The Sun.
London, England, 1818-05-19 00:00:00

EDUCATION OF TIIE POOR.

Mr. fittouGiiAM, iu moving the order of the day
for the flon.,e to resolve itself into a Committee
OP the Bill for implying into the endowments for
the education of the poor, thought it necessary
to address a few words to the [louse. In conse-
quence of the discussion which bad already taken
place on this subject, and the detail which lie gave
of the abuses that had been discovered by the
Committee, it ,vou!4l be impossible to give all idea
of the mass (it information that hail been commte-
n:catt d to them since the subject was last before
-the [louse. A new light kid broken in upon
them, which disclosed a inoltit ode of anuses that
bad nut been known before ; and even where it.
was supposed that abuses did not exist.. Multi-
(tides of letters and communications had been sent
to the Committee. Numbers of persons had come
to town, some claiming the right of being trustees
to endowments, and others claiming benefits un-
der the funds of various institutions, where it was
- thought no-abuses could exist ; so that during the
last ten days, a great and important accession of
information had b--en produced. In some of the
returns that had lately been made, there were de-
fects of a very suspicious nature; and there were
places where the most glaring abuses existed, from
which no returns were yet made. There were
certain Reverend Gentlemen belonging to those
institutions, who tlimight themselves justified in
withholding such information, and who had not
- yet made any returns. Ile hoped what be then
said would serve as a hint and a warning to those
Rev. Gentlemen, that they must not expect to

escape the vigilance of thatl-louse; and th-at they

were not at !lbw y to disguise the facts withiu their
knowledge, from good-natured forbearance to-
wards neighbours, or from any culpable wish of
paying court to those snperiors to whom they Might
owe, or from whom t hey might expect, their church
preferment. If any such motives as these existed in
the minds of the Rev. Gentlemen, so as to induce
them to withhold their returns, they might he As-
staesi that they should not'scare detection ; for
they :night depend on it, the Committee was in lull
possession of tile knowledge of all the abuses
which they might wish to conceal, and that the
Committee would have their eyes fixed on all the
Rev. persons who were parties to such abuses.-
1-le had, in his eye, one of the grossest cases of

abuse that ever was known. Since this subject
was last before the House, be heard of a grant-
mar school in He' Itordshire, with a large endow-
ment, where, for the last 30 years, there was only
one scholar. In the year 1354, an endowment bad
been established in Essex by a bequest of land ;

there was no school there now; and the payment

of rent was resisted. lu the county of Devon a
house and lan:1 bad been appropriated to the use
of a school, and there were two or three scholars
there at present. In Dorsetshire an estate bad
been devoted to the use of a school ; there was a
school in it some years ago, with a house and farm ;
but no school now. In Devonshire there was an
estate appropriated for the use of a school, which
estate, some years ago, used to let for one
thousand ponods a year : all this was vested in a
certain corporation ; and only 4/ a year granted
by the worshipful corporation for the use of the
poor. In Not folk the estate belonging to a school
was let at a low rent to the relatives of the trustees.
In the county of Nottingham there were ample
funds, which had. been abandoned in a shameful
ItAv, by being let for a trifle, for 999 years. In
Worcestershire there was another proper' y, out of
which the master and trustees had incomes ; but
there was not a single scholar in the school.
There were other things which had come out since
be last addressed the House, which were Eio enor-
mous in their nature, that he could not in the
present state of the investigation disclose them.
Not many days, he hoped, would elapse, before
the Committee would be able to make a special
report of all those enormities, the -detection of
which would be of the greatest benefit to the pub-
lic. It Wa3 for these reasons he wished the House
might pass the Bill this session ; and that no mote
restrictions would be imposed on the power of the
Commissioners. And as to the appointment of
those Commissionersjie implored the Right lion.
Gentlemen who miglit appoint them to consider
that every thing deOnded on the personal quality
of those. Commissroners; -and lie trusted that
every thing like partiality, or patronage, or job.
bing, would be entirely left out of the nomina-
tion. There could be no other motive than a zeal-
ous desire to see the funds converted to their pro-
per uses. He had now to express his wish, per-
s'inally, to his.Mdesty's Ministers to be appoint-
ed one of these Commissioners ; and he thought
the interest he took in this business entitled him
to the preference he now sought for; lie should, in
case of heing.appointed, he ready to devote his
time and his labour, gratuitously, to the object of
the Commission. He was most anxiously im-

pressed with a belief, that the House was never
yet engaged in a more important investigation
than the ,resent; and he knew his presence would
greatly contribute to the success of that investi-
gation,- He trusted the plan would meet with the
support of the Heads of the Christian Church in
the other House of Parliament, and that they
would not throw any
.obstacles in the way of it
He concluded with moving, that the Speaker do
leave the Chair.
The Hill then went through a Committee, and
the report was ordered to be received to-morrow.
BANK REsTRICTION ACT.

The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUEtt moved
the further consideration of the Report on the
Bank Restriction Bill. Several amendments were
read and agreed to.
Mr. F. LEwts objected to the 11;1 I. He re-
gretted that the Bill was not referred to a Com .
mittee up stairs, where it would receive the most
effectual consideration. If passed now, the effect
of it would be, to render the system to which it
administered interminable. Ile would propose
middle course, in order to prevent any inconve-
nience to the Batik, on the one hand, or any
pledge on the -part of the Legislature to a conti-
nuance of the system, on the oilier. It should be
stated in the preamble, that the purpose for which
the Bill was passed, was to give time to the Batik
to decrease the amount of their issues, that they
might with greater facility prepare to resume
cash payments. As the Bill now stood, he sup-
posed that no objection woold be made to his
preamhle. The preamble, which was at present
tie Bill, was unintelligible. It alluded to unfore-
seen circumstances, will which the House was
not airquainted. Vat ions as were the vicissitudes

which Prance had undergone for the last 21 years,

still she preserve►l a metallic currency, wit lout any
change in the nominal price of gold or silver.—
There Vra9 nothing in the negociation of a foreign

loan which would render this Bill necessary

was produccd by another cause, namely, the
amount of our paper issues. It was this that
caused the rise in the exchange, and sent the gold
out of the country ; and, as long as large issues
of riper were made, so long would the restriction
be necessary. It was therefore for the House to
consider, whether the Bank slion!d he permitted
to retain that power which They now possessed,
of making issues of their paper to any extent
they pleased. If such a power remained to them,

they -would, for their interest, exercise it ; and the
House would consequently find itself in the same
situation this time twelvemonth as it *l4l now.—
As to the Country Banks, he thought them highly
went. 'Flue preamble he proposed would only
declare the sense of the House; it would not in
itself be a legislative enactment. It might be
said, that this would be interfering with the Batik.
But that could not be helped. So long as the
Restriction Act continued, the Bank had the re.
gulation of the property of the country. The
oreamble only recognised the principle, Shat it
was from a diminution of their issues that a dis-
continuance of the Restriction was to be expect-
ed. Connected with their present enormous cir-
ciliation of one and two-pound notes, was the
increase of the crime of forgery in the country.—
He concluded with moving an amendment yr the
preamble, suitable to the views lie had stated.
Mr. CANNING thought the amendment objec-
tionable, as it expressed precisely that reason for
the continuance of the Restriction Act, for which
he could not consent to the Bill. lie was as averse
as ever he had been to any interference with the
practical affairs of the Bank. It was not for the
House to inquire when the Bank was prepared to
resume cash payments. The adjournment of the
period for such-- resumption was to be found in
the probability of any gold, which was now is-
sued, finding its immediate way out of the coun-
try. However desirable the opening of the Bank
would he, he thou!...ht it wont(' be at tended with
difficulty and hazard, whenever it would take
place. To provide fur that difficulty should be
left ro the Bank itself. It was said the same causes
would exist next year as existed now for the con-
tinuance of the Restriction Act. He could not
anticipate the recurrence of such causes, and he
felt that this Country could not right itself until
its metallic currency was restored.—((fear, hear!)
The measure of the prolongation of the Act was
to be justified only by the fact of the foreign
loans.

Mr. J. P. GRANT denied that the cause of the
continuance of the Restriction Act was to be
found in the preamble, as it now stood. There
was not upon► the statute book a preamble stating
as Pt cause for any enactment " unforeseen cir-
cumstances." If the foreign loan was the cause,
why was it not stared ? It was not alone neces•
nary that the Bank of England should have pre-
pared treasure for the purpose of renewing cash
payments. It should begin with lessening the
amount of paper issues. He could not see why
the circumstance of a foreign loan should af-
fect in any sway the resumption of cash pay-
ments in England. If- more bullion was sent
from this country than we could bear, the result
would be, that the price of bulliou would
be raised here; and if too great a quantity of
bullion was sent into the foreign mat ket, would
not its price there be necessarily depreciated ?
Hence it would find its own level, if a par circolatiou
was encouraged. lie contended that the systetn
of advances from the Bank to Government pro-
duced the stoppage in 1797 ; and when he saw
that the Chancellor of the Exchequer founded his
financitt measures of the present year, in a loan
to the amount of twenty millions, he was
at a loss to discover the real motives
for the present Bill. Before he sat down,
he wished to give notice, that in a future
stage of the Bill he should trove to limit its
continuance to six months after the next meeting
of l'arliatnent.

Mr. C. GRANT said, that the ground on which
his side of the House had argued this question,
was, that a resumption of cash payments would
create an issue of gold from the country, and that
foreign loans had the same effect ; it was there-
fore to counteract the great reduction of the cur-
rency by these means that the restriction was
again proposed. He contended, on the authority
of Mr. Thornton, whose work on this subject
contained a more complete developement of prin-
ciples than any book on finance which had been
laid before the public, that, in times of alarm

and pressure, it was the wisest policy on the part
of the Bank to extend their issues. He knew the
restriction was not a peace measure ; its excel-
lence depended upon its being temporary ; but
there were circumstances in the present state of
the country which rendered it the duty of Parlia-
ment to resort to it now, as the best means of
preserving public credit.
I\lr. GURNEY said, as the Bank was detlared to
he able to resume the'se payments, .it was a ques-
tion of expediency, with reference to the .ciream-
stanees of the country, that the House had to de-
termine. He then entered into a review of the
amount of the paper currency at ditrerent periods,
and observed, that the issues had increased, tint in
proportion) to the national debt, but to the interest
tilt rem) ; and, so long as the expenditure was at
its present amount, it would he necessary to re-
ti.in a proportion of paper-money, to pay the
King's taxes.

BASKRS considered it desirable to work
back the currency to its former state as speedily
as possible, and he hoped that in the nuxt
Session a motion would be made for entering into
a careful and Solenm investigation .of this im-
portant subject. He trusted, that if an oppor-
tunity presented itself before July 1819, fi.r the
resumption of cash payments, the Bank' would
not wait for the expiration Of the Act, because
he was sensible that every fresh restriction would
render (hp Tel to a metallic currency more and
inure difficult. Still he was afraid that some cir-
cumstances foreseen, or unforeseen, would id-
Nevem the accomplishment of that desir-
able object. As to the amendment, he did lint
trunk it at all important, and should Vote aguin3t
it.

The House then divided—
For the Preamble
For the Amendment

Majority fur the Preamble --67

Mr. J. P. GRANT MOred, that instead of the
word " sth (lay of July, 1809," these words he
inserted, Six weeks alter the meeting of the

next Sesvion."

The SPEAKER suggested, that the best way
would be to propose to negative the original Re-
solution, awl atter it had been negatived, to in-
troduce the Amendment in its place.
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER objected
to fixing a time which would not allots, a sttfi-
dent opportunity for any Commitiee to investi-
gate the subject.
Mr. TIERNEY thought that if the Right Lion.
Gentleman really meant that cash. payments
should he resumed next year, he could have no
objection to an atnen,:ment which he was about to
propose, that the 25th of March be inserted in-
stead of the 25th of July.

Atter a lew words from Mr. C. GaANT and Mr.
J. P. GRANT, the House divided—

For the Original Words
Fur the Amendment •?7
>l3jority fur the Original Words.... —6l
The 13i1l was then ordered to be read A third
time to-morrow.