The Mystery of Money Explained (Walton and Maberly.) — The title
of this book may, perhaps, induce some people to imagine that its object is to afford an explanation of those mysterious terms and pro- cesses which render the reports of the money market so fearfully and wonderfully incomprehensible to the general reader. Such, however, is not the case. The volume consists of a historical survey, concise, but complete, from a strictly Conservative point of view, of the monetary system of England from the Norman Conquest to the present time. The author is of opinion that all the money enactments that have been passed since 1797 are so many steps in the wrong direction ; and he is especially severe upon Sir Robert Peers Cen army Acts. As far as we can make out, the faulty principle which he holds to be at the bottom of all this mass of error is a confusion between mercantile money, which is that employed in mercantile transactions between different nations, and tribute money, which is that legally used within any given nation. He is also of opinion that the old school of Bank Directors were very badly used by the Government. For the existing state of things he proposes two remedies, either of which would, he thinks, be efficient. One is the restoration of the system of cash payment, which was suspended in 1797 ; and the other consists in allow- ing the Bank of England to regulate the issue of bank-notes in sub- ordination to the mercantile price of gold, as suggested by the Directors in 1819, instead of calling on them to govern that price by their issue, as was done by Sir R. PeeL The book, which is the work of a gentle- man who has been engaged in trade and banking ever since the year 1801, is not only valuable as containing the opinions of a competent and decided thinker, but also possesses a fair share of interest for the general reader.
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