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to be worthy of the punishment of death[1]. It may safely be affirmed, that so sanguinary a code does not disgrace the institutions of any other nation or period.
On the ground-floor of the stadthouse also are the strong apartments which formerly contained the immense treasures of the bank of Amsterdam, and the offices for conducting the concerns of that opulent establishment. I shall hereafter more particularly notice the bank of Amsterdam, and its condition to fulfil its engagement with its creditors, when the French became masters of Holland, and discovered to the world the pecuniary resources of this celebrated commercial institution. A small number of clerks are still<references>
- ↑ Such was the estimate of Blackstone, a man by no means disposed to represent the laws of England in an unfavourable light, in 1769. Since that period, scarcely a sessions of parliament has been held, in which the punishment of death has not been enacted against offences, which, before, a slighter punishment was thought sufficient to coerce. The number has therefore been much increased, and it is greatly to be feared that not less than two hundred crimes are enrolled on this bloody dialogue.
