The Sun.
London, England, 1818-03-05 00:00:00

BANK PAYMENTS IN SPECIE.

. ,
Lord A. HAMILTON rose to move fora paper,
which he was surprised to hear neither the B.►nk-
nor the Chancellor of the Exchequer wished
should be presented to the House. Last year,
when
.he made:a similar motion, it was. opposed,
on the ground that the Bank seas then engaged in
preparing for the resumption of cash payments.
He thought it high time that the House should
interfere to obtflin the information which was the.
object of his motion, and be no longer contented
with whatever the Chancellor .of the Exchequer
or the Gentlemen of the Bank thought proper to
communicate. Hythen moved, that there be.laid.
before the House a copy of any notice issued by
the Directors of the Bank of Englaod. to: -the
Public in 1818, respecting any. payment of notes
in specie, together with the amount ,of the notes
which such notice made the Bank liable to pay;
and also an account
.of the amount, of 'such notes
paid off by the •Baok:,•. up to , the latest date to
which stick account could be,•made up. •.
The CHANCELLOR of The LXCHEQPER said, that
the Noble Lord.,,would easily know the reason
why the present motion would ibe objected tu, it
he recollected the objection Which was made to a
motion of a similar kind made during the last Ses,
sion. The objection then made,avas, that an in-
quiry made by the House Into the measures
adopted by the Bank for the purpose of , making
their payments in specie, could only have the ef-
fect of deranging those measures. The same rea-
son still operated ivith unabated force, and yet
the• Noble Lord wished the House .to agree to this
motion. The success of the arrangements adopted
by the Bank for resuming•cash payments depend-
ed very much an these arrangements-. being made
and. acted upon itnperceptiWy,• as far as was pos-
sible, in a matter of such complicated extent.—
The notice given by the Bank in September last,
to which the Noble Lord's motion referred, was
a sure pledge of the wish of the Bank to resume
cash payments as Soon as circumstances permitted.
He therefore felt it his duty to meet the Noble
Lord's motion with a decided negative.
hlr. GRENFELL remarked on this occasion, as on
various others, that the.• Right Hon, the Chan-
cellor of the Exchequer sheaved a remarkable ala-
crity in stepping forward as the champion of the
Bank. The objection of the Right Hon. Gentle.

man to this motion was exactly the same as he
had last year opposed to it ; but that objection
was still less applicable now than it was at that
time.—The House then divided—
Ayes- ll
Noes 34
Majority against the Motion —23
Mr. TIE'RNEY rose for the purpose of moving
that there be laid before the House a continuation,
up to the present time, of the weekly returns 01
Bank Notes in circulation. *Although he 'yodel'.
stood no opposition,vvasito be made to this motion,
he thought it proper to assign the reasrin wily he
made it. That reasonwas lotinded on tile in'
portance of affording fiat • infoemation respecting
the amount of Bank
,paper in circulation, and
the affairs of the Bank previous to the time
when the Restriction Act would expire. fle
wished to do WI justice to the willingness of the
Bank to resume cash payments,,and complimented
the present Governor of- the Bank of England ;
but it was to he considered, that the resumptiOn
of cash-payments would necessarily have the effect
of lessening the quantity of Bank paper in circu-
lation. This no doubt would produce consider-
able public inconvenience. With the view of di-
minishing that inconvenience, the obvious course
was for the Bank gradually to ditniniAlt the amount
of paper in circulation, as a preparation for casts
payments. But it was to his utter astonishment
he found, that immediately after the end of the
last Session, when so much had been said of the
preparations for cash-payments and 'the wishes
and intentions of the Bank upon the subject,
that very step was taken which would have
been taken if it were intended not to resume
cash paytnent-r-namely, an increase to the amount
of several millions in the amount of paper in cir-
culation.. He thought that it was very much ow-
ing to the amount of the issues by the Bank last
year that the rate of interest was lowered, and the
Chancellor of the Exchequer enabled to make the
flourishing: statements which he 'had laid before
the House r,srmecting the general finance of the
country. All this sh,..tved how narrowly die pro-
ceedings of t'he Bank and the Chancellor of the
Exchequer should lie watched. His object was
not to get gold from the in exchatti•.e for
paper, but to restore the-corfelioy to a wholcsompe
state. Unless that-was soon done, be was sure
the personal property:of this couswy would be it*
the utmost jeopardy. He did not sdy i his 'l):*ily.,
or for the purpose-of debate, but after
Consideration of the, subject; and tike be5t.,,,,-
the faculties which God had given him. >tIII
hoped was,. that this motion wouitt not he :merely
granted, but that some of the Bank Directors
would explain the reason of the-great increase in
time amount of notes issued by the 13ankiwithim
the last six months, and by'so doing interposing
an almost inseparable bar that resumption of
cash payments for which they
,professed them- •
selves desirous. He concluded by moving for a
continuation, up to the latest date, of the, Weekly
amount of Bank Notes and Bank Post Bills issued
by the Bank of England.
The CHANCELLOR of the.ExcsseGumslid not
mean to oppose the motion, and only, rose to say
that he was to be understood as.assentiogomily,witis
some limitation to the proposition; that -in order
to prepare for the. resumption of cash payments,
time Batik should withdraslr, h great proportion of
the paper in cirenlation.
Mr. MANNING said, .with/respeeU, -to the in-
crease within the last year in the -issues of the -
Bank, it bad no connection with the adjournment
of Parliament. About the month, of-Inly the
payment of the dividends of the Three per Cents.
Most of necessity have occasioned.. 4 increase
the issues of the Bank. - -
Mr. GRENFELL said, that the increase in time
athount _Of the issues of the Balik,- which his
Right Hon. Friend (Mr. Tierney),had referred to,
was not confined to the Month of- July, but was
on the average of the whole last-six months. He
complained that the uueertainty which now pre-
vailed relative to the Jestimption of ,such par
ments, was productive of much evil in the City,
and occasioned time fluctuations and speCulations
in the funds. The delay of the Chancellor of miie.
Exchequer in the declamation of his fitmi.ocial
plans, had also time effect of iucreasing these floc.. ,
and gave individuals to,whom any hints
relative to those plans wete communicated, aatr
opportunity of engaging in these.,speculations.---
He therefore hoped the Right Hon. Gentleman
would put an end to this by an explicit declara- •
tion to time House of what was intended with re-

spect to the Restriction Act, atr.l the 'plans of
finance for the year.

The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said, he
must utterly deny that any thing had been said by
.him, in this House OT elsewhere, or .could hare
been said by any, person in his confidence, to oc-
casion the fluctuations in the Funds, or to enable
Any sqcli speculations as the Han. Gentleruan (Mr.
Greniell) alkded to. He positively denied the
truth of the imputation-which seemed to be con—

veyed. by the lion. Ge►►tleman, and mist repel it
with the contempt which- it deserved.—(Hear !)
—lie wr►uld . leave, the-.llonourable Gentleman

.... , _ .
hitnself,to decide whether any pretnature.or par-
tial statement .by him, on either of the two sub-
jectsonentioned, would not have the effect of pro..
muting those speculations which ought so much
to be discouraged. .

Mr. TIERNEY •said, that if he. found .that the
Bank did not, before the end of March, withdraa
some part of the immense amount of paper in cir-
culation, so as to prepare for the resumption of.
cash payments, he would move a resolution for

the purpose of adopting some precautionary men-
sure against such a proceeding on the pat of..th*
Bank, as would bring the personal property of
the country into imminent danger.
Mr. GRENFELL said, nothing was furffter from
his intention than to impute auy impropel or eon-
rupt motive to the Right Hon, the_ Chancellor of
the Exchequer, who, of all- who had ever filled
that high station, was, he verily believed,, the last
man who would be capable of such ad act.--
(Hear !)

The motion was then agreed to. Theother or-

ders of the day were then disposed of,: and the
House adjourned.

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