I'm sorry, but if your definition of free market literally includes a government printing money to get rid of its debt (like the Weimar republic did), then your definition is just broken. The 'free' in free market literally refers to governments (or other actors) not interfering in trade. There is no prescribed free market monetary policy, but if you intentionally manipulate the market through monetary policy (as is common policy - the fed's goal isn't only monetary stability, they also account for things like unemployment), it's absurd to blame free markets if this goes wrong.

Using gold as your currency also isn't mercantilism. Mercantilism is about increasing exports while reducing imports. e.g. China today is quite mercantilist, despite not using gold.