The Sun.
London, England, 1839-08-24 00:00:00

BILL.

Mr. BERNAL brought up the Ifeirrt of the Corn
mittee on the Bank of Ireland Act Continuance Bill.

Mr. HUM E said he would take this opportunity of
mentioning his impression as the state of the country.
owing to the continuance of the Bank monopoly in
England, and the monopoly in Irelatid, which was con-
tinued by this Bill. Nothing could be more unsatisfactory
than the peseta situation of the country. It was lament.
able to see that England, the richest State in Europe, was
reduced to the absolute necessity of maintaining its credit
by bills of accommodation on another country. This was
the fact, and it would tend materially to injure
the credit of the country. At this moment the
commercial interest in the country ranged- from 6 to 10
per cent. The interest of the Bank of France was 4 per
cent., and the banks of Lyons 3 per cent. The high
interest in this country was owing to mismanage-
ment on the part of the Government. He objected to the
continuation of the monopoly in England and in Ireland
as a great and serious evil. The Bank of Ireland had acted
liberally in dealing with the Government, but no thanks to
the Government of England, which had placed itself at
the mercy of the Bank of England. He thought the
continuance of the monopoly for one year objectionable,
but it was the least evil from which to choose.
The country would next year have opened to it that great
question, and he trusted the people of Ireland before
Parliament re-assembled, would have expressed ala
opinion so decidedly that no Government would
place itself in the humiliating position of being
beaten by a small minority. He would call the at-
tention of the Right Hon. Gentleman if he were to
continue ChaneAlor of the E xchequer—( A laugh) —but
if not, he begged to direct the attention of the new Chan-
cellor of the Exchequer, who then heard him—( Laughter,
and a cry of "
Who is he e")—to the state of the country.
He would tell him that he was not about to undertake a
very easy business in regulating the credit and protecting
the interests of the empire, but which rested most uncon-
stitutionally with a select body who acted for their own
interests and for their own purposes.—( Hear, hear.)
He also begged to call attention to this fact, that the re-
peal of the Usury laws, as regarded commercial transac-
tions, placed not only the foreign commerce of the
country, but the home commerce, on quite a different foot-
ing to what it ever had been. On former occasions, when
transmitting goods to any part of Europe, merchants might
calculate that the charge on their advances would not ex-
ceed five per cent., but now they were obliged to be
cautious lest they should subject themselves to the
grinding charge of 10 or 15 per cent. The consequence
was there was a discouragement to all foreign commerce.
What would the nations say if England gave a power to
any Company to alter at pleasure the length of the foot
—( Roars of laughter)—or the size of the pound 7
( Laughter)—yet, the Bank of England had a worse
power of altering the currency. And if the intelligent
merchants and manufacturers of this country did not see
the ill effects of these constant fluctuations, they would
be wanting in their usual prudence and circumspection.
The Government had been negligent. The Bank
had betrayed the grossest ignorance—not to charge
them, with criminal intentions. The Government
ought to have taken the subject up. They should have
endeavoured to prevent these capricious alterations of the
monetary system. These continual fluctuations in price—
these " ups and downs" of business,_now excited and
bustling, now dull and languid-_' r.--- productive of
more misery than any man would imagine, who had not
carefully examined into the subject. In Hamburg-, with a
metallic currency, interest was now only at five or five
and a half per cent., and that was higher than it
g
hs
abee
bound
gnirdicieutrmossexpressedtpcaeoncmci
circumstances
as
be
complain
osdtpthioedactkt
nh
theoastth ooi
Chancellor
jhdefauenttbcueterolelsotehfruleeoncfdBt ietinhdl
had been for some time. In conclusion the Honour-
ables
(bd.
ut
up ntedr
haceMtr i ofteenhml set
e
Exchequer was not doing justice to Ireland in allowing
the\vi
th monopoly
ofthe
respect
to Bank of t
the
repeated
changes is a t
thatcountry to
were
er
a continue.
taking
place in the currency of the country, he would rather do
away with the paper currency and resort to a metallic
one altogether, than allow them to continue. He felt
convinced that, unless some measure was taken in the next
Session with regard to the currency, the evils that at pre•
sent existed would he increased.
Mr. O'CONNEL L would not oppose the Bill, but he
trusted the House would allow him to make a few obser-
vations. He would not enter into the state of the Banks
at Paris and Lyons, but he must protest against some
of the heresies of his Hon. Friend the Member for Kil-
kenny. He had said that the Usury-laws made money
dear; he could not agree with him in that, nor could he
adopt his doctrine relative to the importation of corn.
With respect to the present measure, it would give
an opportunity to her Majesty's Government to con.
sider what course they would pursue with respect
to this measure in the next Session. He trusted
that next Session the Government would be prepared
with some fixed plan. If they wished to do away
with the money making
portinn-of the system of banking,
they ought to declare at once that such was their intention,
and not without making such a declaration borrow assist-
ance from those gentlemen who were of opinion that
banks ought not to issue any notes at all, while they
continued the system of giving to one bank the
monopoly of issue. The people of Ireland before the
next Session would be perfectly informed—indeed they
were so already—as to the great risk of continuing the
present monopoly. He could remember the melancholy
results produced in Ireland by the transition from paper
to gold, produced by what was commonly called Peel's
Bill. There were more families reduced to distress and
starvation in Ireland, in consequence of' that transition—
more persons reduced to beggary and despair than there
were in France by the horrors of the French Revolution.
He knew many persons who bad been previously in the
receipt of 1,0001. or 2,0001. per annum, who were reduced
to utter destitution, and, literally, to want, by the opera-
tion of that,transition. It operated more particularly
against the landed interest and it affected Ireland more
especially, because Ireland was a paying and not a re-
ceiving country. He therefore deprecated the interference
of those theoretical gentlemen, who were anxious to do away
altogether with the banking system. He thought making
the notes payable on demand was sufficient to meet all the
exigencies of the case. The narrowing- the currency was
always attended with evils. Lands,have certain fixed bur-
dens on them, such as provisions for younger children, and
mortgages, every one of which, by narrowing the currency,
was augmented, while the means of meeting it was dimi
nished. Such a system was most mischievous. If the Go-
vernment were determined to support it let them declare
their opinion at the earliest moment, and he should be pre-
pared to meet them on that question foot to foot. What
the people of Ireland required was a full currency, which
would have the effect of increasing all commercial trans-
actions, and bringing a vast quantity of labour into opera_
tion, which would of course increase the quantity of produc-
tion. When he saw the success of the Scotch system of banking
lie eould not for a moment hesitate to believe that it would
be found equally advantageous in Ireland. It had been
said that the Irish were deficient in that prudence and
cek l . instead
exchanges
would coun-
teract produce in
attention to their interests which would be necessary to
ensure the success of a system of Joint Stock Banking
spurious
gr.
would
n
butam o
og let t h
theme me
raet Nt e„ York and they would find that
wealthy
and industrious of the com-
merciallrish,
in proportion to their
numbers, constituted a large majority.......( Hear,
h
Thecreased
reaa
cs ted vigilance,
multiplicationaei
gad it
tendency
unsubstantialnn dcee
wc oy
h f t
f e h
atel
ns e w
ebanks,
ybank to over issue. He be.
circulation,lieved, wherever the system had been introduced it had
1: belnofaogu,ndtotoseeit extended eminentlynde, successful ; and he hoped,
to every part of Ireland,
with ; let
there be a universal limitation if it was thought necessary,
but let them have no partial ono. What had the Bank of
Ireland ever done that it should be so favoured? The
people of Ireland were anxious to know
what they had
ever done to deecrve the high eulogiure passed upon them
by the Chancellor of the Exchequer--of ex
Let the Government deal fairly and justly
. course he spoke
of' them merely as a Cot poration. Any attempt to con-
tinue their monopoly in the next Session would meet with
his most determined opposition, end he would be backed
by the sober arid industrious and intellt
egeat merchants and
manufacturers of Ireland, whose opinion the Government
must bow to.
The CHANCELLOR of the EX:CHEQUER did
not rise to continue the eltsMSlun Upon the Bill, which
had so ofteo been gone into, but to correct some of those
errors into which the Hon. Member for Kilkenny
had fallen, and more especially with
rei r oetnec to
the partiel repeel of titg usury laws. No person
riving heed to the subject could for a moment
attribute our present difficulties to that ca4sqt
The effect of the usury laws wag to TeStrip RrtlNtmqcistlovi
In money. DraptiFltliX leglsl44lre abandon-'
the 4suyy la‘iys tho gitiment aLpted .1.
e rumple o
annuitieg, Neeourez.
sientleman principle of
TIW UQnOU ientleman had stated cor-
f