Virginia 



it should not, the Virginians fell into a measure, 

 which completed it at once: for by an act of assembly 

 they fixed the exchange between currency and ster- 

 ling debts at five and twenty per cent, not consider- 

 ing that the real value of their currency could only 

 be regulated by itself. The consequence was, that 

 when from frequent emissions, the difference of ex- 

 change between bills upon merchants in London 

 and currency was 40 per cent., the difference be- 

 tween currency and specie* was only five and twenty. 

 So that the moneyed men collected all the specie they 

 could, sent it to Philadelphia, where it passed for its 

 real value, purchased bills of exchange with it there, 

 and sold them again in Virginia with fifteen per cent, 

 profit: and this they continued to do till there was 

 not a pistole or a dollar remaining. 



During my stay in Virginia, I made several ex- 

 cursions into different parts of the country: one in 

 particular to the great falls of Potomac; of which, 

 as I expected to be highly entertained, I kept a 

 journal. 



I departed from Williamsburg, Oct. 1, 1759, in 

 company with another gentleman ;f and we travelled 

 that day about forty miles, to a plantation^: in King 



* Fixing the difference between currency and sterling debts, 

 was, in reality, fixing it between currency and specie. 



f Col. Bernard Moore. 



t Belonging to Col. Symes. This gentleman's lady, a very 

 beautiful woman, was said to have just attained her 21st year. 



[61] 



