This Essay
is

A glimpse at the activities during the so-called Middle Ages of the part of the International World of Money Changers that might have been known as “The Bullion Brokers”.  It is followed by a glimpse of their attack on the very institution of Kingship in Britain via the Execution of Charles I on January 30th, 1649;  apparently on the orders of Oliver Cromwell.  It is pointed out that the Acts of Parliament of 1663 and 1666 that followed shortly after this event, and by which this same above-mentioned group secured the legalization as through a reestablished throne, for their previously criminal activities related to the melting and export of the British silver coinage, were very much linked to the operations of the Goldsmith’s frauds now becoming known under the impressive euphemism of “Banking”.  Finally the situation and atmosphere leading up to the establishment of the extraordinary institution known as “The Bank of England” in 1694 as by William and Mary is looked at.  The Act by which this establishment came to be would seem therefore to establish the legality of the previous operations of the Goldsmiths, where such had not existed before, and of any future such operations.

by
David Astle
This essay also includes a copy of the Charter of
“ THE BANK OF ENGLAND ”

CHAPTER I

Until the Act of Parliament of 1666 in England giving free coinage of gold and silver without limit to anyone who presented the same to the Royal Mint in the Tower of London,[1] the branch in England of the international organization of bullion brokers, large scale money lenders, and their lesser satellites:  billioneurs, coin clippers, counterfeiters, etc., for the most part operated as a sub-rosa organization.  Interference with the King’s money in any way, was punishable by severe penalties, and most efficient Kings had some idea of their responsibility in this matter.  The moneyer was the humble servant of the ruler, at least on the surface, and often may have tendered genuinely sincere advice;  especially when the ruler was one not slow to deal with enemies of himself and the peoples he represented before almighty God.  Outstanding amongst Rulers who had awareness of the meaning of the issuance of money relative to the stability and very existence of sovereign power, seem to have been Charlemagne, Athelstan of England, Phillip I of France, Akbar the Great in India, Louis 9th of France, Catherine of Russia, and, above all, the Rulers of the Chinese Imperium.

In most states of any importance, the import or export of the money metals was strictly controlled, if not forbidden.  Especially in the case of the precious metals, as metal was money, and money was metal, if there was no metal, there was no money.  If no money metal was permitted to enter or leave the country, apart from the loss due to wear and tear, any sharp drop in the circulation evinced by noticeably falling prices would as likely as not be due to money lenders reducing their loans and clandestinely melting the metal, and shipping it to other parts, or hoarding and burying it.  This condition existed in England prior to 1292 A.D. when the great castles of North Wales were built on issues of stamped leather money due to the poverty[2] of the Exchequer so far as metal was concerned.  The pity herein was that Edward 1st had not realized the full potential of what he had brought about.  He had built several great castles:  Carnarvon, Conway, and Beaumaris, at little more cost than the stamping of pieces of leather.  Labour had been paid and fed and clothed and a growing prosperity in North Wales made the acceptance by the Welsh Lords of the son of the King of England as Prince of Wales, that much easier...

Saving of the metal currency was not illegal, although when it was of such an extent that it could be called hoarding, it obviously would be frowned upon.  Money lending at interest, so far as a Christian was concerned, was in the main, illegal from the point of view of Church law although this attitude was circumvented in many ways.[3]  Money lending and its accompanying usury seemed however to be in the hands of persons not of the Christian Faith prior to the Fourteenth Century.

When Kings permitted the activities of money lenders etc., amongst their peoples, invariably the money lenders working as an association amongst themselves, quickly ended up with a large part of the precious metal money such as had circulated, and too often the ownership by mortgage and foreclosure, of worthwhile properties in both the city and in the country...  Regardless of the rights and wrongs of the matter, it was very simple mathematics to see that out of ten men who have been loaned one unit at ten per cent interest per annum, one of them at least much lose his pledge at the end of the year.  Too often an associate of the money lenders would have secured the tax farm, to make matters worse.

When such money lending was permitted, the rates however were not ten per cent.  They varied from 33% in the case of Princes and Noblemen with extensive estates, to 300% in the case of working men borrowing against their tools of trade or household chattels[4]... A corrupt combination of minter, tax gatherer, and money lender, in relatively short notice, could obviously drain off most of the previous metals from the circulation, or by exchanges of others of their trade in foreign countries, could make enormous profits according to varying ratios of gold to silver etc.  There is little enough evidence as to how it was done but it appears that often no transfer of actual metal funds was involved.  It also would appear likely that the tax yield was used as the basis for speculations.  The sharp changes in the ratio that occurred at Paris during the 14th Century from time to time, particularly reveal this likelihood.  In the year 1310 A.D. the ratio at Paris was altered twice:  in the earlier part of the year on January 27th, it was 15.64, and on the same day it became 19.55.  In the year 1313 A.D. it was 14.37 on August 25th, becoming 19.28 on September 8th of the same year.[5]  With the ratio at Venice remaining consistent (say), then it is clear that a very fertile ground existed for the activities of moneyers and money changers operating on an international scale, for profitable speculation etc.  Whether Kings or their tax farmers profited most out of these manipulations cannot be known with absolute certainty but the enormous fortunes of the controllers of the tax farms in the Spanish Christian states[6] and also in France about that time, would perhaps give an indication.  The figures given above for the changes in the ratio during 1310 A.D. and 1313 A.D. are for the period immediately following the expulsion of the Jews from the territories of Phillip IIIrd of France in the year 1306 A.D.[7] when there would very likely have been a desperate monetary shortage as too often it was such desperate monetary shortage that gave rise to the attacks on the Jews regardless that the majority of them knew little about such matters, and were little involved if at all.  However, it may reasonably be assumed that the drastic changes mentioned above in the ratios as for gold to silver were influenced by forces not particularly concerned with the good of the states involved.

By and large, the fundamental laws regarding money issuance were reasonably understood during the “Middle Ages” by loyal moneyers and minters.  While undoubtedly an international organization of money manipulators never rested in the search for its own profit, there was a stronger force also at work concerned with maintaining the true order of society, the meaning of Kingship in relation thereto, and the teachings of Christ as a guide to it all.  There is little doubt that it was known that increase in the circulation without increase in population generally led to rising prices;  which, while it meant that all were employed such as relied on industry for their livelihood, also meant that the holders of money that had been in circulation previous to the new issue, surrendered some of the goods and services which they had previously been able to command, to the holders of the new issues.  If such new money entered the circulation as from the King’s mint and was paid into circulation as against the expenses of the State (via purveyances, tally redemption, etc.), provided emission was properly regulated there would be little change in prices.  There was less fear from the consequences of a gentle increase in the volume of the currency circulating than from a reduction therein.  The laws against the export of precious metals in England prior to the time of Queen Elizabeth the 1st, had been strictly enforced.  The metallic circulation that by the end of the 13th Century had been reduced to an all-time low as evidenced by the use by Edward 1st of a leather coinage as mentioned above, had been carefully built up again as a result of the forbidding of merchants the right to move their credits back to the continent as metal, silver or gold.  Clandestine shipments there must have been but nothing serious as the international money men seem to have had little foothold in England at that time, and the English merchants would have strongly resisted their infiltration again via their various agents.  It was well understood in those days that a reduction in the circulation caused a lessening in the volume, and the number of exchanges, and consequently a collapse of trade which worked hardship on those classes that depended on their day’s pay for their daily bread.  Although the collapse in industry happened sooner, and unemployment created a situation where there was no money in the hands of the people to buy these same necessities of life, even though their price had fallen.

Long ago these simple matters of money were quite well understood, and Kings wishing to best serve their peoples, except they were in the hands of corrupt Ministers and minters, bore them always in mind.  The issue of the Unit of Exchange was the prerogative of the sovereign power above all other prerogatives, and although the rulers of the great fiefs also issued coinage, as did many Ecclesiastics,[8] there were no private persons, international or otherwise, permitted to strike coin on their own account, regardless of their wealth in metals.  Such persons could present metals at the mints where it would be coined up to a certain limit and a substantial seigniorage levied.  In a well ordered State such metal had to be sold to the mints as was compulsory with copper through a great part of Chinese history.[9]

Nevertheless, an international organization that dealt in money without a doubt, existed at all times, and whatever the risks.  If there was no profit in sojourn in London, why then ! there may have been profit in sojourn in Baghdad, Venice, Toledo, Cordova, Cairo, Frankfurt, or wherever you will !  While it often worked in conjunction with tax farmers, minters, counterfeiters, and undoubtedly often may have been such, it clearly was much concerned with the control of international trade, whether metals, money, merchandise, or slaves.  Counterfeiting of metal coinages was as big a business as it very well may be in this day in respect to paper notes, and so far as such metal coinage was concerned, mints worked full time at Padua,[10] Luxembourg,[11] and various other towns and States, turning out foreign coins for such markets as may have been favourable to such operations.  This counterfeiting went on continually, and was not necessarily an instrument of a War Power as can be today in respect to the paper issues of an enemy State.  In the counterfeiting operations of those who might have been known as Bullion Brokers, or at least their agents, the lesser coinages of day-to-day use were not neglected:  copper, brass, lead, pewter, potin, though not as important as the East to West, and West to East exchanges of gold and silver.  The relatively constant ratio of gold to silver was 6 to 1 all over the Arab world and in India,[12] while in France it often reached nearly 20 to 1,[13] as previously pointed out.  The extensive and perhaps never failing coinages in gold, of Constantinople or Byzantium, where the ratio varied between 12 to 1 and 15 to 1, are likely best explained by this movement.  Silver that had drained away from North of the Alps to Venice and Milan as against the sale of arms and luxuries to the nobility of the Frankish and Germanic States, moved to the Arab world;  either as coin from the mints of Padua, or as bullion.  There a large part of it, that is, the profit of the movement of the metal as would derive from the differing ratios, would remain, and later would find its way to Byzantium as gold bullion or coin;  the balance, sufficient to maintain the trade would return to Europe via Venice or Genoa as merchandise.

For a people hard-pressed in war with a foreign state which attacked them with superior weaponry, the solution as in today was to deal with the International Money Power such as existed, and be prepared to make any concession that they might be able to thus obtain the wherewithal in precious metals to purchase the arms and armour such as would help to bring victory.  The legend “Money is the sinews of War” undoubtedly was carefully sown amongst the States.  Conditions of the loans would be essentially usurious.  Those revenues by which the State maintained itself as in no way an oppressor of the people would be secured as collateral, and “suitable” appointments of tax gatherer and master minter would no doubt be demanded.  Perhaps one of the last times that such security was taken with an important State that nominally remained sovereign was in the securing of the loans made by the international ring of London, Paris, and St. Petersburg (after the suppression of the “Boxers” in 1900 A.D.) to the declining Manchu Dynasty in China, by those revenues essential to the independence of the Imperial throne such as the salt tax, and the customs duties, etc., although it also would seem that the same Imperial throne had lost understanding of its own rights in relation to the creation of the Chinese money supply.[15]  The more the revenues attached, the more the need to deal with the International Money Powers.  In the Middle Ages it would be no different than today.

But even though the international organization of private money creators (as it might be called) operated extensively at times and was influential in the destruction of Dynasties and States, in all the States that came into existence after the collapse of the Roman Imperium in the West, was never question of the legality of its principal activities, i.e. the melting of coinage for export to exploit varying ratios of gold to silver in other States or the import of counterfeit coins.  That is, at no time did private individuals get the right to augment or diminish the total circulation as suited themselves or their friends.  Such was the essence of the sovereignty of Kings, and during certain periods, of the great Nobility.  The extent of money issuance by a great feudatory was limited usually by the borders of his domain, and the amount of this issuance could to some degree mark the extent of his independence from his liege Lord, the King.  Such coinage as he issued would almost always be of the base metals and would be money for the people.  The King issued silver coinage and base metal, and after the absolute ending of any feelings of fealty to that which still was Rome following on the sack of Byzantium by the Crusaders in 1204 A.D., they issued gold coinage;  that is if they could obtain the gold.  However, the plunder of Byzantium brought large stocks of gold Westward, there is little doubt, and the gold deriving from the secret flow of silver Eastward, very likely found its way back Westward again where it would be safer than in the relative anarchy of the Middle East existing at that time.

CHAPTER II

“ This Emperor maketh no money but of leather imprinted or of paper.  And of that money some is of greater price and some of lesser price after the diversity of his Statutes.  And when the money hath run so long that it beginneth to waste, then men bring it to the Emperor’s treasury and then they take new money for the old.  And that money goeth throughout all the country and throughout all the provinces.  For there, and even beyond them, they make no money, neither gold or silver.”[16]

When the International Money Powers of that day saw that the Mongol conquerors of China, far from destroying the great Imperium long ago created by the founders of the HAN dynasty, were rebuilding it, and reorganizing its foundation;  monetary issuance as from the Head of State Himself, the Son of Heaven;  the same at virtually no cost to the state and therefore the people, it is more than likely they used every means in their power to prevent this knowledge spreading into Europe.  This same area in an indistinct way was their special fief while precious metal which they controlled right from the mining thereof to the minting into money, was money, and money was such precious metal.  Leather money had been used successfully by Edward 1st of England, Phillip 1st of France, Frederick 2nd at the siege of Milan in 1237 A.D.[17]  The City of Milan itself used paper money for quite some time after the siege, in imitation of the leather money of Frederick, and leather money was used by Charles the Wise of France,[18] and in conjunction with parchment notes, at Nijni-Novgorod in pre-Mongol days.  These Kings and States, however, instead of realizing that the issue of such currency, with proper control and precautions against counterfeiting, was the key to the absolute sovereignty of themselves and their peoples, they seem to have regarded these issues as temporary makeshifts.  However, Nijni-Novgorod appears to have been an exception.[19]  While, in order to escape from the exactions of International Money Powers, whether Templars, Cahors, Lombards or whoever, Kings actually subsidized alchemists in studies of possible methods of transmuting base metals into gold;  not realizing the answer was right under their noses in these pieces of leather.  Clearly, if their authority was sufficient to send great Nobility to the scaffold, or armies into the field to door die, it certainly was sufficient to order that suitably inscribed leather or paper pieces, should circulate as gold or silver formerly had so done.  It is clear that both Templars, Lombards, Cahorsins, etc., as Papal Bankers, worked in collaboration with whatever constituted the International Money Power of the times so far as this matter was concerned.  Gold and silver money, the origins and use of which they understood, they could control;  but leather or paper note issues direct from the source of sovereignty they could not control, or those Kings and States that issued them.

It would seem that they accordingly put their heads together and doubtless worked out policies that should relieve them of the fear of a paper money system spreading into Europe, not controlled by themselves.  Thus, it was not until the flood of new precious metals from the Americas as literally was torn off the backs of the unhappy natives[20] or, in some cases wrung from them by torture, set up a rise in prices all over Europe, accompanied by a ferment of growth, and speculation, and revival and study of a neglected past, particularly of Greece and Rome, that much attention was paid to this subject.

The Budelian essayists[21] of Florence and elsewhere, were endeavouring to revive in the minds of Rulers the conception of money as the ancients had often understood it:  as an instrument of the law, not necessarily having intrinsic value so-called;  merely a token indicating by the number of units inscribed thereon, a certain value in the exchanges;  being thus paid into the exchanges by the needs of the State and the Ruler.  Money created and paid into circulation as such, obviously obviated much of what is known as taxes and put the State and its Ruler above and clear of all private interests;  especially those which naturally developed in relation to money lending.

Understanding of the power for good or evil inherent in monetary issuance, prior to the Punic wars there seems to be little record of States permitting the private illimitable issuance of money, in one form or the other such as virtually exists today.  However, in the cases of Rome, a clear instance of the existence of such activity exists in the fact that after Scipio, the Equestrian order were entitled to free unlimited coinage at the public mints.[22]  This amounted to private monetary issuance especially after the granting of the monopoly of silver mining to private interests by Julius Caesar,[23] and of copper mining to such private interests by Nero.  So far as Ancient Greece is concerned there seems to be little enough evidence of private monetary emission either by free unlimited coinage at public mints or open operation of private mints.  However, the following quotation from Nicholas of Damascus[24] in respect to the activities of merchants of Lydia suggests that such indeed did take place:

“ Sadyattes, Theocharides, Pamphaes, Pythias, wealthy guardians of treasure, possessing the confidence of the public who, as well as Princes, envied their riches, struck monetary ingots in the doorway of their counting houses.”

The prohibitions that existed against the creation of a monetary circulation by the activities of merchants, goldsmiths,[25] etc., unlawfully creating receipts as against valuables supposedly on deposit for safe keeping, indicate that such (criminal) practices had undoubtedly occurred and reoccurred throughout the tale of long lost civilizations.  Who knows, perhaps such practices had been the root cause of the increasing debility that brought about their final extinction !  That there was evidence of similar activities amongst so-called reputable merchants, in both Greece[26] and Rome,[27] would suggest that the true need of Rulers and States had been the suppression of the circulation of PROMISES of money itself or as representing valuables supposedly on deposit for safekeeping;  money in true definition being the emissions of the King’s mint, and as being therefore devices promulgated by the Ruler to facilitate exchanges.

CHAPTER III

The sub-rosa organization of the International Money Power, as it might come to be called towards the ending of the so-called Middle Ages, now had to act fast if the tremendous power inherent in paper money issuance was not to be realized by some King of greater understanding and learning than the majority of them, and who might in no way be their friend, and so all their underground control of money metals as an instrument of their secret rule as built up during the so-called Dark Ages and Middle Ages, be rendered meaningless.  Issues of inconvertible paper money as merely the Will of the King, could not be controlled by them as things were, in the same way as they had controlled the precious metal issues, through control of its mining and through one device or another.  The only way they could influence them as things were, would be by large scale counterfeiting, which, as a long term policy, they saw would never suffice.  Such direct issues were already being experimented with by Oliver Cromwell, formerly a servant of theirs, in his “BILLS OF PUBLIC FAITH”;[28] also by the King of France.  A paper issue had been made in Spain at the siege of Alhama in 1434 A.D. by Count Tendilla;[29] some two hundred years after what had been a most difficult time for them, Milan made similar use of paper issues.[30]  In the early North American Colonies, experiments were being made in paper notes redeemable in land;  which still failed to show understanding of this that the paper note was but the inherent Will, Intent, and Expression of the Ruler, being but a record of the creation of so many Units of Exchange to be used to promote exchanges throughout the self-contained armed Sovereign State.  Any scheme for redeemable paper money (whatever that really might mean), as against inconvertible paper money, seemed to receive some encouragement.  Just as the people had been trained through the ages to think of money as precious metal, and precious metal as money, so they could be trained to think of paper money as representing — dare they hope it could come to be ? as their gold, or their silver !  So any scheme was promoted in regards to paper money issuance which further put a cloud between Kings and councillors, and the true secret of absolute Sovereign Power which still lay in the market place waiting to be noticed, namely, the issuance of monetary tokens of relatively no intrinsic value, such as would be the case with suitably printed paper tokens, entered into the circulation by way of payment as against State expenditures or in some cases, actually being loaned into circulation in such wise as to maintain the absolute control and being of the State.[31]  “ After the fall of Constantinople in 1204 A.D., the prerogative of the Roman Emperor fell into the hands of the numerous potentates who erected their crowns upon the ruins of the Empire, and its maintenance became the source of numerous contests with the inferior Noble, who, in their ignorance and avidity, would fain have retained a right, which so long as it remained in their hands, rendered the erection of Kingdoms, and therefore the recognition and due support of their own Nobility, impossible.  The process of Phillip Le Bel against the Comte de Nevers, emphasized this view of the subject very clearly.  Before the discovery of the Americas, private coinage was everywhere suppressed, and the essential prerogative of money became vested and centered in the various crowned heads who governed the States of Europe.

It was not long after that great event, when avidity awoke to a new life over the spoils of a plundered continent, that attempts were renewed to snatch the prerogative of money from the State.  This time it was not the truculent Noble who impudently claimed a right that had once belonged to the Caesars, and boldly exercised it in defiance of the Crown, but the sneaking billioneur who stealthily sought to acquire it through the arts of falsehood, intrigue, and forgery.”[32]

With the realization of the immense power to be gained ultimately over all mankind could they but tie the issue of paper money to their long established control over the precious metals, it became clear to the organization of what by now might be known as an International Money Power, backed by its satellites the billioneurs, coin clippers, counterfeiters, etc., that just as they had risked much to gain semi-legal status for their issues of (fraudulent) receipts as against precious metals on deposit for safe keeping, both through their agents the goldsmiths of London, and through their Institution at Amsterdam known as the Bank of Amsterdam, they should risk more again and redouble their efforts towards gaining legal status for such issues in England.  The cost in gold and silver money should present no problem for such would soon be once again in their coffers !  Could they but secure a firm foothold in the island Kingdom that for so long had repulsed them:[33] a land rich in silver money, warlike and simple men, and seamen and ships, with such a foothold based on a virtually absolute control of paper money issuance, what a vista would be before them !  This time they might say with some assurance:  the World !

So the subtle Spanish financiers of Amsterdam,[34] as Macauley, the Historian described them, worked out their plans.

In the world they saw ahead, and with them issuing all money, as by its being but paper promises of gold or silver, and therefore manipulated by their actual gold and silver, there would be little need for Kings.  So they commenced an underground attack on the very institution of Kingship, and its essential meaning in relation to control of money issuance.  The demotion of Kings from the position in which they were the absolute authority, the expression of God’s will upon this earth, had somehow to be achieved, and if achieved, so at least they thought, would set them and theirs above all Kings and earthly sovereignty.  Additional to the “bogey” of “The People” such as they had set up in the past, they would add a new one which doubtless had already been dreamed up:  “The Proletariat”, whatever that word should mean !  Those whose votes would elect Presidents of Parliaments, Senates or Councils, guided by their Money Power, would be their instruments !  As they were already training the European masses;  who knows ? perhaps with the concurrence of the Church, and particularly in England, to regard the main purpose in life, to be that of “Making Money”, control of these assemblies would be easy, as none would be elected thereto except they acknowledged by word or deed, their hand which could give all, or with Money as the only desirable thing in life, take all.

The peoples who toil on from day to day would be as lost sheep, with no bellwether to lead them except the illusion of the “Dictatorship of the Proletariat”, etc., the illusion of the rule of the “People”.  Obviously contemptuous of all natural rule such as that of Kings, with whom they never could be one, as much on account of the destruction that Doom itself seemed to compel them to plan, they would be the only guide even though unseen as such.

If the right to issue and regulate the coinage and indeed, all money, was the essential right of Kingship, then in a world where Kings had become demoted to their doormen or lackeys, such as they permitted to survive, they themselves:  coin clippers, billioneurs, counterfeiters now euphemistically known as Bullion Brokers or “The International Bankers” would be the Kings !  Perhaps from their midst they might set up an Emperor of the world itself !  Like all would-be World Conquerors, they dreamed and dreamed of endless Messianic Rule !

Meanwhile, towards the above mentioned purposes, the goldsmith’s practice of issuing fraudulent receipts against precious metals or valuables supposed to have been deposited with them for “safe keeping”, besides being used to tie many powerful noblemen to their cause, was already becoming a factor in the growth of “Moneyed Men” in the City of London.  Receipts were being issued to the value of ten times the worth of precious metals on deposit, and still there seemed to be no reason to fear exposure.  Great Nobility were becoming implicated and the goldsmiths were taking care that the heads of all powerful interests in Church and State were becoming involved.  “Banking”, as they were now describing their activities, seemed to be a good thing, and the men operating it worthy men, Godly, and sober, who never sought to move above their station in life by wearing the cloth of Nobility, or adopting their manner.  So Kings and Nobles accepted the help eagerly offered them by the conspirators, and understanding not the nature of their activities, they conveniently turned a blind eye.

So the men of Amsterdam saw this, and it looked good to them.  A goldsmith who had reason to fear exposure of the fact that he had none or insufficient gold to meet the demands of those who had deposited gold with him for safe keeping as against his receipt, would run to them for the gold he was needing in a hurry !  Needless to say, their terms would be no less severe than was customary.  By having their agents spread rumours at various times, first against one goldsmith or “Financier” as members of this fraternity were now becoming known, and then against another, there would be little doubt that this class of persons would have become beholden to them in more or less degree.

All of this position that they had arrived at was good indeed, and more than that, they were fast training Kings and councillors and their peoples to accept as inevitable and natural, the idea of this “Banking” via the goldsmiths (criminal) activity of multiple receipts for precious metals supposedly on deposit for safe keeping, and such practice under this description was becoming indurated into a fixture in England particularly.  However, this stage was but a step on the road they thought lay ahead for them.

The first main step was the RIGHT to issue metal money, precious or otherwise.  The second step was the RIGHT to issue paper money pinnacled on the hoards of precious metal that they controlled as through their agents, the goldsmiths, and at little more cost to them than paper and printing !  Both the experience of the Bank of Amsterdam, earlier experience from out of ages long gone by, more recent restricted experience from time to time in the great commercial cities of the Western world such as Venice, Florence and Genoa etc., had proved the possible realization of this dream, and were paving stones on the road they trod towards final fulfilment.

CHAPTER IV

By the middle of the 17th Century the metallic wealth of the Incas had been pouring into Europe for a full century and a half.  Although its extraction from these unhappy people had been throughout the monopoly of Spain, it seemed that Spain little profited thereby and no sooner did the precious metal hoards arrive in the Peninsula, such as escaped the buccaneers,[35] when the demands of external creditors quietly sent this gold and silver on its way again to pay contractors, armourers, shipbuilders, soldiers, captains and crews involved in the endless foreign wars into which Spain had been drawn, it very well might be suspected, by the manoeuvres of those to some extent, who had lately called themselves Spaniards.  These same people who had left Spain in a hurry as a result of the edicts of Isabella in the year 1492 A.D., made sure, no doubt, that they retained the services of secret agents well placed in the councils of the Kings of Spain and Portugal.  The complete draining of the precious metals from these countries almost as soon as the Plate ships arrived,[36] would not have been possible except that their Kings had been exposed to councillors, either corrupt, or intentionally misleading.  Though the export of precious metals was interdicted, little stayed in Spain.[37]  It moved out, legally, or illegally.  There were more Spanish doubloons circulating in England and France,[38] by a long way, than in Spain.  It seems that the agony of the destruction of the Aztec and Inca civilizations merely financed the fiasco of the Armada and the useless wars in which Spain was involved in the Netherlands and also in Italy.  Consequently the gold and silver plunder which was the main cause of the destruction of these civilizations that indeed God seemed to have abandoned, almost all found its way to the coffers and collateral portfolios of, what very well might be called an International Organization of usury still centred at Amsterdam, though doubtless preparing for a major move to London.  Thus, so far as the Peninsula was concerned, there was little change in the value of money, except in the vicinity of the busier ports.  So far as the peasantry were concerned, they neither saw silver nor gold money.  Some of the nobility, however, receiving some share of the plunder, had themselves made gold or silver dinner services, etc.[39]

But in Northern Europe the flood of precious metals entering from Spain and Portugal, clandestinely or otherwise, would have created a sharp increase in commercial activity accompanied by a feverish rise in prices;[40]  which rise in prices would have been intensified by the flood of fraudulent goldsmiths’ receipts etc., inflated by the rapidly increasing deposits of the buccaneers, privateers, etc., into whose hands fell as much as 20% of the cargoes of the Plate ships[41]  This flood of goldsmiths’ receipts circulating in ever increasing volume, though its value was based on a fiction, came to function as new wealth.  Becoming indurated into a fixture, the toadies[42] of this “system” deriving from theft, murder, chicanery, lies, and deceit, ennobled it with the imposing Euphemism (which they had undoubtedly invented) known as “CAPITAL” !

Merchants selling goods to Spain, the manufacture and export of which were both financed by the goldsmith’s “Credits” (!), required gold and silver to complete the balance of trade unfavourable to Spain.  The goldsmiths sought repayment in actual gold and silver, where previously there had been no more than a fraudulent ledger entry.  To discourage merchants or buccaneers or privateers from taking their Spanish bullion to the Royal Mint in the Tower of London in the event that they did not have to meet collateral notes etc., the goldsmiths paid 2d a pound more than the price of such Royal Mint.[43]  While this measure served to keep coinage out of the country, and consequently held prices down, it also increased the desire of the people for the paper promises of precious metals which were being loaned to them as money, and handsomely paid the goldsmiths in this respect, that to meet the bullion demands of their East Indian trade, they would not have to suffer the loss caused by the fact that almost all the hammered silver coins in circulation, had been clipped;  suffering a loss by weight of almost 50%.  The irony of which was that the clipping had as likely as not been done by their fathers or themselves !

At this point it may be appropriate to quote from Alexander Del Mar an opinion of the situation existing about 130 years ago, and of its likely cure.  With relatively little alteration, a similar opinion could be expressed of the world-wide monetary situation today.  The quote from Del Mar is as follows:

“ I would not have it inferred from these remarks that I prefer silver to gold for a general Measure of Value.  A general or universal Measure of Value is a chimera invented by the bankers of Threadneedle Street to foist their metallic scheme upon the world and render their city the centre of a system of cosmopolitan barter.  A national Measure of Value, consisting of silver metal (“free coinage” system) is but little better than one of gold metal.  No metal as such can measure value with precision or equity.  This is what Money alone can effect;  and if there were no question of policy in the matter, I should advocate a monetary system independent of metals.  But the monetary question is a practical and political one.  We cannot ignore history;  we cannot ignore the status quo;  and as the status quo is a complex metal and paper system based upon history, law and practical politics, the most that can be done is to reform it in the interest of the Government, that is to say, of the people.  For the present I would advise a return to the coinage laws prior to 1873 and the retirement of bank notes, to be replaced by Greenbacks.“  (History of Monetary Crimes, p.15).

However, in these days that follow on the two all destructive wars, clearly designed to be world-wide with their incredible sequence of events suggesting a drive towards World Government, there is a growing suspicion that perhaps the real control of the European and American money world does not lie in Threadneedle Street, but with certain private banks (so called) hidden in the (sick) dream world that is present day Switzerland with all its enticements to the corrupt of so-called democratic governments worldwide;  from the Government of a village to that of a great State !  To return to Alexander Del Mar and his study of the growth of “banking” in the 17th Century:

“ With the downfall of Charles I, the Company (The East India Company) was almost extinguished.  Its aggressiveness and avidity had procured it many enemies and rendered it so unpopular that in 1655, Cromwell annulled its exclusive privileges and declared the oriental trade open to all Englishmen.  Two years later the Company influence with the Council of State was sufficient to induce the Protector to renew its monopoly.  In 1662 Charles II confirmed this renewal, and, for a corrupt consideration, permanently established this company of money-changers, filibusters, privateers, and bullies.  From that year dates a new order of men in England.  The Estates formerly consisted of the Crown, the Church, the Lords, and the Commons.  To these were now added the “Financiers” or Billioneurs who have since entirely swallowed the others.  Originally the “Financiers” consisted of 215 monopolists under the title of “The East India Company”.  They now comprise the entire world of money changers and bankers.  This cosmopolitan band threatens the peace of mankind.  (History of Monetary Crimes, p.9).

Was there yet another force deeply hidden in the mountains and passes of middle Europe, whose control of these criminal people such as above mentioned, was but part of a web that they had spun up over the centuries ?

A question to be asked is:  What happened to the Money Power after its expulsion from England in October, 1290 A.D., by Edward I ?  The first four “Swiss” “Cantons” were established in 1291 of which fact there is no missing the significance.  It might be asked:  to what extent were the financial activities of the main European trade centres throughout history, including Amsterdam in the 17th Century, controlled by Swiss(?) policies ?  These policies clearly show political design from Napoleon onwards, or, indeed, before.

The neutrality of Switzerland throughout all the ghastly and exterminative wars and revolutionary disturbances of the last century, and that so many international bodies, forerunners of departments in a World Government under design, have been centred there, gives further room for thought.  The control of world-wide industries by relatively trifling banks in provincial Switzerland such as a substantial part of an almost world-wide control of the concrete and aggregates trade by Holderbank of Glarus, a small town of 5000 or so in Eastern Switzerland, gives considerable room for thought.[44]

CHAPTER V

The voyages of the great English pirates:  Drake, Anson, etc., were an early evincement of the growing strength of that which may have been a branch of an International Money Power wherever situated.  Everyone was dreaming up a way to secure a share in the “wealth of the Indies” which Spain was supposed to have monopolized, and against which State, whether there was war or not, there was an unremitting propaganda of hate set up in the rest of Europe;  particularly in Britain.  War with Spain was good.  So clearly the men of Amsterdam and their satellites in the City of London, thought.  Through such war the gold would pour out to pay for heavy arms which would not be obtainable except as against payment in precious metal.

Amongst the big money men emerging at that time in the City of London were those who listened receptively to certain voices that told them that the Lord would not look unfavourably upon such as could rid the land of its proud King, and leave it to be governed by themselves and their friends! Worthy and Godly men !

The idea was undoubtedly spread amongst the merchants and semi-criminal elements involved with money, who via the goldsmiths’ rackets were acceding to great wealth and power, and that such wealth illegally (and ignobly) gotten, would never be safe under a Monarchy.  The Puritan attitude which most of them espoused, was often a screen behind which jealous men hide themselves while secretly they prepare an instrument to tear down those who were their superiors and Rulers.  While Kings remained they knew they would never be safe, and the Money Power conspiring in Amsterdam or wherever it really was, doubtless made sure that they did not forget this shadow which hung over their lives.  Of this new wealth by which these men were taking over the lovely country homes of England and their broad acres, John Locke wrote in a letter to an M.P. regarding reduction of interest rates (1696 A.D.):  “... and what a part of our treasure their skill and management, joined with others laziness or want of skill, is apt to draw into their hands, is known by these vast sums of money they were found to owe at the shutting up of the Exchequer.  And though it be very true, and yet it is beyond belief that one private goldsmith of London should have credit upon his single security, (being usually nothing but a note under one of his servants hands) for above eleven hundred thousand pounds at once.  The same reasons will still keep on the same trade...”  This amount, though trifling today (relatively), was wealth beyond imagination !  Such has been the effect of the unbelievable inflation of the volume of money in circulation as by the goldsmiths, and later as by the Bank of England, and of which William Patterson gleefully said at the time of its founding:  “The bank has benefit to the interest on all monies which it creates out of nothing.”[45]

So while the goldsmiths still ruled the roost in the City of London, the commercial magnates grown rich out of their fraudulent receipts for gold reputedly on deposit for safe keeping, were saying behind closed doors:  “Who is this velvet clothed fop with his curled hair who we are forced to accept as our Lord !  When any one of us, did he but know it, could buy him up several times !”  The voices from the subtle men of Amsterdam (or wherever it was) said, “Yes, who is he to you worthy hardworking men of substance! and look !  With him gone, you will have nothing further to fear.  There will be a war which this fellow Cromwell will win for us.  What will he know about money as we know it ?  He will be in our hands !  Cromwell did win the war for them.  The King, still planning what he considered would be for the good of his people, was locked up in the Tower.

“ The unsafe condition of a bank under a Monarchy ”:  thus was described the present situation of the London Money Power by Pepys;  and this thought no doubt troubled the otherwise dreamless sleep of these men and their satellites.  They had seen heads sliced of by the burly executioner themselves.  It was Charles’ head or theirs, there was little doubt !  So Charles ultimately came to lay his head on the block while the axe was raised;  never really understanding what or why had brought about his destruction.  For those men waiting in Amsterdam or wherever it was, a King had been executed before the eyes of the world like a common criminal and so far as the goldsmiths were concerned and all those connected with them, they were safe for yet a while !

Although it is doubtful that Cromwell knew little more about the devious ways of Money Power as it was now developing, than did poor Charles, it is doubtful also if the conspirators would have approached him on the matter which was next on the Agenda after his proving for them, before the eyes of the world that Kings too, were but mortal men and could be executed in the market place.  They knew he believed that what he had done, he had done out of the purest of motives and for the salvation of his country.  That he had agreed upon the execution of Charles was one thing, but in this other matter they knew that Cromwell was anything but their man.

But Charles II, the son of he who they had destroyed:  now a pensioner in the court of Louis XIV:  “Le Roi Soleil”.  Their agents studied him and saw that he was not deeply instructed in those matters in which, above all, a King should be instructed;  he was under corrupt influences, and was an easy prey of panders and such.  While understanding little about money and its relationship to the true meaning of Kingship, he was always going to be in need of money;  especially should he truly become a Monarch.  These distant schemers of perhaps some places unknown to us, or Amsterdam or Hamburg, or indeed perhaps of some little town, high in the Swiss Alps such as Glarus, such as, it may truly be suspected, there was centre for those who had escaped from Britain in 1290 with their gold and silver;  these men saw one over whose head would always hang the axe that had brought his father to a fateful end.  These subtle men, using Macauley’s description, knew that Charles II, fully aware of them and their secret power, would give them what they wanted;  wittingly or unwittingly he would be their agent against himself and the authority he exercised.

Thoughts of the uncertainty of their condition should true Monarchy return, continued to trouble the minds of the worthy goldsmiths of London.  Alas !  Kings were back !  Charles’ son had assumed rule in London.  The bodies of Cromwell, Ireton, and Bradshaw, had been exhumed, and decayed and putrid, were swinging on the gibbets of Tyburn !  Vengeance was afoot.  “Fear not !” said the agents of the Bullion Brokers of Europe, “He understands nothing, and if he does understand these matters, he will say that he does not.  Give him money !  It does not cost you anything !  If you should be deeply investigated and they wake up to realize what the nature of your operations really is, and what you have been doing with your customers’ deposits, why, indeed it would prove to be a very difficult situation for you.  But, of course, we are your friends !  You know we would lend you all the gold you needed in such case !  Just assist our agents in putting through this little Act we are preparing for your Parliament to pass and all will be well !  Sir Josiah Childs is with us, and you know how many members of your Parliament are counted amongst his friends !  Barabara Villiers, the King’s Mistress is with us.  A smart woman that;  she certainly has an eye for the main chance;  the Duke of Buckingham too, and many others are with us.  You worthy men know very well what could happen to you as a result of some unlooked for change in the wind !  What if the King’s successor should be a hard, instructed, and dedicated man ?  Not many Kings have been since we had a say in these things, but it could happen.  Your own safety and wealth are all that matters.  Feelings of loyalty or disloyalty are completely overshadowed in any case by the zeal of all of us to bring about the Lord’s rule here on earth such as we all plan.”

CHAPTER VI

Three years after the accession of Charles II to the throne, the thin end of the wedge was driven in with the passing into law of the Act to open the ports to the free import or export of foreign coins or bullion and without regulation.  Which indeed showed the nature of the concession required by the men of Amsterdam and whoever was behind them, to gain their assistance towards the return of Charles II to the throne of England.  It was entitled “An Act for the Encouragement of Trade:”[46]

XII Whereas, “ several and considerable advantageous trades cannot be conveniently driven and carried on without the species of money or bullion, and that it is found by experience that they are carried in greatest abundance (as to a Common Market) to such places as give free liberty for exporting the same, and the better to keep in and increase the current coin of this Kingdom, therefore let us resolve to let them freely go out.  In other words, after August 1st 1663, leave is given to export all foreign coins or bullion of gold or silver, free of interdict, regulation or duties of any kind.”[47]

Mixed with this strangely worded concession to what now must be called The International Money Power, and, on the surface, to the goldsmiths and billioneurs and coin clippers, was a gift to the Lords of England in respect to forbidding the import of cattle from Ireland.[48]  So little was understood of money and so corrupt had both houses become in the growing scramble for “wealth”;  especially since the death of the Protector, that had not one lone Nobleman raised objection, this Act, fraught with so many dire consequences for the Nation, would have slipped through both Commons and Lords scarcely noticed, like the handiwork of a pickpocket in a crowd.

In the words of the Earl of Anglesea, the one Nobleman raising serious objection:  “...it is dangerous to the peace of the Kingdom when it shall be in the power of half a dozen or half a score of rich discontented or factious persons to make a bank of our coin or bullion beyond the seas, for any mischief, and leave us in want of money when it shall not be in the King’s power to prevent it, nor to keep his Mint going because money will yield more from than at the Mint[49]...because a law of so great change is made perpetual and not probationary”.

In the latter stages of this Act, despite the corruption of a Parliament practically in the hands of the goldsmiths, led by Sir Josiah Childs, there was considerable opposition, thanks to the Earl of Anglesea, but a people who not long before would never have dreamed of passing such a dangerous Act into law, did so, and Charles, smiling enigmatically to himself, gave his Royal consent.

Immediately the extensive silver coinage of Britain began to pour out:  to Holland where the Ratio of gold to silver was 12.50, as against a Ratio of 13.35 in England;[50] but above all to India where in Madras the Ratio was 9 to 1, while in some parts of India it was a profitable as 6 to 1.

The International Money Power had obtained the right to drain off the money of the people of England, as through the goldsmiths’ hoards held in trust against their receipts, and for a large part their collaterals and contingent liabilities.  They had obtained the right to withdraw from circulation as much as the people could be brought to leave with the goldsmiths for “Safe Keeping”, and by the Act of 1663 to speculate with it in foreign parts or otherwise as they willed.  By such Act, they had obtained the right to raise or lower prices as the interests of themselves and their faithful servants dictated.

£600,000 (pounds) of silver coins melted into bullion left the realm the year following this Act passing through Parliament.[51]  The words “foreign coin” in the Act were merely the trick words to deceive the simple souls.  Obviously there was no way of knowing whether melted silver coins were English or foreign.  From then on, our enemies could use our money as much as ourselves ! and if they so willed, and the International Bankers were in agreement, they could use it against us.  The leaders of certain puritan religious sects, some with a somewhat anarchistic bent, now becoming corrupted as bankers and money lenders, even if they had not been such before, would not prevent them !  Nor did they.  They merely profited by them, and so long as they did not line up in the ranks of Death, in the case of the Quakers, they helped with the sick and wounded.  So much of “banking”, as the dealing in fraudulent goldsmiths’ receipts had euphemistically come to be called, too often, being founded on lies, chicanery, and deceit, obviously will know no loyalty except to itself, and the International Bullion brokers (bankers) to whom it has to go so quickly, when in the language of the so-called “Political Economists”, “CRASH” is imminent, i.e., in plain English:  the people want their money in gold or silver, and no longer promises of it will do.

But more was to come !  While Charles sought further amusements and dalliances (the Duchess of Richmond swiftly followed poor Barbara Villiers) and tried to play one power group off against another in what seemed to him to be Kingcraft;  while he instituted the Household regiments of cavalry as his personal bodyguard, and established a standing army and navy, whose loyalty was to him as the Sovereign, he still did not understand the meaning and importance of money in relation to his Sovereignty and therefore that of the people, and that the very measures as mentioned above were only going to drastically increase his need for money of the creation of which he had virtually surrendered his right and control as through the Acts of 1663 and 1666 which virtually gave sanction to the basically criminal operations of the goldsmiths.  Consequently, he was quite unable to deal with the London Money Power (and those behind it) who had been the real enemies of himself and his father and of the British people whose destiny he was born to uphold.

His first step after his accession to the throne was to grant the East India Company a renewal of their charter without consent of Parliament, and permission to export a further £50.000 of silver coinage per annum.  After many further corrupt transactions with all kinds of people with whom he should not have had any dealings of any nature, he gave Royal consent to the Bill above mentioned, which, in reality was tantamount to permission to export the whole coinage.  But worse than all that, he repudiated Cromwell’s Bills of Public Faith,[52] as issued by the Commonwealth, and which were merely State issued paper money and inconvertible.  By judiciously issuing limited amounts of these same Bills and tying them to a renewal of the ancient system of State control and finance as indicated by the Tallies,[53] he could have steadily lifted himself clear of his real enemies.  As it was, he seemed determined to build them up even further, and with the Act of 1666 he finally surrendered the whole coinage to the agents of the International Cabal now strongly located on Threadneedle Street.

No Englishman would ever had dreamed of surrendering the right of coinage to any private person or group;  neither King nor councillor would have been party to such retreat from Sovereignty, that is, if they really had understood what they were doing.  Once this right is surrendered, the power to recall it fast disappears;  for those to whom it is surrendered will obviously use their first issues to firmly consolidate their position, and to make sure that all key positions in finance department and treasury will be held by persons suitable to the needs of the conspiracy under way.  In other words, persons who will not look too closely at the direction from which their best advantage is being derived, and who, therefore might be classified as willing agents.  In the case of private persons having successfully misappropriated that essence of Sovereign power which is the creation of money, then that which will now appear to be Kingship will be but a wavering mirage held up before the gaze of the people in order to blind them to the fact that in reality all has been lost.  Necessarily the natural aristocracy must be removed;  stealthily or otherwise;  the noble and selfless are thrust down by withholding them favours, and the base and self-concerned, such as will not question the source of their new prosperity, are raised up.

So quietly this seemingly unimportant Act was slipped through Parliament:

A In his speech to the King, the speaker of the House presumably as well purchased as the rest would be in what was a special age for corruption, put it thus:

“ We find your Majesty’s Mint not so well employed as formerly;  and the reason is because the fees and wages of the officers and workmen are in part paid out of the bullion that is brought to be coined there and what is wanting is made up by your Majesty.  We have therefore for the ease of your Majesties and those that bring in any bullion or plate to be coined there, made another provision, as by an imposition upon wines, brandy and cider imported from any foreign nation.”  In this Act, in a manner that could only have come from our late Spaniards, the subtle men of Amsterdam, the scandal of the King’s private life was actually dragged in to divert the attention of Parliament from the main purpose of the Act.  A life pension of £600.00 per annum was granted to Barbara, the King’s Mistress, instead of the unstable 2d per pound of silver coined at the Mint to which she had previously been entitled by Royal settlement.  Considering that from then on very little silver found its way to the Mint on account of the bankers paying 2d per pound more than the price offered by the Royal Mint, Barbara made good exchange !

The Act whereby Charles gave the RIGHT of free, illimitable coinage to the secret International Cabal, which we now describe as The International Bankers, who were the main force behind the East India Company and the goldsmiths of London, was a surrender of the essence of the Sovereignty of the British people to this same International Cabal.  Henceforward private persons could bring silver or gold to the Mint and demand that it be coined as in the name of the British people and their King, regardless of who brought it, where it came from, and how such coins were afterwards to be used and where it was to go.  All this was to be at no cost for themselves.  That this Act was intended for no others than the so-called “bankers”, was clearly shown by the setting of a minimum limit to the amount of metal which would be accepted of £10.000.  In other words, the London Mint became from then on the agency, or better put, the private Mint for the International Cabal, or in the misleading euphemism of today:  “The International Bankers”.

The British people from then on were incidental in what was a global operation.  They supplied armies, ships and a hardy race of men to man them.  Also, alas ! through it all their full share of mealy mouthed traitors to that which above all might have been their own will and destiny fulfilled.  As the events recorded above unravelled and their metal coinage which then was still their life’s blood disappeared from circulation, why now !  The worthy goldsmiths or bankers down the road were always ready to help any worthwhile cause with some of their (fraudulent) receipts for precious metals reputedly on deposit, so long as there was substantial property or whatever, offered to them as “collateral”.  There was no shame in this !  Everyone was doing it from the King down and, of course, where war required solid gold, the men of Amsterdam were more than ready to help.  Indeed when William III required a relatively small amount of gold in 1692 for the purposes of his war in Ireland, no doubt a small part of the profit on the exchange of the English silver that had been shipped out of the country for the past 29 years, they promptly came up with some of the amount required.  Their front men:  Messrs Houblon, Godfrey, Huband, Gore, Scawen, Furnese, William Patterson, etc., were overwhelmed with delight and glee when they surveyed the extent of the concessions they secured on account of this loan:  outstandingly what was in reality the RIGHT of illimitable issue of paper money (promises to pay), from an organization to be named, incredible though it may be,:  “ THE BANK OF ENGLAND ” though totally privately owned.  Its franchise permitted it to accept as “collateral” the goods and services of the British People against its paper loans and to charge interest thereon.  All this bounty was to cost them no more than paper ink and printing press.  The agreed on limit had been twelve times the amount of the gold loaned to the King in the first place, but studies of previous conspiratorial activities of these types of people and those behind them certainly suggest that the only limit they might recognize would be that of a market dangerously saturated.  If the goldsmiths, acting totally illegally, and literally totally at risk of the headsman’s axe, extended their (fraudulent) issues to ten times their deposits (so-called), then these men, doubtfully controlled by Christian thinking, would only be guided by that point beyond which they would not be able to get away with it all.

By such mischievous representation a similar Act was enacted in France in 1679: ...“We ordain that the holders of foreign coin of gold and silver as well as those above mentioned (namely, certain demonetized French coins) shall bring them to our mints, where within three months time they shall receive back, weight for weight, and fineness for fineness, in gold and silver established by our edicts of March 1640 and September 1641.”[54]  This law rendered it feasible for the holders of any kind of foreign coin or bullion, to hand it to the French Mint and claim coin for it as issued in the name of the French Sovereign and peoples, without loss of metal or expenses of fabrication.  By these Acts in France and in England (1663 & 1666) and probably elsewhere of which there is no record, A COMMON MONEY MARKET was created in Europe serving only the purposes of the International Money Cabal apparently operating out of Amsterdam and Hamburg although there is a growing suspicion that the hand that gave total design lay hid in the mountains of Switzerland whither, had gone so much of gold and silver throughout the ages.

However, the seeds of money madness did not take deep root as yet into the soul of the French people.  Apparently there was less corruption in the court of Louis XIV than history gives us to believe for what most histories are worth, and this Act was repealed some ten years later.  Apart from the extraordinary monetary disturbances following on the arrival of John Law in Paris in 1715,[55] and the minor experience with a bank known as the Caisse D’Escompte established in 1776,[56] France was to go through the French Revolution (so-called) before it was to arrive at a situation similar to that which came to exist in Britain as a result of the establishment of the so-called Bank of England in the year 1694.

Britain, however, soon to have William III on the throne with that shady entourage of expatriate Spaniards that followed him out of Holland, was to completely go under to the International Money Cabal, wherever really lay its essential guiding brain, and was honoured to be their instrument towards the smashing up of various national sovereignties and monetary systems, particularly on the Indian continent etc., by the spread of the web of “Empire”.  Interlocked so-called Central Banking Systems spread around the world as by magic, particularly after the awful disaster now known as the first World War.  The drive behind much of these events etc., was the force of British arms allied to that power generated as a result of the financial manoeuvres of the so-called Bank of England linked to the activities out of Threadneedle Street and the activities of the International Money Cabal, suspected these days to be located in Switzerland as pointed out above.

In the final summarization so far as Britain was concerned:  by these two Acts of 1663 and 1666, Charles II definitely abdicated his own sovereignty, and the sovereignty of the British people which was what his own sovereignty really meant.  It is to be regretted that all Kings that followed, in reality were dangerously close to being front men for the representatives of an International Money Power criminal in their operations for the most part, and in risk of severe penalties.  It was not twenty-six years after this secret surrender that the real purpose of this group that has been described herein from time to time as an International Cabal showed through:  namely, to tie all conception of paper money, in itself merely a recording of the creation of Unit or Units of exchange, or indeed, divisibles thereof, to their gold and their silver, both of which, over the thousands of years, many of the peoples of the world had been trained to think were the only possible materials for the creation of money so far as trade on any scale was concerned.  For the erstwhile Spaniards, England would be their safe refuge and the Bank of England their safe store house which the Bank of Amsterdam, in a country so vulnerable to European armies, could doubtfully be for long in that which they planned.  With the Nobility of England already embroiled with their goldsmith’s wonderful schemes, and a large, and fast growing commercial class beholden to the same goldsmiths or “The Bankers” as they were now becoming known, and the English Channel between themselves and Europe and its armies, what had they to fear ?  The “bankers” they raised up, mainly from the puritan sects, could be relied upon to defend their interests to the last !  By the trick of the loan to the British Government of its own credit as against its so-called “Bond”, soon after the foundation of “The Bank of England”, they already were achieving a position of control that only a hundred years before they could scarcely have dreamed of.  The day had already arrived when the sons of the proud Lords of the lovely country homes and estates of England would not disdain to announce to the world that their occupation was that of FINANCIER !  De Facto if not De Jure our expatriate Spaniards, the subtle men of Amsterdam could clearly see that soon they would stand above Kingship.  It would not be long before many more Governments would be in their hands.  With careful and well chosen steps on the road before them could arise from their midst a King of the world.  But of old it was said:  “ The best laid schemes of mice and men gang aft a’gley”, and in these strange days of increasing awfulness such as now unravel before us, the weird notion of World Government, the automatic corollary of world Kingship (as promoted by Lord knows whom) appears more like an invitation to descend into Hell itself, out of which, once its doors are opened, the flames which must pour forth can do nothing but destroy all.

No new Thing

... So what shall be when all these follies of today Fall
down, and what shall be when in our modern world,
Or fire or sword will surely come to sweep away
Our ills, and all our vanities as nameless nothing lay ?

Indeed shall be when as before that Kingly will
Subverted was from destiny to guide the State
In which man dwell conglomerate in city still...
In ruins all ! ...and earth the empty skull will fill...

OF THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE “BANK OF ENGLAND”
AS GRANTED CHARTER BY THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT
JULY 27th, 1694

It was the establishment of the “BANK OF ENGLAND” in 1694 A.D. that finally gave complete Holiness to the idea of a “BANK” as something special;  something untouchable !  Previously, more or less, the idea that the word “BANK” conveyed was embodied in the expression as used by the Earl of Anglesea in his protest against this enactment in the House of Lords during its third reading of the Bill:  “An Act for the Encouragement of Trade” (1663 A.D.) (which Act in reality proposed permission for the International Bullion Brokers through their British agents, to melt and export the beautiful silver coinage of Britain as they so willed) “and it is dangerous to the peace of the Kingdom when it shall be in the power of half a dozen or half a score, rich, discontented or factious persons ‘TO MAKE A BANK’ of our coin or bullion beyond the seas” ... in other words:  to “MAKE AN ACCUMULATION” of our coin etc., beyond the seas or wherever.

The Bank of England is where we first see clearly and boldly this phenomenon of private money creation sweeping the all important Money Creative powers of the State, as it were, into the ashcan.  For with the power to write money “ad infinitum” as was the reality of it, it merely did what any counterfeiter would do if suddenly having been given the sanction of Sovereign power for his previously criminal activities:  it bought up the King, the State, Parliament, the People, and all their labours:  past, present or future.  It did what it willed, and created such industry as it willed in England itself, and in some degree it exercised the functions of a World Bank.

Perhaps no “Bank” (so-called) has previously been considered sufficiently important as to receive the detailed attention of such leading Economic Scholars as A. Andreades, John Guiseppe, John H. Clapham, Thomas E.F. Fortune, and perhaps one or two others more obscure;  all of whom wrote “Histories of the Bank of England”.

The essence of the activities of this incredible organization was summarized by William Patterson, one of the principal Front men connected with its foundation:  “The Bank has benefit to the interest on all monies which it creates out of nothing...”

Its operations at the start extended up to 60 miles from London;  but just as it was the moving finger behind the early Bank of America, the old Bank of Upper Canada, probably behind the Federal Reserve Bank and the later “Bank of Canada”, it spread its operations far and wide in the British Isles, and obviously, under one cover or another, world-wide.  Whether this guiding hand was truly amongst such as are named in the Directorate, is most doubtful, and perhaps it is more of a probability that such guiding hand was even further back than the Bank of Amsterdam.

The Charter itself, as included in Thomas E.F. Fortune’s “History of the Bank of England”, is at first glance a seemingly innocuous document obviously written up in a special manner with the intention of confusing the country gentlemen who were in those days a substantial part of the Members of Parliament and of whom it might be said that there were quite a few that could doubtfully read and write.  Nevertheless, although it is one of the most important enactments in modern history, the Charter of the Bank of England, other than in the “History of the Bank of England” by E.F. Fortune, is not easily obtainable, and is not included in the works of the other historians of this “Bank” as mentioned above.  However, it appears that the London School of Economics has at times referred its pupils to a German version of the Charter.

An Act for Granting to Their Majesties several Rates and Duties upon Tunnage of Ships and Vessels, and upon Beer, Ale and other Liquors, for Securing certain Recompences and Advantages in the said Act mentioned, to such Persons as shall Voluntarily Advance the Sum of Fifteen hundred thousand Pounds towards carrying on the War against France.

We, your Majesties most dutiful and Loyal Subjects, the Commons Assembled in Parliament, for the further Supply of Your Majesties Extraordinary Occasions, for and towards the Necessary Defence of Your Realms, do humbly present Your Majesties with the further Gift of the Impositions, Rates and Duties herein after mentioned;  And do beseech Your Majesties that it may be Enacted.

And be it Enacted by the King and Queens most Excellent Majesties, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons in this present Parliament Assembled, and by the Authority of the same, That for and during the term of four years, commencing from the first day of June, in the year of Our Lord, One thousand six hundred ninety four, there shall be, throughout the kingdom of England, Dominion of Wales, and town of Berwick upon Tweed, raised, levied, collected and paid unto and for the use of their majesties, their heirs and successors, for and upon the tunnage of all ships and vessels, wherein at any time or times, and for every time, during the said term of four years, there shall be imported any goods or merchandizes into this Kingdom of England, Dominion of Wales, or town of Berwick upon Tweed, from any the parts, places or countryes hereafter mentioned, or wherein, during the said term, there shall be carried coastwise from any port, member or creek, in the same Kingdom, Dominion, port or town, the several and respective rates impositions, duties and sums of money herein after mentioned (that is to say)

For every Tun of the burthen, or contents of any ship or vessel, importing goods, wares or merchandizes from the East Indies, or any parts southward or eastward of Cabo bona Speranza, the sum of thirty shillings.

For every Tun of the burthen, or contents of any ship or vessel, importing goods, wares or merchandizes, from any ports or places in Italy or Turkey, the sum of fifteen shillings.

For every tun of burthen, or contents of any ship or vessel, importing goods, wares or merchandizes from any ports or places in Portugal or Spain, the sum of ten shillings.

For every tun of burthen, or contents of any ship or vessel, importing goods, wares or merchandizes from any plantations, lands or places in the West-Indies, the sum of ten shillings.

For every tun of burthen, or contents of any ship or vessel, importing goods, wares or merchandizes, from Holland, or any the United Provinces, or from the Netherlands or Flanders, the sum of three shillings.

For every tun of burthen, or contents of any ship or vessel, importing goods, wares or merchandizes, from Norway, Hamborough, or the Baltick-Sea, or from any the Eastland Countries, or from any other ports or places north of Holland, the sum of five shillings.

For every tun of burthen, or contents of any ship or vessel, importing goods, wares or merchandizes from Ireland or Scotland, the sum of two shillings.

For every tun of burthen, or contents of any ship or vessel, importing goods, wares or merchandizes, from any ports or place in the Mediterranean Sea (not otherwise charged in this Act) the sum of fifteen shillings.

For every tun of burthen, or contents of any ship or vessel, importing goods, wares or merchandizes, from the parts or coasts of Guinea or Africa, without the straights, the sum of twenty shillings.

For every tun of burthen, or contents of any ship or vessel, importing goods, wares or merchandizes from Hudson's Bay, or any place within the limits of that Companies charter, the sum of twenty shillings.

For every tun of burthen, or contents of any ship or vessel, importing goods, wares or merchandizes from the Canaries, Madera's, or any the western islands, the sum of ten shillings.

For every tun of burthen, or contents of any ship or vessel, importing goods, wares or merchandizes from any ports or places in Greenland, Muscovia or Russia, the sum of ten shillings.

For every tun of burthen, or contents of any ship or vessel, used or imployed in the coasting trade from port to port in England, Wales or Berwick upon Tweed, the sum of six pence.

And be it further Enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the said several Rates, Duties and Sums of Money herein before mentioned, and hereby imposed upon the Tunnage of ships or vessels shall be accounted, taken and paid according to the measure of such ships or vessels which shall be made and taken by their majesties officers in the respective ports or places where they shall arrive, and that the Master or Owners or Freighter of all such ships or vessels importing goods inwards, or carrying goods coast wise;  as aforesaid, shall, upon every arrival of any such ships or vessels at the ports or place of their discharge or unloading in England or Wales or at the Town or Port of Berwick upon Tweed
...........

page 11

And whereas by an Act of Parliament made in the second year of their majesties reign, entituled, An Act for granting to their majesties several additional duties upon beer, ale and other liquors for four years, from the time that an Act for doubling the duty of excise upon beer, ale and other liquors, during the space of one year doth expire;  It was enacted, That from and after the seventeenth day of November, in the year of our Lord 1691, there should be throughout their majesties kingdom of England, dominion of Wales, or town of Berwick upon Tweed, raised, levied, collected and paid unto their majesties, their heirs and successors, during the space and term of four years, and no longer, for beer, ale, cyder and other liquors therein mentioned, by way of excise, over and above all other duties, charges and impositions by any former act or acts which should be then unexpired, set and imposed, in such manner as therein is mentioned;  which rates and duties aforesaid by act of parliament, made in the third and fourth years of their now majesties day of May, 1697:

Be it further Enacted, That for the further Encouragement of such Persons who shall Voluntarily Contribute towards the Raising and Paying into Their Majesties Exchequer, any Sum or Sums, not exceeding in the whole the Sum of Fifteen hundred thousand Pounds upon the several Terms and Recompences herein after mentioned, That from and after the Seventeenth Day of May, which shall be in the Year of our Lord, One thousand six hundred ninety and seven, there shall be throughout their Majesties Kingdom of England, Dominion of Wales, and Town of Berwick upon Tweed, Raised, Levied, Collected and paid unto Their Majesties, Their heirs and Successors, for Beer, Ale, Cyder and other Liquors herein after Expressed by way of Excise, over and above all Duties, Charges and Impositions by any formed Act or Acts then unexpired, set and imposed, one one Moiety or half part of the several Rates and Duties of Excise Granted by the said last mentioned Act, in Manner and form following (that is to say)

For every barrel of beer or ale, above six shillings the barrel exclusive of the duty of excise, brewed by the common brewer, or any other person or persons who both or shall sell or tap out beer or ale publickly or privately, to be paid by the common brewer, or by such other person or persons respectively, and so proportionably for a greater or lesser quantity over and above the duties payable for the same, nine pence.

And be it further Enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That yearly, and every year, reckoning the first year to begin from the first day of June, which shall be in the year of our Lord, 1694, the full sum of 140,000 Pounds, by or out of the moneys to arise by the said several duties upon the tunnage of ships and vessels;  and by the said rates and duties of excise hereby granted, or any of them, and to be brought into the receipt of the Exchequer by weekly payments, as aforesaid (in case the said weekly payments shall extend thereunto) shall be the whole and entire yearly fond;  and in case the said weekly payments shall not amount to 140,000 Pounds per annum, then the said weekly moneys or payments, so far as the same will extend shall be part of the yearly fond for, and towards the answering and paying of the several and respective annuities herein after mentioned, and for other the purposes hereinafter in this Act expressed;  and in case the said duties upon the tunnage of ships and vessels, and the said rates and duties of excise by this Act granted, or any of them, shall at any time or times appear to be so deficient or low in the produce of the same, as that within any one year, to be reckoned, as aforesaid, the weekly payments upon the said rates or duties, or any of them, shall not amount to so much as 140,000 Pounds, or to so much as shall be sufficient to discharge and satisfy the said several and respective annuities, and other benefits and advantages by this Act appointed or intended to be paid, within, or for the same year respectively, That then and so often, and in every such case, the Commissioners of their majesties Treasury, and the under treasurer of the Exchequer now being, and the Treasurer and under treasurer of the Exchequer, or Commissioners of the Treasury for the time being, are hereby straitly enjoyned and required by virtue of this Act, and without any further or other warrant, to be sued for, had or ordained from their majesties, their heirs or successors in this behalf, to cause every such deficiency to be made good, by applying, issuing or paying so much of any treasure or revenue, belonging or to belong to their majesties, their heirs or successors (not being appointed to any particular use or uses by any Act or Acts of Parliament) towards the discharging or paying off the said annuities or other benefits or advantages appointed to be paid by this Act, as together with the moneys which shall have been brought into the said receipt, of or for the said several rates or duties hereby granted, shall be sufficient to pay off and discharge, and shall compleatly pay off and discharge all the moneys which within the same year respectively shall be grown due, or ought to be paid upon the said annuities, or other benefits or advantages, according to the true intent and meaning of this present Act.

And be it further Enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That for the better raising and paying into the receipt of the Exchequer the sum of Twelve hundred thousand Pounds, part of the sum of fifteen hundred thousand Pounds, the yearly Sum of One hundred and forty thousand Pounds arising by and out of the Duties and Impositions granted by this Act, shall be kept separate and apart in the said Receipt of Exchequer, to be paid over from time to time unto such Person or Persons, and in such manner, proportion and form as is herein after directed.

And be it further Enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That it shall and may be lawful to and for Their Majesties, by commission under the Great Seal of England, to authorize and appoint any number of persons to take and receive all such voluntary subscriptions as shall be made on or before the first day of August, which shall be in the year of our Lord, One thousand six hundred ninety four, by any person or persons, natives or foreigners, bodies politic or corporate, for and towards the raising and paying into the receipt of the Exchequer the said sum of Twelve hundred thousand Pounds, part of the Sum of Fifteen hundred thousand Pounds, and that the yearly sum of one hundred thousand pounds, part of the said yearly sum of one hundred and forty thousand pounds, arising by and out of the said duties and impositions before mentioned, shall be applied, issued and directed, and is hereby appropriated to the use and advantage of such person and persons, bodies politic or corporate, as should make such voluntary subscriptions and payments, their heirs, successors or assigns, in the proportion hereafter mentioned (that is to say) That each weekly or other payment, arising by and out of the duties and impositions granted by this Act, shall by the auditor of the receipt of the Exchequer from time to time, as the same shall be paid in, be separated and divided into five sevenths parts and two sevenths parts, which is according to the proportion of the said yearly Sum of One hundred thousand Pounds, to the said yearly Sum of One hundred and forty thousand Pounds, which five seventh parts of the said several payments arising by and out of the Duties and Impositions Granted by this Act, and so set apart, is, and are hereby Intended and Appropriated for, and towards the payment and satisfaction of the said yearly sum of one hundred thousand pounds, and shall from time to time, be issued and paid, as the same shall come into the said receipt of the Exchequer, to the uses and advantages of such subscribers and contributors, their heirs, successors of assigns, as shall subscribe and contribute for, and towards the raising and paying into the said receipt of Exchequer the said sum of twelve hundred thousand pounds, part of the said Sum of Fifteen hundred thousand Pounds.

And be it further Enacted, That it shall, and may be lawful, to, and for Their Majesties, by letters patents under the Great Seal of England, to limit, direct and appoint how, and in what manner and proportions, and under what rules and directions, the said sum of twelve hundred thousand pounds, part of the said sum of fifteen hundred thousand pounds, and the said yearly sum of one hundred thousand Pounds, part of the said yearly sum of One hundred and forty thousand Pounds, and every or any part or proportion thereof, may be assignable or transferable, assigned or transferred to such person or persons only, as shall freely and voluntarily accept of the same, and not otherwise;  and to incorporate all and every such subscribers and contributors, their heirs, successors or assigns, to be one body corporate or politick by the name of the Governor and Company of the Bank of England, to have perpetual succession, and a common seal, and that they and their Successors, by the name aforesaid, shall be able and capable in Law, to have, purchase, Receive, Possess, Enjoy and Retain to them and their Successors, Lands, Rents, Tenements and Hereditaments, of what kind, nature or quality soever;  And also to sell, Grant, Demise, Alien or Dispose of the same;  And by the same Name, to sue and implead, and be sued and impleaded, Answer and be Answered in Courts of record, or any other place whatsoever, and to do, and execute, all and singular other matters and things by the Name aforesaid, that to them shall or may appertain to do;  subject nevertheless to the proviso and condition of redemption herein after mentioned.

Provided always, and it is hereby further Enacted, That in case the whole sum of twelve hundred thousand Pounds, part of the said sum of fifteen hundred thousand Pounds, shall not be advanced and paid into the receipt of Exchequer before the first day of January, which shall be in the year of our Lord, One thousand six hundred ninety four;  That then the subscribers and contributors for, and towards the raising and paying of the said sum of twelve hundred thousand Pounds, part of the said sum of fifteen hundred thousand Pounds, their heirs, successors and assigns, shall only have and receive so much, and such part and proportion to the said sum and sums so respectively paid and advanced, as shall be after the rate of eight pounds per centum per Annum;  And that at any time upon twelve months notice, after the first day of August, which shall be in the year of Our Lord, One thousand seven hundred and five, upon repayment by Parliament, of the said sum of twelve hundred thousand Pounds, part of the said sum of fifteen hundred thousand Pounds, or such part thereof as shall be paid and advanced, as aforesaid, unto the respective subscribers and contributors of the said sum of twelve hundred thousand Pounds, or such part thereof as shall be paid and advanced, their heirs, successors or assigns, and of all the arrears of the said yearly payments of One hundred thousand Pounds, or such proportionable part thereof, according to the sum which shall be paid and advanced, as aforesaid, Then, and from thenceforward, the said yearly payments, and every of them of One hundred thousand Pounds, part of the said yearly payments of One hundred and forty thousand Pounds, or such proportionable part, as aforesaid, and every part thereof, and the said Corporation shall absolutely cease and determine;  Any thing herein contained in any wise to the contrary notwithstanding.

And for the better and more speedy payment of said yearly sum of One hundred thousand Pounds, part of the said sum of One hundred and forty thousand Pounds, in the proportions herein before mentioned and appointed, the Commissioners of Their Majesties Treasury, and the Under Treasurer of the Exchequer now being, and the Lord High Treasurer or Commissioners of the Treasury for the time being, are hereby strictly enjoined and required, by virtue of this Act, and without any further or other warrant, to be such for, had or obtained from Their Majesties, their heirs or successors, to direct their warrants yearly, for the payment of the said yearly sums of 100,000 Pounds, to the contributors of the said sum of 1,200,000 Pounds, in the manner and proportions, as is herein before directed and appointed;  And the Auditor of the receipt of Exchequer, and all other officers of the Exchequer now, and for the time being, are hereby directed and enjoyned, to issue the said moneys so set apart for the uses before mentioned, from time to time, without any fee or reward, in the manner and proportions before mentioned, and under the like penalties, forfeitures and disabilities as are hereafter inflicted upon any officer, for directing any money appropriated or applied by this Act.

Provided always, and be it further Enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That no person or persons, Bodies Politick or Corporate, shall by themselves, or by any other person or persons in trust for him or them, subscribe or cause to be subscribed for and towards the raising and paying the said sum of 1,200,000 pounds, any sum or sums of money, exceeding the sum of 20,000 Pounds;  and that every such subscriber shall at the time of such subscription, pay or cause to be paid unto the Commissioners, who shall be authorized and appointed for taking and receiving subscriptions, as aforesaid, one full fourth part of his or their respective subscriptions, and in default of such payments, as aforesaid, every such subscription shall be utterly void and null:  And that the residue of the said subscriptions shall be paid into the receipt of their Majesties Exchequer, as their Majesties shall direct, before the said first day of January next;  And in default of such payments, that then the fourth part first paid, as aforesaid, shall be forfeited to and for the benefit of their Majesties, their heirs and successors.

Subscribers (out of 1268):---
King Orange & Queen Mary --- £10,000
James de la Bretonniere --- £10,000
William Brownlowe --- £10,000
Abraham Houblon --- £10,000
John Houblon --- £10,000
Thomas Howard --- £10,000
Mathew Humberstone --- £10,000
Theodore Janssen --- £10,000
Thomas Mulsoe --- £10,000
Anthony Parson --- £10,000
William Portland --- £10,000
William Scawen --- £10,000
Bartholomew Burton --- £9,000
Hugh Chudleigh --- £9,000
Thomas Hall --- £9,000
Henry Furnese --- £8,200
Michael Godfrey ---£8,000
Gilbert Heathcote --- £8,000
Robert Howard --- £8,000
John Smith --- £8,000
Francis Gosfright --- £7,100
John Huband --- £7,100
William Gulston --- £7,000
Samuel Heathcote --- £7,000
George Dodington --- £6,500
William Devonshire --- £6,000
William Gore --- £6,000
Samuel Heathcote --- £6,000
Zachariah Hickox --- £6,000
Ralph Radcliffe --- £6,000
Thomas Scawen --- £6,000
Obadiah Sedgwick --- £6,000
Henry Spencer --- £6,000
Brook Bridges --- £5,000
Hugh Buscawen --- £5,000
Caesar Chambrelan --- £5,000
Steven Fox --- £5,000
John Germain --- £5,000
Thomas Goddard --- £5,000
John Knight --- £5,000
Robert Marshall --- £5,000
Lady Anne Mason --- £5,000
Robert Raworth --- £5,000

Provided, also, and be it further Enacted, That it shall not be lawful to or for and person or persons, natives or foreigners, bodies corporate or politick, at any time or times before the first day of July next ensuing, to subscribe in his, her or their own name or names, or in any other name or names, in trust for him, her or them, for and towards the raising and paying into the receipt of the Exchequer, the said sum of 1,200,000 pounds, part of the said sum of 1,500,000 pounds, any sum or sums, exceeding in the whole the sum of 10,000 Pounds;  Any thing in this Act contained to the contrary in any wise notwithstanding.

Provided always, and be it declared and enacted to be the true intent and meaning of this Act, that in case the whole sum of 1,200,000 Pounds, or a moiety thereof, be not subscribed on or before the first day of August, 1694, as aforesaid, that then the powers and authorities in this Act for erecting a Corporation, as aforesaid, shall cease and determine;  Any thing therein contained to the contrary notwithstanding.  And in such case so much of the said yearly sum of 100,000 Pounds as shall belong to the said subscribers, according to the meaning of this Act, shall be transferrable, and may be from time to time transferred by the respective persons so subscribing, advancing and paying any part of the said 1,200,000 Pounds into the Exchequer, or their respective heirs, successors or assigns, to any person or persons whatsoever, by any writing or writings, under the hand and seal of the person or persons transferring the same, attested by two or more credible witnesses, and entred within twenty days after the sealing thereof, in a Book or Books to be for that purpose kept in the said Exchequer by Their Majesties Remembrancer for the time being (for the Ensring whereof nothing shall be paid) Which entries the said Remembrancer is from time to time, upon request, directed to make;  And such part of the said yearly sum of 100,000 Pounds as shall by this Act be due to the said subscribers, shall not at any time or times hereafter be made use of, or be a fond or security for, or liable or applyed to raise, pay or secure any more, further or other sum or sums of money whatsoever, save only such money as shall in pursuance of, and according to the intent of this Act be advanced and paid into Their Majesties Exchequer within the time by this Act limited for the same.

And it is hereby further Enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That the said Corporation so to be made, shall not borrow or give security by bill, bond, covenant or agreement under their common seal for any more, further or other sum or sums of money exceeding in the whole the sum of twelve hundred thousand pounds, so that they shall not owe at any one time more then the said sum, unless it be by Act of Parliament;  And in such case only, such further sums as shall be so directed and allowed to be borrowed by Parliament, and for such time only, until they shall be repaid such further sums as they shall borrow by such authority, and if any more, or further, or other sum or sums of money shall be borrowed, taken up, lent or advanced under their common seal, or for payment of which any bond, bill, covenant or agreement, or other writing shall be made, sealed or given under the common seal of the said Corporation so to be made, then, and in such case, all and every person and persons who shall be a member or members of the said corporation, his and their respective heirs, executors and administrators, shall in his and their respective private and personal capacities be chargeable with, and liable in proportions to the repayment of such moneys which shall be so borrowed, taken up or lent, with interest for the same, in such manner as if security had been a security for payment of so much money, and interest for the same, sealed by such respective member or members of the said Corporation, and delivered by him or them as their respective Acts and Deeds, in proportion to their several shares or subscriptions, as aforesaid;  And that in every such case and Action of Debt shall and may be brought, commented, prosecuted and maintained in any of their Majesties Courts of Record at Westminster, by the respective creditor or creditors to whom any such security, under the Common Seal of the said Corporation, shall be made, or his or their respective executors or administrators, against all and every, or any one or more of the persons, who shall be Members of the said Corporation, or any of their respective heirs, executors or administrators, in proportion to their respective shares or subscriptions, as aforesaid, and therein recover and have judgment for him or them, in such and the like manner as if such security were respectively sealed by the respective person or persons who shall be so sued, or his or their respective ancestor or testator, or intestate, and by him and them executed and delivered, as his or their respective Acts and Deeds;  any condition, covenant or agreement, to be made to the contrary thereof in any wise notwithstanding;  And if any condition, covenant or agreement shall be made to the contrary, the same shall be, and is hereby declared to be void;  any thing therein contained, or any Law or Usage to the contrary notwithstanding;  and in such action or actions so to be brought, no privilege, protection, essoign or Wager of Law, nor any more than one Imparlance shall be allowed.

And to the intent that Their Majesties Subjects may not be oppressed by the said Corporation, by their monopolizing, or ingrossing any sort of goods, wares or merchandizes, Be it further declared and enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That the said Corporation to be made and created by this Act, shall not at any time, during the continuance thereof, deal or trade, or permit, or suffer any person or persons whatsoever, either in trust, or for the benefit of the same, to deal or trade with any of the stock-moneys, or effects of, or any ways belonging to the said Corporation, in the buying or selling of any goods, wares or merchandizes whatsoever;  and every person or persons who shall so deal or trade, or by whose order or directions such dealings or trading shall be made, prosecuted or managed, shall forfeit for every such dealing or trading, and every such order and directions, treble the value of the goods and merchandize so trader for, to such person or persons who shall sue for the same, by action of debt, bill, plaint or information, in any of their majesties courts of Record at Westminster, wherein so essoign, protection, nor other privilege whatsoever, nor any injunction, order of restraint, nor wager of law shall be allowed, nor any more than one imparlance.

Provided that nothing herein contained shall any ways be construed to hinder the said Corporation from dealing in bills exchange, or in buying or selling bullion, gold or silver, or in selling any goods, wares or merchandize whatsoever, which shall really and bona fide, be left, or deposited with the said Corporation for money lent and advanced thereon, and which shall not be redeemed at the time agreed on, or within three months after, or from selling such goods as shall or may be the produce of lands purchased by the said Corporation.

Provided always, and be it Enacted by the Authority aforesaid, that all and every bill or bills obligatory and of credit, under the seal of the said Corporation made or given to any person or persons, shall and may by endorsement thereon, under the hand of such person or persons, be assignable and assigned to any person or persons, who shall voluntarily accept the same, and so by such assignee, toties quoties, by endorsement thereupon;  And that such assignment and assignments so to be made, shall absolutely vest and transfer the right and property in, and unto such bill or bills obligatory and of credit, and the moneys due upon the same;  And that the assignee or assignees shall, and may sue for, and maintain an action thereupon in his own name.

Provided always, and it is hereby further Enacted, That if the governor, deputy-governor, the directors, managers, assistants or other members of the said corporation so to be established, shall upon the account of the said corporation, at any time or times, purchase any lands or revenues belonging to the Crown, or advance or lend to their majesties, their heirs or successors, any sum or sums of money, by way of loan or anticipation, on any part or parts, branch or branches, fond or fonds of the revenues now granted or belonging to their majesties, their heirs or successors, other then such fond or fonds, part or parts, branch or branches of the said revenues only, on which a credit of loan is, or shall be granted by parliament;  That then the said governor, deputy governor, directors, managers or assistants, or other members of the said corporation, who shall consent, agree to, or approve of the advancing, or lending to their majesties, their heirs or successors, such sum or sums of money, as aforesaid, and each and every of them so agreeing, consenting or approving, and being thereof lawfully convicted, shall for every such offence, forfeit treble the value of every such sum or sums of money so lent, whereof one fifth part shall be to the informer, to be recovered in any of their majesties courts of record at Westminster, by action of debt, bill plaint or information, wherein no protection, wager of law, essoign, privilege of parliament, or other privilege shall be allowed, nor any more then one imparlance;  and the residue to be disposed towards publick uses, as shall be directed by parliament, and not otherwise.

Provided always and be it Enacted, That all Amerciaments, fines and issues against the said Corporation and their successors, had, charged or estreated in or upon account of any suits or action to be prosecuted or brought against them, shall not be pardoned, acquitted or discharged by any Letters of Signet, Privy Seal or Great Seal of their Majesties, their heirs or successors, or otherwise howsoever, and in case any such Amerciaments, fines, or issues, shall be estreated into their majesties Exchequer against the said Corporation, upon any process for non-appearance at the suit of any person or persons, that then it shall and may be lawful, to, and for the officers of their majesties Exchequer for the time being, who are hereby directed to pay the said yearly sum of 100,000 Pounds to the said Corporation, to retain so much money as the said Amerciaments, fines or issues shall amount unto, out of the said yearly sum of 100,000 Pounds payable to the said Corporation.

And be it further Enacted, That if at any time hereafter, any person or persons shall obtain any judgment or judgments in any court of law against the said Corporation for any debt or sum of money, and shall bring execution or executions thereupon unto the said officer of their majesties Exchequer, that then it shall and may be lawful, to, and for the said officers of the said Exchequer to pay;  And they are hereby required to pay the said sum or sums of money in the said executions mentioned to the plaintiff or plaintiffs therein named, or their assigns, whose receipt shall be a sufficient discharge for the same;  And that the said officers of the said Exchequer, shall and may retain so much of the said yearly sum of 100,000 Pounds as the said debt or debts shall amount to.

And whereas by an Act of this present Session of Parliament, Entituled, An Act for Granting to their Majesties certain Rates and Duties upon Salt, and upon Beer, Ale and other Liquors, for securing certain Recompences and Advantages, in the said Act mentioned, to such Persons as shall voluntarily advance the Sum of Ten Hundred Thousand Pounds, towards carrying on the War against France, It is Enacted, That no member of the house of commons shall at any time be concerned in the farming, collecting or managing any sums of money, duties or or other aids by the said Act or any other Act of Parliament granted or to be granted to their majesties, except the persons in the said Act excepted;  And whereas some doubts may arise, whether any member or members of Parliament may be concerned in the Corporation to be erected in pursuance of this Act, Be it therefore declared and enacted by the authority aforesaid, that it shall and may be lawful, to and for any member or members of the House of Commons, to be a member or members of the said Corporation, for the purposes in this Act mentioned;  any thing in the said recited Act contained to the contrary in any wise notwithstanding.

And be it further Enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That it shall and may be lawful for any persons, natives or foreigners, to contribute towards the advancing the sum of 300,000 Pounds, other part of the said sum of 1,500,000 Pounds, by paying into the receipt of their majesties Exchequer, at any time before the 9 and 20th day of September, 1694, any sum or sums of money, not exceeding in the whole the sum of 300,000 Pounds, upon the terms following (that is to say)
   That every such person, his executors, administrators or assigns, out of the rates and duties granted by this Act, shall have and receive for every sum of 100 Pounds, so by them respectively advanced and paid, such yearly annuity, rent or payment, as herein after is directed, (that is to say)
   That if such Contributor shall advance and pay his money upon one life only, then he shall have and receive a yearly annuity, rent or payment of fourteen pounds of lawful English money for every [one] hundred pounds, and so proportionably for a greater sum, for and during the life of such person so advancing and paying the same, or during any other life to be nominated by the person advancing or paying any such sum; 
   And in case such Contributor shall think fit, upon payment of his money, to have an annuity for two lives, then he shall have an yearly annuity, rent or payment of 12 pounds of lawful English money for every 100 Pounds, and so proportionably for a greater sum, advanced for and during two lives, and the life of the survivor of them, to be nominated, as aforesaid;
   And in case such Contributor shall think fit, upon payment of his money, to have an annuity for three lives, then he shall have and receive a yearly annuity, rent or payment of ten pounds of lawful English money for every [one] hundred Pounds so by him advanced and paid, or after that rate for and during the term of three lives, and the life of the survivor of them, to be nominated by the person or persons so paying the same, as aforesaid;
   That all and every the said lives shall be named by the several Contributors, their executors or administrators, or such as shall be employed by them to pay in the said sums, within thirty days after the nine and twentieth day of September, 1694;  which yearly annuities, rents or payments shall commence from the said 29th of September, and shall be paid and payable quarterly, at the four most usual feasts of the year, (that is to say)
The feast of the nativity of our Lord Christ;
the feast of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary;
the feast of the nativity of St. John Baptist;
and the Feast of St. Michael the Arch-Angel, by even and equal portions;
and every person on payment of any such sum or sums, as aforesaid, shall immediately have one or more Tally or Tallies Importing the Receipt of the consideration Money, and orders for the payment of the said Annuities, bearing the same date with the Tally;  the said Tallies to be levied, and the said orders to be signed in the same manner as in and by an Act of this present Parliament, Entituled, An Act for Granting to their Majesties certain Rates and Duties of Excise upon Beer, Ale and other Liquors, for securing certain Recompences and Advantages in the said Act mentioned, to such Persons as shall voluntarily advance the Sum of Ten Hundred Thousand Pounds, towards carrying on the War against France, is mentioned and directed, touching Tallies and Orders to be given to the contributors for annuities upon the said Act, and the said Orders not to be determinable, revocable or countermandable, as touching the aforementioned orders in the said recited Act is enacted;  which said orders shall be assignable and transferable in such and the same manner as is mentioned in the said recited Act, touching orders given to the Contributors in the said Act mentioned; And all the rates and duties by this Act granted, or so much thereof as are and shall be sufficient for the purposes aforesaid, are and shall be appropriated to, and for the payment of the said annuities of inheritance, and annuities of lives, after the several and respective rates aforesaid, according to the true intent and meaning of this Act, and shall not be diverted or divertible to any other use, intent or purpose whatever, under the like penalties, forfeitures and disabilities in respect to all and every the officers and other persons in the recited Act mentioned, as are in the said Act appointed and enacted in case of diverting or disapplying any part of the moneys, which ought to be paid to the Contributors upon the said Act; .......

And it is hereby further Enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That in case the whole sum of 1,200,000 Pounds shall not be subscribed and paid into the Exchequer, as aforesaid, that then so much of the said yearly sum of 100,000 Pounds, hereby intended to answer the recompence for the same, as by such deficiency shall by this Act be undisposed, shall and may be, and is hereby applied and appropriated (so far as the same will amount) to pay to any person and persons who shall advance and pay any sum or sums of monmey into the Exchequer, on or before the first day of February, which shall be in the year of our Lord, 1694, on account, to have an annuity or annuities, for one, two or three lives, such respective sum and sums for such respectiuve life or lives, according to such rules and directions as are herein before contained, with relation to such as shall advance and pay the said 300,000 Pounds.

And be it Enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That if the whole sum of 1,500,000 Pounds be not advanced and paid into the Exchequer upon this Act, before the first day of October, 1694, That then it shall and may be lawful for their majesties or their officers, in the receipt of their majesties Exchequer, by their command and appointment, to borrow and take into the said receipt for their majesties use, by way of loan, any sum or sums of money which together with the whole value or amount of all the sums of money, which shall, before the said first day of October, be contributed or adventured, as aforesaid, shall not exceed the sum of 1,500,000 Pounds, which sum or sums so taken up, by way of loan, shall and may be charged upon the credit of their majesties Exchequer in general, and Tallies of Loan, and Orders of Repayment of the same, shall be levied and drawn accordingly, which said orders shall be assignable and transferable from one person to another.

54
Provided always, and be it Enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the officers of the receipt of their majesties Exchequer, shall and may receive, and take for their fees, One Peny in the Pound, and no more, for all or any the sum or sums of money to be issued or paid to any their majesties Garisons or their land forces and armies, and other charges incident to the same, out of the money arising by this or any other Act and Grant of this Session, or any other Session of Parliament, during this present war, to be distributed in such portion, as the Lord Treasurer, or Lords Commissioners of the Treasury for the time being, shall appoint.

And to the end the Great Duties of Excise, and the powers given for the collecting and levying the same, may not be employed for the influencing of elections of Members to serve in Parliament, which elections, by the Constitution of this Government, ought to be free and uncorrupt;  Be it Enacted by the authority aforesaid, That from and after the first day of May, in the year of our Lord, 1694, no collector, supervisor, gauger, or other officer or person whatsoever, concerned or employed in the charging, collecting, levying or managing the duties of Excise, or any branch or part thereof, shall by word, message or writing, or in any other manner whatsoever, endeavour to persuade any elector to give, or dissuade any elector from giving his vote for the choice of any person to be a knight of the Shire, Citizen, Burgess or Baron of any County, City, Borough or Cinque Port to serve or other person offending therein, shall forfeit the sum of One hundred Pounds, one moiety thereof to the informer, the other moiety to the poor of the Parish where such offence shall be committed, to be recovered by any person that shall sue for the same, by Action of Debt, bill, plaint or information, in any of Their Majesties Courts of Record at Westminster, in which no Essoign, Protection, Privilege or Wager of Law, or more then one Imparlance shall be allowed;  And every Person convict on any such Suit of the said offence, shall thereby become disabled, and incapable of ever bearing or executing any office or place, concerning or relating to the Duty of Excise, or any other office or place of trust whatsoever under Their Majesties, their heirs or successors.

And it is hereby Declared and Enacted, that true Notes in writing of the last gauges made or taken by the gaugers, shall be left by them with all brewers, makers, or retailers of beer, ale, or other exciseable liquors respectively, or some of their servants, at the times of taking their said gauges, containing the quantity and quality of the liquors so gauged, upon the penalty of five Pounds for their offence or neglect of the said Gauger or Gaugers, to be recovered by any person that shall sue for the same, by action of debt, bill, plaint or information, in any of their majesties courts of record at Westminster, in which no essoign, protection, privilege or wager of law, nor more then one imparlance shall be allowed.

April 24, 1694.
Dissentient.
Against that part of the Bill, which relates to the incorporating the Governor and Company of the Bank of England, and the Clauses that concern the same.
Aylesbury,
Winchelsea,
Rochester,
Essex,
Sandwich,
Thos. Roffen,
Montague,
Nottingham,
No reasons assigned.

_____________________________

William and Mary by the grace of God, King and Queen of England, Scotland, France, and Ireland, defenders of the faith &c.  To all to whom these presents shall come, greeting.

Whereas in and by a certain Act lately made in Parliament entituled "an Act for granting several rates and duties upon tonnage of ships and vessels, and upon beer, ale, and other liquor, for securing certain recompenses and advantages, in the said Act mentioned, to such persons as shall voluntarily advance the sum of fifteen hundred thousand pounds towards carrying on the war with France;"  it is amongst other things enacted, that for and during the term of four years, commencing from the first day of June, in the year of our Lord, 1694, there should be throughout the Kingdom of England, Dominion of Wales, and town of Berwich on Tweed, raised levies collected, and paid for and upon the tonnage of all ships and vessels, wherein, at any time or times and for every time during the said term of four years, there should be imported any goods or merchandise into this Kingdom of England, Dominion of Wales, or Town of Berwick upon Tweed, from any Parts, Places or Countries, in the said Act mentioned, and wherein, during the said Term, there should be carried Coastwise from any Port, Member or Creek, in the in the Kingdom of England, Dominion of Wales, or town of Berwich on Tweed, unto any other port, creek or member within the same Kingdom, port, or town, the several and respective rates, impositions, duties, and sums of money, in the said Act mentioned.  And that from and after the 17th day of May, which shall be in the year of our Lord God, 1697, there shall be throughout the said Kingdom of England, Dominion of Wales, and town of Berwich on Tweed, raised, levied and collected, and paid unto us, our heirs and successors for beer, ale, cyder and other liquors, certain additional rates or duties of Excise, in the said Act particularly expressed, and that weekly, to wit, on Wednesday in every week of it be not an holiday, all and every the monies arising by the rates and duties by the said Act granted, should be paid into the receipt of the exchequer, under certain penalties, therein mentioned.

And that yearly, and every year reckoning the first year to begin from the first day of June in the year of our Lord, 1694, the full sum of one hundred and forty thousand pounds, by or out of the said monies to arise by the said several duties upon the tonnage of ships and vessels, and the said rates and duties of excise, or any of them and to be brought into the receipt of the exchequer by weekly payments as aforesaid, in case the said weekly payments shall extend thereunto, should be the whole and entire yearly fund:  and in case the said weekly payments should not amount to one hundred and forty thousand pounds per Annum, then the said weekly monies or payments, so far as the same will extend, should be part of the yearly fund for and towards the answering and paying of the several annuities and other purposes in the said Act expressed;  and in case the said duties upon the tonnage of ships and vessels and the said rates and duties of excise, or any of them, should at any time or times, appear to be so deficient, or low in the produce of the same as that within any one year to be reckoned as aforesaid, the weekly payments upon the said rates or duties, or any of them, shall not amount to so much as one hundred and forty thousand pounds, or to such as shall be sufficient to discharge and satisfy the several and respective annuities, and other benefits or advantages, by the said Act intended or appointed to be paid within or for the same year respectively;  that then, and so often in every such case, the commissioners of our treasury and the under treasurer of the Exchequer or commissioners of the treasury for the time being, are thereby strictly, enjoined and required, by virtue of the said Act, and without any further or other warrant to be, sued for, had or obtained from us, our heirs and successors, not being appropriated to any particular use or uses by any act or acts of Parliament forwards the discharging or the paying of the said annuities, or other benefits or advantages, appointed to be paid by the said Act as together with the monies which shall have been brought unto the said receipt of or for the said several rates or duties, shall be sufficient to pay off and discharge all the monies which within the same year respectively shall be grown due on or to be paid upon the said annuities, or other benefits or advantages according to the true intent and meaning of the said Act.

And it is thereby further enacted, that it should and might be lawful to and for us, by commission under the Great Seal of England, to authorize any number of persons to take and receive all such voluntary subscriptions as should be made on or before the first day of August, in the year of our Lord, 1694, by any person or persons, natives or foreigners, bodies politic or corporate, for and towards the raising and paying into the receipt of the exchequer the sum of twelve hundred thousand pounds in the said Act mentioned:

and that its yearly sum of one hundred thousand pounds, part of the said yearly sum of one hundred and forty thousand pounds, arising by and out of the duties and impositions aforementioned, should be applied issued and directed, and it thereby appropriated to the use and advantage of such person and persons, bodies politic or corporate, as should make such voluntary subscriptions and payments, their heirs, successors or assignees.

And that each weekly or other payment, arising by and out of the said duties and impositions, should by, the auditor of the receipt of the Exchequer from time to time, as the same shall be paid in, be separated and divided into five sevenths parts and two sevenths parts, and that the said five sevenths parts of the said several payments, arising by and out of the duties and impositions aforesaid, and so set apart shall be appropriated for and towards the payment and satisfaction of the said yearly sum of one hundred thousand pounds, and shall from time to time, be issued and paid, as the same shall come unto the said receipt of the exchequer, to the uses and advantage of such subscribers and contributors, their heirs, successors of assignees as should subscribe and contribute for an towards the raising and paying into the said receipt of Exchequer the said sum of twelve hundred thousand pounds.

And that it should and might be lawful for us, by letters patent, under the Great Seal of England, to limit, direct and appoint how, and in what manner and proportions, and under what rules and directions, the said sum of 1,200,000 pounds, part of the said sum of 1,500,000 pounds, part of the said yearly sum of 140,000 pounds, and every or any part or proportion, thereof, may be assignable or transferrable, assigned or transferred to such person or persons only as shall freely and voluntarily accept of the same, and not otherwise;  and to incorporate all and every such subscribers and contributors their heirs, successors or assignees, to be one body corporate or politic by the name of THE GOVERNOR AND COMPANY OF THE BANK OF ENGLAND, to have perpetual succession, and with such privileges and powers, and to be under such rules as are therein mentioned;  subject nevertheless to a certain proviso or condition of redemption in the said Act contained.

And for the better ordering, managing, and governing the stock, and other affairs of the said corporation, and for the making and establishing a continual succession of persons to be governor, deputy-governor, and directors of the said corporation; we do by these presents, for us, for our heirs and successors, grant unto the said governor and company of the Bank of England, and their successors, and hereby ordain and appoint, that there shall be from time to time for ever, (of the members of the said corporation) a governor, a deputy-governor, and twenty-four directors of, and in the said corporation; which governor, deputy-governor, and directors, or any thirteen or more of them (of which the governor of deputy-governor to be always one) shall be, and be called a court of directors for the ordering, managing, and directing the affair of the said corporation, and shall have such powers and privileges as are herein after mentioned.

And we do hereby nominate, constitute, ordain and appoint, that Sir John Houblon, Knight, who is chosen for this purpose by a majority of the said subscribers, having five hundred pounds each in the said capital stock, pursuant to certain clauses in our said commission contained, shall be the present and first Governor.  And that Michael Godfrey esq. who is chosen in like manner, shall be the present and first Deputy-Governor.  And that Sir John Huband Bart,
Sir James Houblon (£4,000),
Sir William Gore,
Sir William Scawen,
Sir Henry Furnese,
Sir John Abney,
Sir William Hedges,
Brook Bridges,
James Bateman,
George Boddington,
Edward Clerke,
James Denew,
Thomas Goddard,
Abraham Houblon,
Gilbert Heathcote,
Theodore Janssen,
John Lordell,
Samuel Lethieullier (£2,000),
William Patterson (£2,400),
Robert Raworth,
John Smith of Beaufort buildings,
Obidiah Sedgewick,
Nathaniel Tench (£3,000),
and John Ward esqrs, who are severally chosen in like manner, by a majority of like subscribers shall be the present and first directors of the said corporations.

Provided nevertheless, that any person or persons, commonly called or known to be Quakers, who at the time of holding such general court, as of aforesaid, shall have five hundred pounds interest or share or more in the said capital stock and shall then (if there unto required by any member or members of the said corporation the present having each £500, share or interest at least in the said Capital Stock) make and sign the following declaration to wit, I A.B. do sincerely and solemnly declare, in the presence of God, that the sum of £500 or more of the Capital Stock of the body politic, called by the name of the Governor and Company of the Bank of England, doth at this time belong to me, in my own right, and not in trust for any other person or persons whatsoever, shall be capable of harm of a vote at any general court of the said corporation.....

Provided nevertheless, that any person or persons commonly called or known to be Quakers having each £500 or more interest or share in the Capital Stock of the corporation, before they shall be capable of voting in any general court aforesaid shall and may instead of the oaths hereby described to be taken by the respective members having each five hundred pounds, or more, as aforesaid, before the said governor, or deputy-governor; solemnly promise and declare, as in the presence of God in words, or to the same effect (mutartis, mutandis), with the said oath last herein prescribed to be taken by members of the said corporation, having five hundred pounds or more, interest or share in the said capital stock of the said corporation, and shall severally subscribe the same, together with the declarations appointed for such dissenters as scruple to take oaths, by another act made in the first year of our reign, entitled an Act for exempting their Majesties Protestant subjects, dissenting from the Church of England from the Penalties of certain laws which declarations and subscriptions the said Governor and Deputy-Governor for the time being or either of them, are hereby empowered and required to take and administer....

Loan, accept Deposits

loan against collateral and chattels mortgages, etc.

Empowered to seize or distrain three months

after failure or mortgagee etc.

Discount Bills etc.

1 Alexander Del Mar:  “A History of Monetary Crimes”; p.30.

2 Alexander Del Mar:  “Money and Civilization”; p. 64.

3 Lecky:  “Rationalism in Europe”; Vol. II, p. 34.

4 Joachim Prinz:  “Popes from the Ghetto”; p.32, New York.

5 Alexander Del Mar:  “Money and Civilization”; p. 201.

6 Leon Feuchtwanger, and William Smith:  “History of the Bible”; p.1035.

7 Ibid; p.1024.

8 Joachim Prinz:  “Popes from the Ghetto”; p.30.

9 George Stanton:  “Laws of China”, p.124; 1878.  The “Laws of China” contain absolute provision as against counterfeit, exportation, sequestration, monopolization, or dearth of copper metal or of “cash” (the copper “Chuen”).

10 Appleton’s Encyclopedia:  xii; p. 445.

11 Jacob’s “History of the Precious Metals”, p.202.

12 Alexander Del Mar:  “History of Monetary Crimes”, p.11.

13 Alexander Del Mar:  “Money and Civilization”; p.201.

15 Gowen & Hall:  “An outline History of China”; p.302.
      A vigorously worded edict of the Dowager Empress T’zu Hsi is as follows:  “the various powers cast upon us looks of tiger-like voracity, hustling each other in their endeavours to be first to seize upon our innermost territories.  THEY THINK THAT CHINA HAVING NEITHER MONEY NOR TROOPS would never venture to go to war with them...”

16 Sir John Mandeville:  “Travels”; p.239; 1832 Edn.

17 Alexander Del Mar:  “Money and Civilization”, p.54.

18 Ibid, p.192.

19 Alexander Del Mar:  “Money and Civilization”; p.294.

20 Alexander Del Mar:  “History of Monetary Systems”; p.291.  (Quoting the dying curse of Montezuma’s brother).

21 Renero Budelio:  “De Monetis et Re Nummaria”; 1591; Cologne.

22 Alexander Del Mar:  “History of the Precious Metals”; p.5; p.90.

23 Alexander Del Mar:  “The Middle Ages Revisited”; p.26; p.284.

24 Ernest Babelon:  “Les Origines de la Monnaie”; p.106.

25 G.R. Driver & John C.Miles:  “Ancient Codes and Laws of the Near East”, Vol.II;  Laws of Hammurabai, Law No.7; p.15., Edward Hopkins:  Code of Manu: IX, 292.

26 Augustus Boeck:  “The Political Economy of Athens”; p.182:  “Banks were established in Greece several centuries before the Christian Era, and we have even the rates of interest which they paid upon Deposits.”

27 Harper’s Dictionary of Classical Literature and Antiquities:  p. 1598.

28 David Astle:  “The Babylonian Woe”; p.117.

29 Irving:  “The Conquest of Granada”; Chap. XVI.

30 Alexander Del Mar:  “Money and Civilization”; p.54.

31 Perhaps the best instances of an effort by a (semi-independent) State in the 17th Century to inaugurate a paper currency, were the issues of Massachusets Colony, beginning in 1690 with £7000 and almost ending in 1730 when the currency became reduced to £30.000 by a contraction forced by the British Governor while the issue of private Banks, obviously inspired by the Bank of England (founded 1694), had reached £110.000 !  Alexander Del Mar:  “A History of Monetary Crimes”; p.50.

32 Alexander Del Mar:  “History of Monetary Crimes”; p. 5.

33 John R. Green:  “Short History of the English People”; p. 205.

34 Max I. Dimont:  “Jews God, and History”, see “Marranos”.

35 Alexander Del Mar:  “Money and Civilization”; p.95.

36 Ibid, p.95.

37 Ibid, p.96.

38 Ibid, p.96.

39 Alexander Del Mar:  “Money and Civilization”; p.98.

40 Ibid, pp.75; 83; 222; 223.

41 Ibid, p.95.

42 John Locke & Co.

43 Alexander Del Mar:  “History of Monetary Crimes”; pp. 22; 23; 32.

44 International Directory of Company Histories, p.701.
    It is to be noted that these people commenced their activities in Vietnam in 1993 before the matter of American Prisoners of War and those missing in action, had been cleared up.  They are active in Russia under “Alfa Cement”.  There seems to be no date given for the commencement of such activities.  Therefore it might reasonably be presumed, that, under one cover or another, they operated there before the collapse of the Soviet System.

45 John R. Elsom:  “Lightening over the Treasury Building”; p.19.

46 Alexander Del Mar:  “History of Monetary Crimes”; p.27.

47 Ibid, p.28.

48 Ibid, p.26.

49 The goldsmiths paid 2d per pound more than the Royal Mint.

50 Alexander Del Mar:  “A History of Monetary Crimes”; p.30.

51 Alexander Del Mar:  “A History of Monetary Crimes”; p.29. (Quoting Pollexfen).

52 Alexander Del Mar:  “A History of Monetary Crimes”; p.41.

53 David Astle:  “A Study of the Tally as Instrument of State Finance”.

54 Alexander Del Mar:  “Money and Civilization”; p. 226.

55 Ibid. p. 232.

56 Ibid. p. 243.