The National Register.
London, England, 1811-05-12 00:00:00

TUESDAY, MAT 7.

The House being in a Committee of Privileges, resumed the
further consideration of the Berkeley Pe-rage cause, and the
brother of the Cuuntess of Berkeley, Mr. Tudor, was ex-
amined.
_ _

The further proceedings in the case of the Banbury Peerage
were deferred.
The Slave Trade Felony Bill, after a few words from Lord
Grenville, Earls Liverpool and Stanhope, was read a second
time, and ordered to be committed to-morrow.
Lord GRIENVILLE moved the commitment of the Revenue
Laws Bilis. In doing this, briefly- stated the subject of this
Bill, which was to collect into one Act all laws inflicti:lg the
penalty of death for offences affecting the Revenue. The Judges
had thus framed the present Bill, by collecting all laws of this
description, widely diffused over the face of the Stature Boi,k.
Some alterations had been made, but only such as tended to
simplify the law itself. He was at the sane• time averse to minty
of these laws, as being too severe, and thereby not calculated to
produce their desired Effect. The Lill then yawed through the
Coannittee.—Adjounted.

t

THE NA'

; .

raised from Wt. to 151. The Hougrtlivillsits for tbsaiumAt
aunt, 3 Against it,7.—Adjourned.

A

/MAY. MAY 10. •
DEBTOR AND CREDITOR BILL. \
On the order of the day being read for the recommitment of
this Bill.
Lord ELLENDOIIOIIGIi contended, that if this Bill was carried
into a law it would shalse all the confidence and security that
existA in the trading and commercial world, as it took away the
last and best secu*ity which the creditor had for the certainty of
his debt being ever paid.
'1 he Earl of MOIRA. called the House to the Report of their
Committee, which stated the crying abuses that prevailed in
consequence of continuing in its present system the practice of
imprisonment for debt. lie. contended that their Lordships
were bound both in honour and in duty to notice it; and as the
Bill before the House had that object in view they could not do
less than receive it. If it was not as perfect as might he wished,
still it might,_ b the skill and co-operation of the Noble and
Learned Lord Ellenborough), be rendered more adequate to
the object for w ich it was intended.
Lord ELLENEOROtIoU could not think of so abusing his, time
as to employ it in giving that shape which, from its form, never
eould be moulded into any thing like law or justice.
The LORD CHANCELLOR had a great many doubts as to the
efficacy of the measure, bat still he thought it a duty to make
it as wholesome as it could be rendered; for that reasun he
certainly should oppose the motion of his Noble and Learned
Friend, via : " that it should not be committed," as a Com-
mittee was the only place where it could receive any beneficial
alterations, or be made palatable.
• Lord REDZSDALL defended the principle of the Bill, and
ared that as another period would be afforded of opposing
it, h gue
at least trusted that it would be allowed to go into a Com-
mittee.
Under this consideration, Lord Ellenberough declined press-
ing his motiotb, and the Bill went into a ComMittee,'where it
underwent several alterations and improvements, as suggested
by Lords Redesdale, A/4Am, Stanhope, Lausdown, and the Lord
Chaticellor ; when the Chairman having left the Chair and re-
sorted progress, had leave to sit again.—Adjoin ned to Monday.

UMW, OF COMMONS.

• *MONDAY, MAT 5.
BULLION COMMITTEE.
The House baying rksolved itself into a Committee to consi-
der the Report of the Bullion Committee, -
• Mr. HoaNalt moved, that thejteport of last Session, together
with other papers relating Ao the subject, be laid upon the table.
lie trusted he should be able to make such a statement as would
enable those Gentlemen whose intention it was to, oppose him
in the course of the discussion about to ensue, at least fully to
understand the subject. The two parties marshalled cm the pre-
sent 0CC86101,1 had gone into the most Violent extremes. On the
'one hand it was contended. that paper currency was all.su fii die nt;
that it had eau ed the improvement in the coatmercial and finan.
cild relations of the country, and would continue it. On the
other, there were persons who, blind to all the advantages re-
sulting froln a paper currency, would abolish it altogether,
and revert to the method in use anterior to that. improvement
which bad taken place since it had been substituted for coin.—
Between such conflicting sentiments, he would steer a middle
course. He thought that a paper currency might be of the most
essential co vice to the country ; but he also conceived, that it
would be so only when founded on the basis of the precious
metals. He feared that among the reasonerson one siec, there
were some who indulged in a feeling of jealousy towards the
Bank of England, as mean as it was unfounded; that institution
Lau been connected in its foundation with principles from which
had emanated the liberties or the country. Before he entered
deeply Tutu the subject, he wished much to do away a prejudice
that seemed somewhat prevalent, namely, that those who wish-
ed to place things oa their former footing were a set of theo-
rists, who could not discern the• practical ininchief likely to
be the result.—These. persons coincided in opinion with those
who had founded the 13ank of England, and those who had con-
ducted its cone erneup to 1787, wire they mere theorists ?—Ac-
cording to the calculations la.t year, the gold was valued in the
.market at 4 pounds 10 shillings sterling per ounce; in the year
1811 the increise,was to 4 pounds 15 shillings sterling, an in•
crease which called for inquiry. The engagement of the
bank of England to the constituting Parliament was, that
1' they should pay to the bearer of their promissory pound note,
'twenty shillings of sterling silver. Could the House .assert,
,that whets that was no longer done, the note even then mo-
dulated to be the thing which it represented. Take a pound
•

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samiss”...
note of the Bank pfEngland. to the market, according to the
value of gold and silver, and its value would only be 15 shillintis
and 10 pence ; asit would produce no more Bullion than was in-
trinsically worth that sum. The coin of England had seldom
been debased like the coin of foreign Potentates; it had pre-
served, saving in two instances, its Unpolluted currency.
,The
Act by which the real currency of standard gold was ascertained,
was in the reign of Queen Elitabetb, when it was restored to the
standard affixed by Henry VI. These two statutes fix that neither
in gold nor in silver should payments be made, except with refer-
ence to the value of Bullion, and the legal tender of money was
not to exceed, if silver, above 251. sterling, evidently proved how
dear Ministers had held the standard value of the gold. But
how widely different were those Resolutions tobe brought before
the Committee by the Hon. G entleman (Mr.Vansittart). It had,
howver,latelybeensaid, that no standard forgold could be affixed
The standard, it had been argued, was the interest of 331.
6s. Bd. at 3 per cent. ! That wild speculation was followed by
another as extraordinary, 46 that standard was the real denomi-
nation of money of account !" Such assertions as these are whit
might be called assertions without meaning. But a third asser-
tion of one of these gentlemen was more diverting still, 64 That
the standard value of gold of the realm was abstract currency. '
Now what was abstract currency ? It was like some easy named
thing, but which the meti of schools had long puzzled their
minds about naming ; and at last dismissed it with a name hy
which nobody could understand it!—(Hen, !)—ln the instance
of the light Gold Bill it had been found that a light guinea was of
more value than one of the Standard weight, because its value as
bullion was greater. Suppose, according to that statute of the
14th of his Majesty, George 111. that a Debtor had 261. to dis-
charge ; if he paid it in lawful silver coin of ::;e. etd. per ounce,
there would be 10017 of lawful Meyer ; and if he paid it in notes
it only amounted to 86 and 2.-3ds. These instances showed how
unanswerable the argument was, that the money was . fallen
in value, and left not even the shadow of a doubt. The
fact was simply, that the Bank Promissory Pound Note was
degraded to less than 16 shillings, and -consetlyentlf had fallen
entirely away from the national standard. The precious me-
tals ever formed, among civilized nations, the general standard
of their currency. What then would be the consequence to Bri-
tain, if she had lost her measure of value ? creditors and deb-
tors it promised loss and fraud, and to .all public transactions a
want of public faith, from an unsettled change. %nen a country
chose silver for its measure of all vUlue,.whatever demand there
was for it would never alter the value., So it was With Britain,
where gold was ChOSLII as the standard, and which could never
be depreciated in the value. The effect of scarcity would be
that gold would not be dearer, but other things cheap. It appear-
ed that gold never much varied in the value till the stoppage
of the Bank hi )797. Gold was then much wanted abroad and
at honie. The Bank, when called on by the country, purchased
foreign gold coin from several countries, particularly from Por-
tugal, and had to pay not only the price of Bulliou, but the price
of manufactwed commodity, which, without the rate of ex-
change amounted to four pan& eielit shillings per °mice. But
it appeared to him that tic rise in the foreign market's could re-
ally warrant the uncommon rise of gold at present. There
could not exist that scarcity of silver which had' been so loudly
complained of. He should proceed to measure the price of gold
ld
from the average price of wheat of British gro*th. He wo
consider of the prices from 1777, down. to the present times,
keeping out those years of intolerable dearth which dverthrevr
the wonted balance of the Grain market. FroM 1777 to 1785,
the average price of wheat was 463. per quarter. The next
years up to 1797, deducting out two years of dearth, the average
price was 475. From 1797 the rise was prodigious up to 1809*,
which made an average, deducting again two 'years of latrine-,
1800 and 186 i, of 7i s. per quarter. Having taken .a view
of our exports and imports, he adverted to the state of
exchange between this and other countries. It had been as-
serted, that the change iu the relative value of our currency
could have no effect in the exchange with other coun-
tries. He was ready to admit, that the exchange witlV Portugal
was at par last year, but it was against us with every other cowls
try. In order, loywever, to examine the trite causes of this evil,
it might be necessary to examine the rate of exchange between..
hamburg and other capitals, front which a more deCisive oph.
nion could be drawn. Between Hamburg and Vienna the state
of par, even 144 guilders'for 200 Banco ; but, at present, instead
of being 141 guilders for '2OO baneo, it was 930 guilders for that
sum, and this WAS vtholly attributable to the depreciated state
of the paper currency at Vienna. In the same way between
1-lambare and Sweden. In another capital, Copenhagen, the
ill
effects ot.paper currency was still more conspictioni : as the ex-
change, instead of being at 125 rile dollars for 05. baneo, was
from seven hundred and fifty to eight hundred rix dollars
for the same sum. 'Upon examining the exchange betwt en
metal ac countries, where
wasereth found to b
eirpaynlcnts. were all made in
cazh, the very aat. the eau, lat.:Wecalk