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Not sent
Sept 6 1791?
My dear Lord
The Principles on which the Mint officers consider the Coinage of Hanoverian money as Extra work no doubt is that no such coinage is mentiond in the indenture & of course no price is fixd for the execution of it, but as the coinage of Hanoverian Gold & Silver cannot be in one way more costly to the workmen than that of English there can be no reason justifiable Reason for demanding additional pay
The case of the Bank tokens however is very like that of the Hanoverian gold when it was proposed to Lord Bathurst that an Extra Price for our coinage of these pieces should be allowd by the Bank his Lordship did me the honor to communicate with me on the subject. I objected to any additional price as the Labor of coining a three shilling Token could not be greater than that necessary for of coining half a crown. Ld B- good returnd answer was these gentlemen have now been hungry for some year. Let them now get a good meal & so the matter was settled not on the Principle of Justice but on that of humanity generosity
The Present case comes much more on the Person of the Master of the Mint than the former did for the sum of [indecipherable] in gold cannot in any way be executed without exceeding the allotted amount of the sum appropriated to the support of the mint on application or to Parliament for the means of Liquidating the debt that will be incurred must follow & this tho formerly common has not of late years occurrd The consequence may be an enquiry whether in the new mint the manufacture of coin is cheaper than it was in the old one The Commissioners of Public Account will be employd where notions of economy are such as in my judgement will place the establishment on a far less comfortable footing than I hoped to have seen had your Lordship fixd the salaries
Mr M, Mr B & some others of the mint dined with me yesterday from them I learnd that the Present business began with the check officers whose situation is limited incomes keep them eternaly on the Fret & Ready to embrace any chance of improvement The working side of the mint seized the opportunity of laying claim to their share of the Bonus should the check officers be successfull the working side do not however appear at all sanguine as to the success