The existence of a nation having no credit, is always precarious.
The credit of England is the best. Their paper sells at par on the
exchange of Amsterdam, the moment any of it is offered, and they can
command there any sum they please. The reason is, that they never
borrow, without establishing taxes for the payment of the interest, and
they never yet failed one day in that payment. The Emperor and Empress
have good credit enough. They use it little and have been ever punctual.
This country cannot borrow at all there; for though they always pay
their interest within the year, yet it is often some months behind. It
is difficult to assign to our credit its exact station in this scale.
They consider us as the most certain nation on earth for the principal;
but they see that we borrow of themselves to pay the interest, so that
this is only a conversion of their interest into principal. Our paper,
for this reason, sells for from four to eight per cent, below par, on
the exchange, and our loans are negotiated with the Patriots only.
But the whole body of money-dealers, Patriot and Stadtholderian, look
forward to our new government with a great degree of partiality and
interest.
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