1801.] 
it has, and to it I afcribe much of the ac- 
knowledged exce/s in the price of corn. I 
confider that the Bank by its liberal dif- 
counts has unintentionally fupported this 
trade. I think, that if the Bank had con- 
tinued <its cafh-payments, the affiftance 
given to that traffic (as alfo to the fore- 
italling of butter, cheefe, and fome other 
articles, which has lately been a practice in 
trade) muf? have been much lefs. In this 
poiat of view, therefore, it appears to me, 
that the fufpenfion of thofe payments has 
been materially detrimental to the nation. 
I might befides remark, that althoughan 
increafe of capital employed im trade has a 
tendency to reduce the rate of profit, yet 
it undoubtedly will caufe an advance in 
the price of commodities, while the quan- 
tity of thofe commodities remains nearly 
the fame. ‘ 
It has been obferved, that the multipli- 
cation of the circulating- medium enhances 
the prices of commodities, becaufe a per- 
fon will pay more money for an article 
when he has more to pay. Asa gene- 
ral truth, nothing can be more clear and 
certain than this. But furely it muft be 
very incorrect to apply the obfervation to 
the prefent ftate of things, and thereby 
alone to account for the advance that has 
taken place in the price of commodities. 
A paper-currency has that effect when it 
is called for by the real wealth of the fo- 
ciety. When that wealth is not generally 
increafed, the excefs of paper that is emit- 
ted in the form of loans to merchants and 
bankers, will only circulate among that 
defeription of perfons. It does not add to 
the fund deftined for confumption, and 
therefore it caz only operate as capital to 
echance in fome degree the wholefale 
price of articles. 
The nation may be obliged to the Bank 
for the extraordinary afliltance which the 
fufpenfion of its cafh-payments enabled it 
to afford togovernment. But, in my opi- 
nion, the benefit derived to the public re- 
venue cannot be great, as upon our pre-— 
fent {cale of expence and revenue it ap- 
pears that two or three millions additional 
might, almof? at any time, have been fund- 
ed without difhiculty or hazard ; and thus, 
upon nearly the fame terms, other credi- 
tors might have been found for the 
excefs of. government’s debt to the Bank 
of England. 
It feems, from this view of the cafe 
(which I judge to be a fair one), that, upon 
the whole, the fufpenfion of cafh-payments 
at the Bank has not been fo injurious as 
fome have fuppofed, 
Mr. Hunt's fecond Letter on the Bak 
401 
A perfon is not injured by being obliged 
to receive, inftead of cafh, paper which re- 
prefents its real value, and which is every 
where taken for its expreffed value in the 
purchafe of goods. -The Bank has af- 
furedly given more affiftance than it other- 
wife could have given to ufeful trade, te 
manufactures, and to plans of national 
improvement. But, at the fame time, it 
has, in about the fame proportion, fup- 
ported.a trade that has been, and always 
mutt be, prejudicial. By the increafe of 
apparent capital to which it has given birth, 
the value of commodities in general has like- 
wife been advanced: When cabh is iffued, 
the public are, ina great meafure, fecured 
from a paper circulation much too abun- 
dant. I conclude then that evil preponde- 
rates in the confequences of the meafure 
which I havedifcufied ; but I am of opi- 
nion, that this balance of actual evil is not 
very great. J. N. Hunr, 
Sept. 7, 1801. 
P. S. Iam forry, that the few obfervations 
which I ventured to lay before the public, 
through the medium of your Magazine, were 
not intelligible to your Correfpondent J. ]J-G. 
The ftatement in figures of the Bank concerns 
is indeed fufficiently obfcure, in confequence 
of a very material omiffion, which candour 
would, I think, have fufpected, and for the 
correction of which I refer tothe continuation 
of that paper. [certainly do not deny, that 
fince the fufpenfion of its payments in cath, 
the Bank of England could divide more than’ 
feven percent. orthat the proprietors have a 
right to demand a divifion of the whole profits, - 
and even of the fum accumulated. But I 
imagined, that I had made it plainly apparent, 
that the continuance of the prefent large 
amount of profits is very precarious, as a con- 
fiderable reduction muf?.take place when pay- 
ments in {pecie are refumed. And with‘re- 
fpect to the fum accumulated,I obferved, that 
it was the only efficient capital poffefled by the 
Bank, and therefore that it would be highly 
impolitic to divide that fum among the proprie 
etors. It peculiarly excites my regret to find 
that I have incurred the animadverfions of a 
writer to whom the readers of your Magazine 
are much indebted, either becaufeI have ex- 
prefled myfelf unintelligibly, or bechufe my 
remarks have not been favoured with an at- 
tentive perufal. At prefent, 1 cannot confi- 
der your Correfpondent’s Letter as a reply to 
any other part of mine, than my conjectural 
ftatement of the income-tax paid by the 
Bank, which is not a very material article, 
and the probable amount of which can only be 
eftimated by a reference to the Income-tax 
act, Thofe who read my paper-attentively 
will perceive, if they did not before know, 
that the eleven millions forming the nominal 
and original capital of the Bank, have been 
lent, 
~ 
