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1186 1VHE LEADER. [No..408, Degembeel 12...
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3TOMOES/CO CGBBBSPONDENTSThe presence 6t...
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J. P. (Stookport).—Articles exported fro...
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Severslcommunications unavoidably stand ...
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^* ^s —^ SATURDAY, DECEMBER 12, 1857.
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There is nothing so revolutionary, becau...
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#REE TRADE IN GOLD. "What is the meaning...
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TRANSMISSION OF AN ARMY TO INDIA. Ea.hly...
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Transcript
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
1186 1vhe Leader. [No..408, Degembeel 12...
1186 1 VHE LEADER . [ No .. 408 , Degembeel 12 , 1857 .
3tomoes/Co Cgbbbspondentsthe Presence 6t...
3 TOMOES / CO CGBBBSPONDENTSThe presence 6 t political And literary matter compels us to omit our ' Portfolio * this week .
J. P. (Stookport).—Articles Exported Fro...
J . P . ( Stookport ) . —Articles exported from the Turkish dominions pay- an ad valorem export duty of 3 per cent , and ail ad valorem duty of 9 per cent , under the name of ' internal duty . ' Imports into the Ottoman Empire are subject to a duty of 3 per cent , ad valorem , but , by stipulation with the Turkish Government , the advalorem duty has in several instances teen converted into a fixed duty . " We cannot possibly find room even for an abridgment of a tithe of the letters we receive daily on the Monetary Question . We should have to issue a special paper currency for the lucubrations of the Incouvertibles .
Severslcommunications Unavoidably Stand ...
Severslcommunications unavoidably stand over . ¦ WQ notice can "be taken of anonymous correspondence . Whateveris intended for insertion must be authenticated by the name and address of the writer ; not necessarily _ forpu . blication , butas a guarantee of his good faith . We cannot undertake to return rejected communications .
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^* ^S —^ Saturday, December 12, 1857.
^* ^ s —^ SATURDAY , DECEMBER 12 , 1857 .
"¦"Tot"'! I* ≪7a££ * ¦ ¦¦¦' ¦ , J0ttultc ^Tthtrb* \ ___^___
, mlnir Mitirs .
There Is Nothing So Revolutionary, Becau...
There is nothing so revolutionary , because there is nothing so ¦ unnatural and . convulsive , as the strain to Iceep things fixed when all the -world ia by the very law of its creationin . eternal progress . —De-Abnold .
#Ree Trade In Gold. "What Is The Meaning...
# REE TRADE IN GOLD . "What is the meaning of the Mint price of gold ? Why is that price fixed and iiiicliangeable ? / Why is there any restriction at all uponthe flow of the precious metals ? "Why is not the principle of commercial liberty extended to them as -well as to everything else ? "Wnr not Pbee Tbade rtr G-old ? These are questions in . the mouths of a large nuin"ber of thoughtful and intelligent persons at this moment of monetary excitement , and to these questions we propose to furnish our readers with what Tve hope will be found a satisfactory reply .
The Bank of England is compelled by Peux's Act to purchase any amount of gold that may be offered to it—there is no option ; —and not only so , but whether gold be plentiful or scarce , one price is to be given for it , — -under no conceivable circumstance can more or less be offered or received ;—and that price is 31 . 17 s . 9 d . per oz . To complete the " bondage of the IBank—to render its apparent thraldom more oppressive—it must sell gold to any one who desires to buy ; it dare not refuse , be its vaults ever so empty , be money ever so scarce , be the rate of discount ever
so high ; it must sell , however much against its inclination ; though mercantile houses be falling , though Scotch banks be run upon , and Ireland be claiming additional specie , the Bank cannot refuse to part with its precious store to any buyer , be he native or foreigner , and it must sell at one , and only one , pricevia ,, 3 { . 17 s . lO ^ d . per oz . We repeat it , the Bank is in this respect powerless ; it cannot refuse any comer ; its vaults may be filled to repletion or starved to exhaustion , without its being able to say no to any buyer at 31 . 17 s . 1 ( % , or to any seller at 3 / . 17 s . 9 d .
"Was this an error on the part of Sir Hobert Peel ? Was this positive enactment of the Bill of 1844 an oversight of our celebrated free-trade Minister P Is not this compulsion to sell and this compulsion to buy —in both cases at compulsory prices—utterly inconsistent with freedom of trade ? "Why fihould we be hindered from buying our gold cheap , and selling it dear , now that restrictions are swept away , and our markets declared to be free to all the world ?
The answer to these inquiries is clear and positive . This arrangement was neither an error mor tax oversight—it is nob inconsistent with free trade—it does not prevent Great
Britain buying gold when it is cheap and selling it when , it is dear—it leaves this branch of commerce as free as every otherthere is no more protection nor restriction on the price of gold than there is on the price of grain . Let us examine this matter a little more closely , and inquire first what is meant by the Mint price of 31 17 s . lO ^ d . —how this odd sum comes to be the perpetual price of an ounce of gold . This question being
satisfactorily answered , we shall have prepared the way for the solution of the apparent paradox , that a , Mint price , fixed by Act of Parliament , is consistent with a market priGe varying with the requirements of trade . Probably we shall put the matter in the clearest light by a very simple illustration . An . Australian merchant arrives in England , bringing with him , say 480 ounces of gold—which he takes to the Mint to be coined . In
due time he receives back this identical gold converted into 1869 sovereigns , wherewith he proceeds to make the various purchases or investments he intended to effect . The 480 ounces were converted into 1869 sovereigns because the Mint price is 3 Z . 17 s . 10 ^ d . per oz ., and any one who will take the trouble to multiply the said price by the number of ounces ( 480 ) will find that the Authorities have delivered
to our newly-arrived friend the precise amount of money he is entitled to receive . In other words , the Mint price of gold means nothing more than this— -that every ounce is to be converted by the Mint into money of the amount of 31 . 17 s . lO ^ d . It is not , strictly speaking , ajpricent all ; it is the measure of gold in , coined gold . It says 480 ounces shall make 1869 sovereigns — the gold in both quantities shall be identical—but the ounce must be measured into coin at a certain rate
for each ounce , just as a piece of cotton must be measured into yards at a certain rate— -36 inches to the yard . The 3 ? . 17 s . 10 ^ d . is the measure ( in . coin ) of an ounce of gold , precisely as tbe 36 inches is the measure in length of a yard of cottou . All bargains are really for so many ounces of gold of a fineness agreed upon ; if you coin an ounce into four sovereigns ( instead of into 3 ? . 17 s . 10 ^ d . ) , the price of all articles will rise in proportion , that is , nearly three per cent . If Government were to decree that a yard should consist henceforth of 40 inches instead of 3 G
inches , the price would immediately rise ; and what was obtainable at 9 d . per old yard , would be at once raised to lOd . per yard of 40 inches . But if , instead of talcing the 480 ounces to the Mint , the owner had taken it to the Bank , he would have received only 18 G 6 Z . in
exchange for it ( i . c , at the rate of i-il . 17 s . 9 d . per ounce ) , or 31 . less for the whole than if it had been coined at the Mint ; and ho would find it more desirable to go to Threadneedlestreet than to Tower-hill , because the Bank would give him the notes at once and without any trouble or delay ; a convenience well worth the difference of 31 . These 480 ounces
naas into the Bank cellars , and are pledged for the payment of bank-notes . No use whatever can be made by the Bank of any of the gold ; it must remain idle and unemployed until notes are presented to be exchanged for it . The bank-notes given for tlic gold nro nothing more nor leas than receipts of the Bank for bo much gold deposited for safe custody ; and it is by no means impossible that the very identical bullion might be redelivered in exchange for the notes issued against ita deposit .
In this , it is evident there is no violatiou of free trade ; the compulsory purchase of gold by the Bank is simply that it must receive any bullion for aafo keeping at tho owner ' s
desire , issuing notes as the representatives of the said bullion . The compulsory sale of gold is nothing more thau this—that when these vouchers for bullion ( bank-notes ) are presented at the issue department , they must be exchanged for the gold of which they are the sign , token , and receipt . The small difference between the prices 31 . 17 s . 9 d . and 31 . 17 s . 10 | d . is the remuneration to the Bank for its trouble in . the matter . Let us look for one moment at the effect of the remedy proposed by some of our numerous currency doctors when money is
scarce . They say , raise the mint price to 4 > l , or even more per ounce , if necessary , rather than , part with our bullion- —that is , give our aforesaid Australian friend for his bank-notes ( or receipts for 480 ounces )—give him gold at the rate of 4 ? . per oz ., or only 467 ounces , for the bank-notes he received in exchange for his 480 ounces . Hob him by a legislative enactment of 501 . of his hard-earned gold which he was simple enough to deposit at the Bank . You gave him certain vouchers for
480 ounces ; tell him when Ee claims the gold he left with you that he can only have 467 ounces , and if he complain , the explanation is simple : there is a pressure for money in consequence of undue speculation—the loss must fall somewhere—and the speculators say it shall not fall upon them in the shape of high interest and difficulty in obtaining discounts . ^ Formerly the powerful robbed tho weak ° , by force ; in these days of commerce the subtle would defraud the simple by
cunmng . But gold does really rise and fall in value just the same as any other article . The measure of its rising and falling is not gold itself , but other commodities . Whenever prices of articles fall , as they have lately fallen , what is it but that more goods cau be had for the-¦ same , money ? what is it except that gold issearce and in increased demand ? or why will a merchant let you have a ton of sugar now for the same amount of gold that he would have demanded for 18 cwt . a short time since .
But another simple illustration will show that the price of gold does rise and fall in tho market , though it is fixed at the Mint , and with this we must close our remarks . A banker in Paris is assumed to require bullion for exchange operations . He remits to his agents here certain bills on JJondon , which are discounted , and the proceeds sent to him in gold . The bills are exchangee ! for bullion . If the rate of interest be 10
per cent , ( gold being scarce , i . e . dear ) , ami the bills have three months to run , the discount on every 1000 Z . will be 251 . A bill for 1000 ? . is therefore exchanged for 975 / . in gold . But if ( gold being abundant , i . e . cheap ) , the rate of interest be only 3 per cent ., the discount will be 71 . 10 s . only ¦; the bill will be sold , therefore , for 992 Z . 10 b . in gold , or for 17 Z . 10 s . more than in the first instance . "When tbe rate of interest is high ,
gold is dear , for only 9751 . can be got in ercchange for tho same article that fetches $ 927 . 10 s . when interest is at 3 per cent . A high rate of discount , then , denotes the scarcity ( in other words the denrnesa ) of gold ; alowrnte of interest , of course , the reverse . Glasgow would have us remedy a scarcity of bullion by raising the Mint price to 4 il . ( that is , rob tho holder of bank-notes ) in order that we might keep down the rate of discount—that is , rcstoro the principles of protection "by compelling tho Bank to buy bills of exchange at coi ) siderftbly above their value in the world ' s market .
Transmission Of An Army To India. Ea.Hly...
TRANSMISSION OF AN ARMY TO INDIA . Ea . hly in July last it was declared necessary to send fifty thousand troops to India . The empire was iu peril . Thousands of persons
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 12, 1857, page 10, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_12121857/page/10/
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