'Monkey' Business

Abstract


 
 
 The publication of the ‘College’ letters in Esmond de Beer’s magnificent edition of Locke’s correspondence cast important new light on how William III’s government came to adopt the plan for the Great Recoinage of 1696—involvement with which had long been regarded as the philosopher’s most significant foray into practical politics. These letters, written by John Freke on behalf of Locke’s friend Edward Clarke (one of the Junto Whig managers in the Commons), in the course of the fifteen months from the setting up of a committee for the reform of the coinage in January 1694/5 to the end of March 1696, transformed the picture of how the ministry reached its decision on recoinage. They revealed serious divisions between Locke’s patron, the Lord Keeper, Sir John Somers, and Charles Montague, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, over how to implement the recoinage. These related not only to the question whether to maintain the existing sterling silver standard of 5s. 2d. per ounce, or devalue, but also to the terms and timing of withdrawing the clipped coin which by late 1695 constituted the bulk of the circulating medium and whose increasing unacceptability threatened public confidence in the currency. This more complex narrative replaced the long dominant view (classically formulated by Macaulay) of harmonious co-operation between Montague and Somers and their advisers Locke and Newton, already challenged by Ming-Hsun Li’s revelation in 1940 that Newton had actually recommended devaluation. The new interpretation, advanced in de Beer’s notes to the Locke Correspondence and elaborated in my introduction to Locke on Money, depended on the identification of the politician termed ‘the Monkey’ in the ‘College’ correspondence as Charles Montague. Together with other evidence, the ‘College’s’ cryptic references to the Monkey suggested that despite sponsoring the legislation for carrying out the 1696 Recoinage on retentionist principles, Montague had personally favoured a policy of devaluation. And that he subsequently attempted, in association with the rest of the Treasury Commission, to force through a devaluation of silver in February and March 1696 by retaining a high value for guineas, a move that ultimately proved unsuccessful.