Page:The Real Cause of the High Price of Gold Bullion.djvu/17

 as upon the Continent, would be a similar absurdity as enacting, that the same substance shall have the same properties in the atmosphere and in vacuo. Matter acts differently in different mediums: the weight of the air is different in different altitudes, and the value of money is different in different markets, according to their circumstances, and of course any quantity of bullion will command, ceteris paribus, a greater quantity of valuable commodities in untaxed, or lightly taxed Countries, than in Countries highly taxed.

I see however, that Mr. Ricardo and others, are forming schemes for enabling, or for obliging the Bank to pay their Notes in bullion instead of coin, at mint price, whatever be the market price; as if there were any difference in fact and reality between paying in coin and in bullion, which is weight for weight of the same value as coin. I wonder the futility of all such schemes should not be apparent to every man of common experience and sagacity. Suppose, for instance, the Bank obliged to buy bullion at the market price of 4l. and to issue it at 3l. 17s. 10½d. an ounce in exchange for Notes, what is this but to establish a vicious circle to the ruin of the Bank? The bullion merchants hold up their Gold at 4l. an ounce, at which the Bank is obliged to buy. They then send in large quantities of Notes to the Bank, and receive bullion for them at 3l. 17s. 10½d. and they then oblige the Bank to re-purchase the same bullion at 4l. an ounce. What system could long bear up against the course of such operations? With the disposition to agiotage in our market, the Bank would be an early victim to such a scheme, or to any scheme founded upon a similar false principle.

I understand, however, Mr. Ricardo conceives that his plan is to be acted upon, but that the Bank is not