DATE: August 13, 1834

TOWN: Boston

SOURCE: Columbian Centinel

Messrs. Editors -- Your Correspondent T. B. R. says I am in error when I state that if the new Eagles are made to weigh 258 grains standard gold, they will be worth $10.19, instead of $10.00, because, he says, the standard has been changed. I will avail myself of the privilege of a Yankee, and reply to him by asking a question, viz: by what authority has "the standard for all gold coins of the United States," fixed by the law establishing the mint in 1792, "at eleven parts fine, to one part alloy," been reduced 10 and 79-100 parts fine and 1 and 21-1099 parts alloy? Has this been done, as he seems to infer, by the "decision of the Director of the Mint," and by the publication of "Mr. Bicknell's Gold Coin Chart?" I think that neither of these facts are sufficient. Is there any thing in the new law to warrant the change? -- I think not? The first section of the law says that "each Eagle shall contain 232 grains pure, and 258 grains of standard gold -- and that is all that is said of standard gold in that section; and there is in no part of the law anything to designate what is meant by the words "standard gold."  I do not see in this law, any more authority for changing the standard of our coins, than there is for changing the standard of our pounds 12 ounces Troy to 11 ounces Troy.

It seems that the Director of the mint does conform himself strictly to 10th section of the law of 1792, which justifies him in "disencumbering Liberty for her cap," and omitting the "surplus motto, "E pluribus unum," on the new Eagles, so as to create a difference in appearance between them and the old ones. I should think he would also conform to the 12th section of this same law, which defines what is meant by "standard gold" of which the new Eagles are to be made.

I agree that if the standard has been changed, T. B. R. is right; but if not changed by law, then I am not wrong. I therefore maintain my original ground, viz: If the new Eagles weigh 258 grains standard gold, they are worth $10.19. If they weigh 258 grains, and are not standard gold, they are not a legal tender. If they weigh 253 grains standard gold, they are worth just $10; but are not a legal tender, because the law as published in the Globe requires them to weigh at least as much as 258 grains, although it says they must weigh 490 grains, viz: 232 grains pure and 258 standard -- and halves and quarters in proportions. C.