Loading ...People frequently act in haste, and repent at leisure. In this case, there was no cause for repentance. But it naturally led to reflection, and it appeared to me, that instead of coming forward in times of such danger, and blindly entering into an obligation, so unlimited, in favour of Banks, which, for any thing that could be possibly known to the contrary, might be insolvent, it would be better, for each party, to become surety for his own Bankers, for a specific sum, not only in periods of difficulty, but at all times. The parties, thus coming forward, being allowed to nominate a Committee, to communicate with the Rankers, from time to time, and ascertain, by investigation, that their Bank was safe, and that there was no hazard in continuing surety for it. This, at a comparatively trifling risk, would, obviously, be a much more effectual mode of proceeding than the one which had been adopted : for it would not merely allay panics, but prevent them from ever occurring.
Such an idea being once started, it was only necessary to go a step further, and imagine that these parties, instead of guaranteeing another Bank, should pay up a capital, and form a Bank of their own, to be managed by such a Committee, in order to arrive at the notion of a Joint Stock Banking Company, and be led, also, to reflect upon the probable success of such an undertaking. In this manner, the idea of a Joint Stock Bank ti rst occurred to me. Such Banks, however, had long existed in Scotland; but there was no account of them extant, except an incidental one by Smith, in his Wealth of Nations; and this had been read for fifty years, without leading the public to desire, or any one to communicate, further information respecting them. The idea, thus started, led to further enquiries on my part, and gave a corresponding turn to them ; and the publication in question was the result: though not being myself a Banker, not residing in Scotland, and not having, at the time, any sources of information open to me, it took me four or five years to obtain the information, and digest the views which it contained.
It proved as successful as I could have anticipated. In the County of Durham, which bad suffered much from Bank failures, and where the Local Banks were not so influential as in Newcastle, a meeting was held, at which the late Lord Barrington presided, and resolutions were passed favourable to the objects of the publication. A highly respectable Committee, of which Lord Barrington was one, was also formed, to promote the establishment of a Joint Stock Bank, upon the principles recommended. Private meetings were likewise held by some of the most respectable trading persons in Liverpool, where I had distributed several of my Pamphlets, for the same object. But in the mean time the subject was taken up by Ministers. In 1822, the price of agricultural produce had fallen beyond all precedent, and the Agriculturists were in the greatest distress. Many persons attributed this fall to a contraction of the Currency, or a withdrawal by the Banks of their notes from circulation ; and Ministers, amongst other measures for counteracting this effect, were desirous to promote the immediate introduction of Joint Stock Banks. The late Marquis of Londonderry, consequently, amongst several different plans for relieving the distress, brought forward, in April of that year, a proposal for throwing open the Charter of the Bank of England. He announced that Ministers had entered into an arrangement with the Bank, for a renewal or prolongation of its Charter for ten years longer, on condition of its consenting, that the whole of England, situated beyond the distance of 65 miles from London, should be thrown open to the establishment of these companies.
The measure, however, thus hastily taken up, was as hastily abandoned. The country at large knew nothing about Joint Stock Banks, for the subject had not been taken up by the Press; and my Pamphlet had only been read where I had distributed it. The question, therefore, had been brought forward before its time; while the secret opposition of the Bank Directors, who were very much averse to it, on the one hand, and the open opposition in Parliament, on the other, deterred Ministers from persevering in it.
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