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schoolboy fashion) I am for giving the enemy the rising blow when they are down. And I hope to convince you in the West Indies, that if Providence give us successes, we will not sleep upon them. Sir, if I make a prosperous voyage and live to come back again, I shall not have a greater pleasure than to meet you where we parted last.

Your most affectionate friend and servant,

PETERBOROW.

"The gentleman you recommended from my Lady Coverly, went this night aboard."

"27th Jan., 1703

"HAD I not, with Mr Locke, left off wondering at anything long ago, I might with surprise write this letter, and you receive it with amazement, when I let you know our American expedition is fallen, as a mushroom rises in the night. I had my orders to be aboard the 16th; all my equipage and servants gone; and the 14th I was sent for to the place of Wisdom to be asked this question, whether I could not effect with three thousand men, what I was to have attempted with above double the number? I modestly confessed myself no worker of miracles; and being told that the States had desired the Dutch squadron and land-forces might be employed upon other services, since the season was so far spent, and the wind contrary, I likewise desired they would excuse my going if the season were passed, when I was sure the force would not answer what the world expected from her Majesty's arms and preparations so long talked of: besides, these 3000 men I was to depend upon, were but 2800 when they left Cales, and before my arrival must have been employed for four months against the French in their strongest islands, and probably reduced to half the number, at least, by disease and the accidents of war. I am sure this does not surprise you, that I refused to go to the other world loaded with empty titles, and deprived of force. These mysteries of state I will not pretend to unfold at present, but before I return to my home, I will have another meeting in Essex.

Your most faithful friend,

PETERBOROW."

The state of the coin had for a long time very much en

gaged Locke's attention; the first of his treatises upon that subject was published in 1691, and the "Further Consideration" in 1695, for the purpose of correcting the false ideas then universally prevalent.

Whenever there is considerable distress in the public affairs,—if trade is embarrassed, if the currency is disordered, if the finances are deranged, there are always to be found men who, from ignorance or interest, are ready to recommend what they are pleased to call the easy, practical, and natural remedies, which in the end generally aggravate the evils they were supposed to cure. Under a despotic Government, if the debts are embarrassing, or the finances in disorder, a base coin is issued, and the defrauded creditor is compelled to submit in silence to the royal ordinance. Such was the common ordinary practice of the old French Government, and of most of the other states of Europe, whose coins have been successively deteriorated from their original standard.

In our own country, and in our own times, we have seen a Bank Restriction Act imposed to avoid a temporary difficulty, which deranged our affairs during a quarter of a century.

In 1695, one or perhaps all these causes of national distress were severely felt; the war had diminished the national resources, and the frauds practised for some time by the clipping the money had considerably impaired its intrinsic value. Mr Lowndes and the practical men of that day recommended the usual panacea, an alteration of the standard; but those honest ministers, Lord Somers and Sir William Trumbull, the Secretary of State, knowing from the treatise on Lowering of Interest, and Raising the Value of Money, published in 1691, that Locke had turned his attention very much to those subjects, now called him to their assistance, and were guided by his advice.

Lord Keeper Somers writes to him:

"SIR,

"November, 95.

"You will easily see by the book which was put in my hand last night, and by the title of a Report which it bears, as well as by the advertisement at the end of it, that you were in the right when you said that the alteration of the standard

was the thing aimed at. The challenge at the end, if you
will allow me to say so, is in some sort directed to you. The
proposition which you and I discoursed upon yesterday is en-
deavoured to be represented impracticable. The passing of
money by weight is said to be ridiculous, at least in little pay-
ments; the sudden fall of guineas will be an utter ruin to
very great numbers; there is no encouragement proposed to
invite people to bring the clipped money into the Mint, so
that will be melted down to be transported, which will be a
certain profit at least, till by a law money can be exported.
And whilst this is doing, nothing will be left to carry on com-
merce, for no one will bring out his guineas to part with them
for twenty shillings when he paid thirty shillings for them so
lately. These, as I remember, were the objections made use
of; and I doubt not but you will, without great difficulty, help
us with some expedients for them. I believe it an easier task
than to remove what I see is so fixed, the project of alteration
of the standard.
I am,

Your most humble servant,
J. SOMERS."

In the "Further Consideration on raising the Value of Money," published 1695, addressed to Sir John Somers, he endeavoured to strip the question of hard, obscure, and "doubtful words wherewith men are often misled and mislead others." He condemns the nefarious project of raising the denomination and altering the standard as a fraud upon all creditors, and justly considers it as THE MEANS OF CON

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FOUNDING THE PROPERTY OF THE SUBJECT, AND DISTURBING AFFAIRS TO NO PURPOSE.'

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The advice of Locke was followed, and the great recoinage of 1695 restored the current money of the country to the full legal standard.

The difference between the embarrassments which affected the currency in the reign of King William, and those which have occurred in our own time, may be thus stated: the coin at the period first mentioned, had been deteriorated by the frauds of individuals and the neglect of the public; but when the evil was felt, and the remedy pointed out, the Parliament, notwithstanding the pressure of the war and the false theories

of the practical men of those days, applied the proper remedy at the proper time before any great permanent debt had been incurred. In our own time the depreciation of the currency was entirely to be attributed to the Bank and the Government. The paper-money of a banking company without the one indispensable condition of security against excesses, payment in specie on demand, was in an evil hour substituted in place of the King's lawful coin; and in order that the Minister might avoid the imputation of being an unskilful financier, who borrowed money on unfavourable terms, a debt of unexampled magnitude was accumulated in a debased currency, to be ultimately discharged by payment in specie at the full and lawful standard. It must be confessed, that by the tardy act of retributive justice which was passed in 1819, the punishment inflicted upon the nation was in the exact proportion to the former deviations from good faith and sound principle, and we may at least hope that the severity of the penalty will prevent for the future a repetition of the same folly.

Respecting the other subject of the treatise, viz. "Consideration on lowering the rate of Interest," the author asks this question : "Whether the price of the hire of money can be regulated by law?" The same question, after the lapse of 130 years, we may still continue to repeat with the same success. He then shows that the attempt " to regulate the rate of interest will increase the difficulty of borrowing, and prejudice none but those who need assistance."

In the same year he was appointed to a seat at the Council of Trade. Sir John Somers writes to inform him of the King's nomination, and to make excuse for using his name without his "express consent."

Sir Wm. Trumbull communicates the same appointment by the following letter.

"SIR,

"Whitehall, May 19, 1696.

"Besides my particular obligations to thank you for your kind letter to me, I am now to call upon you in behalf of the public, whose service requires your help, and consequently your attendance in town. The Council of Trade (whereof you are most worthily appointed a member), must go on with

effect, or the greatest inconveniences and mischief will follow. I hope your health will permit you to come and make some stay here; and what reluctancy soever you may have to appear among us, I know your love to your country, and your great zeal for our common interests, will overcome it, so that I will trouble you no further till I can have the happiness of seeing you here, and assuring you by word of mouth that I am unalterably

Your most faithful humble servant,

WILLIAM TRUMBULL. "My wife will have me send her humble service to you."

After holding the appointment at the Board of Trade for a short time, his increasing infirmities made him wish to resign it, and he communicated his intention to Lord Keeper Somers, by letter, dated 7th Jan., 1696-7.

"MY LORD,

"Some of my brethren, I understand, think my stay in the country long, and desire me to return to bear my part, and to help to despatch the multitude of business that the present circumstances of trade and the plantations fill their hands with. I cannot but say they are in the right; and I cannot but think, at the same time, that I also am in the right to stay in the country, where all my care is little enough to preserve those small remains of health, which a settled and incurable indisposition would quickly make an end of anywhere else.

"There remains, therefore, nothing else to be done but that I should cease to fill up any longer a place that requires a more constant attendance than my strength will allow; and to that purpose, I prevail with your Lordship to move his Majesty, that he would be pleased to ease me of the employment he has been so graciously pleased to honour me with, since the crazyness of my body so ill seconds the inclination I have to serve him in it, and I find myself every way incapable of answering the ends of that commission. I am not insensible of the honour of that employment, nor how much I am obliged to your Lordship's favourable opinion in putting me into a post, which I look upon as one of the most considerable in England. I can say that nobody has more warm

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