7 



money be decreased, prices fall. A very bad or deficient har- 

 vest, is an exceptional case ; Corn then rises to a famine-price, 

 from the scarceness of the commodity, as, with a very abun- 

 dant harvest, it falls from the plentifulriess of the gifts of 

 Providence (hear.) 



How, then, do facts bear out this theory of common sense ? 

 There have been two periods of a great increase of money. 

 One, in the time of Queen Elizabeth, from the discovery of 

 the American mines ; the other when Mr. Pitt carried out the 

 system of a Paper Currency. What was the effect of the 

 increase of the circulating medium in Elizabeth's time ? From 

 1499 to 1560 the price of wheat was 10s. and 5-12ths a 

 quarter; from 1561 to 1601 wheat was 47s. 5^-d. a quarter 

 (hear). What was the cause of this enormous rise ? " The 

 " discovery of the abundant mines in America," says Adam 

 Smith, " seems to have been the sole cause of this diminution, 

 " in the value of silver in proportion to that of corn. It is 

 " accounted for, accordingly, in the same manner by every- 

 body ,- and there has never been any dispute, either about 

 " the fact, or about the cause of it." How few things are 

 there about which Adam Smith, or any other man, could say, 

 and say truly, " there never has been any dispute !" (hear). 

 Look, next, at the still greater increase of the circulating 

 medium which took place in Pitt's time. What was the state 

 of the country in 1797 the period of the Bank Restriction 

 Act ? After a long and expensive struggle with our American 

 Colonies, and being at war with France, the gold and silver 

 of the country was nearly all drained away. The Bank could 

 no longer pay its notes in gold, and afford assistance to Go- 

 vernment. Our gold and silver was exhausted : but were we 

 therefore poor? No, the real wealth the land, the mines, 

 the houses, the workshops of the world remained (hear.) 

 Our ships covered the seas, bearing away the produce of our 

 looms and mills, to exchange for the riches of every clime, 

 And, above all, our country was full of MEN (cheers) of an 

 industrious, energetic, and persevering population a bold 

 Anglo-Saxon race, with stout hearts and willing hands, equal 

 to all emergencies, and prepared to encounter and overcome 

 any difficulties. These constitute the real wealth of a nation 

 (cheers). 



And what did Pitt's measures do ? Why they provided a 

 representative for all this real wealth. A. Paper Money which 



