between the legal value of a pound, or 12 ozs. of gold, and its present value in Paper Currency), is the measure of the depreciation of Paper;" and observes, that it is the measure of that depreciation, as well with respect to gold, the universal equivalent, as to every other commodity." Assuming, therefore, this demonstration as the criterion, the present depreciation is about £19. 179. or near £20 per cent. (I say the present, because by the natural operation of the existing order of things, it must increase, and will continue to do so until the cause is completely eradicated), a circumstance which has thrown a new light on all revenue, commercial, and manufacturing concerns; and, by an application of the rules and degrees of proportion, we are furnished with the true key of prosperity. It is conclusive that the fluctuations of the circulating medium must, relevantly and immediately, govern the foreign exchange, the mercantile negotiations, and the prices of most commodities; and, generally, it has a more or less influence on every act or thing in any wise connected with the welfare of the Country. A depreciation is an evil the more to be dreaded, as it creeps upon us in a gradual and imperceptible manner; and although it is known to act, and to act magisterially and with decision, yet it is comparatively but little heeded, and, until the late report of the Bullion Committee, passed almost unregarded. We have been told that the export trade rapidly increases; that in the last year the amount of the woollen manufactures exported was £5,416,151, exceeding by £562,152 that of the preceding year! If this immense exportation is attributable (for so the Report infe s) to the manufactures exported, without any reference to the Paper medium, we must doubtless conclude that the country is in a most flourishing condition; but, after the very able exposition given us by the gentleman alluded to, it is utterly impossible to entertain any such idea. Supposing, however, for a moment that the high amount of the returns were not to be attributed to the fuctuations of the Paper Currency: to what then can we attribute it? The fact of the very limited extent of the demands would of itself afford ample conviction that we cannot look to our manufactures as the real cause of the increase. Let us but cast our eyes around, let us view all the minutiæ of the commercial system, and we shall be satisfied that no percepti. ble extraordinary demand was made, nor no new inducement for smuggling or contraband of war was created; our commercial relations were much on the same footing, and were conducted on the same principles! There could not therefore be any alteration in these respects. I am ready to admit that the industry and labour of our manufacturers are truly great, and that the enterprising genius of British merchants is ever watchful for expedients; yet physical impossibilities will of course have their own weight, and obvious truths will of course remove delusion. Can it be imagined that a far greater exportation of woollen manufactures took place in 1809 than in 1802, a year in which we were at peace, and trading with every trading nation in the globe? Can it be imagined that in consequence of our trading in 1809 with such a comparatively minute part of the globe, and consequently the demands bearing no proportion to what they were in 1802, that nevertheless our manufactures increased to an extent almost incredible? If we recollect that, with the exception of our colonies, Portugal, Sweden, Sicily, and a portion of Spain, we, at the period of the return referred to, held no intercourse but that of stealth, no trade but that of contraband, we shall be fully satisfied of the fallacy of attributing the increase of the res turn to the increase of the exportation. Weighing, therefore, these circumstances, with the demonstration of the £20. per cent. depreciation, likewise with the consequent high price of each article by which the manufactures are produced, and with the very high wages of artizans and workmen of all descriptions, we cannot be at a loss to devise the true origin of the augmented amount of our commercial returns. Perhaps if I were to speculate on the progressive annual advancements, and calculate the gradual depression of Paper Money, I might discover, that the declared annual increase is, in point of fact, an annual depreciation of the circulating medium, in a ratio of little more or lese less than the annual advancement. forestall and monopolize? It is somewhat consolatory to reflect, that those who are the primary cause of the de preciation, and reap a present gain, must in the end pay the deficiency; and perhaps, if it were not for the mischief it causes in leading the world, and the Government in particular, to believe that the export of our manu factures is annually increasing, and that to an amazing amount, when in reality it is nothing more than a fall in the value of money, and also the advancement it' creates in the prices of all articles whatsoever, it were better to leave this trading company to the pursuit of their plans, and await the blow which may suite them so severely as to level them with the dust. The cause and multiplicity of bankruptcies is another point to which I beg to call your attention. In a ge neral sense, they are a considerable be In 1807 some papers were laid before Parliament, which were after, wards printed, and in which it was stated, as the result of ascertained facts, that wages since 1780 had advanced £39. 78. Id. per cent.; and that the price of provisions had ad, vanced, in the same time, £84. 8s. 2d. per cent. To what but the immense and incalculable amount of Paper circulating in the world can we ascribe these calamitous evils? What, but the unlimited discounts of the Bank, giving life and energy to a swarm of jobbers and speculators; their unre strained issues, unregulated by an allusion to the Bullion and Coin, and proper securities, in their cofiers; and the fictitious capital thus Koating, and enhancing by its plenitude every commodity its eyes are cast on? If a period is not put to such prac tices, it is to be expected (although by the shutting of the Swedish portsnefit to the Country; a partial evil, the calls for our manufactures are still more limited than they were in 1809) that the returns for the current year will far exceed that of its predecessor! By the mode of the Bank discounts, a merchant, or body of merchants, disposed to speculate or engross an article likely to advance in price, may, by sending their own bills or paper (together with such as the credit of their name, or their influence, can obtain from their friends) at different but close periods, into the Bank, get the whole discounted (that is to say, get the currency of the realm in exchange for them); and, by applying the produce to the buying-up (to make use of a well-understood phrase) of that article, cause au inconceivable advancement in its price, and consequently a reduction in the value of Paper, and a long train of attending miseries and evils. This virtual encouragement of the most base and infamous of practices, this boundless issue of the legal currency, do they not, by throwing an immen sity of that currency into circulation, not only cause and accelerate its depreciation; but may it not ultimately endanger the very existence of the state? Do they not encourage and further the views of that swarm of locusts which prey on the very vi, tals of industry? Do they not enhance the prices of the necessaries of life, by holding out an inducement to but a general good: they are the proofs of the disappointment and con fusion of speculators; they are the failures of men, who, as far as in them lies, have aimed at some engrossment, meditated some forestalment, or contemplated the disposal, at an advanced price, of some necessary commodity; they are the resource of men, who, by a total disregard of repute, and an abuse of public confidence, have plunged into hazard, and staked every thing their credit can by any possible means obtain, to accomplish their sole and selfish view of enriching themselves (although it must of necessity be accomplished at the expence of the interest of their Country, and of numberless individuals), and being disappointed in such their laudable endeayours, are reduced to the extremity of appealing to the bankrupt laws (laws which are wisely ordained for the protection of the honest trader, and for his amelioration when, by unforeseen misfortunes, he is involved in embarrassment and difficulty) for relief; and, forsooth, to become bankrupt, and be exempted from any pe nalty whatever! In justice to the community at large, and as a preventive against such malpractices, a distinction should be made in bank. ruptcy; those failures which have arisen from a fall in the articles in which the bankrupt dealt, from bad debts debts, losses at sea, or by fire, or such other casualty as cannot be guarded against, ought to be distinguished from the result of fraud and speculation; the latter should be visited with the severest punishment, branded with a mark of infamy, or prohibited from embarking in matters of trade: the publick should be protected from the probability of the recurrence. To remedy the many evils complained of, the interference of the Legislature is, doubtless, the only expedient: the health of the Country is materially impaired; the disease, however, is not incurable, and the phy sician is at hand. To limit the discounts of the national banks within an wholesome amount, and, if existing circumstances will admit, to remove the Bank restriction; to check the increase and conduct of country banks, by a proper licence, by some adequate mode of ascertaining their respectability and responsibility, and by a due limitation of their issues; to suppress all monopolies, and open every market to the exercise of a liberal competition; and to punish fraudulent and speculative bankruptcies, are obviously the measures to restore the wonted health and vigour; measures by which our country may again truly flourish, and by which the necessaries of life, the foreign exchange, and commerce in general, may be reduced to their natural level. Yours, &c. PHILOPATRIE. Jan. 10. T is often difficult to come to a conclusion on a question where much is said on both sides. Much has been said and written on the propriety of obliging the Bank of England to pay their notes in specie; but it should be considered, that, were they driven to this extremity by the repeal of the restriction act, they would in their own defence be compelled to narrow their discounts, so as to occasion the greatest distress throughout the Na tion. Suppose, for instance, the Bank should say, "We should lose a million and half of money if 10 millions of our notes were to be sent in for pay ment in guineas" (and there is little doubt but as many would be sent in); aud "We will, therefore, be wise in GENT. MAG. January, 1911. time, and reduce our discounts 10 millions:" what would be the consequence? little less than a general bankruptcy. It should be considered that when the Bank were in the habit of paying their notes in specic, they could generally buy as much gold for 10001. Bank Notes as it would require to coin Guineas to pay 1000.; but now they must give 11507. in Bank Notes to buy as much gold as it would require to coin Guineas to pay 10007. It seems, therefore, highly reasonable, that the Bank should be required to pay only so much gold for 10007. Bank Notes as 1000l. Bank Notes would buy. The great increase of our trade and manufactures has been very much owing to the abundance of our circulating medium (which, however, has been too far extended); and this enabied ministers, in a great degree, to raise such enormous taxes, as 20 years ago would have been thought impossible. It therefore requires the greatest caution in too rapidly lessening this circulating medium for, without the greatest caution, the consequences will, I fear, be dreadful. I remember, about 30 years ago, that Guineas, which were two shillings deficient in weight, were generally current. that Government were to raise the Suppose, therefore, nominal value of our present Guineas to 23 shillings, or to coin twenty shillings or one pound pieces, of such a weight in gold as a one-pound Bank Note would now buy: this, probably, of evils would be the least. Mr. URBAN, L. Dec. 31. Y antagonist, under the signa MY ture of "An Architect," is opening his long-threatened attack upon the restoration of Henry the VIIth's Chapel, with a prelude in praise of J. C.; but, whatever signature he may assume, whether J. C. or An Architect, or plain John Carter, or Sir John Carter, Knight of the Red Cross, or whether be dictates his own panegyricks to one of his Esquires, it is to me indifferent: if the assault is made by an individual, it is malice prepense; if by a collective force, it is a foul conspiracy against the character of an Artist . employed employed in the most difficult task of his profession, and whose character is his support. I combat with no one but the Knight; and, though he maintains that I have declined the contest, I refer him to my repeated profession of defending that Artist, as long as the Knight shall appear in arms against him. ་... In your last Volume, Part I. p. 539, the Architect asserts, that his friend John Carter informed him that the Master-workman to the Chapel's restorations observed to him, that he was bringing about every means to give more light to the Porch; one of which was, to knock up for the purpose a sky-light in the centre of the arched cieling." Now, Mr. Urban, this passage, interpreted into plain English, is-John Carter told John Carter a direct and unfounded falsehood. The Masterworkinan never did propose to knock up a sky-light in the arched cieling; and the word of the Workman is entitled to more credit than John Carter's word, because John stands convicted of four falsehoods upon your records. Falsehood, Mr. Urban, i an unlawful weapon in controversy; and I maintain, therefore, that the Knight has lost his spurs. A second charge is brought forward by the Architect in his tender concern for the support of the arched window now under repair, and his admonition of securing the arch by upright timbers. Here there is no falsehood indeed, but there is ignorance in the extreme; for every architect in the kingdom but J. Carter knows that the strength of an arch consists in its proportion and bearings; and I can not help thinking, that John mede this observation upon his return from a visit to Staines Bridge, where he had seen an iron arch supported upon wooden stilts; but he should have considered that Sir Reginald Bray's arches never wanted such a wretched expedient as stilts to support them; but that his arch was correspondent to the abutments, and the abutments to the arch. Further than this, if John were an Architect, he ought to know, that the mullions in every Gothic window throughout the kingdom, however beautiful or ornamental, are not intended for the support of the arch which contains them, but to admit iron and support glass. With equal kindness John has formerly warned the Restorers not to open a turret, not to touch a flying buttress, at their peril; but turrets have been opened, and flying buttresses replaced, without difficulty or danger: and had this operation been delayed a few years longer, the fabrick could not have been restored; it must have been rebuilt. It will be a piece of friendly advice in return, to warn the Architect not to indulge the fervency of his imagination, by adopting the language of "The London Spy." It is impious to im pute a work of human excellence to Omnipotence, and nonsensical to knit, together the fingers of Angels in the construction. The Restorers consider this edifice as one of the finest buildings in Europe, and perhaps the very finest of its kind in existence; they think it therefore one of their more especial duties to preserve it; they deem it worthy of public support, as the pride and ornament of the nation and they are persuaded that, except John Carter, there is not an individual in the country who would wish to contemplate it in a state of ruio, rather than in a state of repair. AN OLD CORRESPONDENT. P. S. Will Mr. John Carter make af fidavit before a Magistrate to the truth of his assertion about the sky-light If he will, the Master-workman is ready to meet him for that purpose, and make affidavit to the contrary. aid of the Architect's remarks on the publication of the late Mr. Whittington, which have appeared in your Magazine, you are requested to insert the following. Mr. Whittington, in his "Survey of the Ecclesiastical Antiquities of France," p. 110, states, "that all authorities concur in fixing the reign of Henry II. (that is, after the year 1154) as the earliest æra of the introduction into England of the mixed style of round and pointed arches, which we see practised in France before that period." He also, in a note, says, that our English writers have not been able to produce an earlier instance of the decided aps pearance of the pointed arch in Eugland than the year 1160. In answer to the above remarks, I beg to refer your readers to the accounts given of Lanthoni Abbey in Monmouthshire, by Mr. Coxe in his "Tour through that County," and by Sir Richard Hoare in his "Comment on Giraldus Cambrensis," where they will find that this fine Abbey, which presents a regular mixture of the round and pointed Architecture, was built about the year 1108; and owing to the disturbed state of the Country, deserted in 1136, when the monks settled themselves in another Convent on the banks of the Severn, near Gloucester, which, after the name of the mother abbey, they called also Lanthoni. Yours, &c. A CONSTANT READER. ARCHITECTURAL INNOVATION, *** In our last volume, p. 539, l. 14, read, "The fifth divisions and the three cants are done into small chapels." * POINTED STYLE OF ARCHITECTURE During the Reign of Henry VI. &c. and Henry VII. concluded. INTERIOR OF HENRY VII'S CHAPEL. NTERIOR. The stalls are not of that rich cast as those seen at Windsor; some Italianised work introduced upon them; those in the fourth division, modern: and although not the most strict copy of the originals, yet are deserving of great praise. The clusters of columns against the piers of the windows very small; and, as at Cambridge and Windsor, claim but little interest when the multitude of surrounding decorations are considered. The dado under the windows has the cili line set with angels, some in drapery, others in armour, and the rest in dresses composed of feathers, they bearing the rose, portcullis, fleur-de lis, and a variety of shields of arms. The space below them, to the point of the arches, filled with compartments anduiches, containing statues of kings, queens, saints, bishops, &c. The windows shew five divisions of mullions, with three tiers of transoms (battlemented). The tracery in the heads, architectural. The three perforated brazen doors of entrance present new conceptions: graud they certainly are, and of imposing forms; yet I turn back to those oak compartmented doors of older date for true embellishment in this respect. While a single cluster of columns occupies the piers of the four first divisious, the fifth division, being a cominencement to the octangular turn of the East end of the chapel, has a double cluster, with a space between them filled with compartments, niches, &c; and, as the single cluster bears one, the double cluster bears two prepa rations for the springing of the groins, and the support of the pendentives in the circles dropping from them, These groins are then of the most gorgeous design, and of the most scientific construction that ever raised the art of masonry to something more than morial frame. When the gust of enthusiasm, imbibed from the view of the enchanting scene, has subsided, calm observation tells us, that the groins are (taking in the space from wall to wall) run into two lines of circles, and two of half circles. The centre of each circle drops into pendentives, wrought into three or more tiers of compartments; which compartments emerge from the centre of the pendentives, and multiply into smaller degrees of compartments. These compartments, with their consequent heads and tracery, undercut, and the grounds to them sunuk far below the mouldings, forming the composition. This uudercutting, from the deep shadow it produces, is one secret cause of that heart-struck sensation here known, but known only to the susceptible minds of Antiquity-lovers. If this constellation of geometric features cause such high gratification, how the delight is enhanced, when continuing our view round the turn of the East, end of the groins, where, notwithstanding the circles decrease in dimension, increase in multitudinous forms, and multitudinous attrac tion! To attempt farther to define their systematic formation, is to be plunged into the most profound geometric meditation, impossible with me, at least, to bring to a full and comprehensive illustration; the task is too mighty, and I can but adore! The work of the side ailes, and small chapels, consonant with the centre part of the chapel itself; the windows have no general arched head (as before observed) like those to the upper story of the edifice: the dado, rich in compartments, with (at the Eastern ends) cills of angels, &c. large |