The Sun.
London, England, 1834-04-26 00:00:00

The damage done is Estimated at 300,000
francs.

Our morning contemporaries quote from time
to time the price of gold at Hamburg and at
Paris, and infer whether it is dearer, and how
much dearer, at these places than in London,
through the medium of the Mint price in London
of 3/. 17s. 104 d. per ounce, and the par course
of exchange. We have followed their example :
but upon reading Mr. MUNDELL'S book, we
find that they and we are in error in this re-
pect ; and we shall endeavour to make the error
as obvious to our readers as Mr. MUNDELL
has made it palpable to ourselves.
Why did we say the Mint price of gold was
3/. 17s. 101 d. per ounce but because previous
to the year 1816 our Mint pound of silver, con-
sisting of twelve ounces, was coined into 62
parts or shillings, and if we inquired what was
the value of an ounce of silver in our then cur-
rency, it was ss. 2d. ; and if we further in-
quired how much silver at ss. 2d. an ounce
was necessary to purchase an ounce of gold, in
the proportion of 15.2096 to 1, which is the
proportion fixed by our Mint regulations, it was
exactly 3/. 17s. 101-d. But all this is changed
since 1816. By an act passed in that year (56
Geo. 111., c. 68), our Mint pound of silver
was directed to be coined, and has been since
coined, into 66 parts or shillings, the Mint re-
taining 4s. for seignorage. Our silver coinage
has been thus depreciated upwards of 6/. per
cent. This, however, is a matter of little import-
ance, because silver, which was theretofore a
legal tender, to the amount of 251., was de-
clared thereafter to be a legal tender only to the
amount of 405., and gold was made the legal
tender beyond that sum. Gold, therefore, is
now our sole standard of value, and our shillings
are mere counters valued in gold. Our silver
coinage being now estimated in gold, and our
Mint pound of silver being now coined into
665., there is an end of the Mint price of 58.2 d.
per ounce for silver, and consequently of our
Mint price of 31. 17s. 102 d. for gold. We
have now only a market price of silver, and a
market price of gold ; and in our bullion mar-
ket the price of silver has seldom been below
4s. 10i-d., and rarely above 4s. lid., per ounce
for many years past ; at which last price, the
price of gold paid in silver is about 3/. 13s. per
ounce. So, in order to see what is the market
price of gold in Hamburg or Paris, we must
go into the bullion market' of these places, and
if the same quantity of silver required to pur-
chase an ounce of gold in our bullion market
will purchase an ounce of gold in the bullion
markets of Hamburg and Paris, then the price
of gold is the same in all the three places, and
is dearer or cheaper as it requires more or less
of silver to purchase an ounce of gold in the one
market than in the other.
This is as to the bullion market. With re-
ference to the currency, there would be no dif-
ficulty, if our currency in paper were always of
the same exchangeable value with gold. But
taking it always to be of the same exchange-
able value with gold, the matter will stand
thus : Silver being the standard of value in
Hamburg and Paris, and gold in coin being
scarce at these places, an agio, that is, a com-
mission or premium, is always paid for gold
coin. There is no agio upon gold coin in Eng-
land. It passes in exchange, according to the
quantity of gold contained in it, and no more.
Gold coin, therefore, is always dearer in Ham-
burg and in Paris than gold in London,
whether in bullion or coin, by the amount of
the agio. But gold in bullion, in Hamburg
or Paris, is not dearer than gold coin in Lon-
don, if the latter be always of the same ex-
changeable value with bullion, as it would be,
if not brought down by an over-issue of paper
circulating with it, which shows itself in this
w-ty ; that is to say, if gold be dearer in Ham-
burg and Paris at the same time than it is in
London beyond the amount of the agio, then
we may rest assured that our currency is depre-
ciated by an over-issue of paper. But this is a
result of which we suspect the Bank is not
aware, and we doubt if many of our mercantile
men are. •