England paper. We, therefore, proposed that they should contract their authorized circulation by one-tenth annually, for the next ten years, the Bank of England as gradually supplying the vacancy according as the notes should be withdrawn. We then proceeded to consider the mode in which the Bank of England should be required to share its profits with the public, and found upon examination that the most advantageous plan would be that of imposing an annual rate on the amount of unrepresented notes retained in circulation, or, rather, a series of rates arranged upon an ascending principle, viz.--a minimum rate on the £11,000,000 of notes issued in consideration of the loan to Government; a medium rate on whatever notes might be required to increase the total unrepresented circulation of the country to £22,000,000 (the amount varying from £3,000,000 at present to £11,000,000 at the expiration of the ten years’ arrangement with the country banks), and a maximum rate on whatever notes might at any time be issued in excess of the total £22,000,000. And, on further consideration, it appeared that 1, 2, and 4 per cent. would form a not unreasonable scale for the three respective charges. In embracing so extensive a field as the preceding, in the compass of a single paper, we have necessarily omitted any reference to several important branches of the subject. The expediency of the separation of the banking from the issuing department in the Bank of England has been sometimes canvassed, but the best authorities are agreed in regarding the separation simply as a matter of account. Should the alterations we have suggested be adopted, some corresponding changes would be required in the weekly returns of the assets and liabilities of the Bank, but no peculiar difficulty would arise out of this necessity. Another and a more important feature in the present system, has sometimes been assailed, but as appears to us on a very nugatory grounds. We refer to the provisions by which the Bank is required to purchase all the gold that may be presented, at £3 17s. 9d. per ounce, and to render gold for all the notes that may be tendered for payment, at £3 17s. 10½d. per ounce. As one of these provisions is absolutely requisite for securing the convertibility of the issues, and as the other is equally indispensible for preserving an adequate stock of bullion, we are not aware of any valid reason for objecting to either. We may also remark that it is now the opinion of some of the most influential bankers, and of Mr. Gurney amongst the rest, that the proportion of silver on which the Bank may issue bullion notes as compared with gold, might judiciously be increased to one-third. So far as we know, this appears a very judicious proposition; at the same time we think that the permission to issue small notes, if conceded, would in great measure remove the necessity for its adoption.