The name of Sir John Barnard, the father of the city, its honest representative for six sessions, the remodeller of the Stock Exchange, and the reducer of the interest on the national debt, occupies a prominent place in all questions connected with the funds. Born of the same persuasion as William Penn, he retained during life much of the simple honesty of the creed he originally professed; and even Sir Robert Walpole respected him, although he was constant in his opposition to bad measures, and could never be bought nor bribed. “I address myself to you, Mr. Speaker, and not to your chair,” he said, when Sir Robert Walpole, secure in a majority, withdrew the attention of the Speaker; “I will be heard; and I call that gentleman to order.” Lord Chatham gave him, half in jest and half in earnest, the proud title which was afterwards appropriated to himself, of “the great Commoner.” His pride was indomitable. The members of the Stock Exchange, who were always spoken of with great contempt by Sir John, thoroughly detested him, and greatly helped to fan the unpopularity which fell upon him when he opposed public feeling, as, with a most unbending integrity, he invariably did, if his conscience prompted. “He grew,” said Horace Walpole on one occasion, “almost as unpopular as Byng.” On commercial subjects his opinion was greatly regarded. When any remarkable feature in financial politics occurred, the town echoed with, “What does Sir John say to this? What is Sir John’s opinion?” And he had the honor of refusing the post of Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1746. It is somewhat at variance with the proud character of the man, that, from the time his statue was erected in the Royal Exchange, he never entered the building, but transacted his business in the front. The blood of Sir John Barnard yet flows in the veins of some of the best houses in the commercial world, his son having married the daughter of a gentleman known in contemporary history as “the great banker, Sir Thomas Hankey.” CHAPTER VI. _Origin of New Loans.—Fraud of a Stock-broker.—East India Stock.—Sketch of Sampson Gideon, the great Jew Broker.—East India Company.—Restriction of its Dividends.—Liberality to its Clerks.—Important Decision.—Robbery at Jonathan’s.—Curious Calculation concerning the National Debt._