A Discourse of Coin and Coinage [49]
be bound to carry scales in his pocket (as they say they
do in China) and upon every little payment be bound to weigh
their Money.
To which it may be answered, That there have been antiently
Proclamations in England, and very lately in France, to avoid the
frequency of washing, clipping and scaling, to oblige the People
to weigh their pieces of Silver as well as of Gold, but for the
Silver, the People could never be brought unto it; whereas by
this Proposition, of Necessity, every man receives Money must be
tied to weigh the Silver as well as the Gold, and all these
Inconveniences of scaling, washing, culling, and wearing, would
be avoided with a small part of that trouble to the People,which
the weighing of the several pieces of Silver would put them unto,
partly because the least and most ordinary payments would be
accommodated by the small pieces coined of a certain weight, and
partly because the trouble of smaller payments would be
recompenced by the ease of the greater; for by this course a
thousand pounds will be as soon weighed as twenty shillings can
now be reckoned.
A third Objection may be made against it, That by this
Proposition Princes and States would be deprived of the means to
make secret benefit of their Moneys, which hath been continually
practised, and especially in times of eminent necessity, even to
the preservation of Kingdomes.
To this is answered, That the Objection though it be true is
yet of no weight, because that profit so made, is first made
unjustly, and by the breach of publick Faith, and then it is but
a false seeming profit, and always mischievous to the People, and
really not good for the receivers of it. And (as it was formerly
touched) it may be observed, That after the decay of the Roman
Empire, the Reglements of the Mint of that great Monarchy being
lost, through the Inundations of barbarous People (as many other
excellent Institutions were) the Jews (who by God's Curse were
dispers'd into all Nations, and being suffered to acquire no
natural possessions, betook themselves to artificial possessions;
especially gave themselves to the Study of the nature of this
matter of Money as their Patrimony) in most Countries were
imployed in the affairs of the Mint: and to them succeeded the
Italians, as it may be observed here in England, where for some
Ages, after the expulsion of the Jews, there were no Masters of
the Mint but Italians of Lucca or Genoa: Now these People being
subtil Masters of their Art, and having no natural affection to
these Countries where they were imployed, but aiming only to keep
their own Mills grinding, did by projects of colourable profit,
abuse those States where they were trusted, and keep them in
continual alteration of their Coin, which always in the end
turned to diminution of the intrinsical value; and therefore,
finally this Proposition seemeth to me most strange and remote
from common apprehension of all the rest; but, being duly
weighed, the least Inconvenient and most likely to produce good
effect of any of the others. And thus I have set down all the
Remedies, that by enquiry I could learn, to have bin propounded
either in England, or in other parts for the Inconveniences grown
into this Subject of Money, wherein all the particular Projects
that have made the same projects, varied only in form, or in some
by circumstances, yet I do believe, that hardly (one) can be
quoted, whereof the ground and essence is not here set down and
debated.
And, if the Reader, that with attention and care shall
have made his way through this intricate Discourse, shall in the
end complain that after all his pains, he finds himself as little
resolved what is fit to be done in this subject as before,
considering the variety and contrariety of the consideration
incident unto it, I must apeal whether I did not from the
beginning profess to set down nothing but problematically, and
that my Scope was not to render the Reader able to find out the
fittest course to govern this matter of Money and coin,
do in China) and upon every little payment be bound to weigh
their Money.
To which it may be answered, That there have been antiently
Proclamations in England, and very lately in France, to avoid the
frequency of washing, clipping and scaling, to oblige the People
to weigh their pieces of Silver as well as of Gold, but for the
Silver, the People could never be brought unto it; whereas by
this Proposition, of Necessity, every man receives Money must be
tied to weigh the Silver as well as the Gold, and all these
Inconveniences of scaling, washing, culling, and wearing, would
be avoided with a small part of that trouble to the People,which
the weighing of the several pieces of Silver would put them unto,
partly because the least and most ordinary payments would be
accommodated by the small pieces coined of a certain weight, and
partly because the trouble of smaller payments would be
recompenced by the ease of the greater; for by this course a
thousand pounds will be as soon weighed as twenty shillings can
now be reckoned.
A third Objection may be made against it, That by this
Proposition Princes and States would be deprived of the means to
make secret benefit of their Moneys, which hath been continually
practised, and especially in times of eminent necessity, even to
the preservation of Kingdomes.
To this is answered, That the Objection though it be true is
yet of no weight, because that profit so made, is first made
unjustly, and by the breach of publick Faith, and then it is but
a false seeming profit, and always mischievous to the People, and
really not good for the receivers of it. And (as it was formerly
touched) it may be observed, That after the decay of the Roman
Empire, the Reglements of the Mint of that great Monarchy being
lost, through the Inundations of barbarous People (as many other
excellent Institutions were) the Jews (who by God's Curse were
dispers'd into all Nations, and being suffered to acquire no
natural possessions, betook themselves to artificial possessions;
especially gave themselves to the Study of the nature of this
matter of Money as their Patrimony) in most Countries were
imployed in the affairs of the Mint: and to them succeeded the
Italians, as it may be observed here in England, where for some
Ages, after the expulsion of the Jews, there were no Masters of
the Mint but Italians of Lucca or Genoa: Now these People being
subtil Masters of their Art, and having no natural affection to
these Countries where they were imployed, but aiming only to keep
their own Mills grinding, did by projects of colourable profit,
abuse those States where they were trusted, and keep them in
continual alteration of their Coin, which always in the end
turned to diminution of the intrinsical value; and therefore,
finally this Proposition seemeth to me most strange and remote
from common apprehension of all the rest; but, being duly
weighed, the least Inconvenient and most likely to produce good
effect of any of the others. And thus I have set down all the
Remedies, that by enquiry I could learn, to have bin propounded
either in England, or in other parts for the Inconveniences grown
into this Subject of Money, wherein all the particular Projects
that have made the same projects, varied only in form, or in some
by circumstances, yet I do believe, that hardly (one) can be
quoted, whereof the ground and essence is not here set down and
debated.
And, if the Reader, that with attention and care shall
have made his way through this intricate Discourse, shall in the
end complain that after all his pains, he finds himself as little
resolved what is fit to be done in this subject as before,
considering the variety and contrariety of the consideration
incident unto it, I must apeal whether I did not from the
beginning profess to set down nothing but problematically, and
that my Scope was not to render the Reader able to find out the
fittest course to govern this matter of Money and coin,