The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-06-02 00:00:00

THE NORTHERN TIMES.-LIVERPOOL, TUESDAY, JUNE 2, 1857.

_sent, a.prgfit of 120 millions of livres, and 40 per cent. as
the next year's dividend on the -Subscribed capital, was-
held out. Then followed a prohibition to all persons in
France, corporate bodies included, to keep any gold what-
ever atter the Ist ofMay, 1721, on pain of confiscation. By
that date every louts d'or was to be deposited in the bank.
On the 21st of May a redaction of one-half of the shares
was ordered, and on the 27th an edict was passed to re-
store the paper to its full value; but all payments at the
bank were suspended. Of course it was not long before
the Scheme, founded-on so shameless a fraud, and which
had not any basis, exploded. The premium which the
shares at one time bore was so excessive that the value of
the whole mass was calculated by M. Neckar, at six
hundred milliards of francs, or the gigantic sum of
£230,000,000 sterling.
Such is 7a brief but accurate account of John Law's
bank Haiing begun, he was obliged to continue, or a lettre
de cachet would have immured him in the Bastile perhaps
for life. Every one who knows the history of, France at.
that period, is aware that the Duke of Orleans as one of
the vilest of men, and his courtiers the most depraved of
parasites and flatterers. They would have raked nioney
from the filthiest kennels. Their bank was started, after
its junction with the Mississippi company, for the single
purpose of swindling, and their paper was no more than
the symbol of a lie. It had no representative character
whatever, not being backed by any reality.
Of the assiguat scheme tried during- the- French
Revolution he says :--, . .

We now turn to the assignats of revolutionary France.
These were first issued on the proposition of Mirabeau,
when the church property of France was confiscated to
national uses. At that time fear had either exported the
bulic of the gold and silver coin and plate, or concealed it
in secret places. The government, thus pressed, issued
assignats in which the public service was paid, bat agreed
to take them back at the same nominal value at which
they were issued from the holders, in. payment for pur-
chases of the confiscated church lands. Thus provision
was made for their gradualfedeiiiiition and extinction.
They were the bond fide reptesentative of an equivalent
reality, and were called assignats, because he who pos—
sessed them, on surrendering them to the treasury, had
land assigned to him in exchange. They may be in some
sense compared to English Exchequer Bills, and on their
first emission bore a premium of two and three per cent.
But:when the king and queen were murdered, and the
reign cf terror prevailed ' • when the scaffold daili de-
manded fresh victims, and the streets ran red with human
blood; when ruffianly governments suceeedod- each other
month by month, and all credit and security were annihi-
lated ; when assignats were forced into circulation" at the
point of the bayonet, when" no provision was made for, their
redemption, and when they represented nothing but the
Worthless signatures of regicides and assassins, then those
instruments were not only depreciated, but became utterly
valueless.

The rise and fall of assignets is thus summed up by
Henry Storoh, the Russian political economist :
" Assignats were first issued by the National or Consti-
tuent Assembly, in 1790, to the extent of £48,000,000, the
government receiving them back in taxes, and in payment
of confiscated estates sold by auction. In 1795, the Con-
vention, being at war with the whole of Europe, issued
them.to the extent of £787,980,000, by which the value of
100 francs, in paper, fell to about 100 pence, in copper.
In 1796, the issue of assignats under the Directory reached
the- almost incredible amount of £1,823,160,000. Then
a lassignat of 100 francs currentlyexchanged for six sous,
or 3d." • •

In 1790, the assignat was truly and honestly what it
pretended to be, the representative of a reality. In 1795
and 1796, it was a fiction and a fraud, representing
nothing but the scaffold and a dungeon. It was no longer
a monetary instrument, for there was no provision made
for its periodical redemption. , Every issue was cumula-
tive, and the inevitable result was that the bloated mass
burst. A bullionist who argues against the safety of
paper money, redeemable from day to day by its conver-
sion into taxes, because the notes of John Law and
the assignats were not redeemable, is as illogical as he is
dishonest.'

We-have only -briefly glanced at one or two lead-
ing features of an able, valuable, and deeply inter-
esting pamphlet.. Although holding decided
opinions, we have net felt it just to attempt any
dealing with the atgunients for, and against, with
the brief space now'at Our disposal. At pre:3ent,
we are content to call attention to a little work
which well deserves careful and studious consider-
ation, and, which has at this period a special
importance.

ISTHMUS OF SUEZ SHIP CANAL. BEFORE' AND PLAN OF THE
INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC COMMISSION, WITH APPEN.
DIE, CONTAINING THZ LATEST OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS.
London : john Weale, 59, High Holborn.
Se extensive have been the undertakings Which'
have been carried into effect within the last quarter
of a century, and particularly within the past half
dozen years, by commercial enterprise,• that-we are
no longer astonished at any fornis in which it seeks
'further develoPment; and yet there are some which
from their very magnitude and boldness, putting
aside altogether the consideration of utility, claim
alike admiration and support. Of this class. are
the contemplated canal across the Isthmus of
Suez, the Panama Railway, and the Telegraph
across the Atlantic. Of these the two last may be
considered as realised ; but as to the first, it may
be taken to be as yet in the balance. Why it is so,
it is not difficult to explain. Not only does it call
for the largest investment of capital of any under-
taking which. has- been before the public in our
times, but it involves interests, commercial
and political, which, from their (Went,
and importance the people of this country at least
will he slow to disturb. This, we apprehend, is the
chief reason. why there is at present so much
seeming apathy in England in regard to this ques-
tion ; but as there is no people more interested in
the East than we are, it may safely be taken that
frdm none will this scheme of opening the " Gates
of the East," as the Suez canal has felicitiously
been termed, receive greater attention, the moment
it is fairly placed before the world as a commercial
speculation. At present the only question in refer-
ence to the project before the public is as to its
feasibility. For a considerable time this was
doubted, but the more tho project was considered,
the more was its practicability made apparent,
until at length all doubts on the subject were set
at rest by the report of the international commis-
sion, composed of the most eminent engineers and
other scientific men in Europe, who were invited
by the Viceroy of- Egypt,'Mahommerl Said, to give
their opinion upon the design for the junction of
the Rad Sea and Meditterranean by means of a
ship canal. We have that report now before us,
and seeing that it embraces every consideration at
all hearing on the project—the question of con-
struction, approaches, width, depth, estimate of
cost, &c, we would refer all who desire to make
themselves intimately acquainted with its character
to a careful perusal of the report.

THE SAVINGS BANK SY3TEM —SUGGESTIONS FOR
ITS RE-ORGANISATION, EXTENSION, AND FUTURE
SAFETY. By a Savings Bank Reformer. London :
.R. Groombridge and Sons, Paternoster-row.

Liverpool George Pbilips and Son

This is a very excellent Pamphlet on a question,
the importance of which, cannot be over-estimated.
It is, as the writer himself states, in. a great
measure the amplification of an article which was
contributed to the• Bankers' Magazine in 1849.
He •goes very fully into the question of the present
management of these institutions, and points out
that, " notwithstanding- the cost of the present
system, it does not afford to the depositor a rea-
sonable security against loss by the default
or fraud of actuaries or other- officials, as
exemplified in the failure of the Rochdale,
Cuffe-street, Tralee, and other Savings' Banks,
which, in the course of a few years, involved
the wretched depositors, in losses to the extent of
£150,000." He suggests several improvements as a
remedy for the evils inherent in the present system,
his principal recommendationbeing " The amalga-
mations of the whole of the , Savings Banks into
branches of a great central agents}, to be established
in London, such agency to be managed by three
paid commissioners, assisted by an Honorary
Directorate, chosen from the leading bankers,
merchants and capitalists .of the Metropolis." He
provides in other suggestions for the management,
&e., of the branch banks consequent on this great
primary alteration, but the full force it-;d character
of his suggestions can be felt only by a..peruSal of
the whole pamphlet, which is 'most lucid in its
treatment of the subject. .

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means have been tried to prevent or exterm nate them, but all
hitherto ineffectually. Cleanliness may check, but cannot eradicate
them. Mr. R. Greer, late one of the Liverpool sanitary officials,
after intense study and deep research with many practical ezpai-
meats, in the usual pursuit of his official avocation, has at length
discovered the great desideratum, " Greer's Patent Anti-Bug Lotion,"
is an unfailing exterminator of bugs, fleas, &c. - It is clean, simple
its application, agreeable in smell, and perfectly innoxious save to
insects. To be had at the Anti-Vermin Office B row w-hill
- h
Liverpool, in bottles at is, 25, and is MIL—ARK.