204 
A part of that capital, befides, may be 
depofited in his hands by others without 
any intereft, or at a rate of intereft lower 
than what he himfelf charges. In that 
cafe his profits willbe ftill further increafed 
according to the amount and nature of 
thofe depofits. The profits of London- 
bankers, who do not iffue notes, feem en- 
tirely to arife from the advantageous em- 
ployrnent of the money depofited in their 
hands. Upon any capital of their own 
which they may employ, common interett 
alone can ufually be obtained; but when 
Defence of Bank-direétors: 
[O&tober 1,, 
yielded by the depofits of their cufto- 
mers, their Profits may be fufficiently 
large. 
But the Bank of England ftands in 4 
fituation very different. Befides the capi- 
tal in money which like other Banks it 
muft hold (at leaft when it is not, as at 
prefent, reltrained from paying in fpecie), 
the Bank of England has lent to Govern- 
ment a capital of above 11 millions, for 
which, inftead of the profit which that- 
capital, if it could be employed, would ~ 
naturally yield, it receives only three per 
to this amount is added the intereft cent per annum. 
Amount of accumulated capital fuppofed to be = - £.4,000,000 
Amount of depafits, ditto : = s ° i 2,500,600 
6,500,G00 
Lent by the Bank to Government for fix years 
' without Interet « — - - = 
t 3,000,000 “ 
Amount of cafh held tor anfwering demands fup- 
poled to be - - - 
Profit upon this difpofeable fum of £500;000 
‘To which add profits {tated above, 
Dedu& income-tax - : 2 
Remains as fuppofed total of profit 
The prefent circumftances of the Bank 
may yield a divilend of about 1ol.: per 
cent. which amount, in various ways, has 
actually been divided. But if payments 
were made in fpecie, the amount of Bank- 
notes ‘circulated would be reduced in pro- 
portion to the fpecie fo employed, and the 
profits of thofe notes muft be reduced alfo, 
together with the profits upon the whole 
concern. It would not perhaps be pru- 
dent in the Directors to raife the dividend 
at once to its higheft rate, when the con- 
tinuance of that high rate muft be very 
precarious. Probably one third part of 
the capital originally fubfcribed by the 
Bank- proprietors, would be fufficient to 
carry on their bufinefs to its pre‘ent ex- 
tent; and, thez indced, the dividends 
might be very much increafed. 
Mr. Allardyce claims a divifion of the 
fum which the Bank has accumulated. 
This accumulation, hawever, is the only 
real efficient capital that the Bank poffef- 
fes. Divide it among the Proprietors, 
and in the firft place their annual dividend 
would be diminifhed by the amount of the 
fimple 2mtereft which that fum would 
yield ; s—in the next place, when payments 
wete to be made in in fpecie, the bufineis 
~ 
1,000,000 
4.200,000 
25,500,000 
125,000 
I5150,000 
2 1,275,000 
. 127,500 
3,147,500 
could not be conduéted with facility or 
fecurity, and perhaps an abfolute ftoppage 
might take place. 
I know not whether any one has confi- 
dered, in a juft point of view, the fulpen- 
fion of payments in fpecie by the Bank. 
Certainly no zajury to the nation was to 
be apprehended if all the cafh that it pof- 
feffed had been fent to foreign countries by 
the operations of commerce. 
To me therefore it appears, that, in 
adopting the meature in queftion, the 
Bank-direttors, were actuated by the view 
of extending their paper-circulation, and of 
augmenting in confequence their affiftance 
te Government. On the part of Govern- 
ment; a minor confideration might be, 
that a quantity of fpecie was thereby re- 
ferved in the Bank-coffers, for a purpofe 
to which fo much was then applied—the 
payment of foreign fubfidies. “The mea- 
fure, however, was of a defperate com- 
plexion ; but the braveare faid to be Fore 
tune’s favourites, and the rafhare often in» 
debted to her, for ¢‘ hair-breadth efcapes.”* | 
Atafuture opportunity, I will endeavour 
to fhew in what manner and degree that 
meafure has been detrimental to the nation. 
Sept, 1, 1801. if N. Hunt. 
ae For 
