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

34

MONEY.

appears to have been, the control of the army by money, the control
of the people by the army, and thus governing the people by mere
force of military power, he had at command the means of getting
money, and the material of money wherever it was known to exist.
Such methods of supplies might serve an emergency, but could not
last long, as the sequel proved, by a restoration of the king and the
laws for the protection of property.
Oliver Cromwell, Protector, 1653-1658. It is more than probable
that when the army ceased to be the servants, they became the masters
of the Parliament, being entirely under the influence of Cromwell.
And after he was proclaimed Lord Protector of the Commonwealth, he only exercised that authority which had before been
entirely in his hands. The first act of his government declared
in reference to the coinage what offences should be adjudged high
treason.
There can be no doubt of Cromwell's intention to issue his coins
for general circulation, otherwise it is difficult to account for his taking
the opinion of his council on the form of them and the inscription.
It is certain the coins of Cromwell were never the current money of
the nation, because they are not named in the proclamation of
Charles II. of 7 Sept. 1661, which forbade the currency of the coins
of the Commonwealth, but made no mention of the coins of'Cromwell
as Protector, which, if they had been in circulation, could not have
escaped notice. It is probable, that if he coined money as supreme
ruler, he was prevented from uttering it, by the same considerations
which deterred him from assuming the title of king.
Richard Cromwell was elected Protector within an hour after the
death of his father, on 3 Sept. 1658. In answer to a petition in 1659,
a warrant was issued for the coinage of copper farthings, and the
powers of it were to last for 31 years. In the following month of
May, Richard resigned the Protectorship, which prevented the carrying of this project into execution. It is a fact, that coins of the
Common wealth were struck bearing the date of 1659.
Charles II., 1660-1685. This monarch coined money on the
same principles as his father, regardless of the improvements in the
machinery, and in the manufacture of the coins which had been exhibited in the striking of pattern pieces during the Commonwealth
and the Protectorate. He issued three distinct coinages of hammered
money of the same fineness as that of the 43 Elizabeth.
In April 1662, a French artist was employed in the Mint to furnish
the machinery, mills, &c, for coining, and to discover his secret unto
house, who appropriated whatever sum they thought proper to their own private
use. By these frauds, the Parliament was disabled from paying the army
regularly. Its arrears amounted to ~331000, and that mutiny, which proved the
principal source of Cromwell's exaltation, was owing to 'the indignation with
which the troops saw the members of the House of Commons rioting in wealth,
procured by public plunder, whilst they who had fought their battles could
hardly provide themselves with subsistence. They loudly complained, ' that'
Parliament bestowed upon its own members ~1000 a-week out of the public
treasury, whilst the soldiers' wants were great, and the people in the utmost
necessity.' It is said, that the Parliament left about 5c00000 in the treasury,
and stores to the value of ~700000, when its authority was abolished by Cromwell; yet such was the expense of his administration, that he died indebted to
the amount of ~2474290, which, however, consisted chiefly in arrears due to
the army and navy."-Sinclair on the Public Revenue, Vol. I., pp. 286-288, 3rd
Ed. 1803.