THE COINAGE.
A LETTER in the Times (and one of the great merits of that paper is its universal correspondence) contains some very useful sugges- tions on the subject of the Coinage. They are so reasonable, and so likely to be productive of good, that we can hardly expect that they will be attended to in the proper quarter. Great inconveni- ences are felt by there being no gold coin between the sovereign and the half sovereign—by there being no gold coin of less value than ten shillings—by there being no silver coin between the shil- ling and the sixpence, and none below the sixpence. The weight of the copper coins renders them troublesome and useless to the wealthier classes; a circumstance which directly acts upon the poorer ones. Those who will neither pay nor give sixpence, might freely give silver pennies, twopences, threepences ; the old Eng- lish groat, too, would be a most convenient coin. The gold coins recommended by the correspondent of the Times are 15s., 6s. 8d., and 3s. 4d. He would for these recommend the names of princes, dukes, and barons, as companions to the sove- reign. And this is the only point—an immaterial one—wherein we differ with him : we would call nothing for popular use after the House of Lords. The value in silver should be stamped on the reverse of every coin ; and this would save both new names, and the dragons, and arms, and other similar frippery that at pre- sent disfigures our coinage. If the size should be considered as insufficient, any quantity of alloy might be used without detriment to the intrinsic value of the silver.
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