Draft of MINT00270 (Mint 19/2/139)

<145r>

The great value put upon French & Spanish Pistoles in England has made them of late flow plentifully hither above any other sort of Gold Especially the French Pistoles wch are better sized & coyned & less liable to be counterfeited & by consequence of more credit then ye Spanish. For Pistoles pass amongst us for 17s 6d a piece whereas one wth another they are worth but about 17s 1d at ye rate that Guineas of due weight & fineness are worth 21s. 6d. And if allowance be made for ye lightness of oer silver moneies by the wearing & melting down of the heaviest pieces & wearing of the rest yet Pistoles will be worth but between 17s 2d & 17s 3d.

About four years ago by the English putting to great a value upon Scotch money, the northern borders of England were filled with Scotch that money & Scotland was filled with oers the Scots making a{illeg}bout 8 or 9 pr cent profit by ye exchange untill yoer Lordps put a stop to the mischief. The case being now the same in ye reputed par of ye Exchange between oer money & Pistoles wch runs 3d or 4d in a Pistoles to ye nations loss we humbly represent it to yoer Lordps beleiving it proper to be laid before in order to such a remedy as your Lordps shall think f{illeg}it, so that when ye Exchange wth forreign nations runs on oer side as at present we may not lose oer advantage by it, & when it runs against us we may not lose more by it then is necessary. All wch

We presume also to lay before you Lops that by reason of the great demand of Silver dor exportation to ye Indies the price of Bullion exceeds yt of Silver for {illeg}of silver monies by 3d or 4d & sometimes by 6d or 7d pr ounce, whereas the monies ought to be of f as as greatgreat or greater value then bullion by reason of the workmanship. And this high price of Bullion has not only puts an end to ye future coynage of Silver {illeg}monies but is a great temptation to ye melting down clandestinemelting down & exportationing of what is already coyned. A mischief of such consequence as may deserve yor Lops consideration of a remedy

<145v>

For Mr. Newton