During and after the discussion on this project in the legislature a pamphlet controversy arose in which two able writers distinguished themselves—Mr. Henry Maxwell and Mr. Hercules Rowley. The former was in favour of the bank while Mr. Rowley was against it.
Mr. Maxwell argued soundly from the ground on which all banking institutions were founded. Mr. Rowley, however, pointed out that the condition of Ireland, dependent as that country was on England's whims, and interfered with as she always had been, by English selfishness, in her commercial and industrial enterprises, would not be bettered were the bank to prove even a great success. For, should the bank be found in any way to touch the trade of England, it might be taken for granted that its charter would be repealed, and Ireland find itself in a worse state than it was before.
The pamphlets written by these gentlemen bear the following titles:
| (1) Reasons offer'd for erecting a Bank in Ireland, in a letter to Hercules Rowley, Esq., by Henry Maxwell, Esq. | Dublin, 1721. |
| (2) An Answer to a Book, intitled Reasons offered for erecting a Bank in Ireland. In a Letter to Henry Maxwell, Esq. By Hercules Rowley, Esq. | Dublin, 1721. |
| (3) Mr. Maxwell's Second Letter to Mr. Rowley, wherein the objections against the Bank are answered. | Dublin, 1721. |
| (4) An answer to Mr. Maxwell's Second Letter to Mr. Rowley, concerning the Bank. By Hercules Rowley, Esq. | Dublin, 1721. |
Sir Walter Scott, in his edition of Swift's works, reprints these pamphlets. The text of the present edition of "The Swearer's Bank" is based on that published in London in 1720.