The Sun. — London, England, 1802-04-22 00:00:00

IMPERIeIL PARLIAMENT. 'HOUSE OF COMMONS. WEDNESDAY, APk IL 21. THE Attorney-General (the Hon. Mr. SPENCER PE RC EVAL) took the oaths and his seat for North_ ainpr.(m. Alderman COMB! moved for leave to bring in a Bill to empoWer the City of London to ereEt a Free Market for Coals. The SECRETARY at \/AR movcd fora new Writ for Cambridgeshire, in tile room of Gen. ADEANE, deceased. COMMITTEE OF SUPPLY 211 r. N. VANS ITT ART moved, that it be an in_ struain to the Committee to take into conidera tion the Allowances to Subalterns, and also the raying and Cloathing of the Militia. The Report was ordered to be received to-mor row, and the Committee to sit again on Friday. BANK RESTRICTION BILL. The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER moved the Order of the Day, for the House to re solve itself into a Committee of the whole House, on the Bill to continue the law now in force, re striding the Bank of England from making pay_ meats in cast. Which Order being read, he moved, • ". That the SPEAKER do now leave the Chair." The Hou,e having accordingly resolved itself into a Committee of the whole House, The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said, that having stated on a former day, to the House, the ground on which he thought it would he proper to continue the .restriction on the Bank, of payment in cash ; he thought it would be unnecessary, if not irregular in him, in this stage of the proceeding, to enter into any discussion of the measure, on the former argument. He had therefore only to state the grounds on which he should propose to fill up the blanks, specifying the duration of this Bill, and the continuance of the restriction, which he proposed to be on the first of March, 1603. Jr was stated by him, the other day, and he believed, pretty generally acquiesced in, that from the new situa tion in which this country would be placed on the return of Peace, from the present state of our ex port trade, the state also of the course of exchange, and the different relations in which the various States of Europe will stand towards each other ; from the combination of all these things, he said, it was advisable that the restrietions of the money payments of the Bank should continue. There seemed, indeed, some difference of opinion on two or three points only. Some Gentlemen seemed to • think that a proceeding of this sort should be founded on a Report of a Committee, to which he owned he could'not assent, because he did not see the ne cessity for such a course of proceeding. On former occasions the objed was to ascertain the real situa tion of the Bank, to he satisfied of its sufficiency to answer all demands teat could be made upon it. At the present moment, there was no question in that House, nor any where else, whether or not the Boak was able to pay and discharge, in any manner, any demand that could be made upon it ; so that an inquiry into that matter was, now, totally un necessary ; it was, therefore, not in consequence of any doubt or apprehension, or even reluctance of the Bank, but solely on the ground of political ex pediency, arising out of the situation of this coun try, with reference to its export trade, the course of exchange, and the commercial relations of Foreign Nations to each other, that this measure of continuance of the restriction upon the Bank was proposed—On the solidity of the Bank he was en titled to say and assume, there was now no goes tien, either in that House or elsewhere.—On the disposition of the Batik to make payments in specie, he was also entitled to assume, .nay he owed it to the Bank, to assert, they had mani fested a readiness to do so. It was, however, thought necessary to continue this Retridion for a while. As to the necessity of inquiring into the causes of such necessity, and of its being founded on the Rlant of a Committee, he had to observe, that upon the inconvenience of such a course of proceeding, it would occur to the Committee that much might he said ; but besides the inconvenience, he doulned the pradicability of that course ; for if .a Committee were appointed to inquire into the cense of the continuance of this Restridion, it w. uld embrace such a train of examination as could rot he gone over in any thing like reasonable time, cod that consideration had operated on his mind considerably; for if such a Committee were appoint_ ,co, they could not eftedually.proceed on the subject of their inqulty, without enteriug on a consideration of the state olcomtnerce all over the world, and the dtfferent commercial relations in which the States of Europe stood towards each other, the state of com merce and manufactures of each ; a course of exami nation, in its nature, minute, operose, and much too tedious 1 -,, t• the present Session of Parliament; and for that reason, if there wet e no other, it ought to not be adopted ; but it was not necessary, for the grounds of the measure now before the Committee were clear and conclusive; every one was acquainted with them ; they were perfedl y notorious—they were unquestionably solid—the 'commercial relations of different States since the Peace—the Course of Ex change—the state of our Export Trade—all combin ing to make the continuance of this Restridion necessary, the only point upon which there appear ed to him to b.t a question, was the period of :he duration of the measure ; this he thought should be governed by the probable end of the causes which p ro d uc ed it. Oar Export Trade had been long, as it were, at a stand ; we might entertain a reason able hope or expedation, that in a short time :t would firld its proper channel, so that afterwards we might feel the efred 'of an advantageous Export Trade, the full advantages of which, however, we could not exio:d within a short period, perhaps ten of elve mow h a : Nor should he look for ward for this advantage to a very remote period, for he trusted this trade would be immediately put ieto its due channel. It was therefore necessary to iderr this measure for a period, at the expiration of which we shall have the Leo efi:s of those returns of :i7xports which we, at present, want, the effra of which would he to give us an advantage which we eid ne t now e:ejoyi an advantage in the Course of Exehlnge. In the intertfal, it was a matter of po. licy to continue this Restriaion, and he did not see how it could be continued less than ten or twelve months, for we could not expert the full benefit of a return to our Export Trade in a much shorter period, nor could we, in much less time, expert to have the full benefit of those other changes which he looked for, in the Course of Exchange, &c. nor could these commercial relations of Foreign States, properly find their level in a much shorter time; so that under all the circumstances which we had to consider at the present moment, it did not appear to him unwise to adopt that time for the continuance of the Restriction on the Money Payments of the Bank of England. lic was aware that some Gen. tlemen would say it would be better to con tinue tl'c measure until within a month or six weeks, after the commencement of the next Session of Parliament, and this was an idea which, when he first heard it stated, he felt himself disposed to favour; but other considerations changed his mind upon that subject : it was impossible to anticipate, at present, when Parliament would meet ; and if the measure now before the Committee were made subjed to that uncertainty, many inconveniencies might ensue, and it should be recolleCted, that al. most the whole commercial world was interested in this measure, which should not be made to depend on any thing that was uncertain in point of time. But supposing there was a certainty that Parliament ' would meet before Christmas : should it meet in the month of November, he should even then depre cate the putting this measure upon that point, and have to discuss it again before the Holidays, if it should be found then necessary to continue it, but if that continuance should be necessary, and Parlia ment should not be assembled until the latter end of January, or the beginning of February, then the inconvenience would be without a remedy ; where as, by the continuance he now proposed, Parliament might discuss it, if necessary, before the time of its expiration, should it be assembled. So that on the one hand, no inconvenience could arise, which might not be remedied ; on the other, it was possible for an inconvenience to be felt, without any chance of a remedy, at least-for a while. Adding to this, the little probability there was that the causes of this Restriction would cease to operate before Christ. mas ; and then, he believed, the Committee would see the propriety of filling up the Blank with the first of March, 1803, and, therefore, he took the liberty of proposing it. There was another point , to which he thought it might not be improper for him to advert. An Honourable Gentleman op- p os_te to him (Mr. T IERNEY , we presume ), h a d ob served, on a former day, on the authority of the Bank to open payment of its own accord, by the Bill as it now stands, giving notice as therein specified. He had considered that suggestion, and was ready to admit that the Bank had not, under the former Bill, the power which he thought they had, nor was the reArietien precisely such as the Hon. Gen tleman supposed.—[Here he read the clauSe in the last Act of Parliament, which gives power, under certain qualifications, to the Bank to make payment in cashd—and then observed, nobody could doubt that dividends were demands on the Bank ; and he was aware mar the construction wnicn nd put upon this clause, had been put by those who were most con versant in this subject ; but however that might be, he objected to making any alteration whatever in this clause. He did not wish to put the Bank in a situation so invidious as it would be, by being held out, as continuing, of their own authority, or from motives . of their own, this restriction of Payment in Money. He wished it to be un derstood, that this Restriction of Payment in Money at the Bank, was to be continued on the ground of political expediency, a measure judged of by the House of Commons, not by the Bank of England. Viewing this matter as a political mea sure, he would say it was fit that the House should judge of it, and determine how long this Restric tion should continue, and not put it in the power of the Bank to resume its money payments at its own will, and without any legislative limitation. If that power had indeed been originally given by the Restriction Bill, he did not know that he should now propose to curtail it, but he thought it should not now be originated, because the measure of the Restriction was presented to the House at this moment . as a measure founded on poll. tical expediency, of which Parliament, and Par.. liarnent alone ought to judge, leaving to the Bank nothing that might place it in an invi. dious light, by making it responsible for the , continuance of the Restriction ; giving it in this respect, neither more nor less, but exactly the same power as it possessed by the former Restrittion Bill. He had nothing more to do at present, than to propose that this blank be filled up with the words, " The rst day of Mardi, 1803." Mr. TIERNEY adverted to that part of the CHANCELLOR of the ExeHEQUER'S speech, where he spoke of the discretionary power of the Direc tors of the Bank to pay the dividends in coin. He contended that this implied no discretionary power to pay their debts in money, as the dividends were not debts of the Bank, but of the Nation. It was only when the creditor of the Nation went to the Bank and received Bank Notes in payment of his dividend, that he became a creditor of the Bark. With regard to a discretionary power of placing the Bank Directors in an invidious situation, he thought that thus completely binding up their hands placed them in a still more delicate situation. For the sake of appearances, if for nothing else, it was necessary that they should resume payments as soon as possible. But the CHANCELLOR of the EXCHE. QUER had argued, that this was entirely a measure of a political nature : he could not admire that po. licy. The two former Committees appointed on the Restriction had judged it expedient, the- one on account of the invasion with which we were threa tened, the other on account of the enemy with whom we had to contend : but it was agreed that it ought . to cease a month after the conclusion of Peace. A month had now elapsed, and it was moved still to continue the Restriction, without a single substantial reason assigned, TheCUANCCt.LUK of the EXCHCQUEI,‘ hacj indeed talked of new rell_ lions in which w.e were placed, but he had advanced nothing substantial, nothing that ccold he on derstcod, such as a former argument relating to the course ofeAchange which coukl be investigated. wished that the Right Honourable Gentleman would shew how the Restridion on the Bank would ope rate as a remedy for the dangers apprehended, or how it would not rather have a contrary effed. It appeared strange, that Peace and War were equally an argument for continuing the Restridion. He owned that inconveniencies might arise from suddenly resuming payments, but he affirmed that much more was to be dreaded from the Minister thus inter.. fering with the usual payments of the Bank, espe cially in such a peremptory manner. He contend ed that the operation of exchange will be felt sooner than March. He did not mean even to give the slightest hint against the credit of the Bank, or the wisdom of those who concluded it ; but he wished for the sake of our credit, that its payments should be resumed as quickly as possible. Some might privately think it desirable that the Bank should never commence its payments again; but no Eng lishman would venture publicly to express such a wish. He therefore thought some such clause as he had suggested formerly should be introduced into the Bill, to give the Direlors of the Bank a discre tionary power of resuming their payments. Mr. M. A. TAYLOR contended that ae Divi dends came within the provision of the Bit. The words were, ,‘ any debt or demand." If the Di. vidends did not fall under one of these drnomipa. tions, they certainly did come under the other. The ATTORNEY GENERAL thought it un necessary to enter into the purport of the words, which were plain ; but he contended that the divi dends came under the denomination of debts of the Bank. When the Exchequer sent money to the Bank for the express purpose of paying , those par ticular debts, and the Bank received ir, the debt was then devolved on the Bank ; and therefore the Bank was authorised, under the denomination of debts, to pay the dividends in money. Mr. TIERNEY maintained his former opinion, as the Bank was still accountable to the Exchequer for the money conveyed to it for the payment of the dividends. Mr. TONES agreed with the propriety of the Restridion in general, but thought the period too long. The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER caused the clause in the Bill to be read, from which he proved, that all payments made from the Bank, came under its provisions. The Bank Directors had three times availed themselves of the clause, and by giving intimation to the SPEAXER, had been permitted to make particular payments in money. When this Bill was first passed, it had a view to the security of the Bank, and was intended to prevent a drain of specie from it; but now the se. curity of the Bank was fully established, and the present Bill entirely went on grounds of political expediency. He concluded by repeating his former sentiments, that enlarging the powers of the Bank Directors would only tend to place them in a more invidious light with the Public. Mr. N. VANSITTART observed, how incon. venient it was in great commercial concerns, in which light the Bank was to be considered, to have shell' ••••.A. adifl. After a few words from Mr. DENT and Mr. JONES, the Question on the Clause was put and ear. ried. The Report to be received to.morrow, Mr. CORRY rose to give notice of a Motion. He said, that as the original Restriction imposed on the Bank of England had for the same causes been extended to Ireland, he thought it proper that the present restriCtion should also be extended in the same way. He should therefore tomorrow move for leave to bring in a Bill to continue the Restric. tion on the Bank of Ireland. The House then resolved itself into a Committee on FRENCH WINES. Mr. N. t'ANSTfTART observed the propriety of rather extending the permission of importation to the whole kingdom, than confining it to the Islands of Jersey and Guernsey : He therefore moved, that French Wines be permitted to be imported in bottles, direaly into this kingdom, which was agreed to, and the report ordered to be received tomorrow. Mr. N. VANSITTART moved for leave to bring in a Bill to enable the Lords of the Treasury to issue Exchequer Bills on the credit of certain Sup plies granted, and to be granted, to His Majesty for the year 18oz.—Leave granted. The Committee on Irish Linen IVlanufaetures, and the Committee on Irish Elestions, were ordered for Friday. The House adjourned at six o'clock till t0.m0r3 4 row. MAIL. DUE.—Hamburgh - - . - - - . - t PRICE OF STOCKS, THIS DAY AT TWILVI O'CLOCK. Consols • - - Omn. . . THE SUN. SOLEM VIIS DICERS PAL SUM AUDEAT ? LONDON, APRIL 22, 1802. THE Hon. Mr. PIERREPONT delivered the English Ratification to JOSEPH BONAPARTn, but did not see the CHIEF CONSUL, though he was treated by the French Government with every mark of respea and distinlion ; and such was their impatience to return their own Ratification of the Treaty, that they would not suffer him to wait for the arrival of the Spanish Ratification from Mddrid, though it was hourly expeded. It will probably be in London by the end of the week, anti till its arrival, no General Illumination will take place. Mr. PIERREPONT was only 39 hours on his journey from Paris to London. / Windsor, and held a Levee at Sr. James's Pal a ` which was numerously attended. The Compa n y PIS MAIES:rY came to Town yesterday fta: who were present, , the French, American, Bavarian, Neapolitan, .an dinian, and Hanoverian Ambassadors ; the Russian his Grace tnr Charge des Afraires, the Right Rev. ARCHBISHOP of YORK, the Bishops of LONDON, BATH and Writt.s, NORW ICII, GLOUCESTER, and consisted of their Excellenselir, CH Icti ESTER ; the CHANC F LI, OR of the EXCIIF: QUER, and the following distinguished Personage s • Dukes—Portland, and Athole. illarpisses—Saltsbury, aind Winclietzt:r. Stainfori, WestruollAnd, St. chilsea, and Morton Lvds—W alsinghz,m, Selsea, Ellerborc A rden,l l3 w kes ,{ bury, Coleraine, • Boston, Binning, Alvanley, Bagot, Napier. Admiralr--Gambier, Sir C. Pole, Sir S. Duckworth, Si r A ' Mitchell, and Graves. Generals—Lister, Rainsford, Leland, Metiron. Colonels—Grosvenor, Wilson, Men‘ckicn, and Hewgil• Captain Halket. Sirs—W Cockburn, F. Eaton, W. Sl•efrington, W. Well' M. W. Ridley, C. Penn, W. E•iWcet Crawfurd, t ' Vincent, Win- Cottrel, T. Heard, W. ckbu . rn, T. B:Burges, C• and H. Nagel. A• cher Messrs. —,l-faminond, Berners, D. Grosvenor, Penn, I%A't- Metcalf, Methuen, P. Cary Livingston, LeanoX, S d l% r : Duncombe, Philips, Listor, , Monekion, 311 ' cival. Those introduced to Fits MA J ESTY W ere----- • Aso° TARES. Kunz, by the Carl of DAATNSOUTUt on leis arrival from Persia. Lord BIN NING an d Captain HAL.KiT,' by Eari/0 0 " . " • Admiral DUCKWORTH, on his return to E n giand• L oa of ti l , c l The Rev. Dr. HUNTING FORD, by the CunticL ri" Counsellor ERSKINE, Chancellor of the DutchY wall, given him by the PRINCE of WALES, Via s intr°' x E , ar b l y M th ° e l" A rican Minister. Mr. PERCEVAL, on his appointment as HIS N l6lXgf 1.5 M ducted on EXCHEQUER; sL o t E r n c:cb e 1 :; The Ilisnor of GLOUCESTER kissed hands ell ' l ' translated to the See of Bath and Wells. Lord ELLENBOROUGH kissed hands on be,. pointed Lord Chief Justice of the Court Bench. inegnetrihite.hielaSdetehoeficloouucretsotekriss t he X.l N es ban e on going to Sviit" General MEURON to o k ! ear • zetland.xcellency the Sardi n i an Ambass adors His E -'`s 4 o f ; private audience of the KIM!), to announcethC C- t hC of the QU EEN o f SARDINIA, on which occa s ' ° * 4 he Mr. Mrt:teri.e: e x fiv c res o et zt and Mr. &RHEAS Were t Court will go into mourning on Sunday n eitt ‘ t , ti a m c e o t u h n i c s i s l e o a f so m n is ma segoft Levee A ft After nisrers was held, on the Ratification of th e .Ire _";' of Peace received yesterday, between GreatltiP and France. It was yesterday - very generally report'" l , h i r ik Lord Wit ZTIVOATX does not g o to P ar i s . We - A this too delicate a subjea for us to state, as Y'' that we have heard on the suhjeet, A Circular Letter has been sent by Lord 00 114- 14 one of His Majesty's Principal Secr etar i e s de o , to all the Lords Lieutenants of Counties, ik 4 ; sc r, pressing His Majesty's thanks for the sign, 1: st st vices perform e d t o th e c ountr y by the Volunteer Bodies du r i ng t h e late War, and "lb' to ins that frnm the inuant, they wcrt aft iievud from further service. On SatardaY tlerefore, both the Militia and Vo)un f eet F°'' will be disbanded. A Morning Paper of ye s terday state 4, .PRINCt of WALES had left town fat Sug",.ct, at seven o'clock. His Royal Hi g h n ess day on horseback, at a late hour, in St. ) 3 " - street and Hyde Park: 01 0 e The Duc de LI AKCOURT h as b e en razet e ' f r oe the Li s t of E m i grants , an d h as returne d to ll ' from America. hAr a Very few English who have visited Far' s ', g,S remained in th at City abov e ten daYs , „ l . - 0 tsN tremely expensive i s ir, an d i n ever y resPe' comfortable. Mr. O'SYRAit, who has lately rent•-"l t i,, f rei Paris, wore w hil e t h ere , t h e un if orm o f the-. Household, which was much admired. b n as The Earl of A BERDEEN , w h o h as lately Paris, spent about pool. in six weeks, so e 'i sive is living in Paris in any kind of stile r ' o ft The Datchess of CUMB E R LAND was ,s • Sunday at the gran d fete, in Notre Dame , at n ' „ lc jO Her Royal High ness was accommo d at ed in a v Which were some of T ALL EYRAND ' S relati°n-s -. The Hilt of the Sword of the CHIEF Cl ot re which was consecrated on Sunday last, ar is of Dame, is mounted with the Crown Dial n ` on d, France, a and has at its to p the f am ous Pitt D'"" , By private letters from Paris, we lear n s y t hat /10 TOUSSAINT would not receive his twos onsprej were sent to him by General tr...•: LERC, b ut or them back immediately, with a veil in° message. 1 ,1 117. The late Earl of GLTILDSVRD was bor n - '%,,jeft ttcr zip 1757, and married in 1783 Miss daughter of the pre s e nt E ar l of Bt./VW:Lela ill SHIRR, by whom he had three sons, who jest their infancy. He married, seco ndly, th e 0 the daughter of THOM AS Courts, Esq. sister to bf Marchioness of BUTE and to Lady BT./ 1011 10r , whom he had a son, who died in February R id He has left three daughters, viz. Lady ;AV' by his first Lady, and Svsmi and GEORG NORTH, by his present Lady. na h er Yesterday evenin g L a dy Nortrnwz" a , r e. familyihe E ar a ri r l'e o d f o at ithmeroNhoDusielasinnCoar:eansdvisrho -ssqr:l, the left Town for Paris. His Lordship vos 2' Opera on Tuesday night. 800. in Lady CLARE is eXpeeted in town , fr om a visit a few days :—Her Ladyship is coming ° k r ' wolf' to Mrs. BRADSHAW C A verroisrt, in 11.1". street. ha The Right fr e arr Hon. TitomAs CONOLLY i' , ' asi tioprny to hear, recovered from his late incbsPow he proposes setting out for Ireland if' 3 days, It ; nor'' TO M ' PAINS, of infamous notoriety' in ro ° r vir. try, has lately rrceired an invitation frog' c ~, JEFFERSON to return to America, and Inel.nri t , rl embark for that Country in about a fortnigh,t I ,i. c r , of s which merican frigate now lvinf , at 13:cst , t!' e 3 ,i l vc his orders from tEr Presi,icrii to re. " Told PA/NE on hoard. 11