I am, dear Sir,
Yours very truly,
David Ricardo.
| Price of a ducat or 53 grains of fine gold in marks banco. | Price of an oz. of standard gold in Flemish shillings banco. | Par of exchange with London in Flemish shillings banco per £ sterling of gold. | Corresponding price of an oz. of standard silver in London in pence. | Corresponding price of an oz. of standard gold in London in £, etc. | When the price of gold in London in bank-notes is per oz. | The bullion par of exchange must be multiplied by | When the price of dollars in London is per oz. | The par of exchange in silver is |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| £ s. d. | s. d. | |||||||
| 5·39 | 119·33 | 30·60 | 70·97 | 4 0 0 | ·973 | 4 11½ | 35·08 | |
| 5·45 | 120·66 | 30·94 | 70·19 | 4 1 0 | ·961 | 5 1 | 34·22 | |
| 5·51 | 121·99 | 31·28 | 69·43 | 4 2 0 | ·949 | 5 2½ | 33·39 | |
| 5·57 | 123·32 | 31·63 | 68·68 | 4 3 0 | ·938 | 5 4 | 32·61 | |
| 5·63 | 124·65 | 31·97 | 67·95 | 4 4 0 | ·927 | 5 5½ | 31·87 | |
| 5·69 | 125·98 | 32·33 | 67·23 | 4 5 0 | ·916 | 5 7 | 31·15 | |
| 5·75 | 127·31 | 32·68 | 66·53 | 4 6 0 | ·905 | 5 8½ | 30·47 | |
| 5·81 | 128·64 | 33·03 | 65·84 | 4 7 0 | ·895 | 5 10 | 29·82 | |
| 5·87 | 129·96 | 33·37 | 65·17 | 4 8 0 | ·885 | 5 11½ | 29·19 | |
| 5·93 | 131·29 | 33·72 | 64·51 | 4 9 0 | ·875 | 6 1 | 28·59 | |
| 5·99 | 132·62 | 34·07 | 63·86 | 4 10 0 | ·865 | 6 2½ | 28·02 | |
| 6·05 | 133·95 | 34·42 | 63·23 | 4 11 0 | ·856 | 6 4 | 27·46 | |
| 6·11 | 135·28 | 34·76 | 62·61 | 4 13 0 | ·838 | 6 5½ | 26·93 | |
| 6·17 | 136·61 | 35·08 | 62 | 3·893 | 4 15 0 | ·820 | 6 7 | 26·42 |
| 6·23 | 137·92 | 35·42 | 3·931 | 4 17 0 | ·803 | 6 8½ | 25·93 | |
| 6·29 | 139·25 | 35·76 | 3·968 | 4 19 0 | ·796 | 6 10 | 25·46 | |
| 6·35 | 140·57 | 36·11 | 4·005 | 5 0 0 | ·779 | 6 11½ | 25 | |
| 6·41 | 141·89 | 36·45 | 4·043 | 5 2 0 | ·764 | 7 1 | 24·55 | |
| 6·47 | 143·21 | 36·79 | 4·081 | 5 4 0 | ·749 | 7 2 | 24·13 | |
| 6·53 | 144·54 | 37·14 | 4·119 | 5 6 0 | ·735 | |||
| 6·59 | 145·86 | 37·48 | 4·157 | 5 8 0 | ·721 | |||
| 6·65 | 147·19 | 37·83 | 4·195 | 5 10 0 | ·708 | |||
| 6·71 | 148·51 | 38·18 | 4·233 | |||||
| 6·77 | 149·84 | 38·52 | 4·270 | |||||
| 6·83 | 151·17 | 38·87 | 4·308 | |||||
| 6·89 | 152·50 | 39·22 | 4·346 |
N.B.—3 marks are equal to 8 Flemish shillings banco. When dollars are 4s. 11½d., standard is 2½d. more. When 6s. 1d., 3d. more. When 7s., 3½d. more.
XV.
[Addressed to Penr[h]yn Arms, Bangor, North Wales.]
London, 26 June, 1814.
My dear Sir,
... I cannot partake of your doubts respecting the effects of restrictions on the importation of corn in tending to lower the rate of interest. The rise of the price or rather the value of corn without any augmentation of capital must necessarily diminish the demand for other things even if the prices of those commodities did not rise with the price of corn, which they would (tho' slowly) certainly do. With the same capital there would be less production and less demand. Demand has no other limits but the want of power of paying for the commodities demanded. Everything which tends to diminish production tends to diminish this power. The rate of profits and of interest must depend on the proportion of production to the consumption necessary to such production,—this again essentially depends upon the cheapness of provisions, which is after all, whatever intervals we may be willing to allow, the great regulator of the wages of labour. Nothing can tend more effectually to diminish the demand abroad for our manufactures than to refuse to import corn and other commodities which we [had] usually taken in exchange for such manufactures. If we rigorously refused to import any [foreign] commodity whatever, I firmly believe that we should soon cease to export any commodity, even if we made gold an exception to the general rule. Our money would stand at a higher level than in other countries, but there are limits beyond which it could not go. All trade is at last a trade of barter, and no nation will long buy unless it can also sell,—nor will it long sell if it will not also buy. If by adopting such policy [sic] a country were to enhance the value of the raw materials which it consumed, of which corn is the principal, it would thereby lower the rate of interest. If otherwise, it might be deprived of many luxuries and many comforts, or might enjoy them in less abundance, but the rate of interest would not fall. This is a repetition, you will say, of the old story, and I might have spared you the trouble of reading at 200 miles distance what I had so often stated to you as my opinion before; but you have set me off, and must now abide the consequences. I never was more convinced of any proposition in Political Economy than that restrictions on importation of corn in an importing country have a tendency to lower profits. Remember me kindly to Mrs. Malthus.