The Medallic History of the United States of America 1776-1876 | Page 4

proper for the before
mentioned medals. A memoir,[2] which has been left in the hands of M.
Barthélémy, one of their members, will give the necessary information.
In addressing so respectable an assembly of literati I do not think
myself permitted to enlarge on the importance of this subject, because
they must know, much better than I can inform them, in how great a
degree such monuments of public gratitude are calculated to produce a
laudable emulation, a genuine love of liberty, and all the virtues of real
patriotism, not only among the innumerable generations who are yet to
people the wastes of America, but on the human character in general.
Nor do I make those apologies for the trouble I am now giving, which
would be requisite, did I not feel a conviction that whatever is
interesting to the national glory of America, to the good of posterity, or
to the happiness of the human race, cannot be indifferent to a society
composed of the most enlightened and liberal characters in Europe,
fostered by the royal protection of a monarch whose name will forever
be as dear to the United States as it will be glorious in the annals of
mankind.
Being so unfortunate as not to be able to write myself in French, my

intimate friend and brave companion in arms, M. le marquis de la
Fayette, has had the goodness to make a translation of this letter into
that language, which I inclose herewith.
I have the honour to be, with the most perfect respect, Sir, your most
obedient and most humble servant, D. HUMPHREYS.
[Footnote 2: I have not been able to find any trace of this memoir in the
archives of the French Academy.]
A letter written by Franklin, about the same time, to John Jay, then
Secretary for Foreign Affairs, is of much interest in this connection:
To the Honourable John JAY, Passy, May 10, 1785. Secretary for
Foreign Affairs.
- - - - -
P.S. The striking of the medals being now in agitation here, I send the
inclosed for consideration.
A thought concerning the Medals that are to be struck by (p. xv) order
of Congress.
The forming of dies in steel to strike medals or money, is generally
with the intention of making a great number of the same form.
The engraving those dies in steel is, from the hardness of the substance,
very difficult and expensive, but, once engraved, the great number to be
easily produced afterward by stamping justifies the expense, it being
but small when divided among a number.
Where only one medal of a kind is wanted, it seems an unthrifty way to
form dies for it in steel to strike the two sides of it, the whole expense
of the dies resting on that medal.
It was by this means that the medal voted by Congress for M. de Fleury
cost one hundred guineas, when an engraving of the same figures and
inscriptions might have been beautifully done on a plate of silver of the

same size for two guineas.
The ancients, when they ordained a medal to record the memory of any
laudable action, and do honour to the performer of that action, struck a
vast number and used them as money. By this means the honour was
extended through their own and neighbouring nations, every man who
received or paid a piece of such money was reminded of the virtuous
action, the person who performed it, and the reward attending it, and
the number gave such security to this kind of monuments against
perishing and being forgotten, that some of each of them exist to this
day, though more than two thousand years old, and, being now copied
in books by the arts of engraving and painting, are not only exceedingly
multiplied but likely to remain some thousands of years longer.
The man who is honoured only by a single medal is obliged to show it
to enjoy the honour, which can be done only to a few and often
awkwardly. I therefore wish the medals of Congress were ordered to be
money, and so continued as to be convenient money, by being in value
aliquot parts of a dollar.
Copper coins are wanting in America for small change. We have none
but those of the King of England. After one silver or gold medal is
struck from the dies, for the person to be honoured, they may be
usefully employed in striking copper money, or in some cases small
silver.
The nominal value of the pieces might be a little more than the real, to
prevent their being melted down, but not so much more as to be an
encouragement of counterfeiting. I am, etc., B. FRANKLIN.
The Academy of Inscriptions and Belles-Lettres "entered on