The right honourable gentleman then remarked on the great stimulus which the increase of the circulating medium had given to the arts and industry of this country; but while its general appearance was improved, and its general prosperity advanced, it was, he said, greatly to be lamented, that the comforts and the rewards of the labourer had been so much reduced. The population of the country had kept pace with the increase of the circulating medium; but although there was an increased demand for labour, its wages were diminished. This he proved by a reference to the price of corn during the last century. To show the improved state of the country, he stated, that from the year 1658 to the year 1754, there had not been a single bill of enclosure, and corn was imported. From 1754 to 1796, during which period there had been a rapid increase of the circulating medium from the mines of America, the enclosure bills amounted to three thousand five hundred, and we became an exporting country.

He concurred with the right honourable mover in thinking, that though some difficulty might attend the resumption of cash payments, yet it was idle to talk of its producing any serious convulsion in the country. He believed that nothing had tended more to create alarm, than the clamour which had been raised on the subject. It was notorious, that in Scotland, even previous to the Bank restriction in England, the principal currency was in paper, and that there was very little gold in that country. Such, indeed, was the happy system of the chartered banks of Scotland, that even in the years 1793 and 1796, no inconvenience was felt from the want of a metallic when the pressure currency,

was so sensibly distressing in England.

But though he admitted all this, he nevertheless felt-as he always had done that it was the bounden duty of the Directors of the Bank of England to resume, as soon as possible, their payments in specie; and he was convinced

that by a gradual, temperate, and a cautious line of conduct, the resumption might take place, without the risk of a material alteration in the affairs of the empire. This, however, could only be done by a proper reference to the actual circumstances of the country, and by taking care that the amount of the circulation should tend to place our course of exchange on a par with that of other countries. The present was not that season. To withdraw the restriction now, would speedily force the country into its paper circulation, attended with renewed and probably incurable evils.

The House divided: Ayes, 99. Noes, 164. Majority against the motion, 65.

SALE OF THE CROWN LANDS.

May 7.

Mr. Huskisson having, in his official capacity of First Commissioner of Woods and Forest, moved for leave to bring in a Bill for the improvement of parts of Hainault Forest, Mr. Brougham called upon the right honourable gentleman for an explanation respecting certain bargains for the sale and letting of Crown Lands. He expressed his surprise at the diversity exemplified in the manner in which those lands were disposed of, and contended that they ought not to be sold, let, or exchanged, without inviting competition.

Mr. HUSKISSON admitted, that it was very desirable, when the Crown directed the sale of any of its landed estates, that it should be open to competition. Such was the general rule. The property was extensively advertised, and every competitor was afforded an opportunity of offering his bidding. But the fact was, that the greater part of what was sold consisted of trifling fee-farm rents, which would not defray the expense of an auction. In all such eases, it was the general rule, when it was wished to sell

them, to offer them to those who were most interested in the acquisition, at thirty years' purchase. Since he had been in the office which he held, he knew but of one instance in which the general rule of inviting competition had been departed from; and that occurred the other day, when one of the Crown estates was sold to an honourable membersitting on the other side of the House-upon the assurance, that he had, some years ago, obtained a promise, that if it were ever sold, it should be offered to him; and the price which the honourable gentleman had given was, he believed, full as much as any competition could have obtained.

With respect to the particular cases adduced by the honourable and learned gentleman, as none of them had occurred since he had been in the department, he was not able immediately to explain them; but if the honourable and learned gentleman, instead of throwing out insinuations against cabinet ministers and others, would bring forward any specific transaction, he was persuaded it would not be found to warrant the inferences which the honourable and learned gentleman had attempted to draw. For the reason which he had just assigned, he was unable immediately to explain the circumstances attendant on the purchase of the barony of Kendal by Lord Lonsdale; but he was satisfied that, upon investigation, there would appear sufficient reasons for the course adopted by the Treasury. Would the honourable and learned gentleman say, that the fact of a person having, for many years, held certain estates as a lessee, was not a reason for giving him the refusal of the purchase, on proper terms? It was very easy, after the sale of any estate, for a person disappointed of the purchase, to complain of the mode in which it had been disposed of; but the cases alluded to by the learned gentleman, were, he had no doubt, free from all just grounds of imputation. For himself, he had always recommended the general rule of inviting competition, with reference both to the public

interest and to his own character, as the only mode in which a fair price could be obtained for the public; and he had endeavoured to procure from Parliament the power thus to dispose of all such unproductive property of the Crown, with a view to the aid of the public resources.

May 8.

Mr. HUSKISSON said, he had felt it to be his duty, after what had passed on a former evening, to look back to the proceedings which had been referred to, and he found that in both the cases the greatest attention had been paid to the public interest. Better terms had been obtained by negotiation with the individuals concerned, than could have been expected, had the property been put up to public auction. This would be proved to the satisfaction of the honourable and learned gentleman, if he followed up the subject; as he now called upon him to do.

SIR JAMES MACKINTOSH'S MOTION RESPECTING THE FORGERY OF BANK NOTES.

May 14.

Sir James Mackintosh moved, "that a Committee be appointed to inquire into the means of more effectually preventing the Forgery of Notes of the Bank of England." Upon which, the Chancellor of the Exchequer moved, by way of amendment, "that an humble address be presented to his Royal Highness the Prince Regent, that he will be graciously pleased to issue a Commission under the Great Seal, to consider of the best means of preventing the forgery of promissory notes issued by the Bank of England and other bankers, and other negotiable securities." Mr. Bennet having dwelt upon the alarming degree to which the crime of forgery had attained, the frequency of public executions, and the great irregularity with which sentences were enforced,

Mr. HUSKISSON said, that according to the arguments of the honourable member, the Committee, if appointed, ought to inquire, not only into the means of preventing the forgery of Bank of England notes, but into the state of the whole criminal law of the country. This, it would seem, was the object of the honourable member. But could the House so far forget what was the nature of the British constitution, as to accede to the proposition? It appeared to him, that the tendency of the honourable gentleman's speech was to bring into odium, not only the laws themselves, but the judges who administered those laws. The inquiry which the honourable gentleman proposed would branch out into subjects the most inconvenient, and the most improper. At the same time, he felt himself bound to admit, that the learned mover, in his very able, eloquent, and ingenious speech, did not seem to contemplate any such inquiry. He had specially guarded himself against imputing blame to the Bank, or wishing a Committee to be granted to find articles of impeachment against them; he had only proposed, that the House should institute some inquiry of an immediate nature, which would go to check the growth of this alarming evil.

Now, he must say, that a Committee of the House of Commons did not appear to him to be the fittest mode of carrying on such an inquiry. If there were any suspicion that the Bank of England had negligently-for he would not say criminally-suffered these prosecutions to take place, then the House might exercise those inquisitorial functions which belonged to that branch of the legislature; but at this period of the session, he thought such an inquiry would be nugatory. He did not know what course the proposed Committee could pursue, beyond endeavouring to discover the extent of the evil, of the existence of which there remained no doubt, and recommending to the Crown