The Sun.
London, England, 1833-06-03 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

• •
In the plain amhsensitne speech of the Chan-
cellor of the Exchequer -on Friday evening it
must have been particularh'' gratifying to those
who, like ourselves, have defended the just and
safe principles of currency, to bear that none of
Ouse principles were to he weakened or contro-
verted by his new proposals. The convertibility
of all paper into the standard coin of the realm.
at the will of tie holder,—the solvency of banks
by an insurance of the necessary funds for carry-
inc on the business of banking,—and the neces-
sity of keeping the fluctuations in the value of
money within as narrow limits as possible, be
preventing canricious, impolitic, and selfish,
issues or contractions of a paper circulation,—
are all parts of our monetary system which are to
he maintained in their present purity and rigour.
The factious creatures who maintain that uiu
have discovered a departure from the Act of 1819
in the provision which enables a holder of a 5/.
Bank of England note to discharge his debt of
5/. by veering it, when his creditor may send
the note to the Bank, and obtain five sovereign•
in return, are scarcely worth the trouble of con-
tradicting. Our Finance Minister has followed
the rule, rather than the practice, of his pre-
decessors, in maintaining that the Bank of
England should be kept distinct from the di-
rect control of Government, or from the influence
of Government commissioners. He has pre-
served the institution in possession of the public
business by continuing its functions as pay-
master of the national creditor ; and if he has
shown any weakness, it is in not having driven
so hard a bargain for the public as the public
mill yet, we hope, compel him to obtain, or in
not securing all the advantages of publicity 1)1
agreeing to such a periodical publication of hank
accounts as will detail all the facts which the
country ought to know. Let, therefore, public
opinion not uselessly waste its force on a multi-
plicity of objects, where the direct object is so
plain, and so certain of attainment. Let us de-
mand, with united voice, in behalf of the nation,
that the consideration given for the Thread-
needle-street monopoly shall be raised from
120.0001. to 200,000/., or to a quarter of a
million ; and that the best management of our
paper currency shall be secured by the most
prompt and most detailed statements of
the Bail issues, treasure, and deposits. Oo
this latter subject Mr. Baring still seems to
entertain those doubts which are never satisfied
wrere doubts are possible. But his illustra-
tions, like his votes, often afford the best answer
to his arguments. He tells us, for instance.
that if in December, 1825, during the days of
ire panic. the small amount of coin and bullion
in the coffers of the Bank had been disclosed,
the effect of the disclosure would have been an
increa,e of the alarm, and a consequent insol-
tencv in the Bank of England. This is, no
doubt, viry probable, had the measure been
adopted after the panic bad begun, the object of
publicity being, not to cure, but to prevent a
panic. And we ask, is it possible to suppose
shat if accoonts had been published quarterk,
the Bank Directors of that fatal period would
have been allowed to reduce their treasure feta,

_ .
more than 13,000,000/. in 1823 to less than
1,000,000/. in December, 1825. without callinp
forth remonstrances that would have arrested
them in their impolitic career ? We regaid
this, therefore, as an indisputable principle in
the management of a concern which can affect
the fortunes of every man in the land, that every
man in the land should know how it proceed;
and we see no more danger in publishing (war-
teriv accounts of Bank treasure and issues
than quarterly statements of the re‘enue, with
all their details and with all their explanation,.

On the other point, the public mint see to their
own interest, which is mere palpably and more
directly implicated. We are not among the nuns
her of tho,e who lately supported the motion of
a Gallant Member for Placing the currency in the
hands of a Government commis ion, anti deriv-
ing from it a revenue of 5,000,0001. or
1C,000.0001. a-year ! ! Such an extravagant
profit as the Gallant Member thus anticipated
could not be cometcplated by the present
Final ce Minister at any rate; lint we were en-
titled to better terms from the Bank titan Low
A ithorp has seemed. We, on Saturday, men
tinned the enormous gains made by the Bank of
England during the last renewal of their Charlet
—gains which, after allowing 7 per cent. front
1797 to 18:31, enabled the proprietors during
that interval to divide among themselves in
bonuses and increased interest—to invest in ad-
ditional Bank capita!--or to accumulate as a re-
served fund, the amazing, sum of 20,000,0001.!
'We admit that since the return to cash pay-
ments, and a more equitable arrangement with
respect to Government deposits, the profits of
the Bank of England have greatly diminished.
They are now obliged to keep a large unproduc-
tive treasure of bullion or coin in their cellars,
and Government deposits have fallen from
11,000,0001. to a sum less than 4,000,0001. The
r onsequence has heen,that they have been obliged
to reduce their dividends from 10 to S per cent.,
and even, we believe, in some late years to en-
croach upon their rest, or reserved fund, to make
up this latter amount. But still, when we con-
Ader that before the American war their divi-
idends were only 5 or 6 per cent.,—that since
that time they have plundered the public with so
merciless a hand,—that their capital, if paid off
at par, on the present rate of interest, would not
bring them 4 per cent.,—that they derive all
the rest from the Government monopoly of the
circulation, or from profits on the management
of ,he public business, and that, according to
t hen own showing, -their whole expenses for the
machinery of paying: the dividends is only
164,0001., v bile they actually charge the Govern-
-254,000/.,—when we consider these eir-
,tans,auces, we say that the Chancellor of
the Exalt-fa-ter ought to have demanded and
obtained for the nation a greater deduction
ihan the paltry sum of 120,0001. a-year from
the latter diarge. We should say this though
the whole businesw of banking, and though the
relative influence of the Bank of England, were
to remain as formerly ; but consider the immense
probable effects of the contempLted changes on
our pe,ent system of currency, and the prodi-
gious advantages which they must bring to the
Bank of England, as the exclusive source and
fountain of our paver money !! I3y making
Bank of England notes a legal tender in all
phtces beyond the Ball itself and itfti branches,
and c onsequt lily with COUllti), bankers, they will
supersede the use of gold in the coffers of the
latter. - This itself must create a large extension
of the paper of the Bank of England, for though
gold will still circulate for sums. bel
bow 51.,
it
will not be necessary for provincial ankers to
keep so lathe a supply of specie to answer their
larger notes, when they can get by, post a supply
of notes front London. But this is not alt
the pf:ject for encouraging joint-stock banking
courniesof deFsit and general butinefi!4,