Mr. Blake, however, is certainly right in his view of the effects of an unfavourable exchange on the price of gold, when it ceases to form a part of the circulation. It is not only possible that from this cause gold might for a time rise in value much beyond the expense of transporting it; but as a matter of fact, this did unquestionably occur at certain periods during the war. There is no account of the price of agricultural labour in England subsequently to 1811. Probably it did not rise any more; but if it did, judging from what took place in Scotland, it did not rise sufficiently to balance the subsequent rise in the market price of gold, which was from £4. 15_s._ in 1811, to £5. 8_s._[V] in 1813. Consequently, in 1813, as compared with 1811, the value of gold must have risen considerably; and on the supposition that the price of labour did not rise after 1811, it would appear that the natural and exchangeable value of gold, as measured by the standard, rose above 13½ per cent. The rise of gold from the sudden fall of the exchange in consequence of Buonaparte’s return from Elba was still more remarkable. The price had been as low, in the spring of 1815, as 4_l._ 9_s._, and without any known change in the currency price of labour, it rose suddenly to 5_l._ 5_s._, or 18 per cent.; and consequently, to purchase an ounce of gold it was necessary at that time to give commodities worth 18 per cent. more of agricultural labour than it might have been purchased for a month or two before. Whatever might have been the case with the paper, there could not, on any view of the subject, be the slightest foundation for the supposition of a sudden abundance and cheapness of labour just before the battle of Waterloo. In fact, agricultural labour had not fallen, and manufacturing labour was higher than usual; so that even without considering labour as a standard, it must have been acknowledged, that, of these two objects which had altered in relative value, it was the gold which had risen, not the labour which had fallen. In attempting to measure the _rise_ in the value of the currency since the period of the high prices, we shall be greatly assisted by the following very valuable document respecting the price of labour in the county or stewartry of Kircudbright. It is considered that the prices in this table represent pretty nearly (though they are rather below) the wages in other parts of Scotland. The labourers have no other allowances whatever except the daily wages specified in the table. In the intermediate years not quoted the wages remained stationary at the rates last mentioned; and when any change took place, the period of such change and the degree of it are regularly stated.