72] ANNUAL REGISTER, 1818. 



sion of expectation thai cash 

 payments would not be again 

 postponed. The preamble should 

 comprehend a direct declaration 

 that the restriction was continued, 

 in order that the Bank might be 

 enabled to reduce its issues, so as 

 to resume cash payments at the 

 time fixed by the bill. He pre- 

 sumed that no one would object 

 to his proposed amendment from 

 any attachment to the present 

 preamble. That only stated, 

 that unforeseen circumstances 

 had ai'isen which rendered it 

 expedient to continue the res- 

 trictions. Although he had closely 

 attended all the discussions on 

 the bill, he could not state what 

 those circumstances were. The 

 right hon. gentleman had indeed, 

 on a former night, mentioned four 

 arguments as justificatory of the 

 bill, of which the loans to be 

 negociated for France aftbrded 

 the only grounds on which the 

 measure rested, though most ex- 

 travagantly overcharged. It was 

 notorious that we had w'itnessed 

 of late a large subduction of gold 

 from the continent for the pur- 

 pose of supplying the coffers of 

 the Bank, and yet that subduction 

 did not enhance the price of gold 

 among the continental nations. 

 Wliy then should any effect of 

 that kind, likely to arise from the 

 loans alluded to, be supposed to 

 be calculated to produce any 

 enhancement of the price of gold 

 in this country? He was asto- 

 nished to find gentlemen so much 

 frightened at the bugbear that 

 loans to France, or to any other 

 country, would serve to withdraw 

 our bullion, and that we should 

 be reconciled lo a system which 

 -gave the Bank the power of in- 



fluencing the distribution of all 

 the property in the country. One 

 argument frequently urged by 

 the Bank directors was, that par- 

 liament ought not to interfere 

 with the affairs of the Bank ; and 

 in this opinion he entirely con- 

 curred. But the bill before the 

 House was a most lamentable 

 and fatal interference with them. 

 Parliament had enacted the res- 

 triction, and that restriction ren- 

 dered farther interference abso- 

 lutely necessary. The Bank might, 

 if they should think proper, dis- 

 count bills payable at three years, 

 as well as at two months, and 

 thus throw into circulation a 

 quantity of paper that would 

 never return to tliem. Wliile it 

 possessed a discretion of this 

 kind, parliament must interfere in 

 its concerns, or abandon alto- 

 gether the most important inter- 

 ests of the country. 



There was one other consider- 

 ation of a general nature which 

 appeared to him to deserve atten- 

 tion, which was, the opinion 

 which the continuance of this 

 system must inculcate in Europe 

 with respect to our financial 

 resources ; for while our present 

 state of currency continued, we 

 must be regarded by the continent 

 as helpless and exhausted. It 

 was impossible to suppose that a 

 nation able to relieve itself from 

 its difficulties would remain in 

 such an unsound state. It was 

 vain to hope that the next year 

 would be more favourable than 

 the present for entering upon the 

 subject ; and it was for these 

 reasons that he was anxious to 

 call upon the House to adopt the 

 amendment with which he in- 

 tended to conclude. It was, to 



leave 



