But they need not attend to that council unless they think fit; they are appointed to watch over the national interest, and, in so doing, they may disregard the murmurs of the 'regents' if they like.

And in theory, there is much to be said for this plan.

The keeping the single banking reserve being a national function, it is at least plausible to argue that Government should choose the functionaries.

No doubt such a political intervention is contrary to the sound economical doctrine that 'banking is a trade, and only a trade.' But Government forgot that doctrine when, by privileges and monopolies, it made a single bank predominant over all others, and established the one-reserve system.

As that system exists, a logical Frenchman consistently enough argues that the State should watch and manage it.