® « « K Thefe fupplies greatly diminiihed the public opinion in favour
— o f the bank, and would have undermined its credit, if the king,
upon the remonflrance of the Rates, had not mortgaged certain
revenues of the crown, for the purpofe of difcharging the intereR.
His majeily at the fame time declared, that all the revenues then
mortgaged ihould remain in the hands of the bank, until the debt
ihould be fully difcharged; and promifed, that he would not, on
any pretext or emergency, have again recourfe to the bank for
money, exceptfor fuch as belonged to the crown. By this Rep
the credit of the bank was in dome meafure retrieved; but its
•Rock was too far drained to repair entirely its former credit,
until -Baron Goertz undefignedly contributed to .it by a fcheme
in every other refpeds detrimental to the nation. In order to
fupply Charles with, money .for .his conftant wars, Goertz hit upon
the following defpotic expedient: He compelled perfons firft, by
means of fines and penalties, and afterwards by a fpecies of torture,
to deliver up their plate, jewels; and coin. In return for thefe
effedts they received copper currency, called myntellen, or figns
o f coins, .each weighing only one-third o f a ityver, but pafling
for a filver dollar, or ten pence, of which it was only a 96th
part.
The public finding their property thus forcibly torn from
•them, and receiving no other equivalent than a debafed currency,
which fell ihor-t of its nominal value, lecretly transferred their
plate, jewels, and money, to the bank, relying on his majefly’s
foiemn promife, that the bank ihould be exempted from the interference
terference and infpedtion of the crown. Baron Goertz, con- C H A P .
fidering this mode of proceeding as fraudulent to the crown, en- < , _•
deavoured to prevail upon his majeily to feize the money and
effedts depofited in the bank; but the king not only pofitively
refufed to break his royal word, which he had folemnly pledged
to his people, but even forbade Goertz from laying before him
any propofals that might tend to the prejudice of the bank.
In this crifis of affairs the bank received fuch large fums of
money, great part of which, being placed for iecurity, paid no in-
tereil, that the profits were very confiderable. This flouriihing
Rate of affairs induced the bank, by order of the Rates, in 1741,
to prefent the king with a donative of 100,000 filver dollars, or
£ -8>333- IP and to furniih him with 500,000, or .£.41,666, without
interefi, towards carrying on the war againR Ruffia. Since
that period it has frequently advanced large fums of money to
the crown and to the board o f manufadtures, by order of the
Rates.
The bank is divided into two departments, the one called
Leene or loan, and the other W?xel or exchange bank, each keeping
its accounts as feparate as if they were two diRindt eflabliih-
ments, but each mutually fupplying the other as occafion requires.
The loan bank lends money upon mortgages or pledges in the
following manner Gold and filver in block, copper, brafs, and
lama bank fedlar, or certificates of having lent money to the
bank, being confidered as nearly the fame value as ready money,
Von. IH. ^