Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n
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A60769
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Some considerations about the raising of coin in a second letter to Mr. Locke.
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1696
(1696)
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Wing S4481; ESTC R16348
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23,256
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57
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a great many worthy Men who are also Men of considerable Bulk and Fortune in their Country Surely the Indigent I should rather say the Rich Debtors in that Assembly are neither so numerous as to carry this against them nor so artful as to draw them in to vote it against themselves I have said here the Rich Debtors Because in truth 't is only they those that have Cash lying ready by them but will not pay it because of their Expectation of this very Advantage that can receive any Benefit at all by the proposed Alteration of our Coin The Indigent that have not such superfluous Cash lying by them when this Alteration happens to be made however they find Money afterwards will be obliged to receive it with one Hand in the same manner as they pay it with the other So that they will have no manner of Profit by the matter But nevertheless the Rich Creditor will on all all hands certainly lose I know not whether this need any Explanation But I beg pardon of you Sir and of the Publick if I am more afraid of Obscurity than of Tediousness And if I hazard therefore upon so important a point to offend rather in Length than in Brevity My Thoughts are these When the Alteration in Coin is once made in the very same moment an Alteration in the real Value of every other thing goes along with it Not that any thing for that reason will be worth more Ounces of Silver than it was before But by continuing to be worth just the same Number of Ounces of Silver that it was before it will be worth more Shillings or Crowns proportionably as those pieces shall be either diminisht in Weight or raised in Name Now this Alteration in those things if the Alteration in Coin be great will quickly be perceived by every one If it be small it will be the less perceptible But then the Consequences of it will be so much the more lasting Now the Wealthy Gentleman that receives in his Debts in this rais'd Coin if he have occasion to pay it away the same moment for the Satisfaction of another Debt neither gets indeed nor loses by that single Transaction But the Indigent Man who is to provide himself Necessaries with the Summ that he so receives And the Wealthy Gentleman also that lays by his Summs till they grow great enough for some Bargain that he has in prospect or that keeps them only for the currant Course of his ordinary Expences will both of them certainly lose For the Rate of every thing rising proportionably to this Alteration in Coin Whatever either of them have occasion to buy will be so much dearer than it was before as their Money is now worse And so much they therefore really lose But this is not all The Consideration of the Landed Man's Rents whether he be really Opulent or Indigent reaches much further 'T is not only one single Payment but a continued Course of Annual Payments that he is to take Care for Supposing Coin raised as 't is called a Half or a Quarter part He will not only lose so much by the first Quarter's or Half-year's Rent that he receives But for all Leases Rent-Charges and other fixt Payments whatsoever he will evidently go on to lose Quarterly and Annually in the same manner for the Future as long as the Terms of those Contracts continue Nay without restraining this Consideration to Leases and Rent-Charges even for all Lands lett Year by Year without any such fixt Stipulation he will continue to lose considerably for a long while together Those that will answer any thing pertinently to this last Suggestion for to the first nothing can be answered I am bold to say have no other way to do it than by maintaining that the Rents of Lands must of Necessity rise also as well as Commodities in proportion to the Diminution which they call the Heightning of Coin But in doing so they shew manifestly the Absurdity of their own Project For to what purpose should this Alteration be made in Coin when every thing else will thereupon alter accordingly and return in a short while to bear the same proportion to the new Names Weight and Fineness of Coin as they did before to the Old 'T is visible there is no other End in it but the inriching of a few Money-mongers And that the Nation can receive no Advantage by it more than the Use of so much Cash as they shall graciously please upon such a Bribe to issue forth towards the Payment of their own Debts I am obliged therefore to grant by my own Principles and I am glad our Antagonists are thus far forced to agree with me that in Consequence of this Raising of Coin the Rents of Land must of Necessity rise also But I desire it may be observed that the Rise of Rents is a thing that proceeds very gradually The Farmer will not easily be brought to own that the Advancement which he will find in the Price of his Commodities after the Raising of Coin proceeds from that Reason No Master says he to his Landlord tho' this have been a pretty good Year to us the like has been many times before and the next following it has been a bad one God knows but it may be so now Therefore I hope your Worship will not be hard with me I have been a long while a good Tenant to your Family c. Such things as these repeated over and over again without any notice taken of the Reasons offered to the contrary will weary out many a Landlord's Patience many a time over before their Tenants will be brought to make new Bargains 'T is true that in the End they must infallibly come to it But I believe all Landlords are sensible that this must be a Work of time And whilst this Suspense and Contest lasts the Landlords must certainly go on losing Annually by the Alteration that I argue against However since I am here struck upon this fatal Rock which if our Coin be raised will be unavoidably very ruinous to all that have any manner of Debts due to them upon Ancient Contracts I cannot omit to communicate to all Men what I am informed has of late been practised by many by way of precaution against such like future Inconveniences The thing I mean is a few words added to the Condition of Bonds of which printed Copies are to be had at the Stamp-Office by those that will require them and to all other Contracts for Payments in this Form Pay to the Summ of of Good and Lawful Money of England of the Weight and Fineness of the Standard establish'd by Law at the time of the Date hereof for the Silver Coin of this Kingdom Without any Deduction or Abâ—tement whatsoever for or by reason of any Act of Parliament which shall or may be made or for any other reason or cause whatsoever This Advertisement is perhaps needless because the thing is already