fore, were really not worth much more than two millions sterling; and the loss consequent upon calling in the whole and re-coining it would not amount to much less than that sum. The prospect of this great outlay, however, notwithstanding considerable opposition on the part of some members, did not deter parliament from resolving upon the only course that could effectually remedy the evil. By a succession of acts passed in the course of the years 1696 and 1697, provision was made for gradually calling in all the old silver money, and replacing it by another currency of the full standard weight; and before the end of the latter year the entire operation was accomplished, and "our silver coins came forth from the Mint," to quote Anderson's expressions, "the finest and most beautiful of any in all Europe." The new money was coined partly at the Tower, partly at the country mints of Bristol, Exeter, Chester, Norwich, and York. According to an account which has been printed, of the receipts and issues of the Exchequer during the reign of William, the entire cost amounted to something under two millions and a half—a sum sufficiently near the estimate of the author of the essay from which we have taken the above view of the actual state of the silver currency before this re-coinage, to entitle us to place considerable confidence in the general accuracy of his facts and calculations.[1]
To the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Charles Mon-
- ↑ The amount referred to is printed in the Parliamentary History, vol. v. Appendix 19; and also in Sinclair's History of the Public Revenue (3rd edit.) vol. iii. Appendix, pp. 152—159. It is observed, however, by Leake, that the "provision by law to receive the clipped money was the greatest encouragement to promote clipping, and gave the clippers all the advantages they could desire, making the crime more general; for now they were sure of a market for their clipped money; so that what had been hoarded, and hitherto escaped the shears, now underwent the same fate; and it is not improbable that more was clipped and reclipped upon this general licence than had been before."—Historical Account of English Money, 2nd Edit. p. 392.
