3301. Robert Southey to John Rickman, 24 May [1819]
3301. Robert Southey to John Rickman, 24 May [1819] *
My dear R.
From three to four portions after this consignment will bring me to the end of my long labour. And then I set my face southward instanter. You see that in this chapter [1] I mix up general matter with statistic detail, – for a double purpose; – what is true of the province whereof I am treating, may not be equal true of every other, – & it relieves the heavier matter. – The country altogether is in a curious state, – but it is making marvellous progress, & no other part of the world requires so few, or such easy alterations in its institutions.
So the Ghost of Bullion is risen, & playing the Devil with the commerce of the country. [2] We must build walls again xx to run our heads against them. This is a question upon which I go with Mr Cropper [3] & Lord Stanhope [4] – bad company both, – but better than Hunt, [5] Wooler, [6] the Bullionists, the Gregrees, [7] all acting in odd coalition against Common Sense & the practical men. Whenever a question of political economy is mixed up with abstractions & metaphysics it is a plain proof that he who makes the hodge podge knows nothing about the matter. – I look to much immediate embarrassment in trade, produced by this measure, – & to be felt sorely in next years revenue, by which time things will be getting right again & accommodate themselves to the circumstances of the money market. And to suppose that when the experiment shall have cost the Bank 2 or 300,000 pounds, – to enrich them who trade in gold, the people will be satisfied that whatever is said of a standard of value is sheer nonsense, – & as Lord Stanhope maintained that for a people in our stage of civilization, gold is altogether unnecessary. [8] – – One thing however may be taken into the account which is not generally known. The Brazilian mines as yet have only been scratched. – They are now taking means for working them, – & in all likelihood they will very soon be more productive than ever. [9] With the general question this has nothing to do, – but it may materially concern the Bank, –
Remember us to Mrs R. – We are going on better.
God bless you
RS.
24 May.
Notes
* Endorsement: 24 May
MS:
Huntington Library, RS 368. ALS; 3p.
Previously published: John Wood Warter
(ed.), Selections from the Letters of Robert Southey, 4 vols
(London, 1856), III, pp. 135–136. BACK
[2] The House of Commons was debating legislation to recommence the convertibility of paper currency to gold, which had been suspended since 1797. The legislation passed on 2 July 1819 and convertibility was restored on 1 May 1821, but the period 1819–1821 witnessed a fall in commodity prices and rising unemployment. BACK
[3] James Cropper (1773–1840; DNB), Quaker merchant and philanthropist from Liverpool. He had signed a petition from Liverpool bankers and merchants against the resumption of cash payments and then added his own reasons for doing so: an aspect of the petition that Canning drew attention to when he presented it to the House of Commons on 2 February 1819. BACK
[6] Thomas Jonathan Wooler (1786–1853; DNB), editor of the radical satirical journal The Black Dwarf, 1817–1824. BACK
[7] The parliamentary opposition headed by the Whig, Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey (1764–1845; DNB), and Lord Grenville. BACK