THE Defence of the Bank of England, and their Present Method of Payment, will, I fear, seem at present so great a Paradox to the generality of people, that one might very well take a fair Excuse from thence to save ones self the labour: But my sentiments of their Management being directly con­trary to those of the Town, which I find collected with a great deal of Prejudice against them by the Author [Page 4]of the Book which I receiv'd from you; I shall make the less difficulty, in answer to your desire, to send you my thoughts of their Complaints and his Performance, with Respect to the Bank, without farther Apology.

The Design of the Author seems, in short, (for I must ask his pardon if I forbear to transcribe the length of his Expressions) to prescribe a Remedy for the present obstruction, and inter­rupted Currency of our Coin. In or­der to which, he sets himself to prove, That there is now in the Kingdom Good Money sufficient, and more than suffici­ent to answer our Expences, Commerce, Markets; and, in fine, to make us all easie in all our occasions. And here ve­ry much offers itself to be disputed, even upon his own Computation: But for quietness sake, and that we may proceed, I shall at present suppose with our Author that this is true.

Well, how comes it then that we are in this Lamentable Condition, this Woful Plight, that is the occasion of such Tragical Exclamation? Why [Page 5]these are the Reasons, says our Au­thor, First, the Dilatory Payment of Notes by Goldsmiths, and others; and at last, for the greater respect, of Bank Notes. This he insinuates only as yet, the violent and great Charge is reserv'd till after. Secondly, The hoarding of the Weighty Money and Guinea's, in ex­pectation that they will be rais'd the next Parliament. Thirdly, The hoarding of Money designedly to keep up, and to take advantage of its scarcity. Fourthly and lastly, Having discharg'd the last Re­licts of Veneration, which it seems he had been some time troubled with for the Bank of England, he lays it once more upon them, and indeed the endeavour to cast and fix the Blame upon them chiefly, after all his wandring and smooth Pretences, seems to be the great End, and main Design of his long Letter.

These being the Causes which our Author has laid down for the Reasons of the Present Scarcity of Money, I shall go on to give you my Remarks on them as briefly as possible.

[Page 6] The slow Payment of Notes by Goldsmiths and others, must needs be confest to be a great hindrance to the free Currency of Money: But that it ought to be attributed wholly or gene­rally to their ill Management and dis­honest Practices, as our Author would most charitably perswade us, I can by no means consent to; and shall take occasion to speak farther to, when I consider the Reasons for the slow Pay­ment at the Bank of England.

The Hoarding of Guinea's and Weighty Money, in expectation of their being rais'd the next Parliament, is undoubtedly another Obstacle to the Circulation of the Coin: And whoever does so, it must be acknow­ledg'd that their Expectations are both very unreasonable, and extremely pre­judicial to the Interest of the Nation; for which reason I shall freely turn them over to be Disciplin'd for their ill aim'd Obstinacy by our Author.

And pass to the other sort of Hoard­ers which he mentions: Such as hoard to take Advantage of the Scarcity, [Page 7]which they themselves occasion; and these are the men indeed for whom no terms are too disgraceful. Had our Author, instead of the Bank, dis­charg'd his Spleen against these unna­tural Misers, he could scarce have said too much against them, at least I should never have interrupted his De­clamation.

And thus at length we come to consider the force of his Charge against the Bank, and to examine the Justice of those Imputations, which he so harshly lays upon them; That the slow Payment of their Bills, is the chief reason for the present Hardship of the Money.

And here I shall without scruple confess, that the ready Payment of their Bills would be a great help to the free Passage of the Money. But this is not the Case: The Question is, Whether they have Money; I mean such as will give satisfaction? Will those who so impatiently demand Payment, be satisfy'd to take it, in the same sort of Money, which their Bills [Page 8]were given for? the greatest Part it is well known having been, taken in, either in Clipt Money, or Gold at an overvalue: I know this cannot but be a very Offensive Question to these very hearty People; now that the Coin is in so much better condition but if they will be pleas'd to consider, if they have not yet absolutely re­solv'd to be deaf even to Truth and Reason, if they appear in favour of the Bank. I say, if they will yet reflect calmly upon this Matter, they will soon find, that it is to this very Al­teration of the Coin, and not to any Mismanagement of the Directors, that their present Slow Payment i [...] owing, and by Consequence that they are as far from Dishonesty in their present acting, as our Author is from Truth and good Manners, in his false and groundless Aspersing of them.

However, let us trace this a little further, for the sake of some People.

It is well known, that just before the calling in of the old, adulterated, diminish'd Coin, the Bank had a very [Page 9]great number of Bills and Notes out against them, all which were readily answer'd in the Coin, to which they referr'd, the then currant Coin of the Nation, and which before the Par­liament began to take the Cure of the Money into their Consideration, was as readily accepted by those who de­manded Payment of them. Thus far then the Bank was honest, as honest as any that made Payments in the Kingdom. How came they then to alter their Me­thod? How came they that were bu [...] just now so honest and so punctual, to be forc'd to hazard their Reputation, their most advantageous Bottom; and expose themselves to these heavy Cen­sures? Why this our Author, out of his profound Respect for so Considera­ble a Body, cannot attribute to any thing but either their Mismanagement, or their Impotency, the effect of their Mismanagement; which he has very wisely noted to be the same thing. And upon this Chapter it is that our Author treats them without Mercy, though not without good Counsel, which hie [Page 10]is very full of: First gives them a stroke or two by way of Preparation, then reads them a Lecture of Morality, with an O Tempora, O Mores! Laces them, half Latin, half English; Lucri honus est Odor. O detestable! bids them sell all they have, throw the Helve after the Harchet, Plate, Tallies, Bonds, Lands, any thing, every thing; rather than suffer this Dunning at their Door: and if they will do this, then all will be well. But if not, nay, if they do but intreat, tho in a manner never so languishing, for some Forbear­ance, some little Pity, this brings him upon them ten times more furious than before. O Vipers! Work Gentle­men, do as I bid you, or else you must expect no favour. And thus having reduc'd them to the lowest estate of wretched Mortals, given them some good advice, as proper to restore them as to cure the Tooth-ach, he leaves them to comfort themselves, with Ends of Philosophy, and Scraps of Poetry.

[Page 11] But after all this, if our Angry Au­thor will yet hearken, if a word or two may yet lay hold of him; Is he really in earnest in this matter, or has he only chose it as a fit subject to ex­ercise his Talent on? Had his pre­tended Respect for the Bank, or but some Members of it been real, he might sure have found out some way to have determin'd this concern some­thing more in their favour. I say, I cannot imagine but he might have found some appearance of Reason in a Case so plain, to have help'd them with on this occasion.

For my part, this I am confident of, that if he had made but any En­quiry, if he had ask'd any but their Mistaken, or their Malicious Enemies, the Reason of this faultering, as he terms it, in their Payments, they must needs have referr'd it to the Re­gulation of the Coyn, and the Me­thod which has been taken to make good its Deficiency.

[Page 12] When a stop was put to the Currency of the old Money, and those who had accepted it but just before, refused to take it any longer; what could the Bank do on this Occasion? They had no other way but to stand still till the Business was determin'd, and when all other ways of disposing of the Mo­ney they had by them, except to vast loss, was shut up, but that of throwing it into the Exchequer, I cannot for my life imagin how they could have excus'd themselves, if they had not, with the whole Kingdom, made use of the Opportunity. From which it evidently ap­pears, that it was Necessity and [Page 13]the publick Good, and not any private advantage that oblig'd them to throw their Money by way of Loan into the Kings hands.

But let us follow this yet a little further, for the sake of our Author, who seems as if he wink'd hard on purpose to mi­stake in this matter. The small Money being thus forc'd into the Exchequer, what could be expected of the Bank, till they were supply'd from thence a­gain, they could not make Brick without Straw, to pay new Money while they had it not was impossible; from whence too it easily follows, that when they should have it, they were [Page 14]oblig'd both in Wisdom and Justice to order their Payments according to their Receipts of it, which is by Parcels and by Time, so that every one might have a little; & that is, in plain terms, to act as they do, since they can do no better. Had our Author consider'd this, as I am sure he ought to have done, he might easily have seen, that it is the Hardship of the Time and the unavoidable consequence of the reinstating of the Coin that occa­sions this Difficulty, and not a­ny ill Design of the Bank or the Goldsmiths, as was said: I am sure his not considering of it gives too great an occasion to question either his Understand­ing or his Sincerity.

[Page 15] And now, Sir, if you have yet any doubt of the partiality, to say no worse of this Writer, I desire you would look over the Apology, which he says they are so ready to make for themselves on this occasion, p. 32. of his Book, and observe how disingenuously he passeth it over without an answer, in­stead of which he only directs them, as if their Fortunes were at his disposal, to sell all they have, that so they might in­crease the publick hardship with their particular Ruin.

Oh, but says he again, if they had call'd in their 40 per cent. upon the first sense of their Distress, that would have [Page 16]sav'd their Credit and kept them in Reputation. But can he be­lieve himself, when he reflects once more upon this Proposal? Can he think the calling in of 480000 Pounds in Bills only from one part of them, would have satisfy'd the other that demanded to be paid in Mo­ney; the bare Proposal of this Chimera is Answer enough to it, without giving it any further consideration.

Page 56. But let them call in the 40 per cent. now says our Author, retaining the 20 per cent. which they have borrow'd upon courtesie. And what then▪ Why then, says he, having gi­ven such a Pledge to the worl [...] [Page 17]of their Integrity, every Body will return to them, and throw their Money into their Hands again, as they did at the be­ginning; and here indeed the Author has at last found the true way to oblige his Friends the Members of the Bank, and to bind them to him for ever. But suppose if the Bank sh [...]uld do this, yet People should not bring their Money so fast to them as he promises, but not­withstanding this great Pledge, should rather chuse to keep it themselves to answer their more pressing, occasions. I say what would our Author say to this, what Recompence could he make these Friends of his, after [Page 18]they had so straitned themselves to no purpose to oblige others. Why it may be, good man, he would hold up his Hands, exclaim upon their Ingratitude, and then send 'em to the very Beasts for more humane Exam­ples.

Page 58 he sets them to cast up their accounts, and to con­sider their affairs, as if they had been hitherto as unthinking and as wild as Epicurus his Atoms; and then if they cannot pay rea­dy money to allow interest for Forbearance; in which our Au­thor discovers himself extream­ly ignorant in the Business he pretends to, for had he taken [Page 19]never so little pains he might soon have learn'd, that whoe­ver has Notes to the value of 100 Pounds, may when he pleaseth exchange them for In­terest Bills; but I perceive he is resolv'd to order this matter ac­cording to his own fancy, tho it sets him never so much beside the Cushion.

But his most endearing kind­ness for the Bank, as well as the great expedient for the resto­ration of the Money comes at last, all his other laid aside, and that is the total decrying of the Bank, and that they shall pay nothing at all but Interest; and this he thinks would set [Page 20]us all upon our Legs again. But how in the name of Goodness can this be, does their paying some money, make greater scar­city than if they paid none, will they who think it so hard to re­ceive but a little now, be in­deed better satisfy'd to receive none at all. Impotent Di­rector!

But, says he, if their Bills or Notes, which is the same with him, had no currency, then it must be Money; but what can he mean by their having no currency. However, they are order'd still, those that own them, will have the propriety, and by consequence a right to [Page 21]the disposal of them, under what form soever they are con­sider'd. For my part, except they could pay more money, I don't know how they can act better than they do at present, and I think it need not be suspected, but that they will pay more as soon as they are able, least of all that they designedly keep up a scarcity which they them­selves are such great suf­ferers by: In the mean time they must have patience, the best Remedy for us all, till Time, the further considera­tion of the Parliament, and the Success of the Publick Affairs, bring this great Con­cern [Page 22]to an issue, which that it may be honorable and happy, is the hearty desire of