of different signs of value more easy and accurate. Our own country has hitherto stood aloof from any of these combinations, and we are separated from the rest of Europe and America by the duo-decimal system of numeration, and by the high value of our unit,* the pound, almost as much as by the sea which surrounds these islands. And we do not anticipate that any change will speedily or easily be effected in habits so deeply rooted amongst a commercial people. But it is by no means impossible to bring our coinage and our basis of numeration into a closer and more constant connexion with the leading systems of the European continent and of India, without any important change in its present denomination and value. The practical method which has been suggested to effect this object is as follows: The English sovereign contains 123-274 grains troy weight, with th alloy, or in other words, 113-002 grains of fine gold, representing 7-322 French grammes. The French twenty-franc piece, added to the French five-franc piece (in gold), contains 7.258 grammes of fine gold, exclusve of th of alloy. Hence the difference between an English sovereign and twenty-five francs in French gold is 64 milligrammes. If these 64 milligrammes (or about 44 grains troy) were subtracted from the sovereign, which would thus be reduced 0-825 per cent. in value, and if the proportion of alloy in our gold coinage were raised from th to th, the sovereign would be worth a little less, but it would weigh a little more than it does at present: † it would therefore be more dissimilar than it now is to the French napoleon, but it would be precisely equivalent to 25 francs in French gold, and would in fact be a 25-franc piece. It would obviously be a great convenience to travellers in both countries respectively, and in all the countries which have adopted the monetary system of France, to carry with them in their own coinage definite representatives of value, which would be independent of the variations of the exchange and the exactions of money-changers; and the same *It deserves observation that as we proceed from Portugal, at the south-western extremity of Europe, where the monetary unit is 1-4000ths of the sover eign, through Spain, France, South Germany, North Germany, Russia in the north-east, and England in the north-west, the value of the coin which serves as the base of numeration, increases continually, being least in the south and highest in the north. ↑ A pound troy at the standard of 11-12ths of fine gold gives 467. 148. 6d. and at the standard of -10ths of fineness it would give only 461. 5s. 6d. in .coin. benefit would accrue, on a much larger scale, in the financial and commercial relations of this country with foreign nations. If such a common basis of numeration and coinage were in existence, it would not be difficult for the Governments of France and England to agree upon certain uniform principles of coinage, and to give legal currency respectively to these foreign coins, which would then represent distinct forms of value, based on the same standard: thus, the napoleon would be in England a 16-shilling piece, and the French Government, in conjunction with its monetary allies, would doubtless not only accept the English sovereign as a twenty-five-franc piece, but would probably strike twenty-five-franc pieces of its own, which would be identical with the English sovereign. On the other hand, it would be easy for the British Government to issue gold pieces of two florins, or four shillings' value, representing two-tenths of a pound, which would correspond to the five-franc pieces of the Franco-Belge and Helvetico-Italian Union, and would thus become a practical link of union between the two circulations, whilst they would offer a means of accord with those large European and American populations which use the Spanish piastre or dollar. The five-franc piece, whether in gold or in silver, may be regarded as the most familiar unit of monetary circulation in France and in the countries allied with her, and it is not inaccurately described by M. de Parieu, in one of his articles in the Revue Contemporaine,' as the dollar or crown piece of both hemispheres. The colonial and commercial interests of this country are by no means confined to our connexion with the continent of Europe. It is perhaps of still greater importance to ourselves to consider, in the adjustment of our monetary system, the relation it bears to the coinage of our neighbours, our dependents, and our customers in other parts of the globe. The units of value which at present play the most important part in the intercourse of the world are the pound, the American and Spanish dollar, the rupee, and the franc, and all these coins stand, by a fortunate coincidence, in relations to each other which may be represented by multiples of the number five. Thus, the British sovereign is equal to about five dollars of * M. Dumas, a Senator of France, went so far as to declare in his report on the Monetary Convention, that the legislature of France had erred by adopting too low a unit of value in the currency, and that the more enlightened disposition of the present times is to correct this error by substituting the five-franc piece for it, or the quintuple of the franc itself. a measure tern, and that these coins should be made a four shillings each; to ten rupees; and to twenty-five francs. If it were possible to correct the slight variation which exists in these proportions, by adopting a coinage in America, India, and Europe, based on a uniform principle, under the different denominations familiar to each country, the most arduous part of the question of monetary union would be solved. An English four-shilling piece, the fifth of a pound, might thus represent the dollar, current in America and in several of our own colonies; it would also represent two Indian rupees, and five European francs-conditions which would give it currency in all parts of the world. The five-shilling piece, on the contrary, which has been abandoned as a cum-systems of Europe. brous and inconvenient coin, has the disad- The result, therefore, of an understandvantage of not being readily convertible into any system of foreign coinage. The recent introduction of five-franc pieces in gold has been attended in France with great convenience to the public, and we think that the British half sovereign is a piece of too high a value to serve as the lowest gold coin in our circulation. These gold five-ness. franc pieces at first appeared to be rather The great objection which may fairly be too small, especially to a community which urged against the adoption of a scheme that were previously accustomed to the heavy threatens to modify, in however slight a silver crowns which they have superseded. But use has removed this objection in France, and would speedily have the same effect in this country, though it has been remarked that northern nations prefer the use of coins heavier than those of the south. Thus, in the French monetary conference of 1865, Italy insisted on the reduction of the smaller pieces of silver to 20 centimes, against the wish of Belgium and Switzerland. On this basis, the monetary circulation of British and Australian gold might be extended to 68,000,000 of inhabitants of continental Europe, and it might be possible, as we have indicated, to include India and America in the same arrangement. This point being once attained, time would probably adjust the silver coinage of these respective countries to the same system. ing between England and France on this subject would probably be to give their coinage an universal acceptance in all the principal States of this hemisphere, except perhaps in Russia, where the conditions of the circulation are peculiar, from her vast extent, and from her own large metallic productive degree, the established and intrinsic value of the English sovereign, is sufficiently obvious. The National Debt is a liability represented nominally by a given number of pounds sterling, equivalent to a fixed and determined weight in gold. The interest of the debt is paid in sovereigns of the same value. All private debts, mortgages, and contracts are expressed in the same terms; and to reduce the value of the coin in which they may be paid, is to take from the cre titor and give to the debtor a sum equal to the amount of the difference. If the gold coin of England were brought into conformity with the gold coin of the Continent, the loss would be, as we have seen, 64 milligrammes of fine gold on each sovereign, or 0 825 per cent. in weight, and about two pence in value. But this difficulty, formidable as it unThe future effect of this combination of a doubtedly appears to be, is one which has gold circulation between Great Britain and been met and surmounted by other States the Western Continental Union, would prob- of as high credit and probity as our own; ably be further extended by the fact, that, and there appears to be two ways of dealing as Germany and the Low Countries have with it. The first is simply to reduce the no gold circulation of their own, they neces- intrinsic value of the sovereign to this exsarily use a large quantity of the French tent, without taking account of the debts gold coinage. The German Commercial and liabilities contracted before the conver Congress which met at Frankfort in 1865, sion, and this is the course advocated by expressed a hope that Germany might Mr. Hendriks in his pamphlet. It is the strike and issue gold pieces of the value of course which was taken by the Dutch Gov20 Francs, of the French standard and paternment in 1839, when it reduced the Dutch. florin from 9.613 grammes of fine silver to 9.450 grammes, dimishing the coin by about 163 milligrammes, representing two per cent. of the original weight, on the principle, as we presume, that what was lost by each member of the community in one capacity was gained in another, and therefore that the process of conversion did, upon the whole, compensate itself. Mr. Hendriks remarks in his pamphlet: 'In considering the question of a re-adjustment of the Mint Exchange or measure between coin and bullion, it must be observed that there is satisfactory historical precedents for such a course. We have remarked that the ratio of 31. 17s. 10 d. per ounce is empirical. It may even turn out on inquiry that the alteration to 31. 178. Id. international standard fineness would be less empirical, and nearer to the real present ratio of gold, as measured by silver in the open market for bullion. The English standard until 1816 was a silver one, with the collateral alternative standard of gold coins in a fixed proportion settled by royal proclamations and Mint indentures according to the then assumed ratio of gold to silver. Here we have ample precedent for re-adjustment, and the gold discoveries of the last fifteen years appear to call for something of the kind being again considered. The 31. 178. 10 d. per ounce was originally authorised by Charles II. But the government of William and Mary increased it to a larger amount of gold coin per ounce of bullion. This, however, as shown by Sir Isaac Newton and others, was an over-estimation of gold, and made the coined guinea (for pounds were not then in existence) equal to 21s. 6d. instead of to its normal 21s. in silver. Silver coins could not, in this state of things, remain in circulation; they were melted (just as the French 5-franc pieces have been of late years), and the government of George I. (A.D. 1717) again changed to the ratio which has since prevailed.' But, secondly, if the British legislature were resolved to effect this change in the current coin of the realm, without the slightest deviation from those strict principles to which it has honourably adhered from the reign of Queen Elizabeth, and without so much as the appearance of any abasement in the currency, then an allowance must be made in the payment of all existing debts, so as to render the amount paid in the new coinage exactly equivalent to the engagements contracted in the old one. This state of things would be productive of temporary but short-lived inconvenience, and it would be exactly analogous (though in the inverse sense), to what took place in France, when the franc was substituted for the old French livre at the begining of the present century. The franc was worth one livre three deniers, and the livre was worth 99 centimes: there was therefore a difference of one per cent. between the two coins. To meet this difficulty, the Government published, on the 26th Vendémiaire An VIII, an official table of equivalents, and all payments and accounts were subjected to this process of conversion, according to the established scale, until after a certain lapse of time the old livre had fallen into disuse. So too, the Pope has recently published official tables for the reduction of the Roman scudo into Pontifical lire. This suggestion has found adherents both in England and in France, and the practical inconvenience attending it is, perhaps, less than may be imagined. In England it has been associated with a further proposal for what is called the decimalisation of a pound, on the pound and mil scheme. To us it appears that these plans deserve and require very careful consideration. We should hail with great satisfaction the adoption of a complete and careful plan for the introduction of the decimal system, in the numeration and in the coins, weights, and measures of this country, because we are satisfied that this system, in its integrity, is of incalculable advantage to science, to trade, But and to all the operations of daily life. before the British Government and legislature can be asked to sanction any change in the old-established habits of the people, which must always be productive of temporary inconvenience, they must be well assured that the change is to be made once for all; and that it is so contrived as to embrace all the desiderata of a new and improved currency. It would unquestionably be a useful work to enable us to assimilate our coinage, under its principal existing denominations, with that of foreign countries, so, at least, as to render our money convertible into its precise equivalents and to give it currency abroad. But this is only one portion of the reforms we should be glad to effect in our monetary system; and whenever the British Government is sufficiently enlightened and sufficiently supported by public opinion to undertake the adjustment of these questions, we trust that a modification of our coinage would not only bring us into closer relations with the monetary system of the Continent, but would also establish our own coinage and numeration on the basis of the decimal system. The two things are distinct, and one of them might be effected without the other; but having regard to the serious temporary inconvenience of any modification in the representatives of value, it is highly expedient that if any such charge one of the progressive signs of the age. should be attempted it should be complete. Even in the United States, the House of One of the chief inducements, however, Representatives has recently manifested a to make an effort to assimilate the gold cur- disposition to entertain proposals calculated rency of this country with that of Western to bring their monetary system into a Europe, in the manner we have pointed closer connexion with that of Europe. out, is the minuteness of the change re- Whatever the difficulties may be, it is not quired to effect that object. We are sepa- impossible for the common interest of manrated from the monetary system of France, kind to surmount them; and no common Italy, Belgium, and Switzerland by a very interest is more obvious than that of estabnarrow line of division, and, as we have lishing a similarity or identity between those shown, the double standard still retained in different representatives of value, which some of those countries, and even our own may be described as the very language of duo-decimal system of numeration, present trade; for to use the words of Landgrave no serious obsticles to the desired result. Philip of Hesse at the begining of the 16th To establish a theoretical conformity be- century tween the monetary systems of different nations may be impossible; but there is a point of contact between them which may be employed to bring about their practical union. It is not unworthy of the attention of the financiers and economists of England to note the important changes which are taking place in foreign countries, with a view to render the means of exchange more. simple and universal; for these changes are 'Hätten wir alln eined Glauben, Which Gott und Gerechtigkeit vor Augen, 'Had all men but a single creed, 6 THE statue of George II. in Leicester-square, of which so much fun has recently been made, is to be removed. It was originally at Canons, near Edgeware, the seat of the sumptuous Duke of Chandos commemorated by Pope, but has been in the square for the last one hundred and twenty years. A LONDON correspondent of the New York | Times writes: "We have another new Monthly which may not reach you, being mostly intended for home circulation. It is the Aldgate Magazine, published to give away by a large clothing house. It is full of the sensation stories which delight the milions. You open it and read: This man, so tall, so graceful, dressed in one of Mills & Co's elegant black suits, at 50s., was approaching her. She trembled! It was heit could be no other! She recognised him by the glossy hat, bought of Mills & Co. for 7s. 6d., by the exquisite fit of his handsome boots 14s., and that most gentlemanly of overcoats, sold only by Mills & Co., at 35s. Her heart beat audibly; her limbs bent beneath her; she was about to fall upon the greensward, when,' &c., &c. Each story is written so as to include a complete catalogue of goods and prices, which are so impressed upon the reader by the thrilling inficers or men. Parcels of books addressed by cidents and exquisite sentiments of the tale as never to be forgotten." It is said we must go from home to hear home news. This is certainly the first we have heard of the Aldgate Magazine. SOME clergymen at Gravesend, who visit the ships there, undertake (says the Athenæum) to receive old books and periodicals, and get them bound and made up into ships' libraries. These are put on board ships not otherwise provided with books, or reading of any kind, for the sailors; many ships are totally unprovided. All this is done without any charge on board, and no subscription is solicited from either of goods train to the St. Andrew's Waterside Church Mission, Gravesend, are carried free from London by the railways on both sides of the Thames. CHAPTER XII. PLASTIC CIRCUMSTANCE. ONCE long afterwards, Catherine, speaking of the time before her marriage, said to Reine, -"Ah! Reine, you cannot imagine what it is to have been afraid, as I have been. I am ashamed, when I think of my cowardice and want of trust; and yet I do not know that if the time were to come again, I might not be as weak, in my foolish, wicked longing for a fancied security.” I don't know whether strong people are more or less to be pitied than weak ones, when they are in perplexity," Reine answered, brusquely. "You are much mistaken if you think I have never been afraid. I tell you, there have been days when I have been afraid of jmmping over the cliff into the sea, like the swine in the scriptures, to escape from the torments of the condemned. But we take things more at our ease now," said Reine, with a sigh. "One would soon die of it, if one was always to be young. And yet, for the matter of that,” she added; glancing kindly at Catherine, "you look to me very much as you did when I knew you first." And as she spoke Reine sent her shuttle swiftly whirling, and caught it deftly, while Josette, who had grown up tall and pretty, stood by, scissors in hand, cutting the string into lengths. elated, perfectly satisfied; for Fontaine, like a wise man, regarded the outside aspect of things, and did not disturb himself concerning their secret and more difficult complications. She had promised to be his wife. She was a charming person, he required no more; he had even declared that for the present he would not touch a single farthing of the small yearly sum which belonged to her. It was to be expended as heretofore upon the education of her sisters. In the holidays they were to find a home in the châlet. Fontaine felt that he was behaving liberally and handsomely, and it added to his satisfaction. Madame Mérard groaned in agony over her snuff-box at his infatuation. That her son-in-law should marry again, she had always expected. "But never, never, Monsieur Mérard, did I think him capable of a folly like this!" cried the old lady. Monsieur Mérard, who was an extremely fat and good-humoured old gentleman, tried to look as if the matter was not perfectly indifferent to him. There were but three things in life that really mattered; all the rest must be taken as it came; this was his experience: I. Your coffee should be hot in the morn ing. II. You should have at least five trumps between you and your partner. III. Your washerwoman should not be allowed to starch your shirt collars into uncomfortable ridges. Dick was the only person who doubted the expediency of the proposed arrangement, or at least who said as much to Catherine herself. He found a moment to speak to her alone in the Hall. But this was long years afterwards, when Catherine looked back, as at a dream, to That very day she had sent them home the vague and strange and unreal time in this horrible condition. Monsieur Méwhich had preceded her marriage. There rard could not turn his head without sufferhad been a quick confusion, a hurry, a coming. That Fontaine should marry more or ing and going; it seemed to her like a ka- less to please Madame Mérard seemed a leidoscope turning and blending the old ac- trifle in such an emergency. customed colours and forms of life into new combinations and patterns. Catherine had watched it all with a bewildered indifference. She had taken the step, she was starting on the journey through the maze of the labyrinth, she had not the heart to go back. There had been long talks and explanations which never explained, and indecisions that all tended one way, and decided her fate as certainly as the strongest resolves. Once she had been on the very point of breaking everything off: and, looking back, she seemed to see herself again by the seaside, watching the waves and telling them that they should determine; or téte-à-téte with Fontaine, silent and embarrassed, trying to make him understand how little she had to give in return for all his attentive devotion. He would not, perhaps he could not, understand her feeling for him? Why was she troubling herself. He looked conscious, "Forgive me," he said. "I know I of all people have the least right to speak; but have you thought well over the tremendous importance of the step you are taking. You are young enough to look for something different from .... If you wanted a home, Reine is always there. ... Fontaine is an excellent fellow; but your tastes are so unlike; your whole education and way of thinking." "You don't know what it is," said Catherine, controlling herself and speaking very gently; "I shall have a home and some one to look to," but her heart sank as she spoke. Butler himself was one of those weak |