give him.

As the very expression gold seems to possess a magic power which paralyses the reasoning faculties of the chancellor of the exchequer and of those who re-echo his opinions on this subject, the word "iron" shall, in this place, be substituted for "gold," and a case be submitted to their consideration, with the hope that it may have some tendency to remove the film by which they are now blinded. Suppose a tenant hired a farm on lease, two years ago, and engaged to pay his landlord, as rent, 100 pounds of iron, each pound containing 16 ounces; assume that, in 1821, an act of Parliament be passed enacting that, for the future, the pound, by which this metal shall be measured, must contain, not 16 ounces, as it contained when this contract was entered into, but 20 ounces, or one fourth more than the previous weight of the pound. Every one must instantly perceive that if, after this alteration in the standard, the landlord continue to exact 100 pounds of iron, as rent, from the occupier, its real value would be increased 25 per cent., although its nominal amount remain still the same. The tenant, in this case, contracted to pay his landlord 100 × 16 1600 ounces of iron, but the alteration of the standard, by which it is weighed, makes the quantity which he must now pay amount to 100×20=2000 ounces of iron-thus adding one fourth to the amount of rent which he contracted to pay.

But the evil, arising from the additional value thus given to the pound sterling, does by no means stop at the burden which this increase of rent has cast upon the farmer: however grievously this increase may be felt for a time, it will cease with the present contracts, as rents must by degrees adjust themselves to this new standard. But, what is much worse, and more difficult to be remedied, it extends also to the taxes which he must pay; to the interest of the capital he may have borrowed; to the wages of labor; in a word, this addition to the real amount of the pound sterling proceeds throughout the whole range of all pecuniary transactions between debtor and creditor where the payments were fixed on the old standard.

The situation to which this alteration in the standard of the