714 
Report of the Select Committee » 
Average Amount of Bank of England Notes in circulation in each of the 
following years : 
Notes of £5 and | 
upwards, including | Notes under £5. Toran. 
Bank Post Bills, | 
£. | £ BA 
Tiss. ye as 11,527,250 1,807,502 13, 838)7 5a 
PTOo os ar ae 12,408,522 1,653,805 14,062,327 
Pie co 5 pc ena i a 13,598,666 2,243,966 15,841,932 
ic: Gabe SAN we 13,454,367 2,715,182 16,169,594 
1 dn AUR 13,917,977 3,136,477 17,054,454 
SRG Sethe ta. Lees 3,864,045 16,647,522 
ek a ae a et 12,621,348 4,723,672 17,315,020 
Poa Ys eae 12,697,352 4,544,570 17 5241,532 
POOR ee ws 12,844,170 4,291,230 17,135,400 
POOR. 5 13:221,988 4,183,013 -17,405,001 
BSGG 6 am 13,402,160 4,132,490 17,534,580 
tae 14,133,615 4,868,275 19 001,890 
Taking from the accounts the last 
half of the year 1809, the average will 
be found higher than for the whole 
year, and amounts to £.19,880,310. 
The notes of the bank of England 
are principally issued in advances to 
government for the public service, and 
in advances to the merchants upon the 
discount of their bills. 
Your committee. have had an ac- 
count laid before them, of advances 
made by the bank te government on 
land and malt, exchequer bills and 
other securities, in every year since 
the suspension of cash payments; from 
which, ascompared with the accounts 
Jaid before the committees of 1797, 
and which werethencarried back for 20 
years, it will appear that the yearly ad- 
vances of the bank to government have 
upon an average, since the suspension, 
been considerably lower in amount than 
the average amount of advances prior 
to that event, and the amount of those 
advances in the two last years, though 
greater in amount than those of some 
years immediately preceding, is less 
than it was for any of the six years 
preceding the resiriction of cash pay- 
ments. 
With respect to the amount of com- 
mercial discounts, your committee did 
not think it proper to require from the 
directors of the bank a disclosure of 
their absolute amount, being a part of 
their private transactions as a comimer- 
cial company, of which, without ur- 
gent reason, it did not seem right to 
demand a disclosure. The late go- 
vernor and deputy governor, however, 
at the desire of your committee, fur- 
nished a comparative scale, in progres+ 
sive numbers, shewing the increase of 
the amount of their discounts from the 
year 1790 to 1809, bath inclusive. 
‘They made a request, with which your 
committee have thought it proper te 
comply, that this document might net 
be made public; the committee there- 
fore have not placed it in the appendix 
to the present report, but have return- 
ed it to the bank. Your committee 
however, have to state in genera 
terms, that the amount of discounts 
has been progressively increasing since 
the year 1796; and that their amount 
-in the last year (1809) bears a very 
high proportion to their largest amount 
inany year preceding 1797. Upon this — 
particular subject, your committee are 
only anxious to remark, that the larg. 
est amount of mercantile discounts by — 
the bank, if it could be considered by 
itself, ought never, in their judgment, 
to be regarded as any other than a 
great public benefit; and that it is 
only the excess of paper currency 
thereby issued, and kept out in circu- 
lation, which is to be considered as 
the evil, | 
But your committee myst not omi 
to state one very important principle, 
that the mere numerical return of the 
amount of bank notes out in circula- 
tion, cannot be considered a at all de, 
ciding the question, whether such pa- 
per is or is not excessive. It is neceg- 
sary to have recourse to other tests, 
‘The same amount of paper may at one 
time be less than cnough, and at age 
