The City meeting to consider the state of the monetary
system and the Bank Charter Act of 1844 has proved a failure. Mr. Ben- noch consented to take the chair, and so far imparted a City cha- racter to the proceedings ; and Mr. Leoni Levi also lent his sanc- tion and presence. The speakers were gentlemen who are distin- guished for entertaining very peculiar opinions. Mr. Jonathan Duncan, who was conspicuous' did not assist the dignity of the assemblage by the avowal that the whole cost of the evening's pro- ceedings was defrayed by one gentleman: the monetary congress, therefore, was not self-supporting. It was more a Birmingham than a London exhibition ; and Mr. T. C. Salt of Birmingham was its real chief. Abundant was the moral courage displayed : no difficulty was felt in carrying out the resolution, "that such national paper money may be issued under conditions calculated to remedy the objections usually urged against paper money "; no difficulty, although Mr. Salt had already declared "that money should be issued till every honest labourer had found full employ- ment at remunerative prices."
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