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516 



CUR 



Currency, 

 Currie. 



of corn, or as crippling the foreign exertions of our go- 

 vernment, is productive of incalculable mischief. 



The limits suggested for our paper currency by Dr 

 Smith were L. 10 as the lowest bank note in London, 

 and L. 5 as the lowest in the country. These recom- 

 mendations were adopted by government about forty 

 years ago, and were productive of much advantage. 

 The mass of small notes, circulating frequently for five 

 shillings or less, was made to disappear, and the re- 

 striction was not attended with any material injury to 

 trade. Banks of circulation continued to make loans 

 as before to farmers, merchants, and manufacturers. 

 The first deviation from Dr Smith's plan took place 

 above twenty years ago, but was comparatively trifling, 

 for it consisted in nothing more than a permission to 

 the Bank of England to issue, like the country bankers, 

 notes of L. 5. The grand alteration took place in 1797» 

 on the suspension of casli payments ; a step which was 

 necessarily accompanied by an unlimited permission to 

 issue notes of L. 1 and L. 2. From that time forward, 

 paper has been regularly taking the place of gold and 

 silver in our currency. Every }'ear has added more or 

 less to the substitution ; but the foreign subsidies, and 

 the corn importations of 1799, and the years immedi- 

 ately subsequent, carried off our specie by wholesale. 

 Our bank paper then fell between 2 and 3 per cent, be- 

 low our coin, a fall which it has never recovered. The 

 final blow was given by our Orders in Council, and by 

 the heavy drain of specie attendant on the prosecution 

 of the war in Spain. Had government adhered to the 

 precautions of Dr Smith, and kept our foreign expen- 

 diture within bounds, the crisis of 1797 would not 

 have occurred. And had they, at the subsequent date 

 of 1 807, forborne to interfere with the course of trade, 

 the evil would have been comparatively limited in its 

 operation. A great part of the supplies necessary for 

 the Spanish contest would have been furnished by the 

 Americans, who would have taken (as they are always 

 ready to take) payment in British manufactures. More- 

 over, the sums of money which we might still have 

 found it necessary to expend in the peninsula, would 

 have found their way back to us, directly or indirectly, 

 through the endless channels of an unrestrained com- 

 merce. With this view it is important to remember, 

 that the American trade with the continent regularly 

 supplied us with four millions annually, in the shape 

 of bill or specie remittances. This was a fund lasting 

 stedfastly all the year through, and generally affording 

 us between L. 1 50,000 and L. 200,000 a week. Unfor- 

 tunately the silent and imperceptible manner in which 

 these i-emittances took place, prevented our govern- 

 ment from comprehending their magnitude, until the 

 " deed was done," and we had, with our own hands, 

 blocked up this ample source of supply. (^) 



CURRIE, James, M. D. was born in the south of 

 Scotland, in that district of Dumfries-shire which derives 

 its name from the river Annan. His father and grand- 

 father were both clergymen of the church of Scotland. 

 He was -an only son, but had six sisters, two of whom 

 survive and are respectably married, one of them to 

 an eminent surgeon in London, and the other to a 

 cousin of her own, a merchant in Liverpool. At the 

 time of his birth in 175(i, his father held the living of 

 Kirkpatrick Fleming, but was soon afterwards remo- 

 ved to the neighbouring parish of Middlebie, where he 

 ended his days before his son had attained his 1 8th 

 year. His wife, Jean Boyd, a descendant of the an- 

 cient family of Kilmarnock, and a woman remarkable 

 for the strength and cultivation of her understanding, 



died whilst the subject of this sketch was still at a very 

 early age ; but this loss was amply compensated to the 

 family by the benevolence of Miss Christian Duncan, 

 a half sister of Mrs Currie, who undertook the superin- 

 tendence of the household, and dedicated her life to 

 the service of her young relatives. 



Under the eye of these estimable guardians, he re- 

 ceived the first rudiments of education at the parochial 

 school of Middlebie, and from their example insensibly 

 imbibed those endearing qualities, which formed 

 through life so remarkable a feature in his character. 

 At the age of thirteen, he was sent to the grammar 

 school of Dumfries, which was then ably taught by 

 Dr Chapman, whose work on education has gained him 

 deserved fame. Into the house of this eminent teacher 

 he was received as a boarder, where he remained some 

 time after he had finished his course in the school, for 

 the purpose of learning mathematics and practical geo- 

 metry. 



Soon after leaving school he accompanied his father 

 in a visit to Glasgow, at which college the worthy cler- 

 gyman had received his education, and where he stilt 

 retained some intimate friends. The bustle and enter- 

 prise of this flourishing place, opened a new scene to 

 the ardent imagination of young Currie ; and having 

 caught the spirit of adventure common to' his country- 

 men, his father was persuaded to send him out to Vir- 

 ginia in the service of a company of merchants. He 

 sailed for America in 1771, where he remained five 

 years, and underwent many hardships, having suffered 

 from a long and dangerous illness, and been treated 

 with harshness and neglect by some individuals in that 

 country Avith whom he was connected. To add to his 

 misfortunes, during tliis period he lost his father, by 

 winch blow he was at once deprived of a counsellor 

 and friend, and reduced to depend for subsistence on 

 his own industry ; the produce of the family estate, 

 which was indeed but trifling, being generously resign- 

 ed by him for the support of his sisters. These com- 

 plicated calamities, however, did not relax the native 

 energies of his mind ; and young as he was, lie took an 

 active part in the political discussions which then agita- 

 ted the American colonies, and ended in their separa- 

 tion from the mother country. Though convinced of 

 the impolicy of a war with our dependencies in that 

 quarter, and from his local knowledge anticipating an 

 unfavourable result, he had, in common with the great 

 majority of his countrymen in Virginia, formed a de- 

 cided opinion in favour of the rights which the British 

 administration assumed of taxing the colonies ; and he 

 published in an American newspaper, some letters ex- 

 pressive of his sentiments, under the signature of " an 

 Old Man," which gained him amongst his party a high 

 but dangerous reputation. As soon as the troubles be- 

 gan to assume a more serious aspect, and to interfere 

 with the regular course of mercantile pursuits, he went 

 to reside with Dr Currie at Richmond, a near relation 

 of his, and the principal physician in the colony, who 

 persuaded him to change his line of life, and to adopt 

 the profession of medicine, to which he had been ori- 

 ginally destined. It was concluded between this gen- 

 tleman and himself, that he should go back to Britain, 

 and prosecute his studies at the university of Edin- 

 burgh, and after taking his degree, should return to 

 practice medicine in the capital of Virginia. Before all 

 this could be accomplished, it was confidently expect- 

 ed that peace would be restored. In prosecution of 

 this plan, he accordingly set out for Britain by the way 

 of the West Indies, as direct communication with the 



Curr"e. 



