The National Register. — London, England, 1811-05-12 00:00:00

, 'R s " THE NATIONAL REGISTER. the Hon. and Learned Gentleman bad stated it in one of his list Resolutions ; he conceived such a regulation would be at• %gutted wait very injurious if not fatal consequences. lle de nted that there had !teen an excessive i,sue of Bank paper, sis - while oar export; were doubled, our paper circulating medium had been augmented but to the amount of in,C06,0001. If -they were to check the Bank paper, they would check their commerce, their exports, and internal improvements. And after the evidence before iem, lie left the Cemmittee to judge whether the circulating medium was in that state which would allow such a check ; to fetter the issue of Bank paper, would, in his opinion, be a most dangerous experiment. H ei gave the tallest credit to the ability and talent of the Hon. Gentleman ; but from what he had stated to the Committee, he thought there was conclusive evidence that the Bank o; England had not injured the rate of exchange; but the Committee had come to a roselution directly contrary to evidence, except as to that of tie Continental merchants, and pareially as to the opinion of Sir F. Paring. With respect to the publication of hit; Hon. Friend (Mr. Huskisson), he had tee fullest conviction that bis motives were as honourable as he (llr, Horner) thought them right, bet he could nut help saying that it would have been much better he never had given these t,pjnions to the Public. He was perfectly persuaded that it was impossible for malice itself to invent or impute any Lad motives to lain, If a publica; fion of this kind had come from any inditlerent heed it might have been otherwise, hut his character and experience , ~nd his hi:,'h official situation gave them a weight ant. consequence Which was of a tlangerouv tendency. in speaking of th. Bank of England, lie <Mr. H.) said, that it mi.,,elt be that the Bark was wrong in making some of their nisceunts. That they might have been indiscreet, he adulated, b - !lee, et ver e: dangered the property of the Public. By shaking a long established usage, he thought they would bet ...to ....ec...nes which woult; prove insurmountable. He wierieti nut to 141 considered as the advocate of the - Benk. If the Labe. Directors ceeld not justify themselves,. be would not nand up in that House to defend them. .. The. Bank eoutii not ;hid tile specie to pay the den:ands upu9 it; if _they could find it at any expellee es liatever, he thole ht they eieglie to do it. But they were not told what were die means of pro curing it, and hi, perfect conviction was, that the gold wets nut, in the present state of the country to be procured, and even if it was, the country would ilot be die better tor. it., foe if it ehoeld be sent to the Mint to be coined, the moment it came into cir culation it would be again melted. The monstrous and 'tyran nical measures of the Continent was directed, against this country in this way; the object was, to.4lptiey the last hope o f resistance to that tyrauny. If inly mischief was to he chine to this country, let it be the e ff ect of the eileiny, and not our own —let us trot destroy our prosperity by out own :sets. Upon the whole he s.tw no practical good could arise from the measure, but much practical mischief, and Ott rehire he opposed the pro position of the Hun. and Learned Geetletnan. Mr. THWINTON was of opinion that lever currency had a constant tendency to excess. Nothing he conteived was more apposite than the cemparison that had been insituted bt nuts et the present banking bystem and the scheme of tslr. Law; iditt this circumstance considered, it was the duty of Pal liantent to see that the Bank should nut lend at too low a rate of interest, than which neteing was more celculated to promote a tendency to excess, n bich, if time . permitted, he could prove to the House by the statement of a .variety of nerth:elars. The Hon. Member here went into a long description of the banking sys tem in Paris, arguing, by aoalogy, as to the probalee effect s o f that received in this country. ' Ile observed, that there was, in deed, :e...enecilie difference betieen the Bank of England and such of the Continental Bankti as were connected with the Go vernment of the country whete they were established. Til t .le o letter issued their notes on the account of the Government, and without receiving an interest ; but - the Swetlish Bank w.fs an exception, the Comp*.my did issue their paper at ail interest .N, of five per cent. whieh had accordingly necom.e excessive. , .--It .evaii a prinCiple laid down by the celeheited Adarn ...Smith, correct lie. eves disposid to think, though be could not et:- , „quite - et:ill all the doctrines of diet :writer, that it there were a sitiglo bank established in a given place, without fear of competition, it might arrange the price of every matketehli commodity within the sphere of its circulation. Ile would ask whether the Bank .of England did net, in some measure, resemble such a one in its present state; whether it had not a kind of monopoly of the currency of the Metropolis, productive of the same effects t He mite ready to ade . it that some inconvenience would be the 1 result .uf restoring thins to their pristine situation;, but if it 1, were to he maintained that therefore so desireable an nt•ject . were to be neglected. that no evil was robe incurred, hosrseever , great the balance of good might be, lie was not sure that it . would be eto t all useful bring the artillery of ratiocinative to .L bear in such a case. The objection of the Right tionournee Cieutleulae, that the Bank would find, a difficulty of &roc 11l 1:11 . • ■- IiCS against the to the diseased state of ,live issue of paper ; on Parliament to check since the investigation ed upwards of two to the source, it remained remedy was best to be applied. It appeared to him that that wldch had already been recommended by the Committee would be fully adequate to every purpose ; namely, 'that a time should be fixed, and that without delay, for raking eiff the re striction on cash payments. The great argument which had been used against this measure was, that it would be imprudent in time of war; so far, however, was lie from considering this a just ground of objection, that he thought the time of war the best calculated to make the effort. If the suspension of cash payments had been applied as . a remedy calculated to remove the evils which might either exist or be apprehended, if those evils ceased to exist, the remedy was no longer necessary, and should not be continued, inasmuch as the application of the same medicine to a healthy subject, which had been given in a state of illness, would be productive of the worst consequences. The Hon. Gentleman then proceeded in a strain of eloquence to point out the great advantages which were to be derived from a restriction of the value of the currency of the realm. He also dwelt with peculiar energy on the impolicy of the system now adopted by the Bank, both as regarding the interests of Great Britain internally and as connected with foreign States. After which he exhorted the House, in duty to themselves and in duty to their constituents, as well as with a proper respect to public credit, to adopt the recommendation of the Bullion Committee, and concluded by observing, that he felt it both improper 'and unnecessary to enter into more details. He should therefore move— That the only money which can be legally t ndered in Great Britain, for any sum above twelue-pence in thee whole, is multi , • either of Gold or Silver; and that the weight, standard, and de nomination at width any such money is authorized to pass cur rent, is fixed, under his Majesty's Prerogative, according to law. Mr. Lusinstorote (Chairman of the Committee) put the above proposition. Mr. Rosa thought that there had been no depreciation of Bank notes occasioned by excessive issuesA r them. It was proposed to resume the payments in specie ; but the thing was impracti sable. He could not give into tat theory, he could not admit , that Bank notes were depreciated • they were legally equivalent, and equivalent' to the obtaining o f article, except, indeed, the purchase of gold and silver: ( Hear, hear!)—As to what , beef been said respectieg the price of corn, he was ready to admit. that the prices fixed by the legislature for the importation of grain might have enhanced it, since there had been consider.' able importations of corn ; hut those *importations had been • made under a choice of evils—the fall of exchange or a scarcity of grain. He had . advised the importation of grain, without which the quartern loaf would Indeed have'been at 2s. 6d. He WAS therefore • ready to . take his full share of responsibility on this head. in Portugal 'of late, the course of exchange tlu:re had highly improVed, as he learnt froM some mercantile corms fondence which he had seen. There was such a train of errors in the very Repoil_itself, upon which the Hon. and Learned Gentleman's propositions were grounded, that the House ought most maturely to consider how far it should be acted on. The Amount of notes and gold warranted no such dedec tions as had been made; whilst the fluctuations in ex change completely , distanced . all the theories they had heard. . Other circus. tancetwere to be.considered. Bills of exchange • werOinow so circUitous, that Much was lost in the mode of their ttegotiation ; while,.at the Sartre . time our foreign expenditure • (about 21 Millions) crested. defriand; considerably beyond the balance of trade, and iteL'esrarlly drained the country of its gold. The home niarket was not the twentieth part of the home consumption. ' Continuing to re?rohate various pat is of the Report, the Right . Honnourable Gentleman. (Mr. kose)denied our foreisn expenditure to have been borne.nut by our exports, of which there was ample proof in the events of the year one thousand seven hundred and ninety-six. It was very extraordinary, that an enlightened Committee, appointed. to examine into such a question as the present, should have . terminated their labours by mistaking every tact of. importance , and admitting that of which they had no sustantial proof. There were circumstances connected with the Exchange, which were not necessary for him then to eo into; but with reepect to the Bank Director.; he did not know how it was possible to in vent any new mo:1(• by which they could govern themselves. In bis own opinion there was not the least grotuais for husp;cion against the conduct of the Bank Directors, and the way in which Hamburg and Paris. In tracing the causes of the exchange of every country being against England, froux_a variety of ob,serva- tions, founded upon the experience of otbgr conowiea l se doubt tube sAtertaMed but that the wit* cyik VAte 40 - b• attraKlied to the diseased state of her circulation,attabutable to an eictet- „sive issue of paper ; on which accountlt-became the cflity of Parliament to check the issue of Bank paper, which, even since the investigation of the Bullion Committee, had increaf- ed upwards of two millions. Having thus far traced the evil to the source, it remained for the House to consider what $29 P