yet it was that by which the market price of commodities was known. It was the ideal currency of the island, that in which accounts were kept. The actual current money was French; and any variation in its value compared to the livre tournois would have, of course, to be regulated in Jersey.

"Any change in the value or denomination of coins is attended with serious inconveniences, and it may, in some cases, be highly injurious to a large class of the community. This is more likely to be the case when the coins of two countries are adopted; when two different currencies are in circulation; when any variation in the value of the coins of one of these countries takes place, and the relative value, owing to that change, has to be ascertained and determined by a legislative or administrative body. Great caution is required in these matters; and, at a later period, the greatest discontent was caused in Jersey, and even a riot ensued, from an alteration in the value of the currency.

"The States of Jersey, a few years before the arrival of the commissioners, perceiving that the King of France had altered and advanced his several coins, established what they considered an equivalent value between these coins and the moneys in Jersey after the old rates. The difference was about seven per cent. The French crown was advanced to four sous more, the guardesen from fifteen sous to sixteen sous, the teston from fourteen sous and a half to fifteen sous and a half, and the franc from twenty sous to twenty-one sous four deniers tournois. The only money in circulation was French; and the governor claimed the payments due to the Crown in moneys at the old rate. The commissioners were of a different opinion; they said that it would be no prejudice to his Majesty or to the governor if the moneys were received after the new advancements or alteration; and besides, it would be a great contentment to the people of the island to pay the same after the rate or value at which they had received it; but as the commissioners considered that it was a prerogative of the Crown to diminish, alter, or advance any moneys current among his own subjects, they ordered that the relative value of the moneys should continue as regulated by the States, 'until his Majesty's pleasure be known what other course and order in times to come shall be held and kept therein.' This decision of the commissioners was confirmed by the lords; but it is added in the Order, 'that in time to come, because it is a prerogative of his Majesty, and only appertaineth to royal right, to diminish, alter, or advance any moneys current among his subjects, we require that this be not until his Majesty's express consent be thereunto first had and obtained.'"—Le Quesne, page 225.

The following two interesting extracts are from "Charles the Second in the Channel Islands," by S. Elliott Hoskins.[F]

"The Prince of Wales, driven out of England without resources, having nevertheless, at his own cost, to maintain soldiers and sailors; to provide for a host of needy followers; to build fortifications for his protection; and to defray the travelling expenses of the numerous messengers going and coming from all parts, was reduced to great straits at this period. Jersey could supply him but inadequately, and from France he could obtain but slender and uncertain assistance. In order, therefore, to improve the state of his finances, and in some measure to provide for current expenses, it was resolved, at the recommendation of the council, that an establishment for coining bullion should at once be set up.[G] A house was accordingly hired in Trinity parish, Jersey, from one Michael le Guerdain, which was speedily fitted up with furnaces for fusing the precious metals, and with presses and dies for striking and stamping coin, under the direction and superintendence of one Colonel Smith, who was appointed Master of the Mint.

"Chevalier goes on to state that the money herein coined consisted chiefly of pieces resembling English half-crowns, which passed current at thirty sous each. The obverse of these pieces, called St. Georges, was stamped with an effigy of the king on horseback holding a drawn sword in his hand; and the reverse impressed with roses and harps, proper to the royal arms, interlaced with fillets, crosses, and other devices. Some shillings were likewise coined, and besides these a small number of Jacobuses, said to be worth twenty shillings apiece."—Hoskins, Vol. I., page 416.

"Our journalist reverts to the subject of the mint set up in Jersey some twelvemonths before, which at that time promised to become a profitable financial speculation. The manager, Colonel Smyth, he informs us, originally a landed proprietor, and a man of good family in England, had been, before the troubles, master of one of his Majesty's provincial mints, and by virtue of his office an honorary privy councillor. On the breaking out of the civil war he commanded a regiment in the king's service, but, at its termination, fled with hundreds of others into France, from whence he came to Jersey, with his wife and a large train of domestics, during the Prince of Wales's sojourn in that island. Being desirous of exercising his former profession, and, moreover, provided with dies and other coining implements, he succeeded in establishing a mint under his royal highness's sanction and the countenance of the governor, but not, as we shall see, under the patronage of the chancellor of the exchequer.

"In a few months the concern turned out to be an utter failure—partly owing to mismanagement, partly to an alleged scarcity of bullion. Smyth, a person of expensive habits, who kept up an extravagant private establishment, becoming deeply involved, was forced to dispose not only of his household goods, but of the greater part of his machinery, reserving merely the dies he had brought over with him. Towards the end of May he again sought refuge in France, intending, as he said, to send his wife into England to compound for his sequestered estates.

"Chevalier, although he admits that Colonel Smyth, 'étant à Jersey, fit de la monnoie de quoi je ne dis rien,' is a firm believer in the actual existence of a mint from whence were issued coins of gold and silver of legal tender. Misled by his assertions—on all other subjects rigidly accurate—we confidently bestowed considerable time and industry in seeking to obtain specimens of the St. Georges, jacobuses, half-crowns, and shillings, so minutely described, and alleged to have been struck in Jersey. The perusal, however, of the subjoined letter dissipated the illusion—proved that the mint was a Mississippi Scheme, a South Sea Bubble on a small scale, and that the master thereof was little better than a swindling adventurer—thus accounting for the non-existence of the coinage in any numismatic collection:—

"Sir Edward Hyde to Sir Edward Nicholas.

"I will tell you a tale, of which it may be you may know somewhat; if you do not, take no notice of it from me. When we were in Cornwall, Colonel Smyth (who was Sir Alexander Denton's son-in-law, and taken in that house), having obtained his liberty by J. Ashburnham's friendship upon such an exchange (one of the councillors of Ireland) as would have redeemed the best man, came to us from the king at Hereford. To me he brought a short perfunctory letter from