We have authority for the early history of the London Stock Exchange in a report made in 1877 by the officials of the institution to the Royal Commission. From this report it appears that the Stock Exchange at New Jonathan’s in 1773 “afforded a ready market for the operations of the bankers, merchants, and capitalists connected with the floating of the numerous loans raised at that period for the service of the State.” The members or frequenters paid a subscription of sixpence to defray expenses, drew up rules, and placed its control in the hands of a “Committee for General Purposes.” The functions of this committee were then, as now, “judicial as regards the settlement of disputed bargains, and administrative as regards rules for the general conduct of business and for the liquidation of defaulter’s accounts.” The earliest minutes on record are dated December, 1798. War loans and a national debt increasing by leaps and bounds, with consequent activity in consols, was the principal source of business in those early days, and as these increased, so also the savings of the public and a new national spirit led to a steady growth in the business of dealing in securities. The dim receding voice of those early days still echoes in Capel Court through the medium of two holidays--May 1st and November 1st. More than a century ago these days marked the closing of the Bank of England’s books for the transfer of consols, and as consols were the only things then traded in, there was nothing for stockbrokers to do on those occasions; hence they took a holiday. And they still close the Exchange on these days--an eloquent instance of the Englishman’s adherence to tradition. By 1801 there was not room enough in the old building, and, moreover, the report says: “It became apparent that the indiscriminate admission of the public was calculated to expose the dealers to the loss of valuable property.” Accordingly a group of Stock Exchange men acquired a site in Capel Court, close to the bank, raised a capital of £20,000 in four hundred shares of £50 each, and in May, 1801, laid the foundation of what has become through numerous additions the London Stock Exchange of to-day. The building was opened in March, 1802, with a list of five hundred subscribers, and the deed of settlement (March 27, 1802), vested the management in a committee of thirty members, chosen annually by ballot, with nine trustees and managers, separate from the committee, to have charge of the treasury and represent the proprietors. Although the rules and regulations have been amended and enlarged from time to time to meet new conditions, the constitution of the London Stock Exchange remains substantially unaltered.