Elementary arithmetic, with brief notices of its history... by Robert Potts.

MONEY.

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It is a fact, that during all the troubles of the king and his difficulties, no debasement of the standard took place, however rude his
coins may have been in form and workmanship, after he had taken
up arms against the forces of the Parliament.
The Commonwealth, 1649-1653. In 1642, the Commonwealth
seized the Tower and the Mint, and proceeded to coin and issue
money with the king's types and titles.
In 1649 it issued a silver coinage of various pieces of the same
fineness as the 43rd Elizabeth. 11 oz. 2 dwts. pure silver, and 18 dwts.
alloy; the weight being in proportion to 7-t grains to the penny. On
the obverse was a shield bearing the cross of St.George within branches
of laurel and palm, with the legend on the four larger denominations,
TirE COMMONWEALTH OF ENGLAND. On the reverse were two shields,
one bearing the cross of St. George, the other the harp of Ireland,
with the legend GOD WITH US, and the date.
On 25 April the same year, the Committee reported, and the
HIouse resolved, that the inscriptions on the coins should be in the
English language, that on one side should stand alone the English
arms with the inscription THE COMAIONWEALTIt OF ENGLAND; and
on the other side, the arms of England and Ireland, with the words
GOD WITH US. These coins became a subject of standing jokes.
In iudibras will be found soml wit on the subject. The Cavaliers
took occasion from the legend on the coins to observe, that GOD and
THE COArMMONWEALTH were on different sides.
The Parliament also ordered a jury of goldsmiths to make two
standard trial pieces, one of gold, 22 carats fine and 2 alloy, and one
of silver, 11 ounces 2 dwts. fine and 18 pennyweights alloy; and by a
resolution they were approved as standards for the new coinage.
It is remarkable that the pieces of date 1651, have the image and
superscription of Cromwell, as Protector of England, Scotland, and
Ireland, thoug-h he was not publicly invested with that title until
16 Dec. 1653. Coins were struck by the authority of Parliament, and
they occur of all the intermediate dates from 1649 to 1660 inclusive.
A copper coinage was projected for the use of the poor. Pattern
pieces exist of the dates of 1649 and 1651, but it is not known
whether the design was ever carried into effect.
Cromwell understood the power of money. On learning the arrival
of three ships from -Iamburgh, having ~300000 in silver on.board, he ordered a detachment of soldiers to seize it. Having
this money at command, he was emboldened to dissolve the Parliament.1 The secret of his policy, like that of all other despots,
I "The Members of the Long Parliament, when it assumed the government,
voted to each other, for his own private use, at first four pounds a-week, and
afterwards, it was reported, distributed among themselves, out of the public
treasury, about ~300000 a-year. And, under the p-etence of rewarding the
godly for their services in the good cause, unbounded largesses were bestowed.
Lenthal, the speaker, received ~6000 at once, besides offices to the amount of
~7730 a-year. Bradshaw, president of the high court of Justice, by whom the
king was condemned, had the present of an estate worth ~1000 a-year, and the
king's house at Eltham, for the active part he took in that memorable transaction; and in free gifts to the saints, the sum of ~679800 was publicly expended.
The Parliament is also accused of suffering the most enormous frauds to be perpetrated with impunity. Instead of the public accounts being examined at the
Exchequer, where peculation could with difficulty escape detection, every branch
of the revenue, and every article of expense, was entrusted to committees of the
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