The Sun. — London, England, 1803-02-23 00:00:00

111 , IPERML PARLIAMENT. ROUSE OF PEERS. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 22. juvct.trNT respefting the Appeal Cause, LA.w. SON 'u. MAX W 1.1., was, we understand, farther postponed. The Marquis of WiNcHErt ER, Lord SOMIRS, and Viscount No aTIILAND, one of the Irish Re. presentative Peers, were sworn andlook their seats. The Duke of MONTROSE moved the Order of the Day, for summoning their Lordships ; which being read — His Grace rose, pursuant to his notice of yester day, to move an Address to His Majesty, on the oc casion of his Providential Escape from the machi nations of designing Traitors. In prefacing his Motion, the Noble Duke observed, that on such 4n occasi'm as the present it wos 'obviously unneces sary that he should expatiate at any length, or take up much of the time of their Lordships. On such an occasion, he felt there could be but one senti ment pervade the House. In viewing, however, the particular case before them, it was some degree ofsatisladion to relied, that no motive of personal malice against our Gracious Sovereign seemed to animate the Traitors, their project appeared to he that of rooted enmity to •.the happy and benign Constitution of the Country. Its de_ atrurtion was the object of their machinations ; and a part of their wicked and atrocious scheme, was to destroy its Constitutional Defenders and be,t Guardians the sacred life of a' Prince was aimed at, who was not only entitled to respect and . veneration, from the sacred and important ,func tions of the Kingly Office, but of one, whose pet bbnal virtues andgracious' deportment called for the esteem, and toncili'ated the affections of all his sub jects. In the long line of Monarchs who swayed the Sceptre of these Realms, there was not One so much entitled to the gratitude and affections Of Lis Subjects, on account of the substantial behefits they reaped under his auspicious reign, and the strong interest he always it for their welfare and happiness, as our present beloved Sovereign. He would, therefore, without further preface, ,move a suitable. Address to His Majesty, in'which he was confident, every one of their Lordships would most cheerfully concur. Earl CAMDEN seconded the motion for the Address, in a neat and pertinent speech—He coin cided in sentiment with his Noble Friend- the mover, as to the motives and objects of those 'Traitors whose atrocious schemes were so happily defeated ; the feelings so well expressed by the Noble Duke rendered it unnecessary for him to tres pass upon their Lordships in that resped. The Noble Earl towards the close of his observations took o , : ca-,itin to compliment the zeal and Assiduity of his Noble Friend at the head of the Home Department, (Lord PELHAM) to whose province it more pe culiarly belonged, to take the necessary steps for rendering abortive all traitorous attempts and de- Signs.' - The Address was then read, and the question put upon it in the usual way, when it was forthwith voted by their Lordships Nemine Dissentiente. r For a det4iled Report of the tenor of the Address, sec the p0,cri,114.; of the ,douse of Commons.] • A Com►e;ittec of their Lordships was then appoint ed, npeeattly to the established form, to prepart the Address in the mode proper for presenting it to the Sovereign. The Corninittee shortly made their Report, the Address in full form was again read from the Woolsack, when it was ordered to be pre. seined to His Majesty by the whole [ - louse ; and the Lords with white staves were ordered to learn lii Majesty', pleasure with resped to being waited on with the same. Cu the Motion of Loral A!/f, certain Ac counts from the Bank, relative to the general sub jea. pcilding in discussion before their Lordships, were presented by Mr. ASTI, ET , I, and laid upon the Table. Lord PELHAM then rose to move for the second reading of the Bank Restriction Bill. The Noble Secretary of State prefaced his Motion with' some general observations, in a great degree similar to those he advanced when called upon on a former night. He stated with great perspicuity and. el„ fen, the history of the measure of Restrinion, from its original commencement under the Order of Coun cil in 1 797, till the period when it was at one time proposed to expire soon after the end of the War. His Lordship repeated, that the measure in question was dilated by no accommodation compact, or agreement whatever between Government and the Bank, as suggested by,„ the Noble Earl an a former night. The continuance •of the Re. strilion was, in the present circumstances of the Country, particularly with reaped to the. Course of Exchange, deemed a measure highly ex pedient and advisable by, His Majesty's Ministers. file fans, that the Commercial Prosperity of the Country was in a progressive state, and the Course of Exchange being decidedly un favourable, .were, he contended, by no means contradidory. The points advanced upon that head, by his Noble Friend near him (Lord AUCKLAND), were, he thought, in. controvertible ; that the Commercial Prosperity of the Country was progressive, the improved state • of Exchange was, among other considerations, a proof ; and this, from the rate. of 71. per Cent. 'against us, to be so low as 21 per Cent. He ob. served, that though the Directors of the Bank had fit), sort of concern with the promotion of the pre. . sent measure, yet he was decidedly of opinion, that were the Dire&Or3, .men who, from their Official Situations, had the best opportunities of being in_ formed upon the subjeft, been asked their opinions individually, or as men, they would declare their .opinions of the measure being serviceable to the Country at large. The question before the House, was, whether, under the present . circumstances . of she Country, 'it was expedient, or advisable to continue the Restrkuion until the favourable oppor. tunity fur commencing payments in specie at the Bank might arrive. With raped to a great deal of 'what fell from . the Noble E3rl, on a former night, it regarded the general situation of the Country in point of Finance, and not at all connected with the suhjed regularly under discussion. He should de cline following him, but whenever- those points could be fairly before the House, either through the medium of a Money Bill, or any other regular model he should have no sort of obje&ion to meet the Noble Earl on that ground. His Lordship then concluded' with moving, " That the Bill be now read a second time." Care' ICING delivered his sentiments upon the' subje& at some length ; he was decidedly hostile to the farther progress of the Bill, which he disapproved of chiefly on general principles ; it interfered mate rially, he observed, with the sacred rights of in dividuals, and with concerns of private property ; riot only that, but the frequent passing of such a Bill, would go to set a precedent of the most dangerous kind.;• by the operation of this measure, individuals would be not only left arthe mercy of Ministers, but of the Direetors of the Bank. He was of opinion that the measure in question, waa not only the cause of the unfavourable rate of Exchange, but in a particular manner of the multiplication of Notes ; this would be seen by a reference to the documents before the House ; the amount of the Notes in circulation at a late period exceeded 17,906,0001. whereas before the RestriCtion took place they did not exceed t 0,000,0001. The No ble Lord entered into a variety of financial calcu lations and details, ,particularly with respeCt to the prices; Bcc. of Bullion, and the Course of Exchange at different periods ; the object of those was to establish the position, that the Bill, instead of he. ing necessary or salutary, had, on the contrary, an injurious operation. He wished it to be under stood, that he entertained no doubt whatever of the solvency of the Bank,' but he could not avoid 'ob serving, that one of the extraordinary attributes of the Bill was, that it called upon the Public, not' Only to place confidence in Ministers, but in Bank Dire&ors . . - For his part, he thought it not' only unnecessary, but injurious, and that a stronger case than any yet adverted to by Ministers should be made out before he could conscientiously give his support to the Bill. "The Earl of SUFFOLK. was of opinion, that the scarcity so much complained of, and adverted to by Ministers, as one of the remote causes of the necessity of the Bill, was owing to the reprehen sible neglect of •agriculturd in this Country. At the same time, the Noble Earl seemed to express his regret at the recently increased expence of jock.; sures t a consideration so materially conne6led with the improvements of agriculture. The increased population of the Country was also a point which was to bdconsidered with a reference to the subjea. Another point of the greatest importance to Agri culture was the. circumstance of Tythes, and to the situation of these in a neighbouring Island, he under stood that much of that disorder which existed in that Country was to be attributed. It seriously behoved, he thought, the Government of this Coun. try to look to•the consequences of France out. stripping us in the agricultural race : the greatest attention was paid to it in France, and the conse. quence would be, that we should eventually have to resort to that Country for a supply of, the articles of the first necessity. The Earl of MOIRA delivered his objections to the Bill at .considerable length. He followed upon the ground taken by his Noble Friend (Lord KING). He observed the Noble Mover of the Bill had dwelt much upon the conveniency which the measure pro. duced, but forgot to state those descriptions of per. sons who experienced it. The measure, as he had stated on a former night, appeared to him to be connected with some Ministerial Schemes of Fi. nance ; at the' same rime he disclaimed the idea of wishing to insinuate that any thing in the affair was done by stealth. Here his Lordship entered into some financial calculations arul details, for the pur. pose of illustrating the leading positions of his Speech, one of the principal of which was, that the R.estriCtion. produced the unfavourable Couise of Exchange. lle could not help observing, that the question of moral right, and the interests of the •Holders of Bank Notes, seemed to be entirely out of the Noble Lord's consideration. In his opinion the Bill strongly interfered with those principles, and in an extensive view of the subjeEt he would contend, that it operated a breach of faith to all Europe. In short, Ministers must come for. ward with further illustrations of its necessity to induce him to support it. The Earl of 6i`ESTIORL AND spoke at some length in answer to the obje6tions of the Noble Earl who• spoke last. Fie would not, he said, enter upon the consideration of the validity of the Bank, as that, investigation at a former period, had put °tic of all dispute. He contended that the operation •of the Bill during the war, tended to enable Ministers to bring this Country successfully through the arduous struggle in which she was en gaged ; it must be obvious to the sense of every Noble Lord, that it would he preferable to wait till the period of an influx of bullion, &c. into the Country should take 'place, and until it was ade_ quately stocked with cash, for the taking off the RestriCtion, than by doing it pretnaturely, to ha. card all th6se inconvenienctes and dangers which it was universally allowed must attend the opening of the Bank in the present circumstances of the Coun try; the extensive circulation of small notes was a►so a 'material part of these considerations. He compli. mented His IVlajesty's late Ministers for their able administration of the Finances of the Country, by which means they, in a great degree, had preserved its Constitution and secured its independence. He cont e n ded, t h e mode adopted by Ministers, of Loans, by way of Exchequer Bills, was a preferable policy to the ordinary mode of Loans, and which the state of the Funds at the time would clearly evince. He acknowledged hitnsell unable to conceive, from the statements of the Noble Lail, how the Restrietion could produce the unfavourable state of the Ex. change ; but of this he was certain, that if any error was in the case, it was preferable to err at the secure, than at the hazardous side of the question. Lard AUC KL AND followed on the same side; he observed that the leading position of the Noble Lords who opposed the Bill, namely, that it was a strong interference with private property, and the rights of individual, was clearly erroneous; indeed the assertion could proceed only from their being misinformed as to the real state of the case, namely, the the Bank property teas in its nature, founded in Parliamentary grants, and was at -all times sub. jeta to Parliamentary interference ; this, however, was'deemed by those most conversant in the sub jeft, to be its best security. 'lt vas absurd in the highest .. .degree to suppose that the . Bank could have • guineas:equal to the auiourit of the Notes in circula tion. The Bill was originally calculated to prevent the injurious efFeCts which too.great a run upon the • Banlcwould have cyan to individuals ; for the practice would be, first come first served -- so, that when all was out, the later applicants would not find a guinea. The Bill, however, prevented that calamity, and in effeet, dealt out an equal measure of justice to all. The question now, was not whether a RestriCtion should be laid on, but whether an old regulation should continue a little longer. The effeas of a con trary line of conduEt must he obvious to all ; it would tend to convulse the whole commerce of the Country, and be produßive of a variety of minor ill consequences. The Noble Lord here entered into some counter calculations, to do away the positions of the Noble Lords opposite to him, and he enumerated the heavy drains of specie from this Country of late years, particularly for Corn, and on account of the remittances during the War. Those,, in the course of four years-only, he stated to amount to forty-eight millions. He enter ed into a general view of the financial system of the Country, its Net Revenues, Expenditure, and the amount of its Peace Establishment at different pe. • riods, and contended, that the ,Resources of the Country were amply abundant • far all its needs and exigencies; that there was no doubt what ever, provided the Peace continued, (which Mini sters were determined to preserve as long as they could, consistently with the honour and the essen. tial interests of the Country), of these arriving ;,t a state of. unexampled prosperity, and through the • medium of economy to yield a considerable surplus, after meeting all the expences of the Country. Lord GRENVILLE expressed his satisfaction, as conceiving by what fell from the Noble Lord, that the Financial situation and circumstances of the Country should, on a future day, undergo a full and ample discussion, He thought it was the bounden - duty of Parliament to look the 'real situation of the Country in those respeels full in the face, to chew that' situation to the Country, and boldly and manfully to meet it ;. which,. he. was of opinion, could best, if not solely be done, by raising the Revenue, so as fUliy to meet the Expenditure : the Resources of the Country were abundant, and it had claims upon Parliament, that chose resources should be called forth.' Lords Mot RA, KING, PELHAM, and AUCK LAND spoke severally in explanation ; Lord KING particularly adverted to the unfavourable state of the Exchange with• Dublin, in which capital a Guinea Bank Note and a shilling was given for one English guinea. This Lord PELHAM, as we could hear him, seemed to attribute in some degree to the condu6l of the Bank of Ireland. The Marquis cf SLIGO. thought it was rather owing to the conduit of the Country Banks in Ireland, and which tended to depreciate the value of paper currency. Lord SIIEFPIELD said, he had not heard any argument which, in his opinion, could justify the risk of abandoning the Bank Restrittion, at a crisis such as the present ; nor had he heard any well. founded suggestion that mischief or inconvenience could arise from the continuance' of it at this time. lie conceived that neither the expediency of the original measure, nor the state of the Finances of the Country, were the question before their Lord. ships. The difficulty and delicacy of removing the Restriction were foreseen at the time of imposing it ; and as the difficulty, in consequence of the pre sent very precarious state of Europe, is still greater than was expeded, it cannot be thought prudent to haiard the relinquishment of the Restriction just now, without some obvious necessity, or perhaps, till there is an influx of specie or bullion into this Country, an event not improbable, which might enable us to remove the Restriction with safety.— Commercial intercourse, in general, is greatly de ranged. We can draw no conclusions from any ex. perience hithCieto had, for there is no analogy be tween the present state of things, and that of former times. We all regret that the necessity of Restric tion ever arose, but even admitting some discredit may have taken place in consequence of the Restric tion, it will not be increased by the continuance of it until a more favourable period ; but, on the contrary, the disgrace of the whole measure may be avoided ; at least, we have the satisfaction of know ing that no real mischief or inconvenience Intl arisen from it. Notwithstanding all that had been asserted, he insisted that Paper Money has not been depre ciated, nor has Coin bore a premium in this Kingdom; which he conceived to be the true criterion by which we should judge of the matter ; for, when Paper Money is not depreciated, we know there is not too great an emission of that kind of currency ; and he was disposed to consider a judicious increased issue of it as very advantageous, inasmuch as it enabled us better to carry on the great commercial transadions of this Country ; and if the event has helped to prove that immense quantities of gold coin in. circulation, arc not absolutely necessary, this measure which we now regret, may in some degree become serviceable, by preve n ti ng , hereafter, unfounded apprehension anti alarm on such a subject. Scotland has improved, in every shape, with scarce any coin, and has been greatly benefited by a plen. dila issue of Paper Money, and we find that great quantities of coin or bullion give little public credit to France or Spain, and consequently it may be in ferred that Coin has little to do with Public Credit; and in truth, the necessity of having immense quan. cities of gold and silver in an unproductive state, in those two Countries, arose from the want of Public Credit. Holland, when she flourished most, depend. ed almost entirely on her Bank; and Countries truly commercial, such as England and Holland, could not have carried on their extensive trade by any other means, 4 very great proportion of the wealth of England would be in an nproduCtive state if it were necessary to have a coin currency for all its com. metcial transactions, and without a plentitid issue of Paper Currency, we could carry on but a very small part of our present trade. He said, he scarce ly comprehended the suggestion, that the ur.favour_ able Exchange against this Country took place in; consequence of the Batik Restrinion. It did not take place immediately on the adoption of thituura, 6 t u h re ere has ev beenseinnce heart tite agreat change has latterly become much mo re favourable i e n , ilu during ofg a old c , er l t n a ti in t p h z e ri E t, during the existence of the Restriaion. lie ob. served, it was perfeEtly easy to account for the u n. favourable Exchange, by the great remittances to the Continent ; and, more especially, in return for the is importation of Grain, the value of which, if estimated according to the price at the British Market, would amount to upwards of twenty-four millions in little more than two years ; or, on au average of ten years, we have imported of foreign corn, which we might have raised at home, to the value . of at least four millions yearly, not fa r short of the ordinary real' balance of trade in our favour, As the importation of foreign corn diminish e d , the Course of Exchange became proportionably mote favourable to us. It therefore seemed reason able to suppose that the immense payments for foreign corn consumed more than the balance of trade in our favour ; and it may be observed that the payments, for a very extraordinary importation of corn, in consequence of the scarcity of 1796, drained this Country so much, as to become a principal cause of the Restrietion Aft, in the Spring of 1797. S o that instead of imputing the unfavourable Exchange to the Restrklion At, we must place it to its pro per account, our own neglea and bad policy.. We stiffer quibbling objeilions to prevent a general inclosure and cultivation of the Waste Lands, and we negled to remove the great discouragements to tillage. We do not give ourselves the trouble to examine our Corn Laws, which have been altered much for the worse Ivithin the last thirty years. He concluded by saying he wished it were in his power to do justice to this important subjed. His objett hhould be to remove prejudices arising from un founded theories, and to relieve the Public Mind from apprehensions equally unfounded ; and on this occasion, to skew that no inconvenience or disad topv)ufoattstihtiatebhggiaeytelcsatonruilad4inoptniomsoseniihyßlyaannkarise abrupt al t r e o i n t f t so l c i e ro nt c it o l iennituiiranenusceaern,, present it, would be an unnece s s ar y ex p er i me nt, and very the Bill was read 3 second time; and ordered to be committed to a Con': mince of the whole House on ThUrsday, to' which day their Lordships adjourned. HoUsE OP COMMONS. TURSDAY, FED. ;2. THE SPEAKER lOOk the Chair at three O'clock. Lord E USTON brought up a Report from the Com.: mittec appointed to try the Petition respeding the Elealon for Dunfermlin, that the Right Hon. Is4AO CORRY being unable to attend, the Committee was adjourned until ten o'clock to-morrow. Mr. Buck ley, an Apothecary, attended and said, that Mr, CORRY was coo ill to attend. A. person presented an. Account from thei sritish Museum, which was ordered to lie on the Table. Several Members were sworn in and took theif seats. Sir Me,ttetre Fordrts brought up a Report frog's the Selea Committee appointed to try the rflerigq . of the Barnstaple Eledion, complaining of the none attendance of W;es,;AMßALow:rr, Esq. and PAX ATKINS. Mr. Burro's Bill, for ereding a New Pooteb" sc in the Parish of Sr. Pancras, was read a first time • attention of the House to a su l l i,•6t, Lard EUSTON - said, he begged leave to cal l the _ w h ere i n every individual was Concerned, a, subjea of the Ott o ; importance to them and the N at io n at large, natters,the discovery of a Plot, designed by Traitors who had been punished ju st ly Or an offence of the greatest magnitude. A n o ff ence aiming at the de strudion of our happy C o n st i tut ion, with all i ts . attendant blessings, its religion, morality and i r v , which arc the boasted r i g h ts o f B r i ton s, bat wh i ch might have been for ever annihilated had not rrov i. dence, and the vigilance of public Officers, brought to light the wicked machinations of men lose to all U l ' 3 , s grand principles o f re ligi on , vi r t u e, a n d lionouroe 4 ." l out which men are unworthy of existence. He F. 3 " 1 4 he could pidure to himself, the horror and devast 3 - don these deluded people might have given birth to, aided by others equally deluded, had their plot been carried into execution. The result would have been a total extinction of those Governors by whom the People are rendered safe and happy ; and power and office would be a ssume d by men not far removed from savages ; me n i nto xicated with their transient power and importance, but who would have been hurried down that stream of blood their own wickedness had been the cause of. Englishmen knew. too well the circa these dreadful plots had produced in other Countries ; examples were too numerous and direful for a single honest man to sandion the encouragement of them in this Coun try. The Conspiracies which have been attempted to be brought about in this Country, carried the alluring but specious names of Philosophy, Reform. and Liberty —names, of late, in the mouths of the very worst charaders in the Country, who us 7 these high-sounding and pleasing terms, toO t l i c on crimes of the blackest die, namely, the dest,s 32 ,i e , of every honest man, and every virtuous Pr u ', gi r„, ) But he sincerely hoped his Countrymen ha d through this false philosophy, which the wicke d had so industriously disseminated for the destruCtion of all established power, anti did not doubt but the Country would use their aggregate power to prated, and support thei r M onarc h, his Govern ment and Laws, from th e mac hi nat i on of Traitor s ' Had this late dreadful Con s pi rac y b ee n carried in to area against the life of our S over eign, who is beloved by all ranks of society, for those virtu es which grace his Crown, and diffuse happiness throug h every corner of his nited Kingdom, Englishm en would have had to lament t h e loss of one of th e greatest ornaments that ever filled the Throne o f Britain. He now felt a happiness which language was too feeble to describe; but he would express his utmost pleasure that our Monarch still reigne d King of a Free People, and lived in their hearts as one to whom they looked for proreaion, and of whom they received all the blessings they now enjoy. It was, therefore, time for the House to approach the Throne, and express its attachtnent to our Sovereign, as an example to future ages. He would therefore move, " That an humble Address be presented to Ills Majesty, uthuind to git NiAleitY our must heart-felt congratulations