Fifth Book: Of Money: 9. Of the Crises Which Convert Bank Notes into Paper Money.

This chapter of the fifth book of the New Principles of Political Economy, Of Money, discusses the crises which convert bank notes into paper money. The safety of every type of property demands that the ever so smooth transition from bank notes to paper money, and the sophisms that are used to justify this change, be subjected to the most severe examination. The money of a country has a determinate relation to the wealth of that country, and to the activity with which its wealth circulates. The theory of the equation of the currency with commodities had already been expounded by Adam Smith, with a degree of clarity that seemed to leave no further doubt.