The Sun.
London, England, 1854-04-14 00:00:00

representing certain fractional parts of the pound—all
pecuniary engagements had reference to the pound, and
silver was a legal tender, only up to forty shillings. It
was argued that the money of account should correspond
with the money upon which the existing contracts de-
pended, and, therefore, the pound sterling should be
decimalised, rather than attempt a spurious adaptation
of the coins of this country to the system or any other
nation. Any coins could be used, provided their rela-
tive value to the integer was well understood, and that
integer should not be less than the pound sterling.
Wages were calculated in shillings by the artisan—he
knew that twenty of these shillings equalled a pound,
and the subdivision of the shilling was of little import-
ance to him, provided the value of the coin was low
enough to represent the small articles suited to his
means. This was the chief argument against the adop-
tion of the " poor man's useful, precious money," which
had been strongly advocated. If the pound was adopted,
the actual value of the present penny being stamped on
it, would enable it to circulate, without entailing any
loss, and the new coins, as they were issued, would bear
their correct relative value.
It had been stated, that the proposal of the penny
as the integer, had received the approval of the Chan-
cellor of the Exchequer, but this was contradicted from
authority ; no particular scheme had, as yet, received
official sanction. It was admitted, that during the
progress of the change to the decimal system, some in.
convenience must be experienced and be submitted to,
but the embarrassment would not be excessive, nor of
long duration.
It was urged, that if the value of ten shillings was
adopted as the integer, a simple scale of coins would be
10 mills = 1 penny.
10 pennies = 1 shilling,
10 shillings -ee- 1 eagle.
This, like most of the other schemes for adopting a new
nomenclature, was disapproved.
It was contended, that the present was an appro-
priate moment for the proposed change, as there was
a somewhat similar movement in the U. S. America,—
the Zollverein had held a monetary congress, and almost
simultaneously there had been a meeting at Brussels re-
lative to the international adoption of Lieut. Maury's
system of naval observations. The simultaneous change
of coins, weights, and measures was therefore urged.
On the other side, it was contended, that any rash at-
tempt to adapt the monetary system of this country, to
that of any other, must be productive of the greatest
confusion, and of the most disastrous effects in all mer-
cantile and financial transactions. After reviewing the
history of English coins and weights from the period of
the Norman Conquest, it was shown that the present
gold standard tended to maintain the purity of the coin-
age ; that the franc was not and could not be ten pence
of the current coin ; that the subordinate coins to the
sovereign, being only tokens, none of them could be as-
sumed as an integer; that the time was fast approaching
when, in France, the example of America must be fol-
lowed, and a gold standard must be adopted ; that the
value of an English sovereign was so generally recog-
nized that it passed current in almost all countries, espe-
cially on the Continent ' • this might be due, to a great
extent, to the carie'A.the manufacture at the Mint and
the critical supe at the Bank of England, where
any sovereign ha more than three quarters of
a grain in weight efasdetained, as buing unfit for cir-
culation ; this perfection of examination was due, in a
great measure, to the weighing and sorting machines of
Mr. William Cotton, which had been described to the
institution. The present system 'being so nearly deci-
mal, it would suffice to declare, by act of Parliament,
that the pound should be divided into 1,000 farthings,
and the change would soon work itself, practically, into
all commercial transactions ; during the transition, the
present coins would be stamped with a decimal value ;
the actual loss would be only a small per centage on the
value of present copper coins, and the new ones would,
at no very distant period, displace them.
The same process would take place with weights and
measures, and in all cases, the adoption of a new nomen-
clature was specially objected to.
The system proposed by General Sir C. W. Pasley
in his work on the subject was described, and a statement
was promised to be appended to Mr. Yates' paper, by
which it was contended that it was demonstrable, that a
simplification of the present English coins, &e., would
be more advantageous than the adoption of any of the
foreign systems, none of which were adapted to the com-
merce of this country.
After reviewing the arguments of the previous speak-
ers, it was contended that the opposition to the author's
views was untenable, as the benefit to :• be anticipated
from the introduction of a decimal system 'was admitted,
and it was only urged against it that it Would be imprac-
ticable to get all countries to agree. Now, if England
and her colonies adopted the system, already'accepted
in France, and which had made great advances in other
continental states, there would be so large a preponder-
ance in commercial transactions that other countries
would soon follow.
As to the anticipated debasement of the standard coin
in any country, it was contended, that this would only
occur in the event of war, and in violation of the inter-
national treaties, which it would he necessary to make,
for establishing identity of values of coinage, and these
exceptional cases should not preclude the adoption of a
certain benefit. The only instance of such an occur-
rence, in time of ;peace, was that of a petty German
principality, whose coinage being debased, ceased to be
received in exchange, and thus the disease brought its
own remedy. The case was mentioned of the Zollverein,
now including marieemillions of the. German population,
and of the conventioas-muntz, generally passing current
throughout the Ststes, where there Was a great diversity
of coins. The soutbern states issued their several coins
according to an arrangement, whielr insured an inter-
change between them ; in fact, at Frankfort, coins of all
the states were issued indiscriminately by the bankers.
How much simpler would it have been to have taken
one decimal system for all. If that ;were done, in the
case of England, francs and other pieces bearing the
British stamp, would• pass as currently everywhere as
the French coins were received in Belgium.
It was contended that the arguments used against
the French system of weights, measures, and coins, had
only demonstrated its beauty and fitness for nations in
all stages of civilisatiOU ; and this had been proied by
the progress made in its establishment, not only in
France, but in almost. all countries, evhen accuracy of
observation, for scientific purposes, wag demanded.
It was argued, that any low denoniination of coins,
such as ceetitnes, might, in time, be substituted for the
cowries on the western coast of Africa, of which as much
as 1,000 tons had been brought in one year to Liverpool,
to be re-exported fee again trading on the same coasts.
The argument of the national feeling beingeopposed to
fixing upon the frame for the unit, instead of the pound
sterling, was urged to be ienfounded, as the scale of coins
showed, that the existing sovereign and most of the
other coins were retained, for actual public service,
when, if necessary, they could be stamped with their
decimal value, and these would be used, as long as they
lasted ; thus the new issue alone would be the radical
change ; and then only when everybody had become ac-
customed to the system..
It was contended, that in spite of the declination to
change, manifested by some persons, there was a very
general desire, in the mercantile community, to substi-
tute a decimal system, of some kind, for the present, in-
convenient mode of calculating ; and assuming the
French system to be that Which had received, not only
the most careful consideration before adoption, but hav-
ing now had the advantage of nearly half a century of
practice, it was fair to presume it to be preferable to
most of the schemes placed by their inventors before the
public ; and it was argued that the lower classes would
have no difficulty in understanding and adoping so
simple a system, as that now used in France.
As to standard measures of length ; the origin of the
metre, was submitted to be more scientific and less rude,
than that of the yard; and the nautical mile, although,
very generally accepted in almost all countries, was
based on the yard, which was merely an accepted, or
arbitrary standard, and therefore should not be the
basis of a system.

tions ; in fact, the present standard yard, as recognised
by law, appeared to be sufficient for all practical pur-
poses. His proposition as to the chain and link was
not, however, agreed to. On the contrary, it was
argued, that by dividing the present foot into 10 inches,
instead of 12 inches, and the inch into 10 parts, a scale
which was familiar to all draughtsmen and to many
artisans, would be introduced which would be easily
understood and would soon be adopted. The foot would
be divided into 100 parts, instead of into 96 parts ; s•
that one-tenth might be substituted for one-eighth, with
very slight disadvantage.
In which case the link of the measuring chain, in-
stead of being represented by 7.92 inches, as at present,
would be represented by 6.6 inches, which would be a
very convenient proportion for calculation, and it would
possess the additional convenience of enabling the super-
ficial inches in a link to be represented by the same
figures as those of the superficial feet in an acre : viz.,
43.560 inches in one square link—and 43.560 square
feet in one acre.

SHARE MARKETS.

(YESTERDAY.)

BRITISH RAILWAYS.

Closing Prim
yesterday.

As to weight. all that could be required, was for the
legislature to decree, that it would recognise no conven-
tional values for the cwt. or the ton ; but that, the cwt.
should be represented by 100 lbs., and the ton by
2,000 lbs. ; the stone being then 10 lbs. The lb. might,
if necessary, be decimalised, as it was at present the
bullion dealers, for the special requirements of that
commerce. ; but even without that, the chief facilities
would be acquired, and practice would soon render the
system fimiliar and convenient.
It was considered of great importance to retain the
present dcnominatious, especially for mental calculation,
whi..ll was so much practised, from the smallest retail
traffic, up to the most important branches of commerce,
and financial transactions.

As to weights and measures of capacity ; the French
system appeared to be based on such a simple and con-
venient standard, that it seemed impossible not to admit
its advantages, and it was contended that no valid argu-
ments had been opposed to it. All the weights and
measures were, in practice, divided by the binary system
or into halves, quarters, eighths, and sixteenths ; al-
though it had been stated that such a subdivision was
incompatible with the decimal system.
As Belgium had legally adopted the French syStem,
and it had been generally received with favour, except
in very remote villages, so it had spread to those of the
German States most contiguous to France, and as its
advantages became appreciated, ,s.;) would its use be
spread more widely. Convenience, alone should not be
studied for any system ; to be perfect, it must possess
exactness, convenience, and uniformity ' • and these at-
tributes were, it was contended, eminently exhibited in
the French decimal system.
It was related, that at about the period of the intro-
duction of the sovereign to supersede the guinea, when
Mr. Babbage was considering the details of the machine
for calculating tables by difference, he essayed every
other system, but was obliged to return to decimals ;
this turned the attention to the means of adapting the
English coinage to a decimal scale ' • his proposition was
to accomplish the end gradually, by the introduction of
a silver coin of the value of two shillings as the unit,—
calling it a " Prince." Then, after a time, to divide
the pound sterling into one thousand' farthings ;, other
proportional new coins being gradually introduced, as
the old ones were withdrawn. The question of the
most convenient coins for commercial purposes, was
entirely apart from establishing the decimal system.
These views were repeatedly, but ineffectually impressed
on the Government of the day, but the only publicity
gi
The Economy of Manufacres" in 1832 n
. Theediti de-
lay in adopting some scheme of the kind, had permitted
the issue of nearly eleven millions and a half of half-
crown pieces, and so far had interposed greater diffi-
culty in the substitution of decimal coins for those now
in use.
It was proposed, as a means of aiding in familiarizing
the public mind with ,decimal divisions, to have en--
graved on all thermometers, the Centigralle, as well as'
the Fahrenheit seale, so that in time the latter might bet,
dropped and the former be adopted.
It was contended, that for all practical purposes of
commerce, and for professional and scientific calcu-
lations, it would be most convenient to take the .
sovereign as the integer, to divide it into:shillings of:
the value of 10d. each, and the penny into five far.
things ; thus, in point of fact, the whole of the existing.
coinage would be brought as nearly as was practically
necessary, to a decimal system ; and the present coin#
would be used, until they were worn outnd thei
could be replaced by a new decimal eurrency:-..-
The objection of the Astronomer Royal totthe a,dep-
tion of the mare, as a standard of length, ;was con-
tended to be valid ; there was no advantage -sn obtain- I
log a standard from aptronoznical and otlu* obsetta,

•,
(

THE SUN, LONDON, FRIDAY EVENING, APRIL 14, 1854.

Business done
yesterday.