The Statesman.
London, England, 1821-05-31 00:00:00

THE STATES'

actually in execution for debt at the time of their
offering themselves as candidates.
Mr. WYNNE did not thiak that this was a case at
all calling for the interference of Parliament. He
could not conceive any thing to he more explicit than
the Act of Charles I. on that subject. That Act dis-
tinctly stated that the privilege of Parliament did not
operate beyond the period of the Session in which it
was exercised. Under these circumstances the parties
had nothing to do hut to cause a new writ of wen- '
tion to be issued, n itli which the House could not in-
terfere: nor could the exercise of that privilege on a
former occasion at all prejudice the case of these cre-
ditors. With respect to the resolution the Hon. Mem-
ber spoke of, it went to make an alteration in the law
of a very grtve nature, and he was not prepared to ad-
mit such an alteration, without adequate deliberation.
The Hon. Gentleman might bring in his Bill to OA ef-
fect, and it would be then time to discuss the matter
fully. As to the parties themselves in this case, which
the lion. Gentleman had brought under the consider-
ation of the House, he did not think they ought to
complain of the treatment of the House, as the House
had been extremely lenient towards them, and would
have been justified in prosecuting all that were con-
cerned in that suit against the Warden of the Fleet.
Mr. S. WORTLEY, in reply, said, that according
to the view lie took of the Act quoted by the lion.
Gentleman, it was defective as regarded a case of this
kind. The case of the parties interested in this matter
was aggravated by the circumstance that Mr. Burton
was a man of excellent property, and well able to pay
the debts for which he had been taken in execution.
His imprisonment wa s merely a nominal one, as he had
met him at the Doncaster Races in the midst of it.
The law did not meet this question, and he thought it
would be an act of injustit I! on the part of the House
if they did not endeavour to make amends for the in-
jury their interference with the law had inflicted.
Mr. BARING thought that sufficient rcason bad
been urged why couiperi,ation ought not to be granted
in this case. With respect to the state of the law on
this subject, he thought the statement of the. lion.
Member (Mr. S. Wortley) exhibited a state of things
which ought not to be permitted to exist. It was nut
long since that aa individual confined in the King's
Bench Prison, made his way through that I loose out
of the kingdom alt Tether ; ani many frauds of a si-
milar description had been practised under the shield
of the privilege of Parliament. Ile thought they
ought to revi:.e their rules as to the qualification pro-
perly required for a seat in that House, and en.leavour
to counteract them, sa as to meet eases of this kind.
The question was then put and negatived without a

EXCIII:QUEIt RILLS.
Mr. MABEI:LEI' rose to briit4 forward the dis•
cussion of w! he had given notice, relative to the
partiality shown by Government, and tie hiss conse-
quently sustained !iy the pi6lic, in making Loans
front particular quarters, instead of going into the
public money market. He hal before alluded to this
subject, and particularly adverted to the rate of inter-
est given to the Batik of Ireland in the loans which
bad heeti mad: from that boil,, and directed the at-
tention of the House to an extensive issue of Irish
Treasury Bills, wlii, h had taken place in 1616, in
consequence of a great sum of money borrowed of
the Bank of Ireland at five per vent. interest. That
sum bad not vet, he believed, been all repaid, so that
we were now paying four per cent. (the amount
having been reduced to that) for money, which we
might pay oft by other money burrowed in this
country, at three per emit. In ord'r to show
the amount which hail been lost to the public
consequence of these improvident luaus from the
Bank of Ireland, lie troutd show by the returns
on the table the amount of the unfunded debts in Iris!:
Treasury Bills, from the year 1815, up to the present
time. That would be found to be—
In 1816 .C2.500010 In 1919.......14.030.000
In 1818 . 2,497.109 In 11420 4.1:)11.4.100
In 1817 5.:M1.991 ID 1821 3,300,000
In 1818 3.609,900
The state of the proportions held by the Banks of
England and Ireland during that period, was one mil-
lion for the former. and two millions fur the latter and
during the whole of t hat period the rate of 5 Fer cent.
for the first year, and I per cent. for every year follow-
ing was paid to the Batik of Ireland. lie would con-
trast that with the rate of interest paid to the mer-
chants and bankers of London. on the same security
at the same period. The House would be aware that
the rate varied c insisterably, and that there were no
official Returns by tvlsich any accurate view of the
question could be given ; but lie believed the statement
he had made was perfectly correct. By that statement
it appeared that the rate of interest on Excheqtter Bills
was in the early part 1815 at 3ed. per diem. making
an annual sum of W. 6s. 5i4. The latter part of the
same year it was 341 per diem, making annually 41.
18s. 104 d. In the beginning of 1816 it was 30., and
at the latter end it was 3d., making the animal rate of
interest 41. I Is. 3d. In ISI 7, at the beginninsr, it
was UAL, making annually 31. 16s and at the latter
end it was 2d. per diem, snaking per annum :s/. Hs. 10d.
On all of these Bills Ouvernwe'nt hada premium of Ss.,
consequently an abatement to that amount was to be
made for the interest. Comparing these rates of inter-
est with those paid to the Bank of Ireland, it would be
seen that had the money been borrowed from out of the
money market in this country. there would have been
a saving to the public.
In 1818 ..C12.49.9 In 1819 llOB.OOO
In 1847 92,000 In 1820 . 94,000
In 1818 .. 123.000
making a total of 400,000/. and upwards. After these
statements, it would not be necessary for him to make
any observations. Ile merely contended that there
ought to be a fair competition, and no preference given
to any body whatever in borrowing money for the pub-
lic service. The motion he had to make was, That it
is the opinion of this House, that it is expedient that the
same rate of interest should he given on Irish Treasury
Bills, as on Exchequer Bills."
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER spoke in
so low a tone of voice, that we lost the greater pall of
his observations. We understood him to contend gene-
rally, that it would not be expedient at the present mo•
went to pay off the remainder of the debt to the Bank
of Ireland, by means of a loan from the English mousy
market at three per cent. as this transfer from this coun-
try to Ireland, would occasion a loam of two per cent. on
account of the exchange, and as it was only proposed he
the operation to save one per cent., there would remain
a loss on the whole done per rent. He hoped therefore
it would be seen that there was no want et economy in
continuing to pay four per geol. for that money., With
respect to the bargain wade la 1016, that was a period

of great pressure mid distress. He need nni recall all
the circumstance+ which led to that state of•things, but
the sudden removal of all the war taxes had fumed Go-
vernment to make some heavy losses. The House knew
that in 11419, the debt of Government to the Bank of
England was tiS,OOO,OOO/. It was urged that the imme-
diate repayment of the debt to the. Bank of Ireland
would cans,- a beneficial circulation to the Irish market ;
hot it Ishould be borne in mind, that the Exchequer
Bills did not float about in the Irish market as they did
in England. It was true that the interest of money was
very low just now in this country ; but the demand of a
loan might make an alteration in that respect, and he
did not think the Bank of England was disposed just
now to make any further advances.
Mr. MABEILLEY did not think the Right Honour-
able Gentleman had given any answer to his complaint,
which was, that a preference was given to the Bank of
Ireland, and sometimes to the Bank of England over
the Merchants and Bankers of this country, who were
entitled to consideration from the readiness they had
ever evinced in meeting the demands of Government
when they wanted money. He could think there
would be a loss of two per cent. on the exchange, in
the event of transferring money from this country to
reland. lie thought himself bound to take the sense of
he House on this qnestion.
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER ex-

plained.
Sir J. NEWPORT said that there was no period
when it was more necessary ti) extend the circulating
mediuin r.f Ireland than the present. He had before
asserted, and he nice repeated, that the experiment
had never been fairly tried of passing Exchequer Bills
in Ireland. 'flte Bank of Ireland always monopolised
them, and those who were de.irons of possessing them
found great diiliculty in attaining their object.
The Horse then divided, when the numbers were :
For the Motion, 31—Against it, 6-1--Majority, 33.
lONIAN ISLANDS.
On our re-admission to the liallerv, we found
Mr. HUME on his legs, moving for the production
of a copy a a memorial plesented to his slajesty's(io.
vernmei.t, tined by certain Inhabitants of the island
of '.ant", and prevented by Signor Rossi. Also for a
c ipy of a Memorial from certain inhabitants of %ante,
presented by Signor Spiridone, Agent of the lonian
polka, witi a t.tatetnent explanatory of the causes of the
detention of cc: tain inhabitants of that island in 1819.
Mr. GOCI.IIUILN opposrd the motion. As to the
first Memorial, it proposed, in effect, a subversion of
the Constitetion of the Island, and was drawn up by
an officer in the service of the Oovernment, by which
he was dismissed, in consequence of the circulation of
that Memorial throughout the Colony. This was a
proceeding of which he assumed that no considerate
person could disapprove. But more, this person was
exelmled from the Assembly of which he was a Mem-
ber, for having viula•ed an oath which he had taken to
that Aszeitiblv, and for which violation proceedings
had been commenced against him. With rv,.pect to
the secon I Memorial to which the Hon. Member for
Aberdeen had adverted, there was no such Memorial
at present in the office.
Mr. HUMP, made a few ob:,ervations in reply.
M A ItItYATT thought for the honour of those
entrusted wil.b the gov..rtiment of the lonian isles, as
well as for the honour of the 6ovetrament at home. the
Papers ought to he produced, as without them the
Muse could nut form a judgment on the merits of the

case.
The motion% were then severally put. The first was
immediately negatived. The Gallery was cleared for
a division ou the second, but we understand it was
finally lost withont a division.
When strangers were re-admitted, Mr. Hruz was
sahmittin4 a snot' to the !louse for an Address to the
King, f,r a Copy of a Memorial on the tuhject of
Grievances co:told:titled of in the lonian Islands, and
fur an Account of the number of persons put to death
by Martial Law, on the occasion of the Insurrection at
Santa Maur*, in hilt/.
Sir J. NEWPORT thought there was a great deal
in the human Isles that ought to come before the (louse.
If this country was to he considered the protector of
the lonian Isles, it ought to be so in reality.
Mr. tiOl: ',BURN said, if the Hun. Baronet thought
proper to bring forward a motion on the subject, he
should be perfectly relay to meet it, and to prove that
the engagements of this country with respect to the
lonian Isles had been faithfully filfilled. He moved to
have out all the words of the original motion after the
word " that," for the purpose of inserting words,
praying fur " Extracts front any Despatches received
from Major G:tient! Frederick Adam, relative to the
Insurrection in the Isle of Santa Maura, in 1819."
Mr. lIGMF, oliirrvell, what he wanted was an ac-
count of the state of the jail. What the Hon. Gentle-
man proposed to give him was the statement of the
jailer.
Mr. GOULBCRN did not know that the lonian
Islands bore any resemblance to a jail, or that Ma-
jor-General Adam had any thing in common with a
jailer.
The motion was then negatived and the amendment
agreed to.
GRAMPOUND DISFRANCHISEMENT BILL:
Lord MILTON moved, that the amendments made by
the Lords to the Grampound Disfranchisement Bill
should be taken into consideration. His Lordship was
anxious to guard against being supposed to approve of
the amendments which had been made in the Bill. Ile
was of opinion, that that House might better require
the Lords to adopt their view of that subject, than the
Lords could call on them to agree with their amendments.
Nevertheless, as he should he sorry to lose the Bill alto-
gether, which must be the conseqeence of their rejecting
these amendments, he could wish the House to agree
with them, to convince the public that they were not
playing with the subject. He thought the Bill as sent
up to the Lords was better than the Bill as now amended,
but for the reason lie hail just stated, lie was disposed
to concur with the amendments of their Lordships.
Lord J. RUSSELL seconded the motion.
Mr. C. W. WYNN thought it would have been a
more Parliamentary course for their Lordships to have
agreed to the Bill for Disfranchising the Borough of
Gratnpound, and sent down a separate Bill to dispose of
the franchise thus rendered vacant. He was of opinion
that the county of York would be worse off with four
representatives than it was at present with two. The
measure would throw great additional influence into the
West Riding, and it would have the effect of greatly
Augmenting the expenses of elections. The consequence