442. 



Mr. SacUcr'x Speech. 



QOct: 



which has produced it. Fashionable as is 

 the diabolical doctrine, for diabolical it is, 

 inasmuch as it begins by affronting God, 

 and issues in injuring man ; it is like many 

 other fashionable notions, utterly false. It 

 is the prerogative of God, saving the pre- 

 sence of our political economists, to decide 

 the question ; and he has decided it, in the 

 superabundance of the means of human 

 subsistence which, as a nation, he lias la- 

 vislied upon us, placed within oiu- reach, 

 and solicited us to accept. AVhetlier in 

 reference to the resources of the country, or 

 its means of profitable employment, if pro- 

 perly developed, there is not a sinew or 

 an ami too many in the empire, no, nor 

 elsewhere, no more than there is a super- 

 fluous spirit called into the realms of im- 

 mortality by the Eternal God ! Short, 

 indeed, and infernal would be the remedy, 

 were this revolting notion true. Deporta- 

 tion of every kind, nuirder in all its forms, 

 indirect or otherwise, would be obvious and 

 general benefits. Still, however, the pro- 

 mulgators of tliis notion, with the habi- 

 tual selfishness of the system, pronouncmg 

 upon the redundancy of human being, 

 invariably except themselves. The chris- 

 tian advocates of this doctrine are not its 

 personal converts — whether as it respects 

 life, or its propensities and feelings, they 

 make no personal sacrifices. Tliey are no 

 Curtiuses — but I see your indignation at 

 the very mention of tliese notions; and, 

 rather than on the dogmas of tlie political 

 economists, we will stiU rest, as to this 

 matter, upon the assurances of Him who 

 giveth food to all flesh ; for his mercy en- 

 dureth for ever. 



In whatever point of view, therefore, we 

 regard this great nation, we may assert 

 that its natural state is one of prosperity and 

 happiness. Such is the condition which it 

 ought to enjoy. And the minister to whom, 

 in effect, the country commits the charge of 

 seeing tliat tlie public " receive no injury," 

 ought to render a reason for its condition if 

 it be otherwise. 



M'hat then arc the real causes of the 

 general depression, under v/hich every inte- 

 rest at present groans ? The answer to 

 tliis question, were I to discuss it fully, and 

 according to my own views of the subject, 

 would commit me into too wide a field for the 

 present occasion. Some of the more latent, 

 but not tlie less operative, of these, I shall 

 not now touch upon, but confine myself prin- 

 cipally to tlie topics which are more gene- 

 rally argued in relation to this subject, and 

 to these I shall address myself very sliortly. 



And first, I consider the policy of the 

 Government, in reference to the circulating 

 medium, to have been most pernicious ; 

 and on this point I cannot but remark two 

 things : the one is, that their doctrine upon 

 this subject, appears to me to be most irno- 

 neous or confused ; the other that, had it 

 been true, it was strangely mistimed as to 

 the period of its application. ^Yhat is it 



for which a circulating medium, of what- 

 ever denomination, is alone wanted ? It is 

 to facilitate the interchange of the products 

 of human industry ; and whatever does this, 

 and continues to do it eft'cctually, is to all in- 

 tents and purposes " sound," to use the cant 

 term of the day. To use a familiar illustra- 

 tion, — if a farmer and a manufacturer, for 

 instance, wish to barter a calf and a coat, I 

 can see no imaginable diflierence in the re- 

 suit, whether they do tliis in kind, or by 

 silver, or gold, or copper, or promissory notes 

 of a large or small denomination, — the pur- 

 pose is accomplished, and the difference is, 

 that it is often accom))lished the more conve- 

 niently, especially in distant transactions, by 

 the latter than the former methods ; and no 

 man can deny that such notes, had the 

 ministry wished to reform, instead of des- 

 troying the system, might have been ren- 

 dered as secure as gold, which with all its 

 bested snjjeriority, is itself only the sign, 

 and not the element of the wealth it assists 

 to interchange. Credit also, as an appen- 

 dage to the paper system, w;is a great, and 

 I beheve tlie greatest instrument in efti;ctu- 

 ating the interchange of the products of 

 human industry ; but this also our present 

 political economists have discountenanced, 

 to the visible detriment of the less wealthy 

 classes of society, whose interests ought 

 preferably to liave been contemplated. We 

 see the consequences in the universal stag- 

 iiation and distress whicli have ensued. 



Next, in adverting to the period when the 

 small notes have been withdrawn, I will first 

 premise tliat the whole of the circulating me- 

 dium of a country, of whatever denomina- 

 tion or amount, represents that part of the 

 property of a country which is in transitu, 

 and no more. In proportion, therefore, to 

 the plenty, or the paucity of that medium, 

 tlie nominal value of that property is high 

 or low ; and as the value of all the property 

 of a country is measured and determined by 

 the worth of that part of it which is respon- 

 sible, according to the well known axiom of 

 Hudibras, 



" The value of .-i tiling 



Is just as much as it will bring. "- 



So the circulating medium measiwes the 

 value of all the property of the community 

 whatsoever, whether on snic or otherwise ; 

 and its total monetary value is high or low 

 accordingly as that medium is plentiful or 

 the reverse. Now, in a country where there 

 are no fixed money debts or inciimbrances, 

 public or private, any variation in the 

 amount of the circulating medium wovdd be 

 immaterial; the relative vrilues of nil pro- 

 perties would StiU be preserved in every such 

 case. But in this country, the contiary was 

 unhappily the fact ; the private money en- 

 gagements were immense, the public debt 

 enormous ; very much of both had been com 

 tracted under the paper system ; the with- 

 drawal of this, especially of that part of it in 

 general circulation, proportionably increased 



