The Sun.
London, England, 1841-01-13 00:00:00

THE sUN. LONDON. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 13, 1841.

INQUEST ON SCOTT THE DIVER.

Last night, at seven o'clock, an inquest was held bc.
fore Mr. Higgs, the Coroner for Ni a tininster, and a
jury, in Charing-cross Hospital, on the b,dy of this un-
fortunate man. A great number of witne;ses were exa-
mined, who spoke to the circumstances as they have already
appeared in The Sun, and about nine o'clock the jury
returned a verdict of " Accidental Death."

JOINT STOCK BANKS IN

SCOTLAND.

The returns of the circulation of the joint-stock
banks in Scotland, for the year 1834 to 1839 inclu-
sive, are much relied upon by the advocates of free
issues. By the accounts furnished to the Committee
on Banks of Issue, these establishments give a circu-
lation of 3,497,7951., in November, 1834, from twenty-
one banks ; and 3,559,5091., in November, 1839, from
twenty-eight banks. These accounts also show that
during the immediate years the circulation has
generally been lowest in the month of March, thet
it has risen in July. and at its maximum in No-
vember. Mr. Gilbart places great stress upon these •
tables, and the "beautiful regularity" which they
exhibit. He says that it must arise from the local
circumstances or habits of the country, and that it
has no influence on prices. He is partly right, but
more wrong than right in that statement. The periodi-
cal expansion of the currency in Scotland from July to
November is occasioned by the increase in trade, which
begins in July annually from the herring fishery. The
herring curers require a large supply of 1/. notes annu-
ally to pay the wages to the fishermen, coopers, boat-ma-
kers, and other persons employed by them. This demand
is supplied by the discount of bills and issue of their
notes in exchange by the various branch banks in
the towns along the line of coast ; and, again, in
November the currency is further increased' by the
quantity of produce which is brought to market by
the farmers, whose grain rents in the northern coun-
ties are payable on Martinmas Day, the 15b
day of November. Mr. Gilbart says that Mr. Loyd's
system would destroy this regularity. " In some 3 ears
the circulation would advance from March to No•
ember, and in other years it would retrograde." We
do not think so. Mr, Loyd's system would keep
the circulation altogether more even and steady,
but it would not stop the Scotch herring fishery,
nor prevent the tenants from selling their corn and
cattle. Mr. Gilbart is mistaken in supposing that
the periodical expansion of the currency in Scot-
land has no effect on prices. Every one who
has bad an opportunity of observing the effect of
the flush of money produced by the bills distributed
along the coasts of Scotland, during and at the termina-
tion of the herring season, knows that prices are thus
invariably enhanced ; and that the easy accommodation
given by the banks has led to overtrading in that
branch of commerce, followed in the spring season by a
tightness of demand and want of money when the bills
WI due, which causes a reaction and fall of prices.
No one will dispute that the Scotch banks have been
generally well managed, and that they have tended much
to the improvement of that part of the United King-
dom. They are part of the system of society, here.
They are indeed, we may say, an elemehtary portion of
it, for every man in Scotland who has scraped 501. to-
gether is generally a shareholder in some joint-stock
bank ; and the Scotch have a confidence in their paper
issues which is born with them from the cradle. Such
confidence does not exist in England in paper-money ;
and we have to consider the best means for regaining
confidence in the eyes of the people of England towards
the monetary system of the country which it has lost.
We shall not likely obtain that object by mere analo-
gous reasoning from the Scotch system. We do not
believe that the people of England would place
faith in our opinions if we were seriously to argue that
the surest way to stop fluctuations in prices, and to
obtain safety for the public in their banking operations,
would be to do away with all legislative control as re-
gards banks of issue, and to let any class of men who
chose commence the trade of money making who were
able to get circulation for their promises to pay. What
would be the immediate result of such a system in the
metropolis and throughout the country? Why, banks
would spring up as numerous as mushrooms in sum-
mer, and as ephemeral in their existence. Ultimately,
it may be said, the thing would cure itself, and find
its proper level ; that these fictitious establishments
would speedily perish, and houses of immense capital
and with most numerous proprietors would take their
place. Be it so. That is quite possible ; but let ut
reflect a moment on the convulsions which would
first be suffered—the panic, the misery, the swell of
prices in the first instance, and the reflux in the sequel,
which the commercial interests of the country would
have to undergo before we could reasonably ex-
pect to reach the land of promise, and before the
troubled waters would settle calmly down. The experi-
ment is too dangerous to be attempted ; and although
there may be some risks in the change of placing the
whole currency in the hands of a board of responsible
officers appointee by the Crown, yet it is compara-
tively trifling ; and, as all are agreed that an alteration
must take place, and that something decisive must be
done, the best way is to adopt the simplest, and
that which is attended with the smallest peril. Uni-
formity and steadiness are the two chief objects
sought for, and to find them there must be
but one controlling power. As Mr. Gilbart
has referred to Scotland for a favourable elu-
cidetio n of the effects of competing issues, as
giving rise to regularity, and keeping the currency within
proper limits, we shall, on the other hand, contrast the
state of things in the United States, when the currency
in that country was under the control of a State bank,
and when it was open to the free action of the vations
banks chartered by the separate States. The pic-
ture is thus drawn by Mr. Daniel Webster :
" From 1820 to 1830, a period of ten years, there
were created in the United States twenty-two new
banks, and their creation added to the banking
capital of the country but eight millions of dollars.
During this period the Bank of the United States was
in full operation, and nobody entertained a doubt but
that it would be continued. How was it in the next
ten years ? From 1830 to 1840, the increase of banks,
instead of twenty-two, as in the preceding ten years,
' was three hundred and forty-eight ; and the increase
of banking capital, instead of eight millions, amounted
to two hundred and sixty-eight millions. Such has
been the progress of bank expansion during the charm-
ing, the successful years of the experiment."
We do not bring forward this extract from the
speech of Mr. Webster with the view of attributing
merit to the Bank of the United States. We have
frequently pointed out the errors of the past conduct
of that institution, and called upon the Directors to
observe prudence and economy for the future. But
we have in the above extract evidence that the Bank
of the United States, faulty as it was during the pe-
riod when it existed as a national institution, and acted
as a controlling power, was the means of repressing
over-issues, and that, when it ceased to possess the im-
press and influence of a national establishment, banks
sprung up to a most mischievous extent in the United
States.

COMMERCIAL TRAVELLERS' SO-

CIETY OF SCOTLAND.

The Annual General Meeting of this Society was held
at the Black Bull, Glasgow, on Friday the Bth instant,
at three o'clock in the afternoon, for the purposes speci-
fied in the Articles of Constitution, when the following
gentlemen were elected Office-bearers for the current
year, viz.:
James Lumsden, of Yoker Lodge, President,
Mr. Geo. Robson, merchant, Glasgow, Vice-President.
Meas,re John Smith, John Reid, James Morrison, and
Patrick Scotland, Directors in room of the four who
retire.
Mr. James Gourlay, Treasurer.
'Air. Alexander Borland, Actuary.
Mr. E. Railtin, Secretary.

THE NAVAL SURGEON, BY THE AUTHOR
OF " CAVENDISIC—We milder this novel to be the
best that Mr. Neale has yet written. It is a very ad-
mirable transcript of naval life, told with great truth and
feeling, and abounding both in incident and character.
One of its chief attractions, to those who remember the
original, will be the life-like portrait which the author has
drawn in the character of Captain Howard, of one of the
finest fellows that ever trod the deck of a man-of-war.
We know not if it were Mr. Neale's distinctive purpose to
paint this picture from the life, but, whether accidentally
or by design, lie has been most successful ; and in the
noble traits which he has given of the generosity, the
kindness of heart, the courage, and the genius of Captain
Howard, we at once recognise the attributes of one in
whom were combined all the great qualities that, but, for
an untimely death, would have led him to imitate even the
lofty name which his father had created. The salient
points of Captain Howard's character, as a bold and ac-
complished sailor, are finely brought out in the spirit-
stirring and aeitnated description of the running fight be-
tween the Epaminondas and the strange 74, whose his-
tory remains a mystery to the end. We have rarely rend
anything more interesting than the account of this chase.
Mr. Node's powers arc very various, and he sketches cha-
racter with great freedom and rapidity. Iris Dr. Caustic
is an excellent specimen of dry humour and singularity.
Nor is he less at fault in the more romantic portions of his
narrative, happily blending a very interesting story with
the shifting adventures of a naval surgeon's life. We
shauld be glad to see that the case of the assistant sur-
geons of the navy had received the attention from the
Lords of the Admiralty which the author very justly claims
for that meritorious class of officers.—Morning Herald.
MARRIAGE IN RUSSIA. —We hear that Count
Anatole Demidaff has received an order on the part
of his Majesty the Emperor, to return to this capital
within a certain fixed time. The Governments of some
provinces have thought fit to remind the subordinate autho-
rities of the following ancient regulation No officer
either of the civil or military service, shall be allowed to
cataract marriage without the permission of his superiors.
Those who act in contravention of this order, will be in-
evitably punished according to law." To promote this
cad, the Conaistoriea are invited to co-operate by not cele-
brating any marriage of rams in the service of the State,
unless they produce a permission from their superiors.—
Berlin Paper.