: a

LLL A <sm tiihinnasctannpnaipiaillies

meget RA A te

vite

m een ny

oe

10

THE EXAMINER.

“VAN ae

kind; for on the day of the proclamation of peace in'ticians, placemen, patriots, lawyers, physicians, divines,| conducted, ald to witness the almost unerring regularity

1782, the city was thrown into such a hubbub by the}

rejoicings, that the cashiers paid no fewer than fourteen forged notes of 50/. each. This was the era of Charles Price, an exquisite rogue, who had tried dishonesty in almost every walk of life, and distinguished himself in all. Comedian—valet—lottery-office keeper—stock- broker—gambler—forger : such was the sequence of his career. ‘He practised engraving till he became profi- cient; he made his own ink; he manufactured his own paper. With a private press he worked his own notes ; and he counterfeited the signatures of the cashiers until the resemblance wascomplete. Master of all that could successfully deceive, he defied alike fortune and the Bank directors; and even these operations in his own house were transacted in a disguise sufficient to baffle the most penetrating.’ His forgeries were so masterly, that some notes stood the examination of the ordinary Bank clerks, and were only detected (after payment) in passing through a particular department. He hired a servant by advertisement, whose curiosity was at length excited by being sent to purchase so many lottery tickets, and being always met on such occasions by his master in a coach, a foreigner apparently of some sixty or seventy years of age, with his gouty legs wrapped in flannel, a camlet cloak buttened round his mouth, and a patch over his left eye. ‘ Buthad he known that from the period he left his master to purchase the tickets, one female figure accompanied all his movements ; and that -when he entered the offices, it waited at the door, peered cautiously in at the window, hovered around him like a second shadow. watched him carefully, and never left him until once more he was in the company of his employer, that surprise would have been greatly increased.’ The servant was at length taken into cus- tody, and told all he knew ; but his masterhad vanished like a spirit, and the forgeries continued as_ usual. Price now varied his labours by setting to work upon the genuine notes, adding a0 to a 10. note, and trans- forming other figures so dexterously, that on one day he pocketed 1000/. But the devil always deserts his friends at one time or other; and a note he had given in pledge for costly articles of plate with which he graced expensive entertainments, was clearly traced, notwith- standing allhis dodges and aliases, to Mr. Price the stockbroker. Upon this, seeing that there was no es- cape, he took the part of the hangman into his own hands, and the cross-road and stake were the meed of the forger. In those days it was dangerous for a man to lock mysteriaus. George Morland, when skulking in the suburbs ont of the way of his creditors, fell under suspicion, and was. so closely hunted by the agents of the Bank, whom he mistook for bailiffs, that he fled back into London. ‘The directors, learning from his wife that the object of their pursuit was only a great painter, soméwhat out at elbows in the world, presented him

° al al ° . . } with a coupleof their own engravings, passing for 201.)

each,

‘The history of the suspension of cash payments in 1777, and of the subsequent act restricting the Bank from paying in cash, is too long for this abstract. We must content ourselves with saying that the establish- ment was embarrassed by the constant ‘Give! give!’ of Mr. Pitt, who had all the world at war, and that the people, confounded by the signs of the times, ran in erowds to their bankers, in town and country, to demand money for notes. in order that the public might be put ‘o ag little inconvenience as possible 2/. and U.. notes were issued ; and that the Bank was not really injured in its resources, was proved by its subscribing in the following year 200,000/. to the voluntary contribution orearrying onthe war. In the first four years after the intredactien ef smal] notes, eighty-five executions for forgery took place. About the same time, the Bank was tobbed by one of their cashiers, of the name of Astiett, to the amount of 320,000. This man was con- demned to death, but permitted to live in prison. Ano- ther cashier, of a very different character, and whose Same is hetter known, Abraham Newland, died in 1807, worth personal property to the amount of 290,000/., besides. 1000/. a-year in landed estates. This large portune 18 accounted for by the profits on, public loans, a portion of which was always reserved for the cashiers’ office.

Fn TS16, the Bank had attained to such a pitch of pros- serity, that 2 bonus was declared in the shape of an ad- dition of twenty-five per cent. to the capital stock of each preprieter. An act of parliament was necessary for this, and the directors were anthorised at the same time to mmererse their capital to 14.533,000/., at which amount

t still remains. In 1821, Mr. Peel's famous currency

vill came into operation, and. cash payments were re-,

wimed. A, fraud ofa bank clerk named T'urner was ciscovered this year, andthe delinquent escaped more exsily than the last. Owing to some failure inthe proof,

se was found net guilty, and betook himself tothe banks/

of the Lake of Como with his spoil, amounting to 10,- ol Tn 1824, Fauntleroy was not so fortunate. Although a banker and a gentleman, he met the death ofa felon omthe gallows, This was another bubble souch. The cowntry laboured onder a plethora of :pitaly and-cured itself by bleeding till vitality was alinost extinct. * All the gambling propensities of

man nature,’ says the Annoal Register, ‘were con- etantly solicited into action: and crowds of individuals f every description, the credulous and the suspicious,

philosophers, poets, intermingled with women of all ‘ranks and degress+-spinstets, wives, and widows hasten- ed to venture some portion of their property in schemes of which scarcely anything was known but the name.’ The result was as usual: and, as usual, the wits sported with the :national calamity, one of them advertising a company for drainiug the Red Sea, in order to get out the valuables dropped therein by the Children of Israel during their passage, and the Egyptians in their pursuit. When the reaction came, the Bank added to the con- sternation by contracting its discounts. Banker after banker came toppling gown, both in town and country, to the number of seventy-three in a month; trade was at a stand-still; and the public panic made every thing still worse than it was, ‘The gloom which pervaded the metropolis was universal. A vague feeling of un- certainty as to the issue ripened into an indefinite dread of consequences,almost as harrassing as the worst reality. A general bankruptcy seemed impending. ‘T’he impres- sion—for it scarcely amounted to a conviction—that the Bank itself, hitherto regarded as almost sacred, was sharing the danger of the time, added to the general anxiety. Up to this period, with the single exception ot 1797, the term ‘ Bank’ had been synonymous with safety. When, therefore, it was believed that, amid the general wreck and ruin, even the Bank of England was in danger, the great hall of the establishment witnessed an eager proffer of notes in exchange for gold, which, however, was met as promptly as it was made. No attempt was offered to withhold, as in 1797 ; no attempt to delay, as in 1745. It was probably partly owing to the unhesitating readiness with which the gold was paid as fast as it could be demanded, that the confidence of the public was so quickly restored. Had the holders of the notes felt that there was anything like hesitation, the alarm would have spread indefinitely, and the Bank must have suffered in proportion.” ‘Gold! gold! was the ery on all sides; and it was answered by. another coimage as wellas that of the Mint. Counterfeit sovereigns appeared with the new national issue, and were eagerly taken because they looked hike money. A re-issue of sma]] notes was still more essential; for in fact a great portion of the distress was owing to so many persons finding themselves destitute of a currency wherewith to carty on the business of life. The small netes, accord- ing. to Mr. Harman, ‘saved the country; and within a week after their appearance, the storm died away, and men were at leisure to clear the wreck. The projects brought during the mania into the market had nearly 6,000,000 shares; and required a capital of upwards of 372,000,0001. in the two years 1824 and 1825, 25,- 000,000/ was actually advanced by the English nation on foreign joans.

The éstablishment by the Bank of branch banks in the provinces appears to have excited much trading jealousy; but as these establishments at the present moment number only thirteen, there could not have been much cause for the feeling. During the refurm fever in 1832, the Bank sustained the last run upon its gold made from political causes. In the same year the Eng- lish nation made @ vast onward stride in civilisatien, by entirely remodelling the useless and brutal system of capital punishments. Forgery of bank notes was one of the crimes exempted, although the forgery of wills and powers of attorney was continued on the black list for a few years longer.

We have not thought it necessary to encumber this article with an account of the various renewals of the Bank charter. We may say, however, that it grew into a usage for the privileges of the incorporation to be sold to them by government from time to time. But we must not omit to say that the last renewal, in 1844, fixed the extent of the paper circulation at 14,000,0001.; jnamely, 11,000,000 on the security of the debt due for ithe public, and 3,090,000 on Exchequer bills and other Securities ; and arranged that every note issued beyond

| that sum should have its representative in an equal! —

amount of bullion. This year was distinguished in ‘another way by the frauds of Fletcher and Barber, which ‘excited much speculation at the time, chiefly on account of the doubt which appeared to-exist of the guilt of the latter. The forgery of Burgess in the following year is likewise too recent to have been forgotten by our rea- ders. This year is the epoch of the great railway mania, \of which we are now witnessing the close, and counting ithe cost. ‘The history, says.a London banker, ‘ of What we are in the habit of calling the ‘state of trade’ Is an instructive lesson. We find it subject to various }conditions which are periodically returning ; it revolves |apparently inan established cycle. First we find it in

}

|& state of quiescency—next improvement—growing confidence —prosperity—excitement~overtrad ing—con- vulsion—pressure—stagnation—distress—ending again jin quiescence.’ | _We must now allow Mr. Francis to describe the office | jof the Bank in his own words, ‘The interior arrange- |ments of the Bank of England are not the least remark- sable part of tts economy. The citizen who passes it on his way to his counting-house, the merchant who con- ‘siders it as an edifice where he gets his bills discounted or lodges his bullion for scurity, and the banker who

of its transactions, cannot fail to excite admiration. The machinery of Manchester on a sma!i scale may here be witnessed. ‘The steam-engine performs its work With an fntelligence almost human, as by it the notes are printed, and the numbers registered, to guard against fraud. When the spectator passes from building to building, and marks each place devoted toits separate uses, yet all of them links in one chain, he cannot faij to be affected with the grandeur of that body. which can command so extensive a service,

‘The most interesting place connected with the ma- chinery of the Bank is the weighing-office, which was established a few years ago. In consequence of a late proclamation concerning the gold circulation, it became very desirable to obtain the most minute accuracy, as coins of doubtful weight were plentifully offered. Many complaints were made that sovereigns which had been issued from one office were refused at another; and though these assertions were not perhaps always founded on truth, yet it is indisputable that the evil occasionally occurred. Every effort was made by the directors to remedy this, some millions‘of sovereigns being weighed separately, and the light coins divided from those which were full weight. Fortunately the governor for the time being, before whom the complaints principally came, had devoted his thoughts to scientific pursuits, and he at once turned his attention to discover the causes which operated to prevent the attainment of a just weight. In this he was successful ; end the result of his inquiry was a machine remarkable for an almost elegant sim icity. About eighty or one hundred light and heavy sovereigns are put indiscriminately in a round tube ; as they descend on the machinery beneath, those which are light receive a slight touch, and this moves them inte their proper receptacle, while those which are the legitimate weight pass into their appointed place. The light coins are then defaced by the sovereign-cutting machine, obsery- able alike for its accuracy and rapidity. By this 200 may be defaced in one minute, and by the weighing machinery 35,000 may be weighed in one day.

The following is an account of the personnel :—‘ The supreme management of the Bank is vested in the whole Court of Directors, which meets weekly, when a state- ment is read of the position of the Bank in its securities, bullion, and habilities, ‘The directors have equal power, and should a majority disapprove of the arrangement, they might reconstruct it. Hight of them go out, and eight come in, annually, elected by the Court of Pro- prietors; and the system on which: the affairs of the Bank are conducted is of course liable to change, as new directors may exert their individual influence on it. A list of candidates is transmitted to the Court of Pro- prietors, and the eight so recommended uniformly come in. Quakers and Hebrews are not eligible, although many are so well versed in monetary matters. When an individual is preposed as a new director, inquiry is always instituted concerning his private character.’

The Bank, as we have seen, commenced business with fifty-four assistants, whose salaries amounted to 43501, The total number employed at present, accord- ing to Mr. Francis, is upwards of 900, and their salaries exceed 210,006. Of thissum the governor receives only 500/., and the directors 300. each ; but these gen- tletnen doubtless are remunerated in another way.

Having now skimmed these interesting volumes, with Macpherson’s ‘ Annals of Commerce’ open before us, so far as they go, we have only to beg our readers to un- derstand that Mr. Francis is a devout admirer of the Bank of England throughout its whole history—any incidental remarks of our own which may be supposed to have another tendency notwithstanding.

TUESDAY, AUGUST 15, 1848.

received by the English Mail, we have delayed the publication of our Paper a day beyond the usual time.

hae

Tat Mr. Yeo should write letters to any of his consti- tuents, threatening prosecutions for debt if they dared to oppose him at the Election—and that, as related by Mr. Harry Tanton upon oath, certain persons shou!d in- duce Mr. Yeo to afford them his protection—are ne

|matters of surprise as things are and have been con~

ducted amongst us by the intriguing Compactand their friends; but that Mr. Yeo should forfeit all claim to sense and veracity in his gratuitous attack upon the Hon.Charles Hensley, is somewhat startling. That the Hon. Mr. Coles not only denied the truth of Mr. Yeo’s assertion, but shewed that it was the very opposite of the fact, may have been, for all we know, satisfactory to that gentleman and his friends; but it will not do for us an] the public. True itis, that.Mr. Hensley neither

regards it in his daily visits only ag a place to issue the! stands in need of our assistance, nor could he be ex-

‘various Notices that interest him, look on it with an in- different eye. Even to the stranger its external appear-

ance is alinost Jost in-contemplating the nobler structure

‘pectec to enter the lists with Mr. Yeo, “ whetever.” But itis our duty to open the eyes of the public, and

the crafty and the bold, the raw and *).einexnerienced, which Jooks down upon. it. But to visit its various! ¥en occasion offers, to shew the distinction between he mode in which its affairs are|knaves and honest men, and between the ignorant amd

whe intelligent and the ignorant; pt-aces. noflcs, poli». ofLees,to enter imot