M O N £ Y. 
65G 
different opinions may be, however, in. iome meafure, re¬ 
conciled. When Mr. Locke wrote on the fubjedl, lilver 
was certainly the legal meafure of value; but, in 1718, 
when the guinea was eftablilhed as a legal tender, gold 
became a meafure, and, of late years, the principal one, 
particularly in large payments. Indeed, while mankind 
continue to fet fo high a value on both metals, it is not 
likely that either will be excluffvely adopted as a meafure 
of value. For the payment of bills of exchange, gold is 
preferred in molt countries. In Leghorn, and other parts 
of Italy, it has been of late years made the legal money 
of exchange. In Ihort, gold feems to be the meafure of 
value in great concerns, and filver in the inferior depart¬ 
ments of bufinefs; gold may, therefore, be confidered as 
the integer, and filver the fraction. 
Certain, however, as the principle is, that the money 
or coins of any country, which are to be the principal 
meafure of property, can be made of one metal only ; the 
convenience of traffic neceffarily requires, that in rich and 
commercial countries there Ihould be coins made of fe- 
veral metals, adapted to the feveral forts of purchafes or 
exchanges for which they are intended. Coins made of 
gold alone, or of filver alone, in fuch countries, will not 
anfwer all the purpofes of traffic. Coins of gold are not 
adapted for the retail trade, in which fort of traffic the 
greateft number of the fubjedls of every country are prin¬ 
cipally concerned; and coins of filver are too bulky for 
larger payments, and are, in that refpedF, inconvenient. 
It is necelfary, therefore, that in commercial countries 
there Ihould be coins made of different metals. And if 
the coins, which are the principal meafure of property 
and inftrument of commerce, can only be made of one of 
thefe metals, the inferior coins, made of other metals, 
muff be legal tender only in a limited degree, as the fove- 
reign ffiall diredt; and lb far only they are the meafure 
of property: and if they are accepted in payment for a 
larger lum, with the confent of the receiver, (as may 
i'ometimes be the cafe,) they may then be faid to be the 
reprelentatives of the coins which are the principal mea- 
lure of property, and their value muff be made to cor- 
relpond with it, as accurately as the nature of the fubjedt 
will admit. It is by adopting this rule, or principle, that 
the fecond and third of the imperfedtions before ftated 
will be avoided, or at leaft the ill eft'edts refulting from 
them will be diminilhed as much as poflible. 
It is worthy of oblervation, that the progrefs of metals, 
as reprelentatives of property, feems to have kept pace 
with the increafe of wealth and commerce. Iron, brafs, 
and copper, ftrft anlwered the purpofes of money; filver 
next followed 5 and, as property increafed, gold fucceeded. 
But the great increafe of riches and trade in modern times, 
has rendered even gold infufficient as a circulating me¬ 
dium, and reprefentative of property. Paper has been, 
therefore, fubllituted; and it is generally found the molt 
convenient. Where credit cannot be given, coins are 
necelfary; but, where w r ell-founded confidence exifts, pa¬ 
per is certainly preferable. It is exempt from moll of the 
imperfedtions and diforders of coin ; and, in many other 
relpedls, it greatly facilitates the operations of commerce. 
About the year 1320, the Hates of Europe began to 
coin gold. Coining of money is a royal prerogative ; 
(fee Coin, vol. iv. p. 754-.) and the coinage of England is 
now performed wholly at the Mint, on Tower-hill, Lon¬ 
don. Formerly many towns, as well as individuals, had 
mints, and the privileges of coining, as is Hill the cafe 
in fome other countries. In Fez and Tunis, for inftance, 
the coinage is not under any reftridtion; each goldfmith, *■ 
Jew, and even every private perfon, undertaking it at 
pleafure; which renders their money exceedingly bad, 
and their commerce very unfafe. 
In Ruj]\a, the czar Ivan Vaffillievitch inllituted the firlt 
regular coinage, towards the middle of the lixteenth cen¬ 
tury, and fet up a mint at Mofcow. In the reign of this 
prince the Ruffian coinage began to acquire a new form, 
and coins of different denominations were llruck after a 
certain alloy and weight. Peter I. made various altera¬ 
tions in the coinage. All mints were abolilhed, except 
thofe at Mofcow. A mint was afterwards fet up at Pe- 
terlburgh; and this is at prefent the only one where gold 
and filver coins are llruck. At this time there are in 
Ruffia one mint for filver, and lix for copper, coin. 
All the money made in Perjla is llruck with the ham¬ 
mer; and the fame may be underllood of the rell of Alia 
and America, and the coall of Africa, and even Mufcovy ; 
the invention of the mill not being yet gone out of Eu¬ 
rope, nor even eftablilhed in every part of it. The king’s 
duty, in Perfia, is feven and a half per cent, for all the 
moneys coined; which are now reduced to filver and 
copper; there being no gold coined there, except a kind 
of medals at the acceffion of a new fophi. 
The Spanijh coinage is efteemed one of the leaft perfect 
in Europe; it is fettled at Seville and Segovja, the only 
cities where gold and filver are llruck. It is true there 
are brought from Mexico, Peru, and other provinces of 
the Spanilh America, fuch vail quantities of pieces of 
eight, ,and other fpecies both of gold and lilver, that, in 
this refpedr, it mull be owned, there is no Hate in the 
world where fo much money is coined as in that of the 
king of Spain. 
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