[ [319] In a letter written by James Lawson to Matthew Robinson Boulton shortly after his father’s death, he observed,—“God only knows the anxiety and unremitting perseverance of your father to accomplish the end; and we all aided and assisted to the best of our powers, without ever considering by whose contrivance anything was brought to bear. Indeed the bringing of everything to bear was by your father’s perseverance, and by his hints and personal attendance; for often he attended and persevered in the experiments till we were all tired.”—Lawson to M. R. Boulton, January 10, 1810. Boulton MSS.
[ [320] We find numerous letters from Boulton to Joseph Harrison relative to the execution of the presses, and the manner in which the various details of the work were to be carried out. On the 16th of January, 1788, he wrote,—“Push forward with the utmost expedition six of the cutting-out presses and one of the coining presses. I have engaged to have six of each kind at work by this day four months.... I shall be obliged to work after the rate of 1500 tons a year. I fear I must have eight presses [eight were eventually erected] in which case I must lengthen the building next the Gate road. Pray push forward, and be silent.” Various details as to the working of the presses and the execution of the coin were given in succeeding letters.
[ [321] To Lord Hawkesbury he wrote (14th April, 1789),—“In the course of my journeys I observe that I receive upon an average two-thirds counterfeit halfpence for change at toll-gates, &c.; and I believe the evil is daily increasing, as the spurious money is carried into circulation by the lowest class of manufacturers, who pay with it the principal part of the wages of the poor people they employ. They purchase from the subterraneous coiners 36 shillings’-worth of copper (in nominal value) for 20 shillings, so that the profit derived from the cheating is very large. The trade is carried on to so great an extent that at a public meeting at Stockport in Cheshire, in January last, the magistrates and inhabitants came to a resolution to take no other halfpence in future than those of the Anglesey Company [also an illegal coinage, though of full weight and value of copper], and this resolution they have published in their newspapers.”
[ [322] Boulton to the Lords of the Privy Council for Trade, 16th December, 1787.
[ [323] In 1787, and again in 1789, we find the merchants, traders, and others in Southwark urgently memorialising the Lords of the Treasury on the subject. The Memorial addressed to them in the latter year was signed by 800 of the principal inhabitants of the Borough, and presented to Mr. Pitt by a deputation, headed by Mr. Barclay, of Thrale’s Brewery. It set forth that the counterfeits of copper coin had become a very serious burden and loss, more especially to poor manufacturers, labourers, and others, many of whom were compelled to take counterfeit copper coin in payment of their commodities and wages; and concluded by stating that, having seen specimens of a new copper coinage made by Mr. Boulton of Birmingham (under order of the Lords of the Privy Council) the Memorialists take leave to represent, that such a coinage, from its greater weight and superior execution, would in their opinion afford to themselves and the public at large a certain remedy for the present grievance, and they therefore strongly recommended its adoption.
[ [324] The coins were: in 1790, a five-sous piece, “Pacte Fédératif;” in 1792, a four sous “Hercule;” and a two sous “Liberté.” Boulton’s reputation as a coiner abroad, brought upon him while at Paris, a host of foreign schemers, one of whom pretended that he had discovered an infallible method of converting copper into gold! The schemer and his wife followed Boulton to Soho, accompanied by a letter of introduction from his friend Baumgarten. After taking measure of the schemer, Boulton replied to Baumgarten as follows:—
“Dear Sir,—Who the devil have you sent me? Is he the angel or the demon Gabriel? Is he a seraphim or a swindler? His propositions appear in such a questionable form, that I know not whether to pronounce him F. or R. or S., which are favourite letters amongst English philosophers.
“Doth he mean to make gold by Alchemy, or after the family receipt by which his mother and brother extracted two hundred guineas from my simplicity when at Paris?
“I am content with the copper coinage, and shall leave the golden one to you and Gabriel. The science of alchemy soars so much above common sense that I never could obtain so much as a peep into its lower regions. This said Gabriel and his angel have, however, condescended to adopt common sense so far as to take up their lodgings in my cottage!
“The worst of all is, I am at this juncture extremely busy and can’t bear interruption; but all that is a trifle when compared with the magnitude of his project, viz. converting 1500l. into 60,000l.! But he says a small experiment may be made in three days and three nights in my laboratory. I must, however, own that I had rather be in Jonah’s situation during that time.