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<DATE>2014-10-22</DATE>
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<NAME>Mona Logarbo</NAME>
<RESP>MURP</RESP>
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<ITEM>Proofed and reviewed as part of batch B140720.pdcc.</ITEM>
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<IDG S="marc" R="UM" ID="B43830">
<STC T="W">R1511</STC>
<BIBNO T="oclc">[ocn]767620281</BIBNO>
<VID>212642</VID>
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<PB REF="1">
<PB REF="2" MS="y">
<HEAD>The Right Way to make MONEY more Plentiful: OR, CONSIDERATIONS relating to the ACT for pre|venting Exportation of Silver, and encouraging its Importation and Coinage.</HEAD>
<P>THE Coinage of Silver, and its Importation, as likewi&s;e the hindrance of its Exportation, is no way to be accompli&s;h'd, but by fixing the Price of <HI>Sterling</HI> Silver uncoin'd, to Five Shillings the Ounce preci&s;ely, by Act of Parliament, with a Penalty of Forfeiting what Silver &s;hall be Expo&s;ed to Sale for above that Price: And likewi&s;e by ordaining that all Coined Silver, who&s;e Value is Five Shillings, &s;hall want &s;o much of an Ounce in Weight, as will amount to the Value of Four-Pence at the lea&s;t, if not Six-pence; and &s;o proportionable, for all &s;maller Coins; for by this means Silver Coined into Money, &s;hall be of more Value to the Owner, than if &s;old to be wrought up in Plate; and that's the be&s;t way to encourage Coinage; for if Silver turn to better Account in the Mint, than in the Gold&s;mith's Shop, every one will be willing to convert his Plate to Money.</P>
<P>Of late the Gold&s;miths and Refiners have rai&s;ed <HI>Sterling</HI> Silver to Five and Two-pence, Five and Three-pence, and &s;ometimes to Five and Four-pence the Ounce: Now new Five-&s;hilling-Pieces and Half-Crowns being worth but Five Shillings the Ounce, tho good <HI>Sterling,</HI> the Working Silver&s;miths have cho&s;en to melt down New Money rather than buy <HI>Sterling</HI> Plate &s;o dear a Price, &s;ince by &s;o doing, they &s;ave Three-pence or Four pence the Ounce, of what they mu&s;t have Paid the Gold&s;mith and Refiner; which have been a very great abu&s;e to the State; for 'tis well known, that in order to encourage Coinage, the King is at all the Charges of the Mint; now what can be a greater abu&s;e and di&s;appointment to the State, than for the King to be at ma|ny Thou&s;ands a Year Charge to Coin New Money, when it may be the Silver&s;miths &s;hall melt down Half or Three Parts of what the Mint coins. I am credibly informed, That a certain Per&s;on in this City, &s;hould make his boa&s;ts upon the Pa&s;&s;ing the aft Act of General Pardon, how many Hundred Ounces of New Money him|&s;elf had melted down the Year before: At this Rate the greate&s;t Part of the Charge the King is at in Coining, is clearly Lo&s;s. Now 'tis not one or two that are guilty of thus Defacing the King's Coin; but 'tis a general thing among&s;t them all, which mi&s;chief can never be prevented, except Silver be made more worth when Coined into Mony, than when &s;old in Bars and Ingots.</P>
<P>If this be not done, and a certain Value be not &s;et upon Uncoined Silver, &s;o that its Price may be &s;till lower than when Coined into Money, the Mint may Coin to the Worlds end, and yet Money will be &s;till as &s;carce as ever, which is one great Grievance that the Kingdom now groans under; for 'tis plain, that we have not now Coin enough in this Kingdom to drive on the Trade that is nece&s;&s;ary to maintain its People; for if the Trade of a People, for example, amounted but to Forty Millions, and there were but Twenty Millions to carry the &s;ame on, the other Twenty mu&s;t be account|ed for by Tru&s;ting; and that this is our Ca&s;e, is plain by the Merchants generally giving &s;o many Months Credit as they do when they &s;ell their Wares. Ready Mo|ney, which is the Life and Soul of all Trade, can never be expected, unle&s;s there be as much Money in a Nation, as the Trade amounts to, and &s;omething more to &s;a|tisfie tho&s;e who&s;e Joys do con&s;i&s;t in Hoarding; for this &s;ort of Vermin will be &s;atisfied, tho it be with the Kingdoms Ruin.</P>
<PB REF="3">
<P> It is to be &s;uppo&s;ed, That not one Piece of our Clipp'd Money is either Melted down or Exported; and this can be from no other Rea&s;on, but becau&s;e 'tis now of more Value in it &s;elf, than it will be when Melted or Exported; for no Foreign Nati|on will exchange it for more than its intrin&s;ick Value, which is much le&s;s than its re|puted Value is; neither will any man melt it down for the &s;ame rea&s;on. Now certainly the example which by this means is afforded, is &s;ufficient to prove light Money to be the only means of encouraging Coinage, and preventing Exportation; and 'tis a clear Proof that it can be no di&s;advantage to us to have the Parliament to Authorize the Coining and Pa&s;&s;ing of &s;uch light Money, &s;ince 'tis already counted no great Grievance for men in Payments to take &s;uch light Clipp'd Money by the warrant of Cu&s;tom on|ly. Men may indeed lo&s;e one time of other, by what the Law thus allows not; but what the Law does authorize in this Ca&s;e, no man can be a Lo&s;er by.</P>
<P>Be&s;ides, if Money were made lighter by Act of Parliament, and a Clau&s;e were added to Authorize the Mint to new Coin all the old Money that were found worth the melting down, into that &s;ort of Coin now called Mill'd Money; this would for the future prevent all Clipping, &s;ince in a little time none of the Old Large Money would be left for that &s;ort of ra&s;cally Tribe to work upon, and the New could not be &s;o &s;erv'd without di&s;covery.</P>
<P>Moreover, if our Silver Coins were of more Value here, than the uncoin'd Silver of the &s;ame Alloy in other Nations, this would greatly encourage Importation by our Merchants, which nothing el&s;e that I know of will do &s;o effectually; for who will be at the Pains and Charge to bring Silver hither from another Countrey, if he can make the &s;ame advantage of it where he already is.</P>
<P>Doubtle&s;s the &s;carcity of Money in <HI>England</HI> mu&s;t be imputed to the goodne&s;s of the Coin, that is, to its Value and Weight being both alike; &s;o that if Bar Silver and Plate be never &s;o little &s;carce, which generally inhances the Value, then down goes all our be&s;t Money into the Melting-Pot; and the rea&s;on why <HI>Sterling</HI> uncoined Silver has of late been &s;o &s;carce, is to be imputed to that extravagant Humour which at this day reigns among men of all ranks and degrees; for now among <GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">he lowe&s;t of the People, every Mechanick Trade&s;man, nay every Dunghil-Raker will be &s;erv'd in Plate; &s;carce an Ale-hou&s;e but &s;erves their Cu&s;tomers all in Plate; every Pedling Hou&s;e-wi&s;e in the Town mu&s;t have her Spoons, her Tankards, her Candle-Cups, and many other Hou&s;hold Uten&s;ils all of Silver.</P>
<P>And for the Gentry, the very Kettles, Skillets, Cha&s;ing-di&s;hes, Pi&s;s pots, and Clo&s;e-&s;tool-Pans too mu&s;t be made of Silver; u&s;es which God and Nature did never appoint that Noble Metal for, by which means a mo&s;t Prodigious Quantity of Coin hath been Melted down, and uncoin'd Silver wrought up to &s;atisfie this cur&s;ed Piece of Lu|xury and Prodigality; a thing which our Thrifty and Noble-minded Ance&s;tors did undoubtedly abhor.</P>
<P>And by this means it comes to pa&s;s that our Tin is &s;o much neglected, for formerly our Ance&s;tors were &s;atisfied in being &s;erved by Ve&s;&s;els made of this Metal, by which means our own Native Commodity of Tin, had a quick vent among us; to the great Advantage of tho&s;e Places in which it was found; but now we mu&s;t have Silver in|&s;tead of Pewter, and the poor Tinners mu&s;t &s;tarve, or coin it into Farthings.</P>
<P>What has been &s;aid of Silver, holds good in Gold al&s;o; for what has made our <HI>En|gli&s;h</HI> Gold &s;o &s;carce among us, but its goodne&s;s? for tho it has been rais'd in Price con&s;iderably, yet it is &s;till worth more than its reputed Value: And at this day, as I have been inform'd, the Gold&s;miths generally weigh all the Old Broad Gold they take or change, and if it comes by Weight but to a Penny more than its Value in Pay|ment, they melt it down for other U&s;es. Now had our Gold been more in Value than its Weight amounted to according to the Standard Price, it might have been as Plen|ty now, as in our Fore-fathers days: which &s;ome yet alive do well remember.</P>
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<P><HI>LONDON:</HI> Printed for <HI>J. Watts.</HI> MDCXC.</P>
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