make choice of parts of Dr. Kelly's account of the monies of a country with which, notwithstanding the cloud that at present obscures our mutual relations, we flatter ourselves that our intercourse will 'ere long be renewed and extended: AMERICA. United States. • Accounts in the United States were formerly kept in Pounds, Shillings, and Pence currency, and this practice is still retained on some occasions; but the value of the currency is not the same in the different states. In Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland, the ratio of currency to sterling is as 3 to 5; and therefore £1. sterling = 1. 138. 4d. currency; or £1 currency 12s sterl. In New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Virginia, the ratio is as 3 to 4; and therefore £1 sterling = £1. 68. 8d. currency; or £1 currency 15s. sterling. In New York and North Carolina, the ratio is as 9 to 16; and therefore £1 sterling £1. 15s. 6d. currency; or £1 currency 118. 3d. sterling. In South Carolina and Georgia, the ratio is as 27 to 28; and therefore £1 sterling £1. os. 8 d. currency; or £1 currency = 19s. 3d. sterling.' Most of the European coins pass in the United States, but Spanish Dollars are most common: hence the value of other European monies is commonly expressed in Dollars, and hundredth parts of a Dollar, called Cents. Thus a Pound sterling is valued at 4 Dollars, and 44 Cents; a Guinea, at 4,66; a Livre Tournois, at 18 Cents; a Dutch Gilder, at 39 Cents; a Hamburgh Mark Banco, at 33 Cents.' The Dollar is valued in the different States according to the cur rency of each place. Thus in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, and Jersey, it passes for 7s. 6d. ; in New England and Virginia, for 6s.; in New York and North Carolina, for 8s. ; in South Carolina and Georgia, for 4s. 8d. A uniform way of keeping Accounts has been established in the United States (by an act of Congress in 1789), namely, in Dollars of 10 Dimes, 100 Cents, or 1000 Mills; and this method is used in all public accounts.'— In 1790, a public Bank was established at Philadelphia, called the UNITED STATES BANK. It was chartered by Congress, and invested with power to appoint branch-banks in the different states. The capital was fixed at ten millions of Dollars, and divided into 25,000 shares of 400 Dollars each; none of the subscribers were to hold more than 1000 shares; one fourth of the subscription was to be paid in specie, and three-fourths in public stock. These shares are transferable, and yield a dividend, payable half yearly, of 7 or 8 per cent. per ann. The constitution and government of this Bank are nearly on the plan of the Bank of England. The Bank discounts, at 6 per cent. per annum, bills and notes that have no more than 65 days to run,? S 3 • Money Money deposited in the bank may be drawn out again at pleasure, free of expence ; but no money is paid to any person beyond the balance of his account. 6 Bills or notes may be lodged in the bank, for collection; and the bank undertakes to procure payment, free of expence. European gold coins are received and paid at the bank according to the rates established by an act of Congress, which began in July 1793, viz. 89 Cents per dwt. for the coins of England and Portugal, 87 Cents per dwt. for those of France, Spain, and the Spanish dominions. Silver coins are received at the bank as follows a Crown for 110 Cents; a Shilling for 22 ditto; a Dollar for 100 ditto; a Pistareen for 20 ditto. Other banks have also been established in Philadelphia, as well as in Boston, New York, Baltimore, Alexandria, and Charlestown, some of which were prior to the United States Bank; but they are chartered only by their respective states. The WEIGHTS and MEASURES in the United States are similar to those of England; except that in the states of Virginia, the Carolinas, and Georgia, sales are mostly made by the Quintal of 100, which, in the other states, are made by the cwt. of 112lb.'— The EXCHANGES of the United States of America with the principal trading places of Europe, are as follows: viz.—with London, 440 Dollars, more or less, for £100 sterling; or, in currency, at so much per cent. above or below par. I Amsterdam, 39 Cents, more or less, for 1 Florin Banco. In this manner, the author goes through the whole list of trading towns and countries, in alphabetical order, from Abyssinia to Zurich. Under the head London, have been added tables of the tares or allowances admitted on the part of government in regard to duty, and among merchants for the purposes of sale. The extension of trade in India since the publication of Kruse's book, and the access possessed by Dr. Kelly to documents at the India-House, have contributed to render the account of that part of the world much more ample than it was in any preceding publication. This dictionary of monies, weights, and measures, occupies 450 pages, being more than half of the work; the only other subject discussed in the first volume being the principles of weight and measure, or an account of the various efforts made to arrive at an invariable standard founded on some unalterable property in nature. This is put into the form of an introductory dissertation, and, without possessing any claim to originality, may be said to afford a sufficiently clear statement of the opinions and proceedings of others. Many of our readets may recollect that the attempt to form an invariable standard deeply engaged the attention of the French legislative body, in the beginning of the 4 Revolution Revolution, before the men of science were expelled and sacrificed by their sanguinary successors. In this country, no inquiry by authority has been instituted since the year 1758: at which time a committee of the House of Commons was appointed to report on the standards of English weights and measures; and without aiming at the favourite object of philosophers, the establishment of an unalterable standard, this Committee put on record a very clear and correct representation of English weights and measures. After having remarked the great differences in our practice according to local situation, and the want of complete agreement even in our standards, they recommended that our Troy pound should be made the unit or standard for regulating our Avoirdupois and other weights. In pursuance of experiments made by direction of the Committee with the most scrupulous accuracy, it was ascertained that the standard Avoirdupois pound kept in the Mint weighs exactly 7000 grains Troy; a weight strictly corresponding to that of the two other Avoirdupois standards, which have been preserved for centuries at the Exchequer and at Guildhall. Dr. Kelly's second volume begins with an explanation of what is called the Chain-rule; a rule of equation which abbreviates greatly the labour of complex questions of exchange. Amsterdam having been long the centre of European exchanges, the attention of merchants in Holland was much more closely engaged by calculations of this nature than that of our countrymen; and facilities of computation, little known among us, have long been familiar to them. The chain-rule is chiefly adopted in what is termed the arbitration of exchanges, and is employed to discover whether a direct or a circuitous mode of remittance be most advantageous. The current rates of exchange at various places being ascertained, these rates are arranged in the way of equations, making two columns, antecedents and consequents: all the antecedents are then multiplied into each other, and the consequents likewise into each other; after which, the product of the latter being divided by the product of the former, the quotient is the answer in the denomination of the last consequent. The ensuing example will explain the practical application of this rule, and the political anecdote that follows will place its importance in a striking light: Suppose £1000 sterling is to remitted to Cadiz, and the direct Exchange is 4od. sterling per dollar, but the remitter wishes to send it through Holland and France, it s required to know, which is the most advantageous, the direct or indirect remittance, the quotation of the course of Exchange being as follows?→ rling, • London on Amsterdam, 35 shillings Flemish per pound Ste • Amsterdam on Paris, 60 pence Flemish for the ecu of 3 Francs. Paris on Cadiz, 15 Francs for 1 Doubloon of 4 dollars of Exchange, In 1804 Spain was bound to pay to France a large subsidy; and, in order to do this, three direct methods presented themselves1. To send dollars to Paris by land. · 2. To remit bills of exchange directly to Paris. 3. To authorise Paris to draw directly on Spain. The first of these methods was tried, but it was found too slow and expensive; and the second and third plans were considered as likely to turn the exchange against Spain. The following method by circular exchange was therefore adopted : A merchant or banquier, at Paris, was appointed to manage the operation, which he thus conducted: he chose London, Amsterdam, Hamburgh, Cadiz, Madrid, and Paris, as the principal hinges on which the operation was to turn, and he engaged correspondents in each of those cities to support the circulation. Madrid and Cadiz were the places in Spain from whence remittances were to be made, and dollars were, of course, to be sent where they bore the highest price, for which bills were to be procured on Paris, or on any other places that might be deemed more advantageous. The principle being thus established, it only remained to regulate the extent of the operation so as not to issue too much paper on Špain, and to give the circulation as much support as possible from real business. With this view London was chosen as a place to which the operation might be chiefly directed, as the price of dollars was then high in England, a circumstance which rendered the proportional excharge advantageous to Spain. The business was commenced at Paris, where the negociation of drafts issued on Hamburgh and Amsterdam served to answer the immediate demands of the state; and orders were transmitted to those places to draw for their reimbursements on London, Madrid, or Cadiz, according as the courses of exchange were most favourable. The proceedings were all conducted with judgment and attended with consi derable success. At the commencement of the operation the course of exchange of Cadiz on London was 36d. but by the plan adopted Spain got 394d. as may be seen by the following computation : The several charges of the consignments of dollars from Cadiz to London amounted to 11 per cent. and they were sold at 5s. 7d. per oz-Hence 85 Dollars of Exchange 1000 Hard Dollars I Ounce III Pence 64 Hard Dollars. 866 Ounces. 67 Pence. 100 with Charges. Reduced gives the Exchange 394d. Thus Spain gained above 8 per cent. by the remittance of dollars to London, and considerable advantages were likewise made by the circulation of bills through the several places on the Continent. Time was also gained for the payment of the Subsidy; and the course of Exchange, instead of being turned against Spain by direct remittances, was rather turned in her favour by this circular method of operation.' A great part of the second volume is a dictionary for the exchange-transactions of the chief trading cities in the world, in the same way as the first volume is for their weights, measures, and coins. Beginning with London, the author explains her bill-negociations with Amsterdam, Hamburgh, Paris, Spain, Portugal, and the principal towns of Italy. A similar exposition is next given of the exchange-transactions of Amsterdam with the great trading cities of Europe; after which, Hamburgh, Paris, Genoa, Leghorn, Lisbon, Venice, Naples, &c. have each their turn. Those of our readers who have seen Dubost's Elements of Commerce will be enabled to form an idea of this part of Dr. Kelly's book; which, though chiefly a compilation from preceding works, is of great utility from the accuracy with which it appears to be executed, and the attention which has been bestowed in cases (such as Paris) where material changes in money-denominations have taken place.— This enumeration of specific currencies is followed by instructions on the subject of Exchange generally, the great object of which is to illustrate the arbitration of exchange; and to this is added Arbitration of Bullion and Merchandise, with examples of the use of logarithms and fixed numbers in abbreviating calculations connected with that subject. More than half of the volume being thus occupied with explanations bearing directly on the question of exchange, the remainder is appropriated to collateral topics; such as tables of the intrinsic value of coins, a description of the impressions on coins, and tables of the proportion between the weights and measures of all nations. The tables of the intrinsic value of coins being composed from essays made by Mr. Bingley, the present Assaymaster at our Mint, and by Mons. Bonneville, Essayeur du commerce at Paris, appear to deserve particular attention. We note the sterling value of several of the principal coms. GOLD |