vernment, a change took place in the administration of the Bank. In place of fifteen directors, its affairs , were committed to a governor and two deputy-go vernors, who were to be appointed by the Emperor. At the same time, its capital, consisting of 45,000 shares of 1000 francs each, was increased to go,doo shares, or to 90,000,000 of francs.
The new shares were disposed of by the Bank to great advantage, and in consequence of this acces sion to its capital, it was enabled considerably to ex tend its operations. By an imperial decree issued at Bayonne, in the year 1808, it was authorized to establish branches in some of the chief provincial towns; and establishments of this nature were begun at Lyons and Rouen, for the purpose of circulating bank-notes, and of discounting bills of exchange. But the merchants of these towns, though they willingly received accommodation from the banks, showed no disposition to circulate their notes. Almost all the notes issued were immediately returned on the Bank 'for payment ; and it is worthy of remark, that neither the notes of the ancient Cause d'Escompte, nor those of the present Paris Bank, have ever obtained any general circulation in the country of France.
In 1814, when France was invaded by the com bined armies of Europe, the Bank of Paris was called upon to make large advances to government, and, at this period, its notes in circulation, joined to its other engagements, exceeded by about 20 millions of francs the value of the specie, and other effects of which it was possessed. A general alarm began to prevail ; the Bank was exposed to a ruinous drain of its specie ; and on the 18th January a resolution was adopted, not entirely to suspend its cash pay ments, but to limit the sum to be paid in cash to 500,000 francs per day, and not to pay more to each individual than 1000 francs. In February the Bank, having made the necessary arrangements, resumed its payments in cash for all sums, and during the siege and capture of Paris, it continued to pay in cash, even while the Zannon thundered at the gates of the city. In like manner, during the subsequent invasion of the country in 1815, payments in cash were not, nor 'have they ever been since suspended even for a day.
In all the trying situations in which they have been placed, the Directors of the Bank of France appear to have displayed a laudable zeill to fulfil their engagements to the public. This bank, like the Bsslifinr. Bank • of England, has frequently been employed as a `.."'s~ great engine of state•; its funds have been diverted from their proper purposes to assist in the great emergencies of the public service; and its directors, yielding to the pressure of temporary demands, have been forced, for a time, to suspend payments • in cash. But the Bank of France has always resum ed the ordinary course of its payments as soon as the alarm and the demand for specie began to abate ; while the Bank of England, having once obtained a dispensation from its obligations to the public, seems ever since to have been intent on securing the continuance of this privilege. The example of the
Bank of France, which, though it suspended its cash payments, in consequence of the pressure arising from domestic alarm, resumed those payments as soon as the alarm began to subside, may serve to expose the insufficiency of the arguments urged in this coun try in favour of the continued suspension of cash pay ments by the Bank of England. The circumstances of the two banks appear to have been precisely simi lar, and no reason can be imagined to justify the one more than the other in continuing to refuse pay ment of its notes.
The following is a statement of the affairs of the Bank of France on the 12th August 1816: / Debts owing by the Bank of France on the 12th August 1816: The amount of its notes 'in circulation, Amount of deposits, For this sum the Bank has either specie in its cof fers, or good bills, generally at the short date of 45 days. If we add to this the sum of 22,600 francs in bills and specie, already stated as part of its capital, it follows that the Bank of France, on the 12th August 1816, was possessed of effects to the amount of 112,600,000 francs (L. 4,691,667). Of this sum it had 41,000,000 francs in hard cash.
The following is an account of the dividends from 1806 inclusive : improvement throughout the country, and banks have, in consequence, been established in all the most considerable towns. In 1804, they were cal culated, according to the most accurate computa tion that could be made, to amount to eighty, in cluding i ten subordinate banks ; and the capital in vested n this business was estimated at 50,000,000 of dollars. -' The principal American bank is that of the United States, which was incorporated by an act of the Le gislature in 1/91. By this act, it is provided, that the capital stock shall consist of 10,000,000 dollars, In 25,000 shares of 400 dollars each, to be paid in specie, and three-fourths in 6 per cent. stock. The bank is restricted from taking more than 6 per cent. on theit discounts, or from advan cing more to government than 100,000 dollars. It declares half-yearly dividends, which, from its esta blishment, have been 4 per cent., with two surplus di vidends, one of 1 per cent., and the other of 2 per cent. The date at which it discounts bills is two months.
The late war in which America was involved with Great Britain, seems to have occasioned consider able disorder in the state of her circulation. From the speech of the President to the Congress, in De cember 1815, it would appear, that the public fi nances and trade of the United States had been ex posed to great inconvenience from the want of some uniform national currency, and from, the disappear ance of the precious metals. To remedy these evils, it was purposed to establish a new bank at Phila delphia, on the security of such ample funds as should engage universal confidence, and should thus give its notes a free circulation through every part of the United States. A bill, for this purpose, was passed in the last Session of Congress, and it is understood, that the capital required has been since stbscri bed. '