may answer Ten Millions in the Currant Payment of the Nation for that few will take Money out but transfer from one account to another And it is reasonable to suppose that most men will lodge their Money in Bank for the greatness of Security and saving the trouble and hazard of telling Money For these Reasons it may be thought a Bank will pay no Interest and that may be injurious to the Nation in two respects First It may necessitate many people to carry their Money out of the Kingdom where they may make some Benefit by it when they are debarr'd from any Advantage at home The other mischief it may do reaches Widows and Orphans whose Support often depends upon the Interest of their Money and if Banks pay none they will be able to set out at very low Interest more than the wants of the Kingdom will require But that which I conceive may be an expedient in this case may be a Proviso in the Act of Parliament That these Banks shall set out no Money at Interest upon Real Estates by which means there will be room for private persons to set out Money upon Mortgages These Banks being National may be so constituted as to retrieve that most considerable part of the Navigation of the Greenland and New-found-land Fishing But because that may be discouraging to some persons that understand not Trade and only depend on their Money at Interest it will be necessary to shew That notwithstanding the Trade propos'd there shall be a certain Fund or Dividend of at least Five per cent per Ann. besides the Profit of Trade and that may be done thus Supposing the Fund of Land to be valued at 20 years Purchase the Rent will be Five per Cent. for Two Millions then for the other Two Millions in Cash allowing but Five per Cent. more for the Gain of Exchange that compleats the Five per Cent. upon the whole Fund This is a Certainty without reckoning any Advantage to be made by the Credit of the Bank and putting out Money to Interest There will not be here room to mention the Modus or Advantages that will attend that most important Undertaking of the New-found-land Fishing I shall only say it would employ all the loose and unprofitable hands in the Nation it would add Ten thousand Seamen to the Strength of it it would bring a Treasure into the Nation taken out of the Sea it would occasion the Consumption of great Quantities of Manufactories it would advance the Price and consume great Quantities of Provisions of this Kingdom for that New-found-land is no place for either Tillage or Cattel and we shall employ many Foreign Hands in that Trade The Advantages that will arise to the Nation by these Banks need no explanation for that they are easy to every Understanding among the rest that of supplying the King with Money upon any Publick Funds as shall be appointed by Parliament is not the least Lumbers for poor Artizans and others is an Appendix to Banks and may by Funds out of them in each County be supplied so as that the Poor may have Money to carry on their Trades and Employments on Pawns that may be so easy and with the advantage of selling in Publick Sales what they leave in Pledge and that what they borrow shall be of more advantage and ease to them than if the Money were lent them gratis and may be of great use in the improvement and enlarging the Manufactories of the Nation which are much discouraged by the necessities and hardships that are put on the poor for want of Sales which these Lumbers will supply and the best and readiest means for the poor to sell their Goods every Month whereas now they are often forced to sell their Labour to Shop-keepers at such rates as gives them little more than what their Materials cost them which hath the worse effect in that it encourages a set of Idle men in the Kingdom with folded Arms in a Shop to live upon the Ruins of Handicrafts-men their Numbers are increased even to a Nusance by their easy way of living on the Oppression of the Poor If we took Presidents from abroad this evil would not have grown thus amongst us It is observed That there is not so many Retailers in Amsterdam as there is in some Market-Towns in England and this evil is the more to be condemn'd since we want not a Statute to prevent it for in the 5 th year of Queen Elizabeth a Statute pass'd That Artizans Sons should not be Apprentices to Shopkeepers There was then none turn'd from Mechanical Arts to be Retailers as now there are Numbers that do and greatest part Quakers a People that for many reasons may be thought as unprofitable to the Nation as Jews and so I take the greatest part of Retailers and Hawkers to be they ought as much to be restrained and kept to a Quantum as Hackney-Coachmen and Coffee-Houses for tho both if confin'd to Numbers are useful yet in their excess are Nurseries of Idleness and such as I am of opinion would have been provided against by our Ancestors had they sprung up in their days But on this Subject among other Enormities I have writ at large in another Discourse which when the disposition of the Times will admit may come forth Of Agriculture and Rural Imployments BEfore I enter upon the Subject I must Apologize for my self that I am to the last degree ignorant of the Practick part of Husbandry the whole Course of my Life having been spent in Maritine-Towns or on the Sea I beg pardon contrary to Custom before I commit the Error giving an instance of my ignorance in Country Matters which I should not trouble the Reader with if I did not think it divertive It was in the 32 year of my Age that I first had a thought of Acres and being importun'd by Friends to fix something on the Land and not have all on the Sea I made a Purchase before I saw it for that I might do with as much Judgment as if had some time after I went to see the Purchase I had made and on the Road gave as much Diversion to my Friends in declaring my want of Understanding the Distinction and Names of every thing the Field produced as I did trouble to them to inform me tho it was near Harvest I knew not Barly from Wheat in the Ear and when I came to the Estate and riding thorow the Woods of which there were great Quantities on the Land I was yet more troublesome in asking the Names of Trees not being able to distinguish an Oak from an Ash or that from Wich-Hazel which made a merry Fellow a Ranger in the Woods say He had a Master he was sure would not question his Care or Honesty since he knew not a Tree from a Weed After this Account of my self I hope to be excused if I mistake in any Point of Country and Land-Improvement nor shall
I attempt to prescribe Rules or give my Opinion in these matters as I may venture to do in that of Trade and therefore as Rural Matters have relation to that so I shall here treat of the Plow and of the Pruning-Hook the Field and the Orchard How Land may be improved there cannot be a truer or greater President than that of the Land of Canaan a spot of Ground not so large as one third part of England yet maintained double the People England doth That the Fertility of the Soil did not make the difference in their great increase above ours is observed by such as Travel there that at this time under the manage of the Lazy Turk that Land is much worse and brings forth less increase than ours So then it is apparent Labour and Industry makes the difference Now if the foregoing Computation be right that there were near double the People in that little Spot than there are in England as there is reason to believe for that in David's Reign the Number of Fighting-men was 1510000 besides the Two Tribes not brought into the Account this being allowed it will follow that there is not one Sixth part made of the Land of England as might be But to this might be said the want of Hands is the cause of our scant Production and that nothing but Crouds forceth Labour this is true as to matter of fact but not so as to be without a Remedy Nmbers of People make Laws for Industry out of necessity and good Laws may do the same with this Advantage that enlarging the Labour in Rural Affairs will produce more than is consumed in the Nation and that adds to the Treasure of it Whereas Numbers of Hands that only work to feed themselves adds nothing to the Riches of the Kingdom Now as Riches increase so will the Bodies of Men which is indeed the best Treasure we see this in the United Provinces where all Nations flock as Fowl where they find best feeding Money is so to Men and where that abounds Labour and Industry is encouraged but to sit down with an Opinion that England cannot be improved for want of People is too mean and abject for Englishmen There is a visible Prospect how great Improvements may be made in this Kingdom by the Hands we have and if that were done we should soon have more There are thousands of Persons in this Kingdom that beg who might be serviceable in many things relating to the Plow if lame in their Feet yet they may weed Corn that perchance now takes up the time of a lusty Man A Blind man may carry Burthens in company with other a Man without Hands may look to Cattle c. There are numbers of Men of no Employment that we have Laws that might oblige to Work and if they are not full enough to reach them they may be made to do it There is also another Set of Men that are lost in the Nation under the Cover of being Serving-men and Footmen Now this might be restrained and Men confined to the Numbers they keep according to their Quality which if done might add to the Plow and other Country Employments many thousands in this Nation I differ with them who complain of our Gentries humour of taking French Valets de Chambres I wish there were a Law that none but such should be taken into such Employments or at least that no Gentleman should have above one Englishman in his Family in Service as a Waiter or Foot-man this would drive Young men into the Country to Labour when they had no expectation of a Lazy Life and Maintenance as now they have Tho this is a General Complaint thorow the Kingdom of the want of Men for the Plow and that the Wages of a Plow-man is risen from 5 to 10 l. per Annum no man will say it is because there are not Men in the Kingdom but it is because there are easier ways to get a Living tho at the same time if those that chuse that idle Life of waiting on Gentlemen did but consider their hazard of begging their Bread in their Old Age or sooner if Sickness or any other Accident befal them Whereas there are few instances of Labouring-men in the Country that come to such misfortunes many from the Plow or Orchard arrive to a decent Living and Competency but few from holding a Plate I have often lamented the sight of Four or five lusty young Fellows hanging at the Tail of a Coach when they are wanted at the Plow and since it is not practicable to get Plow-men from France but is to get Foot-men and Valets de Chambres to me it would seem a good Law to prohibit Englishmen from such Employments and that would bring in French and other Foreigners enough to supply their places Thus I have laid down my thoughts of adding hands to our Country Employments which may be improved by better Judgments All I shall further say is That to me it seems plain that there might be 40000 Persons added to those we now have in Country Employments and they would so advance and enlarge Rural Production as would invite Numbers both at home and from abroad into the Country which hath been for some Ages so much neglected the humor of this Nation running too much after the French I mean those of them that come abroad for their Peasantry never do those we have from them are Artizans or Lacquies and such too many of our Nation affect to be and so quit their Country Employments I mean not by this any discouragement to Manufactories they cannot exceed but some have too many that attend them especially such as are consumed in the Kingdom which advanceth the Vanity of the Nation whilst the most solid Improvements and Employments of it are neglected for want of hands and if what is here proposed may produce and bring Numbers into Country Labours the next enquiry will be how to Employ them so as to make Plowing and Land-Improvements as much a Trade and Manufactory as other Manual Arts for that which hath always discouraged Tillage in this Kingdom hath been the practice of making Provision for no more than the Expence of the Nation whereas if such quantities of Grain was Sowed as might make it a Commodity for Exports that would soon invite Merchants to Exportation The Statute which was made for encouragement of Tillage was for that part of allowance at the Custom-House of good use but something more must be done to make Corn a Commodity for Exportation and that must be to have quantities yearly Sowed beyond the Expence of the Nation that so Merchants may be sure of a constant Trade as they have in the Sound where the Country depend as much on their Harvest as France doth on its Vintage and Merchants being sure of a constant supply make Provision for the Trade whereas ours is only a chance Market when the Harvest proves beyond expectation and often failing puts
Long-Robe I hope it will be no offence to wish them among us but not with their Bar-Gowns they would in my opinion look better in a Counting-house than in the Temple and had the Humour of our Ancestors run that way as much as it did for the Law there might have been as great an Enlargement in Maritime Traffick and Navigation as there is now of the Laws I presume none will say that they began with equal Numbers Trade had the Primogeniture and set forth with the Employment of the People before there could be work for Lawyers and I believe those of best value amongst them do not think their Growth and Gain contributes to either in the Advantage of the Nation tho without the Profession there can be no securing Property but perhaps the Numbers make more work than there would be if they were less Hamburgh tho a Place of great Trade allows but Two And tho our Foreign Plantations are fill'd with men of no better Principles than they leave behind them yet they have few among them who raise their Fortunes by the Law for which no reason can be given but that there is not a Foundation and Nursery for that Profession to breed up Men of Learning and Ingenuity in I have been the longer on this Subject because there seems to me an Expedient in this matter and that is To make such Provision for Noblemen and Gentlemens Children as may be equally reputable with the Inns of Court for young Gentlemen to come to from the Universities and with less Charge than their Expence in Seven Years studying the Law become expert in Trade To be thus managed In each Maritime City and considerable Port of the Kingdom to have a College built in which there may be some Persons of Experience in Trade to teach and direct in the Mystery of it to all Parts of the World And that they may have the Practick as well as Theory That every Person entring himself into the Society may be obliged to bring in a Thousand Pounds Stock which will make a Capital perhaps of 20 or 30000 l. Sterl to Traffick with in Thirty Cities c. in the Kingdom They to be obliged to spend Five Years in this Society and at the end of that Term to receive the Principal they brought allowing the Casualty of Profit and Loss as it happens Going thus out they will be entred in Trade and probably have a Fund to begin with and by this means Trade will fall into the hands of Gentlemen Persons of Learning and Consideration in the Nation and likewise preserve from misfortunes numbers that now miscarry in their Studies of the Law thorough Ill Conversation and having no Employments To this Project a Word now traduced to contempt tho in its self of good signification both for Peace and War I foresee two Objections that will be made against it and they are these First This will make too many Merchans Secondly That this will leave no room for Younger Brothers that have nothing to prefer them in the world but a small Sum to put them Prentice to a Merchant by which they often raise their Fortunes in the World To the First I answer That the evil of having too many Merchants is in the Numbers that are bred up from Apprentices many of which coming into Business without Funds strain their Credit which to keep above water they are forced to venture at all ways that have but a Probability of Success to keep themselves in Business and then to comply with their Credit often sell to loss which in the end brings them to Misfortune and that begets an Opinion that there are too many Traders whereas the true reason is the Want of Stock not Number of Merchants The second Objection That this will hinder Merchants from taking Apprentices is in part answered in the first that their Number prejudice Trade But there is a farther Consideration in this matter and that is Two sort of Youths stand Candidate for a Mercantine Education Gentlemen with a Capital others of less Quality with none I think it will admit of no question which shall be preferr'd and that the other may be more profitably employ'd for the Nation and themselves in Trades that require more Labour and less Stock But after all I have said my Wishes are greater than my Expectation to see Trade thus courted in a Kingdom that treats it as some do their Wives considering them no farther than to the Production of a Legitimate Posterity reserving their Caresses and Delights for a Miss so the Humour of this Age seems to incline whilst Foreign Commerce is neglected and mens Thoughts and Designs run after Offices and Employments in the State to pay which Spider-like the Nation spins out her Bowels to catch Flies and the Simile goes farther such Food turns into Poison where it feeds men faulty in their Morals and such too often supplant better men or find ways to be preferr'd before them To say this will be no Offence to deserving men and for others I shall only desire them to snspend their Resentments until the Second Part comes forth and then they will have more reason because it will come in my way to be more particular when I come to speak of the Trade of Ireland in which there hath of late been such Notorious Demonstrations how Ill Men in Offices and Places of Trust may ruin and destroy a Kingdom as admits of no Defence I have for this the Authority of Both Houses of Parliament in their Addresses to the King And the Infallible Author tells us That he who saith to the wicked Thou art righteous the people will curse Nations shall abhor him What I have said in the following Discourse relating to Trade and Navigation we have lost is not with prejudice to our Neighbours who by their Industry and better Conduct have gained what we by supine Negligence and destructive Impositions on Merchandise have lost nor do I think it Christian or Human by Club-Law to take that from another Nation which God hath made common for every Nation to participate of as they can entitle themselves by the most early and beneficial Methods in Commerce The Dutch lye most in our way in this Controversy but the Sea is wide enough for us both if we agree but too narrow if we quarrel for then we shall be apt to jostle How malicious it looks I will not say but to me it seems scandalous to quarrel with men for their Industry Envy is the Offspring of Ignorance and Sloth and is an evil quality in a people tho it carries them not so far as to do others hurt if it prevails with themselves to do nothing but as I am not for beating a Traveller for being better mounted than my self and so making his Journey easier and sooner than I can yet I should stop his Career if he broke through my Fence or grazed on my Ground or made it his Road. In some cases
it is so with Trade and Navigation among others that of New-found-land is the Property of the Imperial Crown of England and the French have no more Right to fish there than in the River of Thames This Nation was the first that ever threw a Hook and Line in those Seas and tho there is no Land-marks above Water for the Bank of New-found-land it lying out of sight of the shore yet there is under Water from the first Soundings and so far this Nation hath a Property and we may now if ever hope to have it asserted since we have a King who hath put a stop to that Towering Monarch who knew no Bounds before And there seems good grounds to believe That if we are not wanting to Him who exposeth His Royal Person so far for us That the French King must soon retire into his own Limits But upon Discourse of this nature I have been answered When it was so and the War over then and not before was a proper time to treat of Trade I have mentioned something of this in the following Sheets and therefore shall say the less now yet cannot omit that which stares us in the face The Neglect of Trade in time of War drives many out of the Kingdom who will never return It is observed so at this time of Ireland Thousands are come away since the Reduction of that unfortunate Kingdom that endured the whole brunt of the War and are not now in fear of the Irish but are reduced to Beggary by Idleness for want of Trade and Employment that they formerly had the consequence of which is easy to be read and how it will reach us at last but we are a People that neither Fire Sword Plague or Famine can work upon He that silently laments doats and he that complains of our impendent Misfortunes is mad a Character now more in use than ever in this Nation and found very useful for covering some mens actions I speak not this as having a Talent for or desire to be in Publick Employment I never was in any That which I believe would satisfy all men of Trade and Commerce I am sure it would me is the Motion of a Parliament-Man of Leverpoole which we find in Story That a Bill being brought into the House which bore hard on the Commons in Trials for Life and Death of the Lords the honest man of Leverpoole stood up and said Since he saw the House were for passing that Bill he gave his Assent also provided there might be this Exception in the Act That no Lord should kill either him his Wife Joan Son Tom or any of the good Town of Leverpoole for which he served So say I Since the Nation are contented that the Publick Treasure should be shared among Offices and Employments Merchants and Seamen c. are content so that they in the Management will give Security and Encouragement for Trade which pays them all but they are not wise to themselves that let Trade run from them whilst they are warring to secure it our Neighbours do not so Our improvidence in this matter is to our great Reproach since we are under the Blessing of such a Government as this Nation never had but once before And it is not to be forgotten that in that Reign tho encompassed with Wars there was more done in the advancement ef Trade and Navigation than ever was done before We have taken care to lose much of it since but we have now a King that denies us nothing we ask for the good of the Nation and where any thing is entire in himself and it is well some things are so we find it There never was Better or Greater Men in the Church and on the Bench which is sufficient demonstration that where we are unhappy it is by our own Recommendation and Parties The Filth of the last Reign still sticks about us from which Time will I hope relieve the King and Us. THE CONTENTS OF Trade in general Page 1. Of Naturalizing and Encouraging Foreign Protestants 7. Of Providing for Foreign Protestants 11. Of the Manufactory and Dispose of Sheeps-Wool 22. Of Free Ports 29. Of Exports of Foreign Importations 32. Of a Council of Trade 37. Of Prohibiting Forreign Commodities 41. Of Sumptuary Laws 49. Of Working-Schools and Hospitals 57. Reasons humbly offered for establishing by Charter Hospitals and Working-Schools 65. Of the New-found-land Fishing 68. Of Navigation and Seamen 75. Of Building Ships 84. Of the Act of Navigation 92. Of Banks and Lumbers 109. Of Agriculture and Rural Employments 116. ON Trade in General THESE Kingdoms of Great Brittain and Ireland differ from most parts of the World in that of their Strength as they do in that of their Scituation and Aptness for Trade Their Scituation gives them the Preferrance of the most Valuable Trade in the World which must pass their Doors before it comes to their Neighbours and as they are happy in their Scituation so are they as Superiour to other Countreys in their Native Growth and Production for Commerce as Rich Soyl is to that which is Barren these Kingdoms producing Trade as some Land doth Fruit without Art or Labour when other Countries like forced Ground raise their Trade by Assiduity in both And such a People are more to be feared than those that abound with the Blessings of Nature but want that of Industry we need go no further than the Dutch and Spaniards for Demonstrarion The Danger that hath been impendent over us for more than Thirty Years in this of our Trade is from the French and in Truth no Nation in the World can so well contest it with England as they can and therefore it seems reasonable to consider them in this as much as we do in that of their Armes and perhaps they may be found laying a Foundation in War to enlarge their Trade and Navigation and we at the same time declining in both That these Kingdoms cannot be safe under the Growth of France none will deny and that it is safer for England to meet them in Flanders than here but if the Advance Guards should be only consider'd and the Main Body neglected the consequence might be fear'd Our Naval Force is thought the Main Body and Strength of the Nation Now though large Supplies in Parliament are absolutely necessary for that use yet there is something else wanting to make us formidable at Sea and that is Marine Trade and Navigation which like Food to the Body must be dayly renewed or else our Naval Strength will decay And although perhaps it is not consider'd yet the want of Seamen for our Navigation and Trade in time of Naval War Impoverisheth the Nation more than the Charge of the War There goes many Threads to make up the Webb of Trade too fine for every eye to see and among others the Cheap Navigating Ships is one Now our want of Seamen obligeth Merchants to advance their Wages and that gives Advantage to our
Neighbours in carrying Commodities cheaper to a Market than we can and consequently makes them the Carriers of our Produce and Manufactory which is the only certain Gain in Trade Merchants often loose when a Ship Arrives safe in Port but Seamen have their full Wages There is also another Prejudice and Loss to the Nation and that is carrying Money out by Foreign Seamen that are imployed in our Merchant-Men ¼ being allowed by the Act of Navigation which might have been thought the only mistake in that Act if the Consideration of our not having sufficient for our Ships had not produced that Liberty As Naval War abates the number of our Seamen so it increaseth those of the French for that they imploy more Seamen in their Privateers than they do in time of Peace in Merchant-Men And as this affects us in War so it may reasonably be fear'd it will in time of Peace For having so many Seamen made to their hands will naturally put them upon inlarging their Navigation to which they will be the more incouraged by our want of Men to supply ours which they will soon fall into And the Abating of our Marine Imployments hath a worse Consequence than the Loss of our Trade for that it seems the most effectual way to lay us open to the Invasion of the French which we are no longer secure from than whilst we Command the Sea And if we find the French alone able to contend with us and the Dutch United what might they not do if they should be assisted with other helps and we left single to oppose them There are more ways than one to bring such a Revolution in Europe And therefore it seems of the greatest moment for this Nation to provide in their Naval Force as if they were left to their own defence against the Power of more than the French at Sea It is no doubt the Interest of England to support the Dutch and it is hoped we shall never be divided But that Kingdom is in an ill Condition that cannot secure its self without the Force of its Allies Such Reflections as these may not be improper in this Age They were thought necessary in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth when she question'd the French of Building a Ship of War but of Fourteen Guns And since they are now above such Demands and that we cannot restrain them it seems necessary for us to increase our own and that is not possible to be done any other way than by Improving our Navigation and inlarging our Trade without which we may fight for the Sovereignty of the Sea until we have lost the use of it If Account were taken of those several Trades that this Nation hath in a manner totally lost since the Reign of James the First it might open those Eyes that are alwayes shut to that which is the Strength and Riches of this Nation as Navigation is There were many Thousand Seamen formerly imployed where for late years we have few or none as the Greenland and Muscovy Trade lost that of the North-Seas and Newfound-Land little better most of our Eastland-Trades managed by Foreign Ships and so the Trade of Ireland the neglect of which in that point as well as some others may be found when it is too late of pernicious Consequence to England These are Trades we lost to the French and Northern Navigation in time of Peace and this War hath brought on the Stage the Portugese a Nation we least fear'd yet under this cover we may very well loose great part of our Southern Trade We formerly imployed our Ships in their Braziel and other Trades and now we are forced to imploy theirs not only because of their being Free Ships but also because we cannot get Seamen to Navigate our own Ships By Accidents of War Trade often shifts from one Nation to another and some will stick behind after the War is ended for that Seamen and Merchants rest where they find most Incouragement and wherever they come they are made wellcom and when the benefit they bring to the Countrey they Trade in is observed they will not want Incouragement to stay there There never was a fairer opportunity if the Portugueze make use of the Introduction this War hath given them to make Lisbon the Mart for Trade and Navigation in the Western and Levant Trade It is a mistake to think that Navigation and Marine Imployments can have no growth where the Natives are not Numerous and Apt for the Sea Trade is best Improved by good Laws and Incouragement for Strangers where such are together with a Scituation for Trade that place will be crowded and so would Lisbon and the Portugueze Ports if it were not for the Inquisition but it is believed the Rigour of that will be Abated now they have tasted the sweets of Trade All these things make against us and though little consider'd bodes ill for these Kingdoms if some extraordinary and speedy Resolutions be not taken to regain our Navigation and Sea-Imployments this Nation will fall under some Foreign Power It is easie to read our Destiny nor will it be like a Conquest on a Continent One Day at Sea may determine the Fate of these Kingdoms and if we have no Fund or Nursery for Seamen in Proportion to the French and others about us what can be expected That which I humbly conceive the most visible Means to preserve these Kingdoms in their Trade and Navigation and nothing but that can provide for their Naval Force is the setting up a National Bank This now on foot is too little and yet too bigg the first because it promotes nothing of our Navigation but on the contrary may be fear'd to Destroy it by that Tax on Shipping but I have left my Bank which as I conceive too little for the reason I mention'd so I think it too big because it will Ingross the Money and consequently the Trade of the Nation into one City and will draw from all Parts of the Kingdom those little Sums that do now in great measure support the Manufactoryes of the Nation When there was no place where Money could be lodg'd at Interest for a Day it was easie for Industrious Men to borrow from their Neighbours and by that means our Manufactories were made Plenty and Cheap but now a little time will shew they can be neither But of this I have writ my thoughts a part The Bank that I conceive would be useful in this Nation must be of such Universal Extent that every Person in the Kingdom may be concern'd in it and that every corner in the Kingdom shall partake of the Streams that run from it That out of this Bank there may be Provision for Ships and Seamen That those Trades before-mentioned that we have lost may be retrieved and such Methods laid down as may incourage that Navigation which imploys most Seamen as the Fishing c. To Establish this Bank will require great Consideration for that
out of six and then distinguish'd what related to England by what Ships brought in and out then computed the Value of each Commodity and to what they were Improved being Manufactor'd in England and then what Money in Specie or Bills of Exchange which is the same was returned from Foreign Parts to England out of the Proceed of Goods sent from Ireland all which appear'd being brought up to a Sum that England Gained by Ireland Two Millions Sterling per Annum It seem'd to me an Incredible thing but being as he affirms Matter of Fact for which he hath the account of the Customs it is not to be denyed the breviate is drawn in so plain and intelligible a Method as renders it easie to any Understanding and therefore to mine I would fain have prevailed with him to Print the whole Matter but he thinks it may be made use of a better way and affirms that as great as this looks yet it might be improved to much more if the Trade of Ireland were dispos'd as it might be to the Advantage of England But he said that Kingdom was in no Reign since the first Conquest of Ireland consulted in its Trade but left to its self or treated like an Enemy All the use made of it was for Courtiers Men of Projection and Necessity to Traffick and dispose it into Grants Imployments and Offices and so made it rather a Forest for Game than a Plantation for Trade and Commerce and that which continued it so in the Reign of Charles the Second was the Jealousies and Mistakes of England believing it grew too fast and incroached on their Trade though it is demonstrable Ireland doth us no hurt but where we by our own Laws force it and that Act pardon the expression like Lunaticks that strive to suppress their Shadows for fear they should assault them None will say England would be the worse if it were double the Acres it now is And though the Sea part us from Ireland may not Laws make us one in our Interest and Trade and so that Ireland may be more profitable to England in General than Wales or any County in England is to the whole in its proportion There never was so fair an opportunity for Inriching this Nation by Ireland as now it is by Divine Providence once put a Blank in our hands in which His Majesty may stamp what he pleases And we have reason to believe That He who ventures His Royal Person so freely for the Preservation of these Kingdoms will not deny us any thing that can contribute to our Growth in Trade and Treasure One thing I must not omit which I had from this Gentleman of Ireland that to me seems valid for Confirmation of all he asserts That Ireland neither Interferes with nor gains on England for that in the last Twenty Years of Irelands greatest Prosperity not one Man in England purchased in Ireland but Numbers of Ireland have in that time purchased in England as they of that Kingdom I mean the English always do as they Increase their Fortunes This being so Ireland is to England a Mine of Treasure and affects us though in a much larger Proportion as Hudson's Bay whatever is gained in them terminates in England Here I end with the Pamphlet of which I shall only say If the Matter of Fact be truly Related as by the Authority he gives we have reason to believe it is then there is plain Demonstration that Ireland hath been and may be made much more profitable to this Kingdom then most of our Foreign Plantations Of them we take great care and why not more of this since it lies so near and costs us so dear seems unaccountable The truth is our Ancestours had never such a happy Juncture to do it as we have now to secure it If therefore we lay not hold on the opportunity put into our hands we cannot answer it so well as they might The Numbers of Refugees here and in other Countreys near us are Objects in this case both for our Charity to them and Advantage to our selves There hath been for several Sessions of Parliament much talk of the Forfeitures of Ireland and that it was reasonable they should be Sold and made a Fund to raise Money towards the carrying on the present War which might be thought reasonable for us of England to press because it would ease us of so much in our Taxes But why the Gentlemen of Ireland were so busie to promote it was at first to me a question and set me on the Inquiry and from some of themselves I had this answer That though they could not deny but the benefit of those Forfeitures were justly due to us of England yet the Justice of the thing was not all the motive they had to promote it but their own future security was at least as much consider'd by them for that they hoped the Sale of those Forfeited Lands would put them in Protestant hands and by that strengthen the British Interest in Ireland which could never be secure whilst the Irish held so great a proportion in the Kingdom and that whilst the Land lay undisposed they fear'd the Irish would find wayes to be restor'd they having got enough by their Robberies and Plunder of the English to purchase them though they cost them Ten Years purchase And that they were in fear also of the Irish buying from such as had great Grants of Forfeited Lands but if there was a Publick Sale they would come into so many hands that most of them would stick with the Purchaser and not come to the Irish They further said It was not the Interest of England to let the Forfeitures come again into the Irish hands for that they never Improved nor Traded and so were no wayes profitable to England If this apprehension of the Protestants be valid either to them or us it seems that a disposition of these Forfeitures of Ireland to Protestant Strangers would answer all objections and be a more certain way to keep such Lands of Ireland out of Irish hands then by selling them to the English for by that they would be to greater value in one Mans hand and the English would for advantage sell them to the Irish Proprietors for that few Purchasers would go to settle on their Lands nor could they find Tenants in the Countrey since there is so much Land waste but if Foreigners had it in small Proportions they would be able to manage it themselves and so keep it from returning to the Irish I have been longer on this of the Forfeitures then perhaps will be thought proper since my Subject is Trade But since it hath relation to the Improvement of Ireland in the way of Trade this Digression I hope will be excus'd I return then to shew how the bringing in Refugees to Ireland will advance the Trade of England and that may appear in three particulars The Increase of People in Ireland will occasion the
Expence of Manufactories and Product of England for that they have from England or would if the Laws of that Kingdom in Relation to the Customs were duely executed most of the fine Draperies Silk Iron Manufactory Haberdashers-Wares Hats Sadlers Wares Tapes Pins and other small Manufactories Also from England they have all the hopes white Salt Coals Brass Commodities Tobacco Sugars and Groceryes They also Imploy or should so if due care was taken in the Act of Navigation the Ships of England all which would be considerably advanced if that Kingdom were improved by Foreigners 2. Foreigners would Inlarge the Linnen Manufactory in Ireland to which no part of Europe is most proper And there is already a beginning and aptness in the Irish to that Manufactory and however it is not the Interest of England that Ireland should grow in the Woollen Manufactory yet it is that that they should in the Linnen and Cordage But of this I shall in the Second Part when I come to Discourse at large of the Trade of Ireland say more 3. The bringing Foreign Protestants into Ireland will Inlarge the Fishings there Great part of which will be to the Advantage of England as would the General Improvement of Ireland be if it were dispos'd to such Trade and Navigation as might be subservient and helpful to ours But to make Laws with design to keep them Poor is not unlike him that set his own House on Fire that his Neighbours might be burnt keeping Ireland Poor and discouraging the Protestant Interest there puts that Kingdom in the hands of the Irish and that renders it not only unprofitable to England but dangerous the management of Ireland Since the first Conquest will not be Credited in future Ages and although we must own of a Nation that hath the best Constitution in Government we have alwayes been unhappy in the Administration yet I think in nothing so much as in the Neglect of Trade and in that of Ireland which any Nation but we would make a Treasure of and we Imploy all our skill to make it an Aceldama It hath been so to this poor Kingdom and if relation be true is in a ready way to be so again They in whose Province it is will consider the Politick part my business is Trade and in that I will venture to say Ireland might be made more profitable to England than all the Foreign Plantations have ever yet been I confess New-England and Newfound-Land may be made more than altogether but that which makes Ireland of more Consideration to England than all the rest is because without keeping that we can enjoy none of the rest It is every days Refuge for our Merchant-Men and not to be forgotten how soon after this Reduction it saved our Smirna and Levant Fleet. Of the Manufactory and Dispose of Sheeps-Wooll THIS is the great Staple of the Kingdom and in truth of the World which by Divine Providence is so put into our hands as that without a turn in Nature we cannot totally loose it yet all that is possible for an unthinking People as we are call'd abroad we have done to the prejudice of those Commodities by which means we have transferr'd great part of our Woollen Manufactoryes to other Countreys to Germany and Venice our Coarse Draperies to Holland and France our fine and New Draperies and that which is remarkable is that we laid the foundation for loosing them the same way by which we first got them that is by persecuting Men for their Religion Abel's acceptable Sacrifice seems still to follow the Fleece No Society of Men in the Kingdom are so generally affected with the strictest Injunctions of our Religion as our People bred up in the Woollen Manufactories and these Men first fell under the Rod after the Restauration an excellent Reform to drive Men out of the Kingdom for having too much Religion but not question such as had none at all This driving our Clothiers into Germany and Holland put them and their Friends upon Inventions to send our Wooll after them and in that their Friends that stay'd behind were and still are assisting them though to the prejudice of the Trades they are in themselves there being nothing that draws compassion more from one Man to another than seeing Men of honest and unblameable Conversation us'd worse than Thieves and Robbers for serving God according to their Conscience This severity banish'd many thousands out of England soon after the Restauration of Charles the Second One Tilham carried in the Year 1665 Three Thousand into the Prince Palatine of the Rhyne and divers others did the same into other parts insomuch that Account was taken of Twenty Thousand Sacks of Wooll carried into one Port of France in less than Two Years from England and more went from Ireland and besides the Quantities that went for Holland is Incredible All this is evidently fallen upon the Nation by the fury of those that would make a Trade of Religion and banish those that had Religion with their Trades But blessed be God we have now a King of a more comprehensive Perswasion and our Church better supply'd with Men of Learning and Charity which the Infallible Authour tells us is above all the Arts Sciences and Acts of Devotion whatsoever Such Numbers of Men being gone out of the Kingdom for want of that Liberty they may now injoy it is a wonder they do not return and a greater that they are not sent for and Invited back We do not consider what the loss of a Man is in a Kingdom not half Peopled We want nothing so much as Bodies of Men and it is said we have above Thirty Thousand in Foreign Countreys and they are not of the raff but sober Industrious People such as these should not be lost But from the hands to Work Wooll I come to the Wooll it self how useful and in some cases of such absolute use in their Manufactories that they can make none of their best without our Wooll This is no Secret nor the Severe Laws that are made to prevent Escapes of Wooll but none have proved effectual some of them being too easie and others severe to loss of Life to them all I have seen a Proposal of a Gentleman that hath been a great Dealer in that Commodity to Foreign Parts which he affirms would be Infallible to prevent Exports of Wooll to Foreign Parts From England it seems probable enough but he is positive and reserves part of the Secret which he saith when told will make every one that hears it as positive as himself I would have perswaded him to offer it to the House but he expects a great Gratification and that he thinks at this time will not be given though I am of another mind and believe he deserves more than he can either ask or expect if his Project takes It is indeed to be lamented that solid Proposals for the Trade and Manufactory of the Nation should not meet with so
much Incouragement as a Lottery but to the contrary should be suppressed And I know a great Minister who once disputed on that with warmth against a care for Wooll and that it was a burthen to the Nation It may not be Foreign to this Discourse to give the heads of the Dispute which I the rather do that so it may shew the need there is for the Great Council of the Nation to take it under their Consideration The Discourse rose on a Proposition that was brought to him for stopping a vast Quantity of Wooll that was then going to France it was brought him in Writing and demonstrated That that very Wooll was enough to work up all the Coarse Wooll of France for Seven Years and that the consequence would be the loss of great part of our Manufactories to Spain and Portugal The Minister made little return to that but brought his Discourse to the great Loss it was to Men of Estates that there was not a way for Selling twice the Wooll that now they did That there was three Years Wooll then in England and what should Men do upon this Topick of the want of a Consumption for the Wooll of England the Gentleman laid down these Positions First That the War was one Reason of the Decay of the Woollen Manufactories Secondly That the extraordinary Escapes of Wooll to Foreign Parts put them upon making more Woollen Manufactories than ever they did before and that abated our Trade abroad Thirdly That our Wooll going to Foreign Parts made it so cheap at home This I remember put the Minister into a â—aughter and laying the two first aside he desir'd him to make out the last Position That the Escapes of Wooll to Foreign Parts made the Wooll fall in Price That the sending so great Quantities of Wooll out of the Kingdom should fall the Price of that which was left was a Mistery he could not understand but seem'd to him the only way to make it rise But the Gentleman undertook to make out his Assertion that every Pound of English Wooll worked up Three Pound of Foreign Wooll and that as much as they Manufactur'd so much was Abated in our Exports for that they made such Manufactoryes with our Wooll as they could not make without it and consequently by that means one pound of our Wooll with theirs made four times as much Cloaths and Stuffs as we could have made with it if we had kept it at home From which he Inferred That if one fourth of the Wooll of England went to Foreign Parts there would be as much Manufactoryes made Abroad for Foreign Markets as we could make if we had wrought all our own Wooll and so much being made Abroad we could not have use for half our own Wooll that was left This he affirmed was the reason that there lay so much Wooll unwrought in England and he being brought for Proof of what he said That which was Matter of Fact I thought undeniable though it would not be allowed so by the Minister The thing was this The Year after the Restauration there was a Gentleman that got a Grant from the King with a Non obstante to any Statute for Liberty to Export a certain Quantity of Wooll to Foreign Parts from Ireland upon which some Merchants in London buying the Grant sent over to Ireland and bought most of the Wooll and sent it to Foreign Parts this at first rais'd the Price of Wooll both there and in England but in so short a time as Five Moneths it fell Fifty per Cent. And though not one fourth of what formerly came from Ireland into England came then to England yet there was no Vent for the Wooll of England and in Ireland it fell from Seven Shillings to Three Shillings and Six Pence their Stone of Sixteen pounds all the time they shipped it for Foreign Parts This he affirm'd he could prove by the Merchants Books that were concern d to be litterally true and that the Year after the Shipping for Foreign Parts was over that Wooll rise to its former Price both here and in Ireland And he farther added that the great Quantities which by stealth go from England and Ireland makes Wooll in both Kingdoms fall in Price according to the Quantities that are sent out This part of the Dispute being over the next Question was Whither the Wooll of Ireland did not Abate the Price of the Wooll in England and hinder Sheep Masters from Inlarging their Flocks and consequently keep down the Rents of Land This was answered in the Negative to all the three that it did not Abate the Price of English Wooll nor hinder the Increase of Sheep or Abate the Rents of Land That the Irish Wooll coming into England helped the working up of some Wooll that could not be made the most of without it That the Wooll of Ireland was a larger Staple than that of England and most proper for Bayes and Serges That it was not the Wooll of Ireland that came to England that made the Price fall but it was that which went to Foreign Parts that did the Mischief and for the reasons before given he concluded that if there went no Wooll from England or Ireland to Foreign Parts all the Wooll of both Kingdoms would not be half enough to supply the Manufactories that England would have Markets for Abroad for that there is now made twice as much Manufactories with the help of our Wooll Abroad as is made in England so that if there were an effectual stop upon the Wooll of both Kingdoms the Flocks of both might be trebled and yet not be sufficient for the Manufactories England might vent This in few words was the best account I ever heard of the Nature and Improvement of the Wooll of these Kingdoms and is such demonstration of the Mischief the Exports of Wooll doth to the Nation that I cannot but think him a worse Enemy to his Country than a Common Pyrate for that he robs but a small Number but he that sends out Wooll destroys Thousands weakens the Strength of the Nation both at Land and Sea and if we believe the Lord Coke's Assertion That Nine parts of the Trade of England comes from the Sheeps Back there cannot be enough done to secure it but it hath ever been the misfortune of our Nation neither to punish or reward Impunity in the first makes us abound in Criminals and the neglect in the latter makes us barren of great Actions for our Countrey I mean in that which makes a Nation Rich and Wise Our Ancestours shewed more of their good will to it in the Dark of Trade and Navigation than we do at Noon-day I have often thought that it was possible for a Monarch of these Kingdoms to make all Europe Tributaries to him in Trade by a true Management of the Natureal and Artificial Product and Navigation of these Kingdoms without being oblig'd to any help but what ariseth from his own Dominions of which
Counsel of Trade if rightly Established will be a Member in the Government and in such the Venetian Policy which seems a good Constitution allows none that are Merchants that hath not been at least Seven Years out of all Trade and Commerce I have been Educated a Merchant and therefore cannot be thought to lessen the Profession though I believe no Man in the Actual Part and Converse of Trade can be equal and different in the Determination of Controverted Matters in Traffick I have often had the like Reflections on our Publick Justice in which at this time I believe we are the most happy People in the World with Great and Just Men on the Bench yet there hath been times when they were fill'd with Men that smelt too much of Barr might it not then add to the Honour of that Robe if there was another step besides that from the Bar to the Bench But this is not my Province I return to the Second Consideration that of the Number in which most agree one of a County and one of every City in the Kingdom besides some of the Ministry This would be a huddle in my Opinion of no signification unless they had Competent Salaryes For Men would not loose their time and spend their Money for nothing and the Charge would be too great for the King to pay without a Fund given by Parliament so then I apprehend this large Committee is lodged here It may now be expected that I should propose and that I think a better part than Controversies though as I alwayes use them where there is least offence for I do not pretend to more than giving my Opinion to be determined by better Judgments and so I shall offer my Thoughts how a Counsel of Trade may be Established for the benefit of the Nation The Number not to exceed Nine of which Three to be such as haue been bread Merchants formerly and of the most Universal Trades used in these Kingdoms and the rest of the Counsel to be compos'd of the Ministry Admiralty and Customs the whole Counsel to sit three times a Week and three of them every day to Receive Examine and Prepare Matters for the General Meeting And because no Man will spend his time for nothing and time so dispos'd is generally valued as nothing that therefore such Sallaryes be given them as may pay for their whole time and give a Reputation to the Commission equal to the Great work to be done by it for so it is if it be rightly understood it is a wonder that in a Kingdom so Fruitful in Offices that which payes them all as Trade doth should be allowed none but it is an untoward Reason that is given for it which therefore I omit and shall only say that by such Men set apart for the Care of Trade France and Sweedland have to a Wonder Inlarged their Trade and Navigation and it is apparent that for want of such a Counsel we have lost great part of ours The several Parts Uses and Manage I shall at large set forth in the Second Part. Of Prohibiting Foreign Commodities IT is the Policy of all Civilized and Trading Countreys to make such Goods counterband as are thought Unnecessary and Expensive to the Inhabitants or hinder their own Manufactories or Native Growth but in doing this they sometimes bring a worse Mischief on themselves than that they design to remove for as soon as a Government find any of their Growth or Manufactory Prohibited by any other they return it with laying a greater Duty or Prohibition on some Commodity that Countrey supplyed them with before To prevent this Consideration should be first had of all their Exports to that Countrey they Intend any Prohibition against and if they find that Countrey can any other wayes be supply'd with the same Commodities they us'd to send them then they should forbear any Prohibition because it is more prejudicial to lessen their own Product and Labour than to Consume that of their Neighbours for that time may abate but the loss of their own Trade and Manufactoryes may never be recovered if the place that us'd them be either fallen into a Trade with another People for that Commodity or the want of them brings them out of use and they are never retrieved I think therefore Prohibition ought never to be made but on some extraordinary occasion or where there cannot be the like done to them I will Instance but one for all in this Kingdom and that is Flanders-Lace though this Prohibition be of Absolute Necessity because of of the great Value this Kingdom spends in that Commodity yet if a due Estimate was made of what this Extravagancy carryes out of the Kingdom it would appear that the Prohibition is the Original and Present Cause of our Excess in that Commodity There is indeed another accidental help to it and that is our Army in Flanders the continual Passing and Repassing of our Men gives opportunity of smugling the Duty and they also coming over with the Fashion about their Necks our Apish Humours soon follows it but yet the Prohibition is that which first Established the Fashion among onr Boas and Boasses for it is not Persons of the first Magnitude as in former Ages that now Introduce a Fashion but such who carry their Fortunes about them and are alwayes in the midst of their Estates these have no wayes to distinguish themselves but by despising our own Manufactory and the Nasty Dress as they term it of a Countrey Lady or a Citizen though the latter is too apt to follow them in Expence and because they can better pay for Extravagancies therefore they believe themselves equally Intituled to them And thus the Vanity runs round to the great Loss of the Nation Now that which to me seems the most Effectual way to Prohibit a Commodity that the Nation finds so Injurious as to make a Law against as in this of Flanders-Lace or any other For I name that Commodity because it stands most in the way I say then to make that or any other Prohibition effectual would be to lay an Imposition on any that uses them If that were done the Mischief would be at an end But to make it forfeiture of them to bring them or placing a high Duty which some think the best Expedient is all Allurements and Perswasive to those whose Vanity and in some cases unhappy way of Living cannot be without them to Covet and Purchase them because they believe Difficulty and hazard the Merchant runs in bringing them will make them too dear for Common Wear But to this it may be objected That in many Cases Prohibitions are made to the end some Commodity of our own of the same Nature might be used and then the laying a Duty on the Consumer would be Troublesome or Impracticable since perchance the Commodities might not be distinguish'd as it is in this of Flanders-Lace which cannot be distinguish'd but in some of the
which I think not to be sufficiently consider'd or understood were it so but in this one triffle it deserves no better a Name if relation be had to the use of it There is plain demonstration that what with the turn of our hands to a Commodity as we now Purchase with Money from abroad and with the preventing the Imports of Lace the whole would add more than Six Hundred Thousand Pounds per Annum so the Treasure of the Nation and this might in my humble Opinion be easier done than regulating the East-India-Company I will not make comparisons as to the Gain but wish I knew any one Trade though that of the Foreign Plantations were one that brings in Six Hundred Thousand Pounds Sterling clear Gain to the Nation as this might do if the Old Proverb be allowed that a Penny sav'd is a Penny got But that I might not lye under a Vulgar censure in this matter though I take it to be as much an Error that Extravagancies in Cloaths is an Advantage to the Artizans Manufactoryes and Poor of the Nation what is here propos'd doth not bar the Gayety and Expence of such as delight in fine Cloaths for that there may be other Inventions found out for Ornament as Costly as Lace I remember when Band-strings were come to such Curiosity in Work that they were wore from Five Shillings to Five Pound a Pair and made in England and have my self when I could not write Man had Ribbons to one Suit to more than Fifteen Pounds Value If these Extravagancies must be used were it not better to have them of our own Fabrick than from them that eat not our Bread nor wear our Wooll though they work too much of it I have done on this head when I say That as the Wisdom of the Nation makes Laws of Prohibition I wish there was effectual means to have them observ'd Of Sumptuary Lawes I Think Laws to Restrain Excess in Apparel and Food may properly be brought into a Treatise of Trade and that Sumptuary Lawes are or should be a Guide in it That before I Engage in this Matter there is a Receiv'd Opinion to be removed and that is that Expence of the Labour and Product of a Countrey is the support of the Artizans and beings Riches to Men of Real Estates If this was in Truth so then there is not only an end of Sumptuary Lawes but some other Statutes and Customs that yet hinder Abuses which perchance might otherwise grow amongst us as Artizans and Tradesmen wearing Swords that would Increase that Manufactory yet in well-Governed Places the Justices and Magistrates of Towns would bind to the good behaviour such as did if Servants and Apprentices were allowed playing at Cards and Dice it would occasion the Consumption of great Quantities and so Inlarge those Manufactories yet the Laws and Custom of the Nation Prohibits it and it is a Covenant in the Indentures of Apprentices to this day that they Forfeit their Indentures if they do use them in Play If then there be reason for these smaller Expences there seems reason for Care in greater How the Old Sumptuary Laws of the Nation comes to be out of use I could never understand nor can I think that it is that because they were found Injurious to our Tradesmen and Manufactoryes but rather the Vanity and Levity of the Nation in following the Modes of France which taking first in our Courts descended to Lower Ranks of People and Merchants and Tradesmen making a Gain by Curiosities in Apparel that soon begat a Party to support them until the Livelyhood of Numbers depended on the Manufactoryes of them And that brings me to Inquire into the Opinion that it is a benefit of the Nation to be Expensive in Diet and Apparel The Reason that is given for it is because it Imploys the Poor and supports the Farmer to pay greater Rents To this I Answer First That whatever Artizans and Farmers get by Consumption in the Kingdom is no profit to the Nation No Private Gentleman is accounted Rich if he spends all his Rents in Cloaths and House-keeping though it be all layd out among his own Tenants but he is accounted Rich in that he saves over above his Expence And it holds so in a Kingdom the Riches of a Countrey is accounâ—ed and made out of nothing but their Exports that is common to every Understanding and needs no Explanation and being allowed what a Miserable People should we be if we supported the Common People by our home Consumption It would terminate in paying Rents as they do in Scotland in kind that is as they call it Victual Corn c. For if we spend all in the Countrey we shall have no Exports and consequently no Money 2. What is spent in the Kingdom lessens the Gain of the Artizan and Country-Man for that Exports would raise the Price of our Native Commodities by Increasing Chapmen and bringing Strangers and Trade into the Kingdom We need not go farther than the Isle of Man for Demonstration Perchance those People Eat and Drink better Wear as Warm and Decent Cloths as our Yeomen in Kent and yet One Thousand of them make not so great a Purse as One of our Yeomen before-mentioned and the reason is because they live upon their own Product If what is here said be sufficient to prove that the Nation is no Gainer by what is spent if we then come to that of Sumptuary Laws how the observance of them would Increase the Trade and Treasure of the Nation I begin with that of Apparel and that I must crave leave to differ with a Fam'd Author Montaigne who gave his Opinion on this Subject that it would be for the Profit of the Kingdom and take off all from Wearing Rich Cloaths if the King and Court did not wear such though no doubt it would have that effect of taking off the People from Sumptuous Cloaths if the Court wore plain and so far do good as it reached the Common People yet it would have an ill consequence where it effected the Court and Nobility for that their Expence is a Gain to the Nation and Incouragement to Industry Not that I think it imploys the Poor more than they would be if they worked for Exportation but that I conceive in this matter is that Frugality in the Court and Nobility would bring all the Money of the Nation into their Coffers for they seldom Trade and so there would want Running Cash to drive the Trade of the Nation and then there would need no Laws to restrain the middle People in their Cloths for they would soon come to Raggs I think it therefore distructive to the Nation for Men of great Estates to be Parcimonious as I do for others to be Extravagant Montaigne writ his Opinion as a Lord and I as a Commoner If Lords lived as Commoners Commoners would never be Lords And perhaps if there was no room for Ambition there might not
Murther A Shaved Head and a Chain would be a greater Terror than a Gallows and be a more lasting Example than the Execution of an Hour It seems also a Punishment to the innocent for the nocent that a man should be lost to the Nation for an Offence done to a private Person and the Sufferer have no Reparation for what he hath lost whereas if the Offender were kept to Work during his Life some Reparation might be made to the Person Injured and a certain Gain made to the Nation by the Work of a man and this way of Punishing Felons would bring more to Punishment than Death doth for that many chuse rather to let Felons escape than Prosecute where their Life is in danger That all such Offenders as are now Transported or have License to go for Foreign Parts from Ireland of the Irish Nation be sent to New-found-land by which means they would be made useful and of profit to this Nation whereas by their going to Foreign Parts they are enabled to do mischief and so it hath been found in all Rebellions of that People they returning back Experienced Commanders and Soldiers which hath not been the least encouragement to them in all their Rebellions This Disposition of the faulty Irish will not only be a Gain to this Nation but also a Security in taking away one handle for future Rebellions and make them in some measure Hostages for their Brethren in Ireland It may be thought a mistake in those who think it a good expedient to send the Irish to serve Foreign Princes rather than venture them at Home great part of the Common People are said to be Peaceable and easily led into Discipline and nothing but want forceth them to Disorder such are to be valued as a Stock in a Kingdom where the Country is almost waste for want of Inhabitants and for such as are faulty they being sent where Labourers are wanting and methods taken to keep them at work they will be of good use the Banishing of the Moors out of Spain is a lasting monument of ill Conduct sufficient to warn us of the like mistake if a living Dog be better than a dead Lyon it may be thought the worst of Men are better than none good Laws and Discipline may make Bad men useful in a Commonwealth but no Human Law can Create them There are many other things that attend this Undertaking which in Time and Place may be offered Of Navigation and Seamen I Find more difficulty to say any thing on this Subject than on any thing relating to Trade because it is a common Theme on which men of divers Understandings have Wrote and few conversant in Business but cry it up as the Diana of the England's Guardian Angel and needs no Advocate but yet though all agree in Adoration yet some differ in the form and others believe we are safe enough in the Possession of it when more fear we were never so near losing it among the Crowd I shall bring in my Observations and leave to better Judgments the determination That our Shipping and Navigation hath been declining for many years is evident by the loss of that part of our Navigation which employed most of our Seamen so it appears if we look into the Account that was taken of all the Seamen and Ships in England in the year 1615 the Navigation of Europe was not then one third of what it is now the number of Seamen then taken that were employed in the Ships of Trade were but 11000 and of them 3000 in the Newcastle and Coal Trade 1900 in the Streights Portugal and Southern Trade 800 in the French Trade 4400 in the Greenland Iceland and New-found-land Fishing 400 in the Sound and 500 in the Muscovy Trade this is demonstration how we have declined the most laborious part of our Navigation since near one half of the employment of our Seamen in that Age were in those Trades and Navigation which we have now in a manner lost as that of the New-found-land Greenland Muscovy and the Sound this shews the want of a Council of Trade not only of Merchants but of the greatest Ministers of State Had our Forefathers understood Foreign Trade as well as they did their Native it is probable they would have made as good Laws for the first as they did for the latter They did consider and provide as far as the Experience of the Age allowed for the improvement of Trade and employment of the People we see what care they took against Monopolizers and Forestallers what exactness in Provision for the Poor the Assize of their Bread and at the same time care taken that they should not exact in their Wages what Penalties they laid on such as did vend or make defective Manufactories and had they known the much greater Mischiefs that attend the Foreign Trade of the Nation they would have provided against them For as Merchants are above the Rank of of Artizans so is their Skill and opportunity to do good or harm in their Negotiations There can be no Assize set upon their Commodities nor Essay to the Curiosity of the Indies or Luxury of the Levant but they may be Limited and Prescribed in their Trade and it seems of the greatest consequence that they should be so for they often gain by that which is the Nation 's greatest Loss and not only Merchants but Seamen will chuse as all men naturally do that Employment which brings Profit with least Toil and Labour and that is one cause of the loss of the New-found-land Fishing and Northern Trades they were Laborious and of small Gain and therefore as soon as we found out the Southern and Plantation-Trades we left them and the French who followed us in Trade began where we left off and by that means have made themselves so considerable at Sea and although their Navigation hath not hitherto been so profitable as ours to the Merchant yet is more considerable to their Monarchy than the Effeminate Navigation of the East and Southern Trades for that 1000 l. in the Northern and Fishing Trade employs more men than 20000 l. in the Eastern and Southern Trades This consideration may be thought to affect England more than any part of the World for that we are nothing on Shore longer than we Command the Seas and our neglect and loss of the rougher part of the Navigation in the Fishing and Northern Trades abates near one half of the Seamen that might be Employed in these Kingdoms and nothing but the hand of the Government can retrieve this loss by encouraging the poorest part of Navigation though most considerable as to increase of Seamen which is the Strength of the Nation and this cannot be done but by such Banks as will Interest all the men of Estates in the Kingdom one way or other in the Navigation and Trade of the Nation But of Banks I shall say something apart and therefore now return to that of our Navigation
It is true we cannot expect men to come in voluntary for the King's Pay whilst the scarcity of Seamen obligeth Merchants to give double the Wages of the King's Pay but if we had double the Seamen that would abate and the way to have them I conceive is to put in practice something like that proposed three years since which was That there should be publickly assurance given that whoever entred himself into Sea-service that was never at Sea before should be free from Press for Three years by which means there would be Numbers of lusty Young men that want Employment enter themselves in Merchant-men and Bind themselves to Masters of Ships who would soon make them Foremast-men for their own Profit and more would come in time of War when they want Work at many Trades than in time of Peace it being great encouragement for them to be secure from Press for Three years in which time they might hope for a Peace Nor would this obstruct Manning the Fleet for that it exempts none that are now Seamen nor would be if this encouragement made them not so and this bringing in New Men would daily add to the Fleet for that as New Men increased those that were Seamen before Employed in Merchantmen might be spared out of Merchant Ships who with one fourth Foreigners as the Act allows and these New Men might with one third of Old Seamen be Navigated And the way to prevent Collering Old Seamen under the notion of New is easie and infallible as was beyond Objection even to them that encouraged not this Proposal demonstrated If this expedient be not approv'd it may perchance set better heads on more proper means for that there seems a necessity to provide for Trade against times of Peace as well as now for the Navy in time of War and in my humble Opinion there can be no encouragement so effectual to make Seamen as exemption from Men of War for some Time Inventions to find out concealed Seamen seems to me an antidote against making New Force and Projects may be useful to make an ignorant servile People Slaves but can have no good effect with those that know better and will not be so there needs no trick to promote the true Interest of a Nation every man will run into it and he would be a States-man worthy of Honour that did advance the Interest of his Country above that of their Neighbours Of Building Ships HAving in few words for so they are if regard be had to the Subject done with Navigation and Seamen I come to that of Building Ships and some think we are in danger of wanting them for Merchantmen For the Fleet none doubts but to an extremity we do and that lies before those who can only supply it but that we want Merchant Ships sufficient for our Trade I am afraid we don't I wish we did but whilst so many Ships lye by the Walls it is no great sign we do and this was our case before the War more than now which may be answered by the loss of our Ships this War but that seems not sufficient there being allowance for all and yet too plain that we want not Ships for the Trade of England if we had a Peace to morrow which is a misfortune that the Nation hath not so much Trade left them as to Employ one half the Seamen their Neighbours do and until we have at least always in Employment as many as the French there seems no security to these Kingdoms but it is hoped there will be ways found to Employ them as there soon will be when those Trades we have lost are retrieved and if the Great Councel of the Nation thinks it necessary no human Hand or Policy can hinder them either in that or any other Trade of the Nation if it be taken in hand in time What can withstand a People that outdoth all Kingdoms in Europe in Taxes without Complaints and Famine as they have in other Countries A Fifth part of one years Tax might be so laid out as to conquer and secure that we most want But to come to the Proposition of Building Ships there are two difficulties started in this matter one is that the Timber of the Kingdom is much wasted and cannot hold out long The other is that Timber from Norway is not to be purchased by us at such easy rates as the Dutch have and consequently cannot Build so Cheap as they do now though there is truth in both these Objections yet are raised on another occasion that of the Act of Navigation yet I see no great weight in it as to the use they would make of it that is to shew the necessity for the Nation to buy Ships of the Dutch I confess to my Understanding the reasons they give turn upon them and were there nothing more but what they offer against the Act of Navigation in that point it is enough to shew the good of that Act but of this I shall speak apart and return to the Building of Ships That there is nothing of greater consequence to a people that live by Trade than to be makers of their own Tools by which they work none will deny now Shipping are the Tools and Utensils of the Nation to fetch them from abroad is to Trade by Licence whenever our Northern Neighbours please we must lye still or pay such rates as they please that shall be equal to a Tax on our Trade for this reason I conceive it worth a consideration how to find out an expedient and that with submission to better Judgments I shall propose is either or both of these ways 1. That the Act of Navagation for that part of it relating to Timber and Naval Stores be dispenced with for three years and that all Customs Port and Town Duties be taken off for that time on Timber c. relating to Building and Fitting Ships to Sea this will tumble in Materials fast enough perchance to a glut if the following proposition be effectually pursued that is 2. To give such Encouragement for raising Naval Commodities as Pitch Tar Hemp c. in our Foreign Plantations as may advance that Trade to more than our own Consumption if this were done it would make the Northern Princes abate their Impositions they have lately laid on their Commodities and set them upon all ways of furnishing us so cheap as might render our attempts of raising them our selves unprofitable and let it succeed to their expectation or not the effect would be to our advantage and the success to either time will shew The next thing then that is to be enquired into in this matter is How our Plantations stand as to the natural Product of these Commodities and how provided with hands to Manufacture them As to the first I can say something upon my own Observations in America That New England is Superior to any of the Northern Crowns for Timber and Masts Pines and Firr to make Pitch
and Tarr for Soil to raise Hemp and well enough for making Iron But there seems some difficulties in the want of hands to work and supply that is the only Objection I see in this Affair and altho that hath been too great for particular men to undertake yet may not tho if undertook by a publick Fund which perchance upon a thorough consideration may be found necessary to be done upon some such Inducements as these It would make New England of the most useless and unprofitable Plantation of this Nation the best and most advantageous to this Nation I might enumerate many particulars but I presume this will come into hands that need no more than to put them in mind of the Place and Product That New England lies better for a Market to Spain Portugal and the Levant than the Northern Crowns who now furnish that part of Europe with those Commodities New England can furnish That establishing this Trade will Employ many Ship-Carpenters and Seamen which I cannot omit whereever it comes in my way to say is the Treasure and Strength of these Kingdoms That this Trade will occasion the Consumption of more Woollen Manufactories than all our Foreign Plantations it being a Cold Climate and Men with hard Labour wear out much Cloaths That there will be room and reason to give great encouragement for Foreigners to settle in this Plantation and Undertaking which next to our Seamen seems of moment to advance which even those that are against at home will not be when they are abroad And to sum up all As this Plantation may save the Nation the Expence they are now at in purchasing Naval Stores so it will bring in considerable returns in Bullion for what they send into the Levant Spain c. And that this may not appear as a Chimera it is to be noted That there hath been many years since several Ships loaden in New-England with Masts c. for the Streights but for the Reasons before given the want of Hands and Publick Encouragement that Trade did not prosper Merchants do not affect a Trade that takes up much Time and little Stock as the Lumber-Trade doth which is more profitable to the Ship and Men than the Merchant and it is a mistake in those that think Merchants are always Owners perhaps they have least share in the Ships of England Having thus given some sew Hints for they are no more if compar'd with what is to be said on this Copious Subject it may be expected that I should say something of the Modus for setting up this Manufactory and building Ships in New-England To set down an Exact Scheme would take up more Sheets than I design Lines in this Place but something I shall mention 1. To carry on this Work it will be necessary that extraordinary Privileges be given to Foreign Protestants that will inhabit there as having Land given them free Liberty of Conscience greater Wages than they can have in their own Countries Houses for some time Rent-free from all manner of Impositions c. 2. That such Encouragement be given as may invite the Natives to work They are very ingenious and docible but naturally averse to Labour yet I have seen some of them take great pains in working Curiosities and that which induceth me to believe they would work if they were sure of good Wages is the great labour they take in making their Wampompeeg of which the most skilful and laborious amongst them cannot make above Two Shillings a day Now if these men could have so much a day for any other work it is reasonable to believe they might be brought to it and by that means they would be better cloath'd than those that are idle and that would tempt them in also But to this may be objected That this dear Wages would make those Commodities dear To which I answer That there is some works in Falling Floating and Drawing Timber that cannot be had cheaper and that there are no men will sooner learn the best labour than they and as the Countrey fills and the Indians are brought to work Wages will fall 3. There may be Negroes brought whose labour will come cheap and their very little Children will be very useful in peeling Hemp picking Oacum and other things about Pitch and Tar. This Undertaking being thoroughly managed will be such a Staple for Shipping and Naval Stores as no part of Europe can exceed and put these Kingdoms out of the Power of their Neighbours in that of their Naval Provisions and our Ships may be cheaper built than in any part of Europe with the advantage of preserving the Timber of England for the Royal Fleet. I have often wondred that such a disposition as this hath not been thought on for that unprofitable Plantation which now brings nothing to this Nation but to the contrary buries Numbers of Industrious People in a Wilderness that produceth nothing but Provisions to feed them and yet the most useful Commodities in it for the Nation being that which makes our Walls and Bulwarks This neglect is such as was in this Kingdom in exporting our Wool which was consider'd by that Wise Prince Edward the Third who thereupon pass'd a Law for encouraging Foreign Clothiers and that they should settle in what part of the Kingdom they pleas'd A good President for giving all the Encouragement and Immunities imaginable to invite Foreign Carpenters and others into a Plantation that might raise such Commodities as are the Foundation of our Wealth and Security Of the Act of Navigation TO write upon this is to enter upon Controversy in Trade which I think doth as little good as that in Religion and is commonly undertook or at least started by those that have least share in the Practice I have never been so attach'd to my own Understanding as to conclude those in the wrong that differ with me but I must own my self a great Votary to the Act of Navigation believing it the Sea Magna Charta and the only Law that ever past in England for the securing our Trade and Navigation and I had like to have said with it our Religion Laws and Properties too for that no men in the Government are more averse to Popery and Arbitrary Power than they are And altho I believe we can never add too many to our Number on Shore yet perhaps it may be the Interest of the Nation to keep as many English in our Sea-Employments as we can for that they are in truth our Guards and tho when Naturaliz'd and Inhabitants Foreign Seamen may be useful yet so as that they may be but a small Proportion to the whole Number of Seamen in our Trade and Navigation It is observable that notwithstanding the States in Italy are inseparably united in their Force at Sea against the Turks yet they are so jealous of each others Growth in that Strength that they are oblig'd to each other not to exceed the Number of Galleys they are
it might have been thought a Wisp of Straw of my own lighting but I place it as I find it for I leave nothing out of all I could ever hear Objected against the Act and therefore bring in this though I think there needs no Answer more than to say There are no Ships to bring away the Product of a Country and we send none to fetch them it is a strange Indication that we have no use of their Commodities or our Ships are better employed and that we want Ships and Men for such poor Trades which nothing will force us to increase but the Act of Navigation it being a certain Maxim in Trade and Navigation That whilst there is room in the easie and most profitable Part none will run into the poor and more Laborious And we not having Seamen enough to manage our profitable and easie Navigation as I have before mentioned is one reason of the decay of our rougher and poor Navigation which was wisely provided for in this Act That all Foreign Import of Fish Oyl Whale Finn c. should pay double Allience Duty This was intended to give us advantage above Foreigners and would no doubt be a good encouragement if we had our other Trades supplied to bring Seamen into the Fishing Trade but having lost the Trades for want of Ships and Seamen that therefore we should sit down with the loss and take no course to retrieve it because at first we cannot bring in these Commodities as Cheap as Foreigners can is with the Sloathful to say A Lyon is in the way But we had when this Act was made better Resolutions and knew then and so may now That it is better for the Kingdom to Pay twenty Shillings to their own Men than Fifteen to Strangers and by doing that for a time we may regain those Trades and manage them on as good terms as any other This I believe will be thought sufficient cause for the supporting the Act as it was for making it I shall add no more but set down in few words the Tenor and Force of the Act of Navigation and leave every man to his own Judgment of it The Act in the Preamble tells us the necessity for Increase of our Ships and Seamen That for Encouragement to so good a Work that after a time limited no Foreign-built Ship or men shall Import any Commodities but of the Product of their own Country The Consequence of which is That no other Nation should have the benefit of Carriage to us but each Country their own and if they could not do it so Cheap as we then our Ships would have the Carriage and not Foreigners by which our Ships and Seamen would be Increased The other part of the Act is for encouraging our Fishing and that is by placing double Allience-duty upon all Fish Oyl c. Caught and Imported by Foreigners This sure cannot be a fault to give our own Men encouragement above Strangers since the Navigation and Trade of the Kingdom gives them better Livelihood than the Fishing would if Foreigners who live hardly might import Fish as free from Duty as they the consequence of which would be that we should lose the Fishing as we have some other Employments of our Seamen Of Banks and Lumbers PResuming the usefulness of Banks in England is not now controverted I submit to better Judgments how Banks and Lumbers may be set up in all Parts of this Kingdom for the Encouragement of the Manufactories and Navigation thereof I conceive there is nothing so destructive to the Trade and Employments of the Nation as engrossing the Money and Business of the Kingdom in great and few hands that would bring the Kingdom into the Rickets draw all the Nourishment to the Head London would swell beyond its natural growth and the other parts of the Kingdom waste and dwindle to nothing The Banks then that I should humbly Propose may be thus established 1. That in every Shire there be a Bank erected by Act of Parliament 2. That the Fund for these Banks be Land and Money And because there may be no difficulty in point of Title of such Lands as shall be put in Bank that a Law may pass in Parliament That whoever is in quiet Possession of an Estate and shall place it in the Bank as part of the Original Fund that Land shall be perpetually in the Bank whatever Title may afterwards appear and shall only be transferr'd to him that shall recover the same For it is to be understood that whoever puts Land in Bank is never to receive more out than his proportionable part of the Gain arising from the General Stock So that Land remains the same whoever makes a Title to it But for the better Credit of Land in the Bank a Proviso may be in the Act That no Title of Land put into the Bank shall be question'd after years This will give a Reputation to any particular person's Title of Lands in the Bank if he should have occasion to sell his Interest which otherwise will not be of equal Value with those that put their Original Fund into the Bank in Money The Fund of Banks being thus established by Land and Money in each County the next thing will be to appoint the Quantum and who shall come in for it is not to be doubted but there will be more than enough and every Shire will strive to bring in as much as they will be permitted For the General Fund of the whole Kingdom I suppose Four Millions may be sufficient to begin with half Land and half Money and for the particular Proportions of each Shire their Proportion in the Land-Tax may be a good Rule The Manage of these Banks in each Shire may be by men chosen among themselves That twice a year a General Meeting may be in London two being sent out of every Shire there to settle Accounts and make Dividends of the Profit which would be great satisfaction to all persons concerned and would quicken the Trade and Business of the Nation For the dispose putting out and receiving Money in Bank there can be no set Rules and therefore will depend upon the Accidents of War and Trade but some standing Rules may be thought on for the Rates of Exchange through the Kingdom upon which there will arise great part of the Gain and will be considerable in the Advantage and Ease of the Nation in quick circulating of the Money and the most effectual way for suppressing Highway-men for that no man need travel with more than Pocket-Money for his Expence when he may have Bank-Tickets to any part of the Kingdom where he goes There seems a difficulty Whether these Banks should pay any Interest-Money having so great a Fund with which and their Credit they may supply all the Wants and Employments of the Nation for that it will be impossible to hinder these Banks from having an Unlimited Credit so that perchance Two Millions of Ready Money