The Sun.
London, England, 1832-09-13 00:00:00

for a guilty man to find bail ; for part of the
discredit would attach to those who appeared to
be on an intimate footing with a guilty prisoner.
Now how is it, if it were wished to prevent an
escape, that so much pains are taken to conceal
the names of the bail ? The clerk of a police
office will always be found in the case of a rich
man carefully, to conceal the narties. We leave
It to Our readers to draw the proper inference.
The inference which will be drawn is, that if a
man possess money in England, he may always
set the law at defiance.—,Morning Chronicle.
As we shall have occasion in a very few days
to take a general review of the Bank question,
when the evidence has been in possession of the
public that was taken before a Secret Commit-
tee of the House of Commons, we shall now
only refer to the remarks of the Reforming Press
within these two days ; and throwing aside the
abuse against the Directors of the Bank of Eng-
land, as false as it is vulgar, these remarks lie in
a narrow compass, and consequently our reply
to them will be very short, repeating, for the
hundredth time, that the Bank can only be an-
swerable for its conduct since the year 1819.
The Times of yesterday, after stoutly advocating
at the commencement of its observations joint
stock banks of issue in London, towards the mid-
dle of them says, " The question, therefore,
among intelligent persons will lie, not between
the Bank of England and several joint stock
banks of issue in the metropolis, by which the
State would save nothing, though it might lose
nothing, but between the Bank of England and a
national establishment for managing the currency
of the country and conducting the business of
the Government, by which, with equal or greater
security, a saving of 500,0001. a year might be
effected for the public." Now it has been
proved to a demonstration by every writer upon
this part of the subject entitled to the slightest
credit, even those favourable to the scheme, that
a national bank would not save the country above
a quarter of that sum, giving the utmost latitude
of calculation to it. The Times then proceeds
" In order to familiarize the minds of the nation
to the latter scheme, we cannot too often advert
to a part of Mr. Palmer's evidence, which has
hitherto been overlooked, and which shows
that the Governor of the Bank already consi-
ders its establishment as a department of the
Government. To the question, What do
you consider the principal function which it
is the duty of the Bank to perform ?' He
replied, 'To furnish the paper money
with which the public act around them, and
to be a place of safe deposit for the public
money, or for the money of individuals who
prefer a public body like the Bank to private
bankers.' On this he was very properly asked,
Are not these the functions of a Government
rather than a private company ?' To which he
modestly replied, That is for the Government
to determine.'" To be sure it is ; and we would
ask could Mr. Palmer have given any other
answer than he did to the first question without
stating a falsehood ; and, to the second, what
other reply could he make ? But this, forsooth,
is forcing the Bank into the position of a de-
partment of the Government. It is for the Go-
vernment to consider where the present principal
function of the Bank ought to be placed. If
there are no collateral considerations in this
question, and the political, commercial, and
financial relations of this country enable the
Government to make any great change in the
monetary system, so let it. be ; but that is a
question for the Government, not the Governor
of the Bank, to decide, and, if the former con-
sider that there is no danger in this change, then
they have less prudence and foresight than even
we give them credit for. The Chronicle has
selected a most unfortunate evidence to prove
its charge against the Bank, that it created the
superabundance of money in Lancashire in
1824, by taking Mr. Smith's evidence, one of
the Directors of the Manchester Joint-Stock
Bank, who has distinctly stated, that it was bills
of exchange being freely discounted by the Lan-
cashire bankers that caused the wild speculations
in the building of mills and manufactories in that
year.--Morning Post.

One of the great curses with which England
is at the present time inflicted, is the prevalence
of abstract legislation ; indeed it may be said to
be the great curse, for to its prevalence since the
commencement of the present century, may be
ascribed all that morbidity which is now para-
lysing the energies and exhausting the means of
all the productive and active portion of the com-
munity. In no case has its baneful influence
been more manifest than in the recent inquiry
into the affairs of the Bank of England, prepa-
ratory to a further Act of abstract legislation in
regard to that establishment. To the details of
that inquiry the attention of the public is now
almost wholly directed ; and in regard to it men's
minds are agitated, in the expectation that it
will develope the causes of the prevailing em-
barrassment, and disclose the way to retrieve
their ruined fortunes. Fatal delusion, wherever
entertained ! To say that the questions put and
answers given are void of all interest, would not
be saying true ; the most random shot will some-
times hit the mark ; the most discordant musi-
cian will sometimes produce the most mellifluent
note ; while, as a whole, the performance is not
merely destitute of interest, but annoying by its
continuance, and the confusion which it creates.
So, with the inquiry and evidence in ques-
tion ; a sparkling of truth and common
sense is here and there interspersed, while, as a
whole, it is made up of a mass of irrelative
and unmeaning effusions of mere opinion. No
such parade of inquiry was necessary. To a
plain and common-sense inquirer the Bank of
England presents itself in three points of view :
—l. As a bank of deposit and discount ; in
this capacity it is only on a level with 30 to 50
other establishments in the metropolis, and as
many more in different parts of the kingdom,
and needs in this respect no especial considera-
tion ;-2. In its preceding character, as a bank
of deposit and accommodation, it transacts all
the business of the Government ; that is, it re-
ceives and repays about 50,000,0001. annually on
Government account ;—and, 3dly, and lastly,
it is a bank of creation, and issue or circulation
that is, it fabricates notes, and puts them into
circulation as a substitute for metallic money. In
this latter capacity it has an exclusive privilege,
and in its preceding capacity of receiving and of
repaying the taxes it has an exclusive preference.
This privilege and preference have been con-
firmed from time to time to the Bank from

its first
last formation the time for which they
being on the point of
were otr
bargained
but,
fo
expiring, the question now at issue is, whether or
not that privilege. and that preference shall be
renewed and continued ? As regards the ex-
clusive preference, it is desirable that the cash
account of the Government should be concen-
trated somewhere ; but it should be so econo-
mically managed on the part of the Government
as to prevent any undue profit or advantage
being derived from it. The only point, then,