The Sun.
London, England, 1801-03-31 00:00:00

PAptit CURRENCY, &c.

. .
The Order of the Day for summoning theirLordships being read, a snort conversation ensue,
rather in an under-voice, between the Earls of
FoLx.and %VAR AV I CK, in regard, as we could eaa
lea, to the nature of, their reweaive propositions,
and the point of priority, both having been fixed
for this evening ; in- the course df which the for.
mer Peer mentioned, that he had not yet decided
whether or not he should propose any specific Mo..
tion, but merely to call the attention of "the House
to the important points which he meant to reler to,
and to point, out to His Majesty's Ministers those
remedies
intended.
asse
remedies which struck him as the most likely to
prove effedual,
Lords HOBART and MULGIt.AVE severally ob.'
served upon the impropriety of addressing the House
atanylength, except where a specific:ivil

The Earl of SUFFOLK said, that in that case
he certainly should conclude with a Motion. He
then observed, thy, with respea to his motives !Or
thus coming forward,. there. was nothing personal in
them. He was solely actuated by public conside-
rations ;--neither ambition nor avarice formed any
part .of his chariEler. He 'wanted nothing,--and
his- sole, WWI was to fulfil his duty as an
dependent .Peet.. What he wished to call the at-
tention of the House to was' of the last
import_
vice • to: all. descriptions of persons, particularly
the poorer orders of the People--namely, the pre..
sent immensely High Price of Provisions.—This
evil he attributed 'to various causes, the first of
Which, he: insisted,, was the continuance of the
War., He well knew theirnmense consumption of
the Army and Navy, which were not over.rated at
4.00,000 men, and the great waste attending such
consumption ; which last would go very far, in a
period of Peace, towards 'obviating the evil they
now had' to lament.. The.
Mae of purchasing Cattle,
too, aggravated the Scarcity and Dearness: as also
bought did the manner in which Grain was
up, pat,_
ticularly in London. The increase of Taxes also
contributed highly to increase the evils, and these
sprung direaly from the:War ;--.-but what more
than any thing else,contributed to the present High
Pricea of 'Provisions, was the 'enormous extent of
the Paper Currency.'" It had:. been calculated tbera
were -.no less than four htindre'd Country Banks,
which must supply a most alarming issue of Paper.
This he: contended, afFetied, in a considerable de-
gree, the prices or Grain,: and tended much more
than any.deficiency in the Harvest, to enhance them.
His Lordship here referred to the evidence of a
Noble Eail (then, absent) given before the Corn.
mittee, and Of whose character he spoke in terms of
unqualified approbation; He . read copious Ex-
tratts from the Minute's of the Noble Earl's E‘i-
dence (tGREMONT), which he wished were printed
for the general information of their Lordships, and
intimated his intention of making a Motion to that
.effeEt. He said, from these it appeared to he the
Noble Earl's opinion, that the late hat-vest was upon
'the whole an average crop, which was an additional
reason with him for thinking that the Pqei.Ciir-
rency kept up the prices. of Corn. He . said, the
asgistance which the Farmers received from these.
Country Bankers, enabled them to «iihliold theie
Corn. fie again expri-ssa his wish that theiK
Lordships would agree to have the Noble-Earl's

G

Evidence printed, as, in his mind, nothing se clear
and so decisive had yet been offered on the sub.
Sett. He then proceeded to suggest those remedies
which he thought most likely to answer the pro-
posed ends. He meant merely to throw them out,
in the hope that Ministers would digest and im.
prove them, which his imperfe& abilities were
unequal to. He first proposed that the number of
Bankers should be taken, and, as far as possible, the.
extent of the Paper Circulation ascertained. It may
be said this was a private transaftion, with which
the Legislature should not interfere, but he insist.
1 ed that, where private transaaions tended to public
injuries, it was the duty of the Legislature to inter.
fere ; there were two Ails, he said, passed this
reign, the effect of which went, in some degree,
to restrain these issues, a measure which was much
more necessary at present. He would also suggest
the expedient of laying on a shilling Stamp Duty
upon every Note issued ; this would have the et_
feet of abridging their circulation—if not, the
Public would have Five per Cent. out of the im-
mense profits of those Bankers. Another exile.
dient, the effeEts of which would be very beneficial,
was the establishment of Public Granaries. A great
difference existed between the weights and measures
in different parts of the kingdom, and these he
thought should be equalized. With respeet to the
sale of Corn in the Metropolis, he thought there
should be two instead of one marker, which would
give the Public those benefits obviously resulting
. from competition. Another important considera-
tion with reaped to the prices of Grain was, the
immense body of Cavalry maintained in the
kingdom, for which number he thought there
existed no . necessity. The immense' quantities
of Land lying waste, from seven to eight Mil-
lions of Acres, was another cause of the present
evils ; were these reclaimed and taken into eulti-
iration, the most beneficial effetts would be pro-
duced. He also thought that all the Country
Markets should be held on the same day, as by the
present mode, a great opportunity was afforded to
the machinations of Forestalling, &c. These were
the principal points which the Noble Earl suggested
in the first instance, as likely to obviate in their
adoption, the evils compklained of; and he conclud-
ed by moving, " That it be an instrudion to the
Committee of the House, to inquire into the extent
of the Paper Currency, and what' etre& the same has
with respeEt to the present High Prices of Pro.
visions."
On' the Question being put,
Lord HOBART said, it was notshis intention
to follow the. Noble Earl in the various statements
he had just delivered, but he observed that -the
Morion was at least unnecessary, ae the Committee
whom it was proposed to instruet,. were diligently
employed in investigating the very important sub.
.jets under their akasideratiOn. That he was con.
fident that whatever appeared to them most wise
and expedienito recommend, they would do, and
they were already Considetably advanced in their
work. He therefore thought it improper; at present
at least, to instrua them Upon any particular point.
With respea to an Official Document, to which the
'Noble Earl seemed to allude, the Letter of a Noble
'uke, he was upon inquiry, fully convinced that
every line of it was justified. by the existing
circumstances, and its circulation through the
Country was attended with very beneficial effect:.
In regard to the Noble Earl's observations on the
late Harvests, and the state of the Country with
=sped to Provisions, he begged to refer their Lord..
'ships to the important Reports of both Houses of
Parliament ; from these, on which his Lordship
observed somewhat in detail, it would appear that
the present Scarcity was to be attributed to the dis-
pensation of Providence, and which, otcourse, was
the operating cause of the high Prices. With re.
sped to the point on which the Noble Earl Laid so
much stress, the Country Banks, he was not then
prepared to give a decided opinion ; but he was
certain the House would feel the impolicy, not to
pay danger, of treating upon that system by means
of which this Country has risen to an unexampled
height of prosperity and happiness ; and they should
entertain,
with the utmost caution, any proposi-
tion tending to interrupt that system, or to trench
upon any particular branch of Commerce. In regard
' to the high Prices'of Corn arising from these, or from
the War, no positions could be more erroneous ;
the latter had already been ably argued arid de-
-eided upon by the House. Added to which,
the Reports of the C'ommittees he had already
referred to, and a reference to the prices of Corn
in former years, particularly in 1793, 4, and 1797
(respthino- ‘ihich his Lordship entered into some
detailed c:lculations), shel,vecl the falsity of the po-
sitions. In these periods the issue of Country Bank
Paper was never thought of as the causes of the
high prices, why then should it produce that effc6t
now t He then touched upon the point of the
Waste Lands, respecting which the Committee were
then busily employed, whose merits, in what they
had already done, was very ably pointed out by the
Noble Lord, as well as those beneficial effects
which the Public had every reason to expeCt would
result from their future labours.
The Earl of WARWICK shortly delivered his
sentiments. He seemed to say, that much of what
had fallen from the Noble -Earl anticipated what he
himself had proposed to suggest, and to incline in
favour of the Motion.
Lord AUCKL AND observed, that the Noble
Earl had attributed much of what he had to depre-
tate) to a popular cause, and one which was in
general very-ill understood. 'What the Noble Earl
said, had a tendency to shake the Commercial Sys-
tem of the Country ; the nature and process of the
Institutions so much descried, were 'egregiously
misconceived—the issue was for value received—
the Point was plain—the issuer was ultimately an.
werable : his sign upon the paper gave it value,
as the stamp upon a piece of metal gives it a nominal,
or a different value from the real. These banks create
a little circle of security round them ; the proceed.
ing was similar to that of lending money. When
the Paper came round again it was repaid by the Is.
suer. His Lordship entered into some calculations
to evince that these establishments had far from
an injurious tendency, and concluded by expressing
his hope, that on a question of such delicacy and
importance, the House would be led by its own
hood sense, and nut induced to tamper with that sys.