A SHORT ACCOUNT Of the Bank of ENGLAND CONSIDERING the multitude and variety of Opinions which are received and entertained concerning the Bank it may be thought a Service to the Publick to give the following Account of it whereby 't will appear to the World That the Bank notwithstanding all the Cavils which the Wit Labour and Malice of its Opponents have raised is one of the best Establishments that ever was made for the Good of the Kingdom For how plausible soever their Objections may seem it 's manifest they proceed in some from Aversion to the Government in others from Prejudice false Insinuations or mistaken Notions but in most from Self-Interest The Bank is a Society consisting of about 1300 Persons who having Subscribed 1200000 l. pursuant to an Act of Parliament are Incorporated by Vertue thereof by the Name of the Governour and Company of the Bank of England and have a Fund of 100000 l. per annum granted them thereby redeemable after 11 Years upon One Years Notice which 1200000 l. they have paid into the Exchequer by such Payments as the Publick Occasions have required and most of it long before the Money could have been demanded The Subscription to the Bank were made by vertue of a Commission under the Great Seal of England grounded upon the said Act of Parliament of which Publick Notice was given and the Commissioners were appointed to take all such voluntary Subscriptions as should be made on or before the first day of August last by any Person or Persons Natives or Foreigners Bodies Politick or Corporate towards the raising the said 1200000 l. and there was a Proviso in the said Act that if 600000 l. or more of the said 1200000 l. should not be Subscribed on or before the first day of August then next coming that the Power of making a Corporation should cease and the Mony be paid into the Exchequer by the respective Subscribers and Contributors And notwithstanding all the Endeavours of its Adversaries to the great Astonishment as well of the Friends as of the Enemies of the Bank the whole 1200000 l. was Subscribed in 10 days time though if the Subscriptions had not amounted to 600000 l. the Subscribes would have had but a bad Bargain and such a one as no Body would have taken off their hands for 20 per cent loss of their Principal and yet they would have received 8 l. per cent per annum for their Money as they do now nor would the 1200000 l. have been any thing near Subscribed but upon the Prospect of their being Incorporated to be the Bank of England It 's observable That the Promoters of the Bank have proposed no Advantage thereby to themselves above any of the other Subscribers all the Profit being only pro Rato according to their Stock and though it cannot be imagined but that they intended to be largely concerned yet it is so setled that those who have but 500 l. have One Vote and those who have never so much can have no more and the Directors have no Salary fixt for their Pains and Attendance but submit themselves wholly to what a General Court will think fit to allow them and any 9 Members having each 500 l. Stock may call a General Court and turn out the Governour Deputy-Governour and all or any of the Directors and choose others in their places Which are Provisions so wise and effectual to prevent Fraud in some to the prejudice of the rest that it hardly leaves room for any doubt of that nature I shall not attempt to enumerate all the Advantages which the Nation will receive by the Bank they will best appear by the Practice however I will mention some few which alone are sufficient to recommend it viz. 1. The Bank besides the raising 1200000 l. towards the Charge of the War cheaper than it could otherwise have been done and like the other Publick Funds tying the People faster to the Government will infallibly lower the Interest of Money as well on Publick as Private Securities which all other Funds have advanced and which hath been raised to an Exorbitant Rate as to the Publick by those who have made use of its Necessities and are now angry at the Bank because that will reduce it And the lowering of Interest besides the Encouragement it will be to Industry and Improvements will by a natural consequence raise the Value of Land and encrease Trade both which depend upon it but it cannot be expected that Land should rise much whilst such high Taxes continue upon it and whilst there are so great advantages to be made by lending Money to the Publick 2. The Bank gives Money for Tallies on Funds having a Credit of Loan by Act of Parliament and which are payable in 2 years time for the growing Interest only without any other Allowance on which there was used to be paid for the Change as much or more than the Publick Interest For even on the Land Tax which is counted the best of all the Funds there has been frequently given on Tallies payable in 3 or 4 Months time 1 l. 1 ½ 1 ¾ and 2 per cent premio over and above the Publick Interest and Tallys on some Funds on which but 18 Months ago there was 25 l. and 30 per cent given over and above Publick Interest are now taken by the Bank for nothing and instead of allowing Mony to change them there is now Money given to procure them so that Tallys are become better than Money because there is 7 or 8 per cent per annum benefit whilst they are kept and they are paid by the Bank upon demand to all those who desire to have Money for them which is in effect so much Quick Stock which the Bank has already increased to the Nation besides what it will farther add by its own Credit Thus by a regular course and without any violence the Bank has made Tallys currant in Payment which is what has been so long wisht for but could not have been effected without the Bank although there had been a Law to compel it and this has given such a Reputation to all Tallys even those which are the most remote that they are now currantly taken by private persons at 6 8 10 and 15 l. per cent less allowance than what was given but some few Months before the Bank was Establisht all which Losses on Tallys was paid by the Publick for it cannot be suppos'd but those who are to allow 15 or 20 per cent for discount of their Tallys make provision accordingly in the Price they are to have for their Commodities 3. The Bank will likewise facilitate the future Supplies by making the Funds which are to be given more useful and ready to answer the Publick Occasions and upon easier terms than what has been done during the War for it 's said they will Lend Money on the Land Tax at 6 per cent per annum nay some say at 5 per
s said they have agreed to set up a Lumbard to lend Mony on small Pawns for the Relief of the Poor at One Penny per Month for 20 Shillings for which they are now forced to pay Six Pence or Twelve Pence every Week And its probable if the Bank was not restrained by Act of Parliament they might take into Consideration the Exchanging Seamens Tickets for Mony for a very small Allowance for which they have often times been forced to pay 7 or 8 shillings in the Pound 10. The Bank will reduce the Interest of Mony in England to 3 per cent per an in a few years without any Law to enforce it in like manner as it is in all other Countreys where Banks are establisht whereby the Trade of the Nation may be driven upon more equal Terms with the rest of Our Neighbours where Mony is to be had at so much lower Rates than what we in England have hitherto paid And as the lessening the Interest of Mony will Infallibly raise the Value of Land it had been worth while for the Nobility and Gentry who are the Proprietors of the Real Estates in England to have given a Land Tax for the Bank of double the Sum which was raised by it if they could not otherwise have obtained it for the falling the Interest of Mony to 3 l. per cent per annum to which Rate the Bank will reduce it will unavoidably advance the Price of Land to above 30 Years Purchase which will raise the Value of the Lands of England at least 100 Millions and thereby abundantly reimburse the Nation all the Charges of the War and will not only enable the Gentry to make better Provision for their Younger Children but those who now owe Money on their Lands to pay off their Debts by the Increase of the Value of their Estates 11. The Ease and Security of the great Receipts and Payments of Mony which are made by the Bank where Peoples Cash is kept as it is at the Goldsmiths together with the safe depositing of it are such advantages to recommend it that they ought not to be past over without some Observation especially considering how much Mony has been lost in England by the Goldsmiths and Scriveners Breaking which in about 30 Years past cannot amount to so little as betwixt Two and Three Millions all which might have been prevented had a Bank been sooner Establisht These are such Services to the Nation in General which have been and will be done by the Bank as could not have been done without it and such Arguments as these arising from Fact are better Demonstrations and more Convincing of the Usefulness of it than meer Speculative Nations urged by its Opposers can be to prejudice others against it and therefore it would be an unaccourtable sort of Policy to endeavour to deprive the Nation of those vast Advantages which it now does and will receive by it Having given this short Account of the Bank I shall consider the Objections that have been made against it and who they are that make them in which I shall chiefly take notice of those who would cloak the Opposition they make out of Private Interest under some other Specious Pretences amongst which there are some who would be thought the most Zealous for the Government who at first pretended to dislike the Bank only for fear it should disappoint Their Majesties of the Supplies which were proposed to be raised by it But since the whole 1200000 l. has been so readily Subscribed their opposition has increased and their being now so Zealous against it can only proceed from their fear that they shall not have the like Opportunities as they have had to impose on the Publick by whose necessities they have made so great Advantages and they now threaten what they will do to destroy the Bank this Session of Parliament as if what past in the last were to be undone in this There are others who are for forcing a Currancy of Bills or Tallys and think they may pass as well as Bank Bills but they do not consider That it s nothing makes them currant but only because all those that desire it can go when they will and fetch their Money for them and to force any thing to pass in Payment but Money would soon end in Confusion For it cannot serve the Nations Occasions at home much less our foreign Negotiations with other Countries abroad seeing all those who take Bills of Exchange on England are too wise to accept any such sort of Payment but will be sure to have them made payable in Sterling-Money in specie in like manner as the Bills which are now drawn on Spain are made payable in old Money as before the Pragmatica which together with the late Essay of Copper Money in Ireland might be sufficient to shew that all such Attempts will be ineffectual And besides the Confusion it would make the danger of their being counterfeited is an Objection that cannot well be answered and all that it would cost to exchange them for Money would be certainly paid by the Government For it would be considered by those who sell their Goods in the Prices of them and though but a small Sum were paid for the Loss of exchanging them for Money by every one through whose hands they should pass yet there might be more than the whole Value lost thereby in less than one Years time and the very Proposing such an Innovation is of dangerous consequence and tends to destroy the Publick Credit For if it should be attempted to make any thing currant in Payment but specie Money no body would trust the Government on any Loans for the future and it would put a stop to the discounting Tallys or Bills of Exchange Lending Money on Pawns or Mortgages or indeed to the giving any Credit but upon the undoubted Assurance of receiving the Payment in Specie for on all other sorts of Payment there will be a Loss to exchange them for Money and it would discourage our Friends and encourage our Enemies by proclaiming to the World That we are not able to continue the War and this would put an End to it for we should be forced to submit to such Terms as the French King would think sit to grant us It 's very observable that all the several Companies of Oppressors are strangely alarm'd and exclaim at the Bank and seem to have joined themselves in a Confederacy against it out of pure Zeal as they pretend for the Good of the Publick whereas 't is nothing but their Private Interest that has so nettled them to see their Craft and Trade of Oppression endangered for Extortion Usury and Oppression were never so attacqued as they are like to be by the Bank and 't is that which has engaged them to use all the Arts and Tricks they could invent to blemish it and amongst the rest to make those that owe Money uneasie at it great Sums have been
Houses to Mortgage must be allowed to be in no very good condition and must continue to pay as exorbitant Allowances for Money to supply their Necessities as they used to do before the Bank was established What has been observed of Discounting Foreign Bills of Exchange at 3 per cent per annum In-land Bills and Notes for Debts at 4 ½ per cent per an Lending Money on Pawns at 5 per cent per an Exchanging Tallys and lowering Interest of Money it s supposed is sufficient to answer this Objection 'T is alledged by some that the Bank will ingross all manner of Trades But this is an Objection like many others which are made against it by those who do not understand its Constitution for if any Person Trades on Account of the Bank in any other thing than taking Pawns or in Bills of Exchange or Bullion or consents that any other should Trade such Person so Trading or Consenting to such Trade incurs by the Act of Parliament a Forfeiture of Treble the Value of all that is Traded for The Goldsmiths have been guilty of Engrossing most Commodities themselves and they have also been great Merchants and Traders And whereas they pretend that the Bank hath bought up all the Silver upon Enquiry it appears that there hath not been 12000 l. worth bought by the Bank and the greatest part of that was Pieces of Eight and the rest Bars and Piny Silver which came from Spain though some particular Refiners and Goldsmiths have since that Ship'd off more than double that Value in Bars of English Melting and have likewise sold much greater parcels to others which have been Exported And it may be a matter well worth Enquiry where those Mines are which have produc'd that Silver And though it be made such a Crime for the Bank to be concerned in the Publick Remittances it is no more than was done by a Goldsmith before the Bank undertook it nor is it look'd on as a Fault in the Goldsmiths to deal by Exchange seeing some of them do now draw or remit Mony almost every Post And since the Nation has suffered so much by the Goldsmiths Monopolizing Goods and Trading with other Mens Stocks it may seem highly Reasonable That as the Bank is restrain'd from Trade for fear of those mischiefs which the Goldsmiths have practised so the Goldsmiths in like manner should be limited to the Selling Plate and Jewels which was their antient and proper Trade As to the Pretence of the Bank setting a Price upon Guineas and having engrossed the greatest part of all that are in the Nation 't is answer'd The Bank has always received and paid Guineas at a Peny or two Pence a piece at least under the Price which the Goldsmiths have put upon them and has been so far from Buying up any that they have only received such as have been brought them in Payment and have constantly paid them away every Week at the same Price they have received them So that if they make any benefit by the advance of the Price of Guineas 't is chiefly on those which were received at the taking the Subscriptions which cannot come to any such quantity as is pretended And 't is a matter wholly owing to some or all of these Causes 1. To the Goldsmiths who have raised the Price of them Or 2. To the badness of our Silver-Coin which is diminished every day Or 3. To those great quantities which have been exported into Foreign Parts There are others who make a mighty Complaint against the Bank because 2 d. per Day is allowed on Bank-Bills and the Money which was used to be lodged in their hands for nothing and made use of by themselves is now paid into the Bank by the Owners but they it s supposed will not find fault with receiving 2 d. per Day for that Money for which before they had nothing and so one may be set against t'other 'T is pretended the allowing 2 d. per Day hinders some from Purchasing or Lending Money on Mortgages and makes others who are Traders and owe Mony bad Paymasters But it may well be supposed there are none who intend to Purchase or Lend Money on Mortgages who will leave their Money in the Bank at 3 per cent per an when they can have a Purchase to their minds or a good Security at 5 per cent per an and there are few who would not leave their Money lying dead rather than lay it out on the Purchase of an Estate they do not like or lend it on a bad Security And as for its making men bad Paymasters they must consider their Credit or Interest but little who will delay paying their Debts for the getting the 2 d. per day per 100 l. which is allowed on Bank-Bills for in their future Dealings they would pay a much dearer Interest The Money which is lodged in the Bank is only the Mony which can be spar'd and was wont to be left with the Goldsmiths and it 's strange that 3 per cent per an which is allowed on Bank Bills should do all this Mischief and that the great Advantages which have been made by the Publick Funds should never be made an Objection But the plain truth of the matter is that the Goldsmiths are angry at the Banks allowing 2 d. a Day per Cent. because that by this means the Money is drawn out of their hands the faster and paid into the Bank for Bank-Bills And if the allowing 2 d. per Day on Bank Bills be lookt on to be such a Crime it s very probable the concerned in the Bank will be willing in time to remove the Objection seeing it will ease them of the Charge of 36000 l. per an which the Interest amounts to and which they have given the Nation out of their Fund for that Money for which the Owners used to have nothing Notwithstanding all these Objections which are made against the Bank there are some now who in opposition to it talk of nothing less than Setling a New One with 4 d a day per cent Interest which is double as much as is now paid by the Bank nay others are for Setting up a Bank in every City or in every Market-Town Which shews after all the Cavils against the Bank that a Bank is good for the Nation in general and that the greatest Objection against the Bank of England is that they who find fault with it are not concerned in it for many of those who Clamour against it do it only in hopes of coming in the Cheaper But the Honour and Iustice of the whole Nation on whose Credit and Authority the Subscribers are Establisht to be the Bank of England for 11 Years is too much concerned to admit a supposal that any such Designs should receive countenance or encouragement For what past in the Last Session of Parliament and their refusing to admit any other Lives to be added to the Annuities lest it should be
thought to lessen the Security on which the Money was contributed though they were not intended to take place 'till after the Lives in being were extinct shews the great care of the Honourable House of Commons to preserve the Publick Credit and to avoid any the least Occasion which might make it suspected and gives the whole Nation a sufficient Assurance that they who are the Preservers of the Peoples Rights and Properties will never suffer any thing to be attempted in that AUGUST ASSEMBLY that may seem but to weaken the Security or lessen the Encouragements which they have given the Subscribers to the Bank and which they themselves have Establisht by so solemn and inviolable a Sanction And all Insinuations to the contrary though under never such specious Pretences are of dangerous Consequence to the Government tending to raise Doubts and Scruples in the minds of the People and to lessen the Publick Credit For if the Parliamentary Securities on which all Men both Natives and Foreigners firmly relying have hitherto so freely contributed their Fortunes for carrying on the War were now made precarious and uncertain no body could trust them for the future and during the War the Goverment cannot possibly subsist without Credit And besides the seeming Injustice which it would be to those who have Subscribed and contributed their Money upon the Encouragement given by the Act of their being the Bank of England for eleven years to have another establisht before those eleven years are expired for which this Bank is setled it would be so far from being like the having of several Shops to go to to be better used as is by some pretended that it would be a means to hinder either from being serviceable in the supplying the publick or private mens occasions And the Nation must pay the dearer for Money for one being in opposition to the other there would be a sort of Civil War between them and the Bank being a Bank of Credit neither of them by their jealousy of each other would venture to extend its Credit but would Bury the Money of the Nation instead of increasing and quickning its Circulation as the Bank of England does and will do To conclude the Instances which have been given in the foregoing Account of the Vsefulness of the Bank may it 's supposed suffice to convince such as were prejudiced against it upon the Mirepresentations which were so industriously made by those who appeared the most barefaced and violent in opposing it But it may perhaps be objected That the Bank is so far from being an Advantage to all Trades that 't is Prejudicial to some for it seems to be admitted That the Bank will be injurious to a dozen or 14 Banking Goldsmiths and to some Scriveners Vsurers and Pawn-Brokers because it will hinder them from Exacting such Oppressive Extortion as some of them have done formerly and it will quite ruin the whole Trade of Tally-Jobbers Now if the Clamour of a few whose Trade hath been to make Merchandize of the Nation and to Enrich themselves by the Necessities of others shall not only prevail against the Benefit of a Community legally establisht but even of the Kingdom in general and the Credit of a Parliament then the Enemies of the Bank may hope to subvert it But until the Publick Good be postpon'd to Private Interest and a small number of Oppressors be too hard for the Nobility Gentry and Traders of England in general it will and must be preserved and maintained because of its great Use to the whole Realm and the Benefits which already accrue by it in its Infancy are a good Earnest of those greater Advantages which the Nation must receive from its future Progress FINIS LONDON Printed for John Whitlock near Stationers Hall 1695.