by many
persons, regarded as the chief source of all their distresses and
losses; but I think I can shew that those parties are wrong in this
opinion, which springs from their anxiety to frame an excuse for their
very imprudent speculations.

In the first place, then, I accuse the Banks of harsh and illiberal
conduct; and I will state my reasons for this charge.

When I arrived in Sydney in 1836, the Banks, without exception, but more
particularly the Commercial Bank (then under the management of a
would-be shrewd Aberdonian), were doing every thing in their power to
induce parties to open accounts with them. Bills for discount were
eagerly sought after, and little attention was paid to the
respectability of the names of either drawer or endorser. Cash-advances
were publicly advertised by the Commercial Bank. Parties, to my certain
knowledge, were stopped in the street by the Aberdonian just alluded to,
who solicited their business with a very bland smile. In short, no stone
was left unturned by these money-seekers to add to their half-yearly
dividends. This system went on till the latter end of 1839. I need
scarcely say, that this unbecoming and greedy canvassing for business,
tempted many an unwary merchant and settler to venture beyond his depth,
and ultimately led to ruin and a prison. The amount of money represented
by absolutely valueless paper at this time, is quite beyond
calculation. Renewals were a matter of course. Cash payments, even in
part, were the reverse of common. Bank-directors overdrew their accounts
with perfect impunity to a large amount; and the whole Colony seemed
intoxicated with the fond notion that the Banks would never fail them,
and that, in those fountains, they would at all times find a
never-ending supply of "the needful." In the midst of this mad career,
the day of reckoning came suddenly upon them. The Banks took the alarm:
they began to think they had allowed the kite-flying system to go too
far; and they commenced a system of unparalleled harshness and
oppression towards their _gulls_. Cash advances were not merely stopped,
but those previously made were called in. Renewals would no longer be
accepted, even for half or a quarter of the amount due; and the
unfortunate "kite-flier" was, in hundreds of cases, ruined by the very
men who had in the most unprincipled manner led him into the mire, and
then left him.

The Banks now took up a position the very opposite of that hitherto
oc