were formed would have no influence upon their value, which might rise to many times that of such material. Though, of course, it could never fall below it.

Such was the case with the Roman numeraries, and several others mentioned in the author's "History of Money." To maintain such a superior value, the limit of the emission must not be open to doubt, nor subject to the caprices or exigencies of the moment. It must be definitely and permanently fixed or regulated by the organic law and maintained by the executive power; in short, fixed as definitely, as certainly, as publicly, and as permanently, as are the limits of other measures, such as the mile, the pound, the gallon, or the acre.

The principal kinds of actual moneys have now been described and classified according to the importance of their several characteristics and legal attributes. It is not from these characteristics and attributes, considered separately and with respect to their various influences upon the expression of value, that the received principles of money are derived; but from the consideration of a portion of them lumped together. No analysis has hitherto been made of money; and that which, as it stands, is a most heterogeneous and complex object, has been treated as though it were homogeneous and simple. The principles of money have heretofore not been deduced from an orderly arrangement of the facts concerning it, but from disorder, from chaos, from the aspect of things endless in number and indeterminable in form, from the attributes of such things not in a simple condition, but when merged incongruously

with other things equally numerous and indeterminate; and from relations which were both intricate, involved, and indefinable. Within this maze, where Tycho Brahe, Copernicus, Newton, Locke, and Humboldt, feared to venture, the financial pedants and quacks of all ages have made themselves a paradise. It need scarcely be said that the principles they have established are utterly impracticable; that so far as man's intellect has been exerted in affairs relating to exchanges and money, books have been of little service to him; that the prizes of commercial life have too commonly fallen to the lot of the reckless and undeserving; and that those modern nations, whom nature, history, and opportunity, intended to be great, have been dragged down to the limits of littleness by monetary systems which were based on feudal infirmities, and a conservatism which hesitates to rise above them.

CHAPTER III.

STATISTICS OF MONEYS.

The statistics of moneys defective-Reasons-Coins melted and exported surreptitiously-Sometimes minted in one country to circulate in another-Coins used on shipboard-Coins melted in foreign mints-Counterfeit coins-Coinable bullion-Light coins-Coin reserves-Misleading and deceptive practices-Coins employed for special classes of payments-Paper money-Bank of England notes in foreign countries and on shipboard-Local circulation of American "State-Bank" notes-Counterfeits-Propriety of including bills, discounts, or cheques in the statistics of money decided adversely—International comparisons fallacious-Every country a law to itself concerning money.

THE comparative statistics of money in various countries

for several centuries past which were published in the author's "History of the Precious Metals" were the result of many years of accumulation and comparison. Before giving them to the public in their final form, they were published from time to time in various periodicals, with the view of eliciting public criticism of their merits. Notwithstanding the favourable verdict which was passed upon them1 it cannot be claimed that they are free from grave defects. Indeed, as the case stands, it is impossible to

For example, in the London "Statist," March 20, 1880, and numerous other statistical journals.

obtain any statistics which correctly represent the true sum of money, operating on prices, in any given country at · a given time. This is because all the moneys of modern nations are composite ones, and the sums of such moneys or measures of value are indeterminable. For comparative purposes, and in a rough sort of way, monetary statistics have a certain worth; but for more precise and scientific uses they cannot be safely employed.

The statistics of coins in circulation are usually deduced from the issues of the mints and the custom-house returns; but, for the following reasons, these are misleading:

1. Vast quantities of coins are melted down by jewellers, bullion dealers, speculators, and others.

2. Considerable quantities are conveyed to and fro into and out of countries in the wallets of travellers, and without notice to the mints or statistical offices.

3. Large quantities are secreted and transported surreptitiously in packages of merchandise. This practice

Never

was more common in former times than at present, and is always more common in times of war than peace. theless, instances of the sort have come to the author's notice very recently, and wherein no obvious motive appeared to prompt it.

4. Coins are often fabricated in one country, in whose statistics they appear, while they really find circulation in another. The quantity of British coins in Portugal, Turkey, Egypt, South America, the British Colonies, and other countries, and in use on board of steam and other ships,

must be very great. French coins are to be seen in other countries than those of the Latin Monetary Union. American coins—even the seignoried ones-circulate in several Spanish American countries, whither they have found their way without the formality of being registered in the custom-houses. No penalty is enforced for making imperfect or false returns of exports; there is no practical way to detect them; and not only coins but bulky merchandise is shipped out of countries every day without being entered in the export statistics. During the last century Portuguese moidores, jaos and half-jaos and Spanish dollars circulated freely in Great Britain and the Colonies. Prior to February 21, 1857 (the date of their demonetization), the chief portion of the silver coins which circulated in the United States were of Spanish mintage. Nearly all the gold coins at present in Portugal are British; all the gold and silver coins in China are foreign. Yet all these coins are included in the money statistics of the countries whence they originated, whether they were registered upon being exported or not.2

5. There are no statistics of the quantities of counterfeit coins in circulation, yet, judging from the vast number of convictions for counterfeiting, and the excellent appearance of many of the counterfeits, some of which almost defy

i This is the case in the United States, Great Britain, and many other countries. Relative to the United States, see Commerce and Navigation Report of the Bureau of Statistics for 1867; and as to Great Britain, see Sir Morton Peto's Essay on "Taxation," chapter ix.

2 Vast quantities of American and other coins were recoined in Italy during the years 1882 and 1883.