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moral renovation in Belfast . The Dublin police are beaten in their own field by a murderer ; M . at > e : leine Smith , with unabashed eye , walks out of court ; the Bramhall tragedy is left in darkness , ; not a glimmer of light has broken into the bloody den where that man was murdered whose fragmentary remains , discoTered on Waterloo-bridge , created a nine days' horror in the midst of London . Blind Justice was manytimes cheated in 1857 . Not by assassins only . Men on whose faultless linen no speck of blood has ever fallen , who have used poisons more subtle than those , of Italy , and weapons more fine than the stilettoes of Venetian
revenge , have robbed the widow and orphan , and done worse than murder , and have been spirited away by medical certificates , or screened by the custom of the country . A penal establishment , after all , is a parliament , and convicts are but the representatives of classes . Mr . Heitoy S . Beight is the delegate of the forgers , and Be axe and Thompson are condemned in the name of
the undetected . Promote Social Science , says a new League at Birmingham , born a . d . 1857 . Well , the book of 1858 is open .. Record only our actual progress , and how many pages will be filled before another JN " ew Tear ' s Day ?
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THE RELATIONS OF THE BANK WITH THE GOVERNMENT . Necessity is a stern and unnatural parent ; at least she often appears to be so , frequently treating her offspring very harshly , or Seeming to neglect them altogether—leaving them to chance and to shift for themselves . But she has produced many distinguished children , of which Invention is reputed the eldest and most famous : other noble sons she has had , and at least one daughter , far advanced in years , and till now thought to be in danger and extreme distress ; we mean the old lady in Threadneedlestreet , lately an object of tender solicitude throughout the world .
any banking company—which , condition remained in force until our own time . Gradually the exclusive privileges of the Bank of England have been reduced ; as the new dynasty became more firmly established the political aid of the Bank was less and less required ; every renewal of the charter was effected with diminished advantage to the Bank , and at present we see the corporation perfectly independent of Government control—an ally , but not a servant , of the executive of the country .
There appears to be an impression m the minds of a large number of persons that even now there is a connexion too intimate between the Government and the Bank . Mr . Gladstone seems full of the idea that the relations existing between them are superannuated and antiquarian ; he considers this notion of his to require the attention of the House as much as any question can do ; and
yet with that extraordinary tendency to false conclusion which places this brilliant orator below many a dull man on practical subjects , he votes against an inquiry into this and kindred subjects . Probably he knows too well that when , an examination comes to be made , this assertion will be found , like many others that have preceded it , to- be mere declamation .
The Bank is at once the financial agent of the G-overnment and the depositary of the public balances . In the first capacity it controls the issue of the paper circulation of the country ; it manages the national debt , it pays the dividends to the public , it assists in the collection of the revenue . These various operations , conducted by a board consisting
of some , of the ablest commercial men in London , are effected in the most complete manner , and with far greater economy than if they were managed by a department of the Government . The profit to the Bank upon this portion of the public business is less "than a quarter of a million ; for which sum it not only ably effects all that is required , but it relieves the Government of a considerable
Mr . Disbaeli ' s new ally would introduce ' a new housemaid to the Bank , to sweep away the cobwebs ; ' being haunted , probably , with the notion that the Bank is now , as it was in William IIl . ' s time , a stronghold of Whiggery and a bulwark of Protestantism , which it is his mission to destroy . The only explanation that he has given of what hfe means by superannuated and antiquarian relations is , that when , a loan is made a clause is inserted in the bill that the Bank shall be a
perpetual corporation until the loan is repaid . By omitting a few words , he conveyed to the minds of the House and of the country an impression altogether erroneous . It is stipulated in the bill that the payments on account of the loan shall be made to the officers of the Bank , and that the dividends shall be paid by the same agency . These are part of the conditions of the loan ; and in consequence it is provided , in a subsequent part of the bill ,
that the Bank shall continue a corporation for the purposes of this A . ct until the loan is repaid . Its exclusive privileges might be taken away , its notes might no longer be a legal tender , as a bank it might even cease to exist ; but as an agent of the Government , charged with the management of the debt and with the payment of the dividends , it would still remain a corporation , but with powers limited to this object .
There is probably no particular reason why such a form should be retained . Formerly , when the system of loans was novel and only imperfectly understood , such a clause was no doubt considered to give additional security to the lender ; but no such guarantee is now required , and the form might be safely dispensed with , just as many other forms which have ceased to be of val ue have quietly passed into disuse .
Unless some stronger charges can be brought against the venerable lady than this , the verdict of the country will be unanimously in her favour . The evidence of practical men speaks volumes for the liberality and skill displayed in the management generally . In every time of pressure the Bank has come forward in a very spirited manner , and has afforded relief to all solvent houses to the very uttermost . It is of no political nor
religious party ; it looks simply to the character of the house seeking assistance , and to the security offered . And it must not be forgotten that the means of the Bank , though ample , yet still have a limit ; it can no longer issue notes at discretion , as was formerly the case . Its till has been replenished by the sale of Government securities at a considerable loss to itself in order to assist struggling firms . It now holds onlv five and a halt
millions Government securities , having disposed of not less thnu three millions within the last three months . As Consols are now eight per cent , higher than they were in the middle of November , it is not difficult to form a fair notion of the sacrifices the Bank of England has niailo with the view of sustaining public credit . Indeed , tho public have by this time pretty generally made up their minds to the fact that there is nothing very far wrong either in our currency or in the Bank ' s management of it . Somo o ' f the details may be safely and
even wisely altered ; but tho source of our recent troubles is to bo found not in defective currency regulations , but in the want of"Bcnipulousneas--nniong ~~ moderu-. trad « r ^ , jn the determination to make money—honestly if they can —but nt any rate to make money which has grown to be a national infirmity , against which tho united power of the pulpit , tho platform , and tha press must be unceasingly directed , if our country is to retain its character for truth and honesty and moral worth among the tuitions of the world .
amount of risk . It also acts as banker to the State , and in this respect its operations scarcely differ , except in their magnitude , from those of private bankers towards individuals or commercial firms . All salaries , pay , allowances , Treasury bills , and payments of every kind , which every department of the Government has to make , are effected by drafts on the Bank ; and the remuneration is found in the old-fashioned mode of employing temporarily a portion of the balances . In exceptional times like these ,
when the Bank holds eight-and-twenty millions of privato securities , discounted at a high rate of interest , this is a source of considerable profit ; but there are times when it is extremely difficult to put out in a legitimate manner any largo amount of the deposits . Occasionally it happens that the Government balances are insufficient to meet payments falling due ; then the Bank becomes a lender to tho Government , receiving interest for its advances in the same manner as if the loans
were made to an individual . All this is the very reverse of mysterious ; it is just what happens to many of us—sometimes wo have a httlo money to spare , and it lies idle in our bankers' hands ; at others , our wants arc greater than our balance , and wo borrow on SL < JPilll ^ to ^ CjCur ^ ty . T __ J ^ uj ^ for some reason or oth ^ r ~ Sir . Gladstone is an ^ ioWT ( Tfin"d ~ fault with tho Bank . While he was in office , ho succeeded not only in making himself extremely unpopular in the City generally , but ho contrived to get up a disagreeable correspondence with the Bank on the subject of tho public accounts , the Governor charging him with innovation , and keeping what is commonly called a very shabby account . Now
Her birth and parentage were mean in the extreme ; the bill which called this great institution into existence was entitled ' An Act for granting to their Majesties several duties upon tonnage of ships and vessels , and upon beer , ale , and other liquors , ' its real object being to raise a million and a half of money to supply the pressing wants of William III .
Under this Act the Bank of England was formed , and the duties above mentioned were pledged to the new corporation as a security for the advance made to the King , who gained not merely the ready money of which lie stood in extreme need , but also the adherence and support of a large number of influential and wealthy citizens , whose personal interests thus became identified with
the new dynasty . Iho experiment was too successful not to be quickly repeated , and a most intimate and close alliance grew up between the corporation and tho Government , greatly to tho advantage of both . William obtained extensive money support , and the Bank prospered under court favour , a creature of the State , entirely devoted to the cause of the now monarch , and dreading above all the return of the Stuabts . It became ' the stronghold of tho Whig party , and the bulwark of tho Protestant
succession . ^— , ,.,. ^ - ___ . ,.. „„„ , ... _^ m , Iu return for the zealous and effectual support rendered to tho King the corporation secured an entire monopoly of banking . No other bank , of any kind whatover was to bo suffered , countenanced , or allowed within tho kingdom . A few years later this concession was modified to tho extent that no bank could bo started having more than six partnersthus effectuall y hindering tho formation o (
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* JTo . 4 ti 6 , Jakttaby % 1858 . ] flHE IrBAPER . ^
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 2, 1858, page 11, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2224/page/11/
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