Fourthly,It is truly observed,that in all those Countries where base Money is current,there the price of Gold and Silver is daily raised by the people,not only without the Ordinance of the State,but contrary to,and in despight of all Prohibitions to the contrary,which draws with it extream disorders and mischiefs,so it is in the Low Countries,so it is in France,so in Germany,and in Spain;although the Ordinance for the value of the Gold and Silver may securely be maintained by this help,that no Forrein Coin is there current;yet when you come to change base Money for Silver or Gold,you shall find how the people there raise the price unto you of the purer Money;But in England and Muscovia,where no base Money is in use,there the people never raise the price of Gold and Silver (except by Ordinance of the State it be directed)neither doth Experience only try this Conclusion,but Reason also;for the people when they see the Money of base and uncertain mixture,do disesteem it,and in comparison thereof do esteem the Money of purer Gold and Silver above the proportion,and so do raise the price of it;and this esteem is not meerly out of opinion,for that really,that piece of base Money which hath as much fine Silver as a penny,is notwithstanding not worth a penny,because the mixture makes that you cannot extract this penny in pure mettal,without loss and charge:and if the people do hold this base esteem of this mixture which hath in it the intrinsical value for which it is current,how much more base esteem must they hold of that mixture,which they know hath not neer in it that intrinsical value for which it is current,and how much more must they needs raise the Silver.And certainly base Money,when either it is at first coined much in the intrinsical value under the extrinsical,or is by degrees brought unto it and long so continued,doth in the end breed either Insurrections among the People,or rejections of it;whereof the examples of Insurrections are very frequent,and therefore I will forbear to instance in them.But Icannot omit one example of Rejection,because it is so fresh in Memory,which was in Ireland in the end of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth;which Country although it was newly vindicated from Rebellion,and did patently endure all the imperious Directions which a late fresh Victory did bring with it,yet as soon as the Exchanges of base Moneys sent thither did cease in England,it was instantly rejected there,and would not pass current for so much as in the true intrinsical value it was worth,but was brought up at under rates by such as made profit by melting it.
Fifthly,The Dishonour that accompanies base Moneys,is of a more important Inconvenience than all the rest,for what can be more dishonourable than to have the Image of the Prince,or the Mark of the Publick Attestation impressed upon false and counterfeited stuff:according to the saying of an Emperour,Quid enim erit tutum si in nostra peccetur Effigie?And if there be gain made of it,it is a manifest breach of the publick Faith,for that it hath no other course than as it hath publick warrant to be good.Nay,this point of Honour hath so far prevailed in the World,that it hath been made an Observation by many,that in all great Divisions in States and Monarchaies,that partly hath infallibly the juster cause which doth most warily proceed,either to the raising of the price,or the abasing of the matter thereof:which Observations are not without warrant of Experience nor of Reason also;for that all raising of the price and abasing of the matter of Money for gain,drawing with it an unjust,ruinous and unequal burthen upon the people,they that maintain the better cause,like the true Mother,will choose to loose the cause than the Child should be destroyed.In which loyal maintenance of the public Faith in matters of Money our Kings do incomparably outshine all other Princes and States of Europe:for if Spain,and some other States do equal them in the pureness of the mettals,and the low values of their Monies of Gold and Silver,yet they have made themselves farr inferiour unto them by filling their Countries with base Money.And if in Muscovy they have coined no base Money,yet they have raised the Standard of their Silver so high,by diminishing both the fineness and weight,that the Silver itself scarcly deserves that name.And this I have seen and can learn by other means,that there is no State in the World more excellently tempered than this of England,or wherein the Prince is more absolute in all things,wherein it is good for himself and the publick,that he should be absolute;or where the great men are more honoured without license of oppressing the People;or where the People do live more freely or so happily as in England.As for the Remedies of this Inconvenience of base Money,I do leave those Countries to struggle with them that are afflicted with it,for us in England the remedy is plain and easy,which is mainly and constantly to keep it out.Thus far I have proceeded in the History of Money to set down,as briefly as I could,by what degrees Money hath grown into that form and state as now it is governed;but have forborn to speake of the Inconveniences grown therein,and of the Remedies thereof,save only in the last Chapter,which I mean to propound,and debate in the rest of this Discourse,for the opening of the Readers understanding without making any positive conclusion,but leave that to every ones private Judgment.
