Series of Pamphlets: The Drapier's Letters

Context

In 1724 Jonathan Swift, writing under the persona "M. B., Drapier", launched a series of public letters opposing a royal patent granted to the English entrepreneur William Wood to mint £108, 000 in copper halfpence for Ireland. The patent, issued from London without consultation with the Irish Parliament, ignited fear that an overissue of low-quality coin would drain silver from the island, depress prices paid to Irish producers, and tighten English control over Irish economic life. Swift seized the moment to turn a dispute about coinage into a constitutional and national question.

Persona and Strategy

Swift adopts the voice of a plain, honest Dublin draper, credible to shopkeepers and tradesmen, yet audacious enough to address nobility and clergy. The Drapier speaks in lucid, vernacular prose, mixing practical arithmetic with moral indignation and citing the rights of "a free people". By feigning modesty and common sense, he renders complex constitutional claims graspable and safe from direct charges of treason, even as he pushes readers toward civil resistance.

Arguments and Appeals

At the heart of the letters lies a set of interlocking claims. First, coinage is an emblem of sovereignty; to impose a national medium without consent of the Irish legislature is an unlawful encroachment. Second, copper is small change, never meant to be forced tender beyond trifles; no man is obliged to accept a flood of base metal in settlement of debts. Third, economic harm would follow from Gresham’s law: bad copper would drive out good silver, impoverishing farmers and shopkeepers as prices and wages adjusted against them. Finally, the patent is tainted by favoritism and distance: a private English projectors’ windfall, approved in London and tested in English assay rooms, overrules Irish experience and interest.

The Drapier urges practical measures, most notably a principled refusal to accept the halfpence, while calling for unity across ranks: tradesmen, farmers, merchants, gentry, and clergy to act as one Irish public. He frames boycott as legal prudence, not rebellion, and threads his rhetoric with appeals to antiquated rights, common law maxims, and Scripture, turning thrift and patriotism into civic virtue.

Escalation and Government Response

The letters spread rapidly through Dublin and the provinces. Authorities prosecuted the printer, John Harding; Chief Justice William Whitshed harried grand juries to indict for seditious libel; proclamations denounced the pamphlets; and a public reward was offered for the author’s discovery. The Drapier, maintaining anonymity, taunted officials while scrupulously avoiding explicit incitement. Each new letter widened its audience, from shopkeepers, to the nobility and gentry, to the whole people of Ireland, raising the stakes with measured boldness. As copper pieces were refused in markets and taverns, the controversy transformed from a technical question into a mass movement.

Outcome and Legacy

Under sustained public pressure, and mindful of Irish unrest, Robert Walpole’s ministry withdrew Wood’s patent in 1725. Swift emerged as a national hero, celebrated not only for defeating a particular economic imposition but for articulating a broader constitutional principle: that Irish interests must not be overridden without Irish consent. The Drapier’s Letters fused economic reasoning, legal argument, and accessible style into a model of effective political pamphleteering. Their success helped crystallize an Irish patriot tradition, proving that disciplined public opinion, expressed through pen, press, and marketplace, could check imperial policy.