Politics and Money

Abstract

“Of all Beings that have Existence only in the Minds of Men, nothing is more fantastical and nice than Credit,” opined Charles Davenant in his Discourses on the Publick Revenues, and on the Trade of England (1698); “’Tis never to be forc’d; it hangs upon Opinion; it depends upon our Passions of Hope and Fear; it comes many times unsought for, and often goes away without Reason; and when once lost, is hardly to be quite recover’d.”1 Davenant’s observations may well have reflected bitter personal experience. As a young man he loaned money to the crown, receiving public appointments and a parliamentary seat in Saint Ives as repayment, but no money. In the 1680s he traveled widely across England’s southern and western counties in his capacity as an excise commissioner, developing an interest in the relationship between provincial commerce and the emerging national state. Following the Glorious Revolution he lost this public position and, still deeply in debt, pursued a career writing about politics, economics, and public finance. Davenant contributed to debates urging the expansion of international commerce and the financing of England’s war against France, as well as the recoinage of English currency and establishment of the Board of Trade. His enthusiasm for overseas trade and the imperial state sat uneasily with his Tory associates’ determination to preserve land and agriculture as the foundation of national well-being. Characteristic of the time, some accused him of compromising his principles in pursuit of sinecures under Whig control, while others suspected him of being a Jacobite. The accession of Queen Anne restored Davenant to favor and office. As inspector general of exports and imports he earned £1,000 a year, still not sufficient to save him from falling further in debt. He died a poor and frustrated man. reviews of books 591