n of
every investigator of civil, as well as of physical economy) there
is in the nature of credit an elasticity which causes it, when left
unshackled by law, to adapt itself to the necessities of commerce, and
the legitimate demands of the market. Well may the productive classes
exclaim to those who persist in legislating on the subject, and are
not content without determining who may, and who may not, give credit
to another, what kind of monied obligations shall, or shall not, be
allowed to circulate--that is, to be taken in exchange for goods at
the option of the parties--well might they exclaim, as the merchants
of Paris did to the minister of Louis, when he asked what his master
could do for them--"Laissez nous faire,"--"Leave us alone, to surround
ourselves with those precautions which experience will suggest and the
instinct of self-preservation put in execution."--_Ibid_.

* * * * *

HOARDING MONEY.

There can be no doubt too that "_hoarding_" coin goes on to a
considerable extent, and greatly augments the scarcity, and
consequently the value of the precious metals. Even the old practice
of "making a stocking" is by no means given up in rural districts. We
ourselves, but a few days back, personally witnessed an old crone,
the wife of a small, and apparently poor farmer, in a wild pastoral
district, bring no less than three hundred sovereigns in a bag to a
neighbouring attorney, to be placed by him in security: her treasure
having accumulated till she was afraid to keep it longer at home. Such
examples are by no means so rare as may be imagined. The failures of
so many country banks in 1825 destroyed the confidence of country
people in the bank-notes of the present banks, and causes their
preference of gold. The failure of many attorneys, as well as of those
country banks which received and gave interest on deposits, and (with
the exception of the savings banks, which are very limited in the
amount of the deposits they allow) the total absence, in the rural
districts of England, of any safe and accessible depositaries for the
savings of the economical, such as the invaluable Scotch banks,
have tended most injuriously to discourage economy; and where that
principle was strongly ingrafted, have converted it into a practice of
hoarding,--have caused that to stagnate in unprofitable masses which,
spread through proper channels, would have stimulated new industry and
new accumula