THE BULLION COMMITTEE, ETC.
At this period, from our differences with America, which were not yet
settled, as well as from Napoleon's continental system, a considerable
commercial depression was felt, together with a derangement in the
money-market, arising in a great measure from the necessity that existed
of constantly sending specie to the continent. During the preceding year
Mr. Horner had obtained the appointment of a committee to inquire into
the reason of the high price of gold bullion, and the state of the
circulating medium, and of the exchanges between Great Britain and
foreign parts. The report of this bullion committee was presented by Mr.
Horner on the 6th of May, on which occasion he addressed the house in
an elaborate speech, advocating a speedy return to cash-payments, as
the only means of saving the credit of the country. The report itself,
indeed, tended to recommend this measure to parliament. It stated,
that there was an excess in the paper circulation, of which the most
unequivocal symptom was the very high price of bullion, and, next to
that, the low state of the continental exchanges; that the cause of this
excess of bank-notes was to be found in the suspension of cash-payments;
there being no adequate provision against such an excess, except in the
convertibility of paper into specie; and that the unfavourable state of
the exchanges originated in the same cause, and was further increased
by the anti-commercial measures of the enemy.
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