Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1873-10-31
The Bank OF England.
by JOHN ARBUCKLE.

! Inc reaucr KNOWS lilul tiC ipaAN Vi i-N5
land was founded in 1904, but it Is not $
generally understood that the state oil thing
which made the bank possibly dates from a
far back as l67l. The credit Of the Englisl
government had always been tolerably gooC
until under the Cabal administration o
Charles H.. it was almost destroyed by an ac
of gross perfdy The credit Of the state was
in old times, better than any other credit
and the goldSmiths, VIII then were the only
bankers, used to give I ei- money to The
government to take cait Of This money
Charles H. refused to pay back to them, and
the goldsmiths were ruined. Thus the goose
English credit, which had always laid the
golden egg, was killed by these foolish Oh
wicked ministers. The state could borrow
no more money.
In 1854 William III, who was then on
the throne, was going to war with France,
and be greatly needed money. Had it not
been that the credit of the English govern
ment was so poor. the cmoney might have been
raised without apYeal to what was then con-
sidered 10y many to be desperate and revo-
lutonary scheme There was tierco 0pposi-
tion to the bank on the part Of the lords,
who considered it strengthening Of the
moneyed power at the expense Of the landed
interest. But the money had to be raised /;
the need was 50 urgent that the ari-tocraey
were compelled TO sacrifice the class ~crI-
/ pies and interests.
The inventor of tbs scheme was Hiililm
Patterson, scotchman by birth and We-t
| Indian hy residence. I'm the West ludieshl.
/ friends said he had been a missionary: his
enemies that he had been buceiEoer. lie
was an ingenious and ardent person, gifted
with great powers ofpcrsuasion. The scheme
which be had first proposed in l69l, he sue
ceeded three years later in getting the great
| Montague to take up.
The plan was simply chat the government
should borrow twelve hundred thousand
pounds at per cent, which was then very
moderate rate, and which would have been
very favorable to the borrowers In order
to induce capitalists 10 advance, the sub
scrbers were to be Incorporated into COM
Tany 10 be called =. rhe Governor and Com
rany of the Bank of England" There was
much fierce opposition, but the dream o.! the
obscure adventurcr soon became solid
fact
This was the origin of that great in7titu-
tion. which Is now the greatest moneyel
power in the world, and which was iurmany
years the bulwark Of the English govern
ment During the wars in which France
was cndcayoring to force the Pretendeg back
upon the throne. it was the bank which sup
piled the government with money. Had
France succeeded. of course the new King
would have refused 70 pay interest on money
which was spent in resisting him. The bank
was therefore greatly interested in uphD,Jinr
the existing government. Il was, Jlr1aGh
some generations Whig institution.
So important a part has the Bank OF Eng
land PLAYED in history that ], Is difficult
for us to understand that ]; is private and
not state establishment. Ii Is like any
other hank, except that the government has
granted it some privileges and immUnitic~.
These are three In the frs, place, the gov
ernment balances are IN the possession 0i t.ic
Bank of England. The Bank originally
gave credit to the government, aS we have
seen. but now the government give credit Co
the bank Men are inclined to follow the
example of a government, aud 10 believe
that it is wiser than they. They think tiat
If the government trusts its great balance 90
the bank. they may surely trust their 5iEa.
ones there.
In the second place. the bank bad ill rc-
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