I have in another place made a study of the documents and debates
which preceded and led up to the French Monetary Law of 1803 (see
_Political Science Quarterly_, June, 1891). The substance is that these
learned and patriotic men, without exception, considered a double
standard impossible and any attempt to establish it disastrous.
They accordingly determined to establish, and thought that they had
established, the single silver standard by a law, the first paragraph
of which reads as follows:
“General provision.--Five grams of silver, nine-tenths fine,
constitute the monetary unit which retains the name of franc.”
But they were confronted by the fact that gold was an indispensable
part of the monetary system. How to retain it in the circulation as a
subordinate metal while making silver the sole standard was the great
puzzle of the day. No less than eight important papers were drawn up
from time to time on this question, and no decision was ever reached
except to allow gold to be coined at the French mint at the ratio
of 15½ to 1, with the understanding that if the market ratio should
change, the gold, but not the silver, should be recoined.
Such was the law of 1803. Although it was the intention of the
lawmakers to establish the single silver standard, the clause which
they introduced allowing the coinage of gold was the same thing in
effect as re-enacting Calonne’s law of 1785. It was in practice, though
not in intention, a bimetallic law at the ratio of 15½ to 1.
Almost immediately after its enactment France plunged into wars which
lasted till 1815. Of course, the nation had very little time to
think about her coinage laws. Gradually the price of gold rose above
the legal ratio, and that metal was exported to such an extent that
Chevalier tells us that “twenty-five years after that date [1803] the
circulation consisted of silver only.” Abundant proofs can be adduced
showing that bimetallism did not exist in practice in France between
1820 and 1847. Mr. Griffen has published a table showing the premium on
gold in Paris during every month of that period. This premium was at
times as high as two per cent. The contention of the bimetallists that
the French law of 1803 kept the ratio steady at 15½ till 1873 is not
supported by facts.