356

chapter privilege of utterance, it is highly important, for the pur-
pose of preventing the frequent recurrence of a temporary
excess of issue, and the consequent burthen on the
public by the renovation of the molten coin, that the
charge of coinage should be paid by the Company, and
that the duties now levied to defray it should be appro¬
priated to some other head of pubhc service. I have
already explained, in the fourth chapter of this inquiry,
that the superiority of the market price of our money
above its mint price, originated in the over-issue of
paper ; and as the over-issue, upon the completion of
the reform, will be attributable to the Bank, it would be
utterly inconsistent with every principle of law and
equity, if the Company were not made responsible for
the injury which they commit: and as they will have
the power, by narrowing the circulation, of reducing
the market price of money below the mint price, they will
have the means of acquiring a profit by the stipulation,
instead of incurring a loss. It is also essential, that they
should be made to communicate to the public, at stated
periods, the amount of their notes, not only as a check
on the general augmentation of paper, but, should the
check be inefficient, and the depreciation of money pro¬
ceed with any rapidity, approximating the present ratio,
as a ground for the formation of a more restrictive
system, to counteract its progress.

Having thus explained the principle of the reform,
which it is necessary to adopt in this country, it merely
remains to apply the principle to the currency of other
countries.    If the preceding argument be well founded,