Note 685 — Chapter XI · (continued 2)

The king promised the bankers interest at six per cent., instead of the money due to them from the exchequer; but this was never paid till the latter part of William's reign. It may be considered as the beginning of our national debt. It seems to have been intended to follow the shutting up of the exchequer with a still more unwarrantable stretch of power, by granting an injunction to the creditors who were suing the bankers at law. According to North (Examen, pp. 38, 47), Lord-Keeper Bridgman resigned the great seal rather than comply with this; and Shaftesbury himself, who succeeded him, did not venture, if I understand the passage rightly, to grant an absolute injunction. The promise of interest for their money seems to have been given instead of this more illegal and violent remedy.