HISTORY OF: EUROPE, 
penetrating observer, the great 
Montesquieu. A great part of the 
cause, to which the stoppage and 
consequent. distress were to be 
ascribed, was the increased demand 
for discounts. In time of peace, 
when money could be obtained for 
less than 5 per cent. people were 
Willing to lay ont their capital in 
discounts: but when 19 per cent. 
could be,made of the money which, 
by discounts, produced only 5 per 
cent. the temptation to employ it in 
some other manner could easily be _ 
conceived. The present evil was, 
also, to be imputed ina great mea- 
sure to alarm. © Country bank-notes 
were the chief circulatins medium 
in the country, and these, in the 
course of alarms of invasions, pro- 
duced a run upon the bank of Eng- 
land, the receiver of the cash of the 
kingdom, ‘I'he public circulation 
of the kingdom was about thirty- 
four millions, and it was not to be 
_ expected that cash to the amount of 
eleven millions, which was the 
amount of bank-notes, was con- 
stantly tobe keptinthe bank, ‘To 
impute the stoppage to the gradual 
advances made to the emperor, upeo 
the ‘immense circulation of this 
conntry, was altogether absurd. 
The great capital lately Jaid out in 
canals,* inclosures, and other im- 
[iss 
provements, proved at once the ex- 
tent of the commerce and the wealth 
of the country, and shewed how 
such operations might, in times of 
embarrassment, press npon the ge- 
neral circulation of the country. 
Upon all these grounds he should 
move the previous question 
The earl of Kinnoul artributed 
much of the evil, that had of late be- 
fallen us, to an increased spirit of 
euterprize and speculation: any 
failures in which were, of necessity, 
accompanied with temporary em- 
barrassments. 
The earl. of Guildford thought 
that the bank might have been en- 
abled to go on: or, that if obliged, 
at last, to stop, that it would have 
been better to shew to the pub- 
lic that its stoppage arose from 
its own want of cash, than its being 
proved that this event arose from 
the wants of government. . The 
bank had repeatedly demanded of 
government repayment of their ad- 
vances. It was one ofthe resources 
to which they had trusted for ex- 
traction from their embarrassments. 
They would have been enabled to 
goon if they had not been deceived 
by the chancellor of the exchequer. 
The earl of Guildford was followed 
in this debate by lord Auckland, the 
duke of Leetls, and lord Gren- 
* Jt seems to be the duty of the annalist to embrace any natural opportunity that 
may occur, of recording proofs and examples ofindustry and enterprize, directed to the 
best ends : an, union of private advantage with public benefit. Such proofs an« exam 
ples are to be found, toa greater extent, in the history of canals. inthis country than, 
perhaps, in any other species of adventures. Roads and canals are the arteries and 
_ veins of political Society, which diffuse life and vigour throughout the whole body ; 
andadd to the satisfaction of the proprietor, the enlarged complacency of the patriot. 
She advantages of canals are particularly illustrated, by the prosperity diffused by the 
canals, for which we are chiefly indebted to the marquis of Stafford and to Sir Ed- 
ward Littleton, of Teddesley, bart. through the county of Stffaord ; and of which the 
shares becomeevery day moreand more productive. It appears thata vessel of 25 ton, 
can be drawn on a canal by a single horse, of inferior quality, and whose labour is 
equivalent to that of forty of the best draught horses: so that the saving, in expences 
and provisions, is immense, 
: (04): ville, 
