A DISCOURSE Concerning Coining the New Money lighter IN Answer to Mr. Lock 's Considerations about raising the Value of Money By NICHOLAS BARBON Esq LONDON Printed for Richard Chiswell at the Rose and Crown in St. Paul's Church-Yard MDCXCVI PREFACE THIS Question Whether it is for the Interest of England at this time to New-Coin their Clipt-Money according to the Old Standard both for Weight and Fineness or to Coin it somewhat Lighter has been of late the business of the Press and the common subject of Debate And since there has been so much wrote and said Pro Con about this matter and yet Gentlemen continue still unsatisfied and of different Opinions I could not hope from any thing I might write to have better success and therefore did not intend to appear in Publick in this Controversy Tho' I had the same reason which is given for answering Mr. Lowndes that is that by my silence I might seem to renounce my own Opinion having some time since wrote a Discourse of Trade wherein the definition of Money differs from what Mr. Lock asserts But having consider'd the fatal consequence of coining the Money by the old Standard and that it was not necessary that those Argumeuts that should be offered to prevent it should wholly convince those that are of the contrary Opinion but that they would have the same success if they did but create a Doubt It seeming very reasonable that Persons in Doubt of their own Opinion in this Controversy might be persuaded to consent to the trial of the contrary not only that they might thereby discover the Truth but because by the Experiment there appears so plain an Advantage as the multiplying the species of the Coin and saving the Nation near a Million of Money in a time when they are engaged in so chargeable a War I was therefore encouraged in hopes of such success to offer my Reasons for raising the Value of the Money to Publick Consideration that they might be the better weigh'd and examin'd and at the same time to answer Mr. Lock 's Objections to the contrary which both from the Reputation of the Person that writes them and the Reception they seem to have had from great Personages before they were published are of greatest force in this Debate That which seems to be the greatest difficulty in clearing this Controversy is That it being about a matter where Profit accompanies the decision of it Gentlemen are jealous of the Arguments lest they should be biass'd by private Interest and so run contrary to the Truth which lessens the force of the Arguments that are used in such Debates But this is an equal Objection to the Reason on both sides For as the raising the Value of the Money may be profitable to those that have Interest in Banks having great Cashes in Old Money so on the other hand the Coining of the Money to the Old Standard may be as profitable to Banks by melting of it down and if there be any difference of Advantage it must be to the latter Because besides the Profit by melting Nothing can be of greater Advantage to Banks than scarcity of Money when men will be glad to take a Bank-Note for want of it And on the contrary nothing can be more disadvantageous to Banks especially to those young in Credit than plenty of New Money when the Money may be sooner told than a Note writ so that if I were to consider my private Interest I ought to be of the contrary Opinion to that I argue for And therefore I hope I shall be believ'd when I declare that I have no other design in writing this Discourse than the service of my Countrey and I have the same Candor to believe it of those that have wrote for the contrary Opinion and that Mr. Lock and I do in this agree tho' in our Arguments we differ For I cannot believe that any Person for his own private Interest will argue for the Coining the Money by the Old Standard when the Consequence of it in my Opinion will be so fatal to his Countrey which will be no less than the want of the species of Money a stop of Trade and a general Complaint and Poverty all over the Nation I have followed the same Method in answering Mr. Lock as he has used in answering Mr. Lownds which is by laying down several Propositions contrary to Mr. Lock 's and from thence to argue and shew wherein his are mistaken I have chose rather to sum up the chief substance of his Arguments for the sake of Brevity than to recite his sense in his own words And if in any place I have mistaken his sense I do beg his pardon and do assure him that it was not wilfully but for want of right understanding of it For I have the same design as Mr. Lock That Truth betwixt us might appear and therefore shall use his own words That I shall think my self oblig'd to him or any one else who shall shew me or the Publick any material mistake in any thing I have here said whereon any part of the Question turns The want of leisure from other Affairs might very well have been pleaded for not writing in this Debate But if it may be allow'd me for an Excuse in not writing so well on this Subject as the weightiness of it might require either in respect of the Stile the Method of arguing or the omission of several things to the clearing the Controversy I shall not think my time ill spent especially if any thing that I have wrote may tend to the service of the Publick THE CONTENTS OR CHIEF SUBSTANCE of Mr. LOCK's Book THAT Silver is the Instrument and Measure of Commerce by its Intrinsick Value The Intrinsick Value of Silver is the Estimate which common consent hath placed on it Silver is the Measure of Commerce by its Quantity which is also the Measure of its Intrinsick Value It is the Quantity of Silver men give take and contract for that they Estimate the Value of other things by and give and take in exchange for all other Commodities That Money differs from Vncoined Silver only in this That the Quantity of Silver in each Piece is ascertained by its stamp which is set there to be a Publick Voucher for its Weight and Fineness That the Par of Money is a certain number of Pieces of the Coin of one Countrey containing in them an equal Quantity of Silver to that in another number of pieces of the Coin of another Countrey That plenty of Money in a Countrey is only made and preserved by the Ballance of Trade From these Propositions Mr. Lock argues That it will be no Advantage to raise the Value of the Money but a great Loss to all the Creditors and Landed Men of England For Bullion or Vncoined Silver having an Intrinsick Value can never rise nor fall And money differing only from Silver in this That the Stamp ascertains the weight and
fineness of the Silver in the money Silver can never be of a higher price than the money For an equal Quantity of Silver will always be of the same value to an equal Quantity of Silver That if the value of the money be rais'd the value of all Goods will rise accordingly For Silver being the Measure of Commerce by its Quantity and it is the Quantity of Silver that men contract for in selling their Goods if there be a less Quantity of Silver in a Crown-Piece it will buy a less Quantity of Goods Or if the Crown be rais'd to Six shillings those Goods that us'd to be sold for a Crown will then cost Six shillings That it will be the same in all Foreign Commodities and Foreign Exchange For the Foreign Exchange and Par of money being only from an equal Quantity of Silver in the different Coins of the several Countries if the money be made lighter there must then be a greater number of pieces to make the Par or Foreign Exchange by Foreign money equal or else the Quantity of Silver will not be equal to that in the Foreign Coin So that the Foreign Exchange and Price of all Foreign Goods will rise in proportion to what the value of the money is rais'd That which cost Twenty pounds before will cost five and twenty if the money be raised a fifth because there will be no greater a Quantity of Silver in Five and twenty pounds than there was in Twenty before the money was raised That the raising the value of the money will not prevent the carrying it away because that depends upon the Balance of Trade For if there be more Foreign Goods bought of any Nation and Imported than there are of the Native Commodities Exported the Balance must be paid in money which will always carry it out to pay the Debt till the Balance of that Nation be alter'd which is by Exporting more of the Native Commodities and Importing less of the Foreign That there will be a great loss to all the Creditors and Landlords of England for they letting their Land by the same rule which is by the Quantity of Silver in the money if the money be made lighter by a fifth part they will lose a fifth part by their Rent They 'll receive but Eighty pounds instead of an Hundred because there will be no more Silver in an Hundred than there was before in Eighty That there will be the same loss to the Creditors when they are paid their Bonds Debts and Contracts so that the raising of the money will put a very great Loss and Hardship upon Landlords and Creditors and bring no advantage to the Nation The contrary Propositions in Answer to Mr. LOCK are these THAT there is no Intrinsick Value in Silver or any fixt or certain Estimate that common consent hath placed on it but that it is a Commodity and riseth and falleth as other Commodities do That Money is the Instrument and Measure of Commerce and not Silver That it is the Instrument of Commerce from the Authority of that Government where it is Coined and that by the Stamp and Size of each piece the value is known That Money differs from Vncoined Silver in this That the Authority of the Government gives a fixt and certain value to each piece of Money which is generally beyond the value of the Silver in it That it is Money that men give take and contract with for all other Commodities and by which they estimate the value of all other things having regard more to the stamp and currancy of the Money than to the quantity of fine Silver in each piece That raising the Value of the Money will not raise the Foreign Exchange nor Foreign Commodities That if by the Balance of Trade in a Nation the Money is carried away the only means to prevent it is to raise the Value of the Money That it is the Practice of all the Governments in Europe to raise their Money from time to time as the price of Silver rises That the raising of the Money will not raise the Value of any Commodities That if the Money be rais'd a fifth the Landlord will not lose any part of his Rent nor the Creditor any part of his Debt or Contract That if the Money be not rais'd and kept above the price of Silver it will be melted down and carried away That the Consequence will be That for want of Money Commerce and Trade will be at a stand the Price of the Native Commodities and the Rents of the Lands will fall and that it will cause a general Clamour and Poverty in the Nation To prove the Truth of these Propositions it will be necessary to discourse in general of these several things viz. Of Riches and the Value of Things Of Money and the Par of the several Coins Of the Balance of Trade and Foreign Exchange Of raising the Value of Money with the Causes of it and the Effects A DISCOURSE Concerning Coining the New Money lighter c. Of Riches and the Value of Things ALL the Arguments in Mr. Lock 's Book against the raising the Value of Money are drawn from this single Supposition That there is an Intrinsick Value in Silver which is the Price or Estimate that Common Consent hath placed on it by which it comes to be the Measure of the Value of all other Things which if that should not be true then all his Consequences must be mistaken And to prove that he is so It will be necessary to discourse of RICHES in general and to shew how the Value of Things do arise By Riches is meant all such Things as are of great Value By Value is to be understood the Price of Things that is what any thing is worth to be sold according to the old Maxim Valet quantum vendi potest The Value of all Things arise from their Use. Things of no Use are of no Value as the English Phrase is They are good for nothing There are two general Uses by which all Things have a Value They are either useful to supply the Wants of the Body or the Wants of the Mind Things that have a Value from being necessary to supply the Wants of the Body are all such Things as are useful to support Life such as all sorts of Food and Physick Things that have their Value by being useful to supply the Wants of the Mind are all such Things that satisfy Desire Desire implies Want it is the Appetite of the Mind and as natural as Hunger to the Body such are all those Things that are any ways useful to satisfy the Mind by contributing to the Ease Pleasure or Pomp of Life By supplying these two general Wants all sorts of Things have a Value But the greatest Number of them have their Value from supplying the Wants of the Mind and Things of the greatest Value are used to set orth the Pomp of Life such as all sorts of fine Draperies Gold
receiving they expect no more than to be paid by the now current Money though the quantity of Silver be much less in this Money The Judges in setting their Fines commonly use the old Denomination of a Mark which is the name of the Weight of Gold and Silver in most places of Europe contains Eight Ounces of the pound Troy and in Edward the Third's time when our pound Sterling weigh'd a pound Troy a Mark was a common name in payment which then contain'd Eight Ounces of Silver and yet the Judges by their Fine intend no more than that it should be paid by the Current Money now in being which is two Thirds of a pound Sterling by tale and not two Thirds of a pound Troy by Weight as the Mark signifi'd when first in Use which would now amount to Forty shillings by Tale instead of Thirteen and Four pence which shews that Money is paid by a computed Valuation and not by the quantity of Silver in it The same may be observ'd in examining the Par of the several Coins and that the Par of Money is made solely by the Valuation of the Coin according to what it is current at and not from the quantity of Silver in each piece In the Reign of Queen Elizabeth Anno 1586. there was a Par of Monies agreed on betwixt the Earl of Essex and the States of the United Provinces which was That Three and thirty of their shillings and Four Stivers should be equal to our Twenty shillings an English shilling being then valu'd at 10 Stivers And if any person will examine the quantity of Silver in this Par they will find that there is more Silver in our Twenty shillings than in Eight and Thirty shillings of their Money In the year 1622 the States set out a Placate wherein they prohibited all Foreign Coins to pass except what were nam'd in that Ordinance of the States according to the Valuation there express'd The English shillings was one of the Foreign Coins that was allow'd to be there current which was to pass for Ten Stivers and an half so that by this second Valuation of our English Money they allow'd the Par of our Twenty shillings to be equal to Five and Thirty shillings two Stivers of their Money and yet our shilling was made lighter betwixt the first time of the Valuation and the second by Two shillings in Three pounds The French Crown which us'd to pass for Five and fifty Stivers is now current in Flanders for Seven and fifty Stivers since the French have rais'd the Value of their Money though there is no more Silver in the Crown-piece than there was before which shews plainly that the Par of Monies is a computed Valuation and not from the quantity of Silver in each piece of Coin There is a Par betwixt the Monies made of Gold and Silver That likewise is uncertain and depends somewhat upon the Valuation of the Money but because Gold is a Commodity of great Value the Gold Money is generally Coin'd nearer to the Market-price of Gold than the Silver Money is to the Silver and therefore the Gold Money is often weigh'd because the difference of a grain or two greatly alters the Value of the Piece of Money To shew what the Par is betwixt Gold and Silver will be more proper in the Discourse of raising the Coin therefore I shall conclude this Debate of money and the Par of money and submit the Question betwixt us to consideration upon the Arguments that have been us'd to prove That Money has some Valuation from the Authority of the Government where 't is Coin'd and not its sole Value from the quantity of Silver in each piece That men regard the Currency and Stamp of the Coin and take it more upon the account that it will pass again for the same value to another than for the quantity of Silver in each piece And not as Mr. Lock has asserted that is That the Stamp upon the Money is set there only to be a Publick Voucher of its weight and fineness That in buying and selling 't is the quantity of Silver that men give or take or contract for that they estimate the value of other things and satisfy for them and thus by its quantity Silver becomes the measure of Commerce Of the Balance of Trade and Foreign Exchange THE Balance of Trade is us'd by Mr. Lock as an Argument against raising the Value of the Money because the Balance of all Foreign Accompts as he supposes are paid in Money which must be sent out to balance the Accompt and let the Value of it be what it will that is set upon the Money it will go for no more in Foreign Countries than according to the quantity of Silver that is in it This is a very popular Notion and generally believ'd yet if it be consider'd it will be found to be a mistake and that there is no such Usage as Balancing the Foreign Accompts of Merchants by the Money of a Foreign Nation But if there were such an Usage 't is the greatest Argument for raising the Value of the Money That which is commonly meant by the Balance of Trade is the equal importing of Foreign Commodities with the exporting of the Native And they reckon that Nation has the advantage in the Balance of Trade that exports more of the Native Commodities and imports less of the Foreign And the reason that is given for it is That if the Native Commodities be of a greater Value that are exported the Balance of that Accompt must be made up in Bullion or Money and the Nation grows so much richer as the Balance of that Account amounts to This Opinion is grounded upon this Supposition That Gold and Silver are the only Riches Some men lay so great a stress about the enquiring into this Balance that they are of Opinion That a Trading Nation may be ruin'd and undone if there been't Care taken by Laws to regulate the Balance And yet there is nothing so difficult as to find out the Balance of Trade in any Nation or to know whether there ever was or can be such a thing as the making up the Balance of Trade betwixt one Nation and another or to prove if it could be found out that there is any thing got or lost by the Balance For a Nation as a Nation never Trades 't is only the Inhabitants and Subjects of each Nation that Trade And there are no set days or times for making up of a general Accompt every Merchant makes up his own private Accompt and that 's not done at any set time one Merchant makes it up one week and another in another week so that there can be no set time when to begin that Balance Therefore those that rely so much upon finding out the Balance of Trade do it by taking the Computation from the Trade of several years of one Nation with another and think it may be done by examining
the Accompt of the Custom-House Books and us'd to give for Instance the French Trade because the Revenue that arose from those Duties on French Wines and other Commodities that were imported were so much greater than the Duties on those Goods that were sent into France and therefore us'd to cry out very much against the French Trade Tho' perhaps if that were throughly consider'd the French Trade was as profitable to the Nation as any other Foreign Trade which might be made to appear if it were proper for this Debate But to make up the Balance of Trade by the Custom-House Books is a very uncertain way of reckoning For all Foreign Goods that are imported pay a greater Duty than the Native Goods exported 'T is the Interest of all Trading Nations to lay easy Customs if any upon their Native Commodities that they may be sent cheap to Foreign Markets and thereby encourage both the making and exporting of them And to lay high Duties upon Foreign Wares that they might be dear and so not lessen by their cheapness the consumption of the Native Commodities So that there can be no Computation of the Balance of Trade from the difference of the Sum of Money that 's paid at the Custom-House for the Foreign Goods imported and the Native exported But suppose there should be an Allowance made in casting up the Accompt for the greatness of the Duties that the Foreign Goods pay more than the Native yet that can be no advantage in the discovering the Balance of Trade because they cannot discover by the Custom-House Books what the Native Goods that are exported are sold for For the Balance of the Trade must arise from the Value of the Goods that are sold and not from the Quantity that are exported or imported And that 's known only to the Merchant that sells the Goods and 't is not for his Interest to acquaint others with it and thereby discover the Profits of his Trade So that there can be no finding out the Balance of Trade by the Custom-House Books Some are of the opinion that the way to find out the Balance of Trade is by the Foreign Exchange And they reckon that if the Exchange run high upon a Nation 't is a sign that there are more Foreign Goods imported than there are of the Native exported and therefore there are Bills of Exchange drawn to answer the Effects and make up the difference in the Value of what the Native Goods were sold for less than the Foreign This seems to be the nearest way of guessing of the Balance of the Trade of a Nation but this is altogether as uncertain For Exchanges rise and fall every week and at some particular times in the year run high against a Nation and at other times run as high on the contrary As against a Vintage a great Mart or some Publick Sale the Exchange may run higher to Bourdeaux Francfort or Holland upon an East-India Sale And at other times the Exchange may have run to the same places as much on the contrary for no Exchange can constantly run high against a Nation for then the Merchants that trade to that Country must always lose by their Trade For if the Goods that they export don't yield them as much profit as the Goods they import they must lose by the Return And it cannot be suppos'd that Merchants will always Trade to a Country where they must always lose by Trading therefore there can be no account of the Balance of Trade by Foreign Exchange As to the rise of the Exchange betwixt Holland and England that 's not to be reckon'd as a Rule because of the extraordinary charge of the War at this time But if there could be an account taken of the Balance of Trade I can't see where the advantage of it could be For the reason that 's given for it That the Overplus is paid in Bullion and the Nation grows so much the richer because the Balance is made up in Bullion is altogether a mistake For Gold and Silver are but Commodities and one sort of Commodity is as good as another so it be of the same value An hundred pounds worth of Copper is as good to a Merchant as if he imported an hundred pounds worth of Silver and he may get as much by it Besides some Countries have no Gold and Silver and yet the Trade to these Countries may be as profitable to the Merchant and Nation as to the other Countries from whence they fetch the Gold and Silver as the Trade to Denmark and Sueden and the Northern parts of the World from whence they fetch Pitch Tar Hemp and Timber is as profitable to England as the Trade to Spain from whence the Merchant fetches the Bullion tho' those very Goods Pitch Tar Hemp c. are bought for the most part with the Bullion that 's brought from Spain For all Merchants get by their Trade and if they grow rich the Nation thrives For a Nation grows rich by the Inhabitants growing rich Besides those Goods Pitch Tar and Hemp are more profitable Commodities to England than Bullion because they are Materials for the building of Ships and employ more hands in the working of them after they are imported than Bullion does And the only way to know what sort of Goods and Trade are most profitable to a Nation is by examining which sort of Goods employ most hands by importing and manufacturing For every man that works is paid for his time and the more there are employ'd in a Nation the richer the Nation grows And therefore the importing of unwrought Goods such as Flax Raw-silk Cottons c. and all sorts of bulky and weighty Goods such as Wine Pitch Tar c. are more profitable to a Nation than Wrought-silks Linnens or Callicoes or Gold Silver and Goods of little Bulk in respect to their weight Because the Nation gets the profit by the making of the Raw-silk Flax and Cottons into Wrought silks Linnen and all such things as are made of of Cotton And by the bulky Goods a great profit from their Freight But this Rule all Trading Nations are acquainted with and therefore lay high Duties upon all manufactur'd Goods and a less Duty upon those unmanufactur'd Some upon this Consideration are for prohibiting not only almost all sorts of manufactur'd Goods but several other Commodities because they think they hinder the making and consuming of their own Manufactures and Native Commodities But in this they are under a great mistake and perhaps there is nothing so prejudicial to the Trade of England as the many Laws for prohibiting Commodities or laying too high a Duty which amounts to a Prohibition For by such Prohibition the Trade to such a Country is wholly lost by which the profit that the English Merchant us'd to get by selling the Foreign Goods the profit of the Owners of the Ship for the Freight the profit from the Native Commodities that us'd to be sent in Exchange