THE 
MONTHLY MAGAZINE. 
No. 204.) 
¥ OCTOBER 1,°T81Q 
Ast jong as thofe who write are ambitious of making Converts, and of giving their Opinions a Maximum of 
Influence and Celebrity, the moi extenfively cirgulattd Miicellany will repay with the greatet Effect the 
Curiofity of thofe who read either for Amufement-or Inftruction.— JOHANSON, 
— ee 
ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS, 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
T a moment when inland bills, of 
exchange and promissory notes 
have unfortunately lost the confidence of 
men of property, and of the country at 
large, it may not be useless to invite 
attention to the origin, extent, -and 
nature, of this novel but universal spe- 
cies of factitious currency. 
Foreign bills of exchange had their 
origin in commercial convenience, and 
are an admirable contrivance by which A. 
in one country, pays B. in any country, 
a debt due to him from C. in some.other 
‘country ; but a local pill, or note, created 
by parties residing in the same place, is 
on the face of it a confession of iabi- 
lity to pay, mdicating that the debtor 
would pay if he could; but to get ‘ex- 
cused by his creditor, or to accommo- 
date him, gives him a .negociable en- 
gagement, which, till tt is due, is also 
sade to serve the purpose of currency. 
Considered however as currency, both 
descriptions- of bills are alike onnatu- 
ral. The foreign bill originating in 
convenience, having effected the pro- 
tessed object of the drawer, has no other 
legitimate purpose; aud to allow current 
validity to local bilis and notes, is to 
give public sanction to insolvency. 
Yet such is the deplorable condition and 
present shifting character of the English, 
Scotch, and Irish people, that of 
three mulions of houses contamed in the 
empire, the inhabitants of at least one 
- million of them are pledged by the ac- 
ceptance of local bills, or by promissory 
notes. Estimatingthem at the moderate 
_ average of 100]. to each of this million 
of houses, it will appear that there are onE 
HUNDRED MILLIONS of this factitious 
currency in existence. 
lity possessed by foresta!lers and mono- 
~ polists to raise and keep up the price of 
_ every commodity ;—hence the deprecia- 
tion of the: legitimate currency ;—-hence 
the doubling, trebling, and quadrupling 
of the nominal value of every thing ;—and 
hence the consequent misery of every 
_RloytHty Maw. No. 204- 
% 
* 
class of the people, arising from fluctua- 
‘tions in the value of- labour and income, 
- It seems extraorainary that any 
member of a well-organized society, 
should be allowed the power of cre= 
ating artificial thousands and tens of 
thousands by a stroke of the pen, and yet 
be in danger of suffering death for coine 
> 
Hence the faci- | 
_the penalty of death. 
ing a shilling of full weight and purity, 
He is sanctioned in preparing his coppers 
plate, and in giving every specious ap- 
pearance to his issues of bills and notes 
which in due time are let loose, to den 
stroy the happiness, or involve in ruin 
all who chance to be ensnared by thems 
but if he coin a shilling, ‘pick a 
pocket, or rob’ on the highway for 
so paltry an amount, he inust suffer 
| It would be 
Jess hurtful to allow- a man_ the pri- 
vilege of firing a blunderbuss along 
a crowded street, than in this way to give 
him the power of robbing his neighbour, 
For his own sake, and that of his family 
also, it is a power with which no man 
ought to-be entrusted ; it is, in fact,a pow= 
eras pernicious to himself to be allowed to 
wield, as it is dangerous to the public. 
Such unlimited and uncontrouled privilese 
of creating currency, or the representa- 
tive of currency, isa social novelty, mon- 
strous in its nature, and proved by ex- 
perience to be pernicious to those who 
possess it, and fatal to the-nation ja 
which it is- exercised and tolerated. 
~ No subject is so deserving of the cone 
sideration of economists in the levisla- 
ture. [advise that a committee of par. 
hament should consider of the most eff. 
cacious means of regulating or restricting 
“ bag apsenee of a better plan, 
shall for the present suge 
ae the spre uggest the fol. 
4. That every inland and local bill or 
note, express on the face of it the parti. 
cular consideration for which it js drawn 
and that every omission or misrepre- 
sentation, be punished with the forfei. 
ture of double the amount. ‘ 
_ 2, That there be witnesses to the draw. 
ing and the saga who shali be 
i ; 2 re 
hable 
. [3 of VoL. 30. 
