When  Elizabeth  came  to  the  throne  both  sovereign  and  people
were  miserably  poor. The  base  money  had  driven  the  working
classes  to  beggary,  and  England,  once  the  most  powerful  of  Western
States,  was  of  little  more  account  in  the  poHcy  of  Europe  than  a
petty  German  princedom  was. The  queen's  first  task  and  first  duty
was  to  reform  the  currency. But  she  could  not  afford  to  make  good
her  father's  and  brother's  dishonesty. It  would  have  cost  her  five
years  of  her  revenue. The  details  of  Henry's  crime,  and  the  details
of  Elizabeth's  remedy,  I  must  postpone  till  I  deal  with  the  question
of  metallic  currencies  in  England. It  was  necessary  that  I  should
say  as  much  as  I  have  said  in  order  that  we  may  have  Ught  where-
with to  follow  the  fortunes  of  the  English  labourer. His  guild
lands,  the  benefit  societies  of  the  Middle  Ages,  which  systematically
relieved  destitution,  were  stolen  by  the  greedy  leader  of  the  new
aristocracy,  he  had  suffered  eighteen  years'  experience  of  a  debased
currency,  prices  rose  150  per  cent.,  and  the  wages  of  labour  were
almost  stationary. Wages  do  not  rise  with  prices. To  assert  that
they  do,  or  will,  is  either  ignorance  or  dishonesty. During  the  few
years  which  followed  on  the  great  American  Civil  War,  and  a  crew
of  sharpers,  among  other  dishonest  actions,  had  insisted  on,  and  for
a  time  maintained,  an  inconvertible  paper  currency,  the  condition
of  workmen  in  the  United  States  was  very  distressful. But  it  was
not  so  bad  as  the  condition  of  the  working  classes  was  in  England
after  the  great  queen's  accession  in  1558. There  were  people  at
that  time  who  wished  to  continue  the  circulation  of  base  money,  as
they  made  a  large  profit  on  discounting  it. In  the  American  case
an  Englishman,  seated  as  an  economist  in  an  academical  office,  was
tempted,  because  his  vanity  was  flattered,  to  defend  the  practice  of
the  Wall  Street  junto  of  soft  money  gamblers. In  the  days  of  the
English  base  money. 