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Page Introduction • • • • ] Currency of the Gold and Silver Coins of Spain in the British Colonies • • • • . 24 The introduction of the Coins of the mother country into the currency of tiie Colonies • • • • 32 The remedial Measures adopted in the year 1838 . 45 Currency of British Guiana . • • • • 52 Currency of the British Provinces of North America GA Lower Canada • • • • 65 Upper Canada • • * • 1 68 Nova Scotia • • • ■ 4 86 New Brunswick . • • • ■ 1 91 Newfoundland • • • • • 95 Bermuda • • • • « 97 The Currency of Gibraltar • • • • a 102 The Currency of Malta • • • • fl 109 The Exchanjre with the Colonies • • • • I 124 The Western Coast of Africa • ■ • • ■ 139 Currency of St. Helena and tlie Cape of Good Hope 144 1. St. Helena ib. 2. Cape of Good Hope 148 Currency of Mauritius . 154 Currency of Ceylon 164 Currency of Hong Kong 170 IV CONTENTS. Pag. Appendix ;— West Indies . " * " * Mauritius . . " * • ^est Coast of Africa St. Helena ' * • Malta . * ■ • • Gibraltar . ' ' ' • Hong-Kong Circular, transmitting.' Reo-nlnf* ' ' ' ^«n^i«g Companies '''^"'^^^^"^ ^^^ating to Regulations and Cnnriw; \ ' ' • - "'S Companies in the Coinn- ^ colonies . 243 200 209 216 219 222 232 236 242 I'age 1825 182 • 198 i/'oins 200 ib. 209 216 219 222 232 236 to • 242 of or 30- 243 INTRODUCTION. Previously to the year 1838, the metallic money of the British colonies was in a confused and un- satisfactory state, and peremptorily required the interference of the Government. Conflicting coins and conflicting money denominations were the perpetual source of difficulty and complaint, both with respect to the domestic traffic of the colonies, and their external commerce. The standard to which those denominations referred, was not dis- tinctly fixed by law ; and the meaning and intention of pecuniary contracts were, consequently, in many cases, equivocal and unce tvin. Coins of gold and silver were not accurately adjusted to each other. Those of the former metal were generally over- valued with respect to those of the latter; and this over-valuation rendered it extremely difficult to retain in circulation coins of the inferior metal in a sound and perfect state, and in sufficient quan- tity for the business of domestic interchange. The currency of the colonies consisted princi- f 3 pally of Spanish and Portuguese coins, current at nominal rates established by law or custom.* In the application of those rates to British and foreign coins, the monetary denominations of the parent state were adopted. They were, however, differently applied in different colonies. In Canada, for example, the rate assigned to the British shilling was one shilling and one penny ; to the Spanish dollar, five shillings ; and to the Spanish doubloon, three pounds four shillings ; while in Jamaica, the same coins were rated as follows : — £. s. 1 d. 8 6 8 5 6 8 rf^' British shilling . . Spanish dollar . . ■^'' Spanish doubloon ..568 '' ^ It thus appears that not only were different rates assigned to the same coins in different colonies, but the rates assigned were proportionately different with reference to the intrinsic value of the different coins. • The use of those coins as the medium of interchange in the British colonies in the West Indies and America, naturally arose from the contiguity of those colonies to the countries which are in possession of the mines, from which supplies of gold and silver are transmitted to the rest of the world, chiefly in the form of coins. To this practice no reasonable objection could be made. In the principal countries of Europe, the establishment of Mints has, indeed, rendered national coins the peculiar medium of interchange in those countries ; yet some states have risen to great wealth and commercial distinction, without adopting the principle of an exclusive coinage. England and France have maintained the exclusive system ; but Hol- land, Hamburgh, Genoa, and the United States of America, have, with greater or less freedom, received, and permitted the circulation of the coins of Mints of established reputation, at rates corresponding to their intrinsic values, without suffering from this practice any detriment or inconvenience. In order to apply a safe and effectual remedy to those discrepancies, and rightly to adjust the rates assigned to British and foreign coins relatively to each other, it became necessary to consider, first, the state of the law under which the coinage and currency of the metallic money of Great Britain are regulated; and, secondly, the circumstances which gradually led to the establishment of our present gold standard, and to the use of silver tokens as a subsidiary and subordinate currency. First. The state of the law. .re 'i^ot' ■ The right to declare the rate or value at which coins of gold and silver shall pass current and be a legal tender, is a branch of the Royal prerogative, which the sovereigns of this realm have from time immemorial enjoyed and exercised. This right has been distinctly recognised by various statutes. Thus, the 19th of Henry VII. c. 5, enacts, that ** all gold and silver coins shall " pass current for the sum they were coined for ; " and the 5th & 6th of Edward VI. c. 19, enacts, that ** if any person exchanged any coined gold or "coined silver, receiving or paying any more in " value than the same be declared by his Majesty's '* proclamation to be current for within his Ma- "jesty's dominions, the same shall be forfeited," and the person so offending be punished as therein directed. The right of setting a rate or value on the coins authorised to be current, has been exercised in two b2 different ways. First, by indentures of agreement with the officers of the Mint ; in which indentures a clause is inserted, declaring the rate or value at which the coins therein directed to be made shall pass current ; and secondly, by proclamation. The coins issued from the Mint are held, in all ordinary cases, to be legally current at the rate or value assigned to them in the Mint indentures. When the nominal value of the coin already in circulation is to be raised or lowered, or when foreign coins are to be made current at a certain fixed rate, a proclamation is necessary.* Although the Royal prerogative, in this respect, is clear and unquestionable, it must be admitted that great caution and circumspection are requisite in the exercise of it ; for although equity would require, and our courts of law would rule, that if the rates or denominations of the coins already current were raised or lowered, or if the quantity of fine gold or silver contained in coins of a given denomination were increased or lessened, a contract of debt must be construed, according to the meaning and intention of the contracting par- ties at the time' it was entered into; and would not absolve a debtor from his engagement, who offered to pay his debt with coins of less real value than those that were legally current when the debt was contracted ; still the difficulty of clearly distin- guishing in every case the debts contracted in terms " Lord Liverpool on the (/Oins. 5 ?reement identures value at ade shall ion. d, in all e rate or dentures, ready in )r when L certain i respect, idmitted requisite f would d rule, le coins if the coins of 3ened, a ding to ng par- uld not offered e than hi was distin- 1 terms I of the previous currency, from those contracted in terms of the altered coins, would be attended with great inconvenience, perplexity, and con- tention. In the present enlightened state of the public mind on this subject, it is not indeed probable that any serious attempt will be made to alter either the weight, the fineness, or the denominations of the coins already current in Great Britain. In the colonies, however, the case is different ; and as the prerogative of the Crown, with respect to the rate or value at which corns shall pass current and be a legal tender, extends to the colonies as well as to the parent state, the Government may properly and usefully interfere to correct any irregularities and imperfections which may still prevail there. Secondly. The circumstances which led to the establishment of our present gold standard, and the use of subordinate silver coins. For this purpose it is not necessary to go further back than to the 43rd year of the reign of Queen Elizabeth. In that year the fineness of silver was restored to the standard of old sterling, namely, 1 1 oz. 2 dwts. of fine silver, and 18 dwts. of alloy ; and a pound, troy weight, of that silver was directed to be coined into sixty-two shillings. The standard for gold was, at the same time, 22 carats fine, and 2 carats alloy ; and a pound, troy I\ weight, of gold of that standard was coined into 33 J sovereigns, and passed current for 33/. 10*., each sovereign weighing 7 dwts. 4 grs., and passing current for twenty shillings. The alterations that were made in the weight of the gold coins, subsequently to that period, appear to have been adopted chiefly with the view of bring- ing their value in tale to a due proportion with the value of the silver coins, according to the relative value of gold and silver in the market. •Although the value of gold, relatively to silver, was estimated in the 43rd year of the reign of Elizabe^^h, in a less proportion to silver than in the reign of Edward III., no adjustment of the relative value of the two metals, in the coins, appears to have been required until soon after the beginning of the reign of James I. Fro' a that period, the rise in the value of gold, compared with silver, was great and rapid. In the 2nd and 3rd years of the reign of that monarch, the weight of the sove- reign, or twenty-shilling piece, was reduced to 6 dwts. lOf grs., and by further reductions in the 9th and 17th years of the same reign, the weight of the sovereign, or twenty-shilling piece, was brought down to 5 dwts. 20J grs. No further reduction was made in the weight of the gold coins, or in their value relatively to the silver coins, until the 15th year of the reign of Charles II., when the weight of the twenty -shilling piece was reduced from 5 dwts. 20^^ grs., to 5 dwts. 9 J grs. This coiii was afterwards called a guinea. It is here proper to state, that, previously to the 15th of Charles II., the gold coins were a legal tender of payment, at the rates established in the Mint indentures ; they were afterwards allowed to vary with the variations in the relative value of the two metals in the market. In the reigns of Charles II. and James II., the silver coins had become greatly deteriorated by wear and clipping. This evil increased so rapidly, that it was found, by experiments made by the officers of the Exchequer in the year 1695, that those coins were defective to the extent of nearly one half of their original weight.* In a report from Mr. Lowndes to the Lords of the Treasury, dated the 12th September of that year, it is stated that " the exchange with the low countries was " fallen so very low, that the public lost about four '* shillings in the pound upon all monies remitted *' thither — that the exchange to Hamburgh and " the east countries was still lower." He further states, ** That the price of silver was risen to 6^. 5amo ua if they had been made a legal tender ut that rate. t Lord Liverpool on the Coins. i I " bullion of standard alloy be valued at 5s. 4\d. per *' ounce, a pound- weight of fine gold will be worth 14 lb. " 1 1 oz. 12 dwts. 9 grs. of fine silver in bullion ; and at *' this rate, a guinea is worth so much silver as would " make 20*. 8c?. When ships are lading for the East " Indies, the demand for silver for exportation raises the " price to 5s. 6d. or 5.9. Sd. per ounce, or above ; but I " consider not these extraordinary cases. ♦* It is the demand for exportation which hath raised " the price of exportable silver about '2d. or 3d. in the *• ounce above that of silver in coin, and hath thereby " created a temptation to export or melt down the silver " coin, rather than give 2d. or 3d. more for foreign silver ; " and the demand for exportation arises from the higher " price of silver in other places than in England in pro- •' portion to gold — that is, from the higher price of gold •• in England than in other places in proportion to silver. *• If gold in England, or silver in East India, could be " brought down so low as to bear the same proportion to " one another in both places, there would be here no " greater demand for silver than for gold to be exported " to India. And if gold were lowered only so as to have ** the same proportion to silver money in England which " it hath to the silver money in the rest of Europe, there " would be no temptation to export silver rather than " gold to any other part of Europe ; and to compass this " last, there seems nothing more requisite than to take " off IQd. or \'2d. from the guinea, so that gold may bear " the same proportion to the silver money in England *• which it ought to do by the course of trade and cx- " change in Europe. But if only Gd. were taken off at " present, it would diminish the temptation to export or " melt down the silver coins, and by the effects would " show hereafter, better than can a[)pcar at present, what 10 *( <( t( €^ 4( (( f( it l( further reduction would Le most convenient for the publick. " If things be let alone till money be a little scarcer, the gold will fall of itself; for people are already back- ward to give silver for gold, and will in a little time refuse to make payments in silver without a premium, as they do in Spain, and this premium will be an abate- ment in the value of gold ; and so the question is, whether gold shall be lowered by the Government, or let alone till it falls of itself by the want of silver •' money." In pursuance of the advice given by that great man, the value of the guinea was lowered by pro- clamation to 21 5., and other gold coins in pro- portion. Upon that occasion the Government departed from the principle adopted in the 7th and 8th of William III. Previously to the passing of that Act, the guinea was allowed to be exchanged at any rate above the rate set forth in the Mint indentures. The 7th and 8th William III. prohibited the currency of that coin at any higher rate than 26*., and afterwards at any higher rate than 22*. ; but in the proclamation issued by King George I., it was expressly declared that " the said respective '* pieces of coined gold shall be current at the ** rates set upon them." After the publication of this proclamation, the rate at which the guinea passed current could no longer vary with the variations in the relative value 11 tl of gold and silver in the market, but was perma- nently fixed at 21*. The alterations that have been made in the value of the gold coxHs relatively to silver, are exhibited in the following tabular statement : — Reign. AD. Weight of 20s. in Tale of Silver. Weig'at of 20s. in Tale of Gold. Proportion of fine Gold to fine Silver. 43 Elizabeth, 1601 0«. 3 DwU. Gre. Dwts. 7 Grs. 4 10-905 2 & 3 Jumes J. 1606 3 m 6 lOj 12-109 9 James I. 1612 3 m 5 20.JJ 13-320 17 James I. 1619 3 lOA 5 20| 13-346 15 CliurlesII. 16o3 3 i«A 5 n 13-485 3 George I. 1717 3 103\ 5 3 15-209 It appears from the foregoing statement, that from the 43rd of Elizabeth to the 15th of Charles II., the rise in the value of gold with respect to silver, as estimated in the coins, was gradual and progressive. In the changes that were successively made, the value of gold, however, except during a short interval in the reign of James II., was certainly overrated. The Mint proportions differed from the market proportions. The rate or value assigned to the gold coins with respect to those of silver, was higher than it ought to have been. The consequence was, that the silver coins were melted down and exported, and the principal importation into the Mint was gold. Thus, during nearly the whole of the period above-mentioned, gold became the predominant metal in the currency, and the principal measure of property and exchange. 12 I II It has already been observed, that the greatest part of the silver coins fabricated in the reign of King William III. had, in the course of 18 years, been melted down and exported. In his treatise on the coins of the realm, pub- lished in the year 1805, Lord Liverpool states that the nominal value of the silver coins v\^hich were coined in that reign, and those which had occa- sionally been coined since that period, amounted to 8,076,092?., and that of those, the whole of the crown-pieces, and a moiety of the half-crowns, had disappeared. The total value of the legal silver coins in circulation in 1798, he estimated at about 3,900,000/., of which the deficiency in weight was found, by experiments made by the officers of the ]Mint, to be as follows : — Half-crowns . 3ifi^ per cent. "" Shillings , 24^^|^ per cent. Sixpences . 38mf per cent. ^ The deficiency in the weight of the silver coins, when the general re -coinage of the gold coins, which commenced in 1774, was completed, was probably not much less than the deficiency above described. In that year, the Act of the 14 Geo. III., c. 42, was passed. By that Act, the silver coins were ordered to be a legal tender for sums exceeding twenty-five pounds, only according to their weight, at the rate of 5s. 2d. per ounce. That Act expired in 1783, and was not renewed till 1798, so that in the intervening period, a debt of any amount * 13 might have been legally discharged with six- pences, wanting upwards of thirty per cent, of their original weight. It may here be observed, that the enactments above-mentioned were, in every respect, nugatory, inasmuch as no one could avail himself of the per- mission to pay a debt in light silver coins by weight without serious loss. If, for example, the shillings were deficient to the extent of 20 per cent, of their original weight, 2500 of those shil- lings, or 125/. in tale, would have been required, under this regulation, to discharge a debt of one hundred pounds. It is true, indeed, that before the year 1798, it was competent to any one to bring silver to the Mint to be coined, and thus to discharge his money obligations with silver, at the rate of 55. 2c?. per ounce ; but as at that time the price of silver wa^ higher in the market than at the Mint, no one, without considerable disadvan- tage, could avail himself of the privilege. In the year 1798, the price of silver had so far fallen, as to induce some individuals to bring that metal to the Mint to be coined at the rate of 5s. 2d. per ounce. If that coinage had been permitted to proceed, the gold coins would, in their turn, have been melted down and exported, and the integer, or pound sterling, have become 3 oz. 17 dwts. 10 A grs. of silver, instead of 5 dwts. 3*274 grs. of gold. The standard and basis of the currency would have 14 1 1 1 ■ H 'til' become silver at 55. 2d, per ounce ; and geld would, in no long time, have been banished from the circulation. In order to prevent this consequence, the 38 Geo. III., c. 59, was passed, by which the further coinage of silver was suspended. In 1816, the 56 Geo. III., c. 68, was passed, by which it is enacted, that after a day to be ap- pointed by proclamation, silver coin and bullion may be brought to the Mint to be coined, at the rate of 665. per lb. troy weight; and that the silver so coined shall be a legal tender to the extent of forty shillings. The 9th section of this Act gives reason to suppose that it was originally intended by the Government to open the Mint to the public for the coinage of silver, at the rate therein men- tioned, and to retain As. per lb., as seignorage, rely- ing upon the limitation of the legal tender to forty shillings for the prevention of any inconvenient interference with the gold coins ; but as no procla- mation, to the effect stated in the Act, has been published, the public are precluded from the pri- vilege of bringing silver to the Mint for coinage ; and none has been coined since the passing of the Act, without the express permission and authority of the Government. There is then, at present, no Mint price of silver ; none, at least, in the sense in which that expression is commonly understood. The Government pur- 15 chases silver at the market price, and coins each pound, troy weight, of that silver into sixty-six shillings. By issuing no greater quantity of those coins than is necessary for the purpose of change, their value is sustained on a level with that of the gold coins, according to the proportionate rates and denominations assigned to each. The limi- tation of the legal tender to forty shillings would not, alone, be sufficient for that purpose; nor would that limitation, if the Mint were open to the public for the coinage of silver in the way and on the conditions stated in the Act, prevent an inconvenient inundation of silver coins. At pre- sent the gold price of silver is about 5*. per ounce. At present then, if the Mint were open, a profit of between 3 and 4 per cent, on the coinage of silver would accrue to the importer. Such a profit, although obtainable only on sums of forty shillings at one time, would, if frequently repeated, be a sufficient inducement to money dealers to exchange gold coins for silver bullion, and to force into circu- lation an undue quantity of coins of the latter metal. Nor would the charge of a high seignorage pre- vent this consequence ; for the coins delivered at the Mint would still, by law, be of the same ex- changeable value as that of the silver which the importer brought there. It would not, otherwise, be brought to the Mint. The limitation of the amount put into circulation 16 is then the principal, if not the only cause of the excess of the value of the silver coins over that of the metal of which they are made. i ! II The most eminent writers on coins and money have agreed in the opinion, that the current coin, which is intended to be the principal measure of property, should be made of one metal only. Mr. Locke was of opinion, not only that the principal measure of property should be made of one metal only, but that " silver, for many " reasons, is the fittest of all metals to be this " measure, and, therefore, generally made use of " as money." He, at the same time, thought that " it is necessary your gold should be coined, " and have the King's stamp upon it, to secure " men, in receiving it, that there is so much gold in " each piece ; but it is not necessary that it should " have a fixed rate set on it by publick authority. ** It is not convenient that it should, in its varying " proportion, have a settled price. Let gold, as " other commodities, find its own rate, and when " by the King's image and inscription it carries ** with it a publick assurance of its weight and " fineness, the gold money, so coined, will never *' fail to pass at the known market rates, as readily " as any other species of money." Mr. Harris was likewise of opinion that the standard measure of commerce should consist of one metal only, and that silver is the fittest mate- 17 rial for money ; yet he thought that " it may be " very useful to coin gold, to ascertain its fineness, " and to let these coins pass, in lieu of money, at " some given rate." Upon this point Mr. Harris seems to have fallen into some inaccuracy. He was aware of the im- possibility of maintaining in circulation coins of both metals at certain fixed rates, unless the value of the two metals, with respect to each other in the market, should continue the same as the pro- portionate rates assigned to them at the Mint; and yet he thought (contrary to the opinion of Mr. Locke) that gold coins should not be left to find their own value, without having any esta- blished legal rates ; that " this is a matter of too " much importance to be left to private judgment, " and if left at large, might subject the nation in " general to great impositions by a combination of *' the dealers in coins." Now, if in the year 1758, when Mr. Harris's " Essay on Money and Coins" was published, it had been determined to establish silver as the prin- cipal measure of property, and the instrument of exchange, and at the same time to set a fixed rate or value on the gold coins, it would have been necessary to assign to the guinea a lower rate with reference to the silver coins, than the proportion which gold bore to silver in the market, and to have allowed the gold coins to pass current, at any rate above that minimum rate ; in other words, to 5 I ! IS have allowed the gold coins to bear an agio, or premium, in the market, as against the silver coins. But this would have really amounted to the same thing as the proposal of Mr. Locke ; for as, under such a regulation, no one would part with his gold coins at the minimum rate, the assignment of such a rate would have been nugatory and use- less. The gold coins would have been merely pieces, having the King's image and inscription on them to certify their weight and fineness, as pro- posed by Mr. Locke, and would have passed, in currency, at their known market rates or value. In this way only, indeed, that is, by allowing gold coins to find their value in the market, can silver, practically, be made the basis of the cur- rency, and the standard to which all money con- tracts, expressed in terms of that currency, have reference. Mr. Harris says, that " silver coin is, and time " immemorial hath been, the money of accompt of " the greatest part of the world, and where it is so, " silver is the standard measure of commerce. " And although it be supposed that with us, more ** payments are made in gold than in silver coins, ** yet that doth not alter the standard whilst the " accompts are kept in silver." He asks, " Is not " a declaration that a guinea shall pass for twenty- " one shillings a plain reference to shillings as a " standard of the value of a guinea?" ? It may be so ; but at the date of his Essay on 19 Money the reference here spoken of was merely nominal. The over-valuation of gold, with re- spect to silver, at the Mint, had long rendered gold, practically , the principal measure of com- merce, not only among merchants, but likewise in the business of domestic interchange and traffic. The denomination of twenty- one shillings which had formerly been applied to 4 oz. I dwt. 7 grs. of silver, was at that time applied to 5 dwts. 9 J grs. of gold ; and when a contract was made for the pay- ment of twenty shillings, 20-2 1 parts of 5 dwts. 9^ grs. of gold were alone in the contemplation of the contracting parties. The views of Lord Liverpool, with respect to the standard of money, were different from those of Mr. Locke and Mr. Harris. His Lordship was of opinion that ** In very rich countries, where " great and extensive commerce is carried on, " gold is the most proper metal of which the •' principal measure of property, and instrument '* of commerce, should be made. In such coun- " tries gold will, in practice, become the principal *' measure of property, and the instrument of *' commerce, with the general consent of the peo- '* pie, not only without the support of law, but in " spite of almost any law that may be enacted to " the contrary ; for the principal purchases and ** exchanges cannot there be made in coins of a " less valuable metal." . c2 ifinn li 1 1- !!l 20 Although the utmost deference is jystly due to this high authority, it may reasonably be doubted whether the inferences contained in the foregoing passage are, in every respect, correct. It is cer- tain, at least, that if silver, with respect to gold, be estimated at the Mint higher than in the market, and coins of both metals be made a legal tender at the rates fixed in the Mint indentures, then — however extensive and multifarious may be the commerce of the country — no gold will be brought by the public to the Mint to be coined, and the basis of the currency will be silver. It is true that gold has long been the principal mea- sure of property in this country ; not, however, as Lord Liverpool imagined, without the support of law, but because, previously to the year 1 798, the law had made gold the cheapest tender of payment ; and because, since that period, the silver depart- ment of the Mint has been closed to the public, and accessible only to the Government. Lord Liverpool, equally with Mr. Locke and Mr. Harris, tliought that the principal measure of property should be made of one metal only ; and having come to the conclusion that gold is the most proper metal for that purpose, it became necessary for him to consider in what way silver coins might be provided for small payments with- out unduly interfering with the gold coins. It is justly observed by Mr. Harris, in his Essay on Money and Coins, that " there must be coins 21 *' of the value of shillings and sixpences. Those " sorts of coins are the most frequently wanted ; •* and there is no doing without them, or some " substitute in their stead. A coin of a shilling, '* or even of half-a-crown value, would be much " too small for gold." Hence he thought that gold is much too valuable a metal for the stand- ard of money. lie thought, moreover, that, ** it " would be a ridiculous and even vain attempt to *' make a standard integer of gold, whose parts *' should be silver ; or to make a motley standard, " part gold and part silver." Lord Liverpool conceived that this difficulty might be got over by limiting the legal tender of the silver coins to the value of single pieces of the gold coin ; and by establishing the same relation between the silver coins and copper. He observes, that "where the function of gold coins as a stand- " ard measure of property ceases, there that of *' silver coin should begin ; and tliat where the ** function of silver coin, in this respect, ceases, " there that of copper should begin : it is clear, " therefore, that so far only these silver and cop- " per coins should be made legal tender, and no '* further, at least not in any degree ; and it fol- '• lows, that the coins, both of silver and copper, " are subordinate, subservient, and merely repre- " sentative coins, and must take their value with " reference to the gold coins, according to the rate ** which the sovereign sets upon each ol' them." : i I He further observes, that " the metal of which " these silver coins are made should be estimated, " not according to the actual price of such metal, •* but according to the average price which such " metal has borne for a certain number of years " past, or which it is likely to bear, in future, in "the market." . ./ 7 w ' But surely the difficulty would not be overcome in this way. So long as the prices of gold and silver at the Mint are accurately adjusted to the relative value of the two metals in the market, both metals will, indeed, be brought by the public to the Mint to be coined. But if the gold price of silver should rise materially above the Mint price, nobody will bring silver to the Mint ; for to do so would, in that case, be attended with certain loss to the importer of the silver, and a scarcity of silver coins would be experienced. If, on the other hand, the gold price of silver should fall materially below the Mint price, the limitation of the legal tender to the value of single pieces of the gold coin would not be sufficient to prevent an inconvenient importation of silver into the Mint and a redundancy of silver coins. Lord Liverpool's plan was not adopted ; but, as is stated above, the 56th of George IIL was passed, by which Act, and the confinement to the Govern- ment of the privilege of coining silver at the Mint, the main object of that plan, namely, the issue of a subordinate silver coinage, was successfully IHii ■ 23 . ■if- "'\;' accomplished. The basis of the currency is gold ll-12ths fine, and 3/. 175. 10 Jd per ounce. The silver coins are merely subsidiary : the weight and fineness of the latter are matters of little import- ance: whether a pound weight of silver were coined into sixty-four shillings, sixty-six shillings, or seventy shillings, the value of the coins would not be at all affected ; their value depends, not on the intrinsic worth of the metal of which they are made but on the limitation of their quantity, and the limited amount for which they are a legal tender. t li I 24 CURRENCY OF THE GOLD AND SILVER COINS OF SPAIN IN THE BRITISH COLONIES. In nearly all the colonial possessions of the Crown, the British denominations of " pounds, *• shillings, and pence," were, at an early period, adopted in their pecuniary computations and ac- counts, and are still adhered to. In the application of those denomination* to the coins which are authorised to pass current, and which area legal tender, the practice of the colonies differs, however, not only from that of the mother country, but each of the colonies differs, in this re- spect, from the others. In one place, the denomi- nation of a Spanish dollar is ten shillings ^ in ano- ther, six shillings and three-pence; in another, five shillings. The inconvenience of this practice appears to have been felt at an early period. In the sixth year of the reign of Queen Anne, an Act was passed, of which the preamble states, that " for " remedying the inconvenience which has arisen " from the different rates at which the same species " of foreign coins did pass in Her Majesty's several " colonies and plantations in America, Her Most *' Excellent Majesty has thought fit, by Her Royal *' Proclamation, to settle and ascertain the currency " of foreign coins in Her said colonies and plan- " tations." . H»| I ! 25 ' -i In the proclamation to which this Act refei*s, it is stated that the principal officers of the Mint had prepared a table of the value of the several coins which usually pass current in the plantations, showing the just proportion which each coin ought to bear to the other ; and it is ordained that the currency of all pieces of eight of Peru, dollars, and other foreign species of silver coins, shall stand regulated according, and in proportion, to the rate set for the pieces of eight of Seville, Pillar, and Mexico. The several species of the Spanish dollar are designated in the proclamation as follows : — Seville pieces of eight, old plate Ditto new plate Mexico pieces of eight . Pillar pieces of eight Peru pieces of eight, old plate . Cross dollars dwts. grs. 8. d. 17 12 = 4 6 14 = 3 7i 17 12 — 4 6 17 12 = 4 61 17 12 = 4 5 18 — 4 4f It is then directed that no Seville, Pillar, or Mexico pieces of eight, though of the full weight of 17J dwts., shall be accounted for, received, taken, or paid, within any of the colonies or plan- tations, at above the rate of six shillings per piece, of current money. At a subsequent period, the wear and mutilation of the coins, the abuse of paper-money, and, pro- bably, the mistaken notion that raising the deno- mination of coins augments their value, led, in the West Indies and America, to the various systems of currency which now prevail there. MMWMnaaaaftwMMB i: ; , In the proclamation above referred to, it is stated that the inconvenience arising from the dif- ferent rates at which the same species of foreign coins pass in the several colonies and plantations in America, is the indirect practice of drawing money from one plantation to another, to the great pre- judice of Her Majesty's subjects. ; . ^ . This erroneous view probably originated in the false notion that the value of the coins which are made legally current, depends, not merely on their weight and fineness, but, likewise, upon the rates, or denominations, which are, by law, as- signed to them. / This notion naturally led to the supposition, that the assignment of a higher rate to any species of coins in one colony over the coins of another, at- tracted those coins to the favoured colony, to the detriment of its neighbours. This was an error. The inconvenience, which really resulted from the practice complained of in the proclamation of Queen Anne, was, and still continues to be, not the artificial and forced re- moval of money frc m one colony to another, but the troublesome and complex computations and adjustments which are rendered necessary in the operations of the exchange of the colonies with each other, and with the parent state. If the inconvenience resul^pg from the assign- ment of different nominal rates to the same species of coins, in different colonies, were the only ground of complaint, with respect to the currency of those colonies, it might be a question whether it would be worth while to disturb habits and preju- dices which have long prevailed, for the sake of that uniformity which it was the object of the pro- clamation of Queen Anne to accomplish. Unha^ ily, another defect, of a more important nature, and more difficult to deal with, long ren- dered the currency of the colonies unsatisfactory, perplexing, and anomalous. That defect consisted, mainly, in the assignment of disproportionate rates to coins of gold, and coins of silver. The principal foreign coins current in the colo- nies are, the gold doubloons, and the silver coins of Spain, Mexico, and South America, and the sub- divisions thereof According to the monetary regulations of Spain, sixteen dollars are deemed equivalent to one dou- bloon. The same proportion was adopted in the British colonies. At Barbadoes, for example, the rate assigned to a gold doubloon was five pounds, and to a silver dollar six shillings and three pence. This proportionate rate rendered gold the pre- dominant metal in the currency, both of Spain and the West Indies. In the report of Sir Isaac Newton to the Lords of Her Majesty's Treasury, dated I7th September, 1717, it is stated, that "a Spanish pistole was " coyned for 32 ryalls, or 4 pieces of 8 ryalls, " and is of equal allay, and the sixteenth part of •^ illi ! ;-i I ' m " the weight thereof ; and that this high price " (that is, the high estimate of gold relatively •* to silver) in Spain, keeps their gold, at home, in '* good plenty, and carries away the Spanish silver " into all Europe, so that they will not pay in sil- ** ver without a premium." . * It is further stated, that " by the course of trade " and exchange between nation and nation, in all ** Europe, fine gold is to fine silver as 14 j^, or " 15 to 1." It thus appears that, at that time, the value of gold, with respect to silver, was over-rated, or (which comes to the same thing) the value of silver, with respect to gold, was under-rated, in the Spa- nish coinage, to the extent of about 6 J per cent. Since the date of that report, alterations have been made in the Mint regulations of Spain, which alterations, as they have been adopted in the Mints of Mexico and South America, it is necessary to notice. The principal coins of Spam are as follows : — Of Gold : Reals Vellons. The doubloon of 8 escudos, or quadruple pistole . 320 The doubloon de oro, or pistole 80 The Escudo 40 The Coronilla, or Vienlen de oro 20 Of Silver : The dollar, or pesoduro The half-dollar, or Escudo Vellon The Peceta Mexicana , . . , . . . . 20 . . . . 10 29 In Base Silver : The Peceta Provenceal The Real 4 2 By the Royal Edict of 1730, 8^ quadruples were to weigh a Castilian mark of gold, of 22 carats fine ; and SJ pesos duros, or dollars, were to weigh a Castilian mark of silver, 1 1 dineros fine. Thus, from 1730 to 1772, the gold was 22 ca- rats, and the silver, 11 dineros fine; but, in 1772, the gold was reduced to 21f carats, and the silver to iOf dineros fine, except the pecetas and reals, which were reduced to 9J dineros fine. No alteration has since taken place in the silver coins; but in 1786, the standard of gold was again reduced to 21 carats for the different doubloons and their divisions, and to 20f carats for the Coronilla, or Vienlen de oro* ^ It thus appears that, according to the monetary and Mint regulations of Spain (the gross weight of a doubloon and of a dollar being the same), the proportion of fine silver to fine gold, previously to the year 1786, was as 16 to 1 ; and that since 1786, the proportion of fine silver to fine gold has been, 21-5 X 16 ^ , ^j— = 16a to 1. It is here proper to state that, by assays made at Her Majesty's Mint, in the year 1834, the contents of a Mexican, or South American doubloon, were found to be, on an average, 362 grains of fine gold ; ♦ Kelly's Universal Cambist. "!lj ! «'tt! 30 and the contents of a dollar, of the same coinage, were found to be, on an average, 373 grains of fine silver, or thereabouts; making the proportion of fine silver to fine gold (^reckoning 16 dollars to a doubloon), IG^VV to 1. Although the present proportion of fine silver to fine gold, in the coins of Spain, exceeds the pro- portion which was shown in the assays made by Sir Isaac Nev.ton, yet that excess has been more than counteracted by the change which has since taken place in the value of silver relatively to gold, in the general market of Europe. At present, the value of Silver, in the general market, is to that of gold in the proportion of about 15*75 to 1, or about 3 J per cent, less than the proportion set in the monetary and Mint regu- lations of Spain. This excess of 3J per cent, in the silver price of gold, at the Spanish Mint, over the general market price of silver, in Europe, is, however, quite suf- ficient to produce the effect described by Sir Isaac Newton: — *'to keep their gold at home, in good " plenty, and to carry away the Spanish silver into ** all Eurot)e." Sir Isaac Newton states some facts in corrobo- ration of his views. It appears that the louis d'or was brought into general circulation in the latter part of King William's reign, from being rated 5Jut 2f " per cent.) sufficed to bring into England so great " a quantity of French money, and the advantage " of three farthings in a louis d'or to bring it to the " Mint, the advantage of 9^t/. in a guinea* may have " been sufficient to bring in the great quantity of " gold which hath been coined within the last •* fifteen years, without any foreign silver. And " if an advantage of 5c?. in a moidore (about l^ per " cent.) did pour that money in upon us, much " more hath the advantage of 9^d. in a guinea " been able to bring into the Mint great quantities " of gold, without any foreign silver, and may be " able to do so still, till the cause be removed." * The current value of a guinea was, at that time, over-rated to this extent, with reference to the relative value of gold and silver in the market. lifl!!' 32 vf iip Hi N !i!|^ IMil iill' ■i;!ii ill 'III "^ THE INTRODUCTION OF THE COINS OF THE MOTHER COUNTRY INTO THE CURRENCY OF THE COLONIES. . The introduction of the coins of Spain, and of the Spanish proportions, into the currency of the British West India islands, was attended with results similar to those above described. Dou- bloons were in good plenty in many of the islands, while dollars were scarce. The difficulty of ob- taining small silver coins, in sufficient quantity for the purpose of domestic traffic, induced the neces- sity of cutting silver dollars into bits, and the assignment to those bits of certain nominal rates in the currency of the islands. In the hope of affording a remedy to the defec- tive state of the currency of the colonies, it was determined by the Government in the year 1825, to introduce British silver coins into all the colo- nial possessions of the Crown, through the medium of the Commissariat. As the measures adopted upon that occasion did not produce the results expected from them, it is necessary to inquire into the causes of the failure, and to notice the errors which appear to have been at that time committed. Of those errors, a naistaken estimate of the value of foreign coins in the money of Great Britain was the most important. In forming that estimate, the Mint price of silver i\M 1^ m did , it is ilure, have ^, $' silver established in the reign of Queen Elizabeth (5*. 2«/. per ounce) was referred to, and the fact was over- looked, that since the year 1798, the silver depart- ment of the Mint has been altogether closed against the public ; that long before that period, the higher estimate of the value of gold, with respect to silver, at the Mint, than in the market, rendered gold, at the rate of 3/. 17*. \0\d. per ounce, the only measure of property and exchange in this country ; and that for more than a century past, neither in our pecuniary contracts at home, nor in our commercial dealings with foreign coun- tries, has the Mint price of Ss. 2t?. per ounce for silver been referred to. To these considerations, the projectors of the measures of 18*25, do not appear to have adverted. In estimating the value of foreicrn coins in sterling money, the ancient standard of the country, accord- dmg to which, a pound troy weight of silver was coined into 62 shillings, was alone referred to ; and, as it appeared by a table inserted in Dr. Kelly's Universal Cambist, that a Spanish dollar, contained 370 .-V grains of fine silver, which, at 5*. 2 •" . '» - n ; ?-. The value of a doubloon in sterling money, reckoning gold of the British standard at 3/. 175. lOJfl?. per ounce, is sixty-four shillings. It would have been proper, then, when it was determined to introduce British silver into the currency of those colonies, to have ordained that in every colony where the gold doubloon is a legal tender for the discharge of debts, British silver should also be a legal tender at the rate of sixty-four shillings for the doubleon. And, in order to give the dollar the chance of circulating concurrently with the doubloon and British silver coin, it would have been proper at the same time, to have ordained that the current rate assigned to the dollar, shall bear the same proportion to the current rate assigned to the six- teenth of a doubloon, as the value of a dollar in sterling money, bears to the value of the sixteenth of a doubloon in sterling money. The value of a dollar in sterling money, assum- ing silver of the British standard to be 5*. per ounce, is 4*. 2, *„//., but say 4s. 2(/. Under such a regulation, the rate assigned to f'i 39 the dollar iii the currency of Jamaica, would have 50d. X sod. - ' - ' . ' been ^o = 83 Ja., or 6s. ll^d. But this was not done. The proclamation of the 25th March, 1825, declaring 4*. 4d. in British silver to be t^e equivalent of a dollar, was issued ; and as the value of 45. 4d. in sterling money is 4 per cent, more than the value of a dollar in ster- Img money, and more than 8 per cent, above the sterling value of the sixteenth of a doubloon, the concurrent circulation of the doubloon, the dollar, and British silver was rendered impracticable. Gold, at the nominal rate of 51. 6s. Sd. the dou- bloon, became practically the basis of the currency of Jamaica; and in order to provide for those small sub-divisions of the currency which are necessary in small payments, and of which gold coins are obviously not susceptible, currency was given, with the acquiescence and consent of the people, bul without any legal enactment, to British shillings and sixpences, nominally as the quarters and the eighths of a dollar, but really as the Ti-th and the ylirth of a doubloon. The concurrent circulation of the doubloon and of British silver coins was thus established ; but the silver dollar was excluded from the ordinary channels of circulation, and thus the proclamation of the 25th March, 1825, was rendered nuga- tory. At Barbadoes, in like manner, one doubloon was i:;,ii deemed the equivalent of, and passed current for, sixteen dollars. The current denominations of the two "oins were respectively 51. and 6*. 3c?. 't In the Report of a Committee of the House of Assembly appointed in the year 1 834, to consider the state of the currency, it is mentioned that, at a meeting of the people held seventeen or eighteen years before, it was agreed that the doubloon should be received at the rate of sixteen dollars i The report further states that the dollar, being under-valued as compared with the doubloon, soon ceased to circulate, except in a very limited degree ; that, in order to remedy that defect, the British Government, in the year 1822, caused colonial coins to be sent out, consisting of one-fourth, one- eighth, and one-sixteenth of a dollar; that in 1825 an attempt was made to introduce British silver coins into circulation, and a proclamation was issued by the Governor of the Island, fixing such cur- rency value on those coins as made 4.5?. 4d. of British silver equivalent to a Spanish dollar; that a few half-crowns were introduced, but very soon disap- peared. ^ In proceeding to the consideration of the cur- rency rates at which British silver coins should be introduced into the Island, the Committee observed that the value of the doubloon having been fixed at 5/. currency, to reduce that value would be to interfere with all contracts which had taken place during the period above mentioned : it would in- 41 crease the difficulties of debtors, and would be an act of gross injustice. The Committee was, there- fore, of opinion, that the value of the doubloon, at the currency rate, should be taken as the standard, and upon this principle they proceeded to fix a current value on the British coins. They found, on inquiry, that the average price of a doubloon, in London, was about SI. 4s. sterling, and the currency rate being 5/., they concluded that the currency value of the sovereign should be 1/. lis. 3c?., and that the English silver coins should be rated in proportion to the value of the sovereign. A Bill, in conformity with the recommendation of the Committee, was brought into the House of Assembly, but not being approved by the Governor, it did not pass into a law. In the early part of 1836, the distress for small change became so great that the Governor, Sir Lionel Smith, was induced to issue a proclamation, fixing the current value of the English shilling at Is. 6d.y which, as the currency rate of the dollar was 6s. Sd.y made 45. 2d. of English money equal to a dollar. This proclamation was limited to a period of six months. Previous to its renewal a meeting of the principal planters and merchants was held at Bridgetown, at which meeting resolutions were passed, declaring that great and general embarrassment was ex* !*« I:'!'!' •KM W ..|i iii:iil \\i M perienced in all the money transactions of the com- munity, in consequence of the expiration of the term limited by the proclamation sanctioning the circulation of British silver coin, at a fixed rate ; that the evils consequent on the want of a circu- lating medium of silver, in small denominations of coin, fell chiefly on the planters and apprenticed labourers, the loss to the latter being great, as they were thus prevented, to a considerable extent, from obtaining employment during their extra hours and on free days ; and that it was expedient to present a petition to the Governor, requesting him to take the matter into his serious consideration. ^ ^ / The proclamation was subsequently renewed, with the approbation of the Lords of the Treasury and the Secretary of State. The dollar and British silver were thus placed on a just level with each other, but both being imder- valued with reference to the current rate of the doubloon, neither the one nor the other could be retained in circulation ; and the want of small silver coins, for change, continued as perplexing as before. ., In all the other Islands of the West Indies diffi- culties were felt similar to those experienced at Jamaica and Barbadoes. In all of them, one doubloon was deemed equal to sixteen dollars. In all, the over-valuation of the doubloon precluded the concurrent circulation of the silver dollar. 43 It thus appears that the proclamation of the 25th of March, 1825, with respect to the currency of the colonies, was nugatory and inoperative, and that in the West Indies British silver coins obtained circu- lation only in consequence of the British shilling being paid and received, with the consent of the people, and without the authority of law, as the quarter of a gold dollar, that is to say, as the quarter of one-sixteenth of a doubloon. In 1835 the army rate of the doubloon was re- duced from 69*. 4c?. to 66*. The grounds of that reduction are stated in a Minute of the Treasury Board, dated June 19, 1835 ; from which Minute the following is an extract : — ** In fixing an army rate on foreign gold coins, " my Lords consider it to be a desirable object to *' render it, if possible, indifferent to the soldier ** whether he receives his pay in those coins, or in ** foreign silver money ; and as the doubloon is *' intrinsically equivalent to about 15^Y dollars, " and, in paying the army on foreign stations, the " dollar is valued at 4*. 4c?., the corresponding value " of the gold piece may, with sufficient accuracy, " be considered to be 66*. Accordingly, their " Lordships are pleased to direct, that so long as it " shall be considered expedient to continue the army " rate fixed on the Spanish dollar in the year 1825, " the doubloon shall be issued to the troops at the ** rate of sixty-six shillings, and the several divisions *' of that coin at proportional rates." 44 The loss sustained by the troops in the West Indies, when paid in doubloons, was thus reduced from upwards of 8 per cent, to about SJ per cent. When paid in dollars, however, they continued subject to the same loss as before. The object aimed at in the new regulation, namely, that of rendering it a matter of indifference to the soldier whether he received his pay in foreign gold or in foreign silver money, was not attained. The troops were certainly benefitted by the alteration, that is, they were less injured when paid in doubloons than when paid in dollars; but the main causes of grievance were not removed by it. , _ j, ■ l_ ; , • ,t ,i } -..i •J ! . 1- , ^ : i ,^ >. J i » i■^■^ r,:U .' 'I.:} ^j'ii''ii\ >i\'i'n,iyy - ■ " ^ w 45 i^-^?^ -h '-> . I':, ■:■--: THE REMEDIAL MEASURES ADOPTED IN THE YEAR 1838. In this unsatisfactory and conflicting state, the currency of the British Islands, in the West Indies, continued until the year 1838, when the subject was again taken into consideration by the Treasury Board. After much investigation and inquiry, it was de- termined to revoke the Order in Council of the 25th March, 1825, so far as respected Her Ma- jesty's colonies and plantations in America and the West Indies ; and to issue a proclamation for de- claring and ordaining, that throughout the West India Colonies, including the province of British Guiana, the doubloon shall circulate, and be re- ceived in payment, as being of the full value of sixty-four shillings sterling, current money of the United Kingdom ; and that the dollar shall circu- late, and be received in payment, as being of the full value of four shillings and two pence, like current money of the United Kingdom. And in all payments to be made in any of the said colo- nies, tender of payment in doubloons and dollars, or either of them, at the rate aforesaid, shall be deemed and taken to be a lawful tender, in the same manner as if such tender had been made in the current coin of the United Kingdom. 46 'In il m^ ' m\ ' 1' I iii III i^li! ■;u:il. II !' Immediately after the publication of the above- mentioned Order in Council and Proclamation, instructions were transmitted by the Secretary of State to the governors of the several colonies in the West Indies, directing them to issue proclama- tions for the purpose of declaring the nominal rate and value of the doubloon, the dollar, and the British shilling, expressed in terms of the currency of those several colonies, according to the propor- tions and relative value of those coins fixed in Her Majesty's Proclamation. In the instructions from the Secretary of State upon that occasion, it was observed that, as all contracts in the West Indian islands have refer- ence to the over-valued gold coins, it had been deemed proper to retain the present denomina- tion of the doubloon, and to raise the present de- nomination of the dollar in the proportion of ^A^L}1= 15-36 to 16; that the effect of this al- 50 ' teration would be to give to 15 • 36 dollars the same current denomination as was then given to one doubloon, and to render 15*36 dollars and one doubloon equivalent tenders of payment for the same amount of nominal currency. In pursuance of those instructions, proclama- tions were issued in the several islands of the West Indies, declaring the currency rates at which the doubloon, the dollar, and British silver coins shall circulate and be deemed a legal tender. n 47 Those rates are exhibited in the following tabular statement : — Jamaica . Barbadoes . Trinidad . Grenada . St. Vincent Dominica . Antigua . St. Kitts . Montserrat Nevis . Doubloon. £. ». d. 5 6 8 5 8 7 4 Rritish Shilling. 8. d. 1 8 1 6| 2 6 2 3 Dollar. s, d. 6 llj 6 6 10 5 9 4^ It will be seen by the foregoing statement, that, in the adaptation of the nominal currencies of the several islands in the West Indies, to the doubloon, the dollar, and British silver coins, according to the proportions fixed in Her Majesty's proclama- tion of the 14th September, 1838, the introduction of inconvenient fractions was unavoidable. At Ja- maica, for instance, the rate assigned to the dollar was 6*. \\\d.y which rate prevented, in a consider- able degree, the easy circulation and payment of that coin in single pieces. Another circumstance of a like nature pre- vented the free circulation of British silver coins. ' In all the West Indian colonies the peasantry and labouring population are in the habit of computing their money dealings in ** bitts," of which ** bitts" the number reckoned equal to a ! I i dollar is different at different places. Thus, a dollar is reckoned at — Barbadoes, as Trinidad Demerara . Antigua St. Eitts Nevis Montserrat Dominica Bitts. 10 9 12 12 J ^?,r-. / < Now as British silver coins cannot be accurately adjusted to those divisions, without inconvenient fractions, they are, in some of the islands, under- valued by this class of the community, with re- ference to the dollar; and when occasionally introduced into circulation, are picked up by speculators and others who are able, in larger quantities, to obtain for them their just value. , It is certainly desirable when a change is made in the currency of any country to consult, as much as possible, the accustomed habits, and even the prejudices of the people, when that can be done without the neglect or violation of any important principle. It should be borne in mind, however, that the chief object of the measures adopted in 1838, namely, the correct adjustment to each other of the several coins in circulation in the colonies, according to their respective values, and the making plain the way for the future conversion of the various monies of account into sterling denomina- tions, without interfering with existing contracts, 49 and the obligations and rights of debtors and credi- tors, could not have been attained without some in- convenience of this nature. ! At Jamaica, the above-mentioned difficulty was removed, and the ultimate object of the measure of 1838 finally accomplished, by an Act passed by the legislature of the Island, at tlie close of the follow- ing year (-^ Vict c. 39), for making the currency of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ire- land the currency of Jamaica, and for declaring all receipts and payments as therein set forth, to be had, made, or done, according to such currency of the United Kingdom. By this Act it is ordained that all gifts, contracts, bargains, sales, and all debts due or to become due, which shall have been or shall be acknowledged at any time before the commencement of the Act, according or with reference to the currency of Jamaica, shall be construed and carried into effect, and shall be discharged and satisfied as follows : that is to say, that every sum of the currency of the Island then due, or thereafter to become due, or to be accounted for, shall be equivalent to, stated as, and be liable to be paid at tlie rate of 100/. of the currency of the United Kingdom, for every 166/. 13*. 4d. of the i)reHent currency of Jamaica, in the several coins declared by the Act to be legal tender. • ' * It is, then, ordained that from and after tlie com- mencement of the Act, the doubloon shall be a rllTiT ii 50 legal tender, at and after the rate of 64* , the dol- lar at 4,9. 2d. ; and that the gold and silver coins of Great Britain shall be a legal tender to any amount at the rates current in Great Britain. This change in the denominations of the cur- rency of Jamaica does not appear to have been at- tended with the smallest difficulty or inconvenience. The Queen's proclamation of the 13th September, 1 838, had cleared the way for it. Existing money contracts and engagements were not in the slightest degree interfered with. A debt of a given amount, whether expressed in terms of the previous currency or of the new denominations, could be legally dis- charged with the same number of doubloons, dollars, or British gold and silver coins, as before. And with respect to debts and engagements subsequenth incurred, as the relation between the old and the new money of account was sufficiently obvious, and as the one is readily convertible into the other by an easy arithmetical process, no misapprehension or mistake was at all likely to arise. Nor has any difficulty or inconvenience been experienced by the peasantry and labouring population in the applica- tion of the rule. This class of the community has abandoned in a great degree, if not altogether, the use of the terms " bitts," and *' dogs," and has adapted the British denominations of money, of which they now correctly understand the nature and the import. ^ The conversion of the former currency of Ja- 51 : maica into the sterling money of Great Britain is effected by deducting 40 per cent, from the amount of that currency. Thus .^- - — = 40 ; •^ 166| or, which comes to the same thing, the current rate of a doubloon having been 5/. 6.v. Srf., a de- duction of 40 per cent, from that rate leaves 64*. as the sterling value of a doubloon. In the local Act above referred to, it is accord- ingly directed that 100/. of the currency of the United Kingdom shall be deemed equal to 166/. 13*. 4d. of the currency of Jamaica. In many of the other British islands of the West Indies, their old forms and denominations of money are still retained. It may, however, be expected that in no long time they will all follow the example of Jamaica, abolish their objectionable money denominations, adopt the British or ster- ling money of account, and thus get rid of the inconveniences and anomalies which are now ex- perienced. E 2 $2 CURRENCY OF BRITISH GUIANA. Previously to the year 1839, the currency of British Guiana differed materially and essentially from that of the West Indian islands ; and as the peculiar state of that currency involved considera- tions of considerable importance, it may be useful briefly to describe it. In that province accounts were kept in guilders, stivers, and peimings. ;> . . ' 1 guilder = 20 stivers .;, ^ 1 Stiver = 16 pennings. The metallic money of the province consisted of 1. Tokens coined at the British Mint, of various denominations, from three guilders downwards. 2. British silver coins. 3. Mexican and South American dollars. • A three-guilder piece contained 294 grains of fine silver, and was worth, in sterling money, very nearly 3*. 4d. Neither doubloons nor dollars were legally current in the colony at fixed rates ; but in the ordinary interchange of the province three guilders were deemed equal to one dollar. The only coins which were legally current were three-guilder tokens, and their sub-divisions, and British silver, at the rate of 14 guilders for twenty shillings ; and as a dollar passed for 3 guilders, its value was reckoned equal to 4*. 3fd. in sterling money. Besides the guilder tokens and their sub-divi- sions, a large amount of inconvertible paper money, issued by the local Government, and consisting of joe and half-joe notes (the joe being deemed equal to 22 guilders), was in circulation in the colony, and deemed a legal tender of payment. As the quantity of those guilder pieces could not be increased without an additional coinage of them at the Royal Mint, consequently without the express permission and authority of the Home Government, and as the paper was not converti- ble into specie, the value of the currency was liable to considerable variations, which were indicated by the varying state of the foreign exchanges. When the exchange with England was 14 guil- ders 8 stivers for one pound sterling, — then, as 14 guilders 8 stivers were deemed in the colony to be equal to 4,^ dollars, and as the value of 4^\ dollars, in London, was 20*. sterling, the ex- change with England, and the currency value of a Mexican dollar, were exactly at par. The ultimate metallic check to a fall in the value of the Guiana currency, with reference to the money of other countries, were the silver tokens. The sterling value of a three-guilder piece being 3*. 4d., the value of 20*. in sterling money was equal to that of 18 guilders. Hence it happened 64 11 ;!' ^111 1. 1 I' '1 that the exchange with England fluctuated be- tween the extremes above mentioned, namely, 14 guilders 8 stivers per pound sterling, and 18 guil- ders per pound sterling. When 18 guilders were given for a bill of ex- change on England, for one pound, the currency was depreciated 20 per cent, below the dollar standard. . w i j -, ; The exchange occasionally fell below this point, and it became profitable to export the silver tokens. This diminution of the metallic part of the cur- rency, and the limitation of the amount of the paper currency — or perhaps a simultaneous con- traction of it — increased the value of the currency, and raised the exchange with England to 14 guil- ders per pound sterling. • ' This state of the currency of Guiana exempli- fies, in a remarkable manner, the principle and the effect of limitation. By limiting the amount of the Government paper, its value was occasion- ally 20 per cent, above the value of the metallic money with which it was interchanged. By a further contraction, its value might have been raised still higher, and dollars have been forced into the colony from abroad. Soon after the receipt of Her Majesty's Order in Council of the 13th September, 1838, the Go- vernor of British Guiana issued a proclamation, declaring that from and after the 15th November, 1838, the dollar, the doubloon, and the silver 55 coins of the United Kingdom, shall be received and taken at the following rates, that is to say, — the doubloon at the rate of 46 guilders 1| stivers, and its fractional parts in like proportion ; the dollar at the rate of 3 guilders, and its fractional parts in like proportion ; the British shilling at 14 f stivers, and all other British silver coins, and the fractional parts of the British shilling, in the like proportion. On the 29th January, 1839, nother proclama- tion was issued lor establishing dollars and cents of a dollar, as the denominations of monies of account in British Guiana, instead of guilders, stivers, and pennings. By this ordinance it is enacted, that " all ex- ** isting accounts, notes of hand, or other claims •* of whatsoever nature, payable or receivable in " guilders, shall be payable or recoverable in dol- ** lars currency, the amount in guilders being first " brought into dollars currency, at the rate and in ** the proportion of three guilders to one dollar " currency ; and that all coins which by law have *• been declared to be legal tenders for debts con- *' tracted in guilders, as also the colonial paper *' currency of Demerara and Essequibo, commonly " called joe notes, of whatever amount the same " may be, and half-joe notes, so long as the ordi- *• nances or proclamations by which the said paper *' currency has been made a legal tender shall re- *• main in force, shall be a legal tender for the ifl I il 66 ** same said accounts, notes of hand, and other '* claims, when brouglit into dollars currency, at ** the rate and in the proportion aforesaid." ! This change in the money of account in Guiana, from guilders, stivers, and pennings, to dollars and cents, and the rendering the paper money of the local Government convertible into specie at the will of the holder, it was expected, would not only promote the free circulation of British silver coins in the colony, but likewise facilitate the transition to the sterling money of account, if, at a future period, it should be deemed desirable and expedient to make such a further change. j • A difficulty, however, existed, which required to be removed before the benefits which it was expected would result from the above-cited ordi- nance, could be fully realized. That difficulty consisted in fixing the relative value of the dollar and British silver coins, in those denominations to which the negroes and the lower classes of the community had long been accustomed. The frac- tional parts of the currency, as universally under- stood by those classes, are denominated " bitts," — 4 bitts to the guilder, 1 2 bitts to the dollar. Now the British shilling (reckoning the dollar at 4*. 2d.) is not susceptible of a corresponding division, without an inconvenient fraction, which fraction the labour- ing population could not understand, or with which they were averse from being troubled. Hence it was, that when the British shilling was legally 57 current in the colony, at the rate of 14 stivers, and the sixpence at 7 stivers, the lower classes, finding that they could not pass the shilling for 15 stivers, or a quarter of a dollar, vrould receive it for only 2^ bitts, or 12^ stivers, and the sixpence for only one bitt, or 5 stivers. - . , A similar difficulty existed with regard to the adaptation of the bitt to the new denominations of dollars and cents. As a shillmg is legally current under the ordinance of the 29th January, 1839, for only 24 cents, or 4 per cent, less than a quarter of a dollar, the peasantry and labouring population would take it for only 2J bitts, and the sixpence for 1 bitt. .'/, I, r This difficulty was afterwards overcome by an ordinance of the local Government, declaring the dollar to be divisible into 12^ bitts, thus making a shilling equal to 3 bitts, a fourpenny-piece to 1 bitt, and a twopenny-piece to a half bitt. It remains to notice an objection which may perhaps be made to the principle involved in the Queen's proclamation of the 13th September, 1838. It may be said that that proclamation was an attempt to establish a double standard of gold and silver — to fix the relative value of the two metals in the coins, although their value relatively to each other in the market is continually varying ; that if the value of silver, with respect to gold, should permanently fall, the doubloon, and British gold (iinii 58 i M \$ I :l and silver, could not be maintained in concurrent circulation with the dollar of 4*. 2d. ; and that if, on the other hand, the value of gold, relatively to silver, should materially fall, the silver dollar would be driven from circulation, and thus the evils, which it was the object of the proclamation of 1838 to remedy, would be again experienced. This objection must, to some extent, be admitted. It must be allowed that if the market value of gold and silver should permanently vary from the pro- portion fixed in the Order in Council and procla- mation of 1838, the cheaper metal will practically become the principal measure of value and ex- change in the colonies, and that all money con- tracts will be discharged in that cheaper metal. It should, however, be observed, that although during the last forty years the value of the two metals, relatively to each other, in the market, has undergone frequent fluctuations (the value of silver relatively to gold, alternately falling and rising, and rising and falling), yet their average relative value has continued nearly constant ; and that when the Order in Council and proclamation of September, 1838, were issued, there existed no great reason to apprehend that it would not con- tinue so. It should further be observed, that if in the year 1838, it had been determined to make one of the metals only the principal measure of property and exchange in the West Indies and British 59 America, it would have been necessary to have excluded from the circulation, either the doubloon, and the gold and silver money of the mother country, or the silver dollar of Mexico and South America. Suppose it had been determined to make the silver dollar and its divisions, the sole legal tender of payment, and to leave the doubloon and all other gold coins to find their value in the market, that is, to be purchased and sold at varying prices, as against silver dollars — it would have been neces- sary, in that case, to have fixed a higher propor- tionate rate (proportionate with reference to the relative value of gold and silver in the market), to the dollar than had previously been assigned to the doubloon. > . At Jamaica, for example, where the same rate was given to a dollar as to one-sixteenth of a dou- bloon, namely 6s. Sc?., it would have been necessary to have raised the denomination of the silver dollar to 7s. Ifl?.,* in order to render that coin a cheaper tender of payment than the doubloon ; for although in the case supposed, no legal rate would have been assigned to the doubloon, yet if the dollar had continued to be a legal tender at its former * This rate assigned to the dollar, compared with the doubloon at 5/. 6s. 8d., would make fine silver to fine gold, as 15^ to 1 ; and as the relative value of the two metals, in the general market, is about 15} to 1, the assignment of the rate of 78. Id. to the dollar would have ren- dered that coin a cheaper tender of payment than the doubloon at 5/. 6s. 8rf., by about 1^ per cent. i!!' 60 rate, namely 6s. 8c?., the doubloon would have continued in practice to be received at the rate of 51. 6s. Sd., and would have ousted the dollar. ' The only means, then, of establishing the dollar as the sole legal tender of payment, in the West India Islands, would have been to give to that coin a much higher rate, in terms of the currency of those islands, than had previously been assigned to one-sixteenth of a doubloon. But to have done this would have been to do violence to, and unsettle, all existing money con- tracts and engagements. The man who had bound himself to pay 53^. 6*. Sd. in Jamaica currency, and who could have discharged his obligation only by the payment of 10 doubloons or 160 dollars, would now be enabled to pay his debt with ISO^V dollars, which in the general market of the world are worth only 9*85 doubloons. The creditor would thus receive 1 J per cent, less than the value of the doubloons to which, if he had been paid in that coin, he would have been justly entitled. Besides this consideration, it should be borne in mind, that if the Spanish dollar and other silver coins had been made the principal measure of property and exchange in the West Indies, the establishment of the sterling money of account, and the introduction of the gold and silver coins of the mother country, would have been rendered wholly impracticable. Although it appears sufficiently clear that, in 61 the year 1838, it would have !)een impossible to have established silver as the basis of the currency of tlie West Indies, without disturbing existing contracts, yet as a -contrary opinion was at that time entertained by many persons whose know- ledge and experience gave them a fair title to the most respectful attention, and as a like opinion still occasionally prevails, it may not be useless to enter into some further examination of this point. It was contended that the foundation of existing contracts in the West i adios, was not a gold, but a silver standard of money. . ,., /,^ Let this proposition be tried on a simplf^ case. A debtor owed 160^. currency \:\ Jamaica, or 130/. currency in Barbadoes, or 2k0l. currency in Trinidad. At all those plar es, the only lueans by which the del)tor could discharge his obligatic 7s was by the payment, or the tender of payment, of 30 doubloons, or 480 dollars. The debtor knew, when he entered into the contract, that he could legally discharge his obligation either with gold or with silver. The creditor knew that the debt due to him might, and most probably would, be paid in the cheape^- :egal tender. As 480 dollars are worth more, in the general market of the world, than 30 doubloons, the cheapest tcndc r of payment, according to the monetary laws and regulrtions of the West Indies, as they existed in 1838, was gold. Both parties, then, contemplated a 62 payment in gold. To have denied this, would have been to deny that, in the West Indies, one dou- bloon was deemed equal to sixteen dollars. To have admitted this fact, would have been to admit that the foundation of the contract of debt was a gold standard of money. The point in question may be further illustrated by adverting to what happens in France. A debtor in France owes 1000 francs; he can legally dis- charge the debt cither with 50 rwenty-franc pieces in gold, or with 1000 francs in silver. According to the monetary laws and regulations of France, silver is the cheapest legal tender; he therefore pays the debt in silver. In entering into the con- tract of debt, a payment in silver was contemplated by both debtor and creditor. In France, then, silver is the basis and foundation of existing con- tracts. In like manner, and upon the same principle, previously to the year 1838, the basis and founda- tion of contracts in the West Indies was not a silver, but a gold standard of money. 63 CURRENCY OF THE BRITISH PROVINCES OF NORTH AMERICA. The rate or value assigned to certain foreign coins in most of the colonial possessions of the Crown, appears to have been originally determined by the people, and afterwards altered and modified by Acts passed by the local legislatures, and as- sented to by the Crown. This was especially the case in the West Indies and North America. In the British provinces of North America, although accounts were kept, and bargains made, in the terms of pounds, shillings, and pence, the Spanish dollar was considered as the principal measure of exchange, and the basis of pecuniary contracts. The nominal rate assigned to the dol- lar was four shillings find sixpence. This rate corresponds with the value of tliat coin in sterling money, as stated in a table of assays, weights, and values, made by Sir Isaac Newton, at the Iloyal Mint, by order of the Privy Council, in the year 1717; in which table it is stated, that the piastre of Spain, or Seville piece of 8 rialls, weighed 17 dwts. 12 grains, equal to 17 dwts. 10 grains of silver of the British standard, and that its value was four shillings and sixpence in Knglish money. 64 Notwithstanding that, a dollar of the present coinage contains 14 grains of fine silver less tlian the piastre of 1717, and that the standard of money in Great Britain has heen changed from silver to gold, the valuation of the dollar at four shillings and sixpence is still adhered to, in computations of exchange between the United States of America and Great Britain, affording a remarkable example of the tenacity with which long-established habits are retained by the people in matters which in- volve, or are sui)posed to involve, their pecuniary interests. .( From causes, of which it would now be dilFicult to ascertain the origin, the nominal value of tlie dollar has undergone a considerable change, both in the United States of America and in the British American provinces. In New England, it is now six shillings; in New York, eiglit shillings; in Pennsylvania, seven shillings and sixpence ; and in Nova Scotia, five shillings. Throughout tlie British provinces of Nortli America, the Halifax denomination of five shil- lings has long been the prevailing one ; and tlie nominal par of exchange with England was com- puted by adding one-ninth to the old valuation of the dollar at four shillings and sixpence ; or, which is the same thing, llli/. Halifax currency, are considered to be the par of exchange for 100/. sterling. 06 ii But as in consequence of the diminished quan- tity of fine silver contained in the dollar now in circulation, compared with the quantity of fine silver contained in the Spanish dollar coined pre- viously to the year 1728, and the alteration which has been made in the metallic standard of tlie mother country, the sterling value of a dollar is now only four shillings and two-pence, the real par of exchange (disregarding, at present, any slight variation which may occasionally take place in the value of gold and silver relatively to eacli other) is 120/., Halifax currency, or 480 dollars for 100/. sterling. Although the Spanish dollar has always been considered as the principal measure of property and exchange in the British provinces of America, yet as other foreign coins of gold and silver were declared by Acts of the local legislatures to be a legal tender of payment, at certain nominal rates, and as those rates were not the same in all the provinces, it is desirable shortly to trace the history of the currency of each of the British American provinces, up to the period wlien Her Majesty's proclamation of the 13th September, 1838, was [)romulgated. Lower Canada. In this province, it was enacted by the local Act of 48 Geo. HI., c. 8, that the British 'f n guinea weighing 5 dwts. 6 grains shall pass for \L 3s. 4d. Johannes of Portugal, weighing 18 dwts. Moidore of ditto, 6dwts. 18grs. Milled doubloon, 17 dwts French Louis d'or, 5 dwts. 4 grs. American eagle, 1 1 dwis. 6 grs.* . Silver Coins. £. s. 4 1 10 3 14 1 2 2 10 Britbh crown 5 , , shilling 1 Spanish milled dollar 5 , , pestareen 1 French crown 5 piece of 4 livres 10 sols ... 4 36 sols 1 24 sols 1 5 »> » » » » » » » » American dollar d. 6 8 6 1 6 2 8 1 By the 2nd section of the Act, it was ordained that for every grain the British, Portugal, or American gold coins shall weigh more than the weights specified above ; when weighed singly, 2\d. shall be added, and, when less, 2^d. shall be deducted from the values above stated ; and 2^d. be added to, or deducted from, the Spanish and French coins. Section 7 enacts that, in payments above 20/., gold coins shall be weighed, in bulk, at the option of either party ; those of Great Britain, Portugal, and America, together, at 89*. per ounce, troy • The eagle, at that time, contained 247^ f^rains of fine gold, and was better liy 6*G8 [jer cent, than tlie eagle of 1834, which contains only 232 grains of fine gold. C7 weight, and those of Spain and France at 87*. Sd. per ounce, troy ; a deduction of half a grain being made as a compensation for loss on paying away the pieces singly. By the 10 and 11 Geo. IV., the rate assigned to pestareens was reduced from 1*. to lOd. The coin to which the highest relative value was given by this Act, was the French crown, which, when of full weight, should contain 403 grains of fine silver, and with reference to the dol- lar of the United States, is worth, in Halifax cur- rency, 5*. drAd. Being rated at 5s. Gd., French crowns were over-valued in that relation 1 ^^ per cent. As, however, the quantity of French crowns and half-crowns in the province was comparatively small, their value would probably have been sus- tained on a level with that of the American dollar, had it n( t been for the depressing influence of the paper money in circulation. When the foreign exchange was adverse, and a demand arose for metallic money for exportation, tlie issuers of paper money were enabled to shield themselves from, at least to mitigate the effect of, a demand upon tliem for coin, by paying their outstanding notes with French half-crowns, which, being greatly injured by wear, were of naich less value abroad than in the province, and were not therefore exported. The dollars of Mexico and Soutli America are I 2 68 better by about the half of one per cent, than the dollars of the United States ; and as in the Act above-mentioned, they were both rated at five shillings currency, the latter must be considered as the standard to which all money contracts had reference. The Order in Council of the 25th March, 1825, by which four British shillings and four-pence were declared to be the equivalent of a Spanish dollar, was inoperative in this province, as it was in all the colonies, for reasons which have already been explained. The same cause excluded English copper money, and occasioned the introduction into the province of a debased and spurious copper coinage. Upper Canada. Before the year 1827, the same rates were as- signed to British and foreign coins in this province as in Lower Canada. In that year, an Act was passed (7 Geo. IV. c. 4), by which it was enacted, that the Spanish milled dollar, and the American dollar, shall pass cur- rent, and be a legal tender, at the rate of 5*. ; the British crown, at the rate of 5s. 9 the public for the coinage of silver into the requirey the laws of the United Kingdom, shall be equal to, aod any such British sovereign shall be a legal tender for, 1/. As. Ad. currency. As this enactment is the basis on which the rates assigned to the diflerent gold and silver coins mentioned in the Act are determined, and ac- conling to wliicli they are directed to be current; and a legal tender, the correctness of those rates mist be tried by a refcTcnce to it. (I Hfc 82 Those rates are stated and described in the Act as follows : — Gold Coins. £. 8. d. Eagle of the United States, coined before July 1 , 1834, and weighing 1 1 dwts. G grs. 2 13 4 Eagle coined since July 1, 1834, and weigh- ing 10 dwts. 18 grs 2 10 Gold coins of France, and multiples and divisions thereof, in sums not less than 50/. currency .... per ounce 4 13 1 Old doubloon of Spain, Mexican and Cliilian doubloon, and the parts thereof, in sums not less than 50/. currency . per ounce 4 9 7 GoM coins of La Plata and Columbia, in simis not less than 50/. currency, per oz. 4 9 5 Gold coins of Portugal and Brazil, in sums not less than 50/. currency . per ounce 4 14 6 SiLVKii Coins. Milled (?ollar of Spain, the dollar of the Uni'eti States, and of the several states of Peru, Chili, Central America, and the states of South America and Mexico, not weighing less than 17 dwts. 4 grs. ..051 The half dollar of the same nations and governments 2 G^ The dollar and half dollar to be a legal tender to any amount. The quarter dollar . The eighth of a dollar . The s \teonth of a dollar 8. 1 d. 3 7* 3* The subdivisions of the dollar being less than halvcb thertH)f, to be a legal tender by tale to the 83 amount ol" fifty shillings currency, and no more, until they shall have lost l-25th of their propor- tionate weight of 17 dwts. 4 grs. respectively, after which they shall not be legal money. The five-franc piece of France, weigidng not less than 16 dwts., to l^e a legal tender to any amount. The British crown . . , 6s. Id. All other divisions of the silver coins of the United Kingdom, of proportionate sums, to be a legal tender, to the extent of fifty shillings cur- rency, and no more. The old and new eagle of the United States, and the British sovereign, which are correctly rated with reference to each other, are the only gold coins which are declared by the Act to be a legal tender of i)ayment bi/ tale, at the rates re- spectively assigned to them. The gold coins of France, Spain, Mexico, Chili, La Plata, and Co- lumbia are declared to be a legal tender hi/ urhjltt, in sums not less than .50/. currency, at rates which very nearly correspond with the rate of 1/. 4*. 4^/. assigned to the sovereign. The British silver crown is correctly rated with reference to the sovereign. The dollar of Spain, Peru, Chili, Central America, South America, and Mexico, assuming its value, in English money, to l)e 4*. 2 nil P The foregoing rates are correctly adjusted to the current rate of five shillings assigned to the dollar ; but as the Act contained a clause ordaining that all sums of money payable by any local Act in sterling money, and all contracts made in the colony, and then subsisting, for the payment of money in sterling, shall be deemed to be satisfied and discharged by the payment of current money at the rate of 115/. 7s. 8c?. thereof for 100/. ster- ling, it did not receive Her Majesty's assent. If the enactment in this section of the Act had become the law of the island, this strange incon- sistency would have ensued, namely, that a debt of 97 one hundred pounds in sterling money might have been discharged with British gold and silver coins of the sterling value of 96/. 3s. Id. Bermuda. When the Queen's proclamation of the 14th September, 1838, fixing the sterling value of the dollar at 4,9. 2d, and of the doubloon at 64s., was published, the currency of Bermuda was nearly the same as that of Jamaica ; the current rate of a dollar was 6s. Sd., and a doubloon was deemed equal to sixteen dollars. At that time it was the practice of the House of Assembly, in framing their Acts for granting sup- plies, to declare that 100/. sterling shall signify 150/. currency. At the same time, the colonial treasurer required thirteen shillings sterling, or three dollars at 4s. 4d., for one pound currency, making 100/. sterling equal to 153/. 16s. lid. cur- rency. In the collection of powder duties, and in transactions between individuals, the British shil- ling was received and paid at the rate of four shillings to the dollar, making 100/. sterling equal to 166/. 13s. 4c?. currency. These discrepancies were owing to the confusion created by the assignment, in the colony, of the same current rate to the silver dollar as to the sixteenth of a gold doubloon ; both were considered to be of the same value, and were comprehended H m M 98 . under the same denomination, that is to say, three silver dollars, or three-sixteenths of a doubloon, made one pound currency. The dollar being under-valued with reference to the doubloon, the latter coin became the prin- cipal measure of property, and the standard of exchange. If, after the publication of Her Majesty's procla- mation of the 14th September, 1838, it had been determined to retain the denominations of the island currency, it would have been necessary, in order to establish the circulation of the dollar, concurrently with that of the doubloon, to have raised the rate of the former coin from 6*. 8d. to 6*. ll^d., leaving the sale of the doubloon of 51. 6*. 8d. as before. The island Legislature, however, took a better course. An Act was passed, ordaining that from and after the 1st January, 1842, all pecuniary con- tracts and engagements shall be entered into and executed according to the currency of the United Kmgdom; and that all pecuniary contracts and engagements entered into according to the cur- rency of the island, before the commencement of the Act, shall be discharged at the rate and in the proportion of 100/. sterling for 166/. 13*. 4c?. of the present currency. It was further enacted, that from and after the commencement of the Act, Spanish, Mexican, and Columbian doubloons, weighing not less than 17 99 dwts. 8 grs., shall be current at the rate of sixty- four shillings ; and that Spanish, Mexican, and Columbian dollars shall be current at the rate of four shillings and twopence each. Provision was made in the Act for the adjust- ment of the accounts of the colonial treasurer, and for the receipt in sterling money, or its equiva- lent in foreign coins, of all taxes and revenues of the Crown. The currency of this island was thus judiciously placed upon a just and satisfactory foundation, without inconvenience, and without prejudice to existing contracts. From the foregoing review of the origin and present state of the currency of the British pro- vinces in North America, it will be seen that, although, with two trifling exceptions, the coins which are legally authorised to be current in Canada, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick, are proportionately rated according to the weight and fineness of the precious metals respectively contained in them, the nominal rates assigned to the same coins, are different in the different provinces. Those rates are as follows : — Canada. The sovereign The shilling . The dollar . £. «. d. 1 4 4 1 2* 5 1 h2 F hri ! - * t m 100 Nova Scotia. The doubloon The sovereign The shilling . The dollar . 4 1 5 1 5 3 2* New Brunswick. The sovereign . ... 1 4 The shilling 1 2^ , The dollar 5 These differences in the nominal rates assigned to the same coins in the three provinces above- mentioned, and the inconvenient fraction in the rate assigned to the British shilling in two of them, occasion much trouble and inconvenience in all computations of exchange with each other, and with the mother country, which trouble and incon- venience, it is very desirable, should, if possible, be obviated. The most effectual way of getting rid of the difficulty would be to establish, in those colonies, British sterling denominations for British coins, and proportionate rates for those foreign coins of which it has been, or may be, deemed expedient to legalize the circulation. To this end it would be necessary that enact- ments should be passed by the Colonial Legislatures, ordaining that from and after a day to be named, all pecuniary contracts and engagements shall be entered into according to the currency of the United Kingdom ; and all pecuniary contracts and 101 engagements entered into according to the currency of the province, before the commencement of the Act, shall be discharged at the rate and in the pro- portion of 100/. sterling for so much of the said currency as 100 sovereigns, rated in the terms of that currency, amount to. No reasonable objection can be made to a change of this nature. No existing pecuniary contracts or obligations would be aflfected by it. No hindrance or difficulty in the way of the future commercial operations of those colonies — domestic or foreign — would result from it. -i ', ,M .• 102 THE CURRENCY OF GIBRALTAR. Accounts, at Gibraltar, are kept in dollars, reals, and quartos. 1 dollar = 12 reals. 1 real =16 quartos. The coins current in the garrison are the dou- bloons and dollars of Spain, and their sub-divisions, one doubloon being deemed equal to sixteen dol- lars. The quartos are copper coins of different countries, and are merely counters, or represen- tatives of the aliquot parts of a dollar. Previously to the year 1825, the duties and local revenue of Gibraltar were imposed and col- lected in Spanish money. In that year the Go- vernment gave directions for keepmg the revenue accounts in sterling money. In making this change, the rate assigned to the dollar, and to one-sixteenth of a doubloon, was four shillings and four-pence. Consequently, a person having duties to pay, although rated to those duties in sterling money, continued to pay precisely the same number of dollars or doubloons as he would have paid if no alteration in the mode of keeping the Government accounts had been made. The alteration, in so far as the collection of the revenue was concerned, was merely nominal. In the year 1835, it was directed by a minute 103 of the Treasury Board, that the rate of 69s. 4d. {4s. 4d. X 16) assigned to the doubloon, should be reduced to 66s. Against this alteration the merchants of Gib- raltar remonstrated, observing, that in that garri- son, although the gold and the silver dollar occa- sionally vary in value relatively to each other, yet that in all ordinary cases, payments are made indifferently in the one or the other ; and that if the rate of the gold coins were lowered, when ten- dered for duties nominally reserved in sterling money, the payer of the duties would be deprived of the option which he had, previously, enjoyed of paying duties and discharging other obli- gations in either gold or silver, at the rates which have long existed in Spain and Gibraltar. This subject was again brought under the con- sideration of the Lords of the Treasury, and it was determined to rescind the order of 1835, in so i'ar as relates to Gibraltar, thereby leaving the doubloon and the dollar to be issued from the military chest, and in payment of duties at the rates, relatively to each other, which had previously prevailed in the garrison, and which still prevail in the kingdom of Spain. Soon after the publication of Her Majesty's Pro- clamation of the 14th September, 1838, an appli- cation was made by the Governor of Gibraltar to the Secretary of State for tlie Colonics, lor the extension to the troops stationed at that garrison, ■ ■r-^ i .In II 1 |: 1 1 li;- Ui: f,l!:.!t5ff m' 'il MM 104 the same regulation with regard to their pay, as had been made with respect to the pay of the troops stationed in North America and the West Indies, namely, the issue of the doubloon at 64*., and the dollar at 4*. 2c?. r It was found, however, on inquiry, that the two cases were not similar. At Gibraltar, the only recognized tenders of payment are the doubloon and dollar of Spain. In the West Indies, the doubloon and dollar of Mexico and South America are a legal tender of payment. " f The doubloon, which at Gibraltar is deemed equal to 16 dollars, is deemed in the West Indies equal only to 15^ dollars. At Gibraltar, the dollar being under-valued with reference to the doubloon, is practically excluded from the ordinary channels of tlie currency, and generally bears a premium of 2 1 to 3 per cent. It thus appears that the money of Gibraltar, in so far as doubloons and dollars are concerned, dif- fers from that of the West Indies in two important particulars. First. The old Spanish doubloon and the old Spanish dollar (commonly called the pillar dollar) only arc recognized as the legal money of the garrison ; while the doubloon and the dollar of Mexico and Soutli America are not ordinarily current tliere, but are purchased and sold in the market as bullion. - . v ' j 105 Second. The law which in Spain makes sixteen dollars the equivalent of a doubloon^ obtains like- wise at Gibraltar. On the first point it is to be observed, that the old Spanish doubloon, although of the same weight and fineness as the doubloon of Mexico and South America, is deemed at Gibraltar, as well as in some other parts of the world, to be of superior value compared with the latter. This superior estimation in which the Spanish doubloon is held, probably arises from some pre- judice which exists in its favour, and from its com- parative scarcity. One of the consequences of this artificial or ex- trinsic value of the Spanish doubloon, is the high comparative rate of exchange which generally pre- vails at Gibraltar upon London. In the three years, 1838, 1839, and 1840, the average rate at which bills were negotiated by the Commissariat at Gibraltar, on the Treasury, was 66*. Sd. per dou- bloon ; whereas, if Mexican and South American doubloons had been the basis of the currency of the garrison, the average rato of exchange probably would not have exceeded 64*. per doubloon. When the doubloon was issued by the Commis- sary for the pay of the troops at Gibraltar, at the rate of 695. 4. 8(/. and 10(/. respectively, tliey were over-rated, witli reference to the five-franc j)iece, rather more tlian four per cent. Tliis over-\aluuti()n of one and two-franc pieces led to a large importation of those coins into the 157 colony, the effect of which was the expulsion of other coins from circulation. In a letter from the President of the Mauritius Bank to the Colonial Secretary, dated the 28th February, 1838, he says — "The French one and "two-franc pieces alone offered the importer a "profit; and, accordingly, considerable sums have " been introduced, and they now constitute nearly " two-thirds of the money in daily circulation." With a view to affording a remedy to this incon- venience, an ordinance was passed by the Govern- ment of Mauritius, in which ordinance it is stated that "serious inconvenience is felt from the ex- " tensive importation of one and two- franc coins " of France, which, under ordinance No. 3 of " 1825, are received and paid at the public offices, " at rates considerably exceeding their intrinsic " value, and the proportion they bear to the five- " franc and twenty-franc pieces of France ; that 1)y " the value at which coins are received at the pul)- " lie offices, the rate at which they circulate among " individuals is usually regulated in this colony ; " that from the enhanced value given to the one " and two-franc coins of France, many persons re- ** fuse to receive them in payment, and the course " of business, and mercantile operations generally, are greatly impeded and i)rejudiced thereby; ' that it has been represented to His Excellency the Governor, tliat a remedy is urgently and im- mediately required for the evil ; and that such (( <( 158 '• remedy would be effectually obtained by reduciiij^ " the rates at which the one and two-franc coins of " France are received at the public offices, to that *' of their intrinsic value." The ordinance then directs, that *' I'rom and after '* the publication of the ordinance, the one and two- " franc coins of France shall be received and })ai(l " at the public offices, at the rate of five one- franc " pieces for As., and of five two-franc pieces for 8.s. ; " nevertheless, the said pieces cannot be received " in sums of less than 4.9." This ordinance would have eflfectually removed the difficulty, if the two chartered banks of tlio colony had adopted and faithfully observed its i)ro- visions ; but there is reason to suppose that tliosc institutions continued to issue the coins in question, in discharge of their notes and liabilities, at tlic rates which had i)reviously been assigned to them, that is to say, the one-franc piece at lOd., and tlu> two-franc piece at Is. 8^/., those rates being pro- portional dy higher than the rates assigned by tlic ordinance of the 25th November, 1825, to the Spanisli dollar and the East India Company's rui)ee. If the provisions of tlie last-mentioned ordi- nance had been duly observed, the dollar, the Fast India Company's rupee, and tlie coins of France, being, witliin a very small fraction, correctly rated relatively to each other in the ordinance of the 25th November, 1825, would, in all ])robal)ility, 159 have formed the principal metallic circulation of the island, to the exclusion of the gold and silver coins of Great Britain. In order to establish tiio concurrent circulation of British coins, the only consistent measure that could have been adoi)ted, would have been the reduction of the rates of the foreign coins speci- fied in the ordinance to their sterling value. In this resi)ect the case of the Mauritius differed from that of the West Indies and North America in a material point, which it is here proper to notice. By the ordinance of November, 1825, the Mau- ritius dollar of account, in terms of which con- tracts of debt in tliat colony are commonly ex- pressed, was fixed at 4o'. of the money of Great Britain. An engagement, at the Mauritius, to i)ay 13 dollars was, therefore, an engagement to pay 2/. 12a-. sterling ; whicli debt of 2/. V2s. miglit be discharged either with 21. 12.v. of British gold and silver coins, or with 12 silver dollars, or with certain otlier foreign coins fit the rates legally assigned to them. This was not the case in other colonies. His Majesty's Order in Council of the 23r(l Marcli, 1825, did not define the value of a given amount of the nominal currency of any of the colonies, but only ordained, tliat in all tlie colonial possessions of the Crown, tlu' tender or payment of 4s. Ad of English money shall be deemed ecpiivalent to the 100 m n tender or payment of a dollar. An engagement at Nova Scotia, for example, to pay 3/. in lialil'ax currency (in which currency the denomination of a dollar is 5.^.), was not an engagement to pay 2l. 12.s\ in sterling money, or its equivalent, l)ut to pay 12 dollars ; which debt of 12 dollars might be legally discharged either with 12 silver dollars or with 2/. 12.S'. of Britisli gold and silver. In both cases, 12 silver dollars and 2/. \2s. in English money were equivalent tenders of pay- ment ; in botli, 12 silver dollars were a cheaper tender of payment tlian 21. \2s. in British coin. The diiference between the two cases was this : — \Vhen it became necessary to correct the erroneous rates assigned under the authority of His Majesty's Order in Council of the 23rd March, 1825, the rectification ha.l not the effect of requiring from a debtor at the Mauritius the payment of a greater or less amount of British gold and silver than be- fore, but did require the payment of a greater number of vlollai*s or other foreign coins tlian be- fore; while, from the Halifax debtor, the same number of silver dollars, or other foreign coins, was required for the discharge of his debt as before, but a less amount of British gold and silver. In short, the Mauritius debt was an engagement to pay a certain amount of .s/t/7/;/y money; the Halifax debt was an engagement to pay a certain amount of (lollava. I 4' 161 The correction of the erroneous rates assigned to foreign coins in the Mauritius ordinance of the 25th November, 1825, — erroneous with reference to British gold and silver coins — was efTected by Her Majesty's Order in Council, and by proclama- tion dated February, 1843. The rates assigned to I'oreign coins in that pro- clamation are as follows : — The doubloon of Spain, Mexico, or the States of South America, at the rate of 64.s'. sterling. The gold mohur of the East India Comi)any's territory, coined since the 1st September, 1835, at the rate of 29.s. 2(1. The French gold piece of 20 francs, at the rattr of I5.S. lOf/. The dollar of Spain, Mexico, and South Ame- rica, at the rate ol' 4.v. 2d. The rupee of the East India Company's terri- tory, coined since tlie 1st Sej)tember, 1835, «at the rate of l.*?. I0(/. The French piece of five francs, or Frendi pieces of one and two I'rancs to the same amount (viz., five francs), at tlie rate of 3.s'. lOi J., j)r()vi(led that the said French silver coins shall not be a legal tender in sums of less than five francs. The rates, in sterling money, assigned in this proclamation to foreign coins, when converted into the money of account of the Mauritius, that is to say, the nominal dollar and its divisions, give the following results : — -If IC'J Dollars. Cents. Doubloon 16 Gold mohiir 7 2% French 20-franc piece 3 95^ Spanish and Mexican dollar ... 1 4 J Rupee 4o|^ Five-franc piece 96 J J The rates fixed by Her Majesty's Proclamation, are not, however, practically adopted in the colony. Either from a desire to avoid the inconvenient fractions which result from the application of the rates fixed in Her Majesty's Proclamation, to the Mauritius dollar of account, or from some otlier motive, the merchants, bankers, traders, and others, of the Mauritius, in their dealings and transactions with each other, receive and pay the East India Company's rupee at the rate of two rupees to tlie Mauritius dollar; tlius reducing the sterling value of that dollar, from 4^., as fixed in the Colo- nial Ordinance of the 25th November, 1825, to 3s. 8rV^. The practice which has thus obtained among the merchants and traders of the Mauritius, excludes British gold and silver coins from the ordinary channels of circulation. Those channels are now, in a great measure, supplied with the rupees of the coinage of the East India Company, whicli, at present, constitute the principal metallic currency of the colony. British silver coins commonly hear a premium of 4 to 6 per cent., as against the Mauritius dollar, 163 which is reckoned equal to 2 rupees, and are used only for tlie purpose of paying dues and duties to the Colonial Government, and in the purchase of Commissariat Bills on the Lords of tlie Treasury. A rupee contains 165 grains of fine silver, wliidi at 5*. per ounce of standard silver, is wortli 1*. I0{\id. In small dealings, the purchasing power ol' a British shilling is not greater than that of a half- rupee. The individual who purchases his rice, vegetables, and other necessaries, with Kritish silver coins, suffers a loss, therefore, in his pur- chases, of nearly 8 per cent. British silver, in this way, falls, in small sums, into the hands of shopkeepers, who accumulate it until it amounts to a sufficient sum — say 251. or 50/., and then sell it to a money-broker, who disposes of it, in larger sums, and at a further profit, to the merchants, who require it for the purchase of Com- missariat Bills, or for payments to the public Treasury. M 2 ■ Ij 104 CURRENCY OF CEYLON. Previous to tlie year 1825, tlie public accounts of this island were kept in rix dollars. The cur- rency consisted of silver rix dollars, coined at tli(» British Mint, for the use of the colony, of copper fanams, and pice, and of incontrovertible paper rix dollars issued by the Colonial Government. The salaries and allowances of the military and civil servants of the colony, were paid in this cur- rency, at the rate of Ls\ Qd. sterling per rix dollar. Bills drawn by the Colonial Government on the Lords of the Treasury were, at that time, gene- rally sold by auction, at an exchange of about 15 rix dollars for \L sterling, showing a depreciation of the currency, compared with its professed stand- ard, of about 1 J j)er cent. In the year 1 825, it was ordered that the public accounts should be kept in pounds, shillings, and pence ; the paper rix dollars were called in, and a new paper currency, expressed in the terms of sterling money, was issued by the Ceylon Trea- sury. The silver rix dollars, and the old coins were permitted to remain current at the rate of 1 5. 6^. per rix dollar: and in the expectation of receiving a sufficient supply of British silver and copper coins from England, the Governor ordered, by proclamation, that certain foreign silver coins 105 shall pass current, at rates fixed according to the quantity of fine silver which they were supposed respectively to contain. In this proclamation, the Spanish dollar was rated at 4.s\ 2d., the sicca rupee at 2s., and the Madras and Bombay rupee at l.s. lOd The bills drawn by the Ceylon Government on the Lords of the Treasury were afterwards sold at a fixed rate of exchange, namely, 10,3/. Ceylon cur- rency for 100/. sterling ; and as, at that time, the course of exchange with England, both in India and Ceylon, was in a dej)ressed state, and in lavour of England, very great facility was experienced in the negotiation of the bills. In 1836, the currency of the island consisted mainly of British silver, and of Government paper money, convertible, at the i)leasure of the liolder, or with the consent of the Government, into bills on the Lords of the Treasury, at a premium of 1 1 per cent. The sicca rupee of the East India Com- pany was, at the same time, current at the rate of 2s., being, very nearly, its value compared with silver of the British standard, at S.s. per ounce. The current rate of exchange at Bengal upon London, was, at that period. Is. lid. sterling for a sicca rupee for bills at six months' sight. In this state of the exchange, the transmission of specie was a more advantageous mode of remit- tance from India to Europe, than bills of exchange. li ■to 166 The natural tendency of the course of exchange upon London, at Ceylon, is to follow that of Ben- gal ; but, at that period, this tendency was counter- acted, by the practice of the Government of Cey- lon, to redeem its outstanding notes, by bills on the Lords of the Treasury, at a premium of H per cent. In consequence of this practice, individuals were (enabled, by importing rupees from India and ex- changing them at Ceylon, at the rate of 2s. each, for Government paper, or for British silver, to pur- cliase, with Indian money, bills upon London, at a more advantageous rate of exchange at Ceylon than at Calcutta. Thus, althoitp-h the state of the exchange between India and England, induced the exportation of sil- ver rupees from India to London, yet, at Ceylon, there was no such exportation ; on the contrary, from the causes above mentioned, there was an in- flux into the island of Indian coins, while British silver was accumulating in the Ceylon Treasury, or was exported to other British colonies, and to Enghmd. Under these circumstances, no difficulty was ex- l)erienced in the negotiation of Government bills on the Lords of tlie Treasury, at a premium of H I)er cent. Not long afterwards, the exchange at Calcutta, u])on London, rose considerably, and continued to 167 rise until it was 8 or 10 per cent, above the metallic level, in favour of India. The tide of metallic money at Ceylon was now reversed. British silver coins had entirely disappeared from circulation ; and it was deemed necessary by the Government to import from India a large amount of rupees, at a disadvantageous rate of exchange with Eng- land. Notwithstanding this importation, the public treasury was soon nearly exhausted of silver, and its scarcity was inconveniently felt by the public. It seems to have been imagined by the Governor and his council, that the metallic money thus in- introduced into the colony, not by the natural operations of commerce, but by the direct inter- ference of the Colonial Government, would have remained in the island, and that its retention would have been not only convenient to the Government but likewise productive of beneficial consequences to the domestic industry and to the foreign trade of the colony. This expectation was not realized. It might, indeed, have been ioreseen, that as the rupees thus forcibly introduced into the island were imme- diately used ibr the purpose of defraying the ex- penditure of the Colonial Govcriunent, they would naturally flow back to the channels from which they were brought, leaving no greater quantity of money (including the Government paper) in the ll» 168 island than was sufficient ibr the purposes of its domestic traffic. It was, however, supposed that the difficulty of retaining in the island the money imported by the Government arose from the under-valuation of the rupee, with reference to what was supposed to be the value of the Government paper. Hence it was determined, in September, 1836, after the in- troduction into the colony of the new rupee of the East India Company, to give to that rupee the same nominal value as had previously been given to the sicca rupee, namely, 2^., although the new rupee is worse by 6| per cent, than the sicca rupee. This measure had no other effect than that of depreciating the value of the metallic currency of the island. It enabled debtors, under existing con- tracts, to defraud their creditors, but did not pre- vent the exportation of coin. In a despatch from Governor Mackenzie, dated the 13th August, 1838, he observes, that ** it is no easy matter to retain " our silver currency," and mentions that " a sum " of 10,000/. was demanded yesterday," thus show- ing that the retention of the East India rupees in the island was not less difficult than it had been previously to the alteration in their nominal value. The currency of this island consists, at present, of Government paper, convertible, at the pleasure of the holder, into the coins which are legally cur- rent. The coins in circulation are principally the 169 rupees of the East India Company, together with some British silver and copper coins, and some old silver rix dollars, current at Is. 6d. each. The nominal par of exchange with London is 1000 rupees, or 100^. currency for lOOl. sterling ; but the real par (assuming the price of standard silver in London to be 5s. per ounce) is 1,076 rupees, or 107/. 12s. currency for 100/. sterling. .'*' m 170 CURRENCY OF HONG KONG. Belbre stating the measures which have been adopted for the regulation of the currency of this colony, it may be useful to describe the monetary system of China. The only coin in general circulation, in China, is the le or cash^ a small piece of metjil composed of copper and tutenague. At each provincial city a mint is established, over which a Director is ap- pointed by the Government. From the Board of Kevenue, at Peking, coinage models are obtained. "When the mint is to ]}e worked, the Director weighs out the proper quantity of copper, and delivers it to the workmen to be cast into money, of wiiich an amount is required to be produced by the workmen, corresi)onding with the quantity of copper delivered to them. It frequently happens, liowever, that the workmen throw sand into the model, together with the metal, and are tluis enabled to i)urloin the c()i)per. The weight of each piece of the money should be one mace; its value, as fixed by Government, is one thousandth part of a tael's weight ol' silver; but in C()iise([uence of adulteration and illicit coinage, 1200 to 1400 cash are commonly given for a tael. The native silver of Cbina, called Sycce, ])assps 171 in exchange by weight, and is ahvays required by the Government in the receipt of taxes. When the officers of the several departments are desirous of paying over to the heads of the Government, the revenue arising from the land- tax and the duties on merchandize, they aj)ply to a banker, and obtain the required amount in fine silver, compensating tlie banker for whatever dif- ference there may be between its value and that of the money which they bring to liis shop. Those bankers are furnished with furnaces, in wliich the metal is fused ; after melting, it is poured into clay moulds, and Ibrmed into ingots of various forms and weiglits, most commonly of ten taels each. Upon the ingot is marked the year, and the district in whicli it was issued, together witli tlie names of the workmen, and of the shop wliere it was cast. Should any deception be afterwards discovered, at whatever distance of time, the refiner is subject to severe punishment.* Sycee silver is divided into scveidl classes, ac- cording to its fineness ; the kinds most current in the i)rovincc of C'anton are the following: — 1. Kwanreang, the hoj)po's duties, or ihe sil' er which is forwarded to the Imperial Treasury at Peking. This is ahvays of 97 to 09 touch. On all the lm])erial duties, a certain per centage is levied, for the purpose of turning them into Syceu y-^. HrUlginim's Chincw Chrestomothy. 172 't> of this high standard, and the expense of convey- ing the silver to Peking. 2. Fan-koo or fan-foo, the treasurer's receipts, or the silver in which the land-tax is paid. This is also of high standard, but inferior to that of the hoppo's duties ; and being intended for use in the province, no per centage is levied for the expense of conveyance. 3. Yuen-poou or une-po, literally, chief in value. This kind is usually imported from Soodron, in large pieces of fifty taels each. 4. Yen, or cem, heang, salt duties. This class is inferior only to 5. Wech, or mut-tae, the name of which signi- fies " uncleansed" or "unpurified."* The Sycee silver paid by the Chinese Govern- ment to the British authorities at Canton, under the treaty of Nanking, and imported into Her Majesty's Mint, was ibund, on assay, to be rather more than 13 dwts. better than silver of the Bri- tish standard, (or 97'05 touch) and to co'.itain on an average, 13s grains of fine gold in each pound, troy weight, of silver. Sycee silver of the same descrij)tion (being likewise part of the Chinese indemnity) iniported into the East Comi)any's Mint at Bombay, was found to be of rather superior fineness to that imported into Her Mtyesty's Mint in London, ))eing very nearly 98 touch. • Morr'non's Chinriie rommorciul (luidc. 173 The following is a comparative statement of the produce of 1000 taels of Sycee silver imported into the Mints of London and Bomhay. LONDON MINT. The produce of 1000 taels delivered at the Royal Mint was 1207*57 ounces, which were found, on assay, to he equal to 1276 23 ounces of silver, of the British standard, of which The Sale produce was ...... £320 12 The value of the fine gold contained in lOOO taels of Sycee (over and above 5 grains per lb. allowed to the buyer of the silver) was 799 Sale produce of 1000 taels of Sycoj; silver £328 1 9 BOMBAY MINT. The produce of 1000 taels delivered at the Bom- bay Mint was 1203,'„ ounces troy weip;ht oi' silver of the Indian Mint standard, equal to 3440,'V Tola weight, or — nup««e«. All. rice. Company's rupees 3,449 12 10 Deduct Indian Mint charge of 2 per cent. 70 4 10 Coinage pnHluce of 1000 taels of Sycee silver 3,379 8 In order to ascertain the net }>roceeds, it would 1)0 necessary to deduct from tlie abovp stated re- sults, freight, insurance, shipping, and lauding charges ; but as these were nt^arly the same in both cases, it may be concluded that the same quantity of Sycee silver, which ])n>duced l.v lliV/, ster- '^ 174 ling ill London, produced one rupee ol' tlio coinage of the ICast India Company at Bombay. Tiie nominal monies of Cliina are tlie lean"-, tseen, and fun, ccmmonly called by foreigners, tael, mace, and candareen, tlie proportion of which to each other is decimal. The candareen, in accounts, is reckoned equal to 10 le or casli : })ut, as is above stated, owing to adulteration and illicit coinage, 12 or 14 cash are commonly given for a canda- reen. The terms tael, mace, a'>d candareen, are de- nominations of weight, l)ut are commonly used as denominations of money. The weiglit of 100 taels is equal to 120 ounces, IG cwts. of Englisli troy weight, or 5/9-84 grains per tael. The circulating medium of Canton consists ol" chopped or broken Spanish dollars, the number of which tliat go to a tael dilTers in dillerent trades, and .imongst difTerent classes of persons, according to loug-establislied usages. In calculations and accountfi, taels are converted into dollars, at the rate of 720 per 1000 dollars. But payments in cash are generally tm(jhe(i at 717 per 1000 dollars. Payments for Bengal oi)ium, at 71 B per 1000 dol- lars. Native merchants, not of the cohong, unless it be otherwise .sj)ecially agreed, receive payments at 715 per 1000 dcdlars. Itai w Payments into tlie Treasury of the East India Company were made at 71^ l)cr 1000 dollars. Pa\ ments at Macao are usually at /isiO per 1000 dollars.* When payment of 1000 dollars is required to he made, the i)ayment is effected in this way : in one scale is placed tlie weight of 717 taels (for ex- ample), and in the other, as many dollars as are su (He lent to counterbalance that weight. Hence it may hai)pen that more or less than 1000 dollars, by tale, are required to discharge an ol)ligation to pay 1000 dollars. Dollars, though of the same weight and purity, are not received alike 1^ the Cliinese ; tlie differ- ence chiefly arises from caprice, so that what is r eferred in one place is often refused at another place, unless at a discount. Spanish dollars known by the name of i)illar dollars, if uninjured ]>y tlie Canljii practice of stamping, bear a premium varying iVom 1 to U per cent. There are other dollai . Ijcaring tlie stamp of the letter G, to denote their being coined at the Guadaljara Mint, which are never received but at a discount. South American and United States dollars do not pass among the Chins^se.f The Spanish dollar of the coinage of Fen^'nand is, at present, regards at Canton as the standard to whicli all money contracts have reference. • Mctrrisou's Chinese Ci-mniorcial Guide, t Ihiii. ]7(\ k V ■'A C(>m])aiT(l with tliis coin, tho dollars ol' Mexico and South America arc commonly at a discount, varyinj]^ from 3 to 7 per cent.; Syccc silver at a premium ol' I to 5 per cent., and tlu^ dollars oltlie coinage of Carolus IV., at a premium varying iVoni 4 to 12 per cent. On the 20th March, 1812, a proclamation was issued hy Sir Henry Pottinger, at I long Kong, ordering that in the common hazaar, i)urchas(s, havti r, hire, &c. in that Island, dollars of whatsoever deuvnu J nation, whether whole or choj)i)ed, sjjall circulate at par with reference to each other, ])r( >- vi'led that they are of the proper weight and st; !i:l:ird. It "\as lurther ordered that '2\ ru])ees of the Kahit India Comiiany shall 1)e considered equal to onedoll.ir; that 1200 copper cash shall likewise he considered equal to one dollar, and that o.M.'i cash shall he considered e(iual to out* rupee. In this proclamation the dollar, and the East India Company's rupee, may he considered as cor- rectly rated relatively to each other, v hen regard is had only to the pure silver wliicli those coins re- spectively ' oniain ; hut as, in conse(|uence of i\\c Indian Mint charge ol 9. per cent, for coinage, 2i ru[)ees are worth mor<» in India than one dcdlar ; and as ru]>ees, so rated, allbrd a more advantageous miMlium of remittance from Hong Kong to India than dollars, the former couis, whenever that oh- 177 jeot is in contemplation, will naturally be preferred to the latter. On the '27th Ai)ril, IB 12, another jjroclamation was ])ul)lishe(l at llon^ Kon«j^, dircTtinjjj that Mexican and other K(!publican dollars shall he taken, and considered to ])v the? standard in all Government and mercantile transactions at Ilon^ Kong, and other j)laces in China in Ihe occupation ol'ller Majesty's forces, unless at the time of such transactions taking place it should he expressly agreed to the contrary. This extension of Mexican and other Republican dollars to Government and mercantile, as well as to bazaar, transactions, it was expected would lead to an abolition of the distinction which prevails amongst the Chinese hc^tween diHcrent kinds of dollars, and of their preference of one kind to another. It does not, however, ai)pcar to have produced that efftTt. Mexican and South Ame- rican dollars are still regarded as inferior to those of the coinage of Ferdinand, and still more so to those of the coinage of Carolus IV.* After the erection of Hong Kong into a British colony, it was determined to extend to that island the same regulations, with regard to its currency, as were in force in all the British colonies and * The Chinese are very fastidious in the choice of coins, rejecting somo and choosing others, nioroly with rej^ard to tl' device. Spanish dollars, with jiiHurs, especiiilly tliose issued in tlic reign of Charles IV., are the most current, often In-aring a slight premium ; while on the other liand, tho coins of all the Amerioan States are passed with difficulty, at a discount of 2, 3, and even fi per cent. — lii idi/man' h Cliinese Chrestumuthif. N l/S I possessions, except the territories of the East India Company and Ceylon. An Order in Council and a proclamation were accordingly prepared, in order to give effect to that determination ; which order and proclamation were afterwards published in due course by the governor of the colony, and are now in force. This proclamation, after reciting the proclama- tions issued by Sir Henry Pottinger on the 27tli March, and the 27th April, 1842, declares and ordains the revocation and annulment of those pro- clamations ; and further ordains that from and after its publication the several coins tlierein specified, being perfect coins, and of full and proper weight and value, shall, in like manner as the gold, silver, and copper coins of the United Kingdom, be a legal tender at the under-mentioned rates ; tliat is to say, — The gold mohur of the East India Company's territory, coined since the 1st day of September, 1 835, at the rate of twenty-nine shillings and two- pence sterling money of the United Kingdom. The dollar of Spain, Mexico, or the Soutli American States, at the rate of four shillings and two pence sterling. The rupee of the East India Company's terri- tory, coined since the 1st day of September, 1835, at the rate of one shilling and ten pence sterling ; and the half rupee, quarter rupee, and eighth of rupee pieces, in proportion. 179 The cash, or copper coin current in China, at the rate of two hundred and eighty-eight cash for one shilling sterling. The proclamation further ordains that tenders of payment in the said coins, as well as in the gold, silver, or copper coins of the United King- dom, according to the several relative rates and values above specified, shall be deemed and taken, within the island of Hong Kong and its dependen- cies, to be a sufficient and lawful tender in satis- faction of all debts, contracts, and engagements whatsoever for the payment of money : provided that it shall not be compulsory on any person to accept, at any one payment, a larger amount in silver coins of the United Kingdom of lower deno- mination than one shilling, or in the half, quarter, or eighth rupee pieces than the equivalent to twenty shillings sterling money, or a larger amount in copper coins of the United Kingdom, or in Chi- nese copper coins, than the equivalent to one shilling sterling money. Under the regulations established by this pro- clamation, all pecuniary contracts and engage- ments entered into at Hong Kong and its depen- dencies in the terms of the sterling money of the United Kingdom, may be legally discharged with any of the coins specified in it at the rates respec- tively assigned to them. Agreements at Hong Kong to pay a certain amount of "dollars," may now be discharged by h2 i i 180 the payment of gold sovereigns at the rate ol' 4 dollars and 80 cents, or of rupees at the rate oi' 44 cents, or of British shillings at the rate of 24 cents. The rules laid down in Her Majesty's procLi^ mation, will, it may be expected, facilitate trans- actions amongst the inhabitants of Hong Kong and its dependencies, without occasioning any difficulty or embarrassment in money transactions with the Chinese at Canton and other places in China. At Hong Kong the doUare of Ferdinand will be said to be at a premium, as compared with those of Mexico. At Canton, Mexican dollars will be quoted at a discount as compared with those of the coinage of Ferdinand; but it is not likely that this diiference of expression will lead to any practical inconvenience or misunderstanding. The object constantly kept in view in the alte- rations that have been made, and the regulations which have been established with respect to the currency of the colonies, since the year 1798, was to prepare the way, and to facilitate the establish- ment in them of the coins and money denomina- tions of the mother country without disturbing existing contracts, and with as little interference as possible with the prejudices and habits of the people. . This has been finally accomplished at Jamaica, Bermuda, the Australian colonies, and Van Die- IBl men s Land. The rates of the foreign coins in circulation having first been correctly rated rela- tively to each other in the current denominations of those colonies, the transition to the sterling denominations of the United Kingdom was effected without difficulty. A similar change may now be made with the same facility, in all the colonial possessions of the Crown, and it may reasonably be expected that the advantage of such a change will be perceived by the colonists, and the measures essary for its attainment be adopted. ^ iH^ ^.^o}^ ^.J^ IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-S) k A ^/ ■6r fc 1.0 I.I 12.8 1^ 2.2 lit lU u L25 i 1.4 2.0 I 1.6 Pfiotographic Sciences Corporation <^ ^\ #1 c\ \ ^ ^ O^ 33 WIST MAIN STRUT WHSTM.N.Y. MSIO (716) •73-4503 '<^ ? .V .V ^. 4; w fe APPENDIX. Copy of Treasury Minute ^ dated Wth February, 1825. » My Lords have under their consideration the State of the Currencies in the several British Colonies and Possessions abroad, as they affect the Expenditure for the public service, both military and civil. They consider it as being highly expedient that they should avail themselves of the present period of peace, and of the means which appear to be now at their dis- posal, for introducing a fixed and uniform medium of exchange for all transactions connected with the public service, in the place of the various, fluctuating, and anomalous currencies which have been created under the pressure of temporary emergency, or with views of local and peculiar expediency, in many of these colonics and possessions during the war; and which have been pro- ductive of much private and public inconvenience. In these colonies the Spanish dollar has generally been the prevalent current coin, and the standard by which the value of other currencies, whether metallic or paper, has been determined. That coin has been the medium of payment to the troops on Foreign stations generally; but the x^Xc in sterling money at which it has been issued to the Army, has not been the same at all of those stations, nor has that 183 rate in any rase been fixed in conformity with the intrinsic value of the coin. In the West Indies, in America, on the western coast of Africa, at the Cape of Good Hope, at the Mauritius, and at New South Wales, it has been reckoned in payment to the Army at 4*. 8d. ; while at Gibraltar and in the Mediterranean, it has been issued at 4s. 6d. At some of these places, payments are made to the forces in other coins than Spanish dollars ; but in those cases the value of such coins has been regulated by the Spanish dollar, assuming the value of the latter at the army-rate fixed for each station. These established rates are of long standing, and many of them founded upon authorities, of the origin of which there are no distinct records in this office. The intrinsic value of the Spanish dollar as compared with British standard silver, at the mint price of os. 2d. the ounce, is about 4s. 3'79 .%' 'I. '1 : ,i ■ I *'■' "■■I . ( 4' r 192 expedient to form tariffs of the duties now payable to the Crown in British money, and to impose all new duties in the same currency, leaving the parties to pay the same in any other coin authorized to circulate in the Mauritius at the established rates by which the accounts of the government may be immediately kept in the denomina- tion of British money. A provision should also be made, similar to that proposed with respect to New South Wales and Sierra Leone, for payment of any debts which may have been contracted previously to a day to be named, in money of British denomination, but which debts are by usage payable in dollars at 5^. each. CAPE OF GOOD HOPE. The Spanish dollar was formerly issued to the Troops at this station universally, and at the rate of 4^. 8c?. each, but they never obtained any considerable general circula- tion ; and latterly their use has been almost discontinued in issues to the Troops, who have been paid in the paper rix dollar computed at the current rate of exchange. There is, in fact, at present no metallic circulation at this colony, and the paper money is not exchangeable against any metallic money, nor has it any real fixed value with reference to metallic money. The nominal value of the rix dollar is 45. but it has for many years been at a very considerable discount in exchange for bills upon England, and its real value, with reference to those bills, has not, upon an average of two or three years, been more than Is. 6d. sterling. My Lords feel that it would be inex- pedient, if not impossible, to introduce a metallic currency into this colony, without either providing for the imme- diate payment of the whole of this paper money, or fixing a rate at which it should be received both in public and private transactions, and made exchangeable by the r 193 Government, at the will of the holder, for metallic money, or for hills upon this Board. With reference to the average rate of exchange, as above stated, it appears to My Lords, that Is. 6d. per rix dollar may be considered as a fair rate, and they are therefore of opinion the rix dollar should be declared equal to 1*. 6c?. in British silver money ; and with a view to prevent it from falling below that rate, that it shall be at all times exchangeable, at the will of the holder, for bills upon this Board, at the rate of 103/. in value of rix dollars computed at Is. 6d. each for every 100/. bill; and that after the arrival of a sufficient amount of British metallic money in the colony, no paper brought in to be exchanged for bills upon this Board should be re-issued, but that such paper money should be cancelled, and wholly withdrawn from circulation, and that none other in lieu thereof should thereafter be issued. And it is their Lordships' opinion, that the paper money withdrawn from circulation should be sent to this country, as vouchers for the bills which may be drawn on account of it. By this measure, it is presumed that the value of the paper money will be maintained at its fixed rate, with reference to British money. The number of paper rix dollars in circulation, which have* been from time to time issued at the Tape of Good Hope, is about 3,108,000 ; and the total amount of bills upon this Board, if the whole were to be exchanged for such bills, would therefore be about the sum of 226,000/. But as a part of those rix dollars were issued by a govern- ment establishment, called the Lombard Bank, upon va- rious securities, the sums which may from time to time be paid upon these securities, should be applied towards the liquidation of this paper money. It is not, however, their Lordships' intention that any compulsory measures should be taken to withdraw the whole of the paper money from circulation ; but that such portions only should be o 194 {■i,/i cancelled as may from time to time be brought in by individuals in exchange for bills upon this Board ; and that the paper money which may be received for rates, taxes, or other revenues, should be again issued in payment of the current expenditure, except such paper money as may represent a less sum than 10 rix dollars, which should not, after the arrival of British metallic money, be re- issued, but should be cancelled, and sent home as vouchers to the accounts, as should also rix dollars equal in amount to the sum paid to the Lombard Bank, in liquidation of the debts due to that establishment. As the rates, taxes, &c., are at present imposed in this colony in rix dollars, and as it appears to My Lords that it would be extremely convenient to introduce into all the colonies belonging to the United Kingdom the same description of money, My Lords are of opinion, that it would be expedient to establish a new Schedule of rates, duties, &c., payable to the Crown, in which Schedule the present rates in rix dollars, and the new rates in British money, at the proposed fixed rate of the rix dollar, should be specified ; and that all collectors and other ofiicers of government at the Cape of Good Hope should be required to render their accounts in British money. CEYLON. The Currency of this Island is very various, and consists of rix dollars coined in England for its use, of many of the coins of India, of Spanish dollars, and of paper rix dollars. The rix dollar coined in England expressly for the use of Ceylon, is rated very much above its intrinsic worth, measured by British currency ; and neither that or the paper rix dollar is exchangeable at the will of the holder, at its nominal rate against British money, or any other description of coip. The consequence naturally is, that in all transactions of exchange, the silver rix dollar is rated I i^' 195 with reference to its intrinsic and not to its nominal value, and a very considerable depreciation of this coin appears to exist. Of this depreciation, numerous complaints have been made from the civil .and military servants of the colony, who receive their salaries in this description of currency at its nominal rate ; but, as some compensation for the lass which they sustain, they are permitted to exchange a certain portion of their salary, or rather to receive it, in debentures or in bills payable in Great Britain, which arc granted at the nominal par. The rix dollars last coined in Great Britain were equal in weight and fineness to one-third of a Spanish dollar ; consequently, taking the Spanish dollar at 4s. 4d., they arc worth only Is. 5|r/., although they are nominally rated at is. dd. It appears to My Lords, that the value of the rix dollar should be rated more nearly to its intrinsic worth as compared to the Spanish dollar, and that the silver rix dollar, as well as the paper rix dollar, should be made exchangeable at the will of the holder, at such reduced value, either for British coins or for bills upon this Board. My Lords are therefore of opinion, that the value of the silver and paper rix dollar should be fixed at \s. 6rf. ; and in order to prevent the paper rix dollar from falling below that value, that an authority should be conveyed to the governor, to draw bills upon the agent of the island in England, in sums of not less than 100/. for any amount of paper rix dollars which may be tendered at the colonial treasury, at the rate of 103/. value of rix dollars for every 100/. bill; and that instructions should be sent to the governor, that the paper rix dollar so brought in for bills should be cancelled, and transmitted to this country as vouchers for the bills drawn ; and that none other in lieu thereof should be issued to replace the paper money thus withdrawn from circulation, by which measure, it is to be presumed that the value of this paper money, while any o2 aw ^ ' •f 19G ) part of it remains in circulation, will be maintained at its fixed rates with reference to British money, and will be gradually paid off and cancelled. The number of paper rix dollars in circulation and issued upon the credit of the government, and the amount of debentures bearing various rates of interest, which have been issued in exchange for those rix dollars, is about 4,041,900 ; and the total amount of the bills to be drawn, if the whole were to be exchanged for such bills, would be about the sum of 296,000/. ; but a part of that sum will be supplied from the funds appropriated as sinking fund for the redemption of those rix dollars, and even the remainder will be gradually drawn for, as it is not their Lordships' intention that any compulsory measures should be taken to withdraw the whole of the paper money from circulation ; and that the paper money which may be re- ceived by government for rates, t^xcs, &c., should be again issued in payment of the current expenditure. It appears to My Lords, thit after the promulgation of these orders, neither the civil nor military servants of the colony should receive bills upon England upon any other terms than other individuals, namely, for Spanish dollars or other coins at the current or market rate of exchange ; and for British money, or for metal or paper rix dollars, at the rate of a bill of 100/. for every 103/. of British silver coin, or metal or paper rix dollars. The rates, taxes, &c., in this Island being at present imposed in rix dollars, My Lords deem it expedient that the same arrangement should be adopted in respect thereof as that proposed for the Cape of Good Hope, namely, that a new Schedule of all the rates, duties, &c., payable to the Crown, should be framed; in which Schc;dule the present rates in rix dollars, and new rates in British money, at the proposed fixed rate of the rix dollar, should be specified, and that all collectors and 197 other officers of the government at Ceylon should be re- quired to render their accounts in British money. My Lords further think, that from the date of the receipt of their instructions, no debenture bearing interest payable in Ceylon, or in this country, should upon any account be granted ; and that the governor should be in- structed to transmit an account of those now outstanding, distinguishing those the interest of which is payable in Ceylon, from those the interest of which is payable in Great Britain ; and specifying also the conditions upon which the debentures were issued, and the periods when they will become payable, in order that such arrangements may be made, with the aid of the sinking fund established for the liquidation of these debentures, as may ensure their liquidation at the time they may respectively be- come due. Transmit copy of this. Minute to Mr. VVilmot Horton, for the information and consideration of the Earl Bathurst ; and request he will inform My Lords if his Lordship concurs in the propiised measures ; and if so, whether, in his opinion, application should be made for an Order of His Majesty in Council, for giving effect to these arrange- ments in the colonics of New South Wales, Mauritius, Ceylon, Cape of Good Hope, and Sierra Leone ; or whether the same may be more conveniently carried into effect by his Lordship's directions to the governors of these several colonies to issue proclamations for carrying these arrange- ments into effect. (Copy.) Sir, Downing-strcet, 2Nth February 1825. I HAVE laid before Earl Bathurst your letter of the 12th instant, transmitting a Minute of the Board of Treasury relative to the introduction of the British silver 198 currency into the Colonies belonging to the United King- dom, under cctain regulations therein detailed; and I am to acquaint you in reply, that Lord Bathurst entirely approves of the measures proposed by their Lordships, and is of opinion that it would be advisable to give efTect to the arrangement by an Order of His Majesty in Council. I am, &c. (Signed) R. J. W. Horton. Geo. Harrison, Esq. &c. &c. &c. i»' I ''I At the Court at Carlton House, — 23d March, 1825 ; Present, The King's most excellent Majesty in Council. Whereas it has been represented to His Majesty at this Board, by the Lords Commissioners of His Majesty's Treasury, that they have given directions that His Majesty's Troops serving in the several British colonies and possessions abroad, should in certain cases be paid in British silver and copper money ; and that with a view of securing tlie circulation of such money in those colonies, it would be expedient that an Order in Council should be issued declaring, that in all those colonies where the Spanish dollar is now, either by law, fact, or practice, considered as a legal tender for the discharge of debts, or where the duties to the government are rated or collected, or the individuals have a right to pay in that description of coin, that a tender and payment of British silver money to the amount of four shillings and four pence, should be considered as equivalent to the tender or payment of one Spanish dollar, and so in proportion for any greater or less amount of debt : And whereas it has been further represented by the Lords Commissioners of II is Majesty's 199 Treasury, that with respect to the Cape of Good Hope, where there are not any Spanish dollars in circulation, but where the circulation consists entirely of paper rix dollars and its proportions ; and with respect to Ceylon, where the circulation consists of silver and paper rix dollars, as well as of a variety of other coins which arc generally received and paid with relation to their value as compared with rix dollars, it would be expedient that a tender and payment of \s. 6d. in British silver money should be considered as equivalent to a tender and pay- ment of one such rix dollar so current at the Cape of Good Hope and Ceylon respectively, and so in proportion for any greater or less sum ; and also that British copper should be made a legal tender in all the British colonies, for its due and proper proportions of British silver money, as by law established in Great Britain, but that no person should be compelled to take more than 12c?. in copper money at any one payment : — His Majesty, having taken the said representation into consideration, is pleased, by and with the advice of His Privy Council, to approve of what is therein proposed ; and the Right Honourable ,the Lords Commissioners of His Majesty's Treasury, and the Right Honourable Earl Bathurst, one of His Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State, are to give the necessary directions herein, as to them may respectively appertain. (Signed) C. C. Grrville. •i 200 I'l'i ROYAL ORDERS AND PROCLAMATIONS COINS AND CURRENCY. RELATING TO WEST INDIES. {Circular.) Sir, Downing-strcet, September, 1838. The state of the currency in the West Indies has, for some time past, engaged the serious attention of Her Majesty's Government. The very unsatisfactory state of the monetary system in those colonies, the almost total disappearance of the Spanish dollar from the ordinary channels of circulation* the substitution of mutilated coins, or of parts of coins, and the difficulty of preserving even these, defective as they are, in sufficient quantity for the purposes of domes- tic interchange, warranted the apprehension that in the constitution and structure of the colonial currency there exists some original error, without the correction of which that currency cannot be placed on a just founda- tion, or retained in a sound and satisfactory state. From the inquiry instituted on this subject, it appears that the main error of the system, the principal source of the actual inconvenience, consists in the over- valua- tion of the gold coins in circulation relatively to those of silver. In the general market of the commercial world, the proportionate value of silver to gold is very nearly 15 '8 to 1. In the West Indies, although the nominal currencies of the different islands vary considerably from each other, the doubloon of Mexico and South America, whatever 201 may be the law in particular islands, is in practice taken to be equivalent to 16 dollars; which makes the propor- tionate value of fine silver to fine gold, as nearly as can be computed from the average weight and fineness of those coins, as ascertained by the Assay Master of Her Majesty's Mint, very nearly 16*48 to 1. This over-valuation of the doubloon has rendered gold the ultimate standard to which all money contracts in the West Indies have reference ; for although, according to the original meaning of the terms in which the money of account is expressed, silver is the commodity intended to be conveyed, in all pecuniary contracts, yet the words which were once understood to mean a certain quantity of silver, now mean either that quantity of silver or a certain quantity of gold ; and as a debtor always chooses to acquit himself of his obligation by a payment in the cheaper metal, or in coins of that metal which are over- rated with reference to those of the other, both parties to the contract must, at the time of entering into it, have contemplated a payment in gold. Under the circumstances which I have stated, the dol- lar and the doubloon cannot be maintained in concurrent circulation at the proportionate rates of 16 48 to I, as- signed to them by law or practice. In the general market of the world, the relative value of the two coins is understood to be in the proportion of about 15^ to 1. In London the value of a Mexican dollar, estimated in the gold currency of the United Kingdom, is now, and has been for some time past, very nearly 4s. 2d. The value of a doubloon at the Mint price of 3/. 1 7 s. lOi^d. per oz. for gold of the British standard (assuming the doubloon to contain 362 grains of fine gold.) is very nearly 64*. The proportion oi 4s. '2d. to G4i.-. is as 1 to 15*36. 202 I li i'^ This proportion Her Majesty's Government have taken as the basis of the alteration which, with the view of rendering the concurrent circulation of the dollar and the doubloon practicable, they have deemed it proper to make. In the application of this rule of proportion to the cur- rencies of the different islands of the West Indies, it will be necessary to make such an alteration of the present nominal rates of the dollar and the doubloon as will ren- der the nominal proportions commensurate with the ac- tual proportions. As all existing contracts have reference to the over- rated gold coins, it will be proper to retain the present denomination of the doubloon, and to raise the present denomination of the dollar in the proportion of 15*36 to 16. ' The effect of the alteration will be to give to 15*36 dollars the same current denomination as is now given to 1 doubloon, and to render 15*36 dollars and 1 doubloon equivalent tenders of payment for the same amount of nominal currency. Her Majesty has been pleased to revoke the Order in Council made on the 23rd day of March, 1825, and by a new Order to approve a Proclamation declaring that in Her colonial possessions in the West Indies and America, 4s. 2d. and 645. of British silver shall be deemed legal tenders for 1 dollar and 1 doubloon respectively. Hence, whatever may be the current denominations of the two coins in any of the colonies referred to in the Order, the same denominations will be applicable to 4s. 2d. and 64*. of British silver. In those islands where 64 English shillings and one doubloon are at present conventionally regarded as equi- valent tenders of payment, no other practical alteration will be made than to give a new denomination to the V 203 t«ilver of Mexico and South America, on the principle and in the manner which I have above described. I have, &c. {Circular.) Sir, Downing-street, September, 1838. In obedience to the commands of Her Majesty in Council, I herewith transmit to you two Orders in Coun- cil, dated respectively the 7th and the 14th instant, with the Royal Proclamation to which the last of those Orders refers. The Order of the 7th instant revokes the Order in Council of the 23rd of March, 1825, so far as it relates to the West Indian and North American colonies. The Order of the 14th instant approves the Proclamation by which Her Majesty has been pleased to determine the pro- portionate rates at which the Spanish dollar and the doubloon are hereafter to pass current in the British West Indies. In my accompanying circular despatch of this date I have stated, for your information, the principles by which Her Majesty's Government have been guided in the introduction of these changes in the current value of foreign coins in the West Indian colonies. The object of the present communication is to point out to you the mea- sures which it will be your duty to adopt on receiving the Royal Orders and Proclamation. I trust that when the principles and objects of this measure shall be distinctly understood, there will be no reason to apprehend any serious or extensive objection to it. On the other hand, the subject is one on which mis- apprehensions are "o readily conceived and propagated, that it is necessary to be p'-epared for some popular dc- 204 lusion as to the possible effects of these changes in the colonial currency. You will observe, therefore, that Her Majesty in Council has been pleased to declare that, until actually promulgated by you, the Proclamation of the 14th instant shall not take effect within the colony under your government. It will be in your power, therefore, to defer the publication of it for some short interval, which you might advantageously employ in communi- cating with the principal merchants, landed proprietors, and other leading persons in the colony on the subject. You will avail yourself of that opportunity of explain- ing the motives by which Her Majesty's Government has been guided, and for removing any erroneous impressions which may at first be formed respecting the character and tendency of this measure. The interval of delay cannot however, I apprehend, be much protracted ; for as the Orders and Proclamation must appear in the public Gazette in this country, and will therefore be universally known, and as their official promulgation in any one of the colonies to which they apply will render the same course inevitable in all the rest, it cannot be deferred for more than a short time in any. You will of course observe that the Royal Proclama- tion is framed with reference only to the sterling money of Great Britain. But as the pecuniary transactions of the West Indian colonies are all entered into with refer- ence to the various local currencies or monies of account, the measure will be incomplete and comparatively ineffi- cient, if the effect of the change in the relative values of the British and foreign coins should not be authorita- tively stated in the terms of that conventional currency. But after the most careful inquiry, it has been found impracticable to ascertain the relation of current and sterling money throughout all the different West Indian colonics, with the exactness and precision which would be m 205 requisite, if the Royal Proclamation were so framed as to embrace that branch of the subject. I find that in the year 1825 the same difficulty existed. It was at that time overcome by delegating to the respective Governors the duty of proclaiming in the various colonies the rates at which the Spanish dollar should pass current in the dif- ferent local monies of account. Instructions to that effect were conveyed by Earl Bathurst, in his circular despatch accompanying the Order in Council of March, 1825. In ])ursuance of those instructions, various proclamations have been issued for this purpose by the Governors, which proclamations are still in force. It is proposed to follow this precedent on the present occasion. You will, therefore, upon promulgating the Royal Proclamation, publish a subsidiary proclamation, de- claring what is the sum of the money of account in the colony under your government to which the British shilling, the dollar, and the doubloon, are respectively equivalent. Her Majesty does not delegate to you any discretionary authority for determining the relative values of these coins in the terms of the local currency, but merely confides to you the duty of expressing with accuracy in those terms the proportions established be- tween them by the Royal Proclamation. The meaning will perhaps be rendered more clear by the following illustration. Let it be supposed that in the colony under your government the doubloon is equivalent in money of account to five pounds, six shillings, and eight pence (5/. 6s. Sd.). The consequence will be, that the dollar will be equivalent to six shillings, eleven pence, and one-third of a penny {6s. IHd.) of the money of account, and that the British shilling will be equivalent to one shilling and eight pence (1*. 8c?.) of the same money of account. The accuracy of these statements is readily shown, by 1 ji r ''■ li i '■ ' \h : 1) ii' ; 1 \ l' 206 exhibiting in the usual arithmetical form the proportions which subsist between the sums to which I have referred. For 6*. lljd.: bl. 6«. 8c?.:: As. 2d. : 64s., and Is. 8c?.: 6«. IHc?. :: \s, '. As. "Id, Or, if it be supposed that, in the colony under your government, the doubloon is equivalent in money of ac- count to eight pounds (8/.), then, according to the same rule of proportion, the dollar and the British shilling will be equivalent to ten shillings and five pence (10*. 5fZ,), and two shillings and sixpence (2s. 6^/.) respectively, of the same money of account. The assumptions as to the value of the doubloon in the local money of account may not coincide with the fact in the case of any one colony. They are stated merely by way of hypothesis and illustration, and will serve to show the principle on which the proportionate value of the British shilling, the dollar, and the doubloon, may be cal- culated in each colony, for the purpose of promulgating in each the subsidiary proclamation by which the rules laid down by Her Majesty in Council will be expressed in the terms of the various IocpI currencies. When you shall have issued any such proclamation, you will com- municate it to me, in order that it may receive Her Ma- jesty's ultimate sanction and confirmation I have, &c. At the Court at Windsor, the 7th day of September, 1838. Present, The Queen's Most Excellent Majesty in Council. Whereas by an Order of His late Majesty King George the Fourth, made with the advice of his Privy Council, and bearing date the 23rd of March, 1825, after reciting, 207 amongst other things, that it had been represented to His Majesty at the Council Board, by the Lords Commis- sioners of His Majesty's Treasury, that they had given directions that His Majesty's troops serving in the several British colonies and possessions abroad should, in certain cases, be paid in British silver and copper money ; and that, with a view of securing the circulation of such money in those colonies, it would be expedient that an Order in Council should be issued, declaring that in all those co- lonies where the Spanish dollar was then, either by law, fact, or practice, considered as a legal tender for the dis- charge of debts ; or where the duties of the Government were rated or collected, or the individuals had a right to be paid in that description of coin, that a tender and pay- ment of British silver money, to the amount of four shil- lings and four pence, should be considered as equivalent to the tender or payment of one Spanish dollar, and so in proportion for any greater or less amount of debt ; his said late Majesty was pleased to approve of what was pro- posed in the said representation. And whereas it is expedient that the said recited Order in Council should be revoked, so far as respects Her Ma- jesty's colonies and possessions in America and the West Indies, be it, therefore, and it is hereby ordered, by the Queen's Most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice of her Privy Council, that so far as respects Her Majesty's colonies and possessions in America, and in the West Indies, the said recited Order shall be, and the same is hereby rescinded. And the Right Honourable Lord Glenelg, one of Her Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State, is to give the necessary directions herein accordingly. (Signed) C. C. Greville. \ ■I 208 At the Court at Windsor, the 14th day of September, 1838. Present, The Queen's Most I-Uxcellknt Majesty in Council. Wherkas there was this day read at the Board, the draft of a Proclamation regulating the rate at which cer- tain foreign coins are to pass current in Her Majesty's West India colonies : Her Majesty having taken the same into consideration, was pleased, by and with the advice of Her Privy Council, to approve thereof, and to order, as it is hereby ordered, that the said Proclamation do take effect and come into force, in each of Her Majesty's said colonics, upon, and from and after such day as shall be, for that purpose, limited by the Governor or officer ad- ministering the Government of each of the said colonies respectively, by any proclamations to be by them respect- ively, for that purpose, issued in each of such respective colonies. And the Right Honourable Lord Glcnelg, one of Her Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State, is to give the necessary directions for causing publication to be made hereof within Her Majesty's said colonies. (Signed) C. C. Greville. By the Queen, a Proclamation. Wherea8 the coin current in Our West India colonies, including Our province of British Guiana, consisting partly of the current coin of the United Kingdom, and partly of Spanish, Mexican, and Columbian gold coin, called doubloons, and of Sj)ani8h, Mexican, and Colum- bian silver coin, called dollars ; and it is expedient tliat the rate at which the said doubloons and dollars shall cir- culate in Our said colonies should be ascertained and fixed. Now therefore We, by the advice of Our Privy 209 Council, have thought fit to declare and ordain, and by the advice aforesaid. We do hereby declare and ordain, that throughout the whole of Our said colonics the said doubloon shall circulate and be received in payment as being of the full value of sixty-four shillings sterling, cur- rent money of the United Kingdom, and the said dollar shall circulate and be received in payment as being of the full value of four shillings and two pence sterling, like current money of the United Kingdom. And in all payments to be made in any of Our said colonics, tender of payment in doubloons and dollars, or either of them, at the rate aforesaid, shall be deemed and taken to be a lawful tender, in the same manner as if such tender had been made in the current coin of the United Kingdom. Given at Our Court at Windsor, this Fourteenth Day of September One Thousand Eight Hun- dred and Thirty-Eight, and in the Second Year of Our Reign. God Save the Queen. MAURITIUS. (l. S.) At the Court at Windsor, the ist of February, 1843. Present^ The Queen's Most Excellent Majesty in Council. Whereas by an Order of His late Majesty King George the Fourth, made with the advice of his Privy Council, and bearing date the 23rd of March, 1825, after reciting, amongst other things, that it had been repre- sented to His Majesty at the Council Board, by the Lords Commissioners of His Majesty's Treasury, that they had given directions that His Majesty's troops serving in the several British colonics and [)osscssions p ^n 210 ' 1!, Ht t|. abroad, should in certain cases be paid in British silver and copper money, and that with a view of securing the circulation of such money in those colonies, it would be expedient that an Order in Council should be issued de- claring that in all those colonies where the Spanish dollar was then, either by law, fact, or practice, considered as a legal tender for the discharge of debts ; or where the duties to the Government were rated or collected, or the individuals had a right to be paid in that description of coin, that a tender and payment of British silver money to the amount of 4s. 4d. should be considered as equiva- lent to the tender or payment of one Spanish dollar, and so in proportion for any greater or less amount of debt ; His said late Majesty was pleased to approve of what was proposed in the said representation. And whereas it is expedient that the said recited Order in Council should be revoked so far as respects Her Ma- jesty's colony of Mauritius and its dependencies ; be it therefore and it is hereby ordered by the Queen's Most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice of her Privy Council, that so far as respects Her Majesty's said colony of the Mauritius and its dependencies, the said recited Order shall be and the same is hereby rescinded. And the Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty's Trea- sury, and the Right Honourable Lord Stanley, one of Her Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State, are to give the necessary directions herein accordingly. (Signed) William L. Bathurst. A Proclamation by the Queen. Whereas the coin current in Our colony of the Mau- ritius and its dependencies consisting partly of the cur- rent coin of the United Kingdom, and partly of the gold and silver coin current in the territories of the East 211 India Company, or of gold and silver coin of Foreign States ; and it is expedient that the rate at which the said gold and silver coin of the territories of the East India Company or of Foreign States shall circulate in Our said colony shall be ascertained and fixed. Now therefore We, by the advice of Our Privy Council, have thought fit to declare and ordain, and by the advice aforesaid We do hereby declare and ordain that through- out Our said colony of the Mauritius and its dependen- cies the said gold coins shall circulate and be received in payment, as being of the full value and equivalent to current money of the United Kingdom, at the rates here- after specified, that is to say — The doubloon of Spain, Mexico, or the States of South America at the rate of 64*. sterling. The gold mohur of the East India Company's terri- tory, coined since the 1st day of September, 1835, at the rate of 29s. 2d. sterling. The French gold piece of 20 francs, at the rate of 15s. lOd. sterling. And the said silver coins shall circulate and be received in payment as being of the full value and equivalent to current money of the United Kingdom, at the following rates, that is to say, The dollar of Spain, Mexico, or the South American States, at the rate of 4s. 2d. sterling. The rupee of the East India Company's territory, coined since the 1st day of September, 1835, at the rate of Is. lOd. sterling. The French piece of five francs, or French pieces of one and two francs to the same amount (viz. five francs), at the rate of 3s. lO^rf. sterling ; provided always that the said French silver coins shall not be a legal tender in sums of less than five francs. And in all payments to be made in Our said colony of p2 M ■' . 212 Mauritius or its dependencies tender of payment in the said coins or either of them, at the several respective rates aforesaid, shall be deemed and taken to be a lawful tender, in the same manner as if such tender had been made in the current coin of the United Kingdom. (l. s.) At the Court at Windsor, the 1st day of February, 1843. Present, The Queen's Most Excellent Majesty in Council. Whereas there was this day read at the Board the draft of a Proclamation regulating the rates at which certain foreign coins and coins of the East India Com- pany's territories are to pass current in Her Majesty's colony of the Mauritius and its dependencies ; Her Ma- jesty having taken the same into consideration was pleased, by and with the advice of Her Privy Council, to approve thereof, and to order, and it is hereby ordered, that the said Proclamation do take effect and come into force in Her Majesty's said colony and the dependencies thereof, upon and from and after such day as shall be for that purpose limited by the Governor or officer administering the Government of the same, by a proclamation to be by him for that purpose issued. And the Right Honourable Lord Stanley, one of Her Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State, is to give the requisite directions for causing publication to be made hereof in Her Majesty's said colony, and for the other purposes referred to herein. (Signed) C. Gkevillk. 213 Extract from Treasury Minute of 7th March^ 1845, relating to the Currency at the Mauritius. " The intention of Her Majesty's Proclamation and of the other measures the Governor was simultaneously directed to adopt, was to establish at the Mauritius, more effectually than had been done by the arrangements of 1825, an ascertained and settled standard of value, based upon and assimilated to the standard of the United Kingdom, which may also be considered as the legitimate standard for Her Majesty's colonial possessions ; and at the same time, by legalizing the tender of certain foreign or Indian coins, to provide against scarcity of metallic circulating medium from want of ready access to supplies of British coins. Arrangements to this effect had already been very beneficially adopted in most of Her Majesty's colonial possessions, and the extension of them to the Mauritius had become urgently necessary as the only apparent means of preventing the recurrence of those diffi- culties and cmbarassments, as regarded the circulating medium, to which the inhabitants and the Government had been exposed. *' With these views, in addition to British coin, the cur- rency and tender of coins of foreign states or of the East India Company's possessions has been legalized; but, to guard against any infringement of the integrity of the standard of value, this legalization has been effected with reference to the value of the several coins as compared with the British sovereign or pound sterling. As regarded gold coins, this comparative value would obviously be deter- mined by their contents in pure gold ; but, as regarded silver coins, reference could only properly be had for determining the comparative value, first, to the contents of the coins in pure silver, and, secondly, to the general marketable value of that silver in British sterling money. " Independently of casual and temporary variations, l]'i t ^ % % ' 214 the relative value of pure silver to pure gold, as indi- cated by the transactions in the principal bullion markets of the world, has been for some years past about 15*7 of silver to I of gold, equivalent, as nearly as may be, to a money price of 5*. British sterling for the ounce of silver of British standard fineness. According to this price, the rates at which foreign or Indian silver coins should cir- culate and be a legal tender in the British colonies, have been fixed ; and not with any reference to their value as compared with the silver coins of the United Kingdom. " The fact of the British silver coins being in effect tokens, passing at nominal rates above their intrinsic value, would appear not to have been adverted to either by the President of the Mauritius Bank, or by the financial officers ; and the omission to advert to this fact has doubtless led to the erroneous conclusions at which those parties appear to have arrived, in regard to the propriety or probable effects of enhancing the value of the rupee. *' The circumstances, however, under which British silver coins and the silver coins of foreign states or of the East India Company are issued, and can be obtained for circulation in the colonies, are by no means analogous; inasmuch as, that while there is no limitation to the coin- age and issue of the foreign or Indian coins, the British silver coins can only be procured to a limited amount by special orders for their preparation and issue at Her Majesty's Mint, and upon payment for them of their full nominal value ; and they arc not to be obtained from the Mint at the option of any party who may casually require them. Although, therefore, these coins are, as above stated, strictly speaking only tokens, and as c;' n are a legal tender within the United Kingdom to a limited amount only, they are readily accepted in payment of sums much beyond that limit, and in all ordinary pecu- 215 niary transactions their nominal value is fully main- tained. '* In the colonies the value of these coins is further established and maintained by their being made receiv- able at their nominal rates, without limitation of amount, in payment of all pub^\c duties, whether under imperial or colonial laws, and m exchange for all bills negotiated for the public service, and in all other public money transactions; and they are also generally available for remittance to any amount to the mother country or to other colonies. " In consideration of these circumstances, and of the ample security they afford for the realization at all times of the full nominal value of the coins, it has been found expedient that British silver coins at their nominal value should be a legalized tender in the colonies without limitation. " If any inconvenience had been found to result from this arrangement, it would have been incumbent on Her Majesty's Government to place a limitation on the tender of these coins ; but as they are not in request, unless in very peculiar cases, for purposes of foreign mercantile remittance, and are therefore less liable than other coins to be withdrawn from local circulation, they have been found to constitute a very useful and effective local cur- rency, especially in distant and isolated colonies. " The circumstances thus premised will evince to Sir W. Gomm and to the financial officers of his Government, that the rates at which foreign or Indian silver coins are to circulate, when legalized as a tender, in the colonies, can in no respect depend on any comparison of their intrinsic value with that of the silver coins of this country ; but that those rates are to be determined with reference to the value of the coins as compared with British sterling money." IT 216 m W -i •1 m WEST COAST OF AFRICA. (l. S.) At the Court at Buckingham Palace, the 10th Junc^ 1843. Present, The Queen's Most Excellent Majesty in Council. Whereas by an Order of His late Majesty King George the Fourth, made with the advice of his Privy Council, and bearing date the 23rd of March, 1825, after reciting amongst other things that it had been represented to His Majesty at the Council Board, by the Lords Commis- sioners of His Majesty's Treasury, that they had given directions that His Majesty's troops serving in the several British colonies and possessions abroad, should, in certain cases, be paid in British silver and copper money, and that with the view of securing the circulation of such money in those colonies, it would be expedient that an Order in Council should be issued, declaring that in all those colonies where the Spanish dollar was then, cither by law, fact, or practice, considered as a legal tender for the discharge of debts; or where the duties to the Government were rated or collected, or the individuals had a right to be paid in that description of coin, that a tender and payment of British silver money to the amount of 4s. 4d. should be considered as equivalent to the tender and payment of one Spanish dollar, and so on in propor- tion for any greater or less amount of debt ; his said late Majesty was pleased to approve of what was proposed in the said representation. And whereas it is expedient that the said recited Order in Council should be revoked, so far as respects Her Majesty's colonics and possessions at Sierra Leone, the River Gambia, Cape Coast, and elsewhere on the western f r 217 coast of the continent of Africa, and any dependencies thereon J be it therefore and it is hereby ordered by the Queen's Most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice of Her Privy Council, that so far as respects Her Majesty's said colonies and possessions, the said recited Order shall be and the same is hereby rescinded. And the Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty's Trea- sury, and the Right Honourable Lord Stanley, one of Her Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State, are to give the necessary directions herein accordingly. (Signed) Wm. L. Bathurst. A Proclamation by the Queen. Whereas the coins current in Our colonics and posses- sions at Sierra Leone, the River Gambia, Cape Coast, and elsewhere on the western coast of the continent of Africa, consisting partly of the current coin of the United Kingdom, and partly of the gold and silver coins of foreign states ; and it is expedient that the rates at which the said gold and silver coins of foreign states shall circu- late in Our said colonies and possessions shall be ascer- tained and fixed : Now therefore We, by the advice of Our Privy Council, have thought fit to declare and or- dain, and by the advice aforesaid We do hereby declare and ordain, that throughout Our said colonies and posses- sions at Sierra Leone, the River Gambia, Cape Coast, or elsewhere on the western coast of the continent of Africa, and the dependencies thereof, the said gold coins shall circulate and be received in payment, as being of the full value and equivalent to current money of the United Kingdom, at the rates hereafter specified ; that is to say. The doubloon of Spain, Mexico, or the States of South America, at the rate of 645. sterling. W'l V' P : -! i':i 5 218 The French gold piece of 20 francs^ at the rate of 15*. lOd. sterling. And the said silver coins shall circulate and be re- ceived in payment, as being of the full value and equiv- alent to current money of the United Kingdom, at the following rates ; that is to say. The dollar of Spain, Mexico, or the South American States, at the rate of 4s. 2d. sterling. The French piece of five francs, at the rate of 3s. lO^d. sterling. And in all payments to be made in Our said colonies and possessions above mentioned, tender of payment in the said coins, or either of them, at the several respective rates aforesaid, shall be deemed and taken to be a lawful tender, in the same manner as if such tender had been made in the current coin of the United Kingdom. (l. s.) At the Court at Buckingham Palace, the 10th of June, 1843. Present, The Queen's Most Excelll;i from and after such day as shall be for that purpose limited by the Governor or officer administering the Government of the same by a proclamation to be by him for that j)urpose issued. And the Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty's Trca il ». if 'EH' ■ 1 PIfi I 232 sury, and the Right Honourable Lord Stanley, one of Her Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State, are to give requisite directions for causing publication to be made hereof in Her Majesty's said island, and for other pur- poses referred to therein. (Signed) Wm. L. Bathurst. GIBRALTAR. (l. s.) At the Court at Buckingham Palack, the 23rd of May, 1844. Present, The Quefn's Most Exckllent Majksty in Council. Whereas by an Order of His late Majesty King George the Fourth, made with the advice of his Privy Council, and bearing date the 23rd March, 1825, after reciting amongst other things, that it had been represented to His Majesty at the Council Board, by the Lords Com- missioners of His Majesty's Treasury, tiiat they had given directions tha,t His Majesty's troops serving in the several British colonies and possessions abroad should in certain cases be paid in British silver and copper money, and that with the view of securing the circulation of such money in those colonies, it would be expedient that an Order in Council should be issued, declaring that in all those colo- nies where the Spanish dollar was then, either by law, fact, or practice, considered as a legal tender for the dis- charge of debts, or wnere the duties of the Government were rated or collected, or the individuals had a right to be paid in that description of coin, that a tender and pay- ment ot' British silver money to the amount of 4*. 4d. should be considered as equivalent to the tender and pay- ment of one Spanish dollar, and so on in proportion for any greater or less amount of debt ; his said late Majesty was pleased to approve of what was proposed in the said representation. 233 And whereas it is expedient that the said recited Order in Council should be revoked so far as respects Her Majesty's garrison and territory of Gibraltar, be it there- fore, and it is hereby ordered by the Queen's Most Ex- cellent Majesty, by and with the advice of Her Privy Council, that so far as respects Her Majesty's said gar- rison and territory the said recited Order shall be, and the same is hereby rescinded. And the Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty's Trea- sury, and the Right Honourable Lord Stanley, one of Her Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State, are to give the necessary directions herein accordingly. (Signed) Wm. L. Batiiurst. Proclamation by the Quekn. Whereas the coins current within Our garrison and i irritory of Gibraltar, consisting partly of the current coin of the United Kingdom, and partly of gold, silver, and co])per coins of Spain, or of the South American States, and it is expedient that the rates at which the said Spanish or other foreign coins shall circulate within Our said garrison and territory shall be ascertained and fixed : Now therefore, We, by the advice of Our Privy Council, have thought fit to declare and ordain, and by the advice aforesaid We do hereby declare and ordain, that within and throughout Our said garrison and terri- tory of Gibraltar, the said coins shall circulate and be received in payment as being of the full value, and equi- valent to current mon :y of the United Kingdom, at the rates hereafter specified ; that is to say, The gold doubloon of Spain, Mexico, or the South American States, at the rate of 66j. 8d. sterling. The gold or silver dollar of Spain, or the dollar of Mexico or the South American States, at the rate of 4.9. 2d. sterling. f.':'* li' 234 And We do further ordain and declare, that the copper coin denominated the quarto shall pass current and Le received in payment as of the value and equivalent to the one hundred and ninety-second part of the said dollar ; provided always, that no person shall be compelled to receive at any one payment more than forty-eij^ht of the said quartos. And in all payments to be made within Our said garri- son and territory above mentioned, tenders of payment in the said coins or either of them at the several respec- tive rates, but, as regards quartos, subject to the limita- tion as to amount as aforesaid, shall be deemed and taken to be a legal tender in the same manner as if such tender had been made in the current coin of the United Kingdom. (l. s.) At the Court at Windsor, the 3rd September, 1844. Present^ The Queen's Most Excellent Majesty in Council. Whereas there was this day read at the Board the draft of a Proclamation regulating the rates at which certain foreign coins are to pass current within Her Ma- jesty's garrison and territory of Gibraltar; Her Majesty having taken the same into consideration was pleased, by and with the advice of Her Privy Council, to approve thereof, and to order, and it is hereby ordered, that the said Proclamation do take effect and come into force in Her Majesty's said garrison and territory, upon and from and after such day as shall be for that purpose limited by the Governor or officer administering the government of the same, by a proclamation to be by him for that pur pose issued. And the Right Honourable the Lords Commissioners 235 of Her Majesty's Treasury, and the Right Honourable Lord Stanley, one of Her Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State, are to give the requisite directions for causing publication to be made hereof in Her Majesty's said garrison and territory, and for the other purposes referred to herein accordingly. (Signed) C. Gheville. A Proclamation by the Queen. Whereas by Our Proclamation for ascertaining and fixing the rates at which certain Spanish and other foreign coins shall circulate and be a lawful tender within Our garrison and territory of Gibraltar, it was among other things declared and ordained that the gold doubloon of Spain, Mexico, or the South American States should cir- culate and be received in payment as being of the full value and equivalent to 66s. 8(/. of the current money of the United Kingdom. And whereas it hath been represented unto us by the Lords Commissioners of Our Treasury, that it is expedient that the directions thereby given, and the value therein set forth, should be appli- cable to the doubloon of Spain only. Now, therefore. We, by the advice of our Privy Council, have thought fit further to declare and ordain, and by the advice afore- said We do hereby declare and ordain accordingly, that, so far as regards the circulation and tender of doubloons of Mexico or of the South American States, the directions given by Our said Proclamation shall be revoked and annulled. 236 li'^i *t (L. S.) At the Couwt at Buckingham Palace, the 26th April, 1845. Present^ The Queen's Most Excellent Majesty in Council. Whereas there was this day read at the Board the draft of a Proclamation revoking so much of a Proclama- tion for regulating the rates at which certain foreign coins are to pass current within Her Majesty's garrison and territory of Gibraltar, as relates to the circulation and lawful tender of doubloons of Mexico and of the South American States. Her Majesty, having taken the same into consideration, was pleased, by and with the advice of Her Privy Council, to approve thereof, and to order, and it is hereby ordered, that this Procla- mation do take effect and come into force upon and from and after the promulgation thereof in Her Majesty's said garrison and territory by the Governor or officer adminis- tering the Government of the same. And the Right Honourable the Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury, and the ^ Kight Honourable Lord Stanley, one of Her Majesty's Princi})al Secretaries of State, are to give the requisite directions herein accord- ingly. (Signed) \Vm. L. Bathukst. HONG KONG. At the Court at Windsor, the 28th November, 1844. Present, The Queen's Most Excellent Majesty in Council. AViiERKAS there was this day read at the Board the draft of a Proclamation respecting the rates at which certain foreign coins and coins of the East India Com- 237 pany's territories are to pass current in Her Majesty's colony of Honj^ Kong and its dependencies, and further relating to the standard of value and tender of payment within the said colony ; Her Majesty having taken the same into consideration, was pleased, by and with the advice of Her Privy Council, to approve thereof, and to order, and it is hereby ordered, that the said Proclama- tion do take effect and come into force from the date of the publication thereof in Her Majesty's said island of Hong Kong, by the Governor of the same. And the Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty's Trea- sury, and the Right Honourable Lord Stanley, one of Her Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State, are to give the requisite directions for causing publication of the said Proclamation to be made in Her Majesty's said colony, and for the other several purposes referred to therein. (Signed) Wm. L. Bathurst. By Tin; Qukkn, a Proclamation. W-iiEHKAS, on the 'iOth day of March, IS J2, a Proclama- tion was issued at Hong Kong by Sir Henry Pottinger, Baronet, Our Plenipotentiary and Chief Superintendent of the Trade of British Subjects in China, in the terms following, that is to say, — " With reference to the desirable object of preventing disputes, and laying down some defined system regarding the circulating medium in this settlement, His Excel- lency Sir Henry Pottinger. Bart.. He r Majesty's Plenipo- tentiary and Chief Superintendent of the Trade of British Subjects in China, is pleased to promulgate the following brief rules, which are to be considered applicable to all comuKm bazaar purchases, and barter, hire, &c. Sec , but not to interfere Vith, or allect what may be termed mer- cantile transactions, and arc to be in force on the Island 11 238 m of Hong Kong, pending the gracious pleasure of Her Majesty the Queen of Great Britain. *' 1st. The following coins are to be deemed legal ten- ders: — Spanish, Mexican, and other dollars, and their component parts. Company's rupees and their component parts, * cash,' or the copper coin current in China. "2nd. Dollars of whatever denomination or device, and whether whole or chopped, are to circulate at par with reference to each other, always providing that they be of the proper weight and standard. " 3rd. Two and one quarter Company's rupees shall be considered equal to one dollar. " One rupee and two annas (or half a quarter) equal to half a dollar, and three-quarters of a rupee (or 12 annas) equal to one quarter of a dollar. "4th. Twelve hundred cash (1200) copper coin shall be equal to one dollar. •• Six hundred (600) to half a dollar. '* Three hundred (300) to a quarter of a dollar. "Five hundred and thirty-three (533) to one Com- pany's rupee. ** Two hundred and sixty-six (266) to half a rupee. " One hundred and thirty-three (133) to one quarter of a rupee, " oth. Any other coins, whether British or foreign, not enumerated in the preceding rules, are not to be deemed a legal tender, but they can, of course, be sold or other- wise bartered in the bazaar, according to their intrinsic value. " 6th. Cash copper coin, at the rate laid down in the 4th rule, will be sold to any individual requiring it, in sums of not less than 50 dollars, on application to the Treasurer and Secretary to Her Britannic Majesty's Superintendent of Trade. " God Save the Queen.'* 239 And whereas, on the 27th day of April, 1842, a further Proclamation was issued by Our said Plenipotentiary and Chief Superintendent of the Trade of British Subjects in China, in the terms following ; That is to say, " 'J'he letter, of which a copy is hereunto annexed, having been addressed to me by the mercantile firms who have signed it, on behalf of themselves and others, I do hereby direct and proclaim, in conformity with their application, that, pending the gracious pleasure of the Queen of England, the Mexican and other republican dollars shall be taken as, and considered to be, the stand- ard, in all Government and mercantile transactions, at Hong Kong and other places in China in the occupation of Her Majesty's forces, unless at the time of such trans- actions taking place it should be expressly specified to the contrary. " And I do further announce, that the present Pro- ..iamation is not to be taken in any way or shape as affect- ing the provisions of the one which I j)romulgated on the 29th day of last month, relative to the circulating medium on the island of Hong Kong. *• God Save the Queen. ^' And whereas, by Our Letters Patent, bearing date the 5th day of April, in the sixth year of Our reign. We did erect and constitute Our island of Hong Kong and its dependencies into a separate colony, to be known and de- ignated as the colony of Hong Kong. And by Our instructions to Our Governor of the said colony, Wc did then direct and ordain that he should not propose or assent to any legislative ordinance whatever, whereby any " bills of credit or any other paper currency, or any coin, save only the legal coin of the realm, may be made or I 240 And whereas it hath been represented to Us, by the Lords Commissioners of Our Treasury, that doubts have arisen with reference to the terms of the said hereinbefore recited Proclamations of the 29th day of March and the 27th day of April, 1842, respecting the legal sufficiency of tenders of payment within Our said island and its de- pendencies in British coins ; and it is expedient that such doubts should be removed, and that the regulations re- garding standard of value and tenders of payment within Our said island should be assimilated to those of Our other possessions abroad. Now, therefore, We, by the advice of Our Privy Coun- cil, have thought fit to declare and ordain, and, by the advice aforesaid. We do hereby declare and ordain, that from and after the date of the publication in the said island of Hong Kong of this Our Proclamation, the said hereinbefore recited i*roclamations issued on the 29th day of March and 27th day of April, in the year 1842, as aforesaid, shall be revoked and annulled. And We do further declare and ordain, that from and after the date of the publication, as aforesaid,' of this Our Proclamation, the several coins hereinafter specified, being perfect coins, avid of full and proper weight and value, shall, in like manner as the gold, silver, and copper coins of the United Kingdom, be and constitute a legal tender of payment within Our said island of Hong Kong and its dependencies, at the several respective rates, and as equivalent to the values undermentioned : That is to say, The gold mohur of the East India Com])any's territory, coined since the Ist day of September, 183'), at the rate of 29.«. 2(1. sterling money of the United Kingdom. The dollar of Spain, Mexico, or the South American States, at the rate of Ls-. 2d. sterling. The rupee of the East India Company's territory. 241 coined since the 1st day of September, 1835. at the rate of 1*. lOd. sterling ; and the half rupee, quarter rupee, and eighth of rupee pieces, in proportion . The cash, or copper coin, current in China, at the rate of 288 cash for \s. sterling. And we do hereby further declare and ordain, that ten- ders of payment in the said coins, being, as aforesaid, per- fect coins, and of full and proper weight and value, as well as in the gold, silver, or copper coins of the United Kingdom, or any or either of them, according to the several relative rates and values hereinbefore specified, shall be deemed and talcen within Our said Island of Hong Kong and its dependencies, to be a sufficient find lawful tender, in satisfaction and discharge of all debts, contracts, and engagements whatsoever for the payment of money ; provided always nevertheless, and We do fur- ther ordain and declare, that nothing herein contained shall be deemed or taken to render it compulsory on any per- son to accept at any one payment a larger amount in silver coins of the United Kingdom of lower denomination than is., or in the half-quarter or eighth rupee pieces herein- before mentioned, than the equivalent to 20.s\ stcrlinej money, or a larger amount in copper coins of the United Kingdom, or in the Chinese copper coins before men- tioned, than the equivalent to Is. of sterling money. can m W 242 BANKING COMPANIES IN THE COLONIES. {Circular.) Sir, Downing-strcet, 30th May, 1846. On the 4th of May, 1840, Lord J. Russell transmitted to you a Copy of Certain Regulations, the observance of which, in all Charters or Legislative Enactments relating to the Incorporation of Banking Companies in the Co- lonies, Her Majesty's Government then considered of much importance. The Correspondence which has since taken place on subjects of this nature, and the arrangements adopted by Parliament in regard to Banks of Issue in the United Kingdom, appear to her Majesty's Government to have rendered necessary some modification of those Regu- lations, with a view to bring them into exact accordance with the principles on these subjects established in this Country. I accordingly transmit to you herewith a series of Regulations, revised with that object, to be substituted for those of May, 1840. These Regulations are forwarded to you, not, of course, as inflexible rules to be in all cases insisted on, but as embodying the general principles to be observed in the preparation of Colonial Acts for the Incorporation of Banking Companies; and Her Majesty's Government consider a compliance with all the more material con- ditiims and restrictions as of much importance to the security of the Communities in which such Banks may be established, and more especially to the poorer classes of such Communities. I must, therefore, desire you to take care, that in any Ordinances or Hills introduced into the Legislative Council of the Colony under your Govern- ment, for the Incorporation of Banking Companies, these conditions and restrictions be inserted. ' I have the honour to be, Sir, Your most obedient Servant, 243 Regulations and Conditions for the Observance of which Provision should be made in Charters or Legislative Enactments relating to the Incorporation of Banking Com- panies in the Colonies. 1st. — The Amount of the Capital of the Company and Number of Shares to be determined ; and the whole of such determined amount to be subscribed for within a limited period, not exceeding Eighteen Months from the date of the Charter or Act of Incorporation. 2nd. — Shareholders to be declared a Body Corporate, with common seal and perpetual succession, and other usual corporate powers ; and with any requisite proviso that judgment against the Corporation shall attach to all additional liability of the Shareholders, as well as to paid-up Capital and other property of the Company. 3rd. — Provision to be made, either by Recital and Con- firmation of any Deed of Settlement in these respects or otherwise, for the due Management of the Company's Affairs by Appointment of Directors, and so forth, so far as shall seem necessary for the security of the Public. 4th. — No by-law of the Company to be repugnant to the conditions of the Charter or Act of Incorj)oration, or to the Laws of any Colony in which the Company's Establishments may be placed. 5th. — The Corporate Body thus constituted to be specially empowered, subject to the conditions hereafter mentioned, to carry on for and during a limited term of years (not to exceed Twenty-One Years unless under particular circumstances,) and within the Colony or Colonies specified in the Charter or Act of Incorporation, but not elsewhere, the Business of Banker ; and for and during the like term to issue and circulate within the ii2 ^ m k h 244 said Colony or Colonies, hut in such manner only as shall not be at variance with any general Law of* the Colony, Promissory Notes payaMe in Specie on Demand, r • .' 6th. — Such Banking- Business or Issue of Notes not to commence or take ])lacc until the whole of the Fixed Capital of the Company has been subscribed for, and a moiety at least, of the Subscription paid up. 7th. — The remaining moiety of the Capital to be paid up within a given period from the date of the Charter or Act of Incorporation, such period not in general to exceed Two Years. ' ; ' .., r • 8th. — In all cases in which Shares in the Company's Stock are transferred between the period of the Grant of the Charter or Act of Incorporation and the actual commencing of business by the Bank, the responsibility of the original holder of the transferred Shares to continue for Six Months at least alter the date of the transfer. i)th. — The Company not to advance Money on Security of Lands or Houses or Ships, or on pledge of Merchandise, nor to hold LanJs or Houses, except for the transaction of its business, nor own Ships, or be engaged in Trade, except as dealers in Bullion or Bills of Exchange ; but to confine its transactions to discounting Commercial Paper and negotiable Securities, and other legitimate Banking Business. 10th. — The Company not to hold Shares in its own Stock, nor to make advances on the security of those Shares. •. 11th. — The Discounts or Advances by the Company, on Securities bearing the name of any Director or Officer thereof, as drawer, acce])tor, or endorser, not to exceed at any time one-third of the total Advances and Discounts of the Bank. . ^ i ^, 245 1 2th. — The Dividends to shareholders to be made out of Profits only, and not out of the subscribed Capital of the Company. - 'I . . • 1 3th. — The total amount of the Debts and Liabilities of the Company, whether upon Bonds, Bills, Promissory Notes, or otherwis? contracted, over and above the amount of Deposits on Banking Accounts with the Company's Establishments, not to exceed at any time three times the amount of the Capital Stock subscribed and actually paid up. . 14th. — No Promissory or other Notes to be issued for sums under 1/. sterhng (or in the North American Colonies 1/. Halifax currency), or the equivalent thereof in any other local currency, and not for fractional portions of such Pound or other equivalent amount. 15th. — All Promissory Notes of the Company, whether issued from the Principal Establishment or from Branch Banks, to bear date at the place of issue, and to be pay- able on demand in Specie at the place of date. 16th. — The total amount of the Promissory Notes payable on demand, issued, and in circulation, not at any time to exceed the amount of the Capital Stock of the Company actually paid up. 17th. — In the event of the assets of the Company being insufficient to meet i(s engagements, the Shareholders to be responsible to the extent of twice the amount of their subscribed Shares (that is, for the amount subscribed, and for a further and additional amount equal thereto). 18th. — Suspension of Specie Payments on Demand at any of the Company's Banking Establishments, for a given number of days (not in any case exceeding si.xty) within any one year, either consecutively or at intervals, 246 II -jS: r '' or other breach of the Special Conditions upon which the Company is empowered to open Banking Establishments or to issue and circulate Promissory Notes, to forfeit those privileges, which shall cease and determine upon such forfeiture as if the period for which they had been granted had expired. 19th. — The Company to make up and publish periodi- cal Statements of its Assets and Liabilities half-yearly or yearly ; showing, under the heads specified in the annexed form, the average of the amount of its Notes in circulation, and other Liabilities, at the termination of each week or month, during the period to which the statement refers, and the average amount of Specie or other Assets that were available to meet the same. Copies of these state- ments to be submitted to the Government of the Colony within which the Company may be established ; and the Company to be prepared, if called upon, to verify such Statements by the production, as confidential documents, of the Weekly or Monthly Balance Sheets from which the same are compiled. And also to be prepared, upon re- quisition from the Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury, to furnish, in like manner, such further infor- mation respecting the state or proceedings of its Banking Establishments as their Lordships may see fit to call for. 20th. — The Charter or Act of Incorporation may pro- vide for an addition to the Capital of the Company within specified limits, with the sanction of the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury ; such additional Capital, and the Shares and SubscViptions that may constitute the same, to be subject in every respect, from and after the date of the signification of such sanction, to conditions and regulations similar to those applying to the original Capital. 247 ^ c+ic+^ ^ ^ ^ '^ a» O o H A H H b O O s ca , « I -S N -»-> 'ii <»- > o •> f QD « - ;s o "T O 1-3 -" C 3 9 S O {3 2 P^ O a> -a PS -= » 0) pq j5 n -o ® .2 a> I I a, $ 5 pq O Ph pq en b V O ^ 0) « O <« *<^ s c a u (3 Ol t, 4-> •« en OJ O J2 ™ "S "" «i •« o ^ 2 aj O •- bOT3 ^ 2 §D-S S o fc « s -^ eO t; o O **-• ^ Q:S 01 0) S ^H o 0-2 o« a, pq oj 3 'S ^ 3 s -O "O "3 "^ "3 Cf? c+i c+^c+^c+^c+i o c 8 o 3 . 'F^ 3*0) O X) 0] 9i V s ^ ^ ^ u o 0} 3 V ^ 0) IM 0) a; 3 .SSPsd.->>^^ &0-S •■^ o 2; «j S j3 .g h-H ^J *> S = a -S -° 'C «2 93 S 5 -3 rt O C4-1 3 Cm S > ■? 8 . 2 3 ^ V W W TT oj b o 3 S 3 en S w C ctf P^ =^ =1^ ^3 Q O 2 £, - ■s 5-= -3 J= CO--: a^ Q g S S o *- p ;q pq :q ;:> u H H H lU bo at > o H ^ s o bo O) 5 & fv mv m m if- LONDON : Printed by William Ci.o«rBS and SoNg, Stamford Street. For Her Majesty's Stationery Office.