PARLIAMENTARY CONTROL OVER PUBLIC BORROWING 411 
forced to rely on parliamentary backing in order to obtain A.D. 1689 
advances, was the turning point in his career’. Those —17. 
who urged that a bank was inconsistent with monarchical to oro 
government were not far wrong?; they observed that “™ 
such institutions had only flourished in republics, such 
as Genoa, Venice, and Amsterdam; a bank created an 
imperium tn tmperio that could not be tolerated under an 
absolute monarchy. The Bank trenched in some ways on 
the royal prerogative; the maintenance of the purity of the 
circulating medium had always been considered as belonging 
to the royal honour; but a Bank which had the right to 
put its notes in circulation, and was responsible for main- 
taining their value, came at least to share in this part of 
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116Car.I.c.7. “Whereas great sums of money must of necessity be speedily 
advanced and provided for the reliefe of his Majesties Army and People in the 
Northern parts of this Realm and for preventing the imminent danger this King- 
lome is in and for supply of other his Majesties present and urgent occasions 
which cannot be soe timely effected as is requisite without credit for raising the 
said moneys which credit cannot be obtained until such obstacles be first removed 
as are occasioned by fears jealousies and apprehensions of diverse his Majesties 
Loyall Subjects that this present Parliament may be adjourned prorogued or 
dissolved before Justice shalbe duly executed upon Delinquents publike grievances 
redressed and firme Peace betweene the two Nations of England and Scotland 
concluded and before sufficient provision be made for the repayment of the said 
moneys so to be raised all which the Commons in this present Parliament assem- 
bled having duly considered Do therefore humbly beseech your Most Excellent 
Majestie that it may be declared and enacted Aud be it declared and enacted 
by the King our Sovereign Lord with the assent of the Lords and Commons in 
ihis present Parliament assembled and by the Authority of the same That this 
present Parliament now assembled shall not be dissolved unlesse it be by Act of 
Parliament’ ete. Note. “This Act was not found amongst the original Public Acts 
of this Session at the Parliament Office, but is annexed to the Act for the Attainder 
of the Earl of Strafford amongst the Private Acts, and both the said Acts received 
the Royal Assent by Commission, being the only Acts which appear to have passed 
in that manner during this Session.” Statutes of the Realm, p. 103. 
3 One of the first advocates of the establishment of a bank, Henry Robinson, 
argues against this view, which must have been current in 1641. England's 
Safety, in Shaw, Writers on English Monetary History, p. 56. Balthasar Gerbier 
urged on the Council of State that they had an excellent opportunity of founding 
a bank, as there was no longer a danger of its money being seized by the king. 
Some considerations on the two grand Staple Commodities of England, p. 6 (1651). 
The alleged incompatibility was felt, not only by the projectors of banks but by 
politicians. The objection is well put by T. Violet, Appeal to Caesar (1660), 
p. 20; and was borne in mind by the founders of the Bank of England, who say 
in anticipating the objections of opponents, “In all their Peregrinations they 
never met with Banks nor Stocks anywhere, but only in Republicks. And if we 
let them set footing in England we shall certainly be in danger of a Common 
wealth.” A brief account of the intended Bank of England (1694), p. 8. Brit. 
Mus. 1139. d. 10.