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the latter is as far from being the currency of the Country as at first. A striking instance is thus afforded of the futility of supposing that any form of precious metal whatever, can for any length of time be sustained above its intrinsic value! To the present day, at no other port in China than Shanghai, have Mexican dollars ever been taken to any extent of importance but by weight. for they passed from hand to hand without defacement. Why this should be so does not concern us here, it is sufficient to state it as a fact.
Ingots of Sycee are still the universal medium of payment throughout China, and into the latter, all dollars, under existing circumstances must be converted before they can penetrate into the interior of the Country and become available for the purposes of commerce.
3rd The foregoing observations render it clear that the Government unless existing circumstances be altered cannot purchase Bullion at such a rate as to make the working of the mint so profitable as to pay its expenses.
4th We conceive that the policy aimed at in this query on the part of His Excellency, would utterly fail of its object, and if pursued upon a scale commensurate with the interests at stake, would prove fraught with ruinous consequences.
5th This question is sufficiently answered by the above.