OF late , that every Body was talking of Trade , and of Enriching the Nation thereby , you may remember , how often you and I have Discoursed about the African and Indian Company , and considered what Advantages might accresce to the whole Kingdom by it , and how glad we were to see our Countrey-Men fall into that Road of Trading , which they had so long neglected . On this Occasion we also talked of the Bank , but you did not seem so satisfied about that , and thought that it might be a Cheat and Contrivance of some People to bubble the Nation out of its Money ; And consequently , that it ought to be discouraged . You may remember also , that I undertook the Defence of it several times , but in the Hurry of Company , and Heat of Discourse , People do generally mistake one another , which was the Occasion of my giving you the Trouble of this at a time , that it may be useful , it being the Common Talk that the present Parliament is to have it under their Consideration .

It is a received Maxim by all who understand the Good of a Kingdom , that the Abatement , or Lowering of Interest of Money , is the Advancing of Trade , this Sir Josiah Child has sufficiently demonstrated , and it is certainly true , that we may guess at the Condition a Nation is in , by enquiring only at what Interest the Money goes . That thereby the Value of Land Estates will become greater , and consequently that of the whole Kingdom is evident , and which must be an Effect of the Increase of Riches , and of Forraign Trade , they alwayes going of necessity together , as Sir Josiah has very well observed ; But the bringing down of Interest of Money by Law , is a thing that will neither do the one or the other ; On the contrary , that it will be pernicious to the Kingdom , can be easily made out , notwithstanding of all the Busle that Gentle-Men makes about it : The Ingenious Mr. Lock has done it , t●… have not seen his Book , however it seems to be so clear , that I sh●… easily convince you of it in very few words .

Money is nothing else but a Commodity agreed upon by the unanimous Consent of most Nations , to be the common Barter of all others , the price whereof , like that of any other Commodity , doth rise and fall in a place in proportion to it 's scarcity and plenty , and what we call the Interest of Money , is nothing but a price for the use of that Commodity . Now they that can or will give the best price for any Commodity , will have it notwithstanding the opposition of any Laws , or interposition of any Power : Of such Force , Subtilty and Power is the General course of Trade . This Sir Josiah has upon another account , but I wonder he would not apply it to the business in question , which would have satisfied him of his Error , if he had . We see when there is scarcity of Grain , that no Law can bring it to such a price as the Poor can afford , nor when there is great plenty , can any Law keep it up at such a Standard as Country-Gentlemen would be at : In a word , all things of that Nature will keep their own Natural course , we may stop their Current for a while , but they must at last in spite of all opposition come to their own Level , tho with a great deal of more confusion and disturbance . Suppose there was a Law made for low interest , the effect of it would be , That honest plain-dealing people would lose by it , and the Crafty Jewish Traffiquers in Money , a set of men that never deserved of the Country , and in well governed places were alwayes discou●aged by Laws , would be the only gainers by it , they borrowing Money by vertue of the Law at low interest , and lending it out at high , which never could be prevented as long as people stood in need of Money when there was scarcity of it . As for example , How easie were it to give a Bond for 100 lib : bearing the Legal interest , when in effect there was no more given by the lender then 90 ? We saw lately in England a thing very like this , When the Guineas were brought down from the Extravagant Rate they went for , by an Act of Parliament , which was as carefully and cautiously made as the Wisdom of that Nation could contrive : But how ineffectual it was , ●… very body now knows , and might have foreseen as long as there was scarcity of other good Current Money . One common way they had to elude the Act , was , By laying a Wager with one you knew had Guineas of 15 lib ; For Example , That he should not get you a hundred for 22 shillings , He that had them won his wager , which was the same as if he had got 25 for the piece of them . Besides , if Money were by a Law at a low Interest , by no equity could people be restrained from raising it , that they might lay it out to better Advantage , which would break most of the Landed Men , unless Money were a great deal more plentiful , which will only be the true and genuine cause of a low interest .

What I have said is in order to prove the usefulness of the Bank to the Nation , that being the main Scope of my Letter , and which would be too tedious if I should insist upon what I hinted at before , to wit , That a low interest of Money would advance Trade , it being certain , that when people could not live upon the common interest of their Stock , they would apply it to Trade , or if they did not , they must retrench their way of living , and spend less of Forraign Commodities and Manufactories , which how much that would contribute to the enriching of the Nation , every body knows that considereth what is laid out that way ; So I shall prove that the Bank can do that which the Parliament can never do , other wayes then by preserving the priviledges of it .

First then , It is plain that there can be no other way of Lowering of interest of Money , than by making it more plentiful , and this I say is really done by the Bank , the Money of the Nation being actually multiplyed by Bank-bills , And that this is not at all an imaginary but a real multiplication of Money is evident , if we consider that so much of the current Money of the Nation , as is necessary for the making of payments between Man and Man , is in effect so much dead and lost stock to the place , let the Money be never so good , when it is confined to the passing amongst our selves , it is no better than Counters or Taillies . Now the Bank-bills supplying the place of Money in making of payments , that which was a dead actionless Stock before is now capable to be Traded with , and may be re●…ned as so much really added to the Riches of the Nation . We 〈…〉 bring it to a pretty near computation of how much is gained by 〈…〉 if we suppose , and that I think safely enough , that one Third a●… most of the Money is sufficient to make the small payments which cannot be so conveniently done by Bank-bills ; Now if we reckon all the Money in this Kingdom to be about 8 , or 900000 lib : Starl : which Judicious Men do reckon it will amount to 300000 lib . may do the business of small payments , and 600000 lib : may be traded with , or in effect added to the Stock , if any Body quarrel this accompt , I am content to call our whole Money but 600000 lib : and so 400000 lib : will be gained , which is as much as is Signed for in the Books of the Affrican and Indian Company , and which is look 't on as a very considerable part of the Riches of the Nation . And by the by , I cannot but wonder that any Body that doth wish Well to our Forraign Trade , should exclaim against the Bank , it being most evident , that nothing can or will better advance it than a low Interest of Money , which cannot be better effectuated , than by keeping up of the Bank ; Neither can ever the Notes or Bills of any Trading Company supply the place of Money , except it be for a small Summ , and a very short time , for besides the possibility of their Breaking , it does not seem so convenient for their own Good , for certain it is , that as soon as any unlucky hit fell out , that every Body that had their Bills , would bring them upon them , which must inevitably cause great Confusion in their Business , and vast Disadvantage to the Company . Now this cannot be supposed of the Bank , which can never break , unless it should be the Fate also of the whole Nation , it being alwayes intrinsically and really worth more than the Bills given out by it , so that as long as there is Money in the Nation , they may have it , If the Bank were supposed ( which is not very credible ) to be put to a pinch , upon the same real Securitys the Bills were given out upon by the Directors .

2ly . There is another very great Advantage by it , and which I judge is very obvious to every Body , and that is the Facilitating of ●… yments thereby , and the saving a Man of a great deal of time ●… trouble in receiving of Money , which is so considerable , that ●… e are few who would not give ½ or ⅓ per cent , to be saved of ●… time in Counting , and Ensureing of good Mony , in taking of ●… y considerable Summ .

There is another Way by which the Bank Enriches the Nation , and which is an easie Consequence from what is said , and that is by augmenting the Currency of Money , which it must necessarly do , both by Facilitating Payments , and making it more Plentiful , so that a Merchant may raise his Stock to Trade with it anew in half the time he could do before , which is in effect , the doubling it to him ; It being certain that he that returns his Stock twice in one year , gains as much as if he returned the double of it only once in the same time .

There is also a very considerable encouragement to Thriftiness by it , and consequently of advantage to the Nation , which is , that the Bank is content to be payed back again in partial payments , by which a man that lives within his yearly Revenues , may insensibly crumble away his debt , which he cannot so easily do when he is owing any considerable Summ to a private person , who will not readily take it , unless he have it altogether , which the Debitor cannot do in a great many years , so that he even layes aside thoughts of it , and spends yearly what he has of free Incomes , and is Chamberlain for the rest to his Creditors .

Now Sir , The Objections against the abatement of intetest of Money by any sort of method , are so triffling , that I think them scarcely worth answering , however they are buzz'd in every bodys Ears , by the Rich Usurer sort of men , the only Drons of the Nation , who without doing any thing for the good of the Publick , or having any other business than that of persecuting their wretched Creditors , do suck the very Vitals of the Kingdom , to the utter ruine of Trade , And consequently to the impoverishing of every body in the Nation besides themselves . These make a heavy clamour about Widows and Orphans , that lowering their Interest , is taking their bread from them : Now what a small part of the peop●… in the Nation , such make , it is easie to compute ? Sir Josiah Chil●… calls them a twentieth , and I 'm sure they are no more , and of these another twentieth will lose nothing , having either nothing at all left them , or at least so little , that their loss cannot be considered , on the contrary they will gain by it , a low Interest advancing Trade , and all sorts of Imploymens , so that they may much easier get a livelyhood , than when Mony is at a higher Interest . But suppose a few should lose by it , which by his computation would not be above one of 400 , were it not hard that all the rest should loss such an advantage , only for the behoof of so inconsiderable a number of themselves .

There be a great many others who have a grudge at the Bank , only because they neglected to be Sharers in it , these do not own their Objections openly , Envy being a Passion that every Body is ashamed of ; However to comfort them , it is certain , that if they have any Shares in the African and Indian Companie , they will gain more by the Advantage a low Interest will bring to that Trade , than if they had put in what they could spare to the Bank and neglected the Other .

Sir , I have now done with what I proposed , was to be the Subject of my Letter 〈◇〉 which for want of patience , I have neither made so clear as the ●●tter might have allowed of , nor put in so handsome a dress , as p●●●●ps with a little more time I could have done ; But I considered ●●●t it was written to One more concerned about that which is re●●●● & truly conducible for his Country , than the glittering varnish of ●●rds ; And who I am certain will go heartily along with the revivi●● and making effectual of Sumptuary Acts , or any other Prop●●●s for the Good of the Kingdom , which I hope shall be made 〈◇〉 ●he Committee for Trade and Parliament , by those who have bot●●●pacity and Experience in such Affairs . I am