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UPON THE 
 
 HISTORY, PRINCIPLES, AND PROSPECTS 
 
 OF THE 
 
 BANK OF BRITISH NORTH AMERICA, 
 
 AND OF THE 
 
 COLONIAL BANK; 
 
 WITH 
 
 AIT ENQUIRY INTO COLONIAL EXCHANGES, 
 
 EXPEDIENCY OF INTRODUCING " BRITISH STERLING AND BRITISH 
 COIN" IN PREFERENCE TO THE "DOLLAR," 
 
 THE MONEY OF ACCOUNT AND CURRENCY, OF THE NORTH 
 AMERICAN COLONIES. 
 
 BY 
 
 GEORGE R. YOUNG, ESQ., 
 
 OF HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA. 
 AUTHOR OF LETTERS TO LORD STANLEY UPON THE "RIGHTS OF FISHERY," fcc 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 WM. S. ORR AND CO., AMEN CORNER, PATERNOSTER ROW ; 
 
 PELHAM RICHARDSON, CORNHILL; AND J. RIDGWAY, PICCADILLY. 
 
 1838. - ' , 
 
THOMS, PRINTER, 12, WARWICK SQUARE. 
 
TO THE DIRECTORS 
 
 OF THE 
 
 BANK OF BRITISH NORTH AMERICA. 
 
 GENTLEMEN, 
 
 THERE is no body in this Country to whom I can so 
 becomingly address the following pages upon the Currency 
 of the Colonies of British North America as yourselves. 
 
 As the Managers of a great Monetary Concern, whose 
 relations and transactions embrace all of these Depend- 
 encies, and extend the circle of exchange from them to the 
 United States and to Great Britain, it is obvious, that you, 
 and the constituency you represent, have a deep interest in 
 the right settlement of this question. The introduction of 
 a " sound " currency will equally promote the interest of the 
 Colonies and of the Bank. My original motive in entering 
 upon an inquiry so laborious and involved was to accom- 
 plish this object ; and I have been induced to publish, that dis- 
 cussion may be provoked, and the two opinions which are en- 
 tertained upon the question, and which are referred to in the 
 title-page, pass through that ordeal which conducts to truth. 
 
 I have preceded the inquiry with a history of the prin- 
 ciples and prospects of the Bank over which you preside, 
 and of the " Colonial Bank," to induce those interested in 
 their stock to take an interest in the graver and less attract- 
 ive inquiry with which these are blended. In advocat- 
 ing the introduction of British sterling as the " money of 
 
IV DEDICATION. 
 
 account" into the Colonies, based upon the coin of the 
 Mother Country, and guarded by the same law of tender 
 which prevails here, I think it due to you, and to myself, 
 to state, that my conviction in the soundness of my con- 
 clusions has been shaken ever since I became aware that 
 I had failed to convince you, and especially my friend 
 Mr. Carter, for whose knowledge and practical judgment 
 upon the question I have so high an opinion, of their being 
 correct. Knowing, at an early period, that both you and 
 some of the Directors of the Colonial Bank were in favour of 
 the dollar as a " standard," I have since subjected my own 
 previous opinions to severer scrutiny. I would have been 
 glad, could I have brought my mind to subscribe to your 
 views ; but my predilection, or prejudice, in favour of the 
 " sovereign" being still unaltered, although not so decided as 
 before, I submit to you, and my fellow Colonists, the pre- 
 mises upon which my opinions are founded, that they may 
 decide the question. I am anxious only to introduce a 
 safe currency, and, if convinced that I am now in error, 
 I would at once retreat from these opinions, and respect- 
 fully acknowledge the sagacity of others. 
 
 T have the honour to be, 
 
 Your obedient Servant, 
 
 GEORGE RENNY YOUNG. 
 
 London, Sackville Street, 
 January 10 th, 1838. 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 Contents. Colonial Policy Benefits derived by the Mother Country from the posses- 
 sion of her Colonies Establishment of the Bank of British North America Mission 
 of Robert Carter, Esquire General feeling in the Colonies in favour of the Bank. 
 
 THE Colonial policy of Great Britain is a feature of her Govern- 
 ment by which she is pre-eminently distinguished over all nations, 
 whether of ancient or modern times. Foreign settlements have been 
 planned and founded from the earliest periods of written history, 
 but by her the achievement has been accomplished, and the laurels 
 it afforded won, by the establishment of Colonies in every quarter 
 and climate of the world ; thus founding an empire, bound together 
 by the relations which spring from politics, commerce, law, litera- 
 ture, and language, so wide in extent, that, to use a familiar but 
 comprehensive illustration, " the sun never sets upon it." 
 
 Still it must be conceded that in these times of political excite- 
 ment there is no branch of the general policy of the State which 
 has excited a more angry and virulent controversy than the Colonial 
 system. To review the general features of the argument, or to 
 attack the positions assumed by those opposed to it, is not my 
 purpose upon the present occasion. The scope and title of this 
 work will secure to it, I fear, the notice only of those whose opi- 
 nions are already settled in favour of the system, and who are pre- 
 pared to contend that much of the national honour and pre-eminence 
 the past and future independence of the Parent State are mainly 
 attributable to, and dependent upon, her foreign possessions the pro- 
 ducts they place under her controul the boundless commerce they 
 secure to her flag. Some of the more zealous of them are prepared 
 to argue that those Dependencies enable the mother country to 
 assume a loftier position in peace, and to occupy a far more secure 
 situation in war. By the system of prohibitory restrictions, which 
 she has extended to their foreign commerce and connexions the 
 Colonists are exclusively preserved as customers for British manu- 
 factures, and they thus increase, each in its own sphere, that " power 
 of consumption/' to adopt the language of Huskisson, which is the 
 main and affluent source of commercial wealth and prosperity. 
 These advocates push the argument to this extent, that some of the 
 
Colonies^ and especially those of British North America, to which 
 the'^pdratiohs' tvf pne of/these Banks are confined yield, from the 
 Crown or territorial revenues, an ample fund to meet the expenses of 
 their local governments ; and that, in a nice balancing of accounts, 
 it would be found, even at the present time, if their funds were 
 judiciously husbanded, they would impose no burden upon the Impe- 
 rial Treasury. To pursue these vexed and elaborate inquiries would 
 be supererogatory here. To refer to them, however, is a becoming 
 introduction to the question I am about to discuss, to show my 
 own conception, at least, of its bearing and importance. I refer, 
 in the note below,* to the works where this " grave argument" has 
 been fully and elaborately treated, and pass to the main subject of 
 consideration, in stating my belief that an opinion favourable to 
 the Colonies is daily acquiring strength among the most able and 
 " ascendant politicians" of the age, and among the great majority 
 of the " sound and thinking portion of the people." The Whigs and 
 the Conservatives, the one party who have acquired, the other who 
 aim at, power, seem to bury their personal rivalries, and to meet 
 
 * For full and elaborate information upon the Revenues, Statistics, Progress, 
 and Value of these Dependencies, and upon the General Colonial Policy of the 
 Empire as regards them, I refer to the following works : Preface to Bouchette's 
 British Dominions in North America, and the tables in that work, also chapter 
 15, vol. ii. ; M'Gregor's " British America ; " Cambreleng's " Report to the Con- 
 gress of the United States," 1st of February, 1830. Porter's Tables and Marshall's 
 Tables, Articles, " Colonies." On Colonial Intercourse, by Henry Bliss, Esq. 
 Ridgway, 1830. On the Timber Trade, by the same author. Ridgway, 1831. G. 
 R. Young's " Letters to Lord Stanley, upon the British North American Colo- 
 nies, their Rights of Fishery, and the Colonial Policy of the Empire." Ridgway, 
 1834. Upon the Timber and Corn Trade of the Colonies of British North Ame- 
 rica. See chapter 9, of Montgomery Martin's British Colonies, vol. iii. Chap- 
 man's pamphlet upon the Corn Trade of Canada. Nathaniel Gould's, Esq. 
 " Sketch of the Trade of British America," published by Fisher and Jackson, 1833. 
 Captain Basil Hall's " Travels in America," vol. i., chapter 14. 
 
 Upon the question of the Boundary line between New Brunswick and the 
 State of Maine, see Bouchette, vol. i. chapter 1.; Bliss's pamphlet upon the 
 Boundary Question ; the Hon. Judge Chipman's (of St. John's, New Bruns. 
 wick) most able Letters upon the same subject, under the signature of " Ob- 
 server ;" and for a vindication of the American claims, see Documents submitted 
 to Congress, and an article in the North American Review, 1836. Upon the 
 "Rights of Fishery." See Rush's "Residence at the Court in London;" 
 Young's " Letters to Lord Stanley," chapter i. to v., and M'Gregor's " British 
 America," vol. i., chapter 7. 
 
here upon neutral ground. The former have now abandoned the at- 
 tempt to equalize the duties upon Colonial and Baltic timber. They 
 are willing to give that protection to the products of the Colonies 
 which the colonists solicit and deserve. The very introduction of 
 the Canadian Resolutions by the present Administration, during 
 the last Session of Parliament, the attack they necessarily involved 
 upon the integrity of the Colonial charter and constitution, the 
 triumphant majority by which they were carried in the House of 
 Commons, is a proof that the " intelligence" of Parliament is 
 thoroughly convinced of the value and importance of these Colo- 
 nies, and is prepared to resort to strong and coercive measures, to 
 uphold and strengthen the ties which bind them to the Parent State. 
 In the lower provinces of British North America, in Upper Canada, 
 among the more enlightened portion of the subjects of Lower Ca- 
 nada, notwithstanding the revolutionary efforts of Papineau and his 
 partisans, I know that there is a sincere and anxious desire to per- 
 petuate the existing alliance to the British Crown.* 
 
 Between the inhabitants of an old, and a new country, there is a 
 marked and singular distinction in the sources and fervour of na- 
 tional feeling. In the former, this sentiment is inspired by a va- 
 riety of influences, all co-operating and pointing to one common end. 
 In the mother country, for example, the attachment of the people 
 to the state springs, among one class, from their veneration for the 
 Church ; in another, from their respect for, and connexion with, the 
 peers and landed aristocracy; and in a third, and far more ex- 
 
 * In these remarks, which were written some months ago, I have carefully 
 abstained from touching upon local politics. In the expediency and policy of 
 introducing a sound currency all parties will agree. It is the general opinion 
 that the rebellion in Canada is at an end, and that the past crisis will neither 
 affect the domestic nor the foreign trade, even of Lower Canada, to any great 
 extent. It may curtail and limit, for a short time, the operations of the Bank in 
 Quebec and Montreal ; but it is generally thought that in the spring and follow- 
 ing season the trade will be pushed as vigorously as in former years. Upon the 
 trade of the other provinces the insurrection will have no effect ; and if the Go- 
 vernment send out a large reinforcement of troops, the domestic trade and circu- 
 lation in all of them will rather be increased. My own opinion is, therefore, that 
 the prospects of the bank are not darkened, but, on the contrary, that by the de- 
 cisive and wise measures adopted to meet this crisis, the peace and prosperity 
 of the provinces are likely to be settled upon a more permanent and solid basis. 
 The stock of the Bank is now, I understand, at par. 
 
8 
 
 tended class, from their love of the national liberties, of her pre- 
 eminence, the glories she has gathered, and those complex and va- 
 rious associations which spring from politics, law, and literature 
 The very collisions of party add to the ardour of loyalty and public 
 spirit. There is a feeling of chivalry in favour of " our young and 
 virgin Queen." The memory of the past, the associations suggested by 
 the scenes and events of which the tablets are around the people, 
 the " education of circumstances" to which they are thus subjected, 
 all combine in producing that love of country, " that prejudice," 
 as the cosmopolite would call it, " in favour of home," for which 
 Britons, whether here or abroad, are so peculiarly known and dis- 
 tinguished. In the Colonies these influences have scarcely an 
 existence, and, of course, they cannot operate to the same extent. 
 They have, at least, no local habitation. To some their inspiration, 
 which is active here, does unquestionably extend, and amongst these 
 it is felt and appreciated in that more exquisite sense, which distance 
 gives to things which are valued, But, amongst the mass, it may be 
 conceded that the chief tie which binds them in close connexion with 
 the Parent State, arises from the impression that their interest is pro- 
 moted by it. This> in fact, is admitted to be the securest bond 
 which unites the rulers and the people of the neighbouring Republic 
 into one body politic. It is, to speak classically, " the embodied 
 spirit," to which their political papers and speeches are addressed ; 
 and as the Colonists of North America catch some of their hues 
 and tones of feeling from these foreign, though not distant influ- 
 ences to which they are thus exposed, the friends of the mother 
 country in the Colonies have ever hailed, with unfeigned and lively 
 satisfaction, every scheme or establishment likely to influence and 
 perpetuate, and to draw more closely, the ties of common and bind- 
 ing interest. 
 
 By the great mass of the people, and indeed, except by those few 
 whose capital was deeply embarked in Colonial banking, and who 
 derived their incomes from speculations in loans of money, or 
 other employments of capital, yielding interest, the projected esta- 
 blishment of the Bank of British North America has been regarded 
 as likely to exercise the liveliest and most propitious influence upon 
 the commerce and prosperity of these Colonies. Some fears 
 were insinuated at first that it might prove one of those specula- 
 tions created upon the London Stock Exchange, from which the 
 originators, as has been before done but too frequently, reap a profit 
 
by creating a transitory excitement ; but when the Directory became 
 known, and it was apparent that the management was to be en- 
 trusted to gentlemen of high integrity and mercantile talent, and 
 whose relations with the Colonies were of that intimate and com- 
 mercial character, which gave the surest earnest that their good 
 faith in promoting the interests of the Colonies might be relied 
 upon, these fears of caution were soon dissipated, and throughout 
 the Colonies there is now spread a tone of good feeling and of con- 
 fidence towards the Directory, which has secured a cordial co-opera- 
 tion in such measures as they deem essential to the working 
 and success of their plans. The liberal instructions given to their 
 agent, Mr. Carter, in his late mission, to soften every prejudice 
 and hostile feeling entertained by the Colonial capitalists, and to be 
 careful to avoid any direct, far less any unfair, interference with the 
 Local Banks, necessarily extended from the sagacity and prudence 
 with which these powers were exercised by him the tone of 
 friendly and confiding sympathies. That gentleman, in a speech 
 delivered at a meeting of the Shareholders, held in London in June 
 last, has spoken in the warmest language of the favourable reception 
 which his mission received; and the state of feeling in the Colonies is 
 more fully and satisfactorily evinced by the fact that that portion of 
 capital reserved for them has been nearly subscribed for. In some 
 of the Colonies the application for stock exceeded the sum set apart 
 to them. My evidence is valuable, so far as it bears upon those 
 Colonies with which I am best acquainted ; but I have it upon good 
 authority that there is a similar feeling of confidence and favour 
 felt in the West Indies towards the Colonial Bank, and that the 
 scheme has been received there in the kindest spirit. That the 
 institution is popular, and the agencies successful, cannot be doubted 
 if the experience and prospects of the Bank be a standard upon 
 which dependence may be placed. 
 
 I speak from observation and experience in stating that it is a 
 general belief in the Colonies that the Bank of British North America 
 has a field of operation sufficiently extensive to afford employment 
 to its capital ; and that, if its superintendence and management 
 be controlled by a sagacious policy by those safe and recognised 
 principles of banking which are supported both by abstract prin- 
 ciple and past experience, the stock will not only prove a safe in- 
 vestment for capital, but yield a sufficient and liberal profit. To 
 push, however, its promised advantages to the fullest extent, it is 
 
10 
 
 essential to introduce into the Colonies a currency based upon 
 sounder principles than that which they now possess, and the main 
 object I have in contemplation in the publication of this work, 
 is to submit some practical views upon the introduction of a 
 Colonial currency, and to illustrate the fortunate combination of 
 circumstances which now concur for the adoption of a safe and 
 uniform scheme. The operations of the Bank of British North 
 America are not yet fully established; and it will be judicious, on the 
 part of its friends, to consider if the introduction of a general mea- 
 sure would not be more propitiously effected at present, before the 
 transactions of the bank become extensive and involved, than at 
 some later or more distant period. The attention bestowed of late 
 upon Colonial affairs, and the meeting of a new parliament, seem 
 both to combine in rendering the agitation of the question more pru- 
 dent now than at a subsequent time. The Minister of State for the 
 Colonies has lately directed his attention to the subject. A gentleman 
 of skill and experience has been judiciously appointed by Lord Glenelg 
 to collect facts, to embody the evidence which will guide to a sound 
 conclusion ; and as different representations have been made to this 
 Arbiter, upon whose Report, it is probable, the measures of Govern- 
 ment will be founded, I am anxious to place the argument in 
 favour of the Dollar, and of British coin, before the public, that they 
 may cast both into the balance, and give the ascendancy to that 
 scheme which deserves it. 
 
 Being desirous, however, to convince the Stockholders in this 
 country that the Bank of British North America promises to be a 
 safe investment of capital, and to yield an adequate return, I shall 
 confine the next chapter to the illustration of those data which 
 support andvindicate these predictions ; and'proeeed, in the third and 
 concluding chapter, to give an exposition of the practical views I 
 entertain upon the question of Colonial Currency. This complex 
 inquiry has ever been perplexed and clouded by speculation and theory. 
 Although I respect, and have endeavoured to study, the principles 
 of political economy, which bear upon it, I have adopted them 
 only in so far as they are sanctioned by experience ; and I confess, 
 that even now I feel disappointed that the views I suggest have not 
 met the approval of practical men, who are familiar with the exist- 
 ing monetary relations of the Colonies, and the character and 
 fluctuations of their currency. By many, however, my views are 
 unhesitatingly supported. 
 
11 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Field for Banking operations in the Colonies Increase of trade and resources Bank- 
 ing more safely conducted in the Colonies than in England Character and prin- 
 ciples of the Bank of British North America Local agencies- Deposits and cash 
 credits. 
 
 To what extent the operations of the Bank may be conducted is, I 
 am free to admit, one of those problematical questions which depend 
 more upon experience than upon speculation, however sagacious 
 and refined. It is impossible to reduce it to figures. I know 
 of no data in the statistics of other countries to which we can apply 
 for those facts and circumstances which would justify any sweeping 
 or certain conclusion from analogy. The operations of banking do 
 not depend only upon the comparative amounts of population- the 
 extent of trade, or the circles of foreign exchange. All these may 
 vary in different countries, they may contract or expand, and 
 yet effect no change either upon the state of the currency, or upon 
 the demand for that species of accommodation derived from bank- 
 ing institutions. America and England afford no example for, and 
 present in this respect no analogy to, each other. Every country 
 and every community, in short, so far as banking operations are 
 concerned, creates an atmosphere and establishes a circle of its own. 
 They depend upon the principles of action upon the feelings and 
 habits of commercial men upon the nature and extent of the 
 local currency upon the confidence felt in the extension of credit ; 
 and hence, in asserting that the Bank of British North America has 
 a wide and sufficient field for the employment of its capital, we 
 must rest rather upon the general belief of the fact, which prevails 
 among mercantile men those most competent to decide upon such 
 matters than upon deductions drawn by contrasting the position 
 of the colonies with that of other countries. To give, however, 
 a clear idea of their area, trade, and resources, I have extracted 
 from official sources the following condensed and tabular view : 
 
 POPULATION. 
 
 1806 409,462 
 
 1825 ..... 873,453 
 1832 1,300,000 
 
12 
 
 At the present time the population is stated at 1,500,000, and by 
 some it is calculated at 1,750,000.* 
 
 AREA AND AGRICULTURE. 
 
 The United Areas of the Seven Provinces of New Brunswick, 
 Nova Scotia, Cape Breton, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland' 
 and Upper and Lower Canada, are estimated at 255,000,000f of sta- 
 tute acres. Of these Bouchette, in his work, vol. ii. p. 265, calcu- 
 lates there are only 6,374,000 acres cultivated. He estimates the 
 whole superficies of these provinces at, land 382,000 square statute 
 miles, water 105,000 square statute miles, and the total average 
 number of square miles surveyed and tracts explored 126,500. The 
 area of theUnited Kingdom of Great Britain is stated at 77,000,000 
 of acres : 46,500,000 cultivated, 15,000,000 uncultivated, and 
 15,500,000 unprofitable. The colonies are equal, if not superior, 
 both in climate and fertility of soil, and will eventually secure a 
 home to innumerable millions of freemen of British freemen, if a 
 liberal colonial policy be persevered in. 
 
 TRADE AND RESOURCES. 
 
 Imports and Exports into and from the United Kingdom of Great Britain to the 
 North American Colonies. 
 
 IMPORTS. EXPORTS. TOTAL, 
 
 EXPORTS. 
 
 British Produce and 
 Manufactures. 
 
 1806 J 385,812 775,642 200,416 976,058 
 1825 1,312,911 1,829,211 387,014 2,246,223 
 1832 1,532,512 2,669,799 366,198 3,033,997 
 
 Combined amount of Exports and Imports in 1832 to and from the United 
 
 Kingdom. 
 
 Imports . . . 1,532,512 
 Exports ... 3,033,997 
 
 Total 4,566,509 
 
 * Marshall's Digest, 22 ; Blue Book's last census. " British North American Co- 
 lonies/' by George R. Young, p. 155, where a view is given of the comparative in- 
 crease of the population in Great Britain, the United States, and in the Colonies ; 
 Bliss's Statistics. 
 
 f I take this estimate from a table drawn up by Robert Stewart, Esq., of Great 
 Russell Street, he having kindly furnished me with a copy of it. I know of no 
 person who has devoted more time to, or whose information upon, the statistics of 
 these provinces is more valuable than Mr. Stewart. He has collected a most 
 valuable Colonial Library. 
 
 % Blue Book. 
 
 Marshall's Digest, 22. British North American Colonies, 154. 
 
13 
 
 The above sum is independent of the amount of freights paid to 
 British shipping upon articles of transport. 
 
 Collective Imports and Exports into and from the North American Colonies to 
 every country, in 1832. 
 
 Imports . . . * 3,457,720 
 Exports . . . 2,450,889 
 
 Total 5,908,609 
 
 In 1833 Imports . . . f 3,579,905 
 Exports . . . 2,613,537 
 
 Total 6,1 93,442 
 
 In this year the Imports into these colonies from the British 
 West Indies were .... 355,310 
 
 Exports do 434,536 
 
 Total -789,846 
 
 In 1832 the total value of the Fisheries in the colonies of British 
 North America was estimated at 1,015,839. 
 
 1834. Official value of imports and exports into the United 
 Kingdom from the British colonies and dependencies in British 
 North America. 
 
 IMPORTS. EXPORTS. 
 
 Prince Edward's Island . . 2,339 10,693 
 
 Newfoundland . . . 556,087 663,264 
 
 Canada 1,063,643 1,018,922 
 
 New Brunswick . . . 567,719 491,301 
 
 Cape Breton . . . 10,501 22,188 
 
 Nova Scotia . . . 700,127 404,650 
 
 Total 2,900,416 2,611,018 
 
 Imports (in 1835) . . . 1,280,361 
 
 Exports . .... 3,482,718 
 
 Total 4,763,079 
 
 This sum does not include the vast amount paid to the owners 
 of British shipping resident in the parent state for freights upon 
 timber and other articles of transit. 
 
 * Porter's Tables. Supplement to part III. p. 138. 
 f Porter's Tables. Supplement to part IV. p. 148. 
 
14 
 
 In addition, however, to the extent of operation promised to the 
 Bank from these data, there is a prospect that in a short time the 
 resources of these rising and fruitful Dependencies will be largely 
 increased. It is expected that the colonial fisheries will, before 
 many years, be relieved from the depressing influence of French and 
 American rivalry and competition. If this end were once gained, and 
 the fleets of both powers restricted to those limits which the law of 
 nations authorizes, the trade of these colonies would advance in a ratio 
 far outstripping the progress of the past. They are most favourably 
 situated for the prosecution both of the whale and seal fisheries, 
 whether conducted in the North Seas or the Pacific; and as the capital 
 and enterprise of the Lower Provinces are now being turned into 
 these channels, it is anticipated that they will soon furnish a wider 
 field for industry and profit. Last year a body of merchants in 
 St. John's, New Brunswick, derived a clear profit of 10,000 from 
 the returns of one whaling voyage. . There are now eight or ten 
 whalers sailing from that port. A company is in the progress of 
 formation in Halifax to prosecute the same enterprise. But the 
 main expectations of this increase are founded upon the recent 
 discoveries which have been made in the mineral resources of the 
 two provinces of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. A most valu- 
 able work appeared last year from the Halifax press upon the geo- 
 logy and mineralogy of Nova Scotia.* The author, Dr. Gesner, 
 is an enthusiast in the study of these two sciences. He has 
 pursued his enquiries for a period of ten years, unaided and amid 
 the engagements of professional practice, and has produced a work 
 equal in many respects to a general survey. He has defined the 
 location and beds of coal, iron, copper, lead, slate, and freestone. 
 There is no region in the world, space for space, which has a richer 
 field of mineral wealth, than the province of Nova Scotia. The Gene- 
 ral Mining Association, now in operation in London, give regular 
 employment to between 400 and 500 sail of vessels in conveying coal 
 from Cape Breton to the United States \ but it is supposed that the 
 developement of those resources has been only begun, and that, in 
 the course of a few years, they will attract British capital and enter- 
 prise to a far larger extent. If the Americans could obtain pos- 
 
 * Some copies of this work may be had at Mr. John Snow's, publisher, 26, 
 Paternoster Row. It has been favourably noticed in some of the Reviews in this 
 country, and is said to be an excellent manual of the science of geology. 
 
15 
 
 session of them, there would be no 1 mit to the extent of their 
 operations, except the limits of a vast, most active, and daily in- 
 creasing demand. 
 
 The table which follows is illustrative of the number of banks 
 in the different colonies, the amount of their capital and circula- 
 tion, and the returns they have yielded. I have annexed to each the 
 era of its establishment, and in tracing up this column let the 
 reader bear this fact in remembrance, that, in the history and expe- 
 rience of colonial banking, one Bank only has stopped payment. 
 The operations of banking, in the opinion of practical men, may 
 be conducted in the colonies upon principles equally safe, if not 
 safer, than they can be done in the mother country, or in the 
 broader and more fluctuating field of the United States. "We 
 "must keep in mind," says Mr. Horsley Palmer, in his recent pam- 
 phlet upon the affairs of the Bank of England, " that Great Britain 
 ce is the centre of the whole commerce of Europe and America, if not 
 " of the world, and that any hasty or unnecessary step taken will not 
 " only affect the credit and prices of this country, but to a certain 
 " extent those of all parts of the Continent, from whence we are to 
 " obtain the bullion we have lost." But of all subjects, whether of 
 domestic or foreign speculation, there is none so involved and dan- 
 gerous none depending, in their conception, upon such nice calcu- 
 lations or, in their progress to an end, affected by so many con- 
 tingencies as those in currency. Standing as England does in 
 this commanding and responsible position, and comprehending 
 upon her exchange, transactions which affect and embrace every 
 country in the world, it is clear that her currency and monetary 
 concerns must be subjected to greater depressions and elevations, 
 to wider expansions and more violent contractions, than if con- 
 fined to the regulation of her own jdomestic affairs. It cannot be 
 denied, for example, that the commercial panics, both of 1825 and 
 of last season, were largely increased from their influence being ex- 
 tended both to the Continent and to America. Mr. Palmer attri- 
 butes the latter in a great degree to the influence of foreign loans, 
 and these he represents as so disastrous as to suggest a duty or tax 
 being imposed upon the bonds by which they are secured. No ex- 
 citement and no depression can be felt either in the Old or New 
 World without extending its influence to London ; and hence it has 
 frequently happened that the domestic currency has been suddenly 
 disarranged and disorganized by unexpected impulses, not depend- 
 ing upon domestic transactions, but coming from abroad. From 
 
16 
 
 these the colonies are in a great measure free; they stand upon 
 isolated spots ; their sphere of action is local and comparatively in- 
 sulated ; and although the Colonial merchants have felt as a body the 
 effect of these changes in England by their curtailment of the de- 
 mand for, and by their lowering the price of, colonial productions,still 
 they have never fallen upon the colonial banks, nor swept them 
 down in the general catastrophe of commercial affairs. It is for these 
 reasons that it is thought by many shrewd Economists the sphere for 
 banking operations is more secure in these Dependencies than in the 
 Parent State, and it is confidently believed that this security will 
 be increased by the introduction of a better currency than exists 
 at the present time. 
 
18 
 
 If, however, this tabular view of the resources and trade of the 
 Colonies, of the number of banks already in operation, and the 
 extent of their business, justify the opinion that the Bank of 
 British North America has ample scope and room for the employ- 
 ment of its capital, this opinion will be more fully vindicated when 
 we consider the sound and wholesome principles it will introduce, 
 and the natural eifect these will have, both in attracting customers 
 amid the competition which now exists, and in widening the sphere 
 and activity of Colonial enterprise and of commerce. In all the 
 provinces there has prevailed a complaint against the banks, 
 that they have conducted their transactions, more upon a narrow 
 and circumscribed view of promoting their own immediate interests, 
 than upon those comprehensive and sounder maxims which controul 
 and sanction that liberal and prescient policy in the operations of a 
 bank, which looks to the Increasing prosperity of the community, 
 in which it is placed, as the best and surest source of its own 
 profits. I am aware that an outcry or clamour of the kind aUuded to, 
 is not the safest test of truth ; and in looking, therefore, to the pro- 
 bable field of operation the bank is likely to command and create, 
 I would rest, in preference, upon the wider limits its plan has 
 opened, and the beneficial effect the principles it has adopted 
 have had, in other, but still similar, spheres in which they have 
 been already tried. 
 
 One of the most important results anticipated from the forma- 
 tion of this establishment is the introduction of a circle of exchanges, 
 extending from the mother country to each of the Colonies, and 
 from each of them again, sending branches or ramifications lines of 
 commercial communication to all the rest. It will be a kind of 
 " grand junction" in exchange. In addition to the ordinary busi- 
 ness of discounts, cash credit, deposits, and the issuing of paper, 
 it is contemplated, in following up the scheme, that each bank or 
 branch will deal in exchange to the utmost possible limits which 
 safety suggests, and that it will be competent for any individual, 
 and at any time, to apply to the branch at Halifax, and purchase a 
 set of exchange payable in New York, London, St. John, Montreal, 
 Quebec, Toronto, or Newfoundland, at such a moderate rate of 
 premium, as will render the transaction an accommodation to the 
 public, and at the same time yield a profit to the bank. The 
 branches, again, have been invested with authority to purchase such 
 bills, as are offered for sale, whether payable in the mother country, 
 
19 
 
 in the States, or the Colonies ; and, by those conversant with ex- 
 change, it is calculated that this branch of business will be one of 
 the most extensive, useful, and, at the same time, affluent sources of 
 profit. From the command of capital which the bank possesses, and 
 the superior facilities it will enjoy in replacing the extra capital with- 
 drawn from, or supplied to, any one place, it will nearly exclude com- 
 petition, and secure, in a great measure, this branch of Colonial busi- 
 ness to itself. It is clear that no private individual can deal in 
 exchange upon the same advantageous terms. It is a business 
 which no bank in the Colonies has yet conducted to any large 
 extent. There has been a succession of single and isolated trans- 
 actions, conducted, according to the exigencies of a particular crisis 
 or fluctuation in exchange, but it has not yet been tried as a uni- 
 form and general system. There exists, therefore, no standard by 
 which we can estimate the extent to which it may be carried ; but 
 every friend of the bank expresses confidence in its opening a 
 wide and productive field of employment for capital. 
 
 The advantages which the bank promises will equally be felt in the 
 purchase of bills which are offered for sale. Its circle of commu- 
 nication, its means of knowledge, and command of funds, will 
 confer an equal superiority in this as in the other branches of its 
 trade ; so that the bank will derive a profit when no private indi- 
 vidual could attempt the speculation, with even the chance of 
 success. It is anticipated, besides, that the circle will be expanded, 
 so as to embrace the West India Colonies, and that, by an arrange- 
 ment between this bank and the Colonial Bank* established in 
 London, their respective branches will have authority to draw upon 
 each other to any extent the legitimate demands of trade may re- 
 quire. The advantage of the system to the Colonies themselves, 
 the beneficial influence and facilities it is likely to extend to their 
 trade and prosperity, will be rendered more apparent when we come 
 to treat upon the involved and intricate character of their currency 
 as it now exists, and the different and conflicting nominal values 
 each Legislature has given to the various coins in circulation. 
 
 * The "Colonial Bank" above alluded to has been established in London for the 
 purpose of extending the operations of banking to the British and Foreign Islands 
 in the West Indies, and of circulating in them such an amount of British capital 
 as they may require. It is founded under the sanction of a royal charter, which 
 passed the Privy Seal on the 31st May, 1836. Active measures were adopted 
 
 B2 
 
20 
 
 Up to this time the same principles which have obtained in the 
 London banks, as regards deposits, have been observed in the 
 Colonies. No interest has ever been allowed upon them. Re- 
 peated applications have been pressed in private upon the directors 
 
 by the Directors in the course of last year to establish agencies and branches in the 
 different islands, and to put the machinery of this extensive and princely establish- 
 ment into operation. The names of the directors "show individuals of the very high- 
 est rank and character in both themonied and commercial interests of Great Bri- 
 tain; and in several, such as John Irving, Esq., chairman, and;AndrewColville,Esq., 
 the deputy-chairman, the steady, unflinching, and influential supporters of the 
 Colonies." The owners of the stock, and the customers, have in these, and in 
 the names of the other Managers, the surest guarantee of the upright policy and 
 good faith with which the affairs of the bank will be conducted. Such men, 
 acting upon their known public principles, have every inducement, and are 
 necessarily inspired with every honourable motive, to give the bank a successful 
 operation, and to promote the prosperity of those Colonies embraced within the 
 sphere of its influence. The capital of the bank is 2,000,000, divided into 
 20,000 shares of 100 each. It was a condition in its charter, that 25 per cent, 
 of its nominal capital should be paid up before commencing business, and the 
 Directors are invested with the power of calling upon the Shareholders for the 
 remainder in such proportions as may be wanted. Of the active capital half a 
 million has been paid up at the present time. The charter extends for a period 
 of twenty years, and protects the shareholder from any loss beyond the amount 
 of the stock he holds. Under any contingency he can only lose the amount of 
 his investment ; while the public are protected and secured by the character, the 
 standing, and the intelligence of the directors, by the publicity given to the 
 transactions of the bank, and by the adoption of a system of management in 
 which every guard and guarantee is introduced, suggested by the experience 
 of other similar establishments, to secure zeal and fidelity in the different 
 branches and their sub-agents. By being constituted a body corporate, the 
 Colonial Bank has the privilege of suing, or is liable to be sued, in any court 
 of justice, whether at common law or in equity, in any portion of the British 
 dominions. Although the practical operations of the bank are to be confined to, 
 and their branches placed in, the West Indies, the Directors have already appointed 
 agencies to draw and pay their bills of exchange, the drafts of or upon their 
 Branches in New York, and in some of the British Colonies of North America, 
 in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and St. John, New Brunswick ; and by a negotiation 
 now in progress l>etween the directors of the Colonial and the Bank of British 
 North America, it is hoped that this arrangement will be extended to all the Colo- 
 nies in North America. No system can be more fraught with promise, or 
 can be better adapted to introduce so many facilities into the mercantile inter- 
 course of those wide dependencies in the New World, than this circle of ex- 
 change. London, by a direct and regular connexion, will thus become the 
 depot of inter-colonial exchange. Balances due from the southern parts of 
 the New World to the northern, in place of being remitted, as now, by the trans- 
 
21 
 
 of some of the local banks, and attempts have been made, during 
 the passing of charters through the legislatures of more than one 
 Colony, to introduce the Scotch system of banking, and to compel 
 the payment of a certain rate of interest upon deposits ; but every 
 
 portation of the metals at a heavy expense of freight, insurance, and often the 
 risk of loss, will, for the future, be paid by the remittance of a bill of exchange ; 
 and the balance of the aggregate of exchanges, when adjusted between these two 
 great establishments, may be settled by one quarterly payment at the offices in 
 London, from or by either of them, as such balance may accrue. The ease and 
 simplicity of the system adopted at the Clearing House in the city, where the 
 daily transactions of the London banks extending to millions are often adjusted by 
 the transference, from one bank to another, of a few thousands, is, comparing the 
 lesser with the greater, an example of the mode in which the smaller balances of 
 the Colonies may be arranged. I look, however, to the ease, the security it 
 will confer upon those remittances, and the probability of these facilities leading 
 to a more extensive and profitable trade. I trust also, that the directors, at 
 some future time, will see fit to have establishments or agents in every foreign 
 colony, or place of importance, in Central South America, together with 
 correspondents in the United States ; so that the notes and bills of the bank may 
 be met readily, and that bills or orders drawn, by their agents, in one place, upon 
 their agents in another, may be granted to the mercantile classes, throughout the 
 wide range of the New World. The capital of the bank can only be applied to 
 the legitimate and defined system of banking ; but upon this, and the necessity 
 of giving publicity to all the proceedings of the establishment, I extract the 
 following paragraph from the Charter itself: 
 
 " To carry on the business of bankers, by dealing generally in bullion, money, 
 and bills of exchange, and lending money on commercial paper and Government 
 securities, and in such other lawful ways and means as are usually practised 
 among bankers ; but it shall not be lawful for the said corporation to lend or 
 advance money on the security of lands, houses, or tenements, or upon ships, 
 nor to deal in general wares or merchandise of anyjiature or kind whatsoever ;" 
 "And further, that the said corporation shall be bound to make up, and publish, 
 in some newspaper or newspapers, circulating in each of the Colonies, where a 
 bank shall be established, and also in ' The London Gazette,' once in every year, 
 an account or statement, showing the whole amount of the debts and assets at 
 the close of the past year, and showing also the amount of its notes payable on 
 demand, which had been in circulation during such month of every year, toge- 
 ther with the amount of specie, distinguishing each kind, and other assets 
 immediately available in every such month for the discharge of such notes ; and 
 that the said corporation shall furnish copies of such yearly amount or statement 
 to the respective governors of such island or colony in which a principal bank or 
 banks shall be established." 
 
 According to the terms of the Charter, the Colonial Bank is allowed to possess 
 houses, tenements, and ships, so far as maybe necessary for carrying on the busi- 
 ness of the establishment every where, but for that purpose only, and, of course, is 
 invested with the power of purchasing and selling the same. Three thousand shares 
 
22 
 
 attempt and application of this kind has been steadily resisted. 
 Those interested in the management of these establishments at 
 Halifax, Nova Scotia, have ever contended that, as they had no 
 domestic field for the employment of, no daily, transitory, and 
 
 were reserved for persons resident in the Colonies. These shares are transferable. 
 This sum was set apart that the Colonial capitalists might have an interest in, and 
 a controul over, a great monied institution, which was likely to exercise so favour- 
 able an influence over their future destinies. The demand in England for the 
 stock amounted to nearly seven millions; and had the scheme been more ge- 
 nerally known, the demand would have been more than double. " The shares, 
 (says Mr. M'Queen) have been very judiciously distributed amongst the West 
 India interests, and amongst the monied and commercial interests of Great Bri- 
 tain, and particularly amongst those classes who not only have never had previ- 
 ously any connexion with the Colonies, but who had hitherto been opposed to 
 them." And in proof of the kindly and generous spirit which animates the di- 
 rectors in favour of the Colonies, and of their anxiety to discharge with honour 
 the responsible duties of their situation, he adds, " Previous to dividing the 
 shares amongst applicants, the directors, so far as their extensive knowledge led 
 them to know, struck off the list the name of every applicant who it was sup- 
 posed sought shares merely for the object of speculation and immediate sale to 
 make gain." 
 
 The lowest note the Bank can issue is one for five dollars. At each branch of the 
 Bank, the notes it issues by the terms of the Charter are convertible into specie ; 
 or, if an arrangement can be made by the holder and the branch, bills in other 
 countries eligible for remittance. By these terms, as is afterwards explained their 
 obligations are redeemable in " silver of acknowledged weight and fineness" Sil- 
 ver, and not gold, is adopted as their standard. Dollars are adopted as the founda- 
 tion and medium of payment, and thus, one of the first practical benefits which the 
 Bank has conferred, is to introduce one money of account, and a standard of value 
 which may be reduced to certainty, throughout the entire circle of the British 
 West India possessions. The directors, with a view to their own safety, will, in 
 conformity with the Charter, make their notes respondible, only by law, in the 
 metals, at their respective places of issue ; but, it is clear that, except in times of 
 rapid fluctuations, and extraordinary demands for those metals, the notes of any 
 one branch will pass current, their real and nominal value being the same, through 
 all. It thus relieves the W. I. Colonies of the difficulties and embarrassments of 
 an inter-colonial fluctuating system of exchange, will lend to their intercourse 
 additional facilities, give to commerce a new and fresher impulse, and extend one 
 of those ties, the most binding among the different portions of a great commercial 
 state. 
 
 The system upon which the bank is established is wholly that which is desig- 
 nated the Scotch system, and which has proved so beneficial to the interests of 
 that country, that it is rapidly spreading in England and Ireland, and, on account 
 of its superior excellence and security, is now extending to several of the great 
 Continental States. The directors intend to introduce cash credits and to pay 
 interest upon fixed deposits ; but upon these two features I have above treated 
 so fully that it is unnecessary to illustrate them further. The benefits they are 
 
23 
 
 fluctuating demand for, extra capital, it was not in their power 
 to pay interest. Some of the directors have defended their refusal 
 upon the plea, that they could not find adequate employment for the 
 capital they had at command. This is an argument confined to Hali- 
 fax alone. That a part of the directors there have an excess of capital, 
 it gives me pleasure to acknowledge ; but in the other Colonies the 
 directors of the local banks admit that they did not pay interest 
 upon deposits, because they had found in the past they could escape 
 from it. It thus happens that no Colonial bank, up to this period, 
 has allowed interest upon deposits, although it appears, from the 
 tabular view before presented, that the large average sum of 
 800,000 has been thus placed under their controul. * It has created? 
 amongst their customers, a deep feeling of discontent ; and the 
 introduction of this principle, by the Bank of British North Ame- 
 rica, has been one cause of that friendly reception which the project 
 
 expected to confer upon the Colonies in British North America, and upon which 
 the public hopes rest, so confidently there, will, no doubt, be enjoyed to equal 
 extent by the customers of the Colonial Bank in the West Indies. They are 
 positively prohibited, by their Charter, from lending money upon mortgage. 
 The rate at which the Colonial Bank will discount mercantile bills, and advance 
 capital upon loans, is 5 per cent., being the legal interest established in the 
 United Kingdom; but upon this point I have not certain information. All 
 accounts with the bank will be kept in dollars and cents, and this has been 
 found, in all of the colonies, to be an arrangement most favourably received, as it 
 simplified every merchant's book, and left only the exchange to be turned into 
 sterling in the money transactions with Great Britain." The dollars and cents 
 are the money of account of the United States, and most of the Republics in 
 the neighbourhood of our West Indian Possessions. 
 
 I have thus submitted the features and plan of this great Colonial chartered 
 institution, being under the impression that, while the question of the currency, 
 which I have discussed, is of deep interest to all who are engaged in it, my 
 Brother Colonists in North America have a direct interest in being familiar with 
 its principles, modes of dealing, and stability. I have derived my information 
 from the Charter, of which I have a copy, and from a very able letter published by 
 Mr. M'Queen, during his stay at Kingston, Jamaica, in July 1836. From this 
 document I have extracted freely, and I also beg to offer my acknowledgments 
 to the several gentlemen possessing information upon the subject, for the kind- 
 ness with which they have answered the inquiries I have addressed to them 
 during the progress of my investigations upon this subject. I add, in the 
 Appendix, a list of the London Directors. 
 
 * Upon the beneficial effect of Deposits, see Gilbart upon Banking, p. 86. 
 Reports of the House of Lords and Commons. Adam Smith's "Wealth of 
 Nations," p. 35. 
 
24 
 
 has received. In adopting the system, however, the directors have 
 wisely guarded it by those restrictions, of which past experi- 
 ence has suggested the expediency, and which are essential to 
 safety and the certainty of profit. No interest will be paid 
 upon deposits for a less period than three months. When the 
 sums paid in bear interest, they cannot be withdrawn until notice to 
 that effect has been given fifteen days previously. Interest ceases 
 to run from the date of the notice. These precautions will enable 
 the bank to incorporate its deposits into its active and trading, and, 
 of course, its productive, capital; and permit their being em- 
 ployed in cash accounts, in discounts, and exchange. It is sup- 
 posed that the latter will afford scope for the use of some of the 
 extra capital thus thrown in ; and if the system of cash credits suc- 
 ceed, according to present expectations, the branches may em- 
 ploy the estimated amount of deposits in their extension. The bank 
 stands in this favourable position, that the directors can invest any 
 amount of extra capital in London, and thus secure a certain return 
 from the whole amount of their funds. 
 
 But one of the most acceptable features of the system, upon which 
 Colonists look in the introduction of this establishment, is the cash 
 accounts, or cash credits above alluded to, which the directors have 
 pledged themselves to introduce. They have not yet been adopted 
 by any bank in the Colonies, and, although they have been applied 
 for and sought to be engrafted upon some of the charters, every 
 attempt to introduce them, has, like the payment of interest 
 upon deposits, been steadily resisted. To a great body of the Colo- 
 nists, and especially to that portion who have emigrated from Scot- 
 land, the system has been long familiar \ and they entertain and cherish 
 the same prepossessions which prevail in their native country in its 
 favour. Adam Smith, in his " Wealth of Nations,'' p. 35, says," that, 
 " although these credits are granted by banks and bankers in all parts 
 " of the world, the easy terms upon which the ScotchBanking Compa- 
 " nies accept of repayment were, as far as he knew, peculiar to them, 
 " andhave been, perhaps, the principal cause,both of the great trade of 
 " these Companies* and of the benefits which the country has received 
 " from it." In Chambers's " Book of Scotland," p. 346, it is said, 
 "that in 1826 it was computed that there were 1000 in Scotland, 
 
 See Gilbart upon Banking, 4th Edition, p. 80. 
 
25 
 
 *' varying from 100 to 5000. Though originally designed for mer- 
 " cantile persons, they are now operated upon by farmers, manufac- 
 (( turers, house-builders, miners, lawyers, and all classes of traders 
 " and shop-keepers." In Gilbart's Treatise upon Banking, " the total 
 "number of cash credits in Scotland has been estimated at 13,000, 
 "and their total amount at 5,000,<H)0 sterling 5 of which, it is sup- 
 " posed, about two thirds may be draivn out." I have referred to 
 these authors, and made the above extracts, to account for the 
 anxiety felt by this portion of the Colonial population, to have the 
 benefits of this national system extended to those new countries 
 which they have adopted as their domicile and future home. The 
 inquiries conducted before the Committees appointed in both 
 Houses of Parliament, to investigate the question of the currency 
 and the banks, and the ample testimony afforded before them by 
 practical men, in illustrating the benign effects they have exercised 
 upon the habits and character of the people, wherever they have 
 been introduced, have created a general feeling in their favour, 
 both in the mother country and in the Colonies. 
 
 In the latter, the only way in which capital, up to this time, could 
 be derived from the local banks was by an application for discounts. 
 If any merchant in the Lower Provinces, for example, saw an enter- 
 prise in prospect, which might require the use of an extra 1000Z., 
 he could only command it by presenting for discount his own note, 
 endorsed by two or more of his friends. Both of the banks in the 
 province of Nova Scotia insisted upon three responsible names. In its 
 very inception it was thus made a matter of delicacy and embarrass- 
 ment. It compelled him to disclose his plans to others. It involved 
 him in other contracts and engagements than his own. He was forced 
 to assume heavy obligations. He had to return, at the same or some 
 short period after, similar favours to those he had received. It led 
 to a complex and universal system of accommodation. It involved 
 the fortune of every man too deeply in the general circumstances of 
 the community. It stood in many cases as an insuperable barrier 
 to enterprise ; and frequently led to suspicion and enquiry among 
 the local directors, who, being engaged in active trade, refused 
 the accommodation sought for, and then embraced the speculation 
 themselves. And in addition to all these evils, it pressed upon the 
 community and upon individuals in this respect, that if the accom- 
 modation had been gran ted, and the speculation from any unexpected 
 causes were defeated, the party was compelled to retain this extra 
 
26 
 
 capital upon interest, although unproductive, until the note became 
 due and the term of credit had expired. Instances have come under 
 my own knowledge where a party having obtained an accommoda- 
 tion of this kind, and having been debarred from prosecuting the 
 enterprise he intended, had been obliged to deposit the sum in the 
 same bank from which he had drawn it, and allow the bank to 
 derive a double interest at his expense, upon the employment of its 
 own capital. It is not wonderful that a deep anxiety should have 
 been felt in the colonies to be relieved from such a system. 
 
 In treating upon the probable effects of these credits, much consi- 
 deration is due to the following extract from the report of a Commit- 
 tee of the House of Lords upon the question : 
 
 " There is also," say their lordships, " one part of their system 
 which is stated by all the witnesses (and in the opinion of the com- 
 mittee very justly stated) to have had the best effects upon the 
 people in Scotland, and particularly upon the middling and poorer 
 classes of society, in producing and encouraging habits of frugality 
 and industry. The practice referred to is that of cash accounts. 
 Any person who applied to the bank for a cash credit, is called upon 
 to produce two or more competent securities, who are jointly bound. 
 * * * From the facility these cash accounts give to all the small trades- 
 men of the countries, and the opportunity they afford to persons 
 who begin business with little or no capital but their character, to 
 employ profitably the meanest products of their industry, it cannot 
 be doubted that the most important advantages are derived to the 
 community. The advantages to the banks who give these cash 
 credits, arises from the call they continually produce for the issue 
 of their paper, and from the opportunity they afford for the employ- 
 ment of part of their deposits. The banks are indeed so sensible 
 that, in order to make this part of their business advantageous and 
 secure, it is necessary that their cash credit should (as they express 
 it be frequently operated upon, that they refuse to continue them 
 if this condition be not fulfilled." 
 
 This extract establishes that three important results may be anti- 
 cipated from the introduction of the system : 
 
 First a more liberal diffusion of capital into the hands of the 
 active and industrious classes of the community, and of course a 
 more extensive and prosperous trade. In stating this result, I 
 may meet the objection raised by some, that there is no field for 
 the operation of the bank, and that there exists already in the 
 
27 
 
 Colonies an excess, not a deficiency, of capital. It requires a 
 brief answer. It is an argument which is heard only in Nova 
 Scotia: for in the Cariadas and in New Brunswick it has never been 
 employed. The directors of the banks in the latter admit that the 
 introduction of British capital will give a new impulse to trade and 
 enterprise. In meeting the objection, then, I will not refer to the 
 popular clamour against capitalists, too prevalent in every country, 
 amongst the needy, and from which Nova Scotia is not exempt; 
 but the past operation of both the banks in that province show that 
 even they deem it safe to trust their capital, to a certain extent, 
 among the merchants and mechanics. Supposing the field of opera- 
 tion to have been already pre-occupied by the local banks, what is to 
 prevent the bank of British North America from securing, upon the 
 principles of free competition, a portion or share of the trade of bank- 
 ing? The directors are determined to carry into this new sphere those 
 safe and improved principles of action which are supported by long 
 experience, and which have been found at once to pro mote the interest 
 of banks and their customers. They will place their veto in the colo- 
 nies, as in England, upon accommodation paper, and give capital to 
 those only whose character and credit afford a guarantee for its safety, 
 and for its employment in those legitimate and hopeful enterprises 
 which are likely to promote the public prosperity, and at the same 
 time yield a profit to the individual. The decisions of the local 
 boards will be controlled by other and purer motives than those 
 suggested, from a species of mercantile espionage, animated by a de- 
 sire to obtain information that it may be turned to other purposes. 
 But it is the general opinion, even in Halifax, that the local banks have 
 not afforded the extent of accommodation, which their commerce and 
 resources required. I refer to Mr. Carter's speech before the share- 
 holders in London, for information and evidence upon this head, as 
 it bears not upon Nova Scotia only, but upon the Colonies in general. 
 " As another reason," says he, " for believing this establishment 
 " will succeed, it is stated that a great demand for banking facilities 
 " exists in the colonies. That this is the fact I can aver from what 
 " came under my own observation, and the communications I held 
 " with mercantile men in all the provinces. It is also proved by the 
 " numerous applications made to the different legislatures for bank 
 " charters or acts of incorporation. No less than eleven applications 
 " were made to the legislatures of Upper Canada while I was in 
 " Toronto, for the establishment of new banks on the extension of 
 
28 
 
 " the capitals of those already in existence, and all the banks in Lower 
 " Canada propose to double their capital. In New Brunswick, most 
 "of the banks have recently increased their capital ; but still a great 
 " want of banking accommodation exists for rendering legitimate 
 " facilities to trade and commerce. A general complaint of the want 
 "of discounts prevailed in all the colonies. I was informed by the 
 " directors of the bank of Montreal, in January last, that on each 
 " discount-day that is, twice a week they had unexceptionable 
 " paper to the amount of S0,000/. laid before them, and that their in- 
 " crease would not allow them to discount more than about 20.000/. 
 " At Quebec, a respectable merchant and bank director informed me 
 " that he had constantly, during the last year, about 20,000/. of good 
 " bills by him, which he could not get discounted." 
 
 In Halifax and St. John's, the same complaints have been made. 
 Sound paper, founded upon actual and bonafide transactions, have 
 frequently been refused. Enterprise and promising speculations 
 have been retarded or suppressed. It is believed that the trade of 
 the colonies now requires a large addition of capital ; but when we 
 consider the effect likely to be produced upon the activity of exist- 
 ing relations, by the new system of British and inter-colonial ex- 
 changes the more liberal principles of the bank in the systems of 
 cash accounts and of deposits, the natural, the inevitable effect of 
 the introduction of so large an amount of British capital, in extending 
 the means of enterprise, both to the resources which now exist and 
 those likely hereafter to be opened and widened, it is clear that the 
 very establishment of the bank will create afield of operation for 
 itself. In the United States of America, a large occupation is found 
 for the capital of England. Many of their enterprises canals, rail- 
 roads, and banks are conducted by the aid they have received from 
 London: and if in a country which has reached so superior a condi- 
 tion in the developement of its national wealth and resources, so wide 
 a scope for foreign funds is afforded, it is believed that the colonies 
 present even a broader and better field, and that the introduction of 
 this amount of British capital, to be guided and controlled by men 
 who have a deep stake in their prosperity and advancement, must 
 produce the most benign and happy results. With reference to the 
 bank itself, the transactions of the bankers in exchange will afford a 
 large and novel occupation for its funds ; and to this the directors 
 have set no limits, so long as each transaction yields a moderate 
 return, and can be conducted with safety. 
 
29 
 
 It cannot be denied that some stockholders of the local banks, 
 and some Colonial Capitalists, look upon the Bank with distrust and 
 jealousy; but it is thought by others, and by the more liberal and in- 
 telligent even of the classes referred to, that it will exercise a beneficial 
 influence upon the general interests, and ought, therefore, to be sup- 
 ported and encouraged. Men, and bodies of men, do not relish the 
 first impulses and collisions of competition. It is natural that these 
 feelings should exist among men who look only to the present time; 
 but the minds of others, who can take a more enlarged and prospec- 
 tive view of commercial affairs, are affected by higher considerations, 
 and come to contrary results. The bank can only prosper by 
 the introduction of the facilities it has promised, by dealing, in 
 fact, in the community upon those easier and better terms which 
 the experience of the mother country has vindicated, for no man 
 will be disposed to alter his existing relations, or seek a new con- 
 nexion, unless he deem it to be his interest so to do. The bank di- 
 rectors have no power of controul, except by addressing the self-in- 
 terest of their customers. If they promote their interest, they pro- 
 mote the interests of the Colonies. The local capitalists are bound 
 up as a part of the body-politic. The bank must, of course, interfere 
 with the present employment of their funds ; but if it advance the 
 prosperity of the country, quicken the activity , and widen the circle 
 of its trade, it will increase the value of property, and have the 
 effect ultimately of extending the field for the employment of colonial 
 capital. By many of the monied men in the colonies the establish- 
 ment, therefore, is regarded as bright with hope, and likely to exert 
 upon their own prospects a happy influence, although it may be 
 removed at a distance from the present time. It is clear the bank can 
 only advance its own interests, and secure its own permanence and 
 well-being, by promoting the trade and prosperity of the colonies ; 
 - by taking that enlarged and liberal view of a distant and ultimate 
 result, which leads to present sacrifice, and represses that anxiety 
 which is too ardent for temporary gains. 
 
 Second. To the bank itself the system of cash credits will be be- 
 neficial, as it will necessarily call for additional issues of paper. This 
 has been the invariable effect of them in other countries ; and it 
 follows as an inevitable result, if they increase trade and profitable 
 speculation. I give beneath the conditions upon which they are 
 conducted, and the testimony afforded by others upon the question. 
 I quote again from Gilbart's Treatise upon Banking, p. 85. 
 
 " As by cash credits the banks render themselves liable to be 
 
30 
 
 called upon at a moment's notice for the amount of the credit 
 granted, it is natural to suppose that they contemplate some advan- 
 tage in return. The advantage contemplated is the circulation of 
 their notes. It is not intended that the cash credit shall be a dead 
 loan of capital. It is expected that there shall be a perpetual pay- 
 ing in and drawing out of money, and the smaller the denomina- 
 tion of the notes drawn out, the more advantageous is the account 
 to the bank. Manufacturers who pay away large sums every week 
 in wages, linen-buyers, and cattle-dealers, millers, and provision- 
 merchants, who make their purchases in small sums, and generally 
 all those who have quick returns of money passing through their 
 hands, have the means of making a cash credit profitable to the 
 bank. On this subject," he adds, " I again quote the evidence : 
 
 66 ( To secure to the bank the advantages of circulation, which is to 
 make it worth while to afford these facilities at so little expense to 
 their customers, he on his part is to lose no opportunity of bring- 
 ing to the bank, and thus withdrawing from circulation, the notes 
 of every rival bank which comes into his hands in the course of his 
 transactions : or, of paying away, and thus introducing into circula- 
 tion, as many of the notes of the bank as his transactions admit of, 
 always l notes, if possible. The payments and receipts must be 
 frequent, for in this consists the banker's profit, inasmuch as the 
 payments are uniformly made by him in his own notes, and the 
 receipts are generally, in a very great degree, in the notes of other 
 banks. Thus, supposing a shopkeeper to have a credit for 50 or 
 J6100, if his receipts and payments average 5 per day, he may, in 
 six months, or 150 days, have placed 750 of his banker's 1 notes 
 in circulation. 
 
 66 ' It is quite necessary, in order to render a cash account benefi- 
 cial, that there should be repeated and continued operations upon 
 it ; that the transactions should be numerous : that there should 
 be a continual drawing out and paying in of money ; and that, by 
 these means, a circulation of the bank notes may be promoted ; 
 otherwise the account is withdrawn, and the great reason of this is, 
 that these accounts are not intended to form dead loans, but to be 
 productive of circulation to the bank.' " 
 
 Third. If in the colonies they exercise the same auspicious influ- 
 ence upon habits of industry and frugality which they have pro- 
 duced in Scotland, the benefits will be incalculable. They operate 
 at once as a spur to exertion, and secure, at all times, a safe place 
 of deposit for surplus savings. " This system has a great effect 
 
31 
 
 upon the moral habits of the people, because those who are sure- 
 ties feel an interest in watching over their conduct ; and if they find 
 they are misconducting themselves, they become apprehensive of 
 being brought into risk and loss from having become their sureties ; 
 and if they find they are misconducting themselves, they withdraw 
 the security." In countries like the colonies no check can be more 
 beneficial. It will be of essential importance in lessening the pre- 
 vailing taste for show and a luxurious style of living. The colo- 
 nists have yielded in this respect to the tendencies of the age. The 
 example of other countries, of the local governments, of the 
 military, and of official men, supported by salaries above the means 
 and exigencies of the country, have had a pernicious effect in intro- 
 ducing habits of expense, and a style of manners fitted only for a 
 more advanced state of society. Many prudent men have resisted 
 the influence of this example. The Ministry of late, with a just re- 
 gard to the sound philosophy of life, and the tone of colonial feeling, 
 have expressed their open disapproval of artificial and extravagant 
 style. Some of the despatches of Lord Glenelg to the colonial legis- 
 latures, relative to the settlement of the Crown and territorial reve- 
 nues and the adjustment of their Civil Lists, have been on this ac- 
 count most warmly responded to. In placing the Crown Revenues 
 at the disposal of the legislature, his Lordship has wisely left them to 
 fix salaries with a just regard to the rights and responsibility of the 
 officer, but at the same time to consider his scale of expenditure, and the 
 style of society in which he is required to move. In some of these 
 it has been clearly stated that no "offensive distinction" ought to be 
 drawn in favour of men holding situations under Government, that 
 they are bound to submit to the circumstances of the community ; 
 and as settlements have been effected upon these sound principles, 
 one main source of the pernicious examples to which I have alluded 
 has been for ever removed. The Government having thus operated 
 upon one class, it will be fortunate for the colonies, if the Bank, by the 
 introduction of cash credits, exercise an equally beneficial and moral 
 influence upon those more numerous classes, whom they have cor- 
 rected and improved in other countries, so that simpler and plainer 
 habits may be introduced, the happiness of society increased, 
 and the prosperity and permanent wealth of the country promoted. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 UPON THE INTRODUCTION OF BRITISH COIN, AND BRITISH 
 
 STERLING AS THE MONEY OP ACCOUNT, INTO THE 
 
 BRITISH COLONIES OF NORTH AMERICA. 
 
 Involved condition of the Colonial Currency Table of Coins furnished by Mr. Carter 
 Exchanges in the Colonies and upon Great Britain. Difficulty of remittance." 
 Old Halifax Currency. Elements of Exchange. Currencies suggested : Bri- 
 tish Sterling ; the Dollar ; and, a Colonial Dollar to be issued from the Mint. 
 Assay of Dollars, impurity of. Depreciation of American Currency. Advantage* 
 of introducing Sterling. Dangerous influence of the United States upon the Money 
 Market of the Colonies. Causes of the late Crisis in the Money Market of the 
 United States. Policy and Scheme of General Jackson. Arrangement of Her Ma- 
 jesty's Government for the Payment of the Troops. Bank of British North America 
 to adopt the same Scheme. Republican Dollar. Mode to be pursued in introducing 
 a General Currency Regulation of existing Debts and Contracts. Dollar for the 
 use of the Colonies. Propositions. 
 
 " In order to give effect to the exertions of Her Majesty's Government, I venture 
 to propose the following measures for his Excellency's consideration. It is expedient 
 to fix the corresponding ratios of the English coins, and to make them a legal tender 
 at these rates. It is expedient to establish sterling money as the money of account, 
 and exclusively recognizable in courts of law. 
 
 " The British Government have in view the political tendency of this introduction of 
 English money into the Colonies. A similarity of coinage produces reciprocal habits 
 and feelings, and is a new claim of attachment in the intercourse of two nations. The 
 Roman, and all ancient and modern nations, have acted on this principle, particularly 
 the French, in the late war. The French coins pass throughout the Mediterranean 
 and great part of Germany ; and it certainly had the effect of increasing the intercourse 
 of those countries with France." Commissary General Routes Letter io His Excel- 
 lency Sir James Kempt upon the Currency of Lower Canada, 6lh February, 1830, laid 
 before the House of Assembly, and published in ihe Journals. 
 
 HAVING, in these two previous chapters, reviewed the supposed" 
 operations, and prospects of the Bank, and the probable advantage 
 
33 
 
 it will confer, both upon the mother country and the Colonies, 
 upon the shareholders at home and abroad, I come now to treat 
 upon the main question of the Currency, and to enquire to what 
 coinage and standard it would be most beneficial to resort. Let 
 me first remark, however, upon the present position of the cur- 
 rency in the different Colonies, and proceed to give some idea of 
 the conflicting and involved condition of their coins and nominal 
 values ; I refer to the Table in the following page, furnished 
 to me by Mr. Carter ; and from the attention he paid to the sub- 
 ject, while in the Colonies, perfect reliance may be placed upon its 
 accuracy. This combined view of the different currencies, in its 
 present perfect shape, could not have been presented, had not the 
 information been collected by Mr, Carter during his mission. 
 
T3 -, 
 
 g " 
 
 *** ij *Z 
 
 *** ffi Cii 
 
 CN O 
 r-l C< 
 
 Sf r-l 000 
 O O OOO 
 
 
 S * 
 1 1 
 
 PH ""< 
 
 CO 
 CM 
 
 l-H CO 
 
 CO CO CO CO 
 
 t^ r-H CO CO CO 
 
 O O OOO 
 
 
 * ^ 
 _o 
 
 te 
 
 T? CN^ VO 
 CC CM O O 
 rH i-H CM CO 
 
 fplOi fiW 
 CO r-l CO OOO 
 
 O 000 
 
 
 .g 
 
 fe J2 ~Q 
 
 . . * 00 
 
 ... 
 
 
 * i| 
 
 l-H 
 
 
 
 
 o K^+i 
 
 .0 
 
 Ik/5 
 i-H 
 
 CO CO OOO 
 CO i- " ifi 
 
 C O OOO 
 
 
 o 
 
 J H 
 
 1 ^<4 
 o 
 
 <o * * o 
 
 O -^ CO O 
 
 t 1 l-H 
 
 cH I-H CM CM 
 
 O CO O O 
 00 O 
 
 o 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 
 Sf CO <0 00 
 
 
 
 . 
 
 
 lO IO FH O * 
 
 l-H i i 
 
 
 
 
 
 B 
 o 
 
 rJtCN* O O CO 00 CO CM I-H 
 
 COC OOOO-* <NOO COCO 
 i-H F-H rH i-H rH rH rH 
 
 I-HII C*CN^<i-HCO i 1 O ^O 
 
 <O -H CO O O O O 
 
 O 00 
 
 '. Tf 
 
 
 
 o> . 
 3^1 bfi 
 
 CO* CO'OGOO -t 1 * COCO 
 
 
 
 
 
 1/5 *, i ioo^Ot> "O^ 00^ 
 
 
 
 
 e 
 
 1 t 
 
 rrl 
 
 o^-^ sJ2o>p <o|2-|2 ""P^IS 
 
 CO "^ O O CO i H O CO ^ *^ CM 
 
 rt^ ooio*-co Tfo coo> 
 
 f FH <N CN T)< p-i CO -H r- 
 
 O O OOO 
 O O OOO 
 
 
 
 1 si 
 
 OiCO COCOOOOO T^ 1 * CCCO 
 
 
 
 *J 
 
 O iO F I O OO CO t^ ift ^ 00 ^ 
 
 I-H I-H l-H I-H 
 
 .2 o ..... .jr 
 
 
 DO 
 
 
 
 : | : : : : J ;1 
 
 ijili Jl'^.- 
 
 1:'% : J1 la! 
 1 ..ill |||l a ||i i 
 
 S2-f ) Kr- l l s! <u 2 'S^.SS 
 9 Sr3^" ^^a*i -2 B<a 
 1 J 'Z 2 S 1 J x2 o o 
 
 jjccg^ ^H^ PMT c* 
 
 -S If I .s-SS 
 
 r i^ 5 i 5 is- 55 5 
 
 M__^ CM cob 
 
 oz/ver. 
 
 British Crown (Half-crown 
 proportion) 
 " Shilling (Sixpence in pi 
 portion) 
 French Crown 
 " Half-crown 
 
 Spanish Milled Dollar 
 Mexican Dollar, coined in 18 
 
 <N A 
 
 CO H 
 
 2| g 
 
35 
 
 United States. The gold coins of the following countries are legal tender by weight, 
 viz.. Great Britain, Portugal, and Brazil, at 94$ dol. per dwt.; France at 93^, and Spain 
 at 89f ff . For the sake of comparison, the weights given in the Upper Canada Act are 
 assumed for the British coins, and the weights in the Lower Canada Act, for the other 
 gold coins. The American Eagle, coined before the 1st of July, 1834, although nomi- 
 nally of the value of ten dollars only, sells at a price equal to its excess of weight over 
 the new coinage. Silver dollars, crowns, five -franc pieces, and pistareens, are legal 
 tender by tale. 
 
 Lower Canada. The rates given in the table are for gold coins, weighed by the 
 single piece ; allowance to be made on every piece weighing more or less than the 
 given standard, at 2\d. currency per grain, if British, Portuguese, or American, and 
 2\d. cy. per grain, if French or Spanish. In payments above 20 cy., in gold coins, 
 either party may require it to be weighed in bulk, at 89*. cy., per ounce troy, for British, 
 Portuguese, or American ; and 87*. 8%d. cy. per ounce, for French and Spanish, deduct- 
 ing half a grain for each piece so weighed, to compensate the receiver for the loss in re- 
 weighing separately. The currency law was passed prior to the coinage of Sovereigns 
 and new Eagles. The silver coins are rated by tale. All the higher and lower deno- 
 minations of gold and silver coin rated above are to be received in their respective pro- 
 portions. 
 
 Upper Canada. Gold and silver coins, if depreciated in weight more than one- 
 twenty-fifth part of their full weight, not to be legal money, with this proviso, they 
 are receivable by tale. All the higher and lower denominations of rated gold and 
 silver coins are to be received in their respective proportions. The act is to remain in 
 force until the 20th of April, 1840, and to the end of the then next ensuing session of 
 the Provincial Parliament. 
 
 Nova Scotia. The Currency Law of this province having expired on the 31st o 
 December, 1835, I have inserted the rates at which coins are received and paid at the 
 Colonial Treasury by virtue of the Acts 6 Wm. IV. cap. 32 and 41, and which are 
 generally adopted in mercantile transactions ; the banks, however, refuse to receive 
 British silver at the excessive rates given above. About 57,000/. in notes (principally 
 of II. each) issued by the Province Treasury are in circulation, and as they are not 
 redeemable in specie, they are at a discount in the adjoining province ; their credit and 
 circulation are supported in Nova Scotia, by their being receivable in payment of pro- 
 vincial duties, and by an act of the legislature which prohibits the issue of any other 
 notes of less denomination than 5. 
 
 New Brunswick. British gold and silver coins are not specifically rated by the cur- 
 rency law of this province, and they are inserted in the table at one-ninth more than 
 their sterling value, being the only rate at which they are legal tender. A bill was intro- 
 duced into the Provincial Legislature in the Session of 1837, fixing a rate on the 
 sovereign, but I do not know whether it has received the royal assent. The dollar 
 and its aliquot parts, and the French crown, are all legalized by tale, but not the half- 
 rown. 
 
 Prince Edward Island. There is no specific regulation of the currency in the 
 island, the British coins are consequently inserted at one-ninth more than their 
 sterling value. The money of account has been depreciated by the issue of irredeem- 
 able treasury notes, which are in circulation to the extent of 14,500/., and pass at the 
 rate of 30*. to 20*. in British coin. These notes have been sold by auction in Halifax at 
 11*. Halifax currency per pound. 
 
 Newfoundland. I am indebted to Thomas H. Brooking, Esquire, of London, for the 
 following information upon the currency of this island. From his mercantile intelli" 
 gence, his local knowledge, and long familiarity with the domestic trade and foreign 
 
 c 2 
 
36 
 
 relations of that island, I am glad to refer to his valuable authority for the following 
 facts : 
 
 " The currency of this island is composed chiefly, almost entirely, of Spanish dollars, 
 which circulate at the rate of 5s. each ; their sterling value being fixed under a treasury 
 order at 4*. 4d. each. * The difference between the two is 15/. 7s. Sd. per cent., and 
 this is considered to be the par of exchange. To reduce the currency to sterling, two- 
 fifteenths are deducted ; to advance sterling to currency, two -thirteenths are added. 
 Doubloons have been recently introduced to some extent, and although not generally 
 received, their value may be stated at 76s. 6d. currency, or 66s. sterling. Bills of ex- 
 change are bought at a premium, which, supposing it to be quoted at twenty per cent., 
 would require 480 dollars to pay for a bill of 100/. sterling, and I refer to this as the 
 most simple method of computing the rate of exchange in Newfoundland. With 
 reference to the money of account, it may be said generally, that all transactions and 
 contracts between merchants, dealers, planters, tradesmen, fishermen, servants, &c., are 
 kept in currencysay four Spanish dollars for one pound. Small coins are extremely 
 scarce, and change in consequence difficult to be met with in sufficient quantity to 
 meet the demand and carry on the ordinary business of life. Fractional parts of 
 dollars, in proportion to the value of the whole dollar, and British silver, circulate 
 generally ; the latter ."at the following rates, the sixpenny piece at Id., the shilling at 
 1*. 2c?., sometimes Is. 3d., and the half-crown at 2s. ^d. or 3*., according to the de- 
 mand. They have no fixed rate, so far as I know. There is thus great irregularity in 
 the currency of the island, and the mode of transacting ordinary business is fraught 
 with serious and inconvenient anomalies. The introduction of a sound standard, and 
 uniformity in its monetary affairs, would be productive of many benefits to this valuable 
 dependency of the Crown." ^ 
 
 It is clear that the condition of our currency this conflict in the 
 nominal values of the different coins must embarrass both the 
 convenience and the frequency of inter-colonial exchange. I press 
 it as a practical evil, that I have frequently known sums lying un- 
 productive for months in the hands of parties, both in the Pro- 
 vinces of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, who were anxious to 
 transfer them, and who felt an insuperable difficulty in procuring 
 any available mode of remittance. Bills or drafts drawn in one 
 colony upon another, often vary from one to five per cent. I have 
 known bills in Halifax, drawn upon Quebec, sold at a premium of 
 eight per cent. At other times they fall to a discount, and it may 
 
 * To show the unsoundness of this standard, the fictitious sterling value which the 
 dollar has received, Ifgive the following additional extract from the letter of Com.-gen. 
 Routh : 
 
 " The current value of the Spanish dollar in the colonies having been rated at 
 the English mint price of silver, and that price being 2<#. per ounce more than 
 the market price, has been obviously overvalued at 4 per cent. what is really 
 worth 4s. 2d. in England payed 4s. 4d., in the colonies, equally as well as 4s. 4d. 
 British money, which conventionally passes for, and in point of fact can only be 
 had in England in exchange for, a value equivalent to 4s. 4d." 
 
37 
 
 be stated, as a general proposition, that the inter-colonial exchanges 
 are subject to daily fluctuation, and vary, in their premium or dis- 
 count, according to the shifting balance of trade, and the changes 
 in the value of their respective currencies. These oscillations are 
 often sudden, and lead to loss and disaster. 
 
 To effect a remittance to the United States is often a matter of 
 equal difficulty, and the exchanges upon them are exposed to as ex- 
 cessive and troublesome fluctuations in value. In the lower provinces 
 the balance of trade, by reason of the large importation and consump- 
 tion of American flour, is against them. It is discharged in specie, 
 for the value of the flour exceeds the exports of fish, plaister Paris, 
 and, some say, even of coals. In consequence of this demand, 
 specie in the Colonies has, of late years, been sustained at a premium 
 of three, four, and five per cent. Drafts upon the States sell at the 
 same rate, and being chiefly supplied by brokers for the purpose of 
 speculation, they are often high and even difficult to obtain. If the 
 sum held to be remitted be small, a draft cannot be obtained at any 
 premium, or, to use a strong but not graceful simile, " neither for 
 love nor money." 
 
 The embarrassment attending the currency in the province of Nova 
 Scotia was largely increased some years ago by a voluntary act on 
 the part of the merchants in Halifax, who, with a view of retaining 
 doubloons in the colony, determined to raise the nominal, and, as 
 some thought, their real value, from 3. 17*. Gd. to 4.* It had the 
 effect of relieving the debtor at the expense of the creditor ; debts 
 were paid with the depreciated currency. It elevated prices and 
 increased the rates of foreign exchange.f But those who then sup- 
 ported the measure are now convinced that it was a violation of the 
 known and established principles of political science, and has utterly 
 failed in the effect they intended. 
 
 The relation, however, in which the currency of the Colonies 
 stands to that of the mother country, is equally involved and intri- 
 cate. The old Halifax^ currency, which prevails throughout all the 
 
 * An attempt of a similar kind was made in Prince Edward Island, where 
 the coin was depreciated by pieces being struck out from the centre. Those who 
 supported the measure are now satisfied, that it was as unsound in conception as 
 it has been ineffectual in promoting the end they had in view. 
 
 t For an illustration of the causes which regulate the value of the precious 
 metals, and the effect their supply has upon price I refer to Lord Brougham's 
 Eighth Lecture upon Political Economy. Glasgow edition, page 57. 
 
 J The introduction of this currency is referred to a period anterior to 
 
38 
 
 North American Colonies, is a fictitious addition of one-ninth, 
 making one hundred pounds sterling equal to 111. 2s. 2d. cur- 
 rency. It is not necessary to inquire into the origin of this singu- 
 lar calculation, for, it is clear, it neither forms a real nor even sound 
 standard of nominal difference.* It is, in fact, both in origin and 
 practice, a fiction in exchange. According to the shifting balance to 
 be discharged in money between England and the Colonies, bills 
 rise to a premium, or fall to a discount. During the last war with 
 
 the revolutionary war in America. At that time the olcl Spanish dollar was 
 worth 4s. 6d. sterling, and one-ninth was added to its value, to bring it up to 5s.,. 
 so that their money of account, being kept in dollars and cents, might be repre- 
 sented by an actual coin. I give this explanation, however, upon the authority 
 of tradition and general report for I have not been able to find any satisfactory 
 explanation of this currency in any ancient colonial work. 
 
 * In the course of my investigations upon the subject, I have been furnished by 
 a gentleman in London, deeply versed in the science of Political Economy, with a 
 pamphlet published at Boston in the year 1/40, and reprinted in London, 174K 
 It is entitled " A Discourse concerning the Currency of the British Plantations 
 in America, especially with regard to their Paper Money," and I select from it a 
 few passages to show that the conflict in the local colonial currencies, which 
 prevailed then and exists even at the present time, was felt thus early as a serious 
 grievance. " It is not easily to be accounted for," says the author, p. 7, " how 
 England, France, and 'Holland, have locally allowed their several American 
 eolonies, by laws of their several provinces, by chancerings in their courts of 
 judicature, and by custom* to depreciate from time to time the value of their 
 original denominations, to defraud their principals and creditors in Europe. The 
 British plantations have not only varied from sterling, but have also very much 
 varied from one another, to the great confusion of business and damage of the 
 merchant. This will appear plain by inserting, at one view, the state of the 
 currencies in the several British plantations, whereof some are per exchange, 
 some in Spanish silver coin, and some in paper money, called colony, or province 
 bills of public credit." 
 
 'i In the succeeding paragraph he thus imperfectly accounts for the introduction 
 of what is now called the old Halifax currency. " Originally, and for some 
 years following, in all the English and American colonies, 5s. denomination was 
 equal to an English crown sterling. After some time, pieces of eight, being the 
 general currency of all foreign American colonies, became also their currency; 
 and they remitted or gave credit to the merchants at home (by home is meant 
 Great Britain), a piece of eight (value 4s. 6d. sterling) for a crown or 5s. sterling, 
 This was* a fraud of eleven per cent. In sundry of our colonies were enacted 
 laws against passing of light pieces of eight ; these laws not being put in execu- 
 tion, heavy and light pieces of eight passed promiscuously, and, as it always 
 happens, a bad currency drove away the good currency heavy pieces of eight 
 were shipped off/* 
 
30 
 
 America I have seen the Government bills issued at the Commis- 
 sariat sold at a discount of 25 per cent. ; they have been sold since 
 at a. premium of 18 per cent. The ordinary rate in Halifax, of late 
 years, has been 12 or 14 per cent, premium; and, in examining the re- 
 ' turns in Porter's tables, it will be seen, that, for the last few years, 
 they have fluctuated in all the Colonies, from 8, 10, 12, to 14 per cent. 
 Mr. Chapman, in his " Thoughts on the Money and Exchange of 
 Lower Canada," has given, in an Appendix,* a table of the rates of 
 exchange at New York on London from 1821 to 1832. The fol- 
 lowing are the averages for the years stated respectively : 
 
 1824 9i3 percent. . . . 1828 10 k percent, premium. 
 
 18258 1829 Me do. 
 
 182610^ 183075 do. 
 
 1827101 18318^ do. 
 
 The mode of calculation is to deduct the discount from, or add the 
 premium to, the amount of the bill in sterling, and then bring both 
 into currency by the addition of one-ninth upon the whole. At a 
 first view, it may be asked if any exchange could be more com- 
 plex, uncertain, or irrational ? It is not wonderful that the Colo- 
 nies should desire to be relieved from the pressure and embarrass- 
 ment thus entailed upon them, and be glad to have introduced one 
 
 * In a pamphlet entitled, "Observations upon a Metallic Currency for 
 Lower Canada," and published at Montreal, 1837, there is a table of the rates of 
 premium from 1821 to 1836. The author states the average rate of premiums 
 for that period of sixteen years, at 9| per cent. He attributes this to the real 
 cause of the difference the want in the colonies of a sound metallic medium. 
 Pages 30, 31. 
 
 f " In New York, during the past year, and before the present derangement of 
 commercial affairs began, the premium on bills on London, varied from 6| to 10 
 per cent. ; recently it has ranged from 14 to 16 per cent., and even higher. At 
 Quebec it has been from 6 to ll per cent. ; at New Brunswick, from 4 to 12 
 per cent. ; in Nova Scotia, the exchange on London had been more steady, pro- 
 bably in consequence of British silver being current there. It had ranged during 
 the year from 11 to 14i per cent. I will state what were the rates at each place 
 during two months of last year. 
 
 New York in May, 7 per cent., in July, 7? to 8 
 
 Quebec. ... 8 to 9 11 
 
 New Brunswick 4 to 7 11 
 
 Nova Scotia . . ll 12 3" 
 
 Mr. Carter's Speech. Upon Colonial Exchange, see also Mr. Chapman's pam- 
 phlet, Chap. L, Section I . 
 
40 
 
 standard of value and a general money of account. In this ques- 
 tion the Bank has an obvious interest. The present state of the 
 currency will not only add to the expense and labour of keeping 
 accounts, but, in fact, will curtail the extent of the inter-colonial 
 trade. The expense of the establishment in London will be in- 
 creased by the necessity of keeping a larger establishment of clerks. 
 No general balance of returns nor profits can be struck until the 
 various accounts from the Branches have been reduced by decimals 
 to one standard. To the Colonies the benefits of a general and uni- 
 form currency are obvious, and the supporters of the bank have 
 ever expected that this would be an early object of attention to the 
 directors, and that its introduction would be one of the first benefits 
 the establishment of the bank would confer. 
 
 In speaking of the actual fluctuations in exchange* it is of primary 
 importance in this argument, that we examine the true causes to 
 which these fluctuations ought to be ascribed. To me it appears 
 that there are four elements by which these oscillations in exchange 
 are controlled, and ultimately regulated. First) there is the period 
 of time consumed in remittance, and in which the bill is to run after 
 presentment and acceptance, or in other words, the interest accruing 
 for the time in which the parties who purchase and receive the bills are 
 kept out of their money. Second, there is the credit or stability of 
 the parties by whom the bill is drawn or payable, or the certainty or 
 risk (lesser or greater as it may be from security) of its being paid. 
 Third, the difference of values in the money or coin in which the bill 
 is paid for by the buyer, and received in by the payee. And Fourth, 
 supposing the coin or money to be, both where the bill is drawn 
 
 * For a very clear and able exposition of the causes which govern the rates of 
 exchange, I refer to Lord Brougham's Lecture upon Currency, being the ninth 
 of the series. After treating upon the intrinsic value of the metals, he says, " It 
 is very easy to see what is the limit to this variation in the price of bills. The 
 motive to the purchase of a bill is the obligation to pay a debt ; the motive to 
 the selling of a bill is the desire of obtaining payment of a debt, or of receiving 
 the value of some property from abroad. The merchant, however, on whom it 
 is incumbent to pay a debt in Holland, can pay it without purchasing a bill by 
 importing the metal. To import or export the metal is attended with a certain 
 cost. If he who has a debt to pay in Holland can obtain a bill without paying 
 beyond the eost^ he will purchase the bill. If he who has a debt to receive from- 
 Holland can sell a bill without allowing beyond this cost, he will sell the bill. 
 This cost, therefore^ is the utmost amount of the premium at which a bill will be 
 bought or sold for any length of time." Glasgow Edition. 
 
41 
 
 and payable, the same, the expense of remitting an equal sum in 
 the precious metals. In explanation, it is clear that a bill drawn at 
 thirty days' sight, if the parties be of equal credit, will and ought to 
 sell at a higher premium than another at ninety days ; and a party in 
 purchasing, presuming every thing else to be equal, will pay for the 
 first a higher premium, but no higher than to meet the difference of 
 interest. In the Colonies some bills will command over others upon 
 the same day, drawn at the same sight, but by different parties, 
 a premium of 3 or 4 per cent. This difference is paid on account of 
 the superior credit of the parties to the bill commanding the higher 
 rate : the one class of bills will approximate nearer to the true rate 
 or par, the other retreat farther from it. Upon these two elements 
 we may remark, that the first is certain, the second fluctuating, being 
 dependent upon a set of circumstances differing in every particular 
 case. Now as to the third, which is the chief and governing cause 
 of the difference in the colonial exchanges upon the mother country, 
 in looking at the history of these exchanges for the last five years, 
 for example, I am prepared to take and vindicate this position, that 
 the fluctuations in the value of bills of exchange have not arisen from 
 any change in the value of the money in which they were payable 
 in England, nor from any change in the real value of British ster- 
 ling money in the colonies, but from the fluctuations in the value 
 of the colonial currencies, the money in which bills were paid for. 
 During the whole of that period 101^ sovereigns, or 101 10s. in 
 British silver, the 1 per cent, being demanded by the Government 
 as equivalent to the cost of remitting or exporting the coin, would 
 procure at the different Commissariats in the Colonies a bill of ex- 
 change for 100 sterling, drawn at thirty days, upon the Lords of 
 the Treasury in London. In 1832, as in 1838, the bill would com- 
 mand at the Bank of England one hundred sovereigns ; and as it is 
 not pretended that there has been any change in their value, it is 
 clear that the rise and fall of premium on bills in the colonies are 
 solely attributable to the varying and fluctuating nature of the money 
 or currency by which these bills were bought. In referring to 
 value, I speak of course of the real and intrinsic, not the nominal 
 value, for the British gold and silver have fluctuated in price or nomi- 
 nal value in every colony according to the changes in the local cur- 
 rencies. The true rate or par of exchange established by the 
 Government is l per cent. There is a gain to Government of 
 interest upon the money for sixty days, thirty being consumed in 
 
42 
 
 the passage of the bill across the Atlantic, and thirty days the 
 sight at which it is made payable. During that period of sixty 
 days the Government has the command, the holder of the bill is 
 deprived, of the funds of which the bill becomes the token or re- 
 presentative. 
 
 I have not alluded to another cause which operates upon the 
 daily rates of exchange, the oscillations between demand and sup- 
 ply, because these would still operate, although the British sterling 
 were introduced.* 
 
 * In confirmation of the argument above stated, I take the following extract 
 from the pamphlet of 1740 upon the Colonial Currencies before referred to in 
 page 38. I quote it as a proof that the fluctuation in the local currencies of the 
 colonies, are the chief cause of the rise and fall in the value of bills of exchange. 
 " The repeated large issues of paper money are the cause of the present rise 
 of the price of silver and exchange that is, of the public bills of currency, de- 
 preciating in all the paper money colonies, which do as regularly follow the same 
 as the tides do the phases or course of the moon. When no larger sums are 
 emitted for some time than was cancelled of former emissions, silver and ex- 
 change are at a stand ; when less is emitted than cancelled (which seldom hap- 
 pens) silver and exchange do fall. This is plain to a kind of demonstration 
 from the instance in the history of our paper money companies in New England. 
 
 " After silver had rose, an. 1706, to 8s. per oz. by light pieces of eight, super- 
 seding the heavy pieces, it continued at that rate, while paper emissions did not 
 exceed a due proportion to the current silver. An. 1714, we emitted 50,000/. 
 upon loan; arid an. 1715, in Rhode Island, 50,000?., besides emissions on dis- 
 tinct funds for charges of government. In the autumn, an. 1715, silver became 
 fifteen per cent, advance, above 8s., that is, about 9s. Id. per oz. Massachu- 
 setts Bay, an. 1717, emitted 1,000,000?. upon loan, and a very long period; 
 silver rose to 125. per oz. An. 1721, Massachusetts Bay emitted 50,000?. ; and 
 Rhode Island, 40,000?. upon loan. Silver, an. 1722, became 14s. per oz. From 
 that time a chargeable Indian war required large emissions, and silver rose to 
 165. per oz. ; it continued at this rate till an. 1728, emissions not being larger 
 than cancellings. An. 1727, Massachusett's Bay emitted 60,000?., and an. 1728, 
 Rhode Island emitted 40,000?. upon loan ; silver became 185. per oz. An. 1731, 
 Rhode Island emitted 60,000?. upon loan (N. B. Besides the several loans in 
 the course of this history, all the charges of the former governments were de- 
 frayed by paper emissions), and silver became, an. 1732, 21 s. per oz. An. 1732, 
 Massachusetts Bay emitted 76,000?. upon funds of taxes. Rhode Island 104,000/. 
 upon loan and taxes. Connecticut 50,000?. upon loan; and an. 1737, silver 
 became 27*. per oz. From an. 1734 to an. 1738, more bills were cancelled than 
 emitted. Exchange fell from 440 to 400 per cent. Advance, an. 1738, Rhode 
 Island emitted 100,000?. upon loan ; silver rose from 27s. to 2Qs. per oz." 
 
 The value of the pamphlet chiefly consists in the view it presents of the 
 urrencies in the different colonies at that early time, and the effect which the 
 
43 
 
 It would be idle to enter into any elaborate argument, by refer- 
 ence to abstract principles, to illustrate the benefit the Colonies 
 would derive from one general standard and money of account. 
 To estimate the evils which are now felt in British North America, 
 let any one imagine that the state of exchange between London, 
 Liverpool, and Edinburgh, stood in the same relative position as the 
 currency in Halifax, St. John, and Quebec, that every remittance 
 required intricate calculation, and that sometimes the balances 
 could not be transferred in money, not so much from the want of 
 coin or of funds, as from the conflict in, and loss entailed by, their 
 different nominal values. Would it not inevitably embarrass inter- 
 course, and limit the amount of their transactions ? Such has been 
 the effect in the Colonies. Parliament has introduced one coinage, 
 and one general standard of value throughout the United Kingdom. 
 Even in lesser matters this has been respected. An act was passed 
 in 1826 to assimilate the national weights and measures, and to 
 swamp, in the imperial standard, the artificial distinctions which 
 prevailed in the different counties and districts. By the constitu- 
 tion of the United States,* the power was wisely reposed in Congress 
 of regulating the currency. No stale legislature can interfere with 
 the standard formed at the Mint in Washington, and, with all the 
 anxiety and jealousy felt by the State legislatures to throw off what 
 some of them call the " dominion, or tyranny, of the General 
 " Government/' they have not sought to be relieved from this mark 
 
 extensive issue of paper money had produced in raising exchange, and of course 
 in depreciating the value of their local currencies. After presenting a statement 
 of their coins and nominal value, he thus concludes : 
 
 " Thus we see, that particularly in our paper money colonies, the currencies 
 have invariably depreciated from sterling, and from one another; Exchange 
 with Great Britain being, at this time (Feb. 1739), 
 
 In New England .... 450 per cent. 
 
 Jersey and Pennsylvania . . . 70 to 75 do. 
 
 Maryland . . . . .150 do. 
 
 North Carolina .... 1100 to 1300 do. 
 
 South Carolina . . . . 700 do. 
 
 more than sterling." 
 
 * After the conclusion of the war it was provided by the constitution of the 
 United States, that no state should coin money, emit bills of credit, make any 
 thing but gold and silver coin a tender in payment of debts, or pass any law im- 
 pairing the obligation of contracts ; and the power to coin money, and to regulate 
 the value thereof, was vested exclusively in Congress. Gilbart, Banking in Ame- 
 rica, p. 4. Judge Story's Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States. 
 
44 
 
 of constitutional vassalage, because, it is generally believed, that this 
 regulation is a pillar of the State, and essential to the prosperity of 
 their commerce. But the mother country has exerted no such 
 controul over the Colonies. Every colony has been allowed to 
 regulate its own domestic currency. They have acted upon no uni- 
 form or consistent plan, and hence the eccentricity of their relations, 
 and " the mazy and entangled web " into which they are now in- 
 volved. It is high time that Parliament either resumed its au- 
 thority, or that, by some milder course, the Colonies should be 
 brought back to some general and sound system of exchange. 
 
 The expediency of a change being now admitted, the question 
 occurs to which standard it will be most prudent to turn. Some 
 advise the adoption of the British coin, and sterling, as the money of 
 account; others the dollar of South America, failing to defineits weight 
 of pure silver, the accounts to be kept in dollars and cents, or, as at 
 present, in Halifax currency, at 5s. to the dollar ; and a third class re- 
 commend a Colonial dollar, coined exclusively for the use and benefit 
 of the Colonies themselves. I shall proceed to review the arguments 
 by which each of these three propositions is sought to be upheld. 
 
 Let it be first remarked that we need not enter here into the 
 vexed and perplexing question, which has so long divided the 
 brokers and dealers in exchange, as to the expediency and compara- 
 tive safety of a gold or silver* standard. This belongs to a far 
 more comprehensive inquiry than that in which we are now en- 
 gaged. The Colonies stand upon an isolated spot in the ocean of 
 commerce, and, in place of influencing any of the broad and general 
 currents of trade or exchange, they lie among the eddies, and must 
 be content with the humbler and subservient sphere of operation 
 their position gives. Whatever standard may be adopted in other 
 
 * The proposition debated in former years, that Government should adopt a 
 standard based upon both metals, has been long abandoned. It is now admitted 
 that one must be made the measure of value, and regulate the law of tender. A 
 relative proportion may be stated between the two, as is done in England be- 
 tween gold and silver, for the purpose of introducing a smaller denomination 
 of coin, or change for the convenience of trade ; but to refer to both indiscri- 
 minately as a standard and tender for sums of large amount, would, as is now 
 generally acknowledged, be a violation of those principles which regulate their 
 intrinsic and different values. Government might attempt, with equal wisdom, 
 to introduce a "standard yard" of two different measures in length, or an " im- 
 perial gallon" with one differing from another in its cubical contents. 
 
45 
 
 countries, they must, I fear, yield to a superior authority. It \Vould 
 be presumptuous, even if we had the ability, to blend so vast an in- 
 quiry with one of little comparative interest. All I shall attempt is 
 to inquire what existing standard it is best for the Colonies to 
 adopt. 
 
 In introducing a money of account, and a standard of value, for 
 the Colonies, by any direct interference of the legislature, or other- 
 wise, two great results ought to be looked for ; -first, that species 
 of coin which are pure as to intrinsic value, and which will be most 
 easily kept in their domicile of circulation ; and, second, to adopt that 
 set of figures that form and mode of numerical calculation which 
 will be conformable to the greater amount of their foreign trans- 
 actions. The second, however, is merged in the importance and 
 bearing of the first. 
 
 By adopting sterling as the money of account, the accounts 
 of the Colonies will be assimilated to those of the mother country ; 
 and as this is by far the largest branch of their external trade, it 
 forms an important, if not a primary, consideration in its favour. 
 By the introduction of it into all the Colonies they would be relieved 
 from the present, rates of exchange and the rapid fluctuation to which 
 they are subject. By the explanation given hereafter, it will be seen 
 that a permanent standard of exchange may be established, from which 
 there would seldom be any great variation. In a national and po- 
 litical point of view, this would be of high importance. An inter- 
 community in accounts and money will form a new bond of connexion 
 between the Colonies and the Parent State ; for, with the introduc- 
 tion of sterling as the money of account, it is intended, of course, 
 to introduce the same gold and silver coins which are current in 
 Great Britain. We are to embrace, in short, by one sweeping 
 measure, the same standard coin and money of account which pre- 
 vails in the mother country, and, so far as these have relation to 
 the connexion, to incorporate the Colonies as new, although distant, 
 counties, added to the Parent State. 
 
 By adopting these, the Colonies introduce a fixed and certain 
 standard of value, and a coinage the value and purity of which is 
 secured by the honour and good faith of the British Government. 
 One of the inconveniences of adopting the dollars of the American Re- 
 publics as the standard is, that they are coins of different intrinsic 
 values and often deteriorated : for mark ! the instant we adopt the dollar, 
 all the coinage of the New States of the Southern World will flow into 
 
circulation. By the tables of gold and silver coins issued from the 
 Mint Office on 13th August, 1834, and prepared by desire of the 
 Lords Commissioners of His Majesty's Treasury, it appears that these 
 vary in their weight of pure silver from 379 T 9 5 grains to 236fg grains. 
 
 SILVER COIN COMPARED WITH THE OLD SPANISH 
 
 DOLLARS. 
 
 GROSS WEIGHTS. 
 
 dwts, grs. Pure Metal, grs. 
 
 Old Spanish Dollar . . . 178 370^ 
 
 Central American Dollar* . 1824 17 8^ 376^ 
 
 Ditto ditto , 1826 17 8/ 5 , 3?5A 
 
 Ditto ditto . 1829 17 7^ 368 & 
 
 Rio Plata Dollar . 1813 17 5& 370^ 
 
 Ditto ditto . 1815 17 2* 36^ 
 
 Columbia ditto. 
 
 Cundinamarca . ... 14 14 236$ 
 
 Columbia Dollars. 
 
 Bogataf . 1834 No. 1 17 9% 3?9& 
 
 2 17 9 379f 
 
 3 17 9 . 379* 
 Independent of these existing variations, no dependence can 
 
 be reposed upon the resolutions or acts of a set of governments 
 the creation of popular movement, and subject to popular 
 controul. The standard might and would change. The dollar of the 
 least intrinsic value would afford the widest scope for speculation. 
 Large quantities might be introduced into the Colonies before the 
 depreciation and fraud were discovered,! and the very evil we are 
 
 * The act of Congress of 1791 declared that the dollar of the United States 
 should contain 37 U grains of pure silver, and irrevocably fixed that quantity as 
 the equivalent of a dollar of account, and the permanent standard of value, 
 according to which, all contracts must be performed. The relative value of gold 
 and foreign coin to that standard, may from time to time be varied, provided 
 that neither be over-rated, so as to authorize the payment of a debt with an 
 amount in such coin of a less actual value than that of the silver to which it may 
 be made to correspond. Gallatin's Considerations. 
 
 f Upon the history of the precious metals, the comparative productiveness of 
 the mines, and for a review of the statements made by Mr. Jacobs, in his Report, 
 see M'Culloch's Dictionary of Commerce, p. 941. 
 
 t In proof of this argument, a leading partner in one of the first West India 
 
47 
 
 now anxious to remove of an unsound currency, may thus be con- 
 firmed and perpetuated. 
 
 Houses in Scotland, informed me that in 1813, while he was in the island of 
 Trinidad, an immense quantity of spurious doubloons were brought from the 
 Spanish main, and attempted to be introduced there into circulation. They had 
 been palmed upon the Spanish planters by traders from the United States. By a 
 miraculous interposition of good fortune, the fraud was early discovered, and 
 they were not introduced to any great extent. They were worth 13, not 16 dollars. 
 
 Another merchant, of equal respectability, said, that in 1825 their firm made 
 a large importation of the Spanish putada, or pistoreens, from Gibraltar into 
 Haiti; they came from the coast of Africa. Although worth less than Is., they 
 passed in Haiti for Is. 3c?., or one-fourth of a dollar, and a profit of 25 per cent, 
 was reaped from the speculation. 
 
 Mr. Carter informed me that he saw lately, in the Bank of England, twelve 
 or fourteen spurious dollars. The centre was composed of zinc ; this was 
 covered with a thin plate of silver, bearing the impression of the old Spanish 
 dollar of 1799 and 1802. They were received in a large importation, and were 
 discovered by some of the tellers of the bank. In the colonies, thousands might 
 have been circulated before they were discovered. These are the facts which 
 render my objections to the dollar, as a standard, so insurmountable. 
 
 In the payment of the troops at Malta the affairs of the Commissariat have 
 lately suffered, I understand, a heavy loss in consequence of having discovered 
 that in a quantity of dollars paid to them, several were much depreciated the 
 weight of pure silver contained in them being less than their standard weight. 
 
 Can any restraint be put, or any safeguard be erected, against a speculation 
 being made by one of the Republics of South America, by issuing coins of an 
 inferior value for the very purpose of making such a profit ? In any case of 
 emergency the principal of their public men might easily be seduced into such a 
 transaction ; and as there is no board of assay in the Colonies, the spurious coins 
 might be introduced to a large extent before they were detected. By the intro- 
 duction of the silver and gold coin of Great Britain we are nearly free of such 
 dangers. They cannot be so easily imitated. 
 
 To show the depreciation of the American currency, I extract the following 
 passage from Goudge's " Enquiries into the Principles of the American Banking 
 System." " The money unit of the United States is the dollar, consisting of 416 
 grains of standard silver, or 3/1^ grains of pure silver, and 43f grains of alloy. 
 All our contracts are to pay and to receive dollars ; all our accounts are kept in 
 them. The dollar is thus both our money of account and contract, and its legal 
 value is fixed by our having a coin of the same name, containing the quantity of 
 pure silver and alloy which has just been mentioned. Gold is, in our law, a 
 subsidiary currency its value being computed in silver dollars. At the United 
 States mint it is rated as fifteen to one that is to say, one ounce of gold is 
 worth fifteen ounces of silver, or what is the same thing, as many grains of pure 
 gold as are equal to the number of grains of pure silver contained in a dollar, are 
 coined into an eagle, and a half- eagle, and estimated at the mint as worth 15 dol- 
 lars. The market rate of gold and silver, as determined by sales of gold and silver 
 
48 
 
 r 
 
 In weighing the expediency of this system, it is not, however, to 
 be overlooked that the money of account will not be assimilated 
 either to the currency of the United States, or of the British West 
 Indies. The Colonial Bank established in London has introduced 
 the dollars and cents as their money of account. Their charter ob- 
 tained from the Government, compels them to respond their notes 
 in dollars of Cf acknowledged weight and fineness.'' They have thus 
 obtained the sanction, or rather the authority of the Government 
 to introduce the dollar* as the standard, throughout the whole circle 
 of the British West India Islands. Their notes are issued in dol- 
 lars their accounts and books are kept in the same way. The in- 
 telligent directors of that bank are persuaded that the dollar is better 
 for their use than the British sovereign. In the language of Mr. 
 M' Queen, the dollar is the " natural standard and coinage of the 
 western world." It flows from all points of the compass, and in the 
 established channels of trade into our tropical dependencies. By the 
 
 bullion, in a series of years past, is about eight to one ; consequently, if the 
 mint rate corresponded with the market rate, the quantity of pure gold con- 
 tained in an eagle, and a half-eagle, ought to be estimated at the mint at 15 
 dollars 80 cents." Second edition, p. 34. 
 
 Previous to 1834 the relative value of gold and silver was 15.09 silver to one 
 ounce of gold. Since that period the proportion being altered, sixteen ounces of 
 silver are now equal to one ounce of gold. The English gold coin at 5s- per 
 ounce of standard silver is 15.575 to one ounce of gold. 
 
 The following are the rates and values of British coin. By the 56 Geo. III., 
 passed in 1816, the pound weight of silver of the fineness of silver in the coins is 
 665., profit on the seignorage, 4s. ; the pound weight of gold of the fineness of 
 gold in the coins is 46Z. 145. 6c?., no seignorage being charged; this is equal to 
 the mint price for standard gold of 22 carats fine Troy weight. M'Culloch's 
 Dictionary of Commerce, p. 318. See this work for a set of tables upon the 
 coins current in the various mercantile kingdoms of the world. 
 
 * I have carefully refrained from extending my inquiries into the currency of 
 our West India Possessions, because in treating upon so intricate and difficult a 
 question, I thought it prudent to confine myself to that sphere where I could 
 correct theory by past experience. I have it upon good authority, that the pro- 
 position submitted to the] Minister of State for the Colonies, with a view to the 
 introduction of a currency for these Tropical Dependencies, is, that an order in 
 Council should be issued, establishing a dollar, of so many grains of pure silver, as 
 the standard ; that is, that so many grains of pure silver should be equivalent to 
 what is to be, for the future, designated as a dollar. In this order of Council, 
 one species of the dollar now current may be adopted ; but it is clear, that as 
 they all differ in their contents of pure silver, the standard must be confined to 
 one, and one only. My opinion is, although I express it with great diffidence, 
 
49 
 
 adoption of sterling, we cannot be assimilated to them ; but this is 
 of less consequence, for the amount of our transactions with these 
 dependencies forms but a small item in the general returns of our 
 foreign trade. 
 
 If the two considerations above reviewed were alone to controul 
 this argument, the expediency of adopting the sterling would be 
 clear and undeniable ; but we have now to enquire how the coin 
 requisite to sustain it can be obtained ; and if, when introduced, it is 
 more likely to remain in the Colonies than any other. 
 
 In the first place, it may be remarked that none of the Colonies 
 enjoy, to any great extent, a natural source or supply of the precious 
 metals. It is true, there are occasional and limited importations of 
 doubloons in return for cargoes of fish both into the Lower Pro- 
 vinces and the Canadas ; but the amounts are small, and no statistical 
 returns exist from which the precise amount can be ascertained. 
 The bankers in the Colonies, although they have adopted every pre- 
 caution to prevent demands being made upon them for specie, and 
 
 that the dollar is the best standard and money of account for these Dependencies. 
 In the introduction of a standard, regard will, of course, be paid to existing debts 
 and contracts. Future debts and transactions will be founded upon the standard 
 introduced, whatever that standard might be. Still the currency so established 
 will be liable to be invaded and deteriorated by the spurious coins flowing from 
 the different mints in South America, and subject to the demand of the United 
 States and I am forced to the conclusion, that the currency of these Dependen- 
 cies never will approach the perfection it is possible to reach, until their standard 
 is represented by a dollar, issued from the British Mint, and bearing that stamp 
 which is a guarantee for national integrity and honour. 
 
 Jamaica papers to April the 7th have been received. During the sitting of 
 the Assembly there was a committee on the subject of the currency and circu- 
 lating mediums of the island. The evidence is in progress of publication by 
 those papers. Mr. Nathan Josephs having been asked whether he could suggest 
 any mode by which the difficulties caused by the concurrent circulation of 
 English shillings at twelve to the pound, and Spanish dollars, as required by 
 the Bank Charter, could be remedied, answered, " If the island be prepared to 
 call in their cheques, and to pay the same off in dollars, and will bind itself to pay 
 all its future issues of notes in the same coin, I see no difficulty in establishing 
 a dollar currency, although it would be attended with considerable sacrifice to the 
 island. But I cannot think the currency projected will be secure, for, situated as 
 we are, close to the continent of America, where calls for dollars are increasing 
 as fast as they clear the lands, and as our exchange must rate with theirs, it is 
 certain that they will supply their wants from this island, as they will get the 
 dollar at a less cost than sending to England." The subject was calling forth 
 considerable discussion in the island. See Times, 9th of May, 1837. 
 
 D 
 
50 
 
 have refused to give discounts to persons likely to call upon them 
 for gold and silver, complain that their importation has created a 
 heavy deduction from their profits. In Halifax, and in New Bruns- 
 wick, the expense of importation has never been less than from 3 to 6 
 per cent. For the past year, the higher rate has been paid in Halifax. 
 The directors may adopt this as one of the postulates of the argument, 
 that the chief quantity of specie required to sustain the credit of their 
 paper, must be obtained from abroad there being no sufficient sup- 
 ply it must be imported ; and the question is thus compelled upon 
 them, how this can be most effectually and most economically done. 
 
 If sterling be adopted, the British gold and silver coin sove- 
 reigns, crowns, and shillings, would flow into the Colonies from two 
 sources: First, in the sums brought by emigrants. To the Canadas 
 that is considerable: and secondly, through the Commissariat in the 
 payment of H.M. troops. If the Government would agree to entrust 
 this branch of the public service to the branches of the bank, as has 
 been already done in a Colonial Bank at Montreal, a sufficient supply 
 would thus be obtained; but if not, the bank must import at their 
 own expense. Having to go into the money market of the world, to 
 look for coin, it appears to me, that the British gold and silver can 
 be obtained upon as advantageous, if not better terms, than the 
 dollars of South America. Whether, upon being imported, they are 
 as likely to remain in the country, is the next point of consideration. 
 
 One of the evils under which the Colonies now suffer, from the 
 present condition of their currency, and its assimilation to that of 
 the United States, is, that the instant any pressure is felt in America, 
 and a demand arises for the precious metals there, the excitement 
 and disorganization extend to them. They are thus subjected to 
 the worst and most disastrous influence. The fluctuations in the 
 value of the metals there, and especially of the Spanish milled dollars 
 which are current in the Colonies, have mainly arisen, in the past, from 
 the demands of theC/mia trade,* and they have been so frequent and 
 extensive that it may be asserted these dollars cannot be retained in 
 the Colonies at all. They scarcely appear in the usual and daily 
 circulation, and in the Lower Provinces are invariably at a premium. 
 The practical effect of the present system is to make the currency 
 
 * The dollars hitherto required for this trade have been almost exclusively the 
 old Spanish Pillar dollar, the coinage of which having ceased for some years, 
 they daily become more scarce ; and this may be stated as one reason why 
 they command a higher price than patriot dollars. 
 
51 
 
 of the Colonies consist almost exclusively of paper, and in the Lower 
 Provinces little specie is seen in circulation, except the British 
 silver coin, which have received in all the Colonies a fictitious nomi- 
 nal value in some, by an act of the legislature, and in others by a 
 conventional agreement amongst the merchants. They are kept in 
 circulation as change solely by this arrangement. During the late panic 
 in the states, after the suspension of cash payments in New York,* 
 a body of speculators f came down to the provinces, to obtain the 
 precious metals. The local banks in the Canadas, St. John, New 
 Brunswick, and Halifax, for their own security, and from no internal 
 or even foreign disorganization of colonial trade, were compelled, in 
 June last, to adopt the same principle to suspend the payment of 
 their notes and were thus forced, by this pressure from without, to 
 violate one of the known and great principles of a sound currency. 
 The bank of British North America, from the same cause, were re- 
 strained from issuing their notes, because they were unwilling to com- 
 mence operations until they could respond their paper in the precious 
 metals : and the capital paid up, both in England and the Colonies, 
 remained for months inactive, and, of course, not so productive as if 
 employed in its intended and legitimate uses for the purposes of 
 banking. So long as the Colonies have the same currency as the 
 American states, it is believed they will remain subject to the 
 same unhappy influences. They will be bound to look to the mer- 
 
 * The disadvantage under which Canada labours, in the absence of a cir- 
 culating medium of its own, is obvious, being dependent on a neighbouring 
 power, not only for the specie necessary for the common barter of its commo- 
 dities, but its exchange subject to be ruled by the commercial rates of that 
 power ; and the chief part of its negotiations and remittances effected by means 
 of that channel, through foreign interests. In granting a wholesome coinage, 
 possessing the value which it represents, Her Majesty's Government offer to this 
 colony the means of removing this independence, and with it all the advantage 
 and security of the Government negotiations, Com. Gen. Letter to Sir James 
 Kempt, 1st of Oct. 1829, annexed to the Report of the Committee of the House of 
 Assembly. 
 
 f The means adopted by these men were not over-scrupulous. It is cer- 
 tainly not my intention to write any tirade against the national character, or the 
 standard of commercial honesty in the United States but I refer the reader to 
 Goudge's " History of the Paper Money and Banking," in that hemisphere. 
 There is a chapter (xxii.) devoted to the illustration of its effects upon moral 
 character, and there certainly never was a picture drawn in bolder or darker 
 colours. " The standard of commercial honesty" says he, " can never be raised 
 very high while trade is conducted on the present principles." 
 
 D 2 
 
52 
 
 cantile thermometer at New York,* to ascertain the probable con- 
 dition of their atmosphere. By these financial arrangements, they 
 are bound up, in fact, in the commercial fate and destinies of the 
 American Union, and are thus exposed, solely by the similarity of 
 their currency, to the reverses of their trade, and have a far more 
 intimate connexion with their commercial prospects than the friends 
 of the Colonies desire. I am aware it is urged by some, that it is 
 of no consequence, so far as this influence is concerned, whether 
 we adopt the same coin and standard of Great Britain, or the 
 dollar that, in either case, the pressure or influence of the States 
 will extend to us, and that in regulating the colonial currency, we 
 must expect to yield to their active and controlling power. I am pre- 
 pared to admitth at the Colonies cannot escape, in their transactions 
 with the precious metals, from those oscillations of demand and sup- 
 ply which are periodically occurring, and which extend their effects 
 throughout the commercial world. Our currency would not be 
 safe if not dependent upon this influence ; for it would indicate 
 that it wanted intrinsic value, and could not hold an equal posi- 
 tion with others in the general market of exchange. All we can aim 
 at, therefore, is to guard, as far as possible, from the influence of fo- 
 reign demand, and especially from the rapid and eccentric movements 
 and depressions to which the United States, perhaps above all other 
 countries, are subjected. This would be more effectually done by 
 the adoption of British coin than by the dollar. The latter is the 
 current coin of republican America. The feelings and prejudices of 
 the people are in its favour. They prefer it to any other. When 
 they come to the Colonies to sell their produce, they apply for 
 dollars in payment first of all. They take the doubloon and the 
 sovereign only when they fail in procuring the dollar. The British 
 gold and silver are merely articles of trade and speculation. The 
 demand for them is only occasional not steady and certain, like 
 the demand for the dollar ; and as the chief demand for the latter is 
 occasioned by the dealers in produce, who come from the states, 
 to supply the Colonies by retail, it is thought that the introduction 
 of sterling would have the effect of compelling them to seek another 
 
 * It has not unfrequently happened that, in the course of two or three months, 
 five or six millions of dollars have been exported from New York alone. The 
 whole volume of the Canadian currency is not probably 3,000,000, including 
 Upper Canada, certainly not 4,000,000 ; hence in times of great demand, 
 similar to that of 1831, all, or nearly all, the money of Canada would disappear. 
 Chapman, page 44. 
 
53 
 
 mode of remittance, either by the purchase of colonial produce, or 
 by bills of exchange. 
 
 By those who recommmend the introduction of the British coin, 
 it is contended, that the demand for the sovereign is neither as 
 active nor likely to be as permanent as the demand for other coin. 
 In the past we know, it has not been so. The extra demand for the 
 sovereign which exists now ought not to bear strongly upon this argu- 
 ment. It is attributable to local and peculiar causes to the conflict 
 raised by General Jackson, relative to the renewal of the charter of 
 the bank of the United States. In Mr. Horsley Palmer's pamphlet 
 we have a full explanation of the causes which produced it. Congress 
 passed a law reducing the quantity of fine gold in the eagle, the equi- 
 valent of* 10 dollars, from 246 to 232 grains. This depreciation of the 
 American gold coin had the effect of raising the current value of the 
 English sovereign from 4.44 dollars to 4.87 i> or 8 & above its previous 
 current value. To establish a gold currency in conjunction with silver, 
 several of the states were persuaded also to prohibit the circulation 
 of notes of less amount than 5 dollars. 
 
 " The hostility evinced towards the bank of the United States, and 
 t( the refusal to renew its charter, caused an immediate contraction 
 " of the usual accommodation grants at the numerous banks of that 
 "establishment, and further entailed upon the favoured states 
 " banks the necessity of procuring an additional supply of gold, to 
 " enable them to fulfil the conditions under which they received the 
 " deposits of Government money. This combination of circumstances 
 " having no relation to the ordinary commercial transactions exist- 
 " ing between this country and America, materially reduced the rate 
 " of exchange with Europe. The President too, in order further to 
 " aid his favourite project of increasing the metallic currency through- 
 (( out the states, directed, in the early part of last year, his agents in 
 " Europe to remit in gold to America, the whole of the indemnity 
 " money to be received from France and Naples. About the time of 
 " that remittance having been made, a loan for a million, or twelve 
 " hundred thousand pounds, was negotiated on London, on account 
 
 * I have been furnished with the 'following explanation of this alteration. 
 " This was the old proportion of 4s. 6d. to the dollar, at 246 grains of fine gold 
 to ten dollars, the sovereign containing 113,000 grains was equal to 4.60 ; at the 
 present proportion of 232 grains to ten dollars, the value of the sovereign is 
 elevated to 4.S7 cents, being an increase of 6 per cent. 
 
54 
 
 " of the United States bank, to facilitate the settlements upon the ex- 
 " piration of the charter. The effect of that loan upon the currency 
 " of the country, was further increased by a much larger amount, than 
 " usual, of American securities, or states stock, bank and canal stock, 
 " &c., having been sent to Europe for sales, and upon which credit 
 " had been given by some of the principal houses in England, in ex- 
 " pectation of the same sums they were expected to realize, thus 
 " throwing an inordinate amount of states paper upon our markets. 
 " If all these circumstances be adverted to, together with the very 
 " large amount of produce imported from America, the surprise will 
 " be, not that some, but that so small a portion of bullion should have 
 " been abstracted from England, as that already stated. Since the 
 " 1st of September last, the demand has entirely ceased, and, not- 
 " withstanding the desire of the American President to retain the 
 61 bullion acquired from this country,it is not improbable that we may 
 " soon see it returned from that quarter of the world." 
 
 I quote this passage to show that the demand arose from a com- 
 bination of concurring causes not likely to arise again ; and, there- 
 fore, in considering this question, we must overlook this peculiar 
 crisis altogether, and inquire into those influences and relations 
 which have controlled the past and are likely to regulate the 
 future. The value of the sovereign, having been enhanced as 
 above detailed, will soon descend to its real value, comparing it 
 with silver ; and, when the currency of the country has returned to 
 its former and just proportions, the prejudice in favour of the dollar 
 will again become transcendent. I proceed upon the presumption 
 that the Government of the United States will not continue, for any 
 length of time, the policy lately adopted, of raising the intrinsic 
 value of the sovereign, when compared with the intrinsic value of 
 silver, above its real value in the market of the world. The legis- 
 lators of republican America are of too shrewd a school to allow 
 their standard of value and currency to remain in such a condition 
 that foreign speculators can reap a profit at the expense of the 
 sovereign people. The effect of the present system will be to with- 
 draw silver and to introduce gold, at a loss to the country, of the 
 entire excess, in relative values, which has been conferred upon 
 the one over the other. 
 
 If these data and reasoning be correct, it is clear that the introduc- 
 tion of a metallic currency, founded upon the British standard, and 
 consisting of the British coin, will be less likely to be withdrawn 
 
55 
 
 from the Colonies than if either the Republican or American dollar 
 were adopted. The Colonies would thus be partially relieved from 
 the pressure * of the States, and I will now proceed to explain an 
 arrangement by which the exportation to the mother country of the 
 coin could be, in a great degree, if not altogether, prevented. 
 
 The Government, having determined, in 1825, to pay the troops 
 stationed in the Colonies in British silver, sent to their Commis- 
 sariats a large amount of silver coin. They issued these to the 
 troops at their sterling nominal value ; and, to prevent their being 
 returned, they published a Treasury Minute, allowing the holder of 
 101. 10s. of these pieces, to obtain, at the Commissariat, a bill of 
 exchange, upon the Lords of the Treasury in London, for 100 
 sterling. By this arrangement the coin has been retained in the 
 Colonies for the premium of 1J per cent, was less than the cost of 
 transportation. If any person wanted to remit to the mother 
 country, it is clear he would prefer a bill of exchange, payable in 
 London, in Bank of England notes, which are equivalent to gold, to 
 the trouble and risk of exporting silver, where the expenses would 
 exceed the 1 J per cent. The silver, besides, upon being landed in 
 England, is not equal, in real value, to the bill of exchange. 
 
 If the Bank would enter into an arrangement with the Govern- 
 ment for the payment of Her Majesty's troops, the latter would, 
 no doubt, supply a sufficient quantity of gold and silver coin to 
 meet the demand. They would, of course, agree to pay to the 
 directors in London, by quarterly or annual payments, the annual 
 
 * In the Edinburgh Review of July last, there is an article upon the crisis in 
 the American trade which treats at full length upon the causes which led to it 
 the increase both of imports and exports, and the rapid extension of the system 
 of local banking. After stating a variety of statistics, the author says, " It con- 
 sequently appears that the increase in the exports of the United States since 
 1830 has been from about 74 to about 129 millions, or in the ratio of 1/4 per 
 cent. But we have already seen that, during the same period, the imports had 
 increased 270 per cent. that is, no less than 96 per cent, more than the exports 
 In point of fact, during the last year the imports into the United States exceeded 
 the exports by the sum of 61,316,995 dollars, or by about twelve millions ; and 
 seeing that the American Customs accounts represent the real values of the im- 
 ports and exports with very considerable accuracy, this exhibits, perhaps, the 
 most striking proof of over-trading ever given to the world." From the influence 
 and tendency of such a spirit, which necessarily conducts to such violent fluctua- 
 tions, it is not singular that the colonies should sigh to be relieved. See also 
 President Van Buren's Inaugural Address to Congress. 
 
sum the troops required. The commission which the Government 
 would probably allow on these transactions would, at least, be 
 equivalent to the expense of exporting the coin. By this arrange- 
 ment the bank would be relieved from the expense of obtaining 
 specie. If the present currency be continued, it will save 4 to 6 
 per cent, on the amount of specie required, unless the circle of ex- 
 changes which the bank intend to introduce will lessen this charge ; 
 but, in any probable event, it will save an outlay of 1 J per cent. 
 
 If the offer be accepted I would recommend the bank to adopt 
 the system of drawing bills as above detailed at its branches. It will 
 not only lessen the burden imposed upon them in the supply of the 
 precious metals, but it will prevent a re-exportation of the actual 
 coin from the Colonies to the mother country, and save, in a 
 great degree, the labour and anxiety of their superintending the 
 fluctuations of exchange,, and of adopting precautionary measures 
 to guard against any sudden and unexpected run. The state of 
 exchange will be indicated by the demand for bills at the bank, and 
 the equilibrium will in this way be less likely to be disturbed ; and, 
 if disturbed, be more easily restored than if the coin were free to be 
 imported or exported according to the fluctuations in exchange 
 with Great Britain. But farther, the equilibrium of value between 
 the gold and silver in the Colonies, and in the mother country, 
 could never be seriously affected ; because a bill of exchange, drawn 
 by the branches upon the bank in London, and payable there in notes 
 of the Bank of England, would at all times be equivalent to a pay- 
 ment in gold, and thus represent, in itself, the fluctuations in the 
 value of gold, it would equally convey to the holder a rise, as it 
 would meet a depression. 
 
 Suppose this arrangement were not effected with the Govern- 
 ment, and the bank were left to its own resources to obtain 
 specie, whether the British sterling or the dollar be adopted as 
 the standard, specie cannot be landed in the Colonies at a less 
 expense than l or 2 per cent. I have made inquiry of those best 
 conversant with the affairs of the West Indies, and have been 
 informed that the importation of dollars into them, whether from 
 England or the continent of South America, occasions an outlay of 
 Ifc or 2 per cent, in freight, insurance, and the expense of local 
 conveyance. 
 
 Whether the Bank of British North America deal in sterling or 
 dollars, every importation into the Colonies would occasion a simi- 
 
57 
 
 lar outlay. So far as regards the cost of supplying the requisite 
 quantity of coin, I am disposed to think the former would even 
 cost less than dollars ; because sovereigns could be procured by the 
 Board in London, and the commission of an agent thus be saved. 
 By adopting it, the bank will be less exposed to a run, and to fluctua- 
 tions in value. 
 
 In treating of the dollar as a separate head, I refer to the 
 views already exhibited. The British gold is preferable to the 
 dollar 1st. Because it is a coin less liable to fluctuations in its in- 
 trinsic value. In adopting it we can rely on the good faith of the 
 Parent State. 2nd. Because the cost of obtaining the one is not 
 higher than that of obtaining the other. In the balance of proba- 
 bilities, the British is likely to be the cheaper of the two. 3rd. 
 Because the British coin would expose the bank and the country 
 less frequently to the danger of a run, and would therefore produce 
 a more equal, and therefore a more valuable currency ; and 4th, 
 Because, by the introduction of sterling as the money of account, 
 we would assimilate the local exchanges to the larger amount of the 
 foreign transactions of the Colonies, and especially to those of the 
 mother country. 
 
 But let it be remarked, that if the British sterling be adopted, 
 the same rule of tender must be extended to the Colonies which 
 prevails in the Parent State gold and not silver the sovereign, 
 and not the depreciated crowns and shillings now afloat in the 
 Colonies, and sent in payment of the loan to Jamaica, must be 
 made the standard of value. I would strenuously oppose the intro- 
 duction of any coin which did not possess an intrinsic value in 
 itself, sufficient to give it currency in the market of the world. We 
 must have a pure and safe standard, if we are to have one at all. 
 Better that we had none, than one fluctuating and unsound.* 
 
 Mr. William Hampson Morrison, in his observations upon the 
 
 * I have had the good fortune to obtain the following extracts from an able 
 letter upon the Currency of the Colonies, written by a gentleman in the city, of 
 acknowledged talent and information. After explaining the involved state of 
 their currencies, he thus proceeds to suggest a change. I quote his own language 
 and views, although it is to be understood I do not subscribe to the latter : 
 
 " It is no doubt desirable that the change to be made should be to the smallest 
 practicable extent, to avoid enlisting the prejudices of the population against it. 
 The decimal system which has been for many years established by law, for the 
 money of account. in the United States, is the most simple and convenient that 
 
58 
 
 system of the metallic currency adopted in this country, refers to a 
 proposal made by Mr. Haggard of coining a British colonial dollar. 
 He recommends that this should be sent to the Colonies in place of 
 our silver coin, which, ' being more valuable (says he) at home than 
 
 can be devised for that purpose ; and yet the old colonial system of reckoning 
 in shillings and pence is continued to the present day, in almost all the minor 
 affairs of life, varying in the different states as it did before the revolution, so 
 that in New England the dollar still contains 6s., in New York, 8s., in Pennsyl- 
 vania, 7s. 6d., &c. 
 
 " It is proposed by some parties at present, that sterling should be introduced 
 as the money of account, in the North American colonies, and by others, that 
 dollars and cents should be substituted. I have listened attentively to the argu- 
 ments of both these parties, and have not discovered any sufficient reason for 
 making an alteration in this respect ; and believe it will be most politic to allow 
 the Halifax currency to remain the money of account, as it now is in all the 
 colonies. It appears to me to be impossible to detach the monetary affairs of 
 these colonies, in times of peace, from New York, the great money market of 
 America, which must always be the centre of a large portion of the exchange 
 transactions of the colonies. The dollar, which is the monetary unit, and real 
 standard of value in the United States, has always been the nominal standard of 
 value also in the colonies, and seems to be almost universally acknowledged as 
 the natural standard of the western hemisphere. 
 
 " My FIRST proposition therefore is, that the silver dollar and half-dollar of 
 Spain, South America, and the United States, be legal tender, at the rate of 5s. 
 currency to the dollar. 
 
 "SECONDLY, That the French crown and five-franc piece be also legal tender 
 at their exact intrinsic value, in comparison with the dollar. This appears ad- 
 visable for two reasons ; first, in order to conciliate the prejudices of the French 
 inhabitants of Lower Canada, to whom those coins are familiar ; and secondly, 
 because they are legalised in like manner in the United States. 
 
 " For the protection of creditors they should be empowered to reject such 
 coins if more than a small specified per centage below their full standard weight ; 
 and the coins representing the fractional parts of those above named, should not 
 be made a legal tender on account of the great depreciation to which small coins 
 are subject from wear and tear. 
 
 " The coins before mentioned to be the only legal tender in discharge of debts 
 exceeding 50s., and not exceeding 501. currency. 
 
 "My THIRD proposition is, That in respect of debts exceeding 501., the 
 debtor should have the option of paying either in the above silver coins, or in 
 the gold coins of England, Portugal, the United States, France, and Spain, by 
 weight, at rates to be fixed, with reference to the ascertained purity of the issues 
 from the mints of the respective countries. 
 
 " A strong desire exists in all the North American colonies for a silver 
 coinage of current shillings and sixpenny pieces, to pass as small change in 
 their relative proportions to the dollar of one-fifth and one-tenth ; and if Her 
 
59 
 
 in the Colonies, is sure to find its way back to England.*' I can see 
 no advantage in introducing a new coin solely for the use of our 
 colonies. It would not be valuable as a standard unless it possessed 
 an intrinsic value sufficient to give it currency in the market of the 
 
 Majesty's Government should undertake such a coinage for the exclusive circu- 
 lation of the colonies, the inhabitants would be highly gratified, and I am satis- 
 fied would be also much benefitted by it, as the only small silver coins now in 
 circulation are debased to a lamentable degree. The proposed new coinage 
 should be strictly subsidiary, and a legal tender only to the amount of 50s. at 
 one time, and should be of proportionate weight to the similar coins of this 
 country, so as to leave to Her Majesty's mint the same rate of seignorage, mak- 
 ing their circulation profitable to the Government as well as beneficial to the 
 colonial community. 
 
 " It appears to me that the objections to the circulation of British silver coins, 
 in any shape, in the colonies are insuperable. They are a depreciated coin, fit 
 only for their legitimate purpose the subsidiary circulation of this country. 
 
 *' A coinage of copper half-pennies for the special use of the colonies is also 
 greatly desired, to displace the miserable coppers which are now in circulation, 
 consisting of base coin and tokens of all descriptions, and frequently pieces of 
 sheet copper which have never been impressed with any die, and do not weigh 
 more than a fourth to a half of the weight of the English half-penny. Such new- 
 coin should be made the only legal tender in copper, and that in sums not 
 exceeding one shilling." 
 
 My objections to the scheme above detailed are as follows ; that the dollars of 
 Spain and the United States are so scarce that a sufficient quantity for circulation 
 and tender never could be obtained ; second, that the three dollars referred to, all 
 differ in their contents of pure silver ; third, that it is dangerous to introduce 
 a law of tender, founded upon several classes of coins, and the values of some of 
 which are to depend upon weight and purity both of which would require to be 
 accurately ascertained before a tender could be made. Under such a system, I 
 fear no tender could be attempted to meet the formalities which the decisions of 
 the Courts required. 
 
 I have conversed with several gentlemen who are in favour of the dollar as the 
 standard, as above recommended, and the arguments by which they support 
 their views are reducible into four : 
 
 1. That the dollar is the natural standard of the western world that it is 
 the standard of the United States that in monetary concerns, the colonies are 
 dependent upon, and must necessarily be subservient to them, and consequently 
 that it is our interest to assimilate our currency to theirs. 
 
 2. That a silver is safer than a gold standard, and the advocates of this 
 opinion attack the policy of the English Government in adopting only one. 
 
 3. That if we embrace the sovereign as our standard, while the present value 
 is given to it in the United States, a fictitious, and above its real value, when 
 measured by silver we introduce a currency which it will be impossible to retain ; 
 the States will extract every coin from circulation as it appears ; and, 
 
GO 
 
 world. If pure, it would flowback to the mothercountry as fast as the 
 sovereign, according to the fluctuations of the market, and the rise in 
 the price of bullion. It would entail aheavy expense upon the Govern- 
 ment in providing new dies, and in settling a new rate of alloy at the 
 Mint. If of a different, or of the same standard as that of Great Bri- 
 tain, it would neither assimilate our money to that of the'United States, 
 nor of the mother country; and for these reasons, and for the prin- 
 ciples I have illustrated in the preceding pages, I am opposed to the 
 introduction of such a currency, and would infinitely prefer the 
 adoption of the sterling and the British coins which are now extant. 
 
 The next question we have to consider is, in what way this 
 standard is to be introduced. It may be admitted at the outset 
 that no general measure can be expected from the independent 
 movements of the six different legislatures which now exist in these 
 dependencies. The question of the currency is at all times in- 
 volved and intricate ; and, in smaller communities, the regulations 
 affecting it are much too apt to be controlled by local interests and 
 views of partial or selfish policy. It requires, in fact, an enlarged 
 and comprehensive grasp of mind to embrace the operations and 
 details of such a question to look to ulterior rather than present 
 and immediate results ; and, if to be made a matter of legislation, 
 it can only be effected under the influence of the Ministry or the 
 supreme authority of Parliament. This, being a matter for the 
 regulation of foreign as well as of domestic commerce, comes within 
 the sphere of that constitutional superintendence which is invested 
 in the latter. 
 
 It may be effected either by an application to the Government 
 for an act of Parliament to be introduced under the sanction of 
 the Colonial Minister, or by the Directors of the Bank of British 
 North America applying to the Crown for a charter, similar, in one 
 respect, to that obtained by the Colonial Bank. If this charter 
 contained a clause rendering it compulsory on the Bank of British 
 North America to respond their notes at their places of issue 
 in British coins, similar to the clause in the charter of the Colonial 
 
 4. That in case of any sudden and unexpected demand for the precious 
 metals, a supply could be more easily obtained from the United States than if 
 we were dependent upon the mother country. 
 
 I have reviewed each of these arguments in the progress of the enquiry, and 
 leave the reader to decide upon the merits and soundness of our conflicting 
 opinions. 
 
61 
 
 Bank, which makes it imperative upon them to pay their notes 
 in dollars, the natural influence of the Bank, and the controul 
 it will soon exercise upon the Colonial money-market, would 
 eventually enable the directors to introduce sterling as the 
 money of account. Their accounts would be kept in it. Their 
 notes would be issued in sterling ; and this, perhaps, would 
 be the milder and better course to adopt. It would excite 
 less jealousy among the local legislatures. The benefits of the 
 system would appear. It would gradually acquire strength and 
 favour. Before the authority of Parliament was attempted, it 
 might be judicious to test the feeling of the Colonial legislatures by 
 requesting the governors to bring it, by special message, under their 
 notice. A majority, I believe, would voluntarily adopt it. The pre- 
 siding minds in some of them are even now favourable to its intro- 
 duction. If the operation were beneficial, and it were adopted by 
 some, if one or two still remained reluctant, Parliament might 
 be applied to, to carry a general act, and could then exercise its 
 authority with a more becoming and effective grace. 
 
 In a work before referred to published by Mr. Chapman, upon the 
 expediency of introducing sterling into the Canadas, he gives an ab- 
 stract of the evidence submitted to a Committee of the House of 
 Assembly in an enquiry upon the subject. 
 
 The opinion of the bankers in LowerCanada seemed then to conflict, 
 and the author himself expresses the opinion that the introduction 
 of it would not promote the interests of the colony. It is fortunate, 
 however, in our review of the question, that he has given the grounds 
 upon which his opinion is founded, for we are thus enabled to weigh 
 
 That the Government possesses the power of controlling the legal value of the 
 coin circulated in the colonies cannot be disputed. By the colonial constitution, 
 if an act be passed by the Legislature, the King in Council has the power of sus- 
 pending its operation. This power has been frequently exercised, but on the 
 31st of August, 1836, Lord Glenelg issued a circular to the governors in the dif- 
 ferent colonies, in which, after referring to the inconvenience felt from the changes 
 introduced in the values of coin, he directs " that you will not permit any act, 
 or ordinance, or proclamation, or regulation, to come into operation in the colony 
 under your government, relating to the local currency and circulating medium, 
 or to the rates at which coin should pass current, or be a legal tender, or to the 
 circulation of Promissory Notes, or other paper, either by the local government, 
 or by any corporate bodies, or individuals, without having first received His Ma- 
 jesty's sanction conveyed to you by the Secretary of State." The issue of coin is, 
 besides, a branch of the Royal prerogative, which exists in the colonies, the same 
 as in the Parent State." Chitty on Prerogative, p. 107. 
 
62 
 
 its value, and to test its soundness. The whole of his reasoning ap- 
 pears to me to be founded upon presumptions and data which I, for 
 one, do not admit to be correct. The main objections he raises 
 against it are, First -That the sellers would be benefitted at the 
 expense of the buyers, that the prices would not fall to meet the 
 change, and that the holders of goods would thus be enriched at 
 the expense of the public. But I confess I am at a loss to under- 
 stand why a superior sagacity should be attributed to the holders 
 over the receivers. Upon what reason is it to be presumed that the 
 buyers, for the protection of their interests, will not, as speedily as 
 others, understand the value of the money they hold, and be as astute 
 in obtaining the full value of it for goods ? The whole argument falls 
 to the ground in the very relation* he has given of the contest between 
 the holders and the payers of the pistoreens. The sagacity of each 
 seems, in that case, to have stood upon a par, and to have been 
 
 * " Most of my readers," says he, " will recollect of the effects and of the 
 agitation of the measure upon trade. As it became certain it would be carried, 
 in a way to exclude the possibility of compensation for loss, every disposition 
 was evinced, and every effort made, to get rid of the obnoxious coin. Debtors 
 paid their creditors with pistoreens at Is., knowing they would be worth only lOd. 
 at the rising of morrow's sun. In this they were undoubtedly justified ; they 
 had taken the coin at Is. the lawful rate, and while it continued a legal tender, 
 were committing n moral wrong, in discharging their debts therewith. One 
 anecdote connected therewith is worth preserving. A grocer of Quebec, illustrious 
 for the extent and success of his dealings, owed a merchant a sum of money. 
 He sent all the pistoreens in his possession to the said merchant in part payment 
 of his debt. The merchant, however, who was from the same side of the Tweed 
 as his debtor, hit upon an expedient to return his countryman the compliment. 
 Sagaciously guessing his former debtor, having the fear of his old acquaintance, 
 the doomed coins, before his eyes, would refuse him credit pending the discussion 
 of the measure, he sent his shopkeeper or cooper, who purchased candles, soap, 
 or some such articles to about the amount, paying for the same in the depreciated 
 pistoreens. While the bill was waiting the governor's assent, some few shop- 
 keepers shut up their shops to avoid the evil above described." Thoughts on the 
 Money and Exchange of Lower Canada, p. 13. 
 
 I have not considered it necessary to enter here into any elaborate explana- 
 tion of the dangers of adopting a currency depreciated in the quantity of pure 
 metal it would contain. That even this expedient would Tetain them in the 
 country, if an extra demand arose in other countries for the precious metals, is an 
 opinion now exploded, both upon the principles of political science and the ex- 
 perience of the mercantile world. A depreciation in the currency would only 
 have a tendency to produce a corresponding elevation of prices, and I quote the 
 following passage from Brougham's " Lectures upon Political Economy" as a sum- 
 mary of the progress of opinion upon the question : 
 
63 
 
 fairly balanced. Neither do I admit that the silver coin, depre- 
 ciated as it is, between its nominal and intrinsic values, should 
 be adopted as the standard of exchange ; for I would not recom- 
 mend sterling to be introduced as the money of account unless 
 we are to adopt the same coins as pass in the mother country, at 
 the same values and under the same restrictions. 
 
 I have in my possession another pamphlet which appeared in 
 Jamaica in January last, upon the question of introducing the Bri- 
 tish sterling there. It is written by Mr. Milner, and addressed to 
 the Hon. Richard Barrett, Speaker of the House of Assembly ; and 
 it seems to have been suggested, in consequence of a proposal made, 
 that the British silver should be adopted as the standard. I have 
 already said that I am opposed to this measure, and I extract the 
 following passages from this pamphlet as some of the grounds upon 
 which my opposition rests. 
 
 " The idea of a spurious description of coin having been sent out 
 " here, is now, I conceive, quite exploded, and every body is aware 
 " that the British silver now circulating is part and parcel of the quan- 
 " tity coined for the use of the mother country, and exactly the same 
 " in value ; but some alarm has occurred in consequence of an asser- 
 " tion having been made that the whole of this coinage is depreciated 
 "10 per cent. It seems an acknowledged fact that the Bank of Eng- 
 " land refuses to take large quantities of this silver, except at anallow- 
 " ance of 10 per cent. ; but I cannot admit this to prove that the coins 
 ce are issued from the Mint in a greater state of depreciation than is 
 " regulated by the Act 56 Geo. III. c. 68, which authorizes the re- 
 tention of a seignorage of 6 per cent. The coin is still composed 
 (f of silver of the standard fineness, which has always been made use 
 "of in England since the Conquest, and which is 7i per cent, less 
 
 " Governments have long ceased to alter the value of the currency by diminish- 
 ing the quantity of metal in the coin. The improvements in knowledge and 
 true morality have put a stop to the practice of violating every existing contract 
 by such measures. History abounds with examples of needy sovereigns, who, 
 when in debt and difficulty, debased the coin in the hope of extricating themselves. 
 It is doubtful whether knavery or ignorance predominated most in those transac- 
 tions. They defrauded their creditors, it is true, but they thought to do more 
 they expected to be enabled to purchase more commodities with the same quan- 
 tity of metal, and in that they were disappointed for the rise of price was always 
 proportioned to the depreciation of the coin." P. 63. 
 
 See also, upon the subject, W. H. Morrison's pamphlet upon the Metallic 
 Currency adopted in this country, for the regulations adopted by the Government 
 in the issue of coin. 
 
64 
 
 c < pure than pure silver, a standard of greater purity than the Spanish 
 " and almost all other known silver coins. This depreciation of 10 
 " percent, arises from the variation in the market value of silver, and, 
 " of course, when the Bank of England takes in a mercantile trans- 
 " action a large quantity of silver, whether British or foreign, this is 
 " a point it very properly looks to. Now the Mint regulation, by 
 " which sixty-two shillings are given for one pound of standard silver, 
 " makes the value of one ounce 5s. 2d., but late quotations show the 
 " market price of an ounce of standard silver in London to be~only 
 " 5s. - } and this difference of two-pence per ounce is equal to 3 percent., 
 " which per-centage, added to seignorage of 6| per cent., makes about 
 " the 10 per cent, referred to ; or, in other words, the pound of stand- 
 "ard* silver is coined at the Mint into sixty- six shillings, while its 
 " market value is only sixty shillings, so being raised in value 10 per 
 " cent. This variation in the value of silver is unavoidable, and might 
 a operate to cause either a discount or a premium on the coinage ; 
 " it affects the dollars equally as much as the shillings, and causes 
 " the price of them to rise or fall." 
 
 In looking at the question of the Colonial Currency, we do not 
 require to blend it with those wider and graver considerations upon 
 which the regulation of that of the United Kingdom of Great Britain 
 depends. The various views suggested in Mr. Horsley Palmer's 
 pamphlet, the effect of the increase of Joint Stock Banks, the 
 additional quantity of paper forced by these causes into circulation, 
 the exportation of bullion from England in consequence of the 
 speculations in foreign loan securities, the demands from Ireland 
 and from America for the metals upon the London Stock Exchange, 
 which have been treated of by him, and which have led to so vexed 
 a'controversy, are not necessarily involved in this discussion. From 
 the direct influences of these causes the Colonies are removed. They 
 are not the sphere in which any foreign loan would be attempted. 
 There need be no fear of any rapid extension of the number of Joint 
 
 * Gold inEnglandis the sole standard of value. Ttis established at 3 l?s. 
 sterling per ounce of English standard of 22 carats. The Mint is always open 
 to coin it, and no seignorage on the coinage of gold is exacted by the British 
 government. With silver, however, it is different. From out of the sixty-six 
 shillings into which the pound standard is coined, 4s. is retained as a seignorage. 
 See " Observations on a Metallic Currency in Lower Canada," pages 7 and 8. 
 
 The British Mint proportion of silver to gold is now as 14^ to 1 ; that is, one 
 ounce of standard gold bullion is rendered exchangeable for 14^2 ounces of 
 standard silver. Note to article on Exchange, Ency. Brit. Seventh Edition, vol. 9, 
 part II., page 441. 
 
65 
 
 Stock Banks in them. They are, in fact, isolated and independent 
 circles of exchange, not likely to be much disturbed by any domes- 
 tic convulsions ; and when a sound currency is once introduced, the 
 great object in looking to the future is to guard it by those precau- 
 tionary measures which would counteract the fluctuations in value 
 in the United States. 
 
 Nor need we enter here into the question which is now agitating 
 the dealers in exchange as to the propriety of Government allowing 
 the establishment in the Colonies of Joint Stock Banks. The main 
 opposition has come from the friends of the Bank of England. Mr. 
 Horsley Palmer, in his pamphlet, presents the following passage : 
 " Banking is one of the principal means for promoting the prosper- 
 " ity of a nation, and it must consequently always command the vigi- 
 u lant attention of a government anxious to forward the welfare of 
 " the various branches of the country. As a general principle it may 
 " be stated that Joint Stock Societies are only deserving of encourage- 
 " ment when individual capital and enterprise are found deficient. 
 " They are peculiarly applicable to banking business in an early stage 
 " of accumulation of property, and before private credit is extensively 
 "created. Such was the case in Scotland at the time when Joint 
 " Stock Banks began to be established in it. Such was also the situ- 
 " ation of America, such too is now the situation of the Canadas." 
 This admission from Mr. Palmer affords authority entitled to weight 
 upon the point, for it shows that theory, as well as the experience 
 of practical men, justify the introduction of such institutions into 
 these colonies. 
 
 In this enquiry we are happily free from the other vexed ques- 
 tions, and various schemes now afloat, upon the constitution and 
 influence of the Bank of England. We do not need to touch upon 
 the expediency of simplifying her returns, of separating the ma- 
 nagement of her currency from every other branch of her business, 
 and of uniting this into one committee, over whose deliberation a 
 member of the Government should be placed, as suggested by Mr. 
 Rickards, or of establishing a National Bank for the sole regula- 
 tion of issues, by compelling a deposit of coin. These points do 
 not embarrass us here : the introduction of a colonial currency must 
 be controlled by a view of those practical relations which subsist in 
 the Colonies themselves, and between the mother country and the 
 United States ; and to enter into those wider enquiries would only 
 unnecessarily embarrass a simple question with perplexing details. 
 
66' 
 
 But lastly, whether the British sterling or the dollar be intro- 
 duced as the standard, it is clear that some rate or standard must 
 l)e adopted for the regulation of existing debts and contracts. It 
 is not necessary to enter into the question now ; it would, in fact, 
 be premature, for it is obvious the standard must be fixed in every 
 colony upon a different scale, according to the relative nominal va- 
 lues of their coin, and the state of their exchange. The scale must 
 have reference also to the time of its introduction. This enquiry is 
 less amatter of general reasoning than of pure calculation. Nogeneral 
 scale can, I fear, be adopted to convey an exact adjustment to every 
 particular case, and that standard must be sought which will meet 
 the majority. If confined to the Province of Nova Scotia, I am pre- 
 pared to state a scale adapted to its exchange ; but I do not think 
 it necessary to treat this point at further length here. 
 
 In conclusion, I reduce my project to the following simple propo- 
 sitions : 
 
 First. That all the provinces of British North America should 
 have one uniform currency and money of account. 
 
 Second. That the money of account should be British sterling, 
 and that the metallic currency should consist of the same gold and 
 silver coins which circulate in the United Kingdom. That the 
 sovereign, as issued from the Mint, should be the standard of value, 
 and be a legal tender in payment of debts, and that the British sil- 
 ver should be a tender, as in the United Kingdom, to the extent 
 only of forty shillings. 
 
 Third. That all the foreign coins now current in the Colonies, 
 joes, moidores, doubloons, dollars, &c., &c., should be allowed to 
 circulate as other articles of merchandise ; but that the Government, 
 when the scheme is introduced, should publish a table, setting out 
 the real weights, the contents of pure gold or silver each of these 
 coins contain, and their intrinsic values contrasted with the value 
 of the sovereign or of pure silver, at a certain fixed rate per ounce 
 or dwt. This would form a basis for calculation, by which their 
 values, fluctuating as they have done, and will continue to do, in the 
 market of the world, may be ascertained at the present or any future 
 period. 
 
 And Fourth. A copper currency, the same as current in the 
 mother country, to replace the spurious copper pence and tokens 
 now circulating in the Colonies. 
 
APPENDIX I. 
 
 BANK OF BRITISH NORTH AMERICA, established in 1836 ; Lon- 
 don Office, 7, St. Helen's Place, Bishopsgate. Court of Directors in Lon- 
 don Henry Barnwall, Esq. ; Robert Brown, Esq. ; Sir Robert Campbell, 
 Bart. ; Robert Carter, Esq, ; William R. Chapman, Esq. ; James John Cum- 
 mins, Esq. ; James Dowie, Esq. ; Oliver Farrer, Esq. ; Alex. Gillespie, 
 Jun., Esq. ; Sir A. Pellet Green, R. N. ; William Pemberton, Esq. ; 
 George R. Robinson, Esq. Secretary George De Bosco Attwood, Esq, 
 Bankers Messrs. Glyn, Hallifax, Mills, and Co. Solicitors Messrs. I. 
 and S. Pearce, Phillips, and Bolger. 
 
 The capital of the bank is one million, in 200,000 shares at 50 each. 
 Three-fourths were subscribed for in England one-fourth of the capital 
 was returned for the Colonies ; of the stock, 20 per cent, or 400,000 
 has been called for and actually paid in. 
 
 Establishments in the Colonies At Toronto, Upper Canada. Local Directors 
 
 The Hon. George Crookshank ; Thomas Messer Jones, Esq. ; The Hon. 
 
 George Monro, Esq. Manager Benjamin Smith. At Montreal, Lower 
 Canada. Local Directors William Cunningham, Esq. ; Austin Cuvillier, 
 Esq. ; Albert Furniss, Esq.; Robert Gillespie, Jun., Esq. ; James Miller, Esq. 
 Manager Charles Scott. At Quebec, Lower Canada. Local Directors 
 James Dean, Esq. ; J. M. Fraser, Esq. ; Pierre Pelletier, Esq. ; George 
 Pemberton, Esq. ; William Phillips, Esq. Manager Thomas Paton. At 
 St. John, New Brunswick. Local Directors James Kirk, Esq. ; E. 
 D. Ratchford, Esq. ; John Robertson, Esq. ; W. H. Street, Esq. ; 
 William Walker, Esq. Manager Robert H. Listen. At Halifax, Nova 
 Scotia. Local Directors The Hon. Samuel Cunard ; W. A. Black, Esq. ; 
 James M'Nab, Esq. ; Alexander Stewart, Esq. ; John L. Starr, Esq., 
 Manager Stephen Newton Binney. At St. John's, Newfoundland. Lo- 
 cal Directors The Hon. J. B. Bland ; Robert Job, ; Esq. ; Benjamin Scott, 
 Esq. Manager Andrew Milroy. Agents at New York Messrs. Prime, 
 Ward, and King. 
 
 Letters of Credit upon the several Establishments in the Colonies, and upon 
 the agents at New York, are granted upon payment of the amount at the 
 London Office ; and will be paid on presentation, together with the full 
 current premium of exchange, without any charge. Parties in the 
 country may obtain such letters of credit, in course of post, by forwarding 
 a bank order for the amount, free of postage, to the Secretary, at the 
 London Office. Similar letters of credit upon the Colonial Establishments 
 of this Bank, and upon its Agents at New York, are granted at all 
 the branches of the Provincial Bank of Ireland, and of the Manchester 
 District Banking Company. ^ 
 
COLONIAL BANK. 
 
 OFFICE, 13, BISHOPSGATE STREET. 
 
 JOHN IRVING, ESQ., M. P. Chairman. 
 ANDREW COLVILE, ESQ., Deputy Chairman. 
 
 DIRECTORS. 
 
 DAVID BARCLAY, Esq. A. G. ROBARTS, Esq. 
 
 JAMES CAVAN, Esq. T. G. HOARE, Esq. 
 
 J. ALEXANDER HANKEY, Esq. JOHN IRVING, Jim. Esq., 
 
 WM. T. HIBBERT, Esq. WM. DAVIDSON, Esq. 
 
 C. M'GAREL, Esq. ALEX. STEWART, Esq. 
 
 THOS. MASTERMAN, Esq. P. M. STEWART, Esq. 
 C. MARRYAT, Esq. 
 
 AUDITORS. 
 
 SAM. GURNJSY, Esq. HENRY BRUCE, Esq. 
 
 LIEUT. COL. MOODY, R. E. 
 
 THOMS, PRINTER, 12, WARWICK SQUARB. 
 
YB 18344 
 
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