BAN 



BAN 



lioufe rent fhoiild be fo much dearer for gold than for fiU 

 ver, fcveral different reafons have been afRgned. The fir.e- 

 nefs of gold, it has been faid, is more difficult to be af- 

 certained than that of filver. Frauds are more eafily prac- 

 tifed, and occafion a greater lofs in the moll; precious metal. 

 Silver, befides, being the ftandard metnl, the ftate, it has 

 been faid, wiihcs to encourage more the making of depofits 

 of filver than thofe of gold. 



Depofits of bullion are moft commonly made -when the 

 price is fomewhat lov.'er than ordinui-y ; and they are taken 

 out again when it happens to rife. In Holland, the mar- 

 ket price of bullion is generally above the mint price, for 

 the fame reafon that it was fo in England before the late re- 

 formation of the gold coin. The difference is faid to be 

 tommonly from about fix to fixteen (livers upon the mark, 

 or eight ounces of filver of eleven parts fine, and one part 

 alloy. The bank price, or the credit which the bank gives 

 for the depofits of fuch filver (when made in foreign coin, 

 of which the finenefs is well known and afcertained, iuch as 

 Mexico dollars), is twe;ity-tvvo guilders the mark ; the 

 mint-price is about twenty-three guilders, and the market- 

 price is from twenty-three guilders fix, to twenty-three 

 guilders fixteen ftivers, or from two to three per cent, above 

 the mint price. The proportions between the bank price, 

 the mint price, and the market price, of gold bullion, are 

 nearly the fame. A perfon can generally fell his receipt for 

 the difference between the mint price of bullion and the 

 market price. A receipt for bullion is almoU always worth 

 fomething, and it very feldom happens, therefore, that any 

 body fuffers his receipt to expire, or allows his bullion to 

 fall to the bank at the price at which it had been received, 

 either by not taking it out before the end of the fix months, 

 or by neglefting to pay the one-fourth or one-half per 

 cent, in order to obtain a new receipt for anotlier fix 

 months. This, however, though it happens feldom, is 

 faid to happen fometimes, and more frequently with regard 

 to filver, on account of the higher warehoufe rent which 

 is paid for keeping of the more precious metal. 



The perfon who by making a depofit of bullion obtains 

 both a bank credit and a receipt, pays his bills of exchange 

 as they become due with his bank credit ; and either fells 

 or kei"ps his receipt according as he judges that the price 

 of bvdiion is likely to rife or to fall. The receipt and the 

 bank credit feldom keep long together, and there is no oc- 

 cafion that they fhould. The perfon who has a receipt, 

 and who wants to take out bullion, finds alv/ays plenty of 

 bank credits, or bank money to buy at the ordinary price ; 

 and the perfon who has bank money, and wants to take 

 out bullion, finds receipts always in equal abundance. 



The owners of bunk credits, and tlu holders of receipts, 

 conftitute two different forts of creditors againll the bank. 

 The holder of a receipt cannot draw out the bullion for 

 ■which it is granted, without re-affigning to the bank a fum 

 of bank money equal to the price at which the bullion had 

 been received. If he has no bank money of his own, he 

 mull purchafe it of thofe who have it. The owner of 

 bank moriey cannot draw out bullion without producing to 

 the bank receipts for the quantity which he wants. If he 

 •has none of his own, he muil buy them of thofe who have 

 them. The holder of a receipt, when he purchafcs bank 

 money, purchafcs the power of taking out a quantity of 

 bullion, of which the mint price is five per cent, above the 

 bank price. The agio of five per cent, therefore, which 

 he commonly pays for it, is paid, not for an imaginary, but 

 for a real value. The owner of bank money, when he pur- 

 chafes a receipt, purchafes the power of taking out a quan- 

 )ity of bullion of which the market price is commonly from 

 7 



two to three per cent, above the mint price. The price 

 of the receipt, and the price of the bank money, com- 

 pound or make up between tliem the full value or price of 

 the bullion. 



Upon depofits of the coin current in the country, the 

 bank grants receipts likewife as well as bank credits ; but 

 thofe receipts are frequently of no value, and will bring no 

 price in the market. Upon ducatoons, for example, which 

 in the currency pafs for three guilders three ilivers each, 

 the bank gives a credit of three guilders only, or five per 

 cent, below their current value. It grants a receipt likewife 

 entitling the bearer to take out the number of ducatoons 

 depofited at any time within fix months, upon paying one- 

 fourth per cent, for the keeping. This receipt will fre- 

 quently bring no price in the market. Three guilders bank 

 money generally fell in the market for three guilders three 

 ilivers, the full value of the ducatoons, if they were taken 

 out of the bank ; and before they can be taken out, one- 

 fourth per cent, mufl be paid for the keeping, which would 

 be mere lofs to the holder of the receipt. If the agio of 

 the bank, however, (liould at any time fall to three per 

 cent, fuch receipts might bring fome price in the market, 

 and might fell for one and three-fourths per cent. But 

 the agio of the bank being nov/ generally about five per 

 cent, inch receipts are frequently allowed to expire, or, as 

 they exprefs it, to fall to the bank. The receipts which 

 are given for depofits of gold ducats fall to it yet more fre- 

 quently, becaufe a higher warehoufe rent, or one half per 

 cent, nuill be paid for the keeping of them before they 

 can be taken out again. The five per cent, which the bank 

 gains, when depofits either of coin or bull'on are allowed 

 to fall to it, may be confidered as the warehoufe rent for 

 the perpetual keeping of fuch depofits. 



The fum of btnk money for which the receipts are ex- 

 pired mufl be very confiderable. It mufl comprehend the 

 whole original capital of the bank, which, it is generally 

 fuppoftd, has been allowed to rcm.ain there from the time 

 it was'firfl depofited, nobody caring either to renew his re- 

 ceipt or to take out his depofit, as for the reafons already 

 afligiied, neither the one nor the other could be done with- 

 out lots. But whatever may be the amount of this fum, 

 the proportion v.l^ich it bears to the whole raafs cxf bank 

 money is fuppofed to be very fmall. The bank of Amfler- 

 dam has for thefe many years pafl been the great warehoufe 

 of Europe for bullion, for which the receipts are very fel- 

 dom allowed to expire, or, as thev exprefs it, to fall to 

 the bank. Tlie fp.r greater part of the bank money, or of 

 the credits upon the books of the bank, is fuppofed to have 

 been created, for thefe many years pall, by fuch depofits 

 which the dealers in bullion are continually both making 

 and witlidrawincf. 



No demand can be made upon the bank but by means of 

 a vecipice or receipt. The 1 mailer mafs of bank monev, 

 for which the receipts are expired, is mixed and confounded 

 with the much greater mafs for which they are ftill in, 

 force ; fo that, though there maA' be a confiderable fum of 

 bank money, for which there are no receipts, there is no 

 fpecific fum or portion of it which may not at any time be 

 demanded by one. The bank cannot be debtor to two 

 perfons for the fame thing ; and the owner of bank money 

 who has no receipt, cannot demand payment of the bank 

 till he buys one. In ordinary and quiet times, he can find 

 no difficulty in getting one to buy at the market price, 

 which generally correlponds with the price at which he 

 can fell the coin or bullion it entitles him to take out of 

 the bank. 



It might be otherwife during a public calamity ; an 



invafioa 



