XIII. 1724. CHAP. "pound of copper halfpence and farthings are by the patent to pass for 2s. 6d. ; therefore the loss "is 1s. 6d. But a pound of copper prepared for the "mint in London costs there 1s. 6d.; the charge of coining a pound of copper is at the Mint 4d.; and "I think the duty of a pound of copper coined, imported into Ireland, is a halfpenny per pound, "besides the exchange, and which, with all allow"ances, comes to 20 per cent., and all this is laid "aside, and the copper money valued at the sup"posed value of the rough Irish copper, which is "much inferior to English copper." * The King's answer to the Irish addresses was, as Walpole advised it, mild and conciliatory: he expressed his concern that his granting a patent according to the practice of his Royal Predecessors, had given so much uneasiness, and if there had been any abuses committed by the patentee, he would give orders for inquiring into and punishing them. Accordingly the affair was referred to a Committee of the Privy Council in England, which after a most searching inquiry, and the examination of numerous witnesses, published their Report in July, 1724. In this Report they justified, in the clearest and most unquestionable manner, both the terms of the patent and the conduct of the patentee. At the same time, however, Mr. Wood declared himself willing to yield to the clamour against his coinage, so far as to reduce it from *To Lord Townshend, Oct. 1. 1723. 108,000l. to 40,000l. value; and to propose that no that no more than 5 d. of it should be a legal tender at any one payment. This the Government accepted, and sent directions to Ireland that the halfpence might be allowed currency to the reduced amount. Such fair concessions, and such unanswerable arguments, might probably have prevailed, had not the mighty mind of Swift arrayed itself against them. For ten years had that aspiring spirit pined in obscurity and oblivion: he now seized the opportunity to exert and display his powers. From the simple transaction before him, he drew a frightful picture of fraud, oppression, and impending misery. Public ruin was foretold, and public vengeance threatened in a hundred shapes.* Songs, ballads, and lampoons, flew about the streets. A more serious attack was made in letters, which appeared from time to time under the assumed name of M. B. a Drapier of Dublin. Of these letters Mr. Hawkins Browne used to say, that they were the most perfect pieces of oratory composed since the days of Demosthenes †; and though far from assenting to such extravagant panegyric, we * As for instance: "The halfpence are coming, the nation's undoing; Swift's Works, vol. x. p. 478. One poem proposes to scald + Sheridan's Life of Swift, p. 241. ed. 1784. CHAP. XIII. 1724. CHAP. can scarcely deny them a very high degree of adXIII. miration. They are written with so much art, as 1724. entirely to conceal the appearance of art. The 66 66 author speaks of himself as a " poor ignorant 'shopkeeper utterly unskilled in law;" he appears throughout a quiet man startled from his station by the common danger, -"as when," he says, "a house is attempted to be robbed, it often happens the weakest in the family runs first to "stop the door." The style is plain and simple; the deductions easy and suited to the understandings of all; and the strokes of satire with which it abounds are the more pungent, as seeming not to be designed. So far from leaving any handle to be called a party man, he always refers with much respect to the Ministers, and with no less loyalty to the King, "for we never had one more gra"cious." The stubborn facts against him are moulded with the highest skill; he attempts to prove, or (what is quite as effectual when a ferment is once raised) he assumes as proved, that the patent itself is iniquitous; that, moreover, its terms have been grossly violated by the patentee; that the halfpence are six parts out of seven base; that Wood will hereafter be able to buy all our 66 goods for eleven parts in twelve under the "value." Wood himself from a proprietor of iron works becomes a hardware-man and tinker! His copper is turned into brass! is turned into brass! The people are told that they will soon have no meat to feed them, unless they can eat brass as ostriches do iron! 66 66 XIII. 1724. "If Mr. Wood's project should take, it would ruin CHAP. even our beggars! Do you think I will sell you a yard of tenpenny stuff for twenty of Mr. "Wood's halfpence? No, not under two hundred, "at least; neither will I be at the trouble of counting, but weigh them in a lump." 66 Even so clear a proof as the public assay at the Mint is called impudent and insupportable.-"If I were to buy a hundred sheep, and the grazier "should bring me one single wether fat and well "fleeced, by way of pattern, and expect the same 66 price round for the whole hundred, even for those "that were lean, or shorn, or scabby, I would be "none of his customer. I have heard of a man who “had a mind to sell his house, and therefore carried "a piece of brick in his pocket, which he showed "as a pattern to encourage purchasers; and this "is directly the case in point with Mr. Wood's "assay." It is to be observed that the Government had not used any compulsion with respect to this coin; their orders were only to allow it currency with those who might be willing to receive it. Yet the Drapier takes care to drop an insinuation of force: "I hope the words voluntary and willing to re"ceive it will be understood and applied in their "true natural meaning, as commonly understood by Protestants: for, if a fierce Captain comes "to my shop to buy six yards of scarlet cloth, "followed by a porter laden with a sack of Wood's 66 СНАР. XIII. 1724. "coin upon his shoulders; if we are agreed upon "the price, and my scarlet lies ready cut upon the "counter; if he then gives me the word of com"mand to receive my money in Wood's coin, and "calls me a disaffected Jacobite dog for refusing "it (though I am as loyal a subject as himself, "and without hire), and thereupon seizes my cloth, leaving me the price in this odious copper, and "bids me take my remedy; in this case, I shall 66 66 hardly be brought to think that I am left to my "own will. . . . It is probable that the first willing "receivers will be those who must receive it, "whether they will or not, under the penalty of "losing an office." This loyal subject is also full of apprehensions lest the King's ministers should "advise him to "take his revenues here, which are near 400,000l. "a year, in Wood's brass, which will reduce their "value to 50,000l." How it was possible that 400,000l. should be sent over in copper, which was only to be coined to the value of 40,000l., Swift does not explain, nor did his Irish readers inquire. All ranks caught the alarm; all distinctions of party were hushed; and the nation became united as one man. The Drapier, whose real author was soon whispered, was hailed as the Public Deliverer; and, according to the advice contained in one of the Letters, a Declaration was published, signed by many persons of station and property, denouncing Wood's coin, and warning their tenants not to take it. |