to a currency of gold and silver, and moved, as an amendment," that the second reading, instead of taking place that evening, should be postponed till that day six months."

After a few observations from Lord Darnley, and the Earl of Liverpool, in support of the measure; and from the Earl of Lauderdale on the superiority of the banking system of Scotland, the amendment was negatived without a division, and the bill was read a second time.

A message from the Commons, by Mr Brogden and others, brought up the Mutiny and Desertion Bill, the Marine Mutiny Bill, the Bank Advances Bill, and some private bills. Lord Suffield presented a petition from the united magistracy of the county of Norfolk against the gamelaws. Laid on the table. The Promissory Notes' Bill went through a committee without opposition; the report was brought up and received, and the third reading ordered for Friday. After some routine business, their Lordships adjourn ed.

16. The Marquis of Huntly presented a petition from Aberdeen, praying that no alteration be made in the banking system of Scotland. The Noble Marquis presented petitions, having the same object, from Inverness and Banff. Viscount Melville presented a petition from, the Magistrates and Town Council of Pittenweem, against any alteration in the banking system, and one from Inverary against slavery. The Marquis of Lansdowne presented a petition from the Chamber of Commerce of Manchester against the usury laws, the operation which, in the opinion of the petitioners, had greatly aggravated the distress which had prevailed in the mercantile world.Laid on the Table. The Promissory Notes' Bill was read a third time, and passed. The Scotch Juries, the Lunatic Asylum, and the Irish Improvements' Bill, went through committees, and were reported. The Mutiny Bill, and the Bank Advances Bill, were read a second time. Several private bills, brought up from the Commons, were read a third time; after which, the House adjourned.

17.-Lord Melville presented a petition from the inhabitants of Edinburgh, against slavery. The Earl of Lauderdale presented a petition from Pollockshaws, in Scotland, praying for a revision of the corn-laws.

SCOTCH BANKING SYSTEM. The Earl of Liverpool, pursuant to or der, moved for a select committee to inquire into the state of the banking system in Scotland and Ireland. The Earl of Grosvenor opposed the motion.

He

thought it would have been much better if the Noble Lord had at once come for. ward with his bill. He wished to know what had alarmed the Noble Lord? Had the Noble Lord been alarmed by Malachi Malagrowther? How was confidence to be restored while these small notes were allowed to be in circulation? What was the situation of the poor man? The Earl of Liverpool said, the opposition of the Noble Lord was rather of an extraor dinary nature. When the recent measures were introduced, a question was put to him whether it was intended to extend those measures to Ireland and Scotland; he then said he thought it would be ex. pedient to adopt similar measures both as respected Ireland and Scotland, but with. out giving an opinion as to the time. With regard to Scotland, it certainly did appear that an opinion prevailed against any measures being adopted with regard to that country, and many petitions had been presented to the House. It was therefore thought decorous to the opinions entertained in Scotland, to propose a com. mittee of inquiry, but that Government had not altered their views of the subject, for no circumstances whatever had come before them to induce them to do so. He thought a committee the best course that could be adopted. He should follow up the motion, by moving that the petitions presented on this subject be referred to the committee.

The Earl of Aberdeen did not approve of the present proceeding. There existed no ground whatever for it. It had been thought proper to adopt a measure as ap plicable to England, but as regarded Scotland there was no call for any interference with the banks in that country. Lord Viscount Melville observed, that the Noble Earl who spoke last was mistaken in the view he took of the subject. Nothing was more reasonable, under existing circumstances, than to refer the subject to a committee to report thereon. That report would come fairly before their Lordships for their consideration and decision. The Earl of Limerick perfectly agreed with the Noble Lord (Aberdeen). The same remarks which applied to Scotland would apply to Ire land. The Earl of Lauderdale was at a loss to know how any man could maintain that the present measure would establish confidence. The Noble Lord entered into various particulars, showing that the banking system in Scotland ought not, under existing circumstances, to be interfered with. The Earl of Liver pool said, England and Scotland were so closely united, that the present measure was quite warranted. The Bank of Scot

land was dependant on the Bank of England. In the event of distress, they must come to England for relief, He would ask, could they do without the Bank of England? They could only obtain gold through the medium of the Bank in this country. The question was then put and agreed to.-Adjourned.

20. Several petitions were presented against any alteration in the banking system of Scotland,

Lord Calthorpe presented a petition for the abolition of slavery, from Tewkesbury in Yorkshire, Clapham in Surrey, and Bethnal in Staffordshire. The Army and Marine Mutiny Bills were read a third time.-Adjourned.

21. The Bishop of Ferns moved for copies of letters written by the Secretary of the chartered schools in Ireland to the Commissioners of Inquiry. Lord King said, various abuses existed in these schools, as appeared by the Commissioners' report of 1815. Much cruelty was said to be exercised in them, and great laxity of conduct practised throughout. The Bishop of Ferns, at considerable length, defended the chartered schools in Ireland from the charges imputed to them. Lord King thought, as the Rev. Prelate was disposed to defend the system which had been adopted, it would be better to discuss the subject on a future day by a regular motion. The motion was then agreed to. The Marquis of Lansdowne moved for various returns connected with the same subject, viz. the charter schools in Ireland, and expressed a wish for farther inquiry into the subject.

THE CORN-LAWS.

Lord King rose to present a petition from the Parish of St. Luke against the corn-laws. He had been accused of handling this subject very roughly-that he had used various aliases in describing the corn-bill-that at one time he had called it the dead weight-another, the landlord's tax-the job of jobs-and so forth. He had received a good deal of advice on the subject-now he would venture to give advice. He would advise Noble Lords to consider what would be the situation of the country if corn were to get up. Before he expected any thing to be done, the cobwebs of the Cabinet must be brushed away, and the hunter removed. He asked the House to do justice. It was a breach of trust to make corn dear. Parliament had contrived these measures to keep up the price of corn. He was afraid the time would come when they might be called tithe exactors. Lord Calthorpe defended the measures which had been adopted by Parliament, and which, he considered, had originated in a

sincere design to benefit the country. Lord Clifden expressed his satisfaction that his Majesty's Ministers were not to interfere with this subject during the present Session. Lord Limerick deprecated the tenor of the speech of the Noble Lord (King) as uncalled for, and improper. After a few farther remarks, the petition was read, and ordered to lie on the table. THE CURRENCY.

The

The Marquis of Lansdowne was anxious to call the attention of the House to the subject of country notes being made payable only in London. He was desirous of a measure to prevent banks from making notes payable in London only, and not in the town in which they were issued. There were fifty-five banks who made their notes payable in London; one of which was at so remote place as Aberdeen. He wished for the assistance of the Noble Earl on the subject. Earl of Liverpool said he would readily assist the Noble Marquis if he could, but as the law now stood, he knew not how to do so by a direct bill. With regard to England, he could not see how the subject could be effected. If a bill were brought in respecting Scotland and Ireland, he should certainly move that a clause to the purport wished for by the Noble Marquis should be inserted. Several pctitions were presented against any alteration in the banking system in Scotland, and their Lordships adjourned.

22. The following bills received the Royal assent by commission; the Commissioners were Lord Eldon, Earl of Shaftesbury, and Lord Melville. The Navy and Marine Mutiny Bill, the Scotch Juries' Bill, the Road Advances' Bill, and several private bills. Lord Melville gave notice that he would to-morrow move for leave to bring in a bill to make perpetual an act of last Session relative to jointstocks in Scotland.

BREACH OF PRIVILEGE.

He

The Lord Chancellor said, he had received a letter from an individual, a learned counsel, who had pleaded at the bar on an Irish cause, complaining of having been called a liar and a scoundrel. moved that Mr John L. Wharton be ordered to attend the house to-morrow. The bills on the table were then forwarded in their respective stages, and the House adjourned.

23. The Deputy Usher of the Black Rod informed their Lordships that Mr J. L. Wharton was in attendance, pursuant to their order. On being called to the Bar, Mr Wharton read an apology to Mr Fonblanque for the expressions used in a letter to that gentleman, when the Lord Chancellor said, that as Mr Wharton ap

peared to have made a very proper apology, their Lordships would probably think it unnecessary to proceed farther. He should therefore move that Mr Wharton be discharged.-Ordered. Mr Wharton was then discharged, without the payment of any fees. The Earl of Lauderdale presented a petition from Dumfries, against any alteration of the banking system of Scotland. Lord Melville moved, according to his notice, the first reading of a bill, to continue an act passed last Session, enabling joint-stock companies to sue and be sued by their officers. was a temporary act, and would expire in July, and the bill he brought in was to make it perpetual. Read a first time, and ordered to be printed. Mr Spiller, from the Commissioners of Highland roads, presented the twelfth report of the Commissioners for the repair of roads in Scotland. Several other bills went through their respective stages, and their Lordships adjourned to Wednesday the 5th of April.

That

BANKING SYSTEM IN SCOTLAND. HOUSE OF COMMONS.-Feb. 27.-A petition was presented from Inverness against any measure to disturb the paper currency of Scotland.-Ordered to be printed.

A petition was presented from Kirriemuir, Forfarshire, against the Small Note Bill being extended to Scotland.-Ordered to be printed.

Mr Hume presented petitions from Aberdeen, &c. against the extension of the Small Notes Bill to Scotland. If the Scotch small notes were extinguished, the effect would be to throw half the population out of employ. He hoped Ministers would "let well alone," a principle that it would have been well for them to extend to other of their measures.

The Hon. Captain Gordon supported the petitions, and hoped that the Ministers would pause before they adopted the threatened measures respecting the cur rency and small notes in Scotland. Ordered to be printed.

SMALL NOTES' BILL.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer then moved that the order of the day be read, for committing the Promissory Notes' Bill

to a committee of the whole House.

The order of the day having been read, Mr Hume said, the measure before the House was not only not adapted to the emergency, but calculated to prove high. ly mischievous as regarded England, and still more so as regarded Scotland. He warned the Scotch members, that they could not with any consistency support this measure as to England, and then turn round and reject it as to Scotland. In his opinion, the currency should

be precisely the same throughout England, Scotland, and Ireland. If, in one of these countries, they had the example of gold and paper circulating together, there was evidence of the practability of having a medium equally safe and less expensive than gold. The proper measure to be desired was, that the banking system should be placed on a secure and perma. nent basis. What would the Right Ho nourable Gentleman say to the country, if, between this time and 1829, any country banks should fail? They and they alone should be held answerable for the conse quences, if they would not call for securi. ty by deposits to an amount sufficient to guard against all loss to the note holders. The instruction which he (Mr Hume) intended to move to the committee, was for the introduction of a clause, requiring all bankers, and banking establishments, to lodge a deposit equal to the amount of the bank-notes they intended to circulate for the one-pound notes during the first year, for the five and ten pound-notes during the second year, and for all other notes during the third year. They might then issue as many notes as they pleased. He (Mr Hume) was of opinion, that the quantity of paper currency was of no consequence, if it was convertible into gold. Whether there were twenty or thirty millions, was immaterial, if the circulation was checked by that delicate barometer, the state of the exchanges. During last year more bank-notes were stamped in Ireland, by two millions, than in any preceding year. This was, in proportion, a greater increase than in this country; yet it had been attended with less inconvenience. The Honourable Gentleman then referred to the constitu tion of the Scotch Chartered Banks, which admitted of no possibility of loss. On this model the banks in several of the United States of North America were founded. The Hon. Gentleman conclu. ded with moving the following resolution, as the first instruction to the committee:

"That it be an instruction to the committee on the bill, to provide for requiring, from banks and banking estab lishments, deposits (to be lodged in the Exchequer, or other proper office) equal in amount to the amount of promissory notes payable on demand, issued by them respectively."

The Chancellor of the Exchequer said, the present was a bill for a temporary purpose, namely, that of accelerating the period when the existing permission to issue small notes will by law cease. It would be a very inconvenient, not to say clumsy mode of legislation, he thought, to ingraft a permanent regulation on a mea.

to Government. This was, in a great degree, a principal cause of the over-issues. A long conversation followed, after which

Mr Hume said, that as the House had not adopted a previous suggestion, which he had made, he now meant to offer an amendment, which would enable the poor to obtain payment from country bankers of their one-pound notes. He held in his hand the act of 37 Geo. III. one clause of which enacted, "That if any country banker should refuse to pay gold for his small notes within three days of demand, it was in the power of any Magistrate to distrain upon his property by summary process." This necessary and salutary provision had continued for ten or twelve years. The 37th Geo. III. had fixed the period at three days, but a subsequent act, passed in the same Session, had made it seven days, and thus it had continued throughout all the subsequent measures, until it was left out altogether. He reasonably believed that the omission had been merely the effect of a clerical error, and had not been intentional. At present, a person holding a one-pound country bank note was in a similar situation to a person holding any commercial promissory note, or other undertaking to pay. The holder of the one-pound note, in order to recover its value, must bring his action against the banker, which was attended with great expense, and occasioned a delay of six months. The substance of the clause proposed was, that if any banker should refuse to pay in specie the value of his note longer than seven days, (he had taken the last amendment of the act,) the Magistrate might proceed by summary process.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer said, that, under the present bill, the proposi. tion of the Hon. Member for Aberdeen would lead to very many serious objections.

Mr Hudson Gurney strongly objected to the motion of the Honourable Member for Aberdeen (Mr Hume). Lord Archibald Hamilton could not possibly understand upon what principle this bill was passed, except to compel an issue of gold. He therefore thought that this clause ought to be re-enacted under certain limitations. Mr Abercrombie said, the present bill had been modified, in order that the contraction of issues should not be too sudden, but the present clause would have a strong tendency to increase the rapidity with which this contraction would take place. Mr H. Drummond thought that the proposed clause would have the effect of supporting credit. Mr Hume said, the present conduct of the

Government amounted to a perfect and unequivocal declaration, that the onepound note was not convertible into gold but by the medium of an action, the pe riod of which would be six months, and the expense of which would be £.20 or £.30. He would divide alone upon the question. Mr Canning said, the effect of the proposed measure would be, to enable a malicious person to expose bank. ers to vexatious and inconvenient appear. ance before magistrates. Lord Archibald Hamilton and Mr Hume severally ex plained, when cries of "question" be coming loud and reiterated, the House divided For the original clause, 163; for the amendment, 19.-Majority, 144.

Mr Hume said, it was his intention to move-"That there be inserted in the bill a clause, enacting that all promissory notes issued by country bankers should be made payable at the place where they were issued." Mr Huskisson said, that if the Honourable Member had waited but a little, it was his (Mr Huskisson's) intention to propose a clause (Hcar, hear) to that effect.

The clause of Mr Hume was then withdrawn.

Mr Huskisson then handed his clause to the Chairman. Mr Hume saw no rea son why the clause should not apply to all notes in future to be issued, and not merely to those issued after the 5th of April 1829. It ought to take immediate effect. Mr Huskisson was anxious not to place country bankers in any new difficulties. The clause was agreed to.

Mr Hume said, that he had another clause, to which he could foresee no objection; it went to provide, "That all licensed bankers shall return and deposit in the Stamp-office, London, on the 1st day of every calendar month, an account of the greatest number of notes issued by them, on the preceding month; the truth of it being testified by a clerk, or other competent witness." Such a return was extremely desirable, and the House would thus obtain a view of the whole paper circulation of the kingdom.

Several Members suggested that the return might be made to the Stampoffice once in every quarter.

Mr Hume had no objection to the change, The Chancellor of the Exchequer hoped the Honourable Gentleman would not press this clause. Mr Hume agreed to withdraw it.

The other clauses and the preamble were then gone through, and the House having resumed, it was ordered that the report should be brought up to-morrow.

Sir G. Clerk moved for a return of the number of banks established in Scotland