I intreat the House to attend to what follows in the Speech of the honourable member:-" Nothing could be more absurd than to suppose, that any prohibition would prevent the introduction of the articles which were in demand. The fact was, that, at an advance of twenty or twenty-five per cent., all light prohibited articles might be had at our doors. He would not say which sex was most to blame, but such was the fact." Now, here we have the opinion of a practical man, who had come to this conclusion, after collecting the best evidence upon the subject, during his repeated visits to Paris. Indeed, I cannot help thinking, that the honourable member had Silk, and nothing but Silk, in his view, at the time when he made these allusions. The honourable member has long been a professor of those doctrines, which he now reprobates me for upholding, as much as he then censured the Government for not more readily adopting. Even in the year 1817-also a period of distress-I find the honourable member declaring to the House, that, " in the article of Silk, smuggling was carried on to a very great extent; a proof of which was to be found in the fact, that although silks were in much greater use now than formerly, yet that the British manufacturer was ruined." So that it appears, Sir, that in the year 1817, the Silk manufacture, which, according to the doctrines of the present day, can only flourish under a system of prohibition, was, in that year, in a state of ruin, owing to prohibition.

The stagnation and embarrassment of 1816 and 1817 were followed by a state of unusual commercial activity. In like manner, the depression of 1822 and 1823 terminated in the extraordinary spirit of speculation, which marked the autumn of 1824, and the spring and summer of 1825. It is not irrelevant to the present discussion to compare these two periods, each commencing with commercial

distress, and each ending in over trading-each marked, in its first stage, by a great contraction of our paper circulation, and the accumulation of a vast amount of gold in the coffers of the Bank, and, in its second, by a great expansion of our circulating credit, and by the re-exportation of most of the gold which the Bank had previously accumulated. This comparison, whilst it connects itself with the question now under our immediate consideration, is calculated to throw some light on the equally important question of the Currency, which, at this moment, occupies so much of the attention of Parliament and of the country.

At the beginning of the year 1817," the Bank," as we are informed by the Report of the Committee of 1819, "possessed a larger amount of cash and bullion in their coffers, than they had been in the possession of, at any former period since their establishment." With this accumulation, they gave notice of a partial resumption of cash payments, engaging to pay in gold all notes under 51. From the beginning of 1817 till the month of July in that the whole demand for gold coin, under this notice, year, did not exceed 38,000l.; but, in consequence of a great augmentation of Bank paper in August 1817 (exceeding, by upwards of three millions, the amount of the corresponding month in the preceding year), and of a like augmentation of country paper, the foreign exchanges were turned against this country; and, from that moment, the gold was withdrawn from the Bank with much greater rapidity. In the course of the following eighteen months, many millions of coin were thus put into circulation, without any corresponding diminution in the amount of Bank notes ;—or rather, to speak more accurately, these millions, as soon as they were taken from the Bank, were sent to France, and other parts of the Continent, till the treasure of the Bank was very much reduced at the beginning of 1819; and

then the amount of their notes was again contracted. This contraction was followed by a great depression of commerce, and of prices, in the subsequent years. During this depression, the Government were frequently called upon, as they are now called upon, to give relief, by an issue of commercial Exchequer Bills; but our first object, then, was permanently to restore-as our first object, now, is effectually to secure-a system of cash payments; the success of which might have been endangered by this mode of relief. So much for the first period, as far as relates to our Currency.

In the first stage of the second period-1822, 1823, and a part of 1824-the Bank again accumulated an amount of gold, greater even than what it possessed at the beginning of 1817. Between September 1824 and November 1825, that gold was again taken out of the Bank, under all the like circumstances of the foreign Exchanges being against this country, and with the like results as had occurred in 1818. Again, notwithstanding the issue of so many millions of coin, the amount of Bank notes and of country paper was increased: again, these millions so issued were, for the greatest part, exported; and again, in the autumn of 1825, the Bank was driven to take precautions, by contracting its circulation, in order to protect its remaining treasure. What has since occurred is known

and felt by all.

So much for the Currency; now for the Trade.

In 1816 and 1817, during the first absorption of treasure by the Bank, the amount of Silk imported was, upon the average of the two years, 1,150,807 lbs;-in 1818, during the first flight of our coin to the Continent, that importation was raised to 2,101,618 lbs., being an increase of 81 per cent.-Of Sheep's Wool, the average importation of the first two years was 11,416,853 lbs. :-in the year 1818

alone the quantity was 26,405,486 lbs., being an increase of 130 per cent.-Of Cotton Wool, the average of the two first years was 423,580 bales:—the amount in 1818 was 660,580 bales, being an increase of 57 per cent.

Let us now compare the import of the same articles in the years 1823 and 1824, with the import of 1825. It will turn out as follows:-Silk, average import of 1823 and 1824, 2,780,600lbs. :-import of 1825, 4,231,673 lbs., being an increase at the rate of 50 per cent. Sheep's Wool, average import of 1823 and 1824, 19,225,306 lbs. :import of 1825, 38,705,682 lbs., being an increase at the rate of 100 cent. per Cotton Wool, average import of 1823 and 1824, 167,120,065 lbs. :-import of 1825, 222,457,616 lbs., being an increase at the rate of 33 per

cent.

I will not go more at length into this subject. It would lead me too far away from other topics, growing more immediately out of this debate, to which I have still to advert; but I have said enough to point out, to those who take an interest in these matters, the intimate relation that exists between our Curreney and our Trade; to shew in what manner the expansion of our paper circulation, combined with an unfavourable foreign Exchange, leads to overtrading, till overtrading again forces a contraction of the currency: thus producing those alternations of extravagant excitement and of fearful depression, which this country has so often experienced of late years; alternations, of which the consequences are at once so dangerous to men of capital, so distressing to the labourers who depend for employment on that capital, and so subversive of those principles of security to property, on which the prosperity of every commercial state must ultimately rest.

The immediate inference which I draw from this comparison is, that the present stagnation in the Silk Trade

is more produced by the late alternation, than by any effect of the Law which will come into operation next July.

To return, Sir, to the Speech of the honourable member for Taunton. The fourth point to which he called the attention of Government, was, the state of the Navigation Laws. The change which the honourable member recommended would, in fact, have amounted to the total repeal of those Laws. He thought, "that no restriction ought to be held on foreign ships importing into this country, whether the produce was of their own, or any other country." Accustomed to look on these laws as the prop of our maritime power, and to watch with a jealous eye any encroachment upon them, we could not consent to this sweeping principle of innovation. On the other hand, we professed ourselves ready to inquire, how far some of their regulations, inconvenient for trade, might be dispensed with, without prejudice to the higher political objects, for which those Laws were originally enacted. This inquiry was gone into with great care, by a Committee, over the labours of which, my right honourable friend, the Master of the Mint, presided; and the result has been that, by his zeal and diligence, several measures have been introduced to the House, which have led to a relaxation in those Laws, highly beneficial to the commerce of the country, and in no way injurious to our strength as a maritime power. But the principle of those Laws is still retained. In this instance, certainly, we have not been able to go all the lengths recommended by the practical men; but, be it recollected, that the charge, against which I am now upon my defence, is that we are theorists.

The fifth point which was strongly recommended by the honourable member for Taunton, was the removal of the Transit Duties on German Linens, and some other articles