1797+] 
that neceffity. Every man, he obferved, 
who read this order of council, was ftruck 
with this.enormity imit; that for the 
firft time, in the hiftory of this coun- 
try, an order of council had violated pub- 
lic credit, and compelled the bank to ftop 
payment. ‘This was not only to impair, 
but to deftroy, for the time, the folidity 
ofthe bank. The value, and ufe, of the 
bank, contifted inthis, that its notes were 
convertible, at pleafure, into gold and 
filver. . Confidering himfelf as a member 
of. that houfe, he had a right to know 
the caufes of the neceflity, that could 
juftify a breach of this principle. But 
if the meafure was neceflary to be adopt- 
ed, it did not appear to him, that thefe 
were the beft means td be ufed. Minif- 
ters fhould have come to parliament; the 
facility and fpeed with which’bills could 
pafs the heufe, was well known; and, if 
any thing could juftify one branch of the 
government deciding upon this delicate 
point, it ought not to have been the ex- 
ecutive branch. Were this eftablifhed 
_ asa precedent, it would be in the power 
of a proclamation from the King, to de- 
{troy a great portion of the property of 
the country. In countries where power 
was vefted in affemblies, credit was more 
fecure, than under a monarchy ; and to 
throw away, in this refpect, the advan- 
tages of an aflembly, chofen by the peo- 
ple, was madnefs. Of all modes of fet- 
tling this affair, the mode which minif- 
ters had adopted, was the moft danger- 
ous; it never would be out of the me- 
mory of the people. It would be recol- 
le€ted with terror, that whatever our 
conftitution might be on paper, whatever 
its provifions for the fecurity of property 
and credit, one word from the King could 
deftroy both. Jf, in. future wars, the 
country fhould be brought to an embar- 
raffing condition, and with profpects as 
gloomy as the prefent, would not the 
people, with fuch an example before 
them, be apt to fufpeé, that future mi- 
nifters would adopt it? With doubts of 
this kind, the people might be impelled 
to open and unconditional refittance.— 
Finding public credit attacked, without 
hope of reftoration, they would certainly 
_ fee, that either the minifter defpifed the 
fafety of the country ; or, that the crown 
had more pleafure in promoting the am- 
bition of an individual, than the happi- 
nefs and welfare of his fubjeéts in ge- 
neral. 3 
Mr. Fox next took a comprehenfive 
view of the recent conduét of minifters, 
the tales which they had told, to induce 
Debates on the Stoppage of the Bank. 4g 
the funding of the floating debt, the va- 
rious embarraffments of government, 
arifing from their want of fyftem and 
ceconomy, the delay in the payment of | 
the lottery prizes laft year, the civil lift, 
the army arrears, &c. He contended, 
that there could not be conceived a mea- 
fure more violent and repugnant, than 
that of the minifter fending an order to 
the bank, to refufe payment to- the pub- 
lic creditor ; and that, if an aét of this 
magnitude, if an aggreflion thus dan- 
gerous and unprecedented, were to be 
treated lightly by the members of that 
houfe, it would be relinquifhing at once, 
the moft important and delicate of all 
their functions. 
Mr. Hospuovse was for a general en 
quiry, under a conviétion, that neither 
the affurances of the Chancellor of the 
Exchequer, nor that of the fecret com- 
mittee, could diffipate the doubts in 
which the conduét of the minifter had in- 
volved public credit. a 
Mr. Martin, Sir J. Sinclair, Mr. W. 
Smith, Lord Wycombe, Mr. Foley, Mr. 
W. W. Bird, Mr. Curwen, Mr. Baf- 
tard, Mr. Huffey, and Sir W. Pulteney, 
each fpoke in favour of a general en- 
guiry. To thefe gentlemen, 
Mr. Pir replied, that the ground of 
the enquiry was purpofely narrowed, 
with the view of gaining the fanétion of 
the legiflature, as {oon as poffible, to the 
meafure that government had confider- 
ed it their duty to adopt ; and to obtain 
which, evidence of the neceflity muft be 
Jaid before parliament. He did not con- 
fider the executive power as competent 
to give this meafure that validity which 
could only proceed from an aét of the le- 
giflature. This objeét being obtained, 
it might then become a matter of difcuf- 
fion, how Jong it might be continued. 
The firft queftion was, whether the pub- 
lic fafety had rendered the immediate en- 
forcement of the meature neceflary? With 
refpect to all the obfervations which had 
been made, refpeéting Autirian loans, 
&c. he could not admit that- they 
had caufed the neceffity which called for 
the proclamation. To the fudden and 
unfounded alarm, which had fpread over 
the country, and which had produced an 
unufual demand for fpecie at the bank, 
was this meafure folely attributable. It 
was fo far from being connected with the 
ftate of our foreign connections, or the 
courfe of foreign exchanges, that the lat- 
ter never ftood in a higher or more flou- 
rifhing condition, than at this moment; 
neither did it preceed from any diftrels 
e in 










