The interests within the state can, I think, be nowise perfectly protected but by permitting conversions of value from the old to the new standard, whatever it be, and by regulating the footing of such conversions by act of parliament, according to circumstances. The intention of this chapter is to point out some circumstances to which it would be proper to attend; and to propose a scheme of establishing a new standard, which might perhaps render conversions and regulations less necessary.

Schemes are here proposed, not to be adopted, but as a means of setting this important matter in different lights, and thereby, perhaps, of furnishing hints to some superior genius, who may form a plan liable to fewer inconveniences than any I can devise.

For this purpose, I shall examine those interests which will chiefly merit the attention of government, when they form a regulation for the future acquitting of permanent contracts already entred into. Such as may be contracted afterwards will naturally follow the new standard.

The landed interest is, no doubt, the most considerable in the nation. Let us therefore examine, in the first place, what regulations it may be proper to make, in order to do justice to this great class, with respect to the land-tax on one hand, and with respect to their lessees on the other.

The valuation of the lands of England was made many years ago, and reasonably ought to be supported at the real value of the pound sterling at that time, according to the principles already laid down. The general valuation, therefore, of the whole kingdom will rise according to this scheme. This will be considered as an injustice; and no doubt it would be so, if, for the future, the land tax be imposed as heretofore, without attending to this circumstance; but as that imposition is annual, as it is laid on by the landed interest itself, who compose the parliament, it is to be supposed that this great class will, at least, take care of their own interest.

Were the valuation of the lands to be stated according to the valuation of the pound sterling of 1718.7 grains of silver, which is commonly supposed to be the standard of Elizabeth, there would be no great injury done: this would raise the valuation only 5 per cent. and the land tax in proportion.

There is no class of inhabitants in all England so much at their ease, and so free from taxes, as the class of farmers. By living in the country, and by consuming the fruits of the earth without their suffering any alienation, they avoid the effect of many excises, which, by those who live in corporations, are felt upon many articles of their consumption, as well as on those which are immediately loaded with these impositions. For this reason it will not, perhaps, appear unreasonable, if the additional 5 per cent. on the land tax were thrown upon this class, and not upon the landlords.

With respect to leases, it may be observed, that we have gone upon the supposition that the pound sterling, in the year 1728, was worth 1718.7 grains of fine silver, and 113 grains of fine gold.

There would, I think, be no injustice done the lessees of all the lands in the kingdom, were their rents to be fixed at the mean proportion of these values. We have observed how the pound sterling has been gradually diminishing in its worth from that time, by the gradual rise of the silver. This mean proportion, therefore, will nearly answer to what the value of the pound sterling was seventeen years ago; that is to say, in 1743; supposing the rise of the silver to have been uniform: and seventeen years, I apprehend, is not much above the mean proportion of the time elapsed of all the leases entred into with the landed interest of England.

It may be farther alleged in favour of the landlords, that the gradual debasement of the standard has been more prejudicial to their interest in letting their lands, than to the farmers in disposing of the fruits of them. Proprietors cannot so easily raise their rents upon new leases, as farmers can raise the prices of their grain, according to the debasement of the value of the currency. We have shewn how the operations of trade communicate their influence to country markets; but as the cause of the rise of prices is not rightly understood by country people, and as it is commonly ascribed rather to accident than to any thing permanent, it is easy to perceive how such a circumstance must be prejudicial to the landed interest. These combinations are too complicated to fall under any calculation, and nothing but the wisdom and penetration of the legislature is capable of estimating them at their just value.

The pound sterling, thus regulated at the mean proportion of its worth, as it stands at present, and as it stood in 1728, may be realized in 1678.6 grains of fine silver, and 115.76 grains fine gold; which is 2.4 per cent. above the value of the present currency. No injury, therefore, would be done to lessees, and no unreasonable gain would accrue to the landed interest, in appointing conversions of all land rents at 2½ per cent. above the value of the present currency.

Without a thorough knowledgeknowledge of every circumstance relating to Great Britain, it is impossible to lay down any plan. It is sufficient, here, briefly to point out the principles upon which it must be regulated.

The next interest to be considered is that of the nation’s creditors. The right regulation of their concerns will have a considerable influence in establishing public credit upon a solid basis, by making it appear to all the world, that no political operation upon the money of Great Britain can in any respect either benefit or prejudice the interest of those who lend their money upon the faith of the nation. The regulating also the interest of so great a body, will serve as a rule for all creditors who are in the same circumstances, and will, upon other accounts, be productive of greater advantages to the nation in time coming, as we shall presently make appear.

In 1749, a new regulation was made with the public creditors, when the interest of the whole redeemable national debt was reduced to 3 per cent. This circumstance infinitely facilitates the matter, with respect to this class, since, by this innovation of all former contracts, the whole national debt may be considered as contracted at, or posterior to the 25th of December 1749.

Were the state by any arbitrary operation upon money (which every reformation must be) to diminish the value of the pound sterling, in which the parliament at that time, bound the nation to acquit those capitals and the interest upon them, would not all Europe say, that the British parliament had defrauded their creditors. If therefore the operation proposed to be performed should have a contrary tendency, to wit, to augment the value of the pound sterling, with which the parliament at that time bound the nation to acquit those capitals and interests, must not all Europe also agree, that the British parliament had defrauded the nation?

This convention with the antient creditors of the state, who, in consequence of the debasement of the standard, might have justly claimed an indemnification for the loss upon their capitals, lent at a time when the pound sterling was at the value of the heavy silver, removes all cause of complaint from that quarter. There was in the year 1749, an innovation in all their contracts, and they are now to be considered as creditors only from the 25th of December of that year.

I shall now give a sketch of a regulation which may be made, not only for the national creditors at present, but in all times to come, which, by setting money upon a solid footing, may be an advantage both to the nation, to the creditors, and to credit in general.

Let the value of the pound sterling be inquired into during one year preceding and one posterior to the transaction of the month of December 1749. The great sums borrowed and paid back by the nation, during that period, will furnish data sufficient for that calculation. Let this value of the pound be specified in troy grains of fine silver and fine gold bullion, without mentioning any denomination of money according to the exact proportion of the metals at that time. And let this pound be called the pound of national credit.

This first operation being determined, let it be enacted, that the pound sterling, by which the state is to borrow for the future, and that in which the creditors are to be paid, shall be the exact mean proportion between the quantities of gold and silver above specified, according to the actual proportion of the metals at the time such payments shall be made; or that the sums shall be borrowed or acquitted, one half in gold and one half in silver, at the respective requisitions of the creditors or of the state, when borrowing. All debts contracted posterior to 1749, may be made liable to conversions.

The consequence of this regulation will be the insensible establishment of a bank-money, the usefulness of which has been explained. Nothing would be more difficult to establish by a positive institutioninstitution than such an invariable measure, and nothing will be found so easy as to let it establish itself by its own advantages. This bank-money will be liable to much fewer inconveniences than that of Amsterdam. There the persons transacting must be upon the spot, here, the sterling currency may, every quarter of a year, be adjusted by the exchequer to this invariable standard, for the benefit of all debtors and creditors, who incline to profit of the stability of this measure of value.

This scheme is liable to no inconvenience from the variation of the metals, let them be ever so frequent, or hard to be determined; because upon every occasion where there is the smallest doubt as to the actual proportion, the option competent to creditors to be paid half in silver and half in gold, will remove.

Such a regulation will also have this good effect, that it will give the nation more just ideas of the nature of money, and consequently of the influence it ought to have upon prices.

If the value of the pound sterling shall be found to have been by accident less in December 1749, than it is at present; or if at present (upon the account of the war, and the exportation of the more weighty coin) the currency be found below what has commonly been since 1749, in justice to the creditors, and to prevent all complaints, the nation may grant them the mean proportion of the value of the pound sterling from 1749 to 1760; or any other which may to parliament appear reasonable.

This regulation must appear equitable in the eyes of all Europe, and the strongest proof of it will be, that it will not produce the smallest effect prejudicial to the interest of the foreign creditors. The course of exchange with regard to them will stand precisely as before.

A Dutch, French, or German creditor, will receive the same value for his interest in the English stocks as heretofore. This must silence all clamours at home, being the most convincing proof, that the new regulation of the coin will have made no alteration upon the real value of any man’s property, let him be debtor or creditor.

The interest of every other denomination of creditors, whose contracts are of a fresh date, may be regulated upon the same principles. But where debts are of an old standing, justice demands, that attention be had to the value of money at the time of contracting. Nothing but the stability of the English coin, when compared with that of other nations, can make such a proposal appear extraordinary. Nothing is better known in France than this stipulation added to obligations, argent au cours de ce jour, that is to say, that the sum shall be repaid in coin of the same intrinsic value with what has been lent. Why should such a clause be thought reasonable for guarding people against arbitrary operations upon the numerary value of the coin, and not be found just upon every occasion where the numerary value of it is found to be changed, let the cause be what it will.

The next interest we shall examine is that of trade, when men have attained the age of twenty one, they have no more occasion for guardians. This may be applied to traders: they can parry with their pen, every inconvenience which may result to other people from the changes upon money, provided only the laws permit them to do themselves justice with respect to their engagements. This class demands no more than a right to convert all reciprocal obligations, into denominations of coin of the same intrinsic value with those they have contracted in.

The next interest is that of buyers and sellers; that is, of manufacturers, with regard to consumers, and of servants, with respect to those who hire their personal service.

The interest of this class requires a most particular attention. They must, literally speaking, be put to school, and taught the first principles of their trade, which is buying and selling. They must learn to judge of price by the grains of silver and gold they receive. They are children of a mercantile mother, however warlike the father’s disposition may be. If it be the interest of the state that their bodies be rendred robust and active, it is no less the interest of the state, that their minds be instructed in the first principle of the trade they exercise.

For this purpose, tables of conversion from the old standard to the new must be made, and ordered to be put up in every market, in every shop. All duties, all excises, must be converted in the same manner. Uniformity must be made to appear every where. The smallest deviation from this will be a stumbling block to the multitude.

Not only the interest of the individuals of the class we are at present considering, demands the nation’s care and attention in this particular; but the prosperity of trade and the well being of the nation, are also deeply interested in the execution.

The whole delicacy of the intricate combinations of commerce, depends upon a just and equable vibration of prices, according as circumstances demand it. The more therefore the industrious classes are instructed in the principles which influence prices, the more easily will the machine move. A workman then learns to sink his price without regret, and can raise it without avidity. When principles are not understood, prices cannot gently fall, they must be pulled down; and merchants dare not suffer them to rise, for fear of abuse, even although the perfection of an infant manufacture should require it.

The last interest I shall examine is that of the bank of England, which naturally must regulate that of every other.

Had this great company followed the example of other banks, and established a bank-money of an invariable standard, as the measure of all their debts and credits, they would not have been liable to any inconvenience upon a variation of the standard.

I am not sufficiently versed in English affairs to be able to sift out every reason which that company may have had to neglect a thing which other companies have found of such importance.

An attention to the circumstances of the time of its institution, and to others relative to the principles of English government with regard to money, may help us to guess at what other people, who have access to be informed, may discover with certainty.

The bank of England was projected about the year 1694, at a time when the current money of the nation was in the greatest disorder, and government in the greatest distress, both for money and for credit. Commerce was then at a very low ebb, and the only, or at least the most profitable trade of any, was jobbing in coin, and carrying backwards and forwards the precious metals from Holland to England. Merchants profited also greatly from the effects which the utter disorder of the coin produced upon the price of merchandize.

At such a juncture the resolution was taken to make a new coinage, and upon the prospect of this, a company was found, who, for an exclusive charter to hold a bank for 13 years, willingly lent the government upwards of a million sterling at 8 per cent. (in light money I suppose) with a prospect of being repaid both interest and capital in heavy. This was not all: part of the money lent, was to be applied for the establishment of the bank, and no less than 4000 pounds a year was allowed to the company, above the full interest, for defraying the charge of management.

Under such circumstances the introduction of bank-money was very superfluous, and would have been very impolitic. That invention is calculated against the raising of the standard; but here the bank profited of that rise in its quality of creditor for the money lent, and took care not to commence debtor by circulating their paper, until the effect of the new regulation took place in 1695. That is after the general recoinage of all the clipped silver.

From that time till now, the bank of England has been the basis of the nation’s credit; and with great reason, has been constantly under the most intimate protection of every minister.

The value of the pound sterling, as we have seen, has been declining ever since the year 1601, the standard being fixed to silver during all that century, while the gold was constantly rising. No sooner had the proportion taken another turn, and silver begun to rise, than the government of England threw the standard, virtually, upon the gold, by regulating the value of the guineas at the exact proportion of the market, whether at the instigation of the bank, or not, I shall not pretend to determine. By these operations, however, the company has constantly been a gainer (in its quality of debtor) upon all the paper in circulation; and therefore has lost nothing by not having established a bank-money.

The interest of this great company being established upon the principles we have endeavoured to explain, it is very evident that the government of England never will take any step in the reformation of the coin, which in its consequences can prove hurtful to the bank. Such a step would be contrary both to justice and to common sense. To make a regulation which, by raising the standard, will prove beneficial to the public creditors, to the prejudice of the bank (which I may call the public debtor) would be an operation upon public credit, like that of a person who is at great pains to support his house by props upon all sides, and who at the same time blows up the foundation of it with gun-powder.

We may therefore conclude, that with regard to the bank of England, as well as every other private banker, the notes which are constantly payable upon demand, must be made liable to a conversion at the actual value of the pound sterling at the time of the new regulation.

That the bank will gain by this, is very certain; but the circulation of their notes is so swift that it would be absurd to allow to the then possessors of them, that indemnification, which naturally should be shared by all those through whose hands they have passed, in proportion to the debasement of the standard during the time of their respective possession.

Having now shortly examined the several interests within the state, according to that combination of circumstances, which, with lame information, I can form to myself, I must again observe that other circumstances, to which I am a stranger, will nevertheless operate their effects. These must be carefully examined, and strictly attended to, before the proper regulation can be established.

My reasoning has proceeded entirely upon the supposition that the reformation of the standard implies a change upon the intrinsic value of the unit of money of accompt, and that strict justice is to be done to every one, so as to render the change neither profitable or hurtful to any, but such as have been unjustly gainers or losers by the former disorder in the coin.

No quality in a statesman is more amiable or more admirable, than justice and impartiality in every step which can affect the complicated interests of the people he governs. Such however is the nature of human society, that the inconveniences resulting from every innovation, do frequently more than overbalance all the advantages which are obtained from the closest attention to material and distributive justice upon such occasions. For this reason, innovations are to be avoided as much as possible, especially when by their nature they must be sudden.

Were the pound sterling preserved at its present value, it would, no doubt, be a plain adulteration of the former standard, and yet I do not know if it would be a more unpopular measure than another which might restore it, and at the same time do justice to every interest within the state; because I apprehend that the greatest hurt done to most people, with regard to their pecuniary interest, consists in the change. Every one feels a sudden change, but those only who reflect and who combine, perceive the consequences of a gradual one.

Besides these considerations which are in common to all states, the government of Great Britain has one peculiar to itself. The interest of the bank, and that of the creditors, are diametrically opposite: every thing which raises the standard hurts the bank, every thing which can sink it, hurts the creditors: and upon the right management of the one and the other, depends the solidity of public credit. For these reasons I am apt to believe, that, without the most certain prospect of conducting a restitution of the standard to the general advantage, as well as approbation of the nation, no minister will ever undertake so dangerous an operation.

I shall now propose an expedient which may remove at least some of the inconveniences which would result from so extensive an undertaking as that of regulating the respective interests in Great Britain by a positive law, upon a change in the value of their money of accompt.

Suppose then, that before any change is made in the coin, government should enter into a transaction with the public creditors, and ascertain a permanent value for the pound sterling for the future, specified in a determined proportion of the fine metals in common bullion, without any regard to money, of accompt, or to any coin whatever.

This preliminary step being taken, let the intended alteration of the standard be proclaimed a certain time before it is to commence. Let the nature of the change be clearly explained, and let all such as are engaged in contracts which are dissolvable at will upon the prestations stipulated, be acquitted between the parties, or innovated as they shall think proper, with certification, that posterior to a certain day, the stipulations formerly entred into, shall be binding according to the denominations of the money of accompt in the new standard.

As to permanent contracts, which cannot at once be fulfilled and dissolved, such as leases, the parliament may either prescribe the methods and terms of conversion; or a liberty may be given to the parties to annul the contract, upon the debtor’s refusing to perform his agreement according to the new standard. Contracts, on the other hand, might remain stable, with respect to creditors who would be satisfied with payments made on the footing of the old standard. If the rise intended should not be very considerable, no great injustice can follow such a regulation.

Annuities are now thoroughly understood, and the value of them is brought to so nice a calculation, that nothing will be easier than to regulate these upon the footing of the value paid for them, or of the subject affected by them. If by the regulation land-rents are made to rise in denomination, the annuities charged upon them, ought to rise in proportion; if in intrinsic value, the annuity should remain as it was.

CHAP. XV.
Regulations which the Principles of this Inquiry point out as expedient to be made by a new Statute for regulating the British Coin.

Let us now examine what regulations it may be proper to make by a new statute concerning the coin of Great Britain, in order to preserve always the same exact value of the pound sterling realized in gold and in silver, in spite of all the incapacities inherent in the metals to perform the functions of an invariable scale or measure of value.

I shall not pretend to determine the precise standard which government may prefer as the best to be chosen for the value of a pound sterling in all future times; but let it be what it will, the first point is to determine the exact number of grains of fine gold and fine silver which are to compose it, according to the then proportion of the metals in the London market.

2. To determine the proportion of these metals with the pound troy, and in regard that the standard of gold and silver is different, let the mint price of both metals be regulated according to the pound troy fine.

3. To fix the mint price within certain limits: that is to say, to leave to the King and Council, by proclamation, to carry the mint price of bullion up to the value of the coin, as is the present regulation, or to sink it to      per cent. below that price, according as government shall incline to impose a duty upon coinage.

4. To order that silver and gold coin shall be struck of such denominations as the King shall think fit to appoint; in which the proportion of the metals above determined, shall be constantly observed through every denomination of the coin, until necessity shall make a new general coinage unavoidable.

5. To have the number of grains of the fine metal in every piece marked upon the exergue, or upon the legend of the coin, in place of some initial letters of titles, which not one person in a thousand can decypher; and to make the coin of as compact a form as possible, diminishing the surface of it as much as is consistent with beauty.

6. That it shall be lawful for all contracting parties to stipulate their payments either in gold or silver coin, or to leave the option of the species to one of the parties.

7. That where no particular stipulation is made, creditors shall have power to demand payment, half in one species, half in the other; and when the sum cannot fall equally into gold and silver coins, the fractions to be paid in silver.

8. That in buying and selling, when no particular species has been stipulated, and when no act in writing has intervened, the option of the species shall be competent to the buyer.

9. That all sums paid or received by the King’s receivers, or by bankers, shall be delivered by weight, if demanded.

10. That all money which shall be found under the legal weight, from whatever cause it may proceed, may be rejected in every payment whatsoever; or if offered in payment of a debt above a certain sum, may be taken according to its weight, at the then mint price, in the option of the creditor.

11. That no penalty shall be incurred by those who melt down or export the nation’s coin; but that washing, clipping, or diminishing the weight of any part of it shall be deemed felony, as much as any other theft, if the person so degrading the coin shall afterwards make it circulate for lawful money.

To prevent the inconveniences proceeding from the variation in the proportion between the metals, it may be provided,

12. That upon every variation of proportion in the market price of the metals, the price of both shall be changed, according to the following rule.

Let the price of the pound troy fine gold in the coin be called G.

Let the price of ditto in the silver be called S.

Let the new proportion between the market price of the metals be called P.

Then state this formula:

G/2P + S/2 = to a pound troy fine silver, in sterling currency.

S/2 × P + G/2 = to a pound troy fine gold, in sterling currency.

This will be a rule for the mint, to keep the price of the metals constantly at par with the price of the market; and coinage may be imposed as has been described, by fixing the mint price of them at a certain rate below the value of the fine metals in the coin.

13. As long as the variation of the market price of the metals shall not carry the price of the rising metal so high as the advanced price of the coin above the bullion, no alteration need be made on the denomination of either species.

14. So soon as the variation of the market price of the metals shall give a value to the rising species, above the difference between the coin and the bullion; then the King shall alter the denominations of all the coin, silver and gold, adding to the coins of the rising metal exactly what is taken from those of the other. An example will make this plain.

Let us suppose that the coinage has been made according to the proportion of 14.5 to 1; that 20 shillings, or 4 crown pieces, shall contain, in fine silver, 14.5 times as many grains as the guinea, or the gold pound, shall contain grains of fine gold. Let the new proportion of the metals be supposed to be 14 to 1. In that case, the 20 shillings, or the 4 crowns, will contain ¹⁄₂₉ more value than the guinea. Now since there is no question of making a new general coinage upon every variation, in order to adjust the proportion of the metals in the weight of the coins, that proportion must be adjusted by changing their respective denominations according to this formula.

Let the 20 shillings, or 4 crowns, in coin, be called S. Let the guinea be called G. Let the difference between the old proportion and the new, which is ¹⁄₂₉, be called P. Then say,

S - P/2 = a pound sterling, and G + P/2 = a pound sterling.

By this it appears that all the silver coin must be raised in its denomination ¹⁄₅₈, and all the gold coin must be lowered in its denomination ¹⁄₅₈; yet still S + G, will be equal to two pounds sterling, as before, whether they be considered according to the old, or according to the new denominations.

But it may be observed, that the imposition of coinage rendering the value of the coin greater than the value of the bullion, that circumstance gives a certain latitude in fixing the new denominations of the coin, so as to avoid minute fractions. For providing the deviation from the exact proportion shall fall within the advanced price of the coin, no advantage can be taken by melting down one species preferably to another; since, in either case, the loss incurred by melting the coin must be greater than the profit made upon selling the bullion. The mint price of the metals, however, may be fixed exactly, that is, within the value of a farthing upon a pound of fine silver or gold. This is easily reckoned at the mint; although upon every piece in common circulation the fractions of farthings would be inconvenient.

15. That notwithstanding of the temporary variations made upon the denomination of the gold and silver coins, all contracts formerlyformerly entred into, and all stipulations in pounds, shillings, and pence, may continue to be acquitted according to the old denominations of the coins, paying one half in gold, and one half in silver; unless in the case where a particular species has been stipulated; in which case, the sums must be paid according to the new regulation made upon the denomination of that species, to the end that neither profit or loss may result to any of the parties.

16. That notwithstanding the alterations on the mint price of the metals, and in the denomination of the coins, no change shall be made upon the weight of the particular pieces of the latter, except in the case of a general recoinage of one denomination at least: that is to say, the mint must not coin new guineas, crowns, &c. of a different weight from those already in currency, although by so doing the fractions might be avoided. This would occasion confusion, and the remedy would cease to be of any use upon a new change in the proportion of the metals. But it may be found convenient, for removing the small fractions in shillings and sixpences, to recoin such denominations all together, and to put them to their integer numbers, of twelve, and of six pence, without changing in any respect their proportion of value to all other denominations of the coin: this will be no great expence, when the bulk of the silver coin is put into 5 shilling pieces.

By this method of changing the denominations of the coin, there never can result any alteration in the value of the pound sterling: and although fractions of value may now and then be introduced, in order to prevent the abuses to which the coin would otherwise be exposed, by the artifice of those who melt it down, yet still the inconvenience of such fractions may be avoided in paying, according to the old denominations, in both species, by equal parts. This will also prove demonstratively that no change is thereby made in the true value of the national unit of money.

17. That it be ordered that shillings and sixpences shall only be current for twenty years, and all other coins, both gold and silver, for forty years, or more. For ascertaining which term, there may be marked, upon the exergue of the coin, the last year of their currency, in place of the date of their fabrication. This term elapsed, or the date effaced, that they shall have no more currency whatsoever; and when offered in payment, may be received as bullion at the actual price of the mint, or refused, at the option of the creditor.

18. That no foreign coin shall have any legal currency, except as bullion at the mint price.

By these or the like regulations may be prevented, 1mo, The melting or exporting of the coin in general. 2do, The melting or exporting one species, in order to sell it as bullion, at an advanced price. |Consequences of these regulations.|3tio, The profit in acquitting obligations preferably in one species to another. 4to, The degradation of the standard, by the wearing of the coin, or by a change in the proportion between the metals. 5to, The circulation of the coin below the legal weight. 6to, The profit that other nations reap by paying their debts more cheaply to Great Britain than Great Britain can pay hers to them.

And the great advantage of it is, that it is an uniform plan, and may serve as a perpetual regulation, compatible with all kinds of denominations of coins, variations in the proportion of the metals, and with the imposition of a duty upon coinage; or with the preserving it free; and farther, that it may in time be adopted by other nations, who will find the advantage of having their money of accompt preserved perpetually at the same value, with respect to the denominations of all foreign money of accompt established on the same principles.

The number of grains of fine metal in every coin is sought for in the regulations of the mint of the country where it is coined, and is expressed in the grains in use in that mint: from that weight it is converted into those of other countries, according to the following proportions:

3840 Troy-grains, 4676.35 Paris-grains, 5192.8 Holland-aces or grains, and 4649.06 Colonia-grains, are supposed to be equal weights; and the coins in the table are converted according to those proportions.

Table of Coins, reduced to Grains of fine Metal, according to the Troy, Paris, Colonia, and Holland-weights.