2
loun be shut, and all further born up suspended, the Militia receiving their pay in Silver, until motil the relation and token approached. 7 Silver value marer to par.
In Sir Henry Pottinger's Proclamation it is directed that 1200 cash shall be the equivalent to a dollar. This is a low estimate of the current Value of the Copper coin; but as it is stated that coin will be sold at that rate to any individual requiring it, on application to Her Majesty's Superintendent of Trade, it is probable that at the time the Proclamation was published, the quasiy was largely supplied with this coin; and it was thongue offered at a low price.
If the Treasury should be speedily exhausted of its copper coin, it will probably be found necessary to alter this part of the Proclamation, and to make the rate correspond more nearly with the Market rate, which is said to vary from 600 to 1000 cash per dollar.
The most general circulating Medium among the Chinese, and that on which the Imperial Duties are paid is the silver called Sycee, which is generally found to contain 98 parts of pure silver, and two parts of Alloy, in 100 parts. This silver is cast into ingots, generally of ten taels each, and is stamped with the name of the Banker & the date of refining. Should corruption be afterwards discovered, at whatever distance of time, the refiner is liable to severe Punishment.
Spanish Dollars, (although not acknowledged by the Government), are employed numerous of the Provinces; but in Canton the practice of marking or chopping them, by Bankers, Shop-keepers, and Merchants, every time they pass in payment, robs them of the principal advantage of coined Currency, that of being known and acknowledged weight. In all cases dollars, or ingots of silver, are weighed by the Receiver, before they are taken in payment. Hence, if a contract be made for the payment of 1000 dollars, it ...