The Sun.
London, England, 1822-01-21 00:00:00

PORTUGAL.

, LISBOIV, DEC. 30.—The chief subjects of dis-
cussion that have lately occupied the attention
of the Cortes, are the project of the Constitution,
and the establishment of a National Bank at
'Lisbon.

The opinion of the Committee of Finance on
the foundation of public banks, applied to the
redemption of the paper currency, was first intro-
duced to the Cortes in the Sitting of the 13th of
December.—The Committee states, that on ma-
ture consideration of all the memorials presented
to it on the subject, it judges that this is as fa-
vourable a 'moment as can be wished for the
foundation of a public Bank, which, besides car-
rying on the operations usual in all the most re-
spectable banks in Europe, may concur at the
same time in the extinction of the paper cur-
rency. The quantity of the latter now in circu-
lation does not exceed 9,000 contos (a conto is
a million) of rees, which is far less than the
amount of the specie existing in the country ;
since it appears that in the mint of Lisbon
alone, there have been coined since 1807, 19,800
contos of rees in silver ; to this must be added
the silver coined before 1807, which constitutes
about the seventh part or the coin in circulation.
The Committee does not hesitate to say, that the
greater part of this money actually exists in the
kingdom, and though the balance of foreign
trade is in general' unfavourable, and large sums
in silver go out of the kingdom, yet the* Portu-
guese gold coin, and the Spanish patacas, which
never go out of the kingdom, are more than
equal in value to the silver exported. The pro-
ject of the Committee, consisting of 31 Articles,
was successively discussed in several succeeding
sittings, and the diseussion was concluded on the
27th of December. All the Articles proposed
by the Committee were approved, most of them
without- any debate; some gave occasion to
pretty long arguments for and against them, and
a few changes were agreed to. The Charter of
the Bank is for 20 years, during which no other
Corporation of this nature shall be established in
Portugal, with the privileges granted to this. The
9th Article, allowing the Bank to discount and
negociate bills of exchange, and all similar
papers, usual in commercial transactions, caused
a long debate, but was approved.
The 10th and 11th Articles, allowing the
Bank to lend its finds on all species of merchan-
dise and moveable property, and also on real
property, with power to sell them 101 en the
debtor shall not repay in due time the sums so
lent,
.were both opposed, but carried. The 23d
Article, enacting that " the Bank, in return for
the privilege granted it, shall contribute to the re-
demption of the paper currency, by lending, in
the first year of its operations, 2,000,000 milrecs,
or bank-notes, at 4 per cent. interest, to be paid
into the treasury In 20 equal payments," was
opposed by several Members in a long debate,
but was carried without alteration. The 31st is,
" To avoid the forgery to which the. actual paper
currency is subject during the time it is to re-
main in circulation, the Government is autho-
rised to make the necessary disbursements for the
purchase of plates of the invention of the cele-
brated artist, Perkins, to make new paper cur-
rency to be substituted for the old." .