The Sun.
London, England, 1810-08-17 00:00:00

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IPRkE S.TXPtNCt ITALFPENN

REPORT; .

TOGETHER WITH MINUTES OF 'EVIDENCE, AND AC-
COUNTS FROM THE SELECT COMMITTEE ON THE
.HIGH PUCE GOLD 'BULLION:

[Continued from Yesterday
" Since the- conduct of the enemy which yo-
• have described, what other causes have continued to
operate on the Continent to lower the course of ex-
change?---Very considerable shipments from the
&tete, which wereedrawn for and the bills nego.
ciated immediately on the shipments taking place,
without consulting the. interest of the proprietors in
this comely much, by deferring such a negociation
till a deemed -should take -place for such bills : The
continued difficulq and uncertainty in carrying on
the correspondence between this country. and the
'Continent : 'fete curtailed number, houses-'to he
found Oa the Continent xileing to undertake such
operations, either by accepting bills for English ac-
count chawn front the'variotparis where shiemeete
take place, or by accepting bas drawn froth this coun-
try, either against property shit pen, or on a:specula-
tive idea that the exchange either ought or is likely
to rise : The length 'of time -that is required before
good's can be converted into cash, from ehe circui-
tous routes they are obliged to take :. The very large
sums of money paid to foreign strip-owners, which
in some instances, secleas on the article of hemp, has
amounted 10 nearly its prime cost in' Russia : The
want of middle men who as termerlynsed to employ
great capitals in exchange op-ratious, who from the
increased dirrieulties and dangers to which such ope-
rations 'are now subjeet-, are et present rarely to be
met wi,th, to make combined exchange operations,
which 'tend to anticipate probable cetimate results."
The preceding answers; and the rest.Ot this gen-
tleman's evidence, all invoice this principle, ex-
Tressed more or less distinctly, that bullion is the
true reeulatorboth of the valve of a 1061 currency
and-of the-rate Of- foreigneewhengeCe; and that the
. free convertibility of, paper-turn-nee into the precious
metals, and the tree exportation of those metals,
place alimit: to the- tall of exchange, and -not only .
check the exchanges from falling below that
but recover them by restoring the balance.
. Your Committee need not particularly point-out
in what respects these opinions received from per-
soae-ofepractical detail, are -vague and unsatisfac-
tory, and in what respects they are cone adiciory of
One another ; considerable assistance, however, may
be derived from the information-which the evidence
of there persons. affords, in 'explaining the true
causes of the present state of the exchanges.
YourConrmtttee conceive that there is no point
of trade, considered politically, which is better set-
tled than the-subject of foreign exchanges. The
par of exchange between t.vo countries is that
sum of the currency of either of the two, which, in
point of intrinsic value, is precisely equ tl to a given
sum 'of the currency of the other ; that is, contains
precisely an equal weight of gold or silver of the
same fineness. If 25 livres of France contained pre-
cisely an equal quantity of pure silver with twenty
shillings sterling, 25 eould be said to be the par of -
exchange between London and Paris. Hone coun-
try uses gold for its principal. measnre of, value, and
another uses silver, the par between those countries
cannot- be estimated, for •any particular period, with-
out taking into account the relative valued gold and
silver at that particular period ; and as the relative
-value oftie two precious metals is subject to fiuCtua-
tion, the par of exchange be:eveen two such coun-
tries is- pot strietly a fixed point, but fluctuates within
certain limits. An illustration of this will be found
in the evidence, in the calculation of the par between
London- and Hamburgh, which . is estimated to be
34/34Sienlisli shillings' for a potind sterling. That
rate of exchange, which is prodhced -at any partieu-
lar 'period ty a balance of trade or payments between
the two countries.e-and by a consequent diproporiron
between the supply arid the demand of bills drawn
by the one non the other, isa departure on one
side or the other from the_ real and fixed par. But
this real par will be altered if any change takes•
place tit the currency of one of the two countries,
-whether. that change coesis:s in She wear or debase-
mentot a metallic currency below its standard, or in
the discredit of a'paper currency not convertible into
:specie a -fall having taken place in the intrinsic
value of a given pos.tion of one currency, that por-
tion will no longer be equal to the same portion, •
as• before, of the other currency. But though the
real par of the currencies is thus a;tered, the dealers,
haying little or no occasion to refer to the par, con-
tinue to reckon their course of exchaeges from the
turtner denomination of the. par;' and in this state
of things a distindiou is necessary to be made be-
t seen the real and computed course ofeExchange.
The computed course of Exchange as expressed in
the tables used by the merchants, will then include,
not only the, real differeece o exchange arising from
the state of trade; but. ise the difference be-_
t ween the original par. and the new par. Those
two sours may happen to be added together in the
calculation, .or they-may happen to be set against
each other. If the country-, whose currency has
been depreciated in comparison with the other, has
the balance of trade also against it, • the computed
rate of exchange will appear to be'still more unfa-
vourable than (he real ditkrence ot - exchange will
be Wend to be; and so if that satire country has the
balance of trade in its favour, the computed rate of
exchange will appear- to be imuch less faVourable
than the real 'difference ot, exchange will be found
to be.

• .1340 re the new coinage of our . silver in King
Willi un's time, the exchange between Englardand
computed in the usual matiner, according
to the stan.aitt of their respective mints, was 25 per
cent. agnitist England ; but the value of the current