SCOTLAND. 293 



pastures and corn-fields, and thereby to increase the pro- 

 duce of its territory/' 



The general principle of the Scotch banks is as follows : 

 There are eighteen in all, of which seven have capitals of 

 not less than a million sterling, having their head-offices 

 in the principal towns, and branches all over the country. 

 There is no district, however small or remote, that has not 

 at least one branch ; and it is reckoned that there are 

 four hundred of these spread over Scotland, which is 

 equal to one for every six thousand of the population. 

 If France had as many in proportion, she would have six 

 thousand. These banks all issue notes, payable in specie 

 at sight, which are received with such confidence that 

 everybody prefers notes to coin, even for small payments. 

 Money, properly speaking, has been almost entirely put 

 out of circulation so much so, that the metallic circula- 

 tion of Scotland is supposed not to exceed 400,000 to 

 500,000. Advanced as England is, it is not so far forward 

 either in the number of its banks or the credit they enjoy. 



Euns on the banks, which frequently happen in England, 

 and oftener in Ireland, are unknown in Scotland. In- 

 dependently of habit and custom, which exert such a 

 powerful influence over men, and which, when a sign or 

 representative is universally adopted in everyday business, 

 naturally keeps up its value ; independently also of a 

 certain composure in the national character, which does 

 not admit of being easily alarmed, this marvellous state 

 of security is based upon well-grounded principles ; for 

 not only are all the shareholders of a bank, by the law of 

 England, responsible for all the obligations of that bank 

 to the whole extent of their fortune, but the issue of notes 

 by each bank has been limited by law since 1845, as it 

 was previously so in practice, to about one-third of its 

 capital, unless a disposable amount of coin is kept in its 



