CHAP. I.
_Of the present badness of our Coin._
By Current Coin, I mean not that which is Current by Law, but by Custom;
that which People are forc’d to take for want of better, to the great
Grievance of the Subject, Dishonour of the Kingdom, and Obstruction of
Trade.
For every Man now is destitute of a sufficient Pledge and Security for
his Personal Estate, unless he will take Personal Security, or find out
a Mortgage, or rely upon a Bank.
Personal Security is now less than ever, the publick Banks have so
drain’d or so engag’d at least the Traders in Money.
Mortgages are very hard to be found, for small Summs, and much harder
for great ones, since the establishment of the new Banks.
And as for a sole reliance on the Credit of the new Banks I leave that
for other Heads to discuss; I am of the Opinion it was never intended
that they should be the only Security for Personal Estates, and that
People should carry in their Money to ’em out of necessity, and not
choice.
And how dishonourable it is to the King and Kingdom that our Money
should be so suddenly debased to such a shameful Degree, foreign States
will soon determine:
Now that it doth not become so by publick Authority but by Connivence of
the Sovereignty, or Necessities of the Nation, is not stating the thing
at all less Dishonourably.
For Connivence at a Fault discovers either an Ignorance of it, or
Inability to correct it, or design in making use of it.
’Tis plain enough the Government is not Ignorant of it.
His Majesty in His Speech to both Houses of Parliament, shews He hath no
design in making use of it, because He recommends the redressing of it
to their Consideration, and therefore the not redressing it, can be only
imputable to the Weakness and Poverty of the State:
And what Inferences, not only the _French_, but all other Politicians
may draw from thence are very obvious.
The finest Clothes that our Soldiers can put on, in the Field, would not
at all dazzle the Eyes of the Confederate Princes, nor strike any
despondencies into the Minds of our Enemies, if they shall all come to
know that the whole Power of _England_ is at this time held up by the
imaginary Value of _Birmingham_ half Crowns and Shillings.
It will hearten our Enemies, and discourage our Friends, very much, when
they shall come to know that the Nummary Wealth of _England_ is almost
vanish’d, the Silver Coin gone, and the Royal Mint at a stand.
No Body will believe that we can long subsist at this rate; and indeed
’tis impossible we should, for if ’tis now much harder to redress than
it was a year ago, and that means cannot be yet found out to do it, what
Hopes shall we have of ever doing it ’till the War is ended? and what
Hopes shall we have of bringing our Enemies to Terms, whilst they are
sensible of our great Poverty.
The only way, sure, to bring the _French_ King to Reason, will be by
shewing him we are Able to continue the War as long as he can possibly
be Willing, which he can never believe, so long as he sees our Money, by
which he judges our Wealth to be imaginary only, and not real Silver.
Besides all this, we are in apparent Danger hereby of being more
effectually and suddenly ruin’d by our Friends.
For if this Sessions of Parliament should break up without regulating
the Coin, what Consequences may possibly ensue?
It is not impossible that Foreigners in all parts of _Christendom_
should immediately set themselves to counterfeit our base Money.
There are beyond Seas as good Chymists, and Black-Smiths as at _London_,
or _Birmingham_, and ’tis not impossible that they should secretly
Import as much base Money, resembling that which goes current among us,
and which hath not the intrinsic Value of One Shilling in Three, as if
they please may not only buy up and Export Two or Three Millions Worth
of our Staple Commodities, affording ’em Cheaper abroad than we can at
home; but as much Worth of our imported Commodities, even Gold it self,
if they like that Trade better.
Such an Importation of Money would I fear, be of worse Consequence than
all our Exportation of Silver and Gold can prove.
* * * * *
If what cost our Merchants a Shilling, they should sell for a Groat, or
if they shall buy of us an Ounce of Gold for Three or Four Ounces of
Silver, or supposing ’em to buy it at 6 _s._ 6 _d._ _per_ Ounce, they
shall buy an Ounce for as much Counterfeit Money as shall not have 7
Peny-Weight of true Bullion in it, this would give our Balance of Trade,
such a Terrible Swing, as no true Hearted _English-Man_ would be willing
to see.
This is a Danger which the easiness and small Charge of counterfeiting
old Clipp’d Money threatens very much, unless it be speedily cry’d down.
And in the mean time, let us consider the Condition of the other Coin
among us, not counterfeited, but Clipp’d, fil’d, or otherwise
diminish’d.
’Tis plainly demonstrable by the Receipts of Money in His Majesty’s
Exchequer, that one half of the Silver is already Clipp’d away, and
there is no Security why half what remains wo’nt be taken off too.
The Laws are severe enough made, and put in Execution, and yet
_New-Gate_ is perhaps now as full of Clippers as it was Three or Four
Years ago.
Nothing but a Sense of Religion doth restrain Men from profitable Sins,
and the _Ordinary_ of _New-Gate_ can inform us, how little the Guilt of
Clipping affects the Criminal’s Conscience.
Nor will preaching do much Good, upon those that never come to Church.
Clipping is the gainfulest Sin that ever was invented, and sits the
easiest upon the Sinner’s Mind, and ’tis never to be remedied but by
making it impracticable, which Mill’d Money only (and no other to be
current) can do.
And what a perpetual Discontent and Confusion must it end in, if People
shall come at last to proffer a Groat for a Shilling?
This must increase still vastly the Value of Guineas; this must raise
the Price of all Commodities, this must make it impossible to expect any
Money at all, either for the King’s Use, or Balance of Trade; and this
will not only force us to recall our Troops from _Flanders_, and by a
natural Consequence let in the War upon us, but it would put a sudden
and universal stop to all Foreign Trade.
And what fatal Consequences may it have in the mean time at home let us
consider.
It may very well be suppos’d that a Dragooner may proffer to a
Corn-Chandler 2 _s._ for a Bushel of Oats, and that the Corn-Chandler
seeing that there is not Three Peny _wt._ or 9 Peny worth of Silver in
both the Shillings, should not like the Bargain, what’s now to be done?
Should There be a Law with Penalty for refusing clipp’d Coin, as there
is for crack’d Six-pences, this would encourage Clippers to leave
nothing remaining in a Shilling but the Figure XII.
Should the Law prohibit the passing of all Silver clipp’d within the
Ring, than two Thirds of the present Money of _England_ would be
immediately cry’d down: Then the Loss of clipp’d as well as counterfeit
Money would be very hard upon the Proprietors, and we should have two
Thirds less Money for carrying on our Trade:
And now we have two Thirds less than we should have, and if that two
Thirds, which is cry’d down at the Owner’s Loss, should be carry’d to
the Mint, and new coin’d, it would scarce yield a twelfth Part of what
we should then want.
If the Law should put down all Silver Money but of such a Weight, then
certainly all Money above that Weight would be clipp’d down to it, and
every Man must carry a pair of Scales in his Pocket, and we are still
subject to the Consequence of the former Paragraph, as that former
Paragraph would be to the first Conclusion of this, _viz._ _That all
Money would be soon clipp’d down to the publick Standard._
Let the matter be canvas’d never so much, it must at last come to this
Conclusion.
_We cannot subsist either in War or Peace if the Coin of_ England _be
not speedily regulated_.
CHAP. II.
_Of the present_ Scarcity _of Silver Coin in_ England.
Now let us consider, that if all the current Silver Coin of _England_
were passable and unalterable, yet we have vastly too little in Tale for
carrying on the Trade of the Nation.
And this will appear several Ways, but chiefly by the high Price or
Guineas and the Causes thereof.
Guineas have risen from 21 _s._ 6 _d._ to 30 _s._ either because the
intrinsic Value of Gold hath risen near in Proportion to the Diminution
of the intrinsic Value of Silver Coin, or by reason of the Scarcity of
the Silver Coin, or the Uncertainty of it, or partly by Reason of one,
and partly t’other, which I believe is the Truth, that the Badness and
Scarcity of Silver Coin hath occasioned an extravagant Rise of Gold.
Now if so much as concerns the Scarcity of Silver be granted me, then I
have nothing to do upon this Article, but shew that the present high
Price of Gold is dangerous to the Nation, and more dangerous will a
farther Advance of the Price thereof be.
And to them who think the Badness of our Coin the greatest Reason of the
present high Valuation of Gold, I shall in the mean time say, that if
the Price of Gold hath risen, suppose 4 _s._ or 5 _s._ in a Guinea, upon
the Account only of the Baseness of our Silver Coin; then in handling
that Notion we must look upon Gold not so much a Coin as a Commodity,
and so indeed it is at this Present; because the Price of Gold in the
Oar or Ingott hath risen almost proportionably to that which is coin’d;
so that a Man doth not take a Guinea rather than 29 clipp’d Shillings,
because the King’s Impress is upon it; for so ’tis upon the Shillings;
or because Authority has made it pass so, for that Authority is wanting;
but because it is of a greater intrinsic Value than is in 29 Shillings
of clipp’d or counterfeit Money, which is now most current: So that the
Valuation of the Commodity Gold hath encreased as the intrinsic Value of
our Silver Coin hath decreased.
And if so, then it is to be suspected that the Price of all staple
Commodities have encreased in equal Proportion, or that they are in such
a Proportion now higher than they wou’d have been; for Gold and Silver
being reciprocally the Standards and Measures of Proportion of one
another, are so of every thing else; and if I can now buy as many Ounces
and Peny-Weights of Silver for a Guinea, as I could have done formerly,
then is not Silver Risen more than Gold: and if I can buy as many Grains
of Gold now with an Ounce of Silver as I could formerly, then is not
Gold risen more than Silver. And this is, perhaps more than a
Supposition: For when Silver was 5 _s._ an Ounce, I cou’d buy 4 Ounces 6
Peny-wt. with a Guinea, and so I can now, that Silver is 6 _s._ 6 _d._
_per_ Ounce. Again when Gold was about 3 _l._ 14 _s._ an Ounce, I cou’d
buy an Ounce of Gold with 15 Ounces of Silver, and so I can now, or near
the Matter: So that the Commodities of Gold and Silver answer one
another as they did, or near thereabout, abating only for the
Portableness of Gold and its Coinage; whereas no Coinage is now
allowable for those Pieces of Silver wherein the Coinage is defaced and
spoiled; and if those two Commodities are so much higher than they would
have been: For they are the Measure and Rule of Proportion of all. Then
when the Value of Gold and Silver rises, the intrinsic Value of all
Commodities rise with ’em:
For suppose an _Eastland_ or _Hamburgh_ Merchant brings over a Barrel of
Mum, which he (when our Money was old Standard) sold for 3 _l._ he
disliking our Money now, sells his Mum, not according to the extrinsic
Valuation of our Money, which is risen since he was here last; because
the Intrinsic is diminished, but according to the common Value of Gold
and Silver in the World; and therefore requires now 4 _l._ because he
judges our Silver to be a fourth Part worse than it was, or if at 5 _l._
he judges it to be 2 Parts in 5 worse.
Again, suppose he sells his Mum for Gold, or is to exchange his Silver
for Gold, that which he was wont to sell for 3 Guineas, he expects 3
Guineas for still; or if you are to pay him in Silver, he expects as
much as he can change for 3 Guineas, he wo’nt be fobb’d off with less:
So the Merchant sells as cheap as ever; but we pay more, because what we
pay, is dearer than it was.
You’ll object against this way of reasoning, and say ’tis the Risques of
the Sea, and Obstructions of Trade now in Time or War, makes all foreign
Commodities dearer.
But I hope I don’t err in saying, that the Merchant notwithstanding the
War wou’d take less of our Silver Coin for the same Commodities if it
were better, and less Gold of us if it wou’d buy as much Silver in his
own Country.
And there are Reasons which may ballance the Dangers of the Seas in
Times of War in Reference to our Commerce with the Subjects of Neutral
Princes.
On our side Taxes are great, and the Subject cannot afford to buy so
many foreign Commodities as at other times: And on their side they have
not so good a Vent as they had; so their Commodities must stick on hand
unless sold so cheap as may make amends for the Hazards of the Sea, and
the Cheapness of Commodities wou’d be the natural Effects of Scarcity of
Money, if our Money had the same real Value as formerly.
Again a Collier who trades to _Newcastle_ is wont to receive a Guinea
for every Chaldron of Coals he brought into the River at such a Time of
Year, and so he doth still, and no more; and who can say Coals are risen
and Mum is risen? No such thing; but Gold and Silver are risen: And when
we give the same Gold and Silver for a Commodity as we did, we
wrongfully say the Commodity is dear, when ’tis not that but the Gold
and Silver which costs us more. We give the same Labour, the same
Leather, the same Mault, for the same Quantity of Gold and Silver which
we did.
And now ’tis the Country Gentlemen, Artizans and Day-Labourers have the
hardest Bargain of all.
The Farmer sells his own Corn and Cattle according to the Value of Gold
and Silver, and the Mercer his Silks, and the Draper his Cloth, and the
Tanner his Leather; but the Farmer in the mean time pays his Rent, and
Husbandmen, and Artizans, according to the Value of our present Coin,
and when he paid 28 Guineas a Quarter formerly, twenty shall serve turn
now; and the Scrivener buys the Country Gentlemen’s Lands, according to
the Valuation of Coin; and not Metal; and the Land which cost the Father
600 Guineas, is now sold by the Son for 430; and half a Year hence it
may be proffered for 300. This is nothing but Ruine and Confusion to the
Landed Men of the Kingdom.
But if the Buyers of Land, as the Merchants, Bankers and Scriveners are,
were Sellers too, we should find Land rise in Proportion to every thing
else.
And whereas you’ll say that Farmers and Grasiers are no Merchants, and
wou’d be as well contented with passable Coin as old Standard, ’tis very
true, but they keep up to such Prices as their whole-sale Chapmen can
afford to give ’em; and when a Factor sells his Cloth at
_Blackwell-Hall_; he considers the Necessity of the Buyer, as well as
Expence of the Clothier; when a Merchant can make a better Profit, ’tis
expected he should give a better Price.
But this with some unthinking People is the Effect of War; and because
some things are dearer upon this Account than others, therefore every
thing else that is dearer must have the same Cause assigned; but a
general Cheapness of things should, methinks, be the Natural Effect of
our War, if our Money with which we go to Market were as it should be.
The War consumes but little of our Product and Manufacture; it carries a
great many Mouthes into _Flanders_, and that would naturally make
Provisions cheap: Many of these Mouths had idle Hands, and so they are
not miss’d in the Manufacture; but instead of them, a great many
industrious Foreigners come among us who eat little and work much.
The Taxes, as I said, are great Inducements to Frugality, and the
Advantages People have of late made of Money, have been no less.
These and other such like things if the Price of Gold and Silver had not
risen, must have occasion’d a Fall of most other Commodities.
And now let us consider the Danger of the high Price of Gold as it
stands at present.
Coin is the most portable Commodity, and Gold the most portable Coin;
but we have run it up high, and therefore do’nt at present fear
Exportation; but then, if ’tis considerably higher than among our
Neighbours, there is great Reason to fear too great an Importation may
be as dangerous, as a disadvantagious one doth already prove.
It seems to me so curious and nice a Commodity that always there may be
Danger in it.
If in the great Thirst that’s now upon us, we take in too much that will
occasion a still more dangerous Rise of Silver: For considering the
present Balance of Trade, the more Gold is imported, the less there will
be of Silver; and if we import too little, we leave our selves destitute
of a Way of Trading.
And if the Gold which is our present Support, should by the Craft of
Foreigners, or necessities of the War follow the Silver out of the
Nation, we should be left, I doubt in a very bad Condition.
And if its Value should rise, as it must needs do if the Silver Coin
grow worse and worse, then by how much it rises, by so much more all the
Inconveniences and Dangers of its late Rise among us will encrease.
What those Dangers are at present is no great Mystery, the _English_
Merchants will make none of it if they may be heard.
The melancholly Letters which their Factors abroad daily send ’em makes
the Case plain.
That a Guinea in _Holland_ and _Flanders_ is now but 26 _s._ or to speak
more properly and plainly too, so many Rials, or Dolars and Stivers as
bear Proportion to 26 _s._ of our Money.
At that Rate they there buy our Guineas of Officers, which they can’t be
hindered carrying over in their Pockets; then the _Holland_ and
_Flemming_ Merchants send back to us the same Guineas to buy therewith
our Staple Goods and Manufactures.
Here they are received at 30 _s._ And their Factors here, who buy our
Manufactures as cheap of the Clothier or Stocking-Seller as our own
Merchants, send back for 1000 Guineas. (for Instance) Received from
_Holland_ 1500 Pounds worth of our Goods, which when the _Dutch_ or
_Flemming_ Merchant receives, he finds by his Accompts that these Goods
stand him in no more than 1300 _l._ So that he has received beyond Sea
the like Goods for 1300, _&c._ which hath stood our _English_ Merchant
in 1500 _l._ The _English_ and _Flemming_ Merchants then ship off each
their Goods for _Spain_, _Turkey_, the _East_ or _West-Indies_, and
there they go to Market to sell these Goods, and the _Flemming_
under-sells the _English_ 13 _per Cent._ even in these Commodities which
are the Product of _England_.
And now what is the plain Inference? but inevitable Ruine to the whole
Trade of the Nation. Here’s an End of Merchandise, and (in Time of
Peace) all Use of Shipping.
This I think is the natural and the present Effect of the Rise of
Guineas.
But to return to my proper Subject, fare it as it will with Gold, the
current Silver Coin of _England_ is, by 3 Parts in 5 too little for our
In-Land Trade, and must ruine in Process of time all those Traders who
are wont to make several Returns of their Money in a Year; for the
Scarcity of Money occasions the giving of longer Credit than is usual,
and the giving of Credit hinders the Frequency of Returns.
Again, the Want of Silver Coin occasions the taking of Gold at such high
Rates; and the Value of Gold Coin being uncertain, which Silver Coin
hath not hitherto been, the Receiver will always allow himself for a
probable Loss: (which would be the certain Effect too of making the
Valuation or Silver Coin alterable and uncertain) that Allowance makes
things bought so much the dearer, and that Dearness puts a Damp upon
Trade.
So that the Scarcity of Silver is not only at present too visible, but
so long as the Balance of Trade is lightest on our Side, is like to be
more and more felt.
Yet the great Naval Stores we buy from abroad, the great Remittances to
be provided for the Subsistence of our Armies and Fleets, are things
inevitable, and ’tis impossible to hinder the Exportation of Bullion.
But ’tis very easie to hinder the Exportation of Money.
And as we shall do well to consider, that altho’ our Plate may serve us
once at a dead Lift, as the _French_ King show’d us the Way, yet it
can’t serve us above once, and when that’s gone after the rest of our
Silver, what are we to do next?
We must not only stop a present Gap, but provide for the future, and so
I lay it down as a Conclusion.
_That we are under a very great Want of Silver Coin to carry on the
necessary Trade of the Kingdom._
CHAP. III.
_Of the Importation of Silver._
That which encourages the Importation of any Commodity is the Certainty
and Quickness of a Market at a good Price.
But notwithstanding Silver is dear in _England_, at present we are but
dull Traders for it.
For the _Mint_ and the Silver-Smiths being the chief Buyers, these
cannot go to Market.
The Mint cannot afford to buy and sell to lose; if an Ounce of Silver
cost the Warden of the Mint 6 _s._ 5 _d._ he can’t afford to make a
Crown-Piece of it.
And the fear of Plate’s being call’d in, to the Disadvantage of the
Owner, puts too great a Damp upon the Silver-Smiths’ Trade.
And the actual calling it in, upon such Terms, would very little mend
the Matter; People will not be very fond of buying more, for fear at
least the same Trick should be serv’d ’em twice.
And yet our Coin being altogether insufficient, we must provide for a
considerable Quantity more.
The Quantity we want must be imported according to our Occasions, or
what we have already, be augmented, by altering the _Species_, or by
coining out our Plate.
It cannot be soon enough imported in such great Quantities as we at
present want, and yet if we could immediately buy it from abroad, we
could not afford to coin what we buy, without altering our Coin from the
old Standard, seeing our Necessity of having it, will make its Price
rise abroad.
Therefore I shall refer what I have more to say, concerning Importation,
to the Chapter of Exportation, and first speak of altering our Coin, for
’tis evident we must alter our Coin, as well as coin our Plate, or
otherwise our Plate will last us but a little while, and in the mean
time we may admit this Conclusion.
_That_ England _must be as good a Market for Silver as other Countries,
or we shall have little imported, be it never so plentiful abroad_.
CHAP. IV.
_Of Altering our Coin._
There are Three Ways of altering our Coin.
I. _First_, By not altering the _Species_ of the Money, but the Value of
it, as making a Crown Piece go for 6 or 7 _s._
II. _Secondly_, By diminishing the Matter, but leaving the same Name,
and there is no essential Difference between these two Ways.