542-3)

Author: Isaac Newton

Source: MINT 19/3/478, National Archives, Kew, Richmond, Surrey, UK

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- Revision History
  - 1 January 2001
    - Catalogue information compiled by Rob Iliffe, Peter Spargo & John Young
  - 29 September 2011
    - Catalogue exported to teiHeader by Michael Hawkins
  - 27 October 2016
    - Transcribed byWill Scott
  - 14 January 2017
    - Checked by Will Scott
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<478r>

Considerations upon

The present state of the Tin affair.

If the \late/ Queens contract for Tin be not renewed the {several} in Trustees in whose hands the Queen left {illeg} 5240 Tunns of Tin for payment to be sold for payment of the debts upon it & upon {illeg} the civil list, must sell that tin at so low a pr{illeg}|iz|{illeg}e that it shall not be worth the while for Cornwall to dig so much Tin as well hinder the sale of a considerable quantity of her Ma^ts Tin annually for paying those debts. How low that price will prove is difficult to afford but considering the great stock of Tin & that Tin has been sold formerly at 40 or 50 shillings per T|C|un; it may be presumed that to sell as much of the Queens Tin as shall be dug \for|&| sa|o|le|d|/ in Cornwall (suppose about 6{illeg}|3|0 Tunns per an, the whole consumption amounting only to 1260 Tuns p^r an) the price will \most probably/ come down to less then 45^s per C. If the Trustees could sell 650 Tunns per an at 45^s per C the sale would last eight years & produce 23000^li for paying the Queens debts. And this Annuity (rebating interest at 5 p^r cent) would \now/ be worth in ready money 185817^li is \may {be}/ therefore the present \be recconed the full/ value of all the Queens Tin.

According to this recconing Cornwall would sell but only about 630 Tunns per an at 45^li per Ton or less during the next eight years: w^ch |quantity & price| would occasion great complaints & discontents in that County during the|a||t| next eight years {{illeg}|t|i{illeg}|me|}. And on the other hand in the contract should be renewed for any number of years the King would receive from Cornwall & Devon together about {illeg} 710 Tunns per an more then the consumption would carry off. Which {illeg} yearly addition to the dead stock would much\continually/ encrease the mischief {illeg} & make it every year more & more difficult\impracticable/\difficulty of gettign rid of the contracts//dammage of the{ir} crown by these contracts & the difficulty of {sic}\ to|f| put|ting| an end to the{se}|m||.| contracts.

If \the people of/ Cornwall should only dig 400 Tuns per an & the King should contract with them for it at the rate of 3^li 9^s 4^d per C, it would be more advantageous to them then to have no contract at all. And therefore if the King should contract with them for six or eight hundred {illeg} or a thousand Tunns per an at the same price they would have great reason to rejoyce at it as a very great favour. And if h{e}|is| \Ma^ty/ should contract with them for 11 or 12 hundred Tunns per an besides 40 Tunns from Devon, it would be as much as the consumption would carry off|.| at present

If h{e}|is| \Maty/ contracts with Cornwall, it will be requite{illeg} that he contract also with the Trustees for the Queens Tin. And if he pays for it about 28 or 30 thousand pounds per n for eight years togeter, or for an equivalent price in any other manner. They will in my humble opinion have no reason to complain of the bargain.