GENERAL HISTORY. 



[73 



leave out all the words in the 

 preamble from " whereas," in 

 order to add the words, 



" It is expedient that the provi- 

 sions of the -said act should be 

 farther continued, in order to 

 afford the directors of the Bank 

 the opportunity of making such 

 gradual reduction of the amount 

 of their notes in circulation as 

 may be necessary, in order to 

 enable them, with safety to the 

 Bank and to the public, to re- 

 sume cash payments at the 

 earliest period, and that another 

 time should be fixed at which the 

 said restrictions should cease.'' 



Mr. Canning, in opposing the 

 amendment, dwelt upon the de- 

 claration of the first preamble, 

 which assigned as the motive of 

 the continuance of the restriction, 

 that " unforeseen circumstances" 

 had rendered it expedient that 

 the restriction should proceed; 

 and this, he assured the House, 

 was the only reason which at 

 present could induce him to sup- 

 port the bill. In various other 

 respects he adhered to his former 

 opinions relative to the subject. 



Mr. J. P. Grant, after various 

 observations in favour of Mr. 

 Lewis's motion, said, that when 

 he recollected that the advances 

 to government led to the Bank 

 stoppage in 1797, and when he 

 saw that the chancellor of the 

 exchequer founded his system of 

 finance on farther advances from 

 the Bank on exchequer bills in 

 the present year, he could not 

 help thinking that the cause still 

 continued, and would continue to 

 operate to prevent the resump- 

 tion of cash payments, just so 

 long as this system between the 

 Bank and the government was 

 suffered to contmue in full and 



active operation. The hon. gen- 

 tleman concluded with giving 

 notice of his intention, in a future 

 stage of the bill, to move that the 

 restriction do continue no longer 

 than six weeks after the next 

 meeting of parliament. 



Several other members on each 

 side spoke on this topic ; at 

 length the question being put, 

 " That the words of the Amend- 

 ment made by the committee, 

 proposed to be left out, stand 

 part of the question, the House 

 divided: Ayes, 88; Noes, 21: 

 Majority, 67. 



Mr. Tiemey (whose motion 

 took place of that of Mr. J. P. 

 Grant) then proposed the 25th 

 of March next, as the proper time 

 for the Bank to resume cash pay- 

 ments. The question being put 

 " That the words of the Amend- 

 ment made by the committee, 

 proposed to be left out, stand 

 part thereof, the House divided : 

 Ayes, 88 ; Noes, 27 : Majority 

 for 5th of July, 61. 



The order of the day for the 

 third reading of the Bank Res- 

 triction bill took place on May 

 19th, when Mr. Finlay rose, and 

 alluding to a speech of Mr. Gur* 

 ney the preceding night, said 

 that he could not suffer this bill 

 to pass without taking some 

 notice of the unfortunate prejudice 

 to which that hon. member had 

 lent his sanction, namely, that it 

 was impossible to place our 

 currency on its former footing. 

 From this course nothing but the 

 most serious evils were to be 

 apprehended ; and the hon. gen- 

 tleman instanced in several con- 

 tinental countries the evils which 

 had actually happened from the 

 necessity of employing paper 

 money instead of cash. It was 



absurd 



