Suggests considering a revision of the relative value of gold and silver in England on the model of recent French legislation which has brought France into line with the Netherlands

Normalised TextCatalogue Entry

<147r>

To the Rt Honble the Lord Commrs of his Majties Treasury.

May it please yor Lordps

By the late Edicts of the French king for raising the monies in France the proportion of the value of Gold to that of silver being altered, I humbly presume to give yor Lordps notice thereof. By the last of those Edicts the Lewid'or passes for fourteen Livres & the Ecus for three Livres & sixteen sols. At wch rate the Lewidor is worth 16s 7d sterling supposing the Ecus worth 4s 6d as it is recconed in the course of exchange {illeg}& as I have found it by {illeg}some assays. The proportion therefore between gold & silver is now become the same in France as it has been for some year in Holland For at Amsterdam the Lewid'or passes for nine Guilders & nine or ten styvers wch in or money amounts to 16s 7d, & it has past at this rate for the last five or six years, or above

At the same rate a Guinea of due weight & allay is worth 1li. 00s. 11d. of {illeg}

In Spai{illeg}n Gold is recconed (in stating accompts) worth sixteen times its weight isis silver of the same allay, at wch rate a Guinea of due weight & allay is worth 1li. 2s. 2d1d. but the Spaniards make their payments in gold & will not pay silver without a premium. This premium is not certain but rises & falls accordingly as Spain is spupplied with Gold or Silver in most plenty from the West-Indies. Last winter it was about 5 pr cent.

The state of the money in France being unsetled, whether it may {illeg}afford a sufficient argument for making any alteration in the proportion between the values of gold & silver monies in England is most humbly submitted to yor Lordps great wisdome

[1]

Is. Newton

[1]

Mint Office
Sept 28 1701.