THE MARQUIS OF LANSDOWNE'S PRIN CIPLES OF COMMERCIAL SCIENCE. To compare the Principles of Commercial Science, which were asserted by the Marquis of Lansdowne in the House of Peers, on the 26th of February, 1830, with those which are proposed in the current number of the Westminster Review, under the article entitled "Weights and Measures," is the intention of the present communication. The Marquis of Lansdowne asserts. 1st. Weight is every thing in exchanges. 2nd. Silver is the standard of value. 3rd. All nations should agree upon one weight and one measure. The reviewer proposes, the decimal system of weights and measures, that the pound of 16 ounces shall be the unit of weight; and that 500 pounds (avoir-du-poids) shall, in silver coin," balance" £2,000 sterling. But then, we find £2,000 × 240 pence 500 pounds =960 pence per pound weight of silver, which is below the present mint price. From 1804 to 1818, the Spanish dollar was issued by whom? The Bank of. England, at 60 pence. There are 162 dollars to the European English and American English pound weight of 16 ounces. Consequently, 163 × 60 pence 1,000 pence. Is not the Marquis of Lansdowne right-weight is every thing in exchanges? It has been proved, to the conviction of the Committees of each House of Parliament on the Eastern Trades, that the par of exchange between the American and Chinese, and more, his Majesty's East Indian subjects, is 720 cash for the dollar. Then, 720 × 163 12,000 cash. There are (need I repeat?) 12 Chinese ounces to the English pound weight of tea. Well, then, appealing, as we may invariably do, from the theories of men, which are not supported by the eternal laws of the Almighty Providence, we find, by the Marquis of Lansdowne's criterion-the "balance" of justice-the Bank of England (former) value of the dollar, determining the exchanges between America and China and his Majesty's Asiatic subjects! That silver is the representative of wages and profits, it is merely to state, and then to challenge contradiction, that, with the single exception of the United Kingdom, silver is, and ever has been, (including one and all of the English colonies) the monetary standard of value throughout the world. Indeed, the Chinese have no fixed price for gold. Neither have the American, English, or the French courts of justice. Gold, which in England is the standard of value, is, throughout the remainder of the world, a luxury. The Russians have substituted platina for gold. Mr. Alexander Baring has always supported this opinion, that gold is a luxury. Mr. Baring is, very much to his honour, a financial reformer. Who is a higher practical authority? Mr. Dubost, by far the most talented English writer on Commercial science, stated, in 1805, that "in attempting to refute the errors sanctioned by writers who have spoken of the intrinsic par of exchange, without having correctly understood the subject, I prove (Mr. Dubost speaks) that, in respect to two countries, there must be two pars of exchange; one resulting from a comparison of their coins of gold, and the other from that of their coins of silver; and that these pars must remain distinct." Just so. In the last year, the Americans, who have no idea of luxury, raised the price of the pound of gold to 16 pounds of silver, which is, and has been, the Spanish and Portuguese value, both European and American, since 1772. The most profitable trade, the American English have since had with the European English is, in the importation of silver and the exportation of gold. Why? Because PRINCIPLES OF COMMERCIAL SCIENCE. 341 As I have before stated (and has Mr. Babbage prepared himself to contradict me?) the monetary formula, To the year 1819, was 62 shillings 15·0725 = 934.5 We now have It having, in 1819, been intended that the currency should be cheaper-not dearer— than previous to the suspension of cash payments in 1797, Lord Lansdowne's position is proved, weight is every thing in exchanges. Let Cambridge decide. "Blest seat of Truth that Science ever knew." Though the Spanish dollar was issued by the Bank of England, from 1804 to 1818, at 60 pence, the foreign expenditure of the army was in the intermediate period calculated, not in gold, but in Spanish dollars, at six pence less than the Bank of England value; namely, at 54 pence! Beside, for every pound of gold issued to the army, the army received from the Portuguese and Spaniards 16 pounds of silver, for every doblon 16 dollars! We may, however, now conclude, that silver is the universal representative of wages and profits; for, were the French standard gold, the Bank of France would have been bankrupt in July, 1830. The comparison of the specific gravities of those metals is the solution. The nominal par, or, to speak out, the fraudulent par of exchange, between the European and American English, is 4s. 6d. the dollar. The bona fide (as it is termed) par, is pound for pound. Now for the mala fide par. 1 shall be told, that there are no tithes in the United States. Mr. Jefferson, who was a Christian mathematician, adopted the Mexican dollar as the monetary unit of the United States, in the like feeling that Lord Lansdowne has suggested, that all nations should agree upon one weight and one measure. There are, throughout the world, but three national divisors. 1st. The tithe, which is the Chinese, modern Roman, American, French, Russian, Dutch, and 2nd. The Mahometan. Mahomet "made his fortune" by reducing tithes to fortieths. 1 pound English = 7,000 grains. 40 1 honest rupee 175 3rd.-The Duodeci-mal, or Sectarian Mahometan. (See Mechanics' Magazine, No. 334.) at Dr. Kelly, for making pease-soup (avoirdupois) of our standard of specific gravity, avoir-du-poids; while he indulges himself with a laugh at 66 Our learned gentlemen in black," who inform us, that the Latins had but 9 digits and a mutilated finger called zero. Nor will he listen to our cousins-german, that stone has the same specific gravity as iron; and that 8 Klein steins x 14=1 centner, or 100 very musical pounds. The reviewer, however, proposed to review a work of Mr. John Wilson, one of the Directors of the Glasgow Chamber of Commerce. Instead of this gentleman's plan, he has given a bad, very bad, decimal plan. This word is decimil. Deci Xmil = 10,000 Mil Mil deci Deci 1,000 100 10 His Majesty's Government have proposed to restore the small farmers, the yeomanry, King Alfred's guards-the decimaries. A mil, or 1,000 shillings of annual rent, will be the qualification for a freeholder. It is evident that Lord Landsdowne, in proposing to extend the weights and measures to the colonies, is also desirous to extend the English laws, manners, and customs. Though the reviewer, with his brother of the Quarterly, sneers at Mr. Gilbert Davies and Sir George Clerk, for having adopted one great principle of national accountability-one measure of capacity; yet, we are not called upon to assert, that a system is imperial, for no other earthly reason, than that it excludes one and all of the Asiatic, African, and American colonies from the empire. This Suppose, then, that a mil squared, i. e. 1000 x 1000 feet is the space of average arable land, which a labourer, assisted by his wife and three children, can clear and then cultivate, we have found the measure of the colonial freehold. being the measure, any larger gratuitous grant of land must be a positive loss to either future poor emigrants or to the imperial treasury. The Swiss vine growers on the banks of the Ohio, tell our metropolitan professors of political economy in language, which the school of Watt cannot misunderstand, that were the East Indians and Chinese permitted to purchase, New South Wales and South African land would produce wealth to England (mutually with the United States) without the employment of any home labourers. The reviewer is somewhat amphibious, for he proposes that I mile. 1 acre. 1 mile squared. The English league is practically unknown to the world. Instead of 3, suppose there are but 2 miles to the league. Then, 100 miles X 5,280 The difference is but And we escape from the eternal confusion, and indeed what at present exists, litigation of the big and little acre; 528,000 500,000 28,000 and the long and short mile: while we agree with the reviewer, that the footnot the fathom-should be the imperial PRINCIPLES OF COMMERCIAL SCIENCE. standard of length, capacity, and weight. The reviewer is evidently not aware, that the English foot was adopted by Peter the Great, at the suggestion of Mr. Ferguson, in 1698, To this very able mathematician are we indebted, that the English foot measures the Russian empire. 3 mils 3,500 English feet 1 Russian verst. The Russian fathom is 1 Scotch mile. But, then, this proposed mile, Dr. Kelly says, has been introduced into British India. Dr. Kelly says, that 91 English miles 80=6,006 English feet =1 Scotch mile. The reviewer says there are 60-8241 40 45 To come to the question; the Portuguese, who were the first European colonists, have 20,280 English feet to their league; the half of which is the average, East India road measure. The imperial league is then 10,000 feet. Throughout British India, upon Dr. Kelly's own showing, as in every city and town throughout the United Kingdom, land, or ground, is measured, not by the fathom, but by the square foot. In the next edition of the Cambist, Dr. Kelly should state, as suggested (Mech. Mag. No. 418) that the English, Spaniards, and Portuguese, throughout the world, have the same standard of weight, which is arbitrarily to the Chinese standard, as 4 3. And that the cube of 1 English or Russian foot+1 foot = 1 European and American, Spanish and Portuguese fanega. The carrying trade between Old and New Spain must, to a considerable amount of tonnage, be carried on by either the European English or American English commercial marine. Lord Chancellor Brougham, who is an eminent mathematician, is, of course, aware, that by the great charter of England, it is declared, that there shall be but one weight and one measure through 343 out the realm. Notwithstanding, the scale of justice is the symbol of fraud. It was agreed in 1815, that the Russians should have for every 15 pounds, 0725 of Dutch florins, one pound of gold. Since 1819, the Russians have received for every 14 pounds, 159 of Dutch florins, one pound of gold. Thus, the law of the great charter is violated, to transfer the wages and profits of the national industry to foreign money lenders and their dormant partners. This system of chicanery has beggared the King of Spain, and the Indies. Dr. Kelly admits, that the Spanish pound of bread and meat is lighter than the French. The Latin word pecudum, or cattle, is translated in the original sense pecuniary, by the Chinese, American, English, French, Russian, Dutch, &c. But Dr. Kelly maintains, that the Spanish coins must be heavier than the French. Unfortunately for the Spaniards, there are no coins remaining in Spain. And unfortunately for Dr. Kelly, on the 16th of this month, the Spanish Minister, De la Hacienda, advertised in the London papers that his Catholic Majesty would be graciously pleased to borrow the wages and profits of the English Reformers, in dollars, at the French Mint price, which is 24, not 20 reales de vellon. Here, then, we find the Spaniards exclaiming, with Lord Lansdowne, weight is every thing in exchanges. The price of the Reviews-Edinburgh, Quarterly, and Westminster-is 6 shillings 72 pence. Had we the American-English currency, we would have those publications for one dollar; as would the colonial and foreign readers throughout the world. From 1215 to 1601, being a period of 386 years, the English monetary standard-being, of course, silver-was reduced from 20 shillings to 62 shillings. Why? To enable England to compete with foreign rival countries. Down to 1601, those were the English principles of Free Trade, which are most eloquently_expressed by the English labourer-" Live and let live"-"fair play and take care of the little one"-"I pay my way;" for, my work is well finished off." Those are the principles of Sir Henry Parnell. I am now at liberty to state, that this distinguished Statesman favourably received the decimil system, when in office, in July last. |