The Sun.
London, England, 1812-03-18 00:00:00

BANK NOTE LEGAL TENDER BILL.

The CHANCELLOR of the Excueautut then rose,
for the purpose of moving, that. the AA of InseSes,
sion, making Bank Notes a legal tender, in certain
cases, be continued under certain amereimentseand
extended to Ireland. It was not necesary, he.ob-;
served, in this stage of the . proceeding, .toemake
many observatiOns, but looking. back to the discus-
sion that took place last Session when he introduced
the same m.•asure, he V,,:ks:avare that the Bill (if
the House permitted him to briegit hi) would. not
pass without occasioning very considerable discus-
sions. He would shortly state the course which he
would propose the house to adopt on the present
occasion. He had no intention Whatever of lior,
rying the Bill through the House, as many .Gentle-e
men for Ireland were at present necessarily
.en-
gaged in that kingdom, and from the nature of their
engagements, would not be enabled to attend tile
discussions for some time; he should therefore pro-
rose to read the Bill a first and second time before
the holidays, to have it committed and printed, and
alter tie holidays, to consider the provisions of it,
-in order that Gentlemen from Ireland might be pre-
sent at the discussions. He would now barely state
the nature of the provisions which induced him to.
recommend a continuance of the measure. He did
not intend to make any other alteration in the pro.
visions further than to extend the operation of
the Bill to Ireland, and the propriety of proViding
that payments of Bank Notes into Court, out o 4
Court, and in process of law, should be deemed le-
gal payments. Since the passing of the last Bill, he
had ascertained that in the Courts of King's Bench,
Common Pleas, and Exchequer, there had been bur
three anions brought on the question of legality of
tender. One was an anion of replevin, tried .be-
fore Lord Ellenborough, where a- tender of Bank
Notes was proved, but in the present state of the
law, that was deemed not a sufficient-answer to the
action. The other was an ['talon of my Lord King
against one of his tenants for the purpose of raising
the question : the money was paid into Court, and
the proceedings were consequently stayed, the No-
ble Lord having pies iously given notice that he
would not receive Bank Notes as a legal tender.—
The other was an a&ion of the same nature. These
were the only cases which he bad been able to find
upon record. According to the provisions of the
Bill, it did not occasion any impediment to prose-
cutions if the public were inclined to quarrel with
it, therefore he was justified in saying that there
was no great dispositio❑ to resist the measure, nor
did the public feel much oppression from ir. Be-
cause if they feltaggrieved, actions in many instances
would have been brought. The circumstance of so
'few being instituted spewed that the public were
not anxioes to procure money in payment of their
demands. It therefore a►forded a strange confirm-
ation of what he had predicted last Session, name-
ly, that the desire of receiving payments in cash did
not arise out of a feeling generally prevalent, but
was confined to the party out of which the measure
originated. The Right Hon. Gentleman observed,
that it might be said that there wasno legislative mea-
sure to-cause that demand to any considerable ex,
tent ; but it did not follow,. therefore, in con-
sequence that the, disposition to receive money
should not be increased. The rarity of the instances
must afford very considerable consolation to the
House, because in passing !Ike measure, they were
only gi►ing legal security to tfiat species of payment
which the larger portion of the country were con-
tent to receive. With these few observations he
should content himself, and move,

That leave be given to bring in a Bill to continue anti(
amend the 51st of the King, relating to Bank Notes, ankt to
extend the provisions of the said Ad to Ireland,"

Lord FOLKSTONE•tOOk the earliest opportunity of-
entering his protest against the measure, and to ex,
press his utter astonishment at the flippant manner
in which the Right Honourable Gentleman had in-
troduced it, well knowing that the etfed of it would
be nothing short of making Bank Notes a legal
tender. The Right Honourable Gentleman had,
last Session given his express promise and ,pledge
that the measure should not be renewed h
%NJ _Out .4
previous examination into the causes for its renewal.
The measure now proposed would go infinitely be-
yond the one of last Session, and. the Right • Hon.
Gentleman could not deny it. (Mr. Perceval said
" No !") Well then, observed the Noble Lord, it
will have the same effect, as if it did. There were a
variety of circumstances which rendered it ntcessaty
before the Bill passed, to have an examination into
the causes for
~its adoption, to ascertain whether
any inconvenience did arise at Belfast, as stated itt
Noble Lord's petition, for, as he -understood, the
only circulating medium in that quarter was gui-
neas, it would be well to consiJer whit was the state
of debtor and creditor contracts in Ireland, be-
cause the Bill of last Session was introduced
expressly to relieve tenants. It therefore, would
be desirable to ascertain whether contracts tat
Belfast and its vicinity were made with a view to
payments in gold. He rather supposed that the
Petition was from tenants to be relieved froiri pay-
ments in cash. With rasped to. the Bill, lie was
prepared to maintain on the lace of it, that it ought
not to be renewed ; there being.no pretrice for it,
the circumstance which induced its 'adoption last,
Session being removed. Instead of the price of gold
increasing it had diminished considerably. Besides,
experience had shewn that it was futile in its oro-
visions, and easily evaded. The RiOt Hon. Gen..,
derma had last Session argued, that it woud have
the efild. of producing an influx of gold and
silver, but it had produced -a tonally ditferenteffeet.
To be sure, gold tell in price, but not front lie
operation of the Bill. So far from.. it, citane
iltLoughout the country had disappeared in conse-
quence. People in country towns were Obliged. to
coin tokens, and passengers were compelled ta -

hem. The provisions of the Biil, as he had ob-
er-e were evaded in respeEt to selling guineas,
Oor the offence was selling them for Bank of Eng-
land notes ; now, persons inclined to speculaie, had
only to procure Country B uik notes, and they avoid-
ed the penalties of the B;11. Various means had
been resorted to for entrapping the unwary into the
,cornmiqion of toe crime ; Bow-street officers were
employed fur the purpose, and yet only one coe-
viaion had occurred ; the Bill, therefore, in his
opinion, was useless, and lie trusted the House
Vl,ould pause before they consented to permit the
Right Hon. Gentleman to introduce another of the
same kind.
Lord CASTLEREAGH was not disposod at present
to go into any arguments on the B. 11." He should
enly notice that the Noble Lord seemed to adhere
lo the opinions entertained by him last Session, and
to press hi, opposition before the Bill was brought
iii. He wished to correa him in two points, in
%virich he appeared to be under 'misapprehension
wi,h respeß t. what be (Lord C.) and his Right
lon. Friend had stated. The reason which he had

for not extending the measure to Ireland last Ses-
sion, was on account of the absence of many Irish
Members, and not from any view that. it would not
be desirable for that coun!ry. He had stated that it
was his opinion that the circumstances of Ireland,
in acettain degree, varied from those of England, so
as to exclude at that time its introduction. As to
the supposed pledge 01 his Right Hon. Friend, he
apprehended that be had stated quite the reverse of
what the Noble Lord had imputed to him ; for his
Right Hon. Friend had stated, that it nothing short
of making Bank notes a legal tender would serve
to cornea the evil, .a remedy to that extent must be
applied; Ile thought, that so long as the Bank of
Engiand were prohibited by law from paying their
notes in gold, the Legislature owed it to the subjea
to protea him against any demands which were not
under-these circumstances equitable ; because, by
not affording that protection, great injustice would
be done to the subjeds of the realm. In that opi-
nion his Right Hon. Friend had coincided. With
resr;e6l to the practice i4l Belfast and its vicinity, the
Noble Lord was misinformed, for the practice was
the reverse of what- he had stated ; commas were
made there to ptfy in pounds sterling, and not in
gold. Guineas bad ceased to be the.• circulating
medium, and therefore the subjeti could not pay his
debts in gold.
Lord 'FOLKESTONE, in "explanation, expressed his
concern that he should have misunderstood the
Noble Lord and the Right Hon. Gentleman;
Mr. TIERNE2' would not oppose the bringing in.
of the Bill, for a Bill of more impottance than.the
one now proposed had seldom been moved for, or
one that more required the serious deliberation of
Parliament, and which ought to be thoroughly un-
derstood here and elsewhere. He was not prepared
to say that in any one stage of the Bill he should
trouble the House with his opinions. It had been
most amply and fully discussed in one of the ablest
reports of the committee of last Session, strength-
ened by subsequent discussions upon that report.—
Much obloquy had been thrown upon those g:ving
their opinions upon Lord Stanhope's Bill.; they had
been charged with wishing to throw .public credit
into contusion ; it was therefore an ungraCious task
now to venture upon discussion. Much encourage-
ment could not be expected when having got from
bad to worse, it he attempted to discuss the pro-
priety of the measure. The speech of the Right

Honourable Gentleman would warrant him in say-
ing, that to all intents and purposes the objed of
the present Bill was to make Bank note; a legal
tender.—(Mr. Perceval shook his head.)—He was
to understand by that motion he was wring in his
assumption, but he would defy the Right Honour-
able Gentleman to prove the contrary. Was be to
understand then they were legal tender only when
pet s.ns were sued in Courts of Justice) What law
could compel him to part with his goods without
money, and did not this Bill go that length ? Sup-
pose, for instance, he were to,go into a silversmith's
shop and contrad for i QOOl. watt') of plate, which
of course %you'd be delivered to him, and tendered
Bank notes in payment, the shopkeeper under the
Bill dare not refuse to deliver the goods. If he did
lie (Mr. T.) could sue him in a Coors of Law for
the performance of his contra&. Arguments how-
ever were unnecessary, and he would not press them
on the House either now nor at any future time.—
He twat satisfied, that in bringing the measure for-
ward, the Right Honourable Gentleman must feel
infinite pain at heart ; but the fa& was, that the
Right Honourable Gentleman was compelled to the
measure by his intercourse with the Bank of Eng-
land, and dare not meddle with them. The Bank
Corporation were hi; masters ; on them the whole
'• of the finances of the country depended. His No-
ble Fiend had stated the necessity, of entering into
an examination of the affairs of the Bank ; that,
however, was denied formerly, for the reasons he
had already stated. What was the etre& of that dt-
?—lt was a dire& fraud on the public, for Par-
lianient to make Bank paper equivalent to gold,
when they did not know the state of the affairs of
the Bank. They might talk of France and her
risignats, but France had not protested her assignats,
without shewing to the nation, that they t 4 ere se-
, cured upon the national domains; at least, they so
pretended, and kept up the appearance of solvency.
The Right Honourable Gentleman had not even
goi,e that length.. He could not siiew what wealth
the Bank had to discharge their debts. If Parlia-
ment chose, -therefore, to erea the Bank of Log-
land into a sort of mastership over them it was well;

but by this ill-phiced confidence they were striking
a vital blow at the credit of therEmpire. re-
speCt to issues of paper, theie was no limitation on
them—their own interest would guide them on the
occision. 'To ta:k of the forbeirance of the Bank
%vas to say nothing to the purpose; the Direiitors,
many of them he well knew and respected indir
&Lilly, but as a corporate body they were not en-
titled to much confidence. The Right Honourable

Gentleman haJ accommodated himself to their pur-
poses and 'views; they were greedy of gain, and
Ittes.trielion in their issues, whet, left to their discic-
tion, was not to be 'depended upon. After this
firw•tion was disposed of, he should move for a
Cornet tee to inquire into the affairs of the Bank
generally. What was the state of the country ?
the commercial interest hall been taught to believe
they might depend' on the Bank, and they did so,