The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1826-03-11 00:00:00

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chequer bills; -and he must the afore consider them to be ve_er
dangerous species of paper in the ik.eket. The Bank of England
had also advanced 5,5010001. on account of the 7,1100,0001. receive
able in January; so t hut there were 30,000,0001. in July, 20.000.01 W.
in October, and 7,000,0004 in January. all of which sums might
have been received. He would ask the Right Hon. Gentleman
(the Chancellor of the Exchequer) what would have been the con,
sequence, if the 5.51)0.0001. had not been advanced by the Bank op
what are called deficiency.bills? Why, that he must have gone to
the Bank and got an advance on Exchequer bills. Suppose the
Bank had said that the exchange had come against England, arid
therefore they could not do so, Government would have besot cow,
pelled to have said you shall have your restriction; below On alts
vidends could not be paid unless the Bank came forwarrli $.2 elre
exchange should unfortunately go against England, eared! AI frt_
evitably be the cute; and therefiwe, while bills were recety*
_to
revenue, the country was always in a state of danger: He Me..
Moberly) would suppose that the Bank had not been able to as
come in, and there had been any political difficulty. although the
Right Hon. Gentleman (the Chancellor of the Exchequer) had
brought the bills to par, what then would have been the conaa.
quence ? Suppose the Russian army should march, how yep
the Right lion. Gentleman deal with the unfunded debt, if the
exchange should be unfavourable to England ? Ihe who*: matter
moved upon a pivot, and that pivot was the course of exchange.
and upon that ground lie must contend that it was a dangerous
issue. The House had been told that it was a cheap mode. luit he
denied that such was the case. The creditor could call for lei;
principal at any time he pleased, and they had called when Govern.
went had it not i 0 their power to pay. lie did not mean toss/01qt
the Right Hon. Otsitteman (the Chancellor of the Lech/quite)
should bring his articles fur sale alien they were a,. the lowetot car
Ono lie should purchase when they were at the highest price :. that
was a mattered discretien. But the Right Hon. Gentleman had tat
a fqvourable opportunity pass by for effecting his object when the
Fends were front 80 to 95, by winch lie had lost trims six to eight
aliiiiceis of capital, although She interest, 300.9004 iad been
volvelltrtt.erefore there was on benefit A-salting from ills ;import.
ht regard to the debt of 311.04.10.11u4U., although some bills had
paid oif, yet the Right Hon. Gentleman had plenty more to issuo.
It appeared that Matted of applying the Sinking Fund in discharge
of the funded, it ought to have been applied to the discharge of the
unfunded debt ; Isere had been also a large sum paid to the Bank
in discharge of the Four and Five per Cent... and it dial appear to
hint (Mr. Baring) that the Right lion. Gentleman (the Cuaneellgr
of the Exchequers had not conducted the transaction benellViaPY
to the country. Ile had not been wise in holding !o large a portion
of the debt. The Right Hon. Gentleman himself had stated that
it was not expedient to carry it beyond certain limits. It au glu be
that he might say that those limits had arrived, but be (M r. Mt.
berly) would say the Right lion. Gentleman had gone beyond the
limits, which was apparent from the neeesaity of applying to cite
Bank to get hint out of the difficulty. [rime those groundvite cop.
sitlered it necessary to move a resolution * regarded 14e Mt
-
funded t ebt ; but before doing so he should prtieeid 0 the
other branch of his subject. He considered it aecepaary to
state that a considerable error had arisen in respell' to lhe.public
debt. It was well known thats measure had boon introduced into
that House respecting what was called the dead weight. A Noble
Lord came down to the House in 1822, and said that the country
could not be saved unless it had a sinking fund of 5,000,0004 ;
and it wits very important to show bow the Mouse had been Mi.
posed upon. The Noble Lord found that certain Members ex.
peeled a reduction in malt of two million': and what did he do
lie came down to the House fourteen day* afterwards, having
consented to the two millions reduction in the Malt Tax, and pro.
posed the dead-weight measure, via. the granting of an annuity of
2,800,0001. for 45 years, the value of which was now 74,G32,000/. ;
and this was done in fourteen days after he had said that a
Sinking Fund of five millions was necessary for the safety of the
country. Ile (Mr. Alaberly) could not but consider that tkte con.
tracting of ouch a debt was a violation of every principle of justice.
He perfectly recollected that the House divided no less than twelve
times um that measure; and his Hun. and lamented Friend We
Member for Portarling,ton, now no more (Mr. Ricardo), never left
the House without dividing against it. When this new description
of debt was advertised no person would contract for it ; and bis
Majesty's 3liuisters being in a dilemma, the Bank came in, end
brought up so much of it as went up to the year 1820. It would
be said the Btu* might sell what they had so purchased ; but
if they did so the country would take the alarm ; and he was con-
vinced the Bank could not sell. The Bank were overloaded with
eccurities of every description, and it was highly improper to have
loaded them with the dead-weight debt also. The B.utk ehould
never have been subjected to such an inconvertible debt; be-
cause if the exchange should come against En land, then the Bank
could not bring inconvertible effects in aid of their present mots.
As to the 5.300,41001. advanced on deficiency bills, it would he
said that a great part was paid ; but if such was the cue, %till the
Right Hon. Gentleman had more ready to issue. Three filions
bad been issued to pay off denciencies, and two millionatuoter to
get Exchequer bills up to par ; making a sum of 2S„(89,000/. in
all, of which sum the Bank were in advance 29 ntiqaos. The
Rank of England not having enough of inconvertible securities,
then chose to take another, which was that of mortgage. They
advanced 1.400,0001. ; and he (Mr. 3laberly) did not Nee how the
Batik could disengage itself; indeed there was but one way. and
that was by funding largely in Exchequer bills. If the Hank
wished to sell Exchequer bills or the dead-weight, it would not be
convertible in time to save the credit of the Bank; and the hest
way would be at once to disengage the Bank by putting at once
an end to the Act of Parliament which originated such a dangerous
mode of raising money. The Honourable Gentleman but said
that he had to complain of the way in which accounts were
I rendered to that House. He did not mean to charge the
Government with intentional error, but the account of the pub.
lic debt as rendered to Parliament was deficient in amount, for in
point of fact the debt was above 1.000,0001. more than Grovemment
haul stated it. They had valued the debt of the various funds, but
had neglected to put any value on the long life annuities, or on the
dead weight. The whole of those valued In capital was 1,108,0010/.
more than there had been returned, and if such was the case, that
of the interest ras equally erroneous. By the paper ihich he (Mr.
Mabetly) held in his band, which he believed was then printing,
and would shortly be before the House, it appeared that the debt,
not OD his chewing, but on that of Mr. Finlayson, the accountant,
[ and Mr. Uyam, was 61.846,83G1. more than it was on the Sth -Tan.
1819, calculating the annuity charge at seven millions, there were
also the dissentients on the four and five per cent,. not paid. Then
as to the Life and Long Annuities, for which the annuity of
2,800,0001. was paid, could the House consent to have dust throwu
in its eyes any longer on that subject—could they consent to be
blinded in the present state of the country. How was it possil.:e
the country could get out of debt if it was to be so loaded by sti.n
an accumulation, which accumulation was wholly contrary to pm:.
ciple. There remained a large part of the dead weight yet to tell,
but who did the Right Honourable Gentleman the Chancellor of
the Exchequer suppose would purchase it ? He (Mr. Meberly)
thought he saw a smile upon the face of an Honourable Bank Ili.
rector opposite, as much as to say they would have nothing to do
with it, whether the South Sea Company would he did not Imow.
He believed that the Right Honourable Gentleman, the Chancel.
for of the Exchequer, had never been very strenuous tor the in*.
sure, and he would &Avise him, for he begged to *sure him that
he did not wish to embarrass him, to say that he would do haat,
with the Act of Parliament, and act fairly tnil honourably by the
House; he hoped he would say he never would propose such a
Immure, and at once clear himself from the embarrsesments under
which he laboured, for it was the wont coerce a Governinent cintid
Ilttrtee to fetter itself with motley ceace-tni. 11. (Mr. Miqiecy

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