Third Scheme.

IN this Scheme it is proposed to raise the Crown a Penny, and to settle the Values of the Gold Species as near as may be, to the Proportion of Gold to Silver in England. And the Values of the several Gold and Silver Coins will stand thus.

The following Table shews the Difference per Cent of the foregoing Values of the several Species.

In this Scheme I have observed the same Proportion between the English Silver and all our Gold Species, which is observed in England, as far as the Crossness of our Coins will allow of, without giving any Temptation to import and export one Species more than another, except the Spanish Silver, which is valued about 1 per Cent. higher than the rest, in order to supply our present Want of Silver.

By this Scheme the Par of Exchange, or Difference between English and Irish Money, will be a little above 10 per Cent. at a Medium, which is something less than it is at present; and for that Reason Landlords and Creditors will have an Advantage, and Tenants and Debtors a Disadvantage, but the Advantage of the one, and Disadvantage of the other, are small, and hardly worth considering.

Thus all the Ends we propose to ourselves in regulating our Coins, will be answered, which are, to settle a due Proportion of their Values, to avoid hurting any one as much as possible by such Regulation, and to give some Encouragement for importing Foreign Silver.

The greatest Inconveniency of this Scheme is this, that the Shilling is to pass for 13d.¼ and yet we have no Farthings to change it. ’Tis true, we have very few at present, but ’tis hoped we shall not continue long without them. For this Purpose I shall suggest, in what follows, a Way to be immediately supplied with a Stock of them.

Raising the Crown a Penny, cannot hurt any Body, since we have but little Silver among us, and ample Amends is made for that in the Reduction of the Moydore, which is almost our only current Specie.

It may be said, if the English Six-pence shall pass but for 6½d. there will be a Loss in all those Pieces of half a Farthing. But to this it may be answered, that as every one will pay them, as he receives them, no Body will lose by them: And if two of those Pieces be made to pass for 13d.¼ there can be no Loss but in the single Six-pence. It may be also said, that Five single Shillings will be worth a Farthing more than the Crown; ’tis true this Disproportion happens, but this is the same Inequality we formerly had, when the Crown-Piece passed for Six Shillings, and the Shilling but for 14d. in consequence of which 5 of them made but 5s. 10d. this indeed encouraged the importing of Crown-Pieces, rather than Shillings, into the Kingdom; and if the small Disproportion here taken notice of can have any Effect, it will be bringing in Shillings rather than Crowns, which would be more for our Service.

In the Values here exhibited of our several Coins, I have Regard only to the Standard Value of Gold and Silver at the Mint of England, because I think we ought to govern ourselves therein by the same Rule that England does: If England should think proper at any Time to raise the Silver in Respect of Gold, we ought to follow their Example, but to make no Alteration till then.

But after all that has been said for regulating our Coin, when we consider that almost all our Money is made up of Foreign Coins, of different Weights, Standards, and Values; that Foreign Nations often change the Standard and Weights of their Pieces, and that on these Accounts it must ever be difficult accurately to adjust the Values, which the several Species, great and small, ought to bear to one another; I say, when these Things are duly considered, it will be found that there is no other Way of freeing us from these Inconveniences, but by having either a Mint established in Ireland, or Money of our own coin’d in the Mint of England.

All these Difficulties would be effectually removed by Coining several Species of Copper, Silver and Gold Coins, of such Standards, Weights, and Values, compared with the English, as shall be thought proper and most convenient for us. Then we should be so happy, as to have Coins, which would pass without weighing, which would be a great Blessing to all our People; Foreign Coins would pass only as Bullion, and we should not then be imposed upon by counterfeit, clipt, or base Money, as we always were, when we had a Multitude of Foreign Coins.

’Tis not to be doubted, but His Most Gracious Majesty, out of his Affection for his Faithful People of Ireland, will be pleased to grant them this Favour, which does not in the least interfere with the Interest of any other of his Subjects, since it wholly relates to our selves, and is desired only to remove the many Inconveniencies we suffer in our Domestick Commerce, by the Disproportion of our Coin: Nay will it be an Advantage to Great-Britain, for when we have Coin of our own passing among us, we shall not be tempted to draw out of England any of their Species.

In Case it should be thought proper to establish a Mint here, since it must take a considerable Time before we could be furnished with Money from thence, it may, in the mean Time, be adviseable to make some Regulation in the Values of our Coins, either upon the Plan of the last Scheme, or any other that may be thought better; and not to fail to give Encouragement to the Importation of Spanish Silver, especially at this Time, when the Effects of the Galleons are distributed, and we may well expect that a good deal of Silver will be imported, if we give it such a Value, as shall encourage People to bring it, and to keep it here; and it will have this good Effect also, that when we shall come to coin Silver Species, we shall then have Silver in the Country to keep the Mint at Work.

I do not see any Apprehensions we need fear of our being over stocked with Silver, I am sure we are in great Want of it at present; and if we shou’d find at any Time too great a Quantity pour in upon us, which is not likely to be our Case, ’tis an easy Matter to stop this Glut, by lowering the Dollar a Penny or Two Pence by Proclamation.

But in Regard we cannot have Half Pence, or Farthings, which we want so much, in any convenient Time from our own Coinage: It may be adviseable to endeavour to get from the Tower of London (with his Majesty’s Leave) a Supply of 10000l. worth of Half Pence and Farthings: The Mint-Masters are now at Work in the Tower, and employ five Presses in coining Half Pence for England; and when this Work is over, they may be employed in coining Half Pence and Farthings for Ireland at 10 per Cent. less Value than English Half Pence, and be paid by us for the Copper and Coinage.

Thus without any Loss to England and some Gain to the Mint, we might be furnished with a sufficient Quantity of Half Pence and Farthings of more intrinsick Value than any we have hitherto had, and which wou’d of course prevent any new Half Pence of less Value from being coin’d upon us.

If we shou’d be favoured with a Mint here, it wou’d be adviseable to divide the new Silver and Gold Coins, into one, two, and four Pieces, which Division of the Coin is best suited for reckoning, and is observed by most other Nations, and by the English in their Gold Coins; for they divide their Silver Coins into one, two, five, and ten Pieces, which are not commensurate with the Pieces of other Coins.

Our Gold Species may be coined into Pieces of 10s. 20s. and 40s. and the Silver into Pieces of 6, 12, 24, and 48 Pence, and will thereby be well fitted for reckoning, and if the Difference between English and Irish Money be settled at 10 per Cent. then 11s. Irish will be equal to 10s. English.

As long as Foreign Coins passing among us must be weighed, it would be convenient in that Case, to order that a Penny only should be abated, when half a Grain in Gold is only wanted; whereas now, if a Piece wants the least Thing to make it standing Weight, Two Pence is allowed for it when perhaps there is Three Half Pence more Gold in it than it passes for. This gives our Cunning Men an Opportunity in such Cases to file off Three Half Pence worth of Gold; but if only a Penny was allowed when a half Grain was wanting, no Body could lose more than a Penny with very bad Scales. If it be said, that a half Grain is too small to be handled with Ease, this may be remedied by adding a new Weight of a Grain and a half.

In weighing Silver Coins, it would be proper to have a Weight of Four Grains, and to allow a Half Penny for the Want of it. Whereas at present we have no less Weight than 12 Grains or half a Penny Weight, which is worth Three Half Pence: For want of such a Weight we must at present allow, as much, when a Piece wants only one Grain as when it wants twelve. This gives a Temptation of clipping Foreign Coins, and to take of a Penny or more of their Value, so that the Piece may just turn upon the Scale; and if a Person imported from Abroad Four Quarter Dollars, and each of them wanted a little of Weight, perhaps not a Half Penny or Four Grains in the Whole; then there was abated Six Pence for Want of Weight. And this was likely the Reason that we had formerly but few of the small Foreign Silver Pieces current among us, our Merchants judging it better not to import them at all, or to melt them down, because they were likely to lose considerably by the Manner of weighing them.

AN

ESSAY

UPON

MONEY and COINS.

PART I.

The Theories of Commerce, Money, and

Exchanges.

LONDON,

Printed: Sold by G. Hawkins, at the Middle Temple

Gate, Fleet-street. M.dcc.lvii.