THo' it may be justly thought, that you have Sacrificed your Judge­ment to your Affection, in your commanding my Opinion concern­ing the Bank, whose Genius car­rieth me so little either to Trade or Politicks; yet by what I am able to lay before you, who am so ill qualify'd to meddle with this Subject, you will easily guess what might have been said, by those that are of greater Penetration, and more conversant in Themes of this nature. Nor do I meerly obey you from the respect and deference I bear to your Merit and Authority, but upon the Motives of that love and regard, which are in­separate from me to my Country. And it being unbecoming the Wisdom, and inconsistent with the Justice of a Parliament to prefer the Interest of a single Society, or of a few Individuals, to the Welfare, Profit, and Opulency of the Na­tion, it must needs awaken new and second thoughts in the Members of the Two Houses, when they find that the Bank is only subservient to the Benefit of a few, with a direct Tendency to the subversion of Trade, and the impover­ishing all Ranks and Degrees of Men besides themselves, as well as to the paving away for the alteration of our antient and legal Constitu­tion.

I presume not to reflect upon the method of raising Mony by the granting large and long continuing Funds of Interest; tho' there be those that both think themselves, and are believed by many others, to have demonstrated that such ways of supplying the Government, are the most ruinous, as well as imprudent, that can be fallen upon. Much less am I displeased at the Constitution of Commissioners, for taking the Subscriptions, receiving the Quota's of the several Contributors, and for applying the Fund provided by the Act to the paying the Propor­tions of Interest, as they become respectively due; for as all that is indispensably necessary, and wiesly adjusted, on the Suppositi­on of taking that course to support the Go­vernment: So it imports Loss and Damage to none, whatsoever advantage may accrue by it to some, which I am far from envying.

But that which I crave liberty to complain of, is the Erecting a National Bank, and the Incor­porating such a Number of Persons for the Con­duct and Management of it; seeing as it is al­ready felt of what destructive Importance this is to the Kingdom, so I cannot avoid apprehend­ing, what Great and National Inconveniencies, as well as inevitable Personal Mischiefs, are en­tailed upon, and must necessarily accompany it.

However, I design not to arraign the Pru­dence, and Prospect of the Parliament, that a Clause attended with such pernicious Conse­quences, should have come to be inserted in the Act. Seeing as the Bill was brought in towards the End of a Session, when there were fewer Members in the House, than either should be, or usually are; when Matters that affect the Kingdom and Posterity in so signal a manner are Debated and Determined; So the Expedition they were obliged unto, in providing and dis­patching the Funds for the support of the then approaching Campaign, may have prevented that Sedate Examination of every Clause, and the ballancing Conveniencies and Inconvenien­cies that may ensue upon them, which at more leisure they are accustomed to do, and which I do not doubt, but that having now a sufficiency of time, they will reassume the Consideration of.

Nor doth it look favourably upon the Consti­tution of the Government, that all National Banks have hitherto been peculiar to Common­wealths, and that this the First of the kind that ever was erected under a Monarchy, and that obtained a legal Foundation in a Regal Govern­ment. Nor can Models convertible with Re­publicks, have a good effect upon Crown'd heads, or be found consistent with a Monarchichal Con­stitution, but either the King will swallow up the Bank, or the Bank supplant the King.

And besides the naturalness of this Reflection, a perusal of the Lift of the Subscribers, with a view of those, that are Principal Directors of the Bank, will render the Observation the more necessary as well as Just: And if the Scene lay elsewhere, it would be very Comical, tho' as it appears in England, it raiseth melancholy Ap­prehensions, to find the Zealots for upholding the Bank, and some of the Chief Trustees in ma­naging of it, to be such of whom it may be pronounc­ed without doing them Injustice. That their Byass was never very remarkable towards Kingship. But should I be so favourable as to allow the Guardians and Administrators of the Bank, not only to equal, but to exceed others in Zeal for Kingship, and Loyalty to Princes, Yet this can be no Protection to the Regal Constitution, nor give a durable Security to any King that sits up­on the Throne. For there being so many warm Republicans in the Nation, and many of them as plentifully furnished with Mony as their Mo­narchichal Neighbours; How easy is it for them, where Shares are transferable to the highest Bid­der, to Engross in a little time the largest Pro­portion of the Bank, and to Monopolize it to the Party.

And Mony being the Sinews of War, and they always in a condition to get Men, who have wherewith to pay them, How uneasy, as well as impolitick is it, to countenance an Establishment, by which such as are not friendly to our Form of Government, may come to be possest of, and have, the managing of most of the Mony of the Nation.

And as a National Bank in a Monarchy may endanger the degrading the Sovereign, and the lessenning the Just rights of the Monarchy; so it is not impossible on the other hand, but that one time or another such a Prince may ascend the Throne, as may make the Bank subservient to the overthrowing the Laws of the Kingdom, and the trampling upon the People's Liberties. For as an ill King, and one that is ambitious of being Despotical, may easily introduce his own Creatures to be the Chief Managers of the Bank, by furnishing them with Mony out of the Ex­chequer to out-bid all others in purchasing of Shares; so having once gotten the Conduct and Administration of it into their Hands, and by consequence having All or most of the Mony of the Kingdom at his own Command, and under his Disposal, What may he not attempt and ac­complish against our Rights, Laws, and Liber­ties? Nor can any thing on such a Supposition, hinder his making himself Absolute, and reduc­ing Us to be Slaves; and then instead of Fre­quent Parliaments which are Guardians of our Laws, and the Barrier against Oppression and Tyranny, we shall have none at all, because no Prince after that will need them: For few Kings ever called Parliaments to relieve their People, but themselves; and whensoever they can sup­ply their own Wants without them, they will ne­ver Assemble them to Redress our Grievances. And as a Prince who has Engrossed the Mony of the Nation into his own hands, may Raise and keep on Foot what Forces he pleaseth; so few Kings that can Rule by a Military Power will have the Moderation and good Temper to Go­vern [Page 3]by a legal. Yea the very Act by which the Bank is Establisht, hath chaulked out a way by which the Bankers, and by their means a King, when he pleaseth, cannot avoid getting most, if not all the Mony of the Kingdom into their hands in a very little time. Seeing it not only obligeth the Governour and Company of the Bank of England to pay into the Exchequer the Summ specified in the said Act, but it Authoriz­eth them to advance by way of Loans upon all other Acts to the extent of those Funds, as shall be agreed on in Parliament. And their Grasping already while the Bank is yet in it's Infancy, not only at the payment of the Army, which must give them possession of the Mony, neces­sary for the doing of it, but to draw into their hands all the Tallies, that are or shall be struck upon the Standing Revenue, or upon any other Parliamentary Grants, shews of what malignant influence upon King and Kingdom, such a Corpor­ation may prove in time; and that there seems to be something already in Embrio, either to the prejudice of the Rights of the Crown, or to the endangering the Liberties of the People.

Nor is it unworthy the Consideration of those, that either have, or intend to place their Mony in the Bank, that there never was a National Bank, tho' in Republicks, where they are not on­ly managed, with as much Industry and Pru­dence, but with more safety from being broken in upon, than they can be in Monarchies, but that it came vaftly more indebted than it was worth. Nor is this to be denied either in refer­ence to the Bank of Amsterdam, or that of Ve­nice, tho' they have, and that deservedly, the best Reputation of any in Europe. 'Tis true, their being indebted ten times more than they are really and intrinsically worth, doth not ren­der the disposing Mony into them hazardous, or discourage wise Men from doing of it, because the whole Province of Holland, and the whole State of Venice are Responsible for whatsoever is lodged in any of those Banks. So that whilst those Governments stand, every Man's Mony is there safe, and may be had when called for and demanded. And if those States should come to be overthrown, every private Man's Mony will be lost, tho' Hoarded up in his own Coffers. For it is in vain for any Particulars to think of save­ing their Cabbins, when the Vessels in which they are, sink, and are swallowed up. But the Case of the Bank of England is much otherwise, seeing beyond the making good the Interest of 1200000 l. neither the Government nor the Kingdom are obliged to see one Farthing either Principal or Interest paid of all that this New Corporation Erected into a Bank, shall obtain Credit, and become indebted for. Nor is there the least connexion betwixt their subsisting as a Bank, and the Nations continuing safe and opu­lent; yea the sooner that comes to be dissolved, the more flourishing the Kingdom will be, and only such as have trusted them will be affected by their Fall.

It deserves also to be seriously thought upon, by all that lodge Monies in their hands, that when they think they have Trusted a Corporati­on, they may find that they have no such Body Corporate to implead for what they have Lent, but must be forced to sue so many Distinct, and several Individuals as are Contributors to the Bank, Seeing the Act provides, That as a Cor­poration they shall not borrow, nor give Security by Bill, Bond. Covenant or Agreement, under their Common Seal, for any more, further or o­ther Sum or Summs of Mony exceeding at a time the whole Summ of 1200000 l. So that, in case they do, they shall not be sued as a Corporation, but that all and every Member or Members, &c. shall in his or their respective private Personal Capacities be Chargeable with, and liable in Pro­portion to their several Quota's, and Subscriptions to the Repayment of such Monies which shall be bor­rowed and taken up. From whence it is obvious that in order to a Person's recovering one single 100 l. he may be to Sue and Implead four or five hundred several Men, and that by distinct and separate Actions, which is infinitly worse, than to sit down contentedly with the Loss of the Mony.

And there being so much Chichanery in the Law, and most People Habituated to Trick and Deceit, it will be questionable in a very little time, whether they can be impleaded as a Cor­poration for any Farthing of all that shall be Lent unto them: For not being Suable under that Character, and in that Capacity, for any. Sum or Sums after they have borrowed 1200000 l. How difficult, if not morally impossible, will it be for any that shall Trust Mony in their Hands, to make legal Proof that they were not so much [Page 4]indebted antceedently to their becoming possessed of what those Persons Lent unto them. For tho' we should suppose, that every one who lends them Mony, will previously to the doing of it, demand and obtain a view of their Books (which very few will have the the Direction and Fore­sight to do) yet what will a single Testimony a­mount unto, and that in his own favour against a Body of Men befriended by the Government, and furnished with a Purse?

And it being provided by the Act, That they shall not be impleaded as a Corporation for any Mony borrowed by, or Lent unto them, but what they shall give Security for by Bill, Bond, or Covenant, under their Common Seal; the Me­thod of their Practice in many if not most of the Bills which they have issued and granted out, for security of the Money that hath been Lent to them, puts them out of the reach of being su'd as a Corporation for the Recovery of it, and dis­ables the Lenders from impleading them, as an Incorporated Body. Seeing of that vast Number of Bills emitted for Monies Entrusted, Lodged, and Deposited with them under the Notion of a Bank, there is scarce a Moyety of those Bills that have the Common Seal of the Corporation annexed and affixed unto them, the rest having no more to secure the Payment of what they are given in Security for, but the bare hands of Servants and the Directors. And as their departing so early in this Particular from the observation of the Statute by which they are Erected and Incor­porated as the Bank of England, shews what may be Justly apprehended and feared from them hereafter, as to their Acting with a neglect and disregard of all the other Provisions and Limi­tations of the said Law; so it proclaims aloud, That they neither are nor can be Suable as a Corporation for much of that Mony, which they are already become Possessed of by way of Loans.

And the Conditions of Men being liable to so many Contingencies, and those who can Lend to day out of their Superfluities, not knowing into what Straits and Necessities they may be reduced to morrow; it might serve to discourage a great many from advancing into the Bank with that Zeal, and Profuseness that they do. Seeing whatsoever may come to be the Circumstances of those that shall Contribute to the Advance of the 1200000 l. into the Bank, and be their Cra­vings never so urgent, yet they are precluded all Hope of Recovering the Principal, and staked down to the bare and naked Interest of 8 per Cent. unless they can relieve and reimburse themselves by the Selling and Transferring of their several and respective Shares; and as that depends upon the Credit and Reputation that the Bank may continne in; So the Honour and Security of that Corporation bears upon a Thousand of unfore­seen Accidents. Nor is it so advisable as some imagine, notwithstanding the Temptation of a large Interest, for any to lodge their Daughters Portion, and the Fortunes of their Younger Sons in the Bank, seeing they can have no moral Cer­tainty, that the Principal shall be recoverable at such times and seasons, as those Concern'd may stand in need of it. And we have Presidents within the Memory of many Men living, how that Thousands who thought they had Lent their Mony upon Good and Natinal Security, yet found themselves disappointed, and reaped no­thing of all the Mony they had Lent, but Po­verty to their Children, and Repentance to themselves for their Liberality and Zeal.

To which let me add the shutting of the Ex­chequer, which was not only ruinous to many of the most Reputable, and opulent Goldsmiths of London. but of Thousands of Persons, who had Trusted and Lent Mony to them upon Interest, and that upon the Countenance and Encouragement, which those Lombard-street Gentlemen had given them by several Acts of Parliament, for Grant­ing Loans to the Government; So the breaking of the Chamber of London, which had a con­stant, and not to be obstructed, Supply coming in to answer (as was apprehended) all its Pay­ments, and Issues hath impoverished a vast Mul­titude of all Ages, Sexes and Degrees.

But that which should most Alarm the Nation in reference to the Bank, and provoke every man to endeavour in his respective Station to get it Supprest, is that in the way, method, and ex­tent, which the Directors have begun, and pro­ceed to manage it, it is nothing else nor less, than an open, direct, and avowed Monopoly. And as every Monopoly (tho' but of one Commodity) is a thing extremely odious in the eye of the Law; so, whensoever any thing of that nature hath been either Authorized or connived at, by [Page 5]our foregoing Princes, it hath been not only complained of as a Grievance, but fallen upon by the Representatives of the People, with the same warmth and resentment, as they have used to attacque a common Nuisance. Nor either can, and much less ought, a Monopoly to escape the common Hatred, or be covered from the Wrath and Animadversion of a righteous and wise Par­liament; because as it is both a Discouragement, and a Supplanting of Trade, and the Investing a few with an Authority and Right to Oppress, Impoverish, and Insult over the Body of the Kingdom; so it circumscribes and confines the Bounty and Favour of the Government to a handful of the Subjects, to an exclusion of the Bulk of the People from being partakers in that Care and Kindness of the Magistrate, which by such a Project he only vouchsafeth and exerciseth towards some. Neither can any thing be more threatning to the Publick Peace, than for a Go­vernment to exasperate in a manner the whole Community, against a single Corporation, and to provoke the Natural strength of a Society a­gainst the Artificial; that is to administer ground to the Body of the People, to quarrel with, and assault a few Individuals, countenanced either by Law, or by a Charter Establishment, to un­drmine, pillage, and impoverish them. And as this has too freqnently been the Consequence and Result attending Monopolies; so it will hardly fail to be the effect of such an Establishment, which hath that latitude and extent of mischievous and ruinous Operation, as this new erected Bank of England hath.

For this is Notionly moulded and framed to affect a few Inferior and little Dealers, but it will infallibly enfeeble and cripple all that are either Employed in Manufactures, or exercised in Trades, but most especially the Merchants, who Export the Superfluities which the Land produc­eth above our Consumption, and who Import the Productions of other Countries, that we either need or can make benefit by. Now Trade being the Chief Mean, if not the only, by which any Nation cometh to be Enriched, and consequently to be Powerful; and England having advantage above all other Countries, by its Scituation, Ports, and Manufactures, and the Ingenuity and Industry of its People, of enlarging and im­proving Trade; it doth naturally follow, that whatsoever doth either lessen and diminish Trade in General, or which Engrosseth it into a few Hands, must needs lie in a direct Opposition to the true Interest of the Kingdom, and will be found subservient to the rendring it poor, weak, and despicable.

And to begin with the Engrossing of Trade in­to the Hands of a few, which the present Directors of the Bank appear not only to be Grasping at, but which, it seems the Bank was unwarily Cal­culated and Established for; Can any thing be more demonstratively Evident, than that who­sever stand priviledged and authorized (as this Company plainly doth) to Engross most of the Currant Mony of the Nation, especially that which circulateth in and about London, which is the Mint and Source of our Mony, and the Cen­ter of the whole Trade of the Kingdom, but they may unavoidably reduce Trade into as few hands as they please; and that they being of the Principles of most Men, which is to seek to promote their own Wealth, and Greatness, they must (having it so fairly within their Power) make it their Aim and Design. For tho' the Act, doth provide, That they shall not Deal or Trade or permit, or suffer any Person or Persons, either in Trust or for the Benefit of the Company to Deal or Trade with any of the Stocks-Money in the Buy­ing or Selling any Goods, Wares, Merchandizes whatsoever Yet how easily will this be eluded by consigning Money into the hands of private Men, as if it were Lent, and thereby enabling them to Engross and Monopolize what Goods they have the best prospect of making the greatest Profit by; and then the Directors of the Cerpora­tion, or at least some of them, upon granting a little Allowance to them they had employed as Managers, will have the Chief benefit of the Goods.

But should I allow the Conductors, and Ad­ministrators of the Bank to be Persons of that Honour, Virtue, Justice, and Self-denial, as that they will not go Shares in the Profit of any Goods that shall be purchased and engrossed, by Monies that they have either cause disburse them­selves upon Wares and Merchandizes; or that they have lent unto others to capacitate them to Monopolize the most Mercantile Goods; yet it is undeniable that it is in their Power to entrust their Friends and Relations with such Sums as [Page 6]shall enable them to Engross what Goods they shall have a mind unto, and to forestall Markets when they please, which is equally destructive to Trade, as if themselves were either the Sole or Principal Transactors. For a Monopoly is a Mo­nopoly, whosoever be put into Capacity, and en­couraged to practise it.

And there is already a Notorious and known Instance, (as unquestionably there may be ma­ny more tho' not discovered) of the Bank's having qualified a certain Dealer in London to Engross all the Coffee that is not in the hands of Retalers, so as thereby to enable him to raise that Commodity to 18 or 20 s. the Hundred Weight, which was commonly sold before at 5 or 6 s. per Hundred. For whereas the Sum requi­site to the purchasing the foremention'd Goods, was too large to be obtained, or reasonably hop'd for, from private Persons, the Directors of the Bank have Furnished the Gentleman with Money sufficient for doing it. And as we may be sure, that they have not been thus kind, Neighbour­ly, and Generous, meerly to benefit the Dealer, and much less to endamage themselves; so no­thing can be more evident, than that it will be to the Prejudice of Hundreds, that must una­voidably suffer, by one Person's being inabled to Engross all the Coffee in the Kingdom, that is in­disposed of. Nor is it less apparent, that as o­ther Persons may by the same means be enabled to Monopolize all that shall hereafter be Imported, and thereby make the Consumers of it pay four times the price, which they might otherwise have bought it for; So there is no sort of Goods either farbiqu'd at home, or brought from a­broad, but which by the Bank's pursuing the like Method, may be Monopoliz'd into the Hands of any single person, whom they shall please to favour with the Advance of a large Sum of Mony unto.

And it is extreamly surprising, that whilst the Parliament endeavour'd to have the Act so penn'd, as that this Corporation might be prevented from becoming a Monopoly, yet that they at the same time by the Insertion of one Clause, have Estab­lished and Authorized them to be one. For by dis­pensing with, and empowering them not only to sell all Goods, Wares, Merchandize, that shall be deposited with them, but to deal in Bills of Ex­change, and to buy and sell Bullion, Gold and Sil­ver. they do allow them to Engross and Monopo­lize a great part of the Trade of the Nation, and to disable and preclude all others from being in a Condition to Trade, not only in what is there specified, but in every thing else. Seeing beside the Right which is hereby vouchased and granted unto them, of breaking in upon the Comerce, and Traffick of Merchants, Gold­smiths, and Money-Scriveners, and both of sup­planting them in, and worming them out of those ways of Dealing and Subsisting, to which they have been bred, and wherein they have usefully served and promoted the Interest and prosperity of the Kingdom; the being thus Authorized to deal in Bullion, and to buy Gold and Silver, will in the natural and immediate Consequence of it, undermine all other Dealers whatsoever, thro' an Engrossing of that which is the only Medium of all Trade, and of Comerce of every kind. So that upon the Bank's being priviledged to possess themselves of the Bullion, Gold, and Silver, no particular Trader whatsoever, will be capable in a little time, of supporting himself is his proper and respective way of Dealing.

And as the Bank will be ruinous to all Trade, by Engrossing the Money wherewith it should be upheld and carried on, and thro' their thereupon Monopolizing what Goods, Wares, and Mer­chandize they please; so should they not so much as meddle directly or indirectly with the Buying and Selling Goods of any kind, yet the Bank will be extreamly and inconceivably pernicious to the whole Comerce and Manufacture of this Kingdom, by draining the Money out of the Channel of Trade, and diverting it another way. For as upon the one hand, nothing can be more obvious to such as give themselves the liber­ty to think, than that the more our Money is employed in Trade, the more we encrease in Wealth and Strength at home, in Reputation and Honour abroad, the more is our Manufacture encourag'd and enlarged, the higher is the Price of Land, and the better are Rents paid; so it is no less evident on the other hand, than that the Bank hath already, and if continued and sup­ported, will more and more for the future, draw the Money out of the Canal of Trade, and there­by not only abridge and narrow, but enfeeble, cripple, and starve it. Can any thing be more evident, than that as much of the Money, [Page 7]which was formerly lent by those who were not Traders, to such as were, at 5 per Cent. hath been called out of their hands, and upon the tempting Gain of 8 per Cent. put into the Bank; so likewise that too many Tradesmen and Mer­chants, who formerly imployed their whole Stock in Traffick, and to carry on Manufactures, have put much of their Cash into this new Fund. And tho' the Interest given by the Bank, for all Mony lent unto and deposited with them, beyond the original 1200000 l. be not more, and may be not so much, as was heretofore given by some Merchants and Tradesmen; yet by reason that so many Dealers have of late broke and become Bankrupt, thro' Losses and Obstructions of Tade at Sea, and thro' high Taxes and decay of Traf­fick at home, most Persons who have Money by them disposable abroad upon Interest, will chuse rather to place it in the Bank at a low and mo­derate Advantage, than to venture it in private hands, upon the offer and promise of greater Profit.

And the Trade of England will be the more sensibly affected, and brought under the greater Decay by the withdrawing Money out of that Channel, and by denying the wonted Credit to Dealers, in that when most of the Money of the Kingdom was employed in Traffick, it was not enough and sufficient to carry on Trade to the measure and degree, that the Nation is capable of. And if we were always crampt and crippl'd in every kind of Trade, and forced to neglect and abandon several ways of Comerce, for want of sufficient Stock to support and improve them, when Money was most employed to the encouraging and promoting or Traffick, what must the Trade of england dwindle and sink into, when so much of the Stock and Cash of the Nation that was former­ly employed in it, comes to be withdrawn from it, and committed to the Husbandry of a Bank? And tho' it be scarcely imaginable, either to what a degree those Trades and Manufactures that have been most cultivated, may yet be ad­vanced; or how many new Species of profitable Trade and Manufacture might be fallen upon and carried on, were the Kingdom Stored and Fur­nished with more Money than it hath, and it ap­plied (as it useth to be) to Traffick; yet how easily may we conceive, that the drawing the Mo­ney out of Trade and Manufacture that hath been employed in them, must unadvoidably lessen and starve them, and render the Traffick of En­gland a Prey and Sacrifice to those Nations, that Court it with more Iudustry, and expend more in it, than this Bank Project will suffer is to do. Nor is it unworthy the being thought upon, that no Nation which was once possessed of Trade, and came to lose it, could ever recover it again, at least not with that ease it was first gain'd.

And Sir, Suffer me to add, that as Trade must unavoidably be ruined, by the drawing so much Money out of it, as this Corporation occa­sioneth the doing of, so it must be extreamly pre­judicial to Trade, that Men's Minds are diverted from thoughtfulness about it, and taken off from Contriving how to conduct, and manage it to Advantage; and instead of this, they lavish away their time, and wast their Thoughts about Bank-Stock, and the Rates it goes at. Trade is like Coy Mistress, that must not be coldly, but warm­ly and importunately addressed; and to follow it with success, requireth most of a Man's time, and the best of his Parts. Nor can any thing give a more melancholy Prospect of Trade, than that instead of any conversation about the sup­porting, carrying on, and improving of Trade, the whole discourse now of those that were for­merly considerable and industrious Dealers, is about who hath, or who will transfer Bank-Stock, and at what Price. And it is both of fatal Prog­nostick to Trade, and will have a destructive In­fluence upon it, that the Humour and Genius of People, is taken off from it, and diverted ano­ther way.

Now tho' these general Hints may be suffici­ent to convince a Person of your Great Vivacity and Judgment, Candor and Penetration, that the Bank, if upheld, must needs not only under­mine, but destroy Trade; yet for the setting it beyond all Controul with the most obstinate, as well as with the least thoughtful, I shall exem­plify in some few Particulars, how, and by what ways and means, the Bank must unavoidably have that ruinous operation and effect upon Trade and Traders. For first to those that are al­ready embarqued in Dealing, and who may be, have been Managers of Trades for divers Years, they will be necessitated either to give wholy o­ver, or to reduce, and narrow their Trade to the [Page 8]proportion of their own Stock. Seeing as few do, or can carry on their Trades to any conside­rable extent or Profit, without borrowing of Mo­ney, and taking up Sums upon Loan, it is now come to this, that instead of the thanks they used to receive from your Monied Men for accept­ing Sums from them at moderate Rates of Inter­est, and upon reasonable Security, what they had is by reason of the Bank, called out of their hands to that degree, that as divers who could not recover their own Debts, for Goods they had trusted abroad, with that expedition their Credi­tors demanded the Payment of what they had Trusted them with upon Loan, have been forced to give over, and to Sanctuary in the Marshalsea, or in the White-Fryars, and those who have been hitherto so fortunate, as to weather the Storm, have been obliged in orderto the doing of it, to re­duce their Dealings to the circle of their own Cash.

And as the Bank is thus mischievous to those who are actually embarqued in Trade, it is more fatal to those Young Gentlemen who have served their Apprentiships, and are about to Set up and Begin. For whereas Young Gentlemen have been able to launch into Business, and to pursue the respective ways of Dealing that they had spent Seven Years to be Bred up unto, without much Stock of their own, Yea sometimes without any, save that of a Good Reputation acquir'd by their Virtue and Diligence during the time of their Service, and all this because of the readi­ness of Monied Men to lend them such Sums as they might stand in need of; Matters are now arrived at that pass, that let Young Gentlemen's Charactor be never so good, as to their Sobrie­ty and Industry, they are nevertheless by means of the Bank, put out of all capacity of Borrow­ing what they want to Begin the World with: For how or where should they obtain Credit for Money, seeing as they of whom heretofore it was easily had, have placed their Money in the Bank, and consequently have none to Lend to the hope­sulest Beginners; So you may be sure that the Directors of this New Corporation will not Lend to Young Gentlemen, when they have so vast Advantage by Employing their Money another way. Nor w [...]ll it be in the power of any Young Beginner to give that Security unto the Bank for Money, which they will exact and demand; nei­ther will the Directors of that Society be content­ed with such Interest as Trade will bear and allow the giving of, when they can have, 10, 12, and more per Cent. of the Government upon Secu­rity of Acts of Parliament. And whosoever views the Town, and observeth the courses which those newly out of their Time are forced upon, will be soon convinced, how prejudicial the Bank is, and if upheld will continue to be, to those Young Persons I have been speaking of. For in­stead of Setting up to pursue, and manage the ways of Dealing which they have been brought up unto, they imploy themselves, and consume their Time about Lotteries, Stock-Jobbing, and Purchasing, and Selling Bank-Stock; And as this, if there were nothing more, must necessarily divert the Minds of Men, both from all Forreign and Domestick Trade; So the success as well as the extent and largeness of all Forreign Traffick, arising from, and owing it self unto, the great Number of Traders, the vast Summs employed in Traffick, and the lowness of Interest, it must infallibly ensue, that thro' the drawing large Quantities of Money out of Trade; thro' dimu­nishing considerably the Number of Merchants, and Dealers; and thro' the raising of Interest to a heighth, much above what it is in other Trade­ing Nation; all which are and will be the Effects of the Bank; I say it must from thence ensue, that poor England will not only dwindle and be­come speedily crippl'd in all its Forreign Trade, but go nigh to lose it, boyond possibility of Re­covery. And answerable to the Decay of our Trade abroad, must our Manufactures at home lessen and abate. I suppose it needs no proof, that they who employ 100000 l. in Trade, and have Money at 3 or 4 per Cent. must not only out­do, but supplant those that apply not 20000 l. unto it, and are forced to give 10 or 20 for every Hundred that is Borrowed to carry it on. And it is as demonstrable, that the Bank hath already made this vastness of difference in the Matter of Traffick, between us and our Rival Neighbours, and if that Corporation be Supported, it will en­crease their Advantages over us daily.

And as the Bank thro' the Drawing Money out of Trade, and heightning of Interest, hath the fore­mentioned Fatal Operation upon Merchants that Traffick abroad, and upon all those that are large Dealers in Cities and Corporations here [Page 9]at home; so hath no less mischievous Influence upon Country Retalers, without whom to take off what is imported from abroad, all Forreign Co­merce would not only be soon crampt, but the Produce of one of our own Counties not be ap­plicable to answer the Wants and Necessities of another. For as the Scarcity of Money, and the narrowness of Stock, which the Bank occasion­eth, will not suffer those in Cities, who Deal with Country- Retalers to allow them long Cre­dit (which is the life of Retaling) so they will be tempted to stint them to a shorter day of Pay­ment than their Stocks render necessary, upon the prospect of so much per Cent. a day from the Bank, which as it will compel the Retaler not to Sell in the Country, but where he can have rea­dy Money; so it will oblige him not to buy more at a time of City Dealers, than he hath a pros­pect of Disposing in his respective [...] on the said Terms. And I suppose the Inconveniencies are easily discovered, that will attend both the one, and the other. For as few Persons up and down the Kingdom have at all times Ready Mo­ney to lay out for what they need; so not one Retaler of forty can pay in hand, for what he hath both an Inclination to buy, and may really want.

Nor will the operation of the Bank upon Ma­nufactures of all Sorts be less malignant and prejudicial, than it is upon Merchants and other Dealers. I need not tell you that it is our Ma­nufacturers who furnish us not only for Forreign Markets, but with a great deal of what we vend and dispose of at home. Now besides that Ma­nufacture will be affected in proportion to the prejudice done to Trade in general. and bear its share in all the Damage done by the Bank either to Merchants or to other Dealers; there are two particular Mischiefs, that will overtake and fall upon Manufacturers by means of this New E­rected Corporation. One is that in the Fabrick­ing of Goods, they will be forced not to exceed their own Stocks; and the other is that the Pay­ments they are to have for the Goods they make, will be slower, and at longer days than hereto­fore. For as the Bank's getting possessed of most of the Money of the Nation, will necessitate the Manufacturer not to go beyond his own Cash in working of Goods; So the 2 d. per Cent. a day which the Merchant and Draper, &c. may have of the Bank, will tempt them to greater Delays both in Payment for Goods, and in discharging of Inland Bills, than the profit and reputation of Clothiers, and other Manufacturers will al­low them to bear. And having mentioned this 2 d. a day offered by the Bank for every 100 l. lodged with them, I fear I may add that the greediness of it, will not only render all Pay­ments very slow, whether upon Goods bought or sold, but occasion the Collectors of Taxes and Publick Revenues, to delay their Payments into the Exchequer as long as they can, it being noto­rious already that the Gentlemen of the Bank by 2 d Reward make daily Applications to all Pub­lick Receivers of the Land-Tax Customs, &c. to transmit their Money thro' their hands, and begin to prevail so far with some, that his Ma­jesty pays 8 per Cent. per Ann. for that which is 3 per Cent per Ann. Gains to his Receivers.

I suppose it is not needful to tell you, that pro­portionably to the destructive Operation, that the Bank hath upon Trade, and upon Manufa­cture, will its influence be upon Lands and Houses both in their being sold and hir'd, as likewise up­on the Price of Wooll, and of all Native Pro­ductions. So that whatsoever some Men might design the Bank for, yet the Effect of it will be the impoverishing all Ranks and Degrees of Peo­ple in the Kingdom, save those alone that are immediately interested and concerned in it. For answerably to the Scarcity of Money, the decay of Trade, the lessening of Manufacture, the ad­vance of Interest, and the delay of Payments, will both the Rent of Lands, and of all home Productions dimunish. and abate. From whence it will unavoidably follow, that neither will Gen­tlemen be able to live in true Splendor, and to spend in that Plenty as they used to do, nor to provide, and dispose their Sons, or marry their Daughters as heretofore they might; neither will their Lands yield them that Price, should their Circumstances oblige them to sell them, as they could before have obtained without difficul­ty. To all which I may subjoin, that as Manu­facture and Trade abate, so will both the Cu­stoms, and all other Branches of the Revenue, lessen and decay; and according to the degrees that the Fabrick of our Woollen Cloth, &c. is narrowed and reduced, so will both our Exports and Imports be dimunished, and thereupon our [Page 10]Navigation, and by consequence the Number of Seamen. All which will serve to render us poor and necessitous at home, contemned and despised abroad, a grief to our selves, and a prey to our Enemies And thro' the going abroad of so much Money as there doth, and of necessity must whilst the War continues; and thro' our being deprived of the Means of bringing in of Bullion, by reason of the decay in our Manu­facturers, and a narrowing our Exportations, we shall be reduced in a few Years to be glad of Tinn, Brass, and Copper, instead of Silver and Gold, if not to manage all our Comerce at home (after the being shut out from Traffick abroad) by the Exchange and Barter of Commodities.

Sir, I might farther add, of what Detriment the Bank will be to the Nobility, Gentry, and Freeholders of England, not only as it will occa­sion an abatement and decay in their Rents, and in the Price of their Lands, but as it will sub­ject them to grievous Inconveniencies, in case they should be necessitated to borrow Money at Interest, which it may be justly feared, many of them thro' the greatness of the Taxes, will be forced to do. For tho the Directors of the Bank have given Notice, That after the first day of January next, They will Lend Money on Mortgages, and real Securities at Five per Cent. per Annum, Yet this is but a Shooing horn, and being but a Law of their own making, can be Repealed when they please and in all likelihood will, as soon as the present Sessions of Parliament is over, provided they be suffered to continue as a Bank. Nor can I believe that having assured prospects of getting 10 or 12 per Cent. of the Govern­ment, they will be so Generous as to furnish their Fellow-Subjects with Money at 5. However it is already come to this, by the reason of the Bank, that no Man can borrow Money, be his Ne­cessities never so pressing unless of them, all, or at least most that used to be kept ready for such Oc­casions, being lodg [...]d and deposited there; and none can borrow of them, without having their Names Registred in their Books, that lie open to all Men's View, which will have a pernicious influence up­on their Credit, as well as detect and expose the Condition that their Estates are in. And if for preventing of that, all endeavours of getting a Publick and National Register have been fru­strated and with-stood; here we have one that will produce none the Advantages that a Ge­neral one would, but which will have all the ill Effects upon those that come to be concerned in it, that have deterred from an Universal Re­gister. Nor yet can it miss being grievous to Persons of Quality and Freeholders, That would borrow Money upon the Security of their Lands, to find themselves so circumscrib'd, as that they must take it up of the Bank, or not at all. But that which is yet worse, and will indeed prove into­lerable, is, That the Money of the Nation being Deposited in the Bank, and not to be had in any proportion elsewhere, and the Directors of the Company at Liberty, to call in the Money they have lent upon Land and real Security when they please, the poor indebted Gentleman and Free­holder must thereupon become necessitated, to let the Bank have his Land Estate at what Rate and Price the Creditors of that Society shall think fit to allow, or else to see himself ejected, and cast out of it in a way of Law, and barr'd and foreclosed in Chancery from all Right and Equity of Redemption.

Nor will the Condition of those that shall be re­duced to borrow Money of the Bank upon Goods, Wares, or Merchandize be less wretched and miserable, than that of the Freeholder and Gentleman. who had Mortgaged his Land. For as that Corporation will never Advance Money upon Goods and Merchandize to near the Value of them; And it heing provided by the Act of Parliament, That if the Goods, &c. be not re­deemed, at the Time Covenanted and Agreed up­on, or within three Months after, that then they shall be Forfeited, and become the Company's to be Sold and Disposed of them as they please, how ruinous must this be to the Merchant and Dealer, that are forced to take up Money to an­swer their Necessities in that method, and upon the giving that Sort of Security, seeing nothing can be more obvious, than that they who have Pawn'd their Goods in the Bank for Money may not be able to redeem them, within the Accord­ed and Fixed Season for Payment. For how frequently may it come to pass, that either thro' a fall of Markets, by reason of the Flush­ness of that Commodity brought into the King­dom, or thro' a Scarcity of Money, and a Scanti­ness of Buyers, the Merchant or Dealer who had laid his Goods to Pledge in the Bank, may [Page 11]not be able to sell them at such a Mercantile and Gaining Price, as to be in a Condition to pay at the Day Covenauted, what he had borrowed upon them. Yea should the Goods Pawn'd there by the Merchant, be never so much needed, yet the Shop-keeper and Retaler will forbear Buying them, unless much below their Worth, as know­ing that the Owners must be contented to Sell them at the Rates, the Buyers are willing to give, or else chuse to Forfeit them to the Bank for what they lie Pawn'd and Deposited. Nor is there any mean, but the Original Proprietor must be contented to sell at a vast ruinous Loss, or else to let the Bank swallow up his Goods at the Quarter or Half value, which is most that is likely to be advaneed upon them. And as the Bank is hereby made a Lombard, and a Society of Pawn-Broakers; so whatsoever is Deposited with them which is not Redeemed, within 3 Months after the Time Agreed upon, becomes Lost and Forfeited, without Right of Redemption. Nor is it here as in other Cases where the Chancery can relieve a Man, seeing the Statute hath pre­cluded, and shut out the Borrower and Pawner from all such Help and Benefit,

But I seem to forget, that I am writing a Let­ter, and not a Volume, and therefore as I will omit all further Reflections at this time, So I humbly submit what I have laid before you, to your serious Consideration. Being hopeful that there is enough offered, to shew the Necessity as well as Reasonableness of Suppressing this New­ly Erected SOCIETY, from being any longer a BANK; and that they be only continued to Receive the other Advantages Conferred upon them, and Due unto them upon the foot of hav­ing Advanced 1200000 l. Nor is it to be que­stioned, but that if they should complain of this as an Injustice and Severity, there will be those found, who will take of all the respective Shares, of the several Contributors, and com­ply with, and answer all the Ends of the Act, without desiring to be Incorporated or Erected into a National BANK. I kiss your Hands, and am,

Sir,