The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser. — London, England, 1803-02-18 00:00:00

• . - • re i.iodaetteciNsk , . . Fon Lanai. intd dials be grand fa ble the piece. But nvhile tat Faery Q!teesiele , ram Glory in-the general intention,. she it also. in the particular meani,g, a type of Queen Elan beth, whoseslominion is the i'aery land. Arthur, then, woos: Glory in his proper person ; and the time of the fable is represented to be-that of the seal -Cominencement of his history, partof which is here . coried from Geoffrey of Monmouth. But- Queen Elizabeth, or Gloriana, is likewise identified by •circunutusces in: her seal bistory ; and the great persons in her court are frequently ucluded to in the charafters of the fairy or allegorical knights. And, as if all this confusion were not sufficient to perplps the under, Spenser had thought. proper.to reserve till the twelfth or last book, the developentent of the occasion which puts all his knights in motion; And which ; at seems, was to be an annual feast kept by the Fairy Queene for twelve days; on each cf which, in Loofwmity to the matmers of chivalry, some distressed damsel, orphan, or other safferer under injustice and oppression, appears as a •suitor for aid, and receives from the Queen a champion. .The reason g;vou by the poet for delaying this piece of info.mation is, that he might imitate his epic predecessors, at breaking -at once into the adion, without the formality of an historical introduai(m. But,to suffer the whole atrtion to elapse, before the reader is made properly acquainted with the ac:( 7' and. the cause in which they arc eug-42-,ed, is staL;:; a violent sacrifice to a principle; -the justness of which, even in a much more sober application, may be iuesticaed. On commencing the.Faery Queene, . it is now ixr_possible, without consulting the au thor's prefatory epistle, to conceive that it is to have auy other subject than the adventures of the Red-cross knight; onto form any notion concerning the title of the poem, and the connection this ima , ginary Oven is to have with its persons and cvents." IMP.ERML PARLIAMENT. HOUSE OF LORDS. THURSDAY, VER. 17. BANK RESTRICTION BILL. Lord PELHAM moved, that this Bill be read a .first time. The Lord CHANCELLOR read the title of the Bill, and was proceeding to state the contents of it from the hreviate, when Lord ,ICING rose, and said, that the House ought to be fully apprized of the contents of a Bill of so much impertance, before they proceeded to discuss it, and to be summoned when it was to be read a second time. i I The LORD CHANCELLOR said, he was about to state the Contents of the Bill, when the noble Lord interrupted him. His Lordship then went through the breviate, and declared it to be the first time of the Bill's being read. Lord AUCKLAND rose to move, that an ac count of the amount of the notes of the Bank ci England in circulation, on the Ist of June, the st 'of August, the Ist of 04tober, and the 1 , .1.• of De cember, 180.9.,. and the Ist of February, MY>, distinguishing the amount of t h ose that are below the value of five pounds, be laid bcfcre the House." His Lordship said, that he did not wish the H' • .se to consider him, when the Bill should be moved to be read a second time, as pledged to speak to the Paper for r.hich he had just moved ; but in case any thing hostile should arise in the discus: ion on it, he .might feel it necessary, or some other Noble Lord rhig7lt feel it necess7.: y, .to refer to it, and therefore it might be convenie4t that it should lie upon the table. The Question N% - 7. put, and the Paper ordered. Lord kirIVDON (Earl Moira) said, before the House was called upon to read a Bill of so extraor dinary a nature as that which had been just read, a second time, h 2 should erpea that the Noble Lord who should feel it incumbent upon him to move the second reading, would assign some strong and satis faaory rear.on for calling upon that [louse to lend its sanction to a measure which, if unexplained, im reaened the credit of the country—implied an inabi lity of the Bank of England to discharge the de mands on them by prompt payment in current cash, And cast a slur on the national commerce and pros perity. His Lordship said, there were t4to points of view in which. this Lill presented it , elf to his mind—the one, as a Bill introduced at the desire of the Governor and Directors of the Bank ; the other, as a measure of Government, adopted for some special ttpose hitherto unexplained. It was more citraordinary that so violent an attack on the pro perty of individuals should have been hart:dom.! into Parliament, at a moment like the presf-nr, when it was said we were in a state of prclound peace, but when we were in fact under the most critical I virctrnistances, and co far from the peace being con tiderei as secure and permanent, every man who twderbtood the nature of our situation, could act ut expect tl:at we might be obliged on the sndtkn to prepare for a new war. If this Bill was intro duced at the request of the Governor and •Direaots .of the Bank, he had a right to ask what new change is dell- affairs had happened since the Bill was first, introduced in 1797, and so often renewed since, that could induce them to depart from their uniform de claration, that they felt no .necessity for any such westriction being imposed on them, and that they potsessed full abillt7 to satisfy all the demands upon them in vtirrent cal F If The Bill was the Bill of the Bank:its:llf, it altogether unaccountable. Upon 'the fullest information that the Bank itself could Tender, it must appear to be in a state of infinitely greater prosperity than when they last stated their accounts; it could not be otherwise, and for this plain reason, because .it was undeniable, that our Com merce had incteased beyond every thing that the -countryliad ever known, and wealth and prosperity had ponredinto the kingdom, and ultimately lodged .in the Rank, to an unexampled amount. Persuaded most fully as he was, that the Bank was every way able, and much more than in complete abiiity to discharge all the demands on them, he thought it highll , necessary that certnin papers explaining the real sitatatiem of the Bank (whicl: he meant to move fir) should to before the House, in order that all Europe aniNq know, that the continuance of of so harsh a nature, with regard to • ate pmperty of individuals, • did not originate in "kny insufficiency of assetson the part of the Bank of .England - ,to satisfy every passible run -upon them. Ifirnets awe:mare of Government, Minis ters were bettrid to-explain why, under the 17121C0171 rnhitincreme of the carports and importsof the coun tr`f,--this couseqcient use •of the pruellice of the cus lib* the Pritsetaut *amotmt tf . ..tbe virplusof gie -:r ` ...._, I Y 7 I I. I I t S . r _ ~_ ~x ~-~--,.1.; RCM c ows lip/a was. vet die ipowat sutinitetotaing d4ntercit dm, country, ?t . was fek_mateasary to r a vanapass aritkoo.l.4 reffooldhsi!tYs as * the pa** dumber/1W waidis► 4pg par meat in cash by . the Nara. Zneend emnN ne cessarily throw on theirs. Without somevery ladory ezplarintion for bringing forward well a Bill, at such a monsunt—whetherle was to consider it as a Bill introduced at the desire of the Bank, or as a . measure of State, adopted and brought forward by Government for expedient purposes to them best known, or as a Bill in. which Government and the Bank were jointly interested, he must (according to hist state of knowledge re:pet:HlT it, and he decde had sat himself - most anxiously to spe culate upon what grounds it could be thought a matter of policy or wisdom) decidedly ()bled tO it; =din order to fortify his argument respelling it, he should move for several papers which appeared to him absolutely necessary to explain the circumstances of the Bank. First, he should move for an account of the amount of Notes of the Bank of England in circulation from the 25th of the months of June, August, October, and December 1802, up to the 25th of February 1803 next ; for an account of the nature and causes of the great and extraordinary surplus of the Consolidated Fund ; for the comparative amount of iy:ue of Bullion and Bills by the Bank ; for the ' amount - of the course of Exchange at stated pelt sids ; and for the ratio of the price of standard gold from time to time, specified in the Motion. Upon each of these five Motions, his Lordship dilated at considerable length: he said, he desired that the account of the amour.• of the notes of . the Bank in circulation from the 25th of the month,•instea.d of the Ist of the month onwaftl, because the Report of the Committee, which sat to enquire 'Man the circumstances of the Bank in ;797, , was re ported and agreed to on the 25th of June, and con sequently the Bank made up their accounts from that day. With regard to the Consolidated Fund, he explained the nature of it, and stated that the very great cues.; of surplus arose from a jumble being made of Exchequer Bills formerly issued, four millions odd hundred thousands of which were funded and paid off, and the annexing the remain der to a new issue of Exchequer Bills, and carrying the joint amount to the credit of the Consolidated Fund. He reprehended this mode of forestalling, in time of peace, the great, sole, and prompt re source of Ministers, on an invasion, or sudden ir ruption of war, in the strongest and most pointed terms. He gave his reasons for calling for a com parative amount of the issue of Bullion, and of Bills by the Bank, by remarking, that although in 1797 it was not thought prudent to have such a paper produced, as it might be deemed highly improper to expose the interior circumstances of the Bank of England during a raging .war to all, Europe, yet that in a state of increasing wealth-and prosperity, and in a time of peace, no danger was to ise drec.d:a from producing such Paper, and .that it vrou!..l ratlivr :)e a triumphant display of our full possession of the -sinews of war, than an instance of our want of means of preserving national credit, and, if necessary, of preparing for national defence. In calling for a statement of the Course of Exchange, for a given period, his Lordship said, he was prompt ed by having heard the piescn: measure of continu in:l the Bill justilied by the very singular and extraor• dinary argument,that it was necessary to continue the Bill, because the Course of Exchange was against us. Did not every man, at all conversant with Exchanges, their springs, sources, and operations, LeifeEtly know, that the existence of a Rill of Restrictionunn the Bank of England, necessarily occasioned the course of Excharge to be against us, and that while it was continued it could not in the nature of things be otherwise ? He would illustrate this by a single hypothetical case. Suppose that he -was in Hamburgh, and went to a banker, merchant, or broker, and said, " I want a hundred guineas, for wlich I will give yon a bill in London for that sum, which will be immediately paid.".—Would at the per ., ; applied to, immediately say, " ': rue, your Lill Is a good Bill upon the face of it, for a hundred guineas, but I must he paid the difference of exchange, the expence of sending into En g. land, the interest of the time it wiil have to run, Ste. Sec. I give you a lat.dred guineas in ready-cash, but 'your bill, even when it arrives in England, may come into the hands of a man who wants ready-cash, and he cannot receive it with out paying discount." It was evident, therefore, the course of Exchange must be against us, while the Bill of Itestrklion was continued in force. His Lordship made a variety of other obser.-ations and remarks, which will of course come under discus sion when the Bill shall be read a second time. Lord '.'ELHAIII rose, and said, it certainly was not his intention at that time to attempt to tollow the noble Lord through all the various points in which he had touched in the course of his speech ; when the Bill came fully under discussion, upon :he second reading, he would take care to cc. - .r.e prepared to meet every one of the noble Lord's ar guments, and to enter with him at large upon the various calculations and statements into which the noble Lord so fully entered. He conceiv ed that the part of his speech which more immediately called for reply, was that in which the. Noble Lord had said the Bill appeared to him as fit to be considered in one r r other of two different points of view—either as a Bill introduced at the re quest or desire of the Bank, or as a measure cf Go vernment. lacked, his Lordship had - afteru ards added, that the Bill might possibly be of a complex nature, hi which the Government of the country and the Bank might have concurred, and were conjointly ' interested. Upon these different views the Noble Lord had undoubtedly argued with great eloquence and ability ; he would therefore take that early op portunity of assnriug him, and the House, that the Bill had not been introduced at the desire of the Bank, and that they had expressed no concurrence in it, aid were not at all interested respecting it. It was to be considered purely as a measure of Government, adopted en motives of obvious policy and expe diency, and he should be ready to support. it en those grounds, when he should move that the Bill be read a second time, which he did not mean to do before Monday. ie would just for the present merely hint, that if Noble Lords would seriously give themseves a moment's refieetion on the rela tive situation of the country with foreign powers, and would consider that we had just got out ut a most expensive and burthensoine war ; that the im mense expences we had been put to in vnairu.aining a single family, which hau recently been got rid at, and had alone cost tire pearly twenty-three . • Napo .1 Mean abu t die .hersT cisort the dot v oida tt e st ot S: 4 of Wor;they 0 ,1 2 11 ?Oj a i a nd War mire ;el Weald study have 'the c our to admit, that die present was not the most fit and prudent moment piwhaps se rat• an -end.to die operation of * which had proved , so salutary in 'its effeets..-so use ful and so advaatageous to individualain the first instance, and so lsisltly conducive to the inpliurt of public credit; during_ its several periods of renewed continuance. His I..ordship said, he did sot feet it necessary to go further at present in noticing more ofihe rations matters to which the Noble Lord had alluded; and the more especially as the Noble Lord had himself declared, that he had not the smallest idea of the inability of the Bank to answer any possible run upon them, and still zetein many niillions of surplus in thcir hands. With regard to the several motions read by the Noble Lord, his Lordship said, upon a subject so important as the present, he was extremely desirous that the fullest information that could be desired should be laid before Parliament, provided it yeas not of a nature so delicate, that it could not, without danger to the public interest, be stated openly, and go forth to the world.. Chte or two of the Noble Lords he thought to be cf this description, and to those he must feel it his duty to objeca With re sped to that for the account of the amount of the Bank Notes issued and in circuietiuni being made up from the 25th of each month, instead of the first, he saw no objection, as he believed it would occasion no great trauble to office, but he really the motion of his noble fi iend (Lord Auck land) V.%)1:1. 1 . answer every necessary purpose. He would lett, however, objet: to it. Lord AUCKLAND said, that from the first me mare he had a seat in Parliament, he had been an dvocate for the production of all papers neces. sary to give information of the various important subjeds that came under discussion, whenever such papers could be given with safety. That as his noble friend did not objet to the Noble Lord's Mo tion, for an account of the issue of Bank Notes in circulation, made up to the Ssth instead of the Ist of the month, he would not oppose it ; but he had moved fur the account of the amount up to the Ist of the month, merely because it had appeared in the Votes of the House of Commons, that they had done so, and had proceeded with the Bill with that statement only before them. .As every thing which fell from the Noble Lord had great weight with the public, he would just say, .that he believed the No ble Lord would find himself under a great mistake, in respeet to his remarks on eharges on the Consoli dated Fund, and else respeding the comparative amount of the Cash and bullion in the Bank, as to the use made of that account by the Committee in 1797. Lord At:clues:set motionavas agreed to ; as were likewise those two of Lord Rewnee's ; that for. " An account of the amount of Lase Lank Notes in circulation, from the 25th day of each month, for the tweh•e months ending Jan. 25, 18b3;" and that for "An account of the sums paid into, and the charges upon sue. Consolidated Fund, between Jan. 5,18t;2, and Jan. 5,1 0;:." " The account of the proportion of the total ailment of cats and Lallion inahe Bank of England on the Ist of February 13'Ja, to the total cash and bullion on the 25th .of Feb. 1797, and the 11th of Nov. 1797." The motion for an acceunt of demands outstand ing on the Bank, and also the total amount of funds for dischaeging the same (exclusive cf the perma nent debt dee from dove rnn - ent) as the same stood on the first of February 1303, Nvtr , r negatived. When the Loan C H ANCI I. LoR came to put the question, " that the orer er.ollicer do lay before the House an account of the c;t,at , e cf exchange between London and Harnburgla en the first of each mole]) fur twelve months, ending January 1 iso3,"—his Lordship said, he thongle, that bethre the House made such an order, it ;night be right to ascertain who the proper officer was. I.erd PELHANI said, if the Noble Lord would have the goodness to &ler that Motion for the pre sent, he would engage to make himself master of the taut against the nest day, when he should lay some papers on the table relative to the Consolidated Fund, that would, he believed, clear up several of the Noble Lord's doubts on that subjet. • Adjourned at Six o'clock. HOUSE OF COMMONS. raußsDAv, •FER. 17. Two ballots .for chtsing G;ommittees to try the merits of petitions from Coventry and Bridgwater, complaining of undue elections, stood for this day. The presence of 100 members being necessary for proceeding on a ballot, the Speaker, on counting the House, found that 91 only had attended. The House, of course, adjourned till to-morrow. THEATRE-ROrAL, DRURr-LANE. Tills EVENING wi:l 1W 1.r.-,..ited the Comedy of THE COUNTRY GIRL. which ill tie added, LOVE AND MAGIC. .Being the lag time it can be performed, on account of the pn.'- par.itimis fir the new Play. To-morrow will be prulueal a new Musical Drama, eaUctl The Ilero of the North. THEATRE-ROT COVENT-b,eIRDEN. Tills F.V h.NING —ill he performed tits Corned" of THE MAN OF THE WORLI). To u h ich 'will he adtktl, PAUL AND VIRGINIA. Tomorrow, The Cabinet, with Modem. Atiticuee. On Monday next, the Churart-q of lit.rdet wilt 'be per formed by a Young Gentleman, fourth appearance in that Chan: ter. A .Ni•ie Comedy is in rehearsal, called . John Bull; or, An Ftiglibliinare: Fire-Side. THE BRITISH PRESS. ;~'_:~ LONDON, FRIDAY, FEE. 18. Various reports were circulated yesterday respect- ing the Conspirators now under senttx►ce of death in the county prison, in Horsemonger-lane. A Morn ing Paper stated, llat Colonel bEePARID, and six of his associates, were ordered for execution on Monday next, and that the remaining three had received the Royal mercy, to which they were recommended by the July. A confident rumcur was also prp pagated last lighti•that the doom of Colonel DLIPARD r ivlllll fixed; and that four, not six of his companions, would suffer slang with him on Monday. It it cruel to indulge in conjec tures uporr such a subject, and to agitate the minds of men in their melancholy situation, with hopes or fear ' s that may have no real foundation. In cases of final decision, it is usual to transmit the result immediately to the HighSheriffof the county a but no communication of the kind respecting these men had taken place at a late hour last night. As, then, we are not aware of any solid ground of departure from the usual practice in the. pre. sent instance, we are at liberty to presume that Goya:intent have not yet come to an ultimate de termination.—Meanwhile, the usual precepts have been prepared, with blanks for the names of the probable sufferers, and the time and place of exe cution. This, however, is only a proof of official diligenc.:, from which nothing can be inferred with regard to the fate of the prisoner;. No Privy Council will sit on the case of Colonel DESPARD ; nor is it necessary that the Kum should sign the death-warrant. These ceremonies are only observed in cases of capital convitlion in Lon don or Middlesex. Colonel PESPARD and his as . sociates will be left to the disposal of the Judges who tried them under the Special Com;nis,ion,' ex adly as if they had been concided at an assizes iA a distant county. We may presume, however, that the Judges will not fix the day, in the present ill. stance, without consulting Government. Letters received from Barbadoes, (rata 29th .De cember last, state the agreeable news of the safe arrival there of his MAJESTY'S ship Cemtaur, of 74 guns, Captain LITT tio4 Ai Es, which sailed from Plymouth, three months since, with sealed orders, all well, and the officers and crew healthy. The island of liarbadoes is also healthy. She was, after taking in water and wood, to run down to Jamaica, -to V ice Admiral INCICWORTH, for orders, and to relieve a ship of the line on that station. A Court of .Direetors will be held this day at the ' India House. A law very favourable to our Ceylon Trade, has been Passed by the Dutch Legislative Assembly. Cinnamon is allowed to be imported into Holland, upon the payir.cat of an ad valorem duty of only one oer cent. The importation of woollen cloths has been strialy prohibited. Viscount LLUERICK is raised to the dignity -of Earl of I.riezaces; Viscount.Dusmo, Earl CL•24- CARTY; Baroness NzacostEs, to the dignity of Viscc,untess Ncwcossrs, and the heir male of her body by her husband, Sir W. GLEADOWE Newco at LK, Bart. A most animated _marble bust of FRANCIS, the late Duke of BEDFORD, by Noccsitess, has been presented to the,Board of Agriculture by the pre sent .Duke, accompanied by an elegant letter front His Grace to the P,resident, =questing their accept ance of it, as a memorial of the high regard enter tained for that Board by his deceased brother. His Grace the Duke of Northumberland has, with most becoming zeal, sent to Portsmouth.from his estate at .Alnwick Castle, to be etnbarked on board the Calcutta, bound to New South Wales, a number of sheep, with two rams of a very particu lar breed, and which will eventually prove of the greatest advantage to the colony. This description of sheep invariably lamb from two to three, and sometimes :our at a birth They arrived yesterday at Portstrinth, Ind were immediately to be ship ped. Wednesday a dispensation passed the Great Seal, to eilable.the Rev. ALLEN FIELDING, M. A. Chap lain to the light Hon. Lord Viscount NELSON * to hold the Vicarage of St. Cosmus and Damien in the Bl:san, together with the Vicarage of St. Ste phen, both in the Diocese of Canterbury. Letters have been received at the Admiralty, from Capt. Hoop, stating his arrival, in the Meta being, at Baz'oadoes, from whence he was about to proceed, with the other Commissioners, to survey 1 the island of Trinidad. The accounts of several Gentlemen who have just treturncd • from Paris, relative to the effects of the disease now prevalent in that city, are widely at va riance with the report of the School of Medicine. According to these statements, no fewer than 9000 persons ha..-c been carried off by it, within the last month. It is ctrtainly difficult to account for this extraordinary degree of mortality, on the supposi tion that the fever by which it has been occasibn ed is perfectly free from contagion. On the other hand, it would be equally difficult to divine the ob jed which the Prefea of Paris could have, in re questing the School of Medicine to draw up any re port upon the subjed, but that of precisely ascer taining whether the disorder is of a mild or malig nant type, and of prescribing the curative or pre servative means indicated by the respe&ive symp toms. The CHANDOS Portrait Of SitAISESPEARE, which has generally been considered as an origal picture of our great Dramatic Bard, is, we are sorry to hear, so much injured by time, that it is now hardly distinguishable. Luckily there is an admirablircopy of it, by Sir JOSHUA RgyrroLos, and another by BEECHSY. The late Mr. SYJILYENS, however, doubted the authenticity of this piaure, and the doubts of such an acute and intelligent critic are weighty objeaions. An account of the Amount of the Notes of the Bank of England in circulation on the Ist of Jane, the Ist of August, the Ist of Odober, and the Ist of December IEO2, and the Ist of February 180 S, dis tinguishing the amount of those that are below the value of Five Pounds p An. *Ant af Bank of England Notes of Five Pounds each and upwatds, including Bank Post Bills, payablelieeen Days if • Sight :—• On the lit June, 1802 13,257,600 let Aug. 1802 14,336,640 Ist Oft. 1802 13,111,519 lit Dec. 1802 12,075,020 lst Feb. .1803 12,674,030 Amount of Bank of England Notes of 21. and 11. each; Oa the let June, 1802 3,013,610 lit Aug. 1802 3,292,320 lit Oct. 1802 3,435,180 lit Dec. 18C2 3,236,5C0 1t Feb. 1803 Bank of England, W. Weteow, F.A. 7, 1690. ,I►ct. Gan, 1 ~:~._ Am.