GRESHAM'S LAW 



2623 



GREY 



GRESHAM'S LAW, thn principle that "bad 

 money drives out good," was first stated by 

 Sir Thomas Gresham, founder of the Royal 

 Exchange in London, in 1560. Whenever a 

 government issues money that does not equal 

 in value the amount marked on it, people 

 who have good coins in their possession will 

 save them and spend the poor money. In 

 .idilition, foreign merchants will demand pay- 

 ment in good money, so that after a time 

 there may be none left in circulation but the 

 inferior issue. If coins of full weight are put 

 in circulation with coins that are of light 

 weight or badly worn, the good coins may be 

 hoarded, and soon nothing will be found in 

 the market but poor and defaced currency. 

 This fact appears to have been first noticed in 

 the thirteenth century, when dishonest dealers 

 chipped off particles from gold and silver coins, 

 which were circulated until they were so thin 

 that they were easily broken. Gresham states 

 the principle as follows: 



"Where by legal enactment a government As- 

 signs the same nominal value to two or more 

 forms of circulatory medium whose intrinsic 

 values differ, payments will always, as far as 

 possible, be made in that medium of which the 

 cost of production is least, the more valuable me- 

 dium tending to disappear from circulation." 



The most striking instances of the working 

 of Gresham's law are found in Mexico and 

 some of the other Spanish American countries, 

 where paper money has caused the disappear- 

 ance of all metal coins. In 1896, when there 

 was a possibility in the United States that 

 bimetallism might be established and that 

 silver might circulate on a legal parity with 

 gold, the owners of gold coins hoarded their 

 supply until the defeat of the proposed plan at 

 the polls. See MONEY'; BIMETALISM. A.E.R. 



GRET'NA GREEN, a village in Dumfries- 

 shire, Scotland, eight miles north of Carlisle 

 and just over the English border. It is noted 

 for runaway marriages formerly celebrated 

 there under the lax Scots law, which was 

 satisfied merely with mutual promises of the 

 man and woman made in the presence of wit- 

 nesses. The fugitive lovers were united in 

 marriage ,by the clergyman in very speedy 

 manner; and the fee, very flexible in amount, 

 was demanded when the service was about 

 three-quarters performed, so as to insure pay- 

 ment before the possible arrival of irate par- 

 ents. There were foiu places in Gretna Green 

 where these marriages took place. However, 

 this practice was discontinued by an act of 



Parliament in 1856, which declared that no 

 irregular marriage in Scotland should thereafter 

 be valid unless one of the parties had resided 

 in Scotland for twenty-one days. To-day any 

 town to which eloping couples flee to get mar- 

 ried is popularly termed Gretna Green. 



GREW, gra ve' , FRANCOIS PAUL JULES (1807- 

 1891), a French statesman and rhr third Presi- 

 dent of the French republic, was born at 

 Mont-sous-Vaudrey, Jura. He studied law in 

 Paris, was admitted to the bar in 1837, and 

 became a brilliant member of the profession. 

 In 1868 he was elected a member of the 

 Chamber of Deputies, which corresponds to the 

 American House of Representatives, and in 

 1873 became president of the National Assem- 

 bly. In 1879 he was elected President of the 

 republic, upon the resignation of President 

 MacMahon. He entered on a second term of 

 office in 1885, but in 1887 was compelled to 

 resign on account of a scandal involving his 

 son-in-law. Mr. Grevy was an able, conscien- 

 tious and popular statesman, and successfully 

 handled the problems of his administration. 



GREY, gray, ALBERT HENRY GEORGE GREY, 

 fourth Earl (1851-1917), -a British statesman 

 and colonial administrator, Governor-General 

 of Canada from 1904 to 1911. Grey was edu- 

 cated at Harrow and at Trinity College. Ox- 

 ford, where he was graduated in 1873. Five 

 years later he was elected to the House of 

 Commons, but was unseated on a technicality. 

 He was again^elected in 1880, and sat until 

 1886. In 1896 and 1897 he was administrator 

 of Rhodesia, and he became the close friend 

 and supporter of Cecil Rhodes in his plans for 

 consolidating British South Africa. From 1898 

 to 1904 he was a director of the British South 

 Africa Company, and from 1899 to 1904 was 

 lord-lieutenant of Northumberland. During 

 the seven years he spent in Canada he bream, 

 very, popular. He was interested in the social 

 and economic progress of the Dominion, and 

 took an active part in important public move- 

 ments, notably the campaign against tubercu- 

 losis and the conservation movement. He 

 sought to promote Canadian patriotism, and at 

 the same time to stimulate the sense of loyalty 

 to the British Empire. 



For several generations Earl Grey's family 

 has had more or less intimate connection with 

 Canada. His sister Mary was the wife of the 

 fourth Earl of Minto, his predecessor as Gov- 

 ernor-General of Canada. His uncle, Henry 

 Grey, third Earl (1802-1894). was British Co- 

 lonial Secretary from 1846 to 1852. It was 



