themselves by ill." There had only been three prosecutions last year connected with this subject, and to compel payments in specie; and he maintained that this was no inconvenience to warrant a step of that fatal tendency they were now called upon to take. He therefore opposed the second reading of the Bill.

Mr. Wellesley Pole would not go into the general question, but confine himself to that part of it which regarded Ireland. He collected from all sides, that it was not disputed that the measure of last session met with general approbation, and was looked at by the country with a very fa

sons to bring their commodities to market at fixed prices, or they must return to the point from which they had unfortunately departed some years ago, and they must return to it against the increased difficulties which would be thrown in their way, if they agreed to the present measure. He laid no stress on the confined issue of bank notes, as there was no criterion to judge by, whether that issue was too great or not; neither did he think this matter ought to be left to the discretion of the bank directors, however respectable they were. The measure was prospective: and they could not answer for directors 30 years hence, in whom government might be as much mis-vourable eye. If this were true, and it was taken, as they had been in those in whom a measure resorted to for the protection they reposed trust at the period of the of the subject, was it not natural to desire South Sea Bubble. With the same capi- it to be extended to Ireland? The only tal they had when they issued 12 or 13 reason why it had not been extended to millions, they now issued double that that country last session, had been justly amount-and had, consequently, a double stated by his noble friend (lord Castleprofit, while the risk lay with the coun- reagh). It arose from the anomaly existtry. They might proceed to issue 40 mil-ing in that country, which rendered it nelions and still the country be obliged to cessary to allow time for investigation, and take these notes, without their being gua- for learning the actual state of the case. ranteed by the government. But if go- This anomaly, in having two prices, one vernment did not guarantee these notes, for gold and the other for paper, did not, they had no right to make them a legal however, extend so far as was supposed. tender. Between individuals, such an act It was confined, as the noble lord had would be almost a fraud; and in a go- stated, to part of one province out of the vernment, it was an egregious act of unjust four into which Ireland was divided. His violence. Was the system of " I promise noble friend had also fairly explained the to pay" to be carried on for ever? When nature of the difference arising out of the would this end, and what would be the two per cent. formerly paid for the purconsequences? If the Bank got into chase of guineas by the tenant; but the any intermediate difficulties, and was not original cause might not, perhaps, be so able to pay in specie, the government generally known. It arose from the weamust allow it to go on longer paying in vers having, for some reason or other, repaper; the end must be bankruptcy.- fused, soon after the establishment of the With respect to Ireland, there was one cir- bank of Ireland, to take their notes in paycumstance which must strike every one in ment for webs. This rendered it necesregard to the extension of the measure sary for landlords to guard themselves by to that country. Whatever measure they the adoption of the practice in question, might adopt after the enquiry they had and the traffic in guineas had gone on till had, as to guaranteeing the bank of Eng- the price of gold became so much higher, land, would any man say, that the House in comparison with paper, that the evil had on its table sufficient information as to remedied itself, and the practice was althe bank of Ireland, or sufficient parlia- together abolished, except what remained mentary grounds to warrant them in gua- between landlords and tenants. The exranteeing its issues? If they did not, action of gold for rent had, of late, bewhy tell the people of that country that come so crying an evil, that if it had not they must and should take their notes? been for the measure of last session, and If they did not, had they any documents the prospect held out that it would soon to justify themselves in undertaking this be extended to Ireland, they would have responsibility? As the measure was uni- heard such a cry from the North, to proque and isolated in itself, so was the mode tect the tenant against the landlord, that no in which it was conducted in the House. government could resist it. In what conIt reminded him of the sentence in Shake- dition, he asked, would they be, if they speare" Things ill-begun make strong (the Irish tenantry) were exposed to the

tain. The emptiness of the House had been frequently alluded to in the course of the evening. He ascribed it to an understanding which had gone forth, that it would be most proper to debate the question, with regard to its extension to Ireland, after the recess. The hon. and learned gentleman who opened this discussion, had confessed that it was quite impossible to leave the currency of the country as it now was of course he could not oppose their going into a Committee on the subject, to see what currency was possible to be made. They had also heard a great many general arguments, tending to prove, that by the system now pursued, the country was in the high road to ruin. This mode of reasoning was not only ap plied to the present Bill, but had been ap

caprice of any avaricious landlord, while they protected the people here? It would be said, in Ireland, that when one solitary instance of a landlord's wishing to exact this mode of payment occurred, the legislature, as it were, by acclamation, hastened to extend their protection, while they left the people of Ireland to suffer, as they now did, in many parts of the north. He would not now enquire, whether the measure was right and politic for England; but if it was thought right and politic in this country, he demanded it equally for Ireland. He did not wish to disguise the fact, that it would be an inconvenience on landlords, who had let their lands to be paid in gold, and he would be ready to lend himself to any remedy that might be proposed to accommodate the interests of this class, who were, how-plied to every circumstance and occasion ever, only an exception to the general rule. The inconvenience, too, it ought to be recollected, would be nothing, when compared with the evils remedied. He had understood an hon. gentleman, to insinuate some suspicion of the solvency of the bank of Ireland.-(A general cry of No! no!) Was it so or not?-(Mr. Smith signified that it was not.) Then he would not press the subject, but conclude, by saying, that he would be as ready to guarantee the bank of Ireland as the bank of England. There did not exist the slightest suspicion against it; and, he was sure, the honoura'ble men who conducted its direction, would, at all times, be ready and willing to submit to the strictest examination and scrutiny the government or the House should think proper to institute.

Mr. Giles shortly opposed the second reading of the Bill, on the ground of its making bank notes circuitously a legal tender. Mr. Burke had said that these notes were of value on the Royal Exchange, because they were of no value in Westminster-hall; but this measure went to reverse the case, and make them of more value in Westminster-hall than any where else. He conceived it would be much better to make them a legal tender at once between man and man, than through the intervention of courts of law and attornies.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer maintained that the measure was calculated for the protection of the liberty of the subject, who, but for this Bill, was in his person liable to the payment of a debt in gold, which, so long as the Bank restrictions continued, it was not in his power to ob

since the period when the Bank restrictions were imposed. Yet those prophesies had turned out to be false and groundless, which he hoped would be equally the fate of the predictions now poured out upon them. He could not help being surprised at his hon. friend's (Mr. Thornton) notion of the beneficial effects to be derived by Ireland from keeping up a practical standard, by double prices, of the relative values of gold and paper currency. He could not think such a standard so desirable, as that it should be maintained to the great injury of the country. And, after all, what kind of a standard was it? One unsettled and fluctuating, from 5 to 20 per cent. at the pleasure of the landlord in this or the other field-on this or on the other side of the hedge. Much had been said of the examples afforded by the history of nations, of the fatal and ruinous tendency of all such systems as that now embraced in England. But he contended, that there never had existed an instance in point; and he defied any gentleman from those histories to show him a case, in which the paper currency of any other country bore the slightest analogy or resemblance to that of Britain. It was absurd and most ridiculous to compare them together, or bank notes to the assignats of France. These assignats, within two years after their first issue, had exceeded, by a hundred-fold, all the issues of the bank of England during a long period of years. They had, therefore, the experience of a number of years, from 1797, when the restrictions were imposed, to convince them, that there was not the slightest danger of an excessive circulation to

Mr. Ponsonby said, he had no intention of going at large into the question now, but as he had been absent during the discussions it underwent last session, and had no opportunity of delivering his sentiments at that period, he was anxious in a few words to express his firm conviction, that so far from this measure being calculated

ruin the country." But," said an hon. I might justly be said, that they were throwgentleman (Mr. Smith), "after this mea- ing widely and directly open the door to sure is passed, and thirty years hence, national ruin and bankruptcy. It was when you may not have such provi- their duty to make the best selection they dent and honourable directors of the could for the country, and not reject a Bank as at present, the evil will increase." measure merely because theoretical objecWhy could not parliament, as they had tions could be urged against its perfect done, continue to superintend the issues expediency, while it was allowed, on all of the Bank? During the last year, they hands, that some step was necessary, and knew the fact to be, that, so far from an no other, at all feasible, was suggested. increase, a diminution in the circulation had taken place, and they had no reason whatever to fear any danger from the sudden inundation of the country with bank paper during the recess. There was no danger of directors, heretofore so prudent, running all at once into a directly opposite line; there was no hazard of an indefinite issue to ruin the country in the man-to promote the permanent interests of the ner described in the histories referred to. The whole of the issues here amounted to about one-third of the annual revenue of the country paid into the Exchequer. Had they an instance like this in any history of any other nation, where, if he might use the expression, the paper currency was thrice, in the course of one year, disgorged to the government? But all this train of argument appeared to be mere idle declamation, and nothing could possibly be more absurd than to make these comparisons between things utterly dissimilar. He trusted the House and the country would therefore agree with him, that something of the kind now proposed was absolutely necessary for the protection of the subject. In framing the measure, they would, of course, direct their attention as much as possible to the prevention of evils arising from forgeries, and to save the people from being liable to receive them in payments. It appeared, from the account laid on the table, that this evil had not grown to an enormous magnitude, in comparison with the vast sum of 23 millions in circulation. The forgeries amounted, during the last eleven years, to about 9 or 10,000l. a year, including a number of foreign notes rejected at the Bank; and this was perhaps not more than a circulation to a similar extent in gold and silver would suffer. From the vast foreign expenditure in which the nation was engaged, they were, no doubt, in difficulty, which it was the object of this measure to meet in what appeared to be the most advisable way. But if they took the advice of gentlemen on the opposite side of the House, and called on the Bank to resume its payments in specie, then indeed, it

country, it was calculated to bring the country to ruin. The right hon. gentleman opposite, had said that the predictions made on former occasions, when this system began, and at various points of its course, of the progress to ruin in which it would involve the country, had never been fulfilled. At the time when the Bank restrictions commenced in 1797, many persons had indeed spoken in very strong terms, as men were apt to do, of the utter ruin attendant on such a course. For his part he had never used this strong language-but there were many intermediate stages between the injury and utter ruin of a country. In his opinion, all the predictions since 1797, in opposition to that of the right hon. gentleman, had been substantially fulfilled. The supporters of the measure had declared their belief, that the Bank would soon open again, and resume its payments in specie. This had been denied, and the contrary affirmed, viz. That the Bank would never pay in gold so long as this law lasted. Which of these predictions had been verified? Some years ago, when the price of gold rose so high, and the course of exchange became so unfavourable, owing to the excessive issue of paper, it was said, on the one hand, that this mischief would be still worse; which, on the other hand, was denied. Whose prediction, in this case, he would again ask the right hon. gentleman, had been proved right? Their difficulties had increased. They were in a worse condition last year than ever they had been before. How, then, were their predictions falsified? The right hon. gentleman had told them, that no issues in other countries had ever resembled those of this. He agreed with