An account of the vicissitudes of pursuing coinage offenders

Author: Isaac Newton

Source: MINT 19/1/438-9, 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
  - 23 August 2016
    - Transcribed by Will Scott
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<438r>

To the R^t Hon^ble the Lords Commissioners of his Maj^ties Treasury.

May it please yo^r Lordships

By the influence (as it seems to me) & for the advantage of George Macy Esqr late Clerk to several successive Wardens of his Maj^ts Mint & a Prosecutor of Clippers & Coyners there hath been granted a Privy Seal to yo^r Lord^ps & to the said Wardens from impowering the said Wardens & their Deputies (or whom yo^r Lord^ps should appoint) to seize & gather up the forfeitures of Clippers & Coyners & yo^r Lord^ps to defray therewith the charges of those that prosecute & reward those that merit in these matters.

But those seizures & forteitures for want of other rewards are either privately pocketed by my Agents or sold off to them that forfeit or where they come to my knowledge are ballanced & sunk by my Agents Bills & since the ceasing of the clipping trade suffice not to pay for the charge & pains of recovering & gathering them up, & are also a discouragement to Prosecutions by the Offence they give in Courts of Justice for being derived to me out of their ancient channel & by exposing me & my Agents to the censure of prosecuting men for the Estates so that the clipping & coyning trades instead of decreasing did in the time of my Predecessors grow to the greatest height. And the Coyners are now thinned in this City, yet by their flight from hence & by the turning of clippers to coyners, they seem more numerous in other places where I cannot reach them.

And the new reward of forty pounds per head has now made Courts of Iustice & Iuries so averse from beleiving witnesses & Sheriffs so inclinable to impannel bad Iuries that my Agents & Witnesses are discouraged & tired out by the want of success & by the reproach of prosecuting & swearing for money. And this vilifying of my Agents & Witnesses is a reflexion upon me which has gravelled me & must in time impair & perhaps wear out & ruin my credit. Besides that I am exposed to the calumnies of as many Coyners & Newgate Sollicitors as I examin or admit to talk with me if they can but find friends to beleive & encourage them in their false reports & oaths & combinations against me.

I do not find that the prosecuting of Coyners was imposed upon any of my Predecessors (tho some of them have done it) or <439r> is consistent with {tha}|the|{t} \the Privy Seale/. For he that gathers up the estates of convicted criminals should not intermeddle with their prosecution. Nor is there any reward or encouragement appointed for my service in these matters, nor am I provided w^th any competent assistance to enable me to grapple w^th an undertaking so vexatious & dangerous as this must be whenever managed w^th diligence & sincerity. And therefore I humbly pray that this duty may not be annexed to the Office of the Warden of his Maj^ts Mint nor enjoyned me any longer, at least not without enabling me to go through it with safety credit & success. All w^ch is most humbly submitted to yo^r Lord^ps great wisdome.

Is. Newton

Tis the business of an Attorney & belongs properly to y^e Kings Attorney {{illeg}|&|} Sollicitor Gen{l}{^l}, & {v}|t|hey are best able \to go through it especially/ w^th such assistance as they may \can/ procure|.| to go through it. {sic} And therefore I humbly pray that {illeg}it may not be imposed upon me any longer. All w^ch is most humbly submitted to yo^r Lord^ps great wisdome.