A LETTER TO MR. HARDING THE PRINTER, UPON OCCASION OF A PARAGRAPH IN
HIS NEWS-PAPER OF AUGUST 1, 1724, RELATING TO MR. WOOD'S HALF-PENCE.
In your news-letter of the first instant there is a paragraph dated
from London, July 25th, relating to Wood's half-pence; whereby it is
plain, what I foretold in my letter to the shop-keepers, etc., that
this vile fellow would never be at rest, and that the danger of our
ruin approaches nearer, and therefore the kingdom requires new and
fresh warning; however I take that paragraph to be, in a great
measure, an imposition upon the public, at least I hope so, because I
am informed that Wood is generally his own news-writer. I cannot but
observe from that paragraph that this public enemy of ours, not
satisfied to ruin us with his trash, takes every occasion to treat
this kingdom with the utmost contempt. He represents several of our
merchants and traders upon examination before a committee of a
council, agreeing that there was the utmost necessity of copper-money
here, before his patent, so that several gentlemen have been forced to
tally with their workmen, and give them bits of cards sealed and
subscribed with their names. What then? If a physician prescribe to a
patient a dram of physic, shall a rascal apothecary cram him with a
pound, and mix it up with poison? And is not a landlord's hand and
seal to his own labourers a better security for five or ten shillings,
than Wood's brass seven times below the real value, can be to the
kingdom, for an hundred and four thousand pounds?
But who are these merchants and traders of Ireland that make this
report of the utmost necessity we are under of copper money? They are
only a few betrayers of their country, confederates with Wood, from
whom they are to purchase a great quantity of his coin, perhaps at
half value, and vend it among us to the ruin of the public and their
own private advantage. Are not these excellent witnesses, upon whose
integrity the fate of a kingdom must depend, who are evidences in
their own cause, and sharers in this work of iniquity?
If we could have deserved the liberty of coining for ourselves, as we
formerly did (and why we have not is everybody's wonder as well as
mine), ten thousand pounds might have been coined here in Dublin of
only one fifth below the intrinsic value, and this sum, with the stock
of half-pence we then had, would have been sufficient: but Wood by his
emissaries, enemies to God and this kingdom, hath taken care to buy up
as many of our old half-pence as he could, and from thence the present
want of change arises; to remove which, by Mr. Wood's remedy, would
be, to cure a scratch on the finger by cutting off the arm. But
supposing there were not one farthing of change in the whole nation, I
will maintain that five and twenty thousand pounds would be a sum
fully sufficient to answer all our occasions. I am no inconsiderable
shop-keeper in this town, I have discoursed with several of my own and
other trades, with many gentlemen both of city and country, and also
with great numbers of farmers, cottagers, and labourers, who all agree
that two shillings in change for every family would be more than
necessary in all dealings. Now by the largest computation (even before
that grievous discouragement of agriculture, which hath so much
lessened our numbers) the souls in this kingdom are computed to be
one million and a half, which, allowing but six to a family, makes two
hundred and fifty thousand families, and consequently two shillings to
each family will amount only to five and twenty thousand pounds,
whereas this honest liberal hard-ware-man Wood, would impose upon us
above four times that sum.
Your paragraph relates further, that Sir Isaac Newton reported an
assay taken at the Tower, of Wood's metal, by which it appears that
Wood had in all respects performed his contract. His contract! With
whom? Was it with the Parliament or people of Ireland? Are not they to
be the purchasers? But they detest, abhor, and reject it, as corrupt,
fraudulent, mingled with dirt and trash. Upon which he grows angry,
goes to law, and will impose his goods upon us by force.
But your news-letter says that an assay was made of the coin. How
impudent and insupportable is this? Wood takes care to coin a dozen or
two half-pence of good metal, sends them to the Tower and they are
approved, and these must answer all that he hath already coined or
shall coin for the future. It is true, indeed, that a gentleman often
sends to my shop for a pattern of stuff, I cut it fairly off, and if
he likes it he comes or sends and compares the pattern with the whole
piece, and probably we come to a bargain. But if I were to buy an
hundred sheep, and the grazier should bring me one single weather fat
and well fleeced by way of pattern, and expect the same price round
for the whole hundred, without suffering me to see them before he was
paid, or giving me good security to restore my money for those that
were lean or shorn or scabby, I would be none of his customer. I have
heard of a man who had a mind to sell his house, and therefore carried
a piece of brick in his pocket, which he showed as a pattern to
encourage purchasers: and this is directly the case in point with Mr.
Wood's assay.
The next part of the paragraph contains Mr. Wood's voluntary proposals
for preventing any future objections or apprehensions.
His first proposal is, that whereas he hath already coined seventeen
thousand pounds, and has copper prepared to make it up forty thousand
pounds, he will be content to coin no more, unless the exigences of
trade require it, though his patent empowers him to coin a far greater
quantity.
To which if I were to answer it should be thus: Let Mr. Wood and his
crew of founders and tinkers coin on till there is not an old kettle
left in the kingdom; let them coin old leather, tobacco-pipe clay, or
the dirt in the streets, and call their trumpery by what name they
please from a guinea to a farthing, we are not under any concern to
know how he and his tribe or accomplices think fit to employ
themselves. But I hope and trust that we are all to a man fully
determined to have nothing to do with him or his ware.
The king has given him a patent to coin half-pence, but hath not
obliged us to take them, and I have already shown in my Letter to the
Shop-keepers, etc., that the law hath not left it in the power of the
prerogative to compel the subject to take any money, beside gold and
silver of the right sterling and standard.
Wood further proposes, (if I understand him right, for his expressions
are dubious) that he will not coin above forty thousand pounds unless
the exigences of trade require it: First, I observe that this sum of
forty thousand pounds is almost double to what I proved to be
sufficient for the whole kingdom, although we had not one of our old
half-pence left. Again I ask, who is to be judge when the exigences of
trade require it? Without doubt he means himself, for as to us of this
poor kingdom, who must be utterly ruined if his project should
succeed, we were never once consulted till the matter was over, and he
will judge of our exigences by his own; neither will these be ever at
an end till he and his accomplices will think they have enough: and it
now appears that he will not be content with all our gold and silver,
but intends to buy up our goods and manufactures with the same coin.
I shall not enter into examination of the prices for which he now
proposes to sell his half-pence or what he calls his copper, by the
pound; I have said enough of it in my former letter, and it hath
likewise been considered by others. It is certain that, by his own
first computation, we were to pay three shillings for what was
intrinsically worth but one, although it had been of the true weight
and standard for which he pretended to have contracted; but there is
so great a difference both in weight and badness in several of his
coins that some of them have been nine in ten below the intrinsic
value, and most of them six or seven.
His last proposal being of a peculiar strain and nature, deserves to
be very particularly consider'd, both on account of the matter and the
style. It is as follows.
Lastly, in consideration of the direful apprehensions which prevail in
Ireland, that Mr. Wood will by such coinage drain them of their gold
and silver, he proposes to take their manufactures in exchange, and
that no person be obliged to receive more than five-pence half-penny
at one payment.
First, observe this little impudent hard-ware-man turning into
ridicule the direful apprehensions of a whole kingdom, priding himself
as the cause of them, and daring to prescribe what no king of England
ever attempted, how far a whole nation shall be obliged to take his
brass coin. And he has reason to insult; for sure there was never an
example in history of a great kingdom kept in awe for above a year in
daily dread of utter destruction, not by a powerful invader at the
head of twenty thousand men, not by a plague or a famine, not by a
tyrannical prince (for we never had one more gracious) or a corrupt
administration, but by one single, diminutive, insignificant,
mechanic.
But to go on. To remove our direful apprehensions that he will drain
us of our gold and silver by his coinage, this little arbitrary
mock-monarch most graciously offers to take our manufactures in
exchange. Are our Irish understandings indeed so low in his opinion?
Is not this the very misery we complain of? That his cursed project
will put us under the necessity of selling our goods for what is equal
to nothing. How would such a proposal sound from France or Spain, or
any other country we deal with, if they should offer to deal with us
only upon this condition, that we should take their money at ten times
higher than the intrinsic value? Does Mr. Wood think, for instance,
that we will sell him a stone of wool for a parcel of his counters not
worth sixpence, when we can send it to England and receive as many
shillings in gold and silver? Surely there was never heard such a
compound of impudence, villainy and folly.
His proposals conclude with perfect high-treason. He promises, that
no person shall be obliged to receive more than five-pence half-penny
of his coin in one payment: by which it is plain that he pretends to
oblige every subject in this kingdom to take so much in every payment,
if it be offered; whereas his patent obliges no man, nor can the
prerogative by law claim such a power, as I have often observed; so
that here Mr. Wood takes upon him the entire legislature, and an
absolute dominion over the properties of the whole nation.
Good God! Who are this wretch's advisers? Who are his supporters,
abettors, encouragers, or sharers? Mr. Wood will oblige me to take
five-pence half-penny of his brass in every payment. And I will shoot
Mr. Wood and his deputies through the head, like highway-men or
house-breakers, if they dare to force one farthing of their coin upon
me in the payment of an hundred pounds. It is no loss of honour to
submit to the lion; but who, with the figure of a man can think with
patience of being devoured alive by a rat? He has laid a tax upon the
people of Ireland of seventeen shillings at least in the pound; a tax,
I say, not only upon lands, but interest-money, goods, manufactures,
the hire of handicraftsmen, labourers and servants. Shop-keepers, look
to yourselves. Wood will oblige and force you to take five-pence
half-penny of his trash in every payment, and many of you receive
twenty, thirty, forty, payments in one day, or else you can hardly
find bread: and pray consider how much that will amount to in a year;
twenty times five-pence half-penny is nine shillings and two-pence,
which is above an hundred and sixty pounds a year, whereof you will be
losers of at least one hundred and forty pounds by taking your
payments in his money. If any of you be content to deal with Mr. Wood
on such conditions they may. But for my own particular, let his money
perish with him. If the famous Mr. Hampden rather chose to go to
prison than pay a few shillings to King Charles I. without authority
of Parliament, I will rather choose to be hanged than have all my
substance taxed at seventeen shillings in the pound, at the arbitrary
will and pleasure of the venerable Mr. Wood.
The paragraph concludes thus. _N.B._ (that is to say _nota bene_, or
mark well) No evidence appeared from Ireland or elsewhere, to prove
the mischiefs complained of, or any abuses whatsoever committed in the
execution of the said grant.
The impudence of this remark exceeds all that went before. First, the
House of Commons in Ireland, which represents the whole people of the
kingdom; and secondly the Privy Council, addressed his majesty against
these half-pence. What could be done more to express the universal
sense and opinion of the nation? If his copper were diamonds, and the
kingdom were entirely against it, would not that be sufficient to
reject it? Must a committee of the House of Commons, and our whole
Privy Council go over to argue pro and con with Mr. Wood? To what end
did the king give his patent for coining of half-pence in Ireland? Was
it not, because it was represented to his sacred majesty, that such a
coinage would be of advantage to the good of this kingdom, and of all
his subjects here? It is to the patentee's peril if his representation
be false, and the execution of his patent be fraudulent and corrupt.
Is he so wicked and foolish to think that his patent was given him to
ruin a million and a half of people, that he might be a gainer of
three or fourscore thousand pounds to himself? Before he was at the
charge of passing a patent, much more of raking up so much filthy
dross, and stamping it with his majesty's image and superscription,
should he not first in common sense, in common equity, and common
manners, have consulted the principal party concerned; that is to say,
the people of the kingdom, the House of Lords or Commons, or the Privy
Council? If any foreigner should ask us, whose image and
superscription there is on Wood's coin, we should be ashamed to tell
him, it was Cæsar's. In that great want of copper half-pence, which
he alleges we were, our city set up our Cæsar's statue in excellent
copper, at an expence that is equal in value to thirty thousand
pounds of his coin; and we will not receive his image in worse metal.
I observe many of our people putting a melancholy case on this
subject. It is true say they, we are all undone if Wood's half-pence
must pass; but what shall we do, if his majesty puts out a
proclamation commanding us to take them? This has been often dinned in
my ears. But I desire my countrymen to be assured that there is
nothing in it. The king never issues out a proclamation but to enjoin
what the law permits him. He will not issue out a proclamation against
law, or if such a thing should happen by a mistake, we are no more
obliged to obey it than to run our heads into the fire. Besides, his
majesty will never command us by a proclamation, what he does not
offer to command us in the patent itself. There he leaves it to our
discretion, so that our destruction must be entirely owing to
ourselves. Therefore let no man be afraid of a proclamation, which
will never be granted; and if it should, yet upon this occasion, will
be of no force. The king's revenues here are near four hundred
thousand pounds a year, can you think his ministers will advise him to
take them in Wood's brass, which will reduce the value to fifty
thousand pounds? England gets a million sterl. by this nation, which,
if this project goes on, will be almost reduc'd to nothing: and do you
think those who live in England upon Irish estates will be content to
take an eighth or a tenth part, by being paid in Wood's dross?
If Wood and his confederates were not convinced of our stupidity, they
never would have attempted so audacious an enterprise. He now sees a
spirit hath been raised against him, and he only watches till it
begins to flag, he goes about watching when to devour us. He hopes we
shall be weary of contending with him, and at last out of ignorance,
or fear, or of being perfectly tired with opposition, we shall be
forced to yield. And therefore I confess it is my chief endeavour to
keep up your spirits and resentments. If I tell you there is a
precipice under you, and that if you go forwards you will certainly
break your necks--if I point to it before your eyes, must I be at the
trouble of repeating it every morning? Are our people's hearts waxed
gross? Are their ears dull of hearing, and have they closed their
eyes? I fear there are some few vipers among us, who, for ten or
twenty pounds' gain, would sell their souls and their country, though
at last it would end in their own ruin as well as ours. Be not like
the deaf adder, who refuses to hear the voice of the charmer, charm he
never so wisely.
Though my letter be directed to you, Mr. Harding, yet I intend it for
all my countrymen. I have no interest in this affair but what is
common to the public; I can live better than many others, I have some
gold and silver by me, and a shop well furnished, and shall be able
to make a shift when many of my betters are starving. But I am grieved
to see the coldness and indifference of many people with whom I
discourse. Some are afraid of a proclamation, others shrug up their
shoulders, and cry, what would you have us to do? Some give out, there
is no danger at all. Others are comforted that it will be a common
calamity and they shall fare no worse than their neighbours. Will a
man, who hears midnight-robbers at his door, get out of bed, and raise
his family for a common defence, and shall a whole kingdom lie in a
lethargy, while Mr. Wood comes at the head of his confederates to rob
them of all they have, to ruin us and our posterity for ever? If an
high-way-man meets you on the road, you give him your money to save
your life; but, God be thanked, Mr. Wood cannot touch a hair of your
heads. You have all the laws of God and man on your side. When he or
his accomplices offer you his dross, it is but saying No, and you are
safe. If a madman should come to my shop with a handful of dirt raked
out of the kennel, and offer it in payment for ten yards of stuff, I
would pity or laugh at him, or, if his behaviour deserved it, kick him
out of my doors. And if Mr. Wood comes to demand any gold or silver,
or commodities for which I have paid my gold and silver, in exchange
for his trash, can he deserve or expect better treatment?
When the evil day is come (if it must come) let us mark and observe
those who presume to offer these half-pence in payment. Let their
names and trades, and places of abode be made public, that every one
may be aware of them, as betrayers of their country, and confederates
with Mr. Wood. Let them be watched at markets and fairs, and let the
first honest discoverer give the word about, that Wood's half-pence
have been offered, and caution the poor innocent people not to receive
them.
Perhaps I have been too tedious; but there would never be an end, if I
attempt to say all that this melancholy subject will bear. I will
conclude with humbly offering one proposal, which if it were put in
practice, would blow up this destructive project at once. Let some
skilful judicious pen draw up an advertisement to the following
purpose:
_Whereas one William Wood, hard-ware-man, now or lately sojourning in
the city of London, hath, by many misrepresentations, procured a
patent for coining an hundred and forty thousand pounds in copper
half-pence for this kingdom, which is a sum five times greater than
our occasions require: And whereas it is notorious that the said Wood
hath coined his half-pence of such base metal and false weight, that
they are, at least, six parts in seven below the real value: And
whereas we have reason to apprehend that the said Wood may, at any
time hereafter, clandestinely coin as many more half-pence as he
pleases: And whereas the said patent neither doth nor can oblige his
majesty's subjects to receive the said half-pence in any payment, but
leaves it to their voluntary choice, because, by law the subject
cannot be obliged to take any money except gold or silver: And
whereas, contrary to the letter and meaning of the said patent, the
said Wood hath declared that every person shall be obliged to take
five-pence half-penny of his coin in every payment: And whereas the
House of Commons and Privy Council have severally addressed his most
sacred majesty representing the ill consequences which the said
coinage may have upon this kingdom: And lastly, whereas it is
universally agreed, that the whole nation to a man (except Mr. Wood
and his confederates) are in the utmost apprehensions of the ruinous
consequences that must follow from the said coinage. Therefore we,
whose names are underwritten, being persons of considerable estates in
this kingdom, and residers therein, do unanimously resolve and declare
that we will never receive one farthing or half-penny of the said
Wood's coining, and that we will direct all our tenants to refuse the
said coin from any person whatsoever; of which, that they may not be
ignorant, we have sent them a copy of this advertisement, to be read
to them by our stewards, receivers, etc._
I could wish, that a paper of this nature might be drawn up, and
signed by two or three hundred principal gentlemen of this kingdom,
and printed copies thereof sent to their several tenants; I am
deceived, if anything could sooner defeat this execrable design of
Wood and his accomplices. This would immediately give the alarm, and
set the kingdom on their guard. This would give courage to the meanest
tenant and cottager. _How long, O Lord, righteous and true_, etc.
I must tell you in particular, Mr. Harding, that you are much to
blame. Several hundred persons have enquired at your house for my
Letter to the Shop-keepers, etc., and you had none to sell them. Pray
keep yourself provided with that letter and with this; you have got
very well by the former, but I did not then write for your sake, any
more than I do now. Pray advertise both in every news-paper, and let
it not be your fault or mine if our countrymen will not take warning.
I desire you likewise to sell them as cheap as you can.--I am your
Servant, M.B.
_Aug. 4, 1724._