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management with regard to the draw-
backs on sugar. Reserving himself at pre-
sent to afford what further explanation
might be deemed necessary, he begged to
submit to the committee a resolution
"That the proposal of the Bank for au ad-
vance of three millions be approved."

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Mr. W. Pole, having moved the second reading of the Silver Coiuage Bill, Mr. P. Lewes regretted that a gold coinage of 20s, pieces was not a so to take place. He saw no inconvenience or confusion in the co-existence even of the old pieces of 21s. and the new of 20s. by which every objection would be removed.

Mr. V. FITZGERALD observed, that the quota of contribution estimated to be due from Ireland for the service of the present year, was 3,407,7941. Irish currency, or 3,145,656/. British. The charge of interest and sinking fund on the present debt was 6,820,730/. forming a total supply of 10,294,524. The amount of the consolidated fund, with the remains of the English loan, was 4,289,2807. subject to a deduction of various arrears, which left a neting into the account also the additional exsurplus of 991,570l.

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Estimated quota of contribution,
1816, 3,145,656/. Brit.................. £3,407,794
Interest and sinking fund on pre-
sent debt........

6,826,730

Total supply......£10,234,524

STATE OF CONSOLIDATED FUND.

Balance on 3th of January, 1816 £1,448,086
Remains of Eug-
lish loan 2,622,641/. Brit.2,841,194

DEDUCT ARREAR.

Arrear of contribution, 1815, 2,912,280/. British.....3,187,470

Outstanding Treasury

Bill and Lottery

Prizes

28,876

Inland Navigation

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Building Record-office... 16,364

Grand Caual................ $5,000

Surplus of consolidated fund

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£4,289,280

3,297,710 £991,570 The following were the Ways and Means by which it was proposed to meet the before-mentioned entire charge of 10,234,5241. required for the service of the year :WAYS AND MEANS.

.....

Surplus of consolidated fund ···
Revenue, estimated at

Proft on Lotteries
Seamen's Wages.........
Loan on Treasury Bills in Eug-
land, 1,700,000/. British
Ditto ditto in Ireland........

Mr. W. Pole said, our gold coin was, at present, the most accurate in the world, and the Committee had probably been apprehensive, that any alteration might affect the state of the exchange; they had, therefore, been desirous to make no alteration, except what was absolutely necessary, tak

pense.-The late Lord Liverpool, in 1805, had calculated the number of guiness in England at thirty millions, and to recoin such a number would necessarily be attended with a heavy expeuse. But, he believed, the number was not nigh so cousiderable. The suggestion of a coinage of twen ty-shilling gold pieces, he should feel it bis duty to recommend to the Committee with a view to the former resolutions being reconsidered- (Hear, hear.) The coiuage of twenty-shilling pieces would be a means of assimilating the currency of Great Britain and Ireland, an object undoubtedly of much importance; and, in such a proposition, he trusted, the Committee would concur. In 1695, there had been two legal standards, which had been productive of much inconvenience. Guineas had then sold for thirty shillings from the deterioration of the silver currency. But all the evils would be done away, by the two metals going on simultaneously, as silver was only a legal tender to the amount of two guineas.

Mr. Croker was in favour of a coinage of twenty-shilling gold pieces, and thought the present the most favourable time for making a convenient division of the coin. The current coin of the country was most irregular, there being one measure for gold, another for silver, and another for copper; and these were not referable to each other £991,570 without fractious.-Should twenty-shilling 6,000,000 gold pieces be coined, all the coin of the 100,000 realm would be altered; but he did not on 111,960 that account dissapprove of such a coinage. He thought the French plan should be imit1,841,666 ated, and that the decimal arrangements 1,200,000 would be attended with much advantage, if applied to the current coin of this country. If the ounce of gold were divided into five parts, each of these parts would be worth twenty shillings, and each shilling would be worth ten of our present pence; but the ounce of gold was at present equal to ninety-nine shillings

Total Ways and Means... £10,245.196 -He concluded by proposing a resolution for raising the sum of 1,200,000l. by Treasury Bills.

After some discussion, the respective resolutions were agreed to.

and four-pence half-penny, and there could | For expenses incurred by
be no difficulty in dividing it into one hnn-
dred shillings. The pound of silver might
be divided into eighty shillings, and then
we should have a shilling of the value often
grains, and a guinea of the value of twenty
shillings.

The Bill was read a second time.

Elgin Marbles.

Mr. Bankes, after some panegyrical remarks on these unparalleled relics of ancient art, moved—

"That a sum of £35,000, be granted to his Majesty for the purpose of purchasing the Elgin Marbles, and that the same be paid for them, without fee or deduction." Mr. Curwen agreed in all that had been said of the excellence of these marbles as works of art; but he thought that the House should shew a disposition to relinquish its own feelings in forbearing to make this purchase, to shew the people, that an attention to the public distresses, and an anxiety to relieve them, was the object nearest to their hearts.

Mr. Hammersley said, the point on which he felt most strongly, was the dishonesty of the acquisition. The Hou. Member then moved an amendment, in substance," That the Committee having taken into its consideration the means which had been employed to collect and obtain possession of the Elgin Marbles, were of opinion that his Lordship had not borne in mind that the character of an English Ambassador, which he sustained, might be sunk in its dignity by the mode in which these marbles were obtained, and that it be recommended to offer 25,000l. for them to his Lordship, in order that they may be kept on behalf of the public, till they might be reclaimed by the government to which they formerly belonged, then to be given up without any remuneration whatever, and that in the mean time they be kept in the British Museum." Hear! hear! and a laugh.)

Mr. Croker, Mr. W. Wynne, Mr. C. Long, and Mr. J. P. Grant, supported the notion; which was opposed by Mr. Serjeant Best, Sir J. Newport, Lord Milton, Mr. P. Moore, and Mr. Brougham; after which it was carried 82 against 30.

The following sums were then voted:— For defraying the expenses

prosecutions relating to
coin..............
Compensation for retired
Clerks, and persons su-
perannuated in the Office
of Audits................................
For the relief of American
Loyalists.

For the National Vaccine
Establishment

4,000

1,850

1,500 0

3,000 0

POLITICAL PERISCOPE. Panorama Office, December 28, 1816.

If the writer of a PERISCOPE were to commit himself to the intelligence be receives from one party, only, whether at home or abroad, he would run the utmost risque of being misled and misleading his

readers.

64

Take home, for an instance,

Sir, we are ruined, irretrievably ruined! Never were equal desolations!" But, a long life of observation, including fifty years' acquaintance, more or less, with public men and measures, has deprived this exclamation of its sting. Three or four times at least, has Britain, with its connexions, been IRRETRIEVABLY ruined, in our memory. It will follow, that, three or four times, at least, has Britain risen superior to her then supposed fatal mis

fortunes.

All the world thought Britain ruined when France had given independence to the American Colonies. What did the fact prove to be?-that France herself was ruined-irretrievably ruined, by the efforts she had made to destroy her rival. Louis XVI. foresaw this; and when his triumph seemed most complete, his eyes dropped many a tear, at the costly consequences of momentary exultation. Britain recovered; and having seen her recover from that apparently desolate state, we know not how to despair of a repetition of the same miracle. Now, this fairly acknowledges a state of distress and calamity; we do not, we cannot, honestly say, unexampled,-unprecedented,-bad enough, certainly, but not so bad as to justify despair.

We even conjecture, that at the time Country, are considerably improved in dewe are writing, the Staple Articles of our mand, and in the price they bear at market, from what they were six or eight months ago That is to say, they have

of the Mint........................................ £13,630 o o begun to find the proper channels for their

For defraying the expense

of the Office of Store

peace delivery, and these operate, though but slowly, and slightly, as yet. There is

keeper General 44,800 0 o also, a kind of sentiment or presentiment, For the Commissary in

among the best informed, that things are Chief's Office.... 405,240 9 10 either mending, or on the point of mendBarrack Department 178,626 o oing, and this is alone sufficient to cause For Law Expenses.......................... 10,000 o o them to mend. When this effectually

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prevails among the public, the point will be almost obtained; Hope will put the great wheel of the machine in motion; and the lesser will follow to the very smallest.

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Another word on the subject of Commerce, since it has glided in, as part of

this PERISCOPE. The materials of manufacture are either native or foreign; if native the Country that produces them has the unquestionable right to make the most, and the best of them she can. But, if fo reign, then the article is a compound of foreign material and native ingenuity in preparing for use. We therefore, read the declamations in the Continental papers, the complaints, of being undersold, the resolutions for excluding British commodities-say cotton goods, for instance, with great calmness, if not with a sort of apathy.

vernment to disband any considerable part of the large army now on foot? for the public peace must be preserved.

The Parliament is summoned to meet in the course of the month of January: we have already stated our opinion on the complexion it is likely to assume: but, this must, of course, be referred to the cvent.

It would, formerly have been thought an impossible transition from the Legislative Body of Britain to the Legislative Body of France: but time has brought it about, impossible as it might seem. The Legislative Body of France is newly élect. ed:-at present it is quiet.

ness.

To speak our real sentiments, we have not the greatest confidence in this quietWe should be but little surprised to see it change, suddenly. The French Public Stocks are unaccountably low; unless the price may be taken as indication of an opinion among the money holders, of the finances of their country. France not very favourable to the flouri bing state uble; and Buo parte had drawn it down is a fine country, but it is not inexhausso nearly to exhaustion, that the utmost skill can, as yet, have afforded it little relief.

BELGIUM is profiting by the misfortunes price for her native productions, goes. of France, so far as obtaining a good

It is granted that you purchase the raw material-it being foreign-as cheap, or cheaper, than Britain; but, did yon vent the MACHINERY by which it is wrought? Is that your's, o is it British? If it be British, and you stole it from Eri tain, blame yourself, if you cannot com'pete with the original inventor, and perfector, of the article. What right have you to expect that you, who must be some years behind your rival in the business, should be able to meet her, in the long run, on equal, or superior terms? You cannot deny that whatever parts of the whole are her's, because they originated with her, are at least equal to your own: if then, by the habit of longer practice her Government proceed on the maxim Fesmanagement be better than your's, where tina lente; the end will be obtained more is your right to complain of her injustice?ectually; perhaps more speedily, her overbearing? ber all grasping spirit? &c. &c. Acknowledge your own error; confess you have beça misled, and blame the party who misled you: it was your grasping spirit which then induced you to take his advice: cease complaining of Britain; and censure, only where censure is

due.

The armies stationed around ber, pay, and must pay, for what they consume; to greater joy of the merchant who deals in the great joy of the farmer, and the still

those commodities. The measures of this

From the north we hear but little. DENMARK and SWEDEN and RUSSIA, we hope are all well; but we do not know it from recent intelligence.

GERMANY is quiet; except a few feverish Symptoms, of no great moment; and possibly little understood.

ITALY is safe under Apostolic protection: but the thought of representative government in the Pope's dominions is almost convulsive. As to Naples and Si

This maxim "censure only where cen sure is due," should be held sacred in politics; but, it often happens, that much blame is thrown where noue ought to at-city, with the African Powers on the

- tach. The most masterly strokes of po .lities are often misunderstood, those who conducted them are blamed beyond mea - sure, when they ought to be honourably applauded.

Since our last the metropolis has been the scene of public disturbance and bloodshed, We should be glad to think this were the close of such doings. If similar pists, by the same means, take place in the country, will it be possible for the Go

shores of the Mediterranean, somebody has bid them be quiet, and quiet they are.

SPAIN is quiet, too, but we hardly know on what principies. The Sovereign is po bali-decided character: be is either uncommonly wise; or

Thus have we gone over Europe; in which is much grumbling: but we hope no spirit of revolt; many wishes to be better, but, we trust, no attempts to realize them at the expence of the public peace,

Commercial Chronicle.

STATE OF TRADE.

Lloyd's Coffee House, Dec. 20, 1816. COTTON.-The advices from the United States mention, that no extensive ship meuls are expected for some weeks; the holders of Cotton both here and at Liverpool were in consequence asking higher prices, which the trade seem unwilling to comply with.

The chief purchases of Coffee lately were on speculation: the cause of the temporary depression in Jamaica Coffee last week, may be ascribed to the shipping season having closed, and speculators haying sometime ago made up the full quantity they choose to hold for the event of the spring demand; the consequence was a small decline in the descriptions which had been previously purchased extensively on speculation.

Very considerable interest is excited by Government advertising for 10 to 14,000 barrels of Flour to go from the United "Liverpool, Dec. 21. During the States to the British West India Colonies greater part of the week the Cotton marand Islands, one half to be delivered by ket was very quiet, and about Wednesday the 30th of April; the tenders are to be some little decline took place in the middle and inferior qualities of Boweds and Ord of January; it is supposed in the city, given in to the Victualling Board on the leans; yesterday however there was considerable enquiry for these descriptions: other kinds however continue dull: and of the Demeraras offered by auction, only two lots were sold. The arrivals this week are only 927 bags, and the sales amount to about 2,800 bags."

that this extensive contract will be the
the means of lessening the expected sup-
plies from America, which, added to the
high prices of grain, and the actual scar-
city of good bread Corn, renders the report
that the Councii have been deliberating
Grain extremely probable.
as to stopping the distillers from using

SUGAR. When it became generally known on Wednesday last that no Sugars IRISH PROVISIONS, &c.-The new Prowould be on shew this week, the demand considerably increased; there was how-visions, Beef and Pork, of prime quality ever no briskness; the prices generally were without variation; in some instances Muscovades in speculators' hands were purchased a shade lower.

continue scarce, particularly the latter, and the general opinion in the market is, that the prices throughout the season will rate high, on account of the failure of the potatoe crop in Ireland.-Bacon continues to meet a heavy sale in the market. The sales of Butter by private contract have become very difficult to effect; the market remains in a very depressed state.

There has been no general request for Refined goods since our last; yet several rather extensive purchases have been made, chiefly we believe lumps, 103s a 106s. The export houses evince a disposition to secure goods at the present currency, but HEMP, FLAX, and TALLOW.-There is the Refiners decline the offers, except at a little variation in Hemp or Tallow; the considerable advance: there being no prices of Flax are improving; the stock is bonding allowed, and the length of time very short of the usual supply, and the that must elapse before the spring ship-business lately effected has been very conping commences, added to the further siderable. delay in recovering the bounty, appear great obstacles to the arrangements between the trade and the extensive exporters; goods for immediate delivery can be purchased lower than parcels deliverable in February and March next.

In Foreign Sugars there is little variation, the prices nominal.

COFFEE. There continues to be great fluctuations in Coffee; Java and other East India descriptions, with the exception of Mocha, are Ss. to 4s. higher; good ordi

nary pale Jamaica 71s. a 73s: ordinary middling 82s. 6d; middling 91s. Od; 656 bags Havannah went off uncommonly high. The East India Company brought forward nearly 3,000 bags, selling in the usual manner, with the drawback of 58. op exortation.

SPICES. The enquiry after Spices has considerably increased, and there is every appearance of a reviving trade.

TOBACCO.-The prices are declining in America on account of the appearance of abundant supplies; and also the low prices in Europe are stated to have considerably affected the currency in the United States. The prices are entirely nominal,

Se

RUM, BRANDY, and HOLLANDS.-There has been no business doing in Rums. veral parcels of Brandy have been disposed of at a considerable decline.

OILS. There is little variation in Oils; the market continues heavy.

NAVAL STORES.-There is an arrrival of Rongh Turpentine, 20s. we believe about the price. The market heavy.

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Baddeley R. Coventry, grocer.
and Co, Gray's lun.
Bate J. Stourbridge, Worcester, mercer.
Anstice and Co. Temple.
Cunningham C. Frith-street, Soho, money
Sol. Wilson, Montague-street,

Scrivener.

Somersetshire, hosier. N. Levien, Mabledonplace, exchange broker. J. Fletcher, Trafalgar-street, City road, merchant. J. Lodwidge, Richmond-place, Walworth, insurance broker. J. Swanu, Birmingham, grocer. J. and T. C. Leman, Bristol, honey scriveners. W. M. B. P.

Portman-square. Dalton J. and J. Newcastle upon Tyne, earthen-Tartt, Old Broad-street, merchaut. ware manufacturers. Sols. Clayton and Co. Sanderson, Newgate-street, wine merchant. J. Hirst, Wapping-wall, cloth factor. J. Eyres, Tooley-street, poulterer.

Lincoln's Ina.

Davis W. Gloucester, carpenter. Sols. Poole and Co. Gray's Inn.

Davies J. St. Martin's-lane, carpenter. Sols.
Drew and Co. Bermondsey-street.
Easthope G. Wolverhampton, Staffordshire,
upholsterer. Sol. Turner, Bloomsbury-

square.

Feard R. Westoe, Durham, ship owner. Sols.
Bell and Co. Cheapside.
George T. St. Woolas, Monmouth, shopkeeper.

Sols.Jenkins and Co. New Ion.

Johnson C. sen. and R. Johnson, Kirkby Lons dale, Westmoreland, spirit merchants. Sol Beverly, Staple Inn

Jones H. Wellington-square, London, merchant. Sol Clarke, Bishopsgate-street. Kelty A. Worcester, jeweller. Sols. Mayhew and Co. Symond's Inn. Lindgren J. H. Star-alley, Mark-lane, ship broker. Sol. Concanon, Crescent-place. Marsden T. sen. Curtain-road, horse dealer. Sol. Wilks, Finsbury-place. Maltby E Nottingham, maltster. Sol. Heelis, Staple Inn.

BANKRUPTCY SUPERSEDED, Nov. 26. Goodall T. Pershore, skinner

BANKRUPTS.

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Ford W. Ilford, Essex, grocer. and Co Lothbury Gregory S. senior, Little Bolton, Lancaster, whitster. Sol. Ellis, Chancery-lane Hudson H. J. and J. Hudson, Newcastle upon Tyne, merchants. Sols. Atkinson and Co Chancery-lane

Mason J. T. Exeter, music seller. Sol. Brut-Hill T. Leeds, merchant. Sols. Rosser and Co ton, Broad-street.

Bartletts-buildings

Machell R. Dewsbury, innkeeper. Sol. Hart-Howett J. St. Martin's-lane, builder. Sols Jey, Bridge-street.

Murden E. Prince's-place, Commercial-road, saddler and harness maker. Sol. Griffiths, Featherstone-buildings.

Oldham W. Manchester, tailor, Sol. Windle,
John-street, Bedford Row.
Parry T. Kingston, Hereford, paiuter and
glazier. Sol. Pewtriss, Gray's Inn.
Stephenson W. Preston, Lancashire, linen
draper. Sol. Blakelock, Serjeant's Inn.
Wareing J. Liverpool, draper. Sol. Makinson,
Temple.

Wilson F. Durham, grocer. Sol. Windle,
John-street, Bedford Row,

James and Co New Inp

Humphries J. Birmingham, merchant. Sol. James G. and H. Cock, Bristol, brandy merEgerton, Grays Inn

chants. Sols. Clarke and Co Chancery-lane Knowler J. Preston next Faversham, Kent, bricklayer. Sols. Winburn and Co Chancerylane

Maish W. Warminster, tailor. Sol. Luckett,
Wilson.street, Finsbury-square

Mockett J, Isle of Thanet, Kent, farmer. Sols.
Exley and Co Furnival's Inn
Powell C. R Warrington, publican.
Chester, Staple Inn

Sol.

Shelley J. Canterbury, victualler. Sol. Barnes, Clifford's Inn

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