tions. If I return no direct answer to Ý. E. concerning those allusions, it is because I think them foreign to the subject upon which we began to correspond, and absolutely without an object, since Y. E. has declared that you would not be looked upon as a Minister. Moreover, nobody being present when the conversation in question took place, the discussion would prove endless, and be of no other use than that of presenting to the public the indecent spectacle of two persons, each of whom has some claim to their respect, mutually contradicting one another in the face of the whole world.-(Signed)-J. H. FRERE.

Madrid, April 23, 1804.1 persuade myself that Y. E. will not be surprised at the course I take, and which is, in my opi nion, the only rational one. Since I desist

ed in my note of the 17th, from the demand of a disavowal, our correspondence could no longer have any object. From the moment that Y. E. declared that you would not be considered a minister, I became sensible that farther discussions would only produce a personal altercation. This was the motive why I avoided discussing various points contained in the last note of Y. E. and it is also the motive which influences me at present. When Y. E. has taken into consideration the situation you place me in, by stripping me, as well as yourself, of our ministerial characters, I am convinced you will not ascribe to a want of regard, that which is, in reality, the result of the most serious reflection.-— (Signed) -J. H. FRERE.

SUMMARY OF POLITICS, BANK DOLLARS AND TOKENS.--The bill for inflicting punishment on those who may counterfeit or utter the Bank dollars, on which bill some pertinent remarks were made by a correspondent in the preceding sheet, is now, perhaps, become a law; and, indeed, as was before observed, if unhappily we are driven to the absolute necessity of adopting a currency of this sort, something must be done to prevent its being counterfeited, or else that which is already greatly injuricus to the public would be much more injurious. The bill provides for the punishment of those who shall counterfeit this currency: the kind and degree of the punishment are of little consequence: the principle is all. The bill, when passed, will have given, the sanction of the Parliament to a easure which transfers to the banks of England and Ireland a right hitherto exercised solely by the King, the right of coining money, or, at least, it will admit those bodies, composed of individuals utterly unknown to the constitution of this monarchy,

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to a co equality in the exercise of that ancient, high, and important right.--Perceiving the force of this objection to the whole of the transaction, it was said by Mr. Pitt, in the debate of the 2d instant, that the Bank dollars were not to be regarded as the current coin of the country. He “ begged the House clearly to bear in mind, that "there never was the smallest idea of these "dollars being viewed as the current coin "of the country. They were designed only to answer the purpose of small paper. "money, and differed so far only as in the one case the pledge was a small bit of silver, and, in the other, a little note of paper." "In fact," says he, "if I may use "the expression, they are silver bank notes; "and, having been found necessary in the

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particular emergency of the country, the "House is called upon to prevent the ex"pedient from becoming dangerous." But, then, if there never was the smallest idea of making these dollars the current coin of the country, how comes the head of his Majesty to be imprinted upon them? "Whose image "and superscription is this?" It is the King's. And will not the dollars, therefore, be regarded as the King's coin?-On the reverse, indeed, poor Britannia is accompanied by a bee-hive instead of a man of war, and. (oh !. to what vile uses may we come Ho

ratio!") by the arms and name of the Bank. Nevertheless, it must have been known to those who were the inventors of this scheme as well as to those by whom it is now prosecuted, that the impression. of the King's head would inevitably convey the idea of current coin, and that the dollars thus impressed would be regarded as such by nine-tenths of the people. Nay, can there, from the title and preamble of the bill itself, remain, in the mind of any man, much doubt that the ministry themselves intended that that the dollars should pass for coin? It is called "a bill to prevent the counterfeiting of silver coin issued by the governor "and company of the Bank of England, "called dollars, and silver coin which may "be issued by the governor and company of "the Bank of Ireland, called tokens.". In the preamble it is stated, that the Bank has caused a large quantity of silver dollars to be coined or stamped; and the word stamped is inserted only for the purpose of preventing counterfeiters from availing themselves of any objection that might be raised upon the circumstance of the dollars not having been made by the same process as is pursued at the mint. That the minister, should, therefore, stand up in his place in the House, and declare that there never was the smallest dea of these do lars being received as the

current coin of the country, cannot but be matter of astonishment. The truth is, that, from every thing that passed during the debate alluded to, no opposition, objection, or observation, seems to have been expected by the ministry. Mr. Sturges, who is one of the new Secretaries of the Treasury, and who moved the House upon the subject, seemed not to have been armed with even the common place ministerial remarks upon the respectability and integrity of that patriotic and loyal body, the directors of the Bank; much less was he prepared with any árgument in reply to those who objected to the bill as sanctioning an invasion of the royal rights of his Majesty. Mr. Pitt was evidently aware of no objection to the measure, and had only just time to perceive, that he must rub off the word coin, or his opponents would compel him to proclaim a depreciation of his bank paper. To the objection of stamping the King's head upon the dollars he could find no answer; and, indeed, it was impossible to find a satisfactory one; for, if the dollars were regarded by their inventors as nothing more than "sil

"

ver bank notes," how came they to think of imprinting on them the title and image of the Sovereign, seeing that this never had been, and is not now, done with respect to the paper bank notes? In his hurry, however, Mr. Pitt quite overlooked a circumstance that stood in great need of clear explanation before he sat down as if contented with having warded off the fatal charge of depreciation. This same bill, which, in its preamble, declares that the dollar issued by the Bank of England is to pass for 5s. declares that the dollar issued by the Bank of Ireland is to pass for 6s. that is, for 5s. 6d. English money, that is to say, for ten per centum more than the dollar of the Bank of England. It will hardly be pretended, that the word token instead of dollar gives any additional value to the piece; and, indeed, it would be perfectly ridiculous to ascribe this difference in the nominal value of pieces of metal of the same nature and weight to any other cause than that of the difference in the value of the paper in company of which they circulate in the two countries respectively. This act of parliament does, then, establish, beyond all dispute, the fact of depreciation, as far as relates to the paper money of Ireland, without at all impairing the arguments that have been urged in support of a real though not a nominal depreciation in the pa, per money of England; for still they pass in England at 6d., and indeed at more than sixpence sterling above their intrinsic value. The describing of them as "silver notes;" as "small bits of silver used in lieu of little

"notes of paper" cannot deceive any one who bestows the least reflection upon the subject. This is, in truth, a palpable fallacy; for, they are not "small bits of silver," but on the contrary very large bits of silver. Had they been no bigger than a six pence, or had they been even bigger than half a crown, but evidently bearing a nominal value beyond their intrinsic value as compared with the paper, then indeed, they might with some degree of plausibility have been regarded as mere notes, though even in that case one might reasonably have wondered that the bank directors, supposing their credit to be still unshaken, should think it necessary to imprint their promises on such expensive materials. But, now that we see the promise to pay 5s. printed on so large a piece of silver, it is impossible to believe that the nominal has, as in the case of paper notes, no reference whatever to the intrinsic value. It was mentioned by Mr. Sturges, as a circumstance in favour of the measure, that " nobody was compelled to take these "dollars and tokens in payment." That gentleman is not very profound, or he would have perceived that this was a most potent argument against the bill that he was pressing upon the House; for, if the dollars had really been considered as mere notes, why were they not made a legal tender as well as the other notes of the bank? And, ought it not to have been an insurmountable objection to them, that they bore the King's title and image, that they went forth clothed with royal authority, without being lawful money of the realm? These are the persons, too, who affect to regard themselves as the supporters of the King's prerogative and dignity! There is room for a bare possibility that they may wish to do it, but assuredly they pursue not the means of effecting that object.--Mr. Dent took occasion to observe, that the issuing of the dollars, by the two banks in question, had been, and would be, productive of great public convenience; and, that previous to their being issued there was hardly any such thing as obtaining the change necessary for the affairs of trade. These observations, the former of which was corroborated by Mr. Pitt, were very true; lamentably true; but they in nowise contributed towards furnishing an answer to the objections that were stated to the measure: they tended to convince no one that the dollars were not too high priced, unless the paper was allowed to be depreciated; and still less were they calculated to remove an objection to the imprinting of the marks of Majesty upon mere notes of the bank, upon money that no man was obliged to take in payment. Mr. Dent's support was built

upon the old plea, necessity. Milton has called this" the tyrant's plea." It frequently is so, perhaps. But in this country it is constantly the plea of political blindness, indecision, and procrastination, which, as to the subject before us, created a want of confidence in the government and a consequent growing distrust in the solidity of the bank, which institution is now clearly perceived to have a close connexion with and dependence upon the political power of the state. This closing remark suggests the propriety of adding here a few observations to those formerly made as to the different stages through which we have passed to this connexion between the government and the bank. When one considers the vast convenience that the bank offers to a minister of this country, whose chief difficulty almost always lies in getting money, it is not at all surprising, that, ever since the establishment of that corporation, it has been an object of desire with the minister of the day. But the Parliament, who seem, till of late years, to have watched with great vigilance over every attempt made by the minister to come at money without their express consent, repealed, in 1793, the act of William and Mary, prohibiting the bank to advance money to government, except in consequence of Parliamentary authority previously obtained. This salutary check being removed, a connexion of a new, and, as it has proved to be, most dangerous kind, was immediately formed between the minister and the bank. It is obvious what a vast accession of power this measure must have given to the minister, who could now defer applying to Parliament to an opportunity when political circumstances facilitated the success of the application; and, it was at all times in his power to hide the expenses of his measures from the eyes of the people, until he had committed the national honour for the discharge of the debts contracted in consequence of those expenses. Of these facilities the minister of that day (and indeed of this day too) did not fail to avail himself. Always short-sighted; always hoping for relief that failed him; always putting off the evil hour; he freely had recourse to the bank, insomuch that it is stated by Mr. Howison (whose excellent "Investigation" contains the substance of much of these observations) that, in the course of three years t most, the bank actually advanced to the government about fifteen millions of money. This connexion has subsisted ever since, and is, of course, becoming every day closer and closer. The solidity of all bank paper must consist in the certainty of obtaining payment in specie at the will of the holder;

and, though the specie should be in the coffers of the bank, that circumstance would add nothing to the security of the holder of the paper, unless there was somewhere a power to compel the bank to pay him in specie. When, therefore, the government becomes the banker, or an associate with the banker, all security to the individual is gone. From this cause it is, that no govern ment paper currency was ever long supported; and, in the exact proportion that the govern ment becomes connected with a bank; in the exact proportion that their interests, their credit, and their pecuniary fate became interwoven with one another; in that proportion will their paper money, allowing for the effect of different circumstances of permanency and of habit, become suspected and depreciated; because it is well known that in the first place the government will be continually calling upon the bankers for fresh issues of their paper, and that it has afterwards the power of protecting them from fulfilling their engagements towards the holders of such paper. This has been the progress with us: the minister borrowed from the bank, till the bank could no longer pay in specie, and then a law was obtained from Parliament to shelter the bank against the just demands of its creditors, who, when we consider all the difficulties and expenses of seeking redress through courts of justice, may assuredly be said to have no means of redress left; and that, in fact, the paper of the bank of England, and, through its means, all the provincial paper in the country, is become a legal tender. Still, however, there wanted one thing to consummate the connexion between the government and the bank; and that was the measure which has led to these observations; a measure which implants upon the precious metal the proof of a degradation of the bank paper, at the same time that it conveys to the minds of even the most uninformed the idea of a perfect community of interests between their Sovereign. and that bank.

IRISH SMALL NOTES.When intelligence was, sometime ago, received from Ire land of the want of small coin as circulating medium, and when the people of Dublin had been informed, that dollars (or other coin would be procured to supply the wants of the country, it was stated in this work that such promise could never be kept; but that small bank notes must be resorted to; for, that the precious metal could not, for any length of time, be kept in circulation, at a nominal nearly so low as their real value, in company with a paper so degraded as that of Ireland. This prediction, which indeed it required no conjuror to make, is now am

ply fulfilled. Private notes have been made ; but, as it is evident they cannot long stand without some aid from government, a bill is now before Parliament, the object of which is to authorize what are called the "regis

tered bankers" to issue small promissory notes, which are not to be payable except in notes of the Bank of Ireland. If a bundle of these notes are offered for payment, and change is wanted, the person who demands payment of them must tender the change along with them; so that not a single sixpence of silver ever can be extracted through their means from the person by whom they have been issued. These notes are to be stamped, and, of course, they are to pay a stamp duty; and here a provision occurs at which one cannot help smiling; it is forbidden to issue them " by the sheet!" Towards the close of the financial farce in America, notes were paid away by the quire, and at last of all, even by the ream. How long it will be before the Irish paper will arrive at this point, it would be difficult to say; because the event will, in a great measure, depend upon extraneous circumstances; but, supposing us to continue in our present warlike and political career; supposing the next three years to lead us downward as rapidly as the three last have, there is very little probability that these notes will have much real value at the end of that time. Why, it may be asked, were not the small bank notes issued in England instead of dollars? And, indeed, if the dollars were to be reckoned as mere notes of the bank; if they were intended to have no more value with the people than if they were paper; if no degree of confidence was expected to be inspired by their intrinsic value; if this were the case, it is quite impossible to give any reason for small paper notes not having been adopted. But, clearly, this was not the case it was expected and was known, that confidence would be given to their intrinsic worth; that they would obtain circulation in consequence of. that worth, which aided by the habitual reverence for the royal title and image, would give a prop to the credit of the bank, which, had the country continued much longer under the difficulty of procuring change for a one pound note, would have sunk so low as to have brought the note to an open discount. The same effect would have been produced by issuing small bank notes, such as those now to be issued in Ireland; and, if the Bank of Ireland possessed the means, we may be certain that they would issue dollars enough to preclude the necessity of rotes so small that it is appended they may go idilly by the sheet. But the back paper of Ireland is at an open

discount: nothing can retrieve it, or palliate its disgrace: sentence of death is passed upon it, and the few six shilling dollars, or tokens, that are to be issued will only serve to eke out, and that too for a very little while, perhaps, its miserable existence. Those who are so terrified at the prospect of a fall of the bank paper, and who ask "where are we to look for a circulating me"dium in the room of it" may be referred to the present state of Ireland for a very satisfactory solution of the question. In the North of Ireland there is no paper money in circulation. There, says Mr. Parnell, in his very able publication, which every one should at this time read, "the currency of

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specie has been maintained pure and un"corrupted, whilst, in every other part of "Ireland, the introduction of excessive "quantities of paper has been productive "of the greatest abuses and the most se"rious consequences." There is no truth more clearly established, than, that if currency be unchecked by law, it will find its proper level. Every country will have as much as it wants of it, and no more. But, as long as a connexion of a pecuniary nature exists between a government and a bank; as long as there is paper forced into circulation; so long the precious metals will continue to fly from it. In proportion as the quantity of paper increases, that of gold and silver diminishes, and vice versa. If, therefore, the paper were all withdrawn, there would be gold and silver to supply its place, and that instantly too: the latter would come forth as rapidly as the former disappeared. Not that it is to be supposed that there are thirty millions of guineas hidder in the country, as Lord Hawkesbury imagined; but, with regard to currency, all the world is but one nation, and whatever part of that nation has the least share of currency, in proportion to the value of its com modities, will be the point towards which currency will flow from every other part, till all have their due quantity.- Having referred to the pamphlet of Mr. Parnell, it is proper here to acknowledge the error which he has noticed in the Register, Vol. V. p. 281, where reference is made to a speech of Sir John Newport, and where, as it now ap pears, too great a degree of effect in producing the difference of exchange between England and Ireland was ascribed to the remittances to England in interest of loans and in payments to absentees. It was, however, there expressly stated: that, "a consi "derable share" of the loss arising from the difference of exchange was attributable to the depreciation of the Irish paper. Mr. Parnell maintains, and he clearly establishes

his position, that the whole of the loss on account of exchange arises at present from the depreciation of the Irish paper money. Upon this part of his subject he refers to facts which are very curious, and cannot leave a doubt in the mind of any man. Indeed the whole passage is so interesting and valuable that it is impossible to resist the temptation to quote it entire. "One most extraordinary "circumstance has arisen from the peculiar "state of the northern circulation, namely, "an established rate of exchange between "Belfast and Dublin; not merely a rate "which possibly might be the consequence "of dealings upon bills of long credit, or of "partial variations in the extent of their "commercial intercourse, but steadily set

tled, even as high in some instances as 114 per cent. This circumstance, toge"ther with the practice of fixing a paper price and a cash price on all goods for "sale in the North, amply corroborates 66 every argument already made use of to prove the depreciation of paper, and also "the effect of this depreciation upon the "rates of exchange between Dublin and "London. It is easy to estimate some of "the most striking consequences attending

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a currency of specie, of paper convertible "into specie, or of paper issued to an excess "not convertible into specie. For instance, "if a landlord in the North, previous to the "restriction of cash payments, let 100 acres " of land for 100 guineas per annum, and if “a landlord in the South did the same at "that period, both of them would have re“ceived equal benefit, and exactly the same "sum of money, because they both received "their rents in specie, or what was of equal "value, paper convertible into specie. The "state of the case is now materially dif"ferent; the landlord of the North receives "100 guineas in specie, the landlord of the "South receives 100 guineas in bank notes. "If guineas bear a premium of 10 for every "100, the landlord of the South does not "receive from his 100 acres so much by 10 "guineas, as is received from the 100 acres "in the North.-If both landlords sent "their rents to Dublin, to purchase govern"ment stock, the landlord receiving spesie " for his rents, would be able to buy stock “to the amount of 10 guineas in each 100 "guineas of rent, more than the landlord "could buy with his rents paid in bank pa66 per.

As the currency of the North may "therefore be considered as supporting the "former arguments made use of to demon"strate the degraded state of the paper currency; so does it also most clearly corro"borate the position which has been laid down and proved, that this degradation is

change. In the North of Ireland, where "such notes are not current, this unfavour"able rate of exchange entirely ceases."

1

-These simple and obvious facts do, as the author observes, exhibit in one view the whole theory which his work has endeavoured to maintain, because it renders it incontrovertibly true, that the bank notes of Ireland are depreciated, that this depreciation is at this time the sole cause of the unfavourable state of exchange, and that the degree of depreciation is not less than ten per centum, as compared with English guineas within Great Britain and Ireland. To persons who may happen to be strangers to the subject, it will not be unnecessary to ob serve, that the difference between English and Irish money is 8 per centum, and that, of course, when the exchange between England and Ireland is 8 it is in fact at par. But, at this time, and for a considerable time back, the exchange between London and Dublin has been above 16 per centum, while, as we have seen above, that between London and Belfast is no more than 5; so that, the exchange with London is about 8 per centum against Dublin at the same moment that it is about 3 per centum in favour of Belfast, making a difference of 11 per