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Page 51
The forgery of its notes having been made a capital offence, the waste
of life in consequence was severe. During the eight years, 1795 to 1803,
there were one hundred and forty executions for this crime; and two
hundred and nine between 1795 and 1809; and from 1797 to 1811 the
executions were 469. 'The visible connection between the issue of small
notes and the effusion of blood, is one of the most frightful parts of
this case.'
In 1803 a fraud on the bank to the extent of �320,000 was perpetrated by
Mr. Robert Astlett, a cashier of the bank. This was in the re-issue of
exchequer bills that had been previously redeemed, but which were not
cancelled. This fraud amounted to about 2-1/2 per cent. of the capital,
and although it did not prevent a dividend, it prevented the
distribution of a bonus which would otherwise have been paid to the
shareholders.
In the year 1822 another fraud on the bank came to light. This was
perpetrated by a bookkeeper, and amounted to �10,000. In 1824 the fraud
of Mr. Fauntleroy on the bank was discovered, amounting to �360,000.
This was done by forged powers of attorney for the transfer of
Government consols.
The bank was brought near suspension again in 1825 by the imprudent
expansion of its notes. After the resumption of specie payments in
1820-'21, the true policy of the bank would have been to maintain an
even tenor of its way; instead of which it increased its circulation
twenty-five per cent. in the year 1825 (or from �18,292,000 to
�25,709,000), while the issues of the country banks were equally
enlarged, giving encouragement to violent speculation among the people.
The specie reserve of the Bank of England fell from �14,200,000 in
January 1824 to �1,024,000 in December, 1825. This difficulty of the
bank was relieved by the issue of a few thousand bills of �1 and �2.
Speculation had been rife in 1824; no less than 624 companies were
started with a nominal capital of �372,000,000, including mining, gas,
insurance, railroad, steam, building, trading, provision, and other
companies. At the same time foreign loans were contracted in England to
the extent of �32,000,000, of which over three fourths were advanced in
cash.
The country banks of England had increased their circulation from
�9,920,000 in 1823 to �14,980,000 in 1825, or over fifty per cent., thus
stimulating prices, and promoting speculation widely throughout the
country.
Immediately following the revulsion at the close of the year 1825, Mr.
Huskisson's free trade policy was advocated in the House of Commons by a
vote of 223 to 40. In the same year lotteries were suppressed in
England. In 1828 branches of the Bank of England were established--a
measure, of course, unpopular among the provincial joint stock banks.
In the year 1832-'3 were brought forward three important measures in
Parliament. One was the abolishment of the death penalty for forgery;
another was the modification of the usury laws; the third was the
re-charter of the bank.
The last criminal executed for forgery was a man by the name of Maynard,
in December, 1829. Public sentiment had long been opposed to the
infliction of this punishment for the offence of forgery, and
transportation was now substituted in the prominent cases. England, at
the same time, opened the way for a gradual abolishment of the usury
laws. At first the relief was extended to short commercial paper,
afterward to all paper having not over twelve months to run, 1837; and
finally, in 1854, the usury laws were removed from all negotiable paper,
as well as from bonds and mortgages.
By the new charter of 1833, Bank of England notes were, for the first
time, made a legal tender, except at the bank itself. Joint stock banks
were authorized in the metropolis, but were prohibited from issuing
notes.
The English work of Mr. Francis is anecdotical in its character. The
American edition conveys to the reader, for the first time, a resum� of
the leading movements in Parliament on the subject of the bank, and its
close connection with the Government finances. The part which Mr. Pitt,
Mr. Canning, Sir Robert Peel, and other distinguished statesmen took in
the relations between the bank and the exchequer, is in the
supplementary portion of the new edition shown, as well as the views of
Lord Althorpe, Lord Ashburton, Lord Geo. Bentinck, Mr. Thomas Baring,
Lord Brougham, Mr. Gilbart, Sir James Graham, Lord King, Earl of
Liverpool, Jones Loyd, Lord Lyndhurst, Mr. Rothschild, and others who
exercised a large influence over the monetary interests of their day.
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