spect to the Irish exchange in 1804, their main doctrine, that our currency is depreciated; that this depreciation arises from an excess in the issue of paper-money; and that this excess is ascribable to the act passed in 1797, which suspends the operation of the law against a debtor who offers payment in notes of the Bank of England. 66 That there is a depreciation of the currency is made out, in our apprehension, beyond all dispute; but we are not sure of its being equally incontrovertible that this has arisen from an excess in the issue of paper, or, though an excess were proved, that it arises altogether from the restricting act. The committee allow, “ that, in the first instance, when the advance is made by notes in discount of a bill, it is undoubtedly so much capital, so much power of making purchases, placed in the hands of the merchant who receives the notes, and, in this its first step, useful and productive to the public. But, as soon as this first operation as capital is performed, the notes fall into the channel of circulation, and form an addition to the mass of currency, and so diminish the relative value of any given portion of that mass in exchange for commodities." And they go on to state, that, "of the addition even made by notes convertible into specie, this diminution of the relative value of any given portion of the whole mass would speedily bring back upon the bank which issued the notes as much as was excessive. But if by law they are not so convertible, of course this excess will not be brought back." This is the substance of the argument; but it will be remarked, that there is no certain criterion given for ascertaining what is excess; nor, indeed, does the term appear to be used in any determinate sense at all. Besides, it is plain, the fundamental part of the argument is equally applicable to gold and silver currency. If a merchant import any given quantity of gold, and coin it into guineas, these will in the first instance, that is, in the hands of the importer, answer all the useful purposes of capital; but as soon as the guineas are changed by him for some other article which is capital, they fall into the channel of circulation, and lower the value of any given portion of the whole; and lower it, too, not in the same manner which bank-notes do, which, if the occasions of commerce do not require them, disappear altogether, but for ever, without the possibility of cure. Guineas, however, it is said, have an intrinsic value, while paper-currency is intrinsically worth nothing. But specie, when viewed merely as the wheel of circulation, is of no more value than paper; and, for its intrinsic value, when turned to other purposes, we have paid a sufficient price in merchandise, which, when paper answers the pupose of a circulating medium, may be exchanged for articles of real use. Besides, it should not be forgotten, that paper, though intrinsically of no value, is, when regulated by the principles followed by the Bank of England in their discounts, the representative of value. This will be made plain by a synthetical examination of the effects of paper-money brought into circulation by discount. And it will be kept in view, that this is applied for by merchants, with the view either of extending their dealings, or of preserving them from falling off. It either sets more industry to work, or prevents it from becoming idle. It enables the merchant to retain goods till he gets a market, or to prepare goods for the market which otherwise would never have been in existence. In both cases the bankers, by giving away their notes upon a bill, may be said to certify that the merchant is proprietor of goods to a certain amount, and that these goods will be brought into the market. The mere representation of the merchant, that he is worth any given sum in commodities, might not be satisfactory to those with whom he has to deal; but, if he have notes in his hands, these certify that the bankers have received sufficient evidence of the existence of value to the amount of the notes; and thus confidence is placed on a solid foundation, the greatest facility is given to mercantile and all other transactions, and the industry and enterprise of the whole people are astonishingly increased. Nor can this be carried too far, while the sound maxim of discounting no paper but what arises out of real transactions, what has responsible names upon it, and what, is payable at a short date, is attended to. Neither does it appear possible that the national bank can be distressed on account of the extent of its discounts. For, whatever the amount of their notes may be which are brought into circulation by discount, the obligations to repay them are equally extensive. If these notes were never to go beyond the manufacturers who receive them, or their workmen, it is obvious that there could be no run upon the bank for specie. The notes would have been used as a fund of credit by the receivers for a given time, and, at the end of that period, returned to the bank. But, supposing that part of the notes obtained by discount should find its way into the hands of persons not debtors to the bank, and who, from the circumstance that gold now sells higher in the shape of bullion than in the form of coin, should be tempted to demand specie from the bank, still it is plain that this could only occasion a very temporary inconvenience. In this manner the bank, supposing the restriction act to be done away, might be compelled to pay specie for a few days without receiving any; but, as the discounts obtained by the various merchants and others become due, which in every well-established concern must occur daily, the bank would receive specie exactly in proportion to what it had paid; for it is obvious, that the receivers of the discount must either pay in notes or in coin; and if they have parted with the former, they will be under the necessity of procuring the latter. And, if bullion be Poetry. - SONNET:-THE MANIAC. BY MISS ANN MARIA AINSLIE. STRANGER! why dost thou gaze in silent woe, Once was I gay, nor sorrow ever knew, Young Connar shone in manhood's highest bloom: But Connar slumbers in the peaceful tomb! Stranger! let Hope's gay visions round thee flow, 1 SONNE T. WHY do I love, at ev'ning's solemn hour, I told; and there she, blushing, own'd her love. This makes me love the place, though joy and rest, FRASERBURGH, October, 1810. MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION. Some interesting Particulars relating to the Caledonian Canal. P. D. THE act of parliament for effecting this inland navigation from the eastern to the western sea was passed on the 22d of July 180s. By a line' of lochs and rivers, nature seemed to have invited the skill and enterprise of man to the undertaking, and, upon investigation, every part in-. tended to be occupied by the canal was found, with little abatement, to be very favourable to the purpose. It has been considered as probable that, in more early ages of the world, the immense chasm (almost two-thirds of the length of which is still occupied by water) has been nearly open from sea to sea; and that the land which now separates the lochs has been formed from the decay of the adjoining mountains, wasted by time, and SI brought brought down by torrents from rain. As the discussion of the bill completely unfolded all its objects, they were sufficiently understood by the commissioners, who held their first meeting on the 30th of the same month, and who set to work with a promptitude not in general very conspicuous in the discharge of public duty in England. This canal opens into loch Beauly, part of the Murray Frith, and, near Clachnacarry, ascends by a cluster of four locks. It was found necessary to alter the course of the Ness, by throwing up an embankment of about 1000 yards in length, and 12 feet in height, above the line of ordinary low water in the river. Near Inverness the soil is so loose, being composed of gravel and sand, that, in pits sunk for trial, the water rose and fell with the tide, and considerable apprehension was entertained that a proper foundation for the locks, and other necessary masonry, would not have been found; but at length one place was discovered of sufficient solidity to answer the purpose. The canal then proceeds through loch Doughfour, a little loch, which, like some inconsiderable person in society, who is frequently very troublesome, presents the greatest difficulty to the navigation on account of its shallowness, and the quantities of gravel which are carried with great velocity into and through this tiny lake. The navigation then continues to loch Ness, a distance of about seven miles, the advantageous length and form of which no doubt determined the undertaking. It is a noble piece of water, 23 miles and three quarters long, and in breadth varies from a mile and a quarter to three quarters of a mile, and is nearly straight from one end to the other. Its shores are bold and commanding, and on each side rise lofty, rocky, and rugged mountains, irregularly cut into deep gullies, with frightful precipices. The depth of its water, which has erroneously been said to be unfathomable, is from 106 to 129 fathoms (a fathom is six feet) in the middle parts, to 85, 75, or less, near its end, to the east. The sides, except the bays, are very steep, the rise being a foot in height, to a foot and a half in breadth. This excessive steepness has suggested the propriety of laying down mooring-chains with buoys in the bays for the use of merchant vessels intending to anchor in the loch, instead of letting go their anchors in so great a depth of water, as otherwise they would be obliged to do. The convenience of such a project will be very manifest when it is considered that a merchant ship carries no more hands than are barely sufficient to weigh the anchor, so that, all hands being employed upon that service, the ship is left to drift to leeward, from the time the anchor quits its hold of the ground, until it is brought up to the bows of the vessel; for this reason, in loch Ness, where the water is so deep, and so little room for drifting, a ship riding upon the lee-side, with a wind blowing at all across the loch, would drift upon the shore before she could get her anchor up, and make sail. Besides these advantages from mooring-chains with buoys, the expense that would be saved in anchors and cables would be considerable. It has been ascertained that the bottom of loch Ness is soft mud, of a dark brownish colour when wet, apparently consisting of the lighter parts of the soil of the surrounding mountains, which innumerable torrents have for ages washed down their sides; and, independently of the mooringchains, it will afford good anchoring-ground in all parts. From a journal of the winds and weather, kept from the 1st of May 1806 to the 1st of May 1807, the irregularity of the wind in this mountainous region is proved, and will be satisfactory to those who apprehended, as has been generally believed, that so great a valley, rectilinear throughout, would almost constantly draw the wind into a current, traversing it from end to end; a circumstance which would have been highly unfavourable to the navigation of the lakes. By this journal it appears that the wind is not only irregular, but that it is frequently different during the same day at Corpach, at Fort-Augustus, and at Clachnacarry. The people in these parts, accustomed only to see the agitation of boats and and small vessels in stormy weather upon this lake, are generally of opinion that the squalls and unsteadiness of the winds, which occasionally prevail among the lofty mountains which border this and the other lakes, would be dangerous to the navigation of large vessels, than which nothing can be more erroneous. In proof of the error of the opinion, a small vessel, of 14 tons burden, was launched on loch Ness, for the purpose of carrying timber purchased in Glenmorrison and near port Clare, and this small trader, although undecked, usually completes two voyages aweek, including loading and discharging, without interruption; though, being built for the stowage of timber, she does not make progress to windward so well as a sharp-built vessel, although, in this constant employ, this vessel must very frequently beat to windward the whole length of the lake. Of course, if an imperfect vessel can navigate the lake against the wind in safety, larger and decked vessels can have nothing to apprehend from its squalls and waves. At the western end of this loch stands Fort-Augustus, where the foundation of the lock near this fort, and on loch Ness, is 24 feet below the level of the summer surface of the lake, which, varying in its height ten feet renders it necessary to cut a new channel for the river through the rock on the north side, in order to get at a solid foundation of rock, the soil being too open to warrant the cutting to so great a depth. The canal from Fort-Augustus will ascend about five miles to loch Oich, which is about three miles in length, and one quarter broad, and is in some parts 26 fathoms in depth, and in others only five. This loch will be the summit level of the canal. It is intended to reduce this loch to a greater regularity of depth. From the western end of this loch the canal is continued for about two miles, when it falls into loch Lochy, a sheet of water ten miles and a half long, and its breadth, at the east end, near three quarters of a mile; from thence it increases until, in the bay of Arkeg, it spreads to about a mile and a quarter, and is from 76 to 74 fathoms deep in many parts. On one side of this loch are high ridges of rocks and ground, descending abruptly into the lake. At the east end of this lake is a complete little harbour, in which there are from ten to five fathoms water, admirably adapted for giving every protection to the canal, and safe and commodious for ships to lie in. Mooring-chains, with buoys, will be as necessary here as in loch Ness. It is intended to cut a new course for the river Lochy along the bottom of the bank on the south side, where the canal will occupy the deserted part of the present bed of the river, and to raise the lake 12 feet above its present level, by which, on account of the general steepness of its shores, very little land, except at the east end, will be overflowed; and, as there is some deep cutting at the summit, it is proposed to remove back the soil now on the surface of the meadow at the east end of the lock, to bring the ground which is to be excavated at the summit to elevate the low ground at the east end, and, when this is raised to the proper height, to cover it again with the soil which had been removed back, with the addition of that which covered the land to be occupied by the canal near the summit. The canal will then proceed by Corpach to loch Eil, which communicates with the sound of Mull, and is part of the west sea. At Corpach it is intended to form a sea-lock, to be cut out of the rock, and to make a small basin within it, capable of admitting a number of vessels with the flowing tide, which, after the gates are closed, may ascend the locks at leisure, of which the whole number will be 25, and the number of lockgates 38; these, by being in clusters, as they are intended to be, will be much less expensive than in separate locks, on account of the back of one forming the front of the next, whereas separate locks must be complete in all their parts. Upon this canal it is intended to construct bridges similar to those which are at the West India docks, and which have been imitated in cast-iron at the London docks; they swing horizontally to each side of the |