Star.
London, England, 1809-08-31 00:00:00

INVERNESS, AUGUST 2.:''.

All the accounts which we have received during
the week, relative to the distressing catastrophe at the
Meikle Ferry, formerly mentioned, concur in repre-
senting the number of persons who lost their lives on
that occasion, as even more c(onsiderable than we then
stated ; but the precise number cannot yet be ascer-
tained, although we are assured that upwards of 14.0
names have been collected. Truly mournful indeed
is the blank thus made among the friends and kin-
dred of the unfortunate sufferers, there being few per-
sons in Dornoch, or the adjoining parishes, who have
not to lament the loss of a father, a mother, a brother,
or a sister. The business of the fair having been the
object of almost all of those who were on board the
boat, many of them had, of course, all the money
they could command about them ; a circumstance
which not a little aggravates the irreparable loss sus-
tained by many a fatherless child. The accident is
attributed principally to the misconduct of the boat-
men, who, it is said, were intoxicated, and who pe.
rished with the rest, leaving behind them a dreadful
example of the fatal effects of rashnes and intempe-
rance.

Letters from Spain, of a late date, mention that
Don THOMAS MORLA, the traitor, who delivered
Madrid up to the French, was killed in the battle at
Talavera de la Reyna.
Sunday fe'nnight, as the son of Lord ALBEstAntx,
seven years of age, was attempting to climb up the
outside of the staircase, in Elden-hall, he fell, and
fractured his skull, but it is hoped not in a dangerous
manner.
Among the arrivals at Fraserburgh are—.
Mr. Lewis Marshall, Mr. M'Phsrson, Mr. Falconer, Mr. and
Mrs. Thomas Duncan, and Mc. Dill Hutcheor, Aberdeen ;
Mr. William Shawl, jun. Craigelly ; Mr. John Cruickshank, Tur-
rif; Mr. Moffat, Mr. Milne, and Mr. S. Simpson, Aberdeen;
Mr. Jams Ross, Banff; Lieut. James Milne, Rosehearty ; Mr.
and Mrs. Gibb, New Deer; the Rev. Mr. and Mrs. Johnston ;
Mrs. and Miss Rose, Boyndlie; Miss Gordon, Aberdour ; Mr.
and Mrs. Webster, Aberdeen ; Mr. A. Milne, Chapeltown ; Mr.
Donald Bain, Edinburgh; the Hon. Simon Fraser, London ; Min
' and Miss B. Shand, Cralgelly ; Wm. Fraser, Jun. of Park ; Mlsa
Fraser, Aberdeen ; Mr. Irvine, Tole Mr. rail, EdiaMulth
Mr. and Miss Chalmers, Hama

TQ FUTURITY.

Breve et irreparablk tempus
Omnibus en vita.

When shadowy twilight bids the day recede,
And Col's last gleams desert the mount.ln top,
I love to hie me to the untrodden bower •
Where pensive peace and meditation dwell;
And there, from suds obtrusion iturfain'd 7routad;
To muse thy scenes„ 0! 'raid Fti realty !
In those lone hours when awe-inspiring Night,
Dark'ning a prostrate world, and shading deep
The many-colour'd hues that only live
In the gay sunbeam, sheds her solemn calm,
(While Echo sleeps) what airy forms
Flit 'cross the ponderer's frenay'il eye, as he
Through thy strange realms and vap'ry bourne looks wild,
Murm'ring his fancies to the passing brim
That bears prophetic voices on its wing f
_ _ _

Plymouth-Dock, August, 1809.

N. T. C.

THE PA [CI OF BANK NOTES.

- The present high market price above the mint price
of gold, appears to have engrossed a great portion of
the attention of the public ; but they donot seem to be
sufficiently impressed with the importance of the sub-
ject, nor of the disastrous consequences which may
attend the further depreciation of paper. I am anxious,
whilst there is yet time, that we should retrace our
steps and restore the currency to that healthful state
which so long existed in this country, and the depar.
ture from which is pregnant with present evil and fu-
ture ruin.

De mint price of gold is 31. 17s. 104 d. and the
market price has been gradually increasing, and was
within these two or three weets as high as 41 13s.
per ounce, not much less than 20 per cent. advance.
It is remarkable that between the years 1777 and
1797 the average price of gold was not higher than
Si. 17s. 7d. Durii g that period our currency was one
of acknowledged purity. It is only since 1797, since
the year that the Bank has been restricted from par-
ing its notes in specie, that gold has risen to 41.
41. 10s. and latterly to 41. 13s. per ounce. Whilst
the Bank pays its notes in specie, there can never be
any great difference between the mint and market.
prices of gold. It is well known that, detection being
difficult, notwithstanding the most severe, and, per-
baps, absurd laws, when it becomes greatly the Ir.-
terest of individuals from a high market price of gold,
the coin will be melted and sold as bullion, or expor-
ted, as it best suits the views of those who engage in
such traffic. If, then, whilst the Bank paid in specie
gold rose to 41. or more per ounce, these dealers
would exchange their notes at the Bank, obtaining
an ounce of gold for every 31. 17s. 101 d. in bank-
notes. This gold would be melted and sold, or ex.
ported for 41. or more in bank-notes per ounce ;
and as this operation might be repeated daily, or in-
seed hourly, it would be continued till the Bank had
withdrawn the superfluous quantity of their notes
from circulation, and had thereby brought the mar-
ket and mint prices of gold to 'a level. This is the
only check which can exist to an over issue from the
Bank ; and was so well known that the Bank never
ventured on it with impunity.
No efforts of the Bank could keep more than a cer-
tain quantity of notes in circulation, and if that quan-
tity was exceeded, its effects on the price of gold al-
ways brought the excess back to the bank for specie.
Under such regulations,the market price of gold could
never rise much above the mint price, for who would
give 41. or more in bank notes for an ounce of gold,
.when he might obtain the same at the Bank for 31.
17s. /00. It would be the same thing ,as offering
an ounce of gold at 21. 7s. Itd. for an ounce of gold.
When we talk of a high price of gold, it can have no
meaning, if estimated in gold, or in notes which are
immediately exchangeable for gold. It may he high,
estimated in silver, or in goods of all kinds, and it is
only when gold is high compared with goods, or in
other words, that goods are cheap, that any temptation
is offered for its importation. When it is said that we
may obtain 11 ss. for a guinea by sending it to arm.
burg, what is meant but that we may get a billfor it on
London for 11. ss. is bank-notes? Could this be the
case if the Bank paid in specie? Would any one be so
blind to his interest as to offer me one guinea in specie
and 4s. for a guinea, when he might obtain the same
at Hamburgh at par, paying only the expellees of
freight, kc. ? It is only because he cannot get a gui-
nea at the Bank for notes, that he consents to pay it
with notes at the best price he can, or in other words,
he sells 11. ss. of his bank-notes for a guinea in specie.
When the Act restricting the Bank from paying in
specie took place, all checks to the over issue of notes
were rem( vad, excepting that which the Bank volun-
tarily placed on itself, kowing that if they were not
guided by moderation, the effects which would follow
would be so notoriously imputable to their monopoly,
that the Legislature would be obliged to repeal the
Restriction Act.

Whilst the Bank is willing to lend, borrowers will
always exist, so that there can be no limit to theirover-
-4 • s, but that which I have just mentioned, and gold
log t rise to ,C 8 or ,Elf), or any other sum per ounce.
The same effect would be produced in the price of pro-
visi, ns ai.d on all other commodities, and there would
be no other remedy for the depreciation of paper, than
the Bank withdrawing the superabundant quantity
from circulation, by insisting on the merchants Raying
their bills as they became due, and refusing to renew
their loans until the scarcity of circulating medium
should so raise its value that it should be at par-with
gold. It could rise but little above that price, for front
*hat moment importation of gold would commence,
and if the Bank were gradually to withdraw all their
notes from circulation, the place of those notes would
as gradually be supplied by imported gold, which
the high price—I meanthe high price in goods, would
infallibly draw to this country.
if my view of this subject has been correct, we are
enabled to ascertain the amount of depreciation at
which Bank notes at any time may be, and when gold
was at R 4. 13s. per ounce, they appear to have ar-
rived at the enormous discount of 20 per Cent. I may
be as kes. it Ba k notes are at so great a discount, how
e:,me, it that i,i• sh,)pkecper wilt sell more goods for
tylienzy ,nineas han for in Bank notes. For this
can :Lem nt by supposing that the trade of pur.
chasing ;,,iiineas ..t a premium, or In other words sell.
g Bank notes at a discount, is one which would Cl.

t deist the man who openi tnu retook ato so much 01,-
l
uy and suspicion, that notairithstandiv tht profit.
no one-is hardy enough to encounter the risk, particu.
lady as the law is very severe against melting the coin
or exporting it. But that it is practised secretly there
can be no doubt, as the profit attending it is enormous
and the number of guineas in circulation, considering
that nearly6o millions have been coined in the present
reign, is diminished to a very small amount..
It is sufficient for my argument if I prove that it is
a trade which can advantageously be carried on—that
if tradesmen could openly and readily sell guineas for
twenty-three shillings each, or more in Bank-notes,
they could afford to sell their goods cheaper for gold
than for Bank-notes—and it is sufficiently evident that
buying guineas at twenty-three shillings is between
9 and 10 per cent. premium, and selling gold at
41. 13s. or nearly 20 per cent. premium, is a trade
much more advantageous than many carried on in
the city of London.
If further proofs of the depreciation of Bank-notes
were wanting, and that it was caused by An over-issue,
it would be found in the present rate of exchange
with foreign countries. To make this apparent may
require us to consider what is meant by the rate of
exchange, and the rules and limits to which it is
subject.
If I purchase from a resident in Holland goods of
that country, the bargain is made in the money there
current. I have consequently contrasted to pay hint a
1 certain number of ounces of silver of .a.given puritj.
•As the comparative value,of silver and gold is nearly
I equal all over the world, my debt may be either esti-
mated in silver or in the number of ounces of gold for
which it would exchange. And if a merchant in
Holland has purchased from a resident in London
goods which are valued in English money, he has
contracted to pay a certain number of ounces of gold
of known purity or fineness.
To save the expence of the freight and insurance
attending the exporting and importing of a quantity
of gold to liquidate these debts, it suits the conve-
nience of both the parties, after agreeing how much
money of the one country is equivalent, consider-
ing its weight, purity, &c. to that of the other,
and which is called the par of exchange, to make
a transfer by means of a bill, which is done by
my paying to the English merchant the sum which
I am indebted to my Correspondent in Holland,
the English merchant oidering his Correspondent
in Holland to pay to mine the same amount, esti-
mated at the rate id exchange agreed on, in Dutch
money. The advantage to both parties is saving
freight and insurance. Now if two or more parties
had been indebted to merchants in Holland, there
would have been a competition between them for the
purchase of this bill, and the seller would no longer
have been satisfied with saving the freight and insu-
rance on the importation of his gold, but would "have
exported; and would have obtained a premium for his
bill, nbich it would have been the interest of either
of the other parties to have given him, provided such
premium did not exceed the expence of the transport
of the metals. It is necessarily kept within that limit,
for would say, ,4 the number of ounces of gold
which I owe in Holland are ready to pay my debt. I

am willing to give them to you to pay it for me, and
to add to it the expences which would attend the
sending it ; but nothing caa induce me to give more,
as if you do not accept my offer, I shall suffer no fur-
ther disadvantage by sending the gold." This is there-
fore the natural limit to the fall of the exchange, it
can never fall more below par than these expellees ;
nor can it ever rise more above par than the same
amount. But since the restriction on the Bank paying
in specie, the fall of the exchange has kept pace with
the rise in gold, and is now considerably lower than
the limits which I have pointed out, and which may
be-accounted for in the following mariner :
A merchant can no longer say that he is possessed
of a sufficient number of ounces of gold to send abroad
to pay his debt, he may say, indeed, that he has a suf-
ficient number of bank notes, which if he could tell at
par, or exchange at the Bank for what they profess to
be, viz. an ounce of gold for every 31. lis 101. d. he
would have sufficient gold to pay his debt ;_but, as
things are, he must either sell his bank notes and be
contented to obtain an ounce of gold, or 31. 17s. vv.
for every 41. 15s. of notes, or agree to make an al-
lowance at that rate to the person with whom he ne-
gociates his bill. Thus then it appears, that the ex-
change may not only fall to the limits which 1 have
before mentioned, but also in an inverse proportion to
the ris2 of gold, or rather the discount of bank notes.
But these are the limits within which it is even now
confined. It cannot on the one hand rise morc above
par than the expellee of freight, &c. on the imports
ticn of gold, nor on the other fall more than the ex•
ponces of freight, &c. on its exportation, added to the
discount on bank notes. •

If b of exchange were payable in gold and not
in bank notes, the restriction on the Bank from pay-
ing in specie, could not in any way affect the exchange
beyond the limits which I before specified.
What becomes then of the argument which has sn
often been urged in Parliament, that whilst the rate
of exchange continued against us, it would not be safe
for the Bank to pay in specie, when it is evident that
their not paying in specie is the cause of the present
low exchange.
Let the Bank be enjoined by Parliament gradually
to withdraw to the amount of two or three millions of
their notes from circulation, without obliging them, in
the first instance, to pay in speCie, and we should very
soon find that the market price of gold would fall to
its mint price of 31. 17s. Mid. that every commodity
would experience a similar reduction ; and that the
exchange with foreign countries would be confined
within the limits above mentioned.
It.would then be evident that all the evils in our
currency. were owing to the over-issues of the Bank,
to the dangerous power with which it was entrusted
of diminishing at its will, the value of every monied
man's property, and by enhancing the price of provi-
sions, and every necessary of life, injuring the public
annuitant, and all those persons whose incomes were
fixed, and who were consequently not enabled to shift
any part of the burden from their own shoulders. :
A. E.

Yesterday morning, as Mr. W. J&Rvrs, baker, of
Maidstone, was driving a one.horse chaise dawn Ga-
briel's-hill, the bone's feet slipped, and he fell down ;
whilst he was endeavouring to get the animal up
agaht, he suddenly plungtd, and struck the shaft of the
chaise Against
Mr. J.'s leg, assd unfortunately broke it.

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