226 ADDRESS TO THE [lect. 



inverse competitive examination. He thought them the 

 stupidest in London, and he said that if he could find 

 stupider, he would move his account. And it is no 

 doubt true that probity and prudence, tact and know- 

 ledge of human nature, are more necessary to a banker 

 than the possession of great genius. It is, perhaps, 

 natural that I should be disposed to attribute the 

 unfavourable remarks to which I have referred rather to 

 jealousy than to conviction. 



We may, I think, congratulate ourselves that we 

 have contributed our fair share to those who have suc- 

 cessfully laboured to promote the welfare of the country. 

 In political life, innumerable bankers have been useful 

 members of the legislature. In some cases, our banking 

 families have held high office. In literature, the 

 honoured name of Grote at once suggests itself, and in 

 science I may be permitted to mention my own father. 

 One might have supposed that banking was rather too 

 prosaic for poetry, but the names of Rogers, Wright, 

 and Praed prove the contrary. Among economists we 

 have Lord Overstone, Mr. Norman, Mr. Bagehot, Mr. 

 Hankey, Mr. Newmarch, Mr. Palgrave, and others too 

 numerous to mention. Indeed, though I am by no 

 means a follower of M. Comte, there is one of his pro- 

 posals which has much to recommend it. He suggests, 

 in the CaUchisme Positiviste, that the supreme 

 government in each country should be entrusted to 

 three bankers, who would respectively . take charge of 

 commercial,' manufacturing, and agricultural operations. 

 " A ces triumvirs," he says, " le sacerdoce occidental, 

 dinge* par le Grand- Pretre de l'humanite', devra digne- 

 ment soumettre les reclamations legitimes d'un immense 



