of our Mother the Nation that supports us would be very great Unkindness Undutifulness and Ingratitude to her Nay why she should contentedly give any others the place to bereave her self of these prodigious Profits which are rightfully her due whilst she is in so very great want and borrows on so very hard Terms of Usury is altogether unaccountable to Reason or Justice to her self In fine if the Parliament doubt of his Majesties being punctually supplyed by this true sort of National Banks alone by themselves yet if our Rulers shall but grant their establishment without lessening at all or omitting the least part of the other Supplies already provided the King by their help may be the sooner assisted with Money to be paid in Flanders or otherwhere assoon and as much as his Majesty himself and the Parliament please without exporting our own Cash at this exream Scarcity And if these Banks may have leave to pay off the Kingdoms Debts as fast as they shall be able the first years experience will undoubtedly raise their Reputation by acquitting the King and the Nation from payments of those high Interests that grate hard upon and consume very much of their Treasure nay even of all Interests whatsoever for those Funds that are redeemable and yet carry on the War with utmost Vigour tho the charge should hereafter exceed what the fame has hitherto been The Sense whereof may so much discourage our Foes as to oblige them to submit and endeavour to purchase a speedy Peace on such Terms as our King and his Friends shall be pleased to admit them The greatness of the Taxes the difficulties to obtain Money the dearness of Commodities Domestick and Foreign by reason of high Customes and Excises lie hard upon the Nobility Gentry and all others impoverish the Tradesmen hinder the Navigation fill prisons starve the poor and fupply Tiburn All which Grievances this most excellent healing true sort of National Banks would in one years time redress to admiration and put England into a glorious condition of prosperity for ever But shall the landed Gentry and other true Lovers of their King and Countrey permit the vast profits of the Kingdom on the Circulations of Paper payments which by the way are unjustly ridicul'd to devolve into the Chests of Bodies Politick and other Usurers all those will have great reason to unite together to strengthen their Party and the exorbitant profits will invite all Gashiers Receivers and other Dealers in Money as also the rich Mony'd Gentlemen who may perswade some of the very Members of Parliament themselves to engage in their Fellowship and will tempt them to exert their most vigorous Efforts to influence all future Parliaments tho under specious pretexts to favour their interest how ill soever the same may comport with that of the good People of England in general who if this right honest sort of National Banks be dislik'd or delay'd will languish under the Losses of near Six Millions of Money per Annum or rather of much more as the same is computed to be besides infinite other very considerable Disadvantages than those afore pointed at For 't is more than probable that our Neighbour Nations particularly our Brothers of Ireland and Scotland living under the same Constitution of Government may see further and deeper into this matter than we are at present willing to do and may take occasion from this unhappy and willful Blindness in us to erect the like Banks in those Kingdoms Whatsoever other Nations farther off and free from our Comptrol whose Governments will admit may likewise do By means whereof we shall sit still and envy the Benefits accruing to them by improving their Trade and Navigation which they will draw away our people to help them to carry on the better and wherein they may in no long time arrive to that height and perfection as to decay and supplant our whole Traffick and eclipse the Reputation we have gain'd in the World by the greatness and extent of our Commerce to the weakning of our Naval Force and endangering our Safety which so much depends on our Walls of Wood and the Superiority of our Shipping to any other in the World As for Ireland it cannot be imagin'd that ingenious people will any longer truckle and groan under the Drudgery they now toil of 10 per Cent. Interest together with the difficulties of procuring Money in that Kingdom where it is so very scarce and hard to be obtain'd besides what other Advantages they may strive to reach at And for Scotland 't is not to be expected that they who are at this very Conjuncture so solicitous in attempting a Trade to East-India never before by them adventur'd at should now neglect the getting before us if possible into methods so certain as these herein set forth to advance that undertaking and which will undoubtedly carry on that and whatsoever reasonable Enterprises besides they shall take further in hand to the inviting away of our Bulworks the English Seamen and likewise multitudes of our Trades-men Artificers and others the most ingenious and industrious of our People with no small quantities of the Wealth and Treasure of England by such tempting Encouragements as their Politicks may give and by the soft gentle honest and inoffensive way 's of Wisedom and Reason allure our pretious Traffick out of our Hands which the Sword and the Blood of England have so long labour'd to preserve against the Nations more Foreign tearing it from us by force whereby England will be impoverish'd and we shall be justly upbraided of Supineness and Stupidity when it may be too late for us easily if ever at all to retrieve the unspeakable Loss of our dear Trade through our obstinate Blindness and wilful â—â—â—â—ssness to embrace this opportunity of which Providence hath vouchsaf'd the great kindness to give us the first offer For if any Nation or Nations that are altogether free from our Checks shall insist thereupon whilst we linger our resolute Deafness may be for ever hereafter lamented more than that of now beggarly Portugal to their disobliged Countrey-man Christopher Columbus It is said that Scotland hath already so far advanced as to have made or are about to make the Ports of that Kingdom free which if so that will menace the irrepairable Catastrophe of the prudent and soveraign conduct of K. Henry the VII who refus'd the Match of his Daughter with France and to use his own words did thereby eschew sending London to Paris but rather married her to Scotland that he might bring Edinburgh to London which wise Fore sight of that King took effect in King James the first of England Now shall we neglect this Golden Opportunity of these National Banks and Scotland lay hold on 't before us They will not in likelyhood fail to supplant and take from us the greatest part of our Traffick and also to become the Storehouse and Bank of Europe c. which England hath now the first Refusal to be if it pleaseth and will soon thin our Rivers and Harbours of Shipping and our Streets and Countrey of People especially of the numerous Tradesmen and their Families and in no long time draw London to Edinburgh and wherein the Benefits to Ireland will oblige the no little Assistance of that Kingdom Divers other cogent and powerful Arguments might be treated of which have not met with any material Oppositions unless Self-Interest is allow'd to be such with its adherent Prejudication and therefore whatsoever Misfortunes Miseries or Calamities shall befal England through the want of these glorious National Banks it may seem but reasonable to impute the same and value our selves owing therefore to the self-seeking Usurers of the Nation and their coveteous and over-reaching Party who will thereby demonstrate themselves no less Enemies to the King and the Kingdom of England than is the French King nay and in some Respects more pernicious But on the other Hand 't is yet in our power tho not like 't will be so much longer to anticipate all others and to get the start of all the World and the Trades-people and Seamen of England are so notedly known for their Ingenuity and Industry and our Kingdom so happily scituated and our Harbours so many and so very commodious as that 't will be in vain for any People in the World to aim at the overtaking us in Trade were we once gotten entred upon the right best methods thereof which will leave no place at all for suspecting the Authors being byass'd to any sinister Self-Interest so much by him decried unless the Prospect of his minute Participation in Communi Bono Regni Angliae be so accompted whatsoever his Labours and Costs have been or shall be having been hereto push'd on by the fervent Emotions of an Impulse purely to serve his Generation whose glory thereby is the sole end of his design Upon the whole he hopes that the Title is much more than nakedly prov'd if we hasten to establish these admirable Banks for that all the profits on Usury and the Circulations of Bank-Bills will be converted entirely to the service of the King and the Kingdom and so preserve and restore the already too much impair'd Credit of the Nation which will inevitably and most certainly be more exceedingly shockt after the 4th of May if not seasonably prevented by Wisedom before hand And by which means the King will be supplied more plentifully than ever for carrying on the War with greatest Vigour the Nation exempted from paying so great Land Taxes if any at all and in a short time discharged from great part if not all the Customs and Excises so burdensom to the People the Fishery and divers laudable Undertakings be encouraged and prosecuted to effect all Persons furnish'd that shall have occasions with Money at 3 per Cent. Interest per Annum near every Man's Home and many large Advantages be discovered other than those spoken of in this Paper FINIS
PROPOSALS FOR National Banks Whereby the Profits on Vsury tho reduc'd to Three per Cent. per Annum will supply his Majesty more plentifully than ever to carry on the War exempt the Nation from Land Taxes great Customs and Excises exceedingly promote Trade and Navigation and give England many other very large Advantages The Second Impression with Corrections and Additions LONDON Printed for the Author and Sold by Peter Parker at the Leg and Star over against the Royal Exchange in Corn-hill and John Waltho at the Cloysters in the Temple and John Gouge at the Castle in Westminster-Hall Anno Domini MDCXCVI PROPOSALS FOR National Banks Whereby the Profits on Vsury tho' reduc'd to Three per Cent. per Annum will supply his Majesty more plentifully than ever to carry on the War exempt the Nation from Land Taxes great Customs and Excises exceedingly promote Trade and Navigation and give England many other very large Advantages THREE Manuscripts have been lately presented to some Members of the Honourable House of Commons which having met with no dislike save of being too prolix 't is prayed that Objection may atone for the present Brevity And this being penn'd in too much hast 't is hoped the honesty of the Design will excuse that also The Subject was of Banks such as entirely tend to the common good of the King and the People of England and which are of a Nature widely different from those other Banks that aim Chiefly at the further enriching a small number of sharpwitted Purse-Men at the cost of the Kingdom which will be yet more impoverished by their engrossing the vast profits on the Usury of the Nation into their own Coffers 'T is therefore humbly proposed that one General truly National Bank be established in London whose Governour and Directors to be from year to year nominated by Parliament And at the same time that Banks be erected in every Ward therein and in every other City and Market Town in England and Wales and those to receive Rules from the Head-Bank in London and thither to return Accompts every Week all which are every whit as practicable as the Offices of the Custom 's Excise or any other and may be settled and put into Action sooner than were or can be those Banks now on Foot because no time need be spent in taking Subscriptions Funds enough to the full being already provided not other Terms be made for Mony brought in or to put Bills in circulation for that the great Conveniencies and Ease in Commerce which those will give all over the Nation will cause them to run every where swift of themselves without the charge of one Peny per Cent. to quicken their Rotation Nor will other Banks longer give it than as Sugar-Plums at first to sweeten Men's Entrance for 't will be so far from needful as that Bank-Bills in Holland are at this very Day in higher esteem than their best Money in Baggs by 4 or 5 per Cent. And in Venice by 20 per Cent. as is remark'd by Mr. Blackwel in the 17th Page of his Book on the subject of new coining our Mony Printed in Anno 1695. A plain Scheam for the regular and safe Proceedings of which manifold true National Banks in England without any confusion and to render false or stoln Bills useless to Forgers or Robbers is providing to be presented whensoever a proper season shall admit for its Acceptance Moreover which is worthy to be very seriously observed these Banks may be crected without difficulty by the common agreement of the Inhabitants themselves in any Cities Towns Hundreds Villages or Neighbourhoods in the Counties and by holding Correspondencies with the Gold-smiths or Banks in London plentiful Mediums of Trade will at the same instant start up like Blessing unexpected and render the Commerce of every such place as brisk and more secure and easy than ever it has been without three Pence in Money besides for pocket occasions and the neat Profits of these Banks at but 3 per Cent. Interest per Annum will defray a great part if not the whole of the Taxes Excises and other charges of those parts where the same shall be put in use The Advantages of establishing Banks in the Methods here mentioned will be mighty and numerous many of which are perhaps as yet undiscerned But it will be sufficient to name these few following which seem to be the most obvious Viz. I. These Banks will furnish the King with several Millions of Money per Annum without burthening the People and will redeem all the Funds that can be redeemed and discharge both the Interest and Annuities of those that are not redeemable and will satisfy all Bills that shall be drawn by the Treasury and return back the Interest again into the Service of the Nation if these free natured Banks may but have the first offers of those Bills II. These will and all debates about the bad Money and set the People at ease III. These will repair the losses by Guineys and bring liberal profit to the Nation thereby IV. These will advance the Estates of the Orphans V. These will be safe Repositories for private mens Cash VI. These will return the multitudes of sums great and small to and from place to place throughout the Kingdom without charges of carriage or dangers of Robberie VII These will quickly call back that great or rather greatest part of the Money in the Land that is now employ'd in Usury and convert it into Trade VIII These Banks will defray in great part if not all or more than all the expences of the War and other the Charges of the Kingdom IX These will take off the necessity of great Land Taxes Customs or Excises and make all Commodities cheap X. These will raise Lands and Houses to more than double the present Values XI These will unite the Interests of the landed and mony'd Gentry and capacitate the former and excite the latter to contribute towards the speedy retrievement of the East-India Trade and to carry on that and all other Trades to so great degrees as to render England by those means and by its happy scituation and excellent harbours the chief Storehouse and Bank of Europe or rather of the Universe XII These will exceedingly augment our Navigation XIII These will give handsom Entertainments of business to many Gentlemen's Sons all over the Land XIV These will employ and cause to be employ'd all the Poor that are able for any service XV. These Banks will procure the best prices for Cloth and other the Productions and Manufactures Native and Foreign 1st As to the first Advantage that will accrue if Regular Methods are concerted these Banks will have in all likelyhood more than a sufficiency of Money freely and speedily brought in to pay unto His Majesties use all the sums that the Parliament hath given with cash in Specie to those that shall desire it which none will do in great sums unless it be
the Banks upon the huge multitude of Bills that will be always in Rotation upon Mortgages deposited Goods and such substantial personal Securities as the Banks shall approve 〈◊〉 much more than six Millions of Money per Annum but whatsoever that shall amount to more or less the same will defray in great part if not all or more than all the expence of the Wars and other the charges of the Kingdom yet as to personal Securities the inferiour Banks may be limited not to lend above one Thousand Pounds to any one Person without the approbation of the Head Bank in London For the Ninth Position when as all or great part of The Nations Expences shall be discharg'd by the Interest coming into these Banks Land Taxes Customs and Excises will need to be but very low if not quite be laid down and when Peace shall come and thereby the Kingdom shall not lack those large Supplies of Money which the said 3 per Cent. will be found to bring in that Interest may then likewise fall so much lower as to raise no more than the necessary Charge of the Nation shall require For the Tenth The values of Lands are accounted to rise or fall according to the rates of Interest which being now by Law at 6 per Cent. Land commonly goes at 20 Years purchase and when Interests shall fall to 3 per Cent. land will by consequence rise to 40 years purchas but about Taunton in Somerset shire and those parts where Registers are kept Lands are said to go now at 30 Years purchase And when the one half part of the present Interest shall sink may possibly rise to 60 Years purchase which tho is a rate too hgih to be expected yet when Landed Gentlemen shall have Money at cheap ' Interest near Home to pay off the Debts of their Ancestors the portions of younger Brothers and Sisters and sometimes their own Debts contracted in younger years they 'l need not nor will they part with one foot of their Patrimonies no not for one Hundred Years purchase which are now swallow'd up by the Usurers for oftentimes no more than16 or 18 Years Value In the Eleventh Place when the Landed Gentry and others shall have Money at cheap Interest near every Mans Home wher◠Titles are best known and the Usurers slothful Trade be out of practice These various nay contrary Parties will become united to the promoting of the common Good so as that the first will be enabled and for their profit sake both will be forward to assist in the retrievement of the East-India and the carrying on that and all other Trades to much higher degrees than ever and when small or no Customs or Excises shall be paid save for such Vessels or Goods as Reasons of State shall require Strangers Ships will be encouraged to make us frequent Visits and by such freedom from charges together with the happiness of our Scituation and the commodiousness of our Harbours England will naturally become the chief Store-house and Bank of Europe or rather of the Universe and will be able to make a yet greater Figure in the World beyond present imagination hold and govern the Ballance of Christendom more effectually and prevent all ambitious Designs of an Universal Monarchy and then will all necessaries be cheap to the Gentry Tradesmen and poor so as all the people of the Land will live much better and easier 12. As Trade increases so will the Navigation to degrees beyond what can be at present foreseen which is so manifestly proved by what goes before that more need not be said on this Subject 13. Whereas at present many Gentlemens Sons do but help to fill the Tables of Parents Elder Brothers and other Relations and are oftentimes burthensom Guests uneasy in themselves and tho against their wills useless to their Countrey and not seldom by their circumstances expos'd to desperate Courses If these Banks were establish'd gentile Employments might be had not only at the said Banks but in a multitude of profitable Enterprises which their Landed Friends and others by Money to be had at low Interest and at hand would be enabled and Monied Men for the sake of their own Advantages would be induc'd to help them to good Posts in And so would the grievous Misfortunes of many ingenious young Gentlemen be remedied and their Parents and Country made happy by them who now either linger away their Lives in tedious Misery to themselves and charge to their Friends or forc'd on bad Practices make igmominious Exits to the perpetual Reproach of their Families 14. When the Usurers shall be put upon other Studies to make profits of their Money their Projections will be every where innumerable and the Artificers Labourers and Poor must be likewise call'd in to put all Undertakings in execution which together with the Banks will have occasion for so many of both Sexes as that Employments will want them rather than they will lack Employments which now is the sad case of Thousands in Cities and Countrey to the very great charge of all Parishes in the Kingdom and yet numbers are said to be starv'd besides those that perish by Famin in Prisons The disabled in their Hands may go on Errands the lame in their other Limbs may turn the Wheels of the Makers of Ropes Cordage Lines twine Thred c. And also of Throwsters and so may the younger that go not to School c. So as none other than the Superannuated Impotent and Infants will wane Provision For the 15. Advantage these Banks will procure the best Sales and prices for Cloth and for all Productions and Manufactures Native and Foreign because they 'l sell all Goods at best seasons and with least charge to the Clothiers and others who by depositing Wares in any one Bank until themselves or their Friends can make their best Markets will have plenty of Money for small Interests to be paid them near Home or afar off where each Tradesman shall chuse to answer his occasions without being oblig'd to trifle away their Goods at low rates to get ready Money and to carry the same far and nigh to obtain things useful for their respective Occupations as now is the case with most of the Tradesmen in England to their extraordinary Charge Hazard and Detriment But if any other selfdesigning Banks under what Names Titles or disguised Pretences soever shall be tolerated to enjoy to themselves the mighty profit by Usury on the Nations Money those will be as prejudicial to the King and the Kingdom as if the Goldsmiths and Scriveners still had it the case being alike to the Publick whether the same be devoured by the one or the other Nay the latter have the best Title to those profits because 't is the livelihood they are bred up in which to suffer Bodies Politick to carry away from them whose Subsistance depends thereon would seem Oppression and to permit 'em to monopolize those to themselves with exclusion