repeal their hallowed law of the year eleven,
by demonetising silver, and adopting gold as
the base of their currency, in return for
this concession—which would prove
immensely convenient to the conceders
themselves, now that it is possible—England is
urged to adopt a monetary system identical
with that of her ally, as the first grand step
towards a uniformity of weights, measures,
and coins, over the whole face of the globe.

It is only since the last eight years that
the step has been possible to France. Before
that epoch, her gold had been drained away,
simply because the legislature for the last
two centuries had fixed the price of gold
below its commercial value. Consequently
it answered the purpose of neighbouring
nations to import all the French gold coin
they could entice within their boundaries.
Gold went out of France faster than it came
in. But now the change is possible. The
discovery of the Australian and Californian
mines, and demonetisation of gold in Belgium
and Holland, have caused its value in the
European market to drop to the degree
which permits its remaining in the land of
departments. Less silver has been coined
and more gold. A large amount of golden
twenty, ten, and five-franc pieces have been
put into circulation. In spite of the late
metallic crisis, gold circulates in greater
abundance than silver. The bank effects its
payments in gold. The monetary administration
of France is therefore, in reality,
completely changed. Formerly, silver coin
was the basis of the circulation; there were
only a hundred million francs in gold to
three thousand million francs in silver. Now
gold has obtained the preponderance. From
a comparative table of the quantities of gold
and silver coined by the principal countries
in the world, from 'forty-eight to 'fifty-three,
it appears that the United States of America
take the lead, England and France are
bracketted equal seconds, Austria stands
third, and Spain, once so rich in gold coin,
comes last. Doubtless the one thousand one
hundred and eighty-seven millions francs'
worth of gold coined in France since 'forty-eight
have not stopped at home. A good
deal has started on foreign travel; but the
greater half has remained in the country.
The proof is the altered modes in which the
payments are made. Fifty per cent, in gold,
thirty in silver, and twenty in bank notes
(the proportion now), is a wonderful alteration
from what used to take place ten years
since. In short, gold has got the upper
hand. The golden age has returned once
more, to the great advantage of the coiners,
the payers, and the receivers of money.

For, in the first place, gold makes cheaper
coin than silver. The expense of fabricating
gold is only one-fourth of the cost of making
silver coin. Moreover, the wear and tear of
gold is much less rapid and much less
considerable than that of silver. On the much
greater convenience of carrying, and the
immensely-increased rapidity of paying in,
golden specie, half a word is sufficient.
It may be assumed, therefore, that France,
now, will make but little difficulty in
agreeing with England in assimilating the
of her metallic currency to ours.
That step once adopted, and decimal moneys,
weights, and measures established in Great
Britain, the two countries, although not
exactly travelling in the very same commercial
track, would still be moving along a
couple of exactly parallel roads, which would
render business transactions between them
infinitely easier than they are at present.
The grand question still remains, whether it
would be expedient, or even possible, to
render the two currencies of England and
France completely identical.

An opinion has already been ventured in
this journal that measures of length, capacity
(liquid and dry), and weight, founded on
the French mètre (or ten-millionth part of
the quadrant of the earth's meridian), are
well adapted for universal use over the whole
face of the habitable globe, because they are
founded on natural and unvarying standards.
Everywhere the length of the meridian and
the weight of freezing water at the level of
the sea are the same. If we employ weights
and measures taken from such data as those,
we can find and test them again at any time
by the same means and calculations as we
found them at first. This is a very great
advantage; there is no more room for
disputing about weights and measures so
determined than there is for discussing
whether the sun shines at noon, or whether
the moon is in the wane or crescent. The
learned men entrusted with the task of
working out the metrical system, have, so
far, perfectly fulfilled their mission. But
they endeavoured to advance a step further,
and have failed. They endeavoured to create
a Unit of Value, by applying a multiple of
the unit of weight to the metallic merchandise
commonly called silver. But, as has
been stated in a former article, the unit of
weight deduced from the mètre can no more
fix the value of silver or gold than it can
arrest the variations of human caprice and
human productiveness, on which all ideas
respecting value depend. Value, from the
dawn of history to the present time, has been,
an arbitrary and conventional thing; an
article is worth just what it will fetch. The
gold and silver materials of which we make
our money-counters, change their value from
week to week, and have different values in
different countries. Bullion gold is dearer in
England than in Australia, while coined gold
is dearer there than at home. The franc is
the unit of French money accounts, and the
sovereign of English, simply because they
were found to suit each country best, not
because either is a unit of value in either
country. But if our philosophic dons could