AN ESSAY ON THE Coin and Commerce OF THE KINGDOM Trade and Treasure Which are Twins Being the only SUPPORTERS thereof NEXT TO Religion and Justice For the Merchandize of it is better than the Merchandize of Silver and the Gain thereof than fine Gold LONDON Printed and Published for the Consideration of the Present and Future Sessions of Parliament 1695. To the High Court of Parliament and particularly to the Grand Committee of Trade appointed Mart. 19 Feb. 94. to sit every Tuesday Thursday and Saturday in the Afternoon and to the Honourable Committee appointed to receive Proposals for prevention of Clipping and Coining SIRS SInce I expose the following Particulars for the Publick Good and do most humbly submit them to your Honourable Protection I hope no particular Person will be displeased with me for relating only what some others think fit to say c. PART I. I. SOmetimes before the late Revolution I have heard the S AVH of some other Countries compare the English in many parallel respects to the Jews and Greeks Two Nations very honourable and brave in their Ancestry but Ignoble and Base in the Degeneracy of their Descendants for which they now both suffer both under a Heathen and a Christian Yoke from which Good Lord deliver us And it should be the oftner in our Litany because the Wise Venetians more worthily than the others do value themselves on a prospect of futurity at a very great distance and will never in their Senate enact any thing as to day until they consider and see what will come of it to morrow c. II. The Form and State of the Jewish Government was often chang'd its Lustre obscured and its Puissance and Grandeur lessen'd and impair'd according to the Degrees of the People's Transgressions Who drew Iniquity with Cords of Vanity and sinned as it were with a Cart-rope For which their Silver was turned into Dross and their Justice into Wormwood their Cities were burned with Fire their Lands Strangers devoured it in their presence the People were oppressed every one by another and the rewards of their own hands were given them And at last they were entirely left without a Sceptre and brought under the Roman Yoke as our Religion had lately been had not the Providence of God protected it by means of his Heroick and most Excellent Majesty and his late most religious and Royal Consort of Famous and Everlasting Memory III. And as the Jews were so were the Greeks who became first so careless of their Honour and afterwards of their Countrey 's minding at last only their private Interest that when they lost Coiro Docastron they laugh'd at it and slightingly said by way of Preface and Introduction to their future Misfortune and Distress That it signify'd but as the words do a Pig-stye But soon after the Turks taught them by woful Experience to understand what it is not to understand and redress Grievances in their prime before they come to an irreparable pass IV. The great Grievances which now we all complain of and not a little but much too late are our Clipp'd Silver and Dross-money and our decay of Treasure and Trade together And since four such sad Calamities have befallen this Kingdom in such a time of War let us first enquire into the Causes of them the knowledge of the Cause being the first step to the Care Now the general Cause of so general a Calamity not altogether unlike that of the Jews and Greeks both in Cause and Effect must needs be first our general Degeneracy and our little regard to Religion Grievances Trade and Justice for which there are appointed four principal Committees at the opening of every Sessions of Parliament V. * And here it may be noted that the Dutch c. have of late Years exhausted both Money and Goods from us and have paid us for both but in our own Coin I mean 〈◊〉 Money as they Coined and Clipped for such kind of Commerce A particular and a very considerable Cause of the decay of our Treasure in general I mean of our Money and Manufacture is the Over balance of Trade which the greatest part of the Wiser World have long since gained from us and whereby they have exhausted our Treasure either in Bills Money Bullyon or Goods which as some of them especially have managed the Matter hath been almost equal gain to them and the like loss to us For if for instance we import one Year with another Goods to the value of Three Millions Sterling and do export Goods but to the value of Two Millions the Nation must yearly lose a Million one way or another and will be in the same State and Condition of a Gentlemen that spends Fifteen hundred Pounds a Year out of a Thousand Pounds per Annum if Matters be not remedied In Edward the Third's time the English had the Over-balance of Trade in their favour and that King having prohibited the Exportation of our Wool ordained new Coin for Conveniency c. having the Advantage of War by that Advantage of Trade and having many Voluntiers for Men's Courage sympathize with their Coin as it is base or noble invaded France with a Valiant and Victorious Army and was the first King that Quarter'd the Arms of France with those of England England under Queen Elizabeth had likewise great Advantages in War with Spain c. by means of the Advantage it then also had in Trade as well as it hath by Nature and Situation But in the four latter Reigns which succeeded hers and preceeded his present Majesty's in a slothful and drowsie Peace as my Lord Bacon calls it in his Advancement of Learning the Princes and their People like one another neglecting first the Reformed Religion next the Justice then the Trade and at last the Treasure of the Nation as well as the State of War which Queen Elizabeth left it in did lose in general not only their Courage but so much of their Coin and other Treasure as would non-plus the Arithmetick of Archimedes who undertook to write the number of the Sands to cast up an Account thereof For the most modest Computations do reckon from Matters of the most Infallible Fact that from the First of King James the First to the last of King James the Second this Nation lost one Year with another above Two Millions Sterling by Trading only with two or three other Nations on unequal and disadvantageous Terms And King Charles the Second was made so sensible by Mr. Fortrey and others of the vast Advantage which the French then had of us by our so disadvantageous Trading with them in particular that he promised the Nation a Council of Trade consisting of some of the Principal Merchants of each Company of some of the best qualified Gentlemen in the Kingdom and for the greater Honour thereof some of His Majesties own Privy Council but he promised like a Merchant c. And if One hundred Pounds As Sir
and we make it here better and cheaper and then we should have it to furnish our selves and our Neighbours and transport abundance to our Southern Plantations and bring for it Silver or such Commodities as we most want or pay ready Money for VII A greater Imposition on Foreign Commodities which come from such Places as have the Over-Balance of Trade in their favour would bring us in or save us a great deal of Money 1. Because it would prevent the great Importation of Foreign Commodities or lower the prices thereof and by consequence prevent the greater Exportation of our Money 2. Because it would encourage the Importation of some Commodities from other Countries that take more of our Commodities from us as Raisins from Spain and Currans from Turkey where they have as good and better and can have in a little time as much and more than they have at Zant c. The Turkey Spanish the Guiny West-India Trade Ditto P. 10. are very good to us but the West-India Trade will be the only Advantage to us if we fix it rightly which will vend not only our own Commodities but bring us store of Silver and Increase of Navigation 3. Because the Places that take so little of our Manufacture c. from us cannot impose upon us as we may upon them unless they do as they often do lay the greater Impositions on their own Commodities the more they find us inclin'd or engag'd to them A People may be undone by some kind of Merchandize Ditto P. 12. for many Merchants so they advantage themselves care not what Injury they may do to the Publick for as they were wont formerly and do still serve those of Guiny to carry them Beads Looking-Glasses and such like things and bring away their Gold so they deal often with their own Country-men For finding us fantastical and voluptuous they tempt us with all sorts of French Toys Indy and Japan Trifles c. which fetch away our Money and solid Wealth c. But it were well if we could manage the East-India Trade as the Dutch do who carry no Silver from Holland but drive the Trade with the Silver they get from Japan in Exchange for other Commodities they bring to them which we may do in a better and speedier way than they can if permitted by means of the West-Indies c. But as things are now we are Losers by most of our Trading Ditto P. 13. especially our French and Canary We import as one Author saith of French Commodities as Silks Laces Linen and the like Sixteen hundred thousand Pounds a-Year more than we export of our own and of Canary Wine One hundred and Fifty thousand Pounds worth more than we export also Sir Josiah Child in his Book aforesaid p. 162. Saith The Trade for Canary Wines I take to be a most pernicious Trade to England because those Islands consume very little of our Manufactures neither do they furnish us with any Commodities to be farther Manufactured here And the Wines we bring from thence are for the most part purchased with Ready Money so that something is necessary to be done to compel those Islanders to spend more of our English Commodities and to sell their Wares cheaper which every Year they advance in Price or else to lessen the Consumption of them in England And p. 161. he saith The Venetians being a People that take from us very little of our Manufactures have prohibited our English Cloth and from whose Territories we receive great Quantities of Currans purchased with our Ready Money It seems to me advantageous for England that that Importation should be discouraged c. I have too great an Honour and Regard for His Majesty's Interest than to speak of prohibiting those Commodities But a greater Imposition on them here would oblige the first Owners thereof to take Commodities for Commodities and to lessen the Prices ☞ and the Impositions in the Places of their growth The Duke of Venice having 12 Dollars a thousand as the King of England hath 14 Shillings a-hundred Custom on the Currans And those Impositions together with the first Cost and all other Charges being to be paid at last by those only who will be pleased to eat Currans a farther Imposition on them for the Reasons aforesaid can be very displeasing to no particular Person And the Publick cannot think any Ill of it especially since his Majesty hath so often recommended to his Parliament the Balance Regulation and Advancement of Trade And since the Venetians will often boast that they have had above Forty Millions Sterling in Money by Bills c. for their Merda as they sometimes take occasion enough to call their Currans without the Common Civility of Sir Reverence VIII All manner of Encouragement to the honest Exporting Merchants and to the most Industrious and most Ingenious Manufafacturers of what Nation soever would bring us in much Money and People For much People create much Community much Community much Commerce much Commerce much Industry much Industry much Ingenuity much Ingenuity much Arts much Arts much Manufacture much Manufacture much Domestick Trade much Domestick Trade by means of Exportation introduceth much Foreign Money and much Money and many People improve both the Value and Price of Land And as it would improve our Wealth and the Revenues of all Ranks of Men so it would prevent the Exportation of our Wool better than any Laws that can be executed here in England whatever might be done in France or elsewhere by which means we should not lose but gain those Advantages which the French and Dutch have had of us and others by making Cloth of our Wool as they made Light of our Weighty Money and sent it us again for other Money or Goods IX An esteemable Encouragement to all Men and Women A great Example would be an Encouragement good and esteemable enough that would wear Cloth and Stuff all the Winter and a general burying in Woollen would save us so much Money as would go a great way towards the Fund and a Peny sav'd being of more value than a Peny got it would advantage us more ways than one For the more we consume of Foreign Commodities True English Interest p. 47. the more we strengthen Foreigners and weaken our selves without we over balance it by our own Exportation for if we have not Manufactures and Home-Productions had we never so many Silver Mines they would be exhausted as we have an Example in the Spaniard who consumes all the Silver he hath from the Indies on Foreign Things he hath occasion for X. An Imposition on all the Wearers of Silk Silver and Gold would bring in Money for the Fund or encourage the Woollen Manufacture or both and the less Gold and Silver is worn as well as Foreign Silks the less will fall to the ground and be loss to the Nation But I believe the more our People were confined to Cloth and
would be easie and acceptable it would amount to above 100000 l. XXVI By Honours P. 195. And that either by Power Legal or Election Of the first it is only in respect of Land whereby every Man is to fine when the King shall require that hath Ability to be made a Knight and is not Of this sort there be plentiful Examples The other out of Choice and Grace as Hugo de Putiaco Bishop of Durham was by King Richard 1. created Earl of Northampton for a great Summ of Money And I doubt not but many of these times would set their Ambition at as high a price And for his Majesty now to make a degree of Honour Hereditary as Baronets next Under-Barons and grant them in Tail taking of every one 1000 l. in Fine it would raise with ease 100000 l. and by a judicious Election be a means to content those worthy Persons in the Common-Wealth that by the confused admission of many Knights of the Bath held themselves all this time disgraced XXVII Kings raise Money by Offices * But if Justice should be sold now we should pay dearer for it than we do And God knows there are Impositions on Justice enough already Thus did King John with the Chancellorship selling it for time of Life to Grey for 5000 Marks In France Aemyliusin vita Lew. 12. Lewis XII called the Father of his Country did so with all Offices not being of Judicature which his Successors did not forbear In Spain it is usual Vasq Cap. 40. Ex Instruct Car. 5. ad Phil. 2. and Vasque the Spanish Advocate defendeth the Lawfulness of it And Charles V. prescribeth it to his Son as a Rule in his last Instruction drawing his ground of Reason and Conveniency from the Example and Practice of the See of Rome And the like might be of all inferiour Promotions whether Ecclesiastical or Temporal and it would honestly raise a great deal of Money XXVIII Taxes were better raised any way ☞ than from the Land True English Interest p. 68.69 c. for that drives the Money out of the Country which seldom returns and is hard to be got to it upon any occasion but it would be great advantage to his Majesty and gratifie his Subjects Infinitely if he could get a considerable Revenue somewhere from without By which means his own People might be eased at home which would bind them to him eternally besides the great Advantage it would be to the Nation by such a Yearly income of Silver continually And questionless the King of England might have five times the Revenue he hath brought Yearly to him from the West-Indies when he pleases besides the vast Trade which would ensue by it to all his Subjects However there might be ways found out that no Taxes might ever be laid on the substantial part of the Nation Country or City Land or Houses but only on the Vices of the People as in all Taverns Ale-houses Foreign needless Commodities and on debauch'd Persons And also double Customs on all such Goods brought over that we might make here as Silk Linen Tapestry Lace Gloves Ribbons Paper and many things more XXIX And to get a considerable Revenue from without a Treble Imposition on all our Consuls and Factors residing in Foreign Countries 1. An Imposition of so much per Cent on every English Consul and Factor according to his Personal Estate and Yearly Commission they having paid nothing towards the War nor do they pay any thing in time of Peace 2. An Imposition of so much per Cent upon all Commodities as they shall send to England for their own Accompt because the more they send the less will be the Gains of our Domestick Merchants who pay all Rates and Taxes when the Factors pay neither tho' their Advantage of fore-stalling c. is very considerable to our Merchants and ruinous to the Kingdom 3. An Imposition after the Property is alter'd upon all Foreign Commodities to be laden by any English or Alien Factors for any English Man's Account for England or any other Nation which Imposition being Foreign would be felt neither by the Factor by the Merchant nor by any English Man and it would be both for the Interest and the Honour of the Nation I. Because it would naturally lower the Foreign Impositions more than if it had been a Domestick Tax which Foreign Impositions are most commonly laid on the English by consent of our Consuls and Factors they being to the English Merchants much as Lawyers and Sollicitors are to their Clients And the other reason why the Alien Impositions are so much greater than ours on Exportation is because we are naturally to our unnatural shame be it spoken more inclined to Alien Commodities than Aliens are to ours though ours are and may be so much better than theirs II. Because this Imposition would naturally lower the Price of Foreign Commodities more than if it had been a Domestick Tax Which Price is most commonly higher or lower the more our Consuls and Factors do agree or disagree to make it so I have known and shall prove it that our Consuls and Factors have paid three times dearer for Foreign Commodities for our Merchants than they might have bought them for And the more they pay the more they and the Aliens with whom they combine do get and so much the more this Nation in general loseth But a general Loss is little felt heard or understood by particular Persons III. This Imposition on the Consuls and Factors would be little felt by them because the Merchants most commonly pay them before they pay for their Commodities or if they do not it is but so much Money laid out which they are to be re-paid again with Interst c. IV. It would be little felt by the Merchants because they pay in a great measure tho' not so great as it should be for what they import by the product of their Exportations which they buy here at Twelve and Eighteen Month's time And because they are come now almost to care not what they pay for foreign Commodities so long as they can have Credit c. from their Factors abroad who make them or rather their Nation pay soundly for it and can be re-imburs'd by their Chapmen at home which is the reason that Foreign Commodities have of later Years so risen to the ruining of this Nation When I lived abroad I thought my self as I was obliged by Oath and Indentures neither to defraud my Master my self nor to suffer any other body so to do without informing my said Master and as I did to him so did I to all my other Friends But when I had suffer'd all that Malice could inflict upon me together with the loss of my Fortune and the Lives of Two or Three Men because I would not combine with our Consul and Factors and their Confederates to cheat my Country and my Friends One of those Friends very kindly wrote
receive any such Money Answ To this I Answer That when the Money is Mill'd there will be no great fear of having it Clipp'd because it will not pass then as other Clipp'd Money does now but it may be so cunningly Counterfeited that they deserve worse than Banishment and Twenty Pounds Fine that are found guilty of the Fact And a Severe Penalty would be too hard upon any one that should be deceived therewith Nothing but exceeding Care and Judgment can prevent their being sometime deceived The People abroad have Scales and Touchstones to prevent the receiving of Counterfeit-Money And before the Jews Silver was turned into Dross Abraham weighed unto Ephron the Silver which he had named in the Audience of the Sons of Heth Four hundred Shekels of Silver Currant-Money with the Merchants 2. To prevent Melting down Let the Crown-Piece be Coined of the intrinsick Value of Four Shillings and Six Pence only c. And let each Piece pass Currant for their respective Denominations The Nation will quickly be sensible of the Advantage of this Article for our Merchants will never be at the Expence of exporting Bullion when it will be a much greater Profit to have it Coined at home Answ To which I Answer in Sir Robert Cotton's Words That Money must value in Pecunia quantum in Massa For Silver is a Commodity as other Wares P. 197. and therefore holdeth its Estimation as they do according to the Goodness And the Lord Treasurer Burleigh Anno 1561. when the Currant of State-Council affected an Abasement of Coin after a grave deliberation advised the Queen from it and never would give way to any such Resolution in his time For the Revenues of the Crown being commonly in certain Rents they must in true value howsoever in verbal sound P. 196. be abated to the proportion that the Money shall be abased But that Benefit which truly the King might more make of Bullion than now he doth is to erect again Cambium Regis P. 197. his own Exchange An Office as ancient as before Henry III. and so continued until Henry VIII the Profit of it being now ingrossed amongst a few Goldsmiths and would yield above 10000 l. a-Year if it were heedfully regarded And then should the King himself keep his Mint in continual Work and not stand at the Devotion of others to supply Bullion He should never want Materials if Two Things were observed I. To permit all Men bringing in Bullion to trade outward the value thereof in Domestick Commodities at an abated Custom II. To abate the mighty Indraught of Foreign Manufactures and unnecessary Wares that the outward Trade might over-balance the inward which otherwise will as it hath done draw on this desperate Consumption of the Common Wealth P. 198. Which Anno 27 Edward III. was otherwise Ex scaccar inter rememb Regis 27 Ed. 3. for then the Exitus exceeded the Introitus by far and in the last Times of Queen Elizabeth As in Anno 1553. II. * Cottoni Posthuma P. 285. c. How our scandalous Clipping and scandalous Coining doth do it is now too notoriously known to all Men. I cannot but assuredly conceive that this intended Project of enhansing the Coin will trench both into the Honour the Justice and the Profit of my Royal Master c. †Honour Ali Estates do stand Magis famâ quam vi as Tacitus saith of Rome and Wealth in every Kingdom is one of the essential Marks of their Greatness and that is best exprest in the Measure and Purity of their Moneys Hence was it that so long as the Roman Empire a Pattern of the best Government held up their Glory and Greatness they ever maintained with little or no charge the Standard of their Coin But after the loose Times of Commodus had let in Need by Excess and so that shift of changing the Standard the Majesty of that Empire fell by degrees And as Vopiscus saith the Steps by which that Statee descended were visibly known most by the gradual alteration of their Coin And there is no surer Symptom of a Consumption in State than the Corruption of Money 1286. ☞ What Renown is left to the Posterity of Edward I. in amending the Standard Edw. I. both in Purity and Weight from that of elder and most barbarous Times must stick as a Blemish upon Princes that do the contrary Thus we see it was with Henry VI. who after he had begun with abating the Measure Hen. VI. he after fell to abating the Matter and granted Commissions to Missenden and others to practise Alchimy to serve his Mint The Extremity of the State in general felt this Aggrievance besides the Dishonour it laid upon the Person of the King When Henry VIII had gained as much of Power and Glory abroad Hen. VIII of Love and Obedience at home as ever any he suffered Shipwrack of all upon this Rock When his Daughter Queen Eliz. Queen Elizabeth came to the Crown she was happy in Council to mend that Error of her Father and to reduce the Standard to the ancient Parity and Purity of her Great Grandfather King Edward IV. Edw. IV. Justice To avoid the Trick of Permutation Coin was devised as a Rate and Measure of Merchandize and Manufactures which if mutable no Man can tell either what he hath or what he oweth No Contract can be certain and so all Commerce both Publick and Private destroyed and Men again enforced to Permutation with Things not subject to Wit or Fraud In the last part which is the Disprofit this enfeebling the Coin will bring both to his Majesty and the Common Wealth Profit I must distinguish the Moneys of Gold and Silver as they are Bullion or Commodities and as they are Measure the one the intrinsick Quality which is at the King's Pleasure as all other Measures the other the intrinsick Quantity of pure Metal which is in the Merchant to value c. What the King will suffer by it in the Rents of his Lands is demonstrated enough by the Alterations since the 18th Edward III. when all the Revenue of the Crown came into the Receipt Pondere Numero It will discourage a great proportion of the Trade in England P. 292. and so impair his Majesty's Customs c. The Moneys of Gold and Silver formerly Coined and abroad being richer than those intended will be made for the most part hereby Bullion and so Transported which I conceive to be none of the least Inducements that hath drawn so many Goldsmiths to side in this Project that they may be thereby Factors for the Strangers And if in 5 Edward VI. 3 Mary and 4 Elizabeth it appeareth by the Proclamations that a Rumour only of an Alteration in Coin caused such Effects punishing the Author of such Reports with Imprisonments and Pillory it cannot be doubted but the projecting a Change must be of far more Consequence and Danger to the State
England will not cause a Transportation of most of that that is now Currant to be Minted in the Netherlands and from them brought back again whereby his Majesties Mint will fail by the Exported benefit 4. Whether the advancing the Silver Coin if it produce the former Effects will not cause the Markets to be unfurnished of present Coin to drive the Exchange when most of the Old will be used in Bullion 5. Whether the higher we raise the Coin at home we make not thereby our Commodities beyond Sea the cheaper 6. Whether the greatest profit by this Enhaunsing will not grow to the ill Members of the State that have formerly culled the weightiest Pieces and sold them to the Stranger-Merchants to be Transported V. And at the same time these general Rules were Collected out of the Consultations at Court concerning Money and Bullion 1. Gold and Silver have a two-fold Estimation in the Intrinsick as they are Monies they are the Princes Measures given to his People and this is a Prerogative of Kings In the Intrinsick they are Commodities valuing each other according to the plenty or scarcity and so all other Commodities by them and that is the sole Power of Trade 2. The Measures in a Kingdom ought to be constant It is the Justice and Honour of the King for if they be altered all Men 'T is just now so with our Guineas c. at that Instant are deceived in their precedent Contracts either for Lands or Money and the King most of all for no Man knoweth then either what he hath or what he oweth 3. This made the Lord Treasurer Burleigh in 1573. when some Projectors had set on foot a matter of this nature to tell them that they were worthy to suffer death for attempting to put so great a dishonour on the Queen and detriment and discontent upon the People for to alter this publick Measure is to leave all the Markets of the Kingdom unfurnished And what will be the Mischief the Proclamations of 5 Ed. VI. 3 Mariae 5 Edw. VI. 3 Mariaet 4 Eliz. and 4 Eliz. will manifest when but a rumour of the like produced that Effect so far that besides the Faith of the Princes to the contrary delivered in their Edicts they were enforced to cause the Magistrates in every Shire respectively to Constrain the People to furnish the Markets to prevent a Mutiny 4. To make this Measure then at this time short is to raise all Prizes or to turn the Money or Measure into Disise or Bullion when it is richer by seven in the hundred in the Mass than the new Monies and yet of no more value in the Market 5. Hence of necessity it must follow that there will not in a long time be sufficient Minted of the New to drive the Exchange of the Kingdom and so all Trade at one Instant at a stand and in the mean time the Markets unfurnish'd which how it may concern the quiet of the State is worthy care 6. And thus far as Money is a Measure 7. Now as it is a Commodity it is respected and valued by the Intrinsick quality And first the one Metal to the other 8. All Commodities are prized by plenty or scarcity by dearness or cheapness the one by the other If therefore we desire our Silver to buy Gold as it of late hath done we must let it be the Cheaper and less in Proportion valued and so contrary for one equivalent Proportion in both will bring in neither We see the proof thereof by the unusual quantity of Gold brought lately to the Mint by reason of the price for we rate it above all other Countries and Gold may be bought too dear To furnish then this way the Mint with both is altogether impossible 9. And at this time it was apparently proved both by the best Artists and Merchants most acquainted with the Exchange in both the Examples of the Mint-Masters in the Rix Dollar and Real of Eight that Silver here is of equal value and Gold above with the Foreign parts in the Intrinsick and that the fallacy presented to the Lords by the Mint-Masters is only in the Nomination or Intrinsick quality 10. But if we desire both it is not raising of the value that doth it but the balancing of Trade for buy we in more then we sell of other Commodities be the Money never so high prized we must part with it to make the disproportion even If we sell more than we buy the contrary will follow 11. And this is plain in Spain's necessities for should that King advance to a double rate his Real of Eight yet needing by reason of the barrenness of his Country more of Foreign Wares than he can counter vail by Enchange with his own he must part with his Money and gaineth no more by Exhauncing his Coin but that he payeth a higher price for the Commodities he buyeth if his work of raising be his own But if we shall make Improvement of Gold and Silver being the Staple Commodity of his State we then advancing the price of his abase to him our own Commodities 12. To shape this Kingdom to the fashion of the Netherlands were to frame a Royal Monarch by a Society of Merchants Their Country is a continual Fair and so the price of Money must rise and fall to fit their occasions We see this by raising the Exchange at Frankford and other Places at the usual time of their Marts 13. The frequent and daily Change in the low Countries of their Monies is no such injustice to any there as it would be here For being all either Mechanicks or Merchants they can Rate accordingly their Labour or their Wares whether it be Coin or other Merchandise to the present condition of their Money in Exchange 14. And our English Merchants to whose profession it properly belongs do so according to the just Intrinsick value of their Foreign Coin in all Barter of Commodities or Exchange except at usance which we that are ruled and ty'd by the Intrinsick Measure of Money in all our constant Reckonings and Annual Bargains at home cannot do 15. And for us then to raise our Coin at this time to equal their Proportions were but to render our selves to a perpetual incertainty for they will raise upon us daily then again which if we of Course should follow else receive no Profit by this present Change we then destroy the Policy Justice Honour and Tranquility of our State at home for ever If we go on debasing our Money Manufacture and Navigation to make even with the Dutch we may now in a very short time undo the Nation and there is nothing that can recover us at present but the Balance Regulation and Advancement of Trade which the King 's most Excellent Majesty hath so often recommended to his Parliament and by which means Edward III. got that Advantage of invading France and dealing with it as he did to the great Honour and
Commodity in Money ☞ than in Exchange for other Commodities because the value thereof is less certain and the Transportation more chargeable As touching the Plenty of Money that is as necessary to the Advance of the Trade P. Ditto as of the goodness of it For according to the Plenty thereof ☞ will be the Plenty of the Manufactures because Handy-crafts having no Commodities but their labour cannot work for Exchange nor can Exchange supply rents and maintenance to the greater sort of People To this end therefore it is provided against melting of Money and Exportation of Silver and Gold 6 Edw. 3. cap. 2.3 17 Rich. 2 c 1. And yet to encourage or not discourage importation of Silver and Gold ☞ liberty was given to every man to export so much as they did import provided that what they carry away must be of the New Stamp This is ancient and I take it to be true Policy And see England's Treasure by Foreign Trade p. 34. cap. 4. That the Exportation of our Moneys in Trade of Merchandice is a means to encrease our Treasures or minted in this Nation By this means Bullion came in with probability that much thereof would remain in the Nation in lien of Commodities exported or if not the greater part yet at least the Mint gained and that was some benefit to the Nation And tho' the Mint was settled by the Parliament yet the Exchange was left to the Directory of the King and his Council because the Exchange is an uncertain thing subject to sudden alterations in other Nations and its necessary that in this Country it be as suddenly balanced with the Exchange in other Countries or in a short time the Nation may receive extream Damage And lastly to watch the course of the Exchange in Foreign Parts and to parallel the course thereof in this Land thereunto ☜ for otherwise the Publick must necessarily suffer so long as private Men seek their own particular Interest only in their course of Trade That there be more of Publick Good in Merchandice ☜ and the Confusion of Trade taken away It were well the Mysteries of Exchange were more publickly known and also that there were a Committee of Trade mixed with the chief able Merchants to continue always who should still be on the discovery and study for the Improvement of Trade English Interest P. 16. VII For there are open as well as private Enemies to the publick Good as I find particularly by a Printed Paper Intituled For encouraging the Coyning Silver Money in England and after for keeping is here Which is a parcel of Pretension and all stuff as the short Observations thereon plainly sheweth Pag. 2. 3. and pag. 4. 5. it affirms that the Reason why we have not had more Money come to our Mint is in short this England sending more consumable Commodities to Spain than it receives from thence the Merchants who managed that Trade bring back the Over-plus in Bullion which at their return they sell as a Commodity The Chapmen that give highest for this are as in all cases of buying and selling those who can make most Profit by it and those are the Returners of our Money by Exchange into those Countries where our Debts any way contracted make a need of it For they getting 6.8.10 c. per Cent. according to the want and demand of Money from England there and according to the risk of the Sea buy up this Bullion assoon as it comes in to send it to their Correspondents in those Parts to make good their Credit for the Bills they have drawn on them and so can give more for it than the Mint rate i e. more than an equal weight of Mill'd Money for an equal weight of Standard Bullion they being able to make more Profit of it by Returns Suppose the Balance of our Trade with 〈◊〉 were in all other Commodities equal but that in the last East-India Sale we bought of them of East-India Commodities to the value of a Million to be paid in a Month a Million must be return'd into Holland this presently raises the Exchange and the Traders in Exchange sell their Bills at high rates but the Ballance of Trade being as is suppos'd in the Case equal in all other Commodities this Million can no way be repay'd to their Correspondents on whom those Bills were drawn but by sending them Money or Bullion to reimburse them This is the true Reason why the Bullion brought from Spain is not carried to the Mint to be Coyn'd but bought by Traders in Foreign Exchange ☞ and Exported by them to suppply the overplus of our Expences there which are not paid for by our Commodities VIII In the true English Interest published 1674 1674. and fore-quoted I find pa. 3. and Ca. 2. the following particulars 1. That Nation that values Money most shall have most of it Answ Which as he must mean them are confuted by his own words immediately following 2. Wherefore it is good that the value of Coyn be always somewhat higher than in our Neighbour Nations so can we not fail of having it from them Answ ☞ If we and all Nations should think so the World would to out do one another raise their Coin to the highest value untill to the undoing of themselves they brought it to nothing worth and so to be of no use 3. Also to keep Money in a Nation it is good to allay it a little and to Coin much small Money Answ Providence hath so ordered it for the general good of Mankind that one Nations like one Mans meat may be another Nations Poyson and that which is good Policy in Holland may in England be great Imprudence If then his Majesty shall be pleased Cottoni Posthuma p. 198. 199. by advice of his Council to advantage himself any otherwise by Coynage it will be safer to do it upon a simple Metal than by any Implyant or better sute which well govern'd States both Modern and Ancient used For Rome in her Increase and greatest pitch of Glory ☞ had their Money aere argento oaur puto puro and so have all the Monarchies absolute at this day in Christendom Ditto p. 199. And I believe it may be wrought to his Majesty of good value and to the State of much case if it may be put in practice with discreet caution and constant Resolution for the danger only may be in the venting the quantity which may clog the State with useless Money or extension of the Example which may work in by degrees an Embasement of Bullion And the Form and Figure may with an Engine so subtilly be Milled that the charge will prevent all practice of false play Pa. 200. Besides it cannot but prevent much wast of Silver Pa. 201. that is by the minting Pence and half Pence occasion'd there will be no cause hereafter to cut any Bullion into proportion so apt for
great and yet not so apt to enlarge their Bounds or Command and some on the other hand that have but a small Dimension of Stem and yet are apt to be the Foundation of great Monarchies And in his Considerations touching a War with Spain He saith to King Charles the First then Prince Your Highness hath an imperial Name it was a Charles that brought the Empire first into France a Charles that brought it first into Spain and why should not Great Britain have it's Turn England being by Nature the Emporium of the World is certainly the fittest Seat for the Empire of the Vniverse as well as that of the Ocean which as my Lord Bacon saith Is the principal Dowry of the Kingdom of Great Britain and is of great Import to us because most of the Kingdoms of Europe are not merely in Land but girt with the Sea most part of their Compass and because the Treasures and Wealth of both Indies seems in a great part but an Accessary to the Command of the Sea and what the Command of the Sea is we may see by the Success of the Battle of Lepanto which put a Ring into the Nose of the Turk by that of the Battel of Actium That decided the Empire of the World and by that of our last Sea Fight with the French VII And as we have a Country so fit for the Seat of the Empire so have we a King as fit to be Supream Head and Governour thereof A Man of War from his Touch up and one that is Master of the Four Mistriss and Moral Vertues Prudence Justice Fortitude and Temperance such a one as Solomon seems to have Prophesied of when he told the World That the Power of the Earth was in the hands of the Lord and he would in due time set over it one that is profitable And since we have such a King and such a Goliah to fight our Battels for us in Person a Man after such a Countries own Heart we cannot but sollicite Heaven and all the Host thereof to send him the Success of David and the Hearts of his Friends as well as the Necks of the Enemies For God hath been pleased in great Pity His Grace the late Archbishop of Canterbury 4 Vol. of Serm. p. 78 79. to this sinful and unworthy Nation to raise him on purpose for it and to that End did in his All-wise Providence lay the Foundation of our Deliverance in that Auspicious Match which was concluded here in England This is that most Illustrious House of Nassaw and Orange which God hath so highly honoured above all the Families of the Earth to give a Check to the two great Aspiring Monarchs of the West and bold Attempters upon the Liberty of Europe To the one in the last Age and to the other in the present As if the Princes of this Valiant and Victorious Line had been of the Race of Hercules born to rescue mankind from Oppression and to quel Monsters The House of Nassaw is without Contradiction Lives of the Princes of Orange p. 9. one of the greatest and ancientest in all Germany For besides its high Alliances the number of its Branches and the Honour of giving an Emperor near Four hundred Years since it has this particular Advantage to have continued ten entire Ages and to boast with the State of Venice as a Learned man saith that it's Government is founded upon a Basis of a Thousand years standing No Age of all Antiquity has produced a more extraordinary Man than William of Nassaw Prince of Orange Speaking of the Life of William of Nassaw Prince of Orange Founder of the Common-Wealth of the united Provinces in the Neitherlands p. 1. Examine all the Heroes of Plutarch and all those great Men who lived since that admirable Historian and it 't will be Difficult to find any upon Record who possessed more eminently all those Vertues and good Qualities that enter into the Composition of a brave Man The Victories and Conquest of Allexander and Caesar do not so much deserve our Admiration the first was Master of all Greece and at the Head of a Warlike and well disciplin'd Army the other absolutely Commanded half the Roman Legions who governed all the World With these great Forces and Advantages they enter'd upon the Stage made their first Victories the Forerunners to the next pursued their Blow and the one overthrew the Empire of the Persians and the other the Roman Commonwealth But Prince William had equall'd the Glory of these great Conquerors by Attacking the formidable Power of King Philip of Spain without any Army or Forces and by maintaining himself many Years against him His Courage was always greater than his Misfortunes and when all the World thought him ruin'd and he was driven out of the Netherlands he entred them again immediately at the Head of a new Army and by his great Conduct laid the Foundation of their Common Wealth A Prince the best qualified for a Throne New State of England p. 122 c. Speaking of his present Majesty being great without Pride true to his Word wise in his Deliberations secret in his Councils generous in his Attempts undaunted in Danger Valiant without Cruelty who loves Justice with Moderation Government without Tyranny Religion without Persecution and Devotion without Hypocrisie or Superstition A Prince undaunted under all Events never puffed up with Success or disheartned with Hardships and Misfortunes always the same tho' under various Circumstances which is the true Symptom of a Great Soul This generous Temper of the King is suitable to his Extraction being descended from an ancient and illustrious Family which seems to have been appointed by Providence ever since the Reformation for the Preservation of God's Church and a Check to Tyranny VIII And this Great King and that Country which is so honoured and happy with him calls to my mind Mr. Quarles's Colloquy with his Soul So now Boanerges and St. Barnabas p. 109. my Soul thy Happiness is entail'd and thy Illustrious Name shall live in thy succeeding Generations Thy Dwelling is establish'd in the Fat of all the Land The best of all the Land is thine and thou art planted in the best of Lands A Land whose Constitutions make the best of Government which Government is strengthened with the best of Laws Good Laws but ill executed A Land of Strength and of Plenty A Land whose Beauty hath surprized the ambitious Hearts of Foreign Princes A Land whose native Plenty makes her the World's Exchange supplying others and able to subsist without supply from them That hath no misery but what is propagated from that blindness which cannot see her own Felicity A Land that flows with Milk and Honey and in brief wants nothing to deserve the Title of a Paradise The Curb of Spain the Pride of Germany the Aid of Belgia the Scourge of France the Queen of Nations and the Empetess of the World And being as he
elegantly goes on begirt with Walls whose Bullder was the hand Heaven whereon there daily rides a Navy Royal whose unconquerable Power proclaims her Prince invincible and whispers sad despair into the fainting heart of Foreign Majesty Het Prince might say to us concerning the Empire as Joshua did to the Children of Israel concerning Canaan How long are you slack to go to possess the Land which the Lord God of your Fathers hath given you IX But there are three principal things which in Martial as well as civil Policy are first to be better regarded than they are viz. Religion Trade and Justice By Religion I mean that which so effectually provides for all those advantages to Mankind Dec. of Piet. P. 2. which the wisest of Men's Laws have in vain attempted That Christ came to introduce Religion which consults not only the co-eternal Salvation of Men's Souls Sermon on Luke 9. v. 55 56. but their temporal peace and security their comfort and happiness in this World and as Mr. Fleetwood saith in his Sermon against Clipping if there appears but little Christianity in such a Sermon it will be to such as consider not how great a Part Justice and Honesty and fair and righteous dealing make up of Divine Religion Sir Walter Rawleigh saith In his Rules for preserving the State that The first and principal Rule of Policy is the practice of Religion and the Cardinal de Richlien in his Political Testament calls it the Establishment of the Reign of God By Trade I mean such a free and full manufactured Trade which the Romans by all possible Arts ascended to e'er they ascended to the heighth of Empire whose Steps the French lately endeavoured to follow by all means imaginable and for the self same end and not such a Trade for which this Nation became so renowned as Glaucus is in Homer for changing Armour with Diomedes with such palpable disadvantage that Proverbs came of it And by Justice I mean not summum jus summa Injuria but * the Policy of English Government Prol. to Hist Disc which so far as is praise worthy is all one with Divine Providence Such Justice as honours the Religion and advanceth the Interest and Trade of the Nation that is such Righteous Judgment as God Almighty himself at first commanded Judges and Officers shalt thou make such as shall judge the People with righteous Judgment The summum jus of this Nation is of Humnut and I think of Norman Institution and it is yet known and perhaps may never be forgotten that from the fury of the Normans was added to our Ancestor's Common-Prayer against Plague Pestilence and Famine William the Conquerour Jehu like drove out the Laws of King Edward then in use Bak. Chron. Pag 28. contrary to his Coronation Oath and in their stead brought in the Laws of Normandy commanding them to be written in French as also that all Causes should be pleaded and all matters of Form disputized in French upon a pretence to dignifie the French Tongue but it was with a purpose to intrap Men through the Ignorance of the Language as indeed it did And whereas before P. 29. the Bishop and the Aldermen were the absolute Judges to determine all business in every Shire and the Bishop in many Cases shared in the benefit of the Mulct with the King he confined the Clergy within the Province of their own Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction And whereas the Causes of the Kingdom were before determined in every Shire and by a Law of King Edward in a Conventicle held Monthly in every Hundred he ordained that four times in the Year for certain days the same business should be determin'd in such places as he should appoint And finally he ordained his Council of State his Chancery and his Exchequer X. But Edward III. the most Generous Magnanimous Honourable and Heroick Prince of all his Race and Predecessors having due regard to Religion Grievances Trade and Justice and therein to Martial Policy and Discipline ordain'd and in some Respects contrary to his Interests That no Peter pence should be paid to the Pope of Rome that the Service of God being perfect freedom his People of England might say their Pater-noster without paying the Penny for it That no Wool growing within this Realm should be transported but that it should be made into Cloth in England That the Walloons should be permitted to Live Work and Trade amongst us and be naturalized against the Act. That 〈…〉 which weâ—â— before in French should be made in English that the Cliche might understand the Course of the Law A blessed Act saith my Author and worthy so great a King who if he could thereby render it also perspicuous plain easie and short it would be a Work of Eternal Honour to him and everlasting Interest to the Nation XI But our People being a Rebellious People and undeserving of such excellent Princes as Edward III. Henry V. and Queen Eliz. by the Providence of God took from them as it did from Judah and Jerusalem the Mighty Man the Man of War the Prudent the Elegant Orater the Cunning Artificer the Counsellor and the Judge so that the People were oppressed every one by another and every one by his Neighbour and their Tongues and their doings being against the Lord the Reâ—â—â—â—d of their own hands was given unto them XII Yet still the Providence of God espousing us as it did the Jews or rather as Dr. Soâ—â—â— saith as Socrates espoused Xantippe to exercise his Patience without He hath now sent us a King of Kings who at his first coming to the Imperial Crown of England proposed against his own present and private Interest the Balance of the Trade of this Nation well knowing the nature of this Kingdom for advantageous Commerce and that a good Father of his Country as well as of his Family will be Vendacem and not Emâ—cem as Sir Robert Cotton saith of him And indeed so much and much more were in Civil Opinion and Martial Policy to be expected from such a Puissant Prince whose Godly Generous Noble and Resolute Race especially from William I. to William III. hath been a successful Series of essential Sincerity towards Religion Grievances Trade and Justice XIII His late Princely and Pious Consort now a Queen of Heaven was an enamoured Lover of Religion and Justice to the eternal Honour of her Majestick and Immortal Memory And since she had laid such excellent Designs for both I hope the Omnipotence of God Almighty will see them finished by means of her Royal and most excellent Survivor for his Name sake XIV The Seat of Government is upheld by the Two great Pillar thereof Rawl Remark P. 153. Civil Justice and Martial Policy which were framed out of the Husbandry Merchandise and Gentry of this Kingdom They say that the goodliest Cedars which grow on the high Mountains of Libanus thrust their Roots between the Cliffs of hard Rocks the better
to bear themselves against the strong Storms that blow there As Nature hath instructed those Kings of Trees so hath Reason taught the Kings of Men to root themselves in the hardy Hearts of their faithful Subjects And as those Kings of Trees have large Tops so have the Kings of Men large Crowns Whereof as the first would soon be broken from their Bodies were they not under-born by many Branches so would the other easily totter were they not fastned in their Heads ☞ with strong Chains of Civil Justice and Martial Discipline 1. P. 154. For the Administration of the First even God himself hath given direction Judges and Officers shalt thou make which shall Judge the People with righteous Judgment 2. The second is grounded on the first Laws of the World and Nature That Force is to be repall'd by Force Yea Moses in the 20th of Exodus and elsewhere hath deliver'd us many Laws and Policies of War ☞ But as we have heard of the Neglect and Abuse in both so have we heard of the Decline and Ruin of many Kingdoms and States before our days For that Policy hath ever yet prevail'd though it hath served for a short season where the Counterfeit hath been sold for ☞ the Natural and the outward Show and Formality for the Substance Of the Emperour Charles IV. the Wrâ—â—â—â— of that Age witâ—â—â—â— That he used but the Name of Justice and good Rule and Order being more learned in the Law than in doing Right ☜ and that he had by far more Knowledge and Law than Conscience XV. But we will forbear for a while to stretch this first String of Civil Justice For in respect of the first sort of Men Husband-men P. 156. viz. of those that live by their own Labour they have never been displeased where they have been suffer'd to enjoy the Fruit of their own Travels Meum and Tuum is all wherein they seek their Certainty and Protection But Meum and Tuum is now a long time a trying when the Defendant runs from one Court to another and at last betakes himself to the Resuge or Assylum of Summum Judicium True it is That they are the Fruit. Trees of the Land P. 156. which ☜ God in Deuteronomy commanded to be * And here let me note against the common Policy and Practice of the Nation that the Sea and Land I mean the Land and Navigation ought to be Taxed less and the Faseful and Idle more than any other things in the Kingdom To Tax the Land ever-much and Navigation in never so little is to stop the very Vitals of Trade and by consequence to decrease our Soldiers Sea-men and Treasure The Sea-men and Shipping as they are the Walls of our Nation must be encouraged by all means imaginable And the Land-men must have Stock by them to improve their Lands and their Mansions and to keep Houses of Hospitality Which if they do not they ruin the poor Labourers by not employing them And if they do employ them and keep Houses of Hospitality they will ruin themselves if their Estates be over-taxed So that the Vices the Luxury and Gallantry of the Nation ought to be mostly consider'd in that respect spared They gather Honey and hardly enjoy the Wax and break the Ground with great Labour giving the best of their Grain to the Easeful and Idle For the second sort which are the Merchants Merchants P. 157. as the first feed the Kingdom so do these enrich it yea their Trades especially those which are forcible are not the least part of our Martial Policy And to do them right they have in all Ages and Times assisted the Kings of this Land not only with great Summs of Money but with great Fleets of Ships in all their Enterprizes beyond Sea The third sort which 〈◊〉 the Geâ—â—â—y of England they being neither 〈◊〉 in the lowest Ground and thereby subject to the biting of every Beast nor in the highes◠〈◊〉 and thereby in danger to be torn with Tempests but in the Valleys between both have their part in the inferiour Justice and being spread over all are the Garrisons of good Order throughout the Realm XVI In the Situation of Countries and Cities P. 142. Situation for Safety and Plenty there is to be requir'd a Place of Safety by some natural Strength commodiousness for Navigation and Conduct for the obtaining of plenty of all good Things for the Sustenance and Comfort of Man's Life and to draw Trade and Intercourse of other Nations In former times P. 14. Multitude of Inhabitants great Nations Kings and Potentates have endured sharp Conflicts and held it high Policy by all means to enor ease their Cities by multitudes of inhabitants ☞ And to this End the Româ—â—tâ— ever furnished themselves with Strength and Power to make their Neighbour-People of Necessity willing to draw themselves to dwell at Rome Romulus after a mighty Fight with the Sabines condescended to Peace upon condition that their King should come with all their People to dwell at Rome The same Course held Tamberlane the Great whereby he enlarged the Great Samarcanda And the Ottomans to make the City Constantinople rich and great brought to it many Thousand Families especially Artificers out of the subdued Cities Religion Religion which is of such Force and Might to amplifie Cities and Dominions and of such Attractive Vertue to replenish the same with People and Wealth and to have them in due Obedience as ☞ none can be more For without Adoration of some Deity no Common-wealth can subsist Witness Jerusalem Rome Constantinople and all other Cities that have been famous for the Profession of Religion and Divine Worship Court of Justice with due Execution of the same Justice P. 147. in a City do much enable enlarge and enrich it ☞ For it fastneth a great liking in a City to vertuous Men and such as be wealthy that therein they may be free from the Violence and Oppressions of covetous and wicked Men and there will be rather resort thither to inhabit or traffick there as occasion may minister unto them And 〈…〉 have Câ—use of 〈◊〉 will repair thither ☜ whâ—â—e they may be 〈◊〉 to find Indgment and Justice duely executed where by a 〈◊〉 City must needs be enriched and enlarged For our Lives and Fortunes and all that ever we have in the ☜ World is in the Hands of Justice So that if Justice be not duly and truly and without delay ☜ administred amongst Men in vain is there any Society and Commerce ☜ XVII Put the Case as it is mine That I had been a Factor at Zant and a Merchant in London should give me a Commission to lay out 4000 l. for him on a Cargoe of Currans and to re-imburse my self on him by way of Venice I lay out the 4000 l. and lade the Ship and when the Ship is gone from Zant the Merchant in London writes to his
scandalous Titles or Opinion but should receive all Encouragement imaginable When Rome was in a rising condition those that Informed in her favour were looked on as Men of Honour but as she went to ruin and was exposed by the Soldiers who should preserve her to the Sale of who gave most the Informers were looked upon to be only famous for Infamy as they are now in other declining Countries VI. Resolved That it is the Opinion of this Committee That it be Penal on any Person to Export English Bullion and the proof to lie on the Exporter I was extreamly glad when I read this Resolution for it will by some kind of necessity put us upon gaining the over balance of Trade which is the only thing next to Religion and Justice which we want to gain the Empire of the Vniverse as well as that of the Ocean Religion in Britain hath hitherto been for the most part Hist Disc maintained by immediate Influence from Heaven And the way of Justice and Gentleness hath had more Force in Britain than Arms. Under the wise Government of Aurelius the Emperour mounting into the British Throne crowned Lucius first of all Kings with the Royal Title of a Christian And he was not so much a Vassal as a Friend and Ally to the Romans And perceiving the Empire to be past Noon and their Lieutenants to comply with the Christians began to provide for future Generations and according to the Two grand Defects of Religion and Justice applyed himself to the establishment of both Which Act of Lucius so advanced him in the Opinion of Writers that they knew not when they had said enough of him Whereas before Britain was become a Glut of Wickedness and a Burden that God would endure no longer The Kingdoms of Christendom now in being had their rising from the fall of Rome and Vortigern a Native of this Isle first established here a free Kingdom four hundred and fifty Years after Christ and so left it to the Saxons So England hath a great Precedency in respect of the Antiquity of the Kingdom which as Beda observes was always a Monarch in a Heptarchy So it hath the Precedency likewise in respect of the Antiquity of the Christian Religion Joseph of Arimathea planted the Christian Religion immediately after the Passion of Christ in this Realm And Aristobulus one of them mentioned by St. Paul Dorotheus Rom. 6. was Episc Britannorum and likewise Simon Zelotes yea St. Peter and St. Paul himself as Theodoretus doth testifie The first Christian King in Europe was Lucius Surius And the first that ever advanced the Papacy of Rome was the Emperour Constantine born at York Edward the Third King of England was Anno 1338 created by the Emperour Vicarius Perpetuus Imperii And William the Third King of England may be the greatest Emperour that ever was if we are not wanting to him when he is not to us This Kingdom is held of God alone Cottoni Posthuma p. 87. Hist Disc p. 3. acknowledging no Superiour It was long before the Son of God was enwombed and whilst as yet Providence seem'd to close only with the Jewish Nation and to hover over it as a choice pick'd Place from all the Earth that with a gracious Eye surveying the forsaken condition of all other Nations it glanced on this Island Both Thoughts and Words reflected on Isles Isa 42.4.31.3.60.4.66.19 Isles of the Gentiles Isles afar off as if amongst them the Lord of all the Earth had found out some place that should be to him as the Gem of the Ring of this terrestrial Globe And if the ways of future Providence may be looked upon as a Gloss of those Prophecies we must confess that this Island was conceiv'd in the Womb thereof long before it was manifested to the World No sooner was the Scepter departed from Judah but both it and the Law-giver came hither as if we were the only White that was in God's Aim VII And shall we after all this for the sake of Self-interest be any ways wanting to Albion which God hath so highly honoured and so bountifully bless'd above all the Kingdoms in the World No sure for there is nothing expected from our Gratitude towards God and our Duty towards the Nation but what the Honourable Representatives thereof may make practicable by means of their principal Commitees of Religion Grievances Trade and Justice and the Power they have of sending for Persons Papers and Records VIII And since they are as deeply engaged as they are highly concerned to regulate the Coin of the Kingdom and to turn our Dross into Silver again I hope they will raise no small Fund or Sum of Money for it * In a printed Paper entituled Reasons for not laying any farther Impositions upon Coals there is this Particular Which in things of Choice and Luxury may be tolerable but in Cases of Necessity must be extream grievous especially to many Trades-men out of the Causes and Effects of Extravagancy and Covetousness I mean such Extravagancies for the most part as promote excessive and consumptive Importations And such Covetousness as makes against the Laws of God and the World Twelve and sometimes Twenty per Cent of Money by Interest Procuration Continuation c. It is the Opinion of some others as well as my own That all Masters of English Ships should be Taxed abroad together with the Factors for they are come now to act in half Commissions c. with the Factors And to speak with all Modesty they gain above 12 per Cent. more than the Merchants do by more advantageous Trading And there are a great many concern'd in this Craft that should refund a great deal for the present Occasion IX And if our Trade and Justice be regulated together with our Coin and Religion honestly and 〈…〉 our King 's most excellent Majesty may use a greater Style of Soveraignty than this of King Edgar wherewith and with a few other Words I conclude Ego Edgarus Anglorum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 omnicumque Regum Insularumque Oceani Britannici circumjacentium cunctarumque Nationum quae infra eam includuntur Imperator ac Dominus And now I think from what hath been said or rather shewn it may be seen a little how much God and Nature have done for us more than we endeavour to do for our selves And I wish that any part of this Enterprize may answer the Ends for which the whole was design'd with all Sincerity and Good-will For else I would have robb'd and stollen from the Authorities I have acknowledged transmigrated their Dispensatâ—â—iâ—s into the Wrong Appropriation and made those Doctors Opinions pass for my own who am the most unfit Person to prescribe any thing for the Distempers of State in a Corrupted Time FINIS
and would be wished that the Actors and Authors of such Disturbances in the Common Wealth at all times hereafter might undergo a Punishment proportionable It cannot be held I presume an Advice of best Judgment that layeth the loss upon our selves and the gain upon our Enemies for who is like to be in this time the greater Thriver Is it not usual that the Stranger that transporteth over Moneys for Bullion our own Goldsmiths that are their Brokers and the Foreign Hedge-Minters of the Netherlands which term becomes them well have a fresh and full Trade by this Abatement 293. ☜ Experience hath taught us that the enfeebling of Coin is but a shift for a while as Drink to one in a Dropsie ☜ 264. to make him swell the more but the State was never throughly cured as we saw by Henry VIII's time and Queen Elizabeth until the Coin was made up again I cannot but then conclude that if the proportion of Gold and Silver to each other be brought into that Purity by Advice of Artists That neither may be too rich for the other that the Mintage may be reduced to some proportion of Neighbour-parts and that the Issue of our Native Commodities may be brought to over-burthen the entrance of the Foreign ☞ we need not seek any way of shift but shall again see our Trade to flourish the Mint as the Pulse of the Common Wealth again to beat and our Materials by Industry to be a Mine of Gold and Silver to us and the Honour Justice and Profit of his Majesty which we all wish and work for supported III. The Committee's Answer 2 September 1626. to the Minters Propositions for enhansing the Money We conceive that the Officers of the Mint are bound by Oath to discharge their several Duties in their several Places respectively But some such things have been lately suspected that I fear we do not all wish and work for the Honour Justice and Profit of his Majesty But we cannot conceive how they should stand Ty'd by Oath to account to his Majesty the intrinsick value of all Foreign Coins and how they agree with the Standard of this State for all Foreign States do for the most part differ from us But to induce the necessity of the Proposition they produced two Instances or Examples the one from the Rix Dollar and the other from the Royal of Eight wherein they untruly informed of the Price and Value in our Moneys and our Trade of both of them For whereas they say that the Rix Dollar weigheth Eighteen Peny weight Cottoni Posthuma p. 296 c. and Twelve Grains and to be of the finest at the Pound-weight Ten Ounces Ten Peny weight doth produce in Exchange 5 s. 2 d. Farthing of Sterling moneys We do affirm that the same Dollar is Eighteen Peny weight Eighteen Grains and in Fineness Ten Ounces 12 d. weight equal to 4 s. 5 d. ob of Sterling moneys and is at this time in London at no higher Price which is short thereof by Thirteen Grains and a half fine Silver upon every Dollar being 2 d. Sterling or thereabouts being the charge of Coinage with a small recompence to the Goldsmith or Exchanger to the Profit of England 3 s. 6. d. per Cent. Whereas they do in their circumstance averr that this Dollar runs in account of Trade amongst the Merchants at 5 s. 2 d. ob English Money it is most false For the Merchants and best experienced Men protest the contrary and that it passeth in Exchange according to the Intrinsick value only 4 s. 5 d. ob of the Sterling Money or near thereabout and no otherwise The Second instance is in the Royal of Eight affirming that it weigheth 17 peny Weight 12 Grains and being but of the fineness of 11 Ounces at the pound Weight doth pass in Exchange at 5 s. of our Sterling Moneys whereby we lose 6 s. 7 d. in every pound Weight But having examined it by the best Artists we find it to be 11 Ounces 2 d. Weight Fine and in Weight 17 peny Weight 12 Grains and a half in every Royal of Eight Pa. 297. which is the charge of Coinage and a small overplus for the Goldsmith's gain And whereas they say that the said Royal of Eight runs in account of Trade at 5 s. of his Majesties now English Money the Merchants do all affirm the contrary and that it passeth only at 4 s. 4 ob of the Sterling Monies and no higher ordinarily And it must be strange to believe that our Neighbours the Netherlanders would give for a pound Tale of our Sterling Silver by what name soever it passeth a greater quantity of their Monies in the like Intrinsick value by Exchange or that our Merchants would knowingly give a greater for a less to them except by way of usance But the deceit is herein only that they continually varying their Coin and crying it up at pleasure may deceive us for a time in too high a reputation of pure Silver in it Pa. 298. upon Trust than there is unto a Tryal and this by no alteration of our Coyn unless we should daily as they make his Majesties Standard uncertain can be prevented which being the Measure of Lands Rents and Commerce amongst our selves at home would render all uncertain and so of necessity destroy the use of Money and turn all to permutation of such things as were not subject to will or change And as they have mistaken the ground of their Proposition so have they upon a specious show of some momentary and small benefit to his Majesty reared up a vast and constant loss unto him by this Design if once effected For as his Majesty hath the largest proportion of any both in the Entrances and Issues so should he by so Enfeebling of his Coyn become the greatest loser There needs no other Instance than those Degrees of diminution from the 18. Ed. 3 d. to this day And for us then to raise our Coin at this time Pa. 307. to Equal their Proportions were but to render our selves to a perpetual uncertainty for they will raise upon us daily then again which if we of course should follow ☞ else receive no profit by the present Change we then destroy the Policy Justice Honour and Tranquility of our State at home for ever IV. In the Year aforesaid 1626 these Questions were proposed to the Merchants Mint-Masters and Goldsmiths concerning the Alteration of our Silver Moneys 1. Whether the English Moneys now currant are not as dear as the Foreign of the Dollar and Royall of 8 in the Intrinsick value in the usual Exchanges now made by the Merchants beyond Sea 2. Whether this advancing will not cause all the Silver Bullion that might be Transported in Mass or Foreign Coin to be Minted with the King's Stamp beyond Sea and so Transported and his Mint thereby set less on Work than now 3. Whether the advancing the Silver Coin in
Interest of England VI. Edward III. having that Game to play with France either he must win or lose it his Spirit was too big to sit still and yet Historical Discourse of the Vniformity of the Government of England from the first times to the Reign of Edward III. Printed 1647. Part 2. p. 64. pre-advising himself about the Poverty of the People and that their Patience would be spent soon after their Supplies if they continually saw much going out and nothing coming in he laid a Plat-form for the augmenting of the Treasure of the Kingdom as well for the benefit of the People as of the Crown By Taxes * P. 65. 1. And altho' it be true that Edward III. was a King of many Taxes above all his Predecessors yet cannot this be imputed as a blot to his Honour or Liberty of the People For the King was not so unwise as either to desire it without evident cause or to spend it in secret or upon his own private Interest nor so weak and irresolv'd as not to employ himself and his Soldiers to the utmost to bring to pass his Intentions nor so unhappy as to fail of the desirable Issue of what he took in hand So as tho' the People parted with much Money yet the Kingdom gained much Honour and Renown and becoming a Terror to their Neighbours enjoy'd what they had in fuller security and so were no Losers by the Bargain in the Conclusion For the People had quid pro quo by the Advance of Trade P. 66. 2. ☜ wherein the King shewed himself the Cape Merchant of the World Certainly Men's Parts in those Times were of vast reach that could manage such Wars settle such a Government and lay such a Foundation of a Treasury by Trade a thing necessary to this Island next unto its own being as may appear not only in regard of the Riches of this Nation but in regard of the Strength thereof and in regard of the maintenance of the Crown The two latter of which being no other than a natural effluence of the former it will be sufficient to touch the same in order to the thing in hand Now as touching that ☞ it is evident that the Riches of any Nation are supported by the Conjuncture of three regards I. That the natural Commodities of the Nation may be improv'd II. That the poorer sort of People be set on work III. P. 67. 3. That the Value of Money be rightly balanc'd 1. For as on the one part tho' the People be never so laborious if the natural Commodities of the Island be not improved by their Labour the People can never grow much richer than barely for Subsistence during their Labour And here let me humbly presume to say ☞ that so long as this Nation is over balanc'd by others in Trade we can get nothing but by one anothers Loss 2. The Endeavour were to advance Manufacture and principally such of them as are made of the staple Commodities amongst all which Wool had the Precedency as being the most principal and ancient Commodity of the KINGDOM and the Manufacture of Wool of long use but had received little Encouragement before these Times For that it formerly had been the principal Flower in the Flemish Garden P. 68. and nourished from this Nation by the continual supply of Wool that it received from hence Which was the principal Cause of the Ancient League between the House of Burgundy and this Crown But Edward III. was too well acquainted with the Flemings Affairs P. Ditto by a joint Engagement with them in the Wars with France ☞ and therein had gained so good an Opinion amongst them that he might have adventured to have chang'd a Complement for a Courtesie The Staples beyond the Sea were now taken away He now inhibiteth the Importation of Foreign Cloths and having gained these two steps onward of his way he represents to the Flemings their unsettled Condition 11. Edw. 3. Cap. 2 3 5. by these bordering Wars with France the peaceable Condition of England and Freedom of the People Then propounds to them an Invitation to come over into England P. Ditto ☜ promiseth them share and share-like with his own People with such other Immunities as they took his offer came over and brought their Manufacture with them which could never after be recall'd So as now the Wool and the Manufacture live together P. Ditto and like to Man and Wife so long as they care for one another both will thrive but if they come to play their Games apart both will be Losers in the Conclusion Another means to advance Trade was the settling of a Rule upon Exportation and Importation P. 70. 3. ☜ which wrought a double Effect I. That Importation brought in more Profit than Exportation disbursed II. That both Exportation and Importation were made by Shipping belonging to this Nation so far as it did consist with the benefit of this Nation III. That the Exportation was regulated to the Over-plus saving the main Stock at home 1. The truth of the first will be evident from this ground P. Ditto ☜ That no Nation can be rich that receives more dead Commodities from abroad than it can spend at home or vend into foreign Parts especially if it be vended in its proper kind and not in Money And therefore the Laws provided 27 Edw. III. ☜ That no Merchant should export more Money than he imported and what he imported must have been of the New Stamp which it seems was inferiour in value to the Old 2. The Second is no less beneficial for as it is in War P. 71. so in all Trades the greater the number is that is employ'd the more effectual the issue will be 3. The Third and Last Consideration is as necessary as any of the former for if Trade be maintained out of the main Stock ☜ the Kingdom in time must be brought to Penury The last means that was set on foot in the Reign of Edward III. for the Advance of Trade was the regulating the Mint P. 74. ☜ and the Currant of Money This is the Life and Soul of Trade for tho' Exchange of Commodities may do much yet it cannot be for all because it is not the Lot of all to have Exchangeable Commodities nor to work for Apparel and Victual Now in the managing of this Trick of Money ☞ Two things are principally looked unto P. Ditto 1. That the Money be good and currant 2. That it should be plentiful As touching the Excellency of the Money several Rules were made 25 Edw. 3. Stat. 5. cap 13. 6 Edw. 3. cap. 2 and 3. as against embasing of Money against Foreign Money not made Currant and against Counterfeit and False Money For according to the Goodness of the Money ☞ so will the Trade be more or less For the Merchant will rather lose in the Price of his