EXCHANGE. 
, 3 
what less violent, act of injustice, was the reduction of Exchange. 
its weight. In France, irregularities of the latter de« “Vv” 
—\— to a mercantile correspondent, like Messrs Barings, 
who paid it away, by order of the owner, to” ms. 
ac -was, that the manufacturers in York- 
the funds required for our continental expenditure, 
whether the latter were wanted in the Mediterranean, 
the Baltic, or the central part of Europe. 
Were gov to avoid expensive foreign arma 
ments, the course of exchange would experience com- 
paratively little fluctuation. In itself, it has a steady 
to ci ph drritet eet ie does 
money become of more value in one country ano- 
ee Se ee of the er a ae 
to in question, Intelligence o’ re- 
eer bites oF coomanditien is transmitted from coun- 
post, and no men are more ex~ 
pee ts, wheneyer a rise of price af- 
a tolerable chance of advantage. These ship- 
ments are continued until are. to a level, 
a circumstance which can : until the ex- 
change has been equalized. Any species of merchan- 
dise may thus be in contributing to 
1 to the desired level. Bullion has, more- 
their current coin, and all have been unsuccessful in the 
of melting is too short and too 
law ; so,that the chief result of 
: he evasion. process, how 
in thi i (roca telly 
Nominal exchange. _We are now to leave the i- 
Shenton sceal secs oC tend, and ya aicses voc 
nom 
and the true policy of countries was un- 
denied was ou reign odes 
base the quality of the coin. A more recent, and some- 
scription took place about a century ag0, and in Tur- 
key they have occurred even during the present gene-~ 
ration. The obvious effect of this diminution of va~ 
lue, must be a reduction of the nominal exchange. 
When the French government, under Louis XV, issued ’ 
an order that the ecu, till then of five francs, should 
contain silver of the value of four francs only, forei 
nations would of course consent to receive it only at the 
latter rate. In the same way, the value in exchange of 
the Turkish piastre fell, not many years ago, to the 
half of its former amount. It deserves to be mentioned 
that, in our own case, before the new coinage of 1774, 
our ex with the continent was, on account of the 
lightness of our coin, two or three per cent. below par ; 
but that so soon as we had guineas of the full weight, 
it regained its proper level. 
Another cause of fluctuation, to a certain, though no 
great extent, in the rate of exchange, is the occasional 
variation in the relative value of gold and silver. In 
this country, gold is the standard coin ; in France, in. 
Holland, and in most parts of the continent, silver is 
the standard. Now the price of the one compared to 
the other, though. not subject to sudden fluctuation, 
can by no means be accounted stati In around 
estimate it was common to set down gold to silver, in 
Sify the of 15 to ae daigey hy ag ected 
ify existing proportion: Of late years, the silver 
mines of America have been in a state of progressive 
and rapid increase ; her gold mines, on the other hand, 
have become less productive than formerly. The con- 
age has been a ual, though not Mes consider~ 
able diminution in thie relative value of silver. The 
practical effect on the ex: is a reduction of those 
m denominations, of which silver is the standard. 
This being the case in Dutch money, the par of ex- 
Pru aig acne Holland and England, is no longer 
11, but fully 114 guilders for the pound sterling. 
The same applies to other parts of the continent ; but- 
the difference being merely nominal, has no influence 
on ane airs rei cee, fry a 
introduction of paper currency duri e last’ 
and t age, into almost every Cahatey Europe, 
has ‘ uctive of great though not of permanent 
irregularities in the state of the exchange. This way 
of currency is by much too seductive tobe 
lodged in the hands of any government. On the Con- 
finent, the issues of paper have generally proceeded, 
not as in this country from banking incorporations, de- 
tached in a considerable degree from the influence of 
the government, but directly from the public offices of 
the state. The issues have accordingly been pushed as - 
far as fr peokerts of government required, or as the- 
ins? the public, in a season of enthusiasm, would 
bear. -No account was taken. of the 
roportion to be 
observed with reference to the de of trade; and 
; it was quite fo that the existing currency is al. 
ways equal, or 
i of the French assignats has been renamed, al~ 
in a style of less extravagance, in all the prin- 
cipal countries on the Continent. ie Portugal, 
Austria, Russia, and Sweden, have each their royal or. 
i ial bank-notes, which circulate at a great and ac- 
knowledged inferiority to the current coin. ‘In France, 
the exaltation of the popular mind enabled the exeeu-~ 
tive power to make, at a particular time, an enormous, 
abuse of the facility of creating money ; but the excess 
of the evil produced its cure, and there has been, since 
ly equal, to these demands, The 
