3 Aug. 1801

Eden

Simple Computation

4

74

Meantime let this be understood – {and it may be understood without experiment} –

that the obstruction afforded in the case in question (the case of the proposed

12:16s Annuity Notes) would be much less than in those other cases, in which it

does not appear to have operated even as a restriction – much less as a bar.

This superiority it would derive from several circumstances: - The occasions for

passing off the note, and consequently of its being exposed to the obstruction

would by reason of the inferior magnitude of it, be so much the less numerous:

the chances against its finding itself on each occasion in illiterate hands –

hands in whose instance the complication in question would be a cause of

obstruction would also be the more numerous: and the trouble of obtaining the

requisite literary assistance would be the less grudged, the greater the amount

of the value at stake.

When two such Annuity Notes come to be added together, there indeed simple

inspection (I must confess) is no longer sufficient: there indeed computation is

required. But then in this case the three elements just mentioned – infrequency

of the occasion for circulation – improbability of the want of sufficient

learning – and ratio of the value at stake to the trouble of enquiry – are, each

of them, doubled, and now the value of the principal has risen to above a

quarter of that of an Exchequer Bill, or India Bond.