Page:A Tour Through the Batavian Republic.djvu/158

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146
TOUR THROUGH

was to procure cash for bills on London. I was readily accommodated by two gentlemen, to whose politeness and attention I am otherwise much indebted. The exchange between Rotterdam and London on bills payable three days after sight, is at the difference of the enormous sum of twelve per cent in favour of the former city. This difference is not so much caused by the balance of trade, which is to the advantage of Rotterdam, as by the ideas which prevail on the continent of the financial embarrassments of the British nation, and the depreciation which the notes of the Bank of England have undergone, since that body has ceased to issue cash for their paper. Could I have given bills on Hamburgh, I could have had cash for them almost at par; or could I have engaged that my drafts would be paid in London with specie, the difference in the exchange would have been considerably less. It is the opinion of very intelligent merchants at Rotterdam, that whenever peace is restored to Europe, would the bank of England not resume paying its notes in cash, the