Where an Hundred pound will be Received, there will Ninety nine, and Ninety eight, and so downwards (for, where can you stop?) to the single Penny.
And of the Running Cash of England we may reasonably suppose, that one half is not in Sums exceeding Twenty Pounds, and they who have less Sums than that, will have no great Encouragement to look after Interest.
The Fifth Part which Twenty Pound wants of its Intrinsick Value, is but Four Pounds, and that, at 5 per Cent. is but Four Shillings a Year; from which the trouble of Receiving by entering into Combination with others, will for the most part take off, and not make it worth the while.
So that the whole Money of England, that is New Coin’d, not amounting to above 5000000 l. and but half that to be paid Interest for, viz. 2500000 l. and there wanting but a Fifth Part of that, viz. 500000 l. the Interest of 500000 l. at 5 per Cent. amounts to just 25000 l. per Annum.
But then, supposing that Interest be demanded for ⅗ of the New-coin’d Money, and that by an unexpected Combination every Sum of Five Pounds should be brought in, yet then the whole Interest amounts to no more than 30000 l. per Annum.
And the Case stands thus:
The Parliament hath Borrow’d of the whole People of England a Million of Pounds Sterling, and no more, to be repay’d at the end of the War; and in the mean time, till it be repay’d, they give Five Pounds per Cent. Interest upon a Land-Tax.
Thus the Clipp’d Money is all Call’d in, and Satisfied for; there hath been little time between Calling back of the Old, and Paying back the New, by bringing in 1000000 l. worth of Plate speedily and voluntarily into the Mint, an effectual Stop is put to the Exportation, melting down, and hoarding up of Coin’d Money; Importation of Silver from all Parts Encourag’d, the Current Coin of ENGLAND Encreas’d; the Purity and Denomination of the Coin Continued; and all at the present Expence of Two hundred and fifty thousand Pounds, and a Yearly Land-Tax of One Penny in the Pound during the War, q. e. d.
The only Difficulty that remains, is, After what manner the Interest shall be paid.
But, if there is no more than Difficulty in it, I desire it may be Consider’d, What Great Difficulties the People of ENGLAND at present undergo, in the Want of such a Regulation: What Difficulties are in every Market-Shop, and House of Trade; and what Great Disorders are Daily like to ensue: Let Bankers, Goldsmiths, Merchants, and Cash-keepers, consider the Difficulties they lye under at present, and the much greater Disadvantages they must be subject to, if the Coin of England should not have a Real Value.