The Sun.
London, England, 1833-06-01 00:00:00

a plan of such magnitude ; it would be impossible to I
discuss it at present, when the Members were unacquainted I
with any part of it till within an hour. Time undnubt-
edly would be given in order that the House might site
in what manner a question of such importance was
thought of in the country. It was not an ordinary re-
newal of the Bank Charter, in which the Government
had to Rieke the best bargain for the public that
they could ; it was one affecting the whole monetary
system of the country, and which would affect the interests
of almost every man ; therefore he hoped it would not be
hurried on without Members knowing the sentiments of
their constituents upon it. It would he rather hard to
call upon them just at the conclusion of a eesaiee, in
which they had been doing almost nothing, to settle a
questioa of such magnitude and importance, without con-
sulting the felines and circumstances of the parties mainly
interested. Premising so much, he would now say,
though most averse from consenting to anything like a
decisive step upon the present matter, that if a large be-
nefit were to be conferred upon the Rank, considerable
compensation ought to beeiven, the Government ought in
return to receive an adequate compensation.
Lord ALTHORP said, that there was in the plan suf-
ficient compensation secured to the public.
Mr. BARING resumed—With the information then
before them, it would be, he thought, quite premature to
prneeed to !reislate upon such a subject, and he thereto: e
b. geed to inquire if there were any objection to laying
before the House the correspondence which had taxen
plane between th. Government and the Direct. rs ?
Lord ALTHORP was understood to reply, that there
wonld t e ho obi; c-ion.
Mr. A.. BARING continued—He was by no means
anxious that the Government should drive a sharp bargain
with the Bank ; on the contrary, he rather desired that
they should act liberally with tl.at Corporation, for were
it otherwise there could be no doubt that the Directors of
the Bank *nu d be driven to tricks and artifices to aug-
ment their profits in a manner prejudicial to the public.
kno ing, as he did, the liberal manner in which the Bolt
conducted their affairs, he confessed he should see with
great reluctance any attempt to drive a bard bargain with
them, but at the same time he must he allowed to say, that
at the first blush it did appear to him that the Directors
really had the best of the bargain. There could, of course,
be no objection on his part to the payment of one-feut th
of the debt due to the Bark. As to the sum of 2-1-8,0001.,
hitherto paid for the management of the Public Debt, and
the reduction of that by a sum of 120,0001 , he had only
to observe, that annually a motion was made in that House
lay a gentleman who sat there for a great many years, ilr
Pascoe Grenfrll, the object of which was to effect a reduc-
tion of that, and he (Mr. Baring) uniformly resisted those
motions, on the ground that payment was made in con-
formity with the conditions of a bargain ; but as the ope-
ration of that bargain was now at an t nd, he could not
see that there was any objection to a new arrangement.
As to the other parts of the plan, especially those
which depended upon the present value of money, be
declared that it did appear to him not to be founded upon
correct data; the value of money in the city was not
above two or two and aqu trter per cent. When the
Bat,k lent money to the Government, to the extent of
14 600,0001., at three per cent interest, when the actu
value was five per cent., a benefit was conferred to the
extent of two per cent. ; to continue that benefit, they-
should now charge but one per cent. Of the rest of the
plan he should say generally, that he should be sorry to
see any change which should have the effect of dirninishin2
the efficiency of the Bank of England. That institution
had very advantageously accommodated itself to the wants
of the country, and to the whole of our moneyed system
and operation—it had accommodated itself to all the ha•
hits and usages of the moneyed world, and he was glad
to find the Government declaring that they did not adopt
change for the sake of the change itself ; that was a prin-
ciple which bad his fullest concurrence, and he wished
that language expressive of it might he inscribed in letters
of gold on the walls of the room in which the advisers of
the crown were accustomed to hold their councils.—
(Hear, hear, and laughter.) Again, he would repeat that
the system of the Bank of England had been highly ad -
vantageous to the country, and in such high esteem was
that system on the continent, that it had been imitated in
Amsterdam, in America, and, he believed, everywhere,
with the exception of Hamburg. He contended that the
principle cf a single bank was the only one under which
there could be complete security, and that when
rival hanks were established, they could not act without
competition, which competition would lead to dangerous
excitement. Public opinion was so far made up and
settled upon this point, that any additional argument
would be superfluous and unnecessary. With respect to
that part of the Noble Lord's plan which limits private
banks to a distance of sixty-five miles from London, he
saw no privilege in bringing them nearer to London ; all
that he saw in it was, that it would act upon the circu-
lating medium of the metropolis, which was the very pre-
cise thing that should be avoided. He caw no benefit
whatsoever in laying down this exact distance of sixty- dve
miles. He had one word to say on the chartered banks
shout to be established by the Noble Lord's plan. It was
th- opinion of the late Mr. Huskisson, that a strict in-
quiry should be made into the chartership of hanks, and
it was his own opinion that every thing should be avoided
which went to exclude or check the circulation of the
capital of the country; and that persons engaging in
chartered backs sboald not be prevented for fear of risk-
ing their capital. He would have no objection to the
establishment of banks of such a description. He could
not exactly understand why the Noble Lord said that there
should be banks of issue with unlimited responsibility, and '
others of limited responsibilay. That part of the plan
requited explanation. The Nelle Lord said that these
Banks may draw bills under 50/. ; now, if they were
allowed to draw bills of Si only, that would be nothing
more than changing the form of notes.

Lord ALTHoRP said (as we understood) that these
banks were not limitrd with respect to noes payable in
London.

Mr. BARING continued—He apprehended that there
was some limit to banks of that description. However,
upon such a great and national qu,..tion he had no
opinion of his own, hut should like to form one
alter he heart what were the opinions on the point of
gentlemen connected w!th the country circulation. On
the point where the Noble Lord said that all banks should
pay .even ?billings per c.,nt. upon the amount of their
issues, lie shou,d like to know in what way the amount of
the is,neA of thn.e batiks could he assert-tin, d. There was
one part of the Noble Lord's arrangements which he per-
sonally felt a great objection to. His objection was
founded upon considerable experience, both in this country
and in other countries. On amount of the state of feeling
that at present se.rned to prevail, he did not think his
objection on this head was likely to find much favour at
the hands of many. He alluded tit the mater of pub-
licity. In times of difficulty, he contended, that the
operations of the Bank would be additionally cramped by
publicity, and that anything like putting on them an
appearance of secrecy for the purpose of masking its

operations, would receive the very worst of constructions.
He thought it would be highly important that the House
should know what the Bank. ag a body, thought upon this
brad. For his own part, he considered that the opera-
tions of the Bank would, as he said be ore, be cramped by
polilicity ; for it would go to create alarm, and to increase
a tendency to panic in times of difficulty, because it was
perfectly well known that the hanks, at times, like indi-
viduals in a large way of business, might see a great
disproportion between their issues and their capital
in hand. Such a state of things could not be
so well explained by figures,—the circulation could
not be precisely known,—bur, at the same time, a
banker or trader might be confident that the next week
would set all right again. Publicity, besides exciting
alarm, would be a further restraint on the Bank ; and
when any additional restriction was put on, it was doing
nothing more than rendering the Bank less useful for the
purposes it was intended for. The Hon. Gentleman then
alluded to the difficulties of 1815, and said that if the
proposed publicity existed at that period the. Bank would
have stopped payment over and over again. However,
notwithstanding ti ose difficulties, it went on with confi-
dence ; but if the public had heen !et into the sceret of '
its affairs, that it was reduced down to a million or half
• million, away would have gone that sum in less than
half an hour. In point of fact, there was no necessity
for departing from the present state; and he would be
always prepared to show that secrecy was a safeguard and
a security to the operations of the hanks, At the same
time he was well aware that publicity existed in other
countries; but he was also prepared to prove, that it was
accompanied by many inconveniences and disadvantages
in those countries. Certainly making the statements
public every three months diminished so far the danger of
publicity, and, consequently, it was better than if they
were published every week. He thought, however, that
the exact end of the quarters of the year should not be
chosen as the epochs for publicity, because, on account
of the payment of dividends about that time, the Bank
would be at one time short of money, and at another
its affairs would be more flourishing. If the statements
were made public in the middle of' every quat ter, the
public would have most likely a fairer return of the
state of the affairs of the Bank. With respect to the
paper of the Bank of England being made a legal
tender, he thought that the second resolution might he
more judiciously worded, and that it would be enough to
say, so long as the Bank continued to discharge its debts, ,