GENERAL HISTORY. 



15 



CHAPTER III. 



Mr. GrenfeWs questions to the Chancellor of the Exchequer. — The 

 same topic in the House of Lords. — Treaty bettveen England and 

 Spain relative to the Slave trade. — Its discussion in the House of 

 Commons. 



ON the 29th of January, Mr. 

 Grenfell rose for the pur- 

 pose of obtaining from the Chan- 

 cellor of the Exchequer, some in- 

 formation respecting two import- 

 ant questions intimately con- 

 nected with the financial and 

 commercial interests of the coun- 

 try, which ought to be given 

 without delay. These, in the 

 first place, alluded to the re- 

 sumption of cash payments by 

 the Bank of England, which, as 

 at present fixed by law, would 

 take place on the 5th of July 

 next. After the promises so 

 often renewed by the govern- 

 ment and the Bank, it was natural 

 to suppose that no uncertainty 

 would prevail in any quarter as 

 to the probability when the 

 period of cash payment would 

 actually arrive ; j'et considerable 

 doubt did exist in the public 

 mind upon this subject, especially 

 among the class described as the 

 money interest. It was desirable 

 that this doubt should not conti- 

 nue a moment after his majesty's 

 ministers had it in their power to 

 remove it. No one who had a 

 practical knowledge of what was 

 passing in the city, could be ig- 

 norant of the very large transac- 

 tions of a speculating nature 

 which depended on this contin- 



gency ; and it was obvious that 

 those who had the means of 

 becoming acquainted with the 

 intention of the ministers, must 

 possess a material advantage over 

 those who were not in the secret. 

 For these different reasons, he 

 hoped it would not be considered 

 as making an extraordinary re- 

 quest in behalf of the public, if 

 he desired to know whether any 

 event had occurred, or was ex- 

 pected to occur, which in its 

 consequences would prevent the 

 resumption of cash payments on 

 the 5th of July next. 



There was another question 

 upon which he was desirous that 

 some information should be af- 

 forded, as it equally related to 

 the subject of the connexion 

 between the government and the 

 Bank. The pubUc stood in the 

 situation of debtor to the Bank, 

 one sum of three millions ad- 

 vanced without interest, the 

 other of six millions at an in- 

 terest of 4 per cent, which would 

 soon become payable. Until 

 those loans should be repaid, the 

 Bank had secured to themselves 

 the undisturbed possession of a 

 balance upon the public money 

 deposited in their hands, which, 

 for the last twelve years, had 

 never fallen short, upon an aver- 



