"There is some discrepancy between this account of the affair and Chevalier's; not so much, however, considering that one writer was before, while the other was behind the scenes. The two narratives combined complete the history of the Jersey mint—a history evidently discreditable to certain personages, and therefore never intended to meet the public eye. Even the unsophisticated chronicler is intuitively aware that some mystery attaches to the transaction, which prevents him from writing with his usual unreserve."—Hoskins, Vol. II., page 138.
"In 1646, men of the Jersey Militia each received 5 sols per diem on Field days."—Le Quesne, page 486.
"A great improvement was effected in the organisation of the militia by Sir Thomas Morgan. He divided the militia into regiments, and remodelled the artillery. On his proposition, in order to compel the men to attend with regularity to their military duties, so essential for the preservation of the island, the States, on the 25th September, 1666, ordered that fines should be levied by the vingteniers for all defaults in the following proportions:—
| A commissioned officer | sixty sols. |
| A cavalry soldier | thirty sols. |
| A private soldier, with musket (mousquetaire) | twelve sols. |
| A private soldier, with halbert or staff (halbarde ou baston) | eight sols." |
| Le Quesne, page 489. |
"It is an indication of the little traffic of the Island that payments were usually made in liards—small copper coins of the value of one-eighth of a penny. There are acts of the States passed at different periods alluding to the scarcity of money. According to the prevalent notions of those times, and of a much later period, one chief object of commercial legislation was to keep as much money or actual coin in the country as possible; and the balance of trade was to be so regulated as to insure this result. The exportation of coin has therefore, in various countries, been occasionally prohibited under severe penalties. The same notions existed in Jersey, and it was equally believed that coin or money could be retained, and should be retained, by legislative enactments. We find an act of the States, of the 3rd of October, 1701, forbidding all persons to take or send out of the Island to foreign countries any gold, silver, or other coin, to a larger amount than thirty livres tournois at a time, on pain of confiscation of the money, besides a fine; and, in addition to this penalty, confiscation of the vessel on board of which such moneys should be found, and three months' imprisonment of the master and crew. This prohibition did not produce the results anticipated by the States; for we find them, on the 9th of April, 1720, complaining that, although the sending out of the Island of gold and silver was forbidden, yet very little remained in the Island. They could not understand that if a profit or benefit was to be derived in the purchase of commodities or provisions in France with actual money, such money would unavoidably find its way there. Coins, being in fact merchandise, will follow the same rules of exchange, and will be attracted to those parts where they bear a greater exchangeable or market value. The actual value of a coin in currency must be that of its intrinsic value; and if temporary circumstances cause it to bear a greater value elsewhere, thither it will tend, till the balance is restored, in defiance of any attempts to arrest its progress.
"The ill-success of the States, in their prohibition of the exportation of gold and silver coin, did not lead them to perceive the futility of the measure; but they were fearful that the copper money, the sous and the liards, would follow their betters, particularly as sous and liards had risen in value in France, and that thus the Island would be deprived of all metallic circulation. They therefore, on the 9th of April, 1720, prohibited the carrying out of the Island of liards and sous to a larger amount than five livres tournois for each person, under the penalty of confiscation; and all persons were authorised to seize the moneys thus exported, and to require the assistance, if necessary, of the constables and centeniers in the searching of the vessels; while the master and crews on board of which such sums should be found, if cognizant of the fact, were to be liable to a fine and an imprisonment of three months.
"By an act of the States of the 3rd of May, 1720, it appears that there was no longer any gold or silver in circulation: it had disappeared, having been sent out of the Island; and the only metallic currency remaining was that of liards, which it was probable would also disappear. The States, in consequence, found it impossible to repay the sums which had been generously lent, without interest, by individuals, for the works at the harbour; and in order to obtain a supply which was to enable them to pay their debts, and to avoid the loss accruing from the variable market value of the coins, they resolved on the adoption of a plan which could only increase the evil, and perpetuate the banishment of gold and silver coin. The States evidently confused the want of funds with the want of metallic money; for had they possessed the former, the latter would have been forthcoming. An easy mode of creating money, according to them, which was to enable them to pay their debts, without any detriment or cost to anybody (sans qu'il n'en coûte rien à personne), and to build the harbour without any expense to the Island, was by the issue of a paper currency, from the circulation of which the public were to derive much benefit, and which, besides, would not be liable to fluctuation in value. They seemed not to be aware that a paper currency must be based on a metallic one; that it must represent, and be exchangeable for, a metallic currency, and therefore must follow the fluctuations of the latter in value; since, if not exchangeable, at the option of the bearer, for metallic value, it at once becomes depreciated, and drives from circulation the metallic currency by which it is designated. The lower the value of the notes, or paper currency, the greater will become the scarcity of the coin. Such would naturally be the result of the enactment of the States, for they decided on issuing notes of a very low value. For instance, there were to be
| 2,000 | notes each of | twenty sous. |
| 1,000 | " | thirty sous. |
| 1,000 | " | sixty sous. |
| 1,000 | " | one hundred sous. |
| 750 | " | ten livres. |
| 500 | " | twenty livres. |
| 300 | " | thirty livres. |
| 240 | " | fifty livres. |
The aggregate amount of these notes was fifty thousand livres.