of corn, oil, and cloth, and all other commodities, than it would yesterday, and thereby remove the necessity of bartering. For, if raising the denomination can thus raise the value of coin, in exchange for other commodities, one-fifth, by the same reason it can raise it twofifths, and afterwards three-fifths, and again, if need be, four-fifths, and as much farther as you please. So that, by this admirable contrivance of raising our coin, we shall be as rich, and as well able to support the charge of the government, and carry on our trade with out bartering, or any other inconvenience, for want of money, with sixty thousand ounces of coined silver in England, as if we had six, or sixty millions. If this be not so, I desire any one to show me, why the same way of raising the denomination, which can raise the value of n money, in respect of other commodities, one-fifth, cannot, when you please, raise it to another fifth, and so on? I beg to be told where it must stop, and why at such a degree, without being able to go farther.

It must be taken notice of, that the raising I speak of here, is the raising of the value of our coin in respect of other commodities (as I call it all along) in contradistinction to raising the denomination. The confounding of these in discourses concerning money, is one great cause, I suspect, that this matter is so little understood, and so often talked of with so little information of the hearers.

A penny is a denomination no more belonging to eight than to eighty, or to one single grain of silver; and so it is not necessary that there should be sixty such pence, no more nor less, in an ounce of silver, i. e. twelve in a piece called a shilling, and sixty in a piece called a crown; such like divisions, being only extrinsi cal denominations, are every where perfectly arbitrary. For here in England there might as well have been twelve shillings in a penny, as twelve-pence in a shilling, i. e. the denomination of the less piece might have been a shilling, and of the bigger a penny. Again, the shilling might have been coined ten times as big as the penny, and the crown ten times as big as the shilling; whereby the shilling would have but ten-pence.

in it, and the crown an hundred. But this, however ordered, alters not one jot the value of the ounce of silver in respect of other things, any more than it does its weight. This raising being but giving of names at pleasure to aliquot parts of any piece, viz. that now the sixtieth part of an ounce of silver shall be called a penny, and to-morrow that the seventy-fifth part of an ounce shall be called a penny, may be done with what increase you please. And thus it may be ordered by a proclamation, that a shilling shall go for twenty-four pence, an half-crown for sixty instead of thirty-pence, and so of the rest. But that an half-crown should be worth, or contain sixty such pence, as the pence were before this change of denomination was made, that no power on earth can do. Nor can any power, but that which can make the plenty or scarcity of commodities, raise the value of our money thus double in respect of other commodities, and make that the same piece, or quantity of silver, under a double denomination, shall purchase double the quantity of pepper, wine, or lead, an instant after such proclamation, to what it would do an instant before. If this could be, we might, as every one sees, raise silver to the value of gold, and make ourselves as rich as we pleased. But it is but going to market with an ounce of silver of one hundred and twenty-pence, to be convinced that it will purchase no more than an ounce of silver of sixty-pence. And the ringing of the piece will as soon purchase more commodities, as its change of denomination, and the mul tiplied name of pence, when it is called six score instead of sixty.

པམཁ

It is proposed that the twelve-pence should be raised to fifteen-pence, and the crown to seventy-five pence, and so proportionably of the rest: but yet that the pound sterling should not be raised. If there be any advantage in raising, why should not that be raised too? And as the crown-piece is raised from sixty to seventy-five pence, why should not the pound sterling be raised in the same proportion, from two hundred and forty-pence to three hundred-pence?

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Further, If this raising our coin can so stretch our money, and enlarge our pared remainder of it, as "to make it more commensurate to the general need thereof, for carrying on the common traffic and commerce of the nation, and to answer occasions réquiring a large supply of money," as Mr. Lowndes tells us in his third reason, p. 83, why are we so niggardly to ourselves in this time of occasion, as to stop at one-fifth? Why do we not raise it one full moiety, and thereby double our money? If Mr. Lowndes's rule, p. 78, "That if the value of the silver in the coin should be raised above the market-price of the same silver, reduced to bullion, the subject would be proportionably injured and defrauded," must keep us from these advantages, and the public care of justice stop the raising of the money at one-fifth; because, if our money be raised beyond the market-price of bullion, it will be so much defrauding of the subject: I then say, it must not be raised one-fifth, nor half onefifth, that is, it must not be raised fifteen-pence in the crown: no, nor five-pence. For I deny that the market-price of standard bullion ever was, or ever can be five shillings seven-pence of lawful weighty money the ounce : so that if our present milled money be raised one-fifth, the subject will, by Mr. Lowndes's rule, be defrauded sixteen per cent., nay, above eighteen per cent. For the market-price of standard bullion being ordinarily under five shillings four-pence the ounce, when sold for weighty money, (which is but one-thirtieth) whatever our present milled money is raised above onethirtieth, it is, by Mr. Lowndes's rule, so much defrauding the subject. For the market-price of any thing, and so of bullion, is to be taken from its ordinary rate all the year round, and not from the extraordinary rise of two or three market-days in a year. And that the market-price of standard silver was not found, nor pretended to be above five shillings and four-pence the ounce, before clipping had left none but light running cash to pay for bullion, or any thing else, is evident from a paper then published, which I took the liberty

to examine in my Considerations of the Consequences of raising the Value of Money," &c. printed 1692. The author of that paper, it is manifest, was not ignorant of the price of silver, nor had a design to lessen its rate, but set down the highest price it then bore.

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If then Mr. Lowndes's rule of justice, and care of the subject, be to regulate the rise of our milled money, it must not be raised above one-thirtieth part. If the advantages he promises, of making our money, by raising it one-fifth," more commensurate to the general need thereof," be to be laid hold on, it, is reasonable to raise it higher," to make it yet more commensurate to the general need there is of it." Whichever of the two Mr. Lowndes will prefer, either reason of state or rule of justice, one-fifth must not be his measure of raising our present milled money. If the advantage of making our money more proportionate to our trade and other necessities be to govern its proposed raising, every one will cry out to Mr. Lowndes, If your way will do what you say, the raising it one-half will be much better than one-fifth, and therefore pray let an half-crown be raised to a crown, and six-pence to a shilling. If equity and the consideration of the subject's property ought to govern in the case, you must not raise our milled crown to above five shillings and four-pence.

If it be here said to me, that I do then allow that our money may be raised one-thirtieth, i. e. that the crownpiece should be raised to five shillings and two-pence, and so proportionably of the other species of our coin; I answer, he that infers so, makes his inference a little too quick.

...But let us for once allow the ordinary price of standard silver to be five shillings four-pence the ounce, to be paid for in weighty coin (for that must always be remembered, when we talk of the rate of bullion) and that the rate of bullion is the just measure of raising our money. This I say is no reason for the raising our milled crown now to five shillings four-pence, and recoining all our clipped money upon that foot; unless we intend, as soon as that is done, to new raise and coin it again. For, whilst our trade and affairs abroad re

quire the exportation of silver, and the exportation of our coined silver is prohibited, and made penal by our law, standard bullion will always be sold here for a little more than its weight of coined silver. So that, if we shall endeavour to equal our weighty coined silver to standard bullion, by raising it, whilst there is a necessity of the exportation of silver, we shall do no otherwise than a child, who runs to overtake and get up to the top of his shadow, which still advances at the same rate that he does. The privilege that bullion has to be exported freely, will give it a little advance in price above our coin, let the denomination of that be raised or fallen as you please, whilst there is need of its exportation, and the exportation of our coin is prohibited by law. But this advance will be but little, and will always keep within the bounds, which the risk and trouble of melting down our coin shall set to it, in the estimate of the exporter. He that will rather venture to throw an hundred pounds into his melting-pot, when nobody sees him, and reduce it to bullion, than give an hundred and five pounds for the same weight of the like bullion, will never give five shillings and five-pence of milled money for an ounce of standard bullion; nor buy at that price what he can have near five per cent. cheaper, without any risk, if he will not accuse himself. And I think it may be concluded, that very few, who have furnaces, and other conveniencies ready for melting silver, will give one per cent. for standard bul lion, which is under five shillings and three-pence per ounce, who can, only for the trouble of melting it, reduce our coin to as good bullion.

The odds of the price in bullion to coin on this uus, oft account (which is the only one, when the coin is kept to the standard) can never be the reason for raising our coin to preserve it from melting down: because this price above its weight is given for bullion, only to avoid melting down our coin; and so this difference of price between standard bullion and our coin can be no cause of its melting down.

These three reasons, which I have examined, contain the great advantages, which our author supposes the