ort to Congress in 1821, 'since our new moneys of account have been
established. The dollar and the cent have become familiarised to the
tongue, but the dime and the mill are so utterly unknown, that now, when
the recent coinage of dimes is alluded to, it is always necessary to
inform the reader that they are ten-cent pieces. Ask a tradesman in any
of our cities what is a dime or a mill, and the chances are four in five
that he will not understand your question.' This, however, we cannot
help considering one of the greatest inconveniences of transatlantic and
continental reckonings. We are accustomed to talk of amounts in as small
numbers as possible; and one of the great advantages we see in decimal
gradations is, that we should never have a number above 9, except in
pounds. There is something not only troublesome but indefinite, in the
idea of ten and twenty in comparison with one and two; and a French
account in francs bewilders us when it amounts to thousands and
millions. Probably the half and quarter francs of France, and the half
and quarter dollars of America, have been the means of exploding the
decimals next below them; and on this ground we differ from those who
plead for the continuance of our present shillings and sixpences, as
half and quarter florins. The shilling is a coin so inseparably
connected with 12 and 20, that no decimal system will obtain while it
exists. It is useless to say, that it would be retained only as a
circulation coin, and not as a denomination in accounts; for so long as
we have it at all, we will certainly reckon from it and by it. For
purposes of common barter, there ought to be a two-cent piece, a
four-cent, and perhaps a seven-cent; and thus we shall be compelled to
_think decimally_. 'If it is worth while to alter at all,' says Mr
Taylor, 'ought we not to go the whole required length, and aim without
timidity at the possession of a scale complete at once within itself,
and so escape an indefinite prolongation of the purgatory of transition?
In a change like the one under consideration, the work of pulling down
an old system is far more difficult than that of building up another,
and every prop must be removed before it will fall.'

With respect to the copper coins, there seems to be no hurry about
disturbing them. It appears that the Dutch stiver and the French sou
have maintained their place in spite of legislation. So, probably, would
the English penny, and properly enough as a