454 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1810. 



together with each half-yearly ac- 

 count, for final examination by 

 the Navy Board. 



W 7p flP W ^ ^ 



A default, to the amount of 

 93,9':i6/. ill the account of the 

 treasurer of the ordnance, would 

 raturally have found a place in the 

 present report, if it had not under- 

 gone the investigation of the com- 

 missioners of military enquir}', 

 who have lately presented in their 

 twelfth report, an ample and dis- 

 tinct detail upon this subject. 

 Your committee however desire, 

 in passing, to call again the atten- 

 tion of the House to the practical 

 ^ inefficiency of the late act for the 

 regulation of this office, and to 

 enforce the observations of the 

 commissioners " that upon the se- 

 cond appointment of Mr. Hunt in 

 1S07, the not takin" any security 

 from him," was a great omission 

 of duty. 



Abstract of the Bullion Report. 



Your committee have found that 

 the price of gold bullion, which, 

 by the regulations of his majesty's 

 mint, is 21. 17s. I0\d. per ounce 

 of standard fineness, was, during 

 the years 1806, 1807, and 1808, 

 as hii^h as 4/. in the market. To- 

 wards the end of 1808 it began to 

 advance very rapidly, and continu- 

 ed very high during the whole year 

 1809; the market price of stand- 

 ard f»old in bars fluctuating from 

 4/. 9s. to 4/. 12?. per ounce. The 

 market price at 4/. 10.?. is about 

 I5y per cent above the mint price. 



It appeared to your committee, 

 that it might be of use in judging 

 of the cause of this high price of 

 gold bullion, to be informed also 

 of the prices of silver during the 



same period. The price of standard 

 silver in his majesty's mint is5s.2(/. 

 per ounce ; at this standard price, 

 the value of a Spanish dollar is 

 ^s.icl. or, which comes to the same 

 thing, Spanish dollars are, at that 

 standard price, worth is. W^^. 

 per ounce. It is stated in Wetten- 

 hall's Tables, that throughout the 

 year 1809, the price of new dollars 

 fluctuated from 5s. 5d. to 5s. Id. 

 per ounce, or from 10 to 13 per 

 cent above the mint price of stand- 

 ard silver. In the course of the 

 last month, new dollars have been 

 quoted as high as 5s. Sd. per 

 ounce, or more than 15 per cent 

 above the mint price. 



Your committee have likewise 

 found, that towards the end of the 

 year 1808, the exchanges with the 

 continent became very unfavour- 

 able to this country, and continued 

 still more unfavourable through 

 the whole of 1809, and the three 

 first months of the present year. 



Hamburgh, Amsteribm, and 

 Paris, are the principal places with 

 which the exchanges are establish- 

 ed at present. During the last 

 six months of 1809, and the three 

 first months of the present year, 

 the exchanges on Hamburgh and 

 Amsterdam were depressed as low 

 as from 16 to 20 per cent below 

 par ; and that on Paris still lower. 



So extraordinary a rise in the 

 market price of gold in this coun- 

 try, coupled with so remarkable a 

 depression of our exchanges with 

 the continent, very clearly, in the 

 judgment of your committee, 

 pointed to something in the state 

 of our own d(>mestic currency as 

 the cause of both appearances. 

 But, before they adopted that 

 conclusion, which seemed agree- 

 able to all former reasonings and 



