f "selfish interests" and
personal advantage, could not be stimulated to toil. Dr. Henderson,
whatever his science, was disqualified by his censorious dogmatism, to
rule. His work was an outline of projects, which entered into every
imaginable department of political economy, and contemplated a social
revolution. On religion, his ideas were scarcely Christian: he combined
the Brahmin and the Socialist.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 156: _Penny Magazine_, April, 1832.]

SECTION VII.

The charter of the Van Diemen's Land Bank having expired, it became a
joint stock company, and enlarged its capital to L50,000; ten per cent.
being charged upon discounts. The Tasmanian was a private bank, of which
the Messrs. Gellibrand were proprietors. The limited business carried
large profits, and the purchase of bills, not passed in the regular
course of discount, then, as afterwards, yielded large returns. The
Derwent, established chiefly by persons connected with the government,
was opened for business on 1st January, 1828, with a capital of L20,000.
At the same time, the Cornwall Bank, with L10,000, was established by
the merchants of Launceston; and the facility of monetary transactions
increased on every side. The arrival of considerable investments from
India, brought rupees into extensive circulation, and they formed a
great proportion of the current coin.

The large imports of English goods, and the increase of promissory
notes, alarmed several persons connected with trade. An advertisement,
signed John Dunn, offered a quantity of shares in the Derwent on liberal
terms. At a meeting of the shareholders, Mr. Dunn maintained that the
liabilities of the community were dangerous, and twenty times greater
than the circulating medium. It was replied, that bills were chiefly
multiplied by re-sales, and that the cash of the consumer would be
transmitted through the whole mercantile chain.

The Van Diemen's Land Bank discovered a singular fraud by the cashier in
1828. Amongst the large accounts, which were unlikely to be drawn, he
debited the cash which he employed as a private discounter of bills. The
sudden presentation of an unexpected draft led to an examination, and
L2,000 were found deficient. The money was refunded, except a trifling
amount, and prosecution waved.

The interest of the officers of the government in the Derwent Bank
occasioned complaint. The risks, liabilities, and antipathies of trade,
were deemed unsuit