The Sun.
London, England, 1844-10-29 00:00:00

SCOTCH BANKING.

At the general meeting of the Edinburgh Mer-
chant Company, held in' their Hall on Monday, J.
P. MITCHELL, the Chairman, said he need hardly
advert to the great interest which this subject was
exciting among all classes in Scotland, especially
among the mercantile and trading classes, further than
to say, that that interest and excitement had induced
him, along with deputations representative other public
bodies, to call upon their representative, Mr. B. Macau-
lay, when recently in Edinburgh, and lay before him
all the information in their power with respect to the
working of the present banking system, its perfect
safety, the satisfaction of all classes of society with it,
and their alarm at the prospect of its being in any
way interfered with. Mr. Macaulay certainly heard
the deputation with willingness and attention, but the
feeling which seemed to be uppermost with him was
just this—it seems to be the impression in the minds
of all Englishmen, that gold in the shape of sovereigns
is a good thing to circulate south of the Tweed, and
they cannot understand why in that case
they should not be an equally good medium of cir-
culation to the north of the Tweed. This statement
would show them what was in the minds ofpublic men ;
it was an index of the general state of feeling among
the leading statesmen ; and Scotchmen—especially
all the Scotch traders and merchants, must make up
their minds to use strong exertions if they would
preserve a continuance of the present system of bank-
ing, which had wrought so well for all classes and in-
terest in the country, and without any injury what-
ever. They must join the noblemen and gentlemen
of the counties, and other public bodies 'who were
now moving to preserve the present system of bank-
ing. It may be all true that the sovereign currency
did well in England, but it could never do in Scot-
land, where they were so far removed from London,
and where their transactions were generally of a
much smaller kind than in England. He could easily
show that the system would be most expensive, for
the trading part of the community would have to
bear the expense cf the heavy exchanges between
town and town, and they would be continually in-
volved in a scarcity of the circulating medium. It
was the duty of Scotland to stand up and decide this
question, before anything was done at all in the way
of preparing an Act of Parliament. If they did so,
the Prime Minister would not run in the face of the
united feelings and sentiments of the whole people.
It was agreed to remit the matter to the Master
and Assistants with the addition of Mr. Cadell.
Mr. JAMES M'LAREN wondered that Sir Robert
Peel should have such an extraordinary anxiety about
the stability of Scotch banks—it would be more worth
his attention to look after the banking system of Eng-
land, which had never been in so safe a state that it
should be put forward as an example to this part of
the empire. But what was the evidence that the
Scottish banking system was unsafe ? Could any-
thing be safer ? The paper circulation throughout
the whole country by all the banks did not' exceed
three or four millions of money. To back that paper
circulation, which was absolutely necessary for the
purposes of commerce, there was a proprietary capital
of twelve millions sterling, which was at all times
liable to make good any deficiencies that could pos-
sibly occur. They were told, notwithstanding the
perfect security and convenience of the present sys-
tem, that Mr. Maeaulay seemed to justify interference
with it on the ground, that if a gold currency had
done well in England, it would also do well in Scot-
land. He (Mr. MiLaren) would reverse that senti-
ment, and maintain that England's currency had
never been so safe as Scotland's, and he would draw
from that fact the conclusion, that a gold currency
having always worked ill in Ingland—he meant as
compared with the small note currency of Scotland—
it would undoubtedly, if introduced into Scotland,
work as ill there as it had done in the south.

Mr. CADELL said, that the country would be
roused from one end to the other to tell Sir Robert
Peel that they would not allow their banking system
to be trifled with. Where was there a shadow of evi-
dence or of reason for meddling with a system which
all agreed had worked to the satisfaction of all inte-
rests throughout the country ? A Parliamentary
Committee in 1826, in consequence of the strong
opinion then expressed, declared that the system,
having worked so well, it ought not to be meddled
with. They had had eighteen years further
practical experience of the working of the
system, and what had occurred since then to
make an alteration necessary in 1844, which,
in 1826, was found to be impolitic and un-
reasonable ? If they had learned anything in that
time, it was to value more and more their banking
system, which had stood safe when that of England
had frequently brought the country into jeopardy.
He hoped that the company, and all the other public
bodies, would take up firmer ground on this great
question, and adopt the most decided steps to crush
the project at its outset. _

Anfre; some remarks by Mr. MTAuLAN, power was
given to the Master and Assistants to watch the pro-
gress of matters, and to co-operate with other bodies.

HURRAH FOR HIGH-lIA.NDED JUSTICE ! —We are
glad to see that the wisdom of our ancestors, as evinced
in the punishment of offenders, which, we feared, had
fallen into general contempt, continues, in some
favoured nooks of these dominions, to govern the pro-
ceedings of the magistracy. A glorious case occurred
at the Banbury Petty Sessions. One John Coggins,
labourer, was charged with an offence against the
game laws. He, had been seen, on the morning of
the Ist of September, walking about in a stubble field
with a gun. William Cowling, one of the Earl ofJersey's
lookers-out, saw him, the rascal I Coggins, to be sure,
had no dog, nor did any game get up, neither did he
fire ; but witness took his gun away. A stupid jury
might have doubted whether he was sparrow shooting or
not, or have believed his story, that he was going to
guard his potato crop. But he had a true English ma-
gistrate to deal with, who was too deep for the rogue.
Mr. Matthews said it was painful to him to address
the prisoner. Of course. Mr. Matthews, says
the Times reporter, is a clergyman, as well
as a sportsman ; and we may excuse the weak-
ness, particularly as Mr. Matthews, smothering his sen-
sibilities, inflicted on the offender a penalty of ten
pounds, and said a distress warrant should be levied for
the amount. Coggins declared that his goods would not
fetch that money. " Then," said the just Matthews
tdt e dhave
r
s(ohuonwdewdealiftear malediction Then
two months' hard labour." Goggins will probably be
) a"
yl aoyu smt aonudt hc
olmv omu
ruined, with his wife and family, if he has any. This is
the way to keep fellows in order. This is the method
to teach people what they are at. Would that our
'squirearchy had still the making of the laws. Rogues
would soon see what was what. Oh, for the good old
days of the stocks, the pillory, and the gallows ! Alas !
they scarcely ever hang anybody now l—Punch.