The Sun.
London, England, 1822-07-01 00:00:00

culation, and which it replaces either by new notes or by cop-
per coin. It is equally charged with the making of the new
notes necessary for the purpose which I am about to mention ;
and, finally, it is charged with the recovery of certain sums
which individuals owed to the fonner boards.
You may be satisfied, Gentlemen, by the accounts which will
be presented tt) you, the prohibition of any new issue of paper
is strictly observed.
Last year I had announced to you, and the accounts of the
Bank had shown you, that after having substituted for the
former notes those which, circulate at present, we had in circu-
lation about 639,460,270 roubles.
In spite of all the measures taken by the Government to
make known to all persons the term fixed by the ordinances to
exchange the old notes, many of them were found in the hands
of the poor and indigent classes of society. The Government
did not wish that the Bank should profit by their negligence,
and the Emperor, therefore, ordered all to be paid which should
be presented during 1821. To the Ist of January, 1822, there
was withdrawn 1,437,200 roubles; the whole mass issued
amounts to 640,897,470 roubles 9 • and as we are going to burn
at the end of this session 44,968,230 roubles, there will remain
in circulation about 595,926,240 roubles.
LOAN BANK.
The loans which this establishment has made in the course
of the year 1821, by order of his Imperial Majesty, amount to
10,000 roubles in gold ; 27,000 in silver ; and 9,073,689 paper
roubles.
The greater part of these loans have been made to manu-
facturers, for the support of their establishments. The capi-
tals belonging to this Bank will be solely devoted to the sup-
port of industry. The net profit which it has derived the last
year from its operations are, 6,322 roubles in gold ; 133,782 in
silver, and 2,227,624 in paper.
COMMERCIAL BANK,
Instituted for,the support of the commercial class : this esta-
blishment has last year rendered them important services by
facilitating the operations at a time when our commerce re-
quired that assistance most imperiously. Its beneficent in-
fluence has not only been extended in the capital, but spread
to all the cities most engaged in commerce. The offices which
it has established at Riga in the last year, and at the com-
mencement of the present at Astrachan, will extend the circle
of its activity. Its capital, which at the time of its institution
amounted only to 17,000,000, now arhounts to 30,000,000, fixed
by the Manifest of 1817. The deposits, both at the Bank and
at its branches, including what remained from 1820, have
amounted, for repayment, to 49,481,000 roubles, and at inte-
rest to 126,874,000 roubles.
The / total sum at its disposal, added to its own capital,
amounts to 205,000,000.
The Bank and its branches, have made the following use of
them :—They have returned in sums placed for repayment
18,818,000 roubles ; they have assigned, from one city to
another, 30,663,000: they have restored sums placed at their
disposal, with the intention of deriving interest from them, to
the amount of 92,804,405. They have discounted, by bills of
exchange, the sum of 228,619,000. They have advanced, upon
deposits of merchandize, 7,890,000 ; they have discounted, in
bank-notes, 20,350,000—in foreign bills of exchange, 3,035,000.
All its operations have amounted to 309,357,000.
The advances upon commodities have exceeded by 2,600,000
those made in 1820; and the discount in bills of exchange pre-
sents a surplus of 58,000,000.
Among the effects protested there is to the amount of 1,403,751
which have not been paid. The majority are found to be coun-
terfeited. The Government knows and prosecutes the forgers.
By all that we can learn of these persons, the bank will not ex=
penence considerable losses. These losses will bg amply com-
pensated by the profits which the bank has made, and which
amount to 3,204,385 roubles. The total of returns into the
funds, of this establishment, and the public offices, in 1821,
amounts to 1,178,454,398 roubles in paper, and 9,165,739
silver roubles.
Such, Gentlemen, is the situation of our credit establish.
ments. It proves that our system of public credit is built on
a solid basis, and that we cannot doubt of the advantage which
it will confer upon the State.
The sacred word of the Sovereign, to whom Russia is indebt-
ed for this new benefit ; the punctuality with which the sums
set apart for this service are paid, the rigorous observation of
the rules which fix their employment ; become, when combined,
the essential guarantees of our system of credit. Debts formerly
contracted are at last perfectly known • each of them is con-
ducted upon rules agreeable to the creditors of the State, and
means are provided for satisfying them.
Our system of credit, in consolidating itself, offers the means
of providing expences which would exceed the ordinary re-
sources of the Treasury, and gives greater facilities to its ope-
rations.
The extraordinary necessity of having recourse, on ordinary
occasions, to new issues of Bank Paper, so injurious to private
and public fortunes, cannot,. henceforward, conflict with the
existence of our system of credit. The paper money, ar-
rested in its progress towards a fall, has acquired more
value—we neither expected or desired a sudden rise.—By
diminishing the mass of paper from 836,000,000 to 596,000,000,
we might aye obtained a more sensible amelioration ; but the
distressing situation of our commerce has relaxed the course of
such salutary results.
The consolidation of our system of credit leaves us the choice
of means which we had wished to employ in our life-time.—
We can beforehand predict their success. Our stocks appear-
ing every where in circulation, have not only been secured
against loss, but have risen. Such are the happy effects of a
regulated system of credit. Those which we have still a right
to expect will follow the progressive march of time, which
alone can prepare and reproduce them.