Obrazy na stronie
PDF
ePub
[subsumed][merged small][subsumed][ocr errors][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][merged small][merged small][subsumed][subsumed][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][subsumed][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][merged small][subsumed][subsumed][merged small][subsumed][subsumed][merged small][graphic][ocr errors][merged small][graphic][subsumed][graphic][graphic]

extensive commerce is carried on, gold is the most proper metal to be employed as the measure of property and instrument of commerce. And, in such countries, gold will in practice become so, with the general consent of the people, not only without the support of law, but in spite of any law that may be enacted to the contrary." It would be utterly impossible to conduct the daily trading affairs of the metropolis by the medium of silver coins alone. In the Bank of France there are great numbers of facteurs and assistants employed solely in weighing and counting the silver coins which pass through that establishment. In England, the vexations and delays attendant upon legalising silver currency beyond a moderate amount, would be absolutely intolerable. Even gold becomes nearly unmanageable in large transactions; and, but for the facilities of checks upon bankers, bank notes for the larger amounts, and the assistance which the clearing house gives for settling all balances between the Bank of England and the bankers, and between the bankers themselves, the vast operations of exchange in London could hardly be got through.

The name originally given to the guinea was the unit,- -a very convenient designation, as it then represented the real unit, or integer of English coinage and account.* It took the name of guinea in consequence of the large supply of gold which was furnished to the Mint, by the Royal African Company, from the Guinea coast. From the time of its introduction to the great re-coinage of silver money in 1717, the guinea fluctuated in value, as against English silver coins, from 30s. to 21s., at which last value it continued in circulation till superseded by the coinage of sovereigns in the reign of George III.

The pound sterling is of all coins and integers of accountancy perhaps the most extensively, not to say universally, known. It is the groundwork of our exchanges with all trading nations, and its value could not be changed without intolerable inconvenience and perturbation of commercial relations. It has the recommendation of a higher antiquity, a larger uninterrupted possession of the field of commerce, than any other unit of exchange. The name pound (pondus, Latin), with its synonyme libra, has the strongest hold upon the languages and associations of the trading

* The dollar of the United States bears on its edge, "One Dollar or Unit-Hundred Cents."

world. The word libra, as used by the Latins, means equally a weighing machine, and a weight (pound); the ascertaining which being the most common object of the scale, probably gave its name to the machine itself, as it is clear the existence of specific weights must have preceded the use of the instruments, in fixing and regulating those weights. Generally, the libra represented the pound-weight either of gold, silver, or other metal. The pound of pure silver, whose primitive value may be considered as representing nearly four times its nominal value of our present currency, has in various parts of the world been subject to a succession of depreciations, either by altering the size of the coins which represented its value, or adulterating the metal of which they are composed. Thus the pound sterling represents 20s. ; the lira Toscana, 73d.; the Genovese, about 8d.; the livre Tournois, about 92d.; while the lira Reggiana was only 33d., and the lira Modenese only two-thirds of that of Reggio; the livre of Venice only 21d.

Sir John Herschel's detailed reasons for the adoption of the pound sterling as the unit of account, are un unanswerable :

"I think we must adopt the pound sterling.

"There are four other systems which have been proposed. There is, first, the Ducat system, which takes the half pound as its unit. I call it the Ducat system; some speak of Royals—some of Victorias; it is no matter, provided only it is not called a pound, for if you call it a pound, all manner of objections apply to it.

"This has some very taking points. It preserves the shilling as the silver unit-the poor man's unit, as it has been called: it requires only doubling to change pounds into ducats. It would admit of a copper coin to represent its tenth part-a copper cent, which is a real advantage.

"On the other hand, it has, in my opinion, fatal objections. It would double the numerical announcement of debts, taxes, liabilities of all kinds, rents, and prices; but what is of more real consequence, and is in my mind unanswerable, is, that the bulk of our gold circulation cannot possibly consist of ten-shilling pieces. It is impossible to coin enough of them in a given time to meet emergencies. Now the bulk of your gold coinage must consist of your gold unit. It would never do to have the one great element of all our reckonings thinly scattered among larger pieces, as our half sovereigns are now among the sovereigns. It would be, in short, a mere money of account.

« PoprzedniaDalej »