534 



BILL OF EXCHANliF BILL OF RIGHTS. 



fered, the rate of exchange, in resect to that parti- 

 cular country, is unfavourable, ami ri-cs. This 1ms 

 ino-i i lUT.iily lifcn the t-ase in tilt 1 I'nited States of 

 America, in respect to Britain. So, ri<-f rrrta, if 

 tlie funds belonging to Americans, in uny particular 

 foreign country, are greater ilian the Mini wanted by 

 other Americans to make payments or inxesimenls 

 there, the nite of exchange with that particular 

 country is favourable, ami the price of it fails. And 

 it is to be observed, that what is allied u favourable 

 rate of exchange i>, in fact, H iifnvouruble to tlie per- 

 son having funds abroad, who wishes to reali/.r tiii'in 

 at home ; for he must, in that case, sell, at home, his 

 foreign excliange, for a smaller sum than its nominal 

 amount. It is U) be lx>rne in mind, therefore, that 

 an unfavourable rate of exchange is not necessarily 

 disadvantageous to a country. To follow out the 

 inquiry, and determine in what circumstances it is 

 actually disadvantageous or indifferent, or in fact 

 advantageous, would occupy more space than we can 

 give to the subject. Hut we perceive from this ope- 

 ration of Uie system of excliange, t hat it is only ne- 

 cessary, at most, to ship abroad, or import from 

 abroad, in specie, tlie actual balance on the whole 

 aggregate of debts and credits, all the items of which, 

 as far as they offset each other, are adjusted by ex- 

 change ; and it is by no means always the case that 

 this aggregate balance is paid in specie ; for the very 

 circumstance of the rise of excliange on any particular 

 country may make the trade more favourable, and 

 induce shipments, the proceeds of which are drawn 

 for as soon as the shipments are made ; so that, in 

 such a case, the unfavourable balance may be actu- 

 ally advantageous, by promoting trade. 



Par of Exchange. The par of the currency of 

 any two countries means, among merchants, tlie 

 equivalency of a certain amount of the currency of 

 the one in the currency of the other, supposing the 

 currencies of both to be of the precise weight and puri- 

 ty fixed by their respective mints. Thus, according 

 to the mint regulations of Great Britain and France, 

 l sterling is equal to 25 fr. 20 cent., which is said 

 to be the par between London and Paris. And the 

 exchange between the two countries is said to be at 

 par when bills are negotiated on this footing ; that is, 

 for example, when a bill for 100 drawn in London 

 is worth 2,520 fr. in Paris, and conversely. When 

 l in London buys a bill on Paris for more than 25 

 Ir. 20 cent., the exchange is said to be in favour 

 of London and against Paris ; and when, on the other 

 hand, \ in London will not buy a bill on Paris for 

 25 fr. 2O cent., the excliange is against London 

 and in favour of Paris. The exchange is affected, 

 or made to diverge from par, by two classes of cir- 

 cumstances : first, by any discrepancy between the 

 actual weight or fineness of the coins, or of the bul- 

 lion for which the substitutes used in their place will 

 exchange, and their weight or fineness, as fixed by 

 the mint regulations ; and, secondly, by any sudden 

 increase or diminution of the bills drawn in one 

 country upon another. 



It is but seldom that the coins of any country cor- 

 respond exactly with their mint standard ; and when 

 they diverge from it, an allowance corresponding to 

 the difference between the actual value of the coins, 

 and their mint value, must be made in determining 

 the real par. Thus, if while the coins of Great Bri- 

 tain corresponded with the mint standard in weight 

 and purity, those of France were either 10 per cent, 

 worse, or debased below the standard of her mint, the 

 exchange, it is obvious, would be at real par when it 

 was nominally 10 per cent, against Paris, or when a 

 bill payable in London for 100 was worth in Paris 

 2,772 fr, instead of 2,520 fr. In estimating the real 

 course of exchange between any two or more places, 



it is always necessary to attend carefully (o this cir- 

 rnmstance ; that is, to examine whether their curren- 

 cies be all of the standard wci^lit ami purity, and if 

 not, how much they differ from it. NN hen the coins 

 circulating in a country arc cither so worn or rubbed 

 as to have sunk considerably below their mint stand- 

 art!, or when paper money is depreciated from ex. < -s 

 or want of credit, the exchange is at real par only 

 when it is against such country to the extent to which 

 its coins are worn or its paper depreciated. 



I'AR OF EXCHANGE between England and the following 

 place*, viz. Amsterdam, Hamburg, Paris, Madrid, Lis- 

 bon, Leghorn, Genoa, Naples, and Venice, the same in- 

 inp computed from the intrinsic value of ihi'ir prim , I 

 coins, by comparing gold with gold, and silver with sil- 

 VIT, according to their mint regulations, and to;^-;i\.s 

 made at the London and 1'aris mints.- < I'rcsriitnl by l)r 

 Kelly to the committee of the House of Lnnln, on ihe. 

 expediency of the bank's resuming cash payments.; 



BILL OF HEALTH ; a certificate or instrument signed 

 by consuls or other proper authorities, delivered to 

 the masters of the ships at the time of their clearing 

 out from all ports or places suspected of being parti- 

 ticularly subject to infectious disorders, certifying the 

 state of health at the time that such ships sailed. A 

 clean bill imports, that at the time that the ship sail- 

 ed no infectious disorder was known to exist. A 

 suspected bill, commonly called a touched patent or 

 bill, imports that there were rumours of an infectious 

 disorder, but that it had not actually appeared. A 

 foul bill, or the. absence of clean bills, imports that 

 the place was infected when the vessel sailed. See 

 Quarantine. 



BILL OF LADING ; a memorandum signed by masters 

 of ships, acknowledging the receipt of goods intrust- 

 ed to them for transportation. There are usually 

 triplicate copies, one for the party sending, another 

 for the party to whom the goods are sent, and the 

 third for the captain. 



BILL OF RIGHTS, or DECLARATION OF RIGHTS, is the 

 assertion by a people, or recognition by its rulers, " of 

 that residuum of natural liberty, which is riot required 

 by the laws of society to be sacrificed to public conve- 

 nience ; orelse those civil privileges, which society has 

 engaged to provide, in lieu of those natural liberties 

 so given up by individuals." The houses of lords and 

 commons delivered to the prince of Orange a list of 

 such rights and privileges, February 13, 1688, at the 

 time of his succession to the British throne, conclud- 

 ing with the words, " and they do claim, demand, and 

 insist upon, all and singular the premises, as their 



* The currency of Genoa has consisted, since 1826, of 

 Lire Italtane of exactly the same weight and fineries* as 

 francs; so that the par of exchange with Geno^i is now the 

 same as with Paris. 



