The Sun.
London, England, 1825-12-09 00:00:00

[MORNING CHRONICLE.]

The monopoly enjoyed by the Bank gives that
body a power of influencing the commercial
world, which no body ought to be allowed to
possess. Hetice the grand question is always
now—How is the Bank acting ?—is the Bank
liberal or not Yesterday was Discount day, and
the greatest anxiety was naturally felt with re-
gard to the manner in which the great Corpora-
tion would act.—The answer was delayed an
hour beyond the usual time (two o'clock), but it
gave satisfaction to many—for the Discounts
were very liberal. The announcements of the day
were very unfavourable. The failure of the Bank
of Messrs. Wentworth, Chaloner, and Rush-
worth will, it is feared, be attended with the
most serious consequences in Yorkshire. They had
establishments in York, Wakefield and Bradford,
had a house in London, and had branches besides
in Leeds, Huddersfield, Tadcaster, Weatherby,
and five or six other places. It is believed that
they issued notes to the amount of at least
400,0001. Mr. Wentworth, one of the partners,
has an estate of about 17,0001. a year, but he is
above 60 years of age, and we cannot ascertain
whether the estate is free or entailed. Mr. Cha-
loner is Member for York, and married the sister
of Lord Dundas. Mr. Rushworth, the other part-
ner, bought a number of estates. It is feared the
manufacturing population of the West Riding will
suffer severely from the failure. We heard yester-
day of the failure of another Bank in the North
Road, but the consequences of any mistake are so
serious, that though informed of the failure by a
gentleman who passed through the town, we are
afraid to particularize the concern. The great curse
is the Bank of England monopoly ; and though it
would be unfair to attribute all the evils to the con-
duct of the Bank,we cannot be far wrong in placing
it to the account of the monopoly. If banking, like
trade, were free, it would not be in the power of
one body to raise or lower interest arbitrarily, to
limit or extend discounts, to feed the hopes of
merchants one day, and plunge them in bank-
ruptcy the next. The banks would be obliged
to attend to the state of the market, and the
public would never be taken unawares by them.
But it is not in London only, but throughout
England, or rather still more in the country than
in London, that a change of system is required.
The monopoly, as vi e have again and again
stated these three or four years, prevents the
formation of Banks on a large scale, and se-
curely founded in the Provinces. Every person at
present who has any local influence from his
office as Magistrate, Receiver of Taxes, &c., sets
up as banker, and deluges the country with his
notes. It is true, the bankers themselves pay
the penalty of their blunders in the long run,
but ought the country to be abandoned to the
experiments of every projector, with no other
security than that afforded by the consideration
that he must involve himself in the common ruin?
But the votes of country bankers, and the country
'Squires connected with them,are useful to Mini-
sters, and therefore poor John Bull must be
sacrificed. In return, he can shew his spirit by
chalking the walls with " No Popery :"

[MORNING HERALD.]
It is gratifying to observe that some of the
great landed proprietors in Ireland have latterly
undertaken the really patriotic task of improving
the condition and habits of their tenantry. We
adverted some time ago to the improvements on
the l3essborough estate. Yesterday we informed
our readers that the Earl of Clare has converted
the wretched hovels which surrounded his splen-
did mansion into cottages in the English style,
and ornamented with comfort and cleanliness a
region in which the beauty of nature had, from
time immemorial, been marred and polluted by
every appearance of human misery that makes
the heart sicken and recoil. This is not the sort
of patriotism " the agitators" like. It does not
coincide with the objects they have in view. It
is too wise and practical a mode of relieving the
country to suit their vain and declamatory poll.
tics. It is easier to make a noisy speech than to
set a good example. Those persons who reside
on their es ates at home circulate their wealth
among those whose labour creates their riches,
and teach their tenantry the value of the habits,
which civilization carries in its train. In allud-
ing to men of this class, we could mention
the names of the Marquis of Downshire, the
Marquis of Thornond, the Earl of Charlemont,
Meath, and Farnham ; the Lords Powerscourt,
Gort, Lorton, and some others. A few opulent
'Commoners, in several counties, are now emu-
lating the example which has been set them by
the La Touches of Wicklow, who first proved
the capability of the labouring classes in their
neighbourhood for the enjoyment of civilized
habits, by giving them the means of comfortable
existence.

[NEW TIMES.]
There is a class of public writers whose object
is always to create confusion if it does not exist,
and to exaggerate it if it does. They reckon that
the craft is in danger, when mankind are tranquil
and comfortable, and that if they can but render
themselves oracles of discontent, they will be sure
not to want votaries. A writer of this class in-
formed us yesterday that " aspirations bad been
breathed in a certain cadence"—(fine words, to
he sure, but wonderfully senseless)—and the ob-
ject of these cadences and breathings was, " that
Government should issue an Order in Council,
enabling the Bank to refuse Cash Payments !"
We take upon ourselves to assert, that this
is substantially as complete a fabrication
as that must impudent •of all deceptions,

the pretended conversation between the
Chancellor of the Exchequer and the Go-
vernor and Deputy Governor of the Bank.—
Nobody desires cash payments to be sus-
pended, and nobody has breathed an aspiration
on the subject, in cadence, or out of cadence.—
The idea has neither been entertained by Go-
vernment, nor by the Bank of England, nor by
any single individual in the commercial world—
if
it has, we challenge the assortor of the fact to
name the individual. This he will not do for
simple rflason, because he cannot. But we may
easily understand why this statement is thrown
out, especially among country readers. It may
lead them to believe that matters are in a state
of great extremity, when so complete a subver-
sion of our currency system can be seriously me-
ditated. This is the great evil that we wish to
guard against—namely, the belief of country
readers in statements put forth for the mere pur-
poses of alarm. Let them consider how seldom
the parties now attempting to mislead them have
done any thing else but mislead them. Let them
reflect, that in a state of peace, with a flourishing
revenue and unimpaired resources, any derange-
ment of the money market can be but tempo-
rary ; and that for a temporary and trivial evil no
man of sense would desire so violent a remedy.
It is perfectly well known in London that nobody
does desire it ; but at a distance from the metro-
polis, Newspaper fabrications may have some
effect ; and if they have any, it must be alike
prejudicial to individuals and to the public. The
failure of one or two country banks, at a time
of alarm like. the present, is not at all surprising.
It must be remembered that some local causes
have operated to produce embarrassment. Thus
at Bradford, in Yorkshire, there was for several
months a suspension of manufacturing industry,
owing to the combinations of the workmen. It
would not, therefore, be very surprising that any
Bank connected with such a place should find its
business obstructed; but local and particular
mischances of this kind little affect the general
prosperity of the kingdom. That rests on a solid
basis; and so long as the present tranquillity
prevailing throughout Europe continues—to which
there is not the,slightest appearance of interrup-
tion—so long we may be confident that partial
obstacles will not seriously impede the course of
public good.