to forty five and thence to sixty Pence the Ounce and this last happen'd in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth from which time to this day there has not been I take for granted the least Reformation made in the Mint by any solemn Publick Act of State Q. I desire to be inform'd what the Motives might be for so many Alterations as you have enumerated for methinks wise Men should not alter and determine in a Case of this Magnitude without some very well-grounded Reasons Ans I confess I am to seek for a solid Reason for their so doing unless it were to propagate the Species and so spread it wider among the People by mincing it into so many lesser Parts to the end every Body how poor soever might share in the Pleasure of possessing it go to Market with more ease and manage their common Traffick with less difficulty for when a Pullet was sold for a Peny what Species of current Coin could be found to buy a thing that was not worth the twentieth part of a Pullet I cannot guess for it is plain we go to the Shops and the Market at this day to purchase sundry things for our Money that are not the twentieth or the fortieth part of the value of a Pullet and we have no Reason to conclude but our Fore-fathers did the same Wherefore I must give you this for my best Reason till I can be furnish'd with a better Q. Would there be any good or harm in changing on by enacting for Example that the Ounce of Standard Silver that now is establish'd at sixty Pence should be rated at seventy or eighty Pence and so forward as Reason may seem to suggest Ans If you only mean barely the subdividing your Ounce of Silver into lesser Particles and do not intend by this Question to put a value of your own making upon the Ounce of your Standard Silver for that will be the Subject of another great Question then I think it would only beget a good deal of Trouble and Intricacy in Business and Accounts now that the Nation is grown so deeply ingag'd in Foreign Trade and Commerce Other good or harm I see none in it for our Coin is now cast and establish'd into so low a Denomination that the poorest People have none of those Impediments in their Dealings which heretofore might be thought to vex and incumber them when their Peny was the twentieth part of an Ounce which is now grown to be the sixtieth and when that was the lowest current Silver Coin saving only that in those days People for their convenience divided that Peny either by breaking it or by Scissors dividing it into four parts which Species of Money tho' now almost quite worn out and extinct has yet within our Memory been pretty plenty and that was our old thin blind Groats which I believe and think I have some reason so to do were for the most part those original Pence or Denarius's that were coin'd while the Peny continu'd to be the twentieth part of an Ounce and obtain'd to be called Groats perhaps from the old Saxon or Danish word Grott which is great that is the great Peny to distinguish it from the latter Peny which was so much less Q. How long think you silver-Silver-Money which is in continual use and circulation may last For it is plain it wears and grows lighter by motion and usage and at length without clipping or diminishing by Art will wear out of it self and become too light to pass Ans My Answer to the foregoing Question may be a sort of solution to this namely that if those Groats were the old Peny it is near Four hundred Years ago since that Species was last coin'd but this depends much upon the size of your Coin and the quantity of current Money in Stock and Use and other Circumstances of no great moment to mention here Q. I think however one good Vse may be made of this Observation and that is to calculate from thence a little more or less by what Proportions current Money may waste and at length be worn out for 't is plain that by the bare usage telling and motion in its Circulation it will diminish and at a long run be consum'd Whence we gather that if there were no other way to destroy it there must be a supply from abroad to obviate that Evil how little soever it may seem Wherefore I pray give me your Opinion therein Ans If that be the use you would make of this Query and you but grant me leave to state the Question on the Proportion of our Moneys wearing out in the space of four hundred years then it is visible that your Stock of Money without a proportionable Recruit will without any other cause be totally extinct within that space of time and so by Calculation it will be found to waste after the Rate of a quarter per Cent. per Annum that is five Shillings in the hundred Pounds but then you must suppose it to be all small Money as there is reason to believe it was in those Days for I do not know whether Crowns Half-crowns Shillings and Six-pences are above two hundred Years old if so much by which Proportion at least it is found I say that your Money must be repair'd to keep the Balance even And by this reckoning too we may gather that our Money naturally and necessarily wastes one eighth part as much as some Nations take for the Interest of their Money Q. Have there not been other kinds of Regulations and Changes made in our Mint besides those you have mention'd Ans Yes several but let it suffice to mention only one in King Henry the Eighth's time which Prince by his Profusions in pompous Living Spectacles and vain Wars being driven to great Streights for want of Money which the Nation could by no means supply That Prince was made to believe that he might be a very great Gainer by embasing his Coin namely for Example-sake for I am not sure of the Proportion by the allowing but Nine Peny worth of fine Silver to the Shilling and supplying the rest with Allay and then telling the People by his Proclamation that the new Shilling which was intrinsically worth but Nine Pence should pass for as much as the other Shilling which was worth Twelve Pence by which means he would save or gain five and twenty per Cent in the payment of his Debts and in the pay of his Armies and the like his Fleets c. Q. What Objection does there lie against such a Project when the streights of a Prince or State are pressing Ans There are manifold Objections so manifest so just and of so great moment that it would be tedious to enumerate them which that Prince soon saw and endeavour'd to reform his Error First a Prince or State that yields to such Councils is a Bankrupt and like a broken Citizen compounds for his Debts at five Shillings in the Pound loss
to his Creditors and by his or their Proclamation publishes That all Creditors whatsoever shall lose one fourth part of what is justly owing them all Landlords one fourth part of their Arrears of Rent and all Leases for Years to come to name no more shall lose one fourth part of their Value which as it would be very unrighteous and a most grievous Injustice so the Cure which such a Practice might be thought to give to the Disease would become a much greater Malady and prove no other than a senseless Chimera and crude Notion in the addle Head of the Projector Q. But will not the Publick Stock of Money by such an Act of State be increas'd proportionably And shall not we then buy for Nine Pence what before cost us a Shilling And if so is this a small Benefit A. You are under a mistake for your Shillings wou'd 'tis true be twelve Shillings then for nine there was before but then you don't reflect that these twelve new Shillings will buy no more Bread and Beef in the Market than nine Shillings did when your Money was five and twenty per Cent. better so that over and above the Folly not to say Iniquity of such an Act there are these further Evils attending it as Namely when your Money is commanded to be coin'd and currant at the rate of one quarter more than it is intrinsically worth all your Neighbours round about you will Coin and furnish your Money from abroad every ill Man will be Coining it at home and Coin none but legal Money neither if they please because the Profit will be great without going farther While yet the Temptation of greater gain would be likely further to prevail by debasing your Money yet lower and lower which they may do without much danger of Suspicion because when once the publick Money comes to be so impoverish'd with allay the Beauty and Complexion of your Coin is lost and then an additional Fraud of three four or five per Cent is not so easily discern'd by which means in process of time the whole Mass of National Money shall be in danger of being impoverish'd into Counters Furthermore all this sort of Money which you shall Coin your selves you shall loose by in the Coinage after the Rate of Five and Twenty per Cent which is easie to conceive by observing to you that the labour and charge in the Manufacturage of your new Shilling which is worth but Nine Pence is equal to that of your old Shilling which was worth Twelve Pence so that it plainly appears that one quarter per Cent. of the charge of the Coinage is thereby lost Wherefore computing your Coinage at the rate only of Two per Cent. you will be damnified in the charge of the Manufacture or Re-Coinage of five Millions of Money the sum of five and Twenty Thousand Pounds at least In short such a mistaken Act of Regulation will in my humble Opinion amount to little less than a Law to make Clipt Money pass for it wou'd be tantamount The Species of Gold and Silver wou'd by this means by degrees vanish from among us and what farther mischiefs to the State such an Act might produce a little time would tell us Q. One Question begets another You lay a great deal of Stress I perceive on your Notion of Intrinsic Value wherein tho' you have already spoken to very good purpose yet I must pray you to assist me farther in my Notion of it in our present Case Ans I would not multiply Words nor confound you with Terms and abstracted Notions of Intrinsic and Extrinsic but come briefly to my Answer which I will now limit to the single Question of Money that being our Theme pursuant to which I reply That Gold and Silver for the Reasons I have delivered in my general Discourse of Coin have obtain'd universally to be the Matter whereof to make and coin Publick Money because those two Metals are every where more esteem'd and when fashion'd into Money there lying more worth in less room than in other Metals is thence more adjusted to the Uses of Motion and Circulation and therefore more proper and aiding towards the Ends of general Commerce for the sake whereof and for no other purpose I conceive it to have been invented and establish'd in the World I say Gold and Silver is all the World over of more value and prefer'd to most other things and Men will give you more in exchange of any other Commodity which shall be of greater bulk weight or measure than either of these two Species contain in themselves and if this adds any thing to what I have already said namely That whatever has most worth lying in least room will be generally understood to be specifically more valuable then Coin made of Gold and Silver does every where contain most Intrinsic Value Which Repetition perhaps may seem superfluous Q. By this Corallary drawn from your general Axiome that Money now adays must have its due Intrinsic Value I infer that the more Allay you put into your Coin or the less Gold or Silver it contains the less valuable it will be in the Eye of the World and that it is not the calling a piece of Money a Shilling by a Proclamation that will work any Effect but that if your Coin be made generally base or light it will be rated accordingly where it will go for no more than what it is intrinsically worth notwithstanding any Edict to the contrary For tho' it is in the Power of the Prince or State to call a piece of Money a Crown or a Shilling and to make it Penal for the Subject to refuse it for such yet we may safely presume that such an Act of State can never be thought to influence the Seller of any Commodity who will be still left at liberty to vaalue it according to its real worth Do I conceive you right or no Ans You do and the Reason is very plain for Money is the Rule of Commerce and Commerce is become universal but it cannot be a Rule if it be not equally calculated and rectify'd to the Use of the general Good which is the Honour Profit Ease and Tranquillity of the State Q. Explain a little more your meaning by calling Money the Rule of Commerce Ans 'T is a Rule because Reason suggested and Custom has establish'd it such and without this Rule Trading People would be ever in the dark and not know how to make one regular Step in their Business and consequently the majority of Mankind would have little or nothing to do without their own Boundaries Q. Open it further by some Instance or other of Fact Ans Let it be thus then A Spanish Merchant observing here in England that Colchester Bays are at such a Price and has a mind to send a Parcel into Spain where that Commodity is in request but that he may be under some certainty he writes to his Correspondent in that
Proprety is every Freeman's own who has a right to sell it for what it is worth and how that is calculated I have endeavour'd to explain The next thing to be sought in this Enquiry is the Value cumparatively of Gold and Silver with other things which are bought with Money namely how it comes to pass that just so much Money or such a quantity of Gold or Silver a little more or less comes to be a competent Price for such Things or Commodities as we need and which to supply our Necessities we are oblig'd to goe to Market for and Purchase with Money This Query is in like manner best resolv'd by an Example which may shew us in one view how the Value of Money comes to be regulated to such a Proportion with other Species so as to be consistent with the Ends and Uses of Traffick and Intercourse to which Purpose it was Originally instituted It is not hard to suppose that a Thousand Men with their Wives and Families should transport themselves by agreement to some Spot or Island as History tells us the Venetians did and others have done invited by the Fertility and Bounty of the Soil and Climate which might be made to yield every thing needful for the supply of their Necessities We may farther easily imagine that a due Proportion of People of all useful Professions were forted and chosen by joynt Consent whereof to form and compose this little Body of a Republick every one as it chanc'd carrying with him what Treasure he had which Treasure in order to their Establishment is cast into a Common Bank and destin'd to the Use of the Community This Colony we can grant plants its self where they have no Intercourse or Communication with the rest of Mankind but must live on their own Stock and he sustain'd and supply'd by their Labour and the Fruit of their own Industry Now 't is plain That with reasonable Men the first thing they would go about would be to deliberate how by Laws and Institutions to establish themselves so as to live at their best Ease They know the Use of Money whereof they have a certain Stock in Bank which being never likely to increase nor as it may be manag'd is it absolutely necessary to their Happiness that it should wherefore they devise how to make this Stock of Treasure be it more or less to become a certain Fund for Perpetuity whereon to establish their common Intercourse in order to which what is more obvious than first to reckon and determine how many Species of Things and no more are or shall be necessary to be had or us'd for their simple and commodious Subsistence Next they will calculate what Quantity will be necessary of each respective Kind And Thirdly They will find the comparative value of these Species one with another which is known by the labour each Thing will cost to make and it fit for their Use For I observe that every Man's Day-labour must produce his daily Subsistence or the Community at a long run must dissolve This being known and establish'd the next Step which is very easie to make is to calculate from the respective Ages of the People whereof our little Body-Politick is compos'd a mean proportional Expence of the abovesaid Species per Annum necessary to one single Member thereof that is how much Labour it will cost to produce all those Particulars that any one single Person shall need or be permitted to consume or expend within the circuit of one Year to which Revolution I the rather limit it because within that space the Earth yields her Increase and the ordinary Changes of Things happen and it being the great Period by which Time it self is measur'd This being obtain'd and your Stock of Treasure known will produce a Rule that will amount to a Demonstration for assigning a Value to your Money Admit then for Evidence-sake that your Number consists of Ten thousand Souls this Ten thousand People will by your Calculation consume a known and certain Quantity of the abovesaid several Species which will cost such a Proportion of Man's Labour to produce now upon examination into your Treasure we will suppose you find just Two hundred thousand Pounds in Bank divide your Two hundred thousand Pounds Cash by Ten thousand which was the Number of your People at that time and the Quotient will be Twenty which is twenty Pounds in Money which twenty Pounds must inevitably answer for and be equivalent to the Labour of any one caeteris paribus per An. then upon reducing your Year into Days the Product will be about Ten Pence per Diem and so much was the Day-labour of one Man worth at that time that is while your People and your Treasure hold this Proportion one with another wherefore by this Rule every Member of this Community has a right to receive Twenty Pounds out of the common Stock to be inabled to bring the Year about Which will beget a constant intelligible Circulation of your Coin by you intended to answer all the Ends of Traffick and Intercourse within the circuit of the Year But your People you will say in so healthful a Soil and Climate where neither the Sword Plague or Famine is likely to diminish them will soon by the course of Nature multiply but your Treasure cannot and in such Case how will your Money which was but just enough before suffice then The Answer to this Objection is easie and will shew us at once the chief Causes of the rising and falling of Money that is the Dearth or Plenty of the Species of Things which happens in the wide World where Government comes to be relax'd and Chance for the most part Rules where Necessity which is blind stumbles on Remedies and Expedients next at hand to redress the Evils of our Mismanagement or want of Foresight But by our Hypothesis there can never happen any such thing as dear and cheap plenty and scarcity of Money which I thus prove I say that your Treasure which is Two hundred thousand Pounds and which is not to increase or diminish is by this Contrivance and Calculation plainly rendred a sufficient Fund to answer all the Ends of Intercourse in this little Republick of Ten thousand People but your stock of Money being impossible to increase and very probable that our Numbers of People should what Expedient can be found to get over this Objection since by our Calculation the Money you have in Bank is but just enough for the Uses of your present Numbers Thus I say this seeming Difficulty is obviated after the Revolution of one Year you make a Census and upon the Roll you find your People increas'd one in Ten Hereupon by the same Calculation and Rule of Proportion you plainly find that Nine Pence this Year in Money must inevitably be worth purchase and buy in the Market whatsoever the last Year cost ten Pence and so if your Numbers come to double that
which originally cost a Shilling must then cost but Six Pence The like Rule serves in Case of the dimunition of your People by which means your Money shall by exact Methods of Proportion be preserv'd in a due and perpetual Balance with the Species it is to purchase and the Price of Labour by the same Rule regulated and duly stated and your Stock of Treasure by this means becomes an everlasting unexhaustible Fund to answer all the Uses of the Government And there is no doubt but by this manner of Calculation or some way like it the Law of Assize was found and establish'd whereby every needful thing was yearly rated and set at a certain Price which in frugal States is still practis'd and it were to be wish'd it were every where more in Fashion I am well aware that Projectors Mony-mongers Bank-Brokers and petty Dealers in Politicks will be apt to take this Argument by the wrong Handle and be very earnest and in pain to shew me a thousand Errors in my Hypothesis but these Gentlemen may please to understand that as I am not conscious of any Talents in the Politicks so neither is it my Purpose to wade in so deep Water a depth I know so much above my head let it suffice that by this Scheme of a little State where Religion Justice Innocence Temperance and Industry are the Basis the Building may stand and Rules may be calculated to a Demonstration for its Perpetuity And the farther Men wander by Ambition Violence Luxury Avarice Sloth and the like Irregularities from the Innocence and Simplicity of this Original the harder it is to conceive and propound Remedies for the Evils such Errors produce Wherefore as we know an Unite to be the beginning and simplest of Numbers yet find too that it is the Basis of the Pyramid on which Arithmetick it self stands and is sustain'd so upon the simplest and least compounded Government the Unite as I may say of a State unmix'd and clean from all Infection of the Corruptions of humane Frailty we can best build our Speculations when we have a mind to amuse our selves on the Subject of Laws and Government because 't is to that Fountain alone which we can safely resort for Succours in the greatest streights of our Meditation deriving so much Light from the Reason and Evidence contain'd in a simple sound regular Form of State which is governable and durable to a Demonstration I say we may be best aided in our Notions by reference to this Original when our Thoughts are busied about any other Form how diversify'd distress'd or diseas'd soever And for this Reason and no other have I conceiv'd and produc'd this Pattern which serving my Purpose to exemplifie the Facility of obtaining a due understanding of my Subject of Money alone affords no just Latitude for Criticks to busie themselves about any collateral Reflections From this principal Rule then being taught to make a general Judgment of Money its Nature Use and Properties we may with ease be supply'd with Reasons sorted to every incidence of that Subject as namely to mention a few why Labour heretofore in England was worth but a Penny a Day which now is ten or twenty times that Value Why an Ox that was then sold for a Noble is now worth Ten or Fifteen Pounds How it came to pass that such numerous Armies were heretofore pay'd and sustain'd when Money was so hard to find and the like so that in short by this clew we may be conducted through all the Labyrinths of our dark and intricate Subject and from the right Knowledge of the Causes be inabled to take better aim in our Deliberations about the Effects for as Mankind grew to swerve from those first few rules which were adjusted to the simplicity of Original Government the love of Ease which is natural Labour being a kind of pain which we willingly shun introduc'd Violence the stronger compelling the weaker to Labour while he liv'd at his Ease Sloth and Idleness thus indulg'd begat a taste of Pleasure Pleasure fructify'd into Luxury and Excess This gave up the Reins to the Empire of the Passions which multiply'd by the Power they gain'd and became so many Tyrants and Task-Masters which at this day Rule with so much Cruelty over Mankind and is the Sourse of all those Vices Impieties and Misrule which at this Day infect the World And how various and diversify'd how jarring and discordant soever they may be amongst themselves do nevertheless all combine and unite in the single Service of this one Idol Money whose Mysteries in such a Babel of worship we are not to wonder should be so hard to unfold By these Incroachments then upon the Liberties of right Reason through the growth and corruption of our Appetites which begat so many deviations from the first Standard simple Maxims of Government here by me for Illustration sake propounded we may by Analogy and Comparison be furnish'd with Helps in our Judgment on every Doubt about this intangled Subject As the Jews heretofore had recourse to the Sanctuary where all their Original Standards of Coins Weights and Measures were lodg'd and from that Reason I suppose they were call'd the Shekel the Balance and the Cubit of the Sanctuary Pursuant then to our Method let us inquire what can be thought to disturb the Tranquility of our little Common-wealth To which I answer That nothing humanly speaking but a departing from or a relaxation of that Strictness of Order and Discipline on which their Prosperity was founded And this may spring from infinite Causes but I will instance only one or two and first by Ambition from without or within by invading of their Neighbours or by their invading them This arises from Injustice which infers Hostility and Hostility introduces Violence of every kind whereby the Balance becomes broken and the Harmony of our little State threatned with Dissolution But to go no further than one single abstracted instance of this Vice of Ambition let us suppose a tenth part of the Number which composes our Colony to be destin'd to the War Is it not evident that if one Man out of ten shall be taken from the Plough or any other civil Occupation and diverted to other Uses foreign to the Original Establishment who shall be thereby exempted from the Labour and Duties incident to his Membership of a peaceable State that the remaining Nine must by their Labour produce the Subsistance of Ten This I think is plain and from hence as the disproportion increases Scarcity Poverty and Necessity are introduc'd for the Labour of the Industrious becomes at length too little to sustain and provide for those who live excus'd from Labour and who must subsist whether they contribute towards their Subsistence or no Whereupon Despair Desertion Depopulation and every evil Incident to War ensues Hence then I say doth Ambition which is a Dropsie of the Mind the thirst whereof is increas'd by the possession of what it
Fish he has recourse to more sleights will fish finer and bait more cunningly that the Hook may not appear and often is oblig'd to trouble the Water too the better to hide his Purpose And this way Men of more Wit and Caution are taken But here let me be so just to own that I am persuaded there are very many well-meaning ingenious Men whose Heads lying this way do now and then by long Meditation and racking their Brains on one and the same Subject light upon Things laudible enough but then such Projects are for the most part intelligible at first sight and like Columbus's Egg do not need tedious and troublesome Explications through the multiplicity of Calculation whereby the Evidence is discern'd by but a few and they see but darkly neither For all Projects are to be suspected of Artifice or Error where many Questions must be begg'd where Contingencies are visible and many Casualties are incident Which consist of many nice and intricate Parts that like many Movements in a Machine where upon the failure of the least Wheel the Motion of the whole is destroy'd A further Objection for the most part lies against these kind of Money-Projects That they are out of the Road and Circle of common Business which is very hard to break and Men of repugnant Methods meet as it were in the dark in their Negotiations and so interfere justle and overturn one another for those who would go to their Proby a nearer cut than their Neighbours must leave the trodden Path of Business where they will either lose their way or must trespass and do damage to many for the sake of a few Furthermore all new Inventions of this sort wherein Wit and Subtlety go to their Composition over and above the suspicion the middle Rank of Men which are the majority will and ought to have of their Utility so of course the fewer will be found to take part and ingage with them while the greater and stronger Party not being of their Mind will become Enemies and watch perpetually to cross and perplex them and combine a thousand ways to defeat them And thus their Success by that means is in danger of disappointment Let me add to these Cautions That I for my part take all Projects of this sort which are erected on a view of Private Advantage that are conceiv'd with much Art and require to be manag'd by equal Address seem to me to be little better than Play at Cards or Dice where Skill and Cunning which is a sort of out-witting ones Neighbour mostly governs And as this is but a lesser degree of Fraud so it often degenerates into rank Cheating besides being out of the way of that simplicity of Intercourse which is intelligible and practicable by most Men and by which all Ranks and Capacities of People may be guided and better'd by honest Industry and Plain-dealing I have therefore singled out these few general Objections to such Projects of Profit wherein the Publick seems not only to be nothing at all interested but for the most part indanger'd thereby of suffering Damage I thought it therefore but a little out of my way to incounter them and as I have spoken perhaps with more freedom than will be forgiven me by some yet I am persuaded I shall have the majority on my side In a word I would fain see some of these supersine Artists spin a Web of Use and Strength for Publick Wearing I would see Projects for improvement and Encouragement of Industry and Peopling the Land which mourns for introducing and encreasing such laudable Arts and Manufactures as we have not and for Reformation of Abuses which have crept into those we have When I shall behold Proposals for alleviating the unmerciful Burthens laid on Navigation and transferring them if they must be born on something wherein our Wisdom and good Sence may be better seen which Burthens are as certainly the Bane of Trade and Foreign Commerce as Navigation is the Basis of all our Strength and Riches When there shall be sound Men fruitful of Invention of Publick and Popular Minds who without driving so furiously and hunting with so much anxiety after mystical Gain of no kin at all to the Commonwealth shall tell us how by plain and practicable Methods we may be rid of the Beggars and Idlers in our Streets whose subsistance as it is said to cost the Nation near a Million a Year that Summ might not only be sav'd to the Publick but half as much for ought I know gain'd by a wise and artful Employment of the Labour of that very Poor whom we now sustain at so very burthensome an Expence When such praise-worthy Projects as these shall be suggested and made Publick it will be Matter of Joy to every honest English-man and no Objection will lie against the Matter and Meaning whateser may be said to the Form of such Proposals But let us hasten to our main Question Q. Let me prosecute my Curiosity then to the Mark we have been all along aiming at and according to the Light you have given me into the Subject of Money in general to ask you how we shall be able to compass a just Rule for the regulating our Coin here at home while the Question seems by your way of handling it to lie so deep and is surrounded with so much darkness that we must pry into many Mysteries of State travel into Foreign Trade and Intrigues of Business to attain a due knowledge therein Ans Perhaps the Question is not so hard as at first sight it may seem This at least I may be sure of that such Truths cannot lie very deep which my weak Forces may suffice to draw up To proceed then I first fix this Maxim That as your Coin may be too Poor so it may be too Rich either of which is a Disease and is to be understood by the Comparison and Proportion it bears with the matter of Gold and Silver out of which it is made for we have shewn already the Necessity we are under of making our Money so as to contain intrinsie value and being got over that Point we come now to make an Essay towards determining the Proportion I say then that Money is poor or base Comparatively as when you make more Shillings out of the same quantity of Bullion by a new Law then was allow'd by your old Establishment for this makes you but nominally the Richer while Virtually and in Truth you become poorer by a quarter per Cent of the Charge of the Mintage of all the new Money that shall be so Coined observing the proportion mentioned already and not to repeat the Evils enumerated this one more we may add Namely the Trouble and Molestation of Telling carrying and using more Money for less Profit than before which is some clog to Trade whose course shou'd be made to move with all the Arts of Ease Invention can suggest That no Profit can arise to the publick
any way by such an Establishment of our Mint whereby your Coin becmes so impoverish'd We need to go no furhter for a Proof than the Observation may be made of what has befallen us by Chance in our Clipt and bad Coin now grown and establish'd by Custom into use among us which happening to be diminished to almost half the Original Value We behold every thing risen in Price as it were by that Proportion and our Gold Coin which is not so lyable to Corruption and Dimunition risen from the same cause near a Third Part which may suffice to shew how the publick is affected when your Coin either by Law or Chance comes to be too Poor Your Coin is too Rich when a piece of Money for Example a Mild Crown shall go but for Five Shillings in Money to buy and go to Market with when if it were lawful to melt it down and sell it for its due worth wou'd yield you Six Shillings there being Six Shillings worth of Silver in that Piece I still use round Numbers the nicety of Calculation not being here necessary Now as on the one Hand when your Money is bad and poor and this becomes establish'd by Law or Custom into use every Nation abroad and every bad Man at home who has art enough will be Coining this Money for you and will impart and utter it for your use and their profit as some Nations which I need not name serve the Spaniards at this day by their base black Money which doth not contain a sixth part of the value for which it passeth with that blind Nation I say by this means as your Mint shall grow out of use by the plenty of such Coin as shall be Manufactur'd by others to your Hands so your Money shall grow worse and worse for there will be no end of debasing it till your whole Mass of Silver Coin shall be destroy'd and converted into Trash and Counters rather than Money On the other Hand when your Money happens to be too Rich as hath been our Case by the great rising of Bullion in value since the coining of our Mild Money 't is plain and there can be no room for doubt but that such Coin will be transported out of the Land and by those whose profession best enables them will be melted down into Bars and Bullion and from this Cause Namely it s over richness or goodness this Disease Springs and hence is Consum'd Vanish'd and Extinct all or the most part of the noble Mill'd Coin which was Minted in the two last Reigns there being no Action how vile soever that Gain with Impunity will not Sanctifie or hardly any Conscience so scrupulous that this Charm has not Power to Quiet and Absolve wherefore let those who by their Occupation have the means of touching most Money consider and be aware what fort of People this Crime is likely most to touch Q. If this Doctrine of yours be bottom'd on sound Reason as it has the appearance it is visible that we are led into an Error by those who would teach us that the Standard establish'd Rule of the Mint namely That your Money must for ever be just so fine and of such a weight is Sacred and cannot be alter'd without damage and danger to the State Ans 'T is seen by what has been said and is I think as demonstrable as anv Problem in Geometry That the Rules for Coinage and the Standard of the Mint must vary according to the general scarcity or abundance of the Species of Gold and Silver and that 't is consequently an Error in Fundamentals to hold the contrary as I have endeavour'd to shew and will need no further Explanation here Q. Why if what you say be true is there so much variety in the Coin of Countries how comes it to pass that there is such diversity of coarse and fine light and weighty Money in the World And that all Mankind who are link'd in one general League of Intercourse do not come to accord in one universal Standard for their Money which would save abundance of Trouble in the Course of general Trassick and set the Intercourse of the World on a much surer and easier foot Ans First Because Silver and Gold are more or less plenty in the diverse Countries of the World comparatively and so becomes more or less worth Secondly 'T is hard and hazardous to change any rooted Custom of a Country especially in a Case of this general Importance tho' in Speculation it should appear never so just Thirdly The Use of Money which was originally invented for the Ease and Benefit of Commerce is become corrupted and made an Instrument of Tyranny and Oppression The Passions of Princes and States where the Government is absolute making their Power in this Point of Money to become a Yoke and a Burthen which was meant for the Comfort and Ease of Mankind forging Racks and Shackles for the Subject out of that very Matter which by Nature the first Institution and the right Reason of the Thing was decreed and devis'd for their Benefit and Consolation Q. You were speaking of Monopolies of Money but now Do not Princes who enjoy absolute Power by this unlimited Authority make a kind of Monopoly of Money Ans Yes such Princes can do that by their Power which a great Bank may compass by Art or come to do by Accident and from the Nature of the Thing And we know the King of France himself with all his boasted Wealth often Practises such poor Shifts proclaiming one Value on his Money when he has a great Summ to pay and another when he has much to receive But the World abroad by whose Sentiments Trading-People must be govern'd will not heed it nor are influenc'd by it and no solid Fruit can ever be gather'd from such Devices which are ever signs of a sickly Constitution and the Prince or State that uses them are like Men whose Bodies are decay'd by much drinking of Spirits they are reliev'd indeed in the present Pangs they feel but by the very Draught which in that Moment yields them Comfort they are in the end destroy'd Q. Why is it call'd the Mystery of the Mint if our Princes here in England make none of those undue Vses of Coinage as are in Practice among absolute States Aus Perhaps 't is continu'd to be call'd a Mystery from the Power our Princes heretofore claim'd or had to make Coinage some way or other turn them to Account and the Profit arising thereby being kept secret was therefore call'd so Or it may be stil'd a Mystery from the difficulty most Men are under to conceive and see clearly in so cloudy and perplext a Subject Q. How long have our Princes been so Wise and so Good as to part with a Power which yielded them but a doubtful Profit at the purchase of great Jealousie of the People lest such a Power as look'd a little Arqitrarily might in time degenerate into
Licence and so come to be call'd a Grievance and the cause of Discontents and Murmures in so free and noble a Constitution as ours is Ans I think King Charles the Second quitted his Right to the Profits accruing by the Mint for some valuable Consideration which at that time by reason of great Coinage amounted to thirty or forty thousand Pounds per Annum Since when we are I presume at liberty to consult and determine by the best Rules that Wisdom and Science can suggest about such Laws and Regulations for the Mint as may be found most easie and beneficial for the State Q How did that Profit arise to King Charles the Second c. by the Mint A. I suppose diverse ways but principally this namely that Bullion in those days being much lower in Value than now because more plentiful and the Standard Establish'd to such a weight and sineness which was not to be alter'd a proportional Profit came by that means of course to the King through the cheapness of the Material out of which the Coin was Manufactur'd in so much that the Merchant or Goldsmith had a Merchantable Profit to incourage them to send their Bullion to the Mint and the King a competent share of Gain in the overplus But pray note upon this Question which helps to unsold the Mystery that since those days through the causes we have endeavour'd to explain the Material of your Money is risen in Value it may be a fifth part at least and that Batgain which was thought and it may be really was so profitable to the King then shou'd his Majesty have enter'd into Covenants with his People to Coin a certain Sum of Money yearly of the Establish'd Standard weight and fineness which he cou'd not alter He might have liv'd to see himself a great deal more a looser by such a Contract then he had been a Gainer and behold all his Money to vanish as fast as it was Minted as we have plainly enough shewn Question I am now at length every way convinc'd that our Money ought to be all new Coin'd And that by reason of the new and exorbitant price of your Bullion you must have a new Standard and Proportion for your Mint But how that can be found and setled is a new Question to which I stand in need of your Answer Ans We have travel'd a great way to arrive fairly at this single Question and if we have gone somewhat about and made our Journey seem longer then might be thought necessary to some I Answer That it was for the sake of the Majority that this Voyage was taken and therefore but just to go their pace Our Subject lies in the dark to the Multitude and therefore we cannot open too many Windows to let in the Light to the end the weakest Sihht may be enabled to discern and make some Judgment whereby to determine in a matter that so nearly touches every Body Question Your Apology is reasonable and I believe will be thought so by most Men but let us come now to an Issue and decide this arduous Question How and by what Methods and Rules of Proportion our Mint may be Reform'd Answer I will not trouble you with References to what has been said that we may not multiply Words and will take for granted you bear in Mind that our Hypothesis is fram'd upon Reasons drawn from abroad as well as at home wherefore we must take Foreign as well as Domestick Considerations to our Ayd Your Money I have shewn is subject to these two chief Diseases of being too Rich which is containing more worth than it goes for in Coin which begets a Consumption and wasting by re-converting it into Bullion exporting and the like too Poor when it is either Coined by Authority through mistaken measures of State with too great an extrinsick allowance or corrupted clipt and salsify'd by others so as to become notoriously diminish'd in the intrinsick Value Which raiseth the Price of all things by the like proportion begets doubts Difficulties and Vexation in your common Traffick and enhaunses the rates of Exchange with your Neighbours which hath a mighty Influence on your Trade abroad encourages bad People at home to diminish and falsifie it every day more and more because there is no rule left to compare and know your Money by And invites the Nations round about you who may do it with more safety to import and utter it in such quantities and still worse and worse till in the end all your Silver Coin the unclipp'd and the clipp'd shall be gone out of the Kingdom and what a calamitous State such a People must be in needs no Exaggeration here Q. I am glad you have repeated and renewed in my Memory these two chief Diseases of Money and given so reasonable a Prognostick of the Effects because I reckon you will now come to propose the remedy for Restoring and Establishing the Health of our Coin by such Rules as may seem as just as your Argument hitherto has appear'd to me reasonable Ans To arrive then at that right Rule of proportion you require and which we have been thus long in quest of I first propose that we should look a little back here at home and inquire and be at a certainty what Price Bullion bore when our last mill'd Money was coined And we will suppose it here about the round summ of Five Shillings the Ounce then let us grant it to be risen and advanced in Price from Five to Six Shillings or thereabouts the Ounce which shall be the Value we will give it at this day Both which Prizes may be more or less without damage to our reasoning about the Rule which I wou'd propose for our Government in this great Question Now pray note that while the King had his Profit by the Mint which was indefinite and Silver was at an Under-rate no great difficulty cou'd occur in the Coinage for as long as that gain lasted be it little or much the King had it who was enabled over and above still to allow the Merchant or Goldsmith One or more per Cent profit to invite them to bring their Bullion to the Mint that is their Silver became so much more worth to them when manufactur'd into Money which they cou'd presently utter and employ than when inthe Masse in their Ware-house Upon which Motive namely their Gain they carried it to the Mint But that incitement ceasing from the reasons I have given there is not only no more Money now coin'd but even the Mill'd Money which in those days was minted from the same Motive Gain is melted down again and reconverted into Bulloin as we have noted and cannot too often repeat If this be true who can with any shadow of Rcason gainsay the necessity we are under of changing the proportions of our Mint which must inevitably and for ever change rise and fall by a Scale of proportion rectify'd to the rising and falling Value
Mint or publick Money is the Pulse of the Body politick And Tacitus tells us that the Health and Infirmity of the State was always measur'd by that Motion And grave Authors further assure us That as the Roman Empire declin'd it was manifested by their Mint their Money debasing as the Power and Virtue of that great People sunk and declin'd Money is the publick Measure of every thing we have all our Meum and Tuum is weigh'd and dispens'd by no other Scale or Rule If that be unequal false or doubtfull what Injustice what Vexation Murmurings Poverty and Peril threaten'd the State thereby needs no Rhetorick to inforce Let it be seen by the timely Wisdom of our Remedies that the Disease was not Mortal and the Danger beyond the possibility of a Cure The Calamitous Fire of London was a Disaster which the World thought wou'd have bin a Death's blow to the State and during the Operation of People's Prognosticks thereupon brought us very low in our Neighbour's Eyes But the sudden Repair of that stupendous Loss by the Rebuilding with so much Magnificence the greatest City for ought I know in the Universe rais'd the Reputation of Our Glory Courage and Wealth to a more surprizing Degree of Value in the World's and our own Esteem too which by Art or Wisdom's Rules cou'd never have bin known or calculated We may hope for the like fruit from the same wise and steady Counsels The Calamity of our Coin is not inferiour the Cure seems not in my poor Judgment harder nor will the Benefits which the Nation shall reap in the Effect be less Q. Have you no further Advice to give or Cautions to offer in the main Point of Regulating the new Coinage of Our Money A. I cannot repeat too often and therefore once more do recommend to your utmost Attention the deliberating and determining the Proportion betwixt the Real and Nominal Value of your Money which is the Key of the whole Difficulty and requires the greatest Advice Gravity and Penetration to fix Q. Have not you said that the Material of your Money is not likely to grow cheaper but to rise still higher and higher and yet but just now you gave me an Instance of your fore-sight that on the Moment your Coin shall be regulated whether it shou'd chance to be rightly or wisely performed or no yet there wou'd presently as a pure and simple Effect of such a Reformation be a Fall of the Value of Silver and Gold and all the Species of things to a Certain degree the Quantum being undetermin'd A. In this Objection you seem not to be aware that the Abatement of the Value of your Silver and Gold you speak of is no other than an accidental Effect of that Cause But the growing Value of Gold and Silver whereof I have given you my Prognosticks is from the general Causes already by me produc'd And therefore this Effect by the bye has no Weight in your Objection because it will presently expire and the general growing Scarcity be no ways influenc'd thereby Q. You seem to have yet taken but little notice how our Gold Coin will be affected by the Regulation of our Mint A. I have already noted that your Gold must necessarily fall in its Value upon the Repairing of your Silver Coin the obvious Reason of its exorbitant Rise being from the low Reputation of our Silver-Money so that it has grown higher through the reason of Comparison as I may say becoming so much the more worth from the others happening to fall so low which is therefore owing purely to this unhappy Accident here at home But of what ill influence it has bin to our Affairs the use our watchfull Neighbours have made thereof we are loudly and truly every-where told by publick Papers But a great deal of this Evil I say will cure of it self by your Silver Coin recovering its Reputation After which if Gold shall be thought still to bear too high a Value I believe it may be in the Power of the Government to Regulate that at any time by a Proclamation or some wise Result of Council Q. I think I have now askd you all my Questions about the Matter Let me now ask you a few touching the Manner wherein you wou'd proceed in this great Work A. I think according to Advice already publish'd that more Mints than One ought to be employ'd to carry on the business And as a foundation to this great Work I propose that One Million at least or Fifteen Hundred Thousand Pounds worth of Bullion may be by one means or other compass'd to be first Coin'd into Shillings and Sixpences to be a Fund ready prepar'd to pay upon the spot for such Clipt Money as shall be brought in The next step I would propose to be made should be the Calling in of all the Half-crowns Thirteenpence-halfpenies Ninepences and the rest of that unequal Money your Shillings and Sixpences to remain still currant till this first Work shall be over This Money being brought in to the several Receivers appointed to be spread and distributed in the most populous Places of the Kingdom shall be paid for in ready new Money by the said Officers viz. Five new Shillings for five Shillings of your clipt Halfcrowns c receiving all the old Money by Weight as well as Tale according to the Method and Regulation propos'd by Mr. Lowndes for to think of paying People by piece-meal with Bills or Paper who shall come from far sull of Doubts and pinch'd with Poverty and vex'd already to the Quick with the Hardships they have suffer'd and still lie under and where the Majority will be found to need every penyworth of the Money they shall bring in to be Exchang'd for present currant Money I say to propose such a Method as should not be very casie and intelligible to the greater part of the People might breed a Mischief of no verb easie Digestion Wherefore I humbly propose that this Million and a half or whatsoever the Decay of the whole Treasure of the Nation shall be computed to amount to may be first found and provided by such means as to the Wisdom of the Parliament shall appear most feasible which in my poor Opinion will not be an insuperable Work This being first done and you being then in possession of the Ballance of this Debt which is owing to your general Stock of Treasure by the Clipping and Impairment it has suffer'd there will remain no other Difficulty but in the Minting and orderly Distributing and Exchanging your Money by such Rules as I think have bin already very prudently and masterly propounded by the said Mr. Lowndes I propose your beginning with Halfcrowns c. because the Work must be done Gradatim and cannot be compass'd otherwise without much greater Difficulty and Disorder wherein a good deal must still happen after all your utmost care to prevent it Your Halfcrowns c. being received and paid for wherein
I note that no Brass or base Money is to be receiv'd this is presently to be Minted up to increase your Stock of new Money to be Exchang'd for the old When this Difficulty is pass'd I would humbly propose that Proclamation should be made for People to bring in one half or one quarter of their Shillings and Sixpences or such a proportion as shall be Deem'd to amount to the Summ of new Money you shall have got Minted Which proportion of Shillings and Sixpences being brought in and paid for a new Shilling for an old c. shall be forthwith Coin'd up to produce wherewithall of new Money to carry on your Payments for the old I propose this gradual Method in the Coining and Calling in of your Shillings and Sixpences I say to obviate the Trouble and ease you in the many Difficulties which must needs otherwise occur in the transacting so voluminous and multifarious a Work When your first proportion of Shillings and Sixpences shall be brought in and paid for c. you are to proceed to the next and so on till your Business shall be finish'd Q. You have yet made no mention of the remaining Mill'd-Money and the rest of the weighty and undefac'd old Coin of the Kingdom of which sort there must needs be a good quantity What wou'd you propose shou'd be done with that A. I propose that whosoever has bin so honest as to spare from the general Spoil committed on our Coin or so frugal or provident to have reserved or laid any part thereof up that it is but Justice they shou'd be consider'd for the same Wherefore my Advice is That all such Money shou'd be left to the choice of the Owners whether to Melt it down and sell it for its real Worth or to dispose of it to the utmost height of its Value to those who may have a mind to buy it but still to be oblig'd to dispose of it so as that it may be re-converted into Coin Q. Will not bad Men fall to Clipping the Clipp'd-money a-new when it shall be publish'd by Proclamation that all the Clipp'd-money is to be paid for on the spot with good new-coin'd legal Money Or will not those who have cull'd out all the fair Money from the bad which is not honest and who by touching a great running Cash have it always in their power will not such Men be able to make a better hand of it by sending this pick'd Money to the Clippers to be trimm'd and par'd as close as Knavery and Avarice can suggest than by selling and re-converting such fair Coin into Bullion as you propose A. I believe this might be very easily prevented and people wou'd not think of Transgressing a-new or of making that undue use of their fair Money as you mention if this single Resolution shall be taken Namely That Authority wou'd be pleas'd to direct a judicious Scrutiny to be forthwith made into the lowest declension the Coin of the Kingdom is at this day under and has suffer'd by Clippâ—ng and Wasting it and then admitting they find it to be sunk for Example Forty in the Hundred and that to be the most In such case I humbly conceive that if they shall determine that all Money as shall be brought to the Receivers to be Exchang'd which shall fall out to be diminish'd below that proportion such Want shall be made good by the Bringer or Proprietor and not by the Publick As on the other hand all fair Money as shall be so brought in that shall be found to amount to more than the Value assign'd to your new Money such surplus to be accounted for and made good to the Deliverer as I have propos'd I know there are some Objections seem to lie against this Expedient but I am convinc'd too that the Benefit in the main out-weighs them Q. What sort of Money wou'd you propose to be Coin'd in the Minting your new Money A. I know Crowns Halfcrowns are less chargeable in the Manufacture but being more liable to Diminution by Drilling other Arts and more coveted by Strangers and therefore more in danger to be Exported I shou'd therefore prefer the Coining all into Shillings and Sixpences with some small proportion of lesser Money But above all I humbly propose that the whole Mass of publick Money shou'd be re-coin'd and reduc'd to one Fashion and Manufacture And wou'd avoid as a Rock all new Names and new Values to Money tho' I observe it to be somewhere propos'd to be done with such old Money as might be thought to remain undiminish'd which they wou'd have stamp'd with certain Marks to express its new Value by I say all new Christned Money and all new Marks to be stamp'd on old Money and all odd intricate and puzling Valuations of Money contain so many Dangers Vexations and Difficulties as I trust we shall take care to avoid by the Self-evidence of the Evils that attend such a Resolution Q. When you have done all you can and your Money becomes re-establish'd to your Wish will it be ever the likelier to remain at home do you think tho' we shou'd follow in every Article the Rules and Cautions you have propounded to prevent it A. You have bin told by several Treatises of Trade lately publish'd that a main Consideration in the Conduct of our general Commerce is to avoid by wise and cautious Measures the over-ballance of our Trade For tho' you shou'd have Five thousand Trading Ships at Sea and ten times that number of Seamen employ'd in your Navigations you Trade to loss if you buy from abroad and pay more Money for what you fetch from Foreigners than you receive from them for your Service and your own native Fruits and Manufactures with all this shew of quick Trade I say and extent of Commerce you are blowing a dead Cole and take all this pains but to diminish your Capital or National Stock of Treasure For Trade without this prime regard is but little better than Usury It may inrich a few subtle bustling busie Men by chance but the Land will grieve for their gain and such profit to particulars will become a Charge on the Debtor-side of the publick Leiger-Book when-ever that Point shall come to be narrowly sifted and debated Now if great Wisdom and Attention are due to the keeping this ballance in our hands and the disposing it to lean towards our Profit lest by inclining never so little the other way it shou'd like a slow Feaver at length consume us What Providence in our foresight what Talents and reach of Wit Prudence and Application may suffice to save us from the ruine which seems to bode us by the exorbitant Over-ballance we behold at this day Which like a Comet threatens the Nation with this difference only That we can Calculate to a certain degree where and how the Malevolence of the One will work while we can but guess at the Effects of the Other Q. But
since this Burthen must be bourn and the bearing of it seems the lesser Evil of the two because Poverty is still better than Bondage Methinks we ought to set all our Wits on the stretch to find Expedients how it may be longest sustain'd and carry'd most commodiously For why shou'd we want the Discretion of a Porter or a Slave who being condemn'd to bear and carry a certain Weight will be sure to dispose of it so as it shall least gall and wring his Shoulders Wherefore if we must sustain this Weight I wou'd be glad to know your Opinion which is the best way to doe it in such manner as not to sink under it so suddenly as you seem to fear A. This Question is too bold for Men without Doors to meddle in wherefore I shall touch it with the greatest tenderness You know for it is no Secret that there goes out of the Nation at this day a great deal above a Million yearly in ready Money or Bullion and by what Means this Money can circulate or return to us again it being the over-ballance of our Trade and therefore moving in foreign Channels is very hard to Divine Now this great Summ whether your National Coin be good or bad must go out of the Kingdom if this over-ballance must be paid And therefore if you have no Bullion you must send Money where your extrinsical Value will not be understood and where your Clipt Shilling which passes for a Shilling here shall go for no more than it weights and therefore there must go a great deal more to pay a foreign Debt than would suffice to pay the same Debt here at Home Wherefore if a Million of this Money which by the urgency and fatality of this destructive War goes yearly out of the Kingdom were in another manner employ'd as namely to maintain a so much greater Maritime Strength of our own as may amount to that Summ and by thus easing our Neighbours of just so much in their Naval Expence which they might transfer and employ to the same Uses for which our Money is at this day Remitted into Holland I say if such a Project were feasible the Benefits to us wou'd be unspeakable whereof that I may Enumerate a few First this great Summ wou'd then Circulate within Our selves Secondly Our Naval Strength wou'd be augmented by a third part more than it is at this Day whereby our Line of Battel would be stronger by the Union and Consistence of our own Native Strength and we should have to spare to cover our Commerce from that Desolation that has hitherto afflicted us and by securing especially our Plantation-trade which is our Mines of Gold and Silver we shou'd taste the relief which that Trade wou'd afford us to our much greater profit Thirdly Trade which now languishes and is at deaths-door wou'd by this means revive among us so many more hands wou'd be set a work in every Profession and so many Species of things of our own growth wou'd be utter'd and spent that I am perswaded if such a difficulty cou'd be overcome it wou'd give a new and cheerfull face to our Affairs here at home at least Lastly by thus encreasing our Maritime which is our Native Strength we shall shine brighter in our own Orb and grow stronger as resting more on our proper Center We shall encrease our Strength by borrowing no body from their peacefull Trades and Business but employ such as when the War shall beended will be still in their Element and Profession where our wide Commerce shall with open Arms be ever ready to embrace cherish and employ to the Nations best and surest Interest I am YOUR LORDSHIPS Most Humble Servant c. Decemb. 1. 1695.