Thesecondeventwasthebountyupontheexportationofcorngrantedin1688。Thebounty，ithasbeenthoughtbymanypeople，byencouragingtillage，may，inalongcourseofyears，haveoccasionedagreaterabundance，andconsequentlyagreatercheapnessofcorninthehome—marketthanwhatwouldotherwisehavetakenplacethere。Howfarthebountycouldproducethiseffectatanytime，Ishallexaminehereafter;Ishallonlyobserveatpresentthat，between1688and1700，ithadnottimetoproduceanysucheffect。Duringthisshortperioditsonlyeffectmusthavebeen，byencouragingtheexportationofthesurplusproduceofeveryyear，andtherebyhinderingtheabundanceofoneyearfromcompensatingthescarcityofanother，toraisethepriceinthehome—market。ThescarcitywhichprevailedinEnglandfrom1693to1699，bothinclusive，thoughnodoubtprincipallyowingtothebadnessoftheseasons，and，therefore，extendingthroughaconsiderablepartofEurope，musthavebeensomewhatenhancedbythebounty。In1699，accordingly，thefurtherexportationofcornwasprohibitedforninemonths。
Therewasathirdeventwhichoccurredinthecourseofthesameperiod，andwhich，thoughitcouldnotoccasionanyscarcityofcorn，nor，perhaps，anyaugmentationintherealquantityofsilverwhichwasusuallypaidforit，mustnecessarilyhaveoccasionedsomeaugmentationinthenominalsum。Thiseventwasthegreatdebasementofthesilvercoin，byclippingandwearing。
ThisevilhadbeguninthereignofCharlesIIandhadgoneoncontinuallyincreasingtill1695;atwhichtime，aswemaylearnfromMr。Lowndes，thecurrentsilvercoinwas，atanaverage，nearfive—and—twentypercentbelowitsstandardvalue。Butthenominalsumwhichconstitutesthemarketpriceofeverycommodityisnecessarilyregulated，notsomuchbythequantityofsilver，which，accordingtothestandard，oughttobecontainedinit，asbythatwhich，itisfoundbyexperience，actuallyiscontainedinit。Thisnominalsum，therefore，isnecessarilyhigherwhenthecoinismuchdebasedbyclippingandwearingthanwhenneartoitsstandardvalue。
Inthecourseofthepresentcentury，thesilvercoinhasnotatanytimebeenmorebelowitsstandardweightthanitisatpresent。Butthoughverymuchdefaced，itsvaluehasbeenkeptupbythatofthegoldcoinforwhichitisexchanged。Forthoughbeforethelaterecoinage，thegoldcoinwasagooddealdefacedtoo，itwaslesssothanthesilver。In1695，onthecontrary，thevalueofthesilvercoinwasnotkeptupbythegoldcoin;aguineathencommonlyexchangingforthirtyshillingsofthewornandcliptsilver。Beforethelaterecoinageofthegold，thepriceofsilverbullionwasseldomhigherthanfiveshillingsandsevenpenceanounce，whichisbutfivepenceabovethemintprice。
Butin1695，thecommonpriceofsilverbullionwassixshillingsandfivepenceanounce，whichisfifteenpenceabovethemintprice。Evenbeforethelaterecoinageofthegold，therefore，thecoin，goldandsilvertogether，whencomparedwithsilverbullion，wasnotsupposedtobemorethaneightpercentbelowitsstandardvalue。In1695，onthecontrary，ithadbeensupposedtobenearfive—and—twentypercentbelowthatvalue。