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E X C

Exceptions in Deeds and Writings, is the saving of a parti*cular thing out of a general one granted by deed, as a room, shop,or cellar out of a house; a field, or timber trees, out of land, &c.

EXCESS, in arithmetic and geometry, is the difference be-tween anv two unequal numbers or quantifies, or that which is leftafter the fuss is taken from or out of the greater.

EXCHANGE, in architecture, a place in most trading cities,wherein the merchants, negotiants, agents, bankers, brokers, in-terpreters, and other persons concerned in commerce, meet oncertain days, and at certain hours, to confer together of m-ttersrelating to exchanges, remittances, payments, adventures,, assur-ances, freightments, and other mercantile negotiations, both bysea and land. In Holland, the late Flanders, and several cities ofFrance, these places arc called burses; at Paris and Lyons, placesde change; and in the Hnnse Towns, colleges of merchants.These assemblies are held with so much exactness, and merchantsand negotiants are so indispensably required to attend at them,that absence alone makes a man suspected of bankruptcy. Themost considerable exchanges in Europe, are that of Amsterdam ,and that of London , called the Royal Exchange. Even in thetime of the ancient Romans, there were places for the mer-chants to meet, in most of the considerable cities of the em-1 »'«- .

Exchange, in arithmetic. See Arithmetic. r l he opera-tions are only different applications of the Rule of Three, or ofPractice ; to perform which, it_is necessary to know the value ofthe coins and monies of account of different countries, and theirproportions to each other ; for which see the various tables underthe articles Money and Coins.

Exchange, in ancient commerce, an agreement, whereby onething was trucked or given for another. The first commerce car-ried on among men was by exchange ; people furnished each othermutually With what things they wanted ; but such exchanges wereclogged with two considerable difficulties. 1. On account of theunequal value of commodities ; and, 2. Because every body hadnot ju t what might accommodate the person with whom he wouldexchange. To remove these inconveniencies, money was invent-ed for a common medium ; and instead of exchanging, buying•and selling were introduced. There are some nations amongwhom the primitive way of exchange still obtains; and even themost civilized people must sometimes have recourse to this me-thod. Sucli, e. g. is the trade of several cities of the North andBaltic Sea , where the French exchange their wines and brandiesfor wood, metals, hemp, and furs.

Exchange, in modern commerce, is the receiving or payingof money in one country for the like sum in another, by hills ofexchange. See.Riu.. The punctuality of acquitting these obli-gations is cs-ential to eonimerce; and no sooner is a merchant’saccepted bill protested, than iie is considered as a bankrupt. Forthis reason, the laws of most nations have given very extraordi-nary privileges to bills of exchange. Were the claims of mer-chants to linger under the formalities of courts of law when liqui-dated by bills of exchange, faith, confidence, and punctuality,would quickly disappear, and the great engine of commercewould be totally destroyed. A regular bill of exchange is a mer-cantile contract, in which four persons are concerned, viz. |. Thedrawer, who receives the value. 2. Ills debtor, in a distantplace, upon whom the bill is drawn, and w ho must accept and payit. 3. The person who gives value for the bill, to whose order itis to be paid : and, 4. The person to whom it is ordered to bepaid, creditor to the third. Bv this operation, reciprocal andequal debts, due in two distant parts, are paid hy a sort oftransfer of debtors and creditors. Thus A in London is creditorto B in Paris, value 100 /. C again in London is debtor to D inParis for a like sum. By the operation of the bill of exchange,the London creditor is paid by the London debtor; and tiie Paris creditor is paid by the Paris debtor ; consequently, the two debtsare paid, and no money is sent from London to Paris nor fromParis to London . In this example, A is the drawer, B is the ac-cepter, C is the purchaser of the bill, and D receives the money.Two persons here receive the money, A and D ; and two pay themoney, B and C ; which is just what must .be done when twodebtors and two creditors dear accounts. This is the plain prin-ciple of a bill of exchange ; which, among other advantages, pre-vents all risk of loss by shipwreck, robbery, &c. which might hap-

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pen from remitting payment in coin. But when the reciprocaldebts are not equal, there arises a balance on one side. SupposeLondon to owe Paris a balam e, value 100/. An exchanger, tind-ing a demand for a bill upon Paris for 100/. w hen Paris owes nomore to London, sends 100/. to his correspondent at Paris in coin,at tin* expencc (suppose) of 1/ ; and then, having become credi-tor on Paris , he can give a bill for the value of 100/. upon his be-ing repaid his expence, and paid for his risk and trouble. Whenmerchants have occasion to draw and remit bills for the liquida-tion of their own debts, active and passive, in distant parts, theymeet upon ’Change; where, (to continue the example,) the cre-ditors upon Paris , when they want money for bills, look out forthose who are debtors to it. The debtors to Paris again, whenthey want bills for money, seek for Ihose who are creditors uponit. This market is constantly attended hy brokers, who relievethe merchant of the trouble of searching for those lie wants. Tothe broker every one communicates his wants, so far as he finds itprudent; and by going about among all the merchants, the bro-ker discovers the side upon which the greater demand lies, for mo-ney or for bills. This renders secrecy very essential to indivi-duals an;ong the merchants. If the London merchants want topay their debts to Paris, when there is a balance against London ,it is their interest to conceal their debts, and especially the neces-sity they may be under to pay them : lest those who are creditorsupon Paris should demand too high a price for the exchange abovepar. On the other hand, those who are creditors upon Paris , whenParis owes a balance to London , are as careful in concealing whatis owing to them by Paris, lest those who are debtors to Paris should avail themselves of the competition among the Paris credi-tors, to obtain bills for their money, below their value at par. Acreditor upon Paris, who is pressed for money at London , willabate something of his debt, in order to get money for it. Timsthe merchants upon ’Change, from their separate and jarring in-terests, are constantly interested in the state of balance. Thosewho are creditors upon Paris, fear the balance due to London ;those who are debtors to Paris, dread a balance due to Paris . Thebrokers determine the course of the day ; and the most intelligentmerchants dispatch their business before the iact is generallyknown. In this complicated operation, the interest ot trade andof tiie nation is concerned in the proper method of paying and re-ceiving the balances, and in preserving a just equality of profit andloss among all the merchants, relative to the real stale of the ba-lance. Unequal competition among men engaged in the samepursuit, consequently draws along with it bud consequences to thegeneral undertaking; ami secrecy in trade will be found moreuseful to merchants in their private capacity, than to the trade theyare carrying on. This operation of exchange is of such a nature,that it is" hardly possible tor a merchant to carry on the business ofthese bills, wi'diout the assistance of the brokers upon tnanv occa-sions. When merchants come upon’Change, they are so full ofjealousies, that they will not open their minds to one another.Tiie broker is a confidential man between parties, and brings themtogether. Besides the merchants who circ ulate among themselvestheir reciprocal debts and credits arising from their importationand exportation of goods, there is another set of merchants whodeal in exchange; by the importation and exportation-of moneyand bills. AVere there never any balance on the trade of nations,exchangers and brokers would find little employment: recipro-cal and equal debts would easily be transacted openly between theparties themselves. But when balances come to be paid, ex-change becomes intricate ; and merchants are so much employedin particular branches of business, that they are obliged to leavethe liquidation of their debts to a set of men, who make it turnout to the best advantage to themselves. Win never a balance isto be paid, that payment costs an additional expence to those ofthe place who owe it, over and above the value of the debt. If,therefore, this expence be a loss to the trading man, he musteither he repaid this loss by those whom he serves, that is, by thenation ; or the trade he carries on will become less profitable. ItL therefore plain, that the expence of high exchange upon payinga balance is a loss to a people, not to be compensated by enrich-ing the few individuals among them who gain by contriving me-thods to pay it off. Whatever renders the protit upon trade pre-carious or uncertain, is a loss to trade in general.

Exchange is sometimes also used for the agio, or profit al-lowed

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