AMENDMENT TO NO. IX.

That of the sum of 10,704,000l. stated to have been coined in gold from February, 1787, to February, 1791, the sum of 8,084,982l. was a re-coinage from the light guineas of the realın.

AMENDMENT TO NO. X.

That the average amount of Bank notes in circulation, during the months of January and February, 1795, was 12,452,4517. and the average amount from the 1st of January to the 25th of February, 1797, was 9,566,430l.; making a difference of 2,886,021/.

That this reduction in the amount of Bank notes was principally effected between the middle of the month of May, 1795, and the 25th of February,

1797.

That the exchange with Hamburgh fell from 35 to 32. 4 (its lowest depression during the period in question) between the 3d of February and the 4th of August, 1795, during which time the average amount of Bank notes in circulation was 11,464,1431. having been occasionally during the time as high as 14,071,850/. and even 14,876,5801.

That between the 4th of August, 1795, and the 1st of January, 1796, the exchange with Hamburgh rose from 32. 4 to 32. 7, during which period the average amount of Bank notes in circulation was 11,415,653/.; and from the 1st of January to the 3d of June, 1796, the exchange with Hamburgh rose from 32. 7 to 34, during which period the average amount of notes was 10,874,316/.

That from the 3d of June, 1796, to the 25th of February, 1797, during which period the amount of Bank notes was gradually reduced to the sum of &640,2501. the exchange with Hamburgh rose to 35; and in the few months following the last reduction rose gradually to 38.

AMENDMENT TO NO. XIV.

That the average amount of Bank notes in circulation of 51 and upwards for three years ending the 5th of January, 1797, was 10,782,780l.; and for the years 1808, 1809, and 1810, was 14,265,850.

That the average amount of notes for 57. and upwards, in the year 1796, was 10,240,125l.; and in 1810 was 15,421,310/.

RESOLUTIONS MOVED IN THE HOUSE OF LORDS, BY THE RIGHT HON.

EARL STANHOPE.

I. That an internal circulating medium, which shall be a legal measure of the relative value of different commodities and things, is essential for transacting the private affairs of individuals, and the public conserns of the state, and for enabling debtors to make to each of their respective creditors a legal tender in satisfaction of his or her just demands, without any unjust loss to any debtor on that account.

II. That it is most highly expedient that such internal circulating medium and legal measure of the relative value of different commodities and things, be so contrived as not to be unsteady, fluctuating, and variable; but to be fixed and invariable, so far as the nature of things can possibly admit.

III. That two or more circulating mediums, which, under any given circumstances whatsoever, can vary considerably in their relative value when compared with each other, cannot, under such given circumstances, exist together, so as to form together a fixed, invariable, and proper circulating medium, and a proper legal measure of the relative value of different commodities and things.

IV. That it is, therefore, highly expedient, that whenever (for the sake of mere convenience) different internal circulating mediums shall be by law either established or allowed, some one only of them be made the perma

H 2

Rent

nent legal standard measure of the relative value of different commodities and things.

V. That it is therefore expedient that such permanent legal standard measure as aforesaid be so contrived as to be divisible into such parts as may bear to each other any requirable proportion, in order not only that all round sums, but likewise that all fractional sums whatsoever, may be paid and satisfied by means thereof.

VI. That it is moreover expedient that such permanent legal standard measure, and circulating medium as aforesaid, be so contrived as to be easily, rapidly, and safely transferable, without expense, from any one person to any other person, and from any one part of the country to another, either for the use and benefit of the same individual, or of any other individual, free from any depreciation, defalcation, or discount, and free from any loss by forgery, or by wear and tear, and also free from any danger of loss that might arise from housebreakers, highway robbers, mobs, insurrections, or even from foreign invasion in any particular district, and likewise free from any loss that might arise from the accidental or intentional destruction of any dwellinghouse, banking-house, or other building, by fire or otherwise; and, moreover, free from any loss of interest on any quantity, however considerable, of circulating medium, which shall or may hereafter exist, and be transferable in any of the various ways above-mentioned, and (above all things) free from being affected by the course of all or any of the foreign exchanges. VII. That neither gold nor silver ever did possess, or ever can possess, the various important and requisite qualities which are above particularly specified; and that, not only each of those precious metals (technically so called), but likewise every one of the other articles of merchandize, by means of which British debts to foreign nations can be discharged, is (from the irremediable fluctuability of their value, arising from the necessary fluctuability of the course of foreign exchanges) an improper and an unfit legal standard to serve as a fixed, invariable, and permanent measure of the relative value of different commodities and things within the country itself, which is the grand and essential end and object of an internal circulating medium, whether the same be imperiously wanted for the use of individuals within this realm, in order for them to purchase from each other, either the objects of luxury, or even the necessaries of life, or whether such internal circulating medium be required for the indispensible services of the state.

VIII. That the want of gold in circulation, in this country at present, prevents bankers and other persons, who may have large payments to make, from making, in any such case, any legal tender to the amount of the sum of money so due and payable, and in discharge thereof: and that the same is a grievance of such an immense magnitude, that it requires a wise, speedy, radical, and efficacious remedy, which shall completely prevent the possibility of this nation being ever again deprived of its proper internal circulating medium, either from the circumstances of the balance of payments, in respect to foreign countries, being at any time against us, (which must ever of necessity tend to cause our gold to be exported, in order to adjust such balance,) or from the circumstance of any temporary alarm which may always cause our gold to be hoarded; or from any other circumstance or combination of circumstances; and that Parliament should take into its most serious consideration this important subject, and should adopt such measures as shall effectually prevent the return of so intolerable an evil.

IX. That it would be an act of the most manifest injustice, and an act likewise highly impolitic and rash, if Parliament were to make, by law, either Bank notes or any other paper circulating medium, a general legal tender, on account of this obvious circumstance, viz. that the person to whom such a

tender

tender may be made, may not be certain that such note, or other paper circulating medium, is not forged.

X. That for the various weighty reasons aforesaid, it is highly expedient, that a permanent mode of making payments be established, by means of which mode, legal tenders, even to the largest amount, may be made, without gold, as gold ought never again to be relied upon for that legal and necessary purpose, on account of the impossibility of procuring gold at all times in sufficient quantity; and by means of which same mode, legal tenders for fractional sums may be made, without either silver or copper, and by means of which same mode also, legal tenders may be made in all countries, without tendering in payment either Bank notes, or any other kind of circulating paper

whatever.

XI. That, in order to satisfy the public respecting the solvency of the Bank of England, and to prevent all future apprehensions upon that important subject, it is expedient, that the Governor and Company of the Bank of England be by law compelled to lay before both Houses of Parliament in the first week of every Session of Parliament, a full, clear, luminous, and satisfactory account of the state of their affairs, and that a maxiinum be always fixed by law with respect to the number and value of the notes, which may be issued by the said Governor and Company, and which may at any one time be out

in circulation.

XII. That it is expedient, that the Bank of England shall establish various branches throughout the whole country, and in many parts of the metropolis, and shall cause books to be opened in each of those places; and that persons possessed of Bank notes shall be entitled, upon depositing such notes, to have a credit in the Bank Book at the place where such deposit is made, equal to the value in pounds sterling, which is specified in such notes to be payable to the bearer on demand; and that every person, having such credit so entered to his account, in any one place as aforesaid, shall be entitled to transfer the whole of such sum so accredited, or any part thereof, either to his own account or to that of any other person at any place where any such book is opened.

XIII. That, for the perfect security of all persons who shall, at any time become possessed of any such credit as aforesaid, it is expedient that triplicate corresponding entries be made, the first of which shall be on the Bank Book at such place, the second of which shall be delivered to the person who shall have brought the Bank notes as a certificate of the proper entry having been made, and the third of which shall be forthwith_transmitted to the original Bank of England in London, in order to be by them filed and daily transmitted to the Tower of London, for safe custody, after such last-mentioned triplicate shall have been duly recorded in the books at the Bank of England itself, and that every transfer be made in like

manner.

XIV. That, as under proper regulations, in detail, such book entries and such book transfers, cannot ever be forged, it would be highly expedient that the law should authorize legal tenders to be inade, by tendering such a book transfer as aforesaid of the sum due in such form and manner as shall hereafter be prescribed by law.

** The Births, Marriages, and Obituary, of the month of August are postponed to the next Number.

CURRENT

Tuesday, 16th.

Tuesday, 16th.

LONDON.

U. Madrid

COURSE OF EXCHANGE.

Tuesday, 18th.