Besides these there are other circumstances to be attended to. Men who job in coin, pick up all the worst guineas they can when they go to market; or if they buy with paper, we may decide, that the bank at that time pays in guineas not above the weight of 123.23 grains troy; for if the bank paid with guineas of a greater weight, he who had occasion to carry his paper to market to buy gold bullion, would certainly rather go to the bank, and afterwards melt down their guineas. Were the bank of England never to pay but in gold of full weight, and were the exportation of guineas free, it is impossible that gold should ever rise above the mint price, which is 3l. 17s. 10½d.
As a farther confirmation of the justness of the high valuation I have put upon a silver pound sterling of standard weight, I shall observe, that a new guinea passes in Holland (at the time when the exchange is at 10f. 10st.) for 11f. 11st. and every body knows, that such a guinea in England is not above the intrinsic value of a silver pound sterling of full weight. If then I can get 11f. 11st. for a new guinea, I ought to get as much for a new silver pound sterling, since the intrinsic value of both is the same, when the proportion of gold to silver is as 1 to 14½. Now this guinea must be worth more than 11f. 11st. because the Jews, who carry them to the mint, give that price for them (I have disposed of them to Jews at that value[[4]]); and as the coinage of ducats costs, as we have seen, near 1 per cent. the guinea is intrinsically worth 2 stivers more, that is 11f. 13st. but as gold at present bears an advanced price upon account of the war, and that the proportion between gold and silver is in Holland above 1 to 14½, these are the reasons why the guinea, in Holland, is at present something above the intrinsic value of a silver pound sterling, which we have stated at f. 11.609, a trifle above 11f. 12st.
[4]. This was writ in Holland.
and not to the wrong balance of their trade, as is alledged.
Let me here observe, by the bye, that all the pounds remitted from Holland to England, for filling the subscription for 12 millions of last year, cost the remitters but about 10f. 10st. for the pound sterling. If this low course of exchange be owing (as some pretend) to a wrong balance of trade against England, and not (as I pretend) to the lightness of the gold currency; then we must allow, that the expence of the German war (which is what alone carries off coin out of the kingdom) must have exceeded all the profits of the English commerce, which I apprehend to be at present immense; and also all the money lent by foreigners towards the loan of 12 millions. I leave to others more knowing than myself, to determine if such a supposition be admissible. If it be rejected, let any man reflect how absurd it would be to raise, at this time, the standard of the pound sterling to the old value; and to repay at 11f. 12st. such sums as have been borrowed at the value of 10f. 10st. or in other words, to make a present to the Dutch creditors of above 11 per cent. upon account of a loan for a year or two.
Defects of the silver currency of Holland.
Having now given as good an account as I can of the Dutch coin, according to the regulations of the state, I shall next point out the defects of their silver currency, and shew the consequences which result from them. As for the gold, it is at present perfectly well regulated. The riders are all exact in their weight, fineness, and denomination; the ducats are all now recoined of legal weight and fineness; and the denomination not being fixed, they serve, in a trading nation, as a merchandize, of which the weight and fineness are well ascertained. The only defect, therefore, I can discover in the Dutch gold currency, is the form of the pieces. They have too much surface in proportion to their weight, and the impression is too sharp; both which contribute greatly to the wearing of the coin.
The silver currency of Holland is of two sorts. The bank species, and the current species. Here it must be observed, that by bank species is not meant Amsterdam banco, or bank money, but certain coins which are called bank species. These are,
| Pieces of | 3 guilders. |
| ————— | 30 stivers. |
| ————— | 20 stivers. |