1832.] The Currency and the Bank of England. 179 



a country possessed of such vast capabilities as this ; if the whole com- 

 mercial fabric of the nation had not been shaken by the fatal one pound 

 note act a measure which has perpetuated the miseries of the panic 

 which has starved despairing thousands, and brought England and Ire- 

 land to the verge of rebellion. 



For it is apparent that the bankers are the supporters and Corinthian 

 pillars of trade, and that a paper circulation is the essence, profit, and 

 credit of the business of a banker's transactions of loan discount and 

 deposit being peculiarly liable to hazard whilst the profit upon notes in 

 circulation is certain and unfailing. It is equally clear that the five 

 pound notes, still permitted to be received by the public, are useless to 

 that class of society who deal in labour, there being an indispensable 

 necessity for something smaller to change them with ; and, since the 

 small notes have been forcibly withdrawn by law, the whole paper cir- 

 culation of the kingdom has been at once swept away, and the banks, 

 restricted to unprofitable gold, can no longer grant the public that ac- 

 commodation from which they are debarred themselves. 



We propose, to examine first the justice of thus passing a law for 

 the purpose of destroying the business of a banker, and, afterwards, 

 the expediency of this extraordinary measure. 



A banker is a dealer in money ; he possesses the common right of all 

 other traders to take and to give credit ; he has a right to issue all the 

 notes which the public will voluntarily take ; and his own judgment, 

 self-interest, and local knowledge, will regulate properly the amount of 

 his issues, for the redemption of which his estate and mansion are at 

 hazard. On the other hand, the public possesses the right, power, and 

 opportunity to judge of the trustworthiness of the banker. Common 

 principles of mutual self-interest thus operate throughout. If banks 

 occasionally fail, so cotton spinners sometimes fail ; a law prohibiting a 

 banker from issuing less than five pound notes is an oppression similar 

 to a law forbidding a baker from selling less than five loaves of bread, 

 or a draper less than five yards of cloth, and it is entirely inconsistent 

 with the freedom of trade, that the greatest trade of all, and that which 

 governs and supports all others, should thus be fettered and destroyed. 



But as few ministers of this country have ever consented to see the 

 plain, secure, and easy methods of government, by following the com- 

 mon rules of natural justice, we will examine those motives of supposed 

 expediency in which this fatal measure originated, and upon which it 

 has been persevered in till chaos is well nigh come again. We appear 

 to be destined to destruction by our false worship of the ( ' golden calf." 

 Our ministers will not learn the alphabet of political economy ; they do 

 not know that gold and silver possess no natural properties superior to 

 paper, shells, or other convenient representatives of the various com- 

 modities of life ; that specie cannot be eaten, worn, or administered as a 

 drug; and that a paper circulation is superior to gold, as much as 

 lighter commodity is more convenient than one heavier and more costly 

 of transportation. No alarm need ever be entertained for an abundant 

 supply of the precious metals in this country, for the rate of exchange is 

 at all times in favour of England with every nation to which we trade, 

 exclusive of the celestial empire ; consequently bills upon our bankers 

 are above par in foreign countries, and, by the amount of the premium, 

 so much better than gold. The specie of such countries is thus at our 

 entire command, and can all be brought to England in as short a time as 



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