THE Grand Concern Of ENGLAND EXPLAINED IN SEVERAL PROPOSALS Offered to the Consideration of the PARLIAMENT 1. For Payment of Publick Debts 2. For Advancement and Encouragement of Trade 3. For Raising the Rents of Lands In Order whereunto It is proved Necessary I. That a Stop be put to further Buildings in and about London II. That the Gentry be obliged to live some part of the Year in the Countrey III. That Registers be setled in every County IV. That an Act for Naturalizing all Foreign Protestants and Indulging them and His Majestie 's Subjects at home in Matters of Conscience may be passed V. That the Act Prohibiting the Importation of Irish Cattel may be Repealed VI. That Brandy Coffee Mum Tea and Chocolata may be prohibited VII That the Multitude of Stage-Coaches and Caravans may be suppressed VIII That no Leather may be Exported Vn-manufactured IX That a Court of Conscience be setled for Westminster and all the Suburbs of London and in every City and Corporation in England X. That the Extravagant Habits and Expence of all Persons may be curbed the Excessive Wages of Servants and Handicrafts-men may be Reduced and all Foreign Manufactures may be prohibited XI That it may be made lawful to Assign Bills Bonds and other Securities and that a Course be taken to prevent the Knavery of Bankrupts XII That the Newcastle-Trade for Coals may be managed by Commissioners to the Ease of the Subjects and great Advantage of the Publick XIII That the Fishing-Trade may be vigorously prosecuted all poor People set at work to make Fishing-Tackle and be paid out of the Money Collected every Year for the Poor in the several Parishes in England By a Lover of his Countrey and Well-wisher to the Prosperity both of the King and Kingdoms London Printed in the Year 1673. PROPOSALS humbly offered to consideration of the Parliament c. 1. For discharging the Publick Debts of the Kingdom 2. For Encouraging and Advancement of Tradc 3. The Increase of the Rents of Lands THE Honour Interest and Safety of a Kingdom lies in maintaining the Grandure and Dignity of their KING and the Prerogative of his Crown The which can no way be better secured than by providing him a plentiful Revenue wherewith to defray the Publick Expences of the Kingdom encourage and help all his Friends and Allies maintain Forces for his Own his Subjects and the Kingdoms Safeguard at home and a sufficient Fleet at Sea for the Security of Trade abroad and Defence of his Kingdom against all Forreign Princes and Potentates and wherewith also to discharge such Publick Debts as are justly owing to any person upon valuable Consideration If the payment of Publick Debts were provided for the rest would be easily secured without any great Charge to the People and the King be freed from the necessity of calling for fresh Supplie every year from his Subjects which now comes very hard and makes Parliaments uneasie to themselves as well as to those whose Representatives they are The vast Debt contracted by his Majesty when beyond the Seas the great Summs he hath since his happy Restauration given to relieve some of the many poor yet Loyal Subjects that served him and his Royal Father faithfully and lost their Limbs and Estates in their Service The great Debts he found the Kingdom in to the Army and Navy when he came first home which are all paid off excepting about 150000 l. that hath been under consideration of the Parliament which if not paid will be the ruine of many thousands of poor Families who advanced the same for his Majesties Service and it was all employed for the bringing him home The great charge of the last and this present Dutch War both which his Majestie hath been necessitated unto for the preservation of the dignity of his Person which they so basely scorn'd and contemn'd the Honour of his Kingdom and the interest and security of Trade these together with the Money 's expended in the reparations of his Ruined Houses repurchasing his own Goods and others for furnishing his Royal Palaces and many other publick affairs have called for frequent and great Supplies Which howbeit the Parliament have thought fit freely to grant when the King hath desired the same and passed several Acts for Pole-money Benevolence-money Subsidies Hearth-money additional Excise Taxes upon the Law poundage upon Rents and Land-Taxes yet the publick Debts are very great and the reason of it is plainly because whatever hath been given excepting Land-Taxes was so overvalued in the granting thereof the Grants so uncertain the Collecting so troublesom and chargeable the Payment so vexatious to the People that the end of the Parliament hath not been answered the King hath not had the Supply intended nor the Subjects the benefit or ease designed but the quite contrary events have hapned So that it 's humbly conceived there 's nothing can be more for the Interest and advantage of the King and Kingdom than for the Parliament to examine what the publick Debts really are how contracted and when and to see where the King has been well or ill used where Persons have made usurious or advantageous Contracts and taken advantage of the King's necessities to impose ill Commodities and at unreasonable rates upon him and there to reduce the Debt to such a preportion as the Commodity sold was at the time of such Sale really worth and to see where the King hath been justly dealt with which done and the Accounts being brought to Balance and the Debt stated and known then at once to raise so much Money as may discharge the whole and appoint Persons to see the money so to be raised disposed to that and no other use allowing them indifferent Salaries for their pains that so they may mind the work and recieve no manner of Fees or advantage from the Creditor whereby the publick Debts may be lessened for whoever hath trusted the King had a respect in setting his price on the Commodities fold to the time he thought he should stay for his Money the uncertainty of ever receiving it the vast Charge he must be at in Exchequer Fees Gratuities c. when ever he should have obtained the same insomuch that publiek Debts were and are frequently sold at sixty or seventy pounds per cent And so what hinders but that if this Business be prudently mannaged by Persons to be intrusted for that purpose the publick Debts may be lessened and the more easily paid which done the Subjects may reasonably expect and hope for the future to be at quiet and freed from the fears they are now under of a Parliaments meeting lest still there should be fresh supplies for the purposes aforesaid demanded and given and no end be known of such Gifts and yet to his Majesty and the Kingdoms great dishonour both at home and abroad the publick Debts still remain undischarged And if Money for this purpose shall be by the Parliament thought fit to be given It
is humbly offered and submitted to their considerations whether there can be any way in the World found more certain equal and easie to raise the same than by a Land-Tax for then they will know what it is they give when and how certainly it will come in and the time when the same will end and may proportion their Contracts and Payments accordingly Besides a Land-Tax will be a certain Fond for to advance Money upon in a short time at easie Interest wherewith speedily to discharge and pay off those Debts for which now great interest is to be paid I know it will be Objected that Land is a Drug bears little or no Price to be let or be sold what Rent it is let for Tenents are not able to pay for to lay Taxes upon that would utterly undo the Gentry who have nothing to live upon but their Rents To this I answer that it is very true Lands let poorly Rents are ill paid and yeild very little if sold But let us examine the Reasons hereof and see if some things may not be proposed to remedy those Mischiefs and bring Land to its former value which if we do then every Man will certainly be of Opinion that a Land-Tax is the best way to raise Money and be glad on that Condition to have it imposed I am of Opinion that Gentlemens being wanting to themselves is the greatest occasion of the decay of their Estates and lowering of their Rents Now in Order to the bringing them to the same Rate and Value if not to a better than they formerly bore I humbly propose that these several Particulars following which can only be done by Act of Parliament may be enacted as Laws And I shall endeavour to Demonstrate the Mischeifs we suffer for want of them and the great Advantages we may rationally expect to receive by their being Enacted 1. I propose that a stop be put to any farther Buildings in or about the Cities of London and Westminster Borough of Southwark or in any place within the Weekly-Bills of Mortality the Head being already too big for the Body And that a years Value of all Houses Built upon New Foundations may by the Owners of such Houses be paid to the King towards payment of Publick Debts which would advance above 300000 l. 2. That all the Nobility and Gentry of England who have Estates in the Country and are not obliged to atterd on His Majesty by reason of their Offices be enjoyned with their Families to live where their Estates do lie so many Months in each year as to the Wisdom of Parliament shall seem meet 3. That a Bill be passed for setting up of Registers in every County for Registring Sales Mortgages Leases for term of Years or Lives and all other real Securities and if possible all Bonds c. which Work may be done with little charge to the Subject and yet a profit of above 50000 l. per annum arise to the Publick 4. That an Act for a General Naturalizing of all Foreign Protestants be passed and an assurance of Liberty of Conscience given to all that shall come over into England and place themselves and Families amongst us And that the same priviledge be given to his Majesties Subjects at home 5. That the Act for prohibition of the Importation of Irish Cattle be repealed and a Trade between the two Kingdoms Established whereby his Mejesties Revenue of Customs would be advanced above 80000 l. per annum 6. That Brandy and Mum Coffee and Tea be prohibited and Coffee-houses suppressed which may be done without any dimunution of his Majesties Revenue of Excise 7. That the multitude of Stage-Coaches and Caravans now travelling upon the Roads be all or most of them suppressed especially those within forty or fifty Miles of London where they are ino way necessary and yet most numerous and mischievous and that a due regulation be made of such as shall be thought fit to be continued Which done his Majesties Excise would be worth above 30000 l. per annum more than it now is and the Post-Office by 6000 l. per annum 8. That the Act for Transportation of Leather Unmanufactured be repealed or so far discountenanced at least that it be not renewed when the seven years is expired 9. That a Court in the nature of the Court of Request in London be established for Westminster Southwark and all parts within the Weekly-Bills of Mortality if possible and in every City and Town Corporate in England to determine differences between poor People for small Debts Words or Trespasses that so they may not be undone by Law Suits 10. That a bound be put to the Extravagant Habits and Expences of all sorts of Persons that Servants and Handicraft Tradesmens excessive Wages may be reduced and that no foreign Manufactures except from Ireland be suffered to be worn in England but that the importation and exposing of them knowingly to Sale be both made Felony 11. That it be made Lawful to assign Bills Bonds and other Securities And the Frauds of Men Breaking with design to Enrich themselves out of their Creditors Estates may be prevented 12. That the New-Castle Trade for Coles may be managed by Commissioners for his Majesty which would be a great advantage to the Subjects and raise his Majesty above 300000 l. per annum 13. That the Fishing Trade be encouraged all Poor set at Work to provide Tackle for that use and be paid out of the Money Collected yearly in every Parish throughout England for relief of the Poor which would be of vast advantage to the Publick In Order to the evincing of the necessity of Prohibiting any of further Building in and about London and Westminster and of the Gentries being confined to live some part of the year upon their Estates in the Country I desire every serious considerate Person that knew London and Westminster and the Suburbs thereof fourty or fifty years ago when England was far richer and more populous than now it is to tell me whether by Additional Buildings upon new Foundations the said Cities and Suburbs since that time are not become at least a third part bigger than they were and whether in those days they were not thought and found large enough to give a due reception to all persons that were fit or had occasion to resort thither whereupon all further Buildings on new Foundations even in those dayes were prohibited Nevertheless above thirty thousand Houses great and small have been since built the consequences whereof may be worthy of our consideration These Houses are all inhabited considering then what multitudes of whole Families formerly dwelling in and about the said Cities were cut off by the two last dreadful Plagues as also by the War abroad and at home by Land and by Sea and how many have transported themselves or been transported into our foreign Plantations and it must naturally follow that those who inhabit these new Houses and many of the old
Kingdom Thirdly By lessening of his Majesties Revenues For the first of these Stage-Coaches prevent the breed of good Horses destroy those that are bred and effeminate his Majesties Subjects who having used themselves to travel in them have neither attained skill themselves nor bred up their Children to good Horsemanship whereby they are rendred uncapable of serving their Countrey on Horseback if occasion should require and call for the same for hereby the become weary and listless when they ride a few miles and unwilling to get on Horseback not able to endure Frost Snow or Rain or to lodg in the Fields and what reason save only their using themselves so tenderly and their riding in these Stage-Coaches can be given for this their inability What encouragement hath any Man to breed Horses whilst these Coaches are continued There is such a lazy habit of body upon Men that they to indulge themselves save their fine Cloaths and keep themselves clean and dry will ride lolling in one of them and endure all the Inconveniences of that manner of travelling rather than ride on Horseback So that if any Man should continue his Breed he must be one that is a great lover of them and resolve to keep and please his own fancy with them otherwise most certainly he as most Breeders already have done will give over his breeding There is not the fourth part of Saddle-Horses either bred or kept now in England that was before these Coaches were set up and would be again if they were supprest Nor is there any occasion for breeding or keeping such Horses whilst the Coaches are continued For will any Man keep a Horse for himself and another for his Man all the year for to ride one or two Journeys that at pleasure when he hath occasion can slip to any place where his business lies for two three or four shillings if within twenty miles of London and so proportionably into any part of England No there is no Man unless some Noble Soul that scorns and abhors being confined to so ignoble base and a sordid way of travelling as these Coaches oblige him unto and who prefers a publick Good before his own ease and advantage that will breed or keep such Horses Neither are there near so many Coach-Horses either bred or kept in England now as there were Saddle-Horses formerly there being no occasion for them the Kingdom being supplyed with a far less number For formerly every Man that had occasion to travel many Journeys yearly or to ride up and down kept Horses for himself and Servants and seldom rid without one or two Men But now since every Man can have a passage into every place he is to travel unto or to some place within a few miles of that part he designs to go unto They have left keeping of Horses and travel without Servants And York Chester and Exeter Stage-Coaches each of them with forty Horses a piece carry eighteen Passengers a week from London to either of these places and in like manner as many in return from these places to London which comes in the whole to 1872 in the year Now take it for granted That all that are carried from London to those places are the same that are brought back yet are there 936 Passengers carried by forty Horses whereas were it not for these Coaches at least 500 Horses would be required to perform this Work Take the sort Stages within twenty or thirty miles of London each Coach with four Horses carries six Passengers a day which are 36 in a week 1872 a year If these Coaches were supprest can any Man imagine these 1872 Passengers and their Servants could be carried by four Horses Then reckon your Coaches within ten miles of London that go backward and forward every day and they carry double the number every year and so proportionably your shorter Stages within three four or five miles of London There are Stage-Coaches that go to almost every Town within 20 or 25 miles of London wherein Passengers are carried at so low Rates that most persons in and about London and in Middlesex Essex Kent and Surry Gentlemen Merchants and other Traders that have occasion to ride do make use of some to keep Fairs and Markets others to visit Friends and to and from their Countrey-houses or about other business who before these Coaches did set up kept a Horse or two of their own but now have given over keeping the same so that by computation there are not so many by ten thousand Horses kept now in these Parts as there were before Stage-Coaches set up By which means breeding of good Pad-Nags is discouraged and Coach-Horses that are bred by cruelty and ill usage of Stagers are destroyed 2ly Those Coaches hinder the breeding of Water-men and much discourage those that are bred for there being Stage-Coaches set up unto every little Town upon the River of Thames on both sides the Water from London as high as Windsor and Maidenhead c. And so from London-Bridg to and below Graves-end and also to every little Town within a mile or two of the Water-side These are they who carry all the Letters little Bundles and Passengers which before they set up were carried by Water and kept Water-men in a full Employ and occasioned their increase whereof there never was more need than now And yet by these Coaches they of all others are most discouraged and dejected especally our Western and below-Bridg Water-men they having little or nothing to do sometimes not a Fare in a week so that they dare not take Apprentices the Work they have not answering the charge they are at in keeping themselves and Families The consequence whereof is like to prove sad in a short time unless speedily prevented especially if these Wars continue and we happen to lose so many yearly of those that are bred as of late years we have done But if these Coaches were down Water-men as formerly would have Work and be encouraged to take Apprentices whereby their number would every year greatly encrease 3ly It prejudiceth his Majesty in his Revenue of Excise For now four or five travel in a Coach together and twenty or thirty in a Caravan Gentlemen and Ladies without any Servants consume little Drink on the Road yet pay as much at every Inn as if their Servants were with them which is the Tapsters gain and his Majesties loss But if Travellers would as formerly they did Travel on Horseback then no Persons of Quality would ride without their Servants And it is they that occasion the Consumption of Beer and Ale on the Roads and so would advance his Majesties Revenue I know it will be Objected There are as many People now as will be when Coaches are down and they drink where every they are Therefore no matter whether they drink at Home or on the Road since the Consumption will be the same how can the Kings Revenue then be advanced by Servants travelling with
forced to beat down the price of them in the Market yet must let the Coachman have them for what he pleaseth otherwise he carries his Passengers to other Inns by which means the Inholders get little or nothing cannot pay their Rent nor hold their Inns without great Abatements Two third parts of what they formerly paid is in some places abated Upon such accounts as these Innholders where these Coaches do come are undone And if so since most Travellers travel in Coaches what must become of all the rest of the Inns on the Roads where these Coaches stay not Believe it they are a considerable number take all the grand Roads in England as York Exeter Chester c. There are about 500 Inns on each Road and these Coaches do not call at fifteen or sixteen of them then what can follow but that the rest be undone and their Landlords lose their Rents But were these Coaches and Caravans down and travelling on Horseback again come into fashion first every Passenger that now travels in Coach would have one Horse at least many of them one two or three Servants with them who now ride sneaking without any Attendants at all whereby in all probability according to moderate Computation there would be at least forty or fifty horses upon the Road instead of nine or ten that draw the Coach and Caravan 2ly These Travellers would disperse themselves into the several Inns upon the Road each man where he could find the best Entertainment whereby Trade would be diffused Innholders be enabled to pay their Rents and encouraged to provide accommodations fit for the reception of Gentlemen 3. Most Horses go to grass in the Summer time which would raise the Rents of Pasture-Lands about Cities and Corporations and other Towns upon the Roads above what formerly they were which of late years by means of those Coaches have fallen half in half even in Middlesex and other places adjoyning to London it self And nâ— other reason for it can be given but this That Citizens and Gentlemen about the City do not keep Horses as formerly they did Neither doth there now come a fixth part of the Horses to London that used to do but if Stage Coaches be supprest there will be a necessity for men to apply themselves to the breeding keeping and using Horses as formerly they did and it will necessarily occasion the Consumption of five times the quantity of Hay Straw and Horse-Corn that now is consumed whereby Farmers will have a vent for their Commodities and be enabled to pay their Rents for not only will there then be four times the number of Horses travelling upon the Roads as there are now but in the City of London and all the great Towns in England there would be great numbers of good Horses kept by Gentlemen Merchants and Tradesmen for their own uses and by others also to let out to hire to such as shall have occasion to ride and keep not Horses of their own It is very observeable that before these Coaches were set up what with the Horses kept by Merchants and other Tradesmen and Gentlemen in or near London and the Travellers Horses that came to London That City spent all the Hay Straw Beans Pease and Oats that could be spared within twenty or thirty miles thereof And for a further supply had vast quantities from Henly and other Western parts and from below Graves-end by Water besides many Ships Lading of Beans from Hull and of Oats from Lynn and Boston and then Oats and Hay and other Horse-Meat would bear a good price in that Market which was the Standard for all the Markets in England But now since these Coaches set up especially in such multitudes and those so nigh London London cannot consume what grows within twenty miles of it But if they were down the Consumption in London would quickly be as great as ever and that would raise the price of the Commodities advance the price of Lands and cause Rents to be well paid again Not only would every Traveller that now rides in a Coach travel on Horseback if Coaches were down and some of them with two or three Servants and so occasion a greater Consumption of the Provisions for Cattel But further every of these several Travellers who before clubbed together for a Dish or two of Meat would have one two or three Dishes of Meat for himself and his Servants which would occasion the Consumption of six times as much Beef Veal Mutton Lamb and all sorts of Fish Fowl Poultry and other Provisions as is now consumed on the Roads And such Consumption would raise the price of Lands and cause better payment of Rents especially if it be considered That not only will the Consumption be increased by those that travel the Roads but ten-times more would be spent by those who would be imployed in the making those things that Travellers must have when they ride who if they have work and can earn Money will Eat and Drink of the best as formerly they did when several Handicraft Tradesmen in London kept 20 30 or 40 Journeymen at work spent a quarter of Beef and a Carcass of Mutton in a week in their Houses who since these Coaches set up have fallen to a couple of Apprentices and though as eminent of their Trade as any about London yet can hardly earn Bread to put into their heads If it be so then that Running Stage-Coaches and Caravans are so injurious to the Publick destructive to Trade and the occasion of the fall of Rents it would be worth time to consider what is in them worthy of their being countenanced and desired And whether the Inconveniencies be not much greater than the Conveniencies men receive by them If this way of travelling were the way that of all wayes appeared most beneficial least expensive conducing to Health advantagious to men in their business absolutely necessary to some useful to others and imposed upon none There were some reason for mens being in love with them but if the contrary be apparent then what madness possesseth men to court their Inconveniencies and Mischiefs Let us examine these things Men receive not the greatest benefit by travelling in these Coaches For can that way be beneficial to any that hinders and destroyes Trade prevents the Consumption of the Provisions and Manufactures of the Kingdom and thereby lowers the Rents of Landlords For First Can a Gentleman receive benefit or advantage by saving 5 l. per Ann. in a journey when by his manner of travelling he lowers his own Rents three times as much in a year as he saves by his Journeys by countenancing that kind of conveyance that hinders the Consumption of the products of his own Estate and thereby makes his Tenants unable to pay their Rents 2ly Is it to be believed That a Tradesman arrives at any profit by these Coaches though he should save a little Money when he rides in them that he must necessarily expend if he
more in ready Money than formerly we did or need to do were it not for this Act which furnisheth France with our Coyn to pay their Workmen for manufacturing of our Staple-Commodities and greatly exhausteth the Treasure of this Kingdom But if this Act be repealed and Irelands transporting of Raw Hides be prevented then France and other Foreigners must have Leather from England manufactured as formerly they had whereby our Handicraft Tradesmen would be set at work and having work would live handsomely as formerly they did to consume the Provisions and Manufactures of the Kingdom So that to any rational man it must be apparent that this Act hath not answered the end designed nor raised the price of Hides as expected nor can it for Ireland transporting vast quantities of raw Hides beyond the Seas and Importing great quantities of their Hides into England as aforesaid hinders the sale of our Hides or Tanned Leather at any considerable rates either at home or to Foreigners because we want a Consumption at home and Foreigners chuse to buy their raw Hides rather than our Leather by reason they can purchase them at a third part of the price we can afford to sell ours at and by tanning of them employ their own Bark which is a great mischief to the Gentry in England whose Bark by reason thereof sells at very low rates IX THe Ninth thing proposed is That a Court in the nature of a Court of Requests in London be established for Westminster Southwark and all other parts within the Weekly Bills of Mortality and if possible in every City and Town Corporate in England to determine Differences between poor people for small Debts not exceeding 40 s. and for Words Trespasses Assaults and Batteries where the people pay neither Scot nor Lot that so they may not be undone by Law-suits The Court of Requests in London is of excellent use long continuance and hath prevented the ruine of many thousands of Families and might have done far more had it not been limitted to the Liberties of the City whereby all Westminster Southwark Tower-Hamlets Middlesex and Surry within the Weekly Bills of Mortalities wherein the generality of the poor inhabit are excluded their Jurisdiction Of these Poor for want of this Court many are every year undone by Law-Suits commenced against each other for small debts or trivial Actions for Words Assaults or Trespasses the poorest oftentimes proving the proudest most quarrelsome and vexatious These are such who maintain themselves and Families by turning and winding 20 or 40 s. a week which they take upon their credit and employ in buying and selling Butchers-meat Poultery-ware and Fish Herbs Fruit and Roots Boiled-Wheat and Oat-cakes Butter and Eggs and divers other things which they cry about the streets or sell at Tavern-doors or in little Bulks as Orenges Limons Oysters Tape Thred-laces Silk and Ferret Ribbon Childrens Play-things and such like small Commodities whereby they keep their Families from burthening they Parishes wherein they dwell and yet are so poor that they are not rated to the Church and Poor where they trade These people are the greatest part of them most commonly indebted 20 30. or 40 s. apiece for the Stock they trade with nevertheless have more owing to them by the persons they sell their Wares to than when received will pay such their Debts but there are cunning Fellows belonging to the Marshalsey St. Katherines Whitechappel and Westminster pretending to be Baillffs or other Officers placed in every part of London and Westminster and the Suburbs thereof who make it their business to enquire out these Poor and their Creditors and thereupon to contrive some stories whereby to incite their Creditors to make a demand of their Debts and if not presently paid then to arrest the Debtors These Knaves also spend their whole time in promoting differences between the poorer sort of people for frivolous words slight trespasses or pitiful small debts which done they are imployed to arrest men and the person arrested must either presently pay and give satisfaction or put in Bail the which if he cannot do as frequently it happens they cannot they laying their Actions high though the occasion of action be very small then they are hurried over to the Knight Marshals Prison or to some other Goal and put to great expence lose their Credit and Trade and very many of them are utterly ruined by the charge of Arrests Prison Fees and the Suits though the verdict upon their Tryals happen to be for them as most commonly it is there being not one Action in ten brought in those Courts for Words or Trespasses that happens to be according to Law Nevertheless if the said Defendants Demur because the words are not actionable or the Plaintiff have a Verdict and the Defendant move in Arrest of Judgement and the Judgement be Arrested yet in neither of these Cases hath the Defendant any Costs so that both Plaintiffs and Defendants spend their money in vain and the Parishes where the Defendants inhabit are frequently forced to redeem them out of the Marshalseys White Chappel St. Katharines and other Goals or otherwise they should lie and starve in Prison though the Cause of Action were but a Trifle the Charges and Fees oftentimes falling out to be four five or six times as much as originally the Action was brought for by reason whereof the recovering of 4 d. 6 d. or 12 d. sometimes costs 3 l. 4 l. or 6 l. Whereas if the Court desired were erected to end these Differences in a summary less expensive and more expeditious way the utter ruine of some hundreds if not thousands of Families would be every year prevented the Parish charges greatly lessened and quarrelsome vexatious Suits for small Debts of 40 s. or under or for Trespasses Assaults or words would be prevented In London no Freeman within the Liberties dwelling can be arrested or sued for any Debt under Forty shillings the Court of Conscience or Requests sits at Guildhal Wednesday and Saturdays in every week to hear Complaints and take course therein Upon any Complaint they first send a Summons to the party complained against and that is served upon him by a sworn Officer and costs 6 d. which done the next Court day the Plaintiff must attend and call the Defendant and enter his own appearance else is non-suited loseth his Summons and must begin again but the Defendant runs no hazard in not appearing the first day If the Defendant appear the second Court day after Summons he prevents an Attachment and is ordered to pay his debt for which the Plaintiff pays 4 d. If the Defendant fail to appear the second Court day before the Court riseth the Court grants an Attachment which costs being executed amount to 1 s. 10 d. The Officer serves this Attachment so soon as he can find the Defendant which done he gives the Plaintiff notice that the Defendant will meet him next Court day and that costs 4 d. more
and o their own ruine thereby for nothing will serve them but to live at this rate keep their Wives thus fine expose them to Temptations by setting them in their Shops in tempting Dresses thinking to invite Customers and thereby very often they have that effect but sometimes those Customers make bold with the Ware that should not be sold or lent and once having attained that liberty if both Parries agree it is ten to one if that poor Man be not presently blown up either by the charge his Wife will put him to in maintaining that Gallant or by the Credit that good Gentleman shall have in the Shop to take up what he pleases And then when gone as far as the Owner can give credit for he leaves the Shop and his Mistress to his care Nevertheless sometimes men are undone and yet their Wives are vertuous as without doubt many thousands are and more would be were it not the Husbands fault That is when after their being a while set up and a little Estate gotten they grow high keep their Coaches must have their Countrey-Houses the Candles burning at both ends never thinking they shall see an end of their Gains And their Wives forsooth must not be Nurses but send their Children abroad so that reckoning the charge of keeping there and frequent going to see them and the Guifts and good things that are unknown carried to the Nurses these high Expences accompanied with a decay and declination of Trade occasioned by the multiplicity of Traders as aforesaid go far in destroying young Beginners Moreover the keeping unnecessary Maid-Servants giving them great Wages and maintaining them idle in fine Habits and Dresses who with their vain and wanton carriages oftentimes become snares to young men this finisheth the work and both Masters Mistresses and Servants come all to ruine thereby One other great mischief to the young Tradesmen who are industrious close husbands and sober in their habits and expences is the great Rents they in the City when the Trade is gone to the other end of the Town where Rents are low Were all men of my mind those who lived in London before the fire and are Freemen and now to the destruction of the City live in the Suburbs meerly to enrich themselves they should starve before a peny should be laid out amongst them Why should they not come into the City again and make that the seat of Trade which is the Metropolitan of England and at such vast charge in Complyance with the Kings pleasure is nobly rebuilt and so many thousands are undone by the building thereof by having their houses stand empty on their hands such base treacherous men to the City who no more value their Oaths they took when bound Apprentices and made free ought not to be countenanced where they are by buying any thing of them there is not one of them but is forsworn if he duly weigh and consider the purport of his Oath And he that will make no Conscience of forswearing himself meerly to gain a little advantage in his Trade I am sure will make no Conscience of cheating of me therefore shall never have any of my custom One other great mischief to young Tradesmen is that they being but beginners are forced to keep Shops in order to gain a custom and thereby are constrained to pay great Rents and Taxes which are very hard upon London treeble as much in proportion as upon any one County of England and paid by these young men whilst your cunning rich ancient Tradesmen having a large Acquaintance great Stock and a full Trade give over their Shops and take a Country-house where they live for a small Rent pay not the sixth part of Taxes that are paid in London and so carry on their Trade in London privately in Warehouses I could name several of the Chief Magistrates that do so but will not at present though they deserve it Have they through Gods blessing arrived by their Trades in the City to great Estates and to be the chief Magistrates thereof only to be covetous and sordid seeking to save a little money when they have so much that they know not what to do with it and thereby put all the Charges upon those young Shop-keepers through their Avarice And thus many of these young men fall to ruine whilst the elder run away with all the Trade and Engross the same into their own hands It is a great shame this should be suffered and such men ought not to have any manner of Government or Power in or over the City who make use of it only to enrich themselves by destroying those they govern Moreover Handicraft Tradesmens high wages which they exact for their work is greatly mischievous not only to every man that hath occasion to use them whose particular occasion cannot be served but at far greater rates than formerly which if that were all would be little but it is destructive to Trade hinders the consumption of our Manufactures by Foreigners and the exportation of those vast quantities that used to be transported when the manufacturing of them was so cheap as formerly for now Wool and Leather being cheaper manufactured beyond the Seas than here we are undersold in Foreign Markets to our great prejudice which if not prevented in few years will tend to the total ruine and destruction of our Woollen and Leather Manufacturies I can give no better account for this advancement of their wages than our English peoples foolishness in encouraging Foreigners beyond their own Neighbours wearing their Manufacturies and neglecting the use of our own by means whereof our Manufacturers work is carried away from them so that whereas they had six days work formerly they have not above three now and having the same families must either have double the wages they had when they had full Employ which enhaunceth the price of the Commodities or let their families want bread three days in the week So the Case thus stands in short As for the loss of the Foreign Trade we had and the want of the consumption that used to be of our Manufacturies in Foreign parts no other reason can be given but that Foreigners are able to make their work cheaper than we do and thereby are able to undersel us where-ever we come and the reason of their working cheaper is because they live not so high neither are their expences in wages and working so great as ours If they were how could Foreigners fetch our Wool and Leaher pay Freight and Custom outward manufacture it abroad and then Import it back again paying a second Custom and yet sell it cheaper here than we do ours If this be true and thereby the Foreign Consumption of our Manufacturies be lost the more reason there is then in my poor judgement to endeavour the reducing the wages of our Manufacturers and themselves to a more sober and less expensive way of living that thereby if possible we may regain that Trade Which