down and exchange of proper coin from the circles."
By a strenuous effort the three circles carried through the Reichstag of 1680 their resolution to reduce the Reichs thaler to 90 kreutzer (ratio 15 1⁄4). From this decision the Emperor stood apart, with Bavaria and Salzburg, in putting the Reichs thaler at 96 kreutzer.
In view of such contrariety the impossibility Page 200 of any general régime for the empire became apparent, and further attempts at it were practically abandoned. It was the perception by the mercantile community, as well as by the various Governments, of the consequences of such disorder, that led to the establishment of the so-called Leipzig standard in 1690. This standard was promoted by John George III. of Saxony, and established by treaty between Saxony, Brandenburg, and Brunswick-Luneburg. According to it the Reichs thaler was raised to 120 kreutzers, or 2 florins, the mark being minted into 12 thalers or 18 guldens.
The result of the introduction of this standard was that in a few years the raising of the Reichs thaler to 120 kreutzers prevailed all over the empire. Sweden accepted it in the same year, 1690, and three years later the three upper circles acquiesced. At the same time the gold gulden was advanced to 2 florins 56 kreutzers. The previous ratio of 15 was thereby advanced to 15.1 (15 128⁄1278).
In 1738 the Reichstag determined on the adoption of the Leipzig standard for the whole empire; no alteration was made in the Reichs thaler, which was still retained at 2 florins and minted at 12 to the mark