Thus if I were to mortgage to a Loan-Office, or Bank, a
Parcel of Land now valued at 100 _l_. in Silver, and receive for it
the like Sum in Bills, to be paid in again at the Expiration of a
certain Term of Years; before which, my Land rising in Value, becomes
worth 150 _l_. in Silver: 'Tis plain, that if I have not these Bills
in Possession, and the Office will take nothing but these Bills, or
else what it is now become worth in Silver, in Discharge of my Land;
I say it appears plain, that those Bills will now be worth 150 _l_.
in Silver to the Possessor; and if I can purchase them for less, in
order to redeem my Land, I shall by so much be a Gainer.
I need not say any Thing to convince the Judicious that our
Bills have not yet sunk, tho' there is and has been some Difference
between them and Silver; because it is evident that that Difference
is occasioned by the Scarcity of the latter, which is now become a
Merchandize, rising and falling, like other Commodities, as there is
a greater or less Demand for it, or as it is more or less Plenty.
Yet farther, in order to make a true Estimate of the Value of
Money, we must distinguish between Money as it is Bullion, which is
Merchandize, and as by being coin'd it is made a Currency: For its
Value as a Merchandize, and its Value as a Currency, are two distinct
Things; and each may possibly rise and fall in some Degree
independent of the other.
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