W. C a r e w H a z l i t t Coinage of the European Continent

484 The Coins of Europe
rAmerique Franqoise, and a royalin, 2 royalins, and 4 royalins
for Pondichery. It was apparently the initiative in a policy
which was suspended at the Revolution, but resumed under
Charles X. Louis XV. considerably extended the system,
perhaps at the instance of John Law of Lauriston, the South
Sea Bubbler, and introducer of the copper sol of 1719. In
1717 were issued pieces
of 1 2 deniers for the colonies
generally ;
there are at least three types and various dates ;
and to these succeeded a livre of 20 sols for the East Indies,
a pagode d'or and pieces of 8, 4, 2, and I
royalins, and fanams,
grand fanams, and \ fanams for I
Pondichery, 2 and 6 sols
for the Windward Isles (Isles dn Vent}, 1731, and anepigraphic
uniface copper sols with C crowned for general
colonial use. The latter were first struck in 1764, and occur
countermarked for Tobago, St. Nevis, St. Christopher's, and
other settlements.
Louis XVI. issued a piece of 3 sous in 1781 for general
circulation with Colonies Franchises, of 3 and 2 sous for the
Isles de France et de Bourbon, 1780, 2 and 3 sous for
Cayenne, 1781-89, and a fanam for Pondichery, I787. 1
The
handsomest coin in the whole range
is
undoubtedly the
piastre decaen, 1810, with the imperial eagle crowned and
lies DC France Et Bonaparte on obverse, and the value within
a wreath and date on the other side. It is
generally regarded
as money of necessity, and was struck by General
Decaen, governor of the settlement, probably at a local press.
Almost all the extant specimens are faulty, even where they
are unused. We observe in the legend the substitution of
Bonaparte for Bourbon. The colonial series of Charles X.
and Louis Philippe, like the patterns of 1824, was of
European module, except
a fanam of the latter for Pondichery
in copper, 1836.
The present French Administration has far surpassed its
predecessors in the activity which it has displayed in annexing
territory and assuming or accepting protectorates over
native states, for the whole of which it has been at the pains,
1
The Bank tokens for 50 and 25 sous for the Mauritius, about 1800, in
billon, were probably of local fabrication.