94 OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [The Mourd
of the sums set down in their respective subscriptions
towards carrying on the bank, and all and
every the persons subscribing and paying to. the
said stock as aforesaid shall be, and hereby are
declared to be, one body corporate and politic,
by the name and company of THE BANK OF
SCOTLAND,? etc.
The charter, while detailing minutely all that
the bank may do in the way of lending money and
giving laws for its internal government, fails to
define in any way the liability of the shareholders
to each other or to the public. For the space of
twenty-one years it was to be free from all public
burdens, and during that time all other persons in
the realm of Scotland are prohibited from setting
up any rival company.
To preclude the breaking of the bank contrary
to the object in view, it is declared that the sums
of the present subscriptions and shares may only
be conveyed and transmitted by the owners to
others who shall become partners in their place,
or by adjudication or other legal means. It is
also provided by the charter that aH foreigners on
acquiring the bank stock must become ? naturalised
Scotsmen, to all intents and! purposes whatsoever,?
a privilege that became abused, and was abolished
in 1822. The charter further ordains that no
member of the said company shall, upon any
? pretence whatever, directly or indirectly, use,
exercise, or follow any other traffic or trade with
the said joint stock to be employed in the said
bank, or any part thereof, or profits arising therefrom,
excepting the trade of lending 2nd borrowing money
upon interest, and negotiating bills of exchange,
allenarly [i.e., these things only], and no other.?
By various subsequent statutes the capital of
this bank was increased till it stood nominally at
~1,500,000, a third of which has not been called ;
and by the Act 36 and 37 Victoria, cap. gg, further
powers to raise capital were granted, without the
Act being taken advantage of. The additional
amount authorised is ~3,000,000, which would
give a total capital of A~,~OO,OOO sterling.
The monopoly conferred on the bank by the
Parliament of Scotland was not renewed at the
expiry of the first twenty-one years; and on its
being found that banking business was on the
increase, another establishment, the Royal Bank
of Scotland, was chartered in 1727, and immediately
became the rival of its predecessor.
?It purchased up,? says Amot, ?all the notes of
the Bank of Scotland that they (the directors)
could lay hands on, and caused such a run upon
this bank as reduced them to considerable difficulties.
To avoid such distresses for the future,
the Bank of Scotland, on the 29th of November,
1730, began to issue 6 5 notes, payable on demand,
or 65 2s. 6d. six months after their being presented
for payment, in the option of the bank.
On the 12th of December, 1732, they began to
issue AI notes with a similar clause.?
The other banking companies in Scotland found
it convenient to follow the example, and universally
framed their notes with these optional clauses.
They were issued for the most petty sums, and
were currently accepted in payment, insomuch
that notes for five shillings were perfectly common,
and silver was, in a manner, banished from
Scotland. To remedy these banking abuses, an
Act of the British Parliament was passed in 1765,
prohibiting all promissory notes payable to the
bearer under 61 sterling, and also prohibiting and!
declaring void all the optional clauses.
In the year 1774, when the Bank of Scotlan&
obtained an Act to enlarge their capital to
~2,400,000 Scots, or ;~ZOO,OOO sterling, a clause
provided that no individual should possess in
whole, or more than, ~ 4 0 , 0 0 0 in stock, and the
qualification for the offices of governor and directors
was doubled.
The present offices of the Bank of Scotland
were completed from the original design in 1806
by Mr. Richard Cnchton, and the institution was
moved thither in that year from the old, narrow,
and gloomy close where it had transacted business
for one hundred and eleven years.
In digging the foundation of this edifice, the
same obstacle came in the way that eventually
occasioned the fall of the North Bridge. After
excavating to a great depth, no proper foundation
could be found-all being travelled earth. The
quantity of this carted away was such that the
foundations of some of the houses in the nearest
closes were shaken and their walls rent, so that
the occupants had to remove. A solid foundation
was at last found, and the vast structure was reared
at the cost of L75,ooo. T h e quantity of stone and
mortar which IS buried below the present surface is
immense, and perhaps as much of the building is below
the ground as above it,? says Stark in 1820.
?The dead wall on the north of the edifice, where the
declivity is greatest, is covered by a stone curtain,.
ornamented with a balustrade. The south front is.
elegant. A small dome rises from the centre,
and in the front are four projections. A range
of Connthian pilasters decorates the second floor,
and over the door in the recess is a Venetian
window, ornamented with two columns of the
Corinthian order, surmounted by the arms of the
bank.?
