The Sun.
London, England, 1853-04-07 00:00:00

DECIMAL COINAGE.

p~44 regard to the question of decimal coinage, it ap-
'"lre cqrre that a motion is about to be made, with the con-
'leo of the Government, for a committee of the
goose
of Commons to examine and report upon its ex-
,, sieneY• The following letter refers to the general
e Luga of the subject :

" London, March 31, 1853.
rejoice to see that you have begun to use your
4-"Werfal pen in the cause of the reform of our system of
money, weights, and measures ; and I trust that you will
not cease your advocacy of the decimal system until w
Ateed at least on a level with, in this particular, theme are
ore
kientific Chinese.

"Our coinage, as in your you showed.
article of the 30:1
)tarch, is admirably adapted for a change to a complete
decimal system ; and by themeansofa decimal coinage
e4sylenteagem
the public would be more easily instructed in the
°f decimal accounts and calcdueleaitmioalneothianns
If the proposed,i in any other he r
markedw way
that I can imagine.
'with their values, both in relation.
tthoeirthheaponausn, lation to the integer, were once in
veins below the sixpence taken out, all danadndthlen oldr
with-
lvay of a change would
first step should be the
0.
soon
,vanish.
It appears to me that the
corresponding issue I
al
of the halfcrowns, and a co
florins.
" The next step should be the ca •
the same,value under
Pences, and the issue of new coins oflling in of the old six-
a name the coin
another name. The name of ' tester' would be as good ai
one as any yet proposed, and is, moreover,.
already- has, and has borne, under its varioousn
00cheasnidg
value, ever since the time of Henry VIII.
the
coin should bear in
' Doit is a name
plain legible words, ' Forty to
Pound ;' on the other, Twenty-five doits. aesthoef
, a good old
w.._hich has been suggested for the integer, and a
is pro-
-toglish name it would be. ' Not worth a dolt' '''erh current enough among us.
I'll-x Pence, exchangeable against six old pennies, co .
This coin, of the value of
thinly create no great confusion, as it would be evnlennt,.
'ePon the face of it, that there were 40 to the pound, co__
se on
two to the shilling, and that ,it was worth
rn..
dolts, the smallest of the new coins soon after to be int o
sauced. In six or twelve months after, when the doit came
out, its value would be already well known. The tester
would therefore be a comtnon measure for the value both
of old and the new coins, 6 pennies, or 25 doits.
`theher should, I conceive, be the following scale of
coins below the ' tester,' having relation to the flori—
Silver. 10
5 doits-,..---10 to the florin.
Copper. 3 20
, 331 „
50 „
2
1 , 100 "
"There seems at first an obiection to the piece of 3-doits;
but it would be a most usefullcooin, as it is not likely that
a single doit would circulat
as
to rho (baits the single
present farthing, and with the ,rl' '3l. ever so lunch, as the
doit would hardly ever be required,
pay a debt of
that amount a 3-doit piece would be given, and a 2-doit
received in exchange.
" Two 2-doit pieces would pay a debt of 4 dolts and all
other mbinations would be as easily made. '
_ "rho expense of the change could not be,
great, for this
mater!e" : most of the copper chin now in circulation was
under a regula lion as to the weight of the pieces,
different from that under which the Mint now coin
Pence.
. "If a fair ordinal? mixture of copper coin of all sorts be
taken, it will be found that they are heavier on the aver-
age by veer cent. at least than the pence Us
presentgulations. • ued under the
" Under the present regulations, a pound weight of
copper (avoirdupois) is coined into 24 pence, so that 240
dlipoPenc, or 1/. in copper, would weigh 10 pounds avoir-
is.
The old penny piece with the rim round it weighs, or
deigh, loz. avoirdupois, and these still form a large
Pof the copper circulation.
"It is not likely that there can be much more than a
talllion Sterling of copper in circulation considering the
great loss there must be of copper coins by the public, and
tile anaount coined since 1797
" Prom 1797 to 1807, inclusive, the
amount coined was .................. .. £818,447 6 9
" From 1807 there was no coinage of
copper until 1816, and from that time
to 1852 there was coined

255,360 0 0

21,073,807 6 0
II!' 811PPosing there were a million sterling in circulation,
ire would be 10 300 000 lb , avoirdupois, of copper, or
xiliiii""U 00010n.b. more than w'would be required to replace the
" 8111iPosing further, that the 300,0001 b, of copper in
excess were coined under the existing regulations as to
eZtenNue, there would be a gain of 30,000/. to go against the
se of the new operation.
tl., ' The new coins might be exchanged against the old
yelle,le, and fourpenny and threepenny pieces, in all town%
nt• 1 i`e stezeP distributor, or by the postmaster, in parcel
-4,, each and the bankers and shopkeepers would do the
est. '
•
"present system of money, weights, and measures
ta azsgrace to us as a mercantile and civilised nation, and
tilllW !bat you Nvill continue your advocacy of a.change to
e decimal system. Ido believe that no plan initiatory of
change
could be devised better than that of a decimal
e°o4lage, which is ready to our hands.—l am, Sir, your
ze st obedient servant,
W. MILLER."

L TVAY TRAFFIC) .RETURN,

4,1111 GREAT NORTHERN RAILWAY.---Tramc return for
flie week ending March 27, 1853 (283 miles) i:13,526 9 6
'°trVouding week last year (2414 miles) 11,317 13 1

The power which the Constitution gives of alter-
ing the duties paid on all produce imported into
France has greatly alarmed the manufacturers of
the north of France, where an impression prevails
that Louis Napoleon contemplates a modification
of the present tariff on cotton. The manufacturers
of Rouen, Lille, Roubaix, and Mulhausen are in
great alarm, and an association of the principal
manufacturers of the north has been formed under
the auspices of M. Henri Barbier, for the purpose
of preventing the Government from carrying the
proposed moifications into execution.
The committee on the bill relating to the sending
of private messages by the electric telegraph has
nominated M. Gamier its president, and Baron de
Veauce its secretary; and that on the bill concern-
ing the railways from Bordeaux to Bayonne, and
from Narbonne to Perpignan, has appointed Count
de Tauriac its president, and M. O'Quin its secre-
tary.
The accounts from Martinique and Guadaloupe,
received by the last West India Mail, come down
to the 13th ult. At that time the sanitary state of
those colonies had become satisfactory. The Jour-
nal Officiel of Martinique publishes an account of
the commercial produce and of the revenues of the
colony from 1848 to the Ist of January, 1853. The
production of sugar, in 1848, was 18 millions of
kilogrammes ; in 1849, 19 millions • in 1850, 15
millions ; in 1851, 23 millions • and in 1852, 26
millions. The amount of the value of imports and
exports also shows a material increase. The re-
ceipts of all kinds were successively in 1848,
1,546,000 f. ; 1849, 1,808,000 f. ; 1850, 2,233,000 f.;
1851, 2,559,000 f. • and in 1852, 2,637,000 f. The
commerce and production at Guadaloupe have not
progressed so well as at Martinique. The Journal
Officiel expresses a hope that the mother-country,
encouraged by the success already obtained, will
with confidence lend to the colony the necessary
capital for the immigration of coolies.
The Count de Pont4coulant, ex-senator and ex-
peer of France, died two days ago, after a short
illness, in his 88th year.
The Toulon fleet was, on the 26th ult., off Cag-
liari, in the island of Sardinia. It is probably by
this time in the Archipelago.
In speaking of the affairs of the East, the Assem-
blee Nationale says that, although no political man
in Europe believes that the mission of Prince Men-
schikoff will lead to war, yet it must not be sup-
posed that the mission is near its end. Russia (it
says) is in no hurry, because she knows that Turkey
will yield every point at last, and " the Ottoman
Empire will then return to its repose until the mo-
ment of the supreme catastrophe." In other words,
the fruit is not yet ripe, but the Czar is ready to
pluck it the moment it arrives at maturity.
A telegraphic dispatch brings satisfactory 'news
from Constantinople of the 28th of March. Mens-
chikoff had presented a project of convention,
which was favourably received. The Russian
army had received orders to retrograde. The
firman relative to the establishment of the new
bank had been published, and a Turkish functionary
had left for Paris with a mission relative to the in-
demnity on the loan. The English fleet had been
seen near Spienza, while the French squadron was

in sight near Cape Metapan.
The number of municipal councillors who, in
various portions of the empire, have refused to take
the oath of fidelity to the Emperor, increases every
post.

- M. Linand Bey, a distinguished French engineer
in the service of the Viceroy of Egypt, has been
charged with the execution of the plans for the
levelling of the Isthmus of Suez. The difference
of level of the two seas is not ten yards, as formerly
supposed, but only one.
The Emperor has given a medal of honour to
Lieutenant Charles Pearson, of her Majesty's Navy,
as a reward for the courageous assistance which Mr.
Pearson gave on the 17th of December last to a
wrecked French vessel.
The Marquis Ricci, the Legate from the Apos-
tolic See, who arrived in Paris on Sunday last,
brought a cardinal's hat, which the Emperor is, on
Sunday next, to bestow on the Archbishop of Tou-
louse. The ceremony will take place in the Chapel
of the Tuileries.

On the 26th ult. the French squadron was off
Cagliari.
In the Moniteur is a decree of the Emperor or-
dering that a proposition to grant pensions of
12,000 f. a year for life to the widows of Marshals
Excelmans and Oudinot, be laid before the Senate.
The Bourse yesterday was characterised by a ge-
neral dullness in Rentes and Bank Stock, though a
degree of firmness in the prices was evinced towards
the close of business. No- change took place on
the previous day's quotations for the Four-and-a-
Half per Cents., either for cash or the account ;
however, the Three per Cents. for money and the
end of the month experienced an improvement, the
former advancing 10c., and the latter 20c. on Tues-
day's closing prices. Bank Stock has further im-
proved to the extent of sf. At the closing of the
Bourse the following were the quotations :—Three
per Cents., cash, 79f. 30c. ; for the account, 79f.
40c. ; Four-and-a-Half per Cents., both for cash
and the account, 103 f. Bank Stock, 2,700 f.

The market for railway shares was 'heavy, and
only a limited amount of business was transacted,
with but little variation from the prices of the pre-
vious day. At the close, however, a better feeling
prevailed. Paris and Lyons shares were in demand,
at an advance of Bf. on the concluding price of yes-
terday ; in the shares of the other lines a decrease
of from If. to sf. took place. At the conclusion of
business the prices stood thus :—Northern, 894 f.
50c. ; Orleans, 1,034 f. 50c. ; Paris and Strasbourg,
836 f. 50c.; Paris and Lyons, 945 f. 50c; Paris and
Rouen, 1,040 f.; Lyons to the Mediterranean, 805 f.

to spoil all, and which prevents Europe from energeti-
cally protecting the independence of the East. In 1839
the victories of Ibrahim Pacha threatened Constanti-
nople. The European Powers interfered to prevent the
fall of Sultan Mahmoud. But suddenly a French ques-
' tion appeared through the Eastern one. The object was
no longer to prevent the preponderance of Egypt in the
Ottoman Empire, but that of France in Egypt. The
pretended ambition of France, and her moral aggrandise-
ment, became the object of all the jealousies and of all
the resistance of Europe. It was not the Ottoman Em-
pire which was saved, as the result has too clearly
shown ;it was France which was checked. Such was
the solution of the Eastern question in 1840 ; such was the
manner in which the interest of Europe against
France was substituted for that of Europe in favour
of the Ottoman Empire. In 1840, Europe, instead of
endeavouring to bring the dying to life, preferred leaving
him in his agonies, and endeavoured to destroy or weaken
one of his heirs in order to render the succession more
advantageous to the survivors. In 1853, we have
not for some time seen bow it would be possible to
substitute a French question in place of the Ottoman
one. France, for instance, did not appear to take fire
for the Montenegrins, as she did in 1840 for Egypt. She
has scarcely had time since 1848 to think of the East, and
she has cared little about it. When then can the hand
of France be found in the affairs of the East ? How can
it be shown that it is France that has again lighted up
the Eastern question ; that it has caused the perils of
Constantinople ; that it is against France and against
her preponderance in the East that it is necessary to
take precautions ; that there is, in short, in 1853 as in
1840, a French question which predominates over the
Ottoman one ? The thing was difficult to be done, but
it was accomplished. It is now agreed in Europe that
the question is not of Constantinople, but of Jerusalem ?
What do you say of Prince Menschikoff, who caused the
dismissal of a Turkish Minister by not going to see him ;
of the fleet of Sebastopol ; of the Russian armies on
the banks of the Black Sea ; of the protectorate
claimed and exercised by Russia over eleven millions
of Ottoman subjects ? You hear nothing of it. The
question is of the key of the Holy Sepulchre
and of the chapel of Bethlehem. That is the principal
affair. To send an English fleet under pretence of
protecting Constantinople, but in reality to deliver into
the hands of France the keys of the Holy Sepulchre, is
a piece of dupery of which Protestant England is not
capable. Let us, in the first place, prevent France from
triumphing at Jerusalem, as we prevented her in 1840
from triumphing at Alexandria. Constantinople may
afterwards become what she may. This is how the
question of the Holy Places has been skilfully substi-
tuted for the Ottoman question, and France left alone in
1853 as too Catholic, in the same way as in 1840 as too
Egyptian. To reduce France to a state of isolation ap-
pears in Europe a question of more importance than to
guarantee the independence of Constantinople ; and that,
in our opinion, is the greatest danger for Constanti-
nople."