e livre. There was, in fact, no such
thing as order-money, except for liards, and thus it did not apply to
sous or livres. The value of the liard, as compared to the sou, was, it
is true, changed and regulated; but the relative value of the sol,
compared with the livre, could not be changed or affected thereby; it
remained the same as before. There were twenty sous to the livre: the
coin, the sou in circulation, was not enlarged, or made of more
intrinsic value. Such as it was before, such it remained still. There
was no other sou or livre known or acknowledged in use than the
tournois; and the Order in Council did not substitute any other. The
Order in Council could not, with any degree of fairness or justice, be
supposed to affect those persons who paid their accounts in sous or
livres, or in gold or silver, and not in liards. This was not, however,
the view taken of the Order; and hence the indignation felt; for the
interpretation given, and the claim of fifty per cent. more than was in
fact due, bore the semblance of great injustice.

"The present value in circulation in Jersey of English silver coin will
illustrate my meaning. The shilling passes current for twenty-six sous,
or thirteen pence of old Jersey currency; but the value of the shilling
is not intrinsically or really changed--whether it is called twelve
pence British or thirteen pence Jersey. In either case, a shilling
remains a shilling, a pound sterling a pound sterling, worth twenty of
the shillings, whether called twelve pence or thirteen pence. The
intrinsic value of the coin, of the shilling, is precisely the same; and
its relative value to the sovereign is not in the slightest degree
modified. The only mode of changing the value of a coin is by an
addition of the metal of which it is composed, or by deterioration. If a
coin contains the same quantity of metal of the same standard, it does
not vary in intrinsic value, whatever may be the denomination given to
it, or whatever may be the depreciation of a coin of less value. For the
same reason, whether the sou was called six liards or four liards,
twelve deniers or eight deniers, that made no difference whatever in the
real intrinsic value of the sou or the livre. Persons could not in
justice be compelled to pay their accounts in liards, when the amount
was stated in livres or sous; and hence to oblige them to pay fifty per
cent. more than the amount due, when the amount offered was gold or
silver, li