The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1803-05-04 00:00:00

.4DVERTISER.

WEDNESDAY: MAY 4, 11403.

TUESDAY, MAY 3.

IMPERIAL PARLIAMEA7'.

HOUSE OF LORDS.

The Lord Advocate and Mr. Adam, were heatd
for the Appellants, and' Mr. Erskine for the Respon-
dent, in the Appeal Col. Macpherson and Archibald
Swinton e. Ramsay Hannay, Esq. after which the
further hearing was adjourned to Thursday.
The business on the Table was gone through.
Six private Bills were brought up from the Com-
mons, and presented by Mr. Baldwin and others,
'and read a first time.

tent as they confessedly were ; nay, even that
most valuable and truly advantageous treaty, ne-
Ttiated with the French Ministry—the famous
reaty of Commerce, was not more eminently de-
serving of praise. IA ith regard to the dieereet
rates of exchange, his Lordship assigned many and
strong reasons to account for the variations and in-
crease. He said, when he came to look to the rice
count of the comparative amount of the debt of Ire-
land, he himself could scarcely credit what he saw.
In 1;97 the debt amounted to seven millions only;
and in Jan. 1 803,the amount was forty millions. This
increase, was, however, easily to be accounted
for, when the causes of it were examined, and
those causes had contributed also to the in-
crease of the rate of exchange. First, the
rebellion, during its continuance, had put a check
upon their export trade ; and it had a considerable
died upon their import trade ; because, while the
rebellion continued, they knew notwhat to risk, whom '
to look up to with confidence, nor how they were to
be assured of a 1 ettirn for what they continued to
import. Their flesh exportation was stopped, and
the export of corn, which they had been accustomed
to carry on to the amoun tof 500,0001. a-year, incon-
sequence of the general dearth, the sad effeds of
which, were felt in Ireland, as well as in England,
was put an end to altogether; and the island was
obliged to supply itself from other countries, and
thus to send their gold out of the country to pur-
chase it ; which, of course, contributed to raise the
price of the exchange. Another material cause of
the rise of the rate of exchange was, that a great
part of the debt of Ireland, which had increased to
40,000,0001. was borrowed in England, and the in-
terest of the sum borrowed in England, amounted to
above 900,0001. which was obliged to be sent over be
gold. An additional cause of the increase of the rate
of exchange, was what the Noble Lord had been
pleased to call the depreciation of the notes of the
Bank of Ireland ; certainly to a certain extent he
must admit it, but the reasons for it were easy to be
explained. The notes of the Bank of Ireland would
not pass out of the country ; and therefore when :s
man in Dublin, who was going to sail for England.
and had to receive a payment, he must have it in.
guineas, because guineas would go and he received.
in England or Scotland; but notes of the Bank of
Ireland would not. Besides, in the North of Ire-
land an inveterate humour prevailed against the.
taking any sort of payment but in specie. All these
matters conduced to raise the rate of exchange; and.
two other circumstances greatly contributed towards
it : the Government of this country, no doubt, fot
reasons which they thought would promote the pub.
lic interest, thought proper to interdict the importa•
tion of provisions from Ireland, and the proprietors
of coal, of which Ireland, though she certainly had
coal in the isle, was in the constant habit of a great
annual importation from the North of England, had
raised the price of that article. He wished he could
have seen the Noble Lord, the great coal exporter,
(Lord Lowther) in his place, as he might perhaps
have been able to give the House some reason for
the great increase of price; that article being paid
for in gold, consequently tended to increase the rate
of exchange; and a still further additional cause of
the increased rate of exchange was a wound that the
manufacturers of Ireland had themselves given that
Island : the linen manufadure, which had enriched
the North, and was the favourite and greatest export
of Ireland, had, whether from motives of avarice or
cupidity, he could not undertake to pronounce, was
considerably raised in its price, which had produced.
an injurious etica, as the Americans, who had for-
merly been great importers of Irish linens, had
left off purchasing them on account of their dear-
ness, and had shut their market upon the Irish
manufaCturers, thinking it better worth their
while from its comparative cheapness, to sup-
ply themselves with linen of every sort from Ger-
many and Russia, where they bought the article
cheaper. Something he had heard his Lordship bad
said of the adultery of the Bank of Ireland, as evinced
by the conduct l of its Directors ; and it had also been,
said, that by the At of Union Great Britain had
wedded Ireland ; Great Britain had, therefore, if as
common saying in Ireland was to be taken in the
same acceptation in which it passed there, married
a wealthy wife ; for, from what he had.stated, it was
evident that Ireland was rich in debt, and if the mar-
riage had not taken place, Ireland would in due
course of time have been still richer, for he had no
doubt, but that if the important event of the
Union had not taken place, the debt of Ireland
would have been brought to equal the debt of
Great Britain, and the countries might thou have
gone pari paw in taxation, revenue, &c. &c.
But thank God, Ireland had now better prospects,
and he trusted that by the assistance of British in-
dustry, British manufaeture, and British capital,
Ireland would grow really rich, and make Great-
Britain so, by contributing to diminish its national
debt. With regard to the imputed adultery of the
Irish Bank by their multiplied issue of notes, he
understood it was necessary in all marriages that the
consent of one of the parties must at least be ob-
tained ; and he remembered to have heard, that an.
Irishman told a friend, that he had determined ve
marry a particular lady, and that he had obtained
his own consent, but it turned out afterwards that
he never obtained the lady's, and consequently never
married her. His Lordship applied this anecdote
to his subject, and said, that such was the effeLl of
the Union, that he could declare, on the authority of
a person of high authority, a Right Hon. Friend of
his, (Isaac Corry, Esq.) at the head of the finance
of Ireland, that her debt was already reduced, and
would in a few years, in all probability, be con-
siderably reduced. His Lordship added and in-
terspersed many other cogent arguments to prove
that the Bill ought to pass, as it was of great impor-
tance to the interests of the Bank of Ireland, and
consequently to the general interests of the British
empire.

Lord AUCKLAND rose to say a very fed' words.
He rejoiced that the discussion had taken place,
as he was persuaded it would have a good ef-
feet upon the public mind ; he therefore desired to