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

296 THE ..r • France had produced such diaassrous consequences to her trade' what livx tom : ist this- cetontrit,-ruder all the circum stances_of the present time, if the Bank a_Euw 4 ll4..Titte to . WithdraiV fte paper, paper which it had been said formed the Whole circulating medium of the country ? Would it not ruin . the manufactures? Would it. pot destroy the agriculture ? Would it not dry up all those sources of wealth which enabled e' this country to make exertions proportioned to the exigencies of the awful period in which we lived ? And for what object was Parliament to incur the risque of all these dreadful calamities Why, for the purpose of making an experinent to bring the rate of exchange nearer to par !! But the Gentlemen on the other side, in calling upon - Parliament to be guided by the wisdom of our ancestors, had referred particularly to the events in 1196 and 1797. If there was any one passage in the Report which excited his astonishment more than-another; if there was one part of it more unguarded, more inaccurate, more unfounded, than ano ther, it was that part which referred to the transactions of the period alluded to. Unless he totally misunderstood the question, the case which had been quoted, it' it applied at all to the present quection, made directly against the arguments of those by whom it had been adduced. [Mr: Perceval read an extract from that part of the Bullion Rey .rt, which stated, that soon after the establishment of the Bank of England it.; notes were depreciated, and considerable embartasstnents ensued; and that those embar rassments had been removed by a new coinage, and by reducing the quantity of Bank notes.] The two operations, in toe opinion of the Committee, which relieved the Batik in 1696 and 1697, were the coinage, and the diminution of flip number of Bank Dotes, and this was recomtnended to the notice of the House as a eas..2 ict po:nt. Ile beued to observe, however, that if it was a case is point, that that cete had occurred when there was no upon the cash payments of the Bank. fist it was skid there was at that time an excess in the issue of B nk notes. Ile could hardly believe that the Bank would so soon after its establisment issue more notes than was necessary ; the real fact was not that the Bank had issued more note.; than were neces sary, but that they had isstied more than th .ir credit would bear. Now, what were the remedies? First, die coinage. The new coinage certainly did turn the balance of exchange in our favour, because almost the whole of it immediately found its way out of the country. The other remedy applied was the diolinution of the Bank notes. Now, vrliat was the fact? The tal of the Bank originally was 1;100,0001.; in order to relieve its embarrassments, the capital was augmented to two millions, Rost the subscription for the additional VOUIOOI. was to be paid four-fifths in Exciter': et- tallies,sand one-fifth in, Bank notes; so far, therefor e, the Gen lemon were right; one-fifth of the value' of 800,0001. in notes was taken out of circtilation: but. by the very same operation the Bank were authorised to issue fieo,oool. In flesh notes, h 0 that the diminution of paper, which had pro duced such beneficial e ff ects, consisted in wi thdrawing about 260, , , COI. worth of notes, and issuing fresh one's to •the value of sco,coQl.! I This was the precedent which. the Committee' bad recommended to be folllwed in* the present • instance;• for the purpose of diminishing the cwantity of paper in circulation ! [Mr. Perceval then read an extract 'from Tindars Continuation of . which stated that the' great commercial embarrassments in thg reign of, King . William had been relieved by an issue of paper,F—Tre Right Hon. bent. then took a view of th cab, of Ireland in 1804 which had been so often allud ti to. The evil then cum *tine 1 . of arose, not from excess of pver, but from a want of court- latoce. I hat It %ao Lut. o.le effect of ;41 excess of paper. Was proved, by the cireun%stanee of its being . ctirec! befc,z . e any ditni nution of paper had taken *place. Subiecriently there was a small eihniatition in the paper currency , . and then the -exchange •. became nfavourable to trelzwd. He did not mean in say thin . ' this was cad by the redUction of paper, ti.ough afterwards, NV 11C11 isAues of paper increased, the exchange recovered. From the v.ew which he took of thief • sitbjr , ct, he itpprehended! that there could be nothing. found in, the direr eases of the Batik of Ireland, the ',lank of France, and the 'kink oFEngland, ;hat could eilcourage them tci adopt the ofc , ..nduct reconialended by the Committee. *Adverting re what had been st"4:-Artth re- • speet to the dollars, he wished to know whattimstpwho sureti tit* late proceeding were of optiii:on should have . leer• done on such anoccgion ? that a soinctbing.svits necessary to! be done, be believed none could deny; he hAd no - hesitation trt saying. the measure adopted was stiA.ly prefereed*so-iny • tither. On the subject of the ewhatiges, there was one point Ishieh he wished to bring before the Committee. How • was it • posslide the ptihelpie of the Bullion Ciuumittee could he right, erimoly; .that the excess aNd depreciation of Banct - vaper•eould . occasion p'll the difficulties which bad occurred within- the ;few years which lied elapse 4 One; the pas . shig of the 13auk R.tsric . Von Act That,A;A, ai they ail knew. was made in 1741.. "No Alteration in ti.e et 04;111E6 was 'Mt for' some time; hitt in the! 'so° and the rcity cer t . and givitt demi...lld for , ' ".itpfAlstge4e4gittliiirtsiftwk.l444 grw REGISTER. ci ease hi the price of bullion. The scarcity, however, which was felt in 1800 and in 1801 ceased in 1802, and the pressure which it had caused ceased also, or at least was diminished in a very considerable degree. He would now call the attention of the Cemunittee to the Eleventh Resolution of his Right Hon. Fi the average price of wheat in the year 1798, was 505. 3d. ; in 1799, 675. 5d.; in 1800, 113 s. 7d.; in 1801, 118 s. 3d.; .and in 1802, 675. sd. That the exchange with Hanibureli was in January 1795, 325.; January 1799, 375. 7d.; January 1800, • 325.; and January 1801, 295. Bd.; being in the whole a fall of 22 .per cent. In January 1802, 325. 2d.; and December 1802, 345." Now, from the history of those Five years, and the manner in which the exchanges recovered when the scarcity which had led to the pressure of them had ceased, he thought with an extraor dinary foreign expenditure for the last few years, occasioned by the war in Spain, and expences incurred in the Baltic, the effect produced on the exchanges might reasonably be ascribed to causes similar to those from which the evil was known to an e before. The Committee did condescend to admit that the se causes might in some measure contribute to the effect produced ; but though they could not deny this; they would not allow them their due weight. The resumption of cash payments w: s impossible. Gold could not be procured ; and if it could, the tank would immediately he drained of it, without any i..dvan tage to the public; and that proposed as a remedy would but aggravate the evil. Under these circumstances, however, the rot ioanl Resolution proposed by the Committee was t; do away the Bank restrictions which, acting singly, had produced no sensible effect, in order to get out of the difficulty ' • while those causes which were known to have given birth to it before, were to he disregarded, though they had been felt for three y ears, and were still increasing in force. If , tich a measure were unhape pily adopted, it might restore the balance of exchange, but it would destroy the foundation of the country, and render it im possible to continue that contest which all were agreed ought not now to be relinquished. From what had been heard in the course of the debate, it was clearer than ever that that recom mended by the Committee was not practicable; and if it were practicable, it would be most ruinous. Having stated, not all he could have wished to have said, but that which appeared to him of greatest importance, he now came to this conclusion : that the measure proposed was a measure which, if adopted, would be adopted without proof of its necessity or expediency, against the evidence on which it was founded, and contrary to the examples of former times; and they, in adopting it, would disgrace themselves for ever by becoming the voluntary instru. nients of their country's ruin.--(Hear, hear, hear • Mr. CAN NING thought the Committee had been hardly treat. ed, yet by no means wished to speak against, or even " disre commendatorily" of the Bank Company. After, however, an attentive and serious investigation of the question, he felt him self obliged to come to the unwilling, the reluctant conclusion, thatthe paper currency had come to a depreciation ; to counter act the further fall of which, should be the, first object of the House...-Adjourned at four o'clock. THURSDAY, STAY P. ' LONDON 'THEATRE BILL. Mr. Met:Elsa moiled the second reading or t h is Bill. Mr. WHITBREAD said there was a probability of Drury;latie Theatre being rebuilt, and hoped the Hon. Gentleman w'oul4 postpone his motion. . After a few: words from Mr. DROWN ind Mi. W. POLE,._ "Vit.. PET ERMDO RE' nrived th at the ieeond reacting shoed tie ~ pottpondin th at dal three:mcmths: ' . General TAR Lrtori . expressed a hope that the House would ".!de •'thc , osltiOn, * • '. accede to _tie Itt'apt . Mr. Mi t t:l4s)77i: said ;that the greatett• incanvenfente' vile expertenenctby t ie town, ft rtire want of another Theatre Mr. MOREIs spoke against the second - reading. Mr. SHERIDAN addressed the Hattie it sant length. - After which; and a few ‘V'ttvations from Mr, DENT, Mr. C. SON r:0411,;, anti Gentoil rettirpc , tbe Huuse divided, when 314peared.•;•Vbf the.Amendmeirt; 80; Vtinstit, ; majo rity for the Amendment 57, • • • •-• Mr. BAKER fiiiiiretreirttriftiritirrttpon - die Canterbury Hare .brairt Etil b waturead a Second tithe.' ' The lunkeeper's , ll4ll - was read a second time and passed. . . A.. petition. Xv.a3 prcornted - frani henry Lernoti, late Clerk of the Citecque . at Sheerness; but.dismissed by Lord St. Vincent, for not havinevigilatitly superintended his clerks who had.made false musters and returns.. It otaterl'tke-hardstip§ on the peti tioner; whu had himself been guilty of no-crimer; but that of oat ,being able t Under *the old regniations, sUfliciently to controul those under -him: Mr: R. W4lO and Mr. CROKE& spoke against the meritsof the petition, whit& wa ordered to lay on the table. 111(4.0 it Axe rr.r.on of the ExciteQtntrobtaiaed leave to bring to a. Oil' to empower the Lords-. or the l'reasury to exonerate tkofic distillers from sugar torn certain antics on Wa6b irriposad 7 I 1