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 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES
 
 wy^^i^aA^. C^r
 
 
 TIIK 
 
 HISTORY OF BANKING 
 
 IN 
 
 IRELAND. 
 
 JAMES WILLIAM GILBABT, 
 
 GENERAL MANAGER OF THE LONDON AND WESTMINSTER BANK. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 LONGMAN. REES, ORME, BROWN, GREEN & LONGMAN. 
 
 MDCCCXXXVI.
 
 E. JUSTIN* AND SON, I'lUNTEnS, MARK LANE, CITT.
 
 
 PREFACE 
 
 Most of the following* pages were written when I 
 was a Manager of the Provincial Bank of Ireland, at 
 Kilkenny, and at Waterford. They were intended to 
 form a Section in my " History and Principles of 
 Banking." I also wrote a Section upon the History 
 of Banking in Scotland, and another upon the History 
 of Banking in America. But I found my look was 
 large enough without the addition of these Sections. 
 I have now determined to publish this portion sepa- 
 rately, partly because I think it may be read with 
 interest by those who are connected with the banking 
 establishments of Ireland, and partly because it will 
 furnish to myself an agreeable memorial of my resi- 
 dence in that country. 
 
 J. W. G. 
 
 38, THROCJ.MORTON STllKKT. 
 May 28, 1836.
 
 WORKS 
 
 PUBLISHED BY THE SAME AUTHOU. 
 
 1. The History and Principles of Banking. 
 Second Edition, price 9s. 
 
 " A work likely to be extensively useful at this period has just 
 appeared, entitled, " The History and Principles of Banking." By 
 James William Gilbart. The author's object has been not to 
 advance any theories of his own, but to make the reader acquainted 
 with the facts and jDrinciples of the question as deduced from the 
 existing practice. In this, his long experience must make him a very 
 competent guide. The numerous claims on our crowded columns 
 prevent our giving a fuller notice of the work : the recommendation 
 of which may be summed up in his own phrase — that it is a 
 " Grammar of banking." — Times, Feb. 20, 1834. 
 
 " This work may be advantageously consulted for a practical 
 knowledge of banking in all shapes from the bank of England down 
 to loan banks, and the new law to faciUtate the purchase of small 
 annuities. It should also be added that a variety of tables are 
 contained in the volume, not niere transcripts from official documents, 
 but intelligible recasts by a man of business. So far as we are 
 able to judge by inspection, they seem to have the rare merit of 
 containing what is wanted and nothing more." — Spectator, Feb. 
 15. 1S34.
 
 VI 
 
 " Combining a clear appreciation of the science of banking with 
 the best practical knowledge of his business, we have seen no work 
 on this subject which better deserves to be consulted and studied 
 than Mr. Gilbart's volume." — Literary Gazette, Feb. 22, 1834. 
 
 " Mr. Gilbart claims for his book that it contains both features 
 (theorj' and practice), and is a scientific work written by a practical 
 man. His claims appear to be fully borne out by the perspicuity of 
 his views and the analytical spirit in which he treats the subject. 
 He is fully master of the details, and ascends with equal ease to the 
 examination of the elementary principles. His account of the 
 nature of joint stock banks, of branch banks, of deposit, remittance, 
 circulation, and discount, of cash credit, loan and savings banks, 
 will be found by men of business to be of considerable value for 
 TQierence:'— Atlas, Feb. 24, 1S34. 
 
 " We have been highly pleased with its agreeable and instructive 
 character, and we think that no man connected with trade should 
 be without this book." — Monthly Review, May, 1834. 
 
 " As the author most truly says in his preface, the aim of this 
 book is to impart useful knowledge. Those who are ignorant of 
 the art, or rather science of banking, (for banking may be considered 
 as a science in political economy) will here obtain a knowledge of 
 facts and principles which will sufficiently enlighten their minds on 
 the subject, and they w'ill have the good fortune of not having 
 jirinciplcs instilled which may lead them into error. The question 
 of currency, cash payments, &c. which have been such a source of 
 labyrinthic litigation are not mooted. It is a clear and well written 
 work, and must have been written by a person endowed with a lucid 
 head and an impartial mxnA." —Metropolitan Magazine, August, 1834. 
 
 " A more complete and accurate work with Icss irrelevant matter 
 we never read." — Centlcman's Magazine, October, 1834.
 
 Vll 
 
 " We have before us a most interesting work from the pen of Mr. 
 Gilbart, entitled " The History and Principles of Banking." This sub- 
 ject, which is generally considered abstruse and recondite, has been, 
 by the pen of Mr. Gilbart, rendered so plain, that the most ordinary 
 capacity may easily comprehend it. It requires such a man as the 
 manager of the London and Westminster Bank to produce this work. 
 A speculative theorist, no matter how acute his intellect, must have 
 failed in presenting us with those forcible details, which belong only 
 to the practical man, whilst to the mere man of business, that power 
 of combination and mastery of language must have been wanting, 
 which the literary abilities of Mr. Gilbart have enabled him to 
 bring to bear upon the subject. The peculiar interest which it pos- 
 sesses, is owing, as the author truly states in his preface, to the 
 circumstance of its being a scientific work, written by a practical 
 man. The subject of banking, at all times of such importance to a 
 mercantile nation, possesses paramount claims to attention at the 
 present moment, when two fresh bodies of Argentarii have come 
 into the field to bear away whatever spoil may have escaped the 
 hands of the veteran campaigners. " The History and Principles of 
 Banking" should be in the hands of every man, who wishes to be 
 acquainted with the manner in which the money transactions of this 
 great country are carried on." -—Waterford Chronicle, June 9, 1835. 
 
 2. A Practical Treatise on Banking, 
 Third Edition, Price Three Shillings. 
 
 " A valuable and useful little work." — Mr. M'Cullock's Smith's 
 Wealth of Nations.
 
 THE 
 
 HISTORY OF BANKING 
 
 IRELAND. 
 
 This work will be divided into Three Sections. 
 
 Section 1. — The History of Banking in Ireland 
 previous to the establishment of the Bank of Ireland. 
 
 Section II. — The History of Banking in Ireland 
 from the establishment of the Bank of Ireland to the 
 establishment of the Provincial Bank of Ireland. 
 
 Section III. — The History of Banking in Ireland 
 from the establishment of the Provincial Bank of 
 Ireland to the present time. 
 
 Section I. 
 
 The History of Banking in Ireland previous to 
 the establishment of the Bank of Ireland. 
 
 The state of Banking in any country furnishes a 
 criterion of the state of society which there exists. 
 The following are the principal circumstances denoted 
 by the formation of banks. 
 
 1. The establishment of a Bank indicates the secu- 
 rity of private property. 
 
 Not only must the right of private property be 
 recognised and established, but a form of government 
 must be framed which is sufficiently strong and just 
 to secure to each individual the possession of his right. 
 
 B
 
 iJ THE HISTORY OF 
 
 If the government be too feeble to protect one in- 
 dividual of the community against the rapacity of 
 another; or be despotic and tyrannical, so as not 
 to circumscribe its own claims within the limits of 
 law and justice, few banks will be established. The 
 former appears to have been the case with Europe 
 under the feudal system, and is nov/ the case with all 
 countries which are not far advanced in civilization. 
 The latter is the case with the despotic governments 
 of eastern countries. Here the possession of property 
 is attended with danger. A rich man may be sacri- 
 ficed by the government, and his wealth confiscated. 
 In such a state, men who have property, will, if pos- 
 sible, conceal it. To place it in the hands of a banker 
 would be to invite the government to take possession 
 of it. Besides, who, in such a state, would carry on 
 the business of a banker ? who would undertake the 
 custody of other people's property, if by that means 
 he endangered his head ? Little would the govern- 
 ment care whether the property in the bankers' hands 
 belonged to himself or to others. It would be quite 
 sufficient to know in what place the treasure was to be 
 found. Pretexts could easily be supplied, sufficient 
 in the ruler's own judgment, to justify his beheading 
 the culprit, and seizing on all the wealth in his pos- 
 session. Hence we find few banks in such countries. 
 
 Nor do we find the banking flourished in this 
 or any other country during the existence of the 
 feudal system. Private property was not then suffi- 
 ciently secure. The rapacity of the Barons, and 
 the wars they often carried on against each otlier, 
 woidd soon have dispersed the wealth that might 
 have been accumulated. Persons who had money 
 buried it in the earth. During the middle ages, the 
 chief bank, was that of Venice. In that state the 
 feudal system did not exist. Venice was an aristo- 
 cratical republic. The nobles possessed all the 
 power in th(» State ; but then they possessed that 
 power in their collective, and not in their individual
 
 BANKING IN IRELAND. 3 
 
 capacity. No individual nobleman had a right to 
 oppress a citizen. He had no serfs or slaves to labour 
 on his estate. He was amenable to the laws which 
 were established by the Senate ; and these laws 
 restrained as effectually the ambition of individual 
 nobles as of private citizens. However inferior the 
 government of Venice may have been to those of 
 modern times, it was certainly far superior to any of 
 the governments by which it was surrounded. Venice 
 was a commercial state, and a state cannot long remain 
 commercial unless the right of private property be 
 well secured. Commerce and liberty gave rise to 
 Banking. 
 
 2. The establishment of a Bank indicates some 
 degree of internal trade. 
 
 Banks are established to grant facilities to trade ; and 
 if there be no trade, there will be no banks. It is not 
 the banks that give rise to the trade, it is the trade 
 that gives rise to the bank ; though, after trade is 
 established, the institution of a bank extends the 
 trade. One branch of the banking business is to 
 transmit money to distant places ; but for this there 
 can be no occasion, if there be no trade between dis- 
 tant places. Banks grant pecuniary accommodation 
 to the manufacturer. But manufactures must be too 
 limited to need supplies from a bank if all the articles 
 manufactured are consumed in the immediate neigh- 
 bourhood. Such manufacturers can never be suffi- 
 ciently wealthy to want a place of deposit for tlieir 
 superfluous capital, nor can their business be suffi- 
 ciently extensive to warrant the establishment of a 
 bank for their accommodation. 
 
 The want of a free commercial intercourse between 
 the different parts of the country, was a great obstacle 
 to trade, and consequently to the establishment of 
 banks under the feudal system. Each Baron was to 
 a certain degree an absolute monarch on his own 
 estate. He imposed what taxes he pleased on all goods 
 removed from his territory, or which were even con-
 
 4 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 veyed through his lands. The purchase and sale of 
 goods was regulated at his pleasure; and as each Baron 
 possessed the same power, all commercial intercourse 
 between their respective estates was in a manner 
 interdicted. 
 
 3. The establishment of a Bank indicates that 
 the practice has been introduced of dealing upon 
 credit. 
 
 A banker is a dealer in capital. He is the inter- 
 mediate party between the borrower and the lender. 
 He borrows of those who have money to lend, and he 
 lends to those who want to borrow. But this cannot 
 be done without credit. — On both sides there must be 
 trust. The parties who lend must trust the banker, 
 and he must trust those who borrow of him. But this 
 will not be done until commerce is so far advanced that 
 transactions of considerable importance are performed 
 upon credit. In the infancy of commerce all trade is 
 carried on with ready money. Before good roads are 
 formed and posts are established, trade between distant 
 places is carried on by merchants in a body, who as- 
 sociate together in considerable numbers, and meet at 
 fixed times at particular places, whence they commence 
 tljeir journey to the country with which they intend 
 to traffic. — When arrived at the place where the 
 market is held, they dispose of their goods for ready 
 money. Tliey then lay out their money in the pur- 
 chase of other goods witli which they return. Such 
 was the practice with the merchants of the East who 
 formed tlie immense caravans that formerly traded 
 between Europe and India; and such is the practice 
 of similar caravans that now trade between Egypt and 
 Mecca. In these cases all the transactions are carried 
 on by r(!ady money. The bankers (if such they may 
 be called) are mere money-changers. They exchange 
 the money of the country in which they live for the 
 monies of other countries. Such was probably the 
 business of the money-changers who were expelled 
 from the temple of Jerusalem: such too was the busi-
 
 BANKING IN IRELAND. O 
 
 ness of many persons in European countries in former 
 times. 
 
 4. The establishment of a Bank indicates that 
 capital has considerably accumulated. 
 
 Is a bank intended for a place of security? Who, 
 before the accumulation of capital, has wealth he is 
 anxious to secure? Is a bank intended as a place of 
 deposit where those who have money may lend it upon 
 interest? But who, before the accumulation of capital, 
 has money to lend? Is a bank intended for a place 
 where those who want to borrow money may go and 
 obtain it? But where, before the accumulation of 
 capital, can the bankers procure the treasure to ad- 
 vance? It is obvious that banking must be a poor 
 business in a poor country — it is not until commerce, 
 and wealth, and luxury have extended widely, that 
 banking becomes a profitable occupation. 
 
 5. The establishment of a Bank indicates that it is 
 not deemed unjust to take interest for the loan of 
 money. 
 
 Nothing can be more consistent with the principles 
 of natural equity than that he who borrows money 
 with a view of making a profit by it, should give to 
 the lender some portion of the profit which he makes. 
 No doctrine could be more destructive to banking 
 than that the taking of money for the loan of money 
 was sinful; and as long as this practice was stigma- 
 tised with the name of usury little banking could exist. 
 But as commerce increased this doctrine became obso- 
 lete. It was soon discovered that this sentiment was 
 unjust and injurious, and that however well it might 
 have been adapted to an Eastern agricultural nation, 
 it was altogether inapplicable to the state of modern 
 commerce. 
 
 The above observations appear to be equally ap- 
 plicable to all banks, whether public or private. 
 Without the security of property — without trade, 
 credit, capital, and interest, few banks can be esta- 
 blished. And whenever a new bank is established
 
 6 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 in consequence of the additional wants of the 
 neighbourhood, it shews tliat the trade, capital, and 
 wealth of that place are on the increase, and the 
 establishment of a bank will probably increase them 
 to a still greater extent. 
 
 Some of the above remarks may serve to account 
 for the slow progress that banking made in Ireland. 
 To be enabled to trace that progress during the period 
 to which this section refers, I have had recourse chiefly 
 to the Acts of the Irish Parliament. These are, I 
 believe, the principal public documents from which 
 authentic information can be obtained. 
 
 1447. In this year an Act* was passed against 
 clipped money, money called O'Reyle's money, and 
 other unlawful money, and against gilt bridles, 
 peytrells, and other gilt harness. The following are 
 the words of the Act. " For that, that the clipping 
 of the Kinff our Sovereig-n Lord's coin hath caused 
 divers men in this land of Ireland to counterfeit the 
 same coin to the great hurt and destruction of the said 
 land, and the making of gilt bridles and peytrells hath 
 also wasted and consumed the gold of the said land 
 for the more part, and is likely to do more hereafter, 
 if it be not specially remedied. Wherefore, it is 
 ordained and agreed by authority of this present 
 Parliament, that no money so clipped be received in 
 any part of the said land from the first day of May 
 next to come, nor the money called O'Reyley's money, 
 or any other unlawful money, so that one coyner be 
 ready at tlie same day to make the coyn. And also, 
 tliat no man })e so hardy henceforward to use any gilt 
 bridles, peytrells, nor any other gilt harness in no 
 place of the said land, excepted knights and prelates 
 of lioly churclies. And if any man be found with 
 any sucli bridle, peytrell, or other harness, giltcd from 
 the same day, that it be lawful to every man that will 
 
 * 25 Henry VI. c. C.
 
 BANKING IN IRELAND. 7 
 
 to take the said man, his horse and harness, and to 
 possess the same as his own goods." 
 
 In the same year, an Act^' was passed levying a tax 
 of twelve-pence per ounce on all silver bullion ex- 
 ported. The preamble states, That " this land of 
 Ireland is greatly impoverished from day to day by the 
 great deduction and carriage out of the said land into 
 England of the silver plate, broken silver bullion, and 
 wedges of silver, made of the great tonsure of the 
 money of our Sovereign Lord the King, by his Irish 
 enemies and English rebels, and Irish money called 
 Reyles do increase from day to day." Lords and 
 messengers to England upon public business were 
 permitted to take their plate with them, " according to 
 their beings and estates." 
 
 1457. Another Act was passed to restrain the ex- 
 portation of silver. It enacts, that all merchant 
 strangers shall pay custom at the rate of forty-pence 
 per pound on all silver exported ; and inflicts a penalty 
 of twenty shillings for every penny concealed. f 
 
 1463. An Act;}: was passed against clipped money. 
 After stating that the " groat, the half-groat, and the 
 penny, and other coins, are lost and destroyed by divers 
 and many clippings," it enacts, that clipped money 
 shall not be taken in pa^mient, nor accounted the 
 King's coin after the feast of the Purification of our 
 Lady next ensuing. 
 
 1634. An Act§ was passed to restrain usury. It 
 limited the rate of interest to ten per cent, per annum. 
 Persons receiving more were made liable to a penalty 
 of three times the amount of the principal, and the 
 agreement was void. " Scriveners, brokers, solicitors, 
 and drivers of bargains for contracts," were not 
 allowed to take more tlian five shillings for the 
 procuring a loan of one hundred pounds for a year, 
 nor to charge more than twelve-pence for the making 
 
 * 25 Henn' VI. c. 10. t 35 Henn' VI. c 2. 
 : 5 Edward IV. c. 3. § 10 Charles I. c. 22.
 
 8 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 the bond or the bill for the loan thereof. These 
 persons were probably at that time the only bankers 
 in the country. 
 
 1704. The legal interest of money reduced to eight 
 per cent. The Act* states, that at that time there was 
 a great abatement in the value of land and of mer- 
 chandize, and that the high rate of interest made men 
 unable to pay their debts ; that consequently they are 
 forced to sell their lands and stocks at very low rates, 
 to forsake the use of merchandize and trade, and to 
 give over their leases and farms, and so become un- 
 profitable members of the commonwealth. 
 
 1709. Was passed an " Actf for the better paymentof 
 inland bills of exchange, and for making promissory 
 notes more obligatory." Bills of exchange of £5 and 
 upwards drawn in Ireland upon persons in Ireland, 
 may be protested either for non-acceptance or non- 
 payment in the same way as foreign. And notice of 
 such protest must be given within fourteen days after- 
 wards to the party from whom such bills were re- 
 ceived. Promissory notes were put on the same 
 footing as inland bills of exchange. Notes issued by 
 any "banker, goldsmith, merchant, or trader," whether 
 payable to order or bearer, were rendered assignable 
 and indorsable over as inland bills of exchange, and 
 the indorsee might sustain an action thereon. Previous 
 to the passing of the Act, it was considered doubtful 
 whether promissory notes of any kind were legally 
 transferable l)y indorsement. But such transfer were 
 now declared legal as they had been a few years 
 before in Eiigl;md.;j: I have not observed tliat the 
 word " banker" occurs in any Act of the Parliament 
 of Ireland previous to this. Fourteen days appear a 
 long term for notice of a protested bill, but perhaps 
 the obstructions to a rapid communication between 
 different parts of the island were at that time consi- 
 derable. 
 
 * 2 Anne, c. 16. | 8 Anne, c. 11. 
 
 I See 9 and 10 William III. c. 17. 3 and 4 Anne, c. 9.
 
 BANKING IN IRELAND. if 
 
 1721. The legal interest of money reduced to seven 
 per cent.* The reasons assigned for this reduction is 
 stated in the preamble of the Act to be, That " at this 
 time there is a very great abatement in the value of 
 divers merchandizes, wares, and commodities of this 
 kingdom both at home and also in foreign parts 
 whither they are transported." 
 
 In the same year an Act was passed for better 
 securing the payment of bankers' notes.f It enacted 
 that notes not paid on demand should bear interest ; 
 that bankers should not fraudulently alienate any part 
 of their property, and that after their death their real 
 estates should be accountable for payment of their 
 notes. This Act was repealed by 33 Geo. II. c. 14. 
 From this Act it appears that at that time " the trade 
 of this kingdom was partly carried on by the means 
 of cash notes given by bankers," and that the " trade 
 or calling of a banker" was followed, or exercised, by 
 *' the keeping a public shop, house, or office for the 
 receipt of the money of such persons as were willing 
 to deposit the same in their custody ;" and tlie bankers 
 gave or issued promissory notes for the payment of 
 the money so deposited on demand or on a certain 
 day. Hence, it is evident, that the bankers' notes in 
 Ireland were like the goldsmiths' notes in England — 
 RECEIPTS for money that had been lodged in their 
 hands. 
 
 1729. The forging of bills of exchange, goldsmiths' 
 or banker's notes above the value of £5 declared 
 felony ; and the felon to be burnt in the hand or tran- 
 sported at the pleasure of the court. Criminals, who 
 had stolen bills or notes, liable to the same punishment 
 as though they had stolen goods of the same value. :|: 
 
 1731. The legal interest of money reduced to six per 
 cent, where it still remains. The preamble to this Act 
 will shew the opinions which were then entertained 
 respecting the effects of a high rate of interest. They 
 
 * 8 Geo. I. c. 13. t 8 Geo. I. c. 14. ; 3 Geo. II. c. 14.
 
 10 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 appear to be similar to those of Sir Josiah Child — 
 " Whereas the reducing of interest to eight, and from 
 thence to seven in the hundred, hath by experience 
 been found to be very beneficial to the advancement 
 of trade and improvement of lands ; and, whereas 
 there is at this time a very great abatement in the 
 value of divers merchandize, wares, and commodities 
 of this kingdom, both at home and also in foreign 
 parts whither they are transported ; which is in a great 
 measure occasioned by foreign merchants being able 
 to j)rocure money at less expense, and for less interest 
 tlian the merchants in this kingdom, by which means 
 they can give greater prices for their native com- 
 modities and manufactures, and sell them cheaper 
 abroad by having a greater gain in proportion to their 
 risk from their freight, cheaper by the lowness of 
 interest. And, whereas the value of lands would rise 
 at home, and the owners and occupiers of lands would 
 be enabled to improve them by fencing, draining, 
 manuring, and otherwise cultivating them ; and ma- 
 nufactures, and other useful arts and fisheries might 
 be improved upon procuring money at an easy in- 
 terest. And also, usurers and others who now live 
 upon the interest of their money, would betake them- 
 selves to some useful art, calling, or trade, or become 
 industrious improvers of the lands of this kingdom, 
 which tliey cannot now do to any profit whilst the in- 
 terest on loan continues at so Iiigh a rate as seven 
 pounds in the hundred pounds for a year ; which 
 mischiefs cannot ])e prevented, nor improvements 
 made, witliout reducing interest to a nearer proportion 
 with the interest allowed for money in foreign states, 
 be it tlicrefore enacted," &c. 
 
 1733. An Act passed for the relief of the liank 
 lately kept by Samuel Burton and Daniel Falkiner; 
 and of the bank hitely kept by Benjamin Burton, 
 Samuel Burton, and Daniel Falkiner ; and of the 
 creditors of the bank lately kept by Benjamin Burton 
 and Samuel Burton ; and tlie creditors of the bank
 
 BANKING IN IRELAND. 11 
 
 lately kept by Benjamin Barton and Francis Har- 
 rison. 
 
 1735. An Act was passed to amend the above Act 
 — This bank carried on business in Dublin from 
 the year 1700 to 1733, and then failed. In the 
 meantime some of the early partners had purchased 
 estates with the money deposited in the bank ; and 
 these Acts were passed to enable the creditors to sell 
 those estates. The different names denote the changes 
 which took place in the firm. 
 
 1737. The London Magazine of this year contains 
 " some queries in relation to Ireland, from a piece 
 called the Querist, published there." Among these 
 queries are the following — " Whether it be not a 
 notorious truth that our Irish ladies are on a foot as 
 to dress with those of three times their fortune in 
 England? Whether therefore a tax on all gold and 
 silver in apparel, on all foreign laces and silks, may not 
 raise a fund for a bank, and at the same time have 
 other salutary effects on the public." 
 
 1751. An Act passed to amend the two Acts passed 
 in 1733 and 1735. 
 
 1753. The following evidence respecting the state 
 of Banking in this year was delivered by William 
 Colville, Esq., Director of the Bank of Ireland, before 
 a Parliamentary Committee in 1804. 
 
 " I remember perfectly well, that in 1753, the circulation of 
 paper in Dublin from the private bankers was so general and 
 extensive, that in receiving £1,000, there was not £10 of it in gold 
 at that time. I remember that exchange was near three per cent, 
 above par ; the consequence of which was, that the bankers of 
 Dublin, of whom there were as many as at present, if not more, 
 were in competition with one another to send their specie over to 
 London, and to get bank bills at four per cent, above par, bringing 
 a clear profit to that extent. The consequence of this shewed itself 
 in the succeeding year ; all the banks failed except Messrs. La- 
 touche's house, and Sir William Newcomen's, under the name at that 
 time of Gleadowe and Co. ; and these two banks paid off their entire 
 paper : there followed a total annihilation of bank paper in Ireland 
 at that time, and I remember it was said with triumph, that Ulster, 
 the great seat of our linen manufactorj', was safe, because she had 
 no such thing as bank paper in that province. The consequences
 
 12 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 were, that exchange fell two or three per cent, under par, and the 
 whole circulation of Ireland was turned from paper into gold ; but 
 the result was, that multitudes of people were ruined ; the con- 
 vulsion was exceedingly severe, many tenants threw up their lands, 
 and there was no person connected with the three Southern pro- 
 vinces of Ireland that did not suffer either immediately or remotely." 
 
 1755. The following Acts were passed this year. 
 By " an Act to promote public credit," the partners of 
 a bank were required to insert all their names in every 
 receipt or note they issued, and were prohibited trading 
 as merchants. Cashiers or clerks of bankers em- 
 bezzling money to the value of £50, were declared 
 guilty of felony, without benefit of clergy. 
 
 An Act passed for the relief of the creditors 
 of the bank lately kept by William Lennox and 
 George French, of the city of Dublin. The above 
 bank was carried on in Dublin from 1751 to 1755, 
 when both the partners absconded. As their creditors 
 were numerous, and the ordinary mode of legal set- 
 tlement difficult and expensive, this Act was passed to 
 afford a more speedy remedy. 
 
 An Act for the relief of the creditors of the bank 
 lately kept by John Willcocks and John Dawson ; and 
 of the creditors of the bank lately kept by Joseph 
 Fade and John Willcocks ; and of the creditors of the 
 bank lately kept by Joseph Fade, Isachar Willcocks, 
 and John Willcocks ; and of the creditors of the bank 
 lately kept by Joseph Fade ; and for raising out of 
 the estates real and personal of Ricliard Brewer, late 
 the cash-keeper of the said John Willcocks and John 
 Dawson, the sum due by the said Ricliard Brewer to 
 the said John Willcocks and John Dawson. 
 
 The al)ovc bank was carried on in Did)lin for several 
 years by Richard Fade, who in 1728 took into part- 
 nership Isachar and Jolm Willcocks. The bank 
 failed on March 3, 1755, through the dishonesty of 
 tlie cashier, Richard Bi'ewer. 
 
 An Act for the relief of the creditors of the 
 bank lately kept in the city of Dublin, by Theobald 
 Dillon and Sons, by Thomas Dillon and Com])any, and
 
 BANKING IN IRELAND. 13 
 
 by Thomas Dillon, Richard Farrell and Company. 
 This bank stopt payment on March G, 1754. 
 
 1757. An Act passed to carry into more effectual 
 execution the Acts passed in 1733 and 1735 relative 
 to the bank of Burton and Falkiner. 
 
 1759. An Act passed for the speedy and effectual 
 payment of the creditors of tlie bank kept by the 
 Right Honourable Anthony Malone, Esquire, the 
 Right Honourable Nathaniel Clements, Esquire, and 
 John Gore, Esquire. 
 
 This bank commenced on July 3, 1758, and stopped 
 payment on the following November. They granted 
 receipts payable seven days after demand with in- 
 terest at ten-pence per week for every £100 — interest 
 to commence three days from the date of the receipt. 
 
 1759. Tlie bankers' Act passed, 33 Geo. II. c. 14. 
 This Act is pre-eminently styled " the Bankers' Act," 
 being the principal Act passed for the regulation of 
 bankers in Ireland. The chief objects appear to be 
 to prevent fraud on the part of the banks, and to fix 
 the mode of winding up their aflairs when they stop 
 payment. All deeds of conveyances executed by 
 bankers are declared void, unless registered within 
 one month after execution, or within three months, if 
 executed out of Ireland, except leases not exceeding 
 three lives or thirty-one years, made at the full im- 
 proved rent without fine. All grants of real estate, 
 or leasehold interest made by bankers to children or 
 grand-children, are void against creditors, although 
 made for valuable considerations ; and although such 
 creditors were not creditors at the time such grants 
 were made. After stopping payment, their receipts 
 are no discharge ; and after absconding, their convey- 
 ances are void, and their estates and effects are sub- 
 ject to debts without regard to priority, except debts 
 contracted before they became bankers, or those duly 
 registered, and their persons are protected only in 
 case they are Members of Parliament. Within tliree 
 months after stopping payment, a banker may invest
 
 14 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 his estates, &c. in trustees, to be approved by the 
 majority of the creditors, or by the Lord Chancellor. 
 No person entrusted with the public money was 
 allowed to be a banker. No banker was allowed to 
 issue notes bearing interest ; but if their notes were 
 not paid on demand, the holder could demand interest 
 until the time of payment. All demands upon 
 bankers must be made within three years after they 
 have stopped payment or have retired from business, 
 and in failure of making such demand the creditor 
 shall be barred from suing in law or equity, and the 
 defendant in such cases may plead payment and give 
 this Act in evidence. 
 
 Mr. Pierce Mahony delivered the following evidence 
 before a committee of the House of Commons in 1826, 
 respecting the provisions of this act. 
 
 " In what respect does the law of Ireland Avith regard to hanking 
 differ from the law of England ? — The Act of 33 George II. c. 14. 
 is what is called the Irish bankers' Act. There are several ob- 
 jectionable clauses in that, which, if the Committee wish, I wiU 
 point out. It provides that conveyances, leases, &c. by bankers, 
 except leases for three lives or thirty-one years at a full improved 
 rent without fine, should be void, unless registered within one 
 month, and three months if executed out of the kingdom ; and con- 
 veyances, leases, and other dispositions made to children or grand- 
 children, even for valuable consideration, are void, not only against 
 existing, but against subsequent creditors. 
 
 " But not void if made to other parties ? — No, if duly registered 
 pursuant to that Act ; but even if duly registered, they are absolutely 
 void, though for a valuable consideration, if made to children or 
 grand-children, though from the imperfect wording of the Act, those 
 conveyances for valuable consideration, when duly registered, would 
 be valid, if made to a brother, a son-in-law, daughter-in-law, or any 
 other person, the Act being confined in its operation to a son or 
 grandson, daughter or grand-daughter. 
 
 " I'hough the person is solvent at the time of executing the 
 conveyance ? — Certainly, by the fourth section, notes and receipts 
 expressed to be payable with interest are void ; there is no penalty 
 upon the banker for issuing them, and the penalty, which amounts 
 to a forfeiture of the money lodged, is upon the creditor who should 
 happen to take them. 
 
 " Is there any other provision of the Irish law that diflfers from 
 the EngUsh ? — I'he whole of this Act is confined to Ireland, and 
 there is no similar Act in England. I have mentioned the leading
 
 BANKING IN IRELAND. 15 
 
 objections, and I think there is nothing so injurious to Ireland, as 
 not to allow of a legal enactment by bankers by their ordinary 
 receipts, &c. issued in business to pay interest, because I think if 
 that was allowed by law, it would encourage deposits with bankers, 
 and it would operate as a savings bank to persons of a better quality, 
 tending to encourage the growth of capital and frugal habits, as in 
 Scotland. 
 
 " At the time the Act you have referred to was passed there was 
 no bankrupt law in Ireland at all ? — None. 
 
 " And it was in consequence of that, that that bankers' Act was 
 passed ? — It was. 
 
 " When the bankrupt laws were passed in Ireland were not 
 bankers included in it as well as other traders ? — Yes. 
 
 " Then is it not the fact that in several instances proceedings 
 have been taken against insolvent bankers in some instances under 
 the bankrupt laws, and in others under the bankers' Act ? — Certainly. 
 
 •' Do you consider that to be a desirable course of proceeding ? — 
 A most injurious one ; I scarcely know an instance of a banker's 
 estate being wound up under this 33 George II. c. 14., unless 
 through the intervention of the Court of Chancery. The case of 
 Cotter and Kellett, of Cork, is a most melancholy instance of it, and 
 Warren's also of Cork. 
 
 " How long ago is it since the failure of Cotter and Kellett ? 
 — They failed in 1S07, and the estate is not wound up yet. 
 Warren's failed in 17 84, and the notes were only paid in last June ; 
 the parties were litigating in the Court of Chancery the whole of 
 the intervening time. 
 
 " Were those proceedings attended with very heavy expense to 
 the parties ? — Ruinous expense. 
 
 " Did a large portion of the property liable to the payment of the 
 debts become useless for that purpose ? — In that case of Cotter and 
 Kellett, I recollect perfectly well at the time of the failure, it was 
 calculated, and stated publicly that they had property equal to 40^. 
 in the pound; the last dividend is now about to be made, and I 
 believe it will make the whole dividend 9s. 6d. or 105. 
 
 " Is it your opinion that if the bankers' law in Ireland had been 
 similar to that in England, those delays would not have happened .'' — 
 Certainly." 
 
 1763. An Act passed to carry into more effectual 
 execution, the Act pased in 1755, relative to the bank 
 of Willcocks and Dawson. 
 
 1770. Dec. 4. — This day the following advertise- 
 ment appeared in the Duhlin Journal, signed l)y His 
 Excellency the Lord Lieutenant, and a great number 
 of the nobility. 
 
 *' Whereas the bank of Sir George Colebrook and Co. have
 
 U) THE HISTORY OF 
 
 advertised their being under the necessity of defening the payment 
 of their notes for a short time, which may cause a diffidence in the 
 other banks of this city that may prove extremely injurious to the 
 trade and manufactures of this kingdom, now we, the Lord Lieu- 
 tenant of Ireland, the nobility, gentry, merchants and traders of 
 this city, whose names are hereunto subscribed, being thoroughly 
 sensible of the secure foundations of the houses of Messrs. David 
 Latouche and Sons, Messrs. William Gleadowe, and Co., Messrs. 
 Thomas Findlay and Co., and Messrs. John Dawson, Coates, and 
 Patrick Lawless, do hereby declare that we will continue to take the 
 notes of the said houses as cash in all payments made to us. Dublin, 
 Dec. 3, 1770." 
 
 1771. The first bankrupt Act passed in Ireland. 
 Bankers who had committed an Act of bankruptcy 
 might be made bankrupts, or their affairs might be 
 settled according to the Bankers' Act passed in 1759. 
 
 1773. Forgery of any bill of exchange, or note, 
 rendered punishable with death. 
 
 1777. A Loan bank established. The Act is en- 
 titled, " An Act for incorporating the Charitable 
 Musical Society for lending out money, interest free, to 
 indigent and industrious tradesmen." The preamble 
 states that a voluntary society had been instituted in 
 the year 1756, for lending money to indigent trades- 
 men, interest free ; and to render such society more 
 effective, they are by this Act erected into a corpo- 
 ration. The members of the corporation were, the 
 Lord Lieutenant, the Lord Primate, the Lord Chan- 
 cellor, the Lord Archbishop of Dublin, the Speaker of 
 the House of Commons, the Judges, and several other 
 noblemen and gentlemen therein-named, and such 
 others as should be elected pursuant to the Act. The 
 corporation is empowered to receive gifts from charit- 
 able persons, and to lend out the money interest free, 
 in sums not under forty shillings, nor above five pounds 
 to any one person, and to take the borrower's note 
 payable at such times and in such proportions as they 
 sliall think reasonable. Tlie corporation were also 
 empowered to appoint persons to lend on like terms in 
 the manufacturing counties and market towns of the
 
 BANKING IN IRELAND. 17 
 
 kingdom. They were allowed to lay out a portion of 
 their funds in the purchase of lands and tenements, not 
 exceeding in the whole the yearly value of one thou- 
 sand pounds. The corporation were required to keep 
 regular accounts, which should be open to the inspec- 
 tion of any member, or of any subscriber or benefactor. 
 
 Section II. 
 
 The History of Baiikmg in Ireland from the 
 establishment of the Bank of Ireland, to the establish- 
 ment of the Provincial Bank of Ireland. 
 
 In tracing the history of banking w^e may observe 
 that most public banks have been formed, in the first 
 instance, under the protection of the government of the 
 state in which they were established. Such was the 
 case with the banks of Venice, Genoa, and Amsterdam ; 
 and such too was the case with the banks of England, 
 of Scotland, and of Ireland. The former were closely 
 connected with the state, and may properly be called 
 " State Banks ;" the latter had peculiar privileges 
 bestowed by charter, and are usually called, " Char- 
 tered Banks." These privileges may be divided into two 
 classes, those which refer to the proprietors themselves, 
 and those which refer to other parties. The privileges 
 of the first class relate to the amount of capital, the 
 form of government, the number of the directors, and 
 the mode of their nomination, the meeting of the 
 proprietors, and the specification of the branches of 
 business the bank are allowed to carry on. The 
 privileges of the second class, refer to the restricted 
 lialjiHty of the shareholders, and the prohibition of 
 other parties carrying on the same business. 
 
 If the charters granted to banking companies con- 
 ferred only the first class of privileges, they would 
 
 c
 
 18 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 be liable to but little objection. In the infancy of 
 commerce and of banking, the assistance of the 
 government may with propriety be granted to en- 
 courage the formation of institutions, so eminently 
 calculated to promote the public advantage. But of 
 what avail are prohibitory clauses? If no other persons 
 are disposed to form similar institutions, then those 
 prohibitions are a nullity. But if other parties are 
 disposed to form similar companies, without the 
 assistance of the government, then why shoidd the 
 government interfere at all? Wh}^ should they grant a 
 charter to affect an object which can be affected with- 
 out their assistance? 
 
 In the charter first granted to the bank of England 
 in 1694, there was no prohibitory clause. But when 
 the charter was renewed in 1708, it was enacted, that 
 no other company formed of more than six persons 
 should carry on the business of banking in England. 
 The charter granted to the bank of Scotland, in 1G95, 
 contained the following prohibition — " That for the 
 period of twenty-one years from the 17th of July 
 1695, it should not be lawful for any other persons 
 to set up a distinct company or bank within the 
 kingdom of Scotland." This privilege was not re- 
 newed after the expiration of the twenty-one years; 
 and in the year 1727, a charter without any prohi- 
 bitions, was also granted to the royal bank of Scot- 
 land. In the year 174G, the British linen company 
 was formed, and carried on tlie business of banking 
 as a joint-stock company. Subsequently this bank 
 also obtained a charter, ])ut -without any exclusive 
 privilege. Hence Scotland has had the advantage 
 of chartered banks, and joint-stock banks, and pri- 
 vate banks, all working well together without pro- 
 ducing those effects which in this country have fol- 
 lowed the prohibitory clauses of the charter of the 
 bank of England. 
 
 Botli in its constitution and government the bank 
 of Ireland closely imitated the bank of En^and; and
 
 BANKING IN IRELAND. 19 
 
 it has produced in Ireland most of the advantages 
 and evils which that establishment has produced in 
 this country. It has supplied this country with a 
 currency of undoubted solidity; it has supported public 
 credit, it has granted facilities to trade, and it has 
 assisted the financial operations of the government. 
 On the other hand, its prohibitory clause necessarily 
 led to the formation of many private banks, whose 
 failure was the cause of immense wretchedness to all 
 classes of the population. 
 
 The charter of the bank of Ireland contained a 
 clause, which prevented more than six persons forming 
 themselves into a company, to carry on the business 
 of banking in Ireland. In the year 1824, they sur- 
 rendered this exclusive privilege as far as regards 
 those places which are situated at a greater distance 
 than fifty Irish miles from Dublin; and in 1826, the 
 bank of England made a similar surrender, with 
 regard to places at a greater distance than sixty- 
 five miles from London. As eleven Irish miles are 
 equal to fourteen English miles, fifty Irish miles are 
 equal to about sixty-five English miles. But it must 
 be observed, that Dublin is situated on the sea coast, 
 therefore, the bank of Ireland has only the monopoly 
 of a semicircle, whose radius is fifty Irish miles. But 
 London being situated inland, the bank of England 
 has the monopoly of a whole circle of one hundred and 
 thirty English miles in diameter. 
 
 The bank of Ireland was established by an Act of 
 Parliament passed in 1782, 21 and 22 Geo. III. c. 16. 
 The following are the provisions of this Act. 
 
 The capital was £600,000, which was lent to 
 government at four per cent. No one person was 
 permitted to subscribe more than £10,000. If the bank 
 incurred debts to a greater amount than their capital, 
 the subscribers were answerable in their private capa- 
 city to the creditors in proportion to their subscrip- 
 tions. The bank were not either to borrow or to lend 
 money at a higher interest than five per cent., nor
 
 20 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 to engage in any business but banking. The stock to 
 be transferable, and deemed personal estate, and as 
 such to go to the executors of the holders and not to 
 their heirs. No transfer of bank stock to be valid, un- 
 less registered in the bank books, in seven days from 
 the contract, and actually transferred in fourteen days : 
 the charter to expire at twelve months notice after the 
 first day of January, 1794, and repayment of all sums 
 due by the government to the bank. 
 
 The charter is dated May 15, 1783, and contains as 
 follows: — Such persons as should subscribe before Ja- 
 nuary 1, 1784, the sum of £600,000, were to be formed 
 into a corporation, to be styled the Governor and 
 Company of the Bank of Ireland : the corporation were 
 to have a governor, deputy governor, and fifteen di- 
 rectors, which governor, deputy governor, and direc- 
 tors, or any eight or more of them, shall be called a 
 court of directors, for the management of the affairs 
 of the corporation. The following are the directors 
 nominated in the charter. 
 
 Governor — David Latouche, 3\si:^. Esq. 
 Deputy Governor — Theofhilus Thompson, Esq. 
 
 Directors. 
 
 William Colvill, Esq. 
 Peter Latouche, Esq. 
 Samuel Dick, Est^q. 
 
 Jeremiah D'Olier, Esq. 
 Alexander Armstrong, Esq. 
 George Palmer, Esq. 
 John Allen, Esq. 
 
 Alexander Jaffrat, Esq. 
 Travers Hartley, Esq. 
 Sir Nicholas Lawless, Bart. 
 Amos Strettle, Esq. 
 Jeremiah Vickers, Esq. 
 John Latouche, Esq. 
 Abraham Wilkinson, Esq. 
 George Godfrey Hoffman, Esq 
 
 The above to continue in office until March 25, 1784. 
 
 Fifteen directors shall be chosen annually between 
 March 25 and April 25, in each year, and not above 
 two-tliirds of tlie directors of the jjreceding year to 
 be re-elected. 
 
 Tlie notice for the meeting of general courts of 
 proprietors, to l^e affixed upon the Royal Exchange in 
 Dublin, at least two days before the time of meeting. 
 The qualification for a voter at a general court shall
 
 BANKING IN IRELAND. 21 
 
 be £500 stock, to be held for six months preceding, 
 unless it came by will, marriage, &:c. The qualification 
 for governor shall be £4000 stock, and for deputy 
 governor £3000, and for director £2000. The 
 governor must make and subscribe the declaration, 
 pursuant to an Act of Parliament passed in the king- 
 dom of Ireland, entitled, " An Act to prevent the far- 
 ther growth of popery." He shall also take the oaths 
 of allegiance, supremacy, and abjuration, and also the 
 following. 
 
 '♦ I, A. B. do swear that the sum of four thousand pounds sterling 
 of the capital stock of the body politic, called by the name of the 
 governor and company of the Bank of Ireland, whereof I am 
 appointed or elected to be governor, doth at this time belong to me, 
 in my own right, and not in trust for any other person or persons." 
 
 And likewise another oath, in the form or to the 
 effect following. 
 
 " I, A. B. being nominated or elected to be governor of the com- 
 pany of the Bank of Ireland, do promise and swear, that I will, to 
 the utmost of my power, by all lawful ways and means, endeavour 
 to support and maintain the body politic of the governor and 
 company of the Bank of Ireland, and the liberties and privileges 
 thereof ; and that in the execution of the said office of governor, I 
 will faithfully and honestly demean myself according to the best of 
 my skill and understanding. So help me God." 
 
 Oaths, somewhat similar, are to be taken by the 
 deputy governor, directors, and shareholders, ac- 
 cording to their respective circumstances, previous to 
 voting. Quakers are allowed to make an affirmation : 
 and " any person or persons, professing the popish 
 religion shall, instead of the said declaration and 
 oaths of allegiance, supremacy, and abjuration, be at 
 liberty in order to entitle them to vote as aforesaid, to 
 take the oath appointed to Ije taken instead of the 
 said oaths, by an Act of Parliament passed in this 
 kingdom, in the 13th and 14th years of our reign, 
 entitled, an Act to enable his Majesty's subjects, of 
 whatever persuasion, to testify their allegiance to him." 
 The board of directors have also power to administer 
 an oath to all their agents or servants, in the following- 
 form : —
 
 22 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 " I, A. B. being elected in the office or place of to the 
 
 governor and company of the Bank of Ireland, do swear (or 
 solemnly declare, as the case may be) that I will be true and 
 faithful to the said governor and company, and mil faithfully and 
 
 truly execute and discharge the said office or place of to the 
 
 utmost of my skill and power." 
 
 No dividend shall at any time be made by the said 
 governor and company, save only out of the interest, 
 profit, or produce, arising by or out of the said capital, 
 stock or fund, or by such dealing, buying, or selling 
 as is allowed by the said Act of Parliament. Nor 
 without the consent of the members of the said cor- 
 poration, in a general court qualified to vote as 
 aforesaid. 
 
 The governor, or deputy governor, shall summon 
 four general courts at least in every year. One in the 
 month of September, one in December, one in April, 
 and another in July. 
 
 The governor or deputy governor shall also sum- 
 mon a general court, whenever requested to do so by 
 nine members, each holding £500 stock. 
 
 If goveraor and deputy governor be absent one hour 
 after the usual time of proceeding, at any general 
 court or court of directors, a chairman shall be chosen 
 for that time only, who shall have like privileges as 
 the governor or deputy governor. 
 
 Governor, deputy governor, or chairman, not to 
 vote in general courts, or court of directors, save when 
 there shall happen to be an equal number of votes on 
 each side. 
 
 The bank of Ireland appears to be empowered to act 
 as a loan bank. The following are the words of the 
 charter : — 
 
 "jThc said governor or deputy governor and directors, or the 
 major part of them, shall and may direct and manage all the affairs 
 and business of the said corporation, in the borrowing and receiving 
 of monies, and giving securities for the same, under the common seal 
 of the said corporation, and in their dealings in bills of exchange, or 
 the buying and selling of bullion, gold, or silver, or in selling any 
 goods, wares, or merchandizes whatsoever, which shall really and 
 bona Jidc he \cit or dcpo:.itcd with the said corporation for money
 
 BANKING IN IRELAND. 23 
 
 lent or advanced thereon, and which shall not be redeemed at the 
 time agreed, or within three months after ; or in selling such goods 
 as shall or may be the produce of lands purchased by the said corpo- 
 ration ; or in lending or advancing any of the monies of the said 
 corporation, and taking pawns, or other securities for the same." 
 
 The Bank of Ireland commenced business at St. 
 Mary's Abbey, June 25, 1783. 
 
 1784. A bank was established in Belfast. They 
 had scarcely any circulation as they paid in gold. 
 They gave up business in the year 1798, at the time of 
 the Rebellion. 
 
 1791. By 31 Geo. III. c. 22., the capital of the 
 Bank of Ireland was increased from £600,000 to 
 £1,000,000, and the charter extended until the 
 expiration of twelve month's notice after the first day 
 of January, 1816, being a renewal of the charter for 
 twenty-two years. The proprietors of the old stock 
 were allowed to subscribe for two-thirds of the new 
 stock. The whole sum of £400,000 subscribed to be 
 paid into the treasury for the use of his Majesty. 
 
 1797. The capital of the Bank of Ireland increased 
 by 37 Geo. III. c. 50., from £1,000,000 to £1,500,000. 
 The proprietors of the old stock allowed to subscribe 
 for the whole of the new stock, in proportion to the 
 sums standing in tlieir respective names. 
 
 1797. The Bank of Ireland suspended its cash 
 payments on the 3rd of March. Immediately on 
 the passing of the Restriction Bill, the bank issued 
 small notes and post bills under £5. 
 
 1799. A law passed for confining the issue of 
 notes between 205. and £5 to the Bank of Ireland 
 only. Private banks were permitted to issue bank 
 post bills of three guineas and upwards under certain 
 limitations. This was the first law in Ireland, which 
 restricted the negotiation of bankers' notes. 
 
 In this year the following l^anks were registered in 
 Ireland. Banks were registered when first opened, 
 and when any change took place in the firm : —
 
 V ditto ditto 
 
 24 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 NAMES OF BANKERS. Places where Dule of 
 
 kept. Kegistry. 
 
 The Right Hon. John David Latouche, "1 <,. , ,, , 
 
 John Latouche, Peter Latouche, and S- Dublin, 1799^'^^ 
 
 WiUiam Digger Latouche J 
 
 Sir William Gleadowe Newcomen, Bart.,"] 
 
 Arthur Dawson, and Thomas Gleadowe > ditto ditto 
 
 Newcomen J 
 
 John Finlay, Richard Nevill, Joseph Ly- ? ,. , ,. 
 
 nam, John Geale, and John Lynam . . ^ 
 
 John Claudius Beresford, James Wood- 
 mason, and James Farrell 
 
 Sir Thomas Lighton, Bart., Thomas \ ,.. , ,.. , 
 
 Needham, and Robert Shaw J 
 
 Simon Newport and Sons Waterford, March 27. 
 
 Thomas Maunsell and Robert Maunsell . . Limerick, 28. 
 
 Sir J. L Lawrence Cotter, Bart., Richard ? p t. qq 
 
 Kellett, Esq., and Sir Richard Kellett \ ^°^^' ^' 
 
 Sir Thomas Roberts, Bart., James Bon- 1 ,.,, j.., 
 
 1, J T 1 T T r ditto ditto 
 
 well, and John Lesue ....J 
 
 John O'Neal Waterford, May 24. 
 
 John Finlay, John Lynam, John Geale, "^ 
 
 and Robert Law, (in place of the firm /• Dublin, August 1. 
 
 registered on the 25th March, 1799) ^ 
 Thomas Redmond and Matthew Weddup Wexford, September 5. 
 
 Robert Woodcock Enniscorthy, 14. 
 
 Richard Codd, Jun. and Co Wexford, October 2. 
 
 Thomas Cullimore ditto 12. 
 
 Robert Sparrow ditto November 1 . 
 
 Peter Roe New Ross, 4. 
 
 Clementine Codd and Co Enniscorthy, 5. 
 
 .Tames Buckley and Co. .... Dungarvon, 17. 
 
 James Carpenter .....«.•. Wexford, December 23. 
 
 1800. By the 40 Geo. III. c. 22., it was provided, 
 that, all bankers who had stopped payment since 
 April 1, 1793, or who sliall stop payment, and ^vho 
 shall have invested their property in trustees as required 
 by the Bankers' Act, shall be discharged from their 
 debts upon obtaining a certificate, signed by two- 
 thirds of' tlieir creditors in number and value. 
 
 The following banks were registered this year : — 
 
 Nnmes. I'laces. Date. 
 
 James Fallon Dungarvon, Feb. 3, 1 800, 
 
 George Ncwenham Cork, April 3. 
 
 Simon Newport, Sir John Newport, Bart. "I \tj . f j ,9 
 
 and William Newport / ^^ 'iteriorci, 1 -.
 
 BANKING IN IRELAND. 25 
 
 Names. Place. Date. 
 
 William Williams Kilkenny, May 17. 
 
 N. C. H. Hatchell Wexford, June 6. 
 
 Stephen and James Roche Cork, 17. 
 
 Sir James Lance Cotter, Richard Kellett, "1 
 
 Sir Richard Kellett, Knight, and Wil- V ditto, July 14. 
 
 liam Augustus Kellett J 
 
 George and Peter Roe New Ross, Sep. 10. 
 
 William Williams and Michael Finn, (in \ ^.,, ^ 
 
 place of the registry on May 17, 1800) / ^^^^^nny, Uct. i. 
 
 Conl. Loughnan and John Helsham ditto, Sep. 23. " 
 
 Solomon Watson, John Watson, and 7 m i xt i 
 
 William Watson \ C^°"^^^' N°^- ^^ 
 
 Lewis Mansergh Athy, Oct. 10. 
 
 Joseph Pike Cork, 1 6. 
 
 John Anderson Fermoy, Nov. 11. 
 
 1801. In this year the foUowmg banks were re- 
 gistered : — 
 
 Names. Places. Pate. 
 
 George Newenham, George Newenham, > n t, t i lom 
 
 Jun. and John Leckey ^ ' '' 
 
 Robert Delacour and H. Galwey Mallow, 23. 
 
 Thomas Bernard, Simpson Hackett, 1 p.- i.t i no 
 Richard Kearney, and William Hackett J ' 
 
 William Manning, Jun Rathdrum, April 13. 
 
 Michael Hearn Callan, August 24. 
 
 Thomas Roche and William Roche Limerick, Sept. 
 
 1802. An act was passed (42 Geo. III. c. 87.) to 
 enable the lord high commissioner or commissioners of 
 his Majesty's treasury in Ireland for the time being, to 
 sell, lease, convey, or dispose of the parliament house 
 in the city of Dublin, and all the premises and appur- 
 tenances thereunto belonging to the governor and com- 
 pany of the bank of Ireland for £40,000 Irish currency, 
 subject to such rents as the premises are now liable to. 
 The money to be applied by the treasury as the parlia- 
 ment may direct. 
 
 The following banks were registered in this year : — 
 
 Namei. Placrs. Dale. 
 
 William Sparrow Enniscorthy Mar.S,lS02. 
 
 Walter Joyce and Mark Lynch Galway, Oct. 30. 
 
 John Redmond Wexford, Nov. IS. 
 
 James Blaker and James Rawson Leighlin Bridge, Dec. 4.
 
 26 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 1803. During this year the following banks were 
 registered : — 
 
 Names. Places. Dale. 
 
 John Rossiter and Co , Ross, Jan. 21,1 803 . 
 
 Anthony CliiFe, John Colclough, John ^ -vr -p F h 1 S 
 
 Berkeley Deane, and John Macleod . . S "' 
 
 Richard Wogan Talbot, the Honourable? titit^-j at t-ia 
 T,T '^ J -ni J rn 1 } Malahide, March 10. 
 
 John Leeson, and lid ward (jrlascock . . ^ 
 
 John Bennett, Thomas Macartney,Thomas 1 p i , A '1 1 
 Bernard, and Henry Macartney J ' '■ 
 
 Perrin and M'^Dowell Wicklow, June 15. 
 
 James Scully and James Scully, Jun Tipperary, July 1. 
 
 John Colclough, John Berkeley Deane, ? -kj t> 
 and Thomas Macleod S ' 
 
 Eyre Evans, Jonathan Bruce, and Wil- ? ^n i -n o *. n 
 ham Roberts ^ Charleville, Sept. 9. 
 
 Robert Langrishe and Anthony Graves .... Thomastown, Sept. 29. 
 
 1804. In this year a committee of the House of 
 Commons was appointed to inquire into the state of 
 Ireland as to its circulating paper, its specie and cur- 
 rent coin, and the exchange between that part of the 
 United Kingdom and Great Britain, and to report the 
 same with their observations and opinions thereupon to 
 the house. 
 
 The committee divided their report into three heads. 
 
 1. "As to the fact of an unfavourable exchange 
 existing, and to what extent. 
 
 2. " As to the causes which have created it. 
 
 3. " As to the remedies which can be resorted to 
 for either removing, or alleviating the inconveniences 
 arising from it." 
 
 Under tlie first head, the committee observe — 
 
 " In Belfast, the bills of exchange are purchased by guineas ; in 
 Dublin, by bank of Ireland and other bankers' notes: and if the 
 exchange between Great Britain and Ireland be stated as it actually 
 exi.sts, where guineas are the circulating medium, your committee 
 would be inclined to think, that the exchange is now, and actually 
 has been in favour of Ireland ; but if it is to be estimated by the 
 rates which prevail where jjaper is the circulating medium, the 
 exchange appears to be now, and to have been since 1798, uniformly 
 against Ireland, and to have arisen to a degree wholly unpre- 
 cedented. The former they would call the real, and the latter the 
 nominal rate ; and the difference between them arises, as far as 
 your committee can form a judgment, from the depreciation of the 
 circulating paper."
 
 BANKING IN IRELAND. 27 
 
 Under the second head the committee state their 
 opinion that this nnfavoiirable state of the exchange 
 arose from the Bank Restriction Act. 
 
 " It compelled the bank to refrain from sending into circulation 
 gold, the only common medium between the two countries. It 
 gave occasion to the great issue of paper which followed to replace 
 the gold so withdrawn, and removed at the same time the best and 
 most eft'ective check against the depreciation of that paper, namely, 
 its convertibility into gold at the will of the holder ; it tended to 
 encourage an unlimited and overabundant issue, by releasing the 
 bank from performing their engagements, and by taking away from 
 them the former criterion, namely, the diminution of their gold, 
 which they were accustomed to look to for judging when their 
 paper became excessive ; it promoted a new and unrestrained trade 
 in paper currency, and excited individuals to speculations which 
 interfered with the steady natural rates of exchange. The number 
 of speculators so encouraged contributed to raise the price of bills 
 on England, which being paid for in depreciated paper, the rate of 
 exchange rose proportionally." 
 
 Under the third head, the committee point out as a 
 remedy, that the Bank of Ireland should accumulate 
 funds in London, and draw bills on London at fixed 
 dates ; the committee state — 
 
 " In case of such event they would also strongly urge the doing 
 away the name of exchange, and putting an end to its calculation, 
 by equalizing the monies of account and monies of circulation in 
 both countries, and the fixing the future interchange by bills at a 
 stated number of days, adequate to defray the expense of remitting 
 at all times, so as fully to adopt the same practice which prevails 
 between Edinburgli and London, and between Liverpool and 
 London." 
 
 With respect to the specie and current coin of 
 Ireland, the committee observe : — 
 
 " The evidence very fully points out the miserable situation of 
 the silver coinage, or rather of the base metal and notes, and I. O. 
 U.'s substituted in its place. 
 
 " This evil is clearly to be traced to the unfavourable exchange. 
 The state of the exchange naturally caused the silver currency of 
 Ireland, so long as it was degraded only in the same degree with the 
 silver currency of England, to transfer itself to this country, where 
 it would pass for the same sum as English silver money. The 
 place of the Irish silver coin so withdrawn was supplied in many
 
 28 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 parts of Ireland by silver notes ; but in Dublin, where notes of 
 a very small description are not issuable, by an extremely base silver 
 coin, which was privately fabricated in great quantities, and to which 
 nothing but the want of any other medium capable of effecting 
 small payments could have given currency. Some impediments 
 having arisen to the circulation of the very base silver, the attention 
 both of the Bank of Ireland and of the government was called to 
 this subject, and measures appear to have been taken in consequence 
 of a communication with his Majesty's privy council, for the coinage 
 and issue by the Bank of Ireland of a considerable quantity of 
 dollars, at the price of six shillings per dollar. These Irish dollars 
 contain the same quantity of silver with those lately issued by the 
 Bank of England at five shillings British, and differ little in ap- 
 pearance, except in having the name and device of the Bank of 
 Ireland in the place of those of the Bank of England. 
 
 " The copper coinage is so defective, that it appears there is not 
 a mint halfpenny in circulation ; and if it shall be thought expedient 
 to equalize the currency by making the shillings contain only twelve 
 pence, your committee submit the advantage of doing so, if it 
 could be accomplished with due regard to other circumstances, 
 before a new copper coinage shall take place, and the making the 
 copper penny, half-penny, and farthing of England equally current 
 in Ireland, as the silver shilling and golden guinea, and to abstain 
 from coining any copper with any separate device, or under any 
 separate weight or description for Ireland." 
 
 The bankers registered this year were as follows : — 
 
 Niimes. Place. I)nte. 
 
 Sir Andrew Ferguson, Bart. Henry Alex- "1 Londonderry. Jan.3, 1804. 
 
 ander, and John Bond > J •' 
 
 Richard Wogan Talbot, Edward Glascock, "i 
 
 (in place of the firm registered on the >Malahide Jan. 27. 
 
 10th of March, 1 803.) ) 
 
 William Williams and Michael Finn .... Dublin Feb. 25. 
 
 Michael Furnell, Mathias Woodraason, } j ■ . , ,^ i ^^ 
 
 , TT r> V Limerick March 26. 
 
 and Henry Bevan ^ 
 
 The following return was made by the collectors of 
 the revenue of the total number of l)anks in Ireland, 
 that issued bank notes, silver notes, and I. O. U.'s. 
 
 Banks issuing notes for even pounds j" Dublin. . . 7 6 
 
 or guineas only \ Watcrford ^ 1 
 
 Banks issuing gold and silver notes 28 
 
 Banks issuing silver notes only 63 
 
 Banks issuing I. O. U.'s 128
 
 BANKING IN IRELAND. 
 
 29 
 
 In addition to these, the return stated that I. O. U.'s were issued 
 by every shopkeeper and pubHcan in Cork, and by several shop- 
 keepers in Kinsale. 
 
 There were no banks in the following districts : Athlone, Belfast, 
 Clones, Coleraine, Donaghadee, Di-ogheda, Dunkalk, Ennis, Foxford, 
 Dundalk, and Newport, Killybegs, Larne, Letterkenny, Lisburne, 
 MuUingar, Newry, Sligo, Strabane, and Strongford. 
 
 An account of tlie amount of stamp duties re- 
 ceived on account of bank notes or bank post bills in 
 Ireland, with the duties of three-halfpence, threepence, 
 and fourpence separately, and the names of the 
 bankers for the year ending 5th January, 1804. 
 
 Bnukers' Names. 
 
 Residence. ^•-J-'^' 
 
 Three- 
 pence. 
 
 Four- 
 pence. 
 
 Total. 
 
 Finlay and Co 
 
 Lighton and Co. . . 
 Beresford and Co.... 
 Roberts and Co. ... 
 
 Cotters and Co 
 
 Roach and Co 
 
 Dublin 
 
 5,000 
 45,455 
 42,500 
 128,000 
 146,800 
 35,004 
 64,100 
 36,600 
 
 7,453 
 21,131 
 36,300 
 34,400 
 
 1,800 
 
 4000 
 
 5,400 
 13,000 
 
 4,000 
 
 1000 
 23,900 
 
 6,000 
 51,600 
 41,500 
 15,825 
 13,000 
 14,700 
 800 
 
 1,800 
 
 509 
 
 68,632 
 
 8,587 
 
 3,400 
 21,800 
 24,938 
 
 1,200 
 67,703 
 
 1,800 
 32,221 
 24,240 
 
 5,40C 
 22,50C 
 26,219 
 
 36,500 
 
 60,500, 
 
 117,300 
 
 3,000 
 
 1,400 
 
 2,075 
 
 6,500 
 
 5,300 
 1,500 
 1,900 
 
 1,700 
 
 500 
 1000 
 
 2,49e 
 
 1000 
 800 
 
 5,400 
 
 1,900 
 
 400 
 630 
 
 5,00C 
 
 26,200 
 23,100 
 29,500 
 
 100 
 3,500 
 
 2,000 
 1,800 
 
 400 
 
 1,500 
 115 
 
 2,050 
 
 £924 3 4^ 
 1,425 6 10 
 2,223 10 10 
 837 10 
 935 
 244 14 3 
 402 5 10 
 368 6 8 
 46 11 7i 
 132 1 4i 
 293 2 6 
 233 15 
 35 
 25 
 55 
 81 5 
 31 5 
 18 15 
 149 7 6 
 37 10 
 355 16 8 
 320 11 6 
 98 18 li 
 93 15 
 101 17 6 
 5 
 115 
 3 3 7A 
 428 19 
 53 13 41 
 21 5 
 210 8 4 
 155 17 3 
 7 10 
 446 17 101 
 115 
 231 7 7i 
 161 5 10 
 33 15 
 140 12 6 
 260 10 8i 
 
 Ditto 
 
 Ditto 
 
 
 Ditto 
 
 Ditto 
 
 Ditto 
 
 
 Waterford 
 
 Limerick 
 
 Ditto 
 
 Maunsell and Co.... 
 
 Roach and Co 
 
 Riall and Co 
 
 Watson and Co. . . . 
 Redmond and Co. . . 
 
 Codd and Co 
 
 Ilatchell and Co. . . . 
 Sparrow and Co. ... 
 
 Williams and Co 
 
 Loughlan and Co.... 
 Anderson and Co.... 
 Rawson and Co. ... 
 Delacour and Co.... 
 Bernard and Co. ... 
 Herron and Co. ... 
 
 Giles and Co 
 
 Scully and Co 
 
 Manning and Co.... 
 Barron and Co. . . . 
 
 Tallon and Co 
 
 Joyce and Co 
 
 Blacker and Co. ... 
 Rossiter and Co. . . . 
 
 Clonmel 
 
 Ditto 
 
 Wexford 
 
 Ditto 
 
 Ditto 
 
 Enniscorthy ... 
 
 Kilkenny 
 
 Ditto 
 
 Fermoy 
 
 Atliy 
 
 Mallow 
 
 j'.irr 
 
 Callan 
 
 Voughall 
 
 Tipperary 
 
 Rathdrum 
 
 Dungarvon . . . 
 Ditto 
 
 Galway 
 
 Leighlin Bridge 
 Ross 
 
 Ditto 
 
 Talbot and Co 
 
 Foley and Co 
 
 Trench and Co 
 
 Perren and Co 
 
 Evans and Co 
 
 Langrishe and Co . . 
 Redmond and Co.... 
 
 Codd and Co 
 
 Bennett and Co. . . . 
 
 Malahide 
 
 I'uam 
 
 Wicklow 
 
 Charleville ... 
 Thomastown . . . 
 Enniscorthy ... 
 Ditto 
 
 
 1,110,217 
 
 ,256,801 
 
 90,265 
 
 11,653 5 8i
 
 30 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 As the law then stood all notes under three guineas, 
 were required to be on a three-halfpenny stamp ; under 
 £10, on a threepenny stamp; and under £50, on a four- 
 penny stamp. The present stamp duties are: — under 
 £5, three-halfpence; under £10, sixpence; under £50, 
 eightpence; under £100, two shillings; £100 and 
 above, three shillings. 
 
 1805. The Act of 1799 repealed, and notes of any 
 amount, not less than one pound, were again permitted 
 to be issued by private bankers. 
 
 In this year notes under £1 were abolished in Ire- 
 land. The following is the form of some of these notes 
 which I have in my possession : — 
 
 THE SILVER BANK. 
 I promise to pay the Bearer on demand, Six Shillings, 
 here or in Dublin, at No. 10, St. Andrew Street, in Notes of the 
 Bank of Ireland. 
 
 Malahide, the 1st day of February, 1804. 
 
 For Richard Wogan Talbot and Edward Glascock. 
 Six Shillings. Edward Glascock. 
 
 Entered 
 
 MALAHIDE BANK. 
 
 I promise to pay the Bearer on demand. Three Shilhngs 
 and Ninepence-halfpenny, pursuant to Act of Parliament, here or at 
 Messrs. Mason and Thomas, No. 10, St. Andrew Street, Dublin. 
 Malahide, 1st August, 1803. 
 
 For Richard Wogan Talbot, Honorable John Leeson, and 
 
 Edward Glascock. 
 Three Shillings and Ninepence-halfpenny. Edward Glascock. 
 
 Some were drawn in the form of cheques and signed 
 by the banker's clerk, as the following: 
 
 A lK)ok ])ul)lishcd a few years ago, entitled, " The 
 Clubs of London," contains the following humorous 
 account of a bank that issued small notes. 
 
 " To speak of the banking system in Ireland during the late war, 
 and, indeed, at the present day," said an Irish gentleman, one 
 evening at Brookes'?, " is as bad as talking of a fire to a man who has
 
 BANKING IN IRELAND. 31 
 
 been burned out, and lost all his property in the flames. To such 
 an extent was this species of robbery carried, at one time, that pro- 
 vincial or country notes were issued for sums so low as threepence ; 
 whilst those for six shillings were actually accounted high.'' 
 
 Another gentleman having expressed amazement at this state of 
 things, the first speaker gave the following instance of the truth of 
 his assertion: — 
 
 " In the town of Killarney," said he, " was one of those banks ; the 
 proprietor of which was a kind of saddler, whose whole stock in that 
 trade was not worth forty shillings ; but which forty shillings, if 
 even so much, was the entire amount of his capital in the banking 
 concern. 
 
 " I once accompanied a large party of English ladies and gentle- 
 men to that enchanting spot ; where, having amused ourselves for a 
 few days, we were on the point of returning to Dublin, Avhen one of 
 the party recollected that he had in his possession a handful of the 
 saddler's paper. Accordingly we all set out, by w^ay of sport, to 
 have them exchanged ; one principal object being to see and converse 
 with the proprietor of such a bank. 
 
 " Having entered the shop, which barely sufficed to admit the 
 "whole company, we found the banking saddler hard at work, making 
 a straddle. One of the gentlemen thus addressed him : — 
 
 " ' Good morning to you. Sir ! I presume you are the gentleman 
 of the house.' 
 
 " ' At your service, ladies and gentlemen,' retxirned the saddler. 
 
 " ' It is here, I understand, that the bank is kept ?' continued my 
 friend. 
 
 " ' You are just right, Sir,' replied the mechanic ; ' this is the 
 Killarney Bank, for want of a better. 
 
 " My friend then said — ' We are on the eve of quitting your town ; 
 and as we have some few of your notes, which will be of no manner 
 of use to us elsewhere, I'll thank you for cash for them.' 
 
 " The banker replied, ' Cash ! plase your honour, what is that.'' 
 is it any thing in the leather line ? — I have a beautiful saddle here 
 as ever was put across a horse ; good and chape, upon my say so. 
 How much of my notes have you, Sir, if you jilase ?' 
 
 " This question required some time for an answer, calculation 
 
 being necessary ; at length my friend counted them out as follows : 
 
 s. (I. 
 
 Three notes for 3d. each 9 
 
 Two do. for 4d. each 8 
 
 Two do. for 6|d. each, half a thirteen 1 1 
 
 Three do. for 8|d. each, three-fourths of a thirteen 2 \\ 
 
 Two do. for 9d. each 1 6 
 
 One do. for Is. Id. or one thirteen 1 1 
 
 One do. for Is. Gd 1 6 
 
 One do. for 3s. 3d. or three thirteens 3 3 
 
 One do. for 3s. Sjd. or three thirteens and a half 3 9f 
 
 15 9
 
 32 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 " ' There, Sir,' said he, are no less than sixteen of your promises 
 to pay, for the amazing large sum of fifteen shillings and ninepence, 
 sterling money.' 
 
 " ' I should be sorry, most noble,' returned the banker, ' to waste 
 any more of your Lordship's time, or of those sweet beautiful ladies 
 and gentlemen ; but I have an iligant bridle here, as isn't to be 
 matched in Yoorup, Aishy, Afrikey, or Merikey ; it's lowest price is 
 15s. 6^d. — we'll say 15s. 6d. to yer Lordship. If ye'll be pleased 
 to accept of it, there will be twopence halfpenny, or a threepenny 
 note coming to your Lordship ; and that will close the business at 
 once.' " 
 
 1808. The Belfast bank established. John Holmes 
 Houston, Esq., a partner in this bank, delivered the 
 following evidence before the Parliamentary com- 
 mittee in 1826. 
 
 " Were you in business previous to the time when your bank was 
 established .'' Yes ; I was in mercantile business ; but I was origi- 
 nally a partner in that bank, and have been in it since it was 
 established. 
 
 " Of what did the circulation of Belfast consist previous to that 
 period ? Mostly guineas. 
 
 " Did those guineas disappear ? The guineas disappeared after 
 the banks were established ; they went out of circulation. There 
 was another cause, a very high premium paid on guineas for sending 
 abroad, in consequence of the exchange, and paying the troops, and 
 they were mostly bought up at a premium. 
 
 " Was there any inconvenience experienced in the trade of Belfast 
 during the time that the circulation consisted chiefly of gold ? The 
 chief inconvenience was, I think, that the persons who wanted to 
 have bills discontinued at that time, were obliged to pay a very high 
 premium for it. There was a discount office, and that discount 
 office charged a discount and a premium on the bills, which made it 
 amount to about nine per cent, to the persons requiring discount. 
 
 '* Previous to the time when there was a discount on gold, was 
 there any inconvenience felt in the circulation ? Yes ; I think it 
 has happened that a person who has wanted a £300 or a £400 bill 
 discounted on London, was obliged to go to a monicd man in Bel- 
 fast, and give him this bill ; and this person probably might not have 
 all the money at the time. He would say, I will give you £100, and 
 will give you the remainder when I can get it. And it might be a 
 week probably before the remainder was got. Occasionally some- 
 times they got it immediately. In fact there did not appear to be 
 sufficient capital. 
 
 " Your notes arc payable in Dublin only ? Yes ; in Dublin, our 
 notes were so printed, and we have made no alteration. 
 
 " How docs your notes run .'' I promise to pay the bearer on
 
 BANKING IN IRELAND. 33 
 
 demand, so much at the house of Solomon Watson, Esq., in Sack- 
 ville Street, Dublin. 
 
 " Have you any objection to stating what has been the amount of 
 your circulation ? — I have no objection to answer that question. I 
 took it from our books before I left home, that I might be able to 
 answer correctly. 
 
 1811 the average of » £249,000 
 the year - -) 
 
 1812 - - - 354,000 
 
 In 1819, the ave 
 the year 
 1820 - 
 
 rage 
 
 °^| £412,000 
 
 . 
 
 "- 300,000 
 
 1813 - 
 
 - 396,000 
 
 1821 - 
 
 - 
 
 - 310,000 
 
 1814 - 
 
 - 378,000 
 
 1822 - 
 
 . 
 
 - 268.000 
 
 1815 - 
 
 - 313,000 
 
 1823 - 
 
 - 
 
 - 297,000 
 
 1816 - 
 
 - 239,000 
 
 1824 - 
 
 - 
 
 - 300.000 
 
 1817 - 
 
 - 271,000 
 
 1825 - 
 
 - 
 
 - 351,000 
 
 1818 - 
 
 •• 389,000 
 
 
 
 
 " How many agents do you employ ? — I think seven or eight. We 
 have an agent in Derry, one in Armagh, one in Ballymena, one in 
 Newry, one in Coleraine, one in Dundalk, and an agent in Ban- 
 bridge. These are all we have at present." 
 
 In this year the capital of the bank of Ireland was 
 increased by 48 Geo. III. c. 103, from £1,500,000 
 to £2,500,000. Two-thirds of the new stock to be 
 subscribed by the proprietors of the old. The bank 
 empowered to borrow money to the extent of its 
 capital. The charter was now extended until the end 
 of twelve months notice, to be given after the first day 
 of January, 1837, and the repayment of all sums 
 due to the bank by the government. The bank were 
 to manage the public debt, and pay the dividends 
 without expense to the government. 
 
 1810. The following information was given to the 
 Bullion Committee by E. Wakefield, Esq., respecting 
 the circulation of Ireland: — 
 
 " I will endeavour to give you a list of the items that compose the 
 circulating medium of the sister island, and the means by which 
 transfers are affected without the intervention of that medium. 
 
 1. " Issues of the National Bank — which are partly jiapcr, and 
 partly tokens. The paper consists of notes payable to bearer on 
 demand, and notes payable to order seven days after sight. The 
 tokens are Spanish dollars stamped as tokens, for six shillings Irish 
 currency, and amount to £200,000. This last issue is partly a credit 
 medium, for the dollar is worth only about 4s. 3d. or 4s. 6d., and 
 the difference between this intrinsic value and the sum of six shil- 
 lings, at which they are issued, is completely a credit given by the 
 public, and rests on the same foundation as an issue of paper. 
 
 D
 
 34 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 2. " Issues of private bankers. — The banking-houses in Dublin, 
 except those of Messrs. Latouche and Co., and Sir Thomas New- 
 comen and Co., issue notes payable to bearer as well as the country- 
 banks. 
 
 " The issues of private bankers, are notes payable in bank of Ire- 
 land notes, and not in specie. 
 
 " Private bankers' post bills are likewise made payable in bank of 
 Ireland notes ; and as they require acceptance ten days before they 
 are payable, they are kept in a forced circulation. 
 
 " The Lurgan Londonderry, and two Belfast banks, make their 
 notes payable in Dublin as well as at their own house : but nearly 
 all the other private bankers make their notes only payable at the 
 place whence they are issued. 
 
 " The notes of both the bank of Ireland and of private bankers, 
 are now for one or more pounds, not for a guinea, or £1 2s. 9d. cur- 
 rency as they were formerly. 
 
 " All private bankers in Ireland are compelled by the 29 Geo. 11. 
 c. 16., to take out a licence, and prohibited from trading, which has 
 thrown the banking trade into the hands of a wealthier class of per- 
 sons than it would otherwise have been in. The prohibition against 
 bankers trading, has deprived them of some of their means of forcing 
 paper into circulation ; but this obstacle has been more than over- 
 come by the increased activity and use of those left. 
 
 " Private bankers have for a long time regularly collected the 
 specie in circulation, but on no occasion voluntarily issued it, which 
 has caused guineas to disappear from three provinces, and heightens 
 the premium on them. The recent establishment of two banks at 
 Belfast, threatens the same consequences in the north. 
 
 " It is common for private bankers to pay a commission to butter- 
 factors, corn-buyers, and other dealers, on the amount of the paper 
 they can issue. Though the paymasters of regiments are prohibited 
 from this practice, and are supplied with the bank of Ireland notes, yet 
 these notes are exchanged for smaller ones by the country bankers, 
 and are thus withdrawn from circulation, and replaced by private 
 paper. 
 
 " At Ballinasloc fair, all payments are made in bills on Dublin, at 
 sixty-one days date ; and although the business done there is im- 
 mense, the Galway bankers attend, and arc ready to exchange these 
 bills at par for their own notes. 
 
 " The bank of Ireland is restrained by their charter from taking a 
 larger discount than five per cent. ; and those Dublin bankers who 
 issue paper discount at that rate in their own notes, but the two 
 banknig-houscs which do not issue paper, charge the legal rate of 
 discount, which is six per cent. 
 
 " Under this head of issues of private banks, I wish to add that 
 there is in Ireland a circulation of forged notes, of which no one 
 here can form an idea ; and the amount of which it is impossible to 
 guess, although it is known to be enormous ; indeed, so large as to 
 deserve a place in every calculation of the amount of the circulating 
 medium of the sister island.
 
 BANKING IN IRELAND 35 
 
 " In the city and neighbourhood of DubUn, bank of Ireland, and 
 Dublin private bankers' paper constitutes the circulating medium. 
 
 " Kilkenny, Wexford, Waterford, Youghall, Clonmel, Fermoy, 
 Cork, Mallow, Limerick, Ennis, Galway, and Tuam, have private 
 bankers, whose paper is the prevailing, and in most instances, the 
 entire circulating medium of their respective neighbourhoods. Each 
 of these private banks have by them some quantity of bank of Ireland 
 paper, which, however, they never issue when they can avoid doing 
 so. They all draw bills upon London at thirty-one days, which is a 
 premium of one half per cent. : and one cause of their only paying 
 tbeir notes at their own banks, is to secure this profit. 
 
 3. " Pro7nissort/ notes, called silver notes — are in circulation in 
 the counties of Kerry, Limerick, Clare, and Cork, in direct violation 
 of the law which prohibits the issue of notes for small sums. But 
 great art is used to evade the penalties to which the issuers of such 
 notes are liable. They are drawn as if they were the wcigh-bills of 
 corn buyers, as I. O. U., or bearing a date previous to the act. The 
 amount of this species of paper is inconsiderable. 
 
 4. " Bills of exchange — greatly aid transfers, and supply the place 
 of circulating medium, especially those drawn on Dublin, which pass 
 from hand to hand till they fall due. 
 
 5. " Tally payments. — There is a considerable transfer of property 
 and payment for labour in various parts of Ireland, by tally between 
 landlords and their tenants ; the work of the latter being set against 
 the rent and property of the former. 
 
 6. " Guineas. — It is a general opinion that guineas are hoarded, 
 and there are some facts with which I am acquainted that seems to 
 support it. I have been assured by several, that they always lay by 
 every guinea they receive, looking upon them as a rarity ; and I am 
 sure that in consequence many affix an ideal value to coin. One 
 person told me he had borrowed bank notes at an interest of twelve 
 per cent., with which to pay his rent, though he had gold by him 
 which he woidd not part with. 
 
 " In that part of Ireland in which guineas still circulate, two 
 prices are put on every article offered for sale ; and it is common to 
 buy at the coin price, and pay in paper, when the buyer pays in addi- 
 tion what is called the discount, which however is the premium of 
 guineas. 
 
 " The quantity of gold in the north of Ireland has been much over- 
 rated. I have known the agents of absentee proprietors supply a 
 shop-keeper with a few guineas to sell to the tenants at a premium, 
 on the day that their rents are payable, which on the rents being 
 paid, were again given to the shop-keeper to resell; and this ope- 
 ration to the profit of the agents and the shop-keeper, and to the 
 delusion of the public, has been repeated with the same guineas 
 several times in one day. I have not heard of this trick any where 
 but in the north, where it is supposed guineas circulate, and the agents 
 pretend that their employers insist on being paid their rents in gold. 
 
 7. " Spanish dollars — are imported by individuals from Liver-
 
 36 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 pool chiefly, and circulate without a stamp at an uncertain value, 
 
 according to their weight and the market price of silver, 
 
 8. " Bank tokens — are issued by the treasury to the bank of Ire- 
 land, who issue them to the pubhc : they are of silver, and are for 
 five-pence, ten-pence, and thirty-pence. The act which makes it an 
 offence to coin them, directs them to be received at the exchequer, 
 and thus secures their value to the public. They were stamped bank 
 tokens, because the bank had previously issued dollars so stamped, 
 and it was therefore deemed a less innovation. They were issued 
 for the above sums, both as forming change for the stamped dollar, 
 and to confine their circulation to Ireland. These tokens amount to 
 £955,000 British. They are not current by the king's proclamation 
 like mint coin. 
 
 9. " Copper coin — consists of pence and halfpence. There was 
 anew coinage of 600 tons since the year 1804. Thirteen of these 
 pence represent a British shilling. 
 
 10. " English mint silver — is seldom seen, and not current, except 
 in Cork and its neighbourhood, which I apprehend arises from the 
 frequent communication with English shipping. 
 
 11. " In the King's county, Lord Charleville has issued a piece 
 of copper about the size and weight of a penny piece, promising 
 the payment of 13d. every Tuesday in Tullamore, which is the cur- 
 rency of small payments in that neighbourhood." 
 
 1812. In tliis year Lord Stanhope's act, which had 
 been passed the preceding year, to prevent Bank of 
 England notes being taken at less than their nominal 
 value, was extended to Bank of Ireland notes in Ire- 
 land. The act of 1812 was to continue in force until 
 three months after the next session of Parliament; but 
 in 1814, it was continued during the existence of the 
 Bank Restriction Act. 
 
 1821. The capital of the Bank of Ireland increased 
 from £2,500,000 to £3,000,000. The additional sum 
 of £500,000 was taken from the Bank's surplus fund, 
 and lent to the government at four per cent., to be 
 repaid by the 1st January, 1838. The increased capi- 
 tal was divided among the proprietors, at the rate of 
 £20 for every £100 they possessed. In consideration 
 of this increase of capital, the bank consented to a 
 clause in this act, whereby persons in partnership 
 residing fifty miles from 1)u])lin, might carry on the 
 business of banking, although such partncrshi}) might 
 consist of more than six partners; but that such part-
 
 BANKING IN IRELAND. 37 
 
 uersliip should possess no other privilege than being- 
 allowed to sue and be sued in tlie name of a public 
 officer, should Parliament hereafter think fit to grant 
 such a power. This privilege was of little practical 
 use, for, according to the construction put upon the 
 act, it required that all the partners in these banks 
 should reside in Ireland. 
 
 1824. The Hibernian Joint Stock Bank was formed 
 in this year. The following account of the origin 
 of this bank is given by John Robinson Pirn, Esq. 
 of Dublin: — 
 
 " A number of Roman Catholic gentlemen finding they were con- 
 tinued to be excluded from the direction of the Bank of Ireland, met 
 together, and obtained the signatures, not only of Roman Catholics, 
 but of a number of others, amongst the rest myself, to the esta- 
 blishment of this bank ; many merchants signed it, as considering 
 that by having an opposition bank in such a city as Dublin, 
 advantages would frequently be derived from it, and not altogether 
 looking to the emolument which thej?^ should receive as subscribers 
 to the bank, but looking at it as citizens generally ; I myself never 
 calculated on a very great deal of profit from it, exce])t at a very 
 remote period. Some of the individuals who undertook it came 
 over to London, and they had expected to obtain the power of 
 issuing notes, but they met with so much opposition from the Bank 
 of Ireland, there were some of the directors of the Bank of Ireland 
 came over here in order to oppose it, and the clauses which tliey 
 intended to enable them to issue notes were expunged in the com- 
 mittee ; but I state this only from hearsay. 
 
 " Does the Hibernian Bank hold out any inducement to the 
 tradesmen of Dublin to make a deposit with them more than they 
 Avould experience from the Bank of Ireland } — Notliing more ; but 
 probably party motives may induce many individuals to lodge their 
 money with the Hibernian Bank, in preference to the Bank of 
 Ireland." 
 
 Its nominal capital is £1,000,000, divided into 
 10,000 shares of £100 each. £25 per cent, has been 
 paid upon each sliare, so that the money actually ad- 
 vanced amounts to £250,000. This bank receives 
 deposits, but grants no interest on them, as it is not 
 deemed respectable in Dublin for a l)anker to do so. It 
 cannot issue notes, nor establisli brandies. It docs not 
 grant cash-credits, but it discounts bills at five per cent, 
 in doino; which it issues gold and Bank of Ireland
 
 38 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 notes. The London agents for this company are 
 Messrs. H. and J. Johnston and Co. 9, Scot's Yard, 
 Bush Lane. 
 
 In the same year this company obtained an act, en- 
 titled, " An act to enable the Hibernian Joint Stock 
 Company, for the purpose of purchasing and selling 
 annuities, and all public and other securities, real and 
 personal, in L'eland, and to advance money and make 
 loans thereof, on the security of such real and personal 
 security, at legal interest, and on the security of mer- 
 chandize and manufactured goods, to sue and be sued 
 in the name of the governor or secretary for the time 
 being."* 
 
 The preamble states, that — • 
 
 " "Whereas, the commerce and manufacturers and agriculture of 
 Ireland has long laboured under great disadvantage, arising from 
 the want of due command of capital ; and that merchants and 
 manufacturers have no means of procuring temjoorary advances of 
 money on a deposit of their goods, when a slackness of demand 
 arises ; and whereas several persons have agreed to form themselves 
 into a company, or partnership, under the name of the ' Hibernian 
 Joint Stock Company,' and have subscribed or I'aised considerable 
 sums of money in order to purchase and sell annuities and all public 
 and other securities, real and personal, in Ireland ; or to make loans 
 and advances of money on the security thereof, and on the security 
 of merchandize and manufactured goods, at legal interest, and to 
 receive lodgments of money or deposits thereof; and great public 
 benefit is expected to be derived to tlie trade, manufactures, and 
 agriculture of Ireland from the formation of such a company, or 
 partnership; and whereas difficulties may arise from time to time," &c. 
 
 It is enacted, that this company may sue and be sued 
 in the name of their governor or secretary. A memo- 
 rial of the names of the governor, secretary, and 
 members, and of the transfer of sliarcs, to lie enrolled 
 in Chancery; and no actions to be brought by the 
 company, imder the authority of this act, until such 
 memorial shall have been enrolled. Execution upon 
 any judgmcMit against the governor or secretary may 
 be issued against any of the members, who are to be 
 reimbursed their expenses by the company. 
 
 * Anno quinto Gcorgii IV. Regis cap. 159.
 
 BANKING IN IRELAND. 39 
 
 " Provided always, and be it further enacted, that it shall not be 
 lawful for the said company, or any person or persons on behalf of 
 the said company, in any manner to stipulate, contract, or agree 
 with any person or persons to limit or restrict the liability of the 
 members of the said company, or any of them, or to make any 
 special agreement in relation to the extent of the liability of the 
 said company or any of them. 
 
 " Provided always, and be it further enacted, that the powers and 
 provisions of this act shall not take effect until the members of the 
 said company shall have subscribed and engaged to pay by a contract, 
 binding the subscribers, their heirs, executors, and administrators 
 for payment of the money so subscribed (according to the amount 
 of their respective subscriptions) to the amount of four-fifths of the 
 capital of one million so intended to be created, nor until the sum 
 of two hundred and fifty thousand pounds; part of such sum so to 
 be subscribed, shall have been paid into the Bank of Ireland, or 
 invested in stock of the governor and company of the Banks of 
 England or Ireland, or government securities, in the name of the 
 governors and directors of the said intended Hibernian Joint Stock 
 Company, for the benefit and use of the said company." 
 
 In this year an act was passed (5 Geo. IV. c. 73.) " to 
 relieve bankers in Ireland from certain restraints im- 
 posed by the provisions of the 29 Geo. II., and to render 
 all and each of the members of certain copartnerships 
 of bankers, which may be established, liable to the en- 
 gagements of such copartnerships, and to enable such 
 copartnerships to sue and be sued in the name of their 
 public officer." 
 
 Those clauses in the former act that required the 
 names of all the partners to be subscribed to the notes, 
 and which prohibited bankers being traders are b}^ this 
 act repealed. Banking partnerships exceeding six 
 persons, and carrying on business at any place beyond 
 fifty miles from Dublin, shall be registered at the 
 stamp office, Dublin; and also the names of tlie public 
 officers, in whose names such partnerships sue and are 
 sued. The names of those public officers were also 
 required to be subscribed to all notes and receipts 
 issued by the company. Judgments against the public 
 officers to operate as judgment against the partnership, 
 and execution upon judgment may be issued against 
 any member of the society, and the public officer to be 
 saved harmless. --
 
 40 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 Under this act was established the Northern Banking' 
 Company, This was originally a private bank at Bel- 
 fast, and called the Northern Bank. But after the 
 passing of this act it was formed into a joint stock com- 
 pany under its present title. The capital is £500,000, 
 in 5000 shares of £100 each. Their London agents 
 are Messrs. H. and I. Johnstone, 15, Bush Lane. 
 
 Section IIL 
 
 The History of Banking in Ireland from the 
 establishment of the Provincial Bank of Ireland to the 
 present time. 
 
 Public banks may be divided into three classes: — 
 first, Chartered Banks, those which have received a 
 charter from the crown; — secondly, Joint Stock Banks, 
 formed under the common law; and thirdly. Joint 
 Stock Banks, formed under the statute law. 
 
 The common law of England allows any number of 
 persons to form themselves into a partnership to carry 
 on banking. At the same time, it presents this incon- 
 venience in the formation of such partnerships — in 
 all actions at law, it is necessary to state the names 
 of all the individuals who compose the company. 
 Another inconvenience of partnerships formed under 
 the common law, is, that all the partners are answer- 
 able for the debts of the company, to the full extent of 
 their property, not only while they are partners, but 
 after they have ceased to be })artners, as ftir as regards 
 any transactions that took place during tlic continu- 
 ance of their partnership. The banks avoid these in- 
 conveniences in the first place by conducting tlieir bu- 
 siness in the names of trustees, in tlie same way as 
 some of the insurance companies ; and in the second
 
 BANKING IN IRELAND. 41 
 
 place, by inserting a clause in the deed of settlement 
 that in case the bank should lose one-third or one- 
 fourth the amount of its paid-up capital it shall im- 
 mediately be dissolved. 
 
 The statutes G Geo. IV. c. 42. with reference to 
 Ireland, and 7 Geo. IV. c. 46. with reference to 
 England, not only repealed those acts of Parliament 
 which prohibited the formation of banking companies 
 having more than six partners, but they also removed 
 the inconveniences of the common law. It was enacted, 
 that it should no longer be necessary, in legal actions, 
 that the names of all the partners should be placed 
 upon the record ; but that the company should register 
 at the stamp office the name of some one person, in 
 whose name they wished to sue and be sued. Any 
 party, who had a disputed claim upon the company, 
 must sue this public officer, and when he had obtained 
 a verdict in his favour, he might issue judgment against 
 all the partners in the same way as though he had ob- 
 tained a verdict against them all. And that he might 
 have no difficulty in ascertaining who were or were 
 not partners, it was required, that the names of all the 
 partners should be annually registered at the stamp 
 office. The statute law also obviated the second incon- 
 venience of the common law, by enacting that every 
 partner, as soon as he had transferred his share, should 
 be released from all liability as to the subsequent acts 
 of the company, and at the end of three years he 
 was no longer liable for any acts that took place even 
 at the time he was a partner. 
 
 The Provincial Bank of Ireland was formed under 
 the statute 6 Geo. IV. c. 42. Few banks have, in so 
 short a time, advanced to so high a degree of pros- 
 perity. The circumstances of Ireland, at that period, 
 were friendly to the growth of such an establish- 
 ment. The recent abolition of the union duties, and 
 the introduction of steam-boats, had given a stimulus 
 to tlie trade between tlie two countries, while nearly 
 all the banks in the South of Ireland had been swept
 
 42 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 as by a whirlwind from the face of the land. The 
 operations of the bank were also facilitated by the 
 assimilation of the currency, and the measures taken 
 by the government and the bank of Ireland, to pre- 
 vent those fluctuations in the exchanges which had 
 previously existed. But the prosperity of this bank 
 must be attributed chiefly to the wisdom and pru- 
 dence manifested in its constitution and in its sub- 
 sequent government. The capital was raised chiefly 
 in England, and London was consequently made the 
 seat of government. The board of directors was 
 composed of merchants and statesmen, and the latter 
 were taken from the leading men of the two parties 
 into which Ireland was then divided. The local p'o- 
 vernments of the respective branches in Ireland was 
 composed of directors possessing local knowledge and 
 influence, and of managers selected for their expe- 
 rience in banking, and the manager had a vote upon 
 the decision of the board. An inspector was appointed 
 to visit the branches, and to report to the London 
 ofiice. 
 
 At the same time the bank had considerable difficul- 
 ties to contend against. Property in Ireland was consi- 
 dered insecure; political and religious feelings often 
 interfered with matters of business ; the habits of the 
 people were not commercial; and tlie country had 
 suffered so severely from private banking, that confi- 
 dence was not easily acquired for a new company, the 
 members and constitution of wliich were but imperfectly 
 known. Before these difficulties liad been completely 
 overcome, the bank became involved in a competition 
 with brandies of the bank of Ireland, and exposed to 
 sudden demands for gold arising out of political 
 events. 
 
 The Provincial Bank of Irelnnd was projected in 
 the year 1824. The following is a cop}^ of the pro- 
 spectus : —
 
 BANKING IN IRELAND. 43 
 
 PROSPECTUS OF THE PROVINCIAL BANK OF IRELAND. 
 Capital £2,000,000. 
 
 " Joint Stock Banking Companies have been the most uniformly 
 successful of any of our commercial establishments ; and when con- 
 structed upon proper principles, and a scale of sufficient magnitude, 
 have invariably proved a safe and profitable medium for the invest- 
 ment of capital. 
 
 " The banking business of Scotland is almost entirely conducted by 
 these companies, and the prices of their shares is the best criterion of 
 their success. Of the four Edinburgh banks, the Bank of Scotland, 
 and the Royal Bank of Scotland, with capitals of a million and a 
 half each, are at a premium of from 70 to 100 per cent. The stock of 
 the Commercial Bank, which only commenced in 1810, and had to 
 contend with a violent opposition, in a field completely pre-occupied, 
 and the most disastrous times on commercial record, is at 70 per cent, 
 premium. The British Linen Company 10 or 12 years ago, had, by 
 the accumulation of its reserved fund or savings, raised its capital 
 from £200,000 to £500,000, since which, notwithstanding the com- 
 mercial distresses which have happened, and the increased competition 
 it has had to encounter, its stock of £500,000, has risen to 200 per 
 cent, premium ; so that an original share of £200 is now worth £1500. 
 The provincial banks have been equally profitable : — a share of one 
 of the Aberdeen banks, which cost £150 at its first commencement 
 about forty or fifty years ago, is worth £2,200, and their stocks 
 generally bear a premium of from 100 to 300 per cent. 
 
 " The profitable returns which these companies have thus made for 
 the capital invested in them, have only been proportionate to the 
 benefits which they have conferred upon the country. To its great 
 commercial and agricultural prosperity they have very principally 
 contributed ; and by the recent measures of government, a field has 
 been opened for their introduction into Ireland. 
 
 " By an arrangement made with the Bank of Ireland in 1821, 
 and by an act passed last session of Parliament to repeal certain 
 laws peculiar to Ireland, which have since obstructed their formation, 
 joint stock banks may be established at a distance exceeding fifty 
 miles from Dublin. Thus the principal and most commercial parts 
 of Ireland are free to receive institutions of this nature ; and it is 
 proposed to form one which shall extend itself over the ground in 
 question. 
 
 " Ireland also offers peculiar inducements to such an undertaking. 
 Interest of money is at six per cent, and five may be had upon the 
 best securities ; by which means the capital of a bank, not required 
 for its current use, may be advantageously employed, independent of 
 the profits derived from its banking business. The success of the 
 Bank of Ireland, the only joint stock banking company which has 
 been established there, is a proof of the value of banking in that
 
 44 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 countiy, and the best test by which to determine the merits of a 
 similar undertaking. It was commenced in 1784. Its present capital 
 stock is £3,000,000, five hundred thousand pounds of which was 
 added in 1821, out of the accumulated profits of the company, over 
 and above a dividend of 10 per cent, regularly paid on its previous 
 capital. It is still supposed to have a considerable reserved fund, 
 and £100 of its stock sells for £260. 
 
 " Conceiving, therefore, that the opening afforded presents a most 
 favorable opportunity for such an establishment, it is proposed to form 
 one, to be termed the Irish Provincial Bank,* upon the following 
 principles, subject to such modifications or improvements as the ex- 
 perience of the committee or directors, may hereafter suggest. 
 
 " The bunk to have a capital q/ £2,000,000 if necessai-y, subscribed 
 in shares q/" £100 each. To have a board of directors in London, 
 and establishments for business in the principal towns of Ireland, 
 which are distant above fifty miles from Dublin. At each of these 
 places, a part of its stock to be subscribed, and from the stockholders 
 a local board of directors to be chosen. The establishments to be 
 managed by steady experienced persons sent from England, with the 
 advice and under the inspection of the local directors, but subject to 
 the entire controul of the London board, to whom accounts shall be 
 regularly transmitted. 
 
 " By this plan, an extensive field of business, local knowledge, and 
 unlimited credit, will be combined with a vigilant system of manage- 
 ment, eminently calculated to turn these advantages to the best ac- 
 count, and secure the utmost prosperity to the undertaking. At the 
 same time, as an able and judicious system of banking is one of the 
 greatest commercial advantages which a country can possess, the 
 benefits derived by Ireland from this company ^\•ill be verj' great. 
 
 " For the purpose, therefore, of promoting its establishment, a 
 meeting was held at the British Coffee House, Cockspur Street, 
 loth June, 1824. 
 
 " Thomas Potter Macqueen, Esq. AT. P. in the Chair; 
 
 When — " It was Resolved, — That banks, the particular business of 
 " which is to deal in money, afford in the course of their transactions 
 " the most accurate knowledge of those who arc worthy of credit, 
 " and capable of employing capital with greatest advantage to them- 
 " selves and the community, and are the best instruments to promote 
 " its circulation wherever it may be required. 
 
 "Resolved,- — That joint stock banking companies, which have 
 " been conducted with great success in Scotland, and which at the 
 " period of their first establishment, arc known to have given a 
 " very beneficial impulse to the trade of that country, appear well 
 " suited to the present state of Ireland, where caj)ital is much wanted, 
 " and where in many important agricultural and commercial districts 
 " there are no banks whatever. 
 
 * The title was afterweirds altered to " 'I'he Provincial Bank of 
 Ireland."
 
 BANKING IN IRELAND. 
 
 45 
 
 " Resolved, — That a banking company, on the plan proposed to 
 the meeting, would form the best means of introducing British 
 capital into Ireland, and by securing a system of safe and prudent 
 management, appears calculated to perpetuate in that country the 
 advantages to be derived from good l;anks, while it offers to its 
 stockholders the prospect of a highly beneficial undertaking. 
 
 " Resolved, — That a bank on this plan, to be termed the Irish 
 Provincial Banking Company, be established ; and the following 
 gentlemen be appointed a committee, with power to add to their 
 numbers, and take such steps as shall appear necessary to carry 
 the establishment into effect: — 
 
 The Most Noble the Marquis 
 
 OF Sligo 
 The Right Hon. the Earl of 
 
 Ormonde and Ossery 
 The Right Hon. the Earl of 
 
 donoughmore 
 The Rt. Hon. Lord Carbery 
 Lesley Alexander, Esq. 
 Matthias Attwood, Esq. M. P. 
 J. C. CuRWEN, Esq. M. P. 
 G. R. Dawson, Esq. M. P. 
 Henry Douglas, Esq. 
 Sir John Doyle, Bart. 
 Sir C. Domville, Bart. M. P. 
 Rt. Hon. M. Fitzgerald, M.P. 
 
 Sir W. Ingilby, Bart. M. P. 
 Sir T. Lethbridgk, Bart. M. P. 
 W. Alex. Mackinnon, Esq. 
 T. P. Macqueen, Esq. M. P. 
 S. E. Magan, Esq. 
 Sir H. Parnell, Bart. M. P. 
 T. Spring Rice, Esq. M. P. 
 Alex. Robertson, Esq. M. P. 
 Rowland Stephenson, Esq. 
 R. W. Talbot, Esq. M. P. 
 W. Thompson, Esq. ALD.& M.P. 
 W. H. Trant, Esq. M. P. 
 F. W. Trench, Esq. M.P. 
 Richard Wellesley, Esq. M.P. 
 Lestook Wilson, Esq. 
 
 " To which T. Joplin, Esq. be requested to act as Secretarj'. 
 
 " T. POTTER MACQUEEN. Chairman." 
 
 Messrs. Farrers, Atkinson and Co. Solicitors, London. 
 Messrs. P. and D. Mahony, Solicitors, Dublin. 
 
 " At a meeting of the committee, held at the King's Head Tavern, 
 Poultry, on the 13th of July, 1824. 
 
 " T. P. Macqueen, Esq. M. P. in the Chair; 
 
 " It tons Resolved, — That the foregoing prospectus and resolutions 
 " be published; and that applications for shares be received by Mr. 
 " Joplin. 
 
 " Resolved, — That as soon as the shares are appropriated, a deposit 
 of five per cent, be called for. 
 
 " T. Potter Macqueen." 
 
 " Applications for shares by letter, (post paid), may be addressed 
 to Mr. Joplin, Levant House, St. Helen's Place, Bishopsgate Street."
 
 46 
 
 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 The following prospectus was also issued : — 
 
 PROVINCIAL BANK OF IRELAND. 
 Capital £2,000,000. 
 
 Directors. 
 
 Matthias Attwood, Esq. M. P. 
 Right Hon. W. Bagwell, M.P. 
 James Bkogden, Esq. M. P. 
 G. R. Dawson, Esq. M. P. 
 Henry Douglas, Esq. 
 Sir R. Farquhar, Bart. M. P. 
 Oliver Farrer, Esq. 
 Edward Fletcher, Esq, Devon- 
 shire Square. 
 Sir Charles Flower, Bart. 
 W. Alex. MACKrNNON, Esq. 
 T. P. Macqueen, Esq. M. P. 
 
 William Medley, Esq. 
 Moses Montefiore, Esq. 
 John Morris, Esq. 
 Charles Elton Prescott, Esq. 
 T. Spring Rice, Esq. M. P. 
 Rowland Stephenson, Esq. 
 Mr. Alderman Thorp. 
 W. H. Trant, Esq. M. P. 
 S. N. Ward, Esq. 
 S. Williams, Esq. Finsbury Sq. 
 John Wright, Esq. Henrietta 
 Street, Covent Garden, 
 
 John Fairlie, Esq. 
 S. E. Magan, Esq. 
 
 Auditors. 
 
 Alfred Thorp, Esq. 
 William Peat Litt, Esq. 
 
 Secretary. — Mr. T. Joplin. 
 
 English Solicitors.' — Messrs. Farrers, Atkinson and Co. 
 
 Irish Solicitors. — P. and D. Mahony. 
 
 Bankers. 
 
 Messrs.MASTERMAN, Peters & Co. Messrs. Spooner, Attwood & Co. 
 
 " 1. The object of this establishment is to give a more solid cir- 
 culation to Ireland, to render money attainable by the merchants, 
 manufacturers, and others, on such fair and equitable terms as may 
 enable them to employ the population, which employment has 
 hitherto been impeded by the very high rate of interest, and the want 
 of confidence in the circulation. 
 
 "2. It is therefore proposed to assimilate the system of business 
 in Ireland to that of the Scotch banks, by establishing branch banks 
 in Cork, Belfast, Waterford, Clonmcll, Limerick, Galvvay, Sligo, 
 Kilkenny, Newry, Westport, Londonderry, and other places; each 
 branch to be under the superintendence of wealthy and respectable 
 resident merchants, aided by an active and intelligent English agent, 
 as cashier, who shall be thoroughly conversant both In the princlj)les 
 and detail of the banking business, and who shall give the fullest 
 security for the trust rejiosed in him. 
 
 " .3. Althougli the local directors will be required, under pain of 
 disqualification, to hold at least £2,500 stock of the concern to 
 identify themselves with its interests, it is nevertheless proposed to 
 appoint an inspector of first-rate character and talents in the banking
 
 IJANKING IN IRELAND. 47 
 
 business to constantly visit the different branches of the establishment, 
 to superintend their operations, and report thereon to the board of 
 management in London. 
 
 " 4. A second inspector resident in Dublin, and perfectly conver- 
 sant, from his habits and occupation, with the banking business, will, 
 in conjunction with one of the directors of the London board, equally 
 qualified, occasionally visit the different branches. 
 
 "5. In fact, every possible precaution will be adopted by check and 
 counter-check, and by a daily report of the operations from each of 
 the branches to the general board of management, to arrange such a 
 system of vigilance as shall prevent the probability of any practices 
 going forward injurious to the interests of the establishment. 
 
 " 6. The company will confine themselves to the legitimate busi- 
 ness of banking in Ireland, and should it be deemed expedient, pro- 
 positions for loans on landed property to a limited extent will be 
 entertained. 
 
 " 7. The present directors to remain in office until the 31st of 
 December, 1829, at which time four are to go out, and thenceforward 
 the same number annually, but to be eligible for re-election by the 
 proprietors." 
 
 1825. In tliis year was passed the " Act for the 
 better regulation of copartnerships of certain bankers 
 in Ireland." It was obtained by the directors of the 
 Provincial Bank of Ireland, as the acts previously 
 granted did not furnish the facilities which the Pro- 
 vincial Bank required for the beneficial exercise of its 
 operations. It confirmed the permission granted by 
 former acts to establish joint stock banks at a greater 
 distance than fifty miles from Dublin, and permitted 
 persons resident in Great Britain to become share- 
 holders in such banks. The banks were required to 
 register at the stamp office in Dublin an account of 
 the names of the firms, the several partners therein, 
 and the public officers thereof. The partnerships shall 
 sue and be sued in the name of their public officers. 
 Parties obtaining judgments in Ireland may authorize 
 the acknowledo'nient of like iudoment in Great Bri- 
 tain; and, in like manner, parties obtaining judgment 
 in Great Britain may proceed thereon in Ireland. 
 Judgments against pul)lic officer shall operate against 
 the society, and execution upon judgment may be is- 
 sued against any member of the copartnership. All
 
 48 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 transfer of shares must be registered at the stamp 
 office. 
 
 In this year too an Act of Parliament was passed to 
 assimilate the currency of Ireland to that of England. 
 It is entitled, " An Act to provide for the assimilation 
 of the currency and monies of account throughout the 
 United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland." (6 
 George IV. c. 79.) The Act recites, that the pound 
 sterling in Great Britain and Ireland respectively, is 
 divided into twenty shillings, and the shilling into 
 twelve-pence ; but the silver coin which represents a 
 shilling in Great Britain, is paid and accepted in 
 Ireland for thirteen-pence, and the pound sterling of 
 Great Britain is at the par of exchange, paid and ac- 
 cepted for one pound one shilling and eight-pence of 
 the currency of Ireland, and that great complexity of 
 accoimts, and other inconveniences arise from the 
 said difference of currencies. It then enacts, that the 
 currency of Great Britain shall be the currency of 
 the United Kingdom, and all receipts, pa^T-ments, con- 
 tracts, and dealings, shall be made in such currency. 
 And all contracts, debts, &c. made or contracted 
 previous to the commencement of this Act shall be 
 carried into effect, and satisfied by pa^^nent in British 
 currency of 12-13ths of the amount according to Irish 
 currency. All duties and public revenues, and all 
 funds and public debts shall be estimated in British 
 currency, and the accounts thereof kept accordingly. 
 After a day to be named by proclamation, British 
 silver and gold coins shall be current in Ireland, at 
 the same rate of pence as in Great Britain. On the 
 like proclamation, Irish copper coin shall be brought 
 into the Bank of Ireland, and exchanged there for 
 British copper coin, at the rate of twelve-pence British 
 for thirteen-pence Irish, and tlie Irish copper coin 
 shall cease to circulate. Bankers' notes shall be made 
 paya])le in British currency. No notes payable in Irish 
 currency sliall be reissued after tlic commencement 
 of this Act, under a penalty of fifty pounds for each
 
 BANKING! IN IRELAND. 49 
 
 offence. Bankers may deliver into the stamp-office 
 reissuable notes payable in Irish currency, and receive 
 in lieu thereof new stamps to the whole amount of the 
 stamps delivered up, if dated within one year previous, 
 or three-fourths if within two years, and one-half if 
 within three years. This Act came into operation on 
 the fifth day of January, 182G. 
 
 As it was intimated that the Bank of Ireland would 
 refuse to exchange notes with the Provincial Bank, 
 and demand payment in gold, the Provincial Bank 
 protested one of the notes of the Bank of Ircjland, 
 with a view of takiyg legal proceedings to compel 
 that bank to pay their notes in gold at the branches. 
 An arrangement subsecpiently took place, and the 
 branches of these two banks now exchange their notes 
 with each other, and })ay the difference by an order at 
 sight upon Dublin. The following statements of this 
 transaction are given by Arthur Guiness, Esq. a 
 director of the Bank of Ireland, and Pierce Mahon}^ 
 Esq. the solicitor of the Provincial Bank. 
 
 " What induced the alteration to be made in the body of the 
 notes of the Bank of Ireland, making them particularly payable in 
 Dublin, instead of, as had been the case formerly, generally pay- 
 able ? — I believe the principal inducement Mas a report that mea- 
 sures were about to be adojited to force the Bank of Ireland to pay 
 the amount of their notes in gold at any given point, where tliey 
 had an agent, and this report was substantiated by an occurrence 
 that took j)lace at Clonmcl. A person, who called himself an agent 
 of the Provincial Bank, demanded gold in payment for a note. Our 
 agent stated, that if asked as a favour he would accommodate him 
 with it, as he would any body else, but if demanded as a matter of 
 right, he could not do it ; upon which the note Avas noted for non- 
 payment, and the bank understood that ulterior proceedings were 
 to be taken ; they therefore took the opinion of some of the first 
 law authorities in Ireland uj)on the subject, who agreed that the 
 Bank of Ireland were not liable to pay their notes in gold, except 
 at the j)arent establishment in Dublin, and it was in consequence of 
 those proceedings that the Bank of Ireland introduced the words 
 " in Dublin" into their notes : it was done for two purposes, one was, 
 to guard against any attempt such as I have alluded to ; and the 
 other was, tliat the public might take those notes, with fair warning, 
 that they could not have gold for them as a matter of right, but at 
 College Green." — (Commons, 242, Guiiiess.J 
 
 " Were you one of the persons who tried the question with the 
 
 E
 
 50 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 Bank of Ireland, whether they conceived themselves bound to pay 
 in gold at their branches ? — Yes ; at Clonmel, in August last, the 
 local directors informed the deputation that the Bank of Ireland 
 agent there had intimated that he -would demand gold from the 
 Pi'ovincial Bank, and that he would not pay gold to them ; and to 
 try the question, it was agreed that we should make a demand for 
 gold, and I was the person that did demand from Mr. Scott, the 
 agent, gold for three notes of £100 each. At that time the notes 
 of the Bank of Ireland were payable generally. I have here the 
 protest, which is dated the 17th of August, 1825, and the answer 
 given by Mr. Scott to the notary on demand, as set out in it. It is 
 this, " that he had no directions from the Bank of Ireland to pay in 
 gold, and that he had not so much gold in the house ;" this was on 
 a demand for £100. I did hear that it was stated to this committee 
 that the answer given to me on that occasion was, that I would get 
 it if I took it as a favour; such was not the fact. I told Mr. Scott 
 the purpose for which I asked it, and that I would take any answer 
 that he thought fit, and he told me he had no gold at all. 
 
 " Have you tried the question? — No; the Bank of Ireland, and 
 the Provincial Bank of Ireland subsequently agreed to take each 
 other's paper, and pay the balances on the exchange by drafts on 
 Dublin, at sight, and it became vmnecessary to do so as far as the 
 Provincial Bank was concerned." — (Commons, 255, Mahony.J 
 
 1826. In consequence of the panic that occurred in 
 December, 1825, an act of Parliament was passed to 
 abolish notes under £5 after a certain time in England. 
 It was proposed to extend this act to Ireland and Scot- 
 land. The question was, however, referred to com- 
 mittees of the two Houses of Parliament, who recom- 
 mended that the measure should be postponed. During- 
 the discussion on this measure, the directors of the 
 Provincial Bank of Ireland presented the following 
 memorial to the government: — 
 
 " Unto the Right Honourable the Earl of Liverpool, and to the 
 Chancellor of the Exchequer. 
 
 " The Memorial of the Directors of the Provincial Bank of Ireland, 
 " Sheweth, 
 
 " That the society or copartnership denominated the Provincial 
 Bank of Ireland, was established by deed of settlement, of date 1st 
 August, 1825, under the authority of an Act, C Geo. IV. c. 42, 10th 
 June 1825, passed in the last sessions of Parliament, intituled, " An
 
 BANKING IN IRELANJ), 51 
 
 Act for the better regulation of copartnerships of certain bankers in 
 IreUmd ;" in the preamble to which it is stated to be " expedient to 
 make further provision for the regulation of such societies and co- 
 partnerships, and to encourage the further introduction of British 
 capital into banking establishments in Ireland." 
 
 " That under the encouragement thus held out by the wise and 
 liberal jiolicy of the legislature, a cai)ital of two millions, divided into 
 twenty thousand shares, was subscribed by tlie shareholders of this 
 society or copartnership chieily in London. 
 
 " That the names of the shareholders have been duly registered at 
 the stamp office in Dublin, and amount in number nearly to one 
 thousand, composed almost entirely of persons of wealth and 
 rsepectability ; and that the security to the public for the obligations 
 of the Provincial Bank of Ireland, whether arising from the issue of 
 notes or from deposits, is thus of the most ample and satisfactory 
 nature. 
 
 " That your memorialists on the faith of the continuance of the 
 existing laws for regulating the circulation of bank notes in Ireland, 
 have, at a very great expense, provided the means of supplying the 
 population of that country with a circulating medium, founded on 
 the soundest principles of banking, which have hitherto been scarcely 
 known or acted upon in that part of the kingdom. 
 
 " That the distinguishing features of the system adopted by the 
 memorialists, are as follow : — 
 
 "1. The establishment of branches in every principal town through- 
 out Ireland, at a greater distance than fifty miles from Dublin, from 
 the space within which circle your memorialists are excluded by the 
 existing privileges of the bank of Ireland. 
 
 " 2. The notes of the Provincial Bank are all payable on demand at 
 the branches ivhere they are respectively issued, and convertible into 
 gold there, at the will of the holders, differing in this respect from the 
 notes of the bank of Ireland, which are convertible into gold at Dublin 
 only. 
 
 " 3. The issue of notes by the Provincial Bank arc made only on 
 securities founded on real transactions, arising out of the industry of 
 the peojile in the pursuit of commerce and agriculture ; and the rate 
 of interest which it charges to those dealing with it is under that 
 which the law allows. 
 
 " 4. Tbe Provincial Bank allows interest at the rate of two per 
 cent, on money deposited, a practice but i)artlally known in the north 
 of Ireland, and altogetlier new in by far the greater part of the 
 country. 
 
 " That on these principles your memorialists conceive tlic currency 
 of Ireland will, in so far as dejicnds on them, be preserved in a sound 
 and healthy state ; and that w hilst the necessary stimulus to trade 
 and agriculture, of which the want has been so much felt in Ireland, 
 is thus supplied by the " introduction of British capital into this 
 banking establishment," all danger of excess of its j)aper circulation 
 is guarded against, first, by its convertibility into gold at so many
 
 52 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 places ; secondly, by the inducement which the interest allowed on 
 deposits holds out to every one to return to the bank all surplus mo- 
 ney not wanted for immediate purposes ; thirdly, by the exchange of 
 notes with other banks, which, according to the custom prevalent in 
 Scotland, is regularly made, and which is in fact more frequently 
 made by your memorialists than is done in Scotland, as it takes 
 place every day ; and lastly, by the effect on the exchange with Bri- 
 tain, and consequent demand for gold which would instantly be pro- 
 duced by any such excess, this last check being one of instant opera- 
 tion in the case of your memorialists, through whose establishments 
 a considerable part of the business of rent and commercial remit- 
 tances is now carried on. 
 
 " That the system thus laid down has been commenced, and has 
 for the last six months been in actual operation in Ireland, with every 
 appearance of success which could have been anticipated either by 
 the legislature in enacting the law under which this banking society 
 has been formed, or by the shareholders in raising its capital. 
 
 " That of the branches intended to hz established by your memo- 
 rialists, _/?i;e have been already opened, viz. Cork, Limerick, ClonmeU, 
 Londonderry , and Sligo ; and that nine more are in progress, houses 
 having been engaged, officers appointed, notes prepared, and other ar- 
 rangements made for commencing business without delay. 
 
 " That £300,000 of the capital stock of the society has been 
 already called up, and that intimation has been given to the share- 
 holders that further calls will be made progressively, as the branches 
 come into operation. 
 
 " That when the foresaid act, authorizing this and similar socie- 
 ties to be formed was passed, it must have been obvious that the in- 
 tentions of the legislature could not possibly be carried into effect, 
 unless the shareholders of such societies or cop;u"tuerships were to 
 be permitted to derive the fair and legitimate profits which belong to 
 banking. 
 
 " That the fair profits of banking, when conducted by a public 
 company, and on the liberal principles which your memorialists have 
 adopted, arise in a considerable degree from the circulation of notes, 
 and that ivithout such profit the expenses of conducting their business, 
 unless they should happen to possess exclusive privileges, would neces- 
 sarily be so great as to oblige them to relinijuish such undertakings. 
 
 " That it is a well-known fact, which the experience of your me- 
 morialists since the business of the Provincial Bank was commenced 
 most amply confirms, that two-thirds of the circulation of notes in 
 Ireland consist in notes of one pound and other denominations under 
 five pounds value, and of these much the greater part are notes of 
 one pound only. 
 
 " That this circulation of small notes necessarily arises from the 
 peculiarities which attend four of the chief branches of industry in 
 Ireland ; viz. the linen manufacture, the raising of corn, the produc- 
 tion of butter, and rearing of pigs. 
 
 " That although each of these branches is in the aggregate of very
 
 BANKING IN IRELAND. 53 
 
 conpiderable magnitude, yet from the very great number of persons 
 engaged iu them, the produce which one individual brings to market 
 is so very small, that without a circulating medium adapted to the 
 circumstances, they could uot be carried on. 
 
 " That from the facts above stated, it is of the utmost importance 
 to Ireland that the merchants and traders who deal in its produce 
 should be supplied with that species of circulating medium which is 
 adapted to the wants of the people, and which can only be supplied 
 under proper regulation by societies or copartnerships, such as your 
 memorialists represent. 
 
 *' That notwithstanding the state of things here mentioned, which 
 can be proved to the satisfaction of the legislature, if need be, the 
 memorialists are given to understand tliat the measure which is now 
 before parliament for restraining the issue of notes under five pounds 
 in England, is at no great distance of time to be extended both to 
 Scotland and Ireland ; and if the memorialists are rightly informed, 
 it is the intention of government to propose that its oj^eration in Ire- 
 land shall take effect sooner than in Scotland. 
 
 " That in these circumstances, your memorialists feel it to be 
 their duty to represent in the most earnest manner to his majesty's 
 government, the great hardship, if not injustice, with which the pro- 
 posed measure will press against the Provincial Bank of Ireland, 
 which has been so recently established under the sanction of the 
 legislature, given expressly for the benefit of Ireland, by encouraging 
 the introduction of British capital into that country, and which, 
 without such sanction and encouragement, never would have been 
 established ; for if this measure be carried into effect, the Provincial 
 Bank must instantly be deprived of any sufficient means of reim- 
 bursing itself for the heavy expense to which it has been subject in 
 preparing that very relief to Ireland which it was the object of par- 
 liament to administer, and the country must in consequence be denied 
 the advantages which would be conferred on it by its permanent 
 establishment ; and should the paper of the Provincial Bank be with- 
 drawn, a monopoly would be given to that of the Bank of Ireland, 
 which, though issued locally at the branches of that bank, is con- 
 vertible at Dublin only. 
 
 " That this measure is altogether uncalled for in Ireland, where 
 there is not the smallest complaint of an excessive issue of paper, 
 nor any overtrading, or inordinate spirit of speculation. It is not 
 only uncalled for, but universally deprecated, as being pregnant with 
 the most serious mischief, and calculated to crush the rising spirit of 
 industry in that country, by taking from the manufacturers and others 
 the means of employing the population, and so to produce ruin to 
 persons engaged in trade and agriculture, and amongst the lower 
 classes discontent, disorder, and rebellion. 
 
 " That your memorialists therefore trust, that when the case of in- 
 dividual hardship in which the society whom your memorialists repre- 
 sent are placed, in consequence of their following up the views of the 
 legislature in promoting the welfare of Ireland, and still more when
 
 54 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 the ruinous effects which would spread so widely amongst the already 
 distressed population of that country have been fairly pointed out, 
 his majesty's ministers will not persist in introducing into parliament 
 a measure fatal to Ireland, and calculated to suspend all the benefit 
 now beginning to be felt, from the liberal policy of the legislature in 
 improving the banking system in that part of the united empire. 
 
 " Which is submitted, 
 
 " E. Fletcher, Chainnan." 
 London, March 2, 1826. 
 
 THE REPORT OF THE SELECT COMMITTEE OF THE 
 HOUSE OF COMMONS, 
 
 IN REFERENCE TO THE CIRCULATION OF PROMISSORY NOTES IN 
 
 IRELAND. 
 
 " With respect to the circulation of Ireland, the enquiries of your 
 committee have been less extensive than those which they have in- 
 stituted with respect to Scotland. 
 
 " The first law in Ireland which restrained the negociation of 
 promissory notes, was an act passed in the Irish Parliament in the 
 year 1799. 
 
 " The preamble recites, that various notes, bills of exchange, ancl 
 drafts for money, have been for some time past circulated in lieu of 
 cash, to the great jirejudice of trade and public credit ; and that 
 many of such notes made payable under certain terms, with which the 
 poorer classes of manufacturers and others cannot comjily, unless bj'' 
 submitting to great extortion and abuse. It adds, that the issue of 
 such notes has very much tended to increase the pernicious crime of 
 forgery ; and the act j)roceeds to apply to notes between the value 
 of five pounds and twenty shillings, similar restrictions to those 
 which had been applied to such notes issued in England by the act 
 which passed in the year 1777. It permits, hovi'cver, during the 
 suspension of cash payments by the Bank of Ireland, the issue of 
 bank post bills, bills of exchange, and drafts under certain i-egu- 
 lations, for any sums not less than three guineas. This act did not 
 extend to tlie Bank of Ireland. 
 
 " In 1805, this and some other acts which had passed in the 
 interim, relating to the issue of small notes, were repealed ; and 
 notes under twenty shillings, which had been previously admitted 
 under certain regulations by the act of 1799, Mere declared void. 
 
 " There is at present no law in force imposing any limitation to 
 the period for whicli notes for a sum not less than twenty shillings 
 may be issued in Ireland. 
 
 " A tolerably correct estimate of the amount of promissory notes, 
 above and below five pounds, circulating in Ireland, may be formed 
 from the subjoined returns made by the Bank of Ireland, and by 
 other banks at present established in that country. 
 
 " Bank of Ireland notes. — An account of the average amount of 
 the Bank of Ireland notes of five pounds and upwards (including
 
 BANKING IN IRELAND. 55 
 
 bank post bills) for the years 1820, 1821, 1822, 1823, 1824, and 
 1825. 
 
 (Irish currency.) 
 " Notes and post bills of five pounds and upwards £3,646,600 I9s. 6d. 
 
 " An account of the average amount of the Bank of Ireland notes 
 under the value of five pounds (including bank post bills) for the 
 years 1820, 1821, 1822, 1823, 1824, and 1825. 
 
 (Iiisli currency.) 
 " Notes and post bills under the value of five pounds £1,643,828 Os. bd. 
 
 " It appears from the evidence that a practice prevails in Ireland 
 of issuing notes for the payment of suras between one and two pounds, 
 for three guineas, and other fractional sums. 
 
 " Your committee see no public advantage arising out of this 
 practice : and they are of opinion, that it ought to be discontinued, 
 as it tends to dispense with the silver coin, and practically to exclude 
 it from circulation. 
 
 " Your committee hesitate in the present imperfect state of their 
 information, to pronounce a decisive opinion upon the general 
 measures which it may be fitting to adopt with respect to the paper 
 currency of Ireland. 
 
 " Although they are inclined to think that it would not be ad- 
 visable to take any immediate step for the purpose of preveating the 
 issue of small notes in Ireland, their impression undoubtedly is, that 
 a metallic currency ought ultimately to be the basis of the circulation 
 in that countrj'-. 
 
 " It will probably be deemed advisable to fix a definite, though 
 not an earlj'- period, at which the circulation in Ireland of all notes 
 below five pounds shall cease ; and it is deserving of consideration, 
 whether measures might not be adopted in the interim for the 
 purpose of ensuring such a final result by gradual though cautious 
 advances towards it." 
 
 A SUMMARY OF THE EVIDENCE, 
 
 GIVEN BEFORE THE COMMITTEES OF THE TWO HOUSES OF PARLIA- 
 MENT, AS TO THE EFFECT OF ABOLISHING THE SMALL NOTE 
 CIRCULATION IN IRELAND. 
 
 1. Small currency is necessary to carry on the com- 
 mercial transactions of the country. 
 
 John Acheson Smyth, Esq. Agent for the Belfast Bank at 
 Londonderry. 
 
 " In Lancashire, I believe all the raw materials is bought in large 
 parcels, and by bills. In Ireland, the raw material is all bought in 
 small parcels, and all in small notes. In Lancashire, there is only 
 cash wanted to pay the workmen ; but we want it both to pay the 
 workmen and to buy the raw material. The provision and grain
 
 56 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 that we send to England are also bought in small notes, and we 
 are reimbursed by drawing bills for our shipments." — Com. Report, 
 p. 77. 
 
 Pierce Mahony, Esq. Solicitor to the Provincial Bank of Ireland. 
 
 " If the banks were prevented issuing notes under the amount of 
 £5, would any inconveniences arise in conducting the trade of the 
 South of Ireland ? — The trade of Ireland generally, and especially 
 in the South of Ireland, would be greatly inconvenienced, and the 
 growth of manufacturers would be decidedly checked, if not 
 desroyed by such a measure. From the great subdivision of land 
 in Ireland, and particularly in the South and West (where the 
 population is almost exclusively agricultural) the produce is disposed 
 of in small portions scarcely ever representing £5, and almost 
 universally under that amount. I am of opinion, that the with- 
 drawal of all notes under that amount would have the etFect of 
 curtailing the accommodation the banks now afford to the public 
 to a ruinous extent ; and that the trade of the country under such 
 circumstances would not afford profitable employment for banking 
 capital to any extent ; and therefore, I should anticipate the with- 
 drawal of such establishments, except perhaps at Cork and Belfast. 
 In the South and West of Ireland, from the nature of the provision 
 and corn trade, the chief demand for notes or for gold commences 
 in October, and continues until March, when that trade is nearly 
 over for the season. From March until October the butter trade is 
 almost the only one in the South and West of Ireland ; and as that 
 trade would not employ all the capital that is required in the winter 
 season, the effect would be, if sovereigns were substituted for small 
 notes, that the extra supply required for the corn, beef, and pork 
 trade, must remain idle in the banker's chest, or be remitted at 
 great risk and expense for employment elsewhere during the 
 summer and autumn. 
 
 " Do you think if a metallic circulation was adopted that there 
 would be a difficulty in maintaining that metallic circulation ? — I 
 do ; because the trade in the South and West of Ireland is peri- 
 odical ; the remittances from those districts of Ireland would force 
 the gold away at certain periods, and it must be returned at others 
 with considerable expense to meet the trade of the country." — • 
 Com. Report, pp. 250, 251. 
 
 2. A gold currency would be more inconvenient 
 than notes, and would not be so well liked by the 
 people. 
 
 Leonard Dohhin, Plsq.* Agent for the Northern Banking Company 
 of Belfast, at Armagh. 
 " Do the peoi)le of the North of Ireland manifest any wish for 
 
 • This genilcman is now agent for the Bank of Irchuid at Armagh, and M. P. 
 for that place.
 
 BANKING IN IRELAND. 57 
 
 gold in preference to notes, or for notes in preference to gold? — 1'hey 
 decided]}' prefer notes, and the weavers have refused to carry gold 
 out of the market lately. 
 
 " Can you assign any reason for tliis preference? — There are many 
 reasons that I could assign. The bank notes are now the established 
 currency ; the people are perfectly acquainted with them. If a man 
 should lose notes, or a house be robbed, or if there is a forgery, it 
 would be mucli better for them to trace notes than it would gold. I 
 have often assisted poor people in tracing notes that were robbed, 
 and forged notes, whereas the gold could not be traced so readily. 
 Another reason I would give is this, guineas became light, and were 
 troublesome to the people. When standing beam there was a shil- 
 ling charged, and when lighter than standing beam, two shillings 
 and si.xpence ; and when gold was scarce, and bank notes not a legal 
 tender, the land agents refused to take any thing but gold, the 
 tenants were obliged to pay from one shilling to four shillings on a 
 guinea discount. Some agents would only take gold." — Com. Report, 
 p. 243. 
 
 J. A. Smyth, Esq. Linen Merchant, and Agent for the Belfast Bank 
 at Londonderry. 
 
 " I am in the habit of employing my linen buyers to go to the 
 country markets, and I must supply them with the week's money 
 before they start, perhaps five hundred or a thousand pounds ; they 
 have to go through the interior of the country, and do not return 
 for a week. They make their purchases all in small quantities, and 
 it is more convenient for them to carry notes than gold." — Lords^ 
 Report, p. 7. 
 
 Arthur Guiness, Esq. Director of the Bank of Ireland. 
 
 " I conceive that with the persons who handle the circulation of 
 the country, there is a decided preference in favour of small notes 
 over cash in eveiy respect. I speak from mine own experience ; for 
 I remember perfectly well, before the restriction upon cash payments, 
 when gold was a great inconvenience in trade. I speak of those 
 who handle the currency of the country, among whom I think the 
 preference is in favour of the small notes as more convenient, more 
 portable, and less liable to counterfeit. I conceive these to form the 
 general ground of preference." — Com. Report, p. 237. 
 
 3. The profits of the banking establishments woukl 
 be so much diminished that they could not extend the 
 same accommodation to the agricultural and commer- 
 cial classes. 
 
 W. p. LuNNEL, Esq. Director of the Bank of Ireland. 
 
 " If the notes under £5 were prohibited, would the prolits of the 
 Bank of Ireland be materially affected by such prohibition ? — I should 
 expect that they would suffer : they must sacrifice a certain profit.
 
 58 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 " Have you considered to what extent the profits of other 
 bankers would be affected ? — I should expect that the principal cir- 
 culation of the country bankers is in small notes, and therefore in 
 that proportion they would suffer." — Lords' Report, p. 108. 
 
 John Holmes Houston, Esq. Banker at Belfast. 
 
 " If all the notes under £5 were prohibited to be issued, would it 
 be worth while in your opinion to keep the establishment of a bank 
 in Belfast } — I do not think it would, except by carrying it on in the 
 same manner as it formerly was — to keep a discount office charging 
 a commission on discounting bills, because £5 notes would not cir- 
 culate; then our circulation would be so trifling it would not answer." 
 Lords' Report, p. 35. 
 
 H. a. Douglas, Esq. Director of the Provincial Bank of Ireland. 
 
 " I consider the cash-account system, and the one pound circula- 
 tion so connected, that if the notes are withdrawn, it is understood 
 that our establishment will not grant any further cash-credits. — The 
 business which we carry on, even if we charged a higher rate of in- 
 terest, or a commission, would not be of sufficient magnitude to 
 repay us for the expense of our establishment, independent of our 
 notes. — If the issue of small notes be withdrawn, then we cannot 
 afford to allow interest on deposits." — Lords' Report, pp. 24, 26, 27. 
 
 4. The abolition of small notes would prevent the 
 investment of British capital in the present banking 
 establishments. 
 
 T. S. Rice, Esq. M.P. and Director of the Provincial Bank of 
 
 Ireland. 
 
 *' Is it your opinion, that if all notes under £5 were abolished, a 
 considerable inconvenience would arise in the ordinary traffic in 
 Ireland? — I conceive that it would. I conceive that the first effect of 
 the extinction of all notes below £5 would be a much more consi- 
 derable diminution of the general mass of the circulating medium in 
 Ireland than in England. 
 
 " I fear extremely that if any thing Avere to occur which mate- 
 rially diminished the profits of our establishment, it would have the 
 effect of depriving us of one of the chief benefits of the establish- 
 ment, namely, the support and controul of British capitalists, and 
 conducting the bank by British merchants, and upon British 
 commercial principles. I conceive a rate of profit, rather higher 
 than the average rate of profits, is essential to induce persons so 
 circumstanced to engage in such a business, more particularly when 
 it is considered that there is no limitation of responsibility by the 
 grant of charters." — Lords' Report, pp. 47, 51. 
 
 5. The gold currency would b(3 sent out of the 
 country, whenever it bore a i)rcmium in England.
 
 BANKING IN IRELAND. 59 
 
 Henry H. Hunt, Esq. Local Director of the Provincial Bank of 
 Ireland, at Waterford. 
 
 " What do you think would be the consequence of a law which 
 prohibited the issue of notes below £5, both by tlie Bank of Ireland 
 and by any other banking establishment in Ireland ? I should think 
 it would be very hazardous indeed : I should very much apprehend 
 that the gold circulation would at times be withdrawn in a very great 
 degree /rom the country, whenever gold was wanted in London ; for 
 instance, a small premium upon a sovereign would indjce a 
 
 VAST quantity OF THEM TO BE BROUGHT OUT OF IRELAND. 
 
 " Have you ever known instances of quantities of gold being 
 brought over from Ireland to this country, and persons making a 
 regular traffic of it ? — I have." — Commons' llejjort. ]}p. 73, 74, 
 
 G. The proposed measure would cause general dis- 
 tress, and prevent the progress of enterprize. 
 
 John Robinson Pim, Esq. General Merchant in Dublin. 
 
 " The very idea of curtailing the currency under five pounds, 
 would have a tendency to discourage all adventure in Ireland at 
 present. I should not, for one, be careful of placing money in any 
 kind of machinery till the effect was tried. I fancy it would reduce 
 property very much in that country, — and sometimes fancies are 
 almost as bad as reality." — Lords' Report, p. 19. 
 
 7. The proposed measure would be a violation of 
 the charter of the Bank of Ireland. 
 
 Arthur Guixess, Esq. Director of the Bank of Ireland. 
 
 " You are aware that an act of parliament passed in the twenty- 
 first year of the late king, on the occasion of increasing the capital 
 of the Bank of Ireland. — I am. 
 
 " The government, by that act of parliament, are bound to receive 
 Bank of Ireland notes in payment of all sums of money if offered, 
 fractional parts of twenty shillings only being excepted. — They are. 
 
 " If then the government were to prevent you issuing notes under 
 £5, would not the effect be the same as refusing to accept notes less 
 than £5 in payment ? — The effect would be the same. 
 
 " Then to all intents and purposes it would be a breach of faith in 
 one case as well as in the other. — I conceive it would." — Report of 
 the Select Committee of the House of Commons, p. 240. 
 
 In this year the following memorial was presented 
 to the Lords of the Treasury. 
 
 " To the Right Honourable the Lords Commissioners of his 
 Majesty's Treasury.
 
 GO THE HISTORY OF 
 
 '* The Memorial of the undersigned merchants, traders, and others, 
 inhabitants of the City of Dublin and its vicinity, — 
 " Sheweth, 
 
 " That by the act forming the Bank of Ireland, it is enacted, 
 " That no company or societ}' exceeding six in number (except the 
 Bank of Ireland) shall borrow, owe, or take up money, on their 
 bills or notes, payable at demand, or at any less date than six 
 months, from the borrowing thereof, under a penalty of three times 
 the issue."— (21 & 22 Geo. III. c. 14.) 
 
 " That in the year 1821 the above act was modified, by the 1st 
 and 2nd Geo. IV. c. 72, so far as to permit the establishment of 
 banking companies exceeding six in number, at a distance of fifty 
 miles from Dublin, under certain conditions therein mentioned, 
 
 " That in consequence of the ambiguity of the said act, no com- 
 panies were formed under it, nor until the year 1824, when an act 
 was passed to explain it, and carry its provisions into effect. That 
 the above act was repealed last session, and a further explanatory 
 act was passed, under which provincial banks have been established, 
 at a distance of fifty miles from the city of Dublin, issuing notes 
 payable at the place where issued. 
 
 " That the said act only goes to the extent of permitting the 
 establishment of banks issuing notes payable on demand fifty miles 
 from Dublin, thereby leaving the city of Dublin, and a circuit of 
 fifty miles, exposed to all the evils resulting from monopoly in so 
 important a matter. 
 
 " That although it is at present legal to establish such companies, 
 the prohibition annexed of not issuing bills or notes payable on 
 demand, or at a less date than six months, renders the liberty of 
 establishing such banks inoj^erative, as without a power to issue 
 notes payable on demand, no bank in Ireland can realize common 
 interest for the capital embarked, and the sphere of its utility is 
 bounded. 
 
 " That the liberty of issuing notes or bills payable at six months 
 after date, is also rendered inoperative by the stamp acts in force, 
 prohibiting the re-issue of such or any post bills, except those of the 
 Bank of Ireland, when once discharged, the effect of which prohibi- 
 tion makes such an issue useless. 
 
 " That at different times there have been several failures of banking 
 establishments in Dublin, which have, at the period at which they 
 happened, and subsequent thereon, thrown the city into the greatest 
 distress, and have often occasioned a serious defalcation in the public 
 revenue. 
 
 " That under the present banking law there is no security to the 
 public that weak banks may not be again established in Dublin, and 
 a repetition of failures occur ; more especially as the notes of pri- 
 vate banks in Dublin have at all times shared a considerable portion 
 of the circulating medium with that of the Bank of Ireland. 
 
 '* Your memorialists therefore hope, that great benefits having 
 been already rendered to Ireland by a partial permission to estabhsh
 
 BANKING IN IRELAND. G\ 
 
 joint stock banks, tliut your lordships will extend the measure by 
 granting to Dublin the same privilege which has been already con- 
 ferred upon the rest of the kingdom ; and for that purpose that your 
 lordshij)s will take into consideration, on great public principles of 
 policy, the expediency of entering into a new agreement or bargain 
 with the Bank of Ireland, so as to permit the establishment of joint 
 stock banks in the city of Dublin, with adequate capital, and under 
 such regulations for the security of the public, as to your lordships 
 shall seem fit," 
 
 In tins year (1826) the directors of the Provincial 
 Bank of Ireland delivered to the proprietors the fol- 
 lowing report: 
 
 " It being provided, by the deed of settlement, that a general 
 meeting of proprietors of the Provincial Bank of Ireland shall be 
 held on the third Thursday of May in each year, the directors have, 
 in the discharge of their duty, called the proprietors together for 
 the purpose of laying before tliem an account of their proceedings. 
 
 " From the recent commencement of the business in Ireland, the 
 present report can do little more than detail the measures which 
 have been taken to attain the important objects proposed in the 
 formation of this society ; and as many of the present proprietors 
 may not be exactly acquainted with the causes which led to its 
 establishment, or the difficulties which attended its progress, it 
 may be desirable to give a more detailed statement than would 
 be required by the original promoters of it. 
 
 " After the disastrous failures in 1820, it may be easily imagined 
 that the wants of Ireland, with respect to banking accommodation, 
 were most severely felt, especially when it is stated, that with the 
 exception of two very limited establishments in the south, viz. in 
 Mallow and Wexford, there were, besides Dublin itself, only two 
 places in the whole extent of the kingdom in which banks remained, 
 viz. Belfast and (Jork ; all those previously existing (and they had 
 been numerously spread over the country) had, from their want 
 of capital, or from having been imprudently managed, either failed, 
 or been withdrawn. I'he charter of the bank of Ireland, however, 
 which limited every other banking company to six jjartners, 
 operated to prevent the establishment of any with such a command 
 of capital as should secure the entire confidence of the country, or 
 afford that assistance to agriculture and commerce which was enjoyed 
 in more favoured parts of the empire. 
 
 " This state of things at length led to a negociation between 
 government and the bank of Ireland, for opening, to a certain 
 degree, the charter of that corporation ; and two acts of pai'liament 
 were passed, one in 1S20, and another in 1824, permitting the 
 establishment of joint stock banking companies without any li- 
 mitation as to the number of partners in any place in Ireland, 
 distant more than fifty miles from Dublin.
 
 62 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 " By this act of the legislature, a more extensive field for 
 banking operations in Ireland was presented, holding out reasonable 
 expectations of an ample return for the capital invested, whilst at 
 the same time important benefits would be conferred on that countr)". 
 
 " That such institutions might be carried on with safety and 
 advantage was satisfactorily proved by the experience of one of the 
 sister kingdoms, in which they had been established for one hundred 
 and thirty 5^ears ; and to their operation, the almost unexampled 
 improvement of that country is in a great measure to be attributed. 
 
 " The example of Scotland has also proved that the prosperity 
 of such institutions does not depend on the enjoyment of any 
 monopoly, or of any exclusive or chartered privileges, but that when 
 regulated by prudence and caution, they will be found, perhaps, in 
 a greater degree than most commercial undertakings, equally 
 conducive to the true interests of the country, and to the profitable 
 employment of the capital of the proprietors. 
 
 " Influenced by these considerations, a number of gentlemen 
 held a meeting in London on the 1 1th June, 1S24, for the purpose 
 of deliberating on the best means for carrying these views into 
 effect. 
 
 " iMeasures were subsequently taken, after the mission of one 
 of the present directors to Ireland, for the formation of the society, 
 by the publication of a prospectus, and an invitation to subscribe 
 a suitable capital; and towards the end of the year 1824, ap- 
 plications for shares to an amount very far exceeding the capital, 
 which was considered to be sufficient, having been received, the 
 gentlemen bj'' whom the undertaking was set on foot, proceeded to 
 allot shares to the extent of 20,000 of £100 each, forming a capital 
 of two millions, as originally intended, and to call for a deposit of 
 5 per cent, on the scrip certificates being issued to that amount. 
 
 " As the capital of the society was chiefly to be raised in Britain, 
 and indeed as the societj' itself M'as called into existence by the very 
 circumstance that capital adequate to such an undertaking could 
 not be found in Ireland, there was an obvious expediency in 
 making London the principal seat for directing the operations of the 
 bank, had there even existed no legal impediment to the principal 
 board being established in Dublin. 
 
 " Many difficulties, however, which it required both time and 
 perseverance to surmount, were found to stand in the way of the 
 undertaking. I'hese difficulties arose from the imjicrfect state of 
 the law respecting banking l)usincss in Ireland, and no other remedy 
 appeared for their removal than an aj)peal to the legishiture to amend 
 the law : whether this attempt could be best made by the inlro- 
 duction of a private bill into parliament, or by a recommendation to 
 government to introduce a general measure, was a subject of much 
 anxiety and deliberation to the directors. On every side they found 
 themselves involved in difficulties, and it required the greatest care 
 and circumspection to avoid those errors which might hereafter 
 prove prejudicial to the establishment.
 
 BANKING IN IRELAND. 03 
 
 '* There were but two ways of proceeding, viz. by private bill, or 
 under the authority of a general amendment of the banking laws. 
 
 '* To proceed by a private bill was found impracticable, from the 
 state of the law relating to banking both in England and Ireland ; 
 and independent of that consideration, the directors were unwilling 
 to found upon the provisions of a private bill an establishment which 
 ought, in every sense, to be regarded as a national one. 
 
 " No other course therefore was left, than an application to the 
 government to introduce, with all official authority, a bill for the 
 amendment of the general banking laws in Ireland. 
 
 " The directors found the greatest readiness on the part of govern- 
 ment to co-operate in this plan, and the proper steps were taken for 
 bringing the subject before parliament. 
 
 " In the progress of this negociation, difficulties arose from the 
 supposed collision with the chartered rights of the Banks of England 
 and Ireland, and considerable delay ensued, both in the conferences 
 with tlie government, and in the progress of the bill in parliament, 
 before the impediments arising from such conflicting interests could 
 be removed. 
 
 " In the meantime nothing that could be done was neglected. — 
 Encouraged by the sanction of government, and anticipating a suc- 
 cessful issue to the proceedings in parliament, the directors felt 
 themselves justified in taking certain preliminary steps, necessary 
 for the ultimate attainment of the objects in view. 
 
 " The selection of officers, in particular, was a matter of paramount 
 importance, both on account of the great number required to till the 
 intended situations in Ireland, and the necessity there was to scruti- 
 nize their qualifications as to character and ability. Communications 
 were made on this subject with various gentlemen in dilFerent parts 
 of the country, from whom it was expected the best information 
 could be obtained. 
 
 " The prospectus of the society having set out with the resolution, 
 that the business should be conducted on the principles which had 
 been so long and so successfully acted upon in Scotland, it seemed 
 desirable to obtain from that country persons trained up in banks 
 there, provided their qualifications in other respects were such as to 
 recommend them. 
 
 " With this view the secretary was sent down to Edinburgh in Fe- 
 bruary for the purpose of making enquiries, and notice having been 
 given in the public j)apers that persons were wanted to fill situations 
 in the projected establishments in Ireland, a gentleman in the above 
 society was employed to receive ap])lications, and to institute the most 
 minute and scrupulous enquiries regarding the character and qua- 
 lifications of those who should apply. 
 
 " Another gentleman from the same city was also engaged to pro- 
 ceed to London to assist the directors in the formation and prosecu- 
 tion of a plan for conducting the business, when they should be 
 ready to commence it in Ireland. 
 " The extensive correspondence which the applications and enquiries
 
 64 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 produced by the measures above-mentioned, necessarily occasioned, 
 occupied the attention of the directors very closely, and for a con- 
 siderable length of time, and the result has been, that the services of 
 a number of most valuable officers have been secured to the society. 
 
 " At length, at the end of March 1825, the bill was introduced into 
 the House of Commons by the government, and after a considerable 
 struggle, arising from the natural jealousy with which the directors 
 of the Bank of Ireland received this undertaking, as well as from a 
 just sense of duty towards the body of proprietors, of which they 
 were the representatives, the bill received the sanction of the legis- 
 lature, and on the 10th of June the society was enabled, under its 
 provisions, to adopt such measures as were necessary for giving effect 
 to its intentions. 
 
 " The directors who had in the mean time been prosecuting the cor- 
 respondence and enquiries instituted as before-mentioned, regarding 
 houses of business, officers, &c. now felt themselves, for the first 
 time, in a situation to make their final arrangements. 
 
 "Accordingly, contracts for supplying notes, books, and stationery, 
 were, after obtaining estimates, forthwith entered into ; officers for 
 the branches intended to be first opened were engaged, and a depu- 
 tation of three directors was appointed to visit Ireland, for the 
 purpose of completing the arrangements there, by obtaining suitable 
 houses for business, and selecting the most proper persons in each 
 place to be appointed local directors, who from their knowledge of 
 the country and of business, should be qualified to assist the mana- 
 gers in judging of the security of parties wishing to deal with the 
 bank, and who should at the same time, by a general superintendence 
 of the aff'airs of the branch, secure fidelity and diligence on the part 
 of the officers in the discharge of their respective duties. 
 
 " It must not be omitted to be mentioned, that in the beginning of 
 1825, immediately after a communication was made in Dublin to the 
 bank of Ireland of the intentions of this society, active measures 
 were taken by the directors of that corporation to establish branches 
 in almost every city and town in Ireland which had been announced 
 in the prospectus, as a station for the operations of this society. 
 
 " These measures were followed up by their establishing a branch 
 at Cork, in the month of March, and by the opening, in quick suc- 
 cession, branches at Waterford, Clonmel, Londonderry, Newry, 
 Belfast, and West])ort. 
 
 " The field of this society's operations was in consequence con- 
 siderably narrowed, l)ut enough Mas left to justify the expectation 
 that the undertaking would still be jjroductive of important benefits 
 both to the shareholders and to Ircluiul. 
 
 "The tliree directors deputed, as before-mentioned, after the pass- 
 ing of the Act, proceeded, about tlie middle of .July, on their mission 
 to Ireland ; and accompanied by the society's accountant, and by 
 their solicitor for Ireland, visited successively Cork, Limerick, Clon- 
 mel, Waterford, Wexford, Newry, and Belfast; in each of which 
 l)laces they cither completed the arrangements which had been
 
 BANKING IN IRELAND. 65 
 
 already proceeded in, or laid the foundation for ulterior measures ; 
 and having also formed an arrangement with the respectable firm of 
 Messrs. Latouche and Co. to conduct such business as it was lawful 
 for the society to transact in Dublin, they returned to Cork, to witness 
 the actual commencement of the business at that branch, on the 1st 
 day of September. 
 
 " I'his having been done under circumstances every way encou- 
 raging, the deputies returned to London, with the understfinding 
 that they should, in due time, be succeeded by another deputation, to 
 finish the arrangements at the other places above-mentioned, which 
 want of time did not permit them to complete, and also to visit the 
 remaining places, which had been selected, or recommended at proper 
 stations for the establishment of branches. 
 
 " In the succeeding month, (October) accordingly, another depu- 
 tation was appointed, consisting of two directors, who, accompanied 
 as the former deputies were, visited Kilkenny, Clonmel, Cork, Lime- 
 rick, Birr, Athlone, Galway, Sligo, Londonderry, Belfast, Armagh, 
 and Newry, witnessing in their progress the opening of the branch 
 at Limerick, and the commencement of business there, under the 
 most promising auspices, on the 1st day of November. 
 
 " In consequence of the arrangements which were completed by 
 these successive deputations, the following branches were opened at 
 the dates respectively under-mentioned: viz. Cork, on Sept. I, 1825. 
 Limerick, Nov. 1, 1825. — Clonmel, Nov. 15, 1825. — Londonderry, 
 Dec. 12, 1825.— Sligo, Feb. 20, 1826.— Wexford, Feb. 27, 182G.— 
 Belfast, March 1, 1826.— Waterford. May 1, 1826.— Galway, May 
 1, 1826. 
 
 " So that there are now nine establishments in active operation in 
 Ireland ; and it may here be proper to state, for the information of the 
 proprietors, the regulations which have been adopted, in the first 
 place, for conducting business in a proper manner at the branches ; 
 and secondly, for the controul and superintendence which are exer- 
 cised over them by the directors in London. 
 
 " First. — As to the branches. 
 
 " For the due management of the business at each, a suitable 
 house has been obtained, and the following officers have been pro- 
 vided : viz. manager, accountant, teller, clerk, and porter : all of 
 whom find security for their fidelity. 
 
 " Where the scale of business requires it, the number of the infe- 
 rior officers is increased, but there arc only two principal officers at 
 any branch, viz. manager and accountant; and for securing more 
 efi^ectually the proper discharge of the duties of all, and assistmg the 
 manager with advice and information ; there has been appointed at 
 each station a board of local directors, consisting, according to cir- 
 cumstances, of three, four, or five gentlemen of the first respectability 
 in the place, who, in order to be eligible, must themselves have an 
 interest in the establishment by holding ten shares each of its stock. 
 
 " The duty of these gentlemen is to meet daily, at a given hour, 
 
 F
 
 66 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 at the bank's office, and along with the manager, to judge of bills 
 presented for discount, and of all applications for credits. 
 
 " For every act of business of this nature, it is necessary that two 
 local directors, and the manager be present, and it is provided, that 
 where applications for discounts or credits exceed, in individual 
 cases, a certain fixed amount, or when the manager differs in opinion 
 from the majority of the local board, the matter must be submitted to 
 the decision of the court of directors in London. It is further the 
 duty of the local directors to compare daily the vouchers with the 
 entries in the cash-book ; to count, at stated intervals, the cash in 
 charge of the manager, and to certify the returns made periodically 
 from the branch to London. 
 
 " Second. — As to the superintendence of the court of directors in 
 London. 
 
 " Regular advices of the proceedings at the branches are trans- 
 mitted by the managers to London by post, every second or third day, 
 according to circumstances, and at the end of each week a complete 
 statement of the whole transactions is made up and forwarded by 
 the mail-coach. These returns are first examined by the officers of 
 the London establishment, and then submitted to the directors. 
 
 " For giving the necessary orders arising out of these com- 
 munications ; for judging of all matters referred to them from the 
 branches ; for disposing of the bank's funds in London and Dublin ; 
 and for the discharge of all other duties implied in the exercise of a 
 superintendence over the whole establishment, whether in Ireland or 
 in London, the directors hold regular and daily meetings ; it being 
 so arranged that a committee of not less than three, and which may 
 consist of five directors, shall attend to do the ordinary business of 
 each day ; and that a weekly court of the whole directors shall be 
 held on each Friday, to whom all special matters are referred, and 
 by whom the proceedings of the daily committees are regularly 
 reviewed. 
 
 " By means of these regulations, the directors find that they are 
 enabled to conduct the business in such a manner as to afford every 
 prospect of success, and which justifies them in holding out to the 
 proprietors the expectation of an adequate return at no distant 
 period, for the capital embarked in the undertaking. 
 
 " The comparatively recent establishment, even of the branch first 
 opened ; viz. 1st September last, and the still more recent com- 
 mencement of business at the greater number of the branches, do 
 not admit of any arithmetical statement being made at present, 
 which could be considered as aflbrding certain data from which the 
 probable results of a year could be deduced, more especially as from 
 the nature of the export trade of Ireland, the amount of business 
 done in any one place at different seasons of the year is very 
 dissimilar. 
 
 " But, from the experience which the directors have actually had 
 of the business, they liave not the smallest hesitation in stating to
 
 BANKING IN IRELAND. 67 
 
 the proprietors that it has been safely and successfully carried on ; 
 and that at every one of the stations it is making a gradual but cer- 
 tain and steady progress, which affords the best encouragement for 
 its further prosecution. 
 
 " In one instance only, and that in its result tending to demon- 
 strate to the shareholders and to the i)ublic the solid princij)les on 
 which the society has been founded and is governed, has any cir- 
 cumstance occurred to interrupt the regular course of tlie transactions. 
 
 " The circumstance alluded to occurred at Cork in the end of Fe- 
 bruary and the beginning of March last. Owing to the unexjjected 
 discontinuance of one of the two local banks in t hat city, by the sud- 
 den death of Mr. Pike, and the failure of the otlier, a general alarm 
 was instantaneously created amongst the holders of bank notes, 
 which increasing to a panic, produced a run on tlie Provincial Bank's 
 branch there for gold ; that establishment beii.g the only one from 
 which the demand for specie on the part of the ])ublic could be sup- 
 plied, the Bank of Ireland not considering itself liable to pay in gold, 
 except in Dublin. 
 
 " This demand for gold was promptly met by the stock previously 
 provided at the branch, which was sufficient to answer all ordinary 
 emergencies, and by the active and energetic measures of the bank's 
 officers in procuring the necessary sui)plies. These supplies were 
 obtained, whilst a considerable part of the original stock yet re- 
 mained, so that neither refusal nor delay for one moment occurred, 
 in satisfying the demand of every individual who presented the 
 bank's obligations, whether consisting of notes or receipts for deposits 
 of any amount, and who desired payment to be made in gold. 
 
 " The directors observe with pleasure that the Cork branch is 
 gradually recovering its former position, and they cannot doubt that 
 the very severe and public trial to which, by this event, the Provin- 
 cial Bank has been subjected, will be to prove more clearly its solid 
 foundation, and more firmly to establish its credit over the whole of 
 Ireland. 
 
 " Having thus, for the information of the proprietors, given a dis- 
 tinct detail of their proceedings, from the origin of the society to 
 the present time, there remain two very im])ortant points to be 
 noticed, in which every proprietor will naturally feel himself inte- 
 rested ; viz. the extent of the future calls to be made on the pro- 
 prietors, and the probability of their receiving a dividend within a 
 given time. 
 
 " With regard to the first of these points, the directors are desirous 
 to regulate themselves by the principles which, from tlie beginning of 
 the undertalving, were held out to the subscribers ; viz. that as the 
 branches should come into operation, and as the business in Ireland 
 should extend itself, such portions of the capital as were found to be 
 required would be progressively called up. 
 
 " Acting on this principle, and looking to the gradual extension 
 of the business which, as already mentioned, is proceeding in the 
 most satisfactory manner, the directors have to state their conviction
 
 68 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 of the expediency of making an early call of 5 per cent., and a 
 second call of 5 per cent, within the next twelvemonth. At the 
 same time they conceive it will be satisfactory to the proprietors to 
 learn that no farther calls are anticipated as being necessary. ♦ 
 
 " On the second point before-mentioned, viz. the pajj'ment of divi- 
 dends, the directors, after mature consideration of the whole affairs 
 of the bank, feel themselves justified in intimating to the proprietors 
 their intention to declare, in manner provided by the deed, a divi- 
 dend at the rate of 4 per cent, per annum, for the half year ending 
 Midsummer next, on the amount of the three instalments which 
 have been called up. 
 
 " The directors cannot close this report without adverting to the 
 disastrous revulsion in commerce which has lately taken place, nor 
 without calling the attention of the proprietors to the projected 
 change in the currency of the United Kingdoms. They have con- 
 stantly kept in view the probable consequences of these events, and 
 the degree of disquietude which the agitation of such questions in 
 parliament always occasions in the public mind ; and whilst anxious 
 to redeem the pledge which they gave to the public, of affording 
 every reasonable facility to commerce and agriculture, they have 
 been careful not to foster speculation, or encourage ill-timed enter- 
 prise, considering it best for the interest of all parties, to avoid too 
 extensive a circulation, and rather to gain the good opinion of the 
 wise and prudent, than to seek for popularity through improvident 
 advantages and unseasonable liberality. In these views they have 
 been seconded by the local directors, who have received the instruc- 
 tions of the court with kindness and attention, and have evinced a 
 degree of zeal, intelligence, and prudence in the conduct of the vari- 
 ous branches which well deserves the thanks of the company. 
 
 " It only remains for the directors to state, tliat the parliamentary 
 discussions during the present session have fully recognized the 
 principles on which the Provincial Bank of Ireland has been founded, 
 and that the mode in which its affairs are conducted has been strictly 
 examined before the committee of both houses. 
 
 " The fullest and most unreserved communications Avere made to 
 the Earl of Harrowby and the Right Honourable Robert Peel, chair- 
 man of those committees, respecting the circulation of the Provincial 
 Bank, the deposits received, and the amount of specie in gold and 
 silver. 
 
 " It must be satisfactory to the proprietors to know, that from 
 individuals of the liighest authority and practical experience, the 
 Provincial Bank of Ireland has been admitted to be an establishment 
 not onlj'' promising tlic greatest national benefit, but as affording a 
 secure and i)rofitable mode of investment, and that the parHamentary 
 enquiry wliich has taken place, is likelj'^ to lead to such further 
 amendment of the banking laws of Ireland, as will afford additional 
 facilities for carry on the business of the company." 
 
 1827. Ill flic hcoiiniiiijr of this year tlic Hibernian
 
 BANKING IN IRELAND. 09 
 
 Bank being restricted from issuing notes, issued what 
 were called tokens. These tokens were enoraved on 
 unstamped paper, and were of tlie size and had the 
 appearance of notes. They contained the words, " Hi- 
 bernian Bank"—" Token"—" One Pound"—" Hiber- 
 nian Joint Stock Company" — the number and date, 
 and the names of two of the officers of the bank; but 
 they did not contain the phrase, "I promise to pay: 
 and hence it was supposed that they could not be 
 deemed notes, and consequently were not legally pro- 
 hibited. In consequence, however, of an intimation 
 from the government, they were discontinued. 
 
 Report by the directors of the Provincial Bank of 
 Ireland to the proprietors, assembled at the second an- 
 nual general meeting, on Thursday, May 17, 1827. 
 
 " The directors have much satisfaction in again meeting the pro- 
 prietors on this their second anniversary. 
 
 " In the rei)ort made to the proprietors at the last general meeting, 
 the measures which had been taken for establishing the business 
 were so fully detailed, that it is not necessary, on the present occasion, 
 to do more than state that, in addition to the branches in ojieration 
 at that period, two new establishments have been formed, viz. at 
 Armagh, which opened on the 1st of January last ; and at Athlone, 
 which is just on the eve of commencement, every preliminary 
 arrangement being now completed. 
 
 '* It must be gratifying to the proprietors to know, that the fa- 
 vourable expectations, regarding the progress of the business, which 
 at the last meeting the directors felt themselves justified in holding 
 out, have been fully realized. 
 
 " Since that period, the directors have made two calls of £5 per 
 share, making their capital called in £500,000 — a sum which enables 
 them to meet the increased and increasing business of the esta- 
 blishment with security, and perfect confidence in their resources. 
 
 " By means of a system of accounts, founded on the most correct 
 principles, a complete check on the transactions is kept up at each 
 office in Ireland ; and the engagements and obligations of indi- 
 viduals are brought so fully into view — first of the local directors, 
 and then of the court in London, by means of the daily and weekly 
 returns, that the directors feel warranted in saying, that all improper 
 transactions are guarded against as far as it is possible to do so. 
 
 " It is now the duty of the directors to submit to the proj)rietors 
 such information, as to the result of their labours for the past year, 
 as will, they trust, satisfy them that the business of the establishment 
 has been prudently and protitably managed.
 
 70 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 " It will be in the recollection of the proprietors, that at the last 
 annual meeting, when the directors announced tlieir intention of 
 making a dividend for the half year terminating at Midsummer then 
 ensuing, at the rate of 4 per cent, per annum, it was at the same 
 time stated, that a certain portion of the outlay incurred during the 
 first year, and which could not properly be considered as annual 
 expenditure, was to be distributed over five years. 
 
 " In conformity with this principle, adopted and recognized by 
 the proprietors at the last meeting, the directors have now the 
 satisfaction of announcing to the proprietors, that after taking off 
 the ordinarjr (by which is meant the annual expenses,) together 
 with one-fifth of the whole extraordinary expenses, the net profits 
 to the 31st of March last, the date of the annual balance (omitting 
 fractions under £100), amount to - - - - £28,700 
 
 " Out of which, there have been paid to the proprie- 
 tors, two dividends, at the rate of 4 per cent., viz. 
 " On £300,000 at Midsummer, 1826, £6000 
 " On £400,000 at Christmas - - £8000 
 
 £14,000 
 
 " Leaving, of undivided profits, at the 31st of March £14,700 
 
 " This satisfactory result provides for the paj'ment of the next 
 Midsummer dividend, at the rate of 4 per cent, per annum on the 
 increased capital of £500,000, and leaves a reserved fund to be 
 added to the future profits of the establishment, which may now be 
 considered to be gradually and permanently increasing. 
 
 " It is only proper, for the sake of preventing any misunder- 
 standing, to add, that as the bank calculates against itself all 
 interest due by it uj) to the 31st of March inclusive, being the date 
 of the yearly balance ; so the sum which has been stated as 
 profits realized at that period, includes in it the amount of dividends 
 for the half year ending Lady-day, on the various stocks held by the 
 bank, as also all interest due to the bank at the 31st of March, 
 although not then actually received. 
 
 " The jjroprietors will at the same time clearly understand, that 
 although the next dividend to be made on their shares, will not be 
 payable till Midsummer, that dividend, as already stated, is provided 
 for out of the profits realized at the 31st of March last, and is not 
 in any degree dependent on the profits accruing after that period, 
 the whole of which belong to the next half year's account. 
 
 " The directors have now to advert to a circumstance of some 
 importance, as connected with the constitution of the society. 
 
 " By the deed of settlement, tlic number of directors was limited 
 to twenty. Since the completion of the deed, that number has been 
 reduced, by death or resignations, to sixteen ; and the directors having 
 found, by experience, that the latter number is quite sufiicient to 
 ensure u due attendance for the efficient management of the
 
 n.VNKING IN IRELAND. 71 
 
 establishment, have not thought it necessary to enforce the terms of 
 the deed, by proposing the election of new members : and they 
 think themselves now justified, by past experience, in unanimously 
 recommending to the court of jjroprietors to limit the number of 
 directors for the ensuing year to sixteen. The directors may add, 
 that this arrangement will be attended with a considerable saving of 
 expense. And, in conclusion, they beg to state to the projjrietors, 
 an opinion in which they also unanimously concur, viz. that in 
 future elections, it will greatly conduce to the harmony and cor- 
 diality which it is so desirable should prevail amongst the directors 
 themselves, us well as to the good management of the bank's affairs, 
 if a recommendation shall be made by them to the proprietors, in 
 favour of those candidates whom, after due enquiry, they shall find 
 to be the best qualified to fill the situation. 
 
 " As the advantage of this course is obvious, the directors cannot 
 doubt of the co-operation of the proprietors in carrying it into 
 effect ; and they confidently trust that, considering the very great 
 responsibility in making them, these recommendations will not fail 
 to receive from the proj^rietors all the attention to which they will 
 be fairly entitled." 
 
 The Belfast Bank, Messrs. Batt, Houston and Batt; 
 and the Commercial Bank, Belfast, Messrs. Tennant 
 and Co., efl'ected a junction, and formed themselves 
 into a joint stock bank, under the title of the Belfast 
 Banking Conipanj^ with a capital of £500,000. The 
 new bank commenced business, August 1, 1827: their 
 Dublin agent is Solomon Watson, Esq.; and their 
 London agents, Messrs. H. and I. Johnstone and Co., 
 15, Bush Lane. 
 
 The Kilkenny branch of the Provincial Bank of 
 Ireland was opened in the month of September 
 in this year. Soon afterwards I published in the 
 Kilkenny papers two articles upon " deposits" and 
 " cash credits," with the view of explaining to the 
 public the new system of banking which was then 
 introduced. These articles now form two sections in 
 my " Practical Treatise on Banking." 
 
 In the latter part of this year the country share- 
 holders of the Hibernian Bank were much dissatisfied, 
 and wished to procure a dissolution of the company. 
 Meetings were held, and resolutions adopted similar 
 to the following passed at Kilkenny.
 
 72 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 " At a numerous meeting of the shareholders of the Hibernian 
 Joint Stock Company, held pursuant to public notice, at the Tholsel, 
 Kilkenny, John Smithwick, Esq. in the chair, the following reso- 
 lutions were unanimously adopted : 
 
 " 1, Resolved — That influenced by the prospectus of the Hibernian 
 Joint Stock Banking Company, contemplating arrangements which 
 never have been formed, and holding out advantages which cannot 
 be realized, we became purchasers of stock to a considerable amount. 
 
 "2. Resolved — That circumstanced as this company is, exposed 
 to all risks consequent upoia trade without the benefits derivable 
 from a paper circulation, as the advantages resulting from the 
 establishment of branch banks throughout the country, as set forth 
 in the prospectus, it is idle to expect it can ever be a source of 
 legitimate gain or national utility. 
 
 " 3. Resolved — That we would, therefore, be indifferent not only 
 to our own interests, but to those of the proprietors at large, if we 
 did not recommend an immediate dissolution of the establishment. 
 
 "4. Resolved — That it is the opinion of this meeting that the 
 object of these resolutions can be best obtained by the co-operation 
 of the shareholders in the other towns and counties in Ireland, as 
 we feel satisfied that the directors will not resist so just and so 
 imperative a claim upon them. 
 
 "5. Resolved — That the foregoing resolutions be published in 
 the Kilkenny newspapers, the Dublin Evening Post, and Freeman's 
 Journal, and the chairman be requested to transmit these to the 
 directors. * 
 
 " 6. Resolved — that this meeting do adjourn to the 1st day of 
 November next. 
 
 " John Smithwick, Chairman." 
 " Dated \8th October, 1827. 
 
 1828. Some of the proprietors of the Hibernian 
 Bank petitioned parliament to dissolve the company 
 but without success. The following is a copy of this 
 petition : — 
 
 " The humble Petition of the undersigned Proprietors of the 
 Company, denominated " Tiie Hibernian Joint Stock 
 Company," 
 
 " Sheweth, 
 
 " That in the month of April, 1824, several merchants and others 
 in the city of Dublin entered into subscriptions for a company then 
 denominated " A Loan and Annuity Comjiany," and deputed two of 
 their members, namely, Thomas M'Donnell, Escp deceased, and Paul 
 Lill Patrick, Esq. of that city, to attend in London, and communicate 
 with the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and other members of his 
 majesty's government, upon the state of the banking business in 
 Ireland, for the purpose of obtaining some modifications of the
 
 BANKING IN IRELAND. 73 
 
 hivv regulating banking partnerships in Ireland ; and accordingly 
 several communications were made personally, and by letters, to tiie 
 then Chancellor of the Exchequer, and particularly by letters from 
 said M'Donnell and Patrick, bearing date the 28th of April and 
 20th of May, 1824, to which your petitioners humbly pray leave to 
 refer. 
 
 " That subsequently said M'Donnell and Patrick, by direction and 
 authority of a certain committee appointed by the subscribers to 
 such Loan and Annuity Company, or acting for themselves and other 
 persons in Dublin, having represented to the members of his majesty's 
 government and the parliament that they intended to form a mere 
 Annuity and Loan Company, obtained the act of parliament herein- 
 before referred to, whereby your petitioners are advised, and submit, 
 it was intended merely to enable said parties to lend money, and 
 purchase annuities, &c. ; but that it was not either avowed or in- 
 tended by said act to enable the persons who might become members 
 of, or subscribers to said company, to become or form a banking 
 company, 
 
 " Your petitioners beg leave further to state to )'our honourable 
 house, that after having obtained said act of Parliament, for the 
 purposes aforesaid, and for enabling the " Hibernian Joint Stock 
 Company" to sue and be sued, the following persons were thereby 
 named as directors for such company : viz. Michael O'Brien, Andrew 
 Ennis, Cornelius M'Loghlin, N. Mahon, T. Kirwan, Ignatius Calla- 
 ghan, T. M'Donnell. Paul Lill Patrick, John M'Donnell, Pliillip 
 MoUoy, David Lynch, Thomas Sherlock, Isaac Stewart, Michael 
 Roach, John O'Neill, William Murphy, and John Murphy, opened 
 subscriptions, and induced your petitioners, with several other 
 persons, by misrepresentations as to the state of the law regulating 
 banking partnerships in Ireland, and also as to the powers given 
 them by said act, to take shares in said company, and issued the 
 following prospectus, uj)on the faith of which your petitioners were 
 induced to subscribe a considerable portion of the capital of 
 £1,000,000 sterling, which is thereby declared to be the capital of 
 said company. — [Here the petitioners set forth the prospectus.] 
 
 " Your petitioners further beg leave to represent to your honourable 
 house that, relying on the representations so made to your petitioners, 
 and not doubting that said company was authorised to open banks 
 in Ireland, as stated in said prospectus, and to issue bills and notes 
 as other banking companies, nor that said company would be enabled 
 to extend, for the benefit of the subscribers and the commercial 
 community of Ireland, the system of Scotch banking, as thereby 
 proposed, your petitioners, with other members of said company, 
 paid to the said directors no less than £25 per cent, on their several 
 subscriptions, and further were induced to become parties, either by 
 signing or assenting to a certain deed, bearing date the 11th April, 
 1825, between the several persons whose names are thereunto sub- 
 scribed, and whose seals are thereunto affixed, (except Ti)os. 
 M'Donnell, of the city of Dublin, Ignatius Callaghan, of the same
 
 74 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 place, Esq. Andrew Ennis, of the same place, Esq.) of the first part ; 
 and the said Thomas M'Donnell, Ignatius Callaghan, and Andrew 
 Ennis, of the second part : whereby, amongst other things, it was 
 declared and agreed — " That the business of the company should 
 consist as well in purchasing and selling annuities, and all public 
 and other securities, real and personal, in Ireland, in making loans 
 and advances of money on the security thereof, and on the security 
 of merchandize and manufactured goods at legal interest, and in 
 receiving lodgments of money or deposits thereof, as also in laying 
 out and investing or advancing monies at interest, upon the security 
 of real and personal estates in England or Ireland, or upon cash 
 accounts, bills of exchange, promissory notes, letters of credit, 
 bonds, and other obligations, and also as far as the law will allow 
 (but not further or otherwise) in buying and selling government or 
 jDublic funds of Great Britain or Ireland, exchequer or navy bills, or 
 other securities in Great Britain or Ireland, and stocks of the banks 
 of England or Ireland : the stock or other securities of the East 
 India Company, and of joint stock banks or companies of the 
 United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, or the stock or shares 
 of any other company or corporation acting under royal charter or 
 act of ])arliament in Great Britain or Ireland, and also in acting 
 consistently with law as general agents and bankers, in all money 
 negociations or transactions whatsoever." 
 
 " Your petitioners beg leave to call the particular attention of 
 your honourable house to the statements made in each of those 
 prospectuses, and the assurances held out thereby, that said com- 
 pany was empowered by act of parliament to be a company for 
 banking, not only in Dublin, but generally in the provincial parts 
 of Ireland ; and in the second of said prospectuses, that said com- 
 pany is actually styled " The Hibernian Joint Stock Annuity and 
 Banking Company, empowered by act of parliament;" thereby 
 holding out to your petitioners, and the other subscribers to said 
 undertaking, that parliament had empowered said company as a 
 banking company, whereas, in truth and in fact, your petitioners are 
 now advised tliat no such powers have been given, or were intended 
 to be given by said act, Avhich, as before humbly stated, only enabled 
 the comj)any, by the name of " The Hibernian Joint Stock 
 Company," to sue and be sued ; and your j)ctitioners are further 
 advised, that under said act it will be illegal to do or transact any 
 other business whatever, save the business thereby stated, Avhich does 
 not include the jjower to transact the banking business, as set forth 
 eitlier in said prospectuses or deed hereby referred to. 
 
 " That your petitioners would never have become members of the 
 said company, had they been apprised tluit the objects thereof were 
 confined to those specified by said act of parhament; but, on the 
 contrary, they were induced (as they are ready to prove in any 
 manner your honourable house may direct) to become subscribers 
 thereto upon tiie faith of the expected advantages to arise from the 
 establishment of branch banks as aforesaid in Ireland.
 
 BANKING IN IRELAND. /5 
 
 " That your petitioners beg leave further to represent to your 
 honourable house, that from time to time, since they so subscribed 
 to said company, the directors thereof assured your jjctitioners, and 
 the several other proprietors of said company, that they would give 
 effect to the assurances made by said prospectuses ; but that they 
 have never done so, and have even acknowledged by one of their 
 annual reports, and a petition presented by them to j'our honourable 
 house on the 16th of February, 1S2G, that they neither have, under 
 said act, or by any other means, the power of establishing banks, 
 with the usual powers of bankers to issue bills and notes, and 
 generally to do business as such. 
 
 " That petitioners and several other of the proprietors of said 
 company, hriding they had been deceived by the representations so 
 made to them, and under which they were induced to subscribe as 
 aforesaid, they represented by letter and otherwise, but more par- 
 ticularly by a letter bearing date day of to the governor, deputy 
 governor, and directors of said company, and by another letter to 
 the agents for London of said company, dated 17th November, 1827, 
 the breach of the contract made with petitioners, and the misrepre- 
 sentations as to the real objects of said company, and requested that 
 same should be dissolved; but that the directors of said company, 
 though they admit they are not empowered to carry on business as 
 bankers, according to the tenor of said prospectus or deed, yet they 
 decline the proposals so made to dissolve said company, relying, as 
 appears by a rejiort made by the directors of said company in the 
 month of June, 18-26, that by the 176th clause of said deed, the said 
 company cannot be dissolved, unless by the unanimous desire of all 
 the partners : and upon a proposal being made on behalf of peti- 
 tioners, to refer the question at issue between petitioners and said 
 board of directors to arbitration, under another clause. No. 179, in 
 said deed, the said directors have distinctly and positively declined 
 to enter into such arbitration, whereby your petitioners are unable 
 to obtain redress, inasmuch as there is no power given by said act for 
 the respective members of said company to sue each other either at 
 law or in equity ; in consequence of which, it would become neces- 
 sary, in order to obtain relief in a court of equitj', that your peti- 
 tioners should bring before the court all the partners and their 
 representatives for the time being, as partners to any bill to be tiled 
 for relief of your petitioners and dissolution of said comj)any, and 
 which it would be impossible to effect, as a great man)' of the jiro- 
 prietors of said company holding stock in the same to tlie amount of 
 £300,000 or thereabouts, reside in England, while the remaining 
 shareholders reside in Ireland or elsewhere ; so that, even supposing 
 it was possible for your petitioners to serve all the partners Mith 
 process to ajjpear from either of the courts of equity in England or 
 in Ireland, no power is vested in either of said courts to compel the 
 apjjearance of any of the parties who may refuse to do so, if out of 
 the jurisdiction of the court whence such process may issue. 
 
 " Your petitioners further show to your honourable house, that
 
 76 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 by an act passed in the parliament of Ireland, in the twent3'-first 
 and twenty-second of George the Third, intituled — " An act for 
 establishing a bank by the name of the governor and company of 
 the Bank of Ireland;" and by the fourteenth section it is enacted — 
 " That from and after the passing of this act it shall not be lawful 
 for any body politic or corporate, erected or to be erected, other than 
 the corporation hereby intended to be created and erected into a 
 national bank, or for any other persons whatsoever, united or to be 
 united in covenants or partnership, exceeding the number of six 
 persons, to borrow, owe, or take up, any sum or sums of money on 
 their bills or notes paj^able at demand, or at any less than six months 
 from the borroM'ing thereof, under a penalty or forfeiture by such 
 persons, bodies politic or corporate, of treble the sum or sums so to 
 be borrowed or taken upon such bill or bills, note or notes, one 
 moiety thereof to be paid to the informer, and the other to the use 
 of your Majesty, your heirs and successors, to be recovered by ac- 
 tion of debt, bill, plaint, or information, in any of your Majesty's 
 Courts of Record in Dublin. 
 
 " That notwithstanding said act the penalties and therebv provided, 
 the governors and directors of said company have, to the manifest 
 injury, risk, and loss of petitioners and other members of said com- 
 pany, issued letters of credit, passed receipts acknowledging the 
 receiving of money in Dublin, and also issued engagements on 
 behalf of said company to a large amount for £1 10^., £2, £3, £5, 
 £10, and £20 each — [Here petitioners set forward the form of the 
 engagements.] 
 
 " Petitioners proceed to say, that these forms, if not prevented by 
 the interposition of parliament, will render your petitioners still 
 more liable to the penalties of the said act of twenty-first and 
 twenty-second George III. herein-before referred to; and your 
 petitioners are ready to j)rove, that such attempts are made to evade 
 said act of parliament, without the remotest hope of profit to said 
 company, or benefit to the commercial or other communities of 
 Ireland, for the supposed benefit of wliom the said act of the fifth 
 year of his present Majesty was so obtained, and misrepresented to 
 your petitioners and the other projjrietors of the said company. 
 Your petitioners further beg leave most rcspectfuU)'^ to intreat your 
 honourable house, to consider that if said company is not to be 
 dissolved, not only the subscri])tions paid by your petitioners, but 
 also their entire fortunes, may be lost by the misconchict of the 
 parties who have the management of said company. That so far 
 from said company promoting the trade and manufacture of Ireland, 
 your petitioners distinctly state, as they are ready to prove, that the 
 funds of the said company, and its credit, have been so much injured 
 and mismanaged, that it has not been either useful or jjrofitable to 
 the proprietors or tlie public, and there is no prospect of its becoming 
 so, unless further emj)Owered and regulated by parliament, of which 
 your petitioners have no expectation, as by so doing the Bank of 
 Ireland charter would be infringed, and thereby the public faitli
 
 BANKING IN IRELAND. 77 
 
 would be broken; and of this your petitioners have evidence by 
 the refusal of your honourable house to allow a bill, brought in by 
 the said governor and deputy governor and directors, in the sessions 
 of 1826, to be read a second time, which bill was allowed to be 
 brought in under a petition from said parties, admitting that the said 
 company had not authority, under said act of 1824, to establish 
 branch banks, as stated in prospectus, and to which petition your 
 petitioners beg leave to refer. Your petitioners further beg leave to 
 state to your honourable house, that the governor and deputy 
 governor and directors of said company have, in many and various 
 instances, declined and refused to comply with the provisions of 
 said act of parliament of the 5th Geo. IV. and said deed of 11th 
 April, 1826, which your petitioners are ready to ])rove as your 
 honourable house may direct, and particularly in refusing and 
 declining to register the names of the proprietors of said company, 
 pursuant to the second section of said act, so that even if your 
 petitioners had power to prosecute a suit in a court of equity for 
 dissolution of said company, yet, by reason of said governor, 
 deputy governor, and directors not only refusing to comply with said 
 provisions, but also refusing to allow your petitioners to ascertain 
 the names of the several proprietors for the time being from the 
 books of said company, in compliance with the fifty-eighth clause 
 of said deed, as petitioners are ready and hereby offer to prove 
 they could not do so. Your petitioners further beg leave to 
 represent, that, contrary to the assurances made to them at the 
 time of subscribing to said company's stock, that said company was 
 regulated by said act of parliament, and that its affairs would be 
 managed thereunder ; yet the managers of said company have, in 
 various instances, departed from the authority so given ; and that 
 they have, as your petitioners hope they have shewn, not only 
 misled your petitioners, but have also acted in contempt of the 
 authority of parliament so granted to them. Your petitioners 
 further beg leave to state to your honourable house, that the 
 governor, deputy governor, and directors of said company have 
 misapplied the funds and capital of said company so committed to 
 their charge, and especially by purchasing large quantities of the 
 ehares or stocks of the said company with such funds, contrary to the 
 powers vested in them by said deed or act ; and this your peti- 
 tioners are ready to prove, as your honourable house may direct. 
 
 Report by the directors of the Provincial Bank of 
 Ireland to the proprietors, assembled at the third yearly 
 general meeting, at the City of London Tavern, on 
 Thursday, May 15, 1828. 
 
 " It is with renewed satisfaction that the directors now, for the 
 third time, see the proprietors assembled at a yearly general meeting; 
 for they have no hesitation in stating, that the experience of another 
 year, and that by no means one favourable to the beneficial employ- 
 ment of money, has confirmed the good opinion which they ventured
 
 78 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 to express this day twelve months, regarding the progress and pros- 
 pects of the society. 
 
 " It was stated in the last report, that two banks, in addition to 
 those of the former year, had been then recently formed, viz. 
 Armagh, at which business commenced on the 1st day of Jan. 1827; 
 and Athlone, which was then, in May, 1827, just ready to be opened. 
 
 " Since that period, encouraged hj representations from the most 
 respectable quarters, as well as by the successful experiments which 
 had been already made, the directors have established four more 
 banks in the following places, viz. at Coleraine, which was opened 
 on the 7th July, 1827— Kilkenny, Sept. 17, 1827 — Ballina, Jan. 16, 
 1828— Tralee, Jan, 28, 1828. 
 
 " So that there are now fifteen banks in all, established by the 
 society in the chief towns of Ireland, and in active operation. And 
 it is with great pleasure the directors have it in their power to add, 
 that from every quarter of Ireland the}' have received the most grati- 
 fying accounts of the benefits which these establishments have con- 
 ferred, and are daily conferring, on the commerce and agriculture of 
 that country. 
 
 ".To the proprietors also, the directors are happy to say, there is 
 very reasonable prospect that in due time corresponding advantages 
 will accrue ; for notwithstanding the reduction in the rate of interest 
 from 5 to 4 per cent., which took place immediately after the last 
 yearly general meeting ; and notwithstanding the increased competi- 
 tion arising from the formation of a new joint stock banking com- 
 pany in Belfast, as well as from the establishment of additional 
 branches by the bank of Ireland ; the profits of the year, after paying 
 off one-fifth more of the extraordinary expenses incurred in forming 
 the company, agreeably to the plan laid down in 1826, and after 
 providing for all bad and doubtful debts, enable the directors to pay 
 to the proprietors a dividend at the same rate as the last, and also to 
 make a farther addition to the fund reserved for future dividends and 
 contingencies, 
 
 " On reference to the report of last year, it will be 
 seen that the undivided profits at 31st March, 
 
 1827, were £14,700 
 
 " The profits of the year terminating on the 29th, 
 being the last Saturday of March, 1828, are, 
 after making the deductions above-mentioned, 
 and excluding fi'actions under £100 - - 22,200 
 
 Sum - - £36,900 
 
 " From which are to be taken the dividends paid 
 
 to the proprietors since last yearly general 
 
 meeting, viz. at Midsummer, 1S27, £10,000 
 
 at Christmas, 1827, 10,000 
 
 £20,000 
 
 llemains, amount of undivided profits at 29th 
 March, 1828 £16,900
 
 BANKING IN IRELAND. 79 
 
 *' Out of this sum the directors propose to pay at Midsummer 
 ensuing, a dividend after the rate of 4 per cent, per annum, amount- 
 ing to £10,000 ; reserving, in the meantime, as they conceive pru- 
 dence enjoins them to do, the surplus, as a guarantee against any 
 unforeseen contingency. 
 
 " It will be in the recollection of the proprietors that, in conclud- 
 ing the first report, which the directors were called upon to make to 
 a general meeting, it was stated, that in the parliamentary discus- 
 sions of the session 182G, the principle on which the Provincial Bank 
 of Ireland was founded had been fully recognized ; and that the most 
 unreserved communication of its affairs, and of the mode of conduct- 
 ing its business, had been made confidentially to the chairmen of the 
 committees of both houses appointed to enquire into the banking sys- 
 tems of Ireland and Scotland ; the result of which enquiry, and of 
 the approbation then expressed of the management of this establish- 
 ment, it was anticipated would be the introduction of greater facili- 
 ties for carrying on its operations. 
 
 " In these anticipations the directors are happy to say they have 
 not been disappointed. From His Majesty's government they have, 
 in two instances, received the most satisfactory proofs of confidence 
 — First, in the issue of an order from the treasury, authorizing all 
 collectors of the revenue in Ireland, to receive the notes of the Pro- 
 lancial Bank in payment of duties, in the same manner as those of the 
 Bank of Ireland; — and, secondly, in the establishment of an agree- 
 ment with the treasury for remitting to Dublin the revenue of Ireland, 
 collected beyond fifty miles from that city, with the exception of the 
 customs, which has been allotted to the Bank of Ireland, under the 
 same arrangement ; and in virtue of which, the Provincial Bank 
 becomes the banker of the excise, post ofiice, and stamp revenues 
 for all Ireland, beyond the Bank of Ireland's privileged circle of fifty 
 miles from Dublin. 
 
 " Before concluding this report, the directors feel it to be their 
 duty to mention an occurrence which has taken place within the last 
 fortnight. 
 
 " The directors of the Bank of Ireland have commenced against 
 the public officers of the Provincial Bank, a qui tam action, the par- 
 ticulars of which have not as yet been made known ; but inasmxich 
 as the business of the Provincial Bank has all along been conducted 
 in perfect conformity with the provisions of the act under which it is 
 established, as interpreted by the most eminent counsel, both of the 
 English and Irish bar, the directors have only to state that, should 
 the Bank of Ireland persevere in their action, they have no apprehen- 
 sion of any result unfavourable to the interest of this society." 
 
 In this year was passed " an act to repeal certain 
 acts, and to consolidate and amend the laws relating 
 to bills of exchange and promissory notes in Ireland."
 
 80 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 (9 Geo. IV. c. 24.) This act declares, that bills 
 falling due on Sunday shall be payable, and if not 
 paid may be noted or protested, on the preceding 
 Saturday, and not as heretofore on the following Mon- 
 day. And it enacts, that Good Friday, Christmas 
 Day, and every day of fast or thanksgiving ap- 
 pointed by his Majesty shall for all purposes what- 
 soever, as regards bills of exchange and promissory 
 notes, be treated and considered in Ireland as the 
 Lord's day, commonly called Sunday. This act re- 
 quires that every notary, practising in Dublin, shall 
 keep a public office in some known or convenient 
 street or place in the said city, and it fixes the amount 
 of the notaries' fees. Notaries public upon receiving 
 bills for the purpose of protesting or noting must 
 enter or register the same in a book to be open for 
 inspection. The charge for entering a bill in this 
 book is one shilling. The charge for presenting the 
 said bill within the limits or bounds of any city or 
 town in Ireland wherein the notary resides, and 
 demanding payment or acceptance thereof, is one 
 shilling and sixpence. The charge for ticketing the 
 said bill in case it shall not be accepted or paid before 
 nine o'clock on that evening, is one sliilling and 
 sixpence. For protesting an inland bill above the 
 amount of £5 and under £20, the charge is 2s. 6d. 
 above £20 the charge is 4s. For protesting any 
 foreign bill the charge is 4s. These cliarges for pro- 
 testing are exclusive of the one shilling charged for 
 registry, and in addition to the amount of stamp duty 
 on the protest. A notary is not bound to receive 
 payment of a bill unless the noting fees arc paid at 
 the same time ; and in all cases he may recover the 
 amount of charges from tlie liolder of the bill, and 
 the holder may recover tlie amount from the an- 
 tecedent parties. A notary cannot be compelled to 
 receive payment of a bill after nine o'clock in the 
 evening, but every sucli bill or note whereof payment 
 shall not be made, or duly and regularly tendered, at
 
 BANKING IN IRELAND. 81 
 
 or before such hour of nine of the clock, shall be 
 considered to be and shall be dishonoured to all 
 intents and purposes; and therefore such notary public 
 shall and may note or protest the same for non-pay- 
 ment, any law, statute, or usage, to the contrary in 
 anywise notwithstanding. This act came into operation 
 on the 1st of September, 1828. 
 
 In this year was also passed an act to restrain in 
 England the negociation of promissory notes and bills 
 under £5 issued in Scotland and Ireland. 
 
 An act was also passed " to enable bankers in Ire- 
 land to issue certain unstamped promissory notes 
 upon payment of a composition in lieu of the stamp 
 duties. Banks are allowed to take out licenses for 
 tlie issue of unstamped notes, and to pay half-yearly 
 upon the avsrage amount in circulation the sum of 
 one shilling and sixpence for every hundred pounds. 
 (9 Geo. IV. c. 80.) 
 
 In the same year an act was passed for making 
 promissory notes issued by banks, banking companies, 
 and bankers in Ireland, payable at the places where 
 they are issued. (9 Geo. IV. c. 21.) Previous to the 
 passing of this act, the notes issued by the branches of 
 the Bank of Ireland were payable only in Dublin ; 
 and some of the branches of the Provincial Bank 
 issued notes payable only at other branches. Thus, the 
 notes issued at Coleraine were made payable at Bel- 
 fast, those of Kilkenny at Waterford, those of Ballina 
 at Sligo, and those of Tralee at Cork. This act was 
 introduced into parliament by Mr. Spring Rice. 
 
 In the month of October in this year occurred the 
 first run for gold upon the Provincial Bank of Ireland : 
 it commenced at Wexford, and then proceeded to Kil- 
 kenny, Waterford, Clonmel, and Limerick. It was 
 supposed at the time to arise from some suspicion of 
 the bank; but it is now generally believed that it was 
 produced by the same influence that produced the sub- 
 sequent runs. It was Hot directed against any of the 
 branches of the Bank of Ireland, nor could it with
 
 82 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 effect, as all their notes were at that time payable only 
 in Dublin. About the time the run was subsiding, I 
 wrote the following letter, which was inserted in the 
 Leicester Journal, a newspaper published at Kilkenny : 
 
 " Sir, 
 
 " In referring to the recent run upon the southern banks 
 you have strongly pointed out the advantages afforded by those 
 banks, but you have said nothing of the advantages of the run. 
 Allow me, as an impartial observer, to j)oint out those advantages. 
 A run upon a bank is advantageous, in the first place, to the 
 runners themselves. Running is an exercise highly conducive to 
 health, and vv^hen a wearied runner enters a bank, the doors of 
 which he expected to find closed, and is presented with shining 
 sovereigns in exchange for what he previously deemed a worthless 
 rag, he must experience such pleasurable sensations as will amply 
 compensate him for his former toil and anxiety. A run, too, is 
 greatly for the advantage of all persons who are employed in the 
 manufacture or sale of whiskey. A man who has engaged in a 
 hard run, and has got his money besides, would hardly think it 
 proper to return home without taking a glass of the native, and if 
 he should take two glasses instead of one, that you know would 
 double the advantage. A run may induce the bank to limit their 
 discounts, in consequence of which the price of butter, corn, and all 
 other kinds of agricultural produce may be depressed, and this, of 
 course, would be for the advantage of the buyers. A run, too, that 
 shall call forth into circulation a vast quantity of gold would enable 
 coiners to circulate counterfeit sovereigns, whereby the fine arts 
 would be encouraged, more labour would be put into requisition, 
 and an ample reward would be given to the exertions of honest 
 industry. A run aff'ords much food for conversation, and aftords 
 matter for profound and lofty speculation. Every one will of course 
 investigate the causes of the run, and each may luxuriate in the 
 reveries of his own imagination. The less that is known upon the 
 subject the wider field will there be for conjecture, and it may 
 then be a matter of deep debate whether the run was occasioned by 
 a peculiar configuration of the planets, or was merely the effect 
 of lunar influences upon the minds of the people. These, Sir, 
 appear to me to be some of the advantages of a run. 
 
 " I am myself, however, 
 
 " No Runner." 
 
 Dec. 1. The half-yearly meeting of the proprietors' 
 of the Hibernian Bank was held. The following is an 
 abstract of the accounts for the last six months : —
 
 BANKING IN IRELAND. 83 
 
 '• Assets of the company - - £347,533 2 5J 
 " Due to the public, exclusive of 
 
 bills lodffed for collection - 84,779 8 5 
 
 262,753 14 Qi 
 " Capital of the company £1,000,000 
 
 (25 per cent.) - - - 250,000 
 
 " Balance to credit of profit and loss 
 
 in favour of the company - £12,753 14 0| 
 
 " Out of this balance a dividend of 2 per cent, for the half year 
 was declared upon the deposited capital of the compan)\ 
 
 " Mr. John O'Neill seconded the adoption of the report. 
 
 " Mr. John Fottrell congratulated the proprietary on the prospe- 
 rous state of their affairs, after the necessary expenses incurred in 
 defending the establishment from the unmerited attacks of its ene- 
 mies ; and in conclusion he moved a vote of thanks to the governors 
 and directors for their very proper conduct in managing the com- 
 pany's affairs for the last half year, which passed unanimously." 
 
 Dec. 5. On this day was tried in the Court of 
 King's Bench, Dublin, an action brought b)^ the Bank 
 of Ireland against the Provincial Bank of Ireland, for 
 the purpose of preventing the notes of the Provincial 
 Bank being paid in Dublin, by Messrs. Latouche and 
 Co. It was contended on the part of the Bank of 
 Ireland that such payment was a violation of a clause 
 of the act which permitted joint stock banks to be 
 established in Ireland. The following is an extract 
 from the charge to the jury by the lord chief justice: 
 
 " I think then, gentlemen, you ought to find a verdict for the plain- 
 tiff, unless you believe that the Provincial Bank have not cither by 
 themselves or their agents jjaid their notes on demand in the citj* of 
 Dublin; and I think there is evidence they have done so. The 
 second question is this, I think the Provincial Bank are liable to this 
 penalty, unless they hare no " house of business" or establishment 
 in Dublin. T shall tell you there is evidence of their having a house 
 of business or establishment in Dublin, unless you be of opinion that 
 on the evidence of Mr. Latouche and Mr. Newcnham, nothing was 
 done by their house for the Provincial Bank, except what is done in 
 the usual course of dealing between banker and customers. I take it 
 for granted that a country banker may have a town banker. I do not 
 think it was intended by the legislature to prevent this. If, on the 
 contrary you think that this was not the usual business between 
 banker and customers, but that they paid their notes at the house
 
 84 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 and establishment, not of Latouche and Co., but at the house and 
 establishment of the Provincial Bank you ought to find for the 
 plaintiff." 
 
 The jury returned their verdict — " we find the plain- 
 tiff sixpence damages and sixpence costs." 
 
 His lordship asked the jury if it was their opinion 
 that the house and establishment in Castle Street was 
 the house of business and establishment of the Pro- 
 vincial Bank ? The foreman of the jury answered, that 
 they did not discuss that point, that they merely found 
 that the notes of the Provincial Bank had been paid 
 there. 
 
 The Provincial Bank immediately put in a bill of 
 exceptions, with a view to try the case at a higher 
 tribunal. 
 
 1829. Report by the directors of the Provincial Bank 
 of Ireland to the proprietors, assembled at the fourth 
 yearly general meeting, on Thursday, the 21st of 
 May, 1829. 
 
 " In the report which the directors made to the last yearly general 
 meeting, they took occasion to express their favourable opinion of 
 the prospects of the society, founded upon an experience of its 
 progress during the period which had elapsed since it commenced 
 business, being then about two years and a half from the time when 
 its first office was opened in the city of Cork. 
 
 " It was further stated in the lust report, that fifteen offices had 
 been established by the society in the chief towns of Ireland, and 
 were then in operation. 
 
 " Since that time applications for the establishment of additional 
 offices have been received from several other places, some of them 
 holding out considerable inducements to make the experiment ; but 
 the directors have not deemed it expedient, at the present time, to 
 extend the business of the society, with its present amount of capital. 
 
 •' Of the fifteen offices wliich, as above noticed, had been esta- 
 blished prior to the date of the last report, there were five, viz. 
 Atlilone, Colerainc, Kilkenny, Ballina, and Tralee, which had not 
 then been in operation nearly a year ; and although it was not stated 
 in the report, lest expectations should be raised, which by possibility 
 might be disappointed, it was anticipated by the directors that, by 
 the time another year should have elapsed, and the j)rofits of a 
 complete year's business should have been derived from every one of 
 the society's establishments, it would be in their power to make the 
 gratifying announcement of an increase in the rate of dividend, not-
 
 BANKING IN IRELAND. 85 
 
 withstanding the increased competition which had then corae into 
 operation, proceeding from the establishment of additional branches 
 by the Bank of Ireland, and the erection of a new joint stock bank 
 in lielfast. 
 
 " During the first period of the year, the experience of the busi- 
 ness afforded every confidence that this anticipation would be fully 
 realized ; but, as must be well known to the proprietors, Ireland was, 
 in the course of the autumn, thrown by political causes into a state 
 of extraordinary excitement, not merely unfavourable to the suc- 
 cessful prosecution of commerce and agriculture, with which success 
 in banking is so intimately connected, but exposing the business of 
 banking in particular to peculiar hazard. 
 
 " In the midst of this excitement, and without the pretence of any 
 occurrence to justify ajiprehension of the stability of the Provincial 
 Bank, a run, of nnusual severity and extent, was made upon it about 
 the end of October ; which, commencing at one of its offices in the 
 south, spread quickly, and almost instantaneously, as in the existing 
 stiite of the country was to be expected, to four of the more conti- 
 guous offices. 
 
 " At one or two more distant offices also, symptoms of excitement 
 appeared; and in the circumstances under which the country 
 labours, there seemed but too much rea'son to anticipate that a 
 similar pressure would be experienced at every one of the establish- 
 ments of the society. 
 
 " This state of things produced, as the proprietors may well 
 suppose, a corresponding necessity for exertion on the part of the 
 directors. It was impossible to calculate how far an alarm, not 
 arising out of any operations in banking, but springing from po- 
 litical causes, would extend, or where and when it would cease. 
 The only certainty was, that an extraordinary effort was necessary 
 to counteract its injurious effects ; and the directors believe that the 
 effort made has never been surpassed in the annals of banking. 
 
 " By the vigilance and firmness of the local directors and officers 
 of the society, aided, in many instances, by the good feeling and 
 confidence in the resources of the bank, which were exhibited by 
 the more respectable classes, the alarm was, in the course of a few 
 weeks, entirely subdued. 
 
 " That an event of the kind now mentioned, proving as it has 
 done the great resources of the bank, will in its consequences be 
 beneficifd, cannot be doubted. The circumstances are universally 
 known in Ireland, and their natural effect is to establish tlic credit 
 of the Provincial Bank more firmly than before. 'I'here is no holder 
 of a note or receipt issued by it, who does not now feel assured of 
 possessing that which may instantly be exchanged for its full value 
 in gold, or in any article of merchandize which he may wish to 
 acquire. Of this, accordingly, the directors have already had proof, 
 equally gratifying as convincing, in observing the notes of the bank 
 gradually re-occupying their former channels of circulation, and 
 the deposits not only returning, but steadily and progressively in- 
 creasing.
 
 86 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 " It cannot fail, however, to occur to every proprietor, that the ex- 
 traordinary exertion which was, on the occasion referred to, so ur- 
 gently called for, must have been attended with a very serious addi- 
 tion to the expenses of the year, as well as by the suspension for a 
 considerable time of the usual profits of the business. When these 
 circumstances are duly considered, in addition to the well-known 
 facts of a very deficient harvest in Ireland, and of a great and con- 
 tinued depression in the butter and provision markets, it will not 
 appear surprising that the expectations of the directors, of being able 
 at this period to announce an increase of dividend have been for the 
 present disappointed. From some districts the quantity of com ex- 
 ported was scarcely equal to one-half of former years ; and from 
 others the quality of the grain was so inferior, as to render its value 
 in the market altogether disproportionate to its nominal quantity. 
 
 " Notwithstanding these unfavourable circumstances, the directors 
 have the satisfaction of announcing a dividend, at the rate of four 
 per cent, per annum, for the half-year ending Midsummer next ; 
 and also, that after deducting, as formerly settled, one-fifth more of 
 the extraordinary expenses incurred in the formation of the society, 
 and providing for all bad and doubtful debts, an addition, not less 
 than that of last year, has been made to the reserved profits of the 
 bank. 
 
 " On reference to the report of last year, it will 
 be seen that the undivided profits at 29th 
 
 March, 1828, were £16,900 
 
 " The profits of the year terminating on the 29th, 
 being the last Saturday of March, 1829, after 
 deduction of expenses, both ordinary and extra- 
 ordinary, and providing for bad and doubtful 
 debts, are, excluding fractions under £100 - £22,600 
 
 Sura - - £39,500 
 " From which are to be taken the dividends paid 
 to the proprietors, viz. 
 
 At Midsummer, 1828 - - £10,000 
 At Christmas, 1828- - - 10,000 
 
 £20,000 
 
 " Remains, amount of undivided profits at 29th 
 
 March, 1829 -£19,500 
 
 " Under this condition of the society's affairs, the directors 
 entertain every reasonable expectation that the Provincial Bank of 
 Ireland will continue to prosper. Their best attention has been 
 applied, wherever circumstances would admit of it, to the improve- 
 ment of the business, as well by extending it beneficially, as by 
 diminution of expenditure ; in which they have the pleasure to 
 state, they have elfected a considerable saving, under several heads of 
 expense, wliich, at the commencement of an establishment such as 
 this, were unavoidably large.
 
 BANKING IN IRELAND. 87 
 
 " During the last session of parliament two acts were passed, 
 affecting the business of banking in Ireland, from both of which 
 there may be expected to follow results beneficial to the Provincial 
 Bank. 
 
 *' The first of these acts is 9th Geo. IV. c. 80, under which 
 bankers in Ireland are enabled to issue unstamped notes, upon 
 payment of a composition in lieu of the stamp duties thereon. This 
 measure was introduced into parliament, in consequence of com- 
 munications which the directors had with his Majesty's government ; 
 and it places the banks in Ireland, with respect to their notes, on the 
 same footing as those in England. Instead of paying, in the first 
 instance, a stamp duty on each note, before any could be issued, and 
 of such notes being limited in circulation to three years from their 
 dates, there is substituted a composition duty, which is payable 
 half-yearly, on the actual amount only of the notes in circulation ; 
 and the limitation as to time is abolished. Although, on the instant 
 of making it, this change has occasioned an increase of expense, it 
 will, in the sequel, produce a saving in the charge for notes, and be 
 attended with very considerable convenience to the establishment, 
 besides operating as an additional protection to the public against 
 forgery. 
 
 " The other act of parliament which has been referred to, is the 
 9th Geo. IV. cap. 81: the operation of which is, to place all bankers 
 in Ireland on the same footing of liability to pay their notes in gold 
 at the places of issue. By this statute there is introduced a system of 
 equal competition amongst all banks, or agencies of banks, established 
 beyond 50 miles from Dublin ; and the security to the public is 
 increased by making the convertibility of notes into specie more 
 direct, and more immediate. In both of these respects the operation 
 of this act is likely to promote the interests of the Provincial Bank. 
 
 " It is only further necessary for the directors to advert to the cir- 
 cumstance which Avas stated in the conclusion of the Report of last 
 year, viz. that a qui tarn action had been brought hy the directors of 
 the Bank of Ireland against one of the public officers of the Pro- 
 vincial Bank. 
 
 " That action Avas brought to trial in the month of November last, 
 when, contrary to the clear and unanimous opinions of the most 
 eminent counsel of England and Ireland, a verdict, by direction of 
 the judge at Nisi Prius (who at the same time declared the question to 
 be one of great difficulty, and one which must necessarily undergo 
 further consideration) was found in favour of the Bank of Ireland. 
 
 " The directors thereupon took the necessary stcjis to procure the 
 decision of the whole judges of the court of King's Bench in Ireland, 
 upon the question; but the case has not yet been argued. 
 
 " The counsel under whose sanction the directors have hitherto 
 acted, among whom are the Solicitor General Sir Nicholas Tindall, 
 Sir James Scarlett, and Mr. Alderson, of the English bar ; and the 
 Attorney General Mr. Joy, Mr. Sergeant Blackburn, Mr. Wallace, 
 Mr. Pennefather, Mr. O'Connell, Mr. Woulfc, and Mr. Curran, of 
 the Irish bar, have not in any degree changed their opinions on the
 
 88 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 point at issue ; and, consequently, the directors see no reason to alter 
 the favourable opinion expressed in the last Report, of ultimate 
 success. 
 
 " Taking, in conclusion, a review of the whole concerns of the 
 Provincial Bank of Ireland, the directors continue to feel the same 
 confidence which they formerly expressed — that it will become 
 equally a source of profit to the proprietors of its stock, as it has 
 proved eminently beneficial to that part of the united empire in 
 which its operations have been carried on. 
 
 1830. In this year the government proposed to assi- 
 milate the stamp duties of Ireland to those of England. 
 This subject occasioned much discussion in the Irish 
 papers. As this measure would have raised the com- 
 position for the stamp duties upon the Provincial Bank 
 of Ireland from three shillings to seven shillings per 
 cent., I wrote the following letter, which was inserted 
 in the Waterford Mail of May 5, 1830 : 
 
 " Sir, 
 
 " In reference to the proposed assimilation of the stamp 
 duties in England and Ireland, permit me to call your notice to one 
 class of duties that has not yet received the public attention — I mean, 
 the stamp duties upon bankers' notes. 
 
 " In England, bankers are permitted to compound for their duties 
 at the rate of 3^. 6d. per cent, upon the average amount of notes in 
 circulation during each half year. In Ireland the composition is at 
 the rate of 1^. 6d. per cent. So that if these duties be assimilated, 
 there will be an increase of duty in Ireland to the extent of 133 per 
 cent. Under the present circumstances of the Irish banks, this heavy 
 advance appears to be extremely burdensome and pernicious. 
 
 " It is universally admitted that Ireland is in want of capital. 
 We have heard complaints upon complaints, in parliament and out 
 of parliament, of the want of capital in Ireland. How, it has been 
 said, can a country be improved without capital? How can labourers 
 be employed without capital ? How can a better system of hus- 
 bandry be introduced — how can bogs be reclaimed — how can farm- 
 houses be erected, without capital ? How can the fisheries be ex- 
 tended, or canals be constructed, or rail -roads be formed, without 
 capital .'' How, witliout capital, can new branches of industry be 
 established, or the natural resources of the country be developed ? 
 
 " If it be true that Ireland is in want of ca])ital, it is eqiially true 
 that it is the business of banks to supply caj)ital. Banks are foun- 
 tains of cajjital, the streams of which fertilize agriculture, and propel 
 the machinery of commerce. If Ireland were as thickly studded 
 with banks as England is, there would be no want of capital. 
 England complains not of want of capital, but of want of profitable 
 channels for its employment. But in Ireland the number of banks 
 is exceedingly small, when compared with that of England. We
 
 RANKING IN IRELAND. 89 
 
 have five banks in Dublin, and througliout the country we have 
 fifteen branches of the Provincial Bank of Ireland, eleven branches 
 of the Bank of Ireland, two joint stock banks at Belfast, and a pri- 
 vate bank at IMallow. Most all these banks are established at sea- 
 ports, and but few in the heart of the countn,'. There are only- 
 four inland towns, namely, Armagh, Athlone, Kilkenny, and Mallow, 
 that have the advantage of a bank. If it be true that Ireland needs 
 caj)ittd, and that banks supply capital, it is desirable that banks should 
 be extended throughout every province, and that every town as in 
 England should have a bank. And why have they not ? Is it not 
 because it was feared that the business of those towns would not be 
 sufficient to pay the expense of the establishment ? Is it not because 
 our banking companies wished first to make the experiment in the 
 larger cities and towns before they extended their branches into the 
 less commercial districts ? If such has been the case hitherto, can it be 
 exjjected that new branches will be opened when their expenses will 
 be increased by the duty on their notes being more than doubled ? 
 Can it then be judicious to lay on this additional duty, calculated as 
 it is to prevent the extension of institutions so admirably adapted to 
 supply the wants of the country ? 
 
 " We have heard much of the necessity of English capital. And 
 in what way can English capital be so well introduced into Ireland 
 as by banks? English agriculturists and manufacturers have to 
 contend against difficulties to which English banking companies are 
 not exposed. Banks supported by English capitalists are the most 
 easy, the most inoffensive, the most eff^ectual means by which English 
 capital can be supplied. But what encouragement is given to English 
 capitalists to invest their property in Irish banks if they are to be 
 immediately visited with additional taxation ? And what fairness 
 can there be in compelling banks stationed in a country where the 
 pecuniary transactions are of small amount, and trade and manufac- 
 tures are comparatively trifling, to pay the same rate of duty as banks 
 established in a country where wealth is immense, where the transfers 
 of property are enormous, and the profits of bankers are propor- 
 tionably high } 
 
 " The system of joint stock banks and of branch banks in Ireland, 
 is at present only in its infancy. With the exception of tlie Dublin 
 office of the Bank of Ireland, there is not a banking com])any or a 
 branch bank that is yet five years old. At the commencement of 
 any bank great expense is unavoidably incurred, and besides a degree 
 of caution is necessary in its management, so that several years 
 elapse before a bank is enabled to carry its business to the full extent, 
 or to realize the full profits that the means of the district may be able 
 to supply. Is it proper then, to lay additional taxes upon banks of 
 only a few years standing ? To compel them in the infancy of their 
 existence to bear the same burden that is borne by those who have 
 attained the maturity of their strength ? Ought not some respite to 
 be allowed until it be ascertained by undoubted experience, that 
 these new banks will be able ♦o sustain this heavy tcixation ? And is
 
 90 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 not this the more necessary when for several years past the interest 
 of money has been so exceedingly low as to render the profits of 
 banking much less than might otherwise have been acquired ? 
 
 " The contributions, direct and indirect, which banks produce to 
 the state, are sufficient grounds for exempting them from any impo- 
 sition that might prevent their number being increased. In places 
 where there are no banks, few bills of exchange are drawn because 
 they cannot be discounted. But let a bank be established, and the 
 bills of exchange are soon multiplied above a hundred fold, and the 
 stamp duty of course increases in proportion. Besides the stamp 
 duty on bills of exchange, there are stamp duties on notes — stamp 
 duties on cash credit and other bonds — stamp duties on protests — and 
 large annual payments for the postage of letters. If then these ad- 
 ditional revenues are obtained in consequence of the establishment 
 of banks, is it wise in the government to impose duties which by 
 preventing the extension of banks will prevent the increase of those 
 revenues ? Does not such a policy resemble that of the boy who 
 ripped up the goose that laid the golden eggs } 
 
 " Although the Irish banks pay a less duty upon their notes than 
 do the English banks, they pay a much higher duty upon their bills 
 of exchange. By the 9th George IV. c. 23, bankers in England 
 are permitted to compound for the stamp duties on their notes and 
 on bills drawTi upon London at twenty-one days date at the same 
 rate of composition. By 9 Geo. IV. c. 80, bankers in Ireland are 
 permitted to compound for the stamp duty on their notes ; but no 
 mention is made of bills, and of course these are subject to the or- 
 dinary stamp duties. A bill of £50 drawn under the composition 
 act by an English banker, pays to the government only twopence 
 halfpenny, while a bill of the same amount drawn by a bank in 
 Ireland, pays three shillings. A circulation throughout the year of 
 £10, OOP in bills of £30 each, drawn upon London by a branch of 
 the Bank of England, or by an English bank that had compounded 
 for the duties, would pay to the state only £35, while the stamps 
 upon the same bills drawn by a bank in Ireland would amount to 
 £577 155. It may be said that this is no tax upon the Irish banks, 
 inasmuch as they charge the stamps to the parties who obtain the 
 bills. How can they do otherwise ? If the government requires 
 the money from the banks, must not the banks require it from the 
 public ? And such perhaps will be the case with the new stamp 
 duties. If the proposed measures should be really inflicted, the 
 banks will probably try to reimburse themselves by raising their 
 charges. The rate of discount may be advanced, and the agriculture 
 and the commerce of Ireland will have to bear the burden. It is 
 thus that our banking companies may endeavour to sustain the ad- 
 ditional taxes as far as regards their existing establishments, while 
 they will be less inclined to hazard the opening of new branches, 
 because such branches will demand a greater outlay of capital and a 
 higher annual cxj)enditure than has hitherto been required. 
 
 " G."
 
 BANKING IN IRELAND. 91 
 
 May 10. A special general meeting of the share- 
 holders in the Provincial Bank of Ireland, was held 
 at the company's house, in Old Broad Street, Lon- 
 don, to receive a report and take into consideration 
 the negociations which had been carried on between 
 the government and the Bank of Ireland. Mr. 
 S. Rice, M.P., in the chair. 
 
 "The secretary read the directors' report, "which stated that, owing 
 to the objections taken by the Bank of Ireland to a part of the pro- 
 ceedings of the Provincial Bank, the interposition of his Majesty's 
 government was sought, and that ministers, viewing the question at 
 issue, viz. the right of the Provincial Bank to reth'e or exchange its 
 notes in Dublin, one of public concernment had commenced negoci- 
 ations with the Bank of Ireland, from which had resulted an arrange- 
 ment tending to place the banking business of Ireland on a secure 
 footing. By the agreement government undertook to bring in a bill 
 to authorize the Provincial Bank of Ireland, in paying their notes in 
 Dublin, or within fifty miles of it, for the purpose of withdrawing 
 them from circulation in Dublin. It was further agreed that no note 
 of the Provincial Bank should bear on the face of it any words stating 
 they were payable in Dublin — that the Provincial Bank should keep 
 a sufficient amount of gold in its possession, as well as keep an 
 account in the Bank of Ireland, which together, should be in propor- 
 tion to their issue of notes — that confidential returns should be made 
 to the chancellor of the exchequer of the amount of notes in circula- 
 tion belonging to the Provincial Bank, as well as the quantity of gold 
 in the several branches of the company, together with the sum depo- 
 sited in the Bank of Ireland, &c. 
 
 " The chairman then shortly addressed the meeting, observing 
 that it was specially convened to empower the directors to sign a 
 deed which would pledge the company to observe the stipulations of 
 the agreement just read. It was a matter of great importance that 
 the questions at issue had been set at rest, and which would jilacc the 
 banking system of Ireland on a more firm footing. This negociation 
 had been conducted to a favourable conclusion by government, minis- 
 ters being made sensible that the commercial interests of Ireland 
 would be benefited by it. What the Bank of Ireland had de- 
 manded the company were most willing to give, and the greatest 
 thanks were due to ministers, the Bank of England, and to the 
 directors of the Bank of Ireland, for their conduct in this matter. 
 The first lord of the treasury and the chancellor of the exchequer 
 had taken uj) the subject, on the high, elevated, and impartial privi- 
 leges of the public. The provisions of the deed required from the 
 company that returns should be made of the amount of notes in cir- 
 culation, and the amount of gold in the hands of the company, to 
 meet the demands. This company had always kept more gold in
 
 92 THE HI:rTORY OF 
 
 hand than that now required, and an assurance was given to the 
 government of the country, that the company would at all times be 
 able to meet the demands upon it. 
 
 " The report was then tid opted, 
 
 "Mr. Farral made a few remarks on the security required, and 
 observed that this arrangement would give more perfect security to 
 the banking business of Ireland, so that in the event of any untoward 
 circumstance arising to create alarm, confidence would be placed in 
 the banks. He moved resolutions to the effect that the arrange- 
 ments with the Bank of Ireland be approved — that a deed be signed 
 of the nature required — that the grateful acknowledgments of the 
 company be given to the first lord of the treasury and the chancellor 
 of the exchequer, for their mediation in this matter, &c. 
 
 " The resolutions were adopted unanimously. 
 
 " Thanks were returned to the court of directors for their zeal, and 
 Mr. Spring Rice expressed their acknowledgments, 
 
 " The meeting then adjourned." 
 
 Report by the court of directors of the Provin- 
 cial Bank of Ireland to the proprietors, assembled 
 at the fifth yearly general meeting, on Thursday, the 
 20th of May, 18S0. 
 
 " The two successive extraordinary general meetings so recently 
 held (on the 10th and 17th days of the present month), have made 
 the proprietors who were present at those meetings sufliciently ac- 
 quainted with the very important measure, which it was the object 
 of the said meetings to enable the directors to carry into full effect. 
 
 " It not having been considered necessary, however, to print a 
 report of the proceedings of those meetings, the directors think it 
 riglit, for the information of the proprietors at large, to introduce 
 into this report a short recapitulation of the occurrences which were 
 the occasion of calling those extraordinary general meetings ; and 
 to subjoin the resolutions which were i)roposed and adopted at the 
 meeting on the 10th, and were subsequently confirmed at the 
 meeting held on the 17 th instant. 
 
 " It will be in the recollection of the proprietors, that in the 
 report made to the yearly meeting in May 1828, the directors took 
 occasion to state, that a (jui tain action, of which the particulars 
 were not then known, had been brought by the Bank of Ireland 
 against the Provincial Bank. 
 
 •' It afterwards appeared that the object of the Bank of Ireland in 
 that action, was to (luestion the right of the Provincial Bank to 
 exchange its notes in Dulilin ; a right which, from the commencement 
 of its business until that time, it had excrcis^cd witliout cliallenge. 
 
 " It will further be in the recollection of the proprietors, that in 
 -^hc yearly rc])i)rt of IS'JO, it was stated that, contrary to the opinions 
 of a number of the most eminent lawyers, both at the English and
 
 BANKING IN IRELAND. 93 
 
 Irish Bar, under the authority of whose advice, and interpretation 
 of the law, the directors liad all along acted, a decision in the above- 
 mentioned action was given by the Judge at Nisi Prius against the 
 Provincial Bank ; but that as the opinions of their legal advisers were 
 in no degree altered by that decision, the directors had lost no time 
 in taking the necessary steps for having the cause determined in the 
 court of last resort. 
 
 " Notwithstanding, however, the confidence which the directors 
 placed in those opinions, and their assurance of ultimate success, 
 it seemed by no means an impossible circumstance, that in the 
 meantime, until a final judgment should be obtained, the decision 
 already given, might operate injuriously, not only on the particular 
 interests of the Provincial Bank, but also on public credit generally 
 in Ireland, interwoven as those interests are so intimately and 
 extensively with, the commerce of that part of the empire. It was 
 evident, besides, from the conflicting legal opinions which had been 
 obtained by the two banks on the question at issue between them, 
 that the existing law regarding it was liable to the most opposite 
 interpretation. The case seemed, therefore, to be one in which a 
 remedial enactment of the legislature was obviously called for; and 
 one also, in which the mediation of his majesty's government might 
 with propriety be interposed, for the j^urpose of adjusting between 
 the parties more immediately concerned, the differences which had 
 thus arisen out of the uncertain state of the law for regulating 
 banking transactions in Ireland. 
 
 " Influenced by these considerations, the directors felt it to be 
 their duty to bring the whole proceedings under the notice of the 
 first lord of the treasury, and of the chancellor of the exchequer ; 
 and they had very soon the satisfaction of finding, that the matter 
 was viewed by his majesty's ministers as one of public concernment, 
 which fully justified the application they had ventured to make. 
 
 " A negociation with the Bank of Ireland was accordingly com- 
 menced, through the mediation of the treasury ; and having been 
 conducted on both sides with the utmost frankness and cordiality, it 
 has been concluded happily, to the entire satisfaction of both 
 establishments. 
 
 " The result of that neg-ociation, and a detail of the proceedings 
 which led to it, having been communicated by the directors to the 
 extraordinary general meeting of proprietors, held, as tdready noticed, 
 on the 10th instant, the report thereof was unanimously received 
 and adopted, and the following resolutions, which were thereui)on 
 proposed, were with equal unanimity passed, and subsequently 
 confirmed at the meeting on the 17th. 
 
 " 1. That the agreement which, under the mediation of his 
 majesty's treasury, has been provisionally entered into with the 
 Bank of Ireland, for the final adjustment of all differences and 
 litigations subsisting between the two establishments, meets the 
 entire concurrence and approval of the proprietors. 
 
 " 2. That the court of directors be fully authorized to instruct
 
 94 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 the public officers of the society, or one of them, to sign such deed 
 or instrument as may be thought necessary to carry such agreement 
 into effect. 
 
 "3. That the court of proprietors feel it to be their duty, to 
 offer their grateful acknowledgments to the first lord of the 
 treasury, and to the chancellor of the exchequer, for the mediation 
 which, on pubUc grounds, has been interposed in this matter, and 
 which has led to so satisfactory a result. 
 
 "4. That the court of proprietors feel much satisfaction at the 
 establishment of a friendly and cordial intercourse with the Bank of 
 Ireland ; being confident that such an event is alike advantageous to 
 both banks, and to the public generally. 
 
 " In consonance with the agreement referred to in the foregoing 
 resolutions, a bill, with the consent of the Bank of Ireland, will 
 forthwith be introduced into parliament by the chancellor of the 
 exchequer, for the purpose of settling the law on those points 
 relative to banking in Ireland, which have been so variously in- 
 terpreted. The Provincial Bank will be fully authorized to continue 
 the practice of exchanging its notes in Dublin ; and certain technical 
 difficulties which presently exist regarding the registry of the share- 
 holders, and public officers of the society, and the licences from the 
 stamp-office for issuing notes, will also by the same bill be removed. 
 
 " The deed of covenant between the Bank of Ireland and the 
 Provincial Bank, likewise referred to in the resolutions, is in the 
 course of preparation and execution ; and thus the proceedings 
 connected with this transaction, fraught with consequences so 
 important to the interests of this society, will be brought to a 
 most happy termination. 
 
 " Having made this announcement, which cannot fail to gratify 
 every proprietor of the Provincial Bank ; it is now the duty of the 
 directors to lay before the meeting a statement of the affiiirs of the 
 society, as usual in the yearly report. 
 
 " In considering this statement, it is proper that the proprietors 
 should bear in mind two very important circumstances affecting it ; 
 and which, as they are well known, will doubtless be duly appreciated, 
 especially by those proprietors who, by business or otherwise, are 
 connected with Ireland. 
 
 " The first is, the occurrence detailed in the report of last year, 
 which arose out of the political excitement into which Ireland was 
 thrown in the autumn of 1828, the effects of which it was obvious 
 were not to be speedily countercactcd, but would be felt on the 
 business for a considerable time, even after it had begun to resume 
 its former channels. 
 
 " The second is the effect of the bad harvest of the same year, and 
 of the excessive fluctuation in the prices of all sorts of Irish produce 
 which subsequently took place ; owing to which, it was evident that 
 the business of the season could not be wound up without exposing 
 the most wary to the risk of very serious losses.
 
 BANKING IN IRELAND. 95 
 
 " Under such circumstances, and through such difficult times, it 
 was not to be expected that the Provincial ]3ank should pass without 
 injury, notwithstanding all the caution and vigilance which it might 
 be in the power of the court of directors here, and of the local 
 boards in Ireland, to exercise. 
 
 "When, in addition to these unfavourable circumstances, it is 
 further considered that the important transaction which has been 
 detailed in the former part of this report, has necessarily been 
 attended with considerable extraordinary expense (not likely again 
 to occur), it is with great satisfaction that the directors have to 
 exhibit the statement which will now be submitted : 
 
 " By the report of last year, the undivided profits 
 at 29th Maich, 1829, (excluding fractions of 
 £100) were £19,500 
 
 " The profits of the year ending the 27th, being 
 the last Saturday of March, 1830, after de- 
 duction of expenses, both ordinary and extra- 
 ordinary, and also of the proportion, as for- 
 merly settled, of the extraordinary expenses 
 of forming the society, and providing for all 
 bad debts, amount to _ - _ _ 21,800 
 
 Sum - - 41,300 
 " From which are to be taken the dividends paid 
 to proprietors — 
 
 At Midsummer, 1829 - -£10,000 
 At Christmas, 1829 - - 10,000 
 
 £20,000 
 
 " Remains, amount of undivided profits at 27th 
 
 March, 1830 £,21300 
 
 " Out of which the directors propose to pay a dividend at the 
 rate of 4 per cent, per annum, for the half-year ending Midsummer 
 next ; and they have further the pleasure of stating that as the 
 condition of the bank's afl^airs is such as to justify their previous 
 calculation, that against the next yearly meeting the whole of the 
 extraordinary expense which attended the formation of the society 
 will be cleared off, they feel every confidence that the anticipations 
 which they have held out in former reports, of the growing prosperity 
 of the bank, will be fully realized." 
 
 In the month of June, a run for gold was made upon 
 the banks at Waterford, in consequence of the publica- 
 tion of the following letter, addressed by Mr. O'Connell 
 to the editor of the Waterford Chronicle. 
 
 " This is the very time to attack government in every legal and 
 constitutional way. I very much approve of your plan of securing a
 
 96 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 gold currency for Ireland. If gold be good for England, as a medium 
 of exchange, it ought to be equally good for Ireland. Indeed it is a 
 very formidable advantage that the English have over us in this, 
 that their currency is of actual value as an article of commerce, being 
 gold, and that we, Irish, should have no other currency than mere 
 paper, in itself, as an article of commerce, of no kind of value what- 
 soever. It is too bad that the welfare of Ireland should be thus 
 postponed, as it were, to serve England. It seems, therefore, a duty 
 to rouse the people to effectuate the necessary change, by calling 
 for gold for every pound note. A man who has a pound note may 
 surely as well have a sovereign. A thousand accidents may make a 
 pound note not worth \^d. There is nothing which can possibly 
 render the sovereign worth less than 205., and let me tell you that 
 it may again become worth 30^. of the then currency. Call there- 
 fore on the people — the honest unsophisticated people — to send in 
 the bank notes of every description, and to get gold. Take this as a 
 measure of precaution every where — let it spread far and near, and 
 then at least we will be so far on a par with England." 
 
 This run is remarkable for being the first to which 
 the Bank of Ireland or the savings bank were ever 
 exposed. It did not extend beyond Waterford. Seve- 
 ral of the Dublin newspapers inserted articles in favour 
 of a gold currency, with a view of producing a general 
 demand for gold, but in this instance the attempt did 
 not succeed. 
 
 1831. January. In consequence of legal proceedings 
 taken by the government against Mr. O'Connell, a run 
 for gold took place on the Bank of Ireland in Dublin, 
 and on all the banks in the south of Ireland. During 
 the run I published the following article in the Water- 
 ford Mail: 
 
 " BANK NOTES VBRSUS GOLD. 
 
 " To the Farmers, Landlords, Merchants, and Traders of the City 
 and County of Waterford. 
 " The humble petition of Messieurs Lcs Billets de Banque. 
 " Sheweth, 
 " That your petitioners were appointed by acts of the English and 
 Irish parliaments to be measurers of value — it has been their office 
 to denote the relative value of commodities with a view to their 
 equitable transfer from one person to another — and they have dis- 
 charged this office with more convenience to the public than it could 
 have been performed by any other medium of exchange. 
 
 " That, notwithstanding these services, sundry persons have be- 
 come evil-disposed towards your petitioners, and have attempted the
 
 BANKING IN IRELAND. 97 
 
 total destruction of your petitioners, not by requesting the legislature 
 to repeal the acts which called them into existence, but by endea- 
 vouring to produce what is usually called a run upon the banks. 
 
 " That your petitioners therefore beg permission to state what 
 they deem would be the effects upon the agriculture and commerce 
 of the city and county of Waterford, in case your petitioners should 
 be banished or destroyed through the machinations of such evil- 
 disposed persons. 
 
 " The banks which now discount at four per cent, in consequence 
 of issuing their own notes, would, in case notes were abolished, be 
 compelled to charge a higher rate of discount, and perhaps a com- 
 mission besides. They would find it more profitable to employ their 
 money in mortgage or in the funds, unless they were to make such 
 charges on their discounts as should render their capital equally 
 productive, after having paid the expenses of their establishment. 
 As, too, the banks would be deprived of the capital now created by 
 the issue of their notes, they would probably restrict the amount of 
 their discounts. They would discount only for merchants of the 
 first class, and those of an inferior grade would be compelled to 
 wait for remittances from England, instead of receiving the money 
 for their bills, as they now do, the moment their shipments are 
 made. The substitution of gold for notes would, therefore, put 
 many of our merchants frequently out of the market, and impose 
 heavy charges upon the remainder. 
 
 " The price at which commodities exported from Waterford can 
 be sold in England, is regulated by the market price in England. 
 The Irish exporter has no power to sell his exports at a higher price. 
 If, then, the merchant is subjected to higher charges for the discount 
 of his bills, the only way he can reimburse himself is by giving a 
 less price to the farmer. The fall in the price of corn, butter, and 
 pigs in Ireland, must be equal to at least the amount of these addi- 
 tional charges. Besides, should the inferior merchants not be able 
 to get their bills discounted at the banks, there would be fewer 
 buyers in the market, and this would tend to reduce prices still 
 farther. Such would probably be the effect of the substitution of 
 gold for notes, even were it produced by a legal enactment ; but 
 were it produced by what is called a run upon the banks, the 
 prices of agricultural commodities would fall much lower. In ad- 
 dition to the above-mentioned causes, there would be a degree of 
 alarm, a sort of panic, that would have a powerful effect for a while 
 in reducing prices. A run upon the banks for gold would therefore 
 be ruinous to the farmers. 
 
 " As the farmer could not obtain an adequate price for his pro- 
 duce he could not pay his rent, and the landlord must suffer. Per- 
 haps the present rents might for a short time be squeezed out of 
 those farmers who have accumulated a little capital, but ultimately 
 rents must fall in proportion to the reduced value of the crops. 
 
 " As the farmers ^nd landlords would not have the same amount 
 of money as formerly to lay out with the traders and shopkeepers.
 
 98 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 these -would find their business decline, and those who had given 
 credit would probably never recover the full amount of the debts due 
 to them. And let it be observed, that while the substitution of gold 
 for notes would materially reduce in Ireland the prices of the Irish 
 exports, it M'ould not reduce in the same proportion the prices of the 
 commodities imported. The price in Ireland of a commodity im- 
 ported depends upon the price at which it can be purchased in En- 
 gland or in any other country from which it is obtained. So that 
 while a gold currency would reduce the prices of corn, butter, and 
 pigs, it would scarcely affect the prices of cotton, mercery, groce- 
 ries, ironmongery, wines, timber, &c. &c. As these could not be 
 purchased at a lower price than they are now, they could not be soid 
 at a lower price, except the reduction were taken out of the profits of 
 the importer. As, therefore, the sellers of agricultural commodities 
 would receive for the same amount of exports a less sum of money, 
 they would not be able to purchase so many imported commodities, 
 and consequently the business of the dealers and shopkeepers must 
 decline. 
 
 " Thus it appears that the substitution of a gold for a paper cur- 
 rency would be injurious to the banks by destroying a part of their 
 capital and diminishing their business — would be injurious to the 
 merchants, by increasing the charges upon their discounts, and limit- 
 ing the accommodation they receive from the banks — would be inju- 
 rious to the farmers, by reducing the price of agricultural produce — 
 would be injurious to the landlords, by rendering the farmers unable 
 to pay their rents — Avould be injurious to the traders and shopkeepers, 
 by rendering the farmers and landlords less able to purchase their 
 goods. Thus all these classes would be injured without any one 
 class receiving any benefit. 
 
 " "Wherefore your petitioners most humbly pray that you will pre- 
 vent the arrival of these evils to the cit^- and county of Waterford, 
 and be pleased to discourage any attempts that may be made for the 
 destruction of your petitioners. 
 
 " (Signed) " One Pound. 
 
 " Thirty Shillings. 
 " Three Pounds. 
 " Four Pounds. 
 " Five Pounds." 
 
 " We understand the above petition was handed for signature to 
 Mes eurs the £10, £20, £30, £50, and £100 notes, but they all 
 refused to sign, alleging that the matter did not concern them, for 
 that no person whose circumstances enabled him to hold even a £10 
 note, could possibly be so uninformed as to entertain the sentiments 
 against which the petition contends, and they declared, upon their 
 honour as gentlemen, that they had never heard such sentiments ex- 
 pressed by any individual with whom they had been conversant. It 
 is reported that Monsieur £5 has withdrawn his signature from the 
 petition upon the same grounds.''
 
 BANKING IN IRELAND. 99 
 
 At most of the principal places in' the South of 
 Ireland, meetings of merchants were held for the 
 purpose of expressing their disapprobation of this 
 interruption to commercial operations. The following 
 resolutions were published in the Waterford papers : 
 
 " Resolved — That we, the undersigned merchants, traders, and 
 others of the city and county of Waterford, having observed with 
 much concern, that a run for gold has taken place in the different 
 branch banks in this city, which we consider as quite uncalled for, 
 and most injurious to the applicants, and prejudicial to all classes of 
 the community, do hereby pledge ourselves to take their paper in 
 preference to gold in all transactions. 
 
 " Resolved — That we recommend the suspension of the purchase 
 of agricultural produce, until the run for gold on the banks subsides." 
 
 1831. Report by the directors of the Provincial 
 Bank of Ireland, to the proprietors assembled at the 
 sixth yearly general meeting, on Thursday, the 19th 
 day of May, 1831. 
 
 " The directors have to state, in the first place, with reference to 
 the report made to the last yearly general meeting of the proprietors, 
 that the important arrangement with the Bank of Ireland, which was 
 then announced to be nearly completed, has, since that time, been 
 brought to the satisfactory termination which was anticipated. 
 
 " The act of the legislature, which was then contemplated, has 
 been passed ; being the 1 Gul. IV. cap. 32, whereby the Provincial 
 Bank is authorized to pay its notes in Dublin. The deed of covenant 
 between the Bank of Ireland and the Provincial Bank, then also in 
 progress of adjustment, has been finally settled, and formally exe- 
 cuted ; and the proprietors will learn with ])leasure, that the best 
 understanding is maintained between the two establishments. 
 
 " The political circumstances of the country, however, during the 
 last year, have unfortunately not been such as to permit any bank, 
 carrying on business in Ireland, to reap, without great annoyance, 
 and considerable abatement, the fruits which such institutions are 
 well entitled to expect, from the solid advantages conferred upon the 
 country by their operations. 
 
 " In the reports made to the yearly general meetings in May 1826, 
 and May 1829, the proprietors w'ere informed of two instances of 
 extraordinary demands for gold, which had been made, j)rior to these 
 periods respectively, upon the Provincial Bank, by the holders of its 
 obligations : one on the branch at Cork, in the spring of 1826; and 
 the other on the southern branches generally, in the autumn of 1828. 
 " The former of these runs was occasioned by circumstances merely 
 local. The sudden death of one banker, iind the failure of another,
 
 100 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 occurring in the same place, and at the same time, produced a panic 
 among the holders of notes in that district generally ; and, consider- 
 ing the then recent establishment of the Provincial Bank, it was not 
 surprising that, in a time of general distrust, fears concerning its 
 stability should have been entertained by those who were ignorant of 
 its capital and resources. 
 
 "The run of 1828, which extended itself far more widel)'. was 
 also the result of panic ; but of panic arising out of the circum- 
 stances of political excitement, into which Ireland was thrown, 
 during the autumn of that year. 
 
 " In each of the instances above referred to, and particularly the 
 latter, the demands for gold were very considerable ; but, as was also 
 the case in several other instances of minor importance, which have 
 occurred, though not noticed in the yearly reports, these demands 
 were at all times met by the directors with the utmost promptitude ; 
 so that on no occasion whatever w-as there a single moment's delay 
 in satisfying the claim of any individual who desired gold in exchange 
 for any note or receipt held by him. 
 
 " From these repeated trials to which the bank had been subjected, 
 and particularly after the great run of 1828, it was naturally antici- 
 pated by the directors, that the promptness with which every demand 
 for gold had been answered, would have the effect of establishing 
 throughout Ireland, entire confidence in the stability and resources 
 of the Provincial Bank. Nor have the directors been disappointed in 
 this respect ; although, contrary to all reasonable expectation, they 
 have to record two fresh instances of extraordinary demands for gold, 
 which have occurred within the last twelve months. 
 
 " Of these recent demands, the first occurred in the months of June 
 and July 1830, and the second in January of the present year. 
 Like the run of 1828, both were the result of political circumstances, 
 too well known to require particular detail. Both differed widely, 
 however, in their character, from any former run ; for in neither in- 
 etance was there shewn the smallest alarm or doubt of the stability 
 of the bank, on the part of those by whom the demands for gold 
 were made. Yet the effects were not, on that account, the less 
 mischievous. 
 
 " On both occasions, it is true, the Provincial Bank had not to 
 sustain, as in former instances, the whole brunt of the demands. 
 The act 9 Geo. IV. cap. 81, had now been passed, prior to which, 
 the Provincial Bank was the only bank in Ireland that paid its notes 
 in gold at every place of issue ; and the increased pressure upon it 
 from that circumstance, at any season of general alarm, compared 
 with other banks, having branches, but not following the same 
 practice, may be easily imagined. Since the passing of that act, the 
 burden of supplying gold in the provinces has been shared by the 
 Bank of Ireland : and it is not to be doubted that, extensive as the 
 demands were in both these recent instances, particularly the latter, 
 they would have been much greater, had not the Bank of Ireland 
 been equally exposed to them.
 
 BANKING IN IRELAND. lOJ 
 
 " But, even with this alleviating circumstance, when the peculiar 
 nature, and political origin of the demands, in both instances, are 
 considered, it may be readily conceived that a very heavy expense 
 must have been incurred in counteracting them. It is true, indeed, 
 that at several of the bank stations the good sense and good feeling 
 of the people were proof against the general excitement created in 
 other places ; yet, even in tliese cases, as well as in those of the 
 branches which were actually pressed, the expense of providing ex- 
 traordinary sujjplies of gold was of necessity equally incurred. 
 
 " Under these annoying and adverse circumstances, operating so 
 disadvantageously upon the business of the bank, and upon that of 
 the country generally, during the past year, it is matter of con- 
 gratulation that the directors have it in their power to present to the 
 proprietors the account which is now to be submitted ; the more 
 especially that within the same period, as is well known, many very 
 extensive failures in Dublin, and of houses elsewhere in, or connected 
 with Ireland, have occurred ; from which it was impossible for any 
 bank, carrying on an extended business in that country, to steer 
 altogether clear. 
 
 " By the account of last year, the amount 
 of undivided profits at 27th March, 
 1830, was _ - - . . £21,364 9 4 
 
 " The profits of the year ending 26th, 
 being the last Saturday of March, 1831, 
 after deduction of all ordinary expenses ; 
 of extraordinary expenses attending the 
 completion of the arrangement with the 
 Bank of Ireland, as also those occasioned 
 by the demands for gold, above referred 
 to ; together with the M-hole balance of 
 the extraordinary expenses incurred in 
 forming the society, as formerly settled, 
 to be distributed over a certain number 
 of years, now expired ; and after pro- 
 Tiding for bad debts, amount to - - 21,799 19 10 
 
 Sum - - £43,164 9 
 From which are to be taken the dividends 
 paid to the proprietors — 
 
 At Midsummer, 1830 - £10,000 
 At Christmas, 1830 - - £10.000 
 
 20.000 
 
 " Remains, amount of undivided profits at 
 
 26th March, 1831 - - - £23,164 9 2 
 
 " From this statement it will be seen, that, notwithstanding the 
 extraordinary expenses incurred in i)roviding against two runs,
 
 102 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 the net profits of last year are equal to those of the year which 
 preceded it. Taking this into consideration, and reckoning upon the di- 
 minished liability to similar demands in future, which are less likely to 
 arise under the increased and increasing confidence of the country in 
 the stability and resources of the bank, the directors feel themselTes 
 warranted in renewing to the proprietors the expression of their 
 entire conviction of the solidity and growing prosperity of the 
 concern. 
 
 " It being now also in the power of the directors to announce, as 
 has just been done, that the whole of the extraordinary expenses 
 incurred in forming the society have been cleared off, according to 
 the arrangement settled in 1826; and knowing, also, that certain 
 other improvements of the business, which they have been able to 
 effect, will forthwith come into operation ; the directors do not 
 hesitate to state that, in their opinion, the time is arrived when an 
 addition to the rate of dividend may be safely made. 
 
 " It is, therefore, with great satisfaction that they now declare 
 their intention of paying, at the usual period in July, a dividend at 
 the rate of two and one-half per cent, for the half-year ending 
 Midsummer next ; in the full assurance that the progress of the bu- 
 siness will be such as to enable them both to maintain that increased 
 rate of dividend, and also to make a greater addition to the reserved 
 fund, than has been done in former years. 
 
 May 27. The following case was tried in the Court 
 of King's Bench, London. 
 
 " Mahony v. Ashlin. — The question in this case was, whether a 
 bill of exchange drawn in Ireland upon London, was an inland bill 
 within the meaning of the statutes, which require that the acceptance 
 of an inland bill should be written upon the face of it. The plaintiff 
 was the secretary of the Provincial Bank of Ireland, who had dis- 
 counted the bill in question upon the faith of its acceptance ; 
 and Messrs. Ashlin, the defendants, being advised of the drawing, 
 wrote a letter, in which they stated that they would accept the 
 bill in due course, but on its being presented to them for ac- 
 ceptance, the drawers having failed in the meantime, they refused to 
 accept it on the ground that they had no funds. Their liability, 
 therefore, depended upon the question whether it was a foreign bill, 
 as in that case it was admitted that the letter would be a sufficient 
 acceptance. 
 
 " Mr. Follett, for tlie i)laintiff, contended that the statutes were 
 intended to apply to bills drawn and payable in England, and ac- 
 cording to a variety of decisions, a bill drawn in Scotland or Ireland 
 upon England was a foreign bill. It was not subject to the same 
 stamp as a bill drawn and payable in England, and tliat distinction 
 being clearly established, the acceptance by letter was sufficient. 
 
 " Mr. Campbell, on the other side, relied ujion the alteration in the 
 situation of the countries by the Act of Union, and contended that
 
 BANKING IN IRELAND. 103 
 
 the statute of the 9th Geo. IV. was evidently intended to extend 
 that regulation to Ireland which the former statutes had cstahlished 
 in England, as the evil to be remedied was the same in both 
 countries. 
 
 " The Court, in giving judgment, referred to the statute of 
 William III., the first statute regulating the acceptance of inland 
 bills of exchange, which applied only to England, Wales, and 
 Berwick-on-Tweed ; and as none of the subsequent acts of par- 
 liament had extended the description of an inland bill so as to 
 include a bill drawn in Ireland upon England, their Lordships were 
 of opinion that the Act of Union could make no alteration in that 
 respect, and consequently this must be considered a foreign bill. 
 The letter, therefore, was a sufficient acceptance, and the plaintiiF 
 was entitled to recover — Postea to the plaintiff." 
 
 1832. Report by the directors of the Provincial Bank 
 of Ireland to the proprietors, assembled at the seventh 
 yearly general meeting, on Thursday, the 17th day of 
 May, 1832. 
 
 " In concluding the report made to the proprietors at the anni- 
 versary meeting of last year, the directors announced their intention 
 of increasing the rate of dividend to 5 per cent, on the capital paid 
 up ; and ventured at the same time to express their opinion, that the 
 growing prosperity of the bank would enable them not only to 
 maintain that increased rate of dividend, but also to make a greater 
 addition to the reserved fund than had been made in any former 
 year. 
 
 " The proprietors will be gratified to learn from the statement 
 about to be submitted to them, that the above expectation has been 
 fully realized, by the results of the business for the year which has 
 since elapsed. 
 
 " The harvest of last season was, on the whole, one of the most 
 favourable for Ireland which has occurred for many years. In the 
 best cultivated parts of the country, the crops of grain were early 
 matured, and of an excellent quality, and being brought to market 
 in the finest condition, obtained a ready sale and good prices : while 
 in the mountainous and later districts, the abundance of the 
 produce has, even at prices greatly reduced since the opening of 
 the season, yielded to the farmer a fair remuneration. The potatoe 
 crop also, an object of vital importance to Ireland, was, M'ith scarcely 
 any exception, everywhere excellent, both in abundance and quality. 
 
 " The effects of these favourable circumstances upon the general 
 prosperity of the countrj'^, have been very apparent to the directors 
 in the increase of deposits at almost every one of the branch banks 
 of this society — a sure indication of the growing wealth of the 
 people ; and to the directors, a most gratifying mark of the increasing 
 confidence reposed throughout Ireland, in the stability and resources 
 of the Provincial Bank.
 
 104 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 " Of this confidence, moreover, the directors have received 
 additional proofs in the numerous and urgent applications which 
 have been made to them during the last year, by the landed pro- 
 prietors and traders of various districts in Ireland, for the establish- 
 ment amongst them of branches of the Provincial Bank. To three 
 of these applications the directors have acceded, and others are still 
 under consideration. 
 
 " In August last, at Youghal, and in September, at Enniskillen, 
 regular branch banks were established ; and at Monaghan, after an 
 experiment commenced in January of this year, it was determined 
 to open a regular office in that place also. Thus, three new branch 
 banks have been formed since the last annual meeting of the pro- 
 jjrietors, and the business at each of them is proceeding with every 
 prospect of success. 
 
 " But in a report of this kind, the directors must not omit to 
 state, that during the last year, many very disastrous failures have 
 occurred, chiefly among houses engaged in the corn trade, on both 
 sides of the Irish channel, arising principally from imprudent specu- 
 lations in foreign grain ; and that every bank carrying on business 
 on an extended scale, and dealing with parties connected with that 
 trade, has, in consequence of such failures, been more or less exposed 
 to loss. 
 
 " Under such circumstances it was not to be expected that the 
 Provincial Bank should altogether escape. But the directors trust 
 that the proprietors will be satisfied that the interests of the bank 
 have not been materially affected by the failures alluded to, when, 
 after providing for all such losses, as well as for all bad debts 
 incurred since the commencement of the business, it is in their 
 power to submit the account to which the attention of the proprietors 
 is now requested. 
 
 " By the account of last year, the amount 
 of undivided profits at 26th Mai-ch, 
 
 1831, was £23,164 9 2 
 
 " llie profits for the year ending 31st, 
 
 being the last Saturday of March, 
 
 1832, after deduction of all expenses, 
 and providing for all bad debts, 
 
 amount to ...'-. 34,063 7 8 
 
 Sum - - £57,227 16 10 
 From which is to be taken the amount of 
 dividends paid to the proprietors 
 
 At Midsummer. 1831 - £12,r)00 
 At Christmas, 1831 - 12,500 
 
 25,000 
 
 llemains, amount of undivided profits at 
 
 31st March, 1832 - - - -£32,227 16 10
 
 DANKING IN IRELAND. 105 
 
 " Under this satisfactory condition of the bank's affairs, the 
 directors propose to continue for the ensuing year, the rate of divi- 
 dend at 5 per cent. ; there being every fair prospect, that, by per- 
 severance in the course of management under which the bank has 
 hitherto prospered, the proprietors may calculate on receiving, 
 within a short time, a still more am])le return for the capital they 
 have invested in the concern." 
 
 September 15. At one o'clock, a general court of 
 proprietors of stock of the Bank of Ireland was held 
 at the said bank, (it being one of the quarterly- 
 general courts appointed by charter,) for the purpose 
 of receiving a communication from the court of 
 directors. In the absence of the governor, John 
 George, Esq., deputy-governor, was called to the 
 chair ; on taking which, he said, it was witli consider- 
 able regret he had to announce to the meeting, that 
 indisposition prevented the governor from being 
 present on that occasion. He then submitted the 
 following statement : — " The court of directors are of 
 opinion that the circumstances which have arisen out 
 of the late proceedings in the House of Commons, 
 with relation to the Bank of England, render it de- 
 sirable to present to the court of proprietors the 
 following communication regarding the affairs of the 
 corporation, which they trust will prove satisfactory, 
 and the court of directors hope that existing circum- 
 stances will justify, in this instance, a variation from a 
 principle hitherto acted upon in this court : — That the 
 amount of the surplus fund, that is, the property of 
 the corporation, over and above the capital stock, on 
 tlie 5th July, 1821, (after the sum of 500,000/. Irish 
 currency, was taken out of the surplus fund, and 
 added to the capital stock,) remained at the sum of 
 1,104,000/. British currency, and that its amount at 
 the present period is 1,049,573/. That this amount is 
 independent of the value of the bank premises, botli 
 in Dublin and at the several country offices. That 
 the variations in the amount of the surplus fund 
 within the above period has not been considerable."
 
 106 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 1833. During the month of March, while the bill, 
 usually called " the Irish Coercion Bill," was under 
 the consideration of parliament, a run for gold was 
 made upon all the banks in the South of Ireland, 
 with a view of preventing the passing of that bill. 
 This, like all the preceding runs, was confined to the 
 South of Ireland. No run has ever taken place upon 
 a branch of any bank in the North of Ireland. 
 
 During this run the following article was inserted 
 in the Waterford Mail and the Waterford Chronicle. 
 
 " WATERFORD LITERARY AND SCIENTIFIC INSTITUTION. 
 
 " On Thursday evening, the third lecture on ancient commerce was 
 delivered by J. W. Gilbart, Esq. After recapitulating the heads of 
 his former lectures on the commerce of ancient Egypt and of ancient 
 Greece, the lecturer stated that the subject of the present lecture was 
 the commerce of Tyre and Carthage. He considered this portion of 
 ancient commerce to be exceedingly instructive, as it taught them the 
 means by which nations both in ancient and modern times have 
 acquired an extensive commerce. These means are, the possession 
 of maritime power — the establishment of manufactures — the planting' 
 of colonies — and the accumulation of capital. Under the last divi- 
 sion of the subject, the lecturer made the following observations 
 upon banking : — 
 
 "In all countries where capital has accumulated, there is a class 
 of men who become dealers in capital. They are not themselves 
 engaged in trade, but they furnish merchants and traders with such 
 temporary supplies of capital, as they may occasionally or periodically 
 require. These men are styled bankers. It is their business to 
 economise the national capital — to increase the rapidity of its circu- 
 lation — and thus to render it more productive. In a district where 
 there is no banker, a merchant or trader must always keep by him 
 a sum of money adequate to meet any sudden demand. But when a 
 bank is established, he need not retain this sum. He may trade to 
 the full amount of his capital, and if he should have occasion for a 
 temporary loan, lie may obtain it by way of discount from the bank. 
 Thus the productive cajjital of this country is increased. The banker 
 is a depository of capital. He is like the Hy-wheel of an engine, he 
 either receives or communicates power, as the occasion may require, 
 and thus maintains the firmness and increases the efficiency of the 
 machinery of commerce. 
 
 " Bankers are not merely lenders of capital — they are dealers in 
 capital. Tiiey borrow of those who wish to lend — they lend to 
 those who wish to borrow. The borrowing of capital is eifected by 
 the system of de])osits. Not merely merchants and traders, but per-
 
 BANKING IN IRELAND. 107 
 
 sons out of trade ; noblemen, gentlemen, farmers, and others, have 
 usually in their possession small sums of money, which they keep by 
 them to meet their occasional expenses. — When a bank is established 
 in their neighbourhood, they lodge the sums of money upon interest 
 with the bankers. Individually they may be of small amount, but 
 collectively they make a considerable sum, which the banker employs 
 in granting facilities to those who are engaged in trade and com- 
 merce. Thus, these little rivulets of capital are united and form a 
 powerful stream, which propels the wheels of manufactures, and sets 
 in motion the machinery of industry. 
 
 " Bankers also employ their own credit as capital. — They issue 
 notes, promising to pay the bearer a certain sum on demand. As long 
 as the public are willing to take these notes as gold, they produce 
 the same effects. The banker, who makes advances to the agricul- 
 turist, the manufacturer, or the merchant, in his own notes, stimu- 
 lates as much the productive powers of the country, and provides 
 employment for as many labourers, as if, by means of the philoso- 
 pher's stone, he had created an equal amount of solid gold. It is 
 this feature of our banking system that has been most frequently 
 assailed. It has been called a system of fictitious credit — a raising the 
 wind — a sj'-stem of bubbles. Call it what you please, we will not 
 quarrel about names ; but by whatever name you please to call it, it 
 is a powerful instrument of production. If it be a fictitious system, its 
 eflfects are not fictitious ; for it leads to the feeding, the clothing, and 
 the employing of a numerous population. If it be a raising the wind, 
 it is the wind of commerce, that bears to distant markets the produce 
 of our soil, and wafts to our shores the production of every climate. — 
 If it be a system of bubbles, they are bubbles which, like those of 
 steam, move the mighty engines that promote a nation's greatness 
 and a nation's wealth. 
 
 " Thus a banker, in three ways increases the productive powers 
 of capital. First — he economizes the capital already in a state of 
 employment. Secondly — by the system of deposits, he gives em- 
 ployment to capital that was previously unproductive. Thirdly — by 
 the issue of his ov/n notes he virtually creates capital by the sub- 
 stitution of credit. 
 
 " The means which a banker possesses of granting facilities to 
 trade and commerce will be in proportion to the amount of these 
 three sources of capital. If his own capital amount to £100,000, 
 and the deposits in his hands amount to £100,000, and his notes in 
 circulation amount to £100,000, he has then at his command the 
 sum of £300,000 with which he may discount bills for his customers. 
 But if the public say to him, " we will take your notes no longer, 
 give us gold," he will issue gold, but he must then reduce his 
 discounts from £300,000 to £200,000. If the depositors also 
 demanded the return of their deposits, he must reduce his discounts 
 from £200,000 to £100,000. His capital will then be reduced to 
 the original sum of £100,000 — the sum raised by deposits being
 
 108 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 again rendered unproductive in the hands of the owners, and that 
 raised by the circulation of notes being altogether annihilated. 
 
 " Banking promotes the prosperity of the country, chiefly by 
 increasing the amount and efficiency of its capital. In the history of 
 commerce we find no principle more firmly established than this — 
 that as the capital of a country is increased, agriculture, manufactures, 
 commerce, and industry will flourish ; and when capital is diminished, 
 these will decline. The man who attempts to annihilate any portion 
 of the capital of the country in which he dwells, is as forgetful of 
 his own advantage as the miller who should endeavour to dry up the 
 mountain -stream which turns the wheels of his machinery, or the 
 farmer who should desire to intercept the sun and the showers which 
 fertilize his fields." 
 
 1833. Report by the directors of the Provincial Bank 
 of Ireland to the proprietors, assembled at the eighth 
 yearly general meeting, on Thursday, the 16th day of 
 May, 1833. 
 
 " The account which the directors have now the pleasure to lay 
 before this meeting of proprietors, shewing the result of the opera- 
 tions of the bank for the past year, is in itself so satisfactory, as to 
 render any lengthened detail unnecessary ; exhibiting as it does, the 
 soundness of the principles, and the efllicacy of the system, on which 
 the management of the bank has been conducted, and proving that 
 the confidence which the directors have expressed from year to year, 
 in the prosperity of the undertaking, has been well-founded. 
 
 " It may not, however, be unacceptable to the proprietors that the 
 directors should shortly advert to the general progress of the business 
 during the year that has elapsed, on account more especially of two 
 circumstances of an important character which occurred in the course 
 of the year, and by each of which it was to be apprehended the con- 
 dition of the bank would be materially affected. 
 
 " The first of the circumstances here referred to, was the existence 
 and progress of that dreadful malady the cholera, by which Ireland, 
 in common with England and Scotland, but with greater severity 
 than either, was visited ; which in many of the towns produced for 
 a time nearly a total suspension of business ; and from which, even 
 at the present moment, that part of the empire is not altogether free. 
 The effects upon commerce generally, of a disease so widely spread 
 over the country, and so fatal, need not be enumerated. In the di- 
 minution of business which all establishments experienced, as also 
 in losses, which in several instances arose from the nonfulfilment of 
 the obligations of parties who were suddenly cut off, the bank neces- 
 sarily shared ; and it had besides to lauK^nt the more affecting loss of 
 three much esteemed local directors, and of a valuable officer, who 
 fell victims to this afflictive visitation.
 
 BANKING IN IRELAND. 109 
 
 " The other circumstance which has been referred to, was the run 
 for gold, which, as most of the proprietors will be aware, was excited 
 in the south of Ireland by political agitation, in the months of Fe- 
 bruary and March last, and which was directed equally against the 
 Provincial Bank, the branches of the Bank of Ireland, and the sa- 
 vings banks in that part of the country. The demands upon the 
 Provincial Bank were to a considerable amount, but the directors 
 had the satisfaction of seeing that the excitement was almost entirely 
 confined to ignorant holders of notes, who being easily deluded, be- 
 came the dupes of agitation, without perceiving at the time the 
 injury to themselves to which they were thus made instrumental, by 
 producing the temporary stagnation of commerce which ensued, and 
 the consequent depreciation in the market of every article which they 
 had to sell. The depositors, though a very numerous class of per- 
 sons, remained with a very few exceptions unaffected, and not one 
 respectable merchant was known to give the smallest countenance to 
 the schemes of the designing parties by whom the run was excited. 
 
 " Although the bank, therefore, was by this occurrence subjected 
 to some extraordinary expense, it was matter of congratulation 
 among those interested in its welfai'e, to perceive that the confidence 
 of the country in its stability, was so conspicuously manifested at the 
 same time ; and the directors are of opinion that any temporary di- 
 minution of profit which has been produced by the circumstance 
 referred to, is to be held as far more than compensated to the esta- 
 blishment, by the more deeply-rooted conviction of its utility to Ire- 
 land, which has thus been proved to exist in the minds of all the 
 respectable part of the community. 
 
 " For the satisfaction of the proprietors, it may be further stated, 
 that while it is at all times the care of the directors to maintain at 
 every one of the branch banks a reserve of specie proportionate to its 
 liabilities, in the regular and ordinary course of business, the experi- 
 ence which they have acquired from the repeated extraordinary de- 
 mands recorded in their annual reports, has enabled them, as it did in 
 this last instance, to calculate nearly to a certainty, the extent to which 
 extraordinary provision for such demands will be wanted. Ample 
 funds are always kept in a productive, yet tangible state, to meet such 
 emergencies, without exposing the bank to any sacrifice whatever, 
 by the conversion of more permanent securities. 
 
 " Having thus noticed the two unfavourable occurrences of the year, 
 referred to in the outset of this report, the directors have now to advert 
 to the general character which the business throughout the past year 
 has presented, and which, notwithstanding these adverse occurrences, 
 has enabled them to submit the account now about to be laid before 
 the proprietors. 
 
 " To those connected or acquainted with Ireland, it is scarcely ne- 
 cessary to state that the harvest of last yea^, though considerably later 
 than that of 1831, was still more abundant. The prices of corn, the 
 most important article of Irish produce, were, at the commencement
 
 110 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 of the season of export in 1S32, much lower than those at the cor- 
 responding period in 183 1 ; and as the season has heen drawing to its 
 close, prices have continued to experience a still further declension. 
 The natural consequence has been, that while with regard to the quan- 
 tity of produce exported from Ireland, business to an equal or greater 
 amount has been transacted in the season 1S32-3 ; the money value 
 has been from 20 to 30 per cent, less than it was during the greater 
 part of the season 1831-2, and the profits of the bank have undoubt- 
 edly been affected to a certain degree by this circumstance. But the 
 business of the season 1832-3, has been on the whole a safer one than 
 that of the year which preceded it ; fewer failures have occurred, and 
 the bank has accordingly kept comparatively clear of losses by bad 
 debts. 
 
 " In addition to this gratifying circumstance of comparative im- 
 munity from loss, as characteristic of the business of the season 
 nearly ended, the directors have the further satisfaction of stating to 
 the proprietors, that the bank is evidently now beginning to reap the 
 advantages it was entitled to expect from the benefits, which are 
 admitted on all hands to have been conferred on Ireland by its 
 institution. Its object being to conduct its business in such a manner 
 as to give encouragement to industry, and to call into action the 
 natural resources of the country ; its prosperity is intimately con- 
 nected with, nay, inseparable from the improvement of the condition 
 of the people, as the country itself advances in agriculture and com- 
 merce ; and, notwithstanding the distress which, in some districts, 
 presses so heavily on the poorer classes, it is not to be denied that a 
 perceptible improvement in the cultivation of the land, and in the 
 comforts of the people, is gradually extending itself over the greater 
 part of Ireland ; accompanied, as the directors have good means of 
 knowing, by a growing acquisition of capital among the industrious 
 part of the community, from which still more beneficial results on the 
 condition of the people may be fairly anticipated. 
 
 " Were any further proof wanting, either as to the advantage of 
 the institution of the Provincial Bank to Ireland, or to the progress 
 of agricultural and commercial industry throughout the land, the 
 directors think it is to be found in the number of applications which 
 they continue to receive for the establishment of additional branches. 
 From the places whence these applications have proceeded, the 
 directors have in the meantime selected Banbridge, in the county of 
 Down, as a station affording the promise of respectable and useful 
 business, and the necessary measures for establishing a regular branch 
 bank in that place are already in progress. Several of tiie other ap- 
 plications apj)car to be well deserving of consideration, and will in 
 due time receive attention. 
 
 " With these observations, the directors proceed to lay before the 
 proprietors the following statement : —
 
 BANKING IN IRELAND. HI 
 
 ' By the account submitted to the last 
 
 yearly general meeting, tlie amount 
 
 of undivided profits, at 31st March, 
 
 1832, was £3'i,'>27 16 10 
 
 ' The net profits of the year ending the 
 
 30th, being the last Saturday of 
 
 March, 1833, after deduction of all 
 
 expenses, and providing for all bad 
 
 debts, amount to ... - 42,970 17 3 
 
 Sum - - £75,198 14 1 
 From which is to be taken the amount 
 of dividends paid to the proprietors 
 
 At Midsummer, 1832 - £12,500 
 At Christmas, 1832 - 12,500 
 
 25,000 
 
 " Remains, amount of undivided profits at 
 
 30th March, 1833 - - - - £50.198 14 6 
 
 " Such being the satisfactory condition of the bank's aflfairs, the 
 directors have the gratification of announcing their intention to 
 declare a dividend of 3 per cent, for the half-year ending Midsum- 
 mer next, being at the rate of 6 per cent, per annum on the amount 
 of capital paid up." 
 
 1834. In this year was issued the following pro- 
 spectus of the National Bank of Ireland. 
 
 Committee. 
 
 John Brocklehuhst, Esq. M. P. 
 William Henry Calveut, Esq. 
 John Currie, Esq. 
 George Evans. Esq. M. P. 
 John Richard Elmore, Esq. 
 
 Daniel O'Connell, Esq. M.P. 
 Maurice O'Connell, Esq. M.P. 
 C. O'Brien, Esq. M.P. 
 David Roche, Esq. M. P. 
 Robert Sutton, Esq. 
 
 Charles Smith FoHSTER, Esq. M.P. J. Ruddell I'odd, Esq. M. P. 
 Fitz-Stephen Ffrench, Esq. M.P. Thomas Vigne, Esq. 
 C. Fitz-Simox, Esq. M. P. M^* ^- "^''igors, Esq. M. P. 
 
 Edmund F. Green, Esq. William Wilkinson, Esq. 
 
 James Grattan, Esq. M. P. | 
 
 " Previous to the year 1825, banking, in Ireland, was a monopoly- 
 enjoyed exclusively by the Bank of Ireland. In the following year 
 the Bank of England was curtailed of its extensive privileges, and 
 since then the system of banking in both countries may be said to be 
 placed upon a more solid foundation. The disasters so frequently 
 occurring amongst private bankers were often a serious inconvenience 
 to whole districts, which were not only ruined by a failure, but, in 
 consequence, often deprived of the utility nf a banking establishment. 
 
 I
 
 112 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 " Scotland had long felt the practical benefit of a sound banking 
 system, to -uhich may be traced the rapid development of agricul- 
 tural and commercial prosperity, and, other exciting causes being 
 absent, the growth and improvement in her moral and social condi- 
 tion. In these respects, it would be difficult to calculate the inesti- 
 mable benefits which a joint stock system of banking has conferred 
 upon Scotland. 
 
 " It was natural after the injury which the panic of 1 825 occa- 
 sioned (and which may in no small degree be attributed to our 
 unsound state of banking in England,) that the attention of the pub- 
 lic should be directed to the security of the Scotch system. Some 
 public-spirited individuals had made the attempt so early as 1822, but 
 the pri^^leges of the Bank of England proved too great an obstacle to 
 their patriotism ; and it was not till after the occurrences in 1825 
 that the legislature formed the determination to grapple with these 
 monopolies, and place England and Ireland on a footing of equality 
 with their sister country. To the panic, therefore, the effects of 
 which will be long remembered, the public are in a great degree 
 indebted for the establishment of a sounder system of banking than 
 had yet prevailed in either kingdom. 
 
 " It may, therefore, be taken for granted, that the experience of 
 Scotland, has proved the beneficial results of joint stock banks, 
 M'hether as regards the security they afford to the public, the confi- 
 dence they inspire as to their stability, or the healthy influence of 
 credit, which, by encouraging productive industry, administers to its 
 wants, and to the constant expansion of national prosperity. To the 
 numerous stockholders in the Scotch banks, which include the land- 
 owners and the wealthier classes of the community, joint stock 
 banking has been a source of immense profit, as the value of an ori- 
 ginal investment, has in more than one instance trebled, and been, in 
 all, considerably enhanced. 
 
 " The local joint stock banks which have sprung up in England 
 have succeeded beyond the most sanguine calculations of their 
 founders ; notwithstanding the limited resources they possess, com- 
 pared with the capital and credit of a national establishment. The 
 shares in the local joint stock banks of England are now selling in 
 the market at the following premiums, which are founded on the 
 dividends paid upon tlicir cajiitals : — Manchester and laverpool 
 District Bank, 75 per cent, premium. — Lancashire Banking Com- 
 pany, GO ditto. — Westmoreland Bank, 33^ ditto. — Bradford Com- 
 mercial Com])any, 100 ditto. — Huddcrsficld, GO ditto. — Leeds Com- 
 pany, 40 ditto. — Saddleworth Company, 62^ ditto — Provincial Bank 
 of Ireland, 92 ditto. 
 
 " Ireland is a country, of all others, peculiarly suited for a profit- 
 able employment of capital. 1 . Because the state of credit, owing 
 to the want of a sound banking system, has been such as to tempt 
 capital, by yielding it a high rate of interest, which is 6 per cent. 
 2. Because a truly national system of banking would encounter 
 lesB competition than prevails in Great Britain. And 3. Becauae
 
 UANKING IN IRELANJ). 1 13 
 
 a sound principle of banking would ensure a wider circulation to its 
 paper and credit, by which last alone a bank can be made useful to 
 the public, and profitable to the shareliolders. 
 
 " The Bank of Ireland and the Irish Provincial Bank, with the 
 exception of three local companies in Dublin and Belfast, enjoy at 
 present the undisputed monopoly of banking, without the ability, 
 from the nature of the principles on which they are founded, to 
 confer any decided advantages on Ireland in return. The annual 
 amount divided by the Bank of Ireland is £270,000, (exclusive of 
 bonusses which have been added to the capital), and the declared 
 profit in the last year of the Irish Provincial Bank was £58,316: 
 \8s. : 8d. on their trading capital of £500,000. This last bank was 
 established in 1825 — it was unquestionably very much required, and 
 has, so far as it has been able to extend itself, conferred great bene-' 
 fits on Ireland. This, in a great measure, is to be attributed to its 
 connection with Inglish capital, which inspired great confidence, 
 and materially contributed to the development of Irish credit. But 
 the Irish Provincial Bank has not succeeded in becoming, notwith- 
 standing it has been established nine years, a National Bank. In 
 this time, it has only extended itself to twenty-one towns in Ireland, 
 arising, most proba1)ly, from the defective principle on which it is 
 established ; and which multiplies, with every additional branch, the 
 details and difficulties of management, otherwise it would be difficult 
 to account for the tardiness it has displayed in its movements. It 
 appears, therefore, impossible that the Irish Provincial Bank can 
 extend itself much farther with equal safety, and, at the same time, 
 insure good management. As far as it has done so, it has been 
 highly profitable to its proprietors ; but as nothing is more cer- 
 tain than that competition will follow success, to foresee it is of vital 
 importance in the beginning. The Irish Provincial Bank seems to 
 have lost sight of this, and omitted to unite itself with a body in 
 Ireland, with whom to share its profits, as well as to fortify itself on 
 a principle, by which resistance could be made to inevitable competi- 
 tion — a competition based on success, the best temptation and 
 security to capitalists. 
 
 "It is not, however, likely that the Irish people would remain for 
 any length of time deprived of a national system of banking, or capi- 
 talists fail to secure a field which has proved so productive, and 
 which, conducted upon an enlarged scale, is more certain to increase 
 the advantages of investment. 
 
 " In founding the National Bank of Ireland, so as to deserve the 
 name of National Bank, two leading principles, entirely overlooked in 
 the Irish Provincial Bank, must be adopted, viz. 
 
 " 1. The power of extension, without increasing at head quarters 
 the labour of management. 
 
 " 2. To insure its success by securing it against competition. 
 
 " The plan of extension of the National Bank of Ireland includes 
 a system of self-management, and an union with a large body of 
 local proprietors where each branch is formed, upon a piinciple.
 
 114 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 ■which will stimulate exertion by increasing their direct interest in 
 sits succes. 
 
 " It is proposed that each branch shall have a separate capital pro- 
 portioned to the extent of its business, one-half to be subscribed by 
 resident shareholders, so as to identify their interest with their own 
 establishment, and the other half to be subscribed by the National 
 Bank of Ireland, whose connection with each branch, whether its 
 separate capital consists of £5000 or £50,000, will afford it the 
 credit of whatever capital (however large) the National Bank of Ire- 
 land may have actually paid up at the time. 
 
 " It is proposed to commence this undertaking with a capital of 
 One Million, which, as the branches extend, will be increased by 
 fresh issues of shares, at a premium, to new subscribers ; the pre- 
 mium, on each extension of capital, to go to the original proprietors. 
 This premium will be calculated on the actual success of the under- 
 taking, and competitors who may be disposed to set up a rival bank, 
 will thus be enabled, by the constant enlargement of the capital, to 
 embark in the National Bank of Ireland. 
 
 " The following are the terms and conditions of subscribing. 
 
 " I . That a company shall be formed in London, to extend to 
 Ireland the benefit of a sound banking system. 
 
 " 2. That a bank be formed in each town in Ireland, where prac- 
 ticable by law, and which offers a prospect of success to the opera- 
 tions of the company. 
 
 "3. That the object of the London company shall be to connect 
 itself with shareholders exclusively interested in the success of each 
 local establishment. 
 
 " 4. That the principle of the bank shall be the division of profits 
 of each bank, with such local shareholders in Ireland. The capital 
 of each branch to be subscribed equally by shareholders on the spot 
 and the company in London. 
 
 "5. That the capital of the London company shall be £1,000,000, 
 in shares of £50 each, to be called the original capital, which may 
 be increased as the business of the company extends ; but the pre- 
 mium, on any addition, to go to the first subscribers. 
 
 " That the bank shall be formed as soon as half the capital is 
 subscribed. 
 
 " 7. That the bank shall be managed by a board in London, con- 
 sisting of twenty-four directors, in whom will be vested the supreme 
 control. 
 
 "8. That each local bank shall be managed by a board of local 
 directors, elected by the shareholders, subject to the approbation of 
 the directors in London. 
 
 " 9. That the directors in London shall be empowered to appoint 
 presidents and honorary directors. 
 
 " 10. That a full and authentic report shall be made each year to 
 the subscribers of the affairs of the company, and the proceedings at 
 all meetings of proprietors printed for their use.
 
 BANKING IN [RELAND. 115 
 
 "11. That the proposed establishment shall be called "The 
 National Bank of Ireland." 
 
 "12. That £5 per share shall be paid on subscribing, and further 
 calls made as the bank proceeds, of which timely notice will be given, 
 but no instalment to exceed £10 per cent. 
 
 "13. That these terms may be altered or modified as may be agreed 
 upon at a general meeting of subscribers. 
 
 Bankers. — Messrs. Ladbrokes, Kingscote and Co." 
 
 Report by the directors of the Provincial Bank 
 of Ireland to the proprietors, assembled at tlie ninth 
 yearly general meeting, on Thursday, the 1.5tli of 
 May, 1834. 
 
 " It is with increasing satisfaction that the directors have on the 
 present occasion to submit to the proprietors the annual statement 
 of their affairs. 
 
 " During the past year the business of the bank has continued to 
 prosper, notwithstanding several circumstances which might have 
 been expected to operate unfavourably upon the agricultural interests 
 of Ireland. In the early part of last season an apprehension was 
 very generally entertained, and in many places not without good 
 reason, that the potatoe crop would in a great measure turn out to 
 be a failure. From this apprehension, that description of stock, the 
 rearing of which depends almost entirely on this species of crop, 
 was brought by the farmers prematurely to market, and in such 
 abundance as to lower in an unprecedented manner the price of 
 bacon, a very important article in the exports of Ireland. This 
 proceeding, however, was followed by the good effect of removing 
 all anxiety regarding the sufficiency of the crop in question to supply 
 the wants of the season. 
 
 " It is further to be remarked, that low as the prices of corn were 
 in the season 1832-33, they still went on decreasing till the month 
 of October last year. Wheat in particular, which has now become 
 an article of extended cultivation in Ireland, was in the months of 
 May, June, and July of last year, from 105. to lis. per quarter lower 
 than in the corresponding months of 1832. Since October, barley 
 and oats have improved, and have maintained rather better prices 
 than those of the corresponding months of 1832-33 ; but wheat, 
 although not so much depressed as in the months above referred to, 
 has continued at prices considerably lower than those of the pre- 
 ceding season. 
 
 " The boisterous stulj of the weather which prevailed in Ireland 
 to a very unusual degree during the whole of the winter, is also to 
 be noticed as having had an unfavourable effect upon the markets, 
 and upon every species of agricultural labour, preventing the 
 farmers, in many instances, from digging their potatoes at the 
 
 proper time, and retarding the preparation of their lands for a 
 
 succeeding crop.
 
 116 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 " Nor must the continuance of cholera be forgotten. In the 
 report of last year, the directors had occasion to deplore its ravages ; 
 and they are sorry, on the present occasion, to have to record that, 
 although not so generally spread over the countr}^ as it was in the 
 preceding year, there were many places, both in the North and 
 South of Ireland, in which its effects were comparatively more fatal. 
 " It is cheering, however, to turn to a more pleasing feature in 
 the survey of Ireland, and to contemplate the flourishing condition 
 of one of the most important branches of her national industry — 
 her manufactures in Ulster, wliich have prospered of late in a 
 remarkable degree. Owing to the introduction of machinery into 
 the spinning of flax within these few years back, and latterly to the 
 removal in America of the duties on linens imposed by the Tariff, 
 the linen manufacture, which had become very much depressed, has 
 revived to a greater extent than ever ; and in the manufacture of 
 cotton also there is a progressive increase going on, at a rate far 
 exceeding any previous anticipation. A slight check, it is true, has 
 been recently given to the linen trade with America, by the derange- 
 ment of so many of the banking concerns of that country ; but it 
 is to be hoped this will be merely temporary ; and the directors are 
 gratified to learn, that it has not been followed by any failures in the 
 North of Ireland, although, from the extent of the connection 
 between the two countries, such a consequence might have been 
 expected. 
 
 "It is with great satisfaction also that the directors have to 
 notice the beneficial effects upon the crops which have been recently 
 produced by the genial weather, by wdiich the unfavourable winter, 
 and the subsequent cold spring, have been succeeded. The promise 
 of an abundant harvest has given an impulse to the markets for 
 cattle and sheep, and the prices have in consequence considerably 
 advanced. 
 
 " The directors will only further advert to that which they still 
 regard as an unequivocal sign of the increasing confidence of the 
 country in the Provincial Bank — namely, the encouragement which 
 they have received to establish additional branch banks in various 
 parts of the country. Since the last yearly meeting was held, they 
 have established three, viz. — 1. At Banbridge, Co, Down, agreeably 
 to the announcement made last year, and at which business was 
 commenced on the 24th of June— 2. at Ballymena, Co. Antrim, 9th 
 Sept. — 3. at Parsonstown, King's County, 10th Dec. with the 
 progress of all of which they have every reason to be satisfied ; and 
 preparations have been made for adding to the number two more, 
 which are expected to be in operation within a month from the 
 present time ; besides which there are others under consideration. 
 
 " The directors have now the pleasure of submitting to the pro- 
 prietors the following statement :
 
 BANKING IN IRELAND. 117 
 
 " By the account laid before the last 
 
 yearly general meeting, the amount 
 
 of undivided profits at 30th March, 
 
 1833, was £50,198 14 I 
 
 " The net profits of the year ending the 
 
 29th, being the last Saturday of 
 
 March, 1834, after deduction of all 
 
 expenses, and providing for all bad 
 
 and doubtful debts, amount to - 56,316 18 8 
 
 Sum - - £106,515 12 9 
 
 From which is to be taken the amount 
 
 of dividends paid to the proprietors 
 
 " At Midsummer, 1833 £15,000 
 
 " At Christmas, 1833 - 15,000 
 
 30,000 
 
 " Remains amount of undivided profits, 
 
 at 29th March, 1834 - - - £76,515 12 9 
 
 " In this prosperous condition of the bank's affairs, the directors 
 are of opinion that an addition of 1 per cent, per annum may be 
 safely made to the dividend ; and they have accordingly the satis- 
 faction to announce their intention of declaring a dividend of 3^ 
 per cent, for the half-year ending Midsummer next, being at the rate 
 of 7 per cent, per annum on the amount of capital paid-up." 
 
 In this year, 1834, M^as issued the following " Pro- 
 spectus of the Agricultural and Commercial Bank of 
 Ireland." 
 
 "1. That this establishment be called " The Agricultural and 
 Commercial Bank of Ireland." 
 
 " 2. That the capital of this bank shall consist of one million of 
 shares, on each of which the sum of one pound sterling, (exclusive 
 of one shilling lor defraying the expenses of outfit,) shall be paid, 
 and no further call be made, without the sanction of a meeting of 
 proprietors duly convened for the purpose ; nor in larger instalments 
 than ten shillings per share ; the consulting committee to have the 
 power, from time to time, of appropriating one-third of the clear 
 profits to tlie increase of the capital stock — not to exceed five 
 millions in the whole. 
 
 " 3. That should 25 per cent, of the capital so paid be ever lost, 
 the company shall by such loss be dissolved — unless a majority of 
 three-fourths of the votes, at any meeting to be duly convened for 
 that purpose, shall decide to the contrary — the engagements of the 
 company discharged in full — its aifairs wound up, and the residue 
 divided amongst the shareholders, in proportion to the number of 
 shares held by them respectively. Shareholders in the country not 
 being able to attend at such meeting, to have the power of voting by 
 proxy on this question, under proper regulations.
 
 118 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 " 4. That the cities and towns in which branches shall be esta- 
 blished, shall be divided into first, second, and third classes, as may 
 be expedient for the interests of the company. 
 
 " 5. That residents within a due distance of each of said cities 
 and towns, shall be considered as belonging to such city or town. 
 
 " 6. That no individual shall hold more than five hundred shares 
 in his or her name, without the consent of the consulting committee 
 for the time being. 
 
 "7. That in every question submitted to the shareholders, every 
 holder of five shares shall possess one vote — of twenty shares, two 
 votes — of fifty shares, three votes — and for each fifty shares above 
 that number, one vote additional ; no holder of shares to possess 
 more than ten votes ; all votes to be given by ballot. 
 
 " 8. That the afi:airs of the company shall be under the direction 
 of a consulting committee, consisting of not more than twenty-one 
 members, each of whom shall be possessed of at least three hundred 
 shares, to be annually elected by the shareholders by ballot ; one 
 third of such consulting committee to go out of office each year ; 
 such consulting committee to sit at such place as may be deemed 
 expedient. 
 
 " 9. That no person shall be allowed to vote at the public meeting 
 for the appointment of the first consulting committee, unless he or 
 she shall have been possessed of the requisite number of shares, for 
 one month previous to such public meeting, nor shall the right of 
 voting be allowed at any subsequent meeting of the shareholders, 
 unless to those who have possessed such quahfications for six months 
 previous to such meeting. 
 
 " 10. That no person shall be eligible to be a member of the first 
 consulting committee, who shall not be possessed of three hundred 
 shares for one month previous to the election of such committee ; 
 and that no person shall be eligible to be a member of any future 
 consulting committee, who shall not be possessed of the like number 
 of three hundred shares for six months previous to the election of 
 such future consulting committee. 
 
 "11. That so soon as a competent number of shares shall have 
 been subscribed for and paid up in any town and neighbouring dis- 
 trict, a branch bank shall be established in such town, as one of the 
 first, second, or third class, (as the case may be,) to be placed under 
 the direction of a resident management ; three hundred shares 
 to be the qualification for any individual selected for such manage- 
 ment. 
 
 " 12. That the secretaries or managers shall give their constant 
 attention to the affairs of the company. All officers employed, to 
 give adequate security. 
 
 " 13. That experienced accountants be employed by the company, 
 who shall from time to time visit and examine the several branches. 
 
 " 14. The i)rc|irietor of the stock of any other banking company 
 may be, according to the foregoing and following conditions, a pro- 
 prietor of the shares of this company, and receive its profits and 
 dividends ; but no director or officer of any other bank, shall be
 
 BANKING IN IRELAND. 119 
 
 capable of being a director or member of the consulting committee, 
 And any director of or member of the consulting committee, who 
 shall become a director or officer of any other bank, shall thereupon 
 cease to be a director or member of the said committee, and a new 
 director or member shall be elected in his stead. 
 
 " 15. That fifty thousand provident shares, over and above, and 
 exclusive of the paid-up capital of One Million, may be subscribed 
 for in weekly or monthly instalments of sums not less than one 
 shilling ; that such instalments be received at the branch bank, on 
 banking days, by the directors, managers, or proper officer, one or 
 two of whom shall sign a scrip-book or other acknowledgment to 
 the party subscribing. That as soon as the full amount of such 
 share shall have been paid up, then such provident shareholder shall 
 be registered in the company's books, and be to all intents and 
 purposes a shareholder from that day. 
 
 " 1 6. That if any such subscriber to the provident shares, being 
 a labourer, servant, or working tradesman, or if a female, being in a 
 corresponding situation, within the district, shall continue his or her 
 subscriptions, without intermission, as above required, for five years, 
 (with certain exceptions as to sickness intervening) he or she shall 
 at the end of such term be considered deserving the protection of 
 the bank, and provided his or her general character be good in the 
 opinion of the existing directors or managers, he or she shall, on 
 application, if about to commence any branch of industry or calling 
 requiring accommodation, be entitled to a cash credit, at their discre- 
 tion, which advanced sum will be charged the usual bank interest, 
 and the principal may be liquidated by gradual subscriptions back 
 again to the provident shares of the bank. 
 
 " 17. That to give additional solidity to this institution in the 
 minds of the less informed of its shareholders and subscribers, the 
 superintending management may invest the surplus capital of the 
 company on mortgage upon well-circumstanced landed estates. 
 
 " 18. That with a view to the above, every proper opportunity 
 shall be taken to ascertain a safe mode of investment. 
 
 "19. That the shares of this company, except the provident 
 shares, shall be paid up when required, by two instalments of ten 
 shillings each. 
 
 " 20. That the clear profits of the company shall be divided half- 
 yearly, and be paid at the respective branches, or in Dublin, subject 
 only to such necessarj' drawback as may be deemed expedient, of 
 such profit, whiclv shall be kejjt and detained to form a reserve fund, 
 or increase of capital. 
 
 "21. That the laws constituting the company cannot be altered 
 unless by the vote of two meetings specially called for that purpose, 
 on notice of not less than ten days, or more than twenty-one. 
 
 " 22. That periodical reports (yc:uly or half-yearly, as may be 
 agreed upon,) of the proceedings shall be published, giving full and 
 satisfactory statements of the affiurs of the company. 
 
 "23. That the above be the leading principles of the company, 
 subject to such review and revision as may be found proper, at a
 
 £250,000 
 
 
 
 
 
 134,033 
 
 2 
 
 71 
 
 23,228 
 
 
 
 11 
 
 120 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 meeting to be duly convened, when the first instalment of 10s. is 
 paid up. 
 
 At a meeting of the proprietors of the Hibernian 
 Bank, held this year, the directors exhibited the fol- 
 lowing statement of their accounts: — 
 
 Amount due to Proprietors for their paid- 
 up capital (£25 per cent.) - 
 Due to the public for deposits - 
 Due to profit and loss account - 
 
 Total assets of the bank - £407,261 3 6| 
 
 1835. In this year the private bank of Messrs. De 
 la Cour and Co. of Mallow, stopped payment. Out 
 of Dublin there is now no private bank remaining in 
 the w^hole of Ireland. 
 
 Report by the directors of the Provincial Bank of 
 Ireland to the proprietors, assembled at the tenth 
 yearly general meeting, on Thursday, the 21st day of 
 May, 1835. 
 
 " In the report of last year the directors stated, as a proof of the 
 increasing confidence of the country in the resources of the Pro- 
 vincial Bank, the desire which had been expressed in applications 
 to them from various quarters, for the establishment of additional 
 branch banks ; two of which had already been decided on, and were 
 then in preparation, and several others were at the time under consi- 
 deration. 
 
 " In the course of the year which has since elapsed, there have 
 accordingly been added to the establishment the following banks, 
 viz. Downpatrick, County Down, Aug. 19, 1834. — Cavan, Cavan, 
 Sept. 29. — Lurgan, Armagh, Oct. 3. — Omagh, TjTone, Oct. 13. — 
 Dungannon, Tyrone, Nov. 3. — Bandon, Cork, Nov. 10. — Ennis, 
 Clare, Feb. 23, 1835.— Ballyshannon, Donegal, April 13.— Stra- 
 bane, Tyrone, May 5. 
 
 " In all nine, and making the number of branch banks thirty in 
 operation at the present time; besides which, the towns of Cooks- 
 town, Magherafcit, Ballymoney, Ballybay, and Cootehill, are visited 
 on their respective market-days by the managers of the nearest 
 branches, for the jiurpose of transacting business. 
 
 " From the very recent commencement of so large a proportion of 
 the branches of the Provincial Bank — nearly one-third of the whole 
 number having been established in less than twelve months, and the 
 two latest do not even come within the period of the last year's ac- 
 count — it is not to be expected that the jn-ofits of the bank can, as 
 yet, have derived much increase from their operations. But, from the 
 short experience which has been had of them, the directors have
 
 BANKING IN IRELAND. 121 
 
 every reason to anticipate that their success will be in due proportion 
 to that of their j)redecessors, in a degree corresponding to the re- 
 lative importance of the stations in which they have been set down. 
 
 " Regarding the business of the past year, it is not necessary for 
 the directors to go into any detail. The crops of all kinds, with the 
 exception of Wheat, turned out to be abundant ; and both the 
 produce and the exports of all descriptions exceeded those of the 
 preceding year. The linen and cotton manufactures of Ulster, and 
 the raising of flax and sj)inning by machinery, which were promi- 
 nently noticed in the report of last year, continue to be prosecuted 
 in that j)rovince with increased energy. The trade with America 
 has greatly revived, and the spirit of enterprise and of industry, 
 which is so eminently displayed in Belfast and the surrounding 
 district, bids fair to raise the character of Ireland to that degree of 
 importance in the commercial scale, which her natural advantages 
 are so well calculated to enable her to attain. 
 
 " It is true, that in the course of last year, speculations in grain 
 to a large amount were entered into between certain houses in some 
 of the western ports of Ireland, which had for a series of years 
 maintained a respectable character, and certain houses in Liverpool ; 
 and that these speculations, which the event shewed to have been im- 
 prudent, ended, as is very often the case, in the ruin of the parties 
 concerned in them. When such adventures have been carried on 
 by parties in fair credit and reputation, the banks, with whom such 
 parties keep accounts, must expect to share in the losses consequent 
 upon their failure. The Provincial Bank has, of course, amongst 
 others, had to bear its part ; but the accounts shew that no material 
 effect has been produced upon the results of the year by the losses 
 referred to. 
 
 " The progress of the business throughout the year has evinced, 
 in the most satisfactory manner, that the confidence of the country 
 in the Provincial Bank continues to increase ; and the statement of 
 accounts, which the directors have great pleasure in submitting to 
 the present meeting, is the best evidence that the affairs of the bank 
 continue to prosper. 
 
 " To that statement, which comprehends the accounts of the year 
 ending the 2Sth of March last, the attention of the proprietors is 
 now requested. 
 
 " By the account submitted to the last 
 
 yearly general meeting, the amount of 
 
 undivided profits at 29th March, 1834, 
 
 was £76,515 12 9 
 
 " The net profits for the year ending the 
 
 28th, being the last Saturday of 
 
 March, 1835, after deduction of all 
 
 expenses, and providing for all bad 
 
 and doubtful debts, amount to - - 61,048 19 
 
 Sum - £137.564 11 9
 
 122 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 " From which is to be taken the amount 
 
 of dividends paid to the proprietors — 
 
 At Midsummer, 1834 - £17,500 
 
 At Christmas - - 17,500 
 
 35,000 
 
 Remains, amount of undivided profits, 
 
 March 28, 1835 - - - £102,564 11 9 
 
 " On this statement the directors have the satisfaction of 
 feeling themselves warranted in adding 1 per cent, to the rate of 
 dividend for the ensuing year ; and the proprietors are accordingly 
 hereby informed, that it is their intention to declare a dividend of 
 4 per cent, for the half-year ending Midsummer next, being at the 
 rate of 8 per cent, per annum on the amount of capital paid-up." 
 
 Report of the Agricultural and Commercial Bank 
 of Ireland, on the 19th October, 1835, to the pro- 
 prietors, read by John Chambers, Esq. and adopted 
 unanimously at the half-yearly meeting. 
 
 " On the motion of James Lombard, of Cork, Esq. seconded by 
 John Malley, of Castlebar, Esq. James Dwyer, Esq. was called to 
 the chair. 
 
 " In making the first report since the commencement of business, 
 your committee have to congratulate you on the result. A native 
 banldng company have, although opposed by jealous rivals, and in 
 some cases by interested and hostile parties, surmounted the 
 difficulties of formation. Branches of the company have been 
 opened in different localities, and are now carrying on business 
 therein with a profitable return. 
 
 " Formed under a wise and salutary act of parliament 6. Geo. 
 IV. ch. 42, the company commenced in the rising town of Nenagh, 
 on the first of November last. As to the beneficial result to the 
 people of the locality, the committee confidently api)eal to the noble- 
 men, gentry, farmers, and traders of the town and neighbourhood; 
 the success hitherto justifies your committee in anticipating that the 
 Nenagh branch will prove very profitable to t!ic proprietors. 
 
 " Branches were subsequently opened in the following cities and 
 towns, in all of which there are local proprietors, viz. Limerick, 
 Ennis, Bandon, Skibbercen, Killarney, Cork, New Ross, Enniscorthy, 
 Roscrea, Kilkenny, Strabane, Castlebar, Tuam, Ballina, Gal way, 
 Ballinasloe, Kilrush, Stokcstown, Longford, and Tipperary. The 
 dates of opening the respective branches are subjoined, by which 
 you can judge, that from the recent commencement of some, no fair 
 estimate can as yet be formed of their result ; but from the confi- 
 dent assurance of support from influenti;\l parties, wherever a
 
 HANKING IN IRELAND. 123 
 
 branch has been established, your committee anticipate that pros- 
 perity will attend the whole. 
 
 " It is sufficiently evident, that had those who opposed this 
 company in its commencement (under the impression that Irishmen 
 were incapable of conducting their own mercantile affairs, and that 
 capital was not in the country to carry on banking business) joined 
 its ranks and assisted, in place of endeavouring to impede its progress, 
 it would, ere this, have embraced the principal cities and towns in its 
 operations, and they would have the proud consciousness of contri- 
 buting to attain that which your committee hope to accomplish, to 
 secure to Ireland a native bank, embracing all creeds and parlies — 
 promoting industry — and soothing down asperities by commercial 
 bonds. Your committee do not make those observations by way 
 of reproach ; they can well believe that an honest conviction of the 
 difficulties of the attempt, influenced some of their countrymen to 
 doubt the possibility of its attainment ; but now that experience 
 demonstrates that the matter is practicable, and has proved most 
 beneficial to the humbler classes, as well as to trade and commerce, 
 it is to be hoped, that no Irishmen deserving credit or character, 
 will be found endeavouring to depreciate or injure an establishment 
 in which nearly two thousand persons of the landed and com- 
 mercial classes have embarked their property. 
 
 " In other countries, and particularly in Scotland, the trade of 
 banking is carried on by joint stock companies, with perfect good 
 feeling ; having in view an honourable competition and the public 
 good. Such ought to be the case in Ireland whenever legitimate 
 objects, and not unjust monopoly, are in view. 
 
 " Formed as a commercial concern, without reference to creed 
 or party, your company comprises all, and your committee have 
 never acted in hostility to any other establishment, although they 
 have resisted illiberal and direct atack. While carrying on the more 
 important department of banking business, your company have been 
 able to make it extensively useful to the middle and humbler classes. 
 In many instances deserving individuals have been rescued from 
 poverty, and placed in the way of industry and competence, by 
 advances on the principle of the loan fund system. But advances 
 have never been made, except to persons of good character — an 
 incentive is then furnished for improved habits, and industry is 
 promoted ; no loss has been sustained by those transactions, but on 
 the other hand profit has been realized. 
 
 " Your committee submit to you the result of the company's 
 transactions for the past year, which they trust will prove satis- 
 factory. A much more extensive business could have been carried 
 on, but your committee felt it more prudent to proceed with caution, 
 and in no case to issue notes, except for a representative value. 
 They have made use of no efforts to force a circulation, considering 
 any such expedient to be contrary to the sound principle of banking, 
 and Ccdculated to mislead the community, by giWng a false impetus 
 to trade. Your committee desired, in the early stages of your
 
 124 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 company, rather to limit than extend the issues, and consequently 
 have been slow to sanction extensive cash credits, though sought for 
 by individuals of high mercantile character and connections. It is 
 then, in the opinion of your committee, the company will safely 
 progress. Larger apparent profits might appear in your account by 
 a different system, but the same stability would not attend your 
 actual position. The expense of outfit has been necessarily large, 
 but every prudent economy has been exercised. 
 
 " Under all the circumstances of the case, although the business 
 at the earlier branches would sanction your committee in recom- 
 mending a dividend from profits, at the rate of four per cent, on 
 advanced capital, yet, they consider it more for the general interest 
 of the company that the consideration of dividend be deferred until 
 the next half-yearly meeting, when they confidently anticipate, from 
 the experience of past transactions, that the committee whom you 
 may select on the 2nd of November will feel warranted in recom- 
 mending a dividend from net profits, at the rate of four or five per 
 cent. In the meanwhile, the committee recommend that the 
 present balance to the credit of profit and loss, should be carried to 
 the reserve fund. 
 
 Branches in operation, and date of commencement : — 
 
 Jvenagh, commenced lotiv v lft34 ' Strabane, commenced 
 
 ,auau., ..u,.ucu.cu 4thMay, 1835. 
 
 busmess •" 
 
 Mallow 18th Ditto. 
 
 Kilkenny 1st June. 
 
 Cork 10th Ditto. 
 
 business 
 
 Ennis 1st December. 
 
 Bandon 20th Ditto. 
 
 Castlebar 8th Jan. 1835. 
 
 New Ross 22nd Feb. j Longford Ditto 
 
 Enniscorthy 24th March. | Ballina 6th July. 
 
 Limerick 10th ditto. i! Galway 1st August. 
 
 Roscrea 17th ditto. j Strokestown 28th Ditto. 
 
 Tuam 10th April. Kilrush 14th Sept. 
 
 Skibbereen Ditto ji Ballinasloe 5th Oct. 
 
 Killarney 11th ditto. I| Tipperary 17th Ditto. 
 
 1836. The followino- list of the existing banks of 
 Ireland is taken from the Dublin directory of this 
 year. 
 
 BANK OF IRELAND. 
 (Established by Act of Parliament and Charter, in 1783.) 
 
 Governor — John George, Esq. Bride Street. 
 Deputy Governor — Isaac M. D'Olier, Esq. Colognes Booterstown.
 
 BANKING IN IRELAND. 
 
 125 
 
 Directors. 
 
 John Barlow, Esq. Raheny. t James Jameson, Esq. Marrow- 
 
 John Barton, Esq. Mary Street. bone Lane. 
 
 George IVederic Brooke, Esq. Gar- William Peter Lunell, Esq. North 
 
 diner's Row. Great George Street. 
 
 James Chambers, Esq. ditto. ' M. Law, Esq. Great Denmark St. 
 W.C.Colvill, Esq. Bachelors'Walk. R. Law, Esq. Sackvillc Street. 
 
 Lower Gar- 
 
 Richard Cane, Esq. Dawson Street 
 T. Crosthwait, Esq. Fleet Street. 
 Arthur Guinness, Esq. Beaumont 
 Nath. Hone, Esq. Harcourt Street, 
 
 Note — The directors are annually chosen the hrst week in April, 
 under the restriction that five new directors be chosen every year. 
 
 J, Macdonnell, Esq. 
 
 diner Street. 
 T.WUison, Esq. Mountjoy Square 
 
 East. 
 
 Officers 
 
 Secretary — William Graves. 
 Accountant General — R. Cully. 
 Cashier — Nathaniel Low. 
 Chief Book Keeper— G. R. Work- 
 
 Chief Clerk of Discounts — Joseph 
 
 Labat. 
 Transfer Officer — William Du- 
 
 bedat. 
 
 Notaries, R. Williams and Son. Laio Agent, W. Darley, 42, York St. 
 Printers and Stationers, Pettigrew and Oulton, 36, Dame Street. 
 
 Bank Agents. 
 
 Longford, John Crawford, Esq. 
 Mountmellick, Hugh Low, Esq. 
 Newry, Colley and Little. 
 Sligo, John Craig, Esq. 
 Tralee, Richard Hore, Esq. 
 Waterford, R. G. Scott, Esq. 
 Westport, C. and L Clendining. 
 Wexford, J. E. Redmond, Esq. 
 Youghal, Thomas John, Jun.Esq. 
 
 Armagh, L. and T. Dobbin, Esqrs. 
 Belfast, James Goddard, Esq. 
 Carlow, Thomas Welan, Esq. 
 Clonmell, H. Scott, Esq. 
 Cork, Leycesters and Cotter. 
 Drogheda, Robert Roberts, Esq. 
 Galway, L and B. O'Hara. 
 Kilkenny, William Owen, Esq. 
 Limerick, Edward Bernard, Esq. 
 Londonderry, W.Mackay and Son. 
 
 Holidays — Good Friday, King's Birth Day, and Christmas Day. 
 
 Days of Discount — Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, 
 and Fridays. 
 
 A court of directors is held every Tuesday. 
 
 All bills and promissory notes in the bank, due on the King's 
 Birth Day, are demanded on the day preceding. 
 
 By act of Parliament, bills falling due on Good Friday, Christmas 
 Day, on all proclaimed Fast Days, and on Sundays, are payable on 
 the day preceding, and liable to be protested if not paid. 
 
 The bounds of collection extend to all places within the circular 
 road, except the following :
 
 126 
 
 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 Amiens Street, North Strand. 
 
 Arbour Hill. 
 
 Aughrim Street. 
 
 Bow Bridge. 
 
 Broadstone. 
 
 Grand Canal Harbour. 
 
 Granjregorman Lane. 
 
 Preston Street. 
 
 Prussia Street. 
 
 South Great Clarence Street. 
 
 HIBERNIAN JOINT STOCK COMPANY. 
 
 CASTLE STREET, DUBLIN. 
 
 Directors chosen at the annual election, December 1835. 
 
 Governor — John Fottrell, Esq. Harcourt Street, 
 Deputy Governor — Nicholas Mahon, Esq. Marchants' Quay 
 
 Directors. 
 
 James Charles Bacon, Esq. Mer- 
 
 rion Avenue. 
 Ignatius Callaghan, Esq. Fleet St. 
 Jerem. Dunne, Esq. Usher's Quay. 
 Cornelius M'-Loghlin, Esq. Fitz- 
 
 wilUam Place. 
 
 Robert M'^Clelland, Esq. Summer 
 
 Hill. 
 Richard O'Gorman, Esq. Usher's 
 
 Quay. 
 Robert Walsh, Esq. Belvedere 
 
 Place. 
 
 Secretary! — Michael Roache, Esq. 
 Cashier — Thomas Taylor, Esq. 
 Chief Book Keeper — E. Ferrar. 
 Clerk of Discounts — Vernon Ayre 
 Transfer Officer — Garrett Byre. 
 
 Notaries — Messrs. Hayes and 
 
 Drummond. 
 Law Agent — George Kernan.Esq. 
 Agerits in London — H. and I. 
 
 Johnston and Co. 
 
 The directors are annually chosen the first week in December, 
 under this restriction, that three new directors be chosen every year. 
 
 PROVINCIAL BANK OF IRELAND. 
 
 Court of Directors at London. 
 
 Mathias Attwood, Esq. M.P. 
 Edward Blount, Esq. 
 Sir Richard Campbell, Bart. 
 Right Hon. George R. Dawson, 
 Oliver Farrar, Esq. 
 Edward Fletcher, Esq. 
 Samuel Eustace Magan, Esq. 
 William Medley, Esq. 
 
 Secretary — James Marshall, Esq. 
 Registrar of Notes — Thomas A. 
 Corlett, Esq. 
 Bankers at Dublin — Messrs. I. 
 
 Moses Montefiore, Esq. 
 
 John Petty Muspratt, Esq. 
 
 Right Hon. T. Spring Rice, M.P. 
 ' Right Hon. C. Poulett Thomson, 
 I M. P. 
 
 Alfred Thorp, Esq. 
 
 John Wright, Esq. 
 
 John Young, Esq. M. P. 
 
 Accountant — Joseph Rawlins, Esq. 
 Inspector of Branches — Robert 
 
 Murray, Esq. 
 De La Touche and Co. Castle St. 
 
 Bankers at London — Messrs. Spooner, Attwood and Co. Messrs. 
 Wright and Co. 
 
 Solicitors — Messrs. Farrars and Co. London. Pierce and David 
 Mahony, Esqrs. 43, Dame Street, Dublin.
 
 BANKING IN IRELAND. 
 
 127 
 
 Branches and Managers. 
 
 Armagh, II. Buist, Esq. 
 Athlone, W. Hay, Esq. 
 Ballina, J. S. Joiner, Esq. 
 Ballymena, F. I. Skelly, Esq. 
 Ballyshannon, W. Allinghara,Esq. 
 Banbridge, J. A^Fier, Esq. 
 Bandon, John I. Thomson, Esq. 
 Belfast, J. Duncan, Esq. 
 Cavan, D. Campbell, Esq. 
 Clonmel, J. Wallace, Esq. 
 Coleraine, J. Guthrie, Esq. 
 Cork, W. Paton, Esq. 
 Downpatrick, A. Caughey, Esq. 
 Dungannon, A. Russell, Esq. 
 Dungarven, B. Banks, Esq. 
 Ennis, J. Menzies, Esq. 
 Enniskillen, W. A. Read, Esq. 
 
 Galway, I. Robson, Esq. 
 Kilkenny, .1. M'^Crecry, Esq. 
 Limerick, R. Hunter, Esq, 
 Londonderry, J. Johnston, Esq. 
 Lurgan, T. Hall, Esq. 
 Mallow, W. Milliken, Esq. 
 Monaghan, J. Bowman, Esq. 
 Moneymore, R. Miller and J. R. 
 
 Miller, Esqrs. 
 Omagh, W. M'^Cullough, Esq. 
 Parsonstown, R. Harris, Esq. 
 Sligo, D. Webster, Esq. 
 Strabone, W. Franklin, Esq. 
 Tralee, P. Mackenzie, Esq. 
 Waterford, J. M'^Ewen, Esq. 
 Wexford, J. E. Shortrced, Esq. 
 Youghal, A. Stewart, Esq. 
 
 THE AGRICULTURAL AND COMMERCIAL BANK OF 
 IRELAND. 
 
 Corresponding and consulting committee elected annually from 
 amongst the largest class of shareholders, on the first Monday in the 
 month of November — meet daily at the company's house, (late 
 Messrs. Leland, Crosthwaite and Sons) 63, Fleet Street. The com- 
 pany is formed under the general banker's act for Ireland, known as 
 6 Geo. IV. c. 42., and is duly entered at the stamp-office, under its 
 provisions. 
 
 This is the first joint stock bank established in Ireland since 1825, 
 which opened branch banks fifty miles from Dublin as a national 
 company, having its central and advising committee in the metropolis. 
 The shareholders at present registered exceed two thousand in num- 
 ber, embracing the landed and commercial classes. In each town or 
 locality in which a branch is opened, there is a body of local sub- 
 scribers, who cooperate with each other, and with the general com- 
 mittee in DubUn, for the welfare of the whole. 
 
 Capital, One Million, with a power in the deed of settlement to 
 extend to " Five Millions," with the consent of a special meeting of 
 proprietors. 
 
 The bank commenced business at its branches on 1st of Nov. 1834, 
 and progressively opened in the following cities and towns : 
 
 Ballina, James Acheson, Esq. 
 Ballinasloe, J. O'Loughlin, Esq. 
 Bandon, E. M. Dacre, Esq. 
 Castlebar, Charles Mally, Esq. 
 Cork, M. J. Barry, Esq. 
 Ennis, Robert Weldon, Esq. 
 
 Enniscorthy, P. I. Fallon, Esq. 
 Fermoy, W. Dennehy, Esq. 
 Galway, John Redington, Esq. 
 Kilkenny, B. H. Baylee, Esq. 
 Killarney, P. Carr, Esq. 
 Kilrush, F. N. Keane, Esq. 
 
 K
 
 128 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 Limerick, James Morgan, Esq. Skibbereen, J. W. Clerk, Esq. 
 
 Longford, R. Palmer, Esq. 
 Mallow, W. Smith, Esq. 
 Nenagh, J. M'^Cullen, Esq. 
 New Koss, D. C. Cooijer, Esq. 
 Roscrea, C. G. Scrope, Esq. 
 
 Sligo, J. C. Martin, Esq. 
 Strabane, Leslie Gault, Esq. 
 Strokestown, E. Kenney, Esq. 
 Tipperary, P. O'Connor, Esq. 
 Tuam, P. Prendergast, Esq. 
 
 Besides the above, preparations are in active progress to opening, 
 with large local proprietary, in the important towns of Belfast, Lon- 
 donderry, and wherever in the North of Ireland wished for, by an 
 influential representation. 
 
 The branches have at each, local directors, elected from the largest 
 shareholders, and approved of by the central committee ; all species 
 of banking business is transacted at the branches, and interest allowed 
 on money deposited, as in the Scotch banks. The business of reli- 
 gious and literary societies is transacted free of any charge, as also 
 that of bodies established to forward education or native industry. 
 
 Money can be lodged with any of the branches, for the credit of 
 persons in Dublin, or in any part of England, Scotland, or Wales, 
 and letters of credit given accordingly. 
 
 The Dublin agents, Messrs. Robert Gray and Co. 3, College Green, 
 exchange the notes issued at the branches as desired, and pay all 
 drafts and letters of credit. They likewise receive lodgments of mo- 
 ney for account of any of the country establishments. 
 
 Bankers. 
 
 London — Messrs. Prescott, Grote and Co. The London and West- 
 minster Bank. 
 
 Liverpool — " The Union Bank." 
 
 For the Provincial Towns of England — " The Northern and Cen- 
 tral Bank of England." Head office, Manchester. 
 
 For Scotland and its Provincial Towns — " The Commercial Bank 
 of Scotland." Head office, Edinburgh. 
 
 The company has the advantage of several of the most distin- 
 guished resident nobility and gentry as patrons. 
 
 Officers. 
 
 General Manager — William Mitchell, Esq. 
 Controlling Check to Branches — D. Taylor, Esq. 
 General Inspector of Branches — William Hughes, Esq. 
 Law Agents— W. B. Wallace and Sons, 12, North Great George 
 Street.
 
 BANKING IN IRELAND. 129 
 
 NATIONAL BANK OF IRELAND. 
 
 London capital — One Million sterling. 
 
 London Court of Directors. 
 
 John Rawson, Esq. 
 
 J. Roskell, Esq. 
 
 J. Clement Ruding, Esq. 
 
 Isaac Solly, Jun. Esq. 
 
 The Hon. Leicester Stanhope. 
 
 Robert Sutton, Esq. 
 
 Thomas Vigne, Esq. 
 
 W. H. Calvert, Esq. 
 John R. Elmore, Esq. 
 C. Fitzsimon, Esq. M.P. 
 Edmund F. Green, Esq. 
 Henry Kinscote, Esq. 
 T. L, Murray, Esq. 
 Daniel O'Connell, Esq. M. P. 
 M. O'Connell. Esq. M. P. 
 
 Trustees — Christopher Fitzsimon, Esq. M. P. David Lynch, Esq. 
 Peter Brophy, Esq. 
 
 Secretary — Sir David Roose. 
 
 Secretary in Ireland — John Reynolds, Esq. 
 
 Solicito7-s — Messrs. Richards, Tatham, and Vigne. 
 
 Each branch of the National Bank of Ireland is a bank for in- 
 vestment, deposit, discount, and loan; remittance, purchase, and sale 
 of stock, shares, debentures, and other marketable securities ; and 
 for the transaction of all business permitted to bankers by law. 
 
 Investment. 
 That portion of the local capital subscribed for in each bank con- 
 sists of shares of ten pounds each, on which two pounds ten shil- 
 lings per share, or twenty-five per cent, has been paid. Local share- 
 holders are responsible only for the liabilities of their own branch, 
 and invested with a control over its affairs, they are protected from 
 almost the possibility of loss, and the more numerous and extended 
 they become, so will the resources and profits of the company ; for 
 each indi\adual proprietor will feel a personal interest in aiding and 
 increasing the deposits of the bank, and the circulation of its notes, 
 two main sources, out of which his own share of profit is derivable. 
 
 Deposit. 
 " The bank will allow interest at the rate of two per cent, per 
 annum, for money lodged on current accounts, operated on by the 
 checks from time to time, at the pleasure of the depositor. And for 
 money lodged on deposit or accountable receipts, where the sum 
 exceeds £30, at the rate of two and one-half per cent, per annum, 
 provided the money remains two months in the bank. And with a 
 view of promoting and encouraging industrious and sa\'ing habits, at 
 the rate of three per cent, per annum, on all sums not exceeding 
 £30, if it remains as before stated two months. 
 
 Discount and Loan. 
 Each bank discounts and negociates bills payable any where in 
 England, Ireland, or Scotland — opens credit accounts, and makes
 
 130 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 cash advances on real and personal securities, assignments, and trans- 
 fer of judgments, stock, bank shares, debentures, and other approved 
 securities, charging at the rate of five per cent, per annum for the 
 actual cash balances due on such accounts. 
 
 Remittance. 
 
 Each bank ^vill grant drafts and letters of credit on London, Dub- 
 lin, Paris, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Manchester, Liverpool. Bristol, and 
 all other places where they have, or may appoint agents, and on all 
 the branch banks of the National Bank of Ireland. 
 
 Purchase and Sale of Stock, SfC. 
 
 Each bank purchases and sells stock of all descriptions, deben- 
 tures, shares, and other marketable securities, charging commission 
 of one-eight per cent., exclusive of brokerage. 
 
 Each bank will transact the business of all religious and charitable 
 societies free of charge. 
 
 Each officer of the bank must sign a pledge of secrecy respecting 
 the transactions of its customers. 
 
 All communications on the business of the bank to be made to the 
 manager. 
 
 Office of agency in Dublin for payment of the notes and letters of 
 credit of the various branches, 53, Dame Street. 
 
 The branches already established by the National Bank of Ireland 
 are as follow : 
 
 Branches and Managers. 
 
 I 
 
 Cahirciveen Sub-branch, J. Prim- 
 rose, Esq. 
 
 Carrick-on-Suir, G. Gardner, Esq 
 
 Charleville Sub-branch, D. Clan- 
 chy, Esq. 
 
 Clonmel, John Luther, Esq. 
 
 Cork, John Taylor, Esq. 
 
 Dingle Sub-branch. 
 
 Dungarven Sub-branch, W. H. 
 Coppinger, Esq. 
 
 Enniscorthy, G. F. Hardy, Esq. 
 
 Fermoy Sub-branch, James Mor 
 rogh, Esq. 
 
 Gal way. 
 
 Killarney Sub-branch, J. O'Leary, 
 Esq. 
 
 Kilkenny. 
 
 Kilrush Sub-branch, M. Kelly, 
 
 Esq. 
 Limerick, E. Wallace, Esq. 
 Listowell Sub -branch, Gerald M. 
 
 Elligott, Esq. 
 Mitchelstown Sub-branch, Edward 
 
 O'Brien, Esq. 
 New Ross Sub-branch, P. S. Had- 
 
 daway, Esq. 
 Roscrea Sub -branch, Edmund 
 
 Hanlcy, Esq. 
 Thurles Sub-branch, Charles Ar- 
 chibald, Esq. 
 Tipperary, James Carnegie, Esq. 
 Tralee, William Harnett, Esq. 
 Watcrford, William Richardson, 
 
 Esq. 
 
 In addition to the branches already enumerated, the following open 
 on the 1st of January, 1836, viz. Ballinasloe, Belfast, Galway, Long- 
 ford, Roscommon, and Sligo.
 
 BANKING IN IRELAND. 131 
 
 All the branches of the National Bank of Ireland draw on the 
 following bankers : 
 
 London — Ladbrokes, Kingscote and Co. 
 
 Bradford — The Bradford Banking Company. 
 
 Bristol — West of England and South Wales District Bank. 
 
 Chesterfield — Chesterfield Banking Company. 
 
 Huddersfield — J. W. llawson and Co. 
 
 Halifax — J. W. C. Rawson and Co. 
 
 Dublin — Hibernian Banking Company. 
 
 Liverpool — The Bank of Liverpool. 
 
 Leeds — The Leeds Banking Company. 
 
 Manchester — The Bank of Manchester. 
 
 Portsmouth — Grant, Gilman and Co. 
 
 Preston — Roskell and Arrowsmith. 
 
 York — York Union Banking Company. 
 
 For the other Provincial Towns of England — " The National Pro- 
 vincial Bank of England." 
 
 For Scotland and its Provincial Towns — " The Commercial Bank 
 of Scotland," Head Office, Edinburgh. 
 
 Paris — Widow Luke, Callaghan and Co. 
 
 Genoa — Messrs. Gibbs and Co. 
 
 PRIVATE BANKS. 
 
 John David La Touche, Robert La Touche, and David Charles La 
 Touche, Esqrs. Castle Street. 
 
 James Benjamin Ball, Philip Doyne, and Henry Samuel Close, 
 Esqrs. Henry Street. 
 
 Sir Robert Shaw, Bart. Thomas Richard Needham, and Ponsonby 
 Shaw, Esqrs. Forster Place, College Green. 
 
 Alexander Boyle, Francis Low, James Pim, Jun. Leonard Bicker- 
 stafF, and Jonathan Greenwood Pim, Esqrs. College Green. 
 
 A parliamentary return of joint stock banks in Ire- 
 land, with tlic dates when established respectively ; of 
 the names of the several towns and places where such 
 banks and their branches have been established ; with 
 the number of partners in each copartnership. 
 
 " 1. The Hibernian Joint Stock Company, established by special 
 act 5 Geo. IV., cap. 159, at Dublin — two hundred and twenty-five 
 partners. 
 
 "2. The Northern Banking Company, established under general 
 act, 31st Dec, 1824, at Belfast, Ballymena, Lisburne, Colcraine, 
 Newtownlimavady, Magherafelt, Lurgan, Armagh, Downpatrick, 
 Londonderry — two hundred and eighty partners. 
 
 "3. The Provincial Bank of Ireland, established 31st August, 
 1825, at Armagh, Athlone, Ballina, Ballymena, Ballyshannon. Han- 
 bridge, Bandon, Belfast, Cavan, Clonmel, Coleraine, Cork, Down- 
 patrick, Dungannon, Dungarvan, Ennis, Enniekillen, (ialway,
 
 132 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 Kilkenny, Limerick, Londonderry, Lurgan, Mallow, Monaghan, 
 Moneymore, Omagh, Parsonstown, Sligo, Strabane, Tralee, Water- 
 ford, Wexford, Youghal — six hundred and forty-four persons. 
 
 " 4. The Belfast Banking Company, established 1826, at Belfast, 
 Coleraine, Ballymonej', Londonderry, Bedlymena, Lurgan, Dungan- 
 non, Cookstown, Armagh, Banbridge — two hundred and ninety-two 
 partners. 
 
 " 5. The Agricultural and Commercial Bank of Ireland, esta- 
 blished 28th October, 1834, at Nenagh, Ennis, Bandon, Castlebar, 
 New Ross, Enniscorthy, Limerick, Tuam, Roscrea, Skibbereen, 
 Killamey, Strabane, Mallow, Kilkenny, Cork, Longford, Ballina, 
 Galway, Strokestown, Kilrush, Ballinasloe, Tipperary, Fermoy, 
 Boyle, Parsonstown, Londonderry — two thousand one hundred and 
 seventy partners. 
 
 " 6. The National Bank of Ireland, established 24th January, 
 1835, at Carrick-on-Suir, Clonmel, Thurles, Cashel, Cork, Ennis- 
 corthy, Kilkenny, Longford, Tipperary, Fermoy, Mitchelstown, 
 Roscrea, Tralee, Cahirciveen, Dingle, Killamey, Listowel, Water- 
 ford, Dungannon, New Ross — two hundred and fifty partners. 
 
 " 7. The Limerick National Bank of Ireland, established 17th 
 August, 1835, at Limerick, Kilrush, Charleville — five hundred and 
 twenty-three partners. 
 
 " 8. The Ulster Banking Company, established loth April, 1836, 
 at Belfast — one hundred and seventeen partners. 
 
 Report of the consulting committee of the Agricul- 
 tural and Commercial Bank of Ireland, to the pro- 
 prietors at the half-yearly general meeting, 18th April,- 
 1836. 
 
 " The committee have much satisfaction in meeting the share- 
 holders, and in announcing to them the success of the undertaking 
 in which they have mutually embarked. The report which was 
 made to the proprietors at the last general meeting has been fully 
 realised; and the committee have every reason to believe they are lite- 
 rally correct in the assertion that no banking company has reached ma- 
 turity under such favourable auspices as aj)pear in the present case. 
 
 " It is well known that a sound and liberal system of banking is 
 essential to the prosperity of Ireland ; and it is equally understood 
 that no system can be sound which does not guarantee to the public 
 an undoubted security for all its pecuniary engagements — nor liberal, 
 which does not embrace a wide field of operations. The constitution 
 of the Agricultural and Commercial Bank of Ireland admirably com- 
 bines the fudamental principles of banking ; the association of an 
 unlimited number of partners of varied capital holds out unques- 
 tionable security for any liabilities that may be contracted — whilst 
 the number of the proprietory insures the creation of any given paid- 
 up capital, which cannot be reduced by the retirement, death, or 
 private debts of any of the partners. Thus a bank is invested with 
 the character of a public company ; and, by registering the names
 
 BANKING IN IRELAND. 133 
 
 of cdl its shareholders, by proclaiming the amount of its subscribed 
 and paid-up capital, and the extent of its varied circulation, it com- 
 mands the public confidence. 
 
 " These distinctive attributes of the Agricultural and Commercial 
 Bank of Ireland — the extent of its capital — the publicity of its pro- 
 l^rietory, upwards of 3,000 in number — and its representative ma- 
 nagement, draw an obvious line of demarcation between such an 
 institution and the most powerful private banking companies. 
 Through the medium of branches an establishment like the present 
 can extend its influence and multiply its business ; and thus the 
 long-paralysed industry of Ireland has been quickened into activity, 
 seeing that every extension tends to strengthen and improve the 
 resources of the company, by increasing the amount of its proprietory, 
 and consequently the extent of security to the public. This power 
 of expansion draws to a central point the surplus and unemployed 
 capital of an extensive line of country — and which, through the 
 agency of loans, discounts, and the benefits of a small-note currency, 
 is diffused through the various channels of trade, commerce, and 
 agriculture, stimulating and enriching each of these great productive 
 interests. 
 
 " The benefits above enumerated have been demonstrated in 
 Scotland by the continued experiments of upwards of a century ; 
 and the committee do not hesitate to ascribe the prosperity of that 
 country to the sound constitution of her banking companies. It is 
 upon the model of these the Agricultural and Commercial Bank is 
 founded. 
 
 " The committee have to recommend a dividend, at the rate of 
 five per cent, per annum, for the half-year ending 31st March, 1836, 
 independent of placing a considerable sum to the reserve fund. The 
 balance to the credit of the company justifies the committee in anti- 
 cipating a progressive increase. The committee may also be per- 
 mitted to express an anxious hope that the shareholders will 
 zealously cooperate with the directors in advancing the permanent 
 interests of the companJ^ It would be ungrateful, however, did 
 they not acknowledge the obligations they have already experienced 
 from the ^proprietors and the public, for the support they have re- 
 ceived from both since the beginning of the establishment ; and they 
 need not remind those who are interested, that on their continued 
 exertions the prosperity of the institution in a great measure de- 
 pends, particularly when the objects aimed at by this bank are the 
 maintenance of public and private credit, the secure enjoyment of 
 the rewards of labour, and the enlargement of the fields of prudent 
 industry and well-directed enterprise. 
 
 " In conclusion, the committee have only to mention, that the 
 directors of four of the leading joint stock companies in England 
 which are bankers for this establishment have, by subscribing, fully 
 identified themselves with it ; and they have also to communicate 
 that they have been appointed agents for seven joint stock banks in 
 England and Scotland, having upwards of one hundred branches.
 
 134 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 " Thus the sole reward to which the committee aspired has been 
 amply realised, by witnessing the establishment of the company 
 under the most favourable auspices." 
 
 Report by the directors of the Provincial Bank of 
 Ireland, to the proprietors assembled at the eleventh 
 yearly general meeting, on Thursday, May 19, 1836: — 
 
 " The directors have the pleasure of informing the proprietors, 
 that since their last yearly meeting in this place, three branch banks 
 have been added to the establishment, viz. — Dungarvon, county 
 Waterford, which opened 27th July, 1835. — Mallow, county Cork, 
 which opened 10th August, 1835. — Moneymore, county London- 
 derry, which opened 17th August, 1835. 
 
 " Making the whole number now in operation in Ireland 33 ; 
 besides which, several towns, as mentioned in the report of last year, 
 continue to be visited weekly by the managers of the nearest branch 
 banks, for the purpose of transacting business on the market-days. 
 
 " In advei'ting to the business of the past year, the directors may 
 characterize the season, generally, as having been one of prosperity 
 for Ireland ; for although at its commencement the prices of agricul- 
 tural produce, particularly of wheat, were remarkably low, the 
 steady and increasing demand from England and Scotland soon pro- 
 duced an improvement, which has continued throughout the season, 
 and has maintained the markets for Irish produce of every descrip- 
 tion at rates that have remunerated the farmer better than in many 
 former years ; insomuch, that several extensive land agents have 
 acknowledged that, in their experience, rents have not for twenty years 
 back been so well paid. 
 
 " In the north, also, the manufacturing interests have continued to 
 flourish. 
 
 " The directors are aware that in the opinion of some the pros- 
 perous api^earance which Ireland now presents will be ascribed less 
 to the favourable circumstancesjust mentioned, than to the increased 
 facilities of obtaining bank accommodation, proceeding from the 
 extraordinary competition in banking, which, within these two years, 
 and particularly the last, has sprung up in that country ; and which 
 cannot have failed to attract the observation of the])roprietors. 
 
 " To show the progress of that competition, it may be sufKcient to 
 state, that ])rior to 1825, when the act 6th Geo. IV. cap. 42, was 
 passed, under which the Provincial Bank was established, the bank 
 of Ireland had no establishment out of Dublin. 
 
 "That in Dublin itself there were only four more, and these pri- 
 vate banks ; and that in all Ireland besides there were no other than 
 private banks ; and these only in Belfast, Cork, Wexford, and Mallow. 
 
 " From 1825 to 1834, banking offices in the chief cities and towns 
 of Ireland had been gradually established by the Provincial Bank, the 
 l)ank of Ireland, the Northern and the Belfast Banks, to the number 
 of about tifty — while, within the short space of the last two years, 
 the offices of joint stock banks having resident managers, or agents.
 
 BANKING IN IRELAND. 133 
 
 beyond fifty miles from Dublin, added to the branches of the bank of 
 Ireland, have increased to upwards of one hundred and twenty, and 
 appear to be daily augmentiu'^ in numljcr ; bu^^ides which, there are 
 a great variety of stations attended on market-days by non-resident 
 agents, on behalf of one or other of such banks ; and, in addition to 
 all these, several establishments, on a large scale, have been lately 
 announced in Dublin, as in connection with some of the joint stock 
 banks most recently formed in the provinces. 
 
 " The directors cannot, however, regard this unexamj)lcd rapidity 
 of increase in the number of banks as a certain indication of pros- 
 perity. Amidst the excitement arising out of this state of things, 
 they have considered it to be their duty to impress upon all their 
 local directors and managers the necessity of increased caution and 
 vigilance, and to warn them of the extreme danger of entering upon 
 a race of competition in which those who engage in it are too apt to 
 overlook what is essential to their own safety. 
 
 " In maintaining this prudent reserve, the directors have had the 
 satisfaction to find that the confidence of the country in the Provin- 
 cial Bank continues unabated. Had they followed another course 
 it might not have been in their power to present to the proprietors 
 so gratifying a statement of accounts as they now proceed with 
 pleasure to submit. 
 
 " By the account submitted to last yearly 
 
 general meeting, the amount of un- 
 divided profits at the 28th March, 
 
 1835, was £102,564 11 9 
 
 " The net profit for the year ending the 
 
 26th, being the last Saturday of 
 
 March, 1836, after deduction of all 
 
 expenses, and providing for all bad 
 
 and doubtful debts, amount to - 61,790 17 2 
 
 Together - - £164,355 8 11 
 
 " From which is to be taken the amount 
 
 of dividends paid to the proprietors. 
 
 " At Midsummer, 1835, £20,000 
 
 " At Christmas, 1835, 20,000 
 
 £40,000 
 
 " Remains, amount of undivided profits, 
 
 at 26th March, 1836 - - - £124.355 8 11 
 
 " To this desirable position the affairs of the bank have been 
 conducted, as the directors have great pleasure in acknowledging, by 
 the uniform support and continued approbation of the proprietors, 
 who, far from manifesting any impatient desire to participate in the 
 reserved profits, have always relied with confidence on the opinion of 
 those by whom the working of the establishment was superintended, 
 feeling assured that whenever such participation was clearly expe- 
 dient, it would not be withheld.
 
 136 THE HISTORY, &C. 
 
 " That time the directors think is now come ; and it is their inten- 
 tion, besides continuing to pay at Midsummer and Christmas next, a 
 dividend of eight per cent, per annum on the capital called up, to 
 impart to the proprietors a share of the resers'ed profits, in such a 
 manner as will not only confer an immediate and substantial benefit 
 on every proprietor, but which, without reducing the funds of the 
 bank, will, in its operation, tend to promote materially the interests 
 of the establishment. 
 
 " The plan which the directors have in contemplation is this : — 
 
 " To take from the reserved profits the sum of £40,000. To 
 create therewith 4000 new shares of 10/. each, and to assign the 
 same to the proprietors in the proportion of one such ] 01. share for 
 every five shares of the present stock which they now individually 
 bold. These 10/. shares to bear the same rate of dividend as the 
 original shares, and not to be subject to any further call. The first 
 dividend on them becomes due at Christmas next. After this ope- 
 ration has been effected, there will remain of reserved profits the 
 sum of 84,335/. 8s. lid., and the paid-up capital of the bank 
 will then be 540,000/.; with this peculiarity attached to the 10/. 
 shares, that, as just mentioned, they will be at once and entirely 
 paid up, without being subject to any further call. 
 
 " As the said 10/. shares will be immediately transferable, it will 
 be in the power of such of the present proprietors as choose to dis- 
 pose of them in the market, to gratify the demand which, in Ireland 
 particularly, has been expressed for shares of a smaller amount ; to 
 suit the circumstances of parties among the middling classes of trades- 
 men and farmers, who will thus be enabled to become shareholders of 
 the bank, and will not fail to take an interest in its prosperity, 
 when they perceive that their individual advantage is intimately con- 
 nected with its success. 
 
 " In order to carry this plan into effect, in accordance with the 
 deed of settlement of the society, it will be necessary that two suc- 
 cessive extraordinary general meetings of the proprietors be called. 
 This will be done forthwith by public advertisement, and the further 
 details of the plan will then be explained. It it only necessary at 
 present for the proprietors to know that the intended distribution of 
 the 10/. shares referred to, will be made amongst those proprietors 
 whose names shall stand upon the share list at the close of the 24th 
 day of June next, when the books shut for the Midsummer dividend." 
 
 Prospectuses have recently been issued for esta- 
 blishing the following banks in Ireland: 
 
 The Drogheda Meath and Louth Banking Company. 
 
 The Royal Bank of Scotland. 
 
 The Union Bank of Ireland. 
 
 The Metropolitan Bank of Ireland. 
 
 The Imperial Bank of Ireland.
 
 137 
 
 WATERFORD 
 
 LITERARY AND SCIENTIFIC INSTITUTION. 
 
 There is no very intimate connection between 
 Bankino' and literature. But as both banking; esta- 
 blishments and literary societies have a tendency to 
 promote the interests of Ireland, I shall give a short 
 account of the above Institution. It was intended to 
 be formed upon the plan of the City of London 
 Literary and Scientific Institution, at the formation of 
 which I assisted as a member of the committee. The 
 difficulties of forming such societies in Ireland are by 
 no means so great as may be imagined. Managers of 
 banks are very proper persons to take an active part in 
 their government, as they have considerable influence, 
 and their office compels them to keep aloof from all 
 political parties. When the manager is a literary 
 man, he is well adapted for the office of honorary se- 
 cretary; and in all cases, his habits of business render 
 him very useful as a member of the committee. With 
 the view of assisting those who may be disposed to 
 engage in the establishment of such associations in 
 Ireland, I shall state the steps which were taken in 
 the formation of the Institution at Waterford, as they 
 are described by its president, Thomas Wyse, Esq. 
 M. P. in a discourse delivered at the close of the 
 first session, April 30, 1833 : — 
 
 " The Waterford Literary and Scientific Institution" was formed 
 September 25th, 1832. It owes its estabHshment, not to the hand 
 of power, forcing into sudden maturity its Uberal conceptions — not 
 to the habit of imitation, which naturally and insensibly extends 
 improvement in every civilized community — but to one of those 
 fortuitous concurrences of good intention and resolute will amongst
 
 138 
 
 some of our fellow-citizens, (from whom I may be permitted, without 
 derogating from the merit of his co-labourers, to select Mr. Gilbart,) 
 who happened to meet together, and to express a feeling of regret 
 at the want of such means of intellectual occupation in Waterford. 
 There was much to deter us — much to deter men of far more san- 
 guine temper than ourselves. We had in Waterford no evidences of 
 former success — no fortunate experiment — no pledges redeemed by 
 performances — no literary institutions (with the exception perhaps 
 of the library) which could count beyond a few members and a few 
 years. We were every where surrounded by attempts and disap- 
 pointments ; wherever we looked we saw nothing but failures and 
 wrecks. The " Mechanics' Institute" had begun, and had ended — 
 it had perished from inanition ; no successor had arisen from 
 its remains. We were cast, too, on turbulent, or at least on dis- 
 turbing and absorbing times, when what little shreds of leisure might 
 be within each man's reach — what little surplus of mind or study he 
 could spare, was instantly and peremptorily pressed into other 
 services, by the general political conscription. In such a moment, 
 to call from the glorious dust of the forum to the calm obscurity of 
 the Lyceum and the academy, seemed a task worse than hopeless ; 
 it was inviting defeat. Others looked on such employment of the 
 popular mind as a diversion from " the one thing necessary ;" the 
 country M'as not yet ripe for such experiments — it was squandering 
 away, on secondary objects, the energy of the public will. Such 
 was the language of friend and foe — we are willing to believe, of 
 sincere friends and of honest foes — but a better fortune, I rejoice to 
 add, prevailed ; other hopes, with other circumstances, and better 
 counsels, soon arose. — We did believe, that in an attempt, however 
 humble, to improve the mental condition of our people, no matter 
 what the ephemeral impediments might be, we should not long be, 
 left alone. In that belief we have not been deceived. Another 
 course, more full of honest reliance on your sympathies, was pur- 
 posed — another course was adopted. A preparatory meeting was 
 held in the Chamber of Commerce, on the 17th of September, 
 1832, the minutes of which I now hold in my hand." At that 
 meeting the usual preliminary steps for the organization of the 
 Society were taken ; resolutions were passed, declaratory of the pro- 
 priety of establishing such a body in our city ; a provisional committee 
 was apjjointcd to carry them into effect ; and sub-committees con- 
 stituted to solicit subscriptions, and to inquire what gentlemen in 
 Waterford would engage to deliver lectures and essays during the 
 ensuing winter. A second meeting, held the 24th of the same 
 month, to receive the support of these sub-committees, (which was 
 far more favourable than, under the circumstances, could have been 
 expected,) came in consequence to the unanimous resolution, to form 
 themselves forthwith into a society, under the name of *' The 
 Waterford Literary and Scientific Institution," and proceeded im- 
 mediately to draw up laws and regulations for its future government 
 and support.
 
 139 
 
 " But even then the bodlngs of despondency had not entirely 
 ceased ; we had still to encounter the caution of some, the fears of 
 others, the indiiference of more ; the i)roverhial versatility of our 
 countrymen was hinted — the promjjtitude with which projects are 
 taken up, surpassed only by the promptitude with which they are 
 thrown down, was pleaded — the sharpness of novelty so easily 
 blunted — magnificent promises flaring away into idle conclusions — 
 were successively urged on our attention ; we were told to prepare 
 for a gradual dwindling of our numbers — a plucking of feather by 
 feather from our full-fledged wings. Happily, this " prophecy of 
 evil" was soon belied : we were agreeably surprised by additional 
 reinforcements. In the midst of every distraction, of every excite- 
 ment, of every drawback, the interest which the Institution had 
 excited rapidly but steadily continued to increase. New lecturers 
 presented themselves; what was more material, there was an audi- 
 ence for every lecturer. The " still, small voice" of literature and 
 science, the gentle influences of the practical and imaginative arts, 
 were heard and felt through all the dissonance, the " bella plusquam 
 civilia," of our election contest. Whatever parties might have been 
 without doors, here, at least, they found neutral ground — here, at 
 least, they parleyed. The ancient fable seemed again exemplified — 
 the wand of Mercury, the god of eloquence, worked again its quiet 
 miracle. It no sooner touched the earth, than the opposed and 
 bristling serpents of civil contention forgot their struggle, and twined 
 amicably around it." 
 
 This eloquent discourse enters very fully into the 
 subject of education, especially with reference to the 
 middle classes in the United Kingdom, and it contains 
 a very interesting account of the institutions for public 
 instruction in America : 
 
 The following are a copy of the minutes to which 
 Mr. Wyse has referred in the above extracts. 
 
 " At half-past seven o'clock, on Monday evening, Sept. 17, 1832, 
 a meeting was held in the Harbour Commissioners' Room, Chamber 
 . of Commerce, for the purpose of considering the propriety of forming 
 a society, to be called the " Waterford Literary and Scientific Insti- 
 tution." Present — Thomas Wyse, Esq, M. P. ; Edward Jones, Esq. 
 M. D. ; W. M. Ardagh, James W. Gilbart, Thomas Harris, Thomas 
 Parsons, G. P. Ridgway, William White, and George Wyse, Esqrs. 
 
 " It was moved and seconded, that Thomas Wyse, Esq. M P. be 
 requested to take the chair. 
 
 " The chairman fully explained the object of the meeting, and 
 after some discussion, the following resolutions were unanimously 
 adopted : — 
 
 1. " Resolved — That this meeting are convinced of the propriety 
 of establishing a Literary and Scientific Institution, and they now
 
 140 
 
 form themselves into a provisional committee, for the purpose of 
 eifecting its establishment. 
 
 II. " Resolved — That the members of the provisional committee 
 do solicit the support of their respective friends, and report the 
 result at a meeting to be held here on this day week. 
 
 III. " Resolved — That a sub-committee of five persons be formed 
 to inquire what gentlemen in Waterford would be willing to engage 
 to deliver lectures and essays to the proposed institution, and that 
 Thomas Wyse, Esq. M.P. Edward Jones, Esq. M.D. James W. 
 Gilbart, Thomas Harris, and Thomas Parsons, Esqrs. do constitute 
 such sub-committee." 
 
 The meeting then adjourned. 
 
 Harbour Commissioners' Boom, Chamber of Commerce, 
 September 24, 1832. 
 
 Present — Henry Alcock, Esq. Mayor of Waterford ; John Archbold, 
 Esq. Sheriff of Waterford ; the Rev. Dr. Graham ; John Coombe, 
 James W. Gilbart, Thomas Harris, Thomas Kehoe, Thomas Parsons, 
 Joshua W. Strangman, and George P. Ridgway, Esqrs. 
 
 It was moved and seconded, that Henry Alcock, Esq. Mayor of 
 Waterford, be requested to take the chair. 
 
 James W. Gilbart, Esq. read the minutes of the proceedings of 
 the former meeting. 
 
 Thomas Harris, Esq. read the report of the sub-committee ap- 
 pointed to inquire what gentlemen in Waterford would be willing 
 to engage to deliver lectures and essays. 
 
 The following resolution was then unanimously adopted : — 
 
 " Resolved — That this meeting do now form themselves into a 
 Literary and Scientific Institution, and proceed to consider the laws 
 necessary for their government." 
 
 Resolved — That the following regulations are declared to be the 
 laws of the Institution until the next annual meeting : 
 
 1 . This Institution shall be named " The Waterford Literary and 
 Scientific Institution." 
 
 2. Its object is the circulation of Literary and Scientific Know- 
 ledge, by means of Lectures and Essays. 
 
 3. It shall be governed by a committee of seven members, chosen 
 by ballot at the general meeting. The president, vice-presidents, 
 treasurer and secretary shall also, ex-officio, be members of the 
 committee. Any three members shall form a quorum. 
 
 4. The meetings of the Institution shall be held at eight o'clock 
 every Thursday evening, in the seven months from October to April, 
 both inclusive ; and as much oftener as the committee may deter- 
 mine. 
 
 5. The subjects discussed shall be purely literary, or scientific, ex- 
 cluding all topics connected with modern politics or controversial 
 theology. Any member introducing such topics shall be called to
 
 141 
 
 order by the chairman, and may be admonished or expelled by the 
 committee. 
 
 6. A new member must be proposed by three members, and 
 admitted by ballot — one black ball in four shall exclude. 
 
 7. The subscription from each member shall be £2 per annum, 
 payable in advance on the first Thursday in October. A payment 
 of £5 shall constitute a member for life. 
 
 8. On payment of his subscription, each member shall receive 
 from the treasurer a ticket for himself and his family, and three 
 transferable tickets, each admitting two of his friends ; a transferable 
 subscription ticket, admitting two persons to the lectures for the 
 session, may also be obtained by non-members, upon the payment of 
 1 Os. ; and a ticket, admitting one person for the night, may be 
 obtained on payment of 1^. 
 
 9. The funds of the Institution shall be employed chiefly in pro- 
 viding a place of meeting, and in purchasing such philosophical 
 instruments as may be necessary to elucidate the subjects discussed. 
 
 10. A general meeting shall be held on the first Thursday in May, 
 to receive the report of the committee, and to select officers and a 
 committee for the ensuing year. 
 
 Resolved — That the following gentlemen be most respectfully soli- 
 cited to act as patron, president, vice-president, treasurer, secretary, 
 and committee for the year ensuing. 
 
 Patron — ^The Right Hon. Sir John Newport, Bart. M. P. 
 
 President — Thomas Wyse, Esq. M.P. 
 
 Vice-Presidents. 
 
 Right Rev. Dr. Abraham, R. C. 
 Bishop of Waterford and Lis- 
 more 
 Very Rev. Ussher Lee, Dean of 
 Waterford 
 
 Treasurer — Joshua William Strangman, Esq. 
 Honorary Secretary — James William Gilbart, Esq 
 
 Henry Winston Barron, Esq. 
 
 Deputy Lieutenant. 
 Pierse George Barron, Esq. 
 William Christmas, Esq. 
 
 Committee of Management. 
 
 The Rev. Dr. Greham. 
 Edward Jones, M. D. 
 Rev. Richard Ryl and 
 John Archbold, Esq. 
 
 The meeting then adjourned to Tuesday, the second day of October. 
 
 Thomas Harris, Esq. 
 Thomas Parsons, Esq. 
 George P. Ridgway, Esq. 
 
 The following is a list of the lectures and essays 
 delivered before the members and the friends of the 
 Institution, in the session of 1832 — 3. 
 
 Thursday, October 4 — A Lecture on Education, by Thomas Wyse, 
 Esq., M. P.
 
 142 
 
 Thursday, 11 — Essays on the Science of Optics. First Essay — 
 llie Theory of Vision, by Tliomas Harris, Esq. Second Essay — 
 Illustrations of the Anatomy of the Eye, by Edward Jones, M. D. 
 Third Essay — The means of Preserving the Sight, by James W. 
 Gilbart, PJsq. 
 
 Thursday, 18 — A Lecture on the Origin of Italian PoetrJ^ by 
 Thomas Wyse, Esq. 
 
 Thursday, 25 — Essays on Agricultural Economy. First Essay — 
 The Management of Bees, by Thomas Parsons, Esq. Second Essay, 
 The Construction of Cottages, by Joshua W. Strangman, Esq. 
 Third Essay — The Agriculture of the West of England, by James 
 W. GUbart, Esq. 
 
 Thursday, Nov. 1 — A Lecture on Vegetable Physiology, by 
 Edward Jones, M. D. 
 
 Thursday, 8 — A Lecture on the Philosophy of Language, by 
 James W. Gilbart, Esq. 
 
 Thursday, 15 — A Lecture on the different Degrees of Warmth 
 produced by White and Black Clothing, by Thomas Parsons, Esq. 
 
 Thursday, 22 — A Lecture on Ancient Architecture — Oriental 
 Architecture, by Thomas Wyse, Esq. 
 
 Thursday, 29 — A Lecture on Geography, by Joshua W. Strangman, 
 
 Thursday, Dec. 6 — A second Lecture on Vegetable Physiology, 
 by Edward Jones, M. D. 
 
 Thursday, 13 — A second Lecture on Geography, by Joshua W. 
 Strangman, Esq. 
 
 Thursday, 20 — A Lecture on Establishments for the Insane, by 
 Edward Jones, M. D. 
 
 Thursday, Jan. 3, 1833 — A Lecture on Ancient Commerce — the 
 Commerce of Ancient Egypt, by James W. Gilbart, Esq. 
 
 Thursday, 10 — A Lecture on Elementary Instruction, by Joshua 
 W. Strangman, Esq. 
 
 Tuesday, 15 — A third Lecture on Vegetable Physiology, by 
 Edward Jones, M. D. 
 
 Thursday, 17 — A second Lecture on Ancient Architecture — 
 Grecian Architecture, by Thomas Wyse, Esq. 
 
 Tuesday, 22 — A fourth Lecture on Vegetable Physiology, by 
 Edward Jones, M. D. 
 
 Thursday, 24 — A Lecture on the Study of IVIan, by William Con- 
 nolly, M. D. 
 
 I'uesday, 29 — A fifth Lecture on Vegetable Physiology, by Edward 
 Jones, M. D. 
 
 Thursday, 31 — A second Lecture on Ancient Commerce — the 
 Commerce of Ancient Greece, by James W. Gilbart, Esq. 
 
 Tuesday, Feb. 5 — A Lecture on Pneumatics, by J. W. Strang- 
 man, Esq. 
 
 Thursday, 7 — A third Lecture on Ancient Architecture — Roman 
 Architecture, by Thomas Wyse, Esq. 
 
 Tuesday, 12 — A second Lecture on Pneumatics, by Joshua Wil- 
 liam Strangman, Esq.
 
 143 
 
 Thursday, 14 — A second Lecture on the Study of Man, by Wil- 
 liam Connolly, IVI. D. 
 
 Tuesday, 19 — A Lecture on Scientific Terras, by James W. Gil- 
 bart, Esq. 
 
 Thursday, 21 — A Lecture on Navigation, by Thomas Parsons, Esq, 
 
 Tuesday, 26 — A Lecture on the Chemical Properties of the At- 
 mosphere, by Edward Jones, M.D. 
 
 Thursday, 28 — A fourth Lecture on Ancient Architecture — By- 
 zantine, or Corrupt Roman Architecture, by Thomas Wyse, Esq. 
 
 Tuesday, March 5 — A Lecture on the Chemical Properties of 
 Water, by Edward Jones, M.D. 
 
 Thursday, 7 — A third Lecture on Ancient Commerce — the Com- 
 merce of Tyre and Carthage, by James W, Gilbart, Esq. 
 
 Tuesday, 12 — A Lecture on Mechanics, by Thomas Parsons, Esq. 
 
 Thursday, 14 — A Third Lecture on the Study of Man, by 
 William Connolly, M. D. 
 
 Tuesday, 10 — A second Lecture on Mechanics, by Thomas 
 Parsons, Esq. ; and a Lecture on Mnemonics, by Joshua W. Strang- 
 man, Esq. 
 
 Thursday, 21 — A Lecture on Law — particularly in reference to 
 the Rights of the Female Sex, by William Hughes, Esq. 
 
 Tuesday, 26 — A Lecture on the Advantages of Science, by the 
 Rev. R. Ryland. 
 
 Thursday, 28 — A fourth Lecture on Ancient Commerce — the 
 Commerce of Ancient Rome, by James W. Gilbart, Esq. 
 
 Tuesday, April 2 — A Lecture on Hydrostatics, by Joshua W. 
 Strangman, Esq. 
 
 Thursday, 4 — A Lecture on Physiology, by Thomas Kehoe, Esq. 
 
 Tuesday, 9 — A third Lecture on Mechanics, by Thomas Parsons, 
 Esq. 
 
 Thursday, 11 — A fifth Lecture on Ancient Commerce — the 
 Commerce of the Ancients with the East Indies, by James W. 
 Gilbart, Esq. 
 
 Tuesday, 16 — A Lecture on Hydraulics, by Joshua W. Strang- 
 man, Esq. 
 
 Thursday, 18 — A Lecture on the Commerce of Waterford, by 
 James W. Gilbart, Esq. 
 
 Tuesday, 23 — A fourth Lecture on Mechanics, by Thomas 
 Parsons, Esq. ; and a Lecture on Harbour Surveying, by Sampson 
 Carter, Esq. 
 
 Thursday, 25 — A Lecture on Optics, by Rev. R. Ryland. 
 
 Tuesday, 30 — A Concluding Address, upon the Transactions of 
 the Session, by Thomas Wyse, Esq. 
 
 Syllabus of a Course of Lectures on Ancient Ar- 
 chitecture, by Thomas Wyse, Esq. M. P. 
 
 Lecture I. — Oriental Architecture, Thursday, Nov. 22, 1832. 
 Introduction. Definition of Architecture. Erroneous Ideas. Ar 
 
 L
 
 144 
 
 chitecture traceable, like all other arts, to the wants of Mankind. 
 These wants created and modified by circumstances, such as climate, 
 organization, occupation, habits, laws. These circumstances divide 
 Mankind into two great Classes, or Races— the Pastoral, or Wan- 
 dering—and the Agricultural, or Fixed. Their wants and arts 
 distinct — particularly remarkable in their Architecture. Chief 
 objects of Architecture — Dwellings, Tombs, and Temples. 1st — 
 Dwellings of the Pastoral Races. Their Tombs— Origin of the 
 Tumulus, or Barrow. Their Temples— Altars, Platforms— Sacred 
 Groves — the High Places of the Scriptures. Illustrations, in Syria, 
 Chaldea, Scythia, &c. &c. 2nd. — Dwellings of the Agricultural 
 Races — in mountainous districts — Egypt, Ethiopia, Palestine, Persia, 
 &c. and in flat countries — Plains of Babylon, &c. &c. Their Tombs. 
 Hypogoea of Egypt, Palestine, Persia, Asia Minor. Built Tombs — 
 the Pyramids — Mausolea of India, &c. Their Temples — Temples 
 of Egypt and Ethiopia. Excavated — Dehr, Kalapshi, Ipsambol, &c. 
 Built — Karnak, Eshne, Dendera, &c. Epochs and Character of 
 Egyptian Architecture. Phcsnician Architecture. Jewish Archi- 
 tecture — Temjile of Solomon — Baalbek, &c. Arabian Architecture — 
 Petra, &c. Indian — Ellora, &c. Chinese, &c. Resemblance and 
 connection of Oriental Architecture. 
 
 Lecture II. — Grecian Architecture. — Thursday, January 17, 1833. 
 Progress of Mankind Westward. Arts travel with them. Commu- 
 nication of Egypt and the East with Phoenicia, and of Phoenicia with 
 Greece. Architecture introduced into the Islands — into Greece 
 Proper. Affected by new circumstances of Climate, Manners, Laws. 
 Grecian Houses — Towns — their distribution — the Citadel, Agora, 
 Gates, Walls, &c. &c. Grecian Tombs — Hypogoea — Mausolea — 
 Sarcophagi. Grecian Temples — their distribution and decoration. 
 Other Grecian Buildings — Theatres — Basilicse — Paloestrec, &c. &c. 
 Recapitulation. 
 
 Lecture III. — Roman Architecture. — Thursday, February 7, 1833. 
 Obvious connection between Grecian and Roman Art. Grecian 
 Colonies in Italy — Etruscans. Influence on the Romans — on their 
 Architecture especially. Architecture under the Kings — under the 
 Republic — under the Empire. From Augustus to Hadrian, the 
 golden age of Roman Architecture. Roman Houses — Villas — how 
 differing from the Grecian. Roman Cities — their internal and 
 external arrangement. Roman Tombs. Roman Temples — com- 
 jjared with the Grecian. Roman Theatres — Amphitheatres — Nau- 
 machia;. &c. Roman Bridges — Aqueducts — Baths. Roman Trium- 
 phal Monuments — Arches— Pillars. Other Roman Buildings — 
 Libraries, Porticos, &c. &c. General remarks. 
 
 Lecture IV. — Byzantine, or corrupt Roman Architecture. — Thursday, 
 February 28, 1833. — Reign of the Antonines. Irruption of the 
 Barbarians. Gradual degeneracy in all the Arts. Architecture 
 especially affected. Reign of Constantino. — Transfer of the seat of 
 Empire to Byzantium, or Constantinople. Distribution and decora- 
 tion of the new City. Conversion of ancient Temples and Basilicae
 
 145 
 
 to Churches. Spoliation and dilapidation of Ancient Monuments — 
 Application of their Manufactures to new — Injurious results. 
 Universal corruption of Roman Architecture, in arrangement and 
 details. Partial Reform under .Justinian — insufficient to check the 
 increasing abuses. Confusion of all principles. General Barbarism. 
 Elements of a new Architecture in the midst of this confusion. 
 Conclusion.* 
 
 Syllaljus of a Course of Lectures on Ancient Com- 
 merce, by James William Gilbart, Esq. 
 
 Lecture I. — The Cotnmerce of Ancient Egypt. — Thursday, January 
 3, 1833. — Origin of Commerce. History of Egypt. Productions — 
 Corn — Linen — Horses — Paper. Consumption — Food — Dress — 
 Houses — Embalming. Situation — Trade with the Phoenicians — 
 Judea — Arabia — India. Means of Communication — Roads — Canals 
 — Ships. Arts and Sciences — Computation — Money. Commercial 
 Laws. Casts — Imprisonment for Debt — Female Traders — Trial after 
 Death. Commercial Character of the Egyptians. 
 
 Lecture II. — The Commerce of Ancient Greece. — Thursday, Ja- 
 nuary 31, 1833. — Origin of Civilization. Commercial position of 
 Greece. Security of Private Property — Attica — Sparta. Admi- 
 nistration of Justice — Laws referring to Trade. Establishment of 
 Cities — proper situation for Commercial Cities — Athens — Corinth — 
 Syracuse. Markets and Fairs — Festivals. Ancient Legislation with 
 regard to Fairs. Money — Coin — Bankers — Rise and Progress of 
 Banking. Commercial Character of the Greeks. 
 
 Lecture III. — The Commerce of Tyre and Carthage. — Thursday, 
 March 28, 1833. — Origin of Navigation. Rise of 'lyre and Car- 
 thage. Influence of Navigation on Commerce — Advantages of an 
 Insular Situation — Ships of the Ancients — Long Voyages — ^ Carrying 
 Trade. Manufactures — Weaving — Dyeing — Working of Metals — 
 Pottery — Tanning. Colonies — Colonial Trade — Rate of Wages — 
 Emigration. Accumulation of Capital — Credit — Bottomry — Part- 
 nerships — Joint Stock Companies. Commercial Character of the 
 Carthaginians. 
 
 Lecture IV. — The Commerce of Ancient Rome. — Thursday, March 
 28th, 1833. — Origin of Agriculture. Characteristics of an Agri- 
 cultural and a Commercial State of Society. Agriculture of the 
 Romans — Influence of Agriculture on Commerce. Wars of the 
 Romans — Influence of War upon Commerce. Slavery of the 
 Romans — Influence of Domestic Slavery upon Ancient Commerce. 
 
 * In the second session of the institution, Henry Winston Barron, 
 Esq. M. P. delivered some valuable lectures ujjon agriculture. I 
 believe Waterford is the only place in either England or Ireland of 
 which it can be said, that both its parliamentary representatives 
 have delivered to their constituents lectures upon literary and scien- 
 tific subjects.
 
 146 
 
 Conquests of the Romans — Influence of extended Empire upon 
 Commerce — Principles of Free Trade. Roman Money — Copper the 
 Standard of Value — Depreciation of the Currency — Bankers. Roman 
 Roads — Transmission of Letters. Marine Insurance — Assurance of 
 Lives. Commercial Character of the Romans. 
 
 Lecture V. — The Commerce of the Ancients with the East Indies. 
 Tuesday, April 11, 1833. — Origin of Luxury. India — Its Social 
 Institutions. Productions — Spices — Silks — Aromatics — Precious 
 Stones — Fruits. Indian Commerce previous to the time of Alex- 
 ander the Great. Conquests of Alexander. Alexandria founded. 
 Conquest of Egypt by the Romans, Silk sold at Rome for its weight 
 in gold. Conquest of Egypt by the Mahometans. Importation of 
 Silk Worms into Europe. Discovery of the Passage to India by the 
 Cape of Good Hope. Exportation of Bullion — Principles of the 
 Foreign Exchanges. Sketch of the History of the Indian Trade to 
 the present day. Conclusion.* 
 
 I copy the following article from the Waterford 
 papers of October 31, 1833 : 
 
 ■WATERFORD LITERARY AND SCIENTIFIC INSTITUTION. 
 
 At a general meeting of the Waterford Literary and Scientific 
 Institution, held at the Chamber of Commerce, on Wednesday, 23rd 
 October, 1833 — Thomas Wyse, Esq. President, in the Chair. 
 
 The following resolutions were unanimously adopted: — moved by 
 Mr. Harris, seconded by Mr. Mason — 
 
 * " But this was only a small portion of Mr. Gilbart's important 
 services. You have already heard me refer, in terms of merited 
 eulogium, to the active part which he bore in the founding of our 
 Institution — an activity exceeded, if possible, by the inteUigence, 
 assiduity, and perseverance which he brought to its subsequent ma- 
 nagement ; — but, great as these contributions undoubtedly were, they 
 were fully rivalled by his zealous literary support. There are few in 
 this room who have not attended his excellent lectures on " Ancient 
 Commerce." I feel what a train of agreeable and elevating associa- 
 tions I excite by merely mentioning their name. The judicious 
 arrangement, the happy spirit of analysis, the discriminating selec- 
 tion and classification of facts, the wise deduction of principles, 
 leading to views the noblest and loftiest, but at the same time the 
 most practical and useful to society — all this, too, conveyed in lan- 
 guage claiming the applause of the instructed, but not beyond the 
 grasp of the ignorant — was not only a complete redemption of our 
 original promises, but, I do think, the best practical illustration and 
 most complete recommendation we could possibly ofler of the plea- 
 sures and utilities of such institutions as this." — Mr. Wysc's Dis- 
 course.
 
 147 
 
 1 . That in accepting the resignation of James William Gilbart, 
 Esq. late Honorary Secretary of this Institution (rendered unavoid- 
 able by his immediate return from this city to London,) we cannot 
 but express our deep sense of his numerous services to this society, 
 and willingly tender him our best thanks for having mainly contri- 
 buted to its original formation, and for the constant zeal and ability 
 he displayed in the discharge of the duties of his arduous office. 
 
 Moved by Mr. Davis, seconded by Mr. Strangmau — 
 
 2. That the above resolution be communicated by our President 
 to Mr. Gilbart, and published in the Waterford papers. 
 
 Waterford, Oct. 26, 1833. 
 
 Dear Sir, 
 
 I am directed by the Waterford Literary and Scientific 
 Institution, in pursuance of a resolution passed at their last general 
 meeting, to communicate to you the accompanying " vote of thanks," 
 on the occasion of your resignation of the office of Secretary. 
 
 Permit me to add to this public expression of regret and gratitude, 
 my own personal acknowledgments for the numerous and valuable 
 benefits you have conferred, by your activity, perseverance, and 
 superior experience on our infant Institution. Under very difficult and 
 discouraging circumstances you gave it in great part its original con- 
 stitution, and watched it with an unabated solicitude to its present 
 vigorous condition. I feel, in common with all our fellow members, 
 how difficult it will be to supply the place of such qualities and 
 exertions ; but we trust that in leaving this country, you will not also 
 leave behind you all anxiety for our advancement — that you will 
 retain, as far as new circumstances and more pressing objects may 
 permit you — an interest in our improvement, and from time to time 
 will give us the advantage of your more extended observation, in 
 proportion as opportunities may offer, or the exigencies of our posi- 
 tion may require. In expressing such a hope, I am sensible, at the 
 same time, that it is almost unnecessary. You are too deeply im- 
 pressed with our wants, and already evinced too strong a concern for 
 our progress, to question a continuance of your exertions. You 
 take with you our best wishes for your happiness and prosperity in 
 your new circle, and whatever may be the future fortunes of our 
 societ)', we shall never forget how much it is indebted for what has 
 already been enjoyed, to the efforts and intelligence of its first 
 Secretary. 
 
 I beg you to believe me, 
 Dear Sir, 
 Very sincerely, your's always, 
 
 THOMAS WYSE, President. 
 
 To James William Gilbart, Esi/. late lion. Secretary of the 
 Waterford Literary and Scientific Institution.
 
 148 
 
 ProvinciaL Bank of Ireland, Waierfcrd, 
 28f/6 October, 1833. 
 
 Dear Sir, 
 
 The resolutions passed at the last general meeting of 
 the Waterford Literary and Scientific Institution, and the letter 
 which accompanied them, have afforded me high gratification — not 
 only as they are tokens of personal respect from gentlemen whom I 
 greatly esteem, but as they denote a continued regard for that 
 Institution in whose formation and progress I zealously laboured. 
 
 My own exertions, however, were chiefly useful as the means of 
 calling forth the exertions of others. It is to the early patronage 
 and the eloquence of our President — to the generous co-operation 
 of our excellent Lecturers — to the character and respectability of our 
 members — and to the interest taken in our proceedings by the 
 public, especially by the ladies of Waterford, that we are indebted 
 for our success. 
 
 I shall be most happy at all times to render the Institution any 
 service in my power, and, I trust, that not only will its future pro- 
 gress be marked by increasing prosperity, but that it will become 
 instrumental in the formation of similar institutions iu the neigh- 
 bouring towns. 
 
 I am. 
 
 Dear Sir, 
 
 Truly and respectfully yours, 
 
 J. W. GILBAllT. 
 
 Thomas PKi/se, E^. President of the Waterford 
 Literary and Scientific Institution. 
 
 FINIS. 
 
 .IVSTINS AND SON, miNTEnS, MARK I.AM", 
 
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