"That the French silver coins be current in the said Island only
according to their intrinsic value, in proportion to the British
crown-piece.

"That the British crown-piece do continue at seventy-one sols; the
half-crown at thirty-five sols and a half; the shilling at fourteen
sols; and the sixpence at seven sols.

"That the French liards be reduced to their old value of two deniers
each; and that the British half-pence be current for seven deniers; and
the farthing for three and a half. And his Majesty doth hereby further
order that the said coins do pass in all manner of payments, according
to the said rates; but that this order shall not take effect till the
expiration of six calendar months from the date thereof; and to the end
that no person may pretend ignorance hereof, the bailiff and jurats of
his Majesty's said Island of Jersey are to cause this order to be
forthwith published, and to take care that it be executed according to
the tenor thereof."

The act of the States and the Order in Council were, to say the least of
them, highly injudicious. The only coin apparently in circulation was
the _liard_, and the accounts were kept in _livres_ and _sous_. The
proportion between the sol and the livre remained unchanged; but it
followed, from the new law, that if a person did not meet his
liabilities within the specified time of six months, his debts were
consequently increased fifty per cent. if he had to pay them in liards;
and he could pay them apparently in no other coin. The value of the
_sol_ relative to the _liard_ was raised fifty per cent.; that is, six
liards were to be estimated as equivalent to one sol, instead of four
liards as heretofore. Now, on what grounds could the States establish
this great difference, when it did not exist in reality? We ascertain
positively by an act of the States of the 21st of December, 1725, that
the real exchangeable difference between the liards, at their estimated
value of four to a sol, and gold and silver coin, was only twelve per
cent. in favour of the latter. The rate of exchange between countries is
not dependent on or regulated by any legislative authority, however
despotic or absolute it may be, but is regulated by the real intrinsic
relative value of the coins in circulation in the two countries; and
hence the rate of exchange, compared with the par of exchange, will show
the depreciation sustained by the circulating medium of a country; for
the difference betw