MONTHLY MAGAZINE. 
—_ 
No. 207.] 
ER 
JANUARY i, 1811. 
(6 of Von. 30. 
As long as thofe who write are ambitious of making Converts, @nd of giving their Opinions a Maximum of 
Influence and Celebrity, the moft extenfively circulated Mifcellany will repay with the greate® Effect the 
Curiofity of thofe who read either for Amufement or Inftruction.n— JOHNSON, 
, ; ; 
eee ae rn me 
—— 
ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS. 
For the Monthly Magazine. 
apsTracr of the report of the sELECT 
COMMITTEE Of the HOUSE of COMMONS, 
on the HIGH PRICE of GOLD BULLION. 
OUR comnuttee have found that 
the price of gold bullion, which, by 
the regulations of his Majesty’s mint, .is 
3/. 17s. 103d. per ounce of standard fines 
ness, was, during the years 1806, 1807 
and 1808, as high as 4/. in the market... 
Towards the end of 1808 it began to ad- 
vance very rapidly, and continued very 
high during the whole year 1809; the 
market price of standard gold in bars 
fluctuating from 4/. 9s. to 41, 12s. per oz. 
The market price at 41. 10s. is about 154 
per cent. above the mint price. 
- It appeared to your committee, that it 
might be of use, in judging of the cause . 
of this high price of gold bullion, to be 
informed also of the prices of silver du- 
ring the same period. The price of 
standard silver in his Majesty’s mint is 
5s. 2d. per ounce; at this standard price, 
the value of a Spanish dollar is 4s. 4d. 
or, which comes to the same thing, Spa- 
nish dollars.are, at that standard price, 
worth 4s. 114d. per ounce. «Iris stated 
in Wettenhall’s ‘Tables, that throughout 
the»year 1809, the price of new dollars 
fluctuated from 5s. 5d. to 5s. 7d. per 
ounce, or from 10 to 13 per cent. above 
the mint price of standard silver... In 
the course of the last month, new dollars 
have been quoted as high as 5s. 8d. per 
ounce, or more than 15 per ceat, above 
the mint price. . ake 
Your committee have likewise found, 
that towards the end of the year 1808, 
_ the exchanges with the. continent be- 
- came very unfavourable to this country, 
and continued still more unfavourable 
through the whole of 1809, and the three 
first months of the present year. 
Hamburgh, Amsterdam, and Paris, 
‘are the principal places with which the 
exchanges are established at present. 
- ‘During the last six months of 1809, and 
the three: first months of the present 
year, the exchanges on Hamburgh and 
Montuty Mag. No, 207, 
Amsterdam were depressed as low as 
from 16 to 20 per cent. below par; and 
that on Paris still lower, 
So extraordinary arise in the market 
price of gald in this country, coupled with 
so remarkable a depression of our exe 
changes with the continent, very clearly, 
in the judgment of your committee, 
pointed to something in the state of our 
ewn domestic currency as the cause of 
both. appearances. But, before they 
adopted that conclusion, which seemed 
agreeable to all former reasonings and 
experience, .they thought it proper to 
enquire more particularly into the cire 
eumstances connected with each of those 
two facts; and to hear, from persons of 
commercial practice and detail, what 
explanations they had to offer of so une 
usual a state of things. 
Trt will be found, by the evidence, that 
the high price of gold is ascribed, by 
most of the witnesses, entirely to an 
alleged scarcity of that article, arising 
out of an unusual demand for it upon the 
continent. of Europe. © This unusual des 
mand for gold: upon the continent is 
described by, some of them as being 
chiefly for the use of the French armies, 
though increased also by that state of 
alarm, and failure of confidence, which 
leads to the practice of hoarding. 
Your committee are of opinion, that, 
in the sound and natural state of the Bri- 
tish currency, the foundation of which is 
gold, no-increased demand for gold from 
other parts of the world, however great, or 
from whatever causes arising, cannot have 
the effect of producing here, for a con- 
siderable period of time, a material rise_ 
in the market price of gold. But, before 
they proceed to explain the grounds of 
that general opinion, they wish to state 
some other reasons, which alone would 
have led them to doubt whether, in point 
of fact, such a demand for gold as is 
allesed, has operated in the manner 
supposed. 
If there were an unusual demand for ~ 
gold upon the continent, such as could 
3R influence 
