206 PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY. 



quently took place iu conuection with the adjustment of debts. These 

 bills were declared to be worth three times as much as bills of the 

 correspoudiug denominations of the old tenor form, and were to be 

 received by the treasurer on the basis of one of the new tenor for three 

 of old tenor. In January, 1741-2, when the second new tenor form was 

 first issued, the bills were rated in the Act on the basis of one of the 

 form mentioned iu the Act for four of old tenor, no provision being 

 made in the Act for their redemption in coin. From that time until 

 December, 1742, the Province saw circulating side by side two forms 

 of bills, each declared to be e(iual to silver at six shillings and eight- 

 pence an ounce, one of these forms being rated in the statutes at a 

 premium of 'do per cent above the other, and tlie bill that was at a 

 discount having behind it a specific pledge for its redemption in coin 

 within less than twelve months. It was also true that at the same time 

 Rhode Island bills issued on twenty-year loans, to an amount vastly dis- 

 proportioned to the resources of the Colony, when compared with the 

 circulation of tiie Massachusetts bills, were freely received at a premium 

 above these first new tenor bills. It is possible that the discredit iu 

 which these bills were held during the spring and summer of 1742 was 

 intentional, for the Assembly, just in time to save the credit of the 

 Province, made provision for the exchange of such as were outstanding 

 December 31, 1742, on terms nearly equivalent to their redemption in 

 coin. Thus ended this absurd attempt to give credit to the public bills 

 by promising to redeem in silver and gold such as were outstanding 

 after the fund provided for their withdrawal from circulation was closed. 

 How far it may have affected public opinion at the time, and prevented 

 a more liberal and reasonable attempt at the establishment of a currency 

 redeemable in coin on demand, must be a matter of personal judgment, 

 but it will be admitted that this ex[)erience was capable of an interpre- 

 tation in the hands of those hostile to such a movement which would 

 have militated against any such experiment. 



I have prepared and submit herewith a table showing the variovxs 

 amounts annually emitted, inclusive of loans from 1702 to 1750. In 

 parallel columns with these, the amounts retired each year and the amount 

 left outstanding are given, the withdrawals being made up on the 

 assumption that the loans were called in when due. It is known that 

 this was not the ease, but it would be impracticable to attempt to follow 

 these payments in detail. It is also known that the tax collectors were 

 at times delinquent in their returns, so that the funds provided for the 

 withdrawal of the bills were not collected according to the terms of the 



