24. It is moreover hound to keep an account of such as partake of the discounts, and to make such alteration in this respect as it shall judge necessary to be made. This statement will serve as a sort of go vernment for the distribution of discount.
25. Those persons who may have cause to com plain, relative to the distribution of discount, must ap ply for redress to the central committee and to the three censors.
26. The censors shall declare the result of their superintendance at such general assembly, and say whether the discount regulations have been properly observed.
27. The actual general council is bound to make the necessary statutes for the internal administration of the banking affairs within a month.
28. The privilege of the bank is to last for 15 years from the 1st Vendemiaire, XII. year.
29. The directors and censors of the bank of France shall preserve their titles, and exercise their functions during the time fixed by the statutes and regulations.
30. The Caisse d'Escompte du Commerce, the Comptoir Commercial, the Factorerie, and other asso ciations at Paris, which have issued bonds, bills, &c. shall not from the date hereof issue similar or any other bonds, &c. but shall take care to call in all such as are now in circulation, previously to 1st Vendemiaire next.
31. No bank shall be formed in any of the de • partments unless under the authority of government ; and even then shall be restricted to the issuing of notes to a certain amount. The articles 3d, 5th, 6th, 13th, 24th, 25th, shall be applicable to the banks of the departments.
32. No exception shall be made to the sums of accounts current in the privileged banks.
33. Judicial actions relative to banks, shall be in stituted and carried on in the names of the directors of the bank of France. • 3•. An annual agreement may be made with privileged banks for the stamping of their notes.
35. And lastly, any persons forging notes simi lar to those of France or other privileged banks, receiving such notes knowing them to be forged, shall be liable to capital punishment.
The rules or regulations of this bank are well cal culated for its security and prosperity ; but whether any institution of the kind can flourish in a despotic country, where the funds are liable to be diverted from their original purpose by the influence of power, is extremely questionable. It is well known, that all mercantile associations derive their stability and credit from a strict observance of the rules by which they are constituted, as the confidence of mankind can be firmly placed only on what is known, fixed, and determinate ; and there are no establishments which ought to be more inviolable than those of bank ing companies.
It is universally acknowledged, that arts and ma nufactures have been brought to great perfection by the division of labour ; and it is equally true, that a circulating medium, by representing property in all its divisions, enables the community to exchange the products of their industry with ease and facility. As the operations of commerce are therefore not confi ned to the barter of the ipsa corpora, or, the mere ex change of one commodity for another ; but can be transacted by the subtilty of an active agent, that oc cupies little space, yet comprehends value to any sup posable amount, the production of the articles of consumption must be greatly multiplied and varied. The comforts, the luxuries, and the enjoyments of man kind are thus encreased, and the whole society obtaint.
an addition to its happiness. If such beneficial con sequences result from a circulating medium, it will be admitted, that the society which possesses an abun dance of it, or the means of augmenting it, by a pro cess that encourages its production, must be wealthy and prosperous ; and such is the society of Britain. Our industry, our skill and ingenuity, could not be fully exerted, nor the productions of the arts, manu factures, and commerce of the community generally diffused, without the intervention of a circulating medium, which representing every species of proper ty, combines the individual exertions of men, and links, in one great chain, their separate efforts for the common happiness of all. The facility of transact ing the exchange of one commodity for another, by means of a generally acknowledged representative of •Value, is exemplified by the following case :—An agriculturist in the north of Scotland, may exchange the produce of his labour with that of a Yorkshire manufacturer, by selling a quarter of wheat at home for. a bank note, and purchasing cloth with it, from a neighbouring haberdasher. The value of the wheat, or what is the same thing, a symbol of its value, may be thus conveyed in a letter, whereas, the delivery of the commodity itself might incur an expense equal to its original price. , In this case, we find an illustra tion of the general principle on which commerce de .pends, as well as a convincing instance of the vast utility of a circulating medium.