GENERAL HISTORY. 



[127 



blishment of the Bank of Scot- 

 land, having contained a clause 

 by which all foreigners holding 

 shares in that bank were na- 

 turalized in England, a discovery 

 -was made of its existence a short 

 time ago, and in order to put a 

 6top to this possibility, the Lord 

 Chancellor moved the following 

 clause : " And be it further 

 enacted by the authority afore- 

 said, that such persons as may 

 have been naturalized, or claim 

 to have become naturalized, since 

 the 28th of April last, by the 

 effect of any act of the parlia- 

 ment of Scotland heretofore pass- 

 ed relative to the Bank of Scot- 

 land, or who may claim to be 

 naturalized by becoming partners 

 of the Bank of Scotland after the 

 passing of this act, shall be deem- 

 ed and taken to be aliens, not- 

 withstanding the provisions of 

 any act of the parliament of Scot- 

 land, whilst the provisions of this 

 act relative to aliens shall remain 

 in force.'' The House divided : 

 For the lord chancellor's clause, 

 42 ; Against it, 20. 



Lord Gage proposed a motion 

 relative to aliens whom govern- 

 ment desired to send out of the 

 kingdom, in imitation of one of- 

 fered in the House of Commons, 

 which was rejected by — Contents, 

 20 ; Not Contents, 42. 



Lord Sidmoidh moved that the 

 standing order should be sus- 

 pended in order that the report 

 of the committee should be re- 

 ceived, and the bill read a third 

 time to-morrow. Several lords 

 contended warmly on the oppo- 

 site side, but the motion was at 

 length agreed to. 



On the second of June the 

 •Ec^ qf Lauderdale presented a 



petition from certain persons who 

 had recently purchased shares in 

 the Bank of Scotland, and who 

 were now threatened to be un- 

 justly divested of their rights by 

 an ex jiostfocto law. Their peti- 

 tion complaining of hardships, 

 was read ; and the earl moved 

 that they be heard by their coun- 

 sel against the bill. 



Lord Sidmouth submitted to 

 tiieir lordships, whether, after the 

 discussion the clause in question 

 had undergone, it could be ne- 

 cessary to hear counsel on the 

 part of the petitioners. 



Earl Grey was astonished to 

 hear the noble secretary of state, 

 without assigning any good rea- 

 son, recommend it to their lord- 

 ships to pay no attention to the 

 application which had been made 

 to them. They complained of 

 the violation of a public right, 

 and asked to be heard in defence 

 of their property and the rights 

 belonging to. it. Could their 

 lordships be prevailed on to refuse 

 to hear them ? 



^ The Earl of Liverpool said, that 

 clause was introduced on public 

 grounds, and for public objects, 

 and in such a case the claims of 

 individuals must yield to the pub- 

 lic good. He could produce 

 many precedents where, in cases 

 of state necessity, it had been the 

 duty of parliament to legislate, 

 without any regard to partial 

 claims. A proposition so mon- 

 strous, so unheard of, he believed 

 had never before been made in 

 that House ; and if their lordships 

 acceded to it, they would render 

 of no effect a bill which he deem- 

 ed of the most vital expediency 

 to the interests and existence of 

 Great Britain. 



Lord 



