The Sun.
London, England, 1853-07-29 00:00:00

SOUTH SEA ANNUITANT DISSENTIENTS.

The house having again gone into committee, and the
discussion on the South Sea resolutions being resumed,
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER, in re-
ply to observations which had been made in the course
of yesterday's discussion, said he wished it to be dis-
tinctly understood that no person to whom an option
had already been offered, and by whom it had been de-
clined, should now a second time have it presented to
them ; but that the object of the resolutions was simply
to grant such power of election to holders who, when
the option was offered on a previous occasion, were, by
reason of some legal disability, unable to avail themselves
of it. He protested that there was no intention to em-
power the South Sea Company to deal arbitrarily or
irresponsibly with the interests of their shareholders ;
and with regard to the opinion that unprecedented
powers were now for the first time demanded for the
Treasury, he reminded the house that by a recent statute
the Chancellor of the Exchequer had an unlimited and
uncontrolled power to raise a present payment, by way
of interest on Exchequer-bills from 210,0001. to upwards
of 600,0001., by simply altering the rate of interest.
The present powers and responsibilities of the Chancellor
of the Exchequer, were in every way analogous to the
powers now asked for ; the grounds on which these reso-
lutions were based were those of justice. It was an
attempt to redeem a pledge given in reply to the late
Lord Chancellor. It would be absurd to make the same
offer to holders of trust stock now as was made to
individuals generally in April last, as circumstances had
now depreciated what was then considered an advan-
tageous investment ; but such a course was not only
demanded by justice, but would be a great convenience
to the public; and it would be unwise and imprudent on
the part of the house to withhold their assent, even
though they shared the opinions which had been ex-
pressed by gentlemen opposite, as to the adroitness and
dexterity of those who had the management of the
public finance. While he by no means shrank from the
discussion of his past policy, he did not think the pre-
sent was a suitable time, and he deprecated the practice
of attempting to discuss, in general debate, financial
questions which, from their very nature, did not
admit of being so satisfactorily treated. (Hear, hear.)
In the ancient mythology, there were two kinds of fate,
one proceeding arbitrarily from the mouth of the gods,
against which human skill and courage might hope suc-
cessfully to contend ; the other, a higher power was
immutable, and to it gods and men were alike com-
pelled to submit. Now, he ventured to compare the
difficulties with which he had to contend to the latter ;
but while he acknowledged that his measure had not met
with the success he had hoped for, he utterly and entirely
denied that there had been such a failure as had been
assumed by the right hon. gentleman opposite (Mr.
Disraeli), who thought that commutation was the only
alternative anticipated by Government, whereas he, for
one, had never been sanguine on that head ; he then
entered into certain financial details, shewing that the
unfunded debt had been relieved to thearnount of upwards
of 3,000,0001. without in any appreciable degree increas-
ing the permanent obligations of the country ;and compared
this with the past financial history of this country ; had
he met with no greater success than had been secured
by all previous financiers, taking the average results of
such transactions since 1835, there would have been
fixed on the country a permanent charge of 96,0001. a
year as interest on funded stock, in place of the com-
plete relief it hail been his good fortune to obtain.
Sir F. KELLY said that it was undeniable that every
person who had accepted any of the commutations
offemd by the Government had thereby incurred a seri-
ous loss, and feared that if these resolutions were passed
the interests of persons, whose propel ty was under
the guardianship of Chancery, would be sacrificed
to an enormous extent. He then said that the form of
the resolution would render them completely imperative
as he apprehended that the return of the interest of
holders of South Sea Stock with which it was proposed
to deal, had been misconceived. The resolutions were
framed as if every shareholder in the South Sea Company
had a separate, independent, and commutable property,
but the Stock of the South Sea Company was one and indi-
visible; and the supposition that every shareholder pos-
sessed an integral and commutable portion of stock was
unfounded ; and it was therefore impossible to deal with
them in the manner proposed.