hath cost me many Years Labour and Study to consult all sorts of concern'd Persons besides my own Experience about it but also because it is so hard to convince People of the meanest Capacity and some of the wiser sort how to cure this dismal Malady which some despairing of have rather thought of setting up some other Manufacture in lieu of endeavouring to prevent the Exportation of Wool and manufacturing that at Home as that of Linnen c. which is in my Judgment a great Mistake for other Countries have the Advantage of England in that but not in this of Cloathing and it will be found that all or most Trades in England wholly distinct from this of Cloathing bring not the Tythe of Advantage that this doth And to confirm my Sentiments herein tho' so long ago writ I crave leave to add the Opinion of a late Author who sayâ— Divine Providence that appoints to every Nation and Country a particular Portion seems to allot to England which was the first Acceptable Sacrifice to his Omnipotence that of the Flock the Produce of which is the most Vniversal Covering of all Civilized Countries of the World Our Wollen Manufacture is a Talent which no Nation hath to that perfection as we have this hath been for many Ages the Support of the Nation imploying the Poore at home and our Men and Ships at Sea Now to decline this and set up another Manufactory looks like an Extravagant Mechanick who by his Improvidence hath lost his own Art and thinks to retrieve his Misfortune by taking up that of another Mans This is condemn'd in particular Persons and therefore much more to be so in a Community But it will be said There is not Imployment for the Hands of the Nation in the Wollen Manufactory and since Linnen carries away so much of our Money it seems the Interest of the Nation to imploy idle Hands in that which will keep Money in the Kingdom Now tho' both these Assertions have too much Truth in them yet neither of them have weight enough to enforce the Conclusion That the Linnen Manufactory is the only Remedy If we search into the Bottom of our Distemper we shall find another cause of our Disease It is not because there is less Wollen Manufactory used in the World than formerly that our Trade declines nor yet because we make more than formerly Nor is it altogether to be assigned to the late War For that our Trade decay'd in the latter part of King Charles the Second and all the Reign of the Late King The Reasons then for our Decay in the Wollen Manufactory seem to be these 1. The Growth of Course Wollen Manufactory in Germany with which the Venetians Trade to Turkey 2. The Prohibition of our Wollen Manufactory in France 3. The Increase of the Wollen Manufactory by our Neighbours with the help of our Wool so that in some things they out-do us in the Price they can sell at 4. By the great Wearing of East-India and other Silks and the Vse of Calicoes which was formerly supply'd by our Tammies and Says 5. The Want of the Consumption of Ireland c. Now if there be any thing in all I have said it seems reasonable to consider well before the Nation gives up its Staple and long-continued Trade for a Shadow as I take the Linnen Manufactory to be For although I believe it can never come to effect yet so far it may go as to injure that of the Wollen by diverting some that are now in it and so raiseth price of Spinning than which nothing can be more prejudicial for as I mention'd before nothing can retrieve our lost Trade abroad but underselling our Competitors So then we must labour to make ours as Cheap as we can and not set up another Manufactory To bid who gives most for Spinners is a ready way to ruin the Cloathing Trade of England but not to set up the Linnen Let us consider besides what hath been said before of injuring the Wollen Manufactory How it will affect the Kingdom in the two Pillars that support it That of the Rents of Land and the Imploying our Ships and Men at Sea which are thought the Walls of the Nation For the Rents of the Land they must certainly fall for that one Acre of Flax will employ as many Hands the Year round as the Wool of Sheep that graze twenty Acres of Ground The Linnen Manufactory imploys few Men the Wollen most Weaving Combing Dressing Shearing Dying c. These eat and drink more than Women and Children and so as the Land that the sheep graze on raiseth the Rent so will the Arable and Pasture that bears Corn and breeds Cattel for their Subsistance Then for the Employment of our Shipping it will never be pretended that we can arrive to Exportation of Linnen there are others and too many before us in that And the Truth is he that cannot thrive at his own Trade will hardly do it in that of anothers If we are beat out of our Inheritance the Wollen Manufactory by Forreigners over whom we have such Advantages in our Wool Fullers-Earth and long Continuance in the Trade it can be nothing less than a Miracle for us to take from them their Linnen Manufactory in which they have so much the Ascendant over us I shall end this part of my Discourse with the Answer of a West Country Man to his Neighbour that ask'd what Voyage he had made in a Fishing at New-found-land that proved not good I have made said he a brave Voyage as you may guess for I have sold my Bible and bought a Tobacco-Box Would it not be so to this Nation if we should change the Noblest Manufactory in the World for the poorest and most despicable So are those People in all parts of the World that are imployed in the Linnen Manufactory which only thrives where the Country is crowded with Poor and Bread not to be had at the Charge of the Parish where the Tenant is but a Vassal to his Lord and there is no power in any to relieve but in the Lord who is strange to the Practice It is a Mistake in them that believe the Linnen Manufactory in Holland to be the Product of their own Country It is only the easier part that of Weaving and Whiting most of the Thread comes from Saxony Thus much for this Author from whence we may Conclude That if the Riches and Strength of England were first of all begun from our Wollen Manufacture by King Ed. 3d. and brought to a greater Perfection in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth we also ought to take the same care in its preservation Otherwise we may be reduced to that mean Condition England was in when Land and other Commodities was of no Value till about the Time of that Famous Princess Queen Elizabeth whose Long and Prosperous Reign had raised this Nation to that Riches and Strength as elsewhere is enlarged and Sir Walter
Raleigh as a Wife States-man and Lover of his Country as many if not most of that Queen's Council were had began well to promote Englands Interest but was in the Reign of King James the First undermined by the Interest of Spain which was then so prevailing that that unfortunate Knight was taken away But in the latter End of that Reign and the whole of the three Last Kings instead of the Spanish the French Interest has so much prevailed amongst us that we are now under the sad Effects thereof and that King about the Year 1661. upon a Design he had to have forbidden the Trade between France and England supposing the Value of English Commodities sent into France did surmont the Value of those that were transported hither The following Particulars were laid before that King viz. Â l. 1. There were then transported out of France into England in Velvets Sattins Cloath of Gold and Silver yearly to the Value of 150000 2. In Silks Taffaties Ribbons c. to the Value of 300000 3. In Silks Ribbonds Galloons Laces Buttons to the Value of 150000 4. In Serges c. to the Value of 150000 5. Beavors Demy-Castors and Felt-Hatts 120000 6. In Feathers Belts Girdles Hatbands Fans Hoods Masks Gilt and Wrought Looking-Glasses Cabinets Watches Pictures Cases Medals Tabulets Bracelets 150000 7. In Pins Needles Box Combs Tortoise-shell Combs 020000 8. In Perfum'd and Trim'd Gloves 010000 9. In Paper 100000 10. Iron-monger Ware 040000 11. In Linnen Cloth 400000 12. In Houshold-stuffs Beds and Hangings 100000 13. In Aqua-Vitae Syder Vinegar Vergis 100000 14. In Wines 600000 15. In Saffron Castle-saop Honey Almonds Olives Capers and Prunes 150000 Besides Five or Six Hundred Vessels of Salt yearly amounting unto all about 2600000 And all the Commodies exported hence at that time amounted but to 1000000 So that by this Act the Ballace on the French came to 1600000 Upon which the French King soon laid aside his Design of Prohibition and instead thereof increased the Duties laid upon all our Wollen Manufacture imported into his Dominions of what was imported in the Year 1654. and 1660. about which time we exported more Goods especially of our Wollen Manufactures to France then was imported from France into England in those Years But the great Increase of French Commodities imported into England was after the Arrival of King Charles the Second And we may rationally conclude that the Duties paid to the French King when the aforesaid Goods valu'd at 2600000 l. were exported together with the Freight and what was paid for Custom when imported as also the Profit to the Merchant and Retailer and by the Advance of Price by our Fancies the said Summ of 2600000 l. may be rationally increas'd to 3000000 l. so that the Consumers of the French Commodities advanced the French Interest and impoverished our selves but then after this time in 1662. the French having got vast Quantities of our Wool to encourage that Manufacture greater Duties were imposed on our English Commodities in the Year 1664. and further increased in the Year 1667. not only on our Wollens but on all our English Commodities even great Duties upon our Shipping that I my self having occasion to go to Lille in Flanders could not land at Dunkirk tho' I had no Commodities in the Vessel without paying Tunnage but thi was not all but the French King restrain'd and confin'd the Importation of our Wollen Manufactures to his Ports of Callice and Diep and other Goods to some other inconvenient Ports By which means and by the Encouragement of the Consumption of the Cloths Stuffs c. made by his own People it amounted to a Prohibition of our Commodities in many cases And by the way it hath been examin'd that in the Year 1674. or thereabouts there was imported from France Silks to the Value of 300000 l. and in Linnen Cloth 500000 l. and Wine and Brandy 217000 l. where we may also Note that if such a Quantity was legally enter'd there was some of all those Commodities run as it 's called viz. Stolen and paid no Duties besides all sorts of Lace when in that Year our Exports to France amounted but to 171020 l. and it was further Observed that in the Year 1675. the Importation of Wine and Brandy was almost doubl'd of what it was before and at the latter End of the Reign of King James it was much more increased viz. the Importation of French Wine and Brandy The great Loss of the Trade we formerly had with France of near 1500000 l. per Annum which we exported of our Wollen Manufacture to that Kingdom occasion'd that Famous and Worthy Sir Matthew Hale late Lord Chief Justice to say that our Populousness which is the greatest Blessing a Kingdom can enjoy is become the Burthen of our Nation The uneasiness of this Burthen upon us these late Years hath occasion'd many unusual Remedies and Attempts many New Acts of Parliament in the Reign of King Charles the Second being once misled our Uneasiness made way for a further Design upon us as a Man being out of his way will be ready to listen believingly unto almost any Direction In the 15th Caroli 2. there was an Act made for the Encouragement of Trade in its Title whilst the Body of the Act was no more than to encourage the Exportation of Corn the low Price thereof being as before occasion'd by so many thousands want to Employ and could not have Money to buy Corn and to give Liberty to carry away our Bullion which help'd one step forward In the next Place followed the Act against importing Cattle from Ireland which was a Cure like the rest that led to farther Inconveniencies this was in the 17th Caroli 2. After which a free Liberty was given to Export Leather which was in the 20th of that King's Reign directly contrary to former Statutes successively And to compleat the whole Design in the 25th Caroli 2. there was an Act made to take off Aliens Duties upon all Commodities of the Growth Product and Manufacture of our Nation except Coals which fully answer'd their End All the Priviledges of England were given away by wholesale whilst all those Acts proved but turnings in a Feavor which gave ground to the Distemper upon us no way affecting the true cause and this not matter of choice if any other way proposed the Countrey Air was soon thought best viz. the Parliament sent home such was our Case in those Reigns c. Of which Acts I shall by and by more enlarge upon but to speak more of the Trade of France and the Consequence thereof for as we lost the great Advantage that formerly we had by the prohibiting of our Wollen Manufacture in that Kingdom during most of the two last Reigns so the unequal Duties laid upon the German and Flanders Linnens the Product of our Wollen Manufacture and by the small Duties laid upon the French Linnen and East-India Calicoes and Muslings purchased with our Money
This in my Judgment being impartial viz. not concern'd in Interest must in reason be the main Occasion at least a Foundation for Germany and Flanders to encourage the Wollen Manufactury in those parts And it 's well Observ'd by the Author of a little Tract Intituled The Interest of England consider'd Printed in the Year 1694. viz. The fine Linnens of Flanders and Germany have come in competition these many Years with the Calicoes and Muslings of the East-Indies and the fine Dowlace and Gauses of France one the Effect of our Manufactory the other of our Bullion and yet you will find upon the Book of Rates if I mistake not all the Linnen of Flanders charged with about three pence an Ell Custome and the fine Dowlace of France not at one half penny and the Callicoes of the East-Indies but at two pence a piece Now as that unequal Trade was carried on all the time almost of the two Late Reigns so the Necessity in the late War in doubling the Duties upon Flanders Linnen which is almost half the Value of much of their said Linnen and the unseasonable timing of the Lace Act which did as was lately affirm'd in a Committee c. occasion a Flanders Merchant then in London dealing much in Lace to go over to Flanders and put the States upon the prohibiting our Wollen Manufacture And tho' this occasion'd the said Prohibition yet considering the Little Quantity of Lace at least visibly brought into England in comparison of the Linnen imported formerly from Flanders cannot be the Original tho' it may be the Instrumental Cause as before hinted Hereby it may appear how we have lost our Trade and how insensibly our Treasure was exhausted and our Nation beggar'd whilst we neglected our own Interest and Strangers such as proved our great Enemies were diligent to make their Advantage by us but most of those Evils might have been prevented had we really assum'd our Ancestors regard to our Wealth and Grandeur But leaving Particulars let us be more general for tho' we are agreed that Trade is the main Spring from whence Riches flow yet we do as much differ in the Method of acquiring thereof and there is certainly as much need of Regulation in Trade as of Laws to secure one Man's Right from being invaded by another for it 's now become as necessary to preserve Government as it is useful to make Men rich And notwithstanding the great Influence that Trade now hath in the Support and Welfare of States and Kingdoms yet there is nothing more unknown or at least that Men differ more in their Sentiments than about the true Causes that raise and promote Trade The Merchant and other Traders who should understand the true Interest of Trade do either not understand it or else lest it might hinder their private Gain will not discover it Some Writers about Trade do in their Treatises better set forth the Rule to make an Accomplish'd Merchant than how it may be most profitable to the Nation And those Arguments every day met with from the Traders seem byassed with private Interest and run contrary to one anothers as their Interest are opposite And how fair and convincing soever their Premises may appear for the Enlarging and Advancement of Trade the Conclusions of their Arguments are directly opposite The Reasons why many Men have not a true Idea of Trade is Because they apply their Thoughts to particular Parts of Trade wherein they are chiefly concern'd in Interest and having found out the best Rules and Laws for forming that particular Part they govern their Thoughts by the same Notions in forming the great Body of Trade and not reflecting on the different Proportion betwixt the Body â—nd Parts have a very disagreeable Conception and like those who having learnt to draw well an Eye Ear Hand and other Parts of the Body being unskilful in the Laws of Symmetry when they join them together make a very deformed Body Therefore whoever will make a true Representation of Trade must draw a rough Scetch of the Body and Parts together which though it will not entertain with so much Pleasure as a well finish'd Peice yet the agreableness of the Parts may be as well discern'd and thereby such Measures taken as may best suit the Shape of the Body The Reason why I use this similitude is from the Experience we have of the miserable Effects we now and may more hereafter feel of this separate Trades that have been carried on in this Kingdom viz. that some few Persons gain great Estates when the Nation in general decays as in many Particulars may be instanc'd viz. the French Trade all the Time of the two late Kings that such Merchants who imported vast Quantities and some that run their Goods and paid no Customs of such Commodities that were purchased with Money and tended to debauch the Nation then the East-India by both those Countries this Nation hath lessen'd the Employment of near Five Hundred Thousand Persons for by such a Number of Persons out of Employ or double that Number but half Work it 's all one the Nation must be greatly impoverished thereby For before that time when People were fully imployed some Families could earn in the Cloathing Trade by spinning and weaving Twenty and some Thirty Shillings per Week tho' some less others more which was most spent by them and laid out with the Farmer and Grasier who was thereby better able to pay their Rents to the Nobility and Gentry by which means the Value of Lands were kept up but when such a Number of Persons beforementioned had no Employment it 's not probable the Commodities can be sold which necessarily sunk the Rents of Lands and this was the Occasion of the Irish Act as that before of Corn to prohibit the Importation of Cattle supposing that would be a means to support the Value of Lands in England But the Mistake is now so manifest that we have by it lost a great part of our Trade and laid a Foundation to loose all and it was well Observed by Mr. Tho. Manly a Justice of Peace in Kent shortly after that Act past upon another Occasion about the Exportation of Wool viz. If the Irish Wool enables the Forreigners to carry on that Manufacture hurtful to us we have small reason to assist them further least we imitate those good Men who break the Pot because their Wives break the Pitcher and ruin our selves because Ireland hurts us For if it be true as is by some affirm'd and by Demonstrations made good that England gain'd by the Trade with Ireland before and in the beginning of the Reign of King Charles the Second Two Millions per Annum It is plain that Act laid the Foundation of our ruin for before that Act was in force the Irish contented themselves with Trading only with England by which Trade we received so great an Advantage but since the Irish have been necessitated to seek for a
make us think And if we did so I believe we might yet be the greatest People for Trade and Navigation in the World and were rightly possest of that we need not fear the Power of all the World Our Element is the Sea our Business is there nor are we Masters of our Possessions on the Land longer than we command the Sea and that is not to be done only by Ships of War it is our Fleets in Trade that are the Nursery of our Fleets in War We are an Original in every thing and that I take to be our Misfortune as it might have been our Happiness for certainly no Civilized People in the World would make so little of such Inestimable Funds as we have to work upon what would the Dutch and to our shame we may now bring in the French do if they had our Mines of Lead and Tin our Fleeces of Wool c. And to compleat all an Industrious and Ingenuous People to manufacture and improve them Can any one believe the Councils of Holland or France would credit a few Merchants and Retailers that should tell them notwithstanding these mighty Advantages you have above the World you shall sell none of them if you will not wear the Livery of the Indians and that you must purchase with your Money not with Commodities but them you must sell to all Nations and having turn'd them into Money send it to the East-Indies There must certainly be some wonderful Charm in this matter to make Men fear that all the Nations in the World will combine against us if we wear not the Manufactures of the Indies Money can no way be brought into the Kingdom but by the Export of our Manufactures so that nothing but our ill Conduct can hinder us from full Supplies of Gold and Silver We account no Man poor that hath Flocks and Herds tho' he hath not Money and the same Reason holds for a Country that abounds with Natural and Artificial Commodities that are as Necessary for Forreign Vse as our Flocks and Herds at home and are not for Luxury and Luxurious Effeminate Expences but are Vtensils of Life and Society which a great part of the World are supplied with In the Year 1669. was laid before King Charles the Second an Account by what ways the Trade and Riches of England was begun and also how it was undermin'd and afterwards at several times Proposals conducing to our Preservation was also laid before that Prince c. And in the Year 1677. was published in Print by divers Persons and more particularly by Mr. Andrew Marvyl what Evil Consequence the Exportation of our Wool to France was to England and that there had been for some Years near Twenty thousand Packs annually imported into the Town of Callice and much of it from Kent that before such Quantities of Wool were exported there was a considerable Trade of the Wollen Manufacture in that Country but it 's now almost lost and yet some Persons of that Country favouring the Exportation of Wool in their Prints seem to be pleased that they have the less poor in their Country thereby it 's necessary for such to consider what they would do with the Sheep and Bullocks brought up to London if all other Countries now employed in Wollen Manufacture brought up thither which is the grand Wheel that carries on Trade were as much depopulated as Kent Give me leave to compare Profit and Loss suppose Kent was the only County in England which produced Wool and that 6000 Packs were yearly grown there and put the Rate of 10 l. per Pack which amounts to 60000 l. and so exported rough but if that Wool was manufactur'd in Kent and then exported it would amount to 720000. so take out the 60000 l. for the Wool Kent would have gain'd 660000 l. but now France hath got it and as they have tasted the sweetness and found the sinnes of our Trade so they have not spared any Cost to gain it from us by getting our Wool either by Craft or Force for there was not more Art and Skill used by King Ed. 3. in bringing home the Wollen Manufacturers at first to the Wool than hath been of late to export it to France the Consequence of which is not only injurious to us in the loss of what we formerly exported of our Wollen Manufacture thither but also by their supplying Forreign Markets with the Manufacture made with our Wool much cheaper than we by reason of the cheap Workmanship in France the which is three or four times the Value of the Wool which if the French had not our Wool they could not make any considerable Quantity of the Wollen Manufacture viz. Worsted Stuffs and Stockings which is now a Considerable Part of our Wollen Manufacture But this is not all but we have been imposed upon by the Consumption of the French Manufactury in our own wearing all the Reign of the two late Kings which was very great before the late War but since by the great Encrease of East-India Commodities the French have been undersold So that from the whole matter we have not only lost a great part of the Export of our Wollen Manufacture and in a way to lose all but much of the Consumption of our own wearing the Evil Consequence of which I fear we shall too sensibly feel and to take Notice what is already past as is very well Observed by Mr. Tho. Smith in a Tract printed the last Year which he hath also published another Intituled Profit and Loss As to the First The ruin of the Tammy and Greensay Trade setled in Suffolk and Norfolk for many years the Use of these Commodies was for our Home Consumption which betwixt Twenty or Thirty Years agoe the East-India Company brought over such Quantities of Callicoes stain'd c. which wholly turn'd those of our Commodities out of doors not only the Wear here but the Export of it to Ireland Scotland and our Plantations and the People employed forced to leave their Houses which standing empty where Tradesmen inhabited Landlords abating 20 l. per Cent. of their Rent nay offering large good Houses to any that would keep them in repair which did also affect the Counties of Lincoln Leicester Northampton and Warwick by the Fall of the price of Wool at that time The next Instance is in Spittle-fields there was first the Walloons and since by the English a very large Silk Manufacture setled till the East-India Company sent Patterns and Workmen unto the Indies and by that means beat the English out of that Trade A third Instance is the Glocester-shire Cloth exported by the Turkey Merchants which brings home Silk and Grogrin Yarn in return which by the means of the East-India Commodities the said Merchants Effects lye upon their Hands and instead of Exporting 30000 Cloaths in a Year now 5000 serve the turn The last Instance is the miserable Condition of the Manufacturers of Canterbury these People are Weavers
the Trade and â—â—le in the Kingdom of the said Printed Callicoes and India and China Silks and Stuffs nevertheless granting to the Owners a reasonable Time to sell them in Having heard the Report of Mounsieur Pellitier Counseller Ordinary of the King 's Royal Council and Comptroller General of the Finances his Majesty in his Council hath ordered and doth order that from the beginning of the Day of the Publication of the present Decree all the Manufactures established in the Kingdom for Painting of the White Callicoes shall be abolished and the Moulds serving to the Printing of them shall be broke and destroyed His Majesty doth forbid most expresly the re-establishing thereof Also to his Subjects the Painting of the said Callicoes and to the Engravers the making of any Moulds serving to the said Impressions under the Penalty of losing the said Callicoes Moulds and other Utensils and Three Thousand Livres Fine to be paid without Diminution one third part to the Informer the second part to the Hospitals of the Place the third to the Farmers of the of the Revenue And as concerning the Painted Callicoes and other China and India Silks Stuffs and Stuffs flower'd with Gold and Silver his Majesty hath granted and doth grant to the last of December 1687. next to the Merchants and others the permission of selling them as they shall think fit The same Time being expired his Majesty doth forbid all Persons of what Quality and Condition whatsoever they are the exposing and selling thereof and to particulars the buying therof doth order That those found in all Ware-houses and Shops shall be burnt and the Proprietors condemn'd to the like Fine of Three Thousand Livres paid as abovesaid His Majesty doth permit nevertheless the Entry Sale and Retail of the said White Callicoes in his Kingdom paying for them the Taxes according to the Decree of the Council the 30th of April last which shall be Executed and that of the 15th of the present Month to the last of December 1687. last year His Majesty doth command the Lieutenant of the Policy of the City of Paris and the Intendents and Commissaries of the Provinces and Generalties of the Kingdom to cause the present Decree to be executed being published and affixed in all Places where need shall be that no Body should be ignorant thereof Done in the King's State-Council held at Fountainbleau Signed Coquille Note Several of the French Printers since this Edict are come over hither and set up and follow the same Employment Query Whether the Printing of the Silks and Callicoes in England is not as prejudicial to us as it was to the French Suitable to this may be well Observed some Observations of that once Famous Sir Josiah Child viz. THat Wool is eminently the Foundation of English Riches and that the ways to equalize or over-ballance our Neighbours in our National Profit by our Forreign Trade are To prevent the Exportation of our Wool and encourage our Wollen Manufactures To encourage those Forreign Trades most that vend most of our Manufactures and that supply us with Materials further to be manufactured in England Discourse of Trade p. 127 156. That it s our Interest by Example and other Means not distasteful above all kind of Commodities to prevent as much as may be the Importation of Forreign Manufactures Pag. 161. That it is multitudes of People and such Laws as cause an Encrease of People which principally enrich any Country Preface That Lands tho' excellent without hands proportionable will not enrich any Kingdom That whatever tends to the Depopulating any Kingdom tends to the Impoverishment thereof Page 165 and 167. That it is our Duty to God and Nature to provide for and employ the Poor That such as our Employment is for the People so many will our People be Page 56. 174. That it's the Interest of a Kingdom the Poors Wages should be high for wherever Wages are high throughout the whole World it is an infallible Evidence of the Riches of that Country and where-ever Wages for Labour runs low it s a Proof of the Poverty of that place That the Expence of Forreign Commodities especially Forreign Manufactures is the worst Expence a Nation can be inclinable to and ought to be prevented as much as possible To which may be added a Note of the Observation of the Author of the Essay on Ways and Means viz. T IS evident that our Wollen Goods are sold in several Countries namely Holland Hamburgh Germany the Hans Towns and all the East Countries many of which Places will not be able to take off our Wollen Goods unless we deal for their Linnens And in Fact and by Experience it has been seen in the Case of the East-India Trade since there has been imported from thence vast Quantities of Linnens such as Callicoes Muslins Romals for Handkerchiefs which answered the ends of Lawns Cambricks and other Linnen Cloth we have not exported that vast Quantity of Drapery to those Northern Parts of which Sir Walter Rawleigh makes mention As our Call for their Linnens had diminished their Call for our Draperies has proportionably decreas'd and not only so but these People have been compelled by Necessity to fall upon making course Wollen Cloth by which they supply themselves and other places which we were wont to furnish Note That there has been exported to the East-Indies in about 2 Years almost one third part as much silver as has been coined in England since the Recoining our Money Query Whether it be not as reasonable to send our Money to the East Countries to buy up Corn which is very cheap to feed us as 't is to send it to the East-Indies for Garments to cloath us Query Whether it be not as necessary to restrain the Trade to the East-Indies as it was to put a stop to the Exportation of Wollen Manufacture from Ireland Query Whether the East-India Traders if not restrain'd may not in a short time bring over vast Quantities of Stuffs for Mens Wear since they have laâ—ely imported fine Cotton Druggets very fit for that pâ—rpose and sold at Cheap Rates Query Whether the sending above two Miâ— the East-Indies to make our wearing Apparel our own Poor starve for want of Employment be 〈◊〉 Consideration of great weight and deserve some 〈◊〉 Remedy I shall therefore from the whole Matter â—clude that if it be from our Manufacture thaâ— Riches of this Nation come and if it be 〈◊〉 from thence that our Shipping is employed 〈◊〉 our Marriners bred if it be from our Traâ— alone and from the Riches which it brings 〈◊〉 his Majesties Customs are raised and that 〈◊〉 Fleets have been hitherto built and maintaiâ— and the Dominion of the Seas preserved theâ— is and must be from our Manufactures that 〈◊〉 Bullion has been brought in and that our Trâ— hath been encreased and by which the Remâ— the Nobility and Gentry have been advancedâ— And therefore it may be easily granted 〈◊〉 there is no higher Temporal Interest in this â—tion than that which sustains the Nobilities 〈◊〉 Gentries Rents that which preserveth the 〈◊〉 venues of the Crown and encreases our Nâ— and Shipping Then in regard our Manufacture doth this 〈◊〉 Encouragement of it must necessarily be the gâ—est Interest of the Nation to preserve it 〈◊〉 whoever pretents the contrary tho' under nâ— so fair Disguises do either greatly betray Iâ—rance of what is England's Interest or plâ— prove to be a Promoter of a Forreigners câ— FINIS