The Sun.
London, England, 1856-01-10 00:00:00

THE BANK CHARTER ACT.

The following letter has 13eezz addressed to the editor
of the 'I imes .

Sir,—The discussions which now agitate the public
mind respecting the Bank Charter Act are involved in
some confusion, in consequence of indistinct and inac-
curate views of the real object and purpose of that mea-
sure. The failure or success of its provisions in their
application to present circuitistaiices can be correctly
judged only by those who chiarly understand the prin-
ciple upon which that bill was founded, and the pur-
r() ;es which it undertook • tcs, accoupish. To obtain
for the public the profit wisiug from the issue of
14,000,0001. of notes not repemented by gold in deposit,
consistently with the maintet tams of a circulation in all
other respects the same as a metallic circulation, was
the object of the bill. Except: in this one respect, it did
not undertake to secure any •advantages to the public
beyond those which would ariise from a purely metallic
circulation. The fluctuations, of amount and the conse-
quent, pressure, whether co,tvenient or inconvenient,
which would occur under a -metallic circulation were
left unaffected by the bill of 1844.
But two objections are now' raised againSt that mea-
sure. What necessity, it is asked, for disturbing the
state of things as it previouel.r existed ? The payments
iu specie, as restored by the act of ISI9, had been main-
tained from that time without the aid of the stringent
provisions of the act of 1844.
These provisions, it is furth'vr urged, purporting to re-
strict the amount of the circulation, are wholly unne-
cessary, and, in fact, inoperative, inasmuch as the cir-
culation was not unduly incremeed in the periods preced-
ing the great crises of 1826 wikki- 1887. ; nor tag thy -cit
ciliation, in fact, been materiallreontracted during 'the
period of pressure through which we are now passing.
What, then, is the purpose, ansi what are the useful re-
sults to arise from legislative provisions, purporting to
regulate the amount of the circulation, but which, in
fact, leave the circulation undiminished'? The obvious
reply to this objection is, that some special cause must
have existed to sustain, it not to originate, the expansion
of credit and speculation which preceded the catas-
trophes of 1825 and 1837, a'le', some special cause also
must now be in action to produce the restriction of credit
and general pressure the exis:•.sence of which gives rise
to the present discussions.
If contraction of circulation. 'has not really occurred at
former periods, and is not, to :any great extent, in ope-
ration at the present time, what is the special cause iu
which the phenomena already ahuded to have originated ?
Under the system which exist ed before the act of 1844,
the Bank had the power of malt ing unlimited issues, and
that power only ceased when their gold was absolutely
exhausted. This being, the cam, a dram et gold in its
earlier stages attracted little or no attention on the part
either of the public or of bank ire. All went well, not-
withstanding ; there was no consciousness of nay de-
crease in the power of cominarAing bank-notes ; credit,
confidence, speculation remained unaffected, until the
geld was reduced to a very low amount. Tilt n arose a
sudden alarm for the safety of our specie payments ;
every strange resource was invoked in the last extre-
mity to obviate this evil ; a paaeeel of old discarded one-
pound notes was drawn fui th from a refuse cellar in
1825 ; the assistance of the Brsak of France was igno-
miniously sought in 1837 ; aim. thus the last extremity
—the actual failure to pay in gold— was narrowly
avoided. .

Meanwhile, however, panic mind presS•ure iu the most
extensive and a,:Travated for s spread over the whole
country ; and a state of alarm„ distress, and contusion
was generated, with which thts preserit gradual, re,gu-
lated, and wholesome pressure -will bear a very favour-
able contrast.

To prevent the recurrence of! this state of things the
bill of 1844 was passed. The uninterrupted continuance
of confidence and credit during: a continuous drain of
gold; the expansion ef bankrig accommodation in the
lace of decreasing treasure, the, only safe measure of that
accommodation ; the exhaustioea of the bullion reserve
unaccompanied by any protecttive measure ; the inunie
nent danger of final insolvency by the Bank; the discre-
ditable expedients necessary to ooviate this danger ; the
sudden, severe, and universal Alarm and pressure must
not be permitted again to ietuern. Non soluta a cala-
mitate, sed calamitatis metu, .defendendunt est. Such
was the wise and manly decision cf the public,
and for this purpose the
.ptrovisions of the bill of
1844 were resorted to. The power of issuing notes
was subjected to a positive and clearly-defined re-
striction ; it must expand or contract with the
increase or decrease of the 1:eullion. The power of
issuing notes by the banks, it will be observed, was re-
strieted ; the notes actually advanced to the public by
the banks might possibly remain with little alteration of
amount, while the power of nmintaining that amount
of issue, or of increasing it, might be seriously dimi-
nished. In this consists the g mat distinction between
the state of things previously wasting. and that which
was established by the bill of 1844. Previously to
1844 the reserve of notes in the bank was unlimited ;
subsequently to 1844 the amotrat of such reserve was
subjected to strict limitation, being made to depend on
the increase or decrease of the gold.
In the evidence before the committee of 1848, atten-
tion was pointedly directed to tesis very important effect
of the bill of 1844 by Mr. Jones Loyd (Question
5,204) :
" The Bank now has in its bank till an amount of notes
equal to the whole amount of b silica in the issue depart-
ment, plus 14,000,0001., and beyond that amount the notes
of the Bank cannot go If any dianinutiou of the bullion in
the issue department takes place,. a corresponding diminu-
tion must take place in the amo rust of notes in the till of
the Bank of England. That is the position of things under
the present system. Under the former system the state
of things was extremely different,; a great alteration in the
amount of bullion might take place without any contrac-
tion whatever of the power of the Bank of England to
issue notes. The Bank of England under the former sys-
tem might be considered as havi eg an unlimited quantity
of notes in the bank till, so long as there was any bullion
whatever in its possession. Under that system. so long as
the Bank of England had any b cation with which to pay
the notes when presented for gold, she had an unlimited
power of issuing her notes; now she has uot."
Nor was the importance of Cele regulation overlooked
by the framers of the measure. The publication of the
state of the banking reserve wee; made an essential fea-
ture of the arrangement, and the public are thus fur-
nished with accurate ieformatisn, from week to week,
not only as to the amount of m ites actually passing from
hand to hand ; but also as to the fluctuations in the
amount of that banking reserve from which the amount
of notes circulating with the p ablic is from day to day
to be supplied. The result has been precisely that
which was anticipated. The public attention, which
was previously directed only to the state of the bul-
lion, is now fixed upon the banking reserve ; as that
diminishes, public anxiety innreases, credit and con-
fidence are gradually contracted., and speculation, and
the state of prices founded on speculation, are subjected
to an early and salutary checie. This effect is further
promoted by the influence which the bill exercises upon
the Bank of England, and upon the country bankers.
Previously they acted under a se‘nse of unlimited power
in the issue of notes ; now they act under a full con-
sciousness that that power is enbjected to positive re-
strictions, and circumscribed within clearly-defined
limits. If the notes in the hander of the public are main-
tained at their full amount during a drain of gold, this
can only be effected through an exhaustion of the reserve
of notes in the banking till. Of this fact the public be-
, come fully cognisant through the weekly publication of
the accounts, and all the legitimate results of contracted
circulation ensue.
Indeed a decrease of the banking reserve is more im-
mediate and powerful in its action upon confidence, upon
credit, and speculation than is a decrease of the amount
of notes in the hands of the public. Because such de-
crease of the banking reserve is a fact more unequivocal
and more distinctly known to the public ; and at the
same time it affects in a more immediate and direct
manner the great sources and support .of credit and
speculation—the banking establishments.
Previously to 1844 the banl:ing reserve was a vague
and undefined quantity ; it was the power of issuing any
amount of notes until the gold was finally exhausted ;
and, as is the case with all undefined power, the extent
to which it could be safely and legitimately exercised
was greatly over-estimated. The really exhausted state
of the banking reserve—the near approach to that
amount which was inconsistent with the safety of cash
payments—was unfortunately concealed from the public,
and therefore the legitimate correctives were kept in
abeyance to the last moment. This was the great per-
vading vice of the then existing state of things ; a cause
intimately connected with all the difficulty and ruin of
1825 and 1837.
Subsequently to 1844 the state of the banking reserve
has become the prominent feature of our monetary sys-
tem ; the fluctuations in its amount are anxiously
watched by the public ; they exercise a powerful and
immediate influence upon the state of credit, and are, in
fact, more influential in regal ating the exchanges and
maintaining the monetary equilibrium between this and
other countries than the amount of notes with the public
ordinarily termed the circulation, though constituting,
in reality, only a part of the circulation.
Notes in the till of the banking department are to all
intents and purposes part of the circulation, as much so
as notes in the till of any private bank. They must
have been previously issued by the currency department,
between which and the banking department there is not,
according to the principle of the act of 1844-, any real
connection whatever.
Under the pressure of 1847 the provisions of the act
were suspended and relief ensued ; although the amount
of so-called circulation—that is, of notes in the hands of
the public—underwent an increase. What is the ex-
planation of this
The true effect of the suspension of the act was to re-
store to the banking department the ultimate power of
issuing notes (accompanied by the essential safeguard of
a rate of interest fixed at a high amount), and all the
effects of increased circulation followed ; although no
additional notes were issued to the public.
At the present moment an important contraction of
credit has taken
place ; a s salutary spirit of multi( n
throughout the trading community has been generated ;
a powerful restrictive influence has been exercised over
the exchanges ; and many other collective processes
have been called into activity. What is the cause of this?
The mere decrease in the amount of notes circulating
with the public has not been to an extent adequate to
account for such extensive and important results. Nor,
indeed, is there any ground for believing that such satie-

factory results would have been secured if the public
had received no other admonition than that which- is
conveyed in the slight fluctuations of the amount of
notes passing current with them. Such was the case
under the former state of the law, and we read•the re-
sult in the events of 1825 and 1837.
By the act of 1844, however, a new source of useful
information and admonition was -opened to tee public ;
they were taught to direct their attention to that-pvtion
of the circulation which oonsists of notes in fhtaatiking
till ; and the means of watching the fluctuistion.ef ibis
part of the circulation was provided. We are nqyl reap-
ing the fruits of this simple but wise preoaution. A
continuous decrease of that portion- of our circulation
which is to be found in the bank till has occurred,; and
this fact, not, as formerly, mystified and obscured by a
vicious state of the law, but rendered clear and hotoribas
to the whole public, has produced all.the true effects of
contracted issues.

The purpose of these remarks is to direst attention
to the importance of the state of the tanking reserve ;
and to show that no discussions on this subject can tend
to instruct the public, or lead to a satisfactory or profit-
able result, which omit this essential consideration.
knowndefinedandugeof the prolonged
lim its
to the
Thebanking abrseeenecreve of
any
wasthe principal ea
state of excessive credit which terminated in;the convul-
sion of 1825, and again in the mercantile distress and
monetary danger of 1837. •
Hence the necessity for the act of 1844,1iy which the
unlimited power of issuing notes was checked, and the
banking reserve was made subject to pesitiie regulation.
The effect of the limits thus imposed upon the bank-
ing reserve is now apparent in the fatly precaution and
eyed* rontr;ntien of epecalaltierateitenient," bt inane
-of which we are enabled to tnatiitairr CletilMereit4 oredlt
unshaken, while the exchanges are subjected to a power-
ful restraint, and our specie reserves are kept at a suf-
ficient, though not excessive, amount under circum-
stances of severe and peculiar difficulty. Let this state
of things be contrasted with that which has existed at
previoue periods of pressure and difficulty ; and a re-
flecting community will not come to the conclusion that
our recent monetary legislation has been uncalled for by
any adequate necessity, or that it has failed to produce
I the results which it undertook to secure.—Yours, &c.,
MERCATOR.

THE FIRST QUAKER.

(From Macaulay's " History of England.")
While London was agitated by the news that a plot
had been discovered, Georg© Fox, the .founder of the
sect of Quakers, died. More than '4O years had elapsed
since Fox had begun to see visions and to east out devils.
He was then a youth of pure morals and grave deport-
ment, with a perverse temper, with the education of a
labouring man, and with an intellect in the moat un-
heppy of all states—that is to say, too much disor•
,brad for liberty, and not sufficiently disordered for
B.ollaw. The circumstances in which ho was placed
wei e such as could scarcely fail to bring out in a strong
feral the constitutional disease of his mind. At the
time when his faculties were ripening, Episcopalians,
Presbyterians, Independents, Baptists, were striving
for mastery, and were, in every corner of the realm, re-
futing and reviling each other. He wandered frOm con-
gregation to congregation. He heard priests harangue
against Puritans ; he heard Puritans harangue priests ;
and he in vain applied for spiritual direction and conso-
lation to doctors of both parties. One jolly old clerp -
man of the Anglican communion told him to smoke to-
baeco and sing p.alnis ; another advised him to go and
'oee, some blood. The young inquirer turned in disgust
from these advisers to the Dissenters, and found them
also blind guides. After some time he came to the con-
clusion that no human being was competent to instruct
him in Divine things, and that the truth had been coin,
implicated to him by direct inspiration from Heaven.
He argued that, as the division of languages began at
Babel, and as the persecutors of Christ put on the
cross an inscription in Latin Greek, and Hebrew, the
knowledge of languages, and more especially of Latin,
Greek, and Hebrew, must be useless to a Christian minis-
ter. Indeed, he was so far from knowing many lan-
guages that he knew none ; nor can the most corrupt
passage in Hebrew be more unintelligible to the un-
learned than his English often is to the most acute and
attentive reader. One of the precious truths which
were divinely revealed to this new apostle was, that it
was falsehood and adulation to use the second person
plural instead of the second person singular. Another
was, that to talk of the month of March was to wor-
ship the bloodthirsty god Mars, and that to talk of Mon-
day was to pay idolatrous homage to the moon. To
any good morning or good evening was highly repre-
hensible, for these phrases evidently iropprtod that God
had made bad days and bad nights. A Christian was
bound to face death itself rather than touch his hat to
the greatest of mankind. When Fox was challenged to
produce any Scriptural authority for his dogma, be
cited the passage in which it is written that Shadrach,
Meshech, and Abednego were thrown into the fiery
furnace with their hats ou ; and, if his own
narrative may be trusted, the Chief Justice of Eng-
land was altogether unable to answer this argument,
except by crying out, " Take him away, gaoler."
Fox insisted much on the not less weighty argument
that the Turks never show their bare heads to their
superiors ; and he asked with great animation, whether
those who bore the noble name of Christians ought not
to surpass Turks in virtue. Bowing he strictly prohi-
bited, and, indeed, seemed to consider it as the effect of
Satanical influence ; for, as he observed, the woman in the
while she had a spirit of infirmity, was bowed to-
gether, and ceased to bow as soon as Divine Power had
liberated her from the tyranny of the Evil One. His ex-
positions of the sacred writings were of a very peculiar
kind. Passages which had been, in the apprehension of
all the readers of the Gospels during 16 centuries, figu-
rative, he construed literally. Passages which no human
being before him had ever understood in any other than
a literal sense, he construed figuratively, Thus, from
those rhetorical expressions in which the duty of pa-
tience under injuries is enjoined, he deduced the doc-
trine that self-defence against pirates and assassins is
unlawful. On the other hand, the plain commands to
baptise with water, and to partake of bread and
wine in commemoration of the redemption of mankind,
he pronounced to be allegorical. He long wandered
from place to place, teaching this strange theology,
shaking like au aspen leaf in his paroxysms of fanatical
exeiteusen t, forcing his way into churches, which he nick-
named steeple houses, interrupting prayers and sermons
with clamour and scurrility, and pestering rectors and
justices with epistles much resembling burlesques of those
sublime odes in which the Hebrew prophets foretold the
calamities of Babylon and Tyre. He soon acquired great
notoriety by these feats. His strange face, his strange
chant, his immovable hat and his leather breeches were
known all over the country, and he boasts that, as soon
as the rumour was heard, "The man in leather breeches
is coming," terror seized hypocritical professors, and
hireling priests made haste to get out of his way. He
was repeatedly imprisoned and set in the stocks, some-
timeej ustly, for disturbing the public worship of con-
gregations, and sometimes unjustly, for merely talking
nonsense. He soon gathered round him a body
of disciples, some of whom went beyond himself in
absurdity. He Las told us that one of his friends walked
naked through Skipton declaring the truth, and that
another was divinely moved to go naked during several
years to market places, and to the houses of gentlemen
and clergymen. Fox complains bitterly that these
pious acts, prompted by the Holy Spirit, were requited
by an untoward generation with hooting, pelting, coach-
whipping, and horsewhipping. But though he applauded
the zeal of the sufferers, he did not go quite to their
lengths. He sometimes indeed was impelled to strip
himself partially. Thus he palled off his shoes and
walked barefoot through Lichfield, crying, " Woe to the
bloody city." But it does not appear that he ever thought
it his duty to appear before the public without that
decent garment from which his popular appellation was
derived.
If we form our judgment of George Fox simply by
looking at his own actions and writings, we shall see no
reason for placing him, morally and intellectually, above
Ludowick Muggleton or Joanna Southcote. But it would
be moat unjust to rank the sect which regards him
as its founder with the Muggletonians or the Southoo-
tians. It chanced that, among the thousands whom his
enthusiasm infected were a few persons whose abilities
were of a very different order from his own. Robert
Barclay was a man of considerable parts and learning.
William Penn, though inferior to Barclay in both natural
and acquired abilities, was a gentleman and a scholar.
That such men should have become the followers of
George Fax ought not to astonish any person who re-
members what quick, vigorous, and highly cultivated in-
tellects were iu our own time duped by the unknown
tongues. The truth is that no powers of mind consti-
tute a security against errors of this description. Touch-
ing God and His ways with men, the highest human
faculties can discover little more than the meanest.
In theology the interval is small indeed between Aris-
totle and a child, between Archimedes and a naked
savage. It is not strange, therefore, that wise men,
weary of investigation, tormented by uncertainty, longing
to believe something, and yet seeing objections to every-
thing, should submit themselves absolutely to teachers
who, with firm and undoubting faith, lay claim to a
supernatural commission. Thus, we frequently see in-
quisitive and restless spirits take refuge from their own
scepticism in the bosom of a church which pretends to
infallibility, and after questioning the existence of a
Deity, bring themselves to worship a wafer. And thus
it was that Fox made some converts to whom he was
immeasurably inferior in everything except the energy of
his convictions. By these converts his rude doctrines
were polished into a form somewhat less shocking to
good sense and good taste. No proposition which he had
laid down was retracted. No indecent or ridiculous act
which he had done or approved was condemned ; but
what was most grossly absurd in his theories and prac-
tices was softened down, or at least not obtruded on the
public : whatever could be made to appear specious was
set in the fairest light : his gibberish was translated into
English : meanings which he would have been quite un-
able to comprehend were put on his phrases ; and his sys-
tem so much improved, that he would not have known
it again, was defended by numerous citations from
Pagan philosphers and Christian fathers whose names he
bad never heard. Still, however, those who had re-
modelled his theology continued to profess, and doubt-

At the Wingham petty sessions, on Thursday, a youth
of the name of Henry Hoile, about 17 years of age, and
apparently somewhat deficit in his intellect, was charged
with having unlawfully killed a pheasant, the property
of Mr. Edward R. Rice, M.P. for Dover, at the parish
of Tilmanstone, on the 28th ult. A keeper in the ser-
vice of Mr. Rica deposed that about a quarter past 2
o'clock on the day in question he was in Mount Pleasant-
wood, on the Dane Court estate, when he heard a gun
fired. He immediately went to the spot, and saw the
defendant on a footpath on Mr. Harvey's land, which
joined Mr. Rice's. Witness asked him what he had
been shooting Defendant replied, " Rooks." The next
morning witness went to the cover immediately opposite
where he saw the defendant the previous day, and there,
within shot of the footpath, he found a cook phea-
sant dead, it having been shot. It was lying on the
ground, not covered up or hid in any way. _Witness
watched the place, and about 11 o'clock the defendaat
passed, but did not touch the bird. He also came again
at 3 o'clock, but did not interfere with it. Witness then
want up to the defendant and charged him with having
shot the pheasant. At first he denied it, but subse-
quently admitted that he did shootat the pheasants, "to
scare them away." Defendant was employed as " rook-
boy ' by Mr. Harvey.
Thomas Dawkins, yardsman to Mr. Rice, proved
having heard the defendant say, while in custody of the
previous witness, that he shot at the pheasant, but did
not intend to kill it ;he only wanted to frighten it. He
cried very much at the time, and said he was very sorry.
Defendant—l was sent there to keep things off my
master's wheat, and I shot at the birds, but not to kill
I them. I shot at them with a stone.

Sir Brook Bridges—Your roaster, no doubt, told yon
to shoot the rooks •
Defendant —Bet theri is a terrible many of them other
birds, and I was told to drive all birds oh the laod. _ _

Dawkins expressed his belief that the pheasant had
been killed with shot, and not by a stone.
The Bench consulted together, after which the chair-
man told the defendant that the magistrates considered
that the case was clearly proved against him. He was
liable to a penalty of 51., but they would °lily order
him to pay 11. and 17s. 6d. costs, or one mouth's impri-
sonment, with hard labour.
Defendant —I have no money but what I work for.
Sir B. Bridges—lt will be a very good warning to you.
Defendant—Will you allow me any time?
Chairman—No.
Defendant—l have got 103.
Chairman—That won't do.
Defendant was accordingly taken to prison.

Lord Londesborough, having sent 5/. to the prisoner.,
was favoured with the following letter from one of the

bench : •
"My Lord,—Being one of the magistrates on the
bench at the time that Henry Iloilo was fined 205., and
17s. 6d. costs, for shooting a pheasant, I feel that my decl-
aim), in cornmen with that of the other magistrates present
is ca.led in question, in a manner not the most courteJus,
by your extraordinary freak of sending 51. to the 1):)y as
a reward for the misconduct, without being yourself at
all cognisant of the merits of the case. Into those merits
Ido not choose to enter. Seffice it that a decision was
come to, and on it the magistrates are content to stand,
your lordship's objection. notwithstanding. Whether
the case was one winch ought to have been prosecuted
I know not, and shall not step to inquire. My object
iu writing is to request that your lordship will be good
enough, should .you require any outlet for your libe-
rality, to bestow it on some one worthy of it, and, at
the same time, to extend your mistaken criticisms to
some other bench than that of Wiagham ; and, by your
lordQhip's permission, I would suggest that one to which
your lordship belongs.
" I have the honour to remain, your Lordship's obe-
dient servant,

" NAIL BIiIIGHES D'AETH.
" Knowlton-court, Dec. 29, 1855.
" Tu Lord Londesborough."

CHARGE OF PERJURY AGAINST A
MAGISTRATES' CLERK.•

EPSOM, Jan. B.—At the petty sessions held here this
day, Mr. Henry Goss presiding, Mr. W. Everest, clerk
to the justices of the district, appeared to answer a charge
of perjury, alleged to have been committed in an affi-
davit. sworn by him in connection with proceedings in
the Court of Queen's Bench, on the sth November last.
Mr. Parry, instructed by Mr. G. White, solicitor of the
Local Board of Health, appeared for the prosecution, and
in opening the case described the nature of the infor-
mation, which alleged that on the day named defendant
falsely deposed and swore that it had been proved
before the justices and admitted on befall of the said
local board that one Benjamin Braithwaite had under-
taken and promised when one Robert Carter paid a cer-
tain rate, that it such rate were gnashed the amount se
paid should be allowed and deducted from a future rate
when made by the said board. Mr. Parry was proceed-
ing with his comments upon the case he should have to
lay before the bench, when
The Chairman said the bench had unanimously deter-
mined to dispense with any preliminary observations by
counsel, and proceed at once with the evidence.
Several witnesses were then called, whose testimony
went to show that the fact alleged in the affidavit rondo
by gr. Everest was opposed to what actually took
place. They admitted that considerable discussion had
occurred in reference to the subject of qsashing ono
rate, but they positively denied that any undertaking or
promise had been made that if the rate was quashed the
amount paid should be allowed and deducted from a fu-

ture rate.
The examination of the witnesses, which necessarily
ran into matters of detail of no public interest, occupied
several hours. At the close,
The Bench, without calling on Mr. Robinson, who
appeared for Mr. Everest, pronounced an unanimous
opinion that the charge had not been made out. The
summons was therefore dismissed.
The ease excited considerable interest, and much
sympathy was manifested for Mr. Everest, who has held
the office of clerk to the magistrates of this district for
25 years.