The proprietors carry them to the bank in sacs composed of a determinate number of pieces, and the sac must be of a determinate weight, according to the regulations of the bank, from time to time; for which the bank writes off credit in bank, at certain rates, according to the coin lodged, to the account of the proprietor.
But as this coin is received, upon condition that it may be drawn out again, so soon as the depositor shall demand it; instead of writing off the whole value upon the books of the bank, they only write off a certain part, (suppose 90 per cent.) and for the remaining 10 per cent. they deliver what they call a recipisse, which is an obligation by the bank to re-deliver, upon demand, the individual sacs, sealed with the seals of the bank and of the depositor. This recipisse is transferable at the will of the person to whom it is delivered. Farther,
He who has put his coin so in deposit, becomes bound to pay to the bank ½, ¼, or ⅛per cent. every six months, according to the coin: that is, upon gold ½ per cent. on pieces of eight and rix-dollars ¼; on ducatoons ⅛ per cent. and in case he neglects so to do, then the coin becomes consolidated with the treasure of the bank, and can no more be drawn out, in virtue of the recipisse.
This being performed, the depositor may transfer, at will, all the 90 per cent. of his credit, in the course of his business; and so soon as the value of coin rises in the market, he must fill up his credit in bank to the full value of the 90 per cent. and then presenting his recipisse, he receives back his own individual coin, sealed with his own seal, as when at first delivered.
If he finds that it is either inconvenient for him to fill up his credit, or that he has no occasion for his coin, upon the rise in its value, he may then sell his recipisse to another, who has credit in bank equal to the value of the deposit; and he, in virtue of the recipisse transferred to him, withdraws the coin, as the person might have done who put it in deposit.
The recipisse itself, which is what gives a right to the coin to any one who is the proprietor of that paper, and who has credit in bank for the sum contained in it, rises and sinks in its value, according to the price of the coin to which it carries a right.
In this manner coin, which otherwise would be dead in a warehouse, is made to circulate, in favour of the owner, during the deposit, remaining at the same time always at his command; and the keeping of the coin brings into the bank a small profit, but which, by constant accumulation, becomes considerable.
I have said above, that the bank of Amsterdam puts forth, from time to time, what regulations they think fit, as to the rate at which they receive the different species of coin. These regulations are formed according to the fluctuation of the value of the metals. When silver rises above the proportion it had before, with respect to gold, then the silver species is received at a higher rate than formerly. When gold rises in proportion to silver, then the gold coins are received at a higher rate than formerly.
This regulation produces the same effect as that, which I formerly recommended in the third book, would do, in fixing a standard for the unit of the money of Great Britain, according to the mean proportion of the metals: and it was for this reason, that [Book III. part I. chap. 1.] I asserted the bank money of Amsterdam to be an invariable unit, which the art of man had invented; that it stood like a rock in the sea, immoveable by the fluctuating proportion between the metals.
It is no objection against this, to allege the variation of the agio, and the fluctuation of the value of bank money according to demand. These variations ought to be referred to the coin, not to the bank money: the bank money is to be considered as fixed, because it has all the characters of invariability.