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

t THE NA' ; . raised from Wt. to 151. The Hougrtlivillsits for tbsaiumAt aunt, 3 Against it,7.—Adjourned. A /MAY. MAY 10. • DEBTOR AND CREDITOR BILL . \ On the order of the day being read for the recommitment of this Bill. Lord ELLENDOIIOIIGIi contended, that if this Bill was carried into a law it would shalse all the confidence and security that existA in the trading and commercial world, as it took away the last and best secu*ity which the creditor had for the certainty of his debt being ever paid. '1 he Earl of MOIRA. called the House to the Report of their Committee, which stated the crying abuses that prevailed in consequence of continuing in its present system the pr actice of i m p r i so nment for debt. lie. contended that their Lordships were bound both in honour and in duty to notice it; and as the Bill before the House had that object in view they could not do less than receive it. If it was not as perfect as might he wished, still it might,_ b the skill and co - ope r a tion of the Noble and Learned Lord Ell e nborough), be rendered mo re ade q uate to the object for w ich it was intended. Lord ELLENEOROtIoU could not think of so abusing his, time as to employ it in giving that shape which, from its form, never eould be moulded into any thing like law or justice. The LORD CHANCELLOR had a great many doubts as to the efficacy of the measure, bat still he thought it a duty to make it as wholesome as it could be rendered; for that reasun he certainly should oppose the motion of his Noble and Learned Friend, via : " that it should not be committed," as a Com mittee was the only place where it could receive any beneficial alterations, or be made palatable. • Lord REDZSDALL defended the principle of the Bill, and ared that as another period would be afforded of opposing it, h gu e at least trusted that it w ould be allowed to go into a Com mittee. Under this consideration, Lord Ellenberough declined press ing his motiotb, and the Bill went into a ComMittee,'where it underwent several alterations and improvements, as suggested by Lords Redesdale, A/4Am, Stanhope, Lausdown, and t he Lord Chaticellor ; when the Chairman having left the Chair and re sorted progress, had leave to sit again.—Adjoin ned to Monday. UMW, OF COMMONS. • *MONDAY, MAT 5. BULLION COMMITTEE. The House baying rksolved itself into a Committee to consi der the Report of the Bullion Committee, - • Mr. HoaNalt moved, that thejteport of last Session, together with other papers relating Ao the subject, be laid upon the table. lie trusted he should be able to make such a statement as would enable those Gentlemen whose intention it was to, oppose him in the course of the discussion about to ensue, at least fully to understand the subject. The two parties marshalled cm the pre sent 0CC86101,1 had gone into the most Violent extremes. On the 'one hand it was contended. that paper currency was all.su fii die nt; that it had eau ed the improvement in the coatmercial and finan. cild relations of the country, and would continue it. On the other, there were persons who, blind to all the advantages re sulting froln a paper currency, would abolish it altogether, and revert to the method in use anterior to that . improvement which bad taken place since it had been substituted for coin.— Between such conflicting sentiments, he would steer a middle course. He thought that a paper currency might be of the most essential co vice to the country ; b u t he a lso conceived, that it would be so only when founded on the basis of the precious metals. He feared that among the reasoners on one s iec, there were some who indulged in a feeling of jealousy towards the Bank of England, as mean as it was unfounded; that institution Lau been connected in its foundation with principles from which had emanated the liberties or the country. Before he entered deeply Tutu the subject, he wished much to do away a prejudice that seemed somewhat prevalent, namely, that those who wish ed to place things oa their former footing were a set of theo rists, who could not discern the• practical ininchief likely to be the result.—These. persons coincided in opinion with those who had founded the 13ank of England, and those who had con ducted its cone erneup to 1787, wire they mere theorists ?—Ac cording to the calculations la.t year, the gold was valued in the .market at 4 pounds 10 shillings sterling per ounce; in the year 1811 the increise,was to 4 pounds 15 shillings sterling, an in• crease which called for inquiry. The engagement of the bank of England to the constituting Parliament was, that 1 ' they should pay to the bearer of their promissory pound note, 'twenty shillings of sterling silver. Could the House .assert, ,that whets that was no longer done, the note even then mo dulated to be the thing which it represented. Take a pound • :Iv"' 4•"! 1i', 1 19 2 111. 111 1 1 9, 4,70 ; : ; -17 1 == amie : • samiss”... note of the Bank pfEngland. to the market, according to the value of gold and silver, and its value would only be 15 shillintis and 10 pence ; asit would produce no more Bullion than was in trinsically worth that sum. The coin of England had seldom been debased like the coin of foreign Potentates; it had pre served, saving in two instances, its Unpolluted currency. ,The Act by which the real currency of standard gold was ascertained, was in the reign of Queen Elitabetb, when it was restored to the standard affixed by Henry VI. These two statutes fix that neither in gold nor in silver should payments be made, except with refer ence to the value of Bullion, and the legal tender of money was not to exceed, if silver, above 251. sterling, evidently proved how dear Ministers had held the standard value of the gold. But how widely different were those Resolutions tobe brought before the Committee by the Hon. G entleman (Mr.Vansittart). It had, howver,latelybeensaid, that no standard forgold could be affixed The standard, it had been argued, was the interest of 331 . 6s. Bd. at 3 per cent. ! That wild speculation was followed by another as extraordinary, 46 that standard was the real denomi nation of money of account !" Such assertions as these are whit might be called assertions without meaning. But a third asser tion of one of these g entlemen was more diverting still, 64 That the standard value of gold of the realm was abstract currency. ' Now what was abstract currency ? It was like some easy named thing, but which the meti of schools had long puzzled their minds about naming ; and at last dismissed it with a name hy which nobody could understand it !—(Hen , !)—ln the instance of the light Gold Bill it had been found that a light guinea was of more value than one of the Standard weight, because its value as bullion was greater. Suppose, according to that statute of the 14th of his Majesty, George 111. that a Debtor had 261. to dis charge ; if he paid it in lawful silver coin of ::;e. etd. per ounce, there would be 100 1 7 of lawful Meyer ; and if he paid it in notes it only amounted to 86 and 2.-3ds. These instances showed how unanswerable the argument was, that the money was . fallen in value, and left not even the shadow of a doubt. The fact was simply, that the Bank Promissory Pound Note was degraded to less than 16 shillings, and - consetlyentlf had fallen entirely away from the national standard. The precious me tals ever formed, among civilized nations, the general standard of their currency. What then would be the consequence to Bri tain, if she had lost her measure of value ? creditors and deb tors it promised loss and fraud, and to .all public t ra nsactions a want of public faith, from an unse ttled change. %nen a country chose silver for its measure of all vUlue,.whatever demand there was for it would never alter the value., So it was With Britain, where gold was ChOSLII as the standard, and which could never be depreciated in the value. The effect of scarcity would be that gold would not be dearer, but other things cheap. It appear ed that gold never much varied in the value till the stoppage of the Bank hi )797. Gold was then much wanted abroad and at honie. The Bank, when called on by the country, purchased foreign gold coin from several countries, particularly from Por tugal, and had to pay not only the price of Bulliou, but the price of manufactwed commodity, which, witho ut the rate of ex change amounted to four pan& eielit shillings per °mice. But it appeared to him that tic rise in the foreign market's could re ally w a rrant the uncommon rise of gold at present. There could not exist that scarcity of silver which had' been so loudly complained of. He should proceed t o measure the price of gold ld from the average price of wheat of British gro*th. He wo consider of the prices from 1777, down. to the present times, keeping out those years of intolerable dearth which dverthrevr the wonted balance of the Grain market. FroM 1777 to 1785, the average price of wheat was 463. per quarter. The next years up to 1797, deducting out two years of dearth, the average price was 475. From 17 9 7 the rise was prodigious up to 1809*, which made an average, deducting again two 'y ears of latrine-, 1800 and 186 i, of 7i s. per quarter. Having taken .a view of our exports and imports, he adverted to the state of exchange between this and other countries. It had been as serted, that the change iu the relative value of our currency could have no effect in the exchange with other coun tries. He was ready to admit, that the exchan g e witlV Portugal was at par last year, but it was against us with every other cowls try. In order, loywever, to examine the trite causes of this evil, it might be necessary to examine the rate of exchange between .. hamburg and other capitals , front which a more deCisive op h. nion could be drawn. Between Hamburg and Vienna the state of par, even 144 guilders'for 200 Banco ; but, at present, instead of being 141 guilders for '2OO baneo, it was 930 guilders for that sum, and this WAS vtholly attributable to the depreciated state of the paper currency at Vienna. In the same way between 1 - lambare and Sweden. In another capital, Copenhagen, the ill effects ot.paper currency was still more conspictioni : as the ex change, instead of being at 125 rile dollars for 05. baneo, was from seven hundred and fifty to eight hundred rix dollars for the same sum. 'Upon examining the exchange betwt en metal ac countrie s, where wasereth found to b eirpaynlcnts . w ere all made in cazh, the very aat. the eau, lat.:Wecalk