as my duty,
so far as God hath enabled me, and as long as I keep within the bounds
of truth, of duty, and of decency, to warn my fellow-subjects, as they
value their King, their country, and all that ought or can be dear to
them, never to admit this pernicious coin; no not so much as one single
halfpenny. For, if one single thief forces the door, it is in vain to
talk of keeping out the whole crew behind.

And, while I shall be thus employed, I will never give myself leave to
suppose, that what I say can either offend my Lord Lieutenant; whose
person and great qualities I have always highly respected; (as I am sure
his excellency will be my witness) or the ministers in England, with
whom I have nothing to do, or they with me; much less the Privy-council
here, who, as I am informed, did send an address to His Majesty against
Mr. Wood's coin; which, if it be a mistake, I desire I may not be
accused for a spreader of false news: But, I confess, I am so great a
stranger to affairs, that for anything I know, the whole body of the
council may since have been changed: And, although I observed some of
the very same names in a late declaration against that coin, which I saw
subscribed to the proclamation against the Drapier; yet possibly they
may be different persons; for they are utterly unknown to me, and are
like to continue so.

In this controversy, where the reasoners on each side are divided by St.
George's Channel, His Majesty's prerogative, perhaps, would not have
been mentioned; if Mr. Wood, and his advocates, had not made it
necessary, by giving out, that the currency of his coin should be
enforced by a proclamation. The traders and common people of the
kingdom, were heartily willing to refuse this coin; but the fear of a
proclamation brought along with it most dreadful apprehensions. It was
therefore, absolutely necessary for the Drapier, to remove this
difficulty; and accordingly, in one of his former pamphlets, he hath
produced invincible arguments, (wherever he picked them up) that the
King's prerogative was not at all concerned in the matter; since the law
had sufficiently provided against any coin to be imposed upon the
subject, except gold and silver; and that copper is not money, but as it
hath been properly called _nummorum famulus_.

The three former letters from the Drapier, having not received any
public censure, I look upon them to be without exception; and that the
good people of the kingdom ought to