QUERY XXI.
The weights, measures and the currency of the hard money? Some details relating to exchange with Europe?
Our weights and measures are the same which are fixed by acts of parliament in England. How it has happened that in this as well as the other American States the nominal value of coin was made to differ from what it was in the country we had left, and to differ among ourselves too, I am not able to say with certainty. I find that in 1631 our house of burgesses desired of the privy council in England, a coin debased to twenty-five per cent.; that in 1645 they forbid dealing by barter for tobacco, and established the Spanish piece of eight at six shillings, as the standard of their currency; that in 1655 they changed it to five shillings sterling. In 1680 they sent an address to the king, in consequence of which, by proclamation in 1683, he fixed the value of French crowns, rix dollars, and pieces of eight, at six shillings, and the coin of New England at one shilling. That in 1710, 1714, 1727, and 1762, other regulations were made, which will be better presented to the eye stated in the form of a table as follows:
| 1710. | 1714. | 1797. | 1762. | |
| Guineas | .... | 26s. | ||
| British gold coin not milled, gold coin of Spain and France, chequins, Arabian gold, moidores of Portugal | .... | 5s. dwt. | ||
| Coined gold of the empire | .... | 5s. dwt. | .... | 4s.3d. dwt. |
| English milled silver money, in proportion to the crown, at | .... | 5s.10d. | 6s.3d. | |
| Pieces of eight of Mexico,Seville & Pillar, ducatoons of Flanders, French ecus, or silver Louis, crusados of Portugal | 3¾d. dwt. | .... | 4d.dwt. | |
| Peru pieces, cross dollars, and old rix dollars of the empire | 3½d. dwt. | .... | 3¾d. dwt. | |
| Old British silver not milled | .... | 3¾d. dwt. |
The first symptom of the depreciation of our present paper money, was that of silver dollars selling at six shillings, which had before been worth but five shilling and ninepence. The assembly thereupon raised them by law to six shillings. As the dollar is now likely to become the money-unit of America, as it passes at this rate in some of our sister States, and as it facilitates their computation in pounds and shillings, &c., converso, this seems to be more convenient than its former denomination. But as this particular coin now stands higher than any other in the proportion of one hundred and thirty-three and a half to one hundred and twenty-five, or sixteen to fifteen, it will be necessary to raise the others in proportion.