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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A29547	Historical and political essays or discourses on several subjects viz. money, government, peace, war, trade, arts, navigation, exchange, usury, banks : with other projects for the improvement and raising the credit of money and trade in all parts of the world, but more particularly, relating to England : in a letter to a noble peer.; Discourse of money. 1698	Briscoe, John, fl. 1695.	1698 (1698)	Wing B4751A; ESTC R37474	50,328	221

such a Power as look'd a little Arqitrarily might in time degenerate into 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 fineness 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 falsify'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 Reason gainsay the necessity we are under of changing the proportions of our Mint which must inevitably and for ever change rise

of Ease Invention can suggest That no Profit can arise to the publick any way by such an Establishment of our Mint whereby your Coin becmes so impoverish'd We need to go no further for a Proof than the Observation may be made of what has befallen us by Chance in our Clipt and bad Coin now grown and establish'd by Custom into use among us which happening to be diminished to almost half the Original Value We behold every thing risen in Price as it were by that Proportion and our Gold Coin which is not so lyable to Corruption and Dimunition risen from the same cause near a Third Part which may suffice to shew how the publick is affected when your Coin either by Law or Chance comes to be too Poor Your Coin is too Rich when a piece of Money for Example a Mild Crown shall go but for Five Shillings in Money to buy and go to Market with when if it were lawful to melt it down and fell it for its due worth wou'd yield you Six Shillings there being Six Shillings worth of Silver in that Piece I still use round Numbers the nicety of Calculation not being here necessary Now as on the one Hand when your Money is bad and poor and this becomes establish'd by Law or Custom into use every Nation abroad and every bad Man at home who has art enough will be Coining this Money for you and will impart and utter it for your use and their profit as some Nations which I need not name serve the Spaniards at this day by their base black Money which doth not contain a sixth part of the value for which it passeth with that blind Nation I say by this means as your Mint shall grow out of use by the plenty of such Coin as shall be Manufactur'd by others to your Hands so your Money shall grow worse and worse for there will be no end of debasing it till your whole Mass of Silver Coin shall be destroy'd and converted into Trash and Counters rather than Money On the other Hand when your Money happens to be too Rich as hath been our Case by the great rising of Bullion in value since the coining of our Mild Money 't is plain and there can be no room for doubt but that such Coin will be transported out of the Land and by those whose profession best enables them will be melted down into Bars and Bullion and from this Cause Namely it s over richness or goodness this Disease Springs and hence is Consum'd Vanish'd and Extinct all or the most part of the noble Mill'd Coin which was Minted in the two last Reigns there being no Action how vile soever that Gain with Impunity will not Sanctifie or hardly any Conscience so scrupulous that this Charm has not Power to Quiet and Absolve wherefore let those who by their Occupation have the means of touching most Money consider and be aware what sort of People this Crime is likely most to touch Q. If this Doctrine of yours be bottom'd on sound Reason as it has the appearance it is visible that we are led into an Error by those who would teach us that the Standard establish'd Rule of the Mint namely That your Money must for ever be just so fine and of such a weight is Sacred and cannot be alter'd without damage and danger to the State Ans 'T is seen by what has been said and is I think as demonstrable as any Problem in Geometry That the Rules for Coinage and the Standard of the Mint must vary according to the general scarcity or abundance of the Species of Gold and Silver and that 't is consequently an Error in Fundamentals to hold the contrary as I have endeavour'd to shew and will need no further Explanation here Q. Why if what you say be true is there so much variety in the Coin of Countries how comes it to pass that there is such diversity of coarse and fine light and weighty Money in the World And that all Mankind who are link'd in one general League of Intercourse do not come to accord in one universal Standard for their Money which would save abundance of Trouble in the Course of general Traffick and set the Intercourse of the World on a much surer and easier foot Ans First Because Silver and Gold are more or less plenty in the diverse Countries of the World comparatively and so becomes more or less worth Secondly 'T is hard and hazardous to change any rooted Custom of a Country especially in a Case of this general Importance tho' in Speculation it should appear never so just Thirdly The Use of Money which was originally invented for the Ease and Benefit of Commerce is become corrupted and made an Instrument of Tyranny and Oppression The Passions of Princes and States where the Government is absolute making their Power in this Point of Money to become a Yoke and a Burthen which was meant for the Comfort and Ease of Mankind forging Racks and Shackles for the Subject out of that very Matter which by Nature the first Institution and the right Reason of the Thing was decreed and devis'd for their Benefit and Consolation Q. You were speaking of Monopolies of Money but now Do not Princes who enjoy absolute Power by this unlimited Authority make a kind of Monopoly of Money Ans Yes such Princes can do that by their Power which a great Bank may compass by Art or come to do by Accident and from the Nature of the Thing And we know the King of France himself with all his boasted Wealth often Practises such poor Shifts proclaiming one Value on his Money when he has a great Summ to pay and another when he has much to receive But the World abroad by whose Sentiments Trading-People must be govern'd will not heed it nor are influenc'd by it and no solid Fruit can ever be gather'd from such Devices which are ever signs of a sickly Constitution and the Prince or State that uses them are like Men whose Bodies are decay'd by much drinking of Spirits they are reliev'd indeed in the present Pangs they feel but by the very Draught which in that Moment yields them Comfort they are in the end destroy'd Q. Why is it call'd the Mystery of the Mint if our Princes here in England make none of those undue Vses of Coinage as are in Practice among absolute States Ans Perhaps 't is continu'd to be call'd a Mystery from the Power our Princes heretofore claim'd or had to make Coinage some way or other turn them to Account and the Profit arising thereby being kept secret was therefore call'd so Or it may be stil'd a Mystery from the difficulty most Men are under to conceive and see clearly in so cloudy and perplext a Subject Q. How long have our Princes been so Wise and so Good as to part with a Power which yielded them but a doubtful Profit at the purchase of great Jealousie of the People lest