803.) 
mot of the fpecie, and this too at a time 
when no bullion arrives to fupply the de- 
ficiency that would be thus unavoidably 
created : that it’was therefore moft pru- 
dent to wait till the’¢ourfe of exchange be- 
came fteady and ftable in favour ot this 
country; becaule, if the reftri€tion was 
taken off too toon, it was highly probable 
that it would fhortly afterwards become 
neceflary to apply to Parliament to renew it. 
Under the above circumttances, he very 
forcibly argued, that it was much better 
that the reftri€tion fhould be continued a 
thor: time longer, than that it.fhould be 
difcontinued a day too foon; that it was 
a meafure of wife and falutary precaution, 
and could be attended withno confiderable 
inconveniencies, as aflourifhing commerce, 
and progreffive improvemeuts in_agricul- 
ture and manufactures, would have the 
effeét of bringing bullion into thecountry ; 
and, in fuch a cafe, Parliament would be 
jultified in making the Bank refume its 
operations, by paying in {pecie. 
That, immediately after the pafling of 
the firit Reftraining-a&t, a fpecific enquiry 
as to the ftate of the Bank tock place in 
Parliament, and the refult of that enquiry 
eftablithed, beyond a poffidility of doubt, 
the complete folvency of the Bank, and 
that no infufficiency in its circumitances— 
no icregular preflure upon it, for a fupply 
to the pecuniary wants of Government— 
nothing that ought to affeét the confidence 
of all Europe in the commercial and pecu- 
niary credit of England: nothing, in fhort, 
that fhould excite the leaft defpondency, 
had given occafion to the meafure. That 
after the term of the firft Reftraining-act 
had expired, and its renewal was judged to 
be neceflary ; te fatisfy the nation that the 
experiment of the firft A&thad not been un- 
fortunate ; that the circumitances of the 
Bank had not become worfe, fince its 
payment in fpecie were forbidden; that 
neither the internal, nor the foreign trade 
of the kingdom had been impaired by the 
meafure; a fecond inquiry was deemed 
proper, and it was ferioufly and carefulfy 
made, and afforded refults wpon which the 
reftriction was, to the fatisfaction of Par- 
liament and of the nation, renewed for a 
period to extend fix months after the con- 
clufion of a definitive treaty of yeace. 
That that term elapfed, but Parliament 
were of opinion that the intereft of the 
country would not then permit that the 
Bank fhould return to its accuftomed 
courie of paying in fpecie ; and the A& 
42 Geo. III. c. 40, was pafled without 
any enquiry, becaule Parliament had not 
New Ais of the Britifh Legiflature.  ~ 
267 
the Jeaft doubt of the ability of the Bank 
to make good all the payments which 
could be demanded from it; of its having 
derived new profperity from the reftric- 
tions, inftead of being by that injured in 
its credit, and cramped in its operations ; 
of its continuing to afford the fame aids 
and facilities to commerce as before the 
war commenced ; becaufe it was not in 
the fmalleft degree doubtful but there 
was In the meafure an expediency the mott 
important, both commercial and political ; 
an expediency, in regard to the certainty 
of which there prevailed but one common 
opinion: that no effential alteration had 
taken place in any of thefe Gircumftances 
fince the laft feffion: that the tlate of Eu- 
rope, and the circumftances of. this coun- 
try, political and commercial, rendered it 
unwile to bring the Bank to the neceflity 
of making its payments in coin,for it muft 
purchafe bullion, at whatever difadvan- 
tage: it would perhaps’ narrow its dif- 
counts to the merchants: it might poffi- 
bly diminihh the quantity of the circulat- 
_Ing medium, by leffening the number of 
its notes ; it would be the lefs able to 
grant affiftance to the country bankers, at 
a time when the demands upon tiem for 
{pecie were the moft urgent: vai quanti- 
ties of ftock would be thus brought fud- 
denly into the market, and a ferious, tho’ 
not irrefiftable, (hock would be given to 
the whole fyftem of commercial credit. 
Under thefe ttrong and convincing rea- 
fons, Parliament has deemed it wife and 
falutary to continue the reftriftions on 
payments of cafh at the Bank: and as 
jome difficulties had arifen in the courts 
of juftice, upon theclaufe in the former 
act, refpeéting tenders being made in 
Bank-notes, on account of the impoffibi- 
lity of making an exact tender in Bank- 
notes, of a debt, in which there was-a 
fraction of a pound, a claule, viz. fect. 2, 
was, upon the figgeltion of the Attorney 
General, introduced into the bill, to re- 
-medy that inconvenience. 
The tg!lowing is a correct abftra& of 
the feverai Reftraining- acts, recited in, and 
continued by the Act of the prefent feffion. 
‘© By 37 Geo. III. c. 45. the Bank, of 
England, and all perfons congerned, were in- 
demnified for all aéts done in purfuance of a 
minute of the Privy Ceuncil, of 26th Feb. 
1797, recommending the Directors to forbear 
to iflue cath.” §. 5, 
‘¢ And it was enatted, that it fhould not be 
lawful for the Bank to iffue cafh, but according 
to the provifions therein contained.” §. 2, 3, 
43 5» ie 8, 9; 10) 11; 13, 
m2 « This 
