Reply to Mr. Bosanquet's Practical observations ... - University Library

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Mr. A. Goldsmid *' never recollected the exchange
to have differed more from par than
5 per cent, before the suspension of cash payments."
Mr. Grefulhe stated, " that since he had been
in business he recollected no period prior to the
suspension of the cash payments by the Bank,
when the exchange was considerably below
par.*'
The same opinions were given by many practical
men before the Lords Committee in 1797.
But in opposition to all these opinions, Mr.
Bosanquet has facts which he boldly thinks will
prove the unsoundness of the doctrine. " In
the years 1764 to I768," he observes, "prior
to the recoinage, when the imperfect state of
the coins occasioned gold to be 2 to 3 per
cent, above the mint price, the exchange with
Paris was 8 to 9 per cent, against London,
at the same time the exchange with Hamburgh
was, during the whole period, 2 to 6 per cent, in
favour of London ;
here appears, then, a profit
of 12 to 14 per cent, for the expense, in time of
peace, of paying the debt to Paris with gold
from Hamburgh, which must have exceeded
the fact by at least 8 or 10 per cent.^ and it is
worthy of remark, that the average exchange
with Hamburgh, for the years I766 and 1767,
of