Star. — London, England, 1811-05-09 00:00:00

• . - • - _ EAST INDIA HOUSE, Alley 7, 1811. THE COURT of DIRECT:IRS If the UNITED COAfPAN Tof MERCHANTS ff INGLA ND, trains is the ..EA:ST INDIES, de hereby give make, Tnat a General Court of the said Company will be held at their House in Leadenhall-street, on Friday next the 10th in stant, at eleven o'clock in the foreman, on special affairs. . i WILLIAM IitiIMSAT, Secretary. • ••••• , EASTLINDMILOUSE, ittey 8, 1811. HE COURT ofDIRECTORS of the UNITED rT \COMPANY of MERCHANTS y ,ENGLAND, tradin g to the•EAST INDIES., do herd." li i 4itehtt, That the day for the receipt of lrehirers for.such Ships of the Burthen of 1100 Tons an'd upwards, as have performed, or are expected to arrive in the course of this season, having perforated six voyages in the Company's regular service, as mentioned In the Court's Advertisement of the Ist instant, is postponed froM Frilay, the :list instant, to Wednesday, tile 12th Jane next, on day the Court will receive Tenders far the hire of the Above drips, for one additional Voyage, or two additional Voyages; such Tenders specifying the rate of Freight at which the Owners Islay be sighing to let those Ships for a seventh voya g e, and also the rate of Freight for a seventh and eighth Voyage. WILLLIe 111 RAMSAY, Jerre:dry. The Tenders with the words " Ship Tender," on the cover, to be severally sealed up, and left with the Secretary at or before twelve o'clock at noon, on the said 12th June nest, beyond which hour no Tender will he reseived. Copy of the Amended Terms and Conditions under which the Ships will he employed in the Company's Service, if engaged for one Voyage only, or for two Voyages, may be bad upon ap plication to Mr. John Morice, Clerk to the Committee of Ship ping, on or after Monday next, the 13th instant. PdRLIAMENTARr PROCEEDINGS. HOUSE OF LORDS, MAY 8. BERKELEY PEERAGE. In a Committee of Privileges, the further consideration of this. Rase wat resumed.. Some further evidence was heard, and Sir gnaws!. ROMILIT was heard at some length on the part of the Petitioners. In consequence of certain points being referred to the Judges, the proceedings were adjourned till Monday. The Scots Creditors Bill, the Irish Loan, and the Slave Trade Pellny Bill, severally passed through Committees of the whole tiouse, and were reported without any Amendment. Mr. JOHNSON, from the Irish Secretary of State's Office, pre vented certain Papers and Accounts, pursuant to an order of-their Lordships. Mr. DAVCNPOJT, Mr. DZNNISON, and other Members, brought up a few private Bills from the Con uons, which Were read a first time. LOVEDEN'S DIVORCE BILL. Mr. Warren and Mr. R. Jackson, Counsel for the Petitioner, were again called in, when they proceeded to examine the re mainder of their witnesses, for the purpose of proving the act of aadultery. - Mary Day stated her having heard Mrs. Loveden's voice in the bed-zoom of Mr. Barker, and the door was tried in her pre sence, and found to be locked. She also saw a little while after wi.rds Mr. Barker come from the sante room. The gardener to Mr. Loveden saw Mr. Barker and Mrs. Love den together in the kitchen-garden, where the former had the tarter with his arms round her waist, and in that situation he gave her ;kiss. The groom recollected often riding with 'Mrs. L., when they were joi.l.ld by Mr. B.; and on one occasion he observed Mr. B. conduct himself towards Mrs. L in a very familiar and improper manner. Mr. Seymour was a friend of Mr. Loveden, and op one occa step he too: an *pp ‘rtunity of speaking to Mrs. L. on the mark -44 attention which she paid to Mr. Barker. He did not recol lect now his own observation ; hot her answer was, that u long as Mr. B. behaved kindly to her, she could do no less to him. Mr. Price. the son of Mr.Loveden. stated his having received , the intercepted letters, and information of the discovery, from some of the servants, at the time his father was with him; he took the opportunity of disclosing the circumstance, which very much agitated Mr. L. at the time, and he burst into tears. He identified the letters which be received, and proved them to be the hand-writing of Mrs. Loveden. The servant not being present who delivered these letters to Mr. Price, to identify they were the same which he had stated came from Mrs. Loveden, the Counsel could not proceed to ad. dress their Lordships upon the nature of their contents; accord ingly further proceedings were postponed till Friday, for the pur pose of wording time to adduce this necessary testimony. The remaining Bills on the table were forwarded in their re spective stages, and the House adjourned till to-morrow ; when their Lordships stand summoned upon Lord Sidmouth's Proposi tions respecting Protestant Dissenters. HOUSE OF COMMONS. Mr. HOWARTH postponed his motion respecting the Ise: eruption of Foreigners front the Property Tax, to Friday. Lord A. HAMILTON presented a Petition from the people of the town of Paisley, stating the distressed situation in which they were placed ; which was such, that out of a population of 30,000 individuals, 1200 families were reduced to distress, who were formerly maintained in a state of respectability. The Pe tition further prayed for a Reform in the representation of the people, end for the dismissal of Ministers. Lord A. HAMILTON moved that it should lie on the table. Mr. CURWEN did not oppose the motion, but thought the Petitioners ought to be told that It was not in the power of Par liament to relieve them at present. They ought to be advised to seek other situations, and if assistance were necessary to convey them to any other place, he thought such assistance might be pro perly given. . After same explanation, the Petition was ordered to lie op the table. Mr. BRAND withdrew the notice he had given of a motion, for the Correspondence respecting an Exchange of Prisoners ; and promised to renew it on a future day. Mr. HOUSTOUN presented a Petition from the operative Manufacturers, Journeymen, Tradesmen, and others in Glasgow, and the neighbourhood, stating their distressed situation, and praying for relief. Colonel PALMER gave notice for a motion on Tuesday, the 41st instant relative to Mr. Pa l mer's Mime. Mr. W. POLE obtained leave to bring in a Bill to amend the Acts, enabling his Majesty to avail himself of the voluntary ser e vices of the Militia in' Ireland. Mr. HUTCHINSON postponed the motion, of which be had given iisfice, for the repeal of the Convention Act, to Wednes day, tire 2p instant. Oct the Motion of the CHANCELLOR of the EXcHE QUER, a Committee was appointed to search the Journals of the fouse of lords, for any proceedings relative to the Bill for equa lizing the disdllations from corn and sugar. The Customs Regulation Bill was read a third time and passed. Mr. W HARTON brought up the Report .of the Irish Corn alert:lel Credit Bill, which was agreed to; and the Bill ordered for i.third reading to-morrots. The Hotise went into a Committee of Supply, in which the usual miscellanectee grants for the service of the two Houses of Parliament were voted. The Report was ordered to be received to-morrow. Mr. LUSHINGTOrg brought up the Report of the Inn keepers' P ates Sill, which was agreed to, and the Bill ordered to be read a third time to-morrow. Mr. WHARTON brought in the Coals Inland Navigation, the Malt Duty . Amendrnent, and the Four Millions Annuities Bills, which were read a first, and ordered t• be read a second time to-morrow. The Hi -- then resolved itself into a. Cqfpsnitffe qf Trhote impe House on the Repuin of the MILLION COMMITTEE, present wbo had been alluded to, but for their activity and zeal Continent had been hermetically sealed • —He attributed the present rate of thought the opinitli of the Bullion Committee was a- Mr. MANNINO , began with defending the late correct (pinion. Throughout the whole enquiry Governor of the Bank of England from some re they had endeavoured, in the most honourable and marks made on a former night, by an Honourable impartial manner, to procure information on the sub- and Learned Gentleman (Mr. Horner). He said, ject, without availing themselves of any means which that in the detail, with which it would be necessary they might have of prejudicing the question. One for him to trouble the House, he would be as brief as charge preferred against them was, that they did not the nature of the subject would admit, desiring all sufficiently attend to practical men. Practical men along to be understood as delivering his own indivi (i. men of business) were not the best judges of dual sentiments, and not speaking under the direction the state of the case. This fact had been maintained or authority of the Directors. The Honourable and by Dr. A. Smith. They were moreover interested Learned Gentleman who introduced the motion had to a certain degree in the continuance of the present stated, that a wanton issue had been made by the question, and therefore (though he imputed nothing Bank in the course of the last year, of £1,000,000 improper to them) their evidence ought to be regar- of money. The state of the money at that period, ded as being the satne as , that of other witnesses he believed, was, that there was plenty in Govern= The Committee had done all in their power to avoid meat securities, but not in trade. In stating this coming to a hasty decision. The Hon. Gentleman opinion, he did not rest merely upon his own recol then proceeded to inquire into the cause of the rise lection, but could produce documents to strew that which had taken place in the prices of all commodi- the issue complained of was not only not wantonly ties. In the course of 120 years, there had been no or unnecessarily, but made at the express recommen material variations in the prices of articles till within dation of the Committee itself. The amount of Post - the last fifteen years. Since the year 1793, there had Bills issued on the Ist July 1809, was £7300, and in been a great advance in the prices of all commodi- the months of June and October 1810, £14,300. — ties. This could not be well attributed either to So that the difference between the two sums was scarcity or to taxation ; and at last it came to this,i seven thousand ; and the amount of small notes was that it could only be brought about by the alteration ! £1,700,000. An Honourable Friend of his, who of the money. Taking the average price of wheat at spoke second last night, had stated, that he consider different periods, gave'the true value of money. He ed the standard, with reference to Bank notes, to be then compared the price of wheat with the value of so much bullion. This was the case ; but he did not gold at various times, and thence drew a conclusion, know of any Act of Parliament which authorised any formed with a reference to increase in prices, which person to demand in payment so much gold and sil had been stated to have taken place in France, Rua- ver in grains. That there were di ffi culties attend sia, and Prussia. that the precious metals had fallen ing our present situation, he could not deny ; but in value of late years in the proportion of from 11 to 'they were all of them ascribable .to obvious causes. 7. If it were admitted that he had established this,lThe present was not, as had been said, a new si the very basis of the arguments of those wh6 opposedltuation. He found by the Journals of that House the Report was destroyed, as they were all grounded ,of the year 1620, that similar inconveniences were on kg assumption that the price of gold had risen ex- I felt ; and in those Journals were stated seven cessively. The Hon. Member then eictered into a de- causes accounting for the scarcity of money. The tail of what constituted the standard of money ; and goldsmiths melting it, gilding, great loss in ex quoted various authors, to prove that it ought to be I change, more goods imported than exported, East maintained inviolable, send that it could not be alter- I India Company, igreat quantities of French wines. ed without committing 'an opprobrious breach of ! Many of those causes existed at this moment ; and public faith, whick must• produce much disorder :it should be observed, that the difficulty alluded among ourselves, and injure :our credit abroad in a Ito in the Journals, occurred at a time when there manner net easy to be repaired. The depreciation I WAS no Bank. In the year 1797, great alarm of of Bank paper he thought established ; the difference invasion had spread through the country, and from between the Mint and market price of bullion was at this resulted great want of confidence, which was once the proof of the fact, and the measure of its ex- lincreased by the Executive Government inquiring tent. If tile guinea bore a premium, it followed that into the snick of the farmers on the coast. The paper wai depreciated ; and that the guinea bore a I farmers, alarmed by this, sold off their stock, tor premium at the present day, he knew not how any the purpose of converting it into specie ; and by this. man could deny. The penal laws could not prevent means a drain was commenced upon the Bank which this, as they stood at present ; and it could be seen gave so great a shock, that, if it were not for the from a paper which had that day reached him from order of restriction, not one guinea had been left in Ireland, th it guineas there bore a premium of 15 , its possession. Afterwards an Act was passed to con ' per cent. The Bank notes were depreciated in the tinue that restriction. He thought he might state same proportion. The Right Hon. Gentleman op- with confidence, that from the year 1797 down to posite, who maintained a contrary opinion, had, in a the present, there was an anxiety in every Director private examination on this subject, proved so much, to shape his conduct with a view to returning to cash that he proved his own doctrine good for nothing.— payments, the moment that that could be done with There was no difference in the course of exchange safety to the country. That this was not the period between London and Liverpool, which was regulated he thought he could shew. A question had been put by the number of days the bill had to run, and the ' to the late and present Governors of the Bank in the price of the postage of letters ; so that the immense !Committee, inquiring whether the issue of Bank notes difference in the rate of exchange between London 1 had always been kept above or below the demand ? and Paris could not be accounted for merely by the I and they answered, unequivocally, below. The Di balance of trade. The restrictions upon trade had rectors, and not only they, but the Proprietors of the' been adduced, in order to account for it, hut, he Bank, had a much greater interest in the public than' thought, without effect. He begged leave to call the in the private concern, and were always anxious, in attention of the Committee to a statement of the Chan- stead of looking after improper profits, to 'decide cellor of the Exchequer on moving theArnlyExtraor. every thing upon a general view, and consult the dinaries. He had stated upon that occasion, that there public benefit. He would state shortly what appear was an excess beyond the vote of 12700,000, which he ed to him to be the cause of the present state of Ex ascribed to the state of exchange with Portugal. The' change ; and this he should premise by declaring present depreciation of paper was owing, in his opi- himself one of those old fashioned practical men, who nion, to its excess. He did not find fault with the thought the balance of payments an article of great Directors of the Bank of England, as they had done importance in the regulation of exchanges. If the nothing more than was natural, having their own in- importation did not balance the exportation, the sil terests to consider, as well as those of the public. ver must go out of the country. Such was Mr. Sir T. TURTON said, that after the able speeches Lecke's opinion. Besides, they should consider, which had beew already delivered on the subject, among other causes, the interruption of the Baltic and the copious details into which Gentlemen had trade, by the confiscation of 24:0 ships ; the even entered, he should confine himself to a more general diture of the Army in Portugal, which amounted to statement of the points upon which the question ap. £11,000,000; coin £7,000,000; freight to foreigners peered to him to rest. He complimented the motives £4,500,000; making a total of £23.000,000 ; and and the talents of the Committee whose Report was leaving a balance against this country of ,e 12,000,000. under consideration, and did not agree with those He then went into a calculation of the Revenue, with who thought the publication of it calculated to do Imports and Exports up to the .sth of January,lBlo. evil. On the contrary, he thought it would tend to making in the aggregate £146,000,000. The Hon. set the question at rest by calling forth the united Gentleman adverted to the observations of an Hon. wisdom of the House upon a matter of such impor- Member on a former evening, on the subject, who tance. He agreed with his Honourable Colleague had recommended, as a cure for the evil, the esta (Mr. H. Thornton), that the question lay in a much blishment of a Chartered Bahk. This was a curious narrower compass than was generally believed. The mode of remedying what was denominated a griev first point for consideration was, whether there was ante in the too great issue of paper, by recommend an over-issue of Bank paper ? the second, whether ing another Bank, which most assuredly must double that over-issue had an effect upon the rate of ex- the issue. The Act of the year 1797 permitted cer change ; and the third, whether the remedy proposed taro of the Banking-houses to discount, and of 70 in . was a proper one ? He took a comparative view of the metropolis, 36 were allowed that privilege ; of the state of the country now, and when no complaint that number, only 26 availed themselves of the pri was made; and said, that though the coin was de- vilege, and that to a very limited amount. As to the preciated in some degree, it was not depreciated to probable cause of the high price of gold, upon which those who wished to go to market, but to those who so many opinions had gone forth, among them was wished to do an illegal act. No man refused to the idea that great quantities kad been sent abroad. take a Bank note and a shilling for a guinea. From It was true that South American remittances had the situation of trade at present, it was impossible been made in metallic currency, because in that coun to pay for the commodities of other countries by try there were no dealings by bills of exchange.— our own ; so that money must be sent, and that must When he stated among other causes, that within the have a tendency to produce scarcity of specie, espe- last year the coin had been melted down into plate cially when connected with the rate of exchange.— the same as in the reign of James 11. the Committee When he added to this our situation with respect to would not be surprised that there should be found so America, with whom alone trade was now open to great a scarcity. Within the last year, at Gold us, he confessed his wonder was that a guinea should smiths' Hall, not 'less than £148,000 of silver bad even shew itself. He quoted the authority of Locke been stamped, and also £2,500 of gold, exceeding in to shew that whenever the home consumption exceed- amount, the average of former years. These were ed the export of commodities, guineas must go out sufficient causes to account for the scarcity. When of the country to pay its debts, whether they were Gentlemen talked of the depreciation of paper, and melted down or not. As to the remedy proposed by produced quotations from pamphlets in aid of their the Committee, when he came to consider it, he was own arguments, he trusted it would not be deemed more lost in astonishment than in any other part of irrelevant if he read an extract from the letter of a the question. They advised that the restriction should friend addressed to himself; who says, upon the be taken off, and that all would then go well ; but subject of the supposed depreciation of paper, that the inevitable consequence of such an act, would be, there exists a mistake in the signification of the a run upon the Bank, and an obligation on the part I word gi depreciation." When, therefore, an Hon. of the Bank to purchase up guineas, in order to pay . Member had said, that a rel note and a shilling would them at a loss. It was in evidence before the Com- most certainly purchase the same quantity of any er mitteeo that the Bank would not be able to pay, tide as a guinea, and that a guinea was worth more if the restrictions were taken off, while the exchange than 21 shillings, it certainly proves that a guinea is continued in its of state. As to the speculators worth more than its nominal value ; but it does not [move that 4 one-pound note it worth less than 20 shillii -(hear, Azar —Much had been said`of the ;ht be the &pinions repealib he- Bank Restrict ion Act. — of Gentlemen Mr. PAILNELI denied that the Bull attee Ott ony time advanced, as had been stated on the pre. all the propositions the Committee. He wagged ceding day by a Nvbla Lord, Fqr }}is ownpgt, hp 44 abstract ?ro?ositio4s urn stick a subject, • • Z't .. • mite Corn hadniade any retrocession from what they had up. to the exchange balance of payments ; and declared himself against before necessity of on the expediency of repealing that measure, WAS a question wtych, Ferhar t. did not exactly ground Whnteier itself upon the Report of that Committee; or, at least, as appeared to him, it was not necessary for the Committee to make that recommendation. All that was desired of them by the House was, to report on the causes of the high price of gold. If, therefore, Gentlemen wished for a repeal, the. was a distinct subject, in bis opinion, and ought to have been so brought forward. The Hon. Gentle. man, in furtherance of his arguments against the re peal of the Act, instanced the authority of a very great man, Sir Francis Basing, who, in a pamphltt published in 1796 says (what he should now contend namely, that it is perfectly unsafe for the country t.. adopt the recommendation of the Committee with respect to the Bank Restriction Act). " The situa tion of the Bank is totally altered, in consequence of the drains of gold and silver, and will remain so un til the panic has subsided and confidence is restored. Whether the restriction should be suffered to expire, should be renewed, or altered, is a question which cannot at present be decided. Upon mature consi deration, however, I think it should continue, and L much doubt whether it would not be prudent undei certain restrictions, to make bank-notes a legal ten. der.—My chief reason for thinking so is, that publ;.- credit ought never to be subject to convulsions, nor to a change even from good to better, unless there is a certainty of maintaining it in that position ; a re trograde movement in public credit is productive of evil consequences, which are incalculable, and, there- fore, are averse to the Bank of England resumins their payments during the continuance of the war." —(Hear, hear.) It was his most anxious wish that the Bank should return to the old system ; but it was also his firm opinion, that such an experiment shou l .4 ROC be risked during the war. On the subject of the difference of exchanges affecting the price of gold, that in some degree might be true. The interrupti..a of the intercourse with America no doubt alrcted tl.e exchange orithe Continent, as bills could not be tea day negociated there. If the removal of the resti:c tion were to be acceded to, he was very appreherLlve that it would open the flood-gates, and let all the coin of the country out ; and then there would be little chance of seeing it back. Besides, it was to be remembered that the money was detained for useful purposes, which must be obvious without his namiug them ; but it let loose, it would get into the hands of the enemy, and consequently was much safer where it is. The effect of sending out 20 millions of specie in 1801 and 1802, was to overturn the state ot ex changes on the Continent. Mr. A, BARING hoped the Committee would believe that those Gentlemen who had the honour of a seat in the Direction, were alive to the great evils which the Report of the Committee was intended to remedy. The questions arising out of that Report had been so variouslyexamined, and particularly those relating to the state of the currency and exchanges, that it would be necessary for him to premise that he entertained the same opinions with the tummittee, and also with the Hon. Gentleman (Mr. Horner).— He certainly thought that a depreciation of pap:t (it might be a hard word) —a difference Between that and the amount of the present metal it represents, wan the came—arising as it did, from the excess of circulation, in addition to the state of the foreign ex . changes which had produced that rise. Without that excess the scarcity could not have existed to so great an extent. So convinced was he of the fac:, that he had not thought necessary any of the vari:us pamphlets published by the Honourable Gentleman opposite, and other persons, upon the subject. Would any man of common reason, at all acquainted with the subject, read them, when the fact was so plain' The excess of paper bad the effect of enhancing the price of the different commodities, carrying gold along with them. The Honourable Gentleman con tended, that the state of the finances creating a circu lating medium, was the first cause; and he took a comparative view of them from the year 1793, when the revenue was seventeen millions and a half, with ~ the present year, when it is ninety millions. In main taining this, a fictitious value must be given to things, in order to support the issues ; for it had been ob. served formerly, that when the national debt wa; one hundred millions, the country would be ruined. The great mass of the evil was to be found in the capital debt, and not in paper issues ; for the circulation o: paper was necessary to carry on the funding system. It was desirable that the issues should he kept within bounds—until that was done, he should not consider the country safe. Supposing that the Committee should agree to reduce the amount of paper, hew could the gold be get back ? If he (Mr. Baring) could get a profit by it, he did not know where to lay his hand upon ten thousand pounds worth of specie on the Continent. Having discussed the subject at considerable length, he assured the Committee, that, as a Bank Director, he was actuated by a sense of duty in speaking out, conceiving that a more pre ferable way than to involve the country in the most serious danger, which would be more injurious than taking the other alternative. Mr. FIUSKISSON defended himself from the charge of having introduced and argued upon a sub ject not immediately connected with the question be fore the House.—Mr. BARING explained. Mr. SHARP telt it incumbent on him, as a Mem ber of the Bullion Commitwe, to rescue himself and the Committee from the general accusation of a re trocession from die opinions contained in the Report. In no single instance did such a retrocession exist. — A much more serious charge had also been preferred against them, namely, that of having so disregarded at moral considerations, as to treat with lightness the perjury which, in the fulfilment of their duty, they were compelled to state existed in the transactions connected with the exportation of gold bullion front the kingdom. It was rather extraordinary that a charge like this, wholly unfounded in its nature, should have proceededfitim the Vice President of that very Board (the Board of Trade) under which licen ces were grsntect, which could be of no avail to those by whom they were obtained, except through the aid of simulative papers and perjury. It had been said that no practical man went to the extent of the epi moms expressed in the Bullion Report. He presented himselt to the Committee solely in the light of a prac tical man. Although he was persuaded that the scien tific consideration of the question was capable of ac tual demonstration ; and although he should be juit , as much surprised to be told that the three angles of a triangle were equal to two right angles, or that ten and ten made twenty only, until the trade and the to reign expeuditure of the country Mould be ill such cr • I b .II" 1 ~ ~ .. ti l i I I I