other consideration to the exigency of the moment. He had every reason to believe, that our brethren in the northern part of the kingdom were now perfectly satisfied with the mode of raising the militia, and that they would most readily, whenever called upon for that purpose, march to any part of Great Britain. He wished, however, to propose, that in case his majesty should not think it necessary to embody the whole, he should be empowered to call out any part of the militia, and to distribute them as he should think necessary. He had stated, that it was proposed to augment the militia of England to 60,000, and that of Scotland to 12,000, making altogether 72,000. He concluded by moving for leave to bring in a bill," to amend the laws relating to the Militia in England, and for augmenting the Militia."

propose, that there should not be a surgeon to any corps consisting of less than two companies, and that no person should be a surgeon to any corps of militia, until his skill had stood the test of an examination before competent judges; he proposed also, that they should be placed on the same footing as surgeons of infantry in the army. As to the non-commissioned officers, it was his intention to adhere to the 26th of his majesty, with respect to their number, being one serjeant and one corporal for every 30 men. But it was his intention to propose, that the serjeants, corporals, and drummers should be bound to reside near the place where the arms of the regiment were deposited; and that they should be under the care of the adjutant. It was intended that they should obtain a perfect knowledge of the exercise; by which means the men, when called out, would be easily taught, in the Mr. Sheridan said :-I return the right prescribed time during which they were hon. gentleman my thanks for the laudable to be out whilst, if the serjeants and pains he has taken in this business, and corporals were deficient in skill, when the entirely concur in the greatest part of men were called out to exercise, it was what he has proposed. It will, no doubt, evident that a great delay must take place be pleasing to behold every possible rein the latter obtaining a knowledge of duction made which circumstances will their exercise. He should propose also, admit of; but great attention must be that the pay of the serjeants, corporals, paid to our position, now that we are and drummers should be increased and under the painful necessity of measuring made very near that of the same descrip- the greatly augmented strength of our fortion of persons in the army: he should also midable rival. When I reflect on the late propose, that if any non-commmissioned important accession to the power of our officer was absent with the leave of his offi- neighbour, divesting myself of any thing cer, he should receive his former rate of pay; suspicious or mistrustful, I cannot but reif he was absent without leave, it would, joice in the representation made us by the of course, be forfeited. With respect to right hon. gentleman, of the present state training and exercising, he intended to of the militia; for I could not have viewed, propose, that, instead of exercising two- without regret, the incroachment which, thirds for 28 days, the whole should be from time to time, threatened to destroy exercised for 21 days. The expence of that most excellent system of defence. I exercising the whole for 21 days, entirely approve of the plan for consoliwould be the same as exercising two- dating the laws; and when it shall once thirds for 28 days, and the former period be established, I hope it will not be broken would be sufficient for the purpose. When in upon, as it has been during this war, the supplementary militia were called out, for momentary expedition; and that gen20 days was found sufficient to teach them tlemen who have spent their lives in traintheir exercise, and in 21 days the militia ing, forming, and acquiring the love and would at least learn how to prime and attachment of their men, may not find load, and fire, and to march without fall-themselves, on a sudden turned into drilling down. As to the embodying, he pro- serjeants. posed that the same power should be given to his majesty of sending the militia to any part of Great Britain as at present. It had been suggested that they might be suffered to go out of the kingdom, but he should not make any such proposition. He should confine himself to what had been before the practice, leaving the

Leave was given. The bill was afterwards brought in, and passed without opposition.

Debate in the Commons on the Bank Restriction Continuance Bill.] April 9. Mr. Chancellor Addington said:-Sir, I rise to move for leave to bring in a bill to con

when it was thought expedient to increase the circulating medium, and the Bank were allowed by act of parliament to call in the notes of 11. and 21. and pay them in specie, notes to the amount of 800,000l. were called in, and the individuals holding them were entitled to payment in cash; but of that sum, upwards of 400,000l. was received in paper in preference to money. A similar proof was given last year of the confidence reposed by the public in the credit and stability of the Bank. I am entitled from these two circumstances to state, that there can be no just cause to doubt the credit of the Bank;

tinue, for a time to be limited, the Restric- | some time longer, the accommodation tions on Payments in Cash by the Bank of afforded to merchants by the Bank, with England. I am aware, that it is impos- respect to discount, will be continued. sible to submit, without explanation, a In addition to these reasons the House motion which is to have the effect of will reflect upon the inconvenience which imposing any restraint with regard to the would unavoidably result from letting ordinary functions of such an establish- loose such a proportion of the coin of the ment as the Bank; but I am convinced, country as would be circulated by taking that the measure cannot furnish a pre- off the restriction. I am not aware of any tence to the most timid man in the House, inconvenience that can possibly arise from to suppose the Bank does not possess continuing it. During three or four years within itself the most ample means of sa- of difficulty, the credit of the Bank has tisfying the full extent of the demands undergone no diminution. Bank notes which may be made upon it, by the pay- have been every where received chearfully ment of its notes in specie. Sir, I was and readily; and there are two circumasked on a former day, whether I had any stances on which the House will be disintention of moving for a preliminary in-posed to lay particular stress: at the time quiry; I said I had not; and the ground upon which I so said was, that I did not conceive the measure I had to propose was one which called for such a proceeding. In 1797, when this House was called upon to confirm the order of council imposing a restriction on the payments of the Bank, a committee was appointed for purposes far different from what are rendered necessary by the present shape in which the measure is brought forward. The object of that committee was to inquire into the solvency of the Bank, and into the existence and causes of the necessity which had produced the order of council; but the grounds on which I rest the present pro-and that to continue the restriction will position are notorious. It cannot be necessary for me to inform the House, that the rate of exchange between this country and foreign parts is disadvantageous to ourselves-that the export trade has been for some months at a stand, that while the rate of exchange is disadvantageous to us, an augmentation of the circulating cash would create a trade highly injurious to the commerce of this country. For several months past there has been a trade carrying on for purchase of guineas with a view to exportation. It is on these grounds, that I submit to the House the expediency of continuing the restriction with regard to the cash payments of the Bank. There is another consideration that presses strongly on my mind. It is, that the entire command which we have experienced for some time past over all foreign markets, cannot be expected to continue in the same degree. Competition must exist; and it is important that, at the period of commencing that competition, every facility should be given to the merchants of this country. By continuing the restriction on the Bank for

rather have a tendency to raise, than to depress it. I know that there is a diversity of opinion with respect to the mode in which the Bank ought to be permitted to renew its money payments. Some are desirous that the Bank should pay in cash for notes of small denomination; but till there is an abundant supply of cash by opening the Bank entirely, it is extremely convenient to afford circulation to 17. and 21.

notes; by the payment of them in specie, a general anxiety would be introduced of obtaining cash at the Bank: notes of 1000l. and 500l. would be changed for notes of 11. and 27. in order that they might be immediately changed again for cash. If a restraint was to be imposed with respect to the number of notes of small denomination, they would be driven out of circulation altogether; and there would be no small notes but those issued by bankers. I would ask the House, whether it would be convenient to have such notes only through the me. dium of country bankers? I mean not to throw the slightest discredit on that class, but only to infer, that it would not be an

and forty persons had been executed for the crime. If this forging trade was therefore to be created, or rather extended by this law, he had more than a volume of argument against it. But it had become fashionable to call this paper currency "a circulating medium," the ingenious and wise substitute for current coin. He desired any person acquainted with the circumstances of the day, to reflect what must be the effect of this circu

act of prudence for the House to withhold from the Bank the right of issuing small notes, in order that it might be exclusively enjoyed by country bankers. It is not necessary for me to go more at large into the grounds of the measure I propose. It will be prudent to wait till we are enabled to judge of the effects of the peace -till our commercial relations are formed on the continent-till we know what are the political and commercial relations in which different countries stand with refer-lating medium. By the extent of its forence to each other, before we take a step, which, if it should turn out to be hastily taken, would be productive of inconvenience. I therefore, Sir, conclude by moving, "That the different acts of parliament by which that restriction had been enforced from time to time, for the last four years, be read." Which being done pro forma, he moved, "That leave be given to bring in a bill to continue, for a time to be limited, the Restrictions contained in the said acts, on the Payment in Cash by the Bank."

geries, no individual would be safe in negotiating with the Bank, if out of 20 or 30' two or one pound notes, three or four happened to be counterfeit. If the holder carried them to the Bank, there he would obtain no redress. Foreigners, as well as Englishmen, were hurt at this shutting of the Bank, and the injury it would occasion to the confidence between merchants was not to be calculated. It was a measure fraught with infinite ill. The swarm of country banks, which, like locusts, spread all over the kingdom, to the number of 458, were fit subject for taxation.

Mr. Jones said, it was now five years since this measure was first adopted, and whatever reason there might have been at Sir R. Peel said, that in addition to that period for sanctioning it, no reason the circumstance of foreign relations, was shown now for prolonging it. The which the hon. gentleman stated to be the very mention of it was a word of terror. sole reason why the Bank should withhold He knew the effect it would have on the the payment of her specie just now, there whole kingdom; Englishmen had feelings, were other causes which powerfully proved and preferred the king's picture to assig- the necessity of it. The course of exnats. Guineas ought to supersede the change was at this moment against us all necessity of that kind of necromancy, a over Europe. Again, since the war compaper currency. He did not suppose that menced, the trade of the country had inthe Bank was unable to meet the claims creased threefold, and no resource of art upon it; but if the Bank was solvent, he or nature could equalize our bullion with desired some other reasons than those it. The wealth of the nation he might urged by the chancellor of the exchequer. estimate at 300 millions; and there was If no other reasons were urged, he must no possibility, as indeed there was no neconclude, that there existed some mys- cessity, for having a cash currency to an tery in the matter, which ministers either equal amount; besides the impossibility could not or would not disclose. When there would also be the inconvenience, and he was desirous, some time ago, of ascer- the loss attending, whilst, as is the case at taining what were the profits of the direc-present, foreign gold is of so much more tors, he was told they had none; how that could be reconciled with the triumphal accounts of their increasing wealth as a corporate body, was a solecism that he could by no means reconcile to his understanding. He could not bear to hear these inconsistencies without entertaining suspicions. Since this restriction had taken place, the forgeries of bank-notes had increased to such an alarming extent, as to require no less than seventy clerks to be employed in merely detecting them; and, within this very year, between thirty

value than British. Upon the fullest consideration of the subject, seeing that no injury was done to the community, that none was heard of, that no petitions had appeared against it, that the credit of the Bank, instead of being diminished, had increased, he must support the motion. It was the continuation of a measure wisely and well imagined, and executed by the late administration.

General Gascoyne, in defence of the measure, stated that, so far from its having a tendency to shake the credit of the

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that this restriction was continued on the ground of political expediency, a measure judged of by the House of Commons, not by the Bank of England. Viewing this as a political measure, he would say it was fit that the House should determine how long this restriction should continue, and not put it in the power of the Bank to resume its money payments at its own will, and without any legislative limitation. He had nothing more to do at present than to propose that this blank be filled up with the words, "the 1st day of March 1803."

April 21. The bill being committed, Mr. Chancellor Addington said, he should now state the grounds on which he should propose to fill up the blanks, specifying the duration of this bill and the continuance of the restriction, with "the 1st of March, 1803." It was stated by him the other day, that, from the new situation in which this country would be placed on the return of peace, it was advisable that the restriction of the money payments of the Bank should continue. It was not in consequence of any doubt or apprehension, or even reluctance of the Mr. Tierney said, that for the sake of Bank, but solely on the ground of poli- appearances, if for nothing else, it was tical expediency, arising out of the situa- necessary that the Bank should resume its tion of this country, with reference to its payments as soon as possible. The chanexport trade, the course of exchange, and cellor of the exchequer had argued, that the commercial relations of foreign na- this was entirely a measure of a political tions to each other, that this measure was nature: he could not, however, admire proposed. On the solidity of the Bank, this policy. The two former committees there was now no question. On the dis-had judged it expedient; but it was agreed position of the Bank to pay in specie, he was also entitled to entertain no doubt, since the Bank had manifested a readiness to do so. It was, however, thought necessary to continue this restriction for a while. As to the necessity of inquiring into the causes of such necessity, and of its being founded on the report of a committee, he had to observe, that, upon the inconvenience of such a course of proceeding, much might be said; but besides the inconvenience, he doubted the practicability of that course; for if a committee were appointed, it would embrace such a train of examination as could not be gone over in any reasonable time. The only point upon which there appeared to be a question was, the duration of the measure; and this he thought should be governed by the probable end of the causes which produced it. Our export trade had been long, as it were, at a stand; we might entertain a reasonable expectation that in a short time it would find its proper channel; so that afterwards we might feel the effect of an advantageous export trade, the full advantages of which, however, we could not expect for ten or twelve months. Nor could we, in much less time, expect to have the full benefit of those other changes which he looked for in the course of exchange, &c. nor could those commercial relations of foreign states properly find their level in a much shorter time; so that, under all the circumstances, it did not appear to him unwise to adopt that time for the continuance of the restriction. He wished it to be understood,

that it ought to cease a month after the conclusion of peace. A month had now elapsed, and it was moved still to continue the restriction, without a single substantial reason assigned. He wished the right hon. gentleman would show how the restriction on the Bank would operate as a remedy for the dangers apprehended, or how it would not rather have a contrary effect. It appeared strange, that peace and war were equally an argument for continuing the restriction. Inconveniences might arise from suddenly resuming cash payments; but much more was to be dreaded from the minister thus interfering with the usual payments of the Bank, especially in such a peremptory manner. He contended, that the operation of the exchange would be felt sooner than March. He did not mean even to give the slightest hint against the credit of the Bank, or the wisdom of those who conducted it; but he wished, for the sake of our credit, that its payments should be resumed as quickly as possible. Some might privately think it desirable that the Bank should never commence its payments again; but no Englishman would venture publicly to express such a wish. He therefore thought a clause should be introduced into the bill, to give the directors a discretionary power of resuming cash payments.

The motion was agreed to. The bill passed its other stages without opposition.

Debate in the Commons on the Imports and Exports Duties Bill.] April 27. On