The New-Jersey gazette — Burlington [N.J.], 1780-02-16 00:00:00, page 1

“ There are on the square before the town-house
of Amsterdam (the place de Dam) between ten and
eleven in the morning a number of calhiers, whose
business it is to buy and fell bank credit for current
coin. They bargain with all those who have occa
sion either to buy or fell; and according to the de
mand for, specie or bank credit, the agio rises or
finks; and as these calhiers must constantly gain,
whether they furnilh bank credit or current coin,
since they are never the demanders, in either ope
ration it is commonly found that there is in their
favour about one-Sixteenth per cent, or perhaps one
eighth per cent, according to the revolutions in the
demand; that is to fay—one who would firft buy
specie, and then fell it, would lose one-eighth, or
perhaps but one-sixteenth upon his operation.
“ From this circumstance of buying and felling
of bank credit with coin, and vice versa, I think 1
can resolve the mystery, how the constant accumu
lation of coin in the bank of Amsterdam should ne
ver have the effea of depreciating their bank mo
^,ey, by augmenting, beyond the demand for it, the
'quantity of their deposit, and of the credit written
in their books. It is a matter of fa&, that the bank
lends both coin and credit to the brokers, calhiers,
or combards, who are constantly found on the place
de Dam.
increases also. Again ; —ln proportion as the de
mand for bank money increases, the agio rises; and
on the other hand—as the demand for current mo
ney increases, the agio falls. Thus we saw, in the
last war, A. D. 1760, 1761 and 1762, that agio
was below five per cent. The reason was plain.—
The great circulation carried on in Amsterdam was
considerably directed towards the uses of the war.
Their bank money was of no use ; coin only could
serve the purpose. Accordingly the agio fell to —
per cent. And as gold was much more easily trans
ported than silver, that metal rose ^ per cent above
the ordinary pro^tygn of j to L^, ^Demand re
gulates eve,&^^>a'ndA6hi{<MnMl makes the
agio fluctuate, sometimes riling, ^^vfy^nd'i&^c
times falling below, five per cen^.r \.7
Concerning the circulation of Cosn through the
Bank of Amferdam!
have bank money, and who want to convert it into
coin. They fell the coin for bank credit: The
purchaser writes off the transfer in favour of the
broker, and he again repays the value of the coin
to the bank, by transferring the credit he obtained
for the coin in favour of the bank.
* Is a silver coin. f A florin is a guilder, bank
Mr. Printer,
rer-T has been pretty confidently reported, that a
g loan is negociated with a foreign power, by
the operation of which it is expected (and
M with good reason) that our currency will not
only be appreciated, but obtain liability.
If ere&ing a bank similar to that of Amsterdam
should be thought tf^e foltoOThg. extras from
an author offcontideraffiAl&ps be of
feme fervice."°T.
Of the Agio of the Bank of Amsterdam.
" The ducatoon*, upon which the agio of the
bank money of Amsterdam is regulated, passes for
three florinsf three ftivers, which is just live per
cent better than three florins, at which it was rated
when the bank was established. The sum of credit
written in the books of the bank, is in proportion to
the quantity of bank money necessary for circulat
ing the trade of Amsterdam: Consequently, as their
circulation increases, the demand for bank money
“ Whenever, therefore, the bank finds that agio
falls too low with relped to the coin, and when, in
consequence of that, the demand for coin increases,
then they lend coin out of their repositories to the
brokers ; and when it rises they lend credit.
" This coin the brokers dispose of to th'ofe who
NEW-JERSEY GAZETTE.
[Vol. lII.]
From the Massachusetts Spy.
WEDNESDAY, February 16, 1780.
fylvania, Monday, January 31, 1780. P. M.
The House took up the further consideration of
the inftruHions to the delegates of this Rate in Con
gress, on the fubjedt of the Sloop Active, which be
ing debated by paragraphs, after Some amendments
therein, were unanimously approved, and are as fol
lows, viz.
Gentlemen,
TH E House being informed that it has been
proposed in the Honorable Congress, that an
order be drawn on the treasury of the United States
for the amount of three-fourths of the nett proceeds
of the Sloop Adive and her cargo, and to pay the
fame to Gideon Umilead and others, appellants in
that case, in order to Satisfy the decree of the Court
of Appeals for prizes made at sea, and that the fame
be charged to the state of Pennsylvania, referring
said state for indemnification to the three-fourths in
the hands of the Judge of the admiralty of Penn
sylvania.
The House, in consequence of the above, have
taken the premises into their molt ferrous considera
tion, and adopted the inftru&ions given by the last
House of Aflembly, to a Committee of the said
House, who had been appointed to confer with a
Committee of Congress in the case of the Sloop Ac
tive, which instructions are in the following words :
Resolved lit. That “ the power of establishing
courts for receiving and determining filially appeals
in all cases of captures," is relerved in Congress, by
the articles of confederation ; and as the state of
Pennsylvania has acceded to these articles, this House
esteem it their duty to adopt Such regulations, con
fident with the principles of the confederation, as
Congress may judge necessary for the due exercise
of the said power.
Resolved 2d, That by our aft of this common
wealth, for establishing a Court of admiralty, it is
declared and enabled, that the finding of the jury
Shall ellablilh the faffs without re-examination or ap
peal, and that the aft is not repugnant to, but con
fident with there Solutions of Congress of the 25th
of November, 1775.
Resolved 3d, That the proceedings in the Court
of Admiralty in the case of the Sloop Adive, were
founded upon the aforefaid ad of Assembly, which,
together with the said resolve form the true ground
whereupon the decision of the contested point Should
be made without involving a consideration of the ne
cessity or propriety of future alterations.
The House likewise instruct you immediately to
inform the Honorable Body of which you are mem
bers, that this House will confider any application
of the money of this date by Congress to the pur
pose aforefaid, as an high infringement on the ho
nor and rights of the commonwealth of Pennsylva
nia, and in this view will complain in an especial
manner of those delegations which Shall concur in
any vote for that purpose, to the several legislative
bodies from whom they refpedively derive their
powers.
And you are further inftruded to enter a protest
in behalf of this date, that we will pay no part of
“ This done, the bank may expunge this credit
from their books, by which means their deposit of
coin is diminished, and also the sum of credit which
was found fuperfluous. If, on the other hand, the
circulation of the trade of the city should, in a Short
time afterwards, begin to increase, those who have
coin, which in that case would not so well serve the
uses of circulation as the bank credit, come with
it to the brokers, who fell them bank credit for it;
this coin the brokers deliver to the bank, which
writes off the credit lent to the broker, in favour of
him who has paid his coin for it.
" This is, as far as I can guess, the nature of the
circulation of the coin of the bank of Amsterdam.
" It is a curious method of preserving an exad
proportion between the coin in deposit, the credit
written in their books of transfer, and the demand
for bank money."
In GENERAL ASSEMBLY of Penn-
THE
the sum which Congress Shall award out of the trea
sury of the United States, in consequence of the
decree of the Court of Appeals.
We also inftrud you to inform Congress, that
the manifeft right of the citizens of this date to the
benefit of its laws, has some time ,Since obtained
from the authority thereof, an order for the distri
bution of the three-fourths given by the verdid of
the jury in this case, to the Captains and crews of
the brigantine Convention and her consort.
'1 he House views with aftoniShment the perseve
rance and decision of Congress, in rolling upon tliis
date an embarrassment created by the Court of Ap
peals. ,
Congress recommended a trial by jury to be in
troduced into the Court of admiralty. The Af
lembly of Pennsylvania adopted the measure. A
jury in the case of the Sloop Adive founded their
verdid upon the fads. It is the proper business and
the Arid right of juries to eftabliSh fads. Yet the
Court of Appeals took upon them to violate this es
sential part of jury trial, and to reduce in effed, this
mode of jurisprudence to the course of the civil law.
A proceeding to which the date of Pennsylvania
cannot yield.
If the mode of trial by jury (in cases of captures)
as recommended by Congress, is found inconveni
ent to the circumstances of the United States, as
being a mode unknown to mod of the civilized dates
in Europe; this Houle is desirous of conforming to
the customary practice.
I he house finally remind you of the laws, which
they understand have been passed in some of the
dates in the union, denying ali appeal in law as well
as fad to the Court of Appeals established by Con
gress for prize causes, except claimants be foreign
ers, or captures in the pay of Congress; by the 0=
peration of one of which laws, Mr Hugh M'Cul
loch, a citizen of Pennsylvania, was debarred from
removing the case of a Ship and cargo condemned in
New-England, before the said Court of Appeals,
and that little notice appears to have been taken of
these laws, whilst Pennsylvania, conforming to the
recommendation of Congiefs, concerning admiralty
jurifdidion, in the mod legal and usual construction
of the expreflion of it, has not in our opinion been
treated by that Honorable House with fufficient re
fped and attention.
BY Lieutenant Colonel Prevoft, who arrived in
town on the 23d instant from Georgia, a let
ter from Major General Prevoft to Lord George
Germain, one of his Majesty's principal Secretaries
of State, dated at Savannah the 4th of August, has
been received, of which the following is an extract.
Extract of a letter from Major General Prevoft
to Lord George Germain, dated Savannah,
August 4, 1779. '
SINCE my last dispatches from St. John's island
(copies of which are herewith sent) I have had no
opportunity to write directly to your Lordfllip ; our
operations Since that time have been chiefly confined
in removing from one island to another, and esta
blishing the different posts intended to be occupied
during the great heat, and the Sickly season: How
ever, on the 2Cth of June, after every preparation
had been made to abandon the post on the main at
Stono ferry, and to quit the island of St. John's, the
enemy's whole force attacked that post with eight
pieces of cannon, and 5000 men ; their attack was
at firft spirited, but the good countenance of the
troops, and the fire of the armed flat that covered
the left flank of our post, just as the troops weie
ferrying over to reinforce it, obliged the enemy to
retreat ; a favourable opportunity of pursuing them,
and giving them a severe check, was loft for the
want of the horses, which had been sent away two
or three days before ; and before the troops arrived
on the ground the rebels had got too great a diftancq
to expect to come up with them with the foot. L
have the honour of Sending herewith a return ofe^
From the London Gazette of Sept. 25.
WHITEHA L L, September 25.
[Numb. 112.]