A Discourse of Coin and Coinage [43]
to a like Proportion, and that all contracts and payments, from
such a day to come, should be made and paid in new Money or in
old Money, valuing it only at the third part of the new Money;
But if the Proposition were simply thus, it were insupportable,
for then he that sits now at a rent of 10 l. a year, and is
hardly able to pay it should in effect, after the day when the
new money is to be current, pay thirty pounds a year; and he that
borrowed ten pounds before that day, after that day shall pay
thirty, and so it would be of all other payments. And it is no
satisfaction to say, That would be no Injustice, because he that
pays Money, either for Debt or Rent, or any other waies, must
receive it from others, be it either in Debt, Rent, or for the
price of any thing to be sold, and so he shall pay no more in
Proportion than he shall receive: for it if be true, which is the
mainest Benefit propounded by this Reduction, that as the price
of Money shall be abased so the price of all things will abate in
Proportion, then he that is to raise his payments out of the
price of other things shall raise no more in intrinsical value
than he should have done before, yet he shall pay in intrinsical
value thrice as much as he did before.
To solve this Objection, there are two ways propounded, but
either of them have their Inconveniences;
The first is, that this payment in new Money shall only
extend to future contracts and that all former contracts shall
either be paid in old Money or in new Money valued at three times
the old Money: but if you admit of this, you shall by this
Reduction only raise a great rumour and confusion among the
people, and all the benefits propounded are quite blown away.
Besides the Injustice, as it was very apparent to all that
were to pay Money in the former way, so it is as apparent in this
way to all that are to receive Money, for that they shall receive
in extrinsical value but two pence for six pence, and one
shilling for 3 shillings, but above all others, the King would be
most prejudiced.
The second way of solving the former Objection is this, That
all payments, for the future, should be made in new Money or in
old, valuing the old a third part, and that in like manner all
antient Contracts, Rents, and Rights reserved should be acquitted
in new Money, or in old Money valued at the third part of the
new, and that his wold of antient Contracts and Rights, should be
defined from such a time as since which the prices of things have
encreased, as the value of Money is by this Reduction to be
abated; As for Example,
Since the year of the eighteenth of Henry the Eighth, when he
began to coin Base money, since which time generally the price of
things is trebled at the least, in some more, in some less. And
that all Contracts and payments reserved, since the eighteenth
year of Henry the Eighth, until the day when the new Money is
made current, should be acquitted in old Money, or in new Money
valued three times as much as the old: By this means the
Injustice of the former ways seemeth to be equally parted, in
that some Receivers by this way should gain and some Receivers
should loose, and some Payers should gain and some should loose.
But this Proposition brings with it a new Inconvenience,
which is, That this time of the eighteenth of Henry the Eighth,
being so antient, it would breed many Controversies, as to what
payments were contracted for or reserved before that time or not.
But suppose that this Reduction were effected, and that our
Moneys were both by reputed valuation and by exchange compared
with Forrein Moneys, according to their true intrinsical value,
yet do I not see that this Reformation, for all this, would be
stable and permanent; for if afterwards other Nations shall by
degrees again diminish the Intrinsical value of their Moneys,
either we must resolve to stand firm to this Reduction, and so to
take the hazard of all losses and Inconveniences which the not
raising of our Moneys when our Neighbours raise