Riches as it hath done in Holland From Italy I have endeavoured to gain a certain accompt of their legal Interest but am advised that no taking of Use-Money is allowed by their Pontificial Laws the Interest now taken there which is generally 4 per Cent is done only by dispensation of Pope Paul the fifth and that notwithstanding no man can recover Interest of Money there if the party who should pay it can prove he hath no gained the value of the Interest demanded Now let the Reader judge whether that practise of Holland and this of Italy where the Romish Church-men have so great power who are to take Cognizance and may by their Auricular Confessors of all Offences of this kind the Laws concerning the use of Money in those Countries being Pontificial do not amount in effect to a low stated Interest by Law in England But to deal more ingenuously with my Opposer then he hath done with me I will grant him that much Riches will occasion in any Kingdom a low rate of Interest and yet that doth not hinder but a low stated Interest by Law may be a cause of Riches For if Trade be that which enricheth any Kingdom and lowering of Interest advanceth Trade which I think is sufficiently proved then the Abatement of Interest or more properly restraining of Usury which the antient Romans and all other wise and rich People in the world did always drive at is doubtless a primary and principal cause of the Riches of any Nation it being not improper to say nor absurd to conceive that The same thing may be both a Cause and an Effect Peace begets Plenty and Plenty may be a means to preserve Peace Fear begets Hatred and Hatred Fear The diligenâ— Hand makes rich and Riches makes men diligent so true is the Proverb Crescit amor Nummi quantum ipsa pecunia erescit Love we say begets Love the fertility of a Country may cause the encrease of People and the encrease of People may cause the further and greater fertility of a Country Liberty and Property conduce to the encrease of Trade and Emprovement of any Country and the encrease of Trade and Emprovements conduce to the procuring as well as securing of Liberty and Property Strength and Health conduce to a good digestion and a good digestion is necessary to the preservation of Health and encrease of Strength and as a Person of very great honour pertinently instanced at a late debate upon this Question An Egg is the cause of a Hen and a Hen the cause of an Egg. The incomparable Lord Bacon in his History of Henry the 7th saith pag. 245 of that Prince as well as other men That his Fortune worked upon his Nature his Nature upon his Fortune the like may be said of Nations The Abatement of Interest causeth an encrease of Wealth and the encrease of Wealth may cause a further Abatement of Interest But that is best done by the Midwifery of good Laws which is what I plead for the corrupt Nature of man being more apt to decline to Vice then incline to Vertue Folio 15. he affirms Lands are not risen in Purchase nor Rents improved since the Abatement of Interest That I shall say no more to it is matter of Fact and Gentlemen who are the Owners of Land are the best Iudges of this case only I would entreat them not to depend upon their Memories alone but to command particular accompts to be given them what sum or sums of Money were given 40 or 50 Years past for any intire Farms or Mannors they now know and I doubt not but they will find that most of them will yield double the said sums of Money now notwithstanding the present great pressures that Land lies under which ought maturely to be considered of when this judgment is made I rather desire the enquiry to be made upon the gross sum of Money paid then the Years purchase as being less fallible because many Farms have been of late Years so rackt up in Rents that it may be they will not yield more Years purchase now according to the present Rents then they would many years past and yet may yield double the Money they were then bought or sold for because the Rents were much less then Fol. 15. he impertinently quarrels at my instance of Ireland saying I quote it sometimes to prove the benefit of a low Interest pag. 8. And sometimes the mischief of high Interest pag. 9. Which seems to me to be an unfriendly way of prevaricating For pag. 8. I mention the late great improvement of Ireland only as an accidental cause why our Rents at that present fell and in this it appears I was not much mistaken for within a few Moneths after I first writ that Treatise the Parliament took notice of it Pag. 9. I mention that place among others that pay a high Interest and are consequently very poor if there be any contradiction in this let the Reader judge Pag. 16. the Gentleman puzleth himself about finding Mistakes in my Calculation of the encrease of Merchants Estates but discovers none but his own so I shall not trouble the Reader further about that all Merchants granting me as much as I design by it though some of them have not or care not to observe the Abatement of Interest to have been the principal cause thereof Fol. 17. Because he cannot answer that large and pregnant instance of the effects of a low Interest which I gave in the case of the Sugar-Bakers of London and those of Holland which was but one of a hundred which I could have mentioned he endeavours to set up another of a contrary effect which is a weak rediculous Instance and nothing to his purpose for that Commodity that I mentioned viz. Sugar is a solid bulky Commodity always in fashion not consequent to humor as is that of Silk-Stockings 1000 l. worth whereof may be with less charge carried to Italy then 30 l. worth of Barbadoes Sugar can be sent to Holland Besides the reason why we of late sent Silk-Stockings thither is accidental not natural only happening by means of an Engin wâ— have to weave them whereof they have not yet the use in Italy Besides wearing things being more esteemed through Fancy then Judgment the Italians may have the same Vanity which is too much amongst us to esteem that which is none of their own making as we do French Ribonds and the French-men English ones besides he is mistaken in saying we bring the Silk we make them of from Italy for the Silk of which we make that Commodity is Turky not Italian Silk Fol. 18. The Gentleman begins to be kind and finding me out of the way pretends to set me right viz. to instruct me as first what will bring down Interest 1st Multitude of People 2dly A full Trade 3dly Liberty of Conscience I Answer That I have I think proved that the Abatement of Interest will effect the two former
a Knavish design of the Citizens to advance themselves who are too proud already and that if it go forward it will undo all the Country Gentlemen in England And if one speak with the City Vsurers they will be as ready to affirm that this is a plot carried on only by Noblemen and Gentlemen whose Estates are all in Land for their own advantage and that it will spoil all the Trade of the Kingdom being a project at one instant to take off just one third of all Mens Estates that are personal and add the same proportion to all such whose Estates are real which in effect is to Impoverish all the Younger and Enrich all Elder Brothers in England So that out of the Mouthes of the greatest and wisest Adversaries to this principle it may be justly concluded that though singlely they deny the truth of it yet joyntly they confess it To conclude there is nothing that I have said or that I think any other can say upon this occasion but was said in substance before by old Sr Thomas Culpepper though unknown to me who had an ampel and clear sight into the whole nature of this Principle and the true effects and consequences of it Truth being always the same though Illustrations may vary nor can any thing now be objected against the making a Law for a further abatement of Interest but the same that was objected in those times wherein the former Statutes past so that why my Opposer should cavil at the doing of that by a Law in England now which he seems to â—ike well if it could be done I know no real cause except it be that in truth he is wise enough to know that a Law in England will certainly do the Work as it hath done formerly and in consequence his own private Gain will be retrenched Before I concluded I think it necessary for caution to my Country-men to let them know what effects these discourses have had on others when I wrote my first Treatise Interest was in the Island of Barbadoes at 15 per centum where it is since by an Act of the Country brought down to 10 per cent a great fall at once and our weekly Gazets did some Months past inform us that the Sweeds by a Law had brought down their Interest to 6 per cent neither of which can have any good effects upon us but certainly the contrary except by way of emulation they quicken us to provide in time for our own Good and Prosperity I have now done with this Controversie and therein discharge my Duty to my native Country and though Ignorance Malice or private Interest may yet for some time oppose it I am confident the Wisdom of my Country-men will at length find their true and general Interest in the Establishment of such a Law which as to my own particular concernments signifies not two Farthings whether they do or not CHAP. II. Concerning the Relief and Employment of the Poor THis is a calm Subject and thwarts no common or private Interest amongst us except that of the common Enemy of Mankind the Devil so I hope that what shall be offered towards the effecting of so universally acceptable a Work as this and the removal of the innumerable Inconveniences that do now and have in all Ages attended this Kingdom through defect of such provision for the Poor will not be ill taken although the Plaister at first essay do not exactly fit the Sore In the Discourse of this subject I shall first assert some particulars which I think arâ—â—greed by common Consent and from thence take occasion to proceed to what is more doubtful 1. That our Poor in England have always been in a most sad and wretched condition some Famished for want of Bread others starved with Cold and Nakedness and many whole Families in all the out Parts of Cities and great Towns commonly remain in a languishing nasty and useless Condition Uncomfortable to themselves and Unprofitable to the Kingdom this is confessed and lamented by all Men. 2. That the Children of our Poor bred up in Beggery and Laziness do by that means become not only of unhealthy Bodiâ—s and more then ordinarily subject to many loathsome Diseases whereof very many die in their tender Age and if any of them do arrive to years and strength they are by their idle habits contracted in their Youth rendered for ever after indisposed to Labour and serve only to stock the Kingdom with Thieves and Beggars 3. That if all our impotent Poor were provided for and those of both Sexes and all Ages that can do Work of any kind employed it would redound some Hundreds of Thousands of Pounds per annum to the publick Advantage 4. That it is our Duty to God and Nature so to Provide for and Employ the Poor 5. That by so doing one of the great Sins for which this Land ought to mourn would be removed 6. That our fore-Fathers had pious Intentions towards this good Work as appears by the many Statutes made by them to this purpose 7. That there are places in the VVorld wherein the Poor are so provided for and employed as in Holland Hambrough New-England and others and as I am informed now in the City of Paris Thus far we all agree The first Question then that naturally occurs is Question How comes it to pass that in England we do not nor ever did comfortably Maintain and Employ our Poor The common Answers to this Question are two 1. That our Laws to this purpose are as good as any in the World but we fail in the execution 2. That formerly in the days of our pious Ancestors the work was done but now Charity is deceased and that is the reason we see the Poor so neglected as now they are In both which Answers I humbly conceive the Effect is mistaken for the Cause For though it cannot be denied but there hath been and is a great failure in the Execution of those Statutes which relate to the Poor yet I say the cause of that failure hath been occasioned by defect of the Laws themselves For otherwise what is the reason that in our late times of Confusion and Alteration wherein almost every Party in the Nation at one time or other took their turn at the Helm and all had that Compass those Laws to Stear by and yet none of them could or ever did conduct the Poor into a Harbour of security to them and profit to the Kingdom i. e. none sufficiently maintained the Impotent and employed the Indigent amongst us And if this was never done in any Age nor by any sort of Men whatsoever in this Kingdom who had the use of those Laws now in force it seems to me a very strong Argument that it never could nor ever will be done by those Laws and that consequently the defect lies in the Laws themselves not in the Men i. e. those that should put them in Execution As to the second
the useful Stock of the Nation at least one third part and greatly â—ase the course of Trade as I humbly conceive this will do I hope none will deny but it may consist with the Wisdom of Parliament to create new Laws 3. Most of our Statutes were made in times before we understood Trade in England and the same Policy and Laws that were good then and may yet be good for a Country destitute of Commerce may not be so fit for us now nor for any Nation so abounding with Trade as England doth at present Object 2. May not this occasion many Cheats and Law Suites Answ. 1. I answer no Experience manifests the contrary not only in other Kingdoms and Countries abroad where Transferrance of Bills of Debt is in use but even in our own where we have for many Ages had the Experience of Indorsment on Bills of Exchange and in this present Age of the passing of Gold-Smiths Notes from one Man to another which two practices are very like to the designed way of Transferring Bills of Debt and yet no considerable Cheats or Inconveniencies have arisen thereby Answ. 2. No Man can be Cheated except it be with his own consent and we commonly say caveat emptor no Man is to be forced to accept anothers Bill that himself doth not approve of and no Man will accept of another Mans Bill except he know him or until he hath used means to satisfie himself concerning him no more then he will sell his Goods to a Stranger unless he hath some reason to believe he is able to pay him Object 3. Will not such a Law as this be very troublesom especially in Fairs and Markets and also to Gentlemen and Ladies when they shall be forced for all Goods they buy above the value of 10 l. to give Bills under their Hand and Seals I answer this Law will not at all Incomode Gentlemen as to what they Buy in Shops c. neither those that converse in Fairs and Markets for that which Gentlemen Buy in Shops c. and others in Fairs c. they either pay or promise ready Money or else say nothing of the time or payment which the Law understands to be the same with a promise of present pay so that if they give no Bills there is no penalty attends the neglect or refusal but only that the contract between the Buyer and Seller shall be presumed in the Law to be as if it were made for ready Money CHAP. VI. Concerning a Court Merchant I Have conceived great hope from the late most Prudent and Charitable Institution of that Iudicature for determination of Differences touching Houses Burned by the late Fire in London that this Kingdom will at length be blessed with a happy method for the speedy easie and cheap deciding of Differences between Merchants Masters of Ships and Seamen c. by some Court or Courts of Merchants like those which are established in most of the great Cities and Towns in France Holland and other places the want whereof in England is and hath ever been a great bar to the Progress and Grandure of the Trade of this Kingdom as for instance if Merchants happen to have differences with Masters and Owners of Ships upon Charter-parties or Accounts beyond Sea c. The Suite is commonly first commenced in the Admiralty Court where after tedious Attendance and vast Expences probably just before the Cause should come to Determination it is either removed into the Deligates where it may hang in suspence until the Plantiff and Defendant have empty purses and grey Heads or else because most Contracts for Martain Affairs are made upon the Land and most Accidents happen in some Rivers or Harbours here or beyond Sea are not in alto mari The Defendant brings his Writ of Prohibition and removes the Cause into his Majesties Court of King's-Bench where after great Expences of Time and Money it is well if we can make our own Council being common Lawyers understand one half of our Case we being amongst them as in a Foreign Country our Language strange to them and theirs as strange to us after all no Attestations of Foreign Notaries nor other publick Instruments from beyond Sea being Evidences at Law and the Accounts depending consisting perhaps of an hundred or more several Articles which are as so many Issues at Law the Cause must come into the Chancery where after many Years tedious Travels to Westminster with black Boxes and green Bags when the Plantiff and Defendant have tired their Bodies distracted their Minds and consumed their Estates the Cause if ever it be ended is commonly by order of that Court referred to Merchants ending miserably where it might have had at first a happy issue if it had begun right From whence follows these National Inconveniencies 1. It is a vast Expence to the Persons concerned 2. It takes off Men from following their Callings to the Publick loss as well as the particular Damages of the concerned that time being lost to the Nation that is spent in Law-Suits 3. It makes Men after they have once attained indifferent Estates to leave Trading and for ease to turn Country-Gentlemen whereas great and experienced Men are the only Persons that must mate the Dutch in Trade if ever we do it 4. It is my opinion a great cause of the Prodigality Idleness and Injustice of many of our Masters of Ships in England and consequently a wonderful bar to the growth of our English Navigation who knowing that their Owners cannot legally eject them especially if the Master have a part of the Ship himself but that Remedy to the Owners will be worse then the Disease which occasions Masters to presume to do those things and be guilty of such neglects as naturally they would not if they stood more upon their good behaviour I could say much more of the Damage this Nation sustains by the want of a Law-Merchant but that is so evident to all Mens Experience that I shall not longer insist upon it but proceed humbly to propose some particulars which being duely considered may peradventure by wiser Heads be improved towards the cure of this evil viz. 1. That it be Enacted that there shall be erected within the City of London a standing Court-Merchant to consist of twelve able Merchants such as shall be chosen by the Livery Men of the said City in their common Hall at the time and in the manner herein after limitted and appointed 2. That the said twelve persons so to be Elected or any three or more of them sitting at the same time and place and not otherwise shall be accounted Iudiciary Merchants and Authorized to hear and determine all Differences and Demands whatsoever which have arisen and are not hitherto determined or may any ways arise between Merchants Trades-Men Artificers Masters and Owners of Ships Sea-Men Boat-Men and Freighters of Ships or any other Persons having relation to Merchandizing Trade or Shiping for or concerning any
measure abated by reason of our foreign Plantations but propose to prove the contrary This I know is a controverted Point do believe that where there is one man of my mind there may be a thousand of the contrary but I hope when the following Grounds of my Opinion have been throughly examined there will not be so many Dissenters That very many People now go and have gone from this Kingdom almost every Year for these sixty Years past and have and do settle in our foreign Plantations is most certain But the first Question will be Whether if England had no foreign Plantations for those People to be transported unto they could or would have stayed and lived at home with us I am of Opinion they neither would nor could To resolve this Question we must consider what kind of People they were and are that have and do transport themselves to our foreign Plantations New-England as every one knows was originally inhabitated and hath since successively been replenisht by a sort of People called Puritans which could not conform to the Ecclesiastical Laws of England but being wearied with Church Censures and Persecutions were forced to quit their Fathers Land to find out new Habitations as many of them did in Germany and Holland as well as at New-England and had there not been a New-England found for some of them Germany and Holland probably had received the rest But Old England to be sure had lost them all Virginia and Barbadoes were first peopled by a sort of loose vagrant People vicious and destitute of means to live at home being either unfit for labour or such as could find none to employ themselves about or had so mis-behaved themselves by Whoreing Thieving or other Debauchery that none would set them on work which Merchants and Masters of Ships by their Agents or Spirits as they were called gathered up about the Streets of London and other places cloathed and transported to be employed upon Plantations and these I say were such as had there been no English foreign Plantation in the World could probably never have lived at home to do Service for their Country but must have come to be hanged or starved or dyed untimely of some of those miserable Diseases that proceed from want and Vice or else have sold themselves for Soldiers to be knockt on the Head or starved in the Quarrels of our Neighbours as many thousands of brave English men were in the low Countries as also in the Wars of Germany France and Sweeden c. or else if they could by begging or otherwise arrive to the Stock of 2 s. 6 d. to waft them over to Holland become Servants to the Dutch who refuse none But the principal growth and encrease of the afore-said Plantations of Virginia and Barbadoes happened in or immediately after our late Civil Wars when the worsted party by the fate of War being deprived of their Estates and having some of them never been bred to labour and other made unfit for it by the lazy habit of a Soldiers life there wanting Means to maintain them all abroad with his Majesty many of them betook themselves to the afore-said Plantations and great numbers of Scotch Soldiers of his Majesty's Army after Worcester Fight were by the then prevailing Powers voluntarily sent in thither Another great swarm or accession of new Inhabitâ—nts to the afore-said Plantations as also to New-England Iamaica and all other his Majesties Plantations in the West-Indies ensued upon his Majesties Restauration when the former prevailing party being by a divine Hand of Providence brought under the Army disbanded many Officers dis-placed and all the new purcharsers of publick Titles dispossest of their pretended Lands Estates c. many became impoverished dâ—stitute of employment and therefore such as could find no way of living at home and some which feared the re-establishment of the Ecclesiastical Laws under which they could not live were forced to transport themselves or sell themselves for a few Years to be transported by others to the foreign English Plantations The constant supply that the said Plantations have since had hath by such vagrant loose People as I before-mentioned picked up especially about the Streets and Suburbs of London and Westminster and by Malefactors condemned for Crimes for which by the Law they deserved to dye and some of those People called Quakers banished for Meeting on pretence of Religious Worship Now if from the Premises it be duly considered what kind of Persons those have been by which our Plantations have at all times been replenished I suppose it will appear that such they have been and under such Circumstances that if his Majesty had had no foreign Plantations to which they might have resorted England however must have lost them To illustrate the truth whereof a little further let us consider what Captain Graunt the ingenious Author of the Observations upon the Bills of Mortality saith pag. 76. and in other places of his Book concerning the City of London and it is not only said but undeniably proved viz. That the City of London let the Mortality be what it will by Plague or otherwise repairs its Inhabitants once in two Years And pag. 101. again If there be encouragement for a hundred Persons in London that is a way how a hundred may live better then in the Country the evacuating of a fourth or third part of that number must soon be supplied out of the Country who in a short time remove themselves from thence hither so long until the City for want of receipt and encouragement regurgitates and sends them back 1. What he hath proved concerning London I say of England in general and the same may be said of any Kingdom or Country in the World Such as our employment is for People so many will our People be and if we should imagin we have in England employment but for one hundred People and we have born and bred amongst us one hundred and fifty People I say the fifty must away from us or starve or be hanged to prevent it whether we had any foreign Plantations or not 2. If by reason of the accommodation of living in our foreign Plantations we have evacuated more of our People then we should have done if we had no such Plantations I say with the aforesaid Author in the case of London and if that Evacuation be grown to an excess which I believe it never did barely on the account of the Plantations that decrease would procure its own Remedy for much want of People would procure greater Wages and greater Wages if our Laws gave encouragement would procure us a supply of People without the charge of breeding them as the Dutch are and always have been supplied in their greatest Extremities Object But it may be said Is not the Facility of being transported into the Plantations together with the enticing Methods customarily used to perswade People to go thither and the encouragement of living there
younger Persons which were never before at Sea I appeal to the Reader whether such a yearly return of Sea-men abiding at home with us all the Winter and spending their Money here which they got in their Summer-Fishery were not a great access of Wealth and Power to this Kingdom and a ready supply for his Majesty's Navy upon all Emergencies 6. The Fishing Ships yet are and always have been the breeders of Sea-men the Planters and Boat-keepers are generally such as were bred and became expert at the cost of the Owners of Fishing Ships which Planters and Boat-keepers enter very few new or green men 7. By the building fitting victualling and repairing of Fishing-Ships multitudes of English Trades-men and Artificers besides the Owners and Sea-men gain their subsistance whereas by the Boats which the Planters and Boat-keepers build or use at New-found-Land England gets nothing Object But against all that I have said those that contend for a Governour at New-found-Land object 1. That without a Governour and Government there that Country will be alwayes exposed to the surprizal of the French or any Foreigners that shall please to attacque it 2. That the disorders of the Planters which I complain of and some others which for brevities sake I have not mentioned cannot be remedied without a Governour To which I answer first That when we cannot preserve our Colonies by our Shiping or so awe our Neighbours by our Fleets and Ships of War that they dare not attempt them our case will be sad and our Propriety will be lost or in eminent danger not only abroad but at home likewise 2 dly All the Fish that is killed at New-found-Land in a Summer is not sufficient to maintain strength enough on Shore to defend two Fishing Harbours against ten men of War whereas that Country hath more Harbours to defend than are to be found in Old England 3 dly If a Governour be established the next consequence will be a Tax upon the Fishing and the least Tax will encrease the price of Fish and that unavoidably will give the Trade away wholly into the French Hands 4 thly A Government there is already of antient Custom among the Masters of the Fishing-Ships to which the Fishermen are inured and that free from Oppression and adapted to the Trade insomuch that although a better might be wished I never hope to see it XI That New-England is the most prejudical Plantation to this Kingdom I am now to write of a People whose Frugality Industry and Temperance and the happiness of whose Laws and Institution do promise to themselves long Life with a wonderful encrease of People Riches and Power And although no men ought to envy that Vertue and Wisdom in others which themselves either can or will not practice but rather to commend and admire it yet I think it is the duty of every good man primarily to respect the well-fare of his Native Country and therefore though I may offend some whom I would not willingly displease I cannot omit in the progress of this discourse to take notice of some particulars wherein Old England suffers diminution by the growth of those Colonies settled in new-New-England and how that Plantation differs from those more Southerly with respect to the gain or loss of this Kingdom viz. 1. All our American Plantations except that of new-New-England produce Commodities of different Natures from those of this Kingdom as Sugar Tobacco Cocoa Wool Ginger sundry sorts of dying Woods c. Whereas New-England produces generally the same we have here viz. Corn and Cattle some quantity of Fish they do likewise kill but that is taken saved altogether by their own Inhabitants which prejudiceth our New found-land Trade where as hath been said very few are or ought according to Prudence to be employed in those Fisheries but the Inhabitants of Old England The other Commodities we have from them are some few great Masts Furs and Train-Oyl whereof the Yearly value amounts to very little the much greater value of returns from thence being made in Sugar Cotton Wool Tobacco and such like Commodities which they first receive from some other of his Majesty's Plantations in Barter for dry Cod-Fish salt Mackerel Beef Pork Bread Beer Flower Pease c. which they supply Barbadoes Iamaica c. with to the diminution of the vent of those Commodities from this Kingdom the great Experience whereof in our own West-India Plantations would soon be found in the advantage of the value of our Lands in England were it not for the vast and almost incredible supplies those Colonies have from New-England 2. The People of New-England by vertue of their Primitive Charters being not so strictly tied to the observation of the Laws of this Kingdom do sometimes assume a liberty of Trading contrary to the Act of Navigation by reason whereof many of our American Commodities especially Tobacco and Sugar are transported in New-English Shiping directly into Spain and other foreign Countries without being Landed in England or paying any Duty to his Majesty which is not only loss to the King and a prejudice to the Navigation of Old England but also a total exclusion of the old English Merchant from the vent of those Commodities in those Ports where the New-English Vessels trade because there being no Custom paid on those Commodities in New-England and a great Custom paid upon them in Old England it must necessarily follow that the New-English Merchant will be able to afford his Commodity much cheaper at the Market than the Old English Merchant And those that can sell cheapest will infallibly engross the whole Trade sooner or later 3. Of all the American Plntations his Majesty hath none so apt for the building of Shiping as New-England nor none comparably so qualified for the breeding of Sea-men not only by reason of the natural industry of that people but principally by reason of their Cod and Mackerel Fisheries And in my poor opinion there is nothing more prejudicial and in prospect more dangerous to any Mother Kingdom then the encrease of Shiping in their Colonies Plantations or Provinces 4. The People that evacuate from us to Barbadoes and the other West-India Plantations as was before hinted do commonly work one English man to ten or eight Blacks and if we kept the trade of our said Plantations intirely to England England would have no less Inhabitants but rather an encrease of people by such evacuation because that one English man with the ten Blacks that work with him accounting what they eat use and wear would make employment for four men in England as was said before whereas peradventure of ten men that issue from us to New-England Ireland what we send to or receive from them doth not employ one man in England To conclude this Chapter and to do right to that most Industirous English Colony I must confess that though we loose by their unlimitted Trade with our Foreign Plantations yet we are very great Gainers
pounds Portion with a Daughter sixty Years ago were not esteemed a larger proportion then Two thousand pounds is now And whether Gentlewomen in those dayes would not esteem themselves well cloathed in a Searge Gown which a Chamber-Maid now will be ashamed to be seen in Whether our Citizens and middle sort of Gentry now are not more rich in Cloaths Plate Jewels and Houshold-Goods c. then the best sort of Knights and Gentry were in those days And whether our best sort of Knights and Gentry now do not exceed by much in those things the Nobility of England sixty Years past Many of whom then would not go to the price of a whole Sattin-Doublet the Embroiderer being yet living who hath assured me he hath made many hundreds of them for the Nobility with Canvas backs Which way ever we take our measures to me it seems evident that since our first abatement of Interest the Riches and Splendor of this Kingdom is increased to above four I might say above six times so much as it was We have now almost One hundred Coaches for one we had formerly We with case can pay a greater Tax now in one Year then our Fore-fathers could in twenty Our Customs are very much improved I believe above the proportion aforesaid of six to one which is not so much in advance of the Rates of Goods as by encrease of the bulk of Trade for though some Foreign Commodities are advanced others of our Native Commodities and Manufactures are considerably abated by the last Book of Rates I can my self remember since there were not in London used so many Wharfs or Keys for the Landing of Merchants Goods by at least one third part as now there are and those that were then could scarce have Imployment for half what they could do and now notwithstanding one third more used to the same purpose they are all too little in a time of Peace to land the Goods at that come to London If we look into the Country we shall find Lands as much Improved since the abatement of Interest as Trade c. in Cities that now yielding twenty Years purchase which then would not have sold for above eight or ten at most Besides the Rent of Farms have been for these last thirty Years much advanced and although they have for these three or four last years fallen that hath no respect at all to the lowness of Interest at present nor to the other mistaken Reasons which are commonly assigned for it But principally to the vast Improvement of Ireland since a great part of it was lately possessed by the Industrous English who were Soldiers in the late Army and the late great Land-Taxes More might be said but the Premises being considered I judge will sufficiently demonstrate how greatly this Kingdom of England hath been advanc'd in all respects for these last fifty Years And that the abatement of Interest hath been the cause thereof to me seems most probable because as it appears it hath been in England so I find it is at this day in all Europe and other parts of the World Insomuch that to know whether any Country be rich or poor or in what proportion it is so no other Question needs to be resolved but this viz. What Interest do they pay for Money Near home we see it evidently in Scotland and Ireland where ten and twelve per Cent is paid for Interest the People are poor and despicable their Persons ill cloathed their Houses worse provided and Money intollerably scarce notwithstanding they have great plenty of all Provisions nor will their Land yield above eight or ten Years purchase at most In France where Money is at seven per Cent their Lands will yield about eighteen Years purchase and the Gentry who may possess Lands live in good condition though the Peasants are little better then Slaves because they can possess nothing but at the will of others In Italy Money will not yield above three per Cent to be let out upon real Security there the People are rich full of Trade well attired and their Lands will sell at thirty five to forty Years purchase and that it is so or better with them in Holland is too manifest In Spain the usual Interest is ten and twelve per Cent and there notwithstanding they have the only Trade in the World for Gold and Silver Money is no where more scarce the people poor despicable and void of Commerce other then such as English Dutch Italians Iews and other Foreigners bring to them who are to them in effect but as Leeches who suck their Blood and vital Spirits from them I might urge many other Instâ—nces of this nature not only out of Chriâ—â—endom but from under the Turks Dominions East-India and America But every man by his Eperience in Foreign Countries may easiy inform himself whether this Rule do universally hold true or not For my own part to satisfie my own curiosity I have for some Years as occasion offered diligently enquired of all my acquaintance that had knowledge of foreign Countries and I can truly say that I never found it to fail in any particular Instance Now if upon what hath been said it be granted that defacto this Kingdom be richer at least four-fold I might say eight-fold then it was before any Law for Interest was made and that all Countries are at this day richer or poorer in an exact proportion to what they pay and have usually paid for the Interest of Money it remains that we enquire carefully whether the abatement of Interest be in truth the Cause of the Riches of any Country or only the Concomitant or Effect of the Riches of a Country in which seems to lie the Intricacy of this Question To satisfie my self wherein I have taken all opportunities to discourse this point with the most ingenious men I had the Honour to be known to and have searcht for and read all the Books that I could ever hear were printed against the Abatement of Interest and seriously considered all the Arguments and Objections used by them against it All which have tended to confirm me in this opinion which I bumbly offer to the consideration of wiser Heads viz. That the Abatement of Interest is the Cause of the Prosperity Riches of any Nation and that the bringing down of Interest in this Kingdom from six to four or three per Cent will necessarily in less then twenty Years time double the Capital Stock of the Nation The most material Objections I have met with against it are as follows Object 1. To abate Interest will cause the Dutch and other People that have Money put out at Interest in England by their Friends and Factors to call home their Estates and consequently will occasion a great scarcity and want of Money amongst us To this I answer That if Interest be brought but to four per Cent no Dutchman will call in his Money that is out upon good Security
to impose upon his Country And now that our Interest is at 6 per cent as the same worthy Author did wisely fore-see I appeal to the Judgment and Experience of my Country Men whether the genuine price of our Lands in England now would not be 20 Years Purchase were it not for accidental Pressures under which it labours at present such as these 1. Our late great Land Taxes 2. And principally the late great Improvement of Ireland mentioned in my former Treatise the consequence whereof is that that Country now supplieth Foreign Markets as well as our own Plantations in America with Beef Pork Hides Tallow Bread Beer Wool and Corn at cheaper Rates then we can afford to the beating us out of those Trades whereas formerly viz. presently after the late Irish War many Men got good Estates by Transporting English Cattle thither And that the Improvement of Ireland is the principal cause why our Lands in purchase rise not as naturally they should with the fall of our Interest appears evidently from the effect the fall of Interest hath had upon Houses in London where the growth of Ireland could have no such destructive influence which hath been so considerable that whosoever will please to inform themselves by old Scriveners or antient Deeds shall find that a House in London about fifty Years past that would sell but for 300 l. at most would readily sell within a short time afâ—er Interest was brought to 8 per cent at 5 or 600 l. and the same Houses to be sold sometime after Interest was brought to 6 per cent viz. before and after the late Dutch War would have yielded without scruple 1000 or 1200 l. The abatement of Interest having had a double effect upon Houses by encreasing Trade and consequently raising Rents as well as encreasing the number of Years purchase 3. A third reason why Land doth not at present bear an exact proportion to 6 per cent which should naturally be twenty Years is the late Plague which did much depopulate this Kingdom 4. The late Fire in London which hath engaged Men in Building in the City who otherwise would have been purchasing in the Country 5. The unusal plenty of Corn which hath been for these three or four Years past in most parts of Christendom the like whereof hath been seldom known it happening most commonly that when one Country hath had great plenty others have had great scarcity 6. The racking up of Rents in the Years 1651. and 1652. which was presently after the last abatement of Interest A seventh accidental Reason why Land doth not sell at present at the rate it naturally should in proportion to the legal Interest is that innovated practice of Bankers in London which hath more effects attending it then most I converse with have yet observed but I shall here take notice of that only which is to my present purpose viz. The Gentlemen that are Bankers having a large Interest from his Majesty for what they advance upon his Majesties Revenue can afford to give the full legal Interest to all Persons that put Money into their hands though for never so short or long a time which makes the trade of Usury so easie and hitherto safe that few after having found the sweetness of this lasie way of emprovement being by continuance and success grown to fancy themselves secure in it can be lead there being neither ease nor profit to invite them to lay out their Money in Land though at 15 Years purchase whereas before this way of private Bankering came up men that had Money were forced oft-times to let it lie dead by them until they could meet with Securities to their minds and if the like necessity were now of Money lying dead the loss of use for the dead time being deducted from the profit of 6 l. per Cent communibus annis would in effect take off 1 l. per Cent per Annum of the profit of Usury and consequently incline men more to purchase Lands in regard the difference between Usury and Purchasing would not in point of profit be so great as now it is this new invention of Cashciring having in my opinion clearly bettered the Vsurers trade 1 or 2 per Cent per Annum And that this way of leaving Money with Gold-Smiths hath had the aforesaid effect seems evident to me from the scarcity it makes of Money in the Country for the Trade of Bankers being only in London doth very much drain the ready Money from all other parts of the Kingdom The second point I am to prove is That it will advance the Rent of Farms To prove that it did so in fact depends on memory and for my own part I and most others I converse with do perfectly remember that Rents did generally rise after the late abatement of Interest viz. in the year 1651. and 1652. The reason why they did so was from the encouragement which that abatement of Interest gave to Landlords and Tenants to improve by Draining Marling Limeing c. excellently made out by the aforesaid two worthy Authors so that I do I think with good Reason conclude that the present fall of Rents is not natural but accidental and to be ascribed principally to the fore-going Reasons given for the present abatement of Land in purchase and especially to the late Improvement of Ireland The third thing I am to prove is That the abatement of Interest will encrease the bulk of foreign Trade which I do thus By evidence of fact it hath been so in England the encrease of our Trade hath always followed the abatement of our Interest by Law I say not preceded but followed it and the Cause doth always go before the Effect which I think I have evidently demonstrated in my former Treatise If any doubt of this and will be at the pains to examin the Custom-house Books they may soon be resolved 2. By Authority not only of that antient Gentleman Sr Thomas Culpepper in his second Treatise and therein of the judgment of the French King and Court in an Edict there recited but likewise of a Parliament of England King Lords Commons in the Act for reducing it to 6 per Cent in the Preamble whereof are these Words viz. Forasmuch as the Abatement of Interest from 10 in the Hundred in former times hath been found by notable Experience beneficial to the Advancement of Trade and Improvement of Lands by good Husbandry with many other considerable Advantages to this Nation especially the reducing of it to a nearer proportion with foreign States with whom we traffick And whereas in fresh memory the like fall from 8 to 6 in the Hundred by a late constant Practice hath found the like success to the general contentment of this Nation as is visible by several Improvements c. 3. By necessary consequence when Interest is abated they who call in their Money must either buy Land or trade with it If they buy Land the many
Buyers will raise the price of Land If they trade they encrease the number of Traders and consequently the bulk of Trade and let their Money lie dead by them I think I have fully proved they cannot in an addition I published to my first Observations 4. By reason for first whilst Interest is at 6 per Cent no man will run an adventure to Sea for the gain of 8 or 9 per Cent which the Dutch having Money at 4 or 3 per Cent at Interest are contented with and therefore can and do follow a vast trade in Salt from St Vuall Rochel and other parts to the Baltiquâ— Seas and also their fishing Trade for Herrings and Whale-fishing which we neglect as being not worth our trouble and hazard while we can make 6 per Cent of our Money sleeping For the measure of Money employed in Trade in any Nation bears an exact proportion to the Interest paid for Money As for instance when Money was at 10 per Cent in England no man in his wits would follow any Trade whereby he did not promise himself 14 or 12 per Cent gain at least when Interest was at 8 the hopes of 12 or 10 at least was necessary as 8 or 9 per Cent is now Interest goes at 6 per Cent the Infallible Consequence whereof is that the Trades before recited as well as those of Muscovy and Greenland and so much at least of all others that will not afford us a clear profit of 8 or 9 per Cent we carelesly give away to the Dutch and must do so forever unless we bring our Interest nearer to a Par with theirs and hence in my poor Opinion it follows very clearly that if our Interest were abated one third part it would occasion the employment of one third part more of Men Shiping and Stock in foreign and domestick Trades This discovers the vanity of all our Attempts for gaining of the White-Herring Fishing-Trade of which the Dutch as every body observes make wonderful great advantage though the Fish be taken upon our own Coasts I wish as many did take notice of the reason of it which therefore I shall say something of now though I have touched it in my former Treatise The plain case is this A Dutch-man will be content to employ a Stock of 5 or 10000 l. in Burses materials for Fishing Victuals c. for the carrying on of this Trade and if at the winding up of his Accounts he finds he hath got clear communibus annis for his Stock and Adventure 5 per Cent per Annum he thanks God and tells his Neighbours he hath had a thriving Trade Now while every sloathful ignorant man with us that hath but wit enough to tell out his Money to a Gold Smith can get 6 per Cent without pains or care Is it not monstrous absurd to imagine that ever the English will do aâ—y good upon this Trade till they begin at the right end which must be to reduce the Interest of Money Secondly The depraved nature of man affecting ease and pleasure while use of Money runs at 6 per Cent hath always at hand an easie expedient to indulge that humor and reconcile it to another as considerable viz. his Covetousness by putting his Money to use and if a Merchant through his youthful care and industry arrive to an Estate of 20000 l. in twenty Years trading whilst Money is so high and Land so low he can easily turn Country Gentleman or Usurer which were Interest of Money at 4 per Cent he could not do and consequently must not only follow his Trade himself but make his Children Traders also for to leave them Money without skill to use it would advantage little and purchasing of Lands less when the fall of Interest shall raise them to twenty or thirty Years purchase which I hope yet to live to see Thirdly From this necessity of Merchants keeping to their Trade and Childrens succeeding their Fathers therein would ensue to Merchants greater skill in Trade more exact and certain correspondency surer more trusty Factors abroad those better acquainted concatinated together by the experimental links of each others Humors Stile Estate and Business And whereas it is as much as a prudent man can do in ten Years time after his settling in London to be exactly well fitted with Factors in all parts and those by Correspondency brought into a mutual Acquaintance of each other and honest Work-men and Masters of Ships c. And by that time he hath traded ten Years longer if he succeed well it is six to one but he leaves Trade and turns Country Gentleman or Vsurer and so that profitable Engine the Wheels whereof by Correspondency move one another in many parts of the World which he hath been so long a framing within a few Years after it is brought to work well is broken to pieces and the benefit thereof to the Kingdom which is ten times more then to him that made it is lost whereas in Holland and Italy where Money is at 3 and 4 per Cent and consequently Merchants forc'd to keep and trust to their Trades only their Businesses are and must be so ordered and carried on from the beginning that when a Man dies the Trade is no more disturbed then when the Wife dies in England I am ashamed of the odious Prolixity and Repetition I am contrary to my Nature forced to use but my Opposer doth so often and I think disingenuously upbraid me with begging the Question that I am compelled to it The fourth thing I am to prove is that It multiplies Domestick Artificers If the former be true that it encreases foreign Trade I suppose no man will have the confidence to deny this to be a necessary and infallible consequence of that For we see throughout the World where-ever there is the greatest Trade there are the most Artificers and that since our own Trade encreased in England our Artificers of all sorts are proportionably encreased The building of London hath made multitudes of Bricklayers and Carpenters much use of Shiping will make Ships dear and the dearness of Shiping will make many Shipwrights much foreign Trade will encrease the vent of our Native Manufactures and much vent will make many work-men and if we cannot get and breed them fast enough our selves we shall draw them from foreign parts as the Dutch draw away ours it being a wise and true observation of as I remember Sr Walter Rawleigh That no Nation can want People that hath good Laws The fifth thing to be proved is that It enclines a Nation to thriftiness this is likewise consequent to the former and by experience made good in England for since our Trade encreased though the generality of our Nation are grown richer as I have shewed and consequently more splendid in Clothes Plate Jewels Houshold-stuff and all other outward signs of Riches yet are we not half so much given to Hospitality and good House-keeping
the more in regard of our present Differences in Religion but I shall answer it as well as I can In general I say They must be such as the People must have ample satisfaction in or else the whole Design will be lost For iâ— the universality of the People be not satisfied with the Persons they will never part with their Money but if they be well satisfied therein they will be miraculously charitable Quest. 5. This begets a fifth Question viz. What sort of men the people will be most satisfied in I answer I think in none so well as such only as a common Hall of the Livery-men of London shall make choice of it being evident by the experience of many Ages that the several Corporations in London are the best Administrators of what is left to charitable Vses that have ever been in this Kingdom which is manifest in the regular just and prudent management of the Hospitals of London and was wisely observed by Doctor Colleâ— Dean of St Paul's that prudent Ecclesiastick when he left the Government of that School and other great Revenues assigned by him for charitable Uses unto the disposition of the Mercers Company Object But here it may be objected That Country-Gentlemen who have power in places of their Residences and pay out of their large Estates considerable sums towards the Maintenance of their Poor within the afore-limited Precincts may be justly offended if they likewise have not a share in the distribution of what shall be raised to that purpose Answ. I answer the force of this objection may be much taken off if the City be obliged to choose but a certain number out of the City as suppose seventy for London ten out of Southwark for that Burrough twenty for Westminster this would best satisfie the People I think do the work But if it be thought too much for the City to have the choice of any more then their own seventy the Iustices of Peace in their Quarter-Sessions may nominate and appoint their own number of Persons to assist for their respective Jurisdictions and so to supply the vacancy in case of Death c. But all must be conjunctive but one Body politick or the work will never be done Quest. 6. The sixth Question is What will be the advantage to the Kingdom in general and to the Poor in particular that will accrue by such a Society of men more than is enjoyed by the Laws at present I answer Innumerable and unspeakable are the Benefits to this Kingdom that will arise from the Consultations and Debates of such a wise and honest Council who being men so elected as aforesaid will certainly conscionably study and labour to discharge their trust in this service of God their King and Country 1st The Poor of what quality soever as soon as they are met with will be immediately relieved or set on work where they are found without hurrying them from place to place and torturing their Bodies to no purpose 2. Charitable-minded-men will know certainly where to dispose of their Charity so as it may be employed to right purposes 3. House-keepers will be freed from the intolerable incumbrance of Beggars at their Doors 4. The Plantations will be regularly supplied with Servants and those that are senâ— thither well provided for 5. The said Assembly will doubtless appoint some of their own Members to visit and relieve such as are sick as often as there shall be occasion together with poor labouring Families both in City and Suburbs 6. Poor Children will be instructed in Learning and Arts and thereby rendred serviceable to their Country and many other worthy Acts done for publick good by the joynt delibaration of so many prudent and pious men assisted with such a Power and Purse more then can be fore-seen or expressed by a private Person Quest. 7. The seventh Question may be What shall all the Poor of these Cities and Countries being very numerous be employed about This question will be answer'd best by the said Assembly themselves when they have met and consulted together who cannot be presumed defficient of Invention to set all the Poor on work especially since they may easily have admirable Presidents from the practice of Holland in this particular and have already very good ones of their own in the orders of their Hospitals of Christ-Church and Bridewell in London the Girles may he employed in mending the Clothes of of the Aged in Spinning Carding and other linnen Manufactureâ— and many in Sowing Linnen for the Exchange on any House-keepers that will put out Linnen to the Matrons that have the Government of them The Boys in picking Okam making Piâ—s rasping Wood making Hangings or any other Manufacture of any kind which whether it turns to present profit or not is not much material the great Business of the Nation being first but to keep the Poor from Begging and Starving and enuring such as are able to Labour and Discipline that they may be hereafter useful Members to the Kingdom But to conclude I say the wisest Man living solitarily cannot propose or imagine such excellent ways and methods as will be invented by the united Wisdom of so grave an Assembly The sitting of the said Assembly I humbly conceive ought to be De die in diem the Quorum not more then thirteen whether they shall Yearly Monthly or Weekly choose a President how they shall distribute themselves into the several quarters of the Communication what Treasurers and other Officers to employ and where and how many will best be determined by themselves and that without difficulty because many that will probably be Members of the said Assembly have already had large experience of the Government of the Hospitals of London The manner of Election of the said Fathers of the Poor I humbly suppose cannot possibly be better contrived then after the same way which the East-India-Company choose their Committee which will prevent the Confusion Irregularity and Incertitude that may attend the Election of Voices or holding up of Hands especially because the persons to be elected at one time will be very many the said manner proposed is every Elector viz. every Livery-Man to bring to Guild-Hall at the appointed day for Elections a List of the whole number of Persons such as he thinks fit that are to be Elected and deliver the same openly unto such Persons as the Lord Mayor Aldermen and Common-Council-Men shall appoint to make the Scrutiney which Persons so entrusted with the said Scrutiney seven or ten days after as shall be thought fit at another common Hall may declare who are the Persons Elected by the Majority of Votes If it be here objected to the whole purpose of this Treatise that this work may as well be done in distinct Parishes if all Parishes were obliged to Build Work-Houses and Employ their Poor therein as Dorchester and some others have done with good success I answer that such attempts have been made in many places
in the out-parts of London Upon this point of Naturalization many men make a great doubt whether it be for publick good to permit the Iews to be Naturalized in common with other Strangers Those that are against their admission who for the most part are Merchants urge these Reasons 1. They say the Iews are a subtil People prying into all kind of Trades and thereby depriving the English Merchant of that Profit he would otherwise gain 2. They are a penurious People living miserably and therefore can and do afford to trade for less profit then the English to the prejudice of the English Merchant 3. They bring no Estates with them but set up with their Pens and Ink only and if after some few Years they thrive and grow rich they carry away their Riches with them to some other Country being a People that cannot mix with us which Riches being carried away is a publick loss to this Kingdom Those that are for the admission of the Iews say in answer to the aforesaid Reasons viz. 1 st The subtiller the Iews are and the more Trades they pry into while they live here the more they are like to encrease Trade and the more they do that the better it is for the Kingdom in general though the worse for the English Merchant who comparitively to the rest of the People of England is not one of a thousand 2 dly The thriftier they live the better Example to our people there being nothing in the World more conducing to enrich a Kingdom then thriftiness 3 dly It is denyed that they bring over nothing with them for many have brought hither very good Estates and hundreds more would do the like and settle here for their Lives and their Posterities after them if they had the same Freedom and Security here as they have in Holland and Italy where the grand Duke of Tuscanâ—y and other Princes allow them not only perfect Liberty and Security but give them the priviledge of making Laws among themselves and that they would reside with us is proved from the known Principles of Nature viz. Principle 1. All men by Nature are alike as I have before demonstrated and Mr Hobbs hath truly asserted how Erroneous soever he may be in other things Princip 2. Fear is the cause of Hatred and hatred of separation from as well as evil Deeds to the Parties or Government hated when opportunity is offered This by the way shews the difference between a bare connivence at Dissenters in matters of Religion and a toleration by Law the former keeps them continually in Fear and consequently apt to Sedition and Rebellion when any probable occasion of success presents The latter disarms cunning ambitious minded men who wanting a popular discontented Party to work upon can effect little or nothing to the prejudice of the Government And this methinks discovers clearly the Cause why the Lutherans in Germany Protestants in France Greeks in Turkey and Sectaries in Holland are such quiet peaceable-minded-men while our Non-Conformists in England are said to be enclinable to Strife War and Bloodshed Take away the Cause and the Effect will cease While the Laws are in Force against men they think the Sword hangs over their Heads and are always in fear though the Execution be suspended not knowing how soon Councils or Counsellors Times or Persons may change it is only Perfect Love that casts out Fear and all men are in love with Liberty and Security It cannot be denyed that the industrious Bees have Stings though Drones have not yet Bees sting not except those that hurt them or disturb their Hives It is said the Iews cannot Intermarry with us and therefore it cannot be supposed they will reside long amongst us although they were treated never so kindly why not reside here as well as in Italy Poland or Holland they have now no Country of their own to go to and therefore that is their Country and must needs be so esteemed by them where they are best used and have the greatest Security CHAP. VIII Concerning Wool and Woollen Manufactures THat Wool is eminently the Foundation of the English Riches I have not heard denyed by any and that therefore all possible means ought to be used to keep it within our own Kingdom is generally confessed and to this purpose most of our modern Parliaments have strenuously endeavoured the contriving of severe Laws to prevent its Exportation and the last Act made it Felony to Ship out Wool Woolfels c. Notwithstanding which we see that English and Irish Wool goes over so plentifully that it is within a very small matter as cheap in Holland as in England The means to prevent this Evil by additional Penal Laws and alterations of some of those now in being were long under debate by his Majesties command in the Couâ—cil of Trade who according to their duty took great pains therein and since I have been informed the same things were under consideration in Parliament so that I doubt not but in due time we shall see some more effectual Laws enacted to this purpose as well in relation to Ireland from whence the greatest of this mischief proceeds as in England then ever yet have been yet I do utterly despair of ever seeing this Disease perfectly cured till the Causes thereof be removed which I take to be 1st Heighth of Interest in England which an Abatement by Law to 4 per Cent would cure 2dly Want of Hands which an Act of Naturalization would cure 3dly Compulsion in matters of Religion which some relaxation of the Ecclesiastical Laws I hope would effectually cure For while our Neighbours through the cheap valuation of their Stocks can afford to trade and disburse their Monies for less profit then we as hath been I think sufficiently demonstrated by the fore-going Discourse and have more Hands to employ then we by reason of the large Immunities and Priviledges they give both to Natives and Foreigners there is no question but they will be able to give a better Price for our Wool than we can afford our selves and they that can give the best price for a Commodity shall never fail to have it by one means or other notwithstanding the opposition of any Laws or interposition of any Power by Sea or Land of such force subtilty and violence is the general course of Trade Object But some may say and take it as well from what I have writ elsewhere as from their own Observations Will not the well-making of our Woollen-Manufactures contribute much to the keeping of our Wool naturally within our own Kingdom I answer Doubtless it will have a great tendency thereunto but can never effect it till the aforesaid Radical Causes of this Disease be removed which brings me to the next Question viz. What will improve our Woollen-Manufactures in quality and quantity This is a very great Question and requires very deliberate and serious Consideration but I shall write my present Thoughts concerning it
English Cloth and from whose Territories we receive great quantities of Currance purchased with our ready Money It seems to me advantagious for England that that Importation as well as the Importation of wrought-Glasse drinking-Glasses and other Manufactures from thence should be discouraged it being supposed we can now make them as well our selves in England The Trade for Cannary-Wines I take to be a most pernitious Trade to England because those Islands consume very little of our Manufactures Fish or other English Commodities neither do they furnish us with any Commodities to be further Manufactured here or re-Exported the Wines we bring from thence being for the most part purchased with ready Money so that to my apprehension something is necessary to be done to compel those Islanders to spend more of our English Commodities and to sell their Wines cheaper which every Year they advance in Price or else to lessen the Consumption of them in England I have in this last Discourse of the Ballance of Trade as well as in my former confined my self to write only general Heads and Principles that râ—late unto Trade in general not this or that particular Trade because the several Trades to several Countries may require distinct and particular considerations respecting the time place competitors with us and other circumstances to find out wherein our advantages or disadvantages lie and how to improve the former and prevent the latter but as this would be too great a Work for one Man so I fear it would make this too great a Book to be well read and considered But in the Preface to this Treatise I have briefly mentioned many particular Trades that we have lost and are loosing and by what means and many Trades that we yet retain and are encreasing and how it happens to be so which may give some Light to a clearer Discovery and Inspection into particular Trades unto which Ingenious Men that have Hearts to serve their Country in this so necessary Work at this time may add and further improve by the advantage of Abilities to express their Sentiments in a more Intelligible and Pausible Stile but when I and others have said all we can A low Interest is as the Soul to the Body of Trade it is the Sine qua non to the Prosperity and Advancement to the Lands and Trade of England CHAP. X. Concerning PLANTATIONS THE Trade of our English Plantations in America being now of as great Bulk and â—mploying as much Shiping as most of the Trades of this Kingdom it seems not unnecessary to Discourse more at large concerning the Nature of â—lantations and the good or evil consequences of tâ—em in relation to this and other Kingdoms and the rather because some Gentlemen of no mean Capacities are of Opinion that his Majestie 's Plantations abroad have very much prejudiced this Kingdom by draining us of our People for the confirmation of which Opinion they urge the Example of Spain which they say is almost ruined by the Depopulation which the West-Indies hath occasioned to the end therefore a more particular Scrutiny may be made into this maâ—ter I shall humbly offer my Opinion in the following Propositions and then give those Reasons of Probability which presently occur to my Memory in confirmation of each Proposition 1. First I agree That Lands though excellent without Hands proportionable will not enrich any Kingdom 2. That whatever tends to the Dâ—populating of a Kingdom tends to the â—mpoverishment of it 3. Tâ—at most Nations in the civilized Parts of the World are more or less Rich or Poor proportionably to the Paucity or Plenty of their People and not to the Sterility or Fruitfulness of their Landâ— 4. I do not agree that our People in England are in any considerable measure abated by reason of our Foreign Plantations but propose to prove the contrary 5. I am of Opinion that we â—ad immediately before the late Plague many more People in England then we had before the Inhabiting of Virginia New-England â—â—rbadoes and the rest of our American Plantations 6. That all Colonies or Plantations do endamage their Mother-Kingdoms whereof the Trades of such Plantations are not confined by severe Laws and good executions of those Laws to the Mother-Kingdom 7. That the Dutch will reap the greatest advantage by all Colonies issuing from any Kingdom of Europe whereof the Trades are not so strictly confined to the proper Mother-Kingdoms 8. That the Dutch though they thrive so exceedingly in Trade will in probability never endamage this Kingdom by the growth of their Plantations 9. That neither the French Spaniard nor Portugeez are much to be feared on that account not for the same but for other causes 10. That it is more for the advantage of England that New-found-Land should remain Vnplanted then that Colonies should be sent or permitted to go thither to Inhabit with a Governour Laws c. 11. That New-England is the most prejudicial Plantation to the Kingdom of England I. That Lands though in their Nature excellently good without Hands proportionable will not enrich any Kingdom This first Proposition I suppose will readily be assented to by all judicious persons and therefore for the proof of it I shall only alledge matter of Fact The Land of Palestine once the Richest Country in the Vniverse since it came under the Turks Domâ—nion and consequently unpeopled is now become the Poorest Andaluzia and Granada formerly wonderful Rich and full of good Towns since dis-peopled by the Spaniard by Expultion of the Moors many of their Towns and brave Country Houses are fallen into Rubbish and their whole Country into miserable Poverty though their Lands naturally are prodigiously Fertil A Hundred other Instances of Fact might be given to the like purpose II. Whatever tends to the populating of a Kingdom tends to the emprovement of it The former Proposition being granted I suppose this will not be denyed and of the means viz. good Laws whereby any Kingdom may be populated and consequently enriched is in effect the substance and design of all my foregoing Discourse to which for avoiding repitition I must pray the Reader 's retrospection III. That most Nations in the civilized parts of the World are more or less Rich or Poor propoâ—tionable to the paucity or plenty of their People This third is a consequent of the two former Propositions and the whole World is a witness to the Truth of it The seven united Provinces are certainly the most populous tract of Land in Christendom and for their bigness undoubtedly the richest England for its bigness except our Forrests Wastes and Commons which by our own Laws and Customs are bared from Improvement I hope is yet a more populous Country than France and consequently richer I say in proportion to its bigness Itaâ—y in like proportion more populous than France and richer and France more populous and rich than Spain c. IV. I do not agree that our People in England are in any considerable
with a People that speak our own Language strong Motives to draw our People from us and do they not draw more from us then otherwise would leave us to go into foreign Countries where they understand not the Language I Answer 1 st It is not much more difficult to get a passage to Holland than it is to our Plantations 2 dly Many of those that go to our Plantations if they could not go thither would and must go into foreign Countries though it were ten times more difficult to get thither then it is or else which is worse as hath been said would adventure to be hanged to prevent begging or starving as too many have done 3. I do acknowledge that the facility of getting to the Plantaâ—ions may cause some more to leave us than would do if they had none but foreign Countries for refuge But then if it be considered that our Plantations spending mostly our English Manufactures and those of all sorts almost imaginable in egregious quantities and employing near two thirds of all our English Shiping do therein give a constant Sustenance to it may be two hundred thousand Persons here aâ— home then I must needs conclude upon the whole matter that we have not the fewer but the more People in England by reason of our English Plantatioâ—s in America Object 2. But it may be said Is not this inferring and arguing against Sence and Experience Doth not all the World see that the many noble Kingdoms of Spain in Europe are almost depopulated and ruinated by reason of their Peoples flocking over to the West-Indies And do not all other Nations diminish in people after they become possessed of foreign Plantations Ans. 1. I answer With submission to better Judgments that in my opinion contending for Vniformity in Religion hath contributed ten times more to the depopulating of Spain then all the American Plantations What was it but that which caused the expulsion of so many thousand Moores who had built and inhabited most of the chief Cities and Towns in Andaluzia Granada Aragon and oother parts What was it but that and the Inquisition that hath and doth daily expel such vast numbers of rich Iews with their Families and Estates into Germany Italy Turkey Holland and England What was it but that which caused those vast and long Wars between that King and the low Countries and the effusion of so much Spanish Blood and Treasure and the final loss of the seven Provinces which we now see so prodigious rich and full of People while Spain is empty and poor and Flanders thin and weak in continual fear of being made a prey to their Neighbours 2. I answer We must warily distinguish between Country Country for though Plantations may have drained Spain of People it does not follow that they have or will drain England or Holland because where Liberty and Property are not so well preserved and where Interest of Money is permitted to go at 12 per Cent there can be no considerable Manufacturing and no more of Tillage and Grazing than as we Proverbially say will keep Life and Soul together and where there is little Manufacturing and as little Husbandry of Lands the profit of Plantations viz. the greatest part thereof will not redound to the Mother-Kingdom but to other Countries wherein there are more Manufactures and more Productions from the Earth from hence it follows Plantations thus managed prove drains of the People from their mother-Mother-Kingdom whereas Plantations belonging to Mother-Kingdoms or Countries where Liberty and Property is better preserved and Interest of Money restrained to a low rate the consequence is that every person sent abroad with the Negroes and Utensils he is constrained to employ or that are employed with him it being customary in most of our Islands in America upon every Plantation to employ eight or ten Blacks for one White Servant I say in this case we may reckon that for Provisions Clothes and Houshold-Goods Sea-men and all others employed about Materials for building fitting and victualling of Ships Every English man in Barbadoes or Jamaica creates employment for four men at home 3 dly I answer That Holland now sends as many and more people yearly to reside in their Plantations Fortresses and Ships in the East-Indies besides many into the West-Indies than Spain and yet is so far from declining in the Number of their people at home that it is evident they do monstruously encrease and so I hope under the next Head to prove that England hath constantly encreased in People at home since our settlement upon Plantations in America although not in so great a proportion as the Dutch V. I am of Opinion that we had immediately before the late Plague more People in England than we had before the inhabiting of New-England Virginia Barbadoes c The proof of this at best I know can but be conjectural but in confirmation of my Opinion I have I think of my mind the most industrious English Calculator this Age hath produced in publick viz. Captain Graunt in the fore-mentioned Treatise pag. 83. his words are Vpon the whole matter we may therefore conclude that the people of the whole Nation do encrease and consequently the decrease of Winchester Lincoln and other like places must be attributed to other Reasons then that of refurnishing London only 2. It is manifest by the afore-said worthy Author's Calculations that the Inhabitants of London and parts ajacent have encreased to almost double within this sixty Years and that City hath usually been taken for an Index of the whole I know it will be said that although London have so encreased other parts have as much diminished whereof some are named before but if to answer the diminution of Inhabitants in some particular places it be considered how others are encreased viz Yarmouth Hull Scarbrough and other Ports in the North as also Liverpoole Westchester and Bristol Portsmouth Lime and Plimouth and withal if it be considered what great Improvements have been made these last sixty Years upon breaking up and enclosing of Wastes Forrests and Parks and draining of the Fenns and all those places inhabited and furnished with Husbandry c. then I think it will appear probable that we have in England now at least had before the late Plague more People then we had before we first entred upon foreign Plantations notwithstanding likewise the great Numbers of men which have issued from us into Ireland which Country as our Laws now are I reckon not among the number of Plantations profitable to England nor within the limits of this discourse although peradventure something may be pickt out of these Papers which may deserve consideration in relation to that Country But it may be said If we have more People now thâ—n in former Ages how came it to pass that in the times of King Henry the fourth and fifth and other times formerly we could raise such great Armies and employ them in foreign Wars and