The  last  is  by  far  the  most  important  of
Bosanquet's  writings.  The  author  uses  the
term  "practical"  because  (he  tells  us)  it  is  his
belief  that  Ricardo's  pamphlet  (on  The  High
Price  of  Gold  Bullion),  which  had  led  the  way
in  the  bullion  controversy,  was  "  wholly  theor-
etical "  ;  and  the  report  of  the  bullion  com-
mittee itself  was  expressly  brought  under  the
same  condemnation  (see  Canning).  Bosanquet
contends  that  the  bullion  committee  had  laid
two  distinct  and  opposing  views  before  parlia-
ment,  the  one  "theoretical"  and  embodied  in


BOSELLIlsri  —BOTTOMRY


169


their  own  report,  the  other  "practical"  and
embodied  in  the  evidence  of  the  "practical"
witnesses  as  given  in  the  appendix  to  their  re-
port. Proceeding  to  details,  he  sums  up  the
committee's  views  in  the  following  six  proposi-
tions :  (1)  The  variations  in  exchange  cannot
for  any  length  of  time  exceed  the  cost  of  trans-
porting and  insuring  the  precious  metals  ;  (2)
the  market  price  of  gold  bullion  can  never  exceed
the  mint  price  unless  the  currency  is  depreciated
below  the  value  of  gold;  (3)  so  far  as  the  custom-
house returns  of  exports  and  imports  go,  the
state  of  the  exchanges  ought  at  this  time  (1810)
to  be  favourable  and  not  unfavourable  ;  (4)  the
bank,  during  the  restriction,  possesses  the  ex-
clusive power  of  limiting  the  circulation  of  notes  ;
(5)  the  circulation  of  country  bank  notes  depends
on  the  issues  of  the  Bank  of  England  ;  and  (6)
the  paper  currency  of  England  is  now  (1810)
depreciated  in  comparison  with  gold,  and  the
high  price  of  bullion  and  low  rate  of  excliange  are
at  once  consequence  and  sign  of  the  depreciation.
