Selected quad for the lemma: book_n
Text snippets containing the quad
|
ID |
Title |
Author |
Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) |
STC |
Words |
Pages |
|
A60769
|
Some considerations about the raising of coin in a second letter to Mr. Locke.
|
|
1696
(1696)
|
Wing S4481; ESTC R16348
|
23,256
|
57
|
Halves Quarters and Eights which they called Reals and the other small Pieces which had been Halves Quarters and Eights to the old Pieces of Eight bore then the same relation to the Escudo The Gold was not altered in Name but only in the supposed Value Supposed I call it because it soon appeared to be impracticable to make any other than an imaginary Alteration in the Value of Coin by Proclamation As the following Relation will I doubt not demonstrate The Proclamation strictly commanded that no Person should advance the Price of any Commodity with regard to the Advance of the Coin but that every Man should be obliged to Sell all sorts of Merchandize at the same Prices which they Sold for at the time of the Proclamation And the Magistrates had strict Charge to take due Care that no Person might go unpunished who should refuse to Sell according to this Order By which means every Trader was compelled to deliver as many Goods for Four Pieces of Eight as he had lately Sold for Five Tho' there was no reason for the falling of the said Commodity This Rigour was used for some time in most Parts if not throughout the whole Kingdom Insomuch that the Foreign Merchants residing in Spain applied themselves to their Embassadors in the Court of Spain and home to their Principals in each Foreign State complaining of this Abuse And till they were permitted to Sell their Goods for what they could afford them they appeared not in their Houses for fear they should be obliged to Sell them to Loss For they all understood that an Escudo sent into their own Country would not sell for more than when it was called a Piece of Eight Neither would it long Purchase any more in the Markets of Spain it self For every Seller in the Kingdom soon perceived the Fraud and would not part with this Goods till the Buyer had agreed to pay an Escudo for what he used to buy for the same Piece of Money when it was called a Piece of Eight And then there was as much advantage by Exporting the Gold and Silver as before So that it plainly appears that Kingdom received no other Benefit by the Project of changing the Name of the Coin except the unjust gain of a Fifth part of such Debts as were then due from the Spaniards to the foreign Merchants that traded with them The King indeed by paying his Debts according to the Rate of the Proclamation brought great Losses upon many of his own Subjects as well as Foreigners which unequal dealing was retaliated upon him by the Farmers of his Revenues and others who stood indebted to the Crown By what has been said it may easily be guessed that the Landlords in that Kingdom together with the Merchants as well Natives as Foreigners who generally give credit for greater Summs than they owe could not be perswaded that it was just that they should be obliged to discharge their Tenants and Debtors for four Fifths of their Debts in Money and one Fifth in Proclamation which in a little time would not purchase any thing in the Market When this News reached England the Merchants were very unwilling to abate one Fifth of their Debts or to be obliged to part with their Goods for less than they cost And in all their Letters to their Agents in Spain reflected upon the dishonesty of the Spaniard Nay some of that People perceiving the Injustice of this Usage tho' the Law would have allowed them to have paid Eighty for a Hundred could not prevail with themselves to do so much Injury to their Creditors but like honest Men paid so many Escudo's as they intended to pay Pieces of Eight when they contracted that Debt Because said they we are satisfied that our Creditors designed to have so many of those very Pieces which were called Pieces of Eight at the time when they parted with their Goods The same just dealing I my self met with from a Trader there to whom I had given credit before the Proclamation And when he told me he came to pay his Debt I expected to have received it with the same Dâ—mination as others generally did and that he would have taken all the Advantage the Law allowed But he was so just that he paid me as much Silver as I expected to have received from him at the time I sold him my Goods For which when I thanked him and told him he had done me a piece of Iustice which I did not expect he gave me for Answer That if he had found the King could have raised the Value when he altered the Name of the Coin then he would have paid me according to the Proclamation but since he was sensible he could not make his Escudo purchase more at Market than when it was called a Piece of Eight he thought himself obliged to pay me as many of them as I understood I was to have and he contracted to give me before the King changed their Name For said he the King 's altering the Name of the Piece of Eight seems to me to be as if we should suppose my Neighbour Peter to be possessed of Ten Thousand Ducats Estate and me who am called John to have but Two Thousand and that the King should by Proclamation cause me to be called Peter thereby designing to make me worth Ten Thousand Ducats also For unless at the same time he would add to my Estate I fear nay Purse would not be heavier than when I was called John And therefore tho' the King has obliged me to discharge my Debtors if they pay me four Fifths of their Debts yet I don't think it just for me not to pay better And I am not willing to be sent to the Devil by a Proclamation Thus Sir I have given you the best Account I am capable of what passed in Spain whilst I was there upon their Endeavours to raise the Value of their Coin and methinks the bad success they had in the Experiment of this Project should be sufficient when impartially considered to convince us that it is not possible to raise the Value of Gold and Silver otherways than in Imagination And that the attempting it would not serve to any other end than to give oportunity to every Debtor to cheat his Creditor and every tenant to defraud his Landlord throughout the Nation and to confound the Trading People in their Accounts I am c. And now pray Sir What think you of paying Debts and of being sent to the Devil by Proclamation I am SIR Your most Humble Servant Octob. the 3d. 1696. FINIS Books Printed for and Sold by A. and J. Churchill at the Black Swan in Pater-Noster-Row SEveral Papers Relating to Money Interest and Trade c. Writ upon several Occasions and Published at different Times By Mr. Iohn Locke A Discourse upon Coins By Signor Bernardo 〈◊〉 a Gentleman of Florence Being publickly spoken in the Academy there Anno 1588. A Letter of Advice to a Friend about the Currency of Chip-Money wherein all the Material Clauses contained in the several Acts made in these two last Sessions of Parliament for the Cure of that Evil are recited The Second Edition To which is annex'd the Declaration published by Queen Elizabeth upon her Reforming the COIN A Review of the Universal Remedy for all Diseases incident to Coin With Application to our Present Circumstances In a Letter to Mr. Locke Some Considerations about the Raising of Coin In a Second Letter to Mr. Locke Sir William Petty's Quant ulum cunque concerning Money ‖ Imminuere Principes Omnium maximè Nero. Harduin de Nummis p. 560. * Les Princes les plus passionnez pour le bien de leurs Sujets voyant que le cours de la fortâ— Monnoye estoit la richesse de leurs pays ont tousjours fait fabriquer leurs especes les plus approchantes qu'ils ont pû de la pureté naturelle des Metaux Et ont pris de ce soin le titre de RESTAURATEURS de la Monnoye qu'ils ont bien voulu joindre à celuy de Vainqueur d' Auguste et de Pere de la patrie Recherches Curieuses des Monnoyes de France pa. 7. * Le Cours de la Monnoye doit estre une loy inviolable parce qu'il est le fondement et la regle du Commerce G'est un contract de bonne foy que le Prince fait avec ses Sujets Les Casuistes tiennent que les clauses n'en peuvent estre changées sans un consentement reciproque Qu'il n'est pas le Maistre ni le proprietaire des especes quoy qu'elles portent son visage et ses armes Et qu'elles appartiennent à ses Sujets qui les possedent C'est pour cette raison que ceux qui ont affoibli leurs Monnoyes d' authorité absolue pour en tirer du profit ont tousiours esté blamez comme ayant usurpé un bien qui ne leur appaâ—â—â—noit pas Id. Pa. 9. * Iactabatur enim temporibus iâ—lis nummus sic ut nemo posset scire quid haberet Ea res et magno honorâ— fuit Omnibus vicis statuae factae sunt ad eas thus cerei Quia multa Nemo unquam multitudini fuit Charior Cic. de Offic. l. 3.