L 84 J 



be in some special localities tliat its intervention 

 will be needed. Nor is it contemplated tliat it should 

 anywhere permanently carry it on ; there are political 

 objections to an alien Government becoming the uni- 

 versal creditor. Men are but men, and when the debt 

 grew burthen some and hard to be repaid, there might 

 be a tendency to seize the sponge of rebellion and 

 wipe out the foreign creditor. And, indeed, even 

 from the first it is probable that much of the capital 

 required for these rural banks could be obtained 

 locally from natives on a guarantee of six per cent., 

 the money only to be called for as required, and to 

 be repayable at any time. Great native bankers even 

 have repeatedly assured the writer, that when money 

 was perfectly safe, and there was no chance of courts 

 or other trouble, they were well satisfied to have a 

 portion of their money out at six per cent. And by 

 a little tact in dealing with the subscribers, utilising 

 their local knowledge, giving them a sort of voice in 

 the management of affairs, and so paving the way for 

 it, there is no doubt that after a time Government 

 would be able to drop out of these rural banks, leaving 

 them in the hands of partners or associations, and 

 retaining no responsibility except for keeping up the 

 rural judges, before whom the advances would be 

 made, and who would settle disputes about them, 

 (and once the system was in force there would be 

 few of these,) and for giving effect, as above described, 

 to the judge's decisions. 



But we must not pursue further this inexhaustible 

 subject ; suffice it if we have conveyed some idea of 

 the more prominent features of this great obstacle to 



