The Statesman.
London, England, 1815-03-03 00:00:00

pare into the feud!' of the Bank, and they were
fowl to exceed, by sixteen millions sterling, all de-
weds upon if. After this. inlidity could riot
he doubted. The market price of bullion at the pre:
periodnt wes,4l.9s. anti the Bank price was V.
775: iod. The House would, see, therefore, that at
„egoist no advantage wooldteeeolt from tile issue of
:old, as it would be sae easiest in circulation than it
'',00,1 be melted aluksoitt in ingots. He WO free to.
crofts that the-average of the present issue of noted
ia,,27 minions; and shaethe trier:op beforethe re-
striction on cash paynients win 15 millions: The' in.
clew, therefore, hats only heist 12 millions, while atl
the tir.se the issues were first stepped; the gold of the'
„lolly was calculated sit4*miuieas. It teas owing'
she best msnagetnent, therefore, that the issues,
had „ot gone far beyond 12 millioni. It had been
said that in France gold hail been plentiful', and had
lot i„ereasni in priCe :.. it should be recollected, how-
ever, that that country had been enriched by plunder,,
and that whetter& a contribution was demanded
from the town of an enemy, it was always a stipula6
thet, if gold was paid,- one heir of the sum
should be taken. '!'h. Right nom Gentleman then
l"'
oreeded to state, that within the last year, the pur-
chases of corn from foreign countries had not fallen
:hoe of two millions-e-arid to thie,addiug thernonth.•
Ic elytneuts of one million in dollars to Portugal,
end the necessary payments to the army in Belgium,
it was not surprising that gold was raised in price in
this country, while it fell in others. As soon as ever
these balm were stopped. he had no doubt that bul-
t:on wasaid fall to the mint price; but till that had
come to pit", be was- of opinion that it was not in the
power of the. Bank- to pay in specie:
Mr. HORNER commenced, by expressing his
surprise at what had fallen from the Right Honour-
able Gentleman opposite (Mr. Rose), namely, that
there nerssr was a question which came with less I
pound before the (louse. Surely the Right Hon.
Gentleman could net three heard the Teat question
b,•lore them, when he uttered this opinion. The
greater part of his speech went to show the imprac.;
tic,tbility of the Rank's paying in specie at the pre- t*
sent moment, as if the question was, that' it should
new commence its cash disbursementie---t" No,"
from Mr. hose.}--"Then," resumed Mr. Horner,
66 lam glad' the Right Honourable Gentleman him-
self atimitethn inconsistency of his own argument, ,
for if it leads to ratty thing',, it leads to the points to • '
which I have referred'—abere was aft utter and
unaccountable hictiaetstenty--rafter ten months had
elapsed since the returro•of pekoe—in proposing the
continuancer of a measure- which legally expired
within six months *fter the termination of hostilities.
Jr was not enougls to say, its renewal was unneces-
sary—that did not settle the question • bet It was
imperative to convince Parllanteet of that necessity
before a prolongation was- all admissible. • To-
wards the attainment of this infortinition, a previous
enquiry was essential ; and be was at a loss to see
Oat objection could be urged- against such a pre-
liminary proceeding. It had been stated, that the
circumstances of the Bank were new the same as
when the restrictions were enacted in 1797, and
that the state of exchange was in all respects cor-
mposelent.—[" No," from Mr: Rose across the
table.)-11r. homer here apologiard for his mis.
conception of the Right Honourable Gentleman,
whose words he thought he had perfectly collected,
nor would he pursue this point, after the disavowal
which had just taken place. The Right Hon. Gen-
tleman opposite (the Chancellor of the Exchequer)
had held outs prospect of the resumption of cash
payments on the 16tb of July, 1816. This was,
merely pursuing the old plan, promisinga definitive
period by a sort of sanguine anticipation. He (Mr.
Homer) did not refuse credit to the Right lion. Geu.
*mates sincerity in, the delivery of this opinion,
although he could not participate with' him in the
same sanguine hope; on the contrary, it was his
firm belief, that-in 18-161, after two yeanspeacev the '
Right-Ron. Gentleman would. come down with the:
tame note, end. ould, hate* it in his power to make'
precisely the same escuss relative to the price of
gold as he did on the present occasion ; for. in his.
(Mr. it's) opinion,, there mild be no material re-
duction in that, avail; the Bank was restricted in the.
issue of its paper.—[hear!]..l'hree years ago the
Bank Committee lied determined that the arrival of
peace would be the proper time foe the re-issue of
specie, but that a seasonable interval should be allow-
ed to make the necessary prepteratiote. To that he
had not the smalleell.ebjection ;• but tite time should•
be a definitive once/ previnuely ascertained by the
deliberate enquiry. of a Serrate,, Committee of thee;
house.- Iffarq—Cee It be two, three, or four
years !euce, if necessary, but let it not exceed the
positive and bona file time for the•fair accomplish-
anent of tie object.-Ibkor!3—'fise Right Hots.
Gentleman (the Chancellor of the Exchequer) had
said, that much of the Rr"etrictiOns of the Bank mast-
depend neon the future stale of the country. •it
every war was teembrace this operation; what secu-
rity vests there, he would" lilt, for *Ptailte Preteet'll 2
Other countries, to be sure, had done the same,' and
hail (one so in the same uncontrolled and disreput-
able peoportioe. France bad pursued-this "systenn with
her amignata; but she get rid of that burden, certainly
with rdonstrois perfidy So the public creditoe—Witts
profligacy mid injestieeito a WO' porde* of iadi.
Quail in thsif nation; bit' She go( rid. of the bur.:
den, and the consequence was 4, tkist, sinee.tilet time,
'France upheld a large metallic cemuneyt. She did
this, the Right lion. Geetlesnie (the'Chancelfor of
the Exchequer) said, bY plunder. But• the con.
sideration was, how did the specie' remain- in that
':Jamey?—it may have arrived there by plunder and
dishouesty, but how happened it to remain ? It was
a fact that it did so remain, and that when. France
had carried her armies almost to the extremities of
the earth, she still maintained at home an abundant
money currency. It was certainly true, that the
very fart of such a floating sum at home, proved
strongly the impoverished state of commerce in France.
It was, in itself, no solid proof of nationalavealth. lie
(Mr. Horsier) did not want to see this unapplied
eircuietion of specie in this country; he, as well as
thew with whom he acted, were totally misunder-
stood, if they were supposed 10 want a total metal-
lic circeletien. Alt they wanted was., not to restrict
the circulation of Mink notes, but to make them,
at any time, critsiertible idle Calif, and mutt some
esraugement to et oct this wet done, nothing final
c' u:d be prnpfiy adopted.—Cilearl heat)