OCR Text |
Show Before Bank of England Merchants of London placed their gold, which was the unit of exchange, in the Tower of London for safe keeping. Charles I, 1640, took possession of the Tower with 200,000 pounds of gold, which he appropriated. The merchants then placed their money with the goldsmiths gold-smiths and the notes given In exchange ex-change were passed from hand to hand, originating the system of checking. The goldsmiths became too powerful as the holders of the gold of the country and were suppressed, sup-pressed, principally by the chartering charter-ing of the Bank of England, 1694. |