The Quebec mercury, 27 avril 1807, lundi 27 avril 1807

[" THE QUEBEC MERCURY.MORKS £ T I T U O I A £ T ROPULOJ ET PRÆLIA DICAM.Virg Gtorf IV.5.*** ' L VOL.III.] MONDAY, APRIL 27, 1807.[No.17.Mr.Cary, Much has lately hern said and written on the advantages and di advantage* resulting from the establishment et Hanks in a commercial country ; but, in my humble apprehension, the advocates for their utility have not done that justice to their cause which its impoitancc required of them.Cash or ready monev, when considered as the medium of payment in a commercial country, comprehends every species of negotiable paper j and in proportion as that or metallic coin is increased, the enrrenry or floating medium of circulation is more abundant j money is no logger a mete metallic substance.Ciold, Silver, Copper, and their various alloys, arc no longer the necessary tangible objects of exchange.Paper a sûmes a legal validity, and securities of various kinds supply the place of ewin.Hills become the common medium of payment, and the merchant loi'k* to the nature of hi?security as the et.tbility of hi?wealth.A g-tod bid i estimated by the annual revenue of the drawer or drawee ; but a.-scis iti merchandize, in stoik in trade, in ships, Av.give ftjurtl credit to the circt lanon of paper, with the real security of landed property.I hit being the situation of all Comm rcia conce ns in which caih or ready money is reqt ired, and as ready to» ney is the support of trad\" an commerce, it may be worth while to examine the source whence iitdu springs before I cuter upon a minute view\u2019 of its ctRcis.All credit is derived from an eptmon pf the solvency of the borrower.No man has credit who i?known to be i- -Solvent.At it i?with an individual soit is with any nun her, aggKgau b« dy, 01 company of individuals, i hc> c.nlv who arc known to be, or arc Ik lieved to be capable of paying, ban » he means of borrowing.Credit, then, is matter of opinion, and it must br-observed, that it not unfrcqutntly happens in this as in ether matters of opinion, that the public is mist-kyn.\u2014 Confidence is »omctimes given to insolvency ; and an act of bankruptcy dissolves the dangerous error ; whilst, on the othrr hand, honest, hard scraping industry scarcely has credit enough to feed its hunger or support existence.\u2014 False credit, however, while it last , has all the advantage of genuine, i' enables the borrower to borrow.\\V hat, then, i> the effect of thi?order of ihings in the mercantile world ?Cavh or ready money is rhe vital principle 1 f trade and commerce ; credit is the fuel of this piinciplci without this it decays, withers, dies.Hence it follows, that whoever has credit, lias the means of trade ; o.in other wo ds the means of borrowing money ui commodities for hispiirpusea As it L impos ible for all men to know precisely each othci s situation or affairs, or it they di , to caktlVc witl ccr'ainty on all the various events by which they may be altered or affected, 'O it is impossible to pavent evii.s, whhh arise from unforeseen i«»»s s in c(>n mercial concerns, from rational s, c-cularions, or knavish p*a ti.es.Credit, however, is one and rhe same th ng, in piirciple ii tu Ver va.i s » nd hm.gn it be, like Fortuit-, moubie, it mu -be remembered that it aK\\ay- \\ »¦,\t1 upon an opiniem < t s.i v n r or m u ** ) >t payment.Whither a lip \u2022 f pape, b a.si be name of Abr-ham Ncw^n , nr Stcpben Biorouglt , > ;he a 1 king; to g vc it cuiiemv, impure e .u-ly the be iet «t a s in tency *t \u2022propcity tor the p ipo ^ »' > lU\u2018 C\" in reasoning, \u2018h n, \u2018,|1 1 c\t' ' .per eurteney, w iimsi Jitent tv h Crallt on wluwh dial paper passes tui- rent ; for whilst it is current, and ha* credit, the effects are the same in trade ind commerce, and all the purposes of payment, whether the credit be true or false: w he'her the issuers of any current paper have a surplus of thousands, or debts beyond their assets, in this p »int of view, is of no consequence.\u2014 Mo possible injury can arise to any holler of this paper whilst he can pay it as ta'h, it is only when it loses its credit and sticks in his fingers that he becomes a lo?cr ; and when it is no longer negotiable, then the holder is injured, if, tlun, the holder of the bill of an insolvent person can pass the bill, it is clear that t-.r all the uses of cash, it is as use-tul as the bill of the richest man in Fngland, Negotiability then becomes validity * and by various mercantile inventions and usages, paper receives & currency from adven'itious occurrence* in the course oftirculation.By the addition of a name, by indorsement, pa-.>rr receives crcui\u2019, and becomes cash.Is thi?f uility which multiplies money desirable or not in a commercial country! That it is de desirable fora commercial nation to p< ssi.«s wealth, no one can doubt.That wealth is as rcws from the credit paper as that whuh hangs on the weight of met alt t w ill no longer be doubted.An inucasc of go\u2019d in\u2018circulation would hardly be tho ght an evil ia any society, yet an mu .sc of paper currency is by many though» a great evil , s r the same aiti-h s h m in ro.r c< iintrics w he re money K>s , Icttiii .Thi> ob tvati n will h !d uihk), wh ;|- *rw pay in ducats Of 43.i.uiats, m dollars or b-nk noies.1 hg O\tw 130 cmrfncv of the country will optnte in the same manner, when it is plentiful in every country whatever may be the form which it as'iimes.In my next communication, I shall Consider thi* subject in another point of view ; in the mean time, 1 think, e-nonjjh ha« been said to shew the general utility of paper currency in any countly where com nerce has reared its head.A* C* fthntrtali \\othApiil, 1827.Mr.Editor, So our Tibbies cannot be satisfied with their djily and nightly lectures on fervantj, in close divan, but they have thought their gossiping of importance enough to lay before the eyes of the public, through the medium of your paper, after calling in to their aid the pen ot some male amanuensis.It is a pity but mistresses heard the many retorts courteous made, by servants, on the very delicate charge* brought against them, in language not altogether Muting the most immaculate chaMity.Dut mum\u2014I shall not defile your paper with the slime of that viper, SLndt-r.From all that I have heard on the subject I am led to inculcate one short lesson.It is\u2014If masters and mistrc'S-es wish to have and to keep good servants, lot them secure their attachment by good treatment.Where servants are often changed the fault must be more with the mistre\u2018s than wiih the servants.A punctilious scrutiny into, and exaction of character, in a new country! where servants are compara lively few, may be very well in theory, but an over scrupulous mistress, I fancy* will oftener be obliged to do her own drudgery than find impeccable servants to do it for her.Particularly while servants are found ofjinportancc enough to be inveigled away from house to house.In old countries th.ir number may enable masters and mistresses to choose, but they have no such choice here.In any country garrisons can never be places of the most correct mutais.As to high wages and fine drc«ses, the e arc no more than the natural result of the increase of trade and wealth, and their Concomitant luxury.They are regular symptom* of the growing prosperity of a country; which, in it« efff cts, must pervade all ranks- After all, what is the g'cat luxury of muslins, in th *se times, particular^ in Scotland ?It is to he sure matter of deep regict that the real state of things should, at any da>, he so widely different from those arcadian times, as delineated by the romantic pens ot fair novelists.\u2014 j Admirers of the pictures drawn by such I wt -\u2019ersas Mr.i\u2019rooks, must certainly J be adorers ot the present plans of the j mighty Napoleon, whose great object is to restart the golden age, when the 1 vices and luxuries arhing from that great corrupter, trade, shall be no more.\\\\ hen mortals shall breakfast and dine on the fruit, and cloathe themselves with the I iavcs of their own fig-trees.Mrs.13ro< kes\u2019s fine diawings of tltç happy state of Canada, in her da)*, are to he sure wondroi s captivating in 3 n vel.But I must request the cotn-plai ant rcadtr to accompany me, and we will together, it he please, n.ak our exit from her Utopcan Eden, in'o the world of briers, thorns and thistles, as it re-lly existed.When wc shuli find that the Canadian world of that day, like most other parts of the world at large, making due allowances fot tfu progress of wealth and luxury, was much the same as at the present day ; and that the tongue of scandal wagged full as glibly as in our times.And upon due enquiry, we shall further find that Mrs.Brooks could distinguish herself as well in a scandal party a* in painting an Arcadian scene.Nur was it on eagle s wings only that, in her time, immortal scandals flew.She was known to have often intrusted them to feuil.ei volantn.Whence it will he seen that the hack/.i-ed exclamations of O ttmpora ! O meres ! can be compared only to the querulous garrulity ot the aged, Ly who c talcs, the days of their youth were the days of perfection \\ whilst, judging from themselves, those of their decripitude, are full ot imperfection and degeneracy.COSMOPOLITU8.COURT OF KINGSHZNCH, Feb.Criminal information, Mr.Garruw saiii iImi he was instructed to \u2022 poly to die court for leave to file a criminal information for a libel.He made this mouon 0» behalf of Marquis VVcIIc.Nley, who, lor a considerable nine, having filled the distinguish-ed office of Governor m india, returned to Frjdan^, extu\u2019etirT to receive the unammous j)>|m>hation of his country.Hr h td not, however, long armed, when he found persons, whom it would le waste of time of if.* \u2018.ojrt to name, who made his loidilnp the constant 'ubject of libeli, but whieh he pass d by, re-lying p utly upon the inu^mheancy of amhori, and partly upon his own exalted chaiactrr.\u2014 Of what ever impôtt these speeches delivered during tlie contested election* mi^ht be, loyf Wellesley hid always left them unnoticed, thinking thit they were delivered in a moment of irritation, but there w.n a period when forbearance ceased to he s itue, and when the honor of an individual rendered it necessary that the defamations, »b>'i!|d br put an end to.I hit tune wa» n-w anivcd, and the Marqnii Wellesley carne before their Lordships to in-j u cat their irterfi renre.'I he libel Complained of was published in a newspaper, the re| oitof j a speech deluded at the Middlesex club, at the Ciown & Anchor tavern.It was wholly ! unnecessary to st.ite, whether such an addirsa ! wa» or was not made, since ihe libel, as inserted in the new>p per, wai not only an insult ofler-I ed 10 the noble Marquis, but aim lothccharac-, ter ot the speaker, as the learned council Mai I convinced that it could not have been by a man of honor or respectability, fhe moderation 'hewn by Lord Wellesley, had, however, been au'-nded with some bad consequences, tor it had iiKieased the breed ot libcllcis, with win h the metropolis was already over-run ; and as t it \\s a* nut .he first, neithci could it be the last pio'ecution to bung to justice those who made it their interests to stain the unsullied character ot others.In the newspaper above -si.uded to, Mr.1\u2018aull was represented to have returned thanks to the frccholdets of Midcle-mx lor the honor they had done him ; to have adverted to the endeavor» he had nude to bring toj slice, that great delinquent the Marquis ^ cllcslcy.H.said that his rnoiivc in prosecuting the impeachment was not ftom pnvate malice, hut front ideas of public justice, >u dragging forward u ptison who was guilty of ihe most lavish profusion of the public money, and ot a most svanton and atrocious murder, perpetrated upon an independent prince whet was forced from ins throne into a dungeon, t The 1 «sage front that dungeon, to the grave j was not long, for he Mas murdered by the Marquis, amt the bloody robes m ere sent to the mother of the vieillit as a proof of the commission of the crime.1 he learned counsel thought, that the court would consider that the noble applicant wat tally aiithoiiicd m appearing befoie then lordships, and would giant the object sought by the motion, ugj.nit Ihe printer, publishc., and propriciors of the paper in question.Hale 10 s4