The History of Currency, 1252 to 1896 Part 10

+---------------------------------++----------------------------------+ | Spanish Pistoles. || French Crowns. | |(36 to a Mark of Gold, 21 Carats || (Old, i.e. not "of the Sun," 72 | | 10 Grs. Fine.) || to a Mark of Gold, 22 Carats | | || 4-1/2 Grs. Fine) | +-----------+---------------------++-----------+----------------------+ | | Declared Value || | Declared Value | | | in Netherlands || | in Netherlands | | Date. | Currency as by the || Date. | Currency as by the | | | Plakkaats. || | Plakkaats. | | +----------+----------+| +----------+-----------+ | | Florins. | Stivers. || | Florins. | Stivers. | +-----------+----------+----------++-----------+----------+-----------+ | 1548 | 3 | 12 || 1499 | 1 | 15-1/2 | | 1552 | 3 | 18 || 1522 | 1 | 19 | | 1559 | 4 | 0 || 1526 | 1 | 19 | | 1572 | 4 | 4 || | 1 | 15-1/2 | | 1573 | 4 | 16 || 1539 | 1 | 17 | | 1574 | 4 | 10 || | 1 | 15 | | 1575 | 5 | 0 || 1548 | 1 | 17 | | 1576 | 5 | 4 || 1552 | 1 | 19 | | | 4 | 13 || 1559 | 2 | 0 | | 1577 | 5 | 4 || 1572 | 2 | 2 | | 1579 | 5 | 10 || 1573 | 2 | 9 | | | 5 | 10 || 1574 | 2 | 6 | | | 5 | 5 || 1575 | 2 | 12 | | | 5 | 8 || 1576 | 2 | 13 | | 1581 | 5 | 18 || 1577 | 2 | 12 | | 1590 | 6 | 4 || 1579 | 2 | 15 | | 1605 | 6 | 9 || | 2 | 15 | | 1607 | 6 | 12 || | 2 | 12-1/2 | | 1609 | 7 | 0 || | 2 | 14 | | 1611 | 7 | 2 || 1581 | 3 | 0 | | 1618 | 7 | 5 || 1590 | 3 | 3 | | || 1605 | 3 | 6 | | || 1607 | 3 | 8 | | || 1609 | 3 | 12 | | || 1611 | 3 | 12-1/2 | | United Netherlands. || 1618 | 3 | 14 | | 1586 | 6 | 0 || United Netherlands. | | 1594 | 6 | 6 || 1586 | 3 | 0 | | | 6 | 3 || 1594 | 3 | 3 | | | 6 | 0 || | 3 | 1 | | 1596 | 6 | 6 || | 3 | 0 | | 1603 | 6 | 15 || 1603 | 3 | 8 | | 1606 | 6 | 17 || 1606 | 3 | 10 | | 1608 | 7 | 1 || 1608 | 3 | 14 | | | 6 | 19 || | 3 | 12 | | | 6 | 17 || | 3 | 10 | | 1610 | 7 | 4 || 1610 | 3 | 14 | | 1615 | 7 | 6 || 1615 | 3 | 15 | | 1619 | 7 | 12 || 1619 | 3 | 16 | | | 7 | 6 || | 3 | 15 | | 1621 | 7 | 12 || 1621 | 3 | 18 | +-----------+----------+----------++-----------+----------+-----------+

+---------------------------------++--------------------------------+ | English Rose n.o.bles. || English Sovereigns. | | (32 to a Mark of Gold, 23 || (40 to a Mark of Gold.) | | Carats 8-1/2 Grs. Fine.) || | +-----------+---------------------++----------+---------------------+ | | Declared Value || | Declared Value | | | in Netherlands || | in Netherlands | | Date. |Currency as by the || Date. | Currency as by the | | | Plakkaats. || | Plakkaats. | | +----------+----------++ +----------+----------+ | | Florins. | Stivers. || | Florins. | Stivers. | +-----------+----------+----------++----------+----------+----------+ | 1499 | 4 | 5 || | | | | 1520 | 4 | 5-1/2 || 1548 | 3 | 0 | | 1522 | 4 | 10-1/2 || | | | | 1526 | 4 | 17-1/2 || 1552 | 3 | 0 | | | 4 | 5-1/2 || | | | | 1539 | 4 | 10 || 1554 | 3 | 0 | | | 4 | 5-1/2 || | | | | 1548 | 4 | 10 || 1575 | 4 | 4 | | 1552 | 4 | 16 || | | | | 1559 | 5 | 0 || 1576 | 4 | 6 | | 1572 | 5 | 3 || | | | | 1573 | 6 | 10 || 1579 | 4 | 8 | | 1574 | 6 | 6 || | | 1575 | 7 | 5 || | | 1576 | 7 | 10 || | | 1577 | 7 | 0 || | | 1579 | 8 | 0 || | | | 7 | 10 || | | | 6 | 8 || | | | 6 | 14 || United Netherlands. | | 1581 | 7 | 4 || | | 1590 | 7 | 9 || | | 1607 | 8 | 2 || 1586 | 5 | 1 | | 1609 | 8 | 10 || | | | | 1611 | 8 | 13 || 1594 | 5 | 5 | | 1618 | 8 | 16 || | | | | || | 5 | 3 | | United Netherlands. || | | | | 1586 | 7 | 12 || | 5 | 1 | | 1594 | 8 | 0 || | | | | | 7 | 16 || 1596 | 5 | 2 | | | 7 | 12 || | | | | 1596 | 7 | 13 || 1603 | 5 | 9 | | 1603 | 8 | 8 || | | | | | 8 | 7 || 1606 | 5 | 12 | | | 8 | 6 || | | | | 1606 | 8 | 9 || 1608 | 5 | 16 | | 1608 | 8 | 16 || | | | | | 8 | 12 || | 5 | 14 | | | 8 | 9 || | | | | 1610 | 8 | 16 || | 5 | 12 | | 1619 | 9 | 0 || | | | | | 8 | 16 || 1610 | 5 | 18 | | 1621 | 9 | 0 || | | | +-----------+----------+----------++----------+----------+----------+

+-------------------------------------++-----------------------------------+ | || Burgundian Gulden (or | | Philippus Rijder. || Gulden Andries). | |(67-1/2 and subsequently 70 to a Mark|| (72 to a Mark of Gold, 19 Carats | | of Gold, 23 Carats 8-1/2 Grs. Fine.)|| Fine, from 1456 to 1567; later, 75| | || to a Mark, 18 Carats 6 Grs. Fine.)| +----------+--------------------------++-----------+-----------------------+ | | Declared Value || | Declared Value | | | in Netherlands || | in Netherlands | | Date. | Currency as by the || Date. | Currency as by the | | | Plakkaats. || | Plakkaats. | | +-------------+------------++ +----------+------------+ | | Florins. | Stivers. || | Florins. | Stivers. | +----------+-------------+------------++-----------+----------+------------+ | 1499 | 1 | 19 || 1499 | 1 | 9 | | 1522 | 2 | 3 || 1522 | 1 | 12 | | 1526 | 2 | 4 || 1526 | 1 | 13 | | | 1 | 19 || | 1 | 9 | | 1539 | 2 | 1 || 1539 | 1 | 10 | | | 1 | 19 || | 1 | 9 | | 1548 | 2 | 1 || 1548 | 1 | 11 | | 1552 | 2 | 2 || 1552 | 1 | 12 | | 1559 | 2 | 5 || 1559 | 1 | 13 | | 1572 | 2 | 7 || 1572 | 1 | 15-1/2 | | 1573 | 2 | 15 || 1573 | 1 | 19 | | 1575 | 2 | 18 || 1574 | 1 | 16 | | 1576 | 3 | 3 || 1575 | 2 | 0 | | 1577 | 3 | 0 || 1576 | 2 | 0 | | 1579 | 3 | 3 || | 1 | 18-1/2 | | | 3 | 0 || 1577 | 2 | 2 | | | 2 | 18-1/2 || 1579 | 2 | 3 | | | 3 | 0 || | 1 | 5 | | 1581 | 3 | 6 || | 2 | 3-1/2 | | 1590 | 3 | 8-1/2 || | 2 | 4 | | 1610 | 3 | 18 || 1581 | 2 | 9 | | 1611 | 3 | 19 || 1590 | 2 | 11 | | || 1607 | 2 | 14 | | || 1609 | 2 | 17 | | || 1611 | 2 | 18 | | United Netherlands. || | | || United Netherlands. | | 1586 | 3 | 8 || 1586 | 2 | 9 | | 1594 | 3 | 10 || 1594 | 2 | 13 | | | 3 | 9 || | 2 | 11 | | | 3 | 8 || | 2 | 9 | | 1596 | 3 | 9 || 1596 | 2 | 11 | | 1603 | 3 | 14 || 1603 | 2 | 15 | | 1606 | 3 | 15 || 1606 | 2 | 16 | | 1608 | 3 | 17 || 1608 | 2 | 18 | | | 3 | 16 || | 2 | 17 | | | 3 | 15 || | 2 | 16 | | 1610 | 4 | 0 || 1610 | 2 | 19 | +----------+-------------+------------++-----------+----------+------------+

+--------------------------------++---------------------------------+ | German Thaler || Netherland Rijksdaalder | | (Silver). || (Silver). | +----------+---------------------++----------+----------------------+ | | Declared Value || | Declared Value | | | in Netherlands || | in Netherlands | | Date. | Currency as by the || Date. | Currency as by the | | | Plakkaats. || | Plakkaats. | | +----------+----------++ +----------+-----------+ | | Florins. | Stivers. || | Florins. | Stivers. | +----------+----------+----------++----------+----------+-----------+ | 1539 | 1 | 6 || 1583 | 2 | 2 | | | 1 | 7 || | | | | 1548 | 1 | 8 || 1586 | 2 | 5 | | 1552 | 1 | 9 || | | | | 1559 | 1 | 10 || 1594 | 2 | 6 | | 1571 | 1 | 11 || | | | | 1572 | 1 | 12 || | 2 | 5 | | 1573 | 1 | 16 || | | | | | 1 | 14 || 1603 | 2 | 7 | | 1577 | 1 | 18 || | | | | 1579 | 2 | 1 || 1608 | 2 | 8 | | 1581 | 2 | 5 || | | | | 1611 | 2 | 11 || | 2 | 7 | | || | | United Netherlands. || | | 1586 | 2 | 5 || United Netherlands. | | 1594 | 2 | 6 || | | | 2 | 5 || | | 1603 | 2 | 7 || 1610 | 2 | 8 | | 1608 | 2 | 8 || | | | | | 2 | 7 || 1619 | 2 | 10 | | 1610 | 2 | 8 || | | | | 1619 | 2 | 10 || 1621 | 2 | 12 | | 1621 | 2 | 12 || | | | +----------+----------+----------++----------+----------+-----------+

France.

In France the result of the American influx of metals did not make itself felt until the time of Francis I. During his reign the value of the mark of gold increased 33 livres 4 sols. 2 dens., and that of silver 1 livre 10 sols.

The main reduction took place at two periods, 1519 and 1540, and with a consequent change in the ratio slightly in favour of silver. The earliest find in America was gold, and at first this metal shows a tendency to depreciate. Concurrently silver, as the overvalued metal, commenced to disappear from circulation. It was to prevent this export that in 1519 the _ecu au soleil_ was advanced to 40 sols., and again in 1532 to 45 sols.--an advance of 12-1/2 per cent. The silver _testoon_ was advanced at the same time from 10 sols. to 10 sols. 6 dens., an advance of 5 per cent. Even so equilibrium was not produced, and disorders in the currency continued, along with the prevalence of lower-rated coins. The town of Ma.r.s.eilles complained of it in a pet.i.tion to the King (8th May 1539), and the important edict of Blois, 1540, which left the _ecus au soleil_ untouched at 45 sols., while advancing the _testoon_ to 10 sols. 8 dens., was professedly and purposely issued "to more equalise the silver with the value of the gold, and consequently to make the value of our monies, both red and white, corresponding." Two years later the States-General when they met complained of the lack of currency, and demanded the opening of the Mint at Aix. The request was granted, but without visible result.

The same process of advance, unequally maintained, continued under Henry II. and Charles IX. (see accompanying tables).

[Ill.u.s.tration: TABLE OF THE MOVEMENT OF GOLD & SILVER IN FRANCE 1493-1662.]

TABLE OF THE MOVEMENT OF GOLD AND SILVER IN FRANCE, 1500-1660.

+----------+--------------------------+-----------------------------+ | |Price of the Mark of Gold.|Price of the Mark of Silver. | | Date. +---------+-------+--------+---------+---------+---------+ | | Livres. | Sols. | Dens. | Livres. | Sols. | Dens. | +----------+---------+-------+--------+---------+---------+---------+ | 1488 | 130 | 3 | 4 | 11 | 0 | 0 | | 1519 | 147 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 10 | 0 | | 1540 | 165 | 7 | 6 | 14 | 0 | 0 | | 1549 | 172 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 0 | 0 | | 1561 | 185 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 15 | 0 | | 1573 | 200 | 0 | 0 | 17 | 0 | 0 | | 1575 | 222 | 0 | 0 | 19 | 0 | 0 | | 1602 | 240 | 10 | 0 | 20 | 5 | 4 | | 1615 | 278 | 6 | 6 | ... | ... | ... | | 1636 | 320 | 0 | 0 | 23 | 10 | 0 | | 8th May | | | | | | | | 1636 | 384 | 0 | 0 | 25 | 0 | 0 | |22nd Sept.| | | | | | | | 1641 | ... | ... | ... | 26 | 10 | 0 | | 1662 | 423 | 10 | 11 | ... | ... | ... | +----------+---------+-------+--------+---------+---------+---------+

[Sidenote: FRANCE: THE MINT INQUIRY OF 1575]

In the case of the latter monarch it is expressly stated that the change, which was effected in 1573, when the ratio was established at 11.77, had been preceded by a period during which "the people" had of themselves augmented the value of the _ecu d'or_ to 54 sols. At this limit the Government was obliged to fix it, but by the year 1577 it had risen successively to 58, 60, and 65 sols. The evil, as it was thought to be, of the advance of the monies was attributed to the caprice and unscrupulousness of "the people," and the King called several councils of experts to discuss the matter. Still the process continued unabated, and on the 19th December 1575, Henry III. a.s.sembled the States-General.

The _cour des monnaies_--the officials of the Mint--at once approached him with a pet.i.tion. Their representation is of peculiar significance:--

"In spite of the bad police prevailing, we draw in times of peace twice as much silver from abroad as the foreigners draw from us. If the reform we advocate were adopted we should double this net gain.... Between us and the Netherlands and Germany, where we generally trade, there is this difference, that 6 _ecus_, at the price at which they are exposed here, only come to 5 in the said places, which has induced a sudden and enormous dearness in the merchandise which we export from there, and besides has caused us a great disorder--to wit, that the merchants have transported all our _douzains_ and other billon money, to save themselves from the loss they would have had to incur in settling in _ecus_ or in any foreign species of gold or silver on which, at the price they are current at by the caprice of the people, there would be a loss in settlement of 15, 20, and 25 per cent.... The cause of the enhancement of prices proceeds from the malice of several who turn into bullion the best of your coins in order to fill the kingdom with others of less goodness, enriching themselves thus with the blood and misery of the people....

[Sidenote: FRANCE: THE REFORM OF 1577]

"The remedy is to lower the rate of the monies.... The _ecus_ ought to come down to 50 sols., but for the present we would consent to it being put at 60, awaiting a further reduction. The currency of all foreign coins ought to be prohibited as the chief cause of these evils. For although by all your ordinances they have been valued according to the price of the _ecu_, yet the people have always increased them more than they have your own monies, so that the _ecu_ at this moment, to be in accordance, ought to pa.s.s for 78 sols. This arises from the craft of the foreigner, and the only exceptions of importance are the _reals_ and _pistoles_ of Spain, which are of known goodness and profit to the melter. They have never brought us harm, but, on the other hand, they are being melted down all over France, and at the present rate the foreigner gets a profit of about 7 livres on the mark of them, so that we advise prohibition of their circulation. Finally, we advise to do away with the old reckoning by livres and sols, and subst.i.tute for it the reckoning by ecus."

The States-General, adopting in part the weakest suggestion of this remarkable paper, fixed the ecus at 65 sols. The Mint officials at once represented that this only increased the evil. Henry accordingly a.s.sembled at Pontoise a conference of experts, and as the outcome of their deliberations decided on the adoption of the chief recommendation of the Mint officials' representation. By his proclamation of 13th November 1577, the reckoning by livres was abolished and that of gold _ecus_ subst.i.tuted, values of under 1 ecu or 60 sols. to be settled in divisional coinage, and circulation of all foreign coins prohibited, with the exception of Spanish and Portuguese gold ducats. It was forbidden to constrain payment of any sum above 100 sols. in billon money, and in sums below that amount to present more than the third of the total sum in such billon money.

[Sidenote: FRANCE: FAILURE OF THE REFORM OF 1577]

This extraordinary and, on the whole, admirably planned reformation merits so much detail because of the intense importance of its bearing.

It in effect antic.i.p.ated the reformation which was only accomplished in England in our own century. So far as it was actually put in practice it made France monometallic. The instinct of the time had found its way to a comprehension of the evil before it, and of the remedy. The evil was due to a badly-regulated, weltering, bimetallic system; the remedy was a monometallic system. It matters little that such terms were not in use and that the theory of the matter was not enunciated. The essential point was that the _fact_, the _situation_, was grasped in practice for a moment, dimly it may be, yet sufficiently to ill.u.s.trate the whole antecedent and succeeding event. As a matter of fact the ordinance remained practically in great part a dead letter. That it did so--that it did not accomplish its purpose--has been attributed to the _malheur_, the unhappiness, of the time. It was due to no such thing. It was due to the simple fact that in the ordinance two quite distinct, and one of them impossible, reforms were projected. The attempt to tie down the _ecu_ to 60 sols. was foredoomed to failure, and as the eye of contemporaries was fixed more entirely on prices rather than on method of tender, the most significant part of the ordinance pa.s.sed out of mind; already by the time of the death of Henry III., "the people," it is again said, had increased the _ecu_ to 64 sols. On the 30th March 1594 a proclamation was issued to call it down to the value prescribed by the celebrated declaration of 1577, i.e. 60 sols. but, finding it impossible, the whole system created by that declaration was abolished (September 1602); the reckoning by _ecus_ was done away with, and the old system of reckoning by livres returned to; the gold _ecu_ was tariffed at 65 sols., and the circulation of foreign monies was again permitted. Henry IV., in his proclamation abolishing the almost invulnerable system established by Henry III., attributes to the attempts at working that system "the present dearness of everything." It is almost impossible fully to represent the unwisdom of this counter-reformation. To the eye of the then legislator there was only one evil--the rising of prices. If levelly effected it was, as a matter of fact, no evil at all--far the reverse indeed, and he did not need to concern himself about it at all. Besides, it was irresistible. The evil that escaped his eye, or to which he was blind, was that unceasing process of flux which was caused by the different ratios prevailing in different parts of Europe. The scheme of Henry III. would have proved effective, where no other measure or scheme of the time was or could be, and its abrogation in 1602 by Henry IV. removed a bulwark and a barrier, and made way for catastrophe.

Le Blanc considers that this repeal of the system established in 1577, itself failed of its purpose, _because the increase of prices still continued_. "In the seven years of peace which followed the ordinance of 1602, the depreciation of the gold _ecu_ was as much as it had been in the preceding sixty-five years of war and trouble." The simple truth was, that it was much more likely to increase in time of peace and trade activity than in time of war. The point to notice was not at all how much the _ecu_ did depreciate, but the relativity of such its depreciation with that of the standard currency of other countries, and the monetary disorder which the inequality of ratio and of rate of depreciation induced.

Alarmed beyond measure at the evident failure of his plans, Henry IV.

summoned monetary conferences of his wisest and best, and they were not even suspended by his a.s.sa.s.sination. The complaint again was, that the permission to circulate foreign monies had led to the transport of all the good coinage, to the ruin of commerce and great general disorder.

a.s.semblies were held all over France in the trading towns, and the result of the advice of their delegates was the proclamation of 5th December 1614 (issued early in 1615). By this proclamation silver monies were left untouched, the tariff of the gold _ecu_ was increased from 65 to 75 sols., and the value of the mark of gold proportionally increased.

The ratio was thereby altered from 12.01 to 13.90. It is hardly too much to say that this step and alteration in the ratio saved France from the catastrophe which befell England and Germany in 1622 and 1623. The arrangement established in 1615 endured unaltered until 1636, when a slight reduction in the ratio was made to 13.61 (on the 8th May). Two months later it was found that so serious an export of good coinage was ensuing that "our kingdom would be entirely stripped of good currency, to our great damage, etc." A proclamation was accordingly issued (28th June 1636) attempting to regulate the course of exchange. The effort was vain, and on the following 22nd September the ratio was suddenly and violently altered to 15.36.[10]

[Sidenote: FRANCE: THE REFORM OF 1640]

A glance at the ratio prevalent in other countries will show how masterful was this act of France, but it carried with it the seeds of its own punishment. Such is the nature of the bimetallic law that any overshooting of the ratio, on no matter which side,--in favour of silver or in favour of gold,--establishes a differentiation, and the differentiation at once gives to the one metal a fulcrum or lever point--a purchasing power--against the other, and the undervalued metal, whichever it is, at once tends to disappear. Four years after this autocratic measure of France, it was found that her currency was in so depreciated a state, through exchange, that the only pieces current were lacking one-third of their full weight.

The recoinage established by her proclamation of 31st March 1640, which established the new _louis d'or_, was intended as a complete and permanent remedy, and it may reasonably claim the praise of having effected so much. The alteration of the ratio established in 1640-41 by this recoinage (from 15.36 to 14.49) was only made after most serious deliberation. Monetary conferences of experts were held at Paris; and it was found, after careful a.s.says of all the monies of the surrounding nations, that the prevailing ratios (1640-1) were at one and the same time--

Germany 12 : 1 Milan 12 : 1 Flanders and Netherlands 12.5 : 1 England 13.33

It was therefore decided to adopt a higher ratio than all these, viz.

13.5.[11]

The history of the few years succeeding this measure is most instructive. The depreciation of monies continued, and on the 4th April 1652 a proclamation was issued, forbidding the currency of certain old monies of France, and again attempting to restrain the course of the exchanges; and three years later, 1655, under pretext that false moneyers were imitating the _louis d'or_ and the silver _ecus_, the minting of _lis d'argent_ (lilies of gold and silver) was resolved upon.

"But," says Le Blanc, "everybody knows that the true motive was the same as when a little later they resolved on the minting of 4-sol. pieces.

Under the above pretext, the ratio basis of 1641 was broken.

Remonstrances were vain until experience proved their weight, and the minting of the _lis d'or_ had to be discontinued. The pieces already minted received a value of 7 livres, and to correspond the _louis d'or_ was increased to 11 livres, by proclamation 15th March 1656." As silver was left untouched, the resulting alteration of the ratio was from 13-1/2 to 14-5/7.

Florence.

With the advance of Antwerp as the centre of European exchanges in the fifteenth century, the mercantile pre-eminence of Florence and Venice decayed, and their monetary history loses its former prime importance.

But they by no means thereby lose their interest for us. Instead of profiting as of yore by every veer in the winds of exchanges, they are at the mercy of them, as was every other country outside the charmed circle of the Netherlands. The influence of the changed conditions in the production of the precious metals, due to the discovery of America, does not show itself in Florence before 1531, when (4th August) the price was by law advanced. Three years later, 5th March 1534, it was found that the state was receiving damage from the foreign monies circulating, and that the only native coin circulating was in a worn and depreciated state. A recoinage was accordingly ordered, circulation of all foreign monies of silver was forbidden, and all payments and contracts were commanded to be made in gold _scudi_ of the state. In order to inform the commercial element, the Mint masters were further ordered to make trial every fifteen days of the value of any foreign _scudi_, and to publish the result.

There is a wonderful simplicity about this enactment. In order to defend themselves from a flood of cheap and cheapening silver, the Florentine authorities adopted a virtual gold monometallism. That the enactment was not permanently regarded and kept can only be attributed to the strength of commercial custom, and to a true perception in the mercantile community at large of the essential difficulty of the problem and its remedy. The Florentines were simply obliged to circulate all coins, gold as well as silver, because such was the universal custom of mediaeval Europe. By 1552 silver foreign monies were again current in Florence, in such quant.i.ties and with such effects on the native gold currency, that they had to be again prohibited and banished (by law of 18th May 1552); renewed three years later (28th February 1555), and again in 1557 (29th April). Indeed, within the period here treated of, up to, i.e., 1660, there is a series of thirteen or fourteen separate re-enactments of the prohibition relating to these monies and the depreciated Florentine billon money ("_quattrini neri_"). If, during this period, Florence had occupied the commanding position that Antwerp did, quite unique interest would attach to the record of this monetary policy or experiment. But not being in that position, and being, too, quite apparently unable to enforce her own enactments in her own territory, even this merely depressive policy was partially broken down. In so far as it was broken down she lay at the mercy of the monetary changes around her, and of the Netherland financiers, as did every other country of Europe. By the law of 5th April 1630, all species of foreign ducatoons were prohibited, "in consideration that, within the short time they have been introduced, so great a quant.i.ty, and of such differing standards, has been imported from the various foreign Mints." Five years later the gold coin was in so depreciated a state as to call for legislative interference (9th February 1635, renewed on 5th February 1645); and again in 1661 (3rd February) it was found necessary to prohibit the circulation of the silver _reals_ of Peru and every other kind of Spanish silver, except at bullion value. These are only a few from a long list of similar enactments, but they serve adequately to show the trend of events on small as well as large fields of operations. What an amount of commercial disturbance and disaster lies behind the dry details of these legal enactments, the case of England will serve to show.

Germany.

The monetary history of Germany is one of extreme confusion and intricacy. The lack of coercive power in the central authority--in the Emperor himself--was as conspicuously displayed in the monetary ordinances of the empire as in the political sphere. The imperial edicts were disregarded, and each separate circle of the empire, or each separate prince or union of princes, left to shift or act for themselves. Amid all the confusion of such a disorganised and reeling system sufficient is perceptible to indicate the broad tendency of events, and to show how closely a.n.a.logous was her experience to that of Europe generally within the same period.

In Germany, as in the Netherlands, France, and England, the influence of the discovery of America only begins to express itself about 1520, and in the usual way--influx, movements and disorders in the currency and ratio, and general complaints. In 1520 a monetary convention was summoned to meet at Forchheim. This was followed by the debate in the Reichstag at Nurnberg (1522), where great complaints were made of the unusable, false, and depreciated coinage, "due to the stealing away and exchanging abroad of the gold _gulden_ and silver coins." It was in consequence of the representations of this Reichstag that the first of the series of three imperial Mint ordinances was issued by Charles V.

(at Esslingen, 1524). The main details of this ordinance will be found in the accompanying tables and in Appendix V.

The effect of the first imperial ordinance was to change the ratio from something between 10 and 11 to 11.38. The _gulden_ was raised from 17s.

4 pf. to 17s. 6 pf. All foreign gold was to be taken at equivalent rates, and whoever gave more for foreign coins of gold was to suffer a heavy penalty. Further, the export of gold and silver was forbidden, on pain of life and goods.

The ordinance remained a dead letter, and the monetary disorder of the country only increased.

THE MOVEMENT OF SILVER IN GERMANY, 1459-1621, ILl.u.s.tRATED BY THE MOVEMENT OF THE SILVER GROSCHEN, ACCORDING TO IMPERIAL AND OTHER MINT REGULATIONS. (_See preceding Table on p. 30._)

+------+---------+------------+---------------------+-----------------------+ |Date. | Cologne | | Equivalent Value | | | | Mark | Alloy. | in Convention | Treaty | | | coined | | Money. | or | | | into +------------+-----------+---------+ Ordinance. | | | Pieces. |Loths. |Grs.| Krtzrs. | Pfnge. | | +------+---------+-------+----+-----------+---------+-----------------------+ | 1501 | 126 | 6 | 1 | 3 | 2-37/42 |Treaty of Dukes Henry | | | | | | | | and Erick of Brunswick| | | | | | | | and Bishop Barthold | | | | | | | | of Hildesheim, with | | | | | | | | the States of | | | | | | | | Brunswick, Hildesheim,| | | | | | | | Hanover, Lubeck, | | | | | | | | and Gottingen. | | 1510 | 160 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 3-1/4 |Gottingen. | | 1524 | 136 | 12 | 0 | 6 | 2-8/17 |First imperial Mint | | | | | | 3 | 1-4/17 | edict of Charles V. | | | | | |(1/2 Groat)| | at Esslingen. | | 1533 | 123 | 7 | 0 | 4 | 1-3/4 |Augsburg Mint edict. | | 1535 |91-47/131| 8 | 0 | 6 |2-101/874|Mint treaty between | | | | | | | | Ferdinand and the | | | | | | | | Counts Palatine of | | | | | | | | the Rhine and the | | | | | | | | States of Augsburg | | | | | | | | and Ulm. | | 1551 | 94-1/2 | 7 | 5 | 5 |3-59/567 |Second imperial Mint | | | 100 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 2 | edict of Charles V. | | | | | | | | at Augsburg. (Remained| | | | | | | | inoperative like that | | | | | | | | of 1524, _supra_.) | | 1558 | 88 | 6 | 9 | 5 | 2-7/44 |Saxony Mint ordinances.| | 1559 | 108-1/2 | 8 | 0 | 5 |2-26/217 |Mint ordinance of | | | | | | | | Ferdinand I. | | 1572 | " | " | 0 | " | " |Edict of the Lower | | | | | | | | Saxony Circle. | | 1610 | 234 | 14 | 4 | 4 |2-82/351 |Edict of the Lower | | | | | | | | Saxony Circle. | | 1617 | 144 | 8 | 0 | 4 | 0-2/3 |Edict of the Lower | | | | | | | | Saxony Circle. | | 1622 | 108-1/2 | 8 | 0 | 5 |2-26/217 |Edict of the Upper | | | | | | | | and Lower Saxony | | | | | | | | Circle. | +------+---------+-------+----+-----------+---------+-----------------------+

THE MOVEMENT OF GOLD IN GERMANY, 1495-1621, ILl.u.s.tRATED BY THE MOVEMENT OF THE GOLD GULDEN (RHENISCHE GULDEN), ACCORDING TO IMPERIAL AND OTHER MINT REGULATIONS. (_See preceding Table on p. 31._)

+-----+-------+---------------+-------------------------+---------------+ | |Cologne| | Equivalent Value | | | | Mark | Alloy. | in Convention Money. | Treaty | |Date.|coined +-----+---------+------+------+-----------+ or Ordinance. | | | into | 24 | 12 | | | | | | |Pieces.|Crts.|Grains. |Flrns.|Krtzs.| Pfnge. | | +-----+-------+-----+---------+------+------+-----------+---------------+ |1506 |71-1/3 | 18 |6 gold | 3 | 6 |0-132/7597 |Treaty between | | | | 3 |6 silver | | | | Bamberg, | | | | | | | | | Wurzburg, and | | | | | | | | | Brandenburg. | |1509 |71-1/3 | 18 |6 gold | 3 | 6 |1-3185/7597|Frankfort Mint | | | | 4 |0 silver | | | | ordinance. | |1524 | 89 | 22 | ... | 2 | 54 |3-5019/6369|Imperial Mint | | | | | | | | | edict of | | | | | | | | | Charles V. at | | | | | | | | | Esslingen. | |1551 |71-1/3 | 18 |6 gold | 3 | 6 |0-3682/7597|Imperial Mint | | | | 3 |8 silver | | | | edict of | | | | | | | | | of Charles V. | | | | | | | | | at Augsburg. | |1559 | 72 | 18 |6 gold | 3 | 4 |1-2267/3834|Imperial Mint | | | | 3 |8 silver | | | | ordinance of | | | | | | | | | Ferdinand I. | +-----+-------+-----+---------+------+------+-----------+---------------+

[Sidenote: GERMANY: THE THREE IMPERIAL EDICTS]

In 1530 the Reichstag of Augsburg demanded the holding of a council, in order to enforce the late edict, and for a due consideration of the monetary situation. Several attempts were made with this object, but fruitlessly, and the princes of the empire fell back on the only feasible but fatal plan of smaller Mint conventions between contiguous states. There is an endless series of these, and they render the history of German currency a perfect jungle of intricacies. Nine years later (1539), a monetary convention was summoned to meet at Augsburg by Ferdinand, heir to the empire. It proved fruitless. Again, in 1548, after the expiry of a similar period, the Reichstag at Augsburg declared for another monetary convention to relieve the disorder. The opinions of certain deputies to this convention, which met on the 8th October 1550, were as follows: "For fifty or even eighty years and more the ratio between gold and silver has been between 12 and 13. But in a gulden of those days there was an equivalence of more silver than in seventy-six of our kreutzers. Since then we apprise the Rhenish gold gulden and kreutzers less than foreign nations. Therefore France and England seek them."[12]

A thorough inquest into the subject, or evaluation, was therefore ordered, and it was in accordance with the advice of the convention and with the report of the evaluation that the second imperial Mint edict was issued at Augsburg, 1551. This edict was drawn up on a ratio of 10.83 as a basis, and, as might be reasonably expected from the different ratios ruling abroad at the time, it proved as inoperative as its predecessor. The succeeding ten years witnessed a rise in the relative value of gold, or depreciation in that of silver, and the third and last of these imperial Mint edicts, that of the Emperor Ferdinand, issued at Augsburg, 19th August 1559, fixed a higher ratio, viz. 11.44.

The Rhenish _gulden_ was raised from 72 to 75 kreutzers. The increasing production of silver indicated by this change is still more clearly marked in the resumption of the coining of the imperial thalers, at the instigation of the Reichstag at Augsburg, 30th May 1566. The advice of this Reichstag was the outcome of the monetary convention held at Nordlingen two years earlier, at which strong complaints were appointed to be made before the Reichstag of the weak state of the coin, and of its under-valuation.