The Sun.
London, England, 1851-03-07 00:00:00

THE EXPRESS
ED1TIOlY•

SUN OFFICE, EIGHT O'CLOCK.

FRANCE.

The Presse advocates in the following remarks the
advantage which would accrue alike to the Bank of
France and to trade from an increased circulation of
ita small notes :

"It will be doubtless remembered that the coun-
cil of the Bank made a desperate opposition to the
system of the issue of small notes, so loudly called
for by the necessities of commerce. The creation
of these notes had been insisted on more than ten
years ago, when the Chamber of Deputies decided in
April, 1847, on authorising the issue of notes of 200 f.,
but that law was not sanctioned until the 10th of June
following. The Bank at that period underwent a severe
crisis; the necessity of procuring a supply of corn from
abroad, drew from France a great part of her specie, and
the amount in the coffers of the Bank was at one moment
as low as 57 millions, and it would have been reduced
'conch lower if the Bank had not found means to borrow
25 millions of silver bullion, and had not sold to the
Emperor of Russia two millions of its rente for a capital i
of 50 millions. By means of these 50 millions, t was
able to pay the foreign corn merchants N% ithout being
obliged to export any more of cur coin. This sale of
,- retes, and the loan trom the English capitalists, might
have been avoided if a large emission of small notes
had been made at that period. This was assuredly the
object of the Chamber when they authorised the
issue of bank notes of 200 f. to the amount of
25 millions. The Bank, however, dreaded the effect
of this issue of small notes, and continued to act with-
out availing itself of that resource. The notes of
2001. were of such limited circulation, as to give but
little assistance to business. At the end of January,
1848, only 8,600,000 f. worth had been printed, and
of these only 6 millions were in circulation. M.
Odier, in his annual report to the shareholders, stated
that after the whole of these had been exhausted, the
bank would take into consideration what further sum it
would be prudent to print. A few days before the re-
volution of February, the amount in the coffers of the
bank had increased to 200 millions, and this improve-
ment had been caused solely by the general movement
of trade with foreign countries. The issue of notes
of 200 f. had remained . tionary at about 6 mil-
lions. Every one will remember the panic caused
in the public mind by the revolution, and
the necessity in which the bank was placed to
have a forced issue given to its notes at the same time
that it demanded authorisation to issue small ones. It
was only then that the necessity for notes of 100 f. was
admitted in order to give a powerful assistance to com- '
mercial transactions. We will remark, that the law which
united the departmental banks to the Paris Bank
dated from May, 1848. The junction of the
other branch banks added one hundred millions
to the circulation, and taking this difference
into account, the circulation on the 2d April, 1848,
would have been 395 millions. It is at the present time
about 509 millions, which makes an increase of 114
millions for all France, the greater part of these 114
millions being in notes of 100 f. and 200 f. This in-
crease of 114 millions of notes would be a real addition
to the riches of France if
.the cash which they repre-
sent did not accumulate at the same time in an
enormous proportion. In fact the amount in the
coffers of the Bank, which, at the beginning of April,
1848, was 96,830,000 F. exclu.ive of the old departmental
banks for a circulation of 295 millions, now amounts to
5091 millions, and completely equals the amount of notes.
It is only from the day when the bank will give to
commerce all the facilities which it has hitherto refused
it, that its affairs will resume a great development. Then
the creation of notes of 200 f. and 100 g. will be not only
a gr-at convenience in exchanges, but will become a
great saving. of cash for the whole of France, whose
capital would be augmented by the sum which will
form the difference between the amount in the bank and
the circulation. It cannot for the moment be said that
there is in re Ality an increase of capital since all the
notes in circulaion are exactly represented by the cor-
responding SUM in cash lying in the cellars of the Bank
of France."