COIN. 



universally exceeded us in this respect. 

 Thus the pound Fkmish is less than 

 eleven shillings, the French livre is ten 

 pence, and the Italian lire is less than 

 2$d. 



The Chinese still use fine silver, which 

 they actually cut and weigh at every sin- 

 gle payment. They are said to have for- 

 merly possessed silver coin ; but whether 

 they were urged to their present prac- 

 tice by the uncertain variation in its value 

 caused by their rulers, or by the difficul- 

 ty of otherwise resisting the artifices of 

 coiners, we know not. 



The metals used for coinage are, gold, 

 silver, and copper. According to the 

 exchangeable value of gold, half a grain 

 of this metal would purchase as much 

 bread as a man could eat at one meal. 

 This small piece of gold, if as thin as pa- 

 per, would not measure the tenth part of 

 an inch in breadth, and would therefore 

 be perfectly inconvenient for use. It has, 

 in fact, been found that the gold coin of 

 the weight of 32 grains (or the quarter 

 guinea) was too small to be conveniently 

 used. The same observations will kpply 

 to the smaller subdivisions of the shilling 

 of silver ; whence, upon the whole, it ap- 

 pears that coins of all the three metals 

 are required, to facilitate our commerce 

 of buying and selling. 



Gold, silver, and copper, like every 

 other product of human industry, depend 

 for their value principally on the labour 

 employed in producing and bringing 

 them to market, and in a considerable 

 degree on the actual demand. As these 

 articles are not employed merely in the 

 fabrication of coins, the demand will 

 vary in each, according to circumstances, 

 which admit of no permanent ratio of ex- 

 change between them. x lf the state were 

 to coin certain pieces of known weight 

 and fineness out of each of these metals, 

 and determine that a certain number of 

 the silver pieces, for example, should in 

 all cases be equivalent to one piece of 

 the gold, it would naturally follow, sup- 

 posing the individual to pay nothing for 

 the coinage, that a debt might be dis- 

 charged with more facility to the debtor, 

 and consequently loss to the creditor, in 

 the cheapest of these two metals, when- 

 ever, by the fluctuation of the market, 

 either of them should come to represent 

 a larger portion of the other than the 

 edict of the government had determined. 

 This consequence of fixing the relative 

 value of coins would shew itself in a va- 

 riety of ways, which need not be enume- 

 rated ; because it is certain that the 

 dearer metal would occupy the greater 



part of the circulation, while the cheaper 

 pieces would either be melted down, or 

 diminished, if their rated value were too 

 high, and they would be fabricated by 

 individuals, if it were too low, in defiance 

 of every public regulation which might 

 be adopted. If we therefore admit, from 

 considerations of this nature, that no go- 

 vernment does in reality possess the 

 means of fixing a ratio between two arti- 

 cles of commerce, intended to be applied 

 as the tickets of transfer, or the medi- 

 ums of exchange, we shall be naturally 

 led to the adoption of one of the metals 

 only, as the representative sign, while 

 the two others are applied merely as in- 

 struments of accommodation, for the con- 

 venient subdivision of value. 



With regard to the question of pre- 

 ference in these three metals, experi- 

 ence has shewn that society is disposed 

 to assume the dearest ; namely, gold. 

 With the single standard of value the fluc- 

 tuations of the market price of the metal, 

 when compared with commodities, will 

 be nearly imperceptible, because they 

 confound themselves with the rise and 

 fall in the prices of all other articles to 

 which the standard is thus applied. If a 

 cheaper metal were to be adopted by 

 the state, and gold were left to circulate 

 at election of individuals, the changes of 

 price in this metal of high value would 

 operate so as to produce an uncertainty 

 in the amount of large sums, and greatly 

 disturb the general transactions of com- 

 merce. Merchants would therefore con- 

 sider the gold coin as mere bullion, and 

 the community would in a great measure 

 be deprived of its use as a coin ; as actu- 

 ally is the case in Holland and other 

 countries, where silver is the legal me- 

 dium. A more defective scheme was 

 proposed in France in a report presented 

 by Prieur, from a committee of the 

 Council of Five Hundred, of which a 

 very full abstract is given in the Moni- 

 teurs of 6 and 7 Floreal, in the year vi. 

 Nos. 216, 217. It is, that silver coin 

 should be unchangeable in weight and 

 denomination of value ; but that the 

 price of gold (also coined) should be 

 settled every six months by a declara- 

 tion from the national treasury, deduced 

 from the medium price of that metal 

 during the preceding half year. It was 

 rejected by the Council of Ancients. It 

 appears most eligible, that gold, in 

 pieces of determinate weight and fine- 

 ness, should constitute the effective coin 

 of the state, or legal tender of payment ; 

 that silver and copper should be formed 

 into money, for the purpose of repre- 



