There was a lack of copper coin in Ireland, which hampered the small
transactions of the poor, and rendered the payment of weekly or daily
wages a matter of difficulty. This want was reported to the English
Cabinet; it was taken up, not as a grievance to be met with redress, but
as a new opportunity for a job. A patent to make a copper coinage was
granted to William Wood, a gentleman whose antecedents were not
creditable. According to the habits of the day, the patent had to pass
through various officials, each of whom had doubtless to be paid: a sort
of black-mail on the transaction. The amount of the coinage had to be
large to enable Wood to recoup himself and make his own profit. It was
fixed at 108,000_l._, a sum vastly in excess of its need. The greatest
share of the plunder was to fall to the king's mistress. The Duchess of
Kendal was to receive 10,000_l._ from Wood, to whom she farmed the patent.
It was from the bottom to the top a scandalous job, and to add to its
depravity, it was passed without consulting the responsible governors of
the country. It was only when all efforts to defeat its passage were
concluded, that Swift stepped in. The indignation of the country had
risen to boiling-point; he gave it a voice. In describing the patent,
Swift exaggerated its consequences. It is absurd to suppose that what he
said of it was absolutely true, or that Swift thought it to be true. His
object was to put a scandalous transaction in the grossest aspect
possible. Swift adopted the ordinary recognized methods of political
controversy. Apart from exaggeration, there was enough of injustice in the
matter to justify any language which would tend to remove it.