Phenix gazette. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1825-1833, 1830-04-12

cbarge at at all-at most, one-half per cent; from
Mobile. from par to one-half per cent; from sa-
vannah at one-half per cent; and from Charles
ton, at from par to one-quarter per cent.
This seems to present astate OF currency ap-
preaching as near to perfection as couid oe oesii-
ed: for here is a currency issued at twenty-four
different parts of the Union, obtainable by any
citizen who has money or credit. When In his
nossess;on. it is equivalent to silverSn all his
dealinos with all the 5000 agents OF the&Ieyern-
mcnt. throughout the Union. In all his dealings
with the interior it is better than silver; IN all
his dealings VIZ the commercial ciucs eqaai
to silver; and if, for any purpose. ne desires the
silver with which he bought 1T, 1t Is at MS oisPo-
sal, almost universally, without any dlmihu'ioh'
and never more than diminution OF one quar-
ter per cent. 1t is not easy TO imagine,
is scarcely necessary to desire any currency oet-
ter than this. AL. :.
1t is not among its least advantages, that IL
bears proper relation to the real business anu
exchanges of the country; being issued only 10
those whose credit entities them to H. increasing
with the wants of the active operations OF socle-
~ and diminishing. as these subside, into COM
narrative inactiyity-while it is the radical
vice of all Government paper to be issued
without regard to the business of the community,
Il
convenience to the Government.
After escaping so recently from the degradation
of deprecated paper currency, the committee
would abstain from every thing which might,
however remotely, revive it. The period Is not
remote when, in the language OF the late oecre
tary of the Treasury, the country was oppressed
by a s. currency without any basis OF coin, or
other effective check, and of no value, as me-
dum Of remittance or exchange, beyond the jul
r;sdiction of the State whence it had been issued
"A currency that not unfrequently imposed up
on the Treasury the necessity OF meeting, by ex-
travapant premiums, the mere act OF transfer
RING the revenue. collected at point. to defray
unavoidable expense at another" tits still with
in the recollection of the Senate, when, at the
Seat of Government itself, specie could only be
had at 90 or IL per cent. in exchange for the
bank paper promises to pay specie; that tor bank
notes of Baltimore, 2 per cent. were paid; for
those of Philadelphia, to 7 per cent; tor those
of New-York. Is to Is per cent; and for those
of Boston, 90 to % per cent; ruinous inequall-
ties. which have now happily disappeared.
Sd. The soundness of the currency may be
further illustrated by the present condition OF the
f'reigu exchanges.
Exchange on England is, at the present mo-
ment. more than one per cent. under par; that's
l
States. This being the real fact, disguised by
the common forms of quoting exchange on Eng
land at between and 9per cent. premium.
1t would lead the committee too far from its
present purpose to explain that the original esti-
mate of. the American dollar, as being worth four
shillings and sixpence, and that, therefore, the
English pound sterlingis worth S4 A, IS wholly
erroneous. and occasions constant mlsappre-
hension of the real state of our intercourse with
Great Britain. The Spanish dollar has not, fora
century, been worth four and sixpence: the A
merican dollar never was; and whatever artificial
value we may assign to our coins, Is wholly
unavaling to them in the crucibles of London or
Paris According to the latest accounts from
London. at the close of December last, the Spa
nsh dollar, instead of being worth four shilllngs
and sixpense, or 81 pence, was worth only 49a;
the American dollar at least one-fourth per cent.
less; 80 that, to produce one hundred times four
and sixpence, it would be necessary to send to
England not 100 dollars, nut 100 Lilo Spanish
dollars, or 109i of the U. States dollars. IT to
this be added the expenses and charges OF send
ing the money and converting 1t INTO English gold,
it will cost Sill; so that IL is, at this moment,
the par exchange between the U. States and Eng
land. If. therefore, bill at sight can be pro-
cured for less than this sum, or bill at sixty
days for one per cent. less, say l 10 per cent.
it is cheaper than sending silver; that Is to say
he who has silver to send to England can pur-
chase bill Oh London for greater amount than
he would get if he shipped the silver itself. and
of course exchange would be i'll favor OF the U,
States against England. Now, such bills can be
bought at a less rate, by more than one per cent.
in every city in the United States.
This fact is conclusive as to the state of the
currency. If the bank notes of the country were
not equal to specie, specie would be at preml-
UNI, which it no where is at present. If the cur
rency were unsound more must be paid of that
currency in order to produce an equal amount of
coin in another country, where these bank notes
do not circulate But if, as Is the case at present
the bank notes convertible into specie; if you
can buy with bank notes as much as you can buy
with silver; and il, in the transactions of the coun
try abroad, the merchants, who, if the notes were
not equal to coin, would go to the bank and ship
the coin, can pay as much debt in foreign countries
with the notes az by sending the coin; there seems
J . ~loto hoa Nf tlo