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

use lire there were not amore :..telllgent yet of men than the
Ili& Honourable Gentleman and his Colleagues, and he was
oar* that the) valid not be cordial 10 the -measure, and he trusted
ghat when the Hight Honourable Gentleman canal down on Mon.
day be would say, that with respect to the dead weight, after 182 H,
be would Fret it on the sinking Fund, for the utatement of the
.Sir king Fund being at 5,000.100111. was a most dietraceful measure,
and he trusted that the Right Honourable Gentleman would
abandon IL The Honourable Gentleman concluded by moving
doe following Resolutions:-
- "' That it appears 'by returns to the House, that on the eth of
• January 11126. the tunount of Exchequer bills outstanding and no-
pout was 37 ,502,0171. 9e. 7d.; that on or about the 20th of Decens.
Mir they were at a discount of Res.; and that it therefore became
Illetsgai to raise the interest previously granted on them, in order
to prevent their being paid into the F.:chequer so revenue, or a
pert of them toeing demanded in cash. And that. notwith.
star:ding this advarrx of the rate of interest on Exchequer bills,
k became neeessary to relieve the market by reducing the quantity
an sale, which was effected by means of a large portion of
*on being übsorbed in purchases made by the Bank, which
broaght them to about par at the end of the month.
" That on the 14th of February they were again at m abut 21s.
pee cent. discount, when the Bank came once more in the market,
'sod brougfit them to par.
•' That the Bank, Iron various circumstances, might not have
bark able thus to relieve the market withoct endangering its credit
• yet, had not relief been allindeil, bills paid in as revenue
cnieht have left the Exchequer without any means of paying the
d.valenda, provided the Bank could out advance the whole amount
of them.

" That the Bank. in order to pay the January dividends, having.'
&beady advanced 5,548,0171.95. 7d.„ it is highly improbable that it i
'well at such a moment make a further advance of 3,1211,109/. (the
additional aunt necessary). without placing itself in a most hazard-
oes situation; awl it APTtelfl, therefore, that although the prempr
'tidier in the purchase of Exchequer bills given by the Bank did at
the moment avert these calamitousainsequences, still the danger of
'baring such a large unfunded del* becomes strikingly obvious, by.
the Bank being obliged, a few days since. to conic into the market
s second time to prey emcee further depretiatMn of them.
" That notwithstanding the low rate of Interest which has been
In Exchequer bills, it has been both inexpedient and dangerous to
bare so large an lrawitint of debt unfunded ; not only for the reaeono
-Nosed in the foregoing resolution, but because It might have been
funded on most advantageous terms, and at a saving of some mil-
-gone to the (tenthly, whilst by leaving it'unfunded until a period
pbUtitial diff.cirey arrives, it cannot fail seriously to affect public
.wells, and in impisir the energies of the country ; and that it ap-
tfaefs thereforeto this House, that it is highly expedient to tedium
the unfunded debt within more reasonable limits.
•• That although, by a vote of this house, live millions were de-
eared neceesary as a sinking fund to uphold public credit by dim'.
nuhing the national debt, yet in the course of a very few days after
that declaration. the house came to a deteemination of granting an
vicouity of 2,1100,0901. for .15 yeses, thereby increasing the public
debt many millions (by return so the House, !Batch 1826,
.74.834,0i11.) and at the -lame time violating the very principle
which it had declared to be the may one by which public credit
Would be supported.
• That part of the said annuity, amounting to 505,740/.. far
lerty-fout Own, was sold to the Bank of Engrand for 13.089,424 L,
'payable by instalments, the last of which falls due in July, 1828.
and put, amounting to 2,2142011/., still remains unsold, to the
seulue of nearly 40,8110,1100/.; and that under present circumstances
it will be inexpedient to sell the remaining part of the said annuity,
and that it wth be expedient to repeal so much of the Act granting
tee said annuity as relates to the part tumid. and to charge the
amount necessary to defray the naval and military pensions from
Jaiy, 18211, on the ( amsolidated or Sinking Fund.
That the capital of the fended •unredeemed debt of the
Coked liingdem stood in the fiosece etcounts on the Sth January,
1411;,, at 781,123,2221. 15s. nth. whereas the real capital debt of the
tenantry approaches to nearly 909 millions, inasmuch as the capital
M the terminable annuities is not included in the above sum."
On the question being put,
fir. BERRIES rose. lie said that the speech of the lion.
teaulernan might be considered under two divislena, in one of
which he had taken a general view of the centime of Government
with respect to the management of the unfunded debt ; in the other
ire bad considered the funded debt, and had also recommended
iiite funding, or otherwise getting rid of. the dead-weight annuities
• a future period. Ile (11r. Herries) thought he could show that
et was not desirable to make any alteration in the management of
the public debts. But betore he proceeded he would make some
preliminary observations. Ile would advert to some arguments
which appeared to to the favourite one. la the Hon. Gentleman's
•speech. the llon.*Gentlenian had frequently accused Government
with want of' acenracy, care, and even of fidelity. in the exemitton
of the public accounts; but he was prepared to show the contrary,
and would venture to assert, still further, that he never heard such
tionfirsion as prevailed in Pie speech and in the papers of
use Honourable Gentleman. The Honourable Gentleman had
called on the Ministers for a more perfect account of the funded
• debt, and he had directed that it should be surunied up for each
aeries of yeses, and he had also required that the total value of a
• .ong annuity of 2.1100,0001. should be added. Now that appeared
• him (Mr. !ferries) the most erroneous and confused of all tend.
°ale anungemenrs. The public debt between the yeses 1819 and
Isllll continued precisely the same, it was evident, as far as the an.
nutty went. instead of presendng that uniform increase while the
Hen. Gentleman had assumed. But independently of his objec.
nuns to this mode of exhibiting the accounts of the public debt, lie
would note:twelve anything more confused than the Him. Gentle-
men's manner o' viewing the dead-weight annuities. Was it not
'the grossest confusion to say that each payment of a terminable
• annuity was an increase of the debt? The lion. Gentleman had
intend fault with Government for not stating the value of the an.
'Putties, but that was maths usual method in public accounts; the
practice was to give the nominal capital. It would lead to die
greatest error and confusion if the public accounts were given
partly in valued annuities sad partly in nominal capital, as was ne.
eassarily the case with the funds. The Hon. Gentleman the Mein.
her for Abingdon seemed fuhy persuaded that the unfunded debt
was still increasing, and he blamed Ouvernment for not reducing
H. In order to refute that accusation, he would call the attention of
the House to the history of the unfunded debt during the last G
years. In the year 1819, the Bullion Committee had recommended to
bovernment the netts:tine of the unfunded debt to the amount of
tun ; and he would show that Government had not mend,
cotiplied with this vermaimetillation, but had eves gone further, tor
, they had diachaied no less than thirteen millions within the same
time ; but it was necessary to carry in introit that the unfunded debt
consisted of two pate, cf which the one was provided for, the other
• was not ; and he supposed that the censures passed on the Impru.
deem of Government applied only to the unprovided debt, since
no particular we was necessary for the reduction of the other. lie
would meet those censures, therefore, by a neerente to facts. To
the unfunded debt, from the period before alluded to—.lBlle up to '
the present time, there had been oo additions ; no Exchequer hills
Lad bee.) sold to the public ; but that debt, on the contrary, had
twee in a elate of gradual reduction since that period ; the un-
r aided debt, unprovided for, being, for die moat part, due
on Exchequer bills, amounted in 1819 to 19,480,00 W. sad
now in It% it was reduced to 0,139.0001. The first and principal
reduction took piece in the three years following 1019, during
which time it was reduced ten millions, and in the three years fol-
lowing it was reduced three millions inure, making in all thirteen
millions. The Honourable Gentleman had charged Government
wall ',cal want of attention to that most important subject. He
could seeno way of reducing the unfunded debt, except either by
funding_ Exchequer bills, or raising money in the market to ;say
them off. The question was then whether, during that period of
years, It would have been prudent or wise to fund Exchequer bills
at tit rate at which the stock stood, or to raise money in the market
to pay them off, in preference to pursuing those rue/mires which
his P.ighsConouraifie Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer had
adopted ? Those measures were the reduction of taxes for the re.
lief of the subject, the taking of ditties so as to cot off the profits
of the illicit trader, and the general extension of commerce. It
cad* not have escaped the attention of his Right Honourable
Friend, that it would have been a great advantage to have less an..
fanged debt, but in order to effect that reduction he must have se.
+enticed his own measures. In all Mahal, affairs we coated have
only choice of difficultiee, and his Right Honourable Friend had
preferred the relief of the echject and the extension of trade a.
productive of greater advantagem; but the prudence of funding
leeebequer bills during that per kA was extremely liquestioirible.
What, in fact, were the circumstances in the state to the country
which could have reNinirnendecl such a measure? Was there any
thing is the state of the unfunded debt which indicated a want of
meth ? On the. contrary, there never was keown a period when
Exchequer bills bore a higher premium, a circumstance which
would Crave reneered it difficult to reduce that amount; but since
the period alluded to no Exchequer bills had been istued for the
purpose of raising money es an extraordinary means. but only to
replite former bills. 'lt was not therefore to be imputed to im-
prudence or want of care that the unfunded debt had mot been re.
duced • but if it had contributed to the pressure cn the Bank
dining the late revulsion, he was sure no one would charge .51i.
Munn with want of foresigle., because they had not descried at a
distance all the circomstanees Of so extraordinary a obis. He
was of opinion, aherefore, that the Ooternment would have acted
• unwisely if, instead of reducing the taxes, they had funded
Exehequer bids at a time when the state of the market
would have matte such a transaction disadvantageous to the public.
To prove this, he would state the expense which would have been
thrown on the country. if, Instead of continuing the Exchequer
bills, Minister, had thought fit to fund them. The present un-
funded outstanding debt was in all 30,500,000 e ; in 1819 it was 44
millions. lie would suppose, then, fee the sake of argument, that
the whole outstanding debt had been funded in 1818 at 80; as the
funds then stool that transaction would have been attended with a
lota to the public of 5,042,0061. in 1819. when the funds were
lower, At would have not, 5,145,0001.; in 1820, at 117, it would have
east :052.01)(11. ; in 1321. at 72. it would have cow 4.134.0001. ; in
Ilta. at 72. it would have cost 2.812.0001. ; in 1823, at 72. it would
have cost 2%469,000f. ; in 1824. at 72. it would have cost 1,117.0041 L;
in 1824,, at 72, it would have cost 500,0001. more. This might be
called an exaggerated east', because he had supposed the whole
debt fended at once; he had made that *opposition for the sake of
rsegutnent ; but, however modified in degree, it must be admitted
that the funding of Exchequer bills would have caused an expense
to the countr4; lie was Featly to admit that the pecuniary saving
011gbt not to taken into consideration if the other measure. were
recommended by any urgent political reasons, but when hit saw
that allthrese argument' were to favour of Ministers, be could nut
help oomluding that it would not have been either wise or econo-
mical to reduce the unfunded debt any further than had been done.
With respect to the amount of deficiency hills, which the lion. Gent.
had interwoven with other mailers in his speech, it had never, for
the host 7 or 11 years, exceeded the amuunt of public money in the