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The writings of William Paterson ... founder of the Bank of England
The writings of William Paterson founder of the Bank of England Author:William Paterson Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: wish this treaty may be brought to a good and speedy conclusion. " I am come to know what progress you have made in it, and do assure you that nothing shall b... more »e wanting on my part to bring it to perfection." After the Society had expressed their general satisfaction with those proceedings, and desired Mr. Jones to review them, they ordered copies to be allowed the friends in town, as likewise to be transmitted to our correspondents at York. Adjourned. ENGLAND'S GREAT CONCERN. London, 4to. 1702. (Conjectured to have been written by William Paterson.) It is well known that throughout King William III.'s reign the most earnest attention was given to financial inquiries in and out of Parliament. The stopping of the Exchequer by Charles II. had ruined thousands of families, and there had grown up corruptions such as Andrew Marvel's Spartan integrity did not compensate, and such as were hardly to be checked by signal acts of vengeance, like the expulsion of Trevor from the Speaker- ship of the House of Commons for receiving a bribe of 1,000 guineas to promote the passing of a City Bill. The Lord Treasurer's post was the most laborious of all the departments of the State in England, and as much ingenuity was called for to devise remedies for evils that beset the expenditure of public money, as to find facilities for its collection. The founder of the Bank of England was equally skilful in both respects; and a perpetual Commission for checking the Public Accounts was proposed in 1702 in the following tract, which is here offered as probably a work of Paterson's. It is written entirely in his spirit and style; and in the letter to Lord Godolphin, of 1709, he states that he communicated with King William on the subject, and that in 1702 he laid such papers before his Lords...« less