RECOINAGE OF 1696 
the land tax?! should be continued; and the landed interest A.D. 1689 
were, partly by their own action in raising an opposition to 7. 
the excise, left to nurse their grievance about the unfair pus se 
share of the burden of taxation which they were called upon §fi.%n | 
to bear’. The subsequent wars rendered it impossible for ee 
any statesman to attempt systematic reforms, and the fiscal imprac- 
arrangements of the country continued to give special toate 
support to manufacturers. Capitalists of every class were 
relieved of any heavy burden, and special pains were taken 
to stimulate industry, both native and exotic. 
XIII. Currency AND CREDIT. 
215. The condition of the currency was an important 
element in all the controversy which preceded and accom- 
panied the founding of the Bank of England. At a time 
when the only recognised circulating medium consisted of The de- 
. . . . Jficiency of 
the precious metals, there was a general, if mistaken, anxiety ‘standard 
that the amassing of money in a bank would tend to denude **™ 
the country of the circulating medium. It was contended 
that the starting of such an institution would tend to in- 
convenience traders, to bring about a rise of prices, and to 
cause increased trouble in collecting the king’s taxes. The 
deficiency of currency was a very real and serious difficulty 
which pressed on many persons; and it was so far aggra- 
vated, during the re-coinage of 1696, that the Bank was 
unable to cash its notes with the accustomed punctuality. 
The story of the amendment of the silver coins, in 1696, is which ne 
not so well known as that of the Elizabethan re-coinage; rad 
but it throws some interesting side lights on the conditions gf 54s, 
of the times, and deserves more than a passing notice. The 
causes, which had reduced the currency to such a state that 
re-coinage was necessary, were different from those that had 
brought about the similar evil in Tudor times. The debased 
t There is a curious parallelism and a curious contrast between the views of 
Davenant and those of Walpole: they start as it were from opposite principles, 
but the goal towards which they worked was similar. Davenant advocated an 
excise as & substitute for borrowing, Walpole as a substitute for the land tax: 
Davenant would have avoided incurring a debt, Walpole attempted to pay it off. 
2 On the effects of this in 1815. see below. n. 729.