СНА Р. X. Of Money and Exchange. Establith men of money. IN the firft ages after the introduction of private property, & 105. nation or The impreffion on the coin becoming the feal of its standard $ 16. and weight, a moment's reflection will convince us that the Duty of the coinage of money ought not to be left indifcriminately free to prince with every individual: for by that means, frauds would become too respect to common; -the coin would foon lofe the public confidence; and the coin. this would deftroy a moft ufeful inftitution. Hence money is coined by the authority and in the name of the state or prince, who are its furety: they ought therefore to have a quantity of it coined fufficient to answer the neceflitics of the country, and to take care that it be good, that is to fay, that its intrinfic value. bear a juft proportion to its extrinfic or numerary value. It is true, that, in a preffing neceffity, the ftate would have a right to order the citizens to receive the coin at a price fuperior to its real value: but as foreigners will not receive it at that price, the nation gains nothing by this proceeding: it is only a temporary palliative for the evil, without effecting a radical cure. This excefs of value, added in an arbitrary manner to the coin, is a real debt which the fovereign contracts with indiv→duals : and in ftrict juftice, this crisis of affairs being over, that money ought to be called in at the expense of the ftate, and paid for in other fpecie, according to the natural ftandard; otherwife this kind of burthen, laid on in the hour of neceflity, would fall folely on those who received this arbitrary money in payment: which would be unjuft. Befides, experience has fhewn that fuch a refource is deftructive to trade, by deftroying the confidence both of foreigners and citizens, railing in proportion the price of every thing,-and inducing every one to lock up or fend abroad the good old fpecie; whereby a temporary ftop is put to the circulation of money. So that it is the duty of every nation and of every fovereign to abftain, as much as poffible, from fo dangerous an experiment, and rather to have recourfe to $107. Their rights in to extraordinary taxes and contributions to fupport the preffing exigencies of the ftate *. Since the ftate is furety for the goodness of the money and its currency, the public authority alone has the right of coining it. this refpect. Those who counterfeit it, violate the rights of the fovereign, whether they make it of the fame standard and value or not. These are called falfe-coiners, and their crime is jufstly considered as one of the most heinous nature. For if they coin base money, they rob both the public and the prince; and if they coin good, they ufurp the prerogative of the fovereign. They will never be inclined to coin good money, unless there be a profit on the coinage and in this cafe they rob the state of a profit which exclufively belongs to it. In both cafes, they do an injury to the fovereign; for the public faith being furety for the money, the fovereign alone has a right to have it coined. For this reafon the right of coining is placed among the prerogatives of majesty, and Bodinus relates †, that Sigifmund Auguftus, king of Poland, having granted this privilege to the duke of Pruffia, in the year 1543, the ftates of the country paffed a decree in which it was afferted that the king could not grant that privilege, it being infeparable from the crown. The fame author obferves, * In Boizard's Treatife on Coin, we find the following obfervations. "It is worthy of remark, that, when our kings debafed the coin, they kept the circumftauce a fecret from the people :-witnefs the ordinance of Philip de Valois in 1350, by which he ordered tournois Doubles to be coined 2d. 5 gr. fine, which was in fact a debasement of the coin. In that ordinance, addreiling the officers of the mint, he fays, " Upon the oath by which you are bound to the king, keep this affair as fecret as you poffibly can, that neither the bankers nor others may by your means acquire any knowledge of it: for if through you it comes to be known, you fhall be punished for the offence in fuch manner as fhall ferve as an example to others."-The fame author quotes other fimilar ordinances of the fame king, and one iffued by the Dauphin who governed the kingdom as regent during the captivity of king John, dated June 27, 1360, by virtue of which, the mint-masters directing the officers engaged in the coinage to coin white Deniers 14. 12 gr. fine, at the fame time exprefly command them to keep this order secret, and, if any perfons should make inquiry refpecting their standard, to maintain that they were 24. fine." Chap. xxix. The kings of France] had recourse to this strange expedient in cafes of u gent neceflity: but they saw its injuftice.—The fame author, speaking of the debasement of in, or the various modes of reducing ts intrinfic value, fays—“ These expedients are but rarely reforted to, because they give occafion to the exportation or melting down of the good fpecie, and to the introduction and circulation of foreign coin,-raife the price of every thing,-impoverish individuals, - diminish the revenue, which is paid in fpecie of inferior value,-and fometimes put a total ftop to commerce. This truch has been fo well understood in all ages, that those princes, who had recourfe to one or other of these modes of debafing the coin in difficult times, ceafed to practife it the moment the neceflity ceafed to exift. We have, on this fubject, an ordinance of Philip the Fair, iffued in May, 1295, which announces, that, "The king having reduced the coin both in fineness and weight, and expecting to be obliged to make a further reduction in order to retrieve his affairs,-but knowing himself to be, in confcience, refponfible for the injury caused to the ftate by such reduction,-pledges himself to the people of his kingdom, by folemn charter, that, as foon as his affairs are retrieved, he will restore the coin to its proper ftandard and value, at his own private coft and expenfe, and will himself bear all the lofs and wafte. And, in addition to this engagement, Dame Joan, queen of France and Navarre, pledges her reveques and dower for the fame purpose." In his Republic, Book I. Chap. X. that, that, although many lords and bishops of France had formerly the privilege of coining money, it was ftill confidered as coined by the king's authority: and the kings of France at laft withdrew all thofe privileges, on account of their being often abuled. How one nation may From the principles just laid down, it is eafy to conclude, that 108. if one nation counterfeits the money of another, or if the allows and protects falfe-coiners who prefume to do it, fhe does that injure annation an injury. But commonly criminals of this clafs find no other in the protection any-where, all princes being equally interested in exterminating them. article of coin. Of ex There is another custom more modern, and of no lefs ufe to $109. commerce than the establishment of coin,-namely exchange, or change, and the traffic of bankers, by means of which a merchant remits the laws of immenfe fums from ore end of the world to the other, at a commerce, very trifling expenfe, and, if he pleafes, without risk. For the fame reafon that fovereigns are obliged to protect commerce, they are obliged to fupport this cuftom, by good laws, in which every merchant, whether citizen or foreigner, may find security. In general, it is equally the intereft and the duty of every nation to have wife and equitable commercial laws eftablished in the country. CHAP. XI. Second Object of a good Government, to procure the true Happinefs of the Nation. A nation LET us continue to lay open the principal objects of a good $110. government. What we have faid in the five preceding ought to la chapters relates to the care of providing for the neceffities of bour after the people, and procuring plenty in the ftate: this is a point of its own neceffity; but it is not fufficient for the happiness of a nation, happiness, Experience fhews that a people may be unhappy in the midst of all earthly enjoyments, and in the poffeffion of the greatest riches. Whatever may enable mankind to enjoy a true and folid felicity, is a fecond object that deferves the most serious attention of the government. Happiness is the point where centre all those duties which individuals and nations owe to them felves; and this is the great end of the law of nature. The defire of happiness is the powerful fpring that puts man in motion: felicity is the end they all have in view, and it ought to be the grand object of the public will (Prelim. § 5). It is then the duty of those who form this public will, or of those who reprefent it-the rulers of the nation-to labour for the happineis of the people, to watch continually over it, and to promote it to the utmost of their power. To fucceed in this, it is neceffary to inftruct the people to feek felicity where it is to be found, that is, in their own perfection, and to teach them the means of obtaining it. The Lovereign $111. Initiuc tion. 6152. : fovereign cannot then take too much pains in inftructing and enlightening his people, and in forming them to useful knowledge and wife difcipline. Let us leave a hatred of the fciences to the defpotic tyrants of the east they are afraid of having their people inftructed, because they chufe to rule over flaves. But though they are obeyed with the most abject fubmiffion, they frequently experience the effects of difobedience and revolt. A juft and wife prince feels no apprehenfions from the light of knowledge: he knows that it is ever advantageous to a good government. If men of learning know that liberty is the natural inheritance of mankind, on the other hand they are more fully fenfible than their neighbours, how neceflary it is, for their own advantage, that this liberty fhould be fubject to a lawful authority--incapable of being flaves, they are faithful fub jects. The first impreffions made on the mind are of the utmost imEducation portance for the remainder of life. In the tender years of inof youth. fancy and youth, the human mind and heart cafily receive the feeds of good or evil. Hence the education of youth is one of the most important affairs that deferve the attention of the government. It ought not to be entirely left to fathers. The moft certain way of forming good citizens is to found good eftablishments for public education, to provide them with able matters, direct them with prudence, and purfue fuch mild and fuitable measures, that the citizens will not neglect to take advantage of them. How admirable was the education of the Romans, in the flourishing ages of their republic, and how admirably was it calculated to form great men! The young men put themselves under the patronage of fome illuftrious perfon; they frequented his houfe, accompanied him wherever he went, and equally improved by his inftructions and example: their very fports and amufements were exercifes proper to form foldiers. The fame practice prevailed at Sparta; and this was one of the wifeit inftitutions of the incomparable Lycurgus. That legislator and philofopher entered into the most minute details refpecting the education of youth, being perfuaded that on that depended the profperity and glory of his republic. §113. fciences. Who can doubt that the fovereign, the whole nation,Arts and ought to encourage the arts and fciences? To fay nothing of the many useful inventions that strike the eye of every beholder, literature and the polite arts enlighten the mind, and foften the manners: and if ftudy does not always infpire the love of virtue, it is because it fometimes, and even too often, unhappily meets with an incorrigibly vicious heart. The nation and its conductors ought then to protect men of learning and great artists, and to call forth talents by honours and rewards. Let the friends of barbarism declaim against the sciences and polite arts;-let us, without deigning to answer their * See Xenophon, Lacedæmon. Refpublica. vain reafonings, content ourselves with appealing to experience. Let us compare England, France, Holland, and feveral towns of Switzerland and Germany, to the many regions that lie buried in ignorance, and fee where we can find the greater number of honeft men and good citizens. It would be a grofs error to Oppofe against us the example of Sparta, and that of ancient Kome. They, it is true, neglected curious fpeculations, and thole branches of knowledge and art that were purely fubfervient to pleafure and amufement: but the folid and practical fciences, morality, jurifprudence, politics, and war, were cultivated by them, efpecially by the Romans, with a degree of attention fuperior to what we bestow on them. In the prefent age, the utility of literature and the polite arts is pretty generally acknowledged, as is likewife the neceflity of encouraging them. The immortal Peter I. thought that without their affistance he could not entirely civilife Ruffia, and render it flourishing. In England, learning and abilities lead to honour and riches. Newton was honoured, protected, and rewarded while living, and after his death his tomb was placed among thofe of kings. France alfo, in this refpect, deferves particular praife: to the munificence of her kings fhe is indebted for feveral establishments that are no lefs useful than glorious. The Royal Academy of Sciences diffuses on every de the light of knowledge, and the defire of instruction. Louis XV. furnished the means of fending to fearch, under the equator and the polar circle, for the proof of an important truth; and we at prefent know what was before only believed on the ftrength of Newton's calculations. Happy will that kingdom be, if the too general tafte of the age does not make the people neglect folid knowledge, to give themfelves up to that which is merely amusing, and if those who fear the light do not fucceed in extinguifhing the blaze of science! I speak of the freedom of philofophical difcuffion, which is $114. the foul of the republic of letters. What can genius produce Freedom of philofophiwhen trammelled by fear? Can the greatest man that ever lived cal difcuicontribute much towards enlightening the minds of his fellow-fion. citizens, if he finds himself conftantly expofed to the cavils of captious and ignorant bigots,-if he is obliged to be continually on his guard, to avoid being accufed by innuendo-mongers of indirectly attacking the received opinions? I know that liberty has its proper bounds,-that a wife government ought to have an eye to the prefs, and nor to allow the publication of fcandalous productions, which attack morality, government, or the eftablished religion. But yet great care fhould be taken not to extinguith a light that may afford the ftate the most valuable. advantages. Few men know how to keep a juft medium; and the office of literary cenfor ought to be intrufted to none but thofe who are at once both prudent and enlightened. Why fhould they fearch in a book for what the author does not appear to have intended to put into it? and when a writer's thoughts and E difcourfes |