Body that appears not to have been Imported by the Register kept for that purpose except the Owner thereof or some Body for him should make Oath that the same is not directly nor indirectly of the knowledge of Him or Owner proceeding from any Coin of England Melted and in case any Bullion at any time was proved to proceed from the Coin of England melted the same to be Confiscated two thirds to the King and one third to the Informer and the Melter thereof to be subject to the Laws already in force in such a Case That no Silver Bullion Standard from the 25th of March 1696 to the 25th of March 1697 be Sold or Bought for more than 6 s. 8 d. and from 1697 to 1698 more than 5 s. 10 d. but if better or worse proportionably to that Price And after the 25th of March 1698 no more than 5 s. an Ounce upon pain of Forfeiting the same two thirds to the King and one to the Informer Whereas in the Two Years Melting Contentions may probably arise about the Brass and Clipt Mony Fourteen Persons skill'd in the knowledge of Coin are to be chosen to be Judges of that and also to change the old Mony for new And during the said Two Years viz. from the 25th of March 1696 to the 25th of March 1698 they shall Mark all the Brass Mony that shall fall into their Hands with a double Punchon and all the Crowns under the Weight of 10 dw with a single Punchon and the Mony so Marked shall not pass but as Bullion Those Fourteen Persons are to be disposed as follows One at the Tower who shall be called General Register-Keeker One about the Royal-Exchange One about White-Hall One at Oxford One at Southampton One at Exeter One at Bristol One at Chester One at Nottingham One at Newcastle One at York One at Colchester In Wales One at Denbigh and another at Caermarthen Who shall be called Mint-Bankers or Changers Those of London shall send every Week the old Coin to the Tower to receive new and those of the Country every Month unless it is thought fit to erect new Mints in several parts of England as it has been done formerly in such a Case And for the Ease of those Bankers and of the Mint too which shall not be able to Coin Mony enough to satisfy those that shall carry in their old Mony all the Sums under 10 l. shall be paid in new Coin but the Sums above that shall be paid in Bills half upon the Bank of England and half upon the Million Bank Therefore all those Mint-Bankers or Changers shall give to the King Security of Ten Thousand Pounds each and each of them may draw at two days Sight upon the General Register-keeper payable in the Banks as far as the said Sum of Ten Thousand Pounds and no more The Banks are to be paid every Month more or less as the new Coin shall be made so that they shall not advance more at one time than 130000l and the Interest thereof shall be paid after the Rate of Three per Cent per Annum And in Consideration of that Advance when the Banks shall carry their old Mony to be exchanged they shall have the benefit of the Coinage weight for weight but they shall tarry Three Months to receive their Payments in new Mony without any allowance of Interest Lastly It is to be considered by the Parliament that if His Majesty by a special Love to his Subjects will take upon him such a good Thing for the Nation He shall be at extraordinary great Charges for two or three Years together Therefore in Consideration that His Majesty shall make good the Loss of the old Coin from 15 Penny-weight to 10 dw for Three-pence for every Penny-weight which will cost him more and also Pay a great many new Officers that shall be employed for that purpose besides the Sixteen-pence Half-penny that he pays for the Coinage of every Pound Weight of Silver to which Expences the Act for Coinage nor any other Benefit arising by this Project can suffice 'T is Necessary that the Parliament should allow Fifty Thousand Pounds a Year for Three Years only and a Register shall be kept at the Tower wherein all the extraordinary Charges shall be entred and the Parliament is to Promise to make the Loss good in case it shall appear by the said Register that the King is a Looser Some Observations upon a Project Presented on the 4th of January 1694 5 to the Right Honourable the Lords of the Treasury by L. G. 1. THose who will be at the pains to peruse my Project with any Attention will easily perceive that I propose 1. To Melt down all the Silver Coins of England 2. To make new Milled Mony 3. To have the said new Milled Mony of the same Standard as the former viz. 11 Ounces 2 dw Fine and 18 dw Allay 4. To have the new Milled Mony of the same Weight at least as the now Milled Mony is viz. The Crown of 19 dw 254833 1000000 parts or 19 dw 8 gr and a half a little more and the Pound Weight or 12 Ounces of Silver Standard to be cut in 62 Shillings 124 Six-pences 186 Four-penny Pieces 372 Two-penny Pieces and 744 One-penny Pieces if thought fit to make such small Silver Pieces which in my opinion it is better to defer till the Nation be supplied with a reasonable quantity of new Crowns Half-Crowns Shillings and Six-pences 5. That the loss of the Owners of the Mony shall be very inconsiderable 6. That they shall bring in their Mony very willingly to be new Coined and 7. That the Diminution of the Numerical Quantity of the old Species will be more than supplied I don't question in the least but that my Project will seem at first to be impracticable but I hope it will appear very possible if carefully examined and especially with the few Remarks here set down 2. I see so many People who declare against the Raising of our Coin that I think it is necessary first of all to acquaint them with the Reasons I have to demand that the new Crowns should be Current for Two Years at 6 s. and 8 d. I have laid down as an Axiom at the beginning of this Writing that the Denomination of the Species of Gold or Silver do not change their Intrinsick Value and that therefore the Nation is neither the richer nor poorer by raising or lowering the Coin I propose then to raise the Crown Pieces to 6s 8d for Two Years for the following Reasons 1. To make the Loss that will arrise by Clipt and Brass Mony less sensible to the Owners thereof 2. That Guineas may fall by degrees from the extravagant Price they have been raised to for if they should fall at once from 30 s. to 21 s. 6 d. as they must do whenever we have good Silver Mony and its Price fixed at 5 s. an Ounce it would be a great Loss to
raised to 5 l. 6 s. 8 d. which is the proportion of Silver to 6 s. 8 d. an Ounce the Gold Standard Coined or not Coined esteemed a like by reason that Gold esteemed 16 times the value of Silver Weight for Weights is the highest Rate that ever was Space of 2 years to reduce the Gold to the Proportion of Silver Price of the Ounce of Gold Weight of Guineas and half Guineas Price of ditto Guineas c. From March 25. 1696 to September 25. 1696. 5 l. 6 s. 8 d. Gui. Dw. gr 5. 9. half Guineas Dw. gr 2-16-½ 1 l. 8 s. 8 d. 0 l. 14 s. 4 d. From Septem 25. 1696 to March 25. 1697. 5 l. 0 s. 0 d. Guineas ditto half Guinea ditto 1 l. 6 s. 10 d. ½ 0 13 5 ¼ From March 25. 1697. to September 25. 1697. 4 l. 13 s. 4 d. Guinea ditto half Guinea ditto 1 l. 5 s. 1 d. 0 12 6 ½ From Septem 25. 1697 to March 25. 1698. 4 l. 6 s. 8 d. Guinea ditto half Guinea ditto 1 l. 3 s. 3 d. ½ 0 11 7 ¾ From March 25. 1698 and thenceforth 4 l. 00. s. 0 d. Guinea ditto half Guinea ditto 1 l. 1 s. 6 d. 0 10 9d A New PROPOSAL to Melt down all the Old Hammer'd Mony of England and make New Coin of the same Standard and Price as the present Milled Mony is and to supply the Loss arising by Clipt Mony 1. THAT by Act of Parliament the Price of Silver Standard be fixed at Five Shillings an Ounce and that the Price of Gold never exceeds above sixteen times the value of Silver Weight for Weight 2. that the Milled Crowns Half-Crowns Shillings Six-pences Four-Pences Two-pences and Penny-pieces of Charles II. Iames II. William and Mary and William continue to be current as they are now viz. the Crown at 5 s. and the other Pieces proporâ—â—onably 3. That from the first of Ianuaâ—â— 1695 and thenceforth no Crown piecâ— or its value in Half-Crowns Shillingâ— c. that ought to Weigh 19 dw 8 gr and a half and shall weigh under 15 dw Half-Crowns 7 dw 12 gâ— Shillings 3 dw and Six-penny Pieceâ— 1 dw 12 gr be taken in Payment and cease from that day to be Current Mony of England 4. That from the first of Ianuary 1695 to the first of Iune 1696 all the old Crown pieces that shall weigh 15 dw or above Half-Crowns 7 dw 12 gr Shillings 3 dw Six-pences 1 dw 12 gr so that One Hundred Pounds of that Mony should weigh 300 Ounces or Twenty five Pounds be taken in Current Payment for the Price they were made for but after the First of Iune 1696 no old Coin of England except the Milled Mony of Charles II. Iames II. William and Mary and William be taken but as Bullion after â—he rate of Five Shilings an Ounce 5. That the said old Pieces or Bulâ—ion be taken at the Mint or by the Changers as by my first Proposal and that the Owners thereof receive a new â—or old Milled Crown or its value in Milled Half-Crowns Shillings c. for every Ounce Weight of old Coin Standard And in case the Mint or Changers should want new Coin to Exchange the old it shall be lawful for the Mint or Changers when any great Sum shall be brought to them to be Exchanged to pay the Owners thereof Ten Pounds in new Milled Mony and to give them for the rest a Bill payable to the Bearer upon the Bank of England or the Million Bank which shall be repaid in 3 Months time as by the first Proposal 6. And to supply the Loss that should happen by reason of the difference of the Estimation of the Clipt Mony by Tale and its Estimation by the Ounce it shall be deliver'd Notes upon the said two Banks answering thâ— said Loss to be exchanged with Bank Bills bearing Interest of Two-pence a Day for one Year provided that the said Notes do not exceed the Sum of 250000 l. upon each Bank That is to say that if a Man brings to the Mint an Hundred pound of Clipt Mony that ought to Weigh Four Hundred Ounces and shall Weigh but 200 or 50 Pounds the said Man shall receive Ten pounds in new Coin and Forty pound in Bills upon the Banks payable to the Bearer and for the other Fifty that would be Loss to him were it not provided for he shall receive a Note for the same upon the same Banks which shall be exchanged with Bank Bills bearing Interest of Two-pence a Day for one Year 7. And for the Re-payment of the said Banks it shall be provided by the Parliament a sufficient Fond to re-pay in One Years time the Sum of Five Hundred Thousand Pounds and Thirty Thousand Pounds more for the Interest thereof after the Rate of Six per Cent. 8. To Encourage those who have Plate or Foreign Bullion to carry it to the Mint to be Coined such persons are to have the Benefit of Coinage which is 3â…“ or 3¼ per Cent. viz. Weight for Weight Standard Silver and Gold 9. And to prevent people from Melting the old Coin to carry it afterwards to the Mint to receive the Advantage of 3¼ or 3â…“ per Cent. which Benefit is designed to help to bear the Charges of the clipt Mony All Bullion that shall not be Marked at the Tower as it is largely expressed in my First Proposal shall be deemed Coin of England Melted and for that Reason esteemed 3â…“ per Cent. worse than Standard and for such taken accordingly at the Mint 10. Now to supply in part the Loss that will happen to the Publick by reason of the Clipt Mony which will amount to Fifteen Hundred Thousand Pound or thereabouts as it will appear by a Computation hereunto annexed I have thought fit to propose the following New Million Adventure 1. There will be delivered a Hundred Thousand Tickets at Ten Pound a piece in the same way as they were delivered in the first Million Adventure 2. Old Crown-pieces Half-Crowns Shillings Six-pences c. though clipped under the degree adove-mentioned shall be taken for Tickets provided Ten Pounds of that Clipt Mony weigh together Fifteen Ounces tho' they ought to weigh Thirty Eight Ounces 14 dw 4 gr 3. Twenty Pounds of Counterfeited Mony shall be judged Equivalent to Ten Pound of Clipt Mony and taken for one Ticket unless the said Counterfeited Mony should be extraordinary bad which must be left to the Discretion of those whose who shall be appointed to deliver Tickets 4. In Consideration of the said Million arising by an Hundred Thousand Tickets at Ten Pound a piece it will be provided a Fond of an Hundred and Twenty Thousand Pound a Year which shall be divided into Prizes and Blanks as follows  l. l. 1 Of the Yearly Rent of 500 500 2 of 250 500 2 of 150 300 20 of 100 2000 30 of 50 1500 65 of 20 1300 380 of 10 3800 2000 of 5 10000 2500 First and last
many Tradesmen and other People because for this Twelve-Month past we have seen hardly any other Mony but Guineas 3. Because People are already disposed to it and had it not been for an Act of Parliament they would have certainly raised the Milled Crowns thereabout to that price proportionably to the price of Gold 4. I have fixed it to 6 s. 8 d. rather than to 6 s. 6 d. without any other Mystery but because that price is devisible by equal quantities of Pence Farthings and accommodated to the present denominations of Crowns Shillings c. and also to the Species of Gold 3. As to the First Article of my Project wherein I say there is about one third part of our Coin lost by Clipping I know that some Ingenious Men are of another opinion and that they pretend that there is abundance of old Mony unclipt hoarded up I wish it may prove so but that is so far from being an Objection to my Project that it makes it more easy I own I have supposed the thing at the worst but a Table hereunto annexed will make it more plain and therein I have calculated how many Ounces of Silver we want to make good the Loss When I Presented my Project to the Lords of the Treasury I supposed there was but Four Millions and a half of Silver Mony in England but upon better Information I have thought I might suppose Five 4. I demand two Years time to melt down all the old Silver Coin of England and to make the new for the following Reasons 1. Because it is difficult to have Mints enough to do it in a shorter time 2. Supposing there should be Mints enough yet it would be necessary to allow two Years time for if there was but one allowed the price of Silver which must fall gradually should fall too suddenly viz. every Six Months and so the Inhabitants of the remotest Counties from London should hardly have time enough to be acquainted with it 3. I grant that there is no time to be lost in this Affair but too great a Precipitation may be liable to as great Inconvenience as a Delay and after all People must have time to carry their old Mony to the Mint and the Mint must have time to Coin it It will be well enough if we are in the mean time supplied with new Coin for Sums not exceeding 10 l. and Bills upon the Banks for greater ones by the Changers as it is in my Proposal for this answers all our wants 5. It is just and more convenient that the Mint should take the old Coin rather by Weight than by any other way and it will be a greater Satisfaction for the King and the Nation that in the Books appointed for that purpose at the Mint or in the hands of the Changers there should be several Columns whereof one should be for the Weight and the others for the old Estimation in Pounds Shillings and Pence 6. It is proposed that the old Mony be taken in Current Payments at a certain Rate the better to carry on our Trade till we have new Mony enough 7. I suppose the new Crown to weigh a full Ounce though I know it does weigh only 19 dw 8 gr and a half which makes an Allowance of about 3 and one third per Cent for the Melting and the Stamp so that if a Pound Weight of Silver Standard valued at Three Pound is cut as it is usual in 62 Shillings a Pound and eight Ounces of Silver which will cost but 5 l. will make 103 Shillings and Four-pence in Number though they be but of the same weight I say that an old Crown weighing 15 dw is to be Current and taken at the Mint for Five Shillings which is a necessary Consequence from what I said at first concerning the Price of Silver for if a new Crown weighing an Ounce is worth 6 s. 8 d. an old Crown of Silver Standard of 15 dw must by the same reason be worth 5 s. 8. Silver is the Center of Trade and all things in the World either Lands Houses Goods Diamonds and other Commodities are but its Circumference so that if the price of Silver is not fixed 't is impossible to make a just Estimation of Commodities as it is impossible to say how far the Circumference is from the Center if the Center be not fixed 'T is then highly necessary to fix the price of Silver in Quantity Quality and Estimation either Coined or not Coined The price of Quantity of Silver not Coined is fixed in England by the Weight of a Pound containing 12 Ounces Troy the Ounce of 20 dw and the dw of 24 gr The price of Quantity of Silver Coined is fixed from a number of Pieces that the King orders to be cut from a Pound Weight of Silver as 12 Crowns 62 Shillings c. The price of Quality of Silver not Coined is fixed by the Assay that is made to know whether it is better or worse than Standard And of Silver Coined by the Standard of the same which is 11 Ounces 2 dw Fine 18 dw Allay The price of Estimation of Silver Coined is fixed by Publick Authority being ordered that a Crown Piece weighing 19 dw 8 gr ½ be esteemed Five Shillings c. But the price of Estimation of Silver not Coined is not fixed in England and I think it is absolutely necessary to fix it As to the Price of Quantity and Quality of Silver I believe it would be very difficult if not impossible to fix it in a better way than it is now and besides the least Alteration in this Case would be liable to many Inconveniences but as to the Price of Estimation of Silver not Coined I see no reason why it should it be Arbitrary rather than the Estimation of Silver Coined and if it be prohibited to sell a Crown weighing 19 dw 8 gr that is to say within a small matter of an Ounce above Five Shillings I would fain know why an Ounce of Silver not Coined of the same Standard as the Crown should be sold for Six Shillings and Six-pence As long as the thing continues so there is no doubt but the Goldsmiths will melt down all the Milled Mony that falls into their hands for the Profit is clear But if the Price of Estimation of Silver not Coined is once fixed and that it be prohibited to sell or buy above the Price set upon it by Law they may sell it under if they please and that the Estimation of the Silver Coined be proportionable to it which are inconsiderable difference for the Stamp of 3 ¼ or 3 ⅓ per Cent. as it is now we need not fear that our Coin will be melted down no Body shall have the least Temptation towards it and the Reason is very plain for Silver in Ingot will be then as cheap and cheaper as the Silver Coined of 3⅓ per Cent. This is enough to shew how necessary it is to fix the