'It is only necessary for the Continental nations and the United States to issue, as is already proposed, a piece of twenty-five francs in order to supplant the sovereign; for, as the new coin would have the value of a well-worn sovereign, it would soon be accepted equally with the sovereign in all foreign countries and our colonies, if not at home. At the same time, the difference of value being about 2d. in the pound, would ensure the melting of all new sovereigns in preference. Thus, however many sovereigns are coined, we should never succeed in dislodging the 25-franc piece from circulation. More even than at present our British Mints would perform the labours of the Danaïdes, ever pouring forth new and beautiful coin, at once to disappear into the bullion dealer's crucible. The sovereign would be an evanescent coin, constantly liable to be recoined with the permanent impress of a foreign mint. Common sense, as well as invariable experience, tells us that we must be worsted in this contest of the heavier and the lighter coin.'--_Professor Jevons' Paper in the Journal of the Statistical Society_, vol. xxxi., p. 429. The extent of the populations employing the 20-franc piece as their principal gold coin, has already been mentioned. Some persons may say, 'It is true these nations more than double in number the persons whose basis of accounts is the pound sterling; but still there may be more "sovereigns" in existence than 20-franc pieces.' Now, it is by no means as easy to enumerate the coins in a country as to make a census of the inhabitants. You may count the dwellers in the poorest hovel. But you cannot count the coins hidden under the hearth, or in the end of the stocking. It is, however, by no means clear that the amount of British gold coin in existence is as much as that circulated by several other nations. Sovereigns, so far from preponderating, appear to be in an absolute minority. At the Paris Conference of 1867, the amounts of the gold coinage of Great Britain, France, and the United States were stated as follows:-- France, from 1793 to 1866, of the value of £262,444,160 Great Britain, 1816 to 1866 187,068,290 United States, 1792 to 1866 169,107,318[5]