The Sun.
London, England, 1827-12-22 00:00:00

COUNTRY BANKERS- AND THE BANK'

OF ENGLAND.

The plan adopted by the Bank of England of
establishing Branch Banks has, as will be ob-
served, spread a general alarm among the
Country Bankers, who have united to oppose
their great rival, and have published resolutions
on the subject, which though perfectly moderate
in their tone, express, nevertheless, decided op-
position to the scheme for extending the business
of the Bank.

The questions at issue between the Country
Bankers and the Bank of England are of great
importance, as involving not only the character
and conduct of the National Bank, but the
policy of such an establishment. The Country
Bankers complain that they are to be rivalled by
a Bank which has exclusive privileges ; that the
present policy of the Bank of England tends to
subvert the banking system of the country,
which is intimately connected with its prosperity,
and has, in point of fact, essentially conduced to

its wealth and improvement.
1. With regard to the exclusive privileges en-
joyed by the Bank of England, we cannot see
any reason why the trade of banking or money
dealing should, more than any other trade, be
bound up in the fetters of monopoly. To the
wealthy, the enterprising, and the industrious;
all exclusive advantages are superfluous, as they
only require an open field of action and fair play,
to beat their less wealthy, less enterprising, and
less industrious opponents. The effect, there-
fore, and the purpose of monopoly, as of all com-
mercial restrictions, of whatever sort they be, is
to plaCe the lazy and the ignorant on a level with
the industrious and the skilful. They exist
merely for the benefit of the weaker party, and
not of those who are strong and able to endure
the conflict of open competition, for they have
no need of them. Such being the inherent
character and principle of all monopolies, so op-
posite to the clearest maxims of policy, we
cannot help thinking it extremely curious that
the greatest trading country in the world, the
seat of freedom also, and of every liberal im-
provement, should still retain in her commercial
system this ancient relic of barbarity. But such
is the case. Nay, this exclusive privilege of
dealing in money, is sold to the Bank of Eng-
land for a pecuniary consideration ; for a loan on
somewhat lower terms than could be got in the
market ; and thus this great establishment en-
grosses, within 65 miles of London, the business
of supplying the community with a paper cur-
rency. But though we see no necessity for
carrying on the trade of banking by a monopoly,
we are not aware that any great evil can result
from it, so long as the Bank of England is
obliged to pay its notes in specie at the
will of the holder. The Bank cannot in
this case issue its paper to excess, because
any over issue would be instantly returned
in exchange for specie ; and if those re-
turned notes were re-issued, the Bank would
be subjected to a constant and very inconvenient
drain of gold until the excess was withdrawn.
The discretion at present committed to the Bank,
of regulating the whole currency of London and
the surrounding districts,. is a great trust ; and
the difference, if we had in. the metropolis two
or three, or half a dozen of rich and responsible
Banks, would just be, that we would no longer
depend on the discretion of the "Bank Directors
for supplies of curren4,-aS there -woidd be va-
rious competitors- in the business, to either of
whom we might then :apply. The great pin
ciple of competition would thus come in place
of the, discretion of indiViduats,' as a 'security to
the public for ethe proper- managenient of the
banking business, and on this solid.. basin the,
credit and commerce of the country would cer-
tainly rest as securely as on any other.
With -regard to the complaint of the Country
Bankers, that the great National Establishment
is stretching out its grasping hand over the pe-
culiar districts of their business, that it presses
upon them with the weight of its exclusive pri-
vileges, it is a just and well-founded complairif.
The Bank is aided by its monopoly, and by the
unfair advantage over all other Bankers in the
trifling duty paid for its bill stamps, to under-
mine the trade of the Country Bankers, and
there cannot be a more cruel grievance. To throw
into the already preponderating scale of this too
powerful Establishment such exclusive advan-
tages is unjust- and impolitic; and highly in-
jurious to a most 'respectable class of traders,
namely the Country Bankers, who, during the
late period of commercial distress, were the ob-
jects as we always thought of much unmerited cla-
mour and reproach. If we divest the Bank, how-
ever, of all exclusive advantages, and if her agents
enter the field in equal terms with the Country
Bankers, we confess we do not see any- rational
objection to this establishment of Branch Banks.
In this case there is a fair and open competition,
and if the Country Bankers lose their trade, it can
only be by the superior qualifications of their
rivals. The public can have no interest in the
success of either party. They will go where they
are best served ; atul .we may be assured they
will not prefer one to another without.their own
substantial reasons. This is a case which, how-
ever hard it may bear on individual interests, ad-
mits of no interference or relief. We cannot
free the Country Bankers from the,competition on
equal terms with the Bank of England. In
Scotlan v Scotland
tunderstandhekin-gt(hi
kingdom.
.Brahch There
arßanks,e.no
from the great chartered establishments are quite
common aNlle
over
monopolies in the banking business
of that
country. There are in Edinburgh three
incorporated Banks, each with an immense
capital, besides others of great wealth
and of unbounded credit. All these Banks
are competitors for the business of the
community—they are necessarily rivals to each
other ; but the public gain by this rivalship, as
they have the choice of going where they are
best served. Those great establishments in the
metropolis send out Branch Banks, which dis-
pense supplies of their excellent and well accre-
bn remotest districts of the
dited currency to
kingdom. There are besides numerous Conn-
try Ban
ks in good credit, and many of them
of great wealth, which maintain a successful com-
petition with the Branch Banks of the Metropo-
lis, and come in for a fair share of business in
their particular districts. And
such would be the
case in England, even if the National Bank
were to succeed in establishing Branch
Banks in the different country towns.—
A competition would no doubt commence ; the
Country Bankers would have' to contend with
powerful rivals ; but there is no remedy for this.
In Scotland the establishment of Branch Banks by
the great Banks of the Metropolis has not proved
ruinous to the country dealer ; nor is it likely
that any such effects would be produced by it in
England. At any rate, if the Bank of England
,venture into the fieldofequal competition,theCoun'
try Bankers have no alternative but to meet their
enemy boldly. But, at present, this is not the
case. There is no equal competition. The