body Nothing is so like to interrupt the Free course of Lending or at least dealing as the unsoundness of Credit and Scarceness of Security which are evidently improved by Law but undermined by high Interest For that which we call Money lent being upon the matter nothing else but Credit from the Lender to the Borrower and security from the Borrower to the Lender as I have occasion often to repeat and as appears not only by that eâ—cellent Law and Practice of transferring debts in Holland but even by daily proof among our selves where a small note nay a Promise frequently serves to represent the payment of a considerable sum Plenty or Scarcity of Current Security and Credit the manifest effect of high or low Interest must needs cause Plenty or Scarcity of Current Money Besides the Loan of Money corresponds in good Measure with Letting of Land Now the Landlord that Lets good Penny worths seldome wants substantial Tenants who commonly thriveing pay their Rents punctually And challenging a kind of Tenant right securely repair and improve as upon their own Free-hold Whereas hard Landlord's are generally and justly met with by hinderly and troublesome Farmers and have their Estates often and ruinously turned into and lying on their hands Upon the same grounds of Reason may we not observe That even in this low Ebb of Credit such as are known to have sound Estates and noted to be current paymasters shall oftimes be trusted upon much easier then the common terms of lending As on the other side those that accept low interest pick and chuse their security And is it not most pregnant but withal most evident That wheresoever Trade is clogged with high Interest there is no end of Pledges and extreme Cautions where the rate is tolerable there appears little use or need of them Fame it self in effect serving as the common surety for Borrowers and few that have a name of honesty wanting convenient Credit Admit then for Arguments sake the Land of this Kingdom most of it to be vastly over-letten so as no usual husbandry could raise near the Rent of it And whether this be not now too like â—â—e case of borrowing at six per Cent. I appeal to the sad experience of all those either Lâ—ndlords or Tenants whose misfortune it hath been of late considerably to borrow what could thence ensâ—e but such a decay of Farmers failer of payments and dearth of fair dealing on all sides as must needs speedily tend to publick ruine Wherefore I â—onclude that sober Creditours who propound not to themselves the Lucre of meer Extortion though for their ease and benefit they chuse Interest money as their livelihood yet if they will give themselves leave and leisure to think cannot but prefer four and even three freely payd and fully secured before six nay eight per Cent. ventured upon the stretch of Security and Credit torne piecemeal from their debtours with such breach of Friendship and Charity such ill natured Arrests Seisures Entries Shifts Hazardâ— Charges and delayes as now do and must every day more and more attend those contracts And consequently that the moderating of Interest to a Rate which the Land may comfortably bear is the only means now left for men to lend safely borrow easily and pay duely Costly Experience will some say may in time rectifie all when most that borrow do not pay and few that pay borrow When our great and numerous incumbrances expiring and discharging themselves in the ruine of most borrowers and too many lenders Credit and Security shall sink together as they fairly begin to do and our disease abate for want of humour to feed it But truly I cannot fancy this Remedy which too much resembles the decay of Nature and in stead of real comfort faintly bids us hope That when things are at the worst they may mend Their last Argument importing the danger of calling in Sums unseasonably by such as being abridged of their former income will endeavour otherwise to repair their loss to the great inconvenience of borrowers presents more shrewdly to those at least who spie not its fallacy and self-contradiction For quitting all publick considerations and yielding as it were the main dispute it craftily insinuates it self and whispers singly to every borrower this seemingly pertinent Question What then will become of you when all your debts shall be called in together Now this meeting with the natural â—w of Borrowers frights many of them into a Palsie And the more unreasonable it is perhaps the more unanswerable since for a groundless and extravagant fear no humane wisdom can provide Thus are the maintainers of this Policy furnished with Arguments of all kinds and colours accommodated to every purpose To the sender they suggest that they visibly loose one third of their Revenue without any hope of recompence for that all the improvements from thence expected are silly projects To the borrower that however in the end it may fare with the Publick yet they to be sure will in the mean time be undone by a general calling in of Sums to purchase Land To persons more indifferent as not greatly or immediately concerned in either Condition That abatement of Interest by Law wil never in any degree answer what is expected from it For such as have Power will use it as they list and no man be induced to purchase or trade one whit the sooner To vulgar capacities that our rich men will hoard our best stocks lie dead and there will scarce be any lending To reconcile these were indeed a Masterpiece of wit But in the mean time such shifting of Scenes and shuffling of Notions so inconsistent notably serves to amuse the unwary and embroyle discourse which in popular causes as I said before proves oftimes a dextrous way of Arguing The only way therefore to deal with such a Proteus is to confront his several Arguments and hold him strictly to the point which an unsound Thesis will scarce abide For Instance How comes the note to be so changed say I It was once alledged that Lenders would still use their own discretion and take no notice of any Law for Restraint Theâ— in another vein most men would be so sullen as neither to Purchase nor Lend Now in full career and as it were in some grand conspiracy for plots must be all along presumed All will call in their sums together and be dealing What a sure Bow is this that hath so many and so able strings But is there no medium betwixt these extreams Are there not in the world persons of different Condition genius nay humour Are there not many by their Education or present Capacity qualified only to live upon Interest Are there not others who being either affected with thrifty retirement or enured to the ease and immunity of good Towns nay addicted to special fraternities and cabales are so wedded to it that a sentence of the Spiritual Court would scarce divorce them Are there not yet
SEVERAL OBJECTIONS Against the Reducement of INTEREST Propounded in a LETTER with the Answer thereunto LONDON Printed in the year MDCLXXI Several Objections against the Reducement of Interest propounded in a Letter with the Answer thereunto SIR BY divers persons whom I have spoken with upon your late Argument I find that the main of your discourse is either granted or faintly controverted very few directly denying the Rise of Land by the Fall of Interest but rather as it were confessing and avoiding it They say It holds in the notion but fayles in the Practise Being clogged with divers appendant inconveniencies which either wholly frustrate its good success or overballance it with other and worse effects The grand Objections are these Some affirm It will have no influence at all whatsoever is defalked from Interest will be more then supplied in gratuities Brokage new devices for security c. according to the old saying Necessity hath no Law Some alledge that since it is now so hard to borrow at six per Cent. It will be almost impossible at four because men will rather keep their monies in their Châ—sts then run so great a hazard as Lenders they say now do for so small a profit By others it is offered by way of grave and friendly advice to Borrowers that they take heed what they do For most will be driven upon purchasing and other dealings and so their debts generally and ruinously called in I desire to be clear in this Argument that so I may be able to maintain it And therefore your Resolution herein will much Oblige SIR Your most humble Servant I S. SIR I Am glad to find That the maintainers of our present Rate of Interest being driven from their main defences betake themselves to such Shifts and Colours It shews They would only seem to say somewhat which in Popular Causes they think may pâ—ss for Reason In the first place they tell us the Legal Restraint of Interest at this time will prove abortive Law being subordinate to necessity But if not now say I when may it take effect surely never since when borrowers are few it needs not when many belike it boots not Might not this Exception be equally taken against most of our Coercive Laws And were it not reasonably answered by demanding the Experiment Especially since the benefits promised by its success are so many and great And the Evils threatned from its miscarriage so few and flender Yet in regard of the stress it bears I shall further examine its strength and substance First methinks these Objectours do a little prevaricate For if they believed themselves they might spare their Opposition and as persons unconcerned â—eely give it their Passport Secondly Let them reflect whether the same Argument having been as confidently urged against Eight per Cent. be not sufficiently soyled And whether though some Necessitous Borrowers have been shrewdly bitten by Extortion as some ever were and will be yet thousands who otherwise had certainly paid higher rates have not borrowed at Six per Cent. and reaped such benefit by those reducements as without other unequal payments would alone have enriched or at least fairly relieved them Thirdly My Errour if such is however charitable in judging better of Creditours then it seems they do of themselves For whereas they are hâ—reby represented as contemners of Authority I rather admit them to be persons of strict Obedience and great Caution Presuming they will now as formerly most of them have done observe that Law from which they challenge their only Protection and Warrant Fourthly Paenal Laws are like large Nets chiefly designed to catch the great Fish some Frie will escape And it matters not greatly here though they do For Single Extortions weigh little in this Ballance It is the Steady Rate of Interest which coming clear into the lenders own Purse and in ease and certainty far surpassing other courses quite turns the scale on that side so as the Abatement thereof must even naturally buoy up our Lands Lastly It seems more then morally certain That the same Land which is now accepted for the Loan of a Thousand Pounds at Six pawnes ipso facto for fifteen hundred at four per Cent. there being no other imaginable standard for Mortgages and consequently for sales then the computing of Rent with Interest whereby Security will be restored and vastly enlarged And the Land acquiring as it were a new fund will lightly carry that burthen which it now hardly bears soon shake of its fetters and in time turn Extortion quite out of Doors The second Objection Namely That if Interest be abated Men will hoard up their Monies Seems only considerable from the Quality of those that urge it who are some of them wise men and too wise I doubt too mean as they speak I might again refer them to former Experience since this likewise within our Memorie hath been once disproved Not one that ever I heard of having kept any considerable stock dead for the Smallness of that Revenue but too many being even charmed with the Sweetness of it Insomuch as I have lately known divers who upon the Overture of a convenient purchase consulting their Pillows and perceiving as needs they must if they do noâ— wink the present disparity betwixt Interest and Rent have parted abruptly Neither indeed have I observed any such treaty which this estimate did not govern sometimeâ— to the utter disappointment alwayes to the notable preâ—â—dice of the Seller Surelâ— the greater danger is That too many will still continue tâ— lend at four per Cent. with improved security rather then otherwise get less with trouble and hazard But thaâ— any should ruinously keep in their Stockâ— to no Account seems too Panick a fear if either we consider the reason of the thing or temper of the Persons The Owner of Land in this fall and casualty of Rents being generally a looser Accomptant of his Advantage were likelier to incur this Prejudice And better he might in prudence justifie his preferring some present want of Revenue before the disparagement of his Land He might with good Colour pretend it hath been overtilled and wants resting That a Low Rent will scarce countervail the spoil commonly committed by Tenants at will and short termours However he knows the worst and that he cannot be robbed of his Land Yet how few Farms do we see Vacant where the Owner is not either by misfortunes distant of abode or other more pressing occasions disabled or diverted from the best managery Might we not judge him worthier of a Guardian then a Freehold who having Land and not wanting other requisites should for any considerable time both perversely refuse to Let and carelesly neglect to Stock it Much more absurd were it for monied men no way obstructed neither to lend nor employ their Stocks And therefore to be presumed that persons so wise in their generation will not starve for lack of a Feast and ruine themselves to incommode some
others who being engaged in Callings and Employments scarce consistent with Countrey Affairs or Forrain Traffick may prudently enough continue to lend at a lower rate rather then entangle them with such variety of Concernments And may there still be good store of those who meerly guided by their natural Arithmetick do now betake themselves to Interest for its many present advantages but were the tide and stream of Profit turned would certainly row and Sayle with it He that was sent to discover the strength of the French-Army at Agencourt â—eturned with this auspicious verdict that there were enough to Kill to take and to â—scape by flight So were the gain of lending now reduced to a nearer correspondence with that of other dealings by the same good omen it might soon appear that among our Legions of Creditours there would be enough greatly to raise the value of our Lands â—y purchasing Enough vastly to agument the bulk of our commerce by Trading and â—et enough if not too many to Lend at Interest However our comfort is they would â—en Live and let Live this being the principal end herein aimed at and indeed most â—â—portant to the Commonwealth that such as will not use their own stock may if not â—or private conscience yet for publick good afford a Pennyworth to those that manage for them of whom it is certain that now in husbandry at least not one of twenty â—oth or can with his best conduâ—â— thrive But in truth this objection of prejudicing â—ebtours by the sudden and general calling in of sums for better employment answers it â—elf by granting all that is required For who sees not that such a summons necessarily imâ—orts great store of Purchasing whereby the Market of our Lands would be exceeding â—ickned all that have Estates to more in value then their debts abundantly gratified for â—eir trouble if any they should receive and enabled to relieve themselves by â—onvenient sale And the Gentry being this in good measure disenthralled Borâ—â—wing would soon become more easie and tolerable to Tradesmen who now â—â—stly complain that Credit is almost engrossed by Land Certainly the Notion of ruiâ—â—ng Borrowers by abatement of Interest if the parties concerned would vouchsafe to â—â—nsider it is not much unlike that of undoing Tenants by letting them good pennyâ—orths and punishing Landlords with ease of their Taxes It were not unreasonable to suppose that well-advised Creditours finding they canâ—â—t mend their rate liking their security and naturally both fearing hazard and loathâ—â—g trouble perhaps the most of any would be as backward to demand their Princiâ—â— as Borrowers to provide it since the difficulty of well placing a sum proves commonly â—ow a dayes equal in effect with that of procuring it So generally do Credit and Secuâ—y go hand in hand being as was said before perfect Relatives Yet to leave nothing considered but even if possible prevent the doubts of all such as do not either affectedly â—take Scruple for Wisdom or are naturally afraid of their own shadows whom miracles â—ly can convince I refer the unsatisfied to the wise provision and president of former â—tutes for abatement of Interest whereby the Reducement takes place only in new and succeeding contracts the former Rate being still permitted where the Security is noâ— altered Upon which Account much Credit in this Kingdome is yet legally continued â— eight per cent if not to the Profit yet to the presumed Ease of Borrowers in whose option it rests Thus would the wise Lender be further bribed so compliance as it were with the yearly Brokage of two per Cent. Debtours that have or can procure Credit would be forthwith considerably relieved in their constant payments others equally 〈◊〉 their trouble and necessary Charges And the suffering in comparison of the gaining Boâ—rowers must needs be if any not one to a hundred Having thus as briefly 〈◊〉 I could delivered you my sense I Remain SIR Your Faithfull Servant R. W. FINIS