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

but what sort of dependence was it ? The Right
Honourable Gentleman might say when he made
that assertion, " Oh, you want to destroy public
credit." He did not want any such thing ; ell he
wished was to upbold public credit ; but the Right
Honourable Gentleman was proud of his own
strength—he plumed himself on his individual stout-
ness; he was so confident of his own strength that
he cared not w !tether he was in a majority, or in a
minority, with the Bank at his elbow, and he this
day wished to give an earnest of his .stoutness.—
There was .nu other man than hienself would ever
have. thought of making Bank paper a legal tender.
He was convinced that the greatest danger would
arise from the measure; he' felt the deepest convic-
tion that the.ciedit of the country was blasted for
ever, unless the progress of paper circulation was
stopped. He declared most sincerely, before God,
that was his opinion, and therefore he trusted the
House would pause before they consented to ruin
public credit. -
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said, be
would make a few observations upon what had fallen
from the Right Hon. Gentleman (Mr. Tierney).
He could assure him, that he had never entertained
or stated it as his opinion, that any opposition adopt-
ed by the Gentle Men on the other side, had for its
objed to destroy the credit of the country. The
opinion which he had entertained and avowed was,
that the measures recommended by them would
have an injurious effed. When the Right Hon..
Gentleman said,- that be (the Chancellor of the Ex-
chequer) plumed himself on his stoutness, he never
was more tnistaken in his life, than in supposing
that he carried that stoutness to such an extreme as
to be indifferent whether he was in a majority or a
minority. Any perseverance which Gentlemen
might be disposed to attribute to him, areseirom a
conviaion. upin his part, that the measures he pur-
sued were approved by a great majority of .the feel-
ing and judgment of the country. Indeed the Right
Hob. Gentleman himself appeared to have the same
impression, for the reason he had assigned for sim-
ply protesting against the measure, instead of op-
posing it directly, was the popularity it had obtained,
by artful means. The Right Hon. Gentleman had
given him ,credit for feeling pain on the necessity of.
proposing such &measure ; he certainly did feel pain,
but at the same tine he did not hesitate to propose it,
from a conviction of its necessity. He was sure
that at.y one would feel great dlffiLulty and relucl-
ance in doing any thing to shake the credit of the
Bank of England intentionally, but when the Right
Hon. Gentleman represented them as a corporation
greedy of gain, he did not seem to be aware of the
tendency of the remark. But such was the system
of the Right Hon. Gentleman, that every argument
and observation which could be adduced in support
of it, must have a tendency to shake the credit of
the Bank, nor could any person wishing to do so (of
which he entirely acquitted the Right Honourable
Gentleman), by any effort of, ingenuity, string three
sentences together better calculated to produce such
an effea. He hoped, that as the Right Honourable
Getleman declined opposing the present measure,
from an idea that he would not be successful, he
would continue to ael upon the same principle
in other cases where success was equally impro-
bable.

Mr. TIERNEY begged to assure the Right Hon.
Gentleman, lest he should laboUr under any
mis-
take upon that subject, that he never in his life
met a Gentleman whom he was more inclined to
Oppose._

The House then divided—
For the Motion - -
Against it
Majority ,

- -47

On being re-admitted, we found Mr. TIERNEY
on his legs, moving for a Secret Committee to ex.-
amine into the total amount of the outstanding debt
of the &ink of England, and the means of discharg-
ing the same, and also into the operation-of the Or-
der in Council of the (2.7 th of Feb. i 797.
Mr. MANNING thought the motion unnecessary.
An the paper in circulation down to this morning
amounted to 22,500,0001. a smaller sum than was
usual in former years. He was surprised that the
Right Hon. Gentleman (Mr. Tierney); who was him-
self in office, should hold those securities in such
contempt by which every individual held his property.
The statement he had made ought to be satisfadory
to a certain degree to every holder of Bank paper. As
to what had been said repecting the sordid views of
the Bank, he would answer it by a challenge to the
Right Hon. Gentleman to point out an instance in
which his accusation was verified, and he was him-
self aware of many in which the contrary ap-
peared. -
Mr. HENRY THORNTON opposed the motion for
a Committee,. as he thought the Bill-should pass.
Mr. GEORGE JOHNSTONE 'felt himself called upon
to vote for the motion, which he s:.ould do, %%itlt-
out meaning to cast the slightest imputation on the
Bank of England.

Mr. MARII'IOTT thought the credit bOth of the
BAnk and of the Governmeitt would be best served
by inquiring into their aflitir3. The more we went
on in the paper system, the more, in his opinion,
we should expose ourselves to dangerous conse-
quences. The Deputy Governor had declared him-
self last year against making Bank Notes a legal
tender ; this year, hos.vever, he relaxed a little in
his objections, and next year would probably find
him still mote inclined to relaxation. He then
went into a train of argument, so prove that the
restii6tion Du she Bank, which prohibited payment
in specie, was the great cause of the failure of
banks ; and, stated, that previous to that period
such a cireutust.ince was so rare, that the failure of
the Bank of Fordyce and Company was enumerated
in the Chronological Table with the tire of Lon-
don and other extraordinary events. Since that
period, however, eleven houses bad failed, and
the wonder was altogether remo‘ed twin the oc-
curtence.

Mr. MANNING said, the bill comMonly called
Lord Stanhope's Bill, was not desired by the Bank.
Mr. BARING saw no reason why the Bank should
shun inquiry, but the Howie would do well to con-
sider whether the appointment of a Committee
would not have a tendency to excite distrust
abroad.

Mr. FTIBBERT opposed the motion, and bore les-
timony to the condua of the Bank of England,
which, he said, had kted, from the purest motives,