GENERAL HISTORY. 



[89 



first place, endeavour to explain 

 to the committee how the account 

 of the 3,000,000/. Irish treasury 

 bills stood. The House would 

 recollect that before Easter there 

 had been a grant of 4,2000,000/. 

 for repayini:;; certain Irish trea- 

 sury bills. Upon communication 

 with the bank of England and the 

 bank of Ireland (the whole of the 

 treasury bills being held by them), 

 it was found that the directors of 

 those establishments were dis- 

 posed to exchange the bills they 

 held for new bills. Two hundred 

 and fifty thousand pounds had 

 however already been paid to the 

 bank of Ireland, and as that 

 body required 5 per cent, inte- 

 rest, it was not thought advise- 

 able to renew the whole sum now 

 outstanding, but to pay oR", as 

 occasion offered, such bills as 

 were held by the bank of Ireland. 

 Only a small part of the Irish 

 treasury bills in their hands were 

 however due till December and 

 January next, and it would there- 

 fore be time enough to make ar- 

 rangements for paying them off 

 nfter the next meeting of ))arlia- 

 ment. The remaining sum of 

 9,000,000/. he proposed, as he 

 had already stated, to raise by 

 exchequer bills ; and he was the 

 moic induced to take this propor- 

 tion of the deficiency in that way, 

 as the bank of England in its ne- 

 gociations would be satisfied with 

 a more moderate rate of interest 

 than was paid in Ireland. Before 

 the meeting of parliament he could 

 have borrowed twelve millions by 

 an advance upon exche(juer bills 

 from one set of contractors, and 

 on terms which then appeared 

 favourable ; but from the appear- 

 ance of the inuney market, ho 



thought it better not to avail him- 

 self of it, and to take the chance 

 of making a more advantageous 

 arrangement, in which he had 

 succeeded even beyond his expec- 

 tations. He had indeed found the 

 state of the market such, that by 

 issuing exchequer bills gradually 

 in ])reference to borrowing i:i one 

 sum upon the same sort of secu- 

 rity, he had saved 300,000/. in 

 annual interests. The power of 

 the money market to take off 

 9,000,000/. of exchequer bills, he 

 thought could not be questioned, 

 when it was considered, that of 

 the 42.000,000/. previously grant- 

 ed by parliament "27 ,000,000/. had 

 already been put into circulation 

 in the course of the present ses- 

 sion. There were, therefore, 

 only bills to the amount of 

 ] 0,000,000/. further to be is- 

 sued. The 9,000,000/. he now 

 proposed to add would make 

 24,000,000/. and, all things con- 

 sidered, lie apprehended that there 

 would not be more thrown into 

 the market than could be easily 

 absorbed. It ought at the same 

 time to be recollected, that as the 

 interest had been reduced from 

 5i per cent, to 3|, there was a 

 saving in that respect of 1^ per 

 cent. From the measure he pro- 

 posed, he therefore had reason to 

 expect great advantage both to 

 the agriculture and commerce of 

 the country, and he doubted whe- 

 ther it would have been possible 

 to derive equal benefit from any 

 other arrangement. Although the 

 revenue, from causes over which 

 his Majesty's ministers could have 

 no control, had fallen short si.x or 

 eight millions, there had been an 

 evident improvement in our public 

 Cie<lit, It might be recollected, 



that 



