complained that a law of such grave importance should have been
sent up to them in such a shape that they must either take the
whole or throw out the whole. The privilege of the Commons with
respect to money bills had of late been grossly abused. The Bank
had been created by one money bill; this General Society was to
be created by another money bill. Such a bill the Lords could not
amend; they might indeed reject it; but to reject it was to shake
the foundations of public credit and to leave the kingdom
defenceless. Thus one branch of the legislature was
systematically put under duress by the other, and seemed likely
to be reduced to utter insignificance. It was better that the
government should be once pinched for money than that the House
of Peers should cease to be part of the Constitution. So strong
was this feeling that the Bill was carried only by sixty-five to
forty-eight. It received the royal sanction on the fifth of July.
The King then spoke from the throne. This was the first occasion
on which a King of England had spoken to a Parliament of which
the existence was about to be terminated, not by his own act, but
by the act of the law. He could not, he said, take leave of the
Lords and Gentlemen before him without publicly acknowledging the
great things which they had done for his dignity and for the
welfare of the nation. He recounted the chief services which they
had, during three eventful sessions, rendered to the country.
"These things will," he said, "give a lasting reputation to this
Parliament, and will be a subject of emulation to Parliaments
which shall come after." The Houses were then prorogued.

During the week which followed there was some anxiety as to the
result of the subscription for the stock of the General Society.
If that subscription failed, there would be a deficit; public