The Sun.
London, England, 1828-04-05 00:00:00

from London to swell the account of same fa-I'
'voured stationer in town. Whether the bank
will " send coals to Newcastle," is not yet
determined.

lhe folly of the measure .is only. to be
equalled by the mischief to which it maygive rise.
" Discontent," it has been observed, "is the
child of distress, and distress is the daughter of
ill-timed experiment." Take away from the
Newcastle banks the power of occasionally assist-
ing manufacturers and others in their business,
and the most frightful check may be given to the
labouring employment of the place. True, says
a friend of the branch, if any friend here it has
but why should the establishment of a branch
lessen the power of the Newcastle banks to ac-
commodate trade ? I say, for an obvious rea-
son. The branch bank will be sure to get into
circulation a certain amount of its paper—thus
displacing an equal amount of the notes of the
other banks, and diminishing to the same extent
the power of the Newcastle banks to support the
'various undertakings of the district. But this is
not all ; for the branch bank not complying
with the usual rule of exchanging notes once
a week with the other banks, and then paying
or receiving any balance by a short dated bill on
London, must impose upon the Newcastle banks
the necessity of keeping by them, unemployed, a
much larger sum in gold or Bank of England
notes than would otherwise be required; and
then again, from the uncertainty of the channel
through which notes may be brought in to them
for payment, they must constantly have funds
both .here and in London for the liquidation of
their notes. Under 'such circumstances the
available power of the Newcastle banks may be
contracted in a degree much exceeding the pro-
portion of their paper thrown out of circulation ;
and thus the injury which a branch bank may
do to the business of the place is almost

A friend of mine talking lately with a Bank
Director, and telling him of the nconvenience
which people in business here app ..hended might
result from the institution of a blanch bank, was
very gravely assured that "in Neweastle the
trading part of the community could have
nothing to fear from the measure, for that hap-
pen what would, they would still have the Scotch
banks to fly to for assistance." A most com-
fortable assurance, truly ! But can any man,
not a Bank Director, for a moment suppose that
if from the annoyances of the branch bank, our
own hankers should be induced to withdraw the
whole of their notes from circulation, that almost
.a single note of any description would afterwards
circulate in the district. And in this case, should
we not be forfeiting all the advantages which are
admitted to arise from the use of a paper cur-
rency ? On a principle, as between borrower
and lender, of mutual advantage, the notes of
the Newcastle banks are continually being put
into circulation, and though every note issued
by a banker is destined to return to him, and
that often very quickly, yet where, as in New-
castle, a perfect confidence exists that the notes
of the various banks may at any time be con-
verted into gold or Bank of England paper, an
amount of notes adequate to all the purposes of
trade we may easily suppose will steadily remain
in circulation. But would it be possible to sub-
stitute for such a currency, either the • notes of
the Scotch banks, or the notes of a branch bank
of the Bank of England? Admitting the cau-
tious sandy would, upon our own terms, deal
with us sov.theraiis,(" ask Where's the north ?
at York 'tis on the Tweed") the circumstance of
the Scotch notes not being payable in New-
castle, would operate as an effectual check to
their circubtion ; and as to the notes of the
branch bank, seeing that the public pan never
have any interest in common with that establish,
ment, there would be wanting on. the part of the
public that great and coltstant impulse to circu-
lation, without which, every effort of a banker
to keep in circulation any considerable Amount
of his paper must be utterly unavailing. If,
then, our present system of currency is to be
abrogated, nothing will be left for us but to re-
vert to a course of metallic payments, the come-
quenees of which to the commercial an. 4 .4gTie
-cultural interests of this part of the country I
leave any man to determine.
But the intelligent Directors a the Bank tell
us ‘-‘ they eon see no reason to alter their in-
tention of establishing a branch in Newcastle,"
They must, then, really wish to put down all
paper currency but their own, and they must lie
weak enough to suppose, that people here will
he so entanwured of their notes its to prefer
them to gold ; for upon no .other principle in
Newcastle, where there are no means of forcing
the notes of the branch bank upon the public
except through the payment of a few dividends
of stock, • can there be a possibility of such notes
ever becoming the general eirez:Wing medium
of the place. The Directors, in telling us 04:
• they see no reason for altering their intention,"
;night have gone a little farther, and told us what
it was that first prompted their interference.
They very carefully, however, abst4e from giving
reg,-ons. With All the badgering that thye Go-
vernoe underwent at, the last half-yearly Court of
ProprieWss, little more could be obtained from
him , in justification of the pro4ncial establish-
ments of the Batik, than that banking was their
business, and that they had a right to Make the
most of their business; which is about as con-
elusive as Falstaff's defence of purse taking,
Why, Hal, 'tis my vocation, Hal ; 'tic no sin
, for a man to labour in his vocation :!"
One observation of the Governor is p4rtj.cg.
larly deserving of attention. " What he," the
Governor, was most desirous of saying was
this, that they (the bank) would go only where,
their assistance was called for., and where they
thought upon due consideration they could be
beneficial." Now to such a rule for the guidance
of the bank, no person could have objected.
But ,has it been attended to as regards the esta-
blishment of a branch in Newcastle ? kiss such
an institution been " called for" by any class of
persons here whatever, or even by a single indi-
vidual of credit and respectability in the place
it may fearlessly assert that the bank has never
been called upon, never advised, by any person
(not shadowing to himself employment from
the bank) to interfere with the ekostmg banking
establishments of this town. For long after the
first intimation of the intention of the bank to
establish a branch in Newcastle, the thing was
treated as quite a visionary scheme---43 A com-
plete joke, indeed; people felt that in their mo-
ney transactions they were as well off as they
could be, and they supposed that the bank had
enough to attend to without troubling themselves
with an unpopular and profitless concern at
Newcastle.

It seems, however now, that the resolution is
finally taken to open what the Governor calls "a
shop in Newcastle--a shop which will have the
singular distinction of being the only one in the
town in which the notes of the Newcastle banks
are refused in payments. With all deference to

the Governor, I look upon a shop conducted on
such a principle as an insult-to the town.
Adieu, Mr. Editor. I have already trespassed
upon your columns at much too great a length,
but the importance of the subject must plead my
excuse.
March 29, 1628. ALFRED.