GENERAL HISTORY. 



[75 



dends beyond u certain sum, and 

 all above that sum they had been 

 content shovild remain in the 

 hands of the Bank. It appeared 

 to him better that a more exten- 

 sive ari'angement ouglit to be 

 Hiatle, adapteil to any probable 

 variation of eircinnstances, thnt 

 (he Bank should retain in its 

 hands a certain sum, and all the 

 balances above tliat sum be 

 made applicable to the public 

 service. On this piinciplo he had 

 taken ."^Ol.OOOl., which hatl re- 

 mained in their hands up to the 

 .'ith of April, ill atUlilion to the 

 advances made undei the acts 

 proposed by Mr. Fitt and Mr. 

 Perceval. This 301,0001. how- 

 ever was not tlie only advantage 

 which the nation would derive 

 from his plan. It was not right 

 that the Bank should retain in 

 their liands sums wliicli it was 

 not likely ^\ould be called for, 

 and which, from the accidents of 

 nature, or IVoin the course of law, 

 thft owners might never be able 

 to reclaim. He therefore thought 

 such monies might be ^^ ell paid 

 over to the commissioners for the 

 redemiition of the national debt, 

 to be by them ap])lied to the li- 

 quidation of the jjublic debt, 

 subject to the future claims of 

 the owners foi- restitution. He 

 proixised that it should be ar- 

 ranged on this principle — that 

 all stock on which no .dividend 

 was claimed for 10 years succes- 

 sively, .should be paid over to the 

 commissioners of the national 

 debt, to be by them applied in tl>e 

 manner he had already described. 

 A register of all such payments 

 he proposed should be kept both 

 In the Bank and at the office of 

 the commissioners for the reduc- 



tion of the national debt, and 

 this lie thought would be better 

 for the owners than even the pre- 

 sent system, proverbially accurate 

 as the Bank was in all its transac- 

 tions. The next item was lather 

 of an extraordinary nature. It 

 was one of 140,0001. made up of 

 small balances remaining in the 

 exchequer, the result of unap- 

 plied parliamentary grants of 

 former years, and now amount- 

 ing altogether tci a sum not to 

 be despised. Tliere yet remain- 

 ed supplies to the amount of 

 '^>,r>00,(XX}|, to be piovided for, 

 and this he proposed to do by 

 means of an issue of exchequer 

 l)ills to replace an equal amount 

 of unfunded debt which wo\dd be 

 paid off, and which in his original 

 plan for the budget of the year 

 he hnd ])iopo5.ed not to replace, 

 but entirely to extinguish. These 

 sums he had already stated as 

 part of the separate charges of 

 Great Britain, and they consisted 

 of the remaining part of the bank 

 advance of the year IHOO, amount- 

 ing t(t a million ai\d a half, and 

 of the debentures and loyalty 

 loan paid off and amounting to a 

 million and twenly-four thousand 

 pounds. 



He then recapitulated the whole 

 of the supplies, and the ways 

 and means by which they were.to 

 be met as above-stated. He did 

 not mean to move for exchequer 

 bills to meet the '2,500,0001. of 

 which he had spoken, by them- 

 selves; he should include them in 

 a larger vote. In Februaiy, a 

 grantof 4,.'J0O,0OOl. in exchequer 

 bills had been voted by the House 

 to meet other bills to the same 

 amount. To this might be added 

 bills to the amount of 1,500,0001. 



issued 



