Constitutional Whig. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1824-1832, 1824-05-25

honorable member from PENNSYLVANIA has no,
presented the country as full Of every thing but
money. But this, take to be a mistake. The
agricultural products, SO abundant in Pepnsvl.
vania, VIII not, he says, sell for money; but they
will sell for money as quick as for any other ar
ticle which happens to be in demand. They
will sell for money, for example, as easily as for
coffee, or for tea, at the prices which properly
belong to those articles. The mistake lies in
Iimputing that to wantofmoney, which arises from
want Of demand. Men do buy wheat because
they have money, but because they want wheat.
To decide whether money was plenty or not,
that is, whether there be large portion of cap
ital unemployed or not, when the currency of a
| country is metallic, we must look, not only to
the prices of commodities, but also to the rate of
interest. A low rate of interest, facility of OBJ
tanning moaiey on loans, disposition to invest
IN permanent stocks, adj of which arc proofs that
money is plenty, may nevertheless often denote
state not of the highestprospcrity. They may,
| and often do, show a want of employment for
capital; and the accumulation of specie shews
! the same thing. We have no occasion for the
precious metals as money, except for the purpo-
ses o. circulation, or rather of sustaining a safe
paper circulation. And whenever there he
a prospect ola profitable Investment abroad. all
the gold and silver, except what these purposes
require, will be exported. For the same rca-
son, If demand exist abroad for sugar and cof
fee, whatever anount of those articles might ex
'st III the country, beyond tho wants of its own
,consu,nrtion, would be sent abroad TO meet that
demand. Beside, sir, how should it ever occur
| TO any body, that we should continue to export
gold and silver, if we did not continue TO import
themalso' lfayesscl take ourown products to the
| Havana, or elsewhere, exchange Observation-Disclosures,
! proceed to China, exchange them for silks and
teas, bring these last 10 the ports of the Med-
tcrrancan, sell them there for dollars, and re-
1 turn TO the United States; this would be a vow
age resulting IN the importation of the precious,
metals. But if SHE had returned from Cuba, and
| the dollars obtained there had been shipped di
| rect from the United States to China, the China
goods sold in Holland, and the proceeds brought
| home in the hemp and iron of Russia. this
would be voyage in which they were expor-
ted. Yetevery body secs, that both might be
equally beneficial. 10 the individuals and 10 the
public. believe, sir, that, in point of fact We
| have enjoyed great benefit in our trade with
| India and China, from the liberty of going. from
place to place all over the world, without being
obliged in the mean time to return ho:nc-a
liberty not heretofore enjoyed by the private ira
ders OF England, in regard to India and China.
Suppose the American ship to be at Brazil for
example-she could proceed with her dollars
direct to India, and, in return, could distribute.
her cargo in all the various ports of Europe or
America /: while an English ship, if a private
trader, being at Brazil, must first return TO Eng
land, and then could only proceed in the direct
line from England to India. This advantage
our countrymen have not been backward TO i'm.
| prove and in the debate to which have AREA
dy so often re!erici it was stated no, withou,
! some complaint of the Inconvenience of excu-
sion, and the natural sluggshness OF monopoly
that American ships were at that moment fitting
out in the Thames, to supply France, Holland,
and other countries on the continent with tea !:
while the East India Company would not do
this of themselves, nor allow any of their fellow
countrymcn to Go il for them.
There is yet another subject, mfr. Chairman.
upon which l would wish to say something, if +
| might presume upon the continued patience of
| the Committee. We hear, sometimes, I'm the
House, and continually out of it, of the rate of
exchange, as being one proof that we are on
| the downward road to ruin Mr.. Speaker him.
self has adverted to that topic, and am afraid
that his authority may give credit to opinions
clearly unounded, and " hich lead to very false
and erroneous conclusions. Sir, let us scewhat
| the facts are. Exchange on England has re
| Gently risen one or one and half per cent
partly owing, perhaps, to the introduction of this
| bill into Congress. Before this recent rise, aud
for the last six months, understand its average
may have been about seven and half per cent
advance. Now, surprising this to be the real,
and not merely, as II IS the nominal par of ex-
change between US and England, what would
1t prove? Nothing. except that funds were
wanted in England, for commercial operations,
to be carried on clthcrin England or elsewhere
1t would necessarily shcw that we were indebt-
| cd TO Eng land for, If we had occasion to nav
debts in Russia or Holland, funds in England
would naturally enough be required for such a
purpose. And even ifit did prov C that a balance
was due England, at the moment il would have
no tendency to explain to us whether our com
merce with England had been profitable or I'M
| profitable. But it is not true, in point of fact,
| that the real price of exchange is seven and a
half per cent. advance, nor, indeed, that there is
| at the present moment, any advance at all.
| That is to say, it is not true, that merchants
will give such an advance, for money in Eng
| land, more than they would give for the same
| amount, in the same currency, here. 1t will
strike every one, who reflects upon it, that, i'll
there were a real difference of seven and a half
per cent. money would be Immediately shipped
to England; because the expense oftransporta-
ton you'd be far less than that difference Or.
commodities OF trade would be shipped to Flu
rope, and the proceeds RENTED TO England.
If it could 80 happen, that American merclants
should be willing TO pay ten per cent. premium
for money in England, or in other words that a
real difference to that amount, in the exchange
should exist, its effects would be Immediately
seen in new shipments Of our own commodities
to Europe, this state OF things would create new
motives. A cargo Of tobacco, for example,
might sell at Amsterdam for the same price rs
before but if its proceeds, when RENTED to
LONDON, were advanced, as they would be in
suc, case, ten per cont. blythe state ofexchange,
this would be SO much adlc 20 the price, and
would operate, therefore, as motive fo- the ex-
portation; and in this way, national balances aPcsa
and always will be, adjusted @
To form any accurate idea Of the true state
| of exchange, between two countries, we