“$04 Mr. Barrow’s Defence againft the Edinburgh Reviewer. [Jan. 1, 
land and Gibraltar, is no more a gain to 
the foldier on thofe ftations, than the gain 
to government was any lofs to him at the 
Cape of Good Hope. The gain there- 
fore was not at his expence, as the Re- 
viewer would conclude, but,as may eafily be 
fhewn, the meafure, on the contrary, was 
a real advantage to him, even on this cheap 
ftation. For, although the Commiffary 
General, by entering into large contracts 
for the fupply of 5000 men, could afford the 
ration at fomething lefs than fixpence, yet 
neither fmall detachments, nor even whole 
companies, much lefs fingle individuals, 
could have fupplied themielves with the 
fame ration at any thing like that fum. 
He would not, in this cafe, have hada clear 
fixpence per day to receive in hard money, 
after paying for his maintenance, as he 
was regularly entitled to, by the arrange- 
ment which I have now explained. The 
Reviewer, I fhould hope, who feems to 
pique himfelf not a little on his knowledge 
of political economy, will underftand. 
enough of domeftic economy to compre- 
hend what IJ have here ftated. 
But to proceed to the other articles on 
which a faving was effected to the public. 
‘The firlt of thefe is the premium on bills 
drawn by government. On this fubjeét I 
have obferved, ‘*The Deputy Paymafter 
General drew bills on his Majefty’s Pay- 
mafterGeneral in England, in exchange for 
paper currency, iz which all the contingent 
and extraordinary expences of the garrifon 
qwere paid.’ That ‘* Lord Macartney 
confidered it expedient to fix the premium 
at twenty per cent. deeming it right that 
government bills fhould bear the higheft 
premium of bills that might be in the mar- 
ket, yet at the fame time not to proceed to 
fuch a height as to become oppreflive 
either tothe merchant ot the public.” On 
which the Reviewer obferves: ‘¢ Govern- 
ment iffued bills, and the colonial currency, 
being depreciated, was twenty per cent. 
worle than thofe bills. The troops were 
paid according to the colonial currency, and 
the provifions were bought according to 
it alfo. As to the pay which the men re- 
ceived in colonial currency, this is indeed 
a ftrange tranfaétion ; and what Mr. Bar- 
row is pleafed to term a profit on exchange, 
becomes a per centage levied on ihe men’s 
pay—it was, in fact, paying the army with 
debafed money.” The remarks above 
quoted, look fo very like a wilful mifre- 
prefentation,that it will hardly be fuppofed 
a keen Edinburgh Reviewer could com- 
mit (to ufe his own words) fo gro/s a 
blunder. (have not only particularly {pe- 
cified for what purpofe the colonial cur- 
rency was purchafed, namely, for paying 
the contingent and extratrdinary expences of 
the garrifon, but I have more than once ex- 
prefsly ftated, that the folder was alawvays 
paid in hard money. ‘The affertions, there- 
fore, that the troops were paid according’ 
to the colonial currency—the pay which the 
men recerved in colonial currency, Ge. are 
the Reviewer’s own fabrications, diame- 
trically oppofite to every thing I have ad- 
vanced un the fubje&t, and to the fact; and 
conlfequently his conclufions of a per cent- 
age levied on the men’s pay, and of pf ying 
the army with debafed money, are totally 
void of any foundation in truth. So te- 
nacious indeed was Lord Macartney in ad- 
hering to the principle of paying the troops 
in {pccie, that, notwithitanding the difi- 
culties and delay which fometimes occurred 
in procuring it, he chofe rather to let them 
go in arrears, than to pay them in paper, 
even with the highe/? premium added to it, 
to prevent the poffibility of a fufpicion 
entering a foldier's mind that he might 
be cheated. 
In ftating the fimple fa&t of government 
bills bearing a premium of twenty per cent. 
I did not think it neceflary to enter into 
a circumftantial detail of the, nature 
of the circulating medium at the Cape. 
It feems, however, I. ought to have 
done it. The paper currency of the Cape 
confilted of ftamped cards figned by fome 
three of the principal officers of govern- 
ment. They had no other currency than 
this paper; and the fanctioning of it, at 
the capture by the Britifh arms, formed an 
important article of the capitulation. EF 
fuffered xo depreciation ; a paper fixpence 
would purchafe in the market the fame 
quantity of provifonsas one of filver, both 
at the capture and at the furrender. The 
quantity in circulation was limited, and 
barely fufficient for the convenience of the 
colonilts when the Englith took the place. 
Since that event, it was found much too 
{mall; and memorials and petitions were 
prefented to the Britifh government /o 
creaieé a new iffue, to the amount of 
300,000 dollars; which the inhabitants 
were willing to borrow from the govern- 
ment at an intereft of five percent. This 
was in addition to the fum of 250,000 
Gollars, which Sir James Craig found him- 
felf obliged aéually to create, and which 
ftill remains in circulation. It is true, 
that. the prices of almolt all the articles of 
general confumption were generally in- — 
creafed, not becaufe the circulating medium 
was depreciated, but becaufe the demand 
for them was greater, occafioned by the 
addition of 10,000 perfons to a town and 
ports y 
