staple was brought to London to the loss of the Merchands but advantage of the King who got by it 1200 pound that year Knighton § 5. 27. E. 3. This year a great advantage befel the Nation for because the young Earle of Flanders maried not with the King's Daughter as he had promised but with the Daughter of France or because the Flemings observed not the agreements which the King made in the life-time of Jaques de Arteville who procured of the King that the Marts might be kept in several Towns in Flanders the King removed the Staples and Marts of wooll from the Earls Towns establishing them in several Towns of England Newcastle Canterbury c. Some of which not being Port-Towns he afterwards changed for such and withall regulated the whole trade with certain ordinances for which I refer you to the Statutes § 6. 27. E. 3. 50 s were given the King by Act of Parliament on every sack of wooll transported By which grant it was thought the King receaved 1000 marks per diem Holin § 7. 37. E. 3. The Staple was removed to Callice putting the Town into the hands of certain Merchants that the Trade might be the more secure for them And not long after it was again returned to Towns in England but most of them Port-Towns for it was very usual to remove the Staples Holin 38. Ed. 3. was granted to the King 26 s-8 d of every sack of wooll transported for 3. years § 8. What was ordained by our succeeding Princes was either in conformation or regulation of what was already established according to the advantage of the King and People But that is very remarkable which is recorded by Hen. de Knighton 14. R. 2. being a case somewhat like ours at this present He describing a great dearth and calamity of the poor in this Nation tho there was Corn enough laid up in private hands to serve the whole Nation five years neither was the Corn then at any extraordinary price at last gives the reason of it to be want of money and this he ascribes to the not vending our wooll whereof he saies some men had 3 others 4 years wooll upon their hands tho now there be many who have 5 years-wooll unsold And this came to pass saith he because the English Merchants were forbid transporting wooll wherefore the year following liberty was granted them to transport wooll whither they pleased In those daies saith he wooll was so cheap that a stone of the best chosen wooll was sold for 3 s and in Leister for 2 s or 20 d pence Now three shillings in those daies was as much as 9 s at present and therefore dearer by 3 s a stone then it is sold for at present 6 s being a good price at this time § 9. 8. H. 6. An act was made to regulate the Merchandstrangers who exported our wooll and An. 27. H. 6. It was decreed that till our Cloths were accepted in Brabant no marchandice growing or wrought there should be brought into England upon pain of forfeiture § 10. 3. E. 4. An act was made concerning exportation of wooll and then it was likewise ordered that no cloth wrought beyond Sea should be brought into England none should buy woolls except he wrought it himself till after Bartholmewtide and 22. H. 8. not till after the Ascension of our Lady nor a stranger before the Purification no woollen yarne or cloth should be exported unfull'd and 3. H. 8. none undressed And an 1 of Queen Mary as also in the first of Queen Elizabeth their Parliaments gave them 33 s 4 d on every sack of wooll and every 240 woolfells transported by a Native 3 pound 6 s-8 d on the same transported by strangers and this to continue during their lives § 11. An. 1. Jac. A subsidy upon wooll transported was granted the King for his life-time a denizen was to pay 33s 4 d. a stranger 3 pound 6 s 8 d for every sack And there has not been a Prince from Ed. 3. to Ch. 1. who have not gained considerable revenues by the exporting wooll III. Out of which collections you may observe 1. That this wooll-trade beyond Sea was alwaies accounted a very great advantage both to the King and Subjects Which was the reason why it was so carefully managed and more laws about it then any one Subject whatsoever Nay scarce has there been any Parliament since the beginning of E. 3. wherein somwhat hath not been established concerning it 2. That no absolute prohibition of exporting it was ever enacted till the Reign of Char. 1. nor then till 1647. at which time neither could he be said to Reign Temporary ones indeed there have been but those of ill consequence to the Nation 3. That sumptuary laws concerning wearing vending our Cloth and the like were alwaies enacted pari passu with those concerning wooll-working For it is very advantagious to the Kingdom that much of it should be spent here Whereby many workmen would be maintained and less forein unnecessary trifles imported which now take away much of our money 4. That it was thought sufficient advantage to the Nation that they might buy wooll when and where they pleased but whatsoever wooll was sold by Strangers especially was not sold till after a certain time fixed That it was not to be bought by Brokers that what was bought by foreiners to be exported paid greater duties then what was bought by the Natitves which cautions alone if well regulated would render the exportation at this day very advantageous certainly much more then to let it putrify and moth-eat in our store-houses 5. My next reason for the permission of Exportation is because it will better his Majesties customes for it being impossible absolutely to hinder the exportation Men naturally inclining to run any hazard rather then apparent beggary by suffering their goods to perish in their hands the customs must of necessity be lessened What perishes un wrought and what is exported by stealth pay no custome But besides this it was the frequent use of our Fathers to help the Prince and ease the Subject by imposing taxes upon the wooll Exported Somtimes 50 s a pack sometimes more as occasion required which was the ordinary way being also a most easy one of gratifying the Prince If it be answered the customes would advance much more if the wooll were exported in manufacture we confess and seriously desire that our wooll were manufactured and so exported and sold Tho this was never yet done in England nor do I think can be But our question here is concerning our superfluous wooll which remains after we have here made or vended what we can after the Cloth-market is furnished or our workmens hands all emploied 6. The reason of the decay of Clothing is not exportation of wooll as W. C. supposes but the contrary For the decay if any be is since this prohibition so that by hindring this we apply a wrong remedy to
Thus by the most modest computation and such as no Man can gain-say there is lost upon every Pack of Wool 7 pound which supposing all the Wool of that Level sold it is evident 12320. pound is quite lost every year in that little place only which is very near 6s per Acre throo the whole Level lost in the Rent By which pray y' judge how many Millions are yearly lost throo all England by this want of a limited exportation Who then can shew so much cruelty as to blame poor People who to prevent some of this damage do adventure to help themselves by exportation tho they had much rather be content with a moderate price in their own Country And truly t is no wonder that W. C. complains of the difficulty and impossibility of hindring Exportation yet glories of his diligence in ruining so many poor and industrious Persons for doing what he confesseth impossible to hinder But our Superiours may conclude since t is either impossible or extream difficult to hinder Exportation and that there may arise troubles as some have been killed for indeavouring it it is much better and more natural to permit Exportation under the most advantageous terms their wisdom shall think fit For in truth is it not very absurd to imagine that because we cannot make so much of our Woolas possibly may be made that therefore we must make nothing of it like some perverse and obstinate Land-lords who chuse rather to loose all their Rent then abate the least part of it 3. A limited Exportation will be more for the advantage of our own Woollen-trade and less for that beyond Sea then the hindring of it has been For if strangers might come hither to buy the Wool tho they bought greater quantities yet should they pay dearer for it then they do at present and the dearer their Commodities are the dearer must they sell their manufacture consequently the more easily we may beat them out of their Trade For when a poor Man none else now will venture to transport it comes with a fraight of Wool into France or else where they make him take their own price for it his necessities and his danger forbid him carying home his Marchandize as well as staying there to contend for a better price but being slenderly paid for his charges and little or nothing for his pains and hazard returning thinks he comes off very well whilst undiscovered Yet to have the names of Merchants and to gain perhaps somtimes more then 12 d a day to live with more ease tho with greater hazzard possibly some may still be invited to continue this traffick notwithstanding any the severest prohibition After this manner strangers now and will hereafter have our Wooll almost as cheap as our-selves can buy it But were the Trade laid open Englishmen might still buy their wooll at reasonable prices but strangers must pay the dearer for it as the custome Officers fees fraight factorage and other charges amount unto which will perhaps be equal to the first penny paid for the Wooll it self Thus strangers shall pay twice-as-much for our Wooll as the English clothier who therefore may undersel them and make more advantage in the price of his Cloth by the exportation of Wooll then ever he did by the prohibition of it 4. My next reason against the hindring Exportation of Wool is because by our forefathers it never was prohibited unless upon some great occasion and for some small time till Anno 1647. and then also upon pretence that there was not Wool enough to furnish our own necessities Which if true might be because of the great destruction of Sheep by the Wars Yet there seems to be an other ground for that act The government of that time having been assisted in the civil Wars by great numbers of the Wooll-workmen who liked much better to Rob and plunder for halfe-a-crown a day then toile at a melancholy work for sixpence a day to incourage and reward them I say to weaken the Gentry they made this prohibition But to make this reason good let us run over the whole History or as much as we can finde either in our Acts of Parliament or creditable Historians concerning this Wooll business with all convenient brevity § 1. Tho there were several ordinances concerning Wooll in other Kings Reigns yet the Prince did not seriously begin to set himself to make the best advantage of Wool till the ninth of Edward the third at which time all Wooll-workers were invited to come and settle in England to have places assign'd them many privileges and liberties granted and wages from the King till they could gain a livelyhood by their art c. whereupon many Flemings and others chiefly Subjects to the Duke of Burgundy repaired hither and set up the manufacture of Wool in England § 2. 11. E. 3. c. 4. It was made felony to carry Wool out of the Realm till otherwise ordain'd This prohibition saith Speed was made to shew the Flemings the necessity they had of leaguing with England as soon after they did and the prohibition was taken off or as Walsingham saies to humble the Flemings qui plus saccos quam Anglos venerabantur The same year it was enacted no doubt for the better vending their Wool the Exportation whereof being prohibited made it of small value at home that none should wear other then English Cloth Except the King Queen and their Children But persons of such degrees might use forein furs and face part of their garments with Silk Also that no beyond Sea Cloths should be brought into England and that forein Cloth-workers should have several priviledges Whereupon saies Speed many presently came over § 2. 14. E. 3. Was granted to the King the 9 th Lamb 9 th Fleece and 9 th Sheaf for two Years also 40 s upon every sack of Wooll and 40 s upon every 300 Woolfels transported some say also that not long before this was granted to the King half the Wooll of the Communality and nine marks upon every sack of Wool of the Clergy By these great subsidies it is probable the King had great quantity of Wooll upon his hands and about this time the King sent the Bishop of Lincoln into Flanders with 10000 sacks of Wooll which he sold for 20 pound sterling a Sack Knighton And in his fifteenth year ordained that no Merchant or other should carry any Woolls out of the Realm till after Michaelmas by which time t is probable he had sold his own but after that every Merchand Stranger or other might freely buy and export his Wooll paying the due customes and that those who had Woolls should be compelled to sell them according to the price and sort in the Country to accomplish the Wools granted to the King which afterwards was disanulled § 4. 23. E. 3. The King stopt the Woolls in the land till the Merchants had fined with him for the same Holinsh 26. E. 3. the
the disease But it proceeds from diverse other causes as first because other Nations have of late improved their manufactures as we did in Edward the thirds time the Dutch ever since 1616. the French now lately both of them working very acurately if not more then our selves as well as more honestly by the confession of those of our own Nation Secondly Cloth is not so much worne in these parts of the World as formerly It not being now so convenient a wear as when our fashions were constant Our Clothes then were made strong to endure many years and a great part of the great-mens inventories then were their ward-robes left as Legacies to their best Friends and Children who did not despise to wear the Clothes of their Ancestors Whereas now the Mode hardly enduring two months slight stuffes are sufficient Besides when the custome was for men to wear gowns cloaks and other loose garments substantial Cloath was more proper then now it is for little breeches and a close coat To second which humor of the times Silks and Stuffs are imported in greater abundance sold at easier rates then formerly and manufactures of them set up in our own Nation by which the beautifullest and lightest garments are become all most the cheapest also Which I fear will render it difficult to reconcile the Mode to Cloath tho much to be desired Thirdly we have more Sheep in England then formerly because of the drayning the fens and other grounds and the laying down of Tillage for the cheapness of Corn till these two late years Fourthly Irish Cattle being prohibited they breed more Sheep and bring in more wooll into England besides what they send beyond Sea which will infallibly bring our lands in England as low as those in Ireland i. e. to as low a rent and to as few years value in the purchas nay lower if they be suffered First to glut England with their wooll and then to furnish the markets beyond-sea yet we prohibited the same priviledge which is our present condition And undoubtedly the forbidding Irish Cattle has been of vast inconvenience not only to the best of England the feeding-lands but to it all in general By lessening the value of our Wooll in which even the breedinglands receive more loss by the low price of their wooll then they reap advantage by this Act in the price of their Cattle this Act also is injurious to the Nation by sending our own and forein Merchant Ships to Victual in Ireland by the want of returns from thence by loss of our Trade for Hopps Hides Butter Cheese c. which trades now are taken up by the Irish to the ruine of many Counties of England by discouraging Navigation for it is said 100 of our Ships were continually employed in this Traffick of lean Cattle And lastly by discouraging our Clothiers and other manufacturers who since they must live out of their labours the dearer they pay for their diet the more they must have for their work This Irish Act therefore making our Beef dear yet the Dutch having it from Ireland delivered in Holland for about a penny a pound they may afford their Cloth cheaper then possibly we can which will speedily enable them to get from us also our forein Clothing-trade and be an irreparable damage to this Kingdom if the Parliament in their wisdome do not prevent it Thus this Act which in its preface designs the advancing our rents enriching England has lessened and impoverished both has compelled Ireland to seek a way to live without us has made it almost independent of England has infine almost ruined both Nations but to our purpose Fifthly I omit the many deceits in Cloth-making which W. C. confesseth to have been of late so very much practised that our Clothes loose greatly of their ancient reputation beyond-sea to the infinite prejudice of our Trade and I have bin informed that this was the first occasion which put the French upon making Clothes and Stuffs of their own But for the various abuses of this kind I refer you to a little Book called the Golden Fleece by W. S. and I am informed that the Dutch taking occasion from our dishonest work-manship have vended their own worst Cloth for right English Cloth and thereby have got from us much of our trade and great reputation to themselves Sixthly the Sword Plague forein Colonies and repeopling Ireland have of late years much diminished our stock of People therefore the consumption of the commodities is less for if we do not vend our wooll-manufactures the reason must be either because we make more of them or because there is less of them used then formerly If we make more as some with good reason think we do the trade increaseth and tho it being in many hands particular persons grow not so rich yet the Clothing in general flourisheth and the greater numbers are set on work But the contrary to this W. C. seems to affirm He must therefore grant we want vent for our Cloth when made But will the prohibiting exportation cause more vent if the Dutch can work cheaper better and more honestly then we will they not undersel us and steal away our trade If the French can make stuffs of their own as both they and the Dutch do without our wooll and prohibite our Cloth to be sold amongst them shall we force them to buy of us If the Italians and I French make and sell multitudes of fine and gaudy silks at a cheap rate can we perswade people not to prefer them But if we want either hands to work the vast stocks of our own wooll and that which dayly over whelms us from Ireland or vent to dispose of it what must become of the superfluity of our woo'l Must the Farmer and Grasier bear all the loss No the Land-lord must abate of his rent or the farm thrown into his hands the Tenant being poor half ruined by his losses his Land-lord takes the farm and at length having to his Tenants misfortunes added those inconveniencies of entrusting servants c. He must split on the same rock his wooll lies on his hands till he comes into debt and in fine the farm must be sold since the wooll bears no price But the yearly value is so much fallen and there is so much land to be sold on the same score that he despairs of a chapman c. And this is our present condition 7. This beating down the price of wooll is prejudicial even to the Manufacturers themselves because if wooll be cheap the product of it must be so too Cloth must bear a proportion to the value of wooll or if it doth not the disadvantage is on the Clothiers side His commodity being ever cryed down beyond measure when wooll is cheaper Besides the less money a trades-man turns for the same commodity the less must be his gains The Clothier then making the same quantity of Cloth as formerly and as good selling
it for less has none to revenge himself on but the Grazier and the poor workman who must then work harder or abate of his already too poor wages Who then gains by this cheapness they only who are so eager against the Exportation of Wooll a sort of Men who call themselves Merchants of the staple but are in truth only brokers those Caterpillers of trade and sworn Enemies to poor Men who make their cheif gain of other mens necessities these are sure to get both by buyer and seller whosoever looses To the Clothier they complain that there is no vent for Cloth that wooll is so cheap they may have Cloth for nothing till they have bought it at their own rates but when they come to sell it to the Draper or Merchant they then change their note Wooll so dear that poor Clothiers can hardly go to the price of it c. These and a thousand other artifices they use to scrape from both sides IV. To some of these reasons W. C. pretends to answer tho in such a manner as 't is hard to conceive what the Man would say To what has been said concerning the Farmer and Graziers not being able to pay their rent c. From which so many ill consequences follow I think he answers that the principal comodity out of which they raise their rent is not wooll but the Carcas and corn and that the more Men are set on work the more corn and flesh is spent so the farmers and graziers mouths are made up that way To which it is easily replied that a Farmer makes not up his rent out of his principal but all his comodities and it is an ill argument this is not the principal advantage or profit therefore you may part from it Besides Farmers have families also which must be maintained their Widows must not be starved nor their Daughters married without some portions Suppose the smaller profits be laid aside for these yet let me tell you that a Grazier whose stock do's not consist more then usually of beasts must pay at least half and in some Counties all his Rent with the price of his Wooll or he will live very uncomfortably But in that great rot which happened about 5 years agoe in most part of England and the like may happen again for which some provision ought to be made in good years I beseech you which was the principal comodity What was the flesh worth And for Corn the low price of wooll hath made so many apply to husbandry that usually corn do's hardly bear any price wherewith to pay his rent What he saies of the great number of people set on work upon the superfluous Wooll that would make flesh and Corn dear is surely in mockery of the poor laborious Farmers and Graziers Who presently imagine some great Inundation of new men like Locusts yet with money in their purses that would presently buy up and devour all the fruits of the ground and even their wooll also for their backs as well as victuals for their bellies But upon examination they 'l find no encreas of Men by this mighty manufacture but some few hands now employed in other work to turn to weaving spinning c. They 'l find no more bellies nor backs then formerly and their corn at as low a price as it was before Corn I say for the Clothiers wages will not much enrich either Butcher or Grazier 2. Another objection against what has been said is the great number maintained by the wooll-manufacture four fifts of the Nation saith W. C. which except he take in the Farmers Graziers is an extravagant proportion But this objection is wholly impertinent It is not material to the point in hand how many are maintained by wooll-work but how many more would be maintained by working up the superfluous wooll that I mean which either perishes or is clandestinly exported And these are not so many as the maintenance ought in any wise to be put in ballance either with the Farmers and Graziers or Gentry and Land-lords of this Nation The Cloth for our own use we still spend and the Merchants transport more to some Countries then formerly so that our loss is only what was usually sent into France and Holland W. C saies four fifts of the Nation are concerned in the interest that wooll be not exported London it self contains about 5 Millions do we think any Child so simple as to believe 4 of these 5 millions are concerned about the Exportation of wooll If he saies he means the whole woollen-trade that also is false But what is that to our question about superfluous wooll let there be strict laws and severely executed for the use of wool in our own Nation let the Irish Act for prohibiting importation of Cattle be repealed that we may be no more oppressed with wooll from thence and it would be found neither the number of workmen nor of People will be lessened by exporting our superfluous wooll Nay I make a great question whether the number of workmen be lessened since the woollen-trade sickned unless by some accident he that considers the great number of Silk-workers now in the Nation a clothing not of that substance and duration as Cloth therefore requires more hands to supply us with new and that Cloth-working which was formerly confined to Corporations is now frequent in Villages will either be of my opinion or suspend his assent to the contrary and then what becomes of this great clamor of maintaing so many People and so many poor Since there are not so many loose by exportation of wooll but they may easily betake themselves to other callings 3. But concerning maintaining the poor I have said before that where there is most manufacture there is either allwaies or for the most part more poor the reasons are plain It is true indeed that the first introducing a manufacture emploies many poor but they cease not to be so and the continuance of it makes many and the departing of it to an other place caries most of them with it But the decay of it being insensible the poor by degrees are otherwise provided for and rather mend their fortunes then make them worse by the loss of their trade But for the whole Nation why is it not better to set up such a trade as wil employ all our working people increase our Shipping and enrich our Men then to endeavour a thing impossible hindring exportation of wooll force nature ty up the Sea and winds to strive against the stream and current of the times I mean the Herring-fishing which will both make amends for the small decay of our cloth-working and revenge our selves against the Dutch for stealing our manufacture by fairly and justly making use of our own liberty and power to which nature has by our situation so long invited us Our Cloth-working may again return as all things and all trades have their ebbs and flows Were not our Archers