The Sun.
London, England, 1868-10-17 00:00:00

L O;

PRIC 4d.
STAMPED 51

INTERNATIONAL COINAGE.

(FROA A CORRESPONDENT.)
rT is to be regretted that the Report of the Royal
Commission on International Coinage should be con-
signed, like so many of its predecessors, to the
limbo of abortive reforms. Hopeless as the subject
might appear a few years ago, in these days of free
trade and national intercourse it deserved serious
consideration. Neither as a means of promoting
good relations between different countries, nor as a
social convenience, is the adoption of a uniform
system of coinage to be despised. To commence
such a change would be of very material advantage.
The numecous and minute differences of value at
present existing not only impede the trade of one
people with another, but in some cases wholly frus-
trate it. If these differences were regular, so that
the money of one nation might readily find exact
equivalents in the coinage of another, this diffi-
culty would be less ; but when the Austrian
florin is equal to about ls. 101 d. English,
and when the estimate in French coin falls
short of the English sovereign by about twopence, it
is impossible that dealings requiring such minute
calculations can be quite satisfactory. In the largest
houses the comparison of invoices, price-lists, &c.,
involves much trouble and loss of time. In the case
of small traders it is well ascertained that the compli-
cations of exchanges and the difficulty of remitting
small sums altogether deter them, in many instances,
from engaging in foreign commerce. The competi-
tion of foreign industry has now become so close that
every impediment on our side ought to be removed.
To counterbalance these advantages great difficulties
present themselves. It is quite impossible to carry
out any scheme of uniform coinage which would not
involve changes causing much trouble and
loss throughout the country. Our present
currency could not remain in circulation if the
international coins were of greater or less value than
the sovereign and its subordinates. Thus recoinage
would become necessary ; the value of the pound,
the basis of our monetary transactions past and
present, would be altered ; all taxes, tolls, and other
fixed rates must be readjusted, and in most cases
could not be readjusted exactly; and all accounts,
small and great, would have to be calculated again
in the terms of the new money. To these difficulties-
add the perplexity arising from a variety of modes of
settlement, and it will be conceded that the Com-
mission has not left the question in abeyance without
some reason.

The Commission was, in fact, merely a supplement
to the International Conference held at Paris last
year, and was in great measure restricted by the
conclusions then adopted. The Paris Conference
determined that the easiest mode of securing
a uniform currency would be to take gold
coins only as the basis. It was therefore
recommended that all gold coins hereafter struck in
the countries represented at the Conference should
be of the value of five francs, or a multiple of that
sum. Such details as the proportion of fine gold,
the cost of coining, and arrangements for securing
purity were to be regulated equally amongst all the
parties to the agreement. These coins of five, ten,
and fifteen francs, and upwards, would become legal
tender in all the countries accepting them. Such a
system has much in its favour. By assimilating only
gold coins the difficulties of a change would be
reduced, whilst most of the requirements of com-
merce and other intercourse between nations would
be satisfied. The discrepancies of English pence,
French centimes, and American cents would remain,
but the perplexity arising from small sums would
be comparatively trifling. By a convention signed
in December, 1865, France, Italy, Belgium,
and Switzerland adopted a uniform cur-
rency, on the basis of the French system, so that
the international coin of five francs and its multiples
would necessitate no change whatever in these
States. Austria, also, has formally engaged to reject
her old coinage for that of the Convention of 1865
a stirring example from the most conservative of
countries. Sweden will partially do the same. The
United States is seriously considering the matter.
In England the change would be accompanied
by all the difficulties just alluded to. The nearest
equivalent to the sovereign is five times five francs,
but this sum falls short of twenty shillings by very
nearly twopence. As the sovereign could not be
allowed to circulate for less than its value, re-coinage
would be indispensable. Our currency, is, however,
becoming so worn and deteriorated that this step
would soon be necessary in any case; but in the
ordinary course the re-coinage would be gradual. The
readjustment of accounts would also be required; on
the day that the new currency superseded the old,
the nominal amount of all debts, including the great
national burden, and of all mortgages and obliga-
tions, would be increased by nearly twopence in the
pound. Salaries and wages would also require ,
similar correction. In the ordinary transactions of I
life, especially when small sums were affected, the
trouble and annoyance would be greater. The tenant
who paid a rent of £lOO in the old coinage
would be long before he saw the justice of paying
£lOO 16s. Bd. in the new. And as the rate of com-
pensation would be one halfpenny for every five
shillings, it would be practically impossible to make
allowance in the case of sums under that amount ; so
that tolls, quit-rents, and other small payments
would remain a source of dispute. On the other
hand, it may be urged that such changes have been
made before; that in commercial houses, and
in all cases where large sums are involved,
the difficulty is but temporary, and the
adjustment once for all ; and that in the lower ranks
of life even ignorance and prejudice would wear out.
The trouble would be forgotten in a brief space, but
the benefit of the new state of things would be
permanent.

The Commissioners, however, have- not supported
the Paris Conference. Their report justly argues
that, as the uniform gold coinage would leave the
small coins unaltered, the measure would be only
partial, and might have to be followed up by
another disturbing change. Nothing less than the
complete assimilation of the currencies of different
countries can fully realise the objects sought. The
Commissioners have no doubt that a uniform system
of coins, as well as a uniform system of weights and
measures, would be of great advantage. They are
also inclined to think that the franc is not the best
basis that could be selected ; the English sovereign
presents many advantages as the general monetary unit•
Here we are at issue with the Commissioners. They
do not, indeed, express any decisive opinion in favour
of the sovereign ; but it is not difficult to strike the
balance of evidence. The arguments on behalf of
the English coin are undeniably powerful. It is a
large unit, and therefore well adapted to these days
of extensive transactions. Whilst the franc prevails
throughout a great part of Europe, the sovereign is
much more widely known in otherparts of the world.
It is current in Portugal, Brazil, and Egypt, as well as in
the vast British colonies. As the director of the Ameri-
can Mint says, " the pound is everywhere familiar;
it regulates the exchange of the world." It is very
questionable whether a change in the value of the
sovereign would not be attended by greater commer-
cial disturbance than would be caused by an
alteration of the currencies based on the franc.
But take the other side of the question.
An international coinage founded on the franc is to
a great extent an accomplished fact. Whilst we
have been talking and preparing one of those admi-
rable bluebooks which so often do duty for Acts of
Parliament, the continental nations have been up
and doing. They have in no wise stinted the