The Sun.
London, England, 1839-07-27 00:00:00

to the legalization of Bank of England notes in Ireland, that
was a question which he trusted would be set at rest. Al-
though he might be favourable to the establishment of one
sole bank of issue, be saw no reason why Dublin should be
made the centre of a system which should have a little mo-
nopoly of its own--( Hear, hear, hear.) He pro-
tested against this monopoly being continued, because
the Bank of Ireland did not answer any of the purposes of
a national bank. That was his great objection to the
measure, and he had not seen anything in the course of the
debate to alter his determination.
Sir W. SOMERVILLE said, if his recollection
served him, the first question introduced when the deputa-
tion waited on the Chancellor of the Exchequer was,
whether or not Newry, Dundalk, or Drogheda, should be
excluded from the circle, and that point appeared to him
to be entirely given up.—(Hear, hear.) They then pro-
ceeded to debate the question of whether the monopoly
should be continued, and he believed there was some un-
derstanding that the circle should be limited. But of this
he was quite certain, that t hey all left the Chancellor of the
Exchequer under the conviction that the three places which
he had named were to be admitted to banking privileges,
and this he recollected particularly, that when his Hon.
Friend was displeased that the monopoly was not entirely
given up, he turned round to him and ”id that Drogheda
was safe—( Hear, hear)—and he remained in this state
until three weeks ago, when the Chancellor of the Ex-
chequer stated what he meant to do. He trusted that his
Right Hon. Friend would reconsider the question, and
endeavour to give general satisfaction by extending to
these towns the privileges which they required.
Mr. HUME said that when one of the gentlemen from
Newry called on him, it was stated that the deputation
were afraid a compromise had taken place, because the
Royal Bank of Ireland, and the Commercial Bank, and
the Provincial Bank, which had been anxious to remove
the monopoly of the Batik of Ireland, had all on a sudden
relaxed their opposition, and returned to Dublin; and that
an arrangement had been made by the Chancellor of the
Exchequer to satisfy these banks, so that, by dividing the
opposition, he might be able to carry the measure. He
(Mr. Hume) said that his object was to free Ireland from
its present monopoly, and he objected to all compromise,
and asked why the people of Ireland should submit to that
which the people of Scotland would feel disgraced by do-
ing. When an attempt was made to interfere with Scot.
land, the Members for Scotland compelled the measure to
be given up ; and if the Members for Ireland would do
the same, it would be impossible for the Chancellor of the
Exchequer to carry measures inconsistent with the utility
of the banking system in Ireland.—( Hear, hear.) Ho
understood that an interview was expected with Sir R.
Peel, and he said that he was glad of it, because he having
been the individual to place the currency on its proper
metallic standard in 1819—having been a party to that
report which stated that the Bank of England could not
return to issue money until it was freed from its securi-
ties—he was sure he could not agree to the proposition of
the Chancellor of the Exchequer, unless it was founded
on some intelligible principle. He was sorry they had
not bad the benefit and support of the Right Hon. Baro-
net's opinion, but trusted that he would to-night state
whether he thought this was a wise course to take, when
there was an opportunity of trying what might be the
effect of introducing the system which was in practice in
Scotland, and had worked so well there. He wished to
see one system of banking through Ireland as well as
Scotland, and because he wished that the Right Hon.
Gentleman had said that his object was to overturn
the whole system of banking in Ireland; He could
assure the [louse that he had no such object in
view. The Chancellor of the Exchequer, in the speech
he had made last night, had not given any good reason
why the large towns of Dundalk and Newry should not
have the same advantages as other commercial towns.
Why, he would ask, should Belfast and Limerick have
advantages which Dundalk did not possess? What was
the ground on which the limitation was continued? It
was this, that the bankers and merchants of Ireland, when
they came within this magic circle, conducted their busi-
ness properly, but when out of it they did not. He thought
the Government had acted and would act most unfairly if
they continued to enforce in places within a certain dis-
trict from Dublin a different system of banking than existed
in other parts of the country. He thought the monopoly of
the Bank of Ireland ought to be removed, and such being
his opinion he was determined to offer every fair opposition
to the measure.

Sir R. PEEL could not exactly see the justice of the Hon.
Member for Kilkenny in calling upon him to support the
view he took of the subject in consequence of the course
he had pursued in 1819. It was true that in that year he
had brought forward and carried a measure for converting
the paper circulation into gold, but he did not see that on
that account he was therefore bound, or could be
called upon to support a measure to make banking free.
His own opinion was, and always had been, that it would
be dangerous that banking should be left entirely free.
When in 1819 he proposed that bank paper should be
converted into gold, he did not propose to destroy the
privilege of the Bank of England.—( Hear, hear.) He
regretted greatly that this measure had been pro-
posed at so late a period of the Session, because
he had heard no reason why it should be - brought
forward. It was true that some measures that
had been brought forward were necessary to be brought in,
but he did not see why a question with respect to banking
should be brought forward at so late a period.—( Hear,
hear.) He thought, looking at the great• quantity of
business that was before the House, when it was considered
that there were 28 Orders of the Day that must be disposed
of that night in some way or other, he thought a measure
like this ought to be postponed to another Session. Of
this he was convinced, that unless some different mode was
adopted of carrying on the business of the House to that
which at present existed they would lose their character in
the country. He was sure that if measures such as the
present were discussed at such a period the House would
be delegating, as they bad done in the Post Office
Bill, those powers to others which they ought
only to exercise themselves.—(Hear.) He must confess
that although he had come to the conclusion that the
Chancellor of the Exchequer had come to on this ques-
tion, he was not convinced by the arguments he had used.
—( Hear, hear.) He had said, look at the difference be-
tween Scotch banking and that in Ireland. The Right
Hon. Gentleman had said that the capital of the banks
in Scotland was tenfold that of Ireland. If such was the
case, he would say, why not adopt the Scotch system?—
(Hear, hear.) He thought the House ought to take a
comprehensive view of the subject, and not allow it to be
inferred that because one system answered in Scotland it
must follow, as a necessary consequence, that it would an-
swer in Ireland. That, in his opinion, was not a fair way
of considering the case. He thought that a great deal
depended upon the manners of the inhabitants of
the country.—( Cries of " Hear, hear.") Notwithstand-
ing all that had been said as to the small quantity of
gold required in Scotland, as compared with Ireland,
for the purposes of banking, he believed that the Scotch
were as fond of gold as the people of England or Ireland,
but a great deal depended upon prejudice.—( Hear, hear.)
He did not think they could fairly consider Scotland as a
country entirely free from England; he thought the
banks in Scotland leaned as much upon the Bank of
England for gold as the Joint-stock Banks did, and there-

fore it was that he did not think them a fair criterion.
He could not agree to throw the entire trade of banking
in Ireland open without great consideration. With respect
to the deputations that had waited upon him he must say
he was surprised to see a statement of what had
taken place published in the Newspapers of the
day, with comments upon it. He did not care for
this, but he thought it would have been much better that
it should not have taken place, because he thought it was
a check to free discussion, and another objectio❑ to it was
that the slightest alteration in an expression often caused
the public to draw a wrong conclusion as to what had
really taken place. He hoped upon the whole that the
present measure would be postponed to another Session.
He understood that there were some pecuniary arrange-
ments which it was necessary should be made—those, he
was in hopes, might be accomplished without the neces-
sity for enforcing the present measure during this Session.
In the presynt state of banking affairs, and in the pre-
sent crisis of the commercial affairs of that country, and
considering that the whole subject would be brought
under the notice of Parliament in the course of the next
Session, be thought it would be advisable to renew the
charter for another year. He hoped it would not be de
ferred till the necessity arose, because the inevitable con-
sequence of deferring the consideration of the question
till the last moment would be the renewal of the charter

for four or five years more.—(Hear, hear.) As to what
extent the Government should have control over the cir-
culation of the country for the purpose of preventing the
disarrangement of the foreign exchanges, and of preserv-
ing their commercial character and credit, the whole of
that question should be deliberately considered. He
thought they should consider the question of the
Bank of Englank and the Bank of Ireland together,
He was unwilling to throw open the system of banking in
Ireland in the intermediate time, and therefore, perhaps,
the most advisable course would be to renew the charter of

the Bank of Ireland until that of the Bank of England ex:
pired, coupled with a distinct intimation that the whole
question should be maturely and deliberately considered,
not in 1843, when they were about to expire, but at such
an early period as would give them a chance, by fully con.
sidering the subject, of arriving at a satisfactory arrange.
ment.—( Hear, hear.)

,
Mr. W. ROCHE thought it a great injustice that some
of the large towns in Ireland enjoyed a free trade in bank-
ing while others were precluded from it. He agreed with
the Right Hon. Baronet opposite, that the question of
banking in Ireland should be taken up and timely dis-
cussed, instead of postponing it till the last moment. Hav-
ing paired off for the remainder of the Session he was
precluded from giving a vote upon the subject.—(Much
laughter.) He could not, however, refrain from saying
that were it not for that circumstance he should have felt
great pleasure in recording his vote, and expressing his
opinion of the inexpediency of continuing these privileges
to the Bank of Ireland.—(Hear.)
Mr. WARBURTON thought the subject should be
allowed to stand over till the next Session, when a Com-
mittee might be appointed at an early period to consider
the whole question. For that purpose, and in order to
keep the matter in their own hands, he would propose that
the Charter of the Bank of Ireland be not renewed.—.
(Cries of " Hear, hear.") It appeared to him from the
evidence before the Committee that the system of
Banking in Ireland was far superior to that in Scotland.
—( Hear, hear.) In the former country, when there was
a run upon the banks, they invariably demanded bullion
for their notes, while in the latter they were satisfied with
a draft or bill upon Edinburgh or London. Ile should
certainly oppose the renewal of the Charter of the Bank
of Ireland.

Sir A. JEPHSON NORRIS thought an importance
had been given to the operations of the Bank of Ireland
which it did not deserve. A very small proportion of tie
circulation of Ireland would be affected by the power of
issuing notes in Dublin, because the great bulk of the
trade was carried on in the large provincial and seaport
towns. Hesaw so little inconvenience in remaining as
they were for another year that he would rather allow
matters to remain as they were than oppose the Charter
ef-tho. Bank_ of. Ireland.-
Mr. AUL LIERS said the object of the Hon. Member
fur Kilkenny was to do away with the monopoly of the