The Sun.
London, England, 1850-05-09 00:00:00

14, truing

LONDON, THURSDAY, MAY 9, 1850.

About twelve months since we directed the public
attention to an experiment that was then about to be
made. It was proposed to establish a joint-stock
bank to be conducted on principles which, if not
wholly unknown, had at least never been brought
into practical operation south of the Tweed ; to intro-
duce, in fact, the Scotch system of banking into the
metropolis, and to afford the great facilities allowed
in the northern division of the United Kingdom to
the numerous and important classes who had pre-
viously been debarred of all banking accommodation.
Everything augured favourably for the success of the
contemplated establishment. The characters and stations
in scciety of the promoters afforded an undoubted gua-
rantee that the future business would be conducted
with strict honour and unimpeachable fidelity. The
name of the Chairman was in itself a tower of
strength; JOHN MACGREGOR, the Member for
Glasgow, was no ordinary man. His great expe-
rience in commercial affairs, acquired during the long
period that he filled, with credit to himself and ad-
vantage to the country, the important situation of
Secretary to the Board of Trade ; his great intelli-
gence and well-known judgment, and clearness of in-
tellect, rendered him peculiarly qualified for
the position he was about to fill. As is
well remarked by our esteemed contemporary, the
Bankers' Magazine, he did not lack " the resource,
the vigour, and the courage requisite to conceive,
construct, and carry out the proposed undertaking."
It could not, in fact, have been commenced under
more propitious auspices for yielding handsome
profits to its shareholders, and proving exceedingly
beneficial to the community in general, more espe-
cially to the industrious and saving classes—the
small traders—who could not afford to keep lying
idle and unproductive the large balances expected by
the existing establishment to be retained by all
who kept open accounts.
But, although the experiment was new on English
ground, it had been fully tested among our Scottish
brethren, during a long series of years—affording a
healthy stimulus to the trade and agriculture of the
country—and, indeed, to its operation, may, in a
great degree be attributed the prosperity of the sister
kingdom,'which afforded so favourable a contrast to the
unfortunate condition of Ireland. While in England,
every accommodation that could be desired, was af-
forded to the wealthy few, the same advantages were
provided in Scotland for the many. The smallest
deposits were received, the humblest accounts kept
open. Not merely small tradesmen, but even
hard-working operatives and domestic servants were
invited to pay in their savings, where they had full
security for their money, and fair interest was al-
lowed on their deposits, whether kept as floating
balances or only repayable at fixed and specified
periods. The value of
.2 good and unimpeachable
character was there learned, for "cash credits" were
granted to persons who, though without capital them-
selves, could yet find solvent friends to guarantee
their integrity. Such persons frequently became the
most valuable customers of the establishments, to
which they owed their elevation in the social
scale, and for which they naturally felt
deeply grateful during their future career. They
therefore supported and sustained through every
struggle the banks, which being founded on a broad
basis, survived many storms to which more exclusive
and aristocratic concerns must have succumbed. The
result was, that the failures of English banks might
be reckoned by hundreds for Scottish units, and the
losses to the English community by millions for thou-
sands that had been lost in Scotland. We believe,
indeed, that we are justified in saying that since
the Act of Union with that country there has been
not more than 25,0001. to 26,0001. lost by the public
through the failures of the very few Scottish banks
that have suspended payment during the entire
period.

With such a precedent, the directors of the British
Bank could speak boldly of their future prospects ;
a rich mine lay before them that had hitherto been
wholly neglected, for while they offered everything
to the rich and wealthy that could be obtained at any
existing concern, they opened their doors to all, being
willing to accept deposits as low as 20s. They saw
no such distinctions between the dispositions and
habits of the inhabitants of the northern and southern
divisions of the kingdom as should lead to the failure
in one of a plan which had been so eminently success-
ful in the other. Under such circumstances, the shares
were speedily subscribed for, and within little more than
six months after the preliminary meeting of the di-
rectors—in the month of August, 1849—the royal
charter was obtained, and the British Bank was
opened for business in the following month at Token-
house-yard, Lothbury.

Since that time its progress has surpassed the
•
most sanguine anticipations of its projectors. Al-
i though many difficulties must be experienced in the
commencement of any description of business, more
especially of banking, the concern has triumphantly
surmounted all impediments. It is no longer an ex-
periment, it is, " a great fact." Already two branches
have been opened in addition to the parent establish-
ment in Lothbury—the one in Bridge-street, Lam-
beth, the other in the Strand; and another branch
will be opened near the Angel, Islington, as soon as
the premises have undergone the necessary altera-
tions. We heartily congratulate the directors and share-
holders on these felicitous results. We congratulate
the trading community, the industrious men of small
capital, on the golden opportunity that offers itself.
A. cursory glance at the advertisement, which will be
found in another part of this. day's impression, will
explain the nature of these advantages that have so
long been desired by the middle classes. The British
Bank will now be-found to fill up the void that pre-
viously existed between the savings' banks on the one
hand and the aristocratic banks on the other, while
to the highest and lowest, the rich and the poor, it
offers advantages equal to any they could have ob-
tained from their own peculiar institutions.. Many of
the savings' bank depositors will probably avail them-
selves of these advantages, more especially if the mea-
sure, recently introduced by Sir CriARLES Wool),
should pass into a law, reducing the amount that can
be lodged in any year, and diminishing the rate of
interest that can be paid by any of these establish-
meats.

Two national sentiments upon which the British
nation, as a nation, most especially pride themselves,
were yesterday commemorated by two festivals,
which were held within the walls of the London
Tavern. The one was the anniversary festival of the
Society of Friends of Foreigners in Distress, and the
other the similar meeting of the Printers' Pension

Society ; the latter held under the presidentship of a
Mr. FREDERICK
young and promising statesman,
PEEL, the former presided over by the philanthropic
Duke of CAMBRIDGE. These two assemblies re-
presenting, as they de, sentiments so essentially
national, are invested with more real interest
than always attaches to more outwardly magnificent
entertainments. If there is one of our political
privileges in which, more than any other, the people
of this country feel an especial and personal exulta-
tion, it is in their peculiar enjoyment of the liberty
of the press, and if there is ono of our national
peculiarities in which they take a particular and be-
coming pride, it is in that world-wide hospitality
which the shores of Britain have so repeatedly offered
to refugees from every quarter of the globe. Hence
it was only a very natural circumstance that the as-
semblies held yesterday for the promotion of
a particular support to these great principles should

' have been numerously attended, and characterised
by the eloquence of the speakers and the enthusiasm
of the auditors. The discourse of Mr. PEEL was
worthy of the occasion ; it was remarkable for a libe-
rality of spirit that might reasonably have been antici-
pated the son of Sir ROBERT PEEL, and the young
Member whose
first speech in Parliament was made
aed
in the great cause of religious tolerance. " If," said
Mr. PEEL, at the dinner yesterday, " those who con-
tribute to the happiness of existence are entitled to
the support and sympathy of their fellow-men, then
do I know no class which can prefer a more valid claim
in that respect than the body of pressmen and
compositors. There is scarcely any member of
the community who is not under an obligation to re-
member the journeymen printers. The journeyman
printer is instrumentally the immediate agent in
forming the mind of every man amongst us." The
truth of this assertion is indisputable, and hence
the claim of these our instrumental benefactors on
our gratitude and assistance is most obvious. It is
only fair and right that those who, during the bur-
den and beat of the day, have devoted their assiduous
labour and energy to a work to which we are indebted
for our noblest thoughts and our purest pleasures, should
in their time of trial, in sickness, suffering or old age,
receive at our hands some trivial help adequate per-
haps to minister to their necessities, but quite inade-
quate to repay our life-long obligation. Such is the
object of the Printers' Pension Society. The subscrip-
tions collected yesterday amounted to 3001., but there
is still room enough for other contributors. Mr.
PEEL, by his attendance and by his discourses, honoured
himself as much as he may have benefited the society.
A young politician could hardly find a better mode cf
entrance on the path of political distinction than by
identifying himself with the cause of intelligence and
philanthr ophy.
While the claims of the journeyman printer were
being thus ably advocated in one chamber of the
London Tavern, in another some illustrious
foreigners were doing homage to the charitable
spirit of the British people. Baron DR WTDEN-
BaucL in an excellent address very happily, and no
less truthfully, observed—" There is scarcely a word
in the vocabulary of human infirmities which in this
country has not been translated into brick and
mortar." The Society of the Friends of Foreigners
in Distress has, however, as the Baron justly re-
marked, a feature of its own, which places it above
other charities. " Let Englishmen," he ob-
served, " relieve other Englishmen, and Ger-
man relieve German, Frenchmen relieve other
Frenchmen ; in so doing they are all obey-
ing the impulse of a feeling which every one
fosters in his breast for his own country-men ; but .as
soon as benevolence steps beyond the limit of com-
munity of race and origin—as soon as it extends its
boons to men who have no other tie with their re-

lievers than to be men themselves—in short, when
men meet together to unite and combine their efforts
for the special purpose of relieving foreigners, then
such acts are more than mare acts of humanity—
they bear the stamp of high civilization."
The speech of the American Minister was such as
became the ambassador of a free people. " I am
here a stranger," he said, " but I do not feel myself a
foreigner ; I am hero with very great pleasure, be-
cause I am in the presence of a society combining all
nations, hindreds, and tongues, and upon a platform
as wide as the world, comprehending men of all re-
ligions, of all shades of political opinion, and of all
views of government. lam here, I rejoice to think,
in the presence of all the nations of the world ; and I
think it is appropriate, upon the whole, that I should

be here, representing, as I do, a country comprised of
all the nations of the earth. I rejoice, too, that lam
here, although in a foreign land, because this is a land
where all enjoy the largest liberty regulated by the
wisest laws—a land wherein it is a glory to me to
stand upon the soil of my ancestors—men who
understood the theory and the practice of con-
stitutional liberty. I think, then," he observed
in conclusion, " that one good object is especially
obtained by such meetings as this—they bring
together, not only men of different nations, but men
dissimilar in social habits and in political views ; and
we find from them, that after all there is very little
difference in the different members of the human
race. All then that is wanted, and all that we desire
is, that the humani race should be so brought
together, that we may see each other, compare our
opinions, examine our feelings and views; and, so far
as I am concerned as representing my country, I beg
to pledge to you our kindest feelings not only towards
this our kindred nation, but towards every nation in
Europe. My mission here is to cultivate good feeling
not only with Great Britain, but with every power ,
in Europe."