صفحة 775 من 2651

An operation of this kind has, within these five-and-twenty or

thirty years, been performed in Scotland, by the erection of new

banking companies in almost every considerable town, and even in

some country villages. The effects of it have been precisely

those above described. The business of the country is almost

entirely carried on by means of the paper of those different

banking companies, with which purchases and payments of all kinds

are commonly made. Silver very seldom appears, except in the

change of a twenty shilling bank note, and gold still seldomer.

But though the conduct of all those different companies has not

been unexceptionable, and has accordingly required an act of

parliament to regulate it, the country, notwithstanding, has

evidently derived great benefit from their trade.