§ On the passing of this Bill, the following Protest was entered on the Lords Journals: viz. "1st, Because this act sanctions the prolongation of the Charter of the Bank of Ireland from the year 1816, at which time that corporation 997 might, on notice, have been dissolved, to the year 1837, and thus confirms the valuable exclusive privileges it now enjoys for thirty years, on terms most inadequate and improvident, as must appear from the following short statement:—The agreement on the part of the bank, to manage the public debt of Ireland, free of all charges and expense, gives the public a sum amounting nearly to 7,525l. per ann. the commission the Bank at present receives on that account.—But the public have given to the Bank 5 per cent, for the sum of 1,250,000l. they might have borrowed at 4l. 14s. 6d. the interest at which money has been actually raised this year by the government of Ireland; 3,437l. being the difference betwixt 62,500l. the interest of 1,250,000l., at 5 per cent, and 59,062l., the interest of the said sum at 4l. 14s. 6d. per cent, must therefore be taken from 7500l. the public have acquired; and it will then appear, that an annuity of 4,088l. is the full amount of the pecuniary consideration given for the extension of this valuable privilege.—Further, the duration of this trifling remuneration is no way guarded by the act; it may expire within a short time, and the public, whilst the bank are in full enjoyment of the privileges conferred on them, may be compelled to make a new agreement for the charges of that part of the public debt which may be managed in Ireland; for this act contains no provision compelling the bank of Ireland to manage any part of the public debt after it shall be consolidated with the debt of Great Britain, an event, which, under the 7th Article of Union betwixt Great Britain and Ireland, may take place within a very few years.—2dly, Because the act ought, for the credit of the bank of Ireland, and the security of the people of that country, to have expressed, in clear and distinct terms, the nature and extent of the privileges it confers.—It is true that it contains a clause limiting the circulation of the bank of Ireland to the sum of 2,750,000l. similar to the clause of the Irish act of the 37th of the king, ch. 50, which limited the circulation of that bank to 1,500,000l.—But, as it appears by documents before parliament, that this bank has, notwithstanding the said clause, illegally extended its circulation to a sum Upwards of 3,000,000l. The act ought distinctly to have expressed what, in conjunction with the Irish acts of the 22d, 31st, end 37th years of his majesty, it 998 clearly enacts, viz.—"That if any sum, exceeding the sum of 2,750,000l. shall be borrowed, or taken up by, or lent, or advanced to, the Corporation of the bank of Ireland, under their common seal or otherwise, or for payment of which any bond, bill, note, covenant, agreement, or other writing shall be made, sealed, or given, then, and in such case, all and every the person or persons who shall be a member or members of the said corporation, his or their respective heir or heirs, executors, or administrators, shall, in his or their respective private capacities, be chargeable with, or liable in proportion to, their several shares and subscriptions, to the repayment of such monies which shall be so borrowed, taken up, or lent, with interest for the same, in such manner as if such security had been a security for payment of so much money and interest for the same, sealed by such respective members of such corporation, and delivered by him or them, as their respective acts or deeds, in proportion to their several shares and subscriptions, as aforesaid."—3dly, Because we think it our duty to express the strong sense we feel of the great impropriety of extending the Charter of the bank of Ireland, by act of parliament, without, in the same act, doing away that doubt, which, since the passing of an act in the year 1793, was known to exist concerning the admissibility of our Roman Catholic fellow-subjects, to the direction of that corporation.—We must think that those who pretend to feel such alarm at the idea of granting any extension of privileges to the Roman Catholics of Ireland, were called upon to remove a doubt, on which their minds, if they are serious in their professions, must dwell with such anxiety. Whilst, on the other hand, our anxious desire to see our Roman Catholic fellow-subjects enjoy, in every respect, the privileges to which their birth-right entitles them, makes us deeply regret that this act does not, in explicit terms, declare their eligibility to the situation of governor or director of the bank of Ireland.
§ LAUDERDALE,
§ DUNDAS,
§ (For the last reason) V. HOLLAND."