The Sun.
London, England, 1869-06-25 00:00:00

BOURBON PROPERTY.

The Civil Tribunal of Florence has rejected the demand
of the Bourbons for the restitution of certain property
confiscated during the dictatorship of Garibaldi. Th:f
judgment is in conformity with the decision of the Italihi
Government. It is maintained that the two dictatoriLA
decrees of Garibaldi hold good.

INTERNATIONAL COINAGE.*

(Fronz the Anglo American 2 iincs.)

Although England is now, the great stumbling-
block in the way of an international system of coin-
age, it is in no small degree owing to her exertions
that so much has been accomplished towards the
introduction of universal weights, measures, and a
unit for coins. In 1862 the British Branch of the
National Association for the adoption of a univer-
sal system of weights, measures, and coins through-
out the world, got the House of Commons to appoint
a committee to inquire into weights and measures,
which led to the adoption of thametric system. The
Monetary Convention between France, Belgium,
and Italy was signed in 1865, which united a larger
'ovulation using the franc than any other unit.
In December, 1866, Britain was asked to take part
in an International Conference to extend the system,
and about the same time the International Decimal
Association brought the same subject before her
Majesty's Government, while the Metric Commit-
tee of the British Association for the Advancement
of Science suggested to the Commission for the Uni-
versal Exhibition of 1867 a special exhibition there
of the weights, measures, and coins of al! countries.
The British Government cautiously approached the
sul,ject, attracted towards it, and acknowledg'ng
its value, yet dreading disturbance in the enor-
mous commercial interests they represented. Time
was taken to consider, and they agreed to send the
Master of the Mint and other Commissioners to
such a Conference, on the clear understanding that
they admitted nothing, and their Comm;s-sioners
were unauthorised in any degree to commit them.
So two Commissions sat in Paris durinv, the time of
the Great Exhibition in 1867, the oee official exclu-
sively on coinage, the other unofficisl on weights,
measures and cohls, at the Palais d'lndustrie, both be-
ing presided over by Prince Napoleon, and attended
by the same representatives, from all civilized coun-
tries. The first question they ha,d to decide was whe-
ther a new universal coinageshould be brought into
use or existing coins brought into conformity. The
reviewer regrets that the opportunity was not seized
to establish a distinct relation between the unit of
weight and the unit of money, and he considers that
a grand opportunity was therein lost. Abraham thus
used the shekel, the Romans the as., the Greeks
the drachma and the talent, and the English the
pound. Touching this last unit, as a coin, it is not
old, though as a weight it has been used for centu-
ries as a measure of pure gold, varying from time to
In 1717 Sir Isaac Newton, then Master of
theoin
time. In
settled the pound weight, but it was not
till a century after, in 1817, that the sovereign or 20
twenty shillings was put into circulation by Procla-
mation. The question as to the introduction of a new
coinage the Convention was settled adversely, when
the subject came up as to the metal, and gold received
the preference. A double standard was proposed
and strenuously advocated by M. Wolowski, of the
Falais d'lndustrie. His main argument was that
if any country, say France, changed from silver to
gold an injustice would be done to the debtor class.
The production of silver was increasing, that of
gold decreasing ; and the value of the latter would
be still further enhanced when the Unite 1 States,
Russia, and Austria changed their paper circulition
into specie. Hence it would be unfair to alter their
contracts into a metal yearly rising in value. Then
arguments, however, had no effect on the Commis-
sion, and gold was selected. Then arose the difficult
question of the unit. Five or ten gramtnes of gold,
nine-tenths fine, was discussed and rejected. The
subject of fineness was raised, and it was found that
France, Germany, and the United States adopted
nine-tenths pure gold and one-tenth alloy ; while
England, Portugal, and Prussia adopted eleven-
twelfths pure gold and one-twelfth alloy ; the nine-
tenths, being mostgenerally in use, was adopted. But
the real stumbling-block was that the Conference then
reached —.to select the unit of value. The French sys-
tem had been decided on as that of the largest popula-
tion, embracing, as it did, several other countries.
It is true that the exports and imports of the United
Kingdom in 1865 did exceed those of the nations that
had then entered the Convention, the former being
£490,000,000, the latter £472,000,000, exclusive of
Switzerland, but the coin of the former was esti-
mated at £100,000,000, while that of the latter was
£300,000,000 ; hence, in choosing the system of the
most numerous population, less expense and labour
would be incurred in recoinage. In considering the
other great nations, it was found that they were
but little affected—the United States, Russia, and
Austria having a paper currency. The most feas-
able coin, as a unit, appeared to be the five-franc
piece. The English pound represented 25 francs
20 cents ; the United States dollar neatly equals four
shillings; 25 francs nearly. equal the pound, four
dollars equalling the Napoleon, or 16 shidings, and
five dollars equalling the pound, or 25 francs. The
United States coinage varies three-and-a-half per
cent. from the franc ; but although this was made
light of by the American representatives, the Senate
differed from them when considering the subjec.
Several schemes were, however, introduced into
tine
Congress with the object of harmonizing theonizin„e
States currency with the system adopted United
atie
Conference, the most feasible being Mr. D. W.
Kelley's Bill of July 21, 1868. He suggests that
each gold dollar shall contain one-and-a- half French
grammes of pure gold, and weigh one and two-thirds;
by which 1,003 new dollars would equal 1,000 old
dollars. This would be a step towards reducing the •
difference between the money of the United Status

* St. Paul's Magazine Junes 1869.