In 1620 there was a great scarcity of silver in the country, and the trade of the Eastland merchant was gone--a scarcity and decay which they attributed "to the rise of foreign coin, especially that of Poland and Holland, during the last four years in which the Hollanders have farmed the King of Poland's Mint." The export of cloth had sunk to one-third the output of the previous year. By May 1621 the situation had become pressing. The secret export of money still continued, and it was again proposed to register bills of exchange, and also to make Spanish and French coins current in the country. In June the Privy Council issued circulars to the East India, Turkey, French, Eastland, and Spanish companies, and the Company of Merchant-Adventurers--practically the whole mercantile corporation of London--desiring them to choose experienced persons from each of these companies, to consult upon the best means of managing the exchange of monies, so as to encourage the import of silver, and prevent its export. Their statement on the 17th June was simply that the export was due to the under-valuation of the English monies. The Council considered their report on the following day, and ordered it to be further considered, "but the Lords think it best for some agreement to be made with neighbouring states for a due correspondence in the value of the coins now used." [Sidenote: ENGLAND: THE CRISIS OF 1622] But while the Lords of the Council talked of treaties the crisis came. By the end of the year there was no money in the country, and trade was at a standstill. In February 1622, Locke informs Carleton "money is very scarce. In the clothing counties the poor have assembled in troops of forty or fifty, and gone to houses of the rich and demanded meat and money, which has been given through fear. The Lords ordered the clothiers to keep their people at work, but as they complained that they cannot sell their cloth, usurers and monied men though not in the trade are ordered to buy it." In March the Justices write from Gloucestershire: "The people begin to steal, and many are starving; all trades are decayed; money very scarce." Stocks of cloth accumulated in the London "halls" or warehouses of the various districts, and notes of them were submitted to the Privy Council. Pieces unsold. Gloucester, Worcester, Reading, Somerset, and Suffolk Hall, and Blackwell Hall, 433 Manchester Hall 853 ("Besides many in the country which are not sent off for want of a market.") Storehouse for Gloucester, Worcester, Kent, Somerset 1163 (Mostly belonging to Kent.) Wiltshire Hall 560 Northern Hall 5159