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THE BANK OP THE UNITED STATES. 



IN the great, we should rather say, universal, interest which exists at 

 the present time in this country upon the question of the removal of the 

 Charter of the Bank of England, and when mankind have at last clearly 

 discerned the fatal consequences to the commerce of the world of the 

 restrictions so long endured upon the trade in money it has been with 

 uncommon satisfaction that we have recently received the decision of the 

 President of the United States relative to the expiring charter of the 

 Bank of the United States. 



It is not our present intention to enlarge upon the injurious con- 

 sequences of the existence of the Bank of the United States to the com- 

 merce of that country, nor to follow the powerful reasoning of General 

 Jackson upon the inexpediency, injustice, and danger of all monopolies 

 whatever ; and still more, of a monopoly of the trade in money, which 

 in this country has so fatally bound the merchants, provincial bankers, 

 and even the government of Great Britain in slavery to the twenty- 

 four Directors of the Bank of England, intending in the following 

 remarks solely to exhibit the unsoundness, weakness, and liability to the 

 common accidents of insolvency, of that wretched compound of swind- 

 ling and intrigue which passes under the name of the Bank of the United 

 States. 



To this we are the more moved by the knowledge of the fact, that 

 more than 8,000,000 dollars, or a quarter of the entire stock of the Bank 

 of the United States, is held by foreigners, of whom the principal pro- 

 portion consists of English capitalists, who little understand, as we fear, 

 the true nature of this institution. Indeed, in glancing over the recent 

 returns ordered by Congress of the number and names of the holders of 

 Bank stock, we find, amongst others, the following extraordinary per- 

 sonages : the Marquis of Hertford, possessing 800 shares -, Sir James 

 Kempt, 700 shares ; and many other distinguished capitalists 300 shares 

 each. 



Premising, then, that we have resided for a length of time in the 

 United States, and have paid some attention to the financial politics of 

 that country, we proceed to throw a little light upon the machinery, 

 capital, and prospects of the Bank of the United States, intending to 

 prove to the Marquis of Hertford, that he is probably mistaken in sup- 

 posing that after endeavouring to defeat reform in England, he can then 

 take a run across the Atlantic, and find himself at the worst in possession 

 of a few comfortable thousands, and a villa in the simple style. 



For the Marquis of Hertford, and the other speculators, have clearly 

 never reflected upon the difference between the stock of the Bank of the 

 United States and the public funds of that country, composed of the 

 various descriptions of stock, comprised in the national debt of the 

 United States. The Bank of the United States is a common joint-stock 

 company, of which the capital is 35,000,000 dollars, and the only con- 

 nexion of the government with this institution consists of an investment 

 of 8,000,000 dollars in Bank stock ; a speculation entered into with the 

 public money, upon the same footing with the Marquis of Hertford, or 

 any other individual speculator, in the hope of a profitable return. 

 Thus the Government is a partner in the Bank only to the extent of 



