1797.1 
Mr. Grey faid, he expeéted nothing lefs 
than the introduction of military law, to 
oblige the poor and ftarying note-holder 
to a compliance with thé aét of the bank. 
iVir. Pitt, faid he could not admit the’con- 
clufion inferred by Mr. Grey, from notes 
_ not being made payable on demand. Cir- 
eumftances being fuch as to require the 
meafure adopted by the privy-council, 
the holders of bank-notes muft expect to 
find the bank unprepared, for a certain 
time, to pay them. Mr. Fox faid, every 
thing the minitter did was a breach of 
faith. There had been an order made 
already that the bank fhould not pay its 
lawful debts; now a bill is propofed to_ 
empower the bank to ifue {mall notes, 
before the a€t of council, whichimcluded 
that order, was made legal. Hence the 
bank may refufe to pay the value of their 
Own notes under this order, yet with an 
aét in exiftence under which thofe hold- 
ing. bank-notes may bring an action, 
which would not only bea fair and pro- 
per aétion, but muft terminate in favour 
of the perfon who might bring it. 
Mr. Fox, in fpeaking to his promifed 
motion for a committee’ to enquire into” 
the caufe of the order of the 26th of Fe- 
bruary, iffued by the privy-council, pro- 
pofed the appointment of a committee, 
not by ballot, but by vote of the houfe, to 
inveftigate the caufe of that order. Ge- 
neral Walpole feconded the motion. He 
noticed the declaration of one of the bank- 
direétors on a former debate (Mr. Thorn- 
ton) that the bank had no concern in the 
extraordinary meafures forced upon it; 
and expreffed his conviétion, that if mi- 
nifters dared to meet a fair invettigation, 
the criminality would be found to reft 
with them. Mr. Pict, on the other hand, 
contended that rhe committee already ap- 
pointed, to enquire into the neceffity of 
the order of council, were empowered to 
enquire into the caufes alfo, and that all 
their report was made, no other queftion 
could be agitated. Wir. Sheridan fup- 
ported the motion of Mr. Fox. He re- 
probated the mode of ballotting for com- 
mittees, and quoted an inftance, that of 
the regency, when Mr. Pitt was an ad- 
yocate for choofing. committees openly. 
He afferted, that a ballot was become an 
infrument by which the minifter, pro- 
cured a committee to fuit his purpofe ; 
treafury lifts were put into the hands of 
members in the lobby, aireéting their 
choice with fuch effrontery, that fome . 
members had left the houle in difgutt. 
‘To give the ballot an air of accident, the 
ninifter was, however, to put utto his 
MONTHLY Mac. No. £V. 
- ¢ 
Public Affairs. —Britifh Parliament. — 
lift two or three refpeftable names ; but 
from a committee thus chofen, he could 
not expeé juftice, and would therefore 
not confent that enquiry fhould be refer- 
red tothem. .On a divifion, there ap- 
peared, for the motion, 67; againftit, 161 
On the 3d of Mareh, the Houfe, in a 
committee on the bill, empowering bank- 
ers and manufacturers to iffue fmall notes, 
fixed the penalty on the non-payment of 
a bill at 20s. and limited its duration till 
the firft of May next. The bill was af- 
terwards read a third time and pafled, 
On the motion of Mr, Dundas; the 
Houfe ‘unanimoufly voted its thanks to 
Sir John Jervis, and the officers and pri+ 
vates under his command, on the memo- 
rable 14th of February, 1797. 
The fame day, Mr, Whitbread brought 
forward a motion for an enquiry into the 
meafures taken by his majefty’s mini- 
fters for the defence of Ireland, again 
the invafion of that ifland by the French, 
he prefaced it by a copious review of the 
failing, the return, the delay, &c. of the 
Enelith fleet, and of the means of de- 
fence in Ireland, the latter of which he 
ftated, from the official reports of general 
Dalrymple, to have been confined to 
3000 men, without arms. Mr. Dundas 
in reply, ufed many arguments to prove, 
that fo far from Ireland’s being faved by 
the elements, it was folely owing to the 
elements that the French fleet did not 
meet with defiruction. He detailed to 
the houfe the intru€tions given to admi- 
ral Colpoys, and a diary of the weather 
which prevented his ‘entire fulfilment of 
them. He denied the rtimour that the 
Britith fquadron was in want of provi- 
vifions, having at the time of its difper~ 
fion and return to port thirty-four days 
water, forty-four days bread and pork, 
wine and {pirits for fix weeks. The 
French had loft in the attempt two thips 
of the line, befides fmaller veffels, and 
4500 men, and nothing but a concur- 
rence of miraculous circumftances pre- 
vented their annihilation. After fome 
obfervations from Mecfirs Grey, Wynd- 
ham, Fox, Sturt, and Pitt, the houfe 
divided. For the previous queftion, 299 ; 
againft it, 62.—Majority, r47againft Mr. 
W hitbread’s motion. 
On the 3d of March, the report of the 
felect committee appointed to enquire in- 
to the outitanding engagements, &c. of 
the bank, was read... The fubftance cf 
it was, “ That, on the 25th of February 
laft, the outitanding engagements of the 
bank amounted to 13,770,390l. and the 
funds to anfiver thefe engagements to 
Hh ' 17,59 75250ls 
#35, 
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