Page:The Real Cause of the High Price of Gold Bullion.djvu/5

 is too speculative for any practical purpose, supposing it not to be completely visionary; the second is defective, from being an incomplete enumeration of the ingredients by which our money standard is fixed.

Blackstone lays down truly, that with respect to coinage, three things are to be considered,—the Materials, the Impression, the Denomination. Now it is Denomination, or the Rate of Value for which Coin is to pass current, by which the money standard is ultimately formed. The weight, and the purity of the metal of which coin is to be composed, being fixed, the value for which it is to pass current must then be added; and when these are all decided by legal authority, a Mint Indenture is framed accordingly, and a Royal Proclamation issues thereupon, describing the Coins which are to be circulated, and fixing the rates at which they are to pass current.—

The Mint Indentures therefore, and the Proclamations thereupon, fix our money standard.

According to these Indentures and Proclamations, the Gold Standard of Value is 3 l. 17 s. 10½ d. the ounce Troy at 22 carats fine.

And a Sovereign is valued at 20 shillings, being equivalent to 5 dwts. 3$2740⁄10000$ grs. of Standard Gold, at the Mint Price of 3 l. 17 s. 10½ d. an ounce. This Sovereign is our Gold Pound Sterling, and the Bank Pound Note represents this Pound Sterling, the Gold of which is valued at 3 l. 17 s. 10½ d. an ounce.

The Pound Sterling, thus formed under the law, and ascertained by Mint Indenture and Proclamation, is our Money Unit, the foundation of all our money of account, and the basis of all our money transactions.

It is the representation of the gold Sovereign, coined of sterling standard gold, of the price of 3 l. 17 s. 10½ d. an ounce Troy.

It does not represent gold of 3 l. an ounce, or 3 l. 15 s.