The year 1824 was notable for a very great increase in the number of joint-stock companies which were promoted or suggested, and also of loans to foreign countries; and a period of intense excitement and speculation ensued. This was followed by the inevitable crisis, which developed into a panic at the end of 1825, when a large number of London and country bankers had to stop payment. The reserve of the Bank was reduced to a merely nominal figure, and the Bank authorities themselves suggested that they should again be “restricted” as to payments; but the suggestion was firmly resisted by the Government. Fortunately, at the lucky moment, an old box which had been stored away was remembered. It contained a large quantity of £1 notes, and these the Bank at once commenced to issue. This issue had very quick and beneficial results. The notes were readily received by the public in exchange for the notes of private bankers, the demand for bullion ceased; and Mr. Harman, giving his evidence before a parliamentary committee inquiring into the causes of the panic, stated it was his opinion that this issue of small notes “saved the credit of the country.” In 1826 the Bank of England, by arrangement with the Government, agreed to establish branches in various parts of the country, and gave up their monopoly of joint-stock banking, except within a radius of sixty-five miles of London. The year 1833, however, saw a further restriction in the powers of the Bank, when, after protracted negotiations, and in return for a further renewal of its Charter, the Bank surrendered its monopoly of joint-stock banking entirely, provided that no bank having more than six partners might issue notes within the sixty-five-mile limit of London. It is a curious point that the Charter of the Bank never did restrict joint-stock banking in its present accepted form, but only _the issue of notes_ by joint-stock bankers or banks having more than six partners. Up to this time the issue of notes by a bank had been thought to be its main business; so much so, that it was believed to be useless to attempt to conduct a bank without power of issue, and consequently no joint-stock bank had been founded. But about this time the need of such institutions began to be felt, and the presumed monopoly of the Bank of England was called in question—largely by Mr. Gilbart, the founder of the London and Westminster Bank. The Bank tried to assert their monopoly, but without success, and in order to settle the matter effectually, the following clause was inserted in the Act passed in 1833 dealing with the Bank Charter:—