Now, as to the Hoarded Money, the Mill’d and Hammered Money of Full Weight, I humbly am of the Opinion, That no Notice at all be taken of it by the Government; and my Reasons are: That it will have an uncertain Value, according to Peoples Opinion; and, that Uncertainty of Estimation, as well as the Intrinsick Value, will cause it, without any Edict or Precept, to be melted down.
For, a great deal of it is now kept up, only to see what things will come to; and what Advantage can be made of it: But when People see the Parliament has Conquer’d the Difficulty, and that there is a great Plenty of Money stirring about again, they will be baulk’d of their Expectations, and take Advantage of the First of the Market; this will conduce to the Cheapness of Bullion, and cause a Plenty: And if any continue still hoarded, it will be by People only who have an irremediable Humour that way; and ’tis better they should hoard that for which the Government pays no Interest, than to keep Unemploy’d Money by ’em at the expence of the Publick.
And as to the Paying of our Armies Abroad, I humbly propose, That the Parliament may always give His Majesty such an Allowance for that Use, as His Majesty may be enabled to Export so much Uncoin’d Silver as is necessary to the carrying on of so Glorious a War.
Which Uncoin’d Silver will for the most part find its way back again, because the carrying over so much every Year will glut that place to which ’tis carryed; so that Silver will become Cheap there, and they must disgorge at the best Market; which England, in all probability, will be. And the effect of that Over-ballance which Forreigners must, as cases now stand, get by us; cannot be carryed out of the Nation, but in other Commodities besides Silver.
For Silver Uncoin’d they Sell, and Silver Coin’d they cannot afford to carry away; So that our own Commodities are like to be bartered for Silver, and that conduces to bring the ballance of Trade even.
And here I go no farther, but leave the Question to better Understandings.
Quest. Whether Silver bearing an higher Price here than elsewhere, and coming to a Quicker Market, will not naturally and easily force an Exportation of our own Commodities, when it shall become altogether impracticable to Export our Coin?
Corol. I.
Note, That the Price of Silver Bullion being subject to Vary, the difference between the Intrinsick, and the Real Value, ought to be Considerable; Because, if they should be too near one another, the Additional Value would be so Small, that when Silver Rises, the Goldsmiths would be Tempted to Melt down the New Coin, when they can get almost as Much by that Practice, as they can do by receiving Interest, or by passing it away for Principal.
Nor must the Two several Values be too far Different one from the other, lest Foreigners be Tempted to Counterfeit our Coin.