Page:Vindication of a fixed duty on corn.djvu/38

32 certainly not upon any partiality for the sliding scale.

No mercantile man can have been unobservant of the losses and frequent ruin which are inflicted upon the community by a suddenly contracted circulation, and the Bank of England is usually doomed to bear the reproaches of the sufferers; it is accused, of "putting on the screw" and of selfishly seeking to save itself by the sacrifice of the public; in truth, the Bank takes no part in the contraction. A sudden demand for corn finds the people on the continent ready enough to part with their grain, but unprepared by their habits to take commodities in exchange, gold is therefore the only medium of payment; but this gold can be drawn from the Bank only by giving its notes in exchange and these notes so withdrawn from the circulation effect the contraction which is complained of. But the Bank, though it does not cause, might prevent the contraction, by reissuing, in discounts, the notes brought in for gold, and what would be the result? that the drain of bullion, being unchecked, might continue until its coffers were emptied. It is difficult, it is painful, to refuse the assistance which the commerce of the country fairly and naturally seeks, yet it would be far more painful to contemplate the disastrous consequences of unlimited compliance. Which course the Bank should take cannot be doubtful,—it must maintain the integrity of its engagements; it has, however, but