And with regard to the reliance which some persons professed to place upon the equity and feelings of the colonial legislatures, he begged to know if a perversion of justice and humanity were supported in that house, what was to be expected from less enlightened and liberal assemblies?

King opposed the bill, and justified his own conduct in a speech later published in pamphlet form; but it passed into law, and was followed in 1812 by a measure making the notes legal tender in all cases.

He supported Catholic emancipation and the commutation of tithes, and opposed grants in aid of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, pluralities and clerical abuses.

He was suspected of a leaning to presbyterianism, with attacks on him made as Hierarchia versus Anarchiam (1831) by Antischismaticus and A Letter to Lord King controverting the sentiments lately delivered in Parliament by his Lordship, Mr. O'Connell, and Mr. Sheil, as to the fourfold division of Tithes (1832) by James Thomas Law.

Enlarged, it was reissued as Thoughts on the Effects of the Bank Restrictions, 1804, and was reprinted in A Selection from King's speeches and writings, edited by Earl Fortescue, London, 1844.

In this tract King argued that the suspension had caused an excessive issue of notes, particularly by the Bank of Ireland, and a consequent depreciation of the paper and appreciation of bullion; and advocated a gradual return to the system of specie payment.