Greenbackers falsely claim that the Guernsey Meat Market notes were printing-press, paper money.
Jonathan Duncan was the foremost paper money advocate of his time, but today hardly has anyone heard of him even in England. Mr. Duncan lived on Guernsey in the 1820s during which the Meat Market was erected. John Jacob also lived on the island during this period. If anyone is interested in the story of the notes issued for the construction of the Meat Market and of the Elizabeth College, he should consult
their writings, not some book published a century after the fact
"The case of a market, constructed in the island of Guernsey. The material wealth of that small island is computed at four millions sterling. Instead of borrowing money at interest to build the edifice, the inhabitants issued notes of their own, founded on their own credit. This was done by the authority of their local parliament or States. The estimated cost of the market was £4,000 [4222l. 1s. 9d., to be exact], and four thousand one pound notes were issued. These were paid to the contractor as the works proceeded; with these he paid the wages of those he employed; they in turn gave them to the shopkeepers for goods, the shopkeepers gave them to their landlords for rent, and they again re-distributed them among society. In this manner they were kept floating about, fulfilling the functions for which they were created. In due season the market was completed [on Friday, 11th of October, 1822.]. It contained eighty shops, which were let to butchers at five pounds a year; so that the annual rental was £400. At the end of the first year of tenancy four hundred of the one pound notes which had built the market, having been received as rent by the States, who were the owners of the national building reared up with the national money, were burnt in presence of the official authorities."
Jonathan Duncan, The Bank Charter Act (1857)
As we can see: the notes were denominated in British pounds, and were redeemed (then destroyed) using the proceeds from rent. So these were NOT paper notes simply printed up, but certificates of indebtedness,
bottomed on expected future revenue. When this
revenue was received, the notes were removed from circulation. And who were the good people of Guernsey ? It seems they were (at least some of them)
hard calculators, and many of them were sizeable
investors in Biddle's bank (a.k.a. the second Bank of the United States)
Annals of some of the British Norman Isles constituting the Bailiwick of Guernsey,
by John Jacob, Esq.
Paris, 1830.
