Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 4.djvu/420

400 thirteen per cent. additional on the exchange, from the condition of the English currency; while the Protector, on his side, would pay interest in 'kerseys, lead, and bell-metal.' The lead and bells he would take from the churches and chantries; the kerseys, it is to be hoped in charity, he did not purchase of the manufacturers in the base coin which they were compelled to accept as genuine. Never before, and never since, has an English Government been reduced to shifts so scandalous.

The relations with France were more dangerous than if war had been declared. From many quarters the Protector was warned that an attack would be made on Boulogne in the summer. The council entreated him to reinforce the garrison, but he was busy with his own