SPANISH LOANS. 179 



280,000,000 of a five per cent, stock was sold to the contractors at 

 the rate of fifty per cent., subject to a deduction of four per cent, for 

 commission and other charges. The Spanish government received : 



Reales. M. 



In bills upon Spain . . 74,280,983 13 



In Spanish money .... 1,538,124 7 

 In gold and silver bars . . . 31,633,314 19 



Total . . , . 107,472,428 



" Thirty-four millions, that is one-fourth of the loan, were ab- 

 sorbed by the commission, the half-yearly payment of interest, and 



other expenses." 



Reales 



Stock was given for .... 280,000,000 

 Received in cash .... 107,500,000 



Loss to 'the State upon this single > 172 500 000 



transaction . * . . . S ' 



That is, it received about thirty-eight per cent, of the nominal ca- 

 pital. The interest, moreover, was to date from the 1st of Novem- 

 ber, 1821, although the contract was not concluded until the 22d. 



This rate may be, however, considered moderate usuance for 

 money, compared with that of the conversion, paper against paper 

 old rags transformed into bran new bonds, with coupons attached. 

 Messrs. Ardoin, Hubard, and Co. seem to have felt their liability to 

 the Jew's reproach : 



" He lends out money gratis, and brings down 

 The rate of usuance " 



by the moderation of their exactions in the case of this loan. The 

 conversion juggle seems to have been considered in the light of a 

 compensation for profit foregone in the extraordinary bonus of laying 

 down thirty-eight against a promise to pay of 100. The conditions 

 of the conversion were framed accordingly, which we give in the 

 words of our author. 



" The Spanish government bound itself, in this transaction, not to 

 receive, under any form whatsoever, from any but the contractors in the 

 present bargain, for the term of eighteen months from the date of 

 the contract, all and each of the undermentioned stocks, at the follow- 

 ing 'prices, viz. : each bond of the loan of 1820, for the amount of 

 1 ,400 reals vellon ; each premium-ticket for 300 reals vellon ; each 

 bond of the national loan of 1821, for 2,100 reals vellon; each Dutch 

 bond of 1 ,000 florins, for 5,600 reals vellon ; each florin of the arrears 

 of interest due to the first of January 1821, for 4 reals ; each florin 

 of current interest, that is, of such as, by the fact of the delivery of 

 the Dutch bonds, shall have accrued subsequently to January 1, 182 1 , 

 for eight reals; the interest due at the periods of remitting the 

 bonds of the loan of 1821, at the rate of twenty reals vellon for each 

 dollar ; and each real of the interest due at the time of remitting the 

 bonds of the national loan of 1821, for one real, actual value. 



