The Story of the Bank of England

The Story of the Bank of England - (A History of English Banking, and a Sketch of the Money Market)

The Bank of England, which is managed by a Governor, Sub-Governor, and twenty-four Directors, was incorporated in 1694 at the suggestion of a Scotsman, William Paterson, a man of roving disposition, whose Darien expedition proved a miserable fiasco, cost Scotland some 400,000, and shattered the health of Paterson, who died in London at the beginning of 1719, if not in poverty at least stripped of nearly all his fortune. Schemes relating to the Isthmus of Darien (or Panama), that narrow little strip of land which unites the two Americas, have proved fruitful in disaster. France's great canal venture, we all remember, resulted in huge loss and grave scandal; and Paterson lived to bitterly regret his colonisation scheme, devoutly wishing that he had pinned his faith to his[Pg 2] finance company, the Bank of England, for a finance company it then was in every sense of the word. Little is known of William Paterson's early career, the various accounts relating thereto being meagre and conflicting, his enemies describing him as a mere adventurer, and his friends declaring that he was actuated by the worthiest of motives. However, when it is remembered that his second great venture (the Darien scheme) involved thousands in ruin, it is evident that had the man been a saint he would not have lacked detractors, and though his public utterances sound quaintly pious to the modern ear, it seems probable that he was only an enterprising merchant, whose morality was neither better nor worse than that of the times in which he lived. ......Buy Now (To Read More)

Product details

Ebook Number: 63449
Author: Warren, Henry
Release Date: Oct 13, 2020
Format: eBook
Language: English