Star.
London, England, 1822-03-09 00:00:00

present mode of erecting these three
was the only one that could be practised
certainty of benefit to the countrys If Mr.
Whited in 1792, as he could have done) and as he
was sorry he had not, the 4 per cents with a Sot It
91 per ceitt. Stock, the amount of interest he would
thereby have saved to the nation, at compound inte-
rest, would have annihilated the National Debt ; and
if they did not now pursue that mode, he saw no
prospect of its ever being effected. So much for the
policy and principle; but as to the mode, and espe-
cially the period of time granted for dissent which
was objected to, he meant to contend that the time
was amply sufficient. The Resolutions of his Right
Bon. Friend (the Chancellor of the Exchequer) on
the subject were made, he believed, at the latter end
of February ; and, from the moment they were pub-
lished. all the world knew the terms that were to
be offered to them, as well as though the Bill
were passed into a lasim2-(- Hear, hear, hear).—The
Parliament then said—" We will pay you off, as
v:e have a right to do, by giving you one hundred
pounds sterling for every hundred of Stock, we will
give you what is your due, as every other debtor has
a right to act towards every other creditor ;" and in
that they were justified—(Hear). But the Parlia-
ment said—" If )ou prefer having Main the 4 per
cent. Stock, we will give you that instead of 1001.
sterling." This was the whole mystery of the case—
this was the simple proposition, and he should like
to know wherein lay the difficulty of decision ? lithe
party interested wanted his money, it was equally in
his power to have it, either by taking the 1001. ster-
ling, or by taking it in the shape of Stock convertible
into money. But it was said enough time was not
given for dissent, and it was asked, what the Public
would lose by giving longer time? The answer to
that was, that the Public would be bound down to
certain terms proposed by themselves, while the
party interested, the stockholder, would have the
advantage of watching occurrences to determine his
choice—(Hear). One Hon. Member inveighed against
such an operation as unfair whilst a Russian and
Turkish war was pending. Why, if they were to wait
till there was nothing in the state of Europe, or of
tuffs country to affect the transaction, he feared they
twit abandon all expectation of paying off any Stock
—(Hear). The Hon. Member himself presented a
proof of this ; for, after travelling flom Petersburgh
to Constantinople, he came back to the Sinking Fund,
deriving from that an argument against it. He
might with equal propriety- have gone on to antici-
pate what Parliament would do on the motion given
notice that night, for the remission of the tax on
tallow candles. There would always be something
in the shape of a hindrance, if they but once admit-
ted the principle—either at home, or to be descried
on the political horizon—Wries of Hear, hear, hear).
A great proof of the good faith of the measure was,
that it lett the mode and the time of paying off the
dissentients to the determination of Parliament. It
Was SAW by the Right Hon. Gentleman opposite (Mr.
Tierney) that there was nothing in Mr. Pelham's plan
about the mode or time of paying off. He believed
them was not, but he would have been obliged to
provide for those considerations in the pre:gess of
his plan ; but, as regarded the right of it, he had
only to ask if the stockholders in purchasing obtained
any stipulation as to time or mode of execution?—
Government was bound to pay off all who dissented
—that was a condition annexed to the transaction.
Upon a candid review of the whole ease, it must be
considered that this plan did not differ from Mr. Pel-
ham's—it was no departure from the spirit of the
Act which regulated the reduction of the Stock in
question ; and the terms upon which it was now pro-
posed to effect that were of a fair nature, and gene-
rally approved of—(=Wear, hear).
Mr. WILLIAMS said, he was one of those who
viewed this measure as contrary to law, of bad po-
licy, and bad also in the mode of execution. In dis-
cussing the first of these objections, the Right Hon.
Gentleman opposite had altogether omitted to advert
bathe Act which created the Stock in question. That
Act was the 24th of the late King, and not the S7th,
which had been exclusively referred to by all who
had taken part in the discussion. That Act said in
terms—that this Stock should not be redeemable till
twenty-five millions of the Public Debt had been paid
off and redeemed. Mr. Fitt was a party to that Bill,
and his words at the time shewed that there could
be no doubt that the Act did contemplate the reduc-
tion ot twenty-five millions below what the Public
Debt then was. lie shewed from the Attorney-Ge-
netal, what was the law of the case, such being the
words. But would any lawyer contend, that this
condition had been complied with, because they had'
borrowed with one hand and redeemed with another ?
Next he had a doubt as to the mode in which the ope-
ration was effected. It was said from the other side that
an option had been given., For himself, he begged to
state, that he had not one farthing in the 5 per cents.
and therefore had no personal interest in what he said.
But when he heard it stated by the Right Hon. Gen-
tleman who had just sat down, that the terms were
well understood, he must say that he (Mr. Williams)
did not at that moment understand what the terms
were, nor did he believe the Chancellor of the Exche-
quer could himself tell them. The real terms must
depend upon when they paid the £lOO sterling to the
dissentients. They might pay them in a month, or
twenty years hence; but the value of the property
of those who dissented could only be estimated by a
knowledge of the period of their being paid off. The
state of Europe—the Russian and Turkish war—the
state of Frar.ce, and other like circumstances, must
influence his opinion, and he could never come to
any determination till he knew when be was likely to
Set his £lOO sterling if he dissented. But not only
were the parties unable to understand the terms, but
they were not permitted to do with their property
vim the Act, on the faith of which they invested it,
entitled them to. They must blindly subscribe to the
Chancellor of the Exchequer's terms. He referred,
as a proof of this, to two papers of dissent, which he
held in his hand, which had been rejected by the
Bank. The gaper was according to the printed form
delivered at the Bank ; but in place of the words at
the end—" and I do desire to be paid off in mooey,"l
it ran thus—" I do not desire to be paid off in
money, but require to be paid according to the
terms of the 24th of George the Third"—(Hear).
—This was rejected by the Cashier of the Bank,
and thus it was proved that the Act in question
was a perfect nullity, and that the holder of this
Stock must expose himself to other conditious, im-