out of six and then distinguish'd what related to England by what Ships brought in and out then computed the Value of each Commodity and to what they were Improved being Manufactor'd in England and then what Money in Specie or Bills of Exchange which is the same was returned from Foreign Parts to England out of the Proceed of Goods sent from Ireland all which appear'd being brought up to a Sum that England Gained by Ireland Two Millions Sterling per Annum It seem'd to me an Incredible thing but being as he affirms Matter of Fact for which he hath the account of the Customs it is not to be denyed the breviate is drawn in so plain and intelligible a Method as renders it easie to any Understanding and therefore to mine I would fain have prevailed with him to Print the whole Matter but he thinks it may be made use of a better way and affirms that as great as this looks yet it might be improved to much more if the Trade of Ireland were dispos'd as it might be to the Advantage of England But he said that Kingdom was in no Reign since the first Conquest of Ireland consulted in its Trade but left to its self or treated like an Enemy All the use made of it was for Courtiers Men of Projection and Necessity to Traffick and dispose it into Grants Imployments and Offices and so made it rather a Forest for Game than a Plantation for Trade and Commerce and that which continued it so in the Reign of Charles the Second was the Jealousies and Mistakes of England believing it grew too fast and incroached on their Trade though it is demonstrable Ireland doth us no hurt but where we by our own Laws force it and that Act pardon the expression like Lunaticks that strive to suppress their Shadows for fear they should assault them None will say England would be the worse if it were double the Acres it now is And though the Sea part us from Ireland may not Laws make us one in our Interest and Trade and so that Ireland may be more profitable to England in General than Wales or any County in England is to the whole in its proportion There never was so fair an opportunity for Inriching this Nation by Ireland as now it is by Divine Providence once put a Blank in our hands in which His Majesty may stamp what he pleases And we have reason to believe That He who ventures His Royal Person so freely for the Preservation of these Kingdoms will not deny us any thing that can contribute to our Growth in Trade and Treasure One thing I must not omit which I had from this Gentleman of Ireland that to me seems valid for Confirmation of all he asserts That Ireland neither Interferes with nor gains on England for that in the last Twenty Years of Irelands greatest Prosperity not one Man in England purchased in Ireland but Numbers of Ireland have in that time purchased in England as they of that Kingdom I mean the English always do as they Increase their Fortunes This being so Ireland is to England a Mine of Treasure and affects us though in a much larger Proportion as Hudson's Bay whatever is gained in them terminates in England Here I end with the Pamphlet of which I shall only say If the Matter of Fact be truly Related as by the Authority he gives we have reason to believe it is then there is plain Demonstration that Ireland hath been and may be made much more profitable to this Kingdom then most of our Foreign Plantations Of them we take great care and why not more of this since it lies so near and costs us so dear seems unaccountable The truth is our Ancestours had never such a happy Juncture to do it as we have now to secure it If therefore we lay not hold on the opportunity put into our hands we cannot answer it so well as they might The Numbers of Refugees here and in other Countreys near us are Objects in this case both for our Charity to them and Advantage to our selves There hath been for several Sessions of Parliament much talk of the Forfeitures of Ireland and that it was reasonable they should be Sold and made a Fund to raise Money towards the carrying on the present War which might be thought reasonable for us of England to press because it would ease us of so much in our Taxes But why the Gentlemen of Ireland were so busie to promote it was at first to me a question and set me on the Inquiry and from some of themselves I had this answer That though they could not deny but the benefit of those Forfeitures were justly due to us of England yet the Justice of the thing was not all the motive they had to promote it but their own future security was at least as much consider'd by them for that they hoped the Sale of those Forfeited Lands would put them in Protestant hands and by that strengthen the British Interest in Ireland which could never be secure whilst the Irish held so great a proportion in the Kingdom and that whilst the Land lay undisposed they fear'd the Irish would find wayes to be restor'd they having got enough by their Robberies and Plunder of the English to purchase them though they cost them Ten Years purchase And that they were in fear also of the Irish buying from such as had great Grants of Forfeited Lands but if there was a Publick Sale they would come into so many hands that most of them would stick with the Purchaser and not come to the Irish They further said It was not the Interest of England to let the Forfeitures come again into the Irish hands for that they never Improved nor Traded and so were no wayes profitable to England If this apprehension of the Protestants be valid either to them or us it seems that a disposition of these Forfeitures of Ireland to Protestant Strangers would answer all objections and be a more certain way to keep such Lands of Ireland out of Irish hands then by selling them to the English for by that they would be to greater value in one Mans hand and the English would for advantage sell them to the Irish Proprietors for that few Purchasers would go to settle on their Lands nor could they find Tenants in the Countrey since there is so much Land waste but if Foreigners had it in small Proportions they would be able to manage it themselves and so keep it from returning to the Irish I have been longer on this of the Forfeitures then perhaps will be thought proper since my Subject is Trade But since it hath relation to the Improvement of Ireland in the way of Trade this Digression I hope will be excus'd I return then to shew how the bringing in Refugees to Ireland will advance the Trade of England and that may appear in three particulars The Increase of People in Ireland will occasion the
Expence of Manufactories and Product of England for that they have from England or would if the Laws of that Kingdom in Relation to the Customs were duely executed most of the fine Draperies Silk Iron Manufactory Haberdashers-Wares Hats Sadlers Wares Tapes Pins and other small Manufactories Also from England they have all the hopes white Salt Coals Brass Commodities Tobacco Sugars and Groceryes They also Imploy or should so if due care was taken in the Act of Navigation the Ships of England all which would be considerably advanced if that Kingdom were improved by Foreigners 2. Foreigners would Inlarge the Linnen Manufactory in Ireland to which no part of Europe is most proper And there is already a beginning and aptness in the Irish to that Manufactory and however it is not the Interest of England that Ireland should grow in the Woollen Manufactory yet it is that that they should in the Linnen and Cordage But of this I shall in the Second Part when I come to Discourse at large of the Trade of Ireland say more 3. The bringing Foreign Protestants into Ireland will Inlarge the Fishings there Great part of which will be to the Advantage of England as would the General Improvement of Ireland be if it were dispos'd to such Trade and Navigation as might be subservient and helpful to ours But to make Laws with design to keep them Poor is not unlike him that set his own House on Fire that his Neighbours might be burnt keeping Ireland Poor and discouraging the Protestant Interest there puts that Kingdom in the hands of the Irish and that renders it not only unprofitable to England but dangerous the management of Ireland Since the first Conquest will not be Credited in future Ages and although we must own of a Nation that hath the best Constitution in Government we have alwayes been unhappy in the Administration yet I think in nothing so much as in the Neglect of Trade and in that of Ireland which any Nation but we would make a Treasure of and we Imploy all our skill to make it an Aceldama It hath been so to this poor Kingdom and if relation be true is in a ready way to be so again They in whose Province it is will consider the Politick part my business is Trade and in that I will venture to say Ireland might be made more profitable to England than all the Foreign Plantations have ever yet been I confess New-England and Newfound-Land may be made more than altogether but that which makes Ireland of more Consideration to England than all the rest is because without keeping that we can enjoy none of the rest It is every days Refuge for our Merchant-Men and not to be forgotten how soon after this Reduction it saved our Smirna and Levant Fleet. Of the Manufactory and Dispose of Sheeps-Wooll THIS is the great Staple of the Kingdom and in truth of the World which by Divine Providence is so put into our hands as that without a turn in Nature we cannot totally loose it yet all that is possible for an unthinking People as we are call'd abroad we have done to the prejudice of those Commodities by which means we have transferr'd great part of our Woollen Manufactoryes to other Countreys to Germany and Venice our Coarse Draperies to Holland and France our fine and New Draperies and that which is remarkable is that we laid the foundation for loosing them the same way by which we first got them that is by persecuting Men for their Religion Abel's acceptable Sacrifice seems still to follow the Fleece No Society of Men in the Kingdom are so generally affected with the strictest Injunctions of our Religion as our People bred up in the Woollen Manufactories and these Men first fell under the Rod after the Restauration an excellent Reform to drive Men out of the Kingdom for having too much Religion but not question such as had none at all This driving our Clothiers into Germany and Holland put them and their Friends upon Inventions to send our Wooll after them and in that their Friends that stay'd behind were and still are assisting them though to the prejudice of the Trades they are in themselves there being nothing that draws compassion more from one Man to another than seeing Men of honest and unblameable Conversation us'd worse than Thieves and Robbers for serving God according to their Conscience This severity banish'd many thousands out of England soon after the Restauration of Charles the Second One Tilham carried in the Year 1665 Three Thousand into the Prince Palatine of the Rhyne and divers others did the same into other parts insomuch that Account was taken of Twenty Thousand Sacks of Wooll carried into one Port of France in less than Two Years from England and more went from Ireland and besides the Quantities that went for Holland is Incredible All this is evidently fallen upon the Nation by the fury of those that would make a Trade of Religion and banish those that had Religion with their Trades But blessed be God we have now a King of a more comprehensive Perswasion and our Church better supply'd with Men of Learning and Charity which the Infallible Authour tells us is above all the Arts Sciences and Acts of Devotion whatsoever Such Numbers of Men being gone out of the Kingdom for want of that Liberty they may now injoy it is a wonder they do not return and a greater that they are not sent for and Invited back We do not consider what the loss of a Man is in a Kingdom not half Peopled We want nothing so much as Bodies of Men and it is said we have above Thirty Thousand in Foreign Countreys and they are not of the raff but sober Industrious People such as these should not be lost But from the hands to Work Wooll I come to the Wooll it self how useful and in some cases of such absolute use in their Manufactories that they can make none of their best without our Wooll This is no Secret nor the Severe Laws that are made to prevent Escapes of Wooll but none have proved effectual some of them being too easie and others severe to loss of Life to them all I have seen a Proposal of a Gentleman that hath been a great Dealer in that Commodity to Foreign Parts which he affirms would be Infallible to prevent Exports of Wooll to Foreign Parts From England it seems probable enough but he is positive and reserves part of the Secret which he saith when told will make every one that hears it as positive as himself I would have perswaded him to offer it to the House but he expects a great Gratification and that he thinks at this time will not be given though I am of another mind and believe he deserves more than he can either ask or expect if his Project takes It is indeed to be lamented that solid Proposals for the Trade and Manufactory of the Nation should not meet with so
Neighbours in carrying Commodities cheaper to a Market than we can and consequently makes them the Carriers of our Produce and Manufactory which is the only certain Gain in Trade Merchants often loose when a Ship Arrives safe in Port but Seamen have their full Wages There is also another Prejudice and Loss to the Nation and that is carrying Money out by Foreign Seamen that are imployed in our Merchant-Men ¼ being allowed by the Act of Navigation which might have been thought the only mistake in that Act if the Consideration of our not having sufficient for our Ships had not produced that Liberty As Naval War abates the number of our Seamen so it increaseth those of the French for that they imploy more Seamen in their Privateers than they do in time of Peace in Merchant-Men And as this affects us in War so it may reasonably be fear'd it will in time of Peace For having so many Seamen made to their hands will naturally put them upon inlarging their Navigation to which they will be the more incouraged by our want of Men to supply ours which they will soon fall into And the Abating of our Marine Imployments hath a worse Consequence than the Loss of our Trade for that it seems the most effectual way to lay us open to the Invasion of the French which we are no longer secure from than whilst we Command the Sea And if we find the French alone able to contend with us and the Dutch United what might they not do if they should be assisted with other helps and we left single to oppose them There are more ways than one to bring such a Revolution in Europe And therefore it seems of the greatest moment for this Nation to provide in their Naval Force as if they were left to their own defence against the Power of more than the French at Sea It is no doubt the Interest of England to support the Dutch and it is hoped we shall never be divided But that Kingdom is in an ill Condition that cannot secure its self without the Force of its Allies Such Reflections as these may not be improper in this Age They were thought necessary in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth when she question'd the French of Building a Ship of War but of Fourteen Guns And since they are now above such Demands and that we cannot restrain them it seems necessary for us to increase our own and that is not possible to be done any other way than by Improving our Navigation and inlarging our Trade without which we may fight for the Sovereignty of the Sea until we have lost the use of it If Account were taken of those several Trades that this Nation hath in a manner totally lost since the Reign of James the First it might open those Eyes that are alwayes shut to that which is the Strength and Riches of this Nation as Navigation is There were many Thousand Seamen formerly imployed where for late years we have few or none as the Greenland and Muscovy Trade lost that of the North-Seas and Newfound-Land little better most of our Eastland-Trades managed by Foreign Ships and so the Trade of Ireland the neglect of which in that point as well as some others may be found when it is too late of pernicious Consequence to England These are Trades we lost to the French and Northern Navigation in time of Peace and this War hath brought on the Stage the Portugese a Nation we least fear'd yet under this cover we may very well loose great part of our Southern Trade We formerly imployed our Ships in their Braziel and other Trades and now we are forced to imploy theirs not only because of their being Free Ships but also because we cannot get Seamen to Navigate our own Ships By Accidents of War Trade often shifts from one Nation to another and some will stick behind after the War is ended for that Seamen and Merchants rest where they find most Incouragement and wherever they come they are made wellcom and when the benefit they bring to the Countrey they Trade in is observed they will not want Incouragement to stay there There never was a fairer opportunity if the Portugueze make use of the Introduction this War hath given them to make Lisbon the Mart for Trade and Navigation in the Western and Levant Trade It is a mistake to think that Navigation and Marine Imployments can have no growth where the Natives are not Numerous and Apt for the Sea Trade is best Improved by good Laws and Incouragement for Strangers where such are together with a Scituation for Trade that place will be crowded and so would Lisbon and the Portugueze Ports if it were not for the Inquisition but it is believed the Rigour of that will be Abated now they have tasted the sweets of Trade All these things make against us and though little consider'd bodes ill for these Kingdoms if some extraordinary and speedy Resolutions be not taken to regain our Navigation and Sea-Imployments this Nation will fall under some Foreign Power It is easie to read our Destiny nor will it be like a Conquest on a Continent One Day at Sea may determine the Fate of these Kingdoms and if we have no Fund or Nursery for Seamen in Proportion to the French and others about us what can be expected That which I humbly conceive the most visible Means to preserve these Kingdoms in their Trade and Navigation and nothing but that can provide for their Naval Force is the setting up a National Bank This now on foot is too little and yet too bigg the first because it promotes nothing of our Navigation but on the contrary may be fear'd to Destroy it by that Tax on Shipping but I have left my Bank which as I conceive too little for the reason I mention'd so I think it too big because it will Ingross the Money and consequently the Trade of the Nation into one City and will draw from all Parts of the Kingdom those little Sums that do now in great measure support the Manufactoryes of the Nation When there was no place where Money could be lodg'd at Interest for a Day it was easie for Industrious Men to borrow from their Neighbours and by that means our Manufactories were made Plenty and Cheap but now a little time will shew they can be neither But of this I have writ my thoughts a part The Bank that I conceive would be useful in this Nation must be of such Universal Extent that every Person in the Kingdom may be concern'd in it and that every corner in the Kingdom shall partake of the Streams that run from it That out of this Bank there may be Provision for Ships and Seamen That those Trades before-mentioned that we have lost may be retrieved and such Methods laid down as may incourage that Navigation which imploys most Seamen as the Fishing c. To Establish this Bank will require great Consideration for that
believe an Act of Naturalization would inlarge the Trade of this Nation so would the planting Foreign Protestants in Ireland And it seems but reasonable that this Nation should make some Advantage by that sink of their Blood and Treasure which they never yet have done but every Forty Years at most are put to the Expence of a New War It is astonishing to reflect on the Story of that Kingdom in which it is said there hath been above Fifteen Hundred Thousand English murdered in Fifty Two Rebellions It would be but a reasonable and provident Consideration how to prevent such continual bleeding in that Kingdom for the future But Matters of State is not the design of this Discourse only where Trade must call to it for Aid as in this case it seems to do for the Government to give a hand to the planting that Kingdom by which it may be profitable to this and it can never be by lying waste or being kept poor which is a general Opinion amongst us and I fear one of our most pernitious Mistakes in Trade as it is point of our security we should allow some Thoughts and Value for the Bodies of Men and if we did so there would not be such continued Slaughter in that Kingdom without producing one good Statute to secure that Countrey as in reason it should be intirely to the obedience and disposition of this the greatest part of the Land of that Kingdom is or ought to be in the hands of our Brethren and they sure will not be unwilling to give us the priviledge of governing it especially when by it we preserve them as by sending Foreign Protestants among them we should do In private management we should think him Lunatick that would pursue one Method a thousand times over though he had as constantly miscarried in it that seems the Case of Ireland it is vain to imagine that British so I think they call the English and Scotch of Ireland can ever ballance the Irish it is said the Irish are now above twenty to one at this time notwithstanding much more of the Irish perished in this last War than of the British That then which I conceive would be the best management this Nation ever made of Ireland would be to dispose the Forfeitures of that Kingdom to Strangers of all sorts that are not of the Church of Rome and having made that exception it will be necessary to give my Reasons for it My Principles I must confess are against Force in Religion but in this Case of Ireland there is a necessity to exclude as much as may be those that have any Relation or dependance on the Church because the Irish are a Bigotted People and own a Foreign Jurisdiction which is a Principle against the Government and Laws of the Land and where those of that Opinion are superiour in Number to them that are in the Interest of Government it seems absolutely Incumbent on the Government to provide against such Men as believe themselves under the most Sacred Tyes of Religion and Conscience to Obey and Promote the Edicts and Injunctions of a Foreign Prince for so the Pope is But to return to that of bringing Protestants to Ireland I conceive there must be more than making them Denizons because at this time Ireland differs very little from a new Plantation and to Plant such there is always given larger Incouragement to New Comers than in Setled and Planted Countreys If therefore such Methods were thought on as might make those that would settle in that Kingdom Freeholders of small Proportions of Lands at very easie Rents that might be a great Inducement to Foreigners to go and fill that Countrey and they would soon by intermixture in Marriages with the English and Scotch become British and so those of the Interest of England would be Superiour to that of the Irish and Interest of Rome and until it be so England can never be sure of Ireland All that this Nation ever yet had by it was a breathing time of thirty or Forty Years and then had a new Conquest to make But such a disposition as this would prevent Future Rebellions and also greatly Improve the Trade and Navigation of this Kingdom For it is to be Noted that the Chief Consumption of Ireland is of the Product and Manufactory of this Kingdom And by an Account I have seen Ireland takes off more from us than Virginia and New England and if we take it into our Care would Imploy more of our Ships but of that I intend in the second part of my Essayes to treat at large and in the mean time shall here Insert Verbatim part of a Discourse I find in a Pamphlet Intituled The Linnen and Woollen Manufactories A Discourse Printed in the Year 1691 The whole was Rational but that which I think applicable to what I am now upon was as followeth He begins the Paragraff thus as I said before Ireland is no more than one of our Foreign Plantations only I think it will be allowed the first Place and more than any other in nearness of Blood and that of our Nobles there being many Families in that Kingdom descended from the Antient Families of this and most of the Estates in Ireland held by the decent from our Brethren who purchas'd it with their Blood These Reflections may prevail for our care of them at least to any Collony abroad and we never think it our prejudice to have them thrive nor would the growth of Ireland if rightly disposed or understood And here give me leave to make a Digression if it may be call'd so but you may think it not Foreign to the Discourse I find it generally believed that Ireland is as mischievous to our Trade in time of Peace as it is destructive to our Men and Treasure in time of War and though this Opinion never went far with me yet something I did doubt was in it until I met with something that gave plain Demonstration to the contrary and it was this I fell into an intire acquaintance with a Gentleman of Ireland whose experience and long continuance in all the Foreign Trade of that Kingdom furnished him with Arguments I could not answer to prove that England was a great Gainer by the Trade of Ireland When I could not confute him nor he prevail with me he told me he would shew me that which carried Authority with it and so he did being as he assur'd me the work of some years as he could spare time to compose it The whole Discourse takes up many Sheets upon the Trade of Ireland to all parts and particular Remarks upon every Commodity Exported and Imported into that Kingdom and where and how it affects England Some other things he reserv'd as Secrets from me as he doth the rest from others for it was never seen by any but one beside my self Out of the whole he hath extracted an Account of the Exports and Imports for one year in a medium
much Incouragement as a Lottery but to the contrary should be suppressed And I know a great Minister who once disputed on that with warmth against a care for Wooll and that it was a burthen to the Nation It may not be Foreign to this Discourse to give the heads of the Dispute which I the rather do that so it may shew the need there is for the Great Council of the Nation to take it under their Consideration The Discourse rose on a Proposition that was brought to him for stopping a vast Quantity of Wooll that was then going to France it was brought him in Writing and demonstrated That that very Wooll was enough to work up all the Coarse Wooll of France for Seven Years and that the consequence would be the loss of great part of our Manufactories to Spain and Portugal The Minister made little return to that but brought his Discourse to the great Loss it was to Men of Estates that there was not a way for Selling twice the Wooll that now they did That there was three Years Wooll then in England and what should Men do upon this Topick of the want of a Consumption for the Wooll of England the Gentleman laid down these Positions First That the War was one Reason of the Decay of the Woollen Manufactories Secondly That the extraordinary Escapes of Wooll to Foreign Parts put them upon making more Woollen Manufactories than ever they did before and that abated our Trade abroad Thirdly That our Wooll going to Foreign Parts made it so cheap at home This I remember put the Minister into a â—aughter and laying the two first aside he desir'd him to make out the last Position That the Escapes of Wooll to Foreign Parts made the Wooll fall in Price That the sending so great Quantities of Wooll out of the Kingdom should fall the Price of that which was left was a Mistery he could not understand but seem'd to him the only way to make it rise But the Gentleman undertook to make out his Assertion that every Pound of English Wooll worked up Three Pound of Foreign Wooll and that as much as they Manufactur'd so much was Abated in our Exports for that they made such Manufactoryes with our Wooll as they could not make without it and consequently by that means one pound of our Wooll with theirs made four times as much Cloaths and Stuffs as we could have made with it if we had kept it at home From which he Inferred That if one fourth of the Wooll of England went to Foreign Parts there would be as much Manufactoryes made Abroad for Foreign Markets as we could make if we had wrought all our own Wooll and so much being made Abroad we could not have use for half our own Wooll that was left This he affirmed was the reason that there lay so much Wooll unwrought in England and he being brought for Proof of what he said That which was Matter of Fact I thought undeniable though it would not be allowed so by the Minister The thing was this The Year after the Restauration there was a Gentleman that got a Grant from the King with a Non obstante to any Statute for Liberty to Export a certain Quantity of Wooll to Foreign Parts from Ireland upon which some Merchants in London buying the Grant sent over to Ireland and bought most of the Wooll and sent it to Foreign Parts this at first rais'd the Price of Wooll both there and in England but in so short a time as Five Moneths it fell Fifty per Cent. And though not one fourth of what formerly came from Ireland into England came then to England yet there was no Vent for the Wooll of England and in Ireland it fell from Seven Shillings to Three Shillings and Six Pence their Stone of Sixteen pounds all the time they shipped it for Foreign Parts This he affirm'd he could prove by the Merchants Books that were concern d to be litterally true and that the Year after the Shipping for Foreign Parts was over that Wooll rise to its former Price both here and in Ireland And he farther added that the great Quantities which by stealth go from England and Ireland makes Wooll in both Kingdoms fall in Price according to the Quantities that are sent out This part of the Dispute being over the next Question was Whither the Wooll of Ireland did not Abate the Price of the Wooll in England and hinder Sheep Masters from Inlarging their Flocks and consequently keep down the Rents of Land This was answered in the Negative to all the three that it did not Abate the Price of English Wooll nor hinder the Increase of Sheep or Abate the Rents of Land That the Irish Wooll coming into England helped the working up of some Wooll that could not be made the most of without it That the Wooll of Ireland was a larger Staple than that of England and most proper for Bayes and Serges That it was not the Wooll of Ireland that came to England that made the Price fall but it was that which went to Foreign Parts that did the Mischief and for the reasons before given he concluded that if there went no Wooll from England or Ireland to Foreign Parts all the Wooll of both Kingdoms would not be half enough to supply the Manufactories that England would have Markets for Abroad for that there is now made twice as much Manufactories with the help of our Wooll Abroad as is made in England so that if there were an effectual stop upon the Wooll of both Kingdoms the Flocks of both might be trebled and yet not be sufficient for the Manufactories England might vent This in few words was the best account I ever heard of the Nature and Improvement of the Wooll of these Kingdoms and is such demonstration of the Mischief the Exports of Wooll doth to the Nation that I cannot but think him a worse Enemy to his Country than a Common Pyrate for that he robs but a small Number but he that sends out Wooll destroys Thousands weakens the Strength of the Nation both at Land and Sea and if we believe the Lord Coke's Assertion That Nine parts of the Trade of England comes from the Sheeps Back there cannot be enough done to secure it but it hath ever been the misfortune of our Nation neither to punish or reward Impunity in the first makes us abound in Criminals and the neglect in the latter makes us barren of great Actions for our Countrey I mean in that which makes a Nation Rich and Wise Our Ancestours shewed more of their good will to it in the Dark of Trade and Navigation than we do at Noon-day I have often thought that it was possible for a Monarch of these Kingdoms to make all Europe Tributaries to him in Trade by a true Management of the Natureal and Artificial Product and Navigation of these Kingdoms without being oblig'd to any help but what ariseth from his own Dominions of which
may answer Ten Millions in the Currant Payment of the Nation for that few will take Money out but transfer from one account to another And it is reasonable to suppose that most men will lodge their Money in Bank for the greatness of Security and saving the trouble and hazard of telling Money For these Reasons it may be thought a Bank will pay no Interest and that may be injurious to the Nation in two respects First It may necessitate many people to carry their Money out of the Kingdom where they may make some Benefit by it when they are debarr'd from any Advantage at home The other mischief it may do reaches Widows and Orphans whose Support often depends upon the Interest of their Money and if Banks pay none they will be able to set out at very low Interest more than the wants of the Kingdom will require But that which I conceive may be an expedient in this case may be a Proviso in the Act of Parliament That these Banks shall set out no Money at Interest upon Real Estates by which means there will be room for private persons to set out Money upon Mortgages These Banks being National may be so constituted as to retrieve that most considerable part of the Navigation of the Greenland and New-found-land Fishing But because that may be discouraging to some persons that understand not Trade and only depend on their Money at Interest it will be necessary to shew That notwithstanding the Trade propos'd there shall be a certain Fund or Dividend of at least Five per cent per Ann. besides the Profit of Trade and that may be done thus Supposing the Fund of Land to be valued at 20 years Purchase the Rent will be Five per Cent. for Two Millions then for the other Two Millions in Cash allowing but Five per Cent. more for the Gain of Exchange that compleats the Five per Cent. upon the whole Fund This is a Certainty without reckoning any Advantage to be made by the Credit of the Bank and putting out Money to Interest There will not be here room to mention the Modus or Advantages that will attend that most important Undertaking of the New-found-land Fishing I shall only say it would employ all the loose and unprofitable hands in the Nation it would add Ten thousand Seamen to the Strength of it it would bring a Treasure into the Nation taken out of the Sea it would occasion the Consumption of great Quantities of Manufactories it would advance the Price and consume great Quantities of Provisions of this Kingdom for that New-found-land is no place for either Tillage or Cattel and we shall employ many Foreign Hands in that Trade The Advantages that will arise to the Nation by these Banks need no explanation for that they are easy to every Understanding among the rest that of supplying the King with Money upon any Publick Funds as shall be appointed by Parliament is not the least Lumbers for poor Artizans and others is an Appendix to Banks and may by Funds out of them in each County be supplied so as that the Poor may have Money to carry on their Trades and Employments on Pawns that may be so easy and with the advantage of selling in Publick Sales what they leave in Pledge and that what they borrow shall be of more advantage and ease to them than if the Money were lent them gratis and may be of great use in the improvement and enlarging the Manufactories of the Nation which are much discouraged by the necessities and hardships that are put on the poor for want of Sales which these Lumbers will supply and the best and readiest means for the poor to sell their Goods every Month whereas now they are often forced to sell their Labour to Shop-keepers at such rates as gives them little more than what their Materials cost them which hath the worse effect in that it encourages a set of Idle men in the Kingdom with folded Arms in a Shop to live upon the Ruins of Handicrafts-men their Numbers are increased even to a Nusance by their easy way of living on the Oppression of the Poor If we took Presidents from abroad this evil would not have grown thus amongst us It is observed That there is not so many Retailers in Amsterdam as there is in some Market-Towns in England and this evil is the more to be condemn'd since we want not a Statute to prevent it for in the 5 th year of Queen Elizabeth a Statute pass'd That Artizans Sons should not be Apprentices to Shopkeepers There was then none turn'd from Mechanical Arts to be Retailers as now there are Numbers that do and greatest part Quakers a People that for many reasons may be thought as unprofitable to the Nation as Jews and so I take the greatest part of Retailers and Hawkers to be they ought as much to be restrained and kept to a Quantum as Hackney-Coachmen and Coffee-Houses for tho both if confin'd to Numbers are useful yet in their excess are Nurseries of Idleness and such as I am of opinion would have been provided against by our Ancestors had they sprung up in their days But on this Subject among other Enormities I have writ at large in another Discourse which when the disposition of the Times will admit may come forth Of Agriculture and Rural Imployments BEfore I enter upon the Subject I must Apologize for my self that I am to the last degree ignorant of the Practick part of Husbandry the whole Course of my Life having been spent in Maritine-Towns or on the Sea I beg pardon contrary to Custom before I commit the Error giving an instance of my ignorance in Country Matters which I should not trouble the Reader with if I did not think it divertive It was in the 32 year of my Age that I first had a thought of Acres and being importun'd by Friends to fix something on the Land and not have all on the Sea I made a Purchase before I saw it for that I might do with as much Judgment as if had some time after I went to see the Purchase I had made and on the Road gave as much Diversion to my Friends in declaring my want of Understanding the Distinction and Names of every thing the Field produced as I did trouble to them to inform me tho it was near Harvest I knew not Barly from Wheat in the Ear and when I came to the Estate and riding thorow the Woods of which there were great Quantities on the Land I was yet more troublesome in asking the Names of Trees not being able to distinguish an Oak from an Ash or that from Wich-Hazel which made a merry Fellow a Ranger in the Woods say He had a Master he was sure would not question his Care or Honesty since he knew not a Tree from a Weed After this Account of my self I hope to be excused if I mistake in any Point of Country and Land-Improvement nor shall
us upon Importing Corn from other parts This in a Country so natural for Grain and that lies so near Holland which fetcheth such quantities from abroad may be thought not the least of our mistakes in Trade and Commerce To me I confess it seems a great neglect to see so many Acres set for Five or Ten Shillings an Acre and the Tenants scarce able to pay that which under Corn might yeild to the Farmer Five Pounds and though part of that goes in Labour yet the whole is so much added to the Treasure of the Nation and would be the greatest advantage to the Rent of Lands that ever was or can be by any other means raised in the Kingdom Now that what I here propose may appear practicable something shall be offer'd that I conceive may shew what I here set down to be more than meerly Notional 1. First then as to the Grain which is most in demand in Foreign Markets and they are Rye for Holland Horse-Beans for Bilboa and Barly for Portugal I mention not Wheat because that we have most of but the other three is least propagated in England though the most proper for Exportation and seems possible considering how much nearer we lye to a Market than Dantzick to be exported from England as Cheap as from any Part and as Quantities in other Commodities enables the Seller of them to abate in Price of what they can when they are scarce so it would be in this of Corn when a Farmer is more sure of a Market for Twenty Acres of Corn than he is now of Five he may abate of his Price and yet be a greater Gainer than when he hath but a little and a greater Price we account it so in all other Commodities 2. For Encouragement of making Corn an Export it is to be remembred That we send most of our Ships light to Bilboa and Lisbon so that will help our Navigation that loads our Ships then it is to be considered that our Exports to Lisbon do not answer our Imports from thence since we fetch so much Wine from Portugal and it is hoped since we have fallen into it we shall never exceed in French Wine They neither can nor will take off our Commodities Corn they never did as Portugal will The difficulty that appears to the introduction of this so profitable a disposition of the Lands of England is how to bring the Nation to it for all new things are hardly propagated Three things I submit that to me seem of strength to bring the Nation into it And they are these 1. That a Statute be made to oblige all persons to a certain Proportion of Plowing according to what they keep in Grazing 2. That all Land under Tillage shall be free from any manner of Tax 3. That some ease may be given as to the Tythe for what is Exported it is a heavy load and discouragement one tenth for that which goes out care should be taken to make what goes out as Cheap as possible that so no other Country might Undersel us I would not be thought to lessen the Income of the Clergy to the contrary I think they ought to partake of all the Increase of the Kingdom and what I here propose would be for their advantage by encouraging the greater Exports and ways might be found to give some encouragement from them to the Plow-man that might be easy to both But to all that hath been said for encouragement of Tillage there appears a seeming Objection and that is We often see Corn so Cheap that the Farmers are broke by it and what would they do with double the Quantities as it is hoped this Law and Encouragement might produce This is partly answered before That the reason why we want a Market for our Corn is because we have not always Store and so Merchants make no Provision for the Trade nor will quit a place where they are sure of Supply so if once it were known that England set upon the Trade of Corn there would not be want of Buyers it is not to be imagined how soon the Plenty of a Commodity makes a Trade I remember when we imported quantities of Silk Stockins from the Levant but as soon as we had the Invention of Looms the stream turned and we send them there Plenty makes Cheapness and that increaseth Trade But there is another Answer to be given for the want of a Market for our Corn and that is We run most on Wheat and neglect those sorts before-mentioned which are most in demand abroad and of which we could never exceed but the more we provide the greater will the Price be for Quantities as is before said brings numbers of Buyers whereas where there are not Stores of a Commodity Buyers are but few and then they set the Market and have the Commodity at their own Rate I shall end this First Part of my Essays as I began them Truth may be allowed repetition That as this Nation never more wanted Thoughts and Endeavours to enlarge and improve their Navigation and Commerce than now having so Potent a Neighbour as the French that grow upon us so Blessed be God England never had a greater Monarch that lays out himself to make us a great and flourishing People If we are wanting to our selves it is our fault and will be our misfortune Measures for Trade must arise from the Subject Grants and Concessions from the King FINIS Books Printed for and Sold by Thomas Cockeril at the Three Leggs in the Poultrey London THE Instrumentality of Faith Asserted Proved Explained Compared with and Preferred to a Conditional Relation thereof in order to Pardon and Happiness when seriously taken in a Legal or Foederal sence By W. Cross M. A. Good Deeds done for God's House A Sermon Preached on the occasion of the Death of Dr. Jeremiah Butt one of the Physitians appointed for His Majesties Fleet. By Ed Veal Infant-Baptism God's Ordinance Or a clear proof that all the Children of believing parents are in the Covenant of Grace and have as much Right to Baptism the now Seal of the Covenant as the Infant-Seed of the Jews had to Circumsion the then Seal of the Covenant By Michael Harrison A Remedy against Trouble in a Discourse on John 14. 1. Wherein something is also briefly attempted for clearing the nature of Faith of Justification of the Covenant of Grace Assurance the Witness Seal and Earnest of the Spirit and Preparation for Conversion or the Necessity of Holiness By Henry Lukin A Discourse of Schism By Edward Polhill Esq of Burwash in Sussex Eutropii Historiae Romanae Breviarium ab urbe Conditum usque ad Valentianum Valentem Augustos Ex recensione cum Notulis Tanquilli Fabri ut Sexti Aurelii Victoris de Vires Illustribus Liber in Usum Scholarum Phaedri Augusti Caesaris Liberti Fabularum Aesopiarum Libri Quinque In usum Serenissimi Delphini Notis Illustravit Petrus Danet Geography Rectified or a Description of the World in all its Kingdoms Provinces Countreys Islands Cities Towns Seas Rivers Bayes Capes Names Inhabitants Scituations Histories Customs Commodities Government Illustrated with about 80 Maps Third Edition By Robert Morden Instructions about Heart-work what is to be done on God's Part and ours for the Cure and keeping of the Heart c. By that Eminent Gospel-Minister Mr. Richard Alleyn With a Preface by Dr. Annesley The 2d Edition The Evidence of Things not seen Or divers Spiritual and Philosophical Discourses concerning the state of Holy Men after Death By that Eminently Learned Divine Moses Amyraldus Translated out of the French Tongue by a Minister of the Church of England Poems on several Occasions with a Pastoral To which is added A Discourse of Life By John â—utchin A succinct and seasonable Discourse of the Occasions Causes Natures Rise Growth and Remedies of Mental Errors To which is added 1. An Answer to Mr. Cary against Infant-Baptism 2. An Answer to some Antinomian Errors 3 A Sermon about Union By John Flavel Mr. Flavel's Remains being two Sermons The one preached at Dartmouth in Devon on the day of the Coronation of Their Majesties The latter intended to be Preached at a Meeting of the United Ministers of several Counties With some Account of his Life A Discourse of Regeneration Faith and Repentance Preached at the Merchants Lecture in Broad-street By The Cole Minister of the Gospel A Discourse of Christian Religion in sundry Points viz. Christ the Hope of Glory what it is to know God in Christ Christ the only Saviour the only Mediator Foundation of our Adoption c. Preached at the Merchants Lecture By Tho Cole Geography Anatomized Or a Compleat Geographical Grammar being a short and exact Analysis of the whole Body of Modern Geography after a new plain and easy method whereby any person may in a short time attain to the knowledge of that most noble and useful Science c. To which is subjoined the present state of the European plantations in the East and West-Indies with a reasonable proposal for the propagation of the Gospel in all Pagan Countries Illustrated with divers Maps By Patrick Gordon M. A.