Additional Conſiderations to theſe contained in the Letter againſt raiſing the Value of Money.

BESIDES the General and Permanent Evils which fol­low on the raſing of Money, and will be more ſenſibly perceiv'd by Poſterity; Such as that by it every perſon in Scotland, will loſs as much of his Eſtate, both Moveable and Immoveable, as the Money is raiſed to: That is, the 28th. part, Viz: Two Shil­ling Scots on every Six and Fifty, For which the thinking Men of this Age will laugh at you; And thoſe of ſucceeding Ages will Curſe you: I ſay, beſides the Permanent, theſe immediat Injuries will enſue.

1mo. He who ſells an 100 Bolls of Barly of Cropt 94, that with the Price thereof, which he is to get at Whiteſunday, he might buy 50 Bolls of forraign Salt for Fiſhing; He who2 brings in the Salt to ſell, muſt pay for it abroad with Money at the old Rate (for Spain will not raiſe their Money in our Example, altho they have better Reaſon to do it) and there­fore he muſt and will require a 28th. part more of our new raiſed Money: But he who bought the Victual will pay in the new raiſed Money, and no more: Therefore, he who buys the Salt, muſt want a 28th. part thereof, or give a 28th. part more of Bear to purchaſe it. And this will hold in the pur­chaſe of all forraign Goods proportionably.

2do. He who ſold his Land for Money to be payed at Whiteſunday, when he receives his Money as now raiſed, and goes to imploy that Money in Trade, and gives in his Mo­ney to a Factor here, for Money abroad, to buy Goods with; the Factor will anſwer no more Money abroad, than the Mo­ney given in here will be worth in the place where he an­ſwers the Money, beſides the Current Exchange; Whereby the Seller of the Land doth clearly loſs a 28th. part of his whole Stock, for he muſt pay for the Goods abroad, at the for­mer Value of Money.

3tio. If he does not ſend his Money abroad to buy theſe Goods, but buys them from a Merchant who brings them home, This Merchant will Conſider, that he muſt pay for theſe Goods in a place where the Money is not raiſed; And therefore will exact a 28. part more beſides the price that he would have deſired formerly. And Conſequently, he who ſells Lands, or other Goods, to purchaſe them, loſſes a 28. part; That is, he has ſold his Lands or Goods at a 28 part leſs nor he thought to have done, and then he would indeed have done, had the money not been raiſed.

4to. If a Factor or Merchant have 116 thouſand pounds3 conſigned to him for buying of Scots Goods, he will make 112 thouſand buy them, Ergo, we get leſs Money for our Goods by the raiſing; and if that Merchant have a mind to buy no more of our Goods, he will remitt his 4000 lib: ſuperplus back to the Conſigner; Ergo, we keep leſs money within the King­dome than we would have done, had the Money not been raiſed. And the next time that Money is ſent to buy the like Quantity of Goods in place of 116000 pound, he will ſend only 112000: Ergo, There comes leſs Money in by the raiſing. But you will ſay, he will imploy that Superplus alſo to buy Goods in Scot-land; No, unleſs he need to export them. But if he do, he leaves no more Money for them than he would have done for the firſt Parcel, had not the Money been raiſed: Ergo, upon the Matter we give the ſecond Parcel of our Goods for nothing.

5to. He who ſold 100 Cows, or 100 Sheep for Money at Whiteſunday, in order to the buying of Plate from a Gold-Smith of 116 Ounce weight, when he comes to pay the Gold-Smith in the new raiſed Money, in place of his 116 Ounce, the Gold-Smith will give him but a 112 Ounce, becauſe the Gold-Smith will only reſpect the intrinſick Value of the Money he receives.

6to. Every Creditor in Scotland who ſhall be payed in the new raiſed Money, if he imploy his Money to Merchandice abroad, or if he Give it to a Factor on Bills of Exchange to be raiſed abroad, or if he put it into a Gold-Smiths hand for Plate, in the very firſt Inſtant he will loſs the 28th. part of his Stock.

7mo. All the Liferenters, whoſe Rents are payable in Money, all Hoſpitals, all Servants fees, when payed at Whitſunday4 next, if all or any of thoſe perſons give their Money to Factors, or Gold-ſmiths, or imploy it in forraign Merchandiſe, or ſend it abroad, they will at Whitſunday next, and all terms thereafter want the 28 part of their Eſtates and dues.

8vo. When we pay 12 Months Ceſs to the King, the Sub­jects pay the ſame that they did formerlie; For as they pay the Ceſs in the new Money, ſo they were payed for their Goods in the new money, but when the King imployes this Money to buy Armes, Amunition, proviſions, or pay Souldiers a­broad, he will want the 28 part of what we pretend to have given him.

9no. All who buy ſhipping abroad, and have provided Mo­ney here for buying thereof, will want a 28 part of what they thought to have had when they come to the Market.

10mo. All who receive Salleries, Advocates, Clerks, Officers, &c. Will receive a 28 part leſs than the Leiges do indeed pay them; For when they have gathered the ſmalls into a ſtock, and imployed this ſtock in Exchange in Merch­andiſe, or in Gold-ſmiths hands, they will want a 28th part of what they thought they had.

11mo. It is certain, that when people find that they muſt pay more for all forraign Goods, they will indeavour to raiſe the price of the Native Goods alſo, thereby to get in with the one hand what they give out with the other; Yet before this can be done, there will be an exceſſive loſs in the in­terim. But when the Goods are rais'd, the King, the Nobi­lity and Gentrie who have their Rents fixt in Money payment, theſe Rents will buy leſs quantity of Goods of all kinds than they did formerly, that is, they will have ſo much leſs rent than they had.

12mo. When the prices of all Goods are raiſed, then the5 poor ſervants fees, and the poor workmens wages will not buy ſo much of their neceſſars for life, as theſe fees and wages did formerlie, which be the by, will alſo raiſe all wages and fees, which thô look'd upon as an evil, yet is the beſt effect; id eſt, the leaſt evil that will follow on the raiſing of Money, But to come to the very loweſt of all, the Beggars alms will not buy as much food to him as formerly, becauſe the prices of meats riſe unleſs we can be ſo mad as to raiſe the value of the Coppar alſo; And indeed I know no reaſon why we may not as well complement the King of Sweden with a part of our Eſtates as the King of Spain.

That which is anſwered and oppoſed to all this, is,

1mo. That the raiſing of the value of Forraign Money, will induce the Merchant to bring in the greater Quantity thereof, that is to ſay, whereas formerly he did bring in half a Crown, he needs bring now but 28 ſhillings Scots; now how will you prove that 28 pence is more nor half a Crown? You will ſay he will buy the greater Quantity of our Goods; Yes, if he need them, and ſo he would do, had he payed half a Crown for them; But would he not be as well induc'd to buy that greater Quantity, if you ſell him your Goods for half a Dollar which formerly you ſold for half a Crown? And u­pon the matter it is all one, for you may make a fools para­dice by thinking your half Dollar is a half Crown, and as long as it paſſes from hand to hand in Scotland it may pro­duce that folly in every Scots-Man; But when ever the Money comes to be imployed abroad either in Specie or Exchange, then our half Dollar will be half a Dollar ſtill.

2do. They ſay the raiſing of our own Standard will keep our own Coyn at home. Not to ſpeak of that fooliſh topick of keeping Money at home by raiſing its value, whereas it can­not6 be done but by the wiſe ballancing of the trade, for if we export Goods of more value and price than we import, then our ſtock of Money will increaſe, and if we import more Goods in value and price than we export then our Stock of Money will as neceſſarly decreaſe. And the conſideration and redreſs of this were worthie of Counſellers and States-Men indeed, whereas the other Remedy is a groſs miſtake; For if we import Goods and have not Goods to give for them, we muſt pay money for them, and the Importer will take the Money only at its true Value, or if you will give it a greater Denomination, he will require the Greater quantity of it for his price, elſe he were a fool, and wold find his loſs when he returnes to the place where he bought his Goods. But the true Cauſe of exporting our Money is, that we allow forraign Coyn, which is but equivalent to, or leſs in value than our own, to paſs at a higher value than our own (a madneſs peculiar to our ſelves) for if a Cullogne, a Bear, a Caſtell Dollar, &c. Be but equivalent to our four Merk peice, and paſs for two Pence Sterling in the Ounce more than it doth, it is a very good Invitation for the Merchant to export our Coyn, and bring in that whereon he will gain ſo much, but thereby the Nation does indeed loſs as much, and it is a miſchievous overvaluing of forraign Coyn, and produces all the foregoing evil effects: The true remedy whereof were not to ſuffer forraign money to paſs above the value of our own, nay not ſo much, and then no Body would export ours, becauſe they could gain nothing by importing baſe Coyn as now they do.

It is like wayes urged, That Croſs Dollars and Leggs ſhould be cryed up to the hight of the Cullogne and other Dollars, be­cauſe they are as good as the other ▪ but what gain has a Na­tion7 by this, for if they be both of equal value, and that they get the ſame for the Cullogne Dollar abroad that they get for the Croſs Dollar, it is all one to us whether the Merchant bring us in a Cullogne Dollar or a Croſs Dollar.

Another Objection is, That the Croſs Dollar, and Ducate­downs are melted in our own Mint, which is a new Coyned grievance, for never People grudg'd at the bringing in of Good Silver to be coyn'd in their own Mint till now, and you may as well diſcharge a Mint, as prohibite the Melting down of any Silver finer than our own Standard, but if Croſs Dol­lars & Ducate downs be finer than our own Standard. Then we need not fear that our Standard is too fine, nor alter it to the worſe, unleſs we reſolve to alter our fine Standard to a baſeneſs, contrar to our Intereſt, to our Law, And in violati­on of our ſolemn Contract with England for Unity of Standard with them. And albeit England hath not notic'd the late Encroachment made on that Contract, Yet I am afraid they will not ſuffer a great one, unleſs they reſolve to alter their own Standard; In which caſe, there is no doubt, we ſhould alſo alter, tho both will certainly loſs thereby, both being Kingdoms which have Goods that are neceſſar to other Kingdoms, and therefore wold be bought by forraign Merchan­ants with Money equivalent to our own Standard, unleſs we allow a worſe Standard to paſs upon us, or make our own as bad as theirs.

But until England raiſe their Standard, it is the hight of imprudence in us to raiſe ours, nor can any adviſe ſo, who ſeriouſly think on it, except Gold-ſmiths, Merchants and private Men who have Money in Caſh, and who preferr a little private Gain to the Intereſt of the Nation.