induced the farmers and others, refident in the parts diftant, from the metropolis, to withdraw their money from the hands of thofe bankers with whom it was depofited. The run, therefore, commenced upon the country banks, and the demand for fpecie foon reached the metropolis. In this alarming ftate, the ministry thought themfelves compelled to interfere, and an order of the privy council was iffued on the 26th of February, prohibiting the directors of the bank from iffing any cash in payment till the fenfe of parliament could be taken on that fubject, and the proper meafures adopted thereupon for maintaining the means of circulation, and fupporting the public and commercial credit of the kingdom at this important conjun&ture."

On the following day, therefore, 27th of February, a mellage was delivered from his majefty to both houfes of parliament, ftating, " that an unufual demand of fpecie having been made, from different parts of the country, on the metropolis, it had been found neceffary to make an order of council, to the directors of the bank, prohibiting the iffuing of any cafh in payment, till the fenfe of parliament could be taken on the fubject." The order of council was read, along with his majefty's meffage; and lord Grenville, in the houfe of lords, rofe to move, "that the communication from his majefty fhould be taken into confideration the following day.

The duke of Norfolk was of opinion that the defperate exigency, to which minifters had driven the country, was owing to the exportation of fpecie to the emperor of Germany and our other allies on the continent. He therefore moved,

that a humble addrefs be prefented to his majefty, to prevent the farther exportation of fpecie, until the fenfe of parliament fhould be taken on that fubject.

Lord Grenville faid, as their lordships had determined not to take the fubject into confideration till next day, he did not wish to difcufs it, as neither he nor the houfe were prepared for it. The neceffity of acceding to the motion was urged by the earl of Guildford, and the earl of Moira, on the ground, that to decline this would have an ill effect on the public mind.

The duke of Norfolk put the queftion directly to lord Grenville whether it was intended to fend money to the emperor? The fecretary, perfevered in his determination, not to difcufs, that day, a fubject that was to be taken into confideration the next. The queflion being put, the duke of Norfolk's motion was rejected by 34 against 5.

His majefty's meffage being again read, next day, lord Grenville, after much prefatory matter, which it is not neceflary to our purpose to relate, informed the house, that he had two motions for their confideration; and firft, "that a humble addrefs be prefented to his majesty, to return thanks for his gracious.communication, and to affure his majefty, that he might rely with the utmost confidence on the wifdom of parliament, to call forth, in cafe of neceffity, the extenfive refources of the kingdom: this addrefs was unanimoully agreed to. Lord Grenville's other motion was for the appointment of a felect and fecret committee of nine lords, to examine and report, on the outstanding debts against the bank, the ftate of the funds for discharging the fame; the

caufe

caufe that rendered the order of Council neceflary, and which might justify the members of that houfe for taking the proper fteps for the confirmation and continuance of that meafure."

The duke of Grafton faid, that minifters had gone to the extreme length of a measure founded in an affumption of power, unknown to the laws and conftitution of the country. They would be obliged to have recourfe to a bill of indem nity, to legalize their conduct; for, unlefs this could be obtained, the bank-directors were liable to an action from every individual to whom they refufed payment.

Lord Grenville replied, that he had no objection to that meafure; though the bank were not legally obliged to act upon the requifition contained in the order of the council.

The earl of Guildford thought, that there were parts of the inquiry propofed, which by no means required fecrecy, that, on the contrary, they ought to be made as public as poffible. If the bank was in fuch a flourishing ftate as was reprefented, it ought to be laid before the public, for the purpofe of removing all ground of fufpicion. The duke of Grafton fpoke to the fame effect. But the earl of Liverpool approved of a fecret committee, where fubjects of a delicate nature were to be investigated.

The duke of Bedford, confidering the ill conduct of minifters throughout the war, and the alarm ing state to which they had reduced the country, thought it not improbable, that the measure in queftion was abfolutely neceffary; though he could not but remark, that, when

he read the order of council, he was aftonifhed to find that the unufual demand for fpecie was imputed to ill-founded and exaggerated apprehenfions of individuals, notwithftanding that minifiers had been the caufe of raifing them. He was a friend to open difcuffion, as their lordships would thereby be enabled to form a judgement of facts within their own knowledge, and to afcertain how much of the prefent calamitous ftate of the country was connected with the bank. He did not know, he faid, that there was any reafon why the committee fhould be a fecret committee. If there was, he was not prepared to admit it. Be that as it might, he could not conceive that their lordfhips were to determine a great national queftion, of fuch immenfe importance as the prefent, on the report of nine lords, be they whom they might. The words, as they now ftood in the refolution propofed by the secretary of state, authorized the committee to report their opinion, of the neceflity of confirming and continuing the meafure adopted by the bank, in cons fequence of the order of council; which was neither more nor lefs than, that the bank fhould continue to ftop payment, and to give only paper, inftead of cash, when payment in money was demanded; a thing both incorfiftent and alarming. His grace, therefore, moved, by way of amendment to lord Gren ville's motion, to leave out all that part of it which related to the coinmittee's reporting their opinion on the continuance of the measure. This amendment,

Lord Grenville faid, he would certainly oppose, as it tended to

take away an effential part of the original motion, and render the others of little ufe.

The duke of Norfolk ftrongly objected to a fecret committee. If the bank were equal to all demands, it was for their honour that there should be no conceal ment. Any thing like fecrecy would make a ferious impreffion without doors. The duke of Grafton, too, was decidedly against the fecrecy of the committee, and alfo against any report by the committee, on the neceffity of confirming and continuing the measure adopted in the minute of council. He would therefore fupport the amendment propofed by the duke of Grafton.

The marquis of Lanfdowne faid, that noble lords would do him the justice to recollect, that not one feffion had paffed over, fince the year 1793, in which he had not, to ufe a vulgar but ftrong expreffion, bored their lordships with his prophetic admonitions. His mind had been early impreffed with a moft facred reverence for that moft delicate and indefinite thing, called, public credit. A fmall pamphlet, but a moft able one, had been put into his hands, and recommended to his ftudy: it was the production of a great and diftinguifhed member of parliament and ftatef man (Harley, earl of Oxford). This noble author illuftrated the nature of public credit, by faying, that it was to the people of Great Britain what the foul of man was to his body. It was pure foul: it was immaterial in itfelf; and yet it was that which gave to fubftance its functions. It was not the caufe but the effect; it flowed from the happy organization of all the parts of the material body. It was

not to be created; it was not to be forced: its precife feat, in the body politic, could not be difcovered; it at once prevaded over, and proceeded out of, the whole. It both gave and received its animation and its exiftence. It was not property, for no branch of the body. could call it its own. It was not the king's credit; it was not the credit of parliament; it was public credit. It was that thing which fprung from the happy concoction of all the vital juices of the national frame, which proceded from the nice diftribution of our parts, and their mutual co-operation; which gave to the national fyftem a fympathetic connection, an union of action, a correfpondence, and promptitude, which, in matter of finance, is known by the name of punctuality. This public credit was the foul of England; it was that which carried the nation to a height infinitely beyond its numerical power. It was our credit that fet all the calculations of political arithmetic at defiance; it derided the cold diffidence of those wha judged of our means by the geographical limits of the ifland, or the vifible number of its people. Public credit did not even look to fecurity as its bafis: it always connected fecurity with punctuality. Many Jords, with their 20,000l. a year, would find it difficult to procure the loan of 1,000l. on emergency, though they had perfect fecurity to offer, when a neighbouring tradefman, with a capital of, perhaps, only a few hundreds, would find the loan with facility, Why was this? It was the known punctuality of the one placed against the known want of punctuality in the other; it was because the lender

knew