Joining the 'Europe' and Shrinking the Pound: Britain's Single Currency Debate of the Late 1860s.

Abstract

Though a Royal Commission had rejected Britain joining the Latin Monetary Union, Robert Lowe, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, said he would recommend membership provided three conditions were satisfied. As these included a general adherence to the gold standard, nothing further came of it. But meanwhile there had been a complex public discussion of the subject, and the related topic of shrinking the pound coin so it weighed the same as the 25-france piece. The debate shed much light on the contemporary state of value and monetary theory, and those who supported the changes had much the best of it.single currency, Latin Monetary Union, England, Robert Lowe