GENERAL HISTORY. 



[75 



fondly clung to the hope that the 

 day was at length positively fixed 



! when the nation would return to 

 that system of circulation under 



>■ which its credit was untainted. 



I That hope had now unhappily 

 fled, destroyed as it was by the 

 introduction of the present bill. 

 Not only on account of the pub- 

 lic, but on account of the Bank 

 itself, it was high time that the 

 truth should be known. It was 

 not fitting to go on with what 

 was called restriction and res- 

 traint, if that restraint was in 

 truth no other than a boon and 

 indulgence granted to the Bank 

 of England, by which they were 

 enabled to paj' their creditors in 

 a depreciated currency. Wliether 

 that body looked upon it as a 

 restraint to which they were 

 uilling to submit, or, as was 

 sometimes insinuated, in which 

 they were unwillingly but singu- 

 larly acquiescent, in either case 

 the great interest to which par- 

 liament was bound to look was 

 that of the country ; and looking 

 to that, he never could be induced 

 to consent to such a measure, 

 even for the shortest period, upon 

 a ground so problematical and 



, inconsiderable as had been urged 

 by the noble earl. 



Lord G. continued to speak at 

 considerable length on the dangers 

 of perseverance in the system of 

 paper currency, and on the mis- 

 chief and ultimate destruction 

 that it threatened to the finances 

 of the country. The evils, he 

 said were so many that he could 

 ^ot enumerate them, and so great 

 that his majesty's ministers did 

 not dare to look them in the face. 

 The Earl of Harroivbi/ defended 

 the bill by calling in question 



several of the positions advanced 

 by the last speaker, whom he 

 charged with taking for granted 

 many of the unavoidable evils 

 with which the nation had been 

 threatened. He thought that 

 the dangers of recurring to cash- 

 payments at the present critical 

 moment were much greater than 

 the persisting in a system under 

 which the country had flourished 

 so long. 



Of the noble lords who after- 

 wards joined in the debate, it 

 would be superfluous to give an 

 analysis of their speeches, as they 

 would necessarily fall into the 

 track already anticipated by the 

 speakers in the other House. 

 The question being put, the 

 House resolved itself into a com- 

 mittee on the bill, when the earl 

 of Lauderdale proposed as an 

 amendment, that instead of fixing 

 the 5th of July 1819 as the term 

 of the restriction, it should ex- 

 pire in six weeks after the com- 

 mencement of the next session of 

 parliament. Upon this the House 

 divided ; Contents, 9 ; Not Con- 

 tents, 22. The bill then went 

 through the committee. 



On May 27th on the third 

 reading of the Bank Restriction 

 bill, the earl of Lauderdale moved 

 a change in the preamble, which 

 was negatived. 



The same was the fate of a 

 proviso moved by lord Holland, 

 to put an end to the operation of 

 the act in the event of the price 

 of gold falling to 21. 17s. 6d. per 

 ounce. 



The Earl of Lauderdale then 

 moved a proviso relative to the 

 gold and silver coin of the king- 

 dom, which was also negatived. 



The bill was then passed. 



CHAPTER 



