Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

been made to his imperial majefty, and to defray the charge of fuch further advances as might be made to him in the course of the current year, to an amount not exceeding 2,000,000l.

The house, in a committee of fupply, took this meffage into confideration on the ift of May, when the chancellor of the exchequer obferved, that he thought it unneceffary to make any obfervations upon that part of the meffage which respected the propofed aid to Ireland. Refpecting the remittances to the emperor, much had been faid before; but feeling it to be almoft the general opinion of the house, and of the country at large, that it was defirable that we should have the vigorous co-operation of the emperor in the war, and knowing we could not expect that co-operation unless we afforded pecuniary aid to his imperial majefty, he should move a refolution, to enable his majesty to make advances, from time to time, to the emperor, to the amount of three millions and a half, to be repaid by his imperial" majefty, so that the fum then propofed to be advanced, was about 1,880,000l. and this fum was moved for accordingly.

Mr. Fox obferved, upon this occafion, that it was impoffible for any man who had examined the matter, to entertain a doubt that the fending of money to the emperor had been one great caufe of the scarcity of cash which then prevailed. He contended, that we were about granting money to be fent to the emperor at the very moment when it was doubtful whether he had concluded a peace with the French, or not. It was notorious, that an armistice for fix days had been agreed upon between the contending armies; and the empe

ror, in alluding to his hopes of peace, had faid "he trufted that the enemy would at length confent to accept equitable conditions." From hence Mr. Fox pointed out the probability there was of the emperor's making peace without confulting the intereft of Great Britain. We ought to wait the confequences of the impending negotiation at least, and not vote away the money of the people in the dark. Suppose the war fhould be continued, it would be neceffary to know the grounds upon which the negotiation had been broken off, and whether the war was continued for points which might be confidered as material to the interefts of Great Britain, before the money was granted. For any thing the house knew to the contrary, thofe two millions which they were called upon to vote to the emperor might be for the attainment of objects which might be detrimental to the general interefts of Europe. He ftrongly urged the neceffity of waiting three or four days to know the iffue of the negotiation between France and the emperor, before the money was voted; the armistice terminated on the 16th of April, and there were letters in town from Vienna, of the 15th of the fame month.

The chancellor of the exchequer contended, on the other fide, that a mail might reach Vienna in ten or twelve days, with the account of the vote which he then proposed to the committee to pass, and that if the negotiation was then pending, it might materially affect the terms in difcuffion. In reply to what Mr. Fox ftat. ed, that the committee might perhaps be voting a fum to enable the emperorto conclude a separate peace, he recommended a difcretionary power to be vested in government to ftop

D 3

the

the fapplies upon the fuppofition of fuch an event taking place. Mr. Grey and Mr. Sheridan fupported the arguments of Mr. Tox. Waen the houfe divided there appeared for the original refolution 193-against it 50.

A refolution alfo paffed the committee that a discount of 5 per cent. be allowed to fuch fuofcrib. ers to the new loan as fhould anticipate a part only of their payments, as before the difcount was allowed only to thofe who completed their whole payments..

During the intervals between the feveral ftages of the loan bill, intelligence had been received by the minifter that preliminaries of peace between the French republic and the emperor, were either figned, or in great forwardnefs; this induced him to ftate to the committee of fupply, on the 5th of May, that he fhould move for provifion to be made for the repayment of the advances which had then been made to the emperor; but that it was not his intention then to make any provision for further advances to be made to his imperial majefty, according to the ground which he had for forming his opinion at that moment.

Having ftated the arguments made ufe of in the commons, for and against granting a further loan to the emperor, we proceed to flate what paffed upon the fubject of the Irish loan in the house of lords; but the arguments enforced in both houfes being very similar, a brief account of the latter may fuffice.

On the 9th of May, on the motion for the fecond reading of the bill for granting to his majefty fourteen millions, five hundred thoufand pounds, by way of loan, the earl of Suffolk begged leave to afka queftion of the fecretary of state, (lord Grenville), which was, whe

ther any part of the money to be raifed by that bill was intended to be fent to Ireland ? Lord Grenville faid, that the fum of one miilion and a half was intended for the fervice of the fifter kingdom. In the course of the debate feveral arguments were urged by the lords on the oppofition fide of the house on the impropriety of fending fo much money out of the kingdom at a time when its scarcity was fo much complained of; hoever,; fo far as it went to the protection of Ireland, it was not altogether unexceptionable. Earl Moira, how、 ever, contended, on the contrary, that fo far as the, money went to aid the fyftem of coercion then eftablished in that kingdom, it would be attended with pernicious confequences. He had no hefitation in declaring, that, if that lyftem was perfifted in, a difmembern ent of the British empire was to be feared; whereas, had conciliatory measures been adopted, which he had propofed fometime before, things in that quarter would have worn a much more promifing a▾ fpect. He begged their lordships to recollect the dreadful confequences which had refulted from a fimilar fyftem of coercion purfued against America. In the begin ning of that fatal system Great Britain had begun by ftigmatizing them as rebels, and thence conpelled them to become so.

At the end of a defultory debate the loan bill was read a fecond time.

The next fubject of finance was the portion given, with the princess royal on her marriage with the hereditary prince of Wirtemburg, On the 3d of May, the chancellor of the exchequer introduced into the house of commons a message from his majesty, announcing his royal confent to a marriage between

his eldest daughter and his ferene highnefs the prince of Wirtemburg, and that he did not doubt but the house would concur in making the ufual provifion for the mar riage of the eideft daughter of the royal family of England. The addrefs was agreed to nem, con.

The meffage was taken into confideration on the 5th of May, when the chancellor of the exchequer moved, that the fum of 800,000l. be granted as a portion to the prin. cefs royal on her marriage.

Mr. Curwen faid, he would not oppofe the refolution; but could not help obferving, that, confidering the heavy burdens which had been lately impofed upon the people, he fhould have been happy if the king had provided for this marriage himfeif. He was as willing as any other man to exprefs all neceflary affection for the throne and for the different branches of the royal family, but at a moment like the prefent it would have had a good effect if his majesty had come forward and defrayed that expence himself. The refolution was then put and carried. The fubfcribers to the loan which Ir. Pitt obtained near the begin. ning of the feffion, commonly called the loyalty loan, having difcovered that they were liable to incur a confiderable lofs from the fubfequent depreffion of the funds, notwithstanding their former preten. fions to difinterestedness, prevailed upon the minister to apply to parliament to make them a recompence. The chancellor of the exchequer accordingly, on the 31st of May, moved the house to that effect. He faid the perfons in whofe behalf he applied, could not fail to be regarded by the houfe with a favourable eye, becaufe it was obvious that they had been actuated in a great degree by a zeal for the public fervice, and by that zeal had

incurred the loffes which it was his with the houfe thould make good. He confeffed, at the fame time, that the fubfcribers looked forward for fome chance of advantage from a favourable turn of affairs. He did not wish to keep from the view of the committee, that the fubfcribers had no fìrict ground of right to reparation, but contended, that they could not have looked forward for fuch a heavy lofs as that which they had fuftained fince the period of their fecond depofit. He ftated, that, previous to the fubfcribers having made their first depofit, they fuffered a lofs by the fall of the funds, of full 3 per cent. and, af. ter that, the lofs they fastained a mounted to 8, 14, and 15 per cent. At that time they ftood at a lofs of 14. The circumstances which led to thefe loffes were the unfortunate events which had taken place on the continent, &c. all of which had a fhare in depreffing the ftocks far beyond the natural expectations of any one at the time that loan was made.

On thefe grounds he thought it. would be proper to alleviate the preffure upon the fubfcribers. He propofed to allow them 51. in every 1ool, in the fhape of a long annuity of 75. 6d. on every 100l. Ön mature confideration he found it impoffible to frame anydiftinction in the allowance between the fubscriber and holder; the only way, therefore, was to fettle the general amount, and to leave it to the holder and the fubfcriber to fettle their refpective claims, and this could only be done by allowing this fum to thofe only who pro. duced the original receipts. The amount of the whole he stated to be an annuity of between fixty and feventy thousand pounds a year. He concluded with moving the refolution "That 7s. 6d. per cent. longannuity, be granted on the faid loan."

D 4

Mr.

Mr. Dent contended, that no man could calculate the evil which fuch a precedent might bring upon the public. In 1779, and 1780, there was a loan, the fubfcribers to which loft very confiderably, the difcount upon their stock being very high before the first depofit was made; he thought the ftockholders then were equal friends to their country as those who fubfcribed to the loyalty loan. That loan was a fpeculation, on which the fubfcribers entered with the ufual expectation of gain or lofs, like any other fpeculation. Mr. W Smith, Mr. Tierney, and Mr. Baf tard, urged the evil tendency of fuch a precedent, and conjured the committee to reflect upon the state of the country before they gave fanction to a measure so unprecedented and fhameful in its nature, and fo ruinous in its confequences.

When the committee divided on the question, there appeared Ayes 40-Noes 26.

This business was difcuffed again by the house of commons on the rft of June, when the injuftice of it was fo ftrongly urged by the members who oppofed it, that the chancellor of the exchequer carried the refolution by a majority of a fingle vote, namely, 36 to 35. This question was therefore not refumed during the feffion.

A fubject immediately connected with the two budgets, and materially affecting the finances of the year, was the funding of the navy and exchequer bills *.

This fubject was fubmitted to the house by the chancellor of the exchequer, on the 28th of October; the object, he said, was to remove out of the market a large maís of floating debt, which, in confe

quence of having fallen to a confiderable difcount, tended materially to injure public credit, to obstruc the intercourfe of commerce, and impede the fources of the national profperity. At the commencement of the war regulations had been adopted, that navy bills which had ben iffued before for an indefinite period, thould become payable at the expiration of fifteen months, bearing in the mean time an intereft of 4 per cent. In confequence of this new arrangement, there was neceffarily a certain proportion of outstanding navy bills, payable at different periods, at the end of each month, and all these were payable either in 1797, or early in the next year. Such being the cafe, Mr. Pitt came forward to offer, what he termed fair and equitable terms, to the holders of thefe bills, viz. to take stock for their amount, and thereby to convert them into funded debt. If, as he propofed, they were funded down to the latest period, the whole number of navy bills amounted to almost twelve millions, of which the earliest would be due within a month from the present time, and the lateft within fifteen months. As they would become due at periods thus difproportionate, it was reafonable to divide them into different claffes, and to offer different terms to the refpective holders, calculated according to the time at which the bills were payable. It was to be confidered, that the house were giving, to the holders of navy bills, funds which were immediate ly difpofable for money, according to the rate at which they stood in the market, in lieu of bills fubje& to a certain discount, and at the fame time bearing an interest of

* See the policy of this meafure most ably difcuffed in a pamphlet publifhed by the earl of Lauderdale, entitled “ Thoughts on the Finances of Great Britain," &c."

[ocr errors]
[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][subsumed][merged small]
[ocr errors]

Fourth clafs, comprehending the months of September, 1796.

He rated the 3 per cents. at 58,

the 4 per cents. at 75,

the 5 per cents. at 88.

He proposed that the holders of navy bills fhould have their option of three kinds of ftocks, with the following abatements on the present prices :

For the first class

of 2 per cent. in the 3 per cents.
of 3 per cent. in the 4 per cents.
of 4 per cent. in the 5 per cents.

[blocks in formation]
« AnteriorContinuar »