lege of issuing notes which since 1833 have been legal tender in
England and Wales everywhere except at the bank itself; the fact that it is
the banker of the other banks of the country and for many years had the
control of far larger deposits than any one of them individually--all these
privileges gave it early a pre-eminence which it still maintains, though
more than one competitor now holds larger [v.03 p.0336] deposits, and
though, collectively, the deposits of the other banks of the country which
have offices in London many times overpass its own. Some idea of the
strength of its position may be gained from the fact that stocks are now
inscribed in the bank books to an amount exceeding 1250 millions sterling.

[Sidenote: Bank Charter Act.]

In one sense, the power of the Bank of England is greater now than ever. By
the act of 1844, regulating the note-issue of the country, the Bank of
England became the sole source from which legal tender notes can be
obtained; a power important at all times, but pre-eminently so in times of
pressure. The authority to supply the notes required, when the notes needed
by the public exceed in amount the limit fixed by the act of 1844, was
granted by the government at the request of the bank on three occasions
only between 1844 and 1906. Hence the Bank of England becomes the centre of
interest in times of pressure when a "treasury letter" permitting an excess
issue is required, and holds then a power the force of which can hardly be
estimated.

One main feature of the act of 1844 was the manner in which the issue of
notes was dealt with, as described by Sir Robert Peel in parliament on the
6th of May 1844:--"Two departments of the bank will be constituted: one for
the issue of notes, the other for the transaction of the ordinary business
of banking. The bullion now in the possession of the bank will be
transferred to the issue department. The issue of notes will be restricted
to an issue of L14,000,000 upon securities--the remainder being issued upon
bullion and governed in amount by the fluctuations in the stock of
bullion." The bank was required to issue weekly returns in a specified form
(previously to the act of 1844 it was necessary only to publish every month
a balance-sheet for the previous quarter), and the first of such returns
was issued on the 7th of September 1844. The old form of return contained
merely a statement of the liabilities and assets of the bank, but in the
new