THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF ILLINOIS 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 ^875 
 v3j
 
 (From the Jondon EncyclopiediaJ | \^ 
 
 
 ISTORY 
 
 RISE, PROGRESS, AND PRESENT STATE OF 
 
 IN AH PARTS OF THE WORLD; 
 
 IN WHICH IS DEVELOPED 
 
 AN ENTIRELY NEW PRINCIPLE OF CIRCULATING MEDIUM, 
 
 ' FOR THE 
 
 AND TO WHICH ARE APPENDED 
 
 ALL THE ACCOUNTS ANNEXED TO THE EVIDENCE AND REPORT OF 
 THE COMMITTEE OF PARLIAMENT. 
 
 BANK OF ENGLAND CHARTER, 
 
 IN THE SESSION OF 1832. 
 
 1. BANK, Bankers, Banking. The term 
 bank has two distinct significations; one in re- 
 ference to commerce, implying a place of deposit 
 or store-house ; the other relating to geography 
 and rural economy, implying an elevation of the 
 earth, either natural or artifiicial ; and either be- 
 low or above the surface of the water, in rivers 
 as well as in the ocean. It is further a technical 
 term in law; the judges of the supreme court of 
 law, when silting in judgment collectively, are 
 said to sit in bank, banque, or banco. See Ju- 
 niSPRUDENCE. It is aiso a military term, de- 
 noting an elevation of earth within the parapet 
 of a fortification, generally between two and 
 three feet high, or more, according to the height 
 of the parapet; being about four feet and a half 
 
 lower than the top of the parapet, three feet 
 broad, ascended at intervals by steps, by which 
 the garrison get up to fire on, or observe the 
 proceedings of, the besiegers. 
 
 2. We will novM proceed in i hc_gt deavour to 
 illustrate the term bank, in iconSTiiciion with 
 bankers and banking, as referable (o commerce, 
 by showing, 1st, the prol)able odgin or deri- 
 vation of the term; '2n(i, llie orijm or rise, and 
 nature of banking inslitiitionsi Crd, their pro- 
 gress, practice, and present stafej throughout the 
 commercial world ; and 4ih, thtir influence and 
 effect on the social and moral rialions, and con- 
 dition of mankind. ' 
 
 3. Bank, in its present application as a com- 
 mercial term, appears to hare had its origin in
 
 15 A IN K 
 
 Italy, whero, in the infancy of European com- 
 merce, the Jews were wont to assemble in the 
 market-places of the principal cities and towns, 
 seated on benches, ready to lend money ; first on 
 the reputation and written bond or acknowledg- 
 ment, singly or jointly, of borrowf ; but (as 
 will be more fully shown hereafter), , there is in 
 the lending and borrowing of money an immuta- 
 ble tendency to (iemoralise and derange society, 
 confidence and iieputation soon became mere bye- 
 words; and, instead of bonds and written obliga- 
 tions, money wis only lent upon the security of 
 commodity or i produce, by wliich localised 
 places of deposit or storing became necessary ; 
 and hence, banking, in its origin, bore an ana- 
 logy to our present system of pawnbroking; 
 while the term bank is supposed to have been 
 derived from the benches and tables in the mar- 
 ket-places, at vfhich the money-lenders used to 
 transact their biisiness; the Italian word banco, 
 signifying a bench, derived probably from the 
 Greek word TiaireZa, signifying both a bench 
 and a table, sis does also the Spanish word 
 banco; in referfence to which the money-lenders 
 obtained the nime of benchers or bankers ; the 
 Jews of Lombatdy being among the first people 
 in Western Europe who carried into practice the 
 principle of lending money on the security of 
 commodity ; their repositories partially obtained 
 the name of Lombard-houses. 
 
 4. The Lombards were a Scandinavian tribe, 
 who first figure in history about the year 378 ; but 
 it was not till 56}8 that they established themselves 
 in Italy; at waich period they made Pavia the 
 
 capital of thei 
 
 therefore, subsequent to this period that bank- 
 
 ing institutions 
 nent character, 
 ever, appear to 
 
 kingdom. It must have been, 
 
 assumed any thing like a perma- 
 Lending and borrowing, how- 
 have prevailed in all ages, or long 
 before the interj?ention of money, to facilitate the 
 interchange of cjommodities ; and in all ages, as in 
 the present day, appears to have been productive 
 of extortion and social derangement : see the 
 Mosaic code, Exodus, ch. xxii. v. 14 and 22, 
 and Deuteronomy, ch. xxiv, v. 6 and 10, and by 
 the narrative of St. Matthew, ch. xxi, v. 12, it 
 will be seen that tables in the market or public 
 places were in use in his day, for the accommoda- 
 tion of money-lenders. 
 
 5. The restless disposition of the Lombards 
 tended to excite a spirit of activity and enterprise 
 throughout all the Italian states ; by which the 
 people of those countries became the merchants 
 • distributors of the products of Asia orver all 
 tne western and northern parts of Europe. It 
 was towards the close of the seventh century, after 
 the Mahommedans had obtained possession of 
 Egypt, that the chief depot of the products of 
 the east was' transferred from Alexandria to Con- 
 stantinople, and afterwards to Venice, that com- 
 merce began to resolve itself into a more regu- 
 lar system thaiihad ever before been practised, and 
 a methodical and demonstrative order of keeping 
 accounts was devised and adopted. See Book- 
 keeping. This, in the progress of time, elicited 
 new ideas on the economy of payment; and 
 about the middle of the twelfth century the 
 bank of Venice, so long celebrated throughout 
 the commercial world, and which may be regard- 
 
 ed CIS le foundation of the present system of 
 banking was established ; and had the operations 
 of the bnk of Venice been confined to the legi- 
 timate oject of facilitating commercial inter- 
 change, s socialising capabilities would have 
 rendered t worthy of the celebrity it so long 
 enjoyed; )ut, whilst the principles of its eco- 
 nomy are entitled to the highest admiration, 
 it seems t have been established in tyranny, 
 with a vie/ to political aggrandisement, and 
 throughout he whole course of its career to have 
 been perver-^d to the worst of purposes. 
 
 6. It was the desolating system of the cru- 
 sades, and net the socialising principle of facili- 
 tating commecial interchange, which gave rise to 
 the bank of Vnice. The first crusade embarked 
 from the shore of the Adriatic, under the auspi- 
 ces of Pope trban the Second, in 1095; and 
 from the ascenlancy and influence which the 
 Venetians, by tleir extensive commercial inter- 
 course, had thei acquired over every part of 
 Western Asia aid Europe, they became the 
 principal agents of the crusaders, as well for the 
 wealthy individuals who embarked in those chi- 
 valrous exploits a; for the several governments 
 to which they respectively belonged. The fruits 
 of extortion, so likely to result from such a sys- 
 tem, excited the cupidity and avarice of the 
 Venetian senate, which led, in 1176, some say in 
 1157, to the establishment of the bank, under 
 the authority and pretended guarantee of the 
 state, the crusading agency previously having 
 rested exclusively with individuals. 
 
 7. The origihal subscription fund of the bank of 
 Venice was 2,060,000 Venetian ducats, equal to 
 £433,333 ; but, hy a solemn edict of the senate, 
 the whole trading community of the republic 
 were compelled to deposit their money in the 
 bank, with which a credit was opened equal to the 
 deposit made, which could only be made avail- 
 able for transfer, so thit not only the subscribed 
 capital but also the aggregate amount of the depo- 
 sits resolved themselves into a national debt. The 
 whole amount of the intrinsic money, subscribed 
 and deposited, having been applied by the se- 
 nate towards aiding the views of the crusaders, 
 and other external purposes, an ideal capital, 
 or mere denomination of amount was thus 
 created to adjust the operations of commercial 
 interchange. 
 
 8. Whether the transfers at the bank in the 
 early period of its establishment required per- 
 sonal attendance, as is the case in transferring 
 the national debt-stock at the bank of England 
 in the present day ; or whether effected, on 
 written orders corresponding to the checks in the 
 present English practice of banking ; does not 
 appear : but, be that as it might, derangements 
 in the social economy of the state soon ensued ; ' 
 the agio or difference between the current money, 
 and transferable amounts at the bank, attained 
 the rate of thirty per cent. Yet such was the j 
 insidious and illusive nature of the bank system, | 
 that the bank increased in popularity in propor- 
 tion to the extent of the derangement which 
 ensued ; the inconvenience frequently occasioned i 
 in the minor transactions of commerce, as well 
 as on occasions of citizens or strangers requiring 
 money to defray the expenses of foreign iournevs.
 
 B A N K. 
 
 4f>S 
 
 ♦ed in the course of time to the bank paying out 
 money. Yet such was the influx of money, 
 which the crusading armaments brought from all 
 parts of western Europe, that after the system 
 of making payments in money was practised, 
 the deposits always exceeded the demands. 
 
 9. At a later period, when the \'enetians them- 
 selves turned crusaders against the Turks, the 
 subscription-fund of the bank was increased to 
 5,000,000 of ducats; the whole of which was 
 made use of by the senate, to aid them in their 
 operations of warfare ; and, as previously stated, 
 throughout the whole period of its career, it was 
 made an instrument of aggression in aid of poli- 
 lical aggrandisement : yet such was the fortuity 
 of circumstances, and, for several centuries having 
 no rivalry, its integrity does not appear ever to 
 have been questioned ; the derangements occa- 
 sioned by the fluctuation of the agio led ulti- 
 mately to an edict of the senate, fixing it at 
 twenty per cent., at which rate it continued up 
 to the period of the extinction of the republic in 
 1797, see Venice. 
 
 10. In the fourteenth century the Genoese 
 began to rival the Venetians in their commerce, 
 and in 1345 a bank was established at Genoa; 
 but the more favorable local position of \'enice 
 retained for it an undiminished political impor- 
 tance, and although the Genoese were very 
 successful in their commercial career, their bank, 
 relatively to that of X'enice, was an insignificant 
 establishment ; it nevertheless was enabled, in the 
 fifteenth century, to advance considerable sums 
 to Spain, and other governments; but in 1751 it 
 was deemed insolvent to a very considerable 
 amount, and in 1798 the establishment was finally 
 dissolved and broken up by Buonaparte. 
 
 11. No further progress appears to have been 
 made in the formation of banking institutions, 
 until after the discovery by the Portuguese, in 
 1497, of the passage to Asia by the Cape of Good 
 Hope ; and even then, more than a century 
 elapsed before another bank was established. 
 It was at the commencement of the seventeenth 
 century, when Amsterdam had become the chief 
 mart of European commerce, that a bank was 
 established in that city in 1609; and, as the cir- 
 cumstances which led to, and the conduct which 
 dictated, the formation of this bank, appear to 
 have been purely commercial and social, void of 
 all speculative and political influence, and its 
 economy essentially different from either those 
 of Venice or London, it merits the most ample 
 elucidation of the details of its systetn on our 
 part, and the utmost attention on the part of the 
 enquiring reader. 
 
 12. Banking, in its economy, resolves itself 
 into three distinct orders of practice, viz. 1. of 
 deposit, transfer, and agency; 2. of discount, 
 simply; and, 3. of discount and circulation : a 
 banking establishment may, therefore, be formed 
 for carrying on either any one of these onJers of 
 practice separately, or two, or all collectively; 
 and either, and all of them are liable to be made 
 instruments of oppression by partial application, 
 or by perversion to impolitic and bad purposes : 
 a more ample elucidation of the details of eacli 
 order of practice will appear hereafter (see 
 section 14.), the analysis being exhibited in ihL"; 
 
 Vol. hi. 
 
 place, that the distinctive character of the bank 
 of Amsterdam may be the better understood. 
 
 13. The circumstances which gave rise to the 
 establishing of the bank of Amsterdam, were the 
 great variety of clipped and debased coins which 
 its e- 'ensive commerce, at the close of the six- 
 teent. and commencement of the seventeenth 
 centurj_ brought into th;u city. The constant 
 variations of value of these coins occasioned con- 
 tinual disputes and inconveniences in the adjust- 
 ment of payments, more especially so in the 
 payment of foreign bills of exchange; to obviate 
 these disputes and inconveniences, it was, that 
 the bank was established in 1607, on the legiti- 
 mate and social principle of deposit, transfer, and 
 agency ; the security of the deposits being gua- 
 ranteed by the corporation of the city, by whom 
 its managers were appointed, and who thereby- 
 constituted themselves the ii^ents of the establish- 
 ment; the expenses of \\hich, and its manage- 
 ment, being defrayed by fees on opening of 
 accounts, transfers, Sec. This system or practice 
 of banking, it will be seen, requires no sub- 
 scribed or fixed capital. 
 
 14. The bank of Amsterdam received coin^ of 
 all descriptions at a fixed value, according to 
 their weight and fineness, deducting an amount 
 equal to tiie expense of coinage into the standard 
 coin of Holland ; not that tlie various coins so 
 paid in should be converted into standard coins, 
 but that a credit should be placed on the bank 
 books to such an amount, after the seignorage 
 and fees had been deducted ; the amount so 
 credited then constituted bank-money. It was 
 in the next place enacted, that all payments of 
 600 guilders, =i to £52. 10;., in amount, and 
 upwards, whether on internal or foreign account, 
 should be made in bank money ; and as these 
 regulations immediately occasioned an agio or 
 difference of value between bank-money and 
 current money, it as immediately became com- 
 pulsory on the part of everv- man of business 
 either to open an account at the bank, or to sub- , 
 ject himself to the caprice of a fluctuating agio, 
 to enable him to make his payment through the 
 medium of those who had un account. 
 
 15. The distinction between the practice of 
 the bank of Amsterdam and the bank of \'enice, 
 is this, viz. That the bank of \'enice appropriated 
 its subscribed capital, as well as part of its de- 
 posits, to external purposes, and created an ideal 
 sum by means of transfers to a corresponding 
 amount, whereby to adjust the internal payments 
 of the public ; whilst the bank of Amsterdam 
 retains its deposits within the walls of its own 
 establishment; and when we come to treat of the 
 practice of the bank of England, that will be 
 found to present additional features of practice 
 deserving the utmost possibl^-S^tention, as well 
 in reference to a comparison wih the practice of 
 the banks of X'enice and of Amaerdam, as for the 
 influence and eflTects of its owi operations upon 
 the general interests of the coanlvy at large. 
 
 16. In addition to the tranjftctions of the hank 
 of Amsterdam, as detailed ia sect. 14, ibc bank 
 also gives credit on its books u])on deposits of 
 gold and silver bullion, at the rate of live j^er 
 cent, below the mint price of the bullion. In 
 making these deposits, whieh are made more tjr 
 
 2 H
 
 466 
 
 BANK. 
 
 safe keeping, and thie view of reserving them for 
 articles of merchandise, than for conversion 
 into coin, the bank grants a recipice, receipt, or 
 •warrant, entitling tlie holder to take out the bul- 
 lion again at any time within six months, upon 
 transferring to the bank an amount of bank mo- 
 ney equal to that for which credit had been 
 given in its books when the deposit was made, 
 and upon paying one-fourth per cent, for the 
 keeping, if the deposit was in silver, and one- 
 half per cent, if it was in gold ; the recipice ex- 
 pressing, that in default of such payment, upon 
 the expiration of the term of six months, the be- 
 nefit of the recipice becomes forfeited to the 
 bank, while the amount credited against the de- 
 posit resolves into bank-money ; leaving a profit 
 to the bank proportionate to the difference be- 
 tween five per cent, below the mint price, and the 
 value of the bullion in the market. 
 
 17. This species of deposits are, in the first 
 instance, more generally made when the mercan- 
 tile price of bullion is so far below the mint 
 price as to become an article of speculation, and 
 the profits to the bank upon this branch of its 
 business are considerable, by the forfeiture of 
 some of the recipices ; but more particularly so 
 from the frequent renewals. The creditors of the 
 bank, in bank-money, and the holders of reci- 
 pices, are regarded by the bank as two distinct 
 classes of creditors : hence the creditor in bank- 
 money, having no recipice, cannot draw out bul- 
 lion without first going to market to buy a recipice, 
 nor can the holder of a recipice draw out his 
 bullion, in the event of his having sold the bank- 
 money assigned to him on making the deposit, 
 •without first going into the market to repurchase 
 bank money, and repissigning the same to the bank. 
 
 18. In a city of extensive and complicated 
 commercial intercliange, like Amsterdam, these 
 regulations of the bank necessarily occasion con- 
 tinued demands for both bank-money and bullion, 
 and gave rise to a system of jobbing and trick, 
 precisely similar to the jobbing and tricking in 
 time bargains upon the stock exchange in 
 London ; and at one period the agio was wont 
 to fluctuate from eight to ten per cent. To keep it 
 •within certain bounds, however, the bank of 
 Amsterdam resolved at all times to grant 100 of 
 bank for 105 of current money ; or rather to sell 
 bank-money at an agio of 5 per cent. In conse- 
 quence of this resolution, the agio was prevented 
 ever exceeding that rate; and the fluctuation now 
 seldom exceeds 2^ per cent, between 1^ and 4. 
 
 19. In addition to the seignorage deducted on 
 first opening an account with the bank in money, 
 see sect. 14, a fee of ten guilders, z=. to 17s. 6d., 
 is also charged; and for every renewed account, 
 3 guilders 3 stivers; for every transfer, 5 sti- 
 vers, zz 2d. -fe of 9 Tipnny, and in order to dis- 
 courage a multiplicity of small transactions, if 
 the transfer is for less than 300 guilders, the 
 charge is six stivers; for neglecting to balance ac- 
 counts regularly twice a-year, a fine of twenty- 
 five guilders is exacted; and in case of attempting 
 to overdraw an account, a fine of 3 per cent, on 
 the sum so attempted to be overdrawn is also 
 levied, in addition to setting aside the order. 
 These several fees, fines, and deductions for 
 seignorage, together with the profits which occa- 
 siooally arise by the sale of bank-money, to 
 
 maintain an equilibrium in the agio, and the for- 
 feiture of bullion recipices, produce a considera- 
 ble revenue to the city, over and above what 
 suffices to defray the expenses of the establish- 
 ment. Public utility, however, and not revenue, 
 was the original, and up to this time, has continued 
 the ruling object of the establishment, and the re- 
 venue derived from it is the natural result of its 
 invariable rule of practice, nhich, whether the 
 best tliat can be devised or r ot, its certainty and 
 impartiality has obtained for it the sanction and 
 confidence of all who have been concerned in it. 
 
 20. How far the system or practice of the 
 bank of Amsterdam approximates to perfection 
 or utility will more fully appear as we proceed 
 to illustrate the various practices of banking in 
 England, and in other parts of the world. The 
 direction of the bank of Amsterdam is vested in 
 four reigning burgo-masters (aldermen), who are 
 changed every year. Each new set of burgo- 
 masters, on induction to their charge, are con- 
 ducted to the bank, inspect the deposits, com- 
 par.e them with the books, and acknowledge the 
 same upon oath, delivering it over at the end 
 of the year with the same formal solemnity to the 
 set which succeeds ; and highly to the credit of 
 the corporate body of the city of Amsterdam, 
 both in its collective, and in its individual capa- 
 city, in reference to the direction of the bank, 
 not only has no malversation been proved, but 
 no imputation ever brought against them ; nor 
 have the political convulsions, by which Holland 
 has at times been surrounded, and in which it 
 has been involved, ever induced the bank to 
 swerve from the strict rule of its established regu- 
 lations ; and such has ever been the confidence 
 in the integrity of its director, that it has at 
 times been the depositary of the money treasure 
 of the opulent individuals of surrounding states. 
 
 21. Of the extent of the deposits of the bank 
 of Amsterdam at different periods, the informa- 
 tion is very imperfect ; it may, at times, probably, 
 have amounted to a sum equal to five, six, or 
 seven millions sterling, and probably more, but 
 on an average they probably have not, at past 
 periods, noT do not at the present time, exceed 
 three to four millions, or from forty to fifty 
 millions of guilders. 
 
 22. As commerce extended itself over the 
 north of Europe, banking institutions were es- 
 tablished in different parts of Germany, but there 
 were none that obtained any great celebrity, 
 except those of Hamburgh and Nuremburg. 
 That of Hamburgh was established in 1619, on 
 principles, and for objects, not very dissimilar 
 to those of Amsterdam, viz. those of deposit, 
 transfer-agency and public utility. Instead of 
 coin the deposits are made in silver bullion of a 
 given fineness, against which credits are opened, 
 either for transfer, or for withdrawing the bullion 
 at pleasure, subject only to a trifling charge for 
 deposit, or safe-keeping. The general practice 
 of the bank of Hamburg is less formal, and more 
 simple, than that of Amsterdam ; and has been 
 productive of great advantage to the city, and 
 has maintained an unsullied integrity. The ex- 
 penses of its management have been, and still 
 continue to be, defrayed by fees, or transfers, &c. 
 similar to those of Amsterdam. It was plundered 
 of a considerable portion of its deposits by th c
 
 BANK. 
 
 467 
 
 I 
 
 French general, Davoust, in 1813, a part of 
 which were restored by the Bourbon government 
 at the peace of 1815. 
 
 23. In 1635 the bank of Rotterdam was 
 established, under refrulations somewhat different 
 in detail from those of either Amsterdam or Ham- 
 burg, but upon the principle of deposits, transfer, 
 and agency. 
 
 24. About the sixth or seventh decenary of the 
 seventeenth century, an individual of the name of 
 Palmshut, in Stockholm, established a bank for 
 the purposes of exchange, discount, and circula- 
 tion ; that is, he bought and sold bills of exchange, 
 lent money at interest, and issued notes, which 
 became a circulating medium, or token of inter- 
 ciian'^e, for tlie amount they represented ; na- 
 turally enough, although Palmshut originally 
 possessed, relatively, great resources, derange- 
 ment and embarrassment soon overtook him, but 
 inflated with his notions of ideal wealth, he ap- 
 plied to the king, Charles XL, whom he induced 
 to become his piitron in the formation of a royal 
 bank, which, under Palmshut's directions, soon 
 obtained a general confidence; and, in 1638, 
 the direction was transferred to the assembly of 
 the states of the kingdom, the king declaring 
 himself, and his successors, protectors of the 
 bank, but renouncing all interference in the dis- 
 posal of the money. The states being thus 
 declared guarantees, proprietors, and directors, 
 under the regulations which they established, the 
 bank became a bank of deposit, discount, and 
 circulation. Depositors were allowed interest at 
 the rate of 6 per cent. ; and the deposits, together 
 with notes of circulation, appropriated to dis- 
 counts, on collateral securities, at the rate of 8 
 per cent. The king's revenues were also depo- 
 sited at the bank free of interest. The institution 
 immediacely became popular, and all who had 
 surplus money, in every part of the kingdom, 
 poured it into the bank, so that, by the close of 
 the century, the interest on deposits had been 
 progressively reduced from 6 to 2 per cent., and 
 on discounts from 8 to 3 per cent. 
 
 25. Like all institutions founded on specula- 
 tive principles, the bank of Stockholm was soon 
 destined to experience a reverse of fortune, and 
 to become an instrument of politi-cal perversion. 
 The chivalrous exploits of Charles XIL led to 
 such a drain of the intrinsic resources of the 
 bank, during the four years, 1714 — 1717, the 
 period of the king's residence in Turkey, after 
 the battle of Pultowa, and when the corrupt 
 and profligate Goertz was minister of iinance, 
 that the revenues usually deposited with the 
 bank, were unequal to discharge even the in- 
 terest, much less contribute towards any repay- 
 ments. This dilapidation of the resources, and 
 "credit of tiie bank, led to the mortgaging of other 
 
 revenues of the crown, and a declaration on tlie 
 part of the king, that no further drain should be 
 made upon the bank until its resources and credit 
 weje fully restored : these measures produced a 
 partial reaction in favor of the credit of the 
 bank ; but it proved only temporary', until an 
 expedient of the minister f ioertz unexpectedly 
 diverted all the disposable wealth of the kingdom 
 into the bank. 
 
 26 \Vhilst the declaration and resolve of the 
 
 king to restore the resources and credit of the 
 bank were adhered to, it deprived Goertz of the 
 adequate funds to carry on his political in- 
 trigues, and to supply t!i< king with sufficient 
 means to maintain his reg;il importance ; under 
 these circumstances, he resorted first to fines and 
 penalties, and ultimately to a species of confis- 
 cation, by demanding all the plate, jewels, and 
 coin in the kingdom to be placed at his disposal, 
 for which he gave copptr tokens, representing 
 ninety-six times the intrinsic value of the metal, 
 (paper money in effect.) This measure led all 
 those who possessed such disposable means to 
 confide in the royal pledge, rather than yield to 
 the exaction of Goertz. And they consequently 
 in secret conveyed all their treasure to the bank. 
 Goertz, chagrined at being thus disappointed, ap- 
 plied to the king and adviscJ him to seize all the 
 treasure deposited in the hank; but the king 
 refused to comply, and prohibited (ioertz from 
 even making any proposal on the subject, con- 
 trary to the pledge wliich he had solemnly 
 made. 
 
 27. This decision of the king reinstated con- 
 fidence in, and fully re-established, the resources 
 and credit of the bank, so that on the declaration 
 of war against Russia, in 1 7! 1 , the bank presented 
 the king with a donation of 100,000 Swedish 
 silver dollars, equal to al)out 7600, and sup- 
 plied another 500,000 dollars, as a loan without 
 interest, and subsequently to that period it fre- 
 quently advanced considerable sums to the 
 crown, and to the board of manufactures under 
 the guarantee of the states. 
 
 28. The resources and credit of the bank 
 being thus re-established, it was divided into 
 two departments, lane and wexel, or loan, and 
 exchange banks ; the former corresponding in 
 its practice with the practice originally estab- 
 lished in Lombardy, (sec sect. 3.) and precisely 
 similar in principle to the practice of pawn- 
 broking in England at the jnesent day. Whilst 
 the practice of the wexel or exchange bank, is 
 that of deposit, discount, ;;iiil circulation. The 
 loan bank lends money on .old and silver bul- 
 lion, copper, and its own stock, to their full 
 value, at the rate of three jir cent, and on three- 
 fourths of the value of iron, at the same rate of 
 interest ; and on lands and !:ouses at the rate of 
 six per cent, four for interest, and two as a 
 sinking fund, until the whole sum advanced is 
 repaid. Jewels were at one time advanced 
 upon, but the bank having ome been defrauded t' 
 a considerable extent by t::ein, resolved nevei 
 again to make advances on liiose articles. 
 
 29. The wexel or exchange bank receives 
 money on deposit, for which it illows two per 
 cent, and issues notes, with •ii'njg^ together with 
 its deposits, it discounts bills cl exchange ; this 
 
 S)ractice, which is the one ori^ially pursued by 
 'almshut, (see sect. 24.) invohjs risk, and leads 
 to certain loss; the issuing (/notes, having no 
 intrinsic value, sustains the l^ss as long as the 
 notes retain coniiilence ; but kIuu that fails, de 
 rangement necessarily cnsue^ all this befell the 
 wexel or exchange bank of Stockholm, within 
 the short space of twenty-five vcars ; and in 1 766 
 the bank was on the verge of bankruptcy and 
 final dissolution, when, by the interference of the 
 
 2 II 2
 
 468 
 
 BANK. 
 
 states, a loan of three millions of rix dollars, 
 equal to about £"700,000, was raised to liquidate 
 the excess of notes in circulation ; since the 
 period of 1766 successive regulations have been 
 resorted to, to preserve the credit of die bank, 
 and a committee, composed of a certain number 
 of persons from each of the three states of tlie 
 kingdom, viz. the nobles, clergy and burgheis, 
 has been appointed, to inspect triennially the 
 general state of the bank and its accounts. 
 
 30. Under the guardianship of the States, the 
 wexel bank of Stockholm retains its place among 
 the other institutions of the kingdom, but it has 
 no importance externally, nor does the extent of 
 its operations equal the operations of several pri- 
 vate banking establishments in some of the pro- 
 vincial towns in England ; it is the various kinds 
 of practice of banking, however, and not the 
 extent of the operations, which most demand 
 attention ; and on that ground it is, that the bank 
 of Stockholm has here been enlarged upon, much 
 beyond what the extent of its operations would 
 otherwise have rendered necessary. 
 
 3i. Bank of E^GLAND. — We now come, in 
 order of time, to treat of the bank of England ; 
 an establishment, whether considered with respect 
 to the magnitude of its operations, or its influence 
 upon the social relations of mankind, without 
 a parallel in history ; and from the period of its 
 foundation, but more especially since the period 
 of 1793, it has become so interwoven with the 
 government, and the collective interests of the 
 nation, as to render it difficult to treat of one, 
 without entering largely into the details of the 
 other. We will endeavour, however, to confine 
 our elucidation of the bank, as far as it is con- 
 nected with the government and the nation, as 
 much as possible within the limits of those cir- 
 cumstances of the nation, in which the character 
 and interests of the bank have been more imme- 
 diately involved. 
 
 32. Although by its peculiar constitution, and 
 terms of its charter, as well as in all the details 
 of its practice, the bank of England appears to be 
 an independent trading company, and although 
 its operations combine all the various kinds of 
 practice in banking (except the original one, of 
 lending money on pledges,) viz. exchange, de- 
 posit, transfer, discount, agency, and circulation, 
 and each and all of these, on a more extended 
 scale than ever was, or perhaps ever will be, 
 practised in any ottier establishment, it is, and 
 ever has been, from its foundation, materially 
 connecled with all the financial operations of 
 the government, and partakes therefore far inore 
 of a political than of a commercial character. This 
 indeed has been considered by some writers 
 ."nd financiers an alarming excrescence on both 
 our commercial and political systems. But we 
 proceed to illustrate the progress of its career. 
 
 33. It appea.is to the writer of this paper 
 that instead of desirableness and necessity 
 dictating its origin, and instead of being founded 
 like the bank of Amsterdam (see sect. 11) on 
 the broad and social basis of public convenience 
 and public utility, the origin of the bank of 
 England was a mere project, which fortuitous 
 circumstances alone have hitherto protected 
 in an unexpected manner The original 
 
 projector of this memorable institution was a 
 Mr.W. Paterson, who, after numerous applicatiom 
 on the subject to the privy council, at length 
 succeeded in the the year 1693, in obtaining 
 its consent to the project, and an act, 5th and 
 6th William and Mary, c. 20, tor granting to 
 their JVlajfsties severa. rates and duties upon 
 tonnage of ships and vessels, and upon beer, ale, 
 and other liquors, for securing certain recom- 
 pences and advantages in the said act, mentioned 
 to such persons as shall voluntarily advance the 
 sum of £1,500,000 towards carrying on the war 
 against France ! Section lOtli of tlie said act, 
 enacts that ' Their Majesties may make commis- 
 sioners take subscriptions for £1,200,000. The 
 sum of £100,000 to be annually appropriated to 
 tlie subscribers ;' and by section 20tii it was fur- 
 ther enacted that, 'Their Majesties may appoint 
 rules for transferring, and make the subscribers a 
 corporation by the name of ' The governor and 
 company of the bank of England." 
 
 34. Under the authority of the aforesaid act, 
 subscriptions were immediately entered into, and 
 before the 1st of Jan. 1694, the whole sum was 
 subscribed, and on the 27th of July, in that 
 year, the charter of incorporation was executed, 
 its duration being limited to eleven years, viz. 
 from the 1st of August, 1694, to the 1st of August, 
 1705, after which date the corporation was deter- 
 minable upon twelve months notice, and repay- 
 ment of the £1,200,000 advanced. At this time 
 (1694), the rate of interest was 6 per cent, per 
 annum ; but by the terms of the contract for the 
 above £l ,200,000, the corporation were to receive 
 8 per cent, per annum, and £4000 per annum for 
 management, or trouble of transferring and ap- 
 portioning the interest among the numerous 
 subscribers. 
 
 35. Such were the circumstances, and such 
 the origin of the bank of England, neither of 
 which it will be seen bear any analogy to the 
 circumstances and origin of the banks of Venice, 
 Amsterdam', Hamburgh, or Stockholm ; but before 
 we proceed further in exhibiting the progress of 
 the bank of England, it may be well to show 
 what the state and practice of banking in Eng- 
 land was, prior to the formation of that establish- 
 ment ; and when the circulating medium of the 
 country was exclusively metallic. At an early 
 period of England carrying on an external com- 
 merce, when she received from Holland and 
 Germany almost every species of manufacture in 
 exchange for grain and wool, and other produc- 
 tions of the soil and mines, England then had 
 her loan banks, or Lombard houses, for lending 
 money on pledges (see sect. 3), hence the etymo- 
 logy of Lombard-street, in the vicinity of the 
 lloyal Exchange, in London. At a more recent 
 period the goldsmiths became the bankers, first, 
 merely as places of deposit or safe keeping, and 
 afterwards for discount ; and for more than a 
 century prior to the establishment of the bank oi 
 England, and circulation of paper money, the 
 goldsmiths held the same rank and importance 
 in commerce, and exercised similar functions, as 
 the private bankers do at the present day. But 
 the establishment of the bank of England did not 
 merely divert the transactions of private deposit 
 and discount into new channels, but it will be
 
 B A N K. 
 
 469 
 
 seen, as we proceed, that it had the effect of 
 changing the whole social economy of the 
 state 
 
 36. The Bank of England being established, 
 the charter directed that its management shoald 
 be vested in a governor, deputy governor, and 
 twenty-four directors, to be elected by the liolders 
 of the' stock, a clear possession of £500 of which 
 for six months constitutes a qualification to vote, 
 the qualification of a director being the possession 
 of £2000 of the stock, of a deputy governor, 
 £3000 of do. and of a governor £4000 of do. 
 So fir as we have here described the transactions 
 of the Bank of England, it seems confined to the 
 mere raising of a loan of £1,200,000, for the use 
 of government, at 8 per cent, per annum, and 
 which was in fact, the foundation of the Funding 
 System, or National Debt; to prevent enlarging 
 upon which here, see each of those subjects under 
 their respective heads, and in conjunction with 
 them see also Circulating Medium, Exchange, 
 Bills of. Exchequer Bills, Money, Paper 
 Money, and Tallies. Of the nature and ex- 
 tent of the practice of the Bank of England, 
 in deposit, transfer, discount, and circulation, 
 during the early period of its establishment, but 
 little seems to be known ; and, indeed, for 
 some time, its transactions seem to have been 
 very much confined to trading in the government 
 securities, and notes of its own circulation. At 
 the Exchequer, then, as is still the case, accounts 
 were kept by tallies, similar to accounts of bakers 
 in those parts of the country where the weight of 
 the loaf varies, and the money price remains 
 fixed ; notches are cut in a piece of stick, to de- 
 note so many loaves of bread, the stick is split, 
 the buyer holding one part and the seller the 
 other, so with the accounts of money at the 
 Exchequer of enlightened England, at the period 
 of establishing the Bank of England, and so the 
 practice continued in 1826. 
 
 37. The first and second years after the 
 establishment of the Bank, these Tallies were a 
 trading and speculating commodity, as stock and 
 exchequer bills are at the present day, and such 
 was the state of the credit of the nation at that 
 time that the tallies were at a discount of 20 to 40 
 per cent, against the sealed notes of the Bank, 
 and the notes of the bank at a discount of 20 
 per cent, against the standard coin of the realm. 
 With the view of equalising these disparities af 
 value between the bank and national securities, 
 and the standard coin of tlie realm, an act was 
 passed in 1697, 8 and 9 Will. 3 cap. 20, empower- 
 ing the Bank to receive subscriptions for the 
 enlargement of their stock, four-fifths in tallies, 
 and the remaining fifth in Bank notes. The 
 amount of tallies ingrafted under this act was 
 £1 ,001 ,1 7 1 . 10s. subject, like the original subscrip- 
 tion to an interest of 8 per cent, per annum, and 
 the charter was extended to the 1st of Aug. 1710. 
 In 1708, another act was passed, 7 Ann. cap. 7, 
 under which the bank further lent the govern- 
 ment the sum of £400,000 witiiout interest ; 
 thereby reducing the interest on £1,600,000 to 
 6 per cent. The Bank at this time held Exche- 
 quer bills to the amount of £1,500,000, which, 
 with an arrear of interest of £275,027. 1 7s. 1 0Jrf., 
 were cancelled (funded) at the rate of 6 per 
 
 cent, per annum. For these acts of condescension, 
 the charter of the Bank was extended to Aug. 1, 
 1732, and the company authorised to take in 
 subscriptions, to double their capital. In 
 1709 a call of 15, and in 1710 a further call of 
 10 per cent, was made, and in 1713 another act 
 was passed, 12 Ann. cap. 11, extending the char- 
 ter to Aug. 1, 1742, then, as before, determinable 
 after twelve months notice, and repayment by 
 the government, of all sums borrowed. 
 
 38. In 1717 another act \v;is passed, 3 Geo. I. 
 ch. 8, authorising the fundint; of a further amount 
 of exchequer bills of £2,000,000, at five per cent, 
 per annum; to which rate the interest on 
 £1,775,027 was also reduced after midsummer 
 1718. In 1722, by another ;ict, 8 Geo. I, cap. 21, 
 the bank was authorised to purchase stock of the 
 South Sea Company to the amount of £4,000,000, 
 which stock bore an interest of five per cent, per 
 an. but was reduced to four per cent, after mid- 
 summer 1729. To eff"ect this purchase the capi- 
 tal was increased £3,400,000; and in 1727, pur- 
 suant to the act of 1 Geo. 11, cap. 8, £1,000,000 
 of the £1,775,027. 17s. lO^d, funded in 1708, 
 at six per cent, was paid oil', and the interest 
 on the £2,000,000, funded in 1717, reduced 
 from five to four per cent, and under the autho- 
 rity of the same act; in 1728, £1,750,000 was 
 further advanced to government at an interest of 
 4 per cent.; and, in tlie following year, pursuant 
 to the act of 2 Geo. 11, cap. 3, the remainder of 
 the £1,775,027. 17s. lOid. funded in 1708, 
 together with £500,000 of the amount funded 
 in 1717, was paid off by the government; who 
 borrowed, under the authority of the said act, 
 the sum of £1,250,000, at an interest of 4 per 
 cent, per annum from midsummer 1729. 
 
 39. In 1738 another act was passed, 11 Geo. 
 II, cap. 27, authorising the paying off a further 
 portion of the bills funded in 1717, to the amount 
 of £1,000,000; and in 1742, by the act of 15 
 Geo. II, cap. 13, £l,6OO,0OO was advanced to 
 government without interest, on condition of the 
 bank being authorised to increase their capital 
 stock, and the charter being extended to Aug. 1 
 1764. The capital stock was accordingly in- 
 creased £840,004. 5s. 4d. The pretension set 
 up in reference to this £1,600,000, was the reduc- 
 tion of the rate of interest on the original 
 £1,200,000, and the £400,000 advanced in 
 1708; by the receipt of which latter sum the 
 interest on the £1,600,000 was reduced to 6 per 
 cent. ; and, by the receipt of a corresponding sum 
 without interest, it made the interest on the 
 £3,200,000 equivalent to 3 per cent. But this 
 seeming reduction in the rate of interest is a delu- 
 sion ; for, however anomalous it may at first seem, 
 as the rate of interest progrepsiveiy became 
 reduced from 8 to 3 per cent, ttuJfpressure of the 
 exaction on the people, aS'Ji'iu clearly appear 
 hereafter, progressively and ^tlually increased. 
 So far, therefore, from the il ,600,000 being 
 entitled to be regarded as a b(in to the public, 
 it appears to us as neither more nor less than a 
 bribe to reconcile an unsuspecting people to an 
 extension of the charter. 
 
 40. in 1746 anotlier act ^as passed, 19 Geo- 
 II, cap. 6, authorising the fuiiding of exchequer 
 bills, issued in anticipation of the tax on licence* 
 
 L
 
 470 
 
 B A W K 
 
 for retailing spirituous liquors, to the amount of 
 £986,800, at the rate of 4 per cent, per annum, 
 and for authorising; the bank to increase tlieir 
 capital stock 10 per cent, which was done in 
 pursuance thereof. The total sum advanced by 
 the bank to the government, now amounted to 
 £l 1,686,800, and the capital on whicli the stock- 
 holders divided was £10,780,000. Of the amount 
 advanced to government £3,200,000, (see preced- 
 ing section) was at an interest of 3 per cent. ; part 
 of the bills funded in 1717 remained at 5 per cent, 
 and the remainder at 4 per cent. ; in reference to 
 which, in 1749 an act was passed, 28 Geo. II, 
 cap. 1, determining that from Christmas 1750 the 
 interest on the whole £8,486,800 should be re- 
 duced to 3 J- per cent., and from Christmas 1757 
 it should further be reduced to the same rate as 
 the £3,200,000, viz. 3 per cent. Fifteen years 
 now elapsed without any change in the terms of 
 the charter, or accounts with the government, 
 when in 1764, pursuant to the act of 4 Geo. Ill, 
 oap. 25, the bank advanced .£1.000,000 for two 
 years without interest, and gave bonus to the 
 
 exclicquer of £110,000, for the extension of their 
 charter to the 1st of August 1786. 
 
 41 . In 1781, pursuant to an act passed that year, 
 the charter was further extended to the 1st of 
 August 1812, and £862,400 more added to the 
 capital stock, in return for die loan of £2,000,000 
 for three years at 3 ])er cent.; and in 1800, pur- 
 suant to an act of 48 Geo. Ill, thecliarter was fur- 
 tlier extended to the 1st of August, 1833, on con- 
 dition of advancing £3,000,000, for tlie service of 
 the year 1800, on exchequer bills, to be discharged 
 without interest in 1806. Such was the state of 
 the bank of JEngland in 1800 in reference to its 
 permanent advances to the government and ex- 
 tent of its permanent capital, whicii we will here 
 briefly recapitulate. In the session of parliament, 
 1822, an account of the total amount of debt due 
 to the bank of England, distinguishing funded 
 from unfunded, the periods when contracted for, 
 &c. &c. was laid before the house (paper No. 
 190), which, up to the period of 1746, will be 
 seen to correspond with the amounts previously 
 enumerated, viz: 
 
 Anno. 
 
 1738 
 
 Acts. 
 
 5W.&M. c. 20 
 8&9Wm.c. 19 
 7 Anne, c. 7 
 
 3 Geo. I. c. 8 
 
 8 c. 21 
 
 1 Geo. II. c. 8 
 
 2 — c. 3 
 
 15 — c. 13 
 
 19 c. 6 
 
 Original Subscription .... 
 
 Ingrafted Tallies 
 
 Exchequer-Bills cancelled . . . 
 Advanced without interest . . . 
 Exchequer-Bills cancelled . . . 
 Transfer from South-Sea Company 
 
 Advanced 
 
 Ditto 
 
 Ditto 
 
 Exchequer-Bills cancelled . . . 
 Total Sum advanced . . . 
 
 Ingrafted Tallies 
 
 Part of £1,775,028 
 
 Remainder of ditto 
 
 And part of .£2,000,000 of 1717 
 
 Further part of £2,000,000 of 1717 
 
 Nett amount of permanent Debt in 1746, and as } 
 it stood up to 1816 . » \ 
 
 Amount. 
 
 £1,200,000 
 1,001,171 
 1,775,028 
 400,000 
 2,000,000 
 4,000,000 
 1,750,000 
 1,250,000 
 1,600,000 
 936,800 
 
 £1,001,171 
 
 1,000,000 
 
 775,028 
 
 500,000 
 
 1,000,000 
 
 £15,962,999 
 
 4,276,199 
 
 £11,686,800 
 
 42. In 1816 a further advance was made of 
 £3,000,000 ; and in 1823 a contract was entered 
 into for the bank to advance the government the 
 sum of £13,089,419, in thirteen irregular instal- 
 ments, between the 4th of April, 1823, and the 
 Gthof July, 1828,'ihconsideration of an annuity of 
 £585,740 for 44years, from the 10th of Oct. 1823. 
 The first of these transactions resolves itself into 
 a bonus to the bank equivalent to from £7,000,000 
 to £8,000,000 ; thejlatter being to a certain ex- 
 tent a conungent tibnsaction, may prove disad- 
 vantageous to the public to the extent of from 
 five to ten or fifteen millions, and under any 
 circumstances that can possibly occur is equiva- 
 lent to another bonus to the bank of at lerst 
 
 £2,000,000. The first transaction is simple and 
 conclusive, and will be seen to involve moral as 
 well as pecuniary features, demanding the very 
 serious consideration of the public. The other 
 is one of the most complex and equivocal 
 transactions which the whole history of British 
 financiering, with all its profligacy andiortuosity, 
 exhibits since tlie commencement of war in 
 1793. A more circumstantial account of the 
 nature of both transactions will be found in their 
 order of time further on. 
 
 In the mean time, the following is a reca- 
 pitulation of the augmentations oif capital, on 
 which dividends were made to the proprietors 
 of stock, viz.
 
 BANK. 
 
 47JI 
 
 Anno. 
 
 1694 
 1697 
 1708 
 1709 
 1710 
 1722 
 1742 
 1746 
 1781 
 
 Original Subscription 
 Ingrafted Tallies . . 
 Doubled .... 
 Call of 1 5 per cent. . 
 Ditto of 10 percent. 
 Additional Subscriptions 
 Ditto Ditto . 
 
 Call of 10 per Cent. 
 Augmented . . . 
 
 Augmentation. 
 
 Aggregate. 
 
 £1,200,000 
 
 1,001,171 
 
 2,201,172 
 
 656,204 
 
 501,449 
 
 3,400,000 
 
 840,004 
 
 980,000 
 
 862,400 
 
 £1,200,000 
 2,201,171 
 4,402,343 
 5,058,547 
 5,559,996 
 8,959,996 
 9,800,000 
 10,780,000 
 11,642,400 
 
 43. And the following shows the rate and amount of dividends, per annum, at different periods, 
 
 up to 1807, viz. 
 
 
 
 
 
 Amount annually 
 
 Anno. 
 
 Rate per cent. 
 
 
 divided. 
 
 1694—1696 
 
 3 years 
 
 8 
 
 (actual) 
 
 £90,000 
 
 1697—1707 
 
 11 
 
 9 
 
 
 198,105 
 
 1708—1729 
 
 22 
 
 9 to 5L 
 
 (estimated) 
 
 450,000 
 
 1 1730—1741 
 
 12 
 
 6 & 51 
 
 (actual) 
 
 .'■.20,200 
 
 1742—1746 
 
 5 
 
 6 & 5i 
 
 
 5(53,000 
 
 1747—1752 
 
 6 . 
 
 5 
 
 
 539,000 
 
 1753 
 
 1 
 
 4J & 5 
 
 
 512,050 
 
 1754—1763 
 
 10 
 
 n 
 
 
 485,100 
 
 1764—1766 
 
 3 
 
 5 
 
 
 539,000 
 
 1767—1780 
 
 14 
 
 H 
 
 
 592,900 
 
 1781—1787 
 
 7 
 
 6 
 
 
 098,544 
 
 1788—1806 
 
 19 
 
 7 
 
 
 814,968 
 
 1807—1815 
 
 9 
 
 10 
 
 
 1,104,240 
 
 1816—1823 
 
 8 
 
 — 
 
 
 1,4.35,300 
 
 1824—1826 
 
 3 
 
 8 
 
 
 1,164,240 
 
 44. Thus, as stated in sect. 39, it is seen, that 
 •whilst the bank affects to lend the public its 
 money at 3 per cent, per annum, the public, 
 since 1807, have virtually been taxed at the rate 
 of 10 per cent, to the extent of £1,164,240 per 
 annum ; nor is this all, for, by a return made to 
 parliament in the session of 1819 (Paper, No. 
 
 347), in addition to the above exorbitant exac- 
 tion, resulting from the illusive and peculiarly 
 involved nature of the transactions of the govern- 
 ment with the bank, it appears that the following 
 sums were divided among the stock-holders as 
 bonuses, viz. 
 
 Anno. 
 
 Amount. 
 
 June, 1799 
 May, 1801 
 Nov. 1802 
 Oct. 1804 
 
 — 1805 
 
 1806 
 
 10 per cent, on the £11,642,400 . . . 
 5 ■ on ditto .... 
 
 £1,164,240 
 582,120 
 291 060 
 
 
 582 120 
 
 5 on ditto .... 
 
 5 on ditto .... 
 
 582,120 
 582,120 
 
 
 Total as Bonus . . . 
 
 £3,783,780 
 
 And profuse as all this may seem in favor of the 
 holders of bank-stock, and oppressive as it must 
 be to the public, it sinks into comparative insig- 
 nificance when compared with the transactions 
 of 1816 and 1823, the nature of which shall be 
 elucidated by and by ; it seeming first desirable 
 to take a retrospective view of tlie transactions 
 of the bank, independent of its permanent ad- 
 vances and augmentation of its permanent ca- 
 pital. 
 
 45. By the stat. of 6 Anne, cap. 22, it was 
 
 enacted, * for securing the credit of the Bank of 
 England, that no othtiv-V^ifing company in 
 England should consist of'rtiore than six i>er- 
 sons, empowered to issue l>ils or notes payable 
 on demand, or for any time l»s tlian six months. 
 And the act of 15 Geo. U. cap. 13, wliich ex- 
 tended the privileges of the charter to 1704, also 
 enacted, tiiat the acts of 7 and 12 Anne, and ah 
 ail other acts for determining the corporation, 
 should be void ; and that flic governor aiid com- 
 pany of the bunk should renuiin a body corpo-
 
 472 
 
 BANK. 
 
 rate and politic for ever, subject to such restric- 
 tions and regulations as were contained in the 
 acts and charters tlicn in force, and by the same 
 statute it was also further enacted, ' that persons 
 forging, counterfeiting, or alterinp:, any bank- 
 rote, bill of exchange, dividend, warrant, or any 
 Dond or obligation, under the company's seal, 
 or any indorsement upon it, or knowingly utter- 
 ing the same, shall suffer death, without benefit 
 of clergy ;' and further, ' that the company's 
 servants breaking their trust to the company, shall 
 also suffer death, as a felon, without benefit of 
 clergy.' The same statute also further enacts, 
 * tlrat when at a court of directors of the bank, 
 neither the governor nor deputy shall attend in 
 two hours after the time appointed for business, 
 then any thirteen or more of the directors may 
 choose a chairman for the time for the despatch 
 of business, and that such court shall be as valid 
 as if either the governor or deputy-governor had 
 duly attended.' 
 
 46. As stated in sect. 36, the information is 
 imperfect as to the extent of the transactions of 
 
 the Bark of England in deposit, transfer, dis- 
 count, and circulation, during the earlier period 
 of its establishment ; nor does it appear that the 
 notes of the bank were ever at a discount against 
 the standard coin of the realm after 1697, until 
 1798. In addition to the monies permanently 
 advanced to the government, it was the practice 
 of the bank to advance money in anticipation of 
 the land and malt taxes; and to make other 
 temporary advances on exchequer-bills and other 
 floating securities ; we have not been able to ob- 
 tain any circumstantial account of the extent of 
 these advances at an earlier date than 1777;. 
 from which period an account of advances by 
 the bank to government on land, malt, exche- 
 quer-bills, and other securities, on the 25th of 
 February on each of the twenty years preceding 
 the 23th of February, 1797, was laid before par- 
 liament, vide Appendix, second Report of the 
 Select Committee on the Expediency of the Bank 
 resuming Cash Payments, 1819. Commons re- 
 print, fol. 315, of which the following is a copy 
 viz. 
 
 On the 
 
 
 
 
 
 25th Feb. 
 
 Land and Malt. 
 
 Exchequer-Bills. 
 
 Treasury-Bills. 
 
 Total. 
 
 1777 
 
 £4,912,000 
 
 £2,500,000 
 
 
 £7,412,000 
 
 
 1778 
 
 5,251,000 
 
 2,500,000 
 
 £2760 
 
 7,753,760 
 
 1779 
 
 5,682,000 
 
 2,769,000 
 
 15,664 
 
 8,466,664 
 
 1780 
 
 5,613,000 
 
 3,104,400 
 
 33,582 
 
 8,750,982 
 
 1781 
 
 5,517,000 
 
 262,230 
 
 49,541 
 
 8,188,841 
 
 1782 
 
 5,659,000 
 
 4,289,050 
 
 43,628 
 
 9,991,678 
 
 1783 
 
 4,962,000 
 
 4,662,200 
 
 4871 
 
 9,629,071 
 
 1784 
 
 3,901,000 
 
 3,641,000 
 
 23,853 
 
 7,565,853 
 
 1785 
 
 3,102,000 
 
 3,900,000 
 
 28,200 
 
 7,030,200 
 
 1786 
 
 2,307,000 
 
 4,303,200 
 
 24,672 
 
 6,634,872 
 
 1787 
 
 2,809,000 
 
 4,334,200 
 
 1696 
 
 7,144,896 
 
 1788 
 
 2,636,000 
 
 4,707,400 
 
 4299 
 
 7,347,699 
 
 1789 
 
 2,928,000 
 
 5,000,200 
 
 20,235 
 
 7,948,435 
 
 1790 
 
 2,882,000 
 
 5,006,500 
 
 20,468 
 
 7,908,968 
 
 1791 
 
 3,334,000 
 
 6,247,100 
 
 22,878 
 
 9,603,978 
 
 1792 
 
 2,802,000 
 
 6,636,600 
 
 26,999 
 
 *9,839,338 
 
 1793 
 
 2,698,000 
 
 5,939,600 
 
 52,359 
 
 9,066,698 
 
 1794 
 
 2,915,000 
 
 4,777,600 
 
 717,175 
 
 8,786,514 
 
 1795 
 
 4,291,000 
 
 4,329,000 
 
 2,117,491 
 
 11,114,230 
 
 1796 
 
 5,536,000 
 
 5,265,000 
 
 540,991 
 
 11,718,730 
 
 1 
 
 The totals in each of the five last years include £376,739 lent out of the unclaimed dividends, without 
 
 interest. 
 
 47. The earliest account of the amount of 
 bank-notes in circulation which we have been 
 able to obtain is the following, which was deli- 
 vered to the House, of Commons on the 18th of 
 March, 1797, and exhibits the amount of notes 
 in circulairOTTOn Vat' 23th of February, in each 
 of the ten years, 17^37—1796, viz, 
 
 17,87 ... ..- .I^L. v>v £8,688,5,70,- .^. .,- 
 
 ^m- 1788 . . . 'I. ": • . ' 9,370,350 ' " 
 
 1789 ..... 9,905,240 
 
 1790 10,217,360 
 
 1791 11,699,140 
 
 1792 ...... 11,349,810 
 
 1793 11,493,125 
 
 1794 10,699,520 
 
 1795 ..... 13,539,160 
 1796 11,030,110 
 
 As we are now approaching a most important 
 period in the history of the transactions of the 
 Bank of England, it will be well for the earnest 
 enquirer after truth to bear in mind, that the 
 ^CPte^: in circulation. up to the. period, of 179.7, 
 "were convertible into gold on demand, at the 
 rate of 77s. lOid. per oz.; and when the above 
 statement is compared with the preceding one, of 
 the amount of the temporary ;idvances to the 
 government, and the following one, of the 
 amount of cash and bullion in hand, and bills
 
 BANK. 
 
 473 
 
 discounted, it will be seen that the issue of notes 
 appears to have been regulated more in reference 
 to the amount of the temporary advances to the 
 government, than to the means of payins them 
 in gold on demand, as will be seen by the follow- 
 ing statement of the amount of cash and bullion 
 
 on hand, notes in circulation, bills discounted 
 and advances to government, on an average in 
 the months of March, June, September, and 
 December, in each of tlie hve years, 1793 — 
 1796, viz. 
 
 
 Cash and Bullion 
 
 Bills Discounted. 
 
 Average of Notes 
 
 Average of Advanca 
 
 1 
 
 on hand. 
 
 
 in Circulation. 
 
 to Government. 
 
 1793 
 
 
 
 
 
 March . . 
 
 £3,508,000 
 
 £4,817,000 
 
 £11,963,820 
 
 £8,735,200 
 
 June . . . 
 
 4,412,000 
 
 5,128,000 
 
 12,100,650 
 
 9,434,000 1 
 
 September . . 
 
 6,836,000 
 
 2,065,000 
 
 10,938,620 
 
 9,455,700 
 
 December 
 
 7,720,000 
 
 1,976,000 
 
 10,967,310 
 
 8,887,500 
 
 1794 
 
 
 
 
 
 March . . . 
 
 8,608,000 
 
 2,908,000 
 
 11,159,720 
 
 8,404,100' 
 
 June . • . 
 
 8,208,000 
 
 3,263,000 
 
 10,366,450 
 
 7,735,800 
 
 Septembe' 
 
 8,096,000 
 
 2,000,000 
 
 10,343,940 
 
 6,77',>,800 
 
 December 
 
 7,768,000 
 
 1,887,000 
 
 10,927,970 
 
 7,545,100 
 
 1795 
 
 
 
 
 
 ]VIarch . . . 
 
 7,940,000 
 
 2,287,000 
 
 12,432,240 
 
 9,773,700 
 
 June . . . 
 
 7,356,000 
 
 3,485,000 
 
 10,912,280 
 
 10,879,700 
 
 September 
 
 5,792,000 
 
 1,887,000 
 
 11,034,790 
 
 10,197,600 
 
 December 
 
 4,000,000 
 
 3,109,000 
 
 11,608,670 
 
 10,683,100 
 
 1796 
 
 
 
 
 
 March . . . 
 
 2,972,000 
 
 2,820,000 
 
 10,824,150 
 
 11,351,000 1 
 
 June . . . 
 
 2,582,000 
 
 3,730,000 
 
 10,770,200 
 
 11,269,700 
 
 September 
 
 2,532,000 
 
 3,352,000 
 
 9,720,440 
 
 9,901,100 
 
 December 
 
 2,508,000 
 
 3,796,000 
 
 9,645,710 
 
 9,511,400 
 
 1797 
 
 
 
 
 
 February 26 . 
 
 1,272,000 
 
 2,905,000 
 
 8,640,250 
 
 10,672,490 
 
 48. By the above statement, it is seen, that 
 ^■ith £8,640,250 of notes in circulation on the 
 25th of February, 1797, £1,272,000 value of 
 gold only remained in the bank, whilst the de- 
 mand for gold continued daily to increase ; 
 under which circumstances, on the 2 2d of Fe- 
 oruary, a committee was appointed by the privy 
 council to investigate the affairs of the bank, 
 which committee, on the 26th of the same 
 month, reported, that the total assets of the bank, 
 exclusive of the £11,686,800 permanent debt of 
 the government (see sect.40, 41), was £17,597,298, 
 whilst the whole of the demands upon the bank 
 amounted to only £13,770,390, leaving a clear 
 balance in its favor of £3,826,903, exclusive of 
 the permanent debt due from the government. 
 Upon this report, the privy council instantly is- 
 sued an order prohibiting the directors of the 
 bank from issuing any more cash (specie) in 
 payment, until the sense of parliament on the 
 subject was obtained. From the statement of 
 £13,770,390 being the amount of demands upon 
 the bank, and £8,640,250 being the amount of 
 notes in circulation, as per statement in the pre- 
 cedmg section, it appears that the demands of 
 depositors and other creditors must have 
 I amounted to £5,130,140 ; and in like manner, 
 \£l 7,507,298 being the whole of the assets, and 
 it 10,67'^,490 thereof consisting of claims on the 
 pvernment, £2,905,000 in bills discounted, and 
 ,272,000 in specie, it leaves £2,727,808 to be 
 igned to some specified items; including, no 
 bt the bank premises and probably some 
 
 other property in fief, in houses or lands, &c. &c. 
 The transactions and state of the Bank of Eng- 
 land, as detailed in this section, bring its his- 
 tory down to that eventful and important period 
 when the peculiar nature of its connexion' with 
 the government first openly developes itself. To 
 obtain a more comprehensive and distinct view 
 of the subject, the reader will do well to refer to 
 the journals and proceedings of parliament for the 
 year 1797, and to examine the subject attentively, 
 in relation to the nature and amount of the 
 loans, and extent of the revenue and expenditure 
 of the sjovernraent at that period, as exhibited in 
 Mr. Marshall's Statistical Illustrations of the 
 Finances, Revenues, &c. &c. of the British Em- 
 pire. See also the articlei Funding, Loans, 
 Sinking Fund, and Revenue, in the subsequent 
 parts of this work. 
 
 49. It was on a Sunday evening that the order 
 of tlie privy council, adverted to in the preced- 
 ing section, was transmitted to the bank, and 
 on Monday morning the following notice was 
 published by tlie directors of that establishment, 
 viz. 
 
 ' Bank of England, Fcbrmry 27, 1797. 
 
 * In consequence of an ordgr pf his majesty's 
 privy council, notified to the bank last night, a 
 copy of which is hereunto annexed, 
 
 ' The governor, deputy-governor, and directors 
 of the Bank of England, think it their duty to 
 inform the proprietors of the bank-stock, as wpU 
 as the public at large, that the general concern* 
 of the bank are in the most affluent and Hourish-
 
 474 
 
 BANK. 
 
 ing situation, and such as to preclude every 
 doubt as to the security of its notes. 
 
 'The directors mean to continue their xisual 
 discount for the accommodation of the commer- 
 cial interest, paying the amount in bank notes ; 
 and the dividend warrants will be paid in the 
 same manner. 
 
 (Signed) 'Francis RlAnTiN, Sec' 
 
 50. The consternation of tlie public at this notifi- 
 cation was extreme, but as a proof of the secret 
 workings and illusive nature of the system, a 
 meeting was held the same day at tlie mansion 
 house, at which the lord mayor (Watson), presi- 
 ded, when the following resolution was unani- 
 mously agreed to, viz. 'That we the undersigned, 
 being highly sensible how necessary the preser- 
 vation of public credit is at this time, do most 
 readily hereby declare, that we will not refuse to 
 receive bank notes in payment of any sum of 
 money to be paid to us; and we will use our 
 utmost endeavours to make all our payments in the 
 same manner.' This singular specimen of sub- 
 serviency to speculative expediency was signed 
 by the lord mayor and all present, and ultimately 
 obtained upwards of 3000 signatures. . We will 
 not here enquire what portion of their names 
 have since been exhibited on the bankrupt or 
 other lists of insolvency ; but we must regard the 
 conseqences to have been the degradation of an 
 alarming portion of the total population of the 
 kingdom to the rank of paupers, with all the 
 consecutive concomitants of demoralisation and 
 crime. 
 
 51. On the same day (27th Feb.), a message 
 was delivered from the king to both houses of 
 parliament, to the following effect, viz- 'That an 
 unusual demand of specie having been made 
 from different parts of the country, on the metro- 
 polis, it had been found necessary to make an 
 order of council to the directors of the bank, pro- 
 hibiting the issuing of any cash in payment, till 
 the sense of parliament could be taken on the 
 subject.' In the upper house, Lord Grenville, 
 who was then secretary of state for the foreign 
 department, moved, ' That the communication 
 from his Majesty should be taken into consider- 
 ation the following day,' when in pursuance of 
 the motion, after much circumlocution, Lord 
 Grenville stated that he had two motions to sub- 
 mit to the consideration of their Lordships, first, 
 ' That a humble address be presented to his 
 Majesty, to return thanks for his gracious com- 
 munication, nnd to assure his Majesty that he 
 might rely with the utmost confidence on the 
 wisdom of parliament, to call forth, in case of 
 necessity, the extensive resources of the king- 
 dom.' This was agreed to, neniine contradicente. 
 The other motion was for ' The appointment of a 
 select committee of nine lords, to examine and 
 report on the outstanding debts against the bank, 
 the state of I'uc fuacls for discharging the same; 
 the cause that rendered the order of council 
 necessary, and which might justify the members 
 of that house for taking the proper steps for the 
 confirmation and continuance of that measure.' 
 This motion gave rise to considerable discussion, 
 in which the Duke of Bedford moved as an 
 amendment, ' To leave c^-A all that part which 
 
 related to the com^nittee reporting their opinioB 
 on the continuance' of the measure.' In support 
 of which amendment, the Marquis of Lansdowne 
 said, ' That noble Lords would do him the jus- 
 tice to recollect, that not one session had passed 
 over, since the fatal commencement of the war in 
 1793, in which he had not, to use a vulgar but 
 strong expression, bored their Lordships with his 
 prophetic admonitions, and proceeded to illus- 
 trate the nature of public credit, by saying, that 
 it was to the people of Great Britain, what the 
 soul of man was to his body. It was pure soul : 
 it was immaterial in itself, and yet it was that 
 which gave to substance its functions. It was not 
 property, for no branch of the body could call it 
 its own. It was not the king's credit, nor was it 
 the credit of parliament ; it was public credit, 
 which did not look to secuiity alone as its basis, 
 but which always connected security with 
 punctuality.' 
 
 52. The shock which had been given to public 
 credit, the noble marquis stated, proceeded from 
 deep, progressive, and accumulated causes; 
 causes which all thinking, all honest men, had 
 long deplored, and which had grown to a head 
 under the unhappy and ill-requited confidence 
 which had so fatally been placed in the king's 
 ministers. In endeavouring to ascertain the 
 causes that had brought on the dilemma, one 
 cause was manifest; the inordinate increase of 
 expenses, of places, and establishments, in every 
 corner of the empire, which had grown to a 
 height beyond every thing that the mind could 
 previously have conceived ; it was, said the noble 
 marquis, incredible and scandalous ; the increase 
 of fees, of salaries, of places and pensions, of 
 new boards of commission, and new appoint- 
 ments of all kinds, had not only served to open 
 all the gates of waste and profusion, but to beat 
 down and destroy all the checks of control, and 
 all the means of correction. Waste and extrava- 
 gance had been systematised ; one scene of abuse 
 countenanced and protected another, and all the 
 corners of the earth were witnesses to the ruinous 
 waste of the treasures of the British people. In 
 this strain, with unabated ardor, did die noble 
 marquis continue to depict the fatal consequences 
 which must inevitably ensue from the continu- 
 ance of such a system, and concluded a most pa- 
 triotic appeal to the British parliament, by call- 
 ing upon his compeers to mark his prophecy, and 
 not to disdain his counsel, while yet in time, for 
 said his Lordship, if you attempt to make bank 
 notes a legal tender, then credit will perish. They 
 may go on for a time, but their end is certain 
 ruin. The earnestness and force of this appeal 
 drew the Lord Chancellor from his seat, to state, 
 'That he had deprecated the idea of forcing bank 
 paper into circulation, by making it a legal ten- 
 der, and he would take upon himself to say, that 
 
 it then had never been conceived, that it would I 
 be wise or prudent to make bank notes a legal — « 
 tender. After which, their lordships divided on the "l 
 amendment of the duke of Bedford ; twelve for, 
 and seventy-eight against it. After which the 
 original motion for a committee of enquiry was 
 carried without a division, 
 
 53. Similar proceedings took place in the 
 commons on the same day, where, in reply to
 
 BANK. 
 
 476 
 
 some observations by Mr. Fox, Mr. Pitt stated 
 that perceiving some suspicions were entertained 
 that the measure adopted for succouring public 
 credit, was designed to be permanent, he assured 
 the house, 'That nothing could be fartlier from his 
 intention.' An amendment similar to that of the 
 duke of Bedford, in the lords, was moved in the 
 commons by INlr. Sheridan, which was rejected 
 by 244 against eighty-six, when the original mo- 
 tion for a committee was carried without a 
 division. On the 6th of March the lords' com- 
 mittee reported to the house that it was necessary 
 to ' continue and confirm the measures already 
 taken, for such time, and under such limitations 
 and restrictions, and with such power of discon- 
 tinuing the same, as to the wisdom of parliament 
 might seem expedient.' And thus a system of 
 paper money, without reference to any standard, 
 either of value or quantity, was established, the 
 duration and progress of which will appear, as 
 the elucidation of the transactions of the bank 
 is here further proceeded in. 
 
 54. On the re-assembling of parliament in 
 November of the same year (1797", the commit- 
 tee of secresy, appointed to enquire into the 
 expediency of continuing the restriction on the 
 bank, reported, that the total assets of the bank, 
 exclusive of the £11,686,800 of permanent debt 
 due from the government on the 11th of Novem- 
 ber, was £21,418,640 (see sect. 48 for the amount 
 on the 25th February preceding), and that the 
 total amount of outstanding demands was 
 £17,578,910, leaving a balance on that date in 
 
 favor of the bank of £3,839,730. The report 
 further stated that the advances of government 
 had been reduced to £4,'2.')8,140, and that the 
 cash and bullion in the bank had increased to 
 nearly £6,500,000 or upwards, or five times its 
 amount on the February preceding; all this be- 
 ing true, it will be seen that the discounts of 
 commercial bills must have been increased in 
 the proportion of about £R,000,000 against 
 £2,905,000, the amount in February, but it will 
 seem, on reflection, and on comparison with the 
 advances to the government, as exhibited in the 
 appendix at the conclusion of this article, that 
 the whole report was a singular misrepresenta- 
 tion of the facts of the ca'^ •, to answer the 
 purposes of the moment; at all events, it will be 
 seen that both the ternporuy advances to the 
 government, and issue of nites, progressively 
 increased from the close (jf the year 1797 
 up to the peace of Amiens in 1802-3, and 
 the following statement exhibits the progress and 
 duration of that restriction, which the Lord 
 Chancellor in the Lords, and the finance minis- 
 ter in the Commons, so solemnly declared was 
 to be only temporary. 
 
 55. The first act passed, relating to the subject 
 was dated the 3d March, 1797, 37 Geo. Ill, cap. 
 28, authorising the issuing of notes for .£'1 and 
 £2 each ; the amount of such notes in circulation 
 on the 26th August of that year was £934,015 ; 
 for the progressive increase of their circulation 
 see appendix. 
 
 ACTS RELATING TO RESTRICTION. 
 
 Year of Reign. 
 
 Date of Act. 
 
 Purport and Duration. 
 
 37 Geo. III. cap. 45. 
 — — — 91. 
 
 38 — — 1. 
 
 42 — — 40. 
 1 43 — — 18. 
 
 1 44 — — 1. 
 
 3d May, 1797. j 
 22d June, I 
 
 30th Nov. f 
 
 30th April, 1802. 
 28lh Feb. 1803. ]^ 
 
 15th Dec. j 
 
 Indemnity for order in council, and to continue 
 during the following month of June. 
 
 Extended to one month after the meeting of the 
 next session of parliament. 
 
 Further extended to one month after the ratifi- 
 cation of a definitive treaty of peace, which 
 took place on the 25th March, 1802. 
 
 Further extended to 1st March, 1803. 
 
 Still farther, to six weeks after the meeting of the 
 next session of parliament. 
 
 Again, to six months after the ratification of i- 
 definitive treaty of peace. 
 
 This brings the history of the restriction down 
 to a most interesting and important yjeriod of its 
 operation ; so far, it is important to understand, 
 tliat notwithstanding the introduction of paper as 
 a circulating medium, gold at the rate of 77s. 
 lOid. per ounce continued to be the legal stand- 
 ard of value, and such was the incongruity of 
 British legislation at this period, that whilst 
 landlords and other creditors were authorised by 
 law to enforce payment in gold, the acts juevi- 
 ously enumerated precluded the gold from being 
 li.ul, wherewith either to pay rents, or make any 
 i^her payments; such however was the insidious 
 N.orking of the system, that up to the period of 
 U'OO no derangement in the social economy of 
 the slate, resulting from such incongruity of le- 
 gislation was perceptible. 
 
 56. In 1800 foreign gold coin commanded 
 about 5s. to 7s. per ounce more than its equiva- 
 lent value to British coin ; but the short peace of 
 1801-2 occasioned a cessation of demand, and the 
 price again became merely nominal. From 
 March, 1804, to October, i'h05, standard gold 
 sold at £4 per ounce; and from October, 1805, 
 to February, 1809, no price was auoted ; in the 
 meantime, however, all tho gold coin of the 
 realm had gradually d isap^.«i^ •"'i^f ^'"^r tlie quan- 
 tity coined in each year since the restoration of 
 Charles II. in 1663, see Statistical Illustrations, 
 folio 47, and the article Mikt in a subsequent 
 part of this work), partly for internal jnirposes of 
 manufacture and oniamont, and partly in aid of 
 the external purposes of the war; not directly 
 and opeidy for that purpose but the excess of 
 
 I:
 
 476 
 
 BANK. 
 
 \ 
 
 bills drawn by the commissariat and other agents 
 of the government, on account of the expenses of 
 the war in different parts of the world, occasioned 
 the bills to be drawn at a discount of 10 to 
 15 or 20 per cent, and at such depreciation, in- 
 stead of being left to operate as mere extraneous 
 equivalents of commercial exchange, they became 
 an object of speculation against bullion, in refer- 
 ence to the standard price of gold in England. 
 
 57. To render the circumstances of this very 
 interesting and important period of the bank 
 restriction act somewhat more intelligible to such 
 readers as are not practically familiar with the 
 complicated involutions of exchanges, it may not 
 be irrelevant to state (taking the mint of France 
 as the means of illustration), that according to the 
 mint regulations of England and France, twenty- 
 five francs, twenty centimes in France are equal 
 to £l in England ; but, in consequence of the 
 excess of bills above adverted to, in May, 1809, 
 the £l English in France would not obtain more 
 tlian twenty francs; consequently, as long as gold 
 could be obtained in England at the mint price 
 of 77s. lO^d. per ounce, it yielded a profit in 
 France of upwards of 20 per cent, against that 
 rate of exchange, but such a disparity of value, as 
 might naturally be expected, excited a spirit of 
 speculation and competition, which raised the 
 price of gold to a premium equal to the discount 
 on the bills. So that in May, 1809, gold com- 
 manded £4. lis. per ounce; this disparity be- 
 tween the mint and trading price of gold excited 
 an universal hubbub in every part of the country, 
 and in February, 1810, a committee of parlia- 
 ment was appointed to enquire into the cause of 
 the high price of bullion, and to take into con- 
 sideration the state of the circulating medium, 
 and of the exchanges between Great Britain and 
 foreign parts. This committee sat from the 22d 
 of February to the 25th of May, during which 
 time it took the opinions of thirty different per- 
 sons, whose trading transactions and influence 
 were thought to be such as qualified them to 
 tlirow much light on the subject; but whether 
 ignorant of the combination of causes that did m 
 reality produce the disparity of value, or whether 
 selfish motives led them to conceal their better 
 judgment, certain it is, that although much in- 
 teresting matter-of-fact information is here and 
 there interspersed through difterent parts of the 
 evidence, as a whole, it is completely destitute 
 of every thing like a solution to the question 
 proposed. In proof of this conclusion see article 
 Exchange, in a subsequent part of this work ; 
 and in proof of the futility of the labors of the 
 committee, and of the frivolousness of the evi- 
 dence in a general sense, bullion continued 
 gradually to advance, and the exchanges pro- 
 gressively to depreciate, until on the 18lh Sep- 
 tember, 1812, gold commanded £5. lis. per 
 ounce. 
 
 58. Such an extreme disparity of value had 
 previously excited every species of contrivance 
 to collect gold, and was beginning to lead to 
 such general derangements in the internal econo- 
 my of the state, in selfish and avaricious indivi- 
 duals availing themselves of tl.e point of law, which 
 authorised them to demand and enforce payment 
 in gold, in cases where by the nature of the obli- 
 
 gation, payment in current money only was 
 implied, that on the 24th July, 1811, an act was 
 passed, 51 Geo. III. cap. 127, to make the bank 
 of England notes a legal tender in all payments^ 
 which by the act of the 38 Geo. III. cap, 1. (30th 
 Nov. 1797), were only so in private transactions, 
 after having been accepted as such, but which 
 were ordered to be received as cash by all the 
 collectors of taxes and duties. The title of the 
 act for making the bank of England notes a legal 
 tender, in conjunction with a consideration of 
 the circumstances which led to it, is curious, and 
 deserves attention. It is as follows, viz. ' For 
 making a more effectual provision for preventing 
 the current gold coin of the realm from being 
 paid or accepted for a greater value than the 
 current value of such coin; and for preventing 
 any note or bill of the governor and company of 
 the bank of England from being received for any 
 smaller sum than the sum therein specified ; and 
 for staying proceedings upon any distress by 
 tender of such notes.' To continue in force till 
 the 25th of March, 1812, and no longer. 
 
 59. By another act in the following session, 
 52 Geo. III. cap. 50. dated 5th May, 1812, the 
 preceding act was extended to three months after 
 the commencement of the next session of parlia- 
 ment, and no longer; and by 53 Geo. III. cap. 
 5, 22d Dec. 1812, further extended to 25th 
 March, 1814 ; and by 54 Geo. III. cap. 52, 4th 
 May, 1814, to as long as restriction continues;. 
 54 Geo. III. cap. 19, 18th July, 1814, restric- 
 tion extended to 25th March, 1815; 55 Geo. III. 
 cap. 28, 23d March, 1815, further extended to 
 5th of July, 1816; 56 Geo. III. cap. 40, 21st 
 May, 1816, still further to 5th of July, 1818; 
 
 58 Geo. III. cap. 37, 28th May, 1818, again to 
 5th of July, 1819; 59 Geo. III. cap. 23, 6th 
 April, 1819, restriction extended indefinitely; 
 
 59 Geo. III. cap. 49, 2d July, 1819, restriction 
 limited to 1st of May, 1823 ; and in the interim 
 the bank empowered to exchange bullion in 
 quantities of not less than sixty ounces for their 
 notes, between the 1st of February and 1st of 
 October, 1820, at any rate between 81s. and 79s. 
 6d. per ounce ; and from the 1st of October, 
 1820, to the 1st of May, 1821, at any rate be- 
 tween 79s. 6d. and 77s. lO^d. per ounce; and 
 from the 1st of May, 1821, to 1st of May, 1823, 
 at 77s. 10|d. per ounce; when gold coin again 
 became a general circulating medium, and, as 
 will be seen by the statement at the conclusion 
 of this article, the £l and £2 notes of the 
 bank of England were withdrawn from circu- 
 lation, and to meet this change in the circulating 
 medium in the years 1821 and 1822, gold to the 
 amount of £14,877,547 was coined at the mint. 
 Such is the history of the bank restriction act, 
 which in February, 1797, was in both houses of 
 parliament so solemnly declared to be only a 
 temporary measure, but which continued through 
 a period of twenty-six years. 
 
 60. Preparatory to returning again to a gold 
 circulating medium, a committee was appointed 
 in each house of parliament, in 1819, to enquire 
 into the state and affairs of the bank, with refer- 
 ence to the expediency of the resumption of cash 
 payments, when, after taking the opinion of about 
 thirty persons, the act of 2d July, 1819, 59 Geo.
 
 BANK. 
 
 477 
 
 III. cap. 49. was resolved upon, and in the 
 course of the enquiry on the 31st of March, 
 1819, the bank exhibited the followinfj account 
 of the state of their affairs, viz. 'That the whole 
 of the claims upon them on that date amounted 
 to £33,948,560, of which £24,710,770 was notes 
 in circulation, and £9,237,790 in deposits and 
 other debts, against which their assets in cash 
 and bullion, bills discounted, and government 
 securities, amounted to £39,179,750, leaving a 
 balance in favor of the bank to the amount of 
 £5,231,190, exclusive of the £11,686,800, per- 
 manent debt of the government, as exhibited in 
 sect. 41, and £3,000,000 added in 1816.' Flat- 
 tering as all this may seem on a superficial view 
 of the subject, and confident as opinion generally 
 was, of the country having escaped the peril, so 
 earnestly warned of by Lord Lansdowne, in sect. 
 51, a short period only elapsed before the effects 
 of the system, spectre-like, returned in a more ter- 
 rific form than ever. Preparatory to the return 
 to cash payments in 1823, through the years 
 1821 and 1822, the bank had progressively 
 diminished the issue of its notes from an average 
 of £22,550,000 in December, 1820, to an aver- 
 age of £l 6,393,000 in December, 1 822 ; a depres- 
 sion in the money value of all the products of 
 industry, without any parallel since the com- 
 mencement of the war in 1793, followed this 
 diminution of circulating medium. But the 
 ordeal of the experiment of paying gold on de- 
 mand having been got over, the cupidity of 
 avarice again began to operate, and notwith- 
 standing the accession to the circulating medium 
 of the £14,877,547 of gold coined in the years 
 1821 and 1822, the bank again showed a dispo- 
 sition to force its notes into circulation, so far, 
 that instead of gold supplying the place of paper 
 for six weeks preceding the 5th of January, 1825, 
 the bank of England notes in circulation again 
 exceeded an average of £20,000,000 ; and those 
 of country bankers had increased from £4,293, 164 
 in 1822, to £6,724,069 in 1824, and £8,755,307 
 in 1825. 
 
 61. The facility of raising money among indi- 
 viduals, which this redundancy of circulating 
 medium afforded, gave rise to an extent of spe- 
 culation, far, very far, exceeding the notable 
 South Sea and other adventures at the commence- 
 ment of the preceding century. (See the article 
 Company, in a subsequent part of this work, for 
 an elucidation of the extent and consequences of 
 the folly at both periods.) Towards the month 
 of September, however, the speculations generally 
 began to be considered equivocal in their results; 
 the first perceptible shock to what is technically 
 termed credit, was experienced on the 24th of 
 October, in the suspension of payment of one of 
 the most eminent commercial establishments in 
 London, or the commercial world (Mr. S. Wil- 
 liams, an American). After this, a month passed 
 -a«:ay in gloomy suspense, till on the 25th of 
 November an extensive banking establishment at 
 Plymouth (Sir W. Elford, Bart, and Co.) was 
 the next evidence of the unsoundness and im- 
 policy of the paper money system, lliis failure 
 strengthened the doubts of the stability of others, 
 and suspicion falling on all the banking establish- 
 
 ments in the west of England, it produced in 
 London such a demand for gold, as excited ap- 
 prehensions for the consequences to which it 
 might lead ; in the meantime the bank of Eng- 
 land had been progressively narrowing its issues, 
 till the amount at the end of November was 
 reduced again to £17,500,000. On the 9th of 
 December the suspension of payment was 
 announced of an extensive banking establishment 
 at York (Messrs. Wentworth, Chaloner and Co.), 
 having branches at three or four other towns in 
 the county, and their owu house of agency in 
 London ; consternation now became general, and 
 the directors of the bank of England, who had, 
 as we contend, contributed to bring on the de- 
 rangement, by the facility which they afforded to 
 get their notes into circulation, in discounting 
 three and four months bills at 4 per cent, per 
 annum, now as suddenly took steps which acce- 
 lerated the derangement. On the 13th of Decem- 
 ber the following notice was issued, viz. : — 
 Bank of England. 
 
 'Resolved — That from and after the 13th 
 instant, no bills or notes will be discounted 
 under 5 per cent, per annum.' 
 
 62. This notification added considerably to the 
 consternation : an extensive private banking 
 establishment, deemed one of the most reputable 
 in London, had previously suspended its pay- 
 ments, and on the following morning two others 
 were reduced to the same alternative ; it would 
 be difficult, and at all events it-would exceed due 
 limits here, to describe the dismay and confusion 
 that now prevailed ; and with the view of endea- 
 vouring to allay the ferment, a public meeting 
 at the Mansion House, as on the memorable 27th 
 of February, 1797, took place on the 13th of 
 December, 1825, when about 700 signatures 
 were obtained to the following resolutions : viz. 
 
 * L That the unprecedented embarrassments 
 and difficulties under which the circulation of 
 the country at present labors are mainly to be 
 attributed to a general panic, for which there 
 are no reasonable grounds; that this meeting 
 has the fullest confidence in the means and sub- 
 stance of the banking establishments of the 
 capital and the country, and they believe that 
 the acting generally upon that confidence would 
 relieve all those symptoms of distress which now 
 show themselves in a shape so alarming to the 
 timid, and so fatal to those who are forced to 
 sacrifice their property to meet sudden demands 
 upon them, which it is no imputation upon their 
 judgment and prudence not to have expected. 
 
 ' 2. That it having been stated to this meeting, 
 that the directors of the bank of England are 
 occupied with the remedy for a state of things so 
 extraordinary, this meeting will refrain from any 
 interference with the measures of the directors ot 
 the bank, who, they are satisfied, will do their 
 duty towards the public. .. ^ 
 
 * 3. That having the nrmest coiTiidence in the 
 stability of the public credit of the country, we 
 declare our determination to support it lo the 
 utmost of our power. 
 
 ' 4. That it is the opinion of the meeting that 
 declarations of a similar description with the 
 
 ^
 
 478 
 
 B A 
 
 present, in the country towns, where the banking 
 establishments may appear to deserve them, may 
 be productive of much benefit in restoring gene- 
 ral confidence.' 
 
 63. Although it was generally believed that 
 the bank of England had been drained of nearly 
 the whole of its stock of gold, during tlie memo- 
 rable week between the loth and 18th of Decem- 
 ber; yet on an average of the five weeks between 
 the latter date and the 2'2d of January, 182C, the 
 issue of bank of England notes had been in- 
 creased to £25,310,000.; and that this lavish ex- 
 perimental issue did not lead to the necessity of 
 again resorting to a restriction Act, was owing 
 entirely to circumstances not «t all contemplated 
 in the deliberations which led to the increased 
 issue of notes, and which, in fact, seem to have 
 been issued with very little calculation on the 
 consequences to which they might lead. 
 
 64. Notwithstanding the declaration at the 
 Mansion House, on the 13th of December, that 
 the embarrassments and difficulties under which 
 the circulation of the couTitry then labored, were 
 mainly to be attributed to a general panic, for 
 which there were no reasonable grounds; accord- 
 ing to a return laid before the House of Com- 
 mons on the 27th of February, 1826; in the 
 interval of the end of October, 1825, and that 
 date, fifty-nine banking establishments, com- 
 prising 144 partners, had been declared bank- 
 rupt, about twenty others insolvent, and every 
 succeeding week continued to add from seventy 
 to 100 merchants, manufacturers, and traders, to 
 the bankrupt list, and thousands to the lists of 
 insolvency ; whilst half a million of families in 
 the several manufacturing districts were driven 
 to the verge of starvation, in consequence of tlie 
 destruction of confidence, and suspension of 
 commercial operations, which the uncertain issue 
 and uncertain value of the circulating medium 
 in great part occasioned. 
 
 65. Having now brought the history of the 
 bank of England from the time of its foundation 
 down to the period of this. sheet going to press, 
 in May, 1826, in reference to its circulation, we 
 •will now proceed to bring down its history from 
 sect. 44, in reference to its agency and connexion 
 with the government. Sect. 34 shows that it 
 originated in the raising of a loan of £1,200,000 
 for the use of .the government, at an interest of 
 8 per cent, per annum, and £4000 per annum 
 for agency ; and that that transaction was, in 
 fact, the foundation of the funding system, which 
 has led to an extent and pressure of taxation 
 without any. parallel in the history of society, 
 and which the bank of England has been the 
 main instrument in occasioning. Sect. 42 shows 
 the progress of the advances made by the bank 
 to the government up to 1781 ; which advances, 
 in addition to the interest, were all subject to a 
 charge for agency ; as was also all other sums 
 raised by lottery, or borrowed by the govern- 
 ment froir. "iiiivmaTris during the war, from 
 1702 to 1713, the total sum then amounting to 
 £52,145,363. The terms of agency up to 1726 
 had varied according to circumstances, at which 
 time it was fixed at £360 per million, afterwards 
 increased to £562. lOs. per million ; after the 
 peace of Versailles in 1 782, when the total sum 
 
 N K. 
 
 amounted to £24^000,000, the terms were re- 
 duced to £450 pet million, at which rate it con- 
 tinued up to 1807, when it was reduced to £340 
 per million, on £600,000,000., and £300 for 
 every million above tliat sum ; during the exac- 
 tion of the property tax, the bank received at the 
 rate of £1250 per million, on such portions of 
 the tax as weri3 paid in to the bank direct, and 
 £805. \5sA0d. per million on about £600,000,000 
 paid in on account of loans between the 1st of 
 February, 1793, and the 5th of .Fanuary, 1823; 
 these several charges (including £4000 to £6000 
 per annum for management of lotteries), and 
 most of which charges are likely to continue, at 
 all events up to the period of the continuance of 
 the charter in 1833, since the commencement of 
 the present century, have averaged about £275,000 
 per annum. 
 
 66. Independently of the above species of 
 agency, subject to specific charges, the whole re- 
 ceipt of taxes of Great Britain passes through 
 the Bank of England, which, since 1803, have 
 averaged upwards of £50,000,000 per annum ; 
 upon this branch of its agency the bank makes 
 no direct charge, but as each separate depart- 
 ment, paymaster, or accountant of the govern- 
 ment, upwards of fifty in number, lias its se- 
 parate account at tlie bank, and each holding a 
 provision for the progress of its payments, it 
 leaves a permanent balance in the hands of the 
 bank of from four to seven millions per annum, 
 and during several of the last years of the war 
 from ten to fifteen millions per annum. The 
 following is a statement of the amount in each of 
 the eight years 1818 — 1825 according to returns 
 made annually to parliament, viz. 
 
 Years. 
 
 Maximum. 
 
 Minimum. 
 
 Average of 
 the Year. 
 
 1818 
 
 8,852,078 
 
 5,709,487 
 
 7,019,071 
 
 1820 
 
 5,861,631 
 
 2,246,598 
 
 3,713,442 
 
 1 
 
 7,096,874 
 
 2,302,591 
 
 3,920,157 
 
 2 
 
 7,690,046 
 
 2,867,851 
 
 4,107,853 
 
 3 
 
 8,305,174 
 
 3,698,764 
 
 5,526,635 
 
 4 
 
 10,359,773 
 
 5,000,12/ 
 
 7,222,187 
 
 5 
 
 9,239,024 
 
 3,197,190 
 
 5,347,314 
 
 67. By means of these balances, deposits or 
 individuals, and the circulation of its notes (and 
 the circulation of its notes, be it remembered, 
 creates the means of the balances and depo- 
 sits), the bank discounts the bills of indi- 
 viduals, makes the temporary advances to go- 
 vernment on interest, and buys exchequer bills 
 and other government securities, bearing interest ; 
 all these it is, in addition to the specific charge 
 of £275,000 per annum specified in sect. 65, and 
 3 per cent, on the £14,686,800 specified in 
 sect. 41, that enables the directors of the bank tc 
 divide the enormous amount of £1,455,300 per 
 annum among the holders of the £14,553,000 of 
 stock, as specified in sect. 43. This profuse di- 
 vidend occasions the nominal £l00 of stock on 
 the bank books, to be saleable for transfer pro- 
 portionate to the current rate of interest, be it 
 3, 4, or 5 per cent, per annum. Hence, on the 
 
 ^
 
 BANK. 
 
 479 
 
 lOth of May, 1816, £100 of stock commanded 
 £262, and this leads us to an elucidation of the 
 transaction adverted to in sect. 42. In 1816 the 
 directors of the bank offered to lend the govern- 
 ment a further sum of £3,000,000 during the 
 continuance of their charter, at the moderate 
 rate of interest of 3 per cent, per annum, the 
 current rate then being about £4. 5s. per 
 cent. ; and such was the blindness, as the writer 
 of this paper regards it, of the government at 
 that time, tliatthe Chancellor of the Exchequer 
 actually held it up in parliament as one of the 
 most disinterested acts of kindness and genero- 
 sity of a public body that he had ever known : 
 but the reader should mark the sequel. 
 
 68. There was another proposition connected 
 with the transaction on the part of the directors 
 of the tank, to the following purport, viz. That 
 they should be empowered to add 25 per cent, 
 to their then permanent capital of £11,453,330. 
 This being complied with, what did the trans- 
 action amount to ? Certainly to empower the 
 then holders of bank stock to levy a contribu- 
 tion of from £7,000,000 to £8,000,000 c" the 
 public for their own exclusive benefit, be-^ause 
 no new subscription was called for, nor was the 
 £3,000,000 purported to be lent, the property 
 of the bank, but simply a reduction of the ba- 
 lances of the public money, which the bank held 
 as the agent of the public ; which by tliis act 
 they were empowered to convert either into a 
 marketable commodity at from £262 to £220 for 
 every £lOO, or to retain it as a permanent ac- 
 cession of capital equivalent thereto. 
 
 69. Another transaction between the bank and 
 the government, equally disadvantageous to the 
 public, took place in 1823, act of 4 Geo. IV. 
 oap. 22. This act, which, under the title of Mili- 
 tary and Naval Pension Bill, was virtually an 
 act to raise money for the purpose of sustaining 
 a sinking fund, granted an annuity to the bank 
 
 of £585,740 for forty-four years, from the 5th of 
 April, 1823, in consideration of the bank payiujj 
 to the government the sum of £13,039,419 in 
 thirteen irregular instalments l)etween the 5th of 
 April, 1823, and the 5lh of July, 1828. As the 
 actual result of this transaction depends upon 
 the rate or terms at whicli the £13,089,419 or 
 a corresponding sum, may be expended in die 
 purchase of 3 per cent, stock, prior to the pay- 
 ment of the last instalment, we are of course (in 
 May, 1826) precluded from slating with accuracy 
 the precise extent of its disadvantage to the 
 public. But, according to one (the eighteenth) 
 of a series of resolutions on the state of the 
 nation, submitted to the consideration of par- 
 liament, by Mr. Hume, on the 4th of May, 1826, 
 it appears that £6,917,569 of the amount re- 
 ceived up to the 6th of January, 1826, had been 
 expended at a rate equivalent to £7,858,188 of 
 3 per cent, stock, whilst the enuivalent of 3 per 
 cent, stock given for that portion of the amount 
 was £9,476,110, consequently a bonus to the 
 bank equal to £1,617,922 of 3 per cent, stock ; 
 but, by mathematically correct working of the 
 transaction in 1824, when the 3 per cent, stock 
 was at 95, and assuming that rate for tlie ex- 
 penditure of the remainder of the instalments 
 then to be paid, the result would have been on 
 the lOlh of October, 1828, a cancelling of per- 
 petual annuity to the amount of £365,880, leaving 
 an excess of £219,852 per annum, payable for 
 38i years, equivalent to an annuity in perpetuity 
 of £146,962 ; and supposing from the date of 
 the last instalment in 1828, 3 per cent, .stock 
 should recede to 60, or the rate of interest become 
 permanent at 5 per cent, per annum, the excess 
 of the annuity of £219,852 for 38 J- years, would, 
 at the expiration of that period, be equal to 
 £29,381,900 of 3 per cent, stock, or an annuity 
 in perpetuity of £881,457, consequently a dis- 
 advantage to the public to that extent for ever. 
 
 70. The following is a Statement of the Income of the Bank at the period of this article going 
 
 to press. 
 
 Interest on the £14,686,800 permanent Debt of the Government, at 3 per cent. 
 
 Annuity for 44 years, from 5th of April, 1823 . • 
 
 Charge for transfer of the Pui)lic Funds, and Payment of the Annuities, al)out 
 Interest on Notes in circulation, say £20,000,000, at an average of 4 per cent. 
 
 Total 
 
 From which the foUoiving charges and liabilities must be deducted, viz. 
 
 Salaries of about 1000 Clerks 
 
 Stationary, Coals, Candles, and Hovse Expenses 
 
 Repair of Buildings, Taxes, &c 
 
 Composition for Stamps 
 
 Loss on Bills Discounted 
 
 Law Expenses, Gratuities, &c 
 
 Net Income 
 
 £250,000 
 50,000 
 20,000 
 50,000 
 50,000 
 20,000 
 
 £440,604 
 585,740 
 275,000 
 800,000 
 
 £2,101,344 
 
 t»^^440,000 
 
 £1,661,344
 
 480 
 
 BANK. 
 
 Being upwards of 11 per cent, on the amount of 
 stork constituting the permanent capital annually 
 divided upon, against which, however,£5,000,000 
 of the loan of 1823, for which the annuity of 
 £385,740 was obtained, remains to be paid up ; 
 but, if the resources of tl)e bank have hitherto 
 been such as to enable it to advance the 
 £8,000,000 without entrenching more than 2 
 per cent, upon its profuse income, but little 
 doubt remains that it will be able to fulfil the 
 contract witliout any further entrenchment, and 
 if so, the whole annuity then remains clear income 
 for the remainder of the period, viz. 38^- years. 
 The amounts deducted from the gross income are 
 entirely assumed, there being no authentic data 
 before the public on the subject, they probably 
 exceed the actual expenses. 
 
 71. In the preceding view of the total income 
 of the bank, no notice is taken of interest on the 
 temporary advances to the government, nor of 
 profits by discounting, nor of interest that may 
 be derived from the balances held by the bank, 
 due as well to depositors as to the government ; 
 because the first, Giat is, the temporary advances 
 to the government wholly, and the others par- 
 tially, merge in the aggregate amount of interest 
 derived from the circulation of its notes. 
 
 72. Since 1826, when the preceding part of 
 this article was written, great and important 
 changes in the practice and principles of Bank- 
 ing in England have taken place, the particulars 
 and consequences of which, we will now pro- 
 ceed to elucidate. The expiration of the Charter 
 of the Bank of England in the present Year, 
 [1833] occasioned in 1832, a committee of par- 
 liament to be apjiointed " to enquire into the 
 expediency of renejving the Charter, and into the 
 system on which IBanks of issue in England 
 and Wales are conducted, &c. &c." The com- 
 mittee, which was composed of thirty-two mem- 
 bers of the House of Commons (five a quorum), 
 called before them twenty- two individuals, con- 
 sidered to be practically well informed men, to 
 whom, collectively, 5978 questions were put, 
 whose answers fii 480 printed pages of large 
 foolscap, upon which evidence the committee 
 reported, "That on all the points into which 
 they were appointed to inquire, more or less 
 information will be found in the minutes of 
 evidence, but on no one of them is it so com- 
 plete as to justify the committee in giving a 
 decided opinion ;" many of the questions apply 
 to the effect which the Foreign Exchanges have 
 upon the price of Gold, and their consequent 
 influence on the internal circulating medium ; 
 an elucidation of these subjects belongs to the 
 articles Circulating medium, or Currency, and 
 Exchanges, rather than to Banking; they are, 
 however, so intimately connected with it, as to 
 render a reference to them necessary to a com- 
 plete elucidation ♦lier«»of: we shall, therefore, 
 hereafter again refer to them in continuation of 
 the present article. Inapplicable as many of 
 the questions put by the committee were, and 
 insufficient and unsatisfactory as its labors have 
 been, as far as the question of a developement 
 of the just principles of Currency and Banking 
 is concerned, there are several accounts an- 
 nexed to the evidence that contain information 
 
 of the most important kind, and from which, 
 many just conclusions may be drawn ; all of 
 the most interestitig and material of these 
 accounts will be found exhibited in four state- 
 ments at the conclusion of this article, and they 
 will be adverted to in detail, as we proceed in 
 the further elucidation of the subject. 
 
 73. Independent of the Bank of England, 
 which constitutes so prominent and important 
 an adjunct to the great trading transactions of 
 the Metropolis, there are also at tliis time [1833] 
 about sixty other Banking establishments of de- 
 posit, discount, and agency in the Metropolis, 
 and about 650 others in different parts of Great 
 Britain, which are also Banks of issue, as well 
 as of deposit and agency. Previous to 1797, 
 while all notes payable on demand were con- 
 vertible into gold at the standard price of 
 £3. 17*. 10|d. per. oz , or into silver at 5s. 2d. 
 the oz., tiie practice of most of the provincial or 
 country Bankers was, to issue notes of £5 
 and £lO each, and partially of £20, £30, and 
 £50 payable on demand, at some one of the 
 most accredited of the sixty-five to seventy 
 Banking establishments in the metropolis. These 
 notes it was the practice to advance, on interest, 
 to the trading and agricultural producers of their 
 respective districts; but as these notes, being 
 payable on demand were, within a week of their 
 being issued, even from themostdistantpartof the 
 country, liable to be presented for payment, the 
 issuer was, in all cases, required to deposit with 
 his agent in the metropolis, an adequate sum or 
 security for their amount, as well as being pro- 
 vided to pay them on demand at the place from 
 whence issued ; whereby it appears that two 
 protecting capitals are required to keep one in 
 circulation, and hence the difficulty on a partial 
 view of the subject of discovering how the ad- 
 vantage to the issuer of the notes arises, this 
 will be explained by supposing the total amount 
 of promissory notes issued by any one country 
 Banker to be £20,000, a protecting capital of 
 £5000 in the Metropolis, and £l000 or £2000 
 at the place of issue will suffice, the interest 
 upon the difference will be profit, less the ex- 
 pence of stamps, paper, and management ; three- 
 fourths of the amount issued, on an average, 
 keeping permanently in circulation or dormant 
 in the drawers of the traders and farmers ; 
 but independent of the profit derived from cir- 
 culation, some country bankers charge a com 
 mission of one-fourth per cent, upon all accounts 
 which are allowed to be occasionally overdrawn ; 
 and to such of his connections who become his 
 creditors he generally allows interest only at 
 the rate of two or three per cent, per annum., 
 while he charges all his debtors four or five per 
 cent., or some such difference. The great epoch, 
 however, of advantage to the provincial banker 
 commenced with the suspension of cash payments 
 in 1797, when notes under £5 were allowed by 
 law to be issued ; the small notes, chiefly of £l, 
 sometimes of £2, were generally payable only at 
 the place where issued, and consequently required 
 no protecting capital in the metropolis, or else- 
 where to sustain them, their circulation was 
 maintained entirely by the credit and character 
 of the party issuing them. Columns number
 
 BANK. 
 
 459* 
 
 3 and 4, of the Statement number IV'., 
 will show the estimated annual amount of 
 country bank notes in circulation, about three- 
 fifths of the amount beinEj in notes of xl and £2, 
 as well as the number of establishments licensed 
 to issue the same. 
 
 74. Payment in cash being suspended (see sec- 
 tion 55) until six months after the ratification of 
 a definitive treaty of peace, the small note circu- 
 lation received its first check after the peace of 
 Paris in 1814 ; but re-attained its wonted vigour 
 agam in 1817-18, see columns 3 and 4 of 
 statement IV. From the close of the latter year, 
 when the return to gold payments at the standard 
 of 1797 was determined upon, the small note 
 circulation experienced a second check, from 
 which an effort was made to recover it in 1822-3, 
 but in the year 1825, in consequence of cir- 
 cumstances detailed in sections 60 and 64, 
 their circulation was entirely prohibited, the 
 Bank of England having voluntarily with- 
 drawn their small notes in 1821. • Up to the 
 period of 1826, the practice of provincial Bank- 
 ing in England and Wales had been carried on 
 principally by individuals, or by partnerships 
 of two or three ; and here and there, but 
 very partially, of four or five members ; but 
 the discredit which fell upon individual 
 country bankers in 1825-6, as detailed in sec- 
 tion sixty-four, and the disinclination of many 
 to aff'ord any accommodation on credit, has led 
 since that date to the formation of Joint Stock 
 Banking Establishments, at each of the under- 
 mentioned places, VIZ. 
 
 Liverpool. 
 Manchester, 2. 
 Manchester and 
 Liverpool, 9. 
 Birmingham, 1 . 
 Wolverhampton. 
 Sheffield. 
 Barnesley. 
 Bradford. 
 Halifax. 
 Huddersfield. 
 Knaresborough. 
 
 York. 
 Darlington. 
 Lancaster, 3. 
 Whitehaven. 
 Carlisle, 7. 
 Leicester. 
 Norwich, 9. 
 Stamford & Spalding. 
 Gloucester. 
 Langport, 14. 
 Plymouth and 
 Devonport. 
 
 y 
 
 The figures following certain of the places denote 
 the number of branches respectively established 
 by those banks. The Bank of England has also 
 established branches at each of the eleven fol- 
 lowing places, viz. — Liverpool, Manchester, 
 Leeds, Birmingham, Bristol, Gloucester, Swan- 
 .■»ea, Exeter, Norwich, Hull, and Newcastle. 
 
 75. In Scotland there are about thirty-five 
 banking establishments, all, except three, issuing 
 notes of £l and £2, as well as for larger amounts. 
 The commercial banking company of Scotland, 
 at Edinburgh, has thirty-one branches ; the 
 bank of the British linen company, twenty-seven 
 branches ; and the bank of Scotland, sixteen ; 
 and eighteen other establishments have together 
 fifty-nine branches, so that altogether there is in 
 Scotland bttween 160 and 170 offices of discount, 
 deposit, and agency. Of these about fifteen 
 may be regarded as private establishments, and 
 the remainder joint stock partnerships ; their 
 total" issues of promissory notes amount to about 
 £3,500,000, in the proportion of tliree-fiflhs of 
 £l and £*2. In Ireland, subsequerUto its union 
 
 Vol. III.— Part 2. 
 
 with Great Britain in 1801, banking establish- 
 ments became numerous, increasing during tlie 
 war to sixty or seventy ; but, on the return to 
 payment in p,old in 1823, about ten only re- 
 mained solvent and in practice. In 1783, the 
 Bank of Ireland was estabhshed with a capital of 
 £600,000, afterwards increased to £3,000,000, 
 with exclusive privileges, corresponding witli 
 those of the Bank of Enj,fland ; the circulation 
 of the Bank of Ireland, on an average of five 
 years preceding 1826, amounted to about 
 £5,000,000, in the proportion of about one-third 
 of small notes under £5 ; and the circulation of 
 all tiie other banks at the same time amounted 
 to about £1,200,000. In 1825, a company was 
 formed in London with a subscribed capital of 
 £2,000,000, under the title of the " Provincial 
 Banking Company of Ireland," which has es- 
 tablished brandies at eigliteen of tlie principal 
 towns in that country, at ;i greater distance than 
 fifty miles from Dublm, within which limits it 
 was precluded by the privileges of the Bank of 
 Ireland from issuing of notes. The provincial 
 Bank of Ireland, as well as all the banks of 
 Scotland, like the counlry hanks of England and 
 AVales, charge a commission on all the amounts 
 which pass throuoji ihtir hands, and allow and 
 charge interest in like manner. 
 
 70. In the three preceding sections we have 
 exhibited, in brief outline, the nature and extent 
 of the provincial banks of issue in the three 
 several parts of the United Kingdom, preparatory 
 to showing the way in which they are connected 
 with the transactions of the metropolis. To the 
 American reader of our work to whom the prac- 
 tice of banking (in a way to which we shall 
 hereafter advert) is so familiar, it may be inte- 
 resting to know that, not only does the whole 
 receipt of revenue of the United Kingdom 
 pass through the metropolis for redistribution, 
 but that the payments of all the great trans- 
 actions of the kingdom are also there equalized 
 or balanced ; this general concentration of the 
 whole money transactions of the kingdom, gives 
 to the private banking establishments of the 
 metropolis, a character peculiar to themselves; 
 they neither issue notes, nor, on the transactions 
 of the metropolis, do they cliarge any commission, 
 yet several of them employ from forty to sixty 
 clerks, while their contingent expences are on a 
 proportionate scale. Since 1824, eleven of these 
 establishments have susiiended their payments, 
 and the greater number of them proved great 
 defaulters ; at the present time (1833) there are 
 fifty-nine in operation, of which, thirty-five are 
 located within two or three minutes' distance of 
 the Bank of England and Royal Exchange, ten 
 in the more western part of the city, and the 
 remainder in Westminster. The transactions of 
 ten of those located conti;;uous to tlie Bank of 
 England are on a very extended scale, and 
 among whom the a^j'^'H'v— r^ t.hfij'ni.ntry banks 
 is principally divided ; th< transactions of ten or 
 twelve others may be rrgiirded as inconsiderable, 
 and each of the remaiiiJer as giving employment 
 to from fifteen to twcnt»-five clerks. 
 
 77. The private blinking establishments of 
 the metropolis are forn(ed of two, three, or more 
 pariii'.rs, in very few jhstances cNcccding five; 
 
 2 11*
 
 460* 
 
 BANK. 
 
 the requisite qualifications, either for commencing 
 a new banking establishment or for being admitted 
 a partner in an existing one, are, 1st. a money 
 property of from £30,000 to £50,000, Qnd. 
 prudential habits, and 3rd. a general good moral 
 character. Tlie practice of the metropolis being 
 for every merchant, trader, and ]irofessional 
 practitioner to deposit his daily or weekly receipts 
 of money with some one of the banking estab- 
 lishments, the total number of depositors probably 
 amount to about 30,000 ; this gives an average 
 of about 500 accounts to each bank, supposing 
 them equally divided ; upon these deposits no 
 interest is given, nor, on the other hand, is any 
 commission charged on their being withdrawn ; 
 but, as many deposits thus made form collec- 
 tively a large sum, the banker obtains his advan- 
 tage by using it in the discounting of bills, it 
 being understood between the depositor and the 
 banker that, as a compensation for manaoing his 
 account, the depositor will keep a permanent 
 balance with his banker of £200, £500, or £3,000, 
 as the case may be, according to the nature and 
 extent of his transactions : thus, supposing a 
 banker to have only 500 accounts, and the standing 
 deposit of each to average only £500, this would 
 afford a discounting capital to the banker of 
 £250,000 ; this will serve as an example, but the 
 deposits in each of about twenty of the principal 
 establishments will probably average five or ten 
 times that sum. 
 
 73. It is not what may be considered the per- 
 manent balance of the deposits, which alone 
 constitutes the means of advantage to the econo- 
 mical banker. The respectable merchant and 
 trader does not confine his balance to a specific 
 sum ; but he provides by anticipation for his 
 payments some days previous to their being due, 
 and at other times his receipts come in with- 
 out any immediate demands being made 
 upon him : all these contingencies tend to 
 augrrent the banker's balances, and means 
 of discount ; and thus a thousand sums, 
 which remaining in the hands of individuals 
 would be useless, by being concentrated in 
 banks of deposit become available for being 
 made constantly active and profitable. It was 
 with these deposits so concentrated that the Ex- 
 chequer bills exhibited in col. 13 of statement III. 
 were kept in circulation ; during the war from 
 1793 to 1816 those bills carried an interest of 3d. 
 to d^d. per £100 per day, and, by being daily 
 convertible, they enabled the metropolitan banker 
 at all times to convert his depositors' balances 
 to a profit ; but, since the termination of the war, 
 the interest on those bills has been progressively 
 reduced to 1 Jc/. per £l00 per day, and at that 
 reduced rate they command a premium of from 
 5.?. to 35s. per £100, which renders them of very 
 precarious advantage as absorbents of temporary 
 balances, and confines the application of the depo- 
 sits more exclusively to the discounting of bills of 
 exchange. Previous lo 1825, with the exception 
 of the government account and that of the East 
 India Company, the Irmsactions of the Bank of 
 England, as a bank of deposit, were compara- 
 tively inconsiderable ; but, in consequence of 
 the devastations at the i;lose of that year, as de- 
 tailed in sect. 64, when six of the private bank- 
 
 ing houses of the metropolis were involved in 
 the general wreck; the distrust thereby occa- 
 sioned led to the transfer of a number of accounts 
 from the private bankers to the Bank of England, 
 as may be seen by the increase of deposits, as 
 exhibited in col. 7 of statement IV. 
 
 79. It having been shown that the interest de- 
 rived from the deposits is the only source of 
 emolument of the private bankers of the metro- 
 polis upon the metropolitan part of their trans- 
 actions, if the extent of the deposits was 
 ascertained, their aggregate emolument might be 
 pretty accurately determined ; but, in the ab- 
 sence of all authentic data, the best that can be 
 done here is to assume some basis whereby an 
 approximation to the amount may be arrived 
 at; the expenses of about fifteen of the principal 
 establishments, ten in the city and five in West- 
 minster, will approximate to £8000 per annum 
 each, in clerks' salaries, rent, taxes, and contin- 
 gencies; of thirty others about £5000 each, and 
 the remaining; fifteen about £2000 each, — making 
 a total of £300,000 per annum ; if to this we 
 add £2000 per annum each, as the personal ex- 
 penses of 240 principals, being an average of 
 four partners to each establishment, £480,000 
 per annum more is required to meet those ex- 
 penses, making together a total of £780,000. To 
 meet this amount, at the present prevailing rate 
 of interest, deposits to the amount of about 
 £25,000,000 are required, and to be constantly 
 employed, leaving nothing for defalcations and 
 such like contingencies ; £25,000,000, divided 
 among sixty establishments, gives an average of 
 £416,600 ; when a second-rate establishment has 
 been suspended in its operations the claims upon 
 it have run from £300,000 to £400,000; but 
 with from ten to fifteen of the principal houses 
 the deposits will doubtless amount to £1,000,000 
 or £1,500,000, and the aggregate probably ap- 
 proximates to £30,000,000, in the following pro- 
 portions, viz. with the 
 
 15 principal establishments £1,200,000 each, 
 30 second class do. 300,000 
 
 15 minor do. 150,000 
 
 These give a total of £29,250,000, and require 
 30,000 depositors, in the following proportions, 
 viz. 
 
 1 000 averaging £5000 each £5,000,000 
 
 1000 do. 3000 3,000,000 
 
 2000 8,000,000 
 
 1000 4,000,000 
 
 750 7,500,000 
 
 200 1,000,000 
 
 150 750.000 
 
 4000 
 
 do. 
 
 4000 
 
 do. 
 
 10,000 
 
 do. 
 
 5000 
 
 do. 
 
 5000 
 
 do. 
 
 30,000 £975 £29,250,000 
 
 80. As all what are termed first-rate bills, 
 that is, bills of unquestionable validity, have for 
 the last four or five years been discountable at 
 the rate of 3, to 3^, or, as an extreme case, 3§ 
 per cent, per annum, £30,000,000, allowing 
 £5,000,000 as a necessary rest or reserve, lo 
 meet daily contingencies (to which we shall again 
 advert), will barely provide for the current ex- 
 penses, in addition to which the personal ex- 
 penses of several of the individual principals 
 engaged in banking are stated to amount to 
 £20,000 per annum, and a number of them to
 
 BANK. 
 
 461* 
 
 £tO,000 and 5000 each ; and, at the present 
 time, the personal expenses of the collective 
 partners of one of the principal establishments 
 are stated to amount to £80,000 per annum, 
 whose fortunes at the commencement of the war 
 in 1793 were inconsiderable, not exceeding 
 £60,000 ; the profits of another establishment, 
 it is pretty well understood, for two or three 
 years previous to the termination of the war, ex- 
 ceeded £100,000 per annum, while the personal 
 expenses of the principal partner did not exceed 
 £2000 per annum ; but from 1798 down to 1819, 
 in addition to the emoluments derived from the 
 metropolitan deposits, the emoluments derived 
 from the agency of the country banks, as exhi- 
 bited in col. 4 of statement IV., was very consi- 
 derable, and equal probably to that derived from 
 the metropolitan deposits. The emoluments of 
 the London bankers by the agencies of the banks 
 of Liverpool, Manchester, and Leeds, are sup- 
 posed, at one time, to have amounted to a 
 very considerable sum, and that one of t!ie 
 Manchester establishments alone is stated to 
 have been equal to £lO,000. It will not be out 
 of place here to state that the practice of the 
 banks in Liverpool and Manchester was and 
 still is an exception to the practice of all the 
 other provincial banks ; those of Liverpool and 
 Manchester never having been banks of issue, 
 but exclusively of agency, charging | per cent, 
 upon all transactions : the nature of their prac- 
 tice is, to take the bills drawn and received in 
 payment for the produce and manufactures sold 
 in the respective places, and supply the mer- 
 chants and manufacturers with Bank of England 
 rotes and cash for their current demands ; in ad- 
 dition to which the bills so drawn in themselves 
 constitute an important feature in the circulation 
 of that district of the kingdom ; and, as the 
 practice is peculiar to the district, and is as in- 
 teresting and important as it is peculiar, it me- 
 rits more than an ordinary share of attention from 
 the legislative as well as general inquirer, not 
 merely in comparison with the practice in other 
 parts of Great Britain, but as having no compa- 
 rison with the circulation and practice of banking 
 in any other part of the world ; we shall therefore 
 endeavour to show its extent and practice. 
 
 81. The imports into Liverpool, including 
 those from Ireland, have averaged, during the 
 last fifteen years, about £20,000,000 per annum ; 
 and the annual value of the manufactures of the 
 district of which Manchester is the centre have 
 averaged about £50,000,000 per annum ; for, al- 
 though the quantity has doubled during the 
 period, the reduction in value has been in a ratio 
 corresponding as near as possible with the in- 
 crease of quantity. Upon these transactions but 
 few bills, comparatively speaking, are created in 
 Liverpool ; while about .£35,000,000 on London 
 are created in Manchester, in the proportion of 
 about £17,000,000 for tlie proportion of cottons 
 and yarn exported, and £18,000,000 for the con- 
 sumption and rc-distrihution of the metropolis; 
 the remaining £'15,000,000 are paid for by other 
 bills carried in or remitted by the country shop- 
 keeper. (Draper.) Hence bills, as here described, 
 to tlie amount of about £50,000,000, annually 
 ^.ass through the hands of the Manchester bank- 
 
 ers, at present (1833) eiglit in number. In 
 Liverpool the prevailing condition of ail contracts 
 is 'payment in approved bills, not exceeding 
 three or four months' date ;' then, as the bulk ol" 
 the imports into Liverpool are worked up or 
 consumed in the district ; tlie cotton dealer, or 
 spinner, the grocer, provision dealer, &c. obtain 
 from their bankers in Manciiester such pottion of 
 the bills previously mentioned as their transactions 
 require; hence it will be seen that these bills 
 constitute the chief circulating medium or means 
 of exchange between the place of import and 
 distribution. The remainder of the bills created 
 and received in Manchester are in due course 
 remitted to the metropolis, in exchange for such 
 foreign produce and productions thereof as are 
 supplied from thence into Lancashire; and then, 
 as all the produce imported into Liverpool is 
 drawn for at the places of export in bills payable 
 in London, all the bills carried into Liverpool 
 from the Manchester district are ultimately re- 
 mitted to the metropolis, to meet the payment 
 of the bills so drawn, en account of the imports; 
 and, as the bills made payable in London are 
 generally addressed to some accredited banking 
 house, the remittances from Liverpool are com- 
 monly made through the banking houses of that 
 place. 
 
 82. By the preceding section it will be seen 
 that the practice of the Liverpool and Manchester 
 bankers consists more of endorsing and rendering 
 valid, or approved, the bills created and received 
 for the manufactures of the district than in re- 
 ceiving and disbursing of cash deposits, and 
 that it is consequently a practice requiring the 
 utmost discretion and judgment, and differing 
 essentially from the practice of the metropolis. 
 The risks and liabilities of the Liverpool and 
 Manchester bankers are exceedingly involved, 
 inasmuch as their transactions are not confined 
 to the bare passing through their hands the 
 £50,000,000 per annum which the manufactures 
 of the district give rise to, hut they exchange 
 bills of large amount for smaller, and vice versa, 
 as the wants and conveniences of their connexions 
 require; and, although these transactions do not 
 add to the aggregate liability, they add to their 
 complication. The practice of the bankers of 
 Leecls, of Sheffield, of Birmingham, and of all 
 the other manufacturing districts, as well as of 
 the provincial banks in general, is similar to 
 that of the bankers of Liverpool and Man- 
 chester, in regard to tln-ir endorsing and 
 exchanging of bills, but di tiered from them in 
 their practice, during the small note circulation, 
 of issuing their own promissory notes to sup|)ly 
 the current cash demands of their res]iective 
 districts, which their £5 and £lO liotes at pre- 
 sent in part supply ; but, as in th* case of Li- 
 verpool and Manchester, tlic bills created in all 
 the other manufacturinj. itistuoUhafe all drawn 
 ujion or made payable in the metropolis, they 
 consequently give rise /fo daily exchanucs 
 between about thirty-liva of the metropolitan 
 bankers to an extent incredible to persons un- 
 acquainted in some dc;^re| with the practice of 
 bankinii transactioiis 
 
 83. The aggregate trar actions of the metro 
 poLlau bankers, cxclus -e of 
 
 the 
 2 11 
 
 Bank 
 2
 
 4G2* 
 
 BANK. 
 
 England, are stated to amount to from £3,000,000 
 to £4,000,000 daily, and occasionally to exceed 
 the latter sum. The economical means devised 
 for the daily liquidation and settlement of the 
 claims of the bankers upon each other is the 
 nearest approximation to perfection in social ar- 
 rangement ever arrived at : some of the principal 
 Westminster establishments have accounts with 
 those in the city in a way not dissimilar to the 
 provincial bankers; then, about thirty of the 
 principal houses each send a clerk to a common 
 rendezvous, where they exchange the claims of 
 their respective houses upon each other. The 
 place where this exchange takes place is in Lom- 
 bard Street, in the immediate vicinity of all the 
 principal banking houses, and is termed the 
 Clearing House ; the first meeting takes place at 
 one, and the last at four o'clock in the day ; and 
 by this arrangement claims of millions are 
 settled in an hour, with a very inconsiderable 
 sum. To the uninitiated it may be proper still 
 further to explain that when the merchant or 
 
 trader of the metropolis accepts a bill he usually 
 accepts it payable at his bankers ; and in like 
 manner, in making cash payments, they give a 
 cheque, or order, on their banker, and at 
 the same time write across it the name of the 
 banker to whom it will be paid, which practice 
 serves at once as a receipt on one side and se- 
 curity on the other, because, when so written 
 upon or crossed, in the event of being lost, no 
 injury can accrue to either party, inasmuch as 
 the crossing implies that it must pass the 
 Clearing House, and therefore prevents its being 
 paid to any undue person. It must be under- 
 stood, however, that the payment in cheques is 
 not usually made for amounts less than £5 ; at 
 one time the Bank of England would not pay or 
 recognize cheques of less than £t0, and some 
 houses of business make it a rule not to draw 
 for a less sum ; but this depends entirely on cir- 
 cumstances, and occasionally, as an exception to 
 the general rule, a cheque may be given for as 
 small an amount as 30s. or even 25s. 
 
 84. The following statement will suffice to show the way in which the daily transactions of 
 those bankers who associate at the Clearing House are equalized : 
 
 
 
 A 
 
 B 
 
 C 
 
 D E 
 
 F 
 
 G 
 
 H 
 
 Totals. 
 
 
 
 _£ 
 
 £ 
 
 £- • 
 
 £- -£- 
 
 £ 
 
 — £ — 
 16,827 
 
 — £— 
 19,764 
 
 — £ — 
 82,446 
 
 A claims 
 
 of 
 
 
 9,872 
 
 3,841 
 
 2,850 17,640 
 
 11,652 
 
 B do. 
 
 
 12,682 
 
 
 7,641 
 
 4,627 23,219 
 
 9,760 
 
 26,541 
 
 18,322 
 
 102,792 
 
 C do. 
 
 
 4,640 
 
 7,157 
 
 
 1,520 
 
 8,617 
 
 4,215 
 
 8,427 
 
 7,380 
 
 41,956 
 
 D do. 
 
 
 3,157 
 
 5,117 
 
 942 
 
 
 5,183 
 
 2,970 
 
 4,185 
 
 3,768 
 
 25,322 
 
 E do. 
 
 
 16,970 
 
 27,689 
 
 9,180 
 
 3,922 
 
 
 7,680 
 
 32,817 
 
 15,870 
 
 114,128 
 
 F do. 
 
 
 12,827 
 
 13,891 
 
 3,814 
 
 1,815 
 
 9,723 
 
 
 11,614 
 
 7,682 
 
 61,366 
 
 G do. 
 
 
 17,954 
 
 23,814 
 
 9,716 
 
 13,817 
 
 29,740 
 
 17,952 
 
 
 13,876 
 
 126,869 
 
 H do. 
 
 To receive 
 
 Claimed of A 
 
 21,690 
 
 14,872 
 
 9,427 
 
 4,640 
 
 14,834 
 
 9,167 
 
 13,740 
 
 
 88,370 
 
 89,920 
 
 102,412 
 
 44,561 
 
 33,191 
 
 108,956 
 
 63,396 
 
 114,151 
 
 86,662 
 
 643/249 
 
 
 12,682 
 
 4,640 
 
 3,157 
 
 16,970 
 
 12,827 
 
 17,954 
 
 21,690 
 
 89,920 
 
 do. 
 
 B 
 
 9,872 
 
 
 7,157 
 
 5,117 
 
 27,689 
 
 13,891 
 
 23,814 
 
 14,872 
 
 102,412 
 
 do. 
 
 C 
 
 3,841 
 
 7,641 
 
 
 942 
 
 9,180 
 
 3,814 
 
 9,716 
 
 9,427 
 
 44,561 
 
 do. 
 
 D 
 
 2,850 
 
 4 627 
 
 1,520 
 
 
 3,922 
 
 1,815 
 
 13,817 
 
 4,640 
 
 33,191 
 
 do. 
 
 E 
 
 17,640 
 
 23,219 
 
 8,617 
 
 5,183 1 
 
 9,723 
 
 29,740 
 
 14,834 
 
 108,956 
 
 do. 
 
 F 
 
 11,652 
 
 9,760 
 
 4,215 
 
 2,970 
 
 7,680 
 
 
 17,952 
 
 9,167 
 
 63,396 
 
 do. 
 
 G 
 
 16,827 
 
 26,541 
 
 8,427 
 
 4,185 
 
 32,817 
 
 11,614 
 
 
 13,740 
 
 114,151 
 
 do. 
 To pay 
 
 H 
 
 19,764 
 
 18,322 
 
 7,380 
 
 3,768 
 
 15,870 
 
 7,682 
 
 13,876 
 
 
 86,662 
 
 82,446 
 
 102,792 
 
 41,956 
 
 25,322 
 
 114,128 
 
 61,366 Il26,869 
 
 88,370 
 
 643,249 
 
 Balances 
 
 . 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 To pay 
 
 
 7,474 
 
 
 2,605 
 
 7,869 
 
 
 2,030 
 
 
 
 19,978 
 
 To receive 
 
 
 
 380 
 
 
 
 5,172 
 
 
 12,718 
 
 1,708 
 
 19,978 
 
 85. Suppose the letters A to H here to repre- 
 sent so raany banking concerns. The lines of 
 the first division of the statement show the 
 amounts which each respectively claims, or has 
 to receive, oiUhe other, and the columns the 
 amounts which eachhas respectively to pay; while 
 in the second division the amounts are reversed, 
 viz. the lines show die amounts claimed, and the 
 columns the amounts which each has to receive 
 of the other. The tital amount carried in is 
 £643,249, which anount, without some such 
 mutual arrangement, would have to be paid in 
 
 money twice over. It is true an exchange might 
 take place at the counters of the respective 
 houses, and the balances only paid or received ; 
 but this would be attended with great loss of 
 time and considerable payments, while, by the 
 arrangement adopted, no money payment is 
 necessary if the bankers have confidence in each 
 other ; because, with the exception of an occasional 
 very large amount, the balance notes given one day 
 would probably equalize themselves the next, 
 so that if each banker was to deposit F.xchequer 
 bills for mutual security, according to the extent
 
 BANK. 
 
 463* 
 
 of their respective transactions and probable oc- 
 casional balances at the clearing house, their 
 exchanges might continue, ad infinitum, without 
 a shilling of money ever being required, and the 
 banking of the metropolis resolve itself, by this 
 practice, into a joint stock security, wi:h the su- 
 perior advantage resulting from individual con- 
 fidence ; while a daily account, made up in the 
 form as exhibited above, would show tlie work- 
 ing of the money transactions of the metropolis, 
 in a wav-io enable just and important conclu- 
 sions to "be drawn fromtliem. 
 
 86. According to the previous statement the 
 aggregate balance arising out of an exchange of 
 £643,249 is £19,978, or about 3 per cent. ; this, 
 however, does not show the extent of money re- 
 quisite to equalize each day's transaction, as will 
 be seen by the account of B, which in the ag- 
 gregate, balances within the trifling sum of £380, 
 but which, when exhibited in detail, shows a ba- 
 lance of £9,471, viz. 
 
 
 
 Claimed 
 
 B has to 
 
 B has to 
 
 
 B claims. 
 
 of B. 
 
 receive. 
 
 pay- 
 
 
 £ 
 
 £- 
 
 £ — 
 
 £ — 
 
 A 
 
 12,682 
 
 9,872 
 
 2810 
 
 
 C 
 
 7,641 
 
 7,157 
 
 484 
 
 
 D 
 
 4,627 
 
 . 5,117 
 
 
 490 
 
 E 
 
 23,219 
 
 27,689 
 
 
 4470 
 
 F 
 
 9,760 
 
 13,891 
 
 
 4131 
 
 G 
 
 26,541 
 
 23,814 
 
 2727 
 
 
 H 
 
 18,322 
 
 14,872 
 
 3450 
 
 
 102,792 
 
 102,412 
 
 9471 
 
 9091 
 
 
 
 Balancf 
 
 > to receiv 
 
 i 380 
 
 /r 
 
 It will be seen by these statements that, how- 
 ever irregular the claims of the respective bank- 
 ers may be on each other, in the aggregate the 
 balances to be received or paid exactly cor- 
 respond with each other, and thereby it may be 
 seen how advantageously the use of money may 
 be economised by mutual arrangement; and it 
 is by such arrangements that the half-yearly 
 payment of the dividends in January and July, 
 to the amount of £8,000,000, are effected with 
 about £2,000,000 of money, as may be seen by 
 llie statement No. 1 of the weekly circulation of 
 bank notes, at p. 4pl*. To make this more in- 
 telligible to the uninitiated it may be proper to 
 slate, that at the National Debt department of 
 tl:e Bank of England an order, termed a wur- 
 rcmt, is given for the amount of the dividend, 
 which warrant is convertible into money on de- 
 mand, at another department of the Bank ; but 
 when the warrant is received by such persons as 
 keep banking accounts, it is not converted into 
 money, but carried to their banker, and it then 
 enters into the general exchange with the Bank 
 of England at the Clearing House, or in account 
 with the respective private bankers, and thus 
 the inconsiderable sum with which the payment 
 of £8,000,000 in amount is half-yearly effected. 
 87. Having thus far traced the progress of 
 banking in Europe, from the earliest period of 
 its practice, and shown its nature and extent in 
 the United Kingdom at the present time, before 
 
 we proceed to show its nature and extent in 
 France and America, we will offer a few obser- 
 vations on the prevailing excitement in England 
 in regard to its expected future practice. That 
 it is destined to an important change is certain, 
 from more than one cause : the expiration of 
 the charter, and the present ascendancy of the 
 Bank of England, with its claim of about 
 £33,000,000 on the government, coupled with 
 tlie imaginary difficulties and certainly prevail- 
 ing extensive distress of the nation, strong 
 prepossession in favor of joint stock banks, and 
 vulgar prejudice against private banks, are all 
 circumstances which imply that an important 
 change must take place. It is not, however, the 
 question of banking, so much as of currency, 
 that claims consideration ; whether the energies 
 of the people shall be bound in chains, and fet- 
 tered with logs of gold, or whether some means 
 as elastic as their energies shall be applied, that 
 those energies may produce their proper force 
 and effect, is still more immediately the question 
 which ought soon to be decided ; and without 
 stopping to show the relative advantage or dis- 
 advantage of national, compared with joint 
 stock or private, banks, we will first proceed to 
 show the basis upon which the currency, or cir- 
 culating medium of the country, now ought to 
 be founded : this, however, unavoidably leads 
 us to refer to the account commonly called the 
 National Debt, but which term is a solecism, in- 
 asmuch as it is quite as much a credit, as it is a 
 debt. 
 
 88. It will be seen, on reference to col. 2, of y 
 statement II. p. 4^2*, that on an average of seven ^/y 
 years preceding the war declared against France 
 in February 1793, the expenditure of the go- 
 vernment did not amount to £18,000,000, in- 
 cluding the charges of collection of the revenue, 
 from which amount it progressively increased to 
 upwards of £130,000,000, in 1815, more than 
 seven-fold ; the revenue, however, was increased 
 only from £18,000,000 to £71,000,000, or about 
 four-fold, the difference being effected, first, by 
 the creation of bills, as shown in col. 13, of 
 statement III., then funding them, and by the 
 raising of loans, as shown in col. 3, of statement 
 II. The most remarkable feature displayed in 
 statement II. is, that during the first five years of 
 the war, while the expenditure was increased 
 from £18,000,000 to i'50,000,000, no increase 
 of taxation, comparatively speaking, took place ; 
 but when the operations of the war had ab- 
 sorbed the £18,000,000 value of gold, which had 
 been coined during the eigiit previous years (see 
 col. 14), and placed the country in a situatioa 
 the most peculiar, a paper circulation was resorted 
 to (see cols. 4, 5, of statement II., col. 3 of No. 
 IV., and sect, 73); then it was, for the first time, 
 shown what society, when unfettered, is capable 
 of; it enabled England to advance her revenue 
 with increasing facility rH«»-l«*ii<ten £'20,000,000 
 to more than £70,000.000 per annum, in ilio 
 course of eighteen year>, and not only to con- 
 tend single-lianded fortlie supremacy of the 
 world, but to advance I the same time all the 
 means of social enjoyr ent in a corresponding 
 
 degree; and, in 1815, 
 
 which she had fortweii y-thicc years contended. 
 
 attain the object for
 
 464* 
 
 BANK. 
 
 icot exhausted of, or diminished in, her re- 
 sources, but, on the contrary, surrounded by an 
 extent of scientific and mechanical power, a 
 facility of interchange, and a moral force, with- 
 out a parallel in the history of human action. 
 
 89. But what is the situation of the country 
 row? (1833) An accursed delusion in respect 
 to gold, like an ignis fatuus, has dazzled the 
 understandings of men, and, with one or two al- 
 ternations, led to eighteen years of prostration 
 as deplorable as the previous eighteen years of 
 advancement is even now delightful to look 
 back upon. This declaration will doubtless in- 
 duce the sciolist to exclaim, Oh ! here's a paper 
 money advocate for you ! Simpletons, who do 
 not seem to know the distinction between use 
 and abuse, or, at all events, if they do know it, 
 seem never to have entertained it. We will 
 therefore show the distinction; but we must 
 previously show the state of the annuity account, 
 called the National Debt, in 1793, compared 
 with its amount at the present time, and the 
 state of the account between the Bank of 
 England and the Government at the same two 
 periods; and we shall then, in our development 
 of an entirely new principle of currency, clearly 
 show the distinction between the use and abuse 
 of a paper circulating medium. The amount 
 of government annuities, at the commencement 
 of the war in 1793, was £9,200,000, reduced by 
 the extinction of certain life and other terniinable 
 annuities, and by redemption of land tax, &c, 
 to about £7,200,000; the total amount now 
 payable being £28,340,000, leaves £21,140,000 
 created since 1792. Now, on reference to the 
 statement of loans raised, and bills issued and 
 funded, cols. 3 and 13 of statements II. and III. 
 it will be seen that every pound of these annuities 
 was created, not for gold received, but for 
 paper ; and for paper, if convertible at all into 
 gold, a great part of it was at the rate of £5. 7s. 
 to £5. lis. per ounce. Mark, then, the injustice, 
 as well as the folly, of endeavouring to enforce 
 the payment of these annuities, as well as all 
 other proportionally increased amounts, in gold 
 at the fixed rate of 77s, lO^c?. per ounce. Next, 
 with regard to the Bank of England, sect. 42 
 shows the progressive increase of the subscribed 
 capital of the Bank, from its foundation in 1 694 
 down to 1781, at which sum it remained fixed 
 down to the close of the war in 1815; the two 
 following sections show the rate of dividends 
 and amount of bonusses derived therefrom, 
 during the same period, and down to the present 
 time (1833); sect. 67 shows that an augmenta- 
 tion of £3,000,000 to the capital took place in 
 1816; and col. 8, of statement III., shows the 
 amount of a further sum of between £18,000,000 
 and £19,000,000, which the Bank now claims 
 of the Government, making together a total 
 claim, as stated in sect. 87, of about £33,000,000. 
 The amount ad vanrpd, a? explained in sect. 69, 
 is included in the amount exhibited in col. 8. 
 
 90. The total nomiTiil value of the annuities, 
 or, in other words, the capital of the National 
 Debt, as it stood at tie commencement of the 
 present year (1833), was £755,000,000, for 
 £24,100,000 of the annuities, the remainder 
 being life and other tertiinable annuities, except 
 
 about £650,000 for interest on tlie Exchequer 
 Bills, as exhibited in col. 13, of statement III. 
 The £755,000,000 of capital above stated stands 
 under twenty or more denominations of 3, Sj, 
 and 4 per cents., distinctions as unnecessary as 
 they are elusive ; therefore, preparatory to the 
 adoption of the measure we are about to pro- 
 pose, it is necessary that all the various descrip- 
 tions of stock should be consolidated into one 
 denomination, a measure as desirable for its own 
 sake, as it is in reference to the proposition we 
 are about to advance ; in reference to which it is 
 desirable that they should be converted wholly 
 into a 3 per cent, stock ; that being done, tht; 
 amount of the account will somewhat exceed 
 £800,000,000, which account is now, instead of 
 gold, to be made the basis of the circulating me- 
 dium of the country. Suggestions have been fre- 
 quently and repeatedly offered for liquidating the 
 National Debt, by converting it into currency ; 
 but the suggestions have invariably been vague 
 and irrational, bespeaking an entire destitution of 
 all knowledge of the exact relation either of the 
 debt or of currency with the aggregately com- 
 bined interests of the nation. In the iirst place 
 the extinction, or even diminution, of the debt 
 is neither necessary nor desirable ; but, were it 
 otherwise, there is no means of either extin- 
 guishing or reducing it without producing a 
 diminution of power in the body politic, like the 
 loss of a leg or an arm to the body physical : 
 from the manner in which it has grown up it has 
 become an essential and indispensable part of the 
 aggregate combination ; and, if it can at all be 
 considered a grievance, it is more than compen- 
 sated for by the scientific and mechanical power, 
 now in operation, which the funding system has 
 mainly been the means of creating. 
 
 91. The £800,000,000 nominal value of the 
 annuities being made the basis of the currency, 
 to make the currency invariable, the nominal 
 value of the annuities must be made invariable ; 
 and this is to be eifected by means at once 
 simple, and as important to the aggregate in- 
 terests of the nation as they will prove ef- 
 fectual for the purpose of affording an inva- 
 riable currency. The government henceforward 
 must be the only manufacturers of the cur- 
 rency in £l and £2 notes, as well as of larger 
 amounts; £l00 of such notes to be always ex- 
 changeable for £l00 of the consolidated stock, 
 and, vice versa, the stock in like manner always 
 exchangable for £100 of notes. The established 
 rate of interest being 5 per cent., the difference 
 between 3 and 5 per cent, will be the means of 
 profit to the bankers and agents of distribution. 
 By the adoption of such a measure, gold, like 
 any other metal or commodity, Will find its level 
 of value as an article of merchandize, and the 
 energies of the country will be at once relieved 
 from the golden fetters with whicli (heavier than 
 iron or lead) they have for eighteen years been 
 hound. This measure being resolved upon, the 
 first step to be taken, after the consolidation of 
 the stock, will be to provide notes for all appli- 
 cants, and then settle the claim of £33,000,000 
 . with the Bank of England. The directors of 
 that establishment, doubtless, imagine that they 
 are entitled to claim £33,000,000 in gold, at
 
 BANK. 
 
 465* 
 
 77*. lO^d. per ounce; but £11,642,400 is all 
 they are entitled to receive in gold, all beyond 
 that amount has been created in paper, and in 
 paper only ought it to be paid ; let, then, the 
 claim of the Bank be settled by paying tiie sub- 
 scribed capital back in gold, at the rate at which 
 it was received, and the remainder in the na- 
 tional paper proposed as the only future circu- 
 lating medium of the country, which gold and 
 paper would form the future capital of the Bank 
 * of England. 
 
 92. Under the arrangement proposed in the 
 preceding section all obligation between the Go- 
 vernment and the Bank is dissolved; the Bank 
 stands on its own bottom, with means and in a 
 condition to pursue the occupation of bankers, 
 like any other establishment, with the difference 
 in their favor of a larger capital ; if they should 
 prefer funding their notes, or any part of them, 
 let them do so : another establishment upon an 
 equal scale of efficiency would doubtless be 
 formed ; the government business is open to the 
 existing establishment, or to any other which 
 may be formed ; in either case it will be the 
 duty of the government to take care that it is 
 transacted on the most economical terms for the 
 public ; by economical we do not mean the 
 lowest rate of terms, but those which afford the 
 greatest security and facility. As the proposed 
 currency is totally unconnected with gold, the 
 £11,642,400, which the Bank will be entitled to 
 receive ai 77s. lO^d. per ounce, in its settlement 
 with the government, will be at the disposal of 
 the Bank as merchandize, like any other metal ; 
 should a dem.and ensue either to facilitate the 
 transfer of capital from British to foreign secu- 
 rity, or for procuring corn or any other article of 
 production, the price of gold will rise in pro- 
 portion to the demand for it, and a due equili- 
 brium be thereby maintained. If it should he 
 imagined that our silver currency may be ex- 
 posed to derangement, by circulating in con-- 
 junction with paper, we do not apprehend an 
 inconvenience as likely to arise ; but, as it is 
 a possible case, it may not here be irrelevant to 
 state that the present attainment in the arts 
 affords a substitute even for silver, more beauti- 
 ful and equally convenient, whether in sixpences, 
 shillings, half crowns, or crowns, and at the 
 same time as non-intrinsic or valueless as the 
 notes, except for their legitimate purpose of 
 currency. 
 
 93. We have stated in a previous section that 
 the present prevailing rate of interest does not 
 exceed 3 to 3^ per cent. ; it may therefore be sup- 
 posed that, if the government rate of interest is 
 tixed permanently at 3 per cent., there will 
 be no inducement for bankers to risk tiie circu- 
 lation of national notes ; but the very circum- 
 
 I stance of the government being always open to 
 
 receive the surplus money capital at that rate, 
 in itself would tend to enhance the rate for 
 trading purposes; while the increased energies 
 which a rational and compatible system of cur- 
 rency would tend to excite, and the progres- 
 sively increasing consumption which would 
 necessarily ensue, wouUl enable 5 per cent, in- 
 terest per annum to be readily paid on all 
 money borrowed for manufacturing and trading 
 
 purposes. A currency based as we have here 
 proposed, on the capital of the national annui- 
 ties, would not merely suiiice for all purposes of 
 internal interchange tar more conveniently and 
 preferably tiian gold, but it is susceptible of 
 such an order of mana^eiinnt as to serve at all 
 times as an indicator of the activities and con- 
 dition of the country. 
 
 94. The present circulation of the United 
 Kingdom may be stated as follows : viz. 
 
 Bank of England notes about 18,000,000 
 
 Country Banks : 
 
 England and Wales . . 7,500,000 
 Scotland ...... 3,500,000 
 
 Ireland 5,000,000 
 
 Gold 26,000,000 
 
 Total . . . £60,000,000 
 Exclusive of about £7,000,000 of silver, the cir- 
 culation of which would not at present be al- 
 tered by the adoption of the measure we have 
 here proposed. The total of gold coined since 
 the termination of the war in 1815, up to this 
 time (1833), amounts to about £50,000,000; 
 but the large transfers of capital from British 
 to foreign securities, which took place more par- 
 ticularly in 1817-18, and more or less since that 
 date, have led to the export of about£20, 000,000 
 of gold, and three to five millions more has pro- 
 bably been absorbed for manufacturing pur- 
 poses; the proportion left for the purposes of- 
 circulation may therefore be estimated as stated 
 above, and £60,000,000 as the aggregate amount 
 of circulating medium ; but it does not circulate, 
 and hence the embarrassment which so exten- 
 sively pervades the productive interests of the 
 empire. It will be seen by col. 10, of statement 
 III., that from £7,000,000 to £10,000,000 of gold 
 is constantly dormant in the coffers of the Bank 
 ef England; £3,000,000 to £5,000,000 more 
 will in like manner be dormant in the drawers 
 of the ether bankers of the kingdom ; while an 
 equal amount of the Bank of England notes will 
 be dormant in tlie hands of the private bankers 
 of the metropolis, to meet sudden and unex- 
 pected demands ; so that in reality the proportion 
 of active circulating medium is less than 
 £40,000,000. 
 
 95. We have shown in sect. 81 that, indepen- 
 dent of the circulating medium exhibited above, 
 bills of exciiange in the manufacturing districts 
 constitute the chief circulating medium ; there 
 is also another description of bills which are in- 
 timately connected with the question of circula- 
 tion, viz. the Exchequer bills, as exhibited in 
 col. 13, of statement 111. : the function of these 
 bills is, they are held prmcipallyby tiie metro- 
 politan bankers, as an immediately convertible 
 means of meeting any sudden or unusual de- 
 mand upon them ; being a legal leader for duties 
 of customs, excise, &c.^ lUgvar e alwa ys convert- 
 y ible into current monei within twenty-four 
 hours ; the Bank of Knglaad liohl a considerable 
 amount of these bills, forlvhich they receive in- 
 terest, giving in exchange/their own notes, bear- 
 ing no interest. We slill offer no observation 
 here on the irnproviilenc of sucli a system, but 
 proceed to sliow the an )unt of national nptes 
 likely to be required for acilitating the most ex
 
 466 
 
 BANK. 
 
 tensive interchange of productions, the way in 
 which they would at once be put into circulation, 
 and the consequences which would necessarily 
 follow the adoption of such a measure. To with- 
 draw suddenly such an amount as £26,000,000 
 of gold from its function as currency, and throw 
 it at once on the market as metal, or an article 
 of merchandize, might lead to embarrassment ; 
 the government might therefore take all that 
 offered, at some fixed rate to be agreed upon, in 
 exchange for national notes ; this we will suppose 
 to call for £15,000,000, or perhaps £20,000,000, 
 of notes : the Exchequer bills outstanding will 
 be seen by col. 13, of statement III. to amount to 
 £27,000,000; the whole of these would at once 
 be converted into currency or national notes ; 
 and the claim of the Bank, beyond their sub- 
 scribed capital, being about £23,000,000, in 
 which, however, about £8,000,000 of Exchequer 
 bills is included, leaving about £l 5,000,000 to 
 be liquidated in currency or national notes; and, 
 in addition to these, it is probable that from 
 £5,000,000 to £10,000,000 more of notes would 
 be almost immediately demanded for legitimate 
 banking purposes in different parts of the United 
 Kingdom. Thus the entire issue of national notes 
 in the first instance may be estimated as follows, 
 viz. 
 
 Against gold . ' 15,000,000 
 
 Do. Exchequer bills held by 
 
 private bankers, &c. . . 1 9,000,000 
 Do. do. by the Bank of England 8,000,000 
 In final settlement with do. . 15,000,000 
 Demanded by provincial banks 7,500,000 
 
 Total . . £64,500,000 
 
 96. It is probable, however, that a portion of 
 the amount issued against gold, as well as to the 
 Bank, would seek to be funded, say to the amount 
 of about £14,500,000, leaving £50,000,000 for 
 active circulation. Proceeding upon these pre- 
 mises, let us, in the next place, see how the 
 government and the public will then stand in 
 relation to each other. The government will gain 
 on behalf of the public, on one side, the interest 
 on the Exchequer bills to the amount of about 
 £700,000 per annum, and incur, on the other 
 side, an obligatioa on the new stock to be 
 created of £435,000 per annum, and be liable to 
 the expense of manufacture and issue of the notes, 
 equal probably to £200,000 per annum more ; but 
 then the government will be in possession of from 
 £15,000,000 to £20,000,000 value in gold, which 
 may either be disposed of gradually, as occasion 
 may serve, in purchase of beneficial arrangements 
 ofintercourse with the several nations of the world, 
 or held in whole, or in part, as a reserve for 
 war, failure of harvests, or other contingencies : 
 at all events an important object will be gained 
 for all parties, by. wiihf^rav'ing it from fettering 
 the circulation, and oTamping the productive en- 
 ergies of the country. 
 
 97. The two objecions to a paper circulating 
 medium are its liability to excess of issue, and 
 imitation. The first of these objections is valid 
 enough^ when issued r« it was by country bank- 
 ers, upon their indiviilual credit, or as it nii^ht 
 be if issued indefinitely by a government ; but 
 
 the objection does not apply to the proposition 
 here advanced, based, as here proposed, on the 
 £800,000,000 of national obligation ; inasmuch 
 as no more will be converted into currency than 
 will be necessary for its legitimate purpose of 
 facilitating the exchange of commodities, aiding 
 the means of production, and advancing those 
 improvements which the spirit of the age in- 
 vites, and which such an order of currency is in 
 itself calculated to promote and encourage : 
 when it ceases to be required, and to find active 
 and profitable employment for such purposes, it 
 will revert back for conversion into stock, and 
 thereby serve at all times as an indicator of the 
 state of the activities of the nation ; and if, from 
 any temporary current of feeling which caprice 
 or any other cause may engender, the notes 
 should press in, for fixed investment, to an extent 
 indicative of an undue contraction, the quarterly 
 payments of the government will lead to a re- 
 issue, whereby a uniform and just equilibrium 
 may always be maintained. The objection in re- 
 gard to imitation is one which cannot be entirely 
 overcome ; but the objection lies equally strong 
 against a metallic currency, and it is question- 
 able if recent improvements in the arts will not 
 afford greater protection against the imitation of 
 paper than can be obtained against the ad- 
 mixture, or debasement, and abrasion of metal ; 
 against which, for the purposes of cuirency, we 
 might proceed to point out various other ob- 
 jections, while none other of a valid nature can 
 be brought against paper. 
 
 98. To fix permanently the rata of interest for 
 the £800,000,000 capital stock of England at 
 3 per cent., while the rate of interest on the 
 pulilic securities or stock of all other countries 
 rates from 5 to 6 per cent., may seem to be a 
 measure calculated to induce a transfer of the 
 capital of England to other countries ; we will 
 therefore now show how the attempt at a transfer 
 of property would operate. A stockholder in 
 England is desirous to transfer a given sum, say 
 £5,000, of stock from England to France, or any 
 other country; the stock in England being con- 
 vertible on demand into currency notes at pound 
 for pound, if the transfer is attempted to be 
 made in gold, gold will be sought after as an 
 article of merchandize, and a price demanded for 
 it accordingly. A demand for such a sum as 
 £5,000 would notprobably produce any effect on 
 the price ; but, in proportion as the amount 
 is attempted to be increased, a price will be 
 demanded for gold calculated to check the 
 operation ; so that, whatever may be the nominal 
 rate of interest in the different countries of the 
 world, a due equilibrium will be maintained 
 through the medium of a fair market price for 
 that metal. To a certain extent, transfers of capital 
 may continue to be made, as they have hitherto 
 been, through the medium of the export of the 
 products of British labour; and the dcjiand for 
 gold will not show itself until a difficulty ensues 
 in the disposal of British productions to an addi- 
 tional extent, corresponding with the amount de- 
 sired or attempted tobe transferred. In lii<emanrer, 
 on occasions of a sudden demand for supplies of 
 foreign grain, derangements in the cirtulatini 
 medium will be j)revcnted, and the cxchanue f'
 
 BANK. 
 
 467* 
 
 grain be more confined tlian heretofore to pro- 
 ductions of British labor, inasmucli as gold will 
 experience the effect of a rise in price more im- 
 mediately than any other article. 
 
 99. A circulating medium founded on tlie 
 basis we have here proposed, while it would 
 free the energies ot the country from the chains 
 in which they have for eighteen years past been 
 enthralled, would at the same time render the 
 practice of banking more simple and intelligible, 
 and thereby render it likely to be more exten- 
 sively carried on, and more generally useful, thin 
 it has hitherto been. The government, on behalf 
 of the public, being the only issuers of circulating 
 medium, the only security required from bankers 
 will then be for the deposits made with them ; 
 this must at all times, and under all circum- 
 stances, be an affair more or less of risk, whe- 
 ther banking be conducted by individuals, by 
 partnerships of two, three, or more members, or 
 by an extended joint-stock proprietary, inasmuch 
 as all are equally exposed to chances, which 
 no reasonable amount of capital, nor pru- 
 dence, can absolutely prove a protection 
 against. Joint-stock companies, with a capital 
 avowedly subscribed and actually paid up for 
 the purpose of aiding the productive industry of 
 the districts in which they may be formed, aflford, 
 generally speaking, a more ample security than 
 individuals ; while, on the other hand, the indi- 
 vidual or more private establishments afford the 
 greatest facility : joint-stock, or public compa- 
 nies, are too apt to be governed by fixed rules 
 of practice, while with the individual banker a 
 strong mutual confidence generally prevails be- 
 tween him and the parties with whom he is con- 
 nected in business transactions ; and he more 
 readily yields to the exigencies of particular cir- 
 cumstances, which the forms or fixed rules of 
 public companies prevent. 
 
 100. The scheme we have here proposed will 
 be seen not in the slightest degree to alter the 
 practice of banking in regard to deposit, dis- 
 count, and agency, but effectually separates from 
 them the 'practice of issue ; and, as it was the 
 issue of notes, and not the advantages derived 
 from deposit, discount, and agency, which more 
 particularly constituted the exciting principle of 
 provincial bankers in the United Kingdom from 
 1798 down to 1819, and which still constitutes 
 the leading feature of banking in Scotland, and 
 with the provincial bankers of Ireland, as well 
 as of several of those of England and Wales, as 
 far as their reissuable notes of £h and £lO, &c., 
 are concerned, and as we propose the extinction 
 of all provincial reissuable notes on demand of 
 larger amounts, as well as of £l and £2, we have 
 to show how the provincial banker is likely to 
 be affected by the suppression of his £5 and 
 £lO notes. We have shown in § 73, that while 
 these notes are issued at the rale of five per 
 cent, per annum, the issuer is obliged to provide 
 two protecting capitals to a certain extent to 
 meet them, whicii, with the stamp, ])robably 
 amounts to little less than three per. cent, on liis 
 whole circulation ; so that the circulation of the 
 national notes at the rate of five per cent, per 
 aimum, which will cost him only three per cert., 
 will afford him an equal if not greater advantage 
 
 than that derived from the issue of his own 
 notes. There is, however, another species of 
 circulating medium, and a practice in provincial 
 banking which we have not yet described ; in 
 the development of which we shall suggest an 
 alteration that will more than compensate the 
 provincial banker for the suppression of his re- 
 issuable notes. 
 
 101. A prominent feature in the practice of 
 the provincial banker is taking in deposits from 
 the traders of his town and district; if it is a 
 manufacturing district, the cash or money depo- 
 sits which the banker receives from the shop- 
 keeper and trader, suffice to supply the manu- 
 facturer with the necessary funds or means for 
 paying his wages, &c., while the deposits of the 
 shopkeeper or trader are liquidated by the 
 banker drawing in their favour on his house of 
 agency in the metropolis, in hills at forty-five days' 
 or tv/o months' date, in such amounts as the de- 
 mands of the shopkeepers require for their pur- 
 chases in the metropolis or elsewhere. ■ These 
 bills, being drawn upon, and accepted by, the 
 metropolitan banker, require, like the provincial 
 bankers' promissory notes cm demand, a protect- 
 ing capital in the hands of the metropolitan 
 agent. Now, if in future these bills are drawn 
 payable at, instead of upon, and to be accepted 
 by, the metropolitan agent, no protecting capital 
 will be requisite untii within a cay or two of 
 their becoming due. By such a change of prac- 
 tice as this, the provincial banker will be enabled 
 to extend his accommodation in his district as 
 effectually, and more advantageously to himself, 
 than by the circulation of iiis own notes, which 
 are always liable to revert back upon him with- 
 out any previous notice, while the drafts, as iiere 
 proposed, will give him a definite time for pro- 
 viding for them. 
 
 102. We have so far described all the various 
 modes of banking, as practised in the United 
 Kingdom, as well as the nature and amount of 
 the circulating medium, and shown the extent to 
 which banking transactions have been carried 
 on, as far as the internal transactions of the 
 kingdom are concerned ; its external transac- 
 tions, however, independent of its exports and 
 imports, tend greatly to augment the aggregate 
 of banking operations, and, in some degree, to 
 augment the amount and vary the character of 
 the circulating medium. During the war from 
 1793 to 1815, bills, to the amount of fiom 
 £5,000,000 to £25,000,000 annually, were drawn 
 in different parts of the world on account of the 
 British government, for subsidies and supplies 
 to the fleets and troops of England every where 
 distributed ; these bills were generally drawn 
 payable at thirty or sixty days' after siglit, and 
 were remitted in payment of British products 
 exported ; and, when acW{Hed by the depart- 
 ment of government to which they were ad- 
 dressed, entered more or less into the circulating 
 medium of the country. 
 
 103. Since tiie termination of the war, the 
 transfer of capital from British to Foreign secu- 
 rity lias given rise to a drawing of bills on Eng- 
 land to the amoimt of £5,000,000 to 7,000,000 
 annually ; British and Irish absentees, and tra- 
 vellers in different parts of Europe, give rise 
 
 1 
 
 X
 
 468* 
 
 BANK. 
 
 to nearly a corresponding amount of bills; and, 
 in addition to these and such bills as are legiti- 
 mately drawn on account of foreign products 
 imported, mercantile houses of established repu- 
 tation give rise to other bilis to the amount of 
 several millions annually, based merely on the 
 credit of the respective drawers. In addition to 
 the sixty banking establishments of the metro- 
 polis, as described in § 79, there are about 
 twenty other establishments, through whom most 
 of the bills here described pass, and whose 
 transactions partake as much of banking as they 
 do of a mercantile character. They draw bills 
 for any amount on any part of the world, and 
 give money for those drawn by others ; and ac- 
 commodate, in that way, the commercial transac- 
 tions of the world at large, as the bankers of 
 Manchester and Liverpool (see § 81) do the 
 transactions of their respective districts; these fo- 
 reign transactions ate designated exchange ope- 
 rations. 
 
 104. Having now explained all the modes of 
 banking and exchange of the United Kingdom, 
 in regard to its external transactions as well as 
 its internal, we wjll now proceed to show the 
 nature and extent pf banking in France. By 
 the law of 24 Germinal, year xi. (14th April, 
 1803), the bank of France was established with 
 a capital of 45,000,000 francs, afterwards dou- 
 bled, with an exclusive privilege of issuing of 
 notes for 40 years. The operations of this es- 
 tablishment consist, 1st, of discounting bilis of 
 exchange, not exceeding three months' date, 
 and with the signatures of three parties, unde- 
 niably (notoirement) solvent, or with two unde- 
 niably solvent signatures, if guaranteed by a 
 deposit of any public stock or other readily 
 convertible security. 
 
 2nd. To advance money on bullion and fo- 
 reign coins, not less than 10,000 francs in 
 amount, at the prevailing rate of interest for 45 
 days. 
 
 3rd. To afford security of deposit for bullion, 
 coin, diamonds, and deeds, for a charge of 
 one-eighth percent, for six months. 
 
 4th. To open acdounts, current or drawing 
 accounts, for public establishments and private 
 persons, demanded under proper regulations. 
 
 5i!i. To furnish all persons with recepisses 
 for all amounts payable at sight. These cor- 
 respond with the post bills of the bank of 
 England. 
 
 This establishment from its commencement 
 has maintained a high and deserved reputation. 
 Its capital is divided into 90,000 shares (actions) 
 of 1000 francs each, 67,900 of which are in cir- 
 culation :' the emolument of the establishment 
 arises chiefly from the discount of commercial 
 bills, which amounts to about 3,600,000 francs 
 per annum; thejiinpunt discounted averaging 
 about 560,000,000 ifrancs per annum. The 
 interest on treasury bonds does not exceed 
 250,000 francs per annum, and the emolu- 
 ments derived from interest on bullion and 
 coins, and commission on deposits, does not 
 exceed 150,000 francs per annum ; the remaining 
 portion of the income consists of about 2,300,000 
 francs of rentes. The charges of the establish- 
 ment for clerks' salaries, &c., amount to about 
 900,000 francs per annum. 
 
 105. Although this is the only bank of paper 
 circulation in all France, the amount does not 
 exceed 200 to 250 millions of francs (£8 to 
 10,000,000) in notes of 1000 francs and 500 
 francs, against which the bank holds a reserve 
 of specie of from 180 to 200 millions of francs; 
 hence it would appear that the notes are circu- 
 lated more for the convenience of the public 
 than with a view to profit. This establishment 
 is under the direction of a governor and two 
 deputy governors appointed by the king — the 
 first must possess 150, and the latter 50 shares 
 each ; a general council of fifteen members; three 
 censeurs ; a council of accounts, consisting of 
 twelve members; nine chiefs of department, and 
 six cashiers ; under whom are employed about 
 200 clerks, porters, &,c. A clear and circumstan- 
 tial account and report of the proceedings and 
 state of the establishment is published half- 
 yearly. 
 
 106. The Almanack du Commerce de Purix 
 enumerates, under the head of banquiers, about 
 160 establishments in that city; and, to a certain 
 extent, these establishments take in deposits 
 and discount bills in a way not dissimilar to 
 the bankers of London, while their general 
 business is essentially different. In the first 
 place, with the exception of the 200 to 250 
 million francs of notes of the bank of France, 
 the circulating medium of France is composed 
 entirely of silver: since 1816, she has raised 
 upwards of 3,500,000,000 of francs on annuities, 
 (rentes,) and coined upwards of 200,000,000 
 francs of circulating medium. These operations 
 have given rise to an active correspondence and 
 exchange with the capitalists of all Europe, 
 and have been participated in, more or less, 
 by all of tiie 160 establishments adverted to 
 above ; but, on tlie whole, the transactions of 
 the greater part of them partake more of the 
 character of mercantile agency than of bankers. 
 The cities of Bourdeaux, Lyons, Lisle, &c. 
 have each several similar establishments de- . 
 nominated bankers, who facilitate payments in 
 Paris and other distant parts of France, and 
 different parts of Europe ; but France has no 
 establishment for economising and rendering 
 active and profitable the deposits of the public ; 
 this is a principle which she has yet to learn 
 and reduce to practice. 
 
 107. All the capitals and several other of the 
 principal cities of Flurope have now their bank- 
 ing establishments. Next to the bank of France, 
 the Imperial Commercial Bank of Russia holds 
 the highest place. At the close of the war in 
 1817, Russia had a paper circulation amounting 
 to upwards of 830 millions of roubles, about 
 £40,000,000. Since 1817 a considerable por- 
 tion of the paper roubles have been converted 
 into annuity stock, and loans have been raised 
 in foreign countries to enable a further part to 
 be exchanged for specie; and, in 1821, the 
 paper roubles were reduced to 639 millions. 
 The paper rouble, however, in notes some as 
 low as one rouble, forms the bulk of the cir- 
 culating medium of Russia; and with such a 
 circulation the Imperial Commercial bank was es- 
 tablished in 1818, with a capital of 17,295,345 
 roubles; and the following report of the finance
 
 BANK. 
 
 460* 
 
 minister, Count Gourieff, in May, 1821, will 
 best show its progress up to that time ; since 
 when it has been gradually advanring in acti- 
 vity and usefulness, merely as a bank of deposit, 
 discount, and agency ; the government being 
 the only issuer of the circulating medium. 
 
 108. "The increasing transactions of the Im- 
 perial commercial bank, which afford such great 
 facilities to merchants, are not of less advantage 
 to the other classes of society. The considerable 
 sums which it throws into circulation cannot 
 fail in moderating the general rate of interest. 
 In order to be of still greater service to com- 
 merce and industry, in conformity with the in- 
 tentions of the law of the 7th May, 1817, the 
 bank, besides the one it iuid opened at Moscow, 
 has established new ones at Archangel, Odessa, 
 and at Nigninovgorod, during the time that the 
 annual fair is held in that city ; it has also now 
 a branch bank at Riga, and will establish one in 
 future in all the principal cities of the empire. 
 Pursuing all the same objects, and strictly 
 conforming to the same principles, they have, 
 in a very short space of time, given great ex- 
 tension to the circulations of trade, and afforded 
 tliem considerable facilities. The account 
 rendered of the operations of the bank in 1820 
 will convince you, gentlemen, that, if on the 
 one hand the resources of this establishment 
 have been augmented with large additional 
 capitals, deposited in its coffers by private per- 
 sons, merchants on the other hand, sensible of 
 the advantages it offered them, have entrusted 
 it with a large proportion of their business, 
 and have in a manner turned over to tiie bank 
 and its branch establishments the whole of 
 their financial circulations. With what re- 
 mained over of the preceding year, the bank 
 and its various provincial branches have, in 
 the course of the year 1820, received and 
 transferred more than 68 millions; 33 millions 
 of which has been transmitted from one city 
 to the other by means of drafts upon each 
 other. The deposits upon interest confided 
 to the bank here, and its office at Odessa, 
 have amounted to 86 millions of paper roubles, 
 and three millions metallic ditto. Deducting 
 what has been drawn out, tliere remained on 
 tlie 1st of January, 1821, 
 53, 1 56,935 roubles, 69 copecks in bank notes, and 
 
 555,822 „ 55 „ specie. 
 
 "At tlie commencement of the year 1820, these 
 deposits only amounted to 33,304,000 roubles 
 in notes, and 1,933 roubles in specie. This 
 augmentation proves that the capital and credit 
 of tiie bank are increasing ; by whicii it will 
 acquire additional means of extending its dis- 
 counts, by employing to that effect a part of 
 the sums confided to it at interest. With the 
 above amounts added to what remained over 
 of 1819, the bank discounted in 1820 effects to 
 tiie amount of 182 millions ; and what proves 
 tlie circumspection of the bank in the choice of 
 these effects, is, that only 69,459 roubles 83 
 co])ecks have been protested ; for the payment 
 of which, actions at law have been instituted. 
 The bank only adv^anced 5,200,000 roubles 
 upon merchandize, and, deducting what it has 
 received back, there did not remain due more 
 
 than 2,317,687 roubles; the re-payments have 
 all been made with punctuality. The dis- 
 counts have greatly exceeded the advances upon 
 merchandize, which evinces the progress indi- 
 vidual credit has experienced. The fund, or 
 capital of the bank, amounted, at the beginning 
 of 1820, to 20,910,173 roubles, 14 copecks : it 
 accumulated in the course of the year to 
 24,889,950 roubles, 1 1 copecks. The nett profits 
 of the bank, over and above the interest paid 
 and remaining due upon the deposits confided 
 to it, after deducting the charges of its establish- 
 ment, amount to 1,946,825 roubles, 45 copecks, 
 being about 7 per cent, on its capital. Alto- 
 gether the bank and its offices have transacted 
 business during the last year, 1820, for 
 
 955,561,231 paper roubles, and 
 12,052,842 metallic ditto." 
 
 109. The Bank of Issue was estnblished in 
 St. Petersburgh, in 1768, when 40,000,000 of 
 roubles in paper were first put in circulation, 
 afterwards increased to 100,000,000 ; it was 
 during the war from 1802-3 to 1810 that the 
 issue became so extended. In February of the 
 latter year, when the amount in circulation ex- 
 ceeded, as before stated, 830,000,000 of roubles, 
 an Vkuse was issued, declaring all the property 
 of the state a guarantee for the validity of all the 
 notes then in circulation, and that no further in- 
 crease should take place. After the termination 
 of the war, in 1815, the Bank of Issue esta- 
 blished in 1768 was converted into an Assign- 
 ment Bank for the exchange of new notes for old, 
 and between the 1st of Jan. 1817, and the 1st o'^ 
 Jan. 1821, in addition to 191,109,420 roubles 
 withdrawn from circulation, 632,603,115 roubles 
 in new notes had been issued for the same 
 amount of old issued previous to 1817; in this 
 amount 6,857,155 roubles o( forged notes were 
 included as a loss to the state, against which 
 12,287,465 roubles of legitimate notes are as- 
 sumed as gained by the state, old notes to that 
 amount never having been presented for ex- 
 change. In addition to the assignment and com- 
 mercial banks, the capital of Russia has another 
 establishment denominated a Loan bank, wiiich 
 takes in deposits from one class of individuals, 
 and lends out on security to public bodies 
 or individuals engaged in works of public 
 utility. This establishment bears some analogy 
 to the exchequer bill loan office of the Britisli 
 government, the difference being, that in Russia 
 the loans are made out of deposits, and in 
 England the government issues bills which are 
 converted into money on the Stock Exchange. 
 
 110. Calcutta, and the other principal cities 
 of the Peninsula of India, Rio-Janeiro, Bue- 
 nos Ayres, New South Wales, the Cape of 
 Good Hope, and Canada, have now all their 
 banks, founded chiefly on the principles of the 
 provincial banks of Kngt*id, and tlierefore 
 requiring no especial elucidation. It is in the 
 United States of North America where, next to 
 Great Britain, banking has made the most rapid 
 progress, and produced the most extraordinary 
 results. The capital of all the banks in the 
 Union, in 1790, did not exceed 2,000,000 dollars. 
 In 1791 a national bank was chartered for 
 twenty years, with a capital of 10,000,000 of
 
 470* 
 
 B A 
 
 dollars ; and, previous to the expiration of its 
 charter in 1810, eighty-eight other banks had 
 been established in different parts of the Union, 
 with a capital of 42,610,000 dollars, in addition 
 to the capital of the national bank. The disso- 
 lution of the Bank of the United States in 1810 
 gave rise to no less than 120 new establishments 
 cturingthefour years 1811-14. In August and Sep- 
 tember, 1814, all those below Connecticut in the 
 statement in § 1 13, suspended payment in specie, 
 consequent on the effects of the war declared in 
 June, 1812; and the following depreciation en- 
 sued on the notes of the several banks of New 
 York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore : — 
 
 N K. 
 
 The follovving statement shows the appropria- 
 tion of the shares of the Bank of the United 
 States in Jan. 1832; the amount of notes in cir- 
 culation at each of its branches in Sept. 1829; 
 and amount of specie on hand at each branch 
 in Jan. 1832. 
 
 1 
 
 New 
 
 Philadel- 
 
 Bahi- 
 
 1814 September . . 
 
 York. 
 10 
 
 phia. 
 
 more. 
 
 — 
 
 20 
 
 October . . . 
 
 10 
 
 — 
 
 15 
 
 November . . 
 
 11 
 
 — 
 
 10 
 
 December . . 
 
 11 
 
 — 
 
 14 
 
 1815 January . . . 
 
 15 
 
 — 
 
 20 
 
 February . . 
 
 2 
 
 — 
 
 5 
 
 March . . . 
 
 5 
 
 — 
 
 5 
 
 April . . . 
 
 51 
 
 — 
 
 10 
 
 May .... 
 
 5 
 
 5 
 
 14 
 
 June . . . 
 
 m 
 
 9 
 
 16 
 
 July . . . , 
 
 14 
 
 11 
 
 20 
 
 August . . . 
 
 12| 
 
 » 
 
 19 
 
 September . . 
 
 13 
 
 15 
 
 20 
 
 October . . . 
 
 16 
 
 » 
 
 21^ 
 
 November . . 
 
 12i 
 
 16 
 
 15 
 
 December . . 
 
 >> 
 
 14 
 
 18 
 
 1816 January . . . 
 
 jj 
 
 >) 
 
 15 
 
 February . j . 
 
 9 
 
 J) 
 
 13 
 
 March . . . 
 
 121 
 
 121 
 
 18 
 
 April . . . 
 
 10 
 
 14i 
 
 23 
 
 May .... 
 
 12^ 
 
 14 
 
 20 
 
 June . . . 
 
 5> 
 
 17 
 
 20 
 
 July .... 
 
 6 
 
 15 
 
 15 
 
 August . . . 
 
 5 
 
 10 
 
 12 
 
 September . . 
 
 3 
 
 n 
 
 10 
 
 October . . . 
 
 2 
 
 91 
 
 8 
 
 November . . 
 
 n 
 
 7 
 
 9 
 
 December . 1 . 
 
 2\ 
 
 7 
 
 9 
 
 1817 January . . . 
 
 n 
 
 H 
 
 3 
 
 February ^ . . 
 
 >) 
 
 4 
 
 21 
 
 'H 
 
 
 
 
 111. The derangement in social affairs inse- 
 parable from such a variation in the circulating 
 medium led to the proposal of the secretary of 
 the treasury in December, 1815, for a new 
 national bank, founded, as the report avowed, 
 " on the necessity of restoring specie payments 
 fud the national currency." The charter was 
 confirmed by Congress in April, 1816, and 
 ortfanised for business in .Ian. 1817, with a 
 capital of 35,000,000 of dollars^; and by Jan. 
 1820, the number of other banking establish- 
 ments had increased to 307. 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 Kotes in 
 
 
 
 
 Number of 
 
 Circula- 
 
 Specie on 
 
 Branches. 
 
 States. 
 
 
 
 tion, in 
 Sep. 1830. 
 
 hand,Jan. 
 1, 1832. 
 
 Share- 
 
 Shares of 
 
 
 
 holders 
 
 100 ds. ea. 
 
 Dollars. 
 
 Dollars. 
 
 Chief Office 
 
 Philadelphia 
 
 5 872 
 
 51,028 j 
 
 1,367,180 
 
 2,811,641 
 
 I'iltsburs 
 
 Pennsylvania 
 
 554,102 
 
 31,8)0 
 
 Ponland 
 
 Maine 
 
 J4 
 
 498 
 
 79,280 
 
 70,452 
 
 Portsmouth 
 
 K.Hampshire 
 
 24 
 
 511 
 
 101,985 
 
 50,111 
 
 Boston 
 
 MassBchupetts 
 
 211 
 
 11,175 
 
 271,180 
 
 326,378 
 
 Providence 
 
 Rhode Island 
 
 36 
 
 1,218 
 
 113,920 
 
 ]02,6«8 
 
 Hartford 
 
 Connecticut 
 
 60 
 
 1,530 
 
 171,532 
 
 28.094 
 
 New York 
 
 City 
 
 373) 
 
 
 634,733 
 
 664,687 
 
 Utica . 
 
 New York 
 
 H 
 
 30,881 
 
 
 
 67,751 
 
 Buffaloe 
 
 do. 
 
 
 258,130 
 
 103,'J3i 
 
 Burlington 
 
 Vermont 
 
 2 
 
 27 
 
 96,595 
 
 72,422 
 
 Baltimore 
 
 Maryland 
 
 C24 
 
 34,235 
 
 528,638 
 
 228,000 
 
 Washington 
 
 Dist. of Col. 
 
 61 
 
 2,725 
 
 617 ,61 12 
 
 54,611 
 
 Richmond 
 Norfollc 
 
 > Virginia 
 
 268 
 
 11,617 \ 
 
 469,440 
 
 532,400 
 
 197,212 
 112,159 
 
 Fayetville 
 
 N. CaroVna 
 
 36 
 
 2,391 
 
 713,760 
 
 18,944 
 
 Charleston 
 
 S. Carolina 
 
 730 
 
 40,242 
 
 835,840 
 
 271,40(1 
 
 Savannah 
 
 Georgia 
 
 42 
 
 1,981 
 
 522,605 
 
 376,642 
 
 Mobile 
 
 Alabama 
 
 
 
 940,825 
 
 153,672 
 
 N. Orleans 
 
 Louisiana 
 
 17 
 
 113 
 
 2,623,320 
 
 510,346 
 
 Natchez 
 
 Mississippi 
 
 
 
 
 
 57,826 
 
 St. Louis 
 
 Missouri 
 
 
 
 228,700 
 
 136,897 
 
 Nashville 
 
 Tennessee 
 
 6 
 
 258 
 
 1,235,275 
 
 167,866 
 
 Louisville 
 Lexington 
 
 i Kentucky 
 
 22 
 
 252 1 
 
 66C,,375 
 908,025 
 
 217,431 
 91,513 
 
 Cincinnati 
 
 Ohio 
 
 14 
 
 556 
 
 647,240 111,028 
 
 
 New Jersey 
 
 75 
 
 2.787. 
 
 1,531 / 
 
 50 V 
 
 167 \ 
 
 42--' 
 
 >J branches es- 
 
 
 Delaware 
 
 42 
 
 tablished in these 
 
 
 Indiana 
 
 2 
 
 .States ; those at 
 
 
 Illinois 
 
 2 
 
 Utica and Natchez 
 
 
 Arkansas 
 
 1 
 
 appear to have been 
 
 Held by Foreigners, chiefly 
 
 
 
 established since 
 
 English 
 
 470 
 
 84,0''.5 
 
 1829 
 
 By the U. S. Government 
 
 
 70,000 
 
 
 la Transfer 
 
 
 115 
 
 2,375 
 15347657 
 
 
 Totals 
 
 
 4072 
 
 350,000 
 
 7,038,823 
 
 , 7^ 
 
 112. The statement A, at page 49^*, shows the 
 situation of this bank in each of tile twelve years 
 1819-30, according to which it appears that, at 
 the close of the latter year, its assets exceeded its 
 liabilities by 2,766,129 dollars; at the same 
 time, its specie amounted to only 7,175,274, 
 while the amount due to foreign shareholders 
 was 8,405,500 dollars ; and while, in the event 
 of the dissolution of the bank, 28,000,000 dol- 
 lars in specie would be due to shareholders, in- 
 dependent of 7,000,000 to the United States 
 Government, the specie in all the banks of the 
 Union (the bank of the United States included), 
 was only 22,114,967 dollars; yet, under such 
 circumstances, the president of the United States 
 in 1832 refused to ratify an act of Congress for 
 the extension or renewal of its charter. 
 
 113. The following statement shows the 
 number of banks in operation in each state of 
 the union in June 1830, and the aggregate 
 amount of capital in each state, and also of the 
 number of banks which failed between the 1st of 
 Jan. 1811, and the 1st of July 1830, with the 
 amount for which failed in each state.
 
 BANK. 
 
 471* 
 
 Banks in Operation in the Uniterl 
 
 Banks which 
 
 States of North America, on the 
 
 failed between 
 
 1st. of January, 
 
 1830. 
 
 the 1st Jan. 1811 
 and July 1, 1830. 
 
 
 
 
 STATES. 
 
 No. 
 of 
 
 Amount xri 
 Capital, 
 
 
 
 
 1 Massachusetts 
 
 66 
 
 in Dollars. 
 
 Bks. 
 
 Capitals. 
 
 20,420,000 
 
 6 
 
 850,000 
 
 2 Maine . 
 
 18 
 
 2,050,000 
 
 8 
 
 1,150,000 
 
 3 New Hamps. 
 
 18 
 
 1,791,670 
 
 2 
 
 129,600 
 
 4 Vermont . 
 
 10 
 
 432,625 
 
 
 
 
 5 Rhode Island 
 
 47 
 
 6,118,397 
 
 i 
 
 200,000 
 
 6 Connecticut 
 
 13 
 
 4,485,177 
 
 2 
 
 600,000 
 
 7 New York . 
 
 37 
 
 20,083.353 
 
 10 
 
 3,378,676 
 
 8 New Jersey 
 
 18 
 
 2,017,009 
 
 7 
 
 1,142,400 
 
 9 Pennsylvania 
 
 33 
 
 14,609,963 
 
 16 
 
 1,811,558 
 
 10 Delaware . 
 
 4 
 
 830,000 
 
 1 
 
 45,000 
 
 11 Do. . . 
 
 2 
 
 no return. 
 
 . 
 
 
 12 Maryland 
 
 13 
 
 6,250,495 
 
 9 
 
 1,821,162 
 
 13 Dist. of Col. 
 
 9 
 
 3,875,794 
 
 4 
 
 1,657,460 
 
 14 Virginia . 
 
 4 
 
 5,571,100 
 
 10 
 
 421,415 
 
 15 N.Carolina 
 
 3 
 
 3,195,000 
 
 2 
 
 
 16 S. Carolina 
 
 5 
 
 4,631,000 
 
 1 
 
 20.000 
 
 17 Georgia . 
 
 9 
 
 4,203,029 
 
 1 
 
 480,000 
 
 18 Louisiana . 
 
 4 
 
 5,665,980 
 
 2 
 
 924,000 
 
 19 Alabama . 
 
 2 
 
 643,503 
 
 3 
 
 337,112 
 
 20 Mississippi 
 
 
 950,600 
 
 - 
 
 
 21 Tennessee 
 
 
 737,817 
 
 4 
 
 2.229,782 
 
 22 Ohio. . . 
 
 11 
 
 1,454,386 
 
 18 
 
 1,911,179 
 
 23 Michigan . 
 
 
 10,000 
 
 1 
 
 10,000 
 
 24 Florida . 
 
 
 75,000 
 
 . 
 
 
 
 25 Kentucky . 
 
 
 
 18 
 
 4,307,431 
 
 26 Indiana . 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 257,624 
 
 27 Illinois 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 162,910 
 
 28 Missouri . 
 
 330 
 
 " 
 
 2 
 
 400,000 
 
 110,101,898 
 
 129 
 
 24,212,339 
 
 Uanscertained 
 
 principally? gg 
 
 
 in Kentuck 
 
 
 114. Statement B, at page 4^*; sliows the 
 progress of banking institutions in the United 
 States gf North America since 1811, and the 
 situation of all the banks of the Union in 1830, 
 in regard to, their capital, notes in circulation, 
 specie, and deposits. The states are there ex- 
 hibited in five districts, for the purpose of show- 
 ing the inequality of specie in diflfereiit parts of 
 the Union. In the western states 2,686,396 
 dollars in specie are held to sustain a circulation 
 of 4,684,860 dollars in notes ; while in the state 
 of New York, and the adjoining states of Con- 
 necticut on the north, and New Jersey on the 
 south, the centre of all the activities of the 
 Union, the circulation of 12,737,539 dollars in 
 notes is sustained by only 2,841,746 dollars in 
 specie. This statement is further interesting in 
 showing the very limited amount of specie in 
 the aggregate, with which all the exchanges 
 between a population of 1 3,000,000 to 1 4,000,000 
 of people, maintaining an active and extensive 
 intercourse with all the nations of the world, are 
 facilitated and effected ; 22,000,000 dollars in 
 specie, less than £5,000,000, sustains the opera- 
 tions of 350 hanks of circulation, including the 
 branches of the national bank, diffusing life and 
 energy over 100,000,000 square miles of terri- 
 tory ; we say sustains the operations of the 
 banks, inasmuch as it forms no part of the cir- 
 culation, but is held as a protection to the 
 61,000,000 of notes which, with about 10,000,000 
 of dollars in small coins, forms the exclusive 
 
 circulating medium of that extensive and rapidly 
 improving territory. 
 
 115. While in the act of writing the preceding 
 sections [on the 31st May, 1833] the chancellor 
 of the exchequer of Great Britain and Ireland 
 was developing to parliament, in committee of 
 the whole house, propositions for the extension 
 of the charter of the Bank of England for a 
 period of twenty-one years, subject " to the con- 
 tingency, that, if at the end often years the then 
 government should think proper to alter the 
 system, it should have the power to give a year's 
 notice to the Bank ; and, in that case, if the 
 government so desired, that the charter would 
 expire at the end of the eleventh year :" subject 
 to this condition the chancellor of the exchequer 
 proposed " to continue the monopoly to the 
 Bank of England as far as regarded the metro- 
 polis — that was, that no hank with more than 
 six partners should be allowed to issue notes in 
 London, or within sixty-five miles of it." It 
 was next proposed that the Bank should make a 
 weekly return to the treasury of the amount of 
 bills and notes in circulation, and also of de- 
 posits, and that the average of such issues and 
 deposits should be published quarterly. The 
 chancellor of the exchequer then said, " that the 
 convertibility of bank notes to bullion was es- 
 sential to a sound system of banking ! ! ! but 
 having a bank secured by a ready check, such as 
 that which he had stated, lie did not think there 
 would be any danger in securing banks against 
 sudden internal drains of gold. He proposed, 
 therefore, to make Bank of England paper a 
 legal tender in every place except at the Bank 
 of England itself, or at its branch banks." 
 
 116. It was next proposed to diminish the 
 capital of the Bank from its present amount of 
 £l4,60'i,000 to about £11,000,000. and that the 
 Bank should give the tixed sum of £120,000 per 
 annum out of the amount now allowed by law 
 for the management of the public banking ac- 
 count and transfers of the national annuity 
 account. So far in regard to the Bank of 
 England ; when it was next proposed that every 
 banking company of more than six partners 
 should be a joint stock company, sucii company 
 to be established by charter; and if using the 
 paper of the Bank of England, may be esta- 
 blished within the limits of the Bank of 
 England's monopoly, viz. sixty-five miles of the 
 metropolis : the conditions on which charters are 
 granted to be, that when issuing their own notes 
 half the subscribed capital shall be paid up and 
 deposited either in the government funds, or 
 some equally good securities, and the partners 
 to be liable to an unlimited responsibility ; but 
 if using the paper of the Bank of England, then 
 only one quarter of the subscribed capital to be 
 paid up, and the partners only liable to the 
 amount of their shares. The government to 
 have the power of dccicl:;?| on the propriety of 
 granting the charters •, and with tiie view of 
 enabling the government to know at all times the 
 exact amoimt of country bankers' notes in circu- 
 lation, a duty of 7s. to be cliarged on every 
 £l00 of notes which tliey issue. A statement of 
 the accounts of each individual bunk shouM be 
 
 i
 
 472* 
 
 BANK. 
 
 sent to the government, as a strictly confidential 
 paper, not to be published separately, but to 
 enable a general result of the banking operations 
 of the kingdom to be given to the public pe- 
 riodically. 
 
 117. The following is a recapitulation of the 
 propositions in the official form, verbatim, in 
 which they were submitted to the committee. 
 
 1. That it is expedient to continue, for a 
 limited period, to the Bank of England, 
 certain of the privileges now vested by law 
 in that corporation, subject to such con- 
 ditions as may be provided by any act to 
 be passed for tlie purpose. 
 
 2. That, provided the Bank of England shall 
 be bound by law to discharge, in the legal 
 coin of the realm, all such of its debts and 
 liabilities as shall be demanded at tlie Bank 
 of England, or at any of the branch banks 
 thereof, it is expedient that the promissory 
 notes of the said corporation be made a 
 legal tender for all sums of £5 and 
 upwards. 
 
 3. That provision be made by law during the 
 present session of parliament, for the re- 
 payment to the Bank of England of one- 
 fourdi part of the amount of the debt now 
 due by llie public to that corporation. 
 
 4. That the rate of allowance and remunera- 
 tion now secured by law to the Bank of 
 England for the management of the public 
 debt, and services rendered to the public, 
 be continued to that corporation for the 
 limited period to be fixed as aforesaid, sub- 
 ject to an annual reduction of j8*1 20,000. 
 
 5. That the laws restricting the interest of 
 money to £5 per cent, shall be repealed, so 
 far as they relate to bills of exchange not 
 having more than three months to run be- 
 fore they become due. 
 
 6. That it is expedient to give facilities, by 
 the grant of royal charters, for the esta- 
 blishment of joint stock banks, at a certain 
 distance from London ; but that every such 
 royal charter shall contain certain stipu- 
 lations to be enforced with respect to all 
 such chartered banks. 
 
 7. That all banks issuing promissory notes 
 payable on demaiid, shall enter into a com- 
 position in lieu of stamp duty, at the rate of 
 73. for every £100 on the notes which such 
 banks shall have m circulation. 
 
 8. That it is expedient to make provision with 
 regard to joint stock banking companies. 
 
 118. It will be seea by the three preceding 
 ^ sections, 115-117, that the object ;iimed at by 
 the propositions submitted by the chancellor of 
 exchequer to parliament, is, to establish an 
 uniform order of paper currency, based on gold 
 at £3. 17s. lO^d. per ounce; and to vest the con- 
 trol of the circulation and the profit thereof in 
 the hands of the Bank for a limited term of years, 
 thereby continuing a monopoly (as we shall show 
 hereafter) of the most objectionable kind, in op- 
 position to the general voice and feelings of the 
 bulk of the people, as well as to the prevailing 
 tenets of the government itself. One point to 
 which we have not yet adverted is contained in 
 
 the fifth paragraph of the official propositions 
 above ; holding tliis in view, we will now pro- 
 ceed to sliow tiie objections to the scheme in 
 general as well as in detad on one side, and the 
 advantages which it promises on the other. 
 Making tlie notes a legal tender convertible into 
 gold only at the Bank of England itself, or its 
 brandies, is a i)art of tlie scheme whicii lends to 
 an enlargement of the circulation, and, as such, 
 promises to facilitate the operations of industry ; 
 and the sclieme is so devised as to enable tlie 
 Bank to witiidraw all its branches for the pur- 
 pose of concentrating the convertibility into uold 
 in the metropolis alone; it doubtless beii.g the 
 intention of the Bank of England to withdraw its 
 branches wherever joint stock banks are es- 
 tablished to circulate its paper. As far as 
 making the notes a legal tender, the scheme is 
 good : nor is there any objection to be offered to 
 the general principle on which joint stock banks 
 are proposed to be established ; and the return of 
 their circulation, liabilities, and assets, is pro- 
 per and commendable. 
 
 119. But the scheme is exceedingly objection- 
 able on the three following grounds, viz. 
 
 1st. As being based on gold at a low fixed, 
 price, instead of on the £800,000,000 capital of 
 public annuities, as proposed in section 96. 
 
 2nd. For tlie fluctuation and variation in the 
 rate of interest which it so strongly tends to give 
 rise to. 
 
 3id. For the arbitrariness, and tendency to 
 caprice, which it establishes, and threatens to 
 cherish. 
 
 It is shown to demonstration in Mr. Marshall's 
 digest of the accounts and papers presented to 
 parliament since 1 799, ttiat the cause of the depre- 
 ciated value in all our manufactured productions, 
 and consequent diminution of profits and wages, 
 'has arisen from the large transfer of capital fiom 
 British to foreign securities which has taken 
 place since 1816. It is shown that, while since 
 that date the British government have been in- 
 strumental in causing about £70,000,000 to be 
 applied to the purchase of 3 per cent, stock, at 
 rates varying from 78 to 94, equal to upwards of 
 twenty ounces of gold, for which they received 
 less than eleven ounces in 1813-15, a cor- 
 responding amount of capital has been vested in 
 the public stocks of the different nations of 
 Europe, at an average rate of interest of about 6 
 per cent. Tlius, while about £2,800,000 of 
 annual interest has been cancelled in England, 
 and the country at large relieved from an annual 
 taxation to a corresponding amount, about 
 £4,500,000 of annual interest has been created 
 abroad ; and it is in consequence of the vvay, in 
 which these transfers of capital and payment of 
 interest become involved with the commeicial 
 transactions of Europe, that the whole of the in- 
 terest on the capital so transferred, be it more, 
 or be it less, falls wliolly and exclusively on the 
 manufacturing and productive classes of Eng- 
 land, inasmuch as tiie interest is paid out of 
 those means which otherwise would remain to 
 augment the means of payment for the products 
 of British industry exported. 
 
 120. It is the facility which the low price of 
 gold affords for the transfer of capital, as de
 
 BANK. 
 
 473* 
 
 scribed in the preceding section, that renders it 
 so objectionable as the basis of the circulating 
 medium. Had the circulating medium at the 
 termination of the war been based on the 
 £600,000,000 of stock which the war had 
 created, or indeed on any other internal means, 
 and gold like any other commodity been left to 
 find its own level in price, a converse effect 
 would have been produced to that which has, so 
 fatally for the productive interest of England, 
 been produced : the transfer of capital might 
 have taken place, but it would have confined the 
 demand more to productions of industry at re- 
 munerating prices, inasmuch as the predilection 
 for bullion would have enhanced its price pro- 
 portionate to tile demand for it, and thereby 
 have operated beneficially to the importer of 
 bullion on one side, as well as to the exporter of 
 the products of British industry to Europe on 
 the other. In the first instance bullion is ob- 
 tained in exchange for the products of British 
 industry, being the only commodity which a 
 great portion of the western world yet has to 
 give in exchange : and on this commodity the 
 British government fixes a maximum. How 
 palpably ridiculous, and how palpably unjust to 
 the commercial operator to that part of the 
 world ! He brings his bullion to a focus of 
 operations which would probably afford him 30 
 to 50 per cent, more than a perverse law allows 
 him to obtain ; and this, not to benefit the party 
 imposing or retaining the force of that law, but 
 to facilitate another course of operations, which 
 portend the ruin of all the productive interests of 
 the empire. 
 
 121. It is not, however, the commercial dis- 
 advantage which a low fixed price of gold in- 
 flicts on the activities of the community, that 
 constitutes exclusively its objection as the basis 
 of the circulating medium. The objections are 
 numerous ; to allow the article to be demanded 
 for one, when one and a half, or any other price 
 would be readily given, is an absurdity too pal- 
 pable to need further observation. The greatest 
 objection, however, lies against the constant 
 fluctuation to which it subjects the circulation 
 at large, and constant uncertainty to which it 
 exposes all the rewards of industry. A consider- 
 able time, it is true, may pass away without any 
 very sensible derangement being manifest; but 
 so long as the disproportionate rate of interest in 
 England and the other nations of the world con- 
 tinues, so long will the tendency to the transfer 
 of capital continue, and consequently so long 
 will continue sudden and unexpected demands 
 for bullion ; and, should there be another such a 
 harvest season as that of 1816, (and we are, from 
 year to year, liable to a succession of such har- 
 vests, while an enlarged circulating medium 
 would be required to sustain the enhancement of 
 price sconsequent thereon), the increased demand 
 for gold which would inevitably ensue would 
 lead to precisely the opposite effect. We miglit 
 
 pursue the subject to a much greater length, but 
 we trust enough has been said to prove the folly 
 of such a basis as gold, for the circulating me- 
 dium of a community so constituted as that of 
 England. 
 
 122. The space assigned for this article pre- 
 cludes us from entering into any fuither elucida- 
 tion of this interesting and important subject; 
 except a few observations on the subject of 
 Savings Banks, institutions for the deposits of 
 small sums. — Schemes for this purpose were first 
 suggested at the close of the last century ; but it 
 was subsequent to the termination of the war in 
 1815 when they were made a government mea- 
 sure, by a fixed rate of interest being guaranteed 
 to the depositors. Between January 1815, and 
 November 1830, 402 banks had been esta- 
 blished in England and Wales; at the latter 
 date the number of depositors amounted to 
 378,316, exclusive of 4278 Friendly Societies, 
 and 1826 charitable institutions, and the total 
 sum deposited £13,420,976; at the same date 
 there were 73 banks in Ireland, the total numljer 
 of depositors 34,638, and the sum deposited 
 £945,991. The deposits in these institutions 
 have been considered by some as evincing grow- 
 ing prudential habits, and consequently in- 
 creasing comfort and independence of the 
 working classes; but this is fallacious: during 
 the earlier years of these institutions, the rate of 
 interest guaranteed to the depositors consider- 
 ably exceeded the interest yielded by the public 
 Annuity Stocks ; the more crafty, therefore, of the 
 monied fraternity, sold 3 per cent, stock and vested 
 it in the Savings Banks ; and to obviate the ob- 
 stacle which the limitation of deposits in Savings 
 Banks prescribed, being not more than £20 at any 
 one time nor exceeding £200 per ann., the sums 
 transferred from the 3 per cents., were deposited 
 in the savings banks in the names of the wife, chil- 
 dren, and relations of the parties so transferring, 
 and by this artifice, instead of £200, from £1000 
 to £2000 has been annually transferred. The rate 
 of interest on the deposits in savings banks 
 having been lowered, the inducement to transfer 
 from the 3 per cents, is diminished, and the 
 transactions of the savings bapks are now more 
 confined than heretofore to the class of per- 
 sons for whom they were intended. The prin- 
 ciple on which the Saving Bjnks are founded, 
 and their economy of management, are unex- 
 ceptionable enough, but they have, nevertheless, 
 up to this time, had a most baneful effect. The ' 
 deposits are vested in the 3 and 3,^ per cents, by 
 the commissioners of the sinking fund, as the 
 trustees of the depositors; the total sum de- 
 posited has therefore aided the transfer of a cor- 
 responding amount of capital from British to 
 foreign security. For a more complete elu- 
 cidation of the working apd effect of these 
 transactions, see the article Savings, in the 
 further part of this work. y
 
 474* 
 
 BANK. 
 
 Statement A, showing the situation or condition of the Bank, of the United States, in each of the 
 twelve years 1819-30. The amount of the total liabilities in column No. 7 is made up of the 
 35 000 000 dollars, due equally in each year to the shareholders, in addition to the amounts due 
 to depositors, and holders of notes, as exhibited in cols. 8 and 9. 
 
 1819 
 1820 
 1821 
 1822 
 1823 
 1824 
 182.5 
 1826 
 1827 
 1828 
 1829 
 
 Bills dis- 
 counted. 
 
 32,211 
 28,808 
 27,099 
 28,574 
 30,584 
 29,478 
 29,327 
 29,592 
 27,948 
 30,820 
 32,703 
 1830132,541 
 1 
 
 ,674 
 ,267 
 ,050 
 ,893 
 ,919 
 ,255 
 ,219 
 ,103 
 592 
 944 
 280 
 ,124 
 
 Domestic 
 Bills. 
 
 ^36,760 
 1,526,600 
 1,598,473 
 2,394,688 
 2,588,245 
 2,563,672 
 3,270,699 
 3,592,145 
 4,568,297 
 6,018,784 
 8,417,021 
 7,476,321 
 2 
 
 Funded 
 Debt. 
 
 7,236, 
 8,258, 
 11,859, 
 13,116, 
 10,911, 
 13,373, 
 19,807, 
 17,885 
 17,724 
 17,127 
 13,925 
 11,717 
 3 
 
 153 
 
 701 
 296 
 004 
 ,700 
 095 
 ,665 
 ,210 
 ,192 
 ,077 
 ,701 
 .071 
 
 Real 
 
 Estate. 
 
 Specie. 
 
 245,846 
 
 579,152 
 
 736,370 
 
 1,393,193 
 
 1,566,728 
 
 1,745,566 
 
 2,118,560 
 
 2,298,352 
 
 2.474,750 
 
 3,876,404 
 
 4 
 
 2,743 
 5,214, 
 6,469, 
 3,711, 
 4,899 
 5,909 
 4,686 
 5,174 
 6,327 
 6,205 
 6,411 
 7,175 
 5 
 
 Total 
 Dollars. 
 
 LIABILITIES. 
 
 Total 
 Dollars. 
 
 834 
 773 
 ,224 
 145 
 686 
 351 
 557 
 643 
 758 
 ,107 
 ,998 
 274 
 
 45,791. 
 45,991, 
 47,599 
 46,927. 
 50,073 
 53,853 
 158,722 
 '57,814 
 159,535 
 61,868 
 165,183 
 '66,322 
 
 51142 
 96043 
 293 47 
 
 905 
 057 
 ,604 
 ,376 
 ,051 
 ,518 
 ,559 
 ,516 
 ,274 
 
 528,421 
 808,341 
 271,639 
 376,082 
 ,720,920 
 ,717,566 
 ,658,868 
 989.667 
 ,690,399 
 ,470,264 
 ,942,759 
 ,556,145 
 7 
 
 Proportion 
 of Deposits. 
 
 5,734,682 
 
 6,581,628 
 
 6,990,073 
 
 6,365,570 
 
 10,401,786 
 
 12,918,108 
 
 12,885,829 
 
 H,578,323; 
 
 13,727,274: 
 
 14,454,169, 
 
 15,172,164 
 
 14,788,&09 
 
 8 
 
 Notes in 
 circulation. 
 
 5,056,829 
 
 4,410.332 
 
 5,609,220 
 
 5,562,335 
 
 4,671,271 
 
 5.935,496 
 
 8,836.6461 
 
 10,235,528 
 
 10,808,244 
 
 12,414,390 
 
 15,011,352 
 
 13,048,984 
 
 9 
 
 %* The total liability in the last year includes 1,161,001 dollars under the head of foreign 
 account, and 2,375,079 due from banks, and notes of ditto. 
 
 Statement B, showing the progress of Banking Institutions in the United States of North America, 
 from 1811 to 1831, and the situation of all the Banks of the Union in 1830 in jegard to their 
 capital, notes in circulation, specie, and deposits 
 
 1 
 
 88 banks, January 1, 1811 . . 
 
 Capital, 
 
 Notes. 
 
 Deposits. 
 
 Specie. 
 
 42,610,601 
 
 22,700,000 
 
 
 9,600,000 
 
 United States Bank 
 
 Total .... . 
 
 10,000,000 
 
 5,400,000 
 
 
 5,800,000 
 
 52,610,601 
 
 28,100,000 
 
 
 15,400,000 
 
 208 banks in 1815 
 
 82,259,590 
 
 45,100,000 
 
 
 17,000,000 
 
 946 do. 1816 
 
 89,822,422 
 
 68,000,000 
 
 
 10,000,000 
 
 307 do. 1820 
 
 102,110,611 
 
 40,641,574 
 
 31,244,959 
 
 16,672,263 
 
 United States do 
 
 Total in 1820 . . . 
 
 35,000,000 
 
 4,221,770 
 
 4,705,511 
 
 3,147,977 
 
 137,110,611 
 
 44,863,344 
 
 35,950,470 
 
 19,820,240 
 
 Do., as below, in 1830 
 
 145,192,268 
 
 61,323,898 
 
 55,559,928 
 
 22,114,917 
 
 The following sho4 the state of the 
 
 
 
 
 
 banks in eachoflfive divisions of 
 
 
 
 
 
 the United States territory in 
 
 
 
 
 
 1829. The numbers refer to the 
 
 
 
 
 
 list in section 113 : 
 
 
 
 
 
 New England States Nos. 1—5 
 
 30,812,692 
 
 7,394,566 
 
 4,203,895 
 
 2,194,768 
 
 Connec. New York and Jersey 
 
 
 
 
 
 i 6—8 
 
 26,585,539 
 
 12,737,539 
 
 14,594,145 
 
 2,841,746 
 
 Pennsylvania, Detiware, Mary- 
 
 
 
 
 
 land and Columbia . 9—13 
 
 25,566,622 
 
 11,274,086 
 
 10,850,739 
 
 4,170,592 
 
 4 Southern States . . 14—17 
 
 17,600,129 
 
 12,183,863 
 
 6,952,094 
 
 3,046,141 
 
 7 Western Ditto . . . 18—24 
 Total of 33^ banks, 1830 
 
 9,629,286 
 
 4,684,860 
 
 4,180,146 
 
 2,686,396 
 
 1 10,184,268 
 
 48,274,194 
 
 40,781,119 
 
 14,939,643 
 
 United States bank/ 
 
 Total 
 
 35,000,000 
 
 13,048,984 
 
 14,778,809 
 
 7,175,2^4 
 
 145,1:92,268 
 
 61,323,898 
 
 t 55,559,928 
 
 22,114,917 
 
 Proportion 7 chief cities* . . . 
 
 53,211,605 
 
 17,144,422 
 
 ' 23,137,129 
 
 7,258,025 
 
 Salem, Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Charlestown, and New Orleans.
 
 I. 
 
 BANK. 
 
 Statement showing the Weekly Circulation of Bank of England notes, in tach of the seven 
 years which follow, viz. 1792, being the year preceding the declaration of war iili February, 1793 , 
 1797, being the year preceding their nonconvertibility into gold, at a fixed standard ; 1817, as the 
 year of maximum of circulation, the increase from 1797 to 1817 having been progressive; 1822, 
 as the minimum, on the return to convertibility into gold, at the previous standard of 1797; 
 1825-6, as years of great commercial activity; and 1832, as the year previous to this sheet going 
 to press. The blank lines are drawn to show the periods when the National Debt, Dividends, 
 or Annuities are payable. On the fifth of January and July they amount to about £8,000,000 at 
 each period, while an increased issue of about £2,000,000 of notes is seen to suffice. The April 
 and October payments are about £5,500,000 each. 
 
 Jan. 7 
 
 14 
 21 
 28 
 
 Feb. 4 
 11 
 18 
 25 
 
 Mar. 3 
 10 
 17 
 24 
 31 
 
 April 7 
 
 14 
 21 
 28 
 
 May 5 
 12 
 19 
 26 
 June 2 
 9 
 16 
 23 
 30 
 
 July 7 
 
 14 
 21 
 28 
 
 Aug. 4 
 11 
 18 
 25 
 
 Sept. 1 
 8 
 15 
 20 
 28 
 Oct. 6 
 13 
 
 20 
 27 
 
 Nov. 3 
 10 
 17 
 24 
 
 Dec. 1 
 
 8 
 
 15 
 
 22 
 
 29 
 
 1792. 
 -£— 
 
 10,358,730 
 
 10,818,710 
 11,017,540 
 11,065,770 
 11,335,940 
 11,428,920 
 11,539,060 
 11,148,500 
 11,871,760 
 11,707,400 
 11,442,850 
 11,596,290 
 11,546,080 
 11,649,150 
 
 11,932,330 
 
 12,387,930 
 12,415,530 
 12,415,580 
 12,068,510 
 11,896,180 
 11,585,560 
 11,406,840 
 11,327,590 
 11,161,940 
 11,126,330 
 11,494,890 
 11,539,880 
 
 11,903,330 
 11,926,670 
 11,822,530 
 11,737,120 
 11,566,180 
 11,350,130 
 11,005,660 
 11,306,240 
 10,975,810 
 10,787,650 
 10,999,840 
 10,852,080 
 10,966,340 
 10,999,690 
 
 11,489,330 
 11,491,630 
 11,474,030 
 11,416,970 
 11,117,130 
 10,894,620 
 10,981,970 
 11,200,850 
 1 1 ,083,740 
 11,230,810 
 11,289,250 
 
 1797. 
 
 £ 
 
 9,185,520 
 
 9,893,340 
 
 10,550,830 
 
 10,024,740 
 
 9,667,460 
 
 9,431,550 
 
 9,137,950 
 
 8,640,250 
 
 10,416,510 
 
 10,388,640 
 
 9,999,210 
 
 10,506,320 
 
 10,946,020 
 
 11,559,910 
 
 12,618,510 
 12,127,770 
 13,055,800 
 13,599,060 
 12,217,700 
 11,969,250 
 10,892,870 
 11,240,910 
 11,236,770 
 10,982,640 
 10,290,800 
 10,778,100 
 10,781,960 
 
 11,381,670 
 11,262,490 
 11,240,100 
 11,111,330 
 11,466,560 
 10,955,220 
 10,568,210 
 11,439,180 
 11,031,770 
 10,716,230 
 10,655,850 
 10,654,330 
 10,509,840 
 11,780,610 
 
 12,116,960 
 12,451,420 
 11,98.3,330 
 11,677,550 
 11,313,880 
 11,215,330 
 10,688,660 
 11,127,510 
 10,759.930 
 11,260,2,50 
 11,1 39,0K0 
 
 23,950,510 
 
 28,372,199 
 28,175,531 
 28,055,261 
 27,703,811 
 27,386,121 
 27,518,561 
 27,326,221 
 27,182,621 
 26,876,061 
 26,593,571 
 26,744,801 
 26,912,667 
 26,400,271 
 
 29,071,621 
 
 28,936,241 
 28,666,041 
 28,373,961 
 28,040,701 
 27,927,361 
 27,964,981 
 27,169,441 
 26,449,790 
 26,414,580 
 26,060,050 
 26,560,660 
 25,800,260 
 
 30,686,720 
 30,759,300 
 30,646,840 
 30,920,360 
 30,374,260 
 30,112,650 
 29,971,699 
 29,543,710 
 28.938,560 
 28,712,160 
 28,527,061 
 28,559,511 
 28,925,911 
 29,293,891 
 
 30,502,360 
 29,981,610 
 29,658,950 
 29,544,611 
 29,446,071 
 29,050,230 
 28,698,540 
 28,465,490 
 27,967,590 
 27,770,900 
 27,601,180 
 
 1822. 
 
 • £ 
 
 16,950,147 
 
 20,764,268 
 20,211,461 
 19,673,545 
 19,211,845 
 19,034,229 
 18,679,243 
 18,348,009 
 18,387,046 
 17,803,676 
 17,709,606 
 17,467,141 
 17,388,481 
 17,149,301 
 
 19,025,399 
 18,583,121 
 18,105,998 
 17,798,295 
 17,461,161 
 16,984,938 
 l'',036,996 
 16,505,296 
 16,785,480 
 16,304,807 
 16,404,930 
 17,005,527 
 16,834,794 
 
 20,896,904 
 20,579,130 
 19.748,395 
 19,287,790 
 18,833,458 
 18,503,576 
 18,498,856 
 17,464,796 
 17,149,134 
 17,540,9.55 
 16,796,585 
 16,798,699 
 17,231,846 
 16,693,871 
 
 18,387,096 
 17,991,058 
 17,753,077 
 17,456,991 
 17,382,866 
 17,218,660 
 17,457,244 
 16,370,602 
 16,088,529 
 16,642,042 
 19,483,697 
 
 1825. 
 -£— 
 
 21,790,472 
 
 22,337,332 
 22,328,627 
 21,960,334 
 21,931,937 
 21,307,879 
 21,2-34,674 
 21,060,145 
 20,342,417 
 19,875,858 
 19,560,433 
 19,611,349 
 20,328,980 
 20,687,517 
 
 21,060,103 
 
 20,717,044 
 20,536,633 
 20,500,259 
 20,046,091 
 19,723,489 
 19,653,012 
 19,298,202 
 18,639,892 
 18,327,736 
 18,372,369 
 19,038,339 
 21,714,838 
 
 21,763,418 
 21,198,818 
 20,794,730 
 20,157,200 
 19,738,770 
 19,589,056 
 19,290,570 
 19,028,070 
 18,517,202 
 18,252,171 
 18,009,781 
 18,506,562 
 18,173,445 
 19,686,586 
 
 19,027,460 
 18,692,228 
 18,497,423 
 18,031,872 
 17,594,301 
 17,464,890 
 17,477,294 
 18,037,96*") 
 23,942,827 
 25,611,806 
 25.709,526 
 
 1826. 
 
 £ 
 
 24,120,416 
 
 26,104,904 
 ^5,013,791 
 24,255,925 
 23,673,737 
 23,450,151 
 24,466,510 
 24,955,050 
 25,115,173 
 24,375,453 
 24,16'l,274 
 24,060,901 
 24,161^171 
 24,941796 
 
 1832. 
 -£— 
 
 25,56 
 
 25,56 ,374 
 
 24,48 
 23,65 
 22,97 
 22,29 
 21,90 
 
 ,055 
 
 ,967 
 ,000 
 ,215 
 ,814 
 ',490 
 
 21,35 ,405 
 20,87 ,408 
 20,85 ,693 
 21,0-^ ,575 
 20,7f ,013 
 22,62 1,821 
 
 23,5( 1,518 
 22,8; ,630 
 
 22.8 >,220 
 22,6 5,454 
 
 21.9 3,284 
 21,6p,96l 
 2],3|3,029 
 21,431,297 
 21,1^,437 
 20,653,131 
 20,264,364 
 20,408,194 
 19,584,501 
 20,6J4,313 
 
 21,o|o,060 
 20,»5,943 
 2«r,<f:4,838 
 20,5i3 7,490 
 20,4: 6.250 
 19,9 16,857 
 19,3 11,328 
 19,0!1,617 
 19,019,078 
 19084,909 
 19,019.738 
 
 16,495,053 
 
 18,796,825 
 19,470,453 
 19,398,387 
 19,157,008 
 18,796,570 
 18,451,810 
 18,143,070 
 17,898,310 
 17,587,410 
 17,414,590 
 17,388,450 
 17,605,720 
 17,655,170 
 
 18,905,450 
 18,965,130 
 18,875,430 
 18,988,430 
 18,634,610 
 17,863,660 
 17,777,700 
 17,375,300 
 17,063,360 
 16,959,760 
 16,582,660 
 16,754,870 
 16,731,560 
 
 18,652,580 
 18,876,930 
 18,846,270 
 18,753,820
 
 TI. 
 
 BANK. 
 
 Statement showing the liabilities and assets of the Bank of England, at the annual settling day, 
 on the 28th of February, in each of the fifty-five years, 1778 — 1832, as laid by the Directors of 
 the Bank before the Parliamentary Committee on the Bank of England Charter, in the session of 
 1832 ; to which is here added a statement of the Income and Expenditure of the Government in 
 
 Years. 
 
 1778 
 9 
 
 1780 
 1 
 2 
 3 
 4 
 5 
 6 
 7 
 8 
 9 
 
 1790 
 1 
 2 
 
 3 
 4 
 5 
 6 
 7 
 
 9 
 
 1800 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 5 
 
 6 
 
 7 
 
 8 
 
 9 
 
 1810 
 
 11 
 
 12 
 
 13 
 
 14 
 
 15 
 
 16 
 
 17 
 
 18 
 
 19 
 
 1820 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 5 
 
 6 
 
 7 
 
 8 
 
 9 
 
 1830 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 On the 6th of January, 1817, the Exchequer of 
 Ireland was united with that ol Great Britain ; and, 
 .: .!,„. J-.( no separate account of the ex- 
 pand has been kevt ; the Revenue, 
 ijted about 4,W0,W0l. per an- 
 
 that date, 
 penditure of ll 
 
 since 1817, has _ _ 
 
 nutn, included, since 1816, in col. No. 1. _- 
 to 1817 cols. 1 and 2 exhibit the income and ex- 
 penditure of Great Britain only. In 181,^ the 
 Revenue of Ireland was 7,3ii4,7Sfi(. j and, since that 
 year, taxes have been repealed and reduced in the 
 United Kingdom equal to 34,000,OOUl. per annum. 
 
 Income. 
 
 £ 
 
 14,656,663 
 15,894,178 
 16,201,547 
 16,099,435 
 16,451,450 
 17,806,097 
 17,864,464 
 
 17,707,983 
 17,899,294 
 18,456,698 
 18,548,628 
 19,852,646 
 
 30,492,995 
 35,311,018 
 34,069,457 
 35,516,351 
 37,111,620 
 38,203,937 
 45,515,152 
 50,555,190 
 54,071,908 
 59,496,731 
 62,147,601 
 63,879,882 
 67,825,597 
 65,309,100 
 64,752,125 
 68,302,860 
 70,240,318 
 71,203,142 
 62,640,711 
 
 57,505,097 
 59,628,173 
 58,677,155 
 59,772,230 
 60,679,600 
 60,611,358 
 58,740,605 
 60,115,864 
 58,363,301 
 55,902,334 
 55,756,401 
 57,297,235 
 55,934,966 
 54,932,287 
 51,012,609 
 
 Expenditure. 
 
 15,810,481 
 14,714,038 
 15,665,569 
 15,466,207 
 16,142,317 
 17,173,0(J2 
 16,770,352 
 
 22,754,366 
 29,305,477 
 39,751,091 
 40,761,533 
 50,739,857 
 
 51,241,798 
 
 59,296,08] 
 
 61,617,988 
 
 73,072,468 
 
 62,373,480 
 
 54,912,890 
 
 67,619,475 
 
 76,056,796 
 
 75,154,548 
 
 78,369,689 
 
 84,797,080 
 
 88,792,551 
 
 94,360,728 
 
 99,000,421 
 
 107,644,085 
 
 122,235,660 
 
 129,742,396 
 
 133,305,958 
 
 86,507,962 
 
 58,887,527 
 58,233,037 
 57,858,282 
 58,001,890 
 58,194,263 
 55,619,041 
 54,397,234 
 55,918,734 
 .54,980,128 
 o.'',049,l95 
 56,859,224 
 53,573,714 
 53,637,675 
 51,432,877 
 51,125,723 
 
 Loans rai.ed & 
 Bi(ls(outofcol. 
 No.J3)Funde,l. 
 
 Loans. 
 4,000,000 
 12,007,451 
 42,096,646 
 42,756,196 
 16,120,000 
 
 20,000,000 
 15,500,000 
 20,500,000 
 36,910,450 
 25,000,000 
 1 2,000,000 
 15,00.5,290 
 24,521.409 
 20,000,000 
 15,700,003 
 14,500,000 
 22,532,100 
 13,400,000 
 24,000,000 
 34,721,325 
 64,763,100 
 24,000,000 
 54,135,589 
 3,000,000 
 
 39,261,920 
 12,000,000 
 12,000,000 
 
 13,089,419 
 8,023,228 
 3,000,000 
 
 Circulation. 
 
 j Total 
 Deposits, j Liabilities. 
 
 o 
 
 00 . 
 
 a <y> 
 
 o '"' 
 
 n! », 
 
 c ^ 
 
 D C3 
 
 en <u 
 
 ■ 22 fa 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 £ 
 
 7,440,330 
 9,012,610 ,^ 
 8,410,790.== 
 7,092,450 -^ 
 8,028,880 o 
 7,675,090 ^ 
 6,202,760 c 
 5,923,090 m 
 7,581,960 bD 
 8,329,840 ;g 
 9,561,120^ 
 9,807,210 a 
 10,040,540 'Z. 
 1 1,439,200 -S 
 11,307,380 
 
 11,886,910.^ 
 10,744,020 c 
 14,017,510 >o 
 10,729,520"*^ 
 9,674,780 
 
 1,448,220 
 1,465,650 
 1,471,540 
 2,634,760 
 2,612,020 
 2,968,960 
 4,531,270 
 4,860,160 
 4,458,600 
 4,109,890 
 4,095,170 
 4,301,500 
 5,860,420 
 7,114,090 
 7,457,030 
 7,713,610 
 8,345,540 
 9,035,250 
 9,001,400 
 
 8,136,270 
 
 7,400,680 
 
 7,354,230 
 
 6,689,130 
 
 6,437,560 
 
 1,374,850 
 
 681,500 
 
 486,130 
 
 416,730 
 
 1,375,250 
 
 661,390 
 
 416,260 
 
 356,830 
 
 320,490 
 
 306,870 
 
 299,100 
 
 4 
 
 11,647,610 
 11,494,150 
 15,372,930 
 13,578,520 
 12,574,860 
 12,350,970 
 12,546,560 
 13,011,010 
 13,271,520 
 12,840,790 
 14,093,690 
 14,241,360 
 15,159,180 
 16,246,130 
 15,951,290 
 15,497,320 
 16,455,540 
 18,226,400 
 18,012,220 
 
 19,261,630 
 20,370,290 
 17,772,470 
 16,794,980 
 17,447,360 
 17,290,500 
 17,710,740 
 19,250,860 
 20,337,030 
 24,092,660 
 21,229,220 
 21,564,450 
 19,514,020 
 19,730,240 
 19,293,270 
 17,752,610 
 5 
 
 4,662,150 
 4,358,160 
 4,723,890 
 5,796,830 
 6,130,300 
 4,465,000 
 3,903,920 
 6,669,160 
 6,151,660 
 5,902,080 
 5,177,050 
 5,537,370 
 6,223,270 
 6,364,550 
 5,523,370 
 
 5,346,450 
 7,891,810 
 5,973,020 
 5,702,360 
 4,891,530 
 
 6,148,900 
 
 8,131,820 
 
 7,062,680 
 
 10,745,840 
 
 6,858,210 
 
 8,050,240 
 
 8,676,830 
 
 12,083,620 
 
 9,980,790 
 
 11,829,3120^ 
 
 ll,961,96o! 
 
 9,982,950 
 
 12,457,310 
 
 11,445,650 
 
 11,595,200 
 
 11,268,180 
 
 12,455,460 
 
 1 1,702,250 
 
 12,388,890 
 
 10,825,610 
 
 7,997,550 
 
 6,413,370 
 
 4,093,550 
 
 5,622,890 
 
 4,689,940 
 
 7,181,100 
 
 10,097,850 
 
 10,168,780 
 
 6,935,940 
 
 8,801,660 
 
 9,198,140 
 
 9,553,960 
 
 10,763,150 
 
 11,213,530 
 
 8,937,170 
 
 6 
 
 12,102,480 
 13,370,770 
 13,134,680 
 12,889,280 
 14,159,180 
 12,140,090 
 10,106,680 
 12,592,250 
 13,733,620 
 14,231,920 
 14,738,170 
 15,344.580 
 16,263,810 
 17,803,750 
 16,830,750 
 
 17,235,360 
 18,635,830 
 19,990,530 
 16,431,880 
 14,566,310 
 
 19,244,730 
 21,091,620 
 23,907,150 
 26,959,120 
 22,045,090 
 23,370,170 
 25,754,660 
 29,954,790 
 27,710,910 
 28,780,000 
 30,150,820 
 28,525,810 
 33,476,910 
 34,805,870 
 35,003,520 
 34,479,110 
 37,256,540 
 38,963,900 
 39,402,510 
 
 38,223,510 
 35,768,520 
 31,540,070 
 27,577,660 
 29,507,810 
 23,355,290 
 25,573,340 
 29,834,840 
 30,922,540 
 32,403,850 
 30,692,270 
 31,178,850 
 29,424,810 
 30,81.3,880 
 30,813,670 
 26,988,880 
 7
 
 III. 
 
 BANK. 
 
 each year since 1784; and of Money raised by Loans and funding of Exchequer Bills, in each 
 year since the commencement of the war in February, 1793; and also of the amount of Ex- 
 chequer Bills outstanding at the end of each of the forty-seven years, 1785 — 1831 ; and of the 
 value of gold coined within each of the seventy-eight years before mentioned. 
 
 
 " 
 
 
 
 Amount of 
 
 
 
 Securities. Coin and 
 
 Total 
 Assets. 
 
 Balance in 
 
 favor of 
 the Bank, 
 
 Exchequer 
 Bills out- 
 standing. 
 
 Amount of 
 GoldCoined 
 
 Years. 
 
 Public. 
 
 1 UUlllUU. 
 
 Private. 1 k 
 
 
 £ 
 
 f 
 
 i> 
 
 £ 
 
 £ 
 
 
 £ 
 
 £- 
 
 1778 
 
 7,898,292 
 
 3,322,228 
 
 2,010,690 
 
 13,231,210 
 
 1,128,730 
 
 
 350,438 
 
 9 
 
 8,862,242 
 
 2,073,668 
 
 3,711,150 
 
 14,647,060 
 
 1,276,290 
 
 
 
 1,696,117 
 
 1780 
 
 9,145,659 
 
 1,755,371 
 
 3,581,060 
 
 14,482,090 
 
 1,347,410 
 
 
 
 none. 
 
 1 
 
 8,640,073 
 
 2,546,007 
 
 3,279,940 
 
 14,466,080 
 
 1,576,800 
 
 
 
 876,795 
 
 2 
 
 10,346,055 
 
 3,448,015 
 
 2,157,860 
 
 15,951,930 
 
 1,792,750 
 
 
 
 698,074 
 
 3 
 
 10,016,349 
 
 2,779,431 
 
 1,321,190 
 
 14,116,970 
 
 1,976,880 
 
 
 227,083 
 
 4 
 
 7,789,291 
 
 3,829,929 
 
 655,840 
 
 12,275,060 
 
 2,168,380 
 
 
 822,126 
 
 5 
 
 7,198,564 
 
 4,973,926 
 
 2,740,820 
 
 14,913,310 
 
 2,321,060 
 
 9,481,423 
 
 2,488,106 
 
 6 
 
 6,836,459 
 
 3,516,781 
 
 5,979,090 
 
 16,332,330 
 
 2,598,710 
 
 9,358,387 
 
 1,107,382 
 
 7 
 
 7,642,587 
 
 3,716,463 
 
 5,626,690 
 
 16,985,740 
 
 2,753,820 
 
 9,524,177 
 
 2,849,057 
 
 8 
 
 7,833,857 
 
 4,030,653 
 
 5,743,440 
 
 17,607,950 
 
 2,869,780 
 
 10,953,474 
 
 3,664,174 
 
 9 
 
 8,249,582 
 
 2,711,108 
 
 7,228,730 
 
 18,189,420 
 
 2,844,840 
 
 12,101,504 
 
 1,530,711 
 
 1790 
 
 8,347,387 
 
 1,984,733 
 
 8,633,000 
 
 18,965,120 
 
 2,701,310 
 
 14,334,480 
 
 2,660,521 
 
 1 
 
 10,380,358 
 
 2,222,282 
 
 7,869,410 
 
 20.472,050 
 
 2,668,300 
 
 12,8(37,156 
 
 2,456,567 
 
 2 
 
 9,938,799 
 
 3,129,761 
 
 6,468,060 
 
 19,536,620 
 
 2,705,870 
 
 14,449,889 
 
 1,171,863 
 
 3 
 
 9,549,209 
 
 6,456,041 
 
 4,010,680 
 
 20,015,930 
 
 2,780,570 
 
 17,9154,065 
 
 2,747,430 
 
 4 
 
 9,950,756 
 
 4,573,794 
 
 6,987,110 
 
 21,511,660 
 
 2,875,830 
 
 19,758,109 
 
 2,558,895 
 
 5 
 
 13,164,172 
 
 3,647,168 
 
 6,127,720 
 
 22,939,060 
 
 2,948,530 
 
 24,972,616 
 
 493,416 
 
 6 
 
 12,951,812 
 
 4,188,028 
 
 2,539,630 
 
 19,679,470 
 
 3,247,590 
 
 15,795,266 
 
 464,680 
 
 7 
 
 11,714,431 
 
 5,123,319 
 
 1,086,170 
 
 17,923,920 
 
 3,357,610 
 
 16,5J5,573 
 
 2,000,297 
 
 8 
 
 11,241,333 
 
 5,558,167 
 
 5,828,940 
 
 22,628,440 
 
 3,383,710 
 
 17,6(19,465 
 
 2,967,565 
 
 9 
 
 11,510,677 
 
 5,528,353 
 
 7,563,900 
 
 24,602,930 
 
 3,511,310 
 
 24,252,582 
 
 449,962 
 
 1800 
 
 13,975,663 
 
 7,448,387 
 
 6,144,250 
 
 27,568,300 
 
 3,661,150 
 
 31,8P8.878 
 
 189,937 
 
 1 
 
 15,958,011 
 
 10,466,719 
 
 4,640,120 
 
 31,064,850 
 
 4,105,730 
 
 25,185,241 
 
 450,242 
 
 2 
 
 14,199,094 
 
 7,760,726 
 
 4,152,950 
 
 26,112,770 
 
 4,067,680 
 
 18,436,295 
 
 437,019 
 
 3 
 
 9,417,887 
 
 14,497,013 
 
 3,776,750 
 
 27,691,650 
 
 4,321,480 
 
 23,107,615 
 
 596,445 
 
 4 
 
 14,684,686 
 
 12,314,284 
 
 3,372,140 
 
 30,371,110 
 
 4,616,450 
 
 29,516,406 
 
 718,397 
 
 5 
 
 16,889,501 
 
 11,771,889 
 
 5,883,800 
 
 34,545,190 
 
 4,590,400 
 
 31,005,210 
 
 54,668 
 
 6 
 
 14,813,599 
 
 11,777,471 
 
 5,987,190 
 
 32,578,260 
 
 4,867,350 i 
 
 31,175,942 
 
 405,106 
 
 7 
 
 13,452,871 
 
 13,955,589 
 
 6,142,840 
 
 33,551,300 
 
 4,771,360 
 
 36,005,348 
 
 none. 
 
 8 
 
 14,149,501 
 
 13,234,579 
 
 7,855,470 
 
 35,239,550 
 
 5,088,730 
 
 43,736,718 
 
 371,744 
 
 9 
 
 14,743,425 
 
 14,374,775 
 
 4,488,700 
 
 33,606,900 
 
 5,081,090 1 
 
 43,571,575 
 
 298,946 
 
 1810 
 
 14,322,634 
 
 21,055,946 
 
 3,501,410 
 
 38,879,990 
 
 5,403,080 ; 
 
 42,363,510 
 
 310,936 
 
 11 
 
 17,201,800 
 
 19,920,550 
 
 3,350,940 
 
 40,473,290 
 
 5,667,420 
 
 47.221,658 
 
 312,263 
 
 12 
 
 22,127,253 
 
 15,899,037 
 
 2.983,190 
 
 41,009,480 
 
 6,005,960 
 
 51,947,084 
 
 none. 
 
 13 
 
 25,036,626 
 
 12,894,324 
 
 2,884,500 
 
 40,815,450 
 
 6,336,340 1 
 
 54,302,987 
 
 519,722 
 
 14 
 
 23,630,317 
 
 18,359,593 
 
 2,204,430 
 
 44,194,340 
 
 6,937,800 
 
 64,T76,381 
 
 none. 
 
 15 
 
 27,512,804 
 
 17,045,696 
 
 2,036,910 
 
 46,595,410 
 
 7,631,510 
 
 46,719,432 
 
 none. 
 
 16 
 
 19,425,780 
 
 23,975,530 
 
 4,640,880 
 
 48,042,190 
 
 8,639,680 
 
 51,006,687 
 
 none. 
 
 17 
 
 25,538,808 
 
 8,739,822 
 
 9,680,970 
 
 43,959,600 
 
 5,736,090 
 
 62,025,124 
 
 4,275,337 
 
 18 
 
 26,913,360 
 
 3,991,970 
 
 10,055,460 
 
 40,960,790 
 
 5,192,270 
 
 48,871,205 
 
 2,86^,374 
 
 19 
 
 22,355,115 
 
 9,099,885 
 
 4,184,020 
 
 35,639,620 
 
 4,099,550 
 
 41,929,879 
 
 3,574 
 
 1820 
 
 21,715,168 
 
 4,472,322 
 
 4,911,050 
 
 31,098,549 
 
 3,520.880 
 
 33,700,988 
 
 949,516 
 
 1 
 
 16,010,990 
 
 4,785,280 
 
 11,869,900 
 
 32,666,170 
 
 3,158,360 
 
 32i726.123 
 
 9,520,760 
 
 2 
 
 12,478,133 
 
 3,494,947 
 
 11,057,150 
 
 27,030,230 
 
 3,674,940 
 
 36,645,240 
 
 5,356,787 
 
 3 
 
 13,658,829 
 
 4,660,901 
 
 10,384,230 
 
 28,703,960 
 
 3,130,620 
 
 34,989,508 
 
 759,748 
 
 4 
 
 14,341,127 
 
 4,530,873 
 
 13,810,060 
 
 32,682,060 
 
 2,847,220 
 
 38i84,514 
 32/194,233 
 23.V'"'3,850 
 
 4,065,075 
 
 5 
 
 19,447,588 
 
 5,503,742 
 
 8,779,100 
 
 33,730,430 
 
 2,807,890 
 
 4,580,919 
 
 6 
 
 20,573,258 
 
 12,345,322 
 
 2,459,510 
 
 35,378,090 
 
 2,974,240 
 
 5,896,461 
 
 7 
 
 18.685,015 
 
 4,844,515 
 
 10,159,020 
 
 33,688,550 
 
 2,996,280 
 
 28,153,050 
 
 2,512,037 
 
 8 
 
 19,818,777 
 
 3,762,493 
 
 10,347.290 
 
 33,928,560 
 
 2,749,710 
 
 27,862,750 
 
 1,277,784 
 
 9 
 
 19,736,665 
 
 5,648,085 
 
 6,835,020 
 
 32,219,770 
 
 2,794,960 
 
 2.'5 ,607,600 
 
 2,271,158 
 
 1830 
 
 20,038,890 
 
 4,165,500 
 
 9,171,000 
 
 33,375.390 
 
 2,561,510 
 
 27,271,650 
 
 
 1 
 
 19,927,572 
 
 5,281,408 
 
 8,217,0:)0 
 
 33,426,030 
 
 2,612,035 
 
 27,133,350 
 
 
 2 
 
 18,497,448 5,836,042 
 
 5,293,150 
 
 29,626,640 
 
 2.637,760 
 
 
 
 
 8 9 
 
 10 
 
 11 
 
 12 
 
 13 
 
 14
 
 IV. 
 
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