The Sun.
London, England, 1833-02-18 00:00:00

proceeds to advocate perfect freedom of issue, and he
has so well depicted the practical working of such
freedom that we must, for the benefit of those who
think there is no salvation for the country without
Bank of England monopoly, quote his own words
" Thus the country banker has no alternative left, but
to go the Bank of England fcr gold; whereas, were it,
monopoly at an end. and a score of banks issuing notes,
the case would be different. The country banker would in
the latter case I,e paid in the notes of the London—or the
city of London—or the Middlesex—or the Gitomercial—
or some other bank, or banks. And a, such banks would
req•iire to keep by them a certain supply of gold, in like
manner as the sank of England, he would be supplied by
those whose notes he might receive, just as he now is by
the latter alone ; and the rcs.)onsibility of finding gold
would thereby be confined to those who might choose, by
issuing mates, to incur the risk. _

" But, say tie Directors, these banks would still come
to us for gold. And we ask why, any more than the
Bank of England, go to them ? For neither cingo to the
other, without having in hand notes to demand with, or
balances due; and it therefore depends upon themselves
how they arm their antagonists, by incur ring responsiliilities
which they are not prepared to meet. The Bank of Eng•
land, by getting posse*sion of notes of other banks, can
run to them for gold, as they may in turn go to the
Bank ; but neither tl,e one nor the other would have a
whit more responsibility on their shoulders, than they
might voluntarily incur."

The reply to the objections of the monopolists is
equally plain and s►mple, and very nearly in the
words we have ourselves used. lie says,

" It is, however, contend d, by the advocates of mo-
nopoly, that a free trade in banking would lead to an ex-
cess of paper, from the rivalry that would exist to do busi-
ness ; but why men of sense, experience, and property,
should act so differently in London from what they do in
Glasgow and Edinburgh, remains to lie explained ; or why
they should act so recklessly with their property as
bankers, to what they do as brewers, bakers, or butchers,
all of which are open to competition, is not shown. We
see a vast number of insurance offices striving for business ;
yet we do not find that they ruin each other to obtain
such ; and we therefore cannot see why it should be sup•
posed, that the same description of Directors, nay, per-
haps, the very same individuals, should hazard their pro-
perty by taking a bad bill, and yet refuse a doubtful policy,
or an inadequate premium."

The chief feature of interest, however, in the
pamphlet, is a proposition for the establishment of a
National Bank, for the issue of national notes to a
limited extent. If the extent of the issue can be
limited, we should not have the slightest objection
to the " Merchant's" plan, for all banks being
left at freedom, to do what they may think
fir, no practical inconvenience would arise from the
alternate plenty and scarcity of one particular kind
of note. The writer proposes that the Government
should become its own banker, and should issue
notes to the amount of ten millions, being the
average of the quarterly payments into the Exche.,
quer, and of dividends paid. Like the notes pro-
posed by Mr. POULETT SCROPE to be issued by
his National Bank, they are not to be payable on
demand, but are to be receivable for all Government
taxes, which the author thinks will, joined with
their limited amount, prevent them falling to a
discount. We quite agree with him that it
would, and if any plan could be devised
which would prevent the possibility of the amount
issued, being, upon some pressure of circumstances,
exceeded. We have before argued that as history
presents us with no instance of such a power being
possessed by a Government without its being ulti-
mately abused, we o►►ght not to think human nature
so variable as to suppose our own Ministers would
not yield to the same kind of pressure as that to
which all Ministers who have preceded them have
yielded. Besides, the object proposed to be obtained
by the writer is of such trifling importance compared
with the risk of issuing national notes, representing
no value, that it is not worth contending for. In-
deed, we doubt whether the machinery that it would
be necessary to establish to carry h:s plan into effect,
would not run away with all the profit; at any
rate it is certain no national notes could be issued
so cheaply as those of private individuals. This
brings us to -the objection we have in principle
to any thing like a trading in Government
but as we not long since argued that question at
some length, we shall not now enter upon it. We
will only observe, that we are surprised that the
writer, who evidently feels the strength of the
principle of perfect freedom, should have been wil-
ling to depart from it to the extent he pro-
fesses himself. His plan, however, is essentially
different from, and much better than, that of
Mr. POULETT SCROPE. He proposes the issue of
national paper; but he does not, like Mr. SCROPE,
propose that the issuers should take upon them-
selves the task of in some degree regulating the
currency. He proposes that the Government
should issue notes, but he does not propose that all
other parties should be prevented from doing so.
So far we heartily concur in what he says, and hope
to see his liberal ideas carried into effect, without
the restraint of a partial monopoly.