GENERAL INFORMATION ON SUBJECTS OF MATHEMATICS, NATURAL HISTORY AND PHILOSOPHY, CHRONOLOGY, GEOGRAPHY, STATISTICS, &c. 11. THE LEGISLATION, STATISTICS, PUBLIC IMPROVEMENTS, AND CHRONICLE OF 1856. LONDON: KNIGHT AND CO., 90 FLEET STREET. PRICE TWO SHILLINGS AND Sixpence; or, FOUR SHILLINGS BOUND WITH THE BRITISH ALMANAC · PART I. GENERAL INFORMATION ON SUBJECTS OF MATHEMATICS, NATURAL PHILOSOPHY AND HISTORY, CHRONOLOGY, GEOGRAPHY, STATISTICS, &c. I. Notes on the State of the Decimal Coinage Question. II. The Postal System, at Home and A III. Arbitration in Trade Disputes IV. On the Material Progress of British ] India V. Metropolitan Communications and Times Bridges VI. The Close of the Russian War VII. Fluctuations of the Funds VIII. Average Prices of Corn . CONTENTS. Grand Juries (Ireland) PART II. THE LEGISLATION, STATISTICS, ARCHITECTURE AND PUBLIC IMPROVEMENTS, AND CHRONICLE OF 1856. IX. Abstracts of Important Public Acts passed in the Fourth Session of the Sixteenth Parliament of Great Britain and Ireland. Trial of Offenders Fire Insurances 113 Excise Peace Preservation (Ireland) Seamen's Saving Banks Magdalen Hospital, Bath. land) Mercantile Law Amendment (Scotland) Page 110 Bankruptcy_(Scotland) 110 Race-horse Duty 110 Coast-Guard Service Police (Counties and Boroughs) 122 | Memorandum 123 111 Cambridge University 126 113 Nuisances Removal, &c. (Scot- 127 118 118 Metropolis Local Management Act 118 land). 119 Marriage and Registration Page 5 19 37 52 86 100 109 109 Page 124 124 124 125 125 126 126 128 Bishops of London and Durham 129 126 130 130 131 132 XI. Chronicle of the Session of Parliament, 1856 XII. Private Bills of the Session of Parliament, 1856 XIV. Chronicle of Occurrences, 1855-6 3. Street Architecture and Improvements-Parks, &c. 5. Buildings for Public Purposes 1. General Progress-Art and Buildings 2. Sanitary Improvements Sewerage Water Supply- 221 225 230 233 238 241 242 243 245 COMPANION TO THE ALMANAC FOR 1857. PART I. GENERAL INFORMATION ON SUBJECTS OF MATHEMATICS, NATURAL PHILOSOPHY AND HISTORY, CHRONOLOGY, GEOGRAPHY, STATISTICS, &c. I. NOTES ON THE STATE OF THE DECIMAL WE commence this article by a few additions* to our last year's notes on the history of the coinage. We were not correct in implying that gold and silver were both legal tender, without interruption, up to 1816. From the first coinage of gold up to 1664, the relative values of gold and silver coins were settled by proclamation; and these proclamations had the force of law in making gold a legal tender. But from 1664 to 1717, the value of the gold was not thus settled, and silver only was legal tender. There is a letter from Dryden to Tonson the publisher, written in or about 1684, in which he says, "I expect forty pounds in good silver, not such as I had formerly. I am not obliged to take gold, neither will I, nor stay for it above four-and-twenty hours after it is due." In 1717 the guinea was declared a legal tender for 21 shillings. This was a little over its relative value, so that, though silver to any amount was still a legal tender, it became customary to pay in gold. It was not until 1816 that silver ceased to be a legal tender for more than forty shillings. We have said that by 1600, or thereabouts, the gold coinage appears to have exceeded the silver in value. This is not an easy statement either to verify or to refute, as there are no accounts worth credit of the amounts in circulation. The most credible estimates state that, at the Revolution of 1688, the silver in circulation was nearly double of the gold in value. But it is known that, about 1611, an immense influx of silver caused the exportation of the gold to such an extent that for years there was little use of gold. In consequence of this, the gold coins were raised ten per cent. by proclamation, and this brought back the gold so rapidly, and caused so large an exportation * The following misprints should be corrected. The writer on coinage (p. 5) is Rogers Ruding (not Roger). The charter (p. 9) is of Richard I., not Richard II. The pound of silver is coined (p. 11) into 66s., not 61, 65, Our present coinage is not decimal. |
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