text:  It is also proved by the evidence and by the documents that the banks of Scotland whether chartered or joint-stock companies or private establishments _have for more than a century exhibited a stability which the committee believe to be_ UNEXAMPLED IN THE HISTORY OF BANKING; that they supported themselves from 1797 to 1812 without any protection from the restriction by which the Bank of England and that of Ireland were relieved from cash payments; that there was little demand for gold during the late embarrassments in the circulation; and that _in the whole period of their establishment_ there are not more than two or three instances of bankruptcy