The Sun.
London, England, 1844-06-14 00:00:00

iosesi
shoW any ground for the interference of Forliar¢ l
with the banks of issue. Now, he did not
.7a beet
was necessary for him to show that there n
reoent:
very great misconduct to justify the Go hirn
introducing this measure. It was enough sleets
Goulburn)-to prove that the consequences of the eu
of
system necessarily led to evils against the reely; we,
isl
which there was no means of gua;cling.l He benvestO
to say anything against country bankers. Theet,
be
most iniquitous transactions bad come to eretia std
acknowledged that body to be eminent for Ist their,
for honour. But it was not denied by theta osusu
operations were governed by the state of things the
them,—by the wants of the neighbourhood --oleo;
desires and the demands of the community wi,stefer
which they lived ; and that they knew nothing f oleif
of the foreign exchanges in the management eoftli"j
issues, and the government of their conduct•
is
of the
there was sufficient proof in the acknowledgmelke won
country bankers themselves.—(Hear, hear.) had VII
not trouble the House further, for the question ~,, such
so fully discussed on a former occasion and wl';' what
ability, that he should but weaken the force r".`,,bies.
was then advanced were he to say more upon thes"Ooki
He would conclude, by saying, that he thoughtl,l:oll
have been more fair and more manly too, r. bee
attacked the measure on its principle than Iva beet
assailed it on mere minor points of detail, as b
the case that evening.—(Hear, bear.)
Sir W. CLAY- said, though he considered thete;
sure was in one or two points susceptible %In it
provement, yet as a whole he looked uPweich
as a good one, and the principle 00 ,4.oceil'
it was founded, he most cordially' skttglle
aestra‘uor
He believed that these principles were,
sound and .true, and it was most important to the eurso4.
that they should be carried into practical or dee
It was not necessary to deal with the theories jitter'
Birmingham School—they were very gerierallY re;4l#
by the good sense of the country. But it was noty° ;bls
them that opposition was to be offered to the P srtboo
; Hon. Friend the Member Lambeth was one o' be'
who thought the Bill unnecessary. He, howev,e
lieved the Bill to be both expedient and necessary' set
great truth had been entirely overlooked. I.llise
the principle, that they could not combine the wor d the
two incongruous systems, one of convertible 010,01
other of inconvertible piper. England would 9, SI
have her full share of the precious metals in gull/be Pstgr'
great was their tendency to flow into England, '2 00
Rothschild said, before the Committee of 183,W.
were it not f,r a bad harvest now and then, I",efile,
loans, or mining speculations, he believed that the,l;oo of
of the world would centre in England. The 2C"/ the
the currency fully justified the propo-91 ld 1101
Bill before the House.—(Hear.) He shell; rbe!
trouble the House with details in support 0; 138 P
general principles. He contended that neither the, ibeir
of England nor the country banks had regulaveueoure,
issues according to the exchanges, and that a °Friel
to regulate them both was necessary. His 11,eit sees:
was quite mistaken in what he had stated with lee•
to a suspension of cash payments in Amerinveca.
rtieili4
was by the law of the States as complete a co, ~ask
of notes into cash as in this country. It might "-orA
then why was it that cash payments were 5ue.,,P,,1;
From the same reason that it had happened in.'''lirissse'
there was an excessive rage and competition eae sor
and the law could not enforce an impossibility. to the
sidered that the Right Hon. Baronet was entitleuwisB
best thanks of every lover of his country for br
forward this measure. ste'
Mr. NEWDEGATE opposed the motion• fletbrl; th!,
that the remonstrances that had been made of
country bankers would be duly attended to• tool
he was sure, .they were well worthy of a" wo'
The result of the adoption of the proposed systen] „toll
be, that the system of credit would displace the ?a the
of eurrency, and small bills would necessarily tube
de'
place of the notes which would be withdrawn hlitiosr
lation. This measure would give to money nidsos9;
„,"
political power by enhancing its value. It w°,ll.' oteger
tute a virtual aristocracy of mere wealth. 1 the
aristocracy consisted of those elements. There nti tha
aristocracy of birth, the aristocracy of talent• s of the
aristocracy of wealth. Each of these sections bitch
aristocracy had its failings. The aristocracy bOs
was indolent and overbearing, but it was generefft.ocrsris
aristocracy of talent was intolerant, but the sr.". t.
of wealth was the most oppressive that could exlusetiost
regarded human beings merely as units of Pr') oarserf
and if it were to become the sole arist e
it would become so oppressive that the U 9
would be obliged to look out for ,131`" stst`;
defend themselves against it. The Uniteu,oo
afforded au example of a democratic country bt. stir
into an aristocracy. The aristocracy there was "dero:l
tocracy of talent. The country was guided by Dory
gogues ; but they had. been very careful to
against the aristocracy of wealth. Day bY chits' e
took additional protections against it, by enacting e. s
peated subdivisions, and by enlarging the franchisee 01
they adopted this measure it would tend to enhance
sel
standard of value more than anything that had preip
it; and when, in their future troubles, they turneusisafi
to look on What they had done, although it might'
like the brazen serpent in the wilderness, theY
find that it had less.than its healing virtues. the
Mr. HUME could assure the Hon. Gentle
there was no necessity whatever for the alarm w'',„oll
seemed to entertain. If he thought this meastlr.eosl,
lead to an extension of the franchise that
be another reason why he should super Dl'
but he found it would produce no such resultaboest
Hon. Gentleman seemed to labour under the de oat,
that the precious metals were limited in their 10,0,
but the present state of the coffers of the Bank 0' ?he
land was sufficient to dissipate such a delusion• if, so
Bank of England had at the present moment aettl
much gold that they did not know how to gct ril °pro'
and so long as England was capable of selling her,,,ost
duct cheaper than other countries, she would ne!leo.ith.f
for gold. This Bill maintained a gold standard assn
paper currency, convertible into gold, so as W.crier
paps'. of the same value as the gold. His Hon. ":„ os
who had introduced this motion had spoken to blees
the subject, and he had hoped that he might hayed v.
jimitet 00,
able to support it. He thought it had been
statement which had been made by the %gh gar
nourable Baronet, in which he attributed theol
tuation to over-issue on the part of the cossib!
banks. Now, at the present moment, it was WI vote
that any Bank could issue a larger quantitY reel
than the country required, as long as those notespt (is;
on the basis of convertibility. The lion. Bar°o- err
not carry out his own theory. One half of the ok
WAS convertible on demand, but the other half herot;
of that character. Every bank note ought to
the se
vertible into gold on demand, but such was net•bie lath
with country bank notes. They were convert' f eserij
Batik of England notes only. Now the holder 0.,,
note ought always to he able to obtain its vain oboe
on demand. The Right Hon. Gentleman, 13Y c°-1. •• •• a.
the legal tender clause, destroyed his own thee
a note was not currency if it was not immedfiintethodo
vertible—it was commercial paper merely. ic'eA diet' 0
there ought to be only one bank of issue,
all -the gm')
the Government took upon itself to issue au •• of 's
and silver, it ought also to have charge ok.
paper. He preferred metallic currency, ''''.„enietillo
mixed currency was more economical and ee", ij
he did not object to it, provided the paper wsidsbos;
convertible. He knew not why the Bank ofEnglaaoio,
bare any privileges beyond the rest of the e0r10,311
since the Government did not choose to take all bit
into their own charge, they ought to have givt•„„,se. be
Majesty's subjects the same fair and equal c"—tible
the Right Hon. Baronet made all notes cover
might suffer the issue to be unlimited for that Wol;
always checked by its convertibility.As long amen to Pie
mained convertible, he would defy any set of .v-o
,try,„4
forth more of them than the demands of the CO" leer( =
quired. A great deal had been said about the old thf
States, but those who had failed there, althlt-Abece
might be called bankers, were not in reality Sue stsl,,,
were merchants and dealers. There was not 0.1,
of any bank which had acted on purely haeb1A005,,,4
ciples having failed. Let them look at h.oooe
where there was no restriction as to issue. 1-'"Anti ad
of banks in that country was now twenty-five's it "not
circulation bad not been added to from w'dicl • been when there were only six. They cliTieti
issue more, but the issues were 17g" belle Is
Mr. Blair, in his evidence, had stated that heoerfis
that the whole of the notes issued by the end i
banks were returned every ten or twelve dard; cele4hef
attributed it to the fact that no one had any 10 ovd re
to keep any bank notes in his pocket ; tot 0:41
brought them into the branch banks, whencel to Peat
transmitted to Edinburgh. It was not possieleotectr
the amount of the circulation beyond what was
the
for the wants of the country. The amount o*.eori Pp,
rency in England was less now than it was tell )400er.or
Instead of hoarding bank notes, as they did, 4010
people now deposited them either in savings ut; aof
joint-stock banks, for the sake of their intere ere.°
in large transactions the currency vv'
in
economised through the operations of t"-tle vide
ing- house. This they were able to (0100
a much less amount of currency than „„ all -of
It was not fair to attribute to the resent syssetel„te
fee". lull'
bankruptcies which had taken pipace. The t fo' ith
Wright's bank, in this city, one of the grows e
which had taken place, had no connection what e*lets‘ecf
the present system of currency The 11°11" tee
then quoted from Mr. Keunedy's.evidence, tf. dot A.-ot
that he believed a single bank of issue would
tire to Scotland, and that, when there was a gren of i-by
bullion in the Bank of England, the restrictio jowl hr
would be limited. The effect of the extent 01 rseerlhear
the country banks had been greatly exsg,gene,
the Right Hon. Baronet. Why, even in Ireta*,• not v- of
the system of banking was imperfect, there 1111"; isseeser
excessive issue. He (Mr. H.) denied that ,ii
.lye 0,14
private banks had anything to do with the eTstell:riedt
ruptcies which had occurred within a resent P. 0 01'006
very little to do with the commercial stagoatlooele
hail taken place. In 1819, to the 5155
of the Committee of the House etc Commons, he
f t ee
of the co accordingthe
matry banks wms fifty millions, and
to recrer
of England thirty million,. The Cot the
mended an immediate -contraction 01. the etef
issue. Accordingly, in 1820, the issue t)he 008110
of England was reduce d to 23,000,000, and t alio°
of bullion in its coffers increased from three 1119 year,oo
a half, which it had been in the Pret;l:l,7os:
e °eo:
8,000,000. On the 28th February, 1821'
Bank of England was I...educed to 16,000,000, acnresse itold
lion in the coffers of the Bank had f
11,000,000, thus show in that as the Bank 9 Itie'Lree
had contracted its issue, the bullion in its
sto eeros
creased. The Hon. IVlember quoted from non.rt of
turns to show that exeravagant issue on the It)l7eatieol;tl
Bank had been productive of disastrous co b_,;,,,iaeehe,
and that as they restrained that injudicious
_er'egoe'lle
the bullion in the Bank increased, and the eni__ oe'
came more steady. There was no good reasele..oP6,4
Bank of England should be converted into a
Plitt
yes
by giving it such control over banks within.
these s't
miles of the metropolis. He did not thiub•
any need for obliging the Bank of Englaxa t to
much gold in its coffers, He did not will) ibglj