412 



A. D. 1797. 



It Is to be obferved, that only round numbers are ufed in the ac- 

 counts of the cafh and bullion, and of the bills difcounted, the diredors 

 of the bank having chofen to adopt a myfterious kind of arithmetic in 

 their flatement of thefe accounts. The extent of the difcounts has at 

 no time been fo great as might be expefted, when we confider the 

 amount of the property, which mufl be conftantly in circulation in the 

 form of i-eal bills among the merchants, manufadurers, and other trad- 

 ers, of this manufiduring and commercial country *. 



The following is a complete account of the eftate of the corporation 

 of the bank of England on the afternoon of Saturday the 25'" of Feb- 

 ruary 1797. 



Dr. 



Bank notes in circulation «^8,64O,250 



Drawing account 2,360,000 



Exchequer bills deposited 1,6/6,000 



Audit roll, or unpaid dividends . 

 Banlc stock dividends, unclaimed . . 

 East-India annuity dividends, un-") 



claimed j 



Sundry small articles, unclaimed . . 

 Due from the chief cashier on the 1 



loan of 1/97 J 



Irish dividends, unpaid 



Imperial dividends, ditto 



Balance for 

 Ivct estate of the bank,~\ 



independent of the I 3 926,890 



permanent debt due < ^ 



by the government J 

 Amount of the gov-"^ 



emment permanent > 11,686,800 



debt J 



Total net estate .... 



083,730 

 45,150 



10,210 



1,330 



17,060 



l,-460 

 ,5,600 



15,513,690 



^2p, 284, 080 



Cr. 



Bills and notes discounted, cash 7 

 and bullion J 



Exchequer bills 



Land and buildings .... 



Lent to the East-India com- 

 pany on mortgage annuities of 

 6fe'l,200,000 



Stamps 



Navy and victualling bills . . 



American debentures, 179O 



Petty cash in the house . • . 



Sundry articles 



Five-per-cent navy annuities 



Five-per-cent annuities of 1797 



} 



^4,176,080 



8,228,000 

 65,000 



700,000 



1,510 



15,890 



54,150 



5,320 



24,150 



795,800 



1 ,000,000 



Treasuiy bills paid 1,512,270 



Lent to government without interest 



Bills discounted, unpaid 



Treasury and exchequer fees .... 

 Interest due on sums advanced tol 



government 



Permanent debt due by govern 

 ment, with an interest of tliree 

 per cent 



370,000 



88,120 



740 



554,250 



17,597,280 

 11,686,800 



^29,284,080 



} 



Thus it appears, that the affairs of the bank were by no means in a 

 iituation to give any real caufe of alarm to their creditors, and that the 

 company were fully able to make good all demands of every kind, 

 which could come upon them ; and, with refpedl to their concerns with 

 the public at large, it may be truely faid, that ' 'The Ji ability of the bank 

 ' of England is equal to that of the Briti/Jj government. All that it has ad- 

 ' vanccd to the public mii/l be lo/i, before its creditors canfufiain any lofs f .' 



With refpedt to the partners of the company, or proprietors of bank 

 flock, the value of their property, if there had been a neceffity at this 



* Some writers, defirous of OitoUing the great- of making the nioft of it, they were rather under 



nefs of the bank's concerns, abu'.it this time ftated the average of the real amount, at leaft after the 



the ufual amount of their difcounts at nine or ten year 1794. 



millions annually, which they fuppofed a prodigious f Smith's Wealth of natiottf, V. \,p. i^Z,ed. 1793. 

 -great fum. It appears, that, with all their dciire 



