the public at large, who will receive the new
coin at some public office, and spend on the
same footing on which they received. The
onus will fall chiefly, if not entirely, upon the
tradesmen, who will be expected to answer
all questions about the difference between the
old and the new prices, to have by precalculation
set his new price upon every article in
his store, and to have split all the awkward
fractions of the decimal money fairly between
himself and his customers. Now, if it be
true that there is no town or village, or even
street, without tradesmen, and that the vast
majority of the population are sellers of
something or other, it must be equally true, that
the success of the change will mainly depend
upon the facilities the law will allow them in
preparing for, or rather initiating themselves
into, the new mode of accounts. Due
preparation, in fact, for the day of change is
everything; but the metrical change will be more
facile than that in money, because the former
is more simple, at least in the hands of the
people, than the money, which is twofold,
namely, of account and coin. The tradesman
buys most of his articles either by the
hundred-weight, which he retails by the pound,
or by the pound, which he retails by the
ounce,- or by the ton or the quarter, which
he retails by the gallon and the peck. He
will, therefore,have to calculate the price of
every article anew, when the hundred-weight
shall be a hundred pounds instead of a
hundred and twelve, and the pound ten ounces
instead of sixteen. All this will be easily
enough accomplished,if he is allowed to go
through the change without being confused
at the same time by new money. A few
months will suffice to impress him with the
advantage of decimal numbers. The training
his mind is undergoing during that interval
will make him receptive to the more important
but to him more perplexing, new coinage;
but which he will then find, to his surprise,
to fit his decimal weight or measure, like cogs
in the wheel.

Such is the reasoning of the Commercial
Traveller, of whom I now take leave, and to
whose valorous expedition I heartily wish
success. The last question to ask is, " When
are these troublesome alterations to be made?"
Of course, as soon as possible; immediately
that the necessary calculations are made, and
the act passed. That is our way. We
always perform all sorts of requisite alterations
in a prompt and thorough manner. In
time of peace we are, some of our rulers
tell us, perfect Chinese, in that respect. But
the war! Ah, that makes a difference.
We are too busy to attend to such trifles
now. Let us make time, then. It has
been remarked that a man is never so happy,
never so regardless of petty troubles, never
in such an energetic frame of mind, as when
he has a little more to do than he well knows
how to get through with. It is the same with
nations as with individuals. And, perhaps,
we, of late, may have sufferd ourselves to
be too much occupied with minor miseries,
straw-splitting doctrinal disputes, and
imaginary pecadillos. When the stream of
affairs is flowing smoothly and steadily in
bright warm sunshine, we just let the waves
ripple on in their course; let a storm arise,
we gird up our loins, look the tempest in the
face, and pull at the oars manfully. While
the French were fighting the rest of Europe
single-handed, with the sober judgment as
well as the prejudices of multitudes in every
nation against them, they found time to
reform their measures, their weights, and
their coins. We are engaged in a war,—a
serious one,it is true; but we are buoyed up
and borne forward by the universal belief
that we are right on our side; and, for our
companions in arms, we have the most military
nation in Europe, the French themselves.
If we cannot contrive to make a few necessary
improvements at home, although our
minds may be fixed on events abroad, we can
claim but little credit to ourselves as able
and versatile administrators.

Decimal coins and measures must be
decreed at once. Their introduction at
whatever time, would be a sort of coup d'état,—a
revolution, if you please. And how do people
effect coups d'état, public or private? Not,
certainly, by indecision, timidity, and delay.
They buckle up their minds to do the thing
unflinchingly, and at once, throwing their
individual will into much the same attitude
as a surgeon does, when he proceeds to
amputate a gangrened limb. For, a thing done,
differs materially from a thing projected. A
fact is no fact at all till it has become an
accomplished fact, and will serve as a
stepping-stone whereon the foot may be firmly
planted, helping us to make another stride in
advance. We have had so many good intentions
on the part of public men during the
last eighteen months, that we do not want
any more at present. If the consideration of
the claims of Decimals is to be deferred till
this day six months, we know, from tolerably
long experience, what the result is likely
to be.

CHIP.

MY GARDEN LIBRARY.

NOTHING, it is said, is so easy as farming.
You have only to peep over your neighbour's
hedge, spy what he is doing, and immediately
do the same thing yourself. Now, I have an
idea that I am a tolerably good gardener;—I
would grow mustard and cress for a wager—
say a duck and green peas—against Sir Joseph
Paxton himself; and my knowledge has been
gained exactly in that way. In all my gardening
excursions there has constantly followed me
a polyglot cart-load of horticultural books.
Some of these are remarkable for their
obesity. Call them manuals, and they