A DISCOURSE OF MONEY Being an ESSAY on that Subject Historically and Politically handled WITH Reflections on the present evil state of the Coin of this Kingdom AND Proposals of a Method for the Remedy In a Letter to a Nobleman c. LONDON Printed for Sam. Briscoe at the Corner of Charles-Street in Russel-Street Covent-Garden 1696. THE PUBLISHER TO THE READER THE Author of this Treatise whom I have not the honour to know whether through Infirmity or by Ingaging late in the Argument seems to stand in need of an Apologie with the Publick for not appearing earlier abroad before the Subject had been so far canvas'd Wherefore the Reader may please to take Notice That if he has not present leisure amidst the warmth of Debates now on foot upon this Theme to read and weigh the whole Discourse in the Method wherein it is written he may turn to Page 79 where the Dialogue begins which discourses and applies the whole Argument to the immediate great Question namely The Causes and Remedies of the Disease of our Coin A DISCOURSE OF Money c. My Lord YOU command me to give you my judgment on this difficult Subject of Money without Reflecting I fear that as the Task is too great for my Forces so the time you have alotted me is too little for the work tho my capacity and talents were never so promising I am under a further difficulty by coming thus late into the Dispute when others who besides their being better able and having better means to acquit themselves have exhausted the Argument so that the most I shall be able to do will be but a Gleaning after their Harvest Under these disadvantages then of being constrain'd to take another method than I wou'd chuse were I left to my liberty of avoiding to speak to many Points as having been very pertinently spoken to already and of going out of the beaten Road to find out something that may be thought new entertaining or instructing If I say under these difficulties I shall chance to succeed in my attempt and afford your Lordship the least addition of Light to the Knowledge you possess in most Subjects I shall be very well pleas'd whatever pains it may cost me to obey you Leaving it entirely to your Election whether a Child of so weak a Father may be of strength to be adventur'd abroad and see the World or no. With this short Preface and under the shelter of this just Apology I proceed purposing to observe a little more or less the following Method I shall first Discourse generally and go a little into the History and Antiquity of Money Then I shall endeavour to shew the the Reasonableness and Utility of the Institution and Invention of Money I should have look'd a little into the History of the Coin and Mint of England which wou'd have been necessary but I perceive that is already well and painfully perform'd to my hand by one who is both better able and can have recourse to better means to do it and therefore I shall therein be silent I shall Essay to shew in the expounding my Subject how and when Money may be Useful and Currant and answer all the Ends of that Invention without containing any real or intrinsic Value I shall endeavour to explain the meaning of Intrinsic and Extrinsic Value and shew their Use and how it came to pass that from making Money of worthless things and baser metals Men came to Coin Gold and Silver and on that Article shall endeavour to explain and assign the Proportion of the Intrinsic Value of Money and determine the precise difference there ought to be between the Intrinsic and Extrinsic or Political Value I shall proceed to enquire into the Evils and Maladies incident to Money and the mistaken Politicks of some Nations especially the Spaniards therein to the great Grievance of the People the Dishonor Damage and Danger of the State I shall discourse of Dearness and Cheapness of Money and Things which cannot be understood without reference to Money and a comparison rightly stated between them I shall mingle my Speculations on this Subject with Historical and Political Remarks and frame perhaps or suggest Schemes of antient Government to illustrate and explain difficult Questions as they may occur about Money I shall necessarily Treat of Government Peace War Trade Arts Navigation Exchange Vsury Banks and Money Projects c. as they tend to the Explication and right Knowledge of my Subject In short I shall travel necessarily over a great deal of ground and endeavor to remove many rubs in my Passage before I can fairly come to my Journeys end which is to Establish a right Notion at least my conceptions of Money and to propose a Remedy of the Evil under which the Nation at this day Languishes on the occasion of the present Corruption and lamentable State of the Coin of this Kingdom I may perhaps go into sundry other particulars which I have not here recited and it may be those I have may not fall out in the order herein above specified but I trust I shall no where be understood to go industriously out of my way to meet any foreign or offensive Matter in the course of my Design which is to treat my Subject intelligibly pertinently and as becomes an English man uninfluenc'd by any consideration that might be thought to byass my Love and Veneration to my Country The Use of Money is of very great Antiquity as antient as History at least whence may be gather'd that mankind had very early Notions of the blessing of Society and therein of improving their common ease and intercourse by inventing and subsistuting something that shou'd render their Commerce one with another more practicable and beneficial than by Barter or Exchange of one Commodity for another Perhaps too it was consistent enough with the Virtue and Simplicity of the first Ages of the World to Coin their Money of Iron Brass or other inferiour matter or metals which had very little or no Intrinsic Value but was made Currant and receiv'd an Extrinsic or Political Value from the Stamp and Authority of the Prince or State within whose Territory it pass'd and was receiv'd but cou'd be of no use without the Bounds of that Power by Virtue whereof it reciv'd that currant Value because the profit accruing by the coinage of base Metals being taken and assumed by the Prince it became a Prerogative and Mark of Sovereignty and as all Foreign Coin was therefore forbidden to be receiv'd so it became Penal by that means to the Subject to imitate or falsifie it as being from thence I suppose justly call'd the Kings Coin But as the Ambition of Princes Luxury and Avarice grew in the World the love of Money and the desire to accumulate Wealth to compass the means and gratifie the ends of our deprav'd Appetites increas'd But because Ambition which aims at Extent of Power and Dominion cou'd not be further'd but by
Licence and so come to be call'd a Grievance and the cause of Discontents and Murmures in so free and noble a Constitution as ours is Ans I think King Charles the Second quitted his Right to the Profits accruing by the Mint for some valuable Consideration which at that time by reason of great Coinage amounted to thirty or forty thousand Pounds per Annum Since when we are I presume at liberty to consult and determine by the best Rules that Wisdom and Science can suggest about such Laws and Regulations for the Mint as may be found most easie and beneficial for the State Q How did that Profit arise to King Charles the Second c. by the Mint A. I suppose diverse ways but principally this namely that Bullion in those days being much lower in Value than now because more plentiful and the Standard Establish'd to such a weight and sineness which was not to be alter'd a proportional Profit came by that means of course to the King through the cheapness of the Material out of which the Coin was Manufactur'd in so much that the Merchant or Goldsmith had a Merchantable Profit to incourage them to send their Bullion to the Mint and the King a competent share of Gain in the overplus But pray note upon this Question which helps to unsold the Mystery that since those days through the causes we have endeavour'd to explain the Material of your Money is risen in Value it may be a fifth part at least and that Batgain which was thought and it may be really was so profitable to the King then shou'd his Majesty have enter'd into Covenants with his People to Coin a certain Sum of Money yearly of the Establish'd Standard weight and fineness which he cou'd not alter He might have liv'd to see himself a great deal more a looser by such a Contract then he had been a Gainer and behold all his Money to vanish as fast as it was Minted as we have plainly enough shewn Question I am now at length every way convinc'd that our Money ought to be all new Coin'd And that by reason of the new and exorbitant price of your Bullion you must have a new Standard and Proportion for your Mint But how that can be found and setled is a new Question to which I stand in need of your Answer Ans We have travel'd a great way to arrive fairly at this single Question and if we have gone somewhat about and made our Journey seem longer then might be thought necessary to some I Answer That it was for the sake of the Majority that this Voyage was taken and therefore but just to go their pace Our Subject lies in the dark to the Multitude and therefore we cannot open too many Windows to let in the Light to the end the weakest Sihht may be enabled to discern and make some Judgment whereby to determine in a matter that so nearly touches every Body Question Your Apology is reasonable and I believe will be thought so by most Men but let us come now to an Issue and decide this arduous Question How and by what Methods and Rules of Proportion our Mint may be Reform'd Answer I will not trouble you with References to what has been said that we may not multiply Words and will take for granted you bear in Mind that our Hypothesis is fram'd upon Reasons drawn from abroad as well as at home wherefore we must take Foreign as well as Domestick Considerations to our Ayd Your Money I have shewn is subject to these two chief Diseases of being too Rich which is containing more worth than it goes for in Coin which begets a Consumption and wasting by re-converting it into Bullion exporting and the like too Poor when it is either Coined by Authority through mistaken measures of State with too great an extrinsick allowance or corrupted clipt and salsify'd by others so as to become notoriously diminish'd in the intrinsick Value Which raiseth the Price of all things by the like proportion begets doubts Difficulties and Vexation in your common Traffick and enhaunses the rates of Exchange with your Neighbours which hath a mighty Influence on your Trade abroad encourages bad People at home to diminish and falsifie it every day more and more because there is no rule left to compare and know your Money by And invites the Nations round about you who may do it with more safety to import and utter it in such quantities and still worse and worse till in the end all your Silver Coin the unclipp'd and the clipp'd shall be gone out of the Kingdom and what a calamitous State such a People must be in needs no Exaggeration here Q. I am glad you have repeated and renewed in my Memory these two chief Diseases of Money and given so reasonable a Prognostick of the Effects because I reckon you will now come to propose the remedy for Restoring and Establishing the Health of our Coin by such Rules as may seem as just as your Argument hitherto has appear'd to me reasonable Ans To arrive then at that right Rule of proportion you require and which we have been thus long in quest of I first propose that we should look a little back here at home and inquire and be at a certainty what Price Bullion bore when our last mill'd Money was coined And we will suppose it here about the round summ of Five Shillings the Ounce then let us grant it to be risen and advanced in Price from Five to Six Shillings or thereabouts the Ounce which shall be the Value we will give it at this day Both which Prizes may be more or less without damage to our reasoning about the Rule which I wou'd propose for our Government in this great Question Now pray note that while the King had his Profit by the Mint which was indefinite and Silver was at an Under-rate no great difficulty cou'd occur in the Coinage for as long as that gain lasted be it little or much the King had it who was enabled over and above still to allow the Merchant or Goldsmith One or more per Cent profit to invite them to bring their Bullion to the Mint that is their Silver became so much more worth to them when manufactur'd into Money which they cou'd presently utter and employ than when inthe Masse in their Ware-house Upon which Motive namely their Gain they carried it to the Mint But that incitement ceasing from the reasons I have given there is not only no more Money now coin'd but even the Mill'd Money which in those days was minted from the same Motive Gain is melted down again and reconverted into Bulloin as we have noted and cannot too often repeat If this be true who can with any shadow of Rcason gainsay the necessity we are under of changing the proportions of our Mint which must inevitably and for ever change rise and fall by a Scale of proportion rectify'd to the rising and falling Value
to forty five and thence to sixty Pence the Ounce and this last happen'd in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth from which time to this day there has not been I take for granted the least Reformation made in the Mint by any solemn Publick Act of State Q. I desire to be inform'd what the Motives might be for so many Alterations as you have enumerated for methinks wise Men should not alter and determine in a Case of this Magnitude without some very well-grounded Reasons Ans I confess I am to seek for a solid Reason for their so doing unless it were to propagate the Species and so spread it wider among the People by mincing it into so many lesser Parts to the end every Body how poor soever might share in the Pleasure of possessing it go to Market with more ease and manage their common Traffick with less difficulty for when a Pullet was sold for a Peny what Species of current Coin could be found to buy a thing that was not worth the twentieth part of a Pullet I cannot guess for it is plain we go to the Shops and the Market at this day to purchase sundry things for our Money that are not the twentieth or the fortieth part of the value of a Pullet and we have no Reason to conclude but our Fore-fathers did the same Wherefore I must give you this for my best Reason till I can be furnish'd with a better Q. Would there be any good or harm in changing on by enacting for Example that the Ounce of Standard Silver that now is establish'd at sixty Pence should be rated at seventy or eighty Pence and so forward as Reason may seem to suggest Ans If you only mean barely the subdividing your Ounce of Silver into lesser Particles and do not intend by this Question to put a value of your own making upon the Ounce of your Standard Silver for that will be the Subject of another great Question then I think it would only beget a good deal of Trouble and Intricacy in Business and Accounts now that the Nation is grown so deeply ingag'd in Foreign Trade and Commerce Other good or harm I see none in it for our Coin is now cast and establish'd into so low a Denomination that the poorest People have none of those Impediments in their Dealings which heretofore might be thought to vex and incumber them when their Peny was the twentieth part of an Ounce which is now grown to be the sixtieth and when that was the lowest current Silver Coin saving only that in those days People for their convenience divided that Peny either by breaking it or by Scissors dividing it into four parts which Species of Money tho' now almost quite worn out and extinct has yet within our Memory been pretty plenty and that was our old thin blind Groats which I believe and think I have some reason so to do were for the most part those original Pence or Denarius's that were coin'd while the Peny continu'd to be the twentieth part of an Ounce and obtain'd to be called Groats perhaps from the old Saxon or Danish word Grott which is great that is the great Peny to distinguish it from the latter Peny which was so much less Q. How long think you Silver-Money which is in continual use and circulation may last For it is plain it wears and grows lighter by motion and usage and at length without clipping or diminishing by Art will wear out of it self and become too light to pass Ans My Answer to the foregoing Question may be a sort of solution to this namely that if those Groats were the old Peny it is near Four hundred Years ago since that Species was last coin'd but this depends much upon the size of your Coin and the quantity of current Money in Stock and Use and other Circumstances of no great moment to mention here Q. I think however one good Vse may be made of this Observation and that is to calculate from thence a little more or less by what Proportions current Money may waste and at length be worn out for 't is plain that by the bare usage telling and motion in its Circulation it will diminish and at a long run be consum'd Whence we gather that if there were no other way to destroy it there must be a supply from abroad to obviate that Evil how little soever it may seem Wherefore I pray give me your Opinion therein Ans If that be the use you would make of this Query and you but grant me leave to state the Question on the Proportion of our Moneys wearing out in the space of four hundred years then it is visible that your Stock of Money without a proportionable Recruit will without any other cause be totally extinct within that space of time and so by Calculation it will be found to waste after the Rate of a quarter per Cent. per Annum that is five Shillings in the hundred Pounds but then you must suppose it to be all small Money as there is reason to believe it was in those Days for I do not know whether Crowns Half-crowns Shillings and Six-pences are above two hundred Years old if so much by which Proportion at least it is found I say that your Money must be repair'd to keep the Balance even And by this reckoning too we may gather that our Money naturally and necessarily wastes one eighth part as much as some Nations take for the Interest of their Money Q. Have there not been other kinds of Regulations and Changes made in our Mint besides those you have mention'd Ans Yes several but let it suffice to mention only one in King Henry the Eighth's time which Prince by his Profusions in pompous Living Spectacles and vain Wars being driven to great Streights for want of Money which the Nation could by no means supply That Prince was made to believe that he might be a very great Gainer by embasing his Coin namely for Example-sake for I am not sure of the Proportion by the allowing but Nine Peny worth of fine Silver to the Shilling and supplying the rest with Allay and then telling the People by his Proclamation that the new Shilling which was intrinsically worth but Nine Pence should pass for as much as the other Shilling which was worth Twelve Pence by which means he would save or gain five and twenty per Cent in the payment of his Debts and in the pay of his Armies and the like his Fleets c. Q. What Objection does there lie against such a Project when the streights of a Prince or State are pressing Ans There are manifold Objections so manifest so just and of so great moment that it would be tedious to enumerate them which that Prince soon saw and endeavour'd to reform his Error First a Prince or State that yields to such Councils is a Bankrupt and like a broken Citizen compounds for his Debts at five Shillings in the Pound loss
Country to be inform'd what Price Bays bear there He tells him so many Rials a Piece the Merchant knows the Intrinsic Value of those Rials and presently reckons whether it will be worth his while to buy Bays here in England as the Price goes to send to Spain to be paid for them as his Factor has inform'd him they will yield And by this Rule only he is or can be govern'd Q. But do not the Spaniards now and then transgress this Rule by altering the Price and Value of their Money and thereby violate this Law of Commerce Ans Yes I grant they do to the very great damage of the Trade of that Country the distraction and confusion of Accompts and impoverishment of the Subject who by that means whilst they furnish Gold and Silver to all the World have very little or none Current among themselves and as I have observ'd elsewhere do manifestly owe much of the Misery they are in to their want of a right understanding of this Mystery and were it not for their Mines and other Profits that arise by that Trade which make ample amends for this unjust as well as unwise Practice the Trading World would have no Dealings with them Q. But methinks after all that you have said it might be compass'd by the Wisdom of a thinking well-govern'd People to make their Money current on what Tearms they please to decree which may be done by Enacting good Laws of Assize thereby establishing a determin'd Rate or Price on every thing In which Case let your Money be little or great base or fine it may be made to suffice for all your Vses Ans I grant you would have Reason and might make Nuts and Shells pass for Money as they do at this day in some Countries if you were to be secluded from the rest of the World and would hold no Intercourse without your own Frontiers but since by the corruption of our Manners Mankind has stamp'd this value on Gold and Silver their Use is become necessary to our Ease and Safety and we can neither gratifie our Passions and Appetites nor defend and secure our Peace Liberty and Possessions without it insomuch that Treasure of Gold and Silver is become Essential to our subsisting and well-being in the World and in regard the only means of acquiring it is by our Industry and the Arts of a wide and universal Commerce we can have recourse to no other Rule than by going with the majority in the trodden Track of Business and bustle in the World abroad in order to the acquiring those Things which Custom through Vice and humane Frailty has made necessary to our temporal Felicity wherefore your Law of Assize would here avail little or nothing while I grant that in Domestick Matters it may be of great Use for the case of the Poor and better Being of labouring and industrious People who must labour daily to eat their daily Bread Here I own indeed that a judicious Regulation of the Prizes of all Things we consume within our selves of our own growth would be a means to incourage Industry and tend even to the Advantage of our Commerce abroad Q. I think you have made it pretty plain now that if we would be Rich Safe and Happy we must swim with the Tide of the World and steer the general Course to arrive at the general Haven and that pursuant to this End in the Calculations of our Measures about Money we cannot wisely determine therein but by borrowing many Arguments from abroad where our chief Intercourse lies and from whence we derive those means for they are not I perceive of our own growth which humanly speaking can insure our Prosperity Ans You conceive me right wherefore I think there will need no more Words on this Point of our Debate Q. You told me but now that Money was the Rule of Commerce which you explain'd well enough I would now willingly be inform'd by what Rules I may be able to make a judgment of Money it self or of the value of Gold and Silver whereof Money is made For can Money buy it self or Gold and Silver be purchas'd with Gold and Silver This is a little dark to me and puts me in need of your help to explain Ans My Answer to your Question is shortly this That Gold and Silver which are a Merchandize the same with Silk Spice or any other Commodity which we purchase by Traffick are of late Years grown more scarce either by being apply'd to more Uses or that the Circle of their Use is become wider by which means it spreads thinner and the quantity of the Species by that means appears to be less and indeed is so comparing the Use that is now made of them with what was practis'd twenty or thirty Years ago Whence the World wanting Gold and Silver more they come to be more sought after and so better worth which is no more than to say That less of either of them will suffice now than in those Days to purchase Labour Bread or any other Thing we need and would buy with Gold or Silver Wherefore there is no Impropriety at all in saying That Silver is become dear namely That an Ounce of that Species which twenty or thirty Years ago was not worth five Shillings is now risen to be valued at above six Shillings because as much Silver as would make five current legal Shillings according to the Standard of the Mint then ought to produce by that Proportion six such Shillings now I still use whole Numbers it not being our business here to insist on rigid Truth of Calculation but to shew barely how every thing is reducible to it Q. Since you have led me thus far in search of this necessary Truth I would willingly be further instructed by your Reasons how and in what manner by descending to some particular Causes this scarcity or dearness of Gold and Silver is come to pass in the World for the true Reason being known and consented to good use I do not doubt may be made to the Publick of such Knowledge Ans The Reasons and Causes of this Scarcity I take to be manifold I will name but a few and shall begin with a main Cause and that is The long and obstinate War in Europe whereby through the Passion and Ambition of Princes and States the regular establish'd Methods of Business and Intercourse of the World is broken By Sea there is nothing but Violence Pyracy and Depradation whereby the Hands of Industry are weakned and that great Channel and Roads of the World's Comerce is possess'd and beset by Enemies and Robbers and we here in England chiefly who pretend to be in our proper Element who boast of Conquest and Dominion there whether by the Violence and good Management of our Enemies or the Drowsiness or Incapacity or both of our own Pylots and Friends at home whose Duty it is to be more on the watch and to look better out
have receiv'd so many deep Wounds in that tender and mortal part of our Body that it seems a Miracle how we subsist and survive it while any one who should presume to probe and search this Sore to the quick by nakedly stating the Fact in our Maritime History and Conduct since the War and tho' it should be never so well meant and merely in order to the Cure of the Malady he would be thought I fear to give too much Anguish to be indur'd and such an Enterprize let the Purpose be never so honest and inoffensive would taste too bitter and look too like a Libel to be suffer'd to pass uncensur'd of Authority Thus it is with us by Sea By Land the War rages more universally and with greater Violence tho' not so sensible to our feeling here in England because our situation has hitherto secur'd us from Hostilities at our Doors and our Fields and Farms are not yet forag'd and plunder'd as our Neighbours are but what we pay as I may say to be exempted from such Violence is almost tantamount and at a long run will as certainly impoverish and undo us And we may collect from manifold Symptoms that our Destiny without some almost miraculous Means to save us is not far off Now to give you a Reason how War impoverishes the World because captious and sceptical Contenders in such Disputes will be apt to say What do you mean by broaching such Opinions and maintaining Paradoxes Does War annihilate your Money Is your Gold and Silver dissolv'd or gone into the Earth from whence 't was taken This is Malice and Trifling and nothing else To these Gentlemen then and out of respect to Truth and plam Dealing these few following Reasons of the chief Causes of Poverty and scarcity of Money by War are tender'd Let us compute by the gross we have shewn that Riches are the Product of Arts and Industry whence is inferr'd That the greater Numbers there are of Men of Business and Traffick Artizans labouring and industrious People which are the procuring Cause of Wealth the greater will be the Effect But War is a mortal Foe to Arts and Industry and consequently produces Effects directly contrary We behold Europe at this day ingag'd in a bloody and wastful War which for ought I know to the contrary imploys a Million in Arms besides Horses and Beasts of Burden destin'd by Nature's Law to the Uses of Peace and humane Ease besides some hundreds of thousands who are exercis'd about Military Matters as Arms Ammunition Stores and Utensils of War Fortifications and the like All which mighty Numbers of Men and Things are not only imploy'd in the profitable Professions of Peace but are and must be sustain'd by purchase and paid for out of the Sweat and Industry of those that are who by degrees do not only grow too few for the work but are over and above Sufferers and molested a thousand ways in their peaceful Methods of Life as namely by the Violence Rapine Insolence and Iniquity of those very People whom they are honestly with great hardship pain and parcimony labouring to maintain till at length they come to cut down the very Bough that bears them and kill the Tree by whose Harbour they were sheltred and by whose Fruit they were fed Thus the Land comes to mourn and lie waste and the Means necessary to the Support of great Armies becoming exhausted Oppression Poverty and Calamity inevitably succeed Furthermore scarcity of Money is begotten in times of Hostility from great Summs falling into Hands where it is under no regulation being prodigally and voluptuously imploy'd squander'd and scatter'd carelesly about by which means it does not circulate so currently and make such regular returns into the Publick Coffers as in times of Peace when Business and Traffick is contain'd within their proper Channels Add to these one very great further Cause of the decay and scarcity of Treasure and that is the Caution and Jealousie People are put under every one to save his own private Stake For when Demands of Publick Supplies wax pressing and Taxes begin to be felt 't is very natural for Men to begin to meditate on Self-preservation to foresee and provide for the Storm e'er it overtake them Whence those who best can whose Fortunes principally consist in Money and Moveables withdraw their Effects to Countries as far as they can from Danger others hide and conceal by a thousand Arts every thing that is Money or Moneys-worth and cover from the World's Eye every appearance of Wealth profess Poverty and practise all the methods of Parcimony imaginable to disguise and shelter themselves from the Jealousie and Tyranny of Tax-gatherers and will chuse to abide the worst Treatment those cruel Ministers can inflict rather than discover Money which they are sure will yield them Comfort in better Times And this I know to have been the Practice time out of mind in the Kingdoms of Barbary where Tyranny reigns with a high Hand where the least suspicion of Wealth suffices to expose a Man to the utmost Peril where People therefore live under a perpetual Mask and no Body enjoys the least good thing whatever he may possess but by stealth from which Cause as I have been often assur'd from the Natives themselves the better half of the Treasure of those Countries is hid in Holes and cover'd under Ground Insomuch that it is grown into a habit even among their Princes who take a Pride and Pleasure to bury their Gold This I say is another great Cause of the scarcity of Money in dangerous and hostile Times and if we may allow but a fifth or sixth part of the Treasure which would otherwise appear among us here on this side the World to have been so withdrawn and diverted there would be no doubt but such a diminution would work a good part of the Effect we are searching after To these common and evident Causes of the Evils incident to War in general we may here subjoyn why War is of late more Burthensome than heretofore and that is by the over-grown Greatness of the French Monarch that aspiring Prince who would put a Yoak on the neck of Europe conceiving that by the force of an immense Treasure whereby being inabled to bring greater Bodies of strength into the Field than was ever before practis'd in our Hostilities on this side the World he was given to hope perhaps thereby to overwhelm us which Design though we see hitherto to want the effect we are from thence nevertheless instructed in the Causes of this over-burthensome warfare whereby we are put under an invincible necessity of providing an equal Force which produces an equal Charge to withstand him which I thought necessary to Note Lastly and over and above the Impediments to our general Commerce and the Interruption thereby of our general Supplies of what we need whereby the price of Money is inhanc'd and every thing comes harder to us The Mines themselves of
Gold and Silver I am well assur'd are exhausted and yield not the Species in so great Plenty as heretofore to which adding the wide use Silver and Gold every day obtains by spreading further into the North and the Inland Countries The great Exportations to the Indies Turkey c. from whence none returns must to any judicious thinking Man be concluded to be among the Causes of that general scarcity of Gold and Silver here in Europe in comparison of what was observ'd to circulate amongst us in Twenty or Thirty Years ago which has rais'd the value of the Species and begotten that difference in price you enquire after Q. You have sufficiently explain'd the general Causes of the decay of Gold and Silver in the World abroad and in gross would it be amiss to bring the Question home by asking you how we here in England seem at least to share a greater degree of the Smart of this Evil than most other Nations Wherefore if it would not take up too much room for I observe our Subject begins to run into a longer Argument than I expected I should be glad you would instruct me a little Ans Your Question is reasonable and I am ready to gratifie you by recounting a few of the many causes of this evil felt by us here at home in a greater Degree of late than ordinary I shall begin with Trade which is a rich cunning and coy Mistress must have much Art and Address to acquire and great Attention and Assiduity to retain when gotten This Lady seems to have been neglected and ill treated by us of late We do not I fear reflect enough that her Favors once lost are hardly recovered because we have many Rivals who are jealous wise and wary and will be sure to stop the least gap we leave and hit every blot we make in our Conduct There are loud Lamentations in our Streets on this single Article of Trade Let Authority be pleas'd at whose Door it lyes to lend some Attention to these Cries and sift and search the Causes to the Bottom and they will find Sluts Corners enough Let them in their Debates and Deliberations take knowing Men to their Assistance using such caution in their Choice as that when they wou'd penetrate and cure the Evils and Errors of one Branch of Commerce to hear their Reasons with a more willing Ear who are sufferers by such Faults than those of others who are gainers by them be their Parts and Talents otherwise never so Superior For Interest is a Passion and Passion is both Deaf and Blind The Turky-Merchant exclaims against the East-India Company and these against them while perhaps both Trades may need Reformation with respect to the Publick The Art is well to distinguish for Trade though it be the publick Mistress is courted by particulars for private gain which may and do often interfere with the general good so that there is a less Mystery and a greater to be discover'd for private Men go as much in the dark and in cuvert to their profit as they can and to find out and detect these bad intricate and bye ways seems to be the behoof of those who would go in earnest upon this work which requires more Judgment and Pains to execute well then perhaps is practis'd by our Physicians In short 't is from this great Fountain Trade that all our Wealth flows If that be troubled and infected the Streams cannot be pure every Branch and Channel will gather filth run thicker and slower and in the end the Stream will stand still and the Circulation cease But the most visible and grievous Disease of which our Commerce languishes seems to me to be the heavy Burthens of all Kinds laid on Navigation which is the very bottom on which all our Prosperity is built Surely we should be more cautious if we consider'd that we are running a Race with our Rivals in Trade and a Prize of unspeakable Value is set before us where he who carries least weight is surest to win the Course Our New-Market Gentlemen tell us That barely an Ounce or two in the weight of a Sett of Horse-shooes suffices to lose the four Mile Course Shall we want the Discretion of a Jocky in our Deliberations about the most solemn Thing that belongs to the Government I could wish this Point were better weigh'd that we might discern better and lay it more to Heart and that our Friends and Neighbours the Dutch might be our Teachers and Examples in the Arts and Wisdom they Practice to further Foreign Trade in the Ease and Incouragement they give to Navigation which being the great Wheel that regulates all the lesser Movements of the Machine of Business and Profit should be watch'd with a wakeful Eye that nothing might clog or disturb its Motion Q. While we are on this Article of Trade I pray instruct me a little in the Mystery of Exchange which seems to me to have a great in fluence on Money-Matters which is the principal Subject of our Enquiries Ans Your Questions grow harder and harder and I honestly here own my Ignorance of abundance of Arts or rather Tricks that are introduc'd and practis'd by crafty Traders in this dark way of Dealing But thus far I may observe That Exchange is a kind of Usury or lending and borrowing Money at Interest wherein Usance as they call it governs and the Premium is proportion'd to the hazard and time of Payment And forasmuch as Credit on which this Intercourse is founded is a less solid Security than Land the Profit thereby does therefore excel that of ordinary Usury In a word Exchange is lending and borrowing in one Place to pay and receive in another and was invented to facilitate the Motion of Commerce but is grown to an Art of setting the Dice on Necessity and making every Man fine for his Wants which is as much as to say That the more these Money-Dealers are let into the Secrets of your Streights the higher they will raise the Price of your Redemption Time was when Exchange was regulated here by Publick Authority and establish'd on an exact and solemn Scrutiny into the Nature and Value of all Foreign Coin wheresoever we had any Dealings to the end in exchanging Money for Money the Par as they call it being known and adjusted which was the Proportion between the Value of Sterling and Foreign Money they knew to a trifle the comparative Intrinsic Difference of their respective Coins and so rated and govern'd their Exchange by that Rule out of a jealousie lest we might part with more of our Bullion for less of theirs in this kind of Intercourse which at a long run might prejudice and exhaust the capital Stock of Treasure But these wise Cautions are long since ceas'd Q. But have not you bin silent in one very essential Point in the Vse of this Mystery of Exchange as namely that of being apply'd to even the Scales and Balance the Inequality
of your Bullion Let it be granted then that your Silver is risen in Value from the causes which have been enumerated We will suppose here just fifteen per Cent. since your last Coinage of mill'd Money if this be true then I say your Coin at this day if your Money were truly minted at that time which you are likewise to consider ought to be just fifteen per Cent. lighter than that mill'd Money was for I wou'd by no means propose the least alteration in the purity of the Standard for the many reasons I have already deliver'd Wherefore let Authority be pleas'd by the help of Merchants Goldsmiths the Officers of the Mint and by all the cautious and judicious means possible compass a right knowledge of this Difference which we do not you see here determine and the Rule for their Guidance in assigning the just Proportion to your Coin must plainly result from thence as namely if the Difference of fifteen per Cent. here by me propounded were the exact truth then your new Shilling to be coined and to be of the same fineness with the old mill'd Shilling must weigh and be worth within a very small fraction Ten-pence farthing I go the plainest way to work I can to make my meaning intelligible to every capacity Q. But methinks by this Rule you are leading into the Error which you have been all along cautioning us to avoid for by thus taking from the Subject One Penny Three Farthings out of every Shilling seems to me to be very hard and will for certain be so reckon'd by every Body Ans With your pardon no Body by this Rule is or ever can be injur'd because if People wou'd but open their Eyes and look with attention they wou'd Discern that this Ten-pence farthing will buy as much of every thing in the Market now when your Coin shall be rectify'd as Twelve-pence wou'd have done at that time which I think may suffice to satisfie your scruple Q. What wou'd be the hurt then if you should make your Shilling yet lighter provided it keep the fineness Ans Every visible Departure from this Rule wou'd prove a proportional damage to the Subject and have the same Effect as in the case of clipt money for your Coin wou'd abate in its Esteem with the People in proportion to the Dimunition of its due intrinsick Value whereby all the Species of things wou'd rise and grow dear accordingly as we find to have come to pass on the occasion of our Clipp'd Money and in such case I grant the Objection you have made wou'd amount to a Grievance Q. But have you not taught that we are not to make our Rule for Regulating the Mint from Observations and Reasons ariseing barely from among our selves here at home but with regard also and reference had to our Neighbours abroad with whom we have Commerce A. I have and can suppose the price I have already assign'd to Bullion at this Day to be the result of a Calculation founded on that regard but because it is necessary to explain it I will as well as I can why that Caution is necessary We here in England live in the Neighbourhood of divers great Nations who are our Rivals and Vye with us in the Arts of Trade the Dutch especially who perhaps are Our Superiours in every thing that belongs to that great and profitable Mystery They are every way under a better Oeconomy and observe every thing nearer than we do they live with greater Frugality which is their Wisdom as enjoying but few necessaries to their subsistance of their own growth which habituates them to a narrower Inspection and Observation of every the least thing that relates to their profit This penurious Method of Life which in them is a Virtue wou'd not with us it may be thought so who live in a wide rich and plentiful Country abounding in all things needful to humane life and ease But this greater Extent and Latitude of Life and Manners which we inherit naturally mollify's us towards Luxury Sloth and Improvidence and whatever Virtues our good Soil may produce and our better Stars may shed towards the exalting our Courage enlargeing our Generosity and forming our minds for Magnanimity and other noble and plausible Endowments which I think are more inherent in us than most other Nations these native benefits doe I say beget and infer an incapacity to deal with these our Neighbours in those contests where Diligence Penetration Vigilance and good Husbandry are to be the Weapons Now Trade which they prosecute more by much for necessity then we doe for they must Navigate or Starve is the Prize held up between us and I fear 't is found but too evident to our Cost that in this strife the Virtues and Manners which they profess are more appropriated to enable them for Victory than ours It wou'd be tedious and perhaps Invidious to enumerate by how many Arts they have won upon us of late but I leave that Speculation to wiser Heads and keep within my own Circle which is the subject of Money wherein how far and by how many sleights they have contributed toward the pressures we at this Day are sinking under on that Score Printed Papers do so plainly and honestly every day evince that I may spare here to explain It is very likely then not to say very true that all the Bullion wherewith we abounded before this War and all the Silver that has been clipt from our Money does this day in a manner Center in Holland and thereabouts this must in evitably infer a greater abundance of that Species among 'em and a proportionable scarcity with us that plenty with them must needs in some degree lower the value of the Species while this high Tide of Affluence lasts as it must by the same Rule inhaunce it here in our low ebb of Poverty I pray then consider and weigh with your utmost attention how to attain and arrive at such a Proportion in the renevving the Establishment of your Mint that it may not be said Your want of Wisdom and a thorough Insight into a Matter of so great Moment shall afford them a new handle whereby to hurt you with your new Money For Example if you Mint your new Coin with an over-great Extrinsical Price out of an over value and regard to the present appearing Rate of Bullion here which I note has acquir'd as I may say an undue and praeter-natural Ascent in our esteem You will thereby be in danger of your Neighbours improveing the advantage of their lower price of Bullion to your Detriment by Importing it to our Mint and purchaseing therewith even to the laying up in store for Years to come every Staple Commodity and Manufacture of the Kingdom by which means whatever present appearance there may be of quickness of Trade the consequence must be pernicious and I will adventure to say that as no People whatsoever can be conceived to contribute a greater