cal pieces were decidedly superior to the British, if the works of Reynolds and Gainsborough were deducted, who belonged to a former age. teaches us not less clearly that an overruling Providence can educe good out of evil even in the darkest and most melancholy period of the moral world. It tells us, still more, that the evil, however poignant and widespread, is transitory, but the good educed, the genius elicited, the truth evolved, are 87. Such is a brief, and, from the magnitude of the subjects embraced in it, most imperfect survey of the literature and genius of France during and subsequent to the Restora-lasting in their effects. However bitter tion. Feeble as the picture is, it is, however, instructive; it demonstrates how powerfully the general mind had been stirred in that great country by the Revolution-how many errors had been abjured by its suffering-how many illusions dispelled by its results. The survey in some respects is melancholy, in others cheering. If it demonstrates on what erroneous premises, and what delusive expectations, former opinions had been formed, it may have been the suffering in that great and guilty country during the last sixty years from the passions of its inhabitants, it has come to an end with the generation which endured it. But the genius of Chateaubriand, the philosophy of Guizot, the imagination of Lamartine, the thought of De Tocqueville, will prove a lasting bequest to the species, and never cease to instruct, elevate, and delight the future generations of men. CHAPTER XIX. DOMESTIC HISTORY OF ENGLAND, FROM THE DEATH OF LORD LONDONDERRY IN 1822 TO THE MONETARY CRISIS IN DECEMBER 1825. 1. It has been already stated, that attained as long as it is limited in that the effect of that marvellous discovery way. It is when it is issued, under of modern times, a paper currency, is proper restrictions, by proper parties, twofold, and that the greatest misfor- and adequately secured, as a substitute tunes which have befallen Great Bri- for the precious metals, that it becomes tain during the last half-century have so invaluable an element in national arisen from confining operations to prosperity. When properly managed one of them only. It is either a re- in this way, and sufficiently guarded presentative of gold and silver, or it against abuse, it becomes the greatest is a substitute for them. Considered stimulus to industry, and the most in the first view, it can, of course, valuable shield against misfortune, only be expanded or diminished in which is known in pacific life; for it proportion as the supply of the pre- multiplies the reservoirs by which the cious metals for the general use of the former is to be nourished, and fills up country is plentiful or contracted; for the void by which the latter is inno representative can with safety be duced. It sustains national industry, augmented, unless the thing represent- and prevents a shock to credit during ed has been proportionally increased. those periods of frequent and almost In this view, a paper currency is un-periodic occurrence in a commercial doubtedly a great convenience, as it community, when the precious metals is so portable and easy of transference are in a great measure entirely draincompared to gold or silver; but its ed away from the country by the chief effects in averting disaster or necessities of war or the changes of stimulating prosperity are not to be commerce, and brings it with safety through a crisis which otherwise might prove fatal to its fortunes. If used only as a representative of the precious metals, it not only does not alleviate or avert these evils, but it aggravates them in the most ruinous manner, because it expands the paper circulation when gold and silver are plentiful, and suddenly contracts it when they are drawn away. Such an addition to credit and stimulus to speculation is not only unnecessary, but dangerous, for it lands the nation in a vast variety of undertakings which of necessity must be abruptly abandoned, and ruin brought on those engaged in them, when the precious metals, and with them the paper resting on their basis, are withdrawn. war, compelled Government to give an extension to the currency, which was done by the bill of 1822, extending for ten years the period during which small notes were to be retained in circulation. This, again, by retaining the fatal principle that paper was to be a representative of gold, not a substitute for it, landed the nation in the opposite set of dangers; and its domestic history, from 1822 to the end of 1825, is nothing but a development of the perilous effects of a plentiful paper currency, a representative of the precious metals, not a substitute for them, and based upon their retention. 3. As the disastrous effects of the monetary system established in 1819 2. Experience has now thrown a arose in a great degree from the vioclear light upon this all-important lent contraction of the monetary cirbut intricate subject. During the culation of the globe, from the effects from 1797 to 1815, paper was a of the South American Revolution, at substitute for the precious metals, the very time when the paper currency and it brought the nation prosperous of Great Britain was rendered depenand triumphant through all its dan-dent on its retention, so the opposite gers, and diffused general prosperity at a time when hardly a guinea was left in the country; but it was issued in such quantities, from the necessities of Government, that it more than doubled the price of all the articles of commerce, and exposed the country to a grievous collapse, when, from the prospect of resuming cash payments, the circulation was materially contracted. The passing of the bill of 1819, which realised that prospect, and at once rendered paper the representative of gold only, at a time when, from the effects of the South American Revolution, the annual supply of the precious metals for the use of the globe had been reduced to a third of its former amount, of necessity contracted the currency so much that it sank in England from £46,709,150 in 1818, to £25,885,620 in 1822; and, as a necessary consequence, lowered the price of all the articles of production and commerce fifty per cent. The misery produced to all the industrious classes by this prodigious fall of prices, when debts, taxes, and incumbrances of every description remained the same, was such as at length absolutely set of dangers, which were so fatally experienced in the country from the extension of the currency in 1822, was in an equal degree dependent on the extravagant ideas entertained of the boundless advantages to be derived from the emancipation of the South American colonies. Many causes conspired to bring about a revival of industry and enterprise in the end of 1822 and beginning of 1823. The very magnitude of the distress of the three preceding years tended, as it always does, to produce this result. Old clothes were worn out, new ones were required. The stringent economy of past years had both rendered necessary a supply of articles of comfort, and provided little funds for their purchase. The price of wheat, which in the beginning of 1822 had been 48s. 6d., fell, from the effects of a good harvest, before the end of that year, to 38s. 10d., being the lowest point it had reached in the preceding twenty years. Though this great fall bore hard upon the agricultural interest, it proportionally relieved the manufacturing, and let loose a considerable portion of the earnings of the working classes, hither to absorbed in the purchase of food, | of their independence by Great Britfor the acquisition of humble conve- ain in July 1823. It is hard to say niences. This gave a stimulus to the which of these events contributed most home market for manufactures; and powerfully to enlarge the currency, at the same period the foreign market and with it to raise prices and stimuwas greatly extended, chiefly in con- late industry throughout the country; sequence of vast shipments to South for the first continued that admirable America, to the extent of which mar- and convenient medium of exchange ket it was thought no limits could be which is so suited to the wants of the assigned. The exports to South Ame- community, that wherever it is alrica, which in 1817 had been £2, 651,337, lowed to exist it invariably banishes rose in 1822 to £3,166,000, in 1823 to gold from the circulation; the second £4,218,893, and in 1825 to £6,425,715.* diffused the most boundless ideas of The result was a very great increase in the endless supplies of the precious the quantity of manufactures produced metals which would flow into the in the year, though, from the fall in country when the inexhaustible minethe cost of production, and consequent ral treasures of South America were declared value of exports, it did not worked by British enterprise and capiappear to the same extent in the par- tal, and their produce brought direct liamentary returns till the effects of to the Bank of England. The belief the expansion of the currency began to was universal, and most of all among appear in the general results. practical sagacious men, that the supplies of specie would never again fail, now that South America had become independent. The El Dorado which was realised in 1852, by the discovery of the gold mines of California and Australia, was confidently anticipated thirty years earlier from the establishment of those republics; and that essential element in commercial prosperity, general confidence, was established from the very circumstances which rendered it most insecure. 4. When these circumstances were preparing an increase of activity and industry in the manufacturing districts of the country, two circumstances of paramount importance occurred at the same time to enlarge the currency, in such a way as poured a flood of prosperity over the nation, but resting on so insecure a basis-the retention of gold-as involved it in the end in the most unheard-of calamities. The first of these was the Small Note Bill, passed in July 1822, which extended the period during which small notes were to be issued, which was to have terminated in 1823, for ten years longer. The second was the virtual establishment, in the close of 1822, of the independence of the South American republics, which took place by the general triumph of the arms of the insurgents, and the express recognition * EXPORTS TO SOUTH AMERICA, INCLUDING BRAZIL, FROM 1817 TO 1825. 5. The effect of this expansion of the currency, of course, did not take place immediately, nor for a considerable time after the causes which induced it had come into operation. This is a very important observation, and affords the answer to many erroneous ideas which prevail on this subject. When a monetary panic arises, or a sudden contraction of the currency takes place, the effect is often instantaneous; the whole industrial underDeclared Value of Brit-takings of the country may be thrown into difficulties, or ruined in one week. But the vivifying influence of an expansion of the currency is much slower in developing itself; it is the work of time, and generally does not become apparent for six months or a year after the change has come into operation. The reason is, that refusals to continue advances by bankers at once suspend ish and Irish Exports to all Countries. 41,761,132 46,603,249 35,208,321 36,424,652 36,659,630 36,968,964 -PORTER, 3d edit., 356, 359. 35,458,048 or ruin the most important undertak-, in 1850, did not take place in that ings; but the extension of their accom- year, or even the next, but came into modation does not immediately set full operation in 1852 and 1853; and these in motion, and till this takes has had the effect since that time of place the change of prices does not ap-raising prices of all sorts of commodipear. There is no immediate or ne ties fully 15 per cent. cessary connection between the expansion of the currency and a change of prices; the result takes place slowly and gradually by the enlargement of credit by bankers, and its effect on the undertakings and industrial enterprise of the country. The one is analogous to the destruction of life, which may be accomplished in an instant; the other to its creation or growth, which can be effected only by the lapse of time. The change of prices, accordingly, and stimulus to industry produced by the extension of the currency in July 1822, did not come into operation till the spring of 1823, and continued through the whole of that and the succeeding year. The low prices of the close of 1822 were the effect of the contraction of the circulating medium in the three years preceding. In like manner the change of prices and stimulus to industry which resulted over the world from the discovery of the mines of California and Australia | 6. The truth of these principles was fully demonstrated by the expansion of the currency, and corresponding rise of prices and stimulus to industry, during the course of the year 1823. The average of bank notes in circulation, which in 1822 had been £17,464,790, rose in 1823 to £19,231,240, and in November of that year was as high as £20,406,564. The increase in country bankers' notes was still more considerable; judging from the number of stamps issued, it was, as compared with 1821, a third, and a ninth as compared with 1822.* The effect on prices fully appeared in the course of the year: wheat, which was at 38s. 11d., per Winchester quarter, in the end of 1822, rose in December 1823 to 52s. 8d., and in 1824 to 64s. 3d. All these effects took place in a still more remarkable degree in 1824, when, in addition to the expansion of the currency, a general fever of speculation had set in upon the country. * STAMPS FOR COUNTRY BANK-NOTES ISSUED ON 10TH OCTOBER, AND PRICES Price of Wheat, per Winchester The 548. 6d. 49s. Od. 38s. 11d. 52s. Sd. 64s. 3d. -TOOKE On Prices, ii. 129, 390. † BANK AND BANKERS' NOTES IN CIRCULATION, THE PAPER UNDER DISCOUNT AT THE BANK, AND PRICE OF WHEAT AND COTTON, FROM 1815 TO 1825. -TOOKE On Prices, ii. 382, 401; MARSHAL'S Parliamentary Tables, p. 55; PORTER's Progress of the Nation, 148. Bank of England notes rose at the end of autumn in that year to £20,177,820, and the country banknotes to £9,920,071; and the paper under discount at the Bank, which in 1821 had been only £2,722,587, rose in 1823 to £5,624,693, and in 1824 to £6,255,343. This great addition to the paper circulation was rested on a corresponding addition to the store of bullion in the coffers of the Bank of England, which increased to such a degree that in January 1824 it had reached the enormous amount of £14,200,000, from £3,595,360, which it had been in 1819, and £10,097,000 in 1822. At perity of so many of the interests of the country cannot fail to contribute to the improvement of that great interest which is the most important of them all." And in the corresponding speech in February 1824, his Majesty said, in words still more emphatic and strong: "Trade and commerce are extending themselves both at home and abroad. An increasing activity pervades almost every branch of manufacture. The growth of revenue is such as not only to sustain public credit, and to prove the unimpaired productiveness of our resources, but to evince a diffusion of comfort among the great body of the people. Agri7. The effect of this great addition culture is recovering from the depresto the circulation, both paper and me- sion under which it laboured, and, by tallic, of the country in 1823 and 1824, the steady operation of natural causes, appeared in the most decisive manner is gradually reassuming the station to in the prices of articles of commerce which its importance entitles it among of all kinds. The average price of the great interests of the nation. wheat, per imperial quarter, rose from no former period has there prevailed 43s. in 1822 to above 62s. in 1824, throughout all classes in this island a an addition of above 30 per cent. more cheerful spirit of order, or a more All other kinds of agricultural pro- just sense of the advantages which, duce, as well as the principal branches under the blessings of Providence, they of manufacture, advanced in price in enjoy. In Ireland, which has for some a similar proportion.* The consetime past been the object of his Maquences were immediate, and encour-jesty's particular solicitude, there are aging in the highest degree. They many indications of amendment." were emphatically dwelt on in the speeches from the throne at the opening of Parliament in both these years. In February 1823 the King said: "Deeply as his Majesty regrets the continued depression of the agricultural interest, the satisfaction with which his Majesty contemplates the increasing activity which pervades the manufacturing districts, and the flourishing condition of our commerce in most of its principal branches, is greatly enhanced by the confident persuasion that the progressive pros 8. It was no wonder the speeches from the throne during these years made such special mention of the increasing prosperity of the nation, for the symptoms of it were universal. The manufactures produced during the last six months of 1822 surpassed those of the preceding so much, that the average of that year considerably exceeded that of the preceding year by fully a fifth. During the whole of 1823 and 1824, the same progress was still more conspicuous; although, from the increase being chiefly in the home mar COTTON, AND IRON, FROM 1823 TO 1825. Cotton per lb. Iron per Ton. Meal per Barley per |