passed in the last twenty years for continuing the restriction upon cash payments. He wished to hear some good reason, if any could be assigned, why property in this kingdom should not be subject to the same test of measurement prevailing in every country under Heaven. On this account he was desirous that the committee should report whether any and what objections existed to the resumption of cash payments at the period now fixed by law. Upon this subject a debate would not satisfy him. It was the simplest thing in the world for a member to get up in his place, and state, that he was satisfied that this was not the time; but it might give him some difficulty if, before a committee, he were called upon to state the grounds of his opinion. It would be well to ascertain on what foundation the opinions of the numerous petitioners rested; for hitherto only one point had been stated from authority, and that was the extent of the foreign loans. In the last year they amounted in English money to L.19,000,000; and the first proposition was, that they were to be paid in the course of nine months. The Noble Lord, however, and his imperial colleagues at Aix-la-Chapelle, had thought fit to alter both the period and the amount; the first was changed to eighteen months, and the last to L.12,000,000; so that the sum was reduced, and the time extend ed: and yet those unforeseen circumstances, by which the pressure was so materially lightened, were urged as a reason for continuing the restriction. It was not pretended that the whole either of the L. 19,000,000 or of the L.12,000,000 would be taken from this country. It was extravagant to suppose that half would be drawn from Great Britain; but taking it at half, and admitting that eighteen months was the time allow

ed, the drain would not be more than L.330,000 per month. Would any man pretend to say, that England could hold up her head among the nations of the world, if she were unable to preserve her faith, because some individuals had engaged in a loan which was to take from her at the rate of L.330,000 per month for eighteen successive months. The next question of importance was, Ought the committee to be a select, or a secret one? Now he would fairly state, that he should feel very little anxiety upon this point, were it not for the circumstance of the latter bcing chosen by ballot. Every committee must be presumed to proceed on the exercise of a sound discretion, and might certainly inquire under an obligation of secrecy, as extensively and usefully as if restrained by no such condition. But did not every man know how a committee chosen by ballot was uniformly composed? The Bullion Committee had not been so chosen, and yet had found no difficulty in withholding or suppressing names which it might not have been prudent or desirable to disclose. If important evidence were given by any individual who objected to the publication of his name, the committee had only to leave a blank, and let it stand as the testimony of a British or continental merchant. When the state of the Bank itself, their discounts, or the quantity of bullion in their possession, was necessarily touched on, the results were stated in eabalistic numbers, and no secrets improperly divulged. This was the course pursued by the Secret Committee of 1797, in the report which they made to the House. His own motion had for its object to institute a general inquiry; but if the right honourable gentleman wished also that the affairs of the Bank should be investigated, he had no objection

nuance of the restriction till March 1820, would be the best mode of proceeding, and had so declared on the first day of the session. The right honourable gentleman's motion was so inartificially, he might almost say absurdly, worded, that the committee might be said to be called on to report upon matters distinct from those into which they were to inquire. One object of the motion was to consider the effect of the restriction on the exchanges. But the state of the exchanges was the only cause which could operate on the policy of the restriction. Such a committee might have to go into the consideration of various subjects immediately connected with the restriction, and, at the same time, were without any reference to the actual state of the Bank itself. The first and most prominent object of inquiry appeared to him to be the state of the Bank, not as respected their solvency or insolvency, but as to the nature and extent of their preparations for placing themselves in such a condition as to be enabled to resume payments in cash without public inconvenience. He did not mean, however, to state that this was the only question to be referred; the state of the exchanges and of the circulating medium were necessarily included in the terms of his motion. The inquiry to which it would lead was at once more extensive, and the object of it more definitely explained, than that of the right honourable gentleman; but as it was connected with an investigation of the affairs and property of the Bank, it was both just and necessary that the committee entrusted with it should be secret. If the right honourable gentleman would point out a probable mode, he should very willingly assent to its adoption; but it was the uniform practice to appoint a secret committee when the

subject of inquiry so immediately related to the accounts and pecuniary arrangements of the Bank. A variety of circumstances might admit of easy explanation to those whose inquiries were conducted under an obligation of secrecy, which could not be disclosed to the public without the utmost hazard. He meant to propose the appointment of a committee to inquire into the state of the Bank, with reference to the expediency of the resumption of cash payments at the period fixed by law, and into such other matters as were connected with it. The construction of the committee which he proposed would, in his opinion, possess all the advantages of the two committees which had been suggested by the right honourable gentleman. He (Mr Tierney) had expressed his readiness to acquiesce in the appointment of a secret committee to investigate the state of the Bank, if an open one were appointed to inquire into the state of our currency and of the foreign exchange : but if these two committees, as was very possible, should consist of the same members, the difference between them would be merely nominal; and if they consisted of different members, he believed, from the intimate connexion which subsisted among all these subjects, that the object of their appointment would be in a great measure frustrated and lost. He concluded by reading the motion, which he proposed as an amendment to the original one, and which was, that all the words after "appointed" be omitted, and that the following be substituted :-" to consider the present state of the Bank, with reference to the expediency of the resumption of cash payments at the period fixed by law, and into such other matters as are connected with it."

Mr F. Lewis having remarked,

that all which had been said on the question had been neutralised by the appalling declaration, that the Bank were not prepared to resume cash payments, notwithstanding the 5th of July 1819 had been positively fixed for that purpose, and that L.8,000,000 of that debt reported last year to be due to the Bank had not been reduced, as had been stated by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Lord Castlereagh rose and said, that he thought the amendment of his right honourable friend was more compres sed in its form, and more precise in its object, than the original motion. If he saw the question in the same light as the right honourable gentleman (Mr Tierney), and believed that the Bank was prepared to open and pay in cash, he should think the inBut alquiry proper at present. though the restriction had been continued from last year for only one year longer, it appeared from facts which had been communicated to his Majesty's Ministers, that the Bank could not open till March twelvemonth. He thought that the present inquiry would be more satisfactorily made then, in order to bring on a state of things which would answer the wishes, and be productive of good to the country. The directors of the Bank had agreed that the measure of his right honourable friend was right. They had never said that they were not ready to resume their payments in cash; and he believed they were ready, if left to regulate the Bank themselves. But whatever, therefore, he felt, as to the propriety of postponing inquiry till next session, if there was a feeling in the country for inquiry now, that was a sufficient reason for going into it. The right honourable gentleman had proposed that two questions should be raised on the subject, and referred to two distinct committees; although

the two questions were perfectly identified, so that no rational conception could be formed of the one without knowing the other. The right honourable gentleman had however conceded the point as to two questions being instituted. The only objection, then, was to the secrecy of the committee. His only reason for secrecy was, that it was highly important to public credit that partial statements should not go forth to the public mind. They were going to look into the private affairs of the Bank, which nothing but public affairs, he had almost said public safety, could warrant. To this one point only was the secrecy to be applied. If therefore he contended for one committee, and that a secret one, nothing but a sense of justice prevented him from agreeing to any mode which would lead to a fair investigation. The forced circulation of countries on the Continent had been confounded with the circulation of this country. The difference was, however, obvious. Was this the only country in which the creditor was paid with paper? There was a Bank in France, although from the circumstances of the country it had not yet risen to much importance: but the metals entered the Continent only commercially; they had, however, there speculative men of less experience than those who regulate the currency of this country, and they resolved to found the circulating medium upon a metallic substratum; the consequence was, that by forcing a metallic currency, they deprived themselves of the little of it which they had. He considered a metallic standard the only legitimate standard of currency, but no country ought to resume a metallic currency when metals were going out of the country. It was on that account that he could not agree to injure this country by

forcing the appearance of that which could not be real or lasting. The first duty of that House was to afford protection to the poor man; but if prices were reduced to him, what would that avail if the farmer and the manufacturer could not pay him what would meet even those low prices? Prices would necessarily rise again, and the public would find that it was a mere delusion that had been practised on them. Whenever the exchanges should be in our favour, the Bank could open, and let it be by reasonable sacrifices of their wealth; he should not consider that a sufficient reason for restriction, nor a moderate pressure upon the public; for they must all bear a part, providedit did not press upon the property of which the currency was the representative. The effect then of the Bank opening now would be to carry the metals out of the country; it could open with safety and advantage when the exchanges should be in our favour. There was a difference of 7 per cent. between the market price and the mint price of gold. If in such a state of things cash-payments were resumed, not one of those merchants who trade with the Continent and exchange goods would buy from the manufacturer in Yorkshire or in Manchester, while he could make 7 per cent. of profit by taking gold from the Bank. The effect of the resumption would really be, to turn the Bank into a shop exchange for brokers to go to for gold, which could be exported with much profit to other countries. If the Bank were now to attempt to force a metallic currency in this country, not only would the evil on the Continent be increased, but we would ourselves feel it to a fearful extent. A loan of L.3,000,000 in Russia, at a high and commanding premium, had produced an immediate sensation in Paris, great as its

distance was from Petersburgh. Not merely, therefore, on account of the extraordinary loans, but on account of the great experiments in Europe, was it hazardous to resume payments in specie at this time. The House knew what forced the country in 1797 to depart from what was the legitimate currency of the country. In consequence of that measure, exertions were made by the country which had never been known under any other medium of circulation. Yet, great as had been the difficulties of the war, and strong and overruling to this country, let them not suppose that they were all over. The House would see what rendered the exchanges unfavourable, when they considered that the effect of the war was to accumulate property in this country beyond any example. When the House recollected that the interest of money had become doubled, it would see the effect which had been produced by the removal of that great capital which British subjects had carried along with them into foreign countries. For his own part, though he believed that one method of creating credit was to be found in the opening of the Bank, still he must maintain, that it would require a proportional time to enable them to establish cash payments. For these reasons, as well for those which he had previously mentioned, he must oppose the motion of the right honourable gentleman.

Mr Maberly, in explaining the grounds on which he meant to vote with Ministers upon this, as upon a former occasion, when the subject was before the House, remarked, that the causes which prevented the resumption of cash payments at present were to be found in the unfunded debt due to the Bank of England; for how can the Bank of England, in holding Exchequer-bills, find