254 ^' ^' 1609. 



private perfons. 3(ily, To fuve the lime, trouble, and hazard attend- 

 ing the frequent carrying of cafli to this office of record, they faw it 

 expedient to lodge their main cafli in that office altogether ; and for 

 this end books were opened, wherein each peribn had a diftind account, 

 the whole, or any part thereof, to be transferrable to others at pleafure, 

 who thereupon flionld have accounts in bank opened for them, and they 

 again to have the like liberty of transferring as above. Ricard (in his 

 Traife ^e/teral du rommercc, qunno, Jimdcvdcxm, 1^06, p. 170) fays exprefs- 

 ly, that the magiftrates of Amfterdam, by authority of the ftates, on the 

 3 1 ft of January 1609, eftablifhed themfelves perpetual caftiiers of its in- 

 habitants, and that all wholefale payments in commerce and in bills of 

 exchange (hould be made in that bank. When the new ftadthuys was 

 ereded, this bank office was removed into a large vault of that magni- 

 ficent ftra<3ure ; where (1'ays Sir William Temple in his Obfervations 

 npon the United provinces, c. ii) is the greateft treafure, either real or 

 imaginary, that is known any where in the world : and ' whoever is 

 ' carried to fee the bank fhall never fail to find the appearance of a 

 ' mighty real treafure in bars of gold and lilvcr, plate, and infinite bags 

 ' of metals, which are fuppofed to be all gold and filver, and may be 

 ' fo for ought I know. But the burgo-mafters only have the infpedion 

 ' of this bank, and no man ever taking any particular account of what 

 ' ifllies in and out, from age to age, it is impoflible to make any calcu- 

 ' lation or guefs what proportion the real treafure may hold to the cre- 

 ' dit of it. Therefor the fecurity of the bank lies not only in the ef- 

 ' feds that arc in it, but in the credit of the whole town or ftate of 

 ' Amflerdam, whofe flock and revenue is equal to that of fome king- 

 ' doms, and who are bound to make good all moneys that are brought 

 ' into their bank. This bank (continues Sir William Temple) is pro- 

 ' perly a general cafli, where every man lodges his money, becaufe he 

 ' efteems it fafer and eafier paid in and out, than if it were in his cof- 

 ' fers at home ; and the bank is fo far from paying any intereft for 

 ' what is there brought in, that money in the bank is worth fomething 

 ' more in common payments than what runs current in coin from hand 

 ' to hand * ; no other money palling in the bank but in the fpecies of 

 ' coin the beft known, the moft afcertained, and the mofh generally 

 ' current in all parts of the higher as well as of the lower Germany.' 



Now, though this great author writes with prudent caution concern- 

 ing what he could not certainly determine, yet it is generally taken for 

 certain by all others who have written on this bank, that there is either 

 caffi, or bullion, and pawned jewels, lodged in the vaults of the ftad- 

 thuys, equal to the amount of the whole credit of this bank ; which 



■* He nilgtit have added, that one ftivcr Is paid to the bank for evei-y payment, or transfer of mo- 

 ney, and fix ftivcis k'l Ic.ivc to make a transfer under 300 gilders; belides ten gilders paid by every 

 pcrfm in opening an .iccount for him. 3 



