A Letter to Sir James Graham, Bart. M.P., Alias a Cumberland Landowner, in Reply to Certain Positions Contained in a Pamphlet, Entitled Free (Paperback)

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. Excerpt from book: Section 3their number, and the disastrous consequences which ensued from them, they would be found the most extensive and destructive of any that have occurred in any period of our history, not excluding even the years 1825 and 1826, disastrous as these last years most unquestionably were. That textit{some capitalists became textit{more rich by the failure of others, cannot be at all doubted: for, as is well known, textit{fortunate hits, as well in commerce as in agriculture, were not uncommon. But that such convulsions have tended to enrich a few at the expense of the many, cannot for a moment be questioned; and, consequently, to say that every class of capitalists increased in opulence between the year 1765 and 1819, is totally at variance with fact. We agree with you, sir, as to the exceedingly delusive nature of Lord Lauderdale's political economy; although we doubt very much whether what you call the " elements of money" be understood textit{by any one. We well remember, sir, when we were admirers of that nobleman's principles and writings; but we are sorry to observe that his lordship does not appear to us to have improved in his sentiments by age. Page 8. Your table is specious, but, in our opinion, nothing more. You assume gold at 3/. 17s. lOjd. per oz. as the textit{standard of money; but you do not tell us, at the same time, what was the market, or, if you please, the textit{nominal, prices of gold per ounce, during a great portion of the long period of twenty-three years, namely, from 1792 to 1815. Why not have placed in juxtaposition not only the market price of textit{gold, but also the market price of wheat ? why not, too, have given us the market price of wheat in 1800 and 1801 ? These twenty-three years' averages prove absolutely nothing. Again, sir, if you really think that man is a...