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500 SWEDENBORG IN THE HOUSE OF NOBLES. [Doc. 174,
it has principally been, 1. That the several Houses of the
Swedish Diet, on the representation of some, gave sanction
to the proposal that a general loan may be raised upon all
fixed and movable property, whereupon streams of paper, as
it were, issued from the bank, much in excess of the capital
of coined money possessed by the bank ; whence it became
necessary to stop the issue of “ plates” (20 shilling pieces) and,
to forbid their exportation, or else all our coined “ plates ”
would have been exported , and a paper currency, not based
upon coin containing a real value, would have flooded the
country. The Honourable Houses of the Diet have neverthe
less done so from a well-intentioned purpose, inasmuch as they
had hoped to make the bank rich by the profits accruing from
these transactions, and to enhance thereby its credit much
more, than by having its vaults well filled with coin, and they
had expected thus to keep exchange in its usual course—but the
effects show now, that property received on such terms by
the bank, has no bearing upon the state of exchange, which
is regulated entirely by the coined money, which serves as a
medium of traffic both inland and abroad. Besides these
bills issued in excess by the banks, others were issued, by
which certificates of value received came to take the place of
coined money; which certificates are issued annually by the
bank, empowering the holder to draw the interest accruing
at the " lånbank ” ; these certificates also represent the increase
of the capital of the bank-witness the money advanced by
it for the demands of the war. Such have been the prin
cipal causes by which coined money has disappeared from
circulation, and which have compelled all business and traffic
to be carried on by bank-bills based upon mortgaged property ;
in which every one who holds such bills may imagine him
self to own a share, but which he is unable to realize, as he
is able to do in the case of a private person, when he does
not obtain payment in current coin. From all this it is evi
dent that the permission granted to the bank to lend money
on all fixed and movable property has resulted in removing
every restraint from the course of exchange, as there is no
longer any coin of intrinsic value by which it may be kept
in check . Moreover, the granting of this universal loan
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