THE 



MONTHLY MAGAZINE. 



VOL. XXIIL MARCH, 1837, No. 135. 



THE PRESENT MONETARY TROUBLES^ 



IN our December Number we briefly adverted to the embarrass- 

 ments so generally felt in the commercial world, and endeavoured to 

 trace them up to their true source. It is painful to reflect that, 

 although three months have passed over our heads, the load of 

 anxiety has not been lightened, and the dread of a disastrous crisis 

 has not been removed. Parliament has been sitting 1 a month, and 

 yet nothing has been done to alleviate the commercial distresses that 

 exist to a degree unparalleled since the year 1826 ; and how much 

 longer such a state of things can last, the Chancellor of the Exche- 

 quer or the Governor of the Bank of England is best able to declare. 



The inconveniences of which men of business justly complain at 

 present is the insufficiency of the coinage for the great demand now 

 made for money. Labour is easily procured by the artisan, in the 

 manufacturing districts every sign of prosperity is to be recognised, 

 and the farmers do not complain more than they always have com- 

 plained and always will complain indeed throughout the productive 

 classes of the population there appears to be a health and vigour 

 which is truly surprising-, when we consider the commercial dis- 

 tresses of the metropolis. We hope that the generally cheerful 

 prospects of the country maybe felt by the leading financial men in 

 parliament as an encouragement to give the subject a serious consi- 

 deration with a view of relieving the embarrassments so general 

 among the tradesmen of London. 



The great evil is the insufficiency of money to pay the demands 

 of labour. The capitalist, it is true, may look on unconcernedly, 

 and the merchant may but slightly feel the annoyances of the 

 present timej but to the tradesman with limited capital or to him 

 whose business chiefly confines him to tnll-transactions the presei.t 

 crisis is a subject of loud and just ^complaint. It is not unusual 

 in some branches of trade for the purchasing parties to eive 

 bills of six and nine months' date instead of money. The 

 result is that the seller of such goods, unless he have a large 

 capital, must procure discount for these bills in order to meet the 

 current expenses of his business : and this is a very general mode of 

 proceeding, perfectly correct and perfectly convenient in oidi- 

 nary times. The tradesman cannot fairly complain, when his 



MARCH, 1837. O 



