The Sun.
London, England, 1861-04-04 00:00:00

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

" Suspend the Act of 1844, and the Bank rate of discount
will fall to 3 per cent."
SlR,—Allow me to call the attention of the pub-
lic to the annexed prophetic warning, published by
me in the " Bankers' Circular" May, 1857.
Had it been attended to the panic of November,
1857, which was instantly stepped by the suspert-
sion of the Act of 1844, might have been avertfed.
The serious monetary pressure produced by natural
causes would have run its course; but the panic,
arising from the apprehension of a deficiency of
legal tender money to the direct liabilities to pay
money, created by the Act of 1844, a panic entailing
ruin to thousands, and the depreciation of property
to the amount of hundreds of thousands of pounds,
would have been prevented.

Again I would reiterate the remedy which for
twelve years I have been urgently recommending
as the antidote to the baneful operations of the Act
of 1844.

If the legitimate fruits of that Act, manifested by
the panics of 1847 and 1857, with the present
minimum bank rate of discount at 8 per cent., whilst
money at Amsterdam and Berlin is at 3 per cent., at
Hamburg 2-1, and at Frankfort 1 per cent-, will
not open the eyes of the commercial community to
its suicidal effects, then it behoves its opponents to
make use of the power of suspending the Act, which
they have in their own hands.
Let the London Bankers, Discounters, and Mer-
chants, who are more independent of its influence
than those in the country, demand gold for their
Bank notes, when the Act of 1844 must again be
suspended, as in the Panic of 1847 and 1857, and
the like results will follow—a rapid fall in the rate
of discount, the revival of commerce, and ample
employment for the working classes.
To expect relief in any other way is hopeless :
the public are dumb-founded on the subject ; for
notwithstanding the present extraordinary mone-
tary pressure, and the woeful experience of past
years, they stir not. Were it otherwise, and the
country sufficiently aroused to obtain another Par-
liamentary inquiry by a Committee of the House
of Commons, what greater hope of relief could be
expected than from the previous Committees which
sat in 1848 and 1857 ?

On the Committee of 1857, consisting of twenty-
five members appointed to try, with closed doors,
the cause of the Public v. the Bank Monopoly,
there were—

2 Directors of the Bank of England.
2 Members, selected expressly to watch over the
interests of the Joint Stock and Private
Issue in Bankers.

3 Bankers, besides the Bank Directors.
4 Members, who had already committed them-
selves in support of the Act by having voted
for it in the committee of 1848.

Amongst these was the Hon. E. Cardwell, who
succeeded Sir G. C. Lewis as chairman, whose strong
bias in favour of the Act was palpably manifested
in his treatment of the witnesses. He requested
the Leeds Chamber of Commerce to depute some one
to give evidence before the committee ; and they
accordingly, after passing resolutions calling for
the abolition of the restricting and essential prin-
ciple of the Act, and for a discretionary power to
be given to the directors of the Bank to issue one
pound notes, appointed Mr. John Smith, of the
banking firm of Messrs. Beckett and Co., to appear
on their behalf. • Mr. Cardwell sought an inter-
view with Mr. Smith previous to his examination ;
what passed at that interview was never made pub-
lic, and Mr. Smith does not feel at liberty to say,—
but this we know from the printed report of the
evidence, that not one question was put by Mr.
Cardwell as chairman, to elicit and record in the
minutes of the committee the resolution of the
Leeds Chamber of Commerce. What hope, then,
is there left for any relief from the Act, save from
the mercantile community compelling its suspen,
sion by their own influence?
Were this accomplished, the directors of the Bank
of England would have the same liberty as before
of issuing any proportion of notes to gold they
thought prudent ; and were they now to issue 3 to
1 (in the monetary pressure of 1839 they issued 7
to 1) the Bank reserve, which governs their rate of
discount,would be L 16,000,000 in stead of .E 6,000,000
and the rate of discount, according to their rule,
would be 3 per cent. instead of 8 per cent.
And were one pound notes issued to serve as sub-
stitutes for sovereigns, gold would be set at liberty
sufficient to satisfy our own requirements as well as
those of France and other countries.
I remain, Sir,
Your obedient servant,
HAMER. STANSFELD.
Highfield, Windermere, March 12, 1861.