The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1803-02-23 00:00:00

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-apetled to be made on Chenille oTEnglan3, which
-might have embarrassed the Bank, and drained 4t
.4 the greatest part of its gold, to the manifest in-
convenience of tire commerce of the country. His
Majesty's Government therefore, among whom his
Noble Friend opposite to him (Lord Grenville) was
a distinguished member, with equal prudence and
policy called upon the Legikature, and recom-
mended it to Parliament to interpose its authority,
and 'restrain the Bank from JPayments in specie.—
The .measure proved to be as wise and salutary in
aired, as.could be hoped for or expeded. It enabled
Ministers to preserve the greatness of the country,
and to secure to us the full enjoyment of all the
'blessings of our most happy Constitution, amidst
'the wreck of surrounding nations. It was
'by such means that the Ministers of that day
were. enabled to place the British Empire on the
rock on which it at present stands, and on that
'lofty situation which, at all hazards, it must main-
min. So fat, his Lordship said, from considering
the fluctuation of the .course of Exchanges as an
omen that our commerce was not in that proud
-condition, of which we had so much reason to
'boast, he regarded it as an indubitable test of our
-encreasing prosperity ; and the truth was, that the
Course of Exchange at Hamburgh had, as his
Noble Friend (Lord PELK An) had said, been turn-
.ing in our favour for.some time past, having fallen
from seven and half to two and half, and this, it was
to be observed, had taken .place under the operation
pf the Bill. He should, therefore,-think it eurnost rash
, and ill-advised step, were Parliament to give way,
.and prematurely forbear to continue an Ad which
'had been productive of the most benefiCial conse-
•quence to our commerce, our prosperity, and our
-security. His Lordship added several more gene-
, raLre4sons, in support of the Motion, that the Bill
* 'be read a second time.
Lord AUCKLAND entered very deeply into the
Mature of the question then under discussion, and
said, that sa far was he from thinking that a very
strong case ought to be made out, as the Noble
Lords opposite to him had contended (Lord Raw-
'don and Lord King),before Parliament consented
to suffer the Bill to be again continued, he we.; con-
fident diet the matter ought to be looked at in a very
.diirerent point of view, and that an extremely strong
.case indeed was requisite to be shewn, in order to
persuade the House to forbear to continue.a mea-
sure of the utmost importance to the preservation
and security of the most essential interests of the
.country. The Noble Lord had said, that the Bill was
a most severe violation .of the property of indivi-
duals, and a direl and dating breach of a solemn
.compaa between the Bank and its customers. In
'both instances the Noble Lord was utterly mistaken.
So far from its being a violation of the property of
individuals, it was a measure calculated to proted
their property.; and it was no breach of a solemn
contrail, because, in reality, the Bill did support the
riches of the Bank. Since on what did its very ex-
istence depend ? On a Charter granted by the Le-
gislature, and subjed to the controul, revision, and
restridion of Parliament, whenever it saw occasion to
interpose its authority respelling it. As to the specific
case that the Noble Lord had put of an individual de-
positing his cash in the Bank, and recovering nothing
but a piece cif paper, called a bank-note, for it, it was
visionary and inapplicable. No man expeded
it; and besides it was not to save one individual
only from inconvenience, but to proted the pro-
perty of all who were interested in the solvency of
:the Bank, that Parliament had passed and continued
the Bill, and were now about to continue it still
further. If the reasoning. were sound, that the
Bank ought to pay all their customers in cash or
:guineas, the whole wealth of the country would not
!be equal to the supply of gold and bullion that
would be nea.asary io support the issue of rash at
-the Bank. It was clearly impradicable, and that
severy noble Lord in that House, and every rational.
Being in the kingdom, must see and feel. He had,
his Lordship said, in a former debate, declared,
that his support of the Bill stood on very different
,grounds, than any consideration as to the fitidua-
tion of the Course of Exchange; nor could it be al-
tered or diminished by establishing the fad ever so
strongly, that the Course of Exchange was or was
:not against us. No, he looked at the Bill in its true
.point of view—that point of view in which
.alone it onglit to be considered : not as a
measure originating in any application from the
Bank Diredors, nor as any compromise between
them and his Majesty's Ministers, founded on mu-
:tual convenience and accommodation, but as a
measure founded in State Policy, a pure measure of
.Government, a measure which became their vigi-
lancet.° bring forward, and recommend to Parini-
anent. It was their bounden duty to superintend
all the essential interests of the Empire ; and what
would better become them than to keel, a wary eye
upon public credit, and to take care to guard it
with every possible precaution, since our all might
.be said to depend on its being duly proteded and
preserved ? The Bill was to be supported'on the
consideration of two great and important points
.of consideration.; the first of which wag, the po-
litical circumstances of the country, and the
political circircumstances of other countries. It
-was upon the consideration of these political cir-
.cumstances, that the necessity, the expediency,
'the policy and fitness of the Bill depended.—
We were at present in a state of peace, and we
.ought to use everypossible care to render it as last-.
•ing and permanent .as .Passible. We saw the sur-
.rounding State anxious to effect this same object,
and cautiously endeavouring to avoid exciting jea-
lousy and suspicion on our ,part by any wanton
-exercise of alarming power, by any rash attempt
4rit aggrandisement, or any measure that had the
:least probable tendency to alarm or otfead other
-powers. -Indeed, Ave well know, that it was
:as much the interest of Foreign Countries to
.do every thing predicable to continue to preserve
the tranquillity of • which we were at present in the
.:fall enjoyment, and during which so many essential
snattets of revenue could -be considered and carried
into execution. Itut nithoughall this Were exaaly
.as he had stated nO man could say how soon
some unforescen event might occur, and put an end
to the state of Peace. Every manofpolitical sagacity,
vaeary individual •wlws thought at all, Mint.
-that ourattation was new aeleast, and from a view
.of' the ;political circtunsiences of the .times, both in
,ejimonatiy stetahroad, every individual must feel,
wasinew, so likewise 'mask more
weritreal, tarr,a pethaps more alarming,aad ',posed to
and im titre any shoo-
_
IV ItbteostowybsP"ahaliwwjedforeenturisse
it.thesase wise or
,

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prudent, to fur:bear the eeertumbf everyprecaugoe •
that poiitical' safety could be secured by i It would
be a rash, a criminal condo& in any Government to
negle& putting all the interests of the State•in every
possible state of protection and defence. This Bill
had already and notoriously saved the credit of the
Bank. Its solidity and solvency were strialyexa-
mined into by, the Committees of boat Houses, in
1797. He had the honour of sitting in the Commit- .
tee of that House. and every possible examination
was made in the Committee to probe the situation
of Bank to the bottom, in order to satisfy the
public, and all Europe, whether the Bank was sol-
vent and capable of paying off every demand that
iould be made upon it. The result of that in-
vestigation, he was persuaded, was, that the high
opinion entertained, both at home and abroad,
of the stability of the Bank was increased, and
that considerably. It was proved. beyond all
question, that after the Bank should have satisfied
every claimant, they would have assets remain to
the amount of many millions, exclusive of the debt
which Government owed the Bank of four millions
and a half. Having thus discussed the .ituation
of the Bank, and pointed •out the true ',point
of view in which the Bill then Under discus-
sion .ought to be considered; his Lordship
took notice of what had fallen from Lord Kw o,
relative to the conduct of the Bank of Ireland. He
said, the House would not wonder that he should
feel a sort of parental care respectin4 that establish-
ment, as it was instituted under his auspices; he
had the honour to draw the Bill to authorize the
establishment of the Bank of Ireland, to propose it
to the Parliament of that kingdom, and to conduct
it through its various stages, till it received the
Royal Assent. lie was persuaded, that no impu-
tation could .fairly be cast on the conduct of its
directors ; and he .could ,not help saying to the
Noble Lord, that he ought, at 'least, to have made
himself master of factslefore he presumed, in that
public manner, to cast a slur on a truly respectable
national institution. His 'Lordship next proceeded
to examine the arguments of Lord ilawooN, and
to answer his various observations on the statements
contained in the paper, in the printed "Account of
the sums paid into, and the charges upon the Con-
solidated Fund, between the sth day of January
1802, and the sth of January 1803, inclusive ; dis-
tinguishing the several quarters," which he handled
with great adroitness, and proved, that the'Noblc
Lord had himself fallen into the error which he had
ascribed to the statement in the paper. His Lordship
abo ward* upon the financial remarks of the same
Noble Lord, and said he meant, at some future day
of the Session, to move for such papers as were
most likely to inform and assist in the-discussion of
various views of the real and ,bass file state of
our finances, resources, and frevennes. lie said
he was convinced, that the triumphant account
of our finances, said to .have been stated from
high authority in another House of Parliament,
so far from having been over-rated, as the
Noble Lord opposite to him had supposed, was in
fact much under-rated. His Lordship said, that
even now, when we had rather a Warr than.a Peace
Establishment, our resourses were equal to the full
support of our expenditure. Most undoubtedly no
man could reasonably expect, that, under the singu-
lar and novel political circumstances of the c
the time would very shortly arrive, when wractld
with safety go back to our old reduced Peace Estab-
lishment ; but Ave had a ,right to expect, th'tt we
should sooner or later be atae very considerably to
reduce our proem Establishment, and he had no .
doubt that the resources of the country would con-
tinue to prosper and increase to astill larger extent,
and then we should be able to make our resources
exceed our expenditure, in a still greater 'degree:
than it did at present. His Lordship enteredanto a
minute detail of the former, which he calculated at -
thirty-four millions, out f which we had to pay
only so much as would leave nine millions surplus
of reserve over our expenditure. He held up .this
flattering picture of our prosperity, in the most ad-
vantageous point of view ; and, after dilating upon ,
it a considerable time, he concluded his speech
with giving his hearty and decided suppcirt to the
motion for the second reading of the Bill.

Lord GRENVILLE said, he had net come down
with any intention of saying a word upon the Bill,
and, indeed, particular considerations, which were
lodged in his mind, would restrain him from utter-
ing a word, either for or against the Bill now under
discussion. What he rose for was, to make a few
remarks on the sort of notice which the Noble
Lord, who had just sat down, had taken occasion to
give in the latter part of his speech, touching the
finance of the country. He rejoiced that the noble
Lord meant to move ter certain papers, and to bring
forward a discussion on the resources of the coup- ,
try. No man could do it more ably than the No-;
ble Lord ; and it gave him the highest satisfaaion
to hear, that Government were determined to look
the real situation of the country in the face. But he
trusted they would not place any reliance on the'
expeaatinns held out by the Noble Lord, as to what
the produce of cur Revenue would be at a future;
time, and under future circumstances, the speedy or
possible existence of which, at any time, no man ,
was sanguine enough to hope fur, or to expel. He'
trusted,nhat Ministers would examine what waspre-
cisely our present situation in point of finance, and:
would zealou:ly an ardently endeavour to increase
our resources equal to our expenditurzi not as either
one or the other would be at a future time, but as
they both aaually toed comparatively at •the pre-
sent moment. Let Members of both Houses, or
.men without doors differ as much as they would
upon political sublets, sure he was that there was
not a refleaing man in the country, who would not
applaud such an inquiry, and such an effort was
the wisest, the most laudable, and the most
patriotic that could bc.entered upon. He for one
would, most sincerely, and with the utmost anxi-
ety join in such an inquiry, and in forwarding
such measures as should seem best calculated to
improve and increase our resources, because he
was deeply convinced that by such manly measures
alone that the country could le, saved from the
imminent dangers to -which it stood 'exposed. Ills
Lordship said, he begged pardon for tite irregula-
rity of rising, and not saying one word that bore.
the smallest relation to the Bill under discussion,.
but disorderly as he had been, he could not hear the .
notice of the Pioble'Lord relative to certain papers.
-on the alibied of Finance, without risingto make the
few observations -that Jiadfallen from- him, and to
hope that his Majesty's Ministers were in earnest,
'aid that they senonsly meant to reitchir.sheir coun-
try OW importasit service which must :Malt from

, .
looking the dangers•of our situation in the face, .1
and making adequattexertions to secure the nation
from those dangers. It was by such conduit
alone, that'the system df Finance resorted to by Go-
vernment, when he had the honour to be a Mem-
ber of Administration, and which the Noble Lord
had .been "leased to praise highly, could be given
permanency to, and rendered in its fullest extent
useful to the country.
Lord RAWDON (Earl of Moira') rose to explain '
a part of his speech, which, his Lordship said, the
noble Lord had placed in 'such a point of view, as
to make the very reverse of what he meant, when
he stated it. His Lordship then went over his own
statement again, and said, he also differed with the
noble Lord as to the amount of the surplus that
there would be, if the statement of Resources and
Expenditure of the Noble Lord should be found to
be true. The Noble Lord had made an error in his
calculation of one million, far instead of nine., there
would be only eight millions surplus. Ile was pro.
ceeding to speak to other topics, when
The LORD CHANCELLOR reminded him, .
that what he was 'going into was not explanation.
Lord KING defended what he had said about the
Bank Notes of Ireland being at considerable dis-
count, and insisted that the fact was notoriously
so, and that guineas in Dublin were bought at a pre-
mium, with Irish Bank Notes. In Belfast, he said,
the Irish Bank paper would not be received.
The Marquis of SLIGO said, it was true that
the Notes of many of the private Banks in Irelard
were at discount, bdt.not the Notes of the National
Bank of Ireland.
Lord SHEFFIELD entered into a variety of
shrewd observations on the mistake that some of their
Lordships fell into respeaing•many great inconven-
iences.resulting from the Itestriaion of the Bankfrom
making their payments in cash. He desired their '
Lordship to look to the great increase of prosperity,
commerce, &c. in Scotland,; a part of the kingdom
in.which there was scarcely any cash in circulation.
Holland, like Great Britain, was a commercial coun-
try, and in commercial countries trade could not be
supported but by paper. France, and the rest of the
Continent had plenty of trillion and cash, but had
they been able to 'make any commercial efforts with
it ? The fault, he said, lay in our management. We
ought to revise our corn laws. They had been grow-
ing worse for these ten years past.
The question was carried for the second reading
of the Bill; which was instantly done.; and at Eight
o'clock the House adjourned to Thursday next.

HOUSE OF COMMONS.
TUESDAY, Fib. 22.

Lord EUSTON brought up a Report from the
Committee appointed to try undue eledions for
Dumfermline and Sterling, which met this morning;
but, on account of the-absence of the Right Honour-
able Isaac Corry, the Committee adjourned until .
ten o'c.iock to-morrow morning.
On the motion of Lord EUSTON, ?dr. Buck-
ley, the apothecary who attended the Right Hon.
Isaac Corry, was called to the Bar of the House.
He informed the House, that the Right Hon. Mem-
ber was not able to attend his duty with safety
to his health. .His Lordship then moved, that the
Right Hon. Isaac Corry be therefore excused for
his non-attendance upon th,. Committee this.morn-
ing, and also from an/ furth •r attendance upon it—
Upon the question being 1 ut by the Speaker, it was
carried in the affirmative. _ _

Dr. GILA, attended at the Bar of the House,
and presentad the Accounts of the Trustees of the
the. British Museum ; which were ordered to lie on
the Table.

ADDRESS TO HIS &lAJF.STY.

lord EUSTON rose to .congratulate the nation :
upon the escape which it had just had, from one of
the most daring and foul conspiracies which ever
was conceived by the most nefarious men.—From
certain occurrences, which •had lately taken.place, '
we had seen the developement of a plot., aiming at .
nothing short of a subversion of one of the hap-
piest and soundest Constitutions whiCh this globe
ever witnessed. (General cry of Hear! Hear!) He
would ask, whether there was a man within these
walls, who did not hold every man who would
snake an attack upon the constitution of this
country, in perfeet abhorrence, and whether he
would not immediately cry out for justice—he had
almost said vengeance, against the insidious plotter,
and the miserable deluded wretches who would abet
such a scheme ?.We have had proofs of a most dark,
settled, determined .conspiracy against the life of a
Sovereign, whose .virtues so far exceed any com-
mendation.of.his, as they were deeply engraven on
his heart. A cry of, Hear ! karl) Placing therefore
a just value upon blessings which we possessed, and
which we could not sufficiently appreciate ; upon
the blessings of aGovernment, administered with that
steady hand of justice, of which there is no other ex-
ample, let us address our. Sovereign, in terms which
our own kelingswill best diollate,evressivenf ourgra-
titude for the preservation of his life. [An unanimous
cry of",llear.! bear Pl. The Hon. Member pro-
ceeded to move, that an humble Address he pre-
sented to his Majesty, to offer him the .heartii:lc.
congratulation of the House, upon the detea;on
and failure of the late most atrocious conspiracy
against his Majesty's life and governmeat ; which
-conspiracy afforded the most ample prvaf of resist-
ance being intended against the regular constituted
authority of the country, and die -happiness of the
subjetcl; to assure his Majesty of the perfect and
loyal attachment of his Marsty's stihj,:cts, in Great
Britain and Ireland, to his person ; and of their
fixed determination to support their present glorious
Constituticu, and transmit it, unimpaired, to their
.posterity.
Lord BOYLE seconded the motion in a short
speech, wherein he expressed his hopes that .the late
conspiracy may be the expiring efforkof a desperate
faction, and 'that the peace of is Majesty's subjects
may be no more interrupted by like attempts. lie
ended with a wish, that our g.O aus Constitution
may outlast its enemies, ,a i . s .Majesty's reign
long continue.
The Motion being put, wa.s c r ied nem. con. and
Lord Euston, Lora • Boyle, the Chancellor of the
Exchequer, Lord Hawkesbury, the Attorney-Ge-
neral, Solicitor-General, Master of the. Rolls, and Se-
cretary at War, were, with ,other Membevs, ap-
pointed a Committee to prepare the Addict
Mr. GEORGE VANSFITA (T r. t, that
the Order of the I lause of yesterday, foi c Iv
.4r
the 'names of absentees, and taki th,
tody by the Serjtsmt,. at Mini, do /,. • x' ts'
such Members:as may be tarving upon Oelett.

,~ _....'

nAttees for trying .contested Various. This Ml-
` ion was carried in the affirmative.
Mr. LKE moved for leave to bring in a Bill for
rendering the Process,of the Courts of King's-Bench,
Common► Pleas, and Exchequer in Ireland, more
beneficial ; and prevent private and vexatious Ar-
rests ; also -to repel certain Afts passed in the
21st and 22d years of his present Majesty, by the
Irish Parliament.

The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER
said, he had no right to objeft to the Motion of
his Hon. Friend, the purpose of which was to as-
similate the process of the Courts of Ireland, as
nearly as possible .to those In England. 'He said.
that upon a former arrangement, all those Patentee,
who came within the scope of it, and were to be
dispossessed by it, were made a proper connpensatiou.
He Mt perfedly well assured that the House, urn,
this as well as upon every other occasion which
should present itself before 'it, would endeavour to
do stria justice, and piovide a compensation fir
such officers as held patent places, and should be
dispossessed of them by the proposed alteration.
He alluded •in particular to a Right lion. Friend of
his, one of the Secretaries of state ; not but there
were many others who would ewerience a loss of
their patent places equally with him ; but the
House must recollect, that the Nohle Lord, ty
whom he alluded, had given up 20001. a yeas
for this very place of which he might 'be now dis-
possessed. '!•bis instance of sell-denial in the
Noble Lord, he had •no doubt would dispose the

House to do him that justice, which, upon a past
occasion, other patentees had experienced. The
Bill might, in its progress through a Committee of
Supply, receive that shape .which would prevent
any injustice being done to the. patentees ; and he
therefore expressed his wish that the Bill might act
be suffered to go out of the House before care was
taken to that effect. He added, that there might be
some few in the liouse who might object ; but he
wds well assured, that the generality were of the
same opinion with himself.
Mr. LEE rose .to explain. He said, that •the
House would recollect, that any compensation
which the House should be inclined to make, could

be only during the life of the patentee, but the be-
nefit arising to the nation from the alteration would
be ,perpetual. "'his he, thought would be ample in-
ducement to the House to grant a compensation•to
those patentees who should be dispossesed by it.
Leave was given .to bring in a Bill accordingly.
The-SECRETARY at WAR moved the Order
of the Day, that the House do resolve itself into a Corn.
mittee of the whole, and that the Mutiny Bill be read.

Read accordingly. After which the Secretary at
War again rose, and said, that he meant to propose
certain amendments in the Bill just then sead ; the
most prominent of those amendments was to punish
desertion, which he was eetiernely sorry to say was
very prevalent. The House must be sensible how
prejudicial it must be-to the nation to have,as well as
ineffectual in the louse to vote,a defective asmy. The
loss to the nation was, moreover, very considerable,
as every recruit, from the time of -his enlistment to
that of his being rendered a complete soldier, stands
it in 501. at the least. He.expatiated upon the ege
gravated nature of this offence, which was a com-
bination of fraud and perjury, as the recruit took
not only the bounty-money, but an oath of faithful
service to Cis Majesty.
The offence at present is punished with death, or
corporeal pains inflicted by sentence of .a Court
Martial. If the Court do not think proper to in-
flict either of these, there yet remains an alterna-
tive : they sentence the offender to serve in his Ma-
jesty's dominions abroad, forlde or years. This al-
ternative, experience has -shewn to be fruitless, as a
soldier cannot be made to serve any longer than. he
is able ; and to send them abroad to serve for life,
or a longer term of years than they may continue
able, answered no other purpose than that of filling
the hospitals at a great expence. He therefore
meant to propose, that Courts Martial should be
deprived of the power of intliaing this latter pu-
nishment. He meant that :this deprivation should
be followed up by a power to be vested in his Ma-
jesty, of commuting all punishments for transpor-
tation. Be also proposed, that -the amendments
should be attended with other regulations for laying
abeavier penalty upon persons harbouring deserters.
At present, the penalty was only 51. He proposed
that it should be in future 201. or six months impri-
sonment. He then adverted.to the reward to per-
sons apprehending deserters, and which, by the
present bill, is directed to be paid only.to constable:
or pact-opers. In order to stimulateevery body to
stand forward on this.,head, he proposed that the re-
ward should be to persons 'in general. The next
amendment would be to extend the forfeiture of pay
to such soldiers as .should be confined for crimes, ;in
the same manner as it stood at present, with tegsteet
to those contined.for debt. ile said, that if it was
not an inducement, it, at Icest,.made the commission
of a crime a matter of little import, since the sol-
dier who committed it was suffered to receive his
pay in gaol, in the like manner as if he had been on
Actual duty. The next amendment would respect
doubts which had been entertained about the
clause in the present bill, relating to baggage-carts.
lie wished it to be ascertained, what power thes
Magistrates had -to make them travel beyond a cer-
tain distance, and what should'be the compensation
to the owners of those carts which should be taken
up on that duty. The next amendment would be,
to hate a clause inserted, declaratory of his Majes-
ty's right of having those baggage-carts pass over
any private bridges without paying toll. The next
amendment went to the providing a summary pro-
cess against persons purchasing .oats, and other
military stores. He said, he thOught it his duty to
be very precise in gado* these proposed amend-
ments, that Gentlemen might ,have time to see :nto
the general utility and propriety of them. He had
the satisfaction to say, that they had already met
with the approbation of .his Majesty's Law Offi-
cers.

,Ceneral TARLETON offered a very few word*,
which drevi on a desultory conversation between
him and 4 the Secretary- at War. Some further
amendments were proposed.; and upon the motion
of the Secretary at War, that this report be
.re-
ceived to-morrow, it was ordered to be brought up
accordingly.
• The SPEAKER. called the attention of the
House to a circumstance which had happened 19
the morning : he alluded to the .absence of Mr.
JOHN ATHINS from a Committee which then sat.
obtdash
and which was, in consequence (thereof, • to
be adjourned. He had further ,to state,
~ ' 'Mr.
2 THINS could not attend that morning

I