The Sun.
London, England, 1832-04-23 00:00:00

a national gallery for the fine arts. This collection
has since been increased by the splendid bequest
rf Mr. Holwell Cam,: and Wcnild, we have no
doubt, be soon considerably extended had • the
Government the means or the taste to furnish a
proper receptacle for such works of art. But
how can such bequests he expected, or what can
be thought (by foreigners especially) of the
economy and taste of a country which can suffer
this nucleus of a collection of the highest works
of art to lie buried in an obscure, low, dark, and
dirty house, in Pall-mall, scarcely fit of itself to
form the studio of a private artist ? Yet ob-
serve tl►e inconsistency which marks this age of
jobbing and misjudgment. Behind Great George-
street, in an out-of-the-way corner of the lower
part of Westminster, stands a minor instance of
our building taste, known, we believe, by some
such name as the Parliamentary mews. On this
precious specimen of a castellated enclosure of
dung-heaps was, a few years ago, more public
money lavished than would suffice at this time
to erect the National Gallery in ques-
tion, and that under the shallow pretence
that a place was wanting where the horses
and carriages of Members of both Houses of
Parliament might wait under cover, not one
such horse or carriage, however, never having, as
we are assured, entered it since its erection ; but
the first job, the building, being effected, the
second consists in letting it out to private indi-
viduals at rents which do not return one per cent.
upon the cost. But recurring to the subject of
the proposed gallery, for which it appears that, in
the first instance, only 30,000/. would be re-
quired to render it fit for the reception of ten
times the number or pictures which are as yet
the property of the public, may we not inquire
whether, if they were urged to set their wits to
work to bring it about, the Commissioners of
Crown Lands might not, by sale, exchange, or
mortgage, easily find the means of erecting
the necessary building without a single shil-
ling being taken from the public taxes? We
are fully aware that neither the present Govern-
ment, nor the present First Commissioner of tl►e
Woods and Forests, are in any way accountable
for past abuses, and that, on the contrary, they
must find their own efforts to meet the necessary
demands of the public service continually thwarted
by previous prodigality, and the incumbrances
which accompany it. Still, where there is a will
a way may generally be found. We do not say
if an official residence, still less a Parliamentary
mews were required, they would find the means
of providing the one or the other ; but we do
think that if they would look at the paramount
necessity that exists of cultivating the public
taste, and of encouraging further contributions
towards that end, by providing a suitable recep•
tacle for that purpose, another year need not
elapse without this desirable object being effected.
In one street of the metropolis has a single in-
dividual, by his own private means, raised two
splendid edifices, either of which would suffice
for an object which the public resources of the
British Government will not enable the country
to possess.—Morning Herald. .

The renewal of the Charter of the Bank of
England is a question that will soon occupy a
large portion of general as well as legislative at-
tention, that we avail ourselves of an early op-
portunity of returning to it ; the more parti-
cularly as we are aware that in our recent obser-
vations we left much to be said even upon the
preliminary points of discussion that we laid
down for ourselves, viz. the propriety and conve-
nience of forming joint-stock banks of issue, and
the advantage of -a
national bank ; and if there
were objections to both of these arrangements,
the next point for consideration was, whether
the Bank of England had well performed its
functions to the public. It can only be necessary
to consider this last branch of the -preliminary
division of this extensive subject when. the other
two are put aside as ineligible, because, if it can
be proved that they have the stronger claims
upon the public favour and legislative sanction,
then the Bank of England must and ought to
succumb to the national advantage. We shall
now address ourselves particularly to the incon-
venience that would arise to the commercial in-
terests especially, in common with the general
interests of the empire, in the establishment of
a National Bank, and then consider the claims
that the Bank of England has upon the public
confidence. We prefer this arrangement upon
the present occasion, because the further discus-
sion of the question relating to the establish-
ment of joint-stock banks of issue in the capital
will be more conveniently argued when the
banking concerns of the empire are before us,
which we shall notice at 'an early period, having,
we hope, already said enough to show how
perilous would be the attempt to form such
establishments. We believe that we might safely
leave this part of the subject, although there is
much more to be said upon it, with the remarks
we bestowed on it in our former article ; but
every circumstance that ever so remotely, and
particularly one that conects itself so closely with
the national currency, ought to be sifted to its
roots, and therefore we shall anxiously return to
the question mooted by some writers of the ad-
vantage of forming joint-stock banks of issue in
London. The object for instituting a National
Bank, at least the principal one, is economy ; in-
deed it is the only one among those who are capa-
ble of arguing ably and fairly in favour of this
establishment. We have already shown that the
saving, exclusive of the cost of purchasing a site
for the eretion of buildings necessary for such an
undertaking, and the completion of the buildings
themselves in a convenient situation, would be
rather under 200,0001. per annum. But these lat-
ter items would amount to nearer two than one
million sterling. The most sanguine projector of
a National Bank has never put the sum lower
than a million, and calculating individuals con-
versant with the details of forming such a build-
ing put it much higher. But we would ask,
independent of the charge of interest upon this
outlay, would the Directors of a National Bank
manage all their domestic concerns, if we may
so speak, with as much economy as the con-
ductors of the present establishment manage
theirs ? The house arrangements of the Bank
of England are very complete, and the strictest
attention is given to economy, and yet the sala
ries of their clerksamount annually to 180,000/. ;
and to this sum stationery, superannuations,
house and other incidental expenses, are to be
added ; and we would inquire whether it can be
expected the Directors of a National Bank could,
if they were ever so desirous of performing their
duty, pay the same strict attention to their esta-
blishment that is paid to the Bank of England
by its Directors ? If they had the inclination
ever so strongly upon them, which is not proba-
ble in the mere agents of the Government, they
would not possess the capacity and experience
fur it ; and even with all the vigilance exercised
by the Bank Directors, they are subjected to
heavy losses by forgeries and fraud. One great
inconvenience of a National Bank would be, that
it would convert the Government into a money