12 



manufacturing districts were starving " with food in abundance 

 staring them in the face," says Mr. Francis ; and two hun- 

 dred families were officially declared to have among them only- 

 four blankets. The country continued to suffer (hear). The 

 agricultural distress of 1829 and 1830 was most extreme, and 

 the House of Commons was assailed with petitions from all 

 parts, and from all interests, which even now cannot be read 

 without shrinking from the details of the misery which they 

 record. 



In 1832 occurred another panic, though less severe than that 

 of 1825. The Reform Bill, which distress had driven the 

 people to demand, brought no relief. In 1834 wheat was sold 

 for 41s. 5d., in 1835 for 36s. 8d., and in 1836 for 36s. a 

 quarter : still, no Free Trade, wheat being protected up to 

 70s. a quarter (hear). In 1837 came a panic again, and in 

 1839 the Bank had to borrow 2j millions of specie from the 

 Bank of France to escape bankruptcy (hear). 



Government, in 1843, propounded the doctrine, that Indirect 

 Taxation had reached its limit. The Whigs went out, leaving 

 a deficit, the effect of bad money-laws, of 10,072,638, and 

 Peel again came into office and imposed the Income Tax. In 

 1844 Peel introduced his Bank Charter Bill, in doing which 

 he said that " during the last 20 years, four decisive proofs, at 

 " four distinct periods, had been given, viz in 1825, 1832, 

 " 1837, and 1839, that under the present system of Currency 

 the principle of Convertibility is endangered. " This was the 

 condemnation of his Bill of 1819 by himself. He therefore 

 proposed to take " effectual measures " the matured wisdom of 

 Bullionism to prevent such evils recurring. Mr. Goulburn 

 called this measure "a perfect system" (hear, hear !) In 

 October 1847, came another dreadful panic, in which the Bank 

 was only saved from stopping payment by the interference of 

 the Government. The late Lord Ashburton therefore justly 

 called the Bill of 1844 " a great experiment which had signally 

 failed" (hear). 



Gentlemen, I have entered into these details to show to you 

 the repeated proofs which we have had of the imperfection of 

 our Monetary System ; to show how this country has been 

 forced for the last thirty years to alternate between prosperity 

 and distress and to make it plain that, whenever we have had 

 an adequate circulating medium, prices have risen to a remu- 

 nerative level and we have enjoyed prosperity ; and that 



