The governor claiming authority to raise the value of the coin, the assembly warmly opposed it, as a dangerous encroachment on their constitutional rights; and a bill was brought in for regulating the value of coins, which was interrupted by the governor, who claimed that power as belonging to the royal prerogative. He issued a proclamation, in 1683, raising the value of crowns, rix dollars, and pieces of eight, from five to six shillings, half pieces to three shillings, quarter pieces to eighteen pence, and the New England coin to one shilling, declaring money at this rate a lawful tender, except for the duty of two shillings a hogshead on tobacco, the quit-rents, and other duties payable to his majesty, and for debts contracted for bills of exchange. His own salary and the king's revenues were, in this way, in a period of distress, exempted from the operation of the act, a proceeding characteristic of the reign of Charles the Second, in which official energy was mainly exhibited in measures of injustice and extortion.
The ringleaders in the plant cutting were arrested, and some of them hanged upon a charge of treason; and this, together with the enactment of a riot act, and making the offence high treason, put a stop to the practice.[334:A]
FOOTNOTES:
[332:A] The number of half-armed train-bands, in 1680, were 7268 foot and 1300 horse—total, 8568.—Chalmers' Annals, 357.
[332:B] Chalmers' Annals, 355.
[332:C] Hening, ii. 481, 492.
[333:A] Hening, ii. 561.
[334:A] Chalmers' Annals, 340; Hening, iii. 10.