Letter concerning the exchange of currency with Sweden, with an extract from a relevant treaty

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To the RtRight HonbleHonourable the Lords CommrsCommissioners of His MajtiesMajesties Treasury.

May it please yoryour LordpsLordships

In obedience to yoryour LordpsLordships Order of Reference signified to me by Mr Tilson's letter of yethe 5t Instant, that I should report the value of Imperial Dollars both intrinsecally & by way of Exchange with Sweden: I humbly represent that the specie Rixdollars are coined of several values by several Princes of the Empire from 4s 4d to 4s 8d. But in Books of Exchange the Rix dollar is valued at 48 schellings Lubs of Hamburgh, at 48 styvers of Antwerp, at 50 styvers of Amsterdam & at 4s 6d English. There is also a Common Dollar of the Empire in respect of wchwhich the Gulde or Guilder is usually marked $\frac{2}{3}$ to signify that it is two thirds of this Dollar. The Gulde us 24 Marien Grosch the Common Dollar 36 Marien Grosh & the Rix dollar two Gulden, so that the common Dollar is three quarters of the Rix Dollar. The difficulty is to know whether by the Imperial Dollar be meant the Common Dollar of the Empire or the Rix Dollar.

If any payments have been made to Sweden since the Treaty of

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IJanuary 1700, the Precedent is to be followed as the best interpreter of the Treaty. If none; I am told that the Imperial Dollar is sometimes taken for the common Dollar but more usually for the Rix Dollar, & that the word Reichs or Rycks Thalere signifies imperial Dollar. But I am not skilled in the German language. In the weekly Tables of Exchange with London, the number set over against Hamburgh signifies the number of Bank schelling and deneirs to be paid or received at Hamburgh 5.

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for one pound sterling at London: & 35

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schellings are at a par with one pound sterling. How the exchange is between London & Stockholm I do not find in the Tables. But by the Treaty the money is to be paid at London to the Order of the Crown of Sweden. He is to receive at London 288000 Imperial Dollars, & if these be Rix Dollars they amount unto 64800 pounds sterling. All wchwhich is most humbly submitted to yoryour LordpsLordships great wisdome Is. Newton Mint Office 12 Apr. 1720. 184 Extract of the Treaty between Great Britain & Sueden. Signed at yethe Hague & London

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Ianry. 1700. ArtArticle 9 Vtrique tamen Confoederatorum et imprimis Auxilium requirenti liberum sit eligere, utrum supranominatum Exercitum, vel totum vel partem tantum modo ejusdem in Militibus, vel apparatu bellico, Munitione, Commeatu, Navibus et illis rebus, quæ ad earum Instructionem requiruntur, habere velit, eâ tamen Æstimatione inita, ut pro singulis mille peditibus quolibet Mense usque ad finem Belli quatuor millia imperialium Thalerorum computentur, de quâ Æstimatione utriusque partis Commissarÿ sine cunctatione, bona fide convenient. 186 Extrait de la Convention entre la Grande Bretagne & la Suede. Stockholm

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d'Aout 1719. ArtArticle 4 Et pour rendre ce Subside d'autant plus efficace et capable de Servir à la Couronne de Suede dans necessité presente, le sus dit Roy de la Grande Bretagne promet & s'engage que dans quinze jours après la Signature de la presente Convention, le Subside entier d'une Anneé c'est à Scavoir la Somme de deux cents quatre vingt huit mille Thalers Imperiaux Sera tout à la fois, et dans un Seul payement consigné à Londres à la personne que la Maté.Maté. Suedoise voudra y autoriser pour la recevoir. Extrait de la Convention entre la Grande Bretagne & la Suede. Stockholme

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. Aout 1719. Sr.Sir Isaac Newton Read 12th. April 1720