A 742,878
PROPIUTY
Universitno
1817
ATES
SCIENTIA
VERITAS
AN
ADDRESS
TO THE
PROPRIETORS
OF THE
BANK OF ENGLAND.
SUUM CUIQUE.
By A. ALLARDYCE, Esq. M. P.
One of the PROPRIETORS of the Bank of ENGLAND.
SECOND EDITION.
LONDO'N:
PRINTED FOR. W. J. & J. RICHARDSON, UNDER THE
ROYAL EXCHANGE.
7:
.
то
1
THE PROPRIETORS
OF THE
:)
BANK OF ENGLAND.
St. James's Street, Dec. II, 1794.
HAY
AVING given notice, at your last
General Court, that, at your next
General Court,* I should move,
66 That
is there be laid before the Court an Ac-
count of the Charge of managing the
* Business of the Governor and Company
* This Court is to be held on Thursday next, the 14th
instant, at which this motion will be made.
i
( 6 )
" of the Bank of England ; an Account
s of the Expense of Building; and an
“ Account of all other Expenses, incurred
by the Governors and Company, from
" the 10th of October, 1787, to the 10th
" of October, 1797 ; distinguishing the
“ different Years, and the Particulars, un-
“ der their respective Heads :"
And that, at the next General Court,
ordained to be held for considering the
General State and Condition of the Corpo-
ration,* and for making Dividends of all
and singular the produce and profits of
the Capital Stock of the Corporation and
* This Court is usually, held about the end of March :
my affairs will necessarily require my presence in a dis-
tant part of the kingdom at that tiine : I trust, however,
that some of the Proprietors will take up the matter, to
whom I shall very willingly cöminunícate all the infor-
mation I have been able to collect on the subject.
(7)
the Trade thereof, I should move, “ That
" there should be laid before, the Court
an Account of the General State and
* Condition of the Corporation, for the
45. Purpose of taking the same into Con-
“sideration ; : with an Account of the
** Income and Expenditure for the Half-
“ Year, immediately preceding the Day
* of holding the said Court.
. And that
“ a Dividend of all the Profits, Benefits,
ç and Advantages, arising out of the Ma-
nagement of the said Corporation, for
“ the said Half-Year, (the Charges of
managing the Business of the said Go-
vernor and Company only excepted,)
« shall be made to and for the Use of
- all the Members of the said Corpora-
“ tion, for the Time being, rateably and
« in Proportion to each Member's Share
66 and Interest in the common and prin-
cipal Stock of the Governor and Com-
pany of the : Bank of England, as re-
-66
6
( 8 )
quired by the Statute of the 7th Year
“ of Queen Anne, Chap. vii.'
I think it
it necessary
.
that my
motive, for moving for these Accounts, is,
that we may have a more intimate know-
ledge of our own affairs, to enable us to
form a judgement upon them, that we
may control them if we think proper.
My motives for taking the liberty of
addressing you are, that the promised
motions, and my reasons for bringing
them forward, may be publicly known to
you.
I therefore beg leave to observe, that
having, some years ago, invested a con-
siderable part of a moderate fortune in
the Stock of the Bank of England, and
thus becoming interested in the concerns
of the Bank, I became desirous to know
(9)
the nature and constitution of the Bank,
its management, the conduct of its Ma-
nagers, and the state of its affairs.
As to its nature and constitution, they
were to be learned from the Charter, the
Bye-Laws, and the Acts of Parliament,
which had been passed, from time to
time, relative to tlie Bank.
The ma-
nagement, I found, was entrusted to a
Governor, Deputy-Governor, and twenty-
four Directors, who were elected, yearly,
by the Proprietors, at one of their Ge-
neral Courts. As to the conduct of the
Managers, there were various and contra-
dictory opinions : some were of opi-
nion, that it was not only irreproacha-
ble, but meritorious ; while others assert-
ed, that it was guided by narrow-minded
and illiberal principles, shackled by sys-
tems, and biassed by prejudices.
1
( 10 )
1
As to the state of the affairs of the
Bank, it was a perfect mystery, said to
be known only to the Court of Direc-
tors. Everybody said, that the Bank
must be possessed of an immense hoard
of wealth, which was continually increa-
sing; but, when asked for what this hoard
and its accumulations were intended, no-
body could tell but the Directors, and
they were not accustomed to answer ques-
tions of that nature. Nothing could be
collected, with regard to the affairs of the
Bank, but that they were governed by
two systems, the system of hoarding,
and the system of mystery and conceal-
ment. It seemed very strange, however,
that, while this hoard of wealth, the pro-
perty of the Partners of the Company,
was increasing by continued accumula-
tions, the value of their Stock, or Mar-
ketablc-Property, was continually decrea-
( 11 )
sing and melting 'away, like wax before
the. fire.
1
The price of Bank-Stock, on the 14th
of February, 1792, was 220 per cent.
It is now below 120; yet, the profits of
the Bank, during the intermediate time,
must have been greater, if the affairs of
the Bank have been properly managed,
than in any other period of : the same
duration since the establishment of the
Bank,
i
Since the year 1792, the exports and im-
ports, the agriculture and manufactures, of
the Country have been progressively increa-
sing ; the price of saleable and consuinable
commodities has been nearly doubled ; the
price of labour, the expense of living, and
the public revenue, have been greatly in-
creased. All these circumstances required
a great augmentation of the circulating-me-
( 12 )
dium, money or Bank-notes; and tènd-
ed to magnify the profits of the Bank, by
promoting a more extensive circulation of
their notes, and producing a larger value of
discountable bills; and discount, a very lu-
crative, and which ought to be the princi-
pal, branch of their business, they have had
to an extent even beyond what they could
desire or accomplish, as they were obliged
to reject many good and bona fide* bills; at
the
* I must distinguish between good bills and good and
bona fide bills : Robert, a safe man, gives to Richard, a
safe man, his acceptance at sixty day's date for £1000,
and receives Richard's acceptance in exchange for an
equal sum. These bills they mean to get discounted at
the Bank at the rate of five per cent. per annum, with a
view to purchase Navy-Bills, which produce a profit of
ten per cent. per annum ; these bills are good, and
would be paid when they became due, but they ought to
be rejected at the Bank.
( 13 )
the same time, Government floating securi-
ties, such as Navy, Victualling, and Exche-
quer, bills, were at an unexampled discount,
and yielded the most exorbitant profit.
At this time, when the Company were
getting rich by accumulating profits, the
partners were getting poor by a rapid fall in
the value of their stock; circumstances in-
consistent with one another. The merchants
.
and manufacturers were cramped in their
John, a manufacturer, sells to Peter, a merchant,
goods to the amount of £2000, for which he takes his
acceptance payable at fixty days. This I call a good and
bona fide bill, for which a valuable consideration has been
given. Bills of this description the Bank ought to dis-
count to any amount.
If the goods are exported, they help to turn the balance
of trade into our favour, and that must be paid by gold
and silver imported.
( 14 )
operations by the Bank having narrowed
their discounts, for which no rational cause
could be assigned. Some thought, that the
Directors, scrupulously governed by their
oaths to promote the good of the Company,
by all lawful ways and means," finding
that the purchasing Navy and Victualling
Bills (of which there was at one time about
the value of twelve millions in the market)
yielded a profit of 'from ten to twenty per
cent. per annum, while the discounting of
bills to the merchants and manufacturers
only produced five per cent. had employed
their funds in the purchase of the former,
and had therefore been obliged to contract
their discounts on the latter.
1
But it was soon discovered, that they had
employed their funds in a way not so bene-
ficial, to the interests of the Country as in
the discounting of mercantile Bills of Ex-
saadintaceous to their own
abana
no
( 15 )
as in the purchasing Navy and Victualling
Bills, but in a way which has brought the
Bank of England, till of late, the pride and
glory of Englishmen, into the humbled si-
tuation in which it now stands.
A minute of the Privy-Council was issued
on Sunday, the 26th of February, 1797,
directing the Bank to suspend payments in
specie. This on all hands was admitted to
be an illegal order, and the Bank might
have refused obedience to it if they had
thought proper. But it is presumed there
was a necessity for the order, and also a ne-
cessity for the Bank's complying with it.
They acquiesced, and suspended. payments
in specie on Monday, the 27th.
{
The Houses of Lords and Commons ap-
pointed Committees of their
their respective
members to examine and state the total a-
( 16 )
England, and likewise of the funds for dis-
charging the same, and to report the result
thereof, and to inquire into the causes which
produced the order of Council of the 26th
of February, 1797. Both the Committees
have made their reports, which are volumi-
nous. They have been printed for the use
of the Members of both Houses : that of the
House of Lords is the most comprehensive,
both in the examination of evidence, and
in the papers and accounts annexed to it by
way of appendix. It is a pity it is not to be
purchased, it ought to be in the hands of
every Bank-Proprietor.
By it, it appears that the Court of Di-
rectors, between the 14th of January,
1795, and the 24th of February, 1797,
had made nine-and-twenty representations
to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, sta-
ting the inconvenience which the Bank
( 17 )
were likely to ensue from the large ad-
vances to Government, particularly on Trea-
sury-Bills of Exchange; yet, they went
on, continuing to make these advances,*
when they might have stopped whenever
they had a mind ; † and the weekly re-
payments made upon what had been ad-
* “ With one auspicious, and one dropping, eye;
• In equal scale weighing delight and dole."
+ LORDS COMMITTEE.
Die Veneris, Martii 24, 1797.
MR. GILES EXAMINED.
R. “ Do you conceive that every exertion has
“ been made by the Bank to obtain re-payment of the
« advances made to Government since the 1st of Ja-
nuary, 1795?”
A.
“ Yes, save that of lending more.'
( 18 )
vanced on the Land and Malt Taxes, be-
ing the principal part of the whole, would
have soon reduced the debt within a mo-
derate compass.
It appears, that, notwithstanding the
Court of Directors represented to the Chan-
cellor of the Exchcquer, on the 28th of
July, 1796, that the advances on Treasury-
Bills of Exchange were, as they conceived,
an unconstitutional mode* of raising mo-
ney, what they were not warranted by
66 their charter to consent to, and an ad-
* The purchase of Navy-Bills, payable in a limited
time, and yielding a profit of upwards of ten per cent.
per annum, was lawful; advances on Treasury-Bills of
Exchange, payable in no limited time, and bearing only
five per cent. interest, were, in the opinion of the Court
of Directors, unlawful. Yet they gave the preference
to the latter, and advanced their money upon them.
( 19 )
vance always extremely inconvenient to
66 themselves :">
Yet, from the 1st of Ja-
nuary, 1795, to the 28th of
July, 1796, the day they
inade the representation, they
had advanced on Treasury-
Bills of Exchange
10,338,000
And, from the 28th of
July, 1796, to the 25th of
February, 1797, they did af-
terwards advance
2,700,000
In all, since the 1st Jan. 1795, £13,038,000
Of which there remained
unpaid on the 25th February,
1797
1,512,274
It appears, from the examination of the
late Governor of the Bank of which the
( 20 )
following is an extract, that he was of opi-
nion, that the large advances to government
were the cause which produced the necessi-
ty for the order of Council of the 26th of
February, 1797.
" Luna, 6 Die Martii, 1797.
“ DANIEL GILES, Esq.
“Governor of the Bank,
AND
“ SAMUEL BOSANQUET, Esq. .
66 One of the Directors,
CALLED IN.
« MR. GILES examined :
2. “ Did you make any representations
66 to the Chancellor of the Exchequer on
as the subject of the advances made to Go-
antag
( 21 )
A.
“ Yes, very often."
2. “ Are you of opinion, that the re-
“ payment of these advances would have ,
materially contributed to prevent the ne-
“ cessity of the measure adopted by the
Privy-Council, on Sunday, the 26th of
“ February?”
A. 66 Had the Government repaid us
" the advances which they owed, I believe
we should have been in a state of securi-
ty, and what has happened would not
“ have happened."
66
The Court of Directors often resolved to
restrict their advances to Government, and
several times intimated their resolutions to
the Chancellor of the Exchequer; but they
went on advancing to the end of the chap-
ter.
( 22 )
Resolutions ought not to be adopted hasti-
ly; they ought to be well weighed and con-
sidered; but, when once taken, they ought
to be adhered to with inflexible firmness.
I shall not at present farther enlarge on
the suspension of payment, on the causes
which occasioned it, or on the means which
might have prevented it.
It may be now proper to inquire, if these
systems, by which it was said the Court of
Directors were governed, originated in the
Constitution of the Bank..
The Constitution of the Bank, like every
other human institution, must be imperfect;
but these systems cannot be said to derive
their origin from it.
( 23 )
1
It enjoins no system of lioarding, * but ex-
pressly directs, that all the profits shall be
from time to time divided among the partners.
It enjoins no system of mystery, but ex-
pressly directs, that there shall be at least
four Quarterly General Courts held every
year, for keeping up an intercourse between
the representative and his constituent, be-
tween the Court of Directors and the Court
of Proprietors; and that two of these Courts
should be held for the express purpose of
* A certain part only, instead of the whole, of the
net profits, is half-yearly divided amongst the Proprie-
tors; and the rest, probably half as much more, is car-
ried forward, (cui bono?) not to increase the Capital of
the Partners of the Company for the time being, but to
a certain hoard, dividable at no definite time, and of
which the present Partners are never likely to parti-
( 24 )
considering of the state and condition of the
Corporation, (which implies, that the Court
of Proprietors should have an account of the
state and condition of the Company before
them,) and for making dividends of all and
singular the profit of the capital stock of the
Corporation and the trade thereof.
All that generally passes at the Court, or-
dained to be held for considering the state
and condition of the Corporation, and for
declaring of dividends, is, that the Governor
says, “ Gentlemen of the Court of Proprie-
tors, the Court of Directors are of opinion,
66 that thc dividend for the last half year
" should be at the rate of seven per cent.
૮૦
per annum. As many as are of that opi-
- nion hold up your hands : as many as arc
“ of the contrary opinion hold up yours.”
Some good-natured proprietor moves the
thanks of the Court to the Court of Direc-
tors for their kind communication, which is
( 25 )
seconded by another good-natured Proprie-
tor. The Court breaks up, and the Direc-
tors retire to their parlour, and the Proprie-
tors to their respective vocations,
It may be said, that this hoard, or sur-
plus, of profits, at the expiration of the
Charter,* at the liquidation of the Compa-
ny's affairs, will, with the Capital of
£11,642,400, be divided amongst the
By
the act of 1694, the Bank was to continue a
Corporation till after the redemption of the debt due from
Government, and till after twelve months notice after
the first of August, 1705.
By act of 1697, the term was prolonged to Aug. I, 1710
1708
Aug. 1, 1732
1713
Aug. I, 1742
1742
Aug. I, 1764
1763
Aug. I, 1786
1781
Aug. 1, 1812
( 26 )
partners, according to
to their respective
shares.
The present Charter does not expire till
the year 1812, to which it is a long while
to look forward. Many of the Proprie-
tors of the present day will not be Pro-
prietors then. Besides, it has been usual,
some years before the expiration of the
Charter, to apply for a renewal, which
Government have hitherto granted, so that
this hoard of accumulated profits may go
on ad infinitum.
In all commercial concerns, there is a
risk of loss as well as a chance of gain.
Fron' this risk the Bank is not exempt-
ed. There is a risk of loss from rebel-
lions, as in 1715 and 1745; from mobs,
as- in Lord George Gordon's; from bank-
ruptcies ; and mairy · unforeseen acci-
( 27 )
Let it be granted, for the sake of ar-
gument, that, by one or other of these
causes, a considerable loss should happen
to the Bank, the whole of it would fall
upon the Proprietors for the time being,
in proportion to their share of Stock, even
to the annihilation of the whole, if the
loss should amount to so much.
It is, therefore, reasonable and just that
the Proprietors, for the time being, should
receive their share of the whole profit.
It is from these considerations that I
have given notice that, at the General
Court to be held for declaring a Divi-
dend, I should move to have an Account
of the Profit and Expenditure of the pre-
ceding Half-Year laid before the Court;
and that a Dividend of the Nett Profit
should be made amongst the Partners
( 28 )
а.
their full Extent, not descending to
Fraction of less than One-Fourth per Cent.
If such there be, it may go over
to and make part of the Dividend of the
next Half-Year.
any such
Any person, since the publication of
the Reports of the Committees of Survey
of the Houses of Lords and Commons,
may conjecture,* and may shrewdly guess,
but none but the Directors, and some of
their Accountants, certainly know, the real
state and circumstances of the Company.
It is necessary that a general state of the
Company's affairs, with an account of the
half-yearly income and expenditure, should
be laid before the Proprietors at their Ge-
neral Court; otherwise, how can Gene-
ral Courts, which are ordained to be called
and held twice in every year, for con-
de Canicatul
Couranioara fiftimate page 27
( 29 )
sidering the general state and condition
of the Company, and for making Divi-
dends of all and singular the profit of the
Capital Stock, have any grounds for con-
sideration ?
It is the duty of the Court of Direc-
tors to lay before the Court of Propri-
etors such Documents as may enable them
to judge of the state and condition of the
Company, and of the Dividend that is
to be declared. It is a duty which the
Proprietors who attend the Court owe to
themselves and to their families, and to
the stranger,* to the widow, and to the or-
.
* There are about 2,500 Proprietors of Bank-Stock;
of which, about 4 or goo are foreigners residing at Am-
sterdam, Rotterdam, Antwerp, Brussels, Frankfort,
Switzerland, Genoa, and other places abroad. There
are about 260 widows, and 330 spinsters.
( 30 )
phan, whom they virtually represent, to
investigate these Documents, to revise and
regulate the expenditure, to examine into
the state and condition of the Corpora-
tion, that, if found prosperous, each Part-
ner may reap his share of the benefit ;
and; if the reverse, that timely remedies
may be applied. If this had been done,
“ what has happened would not have hap-
s
pened."
This disclosure of the state of the af
fairs of the Company is also necessary
for preventing any undue advantage being
taken, by those who have an opportu-
nity of knowing the real state of the
Company, over those other Proprietors who
do not.
I most readily allow, that the present
Directors are men of integrity and ho-
but itinar hannen that some of
nar
( 31 )
their successors may neither think it un-
fair nor dishonourable to avail themselves
of their knowledge of the Company's af-
fairs; and, finding them to be in such a
prosperous state as to admit of proposing
an increase of Dividend of two or three
per cent. which would naturally advance
the price of Stock very considerably, it
would be a very great temptation for them
to purchase as much Stock as they pos-
sibly could, from the Proprietors ignorant
of this circumstance, prior to the Gene-
ral Court at which such proposal of in-
crease of Dividend was to be made; and,
by this means, advance their own fortunes,
at the expense of the other Partners of
the Company
Now, the laying the state of the Com-
pany's affairs before the Proprietors, and
making Half-Yearly Dividends of the whole
profits, will put an end to all speculations
( 32 )
in the Company's Stock; for, it is not
to be supposed that the profits of one half-
year will so far exceed that of the pre-
ceding, as to prove a very great tempta-
tion for anyone to avail himself of his
knowledge of the circumstance.
1
I come now to the motion which I
am to submit to you on Thursday, the
14th, for an Account of the Charges of
Management, the Expense of Building,
and of all other Expenses.
I am told, but I cannot easily believe
it, that, if this motion should not be
agreeable to the Directors, some of the
Proprietors, though convinced of the pro-
priety of the motion, would not give it
their support, for fear of giving offence;
and might even oppose it, to court fa-
vour. If it were possible to conceive that
any of the Dronrietors could be so mean
.
( 33 )
and dastardly, I am certain the Direc-
tors would shrink from such rotten
sup-
porters, who must proceed upon the prin-
ciple, that the Directors are vindictive,
and would not, according to their duty,
“ be equal and indifferent to all manner
" of persons.”
I have considered it as my duty and
my interest to bring the motion forward.
You are all equally interested. You are
the arbiters of the fate of the motion.
se-
If it is carried, it
carried, it may do good. It
can do no harm. It calls for no
cret which ought to be concealed. It
affords the Court of Directors an oppor-
tunity of refuting the rumours which are
in circulation* with regard to the ex-
D
pense
* Many persons, who have their all in the Stock
( 34 )
pense of building, some of which I be-
lieve to be groundless.
I am
Your most obedient
humble servant,
ALEXANDER ALLARDYCE,
One of the Proprietors of the
Bank of England.
the comforts of life, to enable them to preserve their
Stock till better times. It may be worthy of the
consideration of the Court of Proprietors, whether it
would not be proper to suspend building for a time,
at least while the Bank suspends its payments, and
that the saving may go to increase the income of
those unfortunate persons, (which can only be done
by an increase of Dividend to them, in common with
the rest of the Proprietors,) and so enable thein to
encounter a very heavy additional tax upon income,
which is now coming forward. But, I trust, I shall
make it appear that a very considerable addition may
be made to the Dividend, without having recourse to
this expedient.
А
CONJECTURAL ESTIMATE
OF THE
ANNUAL INCOME
OF
THE BANK OF ENGLAND.
1
TH
HE Bank receives, from
Government, interest on
the Permanent Debt being
£44,400 more than the Ca-
pital Stock of the Bank, viz.
£11,686,800, at 3 per cent.
DA1. am
( 36 )
Brought over, £350,604
The Bank receives, under name
of House-Expenses
4,000
The Bank receives at the rate
of £450 per million, for
managing the Public Debt,
which, including the Impe-
rial Loan, Imperial, India,
and Irish, Annuities, and
converting the Government-
Annuities, (as the law di-
rects,) at 25 years purchase,
will far exceed 400 millions,
which will be still farther
increased by the operations
of the present year; but,
take it 400 millions, at £450
per
million
180,000
The Bank charge at the rate
of £805 15s. 10d. per mil-
( 37 )
Brought over, £534,604
lion for taking in the Loan.
Say only 20 millions
16,000
The Debt, due
from Govern-
ment to
the
BANK,
on
Land, Mait,
Exchequer-
Bills, &c. may
be averaged at
16 millions.
On the 25th
of February
,
1797, it was
£10,672,490
On the 11th
of November,
1797, it was
reduced to
£4,258,140
Carried over, £550,604
( 38 )
9
Brought over, £4,258,140,
The Bank have
since agreed to
advance,
land and malt, 2,750,000
And, on Ex-
chequer-Bills, 3,000,000
on
£10,008,140
'
Brought over, £550,604
Say, Government-Debt on Land,
Malt, Exchequer-Bills, &c.
10 millions, at 5 per cent. ; ,500,000
Loan to the East-India Co. on.
mortgage of £1,200,000. an-
nuity, £700,000, at 5 per
cent.
35,000
5
per
Cent. Annuities for Navy,
funded, £795,000
39,750
$
Carried' over, £1,125,354
( 39 )
Brought over, £ 1,125,354
5 per Cents, 1797, (Loyalty,)
1 million subscribed, at £112
10s. per cent.
56,500
American Debentures, 1790,
£50,000. Navy - Bills,
£15,000
3,250
Take the Average-Discount of
Mercantile Bills of Exchange
at 5 millions and 5 per cent. 250,000
£1,495,104
Out of which, the Bank pays
to the Proprietors a Dividend
of 7 per cent. per annum on
the Capital of £11,642,400, 814,968
Balance to be accounted for,
£820,136
In the above Estimate, I have chosen
to be rather within than beyond the truth.
( 40 )
There is hardly an item that will admit of
dispute but the last, of discounts on mer-
cantile Bills of Exchange, and that is
thought to be within the mark. If the Bank
gives the accommodation it ought to do to
merchants and manufacturers, it should be a
great deal more.
1
If the foregoing estimate is
near the truth, which I have
every reason to think it is, and
that the gross annual income of
the Bank is
.£ 1,435,104
instead of seven it would admit
of a dividend of ten per cent. on
the Capital Stock £ 11,642,400
among the Partners, which
would be
1,164,240
3
leaving a balance of .
.',
£270,864
which, being much more than sufficient to
pay the charge of managing the business of
are
( 41 )
the Company, the expenses of building, and
all other expenses, what remains may go
over to the hoard, for which the Court of
Directors have such an affection, but of
which I cannot see the use.
It would appear that this hoarding system
has not been of very long standing; for, the
hoard does not now amount to quite four
millions. Had the small sum of fifty thou-
sand pounds been set aside, each year, for
the first fifty-three years* since the esta-
blishment of the Bank, and the sum of one
hundred thousand pounds, each year, for
the next fifty years, to the present time, and
had been allowed to accumulate at the rate
of four per cent. per ann. compound-interest,
it would at this day have amounted to a sum far
beyond eighty millions; (I have not time to
* The Bank was established in 1694.
(- 42
)
calculate it exactly ;) by far too large à
sum, to be: entrusted to any corporation.
The act of Queen Anne,* therefore, wisely
prohibited. any accumulation of that kind,
and directed all the 'profits tº be divi-
ded amongst the Proprietors for the time
being.
:.
}
BYE-LAW
XII.
General Courts for Dividends, half-yearly.
Item, It is ordained, that, twice in every
year, a General Court shall be called and
held, for considering the general state and
condition of this Corporation, and for the
making of dividends out of all and singular
the produce and profit of the Capital Stock
and Fund of this Corporation, and the trade
thereof, amongst the several Qwners and
Proprietors therein, according to their several
shares and proportions; the one of which
1
* See the following page.
( 43 )
said Courts shall be held on some day, be,
tween the 10th* and 25th day of Septem-
ber; and the other on some day, between
the 10th and 25th day of March ; yearly.
Extract from the Act of the 7th year of Queen
Anne, (1708,) Chapter 7.
+
And be it farther 'enacted, That the origi-
nal fund of the said Governor and Company
of one hundred thousand pounds per annum,
before-mentioned; and all the profits, bene-
fit, and advantage, from time to time arising
out of the management of the said Corpora-
tion, and also the said annuity of one hun-
dred and six thousand five hundred and one
pounds thirteen shillings and four-pence,
and likewise the said allowance of three
pounds per centum per annum, for circula-
ting the Exchequer-Bills, to be made out by
* Old style.
( 44 )
virtue of this act, shall (the charges of ma-
naging the business of the said Governor
and Company only excepted) be applied,
from time to time, to the uses of all the
members of the said Corporation, for the
time being, rateably, and in proportion to
each member's part, share, and interest, in
the common capital and principal stock of
the said Governor and Company of the
Bank of England.
THE END.
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
!
3 9015 01672 8076
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