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A60769
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Some considerations about the raising of coin in a second letter to Mr. Locke.
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1696
(1696)
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Wing S4481; ESTC R16348
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23,256
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57
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Interest were never so strong as it is the contrary could ever be perswaded to infringe these Rules of Equity and violate a thing so Sacred I add this word Sacred Because the Wisest of the Ancients did ever esteem the business of their Money to be so Or at least thought fit to imprint such a Reverence of it in the People And therefore they either Coined it in the Temples of their Gods or erected Altars in the place where they did it But it is time that we now consider this Matter not by Suppositions only but as it is in reality And what shall we then say of those Projectors that under the Colour no Colour of raising Coin promote a thing that will be so considerably prejudicial to His Majesty's Interest All I can say of them is that whether they do it ignorantly or designedly the Mischief to His Majesty is the same And it ought to be obviated with utmost Care by all that have Capacity and Opportunity to intermeddle in it 'T is too notorious to be dissembled that the Exchequer is not now replenish'd with any Treasure So that if such a Law as I have supposed to take place the First of November next were past the King could have no manner of present Benefit by it And for the Future he would lose at one stroke the Sixth part of all his Revenue The Case is the very same if not yet harder in respect of the King that I have shewn it to be in respect of Wealthy Gentlemen who have their Estates out either in Money upon Bonds and Mortgages or in Lands upon running Leases Whatever there are of Crown Lands no body will think that the Rent of them will be either more speedily or more easily raised than those of private Gentlemen but much the Contrary But however the great and fixt Branches of His Majesty's Revenue Excise and Customs are too considerable to require any other Instance to be joined with them and too obviously within this Case to admit of any Dispute They are settled by Acts of Parliament and will continue to be paid accordingly So that if our Coin should now be raised as 't is called one sixth part the King's Revenue would be just one sixth part diminish'd His Majesty has much Obligation indeed to the Promoters of such a Design It would be pleasant to hear them argue the only thing that can be argued against what I here maintain That the Parliament may raise those Duties so much higher or give the King something else equivalent to the Loss that he may sustain in them This is just according to the Old Proverb Make Work and have Work But Cui bono Why all this Noise Why all this Bustle Why all these Changes When we are to be brought round to the same Point from whence we set forth For 't is even so And in the same manner the Answer to these Questions brings me round also Why All this is for the sake of a few Money-mongers There is neither more nor less in the Matter They and They only that have enrich'd themselves by the several Steps that we have hitherto seen will be able to get any thing by this finishing Stroke Finishing I mean to their prodigious Wealth And at the same time if not absolutely finishing I am sure too strongly leading to the fatal finishing of England's Ruin Our Apprehensions of Publick Ruin upon such an Alteration will appear more obviously reasonable if we add this further Reflection upon the present Circumstances of the Nation Every body is sensible how much the last Year's intended Supplies fell short And how very great a Summ will therefore this Year be necessary I presume not so much as to guess at it But all Men know it must needs be so much as to exceed all possibility of being raised upon the People any way whatsoever in one Year We have no way in the World to maintain our selves but by settling some Funds or other as we have done of late Years and borrowing the Money upon it by way of Anticipation Now this being our Case if we should at this time by raising our Coin do so great and so manifest a wrong as I have shewn this would be to all those that have hitherto contributed to our Support whose Estates in the different Funds already settled would thereby become just so much less as our Money should be raised I say if we should now but shew our selves capable of so much Ingratitude and so much Treachery from whence could we expect any further Support of the like kind We should certainly be abandon'd by all Men We should deservedly sink into utter Ruin And our Destruction must be owned to be our selves I am not willing to think that any Man is capable of giving this Counsel designedly for this End But I say again the Consequences of this Practice appear to me so dreadfully ruinous that it ought to be avoided with the same Care as if it were evidently so designed I come now to consider the Consequences that this raising of our Coin can have upon the whole Nation collectively with respect to all those with whom we have any manner of Dealing abroad The Pretence is that if our Coin were raised our Money would not be carried Beyond-Sea That is the thing we are now to enquire into But I protest I am almost ashamed to go about it Those that have any manner of Sence and know in the least how the World goes cannot but be satisfied that by one single Calculation in my former Letter I have demonstrated that there is no such Matter Our Money is not carried Abroad Nor could it nor can it be upon account of private Gain Whilst the Exchange was as when I writ last at Thirty three Skillings and much more whilst it is as now at Thirty Six Nay nor ever can it be carried Abroad at all if our different Coins were once brought to an Equality which the Use of Scales would effect in a moment unless the Total Summ of our Debts to Foreigners amounted to more than theirs to us Whenever that happens which can only be by an Over-balance in Trade when we consume more of their Commodities than they do of ours Or by some great occasion of State the Expence of a Foreign War or the like I say whenever this happens there is no Remedy for it Money will go And the raising of its Name can no more keep it than the Gothamers by a Hedge could keep in the Cuckow What carried our Money Beyond Sea a Year and two Years ago to so great a Degree was only the Inequality of it Surely that has been made plain enough already How oft must I inculcate the same thing That the Cure therefore can consist in nothing but the Equality After that is perfectly effected let but Trade be carefully inspected and duly promoted Trade which is of more Importance to us than Mines either of Silver or Gold and the
a great many worthy Men who are also Men of considerable Bulk and Fortune in their Country Surely the Indigent I should rather say the Rich Debtors in that Assembly are neither so numerous as to carry this against them nor so artful as to draw them in to vote it against themselves I have said here the Rich Debtors Because in truth 't is only they those that have Cash lying ready by them but will not pay it because of their Expectation of this very Advantage that can receive any Benefit at all by the proposed Alteration of our Coin The Indigent that have not such superfluous Cash lying by them when this Alteration happens to be made however they find Money afterwards will be obliged to receive it with one Hand in the same manner as they pay it with the other So that they will have no manner of Profit by the matter But nevertheless the Rich Creditor will on all all hands certainly lose I know not whether this need any Explanation But I beg pardon of you Sir and of the Publick if I am more afraid of Obscurity than of Tediousness And if I hazard therefore upon so important a point to offend rather in Length than in Brevity My Thoughts are these When the Alteration in Coin is once made in the very same moment an Alteration in the real Value of every other thing goes along with it Not that any thing for that reason will be worth more Ounces of Silver than it was before But by continuing to be worth just the same Number of Ounces of Silver that it was before it will be worth more Shillings or Crowns proportionably as those pieces shall be either diminisht in Weight or raised in Name Now this Alteration in those things if the Alteration in Coin be great will quickly be perceived by every one If it be small it will be the less perceptible But then the Consequences of it will be so much the more lasting Now the Wealthy Gentleman that receives in his Debts in this rais'd Coin if he have occasion to pay it away the same moment for the Satisfaction of another Debt neither gets indeed nor loses by that single Transaction But the Indigent Man who is to provide himself Necessaries with the Summ that he so receives And the Wealthy Gentleman also that lays by his Summs till they grow great enough for some Bargain that he has in prospect or that keeps them only for the currant Course of his ordinary Expences will both of them certainly lose For the Rate of every thing rising proportionably to this Alteration in Coin Whatever either of them have occasion to buy will be so much dearer than it was before as their Money is now worse And so much they therefore really lose But this is not all The Consideration of the Landed Man's Rents whether he be really Opulent or Indigent reaches much further 'T is not only one single Payment but a continued Course of Annual Payments that he is to take Care for Supposing Coin raised as 't is called a Half or a Quarter part He will not only lose so much by the first Quarter's or Half-year's Rent that he receives But for all Leases Rent-Charges and other fixt Payments whatsoever he will evidently go on to lose Quarterly and Annually in the same manner for the Future as long as the Terms of those Contracts continue Nay without restraining this Consideration to Leases and Rent-Charges even for all Lands lett Year by Year without any such fixt Stipulation he will continue to lose considerably for a long while together Those that will answer any thing pertinently to this last Suggestion for to the first nothing can be answered I am bold to say have no other way to do it than by maintaining that the Rents of Lands must of Necessity rise also as well as Commodities in proportion to the Diminution which they call the Heightning of Coin But in doing so they shew manifestly the Absurdity of their own Project For to what purpose should this Alteration be made in Coin when every thing else will thereupon alter accordingly and return in a short while to bear the same proportion to the new Names Weight and Fineness of Coin as they did before to the Old 'T is visible there is no other End in it but the inriching of a few Money-mongers And that the Nation can receive no Advantage by it more than the Use of so much Cash as they shall graciously please upon such a Bribe to issue forth towards the Payment of their own Debts I am obliged therefore to grant by my own Principles and I am glad our Antagonists are thus far forced to agree with me that in Consequence of this Raising of Coin the Rents of Land must of Necessity rise also But I desire it may be observed that the Rise of Rents is a thing that proceeds very gradually The Farmer will not easily be brought to own that the Advancement which he will find in the Price of his Commodities after the Raising of Coin proceeds from that Reason No Master says he to his Landlord tho' this have been a pretty good Year to us the like has been many times before and the next following it has been a bad one God knows but it may be so now Therefore I hope your Worship will not be hard with me I have been a long while a good Tenant to your Family c. Such things as these repeated over and over again without any notice taken of the Reasons offered to the contrary will weary out many a Landlord's Patience many a time over before their Tenants will be brought to make new Bargains 'T is true that in the End they must infallibly come to it But I believe all Landlords are sensible that this must be a Work of time And whilst this Suspense and Contest lasts the Landlords must certainly go on losing Annually by the Alteration that I argue against However since I am here struck upon this fatal Rock which if our Coin be raised will be unavoidably very ruinous to all that have any manner of Debts due to them upon Ancient Contracts I cannot omit to communicate to all Men what I am informed has of late been practised by many by way of precaution against such like future Inconveniences The thing I mean is a few words added to the Condition of Bonds of which printed Copies are to be had at the Stamp-Office by those that will require them and to all other Contracts for Payments in this Form Pay to the Summ of of Good and Lawful Money of England of the Weight and Fineness of the Standard establish'd by Law at the time of the Date hereof for the Silver Coin of this Kingdom Without any Deduction or Abâ—tement whatsoever for or by reason of any Act of Parliament which shall or may be made or for any other reason or cause whatsoever This Advertisement is perhaps needless because the thing is already