General Observations on the Ancient State and use of Money in Commerce

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Generall Observations on the Ancient State and use of Money in Commerce.

Silver and Gold have long since been made the common standard of Exchange, and measure of Commerce, by the generall consent of mankind; for which purpose those valuable Metalls are much better suited, than any other Medium yet discovered by human witt or Industry; being more d^x[1]urable, portable, beautifull, and usefull than any other species of Mineralls, and a small quantity of either being equall in value to a much greater quantity of most other Commoditys.

Mankind began very soon ^[2] to discover their conveniency in Exchange; and the most ancient Hebrew, Greek, and Roman Historys that are extant^[3] make mention of the early use of these Metalls in Exchange; There are divers instances for the proof of this, in the five books of Moses, the most ancient and the most authentick history in the world: and thô <3v> Abrahams purchas of the field of Mac\h/pelah for 400 pieces of silver be the first account we have of bargaine and sale for currant mony, yet ther's good ground to conjecture that the antediluvian world was not destitute of so beneficiall a Medium in their Commerce.

^[4] Some are of Opinion and not without good reason that in the first Exchange of commoditys for one another y^e. difference in value came at length to be adjusted by small pieces of B{illeg}|r|a{illeg}|s|s or copper, which might serve instead of Gold and Silver not yet discovered, and those base Metalls are still used in Denmark Sweden and Poland as mony, where the nobler Metalls are not to be had in a quantity sufficient for generall use.

All these Metalls were first Exchanged at the Scale, and the pieces which were us'd in barter having no figure, size, or weight ascertained by y^e publick, were all estimated by the Balance and that all payements were originally made amongst the Iews, Greeks, and Romans by weight and not by tale is apparent from a variety of instances, as have been observed by learned men, from\in/ the names afterwards given to the|ir| severall Coins stamped by publick authority; which which in all the 3 languages <4r> denote a certain weight. So that M^r. Gouldman is of opinion, there was hardly any kind of weight amongst the Romans or Grecians, but what were the denominations of brass, gold, or silver coins, or sum̄s of mony: which indeed is capable of a particular proof, were it necessary; & the demonimations of pounds and pence still in use amongst us make it evident, that our Ancestours^[5] (who had noe other medium of Commerce, 'til the reign of Kynobelin, a British King contemporary with Augustus Cæsar,^[6] but rings of Iron and plates of brass) they made all their payments at the Scale.

Yet in all Countrys, where traffick and commerce have made any considerable advancement, it has been found very expedient, to ascertain the weight and finenesse of the Metall, which became the Standard and common measure of Exchange, to prevent the frauds \of/ a false ballance, & the knavery of debasement.

And this introduced the invention of coyning\ mony;/, {sic}^[7] Which is nothing else, but Certain pieces of Gold, silver, or any other mettall stampt by publick authority, at a certain known weight and fineness and made & made y^e. generall measure of trade and commerce in y^e. respective Countrys <4v> where 'tis current.

If these pieces contain not the weight or fineness their severall names import, the Receiver is cheated, the publick faith violated, the Government dishono\u/red and the Counterfeiters in all places severely punished; \&/ in many places Capitally.

Wee are told by ^x[8]Herodotus that mony was first coined in Lydia, and by others at Naxos an Iland {sic} of the Archipelago; by Strabo, in Ægina; by Lucan in Thessaly; and divers writers ascribe this usefull Invention to different times and countrys in Greece. In Itally Servius Tullius is thought to be the first who began to coin brass with the figure of a sheep, anno U. C. 383. whence it received the name of Pecunia. But no silver was coined there till the year 463, nor gold till about 62 years after,|.| {illeg}viz^t

Our Ancestours, as has been said, had no stampt mony current amongst 'em 'till after Iulius Cæsar had invaded this Countrey, and brought over with his Forces the Roman Coins, which passed among the Inhabitants of this Iland {sic} for 4 or 500 years following. After that severall Brittish Princes began to coin moneys, of which our Historians just made mentioned without taking any notice of the species, figure, standard or inscription <5r> 'till after the reign of Edward the Confessour; from whose time the Industrious M^r. Speed presents his Reader w.^th the Effigies of every King, and the figures stampt on th^r. Coins.

The Right of Coynage has been an ancient Prerogative of the Crown of England,^[9] sometimes granted by Charter to the Arch Bishops of Canterbury and York,^[10] and to diverse Abbots, and other Subjects within the Realm.

But the Author of the Mirour of Iustice recites^[11] an old Law in the time of the Saxon Governments, That no King should change, embase or inhaunce his mony, or make other Coin than Silver, sans l'assent de tous ses Counties i.e (as S^r Edward Coke in the 2^d. of his^[12] Institutes Cap. 20 expounds it,) without the consent of Parliament.

Bodinus a very Learned Civilian declares it as his Opinion, That Princes cannot alter the standard^[13] of their Monys to the prejudices of their Subjects, with|out| falling under the reproach and character of Faux-Monneyeurs. And Philip the Fair, one of the Kings of France was so stiled for such a practise. For as Theodoric, a Gothic Prince with very good reason and equity affirms, Omninò Monetæ integritas debet ^[14] <5v> quæri, ubi vultus noster imprimitur, and if it were otherwise he demands of the Master of his Mint. Quidnam erit tutum si in nostrâ peccetur effigie?

Yet notwithstanding the dishonnour of such a practice, either the necessity of publick affaires, or the private Interest of some Sovereign Princes have occasion'd frequent alterations in the coins of most Countrys, particularly in England and France.^[15]

Darius a King of the Medes and Persians, ancienter than Hystaspis, coined pure gold without any allay.^[16] But the Athenian State, and Philip and Alexander the great Kings of Macedon added $\frac{1}{50}$.^th part of allay to their gold monys.

The Romans had $\frac{1}{48}$.^th part of allay in their gold coins during their whole consular state down to the reign of the Emperour Vespasian, which is \$\frac{1}{4}$/ less than the allay wee mix with our gold monys; and after his time it was advanced to $\frac{1}{24}$.^th part 'till the reign of the Emperour Commodus; when, as Vopiscus observes, The Roman Coin and Moralls too began to be debas'd at y^e same time, and the conjunction of these two Evills ruin'd the Roman Empire.

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But the first alteration of the Roman brass coin was in the begining of the first Punic Warr; when Fabius Maximus to supply the publick necessitys raisd the brass mony then current in the Roman State to six^[17] times its former value, by cutting the Roman (as), w.^ch 'till then was a pound weight, into 6 equall parts of about 2.^oz each, and by continuing the same denomination to each of those parts: an expedient which some persons were very zealous for in the heat of the late Warr with France, when our Funds fell short, & the Premiers and Interest for mony were very high, and the Governm^t. was in very great perplexitys.

The Roman (as) was afterwards in the 2^d. Punic warr reduced to 1.^oz and again by Papirius to $\frac{1}{2}$.^oz yet still kept the name it first had, when it weighed \just/ 24 times as much. As [shilling] a name as old as the Saxon Heptarchy in England^[18] is a denomination continued to a peice {sic} of Silver not weighing full 4^d.wt which in 28 Edw^d. 1^st was the name of a quantity of Silver weighing near 12^dwt.

Livius Drusus

caused Silver monys to be coyned of $\frac{8}{12}$ parts of allay which occasioned very great confusion <6v> in all contracts and injuries to the people: in so much that the Roman Oratour speaking of that time complain'd– Iactabaturillis temporibus num̄us ut nemo seiret quid haberet in pecuniâ.^[19] Whereupon one Marius Grad|t|idianus, who was Triumvir monetæ cudendæ, or Master of the Roman Mint, reform'd this excessive adulteration, and had Statues erected to his honour by the People of Rome.

What changes either in weight or fineness their Coins fell under in the declension of y^t. Empire in after ages is not my \present/ purpose to enquire: but 'tis very observable that, whenever any Prince has, to supply his own wants debased & corrupted the coin of his Countrey, very great disorders and perplexitys have immediatly followed thereupon; which was the case of France in the reign of Philip the Fair and Charles the Seventh, who rais'd great summs by coyning and issuing in their payments base mony, & when that end was serv'd they cry'd it down, and stopt its currency by Proclamation, causing it to be brought back to their Mints at a low rate to be recoin'd, making herby {sic} a very considerable but a <7r> very unjust proffit. b|B|ut this practice, as their Historians assure us, was constantly attended with tumults and seditions; & assoon as the states of that Kingdom mett in Parliament they stipulated with those Princes not to alter the Standard of their monys, and gave 'em an Imposition on Salt to bind the bargain. In the year 1417 when a great part of France was in the hands of the English; Charles the 7^th then King of France had raised the monys of that Kingdom, in about 6 years space, to above 40 times its reall value, and afterwards reduced it all att once, to the unspeakable damage of the People. And in 1575 & 1576 the Gold and Silver Coins were insensibly rais'd in their value, to the great prejudice of the State which was remedied by an Edict published 1577 that reduc'd 'em to \above/ half lesse than the value they pass'd at before.

Were it proper for this occasion, a very large account might be given of the severall alterations^[20] made in the Coins of France, either by publick Authority or by a generall consent or connivance of the people; yet always to the great disadvantage of com̄erce, <7v> but my de{illeg}|s|ign leads me to present the Reader with a brief account of what has hapned in England.