GENERAL HISTORY. 



[219 



were sold there at a discount of 

 30 per cent. From the necessity 

 of the case he had approved of 

 that part of the bill which virtu- 

 ally made bank notes a legal 

 tender, but he could see no use 

 in that part which made it crimi- 

 nal to sell gold coin at more than 

 the legal value. A few low and 

 ignorant people had been convicted 

 upon it, while millions of guineas 

 had been exported, notwithstand- 

 ing all the vigilance of govern- 

 ment. He was not alarmed at the 

 idea of a gold price and a paper 

 price, which had prevailed in Ire- 

 land, and now subsisted in Portu- 

 gal, where the effect was, that 

 their gold coin was still in cir- 

 culation, while ours had ail disap- 

 peared. 



Instances were given bj' other 

 members of the actual existence 

 of two prices in this country ; and 

 several of the former arguments 

 on the subject were recapitulated. 

 The report was, however, agreed 

 to. 



-^ The debate was resumed on the 

 motion for the third reading of the 

 bill, December 14; but the read- 

 ing was carried on a division, by 

 80 against 15. 



In the House of Lords, the gold 

 coin bill underwent but little dis- 

 cussion, and it passed into a law 

 before the recess. 



On December 10th, Lord Folk- 

 stone rose in the House of Com- 

 mons, in pursuance of his notice, 

 to call the attention of the house 

 to an important subject. He had 

 in the last session complained of 

 an infraction of the law by the 

 employment of foreign officers in 

 the British army, and a return had 

 been ordeied, which was iacom« 



plete, as . it only contained those 

 employed at home, and not those 

 on foreign service. He should 

 therefore make motions to supply 

 this defect. His lordship then 

 adverted to an order in the Ga- 

 zette, in August last, relative to 

 German officers, which stated, that 

 in consideration of their services, 

 particularly at the battle of Sala- 

 manca, they should receive instead 

 of temporary, permanent rank ia 

 the army. This appeared to him, 

 an attempt to introduce perma- 

 nently and for ever in our army 

 those officers who were, under an 

 act of parliament, serving only in a 

 temporary way, till one year after 

 the conclusion of the war. But he 

 understood that another construc- 

 tion was put upon it, and he 

 begged leave to ask the noble lord 

 opposite (Palmerston) whether he 

 was right in his interpretation, 

 or, if not, what was the real mean- 

 ing of the order ? 



Lord Palmerston at first only 

 replied that the effect of the order 

 was not to give to foreign officers 

 any advantages or privileges in- 

 consistent with the act under which 

 they were serving. This explana- 

 tion not being satisfactory to Lord 

 Folkstone, he moved for an address 

 to the Prince Regent for copies of 

 all the orders issued respecting the 

 rank of officers serving in the Ger- 

 man legion. 



Lord Palmerston then observed^ 

 that the arguments of the noble 

 lord were founded on a misconcep- 

 tion which might be sufficiently 

 explained. Temporary and per- 

 manent rank in the army were 

 terms that merely designated two 

 different services. Permanent rank 

 meant the ordinary rank and pro- 

 motion 



