The Drapier's Letters

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The Drapier's Letters is the collective name for a series of seven pamphlets written by Jonathan Swift in 1724 and 1725 to arouse public opinion in Ireland against the imposition of a privately-minted copper coinage of inferior quality. As the subject was politically sensitive, Swift wrote under the pseudonym M. B. Drapier.

Contents 1 Background 2 Pamphleteering 3 The Pamphlets 4 References in Swift's later works 5 References

[edit] Background

In 1722, a man called William Wood was granted a patent to produce copper coinage to the value of £108,000 for use in Ireland. The patent had been secured by a bribe of £10,000 to the Duchess of Kendal, mistress to King George I, and assays showed the coins to be significantly underweight, undersized and made from inferior materials. Despite this, they were approved for use in Ireland, though not technically as legal tender.

[edit] Pamphleteering

Johnathan Swift, then Dean of St Patrick's in Dublin, was already known for his concern for the Irish people, having written several pamphlets on the subject already. One of these, Proposal for the Universal use of Irish Manufacture (1720) had so inflamed the English authorities that the printer was prosecuted although the pamphlet had done little more than recommend the Irish use what they made rather than exporting it to England. Swift's political pamphleteering had been honed during the Tory Government of Queen Anne when he had been, in modern terms, a spin doctor and the obvious disadvantages of Wood's inferior coinage were forensically detailed in the first of the pamphlets A Letter to the Tradespeople and Shopkeepers of Ireland (1724).

Six more pamphlets of further invective and declamation followed over the next few months and ultimately public opinion was so hostile to Wood's coinage that the patent was withdrawn in 1725. A significant reward of £300 was at one stage offered for the identity of the drapier but Johnathan Swift was not arrested or charged.

[edit] The Pamphlets

1. "To the Tradesmen, Shop-Keepers, Farmers, and Country-People in General, of the Kingdom of Ireland"
2. "A Letter to Mr. Harding the Printer, upon Occasion of a Paragraph in his News-Paper of August 1st, relating to Mr. Wood's Half-Pence."
3. "Some Observations upon a Paper, called, The Report of the Committee of the Most honourable the Privy Council in England, relating to Wood's Half-pence."
4. "To the whole People of Ireland"
   • "Seasonable Advice to the Grand-Jury, concering the Bill preparing against the Printer of the preceding Letter"
   • "An Extract of a book, entituled, An exact Collection of the Debates of the House of Commons, held at Westminster, Oct. 21 1680."
   • "The Presentment of the Grand-Jury of the County of the City of Dublin"
5. "A Letter To the Honourable the Lord Viscount Molesworth, at his House at Brackdenstown, near Swords."
   • "Advertisement to the Reader."
6. "A Letter To the Lord Chancellor Middleton"
7. "An Humble Address to Both Houses of Parliament"
   • "A full and true Account of the solemn Procession to the Gallows, at the Execution of William Wood, Esquire, and Hard-ware-man."

[edit] References in Swift's later works

At least three of Swift's later works refer to the Drapier campaign. These are :

• A Modest Proposal (1729) contains a passing reference to Swift's earlier Irish pamphlets
• Lines on the Death of Doctor Swift, DSPD (1732) reveals Swift as the Drapier in a footnote
• Gulliver's Travels (1726), in a passage in Book III not printed until 1899, allegorises the campaign as the revolt of "Lindalino"

[edit] References

• Text of The Drapier's Letters from Project Gutenberg

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