Part 11

Where an Hundred pound will be Received, there will Ninety nine, and Ninety eight, and so downwards (for, where can you stop?) to the single Penny.

And of the Running Cash of England we may reasonably suppose, that one half is not in Sums exceeding Twenty Pounds, and they who have less Sums than that, will have no great Encouragement to look after Interest.

The Fifth Part which Twenty Pound wants of its Intrinsick Value, is but Four Pounds, and that, at 5 per Cent. is but Four Shillings a Year; from which the trouble of Receiving by entering into Combination with others, will for the most part take off, and not make it worth the while.

So that the whole Money of England, that is New Coin’d, not amounting to above 5000000 l. and but half that to be paid Interest for, viz. 2500000 l. and there wanting but a Fifth Part of that, viz. 500000 l. the Interest of 500000 l. at 5 per Cent. amounts to just 25000 l. per Annum.

But then, supposing that Interest be demanded for ⅗ of the New-coin’d Money, and that by an unexpected Combination every Sum of Five Pounds should be brought in, yet then the whole Interest amounts to no more than 30000 l. per Annum.

And the Case stands thus:

The Parliament hath Borrow’d of the whole People of England a Million of Pounds Sterling, and no more, to be repay’d at the end of the War; and in the mean time, till it be repay’d, they give Five Pounds per Cent. Interest upon a Land-Tax.

Thus the Clipp’d Money is all Call’d in, and Satisfied for; there hath been little time between Calling back of the Old, and Paying back the New, by bringing in 1000000 l. worth of Plate speedily and voluntarily into the Mint, an effectual Stop is put to the Exportation, melting down, and hoarding up of Coin’d Money; Importation of Silver from all Parts Encourag’d, the Current Coin of ENGLAND Encreas’d; the Purity and Denomination of the Coin Continued; and all at the present Expence of Two hundred and fifty thousand Pounds, and a Yearly Land-Tax of One Penny in the Pound during the War, q. e. d.

The only Difficulty that remains, is, After what manner the Interest shall be paid.

But, if there is no more than Difficulty in it, I desire it may be Consider’d, What Great Difficulties the People of _ENGLAND at present undergo, in the Want of such a Regulation: What Difficulties are in every Market-Shop, and House of Trade; and what Great Disorders are Daily like to ensue: Let Bankers, Goldsmiths, Merchants, and Cash-keepers, consider the Difficulties they lye under at present, and the much greater Disadvantages they must be subject to, if the Coin of England should not have a Real_ Value.

But, to make the Difficulty seem much less than may at First be imagin’d, I humbly propose this following Method.

Let the Days of its Payment be fix’d by PARLIAMENT, either Quarterly, Annually, or Triennially. If the Establish’d Interest be Five Pounds per Cent. then, perhaps, Annually will be thought most expedient, in some Month when the Days are long. If the Wisdom of Parliament shall think fit to give more Interest than Five Pounds per Cent. then there is Visible Reason, why it should be Quarterly. If less than Five Pounds per Cent. a Triennial Payment may suffice. But suppose it Yearly.

Let Three hundred Commissioners be named by Parliament, One hundred of which for London, Westminster, and Southwark, the Two hundred for the Country, to be not above Twenty Miles distant from one another, so that no body can live farther off than Ten Miles from one Commissioner or other.

Let these Commissioners be the most Substantial Gentlemen or Citizens in the most Popular Towns and Cities in England, giving in sufficient Security to the Government for Performance of Their Trust.

At the Day appointed let the Money be brought to the Commissioners Houses in Hundred-pound Baggs, and there open’d and weigh’d, and then seal’d up with the Proprietor’s Seal, in the presence of the said Commissioner, Entering down in a Register every man’s Name in one Column, the Weight of the Money in another Column, and the Interest it amounts to in a third.

Let none be Receiv’d after Twelve of the Clock at Noon, and none Re-delivered till One of the Clock, to prevent Frauds in bringing the same Money twice for the same Interest.

Then, in the Afternoon, let every man’s proper and individual Money, Seal’d up as aforesaid, and Weighed again in the sight of the Proprietor, be deliver’d, with the Interest due for it.

For which One Days Trouble in a Year, I do suppose, the Government may allow the Commissioners Twenty Pound a man; which amounting to Six thousand Pounds per Annum, for all the Commissioners of ENGLAND, and suppose Three of the Five millions, whereas I supposed at first 2500000 l. only to demand Interest, it will amount to but Thirty thousand Pounds per Annum, and this Six thousand Pounds per Annum for the Commissioners added, makes but Six and thirty thousand Pounds per Annum.

Now, whereas a Land-Tax of Four Shillings in the Pound amounts to 2000000 l. a Tax of a Penny in the Pound amounts to 41666 l. 13 s. 4 d. so that 5666 l. 13 s. 4 d. per Annum Remains.

Allow the Commissioners then Thirty Pounds apiece, and there remains 2666 l. 13 s. 4 d. for a Superintendant, Auditors, Registers, Register-Books, and other incident Charges; and the whole matter is brought within a Tax of a Penny in the Pound, q. e. d.

Now, as to the Hoarded Money, the Mill’d and Hammered Money of Full Weight, I humbly am of the Opinion, That no Notice at all be taken of it by the Government; and my Reasons are: That it will have an uncertain Value, according to Peoples Opinion; and, that Uncertainty of Estimation, as well as the Intrinsick Value, will cause it, without any Edict or Precept, to be melted down.

For, a great deal of it is now kept up, only to see what things will come to; and what Advantage can be made of it: But when People see the Parliament has Conquer’d the Difficulty, and that there is a great Plenty of Money stirring about again, they will be baulk’d of their Expectations, and take Advantage of the First of the Market; this will conduce to the Cheapness of Bullion, and cause a Plenty: And if any continue still hoarded, it will be by People only who have an irremediable Humour that way; and ’tis better they should hoard that for which the Government pays no Interest, than to keep Unemploy’d Money by ’em at the expence of the Publick.

And as to the Paying of our Armies Abroad, I humbly propose, That the Parliament may always give His Majesty such an Allowance for that Use, as His Majesty may be enabled to Export so much Uncoin’d Silver as is necessary to the carrying on of so Glorious a War.

Which Uncoin’d Silver will for the most part find its way back again, because the carrying over so much every Year will glut that place to which ’tis carryed; so that Silver will become Cheap there, and they must disgorge at the best Market; which England, in all probability, will be. And the effect of that Over-ballance which Forreigners must, as cases now stand, get by us; cannot be carryed out of the Nation, but in other Commodities besides Silver.

For Silver Uncoin’d they Sell, and Silver Coin’d they cannot afford to carry away; So that our own Commodities are like to be bartered for Silver, and that conduces to bring the ballance of Trade even.

And here I go no farther, but leave the Question to better Understandings.

Quest. Whether Silver bearing an higher Price here than elsewhere, and coming to a Quicker Market, will not naturally and easily force an Exportation of our own Commodities, when it shall become altogether impracticable to Export our Coin?

Corol. I.