Seite 867 von 2651

During the continuance of this abuse (which prevailed chiefly in

1762, 1763, and 1764), while the exchange between London and

Carlisle was at par, that between London and Dumfries would

sometimes be four per cent. against Dumfries, though this town is

not thirty miles distant from Carlisle. But at Carlisle, bills

were paid in gold and silver; whereas at Dumfries they were paid

in Scotch bank notes; and the uncertainty of getting these bank

notes exchanged for gold and silver coin, had thus degraded them

four per cent. below the value of that coin. The same act of

parliament which suppressed ten and five shilling bank notes,

suppressed likewise this optional clause, and thereby restored

the exchange between England and Scotland to its natural rate, or

to what the course of trade and remittances might happen to make

it.