agree with Mr Wheatley. We cannot well conceive, if the money is once levied from the people by means of taxes, how the mere circumstance of remitting it to Germany should menace the Bank of England with ruin. Even if it were necessary to remit bullion, like all other commodities bullion can be procured by those who want it, and have wherewithal to pay for it. Remittances are constantly made from all parts of the country to London; but we never heard that this gave any disturbance to the natural course of trade. The remittance of money from one country to another is one of the most ordinary transactions of commerce; and it would certainly be very unaccountable if no expedient had yet been found out by which it could be effected without giving a shock to the commercial world. We cannot help suspecting also, that the effects of the importation of grain, in producing an exportation of our specie, have been considerably exaggerated. It seems to be taken for granted, that the grain which it was found necessary to impoft must have been paid exclusively in money. It is almost superfluous to observe, however, that the whole circulating coin of Britain would not have been sufficient for this purpose. Bullion, therefore, must have been procured, and it could only be procured by means of commodities. But it would surely be a simpler process to exchange commodities directly for the grain; and, in a country abounding with every manufacture which can minister to the tification of mankind, suitable equivalents may always be provid ed for whatever is wanted.

gra

Even where the balance of trade is turned against a country, we apprehend it may be rectified without exporting the specie which is necessary for its internal circulation. An unfavour able exchange, which is always the consequence of an unfavourable balance of trade, has a tendency to diminish imports and to increase exports; and we imagine that, in point of fact, this is the way in which it is generally redressed. Mr Thornton has argued as if a country might be subjected to a constant drain of specie for a length of time: But we do not see how this is possible; 1st, Because a country can seldom spare any considerable part of its circulating coin, and if it were exported, the void must be instantly supplied by new importations; and, 2dly, Because whatever was exported must be added to the currency of another country, where it is equally impossible that it can remain. It appears to us, therefore, that the quantity of specie necessary to settle the mutual transactions of trading nations must be very trifling, and that the unfavourable balance of trade has very little connexion with the distresses to which the

Bank of England is exposed. The causes which led to the run on the bank, and which might have rendered the restriction of cash payments necessary, seem to us to have originated almost. exclusively in domestic alarm, a circumstance which has always occasioned distress to the bank, and which, from the nature of its operation, is perfectly adequate to produce that effect. After this alarm had fairly subsided, we do not see why the restriction might not have been taken off. On this subject, however, we must express unfeigned diffidence, as we are sensible that a very minute acquaintance with facts would be necessary to form a decided opinion.

The remainder of Mr Wheatley's performance relates chiefly to the depreciation of money. The mode in which he conducts this inquiry is peculiarly exceptionable; but we have already very fully stated our objections to this part of his work. He con founds a general degradation in the value of gold and silver with the debasement of the coin in a particular country. Dr Smith was of opinion, that the value of gold and silver was rather rising than sinking during the greater part of the last century; and, in confirmation of this opinion, he shows that the average prices of grain had rather declined during that time. It has been suppos ed, however, that, since the publication of Dr Smith's work, the value of gold and silver has been falling, owing to the increased issues of paper which have taken place throughout Europe. As the subject is important, we shall lay before our readers a short statement of the arguments by which this opinion is supported.

The price of gold and silver, like that of all other commodi ties, must depend on the relation which subsists between the sup ply and the demand. Since the discovery of the American mines, Dr Smith has shown, that the demand for the precious metals must have been constantly increasing, in proportion to the increasing improvement and opulence of mankind. This increas ing demand, he imagines, may have in some degree prevented the great increase in the supply, derived from the American mines, from lowering the value of gold and silver so much as it other wise would have done. In stating this argument, we do not think that Dr Smith seems sufficiently aware of one circumstance, namely, that the invention and more extended use of paper currency, by substituting a cheaper and more convenient instrument of commerce in place of specie, has served greatly to diminish that increased demand for the precious metals, which the advancing improvement of the world would have occasioned. Had the commerce of mankind been exclusively carried on by means of a metallic currency, the market for the precious metals must have been greatly enlarged in the progress and general diffusion U

VOL. X. NO. 20.

of

may

of opulence. But since this expedient has been fallen upon, a mine is opened, from which an inexhaustible supply of currency be derived; and when an extension of commerce requires an accession to the circulating medium, it is obvious that the cheaper will be preferred to the more expensive species of curréncy. Not only, however, has no addition been made to the quantity of specie actually circulating in Europe, but, in some countries, it seems to have been almost wholly supplanted by the use of paper. In Britain, the gold currency was supposed, in 1774, the time when it was called in and recoined, to amount to twenty-seven millions; and at present it would be estimated much too high at three millions. By the extension of paper currency, therefore, in Britain, twenty-four millions of guineas must have been thrown into the general market of Europe; and if we can suppose that any thing like a similar change has taken place in other countries, a vast quantity of specie must have been thrown out of circulation, into which it will not be received except at a diminished value. The effect must be the same as if the currency of Europe had been increased, without any corresponding increase in the demands of its commerce.

The general argument on this subject is considerably strengthened by a reference to the prices of grain, which have evidently risen considerably during the course of the last century. The year 1740 is represented as a year of extraordinary scarcity. The price of the quarter of wheat did not however rise higher than 21.10s. 8d., which would now be considered as a low price. At present, indeed, when the market is overstocked with grain, and prices have fallen very low, 21. 7s seems to be the lowest price of the quarter of wheat in the London market; and in the two scarce years of 1799 and 1800, it was sometimes as high as 71. This evident rise in the money price of corn, does not seem easily accounted for, except on the supposition that the value of gold and silver is fallen in the European market. And if this is the case, we imagine it can only be ascribed to the preponderance of paper in the currencies of Europe.

But whatever may be our opinion upon these points, we are decidedly against all those violent remedies which Mr Wheatley proposes; and we are convinced, that the more fully the internal economy of society is explained and understood, it will always appear to stand less in need of external aid for the accomplishment of all its necessary ends. The injurious consequences which arise from all variations in the value of gold and silver, are too obvious to require explanation. But the evil must be left to cure itself; and the apprehensions of Mr Wheatley, that

there

there is no limit to the degradation of the value of the precious metals, are completely chimerical. By requiring a smaller quantity for coin, a smaller quantity will indeed be annually consumed; the produce will thus be superior to the consumption; and the mass of gold and silver will be annually increasing. But the diminution of their value, which will be the consequence of their gradual increase, will lead to a less sparing use of them for other purposes: and the consumption and the produce will thus be gradually equalized; their further increase will be stopped; and their price will consequently be prevented from falling low

er.

If the preceding reasonings be well-founded, the produce of the American mines must have been for some time superior to the general rate of consumption throughout the world. Whe ther this is the case at present, it would no doubt be very difficult to determine. But we cannot doubt that the rate of produce and consumption will ultimately be very accurately adjusted. On considering the process, however, by which this must be brought about, it appears to us, that the value of gold and silver will alternately fluctuate for some time, both above and below that point at which it will finally remain fixed.

On the whole, we think Mr Wheatley's quarto considerably worse than his octavo. The wisest thing he could do, perhaps, would be to forswear the subject altogether; but if he be smitten with an indestructible love of economical speculations, we would exhort him to spend a little more time in learning, before he sets up for a teacher; and to make one vigorous attempt to understand the reasonings of his predecessors, before he gives himself the trouble of pointing out their mistakes.

ART. IV. Historical Apology for the Irish Catholics. By William Parnell, Esquire. 8vo. pp. 147. Fitzpatrick, Dublin.

IF

1807.

ever a nation exhibited symptoms of downright madness, or utter stupidity, we conceive these symptoms may be easily recognized in the conduct of this country upon the Catholic question. A man has a wound in his great toe, and a violent and perilous fever at the same time; and he refuses to take the medi cines for the fever, because it will disconcert his toe! The mournful and folly-stricken blockhead forgets that his toe cannot survive him;-that if he dies, there can be no digital life apart from him; yet he lingers and fondles over this last part of his body, soothing it madly with little plasters, and anile fomentations, while the neglected fever rages in his entrails, and burns

U 2

away

away his whole life. If the comparatively little questions of Establishment are all that this country is capable of discussing or regarding, for God's sake let us remember, that the foreign conquest, which destroys all, destroys this beloved toe also. Pass over freedom, industry and science-and look upon this great empire, by which we are about to be swallowed up, only as it affects the manner of collecting tithes, and of reading the liturgystill, if all goes, these must go too; and even, for their interests, it is worth while to conciliate Ireland, to avert the hostility, and to employ the strength of the Catholic population. We plead the question as the sincerest friends to the Establishment ;—as wishing to it all the prosperity and duration its warmest advocates can desire-but remembering always, what these advocates seem to forget, that the Establishment cannot be threatened by any danger so great as the perdition of the kingdom in which it is established.

We are truly glad to agree so entirely with Mr Parnell upon this great question; we admire his way of thinking; and most cordially recommend his work to the attention of the public. The general conclusion which he attempts to prove is this, that religious sentiment, however perverted by bigotry or fanaticism, has always a tendency to moderation; that it seldom assumes any great portion of activity or enthusiasm, except from novelty of opinion, or from opposition, contumely and persecution when novelty ceases; that a government has little to fear from any religious sect, except while that sect is new. Give a government only time, and, provided it has the good sense to treat folly with forbearance, it must ultimately prevail. When, therefore, a sect is found, after a lapse of years, to be ill-disposed to the government, we may be certain that government has widened its separation by marked distinctions, roused its resentment by contumely, or supported its enthusiasm by persecution.

The particular conclusion Mr Parnell attempts to prove is, that the Catholic religion in Ireland had sunk into torpor and inactivity, till Government roused it with the lash: that even then, from the respect and attachment which men are always inclined to show towards government, there still remained a large body of loyal Catholics: that these only decreased in number from the rapid increase of persecution; and that, after all, the effects which the resentment of the Roman Catholics had in creating rebellions, has been very much exaggerated.

In support of these two conclusions, Mr Parnell takes a survey of the history of Ireland, from the conquest under Henry, to the rebellion under Charles the First, passing very rapidly over the period which preceded the Reformation, and dwelling principally

upon