BAN

BAN

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ever b'-''n ‘found altogether impracticable to extirpate the ban-ditti, t;V-;e beiirj numberless caverns and subterraneous passagesround that mountain, where no troops could possibly pursuethem : besides, they are known to he perfectly determined andresolute, never failing to take a dreadful revenge on all who of-fend them.

BANDOLEERS, [Imndoulii rn, Er.j] small wooden casescovered with leather, each of them containing powder that is asufficient charge for a musket.

BAN DON, a town and river of Munster.

BAN DORA, the capital ol the island of Salsette. It is sepa-rated irom Bombay t;\ a narrow channel. Lon. 72. 40. K. Lat.1«J. 0. N.

BANDORE, a musical instrument with strings, resembling alute, said to have been invented in the 4th year of .Queen Eliza-beth, by John Rose, a citizen of London .

BANDliOL, [banderol, Er.] a little flag or streamer ; thelittle fringed silk flag that hangs on a trumpet.

BANDUM, Band, is used, in middle-age writers, fora flagor banner.

BANGALORE , or BANJALORE, a fortress in the prnin-sula of lndostan, 74 miles from Seringapalain, the capital of My-sore . Lon. 77. 37. E. Lat. 13. 0. N.

BANGI11R, a town of.Ireland , in King’s Countv. Lon. 8.5. IV. Lat. 55. 10. N.

BANGLE Ears, an imperfection in a horse, remedied in thefollowing maimer: Place his ears in such a maimer as you wouldhave them stand; bind them with two little boards so fast thatthey cannot stir, and then clip away all the empty wrinkled skinclose bv the head.

BAN’GOR, an episcopal city of Carnarvonshire in NorthtVales. 1 1 is 3d miles W. from St. Asaph . Lon. 4. 12. W. Lat.53. 12. N.

Bangor, a town of Ireland , in the county of Down. Lon. 6.0. W. Lat. 54. 42. N.

BANIALUCII, or BAGNALUC1I, a city of EuropeanTurkov, the capital of Bosnia . Lon. 18. 20. E. Lat. 44. 20. N.

BANIANS, a religious sect in the empire of the Mogul, whobelieve a metempsychosis; and will therefore eat no living crea-ture, nor kill even noxious animals, but endeavour to release themwhen in the hands of others.—The name Banian is used variously,which has occasioned much confusion, and manv mistakes. Some-times it is taken in a less proper sense, and extended to ail the ido-laters of India , as contr.ulisliiiguisheilfn.nl the Mohammedans; inwhich sense, Banians include the Brahmins and other casts. Ba-nians, in a more proper sense, is restrained to a peculiar cast, ortribe, of Indians, whose office or profession is trade and mer-chandize ; in which sense, Banians stand contradistinguishedfrom Brahmins, Cutlery , and Wyse, the three other casts intowhich the Indians are divided.

BANISHMENT, exile , among us is of two kinds: the onevoluntary, and upon oath ; the other by compulsion, for someoffence or crime. The former properly called abjuration, is nowceased ; tlie latter is chiefly enjoined by judgement of parliament.A ct outlawing and transportation may also be considered as speciesof exile.

BAN1STERIA, a genus of the trigynia order, and deeandriaclass of plants; natural order, Trihilata?. Calyx quinquepartite,with nectareous pores on the outside of the base ; petals roundish,ungulated ; seeds three, with membranaceous wings. There are24species, all natives of warm countries.

BANK , in commerce, a common repository, where many per-sons agree to keep their money, to be always ready at their callor direction: or, certain societies or communities, who take thecharge of other people’s money, either to improve it, or to keepit secure. The first institution of hanks was in Italy , where theLombard Jews kept benches in the market-places for the exchangeof money and bills ; and banco being the Italian name for bench,banks took their title from this word. Banks are either public,consisting of a company of monied men, who being duly esta-blished, and incorporated hv the laws of their country, agreeto deposit a considerable fund, or joint stock, to be employedfor the use of the society, as lending money upon- good security,buying and selling bullion, discounting bills of exchange, &c.:or private, i. e. set up by private persons, or partnerships, whodeal in the same way as the former, upon their owu single stock

and credit. 'The convenience of such institutions in facilitating,commercial transactions, has caused them to he erected in almostevery considerable city of Europe . The bank of Venice w.-.Sestablished about the year 1157, the bank of Genoa in 1345, thehank of Amsterdam in 1609, the hank of Hamburg in Idly, theha.ukof Rotterdam in 1035, the bank of England in )b94, the bank of Scot-land in l(iy5, the bank of France in 1716, the hank of Ireland in 1781.

Bank or Exgi.and, was projected bv Mr. W. Paterson, amerchant, who in conjunction witii others arranged the e.-tnblish-ment for which with some difficulty they obtained the sanction ofpari ament. ‘Hie charier was executed July 27, i694, and wasgranted for the term of twelve years, the corporation being thendeterminable on a year’s notice. The original capital subscribedwas 1,200,000/. which they lent to government at 5 per cent,interest, with an allowance of 4000/. per annum for llieir expenresof management. The term of the charter was", in 1706, extendedto live years beyond the original period, in consideraton of thecompany having,undertaken to circulate for government exche-quer bills to the amount of 1,500,000/. and it has smee beenfurther extended at different times, viz.

In 1700 to 1st of August 1732

1713. 1742

1742.17bt

1763..5..1786

1781 . 1812

1800.IS 33

On all these occasions the company have either paid a consi-derable sum, or advanced a greater amount bv way of loan togovernment, as a consideration for the renewal of their exclush nprivileges, and for the advantages they derive from acting as theagents for government in all money transactions of any importance.Their chief privilege consists in the prohibition of all other connpanics or partnerships of more than six persons, from issuing bidsor notes payable on demand, or for any time less than six months,Ah alarm of invasion in the beginning of the year 1797 greatlyincreased the demands on the bank for cash, and it was deemednecessary for the government to interfere and authorise a suspen-sion of payment in cash for bank-notes, for a limited period: thecontinuance of the suspension was at first renewed annually, andafterwards till the return of peace. In order to supply a substi-tute for coin for making small payments, the bank issued notesof 2/. and 1/. each, and as the demand for notes of this de-scription has increased, the total amount of bank-notes in circula-tion lias become considerably- greater than previous to the sus-pension of issuing caslr, viz.

On the 1st of Feb. 1R05, 18,397,S8('/.

. 1806, 17,293,570/.

. 1807, 16,621,390/.

From the reports of the secret committee appointed in 1797 toinvestigate the affairs of the hank, it appeared that on the 25th ofFebruary, in that year, there was a balance of 3,826,903/. and onthe 11th of November a balance of 3,839,550/, in favour of thecompany. 'Lire profits of the company arise from the interestreceived from government on the permanent debt, and on theirannual advances on exchequer bills and treasury bills of exchange;from their allowance for receiving the contributions to loans, andfar paying the dividends on the public funds; from dealing inbullion, and discounting mercantile bills of exchange, and othersources of less importance. The concern is under the manage-ment of a governor, deputy-governor, and twenty-four directors,who are elected annually. 500/. bank-stock entitles the proprie-tor to a vote at the general courts, and no proprietor can havemore than one vote for any sum whatever. The stability of thebank of England is considered as equal to that of the BritishGovernment; for, before its creditors can sustain any injury, allthat it has advanced to the public must be lost. At Edinburgh ,there are two public banks; the one, called the bank of Scotland ,was established by act of parliament in 1695 ; the other, deno-minated the Royal Bank, was instituted by charter, in 1727. Pri-vate banking companies have also, within these forty years, beenformed in almost every considerable town in Great Britain ; theirpurchases and payments of all kinds are made by notes, and thusthe country business is in a great degree carried on by paper cur-rency. it'is almost generally believed, that the community atlarge has derived considerable benefit from this artificial methodof increasing the circulating medium : a proposition, the truth or

. fallacy