perfection in the Public Revenue and both he and Louvoy were mighty Encouragers of the Trade and Manufactures of the Kingdom Thus France for a long tract of time has had great Princes on the Throne or which is as good able Men in the Ministry and all the while they have been enlarging their Dominions Spain formerly their Rival Kingdom they have reduc'd to a low condition Arts and Sciences Trade and Manufactures are much improv'd among them The Art of War they have brought to a height and perfection never known in Greece or among the Romans Long Action has form'd them many fit Generals Experienc'd Officers and a number of good Troops They are Skilful in Encampments they order a Battel well and no People contrive better for the Subsistance of an Army Their Discipline is good and severe and all Nations must yield to them in the knowledge of Attacking and Defending places And by Art and Industry they seem to have overcome Nature and Situation in making themselves so powerful at Sea with but few convenient Ports and but little Trade in proportion to their Neighbours Their present King is undoubtedly a Person of great Abilities Wisdom and Conduct he is well serv'd in every part of his Government his Revenue is skillfully brought in and frugally laid out no Prince has so quick and certain Intelligence and he has wrought into his Interests a considerable Party in every State and Kingdom in Europe We all know too well what large footing he has of late years got round about him towards Spain in Italy near the Swiss Cantons and in Germany of both sides the Rhine and in the Low Countries Whoever carefully weighs these things and duly considers the Strength and Policy of that Kingdom will hardly think the Confederates for the present in a condition to give the Law or able as yet to drive France to such a Peace as may be now Honourable and Safe hereafter They who believe a Peace so probable and near ground their Opinion upon the Poverty this long War must have brought upon France And no doubt the Subjects there are reduc'd to excessive want by the Universal stop that is upon Trade by the Dearth two unseasonable years has occasion'd and by maintaining for six years a great Fleet and such numerous Land Forces But the French seem to pay themselves for all their Home Miseries with their Fame abroad the Majesty of their Empire Splendor of their Court Greatness of their Monarch and the noise of his Victories like a Beast that goes merrily with a heavy Burthen pleas'd with his fine Furniture and the Bells that jingle about him For those vain appearances are to that People in the stead of Ease Plenty and all the other Goods of Life tho' they truly tend but to make their Slavery more lasting Therefore while their King is thus Successful in his Arms we have small reason to think the Wants and Cries of his Country will constrain him to end the War But suppose him in such streights as that he willingly will listen to a Peace can we modestly believe him in so low a condition as that the Confederates may at present have such a one as will be secure and lasting Is he yet so distressed by the War as to be contented things may be put upon such a foot of Equality that hereafter he may be compell'd to observe his Articles for without this any Peace we can make will be but unsound and precarious Perhaps he may submit to give up Lorrain Philipsburg and Strasburg and his late Conquests in Savoy Catalonia and Flanders The Pope Venetians and the two Northern Crowns shall be Mediators and afterwards Warrantees of the Treaty The Confederacy shall still subsist and upon stricter terms of Union But when we have bound Sampson with these new Ropes may he not when he pleases break them from off his Arms like a Thread Indeed we might promise our selves that a Peace would be good and durable if we were enough Superior in the War to make him Surrender those strong places with which on every side he seems to Bridle this part of the World Or if he were so distress'd as for a Peace to deprive himself of his Fleet to which the Romans compell'd Carthage and afterwards King Antiochus then we in England might promise our selves future Safety But while his Naval strength is unbroken while he has that Chain of Fortified Towns upon the Rhine and that formidable Barrier in Flanders while on the side of Spain Italy and Switzerland he is left in such a condition to Invade and so fortified against Invasion we may make a Peace that shall give us present ease and put off the Evil day for a time but we cannot pretend to have secur'd our Liberties or defeated his designs of Universal Monarchy Whoever carefully examines those general Treaties of Peace the French of late years have concluded with the House of Austria and their other Opposites from that of Vervin's to that of Nimmeghen will find they have had no effect but to give France a legal Title to what it possest before by Conquest or to affort it time to repair the Calamities of War and to gather Strength for new and greater Undertakings We took this War in hand to assert the Liberties of Europe and to encourage us to carry it on we have Examples ancient and modern of Nations that have resisted great Monarchies and who have at last worked out their Freedom by Patience Wisdom and Courage In Defence of their Laws and Religion the Low-Countreys maintained a War with Spain from 1566 to 1648 which ended in the Peace of Munster and in that Struggle they fixed their Government Great Monarchies do easily over-run and swallow up the lesser Tirannies and Principalities that are round about them but they find much harder Work and another sort of Opposition when they come to invade Common-wealths or mix'd Governments where the People have an Interest in the Laws Under Tirannies where the Subjects only contend for the Choice of a Master the Dispute is seldom real and haerty but in free Countreys where the People fight for themselves and their own proper Wealth and Security they are in earnest and defend themselves accordingly The Persians very easily subdued the neighbouring Monarchies that made up their large Empire but when they came to invade the Grecians a free People we see how their numerous Armies and great Navies were at last defeated That War was carried on by Confederates of which the chief were the Lacedemonians and the Athenians one a Kingly Government limited by Laws the other a Common-wealth it lasted two and twenty years reckoning from the Battel of Marathon to that Victory gain'd by Cimon which forced the Persians to sue for Peace And it may not be amiss to take notice how the Athenians laid the whole stress of this War upon their Naval force pursuant to the Oracle which told them they should be safe within their
a gradual and constant way of Improvement from 1674 to 1689 inclusive which year it produced clear of all Charge 667 383 l. 11 s. 9 d. ◠Ever year since it has fallen and by much larger steps than ever it mounted But because since the War there is little Brandy Imported and Strong Waters are now charged in another manner and at other Rates than formerly the Fall of this Revenue will more plainly appear by making the Accompt up only for Beer and Ale which produc'd as followeth Note What follows is the gross Account  l. s. d. Year ending 24 June 1689 694,476 02 6 ¼ Year ending 24 June 1690 633,822 14 6 ¾ Year ending 24 June 1691 554,769 10 6 ¼ Year ending June 24 1692 515,455 08 3 ¾ Year ending 24 June 1693 488,442 14 7 1 4 The Accompts of the year ending the 24th of June 1694 are not yet made up but the Excise by a Medium of four years having fallen hitherto about 50,000 l. per Annum 't is probable the last Year has done the like and if so it is now 250,000 l. per Annum less than it was in 1689. This great Decrease is by the Commissioners of that Revenue chiefly attributed to the new Additional Duties which in the Country have made numbers of Victuallers in every County leave of their Trade and in London put many private Families to brew their own Drink The Three nine Pences upon Beer and Ale will not amount to much more than 420,000 l. per Annum and if as is alledged they are the real Cause the old Revenue is diminished yearly 250,000 l. the publick gets but 190,000 l. per Annum by a Tax that will be a long and very grievous Burthen upon all the Barly-Land of England and which is particularly heavy upon one Trade otherwise enough oppressed by the Quartering of Soldiers 'T is true these Duties were a present Expedient and did help out towards the Supply of the War but for a long time hereafter they will apparently very much diminish the ordinary Revenue of the Crown Of Poll-Money THere is nothing can make it better apparent how displeasing Poll-Money is to the People than the Observation how ill it is brought in and answered to the King For where Taxes seem hard and oppressive in particular to the Poor the Country Gentlemen proceed in the Levying of them with no Zeal nor Affection The first single Poll that was given in this Reign amounted to 288 310 l. 19 s. 6 1 ◠3 with which the Quarterly Poll holds no manner of Proportion 'T is true the Qualifications are taxed differently in the two Acts. Money is charged in the first and not in the second and Titles are put higher in one than the other But considering how many were brought in by the second Act and at high Rates which were not reach'd by the first the Quadruple Poll might reasonably have produc'd near four times as much as the Single and it yielded little more than half Quarterly Poll.  l. s. d. London Middlesex and Westminster 97,622 5 11 Rest of England 499,896 7 1 ¼ Total 597,518 13 0 ¼ Single Poll.  l. s. d. London Middlesex and Westminster 80,280 9 4 ¼ Rest of England 208,030 10 2 Total 288,310 19 6 ¼ Total of the Quarterly Poll 597,518 13 0 ¼ Difference 309,207 13 5 ¾ The Houses in England as appears by the Books of Hearth-Money are about 1,300,000 of which 500,000 are Cottages inhabited by the Poorer Sort so that we may reckon there are not above 800,000 Families liable to the Payment of Poll-Money and though in the common Computation of the whole People there may not be above six Persons to a House one with another yet in computing the 800,000 Richer Families we may very well allow them to contain one with another seven Persons which would be 5,600,000 Heads and reckon but a third Part of these qualified within the Act to pay four Shillings per Head the Poll Bill on that single Article ought to have produced 373,333 l. What the one Pound per Quarter upon Gentlemen and Merchants worth 300 l. and such as belong to the Law and what the Ten Shillings per Quarter upon Tradesmen Shopkeepers and Vintners worth 300 l. might have yielded is difficult to compute but perhaps the Commissioners Names in the Act of Parliament for the Monthly Assessment Quarto Quinto Gulielmi Mariae may be no ill Guide in the Matter The Commissioners then were about Ten thousand and we may reasonably suppose and any Gentleman may compute for his own Country and he will find that one Country with another not an Eighth Part are named Commissioners of those Persons who in Estate real or personal are worth 300 l. and if so we may reckon there are in England 80000 Persons lyable to the Payment of one Pound per Quarter by which Account the King should have received on that Article 320,000 l. When we reflect upon the great Number of Tradesmen Shopkeepers and Vintners that are in England it cannot seem any extravagant Computation to reckon there are 40000 Persons of that Sort worth 300 l. and lyable to the Payment of Ten Shillings per Quarter upon which Head the King should have received 80000 l. And allowing but 26667 l. for all other Persons charged by that Act the Quarterly Poll ought to have yielded to the King For the Common People at 4 s. per Head l. 373,333 For the Gentlemen c. at 4 l. per Head l. 320,000 For Tradesmen c. at 4 l. per Head l. 80,000 For other Persons charged by the Act l. 26,667 In all l. 800,000 But there was receiv'd only l. 597,518 s. 13 d. 0 ¼ The principal Articles in this Computation seem very much confirmed by what the first Poll yielded for if there had not been in England about 1,867,666 Persons who paid 12 d. per Head and about Eighty thousand of the Sort who paid one Pound per Head that Poll could not have produced in the Country only 208,330 l. 10 s. 2 d. for Money and Titles were generally charged in London In the Poll now in being such are charged who are worth in Estate real or personal 600 l. which may make some difference in the second Article but the third Article should now increase considering all Persons by this Act are to pay Ten Shillings per Quarter that are worth 300 l. in Estate real or personal which seems to take in Stock of all kinds whereas in the former Act only Tradesmen Shopkeepers and Vintners were comprehended so that if the present Poll were strictly collected it would produce about 800,000 l. and yet as far as can be judged by the Accounts hitherto come up it is not like to yield so much Money as the former When a Tax yields no more than half what in reason might be expected from it we may plainly see it grates upon all sorts of People and such Ways and Means of
and it was upon the score of this Trust that in all probability the Parliament named Commissioners of the Shires with the Justices of the Peace to be Associated Vid Rot. Parl. 12. H. 7. N. 12. and N. 13. But Commissioners have been several times since named by the King as 34 and 37 Hen. 8. 2 and 3 Edw. 6. 3 and 4 Edw. 6. 4 and 5 Phil. and Mary 15 and 22 Car. 2. But there is a President for this in the first Year of Their present Majesties Reign and if pursuant to the Powers given in that Act the King had named Commissioners of his own in every County for levying the Aid of one Shilling in the Pound there might have been a new Survey made of all the Rents in England and in all likelihood such Sums would have been raised upon Land only as might have near answer'd all the Necessities of the Government The second Pound Rate did not raise so much in proportion as the first and there is ground to think this last 4 Shiling Aid will not raise so much as the former And there is reason to believe the Aids by Pound Rate will every time grow less and less like the Subsidies in the latter end of Queen Elizabeth's and beginning of King Iames's Reign unless there be a new and regular Survey made of Land For let the Dangers from abroad and the Wants at home be never so pressing no doubt most Men if they are left to themselves will be glad to save their Money and will rather consult their private Interest than the Public Good But if the King as was always practis'd in Ancient Times had power to name Commissioners and if all People were bound under great Forfeitures to give in a true Rental of their Estates or a true Estimate of what they keep in their hands and if the Commissioners had power to Examin any person other than the Party himself upon Oath of the true value of each Man's Estate there is hardly any doubt to be made but that an Aid of Four Shillings in the Pound would raise Three Millions And if Land could raise that Sum the Nation need not be put to such dishonorable and dangerous shifts of raising Money as are new Projects fresh Impositions upon Trade and Fonds of Perpetual Interest which if they are made use of as the constant Ways and Means of Supplying the War must in all appearance very quickly destroy our Foreign Commerce and by consequence bring universal Weakness and Poverty upon the whole Kingdom But there is nothing too hard for the Wisdom of a Parliament to bring about which perhaps may find a way to Levy the Pound Rate justly and equally in all Counties without giving the King Power to Name Commissioners The Ancient Subsidies did usually consist of a charge by Poll a Pound Rate upon Land and a Pound Rate upon Money and Personal Estates so that all sorts of people did contribute something in the old way of Taxing but such as for their Poverty were exempted The Usurers who are the true Drones of a Common-wealth living upon the Honey without any Labour should of all People be brought in to bear their proportion of the Common Burthen As yet they could never be effectually reach'd but they may be fetch'd in by the Wisdom of a Parliament if the House of Commons would please resolutely to set themselves about it What a Pound Rate of Four Shillings in the Pound upon Money might produce is very hard to compute because in that Matter there is scarce any Rule or Measure to go by but supposing Money at Interest to be a sixteenth part as some think of the annual Value and Income of England there is then twenty Millions of Money at Interest which may be and yet not a third part of that Sum in specie in the Kingdom and if there are twenty Millions at Interest at five per Cent. a Pound Rate of Four Shillings in the Pound upon Money would raise 200,000 l. That which has made Quarterly Polls so distastful is charging the Poorer sort but if they were all exempted a Quarterly Poll well Levied might raise 500,000 l. And here it may not be amiss to take notice that if in the Pound Rate upon Land one Shilling were taken off from the Landlord and placed upon the Tenant it would ease those who have born all the weight nor can it seem oppressive to the Tenants considering how well they have fared hitherto So that a mix'd Aid by a Pound Rate upon Land and Money and by a Quarterly Poll all carefully Levied might raise By Four Shillings Pound Rate upon Land l. 3,000,000 By Four Shillings Pound Rate upon Money l. 200,000 By a Quarterly Poll l. 500,000 Total l. 3,700,000 Which without any new Ways and means would come very near raising that Sum to which the Expence of the War has hitherto amounted If in a War that is so Expensive and is thought so necessary for our Preservation all people would agree to promote Equality no doubt great Sums might be raised in this Nation and the Country in all Aids would be found to answer as well as London That London Westminster and Middlesex pay about a sixth part in the Aid is very plain and that they are not above a Tenth part of the Kingdom 's general Rental is very probable What Proportion in other Wealth and Substance London bears to the rest of England is very hard to determine But some Landed Man will start up and say 'T is true London bears a sixth it ought to bear a half it has all the Wealth and the immoderate Growth of that City undoes and ruins all the Country It may therefore be well worth the Enquiry of thinking Men what truth there is in this common and receiv'd Notion that the Growth of London is pernicious to England That the Kingdom is like a Rickety Body with a Head too big for the other Members For some people who have thought much upon this subject are inclin'd to believe that the Growth of that City is advantageous to the Nation and they seem to ground their Opinion upon the following Reasons That no Empire was ever great without having a great and populous City That the Romans drew all the conquer'd Cities of Italy into Rome That the People of Attica were no better than a Crew of rude Herdsmen and neither flourish'd in War nor in Civil Arts till Theseus perswaded them to Inhabit Athens That the greatness of London will best preserve our Constitution because where there is a great and powerful City the Prince will hardly Enterprise upon the Liberties of that People in the same manner a Rich and Powerful City seldom Rebels upon vain and slight occasions On these grounds and many others some people are led to think the Growth of London not hurtful to the Nation but on the contrary to believe that there is not an Acre of Land in the Country be it never so