H́nh ảnh trang
PDF
ePub

the right hon. gentleman and his friends should be brought to their senses; if it was ever fit to look our situation in the face; could a better time be chosen than a period of profound peace? If, after four years of peace, we were still blindly to proceed with this paper system without inquiry, let any gentleman lay his hand upon his heart, and consider how dreadful would be the consequences to the nation, if a war, or even an armament, were to intervene? What resource had we but paper; what means of supporting ourselves, but by one piece of paper piled upon another? Surely these were matters well deserving the most deliberate consideration of the House. Was it not high time to take some steps that should put an end to a system which secretly destroyed the foundations of national prosperity? The most obvious and rational course for overcoming these difficulties was the appointment of a committee; and he should be glad to know if any mode of reference could be more distinct, or more likely to accom plish the object of gaining every species of information, than that he was at present urging. He did not wish to inquire merely into the state of the Bank, but into the effects produced by the operation of the various laws passed during the last one-andtwenty years, for continuing the restriction upon cash-payments. When stocks were at 84, it was asserted, that the right hon. gentleman and the earl of Liverpool were impressed with the notion, that the good of the country did require a return to a metallic

currency: even the directors of the Bank seemed to concur in that opinion. In order to enable the Bank to do so, the right hon. gentleman gave notice, that he would pay off a certain amount of exchequer bills. The Bank reduced its issues, and stocks began to fall in proportion. No sooner had this been done, than one of those mysterious deputations waited upon the ministers, and were told that the city was absolutely starving for want of money, and that ruin must ensue. Ministers still seemed desirous of carrying their point; but being from day to day besieged with dismal deputations, a promise was extorted from their fears, that the Bank restriction should be continued for another year.

Mr. Tierney proceeded some time longer in a similar strain. At length he said, that the next question to which he thought it necessary to advert was, what sort of committee would be most eligible for the purpose he had in view. Ought it to be a select, or a secret committee? Now he would fairly state, that he should feel very little anxiety upon this point, were it not for the circumstance of the latter being chosen by ballot. His own motion had for its object to institute a general inquiry; but if the right hon. gentleman wished also that the affairs of the Bank should be investigated, he had no objection whatever to the appointment of a secret committee for

that purpose. If, on the other hand, his determination was, that because there was a small inquiry which required secrecy, a great inquiry ought to be con

ducted

ducted in the same manner, and ought to be chosen by ballot, he should certainly persist in his intention of taking the sense of the House upon such a proposition. He further said, that if the hon. members whom he now saw in the House for the first time, were willing to discard the words of his motion for the vague ones proposed by the chancellor, they would give the most conclusive proof of their entire devotedness to the minister.

He concluded by moving the same words in which his first notice had been given.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer regretted, that the right hon. gentleman had so soon laid aside all the ideas of conciliation and unanimity which a few days since he had professed, to adopt the language of mere vulgar party feeling. He then made a comparison between his own notice, and that of his antagonist, in which he found his own much more correct in its form, and distinct in its object, than that of the other. He then challenged the right hon. mover to the proof that the financial system of the country had been unstable and injudicious; and he showed that in no period equal in duration to that which had elapsed since the conclusion of the war, so much had been done, either in diminishing taxation, or in reducing the public debt. With respect to the proposed committee, he much wished, that gentlemen would go into it with unbiassed feelings, and with minds unfettered by any previously declared opinions. The real question before the House was "Is inquiry

necessary?" It was now on both sides agreed, that it was. That had not been the impression of his majesty's ministers on the first day of the session, who then thought that it would be expedient, without the institution of any inquiry, to propose a bill for a short extension of the restriction of cash-payments. Among the causes to which the right hon. gentleman attributed the want of money in England, were the amount and nature of the foreign loans, especially the protraction of the French loan, which being over-rated in France, and proving insufficient when brought to the test, recourse was had to other countries, and especially to this, which naturally produced a produced a rate of exchange against us. In this case, his colleagues and himself had not thought it wise, or safe, to call on the Bank to resume its payments in cash, but had proposed to continue the restriction till the 1st of March 1820. This was on the 21st of last month; but on the following day, lord Liverpool and himself had received a communication from the Bank directors stating an opinion different from that which he and his noble friend had previously understood them to entertain; namely, that they wished for an inquiry, in preference to so short an extension of the restriction. In consequence of this application, he and his colleagues, without at all abandoning their own opinion, felt that an inquiry so demanded, could not with propriety be refused. The necessity of an inquiry being therefore acknowledged on all sides, the only question

question that remained was as to the manner in which it should be conducted. After some pretty severe reflections on Mr. Tierney, he submitted to the House an amendment which he thought fully comprehensive, for it would call on the committee to consider every part of the question in all its bearings. In this inquiry would be examined, not only the rate of foreign exchanges, and the state of the circulating medium, but the condition of the Bank, with every collateral topic that had any relation to the subject. It was clear, however, that a committee appointed for such extensive and delicate purposes, ought to be secret; and, notwithstanding the opinion of the right hon. gentleman, it should be appointed by ballot, in conformity to the ancient and uniform custom, from which he had never heard any sound reason for departing. He thought it proper to observe, that to whatever period it might be advisable to postpone the resumption of cash payments, it was desirable to provide that it should take place while parliament was sitting, in order that if inconveniencies should result from such resumption, a legislative remedy might be immediately applied to them. The right hon. gentleman then moved, as an amendment, to leave out from the word " appointed," to the end of the motion, in order to add these words, "to consider of the state of the Bank of England, with reference to the expediency of the resumption of cash payments at the period fixed by law, and into such other matters as are connected

therewith, and to report to the House such information relative thereto as may be disclosed without injury to the public interests, with their observations," instead thereof.

more

Lord Castlereagh said, that though the grounds of difference as to the object of the motion between the right hon. gentleman and his right hon. friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, were few, yet he should support the proposition of the latter, because his motion was precise, and went more directly to the purpose. After a speech of considerable length, his lordship declared, that he was not obstinately attached to his own opinion; far from it: he would change it, and would avow that change, not with shame, but with an honest and manly pride, if reasons were produced, which would render such a change necessary.

Mr. Canning subsequently rose; and although he thought that all the general argument on the great question connected with the present motion might be advantageously postponed till the report of the committee, about to be appointed, should give a more favourable opportunity of treating it, he should not deal fairly, either by himself, or by the House, if he did not shortly state the grounds on which he should give his vote on the present motion. It would be superfluous for us to inquire on which side of this motion his attachment lay, for all his severity and ridicule were heaped without mercy upon Mr. Tierney.

Mr. Manning said, that the
Bank

Bank had not interfered in their call for inquiry from any motives of private interest. The question of the restriction was a great national question, and not so much connected with the interests of the Bank, as of the public. For any peculiar interest the Bank had in the decision on this subject, the House might fix upon any time they chose for the cessation of the restriction, without meeting with opposition from that body. They had manifested an inclination to fulfil the act which had been passed for a return to cash payments, and had actually paid a part of their notes in cash. The Bank was not only then of opinion, that the restriction might be completely and safely removed at the period appointed by act of parliament, but they entertained the idea to a very late period.

Mr. Tierney hoped that the House would indulge him with its attention for a short time, while he should reply to some remarks advanced by the gentlemen on the opposite side. He had been accused of saying every thing against the Bank of England; an assertion illiberal and erroneous in the extreme. In fact, he had never advanced a syllable against the Bank. He felt seriously for the Bank, with respect to the apparent necessity of continuing the restriction from cash payment. He therefore sympathized with it; but while he confessed this, he found himself called upon to discharge his duty to the public. One right hon. gentleman had exercised his talents for jocularity and wit at his expense This was no new

invention of those who endeavour to make us laugh at the national calamities. It was, however, useless and nugatory to pursue this subject further in the strain of good humour or merriment. If his majesty's ministers chose to screen themselves from the bitterness of reproach by jesting with the feelings of the people, to such men only be the shame attached to such conduct. To come at once to the question. It was the intention of ministers

at least they would have the country believe so-to take off the restriction in March 1820; but suddenly a new light broke in, and now the course was to be changed. Their plan seemed to him to be this. We will continue the restriction up to 1820, and then we shall have a committee to inquire. After that, we shall be able to start on a new score. The Bank, to show the sincerity of its wish to fulfil its engagements, had paid a part of its notes in specie, and then complained that this specie had disappeared. He had no conviction that they would reduce their issues; but he did not find fault with the Bank on this account. They had been so beset with claims from all quarters, that they could not think themselves safe in their house in Threadneedle-street, if they refused discounts. Their inclination, he had no doubt, was good; and had they a government who would stand by them, and support them in their resolutions, he was sure the object might be accomplished. He suspected, all the way through, that the purpose of the committee which

[blocks in formation]

the right hon. gentleman proposed was not to bring out the thing that he wanted. What he wanted was, to oblige them to make a distinct answer, of which every man could judge for him. self. The right hon. gentleman wished them to state that the foreign loans constituted a reason to justify the restriction; but he (Mr. Tierney) could not conceive it possible that such a return could be made. The return of the committee might mean any thing; which he should take to mean nothing at all. A great deal had been said as to the nomination of the committee; but notwithstanding all that had been urged in favour of a ballot, he, for one, would not be satisfied with the nomination of the committee by the chancellor of the exchequer, surrounded as he was by Jew brokers, speculators, and other interested adventurers. He saw no possible objection to the resumption of cash payments by the Bank, provided they would reduce their issues gradually and gently, between this and next July. If we had an administration which possessed sufficient manliness to face the difficulties of the country, and to probe this subject to the bottom, it might be found that the restriction of cash payments ought not to be continued; but the present administration could come to no decision on the question.

After the long discussion which had taken place, he would refrain from troubling the House any further. The resolution he had submitted to the House was the result of his serious and deliberate consideration, feeling, as he did, VOL. LXI.

that the question was, in every respect, one of the most important that could occupy the attention of the legislature. Acting with that view, he would now submit it to their consideration, and take the sense of the House upon it.

The question being put, That. the words proposed to be left out, stand part of the question, the House divided: Ayes, 168; Noes, 277: Majority against the motion, 109.

The motion of the Chancellor of the Exchequer for a secret committee to be chosen by ballot was then agreed to.

On February 3rd the Chancellor of the Exchequer moved the order of the day for the House to proceed to ballot for a committee of secrecy to inquire into the state of the Bank of England, with reference to the expediency of the resumption of cash payments. In the course of the even ing, Mr. Brogden reported the names of the secret committee to stand as follows: Lord Castlereagh, Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer, Mr. Tierney, Mr. Canning, Mr. Wellesley Pole, Mr. Lamb, Mr. F. Robinson, Mr. Grenfell, Mr. Huskisson, Mr. James Abercromby, Mr. Bankes, Sir James Mackintosh, Mr. Peel, Sir John Nicholl, Mr. Littleton, Mr. Wilson, Mr. Stuart Wortley, Mr. Manning, Mr. Frankland Lewis, Mr. Ashhurst, Sir John Newport.

On February 8th, Lord Castlereagh rose, pursuant to notice, to move for the appointment of a Select Committee, to inquire into the Income and Expenditure of the country. He said, that he felt that he owed to the House of [D] Commons

« TrướcTiếp tục »