, without experiencing a general crash. The great
question, however, yet remains behind--What is to become of the
country districts? To us who are familiar with almost the whole face
of Scotland, it seems a gross absurdity to suppose, that _under any
circumstances_, if the branch banks were withdrawn, a gold metallic
currency could be made operative in the remoter districts. Mr
Dunsmure, then secretary to the commissioners for the public
fisheries, gave very singular evidence upon that point in 1826; so
singular, indeed, that were it our purpose in this paper rather to
amuse than to warn and protest, we should have dwelt more minutely
upon his statements. Speaking of the silver currency, his evidence is
as follows:--"The quantity of silver on the west coast is so very
limited, that there is a great difficulty in getting a proper supply
for the necessary purposes. _Some of the people have been obliged to
issue promissory notes for 5s., long after they had been prohibited by
act of Parliament._ I happened to be at Barra, and the officer there
informed me that, having occasion to purchase some oats for a pony he
found it necessary to keep, the farmer whom he paid for them declared
he had not seen the face of a shilling for two years before." One of
the individuals who was thus forced by necessity to contravene the
statute, was a fish-curer and merchant, who kept a large store in
Tobermory, and the form of his notes is at once curious and
explanatory. "For want of change I owe you 5s., and for four of these
tickets, I will give a one-pound note." The establishment of branch
banks may somewhat have mended matters on the west coast, though we
doubt if the improvement has been commensurate with that of other
districts in Scotland, owing to the severe, and in our view
mischievous, commercial enactment which supplanted the native
manufacture of kelp, by the substitution of foreign barilla; but if
the branches are removed, no discovery short of the philosopher's
stone will establish the metallic currency there. Do our legislators
seriously mean to compel the population of about one-fourth of
Scotland, comprehending the whole western and northern divisions, to
accept the fish-curer's notes, instead of those of a joint-stock bank,
with its paid-up capital for security?

We have not space here to proceed with a minute analysis of the
evidence which was formerly given. Suffice it to say, that it is of a
much more serious nature than