The History of Currency, 1252 to 1896Shaw, William Arthur
History
The History of Currency, 1252 to 1896
Shaw, William Arthur
Money -- History
On the 7th of February of the following year, 1798, the subsisting
Committee of Council for Coins was dissolved, and a new committee
appointed to consider the state of the coins and Mint. During its
deliberations, and until it established the new rule, the further
coining of silver was suspended by the Act already spoken of, which
(21st June 1798) revived the old law against importation of light
silver. This suspension of silver coinage was simply a temporary
precaution. "Whereas," says the Act, "His Majesty has appointed a
committee of his Privy Council to take into consideration the state of
the coins of this kingdom, and the present establishment and
constitution of His Majesty's Mint, and inconvenience may arise from any
coinage of silver until such regulations may be framed as shall appear
necessary; and whereas from the present low price of silver bullion,
owing to temporary circumstances, a small quantity of silver bullion
has been brought to the Mint to be coined, and there is reason to
suppose that a still further quantity may be brought, and it is
therefore necessary to suspend the coining of silver for the present, be
it therefore enacted that no silver bullion shall be coined at the Mint,
nor shall any silver coin that may have been coined there be delivered."
There can be little doubt that this enactment was due to Lord Liverpool,
and if so that it was intended as an arrest, with a particular intent or
bearing; for Liverpool had formed his conception of a monetary theory as
early as 1773. None the less it is quite inadmissible to state, as has
been done, that this restriction, so evidently and expressly only a
temporary or interim measure of self-defence, was equivalent to a
placing upon the statute-book of Lord Liverpool's gold monometallical
theory. There was as yet no restriction on the legal tender of silver.
It was still legal tender to any amount,--it was indeed the standard
coin of the realm,--only, in order to avoid the effects of depreciation,
and to prevent further depreciation, it was now the law of the land that
payments of silver of sums over £25 should be made by weight, and the
further coinage of silver was temporarily stopped.
This was not a gold monometallic system, and the Act which established
that system was passed eight years after the death of Lord Liverpool,
and six years after the Bullion Report of 1810 had been printed.
[Sidenote: ENGLAND: THE BANK RESTRICTION]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account