An Act for granting to their Majesties several rates and duties upon tunnage of ships and vessels, and upon beer, ale, and other liquors, for securing certain recompences and advantages in the said act mentioned, to such persons as shall voluntarily advance the sum of fifteen hundred thousand pounds, towards the carrying on the war against France.
XIX. And be it farther enacted by the authority aforesaid, that it shall and may be lawful to and for their Majesties, by commission under the great seal of England, to authorize and appoint any number of persons to take and receive all such voluntary subscriptions as shall be made on or before the first day of August, which shall be in the year of our Lord one thousand six hundred ninety four, by any person or persons, natives or foreigners, bodies politic or corporate.
XX. And be it further enacted, that it shall and may be lawful to and for their Majesties, by letters patents under the great seal of England, to limit, direct, and appoint, how and in what manner and proportions, and under what rules and directions, the said sum of twelve hundred thousand pounds, part of the said sum of fifteen hundred thousand pounds, and the said yearly sum of one hundred thousand pounds, part of the said yearly sum of one hundred and forty thousand pounds, and every or any part or proportion thereof, may be assignable or transferable, assigned or transferred, to such person or persons only as shall freely and voluntarily accept of the same, and not otherwise; and to incorporate all and every such subscribers and contributors, their heirs, successors, or assigns, to be one body corporate and politic, by the name of the governor and company of the bank of England, and, by the same name of the governor and company of the bank of England, to have perpetual succession, and a common seal.
XXVIII. Provided, that nothing herein contained shall any ways be construed to hinder the said corporation from dealing in bills of exchange, or in buying or selling bullion, gold, or silver, or in selling any goods, wares, or merchandize whatsoever, which shall really and bona fide be left or deposited with the said corporation for money lent and advanced thereon, and which shall not be redeemed at the time agreed on, or within three months after, or from selling such goods as shall or may be the produce of lands purchased by the said corporation.
8. The Need for the Recoinage of 1696 [H. Haynes, Brief Memoirs Relating to the Silver and Gold Coins of England (in Lansdowne MSS, 801, British Museum), fs. 33-48].
The silver money of England as well as the coins of all other countries are liable to abuse by these three following methods:
1st, by alteration of the standard appointed by public authority.
2nd, by melting them down and converting the metal to other uses.
3rd, by exporting them into foreign countries, to carry on a trade.
And by all those methods was the whole stock of the cash of this kingdom excessively impaired before the late grand coinage.