Page:International Library of Technology, Volume 89.djvu/18

§1 centuries it was obliged to suspend payment. The bank was destroyed by the French in 1797.

The Bank of St. George, Genoa, was formed in 1407 and became at once the sole intermediary between the state and its creditors. It took an active part in support of, or in opposition to, every measure of the government. It equipped a military movement at its own expense, subduing the island of Corsica and taking the territory as security for the amount expended. The bank was so embarrassed by the cost of these accessions that it was unable to pay dividends on its shares for several years during its early history. Not until 1675, however, was this bank opened as a public institution, transacting a general banking business. The bank was at the height of its power when Law visited Genoa, and there is every reason to believe that it furnished him with the model of what he afterwards attempted to carry out on a larger scale in Paris, and in which he was not successful. The bank was pillaged by the Austrians when the city was taken in 1746, and it suspended payment in 1750. The bank was discontinued in 1799. In 1844, the Bank of St. George was succeeded by a new bank known as the "Bank of Genoa," this being reorganized as the "National Bank of the Kingdom of Italy" in 1859, which bank is still in existence.

4. Holland.—The Bank of Amsterdam was organized in 1609 for the purpose of remedying the disadvantage arising from the circulation of light-weight coin. The bank received all coins, foreign and domestic, at their bullion value, giving the depositors credit to that amount, a small reduction being made for expenses. It also received gold and silver bullion at a discount of 5 per cent., giving the depositor a transferable receipt enabling the bearer to demand the coin at any time within 6 months, on returning this receipt to the bank with an equal amount of bank money and paying to the bank a certain percentage. The charges had to be paid and the deposit renewed every 6 months or the right of withdrawal was forfeited. The bank made no use of its funds except to