the tables now in use. The amount of these Annuities chargeable upon the public revenue, on the 5th of January, 1853, was £1,058,511 2s. 6d.

THE DEAD WEIGHT ANNUITY.

This is an Annuity of £585,740, paid by the public to the Bank of England, and arose out of the pensions due to the Army and Navy, at the termination of the war in 1815, which then amounted to nearly £5,000,000 per annum. It was estimated that the whole of these pensions would terminate in forty-five years, by a gradual decrease annually. By the Act 4 Geo. IV., cap. 22, an annuity was authorized to be contracted for to the amount of £2,800,000. The Bank of England agreed to take a part of this Annuity, to the amount of £585,740 per annum, for which they paid between 1823 and 1828, inclusive, £13,089,419. The Annuity expires in 1867.

The remainder of the Government Annuities consist of tontines and life annuities granted under various Acts of Parliament.

In addition to the several Stocks which are here briefly described, are two others, which, though they do not come under the denomination of the Government Securities, are ranked amongst the principal Stocks in which investments are made; of these, the first is

BANK STOCK.

Which is the capital of the Corporation of the Bank of England, as a Banking Company, the origin of which is given elsewhere, and amounts to the sum of £14,553,000. The dividends payable on this Stock, during the last seven years, have ranged between 7 and 9 per cent. per annum.

Another Stock, which holds a prominent position amongst the Securities in the Money Market, is that of the East India Company, known as-

EAST INDIA STOCK.

The Capital Stock of this Corporation amounts to £6,000,000 sterling. The Company obtained their original Charter in the same manner as the Bank of England, viz., by a loan to the extent of £2,000,000 to the Government, which has been increased at different times to its present amount. The Corporation ceased to be a commercial company under the 3 and 4 Will. IV., c. 85, and only act as a political body in connexion with Government. The dividend is fixed at 10 per cent. on the Capital Stock, or £630,000 per annum, which is paid out of the revenues of India.

EAST INDIA BONDS.

These securities are issued by the East India Company, as security for debt due to the public, in sums of £100, £200, £300, £500, and £1,000 each, and are payable to the Company at par, when 6 months' interest has accrued upon them, which is computed up to the day they are negociated, and is payable on the 31st March and the 30th September.

THE UNFUNded Debt.

Exchequer Bills.

That part of the Public Debt which comes under the above denomination, consisted at one time entirely of Exchequer Bills, and now constitutes the greater portion. This description of public securities was first introduced to supply the wants of a circulating medium, occasioned by the scarcity of metallic money during the great recoinage of 1695. Montague, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, has the credit of the invention of these securities. And they were of great public convenience, being issued for sums as low as £5, and carried an interest of 7 per cent. But like most other securities of that day, through the abuse of public credit, by the interest not being regularly paid, they fell to a heavy discount; and the Bank of England

being empowered to increase its capital, subscriptions were allowed to be made partly in Exchequer Bills, of which the Bank held a considerable amount, and on which they received interest from the Government. These bills are now issued for sums varying from £100 to £1000, and bear interest at so much per day. At the end of twelve months they are renewable at the option of the holder, or he may receive the amount in money, with the interest, which ceases at that period if the bill be not presented.

The amount of Exchequer Bills in circulation has varied considerably at different periods, according to the exigencies of the Government for the time being. It will be seen by the Table given at page 14, that the highest amount in circulation since the war was in 1817, when it was £56,729,400; and the lowest was in 1853, when it was £16,029,600.

The interest on these securities varies according to the state of the money market, and ranges between 1d. per day and 3d. per day for bills of £100. In March, 1853, Mr. Gladstone, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, reduced the rate of interest to Id. per day; and such was the effect of this step upon these securities, that they fell in one week from 57s. premium to 128. premium, which was ascribed to the impolicy of reducing the rate of interest at a time when the value of money was advancing. In times of political excitement, or of commercial panic, Exchequer Bills fall greatly below par. In February, 1847, at 1 d. per day, they were at 48. to 8s. premium. On the 23rd of October in that year they fell to a discount of 378., with interest at 3d. per day. As the value of these securities in the market is subject to considerable fluctuations, the Government not unfrequently cause operations to be made in them to keep up their price in the market.

Exchequer Bonds.

This is a new description of public securities, which

was introduced by Mr. Gladstone, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, in his scheme for commuting some of the Public Stocks in 1853, pursuant to Resolutions and Orders of the House of Commons in that year. The object of Mr. Gladstone was to pay off the capital Stocks standing in the name of the South Sea Company, and also to convert a portion of the permanent debt into a terminable one, by giving the public the option of receiving, in lieu of such capital Stocks as were named in the Resolutions, three descriptions of new securities, reserving to the South Sea Company the right of being paid off in money at par. These new securities were as follow :—

1. For every £100 of capital Stock of 3 per Cents., a new Stock of £82 10s., or Three and a Half per Cent. Annuities, to be paid at that rate until the 5th of January, 1894, and then subject to redemption by Parliament.

2. Or, for every £100 of capital Stock of 3 per Cents., the sum of £110 in a new Stock of Two and a Half per Cent. Annuities, to be paid at that rate until the 5th January, 1894, and after that date to be subject to redemption by Parliament.

3. Or, for every £100 of capital Stock of 3 per Cents., an Exchequer Bond for the same amount, carrying an interest at the rate of £2 158. per cent. per annum, payable half-yearly on the 1st day of March, and the 1st day of September, in a year to be named in the Bond, and not later than the 1st day of September, 1864, inclusive, and thenceforward £2 10s. per cent. per annum, payable in like manner the 1st day of September, 1894, inclusive; and thereafter to be subject to redemption at par, at the option of the holder, or at the option of the Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury, as shall be named in the Bond.

The view entertained by the Chancellor of the Exchequer in creating these new Stocks and Securities was not confined entirely to the capital Stock of the

South Sea Company, but to other portions of the permanent debt. A great deal of opposition was raised to the scheme in both Houses of Parliament; Mr. Gladstone, however, succeeded in carrying the measure. But circumstances and the feeling of the public were against him; for the South Sea Company voted unanimously against the plan, and claimed the whole amount of their Stock to be paid off at par, to the extent of £3,662,784 88. 6d. It will be seen by the official return given at page 33, that the Exchequer Bonds introduced by Mr. Gladstone have received very little favour from the holders of the public Stocks; the total amount accepted being only £418,300.

The Resolutions on which the Acts for commuting or paying off the several Stocks already referred to were as follows::

RESOLUTIONS AND ORDERS OF THE HOUSE OF

COMMONS.

1. THAT the capital trading stock of the Corporation of the Governor and Company of Merchants of Great Britain (trading to the South Seas and other parts of America, and for encouraging the Fishery), which is called and known by the name of South Sea Stock; the capital stocks of the 37. per Centum Annuities, called and known by the name of the Old South Sea Annuities, and by the name of the New South Sea Annuities; the capital stock of the 31. per Centum Annuities (created by an Act passed in the twelfth year of King George the First, intituled, "An Act for granting to his Majesty the Sum of 1,000,000l., to be raised by way of Lottery)," called and known by the name of the Bank Annuities 1726; and the capital stock of the 31. per Centum Annuities (created by an Act passed in the twenty-fourth year of King George the Second, intituled, "An Act for granting to his Majesty the Sum of 2,100,000l., to be raised by Annuities and a Lottery, and charged on the Sinking Fund, redeemable by Parliament)," called and known by the name of the 31. per Centum Annuities 1751, shall be paid off and redeemed.

2. That every person, body politic and corporate, who now is, or hereafter may be, interested in the capital stocks of any of the said 37. per Centum Annuities, who shall, in manner hereinafter directed, give notice at any time on or before Friday, the 3rd day of June, 1853, of his assent to receive other Government