This is the meaning of the saying 'John Bull can stand many things, but he cannot stand two per cent:' it means that the greatest effect of the three great causes is nearly peculiar to England; here, and here almost alone, the excess of savings over investments is deposited in banks; here, and here only, is it made use of so as to affect trade at large; here, and here only, are prices gravely affected. In these circumstances, a low rate of interest, long protracted, is equivalent to a total depreciation of the precious metals. In his book on the effect of the great gold discoveries, Professor Jevons showed, and so far as I know, was the first to show, the necessity of eliminating these temporary changes of value in gold before you could judge properly of the permanent depreciation. He proved, that in the years preceding both 1847 and 1857 there was a general rise of prices; and in the years succeeding these years, a great fall. The same might be shown of the years before and after 1866, _mutatis mutandis_. And at the present moment we have a still more remarkable example, which was thus analysed in the Economist of the 30th December, 1871, in an article which I venture to quote as a whole: 'THE GREAT RISE IN THE PRICE OF COMMODITIES. 'Most persons are aware that the trade of the country is in a state of great activity. All the usual tests indicate that--the state of the Revenue, the Bankers' Clearing-house figures, the returns of exports and imports are all plain, and all speak the same language. But few have, we think, considered one most remarkable feature of the present time, or have sufficiently examined its consequences. That feature is the great rise in the price of most of the leading articles of trade during the past year. We give at the foot of this paper a list of articles, comprising most first-rate articles of commerce, and it will be seen that the rise of price, though not universal and not uniform, is nevertheless very striking and very general. The most remarkable cases are-- January December L, s. d. L, s. d. Wool--South Down hogs per pack 13 0 0 21 15 0 Cotton--Upland ordinary per lb. 0 0 7-1/4 0 0 8-3/8 No. 40 mule yarn, &c. per lb. 0 1 1-1/2 0 1 2-1/2 Iron--Bars, British per ton 7 2 6 8 17 6 Pig, No. 1 Clyde per ton 2 13 3 3 16 0 Lead per ton 18 7 6 8 17 6 Tin per ton 137 0 0 157 0 0 Copper--Sheeting per ton 75 10 0 95 0 0 Wheat (GAZETTE average) per qr. 2 12 0 2 15 8 --and in other cases there is a tendency upwards in price much more often than there is a tendency downwards.