Punch (7.1844)

VOLUME VlL-JULY TO DECEMBER, 1844.

THE PEEL CABINET.—1844.

First Lord of the Treasury........... Sir R. Peel.

Lord Chancellor.............. Lord Lyndhurst.

Chancellor of the Exchequer........... Right Hon. H. Goulburn.

President of the Council............ Lord Wharncliffe.

Privy Seal.............. Duke of Bdccledch and Qdeensberrt.

Home Secretary........ -..... Sir James Graham.

Foreign Secretary............. Earl of Aberdeen.

Colonial Secretary.......•..... Lord Stanley.

Commander of the Forces........... Duke op Wellington.

First Lord of the Admiralty........... Earl of Haddington.

President of the Board of Control.......... Earl of Ripon {vice Fitzgerald).

President of the Board of Trade.......... Rt. Hon. W. E. Gladstone {vice Earl of

Ripon), with a Seat in the Cabinet.

Vice-President of the Board of Trade......... Earl of Dalhousie.

Secretary at War............. Sir H. Hardinge.

Treasurer of the Navy and Paymaster of the Forces...... Sir E. Knatchbull.

POLITICAL

HTHE reversal in the Commons of the vote adverse to the
Government on Me. Miles's Amendment on the Sugar
6 Duties [The Great Sugar Question] was followed in the
IB Lords by another in favour of the Ministry which [Theatre
Royal St. Stephens] was not debated even until the
Third Reading, and then passed without a division. One of
the most signal monuments of the claims of Sie Robert Peel
to be considered a commercial and financial minister is the
Bill for Regulating the Bank of England, and may be justly
considered the second great monetary measure of Sir Robeet's
life. It is impossible here to convey any notion of the
masterly and lucid statement of the principles of currency
which introduced this measure to the House of Commons, or
of the dexterous arrangement and happy elucidation of the
details of the scheme which riveted the attention and admira-
tion of all who heard them. The Act of 1833 empowered the
Government to give notice to the Bank before August 1844,
that Parliament would reconsider the subject, and the Ministry
now proposed that the House of Commons should exercise its
power of notification. This was done, and after one Amend-
ment by Me. Hawes (lost by 185 to 30), the Bill passed both
Lords and Commons.

The following resolutions comprise the substance of this
important measure:—

"1. That it is expedient to continue to the Bank of
England, for a time to be limited, certain of the privileges
now by law given to that Corporation, subject to such con-
ditions as may be provided by any act to be passed for that
purpose.

" 2. That it is expedient to provide by law that the Bank
of England should henceforth be divided into two separate

SUMMABY.

departments, one exclusively confined to the issue and
circulation of notes, the other to the conduct of banking
business.

" 3. That it is expedient to limit the amount of securities
upon which it shall henceforth be lawful for the Bank of
England to issue promissory notes payable to bearer on
demand ; and that such amount shall only be increased under
certain conditions to be prescribed by law.

" 4. That it is expedient to provide by law that a weekly
publication should be made by the Bank of England of the
state both of the circulation and of the banking departments.

" 5. That it is expedient to repeal the law which subjects
the notes of the Bank of England to the payment of the com-
position for stamp duty.

" 6. That in consideration of the privileges to be continued
to the Bank of England, the rate of fixed annual payment to
be made by the Bank to the public shall be £180,000 per
annum; and shall be defrayed by deducting the said sum
from the sum now by law payable to the Bank for the
management of the Public Debt.

" 7. That in the event of any increase of the securities upon
which it shall be lawful for the Bank of England to issue such
promissory notes as aforesaid, a further annual payment shall
be made by the Bank of England to the public, over and above
the said fixed payment of £180,000, equal in amount to
the net profit derived from the promissory notes issued on
such additional securities.

" 8. That it is expedient to prohibit by law the issue of
promissory notes payable to bearer on demand by any bank
not now issuing such notes, or by any bank hereafter to be
established in any part of the United Kingdom.