Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1819-06-01

execution was iupEudent, and the natuie and
causes OF the distress which IL meant TO te-
lieve, were not, perhaps, well understood
This bank was more liberal than any other had
ever been, both in granting cash accounts and
~ discounting bills of exchange With regard
10 the latter, IL seems To have made scarce any
distinction beiweenrea aud circulating bills,
but Ia have discounted all equally. lrwas the
aNowsd principle of this bank TO advance, up
on auy reasonable security, the whole capital
which was 10 be employed ia those improve
ments OF which the returns are the most slow
and distant, such as the improvements ot land
10 promote such improvements was even said
to be the chief of the public spirited purposes
Tor which II was Instituted. by its Hbcraiiiy
III granting casL accounts, aud IN DISCOUNT ng
biils OF exchange. il no soubt issued great
quantities of IFS bank notes. But those frank
notes being, the greater rait of them, over
ana above what the circulation Of The country
could easily alb orb aud empiuy retarnrd II .JiI
1t, IN order 10 he exchanged Tor gold ah.l s,-
Yer, as taSt as isev were i>sued its coiier~
! We serer well filled The capital which had
been subscribed to this bdik al Two different
subscriptions, amounted 10 one huudrcd aud
sixty thousand pouud.. OF winch eighty per
cent only was paid up. This sum ought to
nave been paid i'll at several different install
mehts. a great part OF the propreiors, when
tney pad IN thei' hrst in>talment, opened "a
cash account with the bank aud the dnec-
tors. thinkin. themselves obliged Ia treat their
own proprietOrs with the ssMc liberali,y with
which they treated all other men allowed ma
ny OF tiiein To borrow upon this cash account
what they paid in upou all their subsequent
tnstalments. Such payments the reio, e. ouly
paid into one Golfer, what had the moment be-
iore d. EN- taken ont of another. But had the
coii'rs at inis bank been filed ever so we'll, its
excessive rculation must have emptieu them
faster thanihey could have been repleuished
By auv otter ext edieul but the ruiuous one OF
drawing upon l. ndon AMI when The hill bs-
came due. paving IL, together with Interest
and cjmmissiOn by another drduyht upuu the
* h.x hean IN Ind
very Ill. II IS said to have been driven t. Tins
re ourcc within very few months after IL
began to do business The e states of the pro-
prietor> OF this bdnk we're wo.th several mil
lions, ana by their subscription te the original
bond or contract OF the bulk. were really
pledged tor AN weri.s all its eugagements.-
by means Of the Great credit which SO great a
p'edGe necessarily gave II, it was, notwith-
stanuin- ats too liberal conduct. enabled to
Carr! on business for more than two years..
When /, was Obliged TO stop, il had IN the
cITeu2tion about two hundred thousand
poundttn bank notes. In erder 10 support the
circulation oi those notes which were contin-
naiiN returning Il, on il as fast as they were
issued, 4 had been constantly in the practice
oi drawing bills OF exchange upon London OF
which tne huGiber and value were continually
increasing, and when il StOpt, amounted 10
upwards oi 60O,00J pounds This bank
therefore, had III liitle msre than the course
OF two years, advanced TO different people
upwards OF tisht hundred thousand pounds at
and pounds which il circulated in bank notes,
fhla hVe per cent. might, perhaps, be cousid-
ered as clear gain, without any deduction, he
SIDES the expense of MANA emcni Bat upon
upwards OF siA hundred thousand pounds
tor which twas continually drawing bills of
exchange upon London, il was paying IN the
way OF interest and commission, upwards OF
eisht per cent, and was consequently losing
moe than three per cent. upon more than
threo-iourtis OF all its dealings.
he operations OF this bank to hayp
produced effects quite opposite 10 those which
we're intended by the particular persons who
planned and directed it They seem to have
intended 10 support the spirited undertake
rugs, Tor as such they considered them, which
were al that time carrying on in different parts
OF the country; and al the same time, bydraw-
Ing the whole banking business 10 themselves,
to supplant all the Scotch banks particularly
those estabisbedat EiinbuI gin. whose back
wardntss III discountiug bills of eXclsnse had
given some offence. This bank no d,ubt
gave some Temporary relief TO those prolec-
tors, and euaoled them to carry OF lheir gro-
JectS Tor about two years longer than they
conid oiheTwise have done. Bnt il thereby
oniy enabied them to get so much deeper INTO
utOt sottat when ruin came, il fell So much
the heavier both upon them and upon their
cISui!orS. he operations of this bank there
fore instead of relieving, in reakly aggravated
IN the Ion" run the distress whiIsl those pro-
Jectors had brought both anon thepIseiyesan and
upon their country. II would have been
and their country, had the greater part of
them been obiiSd To stop two Years sooner
than they actually did. The temporary relief.
however. which This bauk afforded to those
projectors, proved real aRd pe,mament relief
To The other Scotch banks. All the dealers i'm
circulating bills Of exchange, which those 9th
er banks had become so back " ard in disconnt-
ing, had recourse 10 his new bank, where
HEY were received with open arms. Hose
other banks, thei efore, were enabled to get
very easily OH OF that fatal circle from WHICH
they could not Otherwise have diSengagsd
themselves without mourning considerable
loss and perhaps TOO even some degree of dis.
c; edit
In the long run, Therefore, the operations
OF this bank increased the real distress of The
country which il meant TO Teiisve and etfec.
tnatiy relieved from very great distress
those rivals which it m, AM to Sapplant"
Our banks differ from this picture in
this, that they have encouraged many
men besidesp doctors. In their tate, too,
may they differ from The Bank OF AYR.
PHiIO ECONOMICUS.