It was suggested to remedy this that all clipped coin after a certain date would be exchanged for good coin at the mint. But it was soon realized that this would make clipping more profitable than ever. A real remedy was devised but unhappily it fell through. A proclamation was to be prepared with great secrecy, and published simultaneously in all parts of the kingdom. This was to declare hammered coin should thenceforth only pass by weight. Every possessor of such coin could within three days deliver it in a sealed packet to the local authorities to be weighed and would receive a promissory note to receive from the Treasury the difference between the actual quantity of silver the pieces contained and the quantity they should have contained. Anxious days followed in Parliament, but it was determined the public should bear the loss on the clipped coins. It was laid down that a time should be fixed when no clipped money should pass, except in payments to the Government, and that a later time should be fixed after which no clipped money should pass at all. The 4th of May, 1696, was named as the date on which the Government would cease to receive clipped money in payment of taxes. Ten furnaces were erected in a garden behind the Treasury, which was then a part of Whitehall, and which lay between the Banqueting House and the river. Every day huge heaps of clipped and unrecognizable coins were here turned into ingots of silver and were sent off to the Mint at the Tower (_L’Hermitage_, January 14-24, 1696). The scene may readily be imagined. The second of May 1696 had been fixed by Parliament as the last day in which the crowns, half-crowns, and shillings were to be received in payment of taxes for face value. The guards had to be called in to keep order. The Exchequer was besieged by a vast multitude from dawn to midnight. The Act provided that the money was to be brought in by before the 4th of May. The 3rd was a Sunday, therefore Saturday, the 2nd of May, was actually the last day. During the next few months, as the issues of the new coinage were unduly slow, the tension was very great. The upper classes lived on credit. “Money exceeding scarce, so that none was paid or received: but all was on trust” (_Evelyn’s Diary_, May 13th). “Want of current money for smallest concerns even for daily provisions in the markets.” (June 11th, _Evelyn’s Diary_.) By about August 1696, signs of prosperity began to be observed after a very trying time owing to the scarcity of silver. Undoubtedly it was a very anxious period for the Government. Malcontents stirred up the populace and tumults occurred in various parts of the country. Jacobite tracts were published advocating violent measures. William had strained his private credit in Holland to procure bread for the Army. But the crisis was weathered and the coinage question was settled.