chinery which is composed of the benevolence of the higher orders. It is not altogether improbable, when these banks have become very numerous, and stood so long and so firm, as to seem to require only that protection which the law confers on all the honest pursuits of private interest, that the zeal of that class, from which it is proposed the managers should be drawn, may not always be found sufficient for the conduct of their affairs. Should this apprehension be realized, much stronger reasons than at present will then be felt for having recourse to the alternative of the popular system; and with much less danger of inconvenience, after all the details of management have become familiar by long practice. But though I am not so well acquainted with the local arrangements of England, as to suggest the mode of eventually supplying this desideratum, by means of the resident magistracy or clergy; yet, if Saving Banks shall be found in any considerable degree to operate favourably upon the habits and condition of the lower classes, and particularly in diminishing poor-rates, there is every reason to hope, that the voluntary and gratuitous services of men of property and education will always be supplied in abundance. In Scotland, there is perhaps still less reason to fear the want of such talents and disinterestedness. In every parish there are at least two respectable individuals, the clergyman and schoolmaster, who may be confidently expected to undertake the executive department; and the landed proprietors of this country, justly alarmed at the progress of poor-rates in England, and anxious to ward off the evil from themselves, certainly would not hesitate to give the most ample security for the faithful administration of all the affairs of the institution.
From these remarks on the object of Saving Banks, and the principle on which they should be formed and conducted, it will be seen that I am decidedly averse to the measure that has been recommended, of combining with them a scheme for converting the deposites into annuities. Those who, from the best motives, would thus hasten to rear the superstructure before the stability of the foundation has been proved, ought to consider, that the more complicated and laborious the duties of the managers may become, the less probability there is of their being faithfully discharged by men who give their services without a pecuniary reward. The benefit to which the depositors would be entitled, if their stock were converted into an annuity, must depend upon a variety of circumstances, in particular upon their age; and the errors in calculation, which may justly be expected to occur, if an annuity scheme were ingrafted upon a Saving Bank in country parishes, would, in all probability, soon bring ruin upon the whole establishment. It may be doubted, indeed, how far it may be advisable to urge it as a duty in the lower classes, to save a part of that income which barely suffices for their own maintenance, or to excite a blind zeal for accumulation, even though, as in the case of Saving Banks, they be allowed to withdraw their deposites at pleasure. In proportion as the zeal of all concerned may at first be somewhat immoderate, so is the danger that disappointment may be succeeded by indifference. All that is really necessary, or perhaps expedient, is to afford to the labouring classes the opportunity of depositing their earnings under safe custody, and of drawing them out again with interest, when they are too small in amount to be received by mercantile banks; and if the advantages of the measure do not form a sufficient inducement to them to avail themselves of it, it were idle to expect success to Saving Banks, as it is unjustifiable to seek it, by any other means of excitement.
To obviate the objections which I am aware may be made to this exclusion of popular interference, I must beg leave to conclude this part of the subject with observing, that hitherto I have chiefly had in view the Saving Banks of Scotland, in which the depositors are understood to be, at least the far greater number of them, of the very lowest description of accumulators. It is for such people, principally, that there is felt a want of Saving Banks in this country; for all our mercantile banks are in the practice of receiving so small a sum as £10 in one payment, and returning it on demand with interest; and their agents are spread throughout almost every part of the country. But I can easily suppose, that a higher class of depositors may avail themselves of this institution in
