The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1826-06-01 00:00:00

IRELAND.

ANTRIM.—This is an Orange- county, and it will be re.
lresented by Orangemen. A man with Milesian bloat', or at
east he has the Milesian 0 to his name—a man who claims
descent from the last Kings of Ulster, O'Neil himself, will repre-
sent this county. in copartnery with en English importation, Lord
Beauchamp. The first we need not mention is the brother of one
of our Postmasters-General, and Grand Master of the Orargemen
of Ireland; the latter is the son of that respectable Peer the Mar-
quis of Hertford. With respect to the Hertford interest, it is
paramount In the county ; and although en absentee, we are in
candour bound to admit that he is an excellent landlord. In fact,
Lord Hertford could return the two Members If he pleased ; and
we Imagine that it is to his interest priccipally that Colonel O'Neil
will owe his return : for it is a melancholy fact, that Lord O'Neil,
notwithstanding the stout part he has taken •in behalf of the
Orangemen, has lost much of the influence which his family for-
merly possessed in this county.
An AGII (CITY.)—The representation of this borough is vested
111 the Primate. It is now held by Mr. Stuart, the son of the
late Archbishop. This gentleman, we imagine, will be compelled
to resit,m In favour of some saintly scion of the noble House of
Waterford. In short, we shall have a Beresford fur the borough
of Armagh.
AIIIAOII (Coum.)—This, which is the seat of the Primacy,
is one of the most thoroughly Protestant Church of England and,
we were going to say, Orange counties, in Ireland. Yet this county.
and without the slightest contest, will return two of the most
strenuous friends and supporters ot Catholic emancipation—Colonel
Caulfield, brother of the Earl of Charlemont, and Charles
Brownlow.
CAVAN.--it is well known to the readers of the Dublin Everiin{r
Post. that the present Members for the County of Cavan, Mr. Na-
thaniel Sneyd and Mr. Henry Maxwell, represent the Orange In-
terest of that county. Of the present Members it is only necessary
•o s is, that Mr. Sneyd has personally no interest whatever, and that
he will r tire after the present dissolution. Mr. 51axwell has, of
course, th, interest of his uncle, Lon! Psrnham, and the Orange-
men, high and low. The new candidates spoken of are Come,
Southwell, Young, and Ssuoderson. But it is supposed that only
one of them will rand. if these gentlemen clubbed their interest,
we have good reason to know that any two of the three would turn
one the sitting Members.
Dualist (Courts. v).—There have been for some time four
candidates named for this county—the old Members, Messrs. Tal-
bot and White, and two new ones, Lord Brabazon and Mr.
Hamilton. The three former of these gentlemen are liberal In
thiir principles.
DumLiN COLLEGE.—Mr. Plunkett will be again returned,
should no circumstances occur to induce him to d.cline offering
himself. But should he stand, he will not be opposed by Mr.
Croker or Mr. North; and as for poor Mr. Moore, should he In-
deed exhibit himself to the ridicule of a contest, it will be exactly
what is wanted to render the victory of Mr. Plunkett, and the tri-
umph of rational and expanded principles of public policy, more
striking.
Dunt.he —The three candidates hitherto named for this city
are—Sir J. Kingston James, But., Alderman Shaw, and Henry
Grattan, Esq.
Dovex—This county is at present represented by two friends of
emancipation, Lord Arthur Hill, brother of Lord Hownshire, and
Mr. Forde. his likely, however, that the latter will be obliged to
retire from the representation, for the purpose of making room for
Lord Castlereagh. the son of Lord Londonderry, who is said to be
coming from the Continent, for the purpose of offering himself to
the electors.

We understand that Sir Charles Lnng and the Earl of
Balearras are, si well as Mr. Stuart Wortley, to be made
British Pzers.

A meeting of the friends of Mr. Huskiason is called for
this day, to consider of the best means to secure his re.
election as a Member in Parliament for Liverpool. Re-
port states that it' is understood John Wright, Esq. will
be put in nomination (to oppose Mr. Huakiason's return)
by the operatives.

THE BRITISH PRESS.

RFPOII7'
FROM THE SELECT COMMITTEE ON PROMISSORY
NOTES IN SCOTLAND AND IRELAND.
The Select Commitiee appointed to inquire into the state of the
Circulation in Promissory Notes under the value of Five Pounds
In Scotland and Ireland, and to report their observations and
opiniop thereupon to the House, with reference to the expedi-
ency of making any alteration in the laws no. in force relating
thereto: and •o whom the several Petitions relating to the Cur-
rency of Scotland arid Ireland were referred ; have, puranant
to the Order of the House, inquired accordingly, and have
agreed to the following Report :
As it appears to your Committee to be advisahle to consider the
state of circulation in Scotland separately bon, that lit Ireland,
they will, In the first instance, repot the result of the inquiries
winch they Acre mule with reference to the case of Scotland.
The first notice of banking in Scotland, which occurs indite
Siatuleitook, is an Act of King William the Third, missed in
the year 1005, under which the Bank of Scotland wits esiablished.
By this Act an exclusive privilege of banking wan conferred upon
that Bank; it bring provided, • that for the period of twenty-one
years, from the 17th July 11.95, it should not be lawful for any
other persons to set up a distinct Company of Bank within the
kingdom of Scotland, besides those persons in whose favour this
Act is granted." No renewal of the excltutive privilege took place
after the expiration of the twenty-one years.
The Bank of Scotland first issued notes of 20s. in the year 1704 t
but the amount of notes in circulation previously to the Union
was very limited.
The Batik of Scotland continued the only Bank from die date of
Its establishment in 1095 to the year 1797.
In that year a charter of Incorporation was granted to certain in-
dividuals named therein, for carrying on the business of banking,
under the name of the Royal Bank; and subsequent charters were
granted to this establishment, enlarging ►ts capital, which now
amount, to one million and a half.
An Act, passed in the year 1765, is the first and moat important
Act of the Legislature, which regulates the issue of promissory.
notes in Scotland.

It appears, from its preamble, that a practice had prevailed in
Scotland of issuing notes which circulated as specie, and which
were made payable to the bearer on demand, or payable at the
option of the batter at the end of six months, with a sum equal to
the legal interest 'tom the demand to that time. •
The Act of 1705 prohibits the issue of notes, In which 'IL!' an
option as that betore mentioned is reserved to the tuner. It requires
that all notes of the nature of a bank note, and circulating like
specie, should be paid on demand ; and prohibits the issue of any
promissory note of a sum less than twenty shillings.
With respect to the inane of promissory notes in England, an Act
was passed in 1775, prohibiting the issue of any such note under
the sum of twenty shillings; and in the year 1777 restraints were
imposed by law on the issue of notes between the sum of twenty
shillings and tire pounds, which were equivalent to the prohibition
of such notes eireulting as specie.
' In the year 1797, when the restrictions as to payments in cash was
imposed upon the Bank of England, the provisions of the Act of
1777. with regard to the issue of notes between twenty shillingsand
five pounds, were suspended. By an Act passed in the third year
of bit present Majesty, the suspension was continued until the sth
January 1833, but now stands limited by an Act of the present See-
-1 Ilion to the sth of April 1829.
The general result of the laws regulating the paper currency in
the two countries respectively is this:—
That in Scotland the issue of promissory notes payable to the
' bearer on demand, for a sum of not less than twenty shillings,
has been at all times permitted by law ; nor has any Act been
passed limiting the period for which such issues shall continua le-
gal in that country. In England the issue of promissory notes for
a less sum than five pounds was prohibited by law from the year
1777 to the period of the Bank restriction in 1797. It has been
permitted since 1797, and the permission will cease, as the law at
present stands, in April 1029.
Your Committee will proceed to give a general view, deduced
i from the examination of witnesses, and from the documents called
for by the Committee, of the laws which regulate the business of
banking in Scotland, and of the mode in which it is at present
conducted.
The general provisions of the law of Scotland, bearing upon
this subject, are calculated to promote the solidity of banking
establishments, by affording to the creditor great facilities for
ascertaining the pecuniary circumstances of individual partners, and
by making the private fortunes of those partners available for
tfie discharge of the obligations of the bank with which they are
connected.
There Is no limitation upon the number of partners of which a
Banking Company in Scotland may consist; and, excepting i• the
case of the Bask of Scotland and the two chartered Banks, which
have very considerable capitals, the partners of all Barking Corn-
ponies are bound jointly and severally; so that each partner is
liable, to the whole extent of his fortune, for the whole debts of
the Company. A creditor in Scotland is empowered to attach the
real and heritable, as well as the personal estate of his debtor, furl
payment of personal dehts, among which may be classed debts
due by bills and promissory notes ; and recourse may be had, for
the purpose of procuring payment, to each description of property
at the same time.

Execution is not confined to the real property of a debtor merely
durirg his life, but proceeds with equal effect upon that property
after his decease.
The law relating to the establishment of Records gives ready
means of procuring information with respect to the real and heri-
table swats of which any person iu Scotland may be possessed. No
purchase of an estate in that country is secure until the seisine (that
is, the instrument certifying thu actual delivery has been given) is
put on record, nor is any mortgage effectual until the deed is in
like manner recorded.
In the case of conflicting pecuniary claims upon real property,
the preference is not regulated by the date of the transaction, but
by the date of its record. These records are accessible to all per-
sons, and thus the public can with ease ascertain the effective means
which a banking company possesses of discharging its obligations ;
and the partners in that company are enabled to determine, with
tolerable accuracy, the degree of risk and responsibility to which
the private property of each is exposed.
There are other provisions of the law of Scotland which it is no:
necessary minutely to detail, the general tendency of which is the
same with those above mentioned.
There are at present 32 banks in Scotland, three of which are in.
corporated by Act of Parliament, or by Royal Charter, viz.:—
The Bank of Scotland, the Royal Bank of Scotland, and the
bank called the Bridals Linen Company.
. The National Bank of Scotland has 1.238 partners.
The Commercial Bank of Scotland has 321.
The Aberdeen Town and County Bank has 440.
Of the remaining Banks, there are three in which the number of
partners exceeds 100: six in which the number is between 20 and ,
100 t end seventeen in which the number falls short of 20.
The greater part of the Scotch Banks have branches in con-
nexion with the principal establishment, each branch managed by an
agent acting under the immediate directions of his employe:a, and
giving security to them for his conduct.
The Bank of Scotland had, at the date of the last return received
by your Committee, sixteen branches, established at various periods
between the year 1774 and the present.
The British Linen Company had twenty-seven branches.
The Commercial Banking Company in Edinburgh, thirty•one.
The total number of branches established in various parts of
Scotland, from the Southern Border to Thurso, the most northerly
pcibst at which a Branch Bank exists, is one hundred and thirty -
three.

--
Speaking generally, the business of a (Scotch Bank consists
chiefly in the receipt and charge of sums deposited with the Bank,
on which an Interest is allowed, and in the issue of promissory
notes upon the discount of bills, and upon advances of money made
by the Bank upon what is called a cash credit.
The interest allowed by a Bank upon depuits varies from time
to time, according to the current rate of interest-which money ge-
nerally bears. At present the interest allowed upon deposits is tour
per cent.
It has been calculated that the aggregate amount of the sums
deposited with the Scotch Banks amounts to about twenty or
twenty-one millions. The precise accuracy sr such an estimate
cannot of course be relied on. The witness by whom it was made
thought that the amount of deposits could not be less than sixteen
millions, nor exceed twenty-five millions, and took an intermediate
sum as the probable amount.
Another witness, who had lieen connected for many years with
different Banks in Scodaerl, and has ,had experience of their con-
cerns at Stirling, Edinburgh, Perth, Aberdeen, and Glasgow,
stated that more than one-half of the deposits in the Banks with
which he had been connected were in sums (torn ten pounds to two
hundred pounds.
Being asked what class of the community it is that makes the
small deposits, he gave the following answer, from which it ap-
pears that the mode of conducting this branch f the banking busi-
ness in Scotland has long given to that country many of the benefits
derivable from the establishment of Saving Banker:—
" Question--What tiara of the community is it that makes the
smaller deposits?
" Answer—They are generally the labouring classes, in towns
like Glasgow. In country places, like Perth and Aberdeen, it is
from servants and fishermen, and just that clue of the community,
who tare from their earnings.in mere trifles, small MUM till they '
come to be a bank deposit. There is now a facility for their plac-
ing money in the Provident Banks, which receive money till the de-
! posit amounts to ten pounds. ,When it comes to ten ,pounds it is
equal to the minimum of a bank deposit. The system of banking
in Scotland is just an extension of the Provident. Bank system.
Half-yearly or yearly those depositors come to the Bank and add
the savings of tbeir lsbour, with the interest that has accrued upon
the deposits from the previous half-year or year, to the principal ;
and in this way it goes on without being at all reduced, accumu-
lating till the depositor is able either to buy or build a house, when
it comes to be one or two or three hundred pounds, or till he is able
to commence business as a muter in the line in which he has hi-
therto been a A great part of the depositors of the Bank
, are of that description, and a great part of the most thriving of our
farmers and manufacturers have arisen from such beginnings."
On sums advanced by the Banks on the discount of bills of ex-
change,
and upon cash credits, an intKeat of five per cent. is at
present charged.
A cash credit is an undertaking on the part of a bank to advance
to an Individual such sums of money as he may frpm time to time
require, not exceeding in the whole a certain definite amount, the
individual to whom the credit is given entering into a bond with
securities, general) two in number, for the repayment on demand'
of the sums actual y advanced, with interest upon each issue from
the day on which it is made.
Cash credits are rarely given for turns below one bundled
pounds; they generally range from two to lye hundred pountla,