VOL. 39.—No. 15.] LONDON, SATURDAY, JULY 14, 1821. [Price 6d. Published every Saturday Morning, at Six o'clock. TO THE MONEY-HOARDERS. On the fatal effects of belief in Kensington, 10. July, 1821. MY FRIENDS, whole is pretty sure to be the end; and, indeed, it ought to be the end. But, then, there are precautions to be taken in hoarding; and, above all things, you ought to take care, that the thing hoarded has a value in itself; a value not at all dependant upon public opinion or whim; a value that neither panic nor even the invasion of the country can change. In short, the thing hoarded ought to I mean you who are in the middle ranks of life, or, in the labouring class, that is to say, who labour with the limbs; and I have something of very great be gold or silver in some shape or importance to say to you. To other, and, if convenient and hoard money; that is to say, to practicable, in the king's coin. keep it in your own possession, in A most lamentable instance of a safe place, is very commend- the effects of that infatuation, able. When sums become large, which has led men to hoard pait is prudent and proper to place per-money, has just come to my them out on good security, and knowledge. Another Bank has always on land, which nothing stopped payment in the country. but earth-quakes can wholly take A man, who lives in the neighaway. But, when a man has, by bourhood of this Bank, and who his industry and economy, saved had, more than a year ago, got a small sum, the risk of lending together, by sheer industry and is far greater than the gain of economy, 2007. had hoarded it in interest. Interest yields some- the Notes of this bank. He thought thing; but, by grasping at it, himself rich, and his riches safe; you may lose the principal. for the banker was thought very And, if any attempt be made to rich, had a great deal of real proget large interest, loss of the perty that passed for being his; 2 U Printed by C. CLEMENT, and published by JOHN M. COBBETT, 1, Clement's Iun. [Price Sixpence Halfpenny in the Country.] and, the poor man, looked, I dare | without a shilling! His all was say, frequently at his treasure, of in the accursed paper mill ! which he exulted in the posses-Debtors who had more than a sion, regarding it as the sure re-sufficiency to pay their debts, source in old age. Alas! it was have, by scores, been stripped of no treasure! Any handful of the means of paying them. Thus rags lying on a dunghill was just the ruin takes a wider and a wider as valuable! And, there he is, circle. In short, the part of the his savings all gone in a mo- country, to which I allude, was, ment; himself and wife with- about five days ago, in the state out any provision; and, pro- that the south of Hampshire was bably, doomed to end their days in at the time when MINCHIN, in a poor-house. Such a sum as the attorney's, bank broke, and this might have been laid out on he became a bankrupt; and when land, on a house, or might have it was said, that the effect was been deposited in mortgage on like what would have been proland. But, at any rate, it might duced if every third house had have been hoarded in gold or in si!- had the plague raging within its ver. What could possess a man to hoard his all in rags! For my part, no compassion is due from me to such a man. I have, for twenty years, been endeavouring to make men see the dangers of trusting to paper-money; and, if they have not read, or having read, have not believed me; but have walls. The disease called the in plague is bad enough; but, no profound belief in the paper-rally reminds us of the state of the money cheats, be their ruin their debased Israelites, who, having reward. The stoppage of the Bank in question has spread ruin all around eyes would not see, having ears “would not hear;" and who, calling on the prophets, said, for many miles. Farmers, trades-"prophesy to us smooth things; men, even labourers, have had" prophesy to us lies." their all taken away in a moment. One man, worth two thousand pounds the day before, was left Will it be said, that, if these persons had had their money in what is called the Funds, it would then have been safe. We shall rags! He has his just reward, see about that presently; but, and let no good man cast an eye let me first address myself to those who have only small sums to put by. of pity on him. I read of a house that was burnt about a month ago. There were There can be no doubt, that 70 guineas, in a drawer, which great numbers of such persons was burnt with the house without have already taken advantage of time to go to it for the money. the Cash-payments by getting | But the whole of the 70 guineas, sovereigns to put by in the place the property of an industrious of the base rags which they tradesman, were found amongst had been weak, and, I must the ashes! They were still 70 say, wicked enough, to hoard. guineas. If there had been 707. If there be any persons, who, in paper-maney, the owner would turning a deaf ear to all the have lost them, and so much would warnings that I have given them, have been gained by the paperstill persist in hoarding, or hold-money man that issued them. If ing, or using, paper-money, they you lose, by accident, a piece of ought to be ruined. Their ruin is real money, somebody finds it, first the work of their own perverse or last, and it is still good; but, minds. They choose to assist in a note, dropped in the dirt, be upholding a system that daily comes itself dirt under the first brings some unhappy fellow crea- foot that happens to light on it. ture to an untimely end; and; Money makes a noise, when it therefore, they themselves are falls on any thing hard; the fall wholly unworthy of compassion. of a note, like the step of the The man, who had hoarded the "highly disciplined" battalions of two hundred pounds in country-theft, gives you no warning. The bank notes, must have known, absence of real money is perceived that he was guilty of that which by the want of weight in your tended to keep in existence the pocket; but the note weighs accursed paper-money. He well nothing, and its accursed rustle, knew that that paper-money more ominous than that of the tempted many to their ruin and adder, is imitated by that of produced their ignominious death. bit of waste-paper. Real money Could he, then, pride himself in in your pocket, when you fall his possession of the abominable into water, comes out as it went 1 any in; but, a villainous note becomes [gold, and it does, in fact, make. mashed and is nothing more than the sovereign purchase less than it would do if there were no paa little lump of bad paste. per. But, by and by, the two will no longer circulate together, unless the paper be reduced to a very small quantity, so that there will remain no notes under twenty Can this be called money; and can a reasonable creature hoard so vile, so utterly a worthless, thing? The Bank notes put you in the absolute power of every rogue, to whom you may have to pay pounds; and, then, it will not, You have paid him, in fact, be circulation; for such motiey. for instance, for a pound's worth a note will not be seen by an ordiof bread. He, after this, gets a nary tradesman once in a year.. ́ forged note (and he may be leu-And, when things come to this gued with forgers, mind;) he goes and swears, that he got it from you. You must pay him again! Can any man, then, ever be said to have paid any thing? And, do you call this money? Even to pass so vile a thing voluntarily argues badness; and to give a prefeBut, some one may say, "suprence to it argues something be put out paper little short of roguery. As to " pose shop-keepers who prefer paper-"again?" Well? And what money, I have no hesitation in then? You cannot lose at any saying, that, if there be any rate by putting sovereigns by You cannot find forged such, they must have fraudulent now. intentions. The inducements, at this time, to put by real money are great state, a sovereign will purchase twice as many quartern loaves as it will purchase now! Twice as much land, of course, and twice as much of every thing. Prices. of food are affected by seasons; but, upon an average of years,, this will be the effect. the No fire can Come what notes in your purse. indeed. As things are going on, ten sovereigns, will, in less than three years, purchase nearly twice as much as they will purchase now. This, therefore, is the time to put money by. Paper is, beg of you to lend me your best as yet, circulating along with attention, while I give you my opinion with regard to what will take place then? Would people happen in each of the cases. think that the paper was not depreciated? Would the House of Commons resolve as they did in1811, that a pound note and a shilling were equal in value to a guinea? They might so resolve; for few things are impossible to an assembly of thunderers; but one thing would be utterly impossible even to these thunderers; and that is, to make one single I do not believe that the paper will be pushed out again. It cannot be pushed out again to any extent, unless Peel's bill be repealed; because that bill compels the bank to pay in cash on the 21 May, 1823. But I do not believe that the bill will be repealed; because the shame, the disgrace, the infamy of such repeal would be intolerable; and creature, not in a mad house, or there would be the feast of the grid-ready to go into a mad house, or iron; and my disciples flocking to walking or riding about under the London from all parts of the care of a keeper, to believe in the, country, to proclaim my triumph truth of such resolution. over the wretched drivellers, the The consequence of this want miserable thunderers, that have of belief would be, that men been conducting this system for would sell cheaper for gold than so many years, and who have for paper. Every one would persevered in their follies in de- wish to possess the gold in prefiance of my advice, my warnings, ference to the paper. For, oband my threats, of chastisement serve, there would in this case to be inflicted upon them. This be, not a mere opinion; not a of itself, which would assurely mere suspicion; but a certain take place, is enough to deter knowledge, that the Bank had the pretty gentlemen from a re-stopped this time, because, and peal of Peel's bill. But, sup- only because, it had not the means pose the bill were repealed, and of keeping on paying. You suppose the paper to be pushed will observe that the Bank has out again, even to the tune of now asked leave to pay; and has 1811, when the annual expendi- obtained an act of parliament for ture, under that desperate little fellow Perceval, actually that purpose. Therefore, if it amounted to a hundred and now stop, it must be because the thirty millions? What would demand for gold has exceeded |