s, Utopian or utterly absurd. Among
them was the Mississippi scheme in France and the South Sea Bubble in
England, of which the latter was intimately connected with the Indies.
The time had arrived when people began to think of trading on credit or
pledges, and of combining together for carrying on banks and other
commercial operations. Private banks had existed for several centuries,
and more or less public establishments in the great commercial centres,
such as Venice, Amsterdam, and Hamburg, but up to the present there was
no Bank of England. In fact the great principle that allows an enormous
trade to be carried on without the actual interchange of specie or
commodities had just been discovered, and the people of France and
England went mad over it.

The pioneer of the system in England was William Paterson, who seems to
have been acquainted with Dampier and Wafer, both of whom knew the
isthmus of Darien very well. He is also said to have travelled in the
West Indies himself, and even to have visited the Porto Bello fair, but
this is not quite certain.

Paterson first came into prominence by bringing forward a scheme which
ultimately led to the establishment of the Bank of England on the 27th
of July, 1694. From this he appears to have derived no actual benefit,
however, although he was one of the first directors, upon a
qualification of L2,000 stock, which he sold out after the first year,
and thus withdrew. Probably he wanted his money to carry out the new
project for a settlement on the isthmus of Darien.

In the course of this history we have advisedly used the word "English"
instead of "British," in speaking of our nation, because as yet
Scotchmen were little concerned in colonisation schemes. In fact, except
as transported rebels or convicts, they had hardly any interest in the
plantations. This was the result of Navigation Acts, which debarred
Scotch merchants and vessels from trading, by ordering that all traffic
with the colonies should be carried on in English vessels and from
English ports.

Paterson's idea was to take possession of the isthmus of Darien,
establish a Scotch colony at a convenient harbour on the Gulf side, and
then open up a proper road by which the trade would be so much
facilitated that it would become the great highway. Seated between the
two vast oceans of the universe, he said, the isthmus is provided with
excellent harbours on both sides, between the principal of which lie the
m