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ing three times in the pillory: this, he fad, ought to be tried. It was generally allowed, that exceflive punithments often occationed impunity, and encouraged offenders; whence it might truly be faid, that rigorous penalties promoted crimes: he therefore conjured the house not to add another to the fevere penalties on their statute-books, till they were convinced of the inefficiency of the prefent laws.

Mr. W. Smith coincided with the concluding obfervations of Mr. Hobhoufe, and thought the exifting laws fufficient.

The fpeaker having left the chair, the chancellor of the exchequer proposed to the committee to infert these words: "Such perfons fall be judged guilty of felony, and fall fuffer death as in cafes of feJony, without benefit of clergy." If the committee fhould agree to this, he thould then propofe to limit the duration of the bill to one month after the commencement of the next feffion of parliament. He concluded by moving the infertion of these words: "maliciously and advisedly to commit any act of mutiny or treafon, or to make, or endeavour to make, any mutinous or traitorous affemblies, or to commit any mutinous or traitorous acts whatever."

Mr. Tierney thought the exifting laws of high treafon rendered the bill unneccifary; but as it was to be in force only for a few months, he fhould give it no further oppofition. The bill was read a third time, and paffed, nem. con.

On the fame day, the chancellor of the exchequer introduced into the commons a bill to restrain the intercourfe with certain fhips, then in a ftate of mutiny.

On the 5th of June, when it was proposed to fill up the penal claufe,

and to enact that the punishment for wilful and advifed communication with the hips' crews declared to be in a flate of mutiny, fhould be death, as in cafes of felony, without benefit of clergy Mr. Nichols faid, he thought that the punishment of death would in fome cafes be too fevere; and that making it a mifdemeanour, liable to transportation, would be fufficient. Mr. ferjeant Adair faid, that the penalty was only to attach to thofe who thould hold intercourfe and communication. after the publication of the declaration that the men were in a frate of mutiny, and of the prohibition to hold intercourfe with them: the provifions in the bill were in their very nature temporary, and ceafed with the caufes by which they were produced.

Sir Francis Burdet oppofed the bill. He faid, that the house had but the affertion of minifters that fuch a meature was neceffary: he thought it tended to put the feamen in a itate of defperation; and the mischief which they might do this country in that ftate was dreadful. The difcontent was not confined to the feamen; there was much of it in other quarters; and it was visible in many parts of this country. The very ftrong laws which were made to reprefs thefe difcontents, or rather the expreflion of them, were fymptoms of great difeafe, of which there was a caufe very different from that which had been stated. That caufe was the mifconduct of adminiftration for a long time, but particularly for the laft four years, and the enormous corruption of the executive government: thefe were the real caufes of the evil. The bill, however, was paffed through all its ftages on the fame day.

On the 6th of June the two bills relative

relative to the mutiny were introduced into the house of lords, and, with very little debate, were carried

through all their several stages, and received the royal affent by commiffion on that day.

CHA P. V.

Critical Situation of the Bank of England. Extraordinary Demand for Specie. Order of Council probibiting the Iffue of any more Specie from the Bank. Suppofed Caufes of the Run on the Bank, and of its Incapacity for anfwering the Demands. Meffage from bis Majefty to both Houses of Parliament, relative to the Order of Council. Debates in the House of Lords on that Communication. Debates in the fame Houfe on bis Majefty's MefJage. Committee appointed to inquire into the Affairs of the Bank. Committee to inquire into the Neceffity for the Order of Council. Report of the Committee. Debates on the Subject. Refolutions propofed by the Duke of Bedford negatived. Debates in the Houfe of Commons on bis Majefty's Meffage. Committee appointed by the Commons for an Inquiry into the Af fairs of the Link. Motion by Mr. Fox to inquire into the Caufes of the Order of Council negatived. Bill to enable the Bank to iffue fmall Notes. Report of the Secret Committee on the Bank. Committee revived. SmallNote Bill, for accommodating Traders and Manufacturers. Motion by Mr. Sheridan on the Affairs of the Bank. Bank Indemnity Bill, Reflexions on the prefent State of the Bank.

WHILE

7HILE the tranquillity of the nation was disturbed, and its exiftence endangered by the mutincus difpofition of its moft effective de fenders, an evil which at firft appeared of fcarcely inferior magnitude, threatened at once to overwhelm its financial arrangements, and to bury in one prodigious ruin the pecuniary refources, and even the commerce, of the country. By the continued fanétion of public opinion, the bank of England had been long confidered as the palladium of Britain; and the confidence which was attached to this object of national veneration approached, it must be confeffed, to the nature of idolatry. Like other popular fuperftitions, its proceedings were enveloped in mystery; its exiftence was connected in idea with the exiftence of the ftate; its influence on the commercial profperity of the country was highly exagge

rated; and its importanee, in every point of view, was magnified by the operations of fancy on the bafis of ignorance.

The year 1797, which has been more productive of political wonders than any given period during the prefent century, has added this to the number, that the Bank of England has failed to fulfil its engagements, and yet public credit has remained unfhaken. At the fame time the veil of mystery which concealed its proceedings from the public is rent in pieces; its powers and its competency are now no longer fecret; and that confidence which before refted on an ideal bafis, is now fupported by legiflative fanction, and by a developement of the affairs of this great monied corporation.

The rife and progrefs of paper. currency and of banks of depofit in Europe is a fubject deeply interest

ing to the politician; but it has never been treated with that accuracy of research, and that freedom of inquiry which its importance deferves, If we are not mistaken, the bank of Venice is the oldest of these institutions; for it was established fo early as the twelfth century, by an act of the state, as a general depofit or treafury for all the merchants and traders of that opulent and commercial city. The banks of Genoa, Hamburgh, Nuremberg, and Amfterdam, were all, we apprehend, of a date confiderably anterior to that of the bank of England; but that of Amfterdam, which was established in 1609, was the most important of them all, and its circulation the most extenfive. Its object was to counteract the abufes arifing from the clipping and diminishing of the various coins which were then current in Holland. It therefore received both the light foreign coin, and the diminished coin of the country, at its real and intrinfic value in good standard money, deducting only the fum neceffary for its recoinage; and for the fam depofited after this deduction a credit was opened with the proprietor in the books of the bank, and the revenues of the city of Amfterdam were made refponfible for the amount. The bills of credit upon the bank thus came to be diftinguish ed by the name of bank money; and effectually to remedy the evils arifing from the defacing of the coin, it was enacted, that all bills of exchange of the value of 600 gilders or upwards were to be paid in bank money; which, as it reprefented money exactly according to the ftandard, was always at par, or of equal, value with good ftandard currency. Certain other objects of no inconfiderable moment to commercial men were achieved by means of this efablishment. The money thus de,

pofited was fecure from fire, robbery, and other accidents; and large fums could be paid by a fimple transfer, without the trouble of counting, or the risk of counterfeit coin.

In England, after the fatal contefts between the houses of York and Lancafter were compofed, the opulent citizens were accustomed to de pofit their gold and filver in the royal mint, as a place of fafety, whence they occafionally drew fupplies of current coin, as their neceflities required; but when the unfortunate Charles I. feized the bullion in the Tower, in the year 1640, this fanc tuary was violated, and all confidence in the government was at an end. In the course of the civil war, that unnatural state of commotion, which corrupts and depraves even the best of the human race, rendered it unfafe to the merchants and traders to truft their clerks, or apprentices, with the charge of their treature; and about the year 1645 they began firft to lodge their money in the hands of certain goldfmiths, who undertook to be anfwerable for their payments upon drafts, under the fignature of the refpective principals: and this appears to be the first establishment of regular banks in the city of London.”

The inftitution of a bank upon more extenfive and liberal princi-› ples was projected by fome merchants and traders of the city of London, foon after the revolution, and was countenanced by the court and miniftry; and though, as bifhop Burnet informs us, the oppofition to its eftablishment was confiderable,. an act was nevertheless paffed in 1693 for its incorporation, under the name of the Governors and Co. of the Bank of England. The eftablifhiment was formed partly on the conftitution of the bank of Amfterdam, and partly on the practice of

the

relative to the mutiny were introduced into the house of lords, and, with very little debate, were carried

through all their several stages, and received the royal affent by commiffion on that day.

CHAP.

V.

Critical Situation of the Bank of England. Extraordinary Demand for Specie. Order of Council probibiting the Iffue of any more Specie from the Bank. Suppofed Caufes of the Run on the Bank, and of its Incapacity for anfwering the Demands. Meffage from bis Majefty to both Honfes of Parliament, relative to the Order of Council. Debates in the House of Lords on that Communication. Debates in the fame Houfe on bis Majefty's MefJage. Committee appointed to inquire into the Affairs of the Bank. Committee to inquire into the Neceffity for the Order of Council. Report of the Committee. Debates on the Subject. Refolutions propofed by the Duke of Bedford negatived. Debates in the Houfe of Commons on bis Majefty's Meffage. Committee appointed by the Commons for an Inquiry into the Affairs of the Link. Motion by Mr. Fox to inquire into the Causes of the Order of Council negatived. Bill to enable the Bank to iffue fmall Notes. Report of the Secret Committee on the Bank. Committee revived. SmallNote Bill, for accommodating Traders and Manufacturers. Motion by Mr. Sheridan on the Affairs of the Bank. Bank Indemnity Bill, Reflexions en the prefent State of the Bank,

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exiftence endangered by the mutinous difpofition of its moft effective defenders, an evil which at firft appeared of fcarcely inferior magnitude, threatened at once to overwhelm its financial arrangements, and to bury in one prodigious ruin the pecuniary refources, and even the commerce, of the country. By the continued fanction of public opinion, the bank of England had been long confidered as the palladium of Britain; and the confidence which was attached to this object of national veneration approached, it must be confeffed, to the nature of idolatry. Like other popular fuperftitions, its proceedings were enveloped in mystery; its exiftence was connected in idea with the exiftence of the ftate; its influence on the commercial profperity of the country was highly exagge

rated; and its importanee, in every

operations of fancy on the bafis of ignorance.

The year 1797, which has been more productive of political wonders than any given period during the prefent century, has added this to the number, that the Bank of England has failed to fulfil its engagements, and yet public credit has remained unfhaken. At the fame time the veil of mystery which concealed its proceedings from the public is rent in pieces; its powers and its competency are now no longer fecret; and that confidence which before refted on an ideal bafis, is now fupported by legiflative fanction, and by a developement of the affairs of this great monied corporation.

The rife and progrefs of paper. currency and of banks of depofit in Europe is a fubject deeply interest

ing to the politician; but it has never been treated with that accuracy of research, and that freedom of inquiry which its importance deferves. If we are not mistaken, the bank of Venice is the oldest of these inftitutions; for it was established fo early as the twelfth century, by an act of the state, as a general depofit or treafury for all the merchants and traders of that opulent and commercial city. The banks of Genoa, Hamburgh, Nuremberg, and Amfterdam, were all, we apprehend, of a date confiderably anterior to that of the bank of England; but that of Amfterdam, which was established in 1009, was the most important of them all, and its circulation the most extenfive. Its object was to counteract the abuses arifing from the clipping and diminishing of the various coins which were then current in Holland. It therefore received both the light foreign coin, and the diminished coin of the country, at its real and intrinfic value in good standard money, deducting only the fum neceffary for its recoinage; and for the fam depofited after this deduction a credit was opened with the proprietor in the books of the bank, and the revenues of the city of Amfterdam were made refponfible for the amount. The bills of credit upon the bank thus came to be diftinguifh ed by the name of bank money; and effectually to remedy the evils arifing from the defacing of the coin, it was enacted, that all bills of exchange of the value of 600 gilders or upwards were to be paid in bank money; which, as it represented money exactly according to the ftandard, was always at par, 'or of equal value with good ftandard currency. Certain other objects of no inconfiderable moment to commercial men were achieved by means of this eKablishment. The money thus de,

pofited was fecure from fire, robbery, and other accidents; and large fums could be paid by a fimple transfer, without the trouble of counting, or the risk of counterfeit coin.

In England, after the fatal contefts between the houses of York and Lancafter were compofed, the opulent citizens were accustomed to depofit their gold and filver in the royal mint, as a place of fafety, whence they occationally drew fupplies of current coin, as their neceflities required; but when the unfortunate Charles I. feized the bullion in the Tower, in the year 1640, this fanc tuary was violated, and all confi dence in the government was at an end. In the courfe of the civil war, that unnatural ftate of commotion, which corrupts and depraves even the best of the human race, rendered it unfafe to the merchants and traders to truft their clerks, or apprentices, with the charge of their treafure; and about the year 1645 they began firft to lodge their mo ney in the hands of certain gold-: fmiths, who undertook to be anfwerable for their payments upon drafts, under the fignature of the refpective principals: and this appears to be the first establishment of regular banks in the city of London."

The inftitution of a bank upon more extenfive and liberal princi ples was projected by fome merchants and traders of the city of London, foon after the revolution, and was countenanced by the court and miniftry; and though, as bishop Burnet informs us, the oppofition to its eftablishment was confiderable, an act was nevertheless paffed in 1693 for its incorporation, under the name of the Governors and Co. of the Bank of England. The eftablifhment was formed partly on the conftitution of the bank of Amfterdam, and partly on the practice of

the

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