The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1810-04-24 00:00:00

impaled 7,440uil
int, bp eslimateil by
ler. &mitt, be h airbleses babire Moe
Gamorttee

1,5044000

Toad . i.. embers
This balance of CIIIINIefte warn also rendered has
favours*, by the great sums paid for naval stores
daring the war, beyood what are usually paid in
tiariof issane. It appe.iro by an account presented
by the Cousaksionen of His Majelay's Navy, that
the value of naval store- iinportedou account of His
Majesty's Navy, in the four years previous to 1797 :
aoseataltis - L. 7,5g3,576
And is the Ikea psis pre-
aft, 17113. Nko6ited
so

t,f.0111,119

Fives.,

I. i~JJ:hi 71

Awl it s by ma seamen pee.
eistal,2tireeseeet at bids Mae
as lbs Cearsaisaisaars ter Virieel-
liae he fareirra ports, fa ilbe four
years maw the Sib J Jeasery,
fisrprbat Urry siaeltated lu
. . L. I,3osyjil
Aid Is N. rear years ced-
ing tist eor issuer',
1711 be 34,6e9

1, tf ~,:yJ

Tidal Ewen - L. 6,41iii,0z9
nimbi! cassia be doubted that the balance of
our 'rode, ewes with three dethectieuw. WOO have
brought great wealth. in various articles of eon,-
nitres.. iota this kitigdoni. and that miasma (pound,
ties of foreign merchandise oust, iu consequence
tlis:reof. have be a deposited iu it; yet it may be
doubled, whether it brought so great a quantity of
the precious metal to be converted into coin. as In
former periods; for it appears i.e the evidence of
Sir John Hort, who was 111% Majesty's Cowil-
Ge0..r.1. iu Porin,ol, (or 29 years, and of Mr.
an easine.it inercliont. that
the isooriation of gold and bilvi-r bull on, front
Lisboa, iuto this itingdmu, has beet, less than .t was
foruseJly: and that the exchstnte between I. b:
itad Leaden, which mid furunirly to be g catty lu

. •

favour of Loudon, has of late, from a varlet) of
circumstances, been eomct►mes in favour of, anti
sometimes against this couotry, and for the tart
three years more farina this moor! than in its
favour. from causes which are fully explained in
the evidence of those Gentlemen. Mr. Whitino:e
adds, that the quantity of ,liver which has of late
been imported, has greatly exceeded the quantity
of gold. Bat as the Mint price of silver bullion
has been, during nearly the whole of the present
century, considerably less than the market price of
this precious metal, the aitver bullion so imported
could not be coin erted into coin, but after having
left a 'timothy sufficient for the use of our manufac-
tures, must have again been exported, and did not
contribute in the s►uallest degree to augment the
coin of this kingdom.
The accounts presented by the officers of the.
mint, of the quantity of bullion coined in the la,t
four years, sbew that the r imutity corned at the
mint, in 179.5, amounted only to 493,4161, and io
1796 to hich is not more than a sixth
of what was brought to the mint to be coined in the
two preceding years, and greatly inferior to what
had been coined upon an average of the former
year. of lie Majesty's reign.
By am account presented by Mr. Irving, of the
quantity of bullion exported from this country,
from the year 190 to 1796, boils inclusive, it ap-
pears that the quantity of gold bullion exported, on
an average. iu the four last years, being yesre of
war, is not a third of what was unourlly exprrti:d,
on an average, in • the three preceding ycons of
peace; and that the quantity of silver bullion ex-
ported in the four last years. bring years of war,
is al.° not a third of what wasluaimally eaported,
ou an arrive, in the three prrcedtug years of
peace; and this account revives a certain degree
of confirmatiou frow the accounts delivered iu by
the East Lidos Company, of the amount of Spanish
dollars exported by the Company, or permitted by
the Company to be exported by private persons,
which prove that in the last three years the amount
of Spanish dollars exported has been less than used.
The Committee wished to throw further light on
this subject, by obtaining an account of the amount
of gold and silver coin or bullion imported into
this kingdom in the before-meutioued periods; but
they And that. by a law pissed in the Isth year of
the reign of Iles late Majesty Chides 11. chap. 7.
sec. 13. coin and bullion are exempted from entry
at the Custom-house, on i►nportatioa into this
kingdom, so that the officers of the customs could
nut produce ao account of any such importation.
There are, however, other cirainastances in evi-
dence before the Committee, which may have COW-
tributed to render hen perceptible, hitherto et least,
the aglvaatiges arising (loot the influx of wraith
into this kingdom, in consequence or ■ favourable
Warier of trade.

It was oh-erved by Henry Thornton. EN. (awl
it is indeed Melt-evident), that in proportion as the
commerce of this country 'increases, • greater
capital is necessary for car irigit on ; and also; that
any given quautity of commerce, in tiine of war, by
the increased expenses of freight, insurance, and
merenntile charges, requires a greater capital than
the .ante quantity of cowmen:en) time of peace.—
These two circumstance' novo have had consider-
able influence, in the course of the hut three years,
upon the circulating cash and paper of the king-
dom. especially when it is canatirleiel, that front
causes already assigned, the circulation of paper
was considerably dititioirhed; and Mr. Bosituquet.
a Beak Director, in assigning the causes ortlie
great pressure on the Bank, for want of cash, in
the year 1783, is of opinion that the drain of cash
at that time proceeded from the great extension of
commerce which followed the Fiedler, ancl which
occasioued so large an export of the commodities
of this country, that the circulation woe hardly au f-
Scion to support it.
It appears, lastly. by the evidence of the Bank
Directors, that in consequence of the long credit
gives by our merchsinta, the payments fur Cite
great qaintities of our manufactures, produe-,
sad other merchandise exported, do not take place
till a considerable tune utter their exportation. tho'
a great additional capital has been previously em-
ployed is providing the article exported. The
balance of payloads. which arises out of the ba-
lms** of trade, is necesurily posterior to it, and in
countries like Great Britain. where long cred:t4 are
given, it may not produce its full effect upon oar
circulation for a considerable time.

The result of all the various circumstances be-
fore stated, does not appear nn the whole to have
produced any permanent disadvantageous effect on
the cash of the Beek; till the mouth of September,
1795: the cash of the Busk had, indeed, been
much lower thsu usual iii March and June, 1793 ;
but it rose in the September of that year nearly to
its usu sl average. From September, 1795, how-
ever. it continued progressively declining, so as to
be, during the whole of the year 1796, consider-
ably less than in the eear 1795, but not lower at
the end of 1796 than in the middle of that year ;
and in the commencement of the present year, still
less then in the year 1796 ; and in the week pre-
ceding the issuing of the Order of Council, it di-
minished rapidly ; it was not, however, even at
that period, in any degree so low as in the year
1783, and luirtieularly iu the month of October of
that year.
The coaferenees between the Chancellor of the
Exchequer, sod the Governor aril Deputy Go.
moor of the Bank, on the apprehensions they en-
tertained of the diminution of their cash, and the
representations made by them, from time to time,
on the effect which foreign loans and remittances
had ou the state of their cash, will appear by the
evidence of the *said Governor and Deputy Go-
vernor, and other Direetors of the Bank, whim they
attended the Consmitter, either as a deputaf , or
in their individual eupacity, as well from the mi-
nutes of those conf fences, and the enpies of the re-
solutions delivered by them to the Chancellor of IM
Exchequer. It will al,pe r also, from the evidence
of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and from the
letters written by Ilion to the Governor of the Bank;
all which are inserted iu this Report, and to whsels
ti,. ComoEtter think it more proper to refer the
!loose, than to glee a summary of them.
The accounts before intwrted, and the evidence
just rvferre I to, wi:i also show what was the stature
of the advances made be the Bank to Government;
--upon slim fun+. or credit they were
val.( was Cicir suiouut at Jiffs rent periods ;—huw

far the amount of those advances, duricg the pre-
sent war, have exceeded those usually made in time'
of peace ;—how far they have exceeded those made
in the last war ;—and whether they were greater or
less, immediately previous to the issuing the Order
in Council of the '26th of February, Mien at any
preceding period.
The Committee were destroue of throwing fur-
ther light on this subject, by laying Before the
Howe some accurate account of the excherceshe-
twee° Great Britamu and other countries; as these,
when they can he correctly ascertained, afford a •
good criterion of the balance of payments between
Great Britain and other countries, and thereby
'thew, whether there is reason to conclude. that
eny coin Or bullion has bees exported Of itillilened.
At present, the only places with which there sub-
sists any • regular course of exchange with Great
Britain, are Lisbon and Newburgh. At this last
place, a great proportion of the at:runnel between
Great Britain and the northern ports of Europe, re
now settled and paid. The par of exchange teeth
Lisbon can be accurately staled ; it is. 671. It has
already bete shewn, front the evidence et Sir John
Hort and Mr. Whitmore, how far the exchange
between London and Lisbon has been of late to the
disadvantage of this country ; and their account of
it is fully confirmed by a statement of the courseof
exchange, takes from Cestaiug's Papers, inserted
in this Report.
With respect to the exchange between Greet
Britain and Hansburgli, the Committee have slot
been able to decide, to their satisfaction, what is
the actual par of exchange between London and
Hatnburgh. The witnesses they have examined
have widely differed with respect to the par of ex-
change between those pieces. TheCummitte st. how-
ever, have iiiserted in the minutes of the evidence,
the answers of Mr. Boyd to two queetions put to
him, and a paper presented to this Committee by
one of the Ear miters of it, which throw coundtrable
tight on this intricate subject, mod will account, its
some degree, for the diffit sky the Committee had
experienced in determining with *efficient accuracy
the par of this exchaage.
The mercantile accounts in Hateburgh and Lon-
don have a reference to different metals. Silver
appears to be the common coin of Hamburgh. and
gold is. in that plaice, rather to Ise considered as a
commodity. Gold is the esercaistile cots of Great
Britain, and silver has been for many years only a
commodity, which has no fixed price, cud i• very.
rarely earned to the mint to be coined, bat varies
according to the demand for it at the market. The
market price of these precious metals appears also
to hare an influence on the beuco money of Ham-
burgh, in which the exchanges are reckoned. It is
probable that to these circumstances is to be im-
puted the difficulty of determining the par of ex-
c range between London and Ilasuburgh. On the
present subject, therefore, all that the Committee
eau my with certainty in that according to the eels
deuce of the Grwernor of the Bank of England,
(which is confirmed by a paper aimexed) the ex-
change with Hallam_ prsrh ceased to be unfavourable
to this. country, its March 1796, Umtata more fa-
vourable iu the month of October last ; and that it
continued favourable till the etith of February,
when the Order of Cuenca was issued ; and that it
comitieues so still. ,
The Cosi 0000 i o tee have hitherto stated the several
pnints taring so the more remote causes, by which
the tin 'statism of the kingdom, and the general
state of the Batik, may have been affected. They
proceed tow to those which immediately preceded
the 16th of Februsery List, and more directly con-
tributed to the necessity of the Order of Council,
which was issued on that day. •
It appears from the ei Menet of Mr. Ellison, that
• few weeks princess to the '26th of February. two
great mercantile banks at Newcastle stopped pay-
ment its cash. oaring to the effect of a local alarm,
similar, as stated by this gentleman, to that in 1793,
which occasioned must of the country bankers to
drum lore, sums of money f the enetropnlis, awl
induced them to keep so score lamer spas tttt tit s of
specie shun before the your 1;93. sit order to mike
their pi) meats, if such should be required of them.
Mr. Thou mon confines, in general. this account
given by Mr. Ellison. He agrees also with. Mr.
with regert to the demand for cash made
on the metropolis, by the country banker.. for time
pureo.e of beings sent to different parts of the king-
dom; where it is portly kept by she country bauk-
ers.for the uses before mentioned, and partly drawn
out of their hands by individuals to be hoarded.
It appears by the esidence of Mr. Thornton.
that there was at this time also a demand of cash
to he sent from the metropolis to Scotland.
But those demands for cash from the distant
parts of the kingdom, were not the only rinses of
the embarrassments of the Batik of England
at this period. It is stated in an account di li-
vered by Mr. Puget, one of the Directors of the
Bank of Englund, cod Agent for the Beek of Ire-
land, that in the commencement of the year 17'17
there was en unnsuil demand of cs:sh sLarle on the
Batik of England, to be sent to Ireland ; and that
there was ors expectation or a loan being intended
to be raisin' its Great Unions fur the service of Ire-
land, which would !teens:airily have occasioned the
exportation of a considerable quantity of cons Irvin
the metropolis to the latter kingdom. It is proper
to asld, that the kingdom of Ireland appear-, for
some weeks previous to the Mining of the Order of
Council, of the Atli of February, to have ex pr.
viewed a great want of cash, similar to that which
was experiemerl in Great Britain.

There k a ciremnstanre that throws rinniarlerab r
on one at least of the (11111r1 which produced
thm great demand fur cash on the Bunk. It up-
roars by thew:coma of the stale of the cash at the
Bank. at different periods, as laid before the
e, the greatest drain of each which the Bank
has experieni VII. subsequent to the year 17143. W.'S
in March and Jnue 1793, that is, a short time after
the failtire of the country banks in that year; ■nth.
in the einumencentent of the month of February of
this year, that is, • short time after the Ness ea4b.
batiks stopped payment in cash, and when the
alarms before stated produced great demands for
cash, from different parts of the country : so that,
in both those ireritalo. the same cause appear► to
have pra,laced as effect nearly .imilar ; that is,
sery_lllllll6llSl drain of eash from the lank.

thr iticre:sird drus.altl ':aitTit•h--;:;;T)edr a pro-
to the tleer.qt-e of ally other wilt of wool .-
tiois tlut is u sulrioi•ote (of It. Tbs Coutuott,,.