Whereas a printed paper has been delivered at the door of the
HonbleHonourable House of Commons on behalf of [those whose Proposals
coyning of copper coin furnishing the Mint with manufactured
copper were rejected chwhich were] Mr Tho. Chambers, Mr Geo
Clark, Mr IJohn Essington, Mr Henry Robinson, Collonel Parker, Mr Rich
Iones, Mr Wood, Mr Holloway, & Mr Pye [& others whose Petitions
for furnishing the] complaining coarseness of the copper money now coyined,
in order to Those as if these in respect of the fineness
of the Copper & these are to certify that the copper imported
the Copper was manufactu
red into in swedeland excepting the stamping; that the Copper now
coined chwhich can be
had in the Mint: that Mr Chambers, Mr Clark, Mr Essington, Mr Ro
binson &c are partners & one of them
Copper, chwhich they would have had 2
Two Letters written by Mr Richard Iones to Members of Parliament being published last Sessions at the door of the House of Commons, relating to yethe coinage of copper money, & a third Letter to a member of Parliament being published on Saturday last in the same manner in wchwhich relation is had to the two formers Letters are cited as written by an author of note, whose advice the House of Commons should have followed & complaint being made in this Letter ytthat as of the new copper coin wasis very defective, & the metal very base & inferior to the copper money coined, the trial being less value by two pence in each pound weight & that his MatsMajestys Officers have made a contract wchwhich has hitherto been performed scandalously, & that the abuses have complainedall wchwhich will be made of will be made appear if the HonbleHonourable House of Commons shall send I please to appoint Committee who shall send for & examin the Peoersons who delived in Proposals to yethe Treasury some of wchwhich are Mr Tho Chambers, Mr Geo. Clark, Mr IJohn Essington, Mr Henry Robinson, Collonel Parker Mr Richard Iones above mentioned, Mr Wood, Mr Holloway & Mr Pye, several of whom proposed that the farthings & Halfe pence coined in King Charles time should be the standard of the metal & that in six months time there has been but three tons of copper delivered into the Mint tho the people are in great want of Copper money: in answer to: in answer to all this it is represented that [There is no contract made with the persons who supply the Mint with copper but they cantcast upon their good behaviour that the first four sent] the Copper money coined in the reign of King Charles was of Swedish Copper manufactured into blanks in Swedeland where the copper & workmanship is cheaper then in England, that no finer Copper was proposed by any of the persons above mentioned then that wchwhich which will spread red hot under the great hammers of the battering mills till it be as thin as the half pence & farthings,. & that such copper is accounted as fine as King Charles's money, that the copper of wchwhich the copper money is to be now brought into the Mint is assayed by tryin battering it both red hot & cold till it be as thin as paper, & no better 452assay can be had in the Mint. that Copper wchwhich beares this assay is not inferior to the Copper wchwhich beares the assay of the battering Mill or not above a farthing in the pound weight, that inferior to it, that [when the Officers of the Mint gave the Proposers a meeting to heare them upon their Proposals that Mr Wood who] the working of Copper into barrs of due size & fineness for making of money is manufacture not357not yet practised in England & therefor it therefore not yet ripe for a contract before the trial that Mr Chambers, Mr Essington & Mr Robinson & (I think) Mr Clark are partners & some of them proposed to do it by the battering mills first at 22 d & afterwards at 19d per Lwt, Mr IonesHolloway proposed to do it by the battering mill at 16d a rate amounting also to about 19d per Lwt & Mr Jones at 18d. per Lwt Those that now supply the Mint with copper do it at 18d per Lwtpoundweight. & It four months before the Gravers of the Mint had finished their Mr Pye proposed in the name of Mr Neale Mearchant & Company proposed to deliver copper in barrs wchwhich would stand the assay at both ends at 17d, but could not under take the flatting & drawing thru the mill to a proper size, at that rate & nealing & scouring at that rate. Mr Wood was then in the Country & his so proposed to deliver Plates of fine rolled Copper fit for the Mint at 17d per Lwtpoundweight but being absent in the country his son appeared for him at the Mint & went away again without speaking with the officers of the Mint about his fathers Proposal. Mr Parker is partnered with Mr Wood & these two have since not since offered to be imployed without entring into a contract. The persons now imploying do not act upon a contract. They are only upon tryal, & if they do not performmake good their Proposals, they may be laid aside at any time. To make the Embosments & Puncheons & take off some Dyes from them was a work of four months or above. Since that time they have begun to bring Copper into the Mint & have made trials of several methods of manufacturing it, & are still making further trials, & if it had not been for the importunity of the people, no money would have been delivered till these trials had been over & the best method fixed upon. And now if any of the Petitioners or any other worker in Copper will for a trial furnish the Mint with a Ton or two of Copper monthly wchwhich well sized & scoured & which shall beare the assay and of now used in the Mint it sha at 18d per Lwtpoundweight or under, he shall meet with encouragement suitable to the goodness of the workmanship & the lowness of the price. But it is not reasonable that the persons whose Proposals have been rejected should be be witnesses in their own cause.
that the Proposers here mentioned cannot be witnesses in their own cause but recourse must be had to the assays themselves of the copper — that within these five years copper is risen 3d in the pound weight & the manufacture is now dearer in England then 40 years ago in Swedeland & yeta pound weight is cut into no more wchwhich in the reign of King Charles was cut into 20d is now cut into no more then 23d tho the workmans by be dearer in England then in Swedeland..