to expect, on behalf of that country, an | sent occasion. The right hon. gentleman

answer to the question, whether the right hon. gentleman intended to introduce any measure this year to destroy the one and two pound notes in Scotland? There was one reason in particular why he thought he had a right to an answer at this moment. A number of cities and counties were in the act of meeting to petition against this measure, and he had been applied to, to know what was the best time for such meetings to take place. He could give no answer, not knowing whether the measure was intended or not to be introduced this session.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer said, the noble lord had somewhat misunderstood what he had said on a former evening, as to his having no intention at present to propose the extension of this bill to Scotland. He certainly wished that the bill for England should first be disposed of; for, in his opinion, the state of the two countries with regard to this question was not precisely similar; and although it seemed to him that the measure would be beneficial for Scotland as well as for England, still, as the adoption or rejection of it might be argued on different grounds for the two countries, it would be a very inconvenient and confused method of proceeding to mix, up the two questions and discuss them together. It was, however, by no means his intention | to defer drawing the attention of the House to this question, as it regarded Scotland, beyond the present session; for he understood that a very considerable ferment prevailed in the minds of people there on this subject; and it could not be expected that such ferment would be allayed, so long as it remained in doubt what course the legislature intended to pursue with regard to that country.

Mr. Grenfell said, that if the new measure proposed for allowing the Bank of England to continue their issue of one and two pound notes should be adopted by the House, he would move that a clause be introduced into the bill, for having a return made every week to the privy council of the number of small notes in circulation in the week preceding; and also an account every quarter of the average amount of small notes issued in that quarter, for the purpose of being published in the London Gazette.

Mr. Calcraft said, he could not but admire the dexterity which the chancellor of the Exchequer had evinced on the pre

had admitted that he intended, during the present session, to propose that this measure should be adopted in Scotland as well as in England, but still he declined including both countries in the same bill; by which means he hoped to meet with no opposition from the Scotch members in passing the English bill, and, in turn, to pass the Scotch bill by the aid of the English members. The right hon. gentleman seemed to be perfectly well aware of the truth of the maxim "divide et impera." He hoped, however, that he had fully reflected on the difficulty of the task he had undertaken; that he had not miscalculated his resources, but knew where to procure a sufficient metallic currency for England, Scotland, and Ireland; for, notwithstanding what was said the other evening, he had been informed, on the best authority, that a very great part of the circulating medium in Ireland was in one-pound notes. If the right hon. gentleman had seriously considered these matters, and was prepared to surmount the difficulties he would meet with in his present course, he had only to explain this clearly to the House, and by so doing he would at once do away with all opposition to his measures; but, if he had not seriously considered these difficulties, and if he was not fully prepared to surmount them, he would entreat the right hon. gentleman to pause before he convulsed the country, by attempting a measure which could not at present be carried into execution.

Mr. Whitmore begged to call the attention of the House to one or two facts bearing on the question before them. He had supported this bill to the present time, and he was anxious to continue that support. He was glad to see the determination of government to carry cash payments, and he hoped the period was not far distant, when they would push the system further than they were now enabled to do. The soundest policy justified such a course of proceeding. The more he considered this subject, the more he reflected upon the large mass of paper which was issued, the more was he convinced, that the principle on which they ought to act was come at, only perhaps it would not go far enough. If they went to the root of the evil, they would do away with the issue of the five-pound notes. If this view were correct, there followed from it, that, whenever there was a large amount

every effort, to 25s. discount. Now, that was precisely the evil the country complained of. First, government, at their pleasure, added by issue, the vast sum of five millions of Exchequer-bills to the quantity in the market; that was an overissue, and although they had increased the interest, the bills became depreciated and could not support their price. Then they adopted another system, and allowed the Bank, by their authority, to purchase up two millions of these same bills from the hands of private individuals. On Saturday last, to be sure, Exchequer-bills were only at par. But again he begged to press upon their attention the injurious effects of such repeated intermeddlings upon the affairs of mercantile men, and the alterations which they were likely to effect upon the property of Exchequer-bills with reference to their holders, at the time when the Bank or the government might determine upon bringing their operations to bear on the market. The next point he would advert to was, the issue of notes by the Bank of England. Of that he begged to observe, that the over-issue did not, at all times, proceed from the fact of prices being considered too low, nor did the Bank always contract their issues because prices were too high. They very frequently issued and contracted for the purposes of bringing the exchanges right. When the exchanges were against this country, they contracted the amount of their notes; when they had succeeded in bringing them in favour of this country, they again extended their issue, affecting, in the mean time, most seriously, all the property of individuals, and all the varied transactions of an extensive commerce. Some idea of the extent of that evil might be given by the plain statement of the fact, that the difference of the issues at these periods was that of the amount between 18 and 26,000,000l. Government, he knew, had large fixed advances to make on account of what was called the Dead Weight, and which they necessarily paid in Exchequer-bills; and they were, therefore, compelled to make issues of that paper; but he was not at all prepared to make the same allowance for the changes at different periods in the issue of Bank-notes. The first proposition to which he would call the attention of the House, and which he would propose as an amendment to the measures of the right hon. gentleman, and as a means of guarding more effectually against the evils VOL. XIV.

which were sought to be remedied, was, that on the 15th of every month, the Bank should publish in the Gazette, an account of all the Bank-notes issued by it in the course of the preceding month, and, including, at the same time, an account of the whole extent of their notes in circulation at the period when the account should be published. That notice regularly put forth, would have the effect of checking the progress of any such alarm and distrust as they had lately witnessed, by giving proper publicity to the proceedings of a body which must always exercise such influence upon the affairs of the country. What was that publicity that it should for a moment be opposed? Why it was no more, nor so much as the Bank of France had always done. That Bank published an account of its issue of notes, and of gold, the extent of its discounts, and the amount of its profits; in short, it laid every part of its concerns fearlessly open to the inspection of the whole kingdom. And he was quite sure, that, by adopting a similar course, the Bank of England itself would be safer; the public, beyond all question, safer; and the right hon. gentleman, by giving his consent to such a proposal, would render an essential service to the commercial world in general - another point he would recommend related to the exchanges. Great differences took place at various times in the rate of exchange, creating, as he had explained before, an equal difference in the issues of the Bank of England. Now, to guard against that evil, and to avoid such differences, he would advise a re-consideration of the question of exchanges in general, so as to arrive at a better conclusion as to what was the real par of exchange. Opinions varied very much among commercial men as to what was the real par; and he would suggest a revision of the subject, preparatory to a regular publication of the rate of all exchanges in the London Gazette. By such a measure they would render persons not immediately resident in the metropolis able to regulate their affairs connected with those exchanges in a very different manner from the way in which they managed them at present; and perhaps in the end put a stop to the extensive fluctuations which had been visible under that head during a very short period. Another clause he would propose was, that there should be published in the Gazette, on the 15th of every month, an account of all the Exchequer

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bills issued during the month, as well as ❘ the cause. In recurring to the measure

an account of all paid off or received in payment at the Treasury during the same time, and including the whole amount of the Exchequer-bills at the period in general circulation. For his part, he never could see the policy of granting a large amount of Exchequer-bills to be at the disposal of the government, and to be issued in quantities of four or five millions to-day, and bought up again to effect certain purposes in the market to-morrow. The House would see what a power they granted to ministers, when they consented to a vote of thirty millions of Exchequerbills to be drawn for the public exigencies, without at all inquiring into the necessity of such a grant, or examining the consequences likely to ensue from its exercise. It was true, the chancellor of the Exchequer had only thought proper to apply for a vote of ten millions for the public service at present; but he would maintain, that unless some such measure was adopted as he intended to propose, by which the public could ascertain, at stated periods, with certainty, what were the dispositions of such a powerful force of Exchequer-bills, they still must, even with a limited issue, be subject to the same fluctuations as those they had lately experienced. There ought, he conceived, to be also another statement published in the same manner, and at the same time, of the quantity of imports and exports which may have taken place at certain intervals. The fluctuation in the imports and exports was very considerable. In the last twelve years, he understood, the exports had exceeded the imports by a very large sum. Some people, indeed, had said two hundred millions, but that calculation was manifestly erroneous. At all events, it only shewed more clearly the necessity of adopting some plan for putting the country in possession of the true nature of their commerce; so that the public may no longer be misled as they had lately been by erroneous statements. These were the principal measures he had to propose, and he could not but hope that the House would agree, that the evils they went to obviate, required the speedy application of some effectual remedy. If they adopted those which he had brought under their notice, he felt convinced they would in future be free from those melancholy fluctuations and extraordinary panics, of which all had felt the effect, but few could rightly explain

of the chancellor of the Exchequer, he would say, that, after the able arguments and reasoning applied to it on a former occasion, by an hon. relation of his, it was not in his power to add any thing further, but he would take leave to mention, that he understood the bankers of Scotland to be in great alarm and agitation with respect to the measures of the right hon. gentleman, and excessively anxious to know at what precise period he proposed to carry his measure, upon the subject of their circulation, into effect. Under every circumstance, he could not conceive that any declaration as to time could at all injure the principle which the right hon. gentleman had taken as the ground of his operations, while the certainty of the precise intentions of the government would be of great importance to the bankers of Scotland in the present situation of their affairs. He therefore implored his right hon. friend to speak out, and perfect his system by removing all doubt and uncertainty.

Mr. Hume said, he was fully aware of the anxiety, on the part of the House, to go into the committee; but he must beg leave to detain it for a short time, while he made a few observations. He was sorry to say he could not, after the most serious attention to the subject, bring himself to consider that there was any sound principle of policy in the measure which had been proposed by the chancellor of the Exchequer as a remedy for the evils they had lately suffered. If they took a review of the sentiments delivered by that right hon. gentleman on the occasion of his submitting his proposition to the House, and observed, that he attributed all their misfortunes to the issue of six millions, or four millions, as it was at one time stated, although he believed it not so much as either, of country bank-notes, he was sure they would see grounds for doubting the propriety of the remedy which had been proposed. In his opinion, if the exchanges had been against this country-and against it, at one time, they were-the evil was not at all occasioned by the issue of Bank-notes, and it had, he believed, cured itself by operations altogether independent of the Bank of England. Their issues had not, therefore, remedied that which was clearly remedied without them. Ministers had asserted, in their famous Letter to the Bank directors, that