468 



NOTES ON BRAZIL. 



This is the rate at which Gold is delivered into the Treasury at 

 Rio de Janeiro, there it is coined and re-issued, either in pieces of 6,400 

 Reis each, or 4,000 Reis each ; the former yielding to the Treasury, at 

 the exchange already quoted, a fraction more than seventy-five shillings 

 and nine-pence three farthings, and the latter a trifle less than eighty-four 

 shillings and five-pence half-penny. It may be proper to add, for the sake 

 of those who may wish to verify these calculations, that both coins are 

 issued at the Standard quality of twenty-two carats, that one of the 

 pieces ought to weigh nine pennyweights and five grains, and the other 

 five pennyweights and four grains ; but the late coinages of both these 

 pieces are too light. 



It has also happened for several years past, owing at first to the 

 extraordinary value of Bullion in Europe during the war, and latterly to 

 the demand for it in the East, which was checked by the removal of the 

 Government from Lisbon, and which has since revived with unprecedented 

 vigour, that no quantity of Gold can be obtained for export without 

 paying a premium to the holder of ten per cent, upon the larger pieces, 

 and one per cent, upon the smaller, and with this encumbrance it actually 

 left the shores of Brazil in 1818. By advices received from Rio, dated 

 June 3d, 1820, this premium is quoted at the extraordinary rate of six- 

 teen to seventeen per cent, while the commercial exchange has fallen 

 to fifty-eight pence per Milreis. On the l6th June it is quoted at 17 and 

 18 per cent, and silver also proportionably higher. 



That this increased value of Gold is likely to be general and perma- 

 nent, appears from these circumstances. While the produce of Bra- 

 zilian Mines has advanced sixteen or seventeen per cent, that which is 

 obtained from other parts of South America, has in the same time, risen 

 more than twenty, and the demand for it at that rate is in the East, tlie 

 very quarter of the world whence Europe was formerly supplied with 

 the precious metals. And in addition to this. Silver, however low we 

 may be disposed to esteem it in London, is higher, in the neighbourhood 

 of the Mines, than it was ten years ago, by full one-fifth of its former 

 value, i. e. the Half-Doubloons of Spain have advanced in the proportion of 

 108 to 130 or 132. Silver from 75 to 90 or 91. 



