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Show NEVER PUT IN CIRCULATION Dean SvIft'g Notable Victory In Cam. palgn Against Unpopular Coin De- igned for Ireland. Wood' halfpence, which was t hnvo boon pluced for nse In Ireland by flreat lirltuln about 200 years ago, was never circulated In Erin, as a result of the efforts of Jonathan Swift, at the time demi of St. Patrick's In Dublin, Dub-lin, where ho was In "exile," and who had for ten years previously been attacking at-tacking the attitude of the British toward Ireland. Swift's fight against the circulation of the coin came when Great Britain decided to farm out the contract for their manufacture to a certain William Wil-liam Wood, on condition that he should pay the government 1.000 pounds a year for 14 years. In his famous Drapler letters Swift gradually gradual-ly built up a picture of the ruin which Woods halfpence were destined to bring nporj Ireland. The government became alarmed. A report to the privy council made In July, 1724, defended de-fended the pntent to Wood, but recommended recom-mended that the amount to ba colued should be reduced. In the end Lord Carteret was sent to Ireland as lord lieutenant to endeavor en-deavor to settle the matter on the basis of this compromise. Lord Carteret Car-teret offered a reward of 300 pounds for the discovery of the author of the Dm pier letters, and ordered a prosecution prosecu-tion against the printer upon his arrival. ar-rival. Swift boldly reproached him with his tyranny, then looked calmly on while the grand Jury threw out the bill against the printer In spite of all the efforts of the chief Justice to secure se-cure Its return. The next grand jury . presented Wood's halfpence as a nuisance nui-sance which marked the end of It all, the coin never circiilnting In Ireland. |