Thirty Years' View (Vol. 2 of 2): or, A History of the Working of the American Government for Thirty Years, from 1820 to 1850Benton, Thomas Hart
History
Thirty Years' View (Vol. 2 of 2): or, A History of the Working of the American Government for Thirty Years, from 1820 to 1850
Benton, Thomas Hart
United States -- Politics and government -- 1815-1861
Liabilities. Assets.
Circulation, £18,600,000 Securities, £22,792,900
Deposits, 11,535,000 Bullion, 10,015,000
----------- -----------
£30,135,000 £30,807,000
_London, March 12._
According to this statement, the Bank of England is now safe; and,
accordingly, we see that she is acting upon the principle of having
bullion enough, for she is shipping gold to the United States.
The proportion in England is one-third. The bank relies upon its
debts and other resources for the other two-thirds, in the event
of a run upon it. This is the rule in that bank which has more
resources than any other bank in the world; which is situated in
the moneyed metropolis of the world--the richest merchants its
debtors, friends and customers--and the Government of England its
debtor and backer, and always ready to sustain it with exchequer
bills, and with every exertion of its credit and means. Such a bank,
so situated and so aided, still deems it necessary to its safety
to keep in hand always the one-third in bullion of the amount of
its immediate liabilities. Now, if the proportion of one-third is
necessary to the safety of such a bank, with such resources, how is
it possible for our banks, with their meagre resources and small
array of friends, to be safe with a less proportion?
This is the rule at the Bank of England, and just as often as it has
been departed from, the danger of that departure has been proved.
It was departed from in 1797, when the proportion sunk to the
one-seventh; and what was the result? The stoppage of the banks, and
of all the banks in England, and a suspension of specie payments
for six-and-twenty years! It was departed from again about a year
ago, when the proportion sunk to one-eighth nearly; and what was the
result? A death struggle between the paper systems of England and
the United States, in which our system was sacrificed to save hers.
Her system was saved from explosion! but at what cost?--at what cost
to us, and to herself?--to us a general stoppage of all the banks
for twelve months; to the English, a general stagnation of business,
decline of manufactures, and of commerce, much individual distress,
and a loss of two millions sterling of revenue to the Crown. The
proportion of one-third may then be assumed as the point of safety
in the Bank of England; less than that proportion cannot be safe
in the United States. Yet the senator from Pennsylvania proposes
less--he proposes the one-fourth; and proposes it, not because
he feels it to be the right proportion, but from some feeling of
indulgence or forbearance to this poor District. Now, I think that
this is a case in which kind feelings can have no place, and that
the point in question is one upon which there can be no compromise.
A bank is a bank, whether made in a district or a State; and a bank
ought to be safe, whether the stockholders be rich or poor. Safety
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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