Arguments are unnecessary to show, that the scale by which everything is to be measured ought to be as fixed as the nature of things will admit of. Since, therefore, a money standard affixed to both the precious metals will not give this certain scale, it is better to make use of one only. Gold is more valuable than silver, and so far must have the preference. But it is from that very circumstance the more exposed to fraudulent practices. Its value rendering it more portable is an advantage, but it is an advantage, which paper possesses in a much greater degree, and of consequence the commercial nation of England has had recourse to paper for the purposes of its trade, although the mass of circulating coin is gold. It will always be in our power to carry a paper circulation to every proper extent. There can be no doubt, therefore, that our money standard ought to be affixed to silver.
But silver is liable, like everything else, to a change of value. If there is a demand for it to export, the value will rise; if the contrary it will fall; and so far it cannot be considered as a fixed measure of value. Before this objection be considered it will be proper to make a few reflections on another part of the present subject; but in this place I remark, that if the objection cannot be removed, we must not suffer it to be preponderate, because it weighs alike against every other metal.
To coin money is a certain expense, and of course it is an expense, which must be borne by the people. In England the coin when melted will sell as bullion for just as much as its weight in other coin. The expense of coinage is paid by the Crown, and of course is raised by taxes from the people. In France the coinage instead of being expensive yields a profit. The price given for metal at the mint is about eight per cent less than the same quantity will yield when coined at the French standard. Both of these methods are liable to objections. When commerce demands an exportation of bullion from England, the coin of the kingdom goes out in common with others. This increases, of course, the national expense of coinage. Laws to prevent the exportation, or importation of any thing so valuable as money are always nugatory, because they always _can_ be eluded, and therefore when private interest requires it they always _will_ be eluded. That the guineas of England, therefore, are not continually going away is to be attributed to the extraordinary value affixed to gold, which has just been mentioned, and which banishes silver continually. In France the people are not liable to this inconvenience, because their money passing for more than its value in bullion, bullion will always be exported in preference to coin. But, for the same reason, there is always a strong temptation to imitate their coin and send it for the purchase of their commodities. It would be both impossible and unnecessary to distinguish the true from the false, because both would be of equal intrinsic value. The place at which they were struck would be indifferent to the receiver. Of consequence, the foreigner who made French coin, would gain; by his trade, and the French nation would lose proportionably.