TJic Relative Stability of Gold and Silver. 183 



The average price in 1850, in London, I may remark, 



was 60 iV'-^- 



The highest average price for any single year in the 

 whole period was 62yVd., in 1859, an average which was not 

 again attained during the whole twenty years, and that 

 extreme rise was only rg per cent, on the par price, 6o^d. 

 at the French mint. The next highest annual average 

 during the whole period wasGi)4^d., in 1858, a rise of r4 

 per cent. only. Moreover, it will be observed that the lowest 

 average in the above table for quinquennial periods was 

 that for the last five years, when an increase of 257 per cent, 

 in the out-put of gold had been accumulating for twenty 

 years, a fact which surely demonstrates that variation in 

 production was not a governing condition in determining 

 the relative value of the precious metals. But even if he 

 had given the exact variation in the London market, which, 

 as we have seen, was much less than 3 to 4 per cent, as 

 stated by him, Mr. Gladstone would not have done full 

 justice to the steadiness of gold in terms of silver during 

 that " agony " period. Had he taken the prices in the Paris 

 market he would have found that so far as his test is a 

 good one, gold remained absolutely unaltered during the 

 whole period. There was no time during which both the 

 metals were not sent to the French mint for coinage in the 

 ratio of 153^ to I ; no time when the French silversmith 

 could not obtain silver at the equivalent in French money 

 of 6o^d. per oz., neither more nor less. The reason is per- 

 fectly obvious ; it was the continued free mintage of both 

 metals in that ratio which kept the exchangeable value 

 steady in terms of each other, the variations in the London 

 market being simply equivalent to the costs of sending the 

 metal to or from the open Paris mint, that is, freight, 

 insurance, and interest. Taking Mr. Gladstone's test of 

 stability the conclusion is irresistible that the steadiness of 

 value of gold in terms of silver, during a period of 257 per 



