§ Lord Melville presented a petition from Edinburgh, praying their lordships not to consent to any measure for altering the system of the currency in Scotland.
The Earl of Roseberrycould not allow the petition to be read, without stating, not only that there had been not one dissentient voice at the numerous and respectable meeting when this petition was signed, but also that there had not been one dissentient voice at any meeting which had been held, and he believed there would not be a single dissentient voice at any of the meetings about to be held. There was in Scotland an unanimous, but not clamorous opposition to the proposed measure of extending to Scotland the bill for suppressing small notes. Men of all parties, who had never agreed on any one subject before, were united in this, and had stated, in the strongest way possible, that no project ever thought of was so 865 likely to derange, not merely the currency, but the whole transactions of the country.