Sept Daily Price of STOCKS, from 21st September, to 20th October, 1818. Government Debenture 3 per ct. Irish Bank Stuck, 33 per ct. Government Grand Canal Grand Canal Loan, 6 per ct. Loan 6per cent.] Royal Canal Omnium. Prices of the From Sept. 21, to 19 86 851 2374 95 1630 THE LITERARY PANORAMA, AND National Register : For DECEMBER, 1818. NATIONAL AND PARLIAMENTARY NOTICES, (British and Foreign,) PROSPECTIVE AND RETROSPECTIVE. SAVINGS' BANKS. CONSIDERATIONS ON THE FACILITIES AFFORDED SAVINGS BANKS; As exemplified in two Acts of Parliament ; 57 Geo. III. cap. 130. 58 Geo. 111. cap. 48. little foresight to apprehend a second time: and whether the late insurgences in the North were not in some degree connected with the same principle, is thought to be a question not difficult of solution by the well informed who reside in the neighbourhood. It has been the lot also of the elder members of the Panoramic board to Ir has been thought somewhat singu- witness the dissolution of more than one lar that, while almost every contempo- Institution which promised great benerary Journal was occupied, more or less, fits to its supporters; and which apand on different or contradictory grounds, peared to rest on the solid basis of strict on the subject of Savings' Banks, the calculation, and arithmetical inference. LITERARY PANORAMA should preserve There was a time, when to have hesia silence, not absolutely free from symp- tated a doubt, would have been thought toms of obstinacy, But, perhaps, the little short of scandalum magnatum : motives for this silence were rather-The issue discovered a fatal defect in those of doubt, than those of singularity; arising from general information; but wishing to be guided by more specific experience. For, it must appear evident to every reflecting mind, that good and evil are intimately combined in this imperfect world. Nothing could be more promising, more benevolent, more laudable, in its aspect, than the Institution of "Friendly Societies," or of " Benefit Clubs;" but experience has shewn, that these have been too often the pests of manufacturing towns, the very scorpions' rods, in the hands of the journeymen, held in perpetual vibration over the heads of their masters. What experience has once shewn, it requires but VOL. VIII. No. 51. N. S. Lit, Pan, Dec. 1. some part of the machinery; whether it were, that the younger members be came old too soon; or that the seniors were too slow in their resort to "that bourne from whence no traveller returns." There was also to be considered, the natural disposition of the human mind to place dependence on feeble or fallacious support. It has been doubted, whether industry be natural to man; it is notorious, that where labour is rendered unnecessary to subsistence, by the bounty of Nature, man avoids exertion, and spends his days in inactivity, not to say, in inveterate sloth and idleness. Yet sloth and idleness are the bane of the human race; the sure companions, & D and the unquestionable continuators of | hands, that to divide the share of profit savage life. equitably, year after year, would puzzle the best arithmetician in the world. By what means, then, shall those who receive pay be placed in circumstances It was a merciful punishment inflicted on fallen man,—“ in the sweat of thy brow shall thou eat bread :" Industry is the ready road to enjoyment: and fore-equally favourable, as regards future sight combined with industry, is, all the world over, the means of wealth. Even in the most favoured climates this is true; and in countries where the planting of a dozen cocoa nut trees, on the birth of a child, is sufficient for his future subsistence, or, where an addition to the number of pepper vines promises sure support,-foresight must be called into exercise, no less than industry must be roused to activity. Where land is the principal article of cultivation and property, the vegetable kingdom furuishes the means of ease and comfort; where land is mostly appropriated, the domestic animals take their turn, and the shepherd with his flock becomes an object of importance. Equally is foresight applicable and useful: nor is it uncommon to allot to children a certain number of animals, the increase of which is to form their future portion. Even in our own country nothing is more frequent than the appropriation of sheep, or &c. to the sons of a farmer's family; while the chicken and ducks, belong to the daughters, though privileged to visit the barn door, and to fatten on the offal corn, under favour. These are natural ideas; for man readily comprehends the labours of the field, or of the garden; or takes the care and oversight of animals: but, when manufactures are become the principal or only attention of a considerable portion of a population, what do they offer instead? The loom may be wrought to advantage by him who attends to it; but, he receives his remuneration in the shape of pay, on the moment the loom does not breed; it cannot be managed by a child, while yet a child: it yields no revenue of itself, though skill and labour may derive revenue from it; and in other cases of mechanics, if revenue could be derived from an admirable piece of workmanship, say, a watch, for instance, the article has passed through so many life, with those who plant, or those who breed? There is but one way they must make their money productive. And this they may do, either by employing it as the impulsive power of additional labour; or by deriving from it an interest, by which they participate in the profits of those who thus employ it. But the notion of interest is not that natural notion which the other means of increase are, It is an artificial idea engrafted on the use of money; but the use of money, is, at first sight, merely that of a convenient medium of purchase and sale; a medium convenient, because susceptible of being divided into minor parts, to meet the smallest value, or of being accumulated into masses, till it forms the greatest sums. -Convenient, because in universal request; the sign and token of wealth; but in itself of no value: it affords neither food nor raiment,-except, as mankind by convention, have agreed to exchange food and raiment for it. The principle of profit made by in terest of money, is a new element added to the conceptions of humble life; and, as such, may produce more extensive effects, when in full operation, than are at present anticipated. If the husbandman, or laborious agriculturist, should diminish his labour, in dependence on any other fund, the public will not fail to experience injury; but, if the busbandman feels his readiness and powers for labour exhilarated by the assistance of capital accumulated from his former savings;-if labour be the principal agent, and capital the assistant, then the advantages in prospect are infinite. The man attached to land, should cultivate land; and from the possession of a cottage and a garden should aspire to a field and a cow;-these are the rudiments of a farm; whence follow important services to the individual, combined with equal benefits to the public. It is not the principle of continued or miserly hoarding, that should be in'culcated on the labourer; but that of security with a reasonable profit, until the time comes for employing this reserve in the shape of property of a more valuable, because of a more ACTIVE, description. The man who starves himself to encrease his pelf, is not the man to serve himself, his neighbour, or his country, effectually. that capital is the life and soul of manufactures; they know too, that the greatest capitals now engaged in business were once small; and they see the effect of aggregation every day of their lives, in the instances of their employers. These are the people, especially, who should exercise reflection, and derive advantage from whatever they can honestly convert into capital. In reference to the effect and power of this principle, when steadily adhered to, an anecdote is related by Mr. Charles Taylor, in his "Summary Account of the London Savings' Bank," that, we believe, is unquestionable: We ourselves have known instances almost equally striking. Who will favor the world with a genuine history of the Lord Mayors of London? But there is an important class of persons, who, it is understood, have extensively availed themselves of the advantages proposed by Banks for Savings: these, are Servants; who, while in place, are maintained at the expence of their principals; and, consequently, may lay by a portion of their wages, without feeling any deduction from their enjoyments. The whole time of these belongs to those whom they serve their whole labour also: unless, therefore, they can derive a profit from what they can save, they have no channel open for the acquisition of property, or for the aug-mas, how much dost thou earn a week? mentation of their property when acquired to such, the establishment of any safe mode of improving their funds by the addition of interest is invaluable. The Manufacturing classes are still further involved in the inconveniences of artificial life: they have no prospect of acquiring property, except in the form of money; and this they receive so frequently, and in such divided portions, that each separate reception seems unworthy of notice: it contributes to immediate enjoyment, and immediate enjoyment usually absorbs the whole of it. Yet, these classes know, It is a curious fact, that in places where the labouring class have highest wages, the inhabitants are encumbered with the highest poor-rates. The following extract of a letter which I have received from an esteemed friend, who has considerable estates at Coventry, shews the existence of the evil in that city in a striking point of view. It is believed that similar conduct prevails in most manufacturing districts. "In reply to your favour of yesterday, respecting the improvident conduct of the Women Ribbon Weavers at Coventry, I understand for at least six months last year they were (when they liked to pay atten tion to their work) in the habit of gaining ABOUT THREE POUNDS PER WEEK. Very few of them, I believe, worked more than It may not be irrelevant to introduce in this place the following anecdote. A working ship-carpenter, on bringing home his spouse, had this question proposed to him as the first salutation of his bride: "Tho twelve shillings, or fifteen ?"-" Mary, that does not concern thee-for I shall faithfully bring thee home every farthing I get, four days a week, and the manufacturers were obliged to give them such work as they liked, or they could not do any. A could not sell legs of mutton but at a very respectable butcher informed me that he reduced price, as the weavers would not purchase any thing but ducks, geese, fowls, &c. which they dressed most evenings for supper. The drapers, &c. had not any thing sufficiently good in their shops, but were obliged to send to London for the best silks, &c. to please the ladies. The first or second week after trade becomes bad, they in general pawn their fine dresses, and afterwards apply to the parish for relief; the poor-rates have, in some instances, been double the rental of the houses." What can more forcibly prove the necessity of an active interference to remind working people of their duty! and if they persist in the unjust and depraved course of wasting their surplus when in the receipt of abundance, and claiming support from the respectable inhabitants of their parish when out of employment, where would be the impropriety of granting them nothing more than a bare subsistence-of subjecting them to a strict confinement-to hard labour-and a livery of disgrace.Essay on Provident or Parish Banks, by B. Beaumont, Esq. London, 1816. p. 45. the loss by the late turn out at Manchester, &c. be calculated? The insurgents boasted of numbering twenty thousand men. Could the loss of their labour be so little as ten shillings each man, weekly;-which is ten thousand pounds. This continued for ten weeks, is one hundred thousand pounds; for twenty weeks is two hundred thousand pounds; so that these people have deprived themselves and their employers, their connections and the public, of at least half a million of money, by their secession from labour, beside additional expenses of police, &c. &c. be it little, or be it much." "Yes, but it does concern me, Thomas, I really wish to know: for if thou dost get but twelve, I shall lay by one every week; but if thou dost get fifteen, I shall lay by two shillings, or half-a-crown. His wages were only twelve shillings a week, but as it was upwards of seventy years ago, the value of money was very different from the present. He frequently said in after life, “I should not have thought of saving if my wife had not begun." This principle carried into persevering practice was so effectual, that the industrious accumulation of his property at length rendered him proprietor of one of the first ship building yards on the Thames, and he left at his decease no less And during this time, what could a sum than thirty thousand pounds, the whole of which he always attributed to they contribute as Savings? What the first shilling which his wife saved for could they lay by? They were all the him. The truth of this anecdote is vouched while spending their property :—they for with confidence, as the individual was were diminishing their stock; not ima collateral ancestor of the writer, and his proving it. It is most likely, that very lineal descendants are still carrying on few-very few indeed, had any deposits business in high respectability in the ship-in Savings' Banks; but, admitting that ping line on the River Thames, p. 7. If this instance had ended in the penurious habits of usury, most certainly we should not have referred to it: but it affords one evidence of a little converted into much, by activity and industry in- Now combination is the very ruin of Savings' Banks It may not appear so at first sight; yet not only is it so in its nature, but the wisdom of Government has contrived to render it so, most obviously. At what amount shall fact, they could do no otherwise than draw them out :—what more was necessary to ruin a Savings' Bank ? An individual who possesses a piece of land, on which he has bestowed pains by cultivation, has a visible stake in the peace of his country: his property is fixed, because his labour is fixed: a manufacturer, whose only property is his skill, has no such stake: he considers his skill as acceptable every where, and under all circnmstances: he acts accordingly. He can quit his country, and carry his talent to another situation, to another kingdom, to a remote part of the globe, wherever he supposes it may be acceptable. We have lately seen this reduced to practice by the dissatisfied and the inconsiderate. But the man who has property in a Savings' Bank, has a visible interest in preserving the public peace; his property is combined with that of others in the government Debenture, in which the trustees are directed to vest the money subscribed to the Bank. Suppose a convulsion in the nation,—who will pay that Debenture? Suppose the famous Blanketeering expedition were to be repeated-to become successful— to overturn the constitution, with the public credit:—would any man's accumulation in a Savings Bank be worth |