The whole wealth of the nation will be in the hands of the Tonnage Bank,--such was the nickname then in use;--and the Tonnage Bank will be in the hands of the Sovereign.

The power of the purse, the one great security for all the rights of Englishmen, will be transferred from the House of Commons to the Governor and Directors of the new Company.

This last consideration was really of some weight, and was allowed to be so by the authors of the bill.

A clause was therefore most properly inserted which inhibited the Bank from advancing money to the Crown without authority from Parliament.

Every infraction of this salutary rule was to be punished by forfeiture of three times the sum advanced; and it was provided that the King should not have power to remit any part of the penalty.
The plan, thus amended, received the sanction of the Commons more easily than might have been expected from the violence of the adverse clamour.
In truth, the Parliament was under duress.