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Front Page arrow Titles (by Subject) arrow 122.: grenfell to ricardo1 - The Works and Correspondence of David Ricardo, Vol. 6 Letters 1810-1815

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122.: grenfell to ricardo1 - David Ricardo, The Works and Correspondence of David Ricardo, Vol. 6 Letters 1810-1815 [1810]

Edition used:

The Works and Correspondence of David Ricardo, ed. Piero Sraffa with the Collaboration of M.H. Dobb (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 2005). Vol. 6 Letters 1810-1815.

Part of: The Works and Correspondence of David Ricardo, 11 vols (Sraffa ed.)

About Liberty Fund:

Liberty Fund, Inc. is a private, educational foundation established to encourage the study of the ideal of a society of free and responsible individuals.


122.

grenfell to ricardo1

My dear Sir

I have your letter from Cheltenham—and you will before now have received mine written on the same day.2 I hope to find your Manuscript3 on my arrival in Spring Garden tomorrow—and I will very readily give you, and in the way you suggest, what may occur to me on reading it— It shall be returned to you at your office—and by the time you arrive in Town—when I will make a point of meeting you. I expect to be there myself on Wednesday the 11 October—Suppose we agree to meet at the Assurance Office4 on that day at One oClock?

The Papers which I sent to you on Sunday will have added something to your Knowledge on the Circulation of Bank Paper—and I will supply you with what may yet be necessary on this part of the subject—The Charge for managing the Debt since 1808 has been £340 million as far as 600 millions—and £300—for all beyond 600 millions —the Capital of the Annuities ascertained for the purpose of making this charge by considering them at 25 Years purchase—£800 million upon the amount of each Loan raised —and £1000 upon each Lottery Contract—one of my Papers No. 3 which I sent to you in the early part of the Summer5 states this—and the least Amount received in each of the two last Years—Are you not in possession of the Amount of the Debt in each year for many years past? The annual Finance Papers presented by the House of Commons shew this—and by applying the Rate of Charge (which before 1808 was £450 million on the whole Debt) you get at the exact Income derived from this Source.

I should think (but without Calculation) that the Bank must have added more than 7 millions to their Surplus Profit since 1797—which however is not the case, if your Estimate of 10 millions be correct—

You will have seen from my last Letter that the Principle —the Basis—of your Calculation is perfectly well understood by me—

If you write tomorrow or on Friday direct to Spring Garden—I shall not leave Town to return to this place before Saturday—

I am my dear Sir Very truly yours

Pascoe Grenfell

If you are a Farmer, as I conclude you are, this Rain I hope has reached and rejoiced you.

I still hope you’ll publish something on Bank Affairs before Parliament meets—

[1 ]Addressed: ‘David Ricardo Esqr / Gatcomb Park / Minchinhampton’. Franked by Grenfell, from Maidenhead.

MS in R.P.

[2 ]Letter 121, of Sunday, 24 September.

[3 ]Economical and Secure Currency.

[4 ]The Royal Exchange Assurance Office, of which Grenfell was Deputy-Governor. (A. Johnstone’s London Commercial Guide, 1817.)

[5 ]Cp. postscript to letter 111.