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grace observed, that any thing like secrecy, upon a subject so important and interesting, must make a serious impression without doors. With respect to the order of council, and the proceeding of the bank in consequence, he must take the liberty of putting a question to the noble secretary of state, and he hoped he would favour him with an answer. Had the directors of the bank consented to the measure suggested in the order of council, voluntarily; or had they only acted upon the impulse of the arguments and persua

sions of the board?

Lord Grenville said, he did not feel himself bound to give any answer to his grace's question, as he had sufficiently explained himself upon those points in the beginning of the debate.

The duke of Grafton rose to declare that he perfectly agreed with the noble duke's amendment, and intreated ministers not to consider him as acting hostilely to them, when he recommended the omission of that part of the motion referred to by the noble duke. Let their lordships put the case either way, let the committee report as they might, if they gave it as their opinion that the measure in question was wrong, in what a situation would ministers and the country stand? If, on the contrary, the affairs of the bank were found to be in a flourishing state, as the directors themselves had declared, the latter part of the motion would be found inconvenient. His grace remarked, that when he had a concern in the king's councils, the prosperous state of that great company was such, that they might have challenged their bitterest enemies to examine their situation. His grace concluded by saying, he could see no reason whatever for

secrecy, and thought the inquiry ought not to go on in a mysterious manner, which must necessarily excite suspicion and distrust.

The marquis of Lansdowne said, he had declined to deliver his sentiments upon a subject of so awful and portentous a nature, until he had heard the opinions of other noble lords, and collected sach information as he was able from his majesty's ministers, concerning the conduct they meant to pursue. He had long foreseen the consequence of persisting in measures which could only end in ruin to the country; and had frequently used his utmost endeavours to convince them that they were near the precipice, close upon the edge of which they now stood. Their lordships would do him the justice to recollect, that, so long ago as the year. 1793, he had entered a protest expressly for that purpose. His mind, he said, had been early impressed with a sacred reverence for that most delicate and indefinite thing called public credit, upon which he had formed his present notions. A small tract by the earl of Oxford upon that subject had given him his first ideas, and which had since become confirmed and established. That noble author, in illustrating the important subject, says, that public credit was as the soul to the human body, nothing till put in action, and then it both gave and received its animation and existence. It was not property, for no part of the body politic could call it its own. It was not the credit of the king, nor of the ministers, nor of the government. It was public credit-the credit of the nation, which was the very soul of England; it was that alone which gave it stability, and inspired confidence in it. At present the bank of Eng

land,

land, the glory and pride of the kingdom, was shaken to the centre. Among the various causes assigned for the shock that it had received, he had heard it ascribed to the wickedness of the ministers. But no minister would be so wicked or foolish as to involve himself and the country in so alarming a predicament. Neither could it with propriety be ascribed to the idle stories of unfounded and exaggerated alarms; which in itself was ridiculous. It ought in his estimation to be attributed to a variety of causes not easily to be traced out. How ever, one cause was manifest-the inordinate increase of expense, of places, and establishments in every corner of the empire, which only served to open all the gates of waste and profusion-all the corners of the earth were witnesses to the ruinous waste of the treasures of England, which rendered them unable to pay their ambassadors at foreign courts, and their agents at home. Men in office, even to their lowest dependants, were in the utmost distress, for sums so trifling in amount, that it would disgrace an individual to have a claim against him for such pitiful arrears. He then adverted to another source, which, he said, was still more dangerous, which was the want of unity and correspondence among the different branches of office; every office seemed to have unlimited power over the purse of the nation; this became so general, that every man in our foreign settlements had the treasure of England at his mercy; that this was the case, none would have the audacity to dispute: where as it was the duty of the first lord of the treasury to suffer no man to have his hand in the public pocket but himself. Another cause of our pre

sent shock was the war; for by sending large sums of money to the emperor of Germany and our other allies, the nation was impoverished. This was manifest by the annual deficiencies of our revenue; for the minister had, year after year, to practise new expedients for the concealment or the supply of this deficiency. It had been said that in this continued delusion the minister had displayed a want of integrity as well as want of ability; he was, however, of a different opinion; for he could not believe the minister to be indifferent to the fate of the country: neither could he attribute it wholly to want of ability, but to want of power over the other departments of expense, which ought to reside with the first lord of the treasury. It used to be the distinguishing feature of the British administration, that the treasury was its heart, and every thing flowed from it as the commanding centre; and the other departments were necessarily subordinate. The office of the first lord of the treasury (which used to confer the title of minister) had now sunk into the resemblance of the treasurer of France, under the ancient regime. The noble marquis then made some very pertinent remarks on the present subject of debate, and said: What a scene was opened to the eyes of Englishmen! He did not dare to approach the measure of Sunday last, he would not venture to say one word as to its necessity or its pru dence; for on this momentous crisis depended the fate of England. They were brought to the brink, where one single slip of the foot would precipitate them to ruin. He said it was totally indifferent whether the committee was secret or not; as he was confident they were equal to all their own engagements, and

that

that they dreaded but the interference of the state. He, indeed, approved of the committee being secret, as the bank of England was a private company, and parliament had no right to inquire into their affairs; however, he thought the investigation ought to be limited to their funds and their engagements-no further. He was sorry to have seen, in the order of council, so improper a term as the word "require;" it was a word unknown to the English law, and ought not to have been used, as it implied force. Why not have chosen the word recommend?" It ought to have been a recommendation, and not a requisition to the bank. If you attempt to make bank-notes a legal tender, their credit will perish they may go on for a time; but the consequence is certain, nothing can prevent their falling to a discount; the fall, perhaps, will be slow and gradual, but certain. Let their lordships recollect, that banknotes rest solely on opinion; in that they differed from the French assignats, which held forth the national domains as a security, and it is well known how much eloquence had been displayed to prove an assignat, even with that security, a contemptible substitute for currency. His lordship mentioned another source of the present evil, viz. the immense quantity of paper circulated throughout this country, through the means of the country banks, and which in the end of 1793 rose so much above the mark, though it had received several salutary checks. He adverted also to jobbing in bills and money, as another source of evil which ought to be dreaded, as every article would bear two prices, one for mo

ney,

and one for paper. He reprobated the idea of ascribing the present exigency to the unfounded and exaggerated alarms in different parts of the country. His lordship mentioned the two late attempts of the enemy to land in Ireland and Wales; and had not the elements interposed in the case of Ireland, they would certainly have landed; nor was the late attempt in Wales to be passed over as a ground of unfounded and exaggerated alarm. The noble marquis observed, he wished to avoid making any animadversions relative to the justice of the war; though he acquitted the minister of being the immediate author of it, he did not mean to acquit him of all criminality. His lordship concluded by a sincere recommendation of peace, and, at the same time, hoped that no more money would be sent out of the country, to the petty princes of Germany, in the form of subsidies.

The lord chancellor left the woolsack to say a few words in answer to the noble marquis, relative to using force to compel the acceptance of notes as currency. He could assure his lordship, that nothing that was contained in the order of council, or that had fallen from the noble secretary of state, went to prove that coercive means of any kind were intended to be exercised in order to compel the reception of the notes of the bank of England in the lieu of cash; neither had his majesty's ministers the least inclination to adopt such a measure. His lordship said, he should not have troubled their lordships with a word upon the subject, had he not felt that the inference drawn by the noble marquis did not of necessity

arise;

arise and that such an idea going abroad without explanation, might do infinite mischief.

The marquis of Lansdowne replied, that he was highly obliged to the noble and learned lord; without such an explanation, he confessed he should have gone away with a very different impression; but as no coercive means were to be used to compel the acceptance of notes of the bank of England, he heartily hoped that less strong words would be resorted to in the motion that the original, viz. confirmation and continuation of the measure adopted by the bank, in consequence of the order in coun

cil."

Lord Grenville said he could not suffer the house to separate, without saying a word relative to the latter part of the noble marquis's speech, which supposed that the committee must of necessity report, that it was their opinion, the measure adopted by the bank ought to be confirmed and continued; a conclusion which by no means follows. In fact, it was not parliamentary to anticipate the opinion of the committee upon the point in question, as they would have that information when they made their report.

The question being put on the duke of Bedford's amendment, viz. "that these words (the words moved to be omitted) stand part of the question;" when the house di

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The following is the list of the se cret committee.

The Earl of Chatham,
Winchelsea,
Graham,

Hardwicke,

Liverpool,
Vis. Sidney,
Baron Grenville,
Ossory,

De Dunstanville.

On the 6th, the committee of inquiry into the cause of the order of council of the 26th of February being resumed

The duke of Bedford rose, and said, that since the order of council of the 26th of February had been issued, he had endeavoured to consider it in the most favourable light possible; but confessed, that in every point of view he was alarmed at its tendency. His grace understood that an order of coun cil had been issued, requiring the bank not to pay their notes in specie; in consequence of the alarm which this produced, a committee was appointed to inquire into the circumstances of the bank; from their report it appeared that they had not entered into any investigation of the causes in which the necessity originated. The report of the committee, however, was favourable to the state of the general affairs of the bank; a circumstance which rendered an inquiry necessary, why such a novel and unprecedented measure had been adopted by government. His grace thought it necessary that the country ought to be informed, whether the present embarrassments had been occasioned by the misconduct of administration, or the inevitable misfortunes of the times. It had been ascribed to exaggerated alarms of invasion in the coun

try;

try; but he was afraid that it had rather been produced by the misconduct of the king's ministers, and the situation to which they had reduced the country. The resources of the country had been highly talked of, and they deserved to be so, for they had lasted longer than even the most sanguine could have hoped; but that was no reason why they should last for ever, and especially since they had exhibited such fatal symptoms of rapid decav.

His grace, after making several remarks upon the subject, contended for the necessity of appointing a select committee in order to inquire into the causes of the present embarrassments. His grace had an objection to a secret committee, because he was of opinion, that in order to restore the confidence of the nation, the greatest publicity ought to be given to its proceedings. Besides, it was very well known that the house delegated a considerable portion of its power to a secret committee.

Having made these observations, his grace concluded by saying, that if the finances of the country were in a state of embarrassment, it cer tainly was their duty to inquire into the cause of that embarrassment. His grace therefore moved, "That a select committee of fif teen peers be appointed to inquire into the causes for issuing the order of council of the 26th of February last."

Lord Grenville said, if he agreed to the motion of the noble duke, he begged it might not be inferred that he acquiesced in the conclusion he had drawn. The noble duke had thrown out an insinuation, that the country was come to an end of its resources. He must positively deny the assertion; he

was confident the resources of the country would be found npou inquiry to be unimpaired. He would therefore venture to state it as his opinion, and he was sanguine in the hopes of its being confirmed by the result of an inquiry, that the present difficulties had arisen not from any decay of actual resources, but merely from a temporary deficiency of circulating medium, which was often mistaken for a deficiency of property. He, differed from the noble duke, not on the propriety of an inquiry, but in the distinction he made be tween a secret and a select committee. However, he was of opinion that a secret committee was preferable. He therefore moved, as an amendment, that for select, the word secret should be substituted.

The duke of Norfolk said, he had no objection to a secret committee, if it was openly appointed; but objected to the mode of choosing a committee by ballot, because it was well known that such committees were composed of the minister's friends. In the last committee there were no fewer than three cabinet ministers, who were the very persons who signed the order of council in question,. and two of whom were near relations of the minister.

The earl of Guilford objected to the committee being secret. He said, as the inquiry was meant to restore the public confidence, he was clearly of opinion, that the utmost publicity should be given to it.

The duke of Bedford and lord Grenville severally explained themselves; after which a secret committee was ordered to be chosen.

Lord Grenville then moved, "That the committee be chosen by ballot."

The duke of Bedford said, he could

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