History of the Bank of England

History of the Bank of England; Part 1 Origin and Development of Banking in England; Part 2 Foundation of the Bank of England; Chapter 1 Necessity for a National Bank; Chapter 2 Paterson, His Life and Work.-the Foundation of the Bank of England; Chapter 3 Organisation of the New Bank; Chapter 4 Results of the Foundation of the Bank; Chapter 5 The Restoration of the Coinage; Chapter 6 The Land Bank.-Renewal of the Bank Charter; Chapter 7 The Bank of England and the War of Succession; Part 3 The Bank of England under the Hanoverian Dynasty; Chapter 8 The Bank of England and the South Sea Company; Chapter 9 The Bank of England in the Reign of George II; Chapter 10 The Bank from the Death of George II. to the French Revolution; Part 4 The Bank of England During the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars; Chapter 11 Economic Condition of England at the Time of the French Revolution; Chapter 12 Financial Policy of William Pitt. 1 I have thought this chapter essential as an explanation of those which follow, but I have not written it without many hesitations and with considerable difficulty. It is very difficult to judge of a financial policy during such a remarkable period, and Pitt could not reasonably be expected to foresee all the events of which he was to be an eye witness. To this first difficulty is added a second, that of finding data for an opinion. The political struggles were exceptionally violent and they influence nearly all the books on the subject. Moreover, Mr. Lecky's work stops at 1793. There is no general history whatever for this period. Lord Stanhope's Life of the Right Honourable W. Pitt (4 volumes) is anything but a scientific work. The following may be consulted for the subject matter of the chapter:-A masterly speech by Gladstone, delivered on May 8, 1854 (see Parliamentary Debates, third series, Vol, 132, columns 1472-79 devoted to this matter). McCulloch, Collection of Tracts on the National Debt (with a preface); The History of the Bank of En