attainable by the establishing of Banks there is one more in particular that will prove very accommodatious to his Royal Majesty upon any occasion of want of Money either in his own Kingdoms or abroad in Forain parts For by the help of those Banks and upon the Credit of so great a Revenue as two Millions yearly his Majesty surely cannot want Credit at any time either at home or abroad for a Million or more in case of necessity For he as well as others might either draw remit or accept Bills and pay them out of such Money as will be received for Interest in Bank and surely all rational persons must esteem of Bills so accepted by his Majesty or those his Commissioners before spoken of to govern his Banks to be as good sure and certain payment as if accepted by the most punctual Merchant that walks the Exchange of London considering that the default in payment but of a hundred thousand would wholly discredit and overthrow the Bank and consequently so great a Revenue whereunto such Commissioners and Governors ought to have regard and not to draw more upon any Forain Banks or persons whatsoever then by the time of return of such Credit they may be able to discharge which will be a Million every Six Moneths An accommodation so great that I think the greatest Prince of Europe cannot boast of the like I might have insisted upon his Majesties real Estate in Lands and otherwise which may be valued at some Millions and that upon this also Credit might be obtained according to proportion of the Estates of his Subjects upon occasion but how acceptable that might be I know not since no Law but his Majesties Royal pleasure in that case can properly be made binding it being the great Objection against erecting Banks of Money under a Monarchy which as they say is subject to the Kings pleasure and therefore cannot so properly be called their own especially when under the power of an Army or the like But although I am not wholly of that opinion because I finde Banks to be erected and flourish as well under the Great Mogull in the East Indies as in Tuscany under the great Duke both which are as absolute Monarchs as any King of Christendome yet to give satisfaction to all and especially to those Merchants in London whom I finde almost generally averse to the erecting such Banks as may submit their Estates to the pleasure of Supream Authority or Power I have studyed these kinde of Banks whereinto no man will be compelled to bring his Money nay as I have laid it he cannot bring it if he would But if at any time by the consent and request of Merchants it be desired that such as will may deposite their real Money in Bank as a ground of security for either Credit or Money at any time to be again drawn out of Bank at pleasure without paying any Interest more then some small matter for keeping their Accounts This coming freely from the People and being by their Representatives enacted in Parliament may be for their better satisfaction and greater accommodation in Trade and will be no prejudice at all to his Majesties Revenue or disparagement in the least to Bank Credit grounded upon the foundations of Lands or Goods as aforesaid which is and will be still of as real a value as Gold or Silver as I have before proved I hope to satisfaction of all men I fear I have been too long in the explanation of these Banks and tyred the Readers patience with Impertinences yet in some particulars perhaps I am short whereby all may not fully understand what I am desirous none should be ignorant in which if it be any that may give it a furtherance or that are inclined to study or promote so publique an undertaking I should be as glad to spend some further time in answering any written Objections as I am willing to give a meeting to those that desire rather by discourse a more clear or full satisfaction for having my self found a great benefit by discourse on this subject with others it were not Charity in me to deny the like to any Some there are that have given me their opinions and others that have sent it in writing as from unknown hands and all prompting me to this further Edition which for the validity of the subject out of the respect I owe my Countrey I heartily wish it had been handled by a more acute Wit and better Pen then mine I have therefore no better way to disperse those clouds which my dirty expressions in this Treatise hath cast upon so clear a demonstration of the greatest Temporal advantages to our Soveraign Lord the King and Kingdom then to give you the opinion of an ingenuous Gentleman Samuel Hartlipe Esquire which take in generall as a Case put Viz. Suppose any company of men should proffer to lend his Majesty two or three hundred Millions of Money gratis let us consider what he would doe therewith 1. He could not employ it with safety any otherwise then by lending it forth to the people upon sufficient security at a reasonable Interest because it is but lent to him and therefore must be restored 2. It may be he would resolve also to raise Banks therewith whereby the Credit grounded upon such Money might run current amongst the people rather then the Money it self which is not so fit for daily use in great sums in respect of the trouble of telling and re-telling the losse in clipt and counterfeit Money the hazard which men sustain in keeping much Money by them the trouble of carrying great sums of Money from house to house and the danger of conveying it in specie from one Town to another Whereas dealing in such Credit as to all great sums would prevent High-way Thieves who if they have nothing but goods to seize upon in the Road cannot go long undiscovered nor can advance any thing thereupon worth their attendance which would totally discourage them from following that lewd kinde of life and thereby free the High-way of such kinde of Vermin Credit also is better amongst the people in these two respects First it cannot be transported to other Nations Secondly it will not be hoorded up as Money many times is to the great hinderance of Trade for that which will be perhaps at first of least esteem amongst the common sort of people if it be of real value in it self is most for their good because every man striving to post it off from himself doth thereby quicken returns in Trade Now suppose that upon these manifold considerations such Banks should be erected and it should thereupon come to passe that this Money thus lent to the King should lye dead in Bank and the people should make use of the Credit in stead thereof as they do in other places I demand then to what purpose this Money serveth If it be said it lies for a pawn to secure the Credit that
great decrease of Trade for want of Stock to employ or drive it on 2. The fewer Manufactures made here and by that means our Staple is exported unwrought 3. It occasions the Hollander that has Stock at command to buy our Wooll carry it home and being now become Artists are able to bring it in again wrought and undersell us in our own Commodity at home as they have done of late years in all forain parts where formerly the English had the only Trade 4. That so little Fish is caught by the English when the Hollanders by their great Stock come and takes it even at our Dores in great abundance to their greater profit which were there a competent Stock in England his Majesty by re-assuming his Prerogative of being Lord of the British Ocean which by the most ancient Prescription alwayes belonged as rightly due to the Kings of England and countenancing the English in prohibiting others to fish on our Coasts might in a short time bring it to be of more worth to his Kingdoms then the Spanish Indies are to the Kingdom of Spain 5. By the want of Money and decrease of Trade the rich that should support others are diminished in Number and weakened in Means and the poor that should be upheld are encreased both in Number and Necessities 6. Were there more Money or Stock almost all the Lands in England might be made to yield much more encrease by imploying more in manuring the same 7. Many Husband-men want wherewith to stock their gound whereby perhaps the Nation suffers more then many times by much unseasonable weather 8. A great part of Ireland lyes waste which without more Stock to plant is like to continue 9. There are great quantities of Oazey Ground about the Sea-coast and other Fens and waste Grounds besides Forrests and Commons which drained and improved might equalize in value some two or three Counties in England 10. There are many Mines in England Ireland and Scotland which being wrought would much encrease the Exportation and be imployment for poor men that want it So that in effect the Trade Manufacture Shipping strength repute and flourishing estate of the Nation is decreased for want of Money and not to be encouraged but by some way that tends to the encrease of the Estates of some without impoverishing others for whatsoever takes from the Estate of one man as much as it adds to another doth not enrich the Nation Now then if the introducing so much current Credit as shall be needfull to supply all mens necessities and those wants and defects in general without the least diminution to the Estate of any man in particular be a thing worth encouragement I submit Whether by the erecting such Banks as are described in manner as aforesaid must not in the judgements of all judicious persons prove an effectual remedy even to the value of five or ten times more Money if there be occasion for so much then ever this Nation was Owner of in Coyn And if this be reason who then can finde matter to oppose so advantagious a Proposal Sure I am that if a person of an ingenuous spirit and of quality and repute should be sick and groaning under heavy debts which he is not able by his greatest care and diligence to compass in which case I think to any truly of desert no sickness can be worse and some friend of his being intrusted with a considerable Bequest of Treasure from another not to be delivered him but in that necessity or untill his becoming of the age of forty years or the like at which time men are generally most sollid and fittest to become Owners of great Estates whereof this person entrusted acquainting him and bidding him dig in such a place where he should finde it accordingly I presume none can imagine but that this newes would be welcome and such person would not neglect much time before he went to dig for this Treasure and be satisfied of the truth of so unexpected a Fortune Now then let us but consider and apply this to the Nation so wanting Money or Stock as aforesaid Is not their case the same with this and may they not at pleasure supply themselves by that gift which God and Nature hath left them as their own without being obliged to Forain Nations or parting with their own Staple to disadvantage to purchase Money since that which is within themselves if as it were dugg up for the trouble in comparison is no more might serve the turn as well and better and is also of the same intrinsick value as the best Gold or Silver in the World I hope some in the Nation will be of age to understand it to be of better worth and value insomuch as neither Gold nor Silver being found or dug out of the ground can be esteemed worth more then its present current value But this Credit in Bank will be found of the same use and value in the Kingdom and yet produce also an yearly growing Revenue of at least two Millions to the King for a supply of his occasions without more or so many publique Burthens or Taxes and whether this may not amount to the supplying all men wanting Moneys at a reasonable Interest and to encrease the Stock of the Kingdom with the encouragement both of Forain and In-land Trade I also appeal unto those that will but consider the validity and accommodations of the aforesaid Banks and now am come to my last Proposition How this great yearly Revenue may be raised to his Majesty in Money by the â—ase of his People The advantage which I propose to the King is by Gentlemen Merchants Tradesmen and others that are in the Usurers Books and deal upon Interest money who are now constrained to have others bound with them or to make tedious Morgages the writings of which in little sums come to as much as Interest and to pay Scriveners and Brokers for procuration and besides all this to pay 6 per cent per ann Interest now such having entred their Estates in Bank may have Credit there without any of this Charge But because the King and Law do give them this Priviledge and Stamp their Goods and Lands for current Credit as a great Talent or Prerogative not to be done by any other power they shall pay the King Three per cent per ann as long as they use this Credit in Bank thereupon and untill this Credit be again discharged the Interest shall be paid in Sterling Money half yearly but nothing for such time as mens Estates stand only written there as ready but not used in Credit This will bring in all the Interest Money now paid in England into the Kings Treasury for that the Bank will be the sole Usurer and those that have been so too long will become more profitable Subjects to their King and better Benefactors to their Countrey for now they will rather trade or fall to purchase Land and improve it then
mature consideration appear most practicable and easie For we know that speaking and writing have their several graces and things livened by the expression of the Speaker oft-times take well which afterwards upon mature review seem either superfluous or flat I shall therefore prosecute my purpose intended for the advantage of Trade and ease of publique burthens under the most distinct heads and denominations for the more clear explanation of the parts thereof in hopes that it may give it way with divers such as my self to whom many things of like nature at the first reading hath seemed a mysterie and so laid aside to invite the more to the Patronage of so beneficial an Invention 1. Mankinde subsisting in a state of Property and not of Community and no one man having property in all things needful for his use it was necessary in case of borrowing or buying what another had to introduce the use of some things which by the common consent and esteem of men might pass as currant in Law either in pledge or purchase of other things and be held and taken as a valuable consideration This Prerogative of denomination or setting an Extrinsique value or soveraign stamp hath at all times been given or allowed the King or supream power and in process of time the things introduced to be current have been divers and various As in the Kingdom of Tombuâ—a in Africa Shells in Massa Iron in Molina Glass Beads in Bengala a fruit resembling the Almond for small payments and the Sculls of their slain Enemies for great in Aethiopia Stones of Salt in Guinney Shells in Pegue Leather in New Spain Cacao in Peru Coco in New Spain at another time Cacao and Silver and Copper and Silver in Old Spain and in the same places we read of Pepper and Parchment at some times made current to answer exchange as in a siege or the like for want of sufficient of the aforesaid Money yet by all these several and invaluable sorts of Coyn each person held his due Propriety and trade stood there governed under a good Decorum for their manner was and in many places is to this day that any man might have as much of that Coyn as he needed to live by not exceeding the proportion of Goods which he is owner of which makes either of those Coyns as valuable as the things themselves or as the product thereof in Money and is no other but a kinde of Bank whereby the Owner is supplyed by imaginary Money the which whosoever takes is excused by the Pledge and so the next and the next in infinitum and no man hurt or at any inconvenience for want of Money for this is current as well because of the Soveraigns Law and value of the Deposite as if he had Money he could do no more with it then with this for he could not eat Money nor can he eat this Money was but currant and so is this So that you see those Coyns or stamps of Soveraignty were originally ordained for no other end then to serve as now they doe for a common measure of all things And time that great Grandfather of Invention having found by experience that amongst the diversity of Metalls none was more excellent then Gold and Silver the Governours in former Ages thought fit to make them the most general Medium of Exchange in Commerce and many as well for private as publique ends have reduced them into a certain weight impression denomination or proportion in being current as by experience we finde throughout Europe and many other parts of the world Yet are none of these reductions absolutely necessary so as the value be ascertained The Gold in Cbina is not current by impression or denomination or in solid bodies but kept in Powder when they pass it away it is by a double tryal of measure and weight There is no powder of such a weight as an ounce will goe into that little measure which Gold will so if measure and weight agree it's current The payments of the Antients were by the weight of tryed Silver and it was attested as at Goldsmiths-hall and not by denomination or stamp of certain value as we finde in Gen. the 23. Abraham bought a buriall place for which he weighed 400 Shekels of Silver current amongst Merchants which custom to this day remains in many places of the East Indies as in Maccau c. where neither the Inhabitants are held to be disingenuous nor can the manner of giving a Soveraign stamp or impression to Gold and Silver be esteemed a mysterie amongst them when from us and other Nations they daily receive Coyned Gold and Silver by weight and being melted into wedges or pieces fit for that purpose will pay it again in like manner concluding it's the easier and safer way both to pay and receive in that kinde as I conceive it may where all men goe furnished as there they doe with fit Instruments for that purpose So it is not the manner or figure solidity or dust of metalls that necessarily make it current but the certainty and security of value by which it may be current from one to another which I hope is sufficiently proved I shall therefore in the second place shew how payments are and may be made upon the Credit of Money as well as by Money in specie Thirdly that Goods Jewels and other Pledges may supply such credit of Money Fourthly that Land may be as good if not better security then Money or Jewels and then fifthly shew how such credit or security of Jewels Goods and Lands may pass in payment from one Kingdom Countrey place or person to another and be esteemed of as good a value and acceptable as Gold and Silver 2. I presume it 's known to most how usual a thing it is for a person indebted to make over a debt due to him for satisfaction of a third person which being accepted is oft-times transferred in like manner to a fourth for a debt due by the first Assignee and so on before any Money is either told or received so that in a short time all are accommodated by transferring the credit or ownership of the Money only and three of the four persons excused from twice telling over receiving and paying the same to and from each other The consideration whereof together with the many fruitless Journeys usually made for Money where due gave as I conceive the first light and was the only inducement for the erecting Banks in Foraign parts which though I confess was in it self sufficient yet I can sum up a most incredible number of advantages and accommodations besides of much greater importance which is concluded fell in more by accident then design whereof I shall speak more hereafter and the utility of transferring such Bills of Debt having once introduced that novelty of Banks amongst the Florentine Merchants which I finde to be the first founders the Genoes Venetian and since Holland and the Low Countreys
any others All these benefits and advantages are so plain to be understood that I need not give any further illustration or proof on the particulars which with other accommodations by introducing so much current credit will make all sums of Money to be paid above Ten pounds so great a seeker to be turned into Bank Credit that I presume when these conveniences are approved Money will not be as acceptable in payments as Credit till so converted So that by consequence he that wants Money for any such use as aforesaid or for any other use or accommodation whatsoever having Credit in Bank or something that may obtain credit there without which neither Money nor ought else of value will be had he may at pleasure truck or barter the same for Money which he will have with thanks and content to both Exchangers I confess falling into consideration of the worth and true value of this Bank Credit and the great accommodations which it seems to promise infallibly upon the erecting such a Bank far exceeding what is now done by money in specie I did omit in the method laid down to insist upon or speak of the injoyning all payments above twenty pounds or about that value to be made payable in Bank conceiving there will be no necessity of it here for that no man will scruple the lying of his Credit secure in Bank though in all other places upon the first erecting Banks it was done and stands yet in force as well in the Florentine Banks as others built upon Money foundations in the Low Countreys where at first he which was bound to receive his Money at a certain place thought it best to leave it there upon security of the Bank untill he had occasion to use it and when he comes to pay it away meets perhaps with another of the same minde and as willing to excuse trouble takes it by assignment there and so the next and the next in like manner till in processe of time payments in Bank became as at present they are esteemed better then in specie by ten shillings in a hundred pounds as it will be also in England when Banks are here erected and if Credit in Bank be better then Money in kinde no fear of getting Money for Credit But to this some perhaps will alleadge That in the Banks of Holland and other places all men may take out their Money at pleasure which in the Bankes here premised they cannot doe since no Money is intended shall be brought into Banke To which I answer Let such but consider that where Money is a commodity it 's exported imported and transported at pleasure which together with the declining in Trade by some and the increasing the Stocks of others are the great causes of the taking out Money and the paying it into Bank for were it not for those reasons it were the same thing if in Holland a Law were made that no person should take his Money out of Bank so he still continue the same Trade without exporting it and a man may as well there by the same rule procure Money for credit in Bank since all men will exchange for the better with thanks to boot for there is no necessity to withdraw or increase the Stock in Bank of any person that does not augment or decrease his Trade whereby to have more or lesse use of it and this may as well be done and the Stock of credit in Bank be either encreased or diminished at pleasure by the securities here propounded as by the best Dollars or Coyn whatsoever used in any Bank of Europe To make it plain to the meanest capacity that Credit may as well obtain Money as Money Credit I shall shew that it 's daily practised in England the very taking up Money at Interest by those that oblige themselves to pay it again being no other for it 's the Credit of their security which obtains that Money so contrary he that gives his Money in one place for a Bill to have so much paid where he owes it in another does but barter his Money for Credit We daily see Silver buy Gold and Gold Silver and both are current amongst us and in Holland and other places where Banks are erected it 's the daily practise for Brokers and others to exchange Bank Credit for Money and as oft Money for Bank credit Also in Spain you have alwayes current Money of Gold Silver and Brasse and with all you may purchase one the other though at some times the exchange a little varies where if any mans Cash be in Brasse the worst of Money in the Language of the place called Vellon and his occasions calls him presently out of that Kingdom he may at a dayes warning procure for it Gold the best of mettals And if Brasse that has no intrinsick value will by vertue only of the Soveraigns Law and Inscription procure Gold I hope it will be granted that Credit in Bank which is as really good security as the best Gold may when made also current and established by Law obtain Silver or what else is necessary for the use of man Yet some may further object That the making of Bank Credit current in payments will be an Obstruction in Trade as in Case where a Person comes to buy with it of another that will have Money for his Commodity either out of Fancy or Necessity To whom I answer That this is no other but like him that refuses a good rate for his Commodities because tendred him in Gold not so proper to pay for pints of Wine and Flaggons of Beer as Silver But I think few are so ignorant as not to apprehend that Gold being taken with its allowance for weight will purchase Silver without losse as Bank Credit also will in whose weight and value there can be no deceipt Besides it may be alleadged on either hand That the occasions for Banke Credit are many and those for Money in kinde more But I answer That though those of Money be most yet that of Credit is greatest for it will oft-time fall out that Shop-keepers and others that have by many little sums received heaped up a good totall in Sterling Money must for their accommodation turn it into Bank credit perhaps to pay it where they owe it in some other Town City or place far off or else to pay for some Commodity bought at home from some Merchant or other who will best esteem of payment made in Bank Credit which necessities with other of the like kinde puts Moneys still to be a seeker to obtain Credit and it will be found that one sum so remitted will furnish ten that may peradventure want Money for their Houshold necessary Expences But the scope of my intent being only to vindicate this Bank Credit so far as to prove it most proper for all payments to be made of sums considerable used in Trade and not to accommodate such by it as deal in pots of Ale
obtain any sum of Money in specie at 5 per cent more and also to have laid down a method for the correspondence of all great and petty Banks and each of them one with the other But I fear I have been too large already and doubt not but those will appear so plain and easie especially to men of business that they will be well understood without it 5. The next great Objection I expect is That these Banks cannot be established but by a Register which in Parliament will never be assented to for that divers Gentlemen and others may be unwilling to have their Estates discovered some perhaps that others should not know what they have and others to seem to have what they have not which may on either hand be alleadged will prove prejudicial Although I am no stranger in the Courts of Civil Law Common Law and Chancery in some or all of which I have now served an Apprentiship yet am no proficient in either my greatest studies having been only how to get out and therefore Errors in terms of Law I hope may be excused And notwithstanding I have made the Registring of all Estates to be a foundation of infallible security and Credit in these Banks yet I am of opinion and bold to affirm that these Banks may be erected and carried on to very great profit advantage and accommodation without it and his Majesty make as great a benefit thereof as is at present made by all Money let out at Interest in this Kingdom the differing rates of Interest only considered for I submit that if Banks were established in manner as aforesaid without the registring Estates and his Majesty should at every Bank maintain an able Councell at Law which out of so great a Revenue would be but an inconsiderable charge to examine all mens Deeds Writings and Conveyances of Estates which they should at any time bring to deposite by way of Morgage to the Bank Whether might not such security prove as good and valuable as what 's at present taken by Vsurers Scriveners and Brokers who sometimes meet with a bad Title as peradventure his Majesty then also may which nevertheless will prove something better by so much as all debts to the King will be first satisfied but this though it will be made out upon reasonable grounds yet is not so proper to my present purpose To the Objection I am of opinion that Suits Pleas Bills Plaints c. about Titles of Land and other real Estates are so many I take this to be one main reason viz. That any man may sell and dispose of his Estate in private to another without notice taken by some publique Register to be inrolled for information of those that may have occasion at any time to be satisfied of all incumbrances thereupon by which means it so often falls out that some Estates are sold morgaged and made away several times to several persons when in truth but only one ought to buy it and no more then one at once can enjoy it though divers may at the same time pretend as many Titles as they please so little truth and great danger is there in Pocket conveyances that I have been informed by a Gentleman of Credit how he late arrested a person then reputed to be of good worth in London whose Estate in Land was supposed considerable but being once in the Fleet his Creditors all came in against him and by sueing forth a Statute of Bankrupt much of his Land proved to be morgaged several times and so often that the Gentleman my Informant acknowledged a Morgage of his to be the seventeenth there being sixteen made of the Land before to other persons And hence it comes to pass that the greatest Lawyer or wisest man living cannot assure either to himself or any other that he shall purchase a good Title so many wayes are there for private Cheats flawes and errors in Deeds and Conveyances are no less common and all Estates when once in controversie either in possession or reversion by Lease in Fee or in tail are but simple remainders for Lawyers to live upon And that this is true I shall give you one or two instances Suppose a person being about to buy an Estate in Fee should first go to the most able Council for advise with a resolution that if he may not be sure of a good Title he 'l not part with his Money upon the Purchase In this case I affirm that no Council living can give satisfaction or in truth any incouragement whereby the person may confide in the certainty of the Title for as long as the person selling the Land and also his Ancestors might preconvey the same by Lease to any other to commence any time after the death of either how then can any man be sure of a good Title True it is that Council are good to advise about what Deeds or Coveyances are shewn and upon those they are best able to distinguish what Estate may legally pass and what not and are also able to draw up Covenants binding to either party but how this can amount to an infallible Title I know not Conceiving it rather signifies in the general that a man were better to buy Land of a rich man then of a poor and of an honest man before a knave for I conceive it 's more the warranty and security of the person then the Title or Interest pretended that comes nearest the best security since both Seller and Buyer may be deceived notwithstanding the best provisions in Law yet made for prevention The like it is in case of an Estate bought of an Executor or Administrator which being given by will of the Testator and the will conceal'd when it comes afterwards to be discovered and proved which may be any time in ten years and without limitation in case the Executor or principal Legatee be either a Minor or beyond the Seas the administration by an appeal in Court of Delegates may be made voyd ab initio so that all Sales and Conveyances made of that Estate upon the first administration are in Law to be avoyded and such also in equity that were not made Bona fide for the discharging the Testators just Debts and Funeral Rights and the person whose right it is by will is no wayes bound to consider the Purchasor though purchased for a valuable consideration but he is left to repair himself at Law or Equity upon the warranty of his Deed on the first Executor or Administrator who if having committed waste as usually they doe knowes the way to the Kings Bench or into some other Countrey or place of obscurity and how those Cases with a thousand others of like nature can be foreseen or other wayes prevented then by a County Register I never could yet understand Besides these are not the only preventions or benefits by a County Register for of all men that are I think most are concerned some way or other in or