The Sun.
London, England, 1819-05-28 00:00:00

1-Tust.'isanti downwards, for a great number of
years, Hod the leiracity of their writers to the
most ri,licololis assumptions, sufficiently prove
Ihe accuracy of this censure.—'.Lo continue our
Author—
" It appears from the Report of the Committee, that, pre-
vious to the ite,lricti9ii Act, there were in circulation :30 mil-
'loos of Gold Coin, and in or 11 !trillions of Bank Notes. Of
this s'um, the Bank piresse:,l in deposit ;thorn 5 or ti millions,
by which their Notes were payable. remaining 25 mil-
lions had peen gradually, from time t 9 time, hrou4lit into
rirenlar ion by means of the Merchants, who had carried Cie
Bullion they had imported thr.ruji the b rlairee of trade to.
the Mint, and had received the aitioant thereof a•zain in corn
Thus unr iteLve ci culatiou Coilsliteii of 10 millions of Bank

Notes, and 15 rtiiiinuK of tiold Goiti.bio(tglit into the minket
by the Merchants for public and commercial convenience.
When the demands of the war, panic at hmoe, and the eon-
tiurntal system, drove all the gold Color from circ,rlatioott, it
became the duty of Governmelo,t to provide a sulistitute bur
what I may call the free and commercial portion of the coin-
They a.ccordingly persuaded the Bat:`, to make issues
of ,Bank Notes in exchange fur Exchequer Bills, which were
too remain in &Tacit at the Bank. The quantity of this nein,-
sit has varied at different times, and amounts now, as slated
by the Report, to 19,438,0001. though, in order to equal the
quantity of gold coin taken out of the market, it ought to
amount to 25 millions.

......
'• The portion of the circulation originating with the Bank,
and dependent upon it, before the Restriction Acts, was 10
or 11 millions. Of this sum, they annually advanced to Go-
rernu►ent 3 millions on the Land and Malt, and the retnaiii-
der was circulated by discounting commercial bills. it ap-
pears, however, from the Report, that other considerable.
advances were made by the Bankio Government, from 1790
to 1797; but always within the amount of the Notes out-
standing.
'• What then is to be the state of things under the new
plan ?—t he circulation since 1797 having been reduced from
above 40 millions of Coin mid Bank Notes, to near 25 millions,
the amount of Bank Notes at present in the market, the
Bank are to have the controul of from 15 to 16 millions of
this sum ; add the tree circulation, independent of the Bank,-
is to he reduced from 19,433,0001. to 9,000,000 L
" The whole amount of free circulation, independent of the
Bank, by resorting- to which the commercial body gained a
large part of their accommodations, and which prevented a
partial and monopolizing spirit in the Bank Directors, and
which amounted before the sear to 23 millions, and amounts
now only to 19,43R,C001. is to be reduced to about 9 millions.
When so small a portion is thus to be left free, it is impos-
sible to expect that a merchant can procure any accommoda-
tion at all, hut at the Bank ; and the Bank will have the a -
solute commakd of the whole' commercial body, GUI d Muir whole
transactions, without competition or appeal.
" Distressing and degrading as this transfer of power most
he to the commercial body at large, it must render the Bank
itself a continued object of suspicion and odium. Why are
these to millions to be repaid the Bank • ? What is the ob-
ject ? It is, as specifically stated, to give the Bank a greater
control!' over their issues and discounts, so as to enable them
to regulate the diminution of the paper currency in such a
manner as to effect, with gi eater celerity and certainty,, the
object of the Committee, viz.--The apparent redaction of
the price of Gold Bullion ; but iii reality to increase the
value of Bank Paper.
" The Bank, if they consent to this new scheme, will be
placed in the most invidious and responsible light possible.
On the one hand possessing the entire and absolute einitroul
of commercial accommodation, they will he eon/bluntly
pressed to increase their issues according to the growing
wants and just claims of the commercial aody :on the other
hand, they will he found bo the new data to he imposed on
them by Parliament, to confine their issues to the mere varia-
tions in thi: price of gold, and to facilitate the purchase of
bullion.

" Under the great principles of their Institution, their pre-
dominant arid primary duty is to maintain public credit. in-
crease the circulation, and to provide for the demands of
growing trade and prosperity. By this novel measure, these
great objecrs are to be considered by them of inferior and
secondary importance, and the sole object of their manage-
ment, in future, is to he confined to raising the value of
Bank Notes by reduction of currency, and to the imports.
lion of bullion from. abroad. If in the progress of the peti
posed system, the price of gold should rise, whilst vomiter-
cial distresses and demands increase at home, in what a
perilous and odious predicament will they be placed ! It they
listen to the demands of the commercial body, over W 11099
welfare they are to have an entire controul, they may' be
forced to disobey the injunctions of Parliament, and he.made
amenable to the House of Commons fur disobedience of the
law. If they should feel themselves obliged to obey the law,
which they may imagine to be peresoptorY, they may be
forced to reject the bi/l. of the best established houses, and de-
, strut/ the credit and fortunes of the most respectable firmst
and bring 04 a train of most unmerited bankruptcy by a re-
luctant, but what they may deem a necessary, obedience
to power. ,
" The object. of the merchant is the quantity of the whole
currency, not the quantity which the Bank can controul.
Whilst there is a sufficient quantity In the market, the mer-
chants can gain discount froin,the Bankers, &c. as easily as
from the Bank, and they naturally prefer a competition
against the Bank, in order to secure them against the possi-
bility of partiality: but, when mice the monopiily of dis-
counts is centered in the Bank, every merchant who Wants
accommodation is made a stove to what be may either truly
of falsely conceive to be the prejudice, or the caprice, or the
oeff-interest if the Court of Directors.
•‘ When by the unparalleled circumstances of the late war,
and the extraordinary demands or Government, these 25
millions were banished from circulation, the Government, in
justice and gratitude, were botind to find them a substitute.
The Government has found them a substitute to the amount
of 19 millions, by the means of Exchequer Bills. Is it au act
of. good faith and justice to rob them of ten millions of this
sum, and by so doing to deliver their propel ties and transac-
tions into the sole dominion of the Bank, who are to be en-
joined to consider their interests, not, as formerly, of primary
concern, but as a matter of secondary arid subordinate curt- i
sideration ?

" And this alarming measure is not to be carried into ef-
fect impene without loss: the public are to pay a considerable
bonus to the Bank fur accepting this 4,dious monopoly. At
present the Bank do not receive from Government three and
a half per cent. on the average, for the Exchequer Bills they
hold: if they issue their amount again itt4i•coupt to the pub-
lic, they will gain five per cent. or an addition of one and a
half per cent., that is, 160,0001. a year on the ten millions so
taten from the free circulating medium.
"'The next process is, that on the Ist of February next the
Bank should, on demand, pay their Notes in bullion, at
41. Is 6 per ounce, till the October followimro—from October
to May, M2l; at 31. 19s 6d. per ounce;—and ou May, 1821,
at Mint price ; and that in 1w years from that period, pay-
ments in coin should be iesumed.

The real and,sole proposition brought forward, whatever
be the colour by which it is varnished, whatever the mask by
which it is disguised, is this, and this only :=That the Bank
shall he obliged and forced to pay its Notes at mint price no.
minutia, at market price really, on the first of May, 1811.
" Tile decision on this point is to he final, not contingent
upon circuurstanCes, not limited by t exard to the distress of
our trade and monufastutes, or the decay of revenue,—not
susceptible of variation, not liable to revision;—it is to be
considered, if carried into a law, as the matured, consum-
mate, and ultimate mandate of Parliament.
" To secure this sole object, the Bank arc to be employed
in the purchase of bullion, in order to fill their coffers with
treasure; and in the gradual reduction of the circulating me-
dium for the purpose of raising its • value to the market
price of Gold.
"-Here then is a system of coercion and force, in order to
bring Bullion to the Bank, and raise the value of Bank
Notes : now I beg leave to submit a question, whether on
the supposition, that by contracting the circitlating medium,
and by forced purchases of bullion, Bank Notes van be raised
to the exchange-price of Gold, and Gold Bullion be collected
to a great alumna in the Bank :—whether 'on this supposition,
it will he necessary, in order to preserve that high value iu
Bank Notes, and to keep the Bullion within the kingdom, to
continue the system of restricted issues, which shall have
produced this result?
The ordinary maxim is, cessante causa, tollitur effec-
, Will the Committee maintain on this subject the
atintrary conclusion, and assert, cessante cause, manebit tf-
fectos ?"

"'They are driven to this dilemma, either that the system
of a contracted circulation, which they enjoin, is to he con-
tinued for ever; or that Gold, when brought into the coon-
try by forced measures and forced purchases, against the na-
tural tendency of the market price, will, after all coercive
measures shall leave been withdrawn, steel continue iu the
home market, not withstandin,c its natural tendency to the
contrary? But whoever should venture en such an as-
sertion must he equally ready to argue, that if you force
up water from a low to a high level, you may then Sc-