Corporation-Credit, OR, A BANK of CREDIT made Currant, by Common Consent in LONDON.  
More Useful and Safe than Money.  
London, Printed by John Gain, for the Office, Anno, M.DC.LXXXII.   

Corporation-Credit, OR A Bank of Credit made Currant, etc.  
Whereas the Right Honourable, the Lord Mayor, aldermans, and Commons in Common Council Assembled, did refer the Consideration and Examination of the State of the Chamber of London, unto a select Committee of Aldermen and Commons, giving them power to receive all such Propositions as should be made by any Persons for the Improvement of the Revenue of the Chamber.  
And whereas in pursuance thereof the said Committee did take into their Consideration certain Proposals which were made for the Erecting of a Bank of Credit, which might be made Currant by Common Consent in London, and serve in many Cases to supply the want of present Money for the better Maintenance and Increase of Trade, and be a good means also to secure Traders from those hazards, which common Experience tells us, do ordinarily befall unwary people, when they give Credit to Insolvent Persons, as well as it may serve to improve the Revenue of the Chamber, if the same were reduced into Practice.  
All which being well weighed, seriously considered, and duly examined by the said Committee on the Behalf of the City, they did agree, That the said Proposals should be reduced into Practice and Execution by the Proposers, so as the Books of Accounts, Books of Register, the journals, and other Books relating to the said Bank of Credit be duly and orderly kept, and Balanced, that they may be made subject at all times to the Care and Inspection of the Common Council, or of any two or more of such Persons as shall be from time to time by them appointed thereunto.  
And that all Clarks, Accomptants, Deputies, Agents, Officers and Servants, that shall be employed for the reducing of the said Proposals into Practice, give good Security for the faithful Discharge of their Respective Places.  
And further, That no Reward or Sum of Money be given or taken, but that the Person giving or taking any Sum of Money for any Office in that Bank of Credit, shall be for ever disabled to manage or put in Practice any of the said Proposals.  
All which being mutually agreed unto by, and between the said Committee and the Proposers. It pleased the Right Honourable the Lord Mayor and Court of Aldermen, after several Debates concerning the Premises among themselves, to conclude and agree that the said Proposals be put into Practice by such trusties as should be thereunto Commissionated and appointed ●oithin the City of London, and Liberties thereof for the Benefit of the Chamber, and the furtherance of Trade there. In Testimony whereof they have cau●ed the Common Seal of the Lord Mayor, Commonalty, and Citizens of London to be affixed unto a certain Writing containing the said Proposals and other Articles. Bearing Date at Guild-Hall the 29th. day of August, in the 34th. Year of the Reign of our Sovereign Lord Charles the Second, by the Grace of God, of England, Scotland, France and Ireland King, Defender of the Faith: And in the Year of Christ, 1682.  

NOw for the reducing the said Propositions into Practice, divers Noblemen, and other Persons of Honour and Interest, many Considerable and Wealthy Citizens and Inhabitants of London, as well Merchants as others, (although they stand not in need of Money or Credit from the Bank) yet they knowing well that no man's Credit ought to be larger than his Estate. And that it will be as necessary to have a Common Measure or Standard in the Bank of Credit, for the Trial of Credit, as it is to have Weights and Measures of Standard Assize kept in every Warehouse or Shop, for the measuring and weighing of Goods, and the Preservation of Commutative Justice between Man and Man.  
And having further considered also that the Sum of Money they or any man else have Subscribed, or do intent to Subscribe as his and their Proportion of Credit in the Bank, is, and will be within his and their own Power, and at his and their own Pleasure at all times hereafter to increase or diminish, altar and transfer, as he or they shall think fit, according to Emergency of Trade; as much as it is in the Power and Pleasure of any Man to increase or diminish the number of Weights and Measures in his own Warehouse or Shop. And they having further considered that although by this means any man may know the Currency of another man's Credit, yet no man can discover thereby the Balance of another man's Estate.  
Therefore they have been pleased in the first place to Subscribe several Sums of Money which they will cause to be brought in as a Fund or Foundation of Honour, either in English Tin, or Led, Copper, Steel, or Iron, Raw Silk, Wool, or Cotton, or in Brass or Iron Wyre, Linnen-Cloth or Calicoes, or in some other Goods of sufficient value to raise the Sum of Money by them Subscribed, and to cause the same to be brought into the Warehouse belonging to the Bank of Credit, on, or before the first day of January next ensuing, or within one Week next after notice shall be given them of the day when the Bank of Credit shall be open: and to continue the same there, or some other Goods in their Place, of the same, or of a greater value, for the full Term of one whole Year, paying for the use of the said Credit, Warehouse Room, Savage and Book-keeping of, or upon the said Goods or Wares, after the Rate of 6 l. per Cent. per Annum, for the first Year.  
Secondly. All such Persons as have more Goods than their own Warehouse can contain; and all such as desire to have their Goods secured against the danger of Fire, and hazard of Thiefs, may deposit them in the Warehouse of this Bank, where they shall have Ware-house-Room, if they be not too Bulky, and be secured against those Hazards, paying only 2 l. per Cent. for Ware-house-Room and Savage, according to the value of the said Goods, as they were appraysed when they were taken in.  
But in case any Person comprised under this Article shall desire to make use of Bank-Credit for the said Goods, or any part thereof, then there shall be paid four per Cent. further for the use of the Bank-Credit by them employed.  
Thirdly. All Credible Persons who have more Goods, Wares, or Merchandizes by them than they have present use or Market for, may upon the Fund of them, be supplied from the Bank with Bills of Currant Credit, which may be as useful, and more safe than Money, to serve their Occasions and Emergencies of Trade.  
Fourthly. All Persons that have received any Bank-Credit, may transfer the same, or any part thereof to whom they please. And all Persons to whom such Bank-Credit shall be tendered, may be well assured at the Bank of the Currancy of that Credit which hath a good Foundation there, where it shall from time to time be accepted and taken in discharge of any Debt, as well as in the Release of Goods.  
Fifthly. If any Subscriber or other Person that hath received more Bank-Credit than he hath occasion for at the present, he may be directed at the Bank how to dispose thereof with profit, by transferring the same unto others upon valuable Consideration, and to have Money for the same if it be required.  
This being the true Constitution of the Bank of Credit, it will be the Interest of every man of Credit in his Trade, to have his Name, and some Interest therein. But such as either have no Credit, or deserve none, because they can deposit no Fund, may speak against it, and shun the Bank, because it is a Touchstone, as the Workers in false and counterfeit Metal will shun the Assay and Trial.  
And although some others who have taken unconscionable Rates for the Loan and Procuration of Money, may be angry, because they must be content with less Gains: yet will this Bank of Credit be found to be a great benefit unto Trade, and recommend itself to the Judgement, Approbation, and usage of every  man.   

Advertisement.  
ALL Persons that are desirous to Subscribe, may come either to Garro-way's, Jonathan's, Kemp's, or the Amsterdam Coffeehouses near the Exchange: to the Rainbow, or to Richard's Coffee-house near Temple-Bar: Peter's Coffee-house in Covent-Garden: and Man's Coffee-house at Charing-Cross: at all which Places Books shall lie ready, and Persons attend from Ten to Twelve in the Morning, and from Five to Seven in the Evening every Weekday for that Purpose, and to answer Objections, if there be any made by such as do not understand, or are not so well satisfied about the Usefulness and Advantages of the Bank of Credit unto all as the same is set forth in a Printed Paper, called, England's Interest, On the great Benefit to Trade, by Banks or Offices of Credit in London.