The legislature, in the act of parliament for the alteration of the stile, has said, that Midsummer-day shall fall on the 24th of June; because this alteration would have carried it otherwise to the 5th of July; the stocks however have not been affected by that act, the 5th of July, and the 5th of Jan. have been constantly the days of payment, for the Midsummer, and Christmas dividends, for most of the government as well as the East India stocks. Would any administration alter the days of payment of the government stock, without the sanction of parliament? you will not say, Gentlemen, they would. I will venture to affirm for you too, that you will not make this trifling alteration, of dividing for 171, instead of 182 days, or, at least, that you will first take the opinion of a general court upon it, that your enemies may not have room to say, that you did not care to call a court for this purpose, from a consciousness, that the 29th by-law, and the acts of parliament, would stand in your way, if you submitted this difficulty to a serious discussion. They certainly do stand in your way, the legislature intended they should stand in your way, and so long as that by-law, and these acts of parliament, remain in force, it will be impossible for you to divide the 5l. _per cent._ now in course of payment. Before I dismiss this part of the argument, I must submit to your consideration two necessary consequences, that must follow from your determining to make the dividend of 4l. 13s. 10d. halfpenny _per cent._ payable the 24th of June, instead of the 5l. _per cent._ that was declared payable the 5th of July. First, a great confusion must arise in the foreign contracts; a Dutchman at Amsterdam sells stock, on the 25th of June, to another of the same place; the dividend is understood by each party to be the property of the purchaser, as no proprietor, foreign or domestic, is ignorant, that the India Midsummer dividend is payable, and has ever been payable, the 5th of July; and yet, according to this determination, the 4l. 13s. and 10d. halfpenny _per cent._ will be the property of the seller. Secondly, it is well known much of the India stock is held in trust, that A. shall enjoy the dividends for his life, and after his death they shall go to B. I am told such a case has happened, in which, A. died the 27th of June last, it is certain the dividend would belong to B, if it is paid the 5th of July; but it will go to the executor of A, to the prejudice of B, if you pay the 4l. 13s. 10d. halfpenny for the dividend due the 24th of June. These are the reasons which induce me to think, Gentlemen, that the legislature did not mistake the time the dividends become due, that they did not mean the 5th of July, when they inserted the 24th of June, that they intended to restrain the company from making any dividend, before the beginning of the next session of parliament, and that they have effectually restrained you by the clause A.