182G.] 



Political Occurrences, Sfc, 



93 



ill the City w.i-; l)(3siof»i.>!l I)y crowds eager to 

 Srivc tiicir pruin'ity ; this ii;ituiMlly iiitMVUsc'.l 

 th^' evil, iiriil nil cjiifidcrice was (It'stroyod : 

 Cor suvurul days tof,'othi'r, a nun nii},'ht liave 

 had setuiritic's to tlic anioinit of ^'aU,001) in 

 his ('liest without hciii^ a!)lc' to raise £M 

 upon thcMi. Tlie Bank Directors resorted 

 to the measure of advaiK'in;j; tlii; rate of dis- 

 (• )ii'it from foiu- to five per cent. The ef- 

 fects of t!io dreadful situation of the London 

 l)aakers soon he;^an to manife-it themselves 

 upon the provincial establishments : either 

 a partner or a re))resentative of ahnost every 

 country bank arrived in the metropolis to 

 watch the course of events, and to send olf 

 supplies. It soon became known that two 

 more banking-liouses of great respect;ibility 

 h id been compelled to close their doors : 

 tliose of Messrs. Sikes, Snaith and Co., 

 and Messrs. Everett, Walkers, Maltby, 

 Ellis and Co.; both these were in Mansion- 

 house Street. The circumstance of Mr. 

 Everett bein^ tlie Receiver-general for the 

 county of Middlesex, always afforded a high 

 degi'ee of credit to the latter house : twelve 

 country banks drew on Messrs. Everett 

 and Co. As these two failures became 

 known, the agitation and bustle became 

 greater in the City ; the Royal Exchange 

 was tlironged long before the customary 

 hour, and all tlie streets in which the bank- 

 ing-liouses are situated Wv're crowded to 

 sucli a dagree, as to make it necessary to 

 call in tlie aid of the police. The Bank 

 Directors now gave \\~ay, uj)onapoiiit upon 

 which they had hitherto resisted all applica- 

 tion> that of lending money upon the se- 

 curity of Gjvernment stock, or Bank stock, 

 and large sums were advanced on sucli 

 securities, particularly to country bankers. 

 In the Discou:it-o!tice the labour of the 

 clerks was doubled, and their number con- 

 siderably increased. With all the exer- 

 tions of those in the five and ten-pound note 

 ortice, it became necessary, in some cases, 

 to re-issue notes wiiich had been brought 

 in. The drain of notes and specie for the 

 country banks became prodigious ; it was 

 a))parent that the Bank of England was, 

 for the moment, called upon to supply 

 nearly the whole of the circulation in small 

 notes of the country banks. The efforts 

 made to relieve the country left London 

 in a state of destitution, wliicli probidily 

 greatly contributed to bring on the town 

 failures. The expedient was adopted of call- 

 ing a meeting at the Mansion-house, at 

 which the Lord Mayor presided. At this 

 meeting resolutions were adopted, asserting 

 " tliat the embarrassments and difficulties 

 under which the circulation of the country 

 at present labours, are mainly attributable 

 to a general panic for which there are no 

 reasonable grounds ; that the meeting has 

 the fullest confidence in the means and sub- 

 stance of the banking establishments of the 

 capital and the country ; that having the 

 firmest confidence in the stability of the 

 public credit of the country, the meeting 



declares its determination to support it to 

 the utmost." Tiie City bcciime restored to 

 comparative tranrpiillity, but the west end 

 was alarmed by tlie failure of the banking- 

 house of Sir Walter Stirling, .Stirling and 

 IIod>ell, in tiic Strand. Sir Walter Stirling 

 was visible to his customers, and assured 

 them, that though the iiouse had been un- 

 able to withstand the |)anic, 20,«. in the 

 l)ound would be ])aid, and would Ifave a 

 great surplus. Tlie alarm in the City re- 

 vived, and the anxiety for money was a» 

 great as ever; this at one period was so pres- 

 sing as almost to drain the Bank of the c;ish 

 and notes in its possession ; the demand for 

 gold Wius principally for country emergen- 

 cies, where tlic pcojile will look at nothing 

 else : evciiBank paper they gaze at with sus- 

 piscion, so sick are they of paper money. 

 Tiie Bank have been in a manner com- 

 pelled to the issue of the old one and two 

 pound notes ; they are of the date of the 

 years 1818 and 1821, being part of the 

 stock in the Bank jirejiared at the time 

 notes of that description were withdrawn, 

 not being wanted for distribution. It is 

 not apprehended, even by the creditors of 

 the suspended firms, that much eventual 

 loss will be sustained — that is, if bankrupt- 

 cies are avoided, and if proper time is given 

 for rendering the securities which the houses 

 may hold into ciish : but if, to effect the lat- 

 ter, undue haste is resorted to,' the most 

 ruinous sacrifices must be the consequence. 

 Sir Claude Scott and Co. resumed their 

 payments after a few days' stopp.ige, and 

 Messrs. Williams and Co. have promised to 

 do the same this month; it is expected that 

 most of the other houses that ban clo-ed are 

 endeavouring to follow their cxam|)le. 



Advices have been received by Iiis Ma- 

 jesty's government of the death of the 

 Emperor Alexiinder. He is said, in the 

 Etoile French paper, to liave long had a 

 disorder in his leg, and it is supposed that 

 the humours may Rave ascended and caus- 

 ed his death. The present Emjieror, the 

 Grand Duke Constairtirre, was born on 

 the 8th May 1 779. 



The Buenos Ayres papers to tl>e 7th 

 September, contain the speech of the Pre'- 

 sident of the four provinces of Upper Peru, 

 on the opening of the Assembly of Depu- 

 ties ; and an account of some distur- 

 bances in the province of St. Juan. Nei- 

 ther of these events are of much impor- 

 tance to the general state of affairs. Tlie 

 political organization of Upper Peru was to 

 be expected as a natural consequence of tlie 

 success of Bolivar's arms ; while regular 

 order and good government cannot for some 

 time be expected in several of the inland 

 provinces of the Rio de la Plata union, 

 where a civil condition bordering on bar- 

 barism has hitherto prevailed; and where, 

 conseqaently, the people are not as yet pre- 

 pared to reap all the advantages which 

 their bretliren on the coast derive from free 

 institutions and political independence. 



