Some nations will have as they now have a
preference for Grold for use in the daily transactions
of life, but that they should therefore desire its
employment in their international transactions is I
think a chimera. No merchant will, as it has been
suggested, stipulate that the Bills of Exchange
which he may buy to be drawn on a bimetallic
country shall be payable in Gold. Why should he
do so ? Are Bills on England now paid by transfer
of metal from hand to hand ? Is it really supposed
that the eiFect of the establishment of the Double
Standard in this country would be that a Bill for
£1000 Avould be met by handing to the payee a
sack of 1000 sovereigns, or five sacks of 1000
dollars each? When there really did exist an
appreciable difference between the value of the two
metals, and when it was therefore really of im-
portance which of the two the payee received, is
there any record of a bill being drawn on bimetallic
Paris with such a stipulation on the face of it ?
Doubtless there is none.
V. "A twofold standard once established, any
" great influx of Silver fi-om the mines would dan-
" gerously disturb prices."

It is unquestionable that if England had a
Silver as well as a Gold standard, the working of



71



new mines of Silver, and the production of an
additional quantity of that metal, would have the
result of enhancing prices ; and if tlie quantity
was very large and its production very sudden,
the consequences might be severely felt.
