The Sun.
London, England, 1841-04-23 00:00:00

CURREN C Y.

We had occasion to observe lately, in the course of some
remarks upon the currency, that those who were opposed to
the doctrine that the paper circulation of the country should
be governed by the Foreign Exchanges, evinced a total
ignorance of, or wilful blindness to, the manner in which
that system would operate on prices. A pamphlet
which has just fallen in our way on the present state of
banking in England, "by a Scotch Banker," in a
letter addressed to Earl Fitz william, furnishes a
striking evidence of the justice of our observation.
In the whole of this publication, consisting of
forty-three large% professing to emanate from " A Vete-
ran in Banking," there is not a single word, thought, or
sentence tending, in the most remote degree, to elu-
cidate this vital branch of the question. We have seldom
seen a more crude and il!..digested work than the one before
us, when replete with such pretensions, nor one containing so
little useful information on the subject which it professes to
discuss. What can be said of a " Veteran Banker," who
has the folly artd ignorance to maintain " that to the
nobility and landed proprietary alone ought to he as,igned
the power of supplying a circulation ha ed upon the most
secure foundation?' His whole panacea for the derange-
ment of the currency is to place " the distribution of money
in the hands of the landed and mold .d aristocracy."
We may say aptly enough here that "we wi,h they
may get it."' This Scotch banker professes, natu-
rally enough, deep veneration for his native land,
and adduces the success of Scotch banking as a
reason for its introduction into England under the
system of charters and limited responsieility ; but it
is altogether new to us to hear that the prosperity of
the Scotch t anks is greatly to be attributed "to the
etalien in society occupied by the most influential in
the proprietary." Almost every man worth fifty pounds
in Scotland is a shareholder in some of see
banks, It is the widely extended proprietary, the
interest taken in them, therefore, by men of all
stations and classes in society, that has led to the great
success of the Scotch banks. The "station in society"
of the Marquis of Huntly, who certainly was one of the
nobility and landed proprietors, and governor of a joint-
stock bank in the north of Scotland at the time of
his failure, could not have added much to the
" high character" of Scottish banking. The nobility
and landed proprietors of Scotland arc teo much
involved and subject to entail, to do much in the charac-
ter of banker!. We have had frequent occasion to
remark that although joint stock banking is a plant
of Scottish growth, we have never seen a treatise on
it by a Scotchman, which was entitled to be looked
upon as a standard work or as a treatise of reference on
the subject. This affair by " a Scotch Banker" is a
sad failure. With the exception of a short table of
tire five oldest banks in Scotland, enumerating their
names, pt.id up capital, and number of partners,
which may be got in an old almanac, there is
literally no information in it on Scotch banking.
Who the " great unknown" is that penned this
wondrous talc we know not, but should rather surmise
that he must be acquainted with some of the directors of
the London T.Tnion Bank. We guess as much, at least,
from the following paragraph, which we select as a fair
specimen of the matter and manner of the author:—
" When such men al Sir Peter Laurie and Andrew
Spottissvoode put their hands to the wheel, who can doubt
tire navigation of the vessel ? Had the circulation of the
City been in possession of a dozen as well constituted banks
as the Union of London, and had the drain of gold been
from as many tills, and each bank aware that to show weak-
ness would he to forfeit honour, is there any doubt, my
Lard, that heaps of gold would have been readily found for
foreign corn or any other necessary ?"
Sir Peter Laurie, as a magistrate, has shown a re-
markably sure nose 1 t. ly at detecting City impos-
tors, and Mr. Andrew Spottiewoode has made a
snug fortune as printer to her Majesty; but that they
should be put forward as a pair of Siamese youths, duo
juncto in uno, representing the pith and essence of all
that is requisite to constitute perfection in banking
qualifications, really requires a quantity of faith in
what we read in print that is seldom to be met with, and
which we possess not. The " Scotch Banker" has
not lost the " booing" inclination of his birth-
right. He has a most uncommon regard for the pri-
vileged classes, for everything above the common herd,
and the loans by the Scotch banks "to the nobility and
landed gentry" are looked upon by him with the eyes of
religious veneration. With thee views we have no wish
to quarrel. We have no doubt the Scotch banks would
lend money to the lairds readily enough if their lands
were net entailed, and there were no prior mortga-
ges to impair the security. But this does not prove
that " the nobility and landed proprietors " would
be the proper managers of the currency. They are
too much accustomed to stand in the capacity of
borrowers to be well fitted for the office. The
impropriety of a board of merchants " sitting in judgment
on the commercial transactions of their contemporaries,"
is an objection to the present system, but the strange
notions of the " Scotch Banker," if acted upon, would,
by placing mortgaged landlords in their shoes, only
make bad ten times worse. The " Scotch Banker"
speaks of the justly-admired pamphlet of Mr. Jones
Loyd, but we doubt much if he understands it ; for
he asserts that its object is "illegitimately to nego-
tiate for the elevation or depression of the Foreign
Exchanges for private convenience." Now, this is
trash altogether. Mr. Jones Loyd simply maintains
that tie " paper circulation should vary precisely as
the amount of circulation would have Varied had it
been exc:usively metallic." This is in accordance with
the dictates of common sense; and it is clear, thersf me,
that when t' e gold is drained off (that ie, when thFo-
reign Exchanges are unravourable), the paper circulation
should be climinisl.ed, and, vice versa, expanded. But this
is not seeking to elevate or depress the Exchanges " fn.
any private convenience."—Morning Chronicle.

A new Association, called the " Political in.
stitute," which promises to aid political enlightenment, and
to give union and force to public opinion, held its second
tittirig on Wednesday, at Hclhorn Hers, when it discussed
the necessity of diminishing, the immense and increasing
influence of the aristocracy. After a debate of three
hours, conducted with considerable ability and animation,
a resolution was carried to the effect..._,, That the aristo-
cracy had succeeded to the dangerous ettent of power
snjo3ed by the Crown in 1730; that this power, notwith-
standing the Reform Bill, increased, and was increasing,
and ought to be dinsinishee." A petition, according with
the spirlt of this iesolution, is to be sent, it is understood,
to the House.of Common%