The Statesman.
London, England, 1812-04-01 00:00:00

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distinguished from real ones, are truly
aia7min;.
Are we not warranted, from this circumstance, t
Ch.
elude, that it is possible some individuals may
,e
L:
d
suffered the punishment for forgery , though. um,.
cent, in consequence of having in their possession
genuine notes, which have been sworn to be falfe i,,
one
the real
tehtseeasyft;s thatlies
n Clerks
t only
f the Bank, through ignorance;{
are
rnly possible, usedtoa
butetec is extremely
probable. forgeries'
"Phis
probable. What, then, are we to think of a system'
which thus sports so wantonly e ith the lives cf our
' fellow-creatures ? We have no hesitation • in saying,
that so long as this uncertainty exists—so long Os jr
is even possible for the Clerks at the Batik to corntr:-
a mistake in judging between the tests of a genuine
note and a forged one, no man ought to be condemn.
ed to death upon a charge of forging Batik Notes,
merely on the testimony of persons cot n'ctcd with
the Bank. But the evil does not stop here. Many
notes, we are persuaded, may have been stopped
the Bank as forgeries, which were in reahi'y gen,;;„..
The public are totally unacquainted vs ith the private
marks known at the Bank, and the Clerks, it now
appears, are greatly deficient in this knowledge them.
selves. The number of note, we have reason to be.
licve, which. have been declared forgeries, are ire.
ravage; consequently the loss sustained by the pub.
lic, through the ignorance alone of the Clerks at
the Bank, must be proportionally great. The Bill
now depending in Parliament, to extend Earl STAN.
mopes famous paper system to Ireland, has, in fact,
a direct tendency to render Bank of England Notes
a legal tender, which must increase the number of
forgeries, and, of course augment the evils attendant
on the circulation of paper-money. At present the
Bank of England holds a most arbitrary controut
over the public, by refusing and paying what note;
they think proper, without giving the least inform,.
tion how. the good notes are to be tliscovered from th.,
bad. As a trading Company they deriveall benefitfrom
I tr.ose notes which are lost or destroyed, and they ex.
change their paper for that of the merchants, by which
they derive a certain gain. They are bound, therefore,
in honour, to pay the amount of all notes to the pub-
lic which they say are forged, till they give the ne.
cessary information by which these forgeries may be
detected. The amount of Ban/votes in circulation
at the present moment, and the vast increase of this
which has taken place, within a few years, is, perNars,
not generally known. In the year 1794 It was esti-
mated at between fourteen and fifteen millions sterling.
In 1795, 6, and 7, it was averaged at ten millions.
This reduction was attributed by Mr. Beane to the
total absence of alt idea of the intervention of power
hi the operations of the Bank. Shortly after that
period, however, Government, to answer their own
purposes, began to legislate for this Compony,,oad
actually passed a Bill authorising them to suspend
their payments in specie. Since then the circula.
tion of Bank of England Notes has gradually
increased to the enormous amount of between 2t
and 27 millions sterling ! While the circulation of
Country Banks, which, in 1797, was estimated at
about five millions, now exceeds 34 millions sterling!
, Such is the field which is opened,
;and which is every
• day enlarging, for the encouragement of forgery.
If ever there was a system which catled loader than
another for Parliamentary enquiry, this is unclosed-
onably one. It involves the fate of these kingdoms ;
and though its progress may be slow, it is, we are
afraid, the rock upon, which our national prosperity
cannot possibly escape shipwreck.

Last night we received a series of French Journals
to the 22d of March. They contain an account of a
Court Martial en some Naval Officers, among whom
is the Captain of the Clorinde, who escaped from en•
gagemeut off Madagascar, and who is sentenced to be
broken and imprisoned during three years. The
Mossiteur contains long extracts from the papers fouud
in the posse. ion of General BLAKE, but they con-
sist of military reports respecting the operations in
Valencia, and do not now possess much interest.
The G=clte of last night ceutains the official ar•
count of the late gallant achievement of the Rosa,
and Griffon, against a formidable divison of the Boa.
logne
No further intelligence has reached the Admiralty,
or any of our out-ports, on the subject of the French
squadron now at sea. It is most improbable, how-
-1 ever, that it should have got into Cherburgh. It
could not have reached that port unobserved by our
icruizers, and it is difficult to account for such a short
destination. TI se most rational conjecture is, that
its first object was to intercept the East and West
lu-
dia fleets, convoyed by the Antalpe and La Eqic,
and to coize, and exercise, and form sailors. Sonic
conjecture that its ulterior destination is South Arne-
! rice, where MIRANDA has opened the ports to the
French.
Barrasu NavAr. Foace.—The following is es.
I traded from the Official Returns, corrected up t"
! this day s—At sea, nof the line, 6 fifties, 117
frigates, 95 sloops, 6 bombs, 1-15 brigs, 32 cutters,
49 schooners—total 492. In port and fitting, 42 01
I the line, 5 fifties, 32 frigates, 42 sloops, 1 bomb, 31
Ibrigs, 7 cutters, 18 schooners—total 181. Gua,d-
ships, 5 of the line, 2 fifties, 4 frigates, 5 sloops--
total 16. Hospital-ship;, 32 of the line, 4 fiftie., 3
frigates—totnl 39. In commission, 151 of the line.
17 fifties, 15G frigates, 142. sloops, 7 bombs, 149
brigs, 39 cutters, 67 schooners—total 728. Ordi-
nary and repairing for service,. 75 of the fine, 15
fifties, 61 frigates, 34 sloops, 6 bombs, 13 brigs, 4
schooners—total 209. Building, 35 of the line,
fifties, 16 frigates, 9 sloops, 1 bomb, 7 brigs—totel
71. Grand. total, 1008 vess. Is of war-161 Of the
line, 33 fifties, 236 frigates, 135 sloops, 14 bow,
169 brigs, 39 cutters, and 71 schoonets. Of the
above force they siy,, in the Mediterranean, 97---
31 of the line. In the Channel. 82-16 of the !hie.
Off Spain and Portugal, 63-11 of the line.