Wherever this grand balance is transacted, the exchangers residing in the place will have recourse to the bank there established; and if there be more than one, that which pays with the greatest readiness will have the best credit, the most notes in circulation, and the largest profits upon the whole. If any one is found slow, or difficult in paying its paper, exchangers will be the more punctual in making their demand for payment, and they will even be averse to receiving such notes from their correspondents. Every man who has occasion for credit from a bank, will apply to that whose notes are the most esteemed. In short, there will be profit, in the main, to the bank which pays the best, although I allow that at particular times there may be some additional inconveniences, unless a regular plan be laid down on the principles above deduced. This however is a vague reasoning; because the matter of fact is not known. All that can be said with certainty, is, that while no public regulation is made with regard to banking, every one will carry on the trade according to his views of profit; and private animosities between different companies, will only tend to distress the nation and themselves, as experience has, I believe, discovered. If, as matters stand, a very great inconvenience results to Scotland from the want of a communication of paper credit with England, and if thereby an exchange of 4 and even 5 _per cent._ has been paid for bills upon London, because all the coin of the country is locked up in banks; I ask what would be the consequence, if banks had their will in banishing from the circulation of their own district, every other notes but their own? In that case, we might, in a short time, find an exchange of 4 and 5 _per cent._ between Fife and Lothian, between Glasgow and Ayr, and so of the rest. What would then become of manufacturers, who could not dispose of their work at the distance of a few miles, without having recourse to exchangers for their payment? If such an abuse were once allowed to creep in, there would be no other remedy but to destroy banks altogether, and throw the little coin there is into circulation. On the other hand, when banks are in a good understanding, when they are established on solid principles, when their paper is issued on proper security, the public is safe; and in every little district, under the wings of their own bank, there will arise a set of exchangers, who will give credit to merchants and manufacturers, and who will have recourse to their own bank for the coin or bills necessary for their occasions. This will naturally divide the payment of the grand balance among them, in a due proportion to their circulation. I shall now consider the principles which may direct a statesman to settle banking upon mortgage on a proper footing, to serve every national purpose. ------------------------------------------------------------------------