Gold Currency in India. 253 



native coin, so to speak, but must be regarded as a super- 

 addition to it, rendered imperative by the extension of trade 

 and traffic, and one which will facilitate largely the prosecution 

 of both. It is not impossible that in the fulness of time, when the 

 native population shall have become familiar with the gold coins 

 of Great Britain, and can appreciate their portability, the 

 sovereign may become the unit of commercial calculation in 

 India as it is at home. Thus the way would be paved for the 

 introduction of English silver coins as well. Such a consum- 

 mation, however, if it be attained at all, must be arrived at by 

 natural, and not artificial means, and cannot be forced. 



A perfect assimilation and uniformity of the coinages of Bri- 

 tish India, Australia, and the mother country, would, no doubt, be 

 of immense advantage to all ; but, like other reformations where 

 nationalities, prejudices, and peculiarities of habit consequent 

 upon them, have to be combated, the change will be the work, 

 not of a day, but of a generation at least. Perhaps the Decimal 

 System may eventually prove to be the lever by means of which 

 the improvement is to be effected. It is exceedingly proba- 

 ble that the general circulation of a gold currency in India may 

 lead to a similar result in China. There is a great interchange 

 of bullion and specie constantly going on between the two 

 countries, and a common and well understood coinage of gold 

 would, undoubtedly, be found conducive to a facility of remit- 

 tance and disbursement. The Chinese authorities, of course, 

 exercise exclusive control over the. currency of China, but 

 English coins, from their known value and unvarying degree 

 of purity, pass current, or at a very slight depreciation, at 

 present, and it is pretty certain that Chinese merchants will 

 accept the same coin when they know that it is already a legal 

 tender in India, with which place they have close and facile 

 communication. 



In this way then it is, to say the least of it, not unlikely 

 that our own gold coinage will find its way not only to Chinese 

 seaports, but up the great Chinese rivers to the inland seats of 

 trade of that vast, populous, and mysterious country. Thus 

 may be foreseen the opening up of a great future for the gold 

 coinage of England, and a gradual lapsing of the dollar, rupee, 

 and general silver currencies of China and India into the sub- 

 sidiary positions which silver coins occupy in almost all other 

 states of the globe. Whether the relative values of the two 

 precious metals will be affected by this social change, is a ques- 

 tion which as yet can only be suggested. It is positive, 

 nevertheless, that the legalization of gold, as a medium of 

 circulation in our Indian territories, will speedily liberate 

 enormous quantities of the inferior material, and that this latter 

 will flow over a much wider area than it could while it remained 



