418 Money and Money ers. 



present officers of the Mint who should be removed; it was 

 proposed too that the Treasury should contract with the Bank 

 for coinage, and that the Bank should undertake the remittance 

 of all money for foreign parts. It is needless to say that this 

 bill never became part of the law of the land ; and that the 

 Mint, with all its faults and shortcomings, remained unscathed 

 by Mr. Burke's onslaught. 



In 1806, and some years after the pressure upon the Royal 

 Mint had necessitated the employment of contractors to sup- 

 plement its exertions by the production of large quantities of 

 copper coin, the erection of the present noble institution on 

 Tower Hill for the manufacture of coin was commenced. It 

 was fitted with powerful machinery, made principally by Messrs. 

 Rennie, and Messrs. Boulton and Watt; and in 1810 the first 

 coinage — one of copper — took place thereat. The years 1815, 

 1816, and 1817, witnessed considerable changes in the Mint 

 organization and constitution. One of the principal of these 

 was that the master or his deputy, the king's assayer, the 

 comptroller, the king's clerk, and the superintendent of ma- 

 chinery—a new officer appointed to have charge of the steam- 

 engines and machinery recently erected — were constituted a 

 Mint Board, for the management of the affairs of the Mint. 

 Another was, that the moneyer's rates, which had previously 

 been fixed and mentioned in and by the indenture, were left to 

 form the subject of a separate agreement, terminable at three 

 months' notice, between the mint-master and the money ers. 

 In 1815 a statute was passed to provide for the new silver 

 coinage then undertaken, and this contained many important 

 enactments, which space unfortunately forbids further reference 

 to. In 1817 the ancient office of warden was abolished, and 

 the duties, powers, and authorities pertaining to it were trans- 

 ferred to the master and worker. In 1837 a Select Committee 

 of the House of Commons was appointed to inquire into the 

 establishment of the Mint, and much important information was 

 elicited by it. The death of King William IV., and the sub- 

 sequent dissolution of Parliament, prevented any action being 

 taken upon the report of that committee; and until the year 

 1848 the imperium inimperio of the Corporation of Money ers 

 remained unquestioned, or at least, undisturbed. The end of 

 their long reign, however, was approaching. In the last-named 

 year a Royal Commission was appointed for the purpose of "in- 

 quiring into and reporting upon the constitution, management, 

 and expense of our Royal Mint." This commission was com- 

 posed of Richard Lalor Shcil, master and worker of the Mint, 

 William Cotton, Esq., Sir Edward Pine Coffin, and Colonel 

 William Nairn Forbes; and Mr. Joseph Burnley Hume was 

 appointed their secretary. 



