given to the Contributors to the late Funds which is in effect a creating a new sort of Purchases much more advantageous than Land will certainly bring Land to 12 or 14 Years purchase if not less For Men will hardly be prevailed with to keep much less to purchase Estates in Land by which they cannot have 4 l. per Cent. per Annum for their Money when they can buy a perpetual Rent-charge on the Crown as in the Bank of England which will bring them in above 8 l. per Cent. per Annum clear of all Taxes besides the other proposed Advantages For admit any Person hath 50 l. per Annum Estate in Land the Taxes of 4 s. in the Pound Charges for finding Arms Trophy-Money c. swallow up 11 or 12 l. per Annum by which means the Owner hath not above 38 or 39 l. per Annum at most clear to himself if therefore he sells his Land but at 12 Years purchase it will yield him 600 l. with which he may purchase 50 l. per Annum in the Bank free of all Taxes which is 11 or 12 l. per Annum more than he could receive out of his Estate during the War and as much as his Estate will bring him in in time of Peace besides his Interest in the aforementioned Advantages And who will not choose to have the Bank-Bills rather than Land at 20 Years Purchase if they go current with 3 l. per cent per annum Interest which is almost as much as his Lands will bring him in the Bank-Bills being so much more preferable than Land as they are always as so much ready Money by a Man to answer any present Occasions while the Land like a Drug lies on his Hands upon which he is not able to raise half the Value unless he sells it out-right which he cannot do without great Expence of Time and Money in examining Titles drawing Conveyances levying Fines c. Far better had it been for the Gentlemen whose Estates are in Land to have paid half their yearly Incomes in Taxes since that would have pinch'd them only for the present during the War and by retrenching their Expences they might have preserv'd their Estates which if notwithstanding they had been necessitated to sell they might have had as many Years Purchase within a Year or two as they could have had before the Taxes were laid upon them the Purchasers knowing these Taxes will not last always But now perpetual Rent-Charges if I may so call them being to be bought so far more advantageous than Land and the Bank-Bills being so profitable and for the Reasons aforesaid more eligible than Land it cannot be expected if the War were ended that Land should sell for 18 much less for 20 Years Purchase when a Man at the same time may buy a perpetual Income from the Crown free from Taxes for 12 Years Purchase Object But it may be objected that there are not any Estates in Land to be sold at such low Rates as 12 or 14 Years Purchase as hath been suggested Answ I grant it for tho there are many Estates to be sold and never more than at this time those who have lent Money upon Gentlemens Estates calling it in to advance upon some of these late Funds yet Persons are very loth to part with their Estates at an Undervalue tho part with them they must such whose Estates are in Mortgage and if they cannot sell their Estates for what they would they must sell them for what they can get or else must expect to be ejected or barr'd of the Equity of Redemption Besides these Funds being as yet but Novelties every one is not ready to embarque in them but when People once find that when they go to the Exchequer or to the Bank they have their Annuities or Interest-Money paid them punctually every half Year upon Demand without any farther Trouble or Defalcation for Taxes it will quickly cause them to disesteem Land with which they meet with so much Trouble and upon which are so may Taxes and therefore it is not rational to take our Measures from the present Value of Lands but rather from the Value we may reasonably suppose Lands will come to be sold for when Gentlemen whose Estates are mortgaged are under a Force and absolute Necessity of selling their Estates and when Persons are a little better acquainted with and reconciled to these new sorts of Purchases Object I shall answer one Objection more no less frivolous than common viz. That the Money paid in on these Funds will circulate Answ I grant it does circulate for Money is made to pass from one to another in Payment but does it circulate into the Tradesman's Stock again out of which it was taken so as to enable him to drive as great a Trade as formerly before he lessen'd his Stock by advancing his Money upon these Funds Is the poor Trader relieved thereby who was forc'd to draw his Money out of his Trade to satisfy his Creditors Is the Gentleman whose Estate is mortgaged any thing the better for this Circulation or is the Interest of Money lower'd thereby or does it not rather in time circulate into the Pockets it came out of as I have already shown it does Much might be said of the Bank of England in particular as they are a Body of Men incorporated by their Majesties and confirm'd by Parliament And I cannot but take notice of the prudent Foresight of our Legislators who wisely provided against the Danger of creating so great a Body without fit Bounds and Limitations and did therefore prohibit the Bank to buy sell or trade in any Goods or Merchandize that so the Subject might not be oppress'd by their monopolizing with their commanding Stock but yet I find they are enabled to purchase and enjoy to them and their Successors Lands Rents Tenements and Hereditaments of what Nature or Quality soever Crown-Lands excepted without any such Limitation as is usual in other Charters and if by the Statute of Mortmain 15 Rich. 2. all petty Corporations of Cities Towns or Boroughs which have a perpetual Commonalty were prohibited to purchase Lands because they have perpetual Succession I doubt not but the Parliament if they shall think fit to continue the Corporation of the Bank for a longer time than eleven Years will be pleased to put them under some Limitations in respect of Purchases For suppose this Bank have never no other Fund or Revenue settled upon them upon their advancing more Money to their Majesties which without doubt they have an eye to and those who enter not into the Account of it may think it will be no small Advantage to their Majesties and the Kingdom to have such a Bank ready at any time to assist their Majesties with Money upon any extraordinary occasions the Bank with the 100000 l. per Annum already settled upon them if it be continued to them and their Successors for 60 Years may divide 5 l.
Cattel for a thousand Years and will certainly if not remedied bring Lands to less than fourteen Years Purchase Land-Security formerly reputed the best Fund or Security in the Nation being now disregarded and Gentlemen of Estates how great soever are their Necessities cannot without very great Difficulty raise Money on Land-Security while some Mens Bills on a less substantial Fund pass currant in Payment as so much Money What may be said to solve this Riddle is That there was a Necessity for Money to carry on the War and no better way was then thought of for raising it and the Parliament chose rather to supply their Majesties by giving Encouragement to all those who would advance Money on the said Funds though thereby they impaired the Value of their own Estates than to subject their Lives Liberties Religion and all that is dearest to them to the Will of the French Monarch however I am not without Hopes if the Methods I have laid down shall be approved of and put in Practice that it will set us all again upon a right Basis their Majesties will be enabled to carry on the War with a yet greater Vigour than ever being so plentifully supplied with Money the Subjects will be easy under their Taxes Trade will encrease and flourish the Value of Lands will be inhanced and what may seem at first a Paradox the more Money any Persons shall advance to their Majesties the more they will have and the longer the War shall continue the richer will be the Subject I am not unsensible that by my writing on this Subject I shall create my self many Enemies such who propose to raise their Estates by making Merchandize of the Government and who care not if they hazard the Kingdom or ruin their Fellow-Subjects so they can enrich themselves I doubt not in the least but there are very many who have advanced Money on the late Funds who are Persons of publick Spirits and if their Majesties can be supplied with Money a better way and the Subject eased they will be as forward as any to encourage it And this Method I have proposed will not only supply their Majesties and ease the Subject but it will enable all the Nobility Gentry and others in the Kingdom who have any Encumbrances upon their Estates and who are even ground to pieces between their Creditors and the Taxes to clear their Estates to raise Portions for their Children and to lend their Majesties Money at easy Interest And as it lies in the Parliament's Power to help all the Freeholders in the Kingdom who are under any pinching Straits or Exigencies so Providence seems to concur in their Deliverance in making it the very Interest of the whole Nation to relieve them ALL Kingdoms and States being more or less opulent and potent as Trade and Industry is promoted and encouraged by them and no Nation being better situated for Trade than this Kingdom of England it is certain that nothing can hinder our being the most flourishing People in the Universe if our own Endeavours are not wanting to promote it Trade therefore being the only Medium whereby Riches can be conveyed to us we ought to exert the utmost of our Abilities to encourage it and to take care that nothing be done which may prove injurious much less destructive to it Now there having been greater Sums of Money required to carry on the War against France than could be raised on Lands Houses Personal Estates Poll-Money c. the Parliament have been necessitated for the enabling their Majesties to prosecute the same to raise Money by such new Methods as they thought would be least burdensom to Trade and most easy to the Subject such as are the Funds of the Million-Act Lottery-Act and Bank of England but though the Duties upon which such Funds are settled may not be very prejudicial to Trade yet it is to be feared that the great Encouragement given to those who advanced Money on these Funds will be very detrimental to Trade and injurious to the greatest Part of the Nation And because it may be reasonably supposed that those who have tasted the Sweetness of high Interest and other the like Advantages will endeavour the next Sessions of Parliament to promote the raising more Money by the same Methods I think my self obliged in Duty to their Majesties and for the preserving many Gentlemen and poor industrious Traders and their Families from Ruin occasion'd by the Scarcity of Money and high Interest to represent the many Evils that will unavoidably ensue the great Encouragements given such who advanced Money on the late Funds and then humbly to propose Ways by which the Parliament if they shall think fit may not only plentifully supply their Majesties with Money but how they may enrich the Subjects by the very Taxes which shall be raised upon them But before I enter upon it it may not be improper to make some few Remarks upon the aforesaid Acts. The Million-Act settles a Fund for ninety nine Years to pay an hundred Thousand Pound per annum for the first seven Years and seventy Thousand Pound per annum for the Residue of the ninety nine Years free of all Taxes to the Contributors of a Million of Money or their Nominees with Benefit of Survivorship until there shall be but seven Nominees living after which there shall be no more Benefit of Survivorship but upon the Death of any of the said Nominees such Nominees seventh Part shall revert to their Majesties their Heirs or Successors but in case the whole Million of Money were not advanced before the first Day of May 1693. upon Survivorship then any Person after the said first Day of May until the twenty ninth Day of September following should have fourteen Pound per Cent. per annum free of all Taxes for every hundred Pound paid in by him or her during the Life of such Nominee The Lottery-Act settles a Fund to pay an hundred and forty Thousand Pound per annum free of all Taxes to the Contributors of one Million of Money for sixteen Years to be divided among them according to their several Lots or Adventures The Act for the Bank of England settles a Fund to pay an hundred Thousand Pounds per annum for ever free of all Taxes to the Subscribers of twelve hundred Thousand Pound with this Reservation that if the twelve hundred Thousand Pound shall be repaid them at any time after the first Day of August Anno Dom. 1705. the yearly Payments of one hundred Thousand Pounds per annum from thence forward shall cease and determine Now that it may appear upon what Disadvantages to the Nation their Majesties are supplied with Money on these Funds I have hereunto subjoined exact Tables calculated for the more Exactness to the 20 th part of a Farthing showing in what term of Years the several Contributors or Adventurers will be repaid their whole Principal and Interest with Interest upon Interest after the rate
Annum can sell their Commodities cheaper than those who pay a greater Interest viz. 8 or 10 per Cent. per Annum but some of our Neighbours pay no more than 3 or 4 per Cent. per Annum for Interest and our English Merchants must pay 8 or 10 per Cent. per Annum for Interest and consequently those our Neighbours may Engross to themselves the Trade of those Foreign Parts The Truth of these Propositions are so obvious that I need not bring any Proof to corroborate them but I shall only illustrate them by one plain Instance viz. I suppose none will deny that Interest of Money in Holland is not above 3 or at highest 4 per Cent. per Annum and any Dutch Merchants may have what Money they please on those Terms now how is it possible for our English Merchants who must pay almost 3 times the Interest for Money to sell their Commodities so cheap as the Dutch Merchants for suppose a Dutch Merchant takes up Money at Interest and therewith trades to Turkey or to any other Part where our English Merchants trade if the Dutch Merchant makes 20 or 25 per Cent. Profit of his Money and hath his Returns in a Year or tâ—â— he is well satisfied with his Gain and continues on his Trade having 12 or 14 or 16 per Cent. Profit more than his Interest but if our English Merchant makes but 20 or 25 per Cent. Profit in the like time the great Interest he must pay will swallow up almost his whole Profit leaving him little or nothing for his Adventure Now this in process of Time will dishearten our Merchants discourage Navigation ruin our Trade and will leave it in the Hand of those who can trade with less Disadvantages than we can and who having once got the Trade in their Hand will not easily part with it Object If any Object that there is not such scarcity of Money among Merchants or Traders as I have set forth neither do they give such high Interest for Money as 8 or 10 per Cent. per Annum Answ I Answer the scarcity of Money and the great Complaints of all sorts of Traders for want of Money since it hath been drawn out of Trade to advance on the late Funds is a Truth too well known to be denied and that our Merchants and other Traders must pay 8 or 10 per Cent. per Annum Interest for Money if they want it is as demonstrable for admit a Trader must take up Money at Interest can it be reasonably supposed that any Man will lend his Money for 5 or 6 per Cent. per Annum when he can make 8 or 10 per Cent. per Annum by advancing it on these Funds or can it be thought that Persons will continue their Money in Tradesmens hands at the usual Interest when they can have almost double the Interest by lending it to the Government especially when they come to be well satisfied that what they advance on the said Funds is safe and secure Object But a great part of the Money was advanced by such who had plenty of Money and did not employ it in Trade and not by Tradesmen Answ That very many Traders paid in large Sums of Money from 1000 to 10000 l. apiece cannot be denied by any who have seen the Lists of the Names of the Contributors to the several Funds and the Money advanced by those who had no Trade was notwithstanding taken out of Trade as being drawn out of Tradesmens hands to whom such Money was lent as hath been already set forth Object But many of our Merchants trade with their own Stocks and have no occasion to take up Money at Interest Answ This amounts to one and the same thing for if our Merchants can get as much by advancing their Money on these Funds as they can by Trading abroad can we think they will be so imprudent to venture their Estates to Foreign Parts out of their Reach and subject to so many Risques as Dishonesty or Insolvency of Factors hazard of the Sea and danger of the Enemy At the best it cannot be supposed they will employ so much of their Estates in Trade as they would have done had they not had this Opportunity of making such considerable Advantages of their Money at home by paying it in on these Funds and no doubt when they have found the Sweet of it they will draw the remainder of their Estates out of Trade in expectation of the like opportunity if the Parliament shall think fit to raise more Money by the like Methods I come in the next place to show that the great Encouragements given to Persons to advance Money on the late Funds will be a means to carry out our Wealth and thereby will impoverish the Kingdom I need not form any Arguments to prove this Assertion those who know what high Interest is must acknowledg it is generally destructive to those who pay it but is a certain Profit to such who receive it and there being leave given to all Foreigners to advance Money on the said Funds and very considerable Sums as I have been inform'd being remitted from Foreign Parts and paid in by Foreigners for that purpose it cannot be expected but the Interest of such Money must be sent out of the Nation every Year as it grows due which in 16 Years will be above 330 l. for every 100 l. advanced by them on the Lottery Act and above 3000 l. for every 100 in 60 Years time for all they pay into the Bank of England besides their Parts or Shares in the great Advantages that will be made by discounting Bills Exchequer-Tallies c. And if that Maxim holds true as it must and does in this present case That the Wealth of a Nation is greater or lesser in Proportion according as its Imports and Exports do more or less exceed each other I am sure the great Sums that must be sent over yearly for the Interest of Money advanced by Foreigners from abroad must in time beggar the Nation since we receive nothing again in return for what is so sent out and if it be an Evil as it really is to enrich a few of our own Subjects by the ruin of the far greater Part I am sure à fortiori it is a much greater Mischief for us to enrich Foreigners by the Spoils of our English Subjects and therefore whatsoever value any Person may put upon the bringing great Sums of Money into the Nation from abroad it is plain it is not for the Nation 's Interest to encourage it I come now to show that the great Encouragements given to those who advanced Money on the late Funds fall no less heavy on Gentlemen whose Estates are in Land the value of which always bears some proportion with the Interest of Money these being pincht both ways for as the Taxes necessarily laid on Lands make Land less esteemed and consequently less valuable than formerly so this Encouragment
thereby lessen'd and consequently the Security strengthened Vide Proposals 18 19. Object But you oppose the monied Men making Advantages of their Money and propose greater Advantages to Gentlemen of real Estates Answ I confess I do and that for several Reasons First Gentlemen of yearly Estates have born the burden of the Taxes while the monied Men have paid little or nothing for the carring on the War or support of the Government but on the contrary many of them have enrich'd themselves by it Secondly None can possess or enjoy Lands but the Subjects of this Realm but monied Men are of all sorts Foreigners as well as our own Subjects and if an Advantage be to be made it ought to be to our own Subjects rather than to Foreigners Thirdly It is less hazardous to trust the Riches of the Nation in the Hands of our own Subjects who are settled here with their Families than with those who being born in Foreign Parts may and in all likelyhood when they have got our Money will carry it out of the Nation Fourthly The Landed Gentlemen will deserve this Encouragement in that they will raise above double the Sum of Money upon any Fund by this proposed Method more than was raised by the late Methods Fifthly This proposed Method encreases Trade enriches the Subjects and will raise the Price of Land the late Method destroys Trade impoverishes the Subject and depretiates Land Obj. But in a little time the Bank of England will be in great Repute and they will issue out their Bank-Bills which will go for Money and these Bills the Directors will lend Gentlemen upon the Security of their Estates for 61. per cent per annum Interest and also to Merchants at the same rate upon a deposite of Wares or Merchandize in the Custody of the Bank for a Security Answ If Land be a Security why may not Gentlemen be enabled by this proposed Method to issue out Bills of Credit upon a Fund of Land settled out of their own Estates as well as these Gentlemen Bank-Bills upon a Fund settled on the Excise Is not 100000 l. per Annum in Land a better and more valuable Fund than 100000 l. per Annum payable out of the Excise I am sure it was esteemed so formerly and it is in the Power of the Parliament to make it so still if they please and yet the Gentlemen with 100000 l. per Annum in Land if they want Money must be glad to accept of the Bank-Bills for half the Value of their Estates for which their whole Estates must be engaged and must give them 6 l. per Cent. per Annum into the Bargain when the Security such have who take these Bank-Bills is not near so good a Security as these Gentlemens Estates are who yet must be forced to mortgage them for those Bank-Bills to which I can make no fitter a Comparison than for a Man to pawn a Guinea for a Counter or a Diamond for a Bristol Stone and therefore I confess I can see no reason why Gentlemen should give 6 l. per Cent. per Annum for Bank-Bills when they may have Bills of Credit upon their own Estates which are better Securities for 10 Shillings per Cent. per Annum Object But it is not consistent with the Wisdom or Justice of the Nation to grant the Gentlemen of the Bank an Act for their Establishment and to repeal it next Sessions for the Parliament may as well repeal the Act as to enact that Lands shall pass for Money which is in effect to set up another Bank or rather so many several Banks as there are landed Men in the Nation who then need not come to the Bank to borrow Money upon their Estates but will be able to lend Money to others Answ It is not material what some Gentlemen of the Bank might propose to themselves but what the Parliament granted them which was better than 8 l. per Cent. per Annum for 11 Years and longer if it were not injurious to the Nation and since it appears to be so already in so eminent a degree it shows rather the great Justice of the Parliament in continuing them for 11 Years and paying them 100000 l. per Annum to the great Prejudice of their own Estates when they may have the same Sum of 1200000 l. for 36000 l. per Annum and their Estates considerably augmented thereby Object But you propose to force the Subject to take pieces of Paper for Money which have no intrinsick Value in them which will never be allowed of by an English Parliament who tho they made the Bank-Bills assignable yet they compelled no Person to take them Answ 1. I grant there ought to be no force on the Subject to take any thing in Payment which has not an intrinsick Value in it self or which conveys not an intrinsick Value along with it whereby the Receiver may be no loser and therefore it was not without good reason that the Parliament did not oblige the Subject to take the Bank-Bills because the Bank hath a Fund for the Security of 1200000 l. only and they may issue out Bills for as many Millions as they please for which there is no Security but the Members of the Bank which is but a Personal Security Answ 2. These proposed Bills of Credit convey an intrinsick Value with them there being a Fund of Land proposed to be settled for their Security before they are issued out to the full value of the Bills of Credit issued out thereupon and also a Fund settled by Parliament for all Bills of Credit advanced to their Majesties upon the Payment of any Annuity which tho but a collateral Security for the Bills of Credit yet it may reasonably be supposed it will be as good a Security as the Fund of the Excise The Bills of Credit being therefore settled on the Security of private Mens Estates as well as a Parliamentary Fund are of an intrinsick Value as they will convey above double their Value along with them viz. a Fund of Land and a Parliamentary Fund and therefore for so publick a Good where all will be benefited and none can be losers I know no reason can be assigned why the Subject should not be obliged to take them besides this is no new thing for Land to pass for Money for if a Man mortgages his Estate for 1000 l. if the Mortgagee owes 1000 l. to another may he not pay him this 1000 l. by assigning over this Mortgage and the Assignee to a third and so toties quoties ad infinitum Is not this passing Land up and down for Money as much as by my proposed Method All the difference is I have proposed for the conveniency of the Subject to divide the 1000 l. into 100 or 200 parts which by the usual way is past in Payment in one intire Sum and yet if the Title of the Estate be good need any Man complain for taking a Skin of Parchment for
1000 l. which conveys an Estate of 1000 l. value along with it Answ 3. Gold and Silver to which when coined we give the Name of Money was made the Medium of Trade and Commerce by reason of its portability and carrying an intrinsick Value along with it the Government for that reason bearing the Charge of the Coinage because the intrinsick Value should not be lessened by the Charge bestowed upon it to turn it into Money and by the Coinage-Act 18 Car. 2. an Imposition was laid upon Wine Vinegar c. to bear the Charges of the Mint and whosoever brought any Gold or Silver into the Mint was to have the same Weight out again coined without any Charge or Deduction and whatsoever was formerly sold he who received his Money for what he sold had the full value of the Sum he was to receive in Gold or Silver the Money if melted down being worth the Value for which he received it and Persons were so careful that the Money which they received was of an intrinsick Value that they usually carried small Weights and Scales in their Pockets to weigh any piece of Money which they suspected was too light and if they found any piece too light they refused it I am sure should we try our Money now we might write Mene Tekel upon 99 Shillings in every 5 Pounds many of the Half-Crowns we take not having 12 penny worth of Silver in them and Shillings and Six-pences as light in proportion and therefore since our Money hath been so abused by clipping it hath lost that essential Quality which did at first recommend it viz. it s intrinsick Value the Stamp serving now to show what it was not what it is worth scarce 100 l. we receive being worth 50 l. intrinsick Value and what Fund or Security is there to make good the other 50 l. clipt off and yet take it we must or else we must go without our Money which is a Coertion with a witness but yet People quietly receive it because they know they can pass it away again for the same Value for which they know took it and I make no question but 100 l. pecuniis numeratis of such Money as is generally now passable will be allowed by our Judges and Juries too to be a good and lawful Tender and a good Plea in Bar of any Action that shall be brought against a Person for the said Sum after such Tender made and if they should not I know not how any Tender can be made in what we may call good and lawful Money of England unless we pick 100 l. out of 3 or 4000 l. and yet as if Money had acquired a greater Excellency by being clipp'd the Consideration for the Loan of it is raised to almost double the Value which it was a few Years since tho it was then much weightier and consequently better than now it is and therefore why it should be look'd upon as a Hardship to oblige the Subject to take Bills of Credit which convey far more than the intrinsick Value of the Sum therein mentioned along with them when at the same time they take in Payment Money which is not more than half the intrinsick Value and Bank-Bills for which there is no certain Fund for my part I know not but shall be obliged to any Person who can give a Reason for it Object But shall we not have too many of these Bills of Credit Answ 1. These Bills being a new Species of Money and to all Intents and Purposes answering the End of Money we may as well fear that we shall have too much Money in the Nation which no wise Man will complain of Answ 2. I do not find that this was objected or consider'd in the Constitution of the Bank of England there is no Limitation to them but they may coin Bank-Bills for as many Millions as they please to an unlimited Sum and all the Security the Subjects have for the Bank Bills issued out for above the Value of 1200000 l. is but only a Personal Security many of whom are Foreigners And if the Members for the Time being and not the Subscribers are bound we know not who are our Bondsmen by reason of the daily Transferrences And why should we be afraid of having too many Bills of Credit more than of having too many Bank Bills when the Nation may be Losers by the Bank Bills But it is impossible for any Man to be a Loser by Bills of Credit since no Bill of Credit may be issued out before a real Security out of some Gentleman 's private Estate or Freehold shall be first settled for the Security of such Bill or Bills So that if the Nation must have a great Number of Bills circulating I doubt not but every one will concur with me that the Bills of Credit are preferable to the Bank Bills so far as a Real Security is to be valued before a Personal Security vide Proposal 3. Answ 3. None can be injured by our having great Numbers of these Bills of Credit but several hundred thousand Families will be relieved by these proposed Bills and almost as many Families will be ruin'd and undone if some such Method be not taken to help them How many Gentlemen are there who pay 50 60 or 70 l. per Annum for Interest Money out of 100 l. per Annum must notwithstanding pay 20 l. per Annum more for Taxes out of the little they have left to buy their Children Bread while he who hath the Estate in his Clutches and receives one half or two thirds of the Gentleman 's yearly Income for Interest pays not a Penny towards the Charge of the War or Support of the Government And therefore unless it can be proved that a greater Number of the Subjects will suffer than will be relieved by these Bills of Credit I think if the great Plenty of the said Bills should be an Inconvenience whereas it plainly appears to the contrary that they will be for the Ease and Advantage both of their Majesties and all the Subjects in general I think a greater Good ought to be preferr'd before a Lesser and a lesser Evil chose before a Greater Much more might be said which for brevity-sake I omit and shall only present those Gentlemen with the following Queries who doubt of the Practicability or Reasonableness of my Proposals QUERIES Q. 1. WHether any Person who hath an Estate in Fee of Free-hold or Copy-hold Land can make a good Security out of such his Estate to any Person who shall lend him Money upon a Mortgage of such his Estate Vide Query 8 Q. 2. Whether the Person who shall pay the Morgagee the Money by him lent upon any Estate and have thereupon an Assignment of such Mortgage from the Mortgagee hath not as good a Security for his Money as the Mortgagee had before such Assignment Q. 3. Whether the Assignee of such Assignee and every subsequent Assignee that shall have
Settlements whether that Consideration ought to be any Hindrance to the Settlement of Estates by my proposed Method which I will prove will be above 100 Millions in value Advantage to the Estates of the Kingdom And whether the Nation had not better make good the Loss of such particular Persons if any should be than to lose those great Advantages that will arise by these proposed Settlements Vide Queries 17 18. Q. 16. If the Money advanced on the late Funds had been raised by my proposed Method whether the Subjects would not have saved much more than can be lost by undue Settlements Vide the Tables and their Uses in pag. 32 to 40. Q. 17. If a Man can at any time take up the Value of 20 Years Purchase in Bills of Credit upon his Estate and may therewith clear his Estate and provide for his Children and sink but one tenth Part of his Yearly Income for the Use and Benefit of the same or if a Man can advance such Bills of Credit to their Majesties upon the Security of a Parliamentary Fund and be exempted from Taxes and have 50 or 60 l. per annum added to every 100 l. per annum Estate he hath whether Estates in Land will not be worth 40 or 50 Years Purchase Vide Proposals 17 19 20 22 23. and the Tables in pag. 32 to 37. Q. 18. If a Man can buy a perpetual Rent-Charge of the Crown free from Taxes for 12 Years Purchase and can take up any Sum less than the Capital or purchase Money at an Hour's warning for 5 or 6 l. per cent per annum Interest and pay it in again whensoever he pleases or if he can have 60 l. 16 s. 8 d. per annum Interest for 2000 l. value in Bank-Bills and have in effect 2000 l. always lying by him whether any Man will give 20 Years Purchase for Land loaded every Year with Taxes and upon which he cannot without great Charge loss of Time and Difficulty take up one half of the Purchase-Money paid by him for his Estate Q. 19. If any Person should settle an Estate to which he hath no Right and shall take Bills of Credit to the Value of 20 Years Purchase upon the Credit of such Estate whether the remaining Part or Fee of the Estate will not be worth much more to the Right-owner than the whole Estate will be worth if no such Settlement be made Vide Query 17. Proposal 7. Q. 20. Whether a Trustee or Guardian who is not now able to sell will be able to settle the Estate of any Orphan or other Person of whom he hath the Care or Guardianship if an Act of Parliament should pass for these Settlements And whether such Trustee or Guardian will not be as accountable for his Trust in case this Act should pass as he now is before the passing such Act Vide Prop. 7. Q. 21. Whether the Ruining our Trade the Impoverishing the Nobility and Gentry the Burdening the Subjects with Funds the Bringing Land to 14 Years Purchase the Flinging the Money and the Estates of the Kingdom into a few or into unsafe Hands the Carrying the Money out of the Kingdom to pay the Interest for Money advanced by Foreigners on the late Funds will not be of far worse consequence and more mischievous to their Majesties and the Kingdom than can be all the undue Settlements which we can reasonably imagin or suppose may possibly be made Q. 22. Whether the exempting the Nobility and Gentry from Taxes and making their Estates much more valuable enlarging their Yearly Incomes enabling them to clear their Estates and to raise Portions for their Children the encreasing Trade Navigation and Building of Ships the setting to work Handicrasts Artificers and all the idle Hands in the Kingdom the bringing new Manufactures into the Nation the burdening the Subjects with fewer Funds will not be an Ease to the Subjects enrich the Nobility and Gentry and make the Nation vastly rich by our great Trade to foreign Parts and be a most unspeakable Obligation to the Nobility and Gentry and all the Subjects in the Kingdom And whether it will not river them not only in Interest but in Affection to their Majesties Vide the Tables and their Uses pag. 32 to 40. POSTSCRIPT SOmetime after I had drawn up my Proposals in order to present them to the Parliament which is now about three Months ago and since I have been printing them I have been several times caution'd not to publish or propose any thing to the Parliament that might be opposite to the Interest of the Bank of England for if I did I must not expect to succeed because the Gentlemen of the Bank had a very great Interest in the Parliament and would be too hard for me And another told me that they would certainly cross-bite me to which I replied that it was no hard matter to foil me but that the Controversy if any were would not be between the Bank and me but between the Nobility Gentry and Free-holders of England who were almost ruin'd with those Funds and the Bank and therefore I was not sollicitous about it having also such an Opinion of many Members of the Bank that I did not doubt but they would have preferr'd the publick Good of the Kingdom before any little narrow Interest of their own insomuch that the Person whom I first pitch'd upon to show my Scheme to for his Approbation is one of the Members of the Bank and none of the meanest of them but he being at a considerable distance in the Country prevented me And sometime since a Friend of mine whose Name I shall not mention proposed to bring the Deputy-Governour of the Bank and me together telling me I was a thinking Man and that it might be for my advantage to be acquainted with the Deputy-Governour I thank'd my Friend but altho I have a great Respect for the Deputy-Governour as being a very deserving Person yet for some Reasons did not close with his Offer however they have as they call it cross-bit me and I resolve to let the Parliament and the Gentlemen of the Kingdom know so and that these Acts of Grace lately publish'd by the Directors of the Bank were not design'd in kindness to them but to render ineffectual what I had to propose to the Parliament for having in the Preface to my Discourse on the late Funds mentioned how destructive these Funds are to Trade and that Exchequer-Tallies Debenters and Sea-mens Tickets sign'd by their Majesties Commissioners were less esteemed than a Note under the Hand of an ordinary Tradesman to the great diminution of the Honour of the Nation these Gentlemen publish'd an Order in the Gazette dated the 3 d and 10 th of September last That all Persons who have Tallies and Orders on Funds c. which are not remote may have Money for them without any Allowance together with all past Interest to the day on which they were brought and